Genshin Impact: The Full Scope of the Archon War Explained

Highlights

• Genshin Impact’s Archon War shaped the division of Teyvat among powerful gods vying for Celestia’s seats and the source of their power.
• Inazuma saw Makoto and Ei battle Orobashi, creating Watatsumi Island; Sumeru’s gods fell, while Fontaine involved an ancient civilization.
• Barbatos and Morax remain as original Archons post-war; successors and reincarnations took over the duties of others.

Genshin Impact has excellent world-building, with stories that have happened as far back as thousands of years ago–stories like the Archon War. Genshin Impact‘s Archon War was a means of deciding who would sit in the seven seats high above in Celestia and become an Archon. Not every god had an interest in that; some just wanted to defend their territory. Once the gods had their seats, the nations of Teyvat were divided up and given to the gods. The land was there before, as the gods were already in their regions, but now it was more official, so to speak.

There is not enough information currently in the game to determine why exactly the war came about. While the goal was those seven seats in Celestia and the Gnoses (the source of the Archon’s power, and what truly makes them an Archon and not just a powerful and intimidating god), it is believed that everything had been fine before the Archon War. The war came seemingly out of nowhere, and yet managed to cause a serious unraveling of events. Since the Archon War’s impact on Mondstadt and Liyue has been covered, the focus here will be Inazuma, Sumeru, and Fontaine.

Genshin Impact: The Archon War Explained

Inazuma in the Archon War

In the beginning, there were (by technicality) two Archons residing in Inazuma. However, since the Archon War was about deciding who gets to become an Archon, it may be more accurate to say there were two main gods in the nation: Makoto, the one who would eventually become the Archon, and her twin sister Ei, her shadow. The term specifically used is Kagemusha, meaning shadow warrior. Ei herself says in “Promise of a People’s Dream” that her own name always means shadow. She follows her sister into battle, but she appears to have operated similar to how the Raiden Shogun does.

When the era of the Archon War came, Orobashi’s fall is perhaps the most prominent event. At some point, Makoto and Ei had to turn on Orobashi, since they’d previously been at peace with one another, and fend it off. Orobashi made way to Enkanomiya, where it then proceeded to rescue people and return them to the surface. It’s also said that Genshin Impact‘s Watatsumi Island was made from its scales when returning the people to the surface.

Sumeru in the Archon War

Sumeru is an odd case. The three gods who resided there — the Goddess of Flowers, Rukkhadevata, and King Deshret — all appeared to live in harmony. They seemed to have their own issues going on around the time of the Archon War (forbidden knowledge that King Deshret has his dealings with), and none of them ever seemed to be at one another’s throats when it came to the topic of the Gnosis. In fact, in the Plume of Death piece in the Flower of Paradise Lost set, King Deshret is implied to have turned away the Gnosis when Celestia offered it to him.

According to Kusanali, King Deshret and the Goddess of Flowers fell thousands of years ago. Since the Archon War is stated to have ended roughly 2,000 years ago, they likely fell during that time. Afterward, she was the only one left and the only one who could have the Gnosis. Though, after she had to erase Rukkhadevata in Irminsul, Teyvat only knows of Lesser Lord Kusanali and what she did for her people. Rukkhadevata is no longer there in Teyvat’s history, as if she never had been to begin with.

Fontaine in the Archon War

There is very little information about Fontaine during the Archon War, but based off of what is available, a lot of fairly sound conclusions can be made. Firstly, it wouldn’t have been Fontaine at the time. Rather, it would have been the ancient civilization of Remuria. At this time, the old Hydro Archon Egeria was said to have been temporarily sealed away by Celestia for making humans out of Oceanids using Primordial Seawater.

King Remus then took over ruling Remuria and tried to gather all the tribes in the area to come under his rule. His original intention may have been protection, but it soon turned into a conquest of land. Dragon King Scylla intervened and brought King Remus down and afterward, Egeria was freed for the purpose of ruling the land again. One of the first things that happened under her returning rule was the exiling of criminals. When some begged for mercy and redemption, she granted it by having them build the Fortress of Meropide to hide the Primordial Sea.

Archon War: In the End

After everything, only Barbatos and Morax are the remaining original Archons that came into power after the war. Later on, after Khaenri’ah fell and brought chaos to the land, Makoto fell and left Ei to take over. She passed control on over to her second puppet, the Raiden Shogun, after tossing away her first prototype puppet, who became Scaramouche/The Wanderer, but she is still the Archon of Inazuma.

Rukkhadevata also had to be reborn after the Cataclysm and was replaced by her reincarnation, Buer/Kusanali. Again, after erasing Rukkhadevata from Irminsul, she became the only Archon to ever exist, but she is not considered one of the original Seven. Egeria fell during the Cataclysm as well and became the Amrita Pool and had her conscious placed into the Harvisptokhm, succeeded eventually by Focalors.