Heavenly Principles

The Heavenly Principles, also called destiny or the divine in early parts of the English localization, was used in Genshin Impact Story Teaser: We Will Be Reunited and Teyvat Chapter Storyline Preview: Travail, but they were inconsistently localized into English and were never redubbed. While this term was also inconsistently localized during earlier versions of the game, they have mostly been standardized to "Heavenly Principles." is the progenitor god who allegedly came from beyond Teyvat, and currently serves as the ruler of Celestia and Teyvat. The intrigue surrounding, and plots against, the Heavenly Principles are the driving force behind the conflicts of the game, as both the Abyss Order and the Fatui seek to overthrow it and end its rule over Teyvat.This article uses the singular pronoun "it" to refer to the Heavenly Principles, keeping in line with the English localization of A Toast to Victory. The previous quest, Where the Boat of Consciousness Lies, refers to the Heavenly Principles in the plural. By comparison, the original Chinese texts in both instances do not use any pronouns or otherwise indicate whether the Heavenly Principles is a single entity or multiple entities referred to as a collective.
When introduced fully in Before Sun and Moon they are referred to as the Primordial One and the author of the book speculates that they may also be Phanes.
The Heavenly Principles has been silent since the cataclysm 500 years ago.
The unknown god who stopped the Traveler and the Traveler's sibling 500 years ago in the game's opening cutscene introduced herself as the "sustainer of Heavenly Principles," but what this means is not yet understood.
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Note: Because the Genshin Impact story has deliberately left information surrounding the Heavenly Principles vague, this page contains information that is confirmed to be about the Heavenly Principles as well as information that is suggested, but not confirmed, to be about the Heavenly Principles.
References are provided as much as possible. There are also notes that expand on the deduction and reasoning used to draw certain conclusions, which can be read by either hovering over (desktop-only) or clicking on the note.
==Profile==
Lesser Lord Kusanali hypothesizes that the Heavenly Principles is the First Descender, the first entity who came from outside this world and, as a result, is not recorded in Irminsul. It took over the world from the Seven Sovereigns, the seven ancient dragons who were the strongest of their element, and ultimately emerged victorious over them. To combat the effects of forbidden knowledge, which was brought to this world by the Dragon King Nibelung, it sent down several divine nails, which stabilized the world but wreaked havoc on nature and those living on the earth.
The Heavenly Principles is presumably the creator of Teyvat's "laws," which are now embodied by the Gnoses, seven chess pieces originally given to the Seven Archons which also allow them to directly resonate with Celestia. The first of the Seven Archons (typically known simply as "The Seven") emerged during the Archon War, a chaotic and destructive period of wars across Teyvat which led to the deaths or disappearances of most gods. The Seven are subordinate to the Heavenly Principles and are subject to the rules and constraints placed on them. One such restriction is talking about the "other side" to how Visions are distributed (with the first side being a person's desire).
The "laws" are also notably mentioned in a Loading Screen tip ("Teyvat has its own 'laws'") and in the book Scroll of Streaming Song, where it is the answer to the second riddle:"You speak of the universal law created in heaven, the divine laws established in the beginning.""No one has seen the eternal law, yet it governs all.""One may only bow down and worship Vaana of the heavenly spirits — no arrogation, deception, or trickery is permitted.""If one dares to imitate the forbidden arts, only calamity awaits at the edge of divine knowledge."
The Heavenly Principles is capable of delivering effectively irreversible curses that fundamentally change people. Hilichurls are actually transfigured humans, afflicted with the "curse of wilderness" which robs them of their forms and intellect; this was the curse given to non-pure-blooded Khaenri'ahns during the cataclysm, and as hilichurls have existed since before the cataclysm,Archive Description: Hilichurl it was presumably inflicted on humans predating the cataclysm, though there is not enough information to figure out for what reasons.One notable hilichurl member is a Frostarm Lawachurl found on Dragonspine whose displayed name is Ukko. Pure-blooded Khaenri'ahns were instead given a curse of immortality. A similar curse was inflicted on the Seelie as punishment after the war against the Sovereigns, reducing them to their current miniscule forms, although some — such as Nabu Malikata and the Seelie in A Drunkard's Tale — were able to escape the worst parts of the curse.
===Appearance===
The Heavenly Principles has been described as being androgynous, and possessing both wings and a crown.
