Nibelung

Nibelung, also known as Narayana in Sumeru,^[4] and Takoja Ianikuinen by the Frostmoon Scions, was the Dragon King and, after corruption, the Second Descender of Teyvat who ruled the planet before the arrival of the Heavenly Principles.^{[Note 1]} He was the creator of the Three Moons and their goddesses, whom he appointed to govern the world in his absence as he left to the sea of stars. During the Funerary Year, he returned to Teyvat and introduced the Abyss to the world in an unsuccessful attempt to fend off the invading Heavenly Principles, but failed and was killed by them.^[5][6]

Appearance

Nibelung is described as being gargantuan, and after sinking into the abyss, having great dark wings.^[7][8] However, Apep describes him as having scales that "shine bright," indicating he wasn't black-colored in the past.^[5]

The black dragon depicted in Revelations from the Past appears again in a mural in Ochkanatlan, where it is instead depicted as silver white. This dragon is depicted as floating above the Three Moons and beyond the world of Teyvat, further implying that Nibelung once had a brighter coloration, likely before he came into contact with the Abyss.

Story

Nibelung was an ancient dragon born alongside the world.^[9] At one point in the distant past, he met Anacharsis, a voyager who traversed the sea of stars, chronicling the demise of civilizations. She warned him that his world was destined for destruction by the Abyss and urged him to depart with her. Yet, Nibelung refused to abandon his kin. Instead, he sought to lead the dragon race beyond Teyvat by developing the means to reach the stars—an ambition that gave rise to their mastery of advanced technologies.^[9][10] Since he is depicted in the mural ruling Chichen Uctokah, it is possible that the space elevator project centering on it and Tonatiuh was originally spearheaded by Nibelung himself.^[6]

Later on, Nibelung decided to leave Teyvat to seek a solution to the threat of the Abyss,^[11][12][13] and created the Three Moons to govern the world and its cycles in his absence.^[3] At some point after his departure, however, the Heavenly Principles arrived and imposed a new order over the world, assuming control over the Three Moons by taking control of their "vows."^[3]

In ancient Teyvat, the whole planet was blanketed in pure, unblemished white light from the Light Realm.^[14] Aksinya and the Belyi Tsar describe the spiritual overflow of this light from Nibelung very literally as "hope" and "love," and that the distortion of this light by the Heavenly Principles to fashion the Human Realm ran this love dry beneath the weight of "countless sorrows," leaving a void of "envy, hatred, and selfish desire."^[4] This aligns with Neuvillette's description of the original order of the planet becoming "the resentments and loathing of the world," which the Heavenly Principles took great pains to suppress to maintain their rule.^[15]

The city of Hyperborea attempted to recreate the position of "Primordial Human" that Nibelung left vacant upon his end and in this effort used the corpse of the Cryo Dragon in their experiments to accomplish this. However, their experiment was a failure, as Nibelung was still alive, and therefore his seat still remained occupied.^[14] Meanwhile the Cryo Dragon's power caused what is now Snezhnaya to become a frozen wasteland and the city was destroyed. The experiment was not without results, however, as a millennia after the experiment occurred the Belyi Tsar would emerge from the Cryo Sovereign's corpse as an incomplete version of the Primordial Human.^[4]

When Nibelung returned during the Funerary Year,^[16] he did so bearing the power of the Abyss, which Apep claims he did believing that it would enable him to overthrow the Heavenly Principles and restore the dragons' dominion. However Nibelung has also been described as becoming "pitiful" after his corruption also, in comparison to his "once glorious and grand figure."^[8] Given what happened to Xiuhcoatl, being reduced to a "living corpse" it's possible it had the opposite effect.^[17][18]

Rallying his kin, he waged a "great war of vengeance" against the Heavenly Principles in what is remembered as a cataclysm of unparalleled devastation.^[5][6][15] Nibelung was furious upon discovering the apparent disloyalty of the moon sisters and imprisoned them within the Moon's Reflection. He then turned the moons into weapons of destruction to fight against the Heavenly Principles.^[19]

Rather than securing victory, this conflict proved ruinous, bringing the world to the brink of collapse. The Dragon King's war eventually culminated in his and his race's defeat, where Kukulkan notes that Nibelung was thoroughly obliterated by the Heavenly Principles at a great cost. Having secured supremacy and the authority to "shape the world," the Heavenly Principles cast down the Celestial Nails to mend the land. This act, while repairing the scars of battle, also devastated much of the life that had once thrived upon Teyvat's surface.^[6][5]

Legacy

Although the Heavenly Principles ultimately defeated Nibelung, their victory came "at great cost."^[6] The conflict with the ancient dragons left them severely damaged, and as a result, they could no longer wield their absolute authority to suppress the original order of the world. This loss of power led them to kill Saarelainen, creating the Gnoses from his remains in collaboration with "one who came after."^[15][11]

Even after seeing the former rainforests in her domain turn into desert through the power of the Celestial Nail, Apep attempted to turn the tides by acquiring more forbidden knowledge, but ultimately failed and became corrupted by the power she had sought.^[5]

Another surviving Sovereign, Xiuhcoatl, was also corrupted by the Abyss, and to fight it, he resolved to turn all matter in his territory and eventually Teyvat into pure information using Huitzilopochtli.^[6]

Neuvillette believes that Nibelung was wrong, and that all the kinds of life together are necessary to defeat the Abyss.^[20]

Character Mentions

Character Stories

Character	Stories
Lauma	Character Story 2
Neuvillette	Character Story 5
Nicole	Character Details

