The Fatui Harbingers are Italian??? 

Why is Pantalone so hot

Leak from beta testers: ❌ Leak from a singer: ✅ But seriously, you are so amazing Marco! I think only you can explain this to us in this manner! Thank you!

If Pulcinella is really manipulative as u said in the game, Tartaglia might get tricked because he says he trusts him, and left his family to him, I'm afraid of whats gonna happen to him.

I really like Pierrots' line "It's time to end tonights foolish theatrics" its a play on words on them Fatui Harbingers

As a Chinese, thank u so much for sharing this Italian opera knowledge. This video was so appreciated by Chinese audience on Bilibili. We learned a lot, thanks

"If evil, why hot?" As usual, great analysis and insight, thank you for the video!

"Pantalone and Dottore are alter egos of each other" has a whole different ring to it when you consider Baizhu, the one mysterious doctor we already know, and bearing an uncanny resemblance to Pantalone too. This can't be a coincidence.

This video is number 1 on trending. They are really stepping up for the story and trailers.

Tartaglia's Voicelines about the Harbingers more or less reveals that Mihoyo took the Negative attributes of the Commedia characters and tuned them up to 11, Especially considering Columbina, Sandrone and Arlecchino. They aren't evil people by nature but their current stance being shown as Antagonists to the player sure emphasises it that way

So some interesting info on genshin’s interpretation of Columbina: she’s regarded as quiet and mysterious, and kind of creepy. She’s the third strongest harbinger, and even Childe himself who would willingly challenge Pierro, the strongest harbinger, is deathly afraid of her and is deeply unsettled by her demeanor and personality. She’s even suspected of being insane, but like the creepy manipulative from the shadows kind of insane.

It's funny that you mentioned Scaramouche being a manipulator because the events in Inazuma we're due to his manipulations of both sides of the conflict and he has now gone Rogue with his own plans that unbeknownst to him are actually playing into the hands of the jester

the script writing is insane tbh. “time to end this foolish theatrics, you have no captive audience.” they really refer these harbingers to commedia dell’arte.

When the Jester says “You have no captive audience,” I think it’s a nod to how the original plays had the actors interact and manipulate the audience.

"Pulcinella typically twists people into doing what he wants". This sentence here seems much more somber and worrisome after finding out the new Childe voicelines about his Harbingers coworkers and what he says about Pulcinella.

Amazing to have someone who has such a thorough knowledge on Italian opera to educate and explain these characters, it provides some much needed context that other genshin RU-vidrs can’t deliver! Love all your genshin videos.

I can't wait for Snejnaya. I am Russian and a building that they've shown carries resemblance towards famous building in my hometown, Saint Isaac's Cathedral. And the city, Saint-Petersburg, is literally called Northern Venice, so it's gotta be so interesting to see those cultures intertwined...

This whole spin on Italian play/opera is incredibly fascinating. I've never seen something like this in a game.

14:52 that girl with green hair is Collei. In the manga, she was experimented by Dottore. The doctor infused her with archon residue, giving her uncontrollable and malevolent power. Such power was eventually "controlled" with the help of Amber and the Knights, as well as the Anubis-looking Sumeru guy. The end scene must be a hint to what's about to come. Collei sure have a connection with Dottore. She's probably what Dottore is referring to as the "experiment in blasphemy" though it seems like times have past since the events in the manga relative to the game. So maybe it's a different matter since we get the burning elden ring tree. Being said. It's a piece of what kind of person Dottore is and how such is reflected from the Dottore of the Commedia dell'are and why there is a seemingly random cutscene involving the girl with the green hair right after Dottore's scene. Enjoyed this video a lot. The editing is impeccable. It's nice to see how the original cast of the Commedia looks like at least in illustration. Looking forward for more!

For those curious: western classical music and opera are ironically more 'on trend' and popular with mainstream and younger Chinese audiences versus the West. They love this stuff. Orchestra performances pack concert halls over there even in cities that are less 'international' like Harbin. A game meant to serve as a cultural export as comprehensive as Genshin was bound to require a composer who can tred the expectations of an audience that is...shall we say a touch more musically literate than others. Watching this confirmed to me that the larger Genshin mega-narrative is inspired by opera, and basing the finale (and possibly the final antagonist, even if they are ultimately sympathetic antagonists) nation on Russia is not a slight to them - but a nod of respect to their great neighbour's wealth of culture and history that can at times rival their own (if not in length, then in scope and ambition).

