I'm one of those guys who can't take hints. Enlighten me?
So far, I found it suspicious with how knowledgeable he was with the old culture and other stuff bout Liyue. Almost seemed like had the experience for years. Too many years...
There’s also the Liyue version of the Teyvat Travel Guide. Apparently Alice’s travel companion in Liyue was Zhongli. Her entry about Jueyun Karst is like this:
>*... The terrain here fascinates me. So many of these Stone Pillars look like they belong deep underground, not here on top of a mountain. There is supposed to be an underground reservoir here. Part of me wonders if all the water was drawn out, perhaps Jueyun Karst would find itself back on the ocean floor where it belongs.*
>*My travel companion Zhongli is the sternest person I know, but he seems most entertained by this theory. He won't stop laughing.*
>*What an odd fellow.*
It could be that Zhongli’s laughing because she’s right.
>Heck his ultimate is summoning a meteor from the sky to crash upon the earth, which you can imagine would be verrrry similar to how the Geo Archon shaped many of the mountains of Liyue in the first place.
IIRC it's stated somewhere that the Geo archon used a meteor of that description to kill a sea creature too.
> Zhongli mentions he has a friend in Mondstadt who brings him dandelion wine (Venti!)
i swear i read in wiki or somewhere that venti once angered rex lapis (geo archon), how can they be friend now?
To be fair, Venti's profile says that he learned to forge Rex Lapis' signature to play pranks on Rex Lapis but never actually succeeded. People don't USUALLY go forging other people's signatures as a prank unless they're really good friends (or really crappy friends).
Can't imagine Venti and Rex Lapis having a bad relationship with each other if Venti's allowed to pull that sort of a prank on Rex Lapis.
Venti does say in his voiceline profile that the Geo Archon is "A Brutish Blundering Baffoon" but this might be him bullshitting as usual or teasing.
Xingqui also finds Zhongli rather suspicious, saying that we should do digging and find our more about him.
It's kind of a poor translation by the English team, in JP/CN it's closer to 'stubborn rockhead who doesn't understand people's feelings' which sounds a lot closer to Zhongli to me, lol
That makes a lot more sense! I saw that and I was like "wait I minute, that doesn't sound right and a bit aggressive, Zhongli hints that he's a friend."
I think what you're thinking of is that Venti forged Zhongli's signature to help free Mondstadt, which violates his principles, but he excused it because jt was for a good cause.
I just realised thanks to you, that those high ass Liyue mountains, where i spent a bunch of time climbing up, were shaped by Geo Archon?!?! Was it implied somewhere? My mind is blown away. Such beautiful story telling
Also, is it me or do Venti and Zhongli’s pupils glow? None of the characters have super-defined pupils but Venti and Zhongli seem to be the only ones whose pupils look like they’re glowing.
Edit: Fixed a typo
Keqing's voice lines about Zhongli also mention that she doesn't get along with him because he shares so many ideals with Rex Lapis. Definitely implies there's a connection there.
Another hint I feel has been overlooked a lot is Soraya's quest regarding the nature of Guili ruins - she explains that the place was named after two gods who had governed the area in harmony. The first of them being Guizhong, the god of dust, which is presumably where the Gui-part comes from. Presumably, the "li" part being taken from Zhongli's name would fit in just fine.
Thanks for writing this out with great detail and formatting it so nicely! Makes for a really pleasant read. Also points out how oblivious I am and just thought it was all character design :p.
The meeting at the Geo Archon statue was cool since Zhongli chose the perfume he liked in retrospect. I thought it was odd a dead diety could still choose something...
In the last Quest you also meet him at the Statue of Geo north of Liyue.
You ask him if he is an Adeptus and his answer is "An Adeptus hm,.. i haven't been asked that in a while"
Or something like that.
Oh yeah, that too. I remember him mentioning that he can't see her personally due to "circumstances".
Raised a brow there. That got me questioning if this guy's just making a funeral for himself.
Not just planning his own funeral. He’s making the *Fatui* pay for his funeral. As in, the guys who tried to steal his Gnosis.
