This Article Contains Spoilers -
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers. If you do not wish to know vital information on plot / character elements in a story, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue. That is all. |
“ | You and I have both witnessed the great loss that progress can bring. Eternity... eternity is the only way... | „ |
~ Raiden Ei to Yae Miko about her motive of seeking "eternity". |
Raiden Ei, under the Archon name of Beelzebul, and also known by her puppet, the Raiden Shogun, commonly distinguished from her true form as The Shogun, is a major antagonist and later playable character in Genshin Impact. She is the God of Eternity and the current Electro Archon. Beelzebul serves as the overall main antagonist of Chapter II of the Archon Quest, and the protagonist of both acts of her Story Quest "Umbrosa Imperatrix Chapter": "Reflections of Mortality" and "Transient Dreams".
The ruler and the Archon of the Japanese-based nation known as Inazuma, Beelzebul approved of the Vision Hunt Decree, which results in Vision users losing their Visions and resulting in their aspirations and ambitions being rendered inert. It was later revealed that the Vision Hunt Decree was perpetrated by the Fatui to instigate conflicts around Inazuma and create a black market of Delusions.
The Inazuma Shogunate is the faction that pledged loyalty towards the Electro Archon herself. The Shogunate's subfaction, Tenryou Commission were responsible of executing Beelzebul's order by obeying the Vision Hunt Decree while Beelzebul stored most of the visions that were confiscated in the statue of the Thousand-Armed Hundred-Eyed God.
She is voiced by Ju Huahua in Chinese, Anne Yatco in English, and Miyuki Sawashiro in Japanese (who also voiced Ultear Milkovich in Fairy Tail, Elletear Lou Nebulis IX in Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World, Mosquito Girl in One Punch Man, Krystalinda in Dragon Quest XI, Charlotte Pudding in One Piece, Ivy Valentine, Raiden Mei in Honkai Impact 3rd, and Slan in the Berserk franchise)
Appearance[]
Arguably one of the most beautiful figures in Genshin Impact, Raiden Ei is a tall woman with slim limbs, purple eyes, and matching bluish-purple hair twirled into a long, spiraling braid tied with a bow, alongside having an ornament consisting in a piece of gold with purple flowers in her hair. Her outfit consists of a short lilac kimono covering her torso, pelvis, and back tied with various fabrics, black garments under it going up to the palms, long, black stockings with purple trim, flowers on her left leg, and golden sandals with red straps. She also has a golden box tied with red cloth on her back, and a purple and white fan.
In her alternate design seen in cutscenes, Raiden Ei wears her hair down with bangs covering her face and right eye, with her having another ornament being of her fan with a golden tassel. Beyond that, she wears a black cloth around her neck and a much larger kimono, with it extending to nearly encase the arms and shield the legs in front while dragging alongside her on the back. She seems to wear similar (if not identical) garments covering her legs and feet, and his weapon being a katana Unlike the previous two Archons, Raiden Ei doesn't appear to use a fake Vision, instead, she holds an emblem of the Electro vision which glows when her Elemental Burst is ready.
Personality[]
Judging by the descriptions and comments that she made on Vajrada Amethyst Stones, Beelzebul can be described as a heavily implied vain person who views her own body as the noblest and most eminent in the world and it is stated in the trailer for the upcoming Inazuma content, Beelzebul viewed the lives of other people as inconsequential. Due to her Vision Hunt Decree policy which causes people to lose their dreams, aspirations, ambitions and potentially their lives, Paimon describes it the best that she rules less like an Archon and more like a tyrant. Beelzebul can also be described as an unfettered tyrant as she will stop at nothing to gain immortality with the Visions she had confiscated.
In addition, due to her perception of the Visions as divine blessings, it is commonly speculated that Beelzebul also refuses to give Electro Vision towards potential new users for a full year during her tyrannical rule while people also perceive her rule as an Eternal One despite it was revealed that Beelzebul is not one of the original Archons like Venti and Zhongli and is revealed to be younger than them. However, it is revealed that the speculation about Visions was mainly untrue as Beelzebul herself mentions that Visions aren't granted or denied by an Archon's will.
