NOTE: Folders in boldface denote playable characters.

Court of Fontaine

The eponymous capital of Fontaine, renowned across Teyvat as a center of fashion and the arts.

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The Courts

Furina

Lady Furina / Focalors, the God of Justice

The Hydro Archon, nominal ruler of Fontaine, and God of Justice.

See her page here.

Neuvillette

Chief Justice Neuvillette

The Iudex, or Chief Justice, of Fontaine as well as the head of the Marechaussee Phantom detective agency and the incumbent Hydro Sovereign.

See his page here.

Sedene

Voiced by: Debi Derryberry (English)

A Melusine who serves as the receptionist at the Palais Mermonia as well as Neuvillette's secretary.

The Anti-Nihilist: When asked by the Traveler and Paimon about how she'd feel if for whatever reason, she wouldn't be able to have her daily cake and coffee the next day, alluding to the Prophecy, she simply responds that she hasn't thought too much on it and that even if that was the case, it wouldn't stop her from having it in the present.
Beleaguered Assistant: Surprisingly and ironically, she can be this in regards to Neuvillette. Less due to Neuvillette's eccentricities like him with Furina, but more due to his protectiveness towards Melusines, as shown in Neuvillette's Story Quest when she tries in vain to convince him to leave Kiara's case to the Gardes.
Comfort Food: In "Masquerade of the Guilty", upon taking note of the Traveler and Paimon's concern over the prophecy, she buys the both of them a slice of cake each, remembering a time Sigewinne advised that humans can be cheered up by feeding them delicious food.
Nice Girl: While our introduction to her shows her as something of a stickler for the rules, she nonetheless is very polite and respectful, and she buys both the Traveler and Paimon some cake upon realizing how concerned they are about the prophecy.
Sweet Tooth: In "Masquerade of the Guilty", the Paimon and Traveler bump into her while visiting Hotel Deobard's cafe, where she reveals that visiting the cafe for a cup of coffee and a slice of cake is part of her daily routine.

Champion Duelists

Clorinde

Clorinde

Introduced: (v.4.7)
Voiced By: Zhao Hanyu (Chinese), Yui Ishikawa (Japanese), Shin Na-ri (Korean), Crystal Lee (English)

Candlebearer, Shadowhunter

Rarity:
Element: Electro
Arkhe Alignment: Ousia
Weapon: Sword(?)^note
Constellation: Rapperia, The Rapier

The strongest Champion Duelist of Fontaine and Furina's de facto bodyguard.

Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Clorinde is tall, has dark hair tied in a low ponytail, and is a highly serious woman, though Neuvillette claims that "she is more lively than she appears".
Badass Cape: Wears a royal blue and gold-accented cape.
Bait-and-Switch: When Clorinde first appears behind the horde of Gardemeks attacking Navia and the Traveler, it is reasonable to assume that she is the one commanding them given how they're supposed to be under the control of Fontaine's authorities. Then she suddenly decapitates one, instantly making clear whose side she is standing on.
Big Damn Heroes: Pulls this off twice in the Archon Quest.
- She makes her official debut as a character when she swoops in to save Navia from the Gardemeks when the latter is overwhelmed by the sheer number of them in battle.
- She rescues Freminet in Act IV after his part in the plan to find Childe goes awry due to the ocean being polluted with Primordial Seawater, managing to get him out of the water before he succumbed to what was basically Sinthe poisoning magnified to a horrifying degree.
Bodyguard Babes:
- She's one of Furina's several bodyguards who accompany her when she goes out in public. Even after Furina is no longer the Archon, Clorinde still accompanies her at times since she still cares about her as a friend.
- Navia's father's dying wish was for Navia to be looked after by her, and so she keeps a watchful eye on Navia from afar. However, because Clorinde was the one who killed him in the first place, Navia is less willing to be around her.
Bodyguarding a Badass:
- Navia's father asked her to look after Navia as his dying wish, and she acts as a kind of shadow protector for Navia. However, we quickly learn that Navia is perfectly capable of handling herself.
- She's also one of Furina's bodyguards. Furina's encounter with Arlecchino shows that she actually isn't as powerful as she would like everyone to believe. Oddly enough, by the time Furina acquires a Vision and becomes capable of defending herself, Clorinde is no longer her bodyguard on an official capacity).
Buxom Beauty Standard: She's very well-endowed. Not only that, but her blouse is white (contrasting with the rest of her dark blue outfit), surrounded by her vest, and the material is obviously straining at the buttons.
Childhood Friends: Navia's introductory post quote is provided by Clorinde, who recounts their younger days playing a tabletop game similar to Dungeons & Dragons.
Color-Coded Elements: Subverted. She is an Electro Vision bearer, which is associated with purple, but her color palette is dark blue and black, giving her a more Hydro Vision appearance. As it stands, the only purple part of her design are her eyes.
Combat Stilettos: Clorinde's high-heeled shoes don't stop her from being a One-Woman Army, nor from dashing around at super speed when she saves Navia and the Traveler from an army of Gardemeks.
D-Cup Distress: Not actually stated (yet) but her in-game model shows that the button on her shirt is struggling to contain her large bust for dear life. She also mentions needing to get her clothes custom made at Chioriya Boutique in Neuvillette's Story Quest, further suggesting this.
Deadpan Snarker: She isn't shy from holding a conversation with Wriothesley full of playful banter despite holding a poker face. After their Side Bet, Clorinde quips that she was thinking about giving Wriothesley a set of legal codices because he might need them to further his knowledge of the law. Wriothesley finds the light jab amusing and continues the banter.
The Dreaded: Her drip marketing states that anyone who decides to challenge a Champion Duelist to appeal their case will immediately regret their decision upon learning that they'll be going up against Clorinde.
Early-Bird Cameo: Appeared in the Overture Teaser: The Final Feast alongside the other members of the Fontaine cast prior to the release of the Fontaine Archon Quests.
Elemental Weapon: Has a pistol that shoots Electro-infused bullets.
Famed In-Story: As a Champion Duelist, Clorinde is known across Fontaine. Unfortunately for her fans, she is rarely seen in public, which makes it difficult to create merchandise.
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Her combat style contrasts with Wriothesley in this manner. He attacks mainly with his fists infused with Cryo energy, while Clorinde wields a gun that shoots Electro-infused bullets. As a Champion Duelist, she is proficient with melee swords as well.
Hat of Authority: She wears a feathered tricone hat, which historically were also worn by European militaries, likely as an indicator of her Champion Duelist status. She is also one of Furina, the Hydro Archon's, bodyguards.
Hartman Hips: Courtesy of her corset and her pencil skirt, Clorinde has some very prominent hips.
Hidden Depths: For all her aloof and stoic appearance, she was the first person to visit Furina after her retirement as Archon, helping her tidy up and finish moving into her new apartment before inviting her out to dinner with some mutual friends.
Innocently Insensitive: She has a moment in the second act of the Archon Quest where she's careless with her words, upsetting Navia in the process.
Navia: I believe that following someone without their knowledge is actually called "stalking," is it not?
Clorinde: Mr. Callas' last wish was for me to ensure your safety, and I will not betray his trust. He would do the same, were he alive today.
Navia: Do not... speak of my father.
Melus: […] Thank you for your aid, Ms. Clorinde, but do keep an eye out for your manner of speech. I believe we all wish to avoid unnecessary emotional harm.
Clorinde: Sorry. I... did not consider your feelings.
Kill the Ones You Love: She had a history with Callas and held him in high regard, which made her duel with him particularly painful. However, upon seeing in his eyes how desperately he wanted to die during their duel, she honored his wish and killed him out of mercy.
Leg Focus: The Overture teaser gave an extreme close up of her thighs in stockings and thigh straps, and in the version 4.0 trailer she is introduced with a shot of her Combat Stilettos.
Meaningful Name: Given her military dress, Clorinde is named after various warships used by the French Navy during the 18th century.
Mirror Character: She is a dark-haired, stoic, and intimidating but noble Electro wielding enforcer for her nation's archon and is commonly seen at her side, all traits shared with Kujou Sara. Also, Clorinde has been primarily associated with her pistol in advertising despite being a sword user, much like Kujou Sara was associated with a sword before her release despite solely using a bow in-game. However, she also differs from Kujou Sara in the following ways:
- Where Kujou Sara is absolutely loyal to the Raiden Shogun with the closest thing to going against her being trying to expose the corrupt subordinates in the Tri-Comission, Clorinde see's her work as Champion Duelist as just a job, even taking up another job for Wriothesley during Act IV of Fontaine's Archon Quest, and being part of the conspiracy to expose Furina.
- Whereas Sara has been raised to be solely focused on her service to the Shogun and her social development and maturity have been hampered by it, Clorinde has a much better work/life balance, holding other interests such as fashion and numerous friends amongst her coworkers and others and being socially discerning with the exception of her fumbling the complicated and delicate explanation of why she was "stalking" Navia.
- While both are stoic high-ranking civil servants, Sara's facade can break when her passions arise leading her often to become standoffish while Clorinde isn't as much trying to be stoic but is more calm and relaxed.
- Where Sara's role as the Shogun's enforcer and bodyguard are practically unecessary as the Electro Archon's power dwarfs hers, Clorinde's job is very necessary as Furina is revealed to be a fraudulent Archon and actually nothing much more than an average human.
- And the perhaps more underwhelming difference that Sara is a Tengu Youkai while Clorinde is an ordinary human, all Fontainians actually being Oceanids before the end of Act V notwithstanding.
Ms. Fanservice: In the Overture Teaser: The Final Feast, the audience is treated to a close-up, gratuitous shot of her thighs as she follows Neuvillette. She's also got a corset that highlights her ample bust, and her in-game model shows her shirt's buttons straining to contain her bosom◊. She's also got some fairly noticeable Jiggle Physics for her chest.
Murderous Thighs: During her Big Damn Heroes moment she effortlessly grabs a Gardemek and throws it between her legs.
Not So Above It All: Despite her serious attitude and stoic presence, she isn't above engaging in casual banter with Wriothesley while dealing with dangerous situations, even doing some Side Bets while they are at it.
Not So Stoic: She is cold and apparently emotionless, but she still has feelings that she keeps very well hidden. She feels guilt over executing Callas and is clearly sad that Navia is resentful to her, until they make peace when the truth about her father's death and Clorinde's testimony about it helps the case. She and Wriothesley also have a cordial professional relationship, with Wriothesley inviting her for tea time and engaging with Casual Danger Dialogue.
Of Corsets Sexy: Clorinde's wardrobe features a black corset that helps to exemplify her very ample bust.
One-Woman Army: When Clorinde comes to Navia's aid against the Gardemeks, she cuts an utter swathe through them with incredible ease, showing her title as the strongest Champion Duelist in Fontaine isn't just an embellishment.
Parrying Bullets: When Clorinde comes to the aid of Navia and the Traveler, she blocks multiple bullets fired by the Gardemeks with her sword.
Purple Is Powerful: She has purple eyes and is the strongest Champion Duelist in Fontaine, whose strength greatly interests Tartaglia into requesting a no-holds barred duel with her.
Recurring Element: She continues the trend of being an Electro user that's also a physically powerful figure of authority, following Keqing, Kujou Sara, and Cyno.
Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: In the Overture teaser, she dramatically spins, shooting at the camera and causing a screen shatter before it's revealed that she seems to be shooting at Navia, however it is revealed in the story that she's protecting Navia, not fighting her.
Shock and Awe: She has an Electro Vision.
Shoot the Bullet: During the fight with the Gardemeks, Clorinde shoots one of their bullets down with her pistol.
Side Bet: With Wriothesley. While waiting for Neuvillette, they made a bet on whether Neuvillette would arrive with an army or alone. Wriothesley won.
Spell Blade: When saving Navia and the Traveler from the Gardemeks, Clorinde is shown to be able to channel the power of Electro into her sword.
Stalker without a Crush: In the second act of the Fontaine Archon Quest, she admits to secretly following Navia around, noting the danger that had been closely following Navia recently. Navia then responds by accusing her of "stalking."
Sword and Gun: Clorinde primarily uses an electro-infused sword in battle, but combines this with a flintlock pistol to great effect. This marks her as one of the few characters allied with the Traveler with access to guns, since firearms are typically only used by enemy units such as Fatui and Treasure Hoarders.
Sympathetic Murder Backstory: Fontaine doesn't have the death penalty, and dueling-related deaths are relatively infrequent. In spite of this, she killed Callas in a duel three years prior to the start of Chapter IV, which made her relationship with his daughter Navia rather tense despite her efforts to make amends with her. However, Act II of Chapter IV reveals that there were a number of circumstances surrounding Callas's death that Navia was not aware of, including the fact that he was already dying from a terminal illness before the duel and desired execution to spare her the sight of watching him waste away, as well as the fact that he wanted death in order to protect her from the group that was planning to target her. Despite not being fully aware of the specifics of his motivation for wanting to end his life, Clorinde recognized the desperation in his eyes and complied with his request, even though the action greatly pained her due to the high regard she held him in.
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Officially, she's Furina's bodyguard, and while she's genuinely fond of her Archon as a person, it's the one duty that she does not really get to demonstrate. Her not being around to do this when Arlecchino attacked Furina at night is even an important part of the nation's story.
Undying Loyalty: She admired Callas and has continued to carry out the task he assigned to her long after his death, despite the conflict it causes with his daughter Navia.
Willfully Weak: She is a Champion Duelist and one of their strongest, but she chooses to hold back during her offscreen spar with Tartaglia, much to his chagrin. Given Tartagalia's Blood Knight tendencies and her past experiences, it was probably to avoid a repeat of the Callas incident from three years ago.
World's Best Warrior: She's the top duelist of the Fontaine justice system and has an undefeated track record.
Yellow/Purple Contrast: She, a purple-eyed girl with an Electro Vision, shares this dynamic with her Childhood Friend Navia, who is a blonde Geo Vision wielder and wears a dress with gold details.

Security

Vaughn (Unmarked Spoilers)

A garde working for the court who is actually an accomplice of Cowell's attempted abduction of Liliane.

Ambiguous Situation: It's never fully explained how Marcel was able to assassinate him by giving him water from the Primordial Sea to keep him from talking. His death occurs abruptly, at the precise moment he was about to spill the beans about his employer. Act II of the Archon Quest implies Marcel has a modus operandi of preparing Primordial Seawater to splash and dissolve a person on a trigger ahead of time, as he was present at the show and previously did as such in the past to eliminate the assassin he dispatched to kill Navia's father Callas, in reaction to hearing gunshots.
Asshole Victim: He tried to ensure that Lyney (and the Fatui to a larger extent) would be found guilty of Cowell's death and the serial disappearances, then got killed by the organization he worked for when he was found out.
I'm Melting!: Just as he is forced into telling the truth, he dissolves into water as he talks.
Undercover Cop Reveal: Inverted. He is revealed to be employed for a criminal organisation to infiltrate the Gardes as part of his role in helping Cowell frame Lyney for the disappearance of the audience member they were targeting.

Law Enforcement

Marechausse Phantom

Carole (Unmarked Spoilers)

Carole

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2024_01_06_at_94808_pm.png

A Melusine who advocated for Human-Melusine relations in the past, who tragically committed suicide due to the actions of a hate group.

The Cameo: Carole is one of the Melusines chasing Childe in Furina's demo, identified by the Medal of Peace on her uniform and her lack of a patrolman's cap.
Frame-Up: A hate group framed Carole for a murder in an effort to sour the progressively growing relations between humans and Melusines.
Heroic Suicide: After her Frame-Up, Carole chose to end the growing conflict between Melusine sympathizers and aggressors by committing suicide.
Posthumous Character: Carole has been dead for nearly 400 years and is only seen in Neuvillette's memories.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Carole was a very kind, friendly, and idealistic Melusine, hoping that her kind would be able to coexist alongside Fontainians one day. Tragically, she committed suicide in an attempt to stop the hateful conflict against the Melusines.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Carole yearned for a time when the Melusines would be accepted by Fontainian society and worked hard to make it a reality. Ultimately, when a hate group framed Carole for a murder, she took her own life to spare the Melusines from being ostracized.

Elodie (Unmarked Spoilers for Lynette's Hangout Event)

Elodie Lefevere

A member of the Marechausse Phantom who is on an investigation against Pierre Lefevere.

Bad People Abuse Animals: As the mastermind behind the Imitation Sinthe, she had Bernard and Pierre use animals to smuggle imitation sinthe. When they became a liability, she plotted to kill Bonnie and leave her corpse at the base where Pierre made the Sinthe to cover her tracks.
Bastard Angst: She has severe insecurity of being an illegitimate child that she does her best to cover that detail up, even making it appear as if Pierre was the illegitimate one.
Bastard Bastard: She's revealed to have been the true Sole Survivor of the Lefevere family, who used her position after their downfall to eliminate anyone who knew her true identity and made an attempt at masterminding a drug trade.
Dirty Cop: While claiming to be on a case against Pierre, she was actually using him and Bernard for her own goals with intent to dispose of both of them when they became a liability.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: During her Motive Rant, she makes clear her hatred of her family, who only ever saw her as tool, and having to live in fear of them and the family's enemies after they fell. Lynette bluntly states that she doesn't care, and when Elodie incredulously tries appealing to their status as fellow victims of the Lefevere family, Lynette retorts that she's the only one still living in the shadow of her family name.
Karma Houdini: Potentially becomes this in the "Save the Kitty!" ending of Lynette's Hangout, where if you fail to pull a card higher than 20 when she's arresting Bernard, made harder if you didn't discuss the case with Lynette beforehand, she'll successfully be able to frame him and the now dead Pierre and get away with her crimes.
Killer Cop: By the time she's revealed to be the mastermind behind the Imitation Sinthe, she's already murdered Pierre and was planning to get rid of Bernard. She also admitted to killing other surviving members of the Lefevere family.
Manipulative Bitch: She was the one pulling the strings behind the imitation Sinthe all along while framing it as if Pierre was the mastermind. She also used the Traveler and Lynette in an attempt to cover her involvement.
Villainous Breakdown: Once Elodie is fully exposed for her crimes, she loses her composure as she complains about her life. While a conversation after her arrest claims she faked such a breakdown, her Laughing Mad when she believes she escaped beforehand indicates otherwise.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: She intended to get rid of both Pierre and Bernard when they became a liability. Once she is discovered, it is made clear she has already dealt with Pierre. She's even established to have done the same to the rest of her own family.

Kiara

A member of Marechausse Phantom who receives a threatening letter, prompting Neuvillette to personally investigate.

Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Even with the fact that she's a Melusine aside, Kiara is a bit of an airhead, even admitting that she's a Forgetful Jones. Despite this, she does take her job seriously, and is capable enough to have helped bust a smuggling ring.
Forgetful Jones: She admits to being as such, having forgotten exactly how old she is.
Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Kiara is such a kind and sweet-hearted girl that she doesn't even realize that the threat demanding that she leave the Marechusse Phantom is... well, a threat letter, and has to be informed about it by a co-worker.
Locked Out of the Loop: Kiara has no idea Carole has been dead for centuries, and no one seems willing to inform her.

Talochard and Curve

A pair of Marechausse Phantom officers who appear in the World Quest series "Questioning Melusine and Answering Machine", consisting of Melusine officer Talochard and her Mek partner Curve. With the Traveler and Paimon's help, they investigate the theft of Sir Arthur from The Steambird's premises.

Artificial Intelligence: Curve was designed by Dr. Mosso to discern the truth from lies via various forms of stimuli detection in addition to having the ability to talk and perform complex problem solving. Because of it, the Traveler and Paimon consider him to have many similarities to Seymour.
Become a Real Boy: As a Mek, Curve has to follow the "Mosso Protocols": he cannot lie and must answer whether someone is saying the truth when questioned. His creator believed that Curve would achieve real personhood when he comes to understand human emotions enough to learn how to lie. At the end of the quest, Curve achieves just that. He does so in order to pull off a Heroic Sacrifice.
Cute, but Cacophonic: Talochard used to work as an Aquabus tour guide on the Callas Line, but was eventually let go after said line was shut down due to the destruction of the Fontaine Research Institute and Talochard being unfavored amongst the other guides because of complaints about how her voice "sounded like a crow".
Dark and Troubled Past: Curve's creator passed away in a duel thirty years ago trying to prove himself innocent of a crime, leading to Curve being locked up in the Marechausse Phantom's evidence locker until Talochard decided to take him under her wing and continue developing his lie-learning module.
Grew Beyond Their Programming: Curve's creator, Dr. Mosso, wanted to invoke this trope. He programmed Curve to be unable to lie, hoping that he would be able to understand human emotions enough to learn how to lie regardless.
Guest-Star Party Member: Curve fights alongside the Traveler at multiple points in the quest.
Heroic Sacrifice: Curve sacrifices himself for Talochard, the Traveler and Paimon at the end of the quest, getting himself blown up in place of them.
Hot-Blooded: Talochard tends to be rather excitable and quick to accuse just about anyone. Her first appearance has her accuse an editor of the Steambird of a crime... when she wasn't even aware of the crime committed.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: Talochard has an abrasive personality. She tends to accuse just about anyone of the crime she investigates in her quest with minimal evidence while insisting on her absolute certainty. Though as she gets proven wrong again and again, she is driven to the point of wanting to resign from the Maréchaussée as her facade cracks. She reveals that she feels completely useless, having also failed at her past job as an Aquabus tour guide. Fortunately, she regains her confidence thanks to some words from the Traveler, Paimon, and Curve and when they get close to solving the case. After Curve sacrifices himself to save her and she thinks back on his final words to her, Talochard vows to become the best officer in the history of the Marechausse Phantom.
Lethal Chef: Talochard is terrible at cooking, though this may be due to Melusines having different tastes from humans. Though her horrible cooking does become weaponised at some point in the quest, where it is snuck into a camp of mafioso, who all run to vomit upon eating it, providing her and the player with ample time to collect evidence.
Lie Detector: Curve's primary function, with his ability to do so being pretty good despite being made thirty years ago.
Meaningful Name: Curve's name came from one of Dr. Mosso's theories about the shortest distance between two people being a "curve".
Reused Character Design: Curve uses a Suppression Specialist Mek as his in-game model.
Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids: Despite primarily being a lie detector, Curve is more than able to hold his own in combat.
What the Hell, Hero?: In the aftermath of the quest, you can find a note written by Talochard calling out Curve for withholding that he learned how to lie and then tricking her, the Traveler, and Paimon even if it was to save them, claiming that he still owes them. She does however admit to not hating liars as much as she used to because of him while discussing how some lies have justifiable reasons for existing, that Dr. Mosso might have been wrong about a curve being the shortest distance between two people, and that sometimes it’s better to just be honest.

Special Security and Surveillance Patrol

Chevreuse

Chevreuse

Introduced: January 9, 2024 (v4.3 "Roses and Muskets" [second half])
Voiced by: Pan Danni (Chinese), Shino Shimoji (Japanese), Chae Min-ji (Korean), Erica Lindbeck (English)

Executor of Justice

"The Special Security and Surveillance Patrol deals with a whole host of heinous crimes and dangerous criminals. As such, the methods we employ to enforce the law can be a bit on the... harsher side."

Rarity: 4★
Element: Pyro
Arkhe Alignment: Ousia
Weapon: Polearm
Constellation: Sclopetum Ensiferum, The Bayonet Rifle

Captain of the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol. Born and raised in the slums of the Fleuve Cendre district, she worked her way up Fontainian society and into its government, both in defiance of her humble roots and the dubious legacy of her father, himself a disgraced ex-Captain.

