How strong are the HARBINGERS? Genshin Impact Lore Theory and Speculation] 

With the angel reference for Columbina I could imagine her boss form being that "biblically accurate angel" looking boss and it’s going to be scary af.

The first time I saw Tartaglia go super saiyan and transform into a seven foot one eyed monster that yeets a giant ass whale, I was like "That's the lowest ranking Harbinger! This dude is the weakest!?"

Aether: why are you a harbringer? Pantalone: *I'M RICH*

Personally, if i were in genshin i'd just solo all the harbingers but ig nobody else thought of that

The fact that the Cryo Archon has been harboring such dangerous and deranged individuals is the one that really intrigues me. What happened to the Tsaritsa that drove her to madness and form the Fatui Harbingers?

What if Sandrone was the big mechanism behind the girl and not the girl herself? What if it was an act and the mechanism behind her is her real body?

Columbina is definitely my favorite Harbinger can't wait to see her in action

The character of Columbina, in the original piece, is said to be very smart and able to manipulate people in a way that would always place her in an advantageous position. That said, perhaps that’s why she is ranked third. Maybe her powers are all about hypnosis, manipulation & enchantment. For example, she could control people through her singing. Edit : one of Scaramouche’s voice lines got leaked and it was about Columbina. To summarize what he said, he described her as someone who seems mentally absent, and he added that if he were to meet an individual like her, he’d engage them in a fight. However, he warns Aether and tells him that somebody with his conscience should avoid Columbina. I think this reinforces my ideas, because Scaramouche doesn’t easily trust people and seems to see right through them (this could be justified by his pessimistic nature, but who knows?), which is why Damselette’s fragile appearance wouldn’t fool him. However, knowing how the Traveller is a friendly person, he could get tricked by the “cute” image she displays. Therefore, I believe that she actually can control others with her powers because who wouldn’t be fooled by a young woman with a charming voice, a woman who looks like she wouldn’t hurt a fly.

And what I find really interesting is that, in Comedia dell'arte (where the names of the harbingers originated), Pierro is also known as the sad clown (He is also the husband of Columbina, but I really doubt that it will become canon in genshin)

Columbina being Last Seelie is something I also thought about. What we know about Seelie: - They were once mighty race guiding humanity - They were cursed: if they fell in love with humans, they will become husks (as we see them in Teyvat) - Only one Seelie survived according to Arama: Queen Seelie that was friends with Scarlet King and Rukkhadevata, but her current whereabouts are unknown to Arama. This could also mean that Queen Seelie was also Goddess of Flowers. Now for some assumption: there is only one entity that we know of capable of cursing entire race - Celestia/Heavenly Principles cursing nation of Khaenri'ah. If they also cursed Seelie and Columbina is the Last Seelie, it gives her motivation in joining Fatui against divine. It also be in line with her powers being on par with gods. Interestingly, in comedia dell'arte, Columbina is wife of Pierro and lover of Arlecchino. But Genshin often takes the opposite of the established rules of comedia dell'arte (example Il Capitano being just a braggart while in Genshin he's genuinely strong) and the reason Columbina didn't become a husk would be because she never fell in love. If this theory is correct, and Columbina is truly Goddess of Flowers, then maybe we learn more once new artifact set comes in 3.3

22:19 I had a theory that Arlecchino's backstory is that she was one of the poor people who had to resort to tricks and shady stuff to survive, and now that's built into her, which is why Tartaglia gets sus out-for-herself vibes from her, and why she owns an orphanage so that others will grow up in better conditions than she did, and also adding onto that I had a second idea that perhaps she was actually from a rich family, or at least averagely wealthy, but someone or something caused their downfall and pushed her down to the bottom of society The 'false promises' bit could be that 'someone' made a false promise which resulted in her family's downfall, or it was a promise made when she was already poor that they would help gain back her status/wealth, so she started to distrust others more and try to raise the orphans to be as loyal as possible

They said the top 3 are as powerful as gods just imagine fighting the jester with gnosis imagine how strong they would be

Wait I never realized that it was Pulcinella in the Teyvat trailer. That basically means he’s gonna be a playable character. Does that mean they are gonna at a new model for the guys.

