Who and What are the Descenders?

The Descenders in Genshin Impact are entities whose origins and existence do not originally belong to Teyvat. The first named and known to be the fourth Descender, is the Traveler. See who the Descenders are and everything we know about them in this guide!

What are the Descenders?

Not Originally From Teyvat

From Traveler and Nahida's exchange during the Archon Quest Chapter 3: Act 5, Akasha Pulses, the Kalpa Flame Rises, "Descenders" is the term coined by the Fatui Harbingers to classify beings who are not from Teyvat originally.

Nahida explicitly mentioned that the Traveler is the "Fourth Descender", implying that there are Descenders who came before and highly plausible that there are others who came after him.

Also, the "First Descender" is hypothesized by Nahida to be the Heavenly Principles.

Sustainer of Heavenly Principles

The very first encounter of the traveler Twins with the Sustainer of the Heavenly Principles was back when they got stopped by an Unknown God to go to the next world.

Whether or not the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles and the Heavenly Principles that Nahida referred to as the first Descender, are the same, it can be assumed that both are highly connected.

It can also be noted that Heavenly Principles are divine principles that are absolutely upheld, so much so, that even the Archon themselves acknowledge their authority.

Gnoses Represent the Heavenly Principles' Authority

Gnoses physically look like chest pieces bearing the insignia of the corresponding Element their Archon is affiliated to, and from what we can gather, they represent the power of the Heavenly Principles.

The God of Wisdom, Buer mentioned this during her negotiation with The Doctor regarding the Gnoses. And while Nahida did mention that it's just a bluff, it's implied later on that the Gnoses being the Heavenly Principles' symbol of power still holds true.

It can be concurred then, that the Archons are aspects of the Heavenly Principles' power over mankind, which places Archons in an inferior position compared to them, in terms of power.

This is probably also the reason why the previous Archons—Venti, Zhongli, and Raiden Shogun—failed to provide significant information to the Traveler about the whereabouts of their twin, because they never had it in the first place.

Nahida was just in an advantageous position, given that she's directly connected to the Irminsul Tree, and thus has access to information that are usually barred from the outside.

Gnoses are Remains of a Descender

Every Gnoses has a remains of a Descender. In the Masquerade of the Guilty Archon Quest, Skirk mentioned to Neuvilette that the Hydro Gnosis has the remains of the Third Descender.

The Third Descender is currently unknown and only Skirk's master, Surtalogi, knows of their identity.

The Traveler's Twin Is Not A Descender

Among the many information that Nahida has successfully gathered, the Traveler being a Descender and their twin being an original Teyvat resident seems to be the most bewildering.

According to Lesser Lord Kusanali, the Traveler's twin has remaining records in the Irminsul Tree—the reservoir of all the memories of Teyvat.

This shouldn't be initially the case, but Nahida arrived at this conclusion nonetheless. In addition, the Aranara has mentioned someone called the "Golden Nara", whose exact identity is still unknown, but bits and bobs of evidences point to them being the twin, and thus cannot say otherwise.

At this point, it's all but a speculation why the Traveler and their Abyss Twin is a Descender and not, respectively, but from the way Nahida and her Aranara children framed it, it's implied that the Irminsul Tree "remembers" them the same way the Aranara does.

Who are the Descenders?

Confirmed Descenders

The Heavenly Principles

Albeit just a hypothesis, Nahida refers to the Heavenly Principles as the first "First Descender".

The Traveler

The Fatui has classified the Traveler as the "Fourth Descender", making them the first ranked and named official Descender.

Genshin Impact Related Guides

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