Chevreuse encourages blasting her foes with Overload reactions to empower her rifle shots. Her Elemental Skill, Short-Range Rapid Interdiction Fire, shoots a round that afterwards heals the active character in regular intervals and whose trajectory can be manually adjusted in its held mode; in addition, apart from occasionally firing Ousia-aligned Surging Blade strikes, she can gain an Overcharged Ball whenever her allies trigger Overload reactions, which is then used to empower the next use of her Skill. Her Elemental Burst, Ring of Bursting Grenades, fires an explosive round on a group of foes, then plants six explosive shells around her to subsequently explode on surrounding foes.^note

Big Eater: Her idle animation has her munching on two large portions of onion rings, fries and corn snacks. Chevreuse explains in her "Favorite Food" line that she loves greasy and sugary foods as their high calorie content is perfect for her daily regimen of patrols, training and chasing down criminals.
Bluffing the Murderer: With the help of Yoimiya, the Traveler and Paimon, Chevreuse hits two soon-to-be jailbirds with a blank. She successfully intimidates Morris into confessing his role in Elisa's murder with a prop pistol, which draws out Veronique into revealing herself when Chevreuse ends up only firing a blank instead of actually killing him.
Bullet Catch: Within milliseconds of Veronique firing, Chevreuse summons her musket and blocks the bullet from hitting Morris.
Character Select Forcing: In a similar vein to Nilou, players are incentivized to use Chevreuse in a team consisting solely of Pyro and Electro Vision holders to activate her first-ascension passive (see "Damage-Increasing Debuff" below).
Color-Coded Elements: She wears a red variant of the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol uniform and has bright purple hair and eyes. Fitting for a Pyro Vision bearer who also works well with Electro characters on account of her ability to increase both kinds of elemental damage.
Cooldown Manipulation: Her fourth Constellation upgrade, The Secret to Rapid-Fire Multishots, negates the cooldown time of the first two uses of the held form of her Skill within six seconds after using her Burst.
Crippling Overspecialization: Chevreuse will only be able to operate at her best in a party consisting of Pyro and Electro characters, thereby locking parties into a single elemental reaction for damage. While Overloaded is a powerful damage reaction, its propensity to blow enemies away means players might have trouble keeping up sustained pressure unless they are playing a ranged DPS unit.
Custom Uniform of Sexy: Unlike her female subordinates, Chevreuse's uniform is not only a Sexy Backless Outfit, the front of her skirt is also cut in such a way to expose the black stockings and garter belts that are holding up her white thigh-high compression stirrup socks. Additionally, her dress is completely strapless and shows off a good amount of Side Boob. However, unlike several other playable female characters it does not show off her cleavage, as the details of her dress and her little tie cover her chest from most angles.
Damage-Increasing Debuff: Her first-ascension passive, Vanguard's Coordinated Tactics, allows her to bestow the Coordinated Tactics state onto the party provided it is solely composed of Pyro and Electro Vision holders, allowing them to impose a 40% penalty to opponents' Pyro and Electro Resistance within six seconds after suffering Overload damage. Numbers-wise, this is the same as the elemental resistance debuff provided by the Viridescent Venerer artifact set that most supportive Anemo units employ. Thus, choosing to opt for Chevreuse means forgoing practicality in mob fights for ease of use, as Chevreuse lacks the crowd control of Anemo units to counteract the knockback induced by the Overloaded reaction but also doesn't need to take the field in order for her passive to activate.
A Day in the Limelight: "Roses and Muskets," the flagship event of v4.3, more or less serves as her Story Quest, as she gets involved in two plots that converge towards the end of the event story—her involvement in the film adaptation of The Two Musketeers, both as firearms specialist and one of its stars, and her investigation into a copycat murder inspired by the aforementioned revenge thriller.
Early-Bird Cameo: Before the Traveler and Paimon meet her in person, Chevreuse can actually be seen reading detective novels in the background of the opening cutscene of the "Roses and Muskets" event while they meet with Xavier. Once you regain control of your character, you can actually approach her though she cannot be interacted with, until much later where Chiori recommends the Traveler to recruit her as an action choreographer with actual experience with muskets for the film.
Emerging from the Shadows: In the climax of the "Roses and Muskets" event story, Chevreuse dramatically corners Morris at gunpoint while being obscured by the darkness of the warehouse, adding to her threatening appearance as she continuously forces the man back until he hits the wall while Morris is unable to see her face clearly. She only steps out of the shadows to formally introduce herself as the Captain of the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol after getting his Engineered Public Confession.
Eyepatch of Power: Wears an eyepatch with two different four-pointed star ornaments over her left eye and is the Captain of the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol. It's unrevealed whether this is cosmetic (like Fischl), functional (like Beidou), or if she really is blind in one eye.
Friendly Sniper: Is very adept with her musket and at one point during the "Roses and Muskets" event you play as her picking off Guardameks from atop a nearby cliff. Off the clock, however, she's a very friendly and approachable girl.
Friendship on the Set: In-Universe version. Chevreuse and Ayaka quickly bond over their common philosophy towards their weapons during the production of The Two Musketeers, which catches Ayato's attention and leads him to make the choice to hand over his lead actor role to Chevreuse so that Ayaka can spend more time with her new friend. Afterwards during the awards ceremony, Chevreuse and Ayaka invite each other to visit their respective nations and promise to keep in touch.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Naturally, Chevreuse's Character Select Forcing hinders her synergy with characters she's otherwise good friends with in-story.
- While Chevreuse and Ayaka both play the lead characters of "The Two Musketeers" during the "Roses and Muskets" event (even having a part in the first quest where the two are playable as trial characters), and became friends with each other throughout the film recording, the two have little synergy in gameplay; at first, it may seem like the pair can team up together in Melt reaction playstyles, but Chevreuse's kit favors Overload reactions while in a team consisting solely of Pyro and Electro users, which excludes the Cryo-wielding Ayaka.
- Chiori is one of Chevreuse's informants, passing onto her anything suspicious her clients say in her shop in exchange for favours, and they're suggested to trust each other a good deal. However, being a Geo Character, Chiori isn't anymore conductive to Overload teams that Ayaka is.
Grenade Launcher: Her musket rifle can also be used as a grenade launcher when utilizing her burst, and it will produce bomblets upon impact.
The Gunslinger: The first playable character who wields a firearm, who frequently goes to Beaumont Workshop to buy expensive materials for her musket.
Hat of Authority: Her Captain's hat is a red and dark brown variant of the Gardes' hat, with a bigger version of the star on her Eyepatch of Power on top of an anchor-like symbol on it instead of the scales and entwined Melusine-mermaid hybrids like the rest.
Healing Shiv: Her Skill periodically heals the active character after it hits an enemy. In addition, her sixth Constellation upgrade, In Pursuit of Ending Evil, adds another healing burst equivalent to 10% of her Max HP twelve seconds after the initial bursts, as well as allows the Skill's healing waves to confer upon the healed character(s) up to three stacks of a 20% boost to Pyro and Electro damage for eight seconds (hence a maximum of 60%).
Justice Will Prevail: She discusses this in the fourth part of "Roses and Muskets" event story. While fiction has their own rules (such as those of justice), she doesn't condone enacting "personal justice" in real life, as everyone will have a kind of personal justice, and without rules and order, it will lead to chaos. The way Fontaine is the "nation of justice" is because they have agreed-upon rules and laws over how justice should play out. One of her voice lines for the activation of her Elemental Burst also voices this belief word-for-word.
The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Chevreuse has a thing for stories where justice prevails over evil. Despite (or perhaps because of) this, she's the captain of Fontaine's Special Security and Surveilance Patrol. In the Roses and Muskets event, this is actually the reason she's tracking down a murderer. The Special Security and Surveilance Patrol are the combat division of Fontaine's police force, with detective work being the Marechaussee Phantom's job. The murder is something she's investigating personally in spite of it not being her jurisdiction because the killer's Calling Card is the same as characters from a novel she likes.
Law of Chromatic Superiority: Her Captain's uniform is red, differentiating her from her blue-clad subordinates in the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol.
More Dakka: Her fourth Constellation upgrade, "The Secret to Rapid-Fire Multishots", gives her an additional two shots with the held mode of her Elemental Skill after using her Elemental Burst.
Multishot: Her second Constellation upgrade, Sniper Induced Explosion, allows the held form of her Skill to be followed up with two additional explosions, dealing Pyro damage equivalent to 120% of her Attack stat, triggered at least every ten seconds.
The Musketeer: She is proficient with both her polearm and a musket rifle.
Necessary Drawback: As explained in Character Select Forcing and Crippling Overspecialization above, Chevreuse's ability to lower enemies' Pyro and Electro resistances is a boon kept in check by only being active when Chevreuse is in a party consisting of only Pyro and Electro characters. This prevents it from being used in conjunction with certain Anemo characters who: 1) can corral enemies together, thereby keeping all the benefits of the Overloaded reaction without any of the drawbacks; and 2) can further reduce elemental resistances via the Viridescent Venerer set. It also prevents the effect from being combined with Zhongli, who can also reduce enemy resistances while providing some much needed protection.
Playing with Fire: She has a Pyro Vision and channels its power into her musket when using her Elemental Talents.
Rags to Riches: Deconstructed. Chevreuse grew up in the Fleuve Cendre, the slums of the Court of Fontaine, and she's now the captain of the Special Security and Surveilance Patrol. She's Street Smart enough to get by while patrolling the area, but it's been long enough since she lived there that she's no longer welcome by its inhabitants.
Reasonable Authority Figure:
- At the end of Chiori's quest, she confronts the group after Chiori's fashion week show listing the laws they violated for it, such as disrupting public order, taking lightning equipment without permission, use of weapons and hosting a dangerous performance without informing the authorities. However, instead of arresting or fining them, she simply warns them to inform her if they see anyone matching that description, otherwise deciding to let them off as thanks for Chiori tying up Uther and informing the Special Patrol of his illegal factory.
- In a branch of Lynette's Hangout, she voices to Lyney and Lynette her suspicions that the person who killed the previous head of the Lefevere family and orchestrated their downfall was Arlecchino, noting how she happened to have been in Fontaine at the time and noting only someone as elusive as her would avoid leaving any obvious evidence. She however reassures the twins she won't try making any formal accusations due to a lack of physical proof, acknowledging that the two were victims of the head of the Lefevere family, and recognizing that said head got what was coming to him.
Red Is Heroic: Her Captain's uniform is red and her introductory post dubs her as "The Righteous Enforcer of the Law".
Reduced Mana Cost: A variant. Her utility passive, Double Time March, shaves 20% off of the party's Stamina consumption while sprinting.
Regenerating Mana: Her first Constellation upgrade, Stable Front Line's Resolve, restores 6 Energy for any other ally than Chevreuse under the Coordinated Tactics effect whenever they trigger Overload reactions, activated at least every ten seconds.
Revenge Is Not Justice: One of her core beliefs, and she cites this as the reason why she does not help Veronique and Baptiste kill their father for his murder of their mother, saying that it only perpetuates the Cycle of Revenge. As it turns out, she once faced a similar, more personal situation described in her Vision story where a close family friend and senior officer was killed in action right beside her by a criminal, and she deliberated on the choice of murderous vengeance or handing him over to the Courts. She received her Vision because she finally accepted her deceased senior officer's advice to her to adopt this mindset and went with the latter option.
Rousseau Was Right: Chevreuse accepts everyone with the ability into the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol, regardless of background. This is in spite of being in a leadership role in a nation with a focus on seeing that is justice is served. In her eyes, a recruit's skill is more important than their past.
Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: When Morris tries to bribe her at the end of the "Roses and Muskets" event, Chevreuse tells him to go to hell and promptly arrests him after firing a blank round at his head.
Sexy Backless Outfit: Her dress leaves her upper back exposed, though her long hair obstructs it.
Side Boob: Her dress has no straps connecting it to her collar or sleeves, which combined with being a Sexy Backless Outfit as well means she shows off a surprising amount of her breasts when viewed from the sides.
Shown Their Work:
- Chevreuse's Skill (where she fires a shot from her musket) has a fifteen second cooldown - in real life, an expert musketeer generally takes around 15-20 seconds to reload their musket.
- When wielding a pistol during the "Roses and Muskets" Event, she holds it in her left hand but uses her right for her rifle and polearm. Prior to the end of the 19th Century, military pistol training taught soldiers to use a pistol with their off-hand while their primary hand held a sword. How she can aim on her blindside is left unanswered.
Sink or Swim Mentor: Literally. To prepare her in following his footsteps, Chevreuse’s father often took her swim racing even in extremely unsuitable conditions, and even tossed her in and left her to drown while swimming ahead when she refused one time. While Chevreuse says it turned her into determined person she is today, she agrees that it’s hardly the way someone should treat their child.
Sins of Our Fathers: Between being from Fleuve Cendre and her father being a criminal who was once part of the Special Patrol, Chevreuse had a hard time climbing the ranks before claiming her current position.
Situational Damage Attack: Her Skill can be upgraded to fire an Overcharged Ball, which is built whenever her allies trigger Overload reactions, to increase her shot's damage potency and radius. In addition, her fourth-ascension passive, Vertical Force Coordination, allows the special shot to endow the party a thirty-second-long Attack boost at a rate of 1% for every 1,000 points of her Max HP (to a maximum of 40%, equivalent to at least 40,000 Max HP).
Stop, or I Will Shoot!: When her Elemental Skill is activated and Chevreuse takes out her musket, her voice lines will carry this message to whoever she is aiming at. However, her Vision story describes an incident where this was inverted and she shot a criminal in the leg without hesitation after he attempted to escape after being told that he was under arrest.
Stuff Blowing Up: Both her Elemental Talents involve firing explosive rounds; coupled with her skillset incentivizing players to set her in a pure Pyro/Electro team, expect battles involving her to become a lot more explosive.
Sympathy for the Devil: At the end of the "Roses and Muskets" event, Chevreuse admits she feels sorry for Baptiste and Veronique and that while she doesn't condone their actions of taking the law into their own hands she does understand why they did it. After delivering the two to prison along with their father Morris, Chevreuse talks with Wriothesley to make sure that Morris will not be able to use his money and influence to get a cushy sentence while also hatching a plan to release the true story to the public that would end up making the siblings heroes with Morris ending up the most hated person in the prison.
Technophobia: A variant. According to Riqueti, she doesn't think too highly of using the Gardemeks, saying they will only get in the way of fighting, and block her bullets. It's because of this that her unit has the least amount of Gardemeks available.
This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Chevreuse's ability to lower Pyro and Electro elemental resistances by triggering an Overloaded reaction makes her a particularly useful teammate for taking down enemies with elemental auras and shields, as trying to apply the same debuff with the Viridescent Venerer artifact set is difficult due to how finicky Anemo can be with what element it decides to Swirl with. Perhaps as a way to showcase this, the Spiral Abyss cycle when Chevreuse first debuted happened to feature the Hydro Tulpa, a boss enemy with a perpetual Hydro aura that made Swirl impractical without the use of advanced techniques. With Chevreuse, all you have to do is continue applying the Overloaded reaction, and the debuff becomes yours to capitalize on.
To Be Lawful or Good: Her plot line in the “Roses and Muskets” event deals with this conundrum; over the course of her investigation into the “Two Musketeers” copycat, the author, Baptiste, confesses to the crime and reveals that the book is based on how he lost his mother when his father, a man of great wealth and influence, hired the victim to kill her, before requesting that Chevreuse take revenge in his place, not wanting his father's "punishment" to be living out a cushy life in the Fortress of Meropide. While Chevreuse does struggle with whether or not to take justice into her own hands, she ultimately chooses to stick to her beliefs and only pretend to try and kill Morris to trick him into confessing before arresting him, even stopping the attempt on his life by Veronique, his daughter and the true copycat killer, and arresting her too, but not before promising to ensure that Morris' life in Meropide wouldn't be as easy as the siblings feared. In the end, she says to the film crew that fiction allows for their own rules and brand of catharsis to exist when they cannot in real life.
Tough Love: Chevreuse's father, a former Captain of the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol, trained her to become his successor by literally throwing her in the sea in cold days, refusing to help her and forcing her to swim back to the shore on her own, while putting her at risk of drowning or freezing her to death. While it reflects poorly on him and his methods, her Character Stories make it clear that he does love his daughter, and even describes his pride at seeing her overcome what he put her through.
Character Story 5: Though Donatello was still uneasy about his daughter following in his footsteps, she had completed all the training he had prepared for her. Chevreuse had given it her all, passing even those trials designed expressly to frustrate and vex her. As Chevreuse plunged forward in the bone-chillingly freezing winter seas, it seemed to take every last ounce of Donatello's willpower to stand still and watch instead of running forth to cradle her in his embrace. As Chevreuse swam back to his side, trembling and shivering, Donatello knew that his daughter was stronger than he was, and even more suited to uphold "justice."
Training from Hell:
- She subjects herself to this frequently as part of her work ethic... as well as to keep herself in shape on account of her snacking habits.
- She also went through this when she was younger, with her father forcing her into swimming races against him even in extremely cold weather to prepare her for joining the Special Patrol, to the point of tossing her into the water and all but leaving her to drown whenever she resisted.
Unseen No More: She is mentioned in one of Freminet's voicelines and by Riqueti. Her Character Introduction Artwork shows what she looks like, and makes her debut by 4.3.
Upgrade Artifact: A variant—her third and fifth Constellation upgrades, Practiced Field Stripping Technique and Enhanced Incendiary Firepower, add three levels to, respectively, her Skill and Burst.
Vapor Wear: The amount of Side Boob and bare skin along her sides and back makes it impossible for Chevreuse to be wearing a bra.
What You Are in the Dark: During an urgent mission to catch some particularly notorious criminals, her Honorary Uncle Grizzetti who was the Vice Captain at the time was shot dead, and after a short scuffle she had the killer at her mercy. No other members of the Special Patrol were nearby, and the weather was horrible enough that a gunshot would probably have gone unnoticed. But despite the temptation to Pay Evil unto Evil she did not give in and arrested him instead, only shooting him in the leg when he tried to flee. This difficult act of commitment to the principles of law and order was what awarded Chevreuse her Vision.
Weapon for Intimidation: Aims a prop pistol at Morris to scare him into giving an Engineered Public Confession for murdering his ex-lover then shoots a blank at him for good measure.
Weapon Specialization:
- In character trials where she is playable, she is depicted wielding a polearm, Rightful Reward. The substat is HP, and this lines with her Elemental Skill's HP restoration being based on her max HP.
- In Character Demos, trailers, and a Collected Miscellany info featuring her, she wields a Deathmatch polearm — the weapon's red and black color scheme matches that of the outfit she wears.

Vautrin (Unmarked Spoilers!)

Vautrin

The previous Captain of the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol 400 years ago, who was close friends with Neuvillette and Carole. He was also the founder of the Mutual Aid Society.

Heroic Sacrifice: A non-fatal one, but regardless he still destroyed his reputation and got life in prison for murdering the Melusine racists who were responsible for Carole's suicide and to establish Neuvillette's place to Fontaine as a fair and impartial judge, hoping that his rise to power would give the Iudex a chance for him and the Melusine to live a normal life without discrimination. It worked.
Hidden Heart of Gold: It turns out his What the Hell, Hero? rant towards Neuvillette was for the purpose of losing himself sympathy points and further establish the Iudex as someone who will absolutely put the law above even his personal feelings, further showing his validity as Chief Justice. After being sent to the Fortress of Meropide, he dropped the façade and went on to establish the Mutual Aid Society to help maintain order in the prison and undermine other prisoners' attempts to get back at Neuvillette.
Killer Cop: Albeit a sympathetic version, given that his targets were racist Asshole Victims that earned the contempt of the people of Fontaine for their scheme leading to Carole's suicide. Neuvillette even admits that Vautrin administered justice through his killing spree.
Posthumous Character: He lived around 400 years ago in Fontaine and has long since passed away. He is shown in Neuvillette's memories, and his legacy lives on via the Mutual Aid Society in the Fortress of Meropide.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After Carole’s Frame-Up and subsequent Heroic Suicide, he hunted down and murdered the members of the hate group that organised it. He was subsequently convicted and sent to the Fortress of Meropide.
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Subverted. After his Roaring Rampage of Revenge, many thought that he'd be let off the hook due to his service and connection to Neuvillette and even called for it on account of his victim's crimes. When Neuvillette chooses to be lawful instead, many are surprised and Vautrin himself gets angry at his lack of special treatment and gives Neuvillette a What the Hell, Hero?. It turns out this was an act Vautrin put on to make others lose sympathy in him and further establish Neuvillette's impartiality.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: After Carole took her own life, Vautrin murdered the conspirators who framed her. He was then put on trial and found guilty, at which he lashed out verbally at Neuvillette for not letting him off easily. However, this ended up being a facade, as Vautrin wanted Neuvillette to find him guilty so the people would see the Iudex as an impartial and fair judge, silencing those who were doubting him.
What the Hell, Hero?: Vautrin gives Neuvillette this after the Iudex gives him a guilty sentencing for murder, claiming he had done so much for Fontaine that he deserved to be given some leniency. However, Vautrin wanted Neuvillette to send him to the Fortress of Meropide and only lashed out as an act, as he wanted the public to view the Iudex as a fair and impartial judge who wouldn't go easy on a friend.
You Remind Me of X: He admits after Carole's Heroic Suicide that she reminded him of his younger sister, who died at a young age. He saw his sister's idealism and willingness to believe in others in Carole, which prompted him to try and gently convince her to give up on her dreams of human-Melusine co-existence, lest she get hurt, before Vautrin eventually came around to them. This also prompted his Roaring Rampage of Revenge after her Heroic Suicide.
Zero-Approval Gambit: Vautrin lashes out at Neuvillette after being declared guilty to make himself lose sympathy with the public and validate the Iudex's impartiality. It works, as the public initially believed Neuvillette would bend the law in Vautrin's favor and this act silenced those who doubted the Chief Justice.

Hotel Bouffes d'ete / The House of the Hearth

An orphanage in the Court of Fontaine and home to some of the most talented youths in the nation.

In General

All for Nothing: Played for Laughs. The Traveler and Paimon's efforts to defend Lyney and Lynette in a trial for murder get flushed down the drain when they meet the twins again in the Fortress of Meropide on the Knave's orders.
Affably Evil: They're quite nice when you meet them in Poisson during The Knave's story quest, though Foltz and Heloir have some Troubling Unchildlike Behavior
Badass Adorable: Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet are Vision holders with appealing designs and charming personalities who are experienced fighters alongside their normal adoptive siblings.
Badass Family: Being trained Fatui agents with at least a decade of experience, this is to be expected of the children of the House of Hearth, not to mention Arlecchino's own prowess.
Breaking Old Trends: Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet are the first characters who obtained a second Character Introduction, which reveals their true identity as Fatui members, with their Character Cards even having a Fatui-styled background similar to Childe's Character Introduction artwork, as seen here (Lyney's, Lynette's, and Freminet's). They are also the first Fatui-aligned playable characters who are not part of the Eleven Harbingers. Furthermore, In contrast to previous regions, Arlecchino and her subordinates are valuable allies during the Archon quest instead of serving as antagonists. While initially and rightfully suspicious of them, the Traveler ends up befriending them and works closely with them to resolve the prophecy's crisis. While open-world Fatui are still hostile, the Fatui characters actively provide vital intelligence, humanitarian aid, carry out rescue operations, and provide the manpower needed to trap Furina for her trial.
The Cameo: To emphasize their closeness, the siblings all make appearances in each other's Character Demos.
Criminal Found Family: Invoked. The children of Hotel Bouffes d'ete are orphans, most of them not related by blood. But they are encouraged to form strong bonds, loving each other as precious siblings and devoted to caring for each other as well as adoring their "Father". This is because they are Fatui and need to have good teamwork for their missions.
Child Prodigy: Lyney's talent at stage magic was so apparent as a child that he caught the eye of a noble who wanted to use him to further his own social standing, while Lynette herself has rejected several offers to strike out on her own. Freminet is also implied to be in his mid-teens at most, but he's already considered the best diver in Fontaine, renowned for his professionalism and his wealth of maritime knowledge, in addition to being such a skilled mechanic that Charlotte wonders if he's actually from the Research Institute.
Child Soldier: All the children in Hotel Bouffes d'ete are either Fatui agents-in-training or active agents. Lyney and Lynette are also noted to have ten years of experience by the time of Lyney's Story Quest.
Chromatic Arrangement: Lyney is red, Lynette's green, and Freminet is dark navy blue.
Color-Coded Elements: The trio dress in black and the colour of their respective vision, though it's Downplayed with Freminet. He has a Cryo Vision, which is associated with an icy blue, but his color scheme is primarily navy blue with bronze accents. While there are lighter blue highlights in his design, they are far less prominent, and none of them match the color of his Vision. "Father" also has red elements in their otherwise monochromatic attire that matches with their Pyro vision.
Covert Group with Mundane Front: Hotel Bouffes d'ete is actually the House of the Hearth, the Fatui organization overseen by Arlecchino that raises and trains talented children into becoming Fatui agents.
Dark and Troubled Past: The Hotel's children have experienced more trauma than most - Parental Abandonment left them as vulnerable orphans in the care of abusive guardians before the Hotel's current "Father" took over, which they've yet to fully recover from. Presently, their lives are much more happier in comparison, but their Child Soldier responsibilities still expose them to life-threatening danger and violence.
Dark Is Not Evil: The children dress prominently in dark colours, and are Fatui agents loyal towards Arlecchino. Freminet is also heavily implied to have experience in killing. At the same time, they are genuinely well-intentioned in finding a solution to stopping The Prophecy, and are generally law-abiding outside of their missions.
Early-Bird Cameo:
- The twins first appeared in the Teyvat Chapter Storyline Trailer where she and Lyney were the featured Fontaine characters.
- "Father" debuted in the A Winter's Night Lazzo teaser.
- Freminet debuted in the Overture Teaser: The Final Feast alongside other members of the Fontaine cast prior to his release as a playable character.
Famed Instory: The twins are renowned across Fontaine as a great magician duo, with Lyney basking in the limelight, while Freminet is known as a gifted diver. Arlecchino's reputation precedes her as one of the Fatui Harbingers.
Foreshadowing: The trio's appearance in the Overture teaser hints at some events of the Archon Quest:
- Freminet is the first character introduced, thinking aloud about "(His) mission" as he dives into the sea, calmly descending with his eyes closed while Egeria remarks about the "original sin" and "make the most of the final feast, because for the sinners, the curtain call has come." The camera then shows a wide shot of a vague silhouette of something ginourmous drawing closer, and Freminet's eyes snap open as he chokes on his breath in surprise and potentially panic. In Act IV, Freminet almost drowns while trying to gather intelligence for his Fatui mission due to increased concentration of Primordial Seawater in the waters he was in because of the All Devouring Narwhal swimming in the Primordial Sea.
- The twins are shown giving a private performance for Arlecchino, who responds by critiquing that they are actors first and magicians second before heading up to approach them on stage. The twins are secretly Fatui from the House of Hearth, who have relied on their public image as magicians to carry out their missions.
Freudian Trio: Lyney's Id as the most sociable and outgoing one of the three, Lynette is the Superego as the most stoic and emotionless one of the three, and Freminet is Ego, being the most innocent and withdrawn one of the three.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Despite all playable characters from Hotel Bouffes d'ete being Fatui members, all Fatui enemies in the overworld will attack them on sight like they would towards all other playable characters.
Hero-Worshipper: The children of the House all idolize the Traveler due to hearing Lyney and the Knave speaking so highly of them.
I Just Want to Be Normal: As one might suspect, taking in orphans from all walks of life inevitably leads to some who have no desire to be secret agents or to be burdened with the stigma of being Fatui. Sadly Resignations Not Accepted is in full effect and anyone who tries to leave is considered a traitor and executed, or so Arlecchino would like people to believe, in truth using her own fire she is able to concoct a potion that can destroy certain memories while leaving the rest intact. Since memories are very important to Arlecchino she considers this just as much an execution as taking a persons life though others disagree. She made a deal with Neuvillette that anyone who drinks this potion is free of persecution of past crimes in return the House of the Hearth will not operate in Fontaine, baring special circumstances.
Interface Spoiler: Lyney and Lynette are marked as Fatui cards in Genius Invokation TCG, a gamemode that can be unlocked before completion of the Fontaine Archon Quest.
Just a Kid: The youthful appearances of the children at Hotel Bouffes d'ete are exploited to their full potential for their Fatui missions. Freminet's second Character Introduction even states as such:
"His unassuming appearance would make people drop their guard, which was something that the House of the Hearth used to their advantage, sending him in behind enemy lines to complete the missions they had assigned him swiftly and without mercy."
Laser-Guided Amnesia: What happens to those who wish to leave the House of the Hearth under "Father's" policies. They drink her memory-wiping flames to forget their past lives as Fatui and the secrets they came into contact with before being released to wider society, never to return.
Leitmotif: Caliginous Hearthfire, an uneasy, quiet tune fitting for the House of the Hearth.
Loved by All: Lyney and Lynette's magic act are one of the most popular in Fontaine, having gained fame before their first ever performance in the Opera Epiclese, which itself earned a massive turnout. Even after Furina outs them as Fatui agents during the former's trial, it doesn't appear to affect their reputations in the long-term, as the two still maintain enough popularity to perform to a large audience at the Opera Epiclese, and with Lynette's Hangout Event even kickstarting after she scored the leading role in a play and snuck out of the reception.
Massive Numbered Siblings: The orphans in Hotel Bouffes d'ete consider each other as their adoptive siblings.
Mirroring Factions: The Hotel Bouffes d'ete, or rather, the House of the Hearth is essentially the Fatui version of the Shuumatsuban since both organizations raise orphans and have them perform missions related to espionage, intelligence gathering, and assassinations for the sake of their respective nations. The only difference is that, by Ayato's words, the Shuumatsuban is more secretive while the House of the Hearth is more known since as soon as Furina brought it up in Lyney's trial, the audience members immediately realized they were connected to the Fatui.
No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: In-Universe. Being exposed as Fatui spies, with Lyney even being the Knave's successor doesn't seem to have put a dent in Lyney, Lynette and Freminet's fame. In fact, Lyney and Lynette seem even more popular since Lyney's story quest involves him putting on a show at the Opera Epiclese^note and Lynette's Hangout Event has you meet up with her after she is taking a break from being the main star at an event in Hotel Debord.
Orphanage of Fear: The Hotel was once this under the previous director, a physically and emotionally abusive Evil Orphanage Lady who had no qualms blackmailing and threatening her charges.
Orphanage of Love: The main siblings from the Hotel all speak of it fondly, as a "kingdom" of children that cherish each other and value loyalty over all else. However, the reality is a bit more complicated once the Hotel's true nature is revealed. In spite of being the House of the Hearth, it presently doesn't seem to veer into Orphanage of Fear territory due to Arlecchino's reforms based on a philosophy of protecting the brief innocence of young children.
Overt Operative: Lyney, Lynette and Freminet are all extremely famous in Fontaine for being the best at their respective occupations. Their public occupations, that is. The children use their reputation to cover for their more clandestine work, and the twins still continue putting on magic shows to large audiences even after their covers were blown in Act I.
Resignations Not Accepted: The Fatui as a whole have always been tough on deserters, and the House of the Hearth is no exception. Attempting to leave the House, or even expressing a desire to leave, is seen as a betrayal to be punished by taking the offenders' lives, as they are seen as a security risk for their knowledge of the organization. Arlecchino nearly makes good on this threat in her Story Quest, although she is willing to wipe their memories of their time in the Fatui instead of killing them, seeing that as a form of death in itself.
The Reveal: The twins' covers, and by association Freminet's, were blown when Furina publicly reveals their Fatui ties at their trial.
Sibling Team: Invoked Trope as the children are Fatui agents who were raised to see their fellow agents as family.
Somber Backstory Revelation:
- In the conclusion of Act I, Lyney catches the Traveler before they can leave to explain their Dark and Troubled Past — namely he and Lynette became Fatui as they were saved by Arlecchino from an exploitative foster situation, and Lynette was especially victimized as a target of Human Traffickers.
- Raising Freminet's Friendship levels will unlock his voice lines about his Dark and Troubled Past as he slowly opens up to the Traveler.
Token Good Teammate: Zigzagged. The House of the Hearth is nothing but helpful in the Fontaine Archon Quests, but that isn't out of genuine kindness, it's because The Knave's love for The House means she won't let The Prophecy occur.
Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Some of the children are happy to stay at the hotel permanently because they would not fit into society otherwise. One child, Foltz, was a "problem child" whose family abandoned him due to a habit of strangling his family pets, while another, Heloir, has an "unnatural obsession" with making literal poison to the point that even "Father" has to forbid her from trying all the concoctions she comes up with.
Tyke Bomb: All children in the Hotel are Fatui sleeper agents.
Walking Spoiler: Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet have two Character Introductions because they have a second identity which only becomes clear after Act I of the Fontaine Archon Quests.
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Some of the children that work in the Hotel may look sweet, but all of them are subservient to the Fatui, trained as they grow up to serve the group, forced to hide the truth until the time comes.

