Headscratchers / Genshin Impact

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Risking the Eye

• In We Will be Reunited, why does Dain charge right after the Prince/ess and the Abyss Herald while carrying the eye of the First Tiller, knowing full well that it should not fall in the hands of the Abyss?
  • Evidently, and as answered in Chapter II Act IV, he has full confidence that the Abyss won't get it.

Destroying the Defiled Statue

• Similarly, the Traveler does not destroy the Defiled Statue at the end of the quest, even though that was the reason they returned to the ruins with Dainsleif.

Warning about the Gnoses

• Why did the Traveler not warn Zhongli (or anyone else in Liyue) that the Fatui has been stealing the archons' Gnoses, even after seeing Venti get attacked and learning this information from Venti? He/She was obviously suspicious of Childe from the get-go that he would try to steal Rex Lapis' Gnosis from his Exuvia, shouldn't they have warned someone about it?
  • Because the Traveler didn't know Zhongli was Morax. Besides, he peacefully made a contract with the Fatui before Traveler even arrived in Liyue, so that one had no hope of recovery.
  • It's possible Gnoses aren't common knowledge. Venti had to share that information only when it was relevant, and the Fatui know about it because Signora had them retrieved, herself operating on the orders of the Tsaritsa, an Archon with such knowledge.
  • Additionally, the Traveler couldn't warn the authorities nor the Archon themselves if they wanted to, because there's always some conflict preventing them from having a straight conversation. By the time it's all over, they miss their chance.

Forged weapons refinement

• Why does refining forged weapons require a duplicate? It's understandable if the weapon were one you didn't forge and found from treasure, but here you have raw materials so why not use that directly?
  • A possible explanation: raw materials can be turned into anything and thus do not inherently equate to the specific weapon you are refining. Say, you want to refine your Prototype Archaic. 50 Crystal Chunks and 50 White Iron Chunks can be turned into at least ten different weapons, so if you just took this pile of ore and dumped it onto your Archaic, the refinement magic wouldn't know that you meant specifically this claymore with its particular stats/substats/abilities. Using another Archaic, however, would provide a clear definition of the result you are looking for.

Defensive weapons

• How do weapons increase DEF In-Universe? All weapons have a base attack, which is reasonable. ATK, CRIT DMG and CRIT Rate, and Energy Recharge indicate a weapon is more helpful in certain aspects of combat such as being more powerful, easier to hit weak points, replenish one's energy more, etc. Gameplay aside, how do the Whiteblind, White Iron Greatsword, and Traveler's Handy Sword improve someone's defensive capabilities?
  • Some weapons are specifically designed for defense of the user, such as a Main-gauche (to stop thrusting attacks) or a Swordbreaker Dagger (for parrying), while still being perfectly usable to attack an opponent (Altough rarely used for that purpose, they were mostly used in conjunction with an offensive weapon). It's not a stretch to imagine weapons such as Whiteblind were specifically designed with a "main" defensive purpose in mind, while still retaining some combat capabilities.

Pyro+Hydro

• How does setting an enemy on fire and then dousing them with water cause 2x the damage? One would expect water to put out the fire...
  • Given the fire and the wetness are expended instantly, it's not a case of putting out the fire, it's creating a steam burn/steam explosion, which can be pretty nasty.

Treasure Hoarder name

• Why are Treasure Hoarders called what they are? Both them and the Adventurers' Guild search for treasure and get to keep it so in a sense they both hoard treasure. The only difference is that Treasure Hoarders are willing to commit crimes, so why not just call them bandits?
  • Branding. Treasure Hoarders is the name of their organization. Just like the Adventurers Guild is a name.

Amber's bombs

• Klee being a child has every reason to make her explosives look like a plush toy. Amber, a grown adult, puts in the time to make Baron Bunnies which is more than just a regular doll. Wouldn't it be a waste of time and extra materials to decorate a bomb?
  • Baron Bunnies are able to serve as a distraction and decoy target, as well as being able to activate some mechanisms that require the weight of two people. For these reasons, there are benefits to crafting an autonomous explosive doll rather than just a basic bomb.

Vision placement

• Why do some characters carry their Visions behind their backs or dangling off their body? They could easily lose them if not secured properly to their person and visible from their perspective.

Harbinger names

• If the Fatui are from the clearly Russia-coded Snezhnaya, why are all the Harbingers named for the very Italian Commedia dell'Arte characters?
  • The Harbingers use code names, it makes sense to make those distinct from Snezhnayan names to avoid cases of mistaken identity.

