HoYoverse just dropped the character demo reel for Yae Miko, titled “Yae Miko: Anecdote of a Divine Kitsune Guuji”, and boy are my savings drained.
Genshin Impact has been heavily promoting the arrival of Yae Miko, who will enter the game on Wednesday, February 16 when her banner finally arrives alongside patch 2.5, and IGN has been faithfully covering all the new info that’s coming out from HoYoverse, aka MiHoYo.
You can watch the Character Demo here:
Okay so now that you’ve seen it, IGN India is here to point out some details you’ve may have missed, cause we’re eagle-eyed like that. There’s a lot to unpack:
Yae Miko uses her Gohei while attacking
Yae can be seen using her Gohei, a paper charm wand that dispels evil spirits and negative energies, to channel her normal attacks.
Command over Kitsune Spirits
Yae can also be seen commanding Kitsune Spirits when using her charged, normal attacks. Considering that she is of Kitsune descent, those could possibly be the spirits of her ancestors or familiars coming to her aid in combat.
Yae also uses Inagi Hotomi as free labor
Yae Miko is also Editor-in-chief of the Yae Publishing House, and the video starts with Yae complaining about the lack of quality in light novels and bouncing ideas to the shrine maiden Inagi Hotomi, who is not an employee of the Yae Publishing House. Their interaction further entrenches the fact that Yae can get away with unpaid labor/ interns in Inazuma. After all, who’s going to say no to the Guuji of the Grand Narukami Shrine?
The Sacred Sakura as the root of Power
When Yae Miko casts her Ult/Elemental Burst, a massive Kitsune can be seen directly behind her before shifting into a massive thunderbolt strike. This looks eerily similar to the Sacred Sakura that stands at the top of the Grand Narukami Shrine in Inazuma. Yae could actually be summoning her power from the Shrine and her Ult could be a direct attack from the Sacred Sakura.
Symbolism of Three Yae Mikos
When casting her Elemental Skill, three Yae Mikos can be seen. There’s a lot of speculation about what this could represent: is it just to signify that her elemental skill has 3 charges? Could represent the three most notable kitsune in Inazuman lore: Hakushin, Kitsune Saiguu and Yae Miko herself? Could it reflect the Japanese Proverb that each individual has three faces they show to the world? Or the idea that Yae has three major titles bestowed upon her: Guuji of the Shrine, Editor-in-chief and whatever her relationship is to the Shuumatsuban?
Yae’s Tails
Yae’s tails can be seen during her Ult/Elemental Burst. According to Japanese folklore, Kitsune gain a tail every 100 years so. Yae most likely gains a tail every hundred years and her tails most likely shows her age, so we can assume her age to be around 500 years.
The Presence of Five Foxes
This ties into the earlier statement regarding her tails, the later image of 5 foxes sitting around Yae Miko in the Demo could clarify her age and possibly just be a reference to her sly nature and Kitsune ancestry.
Here’s all that we could break down from the character demo, now all we can do is just wait for the new v2.5 update to be available so we can tear into the story quests.
