A 4-Year Old Genshin Impact Mystery Remains Unsolved

Game ZXC

Genshin Impact

By Christine Miller

Published Dec 26, 2023

Highlights

Genshin Impact's early lore is still shrouded in mystery, with unanswered questions about characters and locations.
The connection between Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact was initially attempted through lore parallels and exported characters.
The identity of K.K. in Genshin Impact remains uncertain, with theories pointing towards Phanes or a connection to the Kaslana family from Honkai Impact.

Early Genshin Impact lore still remains full of unanswered questions, as its players haven't been able to pinpoint the identity of the person addressing the Traveler in the game's drip marketing from 2019. Though HoYoverse was known for Honkai Impact at first, it wasn't until the launch of Genshin Impact that the company became a household name. In those early days, the developer tried to tether the two franchises together by introducing obvious lore parallels and exported characters, with the latter even becoming tradition with Genshin Impact's Archons.

While Genshin Impact solved some of the questions it posed at launch, with players finding out more about Khaenri'ah and how it relates to the Traveler and the Abyss sibling, many more mysteries remain – such as the identity of Paimon or why Celestia has remained silent since the Cataclysm. The physical location of Celestia in Genshin Impact may have been determined in Version 4.4, but it's highly likely that its lore will remain untapped for at least a few more years.

What to Expect From Genshin Impact in 2024

As Genshin Impact looks ahead to the new year, the fanbase and community has much to look forward to and be excited about for 2024.

Who Is K.K in Genshin Impact?

As pointed out by Atomic_Slasher on the main subreddit for the game, HoYoverse teased the new world of Teyvat and its Traveler through a person bearing the initials K.K. The most common Genshin Impact theories claim that K.K. is Phanes, the first Descender of Teyvat, also known as the Heavenly Principles, the entity that built Celestia and usurped the power of the Dragon Sovereigns. Fontaine's Archon Quest revealed that a Gnosis holds the stolen power of a Dragon Sovereign, while Sumeru's Archon Quest revealed that Descenders fall outside Irminsul's authority, which implies that HoYoverse is certainly trying to point the overarching story towards Phanes.

However, the initials of K.K. on their own could be pointing in a different direction altogether. The Kaslana family plays a major role in Honkai Impact's lore, and HoYoverse could have initially been planning to bridge the two franchises together. Kate Kaslana was famously the original Genshin Impact protagonist before Lumine (and Aether) were finalized as the Traveler, while the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles in Genshin Impact bears a striking resemblance to Kiana Kaslana.

It's quite possible that HoYoverse only intended to symbolically pass the torch from Honkai to Genshin by establishing this connection, and given that there are no in-game mentions of K.K. or voice lines that imply their existence, it would be easy for the developers to pivot in a different direction. Given that Natlan is the next Genshin Impact chapter, it may be some time until players get a definitive answer to this unsolved Genshin Impact theory.