Paimon (Genshin Impact)

Paimon is a character from Genshin Impact, a 2020 action role-playing gacha game developed by miHoYo. She serves as the game's mascot, the player's guide, and icon for the game and official website. She has a petite body and the appearance of a flying fairy that speaks dialogue on the player's behalf and teaches them how to play the game. In all instances, the character is voiced by Corina Boettger in English, Duoduo Poi in Chinese, Aoi Koga in Japanese, and Kim Ga-ryung in Korean.

Paimon has been met with mixed responses from critics and fans, with some liking her dialogue when insulting other characters, but with others criticizing her role as the player's guide. A recurring joke throughout Genshin Impact describes Paimon as "emergency food", with the joke becoming an internet meme amongst the community. Others have questioned the exact nature of her character, comparing her to characters seen in previous miHoYo works.

Design and voice
Paimon's design is akin to a fairy, appearing as a young child that flies around. Her color scheme is primarily white and gold, with her outfit having an inverted triquetra symbol on her chest. She has a singular sock on one of her legs, and has sleeves with similar designs to statues in Genshin Impact that represent an Archon, the game's equivalent of a god. She also has a hairclip and a cape with a galaxy pattern. The triquetra is a common image throughout Genshin Impact's world, however hers is the only instance of it facing downward. The real-world etymology of her name derives from the Ars Goetia, where Paimon is established as one of the kings of hell.

She is voiced by Corina Boettger in English, Aoi Koga in Japanese, Duoduo Poi in Chinese, and Kim Ga-ryung in Korean. In English, Paimon primarily refers to herself in third-person, and her voice is high-pitched. Her dialogue in Genshin Impact includes insulting and making fun of other characters in the game, often giving them rude nicknames when they annoy her.

Appearances
Paimon appears in Genshin Impact, serving as the game's mascot and guide. She first appears within the first few minutes of the game, after being rescued from drowning by the player. Afterwards, she teaches the player how to play the game. She additionally serves as the player's voice, speaking in their stead, while the player seldom speaks lines themselves. Her design, personality, and movements were tailored to make it clear to players that she is the player's guide. A running gag in the game is that the character is often referred to as "emergency food", something that annoys her significantly. This first occurs in the beginning of the game, where the player has the option to refer to her as such.

Outside of Genshin Impact, the character has been used as the face of the game on social media, with the developers using her as a "spokesperson" and answering questions in-character during the game's release. Additionally, emails from miHoYo for game-related promotions as well as in-game correspondence are signed "P.A.I.M.O.N." She has additionally been used as the face for online games on miHoYo's websites related to the title, such as Paimon's Starlight Expedition and Mesmerizing Dream at Sea.

Promotion and reception
As the game's mascot, Paimon has been featured extensively in the game's promotional material, being used as the game's icon and having several figures made of her. In September 2022, around the 2nd anniversary of Genshin Impact, miHoYo hosted an event called "Giant Paimon's Global Endless Journey", where a giant inflatable of the character went on a tour across the world from Singapore to London, with her journey in London going down the River Thames. Fans who met up at the inflatable during its stops were able to win merchandise, and users of TikTok who posted videos related to the event had the opportunity to win in-game awards.

Paimon has been met with mixed opinions from critics and fans alike. PC Gamer's James Davenport heavily criticized Paimon's role as a guide. He wrote that Paimon was Genshin Impact practicing a "failed tradition" in a "post Ocarina of Time world" where players did not need to be told things they already knew. He additionally criticized Paimon's dialogue for being high-pitched and referring to herself in third-person. Sisi Jiang of Kotaku echoed similar sentiments, writing that Paimon referring to herself in third-person led to Jiang choosing to play the game's Chinese dub instead. Another editor for Kotaku, Nathan Grayson, had divisive opinions on Paimon, liking her dialogue as the game progressed and describing the character as talking "mad shit". However, he wrote Paimon to be a nuisance early in the game, describing her as an "even worse" version of Navi from Ocarina of Time. He summarized his thoughts on Paimon to be that she was "irritating as hell", but had an "acquired taste". Austin King of Screen Rant held similar beliefs as Grayson, likening Paimon to Navi but positively viewing her dialogue and sense of humor. He further wrote Paimon to be Genshin Impact 's most memorable character, "just maybe not for completely good reasons". Similarly, a writer of Play viewed her character positively, writing that after playing the game for several hours, they "can't imagine travelling with anyone else".

In a podcast from Waypoint, the staff defended Paimon's character, saying that the banter between the player and Paimon was "very fun", and that the implementation of Paimon speaking on the player character's behalf was "fairly clever and good". After it was said that someone previously asked "when do I get to kill Paimon?" when playing Genshin Impact, one of the members pointed out that Paimon shared the same name as a character from Hereditary, as well as being the name of one of the demons in The Lesser Key of Solomon. As a result, the staff jokingly stated that Paimon was actually evil, would be game's final boss, and would kill everyone. Grayson wrote that Paimon behaved in ways that "can only be described as suspicious", noting a quest in the beginning of the game where Paimon strongly desires a sword that turns out to be non-existent. Grayson additionally reported that some fans speculated on whether Paimon was the true villain of Genshin Impact. In April 2023, it was reported by GamesRadar+ that numerous fans of Honkai Star Rail, another game developed by miHoYo, found the game's protagonist and writing to be better than that of Genshin Impact due to the game lacking a character similar to Paimon.

Grayson wrote the first instance of Paimon being referred to as "emergency food" to be a "legitimately funny scene" that subverted his expectations with the game, which he expected to be more serious. This joke became popular amongst the game's community, becoming an internet meme. Grayson wrote that most fan works involving the character usually had something to do with the emergency food meme. While finding most of these memes to be funny, he wrote that some of them were "uncomfortably leery" due to Paimon's child-like appearance. Kirsten Carey of Screen Rant wrote that "emergency food" had effectively become Paimon's nickname amongst the community, and believed that the memes were a method of the community channeling their "frustrations" at the inability to mute the character. In August 2021, a series of fix figures from HOBBY Watch were released that depict Paimon in weird situations related to food, such as being rolled into pasta. The food depicted in the figures is reminiscent of the food players can cook in the game.