#the arlecchino twist tho!!!!!

[kazthecatgirl]

Romeo... T-T

the real Alidoro...T-T

Gepetto why... aaaaaaaa

[caluupin]

Finished TGAAC around 2 1/2 weeks ago but only finished the doodles today. but still, here ya go!

[puppetgearing]

Okay Nick. Listen. I ALWAYS got time for lore !! So spill it !! Please? :3

The biggest question I have towards Niko is what he did to end up as a criminal !? And what does Wanderer think of it, being a former .. "criminal" (can you say that? LMFAO u know what I mean haha) himself?

Also also ofc you can send me Nikos Wiki too 😌 I'll look into it as soon as I can !!❤️

( also I see your Baivi ask and I'll get to it asap !!💕💕 )

hi dresvi !!! AUAGAHAGAH I HAVE SO MUCH NIKO LORE SHAKES U

for his more indept back story, you can read in his lore wiki here :3 (there are some things in his story i am planning on changing tho !!.....)

but !! for a watered down version of why hes a criminal:

EDIT: THIS GOT SO LONG HELP ILL PUT THIS UNDER THE CUT

He used to belong in the House of the Hearth and was planning an escape with Clervie and Arlecchino, the plan succeeded with only him being the one getting out alive while Clervie and Arle was taken back (they signaled him to run away) and ever since that escape, Niko is pretty much a street rat that goes around stealing things to fuel his own survival, often time he steals from people he knows can spare a day without bread (re: rich people usually) and it went on for a few years until he met this one person named Aarush who helped him stayed away from the Fatui's eyes during one of his scavenger hunt. Aarush is a lover of puzzle and technology, hes also a student in the Akademiya that BEGGED to be able to go to Fontaine to study the Clockwork Mekas, he's also the person who taught Niko how to make inventions (he already has an interest in Clockwork Meka before but doesnt know how to make them essentially) and by the few months they spent with each other Aarush was going to take (re: sneak) him out to live in Sumeru with him.

If you're familiar with Anemo Users' story it usually doesnt end well (DONT WORRY AARUSH DID NOT DIE AJDJSJDJ) as the day they were about to go to Sumeru, Niko's daily savenger hunts lead a group of treasure hoarders lead by a noble man to attack their tent, taking Niko as a hostage-- Aarush managed to fight them back but without his vision he got heavily injured, afraid of not being able to protect Niko he yelled at Niko to run away and take what he could from the tent. Niko of course tried his best but got his leg heavily injured by said noble man, rendering him almost unable to run before he was able to gather all the andrenaline and make a dash for what was essentially his broken leg with Aarush' bag, Mekal and a few food bags along with him.

The whole thing traumatized him heavily, Mekal really tried to be there for Niko the best as he could (Mekal at that point only gained his new body recently so it was hard for both of them) but Niko with his broken leg, grief at the thought of losing the only person he cared about-- someone that taught him how to care for others too really-- was gone he heavily fell into despair. Now he mostly put himself into work, just take whatever scraps from fallen Clockwork Meka and makes whatever inventions he can even think about just to forget about everything.

During one of his work, he spotted a book peaking out from Aarush' bag, the book being Robin Hood-- Aarush' favorite. Niko never bothered reading, finding reading boring in general but since it was the only thing of memory to Aarush, he decided to binge the whole thing in one night. The story just... resonates with him, he saw the image of Robin Hood-- someone who works with the dark, stealing from the rich, giving it to the poor and overall working against the strong to protect the weak-- reminds him of Aarush' own ideology of wanting to help others. Filled with grief and despair, Niko unfortunately kind of twisted this whole thing of 'justice' in his own way-- He already has bad experiences enough with noblemen and seeing as one could be the reason for the death of someone he cared about, he makes it into a revenge instead-- as a way of sending warnings essentially and targets those he deemed not deserving of their power. Him getting his vision during this resolution only hammered that thought in to him really djfvbdshfvdhv

This ultimately lead to The Araignée Noire-- a phantom thief, so infamous almost all of Fontaine knows his name-- a figure so feared it reached even the ears of other nation as he wreck continuous havoc across the nation. Those of the poor loves him-- those of the rich despise him, as he only stands with no one but those of the same feather.

