The secretary to the Liyue Qixing. The blood of both human and illuminated beast flows within her veins.
Graceful and quiet by nature, yet the gentle disposition of qilin sees not even the slightest conflict with even the most arduous of workloads.
After all, Ganyu firmly believes that all the work she does is in honor of her contract with Rex Lapis, seeking the well-being of all living things within Liyue.—Description from the Official Website[1]
Personality
The secretary at Yuehai Pavilion. The blood of the qilin, an illuminated beast, flows within her veins.
—In-game character attributes and profile page text
Ganyu is usually very meek, mild-mannered, and reserved due to her half-qilin heritage, and is easily flustered. She also completes whatever is given to her, whether it be tasks or food, even if she is reluctant to do so.[2][3] Privately, she tends to snap whenever people speak ill of Beidou[4] or the Geo Archon. She greatly respects her fellow adepti, especially Xiao and Cloud Retainer, seeing them as a mentor and a maternal figure respectively, although she becomes extremely anxious in the latter's presence due to her tendency to unintentionally ramble.
Ganyu has served as the non-stopping secretary of the Liyue Qixing for thousands of years. The more important the task is, the more effort she puts into it, but she also becomes increasingly nervous and is more prone to making mistakes.[5]
She has a huge work schedule, often working overtime and is prone to falling asleep. As a result, Ganyu has very few friends outside of work. Due to her age, she is very forgetful, and she often forgets important details which causes her much embarrassment. She is very sensitive about her horns, weight and childhood, becoming visibly flustered when any of these three are mentioned in front of her.
Appearance
Ganyu uses the medium female model. She has fair skin and cerulean blue hair that naturally bunches in the middle and fades into a darker shade at the ends. She has black-red horns that bend back along her hair, similar to how a goat's horns look, with brighter red markings on them. She has eyes that appear to exhibit sectoral heterochromia, fading from purple at the top to pinkish-gold at the bottom.
Official Introduction
It is said that the qilin carry an auspicious grace, yet who knows of the loneliness of a benevolent being among the sea of people?
—Tianshu of the Liyue Qixing
For the Liyue Qixing of the lofty Yujing Terrace, Ganyu is not merely a companion to serve them, but is instead coordinator of the web of information that moves across Liyue Harbor, and the architect of administrative efficiency.
Complex meeting minutes, disorderly report data... Every day piles of documents flow by like water, each one personally compiled by her into clear and concise words in order to assist the Qixing's every decision and negotiation as they flow through various organizational departments.
In the eons that have gone by, the Qixing have changed with each succession of their posts, while only Ganyu has lived to see the flourishing of Liyue Harbor from beginning to the modern day.
The human blood that runs through her veins makes her reluctant to leave the splendor of the city lights, while her adeptus side leads her to yearn for the gentle serenity of her adeptal homeland.
For the half-human, half-adeptus Ganyu, between the bustling sea of people and the ethereal clustered peaks, which is more fitting to call home?
Character Stories
Character Details
Though many in Liyue are fascinated by life in Yujing Terrace, its day-to-day operations and rules are a mystery to them.
They are aware that the Liyue Qixing are the cream of the crop who hold the fate of the city in their hands, but the calculations and data behind the Qixing's every decision are far harder to grasp.
The people understand that the new policies announced each year will change the dynamics of the market, yet none can comprehend how policy is plucked from complex meeting minutes and compiled into something easier on the human eye.
As the secretary of Yuehai Pavilion, Ganyu undertakes many tasks that ordinary folk do not see.
For those that have witnessed her standing by the dock at daybreak, enjoying her breakfast in silence, it is difficult to imagine her in such a post.
Even still, by the time the sun has fully risen, she will have returned to Yuehai Pavilion overlooking Yujing Terrace, to continue to fulfill her contract.
A contract that she signed three thousand years ago with Rex Lapis.