The Chinese name for this trailer translates literally into “Silly play in a winter night”, since well, Fatui in Chinese is basically “group of idiots”. Something was lost in the translation, so I kinda failed to view the trailer as a serious act. Well, this video kinda clear things up a bit, and the trailer is now more interesting for me

I believe you were correct in assuming Sandrone was the woman, as she is also know as marionette within the harbingers and the large figure behind her is her puppet. Additionally, Pierro is confirmed as the first harbinger whereas Capitano is the second edit: Dottore is now confirmed as the second harbinger according to the sumeru archon quest

Regarding the Sandrone/Pulonia confusion, Tartaglia did bring up the name her as Sandrone in his character trailer. With Pierro’s half mask, it bears similar colors and designs to the entities of the Abyss Order, specifically the Black Serpent Knights and Abyss Lectors/Heralds. This is because he is almost certainly from Khaenri’ah prior to the Cataclysm. But wouldn’t be an isolated confusion regarding the Harbingers. In an Inazuman secret world quest, Arlecchino is refered to as “Lord Arlecchino”, which gave the impression that the Harbinger was male. And we had no mentions of the name Columbina before today as well, but the heart shaped dove on the Fatui Constellation Wheel gave it away. With the leadership thing, Pierro is indeed the First Harbinger, and a couple other Harbingers seem to take orders from him from time to time. But each Harbinger tends to have an area of expertise and act independently of each other (Pantalone and economics, Puchinella and domestic politics[?], Capitano having a significant presence in the military area, ect.) You also mentioned Dottore’s portrayal, but this is actually a significant shift from what has been previously seen of him. In the manga, prior to the game, he has a 3/4th’s mask and is rather eccentric and expressive with a color scheme similar to toothpaste. This significant difference in his portrayal might be related to something mentioned both in this teaser and in Tartaglia’s 2.8 voicelines… Speaking of the manga, the girl at the end, Collei, has her story told as the main story line of the manga. I feel bad that she’s about to be thrown into all this again. On a side note, I really do enjoy watching your reactions and bringing up classical music and mentioning the real past in the arts and how much it has influenced this game. Unfortunately, the only way I can respond to such comparisons and bringing up of information is by sharing my own. Gathered from all across this game, from what is stated, to what is implied, to the tiny fragments left in the corner. The Commedia Dell’Arte’s influence on Genshin is rather amazing, and it is cool to see these aspects highlighted.

I had a very basic understanding of the lore behind the harbingers titles but certainly not in depth, thank you for shedding light on the characteristics and the nods to the original costumes - a delight to learn.

This is why people like me love mihoyo as a game company, they often have heavily reference to some mythology and historical stuff, they are perfectionist when it comes to characters and lore design, even honkai has too many good character design and lore behind them, they are nerds of technology, games, ACG, and even history and mythology stuff

Getting into genshin, I would never had thought I would get so much interesting stories and information about so many cultures. I am very interested with now knowing the meaning behind the harbingers thanks to you. Without it I would have thought they were just some antagonists with some cool looks and personalities. Now I appreciate the designs and lore way more thanks to this

I was actually thinking if you would react to this earlier, I’m glad you did. The reason why they gave a mask to Pierro is probably because he’s from khaenri’ah (the nation that was destroyed by celestia) and all khaenri’ah characters cover half of their face, like dainsleif and kaeya.

out of everyone who has reacted to genshin's music, and just videogame music in general, at least from what i've seen, you are by far my favorite. your deep knowledge, and more importantly, deep love of music shines through in your videos so well and its so amazing to see. As an aspiring musician myself, I cant help but smile at the passion you have for this stuff and how deeply connected I personally feel to it. And yes, its been pointed out to you before but your musical ear is so damn good that you're pretty much playing through genshin's story with your ears at this point.

Yes, yes and yes! History time with Prof Marco. Simple, quickly yet deep, I like the way you describe how the background music tells each Harbingers's appearence --- and acts as paralles from their actors counterpart.

What would be amazing is if Sandrone was the giant robot, Pulonia is the girl that rides on him and the real Harbinger is actually someone who rides inside the giant robot (can be considered the son).

GRAZIE GRAZIE GRAZIE. Stai spiegando la bellezza della cultura italiana non solo agli stranieri, ma anche agli italiani! Alcune cose non le sapevo neanche io, è stato interessantissimo. Continua così ❤

I love the, "Let's end this foolish theatrics, right now you have no captive audience" because everyone in the harbingers is putting up an 'act'. The bickering of everyone is seen as a show and not the purpose they were given.

