#gold-rhine

[zhongscara]

📿for rizzler,💄+👗 for scara, like do u think he likes dressing up? bc i think on one hand hes very attention seeking and likes feeling superior\wanted, but hes also self-hating and "dont look at me", curious what u as scara scholar think on this. 🚬 for zhongli

rizzness - 📿 faith-themed headcanon

oh wow right to the gut... i don't think he believes in gods in any way. he explicitly doesn't believe in the prophecy, and while he respects furina, he doesn't treat her as a god (or even a celebrity) like the rest of fontaine does before the trial. i think his childhood trauma really dashed any beliefs he could have been taught/couldve had. and then furina as god walking out of his trial and him interpreting it as her finding his trial "boring" didn't help matters either.

for where he is now, i think he's like. well the gods exist, but they're not going to help me in any way, so i should help myself and others like me. he worries about the people of meropide and on the surface, and the main quest shows us that he'd rather take things in his own hands than relying on the archon.

i do think he trusts in neuvi more than he trusts in any gods and he likely figured out neuvi wasnt just some immortal a long time ago etx, but he's still staunchly independent and his deep respect for neuvi doesn't translate to like. religious faith as we know it in teyvat. especially because neuvi is someone he can actually communicate with and talk to compared to how distant archons are portrayed.

scara - 💄 makeup +👗 clothes-themed headcanon

i agree that he's torn between the two extremes of wanting attention and hating when people look at him ("you dare gaze upon me" etc).

for me, he was definitely the one who picked out his fatui and wanderer outfits (like they do say and show that he was the one who chose to start wearing a big hat after his villain origin story), which shows that he's very particular about his outfits and prefers to dress in familiar clothes aka inazuman inspired fashion. (compare dottore, who is from sumeru, but is wearing something nobody in sumeru is shown wearing.)

for the fatui outfit, this is really interesting because his big hat + sort of veil references uchikatsugi, which was worn by noble women to protect from the elements and also to protect their anonymity/purity.

from Melissa Rose Chasse on flickr

so in a sense, it's like. he wants to show off his status, while also hiding himself from others. so for me, he goes out of his way to pick out beautiful, high-quality clothes for himself, and then remembers "oh fuck people are going to look at me because i'll stand out" so he tries to obscure his face in any way.

as wanderer, he (originally) doesn't have that trauma/complex, so the uchikatsugi influence is more like. thin banners behind his head, versus the wider covering in his fatui outfit

wow i'm rambling so much JSHDGKHSDJKGHSKJG. one of these days i'll make a longer post about scaras fashion etc.

as for makeup, i like to think his eye makeup was actually painted on. either by ei, as a rare moment of her caring, or by someone in tatarasuna, as like. actual proof of people caring about him. since he's still technically a doll/puppet, he doesn't really see the point in putting on other makeup. (this also means in like modern aus i think he's one of those people with annoyingly clear skin who only puts on eyeliner, if anything LMFAOOOO)

zhongli - 🚬 headcanon about a bad habit

funny that the emoji used in theme is a cigarette bc i just knoooooow zhongli is on that opium/nicotine to relax JKSHGKLSDHGJKSHGSJ. while he has the image of a proper gentleman and doesn't like doing things in excess, i think he deserves a smoke break. maybe he's even tried naku weed idk i don't smoke myself bc of asthma lmfao. he's also a "collector" but more like. he buys random things and justifies it to himself and others with some long-winded explanation and then goes home and puts it on a shelf overflowing with other random ass things he barely uses. he's always impulsively buying some trinket smh

[mstormcloud]

Just some silly Fankid posting

[monards]

albedo you would be one step closer to the truth of this world if you were conscious and acknowledging of the fact your mom and alice are fucking

[mynameis-a]

the idea of vision users kinda losing control over their element when experiencing strong emotions is something i live for

pyro users setting themselves/nearby flammable objects on fire or making nearby fires stronger

cryo users putting a layer of frost everywhere or freezing nearby liquids

electro users with that static thing where if they touch someone it gives both people an electric shock

dendro users making nearby plants grow/blossom or just having plants growing on them

anemo users having the wind swirling around them

not quite sure how it would work for hydro/geo users but probably something similar to making it rain/making the ground shake

