✔Check out these playlists for more Genshin Impact content: 😢Character Origins: kzfaq.info/sun/PLn2_heBLYy7-92SSW4nCc3i71-J85Dp5T 😎Theories: kzfaq.info/sun/PLn2_heBLYy78YQkvvNWAoU62yGW-BaHx2 Catch me on Twitch! Twitch.tv/TeyvatHistoria

What ppl don't understand abt Kazuha's friend is that his one true ambition was to face to Musou No Hitotachi. Like stated, he knew what he was getting into, and I suspect he wanted to lose the duel against Sara so that he'd have to opportunity to see the sword art. Also, Kazuha himself states that's he's not bitter abt the death of his friend, he believes it to be an honorable death, but can't stand the Shogun's Vision Hunt Decree

She doesn't think eternity is wrong though. She's just realized that eternal stasis was not the way to go after centuries of pursuit. She still wants Inazuma to last forever though.

Raiden Ei has the most noticeable development of all the archons we met so far. It is why I admire her story the most.

I feel like the reason many people say the archon quest was rushed because the entire resistance plotline with the delusions was unceremoniously dropped in the final act and we got no resolution - the army just showed up at Tenshukaku with no explanation (I know Ayato's demo retconned that but that came out like a week ago). We have no idea what role Kokomi played in the events of the final conflict either, and it feels disappointing to just drop such an important character at the climax of the story. I think if they had had one more act right before the climax to resolve all the plot threads, many would have been not only satisfied but impressed by the quest. It feels to me like hoyoverse bit off more than they could chew with the amount of different plot threads and simply didn't have enough time to give all of them a satisfying conclusion. I still thoroughly enjoyed the quest, though.

I mean, I can sort of understand why people say the Inazuma archon quests seemed rushed, at least as far as the Resistance went. They didn't really do much of anything on screen and ultimately only served as a way for the Traveler to MAYBE get invested in an npc only for them to die, then act as bridge for the Traveler to go raid the Delusion Factory and get saved by Yae. Aside from the Resistance accomplishing nothing of substance though, the rest was amazing!

I find it poetic that the Archon whose whole ideal is to resist change was the one who showed growth the most.

1 year after inazuma arc and many people still misunderstood her character

YES FINALLY- SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS HOW IMPORTANT ACT ONE OF HER STORY QUEST IS!!!! the sheer amount of smooth brained opinions regarding that quest made me so frustrated. I immediately understood that in order for Ei to change for the better, she needed to understand change was not always bad- which for the longest time she believed to be the greatest enemy to her idea of eternity. People who don't like putting effort into looking deeply into the story tend to make hasty and incorrect judgements about the story and dismisses the efforts of the creative team and its just sad man. honestly... I'm even more excited about the tsarista. She's like a more hard core version of Ei's arc because she is fully aware with what she's doing with the Fatui, taking a direct command of them but giving the Harbingers a lot of free reign as well.

My biggest problem with the Inazuma storyline was the resistence. I never really felt like I had a strong reason to fight and care about them.

The Inazuma Archon Quest, while much-hated on its arrival for reasons you discussed in your video, also has a huge glaring flaw in the Resistance. The parts about Ei were overdramatic criticism, but the set-up during the Resistance arc was rushed as all hell, and apart from Kazuha blocking the Musou no Hitotachi, they did absolutely nothing and ended up being pawns in Yae's scheme, which is disappointing for how they were set up (especially with kokomi as a smart tactician), and only served as a bridge to the Delusion Factory via Teppei, who wasn't set up that well either (and not to mention Signora with zero build-up). But yeah, Ei's arc is basically complete now, and the AQ in retrospect looks much better because of it.

The way I understand her is that she was in grief of her sister then she tries to protect her people but to do so she thought she needed control over something so that if she can control it nobody will die no one needs to be sad thus she was blind by eternity definition but what she didn’t get is it wasn’t eternity or people living longer they were just stuck unable to move it wasn’t the true eternity . As yoimiya says that fireworks are just quick things but the people we are with while watching them stays in our minds forever -something in those lines.. (which is true definition of eternity in my opinion) anyways.. also her being stuck meditating and not coming in touch with reality made it easier since the puppet didn’t have any feelings only what she was programmed for when miko came to ei we somehow see her come alive . She is more of a “broken villain with broken ideals” and now her vision and idea of eternity change she’s being better..

Clearly alot of people don't understand her at all. I'm not saying I understood her the most but at least I can tell she is not as simple as people made her out to be. This is especially true during with the way people reacted to her after the Inazuma archon quest

Ei is in this weird situation where everyone she knew got dead, or samsar-ed or both. She's got memories that don't match the memories of everyone around her and they all think she's a bit crazy. Even Yae Miko who claims to be Ei's best friend and familiar - though Ei probably didn't even know her - didn't believe Ei about the Sakura tree. And that's the nearest thing to a friend Ei has. If Ayaka wanted a friend then Ei is absolutely dying for want of human contact. So it may not have been a date in the romantic sense but it was an important event socially for Ei.