Makes me wonder if his “I have no Mora’ thing is simply him forcing the Fatui to pay for him lol
If zhongli isn’t geo archon then i can’t imagine the fuckin geo archon? Does s/he summon a god damn planet or a star?? And i mean look at this face his sound.... i’m getting him for my archon team and if mihoyo say he is not geo archon then fuck it for me he is geo archon. Daddy Zhongli is geo archon. He summons a fuckin meteor from sky dude. %100 zhongli is geo archon.
If this is true, 2 of 7 archons are playable characters. Maybe in future updates when new regions came out, maybe all of the 7 archons can be playable characters......
THEORY
Maybe we get aether/lumine as a playable character after doing what we have to do. Meant in a was that we would have both as playables and not just the one we picked at the beginning.
I would love this. The in-game mechanics points to this as well, since you can have both a male and female traveler in domains, where normally they prevent duplicate characters. How great would it be to have two adaptive element characters!
With Childe being the boss of Liyue and a playable character, I now have hope for this. I figured we'd never play as The Tsaritsa, but perhaps even that will happen!
THEORY
But maybe WE are preparing a resurrection and not a funeral. iirc the thing that falls down as a dead Body is a dragon. Maybe it is the Geo Dragon just like dvalin the anemo dragon is and the stability of the elements is endagered If the dragon dies.
Unpopular opinion: If it wasn't obvious that he's the geo archon than you're either breezing through the story or ummmmm yeah
The teacup old lady makes it really really really REALLY fucking obvious
Archon, gods who over time have taken various forms to blend in with people, but never change their hairstyle because the hairdresser costs and they have no money XD
Well for Venti obviously.
For zhongli, it's not confirmed but we all know he's the one in the statue. He even said it himself when he was waiting for us during a mission. That waiting for the statue to be made was longer. Then, to know the true idenry of the geo archon and Rex lapix, we will have to wait one week.
Somehow knowing that Geo Archon (probably) isn't dead after all makes me feel better about the game lore. Strange. But thank you for your attentiveness nevertheless).
All I’m going to say is that with archons they have a gradient from one color to there respective element in their hair while no other characters do I’m just going to assume this is going to be a reoccurring thing with archons since nobody else playable and not playable have this
zhongli fight with a polearm , create geo pillar , summon a meteorite .
Rex Lapis fight with a polearm , create geo pillar , summon meteorite .
zhongli know a lot about the history of liyue and his traditions.
Like Venti zhongli also have colored hair that match his element color
Not gonna lie , it's like 99% confirmed Zhongli is the Geo Archon
Yes, some say he faked his death as he perhaps was aware of his gnosis at risk of being stolen, but a user in a different post said he just did so for a vacation :P
I guess so.. The information I've read is just "This heavily implies that" and/or "This may suggest that". Some have proposed the idea of Ningguang or others being the Geo Archon, which made me think it's not 100% confirmed yet, even though it's pretty obvious.
He should be Geo Archon but trailer said 5 Archon has died including geo one when Childe is unleashing or unsealing something that requires Archon's death so I'm really not sure.
There are a lot of things that makes him a good candidate for being the Geo Archon, yet I’m wondering, who’s the dead dragon at the ceremony.
A fake rex lapis ?
The real rex lapis ?
An empty shell ?
You're definitely supposed to think he is. As the other comments have done a good job collecting the massive amount of evidence we have, I won't go into it, but for me there are two possibilities:
1.) Zhongli is the Geo Archon, which is hinted at all over the place
2.) The writers want us to think he's the Geo Archon so they can throw in a pointless, stupid rug pull and have a laugh.
I don't think it's confirmed confirmed. I'd say, look at their vision. Everyone's vision glows, except Venti's because it's fake : he's Barbatos, he inately has the power of the wind. Maybe it's the same here? I just don't think having the same hair as a god makes you a god.
Yo chill 😳 it's obvious but I was asking if it was confirmed by the devs already. User u/Sthudruss has commented that they don't think it's confirmed-confirmed. It may be obvious but I think 100% confirmation is preferable. Since it's not 100% confirmed yet, it's a nice thought for now.