just imagine flowers growing on kaveh in happiness when he finishes a project

or thoma getting flustered and just burning a broom hes holding

or mika nervously freezing the ground

or cyno sparking with electricity in panic at tighnari’s lightning injury only to realize that tighnari is now scared of him in that moment which in turn only makes the sparking worse

or collei sprouting sharp thorny vines all over herself when paimon tried to touch her that one time and the thorns are digging into her own body but she doesn’t notice at first because she’s still freaking out from the touch

or xiao being in so much pain from his karmic debt that nobody can even get near him because the gusts of wind surrounding him are too strong

or diluc setting himself ablaze during the whole thing with kaeya and then one day he gets fed up with kaeyas antics and he slightly loses control of his vision and his hands catch fire and then kaeya freaking out; not because of the fire itself, but because that the last time diluc set himself on fire like that was the night that kaeya almost died, and now kaeya is scared that thats going to happen again

…

i meant this to be a cute wholesome post about genshin characters being flustered how did we end up here-

[conqueenror]

They HAVE to give us Albedo's second SQ/ Venti's second SQ/Mondstadt Interlude quest or anything like that during the Natlan cycle where some shit happens again in Mondstadt, involving Durin and Albedo, and please even more Rhinedottir lore thankyou, and Dragonspine and. Yk. They gave us the prologue, they HAVE to give us the story after all those years. Or what was it for then.

[reverieafk]

Chapter one of my rhine story; first time fully writing her so!

‘’I am not your mother- I am your master.’’

When he first heard those words, it left him confused. If she created him, doesn’t that make her his mother? Wouldn’t that make him her son? but she made it quite clear how she was going to treat him. She was right.

Today was another one of those days. As hesat, she used some kind of magic to make a non physical record of his statistics.

He looks away from her, hands behind his back, not saying anything

”No need to look so down in the dumps.” Her voice was laced with cold amusement at his expression as she finished writing something on her desk. She stood up and walked over to stand right in front of him.

”You’re being useful. That’s all that matters.” She tilted his chin up with her thin, cold fingers with a grip of steel before letting go and standing back up.

”Now, tell me how this experiment made you feel.” She held up what was previously just a list of statistics and now seemed to be some type of analysis.

“Cold. Like I was covered in snow. And dizzy. Felt like I hit my head.”

”Interesting. What about your emotions?” As usual, her eyes glittered with a kind of cruel curiosity that was just how she was.

She had done this a thousand times before, but it was still somehow intriguing to her. It was almost like she lived to see and test these things.

“…The best way I can describe it….numb. Just really really numb.”

”Numb?” Rhinedottir seemed surprised for a moment. ”Perhaps that was a result of the experiment? Or….” Her interest was piqued. It made her seem like a curious child.

She reached out a hand and touched his neck, checking his pulse. Her fingers were cold as ice as usual. And for whatever reason, he almost leans into the touch.

”…Hm.” She was focused, but the coldness of her expression lessened a bit. She continued the touch, running a thumb over his cheek in a way that was more gentle than usual. As she continued, her eyes seemed to brighten with interest. This wasn’t just numb indifference anymore. He looks up at her tiredly, his blue eyes dull

“…Mother…”

”…” Rhinedottir’s heart leapt into her throat for a second, something the blonde never seen from her before.

A pause, and she pulled back her hand as if she had been burned. That single moment was the most warmth that Rhinedottir had ever displayed, and it quickly vanished as her usual cold expression and demeanour returned. She quickly walked back to her desk, not looking at him.

”…Get some rest.” She forced out, refusing to look back at him.

She felt a lump form in her throat, as she clenched her fists. She shouldn’t care…it wasn’t her business. But the memory of that single moment of contact and the feeling of that single word felt as if it had burned itself into her mind, and she couldn’t get rid of it no matter what.

She couldn’t get rid of the feeling of warmth and humanity.

It disgusted her.

It wasn’t her.

She couldn’t feel this way.

How was it possible that the smallest moment of humanity still felt so disgusting to her?

She sat at her desk for hours, looking down at her work in front of her…but not doing a single thing.

The sound of the word “mother” echoed in her mind over and over. That had never happened before. What if it changed something? What if it affected her results? Not to mention, what if her…whatever he was, towards her research, changed anything?

Her work was her entire life…if something was going to threaten it, then she would have to get rid of that something. However…that idea seemed increasingly painful right now.

Rhinedottir’s mind was filled with conflicting thoughts and conflicted emotions. She wasn’t used to this. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. She was the master here. She was the one in control.