"Father"

The manager of the Hotel, known as "Father" to all the residents.

See Arlecchino's entry here.

Freminet

Freminet Snezhevich

Introduced: September 5, 2023 (v4.0 "As Light Rain Falls Without Reason" [second half])
Voiced By: Jin Li (Chinese), Shun'ichi Toki (Japanese), Lee Joo-seung (Korean), Paul Castro Jr. (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/freminet_transperent.png

Yearning for Unseen Depths

"I want to spend some time at the bottom of the sea... in peace and total silence."

Rarity: 4★
Element: Cryo
Arkhe Alignment: Pneuma
Weapon: Claymore
Constellation: Automaton

A teenage diver and younger adoptive brother of the magician duo Lyney and Lynette. Unlike them, he is shy and withdrawn, instead content with following orders and diving underwater with his mechanical penguin Pers. First introduced to the Traveler by Lyney, his diving skills later prove vital to uncover the truth about the prophecy that would doom Fontaine and confront the nation's Archon herself.

Freminet quietly alternates between Cryo-imbued slashes and tossing Pers to deal Physical damage through his Elemental Skill, Pressurized Floe, an upward slash that activates the Pers Timer, during which all subsequent slashes are imbued with Cryo, as well as adds a Pressure Level per hit to the Timer, upgrading the next use of his Skill into Shattering Pressure, whose attack pattern and damage bias shifts from Cryo to Physical proportional to the Timer's level, in addition to being augmented with a Pneuma-aligned Spiritbreath Thorn strike. His Elemental Burst, Shadowhunter's Ambush, blows a cold wind on surrounding foes and resets the cooldown of his Skill as he equips a diving helmet and enters the Subnautical Hunter state, which sharply reduces the cooldown of subsequent uses of his Skill and upgrades his normal attacks to add two Pressure Levels.^note

And Now for Someone Completely Different: A segment in the fourth act of the Fontaine Archon Quest has us follow Freminet, even playing as a Trial version of him, as he investigates the escape route Tartaglia allegedly used to escape the Fortress of Meropide, which ends in him suffering a Primordial Seawater affliction.
Animal Motifs: He is represented by his clockwork penguin Pers, whose design is also featured in his hat (the two black beads positioned above the bronze bill resembles a stylized penguin's face) and the shape of his Constellation. His name card also features a line of Pers toys marching forward.
The Baby of the Bunch: He's the youngest in the Hotel Bouffes d'ete trio with Lyney and Lynette, and has the most innocent personality of the three, being shy and quiet, and having a fondness for fairytales. Lyney and Lynette act like cool older siblings to him, and are shown in official material to dote on him.
Badass in Distress: During the fourth act of the Fontaine Archon Quest, his attempts at finding Tartaglia by diving through his alleged escape route sees him nearly fall victim to the Primordial Seawater that's been leaking into Fontaine's oceans. He's quick to react by swimming most of the water, but he ends up passing out and has to be saved by Clorinde.
Beware the Quiet Ones: Freminet is a shy boy with a pure soul who has difficulty in socialising... and it's exactly because of his demeanour that makes him efficient at "clean ups" under the House of the Hearth's orders.
Big Damn Heroes: During an incident where all the diving equipment that Freminet's team was using malfunctioned, he singlehandedly rescued all of his unconscious teammates from drowning in the midst of a tempest while at risk of doing so himself, earning him his Vision in the process.
Broken Ace: Freminet is a diver that is described as being renowned for his outstanding professionalism, exceptional ability to stay focused, and his abundant maritime knowledge. But for all his talents, he has one of the worst upbringings among the Hotel orphans; he was born to poverty in the sewer slums of Fleuve Cendre underneath the Court of Fontaine, his father having walked out on his family due to knee-deep debt and his mother having to do take turns between raising him and working off the debt. Once the debts became too much to be reasonably paid off, and with loan sharks breathing down her neck, she was forced to give him away to the Hotel Bouffes d'ete under an Evil Orphanage Lady who was physically and emotionally abusive toward its orphans. Such experiences caused him to develop a withdrawn and timid personality, and he frequently dives into the sea to get away from it all.
Cooldown Manipulation: Triggering the Subnautical Hunter state resets the cooldown of his Skill and provides a 70% reduction to its subsequent cooldown time (hence from ten seconds to three). In addition, his first-ascension passive, Saturation Deep Dive, shaves one second off of the Skill's cooldown if it has been unleashed with less than four Pressure Levels.
Cool Helmet: He puts on a diving helmet for his Burst, as well as for one of his idle animations.
Companion Cube: He's very attached to his clockwork penguin Pers, treating it as if it were a pet and vowing to protect it.
Cute Machines: He has a clockwork penguin named Pers that he can summon to help him for his Skill.
A Day in the Limelight: He is the Deuteragonist of the "Thelxie's Fantastic Adventures" event, where he helps Zuria find materials for her work in helping with her son Lescot's Loneliness Syndrome, and is also the free character rewarded for completing certain milestones in the event.
Disappeared Dad: Freminet never met his biological father, but his absence was the main cause for his life turning out the way it did.
Does Not Like Spam: He dislikes coffee because of the negative effects it has on his heart.
Elemental Personalities: Played with. He has a Cryo Vision and is a classic lone wolf, with a lack of social skills that comes across as indifference to others. However, this lack of social skills are born from being painfully shy.
Fastball Special: With four Pressure Levels, his enhanced Skill has Freminet bat Pers onto his foes with his claymore.
Foil: With Charlotte, a fellow 4★ Cryo Fontainian that befriends him in the epilogue of Chapter IV Act V.
- Freminet fights with his claymore while Charlotte is a long-ranged catalyst user.
- Freminet dresses in dark navy blue while Charlotte wears maroon and has pink hair.
- Freminet is extremely withdrawn while Charlotte is extroverted and has a Motor Mouth.
Gathering Steam: The Pers Timer summoned by his Skill allows Freminet to gather one Pressure Level at a time with his normal attacks, which are then consumed to increase the power of the next use of his (enhanced) Skill based on a sum of his Cryo and Physical Damage stats, with an increasing bias towards the latter proportional to the number of stacks he has (such that the attack is wholly Cryo without stacks and wholly Physical with four). In addition, the Subnautical Hunter state allows him to gather two Pressure Levels per normal hit, making it much faster to upgrade his enhanced Skill. His first Constellation upgrade, Dreams of the Foamy Deep, increases the enhanced Skill's Critical Rate by 15%, while his second, Penguins and the Land of Plenty, gives him a Regenerating Mana effect (see below).
Hates Their Parent: Freminet is justifiably resentful towards his biological father for his Parental Abandonment and saddling his mother with his debt, which eventually lead to the other tragedies in his Dark and Troubled Past.
(More About Freminet: III): I hate my real father. He abandoned my mother and me, so I don't care about him.
Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Played With. Freminet has a diving helmet, but as a Vision holder he doesn't actually need it while diving, and also goes without it for most of his attacks in gameplay. However, he still likes putting it on to block out surrounding noise and feel safe, especially during missions and "cleaning up" enemies, which is reflected in gameplay upon activating his burst, as well as one of his idle animations.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: He sees himself as weak and thinks his mother would be disappointed that he is "still so timid that he can't fend for himself" despite surviving horrendous child abuse, and this mindset will frequently be expressed in his voice lines.
Hidden Depths: The "Thelxie's Fantastic Adventures" event shows off how sensitive he is towards other people's situations, with him doing his best to empathize with those who have Loneliness Syndrome and helping them the best he can.
Hiding Behind Your Bangs: He has an aloof personality and has bangs that cover his left eye.
Ice Breaker: His fourth-ascension passive, Parallel Condensers, boosts the damage of his enhanced Skill by 40% within five seconds after triggering Shatter reactions, encouraging bringing a Hydro-aligned teammate to spam Freeze reactions and then invoke this trope to consistently benefit from the reaction's damage multiplier boost.
I Choose to Stay: When Arlecchino offers to let Freminet and his siblings leave the House of the Hearth with a bottled flame to make them forget their lives in the house, the three of them choose to remain in the house.
Innocent Blue Eyes: He has large blue eyes and is stated to have an innocent and pure personality behind his stoicism.
Irony: Cryo Vision holders are noted, in-lore, to be resistant to cold environments. Not this guy, as he downright shivers if he sets his foot on snowy environments, and asks the Traveler if it's okay for him to wear a diving helmet to keep him warm.
Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Animations-wise, of the Arkhe attacks that appear alongside the attacks of Fontaine character, Freminet's is the only one whose Spiritbreath Thorn/Surging Blade does a slashing motion instead of a stabbing motion.
Magic Knight: While his Skill is active, Freminet is capable of dealing Cryo and Physical damage at the same time, albeit with a strong bias towards the latter.
Meaningful Appearance: Freminet wears a top that resembles a Sailor Fuku, which was inspired by European naval uniforms, over his stylized diving suit. A small diving tank is also attached to the back of his outfit.
Mirror Character:
- To Mika. They're both The Ace Army Scout Child Soldiers with bird motifs, Cryo visions, similar Shrinking Violet personalities, and elder siblings in their respective military organizations.
- To Chongyun. They're both Cryo claymore-wielding boys who frequently suppress their emotions as a coping mechanism. The difference is that Chongyun tries to maintain a calm composure to prevent getting overheated and lashing out uncontrollably, while Freminet does so in order to protect his inner sense of self, especially when following orders.
- To Collei:
  - They are the Baby Of The Bunch of their Found Family trio, which consists of an eldest adoptive brother who wears a Signature Headgear and a Deadpan Snarker sibling with animal ears. Their elder siblings also have similar Animal Motifs that are the opposite of the other pair (Cyno's and Tighnari's canine constellations vs the twins' feline ones) and are wholly different from their own, and one elder sibling from each pair is a bow user.
  - Both are teenage victims of childhood abuse caused by Fatui Harbingers whose biological parents were tricked into leaving them in the care of the Fatui for the promise of a better life, and became socially anxious Shrinking Violets with Heroic Self-Deprecation due to the trauma. They've also developed similar coping mechanisms of finding solace in reading fiction, going to a private corner in environment they live in to vent, as well as carrying a toy they made themselves for emotional and combat support. The tragic difference is that Collei managed to escape her abusive situation and has significantly progressed much in her Mental Health Recovery Arc (though she still has lingering trauma and puts on a cheery front), while Freminet never left and remains a pawn of the Fatui, resulting in him having difficulty opening up to even his closest kin.
- To Xiao. Both are Broken Ace soldiers with bird motifs that put on their Signature Headgear while fighting, has Found Family made of their fellow soldiers, suffered greatly under the tyranny of an evil superior who ordered them to kill until their superior was defeated, and has difficulty opening up to others due to their Dark and Troubled Past.
Mr. Fixit: Despite his youth, he is in charge of maintenance at Hotel Bouffes d'ete and is quite adept at fixing things. He learned how to fix things from his tinkering with various mechanisms as a youth to both pass the time and impress his mother.
No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Freminet's name is likely derived from a certain real-life Fréminet, a French inventor who in 1771 designed the earliest known diving dress using a compressed-air reservoir.
No Social Skills: In comparison to his famous siblings, he prefers to avoid the spotlight due to social anxiety, giving others the impression that he is indifferent.
Non-Elemental: Played With. Like Eula, Freminet is a claymore wielder with a Cryo Vision whose kit leans strongly towards Physical rather than Cryo Damage. Unlike Eula, however, he can adjust his damage bias between Cryo and Physical as he sees fit.
Parental Abandonment: Freminet's childhood was not an easy one, even before he was taken in by the House of the Hearth. He has no real memories of his father, a man that abandoned his family and left them with considerable debts to repay. His mother worked hard to provide what little she could and encouraged his interest in machines, but then one day, she left him with the previous director of the orphanage and never returned. He was later told that he'd been sold to repay his family's debts, and that his mother had abandoned him. It was only years later, when "Father" took charge, that he learned that his mother had left him at the Hotel for protection. She'd been killed shortly afterwards, confronting "scum" that were after her.
Pretty Boy: Very much so, and like his older brother Lyney, Freminet could be easily mistaken for a girl at first glance because of his prominent lashes and bob haircut.
Reduced Mana Cost: Played with. His utility passive, Deepwater Navigation, shaves 35% off of the party's Aquatic Stamina consumption.
Regenerating Mana: His second Constellation upgrade, Penguins and the Land of Plenty, restores 2 Energy whenever he hits enemies with his enhanced Skill, which increases to 3 with four Pressure Levels.
Shrinking Violet: He's painfully shy, preferring to avoid social interactions in favor of spending time alone at the bottom of the sea.
Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: His utility passive reduces the party's Aquatic Stamina consumption, tying into his job as diver.
Smart People Build Robots: His hobby of dismantling and reassembling parts, and his technical expertise in gadgetry enables him to construct robots, as demonstrated in "Thelxie's Fantastic Adventures" Event Quest where the robot in question is Thelxie, a clockwork penguin. Charlotte's voice-line even wonders if he once studied at the Fontaine Research Institute because of his talent.
Status Buff: Both of Freminet's fourth and sixth Constellation upgrades bestow six-second-long boosts (with at least 0.3-second intervals) whenever he triggers Frozen, Shatter, or Superconduct reactions—the former, Dance of the Snowy Moon and Flute, grants up to two stacks of a 9% Attack boost; the latter, Moment of Waking and Resolve, up to three stacks of a 12% Critical Damage boost (hence a maximum of, respectively, 18% and 36%).
Successful Sibling Syndrome: Played With. While Freminet is a talented individual in his own right—despite his youth, he is regarded as the best diver in Fontaine—he harbors insecurities about how he compares to his siblings Lyney and Lynette in terms of skill and how well they would work together when going on missions for the House of the Hearth as he lacks the deep connection with them that they have developed with each other.
Super Mode: His Burst puts Freminet in the Subnautical Hunter state for ten seconds, which grants him heightened interruption resistance, resets the cooldown of his Skill, and sharply reduces the cooldown time of its subsequent uses, allowing him to use it more often.
Super Not-Drowning Skills: In his "About the Vision" voiceover, he claims that after gaining his Vision, he no longer needed his helmet to dive, implying that it gave him the ability to breathe underwater, or at least hold his breath underwater for extended periods of time. Despite this, he claims that he still wears his helmet because it serves as a source of comfort for him, along with his Vision and Pers.
Trademark Favorite Food: Similarly to Lyney and Lynette, he likes seafood.
Tragic Keepsake: All Freminet has left of his mother is the bloodstained music-box pendant that he fixed and she wore around her neck, and unfortunately it can no longer produce the melodies that they used to listen to together.
Upgrade Artifact: A variant—Freminet's third and fifth Constellation upgrades, Song of the Eddies and Bleached Sands and Nights of Hearth and Happiness, add three levels to, respectively, his Normal Attack and Skill.
Visual Pun: Freminet's character art portrays him wielding The Bell claymore. With Freminet being a diver, one could say that he is a diving bell user.
Vocal Dissonance: His English voice actor, Paul Castro Jr., gives him a much deeper voice which contrasts with his youthful and almost feminine appearance.
Weapon Specialization: His Wish Art, Character Demo, and Collected Miscellany depicts him wielding a claymore called The Bell. Although his skills and talents don't scale with his HP, this passive stat gives him increased survivability, as a shield protects him from further damage and allows him to go all out while destroying his opponents with his Elemental Skill (especially when he is in the Subnautical Hunter state).
Youthful Freckles: Resembles a young boy and is the first playable character to have freckles.

Lynette

Lynette Snezhevna

Introduced: August 16, 2023 (v4.0 "As Light Rain Falls Without Reason" [first half])
Voiced By: Kekewei (Chinese), Yū Sasahara (Japanese), Lee Myung-hwa (Korean), Anairis Quiñones (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lynette_portrait_0.png

Elegance in the Shadows

"During our shows, I'm usually Lyney's assistant. Because I never speak or change expressions, people often mistake me for a puppet... this kind of misunderstanding can prevent unnecessary social interactions, so it's actually quite nice."

Rarity: 4★
Element: Anemo
Arkhe Alignment: Ousia
Weapon: Sword
Constellation: Felis Alba, the White Cat

An acrobatic gymnast and younger twin sister of Lyney, an ace stage magician, as well as an accomplished illusionist in her own right. She descends from a line of people with cat traits which she inherited, and being shunned for it during her childhood caused her to grow emotionally detached. Along with Lyney, she's one of the Traveler's first heroic contacts they make in Fontaine.

