Genshin Impact, Both the Game and the Community, Cannot Hide Their Colorism or Racism Anymore
This is going to be a long read. I refuse to stay silent.
I've played Genshin Impact on and off since 2021 when I was first introduced to it. I drew fanart but rarely participated in the fandom, as Genshin has one of the most toxic and racist fandoms that takes pleasure in driving off content creators of color, perpetuating racism within the communities, as well as harassing and threatening people who dare try to speak out about it. But, for as racist as the fandom is, what can I expect from them considering Hoyoverse as a whole has it's own set of racial problems.
It is clear from the release of Sumeru to the recent teasers of Natlan. Hoyoverse has colorism problems and racism problems and we're going to take a look at them here.
Before we begin, I want to take a moment to say that there will be a lot of information presented in this post. I ask that you read carefully and be considerate of every talking point presented.
Now, let's talk about Sumeru.
Sumeru, the fourth region released in Genshin Impact, draws a lot of real world inspiration from Middle Eastern culture, with even the geography mimicking the real world geography of China and India. The characters, music, food, and geography all draw inspiration from various different real world cultures, and just from a few glances, it is easy to see exactly where and what cultures they’re taking from.
Candace for instance, from name to appearance, draws inspiration from kandakes, which was the title of a queen mother in Nubian kingdoms. Even her accessories, her talents, and her weapon take pieces from other aspects of Egyptian culture.
Cyno, another character from Sumeru, is dressed in garb that mimics depictions of Anubis, the ancient Egyptian God of funerary rites and protector of graves. As with Candace, his talents and abilities reference Egypt.
Even Sethos, a newcomer to the game and also a Sumeru character, has clothes, skills, and a name that alludes to either the Egyptian God Set, the god of the desert and storms, the Egyptian pantheon in general, or the Ancient Egyptian King Seti/Sethos.
These three characters are tanned, anyone can see that, but if you take a closer look you'll notice that they're all around the same shade. Considering all three of them take inspiration from real world Egyptian culture, it is insane to me that they're all a similar shade of the same slightly tanned tone. It is unacceptable that they're all a shade or two away from white when all of them has some aspect of Egyptian culture in their character.
To further shed light on Sumeru's racist sins, there exists a long standing conflict in Sumeru regarding The Eremites, a race of people descended from the ancient, now-collapsed civilization who primarily live in the desert. These people are the enemies in the game. You read that right. The desert dwellers are the enemies and not only that, but unlike the treasure hoarders who disappear into smoke when defeated, the Eremites collapse to the ground like the Fatui.
Why do the Treasure Hoarders, a band of pale skinned thieves, get away but the Eremites, treated as if their culture is lesser, presumably die?
Worse than that, there is a long quest in Sumeru where a white academic from Sumeru spends nearly the entire length of the quest insulting an Eremite. The quest I'm referring to, Golden Slumber, is a multi part quest that has the Traveler accompanying a researcher named Tirzad who is exploring the ruins in the deserts of Sumeru. Throughout the quest, Tirzad spends most of his time complaining and insulting Jeht and Jebrael, calling the latter an uneducated brute whenever Jebrael tries to do anything. And the Traveler is no help, with dialogue options remaining neutral instead of rightfully telling Tirzad to stop.
What we have here is a white man stereotyping a man of color and assuming things about himself and his race due to his own racist biases.
Many players have called out the racism in Tirzad’s actions and this quest overall, but Tirzad at multiple times fails to see the error of his ways and leads the group into life threatening situations simply because he can’t believe an “uneducated desert brute” could possibly know more than him.
I could sit here and pick apart more aspects of Sumeru and it's failures to properly represent the culture it's using, but I want to get into the inciting incident of this entire post, which is Natlan.
When the teaser for Natlan was released, it was just another failure on Hoyoverse's part. To understand why, we can break it down into parts, starting with the character leaks:
Mavuika, presumably the pyro archon, with a name inspired by Māori fire deity Mahuika.
Ororon, a mispelling of the Yoruba god Ọlọrun, the creator deity in the Yoruban pantheon.
Kinich, named after the Mayan god of the sun.
Iansan, another character whose name comes from the Yoruba pantheon.
Xilonen, this name coming from one of the aspects of the Aztec goddess of maize and the goddess of sustenance.
