The prophecy of Fontaine (unofficial name), referred to in-game simply as the prophecy, is an apocalyptic prophecy that is believed to have been foretold by Egeria, the former Hydro Archon.[1] However, it is speculated by the Traveler that the prophecy may have actually been divined by Vedrfolnir, the Visionary.[2]
According to the prophecy, all inhabitants of Fontaine are born with sin that cannot be absolved. The prophecy also states that one day, the water levels in Fontaine will rise, and all individuals with sin will be drowned and dissolved, with only the Hydro Archon remaining, weeping on her throne. The prophecy further predicts that during this great flood, the sins of the people of Fontaine will be washed away.[3]
History[]
All life that has ever existed on Teyvat can trace its origins to the Primordial Sea. When the Heavenly Principles arrived, they deposed the Hydro Sovereign and usurped its Elemental Authority over the Primordial Sea in order to create the first human beings on Teyvat.[4] To further solidify their control, they also created a new "heart" for the Primordial Sea — the later Hydro Archon, Egeria — and bestowed upon her both the authority over Hydro and the guardianship of the Primordial Sea, effectively replacing the Hydro Sovereign.[5]
Egeria's Sin[]
Egeria also had familiars born of pure water known as Oceanids. During Egeria's reign, many of her Oceanid subjects expressed a wish to live human lives. However, given their nature as elemental beings, they would not be able to do so unless they were somehow turned human.[6]
Hearing their pleas, Egeria granted their wish by using the life-granting powers of the Primordial Sea, pouring Primordial Seawater into their blood vessels and giving them humanoid forms to live on land. However, this came with a caveat; if they ever came into contact with Primordial Seawater of a high enough concentration, their faux blood would seep back into it, collapsing their human forms and turning them back into regular Oceanids who would return to the sea devoid of the sense of self and individuality they possessed as human beings.[6] In any case, the humans Egeria created organized into various tribes who worshiped her as the Mistress of Many Waters.
Egeria's Punishment[]
Despite Egeria's benevolent intentions, she had not been granted permission from the Heavenly Principles to create a new "human" race.[6] To punish Egeria for thieving the power of the Primordial Sea,[6][7] Celestia decreed that all of the now-human Oceanids would be branded with "Original Sin" to reflect their illegitimate origins. This set in motion the prophecy that foretold that all of them will one day be dissolved back into the Primordial Sea during a great flood, washing away the sin of their existence in a show of ultimate justice.
Celestia then imprisoned Egeria inside the Primordial Sea and tasked the dragon Scylla to guard her. Here, she was visited by her contemporary god Remus, who sought answers to stave off the prophesied destruction of his own people, the nation of Remuria. She granted him a cup of Primordial Seawater, which he processed into a substance called Ichor that gave him the ability to transfer the essence of his human subjects into new bodies of eternal, unaging stone. Remus hoped that these immortal bodies would grant his subjects the ability to transcend their fate. However, the plan failed as Remuria was still destroyed by a great flood[8], sinking deep underwater and taking with it the souls of countless Remurians still trapped inside their insoluble stone bodies.[9]
After the Archon War, Celestia released Egeria from her imprisonment, granted her a Gnosis, and placed her onto the seat of the Hydro Archon. After ascending into her new role as God of Justice, she helped many of the exiled criminals of Fontaine build a new home, the Fortress of Meropide, which also served the secondary purpose of guarding her "secret" deep beneath the water: a large opening into the Primordial Sea. The fortress grew larger and eventually became a home for these sinners.[10] Egeria perished in the cataclysm 500 years prior to the start of the game without finding a solution for saving her people from the prophecy, instead leaving behind an ominous conundrum for her successor.
