We already know Pierro occupies the wheel's slot marked by the Tragedy Mask. This means the ice-encrusted mask at the pinnacle, once thought to be his, can only represent the Tsaritsa herself.

But look closer. The symbol for the 10th Harbinger isn't missing, it's being deliberately obscured by the emblem of the Delusion. This isn't an accident; it's an act of symbolic mockery.

Let's connect the dots through history. Viktor in Mondstadt told us every Harbinger wields a Delusion, but this wasn't always the case. The technology had a brutal evolution: first, crude experiments on children like Collei using raw Archon Residue; then, refined tests on individuals like the Sumeru Seer who could withstand the power (apparently through a tattoo with the Fatui symbol); and finally, the stable, mass-produced Delusions we see today.

Crucially, when the Knights of Favonius raided the Snezhnayan carriage attacked by Collei, they recovered confidential documents. Those files didn't just mention Collei's case, they directly linked it to Crepus Ragnvindr's Delusion. This is the smoking gun. Crepus didn't just stumble upon a dangerous artifact; he was tied to the Fatui's prototype phase.

Think about Dottore's reaction in the manga. When attacked by a masked figure, he didn't see a random enemy. He saw the Owl Mask and instantly knew who was behind it. Why? Because that mask wasn't a costume, it was issued safety equipment for an unstable prototype. Evidence suggests early Delusion use required a mask to mitigate the dangers, a rule later circumvented by refinements and Harbingers like Arlecchino.

And what is Diluc's constellation? An Owl.

The pieces lock into place. Crepus was a collaborator, and the Fatui's eyes were always on his prodigious son, Diluc. His "Ceremonial Garment" isn't just a fancy outfit—its design language is unmistakably Harbinger. They were preparing a seat for him. His constellation, the Owl, was meant for the wheel, destined for the role of "Brighella."

Their recruitment playbook is consistent. With Scaramouche, they engineered tragedy and then offered him purpose. With Diluc, they used their agent, Inspector Eroch (possibly another Dottore segment, suspiciously similar to the "Escher" name), to orchestrate the humiliation following Crepus' death, slandering his father, alienating him from the Knights, and leaving him angry, alone, and ripe for an offer of power and vengeance.

But their plan failed. Diluc rejected their path. In a defining act, he returned the prototype Delusion and the Owl Mask to Dottore. This single act of defiance provided Dottore with the final data needed for mass production. To the Fatui, Diluc's legacy was thus reduced: not a glorious Harbinger, but a successful test subject. So, on their wheel, they cover the Owl with the Delusion: a permanent, spiteful notation that his only worth to them was the weapon he gave back.

The 10th seat isn't empty. It's censored. It belongs to the Harbinger who never was: Diluc Ragnvindr.

Hello there. I had this theory in the back of my mind for a while, and while I have some loose threads, I want to discuss with you what we know.

Apologies for mistakes. English is not my first language.

SPOILERS FOR LUNA IV

If you don't want to read everything: All the 11 Fatui Harbinger seats have been meticulously selected, since every one of them will make a difference in changing the old world.

We had very little clues here and there: The first one, the seed of this theory, is that there hasn't been any seat re-filled. Maybe for Snez they do something to sell characters, but they had 6 years and: no new Signora, no new Scaramouche, no new Capitano. They even mention Capitano is still #1 even if he deserted, and number #6 has been vacant for centuries (Irminsul shenanigans).

Odd. Very odd.

Also, Capitano is merged with the Lord of the Night. Very cool position.

Now, I think after Luna IV (6.3) we have enough evidence for my statement.

And what sold me this theory is something that happened that maybe not everyone will mention: Sandrone uses Scaramouche's core to calculate the world formula.

This... is huge? They could have any other excuse. Let her talk with Nicole, or Albedo, or do some random quest. But NO. The ONLY WAY was to use Scaramouche's core for computational power... and he was an ex-Harbinger... convenient!

So, here it goes what I think it happens:

- Columbina gained the trilunar authority and has an authority comparable to the four shades.

- Dottore set a chain of events that ensured the above (Columbina would have never used a moon gate otherwise). Also, he will probably burn Irminsul.

- If Dottore burns Irminsul, get this: Capitano is the supreme authority of the new ley lines: the Lord of the Night.

- Arlecchino has a power that burns memories, the iridiscent marrow andmany put her in the "death" seat (check this theory, very cool).

- Scaramouche and Sandrone calculated the world formula. Also, the former provided abyss knowledge and Sandrone mechanical machines.

- Pantalone will stop Teyvat's economy (Mora).

- Ajax is related to the third descender.

Also, notice how many things happened precisely when the Fatui acted in their own (most notably Columbina and Capitano). I belive this is completly by design: The Tsaritsa/Pierro moves the pieces in the place they want, and they are moved bu their own wishes. The Tsaritsa doesn't order them, because she despises the rigid rules of the world. It would suit what we know that the Tsartisa has a cold exterior, but some good will.

I do not discard maybe the traveller helped in all of that, but I'm too much of a Tsaritsa glazer.

And from a meta narrative, this sets high stakes for the next arc. I mean, the Fatui can't pose much of a thread when the biggest menance is number #9.

Now, this theory has some flaws.

- I'm not sure how the sinners will relate.

- Not sure what the Abyss sibiling fits in all of this, or if Pierro will know or care.

- I don't see Signora's big role in all of that.

- I'm not sure why the #10 seat is vacant, apart from the theory that the Traveller will fit this, which I think it's bound to happen (with this, we have been allied with the Fatui for THREE regions straight!)

And that's everything! Sorry for the long ramble. What does everyone think?

About two years ago, Genshin released a summer update called Simulanka, a fairy-tale mirror of Teyvat filled with symbolism, meta jokes, and long-term narrative hints. Now that enough time has passed, some of the seeds planted back then have clearly started to sprout. Simulanka’s Durin became a playable character, and the return of the real moon beneath the false sky, hinted at through the lamplight motif in the Towards the Lighthouse questline, has actually happened.

With Columbina now playable, it feels like the right time to revisit Narration Footnotes. In the Chinese fandom, the quest is often seen as subtly setting up the character arcs and eventual fates of the top three Harbingers. I’d recommend looking up native-speaker writeups, since many of the wordplays and nuances don’t fully carry over in translation.

At its core, Narration Footnotes is a self-aware story-within-a-story with a ridiculous amount of narrative density. To keep it simple, I’ll focus on three characters: Cappet, Boborano, and Albizzi. They clearly line up with Capitano, Dottore, and Columbina, and feel like idealized versions of the Harbingers we already know.

Cappet is the shounen lead of the trio: loud, energetic, and bold, with a love for theatrics. He jokes, boasts, and rushes forward on instinct, but his heart is firmly in the right place and he keeps the group moving.

Boborano is sharp and verbose, with a mildly cynical streak. He enjoys ornate language and picking apart flawed logic, yet beneath the snark he’s curious, introspective, and deeply analytical.

Albizzi is the calm core of the group. Polite, thoughtful, and diplomatic, Albizzi smooths over conflicts, values balance, and grounds the others when tensions rise.

Of course, present-day Capitano is far from energetic, and Dottore would likely never accept anyone else’s truth but his own, unlike Boborano. Columbina, on the other hand, is much closer to her Simulanka self, which isn’t surprising, since her character arc is largely complete and can work as a good reference point for how top-ranked Harbingers tend to develop.

However, I think the biggest character growth that bridges the gap between the Harbingers and their Simulanka counterparts lies in the trio’s shared history, told through the goddess manuscript stories of their clans, and in their greatest fears. Those are the two main points I want to focus on.

Each character originates from a clan whose founding myth involves defeating a dragon (but not slaying it!) to obtain their family crest. These crests stand for Simulanka’s core values: Valor, Wisdom, and Empathy, and point to the qualities each corresponding Harbinger needs to develop in order to move forward. None of these stories involve just one dragon. There is always a literal, external threat, and an internal flaw the Harbinger must overcome to truly earn their virtue. Given Genshin’s love for the rule of three, there may even be a third dragon hidden in the background.

The Simulanka trio each has a deepest fear, and I see those fears as the trials their Harbinger counterparts must overcome to break free from fate’s control.

What’s worth noting is that all three stories share the same basic structure. Because of that, looking at one Harbinger’s journey can help predict another’s.

Albizzi = Columbina +Traveler (and friends) = Galileo and Alberto 

Empathy requires at least two. That’s why this story has two heroes. The Traveler’s role is essential for Columbina’s growth, just as Columbina is crucial for the Traveler to gain a new perspective on Teyvat. It’s likely no coincidence that one of Albizzi’s ancestors is named after the inventor of the telescope, this is a story about learning to see.

The Albizzi clan’s origin is a classic fairytale: help a mysterious old woman, receive a reward. Notably, it lacks the “Radiant Charter” seen in stories tied to Capitano and Dottore, likely because Columbina, as a goddess, doesn’t need a third party’s divine intervention. The old woman’s liquor symbolizes cooperation and Kuuvahki/Moonlight, but the heart of the story isn’t just “the power of friendship.” It’s empathy taken one step further: understanding the dragon’s point of view. The heroes must understand the “dragon” is not purely malicious, but pathetic and willfully blind.

And so this dragon perfectly describes Columbina before Nod-Krai chapters, who covered her eyes, locked herself in a cave and distanced herself from people and the world.

The same applies to the villains. Racher of Solnari was blinded by rage, and even as Rerir, he chose to look away from the crimes he committed and the horrors of the regime he supported. Dottore goes even further: he treats Teyvat like the Miliastra Wonderland domain and its inhabitants like NPCs. It’s fitting that he has no eyes beneath his mask.

However, the way each dragon is confronted ultimately determines the consequences of the battle.

The first dragon, Rerir, was defeated the right way. The heroes cooperated, learned his origin, and understood where he was coming from. Because of that, when we meet Rerir again, he shows no intent to fight Columbina and even becomes a temporary ally.

The second dragon, Dottore, was defeated the wrong way. The victory was pyrrhic, reflected in the glitching screen. The Nod-Krai cast demonstrated even stronger cooperation and trust than before, but they failed to truly understand the dragon’s perspective. Only the Traveler began to grasp it, but it was already too late. The dragon was slain, but the lesson was lost.

Given how 6.3 ended, there’s definitely more on the way. But even now, it’s clear that the Galileo and Alberto story was basically a spoiler for Nod-Krai, and it really cements the parallels between the Simulanka trio and the Teyvat Harbingers.

Columbina’s Hero’s Journey & A Framework for Harbinger Development

Albizzi’s fear of dragons reflects Columbina’s own grief and horror over what Nibelung did to the Moon Sisters, to the point where she even projects that fear onto poor Neuvillette.

And when it comes to storytelling, the most effective way to make a hero grow is to force them to face their greatest fear.

Columbina’s journey takes her straight into Nibelung’s prison, where, at the very beginning of time, she finally discovers her origin. Along the way, she shows empathy toward her fallen enemy, Rerir, and carries his message to Tholindis. She connects with her friends, frees her sisters, and passes three trials in a very fairy-tale way. In the end, she turns herself into pure kuuvahki energy so she can return in the future, which is what grants her full tri-lunar authority. Even then, she gives most of that power back to Nod-Krai, keeping only the minimum needed to watch over the land.

Seen this way, Columbina’s story almost feels like a template for how the Harbingers’ journeys work:

1. The Harbinger ends up in a kind of limbo, an assumption based on Capitano currently being in a similar Schrödinger-like state.
2. They pass three trials by living up to the virtue behind their family crest, gaining greater authority in the process.
3. In the end, they give up most of that authority for the sake of others.

After comparing Albizzi, her ancestors and Columbina and seeing how Simulanka mirrors the Harbingers’ fates, we can turn to Cappet and Boborano, and start guessing what Capitano and Dottore might do through their Simulanka doubles.

Capitano = Cappet = Francois

François’s legend starts as a classic hero story: a man rallies people to face a dragon. But instead of rushing to kill it and indulging the crowd’s rage and bloodlust, François urges everyone to pause, calm down, and postpone the battle. Only once reason returns do they confront the dragon: not with blind fury, but with courage, and force it to surrender.

This feels like a direct parallel to Natlan’s story. The dragon's mindless destruction mirrors how the Abyss consumed Khaenri'ah, and then Ronova cursed all of its people, innocent or not. It also echoes Capitano’s initial plan to burn Natlan's history and heritage in his fight against the Abyss.

The "Radiant Charter" granted by the goddess seems to represent the curse of immortality, which Capitano uses to bargain with Ronova. It might also tie to the “Ode to Resurrection” that protected the people of Natlan.

So overall, François’s story seems to predict the plot of Natlan. When Capitano immediately jumped into battle with Mavuika, he lost. But when he stepped back and chose patience and compromise by giving up his plan to burn Natlan's past and later sacrificing himself in a deal with Ronova, he began to pass his own trials of valor.

Speaking of trials and fears, I have to say that Cappet’s choice of fear is… surprising. Maybe it’s just a nod to the original meme, or maybe there’s more to it.

Cappet’s fear of Boborano could represent a clash between Capitano and Dottore, the master of ley lines versus the future burner of Irminsul. But Boborano might also symbolize anyone whose ideals challenge Capitano’s strict moral code, someone he must learn to compromise with.

