ReZhong

ReZhong is the slash ship between Azdaha and Zhongli from the Genshin Impact fandom.

Backstory
Azhdaha is the oldest of the Geovishaps and holds command over the Ley Lines. For untold years, he had slumbered in Nantianmen, deep within the earth. But when he awakened, the slightest movement would cause earthquakes which led to Morax seek him out to stop it. He was a blind Geo lifeform that dwelled underground but wished to see surface life, so Morax unearthed him and granted him the ability to see. As part of his subsequent contract with Morax, Morax warned him that if Azhdaha ever endangered the order of Liyue, he would not hesitate to seal him back underground.

Azhdaha became a friend of both Morax and humanity itself, taking a particular liking to blacksmiths. Additional dialogue states that Azhdaha was present at Morax's side during Liyue's founding, meaning that he likely was present during much of Liyue's founding days and likely had a hand in its formative years as one of Morax's closest allies and friends.

As time passed, Azhdaha began to suffer from erosion — he forgot Morax's face and contract over time, and when humans began venturing into the Chasm to mine, overexploitation of its resources damaged the Ley Lines within, causing Azhdaha much suffering. Despite Morax's attempt to halt Azhdaha's erosion by sharing his powers, Azhdaha began attacking the very humans he swore to protect, forcing the Geo Archon to intervene. Given Azhdaha's formidable strength as an ancient elemental being, Morax and the adepti had difficulty subduing the crazed Azhdaha, in a battle that began in the Chasm and wrought a path of destruction north all the way to Nantianmen. However, with Azhdaha's remaining conscience willingly accepting his fate, they were eventually able to seal his eroded self in the Dragon-Queller at Nantianmen. The clashes of elemental energy during this battle also resulted in the creation of Dragonfall.

No Mere Stone
Over centuries, Azhdaha's seals start to weaken, allowing him to first manifest a portion of his power into a girl named Jiu to announce his resurrection. However, this had very little effect due to Jiu's small stature and the fact that everyone appeared to have forgotten about him. It then dawned on his mind that he could escape his confinement and roam Liyue once more by attacking the seal on both sides to destroy it and free him.

Sometime after Osial's defeat, Azhdaha had Jiu travel to the Chasm and manipulate a group of miners to head to Nantianmen to excavate and break the seal with their pickaxes from the outside. Unbeknownst to him, this attempt also allowed the remaining benevolent side of his consciousness to escape, who possessed a human — Kun Jun — to warn Morax of the plot.

Azhdaha eventually fought and was defeated by the Traveler, Zhongli (Morax's current form), and his own benevolent consciousness. The crazed Azhdaha regained a part of his sanity after exhausting his strength before being resealed, while the benevolent consciousness peacefully bid farewell to Morax.

Fanon
Compared to some of Zhongli's other ships, ReZhong has a rather modest following but a dedicated fanbase on sites like Twitter and Tumblr, and has roughly 170 stories on Ao3. Many fans of the pairing like to either anthromorphize Azhdaha as a well-built, bespeckled man donning clothing reminiscent of what Zhongli/Morax wore and possessing antler-like horns similar to what depictions of Morax sometimes possess, or depict them both as dragons due to Zhongli's Exuvia taking the form of a dragon. Many fanworks focus on Zhongli and Azhdaha during ancient times, such as the Guili Assembly or during Liyue's formative days where Azhdaha is shown as one of Morax' closest friends and confidants, sometimes interacting with other people from Zhongli's past like Guizhong, the Yakshas, and the other Adepti present during the Archon Wars and Liyue's founding days. Other works like to imagine Retuo (or, Azhdaha's Chinese given name) being present in the modern day and surviving the 'No Mere Stone' quest.

Usually, Azhdaha possessing a human form typically stems from many fans viewing him as being similar to the illuminated beasts, or Adepti, that also are capable of taking human form.

Otherwise, many fans also like to focus on the angstier aspects of their relationship, such as Azhdaha's erosion and betrayal, or depicting the pair as flashbacks while Zhongli reminisces and mourns the past. Some others also focus on either Morax or Zhongli visiting the Dragon-Queller at Nantianmen to pay tribute to his fallen friend.

Currently, the ship mainly has rivals in ChiLi and Guili, but seems to be largely embraced by Zhonglitto shippers who like to imagine that Zhongli's attraction to Itto came from his past relationship or attraction to Azhdaha before.

