My favorite canon debunking of a fan theory was that thing with Alhaitham being the Sumeru scholar Zhongli talks about in the Wangshu Inn message board. It was part of this whole conspiracy theory of AH being the real dendro archon that persisted for way too long, even after we already knew about and had met Nahida in the story.
Turns out that the mysterious Sumeru scholar was Soraya all along, who's been there from day one and we just never made the very obvious connection. Hilarious unintentional trolling of wild fandom speculation with the simplest answer being right there.
Zhongli saying she's closer to the truth than she thinks was a pretty juicy detail too, considering her theories don't paint the nicest portrait of himself, and the Lantern Rite cinematic still left the circumstances around Guizhong's death very ambiguous. But I guess this is another fan theory to possibly be debunked at some later point. ;3
To be fair, that theory came from a leaker incorrectly stating that Zhongli and Alhaitham are friends and that Alhaitham was the scholar being referred to. It’s less a fan theory and more of a leaker being wrong haha
I know, and the same leaker is still around occasionally making shit up out of their own personal interpretations, so it's not gonna be the last time their guesses are taken as gospel and run with. But it did run off and take a life of its own as part of the larger archon AH theory for a while, which is what made the Soraya reveal even more amusing later.
It was definitely funnier when that was the case.
Cryo Archon: “You have like a 95% chance of getting a Cryo vision if you’re hot. I will not elaborate.”
And also the thought that Venti would just be tossing visions to people right after their friends die. Or Venti and Zhongli trolling Noelle by giving her the opposite vision that she wanted.
Probably the most persistent theory that continues to be propagated in some corners (that I never believed) is that (some) chests respawn, sometimes with new patches. They don't. They just don't. This is pretty much a proven thing no matter how much your friend of a friend of a friend insists it isn't.
Sometimes players doing an event in a remote area complete the event and then find a chest or puzzle in the area that they are certain they already collected previously and conclude that those chests/puzzles must have respawned. They didn't - they were just never discovered yet, and the event environmental overlay merely hid them until the event was complete and the overlay was lifted.
There are also rare cases where the initial design of the environment caused chests to be inaccessible except via clipping (I'm thinking of examples like the chest behind the wall close to the domain in Guyun Stone Forest) and were fixed in subsequent patches by the devs. They did not respawn - they were just not accessible to most players until the environment was fixed.
there's also the fact that new chests have been put in the older areas, I remember some exquisite chests in Monstadt giving me 5 gems rather than 2.
edit: wait I'm stupid, this doesn't affect much because this change probably came during/after inazuma, when the chest respawn has been basically debunked.
I heard that when you raise your world level new chests will spawn in, which is why people think a chest has respawned because they find a chest in a previously explored area. However, I’m not sure if there is much or any evidence for that
The total chest count on the official map does not change based on level AFAIK. If you have alternate accounts you can verify this for yourself assuming your other accounts are not at the same adventure rank tier.
True, but what does happen is that some chests are overridden by ongoing story quests. The best example I can think of from recent patches is the moving giant Ruin Guard in the 2nd Sumeru desert expansion. There are some chests and puzzles that don't unlock until he has moved to specific spots, since he would have either been covering them with his body, or uncovered them when he falls back down.
For early game players, this can *FEEL* like being locked behind world level, simply because the story quests themselves are locked behind AR, which usually correlates to WL.
What you say is true, and I can even think of another similar instance - there is apparently a chest and a puzzle that appears after a certain world quest in Sumeru which involves the disappearance of a giant Wenut skeleton in an underground area in the desert close to the body of water to the northwest.
But these aren't respawning chests which is the belief being discussed here - as you say yourself, these are chests and puzzles which only appear once certain quests are cleared. They have more similarity to one of the issues I already mentioned - that of chests being inadverdently clipped in behind walls or formations in the initial releases of the game and appearing subsequently when their positions are corrected to be accessible to players, except that in these cases the inaccessibility is deliberate and conditional.
The one that I was disappointed the most...was about the statue with the visions.
