UNIFIED THEORY OF EVERYTHING [CHAPTER 2]: The death of the universe + The role of the Traveler.
Hi there and wish you a lovely day everyone!
This post comes as a continuation of a group of theories (currently planned to be 22 chapters), that will try to explain some of the most relevant aspects of Genshin's storyline and gather collective opinions to create an ¨Unified Theory of Everything¨.
It is highly recommended that they're read in order*, for each chapter is built upon the knowledge of the last one, and the next chapters often help enforcing the theories of the previous ones.*
These posts will act as a net of information.
- SUMMARY*:* If the reader desires to read it, I already posted a 2 chapter theory that explains most of the topics of these current posts, without as much detail as here presented. They are very long posts however, but they act as a pseudo summary/TL;DR (a very long one) of this ¨Unified Theory of Everything¨.
NOTE: in the index one will be able to check which one of the topics of each chapter is mentioned/treated in the previous posts. These theories expand beyond that, both in new topics and new info about the already discussed ones.
INDEX (here the list of each individual chapter)
PREVIOUS POST:
NEXT POST (to be linked soon):
- [UNIFIED THEORY OF EVERYTHING [CHAPTER 3]: The ¨microcosm¨ and the ¨universe¨. The story inside the story.]
Now then, let's begin:
NOTE: this will be an extremely important chapter as it sets the purpose of the Traveler.
CHAPTER 2: THE DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE
The abyss that consumes and destroys...
If I was to ask what is the greatest calamity that a story can face... what would you say?
If I was to ask what is the reality that every story has to inevitable face... what would you say?
Would you agree that for a story, the greatest disaster would be... the end of the story itself?
- KEY POINT: Stories are bound to end.
She had seen many worlds, and had told the little witch many tales about the sky beyond the sky
[...]
¨The entire cosmos is going to die soon. Things peaked but not long ago, and are about to go south very fast.¨
"Many stars across the cosmos have gone out. I do not know how much time is left," Octavia said.
-Little Witch and the Undying Fire
- THE DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE*: Octavia, member of the Hexenzirkel, who is known for travelling the ¨sky beyond the sky¨/outer space, is aware that the universe is collapsing, stars are dying.*
- THE UNIVERSE IS BEING CONSUMED: There is a common force that ¨takes aim at the stars¨. In Genshin symbolism, stars represent reason, fate and creation**.**
In the previous chapter, we made a point that the red abyss represents destruction and the purple abyss represents nothingness.
It is this red abyss the one which is actively destroying the universe.
- THE END OF THE STORY: like a story coming to its end.
Let's talk about the important part of this chapter:
COUNTERMEASSURES
THE ARMY
Let's go back to Skirk's story quest.
An army that exterminated her race without apparent reason
In her home planet, Skirk's race is shown as pacific and kind towards others, then why were they exterminated?
- OBSERVERS: At first, only merchants came to her world, inoffensive individuals which were well received by the native people of the planet.
Then, without warning, an army arrives at her planet and wipes everything in its path.
- THE ARMY: had only one order. Kill everyone. Exterminate her race. They didn't arrive there to steal, nor destroy their civilization, nor to conquer the planet, but to specifically exterminate her race.
- SKIRK'S RACE: The only condition that made them different to any other race, was that they were able to ¨adapt¨ to almost anything.
The army that exterminated Skirk's race, was not a force of destruction/Abyss, but quite the opposite, a force that tried to preserve creation.
A desperate one.
But before explaining their role, we will have to explain one CRUCIAL point about abyssal powers:
- PURE RED ABYSS: destroys creation. The usage/contact with these often leads to destruction.
The problem is however, that when creations of reason (humans, dragons, etc.) are faced with this energy, they get ¨destroyed¨ (¨they become purple¨) and become a blank space in the book***.***
Very few don't get ¨disolved¨ by this destruction.
- THE CORROSIVE FORCE*:* pure red abyss energy ¨fuses¨ with reason, and the both components become purple abyss. The purple abyss is not harmful, the destructive component is.
- THE POWER OF THE ABYSS*: Abyssal powers usually manifest as purple abyssal energy, but in reality that is* only the ¨appearance¨ that the red Abyss takes after fusing with reason.
- FORCE AND PRODUCT: The purple abyss, while it can be called Abyss itself, is the result of destruction, and the red abyss, the pure Abyss, is the force that causes it.