I agree with you 100% here and greatly appreciate that you made this video. However, I've raised many of these points in conversation with others before, and there are some responses to your points that you didn't address that may lead the people who most need to digest this video to reject it outright. Here's a brief summary of what criticisms I've seen that you didn't address, as well as additional details you didn't mention that strengthen your argument further: 1. When considering the Puppet's actions regarding the VHD war: it is important to note that the Shogun wasn't even fully informed; the Tenryou Commission was concealing and sanitizing the details they relayed to the Shogun. This may not have changed how the Shogun behaved or responded, but I feel that's an important point to consider. 2. When considering the time spent with Ei in her first story quest: a. I don’t think everyone who claims that it was “a date” necessarily means it in a romantic sense but are using it as a hyperbolic synonym for a “hangout” (and I have also seen the word “hangout” used to describe it as well). b. While this is technically already addressed by your arguments against the first misconception, many detractors took exception to the Traveler spending time with Ei in this fashion because they saw her as a criminal who was dodging consequences. Even if you wanted to argue that there should be consequences, that opens an entire can of philosophical worms regarding Punitive vs. Rehabilitative Justice. Considering the game has taken a rehabilitative approach and considering many of the examples I’ve been given of how her recompense should have been handled, I believe these folks seek a punitive approach. 3. This is probably mostly my own speculation, but I’d like to raise the thought for consideration that Ei’s pursuit of eternity in alignment with the Heavenly Principles is a trauma response. Ei may hold Celestia partially responsible for the loss of Makoto and was further incentivized to take this approach to Eternity that she already aligned with in hopes of curtailing further pain/loss at the hands of Celestia. 4. When considering the death of Kazuha’s friend: I think the most important detail is that he specifically sought to face the Musou no Hitotachi. “There will always be those who dare to brave the lightning’s glow.” Facing the Musou no Hitotachi meant certain death if he failed to withstand it and he knew the consequences of his choice. He was purely responsible for his death there and he did so willingly in pursuit of his ambition, which is factually confirmed to be his ambition by Kazuha’s temporary reawakening of his friend’s Vision. 5. When considering the argument of pacing: One of the most common criticisms I’ve seen is of the time spent with the Resistance. I can actually agree with the assertion that we spent very little time with them. I believe most folks issue with that, however, stems from their expectations of what that time would entail. These folks wanted more time spent seeing the war play out in-front of them and participating in it. While I can understand the desire to have that experience, I believe people’s disappointment stems from their own mostly unsubstantiated expectations. 6. One criticism you did not address, but is technically tangential to all of this and is not technically related to misconceptions of Ei herself, is that some believe that the major story beats of Inazuma’s narrative arc should not have been contained within Ei’s story quest, but within the Archon quest. I believe I see what HoYovese was going for with this structure; the Vision Hunt Decree was the most pressing matter as it involved great suffering for the affected and was the only instigating factor for the war. (as an aside, I’ve also seen some folks argue that the Sakoku Decree was the more important issue of the two) However, the full path forward for Inazuma required change within Ei herself, and that takes additional time. (perhaps this could’ve been avoided if Ei was deposed, which I think some people believe should’ve been the case, but that’s an entire discussion of its own) This also ties in with the misconception that the story of a region is meant to be/should be concluded within the Archon quest, but it seems that HoYoverse intends for the entire major patch to encompass the narrative of the region rather than just the Archon quest. That may still not be to people’s taste, but I reject the notion that this is somehow an inherently flawed approach. Anyway, sorry for the wall of text but I hope this was helpful in some way. If you actually read the whole thing, thank you, and much thanks for making this video in the first place.

🌸🌹I am of those who feel that the Raiden Shogun is quite down to earth and was realistically represented with respect to her roll within the story! People are not black and white in their acts, we are gray and no decision made is ever one-hundred percent pure, thus it is but virtue signal on the part of those that claim outright she is a “villain”!🌹🌸

This has been a good reminder, as well as a good cleaning of what I think of Raiden Ei. And just further reinforces my opinion of Ei being my favorite character.

The only part that many players were disappointed with was the v2.1 Archon Quest (Resistance Arc). The pacing was plagued with sloppy time skips; and big things apparently were happening like naval battles, Teppei's achievements, etc. but we didn't really feel the atmosphere of a war. It's only that part of the Inazuman questline that felt "rushed", or simply put: mediocre and poorly executed. Just imagine the v2.0 archon quest setting up the hype, the high stakes, and the opposing sides in such complicated topics like politics and war, only to fall short in v2.1, and then be solved after a disproportionately long training arc with Yae. Also at the end Raiden's 2nd story quest, Ei said that she's going mull over with the puppet for a while about abolishing the Sakoku Decree. But apparently the decree was abolished IMMEDIATELY after the end of that quest. There was no transition whatsoever. Just another sloppy time skip.

People projecting their head canon and expectations and when a story doesn’t met such thing it’s suddenly bad and when someone thinks something is bad they’re very much willing to ignore things and nitpick to fit their narrative

As someone who “hated” Ei when i first saw her my love for her only grew as we saw more of her storyline and backstory. She quickly became my fave character in the game

Good points and well-argued. I think this along with your Character Origins videos have a lot of potential. I know you’re very busy, but I hope you can continue your book series as well I’m definitely one of the people who has really enjoyed the Inazuma Arc, specifically the initially somber and eventually uplifting atmosphere. Ei’s arc was a big factor in that. HYV has done well in presenting Ei as a flawed, multifaceted character and (for me) Anne Yatco does a brilliant job of portraying that nuance across all the Inazuma gods. I expect they’ll can improve even further in future arcs

I actually knew the Shogun Puppet twist before I played Genshin Impact (that I downloaded because Raiden looked cool) and yeah I 100% agree, the writing is extremely consistent and you can tell the writers knew what they set out to do from the get-go. Personally I love Raiden. She's not my favorite character but she's definitely in the top 5. The biggest flaw I think is Genshin's constant story updates I think made a lot of people set their expectations in wildly different directions. The time period between the end of Liyue when Zhongli talks about the Vision Hunt Decree and the conclusion of Inazuma was many months long. And I think people who spent those months expecting a villain might've felt the rug pulled out under them with the Puppet twist

