I would consider Aether the typical rpg protagonist. Male, saving the princess, his little sister. Aside from being a girl myself and feeling the lack of female action adventure jrp characters, I love how dainty and femine Lumine is. And the sisterly bond between Paimon and her is beyond cute.
Same, he matched my own hair 4 years ago. Even with detailed character creators, it's rare to play a long hair male character. But Genshin got a lot of lengthy hairdos.
I am a Lumine main since my brother accidently picked her and i immediately fell in love with her character, in my opinion i love how Aether is the emotional sibling. it makes me want to root for both of them, also i love how you can see Lumine slowly getting more comfortable with her environment. at the start we don't really see her become that way until before or after sumeru, i love and adore both siblings and hope they both can get their happy ending while also getting to leave and move on to the next world together with paimon. ( you've gained another sub!)
Proud Aether main since 2020! When I picked my twin, I chose the boy simply because my instinct has always been to choose my irl gender for my video game protagonist whenever I’m given the choice for an increased sense of immersion. Since day one, I have always made sure to have the traveler as my default active character in the open world so I can roleplay as the wandering voyager who is constantly exploring a world full of new things to discover and challenges to overcome. During the days when the only available nations in the game was Mondstadt and Liyue, my grasp on the identity of the traveler I’m playing as was a lot more vague compared to now. Back then, I merely saw Aether as a foreigner lost in a unfamiliar world, whose long term goal of reuniting with someone very dear to to him will lead him on a long journey full of huge twists and turns. It was by the time of Inazuma that my perception of Aether’s persona becomes more specific and individualized. A important piece of this persona is the fact that he is absolutely not some kind of knight in shining armor with a sense of traditional heroism. Aether is driven primarily by his own personal goals such as figuring out all the inner workings of this strange world so that he and Lumine’s next attempt at leaving it won’t end up like the previous time. He travels across the nations to seek out each of the archons for that very purpose. However, while his main motivation is far from that of a hero who wants to save the world, he still has kindness and empathy in his heart regardless, and will pretty much always play the role of a passerby who chose to stop what he’s doing to help anyone in need. Sometimes he can also be motivated by a simple need for gathering more resources for the long trips ahead, hence all the treasure hunting. Other times he is simply going along with silly ideas from Paimon, who not only act as a adoptive sibling of sorts, but is also a contrasting personality who is a lot more easily excited by the idea of adventures, heroics, and simple trivialities of life. More importantly, having the traveler Aether being someone who is driven by personal missions but is nonetheless willing to stop and step into otherwise completely unrelated affairs out of kindness alone is a huge contrast to abyss Lumine who is seemingly fixated on her goals out of a unyielding sense of duty and shows no signs of hesitation. Aether, for his part, is rightfully concerned about Lumine and whatever it was that have driven her to become the way she is during that brief reunion, and is therefore all the more motivated to learn more about the deeper secrets of Teyvat so that he may finally be able to understand what his sister is really going through and be in a position to help her. On a related note, the fact that the traveler’s profile description specifically states that they’re on a mission to seek out the seven archons is precisely why I have made it my long term goal to collect all of the archons (I got 6 out of 7 as of the time of me typing this). Not only has this proven to be a worthwhile investment in terms of gameplay, but it also gives me a great sense of progression as the traveler gradually makes his mark on all seven nations.
I pick Lumine because she seems more like a hero than a villain I don't see the younger sibling being a villain meanwhile with aether being the older more emotional sibling I think he will feel more for the khaenri'ahs making more sense for him to be the abyss sibling in my mind
I'm one of the ones that chose Lumine because I'm a girl and she's really pretty. And the more I go through this story, I am of the mind that Traveller Lumine and Abyss Aether made a lot more sense to me than if it were the "canon" route. I love both of them as the Traveller and as the Abyss Twin, but I do prefer this. Traveller Lumine, as you've explained, is designed as the classical hero of the story. But there is that part where I feel she doesn't mean to be one. She's been looking for answers to her brother's whereabouts and why he chose the decisions he chose. When it comes to Aether as the Abyss Twin, I see it as Aether still able to change his mind about it by the end of all this while Abyss Lumine feels that nothing would stray from her path. Pluse, his color pallet, to me, better suits the Abyss Order than Lumine's does. And something about the original Boy-Girl pairing (Aether-Lumine) to the Boy-Boy pairing of the past (Aether-Dain) and finally the girl-girl pairing of the present (Lumine-Paimon) tickles a neuron in my brain. I'm a real sucker for stories like these, but I can see the appeal of the other way around.
If there's an option, I will almost always pick a female viewpoint character. That's pretty much all the thought I put into picking Lumine. I feel like I'm making up for when I was a kid and pretty much all games forced you to play as a guy.
It also makes sense to how other characters interact with them as well. Even though, as you said, 99% of the times they say the same conversations, this is just based on what I observed. Only to the playable characters that you interact to not the npc's Most of the males, upon interacting with Aether, gave him a support or a shoulder to lean on, too. While to Lumine, the males tend to rely on her more. And again, most of the females to Aether they give off a sense of care and concern even to the most tomboyish of women. While to Lumine, the females gave off a more companionship, feeling that since you are the same gender it is easy to open up to Lumine.
I'm sorry but this is entirely down to your own projection and interpretation. There are almost no changes in ways playable characters interact with the Traveler depending on gender. The only one I can think of is Ningguang's birthday voiceline. NPCs can have a little more variance. I'm of course referring to REDACTED having a crush on Lumine but not Aether.
@bookswithike3256 Does are just minor details. Like he, most of the conversations of the Traveller twins are close to identical almost 99%, but after I watch this video, I too notice small minor details when playing as Aether or Lumine while talking with different characters. And the way they interact not by script dialogue but the expressions and body movements they make, which is so minor it's hard to notice right away.
I'm a traveller/Lumine main!!! I enjoy Lumine a lot, maybe it's because of how cool she looks in her fighting scenes or maybe its the fact that I can relate to her, in the how she acts way. I also really love how the two sibling contradict each other but also match in some way, like Lumine's fighting stance (especially in the cutscene in liyue where it was with Lumine and shenhe) matches the areas that Aether leaves open. while in the cutscene with Aether, his fighting stance matches the area which Lumine leaves open. Also in one of the Archon quests, the new ones, where they are dancing and there end poses are the opposite of each other. I also like how Lumine is stronger with her legs, while Aether is stronger with his arms. And how Aether seemed to trust Childe more easily but Lumine was a bit more iffy about it, her having her cards often close to her chest. As I did say before, how they contradict yet still match each other in ways is SO fascinating and I love it so much It's melts my heart, and I love them so much. They are literally my babies, as well as paimon. And yes, I am a little bit of a simp for Lumine. She just looks so cool when fighting, and I get so hyped whenever one of them actually talk. I genuinely love them both.....
Great attitude to have! I find their personlities and actions very intriguing in the ways you stated. Honestly, I too would probably be closer to Lumine's personality, but I don't regret my choice. :)
I felt most drawn to Aether, I mainly choose him for his darker color-scheme and the fact that he's the older one of the twins plus it's not every day I see a male-character who looks great with a belly-revealing outfit. Also Aether as the hero/main-protagonist in terms of his demeaor reminds me of fire, it can either bring you a source of warmth & comfort amids the cold or burn and hurt you if you don't approach it carefully. And Lumine as the Abyss-sibling comes off as having an icy apathetic demeanor contrasting with Abyss-Aether's melancholy conflicted personality like he's forced to do something he'd otherwise have never thought of doing if the situation wasn't dire.
Oh wow, very well researched and thought out video! I chose Lumine, at first I didn't think much of it, genshin came out a couple hours ago, I picked it up knowing nothing about it, saw the cutscene and I usually just go with the female protagonist since I feel more comfortable playing as them, but over the years I have noticed subconsciously the differences between the two like the ones you mentioned and appreciate them, I'm a Lumine protagonist stan all the way and would pick the same one if the choice was available again. I'm not a traveler main, BUT I'm very much considering maining the pyro one once the last constellation comes out with the last natlan tribe because she's very pretty, I love the nightsoul effects and the pyro traveler seems to be actually strong and fun compared to the a bit meh hydro one we got previously and natlan has become my favorite region so I want to immerse myself more.
Travelers lumine main here. I fell in love with electro, dandro and pyro. Her kits for those elements make a amazing support ive been playing for 3 years now more and more lumine was the character for i fell in ❤️
Enjoyed the video a lot! I remember when you asked about which traveler the audience chose and there were so many cool and varying answers, it’s nice you were able to make a full video about this topic and it turned out to be very enjoyable. And as for if there are any traveler mains out there…there has to be at least a few out there but I don’t think they are a very popular choice for multiple reasons that boil down to “traveler is categorized in game as a 5 star character that feels like a 3 star character gameplay wise.” A lot of people have had this criticism for a while actually, especially when you compare traveler to other mihoyo game MCs, it’s like night and day. But for myself, I can say I still use the traveler in 1 element on 1 team and I think that’s more than majority of people use them. 😅
@minah2328 I'm glad you enjoyed the video! :) And yeah, I know it's VERY uncommon for people to main the traveler, but that's also why I'm asking. Hopefully, I'll be pleasantly surprised. Having yours in a team comp counts enough. XD Thanks for watching!
I play the game just because of Aether 😂 Yeah, I'm telling you, the day when Aether will be somehow deleted from the game is the day I will delete the game 🎉 But that's unlikely to happen 😅 he's MC after all 😂
Thank you for explaining their character design. It helped me a lot. Hope in the future you can explain character designs of tye Fatui Harbingers. At least the ones that are shown in the game.
I would not call myself a traveller main, but i do enjoy running arround as lumine time to time, especialy every time i do story or main quest she is always in my party, and i lvled up her long before dendro came arround When i first started playing genshin i picked her for one quite obvious reason that im a girl (a lot of people chose based on that so yeah) But also i liked her design a lot more then her brother, his naked tummy and puppy eyes just look too funny and unserious to me, i cant do anything about it As time went on i only loved lumine more and more, as her bond with paimon some what feels more natural to me, two girlies on the walk arround teyvat to find a silly lil bro that got in his angsty era and we need to either understand why or get him back to sane mind (or both) Although aether looks even funnier in a role of an abyss prince for reason i mentioned before we see him not that often so i can live with that
Loved the video! Not a traveller main sadly, I don't play Genshin enough atm to level up all my characters without going through some insane grind, and they're a bit underwhelming gameplay wise compared to a lot of the newer characters. I still usually roll them out for non-combat quests though, feels nice. I always liked how Lumine's emotions felt more masked than Aether's, like you said she's reached the point of acceptance and is generally the colder of the siblings. That animated short absolutely hit me in the feels when it released
Understandable! Thank you for watching and I'm glad you enjoyed it! We seem to see eye to eye when it comes to the siblings. It really is fascinating. :)
I was introduced to the game by my brothers and learned that Lumine is the younger sibling of the two. So I pick Lumine because I prefer the little sister looking for her brother narative.
I'm a traveler main. I have an account with each twin. I can't main Aether because of his fighting style. It's easier for Lumine to use nagic than him. He's also a more defensive fighter to contrast her more offensive fighting moves. I prefer her fighting style to his. To me, his 1st slash causes him to hold his sword like he's a serial killer holding a dagger, I can't get past that first slash looking like that. Another issue I have against them is, Lumine can wield her sword in either hand. Aether just uses his right. On top of that he has to use that same hand for magic. The biggest "show" of this is: He has to slam his right hand into the ground to use geo in his burst. Lumine channels it through her feet. Showing she has an easier control of the physical sword and magic than Aether. He's physically stronger, and faster. But she starts out with stronger attack stats, better control of magic and offensive sword skills. I picked her because I'm female, and while I don't self-insert, I did notice that she was ambidextrous in the opening cut scene. I also prefer guys with covered tummies. My Aether account is younger, my main Lumine account is from the end of 2020 or start of 2021 when I started. So I picked Lumine for 3 reasons: I used to be (lost fine motor skills in one hand after a messed up surgers, but can still eat with this hand and do itger things, just lost my drawing/painiting ability (I'm a fine artist undet my real name) completely ambidextrous so I liked that about her. I also liked that she was my gender, liked her design and while I found out later she was less physically strong and not as fast, I liked the way she wields her sword better than Aether. I can easily main her. But I can barely tolerate using Aether at times. Though, no offense to anyone who likes him. Also another thing is Sarah, who plays both versions of Lumine, she has a twin brother, where Zack has said he doesn't have siblings, that lends itself to Sara playing the abyss twin the way she does. She's a bit colder because she asked herself: "How would I feel is a stranger seperated me from MY TWIN brother?" While Zack can only imagine what having and loosing that bond might feel like, she can imagine what loosing a bond she personally has would feel like, and she's stated personally in streams that anyone who took her real twin away would have he!l to pay. Anyway, that's my take on the twins. I prefer playing Lumi but I actually like both of them in either position. .
