[4.1] Speculating Arlecchino's Possible Identity - A Genshin Impact Theory

I'm not the first to suspect or suggest that Arlecchino could be a Hilichurl... but I thought it would be fun to dig into the possibility anyway... I did not expect to stumble upon a possible identity for the Fourth Ranked Harbinger, nor did I expect the rabbit hole to lead me to... "her".
I guess that's what you get when you mix Hilichurls, Alice in Wonderland, and a fiery orphanage director.
*DISCLAIMER*
This theory contains WILD SPECULATIONS, as well as some STRETCHES, very big MENTAL LEAPS, and FALLIBLE INTERPRETATION. If that bothers you... well, you've been warned. Sometimes I just like to explore outlandish possibilities no matter how unlikely they may seem to be at the time of creation.
Also, sorry for the quality of the 4.1 footage. It was accidentally recorded at 1366x768 instead of 1920x1080. This will be fixed for future videos.
*SPOILER WARNINGS*
- Archon Quest Chapter 4, acts 1-4
- Ann of the Narzissenkreuz
- Ancient Colors
- Neuvillette Story Quest (1)
- Aqueous Tidemarks
- Unfinished Comedy
- Khvarena of Good and Evil
- Golden Slumber
- Dirge of Bilqis
*TIMESTAMPS*
0:00 Introduction
01:12 Hilichurls
08:31 Narzissenkruez
15:52 The Red Empress
29:19 Credits & Bonus Mini-Theory
*IN-VIDEO LINKS*
Arlecchino Design Analysis - www.tumblr.com/justhereforthe...
Laughing Man Arlecchino Analysis - • Arlecchino: The Black ...
The Truth About the Celestial Nail - • [2.6] The True Purpose...
Irminsul's True Purpose - • [3.8] Irminsul's True ...
*MORE INFORMATION*
This section is a combination of citations and terms/topics that came up during the video alongside their wikipedia articles (or similar related sources) which should help get you started when doing your own research.
Noah (Islam) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_in...
Hilichurls - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Ukko - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Tale of Shiruyeh and Shirin - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Majuj (In game) - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Wadi Al-Majuj - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Akademiya Team’s Investigation Logs - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Akademiya Team’s Investigation Report - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Remus - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Lyris - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Darkwing goose - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Caterpillar - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Ancient Natural History Excerpts - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Lilith (Kabbalah/Zohar) - • Who is Lilith - Part I...
Swan Lake - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake
The Raven - www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...
Empty Eyes (trope) - tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
Necrosis - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necrosis
Gog Magog - www.britannica.com/topic/Gog
Gog Magog - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gog_and...
Yajuj Majuj - www.britannica.com/topic/Yaju...
Carter - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Rene - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Enigmatic Page 9 - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...)
Arlecchino - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Lanoire - genshin-impact.fandom.com/wik...
Cosette - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosette
Vesta - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesta_(...)
Remus and Romulus (mythology) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus...

[@Ashikai]

**NOTES/CORRECTIONS** - I've just realized I never explained why I picked the tale about the Zohar among the dozens of others. It's because Rene & Co are working with Kabbalah and the tree of life, and that's what the Zohar is all about. RIP post-theory clarity brain. - Someone in chat also pointed out that there's an Irish folktale about swans called the Children of Lir (LYRIS?! CHILDREN?? ok no more puns. I'll stop.) I just thought it was another neat nod to the swan theory.

[@TheBuldog]

Another thing towards Alain being a big robot: Marechaussee Hunter feather artifact story says, that Alain passed away "And after the matter, the only things that could be found in his personal workshop were signs that something had been built." I wouldn't be surprised if that robot was what he built, transfered his consciousness into and left body behind to make everyone believe he is gone. Also, not buying that someone as important as Alain has bland NPC appearance as seen in Neuvillette SQ cutscene.

[@GhostEmblem]

You know how else has black hands ? All historic depictions of Zongli. There is a crack theory in this I just know it!

[@Zarozian]

If Lyris turns out to be Arlecchino then this means Zhiqiong still has a chance of being reborn and playable in the same process! ;>

[@rider_shadow6832]

just wanted to add that majuj is a tribe in the islam and they along with the yajuj are like man eating and monster like that seek destruction and were sealed between mountains by a wall of metal constructed by thou al karnayn, a wise man gifted knowledge by god

[@traincore1955]

Arelechino is a hillichurl Homunculus from a failed mutation from Dottre using Fontaine water

[@moonlight.z6543]

This is it. I've aged enough to see a theory about Arlecchino being a hilichurl and it's most probably very convincing. I've seen it all.