==Story==
===Ancient History===
In the time period known as "When the Doves Held Branches," the emergence of the "eternal throne of the heavens" caused the world to be remade, separating its "microcosm" from the universe. The Heavenly Principles appeared to battle against the Seven Sovereigns and, to that end, created Four Shades of itself. One of the Shades was Istaroth, who held dominion over time and wind. Another Shade was tasked with the creation of life and used the Primordial Sea to create Egeria to fulfill the responsibilities of the former Hydro Dragon.
After 40 years, the Heavenly Principles emerged victorious over the Seven Sovereigns and set about creating the heavens and earth to prepare for the advent of humanity. Humans were finally created 400 years after the Heavenly Principles's appearance, and they made a covenant with the Heavenly Principles. After the war, the Heavenly Principles had many of their functions ruined and could not suppress the original order of Teyvat.
The Heavenly Principles had a sacred plan for humanity; the scribe of Istaroth calls the year after humanity made a covenant with the Heavenly Principles the "Year of the Ark's Opening." It was followed by the "Year of Jubilee," during which the world would provide its bounties for humanity. The only taboo was to succumb to temptation.
An unknown amount of time after the creation of humanity, the Second Who Came — the second throne of the heavens — came from "beyond the firmament," bringing destruction and plagues, and the resulting war destroyed both heaven and earth. Believing only another power from outside this world would be able to defeat it, the Dragon King Nibelung came across forbidden knowledge and used it to fight the Heavenly Principles. Afraid of the "rising tide of delusion and breakthroughs" brought by the invaders, the Heavenly Principles used the divine nails to prevent the world's collapse, but this also wreaked havoc on the mortal world. The heavens and earth were torn apart, and during this period of strife, Enkanomiya dropped into the watery abyss. Despite the people's laments, the Heavenly Principles and three of its Shades did not respond; only Istaroth did not forsake them. Despite the war, the Heavenly Principles and the one who came after created the Gnoses to continue subduing and controlling the resentments of the world.
Two years after the creation of the Dainichi Mikoshi, people from Enkanomiya attempted to find a way back to the surface. However, they discovered that heaven's "powers of prohibition" prevented them from returning. The scribe of Istaroth believed this ban was laid down by the Heavenly Principles and that it had prevailed over the Second Who Came, while Eboshi attributes it to the "heavenly order" but does not indicate who is behind the heavenly order. By the time of the Archon War, these powers of prohibition had weakened, allowing Orobashi to fall into Enkanomiya and conversely, bring the people of Enkanomiya back to the surface.
The Seelie, despite having fought against the invaders from beyond the firmament, were punished with exile from heaven and stripped of their beautiful forms and their wisdom. This punishment may relate to a legend about a Seelie ancestor's union with an "outlander," only for a sudden disaster to strike thirty days later, which caused the world's collapse and forced them to flee from an unidentified force. They were caught and punished with eternal separation and the erasure of their memories. According to the legend, the Seelie's and the Moon Sisters' grief at this outcome caused them to wither away, and fragments of themselves became the modern Seelie.
According to other legends, Morax — who is over 6,000 years old — was young when the Moon Sisters were slain in a certain calamity. It is not clear whether this calamity was the same as the Heavenly Principles' conflict against the Seven Sovereigns, but this gives a rough estimate for how long ago these events may have occurred.
===Archon War===
An exchange between Scaramouche and Nahida suggests that the Heavenly Principles instigated the Archon War, in which the gods fought to claim one of the seven divine thrones and obtain a Gnosis, an item which symbolizes the Heavenly Principles' control over Teyvat and all the laws. Scaramouche remarks on the Archon War by saying, "Strife is engraved upon every god and every Gnosis brought forth into this world," to which Lesser Lord Kusanali responds that "All those losses were meaningless, driven by the demands of the 'laws.'"
