fedora's genshin theories

This carrd site is very dead; I don't really write Genshin theories ~~or listen to canon~~ anymore. I may delete this carrd, so feel free to copy-paste/screenshot/otherwise back up whatever you want to back up. I won't be doing that.The following is all very old (pre-Inazuma); enjoy!--welcome to @scaramoucheCEO's genshin theory carrd, the carrd where i put my genshin theories! I'm fedora and i think about Scaramouche and the Nameless Bard a lot

✦ Theory: Irminsul Heavens ✦
My basis for the Genshin universe and the variety of things contained within the Abyss✦ Theory: Scarabaal ✦
Is Scaramouche an alter ego of the Electro Archon Baal?✦ Theory: Scaramouche and the Surpassing Cup ✦
Written as an addendum to the Scarabaal theory, but can be read by itself too. What are the chances of Scaramouche being the subject of the Surpassing Cup lore? (Does it affect his chances of being Baal?)

Don't use parts of my theories for your theories without credit. Please credit my theories to my twitter @scaramoucheCEO or link back to this carrd. Thank you!!

Soon to come:✦ Reference: Everything we know about Old Mondstadt and its cast ✦
There's a lot more than the Boy and the Whirlwind cutscene. So, so much more.✦ Theory: Scarabaal part 2 ✦
Putting together the Irminsul Heavens theory and Scarabaal theory for some fun✦ Theory: Childe's "Vision" ✦
Analyzing the wiki's unsupported claim that Childe wields a Hydro Vision and an Electro Delusion

welcome to @scaramoucheCEO's genshin theory carrd, the carrd where i put my genshin theories! I'm fedora and i think about Scaramouche and the Nameless Bard a lot

✦ you are on the page for the theory: Irminsul Heavens ✦
My basis for the Genshin universe and the variety of things contained within the Abyss✦ Theory: Scarabaal ✦
Is Scaramouche an alter ego of the Electro Archon Baal?✦ Theory: Scaramouche and the Surpassing Cup ✦
Written as an addendum to the Scarabaal theory, but can be read by itself too. What are the chances of Scaramouche being the subject of the Surpassing Cup lore? (Does it affect his chances of being Baal?)

Don't use parts of my theories for your theories without credit. Please credit my theories to my twitter @scaramoucheCEO or link back to this carrd. Thank you!!

The Irminsul Heavens Theory: Ley Lines, the Imaginary Tree, the Stars, the Heavens, and the Abyss... by @scaramoucheCEO

Posted March 1, 2021

(4/14/2021 edit: I haven't updated this since the huge lore drop in Dainsleif's second quest. Some things aren't going to fit perfectly, such as the origin of Barbatos and the Abyss Mages, which was unfortunately a huge pillar for this theory. Let me know if you can make more sense of it than I can!)Summary: the Imaginary Tree from Honkai Impact is the source of the Ley Lines, occupies the same space as the Abyss/is possibly the same thing as the Abyss, and is the true "heavens" while Celestia is most likely pretty hellish. Since writing this, I've heard of the popular upside-down Teyvat theory; while it's not the same, pieces of that theory might go hand in hand with this one.

So by a mix of coincidence and hugely overthinking everything Venti for several months, I accidentally asked the right questions and stumbled into multiple doors that all opened into each other. This is my view of the Genshin Impact universe now, and of how its largest components fit together.Here’s some of what I will explain in this post—almost all are topics I haven't (personally) seen touched by anyone else, but regardless turned out to be pivotal in my understanding of the universe:Part 1:
‣ The origin of Barbatos (in more detail than just "a wisp of wind"—which is very true but it's more interesting than that, and is one of the questions that unlocked this entire rabbit hole)
‣ ...and what Abyss Mages are...
‣ ...and why wisp Barbatos looks like a baby Abyss Mage
‣ The origin of the Ley Lines/Irminsul trees
‣ EXACTLY what "the stars, the heavens, and the abyss" are referring to, and how Celestia fits into that (spoiler: Celestia is not the heavens)
‣ Also I explain the sort of hollow earth theory that some people have caught onto because this fits 100%Part 2:
‣ The origin of the Mora symbol
‣ The origin of the four-pointed star (Primogem shape)
‣ Paimon’s affiliation. I'm not dipping into any theories you've seen already... probably. ~~I actually haven't looked into Paimon theories myself...~~What this is not about:
‣ Genshin and Honkai are connected ooo (we know, that's the whole basis)
‣ Paimon is the Unknown God/a god of time (I don’t want to write about her for more than like five minutes lol)
‣ Anything related to time or the timelineI'll give all the evidence I realistically can, but a lot of the evidence is sprinkled as small hints all throughout the intricate lore. Basically, the moment all these things clicked, the whole Genshin universe started making way more sense to me, and I am hoping I am not just absolutely bonkers and that others can start seeing it this way too

Disclaimer 1: I have not read all the books in Mondstadt or Liyue, so please forgive me if I take something that is already canonically stated to be true or untrue and present it as my own theoryDisclaimer 2: I barely know anything about Honkai Impact besides the very little I've read about the Imaginary Tree, and since ALL of this hinges on the Imaginary Tree... well, I may mess something up. All things given though, I am insanely confident about all this, maybe because I haven't slept in 30 hoursok lets go

Part 1

The Hollow Teyvat Theory and the Imaginary Tree

I’m going to start by explaining what the shape of the world seems to be, because everything I have to say hinges on the sorta “hollow earth” theory and Teyvat’s relation to the Imaginary Tree from Honkai Impact. I don’t know who came up with this first, so I’m sorry if I should credit someone, but here’s a recreation of a graphic I saw on my timeline a few months ago and when I saw it i went oh my god that’s it

The Hollow Teyvat theory explains how the stars are just as fake as Scaramouche says, and how Celestia tilts or looks closer depending on where you’re looking from. It also makes a lot of sense out of the Abyss. What’s more of an abyss than the empty space between dimensions? When you go deep into the Abyss (12th floor) you can finally see stars and galaxies, implying that you’ve broken the surface and are out of Teyvat’s bubble.

