God

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Create a page Narukami Pillars and Supplement the "Other Gods" section

Gods (Chinese: 神 or 魔神 Shén or Móshén) are immortal and supernatural entities that lead and oversee the Human Realm, possessing natural and innate divine, elemental or magical powers. Teyvat's gods are affiliated with Celestia—the realm and residence of the gods—although several gods have displayed wariness or even resentment towards the heavenly citadel.

Before the Archon War, many gods roamed the continent of Teyvat. After the Heavenly Principles had their functions ruined during the war of funerary flame, efforts were made to establish a new world order;^[1] seven divine seats opened up in Celestia,^[2][3] causing the continent to descend into a protracted series of conflicts that ended 2000 years ago. Over the course of the war, most gods were slain or sealed until only seven victors remained; each victor became their respective element's Archon and ruler of one of the seven nations,^{[Note 1]} using their powers to transform its terrain and governing the land according to their ideals.

Overview

Gods are a class of Human Realm^[4] beings that exist for the task of governing Teyvat. It is implied that gods attain their status via power obtained from the Heavenly Principles,^[5][6] though the precise mechanism for how this occurs in general is unknown. As evidenced by Boreas and Venti, gods can be elevated from a lower existence and given powers from another god.^[7][8]

A god's essence is essentially immortal and cannot be destroyed - even if a god's physical form is slain and their consciousness is worn away, their lingering emotions or obsessions will remain within the world, and their power will not dissipate but flow into the surrounding environment.^[9] The exact circumstances of "death" can produce very different consequences: if a god is murdered against their will, their power erupts out of their body and corrupts everything around them (like Havria salinizing her adherents after they assassinated her)^[10], and may linger in form of curses that cause death, disease and insanity to anybody who comes into contact with them (the best example being the Tatarigami).^[11]

However, if a god chooses to voluntarily pass away, they can release their power in a controlled manner so that it does not create any disruptive effects upon the land (as Boreas^[12] and Marchosius^[13] did). Similarly, Remus's death had no apparent negative effects on the Sea of Bygone Eras; instead, his will protected the ruins of Capitolium, preserving them remarkably well over 2,000 years.^{[14][Note 2]}

It is possible to seal away a god's remains or neutralize the effects of their curses using special techniques. For example, when the Hydro Archon Egeria perished during the Cataclysm, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was able to create the Harvisptokhm from the pool of Amrita left in her wake and use it to repel the Abyss,^[15] and Raiden Shogun created the Narukami Pillars on Yashiori Island which suppressed the influence of the Tatarigami following Orobashi's execution.^[16] Following the Archon War, every region in Teyvat developed its own way of dealing with the hateful resentments of bygone gods: for example, Liyue has the Yakshas that fight against the monsters that emerge from these remains,^[17] Inazuma's Sacred Sakura continuously absorbs the filth and needs to be periodically cleansed,^[18] Sumeru uses the Forest Rangers to monitor and keep the Withering in check, and Natlan held the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame to generate Contending Fire with which to combat the Abyss.^[19] In case a god's remains are injected into a human being, they can drive them insane, cause extreme personality changes, or bestow unusual powers.^[20][21]

Elemental dragons hold power equal to a god's.^[22]

Story

Ancient History

Gods came into being after the establishment of the Human Realm and hold the Human Realm's power, making them incompatible with the Light Realm and Void Realm's powers under normal circumstances.^[4]

Archon War

The Archon War was a prolonged conflict between gods for supremacy that began several thousand years ago and ended two thousand years ago.^[2] The war allegedly began over the seven divine thrones which opened up in Celestia,^[3] which may coincide with the creation of the Gnoses following the war of funerary flame which greatly weakened the Heavenly Principles.^[1] According to Neuvillette, all fragments of the primordial were driven to devour each other.^[1]

2600 years ago in Old Mondstadt, in the midst of the Archon War, Boreas warred against the God of Storms, Decarabian. In their bitter stalemate, Decarabian's people rose up against him and emerged victorious. After Decarabian's death, Barbatos became the Anemo Archon,^[23] while Boreas decided himself unfit for the position and chose to pass on instead, using his winds to nurture the new Mondstadt that Barbatos created.^[24]

The Guili Assembly, established by Guizhong, Rex Lapis and Marchosius in Guili Plains in the distant past, was one civilization destroyed during the chaos of the Archon War. Shortly after the fall of the Guili Assembly 3,700 years ago, Rex Lapis and the adepti gathered the survivors and took them south of Mt. Tianheng, where Liyue Harbor was established.^[25] Some time afterwards, Havria was murdered by her own people for being weak, and the survivors of Sal Terrae were scattered across Liyue. Rex Lapis subdued countless other gods and monsters, including Osial, Chi, and the Mistress of Chenyu Vale.