[@Sacration]

Fr 😂

[@kacperdudenko6828]

From free ayaka theory to the arlachino begin chirchul. It's time to yeet

[@traincore1955]

The year is 2023 And my mind is blown by this fact

[@LordKlavier]

Agreed! I also have been thinking the same, then seen two videos not including this one which support it

[@daysand123]

When you're the both most thirsted for hilichurl AND hottest mommy of Genshin

[@Mientuw]

Ashikai being the #1 Deshret fangirl always gets me. Mandatory deshret mention is ofc on my ashikai genshin theory bingo💜

[@Sacration]

Real

[@jikannomajo]

Deshret is one of the GOATs

[@wiswc]

She's incapable of going a single video without mentioning him

[@Wolf-vy7et]

Deshret got the walking rizz

[@nanas1515]

Deshret lives in us all 😍

[@max-zu1cf]

thank you SO MUCH for reminding everyone that not all hilichurls are khaenri'ahns because i saw SO MANY people freak out about arlecchino being from khaenri'ah if she is a hilichurl

[@Sacration]

This exactly

[@traincore1955]

Yeah that's their origins, not where they're from Baby hillichurls are being born across Teyvat errryday

[@Psycorde]

​@@traincore1955💀

[@enoix1]

as i expected she had khaenriah blood line

[@spymadmax584]

Tbh I don't think so because carter isn't a human who got turned to hillichurl, instead he's a hillichurl that's given human skin and speech.

[@HookiePookie]

Man, the people in hoyo who are responsible for the lore being so frickin deep and tangled with so many references both in writing and design need to get a noble prize in literature or something. And honestly, theory crafter also deserve some kind of recognition by hoyo.

[@Xelluse]

Genshin have got some prizes for world building from Cambridge and Oxford literature prizes in 2022 and in April of 2023, also in Cambridge University there is study on Genshin and world building, also at ACM there is study based on Genshin experience on how to create game worlds and lore for games and books, so Genshin's lore and world building do have attention, quite limited for specific groups, but have and quite important ones, like teaching on how to create video game worlds and deep lore for them, hope it will become a good study for future game develpers on how to make interesting and deep worlds for their games. Btw, even when game SIGNALIS began it's development before Genshin, but devs used practice that Mihoyo use in HI3 to build their game and Genshin shares that experience.

[@HookiePookie]

@@Xelluse oooh didn't know that

[@Xelluse]

@@HookiePookie Forget to mention, if someone did not know - Mihoyo/Hoyoverse is the company which created as Genshin Impact, also HI3 (Honkai Impact 3) and is creating Honkai Star Rail too.

[@themelancholyofgay3543]

nobel prize is for scientific discoveries...

[@Arthurious521]

Tbh, the lore isn't that deep compared to some other IPs

[@Elinvar396]

I've heard another theorist mention that the black marks on Cater and Arlechinnos hand doesn't represent someone being a hilichurl but someone who underwent soul transfer procedures. I think that's more likely than Arlechinnos being a hilichurl since the timelines just don't match her being alive for 500 years I mean.

[@Sacration]

So neo-human ?

[@I.disagree]

I wonder if Dainsleif's weird magical black arm is related to this

[@Astrophel24]

I don't think you realize but Cater... is really old. Like really old. Timing of Elynas dying was around 400 years ago[minimum]. The timeline matches.

[@sefeo0]

@@Sacration Or golem

[@prtzortimdat13]

@@Astrophel24but arlecchino is not that old. i think op was talking about that.

[@marcusbullock2753]

I want a playable hillichurl especially those cooling looking ones with the scythes in Sumeru.

[@livinginobscurity]

I wanted Carter to be playable

[@makhyusnimakhyusni401]

Well Arlecchino leaked to be polearm, and knowing how they design weapon they will likely made scythe a polearm weapon

[@marcusbullock2753]

@@makhyusnimakhyusni401 I think the coolest catalyst in game is Wriothesely so it makes sense. It looks like a drone instead of a dang book. Or some chandler.

[@soaringaegis]

In Chinese, geese and swans are also called the exact same character. Swans would be considered a subset of "geese" in layman's terms. 22:16

[@TheBilayer]

for people want to know 鹅 Goose/ Geese 天鹅 Swan (Fun fact 天 means sky or heaven)

[@sundalosketch4769]

That would explain my initial confusion trying to guess what kinds of birds were in Fontaine. They're called geese but have many similar appearances to swans too. I still chuckle every time I pass by a Wriosthley-styled one

[@justsomeguywithahandlebarm2456]

i would like to clarify that in russian otez while translating to father is typically associated with a more religious role like a priest not as a paternal figure which brings other implications of her being a preacher of the tsaritsa (that may or may not indoctronate) but still proves the theory correct

[@Sacration]

Thanks for the context

[@Cajun_Seasoning]

You call a priest in english father too tho

[@moss_soft]

its 50/50 split on both, bcs otets is both formal "father" and preacher, not necessarily mostly preacher

[@brokencreativity7266]

@@Cajun_Seasoningsomething along the lines of "forgive me father"- which i can totally see some of the orphans saying to Arlecchino

[@VortexYoutube]

I mean, yes but actually no. I don't think that many people use "father" in *that* context more than they do when they mean an actual parental figure. Батюшка (batiyushka) is more widely used when it comes to church members imo

[@darkis1454]

She made us a promise and she delivered it!!! Man i wish i had some money to donate..... It's really a great channel with well-based theories and good voicing :3

[@Imaginationdiva016]

I've never made the connection of Arlecchino to Odette and Odile, despite being a lover of this ballet - but hearing it being explained in this theory, especially in terms of design, it began to click and now I can't unsee it

[@er_cl]

i find it interesting that the curse is abyssal in nature but is usually enacted by celestia. how are they able to channel the abyssal power when it’s their supposed antithesis

[@kamveng453]

its just a theory. The curse of Immortality and Hilichurl was bestowed by Celestia, with no concrete evidence if it's abyssal or celestial. But it does share the same nature as the Abyss. Some theorists in reddit says The Second Throne actually won the war and is pretending to be Phanes.