Around 2,000 years ago and before the Archon War ended, the Heavenly Principles was directly involved with the serpent god Orobashi and Watatsumi Island. After failing to defeat two different gods in the Archon War, Orobashi was fleeing to the Dark Sea when it fell into a rift and discovered the people of Enkanomiya — a surviving remnant of the Heavenly Principles's ancient unified civilization, spared from destruction when it sank underwater during the struggle against the Second Who Came. Although the people of Enkanomiya searched for a way to return to the surface in the past, their attempts ended in failure due to a ban placed on their ancestors which prevented them from finding a way home. This ban is attributed to the Primordial One by the author of Before Sun and Moon, and generically to the "heavenly order" by Eboshi. The rift Orobashi fell through has been attributed to the heavens' weakening power of prohibition. It agreed to become the god of the Enkanomiya people, but this led Orobashi to come into contact with Before Sun and Moon, a book which told a history of the world which the Heavenly Principles did not want known. The Heavenly Principles forced Orobashi to sacrifice itself in exchange for allowing the people of Enkanomiya to return to the surface, with the truth behind its sacrifice unknown to all besides a select few close aides. Before Sun and Moon was subsequently banned, and an attempt by Khaenri'ahn agents to steal the book for its secrets was thwarted.
Orobashi's sacrifice took the form of leading a doomed war against the Raiden Shoguns Makoto and Ei. This decision was also spurred by Watatsumi Island's lack of natural resources, which led its people to set its eyes on conquering Yashiori Island, which was under the Raiden Shoguns' jurisdiction. The war was disastrous for the Watatsumi people; Orobashi was executed by Ei's Musou no Hitotachi while most of the island's other prominent figures were also slain or otherwise disappeared. At the moment of its death, Orobashi turned its eyes up to the heavens in defiance.Official Website, Serpent's Head description: Of the giant serpent that was defeated by the Electro Archon with the Musou no Hitotachi, only its weather-bleached remains are left today. Although its skull still looks up at the sky defiantly, the god is already dead, and so the name of "Watatsumi Omikami" is gradually being forgotten.
At some point, the Hydro Archon Egeria created "life" by transforming some of her Oceanids followers into humans by pouring water from the Primordial Sea into their blood vessels, to fulfill their desires of enjoying human lives. This act did not go unnoticed by the Heavenly Principles, who then punished Egeria and her creations with a "original sin" for creating "life" without permission and decreed a prophecy that the waters would rise to dissolve Fontanians, leaving the Hydro Archon alone. Egeria did not want her followers to be harmed, and thus appointed one of her fellow Oceanid follower Focalors to succeed her when the time has come.
===Cataclysm===
500 years ago, a surge of forbidden knowledgeInteractable: Someone's Abandoned Letter emerged from Khaenri'ah, wreaking havoc on both Khaenri'ah and Teyvat. The Seven, with the exception of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata who was tasked with defending Irminsul, were gathered to combat the threat from Khaenri'ah. One battle took place at Tunigi Hollow, where the first Hydro Archon Egeria was slain; the remains of her consciousness and power were transformed into the Harvisptokhm by Rukkhadevata and used as a seal over the hollow to prevent more Abyssal power from infiltrating Teyvat. The other Seven, at some point, entered the depths of Khaenri'ah, where Electro Archon Raiden Makoto was slain.
"The gods" ultimately destroyed Khaenri'ah, although The Seven may have been unwillingly involved. The Khaenri'ahns who managed to survive were cursed; pure-blooded Khaenri'ahns were cursed with immortality, while others — those who came from Teyvat or those who descended from mixed-blood marriages — were given the "curse of wilderness," which transformed them into various entities, which were mostly hilichurls. Several of The Seven were jaded by the events of the cataclysm; the new Electro Archon Ei, Makoto's twin sister, broke ties with the Heavenly Principles and soon left her Gnosis in Yae Miko's possession, while the Tsaritsa joined forces with former Khaenri'ahn royal mage Pierro to establish the Fatui.
The Traveler's sibling, who appeared in Khaenri'ah after "the heavens responded to the summoning" and became the of Khaenri'ah, was horrified by the destruction. They tried to flee this world, waking up the Traveler and getting as far as CelestiaIt is assumed that the location of the siblings' fight against the unknown god is Celestia due to the prevalence of the Celestial motif in the area and the location seeming to be located in the sky. when they were intercepted and sealed away by the unknown god.
Somehow, the Traveler's sibling ended up traveling Teyvat, sometimes with Dainsleif. The sibling eventually became the leader of the Abyss Order, an organization established by Chlothar Alberich which worships a certain self-proclaimed "Sinner" and aims to destroy the Heavenly Principles by engulfing the "thrones" with the Abyss.YouTube: Genshin Impact Story Teaser: We Will Be Reunited Dainsleif, however, opposes them and believes that rousing the gods' ire will only repeat Khaenri'ah's past mistakes.
