We all know that a story cannot be fulfilled without the dark forces at play that tries to put every obstacle in front of the main protagonist. Especially in a game like Genshin Impact, there are characters that sometimes even you will be on the verge of judging whether a person has a good intent or malice in the heart. In my experience, I’ve felt that there are rarely Genshin characters who genuinely want to help the Traveler find their sibling. Others just use them for their selfish agendas.
Some organizations work in the shadows to achieve their goals with no bounds whatsoever. Such is the Fatui, an organization working in the shadows trying to control its objectives and always ready to use underhanded methods to achieve the same.
Just like any other organization, they also have ranks, and some of the most senior members are bestowed the title of Harbinger by Her Majesty, the Tsaritsa. To emphasize them, in this Fatui Harbingers guide, I’ll take you through this journey to learn more about the Harbingers and go through their influence on the story.
The Fatui, Who are they?
The Fatui is an antagonistic organization from Snezhnaya that wants to establish its influence over other Genshin nations. Under the command of her Majesty, The Tsaritsa, they will go to any extent to fulfill her wishes and treats her words with absolute devotion.
With members from all sorts of society, the Fatui has an immense network, power, and influence to get their work done by hook or crook. They are not an organization with a moral compass and always disguises themselves as a neutral organization in other regions.
Human experimentation, blackmailing, and forcing others to do their work for the benefit of the Fatui are normal tasks for the organization’s members. The organization consists of some high-profile members of society. Throughout the game, you will notice that they are already at the location before you can reach them.
That all means one thing, they have a solid intelligence network and maybe some spies inside the upper echelons of nations. They follow absolute orders from the Tsaritsa, who is the Cryo archon and empress of Snezhnaya.
When you go through different regions, you will notice Fatui members serving duty at certain places and often run into them while doing quests. You will frequently engage in battles with the Fatui soldiers, and in some quests, when you try to help them, they will backstab you. The only conclusion you can derive here is that they are cunning, deceiving, and cannot be trusted blindly.
Not only that, the Fatui are so confident in themselves that they don’t see anyone else equal to them. In one quest, The tales of Winter, you will hear an NPC Viktor say lowly of the Knights of Favonius and takes a jab at them, saying that they are not competent enough to face the Fatui.
The Eleven Harbingers
Like any organization, the Fatui has its’ ranks, and the Harbingers are the most senior members of the Fatui. They have been granted Delusions by Her Majesty, The Tsaritsa herself, and command their own divisions. From the story, you get to know that they are not usually someone whom you can ignore or be at ease around because they are sharp, smart, and cunning in nature.
Harbingers like Signora and Scaramouche are clever and manipulating sometimes and go to any extent to achieve their goals. While there are others like Childe who are soft at heart for his family, other like Dotorre is a manifestation of evil.
The Harbingers have a lot of respect for the Fatui, and their subordinates consider it a matter of respect if they get to spar with a Harbinger. In one quest, when Childe was giving a speech to new recruits, he made them spar with him to conceal his identity from Teucer and changed the topic to a Toy factory. The Harbingers have numbers and codenames and are addressed with honorifics by their underlings. They are powerful and command a wealth unparalleled by only a few in Teyvat.
Let’s go over each Harbinger and learn more about them. A little disclaimer that not all Harbingers have made their appearance in the game, and only a selected few are in certain quests. I’ve mentioned the ones you get to know about from the story, and there’s a special one named IL Dotorre who plays a vital role in the manga. There are also codenames for these Harbingers assigned to them, and a total of eleven harbingers are in the story.
Pierro, The First
Pierro, also known as Jester, is the first Fatui Harbinger and has been said to have a history of picking other harbingers. He is yet to make an appearance in the game. Still, He has said to send Scaramouche to an investigation mission in Liyue during the Unreconciled Stars event.
In various events, it’s known that Pierro is a senior member among the Harbingers and had brains for the work. Whether it was Scaramouche on a mission on Liyue or commanding Scaramouche in the first place, it seems like not even Scaramouche has the guts to say no to him. Though there are a few theories about him, it’s better to wait for his appearance in the game and see what kind of a Harbinger he is.
Pulcinella, The Fifth
Pulcinella is featured in the Teyvat Chapter Storyline Preview on the official Genshin Impact Youtube channel, where his face isn’t shown. From Childe’s character story, you get to know that Pulcinella was responsible for Childe’s entry to the Fatui and told him to start from the bottom ranks.
Eventually, Childe climbed up the ranks of Harbingers. Childe had a short temper when he was Young and defeated fully equipped Fatui guards in a fight that caught the eye of Pulcinella for his combat talents. It seems like Pulcinella has an eye for talent and knows when to invest in an individual. Pulcinella is yet to make an appearance in the game.
