I'm going to play this out a little so bear with me. Seelies are a type of Scottish fairy. They usually hang out in their courts hoping for aid from humans that cross their paths. At the same time being classic European fairies they are prone to mischief and could cause harm to humans unprovoked too. In this mythos there's also the Unseelie which are pretty much evil versions of seelies that want to harm humans all the time.
This actually has almost nothing to do with Genshin's Seelies and that's because of our old friend "original dub." In Chinese the words used are 仙灵 and that could determine what they actually are in Teyvat.
The second word 灵 means soul. A ghost which we know as a disembodied soul is 幽灵 in Chinese. The more important word is 仙 which is also used in this term 仙人 or adepti and 仙兽 or illuminated beast.
So are they adepti? I don't think it's as simple as that. What exactly is an adepti? You might define them from the known adepti like Xiao or Ganyu or the illuminated beasts like Cloud Retainer or Moon Carver but that's not all they are. Zhongli is also an adepti isn't he? And so is Marchosius and Madame Ping. That's a really wide spectrum of people.
And that's because 仙人 is a real word in Chinese. It goes back to Taoism and actually Zhongli's namesake. All the term really means is somebody who has mastered the Tao (the way of life) and has become no different than the divine. These guys often get translated as "immortals" in English but that's the least of their attributes. So that's why we can see in Genshin the adepti can do tons of crazy stuff. They can make subspaces and create other spirits to inhabit them. They can use the elements naturally and set up trials and gadgets on a whim. And they can affect others either inhibiting negative characteristics, enhancing positive characteristics and seal or release opponents.
With that in mind what do we know about the Seelie? According to the lore they used to be magnificent beings that used their powers to guide humanity. They also existed during and maybe even before the age of gods and it is implied their kingdom might be where the Dark Sea is today. A catastrophe happened that caused them to wither away and lose their powers and these days the only thing they do is get Vision holders to follow them to treasures or to solve a puzzle. (And zip around making following them more annoying if they are Electro. [emoji]) Of course that means they are still trying to guide humanity aren't they?
Who else do we know that guides humanity? From Zhongli's Story 5 we know that's also what the first Seven did. Yes I think what modern people of Teyvat call "Seelies" may just be Archons. Let me explain.
During the Archon Wars most if not all other Archons died. Andrius for one chose to give up his physical body and live on as a spirit. Marchosius sacrificed his power and was reduced to Guoba even losing his memories. But we also learn from Madame Ping that Archons can never die so this must mean they all continue to exist in some other form. Finally we also know that all the defeated Archons of the Archon War either died, were sealed or fled to places like the Dark Sea.
So if we compare these traits the Seelies and Archons can both wither away and live on in a reduced form, they existed at the same time in large numbers, a catastrophe (a few) caused most of them to lose their original powerful forms but even diminished they still carry their former task of guiding humanity and finally many of them have since fled to the Dark Sea which might be the location of the Seelie's old kingdom.
And another thing. You know after Istaroth was revealed and the whole Paimon is the God of Time thing was debunked a bunch of people began likening Paimon to a Seelie instead. Paimon was also previously thought to be the Sustainer partly because her name is an Ars Goetia name just like all the Archons so far. So if Seelies are in fact the form some of these fallen Archons took then it would make sense that an "Archon" like Paimon would feel like a Seelie. (But I don't think it's as simple as that.)
And 1 last thing. I talked about this before but I'm not sure how many Shenhe havers have gotten her Friendship up high enough to see it themselves. Cloud Retainer and Yun Jin talk about how there was an evil god and Shenhe was sacrificed to it by her father. Now Yun Jin's facts don't have to be accurate but when Cloud Retainer tells us her first hand account of this evil god that should be legit. Now if you look at Shenhe Story 3 it doesn't say evil god. It says Black Seelie. (which might also reference that Unseelie thing I brought up at the start of this topic so that's cool too)
What do you guys think? Sound legit?
Tips and Tricks from a Super Casual Genshin f2p
