DISCLAIMER: FOR THE SAKE OF LENGTH I AM NOT DIRECTLY QOUTING ANYTHING. SOURCES ARE MARKED LIKE THIS^(WITH A LINK TO THE MATERIAL)

Request specific evidence if you desire, but I suggest being caught up with most lore to make sense of any of this from the get go. For the majority, having read Hymns of The North and the descriptions of all pieces of The Finale Of The Deep Series would be your best bet.

Sorry for spelling/grammar errors in advance as well.

Intro

As we are anxious to get into Sheznaya, the old question of why The Tsarista wants to collect the gnoses at all becomes even heavier.

With Skirk's old lore drop, most of us took note that each gnosis was sculpted by The Heavenly Principles out of The Third Descender^([Finale]) But that’s the main and only major takeaway I’ve seen collectively. I’ve seen little discussion of The Third Descender themselves. And while this theory is just a theory, not a fact like how the gnoses are made from them, I want to make a connection between it and The Tsarista’s possible reasoning for wanting the gnoses in the first place.

Let’s set up with another fact: The Tsarista wants to overthrow The Divine. Right? Right. At least that’s what Dainsleif says in The Travail Trailer. Every nation we come to, its main plot is always addressed to match his introductions to them in the trailer. Even if they didn’t, I think it’s pretty reasonable to conclude that’s what her goal is with multiple other considerations/factors that are too numerous to list.

The 3rd Descender Was Set Up

Here's a rough general timeline of Teyvat's history(relevant to this):

pretty bare bones timeline, IK

So the big thing here is that Seutervoinen warned Nibelung about bad tidings and this same Seutervoinen "comes" to Teyvat themselves after Nibelung is defeated. (Because Nibelung didn't want their offered help and went and got inflicted with The Abyss instead, oops) And then...the body they were in (Saarelaienen, The Third) also gets defeated.^([HOTFNV2]) ^([FOTDS]) ^([DGDP])

When I was looking at this basic order of events, I wondered- what if The Heavenly Principles knew of Seutervoinen's influence too? And Saarelaienen was specially targeted because of it*?* Think about it. In order to be a Descender, you have to be an alien or at least "descend" from space. Saarelaienen was not an alien by himself, he was a boy born and raised in Hyperborea.^([HOTFNV2]) Therefore, he wouldn't fit the "definition". But...if Phanes knew an alien's mind was within him, then he could.

Now here's the basic story of Saarelaienen:

what I man am i rite

That's right. This is the same dude who marries the first angel.^([HOTFNV2])

But there's the "man" who was demanding the gates to be open in the first place**,** Pakkaisukko. The supposed father of Koitar^([HOTFNV2]) , when we know full well she is a creation of The Heavenly Principles.^([DGLC]) I will come back to Pakkaisukko later, but you can note that he was probably a fae. The point right now is just to mark that this guy being her father doesn't add up. So lets focus on these Gates of Pohjola and why he wanted them open so bad...

In modern Teyvat, Pohjola is the island in Nod Krai, consisting of Voidsea Outlook, Wavechaser Plain, Ashveil Peak, as well as the unreleased part of the island. So, like, you know, the island where the giant abyss eyeball is, and the place where you go into the abyssal sea in a broken apocalypse bunker, the same island where Koitar's court is, and where the Serpent of all Evils was dealt with.^([bro just look at the game map, run around the island, do the world quests, lots of sources]) If opening the gates of Pohjola, therefore later having this island exist, meant allowing all this abyss juice to flow in to Teyvat, it would make sense why The Heavenly Principles would act to the point of destroying the nation Koitar and Saarelaienen led that stood there at the time, Hyperborea, with a celestial nail.^([WOK]) ^([DGMOV])But then why didn't the HP also close the gates of Pohjola?

My take: The abyss influence that came from opening the gates of Pohjola was an excuse for the Heavenly Principles to kill Saarelainen. Because he knew the being that tipped off Nibelung was within him- who was the real threat to him. So he had Pakkaisukko make him open the gates, knowing he would probably want to spare Koitar from doing so. Also, he got the added benefit of using his body to make the gnoses - and if that was also his plan all along- he must of known that the makeup of Saarelainen was perhaps effected by the cosmic fortune teller enough he could harness all of the elements as such. ^([Finale])

Or Was it The Other Way Around?