Kachina, name inspiration directly lifted from the religious beliefs of the indigenous Pueblos people.
Chasca, name coming from the Incan goddess of dawn and twilight.
Citlali, a name derived from Nahuatl, which is a language from ancient Mexico.
Are you seeing something interesting with these characters?
Hoyoverse has shoved multiple different cultures under one region and whitewashed every character. They did the bare bones work of lifting names and small design inspirations from so many different cultures and using them in the laziest way possible. If not pale white, the few characters who are tanned are a mere shade darker than Cyno and almost the same shade as Kaeya. There is nothing darker in sight with any of these characters.
Cultural representation matters. If Hoyoverse can explore the cultures of Germany (Mondstadt), China (Liyue), Japan (Inazuma), and France (Fontaine), it is insane that the same sort of love couldn't be given to both Sumeru and Natlan, both nations where we should rightfully be seeing more people of color.
(Side note, we should be seeing more people of color in the previous regions as well, even as NPCs. Bi-racial people exist all over the world, not just in America. Quick google searches will show what I mean.)
I can already hear the arguments against me.
"But Hoyoverse is an East Asian company! They don't need to/don't care about representation!"
Oh really? Because Lilithgames, the company behind Dislyte, is a company based in Shanghai, China. And when you compare the variety of skin tones of Dislyte to Genshin, you cannot make the argument that a company based in Asia doesn't care about diversity. Hoyoverse does not seem to care, but don't make it a blanket statement for all companies.
Still not convinced? Bluepoch, a small Chinese company behind Reverse:1999, is responsible for this character:
Smite, a game published by Hi-Rez Studios and Tencent Games (A Chinese publisher), has a character based on Olorun. And they did just fine in their depiction of him:
And the director behind Tekken 7, Katsuhiro Harad, shared concept art of an Arab fighter they want to add to the game. Why? Because he wanted to make sure he was respecting Middle Eastern culture and asked for feedback to see what can be improved. He posted this concept art and asked the community for input to make Shaheen as accurate as possible:
But sure. Asian companies don't care.
"It's a fantasy world! It doesn't have to 1-to-1 mimic the real world!"
Oh really? So why are characters named after real world cultural figures, why is the food based around real world food, why are outfits somewhat inspired by real world garbs then? If you're gonna draw inspiration from something and use the real world in your game, the world is a diverse place. It is not all white nor all slightly tanned.
"You can always stop playing the game."
I could, but that would mean letting them win and get away with their racism. It would mean letting Hoyoverse think this is the norm instead of the outlier. It would mean staying silent during injustice. I can do a lot of things, and exposing their issues is one of them.
"It could be difficult for them to implement dark-skinned characters."
It actually is not. Look at all the examples from other games and companies discussed previously. It's not hard. Plus, take a look at Wriothesley's concept art:
Originally, he had a different skin tone. So characters with different tones existed but got lightened and changed over time.
"I don't want [insert race here] in my fantasy game/it doesn't matter!"
Honey, you're just racist.
"Wow, I get it now. This is bad. What can I do to help?"
There are several ways:
Use Surveys and Feedback when you log into Hoyoverse games. This problem extends past Genshin, into HSR and ZZZ (a game whose ads promote itself with rap music and yet noticeably lack playable dark skinned characters so far). Use the platforms that they gave us in order to spread the word. Tell them that you're dissatisfied with the cultural appropriation and disappointed in Hoyoverse for taking certain cultures and whitewashing them. Email [email protected] if the feedback buttons aren't working for some reason.
Stop putting money into the game. A lot of companies listen when there's monetary loss involved. Show them that you mean business and stop supporting their business. You can also leave a one star and a review with your thoughts on their cultural appropriation.
Amplify the voices of those speaking out. There are plenty of posts out there better worded than mine that go in depth into a lot of these problems. Multiple voice actors of all ethnicities and backgrounds have spoken up about Hoyoverse’s injustices as well (many of the VAs from the game, including the voices of Albedo, Sucrose, Layla, Beidou, and even VAs for smaller NPCs have spoken out). When you see those posts, share them. Spread the word. Get those voices out there.