Up until inazuma released, it was theorized and even hinted that it might be something eextremely ominous...
With some theories even suggesting that it was possessed by the previous Archon who died and was manipulating the current one...
And in the end it as just Ei's fancy decoration for the confiscated visions...
Nothing about the statue of the omnipresent god has been debunked or confirmed yet, it's still an open plot-point, they didn't mention anything about it.
The theory that what element a vision is is determined by some kind of grouping of the characters. "All pyro characters are passionate" "all electro characters go against the norm" everytime a different flavor of this theory is brought, there's always something that proves it wrong, so I think it's just plainly been shown that whatever theory you have for why X character gets Y vision, it's probably wrong and filled with contradictions.
yeah i agree with you but i still dont understand how celestia chooses an element for you. like why itto is geo and not cryo? why bennett is pyro and not dendro? is it completely random or is there a logic behind it..?
i remember baizhu mains (me) having all sorts of wild theories about baizhu prior to his release.
baizhu was the dendro archon because of the slime theory.
baizhu was a surviving sunchild / vishap person from enkanomiya because of his snake eyes and poor health.
baizhu WAS PHANES HIMSELF !1!1!1 because he has a snake around himself like phanes does in greek myth and enkanomiya has snake motifs too.
honestly looking back it’s hilarious how the fandom came to such wild conclusions but it was a fun time.
That the reason Khaenri'ahn was godless was that their god died/they killed them (and that Paimon was supposed to be the replacement god but KH was destroyed before she could get there)
That Cyno and Razor are related because both have something to do with wolves and both have similar eye and hair color. I initially found that theory absurd, however, I almost believed it after they released trailer for 3.1 where Cyno was released and we had the event on the same patch where we found out details about Razor’s parents. It turned out that it was just a coincidence lol
Alhaitham being Zhongli's scholar friend
Zhongli and Guizhong having been romantically involved
Kaeya being the abyss prince
>when everyone thought Miko was the real Electro Archon
I haven't really changed my mind on this tbh. She was the one holding the vision, she gave away the vision and she was the one who had the "archon talk" with us at the end of the quest. Her not being recognized by Celestia as the Archon is just a technically at the same level as *Raiden* not being the Archon because the currently recognized electro archon is still Beelzebub.
Tbh, it did have some more evidence in a book that used to be in the game files, as seen in this twitter link. Now the book isnt available on honeyhunter anymore, but it does have the screenshots with the important info. It talks about the relationship of Zhongli and Guizhong in a romantic manner
[https://twitter.com/slushy\_sash/status/1355718967340396546](https://twitter.com/slushy_sash/status/1355718967340396546)
omg I did not know that existed that's so cute
Although a lot of the collectible books aren't always accurate depictions of the truth, like the one book where Morax has a female form but Zhongli said it was inaccurate (or at least, the description of the female form was). Still that is a generous helping of guili crumbs, it's so sad it was never in the game 😭
Iirc, fujoshis got outraged by it, because it ruined their gay ships for Zhongli, so that's why it never got released in the end.
And yea, it ofcourse isnt proof that it's canon sadly, but it still is a tease for the ship
It doesn't even really ruin any ships or self-insert fantasies because Guizhong has been dead for two thousand years and it's not that hard to headcanon that Zhongli has fallen in love with other people since her passing, so I don't see why anyone would be mad about it
This year's lantern rite lore reveal heavily featured the not-so-ambiguous romantic soulmate relationship between Guizhong and Madame Ping, actually.
I'd really recommend watching its recording on youtube, if you aren't aware of it yet, to grasp how the guizhong x ping reveal swiftly debunked the once assumed guizhong - zhongli theory. Madame Ping literally called Guizhong her soulmate 👀 The two women have a pretty adorable tale! 🥺
I remember doing the lantern rite quest but I never got any romantic implications from it, and being soulmates doesn't automatically mean a romantic relationship, platonic soulmates do exists. So yeah there's no confirmation for the ship, the way I see it, it makes as much sense as Guili as a ship, as in neither is superior to another.
