Peruere

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

• Hair: Short, predominantly silvery white, with a black streak during her childhood 2.
• Eyes: Distinctive blood-red, X-shaped pupils; their unusual appearance contributes to her ostracism among the children 1 2.
• Curse markings: Blackened fingers and hands, with markings spreading toward her forearms as she draws on her hidden power. During her awakening, dark-red fire glimmers beneath her skin 2 7 13.
• Harbinger attire: Receives a heavy white, black-trimmed Harbinger cloak bearing dark patterns 24.
• Fontaine disguises: Wears dark casual clothing while handling intelligence and an eye mask with black clothing during her attack on Furina 43.

Personality

Peruere is withdrawn, blunt, and analytical. She often listens while Clervie and Xingsu talk, then offers pointed observations. Her initial opposition to rebelling against Crucabena comes from assessing their overwhelming disadvantage—not from accepting Crucabena’s rule 1 3 4.

Her reserve conceals considerable tenderness. She defends Clervie against bullying, reassures her after their first forced killing, and privately resolves to protect her friends even if using her cursed power costs her life. She is also easily embarrassed by their teasing, particularly when Xingsu sees her wearing Clervie’s handmade cat-eared hat 1 2 3 5.

Grief briefly breaks her discipline during her fight with Crucabena. Her decisive realization is that kindness itself was never the problem: the House’s rules punished and destroyed it. As its new head, she replaces compulsory competition with solidarity and forbids the children from killing one another 12 13 26.

As Arlecchino, she deliberately conceals her emotions in front of her colleagues and subordinates. News of Xingsu nevertheless disrupts that control, and seeing him alive leaves her distracted by questions about his safety and whether he recognized her 25 31 46.

Her responsibilities initially lead her to believe she should keep her distance from Xingsu rather than draw him back into the Fatui’s conflicts. Nevertheless, she cannot forget him and ultimately accepts his determination to return. Their renewed intimacy allows her to express affection more openly, although Clervie’s teasing still embarrasses her 59 62 87 127.

Her protectiveness extends beyond prohibiting internal slaughter: she rejects Dottore’s treatment of vulnerable children as experimental material and is willing to involve the House in rescuing soldiers whom other Fatui leaders have abandoned. Her interest in helping Fontaine’s disadvantaged people combines personal conviction with the practical aim of improving the Fatui’s local relationships 30 111.

She continues to suffer nightmares involving the House’s violence and the deaths of those she loved. Xingsu helps lessen the negative effects of these memories, allowing her to sleep peacefully when they are together. She values quiet tea parties with loved ones and considers even idle time meaningful when they are safe beside her 59 106.

History

Childhood at the House of the Hearth

Peruere entered the House as a withdrawn child whose strange eyes discouraged other children from approaching her. Clervie persistently befriended her, and Xingsu later joined their circle. Peruere and Xingsu defended Clervie from bullying, which helped isolate all three from the other children’s cliques 1 6.

Crucabena regarded Peruere as one of her most promising children and moved her, Clervie, and Xingsu into harsher training. Wooden practice weapons gave way to iron swords, and the Hunting Game became a deadly contest. Crucabena eventually forced the three friends to kill a defeated child during combat practice 1 2.

Their attic hideaway offered a respite from the training. They shared refreshments, watched the stars, and promised to see Snezhnaya’s auroras together when they grew up. During the Icemelt Festival, Peruere gave Xingsu a jar containing 999 handmade paper stars 4 5.

Rebellion and the Final Judgment

Peruere recognized Xingsu’s intention to overthrow Crucabena but initially rejected his proposals as unworkable. She concealed her own possible means of resistance: an internal power whose use worsened a spreading curse. Despite her warnings, she was prepared to risk that power to protect her friends 2 3.

She eventually declared that her wish was to kill Crucabena. She and Xingsu sought Clervie’s help, but Clervie could not bring herself to oppose her mother and fled in tears. Afterward, Peruere explained her curse to Xingsu, warned him about Dottore’s interest in him, and offered her hand in a commitment to fight for their future 6 7.

