Vol.02: The Truth of Teyvat - Irminsul and Ley Lines, the Philosophy of 'History' Woven by Memory Alteration and the Loom of Fate
Introduction: The Epistemological Labyrinth and the Redefinition of “History”
What is “history” in the continent of Teyvat? This question does not merely imply a chronological listing of past events or the compilation of annals. It is a massive information network that exists spatially and physically, a “dynamic database” harboring the potential to be constantly edited, tampered with, or rewoven with new threads. This article comprehensively discusses the structural essence of “Irminsul” and the “Ley Lines,” which form the foundation of Teyvat, the mechanisms of memory tampering that occur within them, and the rewriting of events through the “Loom of Fate” planned by the Abyss Order, interweaving philosophical and mythological contexts.
To unravel the structure of this world, the perspective of Gnosticism is indispensable. The theme of escaping the material world created by a “false god” (Demiurge) in Gnosticism is deeply rooted in Teyvat’s cosmology. Under the “False Sky” enclosed by the Laws (fate) laid down by The Heavenly Principles (the usurper), how is true history concealed, and how is it about to be reclaimed? The main battlefield of this struggle is none other than Irminsul, the repository of memories, and the Ley Lines, the circulatory system of energy. Through the analysis in this article, we will reconsider the nature of Free Will in a deterministic universe and the very definition of “history” in Teyvat.
1. Ontological Origins of Irminsul and the Ley Lines
1.1 The Ley Line Network and Its Roots in The Abyss
Deep beneath the entirety of Teyvat lies an invisible network known as the “Ley Lines.” This is a massive circulatory system that transmits elemental energy, as well as the memories and knowledge of the world, with the giant spiritual tree “Irminsul” situated at its center and apex. In fact, the Ley Lines are extensions of Irminsul’s roots, and Irminsul itself functions as the source of Dendro elemental power.
However, regarding the origins of Irminsul and the Ley Lines, a significant paradox exists between in-game descriptions and the historical timeline. A prominent theory within the community suggests that in ancient times, when the Dragon King Nibelung brought the power of The Abyss to Teyvat to oppose The Heavenly Principles, The Heavenly Principles created the Ley Lines to repel that abyssal power. Yet, on the other hand, if Irminsul is the source of the Dendro element, it must have already existed since the primordial era when the Sovereign Dragon Apep reigned (before the Descenders arrived in Teyvat), let alone the era of The Seven.
This contradiction suggests that Teyvat’s historical system is not a “pure creation by The Heavenly Principles,” but rather the “usurpation and modification of an existing indigenous system.” The roots of Irminsul extend into The Abyss, not only determining the flow of the Ley Lines, but there is also the fact that Abyss Mages carry branches of Irminsul to escape the curses of Celestia. Furthermore, an intriguing fact is that the silver-white tree (a branch of Irminsul) in Dragonspine, despite being on the verge of withering due to the Celestial Nail of The Heavenly Principles, was revived by the blood of the demonic dragon Durin, which was corrupted by the power of The Abyss. The phenomenon of a tree destroyed by the power of The Heavenly Principles being breathed back to life by the power of The Abyss (a power adjacent to forbidden knowledge) embodies the alchemical process from “Nigredo” (blackening/putrefaction) to “Rubedo” (reddening/rebirth), while strongly suggesting the possibility that Irminsul itself has a more primordial and abyssal origin beyond the domain of The Heavenly Principles.
1.2 The World as a Database and the B-Tree Algorithm
There is a meticulous theory that the function of Irminsul, which governs history, is extremely similar to the index structure of databases in modern information engineering, particularly the concept of the “B-Tree.”
In this hypothesis, “history” in Teyvat is not a single, irreversible flow of time, but a massive hierarchical tree structure (index) where countless nodes (fragments of memories and events) are interlinked. Irminsul does not function as a “time machine” that rewinds past physical time, but as a “mainframe computer” that manages the “search paths” to the information existing in the world. From this perspective, the elements constituting Teyvat are redefined as follows:
- Elemental Power: The spectrum of light that makes up data, or the data format itself.
- Marana (Withering Zones): Data corruption (bugs) or file fragmentation phenomena.
- Rifthounds (Creations of Gold): Malicious programs (malware) originating from The Abyss.
- Celestial Nails: Antivirus patches designed to isolate and initialize corrupted data along with its physical space.