Quotes
"You've brought a smile to my face. When all is said and done, a reunion between friends is an auspicious occasion."

- Zhongli to Azhdaha, No Mere Stone quest

"You chose justice, but did not forsake your kindness. You came to me not as an assassin, and so was I willingly sealed away."

- Azhdaha to Zhongli, No Mere Stone quest

"Do not forget I was there with Liyue's founder. The face may have changed, but the content of the contract remains intact. Old friend, God of Contracts, I hereby honor our agreement."

- Azhdaha to Zhongli, No Mere Stone quest

"Saddened by the lost of time, why did you (Rex Lapis) fail me? / Maddened by your (Rex Lapis) annoyance too often, turning the rich earth into wasteland"

- Ode to Azhdaha lyrics

"Show yourself! / O deep, cold palace, the place of my sins / Since you left, this country has fallen into a terrible state / Already long lost and forgotten, as for my home / The mountains are precipitous and lush, hiding the path that diverged (between you and me) / Recounting how I had lost my way and wandered away from you, engulfed by the shadow of a mountain ridge"

- Rage Beneath the Mountains lyrics

"What the song is trying to express, at least in my opinion, is the manifested hatred and grudge of Azhdaha after being sealed underground for thousands of years. It's not just the hatred of having lost previously or hatred for Morax but the deep hatred of being sealed alive and watching as he is forgotten and alienated by the world."

- Manny Calavera, Creative Concept and Writing Team on the meaning behind Ode to Azhdaha & Rage Beneath the Mountains

Trivia

 * According to this theory, some of Zhongli's Japanese lines reference time spent with Azhdaha. The characters ‘旧友‘ that Zhongli employs have, thus far, only been spoken in reference to Retuo. Given the fact that Zhongli mentions that people he used to enjoy his signature Osmanthus Wine are no longer around, it gives credence to this theory. Some lines include:
 * "My departed friend who held flowers and wine in hand and rode a boat with me... when will we meet again?"
 * "I wanted to buy flowers and bring some wine to appreciate Liyue’s scenery in a boat. But the old friend that once accompanied me is not here. When will my reunion with that ancient friend come true..."
 * Morax and Azhdaha bear strong sun/moon dichotomy in canon, and in some images. The that Azhdaha drops after his boss fight references moonlight, and Azhdaha mentions how he was "a blind dragon yearning for the sun" in the No Mere Stone questline. In the Moonchase PV, it features two contrasting graphics with Azhdaha facing left towards the moon while Morax, in his dragon form, faces right towards the sun.
 * In the quest 'No Mere Stone', interesting parallels were drawn between the quest's name and its Chinese translation. Essentially, the collected names of each of the quests alludes to a lover's tale while the quests themselves concern Zhongli/Morax's relationship with Retuo, which strongly suggests the presence of romance insinuation, at the very least.
 * Taking the first word of each of the Chinese quest names forms the phrase 世事易变 (Things of world are changeable). Taking the last work of each of the Chinese quest names forms the phrase 匪石弗转 (It's not a stone, it can't be turned).
 * 匪石弗转 from《柏舟》(Cypress boat) of The Book of Songs (诗经) which is the earliest collection of poems in China. The poem in 《柏舟》 is 我心匪石，不可转也 (my heart is not a pebble, it can't turn around). There was a couple who were very affectionate and had vowed that their love would last forever. After her husband died, her parents wanted her to remarry. His wife resolutely refused, so she wrote a poem "柏舟" to prove their love and let her parents give up the idea. One of the words is that my heart is not pebbles, can not come back and forth to roll back and forth to roll, used to express their strong love.


 * According to Azhdaha's Japanese VA, Kouhei Kiyasu, "It was almost like it crossed the line into melodrama. [...] I did my best not to be over-sentimental, especially to represent Azhdaha, right? I mean, I don't want to make it look like an 'over-sweetened' relationship," in regards to portraying Azhdaha's relationship with Morax.
 * In the Birth of a Dragon behind-the-scenes video, Azhdaha's Chinese VA describes their relationship thusly: "I didn't want to make it sound too much like a romantic TV show, I mean. If I did that, their relationship up to that point would become too sweet. Azhdaha still conveyed some of his feelings to Morax in a subtle way."
 * In the Zhongli + Azhdaha PV, it mentions a poem by Su Shi. The full quote is as follows: "We really are like people who have been together for a thousand years, yet parted for a single day."

Fando,
FAN FICTION

TWITTER

TUMBLR