Let’s try to apply Bina’s formula to Capitano.

1. The Limbo State: Capitano exists between life and death, just as Cappet was considered dead for a time in Simulanka.
2. The Trials of Valor:  He’s already ticked off two. First, giving up his plan to destroy Natlan’s culture and siding with Mavuika. Second, sacrificing himself to make a deal with Ronova, even though he clearly hates her guts.

A third trial may be accepting the Loom of Fate from the Abyss Order, ironic given his hatred, but necessary to restore ley lines, Khaenri’ah, and peace for his people. Ultimately, Capitano must relinquish control of the ley lines, ceasing to be Capitano and returning as Thrain.

Sure, some of this is speculative, especially Project Stuzha being a giant question mark, but the pattern is clear, and yes, it very much follows Columbina’s lead.

Now let’s talk about the Harbinger, who’s just built different.

Boborano = Dottore = Antonio, 2nd-class Meister

Dottore, shown as the reversed Hermit in Barbeloth’s divination, is about as far from Wisdom as it gets, the very virtue tied to Boborano’s family crest. He’s brilliant, sure, but emotionally he’s almost empty. In that way, he mirrors the dragon from Antonio’s legend: destructive, arrogant, obsessed with cold precision, and blind to human meaning.

But Simulanka’s writing strongly implies that these flaws are not the end of Dottore’s story, but rather the starting point of his transformation into Antonio. Notably, even his Simulanka counterpart is, for a time, accused of murder and turned into a scapegoat — by none other than the Narrator himself.

So what actually pushes him toward change?

Antonio’s story begins with his home being destroyed, which could parallel Irminsul’s burning and the fallout in Sumeru, or it could point to Dottore being forced to start over from nothing. Like François, he receives a “Radiant Charter,” not from a god, but as a book from a mysterious old woman on a bridge, written in a primordial language of creation itself. Who this woman is, and what that book would correspond to in Teyvat, is still an open question.

One thing worth noting is how Antonio differs from the usual fairy-tale pattern. François, Galileo, and Alberto only receive help from the mysterious woman after proving themselves. Antonio, on the other hand, seems to be chosen specifically because of his potential.

Overall, Dottore’s path toward Wisdom may involve being restrained and guided for a time, possibly under the supervision of a character with deep knowledge of Teyvat’s laws, where he’s forced to learn self-control and how to exist alongside others rather than above them.

A few extra notes:

Antonio acts a bit like Thoth from the 6.1 event, using riddles as part of his trial. It’s significant that he oversees the dragon’s trial, as the dragon also represents his own worst self.

One of the “dragons” Dottore may have to face could be Pantalone, especially given the focus on Mora and treasure, and the moment where the dragon hesitates after recognizing the 2nd-class Meister. Antonio lives in Constellation Satellite, a clear word play on satellite constellations: a group of artificial satellites working together as a single system and complementing each other. 

This might become relevant when we get to Boborano’s fears and try to speculate about Dottore’s future.

Boborano’s answer about what he fears, though, is something else entirely:

If I’m reading it correctly, Boborano’s core issue is time, and the idea that the human mind can’t fully grasp it. That’s notable, because time shows up in Dottore’s lore far more often than you’d expect.The achievement for collecting the Eleazar Hospital notes is called “Before My Time.”

In the 6.1 event, he explains that he dates his notes because he’s afraid of losing track of time in the ruins.

His segments exist partly to observe experiments across different points in time, a concept that oddly mirrors Visions, which are implied to be attempts at stabilizing or repairing [???]. Adding to this, Dottore is strongly implied to be the creator of Delusions, which function as artificial Visions.

Dottore also keeps interfering with how memory is perceived, from fabricating false memories to hijacking the Akasha and locking Sabzeruz in a dream loop, even DDoSing the Hyperborean phantoms.

His Nod-Krai story arc leans even harder into this. The first thing he does after gaining authority over the three moons is freeze time. He knocks the Traveler out for weeks using time-based power. In his boss fight, he rewinds time and restores energy if you follow his rules, and both his boss OST and piano theme feature ticking clock sounds.

Even his conflict with Sandrone ties back to time. A centuries-old immortal manchild who refuses to spend five minutes fixing his own mistakes would rather let people die instead.

Time seems to be the dimension Dottore is most obsessed with, and the one he wants to control more than anything else.

Assuming Dottore’s core fear is as time itself, how does it fit into Bina’s formula?

1. Since Columbina already traveled back in time through the moon’s reflection, I think Dottore’s limbo won’t be about being literally lost in time. It’s more likely to be about his perception breaking down. A plausible outcome is massive amnesia, with around 400 years of his experiences pruned away, reverting him back to a pre-Fatui Zandik.
2. Not only has Dottore not begun a single trial of Wisdom, he seems more likely to pour gasoline on the Wisdom avatar and set it on fire. Still, as mentioned earlier, he may eventually confront Pantalone and be forced to reflect on his past self, in a way similar to Ineffa, or to Simulanka Durin facing Dragonspine Durin.

Personally, I think Dottore’s future development could hinge on him finding better perspectives, not by retreating into the echo chamber of his own segments, no matter how advanced they are, but by genuinely engaging with other, actual people.

1. Columbina holds tri-lunar authority, and Capitano has become a master of Natlan’s ley lines, with the potential to expand that influence further. If that’s the pattern, what domain could be given to Dottore for his control? And what could his future self possibly share with others, something that ties into both the human perception of time and the very moment of time itself?

On that very speculative note, I’ll wrap this up. This analysis stayed pretty surface-level and skipped some big points, like the idea that the Narrator or Detective might represent Pierro. I also avoided digging into the main body of the Narration Footnotes quest itself, simply because it’s massive and packed with themes and implications worth ten posts of its own.

Still, it was fun to revisit the adventure of Albizzi, Boborano, and Cappet alongside the Traveler and the talking cat, and to see how this story quietly peels back layers of Teyvat.

Edit: I didn't think I needed to address it, but as multiple people have brought it up, I'm putting this at the top: I am NOT talking about the in-game Lunar-arcana. I wanted to analyze the Harbingers from the point of view of real-world tarot's Major Arcana. I am aware of the leaked cards and lore. Please do keep in mind that:

1. two things can be true - Genshin loops on itself a LOT so it would not be weird for multiple characters to embody the same archetype, I wanted to point out that the Harbingers do fit the real-world tarot suspiciously well.
2. The Fatui are trying to supplant the world order - it makes sense they would like to overturn some concepts/archetypes, so even if we were to presume the lunar arcana ARE the game's SINGLE CORRECT interpretation of tarot's Major Arcana, it still can be the case that the Fatui would want to undermine that.

Hope this clears things up.
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TLDR at the bottom for anyone interested.

I was surprised to see that there was not a post like this on the subreddit. I don’t think this stuff is so obvious that everyone understands it instinctively, but it is also quite an easy writeup, so here I am. I also threw in bonus tinfoil about the 10th at the end.

Genshin has referenced tarot a couple times in the game, most notably the minor arcana suits as inspiration for the artifacts/shades. Now, in a couple of weeks we will be getting the tarot-inspired part of Imaginarium theatre, so it’s safe to assume that tarot is something they are keeping in mind as the lore develops.

That said, I think we can map the fatui harbingers to the Major Arcana cards of tarot. But first some background on the Major Arcana, so that we are on the same page. What I will describe below is not the only interpretation of the Major Arcana, but it is the one I’m familiar with and one that seems to be the most popular.

The Major Arcana is 22 tarot cards representing the journey of „The fool” (card no. 0) who goes through inner enlightenment (cards 1-9), crosses the boundary (cards 10 and 11) and conquers the outside realm (cards 12-20) eventually obtaining the World (card no. 21).

Immediately we notice that „The Fool” is card no. 0, corresponding to our harbinger director, Pierro, or quite literally, „The Fool”. This card represents the beginning of a journey, Infinite potential, but also naivete. It maps nicely on what we know of Pierro – he sets out on a quest to challenge the gods, creates the Fatui, and is generally gathering power to achieve revenge, or to obtain „The World”. If he is numer 0, then we can surmise that the other harbingers should map onto the other cards of the Major Arcana, right? So let’s try doing that:

1.       The Magician (Capitano) – Ok so I will admit that this is the weakest mapping. Not off to a great start. The Magician represents a will that makes things happen, be it through knowledge, or through training, learning or whatever – it’s about affecting change on the world through your will. Which suits Capitano fine enough, but to be quite honest, it suits most characters in this game. „Ambition” is kind of the THING in Teyvat, so this one doesn’t quite mesh with me. I guess we are told that Capitano prime is the strongest mortal, so that could make sense as him being the individual with the strongest ambition thus being the Magician, still, this mapping is mediocre at best. Unlike all the other ones.

2.       The High Priestess (Dottore) – Knowledge of secrets, of taboo arts and rituals, connection to the divine, this fits Dottore perfectly. Experiments, acquisition of forbidden, arcane power, it’s all Dottore is about.

3.       The Empress (Columbina) – Detachment, being in a position of power without that much influence, indulgence. Yea, that’s Columbina alright.

Edit: Ok, I was a bit wrong about this one. The Empress is all about healing, nurturing, fertility and motherhood, and one of the things we see Columbina do is create little spirits (children) and she is stuck in a garden - a place of healing and fertility, if there ever was one (there's also the association between the moon and menstrual cycles, which are associated with motherhood).

4.       The Emperor (Arlecchino) – A position of absolute power and authority, fatherhood (Arlecchino is literally called FATHER cmon).

5.       The Hierophant (Pulcinella) – Conservatism, adherence to rules od Gods and men. We don’t know much about the fifth, but we know he is the Mayor of Shneznaya, and is likely the „same-element-as-archon-and-most-loyal-servant” character for Shneznaya (like Jean, Miko etc.) So adherence to rules and faith to an archon could fit him quite well.

6.       The Lovers (Scaramouche) – Ok so this one is interesting. The lovers represents a balance of two forces, coming together and completing each other. This is what happens with Wanderer, and we also have the Shouki no Kami needing two gnoses, the theme of dualism is all over Wanderer’s story.

7.       The Chariot (Sandrone) – SHE IS LITERALLY CARRIED BY A ROBOT LIKE SHE’S MOUNTED CMON. Other than that, the Chariot represents discipline, leaving for a journey, continuos striving towards a goal. Sounds like what we know of Sandrone.

8.       Justice (Signora) – Restoration of order. Retribution to the point of becoming consumed by it. Bringing balance back to an unbalanced world. Signora is mad at the gods. Tries to go against them. Exacts revenge on Venti, and is eventually consumed by her wrath. Executed, in a trial, no less. Yes, she fits Justice.

9.       The Hermit (Pantalone) – We do not know much about Pantalone. The Hermit is mostly about isolation and self reflection, so I guess this would be appropriate. I’ve read somewhere that the Hermit i salso associated with money, and that’s also true of Pantalone, the leader of Northland Bank.

10.   The Wheel of Fortune (The 10th) – sooooo. The missing harbinger. The wheel of fortune represents fate. Destiny. It i salso one of the boundary cards that splits the Major Arcana in half. Represents the mastery of the inner world. And the Fatui are absolutely going against fate. Or, maybe, are trying to make their own fate? I will elaborate on that more below.

11.   Strength (Tartaglia) – The card that begins the Fool’s journey to the outside world, euqipping them enough to face whatever comes at them. How fitting then, that this is the Abyssal harbinger, Childe. And he is obsessed with strength. And he ventures into the abyss. And he gets abyssal strength.

Ok so that’s all well and good. Some interesting worldbuilding. Are there any lore implications though, or is it just some fun flavor?

Prepare the tinfoil.

The missing harbinger – the 10th, represented by the Wheel of Fortune. It makes sense they would not exist. The fatui are trying to rewrite fate, subjecting one of them to it would be silly. And there is no constellation for the 10th on the wheel, so that confirms it, right?

Let’s take a look at the wheel again.

Everyone is accounted for, right?

Wrong. There is one more constellation here. Can’t see it? Right there, at the top:

But that’s just the symbol of the fatui, right?

Well, we know constellations in Teyvat are tied to the persons „fate” and they basically predict it. And the Fatui are trying to rewrite fate. And they love blasphemy. And creation of life is strictly prohibited.

I think you see where I’m going.

It is (one of) the Fatuis’ plans to create the 10th harbinger, reperesenting a new, rewritten Fate. With the symbol of the Fatui as their constellation. By enshrining a new constellation into Irminsul, they would be able to rewrite fate for themselves basically. That’s why Dottore was experimenting with Wanderer – he tried to see if fate (constellation) could be changed/created. And it seems he had succeeded.

TLDR: The Fatui Harbingers correspond to the 12 first major arcana cards. The 10th is missing, cause they are supposed to be a fatui-created vessel to rewrite fate. Their constellation will literally be the Fatuis’ symbol, engraving it on the Irminsul in an ultimate act of blasphemy.