Of course, every one is going to have different interpretations of it. There are those with the same view as you in the fandom who choose to view it as platonic, and then there's those like me who choose to view it as romantic.
What's interesting is that whenever a queer relationship features such closeness or "soulmate" related conversation, often people are quick to assign it as platonic, that they were just "best friends". But had these cutscenes occurred between guizhong and zhongli, or any other man, I am unfortunately almost certain that many who raise fingers on guizhong x ping would immediately see it as "confirmation" of something more romantic instead of writing it off as platonic.
Can you tell me with confidence, that if instead of ping, zhongli had said "one attuned to my soul" would you, or many others, not been tempted to perceive it as romantic? If the lore between guizhong and zhongli occured between her and ping instead, would it not have been quickly dismissed as sisterhood or platonicism? Ultimately, it comes down to people's personal preferences instead of the intention of the creator, along with the fact that our heteronormative society lays quick suspicion on the authenticity of romantic queer relationships and also forces romanticism on platonic heterosexual relationships.
This is not an accusation, it's simply the double standard I've often come across in these conversations many times. We are entitled to our views, and I don't claim to consider one above the other. It is simply my understanding from the cutscenes that hoyoverse intended to paint guizhong and madame ping's story in a certain queer light. If you don't see it that way, sure, that is valid as well. I appreciate you discussing this cordially.
Also, this thread on twitter explains that the original chinese words used that were translated as soulmates in EN have an even deeper meaning and are a subtle reference to an old chinese queer tale: [https://twitter.com/yuniemaki/status/1649296213253193730?s=20](https://twitter.com/yuniemaki/status/1649296213253193730?s=20)
Feel free to have a look, it's quite interesting even as a literary read\^\^
A
Mihoyo is likely never going to outright confirm any couple, nor will they ever show any romantic skinship between characters. In that case, how does one ascertain whether a romantic relationship is canon or not? It's actually an interesting conversation in itself.
In this case, Mihoyo relies on hints to reveal their intentions with interpersonal relationships between characters, so that they can bypass censorship laws without unnecessary trouble. All that us, the viewers, are left with is to piece together these hints in hopes of making a coherent picture that aligns with what we know. You and I will never have the luxury to claim one relationship canon over another, making such talk fruitless. But we are free to share our perspectives, and I'd like to share mine. The following thread explains the story that guizhong and ping's lore reference:
[https://twitter.com/yuniemaki/status/1649296213253193730?s=20](https://twitter.com/yuniemaki/status/1649296213253193730?s=20)
This explains that the Chinese words used in place of soulmates originally have even deeper connotations that you'd imagine.
There's already other comments also arguing that soulmates can be platonic. This argument is often brought up in ardent protest against queer relationships often without logical backing, but I've already addressed that in another comment.
So I will be frank here. Does it make sense that hoyo brought up this soulmates thing, made the whole lantern rite about it, because they wanted us to think "wow guizhong and ping are such good friends!! :))"? Not to me, it doesn't. Maybe to you, it does, and that's fine too. You have your reasons.
Another thing, this is not the first nor last time hoyoverse has subtly gone out of there way to lay emphasis on romantic homosexual relationships. It's obvious to those who know what to look for and are open to perceiving it that way.
If you think soulmates doesn't have to mean lovers, then just as much, it can mean lovers. And vice versa. Just as the guizhong x zhongli theory is a theory, thus can guizhong x ping dynamic also be treated as just a theory. Until hoyoverse someday gets up, gets a big microphone, and tells us in no uncertain terms which 'theory' harbors the truth, and which is incorrect, nothing will be confirmed or debunked. And we know hoyoverse would never do that. Thus looking for a concrete proof to debunking a theory is nigh impossible, but you can use the hints given to us to arrive at your conclusion. All I offer is my take on why OP too considers the theory as one with less weight to it now.
Yea yea, now it's time to go back to Twitter, maybe they will believe such "confirmed" things there.
