Arlecchino’s true origins in have just been revealed by a small hidden detail within the game. The Fatui Harbinger also known as the Knave has just been released as a fully playable character after nearly a year of waiting – for reference, Arlecchino was featured in multiple leaks long before her debut as an NPC in the Fontaine questline. The character’s release in Version 4.6 also coincided with the release of her very first Character Quest arc, which revealed a lot of information about Arlecchino and her past self, when she was formerly known as Peruere.
This article contains spoilers regarding Arlecchino and her backstory in, as well as speculation about how she connects to the larger story in the game.
A lot was shown about Arlecchino when she was an orphan in the House of the Hearth and the main focus is on how she grew up there, contesting the methods of the previous Knave. It also highlights how her childhood friend, Clervie, was the only one to accompany her and share her beliefs of what would be better for the members of the orphanage, only to die by her very hands in an unavoidable duel. Peruere eventually kills the former Knave and takes on that role, but there is more about Arlecchino in that is left unsaid.
One of the things that is not openly mentioned in the character’s dedicated questline is that, despite being raised in the Fontaine-based House of the Hearth orphanage, Arlecchino herself is not from Fontaine. This is never openly discussed, but proof of that can be found in a subtle gameplay mechanic. In Fontaine, all the characters that hail from the Nation of Justice have a special swimming mechanic that allows them to leap out of the water when swimming quickly upwards. Arlecchino, like characters from any other region in , is incapable of executing the acrobatic maneuver.
When characters that are not from Fontaine quickly move toward the water’s surface, they simply emerge and float regularly instead of going on an aerial leap and back
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