Character Story 1
Friendship Lv. 2
Ganyu is not the secretary of any one leader in the Liyue Qixing but is instead the general secretary for the entire organization. Under her gentle exterior, Ganyu is as persevering as stone itself. This was something that Rex Lapis, the leader of the adepti, noticed very early on. Thus when the Liyue Qixing first emerged ages ago, Ganyu was their secretary. Through the years and the changes in the Qixing's roster, Ganyu has remained by their side as a constant. This has also meant that the mountainous piles of paperwork from the various departments and bureaus in Liyue have fallen upon Ganyu's shoulders. But though her workload has increased seven, a hundred, or even a thousandfold, her sense of responsibility has never wavered. Someone once queried as to the source of her motivation and received an answer that was not quite congruous with the question. "What I've done... is nothing compared to what Rex Lapis has accomplished."
Character Story 2
Friendship Lv. 3
"I work for the well-being of all living things in Liyue."
Under almost all circumstances, Ganyu is a very trustworthy secretary.
It is hard to imagine anyone outperforming her in the face of such an enormous workload, especially given her unique and penetrating insights into all of Liyue's matters.
Nevertheless, her reliability can only be guaranteed under "almost all circumstances."
The more important the matter, the more Ganyu strives for perfection, and the more nervous she becomes. Under pressure, her nervousness does result in the occasional error.
One such incident occurred during the Rite of Descension, without doubt the most important annual event in Liyue's calendar.
Ganyu was three minutes late for the Rite and had to squeeze through the crowd in full view of all.
Later on, with a face as red as a tomato, she stammered her way through an unconvincing explanation, all the while apologizing profusely to Rex Lapis in her heart.
Her colleagues guessed that there must be some reason for the mistake.
Those who did not know her well saw that Rex Lapis did not mind, and thus paid the incident no attention.
Those closer to her worried in private, and asked if she needed a workload adjustment or a short vacation, but Ganyu refused.
"I spent two hours making sure that I wasn't wearing anything too similar to last year's Rite..."
Needless to say, Ganyu was not about to admit to this being the real reason for her tardiness!
Character Story 3
Friendship Lv. 4
How long is a thousand years?
Long enough for the Glaze Lilies that once teemed throughout Dihua Marsh to be wiped out by floodwaters, and long enough for the thriving settlement that sprung up upon Guili Plains to come to ruin in war.
How short is a thousand years?
To Ganyu, it has felt shorter than the blink of an eye.
Throughout a passage of time unimaginable to mortals, Ganyu has been working on all manner of things at Yujing Terrace.
She recorded the raising and demolishing of every building, and witnessed the rise to prosperity of every industry.
Ganyu's sense of objectivity towards the passage of time comes from the endless reams of data she must trawl through, and from the ever-increasing number of colors she finds that she needs to categorize it all.
All this time, her mindset has never changed — she constantly wavers between her human and adeptus halves.
On one hand, Ganyu the qilin finds it difficult to comprehend mortal squabbles.
But on the other hand, her human blood reminds her always to hold out hope that she might someday be able to fit in.
Character Story 4
Friendship Lv. 5
Outside the confines of her work, Ganyu very quickly shows how different she is from most other people.
She has a habit of taking afternoon naps and has a shockingly accurate internal clock. When lunch hour arrives, no matter where she is, she will simply curl up into a ball and fall asleep on the spot. Even the raucous dancing of hilichurls will fail to wake her.
These habits were at first just a running joke within the Liyue Qixing.
But once, after accompanying the then-Tianxuan to lunch outside the city, a well-fed Ganyu simply crawled into the nearest roadside haystack. She ended up being transported all the way to Dihua Marsh, awakening only after bumping her head during the unloading.
Unable to find Ganyu anywhere over the subsequent three hours, and knowing that she would not depart unannounced, the Tianxuan almost filed a missing person report.
After receiving a stern admonishment to "only take afternoon naps where it's safe," Ganyu retorted:
"Well... isn't everywhere in Liyue safe?"
Perhaps, with the mixture of human and illuminated beast blood flowing through her veins, Ganyu's understanding of the world's affairs is a little different to that of most humans.
Character Story 5
Friendship Lv. 6
Ganyu's qilin heritage is little-known in Liyue Harbor.
Whenever she is asked by someone walking along Feiyun Slope as to the obvious protrusions in her hair, she says that they are ornamental heirlooms.
"If I told them the truth, they would distance themselves from me..."
Despite never having been on particularly close terms with Liyue's citizens in the first place, Ganyu would still not consider distancing to be a good thing.
Her more important reason for hiding the truth is to prevent curious onlookers from touching her qilin horns.