Ei is my favourite character in the game story-wise... She’s precious 🥺

I agree with most of what you said, and you made many good points. As someone who doesn’t like Ei, I can still recognize the validity in pointing out her character development over the course of the story. Honestly, I quite like the character development, even if I don’t like Ei herself. The only point I can bring up is the pervasive argument I’ve always heard and disagree with, which your arguments only bring up sometimes, which is that Raiden Shogun is responsible while Ei is innocent. My problem is that many fans shrug off the argument of her being a bad person or a terrible ruler with the argument of “It was the Raiden Shogun, not Ei.” To me, it feels a little shallow, as my belief is that their diverging personalities were made to shield Ei from such accusations against her character, feeling a little cheap to have a literal cold unfeeling robot take the blame for what was supposedly your actions. The point I would like to bring up is that Even though it was Raiden who allowed the Fatui to come in, and it was Raiden who became a tyrant, it is just as much Ei’s fault for choosing to leave her Kingdom in a Robots hands. You could argue it was to pursue eternity, and there lies the rub. Ei didn’t care what would’ve happened to her country if she left it in the hands of a robot, by her own admission she has little information about what was happening outside. This is why I find the argument to be flawed. Raiden may be the weapon, but it was Ei who let the weapon run free without supervision. At best, she’s a negligent ruler, which I know she recognized herself, but not enough of her fans do. They always forgive her easily and make excuses for what she’s done, and I do appreciate your video having actual evidence rather than spitting vague opinions and pretending it’s the end all be all of her character.

Idk how to explain it… Ai gave up on her principles too easily and faced no consequence for her and her puppets actions. If your gonna be a villain be a villain with an empathetic backstory/goal; who changes through negative consequences or slow development. She had neither. In my opinion Ai was a horrendous ruler and her puppet was a dictator by Ai’s own design. Now we are learning that Ai created Scaramouche then threw him away for her ‘perfect puppet’. So sorry not sorry I don’t like her character, mostly because she literally caused so many horrible things and all she got as a consequence was puff piece where she changed her views and suddenly we’re supposed to be ok with her even after everything she did. Ultimately you’re right. I don’t understand her. Her way of thinking, her justification for her actions, and her goal are all hard for me to empathize with or even understand. Funny enough I empathize and like the Fatui more because I can at least understand that they all believe in their actions and are working towards their goal even if we don’t know what that goal is yet.

I would love to see you do a video like this for someone like Kokomi or Ayaka, both people who I felt like were brought down by the community story wise (people saying kokomi being poorly written and Ayaka gaslighting us during the archon quest) Hoping nothing but the best for you and for this video series!!

so because i avoid social media im hearing about most of these complaint's for the first time (and wondering if im playing the same game as them) and am a little confused how people came to these conclusions as i saw almost nothing that could lead you to think like this. its one of my pet peeves in gaming when the devs will have an NPC tell you exactly what has just happened in the plot but if people can be this confused about stuff i can see why devs do it.

I absolutely love Raiden Ei and think a lot of people have misconceptions about her so I think this series is a great idea! I enjoyed the video!

Perfectly said, thank you for compiling my frustration toward others who said Inazuma and Raiden Ei are poorly written.

Beautifully done. I've never understood how people saw Ei's story quest as a mere date. Tho rushed archon quest I understand her segment was the least effected by it writing wise. I always believed that mihoyo had much more in store for her and even after 2.5 I believe we're gonna get more. She really feels like the main character of her her own story. Or so to say Inazuma's whole arc.

The murdered argument for kazuha friend is stupid, You dont challenge a powerful warrior to a duel without threat of death much less a god. People need to understand that Ei is. God her time is more valuable than a pesant's life whose one ambition is to fight shogun. If there was not the threat of death every one who ever picked up a sword 2 days ago would challenge her continuesly and many times.

I never thought peoole really believed ei was evil.... wow they don't pay attention lol

I'm so happy this video was made. I finally found one more person who tried to look past her "villain" stance and try to understand what led to it, and how the puppet and Ei were totally different, but with subtle similarities. Her first story quest was one of the best starts to character development. And this is why Ei became from someone I despised at first glance, to someone I truly love and admire after that story quest. Made me decide to pull her weapon for her, for it belonged to her made her look so much more beautiful.

My main problem is not the fact her actions are justifiable or not, or that she deservs redemption or not, my problem is the lack of consequences for her, no matter how much you guys cope to justify her actions "ah bruh it was her puppet not her" still this creat an imense amount of problems for an entire region, the fact that we get to this point and she does not even utter a single "sorry" its just tell me that she is not even aware of the damage she caused wich makes her even more dangerous and villanous than someone like scaramouche.

Raiden Ei, become my favorite the moment I saw her and ever since, she never left my team and never will be. Call me a simp but I love everything about her, that's why I have never turned my back on her even though most people did. That's why I thank you for making this video, to open the eyes of those who chose to closed them.

Cool video. I would like to see one of these for Eula because a lot of people I see do her quest seem to misunderstand whats going on and what kind of person she is. Also another misconception with Ei I see is how they say she abandoned scaramouche and comparing to child abandonment which is a little insane to me and they she hated him for having emotions when thats not the case, she lets him go and seals his powers because she fellt bad and didnt want to force the gnosis on him, and she wanted him to have his own life. If she really didnt care she could have just destroyed him but she didnt.

Finally, someone who really explains why it wasn't Ei fault for Tomo's death, we need this for those Kazuha's fans who doesn't understand

bold of you to assume genshin hardcore want to understand her backstory.