Let's rewind a bit.

• Saarelainen knew that he would be punished for opening the gates, getting married to Koitar, but he did it all anyway. ^([Finale]) ^([Neuv])
• Seutervoinen can foresee fates. Aka she can see the future. ^([DGDP])
• The two of them were in one mind.
• Seutervoinen told Koitar the truth of who she was. ^([DGES])
• Koitar told them the secrets of Teyvat. ^([DGES])
• The pair are why Hyperboreans got so advanced, etc. ^([WOK])

Also:

• Seutervoinen didn't die too, she reportedly can't be killed.^([DGDP])
• While everything happened, her true being was in space as always, and still probably is.^([DGDP])
• She is duty bound not to get involved in other world's fates, but she did for Teyvat twice. ^([DGDP])
• Skirk's master, Surgatoli, asked her to find this Miss Seutervoinen.^([DGBB])

So... sus?

But What if The Divine Suspects The Same?

Now we can talk about Pakkaisukko again:

• Pakkaisukko was likely a fae, and faes were created by the Hyperboreans who were taught how to do so by Koitar.^([faes]) ^([DGMOO])

So the Hymns of The North, where Pakkaisukko is recorded to be her father, to be the one who wanted the gates to be opened? The same history that called Koitar gullible?^([HOTFNV2]) You know what it seems like? A cover story, and all cover stories have at least one hole. A cover for the fact that her and her husband were trying to overthrow The HP to begin with. A "better" reason for why they were punished- making them seem innocent. When in all likely hood they really opened the Gates of Pohjola in hopes to attack the Heavenly Principles with the Abyss like Nibelung. And they failed - were punished for attacking - not only because they loved each other oh so much. Seutervoinen, despite not being "fully" there was also reported to get her memories wiped the same as Koitar. ^([DGES])

But about that, if The HP did set up The Third Descender's death, then he knew he would want to curse Koitar and the rest of the angles "for loving" and proceeded with his plot anyway. But the Tsarista is the archon of love. ^([Wan]) If she came to this conclusion or heard of this being this the reason for the angel's being cursed, she would maybe be rather...upset. Then, after her heartbreak and shock, Her Majesty might have also concluded that this Third Descender must be a ridiculous kind of threat to the HP for him to curse his angels "for loving" over them.

Conclusion

The Tsarista wants the gnoses because she believes The Third Descender left power from Seutervoinen within them -- and this is exactly what The Heavenly Principles wants her to think. Even if there is power within them from her - in all likelihood, he could use the traces to track down the true third descender himself and finally defeat them.

In the same vein, The Tsarista seeks to topple The Divine because she see's them as despicable, even cursing their own angels for loving - what she believes in. But she doesn't know the entire truth, the whole story, that the real reason the "forbidden couple" was punished was for opening The Gates of Pohjola, letting the Abyss run amok, and this fact has been hidden from her purposely. Again, all maybe so The HP can hope to neutralize the threat of Seutervoinen. The one descender he didn't completely get rid of - that is still out there beyond the stars, uncontrollable, who could potentially threaten the fates and order he has bestowed upon Teyvat again.

Basically, The Tsarista wants to use the gnoses to topple The Heavens, and The Heavens want her to try. Are waiting for it. It's possibly a trap for The Traveler as well- Phanes really hates descenders.

You might be thinking "then why would he use the remains to make gnoses and then spread them out and give them to the archons?"

In the War of Funerary Flame, the HP were severely injured, defeating Nibelung came at a "great cost."^([Neuv]) They've also been sleeping for the past 500 years.^([ASATFY]) This suggests they aren't or weren't in the best shape. And the gnoses may be elemental foci, meant for resonating archons to Celestia^([Venti]) made out of The Third, but they were sculpted by Phane's hand, so he could tack on multiple other uses of his own in the meantime of letting The Tsarista's false beliefs solidify. AKA he had to bide his time with the Third's remains and ensure they were hard to find and protected by his chosen "guardians". Probably in preparation for The Traveler's arrival. Cause if he figured out The Third's arrival then there's no reason The Fourth's should be a surprise to him.