Scaramouche, The Sixth
Scaramouche, also known as Balladeer, made his first appearance during the Unreconciled Stars event, where he introduced himself to the Traveler. In the Unreconciled Stars event, you get to know from Mona that he is a fatui harbinger and not someone of a usual presence.
Mona is quite shocked to see him. Although Scaramouche tries to be friendly in front of them, Mona teleports everyone to safety and instructs the Traveler to be wary of him at all costs. To the Traveler’s surprise, Mona also explains that he’s a very powerful individual but maybe is more powerful than her.
Although it seems more like a coverup for her nervousness where she doesn’t want to admit that Scaramouche is way more powerful than he appears to be. But she claims he doesn’t come close to Mona’s astrology skills.
In the event’s story, Scaramouche never reveals his true nature to the Traveler. It affirms to assist the Traveler in case they need any help. But, after the encounter with Mona, where everyone is discussing the Dragonspine mountain and meteorites, Scaramouche’s true identity comes out.
After the group, Fischl, Mona, Traveler, and Paimon get teleported out, Scaramouche is seen to regret his chance where he could strike the Traveler. Soon after, he is seen meeting with his subordinates and doesn’t like their suggestions at all. Scaramouche is seen as a cunning, dominating, short-tempered Harbinger who doesn’t take a no from anyone.
After some time, we meet him again in the Inazuma, where he oversees a Delusion factory that affects normal innocent people. In Inazuma, we meet an NPC named Teppei who fell into a trick of using a Delusion given to him by some strange people.
It comes out that the Fatui has been supporting the resistance with Delusions, and now the Delusions have started showing its side effects to normal people. There wouldn’t have been an encounter with Scaramouche in Inazuma if it wasn’t for Teppei’s death because he was among the few who treated the Traveler as a genuine friend.
I was really sad about Teppei’s death because no matter whatever the situation was, he cared for the Traveler and always treated him more than a friend himself. I remember going to the Delusion factory full of emotions because it was a matter of doing or dying with whoever was behind the scenes. Eventually, it came out that Scaramouche was behind all, and a Delusion production was going on behind the scenes.
Unfortunately, the Traveler falls into his trap. Yae Miko has to rescue the Traveler from Scaramouche by exchanging Ei’s Gnosis. Had it not been for Yae Miko, I’m sure things would have turned ugly in that encounter, and the Traveler’s fate would have been worse than ever.
Eventually, from how he was created as an artificial human being to his journey with the Fatui, Scaramouche becomes untraceable. Childe concluded that Scaramouche had gone rogue, and there’s no track of him. We learn about this information during the Labyrinth warrior’s event, and it seems like Scaramouche is brave enough to even go against the Tsaritsa. With no information on him whatsoever, Childe was sent to investigate him. Since then, no one’s heard of Scaramouche’s whereabouts.
Signora, The Eighth
Signora, also known as the Fair Lady, appeared in the early game, where she steals Venti’s Gnosis forcefully and kicks him onto the ground. A few Fatui guards try to ambush Venti out of nowhere, where the Traveler deals with them. But soon enough, La Signora makes her appearance, speaking lowly about him, and slaps him in the conversation.
She uses Cryo to immobilize Venti in one place, and Venti talks back to her with befitting replies, to which unleashes a final blow where she takes his Gnosis. With Venti lying on the ground in the aftermath, she kicks him to the ground and leaves with her subordinates.
However, this wasn’t only the major encounter you had with Signora because she makes an appearance in front of the Raiden Shogun, where she challenges the Traveler to a duel to the death. Signora is quite arrogant about her and treats people as low-class peasants. Signora had Pyro elemental ability that she learned from a lost art in Sumeru academia with a Cryo delusion that was given to her.
Much to her surprise, the Traveler was able to defend against her and eventually managed to defeat her. But, it can be seen that the Traveler doesn’t want to kill her, but Signora’s arrogance leads to her demise. After the Traveler defeats Signora, she talks back to them and disrespects the Almighty Shogun, calling everyone “filthy rats.”
Though the Raiden Shogun didn’t have any expressions whatsoever, it was a duel to death before the throne in front of the Raiden Shogun, and the losing side had to face the consequences. Just as Signora is speaking ill, the Raiden Shogun approaches her and leads a killing blow that obliterates her to ashes.
We tried to duel against the Raiden Shogun before, but witnessing her true power first-handed shook things apart. After that, it became clear that the Archons have unparalleled power over their elements, and incurring their wrath won’t be good for our well-being. Signora had made her appearance on a few occasions in the game, but currently, she’s deceased.