Everything should have been under her control. She should have been able to disregard those feelings. So why did it feel so wrong? So terrible?

She had never given that feeling in herself a name. No doubt, if she tried to describe it to someone else, they would say it was a mother’s love…but that just didn’t make sense. You didn’t love experiments. They were for learning, advancing, and growing. You didn’t love them like children. She couldn’t accept that it was love, not at all.

Yet, there was no denying it either. As she ran a trembling hand over her face, she felt her eyes start to moisten with tears. It made her sick.

She banged her head on the desk.

She was going to be sick.

[venti-death-watch]

kinda interesting to me how presumably pretty much all the known hexenzirkel is from mond/khaenri’ah/snezhnaya. like:

- alice lives in mond.

- rhindottir is from khaenri’ah.

- barbeloth is probably from mond. (i see a lot of people saying fontaine, but due to mond’s barbatos/barb naming conventions i’d guess mona is from fontaine and her mentor was at the very least named in mond.)

- nicole is probably from mond or fontaine (more because of current genshin names per nation more than anything else).

- i. ivanovna is from snezhnaya.

- andersdotter is probably from khaenri’ah or mond (or descended from sal vindagnyr).

genshin really said ‘powerful women belong in cold climates/former cold climates’ huh

[rhineposting]

my biggest fear for rhinedottir is mhy using the little girl model for her solely for the 'girl genius older than she looks' trope or some bullshit i dont think i can cope in that kind of reality without immediately choosing extreme violence.

As much as I completely understand this fear, it's fortunately debunked, as back in March we were shown not only her voice, but her hands.

Both obviously belong to a grown woman, hooray! Win for rhinenation!

Though in my dream reality, she has not the generic tall female model, but the Eremite Woman model. It would just fit her so, so much.

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Der Ring des Nibelungen: Das Rheingold (Bayreuth, 1980): Reactions, Part II

let us continue!

okay this set change is cool

and the interlude is even cooler

down the…fire escape? did they have those in 1876?

that is not a helmet that is a chain mail veil

✨capitalism✨

…so it has a gold detector

same power structure, just reversed

oh it’s the panopticon

annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd there it is

this is the worst argument ever

just gotta say that so far, everyone in this is a really committed actor, which is something i ALWAYS appreciate in a production

i mean he IS pretty smart

fair enough!

okay that trick was actually REALLY cool

just a little guy!

GOT ‘IM!!!

and now to reverse the process from the last interlude

smart move, wotan

okay but COULD you actually???

first recorded instance of amazon same-day delivery

i mean, technically you only said you wanted to keep the ring

uh YEAH, because YOU were the one who took it??? we’re not talking about hypotheticals here

in fairness, it’s not like wotan is actually planning to give the ring back to the rhinemaidens

oops

i rest my case

AND THERE IT IS

i mean it was stolen from the RHINEMAIDENS, so it’s gotta go back to THEM really

this is a lovely musical moment

world’s highest-stakes game of jenga

i love how they’re allowing them to keep the wrapping on the gold lol

this guy is just trying his best and i respect that

oh THAT is some bs

uh oh

ooh boy

spooky times

but how often do opera characters actually do that

“fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine :/“

okay then

well that escalated quickly

nice effects!!!

he’s not impressed

and in they start to go…

…but the rhinemaidens are still upset…

…but they still go in anyway!

“this isn’t over yet, everyone”

and indeed it is not, but 1 part down, 3 to go, see y’all soon for my first-ever die walküre!!!

[avemstella]

Alice! And Rhine and fam. I continue to have strong feelings about Alice in Wonderland Alice. Klee is a clover a club!!!! she's probably an isakai protag, genshin I will commit murder if she is just older klee. Also hydro vision becuase during the original gaa event theres a hydro dome/construct thing

[mstormcloud]

More fankids!! Both because they are genuinely fun to make and give lore to but also because I made Mirai and then wanted to make sure she had friends!

Aster is designed by my friend Duetland!! (The last art is by them!!) They aren’t on tumblr but you can find him on Instagram @duetland :)

Lore for each of them under the cut! (LONG POST WARNING!!!!)

Gold and Aster:

Shadow and Sonics kids. They’re twins (with Aster being older). Both were babysat by Tails a lot and ended up picking up a lot of stuff from him as well as their parents. Gold became more responsible and significantly more polite (far more than either of his parents lmao) meanwhile Aster became interested in robotics. Specifically those related to space like rockets or planet rovers.