Thank you for sharing your perspective! :D I love how their animations differ, which tells us more about them. That is something I do regret about this video, how I didn't dive into that despite my animation background. Slipped my mind somehow. My reasons for choosing Aether was 1. I'm a guy so I felt like choosing the guy (even though I have played woman characters plenty of times) 2. I have a younger sister 3. I lean towards preferring darker colors over lighter ones. I feel like Lumine has the better design over all but Aether stood out in that moment of deciding, for me. I also thought the Traveler was going to be a self insert and that turned out to NOT be the case. XD
This was a really interesting video. My initial reason for choosing Aether that many years ago was a very simple one TBH. I'm a guy, imma choose the guy. But besides that as I kept playing and eventually became a deep lore player for this game too like I do for other stuffs I play or watch, I also came to somewhat of a similar conclusions for the siblings too. They might be "same" for countless points of story but there indeed are subtle differences which separate the two which i really liked. Lastly I dont know if I'm a "Traveler Main" but I DO love to use Aether for ALL Archon Quests and Main World Quests I play. I never crowned the Traveler coz I want to keep the crowns only for characters I really like and Traveler having many elements would mean I'd end up using all of them ahaha. I recently also took my Pyro Aether to 9 12 12 (Max talents without crown) so now I do have all Aethers at max talents 😂 So yeah it has been a good journey.
I have played both Travelers (although my main acc has Aether). I have to say, the voice acting REALLY drives how the characters are portrayed. I personally prefer Lumine as the Abyss sibling because it just exudes power and girlboss energy. As a lore player, I know about all the shady stuff Celestia has done in the world (not even including Khaenriah). Lumine's VA did an amazing job at driving home the injustice of the world. In the same way, I think Aether's voice actor did a better job at portraying the Aether's 'vunerabileness'. Note: I play in English so results will vary.
You guys hate on Celestia forgetting that Celestia literally created humans, AND protects them from Abyss! If not Celestia, there will be NO cute girls or boys that you like so much whatsoever. Do you like Kazuha? Say thanks to Celestia Do you enjoy playing Furina? Say thanks to Celestia Natlan showed us what could've been if not Celestia. People struggled for centuries to fight the Abyss! Yet you still hate on Celestia! Maybe they did some shady stuff, so what? Who didn't? Raiden literally the reason if the internal war where many people died ! Yet you play as her and don't ask questions! Stop with this hypocrisy!
I went into the game blind: I'd actually wanted to check it out upon first release simply to see what standard gacha game balance would look like when your interface with the game isn't simply checking daily tasks off of menus. (Pretty similar, as it turns out, but far easier to find your own fun in. For the benefit of the newest crop of players, early grinding once ready to enter Liyue was nastier, especially in terms of domain-specific reasons to not want to use specific elemental reactions that functionally duplicated the standard gacha need to build multiple element-focused parties to find your footing. Hoyoverse seems by now to have settled on a policy of never deliberately designing the challenges in a game to hard counter any of the characters.) As a result, my initial decision was simple, especially as I had no idea of what it would mean: early on Lumine switched the sword to her left hand, and while I've only played the original Legend of Zelda game - and that emulated as I basically missed the entire start of console gaming - being a left-hander I'd noticed the effort put into Link's sprites, at least knew about the Breath of the Wild controversy, and that seemed as good a reason as any to pick her for the moment. Ended up a Lumine main, which at least makes watching streamers going through Inazuma the first time fun. (She's only hextuple-crowned at the moment, but I just don't put much effort into building characters and tend to forget to do weekly bosses: the remaining crowns for her are in my inventory as well as a lot of the more readily obtained materials and her unviguple-crowning should come granting my laptop and the servers survive.) I'm not convinced Abyss Lumine is more convinced she's doing the right thing, but in either role she tends to commit harder to her actions and save analyzing them for afterwards along with deciding whether it's time to change directions. Aether always seems less focused in the moment, but that doesn't mean he's more conflicted. And I'm still hypothesizing that both siblings play both roles in every player's playthrough and we just haven't seen the other side yet: I don't think the timeline here is a circle but it might very well be a double helix, capable of allowing progress while still leaving the cyclicality of events inescapable for now. (Granted, I primarily think this because I really, really want the game's development to lead into New Game Plus. For this genuinely awesome work of art to eventually become semi-complete and attain preservable longevity we need to get to where it's possible both to have actual challenge and build towards an ultimately balanced plateau of character power without getting in the way of either new players or the gacha system.) I do agree Aether is basically fire and Lumine ice, though - not least because they themselves agree there. Not so much warm and cold as below that: Aether rarely picks up enough emotional fuel to do more than smolder and there's a lot of smoke clouding your view when he does, but whatever the fuel when he's intense the "light" all seems to be his regardless of where it came from, while it's easier to perceive Lumine as collecting and refracting the emotions of her environment - it's certainly radiant but can come off as less internal, something that she channels without it really marking her. But they're both as capable and inclined towards introspection, and it's hard to tell whether Aether starts with that earlier or whether he just shows it more. While I feel Lumine and Aether show better emotional chemistry with a different selection of characters, that's pretty subjective and some of it is just really weird consequences of the writing forgetting to make a difference. (Since you've gotten just far enough along to appreciate this story and it's all event storylines you can't directly play anyway: when Sumeru had its big Pokemon-sorry, Fungus-trainer tournament Yae Miko showed up both as a contestant, to keep an eye on things (I suspect this was cover for unofficially acting as a government emissary but she was in fact keeping an eye on things), and to shepherd one of her pet novelists she was forcing to compete to get inspiration for an upcoming sports series. She recruits the Traveler into this, stating this woman works best in a state of groveling hysteria and asking you - as an exotic blonde foreigner clearly carrying a divine gift - to please metaphorically crush her into the dust like she worm she knows she is compared to you. This happens, and her novel series - with possible manga coming - ends up with the Traveler being a recognizable character in-setting and serving as an object for the main character's more masochistic fantasies. Now, there was a subsequent event in Inazuma which I will still not spoil except to say that if you're playing Lumine one interpretation of a conversation in the epilogue is to assume this sports novel series is now out, the doujin market (fan-produced work without official approval but tolerated as long as it stays small) has reacted exactly the way the modern Japanese doujin market reacts to a new series with popular characters, as a result some major characters in Inazuma are now well-acquainted with depictions of a very, um, dominant Lumine carrying a "hidden blade"... and the reaction by either men or women is not especially negative. I'm reasonably sure this was an accident as it involves two not directly related events and nothing is explicitly stated, except we know the writers here are actually capable of putting this much into subtext while leaving their hands officially clean. Also, Yae Miko was involved and this is her kind of joke.) It's not a spoiler to say that Abyss Aether hasn't really changed, and under the circumstances you later meet him he's willing to admit he honestly doesn't know whether the entire plan he's spearheading will really accomplish anything positive - just that it'll accomplish something.
Oh, so that why Hoyo choose Aether as the Traveler mostly instead of Lumine because people dislike Abyss Lumine so much that they just cut-short her scene time (feel like she doesn't exist anymore) I guess They want Lumine to be cool, cold and Aether to be cute?
Traveler Main (Aether) here, and I believe that the most accurate way I could feel the character immersed into the story is to always keep them up on my screen with every crucial and critical moments (which in turn, I want to make sure that I have them well prepared to any and every instances where there's a potential fight to occur). Well, that being the case at the heart of it but another perspective from that stems with how the Traveler had been the first character I get to play and learn from the most. I've heard some find them or their kits mediocre or less appealing compared to other characters, yet being able to have them around (and in my sight) keeps the feeling of Teyvat as if like watching over their growth for myself. edited this to add: yes, I triple crowned all available elements of the Traveler- but Pyro unfortunately as I am taking my time for this one.
I really like your video :D but just thought you might want to know that the best way to analyze characters is probably by looking at their chinese versions which are quite different. character portrayals in english can vary a lot from the original chinese (xiao is an example of this I think) and have seen the english vas talk about the direction they took with their interpatation and they were both quite different I think :D aether's en va interpeted the abyss sibling as someone who has already learned everything and has already accepted what needs to be done maybe? it's been a bit since I saw it so can't remember very well but I remember lumine's va wanted to portray a cold rage at having her twin taken from her I think. their work is amazing and I love their versions of Aether and Lumine :D the dubbing company for the english side has been revealed to be pretty awful and hoyo has cut ties I think and there have been a lot of instances of things lost in translation or even completely changed from the original (xilonen is a recent example I think) and think that maybe the english dub isn't probably the most accurate and can lead to very different interpations from what was originally intended. hope you have an amazing time with genshin and have lots of happy moments exploring teyvat :D \o/ sorry for long comment and bad spelling o-o
No worries I'm glad you enjoyed! and what you said is worth looking into at some point. However, I play the game in English so that's how it's taken in and will be referred to mostly. :)
I kinda feel like your take on Lumine as Traveler is that it's the boring take and her players are simpletons, while Aether as Traveler is more gray morality and his players are thinkers...BUT. I also heard your disclaimer that you knew everyone was going to have a different view. In my opinion the Lumine side is still nuanced in that Lumine is literally designed to be a cold, mysterious princess antagonist, and yet she's the one, not her warm, casual and approachable brother, who is the "good guy." What made the the hero turn towards destruction? There is clearly some headspace to consider there. From a meta perspective, there's also the Asian views of white being more villainous and black being more heroic, since this game is Chinese.
Ah well then that can certainly be flipped now can it? It works. What an interesting perspective. Which again, is what this game is all about. Very cool. :D Unfortunate that you felt that way about my take on Traveler Lumine, I hope you realize that isn't the case at all. I don't believe a classic hero or 'good vs evil' story is boring (I referenced LOTR for that which I love) and even if the premise is simple at its core, that doesn't make it bad nor does it insult the intelligence of people playing it. I do mention that story too can have its twists and turns and pull at heart strings, which is a good thing. What people connect with and enjoy should not reflect their overall intelligence. A lot of my thoughts came from reading comments from previous videos of mine as well. I just looked for what many of them spoke about and had in common with each other to assist in my analysis. I assure you that this is simply an observation that is for fun and by no means is insulting the intelligence of anyone.
I felt that the analysis was so in point it scared me ngl. At first, me as a girl, choose Aether, just because he was cute and also because he had a messy braid, just like me. Also I like his color pallet more than Lumine's. After playing for a while, I realized from official art and comparisons that Aether was more of an introvert, shyer than Lumine and more emotional. I relate a lot with him so I really feel it's me who is in the journey. By the other side, I believe Lumine is more like a badass girl, stronger (this is actually seen in the difference of atq when starting the game, she has more atq and Aether def) and extroverted. As you said, I hated Lumine too. And I totally want to see why she became the way abyss Lumine is. I love analyzing characters and the mainly reason I'm still playing is because I want to know the whoke story, not just of Lumine, but of the whole workd too. I love Aether 🫶
I main a different character everyday (keeps the fights from being to repetitive for me) so on occasion I main Lumine. I picked her with no real deep meaning behind it. I'm a girl, I like playing as girls as the MC, nothing more. But then I started paying attention to her attitude. Most of the people I watch play Genshin play as Aether so I get to see both sides of the coin. I don't know why, but I feel like Lumine is more of a hard a**. Her expressions are very serious and deadpan whereas Aether's seem more joking or mischievous, especially regarding Paimon.
Lumine has the same hairstyle as an old doll I had as a kid, which I gave to an OC of mine as I grew up. I don't really use that OC anymore, but when I saw Lumine, I just had to pick her! I love both siblings, and I do have an alt account where I picked Aether, so I can re-watch stuff, or replay fun/challenging parts of the story. ^^
I started playing on the release day of Genshin. Because of this i had next to no info on the siblings and story. My reasons for choosing aether were: 1) i am a guy; 2) the one thing i knew was that we will become adventurers. Lumine's dress is a dress of a princess in my eyes. On the other hand aether had an outfit that i could imagine the traveler or adventurer to have; 3) i also prefer to have more than 1 main color in the outfit. Lumine's dress was too 'pure white' for my taste.