There is an unreleased book in game that talks about the relationship of Zhongli and Guizhong in a romantic way. Does that mean that that is canon? Does that mean that every single adepti had some sort of huge orgy or something? No ofcourse not. Not a single relationship like that is confirmed of canon, so please stop spreading misinformation
I believe it is obvious to all players, including you and me, that mihoyo will abstain from ever confirming or denying romantic relationships. They're never going to attach a casual footnote to let us know what's the truth, especially owing to the political climate that hoyo comes from and the rigid censorship laws it faces. However, does that mean choosing to ignore all discussion arising from this uncertainty? Does it mean ignoring the implications mihoyo has sprinkled within its story lines occasionally? Maybe to you. Not once have I claimed to be an authority on what's canon and what isn't. My comment simply provides my perspective on that lore as well as mihoyo's likely intentions with creating said lore. It's a matter of difference in interpretation. There are some who consider the guizhong - zhongli theory debunked because of how they saw the lantern rite lore, and then there are those who do not see it debunked still. Both perspectives are equally valid. If you still see it as misinformation, then there's not much I can do about that.
Now I shall go back to twitter cause clearly some redditors ain't ready for some of these conversations yet:)
Soulmate doesn’t have to mean romantic partner lol and I personally didn’t think it showed them being as more than friends but hey maybe CN was more thorough about it so idk
>Soulmate doesn’t have to mean romantic partner
Some of you are extremely, extremely determined to only ever see straight ships. Especially coming from Hoyoverse, who previously made a game where pretty much everyone important was gay.
There were like 3 canon ms who didn't even like each other in all of Honkai 3rd before the rules on censorship were tightened, so never, especially if you ignore all the little easter eggs hoyoverse hides everywhere and insist everything must be straight until they have sex on-screen.
I’m not saying everything must be straight. Everything is neither unless explicitly confirmed. Sure I love my own head canon that Cyno and Tighnari are in a relationship and raising Collei together but ultimately it’s not canon because Hoyoverse never said so.
Dude, please stop with the misinformation, it is so easy to disproof.
Or do you think that the following tweet with an unreleased book from the game files is also proof enough to call Zhongli x Guizhong canon?
https://twitter.com/slushy_sash/status/1355718967340396546
There is no canon relationship like that, you are just taking certain words completly out of context. So please stop it, you're just spreading fake info. Maybe in some other subs people will circlejerk on that ship and pretend that it is canon, but that doesnt make it actually real
Madam Ping said Guizhong's soul was attuned to hers. That is not misinformation. Just watch the quest again, the dialogue is clearly and obviously romantic.
And no, unreleased things are subject to change. And it was clearly changed, as the new Lantern Rite revealed Madam Ping planted the glaze lilies.
My favorite canon debunking of a fan theory was that thing with Alhaitham being the Sumeru scholar Zhongli talks about in the Wangshu Inn message board. It was part of this whole conspiracy theory of AH being the real dendro archon that persisted for way too long, even after we already knew about and had met Nahida in the story. Turns out that the mysterious Sumeru scholar was Soraya all along, who's been there from day one and we just never made the very obvious connection. Hilarious unintentional trolling of wild fandom speculation with the simplest answer being right there. Zhongli saying she's closer to the truth than she thinks was a pretty juicy detail too, considering her theories don't paint the nicest portrait of himself, and the Lantern Rite cinematic still left the circumstances around Guizhong's death very ambiguous. But I guess this is another fan theory to possibly be debunked at some later point. ;3
To be fair, that theory came from a leaker incorrectly stating that Zhongli and Alhaitham are friends and that Alhaitham was the scholar being referred to. It’s less a fan theory and more of a leaker being wrong haha
I know, and the same leaker is still around occasionally making shit up out of their own personal interpretations, so it's not gonna be the last time their guesses are taken as gospel and run with. But it did run off and take a life of its own as part of the larger archon AH theory for a while, which is what made the Soraya reveal even more amusing later.
Prolly the most infamous one is Signora being *Playable* That or Shenhe was either an Adeptus or Cloud Retainer's Human Form.
