Forbidden Knowledge And The Fall Of King Deshret

Forbidden Knowledge is so deeply rooted in Genshin Impact’s lore that it’s hardly unlikely for players to notice the connections it has with the rise and fall of Empires. One main point that can be derived from the existence of Forbidden Knowledge is that it is also referred to in an apocalyptic sense. It is a form of knowledge that does not originate from Genshin Impact’s Teyvat and holds a “truth” that cannot be understood.

Because forbidden knowledge is alien in nature, it is constantly rejected by the world of Teyvat and anything that comes into contact with it. It manifests in creatures and beings alike through corrupting their minds and souls. And, like many ancient kings of the past, King Deshret was also susceptible to this type of knowledge in his pursuit of the creation of a paradise.

The Origins Of Forbidden Knowledge In Genshin Impact

Forbidden knowledge was first brought into Teyvat when the Dragon King Nibelung believed it would help in the fight against the Heavenly Principles that descended on the land. When the Heavenly Principles of Genshin Impact wished to usurp the throne from the Seven Sovereign Dragons, Nibelung acquired the forbidden knowledge from outside the world and led the Dragons to war. Unfortunately, the Dragons lost, and the war left the world in shambles.

To stabilize the destruction that the war left behind, the Heavenly Principles cast down Divine Nails to ‘reshape’ the land to become more habitable. This unfortunately wiped out many of the original creatures and birthed new variants that Genshin Impact players see today. Despite this, Apep, the Dendro Dragon, still wished to acquire more forbidden knowledge, even after he witnessed his lush green rainforests turn to a den of sand with just one strike of the Divine Nail.

Some thousand years later, King Deshret was the second being to come into contact with forbidden knowledge, and this all but wiped out his civilization in the Great Red Sand. His pursuit of forbidden knowledge was also in rebellion against the Heavenly Principles.

Who Was King Deshret In Genshin Impact?

Also known as Al-Ahmar or Amun, King Deshret was one of the Three Eternal Companion Gods of Ancient Sumeru in Genshin Impact. His domain was situated in the desert, and his civilization was home to many technologies that were far ahead of their time. King Deshret ruled Sumeru with two other gods — Nabu Malikata, the Goddess of Flowers, and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, the Goddess of Wisdom. The three of them were close friends and found companionship in their various opinions on wisdom.

Deshret was seen to be a god with strong ambition and ideals that he could not let go of. His nature was such that he was even willing to go against the divine, knowing the repercussions such acts would bring upon him.

According to legends, Deshret was a “son of the sky,” which was why he received much worship from the three great tribes of the desert. Not much else is mentioned about how he ascended to the throne, but sometime after, he ended up meeting Nabu Malikata, a survivor of the Seelie race in Genshin Impact, and together, they built the ancient city of Ay-Khanoum. What’s more is that Deshret, despite all his faults, was said to have been woefully in love with Nabu Malikata. It is said that she was aware of his undying affections, but there has been no confirmation of her reciprocation.

King Deshret’s Obsession In Genshin Impact

Right after Genshin Impact’s Archon War, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata joined the two of them, and the three came to be known as the Three Eternal Companion Gods. However, this camaraderie and friendship did not last long, as Deshret’s ambitions grew more frightening by the second. Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, who wished not to take part in his actions, split from the group and created her own domain, which would come to be known as Sumeru’s rainforest.

Deshret shared his desire to usurp the Heavenly Principles to Nabu Malikata and, despite her concerns, he still would not back down. Nabu Malikata eventually saw some benefit in his plans and believed that his resolve might bring some change in this chained world. She assisted him by granting him a clear path to finding ‘higher knowledge,’ but unfortunately, she ended up sacrificing herself during a ritual. The ritual was supposed to guide Deshret and help him understand “all there was to know about the skies and the abyss,” but it also brought down ravenous sandstorms that decimated Ay-Khanoum.

Deshret mourned her and did not even realize that her sacrifice for the ritual was a necessary factor for him to achieve the knowledge he so desired. Her passing spiraled him even deeper into his obsession with creating a perfect paradise, one where everything stood still and the beauty of the world could not be tarnished. After her passing, he tricked the Jinn, Nabu Malikata’s followers, into becoming his servants. He did this by saying that Nabu Malikata had not passed away and was only in a deep slumber, and he would help them find her in exchange for their power.

