As a Chinese, thank u so much for sharing this Italian opera knowledge. This video was so appreciated by Chinese audience on Bilibili. We learned a lot, thanks
"If evil, why hot?" Evil characters are archetypically hot because being overtly sexual is considered sinful. Back in the olden days, if a writer wanted to make a character look evil, one of the shorthand of doing so is by making them really sexy.
Leak from beta testers: ❌ Leak from a singer: ✅ But seriously, you are so amazing Marco! I think only you can explain this to us in this manner! Thank you!
@@Qopa No it's not. What I meant was through Marco's excellent understanding of the story of Commedia Dell'Arte, which the Harbingers' names are based on, he might have unconsciously and unknowingly leaked the plot/lore about the Genshin Harbingers by explaining to us thoroughly. This is a just a joke; don't take it seriously 😀
@@eightyeight2379 I mean, that's the case too with Kusanali Devi and the Kusanali Jarkarta story. Everybody kinda instinctively knew that most of the characters in Genshin is based off some old pieces of literature. And again, Signora is based off Commedia Dell'arte but her backstory or her character description has never matched with how they're doing it here in Genshin. Signora is seen as "a loving wife" who seek revenge on Venti, and the gods, for abandoning her husband to die ages ago. While in Commedia Dell'arte, she pretty much cuckold Pantalone (the wealthy dude) in the play with another old person. The older lady who's pro at NTRing her husbands to put it in anime terms. "A common lazzo of La Signora is to have a fight with another woman, as she is very proud and often ridicules others." And she's depicted as a prostitute, which didn't match with her description in Genshin. It's not 100% that all of them are going to be like that, like how Arlecchino is the female version of the original. She also built bunch of orphanages filled with abandoned children from all over Teyvat and had been caring for them. So even there, their backstory is already a mismatch. And apparently, she's supposed to be the "comedic relief" of every play. "The Arlecchino mask is one of the most popular masks in the Commedia dell'Arte series. It was traditionally worn by the character Arlecchino (Harlequin in English) who was cast as a bit of a dim-wit, silly, simple minded person and perpetually hungry, again, in the Zanni genre." But hey, I know it's a joke, but I'm just clarifying it since it's really not a leak or anywhere close to being one.
its like, everyone goes "gacha game bad", and I am like, the fking lore, the fking story, cmon, this trailer alone is better than the last 10 marvel movies!!
@@MarcoMeatball if genshin has #1 spot, you deserve #2, what an amazing analysis, was really expecting a vid from you about this and you more than delivered
If Pulcinella is really manipulative as u said in the game, Tartaglia might get tricked because he says he trusts him, and left his family to him, I'm afraid of whats gonna happen to him.
if i recall correctly, in Tartaglia's character story. Pulcinella found Childe because he beats up low rank fatui soldiers, held him accountable and recruited him under the pretext of punishment for violating army regulations... i am, quite worried for Childe too, tbf, he's clearly the most sane amongst the others
@@jwanacena8704 and the most self aware if something happens to Tucer it may put him in a situation like the Greek Story with Ajax and Tucer which results in the death of Ajax protecting his brother
@@jojomuppet1820 that too, clearly Childe's family is his biggest weakness, and everyone can manipulate that as they want. but it is too early to jump into conclusion that Pulcinella is bad, but the potential is there
@@jwanacena8704 considering Pulcinella is said to save kids from Arlecchino’s brainwashing into extremists and canon folder I wonder how things will end up to Childe between both opposite Harbingers.
I think Pulcinella in GI is manipulative, but in a good way. He knows his way with people. In commedia dell'arte his description is to always on winner side despite losing. And if my theory that Celestia is a protective mother that traumatized by the past is correct, Pulcinella might in Celestia side when Tsaritsa lose. I like to think guy is flexible and not evil.
"Pantalone and Dottore are alter egos of each other" has a whole different ring to it when you consider Baizhu, the one mysterious doctor we already know, and bearing an uncanny resemblance to Pantalone too. This can't be a coincidence.
Tartaglia's Voicelines about the Harbingers more or less reveals that Mihoyo took the Negative attributes of the Commedia characters and tuned them up to 11, Especially considering Columbina, Sandrone and Arlecchino. They aren't evil people by nature but their current stance being shown as Antagonists to the player sure emphasises it that way
tbh i kinda want them succeed in defeating the gods, they are the biggest evil tbh, fatui is just doing what they need to be done and a revenge for Khaenri'ah
I don't think they are the bad guy though. Isn't it wildly known within the community that the 7 gods had deals with the Ice god, letting her collect all the gnosis one way or another so that eventually they can rebel against the heavenly principle.
"Pulcinella typically twists people into doing what he wants". This sentence here seems much more somber and worrisome after finding out the new Childe voicelines about his Harbingers coworkers and what he says about Pulcinella.
Yeah. Among all Harbingers, he has the most positive and trusting words towards Pulcinella. Pulcinella also takes care of his family while he is gone. Tartaglia might get blackmailed by Pulcinella in the end. The kindness he has for Tartaglia is all part of the deception and manipulation.
@@iloveplumpgrannies174let's hope this is not the case 😭 I would be so sad to know that one of the few people who actually cares about childe nowadays was actually just pretending...
@@nasttrondI hope it’s both the case. Pulcinella could be genuinely kind and caring to Childe’s family because he does care for them or has grown attached, but at the same time he isn’t going to hesitate to use them to control/blackmail Tartaglia.
So some interesting info on genshin’s interpretation of Columbina: she’s regarded as quiet and mysterious, and kind of creepy. She’s the third strongest harbinger, and even Childe himself who would willingly challenge Pierro, the strongest harbinger, is deathly afraid of her and is deeply unsettled by her demeanor and personality. She’s even suspected of being insane, but like the creepy manipulative from the shadows kind of insane.
It’s actually not confirmed the strength rankings. The Childe voiceline saying it is mistranslated - he says ranked by strength, but in the original CN he says something more akin to accumulated merits - not just battle strength, but also wealth and authority.
@@flamenami I know the rankings aren’t by strength, I meant third most powerful, which includes things other than combat prowess and is closer to what the rankings actually mean. I’d actually say she’s the second strongest, not the third. Pierro can obviously body her but I can’t see her being beaten by one of the others
Amazing to have someone who has such a thorough knowledge on Italian opera to educate and explain these characters, it provides some much needed context that other genshin UA-camrs can’t deliver! Love all your genshin videos.
@@redhoneysugarorange6290 HOLY SHIT, THAT MEANS THE WHOLE WORLD IS LIKE ACTING INSTEAD READING "Chapters". So does this mean the world is being directed by "The Director" to "Act" with "Part". This just blew my mind honestly.
the script writing is insane tbh. “time to end this foolish theatrics, you have no captive audience.” they really refer these harbingers to commedia dell’arte.
It's funny that you mentioned Scaramouche being a manipulator because the events in Inazuma we're due to his manipulations of both sides of the conflict and he has now gone Rogue with his own plans that unbeknownst to him are actually playing into the hands of the jester
@@AppleNorris he still manipulated the Traveler during the Unrecoiled Stars event in patch 1.1 if not for Mona seeing through his deception in her hydromancy vision he would of succeeded in killing Traveler
And he manipulated things in Inazuma generations ago, we saw the damage he did to not only the Kamisato clan but four of the five blade forger families
For those curious: western classical music and opera are ironically more 'on trend' and popular with mainstream and younger Chinese audiences versus the West. They love this stuff. Orchestra performances pack concert halls over there even in cities that are less 'international' like Harbin. A game meant to serve as a cultural export as comprehensive as Genshin was bound to require a composer who can tred the expectations of an audience that is...shall we say a touch more musically literate than others. Watching this confirmed to me that the larger Genshin mega-narrative is inspired by opera, and basing the finale (and possibly the final antagonist, even if they are ultimately sympathetic antagonists) nation on Russia is not a slight to them - but a nod of respect to their great neighbour's wealth of culture and history that can at times rival their own (if not in length, then in scope and ambition).
When Peter the Great adopted the Gregorian calendar, he canceled the old Russian calendar, which was 5,000 years old. And we know from our history only the last thousand (probably 1500) years, and that is extremely blurry. Given the number of wars - not surprising. But it's still sad. We have lost a lot of our history. (I'm talking about your phrase about the length of the story)
Damn, I see your comment in notifications, but on click, it just doesn't show it to me. I can’t understand, is this some kind of UA-cam bug or another consequence of sanctions >:[
@@TheAlien729 Strange, perhaps not posted properly. Anyways yeah the gist of the comment is China's claim of 6000 years of history is only possible because we are still digging bits of it out from tombs and deserts. Warring emperors, empresses and dynasties have all done their part erasing and elevating history. Trials by fire that hopefully only the most impressionable and valuable parts of our history have survived this long for us to rediscover them centuries later.
@@qpopuiuzmnmb Oh, and I can read this, but only by "click", if I open the full list of comments, then it is not there :/ We have a big problem that many buildings were not built of stone. Moscow until 1812 was largely a wooden city. And this has a strong effect on durability ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Correct me, but it seems that in China they still turned to stone in construction more often? Ordinary houses, of course, were made of wood, but palaces and temples?
