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In this article:
- Despite his normal appearance, Scaramouche isn’t human but a type of advanced puppet created by Ei, the Electro Archon.
- We first meet Scaramouche during the Unreconciled Stars event of version 1.1 where he drops a major lore bomb on the Traveler.
- We still don’t know when Scaramouche will be released, but given that there haven’t been any solid leaks about his kit and appearance from a beta test, it will likely be a good few months before we see Scaramouche’s banner.
There’s no denying that Scaramouche is one of the most anticipated characters in Genshin Impact ever since his appearance during the Unreconciled Stars event back in version 1.1. He made another appearance in the Inazuma quest when he showed up to take Ei’s gnosis. His latest appearance as of version 3.1 was in Chapter II of the Sumeru Archon quest.
Though his motivations are unclear, what’s clear is that he’s going to be a playable character. Leaks from the game have already revealed that a Scaramouche playable character and enemy are in the works, meaning that you can use Scaramouche to fight Scaramouche.
But let’s backtrack for a bit and go over everything we know about Scaramouche, beginning from his lore to when he’ll be released. We’ll also go over the leaks that have been released over the past few months as well as speculation on Scaramouche’s kit.
What Exactly Is Scaramouche?: Kunikuzushi’s Lore Explained
Despite his normal appearance, Scaramouche isn’t human but a type of advanced puppet created by Ei, the Electro Archon.
Raiden Shogun’s Character Story 2 reveals that she was troubled by her own mortality or, to be more accurate, the corrosion that her mind could be subjected to over time. In her view, this was the opposite of the Eternity that she embodied as the Electro Archon. To preserve her consciousness, she decided to retreat from the world altogether by transferring her consciousness to a sword that was stored within her body.
Before she could perfect the methods for creating the Raiden Shogun puppet, she had to create a prototype to test whether a puppet that resembled ‘true life’ could be made. That prototype was Scaramouche.
“He came about as a byproduct of creating the Shogun. Perhaps it’s because I feel like I owe him something, but I do not wish to assert control over him.”
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Ei may have considered using Scaramouche as her vessel or scrapping him for her final puppet. But then, she saw Scaramouche weeping and realized he was too emotionally soft to handle the stress of being her puppet. Because of this, she took pity on him and sealed away the powers she gave him before setting him free.
Scaramouche has a different view of the event. There’s a cutscene in the Sumeru Archon quest that lets us see into Scaramouche’s memories of the time before he joined the Fatui. In it, he explains that he felt betrayed by Ei who he saw as his mother and creator. He thinks Ei saw him as useless and too weak to be worth her time which is why she “threw him away”.
After being “abandoned” by Ei, Scaramouche wandered throughout Inazuma. It’s implied that he settled at Shakkei Pavillion where he sank into a depressive state because he was not kept by Ei as her vessel. He eventually left Shakkei Pavillion and met Katsuragi, a warrior who served Mikoshi Nagamasa, a samurai lord.
Katsuragi’s relationship with Scaramouche and Mikoshi later became the reason for his death. It’s not clear what happened, but Katsuragi broke the law and his code of honor to protect Scaramouche. This enraged Mikoshi so he killed Katsuragi. Scaramouche describes this as his second betrayal.
The third one came in the death of his friend. Following Katsuragi’s death, he met a young boy who he thought was very similar to him, implying that the boy was an orphan. One day, Scaramouche came home to the hut they lived in only to find that the boy had died. The boy’s death meant that he had broken a promise he made to Scaramouche. It’s likely that the promise involved either doing something for Scaramouche or staying with him forever.
This was the final straw for Scaramouche who thought of this as his third betrayal. He became bitter and angry with the world so he decided to remove all of his ‘human emotions’. What’s likelier is that he tries to ignore his gentle nature to harden himself against the world.
It’s at this point that he gives himself his first name “Kunikuzushi”. Kunikuzushi translates to “country destroyer” (yeah, subtle) and is a stock character in kabuki theatre, similar to how Scaramouche (a.k.a The Balladeer) is a common character in the commedia dell’arte.
At some point after this, he decides to go after the Raiden Gokaden, a group of families who mastered the art of sword making. This led to the decline of the Kaedehara clan.
Speaking of commedia dell’arte, he gets his Scaramouche name once he joins the Fatui. Unlike characters such as La Signora, who have a deep personal reason for joining the Tsaritsa and becoming a Fatui Harbinger, Scaramouche just thought the Fatui were interesting.
The Fatui helped him unlock the powers that Ei had locked away, giving him the power to climb their ranks and become the Sixth Fatui Harbinger.
The Balladeer’s Appearances In Genshin Impact
We first meet Scaramouche during the Unreconciled Stars event of version 1.1. He tries to kill the player after he discovers that the Traveler is the Honorary Knight who’s been helping the Knights of Favonius fight against the Fatui. He later reveals that the sky is not real and that Teyvat’s stars are actually artificial.
“The stars, the sky… It’s all a gigantic hoax. A lie”
This ties into lore tidbits about Teyvat actually being upside down meaning that the sky we see is actually inside the planet. This is supported by descriptions we have of the Abyss. The Spiral Abyss is described in the game as an “inverse tower” where you have to “descend” to “go up”.
Mona saves us from Scaramouche’s attack. The next time we meet him is in Inazuma’s Archon Quest. Investigating the delusion that killed Teppei leads the Traveler to a building where Scaramouche awaits them. A purple gas comes out from the vents and knocks the Traveller out. Yae Miko arrives to save the Traveler but has to trade Ei’s gnosis, which she left in Miko’s care before retreating to the Plane of Euthymia, for the Traveler’s life.
The third time and most recent time (as of October 2022 during the 3.1 patch) that Scaramouche appears in the game is during the Sumeru Archon quest where he drops his entire backstory in the form of a cutscene.
If you’re not done with the Sumeru Archon quest this is the last chance you have to click away because there are spoilers ahead.
Scaramouche did not bring the gnosis back to the Tsaritsa, instead taking it for himself. Childe was sent to hunt him down and retrieve the gnosis, but it later turns out that Dottore has been conspiring with Scaramouche and the Sumeru Akademiya sages to turn Scaramouche into the next God of Wisdom. This is because the sages see Lesser Lord Kusanali (Nahida) as unworthy of replacing Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, the previous Dendro Archon.
For now, we don’t know whether Scaramouche will succeed or be thwarted by the Traveler, let alone how it will affect Sumeru and Nahida.
When Will Scaramouche Be Released?
We still don’t know when Scaramouche will be released, but given that there haven’t been any solid leaks about his kit and appearance from a beta test, it will likely be a good few months before we see Scaramouche’s banner.
Sorry, Scara wanters.
What Leaks Do We Have About Scaramouche So Far?
Scaramouche is expected to be a DPS character and since he’s previously been revealed as an Anemo user (no word yet on whether he has a Vision), this means he’ll be the second Anemo DPS in the game after Xiao. He is also expected to use a catalyst so we might be seeing a character whose combat mechanics revolve around the Swirl reaction.
Leakers describe Scaramouche’s kit as being a bit similar to Sucrose’s but there’s no word on exactly what aspect of it was replicated.
Other leaks about Scaramouche point to him becoming a weekly boss in the game. Scaramouche will be piloting a giant mecha similar to the one used by Ei in the Plane of Euthymia during her second phase.
There will be more leaks to come when the 3.3 beta rolls around so stay tuned!