Her second quest really showed how much she’s grown

The fact that ei herself is strolling around inazuma city in irodori festival is showing her growth and wanting to know more about the current inazuma.

Considering all this, the archon quest was overall handled very well. It now makes sense that the resistance was less focused on, because the point of the quests was to get every perspective needed on the electro archon and eternity, while learning about Ei’s past, followed by Ei’s story quests, which gave her perspective, and showed us how that perspective changed.

I don't know man. I like Ei as a character a lot, but not checking up her puppet more frequently is her fault. It was her creation and her responsibility to make sure it was doing things properly. Ignorance isn't an excuse. I think she's just as responsible as the puppet and that should be addressed in the story. She faltered. It was her creation and her mistake.

I've only been playing Genshin for about a month, and I just finished Ei's archon and story quests over the weekend. I'm surprised to read her story wasn't well-received when it came out, I though it was pretty solid. I became much more invested in Genshin's lore in general afterwards.

I think what players dont understand is that all archons so far are benevolent in nature, albeit Ei not knowing how to handle humans correctly since it's Makoto who actually handles the welfare. Also, they dont understand the culture of Inazuma. Inazuma is a nation which prides itself in combat. There's a lot of references that weaponry is Inazuma's pride and glory. Thus, we can conclude that Inazuma's culture is that, if you want to get a resolution, combat is the way. We can see that with Signora and Kazuha's friend. And that's what we did when we defeated Ei to abolish the vision hunt decree. Maybe it's disappointing that Ei doesnt know what the people really want but that's why Makoto was the appointed archon. And the two story quests are great feat of how someone, even an archon, can show growth. The quests are not boring since if you understand it, it will relate to anyone on a personal level.

I don't believe when people complain about archon quest being rushed or done half way, they are referring to EI specifically. Rather they are talking about how most of us expected the "war" to get more attention. More battles and cut scenes involving the traveler as a part of that war. On a whole the war because it had all of like 2-3 cutscenes showing the actual war side of the war even if they claim it took place over months to us it appeared to last less than a week. This discrepancy is due to the lack of fleshing out of content for said war. It felt insanely rushed with the conclusion happening the very next patch after we learned of it. It should have been around NOW in 2.5-2.6 range that peace was finally found. This would make the war feel like an actual war instead of a single battle for a single cutscene. So yes they did rush the archon quest and they did not give that war proper attention. Ei however has been a slow change with her story quests coming a few patches apart.

This is fine and all, but most of the in game characters do not know that Ei and the puppet are two separate entities. So the complete 180 (or complete disregard for her actions) everyone in the in game world has done on their stance towards her is what really bothers me about all of this.

I think se people refer to the 2.1 Ei quest as a "date quest" because they wanted that quest to be lore and drama heavy, with big revelations. And Some other people wants to held Ei accountable for everything that Shogun and Tricommission did, so they wanted that quest to be about Ei watching what has become of Inazuma in much more depressing tone.

Finally thank u people just believe her to be an evil waifu and most people don't even know who Ei is they call her baal.she is one of the best written characters in this game and I wish we get more of her interaction with other characters

The overarching game plot and character sub plot has always been done beautifully but the region plot is flawed which is bad when they're the main exposure to the player. I agree with most your point about Ei's own storyline but imo Inazuma feel rushed. There is no reason to have Yae info dump at the end while most of that info are crucial, have been sprinkled around the region plot, but not touched upon. I can see the point and the thread of the inazuma story laid out but how they connect it is quite sloppy made it feel rushed.

Ei is not a villain, she's just a bonehead, like what Makoto said.

i don't think we can't ever say any character is a flat out 'good person' in this game, but the consequence in inazuma as a whole seem...lacking. There's WAR and both side lost their men but the game make it seem like a long term protest more than a battlefield it is, but i guess you can say that vision holder is the minority so it isn't a big deal(a living hell for some,a minor inconvenience for others). it would be nice to see her acknowlege the watasumi island soilders or some of the people that their vision get took away. or is it happens outside of the kamera? who knows?(you can say i hold grudge because i live in a country with dictator government) She once fear the eternally nature of change, and now she had learned to understand it. it's admirable, but until i see how her will dealing with things that will catch up to her, i can't say i like her.

Ei is most likely to fight alongside of us the archons we’ve met so far imo

Thank you for this video! Raiden is my absolute favorite character and I couldn’t agree more with everything you say!! Her character development and quests have been the best in Genshin so far. Nothing else is even close…

Thank u, thank u for addressing this. I've been telling this to the people who misunderstood her in the internet but ppl don't listen they just wanna mock her. Thank u. A character I relate a lot

Taking 'command' in the resistance was a waste of time and added to the rushed feeling of the second act of Ei's story. The final confrontation was impactful but its is reduced by the chore of what came before it. I feel it would have been better used with Yae, learning more about Ei's possibly motivations and learning how to utilize the ethereal realm against her.

Even kazuha is aware that his friend wasn't "murdered", he doesn't have any hatred toward the shogun for murdering his friend but he hated her for being a dictator. Same thing with Sara, he didn't hate her for winning the duel that ended up with his friends death but because she helped said dictator. Kazuha's friend died and honorable death and saying he was murdered undermines it.

🌸🌹It would be alternatively called “the five reasons we would be made wiser for having subscribed to this channel”!🌹🌸

Ei has always been my favorite character, but I also somewhat agreed with some of the people who hated her, not fully understanding her myself. This video makes me much more confident, and now I have a video to point people too!