Abyssal powers manifest as different colours of the spectrum of destruction (red). The power of the Abyss comes from destruction, not from ¨nothingness¨/purple abyss, this is just a result.
It's vital that we understand this idea from now onwards.
Skirk and Dainsleif, for example, have already mentioned abyssal power to be ¨a power from beyond¨.
And as we have defined in CH.1, the red and pure Abyss comes, indeed, from beyond this world.
Into the void! (erasure/destruction of space)
-Skirk's ultimate
NOTE: this power can also imitate creation: Skirk uses a power called ¨Seven-shitfing Serpent¨ and fights using an ¨imitation¨ of the cryo element of reason.
- VERY IMPORTANT*: the role of the merchants was to observe wether her race was able to adapt or not to the corrosion of the red abyss and ¨become purple¨ without being corrupted.*
- If they did, they would develop abyssal powers**,** then they would send the army.
- THE ROLE OF THE ARMY: was but to cleanse potential abyssal users who could ¨speed up¨ the death of the universe by using their power over destruction.
A desperate meassure to delay the end of the universe**, destroying anyone who could use the power of destruction**.
Ironic.
Skirk seems rather confused when she finds out we don't know Surtalogi, which would be a way of saying he's well known in the cosmos.
And if the army/merchants in her planet were actively trying to exterminate abyssal users, then it seems logic that defeating The Foul should be one of their top priorities.
And about this army, we can ask ourselves another question:
- KEY POINT: the frontier of Teyvat was made for the planet not to be detected from the outside, and the fake sky for the inside not to see outer space.
- THE QUESTION: But, who was the Heavenly Principles trying to hide Teyvat from?
- The sinners appeared milenia after the creation of the frontiers*, and even then, they seem to know very well where Teyvat is located, as Surtalogi sent Skirk there after leaving.*
- The red Abyss/force of destruction is not a physical individual whose sight can be ¨blocked¨ by a false frontier that hides Teyvat, and even if the Abyss was a conscient being, it should know very well were Teyvat is located too, as part of it exists inside the planet.
It seems highly likely that the HP tried to hide Teyvat from this ¨army¨.
- KEY POINT*:* Inside Teyvat, there have been multiple attempts to use the Abyss and multiple succesful users throughout history.
- The Sinners come from Teyvat!
- Surtalogi, who should be well known in the universe and one of the main targets of that ¨army¨, comes from Teyvat!
The army never arrived here as the planet was hidden.
Then may I ask:
- Was the plan of the HP when creating the frontiers to hide this world for humans to try and use the Abyss ...ultimately creating Kaenriah and the Five Sinners?
This question will be answered in next chapters.
What we can say about the HP here, is that they chose the planet of Teyvat to create a ¨microcosm¨ (explored in CH.3) for a very specific reason.
To face the death of the universe, the logic way to operate against it is delaying it.
The difference between the HP and this ¨army¨, is that the HP was following a plan.
Teyvat originates from this idea, as a countermeassure.
- ORBITS: Near a black hole, time flows differently than near the rest of the cosmos. Planets can orbit one as long as they don't go into the horizon of no return.
Upon a the mass of a singularity, time gets deformed and relativity starts to alter the perception of causality and deform the passing of events.
- KEY POINT: The closer one is to a black hole, the ¨slower¨ time passes for an external observer.
And upon the deformation of time, what rules the sctructure of creation is not moments nor time as they are perceived differently for observers the closer they are to the black hole.
It is information.
Let's talk about the relation of time and information now, relating it to another character that is aware of the end of the universe.
VEDRFOLNIR, THE VISIONARY
As a prophet who can see the future, he is more than aware of the death of the universe:
¨And I shall shed a tear, at the end of time... as I gaze back upon your life¨
-Vedrfolnir
He knows that time will cease to exist, that the story will reach its end.
Let's expand the analogies of CH.1 to understand his power:
- Reason was the ¨writting pen¨/creation.
- Abyss was the ¨eraser¨/destruction.
- Purple abyss was the ¨blank space¨/nothingness.
Then what is the written story?
This point is also VITAL to understand from now onwards:
- THE IRMINSUL: is the written book (OF TEYVAT). It acts like a server that gathers information. Every page exists simultaneously, but they only make sense read in order. Each instant of time (page) exists at the same moment, yet causality is what makes the pages move forward in harmony.
