Who is Wriothesley?

Wriothesley is a playable Cryo character from the hit RPG gacha game Genshin Impact . His first appearance was in the 4.1 Fontaine region Archon Quest as the Administrator of the Fortress of Meropide, Fontaine's semi-autonomous penal colony. He was sentanced there as a teenager, after having killed his abusive foster parents who were running a trafficking ring under the guise of a happy family. Through hard-work and wit, Wriothesley eventually rose to the position of Administrator and was granted the title of "Duke". Ever since, he has overseen a series of reforms to transform the Fortress into a place for rehabilitation and rebirth.

Wriothesley is fairly calm and collected, despite his appearance and role as the overseer of all the Fortress' matters. He sees the prison as a place of rebirth and is willing to protect that way of life, not wanting others to suffer like he once did, and becomes extremely angered should such a circumstance occur on his watch. Wriothesley's trauma is a double-edged sword: it has shaped him to be diligent, observant, resourceful, and resilient, yet it has also caused him to be guarded, stubborn, and even a bit manipulative. I would describe him as being humble, altruistic, mildly jaded, cheeky, vigilant, cunning, strong-willed, opportunistic, and assertive. Oh, and of course, husband material.

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What's our story?

I fell for Wriothesley around August 2023. At the time, the first trailer for the Fontaine region was released and took the Genshin fandom by storm. Everyone was scrambling to theorize who these characters were, and what they meant to the plot of the new Archon Quest. Wriothesley only had a few seconds of actual screentime, but I was immediately charmed by him nonetheless. Fanartists were quick to cook up delicious art of him in all of his dark-haired, edgy glory. I was relentless in eating up all of the content I could find of him and scoured subreddits to see if there were any new leaks about his combat abilities and role in the story quest.

When he was officially released around October of the same year, it was a treat. I loved the way he was portrayed in the Archon Quest; cunning, ruthless, cool, yet driven to fight for the greater good. Wriothesley's story quest was even better. It had much darker and mature story-telling compared to the other story quests, which tend to sugar-coat things. I greatly appreciated how it reflected all sides of Wriothesley's character: as the administrator of the Fortress, as an orphan, as a victim of abuse, as a protecter of the innocent, and as a man who is willing to enforce rules through force. It made him a character who feels very real to me.

I've always been drawn to "edgy", gruff, and masculine male characters (usually with a bit of sadness and angst too), mostly because I wanted to be like them. I found these male characters attractive, though I couldn't see myself having sex with them or dating them--it's a sort of fixation I found hard to put into words. Wriothesley was one of the few fixations that I genuinely felt like I was in love with. I felt a kinship towards his abusive childhood, his determination and grit, his whimsy and sense of humour, and his kindness to others despite all the horrors he had been through. It is always heart-warming for me to see characters who channel their awful experiences into goodness. Like Wriothesley, I aspire to use my past struggles to help others, even if it may not be on the same scale as Fontaine's criminal justice system.

Wriothesley has basically taken over my life. Not a day goes by where I'm not daydreaming about him by my side, facing life's challenges with me, or comforting me when shit gets rough. I've spent quite an amount of money on his merchandise, and a lot of time reading fics and scrolling through edits and fanart of him. Thank you for being in my life, Wriothesley.