Genshin theory - The Dendro Archon and the missing element(s)

All of the text in italic is support and inspiration quotes with links to the source, all of the normal formatting are my own thoughts.

Looking through the list of demons from the Lesser key of Solomon I think this one really fits to be the prototype name of the Dendro archon, in case they decided to make her decisive:

Dantalion (or Dantalian) is a powerful Great Duke of Hell, with thirty-six legions of demons under his command; he is the 71st of 72 spirits of Solomon. He teaches all arts and sciences, and also declares the secret counsel of anyone, given that he knows the thoughts of all people and can change them at his will. He can also cause love and show the similitude of any person, show the same by means of a vision, and let them be in any part of the world they will. He is depicted as a man with many appearances, which means the faces of all men and women. There are also many depictions in which he is said to hold a book in one of his hands.

The other demon who has very obvious relation to trees is:

Amdusias (also Amduscias, Amdukias or Ambduscias) has 29 legions of demons and spirits under his command. He is depicted as a human with claws instead of hands and feet, the head of a unicorn, and a trumpet to symbolize his powerful voice. Amdusias is associated with thunder and it has been said that his voice is heard during storms. In other sources, he is accompanied by the sound of trumpets when he comes and will give concerts if commanded, but while all his types of musical instruments can be heard they cannot be seen. He is regarded as being the demon in charge of the cacophonous music that is played in Hell. He can make trees bend at will.

The speculated theories about the identity of the Dendro archon are divided between him being under cover thus the gnosis is in the possession of the current lord and that he somehow.. let's call it changed vessels. And it all has good support by the nature of the Dendro slime that likes to hide. We have two types of electro slimes and we got a twin electro archon. Therefore my own expectation is that we'll get .. more than just one or two dendro archons but still only one having the gnosis. (Unless the Dendro Archon is Naberius which heart was found by Rhinedottir...)....

But let's try to think of other possibilities since the title mentioned hidden elements.

It wouldn't be a good story if characters thought to be gone don't return, right, by any meanings. But hat do we know about the Archons anyway... they use vessels thus they are supposed to be elemental beings. Barbatos takes the shape of a long gone friend, Morax is said to have a mortal vessel and Baal has the immortal shogun puppet. They never showed Ei and Makoto's true natures, such as they showed the wind spirit Barbatos and the dragon Zhongli. We also know little about the Archon war thus Zhongli says:

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.

Although the reasons for the beginning of the Archon war are unknown, something makes me think that it was game-like hence they got their throne as winners and I'd argue that the gnosis are their trophies. And nobody really cares about trophies years later (at least I didn't care to keep mine at home).

And in this war many elements were lost, because the representative gods died. A war for the divine seats. A complete change in the world system and the god's pantheon. A war not really of the elements but of ideals. It just sounds like a game rather than a war. 

In many Gnostic systems, various emanations of God are known by such names as One, Monad, Aion teleos (αἰών τέλεος "The Broadest Aeon"), Bythos (βυθός, "depth" or "profundity"), Proarkhe ("before the beginning", προαρχή), Arkhe ("the beginning", ἀρχή), and Aeons. In different systems these emanations are differently named, classified, and described, but emanation theory is common to all forms of Gnosticism. In Basilidian Gnosis they are called sonships (υἱότητες huiotetes; sing.: υἱότης huiotes); according to Marcus, they are numbers and sounds; in Valentinianism they form male/female pairs called syzygies (Greek συζυγίαι, from σύζυγοι syzygoi, lit. "yokings together").

This source of all being is an Aeon, in which an inner being dwells, known as Ennoea ("thought, intent", Greek ἔννοια), Charis ("grace", Greek χάρις), or Sige ("silence", Greek σιγή). The split perfect being conceives the second Aeon, Nous ("mind", Greek Νους), within itself. Complex hierarchies of Aeons are thus produced, sometimes to the number of thirty. These Aeons belong to a purely ideal, noumenal, intelligible, or supersensible world; they are immaterial, they are hypostatic ideas. Together with the source from which they emanate, they form Pleroma ("fullness", Greek πλήρωμα). The lowest regions of Pleroma are closest to darkness—that is, the physical world.