Also Foul Legacy is a power that Childe learned in the Abyss, and it’s here that he gets this galaxy patterned cape.

The Abyss Herald (image rendered by Lumie) has some subtle star patterns on his capelet.

Abyss = the empty space between dimensions, outer space.Now put this together with Honkai Impact’s Imaginary Tree. The Imaginary Tree is a massive dimensional tree, and each of its leaves is another bubble universe. Teyvat has already been confirmed to be one of those bubble universes.

There are no references to the Imaginary Tree in Genshin Impact......But there are multiple references to one huge, ancient tree that originally made the Ley Lines.

Abyss Mages drop pieces of the Ley Line trees (also called Irminsul trees), why? Because they’re close to the source of the Ley Line system: the Imaginary Tree, which is practically in the Abyss.The “Abyss” is anything outside of Teyvat’s small bubble. It’s a huge, infinite space, containing the Imaginary Tree and all its universes, as well as the outer surface of Teyvat’s bubble itself and a certain civilization that used to dwell on that outer surface. If I say a character is tied to the Abyss, I don’t mean they want to destroy humanity. Some of them are SO nice! The Abyss Order is only one set of beings that originate in the Abyss.Here’s the Imaginary Tree and Ley Line system in relation to Teyvat...

If you’re not convinced, this connection actually clears up a few huge questions that have been in my mind for months...

they are all related to Venti

This is going to seem unrelated for a second, so bear with me... it’s baby time.

The Ley Lines and the Abyss

The biggest question that’s plagued my brain for months has been why the fuck does he look like an Abyss Mage?Here they are side by side in case you don’t believe me...

I considered as many ideas as I could imagine... maybe Abyss Mages had a different standing in the world 2600+ years ago, so it would make sense for Barbatos to take a similar form (not that he was able to willingly change his form before he got the Gnosis). Or maybe he somehow originated in the Abyss, but... how? I mean, his origin story—which I will show right now—clearly says that he was created and sent down from Celestia...Here’s his origin story: the description for the Wings of Azure Wind. Read it if you’d like, but I’ll sum it up at the end.

A gentle gust of wind is sent from “the towering heavens above”, embarks on a journey from the shores in the east, and does whatever subtle things it can to help many beings throughout the land before reaching its destination, gradually materializing and taking the form of a person.This is pretty clearly Barbatos, long before he went through the wind barrier to Old Mondstadt and met the nameless bard. It fits Venti’s description.

So he was sent down from Celestia, right...?Hang on, one more tangent.Regarding Celestia... it’s not a good place. The Archons are rebelling against it (Venti almost immediately ditched his role as an archon, Zhongli willingly gave away his Gnosis which is an archon’s direct connection to Celestia, and the Tsaritsa is doing whatever the Tsaritsa is doing)Furthermore, Venti responds very negatively to mentions of Celestia, more negatively than anything else.

In that case... why did he name his lyre the Holy Lyre der Himmel (Holy Lyre of the Heavens)? Doesn’t he hate the heavens?That doesn’t make any sense for him to do, unless Celestia and “the heavens” are two different places...At this point I realized that the description of the Wings of Azure Wind don’t actually mention Celestia. It, too, says “the heavens”.So Barbatos was sent from “the heavens”, which is a different place from Celestia...Where else is a gust of wind born? All elements come from the Ley Lines. Barbatos came from the Ley Lines.And the source of Ley Lines is the Imaginary Tree, which is contained in the Abyss.Suddenly it makes waaaay more sense why his true form looks like an Abyss Mage. They’re very similar creatures, if not the exact same species. That means Abyss Mages are pure elemental beings born from the Ley Line system; that’s why they can naturally use elements, and why they drop pieces of the Ley Lines.If that’s not enough, the Wings of Azure Wind story emphasizes that he first embarked on his journey from “the shores of the east”. That is exactly where the door to the Abyss is.

(Musk Reef, at the time of Venti's birth, was the top of a tall mountain called Pilos Peak, a mountain even taller than Dragonspine. But this doesn't affect the connection between Musk Reef and the wisp's origin point; Pilos Peak was still in the same position that Musk Reef is in now, if you believe Mona's line "The mountains of that age were replaced by the vast stretch of ocean we see today." Barbatos spawned from the portal at the peak of the mountain before heading to Mondstadt's icy eastern shores.)

So if this is true... the Abyss and the Imaginary Tree occupy the same space, and the Imaginary Tree is the ancient Irminsul tree that is the source of the Ley Lines.

Why are mentions of the ancient tree in past tense? Where did the Imaginary Tree go!? I’m scared now

When the game references “the stars, the heavens, and the abyss”, the heavens is not Celestia. The heavens is actually somewhere in the Abyss; either 1. the Imaginary Tree or someplace related to it (I don’t know much about Honkai Impact so maybe someone who’s played can flesh this out a little better) or... 2. Khaenri’ah. I will get to that later. Regardless, both places are in the Abyss.“The stars” refers to Celestia and the space around it. His Majesty Scaramouche already told us the stars are fake. With the Hollow Teyvat Theory and the fact that Celestia is not a good or genuine place, we infer that the whole sky around it is simply not a normal or real sky.So it’s most accurate to say that the heavens are, along with the Imaginary Tree, the Abyss. Not the Abyss Order that is trying to destroy humanity. Like I mentioned, “the Abyss” is just... an umbrella term for every place that lies outside of Teyvat’s bubble: the home of the Abyss Order, the outer surface of the bubble, probably Khaenri’ah, the Imaginary Tree, and the origin of the Travelers.