11:57 it's literally confirmed in 3.0. Nahida literally says Katheryne is a Snezhnayan puppet. And being out over the Adventurer's Guild gives the Fatui priceless Intel.

The Harbingers are strong enough to the point if they deem our boy Traveler as a threat, they would not hesitate to kill him. Maybe end his journey in Teyvat half-finished. Outlander-flavored donut as a feast for his demise.

If the Fatui claimed that they have the plan, the power, and the resources needed to fight against Celestia, then wouldn't it be fitting if their leader have something up his sleeve to make up against divine power? We do know that the Archons are named after the demons in Ars Goetia especially Lesser Key of Solomon like Barbatos, Morax, Buer, Baal, Beelzebul, Focalor, Ishtaroth, Paimon, and hell even the Sustainer when datamined had her name to be Asmoday Then, I'll put my bet on the possibility that Pierro, is Solomon himself I mean, the Fatui were insane enough to be so devoted in their plot against God, their devotion is only logical if their leader DO have the capability to be beyond the gods (be it control, or anything that made him able to overwhelms the Archons and Celestia)

With wanderer we might get more voice lines about them

if comulbina is a seraph, wouldn't that make her the unknown descender?

For Pulcinella I like the idea that he is some sort of wise wizard archmage type character, so he'd have super strong magic powers and maybe multiple elements, I don't quite remember if I just came up with this idea myself or if I saw someone else mention it, or if it was a mix of the two

i personally think that pantalone would have a geo delusion, given his disdain for the gods. all geo characters didnt want visions but got them anyways. noelle wanted to train her strength and not use a vision, ningguang found a vision and wanted to sell it, but it awoke and she was upset about it etc etc

I really enjoy the theory that Capitano is the Geo Yaksha, my personal idea of how its possible is that he lost his divinity as an adeptus. We saw how Menogias had a whole put through his chest. The idea comes from one of the constellations that looks like a hand holding a heart. Maybe it depicts the geo heart Xiao is desplayed holding in some of his promo art in events. Plus how interesting would it be to see an adeptus who has chosen to not serve Zhongli anymore.

Nonono, the strongest is CLEARY Timmie after the trauma from seeing his birds be killed thousands of times every day becomes too much and he turns to the Abyss for power. His rage will turn into immeasurable strength that will rival the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles themselves

I think it'd be cool to see a tier list of characters strength based on lore and speculation cuz some characters are really intriguing power level wise. Great video nonetheless :)

the fatui, the celestia and the tsaritsa are my fav topics in genshin lore, i'm so excited for them to release more! also i really like the theory that capitano is the geo yaksha but the cryo archon has revived him from death... imagine the conflict between xiao and the yaksha and zhongli and the tsaritsa if that's true! anyways, thank you for the video aster!

I think the : "if you burn with fury against false promises" does not refer to Arlecchino but to Scaramouche, since his friend died in a fire and "betrayed" the promise he had made to Scara and once one more he found himself alone. He was not happy with his own life, empty and felt a constant dissatisfaction with his own self and with the false "promises" that others made him, always ending up in his own loneliness.

The way the Harbingers function I cant help but to think that in some ways they were the Primarchs of Genshinverse I mean yes for those who knew Warhammer 40,000 the Primarchs would absolutely wreck the Harbingers. Its just that some of the harbingers resemble the primarchs base on their power and character. Dottore=Magnus the Red ( Unchecked thirst for knowledge ) Childe=Lion El Johnson ( Because of loyalty although Childe can be like Angron because of bloodlust ) Signora=Fulgrim ( Beautiful sadists )

Ok since basically none of the Harbingers have a Honkai parallel I'm just gonna point out its kinda ironic that Bronya, the literal best canindate for the Tsaritsa expy, is the Herrscher of Truth in one universe, but be giving out Delusions, a false image of sorts, in another.