- CAUSALITY: The next event to the current will be its consequences and the previous, its causes.
- FATE: Causality builds Fate. Fate is the written story.
- Unmovable.
- ¨THE DESTRUCTION OF/BLASPHEMY AGAINST TIME¨: The power to destroy time in Genshin gives you ¨freedom¨ to move through/observe every page, even if causality hasn't yet reached them or already passed them.
Then Vedrfolnir would be able to see the ¨last page of the book¨.
- KEY POINT: However, the last page of the Irminsul would be the end of Teyvat, not of the universe.
- THE FATE OF THE UNIVERSE: if Vedrfolnir can see the ¨end of time¨, it is because there is a written book to read, but for the universe.
- An Irminsul for the cosmos.
Skirk's abyssal powers manifest as purple, which in the spectrum of the red Abyss, means that she ¨was blue¨, a creation of reason... but not from Teyvat**.**
The universe was built using reason.
The god who creates and maintains,
The abyss that consumes and destroys.
-The Devil XV
In CH.1, we already defined the Abyss to be the force of destruction.
In this chapter we explained that it was this red abyss what is causing the death of the universe.
- The Abyss is what destroys the universe.
- The god is who created the universe.
Who is the god?
THE CREATOR GOD: THE ULTIMATE COUNTERMEASSURE
There exists or existed, an entity which created the universe, using reason as their tool to write a silver tree for the whole cosmos, a written story, the same way the HP built Teyvat.
¨However, Phanes, the Primordial One, used the eggshell to separate the "universe" and the "microcosm¨ of the world.¨
-Before the Sun and Moon
Teyvat being called a ¨microcosm¨ is indeed because it acts like a micro universe. This idea will be further explored in CH.3 and CH.20.
Then this Creator God should've been more than aware that the universe would eventually collapse, that the story they wrote would eventually end.
- THE GOLDEN-HAIRED TWINS: If they created the universe, they also created the twins.
And this Creator God had a very specific plan for them.
Let's analyze the lunar arcanum: The World XXI
THE WORLD XXI
The ¨world¨ stands firm
- THE FIRST PART: of the card talks about the creation of the ¨world¨/¨microcosm¨. Inside our analogies, the HP acts like the writer of Teyvat/microcosm.
The ¨universe¨ stands firm
- THE SECOND PART: of the card talks about the creation of the ¨universe¨.
¨MEMORY¨ IS ¨DESIGN¨
The server of memory, the pillar of creation
The thing is, that if the destruction of the universe represents the end of the story and closing the last page of a written book, then that would also mean that every page that we have passed by has been destroyed.
Which is utterly false.
- MEMORY: The past isn't destroyed because there is memories of it.
- Because there is INFORMATION of the past.
- In reality, the past does get destroyed and turned into nothingness, but it is the memories what oppose this nothingness, this purple abyss.
- Memory acts like a ¨countermeassure¨ to the purple abyss, to the blank space and nothingness.
The Irminsul gathers information, and inside our analogies, it represents the written story. If the red Abyss destroys a part of that written story, it becomes blank, and the information is ¨destroyed¨.
To understand this, let's remember Wanderer:
¨Kunikuzushi was created by the Raiden Ei¨
¨The Balladeer tried to ascend to godhood thanks to Il Dottore¨
¨Wanderer saved the Traveler from Il Dottore in Nod Krai¨
-Before erasing his information in the Irminsul
A written story. Three pages, three moments.
¨>!Kunikuzushi!< was created by the Raiden Ei¨
¨>!The Balladeer!< tried to ascend to godhood thanks to Il Dottore¨
¨Wanderer saved the Traveler from Il Dottore in Nod Krai¨
-After erasure
Wanderer exists still because he didn't erase himself, he just destroyed the information of himself up to present moment.
The memory of him.
- KEY POINT: Which lead to the same result as if he had used the power of destruction upon his past. A blank space.
- CRUCIAL POINT: But he didn't have the power of the Abyss.
Who did Ei create, who tried to ascend to godhood helped by Dottore?
After he erased his information from the Irminsul, no character of the story could answer these questions, because the memory of Scaramouche and Kunikuzushi, the memory of Wanderer's past was erased.
- THE ACTION: Someone was created by Ei, and someone tried to ascend to godhood. The events were there, but nobody remembered ¨who¨.
