Zhongli/Lore

OverviewLoreVoice-OversOutfitsCompanionGallery

Character Stories

Character Details

In Liyue's traditional customs, "receiving adepti" and "sending adepti off" are equally important.

The Hus of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, who have been in this business for 77 generations, are the masters of handling funerals. However, Hu Tao, the current owner of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, primarily focuses on the art of sending mortals on their way.

For the various ceremonies for sending adepti off, Hu Tao usually employs the help of a friend in more or less the same business. That person's name is Zhongli. The adepti have been with Liyue for millennia, but only a handful have ascended in the past three thousand years, which means that everything regarding the traditions now only exists in texts. This is not something one would likely witness twice in their entire lifetime.

Not even the most particular and learned of researchers or scholars could find one fault in Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's ceremonies for sending adepti off.

Everything must be perfect, from the costumes, the time, the place, the items, the weather, the scheduled length, the size of the permitted audience, to the stature, profession, and age of the said audience. Nothing can be overlooked.

When folk describe Zhongli as "living history," the latter usually only smiles and sighs.

"I... just have a good memory."

Story 1

In Liyue, if a person pays great attention to details, and has insuperable criteria by which they judge certain matters, then they are called "particular."

In truth, everyone is "particular" about something. Some people hate spicy food, others don't eat fish, and some want their tofu served sweet...

But as for Zhongli, he is particular about everything. He must attend operas by the most celebrated performers, take the most luxuriant thrushes out for walks, and he must go into the kitchen personally to instruct the cooks as to the ratio of scallops and fish required to make the most authentic Fullmoon Egg.

Zhongli has expertise in all manner of things: from fashion to daily necessities, wine and snacks, teas and spices, flora and fauna, and he will even actively debate affairs of trade, state, and international relations.

But he only ever fills you in on some useless trivia, because he enjoys sharing such interesting things with you.

Story 2

When making a purchase, look to slash prices.

This is common knowledge among the people of Liyue. No matter what high heavens the store owner praises their product to, no matter its ancient history or classical value, prices are always flexible. Half the stated cost is a good place to start.

But when Zhongli pays up (or rather, calls for someone else to pay up on his behalf,) he never looks at the price tag. As long as it catches his eye, Zhongli will pay as much as the owner asks.

Indeed, he will even buy it at a premium sometimes.

But for some reason, Zhongli always forgets to bring money.

For small purchases, he has friends to help him out, and large bills he somehow finds ways to have written off.

To those merchants who secretly pride themselves on their powers of flattery, Zhongli is a man of strange proclivities: in truth, he knows a great deal about the value of money and finance, and he also understands the suffering of the people.

However, he seems to not understand that poverty is part of the human condition.

Or perhaps it might be said that he cannot imagine himself being poor.

How has such a person not died of hunger yet?

Story 3

There is no way Zhongli can starve.

Such concerns as profit and loss are beneath his notice. The Seven Nations and the world itself are where his efforts are directed. As for wealth... He is wealth itself.

He is Morax, the overlord Rex Lapis who rules Liyue, and the Geo Archon of the Seven Archons. The very money that circulates throughout Teyvat, Mora, is named after him.

When night falls, and bustling Liyue begins to slumber, he will sometimes stand atop the towering mountains and gaze upon this city, which he made with his own hands.

To the people of Liyue, Rex Lapis has many divine titles.

When he laid down Liyue's laws by his divine might, he was the God of Contracts. When he minted the first Mora and made Liyue strong by dint of commerce, the merchants revered him as the God of Commerce.

He has lived through countless years and is the eldest of the Seven, and so historian call him the God of History.

Thousands of years ago, the forbears of the citizens of Liyue Harbor struck stones together to start fires and used piled stones to create stove. These blessings derived from the Geo element led the Geo Archon to gain the title of God of the Stove.

People from other lands tend to call him Morax, though the people of Liyue prefer to use the term Rex Lapis.

But in the hearts of lovers of opera and children, Morax's on-stage aspect, the all-conquering defender of Liyue — the Warrior God — is the most fascinating.