Part 2

The Primogem Motif

So what does the connection between the Abyss, the Imaginary Tree, and the Ley Lines mean?
I haven’t had tons of time to think about it or reread content with these ideas in mind, but here’s what I’ve come up with, and I will add more later. I am not as confident about anything from here on out as I was with Part 1, but something should still be useful.Namely, the connection means that anyone who’s connected to Khaenri’ah or the Abyss is connected to Teyvat’s outer surface, and maybe to the Imaginary Tree/whoever is overlooking it. Dainsleif for sure 100% fits that idea; he’s the Bough Keeper (Chinese is more like Bough Collector), which means his duty—whatever it is—directly involves the Imaginary Tree. So let’s look at the Khaenri’ah characters (Kaeya, Dainsleif, and Albedo)They all share one specific motif, which is the four-pointed star or Primogem shape.

It’s hard to pin down the meaning or origin of this motif, since the four-pointed star seems to be a favorite shape by the designers of Genshin. It’s in the UI everywhere, and to make things worse there’s not a lot of lore about Primogems that makes sense.All we can tell about Primogems for sure is that they’re not related to Teyvat. So, that means they’re from somewhere that fits within the umbrella term of “the Abyss”...But there are a few other characters that have the motif prominently in their designs. Those characters are the Travelers and Paimon.

It’s not as exact on Paimon; the bottom spike is longer, so maybe it isn’t intended to be the same motif. If it’s not, then some of my ideas about her aren’t as stable, but more or less should still stand.Now, I’m relying on the speculated link between Khaenri’ah and the Abyss; it hasn’t been “proven”, but it does look pretty obvious. Anyway, if Khaenri’ah is in the Abyss (for example, a city that lies atop the surface of Teyvat’s bubble) then by relation, the four-pointed star—a clear symbol of Khaenri’ah and its people—could be a symbol of the Abyss.

For funsies I’ll update the map with Khaenri’ah. And Fuck It, Childe

(I based Khaenri'ahs look on my misconception that the scenery in the Genshin opening screen is Khaenri'ah, but I since found out it's Celestia.)

Why would the Travelers share a motif with Khaenri’ah? Because they are from outside Teyvat’s bubble—thus you can kind of say that they are from the Abyss too. They’re not necessarily related to Khaenri’ah, but to the endless “universe” (or lack thereof) that is the Abyss.

I looked for the four-pointed star motif on other Abyss-related things.Nothing that immediately sticks out, but the Abyss Mages have it on their boots.

It also shows up as one of the star shapes in Foul Legacy’s cape, but that’s just kind of what stars look like in general...

Most significantly, it’s in the center of the Abyssal Stars icon.

It also happens to be subtly on the Ruin Guard’s eye... there’s probably lore about Ruin Guards that exists already that I don’t know, but it makes me think they were guardians of Khaenri’ah. idkCouldn’t find one on the Abyss Herald or anywhere inside the actual Abyss. And like I said, the four-pointed star is a favorite shape of the Genshin designers, so you can find it in many places in the game; the Khaenri’ah characters, the Travelers, and Paimon are just where it appears to be the most significant. It also appears in small places on Scaramouche and Mona, and to a teeny tiny extent Razor, Fischl, Jean, and Diluc, so..... yeah(It’s extremely prominent on Mona actually, covering her from head to toe, but I mark it up to it being plain old star shapes because she’s an astrologist. Scaramouche I have a possible explanation for, which I can get into another time.)I also don’t understand what Primogems are or where exactly they’re from. If the Blessing of the Welkin Moon is truly lore-related, then the Welkin Moon sister from the three moons lore can create primogems, but that doesn’t fit in with the connections I’ve made now... I’ll get to that later.To help tie it all together though, Ley Line Blossoms are in the same four-pointed star shape. Remember the connection between Ley Lines and the Abyss.

There are so many shapes they could have gone with, I don’t think it was unintentional.For some fun, let’s put this together with the other symbol I interpreted...

The Mora Symbol

You might have noticed that the Mora symbol shows up on many places that aren’t related to Mora or even Zhongli. I couldn’t name them all, but it’s on Paimon’s outfit, some domains, the Welkin Moon sister’s bowl, and some barely-visible UI overlays, and there are some things that share such a similar shape that they undeniably must be connected: Cecilias, the Reputation icon, domain doors, and Abyssal Stars. The Mora symbol on Paimon’s outfit, the Abyssal Stars(?), a few domain walls, and the UI overlays are upside-down, but I’ll get to that later.I noticed something pretty funky when I went up to Dragonspine’s peak... see for yourself, if you can.

...Yeah, there are Mora-shaped snowflakes hidden among the many snowflakes at the peak. They’re very few and far between.

Well, rather than snowflakes, they’re more like specks of magical glowing dust that hang in the air. I don’t remember seeing any of this glowing dust except for at the peak where the pillar is, and it all disappears permanently after raising the pillar.I saw that the strange flowers growing in Dragonspine are in the same shape, too.

In case you don’t know, the pillar is the nail that Celestia sent down to freeze Dragonspine.There you go, the symbol we know as the Mora symbol is actually a symbol of Celestia. Why Zhongli chose to use a symbol of Celestia when we’re assuming that he, too, is rebelling against it, I'm not sure, but the symbol probably extends to the Archons in general. Regardless it sure makes some things a lot more interesting.To support the connection: the Mora symbol is actually a triquetra, recently recognized as a symbol of the Trinity. It’s a kind of Celtic knot, which is a pattern with no start or end that represents eternity and other significant things to people of the time.

