History Characters / GenshinImpactWanderer

--> ''Reality is PAIN''

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Being assigned to work for Scaramouche seems to be something everyone in the Fatui dreads and hopes to avoid. His terrible attitude and sharp tongue are infamous among the rank-and-file, who'd rather work for ''anyone'' else. Even Signora inspired more loyalty in her subordinates, while there's not a single Fatuus that has anything nice to say about him.

* AnythingButThat: Scaramouche begs for Nahida not to take the Electro Gnosis after he is defeated. When she does, he falls into the above AngstComa.

* BreakingOldTrends:
** {{Downplayed|Trope}}. The Wanderer is the first playable character since Rosaria whose Wish artwork pose does not completely match that of his Character Introduction; in the former, his ''kasa'' is missing and his arms and hand gestures are readjusted, but his facial expression and overall pose remains similar to that of the latter.
** Of the weekly bosses, Shouki no Kami is the first one where the entrance to his Trounce Domain after defeating him once in the story is in a different location for subsequent rematches; in his case, the Trounce Domain entrance to his boss fight is in the eastern outskirts of Sumeru City, while his boss fight during the Archon Quests is accessed inside the Sanctuary of Surasthana.
** He's the first Harbinger boss to not switch elements in the middle of their fight. Prior to him, both Tartaglia (Hydro, Electro) and La Signora (Cryo, Pyro) would switch elements (explained as switching from their Vision to their Delusion or vice versa) in the middle of their fight.

* TroubledBackstoryFlashback: The Traveler involuntarily sees his memories of his DarkAndTroubled past upon making contact with Hapaysia, who had gone mad from connecting with his consciousness in the Irminsul.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/character_wanderer_portrait_1.png]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see his appearance as The Balladeer]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_2023_01_15_171020413.png]][[/labelnote]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see his appearance as Shouki no Kami, the Prodigal]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/enemy_everlasting_lord_of_arcane_wisdom_full_artwork.png]][[/labelnote]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click to see his appearance as the Kabukimono]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2022_09_29_at_100009_pm.png]][[/labelnote]]
[-''"How dare you die like this... and break your promise to me...? What a joke... it's just ashes... nothing left but ashes... if only I could've burned to death in that fire, too... no, in fact, I wish I'd never been born at all..."''-]

** Like Xiao, the Wanderer is an immortal male Anemo vision holder with similar abrasive, cat-like personalities stemming from pasts of serving under a morally dubious god for centuries before coming under the protection of an Archon who granted them a MeaningfulRename and are slowly opening up to the Traveler with repeated interaction.

[[Characters/GenshinImpactSumeru Sumeru]] ([[Characters/GenshinImpactAkademiya Akademiya]] | [[Characters/GenshinImpactAlhaitham Alhaitham]] | [[Characters/GenshinImpactCyno Cyno]] | [[Characters/GenshinImpactEremites Eremites]] | [[Characters/GenshinImpactKaveh Kaveh]] | [[Characters/GenshinImpactNahida Nahida]] | '''The Wanderer''')\\

* ParentalAbandonment: In a manner of speaking. Ei abandoned him because despite deeming him unsuitable to hold the Electro Gnosis, she [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou did not have it in her to either destroy or assert control over him]]. Nevertheless, he saw Ei as his mother and thus interpreted it as this, [[HatesTheirParent grew to hate her for what he perceived as cruelty]], and this became part of his FreudianExcuse when becoming Scaramouche. It's quite telling that the [[https://www.hoyolab.com/article/17943088 lyrics of his boss theme]] go directly from declaring his "tyranny/absolute power" to asking Ei why she abandoned him[[note]]The lyric literally translates to "Why did you throw me away on the fifth night?", referencing a Japanese tradition of naming children on the seventh night after birth[[/note]].
* PoorCommunicationKills: While he has had a pretty hard life it doesn't help that some of his biggest betrayals, as he sees them, are mostly in his head. He believes Ei abandoned him, but she herself uses the wording that she wanted to "Free" him, much to Miko's shock, Niwa never betrayed him in fact being the one to protect him from the filth in the furnace, and the unnamed child really did want to stay with him forever but succumbed to illness. Eventually he comes to see the truth with the help of Nahida and the Traveler.

* ShoutOut: His entire character is one gigantic reference to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Music/{{Queen|Band}}:
** His Harbinger title, Scaramouche, calls to mind the line "Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the fandango?"
** The theme that is used during his first appearance is called "Ominous Fandango."
** The lyrics of the song can be appropriately used to describe his backstory:
*** The first stanza describes how after being put to sleep and left in Shakkei Pavilion by Ei, Scaramouche is found by Katsuragi after a landslide.
*** "Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me!" refers to his usage of the Electro Gnosis during his brief apotheosis as Shouki no Kami.
*** The stanza starting with "I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me" describes how he suffered from his three "betrayals" which [[IJustWantToBeLoved always ended with him alone and friendless]], in some part due to Dottore's manipulations, as well as mentioning "Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me," referencing Ei, whose divine name is Beelzebul (a corruption of Beelzebub), initially planning to house the Electro Gnosis in him.
** The official announcement for his playable appearance was made on October 31, 2022, the anniversary of the release of "Bohemian Rhapsody."
** In his character teaser, he says the line, "I wish that I'd never been born at all," the last line of the second refrain.
** His Collected Miscellany trailer is titled after the last line of the song, "Any Way the Wind Blows."
** For a reference regarding his character that has nothing to do with Queen, There are quite a few players who noted that his backstory of being an artificially created child abandoned by his parent shortly after his birth, leading to tragedy as the child lashes out at the world and at his parent, despite having a happier outcome, is quite similar to [[Literature/{{Frankenstein}} the plot of Frankenstein.]]

