The 4.7 Archon Quest “Bedtime Story”
name dropped what might just be the real villains of Genshin Impact. We’re
more than halfway done with Genshin’s story already. Think about it. We’re closer to
Khaenri’ah’s potential release (~2026) than we are to Mondstadt’s release back in
2020. The story’s really starting to ramp up even more especially with the
reveal of the Five Sinners of Khaenri’ah. The Five Sinners and Dainsleif were supposed
to be the heroes of Khaenri’ah and each of them were the best at their specific crafts. Just
to give you an idea, one of them mastered the art of creating artificial life and this particular
Sinner is largely blamed for unleashing her unholy creations on Teyvat causing massive damage to the
far corners of the world during the Cataclysm. So if all of them are of equivalent power-scaling
and knowledge then… we’re cooked. At present day, according to Skirk some of them are
"pursuing some form of perfection.” In the Bedtime Story Archon quest Dainsleif says
that he and the Five were supposed to be the ones to prevent disaster, the ones to stop the Vinster
King from continuing to rock the foundation of this world. What does that mean though? “Rocking
the foundations of this world” could mean messing with the laws of Teyvat but the last time this
phrase was used was during a relatively hidden side quest in Fontaine. In Pursuit (Part 2), you
speak to the conscience of Carter Scherbius who appears to you in the form of a mechanical dog and
tells you “This world was going to disintegrate, because someone who shouldn't be here arrived,
shaking the foundations of this world.” If you defeat his reborn Hilichurl form he
tells you “That's good. You just got rid of someone who shouldn't be here, and thanks
to you, this world's collapse has stopped.” We know from Perinheri and Arlecchino’s
backstory, that long long ago Khaenri’ah was not only obsessed with creating life,
but also summoning Outlanders or aliens to their world in hopes that one of them would be
a Descender - an all powerful being whose will is said to rival that of Teyvat’s. Perhaps
this supposed Vinster King’s obsession with bringing Outlanders and Descenders to this
world is the source of a lot of the problems Teyvat and Khaenri’ah have been dealing
with? Perhaps THAT and creating new life is something that they’re not supposed to do
and thus doing so causes the “foundations of this world” to shake. A popular guess for the
identity of this “Vinster King” is King Irmin of Khaenri’ah. The Statuette Mob Drops seem
to refer to King Irmin and you can see how it gets more and more corrupted with each stage. A
detail that works towards this theory is the fact that King Irmin was suspiciously “indisposed” or
too “unfit to rule” right before the Cataclysm, and Kaeya’s ancestors the Alberich clan had
to step up as regents for the nation. This sets an interesting precedence. If the Vinster
King was King Irmin who lost his mind to the call of the Abyss, then the Five Sinners were
probably tasked with defeating their King and this election may have even happened in secret.
I mean if you had to backstab your evil king then obviously you wouldn’t tell him right? Instead,
five of the six elected members were also seduced by the Abyss and instead divided among themselves
a power that could destroy the world. In doing so, they became “transcendent beings” each in
possession of world-shattering power. Yea we’re totally cooked. Dainsleif claims that none of the
sinners stood up to protect Khaenri’ah during the Cataclysm, and for that he seeks vengeance on
all of them… even if they might be his family… Dainsleif + the Five Sinners equals Six and this
reminds me of my FAVORITE BOOK in the entire series: the Pale Princess and the Six Pygmies.
It’s actually one of the first books you encounter in the beginning of the game thanks to Lisa’s
Story Quest. An Abyss Mage alleges that this book has a secret important to the Abyss Order.
