[4.5] Arlecchino and the House of the Hearth - Genshin Impact Lore & Theory 

**NOTES & CORRECTIONS** - I'm aware that there's a gender change for Perinheri in Chinese, but from what I can tell it is ONLY in the traditional Chinese, not simplified or any other language. Roozevelt and I asked some native speakers on discord what they thought about it, and they didn't find it noteworthy. There's also a similar swapped gender change towards the King's advisor, and the gender matches the traveler in the case of both the advisor AND Perinheri... since that is the case, and we know Perinheri wasn't a descender but the traveler is, I'm inclined to disregard this as it appears to be a quirk of address unique to traditional Chinese. My mind is obviously STC with new information, but this is why I didn't include it in the video. - I know it's ACK-eron not ASH-eron... I've just been pronouncing the soft CH since I was a kid and old habits die hard, oops. - For that last mini-theory, I also forgot it was top THREE harbingers, not top FOUR which actually makes Arlecchino's situation kinda funny. I dunno if it changes my 4+7 = 11 thought experiment much beyond labeling, but we'll see!

"I cannot believe I had to look at underwear for lore" This sacrifice will be remembered

"3 pyro characters dealing with death and rebirth" Diluc, summoning a literal Phoenix, found dead in a ditch 😂

"I cannot believe i had to look at underwear for lore" is a sentence I never expected to hear in my lifetime lmao

"Some even disguised them as regular recipes in cook books" so Guhua master wasn't just hungry in his diaries?

"Run if you value your lives. The frenzy has begun. The moon is red. We're out of time" - Someone during past cataclysms, probably

Ashikai, at every video: This baby can fit so much King Deshret into it.

24:48 just imagine the Traveler coming up to Ei being like "hey, i need to inspect your underwear, it's for lore reasons"

the cackle that left me when I saw Deshret :D

Never thought I’d see someone connect Arlecchino and Ei but here we are and I’m not mad

Fun fact in Nahuatl, the language that was spoken by the Aztecs, moths are called Mictlan papalotl, which means butterflies of the realm of the dead. Natlan, the nation of Rebirth, is inspired on pre-columbine cultures which includes the Aztecs, sooo… connection. We’ll prolly see many more butterfly/moth references in Natlan

It's also kinda coincidental that when you use Forbidden Knowledge, the user's eyes turn red, and they have a red aura.

I kept waiting for the inevitable King Deshret reference and was not disappointed

Perinheri = Perihelion maybe? The Chimney is the Night Sky, with the stars the embers and ashen stardust scattered throughout it. At the ascent of the night sky sits the balemoon, a blood moon, strawberry moon or an eclipse. Ascension occurs when a thing upon/beneath the land crosses the horizon (the veil), ascending into the domain of the heavens (the night sky), before it reaches a zenith and begins to descend once more back to the Earth, crossing back over the veil, achieving a "rebirth". Perihelion is the orbit of a celestial body, specially at the point when it reaches closest to the Sun (which sometimes "eclipses" it from the view on Earth).

Native Chinese speaker here, the more common meaning of Wangsheng (which is a Buddhist term) people accept nowadays is “pass away to Amitabha’s realm” or simply “pass away”. It is mostly used as a euphemism for “die”, because many Buddhist terminologies are nowadays blending with normal words without religious vibe in modern Chinese 😂

I love that you never stopped calling the Sustainer Susty xD its just so good

My gut tells me that another link between Liyue and Perinheri and the *Legend of Shattered Harlberd* is the mysterious *Nine Pillars of Peace* ruin in Cuijue slope you open with the nine stones of remembrance that you collect from the Geo statues.

WAKE UP ASHIKAI JUST UPLOADED 🤯🤯🤯

@26:20 i was so sure this was going to be a video with no mention of Deshret that i had a comment typed out ready to point out how wild that is and there he is lol

I love the minor connection between Bloodborne/Lady Maria and Arlecchino. Lady Maria did horrible things until she couldn't stomache her dual sword. Afterwards she took up care of people who were experimented upon to try and make Celestial emissaries. Being their only comfort in their agony. She also uses blood and fire in her boss fight. Partly because of her blood relation with Annalise, Queen of the vilebloods. There is also an orphanage in Bloodborne's upper Cathedral ward in the city of Yharnam. Which houses children of Great Ones(the Eldritch gods in the setting) As seen when another character gives birth to one when the Blood moon descends upon the city. Though it doesn't relate to Lady Maria. There's much more to uncover with Lady Maria, but I'd recommend playing the game and experiencing it yourself.

