Traveler (Original Game Version)

This page description and information about Traveler are based and references from Official Genshin Impact Wiki, Traveler's Character Page.

The Traveler is the playable protagonist of Genshin Impact. At the beginning of the game, both genders are twin siblings from another world, traveling throughout the universe, until an unknown god blocked and captured one of them, and sealed their power to travel, leaving them stranded on Teyvat. They are accompanied by a travel companion named Paimon throughout their journey.

Although players can choose the name they want to be referred by, the Traveler's Sibling (whichever twin not chosen at the start of the game) refers to the Traveler by either Aether or Lumine (depending on the gender of the player's chosen twin), regardless of their custom name.

Appearances
Both siblings have blond hair, though in-game, Aether's is of a more vibrant shade. They have slim body builds, golden-yellow eyes, and a fair complexion. Their skin is paler in comparison to the NPCs of Mondstadt. They bear a contrasting color palette—Aether's color scheme primarily consists of black, golden and white, while Lumine's is white, blue, and golden. However, the two are not identical and differ in their natural features.

Aether wears a dark brown breastplate vest with gold and black accents baring his midriff, a white scarf clamped down with a large gold ring, and a white two-tailed cape lined with golden-yellow embroidery, decals and gold plating tucked underneath. He wears more gold plating on his left shoulder and a white tasseled gold earring with a bead in his left ear. He wears dark hakama-like pants, brown gloves and black boots accented with gold, and has lightly-defined pecs which do not appear in his in-game model. His hair is cut at somewhat medium length with choppy bangs at the front with waist-length hair at the back braided and tied with a gold and white tasseled band.

Lumine wears a sleeveless, backless, box pleated white dress held up by crossed black straps, the skirt longer and split in the back, with a second shorter skirt layer longer at the sides and shorter in the front and back. Her dress is accented with various shades of light blue at the neckline and hems, black at the waist and adorning the front and back, and gold embroidery in the same place, with a gold metal four-pointed star embellishing each section of the top skirt layer. More gold metal design can be found at the hem of the front of her skirt and at the waist similarly to that of a belt. Clamped at the back with a gold pin, she wears a long two-tailed scarf that fades from white to light blue, accented with light blue and gold, each tail having a gold, flat diamond-shaped ornament, with gold pointed dangling accessories attached to the tip of the tail. Her legwear consists of angled thigh-high stockings that also fade from white to blue, trimmed and accented with gold, and white ankle-high boots. Her arms have white covers that expose the middle of her arms tied at the top, white bracers, and black gloves that cover only her thumb. Her hair is cut in a short and choppy bob with two longer shoulder-length locks of hair framing her face, with two light-blue flowers (which is noted by Dainsleif to be her favorite) pinned to the right of her head and two pale blue feathers tucked at the left.

The Travelers have glowing pieces in their outfit (The diamond on Aether's chest, the bead on his earring, his gloves, boots and decals on this cape, and the emblem on Lumine's midriff, the diamonds on her scarf tails and her stockings as well as the center of the flowers on her hair) that change color based on which element they are currently attuned to. In the opening cutscene with the Unknown God, both of the siblings had glowing white clothing and yellow wings. Later, after the fight with the Unknown God, the player's chosen Traveler will lose their white light. Aether's will turn black and Lumine's will be dull until they interact with the first Statue of the Seven they come across. The clothing will light up again, but this time becoming a light teal, as they are borrowing the power of Anemo from Barbatos. This lighting scheme would continue based on which element the sibling is currently borrowing.

If a character's Elemental Burst is charged, switching to that character will show their Vision glowing brightly. Interestingly, even though the Travelers do not have a Vision of their own, one of the glowing sections of their clothing will show the same effect of glowing/revealing their current element's symbol (the emblem on Lumine's midriff and the diamond on Aether's chest). Their outfit, Rising Star, is described to be a practical set of clothing to wear during a long journey.

Personality
The Traveler's personality is determined primarily by the player themselves through dialogue options. Their personality can range from stoic, humble and helpful to boastful, lazy and short-tempered. Despite this, all of the playable characters see them in a positive view.