@@TheAlien729 In China temples, palaces, pagodas, all mostly made of wood. Only city walls are made of stone. We don't have many pre-Ming buildings left. Even Ming (2nd last dynasty) buildings are rare. Fire and war destroyed most of them.
I can't wait for Snejnaya. I am Russian and a building that they've shown carries resemblance towards famous building in my hometown, Saint Isaac's Cathedral. And the city, Saint-Petersburg, is literally called Northern Venice, so it's gotta be so interesting to see those cultures intertwined...
I wonder if Her Majesty The Tsaritsa would resemble the Russian Tsaritsas that existed before Romanovs were assassinated. Since Teyvat Chapter storyline preview didn't show her face.
To me it generally resembles many Russian churches, and I don't remember the way St. Isaac's Cathedral looks...oh yes, I do remember it and it definitely does look quite similar! Although I'd still say they were going for the general aesthetic :)
@@vorpalchoppers well, there were many Tzaritsas, but Tzaritsa is a title that more resembles meaning like "Tzars wife". We had Emperoresses though, Samoderjavnaya Imperatriza -- meaning "the one ruling by herself female Emperor". Ekaterina I, Anna Ioanovna the First, Elizaveta and Ekaterina the Second (Ekaterina The Greatest). But no, I don't think that they will go towards historical figures. More like culture, architecture and overall vibes. And yeah, Romanovs association is a tiny part of our monarch history, like literally the tiniest one, there were many, many more historically important figures before them, female too.
@@atriyakoller136 at first i thought so too, but look at the marble columns inside and a giant columns around it, it literally look the same! So for my pleasure and excitement i will stick with thus theory for now, hehe
@@vorpalchoppers She should at least pass a fair resemblance to Signora/Rosalyne since in the Mondstadt Archon Quest, Venti did say Signora basically stole her master's face, since Signora's original body at this point is just molten flames which she returned to temporarily for the boss fight the Crimson Witch.
14:52 that girl with green hair is Collei. In the manga, she was experimented by Dottore. The doctor infused her with archon residue, giving her uncontrollable and malevolent power. Such power was eventually "controlled" with the help of Amber and the Knights, as well as the Anubis-looking Sumeru guy. The end scene must be a hint to what's about to come. Collei sure have a connection with Dottore. She's probably what Dottore is referring to as the "experiment in blasphemy" though it seems like times have past since the events in the manga relative to the game. So maybe it's a different matter since we get the burning elden ring tree. Being said. It's a piece of what kind of person Dottore is and how such is reflected from the Dottore of the Commedia dell'are and why there is a seemingly random cutscene involving the girl with the green hair right after Dottore's scene. Enjoyed this video a lot. The editing is impeccable. It's nice to see how the original cast of the Commedia looks like at least in illustration. Looking forward for more!
And in sumeru trailer, we get info that Sumeru (grown-up people) are incapable to of dreaming; something that theyre proud of. Maybe its the reason she said : "what was that" at the end.
I believe you were correct in assuming Sandrone was the woman, as she is also know as marionette within the harbingers and the large figure behind her is her puppet. Additionally, Pierro is confirmed as the first harbinger whereas Capitano is the second edit: Dottore is now confirmed as the second harbinger according to the sumeru archon quest
Where has it been confirmed that Capitano is second? I know that Columbina's rank was revealed but I do not recall that any more were besides the ones that we had already known for a long time
@@shoyohinata808 I was talking about Capitano being second. I know about his voicelines, hence why I was talking about Columbina being third. We had known Pierro was first since a long time ago.
@@oioioioioi994 Oh sorry my wording may have been a bit misleading, Pierro is confirmed as no. 1 but Capitano is assumed as no. 2. It's based upon not only his significance in commedia dell'arte, but also through Childe's voiceline revealing that Capitano is the strongest fighter of all the harbingers, and that he wishes Capitano would notice him and laments the fact that he is too low a rank for Capitano to even acknowledge his combat prowess. It stands to reason through process of elimination that Capitano would be an extremely high ranked harbinger, and by process of elimination based on other leaked voicelines, Capitano is probably no. 2
I had a very basic understanding of the lore behind the harbingers titles but certainly not in depth, thank you for shedding light on the characteristics and the nods to the original costumes - a delight to learn.
GRAZIE GRAZIE GRAZIE. Stai spiegando la bellezza della cultura italiana non solo agli stranieri, ma anche agli italiani! Alcune cose non le sapevo neanche io, è stato interessantissimo. Continua così ❤
@@CarassiusAu i can try with a translation! "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. You are explaining the beauty of Italian culture not only to foreigners but also to italians! Even I didn't know some things, it was very interesting. Keep it up!"
This is why people like me love mihoyo as a game company, they often have heavily reference to some mythology and historical stuff, they are perfectionist when it comes to characters and lore design, even honkai has too many good character design and lore behind them, they are nerds of technology, games, ACG, and even history and mythology stuff
Regarding the Sandrone/Pulonia confusion, Tartaglia did bring up the name her as Sandrone in his character trailer. With Pierro’s half mask, it bears similar colors and designs to the entities of the Abyss Order, specifically the Black Serpent Knights and Abyss Lectors/Heralds. This is because he is almost certainly from Khaenri’ah prior to the Cataclysm. But wouldn’t be an isolated confusion regarding the Harbingers. In an Inazuman secret world quest, Arlecchino is refered to as “Lord Arlecchino”, which gave the impression that the Harbinger was male. And we had no mentions of the name Columbina before today as well, but the heart shaped dove on the Fatui Constellation Wheel gave it away. With the leadership thing, Pierro is indeed the First Harbinger, and a couple other Harbingers seem to take orders from him from time to time. But each Harbinger tends to have an area of expertise and act independently of each other (Pantalone and economics, Puchinella and domestic politics[?], Capitano having a significant presence in the military area, ect.) You also mentioned Dottore’s portrayal, but this is actually a significant shift from what has been previously seen of him. In the manga, prior to the game, he has a 3/4th’s mask and is rather eccentric and expressive with a color scheme similar to toothpaste. This significant difference in his portrayal might be related to something mentioned both in this teaser and in Tartaglia’s 2.8 voicelines… Speaking of the manga, the girl at the end, Collei, has her story told as the main story line of the manga. I feel bad that she’s about to be thrown into all this again. On a side note, I really do enjoy watching your reactions and bringing up classical music and mentioning the real past in the arts and how much it has influenced this game. Unfortunately, the only way I can respond to such comparisons and bringing up of information is by sharing my own. Gathered from all across this game, from what is stated, to what is implied, to the tiny fragments left in the corner. The Commedia Dell’Arte’s influence on Genshin is rather amazing, and it is cool to see these aspects highlighted.
A small correction on Capitano : He wasnt the person who send the soldier to chasm, they translated it as the captain but it just a regular captain of the fatui, not the harbringer. In fact, from Childe voiceline, he seem to be a fearsome warrior
The Chinese name for this trailer translates literally into “Silly play in a winter night”, since well, Fatui in Chinese is basically “group of idiots”. Something was lost in the translation, so I kinda failed to view the trailer as a serious act. Well, this video kinda clear things up a bit, and the trailer is now more interesting for me
Better translation is "fools" rather than idiots, as in "foolish person" but also "fooling others", both meanings being valid depending on if you read that Chinese character for "fool" as adjective or verb, and I think the double meaning is on purpose.
@@Ash-vv8zg The thing is, in Chinese, fooling others(through misdirection or false information) and foolish(mentally impaired or underdeveloped) are not the same thing, and the idea of “fool”(an entertainer that brings joy through unusually strange actions) barely existed in China.
I was actually thinking if you would react to this earlier, I’m glad you did. The reason why they gave a mask to Pierro is probably because he’s from khaenri’ah (the nation that was destroyed by celestia) and all khaenri’ah characters cover half of their face, like dainsleif and kaeya.
@@TheSnowconeMachine We aren't actually sure if Kaeya was post-Khaenri'ah. It's very likely some time shenanigans are involved (see: Enkanomiya, the Perilous Trail, and Raiden Story Quest Act II's Euthymia Domain).
Getting into genshin, I would never had thought I would get so much interesting stories and information about so many cultures. I am very interested with now knowing the meaning behind the harbingers thanks to you. Without it I would have thought they were just some antagonists with some cool looks and personalities. Now I appreciate the designs and lore way more thanks to this
Since they told about the rest here, and a thousand videos will be released about lore now. I will add that the architectural reference can be found in "Kronstadt Naval Cathedral", "Cathedral of Military Glory", "St. Isaac's Cathedral" and other Russian Orthodox cathedrals.
Yes, yes and yes! History time with Prof Marco. Simple, quickly yet deep, I like the way you describe how the background music tells each Harbingers's appearence --- and acts as paralles from their actors counterpart.
out of everyone who has reacted to genshin's music, and just videogame music in general, at least from what i've seen, you are by far my favorite. your deep knowledge, and more importantly, deep love of music shines through in your videos so well and its so amazing to see. As an aspiring musician myself, I cant help but smile at the passion you have for this stuff and how deeply connected I personally feel to it. And yes, its been pointed out to you before but your musical ear is so damn good that you're pretty much playing through genshin's story with your ears at this point.