THIS IS ONLY HOW HE BECAME A CRIMINAL BTW I HAVENT EVEN TOUCHED THE AFTERMATH OF HIS ARREST YET AJDJSJFJSCJEJCJ

---

Also for wanderer's thoughts on that... id like to think it was one of the thing they bonded over... trauma bonding is a big part of the thing that pushed them together so being able to share a kinship, even without saying it outloud... both definitely knows how it feels to let the fear of being weak get to them...

[pumpkinpie59]

i think i’m enjoying the fontaine story now that i’m playing genshin again so here’s my thoughts on the new characters

-furina. i feel bad for her but i’m not a fan of her va. but i normally turn my sound off when i play so looking at just her writing,,,,,, i think she’s a fine character. the twist was interesting and i don’t fault furina for anything that happened. her being a drama queen but it being entirely a mask she puts on is fascinating. i don’t like focalors tho. she did furina so dirty

-neuvillette is kinda just vibin. he’s fine he’s likable. he doesn’t rlly stand out to me much except that i’m convinced he’s gay. i don’t ship him with anyone tho (most other characters are wayyyyy too young for him so i dislike seeing any ship art of him). i like to think of him as furina’s older brother.

-lyney. um. meh? he’s a good big brother but that’s all i rlly care about him. also he dresses like a slut? and his va is kinda annoying to me idk fjdksk

-lynette. kinda same as her twin. i appreciate that the twins are separate characters bc the trope where twins act exactly the same is a pet peeve of mine. i like that lynette is an introvert. idk that’s all i have to say.

-freminet. i don’t like his design. i’m so tired of the shorter guy characters wearing shorts and being treated like children. but as for his writing. it’s cool. i like that he’s the twins’ younger brother. i like how the plot actually addresses how much danger he was put in.

-charlotte. YOOOO NEWS REPORTER CHARACTER LETS GOOO!! she reminds me sm of april o’neil i love her.

-wriothesley. at first sight i thought he was a basic bad boy werewolf lookin weirdo (my demi butt can’t ever find thirst trap characters attractive lmao). but then i heard him talk,,,, and yeah his voice actor is genuinely a good actor???? i don’t like most of the anime-esque voice acting in this game, and the dramatic dialogue doesn’t help, but wriothesley’s voice actor actually tries to make it believable that his character is a person. and i respect that. and yeah um his backstory is darker than i expected,,,,

-arlecchino. she’s neat i like her aesthetic.

-clorinde. …….. finally a genshin character who doesn’t speak multiple paragraphs at a time LMAO. i like her so far. i kinda ship her with wriothesley tbh ,,, 👉👈 idk i like how often they work together.

-sigewinne. um. i don’t rlly like the child characters. also they were cowards for making her look human and not tHE LITERAL SPECIES SHE IS UGH-

-navia. SAVING THE BEST CHARACTER FOR LAST. bro i was blown away with how much respect and care they put into navia’s writing. her grief felt so real and i could not believe they put her through that much. she’s also so pretty and her design is so aesthetically pleasing. and tbh i hate seeing sm ship art under her name bc she’s too good for everyone lmaooo she’s great. i’m in love. she’s the best fontaine character (and maybe the best genshin character).

also i wanna say i did not expect for this chapter to have this much death and other dark themes. ik fontaine is the land of justice and court cases but man,,,,, tragic,,,,,

[mixigames]

MY THOUGHTS ON THE FONTAINE ARCHON QUEST

I just finished the Fontaine Archon Quest, and I have some thoughts. More under the cut!

Warning: contains spoilers for the story.

QUEST BREAKDOWN

Chapter 4 Act 1 - Prelude of Blancher and Noirceur

The first act is quite short, and flows very smoothly, in my opinion. We are first introduced to some of Fontaine's characters, the most import ones being the twins, Lyney and Lynette. The storyline is good, but we're also introduced to the basic way things work in Fontaine.

I like the end of this act the most, I think. Lyney's big performance is really, really good - and it has the perfect shock factor once the rope snapped. I love guessing plot twists, but I genuienly couldn't figure this one out!!

Honestly, I didn't expect death from Genshin. I know we've had characters dying multiple times before, but never like this! Although he wasn't that important to the story, it still quite shocked me. (My mouth was agape for like 5 minutes after, lol)

Chapter 4 Act 2 - As Light Rain Falls Without Reason

The second act is pretty short too. It didn't feel dragged out and with lots of unnecessary dialogue (yeah, I'm looking at you, Sumeru). The most important character is definitely Navia here.

The story is good and well thought-out. I liked how they solved the missing women case. That part where the Oceanids/women came for Vacher was so scary tho?? Like they just casually dropped that he lost his soul. What.