It is revealed that most of the time Beelzebul is actually meditating in her own pocket dimension, also known as the Plane of Euthymia, by storing her consciousness inside the Musou Isshin. While meditating, her physical puppet holds a cold, stern personality. When Beelzebul is actively piloting her puppet, she has a curious and sweet personality and takes a liking towards desserts, often telling the Traveller to sometimes ignore the words of her puppet. Yae Miko describes Beelzebul herself as a child, often going into a tempered side, crying and raving over desserts and light novels. This is essentially a split personality but is better described as an 'autopilot mode', as it is also shown that when Beelzebul's personality does not follow the puppet's programming as when the puppet started mistaking Beelzebul's willing change of personality as "erosion", the puppet will disobey her and even refuse to move. Beelzebul acknowledges that her puppet self as the Raiden Shogun can easily be manipulated, and after being defeated in combat directly halts the Vision Hunt Decree upon being confronted by her old friend Yae Miko.
Biography[]
Beelzebul is the status of the Electro Archon, as both were twin (Ei and Makoto) goddesses who won the Archon War. Makoto established herself as the Electro Archon and the Raiden Shogun, while Ei served as her Kagemusha. Most civilians didn't know there were two due to their twin appearances. When Makoto died during the Cataclysm five hundred years ago, Ei became the next Electro Archon and assumed her identity. She was taught by Yae Miko how to store her consciousness inside inanimate objects. Beelzebul created a puppet clone with a cold and stern personality programmed to rule Inazuma while she herself meditated in the Plane of Euthymia, storing her consciousness inside the sword that the puppet wields. Beelzebul can resume full control over the puppet whenever she pleases. Prior to the creation of the Shogun puppet, she created a prototype of the puppet named "Kunikuzushi". As the prototype was deemed successful, Beelzebul sealed his powers and let him roam around Inazuma until the Fatui found him, eventually becoming "Scaramouche".
A year ago, before the main story started, the Puppet was manipulated into implementing a decree known as Sakoku Decree that closes Inazuma from the rest of the nation located in Teyvat to the point that she had to control weathers and storms just to close her own country from the outsiders. The experience to escape or at the very least, leaving Inazuma itself were rather arduous at best as proven by one of the Inazuman defectors who now lives in Liyue, Atsuko, due to one of the Tri-Commission that works for Beelzebul, the Kanjobugyo, that took care of the border and the people who wished to leave Inazuma and Baal's ability to control storms and the weather itself that closed Inazuma. Despite the Sakoku Decree that was implemented, the Fatui from Snezhnaya themselves doesn't seem to be affected by it due to diplomatic immunity. It is revealed that the Fatui manipulated Beelzebul's puppet into implementing the Vision Hunt Decree in order to encourage the use of delusions in a scheme to bring down Inazuma.
During the Vision Hunt and Sakoku Decrees, many spirits fled into the forests. The culmination of her tyranny boils down to the fact that she implemented the Vision Hunt Decree, the decree where people's Visions that were bestowed by the Archon's above were confiscated by The Raiden Shogun and her subordinates. The decree was implemented due to the puppet viewing it as a key to pursue immortality, a threat to her realm and also a divine thing that should be on the property of the gods itself, Beelzebul's actual self was aware of this but didn't seem to care due to not knowing of the harm caused. The decree itself were executed by one of the Tri-Commission organization, The Tenryou Commission led by the Kujou clan. In addition to all of this, Beelzebul also refused to give new visions, especially the Electro ones, towards other people while also storing the visions that were confiscated by the Tri-Commission in the statue of the Thousand-Armed Hundred-Eyed God. Due to several innocent people's visions being taken with some of them leading to the loss of lives as the puppet views them as inconsequential, several people including the ones from Sangonomiya Household rebelled against The Raiden Shogun's tyranny.
In the present day, after knowing about Zhongli's seemingly faked death, Beelzebul then attempts to enact her further plans.
In her teaser, she is revealed to have lost three of her friends and her sister Makoto during the Cataclysm, which led her down into the path of darkness and a state of loneliness and depression. The loss of her loved ones eventually led to her path of upholding the ideal of Eternity.