I am a traveler (Lumine) main. I've commented on a previous video, but here I'll just say that I've always felt that with Lumine as the Traveler and Aether as the abyss twin, both of them show more emotion in comparison to their counterparts both to themselves as individual characters and to the roles they play, i.e. Traveler and Abyss twin. Also, not to be that guy, but there is no canon twin as you suggested at 4:05.
Fun vid! I know you said it's just for fun, but you read me like a book, not gonna lie. I chose Aether and everything you said just hit the nail on the head lol
i chose lumine because i will always choose to play as a pretty girl in any game but i also hated aethers pants so much that even when i made a new account i would still choose lumine. i also just find emotional abyss aether more charming than i did with stoic abyss lumine
Interesting perspective! I'd actually say that Lumine is the more ambiguous protagonist. E.g. in Inazuma, it feels much more in character for her to refuse than for Aether because she's colder, and it's interesting to have an emotional abyss sibling.
In broad strokes your analysis relating specifically to me has some hits. I definitely am the lawful good type. My preference is for introspective stories however. I think your analysis on color theory influencing some of the characterization of the mc's has good merit. Thanks for the vid.
Haven't played in years but I was an Aether main. I couldn't tell a lot of difference between the two when I picked them, but your description of Aether traveler hit home- that's the way I play so much. I also love the more warm, orange hue.
I chose Lumine because I wanted to play as a pretty princess! ❤ If she had Aether's personality and design elements though, I'd still pick her, no matter the storytelling. I am more drawn to woman protagonists in genegal bc a hero's story rarely gets told from their perspective, nuanced or not.
"Maybe you saw the midriff and went AWOOGA" sent me XD I picked Lumine but damn if that line didn't make me feel called out in some of my choices in other games
3 counts, I chose Aether for the 2 first and my last, Lumine. Just for a new start from the other side. Actually only 2 actives, the first one and the last. Keep going, in a more casual way, I never was a tryhard player, but I loved the game for this 4 years. See you in the next chapters of your story. Be healthy 🖖🎩
Started playing around 3.7, while not a Traveler/Aether main, he’s still one of my most used characters. I chose him because I liked his look over Lumine’s. Also, I like the idea of Aether (male sibling) being the “sensitive” one while Lumine (female sibling) being the “tough” one. Though that seems to apply regardless of who you pick just in different ways.
I mained all traveller (Aether) but hydro traveler, And yes i really love the different approach they voice the two of em in all languages I play in JP because Paimon voice was getting on my nerves (no offence to the VA) so i spent 30 minutes comparing all 4 voices for Paimon and chose JP as i am more familiar with the VA Also Lumine's JP VA once said in an interview that they were told to make Lumine sond cooler and Aether sound cuter when they voice them as the traveller And yes Lumine sounds a lot more mature in the profile voice lines while Aether sounds like a dork
Lumine main here. I always have her on my team because it just feels weird to not have the main character with you. I find it helps build a connection with the world and immerses me in the story better because it feels like I’m actually traveling through Teyvat myself instead of having random people fight while I stand back and watch. While it doesn’t seem like Lumine has had much character growth over the story because her and Aether mostly have the same lines I feel that’s wrong. For the most part anyways. Her dynamic with Paimon has shifted from joking about emergency food to genuinely caring about her. Natlan sticks out the most to me because of what happened in the last two archon quests. We’ve also seen the closed off Lumine being more open to others. I may be misremembering since it has been a few years since I did the Mondstadt to Inazuma archon quests but Lumine did stay emotionally closed off from most people. It was get in, find the archon, get out. Compare that to the trust she put in Lyney and Lynette only to find out that they’re Fatui and that they hid that from her. I’d be pissed if I was helping defend someone only to find that they were hiding key information like that. And the fact that she’s willing to help Kachina almost right away once we enter Natlan.
Traveler main has been summoned! I wrote about my thoughts about Aether in the last video about the twins, but since I can yap about it forever - here we go again. Back then when I started the game, I wasn't aware of the story details, so I chose purely by looks and feels. My gay brain went to Aether immediately, because god oh god how GREAT Hoyo cooked with his design. I mean it, he somehow matched almost all the things I like combined. White-gold-black colour combination, overall darker tones, his long golden braid, cute face, single earring, a scarf, bare midriff... I didn't even need to look much at Lumine back then to choose. Later on, when I got immersed in the game, it showed how much I was right with my choice. I love basically everything about Aether. His bolder animations, slightly more emotional responses (btw I don't understand people who say he shows no emotions, but to each their own I guess), his voice. I've crowned every talent of every element besides pyro (working on it), I give him the best artifacts and have even donated to get him Mistsplitter. He is and will be one of the main reasons I play this game. As for Lumine - I really like her as the Abyss Twin. Being a princess suits her, and I like the determined tragic villain vibe she gives. I immensely enjoy their dynamics and all the beautiful pieces of art people create about them. But playing her as a Traveler is definitely not my cup of tea. I tried it once, and it felt so horribly wrong for me that it was honestly uncomfortable. Watching Abyss Aether content gives the same feelings. That path is not for me, haha.
I'm a proud Lumine main since the day of launch, September 28th, 2020. I picked her because she's pretty. Aether looked dull when I had to make a choice. Now that we're 6 nations in, I can say Aether looks more like a Geo character than anything else. While the beautiful Lumine really can't be paired with any element. Though I do keep her as Anemo.
I'm a traveller main. Not by choice. But because of my main character bias. It's this itch to have the main character in my party everywhere I go. So I just made her my strongest character so that I can mess around with other characters. She has a build that hasn't changed since I got to Inazuma. I only change the sword and the elements every now and then but everything else, pretty much the same.
its so funny to see this. When i got into genshin, my friend was actually surprised that i thought lumine was the canon hero bc of all the white in her clothing! (i picked aether) So seeing that reflected here is very fun, what a wonderful reading.
i pick lumine simply because she's cute and her flowy clothes whenever she's moves. after hear your explanation, it'd make sense if aether being in the abyss side because of he's more emotional. i love them both as we diving into the story, even being on the opposite sides they're still trust each other as siblings. of course that including paimon, I personally can feel love-hate sibling energy from her. for being childish, rude, and quite a yappers yet still shows on how much she does really care about traveler.
Yeah that is pretty unfortunate. Honestly one of my reasons for choosing Aether was because of that, among other things too of course, but that definitely was a factor.
well that's they're choice aether was the chosen traveler and lumine was the abyss princess. Still same as the players who choose lumine as a traveler. Remember most of all they are not same identity.
Before it went completely global there was a short trailer of Lumine and Paimon entering Liyue. But for some reason they seemed to think the players would be confused if they switched. Since them they learned with HSR that isn't the case, but by then we got use to just Aether in trailers.
My first started playing Genshin. I really didn’t care about the travelers or any other characters. I only cared about one thing and one thing only Eula because the amount of grind for the farming all the primal gems was hell. It took me a lot of months until I reached to a certain point where I had like around 308 pulls and got well I came by 4.5 update and I finally got her
I'm a main traveler, I'm not going to kick out the traveler of my main team, never I choose Lumine, I liked her so much, and the pass of the time just made me cry at leat 2 or 3 times with this game, it's just beautiful, I'm more emotional myself than my whole family, maybe that's why I choose Lumine, because I want to find my bro so bad and I know he wants to see me again, also I empathize a lot with Abyss Lumine, she's like that cold but that's because she didn't have to travel Teyvat like his brother, she got Dain, a guy who's not so funny, nor reliable, nor motivational, and serching his brother without any clue of his existence in Teyvat is just so damn sad, Aether got Paimon, a friendly, funny, reliable and motivational person hyping him up and taking care of him, and he is following those clues that Lumine left behind I don't regret choosing Lumine, even if the "right way" to play it is with Aether, but I think that this story isn't complete with the other sibling, no matter who you picked, if there weren't any sibling, this story wouldnpt be that good
Well, I usually feel more attracted to female characters lol, put that aside, I also prefer Lumine's design over Aether's, and she definitely gives a more heroic vibe, but that's not the main reason as I mentioned earlier.
haven’t fully watched the video yet but i figured it’d be fun to give my personal answer on this before watching it so here it is! i’ll be editing this comment as soon as i’m done with the video (UPDATE: i finished the video and my final thoughts should be under my reasoning!) i picked lumine for a few reasons: 1- this is by far the shallowest reason, but the friend who introduced me to genshin had picked aether so i thought it’d be cute if we contrasted each other; 2- on the suggestion of that same friend, i watched a comparison of both versions of the “we will be reunited” scene (in english since i personally need audio and captions to fully grasp what’s happening in a scene) while waiting for genshin to install on my tablet to see which one i personally preferred. while i think both zach and sarah ultimately did a GREAT job as the abyss sibling, i’ve always found zach’s performance to be personally more compelling for me, so i’ve associated aether as the abyss sibling in my mind ever since then. also i just prefer more emotional villains in general, and aether is definitely the more emotional one of the two, so he fit the bill better; 3- i’m an older sibling myself, so i relate to both versions of aether a LOT, while i relate very little to lumine as a character. so, when it came down to choosing “the worried traveler looking for his lost, inexplicably antagonistic younger sister in this strange new world” version of awther vs “the jaded older brother who’s trying to guide his younger sister to find out the secret reality of the world on her own terms” version, it was a no-brainer for me. i wanted to see teyvat through the younger sibling’s perspective, which i’ve never experienced before, so practically everything would feel new to me welp, that’s pretty much it for my personal reasoning. off to watch the video and see what you have to say on this matter! UPDATE: wow okay i didn’t expect to get clocked so hard lmaoo. i do wanna add something i forgot to mention prior to watching: i personally don’t really see the abyss sibling as a “bad guy”, but something more akin to an antagonist to the entirety of teyvat. we don’t know nearly enough on the “truth of teyvat” that they want us to learn (hell, where do we even BEGIN to know whether we’re on the right track or not?), and while reading every single piece of lore and trivia to theorize on what is a very fun part of it, i can’t bring myself to villainize the sibling. sure, their morality is questionable, but that doesn’t really mean much to me when we barely know anything about the reasons behind their actions and beliefs. i’m holding my full opinion of them when we finally learn the truth they want us to learn on our own because i can just tell there’s so much more to them somewhere out there. i 100% agree with the stages of grief being different for abyss lumine and abyss aether, though. i remember thinking that aether sounded much more determined than before when i played the latest quest that featured the abyss sibling in it. he still had that melancholic tone to his voice, but it was noticeably different to how he previously sounded (at least to me it was). abyss aether seems to be finally reaching acceptance, even if it’s a very slow process on his part.
side note: i honestly cannot wait until you reach the next dainsleif quest after the inazuma archon quests. on top of the quest just generally being AMAZING, there’s one detail mentioned that further cements the differing portrayals of abyss lumine and abyss aether and adds some physical symbolism to the siblings’ current relationship (edit: typo)
I started the game knowing nothing at all, did not knew it even had a story. So when presented with a choice I choose the waifu bcoz I thought why would I not? I liked her design a lot whereas aether's was whatever for me. I regretted it a bit later bcoz of the story as I preferred aether in the we will be reunited quest and of course finding out that he is somewhat like the cannon mc, but now I have came around to overall prefer lumine a bit more due to some quests and well also the design as I still prefer her's much more.
There is no cannon MC in this game. Being a poster boy dose not mean your the mc. The developers even already talked about this To put the rumors to rest And there's just a lot of people who refuse to listen that there is no canon main traveler. So don't feel bad cause technically both of the siblings are Canon MCS
@ That's fair. Not everyone is going to know the whole canon situation (I didn't for the longest time) because you see Aether as the 'poster boy' so you assume him to be the canon MC and because he's the one appearing in everything promotional, you may want that connection to it. I know I did. Unfortunately because Hoyo did this, it created a bunch of 'Well achtually' ☝🤓people defending Lumine... And that's fair too, because there truly are some people who are obsessed with Aether, and don't get it, but also can act VERY immature about it as well. People be sensitive over this silly stuff. You are definitely not one of those. I see where you're coming from 100%.
I'd personally say it's not particularly deep for me. I made the choice of Aether to self-insert. I do mostly play with female characters (for obvious reasons), but I never feel like they're representing "me" the same way Aether is, even if I don't play him directly much. Great video! Made me think. I'm glad I went with Aether because of one particular choice the developers made too, but I won't elaborate on it for spoilers sake. Can't wait to watch the rest of your playthrough! You're finally reaching the parts of the game when it really grabbed me. It only gets better!