Google says “The Trinity Knot or triquetra was used to symbolize and honor the Mother, Maiden and Crone of the neo-pagan triple goddess. It signifies the three life-cycles of a woman in relation to the phases of the moon.”Sounds a lot like the Mora symbol represents the three moons.The Welkin Moon sister, who anyone would assume is affiliated with Celestia, has the triquetra on her bowl. The symbol is definitely related to Celestia and definitely related to the three moons.

But now you can understand why I’m confused about her being connected to Primogems, too... was her alignment with Celestia or the Abyss? How does the Abyssal Moon fit in, exactly? I have to look at the three moons lore again.So... does it mean anything when the triquetra is upside-down?As I mentioned earlier, it’s upside-down on Paimon’s outfit, the Abyssal Stars (I think...? I can’t tell... it’s both ways), a few domain walls, and some unrelated UI overlays. Because there are both rightside-up and upside-down triquetras on domain walls, everything after this is on very shaky ground, but I decided to think about it anyway.I already connected Paimon and the Abyss. So if it’s on her, and it’s on the Abyssal Stars too, and some domain walls... then the upside-down triquetra is a symbol of the Abyss, along with the four-pointed star, specifically in opposition to Celestia and the gods.It makes sense that Celestia and the Abyss are enemies, and one would use the other’s upside-down symbol as a sign of rebellion against the other. If the triquetra isn't about the three moons, then it’s likely Celestia using the Abyss’s symbol upside-down; if the Abyss is everything outside of Teyvat’s bubble, including the Imaginary Tree and whoever is overlooking it, Celestia seems to me like the Abyss’s rebellious teenager. I believe Celestia wants to cut Teyvat off from the Imaginary Tree, and the people overlooking the Imaginary Tree do not like that. Dainsleif is caught somewhere in the middle here...

tl;dr:
Teyvat is an inverted planet shape; The Abyss is infinite and contains the outer surface of Teyvat, the Imaginary Tree, and Khaenri’ah, none of which are inherently bad, one or all of which are referred to as “the heavens”; the Imaginary Tree is (WAS??) the source of the Ley Line system; the Primogem motif represents someplace or everyplace from the Abyss; the Mora symbol originated in Celestia; Celestia and the Abyss probably hate each otherThere you go, I’m off to reconsume all of the lore with all these things in mind. Let me know what you think at @scaramoucheCEO on twitter and help me fill in the little gaps! May you be blessed by Scaramouche

March 6, 2021: Time to start adding edits and new discoveries!Childe's Riptide symbol appears to be a clear mix of the Fatui logo and the upside-down triquetra. If the upside-down triquetra is truly a symbol of the Abyss, that makes so much sense it hurts.

(Don't ask me why the Fatui logo is reminiscent of the four-pointed star, btw... I still haven't thought that far lol, but it seems to fit with the Tsaritsa's apparent goal fine enough that I'm not worried)

Someone wrote a similar post today about Ley Lines!! They conveniently compiled a huge amount of text about Ley Lines and the original Irminsul tree, so you can read that here.

Yooooo this all fits into the Norse mythology connections by @catboyamato! Dainsleif, a caretaker of the Imaginary Tree, gets his name from Norse mythology, and similarly Yggdrasil is... well, check it out. It's literally just the Imaginary Tree, and it is also from Norse mythology. Yggdrasil is the massive tree of life, the center of all things.

The more I read about Yggdrasil, the more connections I find to Genshin lore—it is WAY too much to list, all the way down to the origin story that Venti told Aether in the manga. I'm seeing lots of imagery extremely reminiscent of the wall art around the Ley Line trees in domains. The Imaginary Tree is a direct parallel to Yggdrasil... and as far as I can tell, the same goes for the Irminsul tree.And damn, while looking into this, I coincidentally ran into the name "Irminsul" so many times! I should have looked into that name earlier, but it turns out Irminsul was a sacred pillar or pillar-like tree trunk worshipped by Saxons long ago. According to the Benedictine monk Rudolf of Fulda, it was a universal all-sustaining column.While there isn't quite a proven connection between Irminsul and Yggdrasil, as they're from different cultures—wherever I look, there are connections and obvious parallels. It makes a lot of sense:What the people inside Teyvat—especially the "Germans", the people of Mondstadt—would call "Irminsul"... is the same thing that the people of Khaenri'ah and the Imaginary Tree—the "Norse" people, as shown by Dainsleif's name—would call "Yggdrasil" or "the World Tree."On the topic of Norse mythology connections, I think the three sister moons could be related to the three Norns, women who must care for the Yggdrasil tree every day. Just notes for myself to look into later...

Next: Apparently there are some artifacts that talk about the ancient Irminsul tree! Four circlets. I'll check that out next, so stay tuned.

welcome to @scaramoucheCEO's genshin theory carrd, the carrd where i put my genshin theories! I'm fedora and i think about Scaramouche and the Nameless Bard a lot

✦ Theory: Irminsul Heavens ✦
My basis for the Genshin universe and the variety of things contained within the Abyss✦ you are on the page for theory: Scarabaal ✦
Is Scaramouche an alter ego of the Electro Archon Baal?✦ Theory: Scaramouche and the Surpassing Cup ✦
Written as an addendum to the Scarabaal theory, but can be read by itself too. What are the chances of Scaramouche being the subject of the Surpassing Cup lore? (Does it affect his chances of being Baal?)