The delicacies that Rex Lapis discovered while lost in the streets, the plaques inscribed with his handwriting, a famous opera that he once starred in, playing the part of a warrior...

Many stories and tales of Liyue are, when studied closely, stories of people visited by their deity at some point — and the citizens of Liyue are most proud indeed of that history.

Story 4

As the founder of Liyue Harbor, "contracts" are the most important thing to Morax.

From simple monetary exchange and agreements between merchants to the ancient laws that Morax himself laid down, there is no part of city life untouched by "contracts."

To merchants, "contracts" are the most important standard that they hold themselves: deadlines, invoices, shipping destinations... Only a refined and strict order can sustain vibrant commerce, which is itself the lifeblood of Liyue Harbor.

Thus the Qixing punish violators of such laws unceasingly, not only to uphold the divine rulings of Morax but also to allow Liyue to maintain its vitality.

Through the millennia, every generation of the Liyue Qixing commits to interpreting the law, including subtle amendments to plug loopholes found in the law. Any loopholes that remain undiscovered are seen by the merchants as "permissible if unaddressed," and they make killings off such holes until they are discovered and patched up by the Liyue Qixing.

Amid this game of cat-and-mouse, the book that collates such amendments has reached a whopping 279 pages thick.

The person currently responsible for maintaining this book, the Tianquan Ningguang, is secretly (and humorously) referred to as the "Tailor of Liyue," in honor of her speed in patching these laws up, and for her sharpness of eye.

But no matter how complicated or tangled mortal laws become, one of these stands above all others in the eyes of Rex Lapis.

"The one who reneges on their words shall suffer the Wrath of the Rock."

Story 5

Rex Lapis, most ancient of The Seven, has lived far too long. Rex Lapis still remembers that moment when the final archon took their divine seat, thus ending the Archon War and the era of warring gods. The Seven were a diverse lot and dispersed far and wide, but they all shouldered the burden of guiding humanity.

As time passed, many of The Seven's titles changed hands, and only two remain of the first Seven: Rex Lapis and the Anemo Archon.

The carefree Barbatos, the Anemo Archon, is the second eldest of The Seven.

When Barbatos first came to Liyue, Rex Lapis believed his fellow archon to have encountered some terrible crisis in pursuit of their duties, thus requiring his aid.

So when Barbatos descended in a gust of wind, the Geo Archon had already prepared himself to receive this neighboring deity and lend what help he may. But as he looked, the Anemo Archon tossed a wine bottle at him.

"Here's some wine from Mondstadt. Care for a taste?" To forsake one's duty to deliver a single bottle of wine — what a preposterous notion!

Yet the Anemo Archon kept coming to visit, to explore Liyue Harbor, all sorts of strange questions on his lips. The Anemo Archon's questions knew as little limits as the wine in his hands.

From then on, the first Seven would often gather in Liyue. Rex Lapis still remembers how those wines tasted.

The world has changed much since then, and all that was once familiar has faded into memory. The seven seats changed and again were changed, till five of the seven at the table were all departed.

Nor would the duty of guiding humanity be honored by the new archons.

Even the hardest rocks may be worn down after three thousand years.

Nor would the wind ever return again.

One drizzly day, the ancient ruler was strolling about Liyue Harbor, and overheard a merchant telling one of his workers, "You've finished with your duties, go ahead and call it a day."

Long did he stand amidst the milling crowd.

"Have I... already finished my duties?"

That Which Rises From the Sea

During the Archon Wars, every corner of Teyvat was consumed in the fires of conflict. Not only did gods fight amongst themselves, but countless wicked things also sought to expand their domains.

One such type of creature caused no end of woe for the Geo Archon, long before he took that title along with his place among The Seven.

These foul creatures, straight from the murky depth of the ocean abyss, had a squishy exterior, and possessed agile tentacles that would live on even after being cut off, even secreting some thick and revolting fluid in the process.