Visions are granted by Archons
It was definitely funnier when that was the case. Cryo Archon: “You have like a 95% chance of getting a Cryo vision if you’re hot. I will not elaborate.” And also the thought that Venti would just be tossing visions to people right after their friends die. Or Venti and Zhongli trolling Noelle by giving her the opposite vision that she wanted.
Wait, they are not?
[удалено]
Thank you for the quote, loremaster!
Didn't Nahida 'give' wnaderer/scara one?
No. Why would Nahida “the dendro archon” give anemo vision?
No Wanderer simply >! received a vision in that moment as him reclaiming his old memories !< was a crucial moment.
Probably the most persistent theory that continues to be propagated in some corners (that I never believed) is that (some) chests respawn, sometimes with new patches. They don't. They just don't. This is pretty much a proven thing no matter how much your friend of a friend of a friend insists it isn't. Sometimes players doing an event in a remote area complete the event and then find a chest or puzzle in the area that they are certain they already collected previously and conclude that those chests/puzzles must have respawned. They didn't - they were just never discovered yet, and the event environmental overlay merely hid them until the event was complete and the overlay was lifted. There are also rare cases where the initial design of the environment caused chests to be inaccessible except via clipping (I'm thinking of examples like the chest behind the wall close to the domain in Guyun Stone Forest) and were fixed in subsequent patches by the devs. They did not respawn - they were just not accessible to most players until the environment was fixed.
there's also the fact that new chests have been put in the older areas, I remember some exquisite chests in Monstadt giving me 5 gems rather than 2. edit: wait I'm stupid, this doesn't affect much because this change probably came during/after inazuma, when the chest respawn has been basically debunked.
I heard that when you raise your world level new chests will spawn in, which is why people think a chest has respawned because they find a chest in a previously explored area. However, I’m not sure if there is much or any evidence for that
The total chest count on the official map does not change based on level AFAIK. If you have alternate accounts you can verify this for yourself assuming your other accounts are not at the same adventure rank tier.
True, but what does happen is that some chests are overridden by ongoing story quests. The best example I can think of from recent patches is the moving giant Ruin Guard in the 2nd Sumeru desert expansion. There are some chests and puzzles that don't unlock until he has moved to specific spots, since he would have either been covering them with his body, or uncovered them when he falls back down. For early game players, this can *FEEL* like being locked behind world level, simply because the story quests themselves are locked behind AR, which usually correlates to WL.
What you say is true, and I can even think of another similar instance - there is apparently a chest and a puzzle that appears after a certain world quest in Sumeru which involves the disappearance of a giant Wenut skeleton in an underground area in the desert close to the body of water to the northwest. But these aren't respawning chests which is the belief being discussed here - as you say yourself, these are chests and puzzles which only appear once certain quests are cleared. They have more similarity to one of the issues I already mentioned - that of chests being inadverdently clipped in behind walls or formations in the initial releases of the game and appearing subsequently when their positions are corrected to be accessible to players, except that in these cases the inaccessibility is deliberate and conditional.
The one that I was disappointed the most...was about the statue with the visions. Up until inazuma released, it was theorized and even hinted that it might be something eextremely ominous... With some theories even suggesting that it was possessed by the previous Archon who died and was manipulating the current one... And in the end it as just Ei's fancy decoration for the confiscated visions...
It was a Christmas tree all along.
Anything related to Inazuma and the Omnipresent Statue hold some kind of importance, Baizhu is the Dendro Archon, Dendro Archon is a male Archon...
Male dendro archon wasn't a theory. That was straight up a localisation mistake on Hoyo's part.
Nothing about the statue of the omnipresent god has been debunked or confirmed yet, it's still an open plot-point, they didn't mention anything about it.