And we can also assume this book is related to Khaenri’ah since many - but not all - Khaenri’ahns
ended up in the Abyss Order. The Order was legit founded BY a Khaenri’ahn. Only Volume 1 out
of 7 is officially in the game unfortunately, but what’s interesting is the descriptions
of Volumes 5 and 6. “The Six Pygmies' sinister scheme starts to unfold” and “how the Six
Pygmies managed to implement their nefarious plot” is definitely reminiscent of how the 5 Sinners
divided among themselves a power that could destroy the world. Keep in mind that this book
is so important that Lisa makes us the PERMANENT custodian of this book in an attempt to keep
its contents safe from the Abyss Order’s reach. But before we dive too deep into
theories about the Five Sinners, we need to first cover what we know about
each member. In today’s video we’re going to go through the lore of each of the Five
Sinners and I’ll explain everything we know about them so far in the current lore as well as
some speculations as to who some of them might be! I’m your leify lore streamer Minsleif and I read
the Genshin Impact lore so that you don’t have to. Did you know Klee’s mother Alice has BEEN
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Stars!! Music for sponsoring today’s video! Now onto the video. There will be some
speculations regarding this topic since there are 2 members in this quintet
that we know actually NOTHING ABOUT. The Five Sinners might be the Sages mentioned
in the Pale Flame Artifact set. Just in case you didn’t know, every piece of the Pale Flame set has
lore about some of the Fatui Harbingers. Stainless Bloom is about La Signora bless her soul, Doctor’s
Pinion Il Dottore, Moment of Cessation Pantalone, Surpassing Cup Scaramouche, and the
Mocking Mask is about Pierro. Pierro was once a mage in Khaenri’ah who failed
to gain favor with the ruler at that time, likely King Irmin. Due to being less capable
than the country’s sages, he could not stop them from doing something that tore away the “veil
of sin” an act which would later bring destruction to Khaenri’ah. This probably implies that Pierro
is NOT one of the Five Sinners since these sages outclassed him and the Sinners were the best
at their crafts. One hint that might support this theory of the Five Sinners being these
sages is found in the names of one of them: Hroptatyr “the Wise” is the first of
the Five Sinners that we’ll cover, and Hroptatyr is one of the names of the
Norse god Odin. It translates to “Sage” in the collection of Norse poems, the Poetic Edda.
There’s something interesting to note here though. Let’s go back to the Mocking Mask artifact for
a sec. In the English translation, it says this: ”Since my level of learning
could not compare with the sages, I failed to earn the favor of the previous ruler.” However, according to Windvally_Quark, in the
Chinese translation “sages” is not plural. Instead it seems to indicate that there aren’t
multiple sages but only one. “The sage thinks themselves to be all knowing” gender-neutral
and “Since my level of learning could not compare with the Sage.” With Hroptatyr
meaning “Sage” and the name being one of the many names for Odin in Norse Mythology and
with Irmin’s many parallels to Odin as well, it’s possible Hroptatyr is the Sage that works
the closest to King Irmin. With a name like that, Hroptatyr could even possibly be
the leader of the Five Sinners. There’s another Sinner who has some pretty close
ties with Odin as well, and that is Rerir “Rächer of Solnari”. Rerir is also the Sinner we know the
LEAST about. In Norse Mythology Rerir is Odin’s grandson who seeks to avenge the death of his
murdered father Sigi. In fact, Rerir’s blood line is full of stories that involve avenging someone’s
death. Just as Rerir avenges his father Sigi’s death, his own son Völsung ends up avenging his
(Rerir’s) death in the future. This whole theme of avenging has very much inspired his title as
the “Rächer of Solnari” since the word Rächer in German means Avenger. So his title means “Avenger
of Solnari”. The etymology of Solnari is ambiguous and as far as we know it’s the first time it’s
been mentioned. The Chinese translation of Rerir’s title is “The One Who Hunts the Moon.” The
implications of this are wild. The prophecy from Dainsleif’s Character Introduction states that
“Chalk pursues gold” a reference to Albedo and his master Rhinedottir and then it says “in this
time inopportune, the eclipse is swallowed by the crimson moon.” Khaenri’ah had two ruling dynasties
that we know of so far: the Crimson Moon Dynasty and the most recent one, the Eclipse Dynasty.