Public Inazuma Visions

• Why do the people who live in Inazuma wear their visions on public display despite the Vision Hunt Decree? Do they only work when exposed? A lot of Red Shirt Vision bearers from Inazuma have pretty peaceful lives that don't involve combat, so why carry them at all?
  • It has been theorized that Visions only work when exposed, since every single playable character has them exposed.
  • Visions are often referred to as a "God's Eye". In that case it would make sense that the allogene wouldn’t be able to draw on the Vision's full power if it is concealed since the Vision's power source would essentially be blind.

Mona's Vision nationality

• Mona traveling to Monstadt and having no residency there indicates she really isn't from there. So why does she have a Vision with the Monstadt decal?
  • That Vision was originally a Masterless one given to her by her teacher. We see in Autumn Winds, Scarlet Leaves that dead visions keep their shell. So the original owner of Mona's Vision was from Mondstadt.

Asase Shrine

• Food for thought, but why doesn't the Traveler immediately go to Ayaka and relay Neko's request to restore the Asase Shrine? Not only is it the Yashiro Commission's duty to manage the shrines in Inazuma, but no doubt Ayaka would've been delighted to not only honor the Traveler's request but even advertise the Asase Shrine to the citizens of Inazuma, making the place a popular tourist spot.

Miko and the Delusion Factory

• How did Yae Miko just happen to know the Traveler was in the Delusion Factory when she rescued them from Scaramouche ? She later explicitly states she does not communicate with the Resistance.
  • Given that the Traveler was an integral part of her plans regarding Ei in the Archon Quest she might have kept tabs on them and found out about them going to the Fatui hideout and went there to look out for them and possibly acquire their cooperation.

Out-flanking

• How did Gorou and Kazuha's squadron get in front of Tenshukaku? Last time we heard of the Resistance, the war front was still at Yashiori Island. If they managed to infiltrate Inazuma City, how did they do so in Resistance uniform and no disguises at all?
  • The secret may be the size of Gorou's squadron. It's quite small which is why they could move undetected. All the guards were also knocked out by Sara.
  • As for how they got there, they could've taken the Alcor.
  • An alternative to the Alcor would be Waveriders. They're a lot smaller and more mobile, hence why a big squadron was not present.
  • Turns out that Kamisato Ayato ordered the Shuumatsuban to help position and hide the Resistance platoon under Tenshukaku in his Character Demo while the Traveler was creating a distraction for Sayu to steal important documents, with Ayato likely in the loop with Yae Guuji's plot.

Calling Xiao

• The Moonchase event confirms Xiao wasn't just exaggerating when he said he will be there if the Traveler calls his name, so why didn't the Traveler call them when they were in trouble in Inazuma? There were plenty of moments they could have died but only survived due to luck or someone getting lucky and reacting quickly. His presence in the event was also for something (in comparison with anarchy or the end of the world) quite trivial, so surely any far more important reason would be grounds for calling him.
  • It might be a range limitation. Xiao is primarily active in Liyue and hears all cries for all help there but that might not apply outside of Liyue.

Paimon's juicer

• If Paimon wanted a fruit juicer, why didn't she think to ask Diona or Diluc? They make alcohol for a living and the majority of drinks that exist in-game are made of fruits.
  • Paimon isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Sacred Sakura appearing

• In Raiden Shogun's second character quest, Ei mentions that when she returned from Khaenri'ah, she was the only one surprised by the Sacred Sakura popping into existence, while everyone in Inazuma believed it was always there. Why is it so? The part with Ei's confusion is understandable, since at that moment she hasn't yet planted the tree. The part with the Sakura immediately being a fully grown tree is understandable too, since Istaroth's power is capable of speeding things up drastically. But why did people react the way they did - that is to say, not at all?
  • It's already explained. When Ei planted the seed, it's described as growing forwards and backwards in time. Essentially, the Sacred Sakura's growth wasn't simply fast-forwarded, but rather it was basically retconned into the timeline. People treat it as if it were "always there" because it WAS always there - at least, in the new version of history that was created after Ei planted the seed. Ei appears to the only person whose memory was ripple-proofed, likely because the tree's planting is her future rather than her past. Timey-wimey ball.

Using Musou Isshin inside Musou Isshin

• Both Ei and the Raiden Shogun are capable of drawing Musou Isshin. Ei can do this while still inside her Pocket Dimension, which is actually INSIDE Mosou Isshin. How? Is the dimension recursive or something?
  • It probably works the same way as the Serenitea Pot, which can be placed inside the Serenitea Pot to exit the Serenitea Pot.

Male puppet

• What reason did Ei have to build a puppet that couldn't be her Body Double? Her intention was to replace herself with an immortal puppet, which requires the Raiden Shogun to be a perfect copy of her. So why did she start out making a young man, who at best could pass himself off as a relative to the Shogun?
  • Scaramouche was not meant to be a final product. As Yae mentions during the Q&A section after Inazuma main quest, Ei first made a "proof of concept", a test run of sorts. Think of him as a rough draft.