[@user-miraje]

I think it's more people blaming Celestia for the curse because of the nails. They got it wrong because they don't realize the true purpose of the nails, just see the damage it brings and associate it with punishment. The damage and 'curse' would have happened anyway though, because those civilizations messed with the Abyss/Forbidden Knowledge.

[@Saga_Anserum]

the curse can also be considered containment for the Abyssal energy to keep it from poisoning the Ley Lines

[@kittykatpharuhs]

i think celestia only gave the hilichurls immortal bodies because they already cursed themselves with abyssal energy. The immortal body aspect was more like a band aid over a self inflicted wound that wont stop bleeding. but i bet way too many in game people and therefore players now believe that the immortal curse is also the cause of their eternal decay which is ACTUALLY caused by the abyss. as like a slow approaching side affect of the abyssal power. that's my understanding

[@Chaffee738]

Just some random thoughts related to the points raised on this video: 1. Hoyo loves pop culture references and I think there are Nier references throughout the game but more visibly in Fontaine. One of the Melusine world quests reward the achievement Song of the World which is the title of one of the most popular Nier OST pieces, and at the scene where Neuvillette is shown pushing against the Primordial Water a very short snippet of music that sounds a LOT like Emil ~Sacrifice~ plays. The main plot twist of Nier Replicant was that humans are actually replicants of old humans that tried to survive a disaster by separating their souls("gestalts") from their bodies and then later go back into their cloned bodies("replicants") until the plan went sideways due to the replicants gaining sentience and starting their own humanity. I originally theorized this to be relevant to the Fontaine prophecy, considering the matching "crazy way to survive a calamity" thing, but after listening to your theories about Hilichurls being the mutated bodies of the people whose souls left them, maybe the reference is more relevant to them. Hilichurls did start from wilderness and went to making something of a crude civilization after all. 2. In your Caribert analysis video, you brought to attention that Clothar uses water from a nearby waterfall fetched at exactly 2pm for curing Caribert's Hilichurl curse, and this is thematically tied to Dainsleif ordering a drink called Death in the Afternoon, which is a real life drink with absinthe base. In the Fontaine story, water from the Primordial Sea is revealed and it has a tendency to float upward, leading to theories that the Chasm fountain in the upside-down city used by the Abyss Order to try to reverse the Hilichurl curse is actually Primordial Sea water. Which also ties with Clothar getting the water from a water body that's very close to the Chasm. Traces of the Primordial Sea water in the Chasm fountain may have floated upward all the way to Sumeru. Even funnier is that the drug made from diluted Primordial Sea water is called Sinthe, which is named after absinthe, which as discussed earlier is the base of Death in the Afternoon, which again is related to the potion that restored a hilichurl's sentience. And we know that consciousnesses can go to the Primordial Sea water, not just Fontainians but even Vacher's consciousness got drowned into the Primordial Sea water. Which got me to think, maybe once the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles collected the consciousnesses of the people who got turned into Hilichurls in her cubes she dumped them in the Primordial Sea to prevent their return to Irminsul? And that's why a potion made with what's suspected to be Primordial Sea water has the potential to return consciousness to a Hilichurl, although it doesn't always work and the Sinner gave a hand by perhaps helping isolate Caribert's consciousness from everyone else's?

[@ilikedinosaurs392]

Dammit I didn't think I'd get a Nier spoiler here 😭 Good theory tho😭👍

[@mirrorwaves6612]

Also the "Tower of Gestalt" in Fontaine. And "Project Gestalt" from Nier... i for sure think someone in the genshin writing department took some inspiration from Nier.

[@shiroi7885]

I think that death in the afternoon is also kaeyas favourite drink which is kinda interesting

[@Nobody_Fn_Important]

YES.. I always wanted more Hilichurl lore, they always seem so innocent, yet interesting. ever since the Musk quests in Mondstadt I wanted some peaceful Hilichurls and maybe even a Hilichurl village with her as a translator so we can do some trading.

[@musix5592]

This sounds similar to what happens in Nier: Automata with those machines.

[@pre-violetmelain2984]

since chasm there are peaceful hilichurls

[@Nobody_Fn_Important]

@@pre-violetmelain2984 yes, but I would like to see a village of them, more of them say in one spot so we could get more interactions say, wouldn't it be strange and awe-inspiring to find a village on a mountain of peaceful Hilichurls somewhere?

[@tartnouveau3652]

I think what probably happened was the original house of hearth was an offshoot of the Narzissenkreuz after it’s fall and that Renee as the Master had a new name “ the father” and was using the orphanage to experiment on kids. It was allowed to go on because everyone that knew him thought he perished in Elynas. Arlecchino herself was a kid that was experimented on there and “took over” after she rebelled and “killed” Renee as “the father” and she herself is now the new father. I think we’ll probably see Renee again in some form considering we’ve already bumped into Jakob and Mary Ann and we’ve met Caterpillar. I’m not convinced Cater is just Carter. I’m assuming he was an orphan experiment like Arlecchino and either has a part of Carter in him, or was named after Carter. If the knave is Lyris, I wonder about her vision, it would be interesting if her vision is fake so she looks more human, which means Neuvillette’s line laughing at fake visions might be referencing more than just the hiding archons.