For forever I felt like I was the only person in the world that knew about Commedia Dell'arte. So glad Genshin is making it more mainstream so everyone can know how fun the Commedia is.

I truly enjoy your reaction from a totally different angle to Genshin Impact. The Fatui really has a special place in my heart with their character design, troupe, and lore. Without having any background knowledge in classical music and opera, this video has been a very joyful ride.

1) It's amazing that in Mihoyo there are people who are familiar enough with commedia and music to encode all that meaning into the game. 2) It's amazing that out of Mihoyo there are people like you who are familiar enough with commedia AND music to decode all that meaning for us. I know enough of commedia to recognise all the names and their heritage once the trailer came out (and I Pagliacci is my favourite opera!) but I never really studied the characters in depth--having you deconstruct them feels like we're "cheating" by getting sneak previews of what these characters will do (because based on what's been done, they will really honour those origin characters).

Pierrot's VA is just chewing the hell out of that scene. Trully amazing performance and can't wait to find him ingame.

I completely forgot about MarcoMeatball 's experience in Italian Opera and Commedia, so watching this trailer with his expertise makes this reaction more educational because you learn about the use and style of music AND stock characters of Commedia.

Pierro is the first harbinger, and Tartaglia mentions that Pierro leads the harbingers and rarely appears in meetings , Pierro is the one that recruited La Signora , Scaramouche and Dottore Arlecchino runs an orphanage called "house of hearth' which adopts and recruits orphans and trains them to become spies and assassins Pantalone: 9th fatui harbinger he is the richest of the fatui and is said to be the richest in teyvat ,it is said that he started the northland bank Tartaglia: is a ginger Columbina: she is the 3rd fatui harbinger, Childe says that she gives an eerie vibe that even he doesn't want to fight her

At this point, it's really hard to tell whether Pulcinella is actually a caring grandpa or a manipulative one. In one of Tartaglia's profile dialogues he says Pulcinella often visits his family bringing treats and gifts. Which can be interpreted as either it's Pulcinella's way of saying "we're always watching, so don't even try doing something stupid" or that he does care about Tartaglia and his family (which Tartaglia believes he actually does since he treats them just like family).

I saw your video translated into Chinese on the Chinese video site Bilibili. I enjoy your analysis of this PV and your understanding of the music, culture, and games. I wanted to let you know that your video was loved by the Chinese audience. Thanks again for the video, and for letting us know more about Commedia Dell'arte.❤❤

BTW Shenznaya is supposed to be inspired by Russia because of all the ice and stuff. But for some reason all the harbingers have these Italian opera -names- tropes. Makes me wonder if Shneznaya will be a combo of Russian and Italian culture, much like the upcoming Sumeru is a combo of many Middle-Easter, Near-Easter and Indian culture.

Here, in this video, we see a professional opera singer casually describe Genshin lore by simply breaking down a music. Respects++

I dunno if its the exact translation (not Italian unfortunately) but their other Fatui names would be: - Regrator for Pantalone - Rooster for Pulcinella - Childe or Ajax for Tartaglia - Balladeer for Scaramouche - Crimson Witch of Embers/Rosalyne Krusche Lohenfalter for La Signora aka "The Fair Lady" - The Knave for Arlecchino - The Puppet for Sandrone - The Doctor for Dottore (obvious one though he could have an alternative name later) - Damselette for Colombina - Captain for Capitano (same like with Dottore) - The Jester for Pierro (I know this one so same case as above) Now whether we will find their other names like with Tartaglia, Scaramouche & Signora remains to be seen.

6:40, you really hit the nail on the head by mentioning how they represented Pulcinella. Childe, or Tartaglia, has a voice line for him that says that he is always offering to help out with his family, and is very generous to him. So it seems as though Pulcinella is actually manipulating Childe through his family. Very interesting!

I'm russian ,i love opera, and i live in St Petersburg and gotta say the duomo at the end reminds me a lot of one of the cathedrals we have, namely St Isaac Cathedral. Good job everyone, also kudos Marko for being amazing!

Pantalone’s voice is the same VA who does Kyoya-senpai in Ouran High School Host club. So every time I hear him speak I just instinctively go “kyoya-senpai!!” Then I’m distracted again by the amazing music and ambience. And childe. Can’t forget him.