Lynette combines acrobatic swordsmanship with the ability to give her enemies a nasty surprise. Her Elemental Skill, Enigmatic Feint, flicks her mantle before delivering an Enigma Thrust, restoring her HP before slowly expending it afterwards, in addition to triggering the Ousia-aligned Surging Blade strike; in its held form, she conceals herself using the mantle into the Pilfering Shadow state, marking the nearest foe with a Shadowsign, before reappearing to stab at them. Her Elemental Burst, Magic Trick: Astonishing Shift, summons a Bogglecat Box with her mantle, drawing the aggression of surrounding enemies and periodically deals Anemo damage, as well as changes to Hydro, Pyro, Cryo, or Electro damage depending on which it comes into contact with first and gain the ability to fire Vivid Shots.^note

Aloof Big Sister: Her lack of emotions gives her this attitude towards Freminet, making her the complete opposite to Lyney's Cool Big Bro personality.
All the Other Reindeer: As a child, she was ostracized by her peers due to having cat ears and a tail. Her bullies even questioned whether she and Lyney were biologically related due to Lyney looking completely human.
Amateur Sleuth: One of her Hangout Event branches sees her get embroiled in an investigation into a new branch of Sinthe in the course of trying to return a lost cat to it's owner, and ends up helping making a number of breakthroughs. It's to the point that, with the Traveler's help, she's able to realise that Pierre wasn't the true mastermind, but that both he and Bernard were pawns of Elodie, who communicated with them separately posing as each other, and murdered the former and planted evidence pointing at him being the mastermind to cover her tracks. Chevreuse actually feels tempted to invite her to join the Special Patrol in light of her contributions, while Lyney claims that her analytical abilities in "Serious Mode" are second to none.
Animal Motifs: Cats. She is a bonafide cat girl, complete with ears and a tail, and her constellation is Felis Alba, the "White Cat."
Because You Were Nice to Me: Other than Lyney, the Traveler is the only person Lynette will open up towards, though it's a pretty slow process. Raising her Friendship levels will make her refusal for interaction less frequent, and her conversations wordier.
Big Eater: Lyney notes in one his voiceovers that Lynette has much more trouble than he does maintaining the slim physique their act requires, as she is easily tempted by the smell of food. In Lyney's character quest, Lynette is left to her own devices at a cafe for a bit, and when Lyney returns, she complains that she only had time to eat three orders of dessert, earning a fresh scolding from him. Funny enough, in the "Receiver of Friends from Afar" cooking event, she quickly discovers that she can't tolerate spicy food, as Lyney tells the Traveler that she took a big bite of Black-Back Perch Stew and couldn't speak for an entire day because her mouth was on fire. She did however, eat half of the Palace Jewels dish before Paimon even could have some.
Blue Boy, Pink Girl: Gender-inverted. When she appears in Travail Trailer, she wears a turquoise bow and skirt trimming whilst Lyney wears a magenta cape and bow.
Brilliant, but Lazy: Lynette doesn't like to exert herself any more than necessary, often using her robo-lingo to get others to stop asking her to do work. When she actually puts effort in, however, she tends to excel at whatever it is she's doing.
Brother–Sister Team: The twins work as a magician duo. Lynette in particular refuses to part with Lyney despite numerous offers to strike out on her own.
The Call Put Me on Hold: This becomes the subject of her Vision story, as, after hearing many stories about powerful Vision bearers as a child, she prayed to one day receive a Vision so that she and Lyney could leave behind magic tricks and be able to perform true miracles, which would lessen the difficulties of living in poverty, but her prayers were never answered, and she faced more and more hardships as she grew older, causing her to forget about ever receiving one. It would be some time before she received her Anemo Vision, which Celestia would eventually give to her as a reward for her bravery and perseverance in going to any length to protect Lyney and return home to finish their mission despite her severe injuries.
Cat Girl: Like Diona, Lynette is an actual cat girl (unlike Kirara, who is a nekomata), although it is unknown if she is from the same Kätzlein bloodline as Diona.
Cleavage Window: Has a V-shaped one that stretches down to her sternum.
Cloth Fu: Both of Lynette's Talents involves flicking her mantle. Specifically, she does so in her Skill either to disguise the following stab or to allow her to vanish into the Pilfering Shadow state, and in her Burst to damage nearby enemies and summon the Bogglecat Box.
Coordinated Clothes: As a performer duo with Lyney, they dress similarly cabaret-themed in opposing color palettes that coincidentally match the color of their Visions.
Corralling Vacuum: Lynette's first Constellation upgrade, A Cold Blade Like a Shadow, generates a vortex that sucks in enemies around the foe previously marked with the Shadowsign after they have been struck with the finisher of the held form of her Skill.
Dark and Troubled Past: After becoming orphaned Street Urchins at a young age, Lyney and Lynette were taken in by an exploitative noble who separated the twins for his own social purposes, keeping Lyney for his talent in stage magic while giving Lynette away to Human Traffickers. The twins only managed to grow up in a safer environment due to their adoption into Hotel Bouffes d'ete, though they still occasionally had near-death experiences from carrying out missions.
Deadpan Snarker: She can be quite dry toward her brother Lyney. Her somber-pitched voice also allows for some textbook delivery.
Lyney: This is an "aquabus." It allows people to travel between several key locations around Fontaine. It's pretty convenient, but the ride can become a little dull after a while... the scenery is always the same. That's why it's better to travel with friends.
Lynette: So you mean it's still boring even when I'm riding with you?
Do Wrong, Right: Does this twice in her Hangout Event.
- In the "A Roaring Success" ending, she and Travler play dumb about Ginna's confession to being the one to send her the threat letter, instead pretending that's she apologising for the mean things she said to her at Fleuve Cendre. After though, Lynette subtly advises that next time Ginna should try a subtler and more effective method, prompting the Traveler to cut her off before she gives Ginna any funny ideas.
- Near the beginning of the "Save The Kitty!"/"Adventures, Investigators and Cats" routes, Lynette is quick to realise that Lyney pushing her to accept the starring role in "The Lost Puppet" was to distract her while he helped Chevreuse look into Pierre Lefevere, fearing her memories of being sold to the former family head would prove too much for her. After learning this and confronting him, she expresses a desire to help, claiming she's not the same, scared little girl she was back then. Then after Lyney acquiesces, she proceeds to chide him to try a different approach to distracting next time.
Dowsing Device: Her utility passive, Loci-Based Mnemonics, displays the location of Recovery Orbs on Fontaine's underwater areas, as well as enhances their HP and Aquatic Stamina recovery effects by 25%.
Dramatic Irony: Lynette says that she'd like to have a Cool Big Sis in the House of the Hearth like Navia, but takes it back as that would be wishing she was an orphan. Unbeknownst in Lynette, that is exactly what Navia is.
Draw Aggro: Her Burst summons the Bogglecat Box, which for twelve seconds draws enemy aggression and periodically deals Anemo damage to them, as well as fire Vivid Shots that can deal either Hydro, Pyro, Cryo, or Electro damage depending on which element it comes into contact with first.
Elegant Gothic Lolita: Downplayed example, but the influence is still there. Lynette's leotard resembles a corsette with Victorian-esque bow patterns.
Emotionless Girl: Invoked. She tends to wear a blank expression and refrains from showing emotion, even when she's performing or in combat; the reason is because she despises interacting with other people. She can show emotion, and in fact does during playable voice-overs, but even then she never raises her voice. Given her past, it's no wonder her adopting this behavior could possibly be a coping mechanism.
Empty Piles of Clothing: During her first in-game magic trick, Lynette vanishes into a cage of water, leaving behind her clothing. This also serves as foreshadowing to the verification of rumors of Fontainians dissolving into liquid due to exposure to Primordial Seawater.
Extra Turn: Lynette's fourth Constellation upgrade, Tacit Coordination, adds a second charge to her Skill.
Facial Markings: Has a grey star tattoo on her left cheek as part of her stage makeup.
Flash Step: The held form of her Skill has her instantly warp to the enemy marked with the Shadowsign to deal its finisher once her Pilfering Shadow state ends.
Freakiness Shame: As a child, Lynette hated her animal features and was often teased because of them. This even led a traumatizing experience where she gained the attention of a "degenerate" nobleman who purchased Lynette. It was only after Arlecchino rescued and praised her for having exceptional ears, encouraging her to appreciate her keen senses and use them to better protect her new "family" that Lynette began to accept her appearance as well.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: She and Lyney are partners in a magical duo in the story, as she serves as his assistant, and they are rarely apart. However, despite the fact that both of their demos show them fighting together, Lyney and Lynette have very little synergy as playable units. While Lynette could potentially be useful as a flex unit in one of Lyney's mono Pyro teams, she'd only really be worth using over other characters like Kazuha and Sucrose if you were struggling to deal with Pneuma-aligned enemies. Additionally, her first-ascension passive encourages elemental diversity, which conflicts with maximizing Lyney's fourth-ascension passive. Overall, these two factors make the two not as inseparable as the story suggests.
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Gender inverted; Lynette uses a sword, while her brother Lyney uses a bow.
Half-Identical Twins: She looks like a female version of Lyney, but with darker purple eyes and cat features. Exploited and partically enforced for their magic shows to pull off tricks via Twin Switch, though Lyney mentions Lynette has more issues keeping their figure similar since her love for desserts and snacks makes her gain weight faster than him, though she does make the effort to work off the calories whenever it happens.
Hartman Hips: Inevitable given that she wears a gymnastics-esque leotard that accentuates her thighs and hips. Even with the skirt-frills, her hips are at least on par with Mona's.
Hates Small Talk: Compared to Lyney, she prefers to keep a low profile, rarely shows emotion and shuts out people who want her attention. Her brother Lyney is also much more quiet than usual when he's with her alone, possibly for the same reason.
High-Dive Escape: During one of their missions, the twins leapt out of a window to escape and fell down a cliff into the waters below, causing Lyney to become seriously injured and forcing Lynette to brave the journey back to a safe location while carrying him.
Hollywood Genetics: Downplayed. She and Lyney are descended from a line of people with feline appendages that have faded over time. However, she was the only one of the two that inherited these traits from their ancestors, which caused her many problems as a child, such as people questioning whether she and Lyney were blood relatives, and degenerates seeking to buy her because of the novelty of her unusual appearance. Outside this detail, Lynette and Lyney resemble each other fairly closely.
Hopeless with Tech: There are two possible outcomes for leaving Lynette with technology: she breaks it due to mishandling or fails to complete the task at hand involving the machine, with either outcome being likely but entirely unpredictable. As a result, her family relieved her of all household chores in order to avoid complications.
Human Traffickers: She was a victim of this in her childhood, as she was sold by the aristocrat that adopted her and Lyney to another aristocrat that was interested in the novelty of her cat-like features. It’s unclear what the man who bought her intended to do with her, as he was killed by "Father" before he was given the chance to act on anything.
Hypocrite: In her voice-over for Neuvillette, Lynette says the Chief Justice always feels strangely aloof and that he probably doesn't like dealing with humans. This should be the last choice of words for someone like her who's even more aloof and emotionless, and who shuts down other people's attempts to interact with her.
I Choose to Stay: When Arlecchino offers to let Lynette and her siblings leave the House of the Hearth with a bottled flame to make them forget their lives in the house, the three of them choose to remain in the house.
Informed Attribute: According to information about her and other characters accounts of her personality, Lynette isn't much of a talker, rarely speaks first, and is generally socially avoidant, relying on Lyney to do the majority of the talking for her. When it comes to her appearances in the story, while Lyney is far more talkative than her, which she expresses exasperation over, she doesn't come across as nearly as introverted as the story claims, even approaching the Traveler and Paimon first and initiating conversations in some instances.
Internal Homage: In Lyney’s Character Demo "Lyney: Secret Inside the Hat", a brief reference is made to her duo introductory pose with Lyney from the Teyvat Chapter Storyline Preview: Travail teaser. Compare here◊.
Irony: Lynette is a girl who is often mistaken for a gynoid, and who actively contributes to this misconception by saying things like "Entering Standby Mode" when others approach her. Yet, she is Hopeless with Tech.
Karmic Trickster: Together with Lyney, she brought an infamous thief-murderer and their accomplice to justice by setting up a trap to separate and force them into losing all their ill-gotten possessions just like how the culprits took away their mentor and took over his assets.
Kind Hearted Cat Lover: One branch of Lynette's Hangout Event has her befriend a stray cat she named Bonnie, with her and the Traveler trying to help her find her owner.
Leave Me Alone!: She really doesn't like to interact with other people, and will promptly shut down others' attempts to make a conversation with phrases such as "Entering Standby Mode", or "I need to space out."
Leotard of Power: She wears a high-cut black and white-sleeved leotard with a thick turquoise skirt trimming akin to a rhythmic gymnast. Given her profession, it makes complete sense.
Lesser Star: She is this by default because she is Lyney's magical assistant, acting as his shadow and being a part of his performance rather than taking the spotlight. Unlike most examples of this trope, she chooses to play this role despite being as talented as him, turning down opportunities to branch out and become a bigger star and even having Lyney reject the people who recruit her via letters written on her behalf.
Marked to Die: The held form of her Skill allows her to mark a random enemy with the Shadowsign, to which she warps to deliver her finishing stab once her Pilfering Shadow state ends.
Meaningful Appearance: She's a performer and magician's assistant, and her outfit is reminiscent of cabaret performers. It should be noted that despite being a magic assistant, who usually serve as eye candy during shows and tend to wear revealing outfits, Lynette's outfit is a lot more modest than Lyney's. Given her history of unwanted attention for her looks, this is most likely done on purpose.
Moveset Clone: Her Skill is essentially a 4★ version of Yelan's, complete with a brief speed burst, marking those she comes into contact with, and dealing Elemental damage to the marked enemies. They even have similar animations, such as the interface dimming when the Skill is used and them transforming into a translucent haze whose color denotes their elements. The key distinctions are that Lynette's duration of her Skill is slightly shorter and that she will only be able to attack a single target when her Skill ends.
Ms. Fanservice: As a magician's assistant, the trope is part of her job to strategically distract the audience, and she uses her cabaret outfit and Cat Girl traits to that end. It's downplayed though, as Twin Switches are a part of her and Lyney's acts so she can't dress in a way that would make that impossible and she has to keep her build close to his.
No Full Name Given: Though world-famous performers, Lynette and her brother are simply known by their first names. This is likely because all girls raised at the House of the Hearth are given the surname "Snezhevna".
No Social Skills:
- Invoked. She doesn't like to show emotion or interact with other people, so she will often shut people off in an attempt to not interact with them.
- In her Hangout Event, when she and the Traveler bump into Furina during the reception for a play Lynette starred in, she's doesn't have much interest in Furina's artistic thoughts and critiques and only gets engrossed in the conversation when Furina offers to gives some tips and tricks to sneaking off to get alone time or snacks during such events.
Perpetual Frowner: She hasn't been shown to smile even once on any official art, in stark contrast to her brother Lyney.
Pimping the Offspring: Lynette was given away "as a gift" by the noble she and Lyney were adopted by, after her catgirl features drew attention of an eminent person, and only narrowly escaped her fate due to the timely intervention of Arlecchino.
Polar Opposite Twins: She is the introverted and stoic counterpart to Lyney, who is always social and smiling.
Power Stereotype Flip: A crowning example. For an Anemo Vision owner, Lynette isn't as social as one would usually expect. Quite the opposite, in fact.
The Quiet One: She avoids direct social interactions and prefers to sit back while Lyney does all the talking.
Rape as Backstory: Averted, but only barely: the Fontaine noble who took Lyney and Lynette in off the street "gave" her to a well-connected man he wanted to curry favor with, and it was only Arlecchino's intervention which prevented her from suffering the fate alongside several other orphan girls found in the man's basement.
Rule of Symbolism: Lynette often uses phrases like "Standby Mode" and "Exercise Mode" to describe her energy level. This makes it easy to mistake her for a gynoid, as several other characters in this game are Ridiculously Human Robots. In fact, some characters In-Universe speculate that she's a puppet, which is how other androids have been identified. In reality, however, she's completely human (as much as a Cat Girl can be) and just uses this lingo as a metaphor. It fits her quite well, given her lack of affect and observational skills, but she has no real reason to use computer lingo outside wanting people to think she's a puppet. Ironically, she's Hopeless with Tech; the real reason she says these things is because she's lazy and doesn't want people asking her to do work.
Sexy Backless Outfit: Her leotard leaves her back exposed until her waist.
Sexy Cat Person: Unlike other characters that either are cat people or have feline motifs, Lynette's appearance is played up much more for fanservice.
Sherlock Scan: Lynette's specialty is observation, using her heightened sense of hearing and her background role to observe everything around her. From watching her audience while Lyney has their attention, she is able to skillfully deduce all manner of things about them. Her character story mentions that she once discovered a prominent businessman's affair when she noticed him using his mistress's handkerchief.
The Show Must Go Wrong: The twins' first ever performance at the Opera Epiclese was almost successful until a water tank comes crashing down onto the box meant to house the audience participant, killing the occupant in full view of the audience, which includes the nation's highest authority, the Chief Justice, and their God-Emperor.
Sketchy Successor: In her Hangout Event, Lynette agreed to star in a play at the behest of her siblings that would have her star as a emotionless puppet learning how to feel. The role is advertised by the troupes' director to be perfect for her on account of pretending to be such on a daily basis, but Furina mentioning the original draft to them and investigating a threat letter she receives causes it to come to light that the script was altered heavily to accommodate her novice status and came out lacking the emotion of the original in the last few scenes. This prompts Lynette and the Traveler to form a plan to give the role back to the initial actress, who has much more experience, without compromising the troupe's reputation.
Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration:
- Lynette is just as talented an illusionist as Lyney, but intentionally chooses takes on the role as a Lesser Star in their shows to avoid the spotlight and limit her interactions with others. Fittingly, while Lyney is a 5★ DPS Character with more flashy and showy animations and would be the main focus of any banners, Lynette is 4★ character who would ordinarily draw less focus and is a Support Party Member whose Elemental Skill allows her to vanish while her Elemental Burst does not require her to be on the field.
- In relation to the above, Lynette's hidden potential as a performer and perhaps as a Child Soldier of the House of the Hearth is shown by how her kit, despite leaning towards a Support Party Member role, has qualities that'd allow her to slip into DPS role with the right build and Constellations. Her Skill actually drains her HP after use, allowing her to benefit from the Marechaussee Hunter sets stacking Crit Rate boost, while her sixth Constellation grants her an Anemo Damage bonus and an Anemo Infusion, which combined with her fourth Constellation that grants an additional charge to her Skill, allows her to continuously maintain said infusion with good timing to deliver a flurry of wind slashes.
The Smurfette Principle: Out of all the playable Fatui, Lynette is the only playable female during her debut in version 4.0.
Spell Blade: Her sixth Constellation, "Watchful Eye", grants her a brief Anemo Infusion and a Anemo Damage bonus after using Enigmatic Feint.
Sprint Shoes: The held form of her Skill allows Lynette to enter the Pilfering Shadow state, which increases her movement speed allows her to sneak past her enemies for up to 2.5 seconds, after which she warps onto one enemy marked with the Shadowsign and deals her finisher.
Starter Mon: While Lynette is only available after the launch of v4.0, she is the starter unit with the built-in unique Arkhe combat mechanics exclusive to Fontainian characters that players can get after reaching Adventure Rank 25. Alongside the Traveller's own Hydro kit, this ensures players have the minimum number of characters needed to interact with Pneumousia-enhanced objects and enemies.
Status Buff:
- Lynette's first-ascension passive, Sophisticated Synergy, allows her Burst to bestow an Attack buff to the party for ten seconds that grows proportional to their elemental variety; at the very least, it provides an 8% boost if there is one element in the party (i.e., a full-Anemo team), which grows by increments of 4% for every additional element, to a maximum of 20% with a four-element team.
- Her fourth-ascension passive, Props Positively Prepped, increases the Bogglecat Box's damage potency by 15% immediately after undergoing elemental conversion.
- Her sixth Constellation upgrade, Watchful Eye, grants her an Anemo infusion and a 20% boost to her Anemo Damage Bonus for six seconds after triggering Enigma Thrust.
Street Urchin: Prior to being adopted by a wealthy aristocrat and later by the Knave into the House of Hearth, she and Lyney were impoverished orphans who performed street magic tricks to earn enough Mora to eat for the day.
The Stoic: Her default expression is a blank, frowning one, which she wears even when she performs with Lyney onstage. People who see their performances often mistake her for a puppet rather than a living person as a result. Playable voice-overs also show that Lynette rarely (if at all) raises her voice.
Sweet Tooth: She likes sweets so much that Lyney has to keep a tab on how many she takes per day to keep her in shape for performances. When guarding Jemma, Lynette had three cakes with her tea, which she promised to burn later during her "workout mode".
Tea Is Classy: A Proper Lady that likes to drink tea in a refined manner.
Theme Twin Naming: Her name is a feminized version of "Lyney."
Trademark Favorite Food: She likes seafood. Lyney comments that the Fish and Chips from the street vendors make her hungry.
Tsundere: A platonic example with her twin brother Lyney; while she is occasionally snarky and dismissive toward Lyney during their interactions, her character stories and voiceovers reveal that she's just as attached to him as he is to her, and that she can't stand to be away from him for long despite her comments.
The Turretmaster: The Bogglecat Box gains the ability to periodically fire Vivid Shots whenever it comes into contact with Hydro, Pyro, Cryo, or Electro. Lynette's second Constellation upgrade, Endless Mysteries, allows it to fire two Vivid Shots at a time.
Twin Telepathy: She claims that she and Lyney can tell what the other is thinking without speaking.
Twin Switch: Lynette disguises herself as Lyney to enhance the illusion of the box swapping trick.
Upgrade Artifact: A variant—her third and fifth Constellation upgrades, Cognition-Inverting Gaze and Obscuring Ambiguity, add three levels to, respectively, her Burst and Skill.
Vapor Wear: Given her leotard leaves her back exposed, it's impossible for Lynette to be wearing a bra.
Weapon Specialization: In the 4.6 trailer, Lynette is shown wielding the Finale of the Deep(4★), which possesses an ATK Ascension stat(6-27.6%), while its "An End Sublime" passive grants the wielder both an ATK boost and a Bond of Life after using their Elemental Skill, with clearing the latter granting a further ATK boost based on the Life Bond cleared. This suits Lynette as, whether she's being used as a Damage Dealer or a Support Party Member, she will be using her Skill a lot, with the self-healing from her Skill allowing her to quickly clear the Bond of Life and further increase her ATK and boost her damage. The weapons use of a Bond of Life mechanic also emphasizes her connection to Arlecchino, whose own kit revolves around placing a Bond of Life on herself.
Weight Woe: Zigzagged. Lynette claims she has to watch how much she eats in order to keep her build relatively close to Lyney's for their Twin Switches, but she's also a Big Eater, which forces her to put in more effort to maintain her build.
You Will Not Evade Me: Her first Constellation, "A Cold Blade Like a Shadow", allows Enigmatic Feint to create a vortex at the target enemy's position that will pull nearby opponents in.

Lyney

Lyney Snezhevich

Introduced: August 16, 2023 (v4.0 "As Light Rain Falls Without Reason" [first half])
Voiced By: Jin Li (Chinese), Hiro Shimono (Japanese), Park Song-young (Korean), Daman Mills (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lyney_portrait_0.png

Spectacle of Phantasmagoria

"Magic isn't just a performance art, it's also a way of thinking. Many things in this world seem simple at first glance but play host to all sorts of secrets if you look deeper."

Rarity: 5★
Element: Pyro
Arkhe Alignment: Pneuma
Weapon: Bow
Constellation: Felis Fuscus, the Black Cat

An up-and-coming stage magician in Fontaine, partnered with his younger twin sister Lynette. Along with his sister, he descends from a line of people with cat traits, and he's one of the Traveler's first heroic contacts they make in Fontaine. However, during their travels, the Traveler discovers he's the successor to a figure, one that belongs to a group that's not in their good books...

Lyney delivers an explosive surprise to his foes with his ability to further charge up his shots into Prop Arrows that are not only occasionally augmented with the Pneuma-aligned Spiritbreath Thorn strikes but, upon landing, summon a Grin-Malkin Hat, a cat in a hat that draws enemy aggression before exploding; in addition, firing Prop Arrows consumes HP (provided it is high enough) to generate up to five stacks of Prop Surplus, which are then consumed to enhance the power of his Elemental Skill, Bewildering Lights, where he launches an explosion at the tip of his hat, in addition to manually detonating the Grin-Malkin Hat. His Elemental Burst, Wondrous Trick: Miracle Parade, has Lyney transform into a larger Grin-Malkin Hat, marking foes he comes across to take damage once he transforms back, leaving behind a Grin-Malkin Hat as well as instantly getting a stack of Prop Surplus.^note