Don't use parts of my theories for your theories without credit. Please credit my theories to my twitter @scaramoucheCEO or link back to this carrd. Thank you!!

Scarabaal theory: Scaramouche is probably the Electro Archon, Baal... by @scaramoucheCEO

Posted March 18, 2021

Please note: as of 2.0, I haven't updated this post in a long time, and I have no plans to. This was written long before Baal was revealed. There's still a possibility that it's correct, but I now personally lean towards Scaramouche having been created as a separate vessel for the Eternity Archon, just like Morax's Exuvia, except that he ended up with a consciousness of his own - refer to the Surpassing Cup.I'm not the first person to say Scaramouche could be the Electro Archon, but people tend to stop when they realize we already know the current Electro archon's name and that she's apparently a female who is definitely not a Fatui Harbinger.As it turns out though, it would make a lot of sense if Scaramouche is an alter ego of Baal! Venti's character stories confirmed that the ability to change form at will is a power of the Gnosis, and with the Rex Incognito books, it's already established that they can switch gender, too.For the record... I don't want Scaramouche to be Baal, because I've spent months building up headcanons for him that will all be obliterated if it turns out he's not a normal mortal, not to mention the gender and pronoun wars that could potentially cause friction among Scaramouche and eventual Baal fans... hopefully not. But without even purposely looking for it, in all my reading between the lines (and even while researching for the Irminsul Heavens theory) I ended up finding more and more little things that pointed to Scaramouche being Baal. And a few big things.Here's a collection of those things. Scaramouche has still not left my singular brain cell, unfortunately, so I am still thinking of more to this day...

First is the obvious stuff. Scaramouche is a supposed Electro user from Inazuma and is one of the most powerful people in Teyvat. He has no visible Vision on him, similar to how Venti and Zhongli's Visions are fake because they don't actually need Visions at all.
(It's not technically confirmed that he's an Electro user, but he does have the Electro symbol on him... three times actually, and I'll get back to that later)That's the extent of what is usually brought up when it's suggested that he could be the Electro Archon. I have much more to present, laid out in order of what's convinced me most. And then I grasp for straws at the end. enjoy!

1. Raiden Mei

(I'm not familiar with Honkai Impact character designs or official art, so please let me know if I accidentally use a fanart... I'm not meaning to! I try to source check but I'm also sorta just using what Google gives me...)

Many characters have Honkai Impact counterparts, which makes sense; Genshin and Honkai are canonically in alternate universes of each other, as far as I understand. Since I don't play Honkai, I don't know the extent to which their personalities or roles match up, but the designs are undeniable references to Honkai. For example, the Herrscher of wind, Wendy, next to Venti...

(Even Venti's old friend, the nameless bard, has his own design elements that are right from Wendy rather than Venti! Genshin designs are insane)

Scaramouche has one of these counterparts, and that's Raiden Mei, the Herrscher of Thunder. (I didn't even realize Mei was a Herrscher before writing this, making her what's basically a god at equal level with Wendy... which already implies that Scaramouche is an archon at equal level with Venti. That's a strong point and not even the one I was intending to make. Make that #0 in this list.)

Similarities: color palette, hair color and hairstyle, eyes and eyeliner, the cloth draping from their hips, a rope or two, and most notably the round Electro-shaped plates in their centers. Probably more if you care to look.I don't see many similarities to Scaramouche in Mei's Herrscher form, but most likely this is a solid idea of what Baal will look like.

Here's the thing; Baal's also called the Raiden Shogun. Together with her being the god of thunder, she's clearly a reference to Raiden Mei, too. So why are there two different Genshin characters that are clear counterparts to Honkai's Herrscher of Thunder? Unless Scaramouche is Baal's alter ago... haha just kidding ... unless ?

2. PersonalityBesides whatever's going on with Inazuma, its tense atmosphere, the Vision Hunt Decree, and Baal's suppressive rulership in general, we have one other indication of Baal's personality. That's the description of the Vajrada Amethyst Gemstone. Each gemstone's description is narrated by the element's respective archon.

"This body is the noblest and most eminent of all in this world.
"It should hold absolute control over this world."

So far, Genshin is very sparse with its self-absorbed, malicious, or antagonistic characters, the only significant ones so far being like three Harbingers including Scaramouche (with Scaramouche being the most so by far). Even the two region antagonists so far have also had very kind personalities (one just being brainwashed and the other being your local friendly nutjob)Baal is clearly a self-absorbed, suppressive leader, which would easily fit what we've seen of Scaramouche's personality so far. Even the way he dresses, down to his excessively ornate and huge hat, is like wooo im rich and gorgeous look at me (im looking at you baby i love you)Genshin character designs are excessive and ornate in general, but they even made a point to bring up how beautiful his clothes are in Unreconciled Stars' dialogue. He probably cares a lot about his looks and body, which means his personality lines up with Baal's just perfectly.

3. Golden chest plateThe Electro-shaped chest plate is obviously what makes us think Scaramouche is an Electro user. That's probably true, but there's a lot more to it than that.Well, check this out...

The golden chestplates are the same size, and besides the two bits jutting out from the left and right on Scaramouche's, it's the exact same shape down to the six spikes.(The "circle with 4 or 6 spikes" motif is actually on just about everything related to Venti... it's on this god form, his wisp form, his E and Q, his lyre Der Frühling, and Mondstadt Visions. I don't remember seeing it on anything that's not related to him. Except Scaramouche of course.)For Venti, that glowing chestplate is presumably an indication of where his Gnosis is. Zhongli probably has one there in his god form too, if Mihoyo would grace us with a front view.Since the Harbingers are familiar with Gnoses, Scaramouche could even have that plate there to protect his own from being taken before he's ready to loan it to the Tsaritsa. The possibilities are endless.(Also, Venti's chestplate is important enough that it's one of the very few elements that translated into his statue and the Wind Courage and Wings story, so...)