When the two were born there was immediate concern about their power imbalance. Aster was born with no powers at all, meanwhile Gold’s chaos energy was so high Shadow feared he would burn himself up unless something was done. Due to them being twins, it essentially ended up where instead of two moderately powerful hedgehogs - Gold got enough power for two while Aster has none. This leads Aster to resent Gold, less because she actually wants superpowers but more because Sonic and Shadow are always fussing over Gold (to make sure his powers aren’t harming him) and she feels like her parents don’t care for her. Causing her to push them out even more. She listens to Shadow more than Sonic, but they don’t end up talking through all this properly until Espio gets involved since unlike Sonic and Shadow who had powers all their lives - Espio had to teach himself his abilities and is able to empathize with Aster more.

3. Rhine

Rouge and Knuckles’ child. I’ve thought about her way less WHOOPS but!! Despite not being an echidna he looks up to his father a lot and promises to be the best guardian of the master emerald he can possibly be. Has a habit of just picking up shiny things like a magpie and will turn them into jewelry. Is blunt and gullible like her father but likes thinking things through before she moves. Uses the shovel claws more as weapons than actual shovels - he’s a bit of a neat freak.

Mirai and Gummy:

Mirais story is on my previous post! Not much has been added since then other than that I’ve decided she’s a bit of a troublemaker and very energetic, sarcastic, silly and kinda stupid. As for Gummy he’s about 7 years younger than Mirai, and I haven’t quite figured out what he’d be interested in yet haha

Eli and Anchor:

These two are half siblings! Eli’s parents are Amy and Metal. While investigating the ruins of a disaster, Amy and Metal find a child who who had been incredibly injured. They happen to be closer to Eggmans new hideout (where he has retired and is just kinda pouting by himself forever) than anywhere else - the two break in and force Eggman to help them save the child. Since the current Metal is Amy’s size, there were several smaller models for when he was “younger” - Eggman uses one of these scrapped smaller Metals to give the child cybernetic parts and saves their life. Amy and Metal then take the child back to their house and raise it as their own, with Eggman forcing them to bring Eli over frequently so he can see his grandchild.

Anchor is the child of Blaze and Amy! I’m just letting Amy be poly I think she has a lot of love in her heart and now she has two wifes. Anchor lives the Sol kingdom, and takes after her aunt Marine quite a bit with her love for adventure and especially sailing! When she was young, much like Blaze, she was brought before the Sol emeralds and blessed with a power. I feel like she’d be able to control / harness winds rather than fire though - to help with her sailing.

If you read all of this - thanks!! You didn’t have to but it was very nice of you!

[monards]

local girl gets so fucking sick over rhinedottir coming from a nation focused on stars and whats beyond teyvat. but her being interchangeably tied to the earth and ground of teyvat

[ultralowoxygen]

Back Entrances by Travis Estell Via Flickr: Cincinnati, OH. August 21, 2023. Shot on a Bronica RF645 and Kodak Gold 200. Developed and scanned by The Darkroom.

[aromanticasterisms]

DAIN LORE???????

[balkanradfem]

"Growing flax to make linen was one of the oldest human activities in Europe, particularly in the Rhineland. Archeologists have found linen textiles among the settlements of Neolithic cultivators along the shores of Lake Neuchâtel in the Jura Mountains west of Bern, Switzerland. These were elaborate pieces: Stone Age clothmakers of the Swiss lakeshores sewed pierced fruit pits in a careful line into a fabric with woven stripes. The culture spread down the Rhine and into the lowland regions.

The Roman author Pliny observed in the first century AD that German women wove and wore linen sheets. By the ninth century flax had spread through Germany. By the sixteenth century, flax was produced in many parts of Europe, but the corridor from western Switzerland to the mouth of the Rhine contained the oldest region of large-scale commercial flax and linen production. In the late Middle Ages the linen of Germany was sold nearly everywhere in Europe, and Germany produced more linen than any other region in the world.

