Hello Travelers! Khaenri'ah's fall is one of Genshin Impact's oldest, most tangled mysteries, and the Five Sinners of Khaenri'ah sit right at the center of it. First introduced during the Archon Quest Bedtime Story, Chapter IV: Act VI, they've only grown more significant since, with their stories expanding through quests like Caribert and the recent Song of the Welkin Moon: Act IV - An Elegy for Faded Moonlight. This guide breaks down who the Five Sinners of Khaenri'ah were before the Cataclysm, how the Abyss claimed each of them, and what's been officially confirmed about their titles, powers, and lingering ties to the present-day story.
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What are the Five Sinners of Khaenri'ah
Khaenri'ah was once the most advanced civilization in Teyvat. A nation without a god that pushed technology and alchemy further than anyone else dared. That ambition came at a cost. Around 500 years before the game's present day, the kingdom was wiped out in an event known as the Cataclysm, punished by the Heavenly Principles and The Seven for delving into forbidden power.
The Five Sinners were at the center of that fall. Dainsleif has said they were once some of Khaenri'ah's most respected figures, people who alongside him were meant to stop the Vinster King Irmin from destabilizing the world. Instead, the pull of the Abyss proved too strong. Each of them ended up claiming a share of the same world-shattering power torn from the Traveler's sibling. That choice transformed them into something beyond human, what the game refers to as transcendent beings.
That's also where their title comes from. None of them stepped in to defend Khaenri'ah when the Cataclysm hit, despite wielding power strong enough to possibly stop it, and Dainsleif holds that failure against them to this day. In his eyes, choosing the Abyss over their own nation is exactly what makes them "sinners."
Their names carry weight even now. Rhinedottir ("Gold"), Rerir ("Rächer of Solnari"), Vedrfolnir ("The Visionary"), Surtalogi ("The Foul"), and Hroptatyr ("The Wise") each hold onto both a title and a "sin," an attribute tied to their power: Life, Death, Time, Void, and Reason, respectively. Their fingerprints show up all over Teyvat's current story too. From Abyssal monsters to the origins of the Abyss Order itself, which makes them one of the more important pieces of unresolved lore still hanging over the game.
Rhinedottir, "Gold"
Rhinedottir is the most documented of the Five Sinners by far, largely because her fingerprints show up in nearly every nation. A member of the Hexenzirkel, she reached the pinnacle of both knowledge and alchemical skill in Khaenri'ah, a level of mastery that earned her the title "Gold." Her specialty was the forbidden Art of Khemia, alchemy focused on creating life itself, and she used it prolifically, producing beings like Albedo, the fallen dragon Durin, and various Rifthounds scattered across Teyvat. She sorted her creations by categories she called "pedigrees," with Albedo, born from the highest-quality "Cretaceus" pedigree, standing as her most successful result of what she called the Primordial Human Project, her long-running attempt to create a human being through alchemy alone.
Her connection to the Abyss runs deeper than the other Sinners too. Alongside Albedo she discovered the Heart of Naberius, the Shade of Life, and ultimately consumed it, merging with Naberius and taking over her role among the Four Shades. She vanished shortly after, leaving Albedo a note, a recommendation letter, and a final task: to find the "truth and meaning of this world." Naberius is said to still exist within her, occasionally voicing disapproval of Rhinedottir's actions from within their shared mind. Her attribute among the Sinners is Life, a fitting one given how much of Teyvat's current cast, human and monster alike, traces back to something she made.
Vedrfolnir, "The Visionary"
Vedrfolnir is Dainsleif's older brother, and easily one of the more personal entries in this list because of it. Before the Cataclysm, he was one of King Irmin's most trusted advisors, alongside Hroptatyr, and his gift for foresight is exactly what earned him the title "The Visionary," a reputation nobody in Khaenri'ah could match. Even fellow Sinner Surtalogi admitted his prophecies were never wrong. That gift eventually turned tragic. When Vedrfolnir warned Irmin that his path would doom the nation, the king had him blinded and imprisoned. Prompting Dainsleif to organize a rescue with Rerir, Surtalogi, Rhinedottir, and Hroptatyr. He survived but his hunger to see the future clearly proved just as costly as Irmin's fall, drawing him into the Abyss and turning him into one of the Five Sinners.
His current form is a levitating, chain-bound crystal pulsing with purple Abyssal energy, first encountered by the Traveler's sibling and Chlothar Alberich in the Unknown Sanctuary. It was Vedrfolnir's voice and power that pushed Chlothar to abandon the Seven entirely and found the Abyss Order, restoring the sentience of Caribert in the process. He's also strongly implied to be behind the stone tablets outlining the Prophecy of Fontaine, having apparently glimpsed the Traveler and their sibling across memories that, from his side, took place centuries ago. His attribute among the Sinners is Time, fitting for someone whose defining power was always about seeing what hadn't happened yet.
Surtalogi, "The Foul"
Surtalogi wasn't always feared. Born in prison to parents already sentenced to death, he grew up facing constant criticism on the streets before eventually training under the same teacher, Haden, as Dainsleif, learning the Black Serpent Bladework style the two would later be known for. He genuinely wanted to live by the knight's code, but Haden, more interested in protecting his own reputation than mentoring him, punished Surtalogi for it, costing him several limbs in the process. It's that fall from an idealistic, once-close friendship with Dainsleif into something monstrous that likely earned him the title "The Foul."