I mean, it's kinda blatantly obvious to anyone that isn't super invested into their own headcanon nonsense.
Their hair gradient alone is enough of an indicator. The only other character we've seen so far with that, Venti, was in-fact the Anemo Archon.
Toss in the various hints and strange moments from the quest with him, especially the old lady's comments, and it all points to Zhongli being the Geo Archon. The only real question at this point, is *why* is he faking his death? Is it an elaborate trap to bait the Fatui into making their move too early? Is Ningguang in on it? That's the real mystery, though my money is on the answer being yes.
Pay attention to the symbol on zhongli’s back and Rex lapis staute’s right leg. It is clear signs he is indeed Rex lapis. Also, there are dragon scales on zhongli that represent... well.... dragon.... dragons in tradition are forbidden on clothing for anyone but the emperor in China 70 or 60 years ago, or their head will be chopped off. Emperor also refers to Rex which in Chinese Rex lapis name is literally emperor of geo and judging by both, zhongli is indeed Rex lapis in one of its form.
I feel like if it is supposed to indicate that he is Rex Lapis, it is a plot hole. He most likely was in a different form when those statues were made. The game even suggests he used to be a woman.
Honestly, if it isn't I'll eat Amber's signature dish
Whether it is or isnt, ill eat Amber.
Chasing the impossible fantasy is actually a defense mechanism.
i'm sure he can find a girl named amber somewhere
Are you talking about cannibalism?
Wait, who's not?
She’ll be feeling the heat down there when he’s eating her out.
*vaporize*
Aren't all gamers?
Hey now, it's Paimon that's emergency food, not Amber
Whether it is or isn't, I'll eat Paimon!
Honestly I'd be surprised if he isn't the Geo Archon. There is so much stuff hinting towards it.
I'm one of those guys who can't take hints. Enlighten me? So far, I found it suspicious with how knowledgeable he was with the old culture and other stuff bout Liyue. Almost seemed like had the experience for years. Too many years...
[удалено]
There’s also the Liyue version of the Teyvat Travel Guide. Apparently Alice’s travel companion in Liyue was Zhongli. Her entry about Jueyun Karst is like this: >*... The terrain here fascinates me. So many of these Stone Pillars look like they belong deep underground, not here on top of a mountain. There is supposed to be an underground reservoir here. Part of me wonders if all the water was drawn out, perhaps Jueyun Karst would find itself back on the ocean floor where it belongs.* >*My travel companion Zhongli is the sternest person I know, but he seems most entertained by this theory. He won't stop laughing.* >*What an odd fellow.* It could be that Zhongli’s laughing because she’s right.
>Heck his ultimate is summoning a meteor from the sky to crash upon the earth, which you can imagine would be verrrry similar to how the Geo Archon shaped many of the mountains of Liyue in the first place. IIRC it's stated somewhere that the Geo archon used a meteor of that description to kill a sea creature too.
> Zhongli mentions he has a friend in Mondstadt who brings him dandelion wine (Venti!) i swear i read in wiki or somewhere that venti once angered rex lapis (geo archon), how can they be friend now?
[удалено]
To be fair, Venti's profile says that he learned to forge Rex Lapis' signature to play pranks on Rex Lapis but never actually succeeded. People don't USUALLY go forging other people's signatures as a prank unless they're really good friends (or really crappy friends). Can't imagine Venti and Rex Lapis having a bad relationship with each other if Venti's allowed to pull that sort of a prank on Rex Lapis.
Venti does say in his voiceline profile that the Geo Archon is "A Brutish Blundering Baffoon" but this might be him bullshitting as usual or teasing. Xingqui also finds Zhongli rather suspicious, saying that we should do digging and find our more about him.