I would have to disagree with some of the points laid regarding Ei. From my perspective, I see Ei as a tragic character driven by trauma. Her pursuit for eternity fits well in the survival and preservation of what she has left, her nation. Even the realm she resides in when we first encounter her fits the inner anguish of the like. If we are going with your approach that Ei realizing she can be wrong, its good foundation that simply even Gods can make human mistakes. I had hope she would have stood her ground on her eternity even if she was beaten, I feel her "changing her mind" in her goals was way too fast for it ti be resolved. It may be a broken record but I stand not for the majority but consider it as a fact that the story felt not incomplete but the pacing was horrendous.

I don't understand while Ei's first quest a date when a whole Ayaka quest exist.. Besides, Ei doesn't really show interest on Traveller and almost all story quest are us accompanying the characters.. Also, especially that Ei is holed up on the PoE for a long time so of course the first thing to do is to show her the current Inazuma..

The fact is, Ei is a God and the Head of State and she has responsibilities to her people. The problems directly came from the Fatui, the commissions, and the puppet's limitations but not knowing/addressing those problems was wrong. Ei was a neglectful leader with absolutely no remorse. Yes, she grew as a character and she finally accepted that her previous beliefs were not right. But she still did not acknowledge that her own people were experiencing hunger and suffering. I'm not even talking about the Resistance, I'm talking about her own people (civilian NPCs) and soldiers (as shown in the initial part of this chapter and through Ayaka's requests). I really don't get why the locals just forgot about that and act like she is some sort of idol. Yes, vision holders were a minority. But everyone suffered because of her negligence. Can someone even truly change without remorse and regrets for their wrong doings?

Finally got around to watching this one. While I generally agree with everything you've explained, I think there's a misunderstanding in regards to point 2. While calling it a "date" is pretty disingenuous and reductive, I think it stems from the quest feeling incredibly off tone. I understand what it does for Ei, and the lessons she takes from it are very important for her growth, but at the same time, this is a quest that follows the act 3 archon quest, yet it doesn't feel like any of the stakes are even remotely addressed. I think its natural to assume that, at that point in the story, Ei should take responsibility for the actions she allowed the puppet to take. Inazuma is still burning from a war that ended literally yesterday(kokomi's story quest about peace talks wasn't available yet when this first came out), and instead of acknowledging this, she goes on a walk to see how inazuma has changed. It feels like something is missing, that we missed her ever saying "yeah whoops, my bad" and I think that's what many people were expecting going into her personal quest. The quest, while important, yes, did not meet those expectations, and as a result, it gets reduced to being called "poorly written" and a "date". It isn't either of those things, but it is definitely a little out of place.

I agree with most of what you said, but the Archon Quest IMO later half was rushed. Not that the concept was wrong or bad, just the execution. The quest did not build up and pace the various twists, certainly not as good as the initial build up. The execution is not unforgivable or anything, it's just not as good as Hoyoverse usual skill. It'd be ok or better than many other RPGs. Though it's also very understandable, AFAIK they had a change in writing staff during that period and it took some transitioning.

Raiden Ei's character should be analysed together with concepts of Zen Buddhism and other philosophies associated with mono no aware, or the sad acceptance and appreciation of transience. The crux of the archon quest in inazuma is actually about this. This is also one of the hallmarks of some of the most enduring Japanese fiction, poetry, and literature. Raiden ei/shougun has more motifs related to transience than eternity. I mean, their theme song is a dead giveaway. I would argue that the geo archon and liyue has more themes and motifs related to 'eternity'/longevity, based on their emphasis on tradition. Go praise mihoyo for incorporating this irony in her character. In fact, lightning is another symbol for ephemeral glory. Edit: when analysing stories by mihoyo, seeing characters as villains or 'good guys' vs 'bad guys' is inherently flawed. Mihoyo is really good at creating characters with grey morality. Instead, we should look at it from the standpoint of conflicting ideals, as simply antagonist vs protagonist. Seriously, just look at Otto apocalypse from honkai. And kamisato Ayato as well as childe's moralities are questionable too. So is zhongli's actions when he imperiled liyue by striking a deal with the fatui. The difference here is that ei's misguided actions caused a lot more suffering. I liken ei's actions to decarabian who is also bringing woe to the people thinking that he is helping them.

Ahh, yes, the puppet. The puppet programmed by Raiden Ei. The one that was physically incapable of changing its mind from the directives Ei programmed it with. That puppet. I don't think delegating atrocities to a robot with no free will really absolves her of them. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Ei say that she was aware of everything the Fatui were doing and it didn't pose a threat to Eternity? So it's not like she was ignorant of the war, corruption, delusions, Tatarigami, island-exploding, etc. it just didn't matter to her so she left it in the hands of her robot. While I agree that the "date quest" thing is filtered through the lens of "this game is an anime gf gacha," the underlying criticism of "it's pretty weird to suddenly be having a friendly hangout with the oppressive dictator who was trying to kill us 10 minutes ago." Both from an angle of "why are we cool with her?" and "why is she cool with us?"

Ei already adjusted long time ago how to wield her own power without Gnosis. The only thing to work on for her is how she would adjust with her people, or let's say at the present time. That's why her story quest misinterpret by other players as a date quest, coz it might too simple to look but that quest is just the beginning for her to coup up the new Inazuma, now that she's out from plane of euthymia. Surely Inazuma's story is not yet done. I am actually excited to know how Fatui response to Inazuma during Signora's death , since it is one of the most memorable cutscene in Genshin Impact.

Raiden Ei is one of the top 3 characters in game with her lore, people really don't get it and had a lot of complains because they just focus on the superficial aspects. She has many layers when you start analysing every part of her quest and over imposing it based on her past.