Something fun about the pyro element: The pyro vision holders just so happen to inherit legacies. Yoimiya, Xiangling, Amber, Diluc, Chevreuse, Dehya, Bennett, Hu Tao and Arlecchino are taking over after their relatives. Gaming, Thoma and Yanfei stepped up to take on important cultural roles. Lyney was the apprentice of a legendary magician. Klee is just like her mother, a possible descender. And then Xinyan. Does rock and roll count as a legacy? Pyro can be seen as the element that had the torch passed on to them.

*Every other Pyro user's idea of rebirth:* Butterfly *Diluc:* Wrong answer. It's a phoenix.

Can't wait for 4.6 patch. I hope it has a ton of juicy lore.

The idea of creating Descenders through alchemy could tie into the Primordial Human project (and would explain some similarities between Albedo and the Traveler). And while the name would suggest some sort of original prior form of humans rather than aliens, considering before sun and moon, the original prior form of humans *was* aliens/descenders. Traversing the fires of two worlds reminds me of the description of the PS5 exclusive wings: "But when you face a force enough to destroy one, or even two worlds," You do not truly remember who it was who had treated the two of you ever so gently. You wish you could remember... "When you face a boundless darkness, or an all-consuming radiance..." But that was one world ago. Its possible these are both referencing a specific set of two worlds, like it feels like a particular recurring phrasing (my moneys on teyvat and khaenriah, hinging on them being seperate but connected worlds rather than both part of one world) Interestingly the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles *also* has the blackened arms (I think it could be a style callback to kiana whose arms are blackened in a similar way after a near death experience) but considering the potential connection between arle and the moon sisters, Susty could totally be an undead (or half dead?) moon sister. Also *Skirks* arms are dark blue at the ends too and she says she doesnt want to return to the surface because "To live is in itself a blessing. But once a person dies, the bonds he once had with this world shall all turn to curses." Also now I need to go reread everything written by Mr Nine because you know what else is weird about the parallels? Acherons an emanator of the aeon known as "IX". they might both just be referencing The Hermit card but. A reread is in order.

As always, Ashi COOKED with this one!

If fire means rebirth, is that the reason why dottore is burning the irminsul on the sumeru PV? He is burning away the old world, as pierro says, so a new one can be reborn. I mention this bc a few days ago the writers for genshin did an interview/lecture on a university and they mentioned that that scene with dottore is part of a future plot.

Considering Ei is my favourite character I've always hoped they would go more into her lore and do more with a Mei expy. This only raises my suspicions that Hoyo has more hidden about her that will only come to light later on

Interesting note about the connection between the butterfly symbols and pyro, plus the Raiden Shogun: Yoimiya also has butterflies featured in her design (ponytail shape, necklace, tattoos, etc) and her signature bow Thundering Pulse was originally crafted by the Shogun as a gift to the Tengu Reizenbou

People saying that Ei "has no lore left" and that "we know everything about her" just have no clue about anything at this point lmao, the fact that there is a Raiden expy and a Kiana expy in this game and they haven't interacted yet(be it as friend of foe) just tells you that Ei is most likely the most important Archon for future reference that we have as of now. Just think about it, we have no clue what's up with the Electro Sovereign at all, not a single mention of a dragon in Inazuma, we don't even know what Ei and Makoto are, or what Makoto knew or how exactly she died, you can bet your ass that Hoyo isn't going to let their Mei expy in the dust.

4:45 considering Albedo mentions in the second dragonspine event that cooking isn’t that hard because its similar to alchemy must have been a galaxy sized brain foreshadowing.