This dude has had his analysis always so on point. You're one of my favorite creators now, hope you keep on covering this game and others that have banger music!

oh Marco how you've grown you went from I'm just going to react to the music to like ok fine ill react to both the music and the visuals Amazing keep it up

09:45 sandrone in genshin is also known as the marionette, a puppeteer. So she controls over numerous puppet i think, and it's maybe fit the name sandrone as a family.

This was enthralling. I know you've mentioned before you never really meant to be a teacher, but you are damn good at it.

Many people did reaction videos, but yours is different and informative. Totally on another level. Bravo!

Pierro is pretty much confirmed to be the leader of the fatui harbingers, as number 1 of the harbingers and it’s oldest member, he’s often deferred to out of respect even though technically the harbingers are supposed to be “equals”

honestly, they kinda had to make Pantalone hot to make up for naming him Pantalone and Regrator, which both sound funnier than all the other Harbinger's names to english speakers also, the video might be being called a Lazzo ironically/sarcastically, in the same way that the Fatui are called the Fatui (fools) and their first member is called the Pierro (the clown)

Really hoped you would react to this, I thought the music was amazing for this and it set a really high bar for going forward. Have you heard the new music related to update 2.8? There are quite a few harpsichord pieces that remind me of Bach. Really love what they are doing for the new update

Wonderful breakdown, sir. Quite the asset for folks unfamiliar with the source material and it enhances our enjoyment of the narrative and characters even more. Thank you for covering this! As long as you're willing to stick around Genshin, I'm sure there'll be plenty of opportunities for you to continue to shed light on the game's music and the Fatui in particular.

You are the perfect person to explain the significance of these characters. I was hoping for a reaction from you and this is fantastic. Thank you.

I'm so excited for the Snezhnaya soundtrack. I love Russian classical music and I hope the composer takes inspiration from the greats (Rachmaninov etc.)

I remember the time when they just dropped this Trailer out of nowhere and everyone went crazy nuts over it lol

This has become one of my favourite videos. The excitement you had throughout the video explaining the Commedia Dell'arte and its "actors" as each character showed up throughout the trailer is the best!

It's so nice to see a breakdown of this video from you, a lot of us wouldn't get this perspective otherwise. Also yes I audibly gasped when Pantalone appeared. I'm already down bad for Dark-Mode Baizhu...

The most substantial "reaction" I've watched. It almost feels like a consultation to an expert regarding the Fatui's inspiration. I've learned a lot!!

the way you interpreted the Harbingers are really very special and dedicated to your craft!

You have no idea how much I wanted this video after the teaser came out. Really love your explanations and knowledge about this stuff, it truly feels like it comes from a place of deep appreciation.

Oh my god this video was so good! Please do more videos on the Commedia dell'arte in Genshin. I never thought I'd develop an obsession towards opera but here I am

I can't believe it, I was expecting you simply breaking down the music, but I never expected you'd give us a deep dive on the characters using your knowledge on Opera. Wow, I'm amazed!

Might be a weird take, but the song, while definitely creepy, mysterious, foreboding, and stuff… Oddly felt inviting, warm, and nostalgic. Like a corrupted lullaby.

I really do love how Genshin incorporates real culture the way it does. While I try to learn about what the game has based things on (such as the Harbinger roles), I learn a little bit more about the history of my own world while in pursuit of teases of how things could potentially play out based on those connections.

You explained the inspiration of these characters so well, it gave me a much better understanding of their historical significance. Makes you appreciate the work that Mihoyo put into Genshin too. Subbed! ❤️

This may be one of the most interesting genshin related videos that ive seen. It’s so interesting for music alone explain so much about lore

This was such a great analysis/breakdown. Absolutely loved it. I was really curious about the connection between the two but I barely know enough about either version lol, so this was very insightful. Thank you

the trailer was insane!! considering it's much of a lore dump than musical number i didn't think you'd cover it. bUT IM GLAD YOU DID! your insight is very interesting! bcs you know your craft and cultural history. the one thing i think you should know, pierro/ the jester, was the first harbringer recruited by the tsaritsa. he himself pick that title. so, it is interesting as you say he has half-mask on. the mask has significance in the game which we, as player, don't even know why yet. there are two other ppl in game we've meet that has the same 'visual' as pierro. all in all. thank you for the video! awesome one yet again!!