I think Scaramouche’s mecha might be a way to channel the gnosis’s power without hurting him. He was originally meant to house it but started to shed tears which is why Ei didn’t keep it in him. Maybe

Nearly all of the Fatui lack something in 'humanity' with the exception being Capitano. I think Capitano is that ancient hero, representing the strength of mortals. The top 3 being compared to the Gods' power suggests an inhuman quality to them, if not something else entirely. I like the idea of Columbina being the Seelie queen. Perhaps she fell in love with Pierro (given their playright history) and wants revenge against Celestia for what they did to the Seelies. As for Pierro, maybe he is an android. Khaenri'ah's technology has been a persistent threat throughout the world, so what if Pierro is the pinnacle of that technology? Maybe he can store the Gnosis' within himself or something.

love how much aster is getting into the power scaling

I think Knave is 10th There was a world quest in inazuma that mentions her

Awesome! So basically all Fatui Harbingers are either superhuman (no. 11 to no. 4) or godlike (top 3). Can't wait to meet the other Harbingers in-game in future patches, and hopefully playable too. Also, I think people fancy soloing all of them in battle like it's an easy thing. But imo, the battle is only legendary when stakes are highest and the opponent is acknowledged and worthy. Scaramouche boss fight was supposed to be epic (except for Nahida's bot that makes it a little too easy to defeat the Everlasting Lord of Arcane Wisdom). I want Capitano to give us the thrashing of a lifetime. Let Pulcinella make us suffer with each battle phase. Dottore should be relentless, whichever other Harbinger we might fight in future. The devs know how to modify the battlefield and raise the stakes to make the renowned Harbingers live up to their name. Till we understand why we should also be wary of someone like Columbina.

It's worth noting that Childe has become much stronger since the fight we had with him in Liyue. In the tricky situation event with shiki taishou, he's stated to be the strongest member on the team even though he was only using his vision, despite the 3 element traveler also being a member on the team. Considering this same 3 element traveler was capable of defeating signora, it's arguable that Childe has improved so much since liyue that he's at *at least* stronger than what used to be the 8th harbinger now. Not even to take into account how much he's improved since we last saw him.

You know I never thought about pierro being an abyssal in disguise like enjou before you mentioned it.

Columbina definitely interests me the most I’m really excited for her to appear in the story

Love your vids! They are always so interesting!! And as an Italian myself, I really appreciate that you pronounce the final e in the names, such as Pantalone or Sandrone.

Being italian gives all videos relating to the fatui 10 times the entertainment value

Me, anxiously waiting to meet the captain in the story outside that one letter

This was really fun! I love the way the topic was approached in this video. It's definitely difficult to pinpoint what "battle strength" is and rank harbingers against each other with the information we have. It was really refreshing and nice to learn more about the harbingers as well as hear future thoughts!!

Some of the higher harbingers warrant Hoyoverse stepping up their game on the cinematics. I love the cutscenes as much as the next person, but for ones like Capitano and especially Columbina it would be cool if they got a bit more creative with the visuals, experimented a little. Make the cinematics cinematic.

I feel like given the secrecy of keeping his face hidden, capitana is gonna be a big reveal of a deceased or previously met character... Like probably crepus or Amber's grandpa or the ordinary fisherman in Liyue who can defeat a ruin guard faster than a descender's perception etc

In Comedia dell'arte, Columbina is the most and the only one that knows and see more than the other characters, and in the Genshin Columbina, She has a stripe of colored hair, in which archons also have that, and one other thing is, she has a Seraphim like wings, in the back of her hair, her symbol is even the crying dove Her powers imo will be either Light/Divinity, or Mental Manipulation / Warp Reality in our mind / madness Could this mean that Columbina is a god from celestia? Could Columbina be a Seelie Princess? Could her closed eyes hide something, or represent something of power, all knowing, or hidden truth? Could Columbina be a spy from celestia, or a descended god from celestia? Or the craziest one yet, She's one of the celestia's shade, in which she is casted down because of her madness, maybe then we will see her lost in madness, having a warped understanding of reality and Conjuring them to Reality, real crazy

Pierro is most likely a top officer of Khaenriah, and managed to not die (dying triggers further degradation of the curse of immortality) at all like Dainsleif hasn't died yet. We see a guy in the middle of degrading in a dainsleif quest, and the hilichurls are almost at the end of degradation considering we see the dead (sleeping) hilichurls in the chasm

For some reason, I imagine Pierro's fighting style to be sorta like Yhwach's ability(excluding Almighty, that's too much)

Is the Tsaritsa stronger than the Harbingers or is as powerful as Pierro? In any case, hopefully most (if not all) Harbingers are playable xD

It's funny to watch it now knowing that Arlecchinno is a pyro. You re right.