Clervie subsequently chose to die by Peruere’s sword and died embracing her, leaving Peruere and Xingsu to continue without her. Crucabena then announced the final judgment, making every surviving child a target in her contest to select a king 8 10.

Scott delayed Peruere’s attempt to reach Xingsu by filling the route with traps. She ignored his provocations and carefully crossed the area, arriving to find Xingsu unconscious and Crucabena waiting 10 11.

Although Peruere fought with both sword and flame, Crucabena exploited her grief over Clervie to disrupt her technique and overpower her. Xingsu struggled up to intervene despite his injuries, only for Crucabena to stab him through the chest 11 12.

Crucabena’s Defeat and the Burials

Remembering her friends’ sacrifices, Peruere regained control and awakened her ember flames. She dismantled Crucabena’s attacks, vaporized her water prison, and defeated her. Rejecting Crucabena’s claim that kindness was useless, Peruere killed her and destroyed the furnace built around the children’s slaughter 13 14.

Victory did not save Xingsu. Peruere found no pulse, closed his eyes, and held his body until morning. Returning to his room, she discovered a farewell letter confessing his love and asking her to keep living. She kept the letter against her heart, carried his body into the wilderness, buried her jar of paper stars beside him, and cremated him with her flames 13 14.

Fatui soldiers later found her beside Clervie’s and Xingsu’s graves. Acting on The Jester’s orders, they arrested her for rebellion, the premeditated murder of a Harbinger, and destruction of Snezhnayan state assets. She surrendered without resistance 15.

Becoming Arlecchino

During the voyage to Snezhnaya, Rosalyne praised Peruere for ending Crucabena’s rule, broke her shackles, and moved her into a comfortable room. Recognizing her grief, Rosalyne promised to help if the Fatui sought to punish her and urged her not to accept an unwanted fate 22 23.

In prison, Peruere saw the aurora through her cell window and remembered the promise she had made with her friends. Pierro then delivered the Tsaritsa’s pardon and bestowed upon her the name Arlecchino and the title The Knave. He entrusted her with rebuilding the House because she understood both its cruelty and the hope its children needed 24.

After her introduction to the Harbingers, Arlecchino returned as the House’s new master. She abolished Crucabena’s rules, prohibited the children from killing one another, urged them to remain united and faithful to their principles, and instructed them to call her Father 25 26.

Pierro’s answers also revealed secrets concerning the Crimson Moon, knowledge that left her with a heightened sense of responsibility rather than relief 26.

She subsequently confronted Dottore over his dealings with the House. Rejecting his characterization of those arrangements as mutually beneficial, she declared that she would not continue Crucabena’s practice of sacrificing helpless children for experimental research 30.

Discovering Xingsu’s Survival

A report about a Wisdom Network researcher named Xingsu unsettled Arlecchino, particularly its description of his extraordinary learning ability. Although she had personally cremated him, the similarities were unmistakable. She burned the report to conceal his identity and research from the other Harbingers 31.

In Fontaine, Arlecchino attacked Furina and determined that she carried no Gnosis. As she prepared to withdraw, Xingsu’s voice stopped her; looking back, she recognized him. Afterward, she remained preoccupied with how he had reached Fontaine, whether he recognized her, and whether he was well 43 46.

Lyney and Lynette later reported that Xingsu had reached Poisson with Clorinde and appeared to intend to stay there long-term 49.

Arlecchino arranged through Callas to meet Xingsu. Their encounter revealed that he did not recognize her, leaving her torn between her enduring feelings and the belief that her duties should not intrude upon his peaceful life. After dreaming again of Crucabena killing him, she reread his farewell letter and secured it in a hidden drawer 51 59.