Before starting I want to clarify I am no Archon hater nor a Harbinger fan boy, I love characters for their individual characters not because of the group they belong to and I am not trying to bring Archons down or try to glorify the Harbingers too much here. Back to the topic I might be wrong, I am not claiming absolute facts but I feel like so much people probably a good portion of them being the ones who love Archons a bit too much do not take Nahida's words about the Top 3 Harbinger seriously enough with, in my opinion, not accurate reasoning and I want to talk about that. WARNING this will be a bit LONG.

Nahida: Top ranked Fatui harbingers up to no 3 has power comparable to gods. I was no match for him in that kind of situation

At first sight this line indicates that the Top 3 Harbinger are equal to Archons. While this might not be the case for all Archons I see a lot of people using certain two points to disregard this quote almost entirely and those are.

1: Archons are stronger gods (compare to most gods in Teyvat) so since Nahida said Gods and not Archons the top 3 Harbingers are only equal to normal gods and not to Archons.

2: Nahida is a weak god so top 3 being comparable to her doesn't mean they can be any match for stronger ones.

​

Firstly why do people assume that Nahida talks about gods other than Archons for this comparison ? Archon war was 2000 years ago which Nahida does NOT remember at all (nor was there but you get the point). For thousands of years Archons are pretty much the only gods that are still active in Teyvat. I even see people making claims like ''God of Salt is a god too what will you do If they are equal to god of salt'' like do people seriously think that Nahida makes her comparison using some bygone gods (let alone weak ones) she does not even remember rather than the current active gods of Teyvat that the Fatui are actively engaging against to get their Gnosis ? Archons are still gods and the terms Gods and Archons are used interchangeably a lot. In this context It makes the most sense that Nahida makes the comparison using an assumed regular power level for an Archon. Just because she said god does not make it so that the top 3 Harbinger hold no chance against Archons.

Not to mention Nahida IS an Archon. Yes she is weak compare to most but she still is an Archon and It was shown that she held no chance against Dottore. And speaking of holding no chance, for the point of ''Nahida is a weak god so top 3 being comparable to her doesn't mean they can be any match for stronger ones'' Nahida said that the top 3 Harbingers were ''comparable'' to gods and yet she despite being an Archon and a being that is at least strong enough to trap God Scaramouche in a loop for 168 times, clearly stated that she was NO MATCH for Dottore. So while she claimed the top 3 Harbingers are supposed to be only comparable, She herself was no match and she was aware of it so she was FACTUALLY taking account of a god in a higher power level than herself (An archon) to make the said comparison.

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Again I am not claiming that what I said has to be pure facts. But I think there are more reasons to think that the Top 3 Harbingers are DO equal to that of at least average Archons (considerably stronger than Nahida) rather than some random gods based on the information we have. And lets be honest people, in what world such a point of ''Top 3 Harbingers are equal to gods'' is specifically made and It was clearly stated that Nahida was not strong enough to resist against Dottore at all, despite the fact that they are still supposed to hold no chance against the Archons at all ? That is just not how storytelling would work or how the context makes it look like.

And yet some people are so sure that the Archons are still undoubtedly stronger than the top Harbingers with reasonings that I personally think are mistaken with almost 0 doubt about it. And I am not claiming that they have to be equal to all Archons. Like If we were to assume that for an example Hydro and Pyro Archons were to be average in terms of power and Ei, Zhongli and Tsaritsa were to be the higher echelon of Archons in terms of power then the top harbingers might still not be able to 1v1 those and win but I think that people underestimate and disregard them and Nahida's words too much to the point that they think The top harbingers are only equal to some random gods which I strongly disagree. The context and what is shown suggests that they are indeed comparable to Archons.

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I would like to hear your opinions about the matter. Thank you so much for reading and please excuse my bad English.

Archon trailers are known for providing peeks into characters' pasts and/ or foreshadowing. Normally, after the archon's story is done, the teasers' / trailers' meaning becomes clear. (Like Furina acting as an archon was hinted by her roleplaying as the other archons. The scene with everyone fighting at the end appears to be her directing a movie.)

u/Silver_Rose27 pointed out how it's strange that Bina's Teaser showed scenes that didn't happen.

My theory is that the first part about Columbina being lonely in the moon (missing her friends) and something bad occuring did not happen because that was Columbina's fate that was discarded.

There was a note by Rene from the Pulonia interactables that stated:

One who is free from the weakness of consciousness bows neither to the gods nor death.

Rene performed this by killing himself temporarily. We can conclude that Columbina using death / unconsciousness to escape the moon prison, combined with the traveler being a necesary variable to change fates, resulted in successfully discarding her old fate, in which she believed the moon is her "true home."

Now comes the plot twister part of the theory:

Dottore is shown to be the one dismantling Columbina's fate by snapping his fingers. This same narrative is still supported post 6.3, since her stance about her "true home" at the end changed to "Nod Krai is our home", something that would not have happened without his meddling.

Thus exists a possibility that Dottore caused a chain of events to change Columbina's fate to stop chasing after the illusion of seeing the "moon as her true home."

This scene made it look like Columbina would have been no match for the Heavenly Principles (who created the fake sky) without the Trilune and instead of living with Kuuhenki on the moon, something horrible was going to happen. Like she was supposed to die and never even make it to the real moon.

If that's not it, it could be a dramatic way of showing how Dottore shattered her lonely dream.

The real question is, did Dottore "play the role of the villain", as he said, or was his help unintentional?

I'm leaning towards the former since he appeared to be stalling multiple times, including throwing a speech about "it's pointless to keep fighting" right before Columbina appeared.

Him then proceeding to rage bait the cast into killing him to also use Rene's die and be reborn method to beat fate himself would also explain:

• The glitching at the end of the AQ with his logos.

- The secret mission that the Tsaritsa gave Dottore and Sandrone after Columbina left. (from her journal.) Sandrone may not be informed of everything but the Ordo documents could have been shown to Dottore.

- Sandrone's final Journal note about studying "self preservation methods." When she is later reborn, her fate will have also been discarded.

-The animal experiment people that had something to do with losing consciousness.

As a final note, Columbina touches an unseen statue in the teaser. She looks up and stretches her hand, it is someone very tall. This could be about her interacting with Rerir in 6.3 (perhaps even helping him in the future) or her hate towards Dottore could lessen in the future.

To preface this, this is kinda crack.

So.

Not too long ago I made a post discussing Pantalone, how the rankings could be influenced by the strength of the harbingers and a potential reason why he's ranked 9th, above Childe who seems to be a powerhouse, whereas Pantalone is just a human.

However I've completely changed my mind about that. Not what I said about pantalone. But how they're ranked.

Everyone remembers when Tartaglia said the Harbingers are ranked by strength yeah? I think this is what he believes, or believed, but its not actually the case. Ever since learning that Capitano had a machine in his heart capable of storing human souls, giving him limitless potential, I've completely switched up how I think about the rankings.

I think the ranks are purely based on their potential/their ability to hold Authority (yes I mean the Elemental Authority). Capitano holds the first seat and it was specifically said that his heart has limitless potential. He has the most potential to hold a certain Authority.

I think this also goes back to the "we will seize Authority from the Gods" line. At first it kinda just seems like a line about the Gnosis, and it probably is to an extent, but I also think Pierro is saying that the Harbingers will take the Authority from the Gods in the literal sense. The Harbingers will take the Elemental Authorities, and perhaps even the powers of the Shades, and the Tsaritsa is here to see that come to fruition.

Now, what for do the Harbingers need potential or a ability to hold Authority? I don't know. I haven't a clue. The Gnosis plan is a total mystery to me and beyond what I've said above, I have no idea what they actually plan to do with all that power. Possibly shape a new world without the influence from the Heavenly Principles?

But yeah. Tell me why you disagree!

Edit: I should also say I didn't think of this on my own! I've read many comments and posts touching on similar ideas but I only just recently linked it to the Harbingers.

People try to find meaning in most things in Genshin. Genshin lore has stuff that is usually related to things irl such as culture, folklore, myths and religion. The 7 Archons are inspired by 7 demons in demonology—people know this because of their real names. The Harbinger are no different, the Harbingers are against Celestia(or in this case: demons. Think this as if the 7 Archons were just kicked out of Celestia). No, the Harbingers are not inspired by the Archangels, they’re inspired by Biblical numbers in the Christian Bible. I’ll go over all of the Fatui.

11• Chaos, Disorder, Judgement.

Tartaglia is the Fatui’s weapon. In Liyue’s archon quest. Childe was responsible for flooding Liyue by releasing Osial. He was there to bring disorder and collect debt. What does this have to do with judgement. Well, although this might be indirect, Childe summoning Osial was supposed to settle the judgement of Zhongli to determine if Liyue needs and archon or not. At the end of the quest, Liyue betas Osial. The judgement is that Liyue does not need a God. Childe being present in Fontaine—The land of justice and judgement, means a lot here. Childe was a key factor in multiple occasions, the All-Devouring Narwhal awakened bc of Childe and this narwhal infiltrated the primordial sea and caused chaos in Fontaine, as well as marking the start of the prophecy, which eventually led down to the Judgement of the Hydro Archon. Childe, once again, caused a nation to be judged.

10• Completeness, Order, Law.

As there isn’t really a rank 10, I cannot speak about rank 10. I suspect Crepus to be it for now.

9• Finality, Long-Suffering, Fruitfulness.

Although not much is known about Pantalone. We do know he was once a man who suffered from poverty and is now one of the richest and wealthiest men in Teyvat. He is also(according to Childe) full of theories. Long-Suffering is very self-explanatory, Pantalone suffered for years with barely any money to hold onto and asking the Gods why he was made like this. Finality as in that all of this is over and he is now rich. Fruitfulness means to be extremely productive and that’s basically Pantalone’s middle name, Mora is everywhere, the Fatui relies on his “fruitfulness”.

8• New beginning, Resurrection, Reborn.

This number is very important. I don’t want to sound like one of those copium Signora mains but to me, I started believing she’d come back after this theory. After Rostam, her lover, died in the cataclysm—Rosalyne decided to protect Mondstadt herself unlike Barbatos(who was forcefully hibernating). Signora has multiple “new-beginnings” in her life. Mondstadters were terrified of Rosa due to trauma. Rosalyne decided it was best to leave and let the flames devour her. Pierro comes and saves her, but now, she lost her memories of everything due to the special Cryo delusion. This is a new beginning, Rosalyne is no longer herself, she has no memories, this is what I call being reborn, Rosalyne is already dead. We’ve gone over “new beginning and reborn”, but what about resurrection. I think it’s pretty obvious where I am going. If you believe this theory, it is up to YOU. I believe there will be a time where Signora will come back.

7• Creation, Completeness, (physical and spiritual)Perfection.

We really don’t know much about Sandrone but I think I can answer this. Sandrone is shown to be obsessed with Automatons and loves to recreate or develop puppets. Katherine is pretty much implied to be made by Sandrone and there’s proof of this as Nahida calls Katherine “bionic Snezhnayan puppet”. She might feel complete by making these creations. It is implied she is a perfectionist. Possibly scolding Childe for destroying a laboratory of automatons. After the new 4.2 world quest, we found out that Sandrone is apparently MaryAnn, I still have to do the quest but I believe this will have something to do with “completeness”.

6• Human weakness, Sin, Humankind’s failures, being human.

I started believing the theory at this point. Simply because of how specific and fitting it was. Scaramouche is driven by human mistakes. Betrayal is one of them. A puppet with a human heart and soul. Feeling guilty after being abandoned by Ei, wandered into Niwa. With Niwa he felt accepted, loved and needed. This emotion is pure weakness, after Niwa “abandoned” him. Scaramouche was marked with the word betrayal. He then met a child who promised to grow up with him. Theoretically at this point, both Scara and the boy are children. After coming back with tools, Scaramouche finds the boy dead. After being driven by so much “human emotion”. He got tired of it and decided to go against Celestia and take revenge on humankind. Joining the Fatui. After acquiring the gnosis he will finally exterminate all emotions or “sin” by becoming a God unironically made by humankind. After being defeated and learning he could erase himself from Irminsul in hopes of fixing everting bad he did. He attempted to erase himself from the world in attempts of reviving Niwa/Kid. He is being driven by pure human emotion. At this point you might’ve noticed I’ve been using the word emotion as an allegory to sin or weakness. After retrieving his memories, Scaramouche learns history cannot be erased. He accepts himself and earns his vision. After proving himself, he now accepts himself as human, wether he is a puppet or not. Having weakness is proof to humanity.

5• Grace, Goodness, Favor.

We do not know much about Pulcinella but we knows he is a mayor. He takes care of Childe out of the “goodness of his heart” and gives the traveler a favor by telling him to be careful of Childe. Although this might be countered by the fact Scaramouche does not trust him and he is simply manipulating Childe. I believe he is doing this because he simply wants to feel needed/necessary. We don’t know much about him but hopefully we learn more about him eventually.

4• Dominion, Control, Authority.

Arlecchino is shown to be schemy and controls thing from the background. When she wants someone gone for good, they’re gone for good. With dominion and authority, she hunts for the Fatui who have betrayed the Tsaritsa. To her, everything is a show and she has to be in control. Very fitting. She’s an extremely devoted person and cares a lot about her children, as a mother of hundreds of (adopted) children, she is required to have what a parent would have, control and authority. She showed authority and dominance over Furina for being irresponsible, but after the Archon Quest it is likely Arlecchino sympathizes with Furina now.