After all, a qilin's horns are a sensitive part of their body, both physically and mentally speaking.
Another secret that Ganyu is anxious to keep hidden is the fact that she is watching her physique.
The qilin are strict vegetarians, but Liyue is a veritable powerhouse of gastronomical delights, one in which even vegetarians struggle to control their appetites.
Ganyu, who has grown accustomed to city life, is thus very vigilant in matters concerning her weight and physique.
Whenever she finds herself being drawn towards some delicious dish, she will attempt to reassert her self-control. For Ganyu, the difficulty of such a challenge is second only to finding a Flaming Flower atop Dragonspine.
But she is not one to give up half-way through the ascent.
During the Archon War, she once choked a giant monster to death with ease after getting lodged in its throat when it tried to eat her, said monster having fatally underestimated quite how wide her waistline was.
For Ganyu, avoiding any similarly embarrassing episodes in the future is an absolute must.
The Flora of Yujing Terrace
Friendship Lv. 4
Handwritten notes detail the morphological features and behaviors of the plants in Yujing Terrace, with each beautiful stroke penned by Ganyu's own hand.
The notes are succinct, comprehensive, and well-categorized, and even offer some insights that one would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere on the market.
These include pointers on caring for Glaze Lilies and methods for grafting Silk Flowers.
In readability and scientific accessibility, they come close to the standard of official publications.
Or rather, this is the experience if one starts reading from the front.
Skip to near the end, however, and one may well be left dumbfounded.
The final few pages are a shocking rash of black ink and frantically scribbled-out text.
Reading patiently and painstakingly between the lines, one might just discover that these notes were, at one time, various methods for vegetable cultivation.
"But if I learn to grow vegetables, I'll be even less able to control my appetite."
Her hands balling into fists, it was with much difficulty that Ganyu erased the results of her research.
Later, whilst watering the plants on an empty stomach, Ganyu found herself plunging her head into a thicket of Silk Flowers, fantasizing that they were Sweet Flowers in an effort to comfort herself.
Many more fantasy Sweet Flowers followed shortly afterward during her afternoon nap...
Vision
Friendship Lv. 6
Qilin are paragons of benevolence among the adepti, drinking only freshwater and eating only plants. Flies they will not hurt, and a bruised reed they will not break. They do not travel abroad, do not gather in herds, and no trap will hold them. They are leisurely yet composed, active but reserved — a gentle and elegant race. Yet when a wicked beast from the sea arose and threatened the land beneath their feet, that peaceful life ceased to be an option. Three thousand years ago, Ganyu answered the call of Morax the God of Geo, aiding him in the Archon Wars. And when the war was over, she chose to stay in Liyue and help the humans build a better polity there. The first Liyue Qixing would need support, and she took this task up as a matter of course, becoming their secretary. The moment she made that decision, a Vision appeared at her hip, granting her power to resonate with the world to a degree beyond her natural abilities. Whether she would grow strong enough to no longer need it, or whether she would use it as a last resort in Liyue's defense... Regardless, she chose to serve as the bridge between adepti and humans. Her Vision, then, was proof and witness of her new duty.
