The lack of Moon Phases

In the new quests, the antique collector said “so the moon wasn’t always full”

Which, really stuck out to me, since the Nod Krai cast has a lot of crescent motifs.

I assumed it was because of the illusion of a moon, but now that the frost moon is back, there should be phases, right?

Or is it because the solar chariot crashed?

Does anyone have an idea as to why, cause I’m going insane.

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Commentaires

DungeonEnvy2026-02-01 21:10

The tri-lunar symbol that you can see **all** over the place in the genshin impact song of the welkin moon promo materials, with all three moons overlapping, looks like two crescent moons and one full moon because of the overlaps

I believe that's the source

StarJolion2026-02-01 21:43

The crescent motifs come from the 3 moons covering each other. Which was also shown in the flashback. That symbolism is pretty common when referring to the 3 moon goddesses.

Also, just a reminder that moon phases require the presence of a sun. Right now, we only have a moon hanging inside the false sky. The sun is still a giant faker.

JEMS932026-02-02 02:07

Assuming teyvat is a round planet wouldnt that mean that the sun, even fake, behaves the same as the real one? It still rises and sets to turn night to day and day to night. If that happens it should cast a shadow to the moon. Before the argument could be made that the fake moon had its own light source but now it shouldn't so a shadow should still be projected onto its surface. Or am i dead wrong with my understanding of how the moon phases behave?

Dramatic-Confusion132026-02-02 04:25

But if the sun and moon are static on the opposite of each other and tevyat spins around its own axis. We get day and night cycles but no moon phases. For moon phases the moon would need to spin around tevyat. We don't even know if tevyat spins around a star. Doesn't look like it cause there are no seasons.

JEMS932026-02-02 05:44

If they were static and opposite then it would always be lunar eclipse then. For the seasons i agree if the fake sun only emits light and not heat

Zitronenstrudel2026-02-02 05:52

Except if the frost moon emits light itself, then it will always be full even if the sun is on the opposite side right?

JEMS932026-02-02 05:55

That could be it. My counter argument is we went there, and it didn't seem like the light was emanating from it. Could be wrong, cant remember all the details very well

Zitronenstrudel2026-02-02 05:58

It was relatively bright on it without a sun in sight so maybe it just isn't as bright that it would get in your way. But who knows, maybe we learn more about it some other time

MorganTaoVT2026-02-02 05:57

If we can assume the new outfit to be talking about Teyvat, then it is indeed orbiting a white dwarf.
The lack of seasons might just be because of the fake sky, or that that white dwarf is absolutely not emitting anything anymore.

AltairZero2026-02-02 03:32

Normal Faker is already scary, now we got a giant one??

Popular-Bid2026-02-02 04:24

Will Giant Faker finally win the Golden Road?

ce1es2026-02-01 23:04

That moment was really interesting because I never thought about it, Teyvat has its own rules, you know. But yes, it's always full moon. Let's see if this changes now. Considering how bad they implemented Traveler's outfit change in the cutscenes I don't expect too much.

Azliel2026-02-02 00:26

Omg the outfit in the cutscenes bothers me so much.

Myriad102026-02-02 01:45

But the moon is inside Teyvat's fake sky so it would make sense not to have moon phases

ce1es2026-02-02 01:48

Right. But I never thought about why that is. You know the devs could just have been lazy because moon phases also change lighting at night and timing of moon rise and set.

Seehan2026-02-02 05:16

Ah yes, Genshin devs being so notoriously lazy regarding important worldbuilding elements, like having individualized footstep noises for characters not wearing shoes, or the jingling of metal pieces and bells on various outfits. Nope, Genshin devs lazy! /s

JEMS932026-02-02 02:08

The fake sun still casts light unto the earth. If it goes behind the planet at night it should still cast a shadow

ohoni2026-02-02 00:35

Someone should track the orbits of the sun and moon in the sky. Whether the moon would have phases or not would depend on how the sun would cast Teyvat's shadow on it. Given how much closer the Frost Moon is to Teyvat, the shadow would probably be total, rather than crescent. I'm thinking that in ancient times "crescent moons" weren't caused by shadows at all, but instead by one moon crossing in front of another.

Quopps2026-02-02 09:55

The moon can always be full \*if\* it's always on the opposite side of the planet from the sun (or whatever spot of light on the false sky is serving as a sun). This would mean the moon has to have an orbital period of one Teyvat day.

The orbital period of a satellite is given by 2π√(a³/(GM)), where a is the orbital radius, G the gravitational constant, and M the mass of the thing it's orbiting. Now, if Teyvat were the same size as Earth, then in order to have a one-day orbital period, the orbit would have to be so narrow that it would be way \*inside\* the planet. But I guess if Teyvat isn't a normal planet, but some sort of tiny dense thing, then maybe?

Trouble is, then the surface of the planet becomes closer to its center of mass and the surface gravity is much stronger (because GMm/d²), so we have to decrease the planet's mass to maintain a sensible amount of gravity, which then lengthens the orbital period again.

Bottom line: I'm no physicist, but I'm not sure it's possible to work out a compromise where a planet can have reasonable surface gravity for humans, but still have a moon with a one-day orbital period. Even \*if\* that planet is just, like, a shell over a black hole or something else wacky.

thecatteam2026-02-02 11:45

I was thinking about this too. It doesn't look like the new Frost Moon will have phases either. I noticed that the moon in the title screen is in a gibbous phase, both when it's the fake moon and the Frost Moon.