At this juncture, linen weavers became victims of an odd prejudice. “Better skinner than linen weaver,” ran one cryptic medieval German taunt. Another macabre popular saying had it that linen weavers were worse than those who “carried the ladders to the gallows.” The reason why linen weavers were slandered in this way, historians suspect, was that although linen weavers had professionalized and organized themselves into guilds, they had been unable to prevent homemade linen from getting onto the market. Guilds appeared across Europe between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries but many of the items they produced for exchange, like textiles and soap, were also produced at home right up through the nineteenth century. The intricate regulations of the guilds—determining who could join, how they would be trained, what goods they would produce, and how these could be exchanged—were mainly designed to distinguish guild work from this homely labor. That linen making continued to be carried out inside of households—a liability for guilds in general—lent a taint to the linen guild in particular.

In the seventeenth century, guilds came under pressure from a new, protocapitalist mode of production. Looking for cheaper cloth to sell on foreign markets, entrepreneurs cased the Central European countryside offering to pay cash to home producers for goods. Rural households became export manufacturing centers and a major source of competition with the guilds. These producers could undercut the prices of urban craftsmen because they could use the unregulated labor of their family members, and because their own agricultural production allowed them to sell their goods for less than their subsistence costs.

The uneasiness between guild and household production in the countryside erupted into open hostility. In the 1620s, linen guildsmen marched on villages, attacking competitors, and burning their looms. In February 1627 Zittau guild masters smashed looms and seized the yarn of home weavers in the villages of Oderwitz, Olbersdorf, and Herwigsdorf.

Guilds had long worked to keep homemade products from getting on the market. In their death throes, they hit upon a new and potent weapon: gender. Although women in medieval Europe wove at home for domestic consumption, many had also been guild artisans. Women were freely admitted as masters into

the earliest medieval guilds, and statutes from Silesia and the Oberlausitz show that women were master weavers. Thirteenth-century Paris had eighty mixed craft guilds of men and women and fifteen female-dominated guilds for such trades as gold thread, yarn, silk, and dress manufacturing. Up until the mid-seventeenth century, guilds had belittled home production because it was unregulated, nonprofessional, and competitive. In the mid-seventeenth century this work was identified as women’s work, and guildsmen unable to compete against cheaper household production tried to eject women from the market entirely. Single women were barred from independent participation in the guilds. Women were restricted to working as domestic servants, farmhands, spinners, knitters, embroiderers, hawkers, wet nurses. They lost ground even where the jobs had been traditionally their own, such as ale brewing and midwifery, by the end of the seventeenth century.

The wholesale ejection of women from the market during this period was achieved not only through guild statute, but through legal, literary, and cultural means. Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries women lost the legal right to conduct economic activity as femes soles. In France they were declared legal “imbeciles,” and lost the right to make contracts or represent themselves in court. In Italy, they began to appear in court less frequently to denounce abuses against them. In Germany, when middle-class women were widowed it became customary to appoint a tutor to manage their affairs. As the medieval historian Martha Howell writes, “Comedies and satires of this period…often portrayed market women and trades women as shrews, with characterizations that not only ridiculed or scolded them for taking on roles in market production but frequently even charged them with sexual aggression.” This was a period rich in literature about the correction of errant women: Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew (1590–94), John Ford’s ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (1629–33), Joseph Swetnam’s “The Araignment of Lewde, Idle, Froward, and Unconstant Women” (1615). Meanwhile, Protestant reformers and Counter-Reformation Catholics established doctrinally that women were inherently inferior to men.

This period, called the European Age of Reason, successfully banished women from the market and transformed them into the sweet and passive beings that emerged in Victorian literature. Women accused of being scolds were paraded in the streets wearing a new device called a “branks,” an iron muzzle that depressed the tongue. Prostitutes were subjected to fake drowning, whipped, and caged. Women convicted of adultery were sentenced to capital punishment.

As a cultural project, this was not merely recreational sadism. Rather, it was an ideological achievement that would have lasting and massive economic consequences. Political philosopher Silvia Federici has argued this expulsion was an intervention so massive, it ought to be included as one of a triptych of violent seizures, along with the Enclosure Acts and imperialism, that allowed capitalism to launch itself.

Part of why women resisted enclosure so fiercely was because they had the most to lose. The end of subsistence meant that households needed to rely on money rather than the production of agricultural goods like cloth, and women had successfully been excluded from ways to earn. As labor historian Alice Kessler-Harris has argued, “In pre-industrial societies, nearly everybody worked, and almost nobody worked for wages.” During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, monetary relations began to dominate economic life in Europe. Barred from most wage work just as the wage became essential, women were shunted into a position of chronic poverty and financial dependence. This was the dominant socioeconomic reality when the first modern factory, a cotton-spinning mill, opened in 1771 in Derbyshire, England, an event destined to upend still further the pattern of daily life."