[@2aizen]

this is the exact thing I was thinking after finishing Lenoire and Cater's quest and seeing the physical similarities between Cater and Arlecchino. i never even thought to connect Arlecchino to the anyone from the past. ashikai's theory is great with a lot of references but idk its still a great leap.... it just makes more sense that she was a former child of the house of hearth who was experimented on. also timeline wise...if arlecchino is lyris, what was she doing the entire 400-500 years she was alive before joining the house of hearth? resting?

[@termina2737]

Hard to believe the entire Fontaine archon quest has just one more patch’s worth of quests to finish up. Feels like there’s a lot to wrap up.

[@atHexenzirkel]

I KNEW I was right when it dawned on me that Caterpillar is Carter!! I was just finishing that Meropede quest and boom - had this thought and just sat there with an awestruck face. It is really no coincidence that we leave him at that Ordo place. He belongs there - like all those other creatures.

[@megamcee]

I think that Mary-Ann didn't just die in the explosion, but got sent into the abyss. And Master then pulled her out and put Lyris' mind into her, which "created" Arlecchino. So both Rene (Master) and Alain "resurrected" their beloved Ann in their own way.

[@renairl]

I don't know if someone mentioned this already but in regards to Caterpillar potential being from Sumeru, there is a quest in Sumeru with the artist guy and his dog, he mentions that someone named Caterpillar inspired him to go to Sumeru for his art or something like that which implies Caterpillar has at least been to Sumeru, most likely from there originally

[@lh776]

Yeah I remember doing that quest Definitely gives some evidence that caterpillar has been to sumeru

[@tochagurl2799]

I just did this quest days ago and I was shocked when he mentioned Caterpillar

[@Mangacide]

I don't think Lenoire is connected to them since we know she has a mom and grandpa and she says herself she was born in the Fortress. It's a pretty interesting theory otherwise though. I'm a little surprised no one has pointed out that Furina herself also has lightless eyes.

[@user-miraje]

I feel like there isn't a single Harbinger that didn't kinda died at least once. And when talking about Remus and Romulus, it reminded me about the legend of them being fed by a female wolf. Arlecchino was described as a wolf in sheep clothing iirc, and it's like the female wolf adopted Remus and Romulus, so I kinda see a link there too. If we fight Arlecchino and her boss form is some sort of hilichurl version of a draconic Oceanid... that'd be sick. I'm so curious. Honestly, the way people from Fontaine seem strange just reminds me of how I felt it was weird only people of Sumeru had Eleazar. I still feel like Ley Lines of each region may be somewhat independent. Maybe like each having some sort of "terminal" and then those terminal lead to Irminsul. Like the tree we saw and use to access Irminsul may simply have been Sumeru's "terminal". And if Deshret shenanigans is what lead Sumeru folks to be prone to Eleazar, then my guess is that Fontaine people being able to dissolve or turn into Oceanids is probably whatever King Remus did. Like, not just in the story, but maybe at some point we'll find the ruins of his civilization and uncover the history behind that. Similar to how they let us figure out what went down in Gurabad. Just ramblings, as a sidenote, but Remus had a brother. So I wonder if there's gonna be a Romulus in Genshin? There is a achievement in Fontaine called The Fairy Knight Twins. You get it if you defeat two xenochromatic rays bosses. So talking about fairies and twins... it makes me think of Ann and Mary-Ann. I mean, the fairy of Springvale was an Oceanid. And Ann is like... another Mary-Ann? Kinda... Okay, maybe I'm reaching there, but I feel like we may get more stories about twins in Fontaine. Plus, you get twins when one zygote split to form two embryos. And zygote is from the greek ζυγοῦν (zygoun) meaning 'to join, to yoke'. Isn't joining together what the hydro mimics did and they looked like some big round water droplet? Honestly, zygote seem to be kinda like that. Honestly, Genshin has a whole cell=seed=egg=core=pearl...ect thing going on and I'm really just wondering where they're going with that...

[@sarahc5608]

Remus and Romulus were twins. Perhaps this references them?

[@user-miraje]

@@sarahc5608 It feels like that to me, yeah. I haven't had time to read much about the lore concerning Remuria, but I don't think a Romulus has been mentioned, so I find it weird and sus.

[@idkk8295]

@@user-miraje another thing I haven't seen being mentioned by anyone: while doing the unfinished comedy quest, right after this whole hilichurl transformation of caterpillar noailles says 'What sorcery could allow a mindless creature to worm its way into our midst like a wolf in sheep's clothing...' that's literally what scara calls arlecchino in his voiceline. a wolf in sheep's clothing

[@vincentrose4016]

I used to be religious in the past and studied alot of theology, mythology etc, I'm amazed about how literate you are on the subjects, most people only have the ''hollywood'' movie versions of the stories, but you know them by origin. I recently came upon your videos and they all explain greatly, because this game draws alot of inspiration from abrahamtic, aswell as mythology. Im not done with the video yet so idk if you mentioned this yet, but the antichrist is called ''the man of sin'' aswell, which makes me think of Genshins, ''The Sinner'', aswell as him putting himself above every God.

