The Penacony Trailblaze Mission series, Then Wake To Weep, with Sunday is easily one of the best stories that Hoyoverse has developed for any of their games so far.
With outstanding narrative, strong characters, and outstanding music, Penacony would have already ended on a very high note. However, as it turns out, almost everything that The Nameless experience in Penacony with Sunday also functions as a significant foreshadowing of the overarching plot of Genshin Impact, integrating several themes and symbols from the two games seamlessly.
It is genuinely impressive how well Penacony utilized its inspiration from the Angel’s Egg to not only tell its own good story but potentially teach us about Genshin simultaneously.
Also, Sunday is now my favourite Hoyoverse character and I wanted to talk about him while I have a chance.
Thanks for watching 😃!
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My X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/DragonMJE
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MyNameForNow
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Timestamps:-
Is Genshin Impact a Fairy Tale? (0:00)
Do Dreams offer escape? (3:05)
The Theater on the Moon (5:27)
Ravens (9:02)
And Then It Was Sunday (12:52)
Through the Looking Glass (18:37)
The Eye on the Moon (24:47)
Final Thoughts (25:37)
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Spoiler Warning:-
Trailblaze Mission Series: Then Wake To Weep
Archon Quest: Masquerade of the Guilty
World Quest: Canticles of Harmony
World Quest: Narzissenkreuz Saga
Anything before version 3.0 is fair game
Anything from Honkai Impact 3rd is fair game
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#genshinimpact
#sunday
#honkaistarrail
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The light around Mikhails' "moon" also looks a lot like the refractions inside a kaleidoscope.
And a common name for the kaleidoscope is "looking glass".
Rukkha sus
take note…. the boss fight for sunday is also akin to cracking an egg (breaking his layers of shields). his final form also looks the shape of an egg
AGAIN?!?!?! HOW MANY DREAM PLOT TWISTS DID HOYO PUT UP WITH???
Why do you start like… Singing when narrating 😐 you gonna rap or inform?
DUDE THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT EHAT I WAS THINKING A FEW DAYS AGO. After Penacony, Scara's comment on the fake sky suspiciously sounded so similar to how the family has a controlled zone while the real dream zone can only be witnessed after breaking through the sky (Aventurine and Acheron scene)Great work theorising! Idc if this is the route genshins lore takes, I just love this path too!!
This isn’t directed toward you, but the writers of the game. If it’s all just a dream, sorry that’s a cop out. It cheapens everything in genshin’s story. The characters, their struggles, etc. I wouldn’t mind if it was half real, like a coping mechanism for all humanity kept prisoner inside whatever the real word of Teyvat is (as Neuvilllette seems to allude to in his Serenitea pot conversation) , but “it was all a dream” would tick off most of the fan base.
Wait, what if instead of committing "not alive", the scene with Caribert taking off his mask was him choosing to wake up from the "dream", escaping his own script? Since he was supposed to be connected to the Loom of Fate. It's speculated in game that hilichurls wear their masks so they won't have to face their image (their reality now), but Caribert took off his mask by his own choice > facing reality (I guess he preferred Robin's pov over Sunday's 😅)
so your fantasy anime (game) world is just a dream all along? daring today are we🤭
Awesome analysis as always!! btw in case nobody mentioned it yet, in the theater during our confrontation with Sunday just before the battle, notice he was standing on a triquetra symbol.🙂
Great video! Sunday is def one of the best Hoyo characters
also in regards to Teyvat being storybook/fairytale
in the new endgame description we got new hint alongside already existing ones:
"Before the beginning of all stories, after the end of all tales, in the interstice between reality and fantasy, there is an endless drama unfolding, never ceasing upon the stage – there is no beginning, nor an end, for in the telling of the "story" , the two differ not"
one thing we can gather from this is that end and beginning doesn't matter, because well…if you can know about both past and future in the present time, then it's like you are going through the pages of a book, like reading a story…story of Teyvat
hence "history of the future" is basically knowing what happens ahead in the book.