- Sofi Thanhauser, Worn: A People's History of Clothing

[shoggothkisses]

"BEDTIME STORY" - Preliminary Archon Quest (Ch. 4- Act IV) Thoughts

My diligence has finally paid off! For the first time in a while, I got to play through a Genshin quest as soon as it dropped! So, while energy is still high and the novelty of the event is still - well, novel - I offer you a collection of observations and examinations from the most recent Archon Quest.

HERE THERE BE SPOILERS - do not click unless you've played Bedtime Story or don't mind being spoiled on its events!

FIRST, and arguably (for me) most importantly - THE SINNER HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED, and before yesterday there was NO way you could have convinced me that it was Dainsleif's brother. (Has he even mentioned having a brother before this?) (The "Dain is the twins' sibling" theorists are probably deeply unhappy. Sorry for your loss.)

(A bit sad that it's not Deshret, personally, but that's not relevant atm.)

His name, Vedrfolnir (or Vethrfolnir, or Veðrfölnir or any number of phonetically similar spellings for those of us who can't do Scandanavian languages to save our lives), comes from the name of a hawk that, in Norse mythology, is partnered with a (nameless?) eagle that sits on top of Yggdrasil (Irminsul). Vedrfolnir is believed to represent the eagle's wisdom, able to see everything in the Nine Realms (likely why Genshin!Vedrfolnir's title is The Visionary) and passing information back and forth to it - much in the way that Odin's ravens are believed to pass information back and forth to him.

It is also believed to play a role in the battle between the eagle and Nidhogg (the serpent at Yggdrasil's roots) at Ragnarok - possibly similar to that of Ratatoskr, whose gossip back and forth between Nidhogg and the eagle (and Vedrfolnir by extension) is what causes their mutual aggression.

The name Vedrfolnir means something akin to "pale wind."

As far as the other "Five Sinners of Khaenri'ah" are concerned:

Hroptatyr is another name for Odin (huge? can you say HUGE?). The "wise" part is self explanatory. The name means "sage" in Old Norse.

Rhinedottir is, as we know, a Norse spelling of the German "Rheintöchter." She's named after the Rhinemaidens, three water spirits who dwell at the bottom of the Rhine river and are said to protect the Gold(tm) that can grant anyone immeasurable power. This origin is, however-

While the original Nibelungenleid (the 12th century German poem-epic) makes mention of mermaids, and Norse mythology makes mention of the proverbial gold (see below) the massively significant role mentioned above was almost COMPLETELY made up by Richard Wagner while writing the Ring Cycle. The Rhinemaidens are mentioned nowhere in Norse mythology, whereas all the other Sinners' names are pulled directly from old Norse sources. (Considering Rhinedottir's level of importance to the overarching plot, especially in Mondstadt, I have a hard time believing this difference from the other Sinners isn't equally important.)

I have discussed Surtalogi previously, so lemme just... (clears throat). Caaaaaalled it.

So yeah. He's the "Fire of Surtr," the jotunn who burns it all down. Dain and Surtalogi, sword buddies. Nice neat explanation. (Who's gonna be Surtr? Will we have a Surtr? We'll put a pin in that.)

And...if he's "the Foul," then I guess anyone who adopts his power has...the...Foul Legacy...yeah. No need to delve into that much. At least not for now.

Rerir is a little more to unpack. Or a lot more. Who am I kidding. In the Norse Volsungasaga, Rerir is part of a long and complicated line of royal births and deaths that result in rise and fall of the titular Volsung clan (similar to, but not the exact same as, the Nibelungenleid). A brief overview:

Odin gives birth to Sigi.

Sigi gives birth to Reri. Sigi is killed by his brothers-in-law.

Rerir avenges his father's death (for all you Sherlock Holmes fans - Racher is "avenger," or one who gets revenge [Rache].)

The goddess Frigg has a crow bring Rerir and his wife an apple because they're having a hard time getting pregnant. It works.

Rerir dies while his wife is pregnant - for six years.

Volsungr (Rerir's son) is born by C-section (something that seeems to happen with a lot of heroes in different mythologies, just saying). His mom dies in the process.

Volsung fathers (in addition to like ten other kids) the twins Sigmundr and Signy (in German, Sigmund and Sieglinde).

