Furina (Genshin Impact)

Furina de Fontaine is a character from Genshin Impact, a 2020 action role-playing gacha game developed by miHoYo. First introduced to Genshin Impact in an August 2023 update, she serves as the game's Hydro Archon, the in-game equivalent of a god, as well as the leader of Fontaine and a celebrity for her people. She was added as a playable character in November of that year. As the game's story progresses, it is revealed that Furina is in reality the leftover humanity of the true Hydro Archon, Focalors, and that she possesses no powers beyond the curse of immortality, which has left her isolated. By the end of Furina's story, Focalors executes herself, freeing Furina from her curse and allowing her to live her own life. She is voiced by Amber Lee Connors in English, Qian Chen in Chinese, Kim Ha-yeon in Korean, and Inori Minase in Japanese.

To showcase the character's complexity, the game developers designed Furina to embody the "contradictory" aspects of her personality. Likewise, her outfit reflects a diverse aesthetic by drawing inspiration from various cultures. Additionally, the songs Furina performs were inspired by classic tales and musicals. Critics have written positively about Furina, with particular praise being directed at her mental fortitude. She has been cited as a strong female character whose power lies in her mental prowess rather than physical ability. Her distinctive design, which melds elements from multiple cultures, has also received acclaim. As a playable character, Furina's impact on the game's dynamics has established her as one of the game's strongest units.

Creation and design
Furina's development dates back to the beginning of the development of Genshin Impact. As the game's Hydro Archon, the developers wanted to give her an aesthetic that demonstrated the different sides of her personality. To do this, the developers incorporated "contradictory elements" into her aesthetic, such as her streaked hair and heterochromatic eyes. Standing in at approximately 5 ft 5 in (166 cm) tall, Furina's form is that of a young woman. The developers created several designs for Furina throughout her development, though they eventually settled on her final look due to development restrictions.

Furina's base outfit pairs a typical morning dress (used to demonstrate her nobility) with shorts (which index her mobility and more playful side). Other elements of her outfit were inspired by French and Christian culture. Influences from French culture include the "ruff collar" design of her socks, the design on her hat that resembles the Iris flower, as well as her ribbons. Building onto these, additional elements of her outfit were inspired by classical stories and musicals, such as a fish-tail shaped decoration on her back that was inspired by "The Little Mermaid". Additionally, "La vaguelette", a song performed by Furina with lyrics entirely in French, incorporates inspirations from musicals itself. The song's composition reflects themes demonstrated throughout Furina's story in Genshin Impact. She is voiced by Amber Lee Connors in English, Inori Minase in Japanese, Qian Chen in Chinese, and Kim Ha-yeong in Korean. "La vaguelette", however, is performed by Cécilia Cara.

Appearances
First appearing in the "Overture Teaser: The Final Feast" trailer in July 2023, Furina was added to Genshin Impact in an August 2023 update alongside the nation of Fontaine. She serves as the game's Hydro Archon. Her full name is Furina de Fontaine, and her birthday is October 13. Although an immortal who has been alive for at least five hundred years, Furina's design is depicted as a young woman. She also serves as the ruler of Fontaine (a nation centered around the ideal of Justice) and has served in this role for around five hundred years. Despite being heavily involved with the nation's inner workings, she is viewed by her people less as a god and more as a celebrity. She often performs at Fontaine's opera house,  and has a flamboyant personality.

As the game's story progresses, it is revealed that Furina is actually the human part of the Hydro Archon, Focalors. Focalors was the successor of the first Hydro Archon, Egeria, who granted humanity to the oceanids of Fontaine, an act the Heavenly Principles considered sinful. For Egeria's transgression, the Heavenly Principles prophesied that Fontaine would be destroyed by means of a great flood, which would revert the people of Fontaine to their oceanid state. To prevent this prophecy and outsmart the Heavenly Principles, Focalors separated her divinity and humanity around 500 years before the events of the game, leaving Furina as her human half. Furina possesses no divine powers, but she has been cursed to remain forever young as long as Focalors is still the Hydro Archon. In the centuries since becoming Fontaine's leader, Furina has been forced to isolate herself and oppress her inner thoughts. If she were to give up the role, she would risk bringing the prophecy to pass. By the time the player meets Furina, she is a completely different person than she was when she became the leader of Fontaine.