He eventually came across the Divine Nail, and through the use of the Jinns powers, he created the Eternal Oasis as a cemetery for Nabu Malikata. Afterward, he left for his civilization and pursued his goal of eternal knowledge once again. He created vassal states like Gurabad, and together with Jinn, he pursued “noble deeds of creation and exploration.”

One specific Jinni in
Genshin Impact
that players may know is
Liloupar
. She, together with Ormazd,
built and ran Gurabad
— until Ormazd became a petty tyrant, and she had to sink the city beneath the sands.

It’s important to note that before King Deshret ascended to his throne and built his kingdom, he made a deal with the Dendro Dragon Apep. The dragon sovereign of Dendro already had dominion over the desert, but her deal with Deshret stated that she would allow him to build his kingdom in her lands — only if he would allow her to consume him upon his death. This was because Apep was also interested in forbidden knowledge, and this was her only way to obtain it.

King Deshret’s Search For Eternal Knowledge

Despite all the warnings, Deshret continued his search for forbidden knowledge even after his other two companion gods parted ways. It seems that he spent over 200 years building a “maze for his kingdom, before trapping himself deep within it in search of forbidden knowledge.” The particular knowledge that Deshret was so obsessed with finding pertained to how he could create a dream paradise, one that was free of “worry, schemes, and slavery.” In time, Deshret’s objective came to be known as the Golden Slumber.

It was titled as such, since Deshret wished to strip the world that the Heavenly Principles had already created. Strip the world of its beings, rules, and virtues, whilst also removing the sun, moons, and destroying the barrier between life and death. That was the only way he saw some hope for surviving in the world of the Heavenly Principles. But, despite all this effort to attain forbidden knowledge to rebel against the Heavenly Principles, there may have been another reason that was just as simple as it was pure.

If Genshin Impact players find the book item, The Lay of Al-Ahmar, they may find information there pertaining to Deshret’s true desire of seeking eternal knowledge from the Abyss. The book mentions a recommendation given to Deshret by one of his commanders to pursue ‘resurrection and life eternal,’ and that seems to be the only recommendation that Deshret was even bothered to entertain. It has also been clarified through the lore of the Staff of the Scarlet Sands weapon that Deshret has always wanted to go back to a time when Nabu Malikata and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata were by his side once more.

This admission heavily implies that Deshret eventually wanted nothing more than to turn back time, resurrect his last love, and create a peaceful paradise with his close friends once more. Deshret soon came across the forbidden knowledge he wished for, from the depths of the Abyss, and it utterly ruined his kingdom. The disaster came out of nowhere, and because the knowledge did not belong in the world, it quickly spread like a disease. His people began to see and hear things, dark gray scales appeared on their bodies, and an entire kingdom began to fall.

The Aftermath Of Deshret’s Forbidden Knowledge From The Abyss

Sensing the destruction of his land, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata headed towards Deshret in hopes to quell the madness he had unleashed on the world and found the situation to be more dire than she expected. She erected multiple temples and infused them with the “divine power of life,” as well as commanding priests to watch over them to help quell the poison across the land. The energy of the temples slowed the spread of the forbidden knowledge, and this gave the survivors a chance to flee to the city that Genshin Impact players would come to know as Aaru Village.

Greater Lord Rukkhadevata then came together with King Deshret and fought against the forbidden knowledge. This battle was said to be the most strenuous and difficult, as Rukkhadevata exhausted all her strength, and her form became that of a small child. King Deshret, on the other hand, realized that the forbidden knowledge that he brought into the world would not be quelled without a great cost, and so he decided to sacrifice himself. It seems that he used the power of his consciousness to blast the forbidden knowledge out of the world, and this simultaneously activated the Golden Slumber project.

Deshret’s physical body that sat atop his throne began to decay, and upon his passing, Apep consumed him as per their agreement. Unbeknownst to her, Deshret’s body was already tainted with the corruption of forbidden knowledge, and so Apep went mad and lost her mind. Additionally, since Deshret managed to separate his mind from his body, there are whispers and desert myths among the remaining descendants that King Deshret’s intelligence lies somewhere else and is not far off.