Ronova

Ronova, also known as Tuonetar by the Frostmoon Scions, is the Ruler of Death among the Four Great Rulers of the Heavenly Principles.^[6]

Profile

Death abides no reason — for it cannot be defied, even by those who see it coming.

—The Gods' Limits

As the Ruler of Death, Ronova governs over the laws of death in Teyvat. She has the power to freely define the form of death for any entity in Teyvat, or may even deny it altogether, such as when she cast the curse of immortality on the pure-blooded Khaenri'ahns.^[7]

She is a god whose existence predates any Archon.^[8] She is an extremely elusive figure, and records dating back thousands of years have nearly no mentions of her.^[9]

In the past, Ronova sang alongside the angels on high. At some point, she would come to prefer embracing the rotting bones of the mortal world, and expressed the desire to witness firsthand its creatures, their lives, and their deaths.^[10]

She helped Natlan establish their rules and gave guidance to Yohualtecuhtin, Lord of the Night, in creating the Night Kingdom. She had done this out of an expression of love and act of reparation, but these actions were considered to be overstepping her authorities as a Shade and it displeased the Heavenly Principles. After being censured by the Heavenly Principles, she "succumbed to self-pity", no longer cared if others discussed her identity and became increasingly indifferent to the fate of the land.^[6][9]

Appearance

Ronova's personal form is that of a tall curvaceous woman with pale skin, long and thick white hair and golden eyes with 7 petals flower-shaped pupils. Her arms are an almost black color with red eye-like patterns marked across them. Her nails appear to elongate when she focuses her power.

Her outfit consists mainly of shades of black, gray, and red. She wears a black translucent bodysuit under a black strapless dress with the front part of her skirt open, revealing her legs. There are two triquetras on each side of her skirt over a ruffled gray translucent skirt that falls to the ground. The back part of her dress' skirt consists of black feathers with a dark red interior.

Her accessories are a pair of red eye-shaped accessories on each side of her hair, black high-heeled shoes, a black transparent veil attached to the back part of her hair and a pair of upwards-curved dark red wings with eye-shaped holes.

The Ruler of Death utilizes a crimson-red rift in the skies of Teyvat to gaze upon the world below through the technique she employs to observe Teyvat.^[9] From this rift, Ronova manifests six eyes—two positioned to her right, three to her left, and a larger central eye. It can be reasonably assumed that the crimson energy forming this rift is a manifestation of Ronova's power.

Quests and Events

Archon Quests

• Chapter V
  • Act IV: The Rainbow Destined to Burn
    • A Fuel Named "Fate"
  • Act V: Incandescent Ode of Resurrection
    • When All Becomes a Monument
• Song of the Welkin Moon
  • Act X: Truth Amongst the Pages of Purana
    • Truth Amongst the Pages of Purana (as "Ruler of Death")
• Chapter VII
  • Act II: Wraith's Nocturne
    • The White Curtain Falls
    • Lelek's Confession
    • Winter's Mysterious Silence
    • Wraith's Nocturne
    • Mistilteinn

Story

History

In the time period known as "When the Doves Held Branches," the Heavenly Principles descended upon the world of Teyvat from the sea of stars. They battled against the Seven Sovereigns and, to that end, created Four Great Rulers of themself, one of which was Ronova. According to extant sources, forty years after the Heavenly Principles' initial appearance, the Seven Sovereigns were ultimately defeated, and the seven great nations of the realm capitulated to their dominion.^[5]

During the autumn harvests, the people of Hyperborea offered animal sacrifices to Ronova in honor of those who died that year. The animals were placed in intricately carved wooden or bronze vessels shaped like boats and burned as offerings to please her.^[11]

Amidst the widespread devastation caused by the war of funerary flame, the region that would later be known as Natlan suffered extensive ruin, with its Ley Lines sustaining severe damage. In the aftermath of the war, Ronova instructed the Lord of the Night with the task of reconstructing the Ley Lines, an endeavor realized through the establishment of the Night Kingdom. However, this would greatly displease the Heavenly Principles, who regarded it as an overreach of her authority. Confronted with their censure, Ronova "succumbed to self-pity," displaying increasing indifference to the fate of the land.^[6]

In Asmoday's absence, Ronova and the other Rulers began introducing objects they found interesting into the exhibition halls of the Temple of Space^[12] and allowing minor changes:^[13] Ronova was responsible for creating the Maranasati Caskets to guard the Apathic Interval.^[14][15] Additionally, together with the other Rulers, she commissioned Venipi to recreate a Sumerian desert complex from memory, resulting in the present-day Desert Pavilion.^[16]