Just another point I like to add here, Makoto was the electro archon and hence the possessor of the electro gnosis. There is no where in lore stating that Ei became the electro archon (in the eyes of Celestia, as there is no mention of Ei using the gnosis) Ei was considered the electro archon by the people because in the eyes of the people both makoto and Ei were one and the same. I assume scaramouche was the initial attempt at creating the body that could house the gnosis, but it failed and we know from the lore neither Ei (who transferred her conscious to the sword and hence had no physical form) or the puppet had the gnosis with them. So it would be incorrect to assume that Ei given something of that belonged to her while in reality they just passed what was Makoto's. Just a passing thought while writing this comment an interesting thing to note is that we haven't actually seen the gnosis, it would be interesting to know whether it is like visions in that they become gray when the owner passes or they retain their power.

Thank you for this video. I always found it annoying how people interpreted Ei's archon quest as a "date". To me it felt like the traveler was acting as a guide as well as a bridge for Ei to close the gap between herself and the present day Inazuma. Furthermore I don't get why people said The Raiden Shogun murdered Kazuha's friend when he knew he was in a duel to the death.

remember. just because it's not explained yet doesn't mean it's a plot hole.

2nd point: I found the quest to be ill timed rather than just bad, we had a very clear goal in going to Inazuma and it was largely ignored until we got Ei's second story quest. We were not there to help Inazuma, we wanted to find answers about the war that changed our sister. I love Genshin's story, but I can't ignore how jumbled and poorly paced its been lately. If quest 1 and 2 were mixed more and the timey-wimey stuff done away with, it would have been amazing, 10/10. I think that's why so many people thought the quest itself bad, but I do agree with what you said about it setting up Ei's character, I just don't think it was appropriate for it to play out like it did without addressing the elephant in the room: The cataclysm. 4th point and somewhat the whole video: Ei did still make the puppet and give it, its orders. Sure the Fatui had a hand, but if you make a robot and someone else tricks it into killing someone under your commands, you still go to jail. Still a good point about the duels though. I don't think this is a bad thing for her character either, pushing deeply flawed traits like this are what give characters spice. Its just too bad Genshin refuses to play up the more harsh side of their characters. Like we've continued to ignore that Zhong Li 100% got some civilians and soldiers killed. If the second hydra killed some of the guards (As noted by Keqing), then you bet Osial caused some death. Yet we ignore that fact because Genshin refuses to explore it. I loved the idea that the archons were a set of people making the harsh, hard to make decisions for their version of a greater good. Imagine a scene with Zhong Li or Ei having remorse for the lives they took in their pursuit where the game could even give us two options, one where we console them for the greater good angle and one where we show disappointment in them. (Ultimately not changing the story still, but cool flavor.) 5th point: I get that the video is Ei focused, but I don't think the larger problem is her. The story felt lesser for sure, especially when Liyue's story quests gave us so many more answers and had multiple threads of plot moving together. inazuma's story only had the one thread, which isn't bad, but to a lot of people that might come off as cheap. Pacing wise it was definitely a much faster story told, though this is subjective. I found it too fast, but I wouldn't say someone was wrong for thinking otherwise. The main thing I wanted to touch on here though, is that the main quest of our MC was sidelined, despite obvious attempts to make it the main reason we even came to Inazuma in the first place. The moment we got to sit down with Ei, we should have sprung the question. The longer we waited on that note, the less impact it was going to have and thus why it was a passing comment when it did happen. I seriously wish the MC's story took a larger overall role in Genshin's story telling (I've yet to do the current quest, fingers are crossed its good). Also, as a last aside, the cherry blossom tree timey-wimey moment didn't need to happen. To clarify, I mean the seed being planted in the past from the present, the Makoto bit was great. These kinds of story elements often come across as cop outs, where a writer can try to make a story seem smarter by having the setup be one where characters have different recollections of time. I personally can't stand that stuff, but that's not to say it can't be done right and even well, I just lean more towards this being cheap on Hoyoverse's part. I want to say that I love your videos and mean no disrespect with this comment. I just wanted to share how I felt about the points. Again, I love Genshin's story, I found Inazuma to be on the weaker end for me, but ignoring contrast, it was still pretty good.

YES finally I found someone who can truly understand Ei. Like I do I'm crying.

Ei is definitely a good character and arguably the most developed in the genshin cast, there's no denying that. However, there's also no denying that the second half of the main Inazuma storyline was rushed with WAY too many things happening off screen. That and the resistance just basically became useless until they stormed Tenshukaku (though I still don't know how they planned to defeat a literal God), despite such a great introduction. My one problem with Ei is though she's learned the eternity she was chasing didn't exist and was impossible, we have yet to see any real remorse towards the (by her own words now) wrongful death and destruction she's caused. It's like Hoyoverse just completely skipped over that.

this video deserves way more likes and views

Bless you for this video! Ei has for real one of the best developments in-game but this game being one where parts of the story come out over time and not all at once makes people jump to conclusions and voice their dissatisfaction over something, which was never meant to be completed yet, for not being complete. And I just want to add that Ei is right now the only Archon who didn't dodge a single question traveler asked her because unlike the other two and her sister she never really had any ties to celestia. There's nothing holding her back and that was really such a nice change for once imo and also showed that just like traveler Ei was someone who got dragged into something she didn't understand