Amateur Sleuth: Lyney's Story Quest has him looking into the resurgence of the "Phantom Weasel," a phantom thief presumed to be the magician Cesar who died ten years prior, when their comeback heist at the Opera Epiclese threatens his next magic show there. As it turns out, it was he who sent the declaration letter, with the intent of drawing out those who killed and framed Cesar, to whom he and Lynette are grateful for mentoring them as children.
Animal Motifs: Cats. His hat design incorporates cat motifs, the buckles on his boots are shaped like cat heads, his kit uses cat effigies, and his constellation is Felis Fuscus, the "Black Cat."
Anti-Frustration Features: A minor one; unlike other archers, the icon for Lyney's Skill and its cooldown remain visible on the bottom right of the screen while in aiming mode. Given the self HP-draining nature of his Prop Arrows, it's a useful feature to let players know when they can fire off his Skill again to heal back the lost HP while frequently firing arrows.
"Back to Camera" Pose: His splash art has his body turned away from the camera to bring focus to his back window and butt.
Beneath the Mask: His final About Lyney line has him admit that his outgoing and chatty persona is largely an act he puts on and that he's actually much more withdrawn.
Big Brother Instinct: He's very protective of Lynette, so much so that when they were kids, he tracked down the "important person" Lynette had been sold to by the aristocrat who adopted her in order to save her, though he couldn't act because the Knave beat him to it. While an admirable trait, there have been times where his over worrying has proven as much to be something of a Fatal Flaw, or at least a hindrance.
Big Damn Heroes: Lyney's fifth Character Story recounts a time where he rescued an officer affiliated with the Hotel Bouffes d'ete from the Gardes, working with Freminet to help him escape unseen to a safe location while he distracted the Gardes with a decoy.
Blue Boy, Pink Girl: Gender-inverted. When he appears in Travail Trailer, he wears a magenta cape and bow, while Lynette's bow and skirt trimming are turquoise.
Breaking Old Trends: Prior to v4.0, all characters' third and fifth Constellation upgrades add three levels to their Elemental Skills and Bursts. Lyney, meanwhile, is the first character to raise his Normal Attack level with a Constellation upgrade, which leaves one of his Talents (i.e., Skill) without an upgrade.
The Call Put Me on Hold: This becomes the focus of his Vision story, as Lynette gaining a Vision before him caused problems for them, forcing them to split up for missions more frequently due to the gaps in their power, which neither of them could tolerate for long due to their preference for sticking together. Lyney even sought out receiving a Delusion from "Father" to close the gaps in their power, only to be rejected and told that he would have to rediscover the original way he had gained power in a time of need himself. He would eventually receive his Pyro Vision while bravely risking his life to protect Lynette as they escaped from a failed mission, paralleling the event in which Lynette received her Anemo Vision.
Cast from Hit Points: Prop Arrows consume 20% of his max HP per shot in exchange for summoning Grin-Malkin Hats and gathering stacks of Prop Surplus; the HP consumption stops if it reaches 60%, though it does not affect the aforementioned perks, though he won't gain more Prop Surpluses unless he has more HP to drain.
Casual High Drop: As tribute to Cesar, Lyney performs a slightly changed version of the former's high-altitude escape trick, suspending himself from a box at the top of the Opera Epiclese, then falling down headfirst and vanishing among a sea of flower petals before he can hit the ground.
Character Select Forcing: His fourth-ascension passive, Conclusive Ovation, increases his damage by 60% against Pyro-affected enemies with an additional 20% for each additional Pyro characters (up to two) in the party to a maximum of 100%, which encourages using him in teams of mostly Pyro characters (AKA mono Pyro).
Clear Their Name: He was the one who challenged the Phantom Weasel in order to ferret out their true identity and clear Cesar of wrongdoing.
Company Cross References: Lyney shares quite a few similarities with Lyle, from sister game Honkai Impact 3rd. Beyond their physical similarities, both are playful and theatrical ranged fighters that enjoy teasing the protagonist and have a darker past as orphans raised by the strikingly similar Arlecchino and Raven. Rather than frontline fighters, both primarily support their allies through intelligence gathering and misdirection.
Consummate Liar: He has a habit of telling lies in order to deceive others, including the Traveler, which makes the latter wary of him, as evidenced by his voice-overs. Lynette, on the other hand, can tell when he's lying and when he's telling the truth.
Cool Big Bro: Described as a reliable older brother in his introductory description. Freminet's introductory description also features a quote from Lyney on how he saw Freminet smile wider after one of the twins' magic tricks and subsequently discussing with Lynette about improving so that their little brother may enjoy himself more.
Lyney: After all, as his big brother, it's my duty to make him laugh.
Coordinated Clothes: As a performer duo with Lynette, they dress similarly cabaret-themed in opposing color palettes that coincidentally match the color of their Visions.
Critical Hit Class: Along with an ascension stat of Critical Rate, Lyney's second Constellation upgrade, Loquacious Cajoling, allows Lyney to gain up to three stacks of Crisp Focus every two seconds, which increases his Critical Damage by 20% per stack (to a maximum of 60%) and lasts as long as Lyney is on the field.
Damage-Increasing Debuff: Lyney's fourth Constellation upgrade, Well-Versed, Well-Rehearsed, allows his base charged shots to impose a 60% penalty to his target's Pyro Resistance for six seconds.
Dark and Troubled Past: After becoming orphaned Street Urchins at a young age, Lyney and Lynette were taken in by an explotative noble who separated the twins, keeping Lyney for his talent in stage magic while giving Lynette away to Human Traffickers for the noble's social purposes. The twins only managed to grow up in a safer environment due to their recruitment into the House of Hearth, though they still met with occassional near-death experiences from carrying out their missions as Fatui agents.
Death Dealer: The third and fourth part of his normal attack combo has him throw cards at his opponents.
Dowsing Device: His utility passive, Trivial Observations, displays the location of Fontaine-exclusive resources on the minimap.
Draw Aggro: Both Prop Arrows and the end of his Burst summon a Grin-Malkin Hat, of which one can exist at a time, which draws enemy aggression and fires a Pyrotechnic Strike at one foe whenever it detonates, either once four seconds have passed, it has taken sufficient damage, or Lyney manually sets it off with his Skill, the latter which also deals damage on enemies around him. His first Constellation upgrade, Whimsical Wonders, allows Lyney to have two active Grin-Malkin Hats at once, in addition to periodically allowing each Prop Arrow to summon two such Hats at once and gather an extra stack of Prop Surplus at least every quarter-minute.
Dude Looks Like a Lady: He looks a lot like his twin sister Lynette and his provocative outfit reveals just how slender and delicate his build is. Combine that with his feminine-sounding name, and you're bound to mistake him for a girl at a glance.
Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Downplayed; His playable unit design has been slightly modified from his appearance in the Teyvat Chapter Storyline Trailer, with a bow added to his lower back, his cape shortened and made to cover only his right shoulder instead of his entire back, and the center of his hat now has a magenta pattern instead of being solid black.
Facial Markings: Has a grey teardrop tattoo on his right cheek as part of his stage makeup.
Fatal Fireworks: His Skill unleashes a pyrotechnic burst on his foes that increases in potency depending on the stacks of Prop Surplus he has gathered beforehand, as well as manually detonates any existing Grin-Malkin Hat.
Fatal Flaw: While his care and protectiveness of his siblings, namely Lynette and Freminet, is admirable, there have been times where his tendency to over worry has either hindered him, or worse.
- In the past, he requested a Delusion from Arlecchino so that he could assist Lynette on her missions, who herself earned a Vision prior and caused a disparity of power between them that led to them getting different assignments. This caused the Knave to show a rare display of anger and scold him for not considering how Lynette would feel about him throwing his life away for power, instead challenging him to overcome his weakness himself.
- In Act III, Wriothesley is able lure Lyney away from his mission and to his office by having Siegwinne tranquilise Lynette and bring her there, where he further aggravates Lyney into attacking him by making what could be seen as Deadly Euphemisms and stating that he locked Freminet out of the Fortress when he went to investigate Childe's alleged escape route. If Wriothesley was as ruthless as he was appearing, there could have been dire consequences for him and his siblings, but fortunately, it was all just a ploy to distract Lyney from going after Freminet upon learning of the surrounding seawater mixing with Primordial Seawater.
- In Lynette's Hangout Event, he convinced Lynette to take up an acting role in "The Lost Doll" to distract her while he worked with Chevreuse to investigate the peddling of imitation Sinthe, not wanting her to get involved on account of the apparent kingpin being a former member of the family she was sold to. Lynette ends up catching on quickly and confronting him about this though.
Fooled by the Sound: Lyney's voice heard from inside the box during the box swapping performance is actually a recording used to give the illusion that he's still in it when he has already gone somewhere else.
Foil:
- If Lyney had never met "Father", he might have become someone like Wriothesley. Both are male Fontainians who dress in black and red, were orphans who were exploited by guardians connected to child traffickers, and have risen to become capable leaders of their respective organisations. However:
  - Lyney is a Pyro user while Wriothesley is An Ice Person.
  - In terms of appearance, Lyney is a slim youth who dresses somewhat femininely while Wriothesley is a rugged Hunk.
  - Lyney has feline Animal Motifs while Wriothesley has a canine one.
  - In gameplay, Lyney is a bow user while Wriothesley is fights at close range with his boxing gloves.
  - Lyney is practically inseparable from his siblings while Wriothesley separated from his foster siblings after his incarceration as a teenager, and has no desire to find them again.
- Lyney and Furina are both famed Fontainian performers in top hats, short shorts and garter belts who personally know that Keeping Secrets Sucks due their secret identities. However:
  - Their elemental abilities have a Fire/Water Juxtaposition, which are reflected in their contrasting red/black and blue and white or black clothing, depending on Furina's Arkhe alignment.
  - Lyney dresses effeminately while Furina dresses in ouji fashion.
  - Lyney is a bow user while Furina wields swords.
  - In Act I, in a moment of recklessness, Furina falsely accuses Lyney and ends up putting him on trial with the Traveler acting as his defence attorney. Come Act V, with the twins' box-swapping trick, Furina is dragged to her trial where the Traveler prosecutes against her.
Friend to All Children: His character teaser shows him entertaining two children with a magic trick. Given he's an affiliate of the House of the Hearth and very likely the future successor of the Knave, this is to be expected of him.
The Gadfly: Lyney isn't above using his abilities as an illusionist for his own amusement. Case in point, his character teaser shows him next to a drunk sailor in a bar, who's loudly complaining to the bartender that he ordered cider instead of the wine he was given. Lyney then proceeds to turn the wine into cider, but when the sailor notices this and goes for a drink, he finds that it suddenly turned into a literal apple before passing out.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: He and Lynette are partners in a magical duo in the story, as she serves as his assistant, and they are rarely apart. However, despite the fact that both of their demos show them fighting together, Lyney and Lynette have very little synergy as playable units, particularly given the diametrically opposed nature of certain ascension passives—Lyney's fourth-ascension passive encourages players to prioritize on mono-Pyro teams, while Lynette's first-ascension passive does the reverse, instead encouraging elemental diversity, making the two not as inseparable as the story suggests.
Gathering Steam: Firing Prop Arrows (if he has HP to spare), as well as the finale to his Burst, allows Lyney to gather one stack of Prop Surplus at a time, of which he can hold up to five for half a minute and which are consumed to increase the damage potency of his Skill, as well as allow the Skill to heal him (at a rate of 20 HP per stack). In addition, his first Constellation upgrade, Whimsical Wonders, allows him to gather an extra stack at least every fifteen seconds after summoning Grin-Malkin Hats with Prop Arrows.
Glass Cannon: In a game already filled with many of these, Lyney stands out, even compared to his fellow archers Ganyu and Tighnari. His charged attacks drain his HP by 20% per shot and decrease his mobility. Coupled with his low Max HP and Defense, and the fact he's encouraged to build Attack, Lyney is one of the most fragile characters in the game. That said, his scalings and damage bonus he receives through Pyro Resonance ensure he can dish monstrous damage provided you can keep him alive.
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Inverted; Lyney uses a bow, while his sister Lynette uses a sword.
Half-Identical Twins: He looks like a male version of Lynette, albeit with lighter purple eyes and a distinct lack of cat features. This is exploited and partially enforced since a few of their tricks require them to pull a Twin Switch to work, which means they have to actively keep their looks similar.
Happily Adopted: Lyney is appreciative of what "Father" has done for him and understands that his role is to protect his "home" and "family". Downplayed, however, as he confides in the Traveler that he is terrified about inevitably being chosen to become the Knave's successor someday, and asks them not to mention it to anyone, not even his siblings.
Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Lyney wears his bangs over his right eye, in fitting with his deceptive nature as a magician. As he explains while narrating the Overture teaser, magic is all about carefully controlling what you do (and do not) show the audience.
High-Dive Escape: During one of their missions, the twins leapt out of a window to escape and fell down a cliff into the waters below, causing Lyney to become seriously injured and forcing Lynette to brave the journey back to a safe location while carrying him.
I Choose to Stay: When Arlecchino offers to let Lyney and his siblings leave the House of the Hearth with a bottled flame to make them forget their lives in the house, the three of them choose to remain in the house with Lyney telling "Father" this.
Inadequate Inheritor: Lyney sees himself as this regarding him being chosen by Arlecchino to become the next head of the House of Hearth after her. Near the end of Arlecchino's Story Quest, Lyney outright asks her why she specifically chose him as her successor in spite of the massive gap between their strength. Arlecchino tells him that the strength of his convictions is much more important when it comes to leading the House, and reassures Lyney that his own strength will grow as time goes on.
Internal Homage: In his Character Demo "Lyney: Secret Inside the Hat", a brief reference is made to his duo introductory pose with Lynette from the Teyvat Chapter Storyline Preview: Travail teaser. Compare here◊.
Ironic Echo: A positive version. Near the end of his story quest, he mentions how "We remember all our debts, however great or small" and tries to repay it. Considering his affiliation with the Fatui, this contrasts with the Agents' catchphrase of "You can't run from debt!", and how they will try to forcibly extract what's owed.
Karmic Trickster: Ten years ago, Cesar, a stage magician who briefly tutored Lyney and Lynette as kids, was killed by Jemma, a serial thief known as the "Phantom Weasel," and Lorenzo, his greedy, disgruntled assistant, then sullied his name by framing him as the Weasel while they made off with his assets. Come Lyney's Story Quest, he and his sister, with the Traveler's aid, avenge Cesar and restore his good name, namely by fabricating a letter from the Weasel to draw out the two, leaving him and the Traveler to arrest Lorenzo while Lynette kept Jemma distracted. Then, following the twins' magic show at Opera Epiclese, they reveal that they already knew Jemma to be the Weasel, rubbing to her face that they took away her Only Friend just as she and Lorenzo took away the man they looked up to, before forcing her to choose between remaining free but forever separated from Lorenzo or giving up everything just to be with him. Jemma chooses the latter.
Lyney: "I shall take from you that which you hold most dear, just as you did to me ten years ago"...We remember all our debts, however great or small. Ten years ago, Cesar's reputation was torn to shreds and his legacy was thrown out... But we did not forget, and so we came to find you...Cesar once told me that even though the world is filled with lies and falsehoods, we must find our own truth. I think that applies to you, too. Truth can take many forms — prized possessions with nostalgic value, fervent hopes and dreams... and irreplaceable people...You're more than just accomplices in murder — you're the only real friends each other has. So I think you know, deep down, that he is the only "truth" you have in your life. But that truth is gone now. And I guarantee you, you'll never see it again.
Magicians Are Wizards: According to Kirara, he could make things disappear and reappear out of thin air. Kirara thinks he must be using youkai magic to do it, or could be a youkai himself.
Master-Apprentice Chain: Just as Arlecchino took command of the House of the Hearth, she grooms Lyney to be her heir apparent. She compares it to a parent's hope of seeing their child surpass them, though it isn't clear whether this would just mean control over the House or if it would mean becoming the new Knave. For his part, Lyney is troubled over the responsibility that will come with becoming the "King" of the House.
Master of Illusion: As a magician, this is to be expected; In his Character Teaser, he creates the illusion of turning a glass of water into cider when it is actually an apple. This is also visible in his playable unit animations, as he briefly appears to transform into a giant playing card during his Normal Attack string, and repeats the same motion for his Party Setup animation.
Meaningful Appearance: He's a performer whose outfit combines elements of a magician's with those worn by cabaret performers.
Mirror Character:
- To Yoimiya. Both are Pyro Bow units with a unique Charged Attack. They're also friendly towards children. The primary difference is that, while Yoimiya is presented as heroic with no affiliations to other groups, Lyney is affiliated with the Fatui.
- Lyney and Tartaglia are both charming male bow-users who became affiliated with the Fatui through their fathers, are very protective of their family and act extremely friendly towards the Traveler. This serves to make their differences all the more poignant:
  - Their Visions have a Fire/Water Juxtaposition.
  - Tartaglia is a Fatui Harbinger whose family are civilians while Lyney works as a sleeper agent alongside his twin sister and his adoptive family.
  - Tartaglia is straightforwardly honest about his affiliations and prefers fighting head-on while Lyney hid his Fatui ties from the Traveler and is more experienced in subterfuge and espionage.
  - Tartaglia summoned a god with Hydro powers to flood Liyue during the Liyue Archon Quests while Lyney came into conflict with the Hydro Archon and is trying to save the people of Fontaine from dissolving into water during the Fontaine Archon Quests.
Mr. Fanservice: Albeit not in the manly sense; in fact, quite the opposite. Lyney wears a corset, garter-belt and stockings that stop up to his thighs, which are often provocative. His official art places special focus in his butt, and his pose in it is also sultry, with his front facing away from the viewer and his expression seemingly inviting the viewer to examine the back of his outfit. Given this and his feminine-sounding name, you'd be forgiven if you thought Lyney was a chick.
Multishot: Lyney's sixth Constellation upgrade, Guarded Smile, allows Prop Arrows to fire an additional Pyrotechnic Strike: Reprised with damage worth 80% of the Prop Arrow.
Nice Guy: Played with; while he can be quite the trickster, Lyney is a truly friendly boy, a Friend to All Children who likes to impress them with his magic tricks, and a Cool Big Bro to his siblings in the House of the Hearth. What keeps him from being a straight example is that his niceness, as genuine as it may be, hides the dark side of him.
No Full Name Given: Though a world-famous performer, Lyney and his sister never use their full names. This is likely because as a boy from the House of the Hearth, he would have been issued the surname Snezhevich.
Pain & Gain: Lyney's first-ascension passive, Perilous Performance, allows the Grin-Malkin Hat summoned by Prop Arrows to restore 3 Energy, as well as increases its damage potency by 80% of his Attack stat, whenever he consumes HP when firing the shot.
Perpetual Smiler: He always wears a smirk of confidence, contrasting to his sister Lynette.
Polar Opposite Twins: He is the ever social and smiling counterpart to Lynette, who is introverted and stoic.
Punny Name: Lyney's charged attack summons a Grin-Malkin Hat when an opponent is hit, and he transforms into a Grin-Malkin Cat during his Burst. The similar pronunciations are even more pronounced in Chinese where the original names had Added Alliterative Appeal as "怪笑猫猫帽” (GuàixiàoMāomāomào) and "怪笑帽帽猫” (GuàixiàoMàomàomāo) respectively, taking advantage of the fact that the words for cat (猫, "māo") and hat ("帽”, mào) are only differentiated by tone. In Lyney's Collective Miscellany, Dainsleif even lampshades this by telling players not to be confused and that they are two different props.
Sexy Backless Outfit: A rare male example. His outfit has a back window, though it's covered by his cape.
The Show Must Go Wrong: The twins' first ever performance at the Opera Epiclese was almost successful until a water tank comes crashing down onto the box meant to house the audience participant, killing the occupant in full view of the audience, which includes the nation's highest authority, the Chief Justice, and their God-Emperor, which resulted in the two being put on trial for murder.
Skewed Priorities: Lyney really dislikes revealing the secrets behind his magic tricks. This is to the point that he almost refused to show the Traveler despite literally being on trial for a murder at his own magic show, a sentence the Traveler is trying to help him avoid.
Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: One of Lyney's level ascension materials are Rainbow Roses, a favorite of his for his magic tricks and which he and Lynette gift to the Traveler at the end of his Story Quest as a gesture of friendship. In addition, both his level and talent ascension materials feature Fatui insignias, alluding to his, Lynette, and Freminet's allegiance to the Fatui.
Stage Magician: His occupation, which earned him a reputation throughout Fontaine. In contrast to most stage magicians, however, he does have and use real magic in the form of his Pyro Vision.
Stepford Smiler: While he appears to be all smiles on the outside, he has some worries that he doesn't want his siblings to know about, although his sister Lynette can see right through his mask. Namely, he feels burdened by the lies he's told in his work as a Fatui spy and worries over what he'll have to do when he eventually takes command of the House of the Hearth as Arlecchino's successor.
Street Urchin: Prior to being adopted by a wealthy aristocrat and later by the Knave into the House of Hearth, he and Lynette were impoverished orphans who performed street magic tricks to earn enough Mora to eat for the day.
Theme Twin Naming: His name is a masculine version of "Lynette".
Too Dumb to Live: Gets a dose of this during the Archon Quest. When put in a trial for a murder he didn't commit, the Traveler asks him to reveal his secret to his magic tricks, which he refuses to do despite it being a prime opportunity to prove his innocence. Thankfully, he doesn't die.
Trademark Favorite Food: Like his sister, Lyney also likes fish.
Trophy Child: The noble that adopted the twins was really only after Lyney's talent in stage magic so that he could show him off at social gatherings.
Twin Switch: Lyney's favourite part of the box-swapping trick is that the illusion of him teleporting into the other box is uniquely enhanced by Lynette disguising herself as him.
Upgrade Artifact: A variant—Lyney's third and fifth Constellation upgrades, Prestidigitation and To Pierce Enigmas, add three levels to, respectively, his Normal Attack and Burst.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Lyney's Burst has him transform into a large Grin-Malkin Hat during which, for up to three seconds, he damages enemies once before exploding, after which he generates a regular Grin-Malkin Hat.
Weapon Specialization: Lyney's Wish banner runs concurrent with that for The First Great Magic (5★). Its Ascension substat is Critical Damage (14.4–66.2%), while its "Parsifal the Great" passive boosts the power of its wielder's charged shots by 16–32%, as well as grants its wielder a stack each of "Gimmick" and "Theatrics," which respectively boost their Attack stat and Movement Speed, as well as increases depending on the party's elemental variety: the former, for every element that matches theirs, which provides a 16–32% boost with one stack, 32–64% with two, and 48–96% with at least three; the latter, for every element different from theirs, which provides a 4–12% boost with one stack, 7–15% with two, and 10–18% with at least three. Lyney benefits from the Gimmick stacks' damage boost in mono Pyro teams, while Theatric stacks allow him to move faster in other teams.
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Every children under the care of the House of the Hearth qualifies, but Lyney is the textbook example among them. His occupation as a stage magician and friendliness may be genuine, but they hide that he is expected to be the successor to Arlecchino (4th of the Fatui) as the owner of the House of the Hearth, and thus is affiliated with the Fatui. While it should be noted Lyney is not happy that "Father" chose him as her successor, he has no choice but to hide this side of himself until the Traveler and Paimon (who've been witnesses to how horrible the Fatui can be) learn from this when the twins are put on trial.

The Steambird

A famous newspaper publication based in Fontaine, with branches all over Teyvat.

Charlotte

Charlotte Gagnepetit

Introduced: November 8, 2023 (v4.2 "Masquerade of the Guilty" [first half])
Voiced By: Ruan Congqing (Chinese), Azumi Waki (Japanese), Shin On-yu (Korean), Maya Aoki Tuttle (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charlotte_transparent_portrait.png

Lens of Verity

"People aren't always very fond of journalists. You know what they say — lies are soft and malleable, but the truth is sharp and inflexible."

Rarity: 4★
Element: Cryo
Arkhe Alignment: Pneuma
Weapon: Catalyst
Constellation: Hualina Veritas, the Lens of Truth

A journalist and reporter for The Steambird. Passionate about her profession, she is always on the lookout for the latest scoop to capture with her trusty handheld Kamera "Monsieur Verite," and fears nothing in her pursuit of the truth. Among these truths is a decades-long series of disappearances of young women, incident which leads her to meet the Traveler and strike a friendship with them.

Charlotte takes catalyst-enhanced snapshots with the ability to periodically trigger Pneuma-aligned Spiritbreath Thorn strikes, as well as balance between offense and healing. Her Elemental Skill, Framing: Freezing Point Composition, takes a snapshot that additionally inflicts Snappy Silhouette marks on up to five foes at once that periodically deal Cryo damage; in its held mode, she enters Composition Mode, expanding her subsequent damage radius and enhancing the marks into the stronger, longer-lasting Focused Impression. Her Elemental Burst, Still Photo: Comprehensive Confirmation, summons a Newsflash Field that summons phantasmal Kameras to constantly damage foes and heal allies within its radius.^note