This alone would have been enough to make them the most monstrous of all creatures, and still it was not the pinnacle of their monstrosity.

What made them so truly terrible was their small size, which gave them the ability to duck into unimaginably small nooks and crannies.

No space was too narrow for them, neither the wooden boards of tables and chairs, nor the seams of windows and doors and curtain folds, nor even books and brushes.

Many a poor soul had, on at least one occasion, unwittingly outstretched their hand, only to quickly retract it in horror with a blood-curdling scream at the sensation of something cold, clammy, and damp, while one or more these despicable creatures came crawling up their arm, leaving a shiny trail behind them...

At the behest of the people of Liyue, Morax agreed to wipe these creatures out. But these parasites upon civilization could not be destroyed like enemies on a battlefield, by simply summoning a storm of stone spears that would shatter the earth and churn the soil....

Still, he was the God of Contracts. His word had to be his bond.

So, he went through the town from house to house with prisons of stone, seizing these creatures one by one and locking them away for good...

This long campaign of pest extermination taught Morax the true meaning of "a burden lifted."

The grueling campaign itself, and the terrible smell of those ocean creatures' secretions, left a lasting impression on the deity.

Today, even when he goes out incognito as the mortal man, Zhongli, Morax gives those living, squirming seafood products a wide berth.

...Well, except for dishes where said seafood products have been sliced and diced into oblivion, such as seafood tofu. He'll quite happily eat those.

Gnosis

Once the Rite of Parting, of which Zhongli was both director and star, was over, the Fatui Harbinger named Signora appeared before him.

By prior contract, she was here to claim the Geo Archon Morax's Gnosis.

Before the Traveler and the two Fatui Harbingers, Zhongli related the truth that he had established a contract with the Cryo Archon. In his own words, this was his final "Contract to End All Contracts."

Yet no matter how one looks at it, the loss of his divine ability to defend Liyue was too great of a price to pay.

Even amongst mortals, the basis of a contract is "equivalent exchange."

And for the God of Contracts, who much have established countless such agreements in their long years of existence, such an important contract must have come with its benefits.

Now, the Geo Archon has given away his Gnosis as his part of the deal.

What, then, must the Cryo Archon have wagered to balance the scales?

Expressions

Default

Happy

Pensive

Quests and Events

Archon Quests

• Chapter I
  • Act II: Farewell, the Archaic Lord
    • All Parts
  • Act III: A New Star Approaches
    • Solitary Fragrance
    • The Fond Farewell

Story Quests

• Historia Antiqua Chapter (Zhongli's story)
  • Act I: Sal Flore
    • All parts

Events

• Stone Harbor Treasure Journal

Character Interactions

The following characters mention Zhongli in their character stories or voice lines.

Character	Stories	Voices
Beidou	✘	✔
Chongyun	✘	✔
Ganyu	✘	✱
Hu Tao	✔	✔
Keqing	✱	✔
Ningguang	✘	✔
Tartaglia	✘	✔
Venti	✱	✔
Xiangling	✘	✔
Xiao	✱	✔
Xingqiu	✘	✔
Xinyan	✘	✔