[@susurakocy_art]

as the artist who draws genshin characters a lot and memorized every detail of Childe's coat and Kaeya's entire suit... AND NOT REALIZED THAT THIS BLACK ON ARLECCHINO'S ARMS ARE NOT GLOVES somebody slap me

[@fakelawchannel3026]

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS SOO BAD Uh i wasnt expecting the possible connections to Lyris.. its definitly a possibility.

[@idyotako]

I knew she would bring up this possible connection once I finished the Unfinished Comedy World Quest... I'll be missing the premiere (1 AM Japan time) so I'll be watching it when I wake up. In any case, thank you for the meal, ashikai. Please always keep us well fed... hehehe...

[@spymadmax584]

You jinxed it 😂😂

[@ZE.brigitte]

Would fit honestly Childe, who have tie to the abyss, have his eye lifeless Caterpillar, an hilichurl, have his eye lifeless So Arlecchino certainly also have tie to the abyss, due to her lifeless eyes

[@LBCAndrew]

I'm fairly certain all of the Harbingers are dead.

[@ZE.brigitte]

@@LBCAndrew Nope Only Childe and Arlecchino have dead eyes Maybe Pierro also have them tho

[@Konomidebanshouwashikisesur]

@@LBCAndrew nuh uh. Scaramouche didn't have dead eyes.

[@debopriyadutta3736]

he is a doll@@Konomidebanshouwashikisesur

[@Konomidebanshouwashikisesur]

@@debopriyadutta3736 so? He still has a consciousness. Anything which has consciousness is by definition alive.

[@StigMurcielago]

What always confused me was why, as a native Fontanian, did she need Lyney and Lyynette to inform her of who Neuvillette is. Who is prominent figure in Fontaine for at least 400 years. She was either born yesterday or she is way older than the new dragon sovereign. She asked for information on Neuvilette in his story quest.

[@RenaDeles]

I mean there's a difference between knowing he's been the chief Justice for the last 500 years, and actually knowing enough details to tell if he's the archon or not for example. He's notoriously quiet about personal details so her having to do some digging after she becomes Father tracks for me.

[@prtzortimdat13]

she knows who neuvilette is. but she is very busy abroad and litterally runs an orphanage so she can't observe every little update happening in fontaine by herself, not just about neuvilette but in general. i feel like she meant that "keep an eye on whatever he's doing and inform me about it immediately" kind of way.

[@dazc9965]

Yeah, I think it's less that she didn't know who Neuvillette was, because she obviously knew enough to inquire into his identity, and more that she was somehow unaware of the real scope of his esteem within Fontaine's higher systems. Which is strange in its own right because why would she know so little about the circumstances of her homeland, what seems to be common knowledge to its residents? She knew of his existence/position, but Lyney had to elaborate on the publicly-felt nuance. It more or less lends to the idea that she was around before Neuvi rose to such prominence, or at least that she never truly lived in "modern" (of the past few hundred years) Fontaine, whether by a distance or time or space

[@vanessachowjiaying4423]

The Fontaine Archon story, based on Genshin's parent story Honkai, is based on the chapters focusing on Seele, and Salt Snow Holy City arc. Both aspects focuses on dual ego, death/life, and rebirth. The Hydro authority, plus the concept of Pnuema and Ousia is partially based on Herrscher authority of death/rebirth. Furina is partially based on Seele, though design and outer personality wise, is akin to Sin Mal. Based on leaked gameplay, Furina resembles Herrscher of Rebirth, as she summons Hydro companions like Seele's summons Fiona and Diana, plus the capability of changing both states if conditions are met.

[@yeetman3114]

Bro I had the same thought when I played through cater's world quest I'm hyped for this

[@OneM0reUser]

We are reaching convoluted levels that was thought to be impossible before.

[@potatoindiguise4384]

This kinda contributes to the theory that fatui harbingers are ranked by how less human they are.

[@yuki97kira]

It makes sense how tart is the eleventh..he is still 90% human, with abyss power looming inside him.... Also how hes the youngest because the others are like 500+ years old, and this dude is just like 21

[@potatoindiguise4384]

@@yuki97kira Pantalone is also a bit of an outlier as he doesn't even have a vision but I guess we'll find out more about him since we also assumed Arlechhino was human before this quest.

[@yuki97kira]

@@potatoindiguise4384 gonna shit brick when its revealed pantalone is a similar being to the traveler and their twin, with both being able to control elements with no vision

[@caramelsoz4272]

Panatalone started as a homo sapien and evolved slightlybto homosexual a few months before joining the fatui

[@amouramarie]

That sounds like an interesting theory! I'd wonder how they could get _less_ human than a puppet made to be a god vessel, though.

[@Vetus_Horologium]

Interesting theroy, tho Id love to know how Arlecchinos apparent history of being an orphan in the hearth and toppling the previous Director fits into all of it? I would assume its all a cover story and she was never a member of the hearth before taking out the Director, but Im surprised you never touched on it.

[@billcosbee2057]

Nah she's clearly French

[@ZE.brigitte]

We are monster, it fit

[@HookiePookie]

Her five head brain is too big for me that I need to watch some of her videos twice to fully understand them. Your theories and deep dive into the lore are amazing and you're my favorite theory crafter on yt right now, can't wait for future theories

[@donovanfields10]

On Halloween? This will be a treat for sure!

