History Characters / GenshinImpactMondstadt

An astrologer who uses water divination to discern the truth. Even if she loves to develop herself even further into astrology-related stuff, Mona constantly faces a problem with money. Though the Traveler has the option to first meet her before leaving for Inazuma, she formally appears in Fontaine's Archon Quest, meeting up (again) with the Traveler and agreeing to help them confirm the accuracy of a prophecy that was foretold would doom Fontaine.\\

* AlwaysAccurateAttack: Like fellow early-game Hydro spellcaster Barbara, being a catalyst user means she summons water ''onto'' enemies rather than using a projectile, and this give her incredible accuracy. As she has much better attack scaling and a kit focused on damage-dealing, this makes her ''very'' good overall and a much more credible attacker than Barbara.

* BilingualBonus: "Megistus" is also Greek for "greatest."

* BrutalHonesty: Mona always tells the truth of people's fortunes, even if it's highly unpleasant. Unsurprisingly, this earned her a bad reputation, and few people are brave enough to ask her for predictions these days.

* TheCassandra: The "Midsummer Island Adventure" event reveals that, early in her career, [[spoiler:Mona struggled with people coming to her for answers when facing horrible circumstances, as her refusal to lie means that more often than not [[AwfulTruth what they ''needed'' to hear is rarely what they ''wanted'' to hear]]. As such, most clients called her a fraud rather than face their problems head-on. Worse, she's met and advised people who have [[MultipleChoiceFuture a choice in shaping their futures]], but chose to tread paths that only lead to suffering despite her warnings.]]
* ChekhovsGun: In a back alley of Mondstadt, there is a door blocked by a [[GeometricMagic circular magic seal]]. No one seems to know how to open it. ''Much'' later, once the player unlocks Mona's Story Quest, you travel with Mona from Liyue to Mondstadt, and after some shenanigans along the way she decides to stay there for a while. Her Hydro thaumaturgy allow her to remove the seal, and the magic lab inside becomes her new home.
* {{Combos}}: Her second Constellation upgrade, ''Lunar Chain'', gives her normal attacks a 20% chance to be automatically followed up with the starry burst of her charged attack.
* CursedWithAwesome: She does not particularly appreciate her own Vision, considering its power irrelevant compared to the discovery of all the mysteries about the universe and often complains about how she always gets wet every time she uses it. However she still recognizes its usefulness for most of her astrological purposes as a tool.
* CutscenePowerToTheMax: During the "Unreconciled Stars" event, she manages to teleport herself, the Traveler, and Fischl, in addition to Oz and Paimon, to avoid an ambush from Scaramouche with almost no prep time.
* DamageIncreasingDebuff: Her Burst traps multiple enemies in a giant Illusory Bubble. When the trapped enemies take a hit, not only do they take increased damage, but are also marked with Omens, which increases the damage output of their attackers for a few seconds. Mona's first Constellation upgrade, ''Prophecy of Submersion'', increases the damage of Electro-charged, Vaporize, and Hydro Swirl reactions done onto the marked enemy, as well as extends the duration of Freeze, by 15%[[note]]Though it has yet to be updated to take Bloom into account[[/note]] for eight seconds, while her fourth, ''Prophecy of Oblivion'', augments a 15% boost to the Critical Rate of attacks against them.

* DrawAggro: Her Skill summons Phantoms to lure enemies away from her, which periodically damages surrounding foes before exploding after a few seconds. The ability's description says that astrologists may have dreamed of creating phantoms of themselves to ward off ill fate, but Mona is well known for making such a mockery of the practice. Mona's first-ascension passive, ''"Come 'n' Get Me, Hag!"'', allows her to automatically generate a Phantom whenever she reappears next to a group of enemies after using her unique sprint for at least two seconds, with a two-second-long duration and half the damage potency of its "normal" counterpart.

* FragileSpeedster: Mona moves very quickly with her unique dash, and her Elemental Skill encourages hit-and-run tactics, but she is [[SquishyWizard very fragile]] and can't take a hit.

* GoingNative: Mona is not a native Mondstadter but is nevertheless a happily adopted citizen, and has made friends with Mondstadt-born citizens such as Fischl. [[spoiler:In the Archon Quest of Version 4.2 "Masquerade of the Guilty", Mona reveals that she was actually born in Mondstadt. Her parents moved to Dornman Port and afterwards Mona left to travel with her master before settling in Mondstadt City.]]