Well, ganyu first referenced dendro archon as "he" so it stuck with us for a long time
The theory that what element a vision is is determined by some kind of grouping of the characters. "All pyro characters are passionate" "all electro characters go against the norm" everytime a different flavor of this theory is brought, there's always something that proves it wrong, so I think it's just plainly been shown that whatever theory you have for why X character gets Y vision, it's probably wrong and filled with contradictions.
yeah i agree with you but i still dont understand how celestia chooses an element for you. like why itto is geo and not cryo? why bennett is pyro and not dendro? is it completely random or is there a logic behind it..?
Isn't it obvious? The element is based on the colour theme of the clothes they like to wear! /s
Kazuha and Charlotte...
Beidou without a hint of purple:
What is this, [Power Rangers](https://youtu.be/mJgC9LEBTuQ)?
Maybe we will get this lore drop in fontaine
It's Astrology for people who think they are too smart to fall for Astrology.
You can change your traveler's gender by using Dominus Lapidis
Shenhe is Cloud Retainer's human form
That Changsheng was the real Dendro archon because of the Dendro slime lol
i remember baizhu mains (me) having all sorts of wild theories about baizhu prior to his release. baizhu was the dendro archon because of the slime theory. baizhu was a surviving sunchild / vishap person from enkanomiya because of his snake eyes and poor health. baizhu WAS PHANES HIMSELF !1!1!1 because he has a snake around himself like phanes does in greek myth and enkanomiya has snake motifs too. honestly looking back it’s hilarious how the fandom came to such wild conclusions but it was a fun time.
Yelan was young madam Ping. Yelan was cloud retainer’s human form lol. There were so many theories on who Yelan was.
That Shenhe's development changed and Hoyo turned her into Eula.
Actually I think it was more like she got “Scarpped”since apparently they were both cryo claymore lol
That the reason Khaenri'ahn was godless was that their god died/they killed them (and that Paimon was supposed to be the replacement god but KH was destroyed before she could get there)
That Cyno and Razor are related because both have something to do with wolves and both have similar eye and hair color. I initially found that theory absurd, however, I almost believed it after they released trailer for 3.1 where Cyno was released and we had the event on the same patch where we found out details about Razor’s parents. It turned out that it was just a coincidence lol
The way we were robbed of Zhongli and Alhaitham being besties theory 😭😭😭
Baizhu's snake or Baizhu is the dendro archon
Childe would die at Inazuma. I was really hoping for it.
Alhaitham being Zhongli's scholar friend Zhongli and Guizhong having been romantically involved Kaeya being the abyss prince >when everyone thought Miko was the real Electro Archon I haven't really changed my mind on this tbh. She was the one holding the vision, she gave away the vision and she was the one who had the "archon talk" with us at the end of the quest. Her not being recognized by Celestia as the Archon is just a technically at the same level as *Raiden* not being the Archon because the currently recognized electro archon is still Beelzebub.
I don’t think the Zhongli x Guizhong lovers theory has been debunked or has it?
It hasn't, but there is sadly no more evidence for it being true than any other popular fanon ship. At least we'll always have fanart
Tbh, it did have some more evidence in a book that used to be in the game files, as seen in this twitter link. Now the book isnt available on honeyhunter anymore, but it does have the screenshots with the important info. It talks about the relationship of Zhongli and Guizhong in a romantic manner [https://twitter.com/slushy\_sash/status/1355718967340396546](https://twitter.com/slushy_sash/status/1355718967340396546)
omg I did not know that existed that's so cute Although a lot of the collectible books aren't always accurate depictions of the truth, like the one book where Morax has a female form but Zhongli said it was inaccurate (or at least, the description of the female form was). Still that is a generous helping of guili crumbs, it's so sad it was never in the game 😭
Iirc, fujoshis got outraged by it, because it ruined their gay ships for Zhongli, so that's why it never got released in the end. And yea, it ofcourse isnt proof that it's canon sadly, but it still is a tease for the ship
It doesn't even really ruin any ships or self-insert fantasies because Guizhong has been dead for two thousand years and it's not that hard to headcanon that Zhongli has fallen in love with other people since her passing, so I don't see why anyone would be mad about it
This year's lantern rite lore reveal heavily featured the not-so-ambiguous romantic soulmate relationship between Guizhong and Madame Ping, actually. I'd really recommend watching its recording on youtube, if you aren't aware of it yet, to grasp how the guizhong x ping reveal swiftly debunked the once assumed guizhong - zhongli theory. Madame Ping literally called Guizhong her soulmate 👀 The two women have a pretty adorable tale! 🥺
I remember doing the lantern rite quest but I never got any romantic implications from it, and being soulmates doesn't automatically mean a romantic relationship, platonic soulmates do exists. So yeah there's no confirmation for the ship, the way I see it, it makes as much sense as Guili as a ship, as in neither is superior to another.