I originally thought the traveler was going to be a self insert, in some ways they still are... I recognize that they're their own characters but I can't help but put myself in their shoes. XD;
Traveler main(kinda? Pyro version made me want to try it again). I went kinda blind(only watched Sony/PS launch trailer) into game 1st week of launch, expected a self-insert protagonist, so I just picked Aether. After playing and reading more got to like more the traveler's "hidden" personality and how their relationship/interactions with Paimon can give insight on how some decisions are taken on the main or side stories.
Ah, I remember being stuck on the protagonist selection screen for, like, 15 minutes. I ended looking up differences on the web (Aether runs and climbs faster, but swims slower). But I still chose Lumine. Her combat capabilities are better, but I didn't know that at the moment.
First I picked Aether.. but till the point where Amber gets into the team I just couldn't get his animations and demeor to like... so I made a new account with Lumine. And I like her even more (her smug face is priceless). Also, JP VA is a lot softer for her and warmer for Aether. So I'd say, I made the right choise, seeing that the soft speaker become "today's hero".
I’m a venti main but have a friend her UA-cam name is Lilium and she mains lumine, and posts lumine pictures every day! I just chose Aether at first because I preferred his hair style
I've got a triple crowned geo lumine, well built dendro, and I'm currently building a pyro traveler. It's been like this since inazuma dropped and I abandoned electro traveler and speced all into geo
Hello, young Aether main here! As an Aether (and Neuvilette) main, I mainly chose Aether because I felt he gave off a similar vibe of my own, but also because I felt like Lumine was a bit feminine, and even though she is the female sibling, and I’m afab (assigned female at birth), I felt like Aether fit my gender more for some reason. Later, as I learnt more about myself, I have started to think that I may be non-binary. That‘s when I remembered my choice of Aether, and I thought «Hm.. my choice actually makes more sense now..» But as I said, a big part of my decision was that he felt like I could relate to his vibe. What you said at the end of the video about Aether actually fits me a lot better than what you said about Lumine. Fascinating how colors and shapes affect our brains and decisions without us noticing.
I chose Lumine cause of the game's reputation lol, gacha anime game must be a gooner game so I should pick the woman, then became a full Lumine supporter because of how little attention she gets in official art and such, it makes me mad they let you choose 2 and then treat 1 like the golden child, we can really tell which one the devs see as the canon traveler...
Referring to one of your earliest comments, I knew right away that I would be playing this game for the long haul. Hence, I chose Lumine. I didn't want to stare at some guys arse for the next god knows how long. It's kind of ironic because the other accounts I have I use Aether.. lol
Btw I never thought about Lumine been looking heroic as MC. Aether looks heroic, because his outfit has dark tones which makes his figure more noticeable and also it makes a good strong contrast with Paimon. Aether looks like he is a person with strong presence, strong will yet his kind face makes him likeable, cute and kindhearted which makes a perfect hero character. And yeah, warm colours too. Lumine on the other hand with white dress looks like she is a quite person and doesn't have much presence strength. She doesn't look for me like a Hero, she doesn't pop off, she would bland with side-characters pretty easily. She looks like a cute feminine girl who doesn't really have much strength to fight. And she doesn't make a contrast to Paimon too. Which also makes her presence less strong. On the other hand - when she is with Abyss order, she has a much stronger presence when her white dress surrounded by dark colours, she looks like THE figure, someone important and like a PRINCESS. It's a playing with contrasts. As artist I see their outfits designed that way not only for representing White and Black, but also to pop off, to fit in their surroundings better.
I agree and disagree with some of your points, but that's a great example of how people will interpret the characters differently. Very fascinating. :) I personally prefer Lumine as the Abyss sibling too for reasons you mentioned. She just pops, and that shows how important she is. Thanks for watching!
Og i had lumine but i switched to aether cause braid and also it feels more anime. And i like pretty boys. I will say tho that i definitely perfer lumine's dress and pretty factor. She just feels more tough as an abyss sibling though and I'm tired of a sweet heroine ideal (ik i literally picked aether cause of anime protag vibes but cut me some slack i read too much fanfic of female main characters. I need my girls set on complicated stuff and also i like the brother just trying his best but getting distracted cause thats what i do sometimes when it comes to my own siblings lol
I'm in a similar boat where I think I like Lumine's design more so. However, I still went for Aether. I'm a guy, he's a guy, it helped he was the poster boy, I have a sister, he has a sister, the list goes on. So despite thinking that Lumine was awesome, I was able to connect more so with him in the moment.
I have 2 reason's for choosing Aether 1 because as a male i prefer playing as a male protag keeps me immersed and allows me relate easier to said character plus i have a younger sister to so as a big bro makes sense for me to play the male sibling 2 my other reason is that because lumine seems a lot more better as the abyss twin i like her cold stoicism and her aloofness makes me enjoy her more as the fallen hero architect antagonist
Aether main i like his simpler style and darker colors because it seems like he doesn't mind getting his hands dirty as the hero, while lumine's white dress gives off caution and thinking before she acts so she's the perfect abyss twin to me
There is no canon Traveler. I know because I play both Aether and Lumine. (Traveler Aether main) Our boy Aether is just a poster boy. In-game lore determined who is the canon Traveler which is both Aether and Lumine. Manga, animation and other promotional materials are just for marketing. Hoyoverse is very clear that both are canon and its been settled a long time ago.
Cool. :) I honestly think there is far more symbolism stating otherwise despite what Hoyo claims, but of course I would think that from my perspective, regardless I'm not against it. I honestly believe that there is a bunch of time line stuff happening in the bigger picture of all of this so ultimately it makes sense that they're both canon, and that's awesome.
That's just copium ._. Of course they WON'T tell you that Aether is canon. But you know the phrase "If you want to know person, look at their actions" Also their designs represent sun and moon. And you can't switch that around. And we know that MC is portrayed as Sun or Golden. Moon is NOT golden. Moon is white. And sometimes even light blue. Which is exactly Lumine's colours.
The fact that a certain character says different things and has an entirely different relationship with which traveler you pick shows that no, the devs fully intended to make both traveler's canon. The story changes based on who you pick. If you're confused on which character, it's a Sumeru world quest with a popular NPC.
So far it looks like the story will focus on the doctor again and he’s going to committing a lot of blasphemy across the 6 nations so we will see what happens in the previous nations
I went with Aether because I felt Lusimine was the abyss sibling. Though also because I’m male. In the beginning cinematic Lusimine wakes Aether up. That signifies to me that she was the one that was with Khanreah. I also main Aether and ship him with Citlali
It was the brother who It was the brother who woke up the sister in the It was the brother who woke up the sister in the beginning. At least that's what it was for me and a lot of other people.
i main lumine, using her as a physical dps (not that she's more powerful this way, but this way, at least i don't have to farm for all her elements). to me, lumine is both the best villain and the best protag. her facial expression, in-game look a bit better, as the proag. as for villaness, it's not what she does. it's her potencial. see for yourself. here's what lumine would look like, if corrupted by the abyss. ua-cam.com/video/AegPci5EX3E/v-deo.html
Me: "girl pretty" Edit: I also just really like lumine more. I do feel like she's a great protag and imo interacts with piamon and other characters in a way I prefer to aether!
i'm playing 3 hoyo games, i picked male characters in zzz and hsr, but genshin is the only hoyo game i play as female, why? because aether's exposed belly button, thats it, thats the main reason stopping me from choosing him 🤣
I am playing Lumine on my main and Aether on my alt account. What does this say about me? 😜 Joking aside, very interesting video, thx! I did pick Lumine because of my gender but when I decided to start an alt account I picked Aether just to see if the story would have a different feel with a male protagonist. It does! For me the main difference is the interaction between Lumine / Aether and the in-game people
I main Lumine because when I first chose between them I was coming from one of their other games and that should be the Canon traveler because of the game I played I also told her because I always choose the females because I'm a girl and I chose her because of the whole trope white means good black means evil 😅 and at the time I had saw a video that said their Journeys would end differently😅 but at the end of the day even though I know better now I would make the same choice because I don't regret my choice😊
i picked aether cause i liked his design better, for varity when i started a new game on the NA server i picked lumine yet i still prefer aethers design
I main Aether and I'm in process of giving him 3 more crowns so he will be 18 times crowned 😂 I am waiting for Ayaka rerun to make his Mistsplitter R5 And ... Btw... I'm his wife :3 😂❤ ❤❤
I picked Lumine, because of my gender and actually need more female heroes and female heroes are cool and mostly somehow I just like her! But I can't play GI, because no more space in every device, are ridiculous
I just... didn't like male MC design lol But it also made me play with Lumine more, regardless of the traveler's power (in game, that it's really low compared to other characters), I use my MC for any story bit and exploration. I only use other teams for harder conten like spiral abyss or some timed challenges. (That said, pyro traveler is pretty good, I'm happy to be able to use my Lumine in other contents of the game)
The Traveler is a bit too underrated. Yeah he may be not as good as the other characters in game play... but he's adorable and as a story player... boy u stay on ma team as much as possible. 😊
Yes, Aether voice. Sounds a bit more confident at the last encounter. But I play with Japanese VA (sorry, didn't like Paimon voice at the beginning of the game). But there are also changes in the acting in japanese voices those are more suddle (forgot the word for sutil). Enjoy the game
i picked aether cus i didnt like how lumine looks. like, she has a good design, and if there were more gold in i feel like i would maybe pick her, but i dont like blue, so that was an immiediate choice for me
I choose Lumine because Aether isn't the main character, he's just used in the animtions and promos a lot more than Lumine. And because I like symbolism, Lumine is wearing a white outfit, and white symbols purity and innocents, making her not fit as the princess of the abyss in my eyes due to this, while Aether's darker tones fit the abyss feel a bit more. But that's just my opinion, everyone can and will have their own opinions as well.
What it primarily says about me is that I'm male and gay. I also just really like Aether's design whereas I think Lumine's is very meh. I would play Aether more if he was more useful. I'm not a Traveler main yet - though I have used him on one of my teams - but I do plan to main Pyro Traveler for a couple of patches once I have his C6, which you can't get until next patch. Or whatever patch the Collective of Plenty is released in. Even then, it will take a few weeks to get full tribe reputation.
I would consider Aether the typical rpg protagonist. Male, saving the princess, his little sister.
Aside from being a girl myself and feeling the lack of female action adventure jrp characters, I love how dainty and femine Lumine is. And the sisterly bond between Paimon and her is beyond cute.
I picked Aether for one reason alone, Braided Ponytail
Same, he matched my own hair 4 years ago. Even with detailed character creators, it's rare to play a long hair male character. But Genshin got a lot of lengthy hairdos.
Sameeeeee Aether is hair goals
I just liked Aether's overall look over Lumines myself
Having a little sister, having lumine be the antagonist just feels natural 😅
FACTS
Maybe it’s because it feels natural to basically be Aether. And so having Lumine as a sister feels natural.
I am a Lumine main since my brother accidently picked her and i immediately fell in love with her character, in my opinion i love how Aether is the emotional sibling. it makes me want to root for both of them, also i love how you can see Lumine slowly getting more comfortable with her environment. at the start we don't really see her become that way until before or after sumeru, i love and adore both siblings and hope they both can get their happy ending while also getting to leave and move on to the next world together with paimon. ( you've gained another sub!)
Proud Aether main since 2020! When I picked my twin, I chose the boy simply because my instinct has always been to choose my irl gender for my video game protagonist whenever I’m given the choice for an increased sense of immersion. Since day one, I have always made sure to have the traveler as my default active character in the open world so I can roleplay as the wandering voyager who is constantly exploring a world full of new things to discover and challenges to overcome.
During the days when the only available nations in the game was Mondstadt and Liyue, my grasp on the identity of the traveler I’m playing as was a lot more vague compared to now. Back then, I merely saw Aether as a foreigner lost in a unfamiliar world, whose long term goal of reuniting with someone very dear to to him will lead him on a long journey full of huge twists and turns. It was by the time of Inazuma that my perception of Aether’s persona becomes more specific and individualized. A important piece of this persona is the fact that he is absolutely not some kind of knight in shining armor with a sense of traditional heroism. Aether is driven primarily by his own personal goals such as figuring out all the inner workings of this strange world so that he and Lumine’s next attempt at leaving it won’t end up like the previous time. He travels across the nations to seek out each of the archons for that very purpose. However, while his main motivation is far from that of a hero who wants to save the world, he still has kindness and empathy in his heart regardless, and will pretty much always play the role of a passerby who chose to stop what he’s doing to help anyone in need. Sometimes he can also be motivated by a simple need for gathering more resources for the long trips ahead, hence all the treasure hunting. Other times he is simply going along with silly ideas from Paimon, who not only act as a adoptive sibling of sorts, but is also a contrasting personality who is a lot more easily excited by the idea of adventures, heroics, and simple trivialities of life.