I truly enjoy your reaction from a totally different angle to Genshin Impact. The Fatui really has a special place in my heart with their character design, troupe, and lore. Without having any background knowledge in classical music and opera, this video has been a very joyful ride.
I saw your video translated into Chinese on the Chinese video site Bilibili. I enjoy your analysis of this PV and your understanding of the music, culture, and games. I wanted to let you know that your video was loved by the Chinese audience. Thanks again for the video, and for letting us know more about Commedia Dell'arte.❤❤
@@MarcoMeatball just in case you're curious, last time i check 7 hours ago in bilibili your video have 230k+ views. And your signora video have 400k+ views.
1) It's amazing that in Mihoyo there are people who are familiar enough with commedia and music to encode all that meaning into the game. 2) It's amazing that out of Mihoyo there are people like you who are familiar enough with commedia AND music to decode all that meaning for us. I know enough of commedia to recognise all the names and their heritage once the trailer came out (and I Pagliacci is my favourite opera!) but I never really studied the characters in depth--having you deconstruct them feels like we're "cheating" by getting sneak previews of what these characters will do (because based on what's been done, they will really honour those origin characters).
I'm russian ,i love opera, and i live in St Petersburg and gotta say the duomo at the end reminds me a lot of one of the cathedrals we have, namely St Isaac Cathedral. Good job everyone, also kudos Marko for being amazing!
This dude has had his analysis always so on point. You're one of my favorite creators now, hope you keep on covering this game and others that have banger music!
For forever I felt like I was the only person in the world that knew about Commedia Dell'arte. So glad Genshin is making it more mainstream so everyone can know how fun the Commedia is.
oh Marco how you've grown you went from I'm just going to react to the music to like ok fine ill react to both the music and the visuals Amazing keep it up
What would be amazing is if Sandrone was the giant robot, Pulonia is the girl that rides on him and the real Harbinger is actually someone who rides inside the giant robot (can be considered the son).
Okay. Listen up. You go and pack your bags. This isn't the right place for you. So pack your stuff and this ideas. Then you get yourself a ride and go to Mihoyo. Make sure that this is not staying in this comment but becomes part of the Canon because dude this is awesome.
I doubt it since it's a ruin guard that's probably being controlled by her since much like ei (she created 2 puppets) or dottore(can create perfect replicas of himself) she can make puppets of living things and stuff like that and it seems she's using the ruin guard as a servant
Who knows how it will turn out. But i think and hope that the robot is the one controlling the girl puppet. Just like Katherynes are robots i think she's also a robot And also considering that adventurer guild is fron Snezhnaya makes even more sence
Really hoped you would react to this, I thought the music was amazing for this and it set a really high bar for going forward. Have you heard the new music related to update 2.8? There are quite a few harpsichord pieces that remind me of Bach. Really love what they are doing for the new update
I love the, "Let's end this foolish theatrics, right now you have no captive audience" because everyone in the harbingers is putting up an 'act'. The bickering of everyone is seen as a show and not the purpose they were given.
6:40, you really hit the nail on the head by mentioning how they represented Pulcinella. Childe, or Tartaglia, has a voice line for him that says that he is always offering to help out with his family, and is very generous to him. So it seems as though Pulcinella is actually manipulating Childe through his family. Very interesting!
I dunno if its the exact translation (not Italian unfortunately) but their other Fatui names would be: - Regrator for Pantalone - Rooster for Pulcinella - Childe or Ajax for Tartaglia - Balladeer for Scaramouche - Crimson Witch of Embers/Rosalyne Krusche Lohenfalter for La Signora aka "The Fair Lady" - The Knave for Arlecchino - The Puppet for Sandrone - The Doctor for Dottore (obvious one though he could have an alternative name later) - Damselette for Colombina - Captain for Capitano (same like with Dottore) - The Jester for Pierro (I know this one so same case as above) Now whether we will find their other names like with Tartaglia, Scaramouche & Signora remains to be seen.
I completely forgot about MarcoMeatball 's experience in Italian Opera and Commedia, so watching this trailer with his expertise makes this reaction more educational because you learn about the use and style of music AND stock characters of Commedia.
Wonderful breakdown, sir. Quite the asset for folks unfamiliar with the source material and it enhances our enjoyment of the narrative and characters even more. Thank you for covering this! As long as you're willing to stick around Genshin, I'm sure there'll be plenty of opportunities for you to continue to shed light on the game's music and the Fatui in particular.
Pantalone’s voice is the same VA who does Kyoya-senpai in Ouran High School Host club. So every time I hear him speak I just instinctively go “kyoya-senpai!!” Then I’m distracted again by the amazing music and ambience. And childe. Can’t forget him.
I'm so excited for the Snezhnaya soundtrack. I love Russian classical music and I hope the composer takes inspiration from the greats (Rachmaninov etc.)
At this point, it's really hard to tell whether Pulcinella is actually a caring grandpa or a manipulative one. In one of Tartaglia's profile dialogues he says Pulcinella often visits his family bringing treats and gifts. Which can be interpreted as either it's Pulcinella's way of saying "we're always watching, so don't even try doing something stupid" or that he does care about Tartaglia and his family (which Tartaglia believes he actually does since he treats them just like family).
This has become one of my favourite videos. The excitement you had throughout the video explaining the Commedia Dell'arte and its "actors" as each character showed up throughout the trailer is the best!
BTW Shenznaya is supposed to be inspired by Russia because of all the ice and stuff. But for some reason all the harbingers have these Italian opera -names- tropes. Makes me wonder if Shneznaya will be a combo of Russian and Italian culture, much like the upcoming Sumeru is a combo of many Middle-Easter, Near-Easter and Indian culture.
The region is based on Russia, but Harbingers is based on Italian opera. Snezhnaya is unlikely to be a mixture of two countries, because the names of the NPCs are Russian and I have not seen a single Italian yet. Architecture, climate (stereotyped), the Tsaritsa, names (Zapolyarny Palace, Morepesok) - everything says that this is Russia.
@@nullussum2535 well, russian classical architecture is somewhat italian. Italians designed kremlin and st'petersburg main centre buildings. So it's little bit relative
It's so nice to see a breakdown of this video from you, a lot of us wouldn't get this perspective otherwise. Also yes I audibly gasped when Pantalone appeared. I'm already down bad for Dark-Mode Baizhu...
This was such a great analysis/breakdown. Absolutely loved it. I was really curious about the connection between the two but I barely know enough about either version lol, so this was very insightful. Thank you
09:45 sandrone in genshin is also known as the marionette, a puppeteer. So she controls over numerous puppet i think, and it's maybe fit the name sandrone as a family.
Or maybe the girl is a puppet, she's the wife and she's kind of a "sub-harbinger", the main harbinger is inside the mecha. Together they share the alias of Sandrone. If that's the case maybe they even have a third entity to complete the family. This concept sounds amazing, we get a three in one.
Oh my god this video was so good! Please do more videos on the Commedia dell'arte in Genshin. I never thought I'd develop an obsession towards opera but here I am
Might be a weird take, but the song, while definitely creepy, mysterious, foreboding, and stuff… Oddly felt inviting, warm, and nostalgic. Like a corrupted lullaby.
Pierro is the first harbinger, and Tartaglia mentions that Pierro leads the harbingers and rarely appears in meetings , Pierro is the one that recruited La Signora , Scaramouche and Dottore Arlecchino runs an orphanage called "house of hearth' which adopts and recruits orphans and trains them to become spies and assassins Pantalone: 9th fatui harbinger he is the richest of the fatui and is said to be the richest in teyvat ,it is said that he started the northland bank Tartaglia: is a ginger Columbina: she is the 3rd fatui harbinger, Childe says that she gives an eerie vibe that even he doesn't want to fight her
You have no idea how much I wanted this video after the teaser came out. Really love your explanations and knowledge about this stuff, it truly feels like it comes from a place of deep appreciation.
You explained the inspiration of these characters so well, it gave me a much better understanding of their historical significance. Makes you appreciate the work that Mihoyo put into Genshin too. Subbed! ❤️
I can't believe it, I was expecting you simply breaking down the music, but I never expected you'd give us a deep dive on the characters using your knowledge on Opera. Wow, I'm amazed!
the trailer was insane!! considering it's much of a lore dump than musical number i didn't think you'd cover it. bUT IM GLAD YOU DID! your insight is very interesting! bcs you know your craft and cultural history. the one thing i think you should know, pierro/ the jester, was the first harbringer recruited by the tsaritsa. he himself pick that title. so, it is interesting as you say he has half-mask on. the mask has significance in the game which we, as player, don't even know why yet. there are two other ppl in game we've meet that has the same 'visual' as pierro. all in all. thank you for the video! awesome one yet again!!
this video is nothing but a gift: i love Commedia dell'Arte and, as an italian myself, i felt something inside when genshin came out with the fatui's trailer. is something a lot of us don't even know, and seeing all the little details and respect for our tradition (probably one of the deepest) is really, really beautiful ALSO thank you for express everything so well, i felt so many things and couldn't be able to put them down into words so yeah PS: Pierrot probably has that mask because he's related to Khaenri'ah
I love how you explained/compared the harbingers to the actual Commedia Dell'Arte play , i tend to have the mindset of read genshin lore, then maybe later research later on the irl inspiration to the lore, and this video does a great job in explaining alot of the potential roles or personalities of the future harbingers to come especially pierro who seems to be the head honcho as you described as well a man who will twist others to his goals.