Following Egeria's death during the Cataclysm, Focalors succeeded her as the Hydro Archon. Thrust with the looming prophecy, she sought to find a way to deceive the Heavenly Principles while fulfilling it at the same time in order to protect her people. Focalors decided on a plan in which she split herself into two halves - her "divinity" which kept the Hydro Gnosis, and her "humanity" named Furina, who she tasked with act as the Hydro Archon to keep her true identity a secret, or the plan would fail. In the subsequent trials hosted at the Opera Epiclese, Focalors would accumulate the Indemntium to create a massive sword which she would use to execute herself with to destroy the Divine Throne of Hydro, while a small portion powered Fontaine's energy needs. She also came into contact with the reborn Hydro Dragon, Neuvillette, and had him serve as her Iudex; one to return his Authority to him when she executed herself, and also hoping that his new perspectives of humanity would make him want to save her people. Neuvillette was not aware of this at the time but accepted out of a need to find answers for himself, while Furina was successful in duping the masses for the next 500 years.
===Present Day===
The Traveler woke up 500 years after being sealed by the Unknown God and eventually met Paimon. After learning about some of Teyvat's language and history from her, the two decide to search for The Seven and find their sibling, thus starting the events of the game.
The Traveler also attempts to find information about Khaenri'ah and the disaster they witnessed, but finds little relevant information before meeting Dainsleif. While the Heavenly Principles has been silent for the past 500 years, most of The Seven are still reluctant or unable to give information about forbidden subjects.
In , Makoto's consciousness is briefly reawakened in the chaotic space of her realm of consciousness. She gave Ei a seed of light — the yet-unplanted Sacred Sakura — and describes it with:"Eternity extends time into infinity, dreams illuminate each moment within."When both shine in unison, the Sacred Sakura blooms from the darkness, finally free from the clutches of the Heavenly Principles."Now, the nightmare has dissipated, and reality is made whole. The vision we both yearn for is still further ahead."
Ei suspects that a "higher power" — namely Istaroth, one of the Heavenly Principles's Four Shades — was involved in creating the Sacred Sakura, and that it was not Makoto's power alone.
During Where the Boat of Consciousness Lies, Lesser Lord Kusanali bluffs Il Dottore into making a concession in exchange for the Electro Gnosis by threatening to destroy it, damage the "laws," and potentially awaken the Heavenly Principles.
When the Traveler arrived at Fontaine, rumors of the prophecy began to manifest after the general public learned about the Primordial Water that could dissolve them as a result of Marcel's use of it in the serial disappearances case and a public dissolving of the Garde Vaughn to stop him from leaking his identity. Throughout the events of Fontaine's Archon Quests, the Traveler and Neuvillette were able to discern the truth about the prophecy and their origins, putting Furina on trial in an attempt to know her secrets to stop it. Just as Furina's identity was compromised, Focalors had accumulated enough Indemntium to execute herself, shattering the Divine Throne of Hydro and restoring Neuvillette's Authority. The prophecy was still fulfilled as professed, but as Neuvillette had absolved the Fontanians' sins, making them "true" humans being immune to dissolution, they did not dissolve and Focalors' death satisfied the Heavenly Principles' demand, despite the destruction of the Divine Throne of Hydro. The Heavenly Principles did not react to its destruction, leading to the Traveler's Sibling to believe that it was proof of their "situation," though they were unsure as to when or how they would awaken.
When Mavuika channeled the power of six ancient heroes (whose Ancient Names had been passed down to their modern counterparts) and Ronova's power to stop the Abyss' invasion of the nation, the sheer power of the attack briefly revealed a "false sky" and several strange fragments floating before it was quickly covered up. The Traveler later asked Mavuika about it, who knew that it warranted investigation as it had never been seen anywhere else on Teyvat. She believed that the Heavenly Principles wished to keep the matter a secret and hoped that they would not cause her too much trouble for revealing it.
==Character Mentions==
==Trivia==
* In the Manga's Prologue chapter, Venti envisions three enigmatic, shadowy figures when Vennessa asks him to tell her about Celestia. He visibly grows uncomfortable and immediately deflects the question, leaving their identities unknown. Given that the Heavenly Principles was already in control of Celestia before Venti ascended to godhood and became one of The Seven 2,600 years ago, these three figures are likely connected to the Heavenly Principles in some way.