The transition from immaterial to material, from noumenal to sensible, is created by a flaw, passion, or sin in an Aeon. According to Basilides, it is a flaw in the last sonship; according to others the sin of the Great Archon, or Aeon-Creator, of the Universe; according to others it is the passion of the female Aeon Sophia, who emanates without her partner Aeon, resulting in the Demiurge (Greek Δημιουργός),^[1] a creature that should never have been. This creature does not belong to Pleroma, and the One emanates two savior Aeons, Christ and the Holy Spirit, to save humanity from the Demiurge. Christ then took a human form (Jesus), to teach humanity how to achieve Gnosis. The ultimate end of all Gnosis is metanoia (Greek μετάνοια), or repentance—undoing the sin of material existence and returning to Pleroma.

There is knowledge that needs to be returned to the depths, to be recycled in the ley line stream. It does not belong to the human world. If that is the goal of the Tsaritsa then probably that is the reason for the Archons didn't fight back for their Gnosis. To them they have lost meaning long ago. They are but the burden taken 2000 years ago. In any meaning the Gnosis appear to have been stolen. They don't belong neither to the Archons or the humans.

The argument of having more than 7 elements comes from the relations with Gnosticism where 7 Archons rule over the Heavens and 5 Kings - the Abyss. We have 7 Archons and then 5 crown-like rings hanging down from each domain where we also receive exactly 5 piece artifact sets (which I am going to speculate about in a separate post). Then why 8? Just because of the chess pieces? To simplify it, since 8 is the lucky number in China I also have to believe that there is a 'lost' element. 

But I don't think that the Time is the missing 8th element. The elements of the world must be the ones that support the life, the material of this world creation, the material world. In other words these are the elements that people are supposed to know and use to some extent. The other five are not for them to understand. Of course people must know the concept of time but it is not an element they should use, or could use.

These elements however are the demonic ones, they come from the demon gods.. I think...

I've already thought a lot about how the 7 elements imitate the real world being different manifestations of one and the same power - the light. They look like water and fire but they are even toxic. Dendro specifically imitates plants. But nothing imitates animals, humans. This must be forbidden.

And there comes Rhinedottir.

Rhinedottir is a proficient alchemist with mastery over the Art of Khemia, which was developed and practiced in Khaenri'ah. She is longtime friends with the adventurer Alice, though how they came to know each other or how long ago they met, given the longevity of Alice and Klee's race are currently unknown.

After discovering the Heart of Naberius with Albedo, she disappeared without a trace. However, she left Albedo with a note, a recommendation letter, and a piece of classical text. She tasked Albedo with finding the "truth and meaning of this world" as his final assignment.

In Manichaeism, the archons are the rulers of a realm within the 'Kingdom of Darkness', who together make up the Prince of Darkness.

Naberius appears to be a three dog-headed demon. And In the story of Hex and Hound we learn about how the witch Nottfriga turns a human into a dog with dark magic, while attempting to transform him into a wolf, which later on Gold achieves with the Rifthounds and I am ignoreing the fact that Nottfriga is cunning just like Mobius and anywaysssss ... What on earth was the "Essence of the Inmost Heart"...

I think that the Archons as to be the very essence of their element but there is a missing essence. That of animal or also - of human. If pyro imitates fire and dendro imitates plants, in the patterns of essence of life to begin it also needs element that would imitate human. Is that needed? Are human fake too? They can certainly be. If that 'element' was forbidden and hidden because of the fear it'd be used to create human, or any living forms... I argue that it would be best fit for a missing element that would also belong to the existing ones' pattern. I'll call it the element of Zoo (ha ha ha but it fits the patterns okay).

This 'element' maybe was never lined to the 7 tho, maybe it belongs to the Abyss, along with Time/ Chrono and Void/Keno. .. Light/Helio, Essense/Eido,  with Void being the base or let's call it canavas, Essense being the idea of the world and Light giving the palette of colors aka the elements. And Time accompanning this process. But there should be one more... hmm unless it is the Zoo or Living beings and we still have exactly 7 + 5 elements - the universal forces and the earthly demon elements. Unless the final piece is actually the primordial original God/Theo, the spirit. (I still need to confirm the correct greek word but note that i removed the -s- from them on purpose here).

Thinking randomly too... the Seven represent a new era where the gods take human appearance (although this ear is over now and Teyvat has stepped into the ear of humanity). Therefore those who don't have it are considered scary and banished to the Dark Sea and the depths, they no longer belong to the new order. Even the adepti have human forms and rarely come to human now in their original forms. Why are human so special so the demons want to be like them... do they want this tho? If human were created by god's image then the demons had to look like human too, to become gods. The elements derive from the demon world, an illusion of the real one, they imitate it but human should never learn some of these 'arts'.