3• Divine wholeness, Gods’s perfect design.

We literally don’t know ANYTHING about Columbina. I’ll go with the theory that she’s an angel from Celestia, that’s sounds “divine-ish”. She’s probably meant to be a fallen angel who Celestia didn’t trust or didn’t fill in the qualities to be in Celestia. Eventually being kicked out but somehow still ending up “perfect”. What if Celestia doesn’t want what is fit for Teyvat(likely).

2• Union, Division, Witness.

I find this one a little funny. Dottore was possibly not an evil man at some point but he was blamed for the death Soreh when in reality it was an automaton. Due to the lack of witnesses he was blamed for the death of Soreh. He wanted to investigate the automaton to create a perfect human being, this was the last straw for the Akademiya and he was expelled and chased out of Sumeru city. In the future he managed to create multiple clones to “witnes events from many points of view to give him more knowledge, Dividing himself into multiple but in the end their conscious is all united into a single man.

1• Unity, Independent, Mediating.

Capitano is very mysterious but we know he is very cordial. He seems to be the Fatui’s co-leader and works independently. He seems to not look for trouble as he was very polite to Varka and Mika. Jesus is usually affiliated with number 1, unironically Capitano’s constellation is likely the 3 nails which are affiliated with the nails that held Jesus in the cross. It’s pretty scary to think about. He might represent Jesus in Genshin and this is why he is against Celestia. Because it’s full of demons. It’s likely the 7 archons are an exception to this, they might not be demons anymore.

Must I make some things clear. Yes I do know the Fatui Harbingers are inspired by the Commedia dell’ Arte characters. But that might not be the only thing that inspired them as they aren’t even that similar tithe commedia counterparts(Tartaglia doesn’t stutter in Genshin, etc). Scaramouche is also inspired by the song Bohemian Rhapsody and I suspect the other harbingers are also inspired by other Queen songs, I’ll write about this later. Thank you for reading.

If you read this, I assume you know the next character in 6.7, today Hoyoverse did Drip Marketing. I guess everyone knows it, but just in case you have been warned.

Spoilers until Luna VIII, light spoilers of Luna IX and X.

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This is probably the copiest theory I have ever did, so bear with me.

This comes from Sandrone's designs. If the drip marketing is to be belived, not only she will have a weird short skirt, but she has a random female robot instead of Pulonia. They massacred our boy!

So, this theory is a reply/comment to it. They did it twice! They redisigned Scaramouche/Wanderer after he "died". They redesigned Sandrone after she really died. And even Columbina changed her name and died.

It's so stupid! Or is it? Is it intentional?

The theory is this: The Fatui changing names and design is intentional. The Fatui names change their fate.

We know now that names have meaning in Teyvat, names are tied to Teyvat's fate. So the Fatui code names (Colombina, Pulcinella...) is not only funny names: it's a way for Pierro/The Tsaritsa to influence in what they do or how they act.

As I theorized in my previous theory (which we'll see how it ages), making the Fatui act as they want is by design: It's quite a coincidence that the Fatui who has gone rogue they "casually" fit into the agenda of "burning the old world" quite well.

So, if the Fatui names are a way to impose Her orders, this needs to stop. The Tsaritsa would control them as puppets, something not further off from the Heavenly principles.

However, when they resurrect, the fate is set to 0 again. As they change name, they free themselves and do what they want, as The Tsaritsa wants it.

It's a theory that is not perfect, for example, Sandrone doesn't change name but Scaramouche did. But I find this interesting:

There are many coping theories of how Dottore, Capitano or even Signora will resurrect.

What if it is by design...?

Let me know what you think!

Pierro is being set up as a well intentioned extremist willing to cross any lines to free Teyvat from the Heavenly Principles. The irony comes from by not having any actually moral standards that stop him from achieving his goals, the Fatui have by far the most evil characters of any factions: Dottore and Crucabena in particular stand out as morally black mass murderers of children whose crimes are portrayed as extremely evil even by the standards of the setting (only freaking Gosoythoth, an eldritch abomination, can rival them in sheer depravity), while Pantalone is described by Arlecchino as a mentally unstable self serving man driven only by personal revenge. Fatui associates such as Azar are also extremely unlikeable, not to mention the nasty pieces of work they have among their troops (such as Nathan setting up Orobashi extremists), which makes the organization as a whole come dangerously close to being worse than Celestia itself.

Pierro most likely rationalizes all of this by thinking that once Celestia is destroyed, all the crimes of the Fatui will be null since humanity will be in a better place, but what he doesn’t realize is that, by letting so many nasty pieces of work in the organization, he may be backstabbed by an unscrupulous member who couldn’t care less about humanity and only wants to replace Heavenly Principles as the iron fist ruler of the world.

DISCLAIMER: I tend to avoid story-related leaks, so if there are any story leaks that disprove anything I'm saying then please let me know, but be light on the spoilers :)

OTHER DISCLAIMER: I will be the first to admit that my rankings are quite arbitrary, but I'll try to make them believable.

Contains minor spoilers for Character Quests/Stories/Voicelines from Yelan and Childe.

According to Childe in his "About Damselette" voiceline, the Harbingers are ranked according to "ability" (apparently that's the original CN phrasing). But immediately it struck me as odd that the Fatui banker without a Vision is ranked above two of them.

Now obviously we could just assume that Regrator does more work in a fight with just a Delusion than Childe does with a Vision + Delusion + Foul Legacy, but I thought it would be more interesting if we didn't. That is, we could view "ability" in a more broad holistic sense, and I think it would shed light on how formidable the Fatui truly are, because their methods and means go far beyond simply fighting others to get what they want.

I'll get straight to the point: My theory is that the real power of the Fatui isn't in their raw martial strength, but in the "power" (i.e. their influence) they exert over Teyvat and in terms of the unparalleled amount of information they have access to, to aid them in that.

Together, the Fatui Harbingers have their proverbial fingers on the pulse of all aspects of current events in Teyvat. I think that the rankings of the Fatui Harbingers aren't just based on their raw fighting performance, but also take this idea into account - higher-ranked Fatui have greater influence or oversight over more important aspects of Teyvat.

In this post I attempt to justify the rankings of the Fatui in this light, as well as make predictions about #2, #4, #7 and #10.

#11 - Tartaglia, the Childe (confirmed)

Childe moonlights as a debt collector for major clients of the Fatui, so he probably has some direct influence over some of the more powerful people across Teyvat who work in the shadows.

#10 Arlecchino, the Knave (speculation)

She runs an orphanage that operates as a recruitment scheme for Fatui special-ops. The fact that these orphans end up working clandestinely (infiltrations, sabotage, etc) means that Arlecchino lacks some of that "big-picture" influence over Teyvat and therefore isn't ranked higher, but the scale of her operations is still significant (e.g. poisoning entire settlements) and she probably still has access to people and information that the rest of the Fatui are not privy to, because of all the infiltrating her goons do.

She also seems the least trustworthy of the Harbingers according to Childe (barring the obvious defection in Scaramouche), so perhaps her intel is taken with a grain of salt.

#9 Pantalone, the Regrator (confirmed)

This one seems pretty straightforward - he's basically the Finance Minister of Snezhnaya and probably has some degree of control over Northland Bank, the biggest bank in Teyvat's biggest economy. This gives him some influence over the economy of the whole world.

... that sounds boring though. I think that he has much more going for him. So I'm going to pull something out of my ass and make it sound reasonable.

Yelan's penultimate Character Story tells us about one of Yelan's missions where she successfully infiltrated Regrator's trade route, but lost one of her magic bracelets during the mission. These bracelets, which came in a pair, acted as a sort of "walkie-talkie".

Near the end of Yelan's Character Quest, we hear about how Regrator somehow outmaneuvered Yelan and whisked away her next target along with a bunch of evidence she needed.

From this, I speculate that Regrator has the other bracelet and is using it to spy on Yelan (who has the other one). Through this bracelet, he (and therefore the Harbingers) has direct access to some of Liyue's biggest secrets and is therefore able to use them to further his agenda and that of the Fatui.

#8 Signora, the Fair Lady (confirmed)

Signora seems to have been the "cunning diplomat" of the bunch, having had influence over both the Tenryou and Kanjou commissions (i.e. Inazuma's military and commerce), for example.

Il Capitano (in the Winter Night's Lazzo video) suggests that her methods were dishonourable, so she probably had all sorts of methods to win over various officials from various countries: coercion (she was a powerful witch), collusion (she had a penchant for making underhanded deals with influential people), heck I bet she seduced an official or two. But dishonourable as these methods may be, they worked, and as a result she likely had a lot of influence over powerful people among the regions.

#7 Il Capitano, the Captain (speculation)

Presumably, the head of the Snezhnayan military (though I don't believe there is a source on that), which I'm pretty sure is the most powerful military in Teyvat. That's pretty influential and gives him a lot of "soft power" in Teyvat.

I know a lot of you reckon he's #2 though. But like I said, the means and methods of the Fatui go far beyond simply fighting others to get what they want, and this extends to their military. I believe that simply being in charge of thousands of Fatui agents/skirmishers isn't enough to be in the upper half of the Fatui rankings.

Also, the Commedia dell'Arte character from which Il Capitano derives his name, is known for boasting beyond his achievements, which also makes me hesitate to put him higher.

So who the heck am I putting in #2?

#6 Scaramouche, the Balladeer (confirmed)

This one's tricky because, while we know a decent amount about him, I can't really say that he has any aspects which might give him influence over Teyvat.

It's possible that this one WAS just ranked based on his martial prowess, but I like to speculate that, since he was a prototype for an Archon-level automaton who was intended to be a vessel for a Gnosis (see: Husk of Opulent Dreams artifact lore), he may have brought to the table a wealth of knowledge about Archons and Gnoses (both in terms of how they work, and in terms of what they're thinking), which would have aided the Fatui in their mission to supplant the Gods. Perhaps Dottore intended to turn Scaramouche into a God himself. In other words, Scaramouche would have been one of their best weapons against the Archons.

#5 Pulcinella, the Rooster (confirmed)

He is called "Mayor" but in practice he probably has much more influence over Snezhnaya's domestic affairs than the mere mayor of a city, and has probably made the most progress among the Fatui in winning the hearts of the Snezhnayan people (since he's presumably an elected official, and he at least displays some benevolence in Childe's voiceline about him). This would probably give him a lot of clout within the Fatui, as a Snezhnayan organization.

#4 Il Dottore, the Doctor (speculation)

Dottore seems well versed in various "forbidden" scientific arts, even going so far as to tell Pierro that he could create a God (mentioned in the Pale Flame artifact set). And the way we see a Dottore clone standing in front of a giant burning tree while he is talking about "blasphemy" suggests that he also has a lot of knowledge about the Ley Lines and the current world order in general.

In other words, Dottore's "influence and power" is not so much on Teyvat current affairs like most of the other Harbingers, but on the things which underpin Teyvat's current world order which is governed by the Archons. And to the Fatui he gives the ability to overhaul them, allowing them to shape the world in more profound ways. This makes him a key asset in their central goals.

Also, according to Childe's voiceline, Dottore's talent is to create clones of himself, so compared to Arlecchino and Capitano who can only send various grunts to do their work for them, Dottore can send a full-fledged Harbinger to exercise full executive functions, at no risk to himself or the Fatui organization. That's pretty nifty tbh.

#3 Columbina, the Damselette (confirmed)

Pretty much no information on this one apart from the fact that she doesn't seem particularly talkative, and is relatively unassuming compared to her power level. Childe doesn't know what she's about, and he's one of the most informed people in all of Teyvat simply by being a Harbinger.

Gonna have to completely speculate out of my ass on this one - Columbina is a mind-reader. This is the most straightforward thing I can think of which would give her influence over Teyvat befitting #3 of the Harbingers, with few words and with even fewer people knowing what she actually does.

#2 Sandrone, the Marionette (speculation) ^{be honest, you scrolled straight down to here, didn't you?}

You're probably wondering where this came from, but given all the "ooh, Sandrone probably runs the Adventurer's Guild" speculation running about, it was probably the most fitting place to put her. To recap: people reckon she runs the Adventurer's Guild because she tinkers with robots, Katheryne IS a robot, and the Adventurer's Guild is headquartered in Snezhnaya (I believe Lan in Liyue says this).

Assuming that she DOES run the Adventurer's Guild, Sandrone has the single most valuable source of information across all of Teyvat. She runs the organization that knows when people are in trouble too big or too small for the local police, and she runs the organization that tells people when and where to go in order to fix them. She runs the organization that pulls in all sorts of intel from across Teyvat relating to all sorts of issues that are brewing. She defines "finger on the pulse" simply because her intel, and her ability to act on that intel, are unparalleled in the entire world.

Anyone who does work in the name of the Adventurer's Guild is within her oversight - she has been the single biggest influence and overseer on the Traveler's journey besides maybe Paimon, and by extension she also has eyes on countless other adventurers who might become powerful enough to challenge the Fatui. Not only that, but she employs them and tells them to do stuff.