4. Vision, Delusion, or...?This is where it gets confusing and maybe where the reasoning gets a bit unstable, but it's still significant enough for me to put as a main point.If he's not a god, where would his (presumably Electro) powers even come from? Given that he's fully confident in his ability to kill the hero of Mondstadt, he absolutely has his source of power on him... yet nothing is visible.If his source of power isn't a Gnosis, you might say he could be hiding his Vision or Delusion because of Inazuma's Vision Hunt Decree. However, there's hardly any hint at all that the Fatui even use Visions. They have Delusions instead (Childe's Vision is actually a Delusion as far as I can tell; I can get back to that later.)And if he uses a Delusion instead of a Vision? He would have no reason to hide it. I don't believe Delusions would be taken away with the Vision Hunt Decree, as they're not gifts from divinity like Visions are. The Fatui also have the diplomatic immunity to travel freely in and out of Inazuma, so I don't think they randomly get their Delusions taken away for no good reason. Overall it makes no sense that Scaramouche would have his Delusion taken away if he showed it in Inazuma... so why isn't he visibly wearing one?There's no reason for him not to wear a Delusion, unless he has his own source of power that he has full faith in. The only possible source for his power that's not a Vision or Delusion is a Gnosis.

(...inb4 he's just hiding his Vision/has had it taken away because of the Vision Hunt Decree, and his Delusion is in his mask like we originally theorized for Childe...)

The following isn't strictly evidence for the theory, but is more like "oh, Scaramouche being an archon makes this make just a little more sense than before suddenly"

1. Why all the Electro symbols?So, there's not only the Electro symbol on his chest. I learn something new about his insane hat every day, and one of those things was that the whole damn thing is the Electro symbol, again.

(It's horizontally flipped... weird, but probably not important because it's correct on his chest plate.)He also has the Electro symbol on his back, so 3 in total. I've recently realized his specific version of the symbol might be a kind of family crest, so I'm gonna have to edit those ideas into here later.

Sure, he's probably an Electro user, so he can have the Electro symbol on him, no big deal. Still... no other design emphasizes the specific element the character uses. I haven't taken a close look, but I don't think the elemental symbols even show up on anyone besides on their Visions. Why does it matter so much to him?He could just be very proud of his Inazuman heritage... or he could be the literal, proud owner of the Electro element and everything it represents and wants to make sure everyone knows that, even if it's just a hint.

2. His clothing, including the hat, is something the woman shogun of Inazuma would definitely wear.A 虫の垂れ衣 (mushi no tareginu) was a traditional sign of nobility during the Heian and Kamakura periods, possible settings that Inazuma may be based on.

Either he is noble and wealthy (as we already guessed from his clothing in general), or he's the literal shogun and archon of Inazuma...Just as importantly, the mushi no tareginu is traditionally women's attire, which would make more sense if he's Baal. Mihoyo can take artistic license with anything they want, but that's still a huge red flag to me.

3. Venti and Zhongli both hide all the skin they can, presumably to hide the marks we see in their god forms.While Scaramouche's elbows and knees are bare, he hides his entire torso all the way up to his head, so there's still plenty of room for archon markings. If he has markings in all the same places that Venti does, they would all be covered up by this outfit.

4. Besides the immortals Venti and Xiao, Scaramouche is the only short boy implied to be older than 20ish (since he's older than Childe, as Childe is canonically the youngest Harbinger)... maybe he doesn't age, either?Young-looking adults definitely exist, but his particularly youthful appearance (I mean, he even wears shorts) in contrast to his older age makes even more sense if he just doesn't age....adults can look very young though and that is a statement i live by

As for counterpoints... there's not many! The only thing that I can think of is the fact that both archons we've met so far have a vivid ombre in their hair that glows when they use their elemental powers, so we would assume that that's a requirement for being an archon. Scaramouche obviously doesn't have that... all he has is two weird, uneven highlights on the back of his head.I expect Baal to have that ombre, but Scaramouche probably doesn't simply because it would make it WAY too obvious to us that he's an archon. Mihoyo knew we would catch on to that by now, so they will switch up their tricks.As for why Baal would ever join the Fatui, I can come up with one likely reason off the top of my head:Let's say Baal is mortal enemies with the Tsaritsa. This could be 1. because the Tsaritsa has waged war against all the other Archons including Baal; 2. because the Tsaritsa has declared war against Celestia, and Baal may have sided with Celestia unlike Venti, Zhongli, and the Tsaritsa who are rebelling against it; or 3. because if "burning away the old world" (as the Tsaritsa wants to do) means making any kind of large change to Teyvat or Celestia, the archon of eternity would have a huge problem with that.A direct attack on the Tsaritsa would be too risky for someone who is as self-preservative as Baal. That would lead Baal to have to go about it in a more sneaky way. The easiest way for Baal to kill the Tsaritsa or otherwise stop her plans, then, would be to get close to her via a false identity. Baal would join the Fatui as a fake human persona, and from there she would be able to use her godly strength to quickly climb the ranks and become a Harbinger, the closest to the Tsaritsa that anyone can get.

Alternatively, Baal could be trying to get her hands on the Gnoses for the same reason she's taking all the Visions (assuming it's not "because they belong to the divinity" like she says; who knows?)
Overall, when we learn it, her backstory could provide endless potential reasons as to why she would take a human form and join the Fatui; I don't think it's something to worry about.