Scaramouche name

• How did Paimon know Scaramouche's real name? When he tricked the Traveler in the Delusion Factory, he only introduced himself by his Harbinger codename. But, when Traveler waves up afterwards, she calls him "Scaramouche" instead of just "The Balladeer".
  • Dubbing issue. Scaramouche only has one name in the original Chinese text of the game.

Non-humans of Mondstadt

• With the exception of Mondstadt, every new region has introduced a native non-human species. Liyue has the Illuminated Beasts/Adepti, Inazuma has the Youkai, Sumeru has the Aranara and the Pari, and Fontaine has the Melusine (and formerly, the Oceanids). Is this merely an oversight as a result of it being the starter region, or did something occur that left Mondstadt without any sort of native non-humans, save a few individuals?
  • If Thousand Winds are a bunch of wind spirits like the one Venti used to be, they could possibly count and we just haven't met them yet? Alternately, it's possible that Mondstadt has native non-humans living in seclusion in a part of Mondstadt that haven't been released yet (like, say, Dandelion Sea), and they just never visit the initial Mondstadt map for one reason or another.

Clorinde's shirt

• In a world where every Vision user has an impeccably tailored outfit, why doesn't Clorinde buy a shirt that fits?
  • Because she knowingly chose the current one, of course.

Wriothesley and Lanoire

• In "Unfinished Comedy", why didn't we just go straight to Wriothesley and ask him to release Lanoire? It's kind of understandable if the quest is done before we meet Wriothesley in the main story proper, but not otherwise.

Flood and other countries

• When the prophecy happens near the end of the Fontaine Archon Quests, the flood happens as expected, with the water level reaching half of the Opera Epiclese's height. However, given that Fontaine is based on a high plateau, this begs the question on why it is seemingly never alluded if the previous four nations are affected by the flood that high, given how they are at a low elevation? Sure, non-Fontanians won't dissolve, but drowning is fair game.
  • Could the land of Fontaine be akin to a, uh, fountain? This troper is not an expert on fountains nor floods, but maybe the water has some way of going back down (or inside; we still don't know the specifics of how and why Fontaine got elevated). The water discharge can be stronger or weaker, but ultimately it doesn't overflow.
  • Neuvillette had the foresight to do absolve Fontaine's people before heading down to deal with the Narwhal. He's also known to be able to command water to just go back the way it came, and can create seals capable of holding back a considerable amount of water pressure. Isolating the flooding issue and restricting it to Fontaine until it stops bubbling over is well within his capabilities, especially now that his full power has returned.
  • At this point, it shouldn’t be surprising if Celestia flooded the other nations as collateral damage because there are Fontainians in the other nations so they needed to be sure everybody is accounted for.

Oceanids and humanity

• So why did the Oceanids want Egeria to make them human when we've seen Oceanids in human form under their own power and ones able or on the way to being able to understand and experience human emotions? Yes, it's said off to the sides that Idyia is a higher end outlier in both emotional intelligence and strength but Callirhoe seems most of the way there and Lyris seems to have found another way there by absorbing the mind of a dying Mary-Ann Guillotine?
  • Just occurred to me that Mary-Ann Guillotine was an Oceanid turned human and the Oceanids mind melding with humans may not be a thing outside those circumstances.
  • Idiya and Callirhoe are both survivors of the Cataclysm, which occurred long after Egeria made her first humans. The trick with the Primordial Sea could have been a prototype technique before she and the Oceanids figured other, less-blasphemous ways to achieve the same thing. Also note that it took about another 500 years after fleeing Fontaine for Callirhoe to gain a human form, a development that she's bewildered by. Either it's lost knowledge, or atypical to Oceanid development. In Idiya's case too, the waters are a bit muddled by the Veluriam Mirage's bottle, which can accomplish almost anything within its confines. Either way, 500 years to achieve humanity isn't exactly quick. People die, and society marches on, after all, so if they didn't become human at that point in time then they would have missed out on that era of humanity, and who knows if future eras would have been to their liking.

Childe verdict

• Why did Focalors give Childe a guilty verdict despite him being innocent?
  • Focalors herself doesn't say before her demise, but Neuvillette has two theories: Childe was given a guilty verdict due to his connection to the All Devouring Narwhal, or considering that the Fortress is built over the entrance to the Primordial Sea, Focalors purposely gave Childe a guilty verdict so he could be there to hold back the Narwhal from fulfilling the prophecy, which he did end up doing. For 45 days.

Furina's secret

• Furina couldn't reveal her secret, else the prophecy comes true. Couldn't she just explain that keeping it secret is the key and that spilling it will guarantee the propechy to come true? All without revealing the actual truth, of course.
  • Picture yourself saying that aloud and see if you can make yourself believe it. Then picture yourself doing so while staring a matter of life and death straight in the face. No amount of charisma is going to make that even remotely believable, boss, even with people you trust. And people already don't trust her.