#1 Pierro, the Jester (confirmed)

basically everything i said about dottore (except the clone-jutsu stuff), but on steroids, because of khaenri'ah stuff.

tl;dr the bolded paragraphs near the top of the post

So the 5 sinners are kinda parallel to the Director and Top 4 Harbingers

Pierro and Hroptatyr:

Pierro claims himself as a clown and a fool. Hroptatyr is the Wise and the sage(Both Wise and Sages are 贤者 in Chinese text). And Pierro said sages thought they are all knowing but Fatui alone are wise to virtue to the acts of folly. Seems like Pierro has beef with Hroptatyr

Capitano and Surtalogi:

Capitano is a strong armored knight. He pursues apex strength and he chooses to challenge gods. Yet he was described as an individual with extreme righteousness. He possesses those power to burden more responsibilities. Surtalogi by another hand is called the Foul. In Chinese it is 极恶骑 which means extremely evil/nefarious knight. He is strong individual and his ideals can be reflected from Childe. He loves combat and chaos.

Dottore and Rhinedottir:

Dottore is a mad scientist who is good at augmenting life. His segments can be seen as different individuals. Rhinedottir is a mad alchemist who are good at creating life. Albedo is her finest masterpiece.

Columbina and Vedrfolnir:

We have too little information about Columbina. Arlecchino says her answers are always unexpected and interesting. Perhaps she has seer-liked abilities which is similar to the Visionary

Arlecchino and Rerir

Arlecchino is a Crimson Moon descendent. Rerir's title Rächer of Solnari is 猎月人 in Chinese text, which means Moon Hunter. Maybe he was hunting down the Crimson Moon bloodline

The 10th harbinger has never been mentioned or even alluded to, we can only guess as to their identity (we don't even have a constellation). What if it's a similar situation to Scara's, except the Traveler was never present to bear witness to their existence, and from our point-of-view, they were never there to be the 10th harbinger. Though perhaps not by their own doing, I believe they were erased from the current timeline.

Since we learned about the Irminsul's ability to change the present by changing what happened in the past, there's a high chance more that has been tampered with than just Scaramouche and Rukkhadevata, and what we know to be the events of the past is surely different than what actually happened in full; but because it seems only the descenders are wise to this, and our dear Traveler wasn't there to witness the truth of anything more than what we have so far.

Though I have no idea who exactly this person could be exactly, or what they couldve done to be erased from history like that, if I'm right about them being erased, it's someone old as shit, that could've been there at the founding of the Harbingers. It could very well be someone we've heard of before, but we've only heard their altered story.

Idk if this has been brought up before. but 3/4 of the fatui women have ties to the shades - naberius being sandrone (creations, invention,being fused w rhinedottir makes this more obvious too), ronova being arle (shared color palette), bina being istaroth (time travel in AQ) and signora being asmoday (similar look?). i also posted this on twt so i havent stole it lol! wonder if this has more wider implications with the fact that so many of the fatui members have ties to the cataclysm and general history of teyvat.

DISCLAIMER: I'm currently weathering out a high fever bout of COVID while stuck in bed so let's be real, these are probably the feverish ramblings of a madman. I'm also typing this on my phone because I can't look at my laptop screen for too long without wanting to take a claymore to my skull so absolutely no image references whatsoever. There's a tl;dr at the end because like I said, these are mostly ramblings of a crazed illness addled idiot.

This theory has been in my head for a while I just never really sat on it enough to post here.

With the reveal of Arlecchino as the 4th of the 11 Harbingers, that leaves Capitano as the Harbinger without the explicit mention of his seat at the table. Let's be real, he's never gonna be TENTH, that's just a disservice to the strongest man in Teyvat plus Childe's ramblings about being so far beneath his notice for even a spar. Well actually, Pierro too has no explicit mention but I'm not even gonna go off tangent on that note.

Weirdly enough, we don't have a mention of the 10th Harbinger at all, unlike all the tiny tidbits we've had of the the others, like the mention of Pantalone as early as Mond, renting out the entire Goth Hotel indefinitely. Or mentions of Capitano or Sandrone in some throwaway lines from NPCs like Victor. Why is that?!

Thanks to both Childe's and Wanderer's voicelines, we have a rough estimate of which Harbinger fulfills which seat. Thanks to the Winter Night Lazzo video, we know the faces of the rest of the Harbingers. But still no mention of the Tenth Harbinger.

The catch is, we also know for a fact that the 10th seat is NOT empty, thanks to the gossiping Mondstadt Fatui agents. After the Scaramouche erasure debacle in the Sumeru Interlude, one of them mentions that the 6th - Scara's former seat - has been empty for a long time, meanwhile Signora's has been recently vacated due to her death. Again, they don't mention the 10th seat at all.

As a Fatui Lore fan, this is honestly driving me nuts hahaha. Why specifically say 11 Harbingers? It's a weird lore number! Childe could have easily been 10th, a nice round even number. Why not mention the 10th at all in any kind of lore? Almost like it's taboo to mention them in any capacity. We don't even have hints. Not in the Lazzo, not from NPCs, not from the Pale Flame set.

Ah but you see, we actually might have hints as to who it is after all. Granted they are very tiny breadcrumbs probably absolutely reaching hints, but still, hints we do have, people!

So who do I think the 10th Harbinger is? Well none other than the man, the mystery, the Uncrowned King, the Dawn himself, Diluc Ragnvindr.

Before you start booing at me, let me tell you why I think this is so.

It all started with his skin, I mean seriously the design absolutely screams FATUI and it's only confirmed with the release of Arlecchino sans winter coat. Funny enough, Red Dead's description calls it a ceremonial outfit, heavily implied to be an outfit for the Ordo Favonius but the only design similarity it shares with the rest of the Knights is the insignia at his coat's back. The same insignia scratched out by some kind of claw. So I think, that okay maybe, the coat itself was Diluc's Knight Captain outfit which has been "modified" as mentioned in the description, while the rest are his Fatui duds.

His idle in Red Dead shows him receiving a message from Dawn which he subsequently burns. We know from the limited event that Diluc keeps correspondences, extensively even such as in Kaeya's case, so why show him destroying a missive unless it's for his eyes only and to avoid incriminating evidence? The message itself doesn't say anything explicit, it only says "Attn: It's snowing." Snow! As in Snezhnaya cold as ice, Tsaritsa's throne of Cryo, snow! Is it a code word? Is it a signal? Who knows! Hahaha reaching again but whatever.

There are two stock characters in commedia dell'arte which can fit Diluc: 1) Gianduja - an alcoholic lecher who actually remains faithful to his lover otherwise known as King of the Carnival, or 2) Brighella - an unsavory adaptable character, usually portrayed AS A TAVERN OWNER. Gianduja because of the irony but also representative of his true loyalty to Mond I guess? Personally, I'm more inclined towards Brighella but this one I'll discuss more later. Heck, Diluc may even fit with one of the unmasked Inamorati but that's a theory that has shades of shipping on my part so let's not touch that one.

The reason why we don't even get a whiff of the Tenth can be because of two reasons: 1) the mention of him is taboo because he is a traitor to the Fatui, he infiltrated the organization following the death of his father, wreaking havoc on their strongholds while being one of their number, eventually caught by the Harbingers causing his near death experience as discussed in his character stories, or 2) the Tenth is an undercover agent, who works in the shadows perhaps as a solo agent, perhaps one who can work against the Fatui itself as the situation calls for it, or as one who haunts traitors.

Either way, as an infiltrator of whichever loyalty, this fits with the Brighella theory because that stock character is known as a consummate liar and schemer, one who adjusts to any role required of him to play it to his advantage. If Diluc had infiltrated the Fatui, then he managed to do so well enough to rise to the rank of Harbinger all while undermining their operations. If Diluc were a Fatui agent working undercover, then he has effectively thrown off all suspicion of him being one by being their "enemy." Not even by being vocal about his distaste for them, because his vocal distaste is reserved for the Knights of Favonius, also enemies of the Fatui. As to why I'm more inclined to the latter is because, again, the Tenth seat has not been explicitly stated to be vacant.

As to why Diluc did not grab Venti's gnosis, it was probably because that was not his mission PLUS it would expose his identity. So instead he is the one who managed to uncover the identity of Mondstadt's archon, which is honestly probably what he was doing with all those Barbatos stinkin' breath bottles, allowing for Signora to grab Venti's gnosis in the finale of the prologue. Diluc is also allowed to work for the safety and security of Mond the same way Arlecchino worked to ensure Fontaine's safety during the prophecy. Harbingers are implied to be able to do whatever the heck they want as long as they fulfill the roles they were meant to play, as seen in the case of Dottore's experiments. They might also be allowed to mess with each other to achieve their own goals, hence Diluc's interference with whatever Dottore was doing in Mond in the comics.

The unnamed underground information network in Diluc's stories may even be the Fatui itself. The discovery of Diluc half dead after destroying Fatui strongholds then offered a role to play is pretty reminiscent of the harbinger backstories from the Pale Flame series, mirroring particularly Signora and Scaramouche. The narrative may be different as well as the implications not so obvious probably because Diluc was released so early in the game that the nuances were lost.

If the Diluc were the Tenth, then it fits because rich as he is, he might not be as rich as Pantalone the Ninth. Funny enough, this also means lore-wise that Childe is probably both weaker and younger than Diluc. But that opens a whole can of worms that I am unwilling to discuss. His insignia counterpart in the Fatui circle might be the closed fist with a lighted fire, an allusion to his Delusion glove which, again from Red Dead, is still Pyro.

Ohmygod this is getting way too long, I am honestly losing my train of thought

One last thing then, back to where it all started. The final line in Red Dead of Night's description says that contrary to his father's beliefs, Diluc finds that instead he must become a "forerunner." Complete with the quotation marks. Because if you ask me, they're trying to hide what the actual word should have been which is, well, a Harbinger. Because, as directly taken from Oxford, a Harbinger is a forerunner. Also, hahaha, Harbinger of Dawn hahahaha.

(Fun fact, Sean Chiplock, Diluc's ENG VA said following the release of Red Dead that the skin allowed him to understand and portray Diluc better. Who knows, maybe he got some Diluc's past probably Fatui related lore tidbits hence the comment. Red Dead also remains to be the only five star skin in the game, probably because of the unique voicelines and animation, but also because of the implications of its existence other than circumstantial evidence showing it to be the only implicit instance we have a playable delusion.)

tl;dr We know zilch about the Tenth Harbinger apart from the fact that they exist then Mihoyo releases Red Dead of Night for Diluc and what else can it be but a Harbinger's outfit and Diluc Ragnvindr aka Brighella has been lying to us by omission all along.

(PS honestly the lore implications of this against his complicated relationship with Kaeya is insane if you think about it because they're both lying liars who lie turning out to be spies for Mondstadt's enemies with questionable loyalties to the one they're spying for.)

EDIT: PPS THERE IS NO PART 2. I managed to combine both parts because it initially wouldn't post probably due to idk, word length. Sorry mods.

From the recent string of Fontaine world quests, Sandrone has been hinted at and it seems like we might get more of her (actual appearance/lore) in the near future. It's likely that she was the one who ripped out Jenck's tongue (due to the doll-like state mention) and now seeing the photo taken of the members of the Narzissenkreuz Institute, she shares an extremely striking resemblance to Mary-Ann Guillotin. Others have noted the similarities in their appearance, the hair color, hair style, eye color etc. And way back in the Winter Night's Lazzo trailer, her style of dress and the clothing worn by her Ruin Mech companion seemed to match what was thought of to be the Fontainian style, and that still holds true today. And so there are many possibilities of Sandrone's Identity and Mary-Ann's fate. As we know, Mary-Ann Guillotin was presumed dead after the battle with the Narzissenkreuz Ordo and Jakob Ingold with an explosion that heavily damaged Seymour. And, the Mary-Ann we see in the Annapausis is what remains of Director Lyris the Oceanid, mixed in with Mary-Ann Guillotin's memories. Thus, Mary-Ann Guillotin is presumed dead. Alain Guillotin, Mary-Ann's brother who was her fellow member in the Marechaussee Phantom then went on to found the Fontaine Research Institute of Kinetic Energy Engineering, but in his later years after his retirement, he reclused himself in his workshop and dedicate his time and research into building "something". Now that the facts are laid out, there are a few possibilities on Sandrone's identity and her connection to Mary-Ann Guillotin.

1. Sandrone and her identity have no connection at all to either Alain or Mary-Ann Guillotin.

Possibly the most boring and unlikely answer. See Guizhong theory or other theories on Sandrone's identity.

2. Sandrone is "still" Mary-Ann Guillotin

Now we're coming to the assumption that the two characters are one in the same, if that is the case then Mary-Ann Guillotin did not perish in the battle with the Ordo inside Elynas and somehow managed to survive 500 years after the events of the Narzissenkreuz Institute.

a.) Mary-Ann Guillotin survived through the power of Elynas' blood.