My Name for Now, theorized that Arlechinno could possibly be a red dwarf star, which is the most common star in the sky. We know that Khanriah was trying to summon a descender, a golden star. It would make sense that when summoning golden stars. He also connected Genshin to an anime called the Angel and the Egg, and how it also had a giant moon with an eye. Anyhow you should check out some of his theories. Also it’s super annoying that you have keep clarifying that games are not connected because the Genshin community melts down about it. All games takes place in the Hoyoverse which is on the Imaginary Tree, among the Sea of Quanta. I wish the fandom would let you cook without crying about it.

well after playing the arlecchino quest yea we NEED a revisit to this theory

Wait wait wait that's not what Acheron's trailer was about. First off iirc it was then implied that beings from takemagahara were themselves refugees. Secound Izumo didn't forge the 12 sentinels out of nothing they first broke 70k+ blades and reforged them into the 12 sentinels. This is important as as with the last blade it's implied these blades are lives too. 70k+ lost their lives fighting the invading takamagahara and from the remains of powerful takamagahara (herrscher equivalents) they forged the 12 sentinels (herrscher core equivalents) to fight back. At last the 12 sentinels alone were not enough so they were yet again broken and reforged into the last 2 origin and end corresponding to mei and kevin in hi3. Mei(Acheron) won and killed kevin but in doing so sacrificed everything. She was the last living thing on izumo and she realized the bright future they were all fighting for in the first place never existed as takamagahara and izumo weren't orbiting a sun but a black hole meaning they were all boned from the start. So she strode into nihility's shadow and reforged her broken life into nothingness the last blade (also became a self annihilator and by clinging on to what little self she had and refusing to fade away but also remaining aware of how pointless her existence is she also became the nihility emanator). In comparison in hi3 kiana existed giving hope to everyone and so the world was not as hurt, in the end kiana embraced the end and became the herrscher of finality (probably an emanator). Now I'm no expert in both stories so this'd be a very barebones explanation.

Dehya's character card is literally called PURIFYING FLAME

id like to point out raiden’s skill and burst creates a large eye shape.

Ashikai’s obsession with deshret had gone too far.

I can't wait for the new video about Arlecchino because of the story quest. I am pretty sure there was a significance in it because the traveler even said it out loud that what he/she sees is a crimson moon. Maybe the same that we saw when the cataclysm happened.

Now I want Arlecchino to meet Ei

Ok this doesn't have much to do with the theory but one thing to point out. While acheron is mentioned in dante's inferno, it is not originally from anything catholic or demonic(especially seeing as how the divine comedy is not even canon). Acheron is one of the 5 rivers that lead to the underworld and it is also the largest river. It's the first river that leads to underworld and it is where the dead wake up and where charon leads them to the gates of the underworld by ferry(provided they have the payment, if they don't, they have to walk the banks of acheron and styx for a hundred years). The underworld is often mistaken as hell cuz our world today and our views on the afterlife are dominated by abrahamic beliefs but this is not the case. The underworld and hades are simply the after life and the god of the dead repsectively, they are not hell and satan. The underworld is also where the greek limbo and heaven resides.

Ever since I saw a Genshin RU-vidr talk about how The Angel's Egg anime film relates to Genshin, I wonder what you would think of it because ever since I saw that, I can't stop thinking about it! Especially as it relates to Perinheri and this new lore we have.

I LOVE HOW TO TALK ABOUT EI !!! IKR ??!?!! THERE MUST BE SOME CONNECTION ABOUT THAT MOON STUFF AND BUTTERFLY DESIGN ?!!

You know its an Ashikai theory when it holds even more water after a new genshin trailer is out Since arlecchino is "from fontaine" and contains two wills inside of her, plus the whole crimson moon motif, i wonder if this has anything to do with the tale of "Le Chevalier Double" or "The Double Knight" in which Olef, the knight has two stars overlooking him, the Green Star of Abundance and Good and the Red Star of Catastrophe and Evil, the Red Star is his evil persona or alter ego

The 11 harbinger thing: I always kinda thought it was paralleling the 13 Flamechasers in HI3 with Piero being Kevin and the Tsaritsa being Elysia. Especially after being Fu Hua's new battlesuit outfit coming next patch being compared to Arlechino. I was drawing parallels between Mobius and Dotorre and kalpas and childe. Its a loose theory but I think Hoyo does like to repeat themes in their games even if they aren't directly connected. As an artist I tend to revisit the same themes over and over again in my work so it makes sense to me.