This prophecy implies that the Eclipse Dynasty or what’s left of it might be completely overtaken by
the Crimson Moon. Or maybe this already happened? So either Rerir is hunting survivors of the
Crimson Moon dynasty, or he’s hunting gods. The most notable Moon gods are the Three Moon
Goddesses. I have a video which goes more in depth with their story and possible identities
cause it’s a lot to cover but basically, if you don’t have the time to watch that, the Three Moon
Goddess might have been the goddesses that ruled over the Seelie race… y’know.. before they turned
into the lil wispy forms we see today. The moon goddesses are currently missing and all we know
is that at least one of them is already dead. Speaking of someone Dainsleif probably
wants dead - onto the next sinner: Vedrfolnir “the Visionary”. Now this one’s going
to be a fun one, because Dainsleif just randomly drops that Vedrfolnir is his OLDER BROTHER kind
of out of nowhere. Apparently I have a brother in law (lol). When Dainsleif was announced playable
during a bilibili livestream on September 27, 2020 his character introduction came with a
prophecy. A self-proclaimed prophet tells him “Dain, what is that strand of blonde hair to
you? Someone you must kill? Or the object of your penitence?” Judging by “a strand of
blonde hair” and “someone you must kill” this prophecy probably indicates his motive
for vengeance against the Five Sinners, including his older brother. The Chinese
translation of Dainsleif’s prophecy is more accurately translated as “The elder
one and the younger one of the same blood will fight each other.” This prophecy probably
predicts Dainsleif’s and Vedrfolnir’s rivalry as well as Traveler’s possible future battle with
their own sibling since Aether is canonically the older sibling. In fact, this prophecy
itself may have also come from Vedrfolnir. Vedrfolnir was revealed to be the “Sinner” whose
voice we heard from the crystal in the first Caribert Archon Quest. His influence inspired
Chlothar Alberich to form the Abyss Order. But how did this happen? During the Caribert Archon
Quest Traveler experienced their Sibling’s memory from 500 years ago. Chlothar and the Sibling
followed Hilichurls into a mysterious sanctuary. There they saw a Purple Crystal suspended by
6 chains - six chains for the 5 Sinners and Dainsleif - with Hilichurls bowing towards it.
Chlothar is later seen praying to the crystal, and this pose is very reminiscent of the prayer
pose in the artifact screen. According to a Developers Q&A in the PASH! Magazine, developers
state that there needs to be a prayer ceremony in order to receive an artifact’s blessing and
protection. This pose also reminds Traveler of the dead thief in front of the Upside Down Statue back
in the We Will Be Reunited Archon Quest. Perhaps Abyssal artifacts also require prayer to Abyssal
beings in order to activate their powers as well. After Chlothar’s prayer, the Crystal or Vedrfolnir
imbues him with Abyssal power. With this power, he’s able to restore Caribert’s sentience
and speech. In this same quest Dainsleif mentions that “He” - meaning Vedrfolnir -
saw Traveler experiencing their Sibling’s memories. Just think about that. As Traveler
was experiencing their Sibling’s memories, Vedrfolnir SAW Traveler through these memories
which means that he can give people Abyssal power AND he can traverse through memories.
According to Dainsleif, whatever he said to our Sibling may have encouraged them to join the
Abyss Order as well. But what was he even saying? “You are like a flower born in sin
yet pure, spotless… I know your fate well. You need no longer hold back your
resentment, nor accept the countless ties. Go forth, become a transcendent one,
rise beyond the fate bestowed upon you…And I shall shed a tear at the end of
time... as I gaze back upon your life.” Remember. The Five Sinners could not resist
the call of the Abyss and they divided up among themselves “a power that could destroy the world.”
