When I have time I will do more tests.
So is it normal behavior for the wallet to create 8 new descriptors, leaving 16 in total after encrypting the wallet?
Even with a total of 16, only the newly generated 8 are the "
active" descriptors.
Active ones are the descriptors to be used when requesting addresses in the GUI's receive tab, change address and getnewaddress command.
The inactive descriptors prior to encryption will not be used to generate new keys/addresses but will still be able to track and sign associated transactions.
In your test, you can check each descriptor's active status in
listdescriptors command.