We know that Elynas' blood has some sort of power or energy residing within it. The various wildlife that consumed it and Elynas' remains became Consecrated Beasts, and Jakob Ingold was gathering its blood to create "Neohumans". This possibility posits that in the explosion, Mary-Ann Guillotin was suffused by Elynas' blood and survived. Though why she didn't return to civilization, to her brother and has remained seen and is presumed dead is unknown.

b.) Alain Guillotin created a body to save the dying Mary-Ann Guillotin

Let's say that in the wake of the explosion within Elynas' body, Mary-Ann Guillotin was left severely injured and was rescued by Alain Guillotin. What if she was put into some sort of life support, where she was barely alive and Alain did was trying to do all he could to rescue her. What if the reason that Sandrone lived to be over 500 years old is because of enhancements or a meka body that Alain built for her? Alain became the founder of the Fontaine Research Institute sometime after he defeated the Narzissenkreuz Ordo, and though he was brilliant, it is unlikely that he immediately created a body for his sister. Along with the secrecy of his later years, it is more likely that he finally perfected a way to save his sister in his later years. As for why nobody knew of this, it could be that Mary-Ann was in such a state that she would be considered a lost cause, but Alain did not want to be dissuaded not save her and so he hid her for all those years while trying to find a way to save her. Eventually, Mary-Ann Guillotin was enhanced or had her consciousness put into a separate body leading to her survival these past 500 years.

Though, there are some particular issues with possibility No. 2. Notably, is the Mary-Ann in the Annapausis. This Mary-Ann is believed to be the combination of Mary-Ann's consciousness as absorbed by Director Lyris the Oceanid. And this, solidifies to many that Mary-Ann Guillotin is dead. There could be a few possibilities such as the Mary-Ann and Ann's story being simply only Director Lyris' memories alone or that Mary-Ann Guillotin's memories/will being taken and her body being left intact, but this glaring hole lessens the likelihood of this possibility. Another issue is of Sandrone's current personality. Mary-Ann Guillotin was described to be cheerful and personable among the Narzissenkreuz Institute, and her opposition to the Ordo in her later years frames her as someone altruistic and is in drastic contrast to the Sandrone of today. Cruel, sadistic, and impersonable, its hard to imagine how the young Mary-Ann would evolve into such a person. Maybe witnessing her own "death", the actions of the Ordo, and her becoming some kind of an immortal "freak" due to Alain's attempts to save her might have warped her into a cruel entity, though the chance is slim. All in all, possibility 2 seems more and more unlikely due to the various factors laid out and so brings us to...

3. Mary-Ann Guillotin is dead, but...

a.) Alain created a puppet/meka in the likeness of his sister, and is the one controlling her all along.

Likely the most disturbing possibility, this theory posits that Alain in his later years, still feeling guilt and grief over the death of his sister, created a lifeless android in her image and is the one controlling her as the real "Sandrone". There is a hint of humor in this possibility in that only Columbina and Arlecchino are the two remaining female harbingers, being outnumbered by the males in the group. In great contrast compared to the Seven Archons in which the males are outnumbered by the females. Anyways, this theory also states that Alain Guillotin is also somehow alive to this day. This may be due to the research he conducted in his later years after founding the Fontaine Institute. When the Winter Night's Lazzo Trailer released, many theorized if the large ruin mech that carried her was the true harbinger, and she was just a false front. Alain might have transferred his consciousness into a ruin mech, or somehow used enhancements to allow his body to survive all this time and resides within the ruin mech-like machine. There is merit to this theory in Childe and Wanderer's voice lines about Sandrone in which they highlight her being "engrossed" and "dedicated" to her research. A quality that was highlighted in Alain, who was described to seemingly only care about his research. As for his motive for joining the Fatui, it might be research as well. A way to extend his life, a way to create an artificial intelligence of his deceased sister, and someone like Pierro or the Tsaritsa might have promised him a way to resurrect his sister through the power of the Gnoses. And to describe Sandrone's personality, he might have become bitter and unfeeling in his later years obsessed in finding a way to bring his sister back. Over the countless centuries, he might have become somewhat like Dottore, conducting research and experiments to others without feeling emotion, forsaking the lives of innocents for his goal, seeing the desires of others as meaningless etc. This might be the most likely explanation out of all of these possibilities.

b.) Alain is long dead, but he created a sentient puppet in the image of Mary-Ann, albeit lacking her memories.

This is the theory I like the most, since it offers a more unique take to what has been previously said about Sandrone (A.K.A the Alain Theory). This theory states that Alain did spend his later years working on a project, but this is to create an Artificial mechanical version in the image of his sister. He then passes away all those years ago, and the new creation is left to fend for themselves in the cruelty of the world. In some aspects, Sandrone's story seems to mirror Scaramouche in some ways. Though this theory possesses the most unknowns, it is the one with the most exciting possibilities. How would a being born made in the likeness of another react in knowing of the purpose of their creation, likely spite for not being created for the purpose of their own creation, but in the pale imitation of another. Alain might have placed all sorts of expectations onto this puppet in which the puppet did not know how to reciprocate rather, lashing out against the world. The puppet might also lack human empathy or feeling, which reflects in their current cruel nature and marks another similarity to Scaramouche. In her similar obsession for research as Alain, it is a common trope in fiction that a creation mirrors the personality of their creator. After all, it is their first and likely the person they will have contact with and have a basis of what being a "person" is. She might be conducting research for the sake of it, as per her creator. She might be researching in how to extend and enhance herself even further. And she might be doing research for the sake of furthering the Fatui's goals which brings us to her possible motive in joining the Fatui. Being a newborn creation, she might be somewhat gullible or easy to manipulate such is in the case of Scaramouche being manipulated by Dottore and recruited by Pierro. They might have promised her infinite test subjects and funds/materials for research in exchange for her contributions to the Fatui similar to the case of Dottore. Or, angered by her existence and her underlying spite for the order of the world, she could have been convinced by the Fatui to rebel against the rule of the gods and the order of the world.

I like this theory a lot as it differs from the quite obvious Alain is the puppeteer theory, although I admit it is way too similar to Scaramouche's story and that brings down its likelihood. But, it might also establish a connection to the two characters and the parallel between the paths they take if this theory proves to be true. Additionally, the proliferation of Katherynes all throughout Teyvat as the constructs of Sandrone make likely the fact that artificial-intelligence androids can be created (Scaramouche aside) and may hint that that is the case of Sandrone. About how all of this ties into the character of Sandrone as featured in the Commedia dell'arte, I'm leaving that to someone who knows more about the topic to establish the connections to her character and the theories I have brought up here. Thoughts? I want to see what the lore community thinks about this, and what they could add or what other possibilities of Sandrone's identity they can suggest.

Weird thought to put out I know but hear me out. Can we aknowledge how Dottore has a weird saviour theme? Not complex mind you, and definitely not heroic, but a saviour theme that's sort of reoccuring.

For instance he is a doctor, mayne not a graduate but he did treat patients, and he actually managed to find a viable treatment for Eleazear. But okay that's not a main point here is it? Let me continue by pointing out that while he isn't a hero, he did save people.

Furthermore, he saved people by transcending them beyond humanity, essentially forcefully trying to evolve them and ironically that is something the followers of the Abyss Order are also doing, and they have a whole deal about a saviour.

Note again, not a hero but a "saviour". Another thing we get is that he is directly referred to as a saviour that will transcend fate in the Archon Quest, yes it was a disturbence of the phantoms that caused it, but the statement isn't completely false. He is the one that is set to burn Irminsul, the very thing that dictates the story of Teyvat, he is also the one to transcend being human mostly on his own and preserve himself through almost completely natural means without damaging his psyche and body- in other words he is still Zandik after all this time.

And I specifically want to compare him to someone else that has been mentioned multiple times in Nod Krai by now, but that is Rene. Rene is somebody that we at least know a lot more on a personal level and has a similar saviour theme. Down to saving someone from illness through god remains, and even almost seeing the false sky. Despite all that, he isn't the hero of the story but he is the "saviour".

Dottore is in a similar boat, he isn't a hero, he never will be. But he is a saviour, a dragon to be defeated but a saviour that will transcend fate itself. Someone that, due to all his smarts, knows how the real hero should handle the story but also needs to be defeated by said hero first.

This by the way, does not paint him as a good person, rather a false hero but a real saviour. Someone who, like Rene, will outlive the idea of being a saviour, and whose ideas, discoveries and intelligence will outlive him. He is complex, morally and story related is what I mean.

In Nahida's fairytale version of Scaramouche's past, I noticed a peculiar detail. The fairytale's description of Dottore doesn't match what we know of him.

As is heavily implied, the monster in fox fur is Dottore. According to the fairytale, the monster "became friends" with the foxes. At night, it would "take off its fox fur" and lament that "I am a monstrosity, yet they are too foolish to see it... I pity them". Eventually the monster is infuriated when the kitten is accepted by the foxes.

But the Dottore we know is cold and callous. Becoming friends with humans? Having pity for them? Calling himself a monstrosity? That doesn't sound like the Dottore we know. If anything he would call himself the pinnacle of humankind.

Also, being jealous of Scaramouche? Can Dottore feel anything other than self-assuredness?

This leads me to believe that Nahida is describing a particular segment of Dottore. Perhaps the segment that destroyed Tatarasuna was a special one - one capable of compassion. And desirous of not being a monster.

Because unlike Scaramouche, Dottore was a human. He was born human. Yet the fairytale doesn't call him "one of the foxes", "an evil fox" or a "wicked fox". Rather, it shows him as a "monster in fox fur". He is a non-fox. Maybe this reflects how the segment - being an artificial copy of a human - no longer felt human at its core? And maybe that segment secretly grieved his non-humaness?

...

So my theory is this - perhaps this segment is an odd one out. Unlike the others, it grew to have emotions. While it worked to destabilise Tatarasuna per the Tsaritsa's command, no one ever discovered that the segment was anything but a normal human. And yet, the segment couldn't forge any real friendships. It blamed this on its artificialness, thinking ... "I am a monster masquerading as a human. They are too foolish to see me for what I am, but I will never truly be one of them".

Then along comes the kabukimono who lives happily amongst humans despite being 100% artificial. The segment could not understand why Scaramouche was loved. His friends knew that Scaramouche was alien, yet they loved him! So the segment decided to ruin Scaramouche's life. It came up with a excuse of experimenting on Scaramouche to the Jester and then executed its plan.

Why does this matter? Well, maybe this 'conflicted’ Dottore is the one that will become playable? I know all the segments got deleted except for the most selfish one, but this is Genshin after all. All the writers need is some timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly Irminsul hijinks, and bam he's revived. Who knows, maybe Scaramouche's leap through time had some ripple effect that led to the 'conflicted' segment's survival.

Whatever the case, I don't think Nahida would have painted the monster in a sympathetic light unless there was a kernel of truth to it. I think the writers intentionally did this to foreshadow Dottore's story and that later, we might discover that even monsters born from monsters long to be loved.

This post is not an attempt to assign canon zodiac signs to the Fatui. There is no official confirmation that astrology exists in-universe in this way. What follows is a symbolic reading of archetype, behavior and narrative function.
In other words, this is about why these characters consistently act the way they do, and how their personalities align almost uncannily with astrological archetypes.
This theory assumes that the Harbingers are not random personalities gathered under one banner, but a deliberately curated structure. With that in mind, I’ll go through each Harbinger, explain the sign I associate with them, and then conclude with what this structure implies about the Tsaritsa herself.

The Fatui as a Structured System, Not a Collection of Villains

One thing that stands out about the Fatui is that they do not overlap psychologically.
They cover different modes of power: economic, military, emotional, ideological, spiritual. There is very little redundancy. Each Harbinger represents a distinct way of exerting influence over the world.
Astrology, as a symbolic system, does exactly that: it divides human behavior into archetypal strategies for survival, control, growth, and meaning.

With that in mind, here’s how the Harbingers align:

Capricorn: Pierro

Capricorn governs historical weight, endurance, long-term vision, and the willingness to carry responsibility across time.

Pierro is not a battlefield tactician. He is a historian of collapse.
He has seen civilization fail, promises rot. He does not rush, he waits until outcomes become inevitable.

What we know of Pierro already supports this:
– his role as the first Harbinger
– his distance from direct conflict
– his position as ideological architect rather than executor

He doesn’t seek victory. He seeks closure. This placement is personal to me. Pierro has always been my favorite Harbinger, long before we knew anything substantial about him. I’m deeply Capricornian myself, and the more we learn about Pierro, especially after the “Teyvat Chapter Interlude: The God's Limits” teaser, the clearer this alignment becomes.

Capricorn understands something crucial: sometimes responsibility means surviving long enough to see the end of the world, and still standing there to record it.

Aquarius: Dottore

Aquarius is often projected as humanitarian, but this is a human misreading. At its core, Aquarius is alien to human emotion, oriented toward abstraction, the future, and systemic outcomes rather than empathy.

Dottore embodies this distortion. He prioritizes progress over ethics, possibility over consent. His segmentation of the self, rejection of moral limits, and obsession with what humanity could become are textbook Aquarian excess.

He is not driven by sadism, he simply does not factor emotional cost into his equations.

Virgo: Sandrone

Virgo governs systems, refinement, and intolerance toward inefficiency.

Sandrone’s fixation on automation, control, and mechanical perfection reflects Virgo’s obsession with optimization. Errors are not moral failings to her; they are flaws to be corrected or discarded.

Her emotional distance is not coldness, but functional selectivity.