Reunion and Xingsu’s Return to the House

After recovering his sealed memories at the ruins of the old House, Xingsu met Arlecchino again. She warned him that the Fatui were a quagmire from which escape would be difficult. Offering him a way to remain outside its conflicts, she manifested her flames and proposed selectively erasing his memories of the House and the Fatui. Xingsu repeatedly chose the second option before she could finish explaining it, insisting on returning rather than forgetting their past 58 62.

Arlecchino also acquired a piece of equipment for him from Fleuve Cendre’s black market, where it had been mistaken for scrap. When he tried to thank her, she stopped him and explained that she would have brought the gift to Poisson even if he had not visited her 65.

Xingsu subsequently became an instructor at the House. During a visit from Sandrone and another colleague, Arlecchino hosted them in Fontaine and thanked Sandrone for coming in person 70.

Their reunion eventually became an explicit romantic reconciliation. When Xingsu tried to leave her study, Arlecchino embraced him; the two comforted one another over their shared past and Clervie, confessed their love, and kissed 87.

Protecting Fontaine’s Children and Reconnecting with Clervie

Lyney interrupted their reconciliation with news that Valerius had sent armed men into Fleuve Cendre. Suspecting an attempt to silence witnesses, Arlecchino accompanied Xingsu there. They positioned themselves at an alley exit and overheard the men planning murders and abuse against a peddler’s family 87.

Arlecchino identified Valerius as a member of Fontaine’s old nobility and cautioned that acting without hard evidence could provoke resistance among other nobles. Her demeanor became markedly colder when Xingsu revealed that Valerius’s people had approached Clervie to sell her L㏒s and that the money she had borrowed to acquire a dessert shop also came from him 88.

The Clervie living in Fontaine was later identified as a fading memory construct of their deceased friend. Xingsu restored her memories of the House, including her friendship with Peruere and her death by Peruere’s sword. Recognizing that Arlecchino was Peruere, Clervie expressed happiness that she had become a worthy king and planned a birthday surprise for her 95.

Clervie subsequently spent time with Arlecchino at afternoon tea. Their renewed familiarity included teasing Arlecchino about how much she missed Xingsu while he was away 127.

Supporting the Spina di Rosula and the Chasm Rescue

Arlecchino told Xingsu that she had already intended to assist the Spina di Rosula, independently of his involvement. She explained that helping Fontaine’s struggling people was a longstanding personal wish and that establishing ties with civilian organizations could improve the Fatui’s poor standing among the population 111.

After returning from Snezhnaya, she informed Xingsu that the Tsaritsa wanted to meet him. Anticipating his refusal, she had already bought time by reporting that he was away on a mission. She then directed his attention to the Fatui stranded in the Chasm after Tartaglia’s failed operation in Liyue, explaining that the abandoned soldiers included a child of the House 111.

During the rescue, Xingsu presented a token representing Arlecchino’s authority and identified himself as one of the House’s current heads. He ordered the Ninth Company to stand down and prepare to return home. Arlecchino remained in contact with him by communicator during his absence 120 127.

Side Story: Xingsu’s Drunken Appeal

In a side story, Xingsu recounted drinking wine that left him unconscious and waking beside Arlecchino after spending the night making soup dumplings with her. At a tea party, he reenacted his drunken behavior, including calling her his wife and crying over her. He also urged her to help oppose Dottore’s alleged god-making experiment in Sumeru and offered his hidden Mora as military funding; the account presents his appeal and proposed operation, not a completed attack 137.

Abilities & Skills

Swordsmanship and Close Combat

Peruere received the House of the Hearth’s brutal practical training and can combine agile footwork with precise changes in attack 1 11.

• Redirects thrusts into slashes and targets an opponent’s sword hand 11.
• Uses evasive movement and danger awareness to avoid traps and surprise attacks 10 11.
• After awakening, counters Crucabena’s sword style and restrains her wrist before delivering a decisive kick 13.
• Before that awakening, prolonged combat exhausts her, and emotional provocation creates exploitable openings 11 12.