Badass Adorable: Charlotte is a cheerful, friendly girl who is a mean shot with her Kamera, both in field and in battle.
Camera Fiend: She is first introduced taking photos of characters from various regions with her Kamera, and otherwise keeps her Kamera on her waist. Justified, given that she is a reporter.
Color-Coded Elements: Subverted. Charlotte's largely red color scheme, along with her pink hair, makes her seem like a Pyro Vision holder at first glance (especially given her resemblance to Yanfei), but a closer look at a pouch strapped to her thigh reveals that she has a Cryo Vision.
Combat Medic: Her Burst damages enemies and heals the party based off of her Attack stat, allowing her to heal as potently as she can hurt.
Companion Cube: She frequently anthropomorphizes her Kamera, who she calls "Monsieur Verite". She even had Chiori make it a little hat and bowtie.
Cooldown Manipulation: Her first-ascension passive, Moment of Impact, shaves two seconds off the cooldown time of her Skill whenever foes marked with Focused Impression are defeated, which can be activated up to four times (hence eight seconds) within at least twelve-second intervals.
A Day in the Limelight: "Duel! The Summoners' Summit!" not only serves as a debut event for her character, but she also gets a decent amount of character focus traveling to different regions with the Traveler and Paimon, through which the players learn about her.
Developer's Foresight: Much like Scaramouche when you run into him in the Delusion Factory within Inazuma, Charlotte has different dialogues depending on if the player met her in the "Duel! The Summoners' Summit!" event when you run into her in Chapter IV Act 1. If the player hasn't met her, she'll introduce herself to the Traveler. If the player has, she'll act as if she's already friends with them.
Early-Bird Cameo: She is the first significant Fontaine character to be officially introduced in the game, and she serves as a main character in the 3.7 flagship event "Duel! The Summoners' Summit!". Much like Kazuha, Charlotte is also introduced before her nation is released, though unlike Kazuha, she doesn't become playable herself until significantly later in 4.2, long after Fontaine is released. She also receives two Paimon's Paintings emojis in 3.7, long before her drip marketing, while others receive theirs upon becoming playable. She's also watching Lyney's solo performance in the background in Lynette's Character Demo.
Everyone Has Standards: Charlotte may be an Intrepid Reporter whose dedication to her work can make her prone to reckless decisions and can make her unrelenting in asking for interviews, but there are nonetheless lines she won't cross and moments where she'll Know When to Fold 'Em.
- She's naturally wary of the idea of interviewing Archons, to the point of worrying that writing of the Raiden Shogun's defeat to Yae Miko in the Genuis Invokation TCG tournament will get her struck by lightning.
- For all her relentlessness in wanting interviews, she knows better than to try taking a picture of or interviewing Arlecchino, realizing that doing so would be illegal without official approval.
- With her dedication to the truth, Charlotte naturally has a dislike of tabloids that treat baseless gossip as fact, especially if its used to slander people. This, alongside gratefulness to her for making Monsieur Verite's accessories, prompts Charlotte to immediately look into the Malicious Slander aimed at Chiori in the latter's Story Quest, with the intent of writing an article dispelling the rumours.
Foil: With Freminet, the fellow 4★ Cryo Fontainian that she befriends in the epilogue of Chapter IV Act V.
- Freminet fights with his claymore while Charlotte is a long-ranged catalyst user.
- Freminet dresses in dark navy blue while Charlotte wears maroon and has pink hair.
- Freminet is extremely withdrawn while Charlotte is extroverted and has a Motor Mouth.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Just like Nilou before her; as a playable character, she is capable of defending herself by flashing a Kamera at them that deals Cryo damage. However, in storylines, there is no evidence that she is capable of defending herself at all, as her official character introduction points out that she is nearly caught, bound, and thrown into the ocean by a group of criminals, and had to be saved by Chevreuse (who is implied to be secretly following her to ensure her safety).
Genki Girl: If it brings news, she'll quickly show her energy and make sure that she can get her photos and answers.
High-Class Glass: She wears a monocle on her left eye, which also appears in her Constellation design.
Iconic Item: In comparison to the much larger tripod Kameras that were previously introduced, hers, named "Monsieur Verite," is distinct in that it is travel-sized, has only one gold-ringed lens in the center, has a darker brown color palette with white circle patterns around its lens, and is dressed up in a feather hat and bowtie.
Identical Stranger: Downplayed. Though she bears a resemblance to Liyue's Yanfei due to their similar color schemes, hair colors (although hers is pinker), and eye colors, given the lack of mention of her in Yanfei's lore and her origins in Fontaine, they're unlikely to be related.
Intrepid Reporter: She likes being close to the action, and ventures to not just the regions of Fontaine, but also outside of the nation as well to get the scoop (such as the King of Invokations Grand Prix in the 3.7 flagship event "Duel! The Summoners' Summit!"). This approach, naturally, puts her life in danger, and, as reported by Chevreuse to Euphrasie, she got nearly tied up and thrown into the water by a group of criminals, for relentlessly tailing a suspect all the way from the Court of Fontaine to Romaritime Harbor.
Know When to Fold 'Em: If Charlotte wants an interview, she will hound her target ceaselessly and use every bargaining chip available to make it happen, even the person in question is someone like Wriothesley. However, Charlotte doesn't even bother trying to convince the Knave to talk, knowing she's legally barred from interviewing a Harbinger without first getting official approval.
Magical Camera: She uses her Kamera to channel her Cryo powers into weaponizing her snapshots.
Man of Kryptonite: Being a Cryo catalyst unit, all of Charlotte's attacks deal Cryo damage, which can permanently freeze Hydro Slimes, shielded Hydro Abyss Mages, shielded Fatui Hydrogunner Legionnaires, Tainted Hydro Phantasms (so long as they are not enraged), and other normal adversaries with a Hydro aura, as long as she keeps attacking them.
Marked to Die: Foes marked with either Snappy Silhouette or Focused Impression will periodically take Cryo damage within 1.5-second intervals, the former lasting six seconds and the latter twice as much (hence four and eight bursts, respectively), albeit at the expense of a longer, eighteen-second-long cooldown to the Skill's held form (instead of twelve for its base form). Charlotte's sixth Constellation upgrade, A Summation of Interest, augments anyone attacking foes marked with the latter with an additional, wide-ranging attack worth 180% of her Attack stat, as well as heals any ally caught within its radius by 42% of her Attack stat, activated at least every six seconds.
Miss Exposition: She tends to pop up to chat about the latest story she's chasing, providing background and information that happens to be relevant to the upcoming plot.
Motor Mouth: She's a fast talker, befitting her occupation as a reporter. Better make sure you grab a chair if she gets started, because she loves to make small talk about her profession.
Ms. Fanservice: Charlotte is a very attractive young lady, boasting an outfit that shows off a lot of skin on her legs, back, and sides, as well as one of the few mid-sized females with noticeable Jiggle Physics. Downplayed, though, in that her appearance isn't given any special focus story-wise, nor does she take advantage of her good looks.
Mythology Gag: She shares her name, hairstyle, similar outfit, and color palette with the "Charlotte" stigmata set from sister game Honkai Impact 3rd.
Oh, Crap!: When the Traveler and Paimon introduce Charlotte to Ei, the journalist freaks out for a moment, thinking she's been disrespectful to Inazuma's god. She spends much of the following events worried that lightning is going to strike her at some point.
Only One Finds It Fun: As a reporter, she is one of the few characters who finds Cyno's jokes and wordplay amusing and impressive, and she asks him if he has ever thought about writing headlines.
Ornamental Weapon: While a Catalyst user, all of her attacks are performed with her Kamera. Her weapon will only show up if she initiates a charged and plunging attack.
Power Stereotype Flip: For a person with control over Cryo, Charlotte is actually a Genki Girl with an enthusiastic demeanor and a Motor Mouth.
Reassigned to Antarctica: Since Charlotte's brand of journalism often provokes the wrath of powerful people, her boss Euphrasie has often sent her on trips abroad to protect her until the authorities can clear up the situation. Her appearance in the "Duel! The Summoners' Summit!" event is one such trip.
Regenerating Health: Her first Constellation upgrade, A Need to Verify Facts, allows the Newsflash Field to bestow healed allies with Verification marks which, for six seconds, heals them every two seconds (hence three bursts) equivalent to 80% of Charlotte's Attack stat.
Rose-Haired Sweetie: She has pink hair and is a Genki Girl full of energy and perkiness.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In her 2024 birthday letter to the Traveler, Charlotte explains that the other journalists from The Steambird wanted to interview her for an exclusive on her, as well as document her daily life for an entire year. Charlotte immediately ran away from them and went to hide in Euphrasie's house, only to realize she was trapped in there and had to beg for the Traveler's help to get out without being found.
Sexy Backless Outfit: Downplayed. Her top is backless, but the shawl attached to her detached sleeves covers the middle part of her back.
Sideboob: Charlotte's apron-like top underneath her waist coat shows this.
Situational Damage Attack: Her fourth Constellation upgrade, A Responsibility to Oversee, boosts her Burst's damage against foes marked with Snappy Silhouette or Focused Impression by 10%, as well as restores 2 Energy for her, activated five times every twenty seconds.
Situational Sword: Her fourth-ascension passive, Diversified Investigation, boosts her Healing Bonus and Cryo Damage proportional to the number of, respectively, Fontainian (other than herself) and outlander allies in her party by increments of 5% for each such ally (hence a maximum of 15%).
Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: As suggested as far back as the "Overture: The Final Feast" trailer, Charlotte is a close friend of Navia's, her voiceline mentioning how she does damage control on the more negative articles written about her, while Navia's has her voice praise for her photography skills. Naturally, Charlotte's ability to constantly apply Cryo to enemies with her Skill allows Navia to easily cause Crystalise to buff her Skill.
Status Buff: Her second Constellation upgrade, A Duty to Pursue Truth, allows her Skill to bestow a twelve-second-long Attack boost by 10% for each enemy struck, to a maximum of 30% (hence at least three foes).
Tear Up the Contract: The Fontaine Archon Quest has Charlotte offering to cover The Traveler and Paimon's meal if they agree to provide her with something exclusive about Wriothesley, the Warden of the Fortress of Meropide. When they return and can't hold up their end of the bargain (since they were sent there undercover by Neuvilette and are now privy to several state secrets), a Friendship line unlocks wherein Charlotte demands they pay her back for the cost of that meal, even calling them "swindlers".
Upgrade Artifact: A variant—her third and fifth Constellation upgrades, An Imperative to Independence and A Principle of Conscience, add three levels to, respectively, her Burst and Skill.
Vapor Wear: Charlotte's backless top shows with clarity that she's not wearing a bra.
Visual Pun: Being a Cryo user who attacks by taking pictures with her Kamera, all of her attacks are literal freeze frames.
Weaponized Camera: Charlotte uses her Kamera in battle to channel her Cryo powers.

Mona

Mona Megistus

Columnist from the newspaper's Mondstadt branch and editor of its "All Things Astrological" section.

See her entry here

Euphrasie

The current Chief Editor of the Steambird, who gives bounty commissions to the Traveler.

Beleaguered Boss: While Euphrasie has high praise for her abilities as a reporter, she also has to put up with all the danger Charlotte ends up putting herself in and the influential people she angers with her articles. This often forces her to send Charlotte on business trips outside of Fontaine while she does damage control and waits for the criminals she angered are apprehended.
Slave to PR: A more positive take. Euphrasie is dedicated to purporting the Steambirds reputation to Fontaine and beyond. To this end, she introduced the "Tales of Humanity" segment in the paper where citizens could send forward concerns that through proxies, such as the Traveler, could be solved for a reward and net the Steambird more positive press.

Jenck (Unmarked Spoilers!)

Jenck

An editor for The Steambird, and the main antagonist of the World Quest series "Questioning Melusine and Answering Machine".

Ambiguous Situation: Whichever Harbinger it was he had made a deal with and later suffered at the hands of, is unknown. The Traveler guesses that he was under Sandrone's command, especially given her strong reaction to Curve's destruction.
Big Bad: Of the "Questioning Melusine and Answering Machine" World Quest series.
Bullying a Dragon: Continually taunts and insults the Traveler during their confrontation in Mosso's lab, despite having just seen them effortlessly dismantle a Fatui hit squad right in front of him, and being a member of the newspaper who should be well aware of all the things the Traveler has done since they came to Fontaine. This backfires on him hard, because while the Traveler never manages to catch up to him, his Harbinger backer was clearly not a fan of him antagonizing the Traveler and cuts his tongue out and leaves him catatonic in the opera house with an apology.
Deal with the Devil: He made a deal with one of the Harbingers where they would help him take over The Steambird in return for him bringing them all of Dr. Mosso's research pertaining to Curve. It gets called off when Jenck's actions instead lead to both it and Curve himself being destroyed, ending in the Harbinger punishing Jenck personally and leaving him at the mercy of Fontaine's authorities.
Empty Shell: The end of the quest has him being found at the Opera Epiclese in a catatonic state with an apology letter from the Harbinger who was backing him to the Traveler, Paimon, and Talochard in place of his ripped out tongue.
Karma Houdini Warranty: He manages to escape the self-destructing laboratory, with investigations finding no leads on his whereabouts. However, he eventually turns up at the Opera Epiclese both catatonic and with his tongue ripped out, with Euphrasie comparing him to a "doll that has just stood trial". Apparently, the Harbinger who was backing Jenck did it as a way to make amends to the Traveler, Paimon and Talochard for Jenck's actions, as well as for Curve's destruction and the loss of all of Dr. Mosso's research pertaining to him.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He masterminded the theft of Sir Arthur so that Talochard and Curve could lead him to Dr. Mosso's laboratory and the truth behind Mosso's actions thirty years ago. While he believes The Steambird should take responsibility for its role in Mosso's death, he's moreso doing it so that the public will pass judgement on the newspaper and give Jenck the chance to usurp Euphrasie as Editor-in-Chief.
The Starscream: His real reason for finding the truth behind Dr. Mosso's actions is so he can expose The Steambird for having convicted an innocent man and take over as Editor-in-Chief once the public passes judgement onto Euphrasie.
Tongue Trauma: He's found catatonic with his tongue ripped out, apparently being the work of the Harbinger who was backing him.

Chioriya Boutique

A Fontaine-based clothing and fashion shop owned and operated by Chiori, a foreigner from Inazuma.

Chiori

Chiori

Introduced: March 13, 2024 (v4.5 "Blades Weaving Betwixt Brocade" [first half])
Voiced By: Chen Yang (Chinese), Ayana Taketatsu (Japanese), Lee Da-eun (Korean), Brittany Lauda (English)

The Thundering Seamstress

"It's up to me to decide who I want to be and to cut my own path. No one can tell me what to do."

Rarity: 5★
Element: Geo
Weapon: Sword
Constellation: Cisoria, the Scissors

A fashion designer from Inazuma currently based in Fontaine, moving there with the goal of becoming the biggest name in Teyvat's fashion world after being rejected by her previous mentors for her unconventional style and ideas.

Chiori brings her expertise in cutting through fabric into combat, wielding a two-blade sword style with the same flash and style as her brand. Her Elemental Skill, Fluttering Hosode, has Chiori dash forward and perform an upward slash at her enemies before summoning a "Tamoto", a doll that will slash at nearby enemies at intervals. Her Elemental Burst, Hiyoku: Twin Blades, has Chiori hold her twin blades in a scissor formation and perform a wide-ranging slash. ^note

Bathing Beauty: Her "Good Night" voiceline has her express a desire for a nice, long bath before bidding you adieu.
Berserk Button: Chiori has great disdain for preferential treatment. While she doesn't specifically hate high society, she will not give them any more respect than she would a normal person of lesser status. Any demand for respect or preferential treatment based off of status is a good way to earn a one way trip out her store, usually through the nearest window.
Brutal Honesty: Her default state of being. Chiori says what's on her mind, no matter how offensive it might sound.
Traveler: The concept behind Kirara's outfit is really original.
Chiori: Thank you. I just wanted to make sure she wouldn't always look like a cat that had been unceremoniously dropped in a bucket of paint.
Celibate Heroine: In her "Interesting Things" voice-over, Chiori talks about her little puppet Tamoto serving her of assistance, but when asked by the Traveler if she ever wanted a "companion", she expresses that she's not looking for one.
Child of Two Worlds: Time and time again, the game reminds players that Chiori is a native from Inazuma who has chosen to make Fontaine her new home (she uses an Inazuman Vision instead of a Fontainian one - therefore, she lacks an Arkhe element and is unable to perform a dolphin jump from underwater). Even her Ascension materials repeat this motif, requiring items found in the Inazuma map, but also drops from a Fontaine unique boss.
Childhood Friends: She was this with Kamisato Ayaka. Sometime, Chiori departed for Fontaine as a war refugee during the decree enforcements and the war with Watatsumi, though she and Ayaka reunite during v4.3's "Roses and Muskets" event.
Companion Cube: Downplayed — though she mainly uses her in battle, Tamoto was made by Chiori like a puppet who could be of assistance for her work.
(Interesting Things) "Tamoto is my first masterpiece. At the time, I was just thinking to stitch together a puppet girl who looked like me to be my model and assistant. [...]"
Connected All Along: It turns out that Chiori not only knows Ayaka and Ayato from Kamisato fame (and in fact, she was childhood friends with Ayaka), but was also the one that introduced them to Xavier in the first place.
Deadpan Snarker: Chiori's got a very sharp tongue to match her Brutal Honesty. As an example, she has this to say to Xavier during Roses and Muskets:
Xavier: Ah, I see it now! What lies before me... is a whole world of hope!
Chiori: ...no, what lies before you is the fountain. I hope you can start seeing clearly, or you'll end up taking a dip in it!
Determinator: Chiori is absolutely dedicated to making her boutique the biggest in all of Teyvat to stick it to all her former masters who disowned for not conforming to their standards. Not even Malicious Slander being spread about her and causing her usual suppliers to pull support in her Character Quest holds her back, with her simply gathering materials from the ocean and tearing up the outfits she already made for extra materials, with her even admitting to doing so in her first Fashion Week with the clothes she brought with her from Inazuma.
Dishing Out Dirt: She has a Geo Vision.
Drink-Based Characterization: In her "Good Morning" line, Chiori asks the Traveler if they can get her a cup of black coffee, with no milk or sugar. An excellent choice for a person who's highly independent and unafraid to speak her mind.
Dual Wielding: Her introduction artwork depicts her wielding matching twin swords. Notably, these swords match the style of her outfit. Gameplay-wise, she wields her equipped weapon in her right hand and carries the previously-mentioned sword in her left.
Dub Pronunciation Change: Like all characters of Inazuman origin, Chiori (hiragana ちおり) is the kun'yomi native Japanese reading of 千织 [simplified]/千織 [traditional], which the original Chinese pronounces as Qiānzhī due to Alternate Character Reading. This is the same for her doll Tamoto (hiragana たもと), which is called Xiù in Chinese.
Dull Surprise: How she speaks, never raising her voice beyond a monotone contralto, giving the impression that she's just thoroughly bored with everything.
Elemental Hair Colors: Downplayed. Her hair is mostly a dark chocolate brown, but the underside of her hair is Geo yellow, at least on her left side.
Famed In-Story: She is the owner of Chioriya Boutique and a renowned Inazuman designer whose designs gained favor in the Fontaine fashion world for incorporating elements of "resistance" and "revolution", sparking a fashion craze. Her clothing designs can also be found on several playable characters, such as Lyney, Lynette, Navia, and Kirara.
The Fashionista: As mentioned above, she's a fashion designer and helped tailor Kirara's clothes. She is also the designer behind Navia's clothes as well. Lynette confirms that the costumes worn by herself and Lyney during their shows are exclusively designed by Chiori, and that she was too timid to face the tailor's irritation when Lyney damaged his costume with a prop and had to send it in for repairs. According to Kirara's voice-overs, Chiori was also afraid of the catgirl's claws damaging her fabrics.
Freudian Excuse:
- Discussed. In her Story Quest, she mentions how her parents often joked that her current attitude was because they spoiled her as a child and weren't overly strict with her.
- Her Berserk Button for Upper Class Twits demanding preferential treatment seems to stem from at least one of her former tailoring mentors disowning her for not prioritising a client from the Tenryou Commission on account of them being last in line.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Chiori is noted to be a friend of Kirara and Lynette, whose clothes she designed and is business partners with; unfortunately, the fact Chiori is a Geo unit means she lacks synergy with the two cat girls, due to them respectively being Dendro and Anemo, which have no reactions with Geo.
Hidden Depths: While to most people she is just a fashion designer, maybe a very famous one, but a normal person overall, it's hinted several times throughout the "Muskets and Roses" event story line that she moonlights as a law enforcement officer and helps Chevreuse with her work on many occasions. Her Story Quest reveals that this is because, while people will naturally be tight-lipped around an officer of the law, they are prone to being more talkative in Chiori's boutique and spilling information more easily, with Chiori revealing anything relevant to Chevreuse in exchange for favours.
Hoist by Their Own Petard: In her Character Quest, her penchant for directly dealing with difficult customers and opposition are used against her when Uther gets a photo of her confronting him after he had some thugs attack Kiara, which he uses along with the testimony of a customer who angered Chiori previously to paint her as a violent supporter of criminals in the tabloids. Wenger, her friend and supplier who's forced to withhold support for Fashion Week on account of the rumors, lampshades this, only for her to retort that she wouldn't have gotten where she is without her direct and bold attitude.
Immigrant Patriotism: Downplayed. While she doesn't dislike her home of Inazuma and even misses the desserts, she makes it clear she prefers Fontaine, becoming a household name in the nation and having found no reason to go back home, even despite the abolishment of the Sakoku and Vision Hunt Decrees.
Implied Death Threat: During her Character Teaser, Chiori all but verbally states her intention to harm a man for demanding that she give him preferential treatment (along with him getting violent with one of Chiori's employees), first by tearing his suit via throwing her fabric shears, and then by shutting the door to her boutique before advancing menacingly up to him and holding her scissors to his neck. The man escapes by breaking out of her window.
Improbable Aiming Skills: In Chiori's Character Teaser, Chiori tears up a man's suit without leaving a scratch on him using a thrown fabric shear. Twice!
Interclass Friendship: Chiori was born into a middle-class family of merchants and would never have met Ayaka, daughter of the noble Kamisato clan and future famed Shirasagi Himegimi, if the latter hadn't caught Chiori sneaking into the Kamisato estate while picking up her temari ball as children. Despite the briefness of the chance encounter and Chiori being escorted out in the end, they managed to become good friends and stayed in contact, reuniting again as youths/young adults.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Chiori is famous (or infamous) for her direct attitude, pension for snark and Brutal Honesty, and full willingness to get close to, if not outright violent with particularly difficult customers and troublesome business rivals. However, she also cares closely about those close to her and can get easily aggravated if someone threatens them, such as towards Uther for siccing bandits on Kirara in her quest, and is willing to cover the costs for her customers if they suddenly come upon money troubles, such as Laetitia when her fiancé's business fell under financial troubles that would prevent them from paying the deposit for the dress, with Chiori making her dress at the originally agreed quality regardless at a discount.
Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Chiori wears a very extravagant wardrobe, but this hasn't stopped her from literally throwing thugs out of her shop on several occasions.
Leg Focus: Chiori wears a short skirt with a pair of black tights that stand out against her comparatively bright dress. Her Character Teaser also gives a close-up of her thighs as she walks threateningly towards a rude client.
Loophole Abuse: Chiori gets away with threatening a customer in her Character Teaser by not landing a scratch on him and by not actually giving him any kind of verbal threat. She just intimidates him into smashing open her boutique's window and running away. As such, Chevreuse can't punish Chiori for the incident and can only give her a stern warning.
Meaningful Name: Chiori's name uses the kanji for thousand (千) and weave (織), fitting her occupation as a renowned fashion designer who has tailored clothes for several playable characters. Her doll Tamoto takes its name from the kanji for kimono sleeve (袂), though it's spelt using hiragana in the Japanese text.
Mirror Character: She has a few similarities with Alhaitham. Both are skilled Sword wielders who dual wield weapons (Chiori wields two swords, Alhaitham wields a sword and a kukri), can Flash Step with their Elemental Skills, and have similarly scathing personalities, both being highly unafraid to speak their mind and fairly dry.
Moveset Clone: At first glance, Chiori can be seen as the Geo equivalent to Keqing, being a sword user with a Skill that has her dash forward to deliver a slash and grants her a Spell Blade, and a Burst that deals AoE damage of her element. Like Alhaitham before her though, who has his "Chisel-Light Mirrors", Chiori differentiates herself with her "Tamoto" dolls, which allow her to comfortably deal damage even off-field or in tandem with them.
Must Have Caffeine: Her "Good Morning" voiceline has her ask the Traveler if they were going to the café, and to get her a coffee if so.
Parrying Bullets: When Uther attempts to shoot the Traveler and Paimon when Chiori tells them to go on ahead of her, she slashes the bullet before it can hit them.
Perpetual Frowner: In addition to her constant bored contralto, that disinterested frown she commonly displays is pretty much the only facial expression she ever makes.
Real Men Take It Black: Gender-inverted. Chiori's "Good Morning" voice-over says it best and foremost...
"Morning. Don't expect me to make breakfast for you. But if you're going to the café, be a darling and bring me a cup of coffee. Black. No cream, no sugar."
Red Baron: The fashion world in Fontaine refers to her as "The Thundering Seamstress".
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted. She has red eyes, and stories about her driving away rascals out of her establishment are famous in Fontaine, yet she's still heroic (if rather deadpan).
Shown Their Work: Fashion dolls like Tamoto were the common method for designing and displaying outfits before the invention of life-sized mannequins. As Chiori does in her Vision story, they allow a designer to visualize an outfit while conserving fabric for the full size version. Though most fashion designers use a more realistic Barbie-esque doll than Tamoto's baby doll proportions.
Silk Hiding Steel: Despite her cool and chic appearance, many know that Chiori is not someone to be trifled with. Charlotte states that she has taken photos of Chiori literally throwing armed and physically imposing ruffians out of her establishment. Deconstructed in that the issues faced in her Character Quest are due to a rival maliciously taking advantage of her knee-jerk reaction to sway the public against her.
Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: She's noted to be a close friend of Navia's, having been the one to design her outfit, is able to ask personal favors for her like escorting Kirara after a bandit attack, and both are noted by Paimon to be fairly similar in personality despite their differing demeanours. In gameplay, not only does them both being Geo characters give the team access to Geo Resonance, but Chiori's "Tamoto" dolls allow her to constantly apply Geo to cause Crystalise, creating a steady supply of Crystals to charge up Navia's Skill.
Spell Blade: When triggering the "Tapestry" effect via inputting the normal attack button after unleashing her skill, her blade will be infused with Geo for five seconds.
Symbol Motif Clothing: Three-petaled flowers are repeatedly featured in her clothing and hairpin. The end of her Story Quest reveals her new logo based on the symbol that more explicitly illustrates that it's a stylized BC for Boutique Chioriya^*.
Take a Third Option: In her Story Quest, a good few characters encourage Chiori to opt out of Fashion Week and just wait until next year after the heat from the slander being spread about her dies down, with the Traveler and Paimon suggesting they should focus on finding the source of the rumours to disprove them. Her response?
Chiori: Find incriminating evidence, or participate in Fashion Week? Hah, I'm doing both.
Token Wholesome: Despite being the tailor for a few Ms. Fanservices, Chiori herself is comparatively less fanservicey, with her wardrobe being very conservative.
Tranquil Fury: When dealing with a belligerent customer during her character teaser, "Crimson-Woven Heart", Chiori maintains her dispassionate expression while threatening him with her fabric shears.
Tsurime Eyes: Her slanted, red eyes symbolize her strong, sassy, and complicated self.
Unseen No More: While several playable characters have voiceovers about her and her boutique can be visited but not entered by the player, she doesn't appear until Update 4.3.
Vapor Wear: If you squint very closely at her chest area, you can see there is a very thin gap of bare skin between her sleeveless gray kimono and her yellow haori jacket, indicating she's not wearing a bra or sarashi underneath her outfit.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Chevreuse is one of Chiori's closest friends and the two help each other a lot in their work, but they do butt heads on occasion due to Chiori's overall flippant attitude toward the law when angered enough and Chevreuse's By-the-Book Cop attitude. That said Chiori is probably the only one Chevreuse is actually willing to look the other way with.
War Refugees: A conversation with Ayato during the "Roses and Muskets" event clarifies that Chiori got out of Inazuma sometime during the Sakoku Decree and the war with Watatsumi Island. It's implied something (likely Sakoku or Vision Hunt Decree related) forced her to leave so fast that she didn't have time to say goodbye to anyone.

Eloffe

Chiori's assistant and right hand woman who usually takes care of the day-to-day business of the Boutique on top of being a clothes designer herself.

Cuteness Proximity: Really likes Melusines.
The Face: Thanks to Chiori's temper and general lack of tact, Eloffe tends to be the one to deal with everyday customers.

Civilians

Aurelie's Troupe (Unmarked Spoilers for Furina's Story Quest!)

Aurelie Fumeau, Dulphy, Lauwick, Pauleau, Vilmant

A small-time theater troupe struggling to honor the memory of their founder and director, Aurelie Fumeau, a victim of Marcel/Vacher's serial murders, by bringing to the stage the final play she wrote, The Little Oceanid.

But Now I Must Go: Despite the success of "The Little Oceanid" the troupe still decides it is best to disband feeling there is still to much pain and heartache to just continue as they had, though most still plan to continue their acting careers,
Delicate and Sickly: Dulphy has an incurable chronic illness and was abandoned by her birth family once they found out she couldn't be cured. The specifics of the disease are unknown, but it causes bad flare ups that could leave her passed out for days at a time.
The Heart: Aurelie brought together the members of the troupe with her kindness and charisma, which began to unravel following her death.
The Last Dance: Owing to dire financial straits, the surviving members of the troupe agree to disband, preferably after putting The Little Oceanid onto the stage.
Not Blood Siblings: Defied. Pauleau had romantic feelings for Aurelie and confessed to her on the day she disappeared; Aurelie turned him down, stating that she viewed everyone in the troupe as family.
Ship Tease: Dulphy and Lauwick constantly argue Like an Old Married Couple, but also look out for each other and most of their arguments stem from worry over each others health. Lauwick makes it clear he will only return to the stage when Dulphy is healthy enough to return herself.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Aurelie was one of the kindest people the members of the troupe ever met, accepting them for who they are regardless of their social standing, which makes her death at the hands of Vacher all the more tragic, more so when her letters during captivity reveal that she never stopped thinking of them.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Vilmant blames himself for Aurelie's murder, having urged her to decline Marcel's sponsorship upon learning they will be peddling Sinthe in exchange, more so when Aurelie decided to confront the merchants putting up the offer.
We ARE Struggling Together: Without Aurelie to hold them together, the surviving members of the troupe struggle to get their act together and fulfill her wish to see The Little Oceanid put to stage.