- Erosion and the Curse of Immortality: A process where immortals, such as the people of Khaenri’ah, who cannot return to Irminsul’s data stream through normal death, undergo self-collapse in the form of Erosion to avoid causing errors.
Understood in this way, “history” in Teyvat is merely a collection of software records stored on the hardware known as Irminsul. To use a real-world analogy, just as massive LLSVPs (Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces) exist inside the Earth and control surface volcanic activity, Irminsul beneath Teyvat controls surface perception and reality. Understanding this premise is the key to unraveling the true mechanism of “memory tampering” discussed in the next chapter.
2. Memory Tampering and the World’s Self-Repair Function
2.1 The Separation of “History” (Physical Events) and “Memory” (Information)
Mighty entities with access rights to Irminsul can manipulate or erase its internal information. The erasure of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, dramatically depicted in the Archon Quest, and the attempted self-erasure by the Wanderer (Scaramouche) presented the greatest paradox in the Laws of Teyvat and the limits of the system.
Because Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was corrupted by “forbidden knowledge,” she had Nahida, the next Dendro Archon, completely erase her existence from Irminsul. As a result, her very existence was expunged from the memories and records of the people of Teyvat as if she had “never existed from the beginning.” Similarly, to prevent past tragedies (such as the incident at Tatarasuna), the Wanderer attempted to erase himself from Irminsul and fundamentally rewrite the history in which he was involved.
However, the decisive fact made clear here is that even if the information in Irminsul is tampered with, the “physical events (results) that occurred in the past” themselves do not change. As frequently discussed in the lore community, even though Scaramouche deleted his own index (search path) from the system, the facts that the Raiden Shogun created a puppet, the sacrifices at Tatarasuna, and the unnatural result of the 6th seat of the Fatui Harbingers being vacant for many years remained intact.
2.2 The World’s Self-Repair Mechanism (Supplementation of Contradictions)
Information tampering by Irminsul functions not as an “alteration of the physical space of the past,” but as a “reconciliation of perception and records (self-repair function).” This is a kind of homeostasis in the information space.
| Nature of the Event | Truth Before Tampering (Original Data) | State After Tampering (After Irminsul’s Patch Application) |
|---|---|---|
| Genealogy of Sumeru’s Archons | Greater Lord Rukkhadevata ruled, and after her death, it was passed down to Nahida. | It is perceived by the people that Nahida was the sole Dendro Archon from the beginning, who lost her power and shrank. |
| The Tragedy of Tatarasuna | Scaramouche (Kabukimono) was involved and caused a series of tragic outcomes. | Scaramouche’s existence disappears, and it is remembered and recorded that another factor (such as a nameless craftsman) caused the tragedy. |
| Physical Records and Matter | Documents concerning Scaramouche and the clothes he wore. | To prevent contradictions, even physical appearances and written descriptions are physically altered and overwritten by Irminsul to match the new memory state. |
This phenomenon is perfectly explained by the metaphor of a “broken vase.” The “result” (determined fate) that the vase was broken can never be overturned. However, if the “cause” (index) of who broke it is erased, the Irminsul system automatically generates another cause, such as “a cat knocked it over” or “it naturally fell due to the wind and broke,” forcibly maintaining the consistency of the world.
This mechanism embodies “Determinism” in philosophy. Teyvat’s fate (the results that occurred) is absolute, and not even Irminsul can change the “endpoint of causality.” If Irminsul could truly and freely rewrite the physical space of the past, Celestia’s Heavenly Principles would not have needed to execute Orobashi when he read the forbidden book; they could have simply manipulated Irminsul to erase the existence of the book. The fact that The Heavenly Principles did not (or could not) do so proves that Irminsul’s authority is not an absolute time machine, but remains strictly a “perception management device.”
3. “Fairy Tales” and “Metaphors” as Vessels Preserving the Truth
3.1 Encryption Technology Evading Irminsul’s Censorship
As mentioned above, Irminsul’s tampering process is extremely thorough, rewriting not only the memories in people’s brains but also the ink stains on books and physical records. However, there is a loophole in the system. As Nicole of the Hexenzirkel suggested to the Traveler, stories using “fairy tales” and “metaphors” in Teyvat function as powerful encryption technology to evade Irminsul’s information erasure and alteration algorithms and pass the truth down to future generations.
While historical books and official documents are recognized as direct “descriptions of facts” and become targets for tampering, “fairy tales” packaged as fictional stories do not possess direct pointers to factual relationships. Therefore, they are processed as “harmless fiction” in Irminsul’s censorship system (information consistency check process) and escape being rewritten.