Chapter 4 Act 3 - To The Stars Shining

The begining of act 3 was a little fast-paced, considering that we found out Childe was missing and everything.

Neuvillette looked so good tho😻

I like how they designed Fortress of Meropide, yet I don't understand certain important things. For example, how is the fortress' entrance at the Opera Epiclese, yet it's actually in the sees under the Liffey Region? Strange if you ask me. I love the steampunk vibes, tho!

For me, this part of the archon quest was the most boring and most dragged-out one. For the majority of the quest you are either working, investigating or sleeping. And literally nothing else. It really annoyed me that we manually had to return to our bunk to sleep!

Chapter 4 Act 4 - Cataclysm's Quickening

The first half of this quest - up to the point we talk to Wriothesley - is also very boring to me. Nothing significant happens. I feel like they could've done without this part.

Much is explained in this act, including the reasoning behind Fountaine's prophecy and it's eventual downfall. The storyline with the boat wasn't bad, and I liked how some characters liked Wriothesley while the others didn't - he also seemed like such a villain when Lyney thought he kidnapped Lynette.

We meet with Arlecchino, which was a much less significant character in the storyline than I thought she was going to be. The gnosis is mentioned only like, 5 times in the entire quest, and The Knave is about the same amount, too. I'm not saying that's bad, we are just used to the Fatui being the main problems in these Archon quests.

Chapter 4 Act 5 - Masquerade of the Guilty

This act was... Wow. What an end to this chapter of the quest. I mean, so many things happened! It was a rollercoaster of emotions. First of all, I was so sad when Navia's friends died. So much death in this quest!

The trial against Furina was painful to read. Her attitude is just so infuriating, yet the whole thing is really really interesting and the story is, as always, so great! It was such a shock when the Hydro Archon was sentanced to death!

However, Focaloros' plan was brilliant and I have to say, I underestimated her as an Archon. At first, I was a little sceptical on how she was one of The Seven, but I get it now. Also, I'm very sad that she's dead. Her sentance was so unfair to her, yet she did what was right for her people and I respect that.

Neuvillette was amazing in this part of the story, as well. I'm glad that he has the Hydro Archon's power now.

QUEST SUMMARY

new characters we met:

5 ☆ Lyney (bow, pyro): good character, a very concerned brother. he lied to us but for a good reason - turned out he's in the Fatui.

4 ☆ Lynette (sword, anemo): quiet, reserved, an assistant to Lyney.

4 ☆ Freminet (claymore, cryo): same as Lynette, but more shy

5 ☆ Navia (claymore, geo): passionate, brave and adventuristic. she runs a major organisation called Spina di Rosula. during the quests she turns into a real friend of us (plus she looks like Taylor Swift in the fearless era!!)

5 ☆ Neuvillette (catalyst, hydro): 😻😻😻. I'm in love. Literally. I'm so thankful the Genshin team desided to give us more very handsome men in Fontain. he's also a great character, and wields great power. (currently saving up primogems for him)

5 ☆ Furina (sword, hydro): might be an unpopular opinion, but I HATED her character. she's obnoxious, she's self-centered, and while I know it's only to put on a show for her citizens, I still don't like her.

5 ☆ Wriothesley (catalyst, cryo): I'm actually lucky enough to have Wriothesley in my team currently, and honestly, I really recommend him as cryo!!! I love his play style, and he's just been fitting into my team so well! aside that, i really like his personality as well. he's a bit playful and sure, just a tiny bit cocky, yet still sweet.

4 ☆ Charlotte (catalyst, cryo): a very annoying character to me as well. she's too pushy for my taste.

new info we gathered:

Lyney and Lynette are working under the House of Hearts, a Fatui organization based in Fontaine.

the "father" of their house is Arlecchino, the 4th of the 11 Fatui Harbingers, who's been sent to Fontaine to take the Hydro gnosis

Even though used as a punishment, the Fortress of Meropide is a separate institution from Fontaine's justice system and oparates separately. The "leader" of the fortress is Wriothesley, an ex-criminal.

Neuvillette is the hydro dragon sovereign.

Furina isn't the actual archon - she's the cursed human version of Focalors, placed on Teyvat for the last five hundred years to display the image of an archon. After Focalors' death, she turned into a normal human, and will continue on to lead a normal life.