Arlecchino and Columbina are the most interesting ngl

I love the fact you chose Aria Of The Souls for this video as your background music. Fascinating!!!

i listen to your videos while going to sleep... you have such a nice and soothing voice :)

Speaking of the Fatui, do you know about the Epoch Winter song? Apparently it's made by Venti's CN VA and her husband. Also, VAs probably know something we don't, like Paimon's JP VA was asked about Paimon's true identity, and all she said was it would be great and unexpected. Since the song Epoch Winter is made from a Genshin VA, its lyrics might contain some info? Like "take the throne back from firmament". I actually did some research and found out the beginning, "dies irae dies illa requiem" is related to burning away the old world...

The Fatui Harbingers are ranked by strength and I always wonder why Pulcinella is ranked 5th. There must be a reason why would he be ranked so highly eventhough he isn't a combatant. Although the so called "strength" could also mean intelligence, influence, combat capability, and other things. He has intelligence and influence but I don't think that's enough to ranked him 5th since Pantalone who literally funded the entire organization and an economic genius who has influence all over Teyvat by opening Northland Bank in multiple nations and monopolize the market is only ranked 9th. I think Pulcinella might have some hidden combat capability as well and him being a non-human is quite interesting as well. Perhaps he might have some body transformation that is why he hid his face during the Teyvat trailer.

Well worth the wait. Thanks again Aster!

"The worst of them all, Politicians💀" Off to a great start lmao

Columbina being a seraph and the archon's connections/names being demons is actually a really cool concept

If Dain is Genshin's Otto, Pierro may be Genshin's Kevin.

A comment or a quick update to this after Wanderer lines would be interesting

Amazing video great work!!!!! Love it

About Signora's simultaneous wielding of pyromancy and her cryo delusion skills: At the end of the fight, she out of exhaustion alone (yes, right, she by all means were just exhausted of pyromamcy, which led her to defeat) retransforms into her human form with visible cryo catalisator. After Raiden strikes her in that form, in which she supposedly isn't capable of using pyro arts, she rewinds into pyro particles and seemingly moths. That should mean she can use at least a little dozen of pyromancy in human form, limited by delusion. P. S. My personal theory is that her catalisator IS the cryo delusion of hers itself, 'cause it disappears when she creates the cryo barrier, let alone the fact she doesn' t wear it on herself (as we can see on her model - there's no place with delusion on her).

I love your videos on the Harbingers!

i love this omg!! also is my ears right? does it have persona 4 soundtrack? because the early part of the video it sounded like the track whenever you enter the velvet room! regardless i loved this!

With new information about the fatui ranks and Capitano even as a human is considered the strongest individual on teyvat, I'm very curious about how it will all play out.

Columbina is so beautiful, I hope we get to see her soon

Childe in his voice lines said that the Damslette creeps him out and doesn't wanna go near her shows how terrifying the Top 3 are.

what if cryo archon is just a cover-up for being the ruler whereas the real one is actually one of the harbingers itself without other members knowing this. Cryo archon is a victim and has been imprisoned by them.

I think Scara voice lines gives some more details on the other harbingers

Something interesting about pierro in winters night lazz when walking to the coffin you can hear what sounds like a ruin guard walking so he might have mechanical parts

I remember at the end of Monstadt Quest that Venti mentioned the Tsaritsa giving her "powers" or "blessings" to the harbingers, which is why they are far stronger than an average human. And it"s the reason they don't strongly fall victim to the side effects of delusion. Ei Childe- Human+ Has Abyss fighting knowledge+ blessings from Tsaritsa Scara- A puppet+ has god like powers to some degree due to him being an archons puppet+ blessings from Tsaritsa What I'm getting at here is that even though some of the harbinger don't have vision or innate elemental powers (ie pantalone) , or even if they are only mortals (Capitano)' they would still have the "blessings of the tsaritsa", and thus is stronger than an average human. I also have a running theory that the Tsaritsa is secretly weak right now due to her bestowing "blessings" to her Harbingers, even more so that we have the top 3 which is stated to rival the powers of the god.