Sagittarius: Tartaglia (Childe)

Sagittarius seeks truth through experience, not reflection.

Childe’s worldview is forged in combat. He tests reality by colliding with it. Risk, adventure, and confrontation are not means to an end; they are the method itself.

His honesty is brutal, his loyalty instinctive, and his morality situational. This is Sagittarius stripped of philosophy and reduced to raw motion.

Leo: La Signora

Leo governs identity, pride, and the need to be seen.

La Signora’s tragedy is not simply loss, but the calcification of identity around that loss. Her power is theatrical, her presence commanding, her cruelty inseparable from wounded pride.

She does not merely fight enemies. She performs herself against them.

Pisces: Columbina

Pisces dissolves boundaries: between self and other, reality and dream, human and divine.

Columbina does not assert power directly. Her influence is ambient, unsettling, and deeply unconscious. She feels less like an individual and more like a pressure exerted on the room.

Her danger lies precisely in how little she seems to try.

Scorpio: Arlecchino

Scorpio governs intimacy, control through bonds, and emotional intensity beneath restraint.

Arlecchino does not dominate through spectacle or fear alone. She binds. She creates dependency, loyalty, and psychological gravity. Her authority is personal, not institutional.

Scorpio’s power is always relational, and Arlecchino understands this completely.

Aries: Capitano

Aries is direct action, leadership by momentum, force without hesitation.

Capitano does not scheme. He advances. His presence stabilizes the Fatui militarily because he embodies certainty. Where others manipulate, he acts.

He is not subtle, but he is effective.

Cancer: Pulcinella

Cancer governs protection, family structures, and power exercised within enclosed systems.

Pulcinella’s influence is quiet and domestic. He operates through internal politics, caretaking, and selective protection. His authority is felt most strongly by those who depend on him.

He does not expand outward. He consolidates inward.

Taurus: Pantalone

Taurus governs material stability, accumulation, and security.

Pantalone understands that ideology collapses without resources. His power lies in logistics, finance, and leverage. Wealth, to him, is not comfort but control.

Security is his weapon of choice.

Gemini: Scaramouche / Wanderer

Gemini governs duality, fragmentation, language, and internal contradiction.

Scaramouche’s entire arc revolves around fractured identity: creator vs creation, past vs present, self vs role. His sharp tongue and volatile emotions reflect Gemini’s restless mental tension.

He is never stable because his center is constantly in dialogue with itself.

What This Implies About the Tsaritsa

If the Harbingers collectively map nearly the entire zodiac, one sign remains conspicuously absent: Libra.

Libra governs value, balance, contracts, and symbolic justice. Not emotional harmony, but structural fairness.
Following this framework, the Tsaritsa being Libra makes narrative sense.
She does not seek destruction. She seeks recalibration.
She treats the world as a broken system of agreements: between gods and mortals, power and responsibility, cause and consequence. Her war against Celestia reads less like revenge and more like an audit.

Libra Corrupted by Ice

When Libra loses Venus, it becomes cold judgment.
In this form: empathy is replaced by calculation; relationships become contracts; affection becomes obligation.
The Tsaritsa does not love Teyvat. She holds it accountable. Her Harbingers are not chosen for virtue, but for utility. They are imbalanced individuals repurposed as corrective forces.

The Tsaritsa as Judge, Not Queen

Unlike other Archons: she does not rule by charisma; she does not embody tradition; she does not claim divine authority. She delegates, negotiates, and enforces. The Fatui are not her children. They are her instruments of balance.

This is, ultimately, a theory. A symbolic reading of patterns, not a claim of authorial intent.

But Genshin’s writing consistently leans on mythic and archetypal logic. Seen through that lens, the Fatui do not feel random at all. They feel designed.

If you disagree, see a better fit for certain Harbingers, or think the Tsaritsa aligns with a different sign, I’d genuinely like to hear it. This framework only gets stronger when challenged.

Thanks for reading.

Wanderer and Dottore are two different shades of blue in design (no literally they're both blue), but also philosophies.

Dottore is a human who has long forsaken his humanity for his ideal that humans are just complex machines. Meanwhile Wanderer is a puppet who is accepting his humanity and is a "mechanical" being that is considered a human. The gods (Ei and Nahida) consider him a human because he has the mind of one along with the voice from afar of a smiling eye when he received his vision that questioned; Can a being like him still be considered heartless despite having such intense desires?

Wanderer's existence alone is a philosophical counterargument to Dottore's entire philosophy. But it goes further than that.

Wanderer is a newly accepted and redeemed "sage" in the Akademiya, he is one who enlightens others. Dottore is a long rejected and corrupt "sage" of the Akademiya, he is one who obscures others.

We get a direct parallel in the game. Wanderer getting enrolled into the Akademiya wasn't just for fun from hoyo, nor was Wanderer being the "hero" in Simulanka for Mini Durin.

You see, in Tatarasuna Dottore met Kabukimono. He was the "villain" in the story, Kabukimono was later made the false "hero" with the mikage furnace sacrifice. Dottore was already corrupt time now. At first; Dottore felt a kinship with Kabukimono. Kabukimono was an outcast-- literally, he was a puppet seeking kinship with humans. However, his initially positive feelings towards Kabukimono shattered once Kabukimono was accepted. Kabukimono was a living mockery to Dottore's trauma. Kabukimono, a puppet, was accepted and claimed to be a human-- while he, human, was rejected and deemed a monster. So, Dottore didn't like Kabukimono anymore. He failed to realize that Kabukimono was accepted as a human because he was human in mind. Dottore was no longer "man", he had long abandoned his own humanity, because, humans are machines. He projected onto Kabukimono, and forced his life onto him. He obscured Kabukimono-- made him believe that he was rejecged, that he was deemed an "abomination" (archon quest divine will cutscene), just like Dottore was. Dottore corrupted and destroyed Kabukimono, all with manipulation and a false heart.

Wanderer met Mini Durin in Simulanka. He was the "hero" of the story, with Mini Durin being the "villain"-- the false "villain". Wanderer was a redeemed man time now. At first; Wanderer was going to rid of the dragon. That was the duty of the hero. The rejected dragon was causing chaos around Simulanka. However, Wanderer was given insight into the dragons psych. Mini Durin was actually a pure soul who had been tainted by life--being born different than others. Just as Wanderer was born differently as well in the biological sense, a puppet. Wanderer let go of the "ridding" of the dragon-- he felt a kinship with the dragon. Wanderer confronted the dragon, Wanderer enlightened the dragon, just as he was enlightened. He gave the dragon a second chance, just as he was given a second chance. Wanderer saved and let Mini Durin see truth-- instead of blinding the already corrupt being, and gave Mini Durin true hope, with his hand over his chest-- where his heart would be (as we saw in the event. the "power of words").

This is a direct parallel-- showing how both Dottore and Wanderer respond to beings like them. Dottore (evil)-- Kabukimono (good), Wanderer (evil turned good) -- Mini Durin (evil turned good). Dottore brought Kabukimono on the path he was on, corruption. Wanderer brought Mini Durin on the path he was on, redemption.

Simulanka was not just some summer fun. There's a reason why Wanderer was so deeply linked to it (as Albedo states + Mini Durin being paired with Wanderer) unlike Navia, Nilou, and Kirara, yet so absent in the quest it was a prelude to (paralogism).

Just like Simulanka, Wanderer joining the Akademiya was not just some fun on Hoyo's part. Wanderer's existence is now a direct opposite to Dottore's. Ironically, the ultimate research Nahida tasks to Wanderer (the reason she enrolls him); is so Wanderer can figure out the workings of a corrupt scholar, and find a way out of the darkness (sumeru parade event). Because even though that corrupt scholar's knowledge was "negative" it was still a foundation of the "truth". And Nahida would not get in the way of that, maintaining neutrality, as the goddess of wisdom should. This discussion is about Sachin, however there is a parallel;

Dottore is a corrupted scholar. One who's knowledge can be considered "negative wisdom". And one who aids the foundation of the "truth". He did not find a way out of the darkness.

Nahida is looking forward to when Wanderer will be both intelligent enough to understand the corrupt scholars theories and emotionally/philosophically strong enough to not be consumed by the despair those ideas bring. That is, to understand and overcome.

Once this happens, it will be the opposite of what happened with Zandik (Dottore). Nobody understood or accepted his theories, nor did they overcome the despair such ideas brought. In fact, their actions only reinforced his need for radical freedom in science, and only further confirmed his theory that humans were too divine centered and driven.

Of course Dottore and Wanderer being two sides of the same scale doesn't stop there. Back to what we see physically (as I pointed out two shades of blue), a more serious noticeable thing is their complementary-- or well, opposite designs. Dottore has a metal plague-esque bird on his shoulder, that connects to one fragmented wing in thirds. Its bird in form, not function. It can't fly-- which birds are often tied to, symbolizing freedom. It only watches. His "bird" doesn't symbolize freedom, but control through knowledge, as its eyes are what is emphasized, not its wings. The plague mask itself is historically an ironic symbol of illusion of control and human desperation. As historically, the plague doctor mask never cured and stopped anything. It was just human desperation to fix death with incomplete knowledge. It being on Dottore's shoulder is also rather symbolic. It shows the burden that comes with his ideals. Dottore rejects his own humanity. He will never be accepted-- he long acknowledged that in Tatarasuna (fairytale). He had to disguise himself to be accepted by humans (Tatarasuna), but even then he wasn't even truly accepted with a disguise, because Niwa revealed in his final moments that they had suspected "Escher" all along-- making that acceptence in tatarasuna hollow, which causes Dottore to lash out emotionally. His own ideals are his own burden.

He can't even face himself, Nahida calls him out on this. Dottore is big on self fragmentation-- only emphasized by the clones which are fragments of himself. In the fairytale we see Dottore and his fragementatuon: those little birds in the fairytale were NOT clones. Dottore didn't have his clones until after Kunikuzushi joined the fatui and patented with him to be the basis. They were fragments of himself. Not only has he become a monster ti be hated by others, he's become a monster to be hated by even himself as well. In fact, even his clones doubt him-- meaning he doubts himself and what he stands for. The segment Omega even gets called someone who would betray even themself-- by another clone-- anither fragment of himself.

Meanwhile, Wanderer: he has a lotus hat, a symbol of rebirth; it's big in buddism. The lotus grows in dirty muddy waters, but blooms spotless and beautiful above the surface. Just like we are born in a world of pain and ignorance (the mud), but we have the potential to rise above it and reach clarity, peace, and enlightenment. The lotus opens as the sun rises, just as a mind opens to truth (spiritual awakening). So why does his hat matter? Well going down the hat, it's connected to fabric (In Buddhist and Taoist art, veils often represent the mystery between this world and higher truths)-- connected to two birds. Just like Dottore, Wanderer has a bird. Two symmetrical birds. They aren't on his shoulder-- they are in the air and have two complete wings, that's symbolic to freedom AND balance. His ideals are not a burden.

And they aren't incomplete-- they are whole. Wanderer, because of Dottore's interference with his life, suffered from self fragmentation JUST LIKE Dottore. Kabukimono, Kunikuzushi, Scaramouche, are all presented as seperate beings with their own acts (no literally, husk of opulent dreams talks about these being his three acts like how inazuman theatre characters have their own acts. his constellations name his acts 1 to 5, aka shoban to matsuban. Matsuban, which is number five in order but the word means last in sequence, aka the finale. His sixth constellation isn't an act, it's departure from the sequence, from the theater of the self, into ascetic transformation. Shugen (ascetic discipline) is what happens after the illusion ends. His artifact lore gives us insight to this; it's likely a future event so we won't dwell on it on this analysis at least. Wanderer's act is act 4, named "Set Adrift into Spring"). So anyways, Wanderer is fragemntized too, so why doesn't he get a fragmented bird wing like Dottore does? Well we see Wanderer accepted each "version" of him as himself and he faced himself (inversion od genesis and his character story). Dottore hasn't. Dottore can't stand himself. Scaramouche mimicked Dottore's ideals and language (plume of luxury), Scaramouche was Dottore's "creation", a mimicry of him. Yet he ended up becoming Wanderer, who is everything Dottore isn't.

Besides the bird, Wanderer has his vision where his heart would be. His vision is the very thing that gave proof that he was undoubtedly human despite having no heart as I pointed out earlier. What does Dottore have? A vial at his core. He's forcing himself to be machine in mind, no longer human.

We also see eyes as an important thing. Eyes are the window to the soul after all... and are very present in genshin and especially Sumeru. In the Skeletal hat lore we learn that Scara wore the hat as a useful tool to shield his own expressions. It was something to hide behind. He's very expressive, La Signora takes advantage of this in the interlude memory. He's hiding his emotions. What makes him human. Dottore though, is he hiding his humanity as well with that mask? Or.. is it to hide that he is no longer a man? When his mask is removed, which people have found what is under the mask-- it's JUST machinery. There is no "human" under that mask. It's not hiding a burdened and evil man, but the complete erasure of that man. It fufills what he has believed, that humans are just complex machines. He literally made himself become what he believes, proving his total internalization of his belief. I've seen people say it's just the segments, but Dottore had the same mask before they were made, we see original Dottore in Tatarasuna. And Scaramouche was the basis for the segments-- he doesn't have external wiring.

