Fictional character in Genshin Impact
Fictional character
| Furina |
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 Promotional artwork of Ousia-aligned Furina |
| First game | Genshin Impact (2023) |
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| Voiced by | |
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| Weapon | Sword |
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| Birthday | October 13 |
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Furina de Fontaine (Chinese: 芙宁娜; pinyin: Fúníngnà) 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 possesses no powers beyond the curse of immortality, which left her isolated. By the end of Furina's story, Focalors commits suicide, turning Furina into a mortal who departs to live out her own life, leaving leadership over Fontaine in the hands of Neuvillette and ending the role of the Hydro Archon. She is voiced by Amber Lee Connors in English, Qian Chen in Chinese, Kim Ha-yeon in Korean, and Inori Minase in Japanese.
Furina's design was intentionally designed to be "contradictory" as to represent the different sides of her personality, while her outfit incorporates inspirations from several different cultures. Additionally, songs performed by Furina in Genshin Impact were inspired by classic stories and musicals. Furina has been praised by critics, primarily for the strength demonstrated throughout her story. Some have considered Furina to be an example of a strong female character in terms of mental endurance, rather than physical strength. Some praise went towards her design as well for incorporating elements from several different cultures. Additionally, Furina's role as a playable character later on has led her to be considered one of the most impactful characters in the game, as well as one of the best in the game overall.
Creation and design
Furina's development dates back to the beginning of the development of Genshin Impact.[3] She was designed to be the game's Hydro Archon, with Hydro representing the game's water element and Archon being the in-game equivalent of a god. During her development, the developers were focused on making her distinct from other Archons in the game, as well as making her design demonstrate the different sides of her personality. This was accomplished via the developers incorporating "contradictory elements" into her design, such as her streaked hair and heterochromatic eyes.[3][4] Standing in at 5 ft 5 in (166 cm) tall, her design is presented as a teenage girl.[5][6] The developers created several designs for Furina's throughout her development, though eventually settled on only two designs to choose from due to development restrictions.[3][4]
Her outfit's design uses a typical morning dress as a basis to demonstrate her nobility, while her shorts demonstrate her mobility and more playful side. Other elements of her outfit were inspired by other cultures, such as 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."[3][4][7] Additionally, "La vaguelette", a song performed by Furina with lyrics entirely in French, incorporates these inspirations itself. The song's composition reflects themes demonstrated throughout Furina's story in Genshin Impact.[8] She is voiced by Amber Lee Connors in English, Inori Minase in Japanese, Qian Chen in Chinese, and Kim Ha-yeong in Korean.[1][2] "La vaguelette", however, is performed by Cécilia Cara.[8]
Appearances
First appearing in the "Overture Teaser: The Final Feast" trailer in July 2023,[9] Furina was added to Genshin Impact in an August 2023 update alongside the nation of Fontaine.[10] She serves as the game's Hydro Archon.[5][10] Her full name is Furina de Fontaine, and her birthday is October 13.[6] As she is immortal, she has been alive for at least five hundred years despite her design being depicted as a young teenager.[5] She also serves as the ruler of Fontaine, a nation centered around the ideal of Justice, being placed in that role for around five hundred years.[10][5] Despite being heavily involved with the nation's inner workings, she is mostly viewed by her people as more of a celebrity rather than a god. She often performs at Fontaine's opera house,[10][5][8] and has a flamboyant personality.[3]
As the game's story progresses, it is revealed that Furina is actually only the human part of the true Hydro Archon, Focalors. Around five hundred years ago, Focalors separated her divinity and humanity, leaving Furina with the latter and possessing no true powers of a god besides the curse of immortality, trapping her in the body of a young teenager unable to die while Focalors served as the true Hydro Archon. Furina was forcefully placed into the role of serving as Fontaine's leader and made to isolate herself and oppress her inner thoughts. If Furina were to give up the role, Fontaine would risk being condemned by a prophecy foretelling that all citizens of Fontaine would be dissolved by a great flood while Furina would sit on her throne alone. By the time the player meets Furina, she is a completely different person than she was when she became the leader of Fontaine.[5][11][12]
At the end of her story, the player and Neuvillette discover Furina to be a fraud and not a true Archon, leading to Furina being placed on trial in an effort to make her reveal her true identity, while investigations into the nation's prophecy are conducted. After the trial, Focalors appears to Neuvillette and confesses to forcing Furina to take on her role for the past five hundred years. Shortly afterwards, Focalors executes herself and transfers power over Fontaine to Neuvillette, the Hydro Dragon Sovereign, while Fontaine is flooded and Furina sits alone on her throne. With Neuvillette now possessing power over the region, he proceeds to halt the flood and forgive the people of Fontaine of their sins, preventing any deaths. With Focalors' suicide, a now mortal Furina departs to live her life as a normal human, and only six Archons remain.[5][11][13][12]
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.[8][14] 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.[15][16] Similarly to 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 that can be used both offensively and defensively in combat.[17][18][19][14]
Reception
Furina's story and character have been praised by critics, focusing on her mental strength and sacrifices made throughout.[5][11][20] Yan Ku of Yahoo! News described Furina's story and suffering to be the "heaviest, most loving thing an Archon has ever done for their nation." Ku further wrote that Furina deserved "much, much better" in regards to her ending and hoped that miHoYo would give the character a better ending to her story in the future.[5] Ku later wrote that she "wholeheartedly" believed Furina to be the best Archon in the game.[21] GamesRadar+'s Austin Wood echoed similar 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 Furina to be Fontaine's equivalent of 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.[11]
Writing on her resilience, bravery, and diligence, Game Rant's Blade Moore described Furina as a good example of a "strong female character". He wrote her mental strengths to contrast to a woman who is physically strong, which many people think of when presented with a strong female character. Moore furthermore wrote this strength to be the one that "truly matters in a person."[20] 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 the game, and one of the best characters designed by miHoYo.[22] Both Ku and Wood considered Furina's story to surpass that of Nahida's, another one of the games Archons that was previously considered by them to be the best in the game.[5][11]
ChuApp editor Xiong Dongdong praised how the development team integrated various aspects such as French culture, Christianity, and modern song and dance into her character seamlessly, while also integrating her well 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. Further praise came to her lightweight dress and cane sword, and alongside her playful movements highlighted her character well. He added that this alongside with her portrayal in promotional media helped the character appeal to non-Genshin Impact viewers, 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.[7]
Furina has also described to be one of the most influential characters in Genshin Impact's metagame, particularly in her Ousia form; Ku described Furina as "meta-defining."[23] She wrote that, as a result of her significant buffs and power, Furina made several unpopular characters previously viewed as unviable due to low statistics or niche playstyles become crucial parts of the player's party when used to take advantage of Furina's full power.[21][19] 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.[24][25][21]
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