More importantly, having the traveler Aether being someone who is driven by personal missions but is nonetheless willing to stop and step into otherwise completely unrelated affairs out of kindness alone is a huge contrast to abyss Lumine who is seemingly fixated on her goals out of a unyielding sense of duty and shows no signs of hesitation. Aether, for his part, is rightfully concerned about Lumine and whatever it was that have driven her to become the way she is during that brief reunion, and is therefore all the more motivated to learn more about the deeper secrets of Teyvat so that he may finally be able to understand what his sister is really going through and be in a position to help her.
On a related note, the fact that the traveler’s profile description specifically states that they’re on a mission to seek out the seven archons is precisely why I have made it my long term goal to collect all of the archons (I got 6 out of 7 as of the time of me typing this). Not only has this proven to be a worthwhile investment in terms of gameplay, but it also gives me a great sense of progression as the traveler gradually makes his mark on all seven nations.
I play similarly as an Aether main
I pick Lumine because she seems more like a hero than a villain I don't see the younger sibling being a villain meanwhile with aether being the older more emotional sibling I think he will feel more for the khaenri'ahs making more sense for him to be the abyss sibling in my mind
So your perspective is exactly what I talked about for Lumine Traveler enjoyers. Cool! Thanks for sharing. :D
I'm one of the ones that chose Lumine because I'm a girl and she's really pretty. And the more I go through this story, I am of the mind that Traveller Lumine and Abyss Aether made a lot more sense to me than if it were the "canon" route. I love both of them as the Traveller and as the Abyss Twin, but I do prefer this.
Traveller Lumine, as you've explained, is designed as the classical hero of the story. But there is that part where I feel she doesn't mean to be one. She's been looking for answers to her brother's whereabouts and why he chose the decisions he chose.
When it comes to Aether as the Abyss Twin, I see it as Aether still able to change his mind about it by the end of all this while Abyss Lumine feels that nothing would stray from her path. Pluse, his color pallet, to me, better suits the Abyss Order than Lumine's does.
And something about the original Boy-Girl pairing (Aether-Lumine) to the Boy-Boy pairing of the past (Aether-Dain) and finally the girl-girl pairing of the present (Lumine-Paimon) tickles a neuron in my brain.
I'm a real sucker for stories like these, but I can see the appeal of the other way around.
If there's an option, I will almost always pick a female viewpoint character. That's pretty much all the thought I put into picking Lumine. I feel like I'm making up for when I was a kid and pretty much all games forced you to play as a guy.
Fair!
It also makes sense to how other characters interact with them as well. Even though, as you said, 99% of the times they say the same conversations, this is just based on what I observed. Only to the playable characters that you interact to not the npc's
Most of the males, upon interacting with Aether, gave him a support or a shoulder to lean on, too.
While to Lumine, the males tend to rely on her more.
And again, most of the females to Aether they give off a sense of care and concern even to the most tomboyish of women.
While to Lumine, the females gave off a more companionship, feeling that since you are the same gender it is easy to open up to Lumine.
I'm sorry but this is entirely down to your own projection and interpretation. There are almost no changes in ways playable characters interact with the Traveler depending on gender. The only one I can think of is Ningguang's birthday voiceline. NPCs can have a little more variance. I'm of course referring to REDACTED having a crush on Lumine but not Aether.
@bookswithike3256 Does are just minor details. Like he, most of the conversations of the Traveller twins are close to identical almost 99%, but after I watch this video, I too notice small minor details when playing as Aether or Lumine while talking with different characters. And the way they interact not by script dialogue but the expressions and body movements they make, which is so minor it's hard to notice right away.
I'm a traveller/Lumine main!!! I enjoy Lumine a lot, maybe it's because of how cool she looks in her fighting scenes or maybe its the fact that I can relate to her, in the how she acts way.
I also really love how the two sibling contradict each other but also match in some way, like Lumine's fighting stance (especially in the cutscene in liyue where it was with Lumine and shenhe) matches the areas that Aether leaves open. while in the cutscene with Aether, his fighting stance matches the area which Lumine leaves open. Also in one of the Archon quests, the new ones, where they are dancing and there end poses are the opposite of each other.
I also like how Lumine is stronger with her legs, while Aether is stronger with his arms. And how Aether seemed to trust Childe more easily but Lumine was a bit more iffy about it, her having her cards often close to her chest. As I did say before, how they contradict yet still match each other in ways is SO fascinating and I love it so much
It's melts my heart, and I love them so much. They are literally my babies, as well as paimon.
And yes, I am a little bit of a simp for Lumine. She just looks so cool when fighting, and I get so hyped whenever one of them actually talk. I genuinely love them both.....
Great attitude to have! I find their personlities and actions very intriguing in the ways you stated. Honestly, I too would probably be closer to Lumine's personality, but I don't regret my choice. :)
I felt most drawn to Aether, I mainly choose him for his darker color-scheme and the fact that he's the older one of the twins plus it's not every day I see a male-character who looks great with a belly-revealing outfit. Also Aether as the hero/main-protagonist in terms of his demeaor reminds me of fire, it can either bring you a source of warmth & comfort amids the cold or burn and hurt you if you don't approach it carefully. And Lumine as the Abyss-sibling comes off as having an icy apathetic demeanor contrasting with Abyss-Aether's melancholy conflicted personality like he's forced to do something he'd otherwise have never thought of doing if the situation wasn't dire.
Oh wow, very well researched and thought out video! I chose Lumine, at first I didn't think much of it, genshin came out a couple hours ago, I picked it up knowing nothing about it, saw the cutscene and I usually just go with the female protagonist since I feel more comfortable playing as them, but over the years I have noticed subconsciously the differences between the two like the ones you mentioned and appreciate them, I'm a Lumine protagonist stan all the way and would pick the same one if the choice was available again.
I'm not a traveler main, BUT I'm very much considering maining the pyro one once the last constellation comes out with the last natlan tribe because she's very pretty, I love the nightsoul effects and the pyro traveler seems to be actually strong and fun compared to the a bit meh hydro one we got previously and natlan has become my favorite region so I want to immerse myself more.
Nice!
oh cool! I look forward to trying out the pyro traveler some time. :D
Travelers lumine main here. I fell in love with electro, dandro and pyro. Her kits for those elements make a amazing support ive been playing for 3 years now more and more lumine was the character for i fell in ❤️
Enjoyed the video a lot! I remember when you asked about which traveler the audience chose and there were so many cool and varying answers, it’s nice you were able to make a full video about this topic and it turned out to be very enjoyable.
And as for if there are any traveler mains out there…there has to be at least a few out there but I don’t think they are a very popular choice for multiple reasons that boil down to “traveler is categorized in game as a 5 star character that feels like a 3 star character gameplay wise.” A lot of people have had this criticism for a while actually, especially when you compare traveler to other mihoyo game MCs, it’s like night and day. But for myself, I can say I still use the traveler in 1 element on 1 team and I think that’s more than majority of people use them. 😅
@minah2328 I'm glad you enjoyed the video! :)
And yeah, I know it's VERY uncommon for people to main the traveler, but that's also why I'm asking. Hopefully, I'll be pleasantly surprised.
Having yours in a team comp counts enough. XD
Thanks for watching!
I play the game just because of Aether 😂
Yeah, I'm telling you, the day when Aether will be somehow deleted from the game is the day I will delete the game 🎉
But that's unlikely to happen 😅 he's MC after all 😂
Thank you for explaining their character design. It helped me a lot.
Hope in the future you can explain character designs of tye Fatui Harbingers.
At least the ones that are shown in the game.
I would not call myself a traveller main, but i do enjoy running arround as lumine time to time, especialy every time i do story or main quest she is always in my party, and i lvled up her long before dendro came arround
When i first started playing genshin i picked her for one quite obvious reason that im a girl (a lot of people chose based on that so yeah)
But also i liked her design a lot more then her brother, his naked tummy and puppy eyes just look too funny and unserious to me, i cant do anything about it
As time went on i only loved lumine more and more, as her bond with paimon some what feels more natural to me, two girlies on the walk arround teyvat to find a silly lil bro that got in his angsty era and we need to either understand why or get him back to sane mind (or both)
Although aether looks even funnier in a role of an abyss prince for reason i mentioned before we see him not that often so i can live with that
Loved the video! Not a traveller main sadly, I don't play Genshin enough atm to level up all my characters without going through some insane grind, and they're a bit underwhelming gameplay wise compared to a lot of the newer characters. I still usually roll them out for non-combat quests though, feels nice.
I always liked how Lumine's emotions felt more masked than Aether's, like you said she's reached the point of acceptance and is generally the colder of the siblings. That animated short absolutely hit me in the feels when it released
Understandable!
Thank you for watching and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
We seem to see eye to eye when it comes to the siblings. It really is fascinating. :)
I was introduced to the game by my brothers and learned that Lumine is the younger sibling of the two. So I pick Lumine because I prefer the little sister looking for her brother narative.
I'm a traveler main. I have an account with each twin.
I can't main Aether because of his fighting style. It's easier for Lumine to use nagic than him. He's also a more defensive fighter to contrast her more offensive fighting moves. I prefer her fighting style to his. To me, his 1st slash causes him to hold his sword like he's a serial killer holding a dagger, I can't get past that first slash looking like that.
Another issue I have against them is, Lumine can wield her sword in either hand. Aether just uses his right.
On top of that he has to use that same hand for magic. The biggest "show" of this is:
He has to slam his right hand into the ground to use geo in his burst.
Lumine channels it through her feet. Showing she has an easier control of the physical sword and magic than Aether.
He's physically stronger, and faster. But she starts out with stronger attack stats, better control of magic and offensive sword skills.
I picked her because I'm female, and while I don't self-insert, I did notice that she was ambidextrous in the opening cut scene. I also prefer guys with covered tummies.
My Aether account is younger, my main Lumine account is from the end of 2020 or start of 2021 when I started.
So I picked Lumine for 3 reasons:
I used to be (lost fine motor skills in one hand after a messed up surgers, but can still eat with this hand and do itger things, just lost my drawing/painiting ability (I'm a fine artist undet my real name) completely ambidextrous so I liked that about her.
I also liked that she was my gender, liked her design and while I found out later she was less physically strong and not as fast, I liked the way she wields her sword better than Aether.
I can easily main her. But I can barely tolerate using Aether at times. Though, no offense to anyone who likes him.
Also another thing is Sarah, who plays both versions of Lumine, she has a twin brother, where Zack has said he doesn't have siblings, that lends itself to Sara playing the abyss twin the way she does.
She's a bit colder because she asked herself:
"How would I feel is a stranger seperated me from MY TWIN brother?"
While Zack can only imagine what having and loosing that bond might feel like, she can imagine what loosing a bond she personally has would feel like, and she's stated personally in streams that anyone who took her real twin away would have he!l to pay.
Anyway, that's my take on the twins.
I prefer playing Lumi but I actually like both of them in either position.
.
Thank you for sharing your perspective! :D
I love how their animations differ, which tells us more about them. That is something I do regret about this video, how I didn't dive into that despite my animation background. Slipped my mind somehow.
My reasons for choosing Aether was
1. I'm a guy so I felt like choosing the guy (even though I have played woman characters plenty of times)
2. I have a younger sister
3. I lean towards preferring darker colors over lighter ones.
I feel like Lumine has the better design over all but Aether stood out in that moment of deciding, for me. I also thought the Traveler was going to be a self insert and that turned out to NOT be the case. XD
@TheRoschi I'm glad traveler did not turn out as self-insert, as well.
I hate those sorts of characters, since I never self-insert.
@ I think self inserts can be fine IF they're done right. However, for this game, it's way better that they didn't go with that.
@TheRoschi I agree with that, as well.
This was a really interesting video. My initial reason for choosing Aether that many years ago was a very simple one TBH. I'm a guy, imma choose the guy. But besides that as I kept playing and eventually became a deep lore player for this game too like I do for other stuffs I play or watch, I also came to somewhat of a similar conclusions for the siblings too. They might be "same" for countless points of story but there indeed are subtle differences which separate the two which i really liked.
