Genshin Impact anime short shows how Peruere became Arlecchino

HoYoverse

HoYoverse is firing from all cylinders once again with “The Song Burning in the Embers”, a short and spectacular anime film of seven minutes length. Depicting the backstory of Arlecchino, one of the Fatui Harbingers and the next playable character in Genshin Impact, the animated short is a masterclass in visuals as well as sound – it’s no wonder the government of Shanghai asked HoYoverse to make some anime movies.

Before she became Arlecchino alias the Knave, she was known as Peruere – that’s “to burn up” or in Latin – and lived in the House of the Hearth as an orphan. From what we can tell, she even made some friends there with Clervie (voiced by Dawn Bennett, who is also Yukong in Honkai: Star Rail) being her closest companion. It seems like both of them were from Fontaine.

Peruere and Clervie as children. / HoYoverse

However, things naturally turn sour – and we got the explanation of why directly at the start: The House of the Hearth may be an orphanage, but it’s also basically a Sith training academy, which means the students are driven to betray and kill one another until one is strong enough to challenge the master of the house. 

Speaking of which: It looks like the “Mother” of the House of the Hearth, named Crucabena (voiced by Jennifer Sun Bell), was a member of the Harbingers at the time.

Clervie dies at Peruere's hands. / HoYoverse

Things going as they have to, Peruere is forced to kill Clervie with her own hands, after which she has a rage-filled duel with Crucabena. When Crucabena talks about how she should have “pruned that flower long ago” – with a Lumidouce Bell on screen – in reference to Clervie, who wore a Lumidouce Bell necklace, Peruere gains additional determination despite being under pressure from Crucabena at first.

"Mother" has the advantage at first in this spectacular fight. / HoYoverse

Having gained second wind, she’s able to kill Crucabena with a powerful Pyro beam – yeah, she killed a Fatui Harbinger as a mere teenager. It’s no wonder that Pierro, the Harbinger’s leader, not only pardoned her for the crime, but recruited her into the Harbingers’ ranks as their Number 4.

As a little treat, we see Scaramouche and La Signora in their Harbinger outfits in that scene.

Pierro, Capitano, La Signora, and Scaramouche welcome Arlecchino into their ranks. / HoYoverse

At the end it’s revealed that Arlecchino, as she’s now known (Peruere having been consumed by the fire of rage, as her name suggested all along), opted to call herself “Father” in front of the House of the Hearth’s children, not their “Mother” – to her, the “Mother” was always cruel, someone who only pretended to be caring. As the “Father”, she intends to be strict outwardly, but actually care for the orphans under her protection.

You can watch the entire animated short on YouTube.