Pantalone, The Ninth
Pantalone, also known as the Regrator, hasn’t made an appearance in the game yet but was mentioned during Yelan’s story quest and by an NPC named Goth in Mondstadt. Goth is the boss of the Goth Grand Hotel in Mondstadt and has lent the whole hotel to Pantalone for an intended duration. Pantalone is said to be the wealthiest Harbinger as he paid an upfront fee to Goth for the hotel. Though Goth’s motto is to serve the people of Mondstadt, even he couldn’t deny an insane amount of money.
In Yelan’s quest, we learn about him in more detail and how he has a knack for expensive and rare items. It comes out that the Pantalone was responsible for manipulating people in trying to assassinate Uncle Tian and putting a puppet in his place. Luckily, the Traveler and Yelan could intercept Zhiyi, who was a potential candidate for the position and was working with Fatui to achieve his goals.
Yelan’s story quest reveals his true nature to Uncle Tian. Eventually, Uncle Tian is saved after he is given some medications by Baizhu. Little is known about him, and he’s yet to appear in the game. But, from Yelan’s story quest, we see Yelan’s mettle that she was able to intercept an item of rare value from Pantalone’s secret trade route. And that item was going for the Tsaritsa herself.
Check out this Yelan Genshin Guide to learn more about Yelan.
Tartaglia, The Eleventh
Tartaglia, also known as Childe, made his appearance on numerous occasions throughout the game and is a playable character. He wields a Hydro vision with an Electro delusion that helps to boost his abilities to another level. Childe is also a wealthy Harbinger who has large sums of money.
We learn about his wealth from an NPC named Ekaterina, a receptionist at the Northland bank. She claims that his bank account can literally “boggle” anyone’s mind. Childe appeared during Rites of Descension, where he saves the Traveler from the Millelith and defeats guards with his hydro blades to help the Traveler escape.
Throughout the story, you will meet and interact with Childe on various occasions and even babysit his brother during a quest. He plays a crucial role in Liyue’s story and is highly skilled in combat. Tartaglia has a personality that allows him to charm people and gets his work done in any way.
Though his thirst for combat doesn’t stop him from charging senselessly into battles; it doesn’t mean he’s an insane person. Childe shows kindness and care for his loved ones and cares for his family. Although he was not enough in favor of the plan to wreak havoc on Liyue, he couldn’t deny the orders.
Childe is a fatui Harbinger who has to live up to his title, and if his actions are against his morals, he won’t back down from fulfilling his task. Down the line, we met Childe in Inazuma, where he was investigating for a rogue harbinger named Scaramouche and sent to track him down. Childe is currently a playable character in the game and has made his appearance and re-runs on numerous occasions.
Dottore
We learn about Dottore from the Official Genshin Impact manga, where he is introduced in the beginning chapters. In short, IL Dottore is someone who has little to no regard for human life and will go to any extent to perform his hideous experiments on people. You can see in the manga that he feels disgusted by visions and calls them “self-inflated tools” and have no consciousness whatsoever for anyone.
I would say he’s a pure manifestation of evil and a psychopathic scientist who tends to perform evil experiments. Some are performed on humans. That was seen after he butchered a group of hilichurls and eventually turned his dead assistant, Krupp, into a gigantic robot to satisfy his lust for horrendous experiments.
You can see from the story that Dottore was once a student of Sumeru Academia and was approached by Pierro, who promised him resources and an environment for his research. There’s more to Dottore in the manga because he’s yet to make an appearance in the game. If you want to know more about him, I recommend you head to our manga guide and learn more about the past events.
Capitano
Capitano is a Harbinger whose name is mentioned in a world quest, Tales of Winter, by an NPC named Viktor. In the quest, Tales of Winter, Viktor mentions working for Signora and seems to run an errand for her.
After a few dialogues, you get to know that if given a choice, Viktor would like to work under the command of Capitano. Capitano has a good reputation among his comrades, or it may only be the case with Viktor.
Sandrone
Sandrone is a Fatui Harbinger whose name is mentioned in the description of the Characters Tales – “Childe: Sigil of Permission” on the official Genshin Impact youtube channel. It features a Fatui Agent named Javert who joins Childe to collect a debt from a debtor at Yansheng Teahouse. In the cutscene, you will see that the master is conversing with a lady about getting somewhere far away if they can’t continue their business there.
The lady reminds him of the debt, but suddenly Childe and Javert let know of their presence hiding in the shadows. The master summons his guards, but they are of no use in front of Childe, and to his surprise, Childe finds a Sigil of Permission from him. Childe points out to Javert about his failure not to check the debtor’s possessions. Although Javert apologizes, Childe doesn’t pay much attention to him.
This was not the first time Javert was pointed out as when he was a new recruit, he was admonished by another Harbinger, Sandrone. Clearly, in the eyes of this Fatui agent, the Harbingers are well respected and have a lofty status.
