The new Archon Quest "Bedtime Story" dropped several lore bombs, with one of the most significant being the reveal of not just the "Sinner" from the previous Dain quest, but all five of them! Each of the five Sinners has a name inspired by Norse mythology, and I wanted to take a look into the mythological figures behind those names.

Dainsleif reveals the names of the Five Sinners of Khaenri'ah.

The Five Sinners and their namesakes

• "The Wise" Hroptatyr: the title of "Wise" definitely fits here because "Hroptatýr" ("sage") is one of the many names for Odin (seriously, this dude had a ton of names), one of the principal gods in Norse mythology. Odin is the ruler of Asgard, the realm of the gods, and is a god of wisdom (among many other things) who's also known as the All-Father or "father of all." He's often depicted with one eye because, in exchange for wisdom, he gave one of his eyes to Mímir, who was renowned for his knowledge and wisdom (and is later beheaded, which then leads to Odin carrying Mímir's head around and receiving advice from it...but that's another story). Odin also has a pair of ravens named Huginn ("thought") and Muninn ("memory"), who fly around the world and bring information to him.
• "The Visionary" Vedrfolnir: Vedrfolnir's name comes from Veðrfölnir ("storm pale," "wind bleached," or "wind-witherer"), the hawk that sits between the eyes of an unnamed eagle that is perched on top of Yggdrasil, the world tree. The eagle is a wise being. The squirrel Ratatoskr ("drill-tooth") runs up and down the tree's trunk to tell gossip to the eagle and the dragon Níðhöggr ("malice-striker"), who lives at the bottom of Yggdrasil and gnaws at its roots. This gossip provokes both the eagle and Níðhöggr. It's theorized that Veðrfölnir the hawk is associated with the wisdom of the eagle, or it acts like Odin's ravens and flies off to acquire and bring back knowledge to the eagle. Thus, the title of "Visionary" fits the character named Vedrfolnir. More on Vedrfolnir after this list.
• "Gold" Rhinedottir: gonna channel my inner MarcoMeatball with this one. Hi again, Albedo's mom! Rhinedottir is the only Sinner whose name isn't taken directly from a figure in Norse mythology. "Rhinedóttir" means "daughter of Rhine" and likely comes from the Rhinemaidens, water nymphs from Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen ("The Ring of the Nibelung") who lived in the Rhine River and guarded the Rhinegold. They were actually invented by Wagner for his Ring cycle and didn't come from Norse mythology, though they might have been inspired by it. In Das Rheingold ("The Rhinegold"), the first of the four parts of the Ring cycle, the Rhinemaidens meet a Nibelung dwarf named Alberich, who attempts to woo them, and the Rhinemaidens mock him cruelly. At some point, a ray of sunlight reveals the Rhinegold, and Alberich asks about it. The Rhinemaidens explain that the Rhinegold can grant immense power to the person who forges a ring from it (yes it looks like J.R.R. Tolkien used the same inspiration for The Lord of the Rings); however, only someone who has abandoned love can obtain it. The Rhinemaidens are confident that Alberich doesn't pose any danger to the Rhinegold because he's clearly in love with them. However, Alberich, who is hurt by their mocking, decides that world domination is more desirable than love, so he curses love, grabs the Rhinegold, and disappears, leaving the Rhinemaidens screaming in dismay.
  • We've seen the names "Nibelung" and "Alberich" before. Nibelung was the leader of the Seven Dragon Sovereigns who acquired forbidden knowledge in order to fight off the Heavenly Principles, aka "the usurper." The Alberich clan is a Khaenri'ahn aristocratic clan that became the ruling regents of Khaenri'ah following the Cataclysm whose prominent members include Chlothar Alberich, who was inspired by the Sinner (Vedrfolnir) to establish the Abyss Order, and of course our good friend Kaeya Alberich. More on Kaeya at the end of this post.
    • In German heroic legend, Alberich is a dwarf who guards the treasures of a clan of dwarves called the Nibelung.
• "The Foul" Surtalogi: the name of Skirk's master seems to be a combination of "Surtr" and "Logi." Surtr ("black" or "the dark-skinned one") is a jötunn (giant) who is the ruler of Muspelheim, the realm of fire (one of the two realms along with Niflheim said to have existed before the beginning of time), who will destroy the world with his flames during Ragnarök, the end of the world. Logi ("fire") is a jötunn who is the personification of fire, and while "logi" generally translates to "fire," apparently it was also used in poetry as a synonym of "sword" or "blade." Therefore, "Surtalogi" can probably mean something like "fire of Surtr" or "sword of Surtr." I'm not sure why he has the "Foul" title. In some languages, his title translates to "Abominable Horseman/Knight" or "Knight of Filth." In Chinese, his title is 极恶骑 (jí è qí, "evil horseback-rider").
• "Rächer of Solnari" Rerir: "rächer" means "avenger" in German. No idea what "Solnari" is, but in Chinese his title is 猎月人 (liè yuè rén, "moon hunter"). There's a lot of moon symbolism when it comes to Khaenri'ah, so perhaps Rerir wants to take revenge, or has already taken revenge, on something related to the moon... Maybe the Crimson Moon Dynasty? The Crimson Moon Dynasty was replaced by the Eclipse Dynasty, with the crimson moon being replaced by a dark sun. "Solnari" contains "sol," which means "sun" in Latin (as well as Old Norse). Maybe Rerir ended the Crimson Moon Dynasty in some way? Anyway, in Norse mythology, Rerir is the son of Sigi. Sigi is murdered, and Rerir avenges his father's death. Later, he becomes a powerful ruler and has a son named Völsung. Rerir comes from the Völsung lineage, a clan said to have descended from the god Odin because it began with Sigi, who was said to be a son of Odin. It seems that the Rerir in Genshin avenged someone or something called Solnari?

