Is Genshin Impact Anti-Religion? A Properly Unhinged Deep Dive



Does Genshin Impact have an underlying message that is critical of religion or organized religion? This video decides to just go for it and see if that’s the case! The presentation of Venti (Barbatos), Zhongli (Morax), Ei (Beelzebub), Nahida (Buer) and Focalor is researched and examined and also themes found in Enkanomiya and Celestia can point us to some real life religions that may better help us understand Genshin’s attitude towards religion. Let me know what you think Genshin thinks of religion in the comments!

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SOURCES:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/gnosticism
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Demiurge
https://gnosticismexplained.org/the-gnostic-creation-myth/
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Divine_Nail
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Primordial_One
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/The_Byakuyakoku_Collection#Vol._2
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Heavenly_Principles
https://www.deliriumsrealm.com/goetia-demons/
https://www.occult.live/index.php/Marax
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/The_Subterranean_Trials_of_Drake_and_Serpent
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Cataclysm

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44 thoughts on “Is Genshin Impact Anti-Religion? A Properly Unhinged Deep Dive”

  1. Yes. Genshin uses a lot of different belief systems and it is visible how they all seem to have their flaws exploited. Fontaine is a prime example of how the game deems the divine punishment as something bad, since they made the exact same mistake Celestia was punishing them for.
    The parallels with Noah’s Ark are sooooo evident.

    Reply
  2. Hey love your content with my whole heart I also really like your ideas but I also heard on mistake you said that Hephaestus was born from a Athena but he was born from Hera who wanted to show Zeus that she didn’t need him.❤❤❤

    Reply
  3. a video collecting all the different religious allusions and references found in each regions religion to real world faiths would be awesome!! im a world views student and would personally find that video a joy to watch!

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  4. Tbf if we look at our own gods, we see that they don’t do anything really. Like say whatever u want about praying, u can’t prove if its a coincidence or just so happened to actually be a god. Things against the odds can and will happen. Yes religion can be good but also can and will be abused and adapted to use for their own benefits.

    Before you say the point of faith is to believe something that cannot be proven, remember gods can do many things and their books or whatever else records their stories have lists of them doing things but now many decades later there’s nothing like parting the red sea and all that. Yet now they suddenly choose to allow wars

    Reply
  5. Love this video, thank you so much for the perspective on how divinity is portrayed in Genshin! It's very interesting to see how Hyv tackles divinity especially in comparison between their games like the Archons of Genshin vs the Aeons of HSR. Really loved this video

    Reply
  6. ok i have some things that may or may not add to this idk it's just food for thought regarding khaenri'ah and humanity's potential ok…
    1) khaenri'ah's advanced techology and alchemy (khemia) it's all thanks to them "SPYING UPON SECRETS FROM BEYOND THE SKIES" (that's exactly what the abandoned letter close to the door in summer says). so yeah… khaenri'ah was insane and "able to throw off the shackles imposed by this world's laws" because they were watching other worlds, universes, the abyss or whatever lies beyond that fake sky the primordial one/celestia/heavenly principles put (??? idk if i worded that correctly, english is not my first language sorry). 
    OKAY AND NEXT!!! 2) this whole thing about humans understanding their true power and potential it's actually sooo interesting but even more interesting, at least to me, it's to see THE GODS THEMSELVES learning that… guizhong is the first one that comes to mind for obvious reasons but we also hace focalors who KNEW only human ambition was going to able to surpass the will of the heavenly principles itself and deceive them, that's why farina's strength being her humanity is so important for the narrative <3 i could really continue expanding on this topic but i think it has been enough lmfao

    great video btw 🙂

    Reply
  7. 7:40
    I thought about the fact that in religions now (Christianity, Judaism, Islam), Gods usually do something that we consider bad "for a reason"
    'oh i killed a large village, it was for a reason'
    but Greek/roman gods were like
    'i killed a large village because i was mad at my brother and wanted to get back at them'
    it wasn't "for a reason" and we simply don't understand the god and we have to blindly trust in them, they portrayed bad things as bad. killing a village has no reason. at least the Greek gods were shown to be doing something bad in killing that village.

    Reply
  8. i also find it interesting how every archon has praised humanity in some way, saying how they all might have had something that they didn't.

    nahida praised their curiosity, creativity and emotional connection
    ei praised their ambitions and them looking forward to the future and their progression as a species
    zhongli praised how independent they are not needing a god
    venti with their freedom and expression
    and egeria and focalors sacrificing everything to save all of humanity and focalors last words saying how much she loved humanity and how special it was, and praising furina for being a human

    Reply
  9. Love the presentation of this video! And yeah I agree with most of your takes, especially with Focalors deceiving the Heavenly Principles it put the nail in the coffin that the actual uprising has started now.

    some minor corrections and/or remarks that don't really affect anything you said, but still:
    1) Catholicism is Christianity, arguably (one of) its oldest form(s). I know you most likely have an American background in which Protestantism or the Evangelical group is considered 'real' Christianity, but… nah, they're really all different sects under the grander umbrella.
    2) The Gnos*e*s (that's the plural, not Gnos*i* weirdly enough) are the 'proof' that an Archon is an Archon, but only enhances an Archon's already existing power.
    3) Ei's situation was even worse, she also mourned all her dead friends of which roughly half she had to kill or mortally wound herself
    4) The Heavenly Principles sent down the nails to prevent the Forbidden Knowledge from completely destroying all life on Teyvat. But still, yup, no regard for the people that lived around the planned striking zones so a dick move.
    5) Orobashi sacrificed himself by putting himself into a position to get executed by Ei because he basically declared war on the Shogunate. He forced his own death, thus a sacrifice. (afterwards though, Ei allowed the people of Watatsumi to still worship Orobashi, real queen shit imo)
    6) In one of the Sumeru Desert world quests we do find out that Celestia and the Archons tried to prevent anyone from getting destroyed by the Abyssal explosions of power, it's just that Khaenri'ah was already too far gone.