At the end of her story, the player and Neuvillette (Fontaine's Chief Justice and the current reincarnation of the Hydro Dragon Sovereign) discover Furina to be a fraud and not a true Archon, leading to Furina being placed on trial to force her to reveal her true identity. The trial ends with Furina being declared guilty, whereupon Focalors appears to Neuvillette. The true Archon admits that she forced Furina to masquerade as Fontaine's Archon for the last five centuries: With Furina pretending to be the Archon, Focalors was then free to secretly accumulate enough divine energy to subvert the prophecy of the Heavenly Principles and return her Authority to its rightful owner, Neuvillette. Just as Fontaine begins to flood, Focalors executes herself, transferring her power to Neuvillette. Neuvillette uses his regained Authority to halt the flood and forgive the people of Fontaine of their "sins"; this prevents their deaths and foils the Heavenly Principles' schemes. With Focalors' death, Furina's curse of immortality is broken and she departs to live her life as a normal human, with only six Archons remaining.

In November 2023, a trailer known as "All The World's a Stage" was released, demonstrating Furina as a playable character while making numerous references to musicals in of itself. Afterwards, Furina was added as a playable character in Genshin Impact with the 4.2 update that same month, obtainable through the game's "wish" system as a five-star character who uses swords as weapons. Unlike other characters from Fontaine, she has two different "Arkhe" modes, "Ousia" and "Pneuma", with her abilities and outfit's color scheme changing based on the mode. In her Ousia form, Furina possesses the ability to summon three companions that help attack opponents but drain the health of the other party members. In her Pneuma form, Furina will summon a single companion that heals the active party member. Both forms also include another ability to grant damage buffs to the entire party dependent on how much health is either lost or gained. This makes Furina a character who can be used both offensively and defensively in combat.

Reception
Furina's story and character have been praised by critics, with many applauding her mental strength and her sacrifice. Yan Ku of Yahoo! News wrote that Furina's suffering was the "heaviest, most loving thing an Archon has ever done for their nation." Ku further argued that Furina deserved a happier ending and expressed hope that miHoYo would provide her character with a more fulfilling conclusion in the future. Ku later wrote that she "wholeheartedly" believed Furina to be the best Archon in the game. GamesRadar+ 's Austin Wood echoed these thoughts, directly comparing Furina's character arc to the story of "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", in which a great city prospers at the cost of one child being sentenced to misery. If said child is saved, then the city would crumble. Wood wrote that Furina was Fontaine's equivalent to the nameless child "almost shockingly one-to-one." He stated that Genshin Impact "does gods better than the vast majority of RPGs", and considered Furina's story to be one of the best in video games from 2023.

Writing about her resilience, bravery, and diligence, Game Rant 's Blade Moore described Furina as a good example of a "strong female character". Moore wrote positively of the fact that, unlike many characters whose strength is derived from physical prowess, Furina's ability comes from her mental fortitude. Siliconera 's Jenni Lada echoed similar thoughts to Ku and Moore, admiring her strength and mental endurance demonstrated throughout the story. After Furina lost her role as the Hydro Archon, Lada described Furina as a character who was "full of potential". She additionally considered Furina to be the most compelling Archon in the game, and one of the best characters designed by miHoYo. Both Ku and Wood argued that Furina's story surpassed Nahida's, another one of the game's Archons whose story they considered to be among the game's best.

ChuApp editor Xiong Dongdong praised how the development team seamlessly integrated various aspects such as French culture, Christianity, and modern song and dance into her character, while also successfully integrating her into Genshin Impact's world. He highlighted several elements of her design that stood out to him, particularly how her ribbon tied her to an aristocratic image, and how French elements of her outfit, such as the "raff collar" and the iris pattern on her cuffs and hat, demonstrated the amount of research done when creating her. Xiong further praised her lightweight dress and cane sword, and complimented how the character's playful movements highlighted her personality. He added that this, alongside her portrayal in promotional media, helped the character appeal to non-Genshin Impact players, portraying her as a musical star with a cheerful and operatic temperament, and despite being designed from a specifically Chinese perspective, the additional elements of her character helped give her a worldwide appeal.

Furina has also been described as one of the most influential characters in Genshin Impact 's metagame, particularly in her Ousia form; Ku described Furina as "meta-defining". She wrote that, due to Furina's significant power, she made several characters previously viewed as unviable become crucial parts of the player's party when used to take advantage of Furina's full power. Furina has been considered one of the best characters in the game in tier lists from PCGamesN and Eurogamer, while Ku described her as the best character in the game.