Template:Mention

Mail

• Birthday

Trivia

• Zhongli may be one of, if not the, oldest gods in Teyvat, at over six thousand years old.
• In the Teyvat Travel Guide - Liyue, the author, Alice, names Zhongli as her companion during her travels to that region.
• According to Xiangling, Zhongli's palate is extremely precise; he could distinguish the kind of salt she used in her dish from a single bite.
• On the Wangshu Inn Bulletin Board, one anonymous message is likely Zhongli's.
• Zhongli is the first character whose Story Quest Chapter name did not derive from his Constellation.
• Zhongli is also the first character whose in-game Profile and Story sections change depending on Archon Quest completion; before completing Chapter 1, Act 3, his "Vision" is listed as Geo (and his Story section shows Vision, albeit locked until Act 3 is completed), while his constellation is labeled "???". After completing it, "Vision" changes to "Gnosis" on both his Profile and Story menus, while his constellation is revealed.
• Zhongli's Chinese voice actor (彭博) is one of the directors of Genshin Impact's Chinese voice actors.
• Zhongli was heavily foreshadowed to be Morax before it was confirmed with the release of Chapter I, Act III:
  • Zhongli is extremely knowledgeable about money, government, and Liyue's traditions and history. He even remembers customs and traditions that have been watered down, forgotten, and lost to time — as if he was there himself.
  • When he asks the Traveler and Paimon to retrieve the Cleansing Bell from Madame Ping for the Rite of Parting, Zhongli uncharacteristically refuses to join them. Madame Ping says that an "old friend" gave her the Bell and that, since they have come to borrow it, they must have "decided to take matters into their own hands." She also makes it no secret that she is an adeptus — which means Zhongli must be much older than his apparent age would suggest.
  • After retrieving the Cleansing Bell, the Traveler has the option to ask Zhongli either if he knows Madame Ping, or if he is an adeptus. He confirms the former and fails to answer the latter.
  • Zhongli is shown throughout the story to have several connections to Venti, the Anemo Archon Barbatos:
    • Zhongli states that a friend from Mondstadt would always bring him a few bottles of Dandelion Wine when they visited. Dandelion Wine is Venti's favorite drink.
    • Zhongli's appearance is similar to that of the Statues of the Seven in Liyue, much like how Mondstadt's Statues resemble Venti. The symbol on his jacket also matches the symbol on Rex Lapis' statues. Although the Geo Archon wears a hood on his statues which covers most of his hairstyle, it's apparent that Zhongli and the Archon share the same bangs.
    • Zhongli's hair fades from black to amber, similar to how Venti's hair turns to blue-green at the ends of his braids.
    • In the Version 1.1 trailer, it is apparent that the tip of his ponytail glows when using his skills, a feature that Venti also has.
  • In Keqing's "About Zhongli..." voice-over, she likens Zhongli to Rex Lapis, stating that he's too much like the Archon for her liking.
  • The Rex Incognito book series implies that Rex Lapis has amber eyes no matter what shape he takes, a feature that Zhongli also has.
  • Zhongli calls the dragon corpse of Rex Lapis an "Exuvia". The word "exuvia" refers to the outer skin molted by some creatures as a new exoskeleton grows in.
  • In the quest line Treasure Lost, Treasure Found, it is said that the Guili Plains (归离原) is named after the God of Dust (Guizhong; 归终) and the Geo Archon himself. Neither Morax nor Rex Lapis fit into this name, but Zhongli (钟离) would.
  • Several stories claim that the Geo Archon uses polearms, such as in Teyvat Travel Guide - Liyue and Diary of Roald the Adventurer - Guyun Stone Forest, which is also Zhongli's weapon of choice.
• Zhongli is one of the few currently playable characters who acknowledges (or even seems to be aware) that the Traveler is from another world, presumably because of his status as an Archon.
• In his Collected Miscellany trailer, Zhongli can be seen fighting in the Realm of Clouds, a domain created by the adepti to hold the artifacts Guizhong collected.
• To commemorate his birthday, a Teyvat Food Notes blog post on the Chinese official website was written to give a real-life recipe for Zhongli's special dish, Slow-Cooked Bamboo Shoot Soup. The real-life version takes two hours to simmer, and the recipe doesn't count prep time.
  • In the blog post's story, Zhongli quotes three idioms from the Xiang Dang book in the Analects, a collection of sayings and ideas attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius. The passages he quotes are about doing things in their proper way and order, particularly in regard to food and dining habits. The quoted idioms are:
    • 食不厌精，脍不厌细 Shí bù yàn jīng, kuài bù yàn xì; zh_tn: When he ate he was not averse to refined rice, nor to finely minced meat.
    • 肉割不正，不食 Ròu gē bù zhèng, bù shí; zh_tn: nor would he eat food [meat] that was not properly sliced.
    • 席不正，不坐 Xí bù zhèng, bù zuò; zh_tn: If a mat was not straight, he would not sit on it.
  • He also tells the Traveler that the dish relates to the Six Ritual Jades.
• The meteor summoned by Zhongli's elemental burst, Planet Befall, resembles a Burr Puzzle, specifically the six-piece burr which is also known as the "Chinese Cross".