Are you keeping an eye on the new Honkai Impact 3 Pt. 2 story? Seven nails to remove the evil from the world ....

I COME AFTER THE 4.6 UPDATE. NOWAY SHE WAS RIGHT!!

I was waiting for a theory from Ashikai as soon as I realised the book was a lore bomb. Thanks!

now that we have more information from the livestream they have similar burst lines in japanese "lightning/the moon shines eternal" 🙀 and her weekly boss form wings look similar to the statue in inazuma 🙀 u cooked with this one omg

24:50 the way I choked when I heard that 😂😂😂 jokes aside, I didn't even notice the butterfly details in ei's clothing (aside from her hairpin, which I just took in as an extra aesthetic piece)

26:23 AND HERE I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA GET AWAY WITH NO KING DESHRET 😭😭

Okay, I was NOT expecting the Raiden connection with the crimson moon, but with things called baleful vajra, balethunder in Musoujin gorge, baleful shadowlord, my senses should've been tingling the moment hoyo dropped Arlecchino's drip marketing. It really does implicate the Raiden twins into the Honkai-esque lore of genshin. Maybe the reason emphasis was put on Raiden's sword wasn't just because uwu lord of weeb land has magical super sword, but that sword is also some kind of divine key from the crimson moon? This puts so much sus in my mind to other stuff that other archons have, specifically the holy lyre der himmel, since Venti also has a herrscher equivalent in HI3, and is just sus in general (Would a divine key have healing/purifying properties though? I would probably know if I finished HI3, but I didn't). Also, wtf was Guizhong's box to Zhongli? I hope Ei will have an actually important part to play in a later time. After all, Mei was willing to be a *sinner* to save Kiana. Having the Mei and Kiana expy not interact at all would be foul.

Ever since reading the book and watching roo’s video, I’ve been waiting for you to drop this video, and needless to say, this is gonna be a banger. I just know it. :DD

DESHRET STOP APPEARING ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE (he's salty he only got like 30 seconds of screentime, so he makes up for it by being in almost every part of the lore)

speaking of pyro and resurrection, I find the story of how benny boy got his vision very weird. It almost sounds like he dies- he was wounded, lost a lot of blood and lost onsciousness. He later wakes up to find out wounds have been cauterized by some flame, and for some reason the blood he had already lost doesn't seem to cause any issues. And for some reason he gets a vision when he wakes up (I don't really think the vision was the thing that healed him, as far as I know a vision itself doesnt have any healing properties, maybe the vision wielders do possess such abilities after recreciving a vision, but not the vision itself). I know many people have connected bennet to the lavawalker and possibly the pheonix before- which doesn't seem unreasonable at all. But if it is true that he is the pheonix/lavawalker reincarnated, what I find interesting is that him dying and being reborn makes him worthy of a vision.

can't believe it took until the end of the video for ashikai to talk about deshret, that has to be a new record jokes aside, great video!

25 minutes without mentioning or referring Deshret is a record. Well done.

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU TO COVER THIS BOOK I AM SO HAPPY

FINALLY SOMEONE IS TALKING ABOUT THE RED MOON AND RAIDEN EXPYS. This particular topic has been driving me crazy for ages especially since Honkai World Diva exists. Genshin Expys are some of the most frustrating things to understand lore-wise and it's hard to explain to people why it matters but also kind of doesn't. It's all very metiphorical and it makes my brain hurt.

Hope u get a tons Of Subscribers...😊 Your content surely is something people love to see

I'm just going off my vague memory of Arlecchino's quest, but i seem to recall not just a blood moon showing up in the fight, but also a reference to 'two worlds'. I think your connection of Arle to the perinheri book is spot on, at that point.

Another great video, Ashikai!