* HumiliationConga: Her Story Quest is just one long train of bad luck after another. She makes 20,000 Mora which she quickly burns after treating [[BigEater the Traveler and Paimon]] to a meal. Then upon arrival at Mondstadt to find the protégé of her teacher's rival, said protégé turns out to be [[PersonOfMassDestruction Klee]], who was not taught astrology with which Mona will compare knowledge. Then, while finding the box her master Barbeloth asked of her, she reads a book from Klee's bag which, she learned belatedly, was her master's journal which she was forbidden to read. Out of fear of her master, Mona stays in hiding in Mondstadt and had to rent an apartment despite being broke.

* IntergenerationalFriendship: There is a (fairly loose) concept of generations in this game-characters tend to be grouped into {{Cast Herd}}s with characters that are implied to be of similar age. Bennett's friends Barbara, Fischl, and Razor are all ([[VagueAge nebulously]]) younger than characters like Jean. Mona initially rubbed elbows with Albedo more than anyone else, who is old enough to be a Captain of the Knights of Favonius at the very least, and she's a working professional who lives on her own. She shares the same "Medium Female" body model as Barbara and Fischl, but so do characters like Keqing who are almost certainly young adults. This makes the friendship she developed with Fischl after the "Unreconciled Stars" event an {{implied|Trope}} example. Certainly, Mona has to take up the role of adult at times, as she did during the "Summer Fantasia" event much later.
* IRejectYourReality: {{Inverted|Trope}}. She accepts reality for what it is, [[spoiler:but the people who come to her for assistance do not. She explains that due to being an astrologist, many people have come to her for help. But whenever her prognostications lean negative, they refused to believe her, and called her a fake]].
* ItWasAGift: Her Vision used to be a "teaching aid" given to her by her teacher; she treasured it well as it is the only proof of her apprenticeship. Then one day, said teaching aid somehow becomes a Vision.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She is ''very'' prideful of her astrologist powers and has an inflated view of herself, acting haughty when it comes to matters related to it. Outside of that, however, the worst Mona can get is just a refusal to show weakness, and she is otherwise an approachable person and loyal friend; for example, it doesn't take her too long to defrost to the Traveler, and after some time, is perfectly willing to go along with [[{{Chuunibyou}} Fischl]]'s antics.

* LaserGuidedKarma: PlayedForLaughs -- in Venti's voice-over, she refers to him (read: [[spoiler:the Anemo Archon himself, just [[KingIncognito incognito]]]]) as "a bard that sits around doing nothing all day" and wonders what could be so interesting about him; once she decides to take a look, however, a powerful gust of wind threatens to disrobe her; possibly to [[spoiler:hide his true nature]], but still no less karmic for her.

* LetsGetDangerous: In the first few scenes of her Story Quest, she does little besides act haughty, boss the Traveler around, and completely do not hide her financial difficulties. That is, until a group of "merchants" try to offer her and the Traveler a cart ride to Mondstadt. She recognizes them as bandits at once and gives them a [[BreakThemByTalking verbal beatdown]], right before chasing them off empty-handed. Her being able to fight catches Paimon and the Traveler off-guard.
* LivingLieDetector: Thanks to her talent in astrology, Mona can tell whether or not someone is lying to her. She uses this in her Story Quest when she exposes a group of bandits posing as merchants offering her and the Traveler a ride to Mondstadt. Her teacher, naturally, is also one; this is partly why she cannot go back to her after accidentally reading her journal against her explicit orders, and she will not be able to hide that.

* MakingASplash: She has control over the Hydro element. Unlike the majority of the cast, she practices Vision-less elemental magic in the form [[{{Whatevermancy}} hydromancy]], which allows her to use water for divination even without a Vision. As she has no interest in the combat prowess provided by her Vision, she regards her Vision as a useless but sentimental accessory from her master.

* MeaningfulRename: According to Mona, her master made her change her surname to "Megistus" upon becoming an apprentice as a signifier of her status. She states that if she herself ever takes on an apprentice then they'll also have to take on the name of Megistus.