I really do love how Genshin incorporates real culture the way it does. While I try to learn about what the game has based things on (such as the Harbinger roles), I learn a little bit more about the history of my own world while in pursuit of teases of how things could potentially play out based on those connections.
This is exact kind of content I was looking to consume after watching that glorious Genshin Teaser, thank you so much for going into depth even thought you could possibly talk for a lot longer, I thought this analysis & breakdown was beautifully structured. Instant sub for sure!~
It's always so nice to hear more in depth information about the material that these characters are based off of. Thanks for the lesson chief, really love your insight here about the Harbingers themselves. S+ commentary my man!
Pierro is pretty much confirmed to be the leader of the fatui harbingers, as number 1 of the harbingers and it’s oldest member, he’s often deferred to out of respect even though technically the harbingers are supposed to be “equals”
Honestly after all the reactions I've watched finding sooooo much knowledge about Commedia Dell'arte which, I hostly had no idea was the inspiration, just this all blew me away. There was so much I learned and gained from this so thank you every so much.
Como brasileiro e falante nativo do Português é muito satisfatório ter facilidade para compreender os nomes e ou títulos em Genshin Impact. No caso da Comedia de L'arte foi o seu canal o grande responsável por acender meu interesse. Obrigado, bom trabalho e que venham os Fatui!
THIS IS SO COOL! You being able to breakdown the harbinger's potential role/ story while using the original opera they were based of on. I did see theories of this comparison before, but coming from an opera singer/ actor makes it feel more real. Your interpretation and speculation are amazing, and I can't wait to see the original opera be reflect by these characters in the story!
Amazing video, and by far the most interesting breakdown of this teaser Many have been trying to speculate the lore based on this, but since you linked it to italian operas, on which these characters are based, gives much more credibility and sense to your explanations
Hey Marco this was pretty awesome! I think you might enjoy this analysis of Scaramouche by Ashikai where she explains what other influences beyond the Commedia Dell'arte were used in his characterization, particularly local (japanese inspired ones), which is what I suspect will ve the case for other harbingers as well taking inspiration from other forms of iconic characters and media from the cultures that inspired the nation the harbingers hailed from (I'm sure we might have some from Fontaine, Sumeru, Natlan, Liyue as well as the other confirmed nations). So it might help explain some of the decisions the design and writing team of the game makes. ua-cam.com/video/3vNddrd1f7E/v-deo.html
Holy hell thank you so much for making this. Out of all the characters in the game, I've always had the hardest time pronouncing Harbingers' names. Italian for some reason is just not intuitive to me unlike the phonetics of languages like Chinese, japanese, and to some extent the Sumerian names. And the fact that HV is clearly going to be leaning really hard into the commedia dell'arte and Italian influences, it's really nice to hear from somebody who knows what they're talking about! This was a great video!
Where are you from? It became curious. It's just that in Russia their names are easy enough to pronounce. Although, we have adapted their names, but the original ones also do not cause strong difficulties.
Your insight on all of the design inspiration is so appreciated Marco. It really brings to light just how much love and attention the devs / design team put into each character and just the game in general.
I'm so glad you put this video out here. I remember watching the trailer and being like "I hope Marco makes a video on this!!!" considering both the amazing music backing it up and what we see of the Fatui Harbingers. I was a little worried you'd wait until there only a music track to work with instead of the full video.
i am REALLLY hoping Columbina becomes playable!!!! Her song is hauntingly beautiful and I theorize she is in charge of the Fatui intelligence network, she might be able to telepathically communicate, she is a Seelie who has not turned into the wisp-like Seelies! Also i am not sure if i am the only one but if the Fatui change thier tactics to be less evil i might actually root for them
This is so much more than a simple React video! Your analysis and breakdown of this video were very educational and entertaining! I especially love how you share your expertise in this field! Great stuff! Subbed!
Holy shittokii mushrooms! Finally!! I’ve been waiting for someone to bring this up in a video! I’m an actor and one of my favorite forms of theatre is Commedia! Thank you!
I love this so much! It's so interesting to learn abt all the characters, cos now we have a peek into what the harbringers' personalities or motivations could be
I'm loving this , it reminds me of the many conversations I had with my friends about classical music. Love your analysis and the detail info. A recommendation would be for you should always follow the eng trailer with the Japanese one, it really adds to the atmosphere with music since I see voice acting as art as well.
This definitely helped my noob brain understand just a little more about the original opera story and the extra details of how it connects to Genshin's portrayal of the characters related to it. Loved this video!
I live for your commentary! I was waiting for this all day yesterday. And your comments are so insightful, it makes me appreciate the developers more and educate myself with the culture too!
Happy you could see italian culture reflected in Genshin and also now that i saw your video i appreciate these references way more. But i'm kinda hoping we'll see some of slavic culture in Snezhnaya. But maybe Snezhnaya will just be such a huge region there will be some areas that are inspired by Italy and others inspired by Russia and other nations
Why is Pantalone so hot
*Pantalone Enjoyer*
Glasses
Because Roxy willed him into being.
I found this too damn funny, given how pantalone is usually an old man as you noted, or even the cuckold whenever La Signora is involved
because we need more hot men!
I really like Pierrots' line "It's time to end tonights foolish theatrics" its a play on words on them Fatui Harbingers
Yeah that was a nice one
" right now you have no captive audience" meaning they have something planned for the future.. to show the entire world...I'm so hyped
@@raaaaqj4uh pretty ironic given this single trailer captivated every audience
@@ehe5669 ahah if only they knew.
Guess he really is the Jester
As a Chinese, thank u so much for sharing this Italian opera knowledge. This video was so appreciated by Chinese audience on Bilibili. We learned a lot, thanks
"If evil, why hot?" As usual, great analysis and insight, thank you for the video!
which is why so many people pissed when they decided to just kill one of the hottest milf Rosalyn just like that damn why she gotta be that hot man
i fully agree
LOL
"If evil, why hot?"
Evil characters are archetypically hot because being overtly sexual is considered sinful. Back in the olden days, if a writer wanted to make a character look evil, one of the shorthand of doing so is by making them really sexy.
zamn, good guy and playable pulcinella confirmed
Leak from beta testers: ❌
Leak from a singer: ✅
But seriously, you are so amazing Marco! I think only you can explain this to us in this manner! Thank you!
Was this a leak tho?
@@Qopa No it's not. What I meant was through Marco's excellent understanding of the story of Commedia Dell'Arte, which the Harbingers' names are based on, he might have unconsciously and unknowingly leaked the plot/lore about the Genshin Harbingers by explaining to us thoroughly. This is a just a joke; don't take it seriously 😀
@@eightyeight2379 I mean, that's the case too with Kusanali Devi and the Kusanali Jarkarta story. Everybody kinda instinctively knew that most of the characters in Genshin is based off some old pieces of literature.
And again, Signora is based off Commedia Dell'arte but her backstory or her character description has never matched with how they're doing it here in Genshin. Signora is seen as "a loving wife" who seek revenge on Venti, and the gods, for abandoning her husband to die ages ago. While in Commedia Dell'arte, she pretty much cuckold Pantalone (the wealthy dude) in the play with another old person. The older lady who's pro at NTRing her husbands to put it in anime terms.
"A common lazzo of La Signora is to have a fight with another woman, as she is very proud and often ridicules others."
And she's depicted as a prostitute, which didn't match with her description in Genshin.
It's not 100% that all of them are going to be like that, like how Arlecchino is the female version of the original. She also built bunch of orphanages filled with abandoned children from all over Teyvat and had been caring for them. So even there, their backstory is already a mismatch. And apparently, she's supposed to be the "comedic relief" of every play.
"The Arlecchino mask is one of the most popular masks in the Commedia dell'Arte series. It was traditionally worn by the character Arlecchino (Harlequin in English) who was cast as a bit of a dim-wit, silly, simple minded person and perpetually hungry, again, in the Zanni genre."
But hey, I know it's a joke, but I'm just clarifying it since it's really not a leak or anywhere close to being one.
@@Qopa Thank you for understanding my point and I get your point too! Also, thanks for those extra information, have a good day/night! ☺️
what about leaks from a beta singer?
This video is number 1 on trending. They are really stepping up for the story and trailers.
Thusly why I took four hours to film this 🤪
@@MarcoMeatball it's appreciated 👍
its like, everyone goes "gacha game bad", and I am like, the fking lore, the fking story, cmon, this trailer alone is better than the last 10 marvel movies!!