Identifying a human

• How is it that Neuvillette, for all his Hydro Sovereign authority, was unable to tell that Furina was human without any elemental powers for the 500 years they've ruled together? Furthermore, his Story Quest shows that he can sense the emotions carried by the waters, but he somehow just never noticed how much suffering Furina was going through even when her tears gathered in the Fontaine of Lucine. You may say that no one noticed the resentment of the Fotaine of Lucine Oceanid either, but Neuvillette asked Vacher if he valued meeting his lover more than his life before allowing him to do so, suggesting that Neuvillette may have some inkling of what was going to happen. On the flip side, this might be justified by the fact that he's a Workaholic and purposefully distanced himself from others so he simply missed sensing Furina's feelings, but that still leaves the question of him being unaware of Furina's true nature as a Oceanid human mimic.
  • Neuvillette said it himself during the trial: he sensed the aura of the curse coming from Furina, but mistook it for her divinity. The fact that Focalors was the one to curse Furina probably added to it.

Unwanted children in Fontaine

• Since Fontainians cannot have unwanted children as couples must pray at a fountain to have any, how are there so many orphans, as well as a massive child trafficking problem in Fontaine? Also, in Roses and Muskets, a major plot point is how Morris had unwanted children, which should not have been possible.
  • In the case of Morris, that could easily be explained by buyer's remorse - he initially agreed, but later chickened out like the miserable, disgusting coward he clearly is. Besides, technically speaking, if "all" you need to do in order to have a kid is to just go pray at a fountain, in some ways it would make it easier to have children since it would presumably bypass pesky biological factors like fertility, which would allow love-struck but foolish young couples in precarious situations to have children before realizing they are not in fact ready for parenthood. Moreover, it's not totally clear how the Fountain of Lucine actually works - what would it do in the case of immigrants from other nations? Do the parents actually need to both be native Fontainians, or will it just plant a new Oceanid baby in any prospective mother's womb?
  • Alternatively, we never got to know Elisa as her own person with thoughts and emotions, and everyone only speaks of her in relation to their connection with her, be it as an ex-lover, a long-dead mother, or a murder victim. Who's to deny whether she didn't actually plan her pregnancy in an attempt to secure her future with Morris? With their physiological natures as Oceanids, perhaps all Fontainians (including male ones) actually have the potential to become Truly Single Parents once the Hydro Archon grants permission, though only female mimic bodies have the means of gestation. Furthermore, the orphan and child trafficking issue is more of a systematic problem caused by Fontaine's legal oversight on the protection of minors and the non-elites rather than its unique reproduction methods. Just look at how Morris managed to avoid paying child support and get away with murder for 20 years with his wealth and influence, forcing his children to rely on themselves to serve their brand of justice.

Cloud Retainer lift

• While watching Cloud Retainer use her kite to lift the rest back into the air is awesome, it also makes no sense. The whole point of the kites from Lantern Rite 2024 is that they've been equipped with lift devices so they can operate without wind, right? How would this even happen then?
  • It could be that the lifts were tested in environments with very little wind that were mistaken for no wind, and were unprepared for an actual lack of wind. Alternatively, they might have not been turned on. Liyue isn't the most tech savvy nation so the people there might not have recognized an on button.

Foreign students

• Why aren't there more foreign students in the Akademiya? Lisa is the only playable character outside of Sumeru to have gone to the Akademiya, with The Crimson Witch of Flames/Rosalyne/Signora and Kunwu having been stated to have gone there.

Freminet and the previous Knave

• Freminet was stated to have grown up under the previous Knave's abuse and lies about his mother, but "The Song Burning in the Embers" shows that Peruere/Arlecchino killed Crucabena when she was a teenager, and later on told Freminet the truth about his mother. Given how Arlecchino was already an adult woman and the head of the Hearth when she told Freminet about it, exactly how old does this make Freminet? Are the trio Older Than They Look, or is Arlecchino Younger than She Looks?
  • Lynette has a line in her hangout that implies that she and Lyney are actually young adults as she refers to a fellow actress’s younger sister as a teenager who's acting on the impulses and angst that comes with being that age. If Arlecchino (Peruere) was around the same age as Clervie when she died at 16, she killed "Mother" when she was 17. Freminet joined sometime in between, likely at a very young age . Within the next "couple months" Arlecchino did jail time, ascended to her Harbinger seat, and took in the twins. In the present, it has been around 10 years since then. As such, the twins are at least 20, Arlecchino is in her late twenties (26 - 28), and Freminet is perhaps around 13 - 17.

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