[@KurisuMikaRisu]

Oh wow, this video was alot of knowledge to take in. Probably more then normal for me because I still don't fully understand fontaine's world quests.... they're just played out so confusingly (will probably try to find a good vid to fully and slowly explain everything later) Anyway I enjoyed all the really thoughtful connections to hilichurls being undead and I love it! Had no idea how you'd explain this one Ashikai but you did it! All I could surmise before this is that Arlecchino was no ordinary hilichurl like caterpillar and that she was probably connected to the ordo, well she's probably even more special then cater and she might get her own hilichurl form hopefully (saying this knowing she might be playable)

[@TheLaughingManLore]

Fantastic theories as usual Ash! Thanks for the shoutout!

[@LeaksHater]

I really liked the connection. It is only Arlechino's attitude which makes me doubt this theory. If Arlechino, is Lyris, then she should have memories of 500+ years. Or if she lost her memories when she merged with master, then that is still 400 years. So why would she, in all that time, still not know whether Furina is an Archon or not? Why would she entertaint the idea of Neuvillette being an Archon too? And the current Arlecchino was supposed to be a child of the House of the Hearth as well and only recently succeded the Harbinger position after her clash with the previous Knave. If she was Lyris, surely she would have been doing something more for the last few centuries, unless she was sealed or whatever whatever, but that's another leap.

[@hairyCapybara-bg5km]

You mentioned that the skynail at Dragon spine may have missed its target. Maybe it didn’t. Durin’s bones are scattered over the mountain, that’s what we are told. But really they’re not, they’re scattered over the north western side, with part of Durin’s jaw being on the far opposite side. How did something this big get there? I can’t help feel that Durin must have been on top of the mountain and was hit in the head by something very large. Something that caused a large part of its jaw to fly off down the south eastern side where as the rest of her body tumbled down the north western side. Love your vids. Have been looking forward to seeing stuff about Cater since I did the quest. Such a cool character. Thank you.

[@quazymoodo8452]

I think one of the most important lines of The Knave is "I see. As a god, the proof of your labor always lies beyond prying mortal eyes." The Catepillar in Alice in Wonderland is most famously associated with asking the question: "Who Are You?" to Alice [the Protagonist of The Story] In the workings of men and gods, a mortal would ask of a god with an unknowable face and personality "Who Are You?" In fact, we can't be sure of ourselves because not only have we seen in Inazuma that we invoke the spirit of the Omnipresent God in the realm of Eternity [the godly domain of Cycles], but we also know from the Caribert questline that we ourselves are uncertain of the face of a Hilichurl, and it is left uncertain if we know of our own reflections as well-- who are we? If Signora's battle in Inazuma is a reflection of the Crimson Storm raging against the human collective (us-as-Omnipresent-God), I can only imagine that The Knave's battle will have us on stage to prove the nature of ourselves-- she demands the proof of our labor; why is our journey the curse placed upon the people of Fontaine, and how will we be able to justify our actions on our quest? Is it our fate to defeat her justly without giving her the explanation she demands of us?

[@mintyyy111]

a little off topic and i’m not sure if this has been mentioned in the dragon theory, but in baizhus story quest we learned that zhongli used the statues of the seven to keep the “Chi” underground which was said to be a serpent. wouldn’t that technically confirm the dragon theory?

[@Sacration]

What dragon theory ?

[@mintyyy111]

@@Sacration in ashikais theory about the gnosis she mentions how traveler could hear a heartbeat in the anemo statue of the seven and that it could be linked to the anemo sovereign. so, if zhongli subdued a “serpent” by burying it underground wouldn’t it make sense that the statues that he used are sucking it dry of it’s power and thus weakening it? also, that may explain why the statues have elemental power to begin with. the whole story quest was about godremains and how humans become “infected” by it. sounds like the whole abyss juice drama, right?

[@idkk8295]

@@mintyyy111 yes + Neuvilette literally said gnoses (?) were made of the sovereigns' powers, that means the primordial one must have stolen the dragons' power before 'defeating' them. Wei's latest video about the hydro gnosis and neuvilette elaborates on this

[@mintyyy111]

@@idkk8295 i know, i did the archon quest. i was referring to the statues of the sevens being powered by the dragons and them being sealed underground.

[@krezzybot]

Couple of things: I thought Carter's last name was inferred to be Scherbius, which would make him possibly from Monstadt, not Sumeru. Still a foreigner, though, so I suppose that still holds up. Also, I thought Lyris was eventually part of the "base" of the Master along with Rene? Or did Rene become an oceanid on his own through the primordial waters?

[@bluewraith7653]

After I did this quest I was eagerly waiting on your thoughts on Cater and Arlecchino! ❤

[@defiantmars9910]

I think the Mind/Body division is further emphasized by the Pnemna-Ousia mechanic. Spirit and Substance. Why is this phenomenon only found in Fontaine? Is it perhaps related to the creation story of the nation?

[@Dragon4eva]

All this just makes me appreciate the world building/crumbs in Genshin more

[@corvidaegudmund1186]

This makes a lot of sense. My one question is where the “child-like” cherubim angels in the Lilith tale came from. I thought that the child angels were a Renaissance design. The older Cherubim description , to my knowledge, lists them as a sort of bestial looking creature. Body of an adult human, 4 wings, hooves like an bull made of bronze, and 4 heads or faces (man, eagle, bull, lion). Mind you, Arlecchino could still draw from that design as well, with her wing elements and claw like nails. Even her heels look a little like hooves to me with their shape and patterns. Plus a “bestial person” look would tie into hilichurl if she is one.