@@MarcoMeatball if genshin has #1 spot, you deserve #2, what an amazing analysis, was really expecting a vid from you about this and you more than delivered
Nah its even crazier in twitter all section all of them are from genshin! All trending! Damn this teaser Bops
If Pulcinella is really manipulative as u said in the game, Tartaglia might get tricked because he says he trusts him, and left his family to him, I'm afraid of whats gonna happen to him.
if i recall correctly, in Tartaglia's character story. Pulcinella found Childe because he beats up low rank fatui soldiers, held him accountable and recruited him under the pretext of punishment for violating army regulations... i am, quite worried for Childe too, tbf, he's clearly the most sane amongst the others
@@jwanacena8704 and the most self aware if something happens to Tucer it may put him in a situation like the Greek Story with Ajax and Tucer which results in the death of Ajax protecting his brother
@@jojomuppet1820 that too, clearly Childe's family is his biggest weakness, and everyone can manipulate that as they want. but it is too early to jump into conclusion that Pulcinella is bad, but the potential is there
@@jwanacena8704 considering Pulcinella is said to save kids from Arlecchino’s brainwashing into extremists and canon folder I wonder how things will end up to Childe between both opposite Harbingers.
I think Pulcinella in GI is manipulative, but in a good way. He knows his way with people. In commedia dell'arte his description is to always on winner side despite losing.
And if my theory that Celestia is a protective mother that traumatized by the past is correct, Pulcinella might in Celestia side when Tsaritsa lose. I like to think guy is flexible and not evil.
"Pantalone and Dottore are alter egos of each other" has a whole different ring to it when you consider Baizhu, the one mysterious doctor we already know, and bearing an uncanny resemblance to Pantalone too. This can't be a coincidence.
And baizou is based on liyue too, like pantalone
Now that you mentioned it... Baizhu does have an obessesion to immortality.
Ur unto something hmmmm sjksamnss
Maybe baizhu is a segment of dottore
@@myfault.5735 holy shit i just got chills
When the Jester says “You have no captive audience,” I think it’s a nod to how the original plays had the actors interact and manipulate the audience.
Tartaglia's Voicelines about the Harbingers more or less reveals that Mihoyo took the Negative attributes of the Commedia characters and tuned them up to 11, Especially considering Columbina, Sandrone and Arlecchino. They aren't evil people by nature but their current stance being shown as Antagonists to the player sure emphasises it that way
Shhh, these lines aren't out yet D:
Up to 11 fatui harbingers
tbh i kinda want them succeed in defeating the gods, they are the biggest evil tbh, fatui is just doing what they need to be done and a revenge for Khaenri'ah
I don't think they are the bad guy though.
Isn't it wildly known within the community that the 7 gods had deals with the Ice god, letting her collect all the gnosis one way or another so that eventually they can rebel against the heavenly principle.
@@honkai8692 definitely the celestial gods are the most evil i think, fatui they have their sad reasoning to do what they want currently
"Pulcinella typically twists people into doing what he wants". This sentence here seems much more somber and worrisome after finding out the new Childe voicelines about his Harbingers coworkers and what he says about Pulcinella.
Yeah it gives me a feeling that Childe will be forced to make a choice he doesn't want to and goes against what he is as a person.
Yeah. Among all Harbingers, he has the most positive and trusting words towards Pulcinella. Pulcinella also takes care of his family while he is gone. Tartaglia might get blackmailed by Pulcinella in the end. The kindness he has for Tartaglia is all part of the deception and manipulation.
@@iloveplumpgrannies174let's hope this is not the case 😭 I would be so sad to know that one of the few people who actually cares about childe nowadays was actually just pretending...
@@nasttrondI hope it’s both the case. Pulcinella could be genuinely kind and caring to Childe’s family because he does care for them or has grown attached, but at the same time he isn’t going to hesitate to use them to control/blackmail Tartaglia.
So some interesting info on genshin’s interpretation of Columbina: she’s regarded as quiet and mysterious, and kind of creepy. She’s the third strongest harbinger, and even Childe himself who would willingly challenge Pierro, the strongest harbinger, is deathly afraid of her and is deeply unsettled by her demeanor and personality. She’s even suspected of being insane, but like the creepy manipulative from the shadows kind of insane.
aye ya, she cute tho 😭
It’s actually not confirmed the strength rankings. The Childe voiceline saying it is mistranslated - he says ranked by strength, but in the original CN he says something more akin to accumulated merits - not just battle strength, but also wealth and authority.
@@flamenami I know the rankings aren’t by strength, I meant third most powerful, which includes things other than combat prowess and is closer to what the rankings actually mean.
I’d actually say she’s the second strongest, not the third. Pierro can obviously body her but I can’t see her being beaten by one of the others
@@flamenami if that's the case, signora should be waaay up the ladder.
@@seraby7151 I think the fact that she wasn’t further up is just a testament to the power of the other harbingers
Amazing to have someone who has such a thorough knowledge on Italian opera to educate and explain these characters, it provides some much needed context that other genshin UA-camrs can’t deliver! Love all your genshin videos.
This whole spin on Italian play/opera is incredibly fascinating. I've never seen something like this in a game.
Asians tend to have a gift for giving interesting spin to things taken from European cultures and history.
It is really cool! Now I understand why they call the different archs of Genshin Acts, rather than chapters.
@@redhoneysugarorange6290 HOLY SHIT, THAT MEANS THE WHOLE WORLD IS LIKE ACTING INSTEAD READING "Chapters". So does this mean the world is being directed by "The Director" to "Act" with "Part". This just blew my mind honestly.
@@kingnfs1 i mean for me it was quite obvious that „ chapters and acts” refer to a play
the script writing is insane tbh. “time to end this foolish theatrics, you have no captive audience.” they really refer these harbingers to commedia dell’arte.
It's funny that you mentioned Scaramouche being a manipulator because the events in Inazuma we're due to his manipulations of both sides of the conflict and he has now gone Rogue with his own plans that unbeknownst to him are actually playing into the hands of the jester
Well, Scaramouche originally was meant to be a guardian of Inazuma's gnosis, so it makes sense for him to take it and flee somewhere.
@@AppleNorris he still manipulated the Traveler during the Unrecoiled Stars event in patch 1.1 if not for Mona seeing through his deception in her hydromancy vision he would of succeeded in killing Traveler
And he manipulated things in Inazuma generations ago, we saw the damage he did to not only the Kamisato clan but four of the five blade forger families
For those curious: western classical music and opera are ironically more 'on trend' and popular with mainstream and younger Chinese audiences versus the West. They love this stuff. Orchestra performances pack concert halls over there even in cities that are less 'international' like Harbin. A game meant to serve as a cultural export as comprehensive as Genshin was bound to require a composer who can tred the expectations of an audience that is...shall we say a touch more musically literate than others.
Watching this confirmed to me that the larger Genshin mega-narrative is inspired by opera, and basing the finale (and possibly the final antagonist, even if they are ultimately sympathetic antagonists) nation on Russia is not a slight to them - but a nod of respect to their great neighbour's wealth of culture and history that can at times rival their own (if not in length, then in scope and ambition).
When Peter the Great adopted the Gregorian calendar, he canceled the old Russian calendar, which was 5,000 years old. And we know from our history only the last thousand (probably 1500) years, and that is extremely blurry. Given the number of wars - not surprising. But it's still sad.
We have lost a lot of our history.
(I'm talking about your phrase about the length of the story)
Damn, I see your comment in notifications, but on click, it just doesn't show it to me. I can’t understand, is this some kind of UA-cam bug or another consequence of sanctions
>:[
@@TheAlien729 Strange, perhaps not posted properly. Anyways yeah the gist of the comment is China's claim of 6000 years of history is only possible because we are still digging bits of it out from tombs and deserts. Warring emperors, empresses and dynasties have all done their part erasing and elevating history. Trials by fire that hopefully only the most impressionable and valuable parts of our history have survived this long for us to rediscover them centuries later.
@@qpopuiuzmnmb Oh, and I can read this, but only by "click", if I open the full list of comments, then it is not there :/
We have a big problem that many buildings were not built of stone. Moscow until 1812 was largely a wooden city. And this has a strong effect on durability ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Correct me, but it seems that in China they still turned to stone in construction more often?
Ordinary houses, of course, were made of wood, but palaces and temples?
@@TheAlien729 In China temples, palaces, pagodas, all mostly made of wood. Only city walls are made of stone.
We don't have many pre-Ming buildings left. Even Ming (2nd last dynasty) buildings are rare. Fire and war destroyed most of them.
I can't wait for Snejnaya. I am Russian and a building that they've shown carries resemblance towards famous building in my hometown, Saint Isaac's Cathedral. And the city, Saint-Petersburg, is literally called Northern Venice, so it's gotta be so interesting to see those cultures intertwined...
I wonder if Her Majesty The Tsaritsa would resemble the Russian Tsaritsas that existed before Romanovs were assassinated. Since Teyvat Chapter storyline preview didn't show her face.
To me it generally resembles many Russian churches, and I don't remember the way St. Isaac's Cathedral looks...oh yes, I do remember it and it definitely does look quite similar!
Although I'd still say they were going for the general aesthetic :)
@@vorpalchoppers well, there were many Tzaritsas, but Tzaritsa is a title that more resembles meaning like "Tzars wife". We had Emperoresses though, Samoderjavnaya Imperatriza -- meaning "the one ruling by herself female Emperor". Ekaterina I, Anna Ioanovna the First, Elizaveta and Ekaterina the Second (Ekaterina The Greatest).