When talking about the possibility of Columbina being an Angel, you mentioned “divine flames”. This could translate nicely into Pyro abilities. Also, I feel like she just looks like a Pyro character to me. I reckon if she becomes playable (It looks like she uses a playable character model, so it’s likely), I reckon she’d be a Pyro catalyst, maybe a sub-dps or support of sorts. …Hoyo, if she does end up being Pyro, you’ve gotta make her flames look pink. You gotta. Please?

Signora might return as someone or something else. Also her strength is underestimated. Different from other Harbingers, Her delusion is for suppressing her pyro ability, Or else she will burn herself and suffer great pain.

I’m so excited for columbinaaaa

really want an analysis on abyssal sibling.

The 11 Harbingers actually has a lot of parallels to the 13 Flamechasers from Honkai, people who are willing to give up humanity and morality to challenge the gods, moths who got too close to the flame and burnt away, leaving a firey path to light the way for the rest of humanity. This idea of a fire moth is literally symbolised by Signora. While not the Flamechasers, Raven, a member of World Serpent an organisation under them is the closest parallel to Arlecchino, both of them have similar appearances and both take care of an orphanage. Sandrone is the next most similar to Mobius with a similar face and body frame and is also sitting on top of a robot, the craziest scientist who sought to advance humanity beyond flesh and blood, experimented on herself so many times she is no longer human or mortal. Third closest is Columbina and Aponia, both carrying angelic motifs, and both the top 3 strongest of their groups and rival gods, they also have the same CN voice actress. There's a lot to go on but these are some of the more obvious similiarities, concepts and themes that Hoyoverse always revisits.

Really appreciate all the lore breakdown you put down ^_^ Also bonus points for all the DnD verbiage :)

Just wanted to add that when discussing the top 3 Harbingers being in the level of Gods, the term "Gods" is really vague and broad, even the term Archon is, ofc, that is not to say the top 3 are as strong as the God of Salt or anything, but just keep in mind that a God inherently powerful like Orobashi(who carried the whole of Watatsumi Island on his body) who had the full support, faith and prayers from his people backing him up still got one shotted and obliterated by an Ei who wasn't even an Archon at the time.

Man if there's an option to which harbinger you want to marry then I would pick dottore cz why not!

I hope Columbina doesn't get Signora'd, I feel like fans would REALLY not like that if it happens + Money gone as well as I saw alot of people want her to be playable and I'm in a group of those people!

22:18 I'm actually pretty sure that this is Signora, since she literally became a fire spirit when her lover, who had promised to return to her, instead died at war.

Seeing you speculate about the harbigers' visions made me wonder. What if the elements are a way for cellestia to keep the vision wielders in check. Take Xinyan for example, her music can move people and shakes culture, but it's the power of music and freedom, not the power of pyro. None of the harbingers see their visions (or lack there of) as a constraint, while our characters do. Could an archon do more if they didn't specialize in a single element? Are elements even a thing? Are there powers beyond the elements? Collei is a nice example too. What gives her the most power, her dendro vision, her eleazar or her immense willpower? What is power even in this world?

I would love it if Pantalone was some sort of semi-evil Batman-like foe, seeing as he’s rich and doesn’t have a vision (aka super powers). Granted he likely will have a delusion but still, it’d be rather fun to fight an opponent who has gadgets and tech no one else has access to because he’s rich.

Purcinella really reminds me of Heimerdinger from Arcane, except he's less of a wholesome fluffball

I'm exited to see who are we going to see next in Fontaine, in my mind we will see Sandrone and arlecchino considering that the others don't travel that much and capitano is in natlan, this makes me happy because this means we could get the next playable harbinger (I hope arlecchino)

Hmm is there anyway we could see how some other characters scale? In terms of strongest in their region like Albedo, the Adepti, the Yokai, what ever is inside Cyno?

If a delusion takes away life- how does arleccino remain so powerful in her story and not AGEESE

Goku can take em Fr tho imagine Pierro with a Gnosis

Man now I wish they made all Harbingers playable lol 😭. I also wish they had more races. I would’ve like to see a wolf man with a cryo vision as well as dwarfs and Orcs/goblins and angels/demons as playable races. They really could’ve been one of the best fantasy game in the era 😭😭

Imagine that capitano will use hammer as a weapon like shao kan from mortal kombat

Well damn,haven't even opened YT and I see an Aster vid. Today is indeed a good day.