3.2 The Cosmology and Prophecy Hidden in “The Pale Princess and the Six Pygmies”
The most prominent example of this is the fairy tale “The Pale Princess and the Six Pygmies,” which the Abyss Order frantically sought to recover. At first glance, this story is an innocent fairy tale, but in reality, it contains a Gnostic mythological system that hints at Teyvat’s hidden past and future fate.
The setting of the story is the lightless “Land of Night” and the “Moonlight Forest,” the only place where light shines. The “Night Mother,” who rules the Land of Night, is depicted as the source of all sins and an entity that utterly despises light. She has neither heart nor mouth and is an entity that hands down cruel punishments. In lore analysis, it has been pointed out that this “Land of Night” is a metaphor for The Abyss, and the “Night Mother” may refer to “The Sinner” of The Abyss, or perhaps “The Heavenly Principles” themselves.
In contrast, the “Pale Princess” who rules the Moonlight Forest and her people have fair skin, bright hair, and blue eyes. These physical characteristics strongly hint at the surviving Seelies or the people of Khaenri’ah. The Princess embarks on a journey to save her people alongside the “Light Prince” who came from the Kingdom of Light. Along the way, they rescue six pygmies, but the pygmies succumb to their inner wickedness, betray the Prince, and plot to poison him.
According to extremely meticulous theories in the community, these “six pygmies” represent the Five Sinners of Khaenri’ah and Dainsleif.
| Characteristics of the Pygmy | Metaphor for Identity/Motive Based on Lore Analysis |
|---|---|
| The Deformed Pygmy | Dainsleif (or another sinner). Out of guilt, he ultimately remained silent, hid the Prince’s body, and exiled himself. |
| The Blind Pygmy | Plotted to keep the light (the Prince) forever to monopolize him. |
| The Foolish Pygmy | Kidnapped the Prince and tried to use him to make himself wiser. This is considered a metaphor for the act of creating a “Gnosis” (wisdom/authority) from the remains of the Third Descender. |
| The Timid Pygmy | Attempted to challenge the Prince to a duel to prove his own courage. |
| The Shrunken Pygmy | Proposed using the Prince’s corpse as “fertilizer” for his own garden. |
After the Prince’s death, the Night Mother imprisons the Princess in eternal torment and casts a “curse of immortality wandering between life and death” upon the people of the Moonlight Forest. This is the very curse suffered by the people of Khaenri’ah. Finally, the Night Mother leaves behind a terrifying prophecy:
“In thousands of years, my greatest foe will descend. He will wield a sword that heralds the dawn and wear armor that reflects the shining sunlight. He will destroy my kingdom and bring the Prince back to life.”
This prophecy clearly and typologically hints at the arrival of the Traveler as a “Descender” unbound by the Laws of fate (Teyvat’s system). The reason the Abyss Order attempted to conceal this book is none other than because their own true identities (the past betrayals of the sinners) and their ultimate defeat (the destruction of the Land of Night) are encoded and recorded within it.
3.3 The Blood of the Crimson Moon and the Incineration of Memories: The Mystery of “Perinheri”
Another crucial piece of history hidden in fairy tales and folklore is the book “Perinheri” discovered in Fontaine. This book records an ancient Khaenri’ahn orphanage and the attempts to artificially cultivate and raise a “Descender” freed from the fate (Laws) of the world.
This story is deeply connected to the “Crimson Moon Dynasty,” the origin of the Fatui Harbinger “The Knave” (Arlecchino). The peculiar flame she manipulates possesses a property extremely close to the authority of Irminsul: “incinerating (erasing) people’s memories.” According to deep lore analysis, the bloodline of the Crimson Moon Dynasty held the power to interfere with and alter fate itself. The process in the House of the Hearth where children receive a “death sentence,” erasing their pasts to become a new family, is not merely an organizational rule. It is a remnant of an ancient Khaenri’ahn ritual designed to sever an individual from the Laws (index) of Irminsul through memory erasure, elevating them into an entity outside the system (a pseudo-Descender) unbound by fate. Arlecchino is not someone who experienced that ritual, but functions as the embodiment of the power to tamper with fate itself.