But no, I don't think that they will go towards historical figures. More like culture, architecture and overall vibes.
And yeah, Romanovs association is a tiny part of our monarch history, like literally the tiniest one, there were many, many more historically important figures before them, female too.
@@atriyakoller136 at first i thought so too, but look at the marble columns inside and a giant columns around it, it literally look the same! So for my pleasure and excitement i will stick with thus theory for now, hehe
@@vorpalchoppers She should at least pass a fair resemblance to Signora/Rosalyne since in the Mondstadt Archon Quest, Venti did say Signora basically stole her master's face, since Signora's original body at this point is just molten flames which she returned to temporarily for the boss fight the Crimson Witch.
14:52 that girl with green hair is Collei. In the manga, she was experimented by Dottore. The doctor infused her with archon residue, giving her uncontrollable and malevolent power. Such power was eventually "controlled" with the help of Amber and the Knights, as well as the Anubis-looking Sumeru guy.
The end scene must be a hint to what's about to come. Collei sure have a connection with Dottore. She's probably what Dottore is referring to as the "experiment in blasphemy" though it seems like times have past since the events in the manga relative to the game. So maybe it's a different matter since we get the burning elden ring tree.
Being said. It's a piece of what kind of person Dottore is and how such is reflected from the Dottore of the Commedia dell'are and why there is a seemingly random cutscene involving the girl with the green hair right after Dottore's scene.
Enjoyed this video a lot. The editing is impeccable. It's nice to see how the original cast of the Commedia looks like at least in illustration. Looking forward for more!
@@finwolf0 i'm pretty sure that the person telling dottore that he looks young is sandrone, not collei
@@firestar5220 its columbina actually! proven through the genshin jp twitter quoting one of the lines in that black screen interaction as her.
And in sumeru trailer, we get info that Sumeru (grown-up people) are incapable to of dreaming; something that theyre proud of.
Maybe its the reason she said : "what was that" at the end.
Coming back here after fully appreciating the "experiment in blasphemy", Dottore has got some huge, huge guts.
@@LandryArri This is less straightforward now, but at time of posting it certainly was.
I believe you were correct in assuming Sandrone was the woman, as she is also know as marionette within the harbingers and the large figure behind her is her puppet. Additionally, Pierro is confirmed as the first harbinger whereas Capitano is the second
edit: Dottore is now confirmed as the second harbinger according to the sumeru archon quest
Where has it been confirmed that Capitano is second? I know that Columbina's rank was revealed but I do not recall that any more were besides the ones that we had already known for a long time
@@shoyohinata808 I was talking about Capitano being second. I know about his voicelines, hence why I was talking about Columbina being third. We had known Pierro was first since a long time ago.
I think sandrone is another person inside the puppet, since sandrone in played by group of 3, the husband, wife, and their son.
Capitano is no.10. Arlecchino is no.2 i believe.
@@oioioioioi994 Oh sorry my wording may have been a bit misleading, Pierro is confirmed as no. 1 but Capitano is assumed as no. 2. It's based upon not only his significance in commedia dell'arte, but also through Childe's voiceline revealing that Capitano is the strongest fighter of all the harbingers, and that he wishes Capitano would notice him and laments the fact that he is too low a rank for Capitano to even acknowledge his combat prowess. It stands to reason through process of elimination that Capitano would be an extremely high ranked harbinger, and by process of elimination based on other leaked voicelines, Capitano is probably no. 2
I had a very basic understanding of the lore behind the harbingers titles but certainly not in depth, thank you for shedding light on the characteristics and the nods to the original costumes - a delight to learn.
GRAZIE GRAZIE GRAZIE.
Stai spiegando la bellezza della cultura italiana non solo agli stranieri, ma anche agli italiani! Alcune cose non le sapevo neanche io, è stato interessantissimo. Continua così ❤
I don’t speak Italian so what can I say except mama mia🤌
@@CarassiusAu i can try with a translation!
"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
You are explaining the beauty of Italian culture not only to foreigners but also to italians! Even I didn't know some things, it was very interesting. Keep it up!"
io ci ho capito poco delle cose che ha detto😅
Lui da quello che ho capito è mezzo italiano e americano
@@人-n8r che vuoi che spiego meglio?
This is why people like me love mihoyo as a game company, they often have heavily reference to some mythology and historical stuff, they are perfectionist when it comes to characters and lore design, even honkai has too many good character design and lore behind them, they are nerds of technology, games, ACG, and even history and mythology stuff
Regarding the Sandrone/Pulonia confusion, Tartaglia did bring up the name her as Sandrone in his character trailer.
With Pierro’s half mask, it bears similar colors and designs to the entities of the Abyss Order, specifically the Black Serpent Knights and Abyss Lectors/Heralds. This is because he is almost certainly from Khaenri’ah prior to the Cataclysm.
But wouldn’t be an isolated confusion regarding the Harbingers. In an Inazuman secret world quest, Arlecchino is refered to as “Lord Arlecchino”, which gave the impression that the Harbinger was male.
And we had no mentions of the name Columbina before today as well, but the heart shaped dove on the Fatui Constellation Wheel gave it away.
With the leadership thing, Pierro is indeed the First Harbinger, and a couple other Harbingers seem to take orders from him from time to time. But each Harbinger tends to have an area of expertise and act independently of each other (Pantalone and economics, Puchinella and domestic politics[?], Capitano having a significant presence in the military area, ect.)
You also mentioned Dottore’s portrayal, but this is actually a significant shift from what has been previously seen of him. In the manga, prior to the game, he has a 3/4th’s mask and is rather eccentric and expressive with a color scheme similar to toothpaste. This significant difference in his portrayal might be related to something mentioned both in this teaser and in Tartaglia’s 2.8 voicelines…
Speaking of the manga, the girl at the end, Collei, has her story told as the main story line of the manga. I feel bad that she’s about to be thrown into all this again.
On a side note, I really do enjoy watching your reactions and bringing up classical music and mentioning the real past in the arts and how much it has influenced this game. Unfortunately, the only way I can respond to such comparisons and bringing up of information is by sharing my own. Gathered from all across this game, from what is stated, to what is implied, to the tiny fragments left in the corner. The Commedia Dell’Arte’s influence on Genshin is rather amazing, and it is cool to see these aspects highlighted.
not you comparing webtoon dottore to toothpaste LMAOOO
About Arlecchino, I think the translation to English is messed up. I don't think it was supposed to be "lord".
Lord could just be used in a gender neutral way. That sometimes happens with titles. I know there's at least one woman who was crowned as a king.
@💎 PlatinumSpaghetti 💎 that line is actually said by columbina, as confirmed on the official twitter jp
A small correction on Capitano : He wasnt the person who send the soldier to chasm, they translated it as the captain but it just a regular captain of the fatui, not the harbringer. In fact, from Childe voiceline, he seem to be a fearsome warrior
The Chinese name for this trailer translates literally into “Silly play in a winter night”, since well, Fatui in Chinese is basically “group of idiots”. Something was lost in the translation, so I kinda failed to view the trailer as a serious act.
Well, this video kinda clear things up a bit, and the trailer is now more interesting for me
I think most of the western fandom views them as a personification of irony. Like they have a silly name for a serious organization.
Better translation is "fools" rather than idiots, as in "foolish person" but also "fooling others", both meanings being valid depending on if you read that Chinese character for "fool" as adjective or verb, and I think the double meaning is on purpose.
Same here.
Glad to see what they truly belong; what does their name mean, their costume and identity.
Would never know without watching this video.
@@Ash-vv8zg The thing is, in Chinese, fooling others(through misdirection or false information) and foolish(mentally impaired or underdeveloped) are not the same thing, and the idea of “fool”(an entertainer that brings joy through unusually strange actions) barely existed in China.
Well Fatui is Latin for "Fools" so....
I was actually thinking if you would react to this earlier, I’m glad you did.
The reason why they gave a mask to Pierro is probably because he’s from khaenri’ah (the nation that was destroyed by celestia) and all khaenri’ah characters cover half of their face, like dainsleif and kaeya.
Albedo is Kaenri'an, and he doesn't cover his face at all.
@@TheSnowconeMachine Yeah but Albedo is a creation, not really an native from kaenri’an.
@@TheSnowconeMachine albedo created after khaenriah destroyed.
@@arifigo1006 And Kaeya was also born well after Kaenri'ah was destroyed, for him to be adopted as a child by Crepus Ragnvindr.
@@TheSnowconeMachine We aren't actually sure if Kaeya was post-Khaenri'ah. It's very likely some time shenanigans are involved (see: Enkanomiya, the Perilous Trail, and Raiden Story Quest Act II's Euthymia Domain).
Getting into genshin, I would never had thought I would get so much interesting stories and information about so many cultures. I am very interested with now knowing the meaning behind the harbingers thanks to you. Without it I would have thought they were just some antagonists with some cool looks and personalities. Now I appreciate the designs and lore way more thanks to this
Since they told about the rest here, and a thousand videos will be released about lore now. I will add that the architectural reference can be found in "Kronstadt Naval Cathedral", "Cathedral of Military Glory", "St. Isaac's Cathedral" and other Russian Orthodox cathedrals.
