Theory crafting time!
Ok so I'm gonna assume you guys reading this have watched the trailer for Xiao. There's very little information on the Yakshas but from the little we do have I think we can start making some guesses.
So the first thing is the Yakshas Vigilant Adepti. This is a book that was only available in closed beta but you can actually read it from the Genshin wiki. In the book everything in the trailer is covered but there's a little more than that. For me the important parts to take away from it is that there were more Yakshas than just the 5 from the trailer but the 5 are the strongest. The second is "Some were given unto their rage, others unto a madness which fear mongered. Many turned to the slaughter of their own, others were bewitched by shadows of the soul." The major difference here is that the one that went crazy but went crazy out of fear.
Ok before I explain my thoughts on that the second thing we have is a World Quest called Yaksha's Wish. In that one we find out which one went missing which is Bosacius. We have no idea which one of the 5 Bosacius is though. But also something I took away from this was that the quest has 2 fights one against a Geo Lawachurl and the other against a Hydro Abyss Mage. From the trailer we see the Geo and Hydro Yaksha attacking each other. Does this mean anything? Maybe.
So the information I think is important are:
-Many Yaksha with 5 being the strongest
-The fire one went crazy but crazy because she was scared
-Yaksha's Wish featured enemies that could be reflective of the battle between the Hydro and Geo Yakshas
My theory is that we're looking at the Pyro Archon Murata.
Let me first explain how I got there with those points and then I'll provide a few more details that make me believe it even more. We know 2 of the 5 attacked each other. We know the Electro Goro one went darkside. And we know 3 of them are dead most likely from these events. So it makes sense the fire one went crazy because of that (even if the trailer showed her first) and that's why she fled. The World Quest is her homage to her fallen friends also kinda her showing what scared her so much into disappearing. Electro is missing from this because he betrayed them.
But how does that make her the Archon? It's stated a few times that the Adepti are as close to the Archons as mortals can be and it's assumed they could become Archons themselves. We also know that only Zhongli and Venti are still the same Archons from the original 7. Everybody else is younger and we already know that both Raiden and the Dendro Archon are much younger. So it makes sense that a Yaksha that ran off could have killed an Archon and took their place. Venti also knows Murata and said she's crazy and warmongering. Many people believe that war can come from fear so it really fits Venti's description of Murata that she could be an old Yaksha that went crazy from fear specifically the fear of either being killed off by one of her peers or going darkside and then being killed as punishment. That second part could have led her to influence the Muratans like Vanessa who ended up helping Venti overthrow the corrupt aristocracy of old Mondstadt.
Wait so then what's that first point about? Glad you asked!
I wouldn't be surprised if Xiao's Story Quest is going to go further into detail about these guys. I mean what other story would he really have? I'm not sure if they'd go all the way in. It would feel like a waste of perfectly good new content for the game but I'm betting we'll be seeing these guys again. Of course if we do it'll confirm or disprove my theory about Murata but either way this would be really cool if MiHoYo explores the story briefly in Xiao's story and then gives us brand new content like this:
Yaksha aren't human. And we see that things that aren't human also don't die like humans. It's said that Adepti will return to Celestia when they die. But there's also a big dose of Buddhism (it's a Chinese game after all) in the game's lore. So for most things you die and you get reincarnated. There are people who think Ningguang is Guizhong reincarnated as a human. But the flip side of that is if you were bad. You don't reincarnate in Chinese Buddhism and instead you are sent to the 18 levels of hell doomed to repeat the mistakes and regrets of your squandered life.
What if we get brand new content called something like "the Demons Lament." It's some kind of domain or just a new area (maybe near the Chasm that's currently out of bounds right next to Liyue) and it'll have enemies in the form of the ghosts of all the dead Yaksha. In the deepest part there's a boss fight against the 3 dead Yaksha. So for me that means the Geo, Hydro and Electro ones. Maybe in the fight you start out against the suffering ghosts of the Geo and Hydro Yaksha who kinda fight by attacking each other reliving the moments leading to their deaths because it's their greatest shame. Finally you end up fighting the Electro Yaksha who's suffering is the greatest because he turned on all of them and on Zhongli. In the story version of this you'll kinda set them at peace. Pretty much you knock some sense into them for a while so they can explain themselves and how they regret what they'd done. But again because Buddhism that alone can't save them. That's how we can keep coming back here for drops and stuff. But in the story it'll be explained that even though they will forever suffer for their mistakes at least they had the chance to tell their story in their own words. I'd say Xiao and Zhongli would be the prominent characters in this event unless we've already gotten Murata by then and it'll be Xiao and Murata finally reuniting to face their past.
Meanwhile since something like that will definitely reveal which one is Bosacius and the last survivor future content not to mention a new 5* character will come up too. In my version that's already taken care of. We need to head to Natlan at some point so if Murata's her we'll have to interact with her and so far all the Archons are 5* Support characters so that's already done too. Also with the new banner schedule it would be so easy to have her banner open the month and have Xiao close it out. (We're not getting to Natlan anytime soon so by then it'll be due time for Xiao to come back.)
Summary of possible new event
-New Domain/Region to fight dead Yakshas
-New boss fight against 3 fallen Yaksha
-Event led by Xiao and either Zhongli or Murata
-Leads to or happens in conjunction with the release of Murata Banner followed by Xiao rerelease
What do you guy's think?
