Love him or hate him, Childe has the potential to be Genshin Affect’s predominant character. Nicely, on the very least he has large predominant character power. Ever since he first appeared in model 1.1, Childe (in any other case generally known as Tartaglia or Ajax) has popped up a number of instances, showing throughout a number of nations through archon quests, story quests, occasions, and extra. His constant appearances throughout Teyvat even led to the group giving him the nickname of Mr Worldwide as soon as upon a time.
Our candy Childe has been via lots, each earlier than and throughout the occasions of the sport, and has fairly the repute. On the official web site, Hoyoverse describes him as a “crafty Snezhnayan whose unpredictable character retains folks guessing at each transfer”, and that “behind that harmless, childlike exterior lies a finely honed instrument of warfare.”
He’s lived via hell, earned the title of the youngest Fatui Harbinger (and one of the crucial highly effective folks in Snezhnaya), raised an historic beast of the ocean, befriended the geo archon, escaped Teyvat’s most safe jail, fought a large narwhal, and loads of different shenanigans. And by some means he continues to do all of it with a smile and an actual zest for all times, whereas nonetheless managing to be one of the best large brother on the earth (although our sources could also be biased on that one).
Certain, he could also be a bloodthirsty battle addict who can swap from heat and pleasant to a ruthless killer quicker than you may say “candy madame!”, however all one of the best anime protagonists are a little bit unhinged and traumatized, proper?
With an intensive backstory, heaps of character improvement, unimaginable powers, a captivating character, and a deep love and loyalty for these closest to him, he has much more to supply than most gamers assume. And, in my view, his constant presence throughout Teyvat and spectacular feats all through make him the true predominant character of Genshin Affect.
Okay, perhaps that’s a bit hyperbolic. Naturally, I do know that he’s not the true protagonist of Genshin… however in a method, I want he was. Whereas I’ve a tender spot for Lumine and Aether and recognize their extra toned-down personalities and motivations, Childe simply steals the present each time he’s onscreen (and he’s not even my favourite Genshin Affect character).
He’s so vibrant and charming, and the little glimpses we see of him caring for and sending presents to his siblings present there’s extra to him than meets the attention. Plus, he has sufficient lore to go toe to toe with a few of the most iconic anime characters of all time, and I don’t assume he’s going away any time quickly. So let’s take a quick tour via the world of the Eleventh Fatui Harbinger, lets?
From his character tales, we all know that Ajax grew up within the small seaside village of Morespok in Snezhnaya. He wasn’t born with these distinctive battle abilities. In truth, he was really fairly a timid youngster, however he beloved going ice fishing along with his father and listening to his endless tales of journey. These tales enchanted Ajax, and have become a future that he secretly envisioned for himself.
It wouldn’t be lengthy earlier than these goals grew to become a actuality – although maybe not in the way in which he’d hoped. On the age of 14, Ajax fled his monotonous life in quest of journey, armed solely with a shortsword and a bag of bread. Pursued by wolves and bears, he misplaced his footing and fell right into a bottomless crack within the earth’s floor, tumbling down into the Abyss.
Now, we all know that abyssal monsters aren’t the nicest of beings – we’ve fought loads of them throughout our time in Teyvat – however the sights that Ajax noticed on this historic world have been past creativeness. Fortunately, he ran into Skirk, who sensed the “burning ambition in his coronary heart” and took him below her wing. For 3 months, she taught him methods to combat and survive within the Abyss, whereas additionally nurturing his innate capability to fire up infinite havoc.
When he crawled out of the Abyss and his household discovered him within the forest, solely three days on the floor had handed, however Ajax had modified endlessly. Now, as an alternative of frightened and hesitant, he was frivolous and assured, continually looking for out battles and wreaking havoc within the small seaside village. After an enormous brawl with some near-fatal misses, his father noticed no different possibility however handy Ajax over for conscription into the Fatui, hoping that the strict army coaching might hone his son’s mood. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t – however Ajax thrived on this new surroundings.
Pulcinella quickly acknowledged Ajax’s potential and inducted him into the Fatui, ordering him to start out from the underside and take up the obligation of serving the Tsaritsa. He thrived right here, too, slaying many mighty beasts, and was quickly chosen to grow to be the youngest of the Fatui Harbingers, donning the mantle of “Childe” Tartaglia. Nevertheless, Childe nonetheless sees this mighty feat as only one step in his journey to beat the world.
This backstory alone makes Childe an ideal protagonist in my view. I’d completely devour a manga, anime, or standalone sport based mostly on the above occasions. His evolution from timid youngster to fierce warrior is a basic character trope with quite a lot of room for enlargement, and helps us relate to and root for him as a personality regardless of his flaws. However, after all, his journey doesn’t finish there.
Within the Liyue archon quest arc, we meet Childe as he acts as a Shneznayan diplomat visiting the nation, hiding a secret scheme to steal the Geo Archon’s gnosis. Alongside the way in which he befriends Zhongli, then later discovers that his new good friend is actually the very archon he’s been despatched right here to steal from (and probably slay) and that he was unwittingly enjoying a component in a sport put in place by that very same archon and a fellow Harbinger.
After all, he solely discovers all of this after unleashing an historic sea monster and almost destroying Liyue Harbor, although. And, regardless of a little bit of preliminary grumpiness at being performed, he quickly shrugs it off, and is seen prancing across the streets of Liyue with Zhongli like nothing occurred (although his dialog strains recommend that he’s nonetheless ready for that reconciliation battle).
