| “ | Eternity is a concept intimately connected with time. When you begin to touch on eternity, the concept of time becomes murky. | „ |
| ~ Raiden Ei/Beelzebul, Radiant Sakura |
Raiden Ei, known by her Archon name Beelzebul, is a supporting playable character in Genshin Impact. She is the reigning Electro Archon of Inazuma, who operates under the body double of the Raiden Shogun puppet. Raiden Ei, along with her body double, were the antagonist of the Archon Quest Chapter II: "Omnipresence Over Mortals".
She is voiced by Juhuahua (菊花花) in Chinese dub, Miyuki Sawashiro (沢城 みゆき) in Japanese dub, Park Ji-yoon (박지윤) in Korean dub, and Anne Yatco in English Dub.
What Makes Her a Base Breaking Character?[]
What Do People Like About Her?[]
- Players enjoy her design as a continuity nod to Raiden Mei from Houkai Gakuen 2 and Honkai Impact 3rd. Her act of unsheathing the Musou Isshin from her chest also earned her the fandom nickname “Booba Sword.”
- She was overall praise for her power as a deity in and out of universe, as her Musou no Hitotachi against Orobashi is said so powerful that she ended up splitted Yashiori island into two, and therefore created Musoujin Gorge after the death of Orobashi, her Contralto of Power in the voiceovers and her frightening attempts to strike the Traveler twice (The first time saved by Thoma, the second time saved by Kazuha), as well as her killing of La Signora for losing the duel before the throne. At one point she was one of the most used characters in the history of the Spiral Abyss, mainly for her ability to fill up characters’ Elemental Bursts in National teams with mainly Xingqiu, Xiangling, Bennett or Yelan, whilst boosting her personal damage with resolve collected from her teammates’ Bursts.
- Her Boss themes, "Bane of Ambitions", "Thunderings of the Merciless", and "The Almighty Violet Thunder" are well-received.
- Her second story quest was well-received by the audience because of Ei's character development, the voice performance of Raiden Ei's emotional moment (Particularly Anne Yatco, the English VA of Raiden Shogun, in terms of voice directing), the return of Raiden Shogun Puppet Boss fight as Magatsu Mitake Narukami no Mikoto, and finally the abolishment of Sakoku Decree after Vision Hunt Decree.
- Her inability to cook is the main source of memes, with one of those coming from her namesake, Raiden Mei, being able to cook well.
- Even though she abandoned Scaramouche because he was sentinent and thus fragile for his purpose, she couldn't bring himself to destroying him and instead to let him live with the humans, despite the actions that happened afterwards, she cares for him.
- Though her first story quest isn't well-received by the players because of an easily forgiven subplot, the only good plot about the story is Kujou Kamaji challenging Raiden Shogun to redeem his clan's sins. Her second story quest seems to improve on this by expanding on the Shogun puppet itself, and carefully explains what happens if it were to rebel on its creator.
- Raiden Ei's redemption during her Story Quests is shown not to be completely phoned-in due to the Inazuma storylines mainly being inspired by most fictional works depicting feudal-era Japan, where redemption is shown towards actions rather than empty words, meaning that even if she apologized for things she didn't do but enabled, viewers would believe that she was trying to make amends through her actions of undoing the damage left in the wake of her crimes and even feeling remorse for it.
What Do People Hate About Her?[]
- The attempt to present the Raiden Shogun as a sympathetic villain felt forced for many players:
- The real problem among the narrative is the whitewashing of her evil actions through the blaming of the Fatui and the evil commissioners Kujou Takayuki and Hiiragi Shinsuke, which, outside of a minor hint at the start of the arc, is only truly revealed in the final act, being escalated from the territorial disputes between the Watatsumi government who annexed three of the Shogunate's islands before the evil commissioners deceived Ei. Furthermore, the Fatui's plan is borderline nonsensical in Inazuma, having no clear cut goal to achieve in their many, many activities in that nation over the centuries outside of just being evil. This is in sharp contrast to the other nations, where they are far more restrained and pragmatic.
- Ei admits she is fully aware of the machinations of the Fatui and their collaborators exploiting the Shogun puppet, but just doesn't care because she doesn't view their actions as a threat to eternity until Miko had to stop her for good; many sidequests show the harsh reality of the Civil War in Inazuma, which she allowed to occur, presenting it as a barbaric atrocity, causing dozens of people to be left with nothing in themselves. An example is Inaba Kyuuzou, who signed up for the military specifically because he adored the Shogun and venerated her, but couldn't keep fighting knowing that he would likely have once been friends with those on the opposing side, and thus fled and instead fought pirates. He would eventually commit suicide, leaving behind his wife and two children. He died having always believed in the Shogun and the Vision Hunt Decree.
- Her decision to abandon Scaramouche when she learned he was sentient received some player criticism, despite believing it to be a form of allowing him freedom. Though this led to such a great deal of loss that Scaramouche became embittered by his own will, eventually choosing to be a sadistic misanthrope believing that human life is too fragile, Raiden Ei was also made aware of this, but negligently let him to roam free and sow chaos, because she did not wish to influence him and risk taking away his freedom. By the time of the Sumeru Archon Quest, his mental state had deteriorated to the point where he tried to commit suicide over the grief of his previous actions.
- Her dimwitted personality was also widely panned by players following the Archon Quests, following her initial defeat, she only abolishes the Vision Hunt Decree, and keeps the Sakoku Decree, which is the one actively affecting the general citizens of Inazuma, ongoing. This leads to conflict in her first Story Quest, as the storm used to prevent people entering or leaving Inazuma is beginning to go out of control due to her mental state, and it only took Raiden Makoto to convince her to end the Sakoku Decree
- The dating sim like subplots (despite intentionally written for the context of Inazuma's story quests being inspired by Japanese digital media) in Reflections of Mortality were criticized, as it still takes place during the Sakoku Decree lockdown, and her having been partially responsible for a pointless civil war. Notably, the civilians seem less offput due to the Raiden Shogun having made all their lives harder for seemingly no reason other than due to the Fatui’s manipulations, but simply because she is someone of high status and anything they do may reflect badly on their business. While the final segment is generally considered a highlight, the rest of the quest is criticized for seemingly trying to sweep her crimes under the rug.
- In general, many feel her characterization shifting more towards being a childish shut-in with a taste for desserts is an attempt to cover up the fact she conspired with a pair of dictators who caused her people to suffer horribly solely due to them exploiting a weakness in the puppet’s programming.
Trivia[]
- All Raiden Shogun voice actresses, barring the English dub and Korean dub, voices any incarnations of Raiden Mei from Chinese and Japanese dubs, to Acheron/Raiden B. Mei, in Honkai Star Rail, though Raiden Ei's Korean VA, reprised as Acheron in the following game.
- Raiden Shogun and Arlecchino were Genshin Characters who canonically defeats The Traveler.
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 Otto Apocalypse | Elysia | Ai-chan
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Sumeru Fontaine Natlan The Fatui | ||
 Genius Society Interastral Peace Corporation
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