Archon War and Aftermath

Due to the evil miasmas produced by the corpses of gods in Liyue, which snatched away numerous lives, people began performing rites to the heavens by kindling flames as prayers for blessings and the defeat of evil. From within the flames, Ronova whispered to a merciful doctor,^{[Note 1]} also known as the Lone Butterfly of the Crimson Flame, and granted him the Staff of Homa, with which they purified all that was impure through fire and brought relief from the misfortunes and hurts of the deceased.^[17]

After Xbalanque ascended and became the first Pyro Archon, he leveraged the divine throne to pray and borrow Ronova's powers and establish the rules of Natlan,^[18] a framework which allows ordinary humans to become Pyro Archons through the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame.^[9][19][20] Those who ascend are then granted knowledge and memories of the land through the Sacred Flame.^[21] The two came to an agreement that those who used Ronova's powers would eventually die, and if the Heavenly Principles were to find out, she would simply deny involvement and claim that her powers were stolen.^[20] Xbalanque also asked to be given a chance to see Natlan's future should its people prevail over the Abyss, which she agreed to.

About 500 years ago

Ronova guided Aila's hand to "sever the thread" of the last Archpriestess, Lovia.^[22]

During the cataclysm, the Ruler of Death cursed the full-blooded Khaenri'ahns with immortality. According to Capitano, Ronova made no distinction in whom she cursed despite the fact that the Five Sinners of Khaenri'ah and Irmin were the primary culprits responsible for the calamity.^[7][9][23]

Present Day

Before the Traveler enters Tenshukaku, the shadow of Ronova's wings can be seen behind the Raiden Shogun,^{[Note 2]} suggesting that Ronova may have been present and met with the Shogun before the Traveler arrived.^[24]

After Mavuika used Ronova's powers to thwart Gosoythoth's abyssal invasion, Ronova demanded Mavuika's life as payment to fulfill their pact. However, the Lord of the Night and The Captain had agreed to have Il Capitano offer his life instead, intending to exploit the Curse of Immortality imposed upon him by Ronova. This would create a paradox and allow him to obtain vengeance against Ronova for the suffering inflicted upon innocent Khaenri'ahns, including himself, by forcing Ronova to break one of her own rules. Ultimately, Ronova elected to continue upholding the Curse of Immortality, resulting in Yohualtecuhtin gaining eternal life as The Captain's life force was transferred to the Lord of the Night.^[9]

Due to the Natlanese winning the war, Ronova honored her bet with Xbalanque and allowed him to see present-day Natlan. Xbalanque decided to stay for a single day in Mausau's body, and offered Mavuika the rest of his life force that the Shade had given him as payment for their duel, to allow her to bring her loved ones back temporarily in his place — an offer she declined.^[18]

Some time afterwards, Ronova attended a routine meeting with the other Rulers in Celestia to discuss the whereabouts of Asmoday. After discussing the activities of the Tsaritsa and the Fatui, Ronova suggested to the other Shades that they should intervene on account of the Heavenly Principles's prolonged inactivity, though still within the extent permitted by the "rules."^[25]

With the Pyro Gnosis in hand, Nahida had an audience with Ronova, Istaroth, and Naberius. Ronova asked the Dendro Archon if she was alright with burning Irminsul since it records all and is everything she fought for. Nahida stated that Irminsul is beyond recovery, thus Ronova and the other Great Rulers allow her to burn Irminsul.^[26]

Concerned about the growing threat in Snezhnaya, Ronova cursed the people of Snezhnaya with a curse of death. Whenever any individual came up with an idea for technological advancement that would threaten the Heavenly Principles, the curse of death would trigger, temporarily killing the person and every individual around them and causing them to forget whatever idea they had. This curse first afflicted researchers in the Armory Palace working on Project Mistilteinn, including Mitya, resulting in numerous reports of short-term memory loss; at one point, Odette had discovered Mitya's dead body, only to see him alive days later.

