Sleepy

Before we get to the theory crafting let me give you a small summary of the lore i am using to get to my conclusions :

The Tsaritsa as far as we know is the god of love, she is seen in the trailer with a white haired star eyed youth, that resembles her own appearance. She has been revealed to be the ancestor of all Khaenr’ianhs. Currently she is trying to get all the gnosis for unknown reasons.

Although unconfirmed it is heavily implied the Tsaritsa is the daughter of Pakkaisukko and lover of Saarelainen. Saarelainen opened the gates of Pohjola and was punished by the Heavenly principles by being split in to the seven gnosis, he did this to protect the daughter of Pakkaisukko since if he did not go she would have gone.

Ajax is a character from popular Snezhnayan legends, who has similarities to Saarelainens story, such as being in love with a snegurochka (a word likely derived from the Russian word meaning snow maiden) similar to how Saarelainen was in love with the daughter of Pakkaisukko (a word likely derived from the Finnish word meaning Frost Father), or how both where described as having healing abilities. They are theorized to be the same person, (Ajax could also just be interpretation of Saarelainen and do not have to be 100% the same).

The Belyi Tsar is the first Cryo Archon, and had a interest in Hyperborea where he found answers about himself. He calls himself a protector of all fae, yet doesn’t seem to be a fae and claimed to be from a sacred blood line. In the artifact set Disenchantment in Deep Shadow, he talks about remembering a golden homeland and a mother he had never met. He has 2 daughters the princess of the Snegurochka assumed to be his biological child and Aksinya a silver haired girl he found in Hyperborea.

Koitar is the first angel created by the heavenly principles described as “first and fairest daughter”, she was the divine envoy for Hyperborea, and took up residence near their local Irminsul tree underground. There Seutervoinen asked about the forbidden origins of Teyvat, and that his consciousness was actually that of a cosmic voyager who had visited Teyvat before. This knowledge broke Koitars crown and thus allowed her to love for the first time. Using forbidden methods of creation imparted by Koitar, artisans in Hyperborea forged countless fae spirits. Koitar hoped that one day, these fae creatures would create a perfect being that could merge with the world, Koitar and Seutervoinen took control over Hyperborea, teaching its people advanced technology and encouraging them to explore the sea of stars beyond the false sky. After Koitar lost her memories, due to the heavenly principles punishing both Koitar and Seutervoinen for their love. Koitar in loneliness sang a song that was heard by the wolf lord or well Boreas through their meeting and years spend together Koitar remembered Seutervoinen and went back to Hyperborea in wait for him.

Seutervoinen is the voyager, a traveler from the sea of stars that went to Teyvat when Nibelung still ruled the planet and warned him of the abyss. Nibelung refused to listen to this warning so the voyager went back to the sea of stars. After many years passed she decided to revisit Teyvat only to see Nibelung gone and it be ruled by the four shades, not wanting to disturb the heavenly principles, she took the body of a star eyed youth, and from there he went to Koitar. Like Koitar Seutervoinen was also punished by his memory being removed.

Mentioned in the artifect set: Disenchantment in Deep Shadow, Aksinya is a silver haired girl found by the Belyi Tsar with in Hyperborea, in a life sustaining chamber from ages past. Aksinya is assumed to be the last survivor of Hyperborea. With the Belyi Tsar taking her under his wing she became a lead researcher for the Belyi Tsar’s plan "to seek the stairway leading to the vacant seat in the court of the stars, a passage to a place where worry and sorrow would no longer trouble them ever again.” This plan had eventually succeeded although it is not mentioned how or what the result of it was.

Now in to the theory and speculation part of this.

The possibilities with this information:

