I had this thought a couple months ago but just recently figured I’d share my thoughts about who the “cameraman” of Genshin Impact is. What I mean is, who is the one observing everything we do in game from the moment we log in to the moment we log out?
The developers mentioned before in a livestream that they tried to have everything in the game related to the lore. So it got me thinking about the camera perspective and who is possibly watching our gameplay (if it truly is lore significant). Obviously it is us, the player, but we ourselves aren’t tied to the game’s lore. So, from a lore standpoint, which characters would best suit to be the observer of the Traveler’s journey?
When we log into the game, our camera perspective is shown to be floating forwards until a doorway reveals itself, ready for us to enter into Teyvat. This realm has been theorised a lot and I would guess that it is the Heavenly Principles’ domain, probably called the Temple of Reason, likewise with Asmoday’s domain known as the Temple of Space. And through this domain’s doorway, we are able to look at what is going on in Teyvat.
So the player is perceiving Teyvat through the eyes of who then? The Heavenly Principles? Maybe. But there is one detail I would like to shed light on first.
When we exit Teyvat or quit the game, we have to leave through the Paimon menu. The icon represented to exit the game is just a simple rectangle with an arrow, and it can be interpreted as leaving through the same door we enter from in the loading screen.
So if we are exiting through the Paimon menu, then does this mean Paimon is somehow our “cameraman”? Although Paimon is confirmed to be capable of phasing in and out of reality, she herself does not know why she can do that, but it doesn’t really explain why she can see herself physically in Teyvat while simultaneously being the “cameraman”.
Theories surrounding Paimon being a fragment of the Heavenly Principles can still be deemed true if the “cameraman” is in fact the Heavenly Principles, as the loading screen is most likely to be its domain and it is using Paimon as a way to watch over Teyvat while asleep. However, I think my theory would make even more sense if we linked it with the theory about Paimon being the consciousness of the Primordial One, and the Heavenly Principles being the subconsciousness of the Primordial One. Allow me to elaborate…
If this theory is true, then the “cameraman” might be the Heavenly Principles watching over Teyvat with the help of Paimon. Actually, a better word to use here would be “dreaming” since the Heavenly Principles have been sleeping for 500 years up until this point. So perhaps the Heavenly Principles are in actuality watching over Teyvat and the Traveler’s journey through its dreams. Maybe the reason the Heavenly Principles are yet to awaken is because the Traveler’s journey has not yet reached its end, but once it does, maybe then the Traveler will be the one to wake up the slumbering subconsciousness of the Primordial One.
In relation to Paimon, if she acts as the consciousness of the Primordial One, then it would explain the connections between her and many celestial objects/structures/beings that are likely associated with the Primordial One. Paimon must be the literal avatar of the game, and through her (the consciousness), the Heavenly Principles (the subconsciousness) is able to observe what is going on in Teyvat while asleep.
There’s another cool detail I’d like to bring up regarding dreams in our world. Most commonly, we aren’t able to control our dreams, we just watch them play out before waking up. So if we apply this logic to Genshin Impact camera perspective, then the Heavenly Principles being the "cameraman" of the game makes more sense. It can’t do anything other than watch. It is yet to awaken as it’s still dreaming.
Someone already posted the theory of HP being the camera here a few months ago, but I remain unconvinced.
The game being HP's dream feels more plausible to me. There is already one mention in lore that Teyvat is just a dream. But is it spatial (jut one planet somehow?!) or is the entire universe of Genshin in that dream, including Kleiner, Surtalogi and entire Voyager's race?
penacony is a single planet, so hp's dream could encompass only the human realm, while also having manifested as memoria or something, which could grant human realm natives the ability to actually leave and access the outer universe as memetic entities like memokeepers
If Teyvat is a dream it reminds me of an old game called Dreamfall: The Longest Journey that was inspired by Dreamtime. Basically there was two worlds that was supported by a Dreamer. However, that Dreamer was dying and needed a replacement or reality would crumble.
If Traveler had to journey across Teyvat to learn and grow I can see it as Celestia's method to develop them be a replacement dreamer. Or the twins could be like battery packs. When Lumine's turn was over is when they decided to wake up Aether and vice versa. A samsara is just a new dreamer taking the driver's seat.
It remind me of The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening where that game takes place on an Island created by a dream of a whale called the Wind Fish. The Island and everyone on it were manifested by the dream of the whale inside an egg atop the Islands Mountain. Idk why but reading the comments it reminded me a fair bit of that game too.
Nice to hear that some other theorists have also thought of this concept too! I remember reading about time loop theories, where theorists compared Sumeru's quest about samsara cycles to Teyvat itself. And they estimated that the Heavenly Principles was the "dreamer" of Teyvat.
There's also a line from Venti where he says we met again and that we surprisingly don't remember him. So this could be a little hint that Teyvat is running in a samsara-like loop, and Venti knows the Traveler from before. Perhaps from a previously failed cycle?