I have been believing that the 3 moons, if the famous 3 princesses that are mentioned so much do not exist as living beings, but it is an allegory or rather a reference to the 3 realms, emptiness, light and reality, adding that its history is no more than a mixture of several myths that were superimposed and changing them little by little, where in reality they only tell us that the traveler from the other world (phanes) separated reality, which is where we are, from the other realms, since the human or can live in the original chaos that was teyvat, where the 3 realms existed at the same time that's why it had 3 moons.
But the end, where one is dies and all that, is nothing but the same cataclysm that has been telling us in different perspectives throughout the game, if the war of revenge and the fall of the ancient civilization.
But what this has to do with the video, I would say a lot, I do not believe that GI or rather teyvat itself is a dream, since there is a plane of dreams that now Nahida is the one who rules over it. I would rather say that Phanes, the one that many consider as a villain, always protected teyvat trying to give that Utopia that he talks so much about that was the ancient civilization and that now no longer exists, being his dream to protect teyvat from what is coming in the future that he has created, with the help of his shadows, this "theater" where each individual has to follow his script (destiny) so he can achieve his dream, save teyvat from the abyss (not the same as void), which seeks its destruction.
And unlike colonipenal he does not seek to control everyone, but to give freedom to all from that enemy that cannot be won with pure power, since he has destiny (the loom of destiny) in his hands.
I'm not a Genshin player, but videos about Genshin lore speculations are always somewhat interesting to me. Hoyo's creators being huge Eva fans do seem to like the Instrumentality Project-esque plot on top of their Samsara cycles and struggles against fate.
In HI3, Project Stigma seeks to redefine humanity by flipping the relationship between humanity and civilization. If civilization is the story written by humanity; it's narrative… then civilization can be the blueprint by which humanity be created anew without the weakness that dooms it to its foe. Civilization is to be made into humanity's fairy tale, by which humanity is then turned into characters that exist to continue the tale(civilization). The executor of this grand project sits on the moon, having usurped the throne of humanity's foe where he would then be fated to watch over the new budding humanity in a solitary vigil for how many ages it would take for the new humanity to fully bloom. Should the plan succeed.
Kevin was once thought to be Merlin by Arthur… so not only is he the Icarus who flies to fall and inspire others to succeed where he fails, he is also the greatest of magicians.
Capitano video when
Worth noting for the future: You didn't need to bring up the whole connection with Rhinedottir and Elynas to connect "mirror" to "looking glass" because a mirror is exactly what a looking glass is. It's an older phrase that refers to the exact same object.
I feel like a very interesting video would be genshins connection to hi3 part 1.5 arcs theres a lot of connection there its insane
HSR is the same world. You have same Genshin wings in HSR.
Sunday definitely wanted to be THE PRIMORDIAL ONE A PROGENITOR GOD HAILING FROM BEYOND THE STARS 😤
Mikhail, also known as… genshin King Irmin!
2:57 don't forget there is the Traveler's glider in HSR 😉
Thanks for doing the work making this video, I've been wanting to write up something on this topic for quite some time but just haven't had time. One thing you didn't even bring up is the nature of the Akasha, which had the ability to link and harness people's own dreams (which Genshin often equates to people's will and entire worlds) as power that can be used to heal Irminsul of its Forbidden Knowledge corruption and even to create a God. It also was able to draw people's consciousness into a looping shared dream. There are just endless hints. XD
EDIT: Also, consider the story of the First Sage, who went on a journey to find the God of Wisdom (unknowingly in a dream), and returned to reality with the knowledge and wisdom gained during that dream journey. Perhaps Teyvat is an opportunity for a condensed training arc?
Just a teeny tiny correction because I despise how much credit Wagner gets (he was an awful Nazi and his music is very Nazi-ish enjoy at your own risk).
He did write the Operas about the Ring of Nibelung but the story itself is much older.