Sigmundr fathers Sigurd (Siegfried in German).

Sigurd is the dragon-slaying, Nibelung's-hoard-and-ring-of-power-having king that ends up being killed during a combination political dispute/relationship drama.

The chunks of the Volsungsaga from Volsung on are retold in Wagner's Ring Cycle, albeit with his own embellishments (see Rhinedottir).

The aspect of Rerir's title here that's confusing me the most is "Solnari." Based on Rerir's mythological origin, Solnari should be his father - but then, why not just call him "Racher of Sigi"? Meanwhile, Sol is almost certainly a reference to a Sun deity (in Norse and Germanic, the sun goddess), but the "-nari" suffix is more confusing. From what I can tell,

1) "Nari" is Sanskrit for "woman" or "maiden" - so if Solnari were The Lady Sun it would make sense, but it seems weird to randomly throw Sanskrit into a Norse civilization; and

2) Nari, or Narfi, is a different deity in Norse mythology that is supposed to be either Loki's son (killed by his wolf-shifting brother Vali), the personification of night (Nott), or both.

I can't really make sense of it in the moment, but hopefully we'll get more info as we go - preferably before another year goes by, Dainsleif, please!???

The Vinster King is, likewise, difficult to parse. There is, on one hand, the Swedish word “vinst” meaning to win, or make a return/profit - which would make the “vinster king” the king who…won? This isn’t totally impossible as we know there have been plenty of wars of succession between both gods and humans in Teyvat. On the other hand, this may be a butchered spelling of the German “finster,” meaning “dark,” “sinister,” or “gloomy.” I wasn’t super sold on my own interpretation of this until I remembered this sweet loot drop we get in the Chasm:

So that may be the case, and, as such, the “Vinster King” may be another name for Irmin.

(Side tangent: I now think it would be super funny if we found out later that Irmin and Pierrot really ARE the same person…Gloomy King…becomes a Clown…? Love that…anyway.)

I have already heard that someone has translated the message in Caribert’s memory-travel/loading-screen thingy, but I DON’T TRUST PEOPLE! So i’m gonna do it here for myself.

From the top, line by line:

FAREWELL ATOSSA

I APOLOGIZE

FOR MAKING YOU KNOW ME

UNWILLINGLY

STILL I DONT WISH

YOU TO FORGET ME

This is written in Sumeran script, not Khaenri’ahn. A nice easter egg, and very touching to be sure. ;v;

One last thing: on the Sea of Flowers.

There are a few things that this Sea of Flowers reminds me of - Nabu Malikata and her connection to water and flowers comes to mind, for one - but the thing that I was IMMEDIATELY reminded of was the Dandelion Sea.

For those who don’t particularly enjoy coming through Genshin’s archive: The Fox in the Dandelion Sea is a whopping 11-volume story series found hidden throughout Mondstadt. In the story, a hunter makes a deal with a fox (or spirit. or fox-spirit) who believes that he intentionally saved her life (he was just a bad shot, and broke the ice that was keeping her trapped on a lake): teach her fox-child to speak the language of humans, and she will teach the hunter how to transform into other creatures.

In order to meet and teach her cub, the fox takes the hunter to a “sea of dandelions, stretching as far as my eyes could see.” All foxes who “disappear during the hunt” come here, and time appears to be meaningless. While the hunter appears to move toward learning a lesson, by the end of the series, he still informs the fox that his reason for learning transformation magic is to be a better hunter. At this, the fox turns him into a dandelion puff and blows him away to a “faraway land.” He then wakes, as is from a dream, with none of what he could have had (the magic, the beautiful fox-woman, or the peaceful sea of dandelions).

While I’m unsure if the Sea of Dandelions actually has anything to do with the Sea of Flowers, it would be interesting if we found out that the Sea of Flowers is some alternate version of reality - a domain, an isolated region, or even a beautiful (but ultimately unattainable) dream.

THAT IS. basically all i have so far. This is coming off (as i said) basically 4-5 hours of sleep followed by all day on-and-off research to try and process everything we got since yesterday. and yes i know I didn't mention the Loom of Fate even ONCE but honestly between the pretty explicit "it weaves ley lines" description and the Abyss twin's equally explicit "I don't know what I'm gonna do with it yet," I don't really feel like any deeper picking has to be done for now.

okay byeee