I feel like many people who criticized how rushed the resolution was in the Archon quest, in particular to how quickly the VHD was abolished, don't understand Ei's personality at all. She fights through honour. That's how she's always done things. That's why she "gave up" so easily, because she was honouring her word. Likewise when she agreed to go out into the city with the traveler. She was honouring her word in losing to the traveler, to find a new way for Inazuma to move forward. She has a code of Bushido, and one of the eight virtues of Bushido is honour. Bushido was a thing that existed ever since the first shogunate in real-life japan, so this is definitely intentional. And with Ei's quest being a date quest? Yeah, then so was Venti's because their formats were LITERALLY the same. First half: Walking around their nation chatting with the traveler Second half: More epic stuff (Kujou Kamaji with Ei's, and Stanley with Venti's). It infuriates me to no end that the people complaining about Ei's quest being a date, and use this as the only basis to say that it's worse than the other Archons' quest, completely forget that Venti's was, by their logic, also 'just a date".

i think all the problems people have with her stem specifically from how rushed the archon quest felt. its just there's too little interaction with any of the big players, and when things get resolved, it all happens instantly. me and most people i know didn't feel at all hyped or anything during the big cut scenes and scenes toward the end, we just felt confused like it was rushed or wasn't earned. and most of THAT stems from how genshin focuses on a single characters perspective, which is sorta suppose to be OUR perspective, yet at the same time its a very character and world focused story. yet it still feels rushed just from a single perspective. there's just not enough time spent on others, fleshing out different factions and events, or giving a good idea of how things are in the world. a good example is the resistance, and even teppi. the resistance has like one cut scene where they fight and that's all we really see from them. we get told a lot of stuff but don't get shown much of anything. genshin really doesn't do show don't tell very often. which brings me to another big complaint especially with more recent stuff since inazuma, is the fact that every story event since the release of inazuma part 2, has had a moment where a character does a MASSIVE info dump of heavy plot related info, and that's how we progress story and world knowledge. its super lazy writing and makes an already rushed story feel even more so. scaramoushe: oh you wanna hear me just admit to everything randomly for no reason? sure here's our evil plan to overthrow inazuma, also let me confirm stuff about our plan you didn't know which will also help you resolve everything. miko: oh did you know? realm of consciousness + puppet + inazuma power struggles + here's all the issues and here's a step by step plan on how to solve them and all the answers. enjou: oh did you know, abyss, dragon lords, celestia sus, paimon sus, before sun and moon, anyway gotta go bye. dain: oh truth about freaking 12 different main plot points in like literally one scene, everything from abyss, the gods, hillichurls, info about the world the traveler... couldn't even be more spread out over the quest had to just be like one info dump scene... like hell... genshin is rushed period. that's where the issues are.

The fact that Ei fought her puppet for hundreds of years to give her people what they want is the ultimate growth proof.

You know what would of been a nice touch: After you complete her 2nd story quest in the character menu it will say Raiden Ei instead of Raiden Shogun.

the amount of people who do everything in their power to hate Ei bc they didn't understand her story/lore is so freaking annoying. I'm one who wished Ei was kept a bit more morally evil and dark, but at least genshin still explains that Ei isn't this dark and horrible person underneath everything

The first quest actually make sense. It shows her true self in which will let us know the real her which os different from the puppet. Hence, the archon is not as ruthless as the puppet. After anlong time secluding herself in the Plane, the first quest is refreshing for her: to learn the changes of Inazuma and it's people, and also a move for us to learn about her personality, characteristics and thoughts. If the first quest illustrates her making a move to about the current problems, it will not make sense, because the reports given to her were only little and not in full detail, besides appearing as ei will overwork her, just like the last quest where she barely can walk as we investigate the leylines. The first quest let us know her and let her know us, which makes both parties learn to trust and make friends.

The comparison with "moving away from your hometown and come back" was spot on. I moved from my hometown after living there for almost 30 years, and every time I visit it, I realize how (1) it was always gradually changing, it's simply that I was unaware of it because I was immersed that and (2) those small changes look like one big chunk of change when you go visit after a prolonged absence.

I still think the first part of the archon quest was badly written. There are plot holes in it, the Fatui part feels forced, and it was ultimately resolved with the same, stupid power of friendship trope that seems to plague this game. It could have been a wonderful quest about the folly of war, how both sides have blood on their hands, and how trauma affects people. But we got a stilted, stunted, badly written mess.

When I think of her I think she’s opposite to venti who’s open to multiple ideals and moving like the wind while she stood to her one single ideal without seeing other options or views and held on to it like one lighting strike. :P

Probably because I started playing later, in patch 2.4, I noticed the writting of Inazuma as a whole was very well done. I understood most things, empathyzed with most characters, and also noticed the writting got way better than the first stories. Inazuma´s story might have flaws like everything in life, but I think it is also because they were trying to make the story a bit more complex, and introduce new things too. Compared to the Prologue quests which was just saving a sad dragon, and Chapter 1 which was just helping Zhongli doing a funeral for himself (which btw... felt way more like a date than Ei´s first quest), the Chapter 2 story is way more complex. Now that we are in Chapter 3 we can see that the stories are getting even more complex and better written, which is amazing. And btw, I love Ei, started playing the game for her and Amber.

