In my opinion, I think it’s gonna be one if not all of the Archons that took part in Khaenri’ah’s destruction by sacrificing themselves or something similar to atone for what they did. Even if they did it for the greater good, a lot of people still died by their hands so they probably feel guilty.
Or Childe, I mean look at his eyes, the dude’s already dead inside.
I think Zhongli has a death flag. Narratively, he’s got nothing else interesting going on, now he’s retired. It’s a natural plot point to have him go out in a blaze of glory protecting Liyue one last time (and also, as you said, redeeming the archons for what went down in Khaenriah).
but will he die as an archon or a funeral parlor consultant?
The people of Liyue already saw their god die once, experiencing that again might be too much for them. Not to mention Hu Tao, she was the one closest to him, and even though she fully understood the concept of life and death, she definitely knew Zhongli’s identity and expected him to outlive her, seeing someone whom she thought would always stay by her side leaving her must be devastating. This time maybe Qiqi would come to Hu Tao to console her instead of running away from her.
It’s very hard to say, if they kill any character in my opinion will be right at the end of the game as I’m sure they want to keep selling banners.
I have a feeling that the abyss sibling is already dead/will die like we are trapped in a cycle and all of this happened already.
I’m also think that not all archons will be playable and we will see a replacement show up, a new archon.
But idk that’s just me and my theories.
I was thinking how it would have been interesting to pull Xiao’s death during the Chasm event, considering how he’s the last of the Yaksha. I doubt they’ll kill him off considering they had their chance, but who knows.
I can see both Childe (given all of his red flags), and Zhongli (being the most mysterious of the archons). Maybe Diluc and Kaeya would be on the same level of possibility, especially the latter, given his ancestry.
