#hypostases

ooo okay this one dips into the gnosticism influences in genshin (i actually did a large amount of diving into some basic gnosticism cause i was curious so here we go!! and pls i'm not an expert so if someone has a more nuanced explanation i'm all ears!!)

in gnosticism (tearing this straight from the wikipedia article - x) "The Supreme Light or Consciousness descends through a series of stages, gradations, worlds, or hypostases, becoming progressively more material and embodied" - hypostases are literally "that which stands beneath" the inner reality, emanation (appearance) of God, known to those who are "partially initiated" (have partially acquired gnosis, or 'knowledge' that is central to gnosticism)

basically, in short, i think the hypostases are-

oh. oh. anon. anon you unlocked my brain and opened my third eye.

hypostases, which we can fight in order to acquire ascension materials with which to unlock our characters' more powerful abilities and allow them to improve their talents. i think the hypostases are basically...literal physical representations (i know this is probably redundant by now for some lmao) of the celestial path to acquiring gnosis (used here as 'knowledge')

anyway, a lot of stuff for me to basically say: i think you could be right, anon - but again, this one starts to dip into my haphazardly constructed 'khaenri'ahns are celestial gods' theory asjdflkjsdf. but!! this as a concept wouldn't surprise me at all - the khaenri'ahns were known for their meddling and alchemy, it could stand to reason that they were created (either intentionally or not) by khaenri'ahns

i also think it's intriguing and another point in favor of this theory that they all have "code names" - very similar to the way that dain tells us that the ruin machines were code-named "field tillers". it's a very interesting thing to call out specifically if they're not related in any capacity, imo

i could also dip into the hebrew letters as their code names (aleph, daleth, beth, etc) but i'm not nearly as confident in that connecting with khaenri'ah at this juncture lmao