Focalors, the true archon, served a death sentance to be able to save her people from the terrible prophecy. She left all of her power to Neuvillette.

Neuvillette gave the gnosis to Arlecchino as a gift, showing once again no resistance to the Fatui harvesting these materials.

Our next destionation is Natlan, the pyro nation. We learn from Neuvillette that Natlan is a country of war and dragons.

As for our sibling, we have learned nothing new. (Shocking, I know)

All in all, Fontaine is a beautiful new region which I cannot wait to explore fully. I think that the genshin team really outdid themselves (yet again). The story could have been changed just a tiny bit (were 5 acts really necessary?), but nevermind. We've got amazing new characters which I'm glad to play with, and a new little piece to the giant puzzle we call Genshin Impact.

Thanks for reading! Hope my guide helped. Follow for more!!

[crguang]

Lol I came back to Genshin after months of not touching the game cause Arlecchino was coming out and I wanted to catch up on the story quests but I had like.. 0 savings for her

But then plot twist! I save up just enough for a 10 pull while I had like 20 pity and Father comes home immediately I screamed lmao

Perks of being a Lyney main and having all her kids I guess 🥰 Didn't get her weapon tho but at least daddy's home

After catching up and doing Arlecchino's story quest I can confidently say she shot up in my top 3 hoyo characters tbh.. it would go something like :

1. Kafka

2. Aventurine

3. Arlecchino

Also I know skipping Acheron was insane but I REALLY wanted Jingliu cause god fucking knows when she's gonna rerun whereas Acheron might come back sooner since she's so popular..

-🔥

getting arle at 30 pity is fucking crazy. i won my 50/50 thank god i dont know what i wouldve done bc i also wanted her weapon, it came home without any fate points 🙂‍↕️ but yeah i had dropped genshin kinda and then they announced her so i put in the work for father… then her banner ended and im barely logging in anymore like😭 natlan might reignite my interest in that game but so far….

arle is definitely in my top hoyo characters idk what they put in her shes just too NNGHHHHHHH

[autumn-foxfire]

no it wasn’t not tagged as such, the person who recommended it to me even said it’s one of the more wholesome/mild zch fic and the events I mentioned weren’t presented in a dead dove/y way (as in the author is intentionally writing an unhealthy relationship) it seems the writer’s intended for it to be read as cute and zl taking care of childe after the Fatui abused him or whatever.

I agree with you tho, there’s so much babying of childe in ttl already i couldnt imagine how worse it would be in zch until i read a few untagged works. I don’t mind bastard or villain childe in ttl as much because even then zhongli has the upper hand and there’s no severe power imbalance.

What i like about childe is that he is full of contradictions. He doesn’t show much remorse or appear morally conflicted for the atrocities the fatui are committing even against children. his voice lines about Dottore is him just going “my comrade who experiments on children is weird haha, anyway i want to fight myself to the death” in contrast he openly shuns Arlecchino for potentially betraying his queen. “i can excuse child experimentation but draw the line at potentially betraying the Tsaritsa, comrade”

Oh damn, that sounds like on hell of a mistagged fic and the fact that people are presenting it like it's supposed to be fluffy... all I can say is Yikes tm

AND EXACTLY!

It's honestly why I love Childe! He's a contradicting mess! Let's look at the Archon quest where a lot of the mischaracterisation stems from in my opinion: first he gets angry for being used... after the traveller comes in and blames him for using them; then there are people who think he got upset by being used by a god but then in the next breath he turns around and says he doesn't mind being used by the Tsartisa in Inazuma; he claims he's the protector of childhood dream and yet the experiments the fatui are committing on children and how they are groomed to become soldiers are ignored.

And I do believe that his own fanatic beliefs about the Tsaritsa are the cause of these contradictions. His loyalty to her is so intense he really believes she's a gentle soul deep down and doing what must be done so he doesn't mind committing atrocity after atrocity in order for her to acheive that goal. It's unnerving in such a good way and I wish fandom FOCUSED on it more.

People love to make Zhongli and Xiao to have the twisted master and servent relationship when Childe and the Tsaritsa are RIGHT THERE. Every Fatui we meet are terrified of defying orders and are willing to kill the ones they love and care about if they think of betrayal, we had a fatui soldier fake her own death just to escape.

God I speak all day about how much I love the toxicity of the Fatui T-T It's so fun to explore. They're so fucked up and it's why I hate when it's turned into "found family" in fics, no leave it the fucked up military organization that it actually is >:3