With that power, they became transcendent beings. If I had to guess, becoming “transcendent
beings” probably has something to do with become someone akin to a Descender. We know our
Sibling is NOT a Descender, they don’t have the will to defy the rules of Teyvat, so in a sense
Vedrfolnir is calling our Sibling to “rise beyond the fate bestowed upon them”. There’s something
interesting to note here. Vedrfolnir says he knows our Sibling’s fate well, the same fate that Nahida
said was being obfuscated or made ambiguous in the Irminsul Tree. This means Vedrfolnir has exclusive
access to parts of the Irminsul Tree that Nahida doesn’t have OR he has access to information
outside of the Irminsul Tree. His connection to the Irminsul Tree is probably inspired by
his Norse mythology namesake. Vedrfolnir is a hawk that sits between the eyes of an unnamed
eagle atop the Norse World Tree Yggdrasil. His title is “the Visionary” and according to
Mona, a Visionary is a powerful prophet who is able to read the fortune or essentially fate
of the whole world. Only few visionaries are known to exist aside from Vedrfolnir. Mona’s
master Barbeloth and a few unnamed witches from the Hexenzirkel are the only ones we know
of. It’s heavily implied that Vedrfolnir is the one who divined the Prophecy of Fontaine. Now,
this doesn’t mean that he caused everything in Fontaine to happen - no, it just means he SAW that
it was going to happen. According to the Prophecy, all the inhabitants of Fontaine are born
with sin that would later be punished by death leaving only the Hydro Archon, weeping
on her throne. The only thing not shown in this prophecy is the appearance of the All-Devouring
Narwhal whose power caused the flood in Fontaine. Vedrfolnir predicted the Prophecy
of Fontaine, and Surtalogi’s pet whale the All-Devouring Narwhal decided to interfere.
The Five Sinners definitely were trying to accomplish… SOMETHING… during the Fontaine
Archon Quests but we don’t know what it is yet. But who’s Surtalogi you may ask? Surtalogi “The Foul” is a Sinner who was first
mentioned at the end of the Fontaine Archon Quests. He is Skirk’s master and Skirk is Childe’s
master. “Foul Legacy” is the name of Childe’s and Skirk’s fighting style, and Skirk originally
learned it from Surtalogi. Skirk actually says something really funny about him. She says her
master is “insufficiently famous” when Neuvillette is unfamiliar with his name. He should be
more famous and apparently he’s not. HE’S IRRELEVANT. Anyways. In Norse Mythology, Surtr
is the fearsome giant who rules over Muspelheim, the realm of fire and volcanoes. (Oh please I
hope it means we get to meet him in Natlan). Muspelheim is located next to Neiflheim, the realm
of ice, and its heat melted the icy plains on its borders and the resulting body of water became
a primordial pool of life. Which is so cool how it plays out in the Fontaine Archon Quests.
Surtalogi’s Whale was devouring the Primordial Sea, and the Primordial Sea is what the previous
Hydro Archon Egeria used to create Oceanid-human lifeforms. The name Surtalogi is Surtr’s sword
and it was said to be so hot that it can set the entire world aflame. Surtr plays a massive role in
Ragnarok, the end of the world. He and Dainsleif share a similarity in which both their names are
based off legendary Norse weapons. Surtalogi’s pet whale is the Abyssal All-Devouring Narwhal
from the Fontaine Archon Quests. When Childe was 14 years old he fell into the Abyss and awakened
the Narwhal. This encounter would later inspire him to make the whale construct you see during
his Boss battle. It’s likely that the Narwhal followed Childe back to Teyvat after waking up
and started consuming energy from the Primordial Sea in Fontaine. In terms of power scaling,
Surtalogi most likely has a transformation like Foul Legacy. As one of the Five Sinners,
he’s definitely the best at what he does but what don’t even know what he DOES yet without
getting into too much theory territory… All we know is yes he’s strong, probably has a magical
girl transformation, and he owns a pet whale. Where did Surtalogi even get an Abyssal whale
pet?? Did someone create it for him? It’s not confirmed that this particular person
CREATED the Abyssal whale for Surtalogi, but I think it’s time to
segue to our final Sinner: Rhinedottir or “Gold” is the Sinner we have the
MOST information on and she is one of the most famous characters in the story so far. The Art
of Khemia is a form of alchemy that was developed and primarily used in Khaenri’ah. Khaenri'ah
was an underground nation with little nature, so the Art of Khemia focuses on the creation
of life. Khemia, the creation of life, was considered the “apex achievement”
of alchemy and, currently, the only known person in Genshin to have successfully
mastered the Art of Khemia is Rhinedottir. Rhinedottir is notorious for her role in the
Cataclysm. However, the details of her involvement in this great disaster are unclear since Genshin
actually gives us contradicting information. The most popular belief in the world is that
Rhinedottir’s creations traveled to Teyvat first, causing Celestia and the Archons to react and
THIS act led to Khaenri’ah’s punishment and ultimate destruction. Contradictory to this
account, the Chunk of Aerosiderite claims that “When Khaenri'ah was destroyed, a great
sinner created endless monsters with dark, alien blood flowing through their veins.”