Also, considering the symbolism of pyro, maybe the crimsom moon is the origin of the pyro element in the first place, as the pyro slimes also explode on death. It would also explain the whole of klee

This aged like fine wine

Great Video, Loved the Comparison of themes and ideas from HSR, looking forward to any more thematic connections in the future, possible between boothill and arlechino coz they look so suspiciously similar

A crimson moon also appeared in the Rukkadevata's realm of consciousness when we got on a floating boat. I think it's just a recreation of the landscape of the Cataclysm, but the texts in Sumeru say the moon became crescent(“sneering waning moon”) during the Cataclysm. So It seems like while the crimson moon appeared in the sky of Khaenri'ah, the crescent moon appeared in the sky of Sumeru. I don't know what this leads to, but it seems moon(s) are really connected to the Cataclysm.

That was .... Alot of lore.

can't wait your reaction and thoughts to arlecchino's story quest.

This "rabbit hole" had my little legs peddling so fast as I tried to prevent my decent, but don't worry it was a fun trip. Thanks for the theory video, very entertaining!

Watching an Ashikai video this early in the morning promises to activate my brain for the rest of the day!

About Ei, I remember telling this to friends a long time ago shortly after her second quest- if the Raiden twins have a direct connection to the Unknown god (allegedly Kiana) it's impossible to know because Makoto is fricking dead. Unless Genshin pulls out one of those characters that knew of the Raiden twins and maybe even knew Makoto personally (and wasn't a baby at the time like Miko).

Talking about herrscher and rebirth there's another parallel I thought about. In HI3 Seele became the herrscher of rebirth and also uses scythe. I think she was also in the sea of quanta at one point (I'm not on point with HI3 lore) and when you mentioned forbidden knowledge it made me think of the abyss which I think is quite similar. On top of that there's Seele quantum type in HSR and she glitches from reality similar to Arlecchino in some of her animations. And there's also a reccuring theme of orphans surrounding those character. Not sure there's a lot to take from that though, just a parallel I thought about while watching the video

You know... The fact that it took me till this video for me to realize that variants of Kiana, Mei, and Bronya being the Moon Sisters is a possibility makes me feel a little silly, considering how obvious the theory is now. lol It's also a theory that perhaps has the most evidence. And by evidence, I mean one, not very strong evidence with the statue of one of the Moon Sisters being in Inazuma, where a variant of Mei rules the nation. lol But this video was nice. Though it probably would have been better to call this a Periheri, Arlecchino, and Raiden Ei theory video consider how often Ei came up. aha I do at least agree with the fact that with this book series releasing right before Arlecchino's release, that this book may foreshadow something in the next patch, and like you, I think it relates to how the House of the Hearth was formed and how exactly Arlecchino became the current Knave.

I love that you're pointing out bread metaphors right when thr Anya Nami bread song is everywhere lololol

By the way, during the livestream there's a moment they name Arlecchino, during the boss fight second phase, as "Cinder of Two World's Flames".

perhaps the bronya kian'a and mei version in genshin are the moon sisters we already saw kiana at the beginning and you theorized in video that ei may be a moon and the tsaritsa might be the remaining moon sis

coming back here already after the 4.6 trailer and i WILL come back again after her teaser and her quest 💀🙏

i thought we made it through without a Deshret refrence this time besties

In the Final Fantasy IX game there is a red eye in the sky that always appears before a great calamity, very similar to the bale moon. The charaters later discover that the eye is just the bottom of a giant airship that can cross between worlds.

Something that I find interesting, as it correlates specifically to my knowledge as someone who practices a modern day version of aztec religion and has heard the stories many times, is that we have a story about rebirth which also has to do with fire. In short, in order to create a new sun(the most recent one, in fact), a god needed to jump into a pit of fire to be reborn as the Sun. Lifeforms already existed, but it needed the Sun to spur it into living, so you could say that a god’s sacrifice was needed to begin a new world, or world cycle. Also, the god who became the Sun, Nanahuatzin, was the humble god(dess) of blisters. Nanahuatzin, had volunteered along with Tecciztecatl, a beautiful and wealthy god, to jump into the great bonfire. When the time came to jump, Tecciztecatl froze up, so Nanahuatzin jumped into the great bonfire and became our lord the Sun. Tecciztecatl, embarrassed, became our lord the Moon. Natlan seems to have pre-columbian Mesoamerican and West African inspirations, and it wouldn’t surprise me if hoyo took inspirations from our myth surrounding one of the Suns. In my opinion, the myth of the fifth sun could be seen as backing for the beliefs that Natlan will have themes of rebirth, and pyro as an element also seems to have themes of rebirth. The reason I mention this myth now, is that Perinheri journey begins with rebirth through fire. Natlan’s chapter is Incandescent Ode of Ressurection. The Narzissenkruez world quests revealed that Teyvat has had four samsaras, the current one the fourth. Descenders seem to have been what spurred the new cycles. Perhaps it is because they descend into the “fire” and begin a new cycle? The Tsaritsa seems to be planning for a new cycle, as whatever she does with the Gnoses will be very impactful. We know that Murata is going to give us insight to the Tsaritsa. What am I getting at? Tbh i have no fucking clue BUT ITS ALL REALLY INTERESTING THAT ALL THESE THINGS CONNECT, ESPECIALLY WITH THE LEGEND OF THR FIFTH SUN COINCIDING WITH ALL THESE THEMES WE’RE GETTING OF REBIRTH BY FIRE, AND WORLD CYCLES