Shut down those silencing others. For as many posts out there trying to bring more light to this issue, there are others who try to shut us down. They continue to be racist and double down that nothing is wrong with Natlan. Do not let them get away with this. Show them this post or the myriad of other posts that exist. Tell them to shut the fuck up. Call them out. But don't let them silence anyone else.
If you've made it to the end and learned something, I'm glad. If you've made it to the end and want to further support me or anyone else in this fight, share this post and others like it.
Thank you for reading.
EDIT: As noted in this ask, the naming conventions of characters from other regions as opposed to Sumeru and Natlan. I’ll be adding a separate reblog to this post with a full list of naming conventions from each region.
hi i'm back with more crack theories about kaeya and everyone's favorite purple crystal 🥰
warning: this is just for fun, something to keep us entertained during another kaeya lore drought
a while back, before we knew who the sinner was, i suggested he was a fallen angel who gave kaeya his vision. kaeya's vision is pointedly missing two wings which may symbolize his clipped wings.
since there are some parallels between vision givers (archons) and vision bearers i assumed that the circumstances around kaeya's vision (fighting his brother after a betrayal) might hint towards the sinner also having gone through a sibling fallout.
fast forward, and while i was off about a few things, vedrfolnir does indeed have a sibling, one he betrayed pretty badly 🤭
Dainsleif: The Sinner you wish to know about... His situation is different. He and his fellow sinners have long betrayed me, and long betrayed their nation.
Dainsleif: His name is Vedrfolnir, "The Visionary."
Dainsleif: I'm loath to admit it, but... He is also my kin. My older brother.
who knows, maybe vedrfolnir witnessed the fight between the two brothers and saw himself in kaeya. (there's also something deeply funny about vedr losing his little brother dainsleif and replacing him with a cooler younger brother who also wants nothing to do with him).
Since that day, Kaeya and Diluc have gone their separate ways. But he never discusses it, just as he never discusses the origin of his Vision.
alternatively, perhaps vedr had to keep kaeya alive at all costs and hastily gave him a vision. he just so happens to be a Visionary, a powerful prophet who can divine the fate of the world and apparently see through time itself. ...like some kind of all seeing eye.
you know where this is going.
whether kaeya is a seer or not remains unclear. but there are enough oddities to suggest he knows and sees more than is normal. just look at his hangout! i'm not going to list all the instances but bennett even called him an "omniscient big brother" in an old official blog post. turns out, vedrfolnir is quite literally an omniscient big brother lol.
Kaeya: My dear audience, I ask you this: Do you believe in fate? If fate decreed that your life was to end in tragedy, what would you do?
Kaeya: Fate means to send the machinations of war to every corner of the land, to fan the flames of conflict till they engulf the entire world... Fate would see my sword tainted with the blood of innocents, that the bright banner of my homeland might fly in every nation known to mankind.
Kaeya: Perhaps there's an inept god out there deciding everyone's fates... much like the Akademiya student drafting Darbil's scripts.
how does he know this? is someone dropping spoilers in his ear or does he really have the gift of prophecy?
so imagine for a second kaeya's vision is from vedrfolnir. maybe this created a connection between them which allowed kaeya to catch glimpses of vedr's divinations... this might explain why kaeya was there during the caribert quest. kaeya waited every day for the traveler to show up which to me suggests he was desperate to talk to them. maybe he knew what was going to happen and wanted to warn them. (and then vedr's brother showed up which put a dent in those plans.)
another fun coincidence is that vedrfolnir means "storm pale", "wind bleached", or "wind-witherer". kaeya has many references to storms and wind. (frostwind swordsman, glacial whirlwind, he even came to mondstadt during a storm etc etc). no, this does not mean kaeya is vedr, but hey if child can inherit surtalogi's legacy why can't kaeya inherit vedrfolnir's, who has a history of "helping" the alberichs.
foul legacy is "demon king armament (魔王武装)" in CN, and in fischl's cn voiceline about kaeya, she questions if kaeya has the "demon eye (魔眼)".