Namecard
| Ganyu: Qilin | |
|---|---|
|
Obtain: Reward for reaching Friendship Level 10 with Ganyu Description: Do no harm to plant nor insect. |
Constellation
| Sinae Unicornis | |
|---|---|
 | Story Chapter: Sinae Unicornis Meaning: Qilin (lit. "Chinese Unicorn") |
Quests and Events
Archon Quests
- Chapter I
- Interlude Chapter
- Act I: The Crane Returns on the Wind
- Where the Heart Finds Rest (cinematic)
- Act I: The Crane Returns on the Wind
Story Quests
Events
- Moonlight Merriment
- Part I: One for the Foodies, Two for the Show
- Part II: Three to Get Ready, and Here We Go (cinematic)
- Fleeting Colors in Flight
- The Exquisite Night Chimes
- Vibrant Harriers Aloft in Spring Breeze
Web Events
- Side by Side We Venture
- An Unforgettable Journey
- The Great Banquet of the Adepti
- Festive Celebration of Flowing Hues
- Canvas of Starlight Memories
- Discover Teyvat
Character Trials
Quests
- The Illuminated Beast of the Sea of Clouds in Ganyu's Story Quest, Sinae Unicornis Chapter: Act I - Sea of Clouds, Sea of People
Events
- Hyakunin Ikki 2021-09-02
- Tablet Analytics
- Brewing Developments
- Triumphant Frenzy
- Endless Forms Most Martial
Test Run Events
- Ganyu, Xingqiu — 2021-01-12
- Zhongli, Ganyu, Xingqiu, Beidou, Yanfei — 2022-01-25
- Ganyu, Sangonomiya Kokomi, Dori, Sucrose, Xingqiu — 2022-09-09
- Baizhu, Ganyu, Kaveh, Candace, Fischl — 2023-05-02
Character Mentions
Character Stories
| Character | Stories |
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Character Voice-Overs
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Mails
| Sender | Mails |
|---|---|
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- I've Been Thinking... (2021-12-02)
- Moongazing... (2022-12-02)
- Fishing... (2023-12-02)
- A Break in the Mountains. (2024-12-02)
Trivia
- According to Xiangling, Ganyu has a surprisingly large appetite — Xiangling and Chef Mao give her an extra-large portion of food on the occasions she eats at Wanmin Restaurant, but she always manages to finish it.[6][7]
- According to Yaoyao's message on the Wangshu Inn Bulletin Board, Ganyu has a sensitive stomach and cannot handle spicy food.
- Ganyu's Character Story 5 suggests that at the time of the Archon War, Ganyu was not as slim as she is today as her waistline "easily" choked a monster to death when it tried to swallow her whole, to her embarrassment. She has since taken efforts to watch her figure.
- Although Ganyu and her Character Stories say she is vegetarian, she may actually be vegan: She says she will decline vegetable fritters that have been fried in animal fat,[8] and during Spices From the West, she declines meatless dishes that include Bird Eggs or Milk, such as Fragrant Almond Tofu, Fragrant Satisfying Salad, and Fragrant Fisherman's Toast.
- However, the canonicity of playable characters' preferences during Spices From the West is questionable.
- In the corresponding voice-over (Receiving a Gift: III), Ganyu declines solely on the basis of the dish containing meat, which does not make sense when she declines meatless dishes.
- Zhongli politely declines all seafood, including Fragrant Grilled Tiger Fish and Fragrant Mondstadt Grilled Fish, but his Character Story That Which Rises From the Sea indicates that he only dislikes tentacled seafood and will happily eat even tentacled seafood that has been cut into small pieces. Zhongli's Character Story 1 also heavily implies that he has eaten Fullmoon Egg, which uses both cut and whole Shrimp. It therefore does not make sense that Zhongli declines even Grilled Tiger Fish and Mondstadt Grilled Fish, which are small portions[9] of cut fish.
- However, the canonicity of playable characters' preferences during Spices From the West is questionable.
- Ganyu can be seen using Amos' Bow in a cutscene of the Archon Quest Where the Heart Finds Rest in Interlude Chapter: Act I - The Crane Returns on the Wind in the battle against Beisht.
- Ganyu leaves her own message on the Wangshu Inn Bulletin Board, albeit anonymously.
- Cloud Retainer said that when Ganyu was young, she loved it when her horns were caressed.[10]She also reveals that Ganyu's first encounter with a human was bumping into a pilgrim while falling down a mountain. The experience scared her so much that she hid in a rock's cleft for two days.
- Looking at her character for a period of time causes her to blush.
- Ganyu got to meet Guizhong, the God of Dust, a few times.[11]
- There are contradictions regarding when Ganyu signed her contract with Rex Lapis:
- Ganyu tells the Traveler she signed her contract with Rex Lapis shortly after the Archon War ended around two thousand years ago.[12]
- Her character profile states she signed the contract three thousand years ago, during the Archon War.[13]
- Zhongli says Ganyu has served the longest of those who honor a contract with Rex Lapis.[14] However, there are other adepti whose contracts pre-date the two times given for Ganyu's:
- Rex Lapis founded Liyue Harbor and signed the first contracts to defend it with the adepti 3,700 years ago,[15] after relocating the people from the destroyed Guili Assembly. Cloud Retainer, Moon Carver, Mountain Shaper, and a qilin, who may be Ganyu herself or another individual, were among those who made that journey.[16]
- Ganyu's Chinese voice actress (林簌) is one of the directors of Genshin Impact's Chinese voice actors.[Note 1] She is also the Chinese voice actress of Jean.