It is one of the oldest legends in Old German and therefore very important. Wagner did not invent the story, he only transformed it into an opera.
A dream or a sumsara? A Samsara is made-up for Teyvat. Teyvat is pretty much of a fairytale in itself. Then Nahida makes up the fairytale about the cat and the monster to remind Scaramouche about his life as Kabukimono in Tartara suma. . Gension uses The Steadfast Tin Soldier, for the little boy to explain to Kabukimono about having a heart! Of course fairytales are the basis for Gension and Honkai Star Rail!
[23:49] My favorite comparison to exemplify this would be with the book The Neverending Story (Die unendliche Geschichte, 1979): Bastian, the reader (us?), sees the people of Fantastica (Teyvat?) as mere characters in a book but slowly realizes that they are somehow aware of their condition as mere characters, and some of the people even end up trying to become un-alive by leaping into The Nothing (the Abyss?) that is slowly swallowing Fantastica – becoming "lies" in the real world after such process (…Hillichurls?); the hero, Atreyu (…Dainsleif?), wants to save the Child Empress (Istaroth!?) but she believes that only a REAL human from outside Fantastica can save both her and their world (…an Descender?!) from total annihilation and, somehow, they end up summoning Bastian (now the Traveller?!!) into their world; To save their world, the human needs to give her a new name (Scaramouche / Irminsul rewrite!!) and wish things in Fantastica but, in the process, they lose their memories of the real world (… trading memories for power? "erosion"? becoming a character too, after forgetting their main purpose for doing too many daily quests?!)
The parallels go on and on… I really love that book and it really really fits your description of how Genshin would work to a "T".
21:55 Thankyou for recommending this book, I haven't read this one. Lowkey that gives me more vivid depiction on what's going on in Genshin but it also gives me more questions instead.
I wonder if Genshin is on the route that consciousness is eternal thing? Because, I would really associate 'death' with the death of memory in this game. And Teyvat seems to be the most sustainable hub that the souls/beasts in this game envy the lives within it. Also, it's a term for an ark so I would let loose Mihoyo if they want to call it as a literal ark or even a planet, (or a bubble (ark) on a planet). Like, they know it would work nonetheless.
Also the fact that PO born from the egg and recreate the world with the same eggshell. If traveler eat the world, then the world is like an egg yolk? And if the egg is the microcosm of the world then what do they mean by 'the universe' in this? Abyss outside of Teyvat? (space itself?) And with the glaring existence of the genesis pearl, it wouldn't be so strange that somehow they would make it like 'a dream inside of a dream'. But, I do think this story is not about meaningless loops, this surely about progress. And depends on what they mean about progressing to be 'better', is it escaping samsara (death/eternity) or having a better samsara? (like Dainsleif wants?)
I absolutely think that Teyvat is a Dream. But only in the same regards that Earth is theorized to be a Simulation or Dream. But, I think people are conflating the mechanism of a dream with the aspiration's of dreams. What I mean is, regardless if that either Teyvat or our own Universe is a Simulation is merely a mechanism for the story. In both cases, both worlds, like Penacony, are sequestered off worlds that are distinguished from the rest of their realities. Essentially safe-spaces.
So then what is the Dream in these cases; Teyvat, Penacony, or even Earth? It's the dream of Society of Civilization. Where people are welcomed and a safe space of order is created out of the chaos of outside the 'dream'. Regardless of their moralities; Sunday, Remus, and even the Primordial One, all had the dream to create a safe society for their people.
So why then, did they all fall short? Were their dreams inherently bad? No, I don't think so. I think they failed because along the way the Societies lost their Humanity. The people gave up their freedom for safety at the cost of their humanity. The only real weakness that's involved is where you knowingly give up your freedom of thought to become a drone in a safe society. Essentially a Hivemind.