About Kaeya (CN)
Fischl: The reality that cannot be seen through, the karma that cannot be discerned, the mad interweavings of reality and illusion... Perhaps that person and I are alike, shouldering the fate of the "demon eye"...
the sinners are using a power they acquired from the abyss. if the power comes from a demon, who are fallen angels, then it does not kill the fallen angel theory. moreover, the traveler specifically compares venti's upside down statue to the sinner. i think the abyss order are trying to create a mechanical angel; because who else can weave and control ley lines if not the descendants of fate itself? the mecha god might even be used to house vedr himself...
this is not without precedent. i recently found out deshret's mechanical triangle boss, abbreviated as ASIMON, is a reference to the aasimon in dnd, who are angels.... these mechas are imbued with jinn fragments, who are the descendants of the seelie. so essentially, deshret used angel juice to power up his machines.
remus also used the golden seelie bees to weave his symphony. ....sensing a worrying trend here.
i won't lie, it's not looking good for kaeya.
but it gets better
"sinners" and "fishers" in french are almost identical: pécheurs and pêcheurs. this is important because kaeya's ancestor anfortas is named after the fisher king from arthurian legends which was originally written in old french. he's the sinner AND fisher king.
Amfortas is a character from the Grail Romances: the Fisher King (le roi pêcheur) and the Sinner King (le roi pecheur).
kaeya's connections to fishers has been foreshadowed from the beginning; his birthday falls on november 30, which is the feast day of st andrew, a fisherman. his eyepatch in official art has a trident, which was used for spearfishing. (there's also fischl's entire existence aka fischer.)
he even has a hangout pic where he catches a fish. in that same route he went by the alias of albert rich, which might also be a reference to the fisher king being a "rich fisher". it's a double pun!
if kaeya is the new "fisher" or "sinner king", what would he be the king of? khaenri'ah seems like the most logical route. yes, khaenri'ah is gone but it's possible the kingdom can "grow back" just like fischl's immernachtreich.
Oz: "Really? So how do we make your homeland grow back again? Oh, pwease tell me, pweeease, pweeeeease!"
Fischl: "Since you inquire so earnestly... give unto me a tranquil haven, promise me eternal admiration, lend me both time and wind, and one shall revive one's homeworld."
...or perhaps kaeya's future "kingdom" is simply mondstadt, which may be a pun on monsalvat, the fisher king's realm.
OR, even crazier, sinner king is literal, and the power the sinners are using belongs to a branch of kaeya's mysterious family... (not necessarily the alberichs).
we don't know yet if anfortas was born an alberich; for all we know he might have been adopted or married into the family. if this is the case, anfortas's lineage could be anything... we also can't forget kaeya's mother, who is an even bigger mystery than kaeya's father.
About Fischl (CN)
What? You're saying that Fischl hiding one eye is very fitting for her image as "Prinzessin der Verurteilung"? Haha, by this logic, I should be a descendant of a last generation of royals, right?
Another chibi from the requested list and this time it's sweet sweet Chongyun ! 💜 I was so happy to draw him as a former Chongyun main during the early day of the game !
Also, i'm slowly going through the whole list with everyone's request and it's very nice to just draw chibi without the pression of making everything perfect ! ✨
Hey, can y’all rb this if it’s okay to send you messages asking about your ocs, cause on god I wanna interact with y’all but I am terrified of being annoying lol
Ok you guys, we all know that Tumblr runs primarily in English
BUT WE ALSO KNOW THAT A SIGNIFICANT PART OF TUMBLR USERS ARE NOT NATIVE SPEAKERS
Here’s the deal: my first language is Italian. I know plenty of people on this website whose first language is Italian. Nevertheless, when we’re interacting with each other on Tumblr, we speak English.
I am not objecting to this system, it’s actually good practice for some people, to be able to speak a second language extensively.
BUT I HAVE A PROPOSITION FOR YOU.
Why not have a “Speak Your Own Language Day” where all of us exclusively speak in our native language?
(No but apart from the small rebellion from the US-centric and generally Anglophone-centric environment we got here, think about trying to speak to people from other countries via excessive use of Google Translate it’ll be a blast)
Ok, since this post has finally reached 100 notes I think it’s a good time to give a date, and since no one else has advanced suggestions I’m gonna do it
I’m proposing Wednesday 7th May, so the post has a chance to do a couple more laps and more people get a chance to participate (French Friday sounded hilarious, but I don’t wanna wait until next friday and this friday seems a bit too soon).
How it’ll work:
If you’re native language is something other than English, speak that!