The Tsaritsa is the first angel: we know relatively little of the Tsaritsa’s past thus from her story there is little of proof this. The only parts we have that could hint to this is that the Belyi Tsar’s daughter is called the princess of the Snegurochka (who is a very likely candidate for the Tsaritsa), with Snegurochka with in genshin lore being used to refer to snowland fae. However with in “A brief history of the Pale Starborn” they say he does not share the same blood as the fae. This could mean he adopted the Tsaritsa’s, it is unlikely he adopted a adult. So this would suggest that Koitar Regressed to a child like form or split herself in to multiple parts one of them being a child like version of herself and in that progress forgot she was angel, if the Belyi Tsar found her when she was still not fully aware of her surroundings and herself, and thought she was a fae adopted her and during the time she grew never really had a reason to question her fae identity especially with everyone around her telling her she is one. It could also be that she regained the memory of Seutervoinen but not the memory of who she was thus believed she was a snowland fae although i think that is more unlikely. (It is also just possible that he had a child with a fae making the Tsaritsa half fae half human) Another explanation for the Tsaritsa being the first angel that she is the child found by the Belyi Tsar in Hyperborea, I find it rather strange they point out Aksinya has silver long hair when this is a pretty vocal part of the Tsaritsa’s design. If Aksinya is the Tsaritsa and Koitar, it would mean Koitar just as in the previous case would have to change too a younger appearance. Some more general proof that could hint at the Tsaritsa being Koitar is that in the Snezhnaya trailer the Tsaritsa says “and then the heavenly principles spoiled our love, I almost doubt if it was ever true at all” while we see Ronova slice off part of the picture that we then see as a memory. But rather then the part of the picture being gone, I almost feel like the empty space plus the line the Tsaritsa says more so implies she had forgotten her love, almost like her lover was erased from history. This would make sense if the Tsaritsa is Koitar and lost her memory of Seutervoinen. Even if this memory is from after her regaining her memories, she would be aware she lost them in the first place making her doubt if it was ever real. It has never been stated that the daughter of Pakkaisukko was in love with the 3rd descender, however the assumption is not a wild one to make. This would go against the Tsaritsa is Koitar theory since the angels were cursed to lose their minds and bodies if they ever fell in love. If the Tsaritsa is Koitar and she fell in love with Saarelainen, she would have lost her mind and body. It is possible that due to Koitar having already fallen in love previously and been punished for it the curse didn’t happen again, or due to her losing her memory and currently living as “fae” she isn’t recognized as a angel by Teyvat thus can fall in love without being cursed. In both ways I think the Tsaritsa could be Koitar by changing to a more child like form, Koitar/the Tsaritsa would still need to somehow age afterwards. In the artifact set Aksinya is mentioned it states “a girl no longer” implying she aged as a normal human, for the other case it could have happened over a way longer span of time. There is a case to be made for the first one that she didn’t become child like but more the age she is now, but that wouldn’t really explain why the Belyi Tsar would adopt her.

Another posibilty is that the Tsaritsa is the daughter of Koitar and Seutervoinen, it is possible that right before Hyperborea got annihilated by the Heavenly principles that Koitar and Seutervoinen decided to bring a child on to this world with the blood of a angel and one from beyond the stars. Hyperborea was already trying to make perfect beings that could merge with the world, the traveler while being from beyond the stars has perfect synergy with Teyvat, they can use the elements, Phlogiston and now seem to be able to use stellar glimmer as well. This could hint at descenders being able to connect with the purest form of Teyvat, so without the interference of either Nibelung or the heavenly principles. If that is the case Hyperboreans might have been trying to create a being capable of ascending to descenders. if this is the case Koitar and Seutervoinen getting a kid could mean this was a attempt at that too, there is a good change it wasn’t their kid but rather their creation as they knew how to create life. Either way after both Koitar and Seutervoinen were punished there is 2 options of how the Tsaritsa came to the Belyi Tsar. 1. The Belyi Tsar had a close connection to one of her parents and decided to adopt them after the calamity, or 2. the Tsaritsa was left in a life chamber and the Belyi Tsar found her during his exploration of Hyperborea. It is also possible that the Tsaritsa was never the Belyi Tsar’s kid, but rather then it making the Theories less likely it really only makes them easier to explain with less evidence against it.

A crack theory i have is that Aksinya merged with the princess of the Snegurochka, and became the Tsaritsa. This could still mean the Tsaritsa is Koitar (or atleast partly), but with Aksinya being described as having long silver hair and the princess of the Snegurochka possibly being the same person Ajax fell in love with (described to be a fae) the current appearance of the Tsaritsa could make sense. Why and how Aksinya would have done it no clue, but with her relationship to alchemy my mind goes to Rhinedottir who merged with Naberius. That is really all there is to the theory and doubt it is likely but if you never shoot you will always miss :).

Other things I want to note:

In the Snezhnaya trailer the Tsaritsa says “One should not throw fragile drift wood to a drowning person, nor give the illusion of warmth to those freezing to death” I find the last line in particular interesting since the Tsaritsa is not just the god of cryo but also has been described as having frozen her emotions. This being said after we see her memory of her son and the faded/removed lover/father, makes me think this is in someway a illusion space either made or caused by something the shades did.

The Tsaritsa took away part of the fae’s power, this would be weird if she herself is a fae in my opinion.