Mitya would often come to the Korolevskiy Theater for inspiration for his work, and during a performance that the Traveler was watching, Ronova triggered the Curse of Death, killing everyone in the theater. Ordinarily, the theatergoers, staff, and performers would have experienced nothing more than short-term memory loss before coming back to life, but the theater's Ley Lines had previously been modified by the angels, causing them to only be able to accept two dead souls at a time. Everyone in the theater entered the afterlife, perceiving it as being trapped inside the theater due to an intense blizzard. Ronova stepped in to oversee the situation personally, disguising herself as Alyosha after he died, and began to kill the people inside, two per day. On the final day, the Traveler and Mitya discovered her true identity, and after destroying her Alyosha disguise, everyone in the theater woke up alive.^[27] The Traveler later ran into her in the Armory Palace, where she tried to take Paimon by force, recognizing her as a creation of Celestia, but was stopped by Pierro. As the Curse of Death began to fade, Ronova attempted to leave, not wanting anyone else to see her form. The Traveler proceeded to attack her, refusing to let her leave, but she easily held them off and teleported away.^[28]

Trivia

• Ronova shares the same distinctive wings and a very similar hairstyle with the Statue of the Omnipresent God present in Inazuma, suggesting that the statue may depict her.
  • The statue is Inazuma’s symbol of eternity, and the essence of that eternity is death.^[29]
• The Maranasati Caskets created by Ronova share their name with the Maranasati meditation technique, a meditation practice that involves abandoning desire and achieving complete mental emptiness while facing death.
  • The Maranasati Caskets refers to the Buddhist concept of Maraṇasati (mindfulness of death, death awareness), a Buddhist meditation practice that involves regarding death as inevitable and living with that urgency in every moment.
• The Staff of Homa has a design identical to Ronova's wings.
  • In real life, Homa is a Hindu ritual that involves offering things to a fire.
  • The name Homa, and especially the wing motif may also reference the Homa bird from Persian mythology, a legendary vulture or phoenix-like bird associated with the cycle of life and death.
  • In Japanese Buddhism, the homa ritual is a consecrated fire ceremony in which the sacred fire is believed to purify the mind and body of worldly desires, symbolically burning away inner delusions and karmic obstacles.
• Tao Dou, who could pacify the forces of life and death, is called the "God of the Underworld",^[30] a title similar to Ronova’s, "Mother of the Underworld".
• In the book The Fall of the Faded Castle, a tall and slim figure dressed in dark robes is described as appearing to collect debts and claim the souls of those inside the castle. It's possible that this entity corresponds to Ronova.
• In the book The Headless Coquitao, the story is told of how Coquitao makes a pact with the Deity of Dog Days, who commands him to punish with death those who have forgotten death.
  • The Deity of Dog Days could refer to Mictlantecuhtli, the god of death and the underworld in Aztec mythology. “Dog Days” may allude to the days of the Dog sign (Itzcuintli) within the 260-day ritual calendar, the Tonalpohualli, which is ruled by Mictlantecuhtli. In this context, the Deity of Dog Days could be Ronova.

Aliases and Titles

• Ronova is known by these aliases or titles:
  • Ruler of Death^[6]
  • Tuonetar (by the Frostmoon Scions)^[11]
  • Mother of the Underworld^[11]
  • Grim Reaper^[31]
  • Lady of the Underworld^[22]

Etymology

• "Ronova" is likely derived from Ronove, a Marquis and Great Earl of Hell, ranked 27th in the Ars Goetia. Ronove is described as a taker of old souls, who often comes to Earth to harvest souls of decrepit humans and animals near death.
• "Tuonetar" is the Queen of the Underworld in Finnish folk religion, and rules over the underworld, Tuonela.

Gallery

Ronova In-Game Introduction

The eye used by Ronova to observe Teyvat, seen during When All Becomes a Monument

Appearing as a Plume of Death in Archon Quest Song of the Welkin Moon: Act X - Truth Amongst the Pages of Purana

Ronova's shadow visible behind the Raiden Shogun in the Inazuma Story Promotional Video.

Introduction Card

Ronova placing the curse of immortality on Khaenri'ahns

Ronova in The God’s Limits

Ronova in Sudden Snow

Lunar Arcanum XIII: Death featuring Ronova

Version 7.1 Special Program announcement

Videos

Story Promotional Video｜Genshin Impact

Version 5.3 "Incandescent Ode of Resurrection" Trailer - Genshin Impact-2

"Memories of This Life" Animated Short - Genshin Impact

Story Teaser- Honor - Genshin Impact

Teyvat Chapter Interlude Teaser- The Gods' Limits - Genshin Impact

Transcendence Trailer - "Sudden Snow" - Genshin Impact

Version 7.0 "Everwinter Without Mercy" Trailer

Cutscene Animation- "Death Is Near"

Cutscene Animation- "The Hour of Resurrection Draws Near"

Notes

Other Languages

Change History

References