Lastly I dont know if I'm a "Traveler Main" but I DO love to use Aether for ALL Archon Quests and Main World Quests I play. I never crowned the Traveler coz I want to keep the crowns only for characters I really like and Traveler having many elements would mean I'd end up using all of them ahaha.
I recently also took my Pyro Aether to 9 12 12 (Max talents without crown) so now I do have all Aethers at max talents 😂 So yeah it has been a good journey.
Nice!
Right, to me I want the traveler in the party when doing Archon and story quests. Everything else is whatever. :)
I have played both Travelers (although my main acc has Aether). I have to say, the voice acting REALLY drives how the characters are portrayed. I personally prefer Lumine as the Abyss sibling because it just exudes power and girlboss energy. As a lore player, I know about all the shady stuff Celestia has done in the world (not even including Khaenriah). Lumine's VA did an amazing job at driving home the injustice of the world. In the same way, I think Aether's voice actor did a better job at portraying the Aether's 'vunerabileness'. Note: I play in English so results will vary.
You guys hate on Celestia forgetting that Celestia literally created humans, AND protects them from Abyss!
If not Celestia, there will be NO cute girls or boys that you like so much whatsoever.
Do you like Kazuha? Say thanks to Celestia
Do you enjoy playing Furina? Say thanks to Celestia
Natlan showed us what could've been if not Celestia. People struggled for centuries to fight the Abyss!
Yet you still hate on Celestia!
Maybe they did some shady stuff, so what? Who didn't? Raiden literally the reason if the internal war where many people died !
Yet you play as her and don't ask questions!
Stop with this hypocrisy!
@@olyabutorina6869 you have a LOT of feelings about this, please, unpack it in a healthy way
YUP That's pretty much how I see it. It's the little things like this I find to be very interesting.
@@Luna_LU6546 hypocrisy!
@@olyabutorina6869 This comment is literally factually wrong for reasons I can't explain in a Roschi comment section.
I went into the game blind: I'd actually wanted to check it out upon first release simply to see what standard gacha game balance would look like when your interface with the game isn't simply checking daily tasks off of menus. (Pretty similar, as it turns out, but far easier to find your own fun in. For the benefit of the newest crop of players, early grinding once ready to enter Liyue was nastier, especially in terms of domain-specific reasons to not want to use specific elemental reactions that functionally duplicated the standard gacha need to build multiple element-focused parties to find your footing. Hoyoverse seems by now to have settled on a policy of never deliberately designing the challenges in a game to hard counter any of the characters.)
As a result, my initial decision was simple, especially as I had no idea of what it would mean: early on Lumine switched the sword to her left hand, and while I've only played the original Legend of Zelda game - and that emulated as I basically missed the entire start of console gaming - being a left-hander I'd noticed the effort put into Link's sprites, at least knew about the Breath of the Wild controversy, and that seemed as good a reason as any to pick her for the moment. Ended up a Lumine main, which at least makes watching streamers going through Inazuma the first time fun. (She's only hextuple-crowned at the moment, but I just don't put much effort into building characters and tend to forget to do weekly bosses: the remaining crowns for her are in my inventory as well as a lot of the more readily obtained materials and her unviguple-crowning should come granting my laptop and the servers survive.)
I'm not convinced Abyss Lumine is more convinced she's doing the right thing, but in either role she tends to commit harder to her actions and save analyzing them for afterwards along with deciding whether it's time to change directions. Aether always seems less focused in the moment, but that doesn't mean he's more conflicted. And I'm still hypothesizing that both siblings play both roles in every player's playthrough and we just haven't seen the other side yet: I don't think the timeline here is a circle but it might very well be a double helix, capable of allowing progress while still leaving the cyclicality of events inescapable for now. (Granted, I primarily think this because I really, really want the game's development to lead into New Game Plus. For this genuinely awesome work of art to eventually become semi-complete and attain preservable longevity we need to get to where it's possible both to have actual challenge and build towards an ultimately balanced plateau of character power without getting in the way of either new players or the gacha system.)
I do agree Aether is basically fire and Lumine ice, though - not least because they themselves agree there. Not so much warm and cold as below that: Aether rarely picks up enough emotional fuel to do more than smolder and there's a lot of smoke clouding your view when he does, but whatever the fuel when he's intense the "light" all seems to be his regardless of where it came from, while it's easier to perceive Lumine as collecting and refracting the emotions of her environment - it's certainly radiant but can come off as less internal, something that she channels without it really marking her. But they're both as capable and inclined towards introspection, and it's hard to tell whether Aether starts with that earlier or whether he just shows it more.
While I feel Lumine and Aether show better emotional chemistry with a different selection of characters, that's pretty subjective and some of it is just really weird consequences of the writing forgetting to make a difference. (Since you've gotten just far enough along to appreciate this story and it's all event storylines you can't directly play anyway: when Sumeru had its big Pokemon-sorry, Fungus-trainer tournament Yae Miko showed up both as a contestant, to keep an eye on things (I suspect this was cover for unofficially acting as a government emissary but she was in fact keeping an eye on things), and to shepherd one of her pet novelists she was forcing to compete to get inspiration for an upcoming sports series. She recruits the Traveler into this, stating this woman works best in a state of groveling hysteria and asking you - as an exotic blonde foreigner clearly carrying a divine gift - to please metaphorically crush her into the dust like she worm she knows she is compared to you. This happens, and her novel series - with possible manga coming - ends up with the Traveler being a recognizable character in-setting and serving as an object for the main character's more masochistic fantasies. Now, there was a subsequent event in Inazuma which I will still not spoil except to say that if you're playing Lumine one interpretation of a conversation in the epilogue is to assume this sports novel series is now out, the doujin market (fan-produced work without official approval but tolerated as long as it stays small) has reacted exactly the way the modern Japanese doujin market reacts to a new series with popular characters, as a result some major characters in Inazuma are now well-acquainted with depictions of a very, um, dominant Lumine carrying a "hidden blade"... and the reaction by either men or women is not especially negative. I'm reasonably sure this was an accident as it involves two not directly related events and nothing is explicitly stated, except we know the writers here are actually capable of putting this much into subtext while leaving their hands officially clean. Also, Yae Miko was involved and this is her kind of joke.)
It's not a spoiler to say that Abyss Aether hasn't really changed, and under the circumstances you later meet him he's willing to admit he honestly doesn't know whether the entire plan he's spearheading will really accomplish anything positive - just that it'll accomplish something.
Oh, so that why Hoyo choose Aether as the Traveler mostly instead of Lumine because people dislike Abyss Lumine so much that they just cut-short her scene time (feel like she doesn't exist anymore)
I guess They want Lumine to be cool, cold and Aether to be cute?
Traveler Main (Aether) here, and I believe that the most accurate way I could feel the character immersed into the story is to always keep them up on my screen with every crucial and critical moments (which in turn, I want to make sure that I have them well prepared to any and every instances where there's a potential fight to occur).
Well, that being the case at the heart of it but another perspective from that stems with how the Traveler had been the first character I get to play and learn from the most. I've heard some find them or their kits mediocre or less appealing compared to other characters, yet being able to have them around (and in my sight) keeps the feeling of Teyvat as if like watching over their growth for myself.
edited this to add: yes, I triple crowned all available elements of the Traveler- but Pyro unfortunately as I am taking my time for this one.
Yes, I like having the traveler in my party for especially those critical story moments. It'd be nice if they were stronger though... :')
Triple crowning Pyro Traveler should be impossible at the moment, as you'll need resources from unreleased region (the Collective of Plenty).
I really like your video :D but just thought you might want to know that the best way to analyze characters is probably by looking at their chinese versions which are quite different.
character portrayals in english can vary a lot from the original chinese (xiao is an example of this I think) and have seen the english vas talk about the direction they took with their interpatation and they were both quite different I think :D aether's en va interpeted the abyss sibling as someone who has already learned everything and has already accepted what needs to be done maybe? it's been a bit since I saw it so can't remember very well but I remember lumine's va wanted to portray a cold rage at having her twin taken from her I think.
their work is amazing and I love their versions of Aether and Lumine :D the dubbing company for the english side has been revealed to be pretty awful and hoyo has cut ties I think and there have been a lot of instances of things lost in translation or even completely changed from the original (xilonen is a recent example I think) and think that maybe the english dub isn't probably the most accurate and can lead to very different interpations from what was originally intended.
hope you have an amazing time with genshin and have lots of happy moments exploring teyvat :D \o/ sorry for long comment and bad spelling o-o
No worries I'm glad you enjoyed!
and what you said is worth looking into at some point.
However, I play the game in English so that's how it's taken in and will be referred to mostly. :)
I kinda feel like your take on Lumine as Traveler is that it's the boring take and her players are simpletons, while Aether as Traveler is more gray morality and his players are thinkers...BUT. I also heard your disclaimer that you knew everyone was going to have a different view.
In my opinion the Lumine side is still nuanced in that Lumine is literally designed to be a cold, mysterious princess antagonist, and yet she's the one, not her warm, casual and approachable brother, who is the "good guy." What made the the hero turn towards destruction? There is clearly some headspace to consider there. From a meta perspective, there's also the Asian views of white being more villainous and black being more heroic, since this game is Chinese.
Ah well then that can certainly be flipped now can it? It works. What an interesting perspective. Which again, is what this game is all about. Very cool. :D
Unfortunate that you felt that way about my take on Traveler Lumine, I hope you realize that isn't the case at all. I don't believe a classic hero or 'good vs evil' story is boring (I referenced LOTR for that which I love) and even if the premise is simple at its core, that doesn't make it bad nor does it insult the intelligence of people playing it. I do mention that story too can have its twists and turns and pull at heart strings, which is a good thing. What people connect with and enjoy should not reflect their overall intelligence.
A lot of my thoughts came from reading comments from previous videos of mine as well. I just looked for what many of them spoke about and had in common with each other to assist in my analysis.
I assure you that this is simply an observation that is for fun and by no means is insulting the intelligence of anyone.
I felt that the analysis was so in point it scared me ngl.
At first, me as a girl, choose Aether, just because he was cute and also because he had a messy braid, just like me. Also I like his color pallet more than Lumine's.
After playing for a while, I realized from official art and comparisons that Aether was more of an introvert, shyer than Lumine and more emotional. I relate a lot with him so I really feel it's me who is in the journey.
By the other side, I believe Lumine is more like a badass girl, stronger (this is actually seen in the difference of atq when starting the game, she has more atq and Aether def) and extroverted.
As you said, I hated Lumine too. And I totally want to see why she became the way abyss Lumine is. I love analyzing characters and the mainly reason I'm still playing is because I want to know the whoke story, not just of Lumine, but of the whole workd too.
I love Aether 🫶
I main a different character everyday (keeps the fights from being to repetitive for me) so on occasion I main Lumine. I picked her with no real deep meaning behind it. I'm a girl, I like playing as girls as the MC, nothing more. But then I started paying attention to her attitude. Most of the people I watch play Genshin play as Aether so I get to see both sides of the coin. I don't know why, but I feel like Lumine is more of a hard a**. Her expressions are very serious and deadpan whereas Aether's seem more joking or mischievous, especially regarding Paimon.
Seems like a win-win
and from the little I have seen, I agree. :)
Lumine has the same hairstyle as an old doll I had as a kid, which I gave to an OC of mine as I grew up. I don't really use that OC anymore, but when I saw Lumine, I just had to pick her!
I love both siblings, and I do have an alt account where I picked Aether, so I can re-watch stuff, or replay fun/challenging parts of the story. ^^
I started playing on the release day of Genshin. Because of this i had next to no info on the siblings and story. My reasons for choosing aether were:
1) i am a guy;
2) the one thing i knew was that we will become adventurers. Lumine's dress is a dress of a princess in my eyes. On the other hand aether had an outfit that i could imagine the traveler or adventurer to have;
3) i also prefer to have more than 1 main color in the outfit. Lumine's dress was too 'pure white' for my taste.
I am a traveler (Lumine) main. I've commented on a previous video, but here I'll just say that I've always felt that with Lumine as the Traveler and Aether as the abyss twin, both of them show more emotion in comparison to their counterparts both to themselves as individual characters and to the roles they play, i.e. Traveler and Abyss twin. Also, not to be that guy, but there is no canon twin as you suggested at 4:05.