In Inazuma, the twin gods Makoto and Ei emerged victorious, with Makoto assuming the position of Electro Archon and her sister sharing many of her duties while acting as her kagemusha. The only rival god known to have been slain during this period was the god of Watatsumi Island, Orobashi, though the Thunderbird of Tsurumi Island, Kanna Kapatcir, was revered as a god by her people. Notably, the duty of slaying such foes during the Archon War fell upon Ei, rather than the Electro Archon.

Instead of warring, Sumeru's gods, King Deshret, Nabu Malikata, and Rukkhadevata forged an alliance in the city of Ay-Khanoum.^[26] However, King Deshret still engaged in warfare against other gods in Sumeru beyond the alliance, such as Remus,^[27] Heryshaf, Sobek, and Thoth. Nabu Malikata later allowed herself to be corrupted by the Abyss,^[28] and the alliance was broken,^[29] with Rukkhadevata leaving Deshret's lands, never to return.^[30]

In Fontaine, Remus was the sole god residing in Fontaine's surface during the Archon War, due to Egeria's imprisonment beneath the waves at the behest of the Heavenly Principles.^[31] The war in Fontaine instead took the form of Remuria's expansion and subjugation of various tribes, and a resistance movement led by the mortal, Erinnyes of Aremorica, who spread the faith of Egeria. Following the death of Remus at the hands of Phobos, and the drowning of Remuria, Egeria was freed from her prison and granted rulership over Fontaine as its Archon.^[32]

Gods had no place in Natlan; instead, the Archon War period saw repeated conflicts between the dragons and humans of Natlan.^[33] The first Pyro Archon was a human named Xbalanque who defeated the still-reigning Sovereign Xiuhcoatl, and was thus granted authority over the divine throne and ascended to godhood by the Ruler of Death, Ronova,^[34] as planned by the dragon Sage, Kukulkan.^[35] However, the god Yohualtecuhtin of the Night Kingdom had numerous relations with humans in ancient history, first helping create the Wayob for the tribes,^[36] and later helping create the "Rules" of Natlan such as the Ode of Resurrection with the help of Xbalanque and Ronova.

Around 2000 years ago, the Archon War drew to a close as the seventh and final victor claimed their seat. These victors were thereafter known as the Seven Archons, and came to possess one of the Gnoses as well as a portion of the elemental Authority for their element. Gods who refused to live under their rule fled to islands within the Dark Sea, regions beyond the control of The Seven, where they became evil gods.^[37]

Of the seven victors of the Archon War, only two remain by the start of the game's story: Barbatos and Rex Lapis.^[38][39] While Ei was present during the Archon War, she did not assume the position of Electro Archon until her twin sister Makoto perished during the cataclysm 500 years ago. Most of The Seven's current members replaced the original founders of Teyvat's seven nations.

Present Day

Among The Seven, each Archon is associated with and worshipped by one of Teyvat's seven nations. Most of a nation's elemental environment is based on its Archon's element, although areas affected by Celestial Nails, such as Dragonspine, the Great Red Sand, the Night Kingdom, and Tsurumi Island tend to be noticeably different from their surroundings.

An Archon's power is directly tied to their level of control over their nation. As a result, Venti — who travels as a bard and refuses to directly control the people of Mondstadt — is, by his own admission, extremely weak by Archon standards.^[40] However, this is later indirectly challenged by Nahida, who states that an Archon's power is tied to how much faith their people have in them.^[41] When a person's powerful wish reaches the heavens, Archons are obligated to give that person a Vision, which is a shard of the elemental Authorities^[1] and allows the recipient to manipulate elemental energy. Vision wielders are known as "allogenes" and are also privileged with the chance of rising to godhood.^[42] In the year that the Vision Hunt Decree was in effect in Inazuma, no new Electro Visions appeared throughout Teyvat, leading scholars to conclude that the Archons' wills play a role in Vision distribution.^[43] However, Ei is surprised to hear of this phenomenon herself and refutes the scholars' conclusion.^[44]

Celestia

Celestia serves as the headquarters for the governance of Teyvat and is the residence for the Heavenly Principles, the Four Great Rulers, as well as an indeterminate amount of other gods and entities.^[45] It is said that mortals who perform great, heroic feats can ascend to Celestia and achieve godhood, where they will watch over their people from above.^[46] All Vision wielders are "allogenes" who have the potential to reach godhood.^[47]

Angels

Angels are creations of the Heavenly Principles who served as the divine envoys of Celestia during the era of the unified civilization.^[48] Certain individual Angels have been referred to as gods, though Angels at large are not technically considered gods according to Nicole.^[49] Many Angels previously resided in Celestia during the era of the unified civilization, though all of them were cast out following the war of funerary flame.^[48]

