potential spoilers ahead

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• Paimon is connected with the unknown god that we face in the intro
  • thoughts on this can be further reviewed when it's taken into consideration of Guoba being the 'reduced' form of Marchosius, the God of the Stove and Patron God of the Soil, and raises considerations that Paimon could be the 'reduced' form of the unknown god.
  • this is one of the first theories for Genshin that I considered myself and I'm still on the fence about it. It definitely stands to reason that Paimon is going to be a much larger part of the lore than the traveler currently realises because it's never answered what Paimon is - "Paimon is Paimon". That is all that is ever repeated - but why? Curiously, though, Nahida states that the Traveler is not recorded in Irminsul as an Outlander but never mentions Paimon. The insignia on Paimon's chest also indicates her being native to Teyvat - yet all Teyvatians believe Paimon to be some kind of 'toy'/'child' etc. I initially believe Paimon was the unknown god but now I simply believe she may just be connected to the past events, somehow. I've heard some theories that Paimon is the 'reduced' form of Istaroth, one of the shades of the Primordial One and the God of Time and I believe that one also holds some interesting points, however, Paimon forgets any changes to the timeline like every other Teyvatian (Rukkhadevata, Wanderer etc).

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• The sibling isn't a 'descender' due to Rukkhadevata in the Irminsul
  • We've seen proof that Irminsul is not an infallible source of knowledge with the removal of both Greater Lord Rukkhadevata and the Balladeer's former existence. The traveler themselves and Nahida's trick to hide the Balladeer's memories are both evidence to show that it is only memories that are affected, not genuine existences. When learning about King Deshret, we learn that he encountered forbidden knowledge which began to poison Sumeru and that Rukkhadevata intervened. We also learn that the Dendro Archon wasn't part of the call of the Seven to Khaenri'ah, tasked instead with protecting Irminsul from the flow of forbidden knowledge. Rukkhadevata realises here that her existence has been tainted by the forbidden knowledge and the filth cannot be eradicated without her existence also being, so - however, it is insinuated that she eradicated enough of the filth prior to the completion of her existence being forgotten. Additionally, the sibling explores, at the very least, Khaenri'ah prior to the intro - meaning that their existence in Teyvat and interaction with native Teyvatians will have already begun.
  • This theory proposes that, as part of the cleansing and rebirth of branches of Irminsul, what if so much of it was affected that it had to essentially 'rebuild' the knowledge it once knew? If the Akasha system was borrowing the wisdom of Sumerans so that Rukkhadevata could figure out a solution plus the theory that the sibling's exploration of Teyvat prior to the intro led them into Sumeru (which is geographically connected to Khaenri'ah), then that would have pulled in Sumeran memories of speaking with the sibling - which may have been confused by Irminsul as being a non-Descender [I believe it is admitted by Nahida that there is no knowledge of the sibling prior to this time].
  • This theory obviously has holes, like many theories, but feels like the most obvious to me. It is not possible for one sibling to be a descender and another not to be, unless they are not true siblings (e.g. such as the theory that the traveler was experimented on in Khaenri'ah while they were asleep and the sibling is a clone, created much like how Albedo was by Rhinedottir).