Yes, yes and yes! History time with Prof Marco. Simple, quickly yet deep, I like the way you describe how the background music tells each Harbingers's appearence --- and acts as paralles from their actors counterpart.
out of everyone who has reacted to genshin's music, and just videogame music in general, at least from what i've seen, you are by far my favorite. your deep knowledge, and more importantly, deep love of music shines through in your videos so well and its so amazing to see. As an aspiring musician myself, I cant help but smile at the passion you have for this stuff and how deeply connected I personally feel to it. And yes, its been pointed out to you before but your musical ear is so damn good that you're pretty much playing through genshin's story with your ears at this point.
thank you!!!!!!! Means a lot!
I truly enjoy your reaction from a totally different angle to Genshin Impact. The Fatui really has a special place in my heart with their character design, troupe, and lore. Without having any background knowledge in classical music and opera, this video has been a very joyful ride.
I saw your video translated into Chinese on the Chinese video site Bilibili. I enjoy your analysis of this PV and your understanding of the music, culture, and games.
I wanted to let you know that your video was loved by the Chinese audience. Thanks again for the video, and for letting us know more about Commedia Dell'arte.❤❤
Im thrilled that my friends in China are happy with my work and they feel my content is good barbecue
@@MarcoMeatball just in case you're curious, last time i check 7 hours ago in bilibili your video have 230k+ views. And your signora video have 400k+ views.
1) It's amazing that in Mihoyo there are people who are familiar enough with commedia and music to encode all that meaning into the game.
2) It's amazing that out of Mihoyo there are people like you who are familiar enough with commedia AND music to decode all that meaning for us.
I know enough of commedia to recognise all the names and their heritage once the trailer came out (and I Pagliacci is my favourite opera!) but I never really studied the characters in depth--having you deconstruct them feels like we're "cheating" by getting sneak previews of what these characters will do (because based on what's been done, they will really honour those origin characters).
❤️❤️❤️ thanks! Just shining a light on some cool stuff ❤️❤️❤️
I'm russian ,i love opera, and i live in St Petersburg and gotta say the duomo at the end reminds me a lot of one of the cathedrals we have, namely St Isaac Cathedral. Good job everyone, also kudos Marko for being amazing!
❤️❤️❤️❤️
This dude has had his analysis always so on point. You're one of my favorite creators now, hope you keep on covering this game and others that have banger music!
I will 😉
For forever I felt like I was the only person in the world that knew about Commedia Dell'arte. So glad Genshin is making it more mainstream so everyone can know how fun the Commedia is.
oh Marco how you've grown
you went from I'm just going to react to the music
to like ok fine ill react to both the music and the visuals
Amazing keep it up
❤️❤️ I still do that too ❤️❤️
What would be amazing is if Sandrone was the giant robot, Pulonia is the girl that rides on him and the real Harbinger is actually someone who rides inside the giant robot (can be considered the son).
Okay. Listen up. You go and pack your bags. This isn't the right place for you. So pack your stuff and this ideas. Then you get yourself a ride and go to Mihoyo. Make sure that this is not staying in this comment but becomes part of the Canon because dude this is awesome.
I doubt it since it's a ruin guard that's probably being controlled by her since much like ei (she created 2 puppets) or dottore(can create perfect replicas of himself) she can make puppets of living things and stuff like that and it seems she's using the ruin guard as a servant
@@erastiesa I doubt it.
The girl is the one being controlled
The robot itself has a name
So we don't know who's the real harbinger
Hey, after Fontaine, you might actually be right
Who knows how it will turn out. But i think and hope that the robot is the one controlling the girl puppet. Just like Katherynes are robots i think she's also a robot
And also considering that adventurer guild is fron Snezhnaya makes even more sence
Really hoped you would react to this, I thought the music was amazing for this and it set a really high bar for going forward. Have you heard the new music related to update 2.8? There are quite a few harpsichord pieces that remind me of Bach. Really love what they are doing for the new update
Here, in this video, we see a professional opera singer casually describe Genshin lore by simply breaking down a music. Respects++
I love the, "Let's end this foolish theatrics, right now you have no captive audience" because everyone in the harbingers is putting up an 'act'. The bickering of everyone is seen as a show and not the purpose they were given.
6:40, you really hit the nail on the head by mentioning how they represented Pulcinella. Childe, or Tartaglia, has a voice line for him that says that he is always offering to help out with his family, and is very generous to him. So it seems as though Pulcinella is actually manipulating Childe through his family. Very interesting!
Many people did reaction videos, but yours is different and informative. Totally on another level. Bravo!
I dunno if its the exact translation (not Italian unfortunately) but their other Fatui names would be:
- Regrator for Pantalone
- Rooster for Pulcinella
- Childe or Ajax for Tartaglia
- Balladeer for Scaramouche
- Crimson Witch of Embers/Rosalyne Krusche Lohenfalter for La Signora aka "The Fair Lady"
- The Knave for Arlecchino
- The Puppet for Sandrone
- The Doctor for Dottore (obvious one though he could have an alternative name later)
- Damselette for Colombina
- Captain for Capitano (same like with Dottore)
- The Jester for Pierro (I know this one so same case as above)
Now whether we will find their other names like with Tartaglia, Scaramouche & Signora remains to be seen.
Kunikuzushi for Scaramouche
@@hokmabattle3 that's still not his true name. He took on this name after Nagamasa slew Katsuragi
Its The Marionette for Sandrone
Pierrot's VA is just chewing the hell out of that scene. Trully amazing performance and can't wait to find him ingame.
I completely forgot about MarcoMeatball 's experience in Italian Opera and Commedia, so watching this trailer with his expertise makes this reaction more educational because you learn about the use and style of music AND stock characters of Commedia.
I remember the time when they just dropped this Trailer out of nowhere and everyone went crazy nuts over it lol
Yup
This was enthralling.
I know you've mentioned before you never really meant to be a teacher, but you are damn good at it.
thats really sweet thank you.
Wonderful breakdown, sir. Quite the asset for folks unfamiliar with the source material and it enhances our enjoyment of the narrative and characters even more. Thank you for covering this! As long as you're willing to stick around Genshin, I'm sure there'll be plenty of opportunities for you to continue to shed light on the game's music and the Fatui in particular.
Pantalone’s voice is the same VA who does Kyoya-senpai in Ouran High School Host club. So every time I hear him speak I just instinctively go “kyoya-senpai!!” Then I’m distracted again by the amazing music and ambience. And childe. Can’t forget him.
I'm so excited for the Snezhnaya soundtrack. I love Russian classical music and I hope the composer takes inspiration from the greats (Rachmaninov etc.)
You are the perfect person to explain the significance of these characters. I was hoping for a reaction from you and this is fantastic. Thank you.
At this point, it's really hard to tell whether Pulcinella is actually a caring grandpa or a manipulative one. In one of Tartaglia's profile dialogues he says Pulcinella often visits his family bringing treats and gifts. Which can be interpreted as either it's Pulcinella's way of saying "we're always watching, so don't even try doing something stupid" or that he does care about Tartaglia and his family (which Tartaglia believes he actually does since he treats them just like family).
This has become one of my favourite videos. The excitement you had throughout the video explaining the Commedia Dell'arte and its "actors" as each character showed up throughout the trailer is the best!
BTW Shenznaya is supposed to be inspired by Russia because of all the ice and stuff.
But for some reason all the harbingers have these Italian opera -names- tropes.
Makes me wonder if Shneznaya will be a combo of Russian and Italian culture, much like the upcoming Sumeru is a combo of many Middle-Easter, Near-Easter and Indian culture.
That's right. It's called 'Solstice Winter' Country.
The castle of snezhnaya in the trailer.. so similar to russian cathedrals
The region is based on Russia, but Harbingers is based on Italian opera. Snezhnaya is unlikely to be a mixture of two countries, because the names of the NPCs are Russian and I have not seen a single Italian yet. Architecture, climate (stereotyped), the Tsaritsa, names (Zapolyarny Palace, Morepesok) - everything says that this is Russia.
@@nullussum2535 well, russian classical architecture is somewhat italian. Italians designed kremlin and st'petersburg main centre buildings. So it's little bit relative
It's so nice to see a breakdown of this video from you, a lot of us wouldn't get this perspective otherwise.
Also yes I audibly gasped when Pantalone appeared. I'm already down bad for Dark-Mode Baizhu...
During the day, he is an ordinary doctor in Li Yue. But at night... Dilyuk had a competitor.
:D
This was such a great analysis/breakdown. Absolutely loved it. I was really curious about the connection between the two but I barely know enough about either version lol, so this was very insightful. Thank you
09:45 sandrone in genshin is also known as the marionette, a puppeteer. So she controls over numerous puppet i think, and it's maybe fit the name sandrone as a family.
Or maybe the girl is a puppet, she's the wife and she's kind of a "sub-harbinger", the main harbinger is inside the mecha. Together they share the alias of Sandrone. If that's the case maybe they even have a third entity to complete the family. This concept sounds amazing, we get a three in one.