Fun vid! I know you said it's just for fun, but you read me like a book, not gonna lie. I chose Aether and everything you said just hit the nail on the head lol
i chose lumine because i will always choose to play as a pretty girl in any game but i also hated aethers pants so much that even when i made a new account i would still choose lumine. i also just find emotional abyss aether more charming than i did with stoic abyss lumine
Interesting perspective! I'd actually say that Lumine is the more ambiguous protagonist. E.g. in Inazuma, it feels much more in character for her to refuse than for Aether because she's colder, and it's interesting to have an emotional abyss sibling.
I just liked Loom's dress.
It's a nice dress!
In broad strokes your analysis relating specifically to me has some hits. I definitely am the lawful good type. My preference is for introspective stories however. I think your analysis on color theory influencing some of the characterization of the mc's has good merit.
Thanks for the vid.
Hell yeah. :D
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Haven't played in years but I was an Aether main. I couldn't tell a lot of difference between the two when I picked them, but your description of Aether traveler hit home- that's the way I play so much. I also love the more warm, orange hue.
I chose Lumine because I wanted to play as a pretty princess! ❤
If she had Aether's personality and design elements though, I'd still pick her, no matter the storytelling. I am more drawn to woman protagonists in genegal bc a hero's story rarely gets told from their perspective, nuanced or not.
Aether had a more interesting design/color palette tbh, more recognisable.
Character design artist will like character that stands out more
"Maybe you saw the midriff and went AWOOGA" sent me XD
I picked Lumine but damn if that line didn't make me feel called out in some of my choices in other games
🤣
Hey, you do you. 👍
3 counts, I chose Aether for the 2 first and my last, Lumine. Just for a new start from the other side. Actually only 2 actives, the first one and the last. Keep going, in a more casual way, I never was a tryhard player, but I loved the game for this 4 years. See you in the next chapters of your story. Be healthy 🖖🎩
Started playing around 3.7, while not a Traveler/Aether main, he’s still one of my most used characters. I chose him because I liked his look over Lumine’s. Also, I like the idea of Aether (male sibling) being the “sensitive” one while Lumine (female sibling) being the “tough” one. Though that seems to apply regardless of who you pick just in different ways.
I mained all traveller (Aether) but hydro traveler,
And yes i really love the different approach they voice the two of em in all languages
I play in JP because Paimon voice was getting on my nerves (no offence to the VA) so i spent 30 minutes comparing all 4 voices for Paimon and chose JP as i am more familiar with the VA
Also Lumine's JP VA once said in an interview that they were told to make Lumine sond cooler and Aether sound cuter when they voice them as the traveller
And yes Lumine sounds a lot more mature in the profile voice lines while Aether sounds like a dork
Lumine main here. I always have her on my team because it just feels weird to not have the main character with you. I find it helps build a connection with the world and immerses me in the story better because it feels like I’m actually traveling through Teyvat myself instead of having random people fight while I stand back and watch.
While it doesn’t seem like Lumine has had much character growth over the story because her and Aether mostly have the same lines I feel that’s wrong. For the most part anyways. Her dynamic with Paimon has shifted from joking about emergency food to genuinely caring about her. Natlan sticks out the most to me because of what happened in the last two archon quests.
We’ve also seen the closed off Lumine being more open to others. I may be misremembering since it has been a few years since I did the Mondstadt to Inazuma archon quests but Lumine did stay emotionally closed off from most people. It was get in, find the archon, get out. Compare that to the trust she put in Lyney and Lynette only to find out that they’re Fatui and that they hid that from her. I’d be pissed if I was helping defend someone only to find that they were hiding key information like that. And the fact that she’s willing to help Kachina almost right away once we enter Natlan.
Traveler main has been summoned! I wrote about my thoughts about Aether in the last video about the twins, but since I can yap about it forever - here we go again.
Back then when I started the game, I wasn't aware of the story details, so I chose purely by looks and feels. My gay brain went to Aether immediately, because god oh god how GREAT Hoyo cooked with his design. I mean it, he somehow matched almost all the things I like combined. White-gold-black colour combination, overall darker tones, his long golden braid, cute face, single earring, a scarf, bare midriff... I didn't even need to look much at Lumine back then to choose.
Later on, when I got immersed in the game, it showed how much I was right with my choice. I love basically everything about Aether. His bolder animations, slightly more emotional responses (btw I don't understand people who say he shows no emotions, but to each their own I guess), his voice. I've crowned every talent of every element besides pyro (working on it), I give him the best artifacts and have even donated to get him Mistsplitter. He is and will be one of the main reasons I play this game.
As for Lumine - I really like her as the Abyss Twin. Being a princess suits her, and I like the determined tragic villain vibe she gives. I immensely enjoy their dynamics and all the beautiful pieces of art people create about them. But playing her as a Traveler is definitely not my cup of tea. I tried it once, and it felt so horribly wrong for me that it was honestly uncomfortable. Watching Abyss Aether content gives the same feelings. That path is not for me, haha.
I'm a proud Lumine main since the day of launch, September 28th, 2020. I picked her because she's pretty. Aether looked dull when I had to make a choice. Now that we're 6 nations in, I can say Aether looks more like a Geo character than anything else. While the beautiful Lumine really can't be paired with any element. Though I do keep her as Anemo.
I'm a traveller main. Not by choice. But because of my main character bias. It's this itch to have the main character in my party everywhere I go. So I just made her my strongest character so that I can mess around with other characters. She has a build that hasn't changed since I got to Inazuma. I only change the sword and the elements every now and then but everything else, pretty much the same.
its so funny to see this. When i got into genshin, my friend was actually surprised that i thought lumine was the canon hero bc of all the white in her clothing! (i picked aether) So seeing that reflected here is very fun, what a wonderful reading.
i pick lumine simply because she's cute and her flowy clothes whenever she's moves.
after hear your explanation, it'd make sense if aether being in the abyss side because of he's more emotional.
i love them both as we diving into the story, even being on the opposite sides they're still trust each other as siblings.
of course that including paimon, I personally can feel love-hate sibling energy from her. for being childish, rude, and quite a yappers yet still shows on how much she does really care about traveler.
I'm a girl, imma choose the girl. It's that simple
I play Lumine.. she cute.. and thus I continue to be disappointed all “official” Genshin animations have Aether as MC…
Yeah that is pretty unfortunate.
Honestly one of my reasons for choosing Aether was because of that, among other things too of course, but that definitely was a factor.
@ it’d be cool if they released 2 versions for every animation but idk how difficult that’d be
Same
well that's they're choice aether was the chosen traveler and lumine was the abyss princess.
Still same as the players who choose lumine as a traveler. Remember most of all they are not same identity.
Before it went completely global there was a short trailer of Lumine and Paimon entering Liyue. But for some reason they seemed to think the players would be confused if they switched.
Since them they learned with HSR that isn't the case, but by then we got use to just Aether in trailers.
My first started playing Genshin. I really didn’t care about the travelers or any other characters. I only cared about one thing and one thing only Eula because the amount of grind for the farming all the primal gems was hell. It took me a lot of months until I reached to a certain point where I had like around 308 pulls and got well I came by 4.5 update and I finally got her
Easy. I picked Lumine because I’m a girl.
I'm a main traveler, I'm not going to kick out the traveler of my main team, never
I choose Lumine, I liked her so much, and the pass of the time just made me cry at leat 2 or 3 times with this game, it's just beautiful, I'm more emotional myself than my whole family, maybe that's why I choose Lumine, because I want to find my bro so bad and I know he wants to see me again, also I empathize a lot with Abyss Lumine, she's like that cold but that's because she didn't have to travel Teyvat like his brother, she got Dain, a guy who's not so funny, nor reliable, nor motivational, and serching his brother without any clue of his existence in Teyvat is just so damn sad, Aether got Paimon, a friendly, funny, reliable and motivational person hyping him up and taking care of him, and he is following those clues that Lumine left behind
I don't regret choosing Lumine, even if the "right way" to play it is with Aether, but I think that this story isn't complete with the other sibling, no matter who you picked, if there weren't any sibling, this story wouldnpt be that good
Well, I usually feel more attracted to female characters lol, put that aside, I also prefer Lumine's design over Aether's, and she definitely gives a more heroic vibe, but that's not the main reason as I mentioned earlier.
haven’t fully watched the video yet but i figured it’d be fun to give my personal answer on this before watching it so here it is! i’ll be editing this comment as soon as i’m done with the video (UPDATE: i finished the video and my final thoughts should be under my reasoning!)
i picked lumine for a few reasons:
1- this is by far the shallowest reason, but the friend who introduced me to genshin had picked aether so i thought it’d be cute if we contrasted each other;
2- on the suggestion of that same friend, i watched a comparison of both versions of the “we will be reunited” scene (in english since i personally need audio and captions to fully grasp what’s happening in a scene) while waiting for genshin to install on my tablet to see which one i personally preferred. while i think both zach and sarah ultimately did a GREAT job as the abyss sibling, i’ve always found zach’s performance to be personally more compelling for me, so i’ve associated aether as the abyss sibling in my mind ever since then. also i just prefer more emotional villains in general, and aether is definitely the more emotional one of the two, so he fit the bill better;
3- i’m an older sibling myself, so i relate to both versions of aether a LOT, while i relate very little to lumine as a character. so, when it came down to choosing “the worried traveler looking for his lost, inexplicably antagonistic younger sister in this strange new world” version of awther vs “the jaded older brother who’s trying to guide his younger sister to find out the secret reality of the world on her own terms” version, it was a no-brainer for me. i wanted to see teyvat through the younger sibling’s perspective, which i’ve never experienced before, so practically everything would feel new to me
welp, that’s pretty much it for my personal reasoning. off to watch the video and see what you have to say on this matter!
UPDATE: wow okay i didn’t expect to get clocked so hard lmaoo. i do wanna add something i forgot to mention prior to watching: i personally don’t really see the abyss sibling as a “bad guy”, but something more akin to an antagonist to the entirety of teyvat. we don’t know nearly enough on the “truth of teyvat” that they want us to learn (hell, where do we even BEGIN to know whether we’re on the right track or not?), and while reading every single piece of lore and trivia to theorize on what is a very fun part of it, i can’t bring myself to villainize the sibling. sure, their morality is questionable, but that doesn’t really mean much to me when we barely know anything about the reasons behind their actions and beliefs. i’m holding my full opinion of them when we finally learn the truth they want us to learn on our own because i can just tell there’s so much more to them somewhere out there.
i 100% agree with the stages of grief being different for abyss lumine and abyss aether, though. i remember thinking that aether sounded much more determined than before when i played the latest quest that featured the abyss sibling in it. he still had that melancholic tone to his voice, but it was noticeably different to how he previously sounded (at least to me it was). abyss aether seems to be finally reaching acceptance, even if it’s a very slow process on his part.
side note: i honestly cannot wait until you reach the next dainsleif quest after the inazuma archon quests. on top of the quest just generally being AMAZING, there’s one detail mentioned that further cements the differing portrayals of abyss lumine and abyss aether and adds some physical symbolism to the siblings’ current relationship (edit: typo)
I started the game knowing nothing at all, did not knew it even had a story. So when presented with a choice I choose the waifu bcoz I thought why would I not? I liked her design a lot whereas aether's was whatever for me. I regretted it a bit later bcoz of the story as I preferred aether in the we will be reunited quest and of course finding out that he is somewhat like the cannon mc, but now I have came around to overall prefer lumine a bit more due to some quests and well also the design as I still prefer her's much more.
Design is important! You have to choose what you like. Especially when you're going in not knowing anything.
There is no cannon MC in this game. Being a poster boy dose not mean your the mc. The developers even already talked about this To put the rumors to rest And there's just a lot of people who refuse to listen that there is no canon main traveler. So don't feel bad cause technically both of the siblings are Canon MCS
@erickalynch4522 Yeah I get that thanks, I was mainly referring to the trailers and stuff.
@ That's fair. Not everyone is going to know the whole canon situation (I didn't for the longest time) because you see Aether as the 'poster boy' so you assume him to be the canon MC and because he's the one appearing in everything promotional, you may want that connection to it. I know I did.
Unfortunately because Hoyo did this, it created a bunch of 'Well achtually' ☝🤓people defending Lumine... And that's fair too, because there truly are some people who are obsessed with Aether, and don't get it, but also can act VERY immature about it as well. People be sensitive over this silly stuff.
You are definitely not one of those. I see where you're coming from 100%.
I'd personally say it's not particularly deep for me. I made the choice of Aether to self-insert. I do mostly play with female characters (for obvious reasons), but I never feel like they're representing "me" the same way Aether is, even if I don't play him directly much. Great video! Made me think. I'm glad I went with Aether because of one particular choice the developers made too, but I won't elaborate on it for spoilers sake.