Flames and Balemoon Fire

Peruere uses flames defensively, offensively, and for cremation. Her power is explicitly called Balemoon Fire after the battle 11 13 14 15.

• Coats her sword in flame and forms a fire shield against water blades 11.
• Produces an expanding ring of ember flames that destroys Crucabena’s enclosing water prison 13.
• Concentrates flame in her palm for a finishing attack 13.
• Uses controlled cinder flames to cremate Xingsu 14.
• Manifests cold black-and-red flame in her palm and states that it can selectively erase memories. She offers this to Xingsu as a means of forgetting the House and the Fatui, but he declines, so its use on him is not demonstrated 62.

The author’s discussion of the battle with Crucabena identifies her victory as relying on both a Vision and the power of the Crimson Moon 40.

Cursed Internal Power

Peruere describes a powerful, dangerous force inside her body whose origins she does not understand 7.

• Drawing upon it rapidly spreads the black curse 3 7.
• She fears that reaching her heart would cause something potentially worse than death; this outcome is not demonstrated 7.
• The markings become dormant after Crucabena’s defeat 15.
• After her appointment, she learns secrets concerning the Crimson Moon through Pierro’s answers, although the cited account does not detail those revelations 26.

Leadership and Intelligence

As The Knave, Arlecchino directs the House and handles intelligence from multiple regions 26 43.

• Establishes new rules intended to end the children’s forced internal slaughter 26.
• Controls sensitive information by destroying the report concerning Xingsu 31.
• Receives reports through Lynette, Lyney, and an informant in Poisson 43 49.
• Refuses to continue supplying House children for Dottore’s experiments 30.
• Assesses the political consequences of moving against Fontaine’s old nobility and the need for evidence against Valerius 88.
• Pursues civilian relationships in Fontaine for both humanitarian reasons and the Fatui’s local standing 111.
• Shields Xingsu from an immediate audience with the Tsaritsa by reporting that he is away on a mission 111.
• Provides authority that Xingsu can exercise through a token representing her personally during the Chasm rescue 120.

Equipment & Personal Items

• Longsword — Used against Scott and Crucabena; knocked from her hand during the latter battle 10 11 12.
• Xingsu’s farewell letter — Kept inside her clothing against her heart after she reads his confession. Later reread after a nightmare about his death and locked in a hidden drawer 14 59.
• Harbinger cloak — Personally placed on her shoulders by Pierro upon her appointment 24.
• Super Kitty Hat — Clervie’s handmade festival gift, featuring cat ears moved by pulling its straps 5.
• Jar of 999 paper stars — Folded for Xingsu as a festival gift; later buried beside his body 5 14.
• Communicator — Used to speak with Xingsu about the House, their personal affairs, the Tsaritsa’s summons, and his mission 111 127.
• Representative token — Carried by Xingsu during the Chasm rescue as proof that he acts with The Knave’s authority 120.

