Harlequin in Genshin Impact is the harbinger of Fatui and the head of the House of the Hearth Orphanage, also known by the code name “Servant”. In this article, we will analyze all the known information about Arlekino and try to guess whether she will be a playable character, as well as what weapons and elements she can possess.
Arlekino's name, image and character
The name Arlecchino, like the names of the other Harbingers, refers us to the commedia dell'arte, or the commedia of masks. There Harlequin is a male character, a cheerful, lazy and stupid servant. In the comedy, the Harlequin often interferes with his master's plans and competes with the more serious and melancholic servant Pierrot.
For the first time we see the appearance of the Harlequin in the teaser for “Lazzo in a Winter Night”, where all the Harbingers commemorate the deceased Signora. There, the girl accuses her colleagues of callousness and cowardice.
In a small section of the video we see that Harlequin wears the typical Harbinger fur-collared cape. Underneath is a black and white shirt with a red accessory. She wears a short haircut, and her white hair is set off by black streaks near her face. Among other interesting details, it is worth noting the girl's eyes – the iris is a black circle with a red cross.
At the time of update 3.7, the Harbinger herself did not even appear in the game even as an NPC, so we can judge her mainly by the replicas of other heroes.
So, from the game characters, Tartaglia and the Wanderer speak about her. Both consider her insane and say that her main goal is power, for which she is ready to betray the Queen. We find indirect confirmation of this in the conversation between Mikhail and Lyudmila – these are two diplomats of Fatui, who always stand in Mondstadt not far from the teleport. After passing the quest “The All-Seeing God, Mortal World”, where Signora dies, you can eavesdrop on the conversation of diplomats: they believe that now someone more powerful can take the place of the deceased Harbinger – this is probably a hint of Harlequin.
Thus, the image of the Harbinger partly corresponds to her mask from the commedia dell'arte. While it is difficult to call her cheerful or stupid, however, like the classic Harlequin, the girl pursues her goals and is quite capable of interfering with her superiors and competing for power.
History of Harlequin
So far, we do not know the biography of Arlekino and any details of her past. We only know that her main activity in Fatui is the education of orphans in the Hearth House. Orphans who grew up in this orphanage receive a patronymic Snezhevich or Snezhnevna.
We will learn more detailed information about Arlekino from the quest “The Secret of the Replacement”. We also meet a pupil of the Hearth House in the Sumerian quest “The Eternal Exile of the Forest”, and from his note we can assume how the children from the orphanage treated each other and their “House”. In general, players meet Snezhevich and Snezhnevn every day, fighting with Fatui – all Pyro agents, magicians of tsitsins and other fighters grew up in the “House of the Hearth”.
In the “Secret of the Replacement” we save Lyudochka Snezhnevna. Her mentor, Yefim, speaking of Arlekino, calls her kind, but notes that her patience is not endless. In addition, he says that Fatui's activities will help “strengthen the prestige” of Arlekino, and he is ready to take all the orphaned Inadzum people to an orphanage and raise them. Lyudochka is not satisfied with such a life, and she claims that orphans suffer.
In The Eternal Exile of the Forest, our friend Alfonso turns out to be a hidden agent of Fatui. He tried to lead a peaceful life in the village, but during the quest we have to either kill him or expel him from the village. In any case, after we find an excerpt from the song – apparently, it was sung in a shelter. Its general meaning is that the children in the orphanage are closer to each other than real brothers and sisters, and they are ready to give their lives for their “parents”, that is, the leadership of the “House”.
In the Jecht quest chain there is a task “Sharpen arrows, prepare shields …”, where we meet Orest Snezhevich. The soldier says he joined Fatui so he could pay for his sister's education at a good school. He does not want the girl to end up in the “House of the Hearth”, as he does – it's not bad at all in the shelter, but Orest wants a “worthy future” for his sister.
As we can judge from all these statements, the orphanage was a real home for orphans, and the rest of the pupils became their family. However, the main goal of the House is to raise soldiers who are unlikely to find something good in adulthood. Many adult members of Fatui, whom we meet in the story, want to live peacefully and try to escape from service, but more often they still face a tragic fate. Probably, Arlekino has a great influence on the orphans and instills in them attachment to her and the readiness to die for the sake of fulfilling the mission, and only in the outside world do the orphans realize that there is another, better life.
Harlequin Harbinger Number
h2>
There is no exact and official information about the Arlekino number yet – in various sources you can find 4th and 10th places. Another Harbinger with an unknown number is Captaino. It can be assumed that since Capitano is one of the strongest Fatui with great authority, he is in 4th place. Harlequin, judging by the conversation of diplomats from Mondstadt, can aim at the place of the deceased eighth Harbinger, Signora – therefore, the rank of Harlequin herself is lower. However, these are only assumptions, and it is not yet possible to draw exact conclusions.
Harlekino release date
According to the plot of the game, we can trace that in each new region we meet one of the Harbingers. According to some slivers, in the new region – Fontaine – we will see precisely Arlekino. There is information that one of Fontaine's heroes – Lynn – grew up in the Hearth House, which only confirms the guess about the appearance of the Harbinger.
Whether Arlekino will become playable or remain just part of the plot is a separate question. Of the game Harbingers, only Tartaglia and the Wanderer are available to us so far: the first is in the zone of gray morality and is not an unequivocal antagonist, and the second has completely been reborn, discarding the past in Fatui. But the deceased Signora did not come to any kind of truce with us, and we will no longer see her as a playable character. So the playability of Harlequin depends on her role in the story. Here the data from the sliver differ: someone claims that we should expect the release of the Harbinger in one of Fontaine's patches (most likely 4.3), others that she will have the same tragic fate as the Signora, so it will not work to get her into our collection .
Harlequin's Weapons and Elements
Again, there is no official information yet about the weapon and element wielded by Harbinger.
According to recent leaks, Harlequin is a Pyro heroine who wields a one-handed sword. This really seems to be true: a sharp, quick-tempered character is quite suitable for the fire element, this is also hinted at by the red elements in the clothes and eyes of the Harbinger. Harlequins in comedies often carried a wooden one-handed sword with them, so this weapon would be perfect for the image of a girl.
Actors Harlequin voiceovers
What we know for sure about the Harbinger is the actors who will be voicing her in different languages:
- English – Erin Yvette
- Chinese – Huang Ying
- Korean – Lee Myung Hee
- Japanese – Nanako Mori