Despite this, there are instances of single speech options or similar options which give a glimpse at their personality overall. They are, for example, observed by Paimon as not believing the gods are any worthy of unearned respect than mortal inhabitants of Teyvat. They also are pointedly uninterested in getting involved with each nation's troubles without good reason. Their response to Morax's "death" was initially to simply leave, both to avoid suspicion and seemingly a level of apathy considering the circumstances of their arrival on the world.

This trend continues into Inazuma, where the Traveler initially denies aid to the rebellion and refuses to take sides, interested only in meeting with the Raiden Shogun. Yet despite this hesitation to get involved, the Traveler is ultimately a compassionate person, and coming to understand the circumstances of each situation led to them reversing their initial stances.

Due to their experiences with the Fatui, the Traveler is immediately on guard at the merest mention of them. They also show significant concern for their sibling, as their initial goal was to find them and get answers from the Unknown God that sealed them away. Even after becoming aware of their position in the Abyss Order, they still follow their sibling's instructions.

Story
Aether and Lumine were going to leave Teyvat after witnessing the destruction of Khaenri'ah, when suddenly an Unknown God blocked their way. A fight ensued and resulted in one of the twins getting consumed by red cubes from the Unknown God, and the other trapped in a seal which caused them to lose their powers. Spending an unknown amount of time sealed (the Traveler speculates it had been "years") they eventually woke up. Stranded alone on Teyvat for some time, one day the Traveler accidentally fished out Paimon from a lake, saving her from drowning.

Paimon would stay with the Traveler and taught them the Teyvat Language: to her amazement, it only took them two months to become a conversational speaker. After learning of how they got stranded on Teyvat at the start of the game, Paimon suggests they get in contact with The Seven, in order to help the Traveler look for their lost sibling. The Traveler's trip starts at Mondstadt, where they help out with the Stormterror Incident, orchestrated by the Abyss Order and learn that the bard Venti is the vessel of Barbatos, one of the Seven. They also encounter the Fatui and the Harbinger Signora, where they learn of the Gnosis from Venti and that one of the Seven, the Tsaritsa, appears to have unknown motives before suggesting they head to Liyue to meet with Morax.

At Liyue, the Traveler and Paimon attempt to meet with Morax, only for him to inexplicably die and they are subsequently made a suspect due to being foreigners. They are able to escape but forced to enlist the aid of another Harbinger, Childe, who suggests they meet with the adepti to resolve the issue and introduces them to Zhongli, a consultant at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor who can bring them to Morax's Exuvia. Childe's assistance is later revealed to be a ruse as he breaks the ancient god Osial out of Morax's binds, but with the help of the Liyue Qixing and adepti, they repel the ancient god. Only after resolving the issue do they learn that Zhongli is the mortal vessel of Morax and that he was retiring from his position. They are unable to stop the Fatui from getting their hands on Morax's Gnosis. As the Fatui leave, Zhongli tells the Traveler to head to Inazuma.

While waiting for the chance to do so, they are recalled to Mondstadt where they meet with Dainsleif, who wishes to stop the Abyss Order. During this time, they stop a plot in which the Order was attempting to "mechanise" Osial to do their bidding. They also meet their sibling, but become shocked to learn that they lead the Order. They attempt to convince their sibling to leave, but the sibling refuses until their "war" with the divine is over. The sibling instructs them to continue traveling Teyvat so they can experience the truth first-hand before leaving, with Dainsleif chasing after them. The Traveler attempts to follow but is shut out.

Eventually, the Traveler manages to arrive to Inazuma where they witness the land in chaos due to the Vision Hunt Decree and refuse to help until convinced to by Kamisato Ayaka. They soon join a resistance group based on Watatsumi Island after meeting the Shogun and nearly being killed by her in the process. In their journey, they meet with Yae Miko, who reveals that the Shogun is a puppet and that Ei, the Archon they are looking for, resides inside it. They soon learn that the chaos in Inazuma was caused by the Fatui and confront Signora, defeating her in a duel before the throne and witnesses her death at the Shogun's hands. The Shogun then tries to cut them down as they leave Tenshukaku, but the timely arrival of the resistance allows the Traveler to confront Ei once more and defeat her with the aspirations of the seized Visions, prompting her to repeal the Vision Hunt Decree. With the chaos resolved, Yae thanks them for their assistance and advises them to make their way to Sumeru.