This means Rhinedottir set her monstrous creations on Teyvat AFTER Khaenri’ah was
destroyed. So, in one account Rhinedottir started the Cataclysm and in the other account
she had a reaction to Khaenri’ah’s destruction. Let’s go over some of her notable creations. Durin was an Abyssal dragon who, during the
Cataclysm, invaded Mondstadt and was slain by Dvalin and the Anemo Archon. His death
was actually super sad. Durin was born with a gentle heart and dreamed of befriending
the people of Mondstadt. According to the lore of the Dragonspine Spear, he was apparently
unconscious during his destruction of Mondstadt. It almost seems like his perception of
reality was completely altered or he was mind-controlled since he mistook his rampage as
“singing” and “dancing” with Dvalin, Barbatos, and the people of Mondstadt. It says when
he “opened his eyes” he was surprised to find Dvalin’s teeth piercing through his
neck. Dvalin’s bite would kill Durin, but even in death Durin harbored no
hatred towards anybody. Durin’s body is the massive skeletal remains you can find in
Dragonspine. You can still see his heart beating… Another creation who faced a similar fate to Durin
is Elynas whose body you can find in Fontaine. The Ancient Colors World Quest heavily implies that
Elynas’s creator and “Mother” is Rhinedottir. It’s through Elynas that we’re able to get a rough idea
of how Rhinedottir brings her creations to life. According to him, he was originally an “unknown
form” who floated in the Abyss. “Mother” would later give him life and a strong healthy body.
He had elder siblings who treated him well and “many younger ones” that came along meaning
Rhinedottir probably has many more creations during the Cataclysm that we’re unaware of.
Elynas also seemed to have a skewed sense of reality or was at least exhibiting a similar
kind of mind control that Durin experienced. After realizing that his existence brought
destruction, Elynas actually wanted to die. He was chased by the Fontaine Armada and would
later die when Basil Elton’s ship “the Sponsian” lunged itself into his body. About 100 years
later, Elynas’s remains and consciousness play a major role in the Narzissenkreuz World
Quests. An explosion would occur inside his remains during a fight between Mary Ann,
Seymour, and the Narzissenkreuz Ordo. The wounds and broken flesh from his body resulted
in the Melusine being born. In the present, Jakob Ingold restarts Elynas’s heart to revive
him but this process is stopped by Traveler. It was Elynas’s wish to stay dead since his body
is now home to his beloved Melusine, but he does still dream of one day returning to life to
explore the world without causing destruction. Onto her next creation, the Riftwolves. The
Riftwolves were rampant during the Cataclysm, and according to Raiden’s Story Quest Act
II they were often advance guards of even bigger Abyssal creatures. Some examples
of these other Abyssal creatures are the dark bats and the giant tortoise from the
Fading Twilight bow and a tiger-serpent creature from the Mask of the Kijin. Keep in
mind that we don’t have confirmation yet if these creatures I just mentioned were some
of Durin and Elynas’s many siblings who were planned or if they were accidental
creations like the Golden Wolflord. But you know who else was planned? Albedo.