Generally, when free ideas of thought can longer be exchanged because no one is willing to compromise for the sake of the whole,; is when Society leads to disaster. Whether by in-fighting or would be opportunists. It's not really about being weak or strong, but about giving up entirely. A perfect example of someone weak leading the charge against a corrupt Society is the Nameless Bard from Mondstadt. He was willing to fight for a better dream.
15:39 Yamcha reference 😅
Since we talk about fairytale oz and Nutcracker are a fairy tale that you could just jump in, the Nutcracker is of course scara aka wanderer who is also a Pinocchio and uhhh tin man from oz because tin man wants to search a heart, the balerina also known as clara could be traveler because clara is a sugar plum princess literally a princess her power can cure a curse just like traveler cure dvalin tear i'm sure they can cure some still not awaken the potential but some progress and in the Nutcracker story there is a king rat which is difficult for me to figure who is king rat for me I think is the heavenly principle cause the only one who is corrupt and want to rule magical kingdom to gain power that just my guess
its the after life and a test to see where we go We and our sibling are long dead … you get Digitized in to cubes at the beginning plus for some reason we ae not it that big of a rush to find our sibling as we are so easily distracted … but the truth of this world is its a Shadow of a world that ended long ago and we are traveling through its memories to learn what happened to it due to our interference
Seems like reality often associated with hardships. In terms of Genshin (or real life) the universe itself could be said that it should not exist, because it's 'too good to be true'. And what else too good to be true? A dream. If outside of the universe is 'nothing' then this nothing might be the most reality out there. No wonder Ei said that reality is the stillness beneath the illusion.
22:09 it just clicked in my head that the very beginning of the battle pass with the floating castle and the mosaical sun(?) behind it looks waaayy too similar to the penacony 'moon' you showed earlier in the video 🤯
the theater and celestia from the mang are similar in side
This would put a whole new meaning to the title “Before Sun and Moon” huh 😂
I cant wait to see what you cooking with surtalogi!!!!!!
Having to play Hoyo's other gacha games just to understand Genshin lore seems kind of dubious. I think Genshin should be its own self-contained thing.
Nightingale and Sparrows,
Did You know, some sparrows are called
"Old world Sparrows"
They did their homework
Ik honkai star rail is not related with genshin i dont play honkai star rail but ik i bit of honkai star rail lore in the latest trailblaze quest in the end of that quest Acheron and black swan says something abt Enas dream im not sure but i do know Ena is all abt order and manipulation. Ena is a eye wanting control "Order" watch over everything like celestia in genshin. In your theory your saying genshin is a fairy tail but what if its one of Enas dreams a place full of control and order the "Hevenly prnciples" might be Enas order over teyvet. In Allerchinos demo we see an eye. In perinari (idk the spelling of the book srry)
They mention an eye in the sky that all decenders are shown in the hearth what if that Eye in the sky is Ena cleansing the decenders to be a part of teyvet. Maybe the hexcencircle witches are like the memoceepers in teyvet they remember things that should not be known in tevet. One more thing Black swan keeps memorys in cards im not sure but in invocation tcg there are charecter cards holding information abt them even paimon has a card weapons,artifacts,npcs from world quests,food they all have their own cards having information abt them its like someone is keeping track of the travelers meetings and moments and capturing them in cards idk this just my own observations i do not know anything abt honkai star rail so if i said somthing wrong plz correct me
Damn yall read the whole thing 👁👄👁
Do somthing better with your time
I always took Clothar's statement that Caribert is in a "fairy tale world" is a way for him to explain to his young son what is going on without him freaking out. It's just helping Caribert to cope with his transformation.
Still, fairy tales are a huge theme throughout all of Genshin
I just realized that layla's character selection pose is likely another reference to Princess Fillianore and the angels egg. She is literally asleep holding the globe from her burst, and in her idle she constantly has to save the globe from being shattered. no idea why it took me this long to realize this but mihoyo has now taken my sanity and im not getting it back
Maybe a dream that came true?
I mean, there's a Glider in Herta's Space Station, so Teyvat is at least canon