* The description of Staff of the Scarlet Sands begins with a creation story, which may be about the world's reconstruction after the divine nails were cast down. King Deshret narrates that "the seven sage monks were established again, and they ruled the trajectories drawn by the earth, water, and stars," which may refer to the seven divine thrones now occupied by The Seven and the association of constellations with Vision-bearers. His comment immediately after, "Even if the celestial sphere was just an illusion [...]" may allude to the rumor of the False Sky.
* During , Zhongli says "People abandon and surrender the things they love to pursue the right path. Perhaps this is the erosion imposed on me by the Heavenly Principles." The term "Heavenly Principles" was revised from its initial translation as "natural order" since the original text specifically marked it as a proper noun, but this ends up losing the tie-in to an earlier remark by Kun Jun (possessed by Azhdaha) about how "Everything returns to dust. It is the natural order, an unstoppable force." This instance of "natural order" uses the same characters as the Heavenly Principles, but did not specifically mark the term as a proper noun. If the phrase is read as a proper noun, the original Chinese version can be translated as 
* The Heavenly Principles may be the creator who has not yet returned, mentioned in the Traveler's Character Details.
* In Hilichurlian, the word "unu" means "one" and is also a holy word that is used for the hilichurls' concept of gods and the origin of life. While no direct connection has been made between hilichurls, the single unified civilization that once existed across the world and the Heavenly Principles, the hilichurls' gravitation to ancient ruins has been observed and their link between the concepts of "one" and "god" has not been perpetuated in human cultures on Teyvat.
* The original Chinese version, as well as the Japanese and Korean versions, uses a polite expression for the Primordial One, probably indicating Enkanomiya historians' (and/or their society's) reverence toward this deity.
===Etymology===
* The Chinese name for the Primordial One uses the character which is used in two other notable terms:
** , which is the game's namesake (Genshin is a romanization of the Japanese reading of the same word)
** , an item which is described as something "beyond the mundane world," and which "shines with the condensed hopes and dreams of universes that once were."
* In the Orphic tradition of Greek mythology, is the primeval god of creation and new life. According to legend, Phanes was an androgynous god who emerged from a created by , intertwined with a serpent. As a god of light, he was the creator of daytime and linked with , the goddess of night who created nighttime. Phanes was also said to be a dying and resurrecting god, killed by the Titans who devoured his flesh but rescued by Athena and resurrected by Zeus.
* In Sethian Gnosticism, , also known as the "First Appearing One" is one of the three emanations of , the first thought of God, alongside "The Hidden One" and "The Self-Born One".
===Cultural Inspiration===
* Because of the inspiration behind Genshin Impact, comparisons have been made between the Heavenly Principles and the Gnostic figure (or Yaldabaoth), a false god mistakenly created by Sophia (Wisdom) who went on to create the mortal world. The Demiurge's role and motivations vary between different Gnostic traditions, but the usual goal of Gnostics is to embrace their inner divinity through gnosis and ascend from the mortal world to reunite with the true god in the .
** In Gnosticism, the Biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden — in which the two succumb to the serpent's temptation and eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil — is depicted as a good thing, as it was the first step towards freedom from Yaldabaoth. In Nabu Malikata's account, the Heavenly Principles sent down the divine nails out of fear towards the "rising tide of delusion and breakthroughs" caused by forbidden knowledge, and technology made using forbidden knowledge is capable of surpassing the world's "laws."
** Most Gnostic traditions believe that there are seven archons for the seven planets (or celestial spheres) which prevent the soul from leaving the material realm, and one must ascend each of the seven planets before they can escape the mortal realm and return to the Pleroma. This concept was likely inspiration for the Traveler's journey through the Seven Nations, with the suggestion that they will ascend at the end of the story. However, the Demiurge is usually one of the seven archons in Gnostic belief, whereas the Heavenly Principles is separate from, and is above, the Seven Archons of Teyvat.
==Notes==
==Other Languages==
==Change History==
==References==
==Navigation==
es:Orden Celestial
fr:Ordre divin
ja:天理
th:กฎแห่งสวรรค์
vi:Thiên Lý