Can't wait to watch the rest of your playthrough! You're finally reaching the parts of the game when it really grabbed me. It only gets better!
I originally thought the traveler was going to be a self insert, in some ways they still are... I recognize that they're their own characters but I can't help but put myself in their shoes. XD;
Traveler main(kinda? Pyro version made me want to try it again). I went kinda blind(only watched Sony/PS launch trailer) into game 1st week of launch, expected a self-insert protagonist, so I just picked Aether. After playing and reading more got to like more the traveler's "hidden" personality and how their relationship/interactions with Paimon can give insight on how some decisions are taken on the main or side stories.
I'm a traveller main. Because it just makes sense to me. It's their story and they should go on the adventures
Ah, I remember being stuck on the protagonist selection screen for, like, 15 minutes. I ended looking up differences on the web (Aether runs and climbs faster, but swims slower). But I still chose Lumine. Her combat capabilities are better, but I didn't know that at the moment.
First I picked Aether.. but till the point where Amber gets into the team I just couldn't get his animations and demeor to like... so I made a new account with Lumine. And I like her even more (her smug face is priceless). Also, JP VA is a lot softer for her and warmer for Aether. So I'd say, I made the right choise, seeing that the soft speaker become "today's hero".
I’m a venti main but have a friend her UA-cam name is Lilium and she mains lumine, and posts lumine pictures every day! I just chose Aether at first because I preferred his hair style
I've got a triple crowned geo lumine, well built dendro, and I'm currently building a pyro traveler. It's been like this since inazuma dropped and I abandoned electro traveler and speced all into geo
Hello, young Aether main here! As an Aether (and Neuvilette) main, I mainly chose Aether because I felt he gave off a similar vibe of my own, but also because I felt like Lumine was a bit feminine, and even though she is the female sibling, and I’m afab (assigned female at birth), I felt like Aether fit my gender more for some reason. Later, as I learnt more about myself, I have started to think that I may be non-binary. That‘s when I remembered my choice of Aether, and I thought «Hm.. my choice actually makes more sense now..»
But as I said, a big part of my decision was that he felt like I could relate to his vibe. What you said at the end of the video about Aether actually fits me a lot better than what you said about Lumine. Fascinating how colors and shapes affect our brains and decisions without us noticing.
Our brains are quite fascinating indeed. It's fun to think about. Well, at least for me. :)
I chose Lumine cause of the game's reputation lol, gacha anime game must be a gooner game so I should pick the woman, then became a full Lumine supporter because of how little attention she gets in official art and such, it makes me mad they let you choose 2 and then treat 1 like the golden child, we can really tell which one the devs see as the canon traveler...
Lumine main here!!
I'll just say this... You're really good at analyzing things 😭✨️
@Kitsuc aw thanks 😊
Referring to one of your earliest comments, I knew right away that I would be playing this game for the long haul. Hence, I chose Lumine. I didn't want to stare at some guys arse for the next god knows how long. It's kind of ironic because the other accounts I have I use Aether.. lol
Btw I never thought about Lumine been looking heroic as MC.
Aether looks heroic, because his outfit has dark tones which makes his figure more noticeable and also it makes a good strong contrast with Paimon.
Aether looks like he is a person with strong presence, strong will yet his kind face makes him likeable, cute and kindhearted which makes a perfect hero character. And yeah, warm colours too.
Lumine on the other hand with white dress looks like she is a quite person and doesn't have much presence strength. She doesn't look for me like a Hero, she doesn't pop off, she would bland with side-characters pretty easily.
She looks like a cute feminine girl who doesn't really have much strength to fight.
And she doesn't make a contrast to Paimon too. Which also makes her presence less strong.
On the other hand - when she is with Abyss order, she has a much stronger presence when her white dress surrounded by dark colours, she looks like THE figure, someone important and like a PRINCESS.
It's a playing with contrasts.
As artist I see their outfits designed that way not only for representing White and Black, but also to pop off, to fit in their surroundings better.
I agree and disagree with some of your points, but that's a great example of how people will interpret the characters differently. Very fascinating. :)
I personally prefer Lumine as the Abyss sibling too for reasons you mentioned. She just pops, and that shows how important she is.
Thanks for watching!
Og i had lumine but i switched to aether cause braid and also it feels more anime. And i like pretty boys.
I will say tho that i definitely perfer lumine's dress and pretty factor. She just feels more tough as an abyss sibling though and I'm tired of a sweet heroine ideal (ik i literally picked aether cause of anime protag vibes but cut me some slack i read too much fanfic of female main characters. I need my girls set on complicated stuff and also i like the brother just trying his best but getting distracted cause thats what i do sometimes when it comes to my own siblings lol
I'm in a similar boat where I think I like Lumine's design more so. However, I still went for Aether. I'm a guy, he's a guy, it helped he was the poster boy, I have a sister, he has a sister, the list goes on.
So despite thinking that Lumine was awesome, I was able to connect more so with him in the moment.
I have 2 reason's for choosing Aether
1 because as a male i prefer playing as a male protag keeps me immersed and allows me relate easier to said character plus i have a younger sister to so as a big bro makes sense for me to play the male sibling
2 my other reason is that because lumine seems a lot more better as the abyss twin i like her cold stoicism and her aloofness makes me enjoy her more as the fallen hero architect antagonist
5:20 I will make you regret calling my Aether a "vigilante"!!!!
@@HannibalUA-cam I personally like the idea. It's a compliment coming from me. XD
@@TheRoschi I may consider this...
Aether main i like his simpler style and darker colors because it seems like he doesn't mind getting his hands dirty as the hero, while lumine's white dress gives off caution and thinking before she acts so she's the perfect abyss twin to me
I can see this and I agree for the most part. :)
There is no canon Traveler. I know because I play both Aether and Lumine. (Traveler Aether main)
Our boy Aether is just a poster boy. In-game lore determined who is the canon Traveler which is both Aether and Lumine. Manga, animation and other promotional materials are just for marketing.
Hoyoverse is very clear that both are canon and its been settled a long time ago.
Cool. :)
I honestly think there is far more symbolism stating otherwise despite what Hoyo claims, but of course I would think that from my perspective, regardless I'm not against it.
I honestly believe that there is a bunch of time line stuff happening in the bigger picture of all of this so ultimately it makes sense that they're both canon, and that's awesome.
That's just copium ._.
Of course they WON'T tell you that Aether is canon.
But you know the phrase "If you want to know person, look at their actions"
Also their designs represent sun and moon. And you can't switch that around.
And we know that MC is portrayed as Sun or Golden. Moon is NOT golden. Moon is white. And sometimes even light blue. Which is exactly Lumine's colours.
The fact that a certain character says different things and has an entirely different relationship with which traveler you pick shows that no, the devs fully intended to make both traveler's canon.
The story changes based on who you pick. If you're confused on which character, it's a Sumeru world quest with a popular NPC.
When Inazuma part 2? Can't wait.
So far it looks like the story will focus on the doctor again and he’s going to committing a lot of blasphemy across the 6 nations so we will see what happens in the previous nations
I went with Aether because I felt Lusimine was the abyss sibling. Though also because I’m male. In the beginning cinematic Lusimine wakes Aether up. That signifies to me that she was the one that was with Khanreah.
I also main Aether and ship him with Citlali
It was the brother who It was the brother who woke up the sister in the It was the brother who woke up the sister in the beginning. At least that's what it was for me and a lot of other people.
i main lumine, using her as a physical dps (not that she's more powerful this way, but this way, at least i don't have to farm for all her elements).
to me, lumine is both the best villain and the best protag. her facial expression, in-game look a bit better, as the proag. as for villaness, it's not what she does. it's her potencial. see for yourself. here's what lumine would look like, if corrupted by the abyss.
ua-cam.com/video/AegPci5EX3E/v-deo.html
Me: "girl pretty"
Edit: I also just really like lumine more. I do feel like she's a great protag and imo interacts with piamon and other characters in a way I prefer to aether!
I'm a simple person. I am girl, so I pick girl.
I'm nonbinary, AFAB and felt like picking Aether. He's a boy and ... the most babygirl of the twins. I like it a lot.
Aether main.
i'm playing 3 hoyo games, i picked male characters in zzz and hsr, but genshin is the only hoyo game i play as female, why? because aether's exposed belly button, thats it, thats the main reason stopping me from choosing him 🤣
Agreed. It was a big reason of mine. I saw the midriff and said nope.
That's fair!
I'm not a huge fan of the exposed stomach but there were plenty of other reasons I decided to go for him.
why I choose aether: long haired twink wearing crop top awooga, also his voice in jp makes me feel things, he sounds very.... ahem...
I am playing Lumine on my main and Aether on my alt account. What does this say about me? 😜 Joking aside, very interesting video, thx! I did pick Lumine because of my gender but when I decided to start an alt account I picked Aether just to see if the story would have a different feel with a male protagonist. It does! For me the main difference is the interaction between Lumine / Aether and the in-game people
I'm a simple man: I see white and light blue together, I pick.
It's a great color scheme. :)
I main Lumine because when I first chose between them I was coming from one of their other games and that should be the Canon traveler because of the game I played I also told her because I always choose the females because I'm a girl and I chose her because of the whole trope white means good black means evil 😅 and at the time I had saw a video that said their Journeys would end differently😅 but at the end of the day even though I know better now I would make the same choice because I don't regret my choice😊
Hey as long as you're happy with your choice then all the more power to ya. Thanks for sharing. :)
i picked aether cause i liked his design better, for varity when i started a new game on the NA server i picked lumine yet i still prefer aethers design
Aether, because abyss Lumine has got me acting up.
I like to role-playing in rpg games, right i know shocking. Since I'm a male I chose aether.
I main Aether and I'm in process of giving him 3 more crowns so he will be 18 times crowned 😂
I am waiting for Ayaka rerun to make his Mistsplitter R5
And ... Btw... I'm his wife :3 😂❤ ❤❤
Awesome. Best of luck!
I picked Lumine bc she's pretty :3
Damn right she is :D
I picked Lumine, because of my gender and actually need more female heroes and female heroes are cool and mostly somehow I just like her!
But I can't play GI, because no more space in every device, are ridiculous
I just... didn't like male MC design lol
But it also made me play with Lumine more, regardless of the traveler's power (in game, that it's really low compared to other characters), I use my MC for any story bit and exploration. I only use other teams for harder conten like spiral abyss or some timed challenges.
(That said, pyro traveler is pretty good, I'm happy to be able to use my Lumine in other contents of the game)
The Traveler is a bit too underrated. Yeah he may be not as good as the other characters in game play... but he's adorable and as a story player... boy u stay on ma team as much as possible. 😊
I picked Lumine because I think she is cute. I prefer to play waifu characters, so Lumine would always be my choice.
@@jamessullivan6917 Fair enough! :)
Yes, Aether voice. Sounds a bit more confident at the last encounter. But I play with Japanese VA (sorry, didn't like Paimon voice at the beginning of the game). But there are also changes in the acting in japanese voices those are more suddle (forgot the word for sutil).
Enjoy the game
i picked aether cus i didnt like how lumine looks. like, she has a good design, and if there were more gold in i feel like i would maybe pick her, but i dont like blue, so that was an immiediate choice for me
Pyro Lumine is the best. Totally choose her for the reverse harem of husbandos.
Valid reason. XD
I choose Lumine because Aether isn't the main character, he's just used in the animtions and promos a lot more than Lumine.
And because I like symbolism, Lumine is wearing a white outfit, and white symbols purity and innocents, making her not fit as the princess of the abyss in my eyes due to this, while Aether's darker tones fit the abyss feel a bit more.
But that's just my opinion, everyone can and will have their own opinions as well.
Just like I said for one of my points!
People, like yourself, will think that. It's a totally fine perspective to have. :)
What it primarily says about me is that I'm male and gay. I also just really like Aether's design whereas I think Lumine's is very meh. I would play Aether more if he was more useful.
I'm not a Traveler main yet - though I have used him on one of my teams - but I do plan to main Pyro Traveler for a couple of patches once I have his C6, which you can't get until next patch. Or whatever patch the Collective of Plenty is released in. Even then, it will take a few weeks to get full tribe reputation.
We all have our reasons. :)
Best of luck with your pyro traveler!
I picked lumine because simple reason..... Delulu Husbando moments, AND WORTH IT nyaha~!