So again, Genshin Impact spoiled a character teaser and then we witnessed the fans going mad. The hype is so real. The official account posted the teaser “Shadowy Lights, Stranger Wights,” instant introduction of Flins; Oh, dear! The comments just exploded with dance culture and memes. Wild, really.
The teaser is meant to generate a mysterious vibe. The Traveler is thus told to look northward, beyond the lonely lighthouse and deserted cemetery, wherein he would meet the “somewhat unconventional Lightkeeper” named Kyryll Chudomirovich Flins. The teaser calls him “an elegant gentleman” who is quite mysterious and only those who share his secret would really understand what he’s talking about. Such spooky, mysterious vibes are just so thematic of Genshin’s deep lore.
And the players? They just can’t wait for him, such that one guy simply wrote, “I have 100 pulls saved for this mans I hope he comes earlyyyy.” That’s motivation right there. Another pleaded, “FLINS PLS COME HOMEE EARLY.” How obvious is that desire to get him? There’s something about his signature dish being lox, and somebody gave a shout: “OH HIS SIGNATURE IS LOX HE’S DEFINITELY COMING HOME LITERALLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE FOODS.” When a character’s favorite food becomes yours, that’s really fate.
The lore continues to get deeper. Somebody jumped in with insight: “Remember that his real body is the lantern, the man is but a projection.” Whoa! That would be some major detail if true. That definitely puts a whole other meaning onto ‘Lightkeeper.’ Another player theorized about his connection with a different character called Émilie, suggesting they might both be engaged in somewhat similar work related to death and carrying lanterns. The community is trying to figure all this out even before the character gets unveiled.
Then, the birthday reveal comes forth. This guy’s birthday is clearly October 31st, meaning Halloween. The reactions were just priceless. One commenter snatched it by writing, “OF COURSE HIS BIRTHDAY IS OCT 31 OF COURSE,” doing the whole cringe “duh” thing. One more added, “Confirmed he our halloween boyo now!” That totally fits the vibe. These little things go a long way.
Next up for hype is the voice actor. According to one comment, it’s Nakamura Yuichi, one of the most sought-after Japanese voice actors. The person continued: “Ain’t no way it’s Nakamura Yuichi-san! Welp, come and aura farm your way to my account bro.” That’s a big pull for all of the players who follow their fave VAs.
But even more so than hype and pull plans, yeah, some genuine considerations about actual gameplay implications are brought up. “I just realised, certain quests are tied to having Flins or him talking to you,” a user shared, “🤣 I’m so excited to get him.” Now that’s a juice! That basically means he could be a major key in unlocking new story content in the upcoming Natlan region, so this just got a lot more important for pulling from a completionist standpoint.
And the memes are out now. Another user changed their name to “Flins Navidad”, and that is just… brilliant. Another one shared a GIF of a person violently shaking his phone with the text “flins i need u so bad.” The vibe is somewhat desperate with an ounce of hilarious anticipation.
There is always a guy like that. All the hype going on, one user entered the comment section with a list of demands: “Still not nonstop playing daily until you add an artifact loadout, remove Daily Domain system, remove 50/50 for weapons and for god’s sake add a skip button for the story, it’s not that special to force people like me to do that.” Good reminder that even with cool new characters, players still want some QoL changes, especially on platforms like PlayStation and Xbox.
While all in all, the announcement has generated a positive swell. Comments such as “New character lore hits different” and “lmao i love him 😭😭😭” show the people getting sucked in by HoYoverse with this one. Just that spooky theme combined with alluring drops of lore, top-level voice actors, and the old Genshin kind of charm has already created a substantial nest of hype. Players already began saving their Primogems while theorizing as to the character’s importance in the story and just generally counting down to when they can hopefully pull up this elegant lantern-carrying gentleman for their squads. The electricity from the announcement of Flins is just another example of how Genshin Impact continues to keep its community engaged and roaring for the next chapter, years after the launch. The wait for his banner is definitely going to be a long one.