Moon Goddesses

The Moon Goddesses are a group of entities associated with the Three Moons of Teyvat. Though they were originally created by Nibelung in the era of the ancient dragons, they were since incorporated into and given a place in the world order of the Human Realm after Teyvat was conquered by the Heavenly Principles; they are consequently commonly referred to as gods.^[50]

Seven Archons

The Seven Archons are the seven gods who preside over the seven nations of Teyvat.^[51] They were established following the conclusion of the Archon War 2,000 years ago,^[52] with the seven remaining victorious gods being appointed by the Heavenly Principles as Archons.^[49] Each of the Archons are in possession of one of the seven elemental Authorities of the Seven Sovereigns.^[53]

Other Gods

Image	Name	Other Titles	Region	Status
	Al-Ahmar, Amun	King Deshret	Sumeru	Deceased
	Bennu[Note 3]	Most-Radiant	Sumeru	Alive
	Bifrons	Sage-Lord of Fungi	Sumeru, Natlan	Buried underground after a volcanic eruption
	Boreas, Andrius	God of the North Wind	Mondstadt, Snezhnaya, Nod-Krai	Deceased; spirit remains extant.[54]
	Chi	Qingce	Liyue	Sealed away by Morax[55][56]
	Decarabian	God of Storms	Mondstadt	Deceased
	Guizhong, Haagentus[57]	God of Dust	Liyue	Deceased
	Havria	God of Salt	Liyue	Deceased[58]
	Heryshaf[59]	Goat King	Sumeru	Alive
	Marchosius	God of the Stove	Liyue	Gave his power to the land, currently in the form known as Guoba[60]
	Orobashi	Watatsumi Omikami	Inazuma, Enkanomiya	Deceased
	Osial	Overlord of the Vortex	Liyue	Sealed
	Remus	Sebastos	Sumeru,[27] Fontaine	Deceased
	Shesepankh[Note 3]	Most-Holy	Sumeru	Alive
	Sobek[61]	Crocodile King	Sumeru	Alive
	Tao Dou, Bune[62]	God of the Underworld	Liyue	Deceased
	Thoth[63]	Ibis King, God of Deceit	Sumeru	Alive
	Unknown	Mistress of Chenyu Vale The god of Chenyu Vale, Fujin and Herblord's former master.[64]	Liyue	Sealed[65]
	Unknown	Sea God[66]	Liyue	Unknown
	Unknown	None known The god's remains were sealed in the Guili Plains and collected by Skofnungr.[67]	Liyue	Deceased
	Unknown	None known The god's remains were buried in the desert and collected by Skofnungr.[67]	Sumeru	Deceased
	Unknown	None known The evil god's remains to whom Shenhe was to be sacrificed.[68]	Liyue	Deceased
	Unknown	None known The god's remains were attracted and incited monsters to chase Yuandai.[69]	Liyue	Deceased
	Unknown	None known The ancient god's tomb and remains cursed anyone touching it.[70]	Sumeru	Deceased
	Unknown	None known The god who ruled Qingxu Pool.[71]	Liyue	Unknown
	Unknown	None known The god who slashed Mt. Tianheng.[72]	Liyue	Unknown
	Unknown	None known Xiao's former master[73]	Liyue	Deceased[74]
	Unknown	None known The god of the general who was blocked by "Dainty Fists".[75]	Liyue	Unknown
	Unknown	None known The god who fell in the Archon War related to the ruins of Fort Mumei.[76]	Inazuma	Unknown
Uncertain placement
This lists entities whose godhood has not been entirely confirmed by the game's canon.
	Kitsune Saiguu[77][Note 4]	Kitsune Hakushin	Inazuma	Deceased
	Kanna Kapatcir[78][Note 5]	Great Thunderbird	Inazuma	Deceased
	Unknown	Thorn King[79][Note 6]	Mondstadt	Unknown
	Scaramouche[80][Note 7]	Everlasting Lord of Arcane Wisdom; Shouki no Kami, the Prodigal	Sumeru	Defeated and ostensibly always autonomous;[81][Note 8] presumed defunct
	Unknown	Deity of the Dog Days[82]	Natlan	Deceased[82]
	Unknown	God of Fertility[83]	Unknown	Unknown (possibly fictitious)
	Unknown	God of Hot Pot[84]	Unknown	Unknown
	Unknown	God of Thieves[85]	Unknown	Unknown
	Unknown	Jade-Skirted Mistress of Heavenly Stars[82]	Natlan	Deceased[82]
	Unknown	None known Gods originally worshipped by the barbarian tribes of Fontaine, whom Erinnyes forced to pledge themselves to Egeria and acknowledge that their gods were all aspects of her.[86]	Fontaine	Unknown