Recent Events[]
Focalors' plan[]
After Egeria's death during the Cataclysm, Focalors, one of the Oceanids who were turned human, would rise to Archonhood. Focalors judged that the only way to circumvent the prophecy was by deceiving fate itself into thinking it had been ostensibly fulfilled, while simultaneously saving the people of Fontaine in reality. To this end, she split her godhood away from her human vessel, Furina. Furina acted in Focalors' stead for 500 years to deceive Teyvat and the Heavenly Principles into believing this human was the true Hydro Archon. Focalors hid her divine self, alongside the Hydro Gnosis, within the confines of the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale.[7]
Focalors would use the trials that continuously occurred in the Opera Epiclese to convert the faith of her people during these trials into an energy source called Indemnitium. Only a fraction of Indemnitium was used to power the everyday lives of Fontainians, and the majority of it was secretly accrued inside the Oratrice so that on the day that the prophecised disaster finally struck, she would have obtained enough power to both sentence herself to death and destroy the Divine Throne of the Hydro Archon itself, shattering the yoke of the Heavenly Principles over Fontaine once and for all.[7]
The next part of Focalors' plan involved absolving the Fontainians of their branding with Original Sin, which meant they would become bonafide humans who would no longer dissolve into the Primordial Seawater. This judgement could only be passed by someone who possessed the Elemental Authority of Hydro and the ideal of justice which it represented. When the time came for her execution, she would return the Authority stolen by Celestia to its original owner: the Hydro Dragon Sovereign, whose current incarnation was Neuvillette. Despite being born in human form, Neuvillette initially held little regard for humanity and was quite undecided regarding the purpose of his own life. Focalors invited him to serve as the Iudex of Fontaine and preside over its trials, hoping that the long years of experiencing an array of human emotions at court would enable him to understand humanity and want to protect them. Thus, when the Authority over Hydro would be restored to him, he would exonerate the humans and overrule the sentence of guilt Celestia had placed upon them.[7]
Present Day[]
While the Traveler was incarcerated in the Fortress of Meropide, Wriothesley showed them a large sluice gate in the Forbidden Zone locking the Primordial Sea below the fortress. Wriothesley confirmed that if the gate failed, then all of Fontaine would be dissolved into the sea. This risk led Wriothesley to build his own ship, The Wingalet, as a precaution against the prophecy. The ship was inspired by the legend of Remuria where King Remus took the Golden Bee and rode the Fortuna over the waters.[10]
On the day that the prophecy would ultimately come true, Furina was made to stand trial by the citizens of Fontaine on charges of deceiving her people by hiding her true identity and to pressure her into confessing her secrets. Just as prophesied, she was judged guilty by the people of Fontaine, their Chief Justice Neuvillette, and the Oratrice itself in the most historical trial in the nation's history. Shortly after she was found guilty, a colossal whale broke into the Opera house, attracted by the "blood" of the Fontainians.[6] It was warded off by Childe in his Foul Legacy form, and would later be defeated by Neuvillette and the Traveler.[7]
As planned, the Hydro Archon received the death sentence. Focalors used the power of her amassed Indemnitium to execute herself and destroy the position of Hydro Archon, granting Neuvillette full authority over the element of Hydro, and freeing Furina from her curse in the process. Neuvillette, with his newfound authority over Hydro, absolved the people of Fontaine of their "original sin" and used the powers of the Primordial Water to convert their faux blood into real blood, turning them into "true" humans.[11] During their battle against the All-Devouring Narwhal, Neuvillette separated the beast's consumption of Primordial Water, allowing him and the Traveler to subdue it. The battle resulted in its roiling Hydro energies overwhelming Teyvat's deep seas, flooding Fontaine as the prophecy foretold; however, as the people of Fontaine were now truly human, they were not dissolved into water, and the waters receded just as fast as they flooded the nation.[7] Unfortunately, those who had already been dissolved were not restored.
Slates[]
These are a series of slates found in ruins south of Poisson, depicting stages in the root and progression of the prophecy.
Trivia[]
- The story of the Fontaine prophecy makes references to the original sin, flood myth, and Noah's Ark in Christian theology.
Change History[]
References[]
- ↑ Archon Quest, Chapter IV, Act II - As Light Rain Falls Without Reason, Part 3: When All Return to the Waters
- ↑ Archon Quest Chapter IV: Act VI - Bedtime Story, Part 2: Memories That Should Not Exist
- ↑ Archon Quest, Chapter IV, Act I - Prelude of Blancheur and Noirceur, Part 1: Soloist's Prologue
- ↑ Book: The Byakuyakoku Collection, Vol. 2
- ↑ Wind Glider: Wings of Merciful, Wrathful Waters
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Archon Quest, Chapter IV, Act V - Masquerade of the Guilty, Part 4: Apocalypse
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Archon Quest, Chapter IV, Act V - Masquerade of the Guilty, Part 5: The Opera of Noirceur and Blancheur
- ↑ World Quest: Echoes of the Ancient World
- ↑ Book: The History of the Decline and Fall of Remuria, Vol. 3
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Archon Quest, Chapter IV, Act IV - Cataclysm's Quickening, Part 3: Secret Keepers and Forbidden Zones
- ↑ Archon Quest, Chapter IV, Act V - Masquerade of the Guilty, Part 6: Finale
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