To wrap it all up... if Scaramouche is Baal, it fits in perfectly with Genshin's storytelling patterns thus far.The writers didn't make us expect that Barbatos would be a character we already knew. Then Barbatos was revealed to be Venti.Then the writing got sneakier. At this point we would guess "maybe the Geo Archon is also going to be a character we'll meet in the Liyue story?"
So we were immediately made to think that Morax was dead, so he couldn't be a character we knew. Then we were wrong yet again.It makes sense that the next step would be to make us think that we couldn't possibly be fooled like that again. We'll be introduced to Baal, the Raiden Shogun, and we'll see her with our own eyes. They can't possibly trick us with the archon's true identity if the archon is standing right in front of us. And then they will pull the trick again; Scaramouche, a character we already knew, is revealed to be an alternate identity of that archon.Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me three times, scaramouche is baal and then you can tell me i was right the whole timeLet me know what you think at @scaramoucheCEO on twitter! And if you're not convinced after all this, just look at his divine, godly ass...

✦ Continue to Scaramouche and the Surpassing Cup ✦
Is Scaramouche the subject of the Surpassing Cup lore, and what would that mean for Scarabaal?

welcome to @scaramoucheCEO's genshin theory carrd, the carrd where i put my genshin theories! I'm fedora and i think about Scaramouche and the Nameless Bard a lot

✦ Theory: Irminsul Heavens ✦
My basis for the Genshin universe and the variety of things contained within the Abyss✦ Theory: Scarabaal ✦
Is Scaramouche an alter ego of the Electro Archon Baal?✦ you are on the page for theory: Scaramouche & the Surpassing Cup ✦
Written as an addendum to the Scarabaal theory, but can be read by itself too. What are the chances of Scaramouche being the subject of the Surpassing Cup lore? (Does it affect his chances of being Baal?)

Don't use parts of my theories for your theories without credit. Please credit my theories to my twitter @scaramoucheCEO or link back to this carrd. Thank you!!

Scaramouche and the Surpassing Cup: Is Scaramouche the divinely created Harbinger...? by @scaramoucheCEO

Posted April 9, 2021

I'll be referring to my Scarabaal theory occasionally, so you might want to skim that first. If you're just interested in the connection between Scaramouche and the Surpassing Cup though, read on.

New day, new leak... and the Scarabaal pain chain continues, so time for round 2. I'm going to be talking about an artifact set that is, as of today, only seen in a leak, so if you don't like that you should close the tab now.This isn't so much about proving that Scaramouche is Baal as it is figuring out whether the protagonist of this particular artifact's lore, someone I'll call the nameless Harbinger, is Scaramouche. The answer to the Scarabaal question might naturally follow.

Each piece of the Pale Flame set gives us lore about a different Harbinger. The feather is clearly about Dottore (YEAAAA BOOOOIIII we at least got one W today), the flower is probably about Signora, the sands is probably about Pantalone, and the circlet is about Pedrelino, the Jester.And the cup? If Scaramouche is any kind of inhuman divine being, it could very well be about him...Here's the link if you want to see it for yourself.

If he's really THAT beautiful, wouldn't the Unreconciled Stars dialogue have focused on his face and his own natural beauty more than his beautiful clothes?

Let's start by narrowing it down to who it could be. There are 11 harbingers. We can count out Signora because the lore uses he/him pronouns. We can count out Tartaglia because we know his backstory. Then we can count out Pedrelino, Dottore, and probably Pantalone, because they all have their own artifacts from this set already. That leaves Scaramouche, Pulcinella, Sandrone, Capitano, and the other 2 whose names we haven't heard yet. That means Scaramouche has a 1/6 chance of being the nameless Harbinger in this lore....Well, now I'll analyze it line by line, and compare it to what we know of Scaramouche, mostly ignoring Baal for now."He was born with a face fairer than any other"Besides the fact that Scaramouche is one of the prettiest characters right alongside the two literal archons, there's 1. that Unreconciled Stars line about his clothes being beautiful and 2. the official JP VA Twitter announcement, which goes so far as to describe him as "a wanderer with a slender figure and a beautiful face", when you'd think there'd be so many more important things of note about him...?"Destined to a long life and a hollow will."All the references to long life/long time make extra sense if he is Baal, both an immortal and the god of eternity. Either way, he could still easily be an immortal being, even if he's not Baal."He was a transcendent being, divinely created, but he was cast aside like worthless dross."If I'm right about Baal's origins, "divinely created" is exactly right. It's too long to explain, but I'll get into it in a later post. If that isn't true, she/the nameless Harbinger could still have been created by Celestia.It's at this point though that I start to wonder if Scaramouche is a divine being closely related to Baal, but not actually Baal herself. Could he have been created and cast aside by the same creator as Baal? Or somehow created and cast aside by Baal herself? I'm going to have to think about this one a lot.The next line implies that whoever cast him aside also put him to sleep."Yet, due to an error that cannot be known, he roused himself from slumber"oh god this is the biggest red flag. They made such a big deal out of him having the unusual ability to wake himself up after touching the meteor oh god oh god it's about him it's about himScara's ability to wake up from the meteor's spell is something I haven't made much headway on. It's pretty easy to assume that that's just how strong his willpower is, but it gives me the feeling that it's something deeper than that.Well, is the magic on the meteors similar to what the nameless Harbinger's creator used to put him to sleep?The origin of the meteors is presumably Celestia, since Celestia rules the false sky, right? If it is the same magic, it follows that the nameless Harbinger was created by Celestia. (While that doesn't quite line up with my very specific and very unstable theory on Baal's creation,) it lines up with the artifact story.Not enough info for anything more than shaky and messy speculation... but please keep everything in this block of text in mind for later, because I am going to go even deeper into it. sorry"And began to wander the mortal realm.
Before the Fatui found him, he had drifted for countless years"I always assumed it was a lie, but Scaramouche does introduce himself as a vagrant, and the JP VA announcement refers to him as a wanderer, too. The fact that the mushi no tareginu (the real life version of his hat) was specifically for travel strongly supports the possibility.Now we have to ask, was the JP VA announcement just repeating his lies because he hadn't been introduced as a Harbinger yet? You'd think so, but they used the image where he's introduced with his Harbinger codename and title, so there'd be no real reason to call him a wanderer if he's not actually a wanderer... who knows?"And in that time, this is what his experience had taught him:
'I am a human who surpasses all others.'
'Even the gods daren't meddle in my fate.'"Well, if the gods don't dare meddle in his fate, that rules out the possibility of Baal creating him and casting him aside. Maybe?Unless he just got an unrealistic superiority complex in his rebellious phase, he might be something that's above the Archons... but that does seem to maybe be how Baal thinks of herself. Who knows. Anyway, I'm inferring that the nameless Harbinger was created by Celestia, or by the equally/more powerful Irminsul heavens. (if ya know ya know, and if not don't worry about it.)"'Neither mortal nor god, nor fate itself, is qualified to be my judge.'
'I am free to choose how I wish to spend the remainder of my days.'"Well, while we're sifting through all the narcissistic lines, all of which Scaramouche could probably say from what we know of him, remember the Vajrada Amethyst Gemstone description (narrated by Baal): "This body is the noblest and most eminent of all in this world. It should hold absolute control over this world." Everything up to this point still lines up with Baal along with Scaramouche."Since these mask-wearing people are so fun to be around...
I think I'll become one of them."Not a lot to say about this one, I think my own theory about why Baal would join the Fatui is more interesting... I do have to say that Scaramouche doesn't exactly seem like he's having fun being around the Fatui, but maybe he just really gets off to bullying his subordinates.

