Arlecchino in Genshin Impact: Everything we know so far about The Knave

With the upcoming release of Genshin Impact version 4.0, the Traveler will soon be embarking on a new journey to Fontaine, the Nation of Justice. The game’s fifth nation will surely offer new breathtaking sights to see, adventures to be had, and new characters to meet.

The ‘Overture Teaser: The Final Feast’ has revealed the colourful cast taking part in Fontaine’s story and given us clues on some of the major plot points.

Every good story needs a good villain, and Fontaine will have the enigmatic Fatui Harbinger known as Arlecchino.

So, who is Arlecchino and how will she figure in Genshin Impact’s story moving forward? Read on as we break down everything we know about her so far.

Arlecchino the Knave

Arlecchino, also known by her codename ‘The Knave’, is one of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers, though her rank is unknown. Like all the other Harbingers, Arlecchino’s character is based on one of the character archetypes in the Commedia dell'arte, a kind of Italian comedy theatre.

Arlecchino first appeared in the ‘Teyvat Chapter Interlude Teaser: A Winter Night’s Lazzo’ alongside her fellow Harbingers during La Signora’s funeral and quickly became a fan-favourite, thanks in part to her tantalising appearance.

She has medium-length white hair with black streaks that ends in a long rattail at her back. Her most striking features are undoubtedly her eyes, which have a black iris and red pupils shaped like the letter ‘X’.

In A Winter Night’s Lazzo, Arlecchino is shown wearing the uniform coat of the Harbingers. But in the Overture Teaser, she wears a sleek and flowing gray and white suit and pants.

While Arlecchino’s exact rank is unknown, she seems to be one of its higher-ranked members.

Aside from her role as a Harbinger, the Knave also runs the orphanage known as the House of the Hearth, which seems to take in orphans while they are young and groom them to become members of the Fatui once they grow old.

The Fatui we know of that came from the House of the Hearth were all spies and sleeper agents, which suggests that the organisation uses the orphanage as a source of manpower for its intelligence network.

Arlecchino’s role as the House of the Hearth’s overseer, plus her influence on the Fatui’s intelligence network, is ample reason for her to be a highly-ranked Harbinger.

Currently, only the first and fourth-ranked Harbingers are yet to be confirmed. Pierro, Capitano, and Arlecchino are the only ones whose ranks have not been revealed.

Given that Pierro is the founder and director of the Fatui, we can assume that he takes more of a commanding role as opposed to being within the ranks, making Capitano, who is the strongest among them as per the Wanderer's and Tartaglia's voicelines , probably the first ranking among them.

Therefore, we expect Arlecchino to be number four.

The treacherous servant

Since Arlecchino has only appeared in teaser trailers so far, we know little about her personality. With that said, there are bits and pieces of lore scattered throughout the game for her that we can use to glean at who she really is.

As current and former members of the Fatui Harbingers, Childe and the Wanderer have voice lines where they talk about their peers, including Arlecchino.

The Wanderer calls her “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” who puts on a graceful and cordial front in order to exert a higher level of control over people.

We see an example of this in A Winter Night’s Lazzo, where Arlecchino chastised the Harbingers Regrator and Pulcinella, calling them “heartless businessmen and dignitaries”, for not being sympathetic enough for La Signora’s death.

The Wanderer goes on to say that most of those who have seen Arlecchino’s “true, crazy self have gone poof”.

Childe also does not have a good opinion of Arlecchino, saying “there isn’t a sane bone in her body” and that she’d even turn against the Tsaritsa herself if she stood to benefit from doing so.

These are in line with Arlecchino’s characterisation in the Commedia dell'arte, where the character is known for often thwarting the plans of their master and competing with Pierro.

In addition, Arlecchino in the Commedia dell'arte is often depicted as a male with Columbina as his love interest. From that, we can assume that there is at least one Harbinger that Arlecchino gets along with.

Arlecchino’s penchant for subterfuge and under-handed methods of achieving her goals can also be seen in how Fatui members from the House of the Hearth operate.

A hidden World Quest series in Inazuma, titled ‘The Very Special Fortune Slip’, will have the Traveler meet a Fatui spy named Lyudochka Snezhevna masquerading as the shrine maiden Gendou Ringo in the Grand Narukami Shrine.

Lyudochka was tasked by her superior, a man named Efim Snezhevich, to sabotage peace talks between the armies of the Inazuma Shogunate and the Watatsumi Island Resistance by poisoning the latter’s water supply in an attempt to boost Arlecchino’s prestige.

Efim would be recalled by Arlecchino back to Snezhnaya for not informing her of this operation, presumably to be punished. This would give the Traveler the chance to foil their plans and frees Lyudochka from her life as a Fatui spy.

In Sumeru, the Traveler will meet another Fatui from the House of the Hearth, named Trofin Snezhevich, who is masquerading as Alphonso in Vimara Village. Completing the Aranyaka World Quest series unlocks a hidden objective where Alphonso is unmasked and the Traveler will get to decide his fate.

Regardless of the Traveler’s choice, they will receive a ‘Tattered Paper’ item on which is written verses titled ‘A Song from Somewhere’.

Given that Trofin hails from the House of the Hearth, it gives us a glimpse into what those from the orphanage are taught.

A passage from it reads as follows: “We are children with no kin, the petty servants on whom no light shines [...] Let me be the evil amidst good, the poison amidst the herbs, the wolf in sheep's clothing, the mercury in a golden chalice.”

What role will Arlecchino play in Fontaine’s story?

In the Overture Teaser, Arlecchino says a couple of lines following her dramatic appearance. Commenting on Lyney and Lynette’s magic show, she says “Let me make something clear. You think of yourselves as "magicians", but when you're on the stage, you're first and foremost actors. Good actors hone their craft to mesmerise the whole crowd.”

While her lines don’t tell us much about her role in Fontaine’s story, they are very much in line with Arlecchino’s characterisation as a witty and resourceful actor in the Commedia dell'arte.

With the teaser’s overall theme centred on actors and stage performances, we can surmise that Arlecchino may be working behind the scenes to pursue both her own and the Fatui’s goals all while Fontaine’s internal conflicts play out.

Of course, we cannot let Arlecchino’s known tendency for treachery – even against the Tsaritsa, given the chance – go unnoticed.

While we don’t know how this can affect how things will play out in Fontaine, and we don’t even know if her expected betrayal will happen there, it must be something we always keep at the back of our minds.

Given that she is expected to become a playable character, there needs to be a way for her to join the Traveler somehow.

But as one of the apparently ‘truly evil’ characters in the game so far, I don’t expect some sort of redemption arc for her.

Instead, Arlecchino could perhaps find her chance to betray the Tsaritsa and join the Traveler – though we expect this move to be purely for her own benefit – as the reason why she becomes playable.

Genshin Impact is currently in version 3.8, which features a new summer event as well as reruns for Eula, Klee, the Wanderer, and Kokomi.

The highly-anticipated release of Fontaine in Genshin Impact version 4.0 will be in mid-August. The first batch of playable characters from the region include the sibling trio of Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet.

But more than just adding a new region, version 4.0 will also add a new dimension to Genshin Impact's gameplay by introducing underwater exploration and combat!

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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