Specifically Primordial Albedo. This is actually one of my gripes with Genshin actually,
it’s the fact that a lot of people don’t have access to the older events because the lore
in them was SUPER JUICY. Unless you’ve read a lot of lore sources, some of you probably
don’t know that Albedo has a twin brother. Presumably before the Cataclysm, Rhinedottir
worked on what she called the Primordial Human Project which was her attempt at creating
humans through alchemy. Humans instead of her typical Abyssal cuddlies. One such attempt
was Primordial Albedo which she deemed a failure and was fed to Durin. Ew. Although
Durin and Elynas have fond memories of her, Albedo and Primordial Albedo don’t. They knew
her to be a cold, distant person. Durin’s blood has some insane properties by the way. Her
creations are described as having toxic and corrosive blood imbued with the power of the
Abyss. This is just my theory but this blood could be Alkahest which is the ascension material
for the Cinnabar Spindle - one of Albedo’s best in slot weapons. Alkahest is described as a deadly
corrosive alien poison with the ability to change matter. This adds up since Durin’s blood was able
to corrupt Dvalin in the Mondstadt Archon Quests, Jakob Ingold drank Elynas’s blood to transform
into an Iniquitous Baptist, Elynas’s body created the Melusine, Primordial Albedo used
Durin’s blood to create the Fellflower, AND Durin’s blood MIGHT BE what revived
Joel’s missing father in Dragonspine. Many years after Durin’s death,
Primordial Albedo would escape Durin’s body and stalk the real Albedo
in an attempt to someday replace him. You can distinguish both Albedos by looking for
the primogem mark on the real Albedo’s neck. The Real Albedo was created after
the Cataclysm. Rhinedottir made a breakthrough in her Primordial Human Project
and successfully created the “perfect Albedo” which she classified as “Cretaceus” meaning
Chalk. Albedo is actually the name of one of the four major stages of the Magnum
Opus, the alchemical process of creating the Philosopher's Stone. The stages are
Nigredo, Albedo, Citrinitas, and Rubedo. We’ve established that Durin and Elynas both
experienced some form of hypnosis during their destruction of Teyvat, but it’s unclear if
it was done under Rhinedottir’s influence or if it was the call of the Abyss - meaning
it was out of Rhinedottir’s control. In fact, Albedo expresses some concern regarding
a reality in which he might lose control: "If one day, I lose control, destroy Mondstadt, destroy everything.... Can
I rely on you to stop me?” This is scary considering her creations were
POWERFUL, near godlike beings. Constipated- I mean Consecrated Beasts are wildlife
that have grown larger and stronger due to feeding on the remains of gods or
godlike beings. You can find them in places where you’d find Wenut, and you can
find one eating the remains of Orobashi, Watatsumi Island’s ex-god. You can find a
couple around Elynas’s body in Fontaine. At some undetermined point in time, Rhinedottir
joined the Hexenzirkel a coven of powerful witches who conduct Irminsul exploration. Before pointing
Albedo towards the care of fellow witch and Klee’s mother Alice in Mondstadt, Rhinedottir
and Albedo go on their final expedition… But one day, deep in the heart of a dungeon, master and apprentice discovered an
artifact known as The Heart of Naberius. Rhinedottir instructs Albedo to go to Mondstadt
to look for Alice. She leaves him with the last extant manuscripts of the Opus Magnum - which is
totally a reference to the Magnum Opus. This means at some point Rhinedottir had the goal of creating
the Philosopher’s Stone, an alchemical substance said to have the power of immortality, turn stones
into gold, cure all diseases, all the good stuff. In real life alchemy, the Philosopher’s stone
was considered perfection at its finest, divine illumination, and heavenly bliss. This might be
the perfection that Skirk insinuates Rhinedottir is looking for. Just to throw it out there, since
the words Opus Magnum are flipped in Genshin does that mean the Philosopher’s stone does.. the
opposite? It’s just something to think about. But what was that artifact that Rhinedottir and
Albedo found? What is the Heart of Naberius?? The Heart of Naberius in Chinese is written the
same way that a Gnosis is written. Although we haven’t seen this object yet or gotten any
explanation for it I think I found out what it is… If you enjoyed this video please LEIF a like and
subscribe and I’ll see you on the next video! I’m your leify lore streamer Minsleif and I read the
Genshin Impact lore so that you don’t have to.