4. The Narzissenkreuz Ordo and the Calculation of “Fortuna”
4.1 The World Formula and Cosmological Determinism
In the exploration of “history” and “fate” in Teyvat, the research of Rene de Petrichor and Jacob, who led the Narzissenkreuz Ordo in Fontaine, cannot be overlooked. They mathematically discerned that Teyvat is a completely deterministic universe and proved that the destruction (apocalypse) of the world is inevitable. That is the “World Formula.”
The World Formula is an elaborate calculation system built upon the “tree model” (i.e., the structure of Irminsul), which is the logical structure of Teyvat. Through their exploration of Khaenri’ahn ruins and the ancient ruins of Petrichor, they realized that human civilization is inevitably trapped in a cycle of destruction and rebirth (Samsara). Changing the future of the “apocalypse” (dissolution by the Primordial Water) calculated by the World Formula was impossible for the internal lifeforms of Teyvat under the Laws of Irminsul. This is because the variables within the system, no matter how much they struggle, cannot rewrite the algorithm of the entire system (The Heavenly Principles).
4.2 Fortuna (Fate), Gravity, and String Theory
Rene named the core of the Laws maintaining Teyvat “Fortuna.” Fortuna is the Laws of the world, including the False Sky and elemental power—that is, “fate” itself. This concept can be interpreted as a metaphor for “String Theory” and “gravity” in real-world physics.
Just as “vibrations of strings” and “dissonance” were spoken of as the Laws of the world in the history of Remuria, Teyvat’s False Sky and fate (Fortuna) are like a powerful gravitational field with a specific frequency. According to analysis, to break through the False Sky and Fortuna (the gravitational pull of fate), an equivalent “weight” is required. The “weight” here is not physical mass, but is synonymous with the power of an entity possessing a “mighty will equivalent to an entire world”—namely, a “Descender.”
4.3 The Attempt to Rewrite History by a Pseudo-Descender (Magnum Opus)
To save the people of Fontaine from the prophesied destruction, Rene formulated a plan to become a “Descender” himself. Since an individual’s will cannot defy the fate (gravity) of Teyvat, he attempted to dissolve all Fontainians in the Primordial Water, integrate their wills and memories into one to acquire a “weight (will) equivalent to a world,” and elevate himself into an entity outside the system (a pseudo-Descender, Narcissus).
This attempt was a perfect reproduction of the Magnum Opus in alchemy—the process from Nigredo (putrefaction/dissolution of the individual) to Rubedo (reddening/rebirth into a god). Although his plan was ultimately thwarted by the Traveler, Rene’s approach shared essentially the same vector as the “rebellion against the Laws” planned by the Abyss Order and the Fatui. They all arrived at the cold truth that in order to rewrite “history (the determinism of fate),” one must not struggle within the system of Irminsul, but artificially create an authority standing outside it (the supreme power of a Descender).
5. The “Loom of Fate” Woven by The Abyss and the Atlas of the New World
5.1 The Tragedy of Caribert and the Birth of the “Loom of Fate”
It is the Abyss Order that is executing the hacking of Irminsul, or the usurpation of the Laws, in the most concrete form. The ultimate rebellion against the existing Ley Lines (the circulatory system of history) ruled by The Heavenly Principles is the “Loom of Fate” operation.
The Loom of Fate is not merely a metaphorical operation name, but a physical device and system possessing the ability to reweave the Ley Lines (the causality of the world) themselves. This directly derives from the concept of the Moirai (the three goddesses of fate) in Greek mythology—specifically Clotho, who spins the thread of life; Lachesis, who measures its length; and Atropos, who cuts it. It is no coincidence that the name of the operation’s founder, the Khaenri’ahn noble Chlothar Alberich, corresponds to Clotho.
The core of this blasphemous plan was Caribert, Chlothar’s illegitimate child, who simultaneously suffered the curse of immortality and the curse of the wilderness (hilichurlification). When extreme sorrow and agony, hope and regret coursed through his bloodline, and intersected with the abyssal energy beyond human comprehension bestowed by “The Sinner,” Caribert’s residual consciousness itself came to be used as the “foundation of the Loom of Fate.” What must be noted is the cruel fact that Caribert did not go out of control by becoming the “Loom of Fate itself”; rather, his tragic consciousness was consumed as a supreme “alchemical catalyst (material)” to complete the Loom.
5.2 From Memory Transplantation to Ley Line Manipulation: The Truth of “Bedtime Story”
The specific authority possessed by the Loom of Fate was vividly depicted in the Archon Quest “Bedtime Story.”
