Bloop

Disclaimer though! I did not watch the Trailer, The Special Program or anything before doing the quest. All I saw was the Version Splashscreen and a screenshot of the scene where Kaeya and Diluc are standing in front of the gate and monsters are approaching. I did however not get the best look on that, because I mistook the location for Dragonspine, lol. It honestly wasn't the best screenshot either though. It was meant to focus on Kaeya so it was cropped, so I think I can excuse myself a little there! Anyway, let me tell you what my correct and incorrect predictions were:

I predicted that Venti would know more than us (correct), and he would let Mondstadt fend for themselves and jump in if needed, a little bit like Zhongli (incorrect, though he did let the Favonius do most of the work). I also thought he would have a secret we'd find out at the end, but it ended up being more towards the middle. (Although the ending also had a massive lore bomb! Just not related to Venti.)

I correctly predicted that Albedo keeps Jean updated on Durin and any changes related to him and that he would be the one to create a plan to defeat Durin. The only part I got incorrect was that we didn't know about the plan.

I theorized that Durin would reawaken through monsters/ his blood affecting monsters rather than him becoming a fully fledged dragon again. I didn't think that humans would be affected too though. And I thought Subject Two (evil Albedo) was still alive and make a reapearance.

I thought Kaeya would fight on Dragonspine and Jean does some logistics or background stuff. That's half right and half wrong. Kaeya didn't fight on Dragonspine, but Jean was indeed more on the logistics part of things, though that was pretty obvious from the start, like that's her job.

I guessed that Diluc would catch wind of things without needing anyone to tell him and help out and mainly the Favonius members (of the playable characters) would make an appearance during the quest. So I was kinda right, because I didn't think there would be a big secret plan. I also didn't expect for everyone to appear, but I definitely was not opposed to it.

Dahlia did in fact not bring news from Varka. He is affiliated with the church, so I was completely wrong on that. But we did get Varka crumbs!! Which was kinda the thought behind that prediction, I just forgot about the leaks I heard about Dahlia. (I don't like leaks anyway.)

I also suspected the Hexenzirkel to be possible acteurs in the quest, but I had no idea how they would get involved.

For the fact that I only saw that one screenshot and the splashscreen, I think I did pretty damn good.

Now let's get to my favourite part: rambling about Genshin lore and overall suspicious or unexplained things I noticed during the quest. Starting with the smaller, (likely) less significant bits.

I find it Interesting how Dahlia has so many bat wings/ dragon wings in his design. I wonder if that has any significance or what it's supposed to symbolize, but I do know that nothing in Teyvat is a coincidence...

When we first enter the court room we are shown the ceiling, which has an in my opinion interesting smybol. Because it looks a lot like a snowflake, the cryo smybol even. It's also on the floor right underneath where Albedo sat. I just find it interesting, because we are in Mondstadt, which doesn't really have ties to Snezhnaya or the Cryo Archon. Rather the opposite: the Tsaritsa cut all ties with Venti/ Barbatos after the Cataclysm, so I found it a little suspicious. I would have maybe understood a Hydro symbol, since Focalors' ideal was Justice, but even that would have seemed odd. (I put a screenshot at the end.)

Varka has a dodocommunication device. It seems obvious, because Venti literally called him by putting in a specific number, but I only realized this after the quest. But this tells us a lot about Varkas relationship with the Hexenzirkel or at least Alice. They seem very close, maybe simply because of Klee, but Venti did say that Varka is pretty casual with the Hexenzirkel mages, whereas Venti was almost scared of offending one of them for choosing a seat at their table.

This isn't necessarily suspicious, but I find it funny how Venti (and Dahlia too) talk about Barbatos as if that's not Venti. Literally no one else except us was around, and even only amongst themselves they talk about Barbatos in third person. (I mainly noticed this when Dahlia invited us to Starsnatch Cliff after the first trial and the optional interaction between them after the quest dialogue.) What I did find a little suspicious though (from their optional interaction), is Dahlia mentioning Ventis 'drunken musings' which he hasn't figured out yet, and Venti immediately trying to change the topic. Tell me what he said Dahlia!

Rhinedottir's embryo. I honestly don't have much to say about it, except that I'm guessing it is made out of Abyss material or some (other) primordial material. But what I'm really asking myself is, if Albedo was made with that embryo. Alice said Rhinedottir used it to create her monsters, but I'm not sure if Albedo is seen as a 'monster' (I mean we all know he does have the potential for it) or if he's 'that one other project' of Rhinedottir's (Primordial Human/ Homunculus Project).

Speaking of Albedo, when requesting the Tripartite Conference, he said that what he is trying to achieve is not something Rhinedottir hasn't done. Since his goal was to perform a human transmutation, Rhinedottir must have done this before as well, but with different materials and in a different location. This could just be referring to Albedo, but I always understood Albedo to be a (completely) new creation. Which doesn't necessarily exclude the possibility of him being the result of a human transmutation, I was just thinking more along the lines of him being made of some primordial material and not a mixture of different components. Either way I think there's still way too little we actually know about Albedos creation. Or maybe I'm missing some details from artifacts sets or other in game lore pieces, so do let me know if you know any (please tell me your sources too if possible).

In the Hexenzirkel trial, Barbeloth oversees the second part. She turns the whole game board/ world around and says that "Only by turning the world on its head we can see its true colors. So, it begs the question, what do you see on the other side of this chessboard? Pawns earned freedom the moment they gained legs with which to run. So, in the spirit of Rhinedottir, I prepared a little surprise for you." This is likely hinting towards Teyvats nature, and I am very excited to see how it's going to play out.

One thing that often annoys me during (especially archon) quests is when someone drops a massive lore bomb and everbody (in game) ignores it. Like, excuse me, but can we please talk about that IMMORTAL MONSTER FROM THE MARE JIVARI?! I have questions. And Rhinedottir and Naberius??? Albedo explainnnnnnn! What do you mean she absorbed the Ruler of Life? How? When? Why? What?! And what was the Ruler of Life's heart doing in a damn domain?! Did Naberius put it there? Was Naberius injured? Dead even? So many theories, so little information. I also gotta say it's ironic how Naberius is named after the demon from the Ars Goetia which is also known as "Cerberus" and is depicted as a three headed dog. You know, like the hell hound from Greek mythology!

Lastly I want to very shortly adress something that has been mentioned a few times now in the past months: Gates. Albedo mentioned them in his ritual speech, Hu Tao used them to cleanse Tao Dou in the last Lantern Rite and the new Weekly Boss is called "The Game Before the Gate". Sadly I haven't had the time or energy to research this myself, so I'm hoping for and looking forward to theory videos about it. I also don't quite remember if the Gates were explained to be Ley Line nodes during Lantern Rite and if I'm making a big deal out of nothing. I just found it suspicious how it's been coming up kind of a lot recently.

Here's the picture relevant for point 2: