Source
r/GenshinImpact•
MorBella

Guizhong, the Goddess of Dust... or Death?

Lore

Ok, so hear me out.

I've just finished Zhongli's second story quest and one of Azdaha's lines drew my attention. "Morax shared with us some of his power, to prevent further erosion. But... it was futile. Everything returns to dust. It is the natural order, an unstoppable force."

DUST. Everything returns to dust.

This is probably just an accidental use of this word (and I don't speak Chinese, so it's not like I can check in the original version), yet I can't help but wonder. The description of dust in that quote sounds an awful lot like one would describe death, and I couldn't help but think of Guizhong.

I think it suits her. We know very little of her, so it's easy to fill in the blanks. But, you may ask, if she was the Goddest of Death then why would she be described as weak, or otherwise non-combative? That's actually easy to answer - death is nothing if not patient. It waits and comes for us all. It would make sense, in my opinion, that she wouldn't have the power (or will) to disturb the natural flow of life, so to speak. It would also suit her fondness of humans, whose lifes are short and fleeting. To quote the wiki: "She sympathized with humans, understanding their fragility and yearning for intelligence out of fear of their own mortality."

Also according to the wiki, the name Guili Assembly's - the place her people lvied and flourished - name translates to "the Plains of the Returning and Departing". Just like everything returns to dust, from dust everything is born; maybe Guizhong's dominion was not only over death, but also rebirth - or maybe the cycle of life and death itself?

I don't know, but it's fun to theorize. This theory creates lots of questions I cannot answer - if she was the literal embodiment of death, how is it possible that she died, without coming back, at least? (yes, I know about the Ningguang is Guizhong reincarnated theory, but Ningguang is very much not fulfilling the role of a Death God, so it doesn't suit this particular theory)

If you pals have any further ideas about this, I'd love to discuss. Maybe there's some thematic parallels to Chinese culture that I missed, or simply other things I didn't think about. Let me know what you think!

Posted Feb 28, 2022, 10:26 PM UTC

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[deleted]

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Goncalo__DC•

I know I'm late but being the god of something in genshin doesn't mean that you're the embodiment of that said thing, Zonghli for example was the god of war before Guizhong's death and changed to the god of contract after that, I think the title of god just have to be earned in some way by getting recognized by a large group of people and then you can choose what notion is the most important to you,

In that case Guizhong who was in pair with Zonghli could still have been a goddess even though she was weak, her intelligence could be why the people recognized her as worthy of that title (since zonghli pretty much relied on her behind the scene back then) and she could have been the god of pretty much anything,

So even if you're the god of reincarnation of something like that, if you die you don't come back, you just were someone that people respected and who were allowed to have a high title which only purpose is to show what you prioritize

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MorBellaOP•

"Zonghli for example was the god of war before Guizhong's death and changed to the god of contract after that,"

Actually, Zhongli never was the God of War - he was the Warring God, which aren't the same thing (or maybe they are in the original version? idk). He also used to be called the Groundbreaker and other stuff. So I would disagree. I don't think gods are gods of whatever humans assume them to be.

But you have a point in saying that even a hypothetical God of Reincarnation could die permanently. tbh we know too little about genshin lore to be certain how gods even work.

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Goncalo__DC•

I didn't know about that mistranslation but what I wanted to say by mentioning this is that I assume those titles are probably less meaningful than they seem to be and are just an indicative of what the god values without really defining them,

And I donk think people assume what a god values I think they just, in some way, allow someone to earn the title of god then this god can chose what he will be the god of,

For example: everybody respect the traveler and they think he is worthy of the title of god, they let him know it and the traveler can now choose what he will value the most

But your right anyway all of those are just theories but it's still fun to think about it

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