Relationships

• Xingsu — Childhood friend, fellow rebel, and beloved. His farewell letter confirms his love for her; after discovering signs of his survival, she conceals his research from the Harbingers and follows news of him in Fontaine 7 14 31 49. After recovering his memories, he refuses her offer to erase his ties to the House and returns to her life. They explicitly confess their love and kiss, and he becomes an instructor and later identifies himself as one of the House’s current heads 62 70 87 120. His presence helps ease her traumatic memories and nightmares. Although he and others use marital language in teasing or drunken exchanges, these passages do not establish a formal marriage 106 127 137.
• Clervie — Closest childhood friend, whose persistence broke through Peruere’s isolation. Their shared aurora promise remains important to her after Clervie’s death 6 8 24. A memory construct of Clervie later lives in Fontaine; Arlecchino reacts with anger upon learning that Valerius has targeted her. After Xingsu restores Clervie’s memories, Clervie recognizes Peruere as Arlecchino and plans a birthday surprise. They later share afternoon tea, with Clervie again teasing her about Xingsu 88 95 127.
• Crucabena — Former caretaker, trainer, and predecessor as The Knave. Peruere kills her to end the system that forced the children to slaughter one another 1 13 14.
• Rosalyne — Supporter during her imprisonment and later Harbinger colleague. Offers comfort, practical protection, and encouragement to keep resisting an unwanted fate 22 23 25.
• Pierro / The Jester — Orders her arrest, then delivers her pardon and appointment. Offers to answer five questions about the world or her origins 15 24 25. His answers reveal secrets concerning the Crimson Moon 26.
• The Tsaritsa — Pardons her and appoints her to lead the House of the Hearth 24 25. When the Tsaritsa later requests an audience with Xingsu, Arlecchino delays it by saying he is away on a mission 111.
• Lyney and Lynette — Subordinates who call her Father and deliver intelligence. Lyney notices her unusual distraction after she sees Xingsu 43 46 49. His report about Valerius’s armed men prompts Arlecchino and Xingsu to investigate Fleuve Cendre 87.
• Dottore — A Harbinger whose dealings with Crucabena she knows about. She warns Xingsu that surviving his examination likely means the Doctor is interested in his origins 7. As The Knave, she openly rejects his attempt to continue treating the House’s children as experimental resources 30.
• Scott — Fellow trainee who obstructs her with traps during the final judgment 10 11.
• Children of the House of the Hearth — Wards whom she seeks to protect from Crucabena’s system and Dottore’s experiments. She maintains an authoritative front as Father, while acknowledging that this makes them more comfortable approaching Xingsu and Clervie 26 30 106. Concern for a House child among the abandoned Fatui helps motivate the Chasm rescue mission 111.
• Callas and the Spina di Rosula — Fontaine contacts through whom she arranges a meeting with Xingsu. She later explains that she had independently planned to help the Spina and build ties with civilian organizations 51 111.
• Sandrone — Harbinger colleague whom Arlecchino hosts in Fontaine and thanks for making the journey personally 70.
• Valerius — Fontaine noble whose men threaten witnesses and vulnerable families. Arlecchino recognizes the political risks of confronting him without evidence and becomes especially angered by his involvement with Clervie 87 88.

Notable Quotes

“We can't choose our bloodline, our origins, or the circumstances of our birth. Since the marks of the past have already been engraved upon us, we should accept them willingly. The only thing they can determine is our starting point.” 7

“You said kindness was useless.”

“But it was precisely that kindness and gentleness that woke me from your cage.” 13

“Suffering need not repeat itself from generation to generation. I was once you, and I have walked through every desperate situation you face.” 26

“I hope you understand that the Fatui are a quagmire. If you set foot in it, you'll only sink deeper and deeper until you can no longer break free.” 62

“When the people I love are safe and sound beside me, even simply wasting time has meaning.” 106

Trivia

• During Crucabena’s touch-identification lesson, Peruere asks to keep the spiders as pets. Asked why she is not afraid of such creatures, she replies, “They're a lot like me” 1.
• Clervie mistakes Peruere and Xingsu’s secret worries about rebellion for evidence that they are dating 4.
• Chapter 42 presents their separation and prospective reunion through deliberately melodramatic promotional scripts repeatedly interrupted by the production crew 42.
• Her preferred food is rare steak, which she describes as the closest to the ingredients’ natural flavor that Xingsu can persuade her to accept; she particularly values that he prepares it himself 106.
• She enjoys arranging tea parties when everyone is free 106.
• Xingsu’s warmer, more approachable role with the House’s children leads some of them to call him “Mother” privately, complementing her title of Father 106.
• Clervie continues calling her Pepe and teasing her about Xingsu after their reunion 127.
• In the Chapter 137 side story, Xingsu calls her his wife while reenacting his drunken behavior and offers his secret savings to fund a proposed operation against Dottore 137.