People judges things in such a black and white way, it makes me sad. Amazing video btw, great work

This is the best Genshin video I've seen! I couldn't agree more, and I've been consistently confused by the community's reaction to Ei and the Inazuma storyline in general. Ei is my favorite character in the game, and she easily has had the most well developed character arc thus far. Thanks for this video! I hope it changes some minds! 😁

this is well said, the many misconceptions kinda needs to put behind and see that ei really has a character development which is why i like her story the most Ei never killed tomo as ei was in the plane of euthymia so she was unaware the puppet had ever executed tomo after he lost the battle with kujou sara. in addition to this - about the rushed misconception (i agree with teyvat historia) many people say its rush and complain that the story was rushed because "we only got one war scene" So let me make this clear, The traveler did not arrive to inazuma at the beginning of the war. We came in the middle of the fight where it was in complete turmoil, Our goal was simply to talk to Ei but to do so we had to stop the war that had been going on for a year. We don't need constant "war" scenes to justify inazuma being in war. Making more war scenes only wastes our time and doesn't really add up to the plot at all nor give the traveler their goal in talking to the electro archon. It's like they have to solve the human part of ideals rather then solving it from the exact source. Nor should the complaints be based on ei. Ei was deceived and worse yet the fatui were influencing said war. in the irotori festival Kokomi and yae made known that watatsumi and inazuma are still in peace negotiations which means it clarifies enough that the war has ended because there is nothing else for them to fight each other a battle between two groups are each group fighting for what they believe in. But because the traveler got the electro archon to Abolish the vision hunt decree there was no need to keep fighting. Like i will say again **u don't need multiple war scenes to justify it was happening it'll only waste our time to get to the electro archon** Edit: tbh most people who complain act like they know how to make a story .-. make a script and see how that'll work out for ya

I just don’t understand why some people really hate Ei,if every character all perfect and archon all perfect,and that’s interesting?

Great video can’t wait to see more of these!

It’s always people who complained about wanting to skip dialogue that are the ones who completely misunderstand the story

Most genshin players pretend to pay attention to the story but in reality they cannot even read between the lines of the conversations between the characters. Thus resulting hating on Ei solely based on their own prejudices on her actions and her puppet. They cant even comprehend the reality within teyvat is different from our own reality. Reality implicates we hate on dictators and they mostly hate on Ei because she became a somewhat dictator. They even forget the fact the crimes that sangonomiya did in the past towards inazuma as a whole and to Ei personally. The rushed part for me was the first arc of the archon quest only. The resistance felt anything but a resistance, when they make you a captain only to freaking kill a few enemies at sangonomiya then throwing you immediately to the final boss fight all alone. If that was not rushed i don't know what is.

It would be nice if we have La Signora of this as well, as she's the literal meaning of being misunderstood, as most just ignorantly hates the character just for kicking Venti and etc without knowing why was the case, also honestly she should've been first before her since Ei's is mostly being saved and just about Eternity in general but that just me so yeah...

Late comment but I don't remember people calling it a date quest literally meant it. It just seemed like a quest from the character hangout rather than one fitting for an archon quest.

Your final reason about Ei was the BIG reason why Ei became my favorite archon. Compared to Zhongi and Venti, Ei already dealt with her Gnosis problem so many years ago and to top it off, she cut her ties with Celestia, so really the Gnosis is useless to her anyway. Plus, her development was WAY more handled then Venti and Zhongi's as while they already had their development in the past and are the same, Ei meanwhile has so much more room to grow and change, making her story quests as well as the Inazuma arc the most concentrated of the game so far as well as being my personal favorite arc. Don't get me wrong I love the 2 gods that we got and their voice actors from both languages are very very solid, but Ei just pushes the growth that I wanted from the archons and in the end it was nice to finally see that. Nice job on the video!

For a lot of people, myself included, the first act of her story quest was unfulfilling, and still seemed like a "date quest," because of it's similarity in structure with many of the story quests of female characters. I liked the latter part of it, but the former felt like a compromise for fan-service and lore. Maybe it's just the differences between people but the points that you gave in the video didn't get to me. The story (or maybe delivery) wasn't giving.

Oh dear God thank you for making this because I was getting sick of people slandering Ei's character and arc. I think people who don't like any story quests related to Ei is because they wanted her to be a hardcore, irredeemable villain and when they realised that it was not going to be that they began nitpicking everything unfairly.

Personally, aside from the common critiques of the quests being rushed or confusing (which I do still partially believe), one of my biggest criticisms comes from a different place than most, and perhaps a slightly petty place: that being, "lightning" and "eternity" don't match. "Wind" and "freedom" go hand in hand, and "stone" and "stability" do as well. Before Inazuma was released, I thought that the dichotomy of lighting and eternity would be dealt with, since lightning is obviously by far the most fleeting of elements in Genshin. Eternity would've suited geo or hydro infinitely more than electro imo. I firmly believe Inazuma should've been the land of transience, since the lack of any connection between the theme and element makes Inazuma as a whole feel disjointed to me. The themes don't strike you as electric (pun intended) at all, except for maybe the swift and sharp ways the shogun and shogunate carry out their duty. As a side note, while I see where you're coming from, the idea that most players not being able to understand Ei's story or the Inazuma story as a whole is due to greatly convincing execution of the resistances side is honestly just wrong. If a story can't properly show you the whole situation and just leaves you confused or upset, it didn't do a good job telling the story. It's not the readers' job to dissect a plot until they find the true goal. It's the story's job to wrap everything up well and clearly. While I tend to be of the opinion that many fans' media literacy could be greatly improved, it's not their fault this time. The story failed to tell its story.

The more vocal part of the community are "internet kids", the ones who can't possibly understand or doesn't try to understand the motives and reasoning of characters and the story, and judge things at face value, and that's why we see so many complains about so many things, specially when it comes to the story aspect of the game. A lot of Genshin Characters are misunderstood a lot because some of the kids can't differentiate between memes and facts and again, judges things too quickly. Well that was to be expected from a community as big as Genshin. Let's just hope their screamings won't affect the story and the workers behind those. There are those who understands the story though, and there also those who throws some good critiques regarding it. It's just that they does not scream on the internet so much, so we don't come across them every five minutes or so xD

A date with Raiden...? Idk about yall but it felt like showing modern world to boomer grandparents