In its initial stages, the Loom of Fate only possessed the relatively low-level function of “creating and transplanting memories.” The Abyss Order directly implanted the memories of a non-existent “missing villager (the remnants of Caribert’s consciousness)” into the minds of Atossa and the people of Vimara Village. Furthermore, they even interfered with the Traveler’s memories, successfully creating an elaborate illusory space of consciousness.
The most alarming situation here is that this memory transplantation affected even Dainsleif, who had repelled the influence of Irminsul for many years. Dainsleif was implanted with a completely false memory of handing over the “First Field Tiller’s Eye” to a missing villager he had never even met. If memory tampering by Irminsul is a “passive patch application to fill contradictions in history,” the tampering by the Loom of Fate by the Abyss Order was an active and aggressive hacking method, akin to directly writing “Apocrypha” into the target’s brain.
5.3 The Atlas of the New World and the Recreation of History
Within Caribert’s space of consciousness, The Sibling (Prince/Princess of the Abyss) incorporated the stolen Field Tiller’s Eye, finally completing the Loom of Fate. Upon completion, the Loom lost its lower-tier ability to “manipulate individual memories” and instead acquired a god-like authority rivaling The Heavenly Principles: the ability to “spin genuine Ley Lines itself (fundamentally rewrite the world).”
What was created using this completed Loom of Fate is the “Atlas of the New World.” This is a complete blueprint (template) of the “Ley Line network of a new Khaenri’ah,” reconstructed using the memories of Khaenri’ah from 500 years ago as raw materials. Since the Ley Lines are the very circulatory system of Teyvat’s elements and history, completely packaging and retaining an independent Ley Line network means having created a “microcosm” independent of the rule of The Heavenly Principles (the Irminsul system).
According to analysis by the lore community and in-game hints, The Sibling has infiltrated the “Night Kingdom” of Natlan and is attempting to materialize (host) this “Atlas of the New World” by utilizing the local Ley Line resources. This is not merely a project to physically rebuild the structures of a ruined nation. It is an ultimate cosmological act of rebellion: hacking Teyvat’s ongoing historical space (the main server) and overriding it with a “parallel world layer where Khaenri’ah exists.”
The outcome brought about by the Loom of Fate is a collision between the existing Irminsul (the index of The Heavenly Principles) and the Atlas of the New World (the index of The Abyss)—nothing less than a territorial war over the land known as history.
Conclusion: What is “History” in Teyvat?
From the above academic, mythological, and information-theoretical analysis, we draw a conclusion to the ultimate question: what is “history” in Teyvat?
First, history in Teyvat is not an “immutable continuum of the past,” but merely the “current state of an editable database defined by those who govern the present (The Heavenly Principles and the administrators of Irminsul).” Physical events (a broken vase, a ruined nation, sacrificed lives) exist as endpoints of causality, but the “context (causality)” and “memories” connecting them are constantly optimized and supplemented to be free of contradictions through the system of Irminsul. This is exactly the “prison of illusion” created by the Demiurge in Gnosticism.
Second, the means to escape this forced self-repair of history (the gravitational pull of Fortuna) and take fate back into one’s own hands are extremely limited. Witches like Nicole use “fairy tales (encryption)” to back up history; Rene of the Narzissenkreuz Ordo attempted to become a pseudo-Descender who breaks through the gravity of the Laws by integrating the will of all humanity; and the Abyss Order is attempting to replace the system itself by launching new Ley Lines (their own server) using the Loom of Fate. Though their forms differ, all rebels against fate are attempting to hack the system of history from the outside, rather than from within.
Third, and most importantly, the only entity capable of becoming a “true witness” to this alterable history is a “Descender” who came from outside this database. No matter how many times Irminsul was tampered with, only the memories of the Traveler (the Fourth Descender) remained unaltered, continuing to preserve the truth. In other words, the philosophical significance of the Traveler in Teyvat’s worldview is that of an “air-gapped external backup drive” unbound by the Laws laid down by the false god, and the only Singularity capable of proving the fictitious nature of edited history.
“History” is not merely a record left by the victors; in Teyvat, it is the “physical and spiritual format of the world itself.” Under the False Sky, in this closed universe where the roots of Irminsul reach into The Abyss, the battle to reclaim true history begins with the retrieval of individual memories and ultimately sublimates into a cosmological struggle to rewrite the fate of the star (Fortuna) itself. As observers, we must witness what will be woven at the end of causality.
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