His face where his eyes should be is made of wires, not flesh, not eyes. He hides the part with no humanity left to wear. Only that part is wiring. He engineered himself into what he believes is perfection, literally erasing biology.. and the irony is, machines can't evolve spiritually, machines can't be free, Wanderer, a puppet, has more soul than he does.

They are not just two shades of blue, two sides of a coin, or two sides of the same scale—they are two destinies painted on the same canvas. One fades into metal and silence, the other blossoms into spring.

And between them lies the truth of what it means to be "human".

I found some good and well written Harbinger Origin Theory and Their IRL Counterpart

After read some part, I noticed that all harbinger should be dead or gone a long time ago before don the rank of harbinger, but somehow they got a second chance.

from what i know from in-game lore

Childe : should be died in the abyss

Signora : Should be died from the fire that consume her body

Scaramouche : almost destroyed by yae miko (500 years ago)

Pierro : should be died in Khaenriah ruin or smite'd by celestia

Dottore : Almost got lynched to death by angry mob

and some theory of mine

Arlechino : Almost died when he/she was a child.

Pantalone : Almost died because of Poverty

I'll Capitano : Should be died at War , yet he become a harbinger

Pulcinella : Should be died at war, yet he become a harbinger and fatui field general ( referencing : Field Marshal Zhukov )

Sandrone : should be died because human trafficking or slavery (?)

Columbina : almost take her own life when her lover died

Just like signora, the grace (Delusion) of her majesty Tsaritsa give them a new meaning and purpose to their lives.

"and after having delusion, it's like they got a second personality based of their negative emotion"

in my theory, this second personality will drive the harbinger to their failure or even Demise (Second death/true death)

Signora was a loving and caring maiden, but after receiving the delusion she become the complete opposite of her past. now she become a sadistic and ignorant person, and it drove to her demise.

Scaramouche was a selfless man and love the people around him, but after receiving the delusion he become the complete opposite of his past. now he become a selfish and sadist to his subordinate.

Childe was a coward and peace loving boy, but after come back from the abyss and receive the delusion he become a brave and trouble making person.

"Each one of us has borne witness to the absurd callousness of the foundational principles of this world. So, let us don our masks in mockery of the world as we go forth and rewrite the rules of destiny. " - Pierro on mocking mask description

Hey guys!

I'll admit I'm a bit rusty with my Genshin lore pre-fontaine, so if there are any specifics, please feel free to tell me rather than downvoting me into hell ty haha

I was wondering if all of the 'alliances' we've had with the Fatui are orchestrated theatrics? This is kind of a crack theory and I'm honestly just spewing my thoughts following 6.3, so if I'm fully off base then please correct me!

Rewatching 'Winter Night's Lazzo,' in the PV, we hear (specifically hear, not *see*) a conversation between Columbina and Dottore where she asks where "the segment in the Prime of His Life" is. Dottore responds by stating that "he's busy with... a little experiment in blasphemy," cutting to the burning of Irminsul. We know that the burning of Irminsul is a confirmed future event, and the "he is busy," implies that during that conversation, that specific segment was CURRENTLY either burning, or on the way to burn Irminsul, placing the time of that conversation AFTER current events, as Irminsul hasn't been burned yet.

This creates a timeline problem.

1. Dottore must have created segments following the Sumeru AQ, since there are at least two of him according to WNL.
2. This conversation could not have been happening prior to Sumeru, since Nahida confirmed all his segments at that time had been deleted.
3. We do not see this conversation take place, but only see the burning of Irminsul and Dottore's "he's busy..." implying current tense. Therefore we cannot confirm that this conversation happened during Signora's funeral.

Therefore, not only did Dottore likely 'survive' 6.3, but is it possible that the conversation with Columbina occurred after 6.3? It's either that or the happenings of Nod Krai were occurring alongside TSITPOHL going to burn irminsul.

This led me to ask - is Columbina speaking to Dottore following 6.3? Why would she be doing that after everything he did? The Fatui so far in-game have been very contradictory with their depictions in PVs, NPC voicelines, and other harbingers' recollections of them ("with your conscience, I would stay away from [Columbina," "not a sane bone in [Arlecchino's] body," Sandrone cutting out tongues and mailing it to the Traveler, etc). Could it be that close to every instance - especially with the higher ranked harbingers - of 'allyship' and information we've been fed is a red herring?

Patterns Across Regions

I'm going to zoom out on each Fatui related incident in every region so far.

- In Mondstadt, Signora directly retrieves the gnosis THROUGH Venti's body. - In Liyue, Childe and the fatui resurrect a dead god, break seals, and create fake sigils of permission. We also still don't know what the contract between ZL and Tsaritsa actually entails.
- In Inazuma, they have a delusion factory, and Signora herself comes directly into contact with the Raiden Shogun.
- In Sumeru, Dottore takes over the Akasha system, creates Shouki No Kami with Scaramouche. Scaramouche then proceeds to enter into and erase himself from Irminsul before being basically adopted BY the avatar of Irminsul, Nahida.
- In Fontaine, Childe attacks Neuvillette; this results in Neuvillette meeting skirk, going to the abyssal realm, etc. Arlecchino retrieves the gnosis.
- In Natlan, Capitano duels Mavuika, before gaining authority over Natlan's leylines and the night kingdom.
- In Nod-Krai, Dottore successfully creates a false third moon, and uses the power of the trilune.

In every nation so far, the fatui have not only gauged the strength of the utmost authoritative figures, but also dabbled in replicating primordial powers themselves.

IIRC, Columbina's story didn't include her wanting the trilunar authority until she had to defeat dottore. Her even jumping in the moon gate was due to wanting Dottore to not gain the third moon marrow.

Is it a far stretch to say that maybe all of this has been orchestrated?

Contradictions in canon

1. Columbina is described as a "a damsel who is oblivious and innocent at any given time, and unconcerned and unfeeling in any given situation," which almost perfectly aligns with how we meet her in NK. However, Scaramouche goes on to tell us to "stay away from her," and Childe says that "something doesn't feel right" about her, to "be careful around her." With Scaramouche highlighting our "conscience" being the thing holding us back from trusting Columbina, it actually could be very in character for her to play this "oblivious damsel" in order to gain the trust of the Traveler and friends, combined with her talking to Dottore as he burns Irminsul, could she have been secretly working for the Fatui? That would also explain why the palestar edict was so suddenly 'scapegoated' onto Dottore.
2. Scaramouche literally tells us that Arlecchino puts on "a graceful and cordial front." It's entirely possible for the "real, crazy self" we thought to have debunked in Fontaine during the fight with the HoTH kids to have been a red herring. She could very much still not have "a sane bone in her body."
3. Sandrone breaks the mind and cuts out the tongue of Jenck in The Questioning Melusine and Answering Machine world quest series (“When they examined him, they found that his tongue was missing… the Maison Gardiennage also discovered a note in his mouth. It said something to the effect of making amends to you…”), yet "uncharacteristically" becomes a martyr for the Traveler and hosts tea parties with the female harbingers. The sudden switch up feels like an intentional act.
4. Childe claims that he is "ranked too low for [Capitano] to notice [him] right now..." but Sandrone states that Capitano would "sometimes bring [Childe] to tea parties." This directly contradicts itself, implying that at least one of them are lying to us about the true nature of their relationship.

What do I think happened?

1. The Harbingers - and by extension, the Tsaritsa - have set up these situations in which they pretend to be allies of the traveler, gaining the trust of a descender who would DEFINITELY prove useful, whilst actually gaining primordial powers in order to meet their end goal - fighting the HP.
2. The altercation with Dottore was more orchestrated than what we see. Perhaps the kidnapping, moon gate, etc. was a ploy so Columbina could finesse her way into getting the TLA? Columbina is 'forced' to jump into the moon gate, and now has plausible reasoning for requiring the TLA. I doubt "hey, my terrorist organisation needs this for our world war III plan," would guarantee her getting the TLA.
3. Sandrone gets hit by Dottore's moon marrow, and now they have scientific evidence of and possible immunity to a form of primordial power. Through Sandrone, they can study the impacts of the moons - and possibly Nibelung / Primordial powers, and how to work against / gain immunity to it?
4. Scaramouche (whether or not he actually defected or is a spy) now not only proved tampering with Irminsul is very, very possible, but is also positioned extremely close to the avatar of Irminsul.
5. Capitano now has authority over leylines and the LOTN, and Arlecchino has the Iridescent moon marrow. He is also not dead.
6. Dottore successfully falsified a moon, and wielded primordial powers, despite being "human" / not made by Nibelung.

That explains the Tsaritsa's inaction and silence in response to essentially losing 75% of her troops, including her top three. If they had *actually* all died / defected / gone MIA etc, would someone who is attempting to overthrow the most powerful beings in Teyvat not at least be a bit more concerned when her strongest troops (and her best shot at standing a chance) are dropping like flies?

<3 ty

(Assuming Captain 4, Marionette 7, Knave 10)

? means its a shot in the dark

1. Jester - Vengeance on the gods for what happened to Khaenri'ah
2. Doctor - To have the resources to perform human experimentation and create enhanced humans and eventually gods
3. Damselette - ? (Assuming theories of her being Seelie race is true, possibly the restoration of her people back to humanoid forms)
4. Captain - ? (No idea lmao)
5. Rooster - ? (Feels like he's some government figure in Snezhnaya, so possibly a liaison between the Fatui and other parts of the government)
6. Balladeer - Vengeance on humanity after the three betrayals (EDIT: apparently he joined for shits and giggles cuz the fatui look cool lmao)
7. Marionette - ? (I would guess similar reasons to the Doctor - the resources to build automatons and artificial intelligence)
8. Fair Lady - Given new purpose after losing Rostam and having gone on a rampage as the Crimson Witch of Flames. Also saved her life from being consumed by her flames
9. Regrator - Resentment from the gods for no vision and the power to fully exercise his financial knowledge and theories
10. Knave - The pursuit of power for the sake of power - the ability to control, manipulate, and enact cruelty on subordinates
11. Childe - To become stronger in combat.

Lemme know if this is accurate or if there are alternate stronger theories for the harbingers we don't know much of

The title sounds a little confusing but I want to expand on this more.

Every region we visit in Genshin has a certain theme. And that theme is also found in the harbinger that appears in that region. Coincidentally, almost all of them have had their hometown in the exact same region we first confront them, with the exception of Liyue and Fontaine.

Why does this topic matter? Through it, we can pinpoint what the writers were initially intending to do with each region, only to change it overtime due to certain circumstances.

Mondstadt - we meet Signora, who forcibly steeals Venti's gnosis rather than negociating with him. Signora is from Mondstadt, and her deed does not really represent freedom lol, but it's sort of an antithesis to the freedom theme.

Inazuma - we meet Scaramouche who is from Inazuma, and Inazuma is about eternity. Scara fits this theme due to him being an almost indestructible puppet that goes through trauma. There is also his lore with Raiden.

Sumeru - we meet Dottore who is originally from Sumeru, he is a scholar and seeks knowledge constantly, which is the theme of Sumeru.

The regions that did not respect these rules:

Liyue - we meet Childe, who doesn't seem interested in money or the economy whatsoever. He is simply fueling Zhongli's need of buying things. At the same time, he does odd jobs for the Northern Bank by collecting debts from people, which are probably assignments given to him by Pantalone.

In contrast, we have Pantalone who is Snezhnaya's banker, and seeks to control the economy of Teyvat.

Due to this, it would make sense for Pantalone to be the Harbinger representative for Liyue, yet, he was not. We also don't know what region is his homeland. Many speculated that it would be Liyue due to his clothing patterns, but nothing has been confirmed as of now.

I am going on a very wild guess and say that Pantalone may have been the intended harbinger to appear in Liyue, but maybe....his lore or his character design was not ready yet.

Fontaine - we meet Arlecchino, who does not have origins in Fontaine. She was raised there, but not born. She originlly lies about it, so that she can continue her investigation on the Prophecy. She tried to protect Fontaine just to save her orphanage. Her true origins are that of Kanrieah.

We also have Sandrone, who indeed has origins ties to Fontaine due to the Narsizenkreus WQ series, and has a design that is very reminiscent to the Mecka mobs that we encouter in Fontaine.

Yet, she does not appear in the Fontaine AQ at all, or in any other occasion during the Fontaine patches. Which is...rather strange?

I am partly theorising that they changed Arlecchino instead of Sandrone due to the reception to the Winter Night Lazzo video that came out 2 years ago.

The most popular harbingers that people were mostly talking about back then were Arle, Columbina, Dottore and Childe. The tweet posts that were showing their VA's had the most likes.

Meanwhile, Sandrone and Pulcinella were the most unpopular characters out of all the harbingers. Both in discussion and in tweet interactions. I'm guessing that this is mostly due to their designs.

I know that this might be a far fetched idea, but I think that the writers switched Sandrone with Arle due to popularity.

Natlan - I am unsure wether Capitano or Columbina will be part of the Natlan lore.

What are your thoughts on this? Was every region intended to have a designated Harbinger to represent them? Or did they just stopped caring about that while they were writing the story?