[@marceline.elysia.chloe134]

Great channel! Thanks for giving us big brain time to genshin lore by your hard work

[@kenohtx]

You are amazing . The amount of research you do is crazy. 💙

[@calliemd3466]

Aaaaa dis is so good! Love your theories and references they never fail to amaze me

[@Kasraken]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the lore, this was very interesting and entertaining!

[@MrGrimx1]

Mind blown! In a good way :) Great work as usual. Thanks!

[@arber7240]

This has been your best theory yet wow! Thank you for this video

[@user-bs9zv4yw1h]

Ohhh my my my! a new post from ashikaiiiii yiheee! It’s early morning where I am so I’ll be watching this while having breakfast. A beginning of a good day.

[@otakulibrarygirl]

Your connection of Arlecchino to the goddess Vesta reminds me of the 3 children in the streets of Fontaine asking each other about the state of their hearths at home. I had already figured them to be House Of the Hearth residents but was puzzled about their coded language. Now it makes a bit more sense! Great work as always!

[@OhSnapItzSam]

this was my first time making it a minute before the premier! keep up the awesome work ash!

[@OhSnapItzSam]

I was too engrossed to comment before the vid haha \

[@_black_bird]

Damn, pretty fitting for a Halloween video, you love to see it

[@Yukiloop]

love your theory videos!

[@lunar222]

you know it’s gonna be a good day when ashikai posts!! this isn’t much related and you might know already but there’s been hydro eidolons at wuwang hill now, near rhodeia’s boss fight area, since 4.0. are they there to assassinate her?

[@scotchramune]

I really enjoy your videos, your voice is very pleasing to listen to and you're very persuading lol also the overall editing and pasting of your videos are great

[@Lelqtii]

We can fix her.

[@dazc9965]

Why fix her when she can break me

[@MiyuKawasaki]

Why does she need fixing

[@BanjoGate]

Oh how much I would love to see a behind the scenes deep dive on how you figure all of this stuff out. I really can't watch other lore videos on youtube. They are all way too speculative. "Arlecchino might be a hillichurl because black limbs!" . . Ok... vs "Arlecchino might be a hillichurl because %mythology%".. I can believe it. Perhaps before 5.0 comes out, you could do a retrospective on all of your lore predictions in the past and comment on how close or off the mark they were. That'd be a great watch!

[@AntonioPelux94Peluso]

THIS IS THE VIDEO I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!

[@soram7549]

Pleeeaasse make a video on hillichurl💖 This is so well put together but i probably haveto rewatch it again because its so heavy with detail

[@themelancholyofgay3543]

Geez, your theories are so great...

[@steph4u74]

Finally she made a video about this. After done that quest many questions in my mind.

[@betterretromess]

This is a great video as always, but holy cow the emoji at @24:05, the L.A. Noire stuff, nearly about killed me. So good.

[@claudiocesarmontenegrojuni5141]

coming back here after finishing the narzissenkreuz quest jst to say... you're devious one, ashikai

[@rebeltobjur22]

Theories are interesting to listen to..thank you for ur hardwork

[@legoharleen]

Omg you literally guessed the entire origin of the Fontainian people, this aged like wine

[@juliekm6495]

Marrianette? Marri? You clogs are super! I agree completely with you. I can see how the Knave is a hillichurl! Wow! I would also see how she would be jealous of Ferina, thinking that she could do better at protecting the people of Fontaine. (Especially if she had the Knossos!) looking forward to your next vlog! Keep up the good work!

[@colly_cnoc]

Fantastic video but also I started laughing so much at Mary-onette 😂Hoyo's puns are wonderful and so is your delivery!

[@syliic934]

This is somewhat related to the topic, but not entirely: i don't think ive seen anyone mention that the masks hilichurls and the harbringers wear are eeriely similar to Egyptian masks in the context if the lore. Egyptian masks served two purposes: death masks lead the soul to the body's resting place and to ensure the deceased will eat, breathe, speak, etc in the next life, and ritual masks for religious rites - usually used to envoke the abilities or strength of a specific deity- it focused on the practioners' actions and words more than beliefs. Essentially they impersonated gods to ensure effectiveness of ehat they wish to envoke. The fact that tartaglia has a very strong connection to an abyssal god-like whale entity and "awoken it" in skirk's terms, as well as discarding his vision but not his mask and delusion leads me to believe that hilichurl-ification and the harbingers are connected pretty strongly in the sense they qre different means of a vessel to envoke the essence of a being not part of the material world Edit: this also probably has a connection with visions as wellz since the essence of that person is manifested into a vision if they embodied specific aspects strongly enough. Essentially, a third mask used to call the soul back to the body.

[@fenyx6573]

I appreciate you pointing out The Laughing Man! I would have never known.