* MoneyDumb: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. Mona does live a relatively stable lifestyle, as evidenced by the ''Summertime Odyssey'' event in v2.8., but she ultimately spends it all on expensive astrology equipment, hence her constant Mora problems. In her "Troubles" voice-line, Mona also mentions the things she must pay, such as her residence's rent, equipment repair bill, and renewing her journal subscriptions. Then she has this to say...

* MsFanservice: Mona is, alongside Lisa, one of the "fanservice girls" of the launch line-up, with her leotard-like outfit emphasizing her entire body, the upper part of which shows off her [[SexyBacklessOutfit back]], cleavage, and slender waist, and the lower part of which is covered solely in skintight hosery and emphasizes her HartmanHips. She ended up as one of the characters [[Creator/MiHoYo Hoyoverse]] had to redesign to comply with Chinese censorship laws starting with v2.5, and though her second outfit is more modest, it's still {{form|Fitting Wardrobe}}-fitting, still showing off her hips as well as having [[ZettaiRyouiki absolute territory]]. Her chest also gets a lot of emphasis in both outfits, complete with copious JigglePhysics.

** Inverted with her Vision. Mona largely considers the thing a useless bauble because it only bolsters her martial prowess and does nothing to help her fortune-telling abilities, i.e. it doesn't have any 'mundane' use to her.
* MysteriousPast: Little is known about Mona's origins and how she became Barbeloth's apprentice, with her Character Stories and in-game appearances focusing on her experiences as an astrologist and her current life as an expatriate of Mondstadt. This gets cleared up a little in her briefly appearance in Chapter IV Act V, where she confirms that [[spoiler:she was born Mondstadt, though she didn't grow up in Mondstadt City]].

* OlderThanTheyLook: Given she uses the "Medium Female" model, her actual age can be a bit ambiguous, though the game shows Mona is old enough to drink.
* PerpetualPoverty: Though, as the "Summertime Odyssey" event reveals, Mona actually has an affluent lifestyle, having a well-furnished home and an entire library full of expensive and rare books and apparatuses, her tendency to splurge on said material (or at worst get scammed with overpriced or knockoff such goods), in addition to her self-imposed vow never to put money-making above telling the truth, make her constantly strapped for cash, to the point where she had to forage and eat wild mushrooms for a month just to save Mora. One of her idle animations even has her check on her purse, then sigh upon discovering she has exactly one Mora coin.

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Mona is a highly-gifted seer and could have used her abilities to make money, but she refuses on the grounds that astrology is a higher calling that should not be used for mundane purposes, hence constantly leaving her broke. During the "Summertime Odyssey" event she revealed that too often what she sees is not what her benefactor wants, but she refuses to lie, so making money off of her astrology would not be particularly simple.

** She introduces herself as Mona Megistus, meaning "The Great Astrologist Mona," and seems to expect preferential treatment from everyone she meets due to her fame (though nobody seems to have heard of her). Most tellingly, she considers herself and the Traveler to be ''equals'' in status, despite having nothing in her resumé remotely on the same level as saving Mondstadt from Stormterror or beating a Fatui Harbinger. The events of her Story Quest knock her down a couple of pegs.
** This gets {{inverted|Trope}} after that Quest, as one of her character stories set after her move to Mondstadt explains how Mona got a job writing an astrology column on ''The Steambird''. The column became popular enough to keep being published despite it covering advanced subjects, and Mona's name rose in popularity along with it. Far away in Sumeru, Layla has even heard of Mona and has nothing but praise for her, explaining that she has become well-known and respected by her fellow Rtawahist scholars.

* {{Stripperiffic}}: Her original outfit's top is a leotard that emphasizes her breasts, back and narrow waist, while the lower part is a pair of tights that emphasize her wide hips and legs. It's telling that she was among the characters redesigned with Chinese censorship laws in mind, and hers was the most drastic change by far, as if to hammer in how immodest her original design was.

* TheUnchosenOne: Like Ningguang, Mona's Vision was not directly granted to her by Celestia but was a masterless Vision guarded for reasons unknown by Barbeloth before she gave it to Mona, hoping she would awaken it again and use it to expand her astrological studies.
* UnexplainedAccent: She has a [[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents transatlantic affect]] in the English dub where everyone else sans Xinyan has more neutral-sounding American accents. It emphasizes her erudite haughtiness but does not reflect her origins as [[spoiler:a native of Mondstadt]].