In the 2.1 update introducing the final part of the Inazuma story, it is also revealed that the Fatui were preventing the full truth from being heard by Ei in her full consciousness in order to keep the Vision Hunt Decree going. The Traveler, infuriated by Scaramouche's plans, challenges La Signora in front of the puppet to a duel, to which La Signora accepts. After La Signora is defeated, the Raiden Shogun keeps her end and beheads the Fatui harbinger even after Signora's threats. The puppet claims that the Traveler is an enemy to eternity, but she respects their honor and tells them that they can leave the Tenshukaku alive. After leaving the building, the Traveler experiences numerous headaches as the resistance charges to the front, only to show Beelzebul suddenly appearing behind the Traveler the moment they step out of Tenshukaku and attempting to kill them. Kazuha interrupts and holds off the goddess, and despite nearly being sliced to bits he manages to overcome her strike and send her back, to which she takes the Traveler back to the plane of Euthymia to confront them again as Ei. The visions within the statue however rebel and empower the Traveler, lighting up the dark pocket dimension. Ei, oddly enough, begins to smile, her eyes not having the coldness of her puppet. After being defeated in combat, Yae Miko and the Traveler confront Ei and convince her to stop the Vision Hunt Decree when she realizes how much harm her puppet as brought and that the Fatui were trying to manipulate her. Ei is seen again in her own story quest where the Traveler introduces her to the modern customs of Inazuma, as she was not able to experience them while meditating in her puppet.
Powers and Abilities[]
“ | The voyage to Inazuma is a treacherous one. You will be plagued by a perpetual tempest the entire trip. In fact, the relentless rain and wind are also an embodiment of the Raiden Shogun's will to close the nation. | „ |
~ Kazuha about one of Baal's powers. |
- Superhuman strength: According to the stories, her vast powers has cut the serpent Orobashi into pieces, resulting in a rift that cleaved Yashiori Island into two known as the Musoujin Gorge, the concentrated Electro energy around the waters of the gorge was also a result from her finishing move and is still dangerous thousands of years later.
- Superhuman durability: She was never truly defeated until the Traveler uses the omamori given to her by Yae Miko which allows them to tap into the confiscated visions and effectively abolishing the Vision Hunt Decree, causing her to be defeated in the final duel at the Plane of Euthymia.
- Superhuman speed and reflexes: Beelzebul is superhumanly nimble, as attributed by her Electro abilities. She can swiftly dash through her enemies fast as possible, as well as blink behind them for a swift slash before her targets could even react at all. She also used her Musou no Hitotachi against the Traveler at near-unprecedented speed before Kaedehara Kazuha could deflect with his own blade.
- Master swordmanship: Beelzebul can perform unfathomable swift slashes with her Musou no Hitotachi, Beelzebul is also a master hand-to-hand combatant especially in using katana. She was also seen defeating Kujou Kamaji easily in a one-on-one duel as well the Traveler at the first confrontation.
- Time manipulation: Her Musou no Hitotachi is capable of freezing time. The slashes are immediately executed to the victim once time is unfrozen, resulting in their immediate death.
- Weather manipulation: Beelzebul can summon raging storms around the waters of Inazuma after establishing the Sakoku Decree. This took effect until defeating the Shogun and becoming her kagemusha, effectively abolishing the decree.
- Leadership: As the Electro Archon of Inazuma and the leader of the Shogunate, the Raiden Shogun has complete authority over the nation.
- Engineering skills: Beelzebul has created a puppet clone of herself known as the "Raiden Shogun" who has a cold, stern personality. This puppet possesses her abilities and has a mind of its own. She had also created a prototype of the puppet prior who would later become known as "Scaramouche."
- Immortality: Upholding the ideal of Eternity, Beelzebul has also lived around thousands of years, and while she can die, she cannot age.
Quotes[]
“ | Inazuma shines eternal! | „ |
~ Raiden Shogun |
“ | Torn to oblivion! | „ |
~ Raiden Shogun |
“ | "Waking world, you seem. Woven from the stuff of dreams. All shall fade away." | „ |
~ Raiden Shogun |
“ | There seems to be limitless uncertainty in you. To put it another way, you are the furthest thing from eternity. So I won't insist that you comprehend the meaning of my actions. What matters is that I tread the path of eternity on my people's behalf. | „ |
~ Raiden Ei to the Traveler. |
“ | The people's sacrifice has always caused me immense pain, but in dwelling on the tragedy, I overlooked their splendor... The grief blinded me to how brightly they shone in their final moments. The result being that in the centuries since their sacrifice, I have dishonored their will. You could take the view that whatever I say to them is meaningless, because they are but disembodied memories held in the Ley Lines. But even so, they are due a resolution... I owe it to them and to all the people who have placed their faith in me to date. | „ |
~ Raiden Ei |
“ | I'm here to show you my answer. We are both warriors, and the dialogue we must now have shall be conducted by the blade alone. | „ |
~ Raiden Ei preparing to face the Shogun. |
“ | I am no longer pursuing an eternity defined by stasis. In which case, there is no further need to keep the nation under lock and key. I don't doubt that many challenges lie ahead for Inazuma... | „ |
~ Raiden Ei after announcing the abolishment of the Sakoku Decree. |
“ | Many challenges still lie ahead for Inazuma, but I am prepared for them. | „ |
~ Raiden Ei |
Gallery[]
Images[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- She, the Shogun puppet, the Unknown God and Arlecchino are the only characters that defeated The Traveler in a fight.