Senora also has so links to phoenix myth. So copium take is that she may yet come back in some form, kind of like how Scara is going to become the wanderer after wiping his past from the Irminsul.

I'm really fascinated with the theory on columbina there as being a seelie and a seraph its like pure coincidence or just pure intention, who knows but I'm simply ecstatic to know more

Damn, that Velvet room OST gave me so many flashbacks of my days being addicted to persona 3,4, and 5.

some new info about harbingers delivered through wanderer's voicelines and the new archon quest chapter (spoilers ahead): . . . . . . Pantalone - Wanderer's quote: "He's obsessed with the idea of "fair exchange," to the point of wanting to overthrow the natural imbalance between gods and humans." Pantalone's ideal is, however, foolish according to Wanderer - thus it remains unsure whether the "fair exchange" is a common goal between Pantalone and the Tsaritsa (who is a god, after all) or is it just Pantalone's personal belief. The latter, at least to me, could mean that he may not be fully loyal to the Tsaritsa. He's also Dottore's partner (take that as you wish :*) Sandrone - 1. Wanderer refers to this person as "she" (I also wished that the real Sandrone was actually the ruin guard), 2. she is supposedly quite selfish and cares about outside of her own "research" (on AI/Khaenri'ahn or simply ancient technology). However, many of her past experiments had been unsuccesful. Capitano - Scara further confirms that Capitano is immensely respected by the majority of the Fatui and that he is, indeed, very strong physically (kinda makes me wonder if he really is human after all) Pulcinella - Wanderer refers to him as "the mayor" - probably of the capital city of Snezhnaya. He was the one who recruited Childe and apparently "takes care about his family" (which, according to Wanderer and Childe's story quest, basically is a way of controlling Tartaglia - pretty logical imo). Thus the Rooster is almost certainly an incredibly important political figure, at least in Snezhnaya. Dottore - he is AT LEAST 400 hundred years old, as he had appeared in Tatarasuna then, disguised as an inventor from Fontaine. He recruited Scaramouche in order to conduct many experiments on him. Pierro - he was Khaenri'ah's "royal mage" and used to live with the Traveler's sibling for some time. He remains mysterious even to Wanderer, but is surely interested in exploring the Abyss (both Childe and Wanderer have been there on Pierro's behalf). Wanderer also further confirms what we've already known about the rest of the Harbingers - that Arlecchino is somewhat insane, but she puts up a composed facade; that Columbina is particularly dangerous (similarly to Childe, he warns us to not get involved with her). Let me know if I missed something!!!!

Imagine Capitano boss fight, no flashy elemental techniques or battle auras, no underhanded tricks and instant transmissions, no fancy power up transformations, just a dude and his sword, if he lands a hit you get yeeted halfway across the arena, and in addition to being relatively tanky he parries your strikes nullifying the damage

I'm calling it right now that unless a Kazuha-like anemo harbinger comes out, Childe will forever remain the strongest in terms of gameplay.

I wonder when we will meet more of the Harbingers. We have completed 4 regions now and we so far have only met Tartaglia, Signora, Scaramouche and Dottore. Regrator and Pierro have been mentioned now in the main dialogue, but I don't believe any of the others have. Perhaps there is another Harbinger at work in the final area of Sumeru. Even then there are many left, I hope we see them in action before Snezhnaya.

Pulcinella reminds me of Mosquito from Soul Eater. Maybe he has a Transformation that gives him a really powerful body too...

And I wanna further note I wish wanderer AKA Eon being a puppet of rhydon maku do could use his electrokinesis with his anemo powers together making a thunder sounds everything he attacked making him the thunder archon that would've been awesome a character who can use two elements at the same time making the blue flying meter larger being purple at the top then blue at the bottom allowing him to fly longer and giving him the people thing around the blue anemo ring on his back responding shogun Raiden burst mode that would've visually looked awesome and would've made him allot more stronger but they've completely abandoned his shotgun Raiden abilities completely for some reason

17:00 I do like the angel theory and especially the seelie theory. However it might maybe just be a dove on her head, considering Columbina literally means little dove.

Lmao it would be funny if Pulcenella's power is like of Ichiya from FairyTail hahaha suddenly growing and becoming muscular during boss fight 😅

Capitano is a must pull if he is a playable

14:48 - 15:22 TRULY AMAZING