The Heavenly Principles may be having the same reoccurring dream for 500 years since Khaenri'ah's befall, and in each cycle before the Traveler's arrival, it failed to be saved. Maybe the sibling was in the previous samsara cycle before us and they failed, leaving the end of their journey to fizzle out. So perhaps this is when the Traveler's journey begins, and they are the one to potentially break the cycle.
Keep in mind, though, that this cameraman can witness things which neither the Traveler nor Paimon see. Things like the entire sequence with our saurian friend and Huitzilopochtli (including the time loop/redo) and the conversation between Dottore and Regrator during the latest AQ.
It could be someone involved with the HP, and your "walk through the door to get into the game/Teyvat" makes sense. But I really don't think it's tied to Paimon in any way.
If it was indeed the HP who is “dreaming” of this game, then it makes sense that they’re able to witness EVERYTHING that happened/happens in Teyvat, regardless of the Traveler’s presence (or lack thereof). OP’s theory still holds true.
Yes, the "cameraman" can witness other events too as part of the dream. Though, the reason why I linked exiting Teyvat with Paimon's help, is because we exit the game through the Paimon menu. Very simple I know, but maybe that mechanic is lore significant.
My crack pot theory is that Heavenly Principles is in fact a hivemind. Why not? So many have tried to gain upperhand either forming hivemind of their own - or as Abyss Sibling, getting 'might of an entire civilization' to back them.
The description for Dottore's new weekly boss draws a parallel between him and the HP, both are trapped in a cage of their own making. One built Segments from different ages of his existence; the other has his own Shades, but maybe there's more to it.
Yeah, that could make sense.
And this hive mind might have a manifestation as an entity.
I think that's actually very logical, it feels that in genshin, this theme gets used a lot, Like with Narzissenkreutz - it was very similar to a hive mind in the sense that it could absorb the consciousnesses, and intended to save Fontainians from a prophesied apocalyptic flood by using Primordial Seawater to dissolve their bodies and merge their consciousnesses into a collective entity.
So when individuals from within that collective entity start showing sign of individuality (Free will, love, independent thoughts etc) - it goes straight against the idea of a collective mind, and in the mind of their creator, it's possible that they see this as a great danger, because when individuals do this and break free from the collective mind, it could cause the collective entity to fall apart and thus not be saved from the 'prophesied disaster'.
So in the creator's eyes - individuality = dark, material, danger of collapse.
With that said, it's kinda goes against the principle of Gnosticism which genshin is heavily based on, in which the creator/false god is actually the ruler of this dark/fake/materialistic world, and that transcending/defying it would be the way to reach true 'enlightenment'.
So it could go either way, or they actually went for inverted trope like they did with other things in the game (Remuria - from Remus, the brother that lost the duel rather than using Romulus, which was the brother who won according to history and had Rome named after, and there are other examples of this which I can't remember right now).
At any case, the distinction between these two things is very prominent and common in the game - mind (enlightenment, memory, knowledge, preservation) vs body ('darkness', individuality, materialism, fake world).
One example would be Phlogiston as a representation for mind, and primordial seawater for body/physical/materialism.
It saw a theory in one of the youtube channels that claimed that the Nod Krai quest (I think it was called Colors out of space), and in general in nod krai, it was often that red and blue energies were shown with one another
It might also make sense because in the Matrix, the red pill is the one that supposedly brings enlightenment, while blue pill is to keep living in the matrix/fake world
Doesnt need to mean that paimon has power to stop time. We cannot move from where we paused anyway. Can just mean paimon is quickly thinking what to do next or something
I haven't been able to finish a post about what i'll say, because it's ridiculously long and complex, but this fits with the album Holographic Universe, which is based on a book too.
In it, there is a machine God that's an all seeing eye observing everything.
People are also connected to ley grid lines because the world is some sort of Holographic contraption and the HP entity has humanity "caged inside a dream".
Which Dottore outright mentions in 6.3
This explains why people's memories are connected to Irminsul in Genshin. (The album has some sort of central hub too that the protag kills himself to hack into)
If HP is the one walking through that bridge and when he wanna "wake up" he always wake up as Paimon watching Traveller as a cameraman (since Paimon always disappears)
i think as we traveller reach the ending of genshin teyvat chapter we should have different ending based on exploration quest and more stuff such as if traveller exporation is low he start sleeping instead as primodial one die, as completeing 80 will grant not sleep but you cannot leave teyvat and 100 percent full authority that you can change the fate and teyvat out of misery and travel to different world as well
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u/kontis 5d ago
Someone already posted the theory of HP being the camera here a few months ago, but I remain unconvinced.
The game being HP's dream feels more plausible to me. There is already one mention in lore that Teyvat is just a dream. But is it spatial (jut one planet somehow?!) or is the entire universe of Genshin in that dream, including Kleiner, Surtalogi and entire Voyager's race?