If you have multiple languages you can pick from the choice is yous friend, speak all, speak one, whatever’s best for you
You’ll blog in your language all day: text posts, replies, tags (except triggers and organizational tags), the whole nine yards. Regardless of what language people choose to speak to you, you answer in your own.
Midnight to midnight according to your own time zone
English native speakers, if you wanna participate maybe you could practice a second language you’re learning
If anyone makes fun of anyone else for their language (and I’m including English native speakers that might choose to speak a second language on the day) I’m gonna come for you (◕‿◕✿)
The tag is gonna be #Speak Your Language Day if you wanna tag your posts with that!
some kaeya facts that i want to remind everyone with because I miss him so much! (no angst this time i swear!!...but if you all want angst, I could also deliver hehehe)
1. Kaeya tells the children of Mondstadt some stories! Specifically, one that some forgot or didn't know of is that he has told the orphans under the church's care some horror story about the light in the lamp posts :D He had been shown to do a story telling to Klee while at the Veluriyam Mirage and he has also been reading to Klee her bedtime stories as well
2. Kaeya made Klee's survival rules! Kaeya has definitely done his part on preventing Klee from destroying Mondstadt before Celestia ever could (well, at least lessened the amount of times Mond gets bombed anyway). Anyone else think Kaeya purposely let Klee explode the Good Hunter's stove to avoid going to the Chasm? No? Ok-
3. He takes the attention when he dances! Depending on which language you hear it from, it is either a good or a bad thing. However, I am on team good thing simply because some mercenaries invited him to go dancing with them while he was in Sumeru ( very interesting information, Kaeya! Glad to know they found you so attractive that they did something they don't usually do!)
4. If you call him kind, he will attempt to look mean (and he fails at it lmao), and if he is not being mean, he will try to deny it. The traveler once listed down the kind things he had done for Captain Wu, a Liyue npc, and Kaeya proceeds to tell us that he records people who owe him (which is a lie. He forgot the person he helped TWICE. What he does have a record of is a well-detailed list of Treasure Hoarders and their rankings + patrol areas in Mondstadt). Another instance was during Jean's story quest where Kaeya planned the appreciation party for Jean where he gave the traveler all the credit
5. He is a great gift giver! (unless that person is Diluc because otherwise he will find the ugliest thing ever and gift that... arguably, that kinda sounds like amazing gift giving if we are talking about being an annoying sibling). He remembers passing commentary from friends and coworkers and gifts them accordingly.
6. He has his own intel network (and I'm theorizing that it is just a group of people he has helped before that insisted on paying him back in this way). Kaeya, after some heavy insistence from Captain Wu, asks him if he wants to be a friend or be part of his intel network and follow his commands no matter what. Vile, one of his known informants, also gave us a glimpse as to what it takes to be part of Kaeya's network, and that is the ability to decipher codes and read messages in between.
7. He is incredibly reliable as a knight! Not only do the people of Mondstadt agree that he is the more approachable cavalry captain between him and Diluc, but it is also a known fact that Kaeya has never failed to complete a mission to date (except the one during Diluc's 18th). Nearly every citizen of Mondstadt adores him and knows how reliable he is. Arguably, this success rate could be attributed to his "end justifies the means" mindset that not all find enjoyable, but he is definitely the person to ask if you want something done. Vile has once mentioned that she could just ask Kaeya to do the charming and convincing for her, dubbing him as a prince charming for it.
8. He is one of the people who spends so much time with Klee (potentially attributed by the fact that he also has more free time compared to others). He spends so much time with her that Klee mentions a few interesting things about Kaeya, such as the fact that Albedo draws Kaeya frequently (enough times that Albedo says Kaeya could be drawn by him easily. yes, it's that "three strokes" line lmao) and the fact that Kaeya has saved Klee from solitary confinement a lot. He is shown to be a very effective person when it comes to corralling Klee without making her feel bad as even when he was trying to berate her, he still ended up giving her a possible reward if she listens.
9. He is very meticulous. He willingly spends the time to get himself ready in the clothes that he is wearing, and he likes embellishments. He really is quite the perfectionist in his actions as well. (very Alberich of him!✌️) We can also see this in his handwriting that has been described as "beautiful" and again with his near perfect track record as a knight.
kianamaiart
ellievsbear
amandla
yousharknotpass
prguitarman