- In the Chinese translation of her Story Quest, Uncle Tian refers to her as "older sister Ganyu" citing it a childhood name, despite the former looking much more advanced in age, which showcases how much Ganyu has remained unchanged over the years.
- Ganyu is known by these aliases or titles:
- Little Miss Ganyu (CN: older sister Ganyu) (by Uncle Tian)
- In her voice-over Feelings About Ascension: Conclusion, Ganyu mentions a quote from an ancient text saying "Only when days be darker than the darkest night, may a qilin be compelled to fight." In the Chinese version, the corresponding quotation is "麟斗则日无光," which translates to "The term líndǒu (lit. "the battle of a female qilin") refers to no light in the sun (that is, eclipse)." The text is from a Chinese esoteric book called Kǒngyǎntú (Chinese: 孔演图) (also known as Chūnqiū-Yǎnkǒngtú (Chinese: 春秋演孔图)) written during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD).[17]
Etymology
- Ganyu's name (甘雨 Gānyǔ) literally means "sweet rain," but as a phrase, it refers to "timely rainfall" such as rain after a long drought.
- Her Constellation, "Sinae Unicornis," is Latin for "Chinese Unicorn," another western name/descriptor for the Qilin.
Notes
- ↑ Bilibili: In the CN 1.1 livestream (~ 1:28), Paimon's VA notes that this is the first time with two of the voice acting directors in one livestream. Jean/Ganyu's VA then proceeds to ask her if she feels pressured by that.
Other Languages
Character Title: Plenilune Gaze
| Language | Official Name | Literal Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| English | Plenilune Gaze | — |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 循循守月 Xúnxún Shǒuyuè | The Appearance of Moon Guard |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 循循守月 Xúnxún Shǒuyuè | |
| Japanese | 循々守月 Junjun Shugetsu[!][!] | The Appearance of Moon Guard |
| Korean | 리월리월의 수호자수호자 Riwol-ui Suhoja | Guardian of Liyue |
| Spanish | La Vigía del Plenilunio | The Watcher of the Full Moon |
| French | Défense fervente | Fervent Defense |
| Russian | Взгляд полнолуния Vzglyad polnoluniya | Look of Full Moon |
| Thai | ผู้พิทักษ์แห่งจันทรา Phu-phi-thak haeng Chan-tha-ra | Guardian of the Moon |
| Vietnamese | Người Bảo Vệ Tận Tâm | Devoted Guardian |
| German | Mondhüter | Moon Tender |
| Indonesian | Plenilune Gaze | — |
| Portuguese | Defensora Devota | Devote Defender |
| Turkish | Dolunay Gözcüsü | |
| Italian | Sguardo del plenilunio | Plenilune Gaze |
References
- ↑ Official Genshin Impact Website: Ganyu
- ↑ Keqing's Voice-Over: About Ganyu: Skepticism
- ↑ NPC Dialogue: Chef Mao
- ↑ Ganyu's Voice-Over: About Beidou
- ↑ Ganyu's Character Story: Character Story 2
- ↑ Xiangling's Voice-Over: About Ganyu
- ↑ NPC Dialogue: Chef Mao
- ↑ Ganyu's Voice-Over: Least Favorite Food
- ↑ Commission: A Bottomless Appetite
- ↑ Story Quest Act, Ganyu, Sinae Unicornis Chapter: Act I: Sea of Clouds, Sea of People
- ↑ Event The Exquisite Night Chimes Quest: Part II, Part 1: A Single Harmony for an Irreplaceable Soul
- ↑ Archon Quest, Chapter I, Act III - A New Star Approaches, Part 3: Solitary Fragrance
- ↑ Ganyu's Character Story: Character Details
- ↑ Zhongli's Voice-Over: About Ganyu
- ↑ Archon Quest, Chapter I, Act III - A New Star Approaches, Part 6: The Fond Farewell
- ↑ Event Moonlight Merriment Quest: Part II, Part 2: Three to Get Ready, and Here We Go
- ↑ Wikisource: 欽定古今圖書集成 博物彙編 禽蟲典 第056卷
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