Character Voice-Overs

Character	Voice-Overs
Columbina	About Neuvillette  Media:VO_Columbina About Neuvillette.ogg Media:VO ZH_Columbina About Neuvillette.ogg Media:VO JA_Columbina About Neuvillette.ogg Media:VO KO_Columbina About Neuvillette.ogg The Hydro Dragon who serves as the Iudex of Fontaine? Hmm... Another Dragon who puts people in prison. I'm not sure I'd want to meet him.
Neuvillette	About Us: Witness  Media:VO_Neuvillette About Us - Witness.ogg Media:VO ZH_Neuvillette About Us - Witness.ogg Media:VO JA_Neuvillette About Us - Witness.ogg Media:VO KO_Neuvillette About Us - Witness.ogg Since you hail from beyond the stars, I invite you to be my witness as I judge this upended world. "This realm dismantled was of the Formidable Father himself, but what now reigns here is a cluster of filthy feathers. Though we live in a world of disarray, I shall undertake to restore all that has been broken."

Gallery

Full mural of Nibelung with the Three Moons from the Vision Serpent's Sanctum

Mural of Nibelung with the weaponized Three Moon from Hyperborea ruins during Where Does Her Name Rest?

Trivia

Aliases and Titles

• Nibelung is known by these aliases or titles:
  • Second Who Came^{[21][Note 1]}
  • Dark Dragon King^[22]
  • Second Descender^{[1][2][Note 1]}
  • Formidable Father^[23]
  • Dark-Winged Lord^[7]
  • Takoja Ianikuinen (by the Frostmoon Scions)^[11]
  • Primeval Blacksmith (by the Frostmoon Scions)^[11]
  • Eternal Workman (by the Frostmoon Scions)^[11]
  • Great Father of Genesis (by the Frostmoon Scions)
  • Murderous Blacksmith (by the Frostmoon Scions)
  • Master of Misfortune (by the Frostmoon Scions)
  • Lord of all Evil (by the Frostmoon Scions)
  • Lord of Two Natures (by the Frostmoon Scions)
  • Lord of Darkness Who Returned From the Sea of Stars^[24]
  • Dragon Lord of Darkness^[25]
  • The One^[4]
  • Master of The Light Realm^[4]
  • King of All Dragon Lords^[4]
  • Primordial Human^[4]
  • Narayana^[4]

Etymology

• The Germanic term Nibelung has several, sometimes conflicting, uses in Norse and Germanic myth, and its exact etymology is unknown. The popular theory is that it is derived from nibel "mist, cloud" and that the word was often used for, or may have originally meant, mystical beings. The term Nibelung in legend has usually referred to either a group of humans or a group of dwarves.
  • The term Nibelung in Genshin Impact is likely derived from Richard Wagner's four-part opera Der Ring des Nibelungen "The Ring of the Nibelung" (which is based on various Germanic and Norse legends and sagas), in which the dwarf (or Nibelung) Alberich creates a ring capable of controlling the world, using gold he stole from the Rhinemaidens (or Rheintöchter "Rhine-daughters"). The conflict that arises over the ownership of this ring eventually leads to the destruction of the gods and their home, Valhalla.
    • The Alberich Clan and "Gold" Rhinedottir are other names directly taken from Der Ring des Nibelungen. Notably, both the Alberich Clan and Rhinedottir played a prominent role during the cataclysm 500 years ago, in which a resurgence of Abyssal power and forbidden knowledge came from Khaenri'ah, resulting in its destruction at the hands of the Heavenly Principles and the gods.
• The epithet "Takoja Ianikuinen" derives from the Finnish words takoja "forger" and iänikuinen "eternal" or "ancient."
  • "Takoja Iänikuinen" is an epithet used in the Finnish epic Kalevala to refer to "Ilmarinen", a god of the sky who forged the heavens.^[26]
    • In the Kalevala, one of the stories about Ilmarinen describes his attempt to forge a Sampo Mill for the enchantress Louhi in order to win the Maiden of Pohjola. In this effort he would create a crossbow, a ship, and a metal cow over the course of three days. Each creation proves to be flawed and evil in nature, causing Ilmarinen to destroy them before ultimately succeeding in his efforts to create the Sampo Mill on the fourth day. This myth appears to be directly alluded to in the Hymns of the Far North, which states that Nibelung created "a bow, a great chariot, and a shuttle of moonlight," seemingly referencing his creation of the Three Moons and their respective goddesses.^[27]
      • The Sampo Mill is also a device within the world of Genshin Impact, though whether it has any connection to Nibelung has yet to be seen.

• His epithet as "Narayana" is derived from the Sanskrit words "nara" (water) and "ayana" (abode or refuge) turning out to mean "one whose home is the waters". The term has also been defined as "primeval man" or "Supreme Being who is the foundation of all men."^[28]
  • The name is used to refer to the Narayana of Vedic Religion, considered to be one of the many epithets of the Hindu God Vishnu and also the supreme deity of the Vaishnavism tradition.^[28]

Cultural Inspiration

• As the Heavenly Principles seems inspired by the Demiurge of Gnostic myth, Nibelung in his uncorrupted state appears to be partly inspired by the Monad, the true God and creator from which the aeons, including the Demiurge's own creator, emanated from.
  • The dragon records on the Frost Moon appear to refer to Nibelung as "the Creator" in line with this concept, and for much of Teyvat's dragon history, Nibelung seemed to be distant and unknowable to his people, a concept also shared by the Monad.
  • On the flipside, the Monad was often presented in a more mysterious and, importantly, immaterial fashion which would be more in line with the Light Realm itself.

Notes

Other Languages

Change History

References