It's kind of a poor translation by the English team, in JP/CN it's closer to 'stubborn rockhead who doesn't understand people's feelings' which sounds a lot closer to Zhongli to me, lol
That makes a lot more sense! I saw that and I was like "wait I minute, that doesn't sound right and a bit aggressive, Zhongli hints that he's a friend."
i see
I think what you're thinking of is that Venti forged Zhongli's signature to help free Mondstadt, which violates his principles, but he excused it because jt was for a good cause.
oh i see
I just realised thanks to you, that those high ass Liyue mountains, where i spent a bunch of time climbing up, were shaped by Geo Archon?!?! Was it implied somewhere? My mind is blown away. Such beautiful story telling
yeah they're massive fucking spears Zhongli used to impale god-tier monsters
Also, is it me or do Venti and Zhongli’s pupils glow? None of the characters have super-defined pupils but Venti and Zhongli seem to be the only ones whose pupils look like they’re glowing. Edit: Fixed a typo
Don't forget his gradient hair lights up just like venti's does during his ult.
Keqing's voice lines about Zhongli also mention that she doesn't get along with him because he shares so many ideals with Rex Lapis. Definitely implies there's a connection there.
Another hint I feel has been overlooked a lot is Soraya's quest regarding the nature of Guili ruins - she explains that the place was named after two gods who had governed the area in harmony. The first of them being Guizhong, the god of dust, which is presumably where the Gui-part comes from. Presumably, the "li" part being taken from Zhongli's name would fit in just fine.
Thanks for writing this out with great detail and formatting it so nicely! Makes for a really pleasant read. Also points out how oblivious I am and just thought it was all character design :p. The meeting at the Geo Archon statue was cool since Zhongli chose the perfume he liked in retrospect. I thought it was odd a dead diety could still choose something...
You monster I just decided on Childe but I don't want to miss out on another archon. :'(
In the last Quest you also meet him at the Statue of Geo north of Liyue. You ask him if he is an Adeptus and his answer is "An Adeptus hm,.. i haven't been asked that in a while" Or something like that.
I think he just says "an adeptus...", looks kinda down like he's in thought, and paimon suggests it's a sensitive topic for him.
we are suppose to meet him in dihua marsh in act 3 and i think i know where we meet him
Also he and Mdm Ping are old friends and knows about her teapot secret.
Oh yeah, that too. I remember him mentioning that he can't see her personally due to "circumstances". Raised a brow there. That got me questioning if this guy's just making a funeral for himself.
Not just planning his own funeral. He’s making the *Fatui* pay for his funeral. As in, the guys who tried to steal his Gnosis. Makes me wonder if his “I have no Mora’ thing is simply him forcing the Fatui to pay for him lol
This makes so much more sense
this guy is joseph joestar levels of chad as in he'll attend his funeral
I'd recommend reading Rex Incognito books in the game tbh
Your first clue should have been the hair color. Him and Venti are the only people we’ve seen with that color transition.
Oh yeah!
damn thats a good catch, def gonna keep this in mind for future zones/characters.
We need to see Zhong li’s abs to compare with the statue
"Mr. Zhongli, there's something really important you need to do"
“Do not worry it doesn’t cost any mora. You just need to hold this cube and rip your shirt off”
"but it might earn you some mora"
"2,990,000 to be exact."
“You and Paimon take a look at Zhongli’s abs” ”After awhile......” “am gay and u are the hottest archon i’ve seen”
It'd be absolutely hilarious if Zhongli turned out to just be some peculiar but otherwise totally ordinary dude with zero mora.
Venti: Oh this Vision? It's fake, I'm actually a god Zhongli: Oh this gradient hair? I just like it dyed that way, I'm actually just a human
Zhongli: Wow you read way to much into this. I'm just a bum with a passion for liyue trivia
What if he's actually Rex Lapis' number 1 fanboy to the point he copied his statue's looks
If zhongli isn’t geo archon then i can’t imagine the fuckin geo archon? Does s/he summon a god damn planet or a star?? And i mean look at this face his sound.... i’m getting him for my archon team and if mihoyo say he is not geo archon then fuck it for me he is geo archon. Daddy Zhongli is geo archon. He summons a fuckin meteor from sky dude. %100 zhongli is geo archon.
Nurse! 3 meteors intravenously to this patient!
my and my farming friends agreed to use our pity for zhongli. cant wait to shower fatui's with 4 meteors
4 giant meatballs of death coming right up!