- KEY POINT: Wanderer was not erased, only the memory of him was erased. Wanderer didn't use the power of the red Abyss.
Only for the Traveler remembered him.
- THE READER: Inside our analogies, the Traveler, and descenders**, play the role of readers.** Even if the information was deleted, the Traveler knew still who ¨The Balladeer¨ was.
- The information that the Traveler has gathered, their memories, are not erased.
The past doesn't die because it is remembered by an observer.
- THE DESTRUCTION OF THE UNIVERSE: Then if the whole book was ¨destroyed¨, or better said, if everyone was ¨destroyed¨ and there would be no more observers to remember the past, the whole story would fall into the the purple abyss, into oblivion.
- The red abyss/destruction is the force that ¨moves pages forward¨. A force of the decay of the story. The story approaching its end.
¨So you would rather live in this rotten and decaying world¨
-Dottore
- The purple abyss the shadow of the world, the ¨pages which aren't being observed¨.
- BLANK SPACES: There are two ways of creating purple abyss.
¨Scaramouche tried to ascend to godhood, then he erased (moment when the purple abyss would be created) the memory of himself and he took the name of Wanderer¨
- FIRST WAY*: by being destroyed by the red Abyss, the subject becomes a blank space:*
In fact, since this story is about an action performed by the same character, if he was erased instead of his information erased, it would look like this:
¨Scaramouche tried to ascend to godhood, then he>! erased the memory of himself and he took the name of Wanderer¨!<
Like dying*, the destruction of a character implies the ceases of their continuity and of their actions*.
Memory exists still, the character doesn't.
Death when the character is not erased (blue)/when the subject is corrupted by destruction (red)
- SECOND WAY: by erasing memories, the blank spaces only appear in the past:
¨>!Scaramouche!< tried to ascend to godhood, then he erased the memory of himself and he took the name of Wanderer¨
In reality, this way doesn't ¨create¨ purple abyss, but it ¨unveils¨ the blank space that a not remembered past is.
The character exists still, memoriy doesn't.
THE PURPLE ABYSS APPEARS AS A DOUBLE CONCEPT OF DESTRUCTION/OBLIVION.
- KEY POINT: Both oblivion and destruction produce nothingness.
- ¨THE PAST IS BLANK¨: memory is the only thing that makes the past not become blank. When memory is erased, the purple abyss and blank space appears. When destruction fully consumes creation, when the story closes its last page, when the red Abyss closes the book, memory will be erased too, and time itself will end*, which means that* every page of the book will become a not remembered past*: blank.*
- For the memories of the observers that held the past will be destroyed alongside them.
Destruction (red) moves the story (blue) forward to its end (purple).
- THE SPIRAL ABYSS: is but a metaphor of us descending to the end of the story. The further we go, the closer we get to the pit. The more the story advances, the less pages separate the past/oblivion from the end.
And once the story is finished, the past will reach the end, the red abyss will destroy every observer, and the book will be turn into nothingness.
¨None will escape the flames¨
-Dainsleif, Teyvat's trailer
Unless... there is an observer, a reader, that makes the past not fall into oblivion.
- TO CREATE A NEW WORLD: we need creation to oppose destruction, and memory to oppose oblivion.
- THE ROLE OF THE TRAVELER: is to, at the end of time, when there are no more observers left and everything is destroyed, build a universe anew using their memories of this world so it doesn't fall into nothingness.
That was the plan of the Creator God.
For when the story ends, and the characters/observers end, the reader, who was not destroyed, will still remember everything.
¨Memory¨ is ¨design¨
[...]
And the ¨silver tree¨ sprouts buds (the Irminsul of the universe)
You follow each tiny piece of your memory
The ¨universe¨ stands firm
-The World XXI
The universe WILL end and it will be created again, by the Traveler.
END OF CHAPTER 2
There is an implicit meaning within this chapter, that for the Traveler to create a new universe, they will need to ascend from reader to writer.
And the Sibling will play a decissive role in this process.
These ideas will be explored in next chapters, but for now, let's keep on defining the world of Genshin with CH.3 before we jump into conclusions (to be linked soon).
[CHAPTER 3: The ¨microcosm¨ and the ¨universe¨. The story inside the story.]
Ad astra abyssosque!
Posted Mar 14, 2026, 12:29 AM UTC