Etymology

• In demonology, Morax is the 21st demon of the Ars Goetia and a president of hell, ruling over thirty (or thirty-two according to other authors) legions of demons. He teaches astronomy and other liberal sciences, and gives good and wise familiars that know the virtues of all herbs and precious stones. He is depicted both as a man with the head of a bull, and a bull with the head of a man.
• His title, "Vago Mundo", is Latin for "I wander the world."
  • His Chinese title, 尘世闲游 Chénshì Xiányóu, means "leisurely wanderings in the mortal world."
• His constellation, Lapis Dei, is Latin for "The Stone of God." It follows the same pattern as Venti's constellation, Carmen Dei.
• Zhongli (Simplified Chinese: 钟离; Traditional Chinese: 鍾離) is likely named after Zhongli Quan (Simplified Chinese: 钟离权; Traditional Chinese: 鍾離權), one of the Eight Immortals — a group of eight legendary xian (Chinese: 仙) in Daoist mythology.
  • In the Chinese version of Genshin Impact, the adepti are depicted as xian.
  • Zhongli Quan of the Eight Immortals possesses a magic fan that can bring the dead back to life, and used alchemy to turn stones and base metals into gold to save the poor.
• The first character of Zhongli's name in Simplified Chinese, 钟, may cause much ambiguity and confusion. 钟 is the simplified form of two different Traditional Chinese characters, 鍾 and 鐘, which have two different meanings.
  • There is also a Simplified Chinese character 锺 which can be used as the simplified form of 鍾 when used as a surname. This has only been made an official simplified form for the surname in these past few years, so it may not be commonly used. Strictly, it should only be used for the surname "Zhong" (Simplified Chinese: 钟 or 锺; Traditional Chinese: 鍾).
  • To make matters even more confusing, in Taiwan and Singapore, a fourth Chinese character, 鈡, is occasionally used instead of either 鍾 or 鐘.
  • Based on the official localization of his name in Traditional Chinese and Japanese, his name should be 鍾離. However, as a result of the above ambiguity, his name is sometimes incorrectly rendered as 鐘離 even among Traditional Chinese players. The confusion may also stem from the pun below.
  • Both "Zhong" (Simplified Chinese: 钟 or 锺; Traditional Chinese: 鍾) and "Zhongli" (Simplified Chinese: 钟离; Traditional Chinese: 鍾離) exist as surnames in Chinese.
• The name "Zhongli" is a pun that can signify him stepping down from his position as Rex Lapis. Zhong (Simplified Chinese: 钟; Traditional Chinese: 鍾) in Zhongli is homophonous with the word for "clock" (Simplified Chinese: 钟; Traditional Chinese: 鐘) in Chinese and they are even written the exact same way in Simplified Chinese. Li (Simplified Chinese: 离; Traditional Chinese: 離) is the common word for "leaving" or "away." The name can therefore be taken to mean "off the clock" or "time of leaving/departure."
  • The Li (璃) in Liyue is an word for precious stone (usually referring to lapis lazuli) or glass. The word itself contains Zhongli's li (离), with an extra radical to its left (𤣩). This radical resembles the word 王 wáng meaning "king." Zhongli's (离) dropping off the 王 may be symbolic of him stepping down from his reign over Liyue. This analysis only applies to the Simplified Chinese version of his name.
    • This would also imply that Liyue's name carries a secondary meaning: "The Month of the King's Departure," which bears striking similarity to the pun on Zhongli's name ("time of departure").
  • Zhongli's li (Simplified Chinese: 离; Traditional Chinese: 離) additionally was used as the archaic form of 魑 chī which refers to a mythical creature, such as a mountain demon or a mountain beast, which may or may not be a cryptic statement alluding to Rex Lapis being an adeptus.