Nahida's Character Teaser is Genshin Impact's saddest and most disturbing yet

SPOILER WARNING: This story includes spoilers for Acts I and III of Genshin Impact's Sumeru Archon Quest. If you haven't finished those quests yet, read on at your own discretion.

Genshin Impact’s Character Teasers are a way for us to sneak a peek into the daily life, past, or thought processes of upcoming playable characters.

Some are fun and lighthearted, like Yae Miko’s, others are more solemn, like Shenhe’s, and there are those that can be just downright tragic, like Raiden Ei’s.

The recently released character teaser for Nahida, also known as the Dendro Archon Lesser Lord Kusanali, goes up a different level of tragic — it’s so bleak that it just makes your blood boil at the suffering she has to go through because of the Sages of the Sumeru Akademiya.

In the teaser, Nahida recalls a dream where she was found by the Knight of Flowers on her birthday, who eagerly said “Oh Archon, we finally found you!”

He reaches out a hand to her and brings her to the Sabzeruz festival, where she is celebrated by the people, and it ends with her leaving in a flower-carriage.

She then repeats her dialogue, mimicking what happens to the Traveler in the Sabzeruz Festival Samsara in Act I of the Sumeru Archon Quest.

But in this dream, she is found by the Traveler who acts like the Knight of Flowers, and is surrounded by other Sumeru characters like Dehya, Al Haitham, Tighnari, Cyno, and Nilou, as well as Paimon.

They tell her “Oh Archon, we finally found you!” as they reach out to her.

Nahida can be seen smiling happier than in her first dream, enjoying the Sabzeruz Festival with her newfound friends. Once again the dream ends when she leaves on her flower-carriage.

The dream repeats a third time. The ambience is noticeably darker now, and you can hear the tiredness in Nahida’s voice as she yet again narrates her dream. There was no jubilant celebration however, as the scene is red, dark, and incredibly ominous.

This version of the dream seems to depict the moment that Nahida was found by the Sages, who lamented the fact that her existence meant the demise of the beloved Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.

She is seen being dragged by the arm as sad faces surround her, and she is tossed into the Sanctuary of Surasthana to be locked away.

Eagle-eyed fans also noticed subtitles written in Sumeru script during this segment and have translated it to:

"The flower carriage rocked. Nahida opened her eyes."

"Said she, just dreamed a dream."

"Dreamed of the day she was born."

"Dreamed of the day that the sages found her."

"Alas, but where had Lord Rukkhadevata gone to? We're all eager to meet her once again."

"Realizing the Lord had perished, around her they gathered, to tears they were dashed"

"In the end, Nahida was locked in by the devout. In the end, to no one could Nahida reach out."

And for the fourth and last time, Nahida repeats her dialogue, but she doesn’t finish.

This time, there is an undeniable hint of resignation and sorrow in her voice as she speaks. She opens her eyes and reveals that she is still trapped in the Sanctuary of Surasthana, as we discovered in Chapter II of the Sumeru Archon Quest.

“When I woke up, I was in a flower carriage. It was… it was my birthday. Happy birthday… Nahida.”

It doesn’t help me or the tons of fans all over the world to know that Nahida's Character Teaser was released on 27 October, which is canonically her birthday.

She is celebrating her birthday in a really disturbing Samsara.

Watching this teaser actually made me teary eyed from pure rage.

I think it’s safe to say that players are getting ready to exact revenge on the evil Akademiya Scholars, Il Dottore, and Scaramouche for torturing and isolating this poor girl.

We can only hope that on her next birthday, Nahida will finally celebrate with the people who love her, in a grand and beautiful Sabzeruz festival without having to suffer from the greed of the people who locked her away.

Happy birthday Nahida.

Nahida will make her debut in Genshin Impact version 3.2, which will be released on 2 November. The upcoming version also adds a new 4-star characters in Layla, gives Scaramouche his in-game debut as a new weekly boss, and more.

Genshin Impact versions 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2 will have shortened run times of five weeks instead of the usual six weeks, likely to catch up to the game's original release schedule after the release of version 2.7 was delayed back in April.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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