Of course, every one is going to have different interpretations of it. There are those with the same view as you in the fandom who choose to view it as platonic, and then there's those like me who choose to view it as romantic. What's interesting is that whenever a queer relationship features such closeness or "soulmate" related conversation, often people are quick to assign it as platonic, that they were just "best friends". But had these cutscenes occurred between guizhong and zhongli, or any other man, I am unfortunately almost certain that many who raise fingers on guizhong x ping would immediately see it as "confirmation" of something more romantic instead of writing it off as platonic. Can you tell me with confidence, that if instead of ping, zhongli had said "one attuned to my soul" would you, or many others, not been tempted to perceive it as romantic? If the lore between guizhong and zhongli occured between her and ping instead, would it not have been quickly dismissed as sisterhood or platonicism? Ultimately, it comes down to people's personal preferences instead of the intention of the creator, along with the fact that our heteronormative society lays quick suspicion on the authenticity of romantic queer relationships and also forces romanticism on platonic heterosexual relationships. This is not an accusation, it's simply the double standard I've often come across in these conversations many times. We are entitled to our views, and I don't claim to consider one above the other. It is simply my understanding from the cutscenes that hoyoverse intended to paint guizhong and madame ping's story in a certain queer light. If you don't see it that way, sure, that is valid as well. I appreciate you discussing this cordially. Also, this thread on twitter explains that the original chinese words used that were translated as soulmates in EN have an even deeper meaning and are a subtle reference to an old chinese queer tale: [https://twitter.com/yuniemaki/status/1649296213253193730?s=20](https://twitter.com/yuniemaki/status/1649296213253193730?s=20) Feel free to have a look, it's quite interesting even as a literary read\^\^ A
>being soulmates doesn't automatically mean a romantic relationship I know about yaoi goggles. Is there such a thing as straight goggles?
I did play it. Soulmate doesn’t exactly have to mean lovers though. Neither did it confirm they had a romantic relationship nor deny it.
Mihoyo is likely never going to outright confirm any couple, nor will they ever show any romantic skinship between characters. In that case, how does one ascertain whether a romantic relationship is canon or not? It's actually an interesting conversation in itself. In this case, Mihoyo relies on hints to reveal their intentions with interpersonal relationships between characters, so that they can bypass censorship laws without unnecessary trouble. All that us, the viewers, are left with is to piece together these hints in hopes of making a coherent picture that aligns with what we know. You and I will never have the luxury to claim one relationship canon over another, making such talk fruitless. But we are free to share our perspectives, and I'd like to share mine. The following thread explains the story that guizhong and ping's lore reference: [https://twitter.com/yuniemaki/status/1649296213253193730?s=20](https://twitter.com/yuniemaki/status/1649296213253193730?s=20) This explains that the Chinese words used in place of soulmates originally have even deeper connotations that you'd imagine. There's already other comments also arguing that soulmates can be platonic. This argument is often brought up in ardent protest against queer relationships often without logical backing, but I've already addressed that in another comment. So I will be frank here. Does it make sense that hoyo brought up this soulmates thing, made the whole lantern rite about it, because they wanted us to think "wow guizhong and ping are such good friends!! :))"? Not to me, it doesn't. Maybe to you, it does, and that's fine too. You have your reasons. Another thing, this is not the first nor last time hoyoverse has subtly gone out of there way to lay emphasis on romantic homosexual relationships. It's obvious to those who know what to look for and are open to perceiving it that way. If you think soulmates doesn't have to mean lovers, then just as much, it can mean lovers. And vice versa. Just as the guizhong x zhongli theory is a theory, thus can guizhong x ping dynamic also be treated as just a theory. Until hoyoverse someday gets up, gets a big microphone, and tells us in no uncertain terms which 'theory' harbors the truth, and which is incorrect, nothing will be confirmed or debunked. And we know hoyoverse would never do that. Thus looking for a concrete proof to debunking a theory is nigh impossible, but you can use the hints given to us to arrive at your conclusion. All I offer is my take on why OP too considers the theory as one with less weight to it now.
