What are the Archons?
The Seven Archons, commonly referred to as The Seven, are the seven gods who rule the seven nations of Teyvat. Each Archon is associated with an element and an ideal, around which they formed their territories and chose the way to govern their nation.
The original Seven were the victors of the Archon War that took place two thousand years before the main story. At the beginning of the game, only two of the original seven Archons remain: Barbatos and Morax.
Each Archon has an internal source of magic called Gnosis. It allows them to directly resonate with Celestia, a mysterious floating island above Teyvat where the gods reside. The Gnosis can be seen as a more advanced version of a Divine Eye, which is an external device for controlling elemental energy.
Who are they?
To date, only three of the seven Archons are known:
- Barbatos, also known as Lord Barbatos, appears in the game as Venti. He is the Archon of Mondstadt. His ideology is freedom and he uses the element Anemo.
- Morax, also known as Rex Lapis, appears in the game as Zhongli. He is the Archon of Liyue. His ideology is based on contracting and he uses the Geo element.
- Baal, also known as Raiden Shogun, appears in the game under this name. She is the Archon of Inazuma. Her ideology is eternity and she uses the Electro element.
What cultural elements are they inspired by?
The word Archon used in the game is the English translation of the word archon. The term "archon" is derived from its Gnostic usage, in which the archons are seven gods who each rule over one of the seven planets. They are among the lowest ranking deities and are responsible for preventing souls from leaving the material realm. Indeed, by attaining gnosis, an understanding of divine knowledge, one can transcend the limit of the mortal world and escape the domination of the archons.
- In Manichaeism, a religion derived from Gnosticism, there are five archons who together form the Princes of Darkness. Here, the archons are considered an undeniably evil force.
- "The Allogenes, also known as "The Stranger", is a figure who is half-human, half-divine and has the power to communicate with other realms. In some writings about the Allogenes, it is said that he has become fully divine.
In an interview with a miHoYo developer in the May 2021 issue of the Japanese entertainment magazine PASH, it was mentioned that Gnosticism was chosen as the main mythological basis for Genshin Impact, especially regarding how Gnosticism deals with the relationship between man and the world, and how the archons influence the world.
The Chinese term for the gods prior to the Seven, "demon god," comes from the standard Chinese translation for demons in the Ars Goetia - from which a deity's name is derived - is 所罗门七十二柱魔神 "The 72 Demon Gods of Solomon."
Currently, all named Archons are named after one of the 72 demons found in the Ars Goetia, one of the books of the Minor Key of Solomon.
- Baal, the Electro Archon, is named after Baal, the first king of Hell.
- Barbatos, the Anemo Archon is named after Barbatos, one of the dukes of Hell.
- Morax, the Geo Archon is named after Morax, president of Hell.
- Decarabian, the god of storms, is named after Decarabia, a grand marquis of Hell, or a king and count.
- For some unexplained reason, Paimon is also named after one of the 72 demons, in particular Paimon, one of the kings of Hell.
The Chinese and Japanese term for allogene is "proto-god" (Chinese: 原神 Yuánshén; Japanese: 原神 Genshin, lit. "god of raw material"), the same word used in the game's title.
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/The_Seven
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Gods