Bernard

A member of an organization called the Humane Society who are all about sheltering animals for new homes. He actually uses his organization as a front to smuggle imitation Sinthe for Pierre by using said animals as transport.

Bad People Abuse Animals: One of the branches of Lynette's Hangout Event reveals that Bernard uses animals within the Humane Society by forcing bags filled with Sinthe into their stomachs for secure transport.
Freudian Excuse: When cornered, he reveals that his willingness to use the Humane Society's "rescued" animals to smuggle imitation Sinthe was because his father, the previous head of the organisation who handed the reins to him, put more effort into caring for animals than his family, and as a result left them in poverty.

Cesar

A famous magician who fell to his death while trying to perform a magic trick ten years ago and revealed to be the notorious criminal Phantom Weasel.

Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: Was the victim of this by the real Phantom Weasel and his Deceptive Disciple.
Disposable Fiancé: Jemma only approached Cesar to pin her crimes onto him, and is implied to be more interested in Lorenzo instead.
Friend to All Children: His diary recounts how he spent much of his income buying gifts for the children who came to watch his show after he told them that his hat could grant wishes, and was more concerned about executing his tricks. He was also concerned about Lyney and Lynette's well-being even though he had known them for only 10 days.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: As mentioned, he was a Friend to All Children and had blonde hair.
High-Class Glass: He wore a monocle on his right eye.
Mentor Occupational Hazard: He died soon after teaching the magician twins because his Deceptive Disciple and fiancée killed him.
Not the Fall That Kills You…: He died because his props were sabotaged and there was no safety net to catch him while he was falling from the box he was suspended in at the top of the Opera Epiclese.
Perpetual Poverty: The money he spent on his performances and on gifts for children left him less wealthy than a lot of other magicians at the time. This was part of Lorenzo's motive for sabotaging his magic trick and killing him, as he was subjected to the same poverty by association.
Posthumous Character: He died ten years before the events of Chapter IV.
The Scapegoat: He was murdered by the true Phantom Weasel and their accomplice in order for them to pin the blame for their crimes onto him.
The Show Must Go Wrong: He died due to a botched performance of a high-altitude magic trick that was sabotaged by the Phantom Weasel and his disciple.
Stage Magician: Cesar's occupation.

Cowell (Unmarked Spoilers)

A stage assistant of Lyney and Lynette's entourage, as well as the victim of Act I.

Accidental Suicide: He died because he didn't anticipate being knocked unconscious and caught in the trap he laid out for the woman he was planning to dissolve.
Anvil on Head: Got crushed flat by the water tank that was suspended above the box he was in.
Asshole Victim: He was an employee of a criminal organization that not only killed young women but also sold and distributed drugs that ruined lives. He ends up being killed by his own setup when he tried to kill Halsey and frame Lyney for the crime.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Esmond, one of the Gardes tasked with investigating Cowell's death, states that everyone else in the troupe saw him as hardworking and generally liked him despite his short time with them. This of course hides the fact that he was part of a drug ring that only joined the troupe to frame the Serial Disappearances on Lyney, and in turn the Fatui.
The Dead Guy Did It: The truth of the mystery behind his "murder".
Evil All Along: Cowell was described to be "well-trusted by all his colleagues", but he had become part of the magician twins' troupe in order to commit crimes.
Foreshadowing: Shortly before the magic show starts, he calls out to Lyney for assistance with the props, hinting at how he was fiddling with the setup for his plan right from the start.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Cowell is killed when Halsey knocks him out and throws him into a box that would later be crushed by a water tank, which Cowell had set up in order to cover up Halsey's death and frame Lyney for the crime.
Karmic Death: He had planned to dissolve an unsuspecting young woman during Lyney's magic show and cover up his tracks so that Lyney would be implicated as the perpetrator of the serial disappearances case due to his ties to the Fatui. Not only was he knocked unconscious by his would-be victim and stuffed into the trap he had laid out, he also died as a result of the water tank he set up crashing down on him.
The Killer Becomes the Killed: Died during a fatefully botched attempt to dissolve another woman.
Named After Somebody Famous: Cowell may have been named after the birth name of the notorious serial killer Ted Bundy (né Cowell), who also targeted numerous young women in his crimes.
Professional Killer: His true line of work.
Walking Spoiler: Uncovering his true intentions is the key piece in solving the mystery of his own murder.

Estelle

Proprietress of Beaumont Workshop.

The Blacksmith: Every nation has one, and Estelle is Fontaine's. For what makes her different from the rest...
Breaking Old Trends: Estelle is the first female blacksmith the player encounters in the game, as well as the first shown to rely on machinery instead of her physical strength.
Mob Debt: She owes money to the Confrerie of Cabriere, who sends enforcers to bully her into paying 50-70% of the money owed that is due next month. Fortunately, Tartaglia was there and demanded the money the Confrerie owes the Northland Bank (also due next month). The enforcers quickly learn that attacking a Fatui Harbinger like him was not a good idea.

Halsey (Unmarked spoilers!)

Halsey, née Liliane

A Mondstadt-born pickpocket who was chosen to volunteer in Lyney's magic show. She is actually a thief from Mondstadt named Liliane. Tropes for her can be found in Mondstadt.

The Ghost: The real Halsey that Liliane stole the ticket to Lyney's show from is presumably somewhere in Fontaine but has yet to be seen.

Jemma (Unmarked Spoilers)

Jemma

Cesar's grieving fiancée and the true Phantom Weasel.

Arc Villain: Jemma is eventually revealed to be the real Phantom Weasel near the end of Lyney's Story Quest and convinced Lorenzo to kill Caesar and later falsely took credit as the Phantom Weasel to help take the blame off of her. By the end of the quest, however, she starts feeling guilty for everything and turns herself in.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Jemma never had any real affection for Cesar, having approached him in order to scapegoat him for her crimes. After orchestrating his death with Lorenzo, she pretended to be in deep mourning for Cesar and targeted by Lorenzo for the next ten years to keep herself beneath suspicion. Furthermore, she became the Phantom Weasel because she was so envious of other people's joy that she stole the objects they valued so that they'd be just as miserable as her.
Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: Worked with Lorenzo to kill and frame Cesar as the Phantom Weasel.
Didn't See That Coming: Having eluded the law for the better part of a decade by playing the grieving widow, she didn’t expect someone to take up her mantle as a copycat thief. And if that wasn’t enough, she didn’t expect that that not only was the declaration letter a trap to draw her and Lorenzo out, but that the culprits were a pair of kids that Cesar only taught for ten days.
Driven by Envy: Her motivation in becoming the Phantom Weasel was to steal away other people's joy to satisfy her own misery.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: After all the trouble she put into ensuring her freedom and perceived innocence, she turns herself in after Lyney points out that being with Lorenzo made her stop stealing, and that she is lonely without him.
For the Evulz: Freudian Excuse notwithstanding, her motive for robbing so many people of their prized possessions was just to make people miserable.
Freudian Excuse: She was orphaned and left homeless at a very young age, with the only playthings she could obtain being discarded scraps of paper to draw on and ragdolls she made herself. This made her a Bully Magnet amongst the better-off children, instilling in her a deep resentment of society that made her turn to theft in order to draw catharsis from depriving others of the materialistic happiness she was denied.
Karma Houdini Warranty: For ten years, she was able to get away scot-free for her crimes as the Phantom Weasel by pinning the blame on Cesar, with his disgruntled assistant Lorenzo helping her cover her tracks by turning himself in after the Traveler and Lyney caught him. Unfortunately for her, Lyney and Lynette easily saw through her ruse and remind her that she now risks spending the rest of her life free but lonely without her accomplice/friend. Crushed by the realization, she ultimately turns herself in so she can still be with Lorenzo.
Laser-Guided Karma: Jemma targeted and killed Cesar, whom Lyney and Lynette looked up to, with Lorenzo's help, then soiled his name for her own advantage and pretended to be Cesar's grieving fiancée. In turn, Lyney and Lynette got Lorenzo, Jemma's Only Friend, arrested, leaving her the choice to either give up everything for Lorenzo, or retain everything but never see Lorenzo again. She eventually chooses to spoil the image she had built up for ten years for Lorenzo.
Lovable Rogue: Subverted. After first hearing about the Phantom Weasel, Paimon is reminded of "those mysterious night burglars that you read about in novels," but Charlotte notes that unlike those, the Phantom Weasel was hated by the public for stealing from the rich and poor alike.
Morton's Fork: Lyney's reasons for not exposing her in public was because he realized, based on the lowliness he finds himself feeling from his lifetime of keeping secrets, that she'd end up in a bind anyways after her accomplice and confidant Lorenzo was arrested and took the blame for her thefts: either she could spend the rest of her life unpunished but completely alone, or join Lorenzo in prison even if it meant wasting his sacrifice. She ultimately chooses the latter, turning herself in the day after Lyney's performance.
My God, What Have I Done?: After the twins explain to her precisely how they have dealt retribution to her by taking away her Only Friend from her side indefinitely, talking to Jemma has her express this sentiment.
Jemma: What is my truth...? Sometimes I think I'm like a gambling addict... All I care about is winning, and it doesn't matter what's at stake. By the time I come to my senses, I'm left with nothing. Oh, if I had my time again...
"Not So Different" Remark: After Lyney exposes her as the Phantom Weasel, Jemma tries to get the last laugh by taunting that he'll eventually end up alone like her were he to keep secrets to himself for too long. While he blows her off at the time, Lyney later admits to the Traveler that he knows she was right, which is why he knew simply exposing her in private would be enough; with the only person who shared her secret now imprisoned, he realized that she'd feel completely alone, and be consigned to the Morton's Fork of either turning herself in to be with her accomplice, or continue running from the law but resigning herself to a lifetime of loneliness.
Only Friend: To Lorenzo. He was willing to take the fall for Jemma and give up the wealth that he killed Cesar for to protect her identity as the true Phantom Weasel.
Talking to the Dead: Whenever she visited Cesar's grave, passers-by noted that she could be heard talking to him, though in truth she was keeping up the act of the grieving fiancée.
Walking Spoiler: She is the true mastermind behind Cesar's death as well as the true identity of the Phantom Weasel.
Widow's Weeds: She is always wearing a black dress as part of her act to drive off suspicion in her involvement in his death.
Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Her plan to keep herself beneath suspicion involved playing the part of a grieving widow of a widely hated man to invoke sympathy.

Lepine-Pauline

Voiced by: Kate Clarke (English), Mai Oomori (Japanese)

An eccentric photographer and engineer who has built a special Kamera with a target-recognition feature. She is the primary NPC of the "Graph Adversarial Technology Experiment Log" limited-time event.

All for Nothing: Played for Laughs at "The Long-Failed 'Graph Adversarial Technology'..." World Quest, added to the game after the end of the aforementioned event, when Charlotte informs her that the story of the "Phantom Blubberbeast" was but a False Flag Operation coordinated by The Steambird and the Maison Gardiennage to catch copycat criminals, and that the Gardemeks' detection technology was already advanced enough, meaning she spent 270,000 Mora on a fiction. Fortunately for her, it's subverted when Charlotte tells her that her tech could be very useful to her fellow journalists.
Chewing the Scenery: Lepine-Pauline is in hysterics when she realizes her whole project was based on a False Flag Operation, screaming at how she has blown 270,000 Mora on a useless project and is now saddled with a huge debt, along with having her dreams of wealth and fame destroyed.
Didn't Think This Through: She is so invested in helping catch criminals that she built target-recognition technology with little regard for financial viability (having even taken loans and banking on good publicity to recoup her expenses), let alone notice that the reports about the "Phantom Blubberbeast" was not on The Steambird's news section.
Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Lepine-Pauline used to be an equipment supplier to the Fontaine Research Institute; following the accident that destroyed much of the Institute, she was forced to scrape some Mora, almost all of which she blew investing on her technology.
Going for the Big Scoop: Played with. Upon reading from The Steambird of cases of criminals disguised as Blubberbeasts to hide from Gardemeks, Lepine-Pauline resolved to create technology that could improve their target detection ability.
Ignored Epiphany: After Charlotte rekindles her hopes, Lepine-Pauline goes to take out another bank loan for her project, despite already having a 270,000 Mora debt and despite the Traveler trying to tell her not to put all her eggs in one basket again.
Large Ham: Lepine-Pauline goes hysterical when she realizes all her efforts (and thousands of Mora spent) were All for Nothing, especially in the Japanese dub.
Sanity Slippage: Played for Laughs. After learning her efforts were All for Nothing, Lepine-Pauline comically bottoms out and resolves to cheat potential debt collectors by deliberately getting herself sent to the Fortress of Meropide.
Throw the Dog a Bone: Despite the seeming futility of her endeavor, Charlotte assures Lepine-Pauline that her efforts are not entirely in vain, and that her technology could be of use to journalists like Charlotte, who promises to promote the technology to her coworkers (and perhaps allow her to recoup her expenses).

The Leroy family (Unmarked Spoilers!)

Benoit, Autumn, and Athos Leroy

A family consisting of patriarch Benoit, his estranged daughter Autumn, and her husband Athos, who appear in the World Quest series, "Leroy".

Abusive Parents: Benoit is not what you would call a loving father. He married his daughter off to an elderly man so that she could get his house topside when he died, then married her off to another man so he could keep said house all for himself. That’s not even getting into what he did with Autumn’s daughter after Autumn was imprisoned.
Archnemesis Dad: Benoit exploited Autumn however he could to escape life in the Fleuve Cendre, then allowed her to be imprisoned after she murdered her abusive second husband in self-defense. Benoit giving his infant granddaughter away and keeping her child support funds for himself was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Autumn, enough for her to want him dead.
Arranged Marriage: Benoit married Autumn off to an elderly rich man in the Court of Fontaine who died a few years later and left his house to her, allowing Benoit to move out of the Fleuve Cendre himself. He then immediately married Autumn off to a random man who abused and humiliated her until she murdered him after conceiving a child with him.
Asshole Victim: No tears have to be shed for Benoit's death at the hands of Autumn and Athos, given how horrible and selfish he was in life.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Benoit initially comes off as a kind-hearted old man who enjoys the company of youths like Molli, the Traveler, and Paimon. Then he's later revealed to have been a horrible father to Autumn and only ever cared about himself.
Blackmail: Benoit turns out to have been blackmailing the adoptive parents so that he could foster an amicable relationship with his unwitting granddaughter to wring every "last drop of value" out of them. Autumn isn’t surprised in the least when she finds out about it.
Blatant Lies: Benoit claiming that the luxuries he provided Autumn back when they lived in the Fleuve Cendre were from the kindness of his own heart. Autumn doesn’t buy it for one second and retorts that said kindness was just Benoit’s way of priming her to be exploited as much as she could be, comparing herself to a lamb being fattened up for the slaughter.
Evil Is Petty: When Benoit is finally cornered by Autumn and his crimes are revealed to the Traveler, Autumn demands to know where Benoit sent her daughter. Benoit refuses to tell her right to the very end just to spite her.
Hate Sink: At his core, Benoit is an extremely selfish, cruel and manipulative individual who's willing to exploit anything or anyone for his own gain, even his own family. The more we learn about him through Autumn, Athos, and the inhabitants of the Fleuve Cendre, the more detestable he becomes.
Hated by All: Benoit was basically a social pariah back when he was still living in the Fleuve Cendre. Those who knew him personally considered him a scoundrel who would stoop to any low for his own self-benefit, including exploiting his own daughter.
Hates Their Parent: Autumn hates her father Benoit with a murderous passion. Justified considering how much he took advantage of her when she was young and basically threw her away when she was of no more use to him.
It's All About Me: Benoit, holy crap. He only ever saw his daughter as a useful tool to get himself out of the Fleuve Cendre, then tried to get rid of her after she scored a house topside from the death of her elderly first husband. Then when Autumn was tried for the murder of her abusive second husband, Benoit refused to take the stand and let her get sent to the Fortress of Meropide. Even when Autumn’s daughter was left in his care, he instead gave her away to a rich family and kept the child support funding for himself, all the while blackmailing said family into letting him see her on a usual basis. Athos goes so far as to ask Benoit just how the latter is able to live his life with such a clear conscience despite him having ruined so many lives, only for Autumn to tell him not to bother.
Karma Houdini Warranty: Benoit spent many years having gotten away with screwing over Autumn out of everything she earned for herself, but his luck runs out when she escapes from the Fortress of Meropide for revenge with Athos' help.
Killed Offscreen: Benoit is murdered offscreen by Autumn and Athos, who make his death look like he moved away so as to not draw suspicion.
Never My Fault: Benoit claims that all the misfortunes Autumn went through were because of her own decisions, even though he was the one who put her in those situations to begin with.
Patricide: Autumn murders Benoit at the end of the quest, then covers it up to look like he moved away.
Rags to Riches: Benoit used to live in the slums of the Fleuve Cendre and had been barely scraping by, until he married Autumn off to an elderly man in the Court of Fontaine so she could inherit his house for the two of them to live topside. Benoit would then go on to make money however he could, including embezzling the child support funds meant for Autumn's daughter.
Revenge: What Autumn's goal is. After she escaped from the Fortress of Meropide and learned that Benoit gave her daughter away and kept all the child support money for himself instead of raising her, she took on the alias "Morticia" and teamed up with Athos to kill her father and obtain information on her daughter's whereabouts.
The Sociopath: He might present himself otherwise, but Benoit doesn't give a single damn about anyone but himself, exploiting Autumn for his own gain before tossing her aside, and later on selling off Autumn's daughter just to get the child support funding for himself. When Autumn even tries to get him to tell her where he sent her daughter, Benoit cruelly refuses to tell her to the very end.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After Autumn inherited her first husband’s house in the Court of Fontaine and Benoit moved in, Benoit married her off again to another man who abused her until she killed him in self-defense, then turned a blind eye to her trial and imprisonment in the Fortress of Meropide. It was theorized by those who knew him personally that he did this so he could keep the house for himself.

Lorenzo (Unmarked Spoilers)

Lorenzo

Cesar’s former apprentice, who became a magician after his mentor’s death before becoming a businessman.

All for Nothing: After he is arrested, he claims responsibility for the Phantom Weasel's crimes so the true culprit, Jemma, can go unpunished. Unfortunately for him, Lyney and Lynette were smart enough to deduce that he is covering for her, whose conscience they later needled with the fact that Lorenzo sacrificed his freedom for hers. The following day, Jemma surrenders herself to the authorities, effectively rendering Lorenzo's sacrifice moot.
Arc Villain: Lorenzo was the one that killed Caesar after being convinced by Jemma, making him one of the two main villains of Lyney's story quest.
Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: Worked with Jemma to kill and frame Cesar as the Phantom Weasel.
Deceptive Disciple: Was Cesar's apprentice who desired to use his teachings to attain wealth, and conspired with his nominal lover in order to kill him to this end.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: A Deceptive Disciple who murdered his mentor out of envy and greed he may be, but he's shown to care for his accomplice Jemma, and is even implied to be in love with her; he willingly helps her maintain her Wounded Gazelle Gambit by pretending to threaten her, and when he's caught and exposed, he takes credit for being the Phantom Weasel so that she can go unpunished for her thefts and her part in the murder.
Greed: Part of his motive; being Cesar's live-in apprentice, Lorenzo was effectively subjected to the same Perpetual Poverty that plagued his master, which built resentment in him. And while he contemplated striking out on his own and potentially using his talents to pick pockets, he feared that Cesar would expose him and effectively leave him homeless, allowing Jemma to convince him that his best shot at wealth was killing Cesar.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Lyney describes him as a hothead. He's not only prickly throughout the entire meeting with Lyney, but when a drunken business associate comes over and accidentally lets slip some embarrassing secrets, he responds by threatening to cut him loose.
Know When to Fold 'Em: After his method of murdering Cesar is exposed and he fails to silence Lyney and the Traveler, he accepts his arrest since he’s out of tricks, and takes some small comfort in the fact that he got to live the high life that Cesar effectively denied him.
Laser-Guided Karma: Lorenzo, under Jemma's influence, killed Cesar, took over his possessions and became wealthy as a result of the crimes that he committed. In turn Lyney and Lynette exposed him and got him arrested, which made him lose his ill-gotten wealth.
Only Friend: To Jemma. After his capture, she couldn't bear his absence and ended up sacrificing her freedom to be with him again.
The Resenter: His motive for orchestrating Cesar’s death comes down to simple envy; despite seeing himself as the more talented of the two, he couldn’t stand the fact that Cesar was the one who was heaped with praise for his performances. Throw in Cesar’s Perpetual Poverty, which extended to Lorenzo as his apprentice, and some nudging from Jemma, he ultimately decided to kill him so he could inherit his magic and make a profit off of it.
Taking the Heat: After he's confronted, he attempts to take the credit for both Cesar's death and for being the Phantom Weasel to protect Jemma. Unfortunately for him, Lyney already realised that she was the Weasel and informs her of the Morton's Fork his imprisonment has put her in, prompting her to confess to being the Weasel and getting arrested anyway.

Marcel (Unmarked Spoilers!)

"Marcel," né Vacher

The head of the Confrerie of Cabriere and a friend of Navia's father. He is the true mastermind behind the Sinthe production operation and the serial disappearances of young women in Fontaine.