[@alexanderericson8628]

I knew you were inspired by the laughing man the moment I saw his video. So happy you went with this theory

[@LBCAndrew]

I had never heard anyone mention this theory prior to posing the question to you about two months ago in response to one of your videos. I must say though, Your videos are so incredible that i'm beginning to question whether you're a theorist or an actual writer for the game who makes videos explaining why the lore was made as such instead of reverse engineering it the way it these videos present it. They're literally that good. Either way, take it as a huge compliment.

[@xelloskaczor5051]

Shouldnt arlecchino be reasonably young since she took over from previous Father as ex-orphan? I don't see previous director of the orphange keeping a kid for 400 years without kicking her Dottore's way or just disposing of her. I dig the hilichurl part but Lyris part is confusing to me with that.

[@youtubebane7036]

I don't know why but I just enjoy listening to your voice very much even when you're talking about things as mundane as hilly curls. You always cheer me up just about no matter what I hope I can do the same for you someday God bless you my friend

[@Negolossauro]

7:55 - When a playable character dies, he transforms into "blue glitter", the same color of the irminsul, and when non-human creatures dies, they transform into "red glitter", the color of the corruption in genshin's color palette, and hilichurls also transforms into red glitter. For me, hilichurls are people that have contact with the forbiden knowledge, so they can't remain in the cicle of irminsul, because they will infect it like rukhdevatta did, so, they are transformed into monsters to don't be in the irminsul data anymore

[@tinnakitudsa2529]

Lyris is mentioned in Enigmatic Page (XI) and she is probaly the same "she" in Enigmatic Page (VIII). I think Rene use soul transfer procedures to her.

[@xinlou6707]

If you read the Enigmatic Pages there is a mention about "super human" experiment and i think she is that.

[@kenabi]

side quests and seasonal quest chains tend to lead into giving you a subtext preview of later archon quests. so its entirely possible arlecchino is just like caterpillar. or something else changed in a similar fashion.

[@moods..]

“All that have seen her true crazy self have gone poof” what if this isn’t about her mentality, but about her physical form

[@kirkginoabolafia3650]

The best thing about this video is that I anticipate the primary archon quest of Fontaine to wrap up in 4.2, which is in a week, so I don't think we will be waiting very long to get these answers!!

[@fuzxled]

I had to pause and say that the connection made at 20:05 from that one line of dialogue in that book reminds me so much of discovering dark souls 1 lore back in the day

[@andreasison3038]

I love your theories

[@canaldecasta]

We have big buff hilichurls with horns. If we get in the future dragonlike hilichurls im going to lose my mind.

[@Direk_Carla]

I want to fight that.

[@tomascornejo1806]

I have come to this theory many times and always close the video right at the start and go to my pc because I always forget that I still havent done some missions required to watch it and I hate not having the full context... I hate myself by now

[@Punniz]

Your video are always a feast 🤤

[@taro6341]

Holy crap, this was done before 4.2?! You basically predicted some of furina’s role in the archon quest (or at least implied it) OHHHMYYYGODDDDDGH ur insane and crazy /pos and i love it

[@purplegrape9010]

I already thought about Arlecchino being Princess Lyris when I finished the quest, but I didn't had that much of information

[@nlus9912]

Ashikai's videos normally blow my mind, but this one has entirely left me dumbfounded 🤯🤯

[@ElevatorIsStuck]

Actually, shes my wife

[@Ailisch007]

No idea what u are doing in real life, but ur skill to analyze and combine all this information into reasonable conclusions (no matter if factually true or not) is definitely something I hope u utelize outside of this channel as well. Its an incredible skill! My guess would be, u are a pretty decent acamedic :D

[@arbit0r_]

i'm not sure if ashikai has an abyss/khanriahn lore summary/round up but i would love to see something like that maybe after some more fontain stuff when we learn more cause for all my love of lore im starting to get a little lost recently

[@salamieke35]

I just love how ashikai came out of nowhere and suddenly became the queen of genshin lore

[@veronicanaumov2981]

Wdym she was always the queen

[@mahiainti678]

I do wish the spoiler warnings were put *before* the hilichurl reveal of the unfinished comedy

[@TheCoolerCatster5208]

You should’ve proceed with caution ever since the title includes [4.1].

[@simplyirrelevant293]

What if each Fatui Harbinger represents some type of animal of symbol Arlechinno-Hilichurl Childe-Human Columbina-Seele Marionette-Robot Capitano-Adepti (from your sun wukong theory) Dottore-Oceanid Signora-Crystalfly?? Etc...

[@sngnmylvr]

that's such a cool theory but i wonder about dottore's? would that make him fontainian?

[@plainnplane]

"this video contains a lot of spoilers" she says after spoiling the main world quest of 4.1. thanks so much man :/

[@MarsMKM]

Same! Couldn’t she simply add the disclaimer BEFORE spoiling the quest?? That’s the only quest I still had in my to do list, and I had no idea it would be related to the topic of the video until she spoiled it. 😕

[@mrrrrrrrrrr]

it's in the description

[@draghettis6524]

No need for an alternative spelling, "La noire" already means "the black" ( feminine ) "Le noire" doesn't mean anything, but "Le noir" means "the black" ( masculine )

[@gabrielrincon7776]

Ma’am… Lanoire just means “the black female.” I promise you that MOST Fontaine character names aren’t real names as much as jumbled french words mixed together. Also, “Lenoire” doesn’t make gramatical sense, it means “he/the male black female”