The Tsaritsa and her continuing connection to Khaenri’ah: Even though the Tsaritsa is a ancestor from Khaenri’ah she still seems heavily involved with their predicaments. She has been said to have changed a lot after the cataclysm and now has 7 members with in the Fatui that have a clear connection or are from Khaenri’ah. She seems rather connected and in touch with Khaenri’ah for some that is just a ancestor, does this mean someone with in Khaenri’ah was someone she held dear or is because her “child” helped establish Khaenri’ah (or atleast the eclipse dynasty)

With that, if the Tsaritsa’s “child” was someone who helped establish the eclipse dynasty, does that mean he is immortal and choose to do it later in life and then during the cataclysm was killed by the heavenly principles, or that the Tsaritsa was the one who established the eclipse dynasty with the one she got her “child” with, since in the trailer it is hinted at that her “child” died during childhood. This could line up with the eclipse dynasty’s beginning and the 3rd descender dying since we are unaware of when the eclipse dynasty began and the earliest mention of the archon war is 2600 years ago. It is also completly possible the Tsaritsa used alchemy or another technique to make live for Khaenri’ah, if she is Koitar there is a case to be made that she is a ancestor due to Koitar taking part in creating life in Hyperborea and that live could have fled and created Khaenri’ah meaning the Tsaritsa’s blood is still in the Khaenri’ahns veins. (I really hope they explain this well since to me the time line and logistic, because as of right now i find it hard to make sense of it all)

Another interesting but very unpolished theory I have is that Tsaritsa is one of the artisans who created the fae. I do not feel like polishing that idae so I’m just gonna throw it out there and see if it sticks.

Now what i think the Tsaritsa’s plan could be: Okay so this comes from Ashikai’s video on the stellar black body (so full credit to her). In this she says that descenders might be capable of consuming a infinite amount of souls, if we look at the highest ranking member of the fatui, he was capable of housing souls with in his body thus making him have abilities similar to that of a descender. Now if we look at his story line, his goal with in Natlan was bringing the souls he has with in him to rest in the night kingdom. Now i have seen most people be under the impression that the Tsaritsa wants to revive the 3rd descender, but what if instead she wants to let the 3rd descender rest. In the Snezhnaya trailer the Tsaritsa states “death is not the enemy of love, the real enemy is the blessing given by deluded gods” yes this could be about Khaenri’ah and the curse of immortality, but in that same vein being split in to 7 pieces is no death at all perhaps the gods saw the creation of the gnosis as a blessing, but to the Tsaritsa it is something that goes against love. For this plan she would need his soul to be whole with in one place, for which she might need a descender that can hold all the pieces with in one place and like Capitano be the vessels through which the souls can go to the leyline/night kingdom or perhaps even the new system from new Khaenri’ah that the abyss order is trying to build.

I even after realizing how close she actually is to Khaenri’ah and her being their ancestor I still can’t think of a full fledge reason of why the cataclysm caused her to start the rebellion. The only real idea I have is that she realized the heavenly principles were vacant during that time and knew it was her time to strike.

I also just quickly wanna note some things that aren’t at all related to Tsaritsa

The Belyi Tsar’s origin seems weirdly explained, he seems to have lost his memory in the way he talks about Hyperborea and the sentence about the mother he had never met. At first I thought this could imply he was Seutervoinen after he lost his memory making him the protector of all fae seem awfully fitting but there is little evidence for it and it just seems to odd.

I think there is a case to be made that Seutervoinen is the 3rd descender, since we do not know what happend after he had lost his memories it is possible he took the body of another person and while gaining back his memory or growing a new live became a descender. (I need voyager lore so badly pls genshin give a hint to who they are) with that I also just want to know what the star eyed youth was, like is he related to Khaenri’ah? And that would make the point of the Tsaritsa being a ancestor of all Khaenri’ans even more weird and interesting.

The shadow realm is a really interesting concept to me with in lore, although it isn’t anything new when it comes to world building. but it being in Snezhnaya gives it a lot of lore opportunities especially with explaining plot holes. Due to the heavenly principles refusing to gaze up on it, it could be assumed it is also not recorded by Irminsul. I am excited to see what they do with it.

The Aranara say death is just a loss of memories, if we take this as a truth in Teyvat laws that would mean both Seutervoinen and Koitar died, maybe not in a literal sense but more metaphorical. Koitar regained her memories which in this case could be seen as rebirth, it is unknown if Seutervoinen ever regained their memory. The only case of someone regaining their memory back with visible aftermath to my knowledge is Wanderer, although if it has effected his fate is unsure it seems to have effected his goals and morals. Removing yourself from Irminsul thus history is very different from just losing your own memory, so it is still unknown if losing your memory effects who you are and your fate. We do know that the abyss sibling lost their memory but we don’t fully know what they where like before hand and if the change between them is significant, we can however with that assume you keep your name after a memory wipe. (If there is a example of this happening in lore pls let me know i couldn’t think of one)