Originally uploaded to Bilibili.tv
Yelan's a pretty easy character to write for. Her true job for the Liyue government is shrouded in mystery and filled with intrigue. She's essentially your Ethan Hunt or well.... it might surprise some people to realize that "ninja" like many things popularized by Japan also originated in China. They weren't called ninja but they were effectively used for the same purpose, the eyes and ears of the Emperor. Interestingly there's a popular Japanophile youtuber called Gaijin Goombah who has discussed ninja at length. One thing he heavily emphasizes is that ninja didn't wear black and instead wore blue because in a pre-industrial world, blue blended better with the night sky than black. On top of that, kunoichi or female ninja were often dressed provocatively because seducing men was a valuable tool for espionage. Yelan's design does both and even brings in the "Lady Luck" femme fatale character seen in several anime and games. (I'm pretty sure it was unintentional but Sub-Zero from the Mortal Kombat franchise is spot on and they even did an April Fool's joke where he goes "the Lin Kuei are not ninja." He's a little too violent for what ninja do though.)
In this event her role takes on a covert operative form where she's meant to disarm her targets while uncovering their operations. It's very simplified but then again this isn't an espionage based game. So instead of something more elaborate we just get the tried and true CSI tech that enhances and analyzes everything for us even though we could totally just use our own eyes in this case. Looking forward to how this all shakes out.
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