Notes

Trivia

• The term God is unisex, with female figures like Ei and Nahida being referred to as Gods rather than Goddesses. This is not absolute however, such as with the Goddess of Flowers.
• Each gemstone used for ascension has the words and blessings from The Seven for the reader.
• Gods can take whatever form they please; Morax has taken the form of a young man, a woman, and an elderly man,^[87] with Zhongli as his most recent vessel. Venti's vessel is based on the Nameless Bard's.
  • Vessels constructed through an archon's power have different compositions from regular human bodies; for example, Venti cannot be healed normally (in story, not in gameplay), while Zhongli indicates that he cannot get sick. That said, Venti is somehow allergic to cats. These human vessels are nonetheless not untouchable, as Venti is visibly winded and knocked unconscious from La Signora's attack.
• Due to stylistic choices made by original Chinese text and the English localization, some of the terminology pertaining to gods has been the subject of debate.
  • In Chinese, gods before the rise of The Seven are often distinguished by including 魔神 "Demon God" in their titles, but the English localization does not keep this term and usually translates it as "God" or omits it entirely. For example, Decarabian's title of 烈风的魔神 "Demon God of Gales" was localized as "God of Storms," while Guizhong's 尘王魔神 "Dust Lord Demon God" was localized as "Lord of Dust" and Osial's 漩涡之魔神 "Demon God of Vortexes" was localized as "Overlord of the Vortex."
  • Conversely, the term "Archon" is used in the English localization to denote The Seven's members, based on the game's Gnostic inspiration. However, there is no equivalent term in their Chinese titles, which led to early localization issues where many instances of 神 shén, "god" were indiscriminately translated as "archon" without taking context into account. In Version 1.3, the English localization adjusted most instances of "archon" to primarily refer to The Seven, but some instances have not been changed.
    • The Chinese name for Archon Quests is 魔神任务 "Demon God Quests," indicating that the Traveler's journey will involve the gods of old and not just The Seven.
  • The original Chinese text distinguishes some of Morax's accomplishments before becoming one of The Seven with the title 岩之魔神 "Demon God of Geo," as seen in Heart of Glaze and Zhongli's Character Story, That Which Rises From the Sea. In both instances, the English localization opted to translate the title as "Geo Archon" anyways. While Heart of Glaze made no attempt to distinguish the phrase from typical occurrences of "Geo Archon" (which would normally be either 岩神 or 岩之神), That Which Rises From the Sea added the phrase "long before he took that title" to clarify that the story occurred before Morax became one of The Seven.

Etymology

• The term "archon" is a Greek word that refers to "A person who claims the right to rule, or to exercise power or sovereign authority over other human beings." Genshin Impact uses its Gnostic usage,^[88] in which the archons are seven supernatural beings subservient to the demiurge, the creator of the material universe who is beneath the Monad, the true God. Each archon presides over one of the seven planets. By reaching gnosis, an understanding of divine knowledge, one can transcend the confines of the mortal world and escape the dominion of the archons.
  • In Manichaeism, a religion derived from Gnosticism, there are five archons who together make up the Prince of Darkness. Here, the Archons are seen as an undeniably evil force.
• The Chinese term for gods that predate The Seven, 魔神 "demon god," stems from the standard Chinese translation for the demons in the Ars Goetia — from which a deity's name is derived — is 所罗门七十二柱魔神 "Solomon's 72 Demon Gods."
  • Asmoday, Barbatos, Morax, Baal, Buer, Haborym, Bifrons, Naberius, Paimon, and Bune are directly lifted from the Ars Goetia.
    • Beelzebul is an alternate spelling of Beelzebub, who is associated with Baal but is not from the Ars Goetia.
    • Haborym is an alternate name for Aim.
    • Asmoday is alternate spelling of Asmodeus.
  • Ronova is derived from Ronove.
  • Istaroth is derived from Astaroth.
  • Focalors is derived from Focalor.
  • Amun is derived from Amon/Aamon and the Egyptian deity Amun.
  • Andrius may be derived from Andras, or Andrealphus based on his Chinese name. (See Boreas' Etymology section for details.)
  • Decarabian is derived from Decarabia.
  • Haagentus, the other name of Guizhong, is derived from Haagenti.
  • Havria is a feminized form of Havres, a corruption/misinterpretation of Flauros.
  • Marchosius is derived from Marchosias.
  • Osial appears to be a portmanteau of Ose and either Belial or Furfur, the latter based on its Chinese name. (See Osial's Etymology section for details.)
  • Orobashi is derived from Orobas.
• The Chinese and Japanese term for "allogenes" is "primordial god" (Chinese: 原神 Yuánshén; Japanese: 原神 Genshin), the same word used in the game's title.
  • In Gnosticism, "Allogenes," also known as the "Stranger," is a Gnostic figure who is half-human, half-divine, and has the power to communicate with other realms. In some writings about Allogenes, he is said to have become fully divine.

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