Now that we've gone through all that, here are my miscellaneous thoughts, in descending order of sanity. I'm so sorry to anyone who has to try to read to the end of this1. Could Baal have really been a wanderer at this time?
There's no proof of this, but the Fatui as we know them were probably not created more than 500 years ago, after Signora suddenly cut the other Archons off and began doing her own thing after the Cataclysm. We know Baal had already become the Electro Archon by then. That means that Baal wouldn't have been someone we'd usually call a "drifting wanderer" by the time the nameless Harbinger joined the Fatui. So does that mean this person isn't Baal? But Scaramouche may still consider himself a wanderer, as I brought up before.One less point for the possibility of Baal being the nameless Harbinger. If she's not Scaramouche though, the story can still apply to him.

2. Pedrelino had to have some reason for sending Scaramouche, specifically, to investigate the meteors.Remember when I said to keep a certain block of text in mind? I'm going to go deeper into it now.Pedrelino (the "Jester") allegedly knew what Scaramouche would learn from being put to sleep by the meteor. But...First: wouldn't purposely sending someone, even a Harbinger, into that sleep be a gigantic risk? Assuming you couldn't just wake up from that sleep through sheer willpower, that would be eternal doom. The exception, however, could be the nameless Harbinger, who remarkably was able to wake up from a sleep he should not have woken from. If that person is Scaramouche, then Pedrelino would have known that it wasn't actually a risk.Second: The nameless Harbinger is supposedly some kind of divine being above even the gods, right? Someone possibly created by Celestia (or by the Irminsul heavens...... again, if you don't know, don't worry about it.) So if the information that Scaramouche would learn would be relevant to anyone in specific, it would be the nameless Harbinger. It makes some good sense that that Harbinger is who the Jester would choose to reveal the truth of the world to. Maybe he could actually do something about it.

3. What's the likelihood, story/game design wise, of the nameless Harbinger being a separate person from Scaramouche?Here's what the nameless Harbinger has in common with canon info about Scaramouche: he is a male, and he's confident and full of himself—probably terribly difficult to get along with. But how hard? He sounds as mean and annoying as the canon Scaramouche we know, if not worse. Yet it is Scaramouche that Viktor describes this way:"I hear Harbinger No. 6, also known as Scaramouche, is difficult to get along with. A lot of people are not fans of his.
Why? Some say he just has a disagreeable personality. Others say it's because he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut...
I know someone who works closely with the guy. He says Scaramouche is even disliked by several of his fellow Harbingers."I don't know, it sounds to me like Scaramouche is the most disliked Harbinger, when the subject of the artifact story should take that role... so maybe they are one and the same?We can estimate just 5 or 6 males in the Fatui Harbingers if the genders are split evenly (although, judging by the names, it's possible most of them might end up being male). What are the chances that Mihoyo decided to give two of them such similar base personalities...? That said, every single Harbinger we know anything about seems to be pretty full of himself, so what was the point of this really?And with that, I'm running out of ideas. Imagine Scaramouche, Baal, and the nameless Harbinger all turn out to be different people, and you put them in a room together... maybe their superiority complexes will cancel each other out?

Possibility of Scaramouche being the nameless Harbinger... pretty high. 1/6 chance at worst, and at best, reasonably higher than that because of the "wanderer" connections and Pedrelino's willingness to send him to investigate the meteors.Possibility of Scarabaal being the nameless Harbinger... reasonably low, but still possible. I still have no doubt that Scaramouche and Baal are connected, but if this lore is about Scaramouche, I'm more willing to believe the theories that they are relatives rather than the same person.so ummmmmmmmmm