After the Cataclysm turned him into one of the Five Sinners, Surtalogi left Teyvat entirely, roaming the universe in search of an opponent capable of matching his new strength. He never found one. Entire civilizations threw everything they had at him, gods included, and none of it was enough to push him to his limit. Eventually concluding he'd become the strongest being in existence, he took on Skirk as a disciple purely in hopes she might one day give him the fight he's been chasing. He's also the owner of the All-Devouring Narwhal which he treats less like a monster and more like a pet. His attribute among the Sinners is Void. Matching an entity whose power revolves around consuming and erasing whatever stands in his way.
Rerir, "Rächer of Solnari"
Rerir's story is the most tragic of the Five Sinners, and also the most recently expanded, thanks to the ongoing Nod-Krai questline. Before the Cataclysm he wasn't a warrior or a scholar like the others. He was a secret agent of the Eclipse Dynasty tasked with hunting down the last descendants of the rival Crimson Moon Dynasty. That job earned him his title, "Rächer of Solnari," essentially an executioner acting on Solnari's behalf. Everything changed when he fell in love with Tholindis, one of the very descendants he was assigned to eliminate. When he learned she was next on his kill list, he refused the order. Setting off a chain of events that pulled him into Dainsleif's failed rescue of Vedrfolnir. Rerir only agreed to help in hopes of earning a pardon that would let him protect Tholindis.
It wasn't enough. When Tholindis discovered his secret and vanished through a moon gate, a devastated Rerir turned to the Abyss alongside the other Sinners, hoping its power could help him find her again, a choice that stunned Dainsleif, who never expected someone with no real ambition to fall the same way the others did. Centuries later, his story resurfaces in Nod-Krai, where his corrupted heart, absorbed and later reclaimed through the region's Wild Hunt anomalies, drives him to attack and absorb kuuvahki in a mindless hunt for power. It's only in a moment of clarity near the end of that arc that Rerir finally feels remorse for what he's become, asking to send Tholindis one last message before letting go. His attribute among the Sinners is Death, a fitting echo of the executioner he once was.
Hroptatyr, "The Wise"
Hroptatyr is the least explored of the Five Sinners in-game so far, but what's confirmed paints a clear picture of ambition undone by opportunity. As President of the Universitas Magistrorum and Khaenri'ah's Chief Royal Mage, a title that earned him "The Wise" by royal appointment, he was by far the most favored of the Four Pillars of Khaenri'ah, close enough to King Irmin's favor that it reportedly bred deep resentment from figures like Pierro and his own passed-over Vice President, Eftirvit.
That favoritism is exactly what put him in the room when it mattered most. When Dainsleif organized the rescue of his imprisoned brother Vedrfolnir, Hroptatyr joined Rerir, Rhinedottir, and Surtalogi in storming Irmin's castle, working alongside Rhinedottir to disable the palace's security systems. It was during that same raid that he crossed paths with the Traveler's Sibling and gave in to his desire for limitless knowledge, stealing a sixth of their world-shattering power and sealing his fate as one of the Sinners in the process. His attribute is Reason, a title that reads almost ironic given it was his hunger for more of it that undid him.
Five Sinners of Khaenri'ah Trivias
- All Five Sinners hail from Khaenri'ah's inner circle, four of them (Rhinedottir, Vedrfolnir, Surtalogi, Hroptatyr) were originally part of the "Four Pillars of Khaenri'ah," with Rerir added separately through his connection to Dainsleif and the failed rescue of Vedrfolnir.
- Each Sinner's title is directly tied to their former role in Khaenri'ah society: Rhinedottir's alchemical mastery, Vedrfolnir's prophetic gift, Surtalogi's fall from knighthood, Rerir's work as an enforcer, and Hroptatyr's position as Chief Royal Mage.
- Together, the five originally held all six-sixths of the "world-shattering" Abyssal power taken from the Traveler's sibling, split evenly among them.
- Dainsleif personally knew all Five Sinners before the Cataclysm; his brother Vedrfolnir and childhood friend Surtalogi make their eventual falls especially personal for him.
- Similar to the Eleven Fatui Harbingers, each Sinner gets a dramatic name-and-title reveal the first time they appear in-game, though Vedrfolnir and Surtalogi have so far only shown up as voices or in flashbacks, so theirs haven't been shown yet.
- Each Sinner once wielded their own signature weapon, referenced through Stygian Onslaught's weapon appearances: Rhinedottir's sword Serpent Devourer (once "Logseims"), Rerir's polearm Shattered Moon (once "Barnstokkr"), Vedrfolnir's catalyst Hallowed Fetters (once "Gleipnir"), Surtalogi's bow Starpiercer (once "Gusisnautar"), and Hroptatyr's claymore Ardent Storm (once "Starkuthr").
- During the Archon Quest All Is Foretold, each Sinner is also represented by a unique game piece used to reconstruct their story through simulation.
Conclusion
The Five Sinners might be some of the most important figures in Genshin Impact's backstory, and yet most of them are still only half-explained. Rhinedottir and Vedrfolnir have gotten the most screen time so far, while Hroptatyr remains almost a complete mystery beyond his title. As the game and future Archon Quests continue unraveling Khaenri'ah's past, expect more of their stories to come into focus, and we'll keep this guide updated as that happens. For affordable and secure Genshin Impact Top-up, go straight to LootBar now. Journey well Travelers!