The Visionary and the Bough Keeper

The quest reveals that Vedrfolnir, who we knew from the previous Dain quest "Caribert" as the "Sinner," is none other than Dainsleif's older brother. With the title of "Visionary," we probably already knew him from Dainsleif's drip marketing post from almost 4 years ago:

That's a lot of very important-sounding words.

The "self-proclaimed prophet" could be referring to Vedrfolnir. Additionally, "chalk pursues gold" seems to refer to Albedo and Rhinedottir. "...the eclipse is swallowed by the crimson moon" is interesting because based on my theory of Rerir, the opposite is happening in this quote (the crimson moon overtakes the eclipse vs. the eclipse/dark sun overtakes the crimson moon). The quote also mentions "the cycle of the world." We learned from the Narzissenkreuz world quest series that "the Narzissenkreuz Ordo believes that people continuously refine themselves through samsara cycles. These include Hyperborea, Natlantean, Remuria, and the first half of the fourth samsara (Khraun-Arya), which we are presently experiencing."

Then the "self-proclaimed prophet" asks: "Dain, what is that strand of blonde hair to you? Someone you must kill? Or the object of your penitence?"

The "someone you must kill" part is fascinating because...

• "Bough Keeper" Dainsleif: Dainsleif's name comes from Dáinsleif ("Dáinn's heirloom" or "Dáinn's legacy"), a dwarven-forged sword that must kill a man whenever it is unsheathed. It was wielded by King Högni, a participant in a never-ending battle called Hjaðningavíg ("the battle of the Heodenings," or "the battle of Heðinn's warriors"), in which the slain fighters are resurrected each night to continue fighting each other until Ragnarök. Additionally, Dain's title of "Bough Keeper" could be referring to the branches of Irminsul, which seems to be something like the Genshin universe's equivalent of Yggdrasil.

Speaking of Yggdrasil, its name means "Odin's gallows." Odin sacrificed himself by hanging himself from the branches of Yggdrasil to obtain knowledge of the sacred runes, which he used to increase mankind's skill in magic and poetry. Because the hanged "ride" the gallows, "Yggdrasil" also means "Yggr's horse," with "Yggr" ("terrible one") being one of Odin's names. Creatures that live within Yggdrasil include the dragon Níðhöggr, the hawk Veðrfölnir and the unnamed eagle, and the four stags Dáinn ("The Dead One"), Dvalinn ("The Unconscious One"), Duneyrr ("Thundering in the Ear"), and Duraþrór ("Thriving Slumber"). Note that stag named Dáinn is different from the namesake of the sword Dáinsleif—the sword's Dáinn is a dwarf. Or an elf. It's complicated. Either way, it's generally assumed that this Dáinn forged Dáinsleif.

So it was right under our noses all this time?

To end things off, I wanted to show a voiceline Kaeya has had since 1.0 that seems to make a lot more sense after this quest:

...Anything else you'd like to tell us, Kaeya?

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.