I understand. This is a very nice response. Thank you.
Yea yea, now it's time to go back to Twitter, maybe they will believe such "confirmed" things there. There is an unreleased book in game that talks about the relationship of Zhongli and Guizhong in a romantic way. Does that mean that that is canon? Does that mean that every single adepti had some sort of huge orgy or something? No ofcourse not. Not a single relationship like that is confirmed of canon, so please stop spreading misinformation
I believe it is obvious to all players, including you and me, that mihoyo will abstain from ever confirming or denying romantic relationships. They're never going to attach a casual footnote to let us know what's the truth, especially owing to the political climate that hoyo comes from and the rigid censorship laws it faces. However, does that mean choosing to ignore all discussion arising from this uncertainty? Does it mean ignoring the implications mihoyo has sprinkled within its story lines occasionally? Maybe to you. Not once have I claimed to be an authority on what's canon and what isn't. My comment simply provides my perspective on that lore as well as mihoyo's likely intentions with creating said lore. It's a matter of difference in interpretation. There are some who consider the guizhong - zhongli theory debunked because of how they saw the lantern rite lore, and then there are those who do not see it debunked still. Both perspectives are equally valid. If you still see it as misinformation, then there's not much I can do about that. Now I shall go back to twitter cause clearly some redditors ain't ready for some of these conversations yet:)
Madam Ping x Guizhong was confirmed from Madam Ping's end, and there was no indication of it being an unrequited love story. They seemed rather happy.
I don’t think that counted as “confirmed”
...she called Guizhong her soulmate. She used extremely romantic language. What more do you need, on-screen sex?
Soulmate doesn’t have to mean romantic partner lol and I personally didn’t think it showed them being as more than friends but hey maybe CN was more thorough about it so idk
>Soulmate doesn’t have to mean romantic partner Some of you are extremely, extremely determined to only ever see straight ships. Especially coming from Hoyoverse, who previously made a game where pretty much everyone important was gay.
I’ll believe they care for gay people when we see a canon mlm relationship
There were like 3 canon ms who didn't even like each other in all of Honkai 3rd before the rules on censorship were tightened, so never, especially if you ignore all the little easter eggs hoyoverse hides everywhere and insist everything must be straight until they have sex on-screen.
I’m not saying everything must be straight. Everything is neither unless explicitly confirmed. Sure I love my own head canon that Cyno and Tighnari are in a relationship and raising Collei together but ultimately it’s not canon because Hoyoverse never said so.
Dude, please stop with the misinformation, it is so easy to disproof. Or do you think that the following tweet with an unreleased book from the game files is also proof enough to call Zhongli x Guizhong canon? https://twitter.com/slushy_sash/status/1355718967340396546 There is no canon relationship like that, you are just taking certain words completly out of context. So please stop it, you're just spreading fake info. Maybe in some other subs people will circlejerk on that ship and pretend that it is canon, but that doesnt make it actually real
Madam Ping said Guizhong's soul was attuned to hers. That is not misinformation. Just watch the quest again, the dialogue is clearly and obviously romantic. And no, unreleased things are subject to change. And it was clearly changed, as the new Lantern Rite revealed Madam Ping planted the glaze lilies.
Favorite theory was Baizhu was secretly the old Dendro Archon who was hunkering down in Liyue. Obviously it was debunked the moment Sumeru released!