    Reply
  10. Another interesting thing to note that the fact that in gnosticism there are 7 archons but some say 12. This is also reflected in Genshin. There are 7 archons, and aside from 2, none of them were the original archons. So that would be 5 extra previous archons. And what's 7+5? 12. Just something interesting I noted

    Reply
  11. I’ve always gotten the impression that Genshin is more critical of divinity than it is of religion. One thing I’ve always found interesting is the Church of Barbatos, and to put it bluntly it’s irrelevance. In all of Genshin, it’s the closest thing there is to modern-day religion (this might just be because Mondstadt is based on western Europe and Chrisianity just happens to be the most prevalant religion). The fact that they have that and just kinda don’t do anything with in has always made me think that Genshin isn’t too concerned with the social aspect of religious organizations, but instead with the very concept of divinity and how we conceive of it.

    Reply
  12. This is the best of discussions I have partake in, it's such an interesting take on the story and lore of Genshin that it just seems to connect all very well. I truly want to say how much enlightened I do feel about all of this and that, thank you E for creating such a well-written , immersive and good summary of what has all happened in the story. If all of this does end up tying the knot of what the game is about the 'Truth of this world' then I dare say it's an amazing lesson and story take that a lot of us needed to be reminded off and I would truly love to see it all unravel till the end. My passion of understanding Genshin story has increased and your character explanation through your videos thank you so much. <33

    Reply
  13. absolutely devoured this one as per usual ✨ a bit of a side note that stuck out to me during the celestia portion of the video was the mention of how they try to limit and control the spread of knowledge due to the power it holds – PERFECT nod to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in christianity, but also got me thinking not just about gnoses, but also visions. there have been theories floating around for a while about visions being bestowed not actually as a blessing meant to harness one's power, like we're led to believe, but actually as a means to control or repress that power in those deemed ambitious enough to seek truth AND powerful enough to potentially uncover it. no idea at this point if those theories will be proven true, but it wouldnt surprise me if celestia viewed powerful citizens as threats to their rule, just as much as they do the archons.

    another key note: celestia tasking the archons to fight for their place in teyvat and granting divinity to the successful seven is the most PERFECT way to not only control the strong, but also use the strong to wipe out the week, thus leaving every archon that remains and poses a threat to celestia under its watchful eye. for those with supposedly "heavenly" principles, they sure are devious in that regard……

    but that's just a theory. a game —

    Reply
  14. I don't like the religious stuff they put in it. Makes no sense and it really bothers me. I love Venti and Zhongli, but in my story I took away their "god" thing and just called them Archons, Tevyat protectors

    Reply
  15. I have a theory that Celestia in the sky is actually a fake Celestia and to keep up the appearances they created an automatic vision-giving system (like a Minecraft xp farm ykyk) while they vanished for some reason.

    The Heavenly Principals may be the "secretary" of Celestia. Celestia is high up, The HP operate and the Archons, well, they do what they were told to do. I feel like Celestia is a scam or a great pyramid scheme 😭 and the Archons barely know what's going on.

    Edit: The Archons acutally seem to be operating in secret to go against Celestia. See how they are all indirectly giving more operational power (freedom to govern and rule) to the people instead of themselves alone doing it all? It all started with Venti saying that "is freedom real freedom when told/ruled by an Archon?", then Zhongli faking his death, Ei letting a puppet rule and watching in silence her people grow, Nahida >>helping<< her people and Furina stepping aside and Focalors sacrificing herself… ALL OF THEM GIVING THEIR GNOSIS??? This is too much of a coincidence to not be plotted…

    Reply
  16. I love finally understanding the basics of Gnosticism 😛 But I can't help but think… the Demiurge is kinda tragic. He didn't ask to be created, he didn't understand what he did wrong (if anything, he was just ugly??) and in the worst case he's just acting out an inferiority syndrome here. Doesn't help that Wanderer is my favourite character and I see a bit (a lot) of overlap, hehe. Maybe in the very end we'll have some sympathy even for the faulty Celestia when we understand everything fully?

    Reply
  17. This has probably been the most fun I've had watching a lore video in a long while! Your humor and personality are incredible and the "queen shit" on the humanizing of the gods segment made me immediately sub. Your style of memeing and being yourself while still being so knowledgeable and informed on the subjects is something I find incredibly refreshing and extremely entertaining.

    I haven't finished the video as of typing this yet, but I wanted to stop and take a moment to say you have solified your place as one of my favorite Genshin historians/theorists! You bring a certain energy to your videos akin to what a student-wide favorited professor brings and I think youre doing awesome in what you do! The amount of laughing and learning I've been doing during this video completely made my day and am excited for what's to come from your channel!

    Reply

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