- While Beelzebul herself has not committed any crimes, she did create the Raiden Shogun and ratified the Vision Hunt Decree, with the Raiden Shogun enforcing the decree and committing the crimes listed. Thus, she is considered an unwitting accomplice.
- Like Tartaglia, she wields two weapons. She wields a polearm, and Musou Isshin.
- Interestingly, both characters are bosses, and as well as major enemies who later became playable characters.
- She is the only playable character thus far who cannot cook at all as the game gives a special message when trying to cook with her.
- Baal is commonly used to refer to Ei and her sister, Makoto. The title was used to refer to both as a singular entity, since Ei acted as Makoto's Shadow. When Makoto died, however, Ei took on the handle Baal altogether. This title can also refer to the Raiden Shogun, the puppet created by Ei to rule Inazuma while Ei rested in her Plane of Euthymia.
- The Musou Isshin holds Ei's consciousness, as it contains the Plane of Euthymia. It resides in the physical world within the Raiden Shogun.
- Unlike the previous archons (Venti/Barbatos and Zhongli/Morax), Beelzebul as Ei is extremely wealthy due to her more direct way of ruling, but like them, she isn't good at spending Mora due to not needing to spend anything in the Plane of Euthymia.
- She is the second one-time unique boss in the game, the first being the Miasmic Tumor.
- She is also the first one-time boss to be structured similarly to a weekly boss despite not being a weekly boss.
- She is the first boss to stop the player from using elemental skills and bursts with the exception of those of the Traveler.
- She is also the only non rematchable boss to be able to be fought twice.
- She was inspired by the Herrscher of Thunder from Honkai Impact, with her name 'Raiden Ei' being taken from the Herrscher of Thunder's real name 'Raiden Mei'. Both characters are strikingly similar:
- Both characters possess electrokinesis (the ability to manipulate lightning).
- Both characters have long purple hair and purple eyes.
- Both characters are voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro in the Japanese dub and Juhuahua in the Chinese dub.
- Honkai Impact 3rd features a manga titled "The Wrath of Baal" which features Mei's first appearance as the Herrscher of Thunder.
- Raiden Mei is the 3rd Herrscher (the Herrscher of Thunder) while Beelzebul is the third among the Seven Archons to have ever appeared.
- The Baleful Shadowlord's appearance also resembles the Herrscher of Thunder.
- Her Normal attack call "Origin" is foreshadow of Raiden Mei eventually become Herrscher of Origin at the end of Honkai Impact 3rd part 1 and Houkai Gakuen 2 Reborn Era fianlly.
- Following the leak of her original 3D design, MiHoYo faced a major backlash due to her "average NPC" design and completely different from the implied appearance and outfit shown in her first teaser where she faces Kazuha's friend, which led to her design receiving another overhaul.
External Links[]
- Beelzebul on the Heroes Wiki
- Beelzebul on the Genshin Impact Wiki
[]
v t e | Villains | |
Houkai Anti-Entropy Schicksal World Serpent Sky People Quantum Shadows Imaginary Creatures Others Primordial One Seven Sovereigns Mondstadt Inazuma Sumeru Fontaine Natlan Snezhnaya Khaenri'ah The Abyss Light Realm Others
Aeons Antimatter Legion Denizens of Abundance Interastral Peace Corporation Ten Stonehearts The Swarm
Stellaron Hunters Annihilation Gangs Disciples of Sanctus Medicus Fragmentum Monsters Omen Vanguards Creed Exequy Other Characters Vision Corporation Red Fang Gang Ethereals Vanquishers |