All for Nothing: He spent years kidnapping and experimenting on women in an attempt to reunite with his lover Vigneire, who had dissolved into water after coming into contact with the Primordial Sea by accident. However, he finds out just moments before his death that Vigneire grew to resent him for all the harm he'd done for her sake, and refuses to acknowledge him as he's drowned by the amalgamated spirits of his past victims.
Assassination Attempt: As the Spina di Rosula interfered too much in his Sinthe production operation and the serial disappearances case, he tried to get Callas and Navia killed, all unsuccessfully:
- Jacques, the guy he forced to assassinate Callas, defected and was disposed of by another hitman who was then dissolved, leaving Callas alive (though framed for murder, which would lead to his death).
- Was deterred from targeting Navia for his research when Callas threatened to topple his Sinthe operation if he ever hurt her.
- Spiked both Navia and the Traveler's Fonta, only for Paimon to do a Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo on the former, and for the latter's sensitivity to Hydro to be enhanced further as they're not from Fontaine.
- Sent an army of Gardemeks onto Navia, Melus, Silver, the Traveler, and Paimon, but they managed to hold them off until Clorinde stepped in.
Arc Villain: Of the two first acts of Chapter IV, being responsible for Cowell's attempted murder on Liliane, the frame-up of Callas for the death of Jacques, and the serial disappearances of young women in Fontaine.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He masqueraded as a friendly businessman, claiming he would use all of his assets to help Navia discover the truth surrounding her father being falsely accused of murder, only to be not only the person who framed him in the first place but also the serial killer at the center of the 23-year-long investigation into the disappearance of Fontanian women.
Broken Pedestal: Navia is distraught to discover that not only is her Uncle Marcel the Serial Killer her father died trying to hunt down, but he has personally attempted to kill her twice.
Creepy Souvenir: During the investigation in his hideout, the Traveler and Paimon discover that he keeps a collection of objects that used to belong to his victims.
The Don: Was the head of the Sinthe production operation who counts Professional Killers and Loan Sharks among his employees.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: Like Otto Apocalypse from sister game Honkai Impact 3rd, Marcel lost a loved one and did many horrible things all in the name of bringing her back. Unlike Otto, however, Marcel is a more realistic depiction on how horrible such a person would be, his crimes outweighing any sympathetic aspects he had, and unlike Otto who at least gets an Alas, Poor Villain death, Marcel's death is portrayed as something he was fully deserving of, with the loved one he committed all the horrible things for ending up despising him for those very same actions and joining in administering his final fate.
Evidence Dungeon: The underwater Sinthe production facility not only contained bottles of Sinthe, items that belonged to Vacher's victims, but also Vigneire's diary containing a list of prospective baby names, which provided concrete proof of Vacher's connection to "Marcel" as all but one were crossed out: "Marcel."^note
Evil All Along: Marcel presents as an amicable old man who claims to see Navia as his own daughter, but he was the mastermind behind the Sinthe operation that Spina di Rosula was fighting, as well as the Serial Killer behind the serial disappearances and even targeted Navia.
Fake Nationality: In-Universe example. He’s actually a Snezhnayan immigrant. This becomes significant because it means he can't dissolve himself and join Vigneire in death, as water from the Primordial Sea has this effect only on native Fontanians. Technically speaking though, he never lies about this part of his background exactly, as "Marcel's" status as an immigrant is officially on record... on a date after he started his serial killings, which gives him a nearly airtight alibi if he was ever accused. This nearly gets Navia in trouble before the Traveler arrives with proof that he'd been here before then as "Vacher".
A Fool for a Client: He was apparently so sure of his acquittal when Navia pressed charges against him that he did not get an attorney despite most likely having the means to do so, and of course it did not go well for him.
Foreshadowing: A two-for-one example in Act I. Some debt collectors connected to the Confrerie of Cabriere come to the blacksmith that the Traveler was talking to and harass her for payment, hinting that the organisation is not as benign as it seems. Said debt collectors, in turn, are approached by Childe because of the debts of Confrerie, which lines up with the later mention of a Gardemek army being very expensive to own privately.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: The Oceanid in the Fountain of Lucine made it extremely clear that they feel that the death of Vigneire does not excuse Vacher from murdering several women, as they gave him a very brutal "Reason You Suck" Speech about that. Even Vigneire feels the same way, as the murders he committed caused her to resent him.
Getting High on Their Own Supply: He drinks from a bottle of Primordial Seawater during his Villainous Breakdown in court and becomes increasingly unhinged, prompting Neuvillette to call in the Gardes.
Hate Sink: As the Traveler has yet to meet Arlecchino at this point, Furina is seemingly too pathetic to qualify as a corrupt and hateable Archon, and Neuvillette turns out to be a Reasonable Authority Figure, it's all too easy to hate on him. While not completely without redeeming qualities, it's ultimately difficult to sympathize with him, as his crimes rather significantly outweigh them, in addition to how he never accepts any real blame for them.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Vacher's plot to pin his crimes on Lyney and the Fatui by association ends up doing him in, since they not only got the wrong victim, but the secrets of Primordial Seawater end up being uncovered and become public domain throughout Lyney's trial, allowing for Navia and the Court of Fontaine to convict him and clear Callas's name in the process.
I Cannot Self-Terminate: Because he is not from Fontaine, he himself would not dissolve the Primordial Seawater. He brings this up in his Motive Rant, suggesting that he had tried to commit suicide in that way.
Karma Houdini Warranty: For 23 years, he'd gotten away with kidnapping and murdering women for the sake of his experiments, even successfully framing Callas for murder to throw the scent off of himself and destroying Spina di Rosula's reputation as a result. At the end of Archon Quest Act II, he finally dies at the hands of all the women he killed after requesting to see "Vigneire" one more time before being transported to the Fortress of Meropide. To top it all off, despite being aware of his presence, "Vigneire," the one he'd done all of these horrible deeds for, refuses to acknowledge him in his final moments because of everything he has done, rendering all of his efforts meaningless.
Karmic Death: He turned numerous young women turn into souls without bodies in pursuit of reviving his lover, so the spirits of those young women turned him into a body without a soul while his ex-lover refused to give him the reunion he wanted. And to drive it home, his lover's soul is the one that delivers the amalgamation's killing words to him.
Oceanid?: You still don't understand? When I said, don't look for me... that came from the real Vigneire, she really doesn't want to see you anymore... but on top of that, she also said that because... it's her final drop of pity for you. She said that because she knew... That if you did come here, "we"... will show no mercy to you...
(The individual victims appear and surround Marcel's vision, calling out "Vacher" in various contemptuous tones. They all look up and stare at him with murderous fury.)
Vigneire: Drown.
The Killer Becomes the Killed: Gets his soul drowned by the very women he exposed to Primordial Seawater, no less.
The Lost Lenore: Vigneire. Her death was by accidentally coming into contact with the Primordial Sea, and Vacher couldn't follow her because he isn't Fontanian. This serves as the catalyst for his Sanity Slippage and killing spree in order to find a way to resurrect her.
Mask of Sanity: At first glance, he seems a very approachable and friendly old man, but in reality, he’s a prolific Serial Killer who not only murdered countless girls in an attempt to resurrect his beloved Vigneire, but also killed anyone who could threat his plans, and invented a powerful drug beverage called Sinthe that ruined many family’s lives.
Never My Fault: During his final Motive Rant, he blames all of Fontainian society for not taking his lover's death seriously or believing him about the Primordial Seawater at the time of her death, framing his many crimes as things he was forced to do rather than things he chose to do.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Marcel/Vacher is named after two French serial killers who also mostly targeted women:
- His alias is named after the Shadow Killer Marcel Barbeault.
- His real name is taken from the surname of the 19th-century killer known as The French Ripper.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Sending an army of Meks to assassinate Navia ends up implicating him for the serial disappearance case, since he's the only person from Melus's suspect list that could've possibly afforded that many.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He claims that his murders were to find out how to reverse the effects of the Primordial Sea to be reunited with Vigneire. This was not possible due to her being dead, and the souls of the women he killed collectively say he's full of it, only being a cowardly narcissist. Even before this, he gloated about how the women he killed couldn't be brought back.
Poison Is Evil: Not only did he utilise Primordial Seawater to invent Sinthe, an alcohol-like beverage which destroyed numerous lives, he used the profits from Sinthe sales further his research into Primordial Seawater, killing many in the process.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Vacher is on the receiving end of one from the amalgamation of his victims and his ex-lover for his selfish pursuit of reviving Vigneire. At the end, Vigneire chillingly delivers his death sentence.
Scream Discretion Shot: As the spirits of his victims surround Vacher, the camera focuses on an extreme close up of his left eye as he screams helplessly during his final moments.
Serial Killer: In an attempt to resurrect his lover Vigneire, he kidnapped and killed many (at least 24) women by exposing them to the Primordial Sea, the effects of which would dissolve them into water in the same way Vigneire died. And just like many real-life serial killers, every victim has a common pattern (young women from age twenty) with a few exceptions, due to the latter being inconveniences for his plan, and he even has the audacity to record every murder he committed, and to keep his victims’ possessions as a sick collection of trophies.
Sympathetic Murderer: Deconstructed. During his Villainous Breakdown in court, he paints himself as one, asserting that he never wanted to commit the murders and only did so because no one took his report of his lover's death seriously and wanting to fulfil his promise to always be with her, but as the "Oceanid" in the Fountain of Lucine later pointed out, he was just trying to absolve himself of blame.
Tampering with Food and Drink: While it's never shown who did it exactly, Vacher most certainly tried to kill Navia and the Traveler by spiking their Fonta drink with Primordial Seawater. This plan failed, thanks to Paimon drinking the one meant for the former, and the latter only enhanced their sensitivity to Hydro as they're not from Fontaine.
This Cannot Be!: He was not happy to know Vigneire doesn't want to see him anymore over his monstruous actions.
Oceanid?: You are a liar, a heartless murderer, and a cowardly narcissist. The only thing you're not... is Vigneire's beloved. From the moment your first victim died, and her consciousness merged with Vigneire's, she has had nothing but pure hatred for you.
Marcel: No... Vigneire, she can't hate me... Let me see her, please, have mercy...
Tragic Villain: Defied and deconstructed. Despite losing the love of his life, Vigneire, as result of an exploration gone wrong being in itself a tragedy, he had all the time in the world to realize that his efforts to bring her back were fruitless. But his refusal to move on drove him into a 23-year killing spree, during which whatever love he had for her was replaced with obsession. Worse still, he even ruined countless lives with his creation of Sinthe just to fund his research.
Villains Want Mercy: Even in the face of the murderous wrath of the amalgamation of his victims, Vacher still pleaded for a final moment with his ex-lover. Needless to say, he didn't.
Villainous Breakdown: Twice. The first time is when Navia, with the Traveler’s help, manages to find proof for his crimes, and he starts rambling about why he did it, going as far as to blame Fontaine’s justice system for its apathy. The second time is when he meets the amalgamation of all his victims in the form of an Oceanid that proceeds to literally scare him to death.
Villainous Legacy: Even with his death and the collapse of his criminal empire early in the Fontaine Archon Quest, Vacher's actions have long-lasting consequences that crop up even long after its end:
- Furina's Story Quest reveals that one of his victims was Aurelie Fumeau, director of a small-time theater troupe that he offered to sponsor in exchange for them serving Sinthe to their audience, only for them to back out upon learning what exactly he expected them to serve. He then kidnapped, experimented on, and killed Aurelie in retaliation, leaving her surviving co-workers divided in their attempts to bring her final play to the stage as well as cope with her death until Furina and the Traveler lent a helping hand.
- For Navia's, it is implied that he orchestrated a Frame-Up on Colter, a member of Spina di Rosula, when he got too close to learning of his operations and got him sent to the Fortress of Meropide. This likely worsened the impact of Vacher's crimes and the Poisson Disaster on Colter, fueling his resentment of Navia that culminated in an assassination attempt.
- Early in the "Of Muskets and Roses" event, the Traveler and Paimon first meet Chevreuse arresting a vendor who came across some bottles of Sinthe and a buyer. She then reveals that a lot of Sinthe was still in circulation after Vacher's death, and that the vendor she just arrested is apparently the last of such peddlers.
- A branch of Lynette's Hangout Event reveals that even after all the remaining Sinthe was found and confiscated, some took advantage of the Evil Power Vacuum and the new demand to create and pedal and new "Imitation Sinthe", the investigation into which the Traveler and Lynette get dragged into trying to find the owner of a stray cat.
Walking Spoiler: He is the true overarching villain for the first two acts of the Fontaine Aechon Quest, so naturally it's hard to talk about him without revealing the mysteries behind the trial cases.
You Are Number 6: His research notes demonstrate how he dehumanised his victims by addressing them as "female specimen (number)".
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He disposed of Vaughn using Primordial Sea Water to prevent him from divulging his secrets. This unsurprisingly bites him in the ass in the long run, as he effectively proved that people can dissolve into water.

Merieux's Troupe(Unmarked Spoilers for Lynette's Hangout Event!)

Merieux

A director and writer of the play "The Lost Puppet", who asked Lynette to play the leading role.

Born Unlucky: What else would you call your gambit to keep a promise to give one of your talented actresses a chance at stardom while appeasing your investors, failing because someone infamous for avoiding the spotlight and denying all role offers in the past suddenly decided to accept the bogus one you sent her?
Being Evil Sucks: Not quite "evil", but as his troupe became more and more famous, he was forced to focus less on the quality of his work and more on the advertising and building connections with critics and investors, ultimately becoming a Slave to PR who would focus on star power over talent, causing him to put out ultimately subpar works that only makes money from critics overhyping it and its cast. His troupe recognised that he hated doing this, but he feels that he had to for the sake of getting the troupe enough prestige.
Didn't See That Coming: At the pressuring of his investors, Merieux was told to get a well-known celebrity to play the lead role in "The Lost Doll", despite previously promising the role to Gillain and the fact that it could compromise his initial vision. Wanting to keep his promise and original script, he intentionally sent the role offers to numerous celebrities who would seem good for the role on paper, but who he suspected would reject it due to lack of interest, experience or both, which would "force" him and his investors to let Gillian remain the lead. To his complete surprise however, Lynette decided to accept the offer after some pressure from Lyney and their other siblings, forcing him to give her the role and change his script to appease his investors.
Hypocrite: When Lynette and the others enact their plan to put Gillian back in the leading role, he calls out Lynette for letting her fame and wealth go to her head enough to believe she can just arrogantly do what she wants without care for the consequences. As Lynette and the other retort however, he himself is a famous director who willingly decided to become a Slave to PR at the expense of "The Lost Doll's" quality and deny Gillain her long-awaited chance at stardom for the sake of wealth.
Heel Realization: Through a combination of getting called out on his hypocrisy and how low he's stooped for prestige, and everyone making it clear how much he truly hates how he compromised his dreams to get where he is, he decides to allow Gillian to perform and fights back when his critic and sponsors try to browbeat him back into his old ways with the help of Lyney and Lynette's acting.
Frequently-Broken Unbreakable Vow: When confronted by his troupe on his Slave to PR status and and how much he really hates it, he argues back that he can stop with it and start keeping his promises once the troupe gains enough prestige. As Lyney and Lynette point out however, this mindset just creates a cycle of him making money off the performance and wanting to resort to the same methods to secure more money and fame at the expense of his dreams and integrity.
The Resenter: It's revealed that he's the source of the Death Glare Lynette felt on her during production, angered at having to compromise his vision for "The Lost Doll" and his promise to Gillian because of her actually accepting his offer when he expected her to reject it like previous ones she got.
Slave to PR: While a talented playwright, Merieux has an unfortunate focus on advertising his plays that comes at the expense of their quality, with him often hiring famous celebrities who lack acting experience and has to alter his scripts accommodate them. Case in point, when he managed to get Lynette to agree to the staring role in his play, he had to change the last two acts so that a novice could reasonably pull them off, at the expense of taking away a lot of the emotion from it. Lynette and Traveler's plan to give the role back to Gillain involved forcing a confrontation with him on this and making him realise how miserable it made him.
Small Role, Big Impact: Even outside of how his inviting Lynette to star in his play as part of a failed Batman Gambit ultimately leads to him regaining his passion for scriptwriting and growing out of his Slave to PR tendencies, him doing so can also potentially lead to Lynette helping foil an Imitation Sinthe operation headed by a relative of the man she was sold to as a child.
Trade Your Passion for Glory: At first Merieux genuinely wanted to write plays for the sake of art, but started to compromise his artistic integrity for money and fame, believing that he needed to accumulate more for the sake of his troupe.

Gillian

An actress in the troupe who befriends Lynette, and the original star of "The Lost Doll".

Big Sister Worship: Gillain's younger sister, Ginna, looks up highly to Gillian and her acting skills. This however causes her to come off as overzealous, with her heavily resenting Lynette for "stealing" Gillian's role from her based solely on her celebrity status despite lacking any acting experience, to the point she writes a threat letter towards her in a spur of the moment.
Commonality Connection: After her younger sister, Ginna, starts insulting Lynette when she comes Fleuve Cendre, Gillian sends her off before apologising for her behaviour. Lynette doesn't hold it against her however, noting her own experience having to deal with younger siblings.
Green-Eyed Monster: Averted. Despite her disappointment to losing the starring role to Lynette, meeting her and seeing polite and how well-suited for the role she appeared to be prompted her to not hold a grudge and accept the change. Her sister and Merieux however don't quite share her forgiving viewpoint.
Weak, but Skilled: Gillian is a genuinely talented actress who has managed to accumulate a good deal of experience playing minor characters. However, accumulating her experience in this manner prevented her from standing out to critics and prevented from gaining any "star power" that could boost her career and net her lead roles, not helped by Merieux denying her such roles to appease his investors and advertisers by hiring celebrities who tend to have little to no acting experience.

Molli

A young girl who appears in the World Quest series, "Leroy".

Ambiguous Situation: There are some implications that she's Autumn’s long-lost daughter, apparently having matching features and her parents being stated to have a dislike of Benoit. This is never outright confirmed, however.
Locked Out of the Loop: The end of the quest has the Traveler deciding to withhold the events of the past few days and the truth about Benoit, making her the only one unaware of Autumn and Athos' past and Benoit's death.

Mosso

Dr. Mosso Lombroso

Curve's late creator, who died thirty years ago in a duel trying to prove himself innocent of a crime.

Character Catchphrase: His favorite thing to say was "The different ways in which lies can exist".
Convicted by Public Opinion: The true nature of the crime he committed. Mosso created Curve to serve as a lie detector for crime solving. The populace however was skeptical about leaving discerning truth and lies to a machine out of fear it could be tampered with to produce falsified results, considering the whole thing to be a scam and accusing Mosso of deceiving the public in an attempt to gain the power to pass judgment over others. Mosso refused to admit anything even when The Steambird produced alleged evidence exposing him as a fraud, leading to Mosso's conviction and later death trying to defend himself in a duel and Curve being locked away in the Marechausse Phantom's evidence locker for the next thirty years. Little did everyone know that said evidence was false and produced by Mosso himself with help from the then-Editor-in-Chief for the sake of protecting Curve when Mosso's attempt to use The Steambird's newspapers to improve upon his creation's programming backfired.
Gone Horribly Wrong: Mosso collaborated with the then-Editor-in-Chief of The Steambird to publish articles questioning Curve's reliability in to gather data for Curve to analyze and improve upon his programming. It ended up backfiring horribly when people took the articles as truth, putting Curve in danger of an increasingly-violent public opinion and forcing Mosso to take extreme measures to save his creation.
Heroic Sacrifice: He purposely had The Steambird publish articles to villainize himself in the eyes of the public in order to save Curve from being destroyed, ultimately leading to his own death.
Posthumous Character: He passed away thirty years before the events of the game.

Tartuffe

An up-and-coming "philanthropist," heralded as the savior of the poor. In reality, he is a greedy scumbag trafficking children for profits.

All There in the Manual: He is never referred to by name in Arlecchino's Character Teaser. His name can only be found either by translating the newspapers articles depicting him or using the video's subtitles.
Asshole Victim: Being a child trafficker, no one mourns Tartuffe after Arlecchino assassinates him.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The people of Fontaine believed him to be a philanthropist who was using his wealth to help those in need. In reality, his finances were obtained through their exploitation.
Child Abuse Is a Special Kind of Evil: The poor treatment of the children was trafficking incensed a Fatui Operative, who are known for otherwise being extremely professional, to such a degree she acted carelessly, costing her her life.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Arlecchino stamps on his head with her pointy stilettos and crushes his skull, complete with a Sickening "Crunch!".
Greed: His motivation is seemingly the simple pursuit of wealth.
Human Traffickers: He engaged in the trafficking of children prior to his death. They would go on to be adopted by the House of the Hearth.
Laser-Guided Karma: Defending his operations leads to the death of a Fatui Operative working under Arlecchino. Thus, the Harbinger comes to personally avenge one of her children, killing Tartuffe, freeing the children he was trafficking, exposing his crimes to the public and stealing his wealth for the purposes of supporting the newly adopted orphans.
Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: He engaged in child trafficking, which was enough to get him on Arlecchino's shitlist and for her to murder him.
We Hardly Knew Ye: He's not even around for a minute before Arlecchino assassinates him.

Uther (Unmarked Spoilers for Chiori's Story Quest!)

Uther

Chiori's enemy in the fashion world who has made it his goal to ruin her brand.

Arch-Enemy: He's Chiori's business nemesis, having spent years harassing her brand. Chiori refuses to even refer to him as a "rival" since that would involve some level of fair play and mutual respect.
Bullying a Dragon: Uther repeatedly harasses Chiori despite that she's a Vision-wielder and could easily kick his ass. She does so twice during the events of her Story Quest.
Cutting Corners: His clothing turns out to be made in a filthy and rundown underground workshop from cheap materials that not only easily shrink and fade, but can cause skin problems if you wear them too often. Another thing Chiori reprimands him for, calling his creations nothing but "rotten rags". Apparently, he's been doing all he can to cut costs due to things like marketing and employment expenses burning huge holes in his wallet if the entries in his notebooks are of any indication, not to mention all the money he likely spent on his slander campaign against Chiori.
Deliberate Injury Gambit: Uther provokes Chiori by having some thugs go after Kirara, knowing Chiori will confront him over it. Unfortunately for Chiori, this is part of Uther's plan to slander her name because he has someone take photos of her attacking him and uses them in the tabloids to make her look like a violent maniac.
Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: As Chiori points out, the time he spends trying to sabotage her and ruin her business and brand could be better spent actually trying to work on his own designs and outfits. This is especially egregious since his clothes appear popular enough for him to afford owning an entire clothing factory and even buy several Gardemeks for security. He's naturally too blinded by resentment to see this.
Evil Is Petty: Uther's goal of ruining Chiori boils down to jealousy of her success. Chiori even tells him point-blank how petty he's being since he just won't let go of his envy.
Fatal Flaw: Envy and Pride. All of Uther's problems stem from his sheer inability to simply let go of his resentment towards Chiori. Chiori all but spells it out for him, telling him flat out that all the time spent trying to ruin Chiori's career could've been better spent trying to actually improve his own brand and make something of himself.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Uther's reason for trying to ruin Chiori's brand is due to how his own dreams of making it big in the fashion world never came to fruition, and he gave up on them just before Chiori became famous. When confronting him in his factory, Chiori makes it very clear that his justification is utterly pathetic and that it does not justify him trying to slander her, nor justify him starting up and maintaining a crappy clothing line that could actually cause people health problems due to his use of toxic materials. It also doesn't justify him trying to murder Chiori and the Traveler when they snoop around in his factory for evidence. Chiori even tells him he could've spent his time and energy improving his brand and actually making a name for himself rather than trying to ruin her career, but Uther refuses to listen to this.
Green-Eyed Monster: His reason for wanting to ruin Chiori is partially due to envy at her success where he failed.
Hate Sink: Uther makes a strong first impression before even appearing by hiring bandits to attack Kirara just to cut off Chiori's fabric supplies, and is revealed to have made similar attempts at sabotaging her in the past out of envy. And that's before you encounter his ultimate plan to spread Malicious Slander about her to flood her with refund requests and lose her the support of her business partners to ruin her odds in Fashion Week. And while he does have a Freudian Excuse of having his ambitions as a famous and trend-making designer get beaten down by the expectations of the fashion industry, it's noted to not excuse his unfair business practices, absolute dedication to bringing Chiori down with him out envy, and active use of harmful materials in his outfits. He's also totally unrepentant about everything he's done, to the point that Chiori tells him she has lost all sympathy for him right before she fights him.
His Own Worst Enemy: As shown when Chiori and Co infiltrate his factory, Uther is a competent fashion designer and successful enough to own his own factory as well as several Gardemeks for security, but rather than try to improve his brand, he'd rather dedicate his resources to ruining Chiori's career. Chiori calls him out on this, stating that his whole motivation to ruin Chiori is simply because he didn't have the will to pursue his dreams and gave up on them.
Hypocrite: He framed Chiori for using illicit materials in her fashion designs when his designs are made of materials that can cause skin damage, proving that he is straight up projecting his crimes onto her.
Laser-Guided Karma: For all of his efforts to ruin Chiori's reputation and shut down her business, it only makes sense that Chiori is the one who shuts down his as she reports his underground warehouse to Chevreuse and has him tied up there to be arrested. And unlike the slander he posted about her, she made sure to get actual proof of his crimes.
Malicious Slander: Uther resorts to this to try and ruin Chiori, paying off several tabloids to print stories that she associates with criminals and obtains her materials through shady means. He even provokes Chiori into attacking him and has someone take pictures of the incident to make her look like a violent maniac. This results in several of Chiori's clients demanding refunds and for her providers to try and cut their connections to her to avoid having their own reputations sullied (or their families, such as in Wenger's case).
Shut Up, Kirk!: When Chiori tries to lecture him on how he's letting his twisted concept of "fashion" dictate his life and how he could better spend his time and energy improving his brand rather than trying to ruin her reputation, Uther tells her to shut up. Chiori ignores this and keeps going with her "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
Too Dumb to Live: Chiori has, on several occasions, shown she could beat the crap out of Uther, but he continues to pester and slander her. This culminates in him trying to kill her when she investigates his factory. Given she slashes a bullet he fires out of the air at close range, it's safe to say the fight went very badly for him (though the outcome isn't shown). Chiori even calls him out on this when she confronts him for sending goons after Kirara.
Chiori: "Has anyone ever taught you... the definition of stupidity? Stupidity... is doing the same meaningless thing over and over again. It appears you've forgotten what I told you before, so let me refresh your memory — lay off the dirty tricks."
We Used to Be Friends: Chiori and Uther used to be partners when they started out in the fashion world in Fontaine. This broke down when Uther gave up on their shared dream while Chiori pursued it and became a huge hit. Uther then dedicated himself to ruining Chiori's reputation.
Would Hit a Girl: Uther was more than willing to kill Chiori, the Traveler, and Paimon to keep them from leaving his factory.

Virgil (Unmarked Spoilers!)

Virgil

A shady diver who hires the Traveler to help him explore an underwater ruin in search for the Liliacruces Treasure. Appears in the "Aqueous Tidemarks" World Quest.

But Thou Must!: Despite suspecting that he's luring them into a trap, the Traveler decides to enter the room supposedly containing the treasure anyway and is left to fight a self-reviving Ruin Grader. He even lampshades it, and is really irritated to say the least.
"So you knew, and still decided to step into my trap? You're the kind of person I despise the most. So arrogant and disdainful! You blasted fools all treat me like an idiot! Even a couple of foreign hillb—"
Even Evil Has Standards: Inverted, he has such a thorough lack of standards that the mafia eventually step in to deal with him, not helped by the fact that he was drawing the attention of dangerous opponents i.e the Traveler.
Jerkass: He considers anyone not native from Fontaine to be "uncivilized" and a bunch of "foreign hillbillies", and the Adventurers Guild to be filled with nothing but beggars.
Karma Houdini Warranty: He manages to get away at the end of the quest, with Paimon declaring that they will find him again and settle the score. In a later quest, the Traveler and Paimon are able to get revenge against Virgil with the help of Sonny and Luca who "take care" of him.
Obviously Evil: He does a very poor job of hiding his true intentions from the moment you meet him.

Wriothesley's foster parents (Unmarked Spoilers for Wriothesley's Story Quest!)

Wriothesley's foster parents

Wriothesley's foster mother and father who raised him alongside several other children.

Asshole Victim: Both of them were killed by Wriothesley when he was young. Considering they were remorseless traffickers and murderers of children, nobody is really mourning them.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: To the general public, they were seen as loving parents who helped many a child find homes in Fontaine. To those who really knew them, they were a pair of Human Traffickers who sold many children off while silencing those amongst them whom they were unable to sell or found out the truth.
He Knows Too Much: Alongside the ones who didn't sell, any children who found out the truth about them would be "disposed of."
Human Traffickers: Their real profession was raising children to sell like livestock once they reached a certain age. If any of said children were unable to be sold or found out the truth about them, they would be "disposed of." Wriothesley was so disgusted by their actions and their uncaring of all the children's wellbeing that he eventually killed them to free the remaining ones from their cruelty, which led to him being imprisoned in the Fortress of Meropide.
Lack of Empathy: They committed all their crimes without even considering how their actions would affect all the children they took in, although Wriothesley believes that they never cared about that possibility to begin with.
Nothing Is Scarier: Even Wriothesley is unsure of the fates of all the children whom were sold off, though he believes that whatever happened to them couldn't have been good.
Posthumous Character: They've been dead for several years before the start of the main story.
Would Hurt a Child: Both of them wouldn't hesitate to "dispose of" any child whom were unable to be sold or knew their true colors. Wriothesley was still a teenager when he killed them, and his Character Stories indicate that they did not go down without a fight.

Characters / Genshin Impact: Court of Fontaine

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