@@opswhyyou7216 yes, maybe. All we can do is waiting for mihoyoverse to disclose more information about the Harbringers
Oh my god this video was so good! Please do more videos on the Commedia dell'arte in Genshin. I never thought I'd develop an obsession towards opera but here I am
Might be a weird take, but the song, while definitely creepy, mysterious, foreboding, and stuff… Oddly felt inviting, warm, and nostalgic. Like a corrupted lullaby.
Pierro is the first harbinger, and Tartaglia mentions that Pierro leads the harbingers and rarely appears in meetings , Pierro is the one that recruited La Signora , Scaramouche and Dottore
Arlecchino runs an orphanage called "house of hearth' which adopts and recruits orphans and trains them to become spies and assassins
Pantalone: 9th fatui harbinger he is the richest of the fatui and is said to be the richest in teyvat ,it is said that he started the northland bank
Tartaglia: is a ginger
Columbina: she is the 3rd fatui harbinger, Childe says that she gives an eerie vibe that even he doesn't want to fight her
a year late but actually ninguang is the richest person in teyvat but pantalone is the richest man in teyvat
You have no idea how much I wanted this video after the teaser came out. Really love your explanations and knowledge about this stuff, it truly feels like it comes from a place of deep appreciation.
You explained the inspiration of these characters so well, it gave me a much better understanding of their historical significance. Makes you appreciate the work that Mihoyo put into Genshin too. Subbed! ❤️
I can't believe it, I was expecting you simply breaking down the music, but I never expected you'd give us a deep dive on the characters using your knowledge on Opera. Wow, I'm amazed!
the trailer was insane!! considering it's much of a lore dump than musical number i didn't think you'd cover it. bUT IM GLAD YOU DID! your insight is very interesting! bcs you know your craft and cultural history.
the one thing i think you should know, pierro/ the jester, was the first harbringer recruited by the tsaritsa. he himself pick that title. so, it is interesting as you say he has half-mask on. the mask has significance in the game which we, as player, don't even know why yet. there are two other ppl in game we've meet that has the same 'visual' as pierro.
all in all. thank you for the video! awesome one yet again!!
this video is nothing but a gift: i love Commedia dell'Arte and, as an italian myself, i felt something inside when genshin came out with the fatui's trailer. is something a lot of us don't even know, and seeing all the little details and respect for our tradition (probably one of the deepest) is really, really beautiful
ALSO thank you for express everything so well, i felt so many things and couldn't be able to put them down into words so yeah
PS: Pierrot probably has that mask because he's related to Khaenri'ah
Ti ringrazio, il piacere era mio. ❤️
The most substantial "reaction" I've watched. It almost feels like a consultation to an expert regarding the Fatui's inspiration. I've learned a lot!!
I love how you explained/compared the harbingers to the actual Commedia Dell'Arte play , i tend to have the mindset of read genshin lore, then maybe later research later on the irl inspiration to the lore, and this video does a great job in explaining alot of the potential roles or personalities of the future harbingers to come especially pierro who seems to be the head honcho as you described as well a man who will twist others to his goals.
the way you interpreted the Harbingers are really very special and dedicated to your craft!
I really do love how Genshin incorporates real culture the way it does. While I try to learn about what the game has based things on (such as the Harbinger roles), I learn a little bit more about the history of my own world while in pursuit of teases of how things could potentially play out based on those connections.
Your analysis was so interesting ! It's really good to know the parallels with the original Commedia Dell'Arte characters
This is exact kind of content I was looking to consume after watching that glorious Genshin Teaser, thank you so much for going into depth even thought you could possibly talk for a lot longer, I thought this analysis & breakdown was beautifully structured. Instant sub for sure!~
11:00 you were right about Capitano's moment of humility 😅 getting beaten and injured during his first appearance in game
From a commedia performer to you, this was beautiful to watch. Mille grazie!
It's always so nice to hear more in depth information about the material that these characters are based off of. Thanks for the lesson chief, really love your insight here about the Harbingers themselves. S+ commentary my man!
Pierro is pretty much confirmed to be the leader of the fatui harbingers, as number 1 of the harbingers and it’s oldest member, he’s often deferred to out of respect even though technically the harbingers are supposed to be “equals”
This may be one of the most interesting genshin related videos that ive seen. It’s so interesting for music alone explain so much about lore
Honestly after all the reactions I've watched finding sooooo much knowledge about Commedia Dell'arte which, I hostly had no idea was the inspiration, just this all blew me away. There was so much I learned and gained from this so thank you every so much.
Como brasileiro e falante nativo do Português é muito satisfatório ter facilidade para compreender os nomes e ou títulos em Genshin Impact. No caso da Comedia de L'arte foi o seu canal o grande responsável por acender meu interesse. Obrigado, bom trabalho e que venham os Fatui!
THIS IS SO COOL!
You being able to breakdown the harbinger's potential role/ story while using the original opera they were based of on. I did see theories of this comparison before, but coming from an opera singer/ actor makes it feel more real. Your interpretation and speculation are amazing, and I can't wait to see the original opera be reflect by these characters in the story!
Amazing video, and by far the most interesting breakdown of this teaser
Many have been trying to speculate the lore based on this, but since you linked it to italian operas, on which these characters are based, gives much more credibility and sense to your explanations
this was really educational, relating to the lore but the actual Commedia Dell’arte. i appreciate you for sharing this knowledge :D
Hey Marco this was pretty awesome! I think you might enjoy this analysis of Scaramouche by Ashikai where she explains what other influences beyond the Commedia Dell'arte were used in his characterization, particularly local (japanese inspired ones), which is what I suspect will ve the case for other harbingers as well taking inspiration from other forms of iconic characters and media from the cultures that inspired the nation the harbingers hailed from (I'm sure we might have some from Fontaine, Sumeru, Natlan, Liyue as well as the other confirmed nations). So it might help explain some of the decisions the design and writing team of the game makes. ua-cam.com/video/3vNddrd1f7E/v-deo.html
I did enjoy it! Thanks for sharing.
@@MarcoMeatball Glad you did!
Holy hell thank you so much for making this. Out of all the characters in the game, I've always had the hardest time pronouncing Harbingers' names. Italian for some reason is just not intuitive to me unlike the phonetics of languages like Chinese, japanese, and to some extent the Sumerian names. And the fact that HV is clearly going to be leaning really hard into the commedia dell'arte and Italian influences, it's really nice to hear from somebody who knows what they're talking about!
This was a great video!
Where are you from? It became curious. It's just that in Russia their names are easy enough to pronounce. Although, we have adapted their names, but the original ones also do not cause strong difficulties.
Your insight on all of the design inspiration is so appreciated Marco. It really brings to light just how much love and attention the devs / design team put into each character and just the game in general.
Thanks marco, because of you now i know the possibility of their characteristics ahead of time.
I'm so glad you put this video out here. I remember watching the trailer and being like "I hope Marco makes a video on this!!!" considering both the amazing music backing it up and what we see of the Fatui Harbingers. I was a little worried you'd wait until there only a music track to work with instead of the full video.
Thank you for providing such incredible insight & experience into this beautiful trailer!! Keep up the amazing work!!
i am REALLLY hoping Columbina becomes playable!!!! Her song is hauntingly beautiful and I theorize she is in charge of the Fatui intelligence network, she might be able to telepathically communicate, she is a Seelie who has not turned into the wisp-like Seelies!
Also i am not sure if i am the only one but if the Fatui change thier tactics to be less evil i might actually root for them
It's been extremely rare to have an essay on UA-cam, glad you made one!
Your musical analyses are everything for me, thank you for them
This is so much more than a simple React video! Your analysis and breakdown of this video were very educational and entertaining! I especially love how you share your expertise in this field! Great stuff! Subbed!
Thanks!
Holy shittokii mushrooms! Finally!! I’ve been waiting for someone to bring this up in a video! I’m an actor and one of my favorite forms of theatre is Commedia! Thank you!
I never knew about the Commedia Dell'Arte inspiration. Thank you for letting me know :)
I love this so much! It's so interesting to learn abt all the characters, cos now we have a peek into what the harbringers' personalities or motivations could be
I'm loving this , it reminds me of the many conversations I had with my friends about classical music. Love your analysis and the detail info. A recommendation would be for you should always follow the eng trailer with the Japanese one, it really adds to the atmosphere with music since I see voice acting as art as well.
wow that was really interesting, didn’t expect to see so many references :0
Thank you so much for your explanation, which indeed gives us an opportunity to get a deeper understanding of Italian commedia dell'arte.
This definitely helped my noob brain understand just a little more about the original opera story and the extra details of how it connects to Genshin's portrayal of the characters related to it. Loved this video!
I live for your commentary! I was waiting for this all day yesterday. And your comments are so insightful, it makes me appreciate the developers more and educate myself with the culture too!
Happy you could see italian culture reflected in Genshin and also now that i saw your video i appreciate these references way more.
But i'm kinda hoping we'll see some of slavic culture in Snezhnaya. But maybe Snezhnaya will just be such a huge region there will be some areas that are inspired by Italy and others inspired by Russia and other nations