* DeadlyRinger: The Catalyst that is both introduced with his release and tailor-fit for his playstyle, Tulaytullah's Remembrance, is an ornate bell based on the ''ghanta'', a ritual bell used in UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}}. Notably, the bell is typically paired with a tool known as a ''vajra'', a divine weapon associated with thunderbolts. Paired together, the tools represent wisdom and compassion, with the bell's ringing associated with emptiness and the transcendent nature of things on the path to enlightenment.

* ItsPersonal: By the end of the third Archon Quest Interlude, in general he swore vengeance on the Fatui for manipulating him; in particular, he had a special place on his hit-list for Dottore, who murdered his first friend Niwa then lied to him that the latter betrayed him.

* NunTooHoly: As the Wanderer, he's explicitly described as dressing (but not acting) the part of a ''shugenja''. Nasty personality aside, however, he actually is on a religious journey of sorts, working to make amends for his past crimes, while serving the God of Wisdom as her self-declared "helper."

* PowerStereotypeFlip: Similarly to [[Characters/GenshinImpactXiao Xiao]], the Wanderer's personality doesn't allign with the typical one of [[BlowYouAway wind/Anemo]]; he remains an abrasive, cold, arrogant and rude guy who rarely concerns with what other people think of him, and while [[HiddenHeartOfGold he can show acts of kindness]], he's [[DefrostingIceKing still in the process of recovering his humanity]].

[[Characters/GenshinImpactLiyue Liyue]] ([[Characters/GenshinImpactAdepti Adepti]] | [[Characters/GenshinImpactLiyueHarbor Liyue Harbor]] | [[Characters/GenshinImpactQixing Qixing]] | [[Characters/GenshinImpactXiao Xiao]] | [[Characters/GenshinImpactZhongli Zhongli]])\\

[[Characters/GenshinImpactSnezhnaya Snezhnaya]] ([[Characters/GenshinImpactArlecchino Arlecchino]] | [[Characters/GenshinImpactFatui Fatui]] | [[Characters/GenshinImpactHarbingers Harbingers]] | [[Characters/GenshinImpactTartaglia Tartaglia]])\\

** For a reference regarding his character that has nothing to do with Queen, There are quite a few player who noted that his backstory of being an artificially created child abandoned by his parent shortly aster his birth, leading to tragedy as the child lashes out at the world and at his parent, despite having a happier outcome, is quite similar to [[Literature/{{Frankenstein}} the plot of Frankenstein.]]

[[Characters/GenshinImpactSnezhnaya Snezhnaya]] ([[Characters/GenshinImpactFatui Fatui]] | [[Characters/GenshinImpactHarbingers Harbingers]] | [[Characters/GenshinImpactTartaglia Tartaglia]])\\

** Twofold occurring as a playable character. Ei as a playable character can't cook but has a SweetTooth; the Wanderer, on the other hand can actually cook something good (based on the description of his Specialty dish) and in contrast, [[RealMenHateSugar hates sweets]].

* ParentalAbandonment: In a manner of speaking. Ei abandoned him because despite deeming him unsuitable to hold the Electro Gnosis, she [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou did not have it in her to either destroy or assert control over him]]. Nevertheless, he saw Ei as his mother and thus interpreted it as this, [[HatesTheirParent grew to hate her for what he perceived as cruelty]], and this became part of his FreudianExcuse when becoming Scaramouche.

* CultureEqualsCostume: In the "Unreconciled Stars" event, the Traveler and Paimon, then in Liyue find Scaramouche's attire to be foreign-looking, with him explaining that he came from Inazuma, where it is revealed that he was a prototype in a series of divine puppets Ei/Beelzebul developed to rule Inazuma and carry the Electro Gnosis in her place.
* TheCynic: The Wanderer is always quick to assume the worst about others, whether it be the other Harbingers or Yae Miko or people in general. He even has a hard time believing that [[NiceGirl Nahida]] took him in for benevolent reasons, although he considers the possibility.
* CynicismCatalyst: While his abandonment and Niwa's alleged betrayal left him in a vulnerable state, the kabukimono still held on to hope when he befriended a similarly nameless and abandoned human child. The two promised to live together as a family, but unfortunately the child was already dying from the effects of the Tatarigami. The child's sudden death was the kabukimono's first experience with how fragile human lives actually were, and this proved to be the final straw. The grief and despair drove him mad, and after failing to kill himself, he would start down the dark path that led him to join the Fatui as one of its most hated and feared Harbingers.

* PoorComunicationKills: While he has had a pretty hard life it doesn't help that some of his biggest betrayals, as he sees them, are mostly in his head. He believes Ei abandoned him, but she herself uses the wording that she wanted to "Free" him, much to Miko's shock, Niwa never betrayed him in fact being the one to protect him from the filth in the furnace, and the unnamed child really did want to stay with him forever but succumbed to illness. Eventually he comes to see the truth with the help of Nahida and the Traveler.