Arlecchino
Arlecchino is a Fatui Harbinger mentioned during a world quest, The Very Special Fortune Slip, where we learn about Gendo Ringo’s true identity. From the game, we know that he runs an orphanage named the House of the Hearth and raises orphans where he raises them as potential members of the Fatui.
I feel that he brainwashes innocent children for his ulterior motives and sends them on numerous dangerous missions to accomplish his objectives. So far, we only have a few lore pieces about his identity, and he has yet to make an appearance in the game.
A Few Questions
That was a bunch about the Fatui, and the time has come to go over a few questions you may have after going through this Fatui Harbingers guide. Let’s quickly go over them.
Question: Who is your favorite Harbinger?
Answer: Tartaglia, also known as Childe, is my favorite Harbinger because I love his personality and caring nature for his family. Although he follows the orders of Her Majesty, he has a soft side to him where he cares for his family and will do anything to ensure they are safe. For instance, there was a quest where his brother Teucer came to meet him in Liyue, and he trusted the Traveler to take care of him. Not only that, when Teucer was in trouble, Childe used his Delusion to eliminate existing threats at the cost of his own health and ended up in a fragile state.
Though it’s undeniable that his actions risked the lives of the people of Liyue and the whole city was on the verge of destruction, I cannot say he’s purely evil. Surely, there must be some reasons he had to act that way, but his nature towards his family is also you cannot ignore. There have been various instances, like his introduction to the game, where he saves the Traveler from the Milileth and helps him escape. So, ultimately it’s not yet clear what he has in his mind, but on numerous occasions, you will learn about Childe’s good side. I would say only the time will answer our questions in the future and how the events will unfold.
Question: What do you think about the Tsaritsa?
Answer: So far from the story, we’ve got to know that the Fatui is a very large organization with ties with people from all sorts of societies. In numerous quests, you see that they are the ones pulling the strings from the shadows and go to any extent to achieve their goals.
Not only do they not hesitate to experiment on humans to get their nasty work done, but they don’t spare anyone who gets in their way. With such devotion to their ruler, I’m confident that the Tsaritsa is someone you don’t want to mess with. Not only is she the empress of Snezhnaya she is also the Cryo archon.
We first got to experience an archon’s power in a fight against the Raiden Shogun in Inazuma and how she obliterated Signora after a duel match with the Traveler. I’m sure that the Tsaritsa is on a similar level of power and is an archon; it would be tough to deal with her if she goes against us in the future. But also, we cannot ignore the Traveler’s powers because they are beings beyond the world and got to see a glimpse of their powers.
I’m looking forward to seeing Traveler in more action and seeing the nature of their true powers in the future.
Question: How powerful is the Traveler in front of the Harbingers?
Answer: It’s complex to assume anything about the power levels yet because we have not seen all the Harbingers in the game yet. Also, the Traveler’s powers are still in a cloud of judgment on what kind of powers they can rely on or morph into something else. We saw Traveler’s powers in a fight against Childe, where they used double elements to resist an attack. Still, no comparison can be made with him. Childe was using an Electro delusion to supplement his powers. It was fascinating to see the Traveler using double elements.
There are a lot of interesting theories about this made by the community on Reddit, and I advise you to take a look at them. Some awesome lore enthusiasts in the community pay precise attention to the details and draw valid conclusions. I’m sure you must be able to find some interesting reads about the Traveler’s powers and how their experience is going with the elemental powers.
One thing is sure that they rely more on swordsmanship than the elemental powers and slowly learn to use them and refining as we go through other regions. We can only hope that we get to know more lore in the game and see how the events will unfold in the future.
Final Remarks
The Fatui’s actions have proven that they are an evil organization working tirelessly behind the shadows to achieve their ill-intended goals. They have been doing these activities in the past, even before the Traveler arrived. The Fatui have also been responsible for the demise of many innocent lives. The members of that organization don’t have any moral compass, ethics, or care for lives and use anyone for their own gains. Though there are some of the most characters in the organization, there are others who still have their humanity remaining in them.
Characters like Childe still care for others but cannot deny the absolute orders from her Majesty, the Tsaritsa, and follow her with utmost devotion. On various occasions in the story, we learn about the organization and its malpractices towards innocents that lead to further destruction. Though there are other organizations like Treasure hoarders, they aren’t as powerful and dominant as the Fatui. I would say the Fatui is in a league of their own, and we will likely have a lot of encounters with them in the future.
That was some talk about the Fatui harbingers. I’ll encourage you to check out our other guides on the site to find an interesting read. We have some awesome guides about the regions, characters, and much more that you can go over in your free time. I’ll take leave now and meet you in another interesting guide soon!
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