* BadassAdorable: Diona is a cute little CatGirl who, despite her age, is still good at using her bow.

** The Hexenzirkel once wanted to challenge him, but he managed to befriend them and now not only guards their secret tea party island, but houses the apprentices of three of the witches as well as Khaenri'ah's last hope on his land.

* Arlecchino's "When the wind is blowing" voice line warns the Traveller about being careful with their secrets, saying that you never know where the wind might take your words; in Teyvat, the wind is synonym with the Anemo Archon, and Arlecchino is a Fatuus working under the Tsaritsa, who used to be friends with Venti and therefore must know (or at least suspect) that he can use the wind as a spying method.

* Arleccinno's "When the wind blows" voice line warns the Traveller about being careful with what they talk, saying that you never know to where and to whom the wind might take your words; Arleccinno is a Fatuus working under the Tsaritsa, who used to be friends with Venti and therefore must know what his real capacities are. It puts into perspective why the Fatui went after Venti's Gnosis first.

!!Lawrence Clan

!! Lessig

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He has the Lawrence's natural self-inflated ego and obsession with maintaining his dignity at the cost of coming off as rude. However, his incidental self-discovery led to him [[TookALevelInKindness that sees him]] act polite to others his family would ordinarily talk down to and led to a lot of his resentment towards Eula for "[[CategoryTraitor betraying the clan]]" being dropped, even if he tries pretending it hasn't when she shows up.
* MeaningfulName: Lessig's name is a reference to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig Lawrence Lessig]], one of the founders of Creative Commons and an expert on intellectual properties. Given Eula's name, it appears to be a joke by Hoyoverse on copyright and distribution of works.
* TookALevelInKindness: Eula's comments before we meet him suggests that he was just as [[SarcasmMode charming]] as the rest of his family. By the time she meets him again, Lessig, while still somewhat haughty, appears willing to help other people and is capable of being polite to people the rest of his family would see as their lessers, much to her surprise. He reveals that this is because his journey, while started in an attempt to restore the clan's corrupt regime, proved surprisingly eye-opening, with him noticing how differently people outside of Mondstadt treated him due to not knowing or caring about his heritage, and came to prefer it to being hated and ostracised like he was used to. This caused him to realise how flawed the Lawrence Clan is and abandon their notions of restoring their power, as well as mend his relationship with Eula.
* UniformityException: Much like his uncle, he wears a variant of a Mondstadter outfit worn by wealthy residents, but tailored for members of the Lawrence Clan like him.

->'''Voiced By''': River Vitae (English)
Eula's uncle and a member of the modern day Lawrence Clan.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Once the Traveler learns how to 'properly' speak to a noble, he starts acting like a halfway decent nice guy.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: [[spoiler:The Traveler wins his trust incredibly easily, just by sucking up to him with a few fancy words and giving him a food gift. This is enough for him to let the Traveler in on his plan to take over Mondstadt with the Fatui's help, which the Traveler promptly demolishes.]]
* MirrorCharacter: [[spoiler:With Kujou Takayuki. Like Takayuki, Schubert worked with the Fatui under the belief that it was for the good of their country. But whereas Takayuki worked with the Fatui to consolidate his power, Schubert worked the Fatui to seize power. Likewise, Takayuki believed that the Raiden Shogun could dispose of the Fatui if they ever stepped out of line, while Schubert believed that he could get rid of the Fatui when he no longer needed them. Lastly, while Takayuki was, [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership in his own way]], loyal to his country's god, Schubert had no loyalty to his country's god, Barbatos.]]
* MoreHateableMinorVillain: Compared to the Abyss Order and the Fatui, there's nothing redeemable about him. While the Fatui are merely doing their duty in the name of their country and their God, and the Abyss Order [[spoiler:are eventually revealed to be survivors of the Cataclysm who were cursed by the Heavenly Principles]], Shubert is a selfish entitled UpperClassTwit, who wants to restore the Lawrence clan to their former glory.
* NostalgiaFilter: A disturbing version. He decries modern Mondstadt's society because of their laid-back nature and will only happily reminisce the old days; the days where commoners live under fear, and anyone who doesn't treat the aristocracy (read:Lawrence Clan) with proper respect are to be given, in his words, "a swift whipping".