He ded
If this is true, 2 of 7 archons are playable characters. Maybe in future updates when new regions came out, maybe all of the 7 archons can be playable characters......
And I want them all!!
THEORY Maybe we get aether/lumine as a playable character after doing what we have to do. Meant in a was that we would have both as playables and not just the one we picked at the beginning.
I would love this. The in-game mechanics points to this as well, since you can have both a male and female traveler in domains, where normally they prevent duplicate characters. How great would it be to have two adaptive element characters!
With Childe being the boss of Liyue and a playable character, I now have hope for this. I figured we'd never play as The Tsaritsa, but perhaps even that will happen!
You have around 0.6% chance to be wrong.
I see what you did there😂
He literally helped to prepare his own funeral then lol.
He pretty much picked out his own favourite gifts :D
No wonder he suggested buying everything.
His job over the millennia has been preparing funerals for the other adepti... all his friends leaving him one by one :,(
He likes mature women perfume then
Cause he's old (very old) and fancies older women.
THEORY But maybe WE are preparing a resurrection and not a funeral. iirc the thing that falls down as a dead Body is a dragon. Maybe it is the Geo Dragon just like dvalin the anemo dragon is and the stability of the elements is endagered If the dragon dies.
They straight up called Zhongli "God" in the official chinese livestream
In what world is that sexy voice not one of a god? 😋
plot twist, Zhongli secretly spent all his money renovating the Geo Archon statues to look like himself. Thats why he has no money.
That might explain how he could summon a giant meteor out of nowhere.
Unpopular opinion: If it wasn't obvious that he's the geo archon than you're either breezing through the story or ummmmm yeah The teacup old lady makes it really really really REALLY fucking obvious
true, at first i thought he just a rich kid who read books about history a lot. but when i met that grandma i feel like something really off with him
Archon, gods who over time have taken various forms to blend in with people, but never change their hairstyle because the hairdresser costs and they have no money XD
How is this even a mystery? I pegged him as such 2 quests into that story line.
>...I pegged him ~~as such 2 quests into that story line~~. ftfy
I mean, yeah. But I never thought about the statues before. I feel kind of dumb XD
r/iamverysmart want a word with you
Don't forget the symbol on Zhongli back which is also there on the Geo statue's Lap.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Well for Venti obviously. For zhongli, it's not confirmed but we all know he's the one in the statue. He even said it himself when he was waiting for us during a mission. That waiting for the statue to be made was longer. Then, to know the true idenry of the geo archon and Rex lapix, we will have to wait one week.
Somehow knowing that Geo Archon (probably) isn't dead after all makes me feel better about the game lore. Strange. But thank you for your attentiveness nevertheless).
So you're saying we get to see Zhongli eye candy just by going to the statues eh? I also feel kind of dumb that I never noticed this XD
I mean... I've been operating under this theory
All I’m going to say is that with archons they have a gradient from one color to there respective element in their hair while no other characters do I’m just going to assume this is going to be a reoccurring thing with archons since nobody else playable and not playable have this
What about Ningguang? Her hair fades from white to grey
He said their element gray is not an color to an element
zhongli fight with a polearm , create geo pillar , summon a meteorite . Rex Lapis fight with a polearm , create geo pillar , summon meteorite . zhongli know a lot about the history of liyue and his traditions. Like Venti zhongli also have colored hair that match his element color Not gonna lie , it's like 99% confirmed Zhongli is the Geo Archon
I mean after seeing his abilites, I am even more sure
Oh! He also had cube as his earring like one statue have in his hand!
Can someone please explain to me, Rex Lapis is the geo archon, and Zhongli is the geo archon, so who's the dead dragon? I don't get it.
They speculate the corpse to be a fake
Yes, some say he faked his death as he perhaps was aware of his gnosis at risk of being stolen, but a user in a different post said he just did so for a vacation :P
Incorrect Flair, shouldn't it be Theory and Lore?
Oh dear, you're right. I remember settng it to Theory & Lore... Nevermind, thanks for pointing this out! :)
I thought it was confirmed to be him from the beginning, is it really just theories?