As soon as once more, Childe’s POV on this chapter might be its very personal anime arc, as we comply with him making an attempt to serve his queen in his personal method, studying Liyue’s native customs, making an attempt to not blow his cowl, then battling with the sense of betrayal that he feels when the twist comes. Plus, Osial rising from the ocean was so cool that Hoyoverse did it twice (after all, the second time wasn’t Childe’s fault, so don’t blame him). And don’t even get me began on how this might make an incredible forbidden romance story – the key ZhongChi fangirl inside me won’t ever die, so don’t come for me ChiLumi followers.
Following the Liyue archon quests (and his lovely story quests the place we get to see him interacting along with his little brother Teucer), we didn’t hear from Childe in the principle story for some time. Nevertheless, that doesn’t imply he wasn’t round. Throughout the Inazuma arc, Childe was canonically in Inazuma, too – scorching on Scaramouche’s path by order of the Tsaritsa. We’ve even seen him in Inazuma throughout a number of Genshin Affect occasions, together with model 2.2’s Labyrinth Warriors occasion and three.2’s Exterior the Canvas, Contained in the Lens: Greenery Chapter. Our boy was actually residing as much as the nickname of Mr Worldwide, wasn’t he?
Nicely, not fairly, as he wasn’t round in Sumeru so far as we all know. Although, actually, do we wish poor, candy Nahida to see what’s inside his head? I believed not. I additionally don’t actually blame him for desirous to keep away from Dottore round that point. However, after all, we regularly revisit earlier nations for lore-heavy occasions, so that you by no means know whether or not he’s obtained plans for a Sumeru summer time residence sooner or later – in any case, I’m certain Teucer, Tonia, and Anthon would love to listen to tales of the Aranara from their favourite large brother.
The following cease on our speedy tour of Teyvat is Fontaine, and, after all, Childe confirmed up right here for a stable visitor spot within the archon quests, too. Pulled to the nation of hydro on account of a “unhealthy temper” and a way of “one thing stirring inside him”, he’s as much as bother as at all times, and shortly finds himself imprisoned within the legendary Fortress of Meropide, although he doesn’t stick round for lengthy.
Managing to flee what was beforehand seen as an ‘inescapable’ jail, Childe sneaks off to combat a large, abyssal narwhal within the Primordial Sea, and manages to get himself caught there for fairly a while. His efforts really delay the beast’s damaging path, stopping it from consuming the folks of Fontaine, however sadly he doesn’t fairly handle to complete the job – maybe on account of his lack of a imaginative and prescient on the time.
Fortunately, Skirk involves the rescue once more, reworking the beast into an orb and yeeting each it and Childe right into a rift. And if that isn’t the right cliffhanger to finish a season of an anime on, I don’t know what’s. Anyway, that’s the final we’ve seen of Childe for now, with Arlecchino telling us that he’s returned to Snezhnaya to get well from his accidents. You may’t actually blame him, both – in any case, he did get hurled into one other dimension by his outdated babysitter after preventing a large beast again and again with out the usage of his hydro imaginative and prescient. I’d in all probability wish to lay down for a patch or two myself.
Nevertheless, I’d like to see him rock as much as Natlan sooner or later. The fiery Nation of Warfare looks as if the right place for our equally fiery redheaded warrior, and I think about he’d have quite a lot of enjoyable browsing across the scorching springs with Mualani and chasing down saurians with Kinich.
Regardless, one factor’s for certain – Childe’s story nonetheless isn’t over but. In any case, he’s nonetheless obtained a world to dominate, and he’s certain to indicate up once we go to his homeland on the very least. In truth, I’d wager that he’d be first in line to behave as our private tour information. In his Serenitea Pot dialog, he tells us he’d like to take us to see the surroundings of his homeland and meet his siblings, and we all know he’s nonetheless very a lot devoted to his expensive Tsaritsa, so he’ll certainly be there if Snezhnaya have been to face the identical degree of strife because the earlier nations we’ve visited.
So, whereas Childe could not canonically be the true “predominant character” of Genshin, he’s clearly a writers’ favourite contemplating his in depth backstory and ever-looming presence, and along with his motherland on the horizon, I can’t wait to see what the subsequent main Genshin Affect replace holds for him.
I’m desperately hoping that our time in Snezhnaya will introduce us to the remainder of his household and additional showcase that softer aspect we’ve seen in his story quest and letters to residence – although I’m involved that Wanderer is true in his voiceline in regards to the Rooster, and that Pulcinella could use Childe’s household towards him down the road. He’s already misplaced the shine in his eyes, he critically doesn’t have to lose anybody else.
Both method, I hope that our time in Snezhnaya will give him much more room to develop whereas within the highlight. Maybe he’ll even cease being labeled as a maniacal frickboy by the broader fandom, and can lastly be seen for the amazingly well-developed (although barely deranged) antihero that he’s.
If not, I’ll simply need to hold dreaming of that Childe-focused Genshin Affect anime spin-off. Our employees author Daz steered ‘Tartaglia Tales’ because the title, and I believe that has a pleasant ring to it – at the very least it’s rather less unhinged than my suggestion of “Bbgirl Battles” however what can I say? He’s so babygirl, and I simply know he’d look manly as hell sporting a pastel pink crop prime with that written on it.
For extra of my Genshin-related ramblings, take a look at my full breakdown of the Winter Night time’s Lazzo trailer, or ponder the titillating story of Genshin Affect’s Ms Hina and her connection to Itto and Gorou. Or, if you happen to’d desire to seize a few freebies for the subsequent Genshin Affect banner, control our checklist of all the brand new Genshin Affect codes.