to continue the link between ei and arlecchino, their charge attacks both resemble moons and sparkle differently to others! (compared to other polearm or sword users which "sparkle" such as yunjin, ayato and nilou, and jean with her dandelions, it's a brighter and more prominent sparkle)

I legitimately died of laughter when you managed to put Deshret connection at the end of the video, you just can't make one without the guy 😂

Having Singnora amd Wanderer featuring in this with rebirth themes... And with Childe having been changed by the abyss... Have all the Harbingers been through a process akin to death? Dottore has clones that have died, too. How curious.

I like your videos so much, thank you.

往生means after-death life or life after death. The meaning of Rebirth is hinted but not semantically strong. Source: native speaker.

your videos are always great, keep it up! and thank you for the content

WOW that was a lot to take in. Anyways, I always enjoy consuming your videos so keep doing what you're doing! (P.S. you might already know this but there are some leaks about the next region in 4.6 being about ancient Remuria and we will have a new map entirely but this all based on leaks)

Some dumb part of my brain wonders if Crimson Moon dynasty had crosses for eyes, similar to how Eclipse dynasty has rhombus...

This one is great, went in a lot of unexpected but fun directions.

omg this got crazy at the end, i loved it!! would love to hear if you have any updated thoughts on this all after the latest star rail update and acheron's full backstory/the connection to the nihility

Ei has the same particles as the large hole in the sumeru desert before you reseal it ❤

I thought we were finally going to have a video where Ashikai didn't mention anything Deshret, but you just couldn't help yourself could you

holy cooked, didnt see the BB reference coming into the play but was hoping youd bring up HP lovecraft somewhere in the video as i watched on, but seeing BB make into it doubled my joy

Arlecchino - Raiden connections would be funny given how close Raven and Mei were by the end.

My interpretation from back when the final feast Fontaine teaser first released was that based on her character design and occult symbolism incorporated into her design was that she represents perihelion night or the moon bearing the authority of the sun or the sun bearing the authority of the moon. Like the transposition of opposites? I don’t want to outright say what I saw in a recent leak about her that made me think I was almost completely correct about her shape and the shadow she cast. Basically I said that her design screams the phrase “as above (Celestia), so below (abyss)” with a protection of the middle as though to declare what she protects and who she wishes to declare war against. This is because one of the most important things we are shown is the hand she snaps with after a huge buildup has that symbol of a blade upward a blade downward with a refuge or haven between them. Any conclusions extrapolating beyond just what’s literally worn out in the open or boring oh white is light and black is shadow oh that’s the abyss and the celestia might be tainted by leaks or reflections in other hoyo games now so I guess I won’t try to say it beyond this vibe based conceptual way.

arlecchino's colour scheme and design kind of looks like ashes and embers. a will passed down from the original orphanage, perhaps?

Yessss more lore videos on the way!!!

Ok now this is well thought out. 😮 the butterflies

Her weapon and artifact lore is crazy

25:45 I thought she was going to mention The Sinner's line about shedding a tear for us at the end of time but the rabbit hole is already deep enough

Never did I think I would get a little HSR lore again here, but here we are and it's pretty cool~~

Ashikai sneaking a bit of Deshret in the end, because OF COURSE SHE WOULD