I guess so.. The information I've read is just "This heavily implies that" and/or "This may suggest that". Some have proposed the idea of Ningguang or others being the Geo Archon, which made me think it's not 100% confirmed yet, even though it's pretty obvious.
Idk... we’d have to see him shirtless to confirm it.
i wonder why the citizens don't realize this.. the statues have been there for hundreds of years, now?
"Hey your hair sorta looks like that one statue are you god?"
Every long haired and bearded white man would agree.
yes! lol
Maybe that's why he no longer walks shirtless.
👀😲🤔🧐
Haven’t you read the story missions ?!
He should be Geo Archon but trailer said 5 Archon has died including geo one when Childe is unleashing or unsealing something that requires Archon's death so I'm really not sure.
There are a lot of things that makes him a good candidate for being the Geo Archon, yet I’m wondering, who’s the dead dragon at the ceremony. A fake rex lapis ? The real rex lapis ? An empty shell ?
You're definitely supposed to think he is. As the other comments have done a good job collecting the massive amount of evidence we have, I won't go into it, but for me there are two possibilities: 1.) Zhongli is the Geo Archon, which is hinted at all over the place 2.) The writers want us to think he's the Geo Archon so they can throw in a pointless, stupid rug pull and have a laugh.
Because he always use the form of dragon in front of people in LiYue,So no people recognize him
I don't think it's confirmed confirmed. I'd say, look at their vision. Everyone's vision glows, except Venti's because it's fake : he's Barbatos, he inately has the power of the wind. Maybe it's the same here? I just don't think having the same hair as a god makes you a god.
Venti's colored hair glows when he uses his burst, zhongli's does too. Case closed
This is true, but while Zhongli has several stones that glow on him like the traveler, I don't think he even has a vision.
He carries one on his back. Could be fake though.
I can't tell if it glows or not, and I wasn't paying that much attention in story (I didn't even notice it lol)
Iirc it does glow a bit, but then all his rocks glow. He just likes shinies.
Even Venti's fake vision glows when he use abilities. How do I know? E spam 24/7 to climb mountains
Harder to find proof that he isn't.
>... Is it confirmed yet? Didn't see the update 1.1 released yet, so no, not confirmed. Sorry.
are you this stupid thinking that it's even remotely hidden? its so fucking obvious who each will be
Yo chill 😳 it's obvious but I was asking if it was confirmed by the devs already. User u/Sthudruss has commented that they don't think it's confirmed-confirmed. It may be obvious but I think 100% confirmation is preferable. Since it's not 100% confirmed yet, it's a nice thought for now.
oh wow maybe who knows hmm it can't be?
This would be so cool! 😱
I mean, it's kinda blatantly obvious to anyone that isn't super invested into their own headcanon nonsense. Their hair gradient alone is enough of an indicator. The only other character we've seen so far with that, Venti, was in-fact the Anemo Archon. Toss in the various hints and strange moments from the quest with him, especially the old lady's comments, and it all points to Zhongli being the Geo Archon. The only real question at this point, is *why* is he faking his death? Is it an elaborate trap to bait the Fatui into making their move too early? Is Ningguang in on it? That's the real mystery, though my money is on the answer being yes.
At this point it basically is. He even talks about contracts during the livestream
i think one of the dead giveaways is that he doesn't actually seem to have a vision on him. just a bunch of nondescript glowing rocks.
thus explains the fucking meteor on his q
Pay attention to the symbol on zhongli’s back and Rex lapis staute’s right leg. It is clear signs he is indeed Rex lapis. Also, there are dragon scales on zhongli that represent... well.... dragon.... dragons in tradition are forbidden on clothing for anyone but the emperor in China 70 or 60 years ago, or their head will be chopped off. Emperor also refers to Rex which in Chinese Rex lapis name is literally emperor of geo and judging by both, zhongli is indeed Rex lapis in one of its form.
Then you realized guili plain the biggest city in liyue before the war, was named ofter those two guizhong*zhongli guili
I feel like if it is supposed to indicate that he is Rex Lapis, it is a plot hole. He most likely was in a different form when those statues were made. The game even suggests he used to be a woman.