I love how you explained/compared the harbingers to the actual Commedia Dell'Arte play , i tend to have the mindset of read genshin lore, then maybe later research later on the irl inspiration to the lore, and this video does a great job in explaining alot of the potential roles or personalities of the future harbingers to come especially pierro who seems to be the head honcho as you described as well a man who will twist others to his goals.

this video is nothing but a gift: i love Commedia dell'Arte and, as an italian myself, i felt something inside when genshin came out with the fatui's trailer. is something a lot of us don't even know, and seeing all the little details and respect for our tradition (probably one of the deepest) is really, really beautiful ALSO thank you for express everything so well, i felt so many things and couldn't be able to put them down into words so yeah PS: Pierrot probably has that mask because he's related to Khaenri'ah

THIS IS SO COOL! You being able to breakdown the harbinger's potential role/ story while using the original opera they were based of on. I did see theories of this comparison before, but coming from an opera singer/ actor makes it feel more real. Your interpretation and speculation are amazing, and I can't wait to see the original opera be reflect by these characters in the story!

This is exact kind of content I was looking to consume after watching that glorious Genshin Teaser, thank you so much for going into depth even thought you could possibly talk for a lot longer, I thought this analysis & breakdown was beautifully structured. Instant sub for sure!~

It's always so nice to hear more in depth information about the material that these characters are based off of. Thanks for the lesson chief, really love your insight here about the Harbingers themselves. S+ commentary my man!

Your insight on all of the design inspiration is so appreciated Marco. It really brings to light just how much love and attention the devs / design team put into each character and just the game in general.

Honestly after all the reactions I've watched finding sooooo much knowledge about Commedia Dell'arte which, I hostly had no idea was the inspiration, just this all blew me away. There was so much I learned and gained from this so thank you every so much.

Your analysis was so interesting ! It's really good to know the parallels with the original Commedia Dell'Arte characters

So thrilled you made this video. I'm totally in love with responses that tie into someone's profession. Cant wait to rewatch your video 4 yrs from now to see how this plays out.

this was really educational, relating to the lore but the actual Commedia Dell’arte. i appreciate you for sharing this knowledge :D

I'm so glad you put this video out here. I remember watching the trailer and being like "I hope Marco makes a video on this!!!" considering both the amazing music backing it up and what we see of the Fatui Harbingers. I was a little worried you'd wait until there only a music track to work with instead of the full video.

From a commedia performer to you, this was beautiful to watch. Mille grazie!

I love your videos so much. You can explain all this extremly interesting background so well, no other youtuber does this. The way you connect your opera knowledge with this games story is amazing and sheds so much light on details i never noticed.

It's been extremely rare to have an essay on RU-vid, glad you made one!

Your musical analyses are everything for me, thank you for them

i am REALLLY hoping Columbina becomes playable!!!! Her song is hauntingly beautiful and I theorize she is in charge of the Fatui intelligence network, she might be able to telepathically communicate, she is a Seelie who has not turned into the wisp-like Seelies! Also i am not sure if i am the only one but if the Fatui change thier tactics to be less evil i might actually root for them

I live for your commentary! I was waiting for this all day yesterday. And your comments are so insightful, it makes me appreciate the developers more and educate myself with the culture too!

Dude, this was so much more in-depth than just the audio review I was expecting, I loved all the details you provided with regards to the opera lore such as Columbina being a lover of Arlecchino. Super cool and looking forward to how these references play out in game!

Thanks marco, because of you now i know the possibility of their characteristics ahead of time.

Amazing video, and by far the most interesting breakdown of this teaser Many have been trying to speculate the lore based on this, but since you linked it to italian operas, on which these characters are based, gives much more credibility and sense to your explanations

I love your perspective on these videos, I can't believe how good the music plays a deep meaning in the story

I was hoping you will get to the trailer overview some day. Boy, I was truly surprised you did it this quick! Thanks for video!

This definitely helped my noob brain understand just a little more about the original opera story and the extra details of how it connects to Genshin's portrayal of the characters related to it. Loved this video!

wow that was really interesting, didn’t expect to see so many references :0

Your videos are always informative and a really easy watching experience. Please keep doing what you’re doing man!

Thank you for providing such incredible insight & experience into this beautiful trailer!! Keep up the amazing work!!

I love this so much! It's so interesting to learn abt all the characters, cos now we have a peek into what the harbringers' personalities or motivations could be

its so nice to see so many people and (me included) getting in contact with an art form that we otherwise would have never considered ... i love the parallels that people can draw between the game and the art/culture it got inspired from

This is why I like your videos. You teach me something new by mixing it in with something I already love. That's the best way I learn new things. So thank you.

I love that you made this video. I've been carefully trying to piece together the lore in Genshin since it released. This was very insightful!