Khaenri’ah

One of the greatest mysteries that has come out of Genshin Impact is the inclusion (or lack thereof so far—when this article is being written) of the destroyed city of Khaenri’ah. We get a glimpse of the city in the game's intro, a city on fire before everything once again fades away. The traveler awakes in Teyvat, but can’t stop thinking about that destruction, because their thoughts are on their lost sibling. But she (yes, I picked the female traveler because I enjoy playing a female lead as often as possible), could not find her brother and got thrown into one adventure after another.

Little bits and pieces are all we get along the way, and even know that we’re in Inazuma. We only have the bare minimum of information about this place. This ancient city that they wanted to be the center of our attention from the start and yet… they have given us nothing.

Now there are groups on twitter and tumblr, and all over discord that talks about lord and theories and I will not go into that. I’m going to go into what we DO know and my thoughts on it.

First let’s start at the beginning. We know a date, sort of. 500 years before the current time period, the city is destroyed. The great cataclysm. Celestia and the Archons caused this. But we aren’t told that outright until much later in the story. In fact, it’s not until Ei tells us that her sister Makoto died in the battle for Khaenri’ah that we know it was indeed the Seven who were there. Though both Zhongli and Venti won’t speak of the matter, they can’t actually speak on the matter. Zhongli because of a contract he made, and Venti because of the connection with the gnosis he had.

So we know the Archons and Celestia were involved with the destruction of the city, but why? We’re told they were dabbling in “god-less” arts. That would later turn out to be alchemy. One such alchemist, known as “Gold” or Rhinedottir, would create monsters who would leave the city and head out into Teyvat. Rhinedottir’s beasts would wreak havoc all over the various countries until they finally stopped. Or until they were driven to the island nation of Inazuma.

So what about the people living in this grand city? What happened to them? Well, they would explain away as well. It would turn them into monsters that would later become the Abyss Order, the same Order that your sibling would take over. Eventually, we will see a battle between the Abyss Order prince(ss) (your sibling) vs the traveler. Hopefully, before that happens, we find out more about why he’s helping the order and what really all happened.

While a majority of people from Khaenri’ah turned into monsters of the Abyss, there were some that were left. The alchemist you meet Albedo is the apprentice of Gold, and they hinted that he might have been living within Khaenri’ah during the great cataclysm. The second, of course, is Gold herself. We don’t know yet if she is alive or dead, but it is a good possibility that she has survived all this time and is out there, waiting for us to meet her.

The last member is as mysterious as the city itself. Dainsleif shows up in Mondstadt in strange clothes, acting weirdly, and it’s up to the traveler to figure out who he is and why he is there. Once it is all settled, he pops back up from time to time, helping and offering little insight into the world and into history. But it always leaves more questions than answers. He’s truly one of the biggest mysteries in the game, besides the city and the destruction itself.

Now, I’m going to mention Kaeya here as well, only because the theories have gotten to the point to where you really can’t ignore them anymore. My favorite is to think of him as the lost prince of Khaenri’ah. Is it the truth? Probably not. But the fandom has accepted that he’s connected to the city. (Check the wiki of Khaenri’ah and you’ll find him at the bottom under ‘playable characters’)

I quote Dainsleif as describing where Khaenri’ah is as “the hidden corners where the gods’ gaze does not fall.” This tells me that while Celestia might have destroyed the major city itself, she could not destroy the heart of it. It’s a fantasy trope that we’ve all seen used before, and I’m happy to see it being used here, just for the chance to go to Khaenri’ah and have it be a playable area in the game.

The game has a ton of stuff to explore still for me, and I have not been to every inch. Have a missed something hidden in a corner or Teyvat that could unravel more of this mystery? That’s totally possible. I’ve put in hours a day for months into the game, and I still haven’t even 100% the main first areas (though you can bet Inazuma is—because Electro for life~). This game is so packed full of lore and things to do and explore, I doubt very much I’ll ever finish it.