Raiden Shogun — Genshin Impact

The playable identity 'Raiden Shogun' encompasses two distinct consciousnesses associated with one body. Raiden Ei, whose divine name is Beelzebul, is Inazuma's current Electro Archon; the Shogun who usually governs is an autonomous puppet Ei constructed to enforce her directives. Ei withdrew her consciousness into the Plane of Euthymia within the sword Musou Isshin, leaving the constructed ruler to act in the outside world. They share a title and appearance, but not identical wills, personalities or responses to change.

Ei had once served as the martial shadow, or kagemusha, of her twin sister Raiden Makoto, the original Electro Archon known by the divine name Baal. Ei fought on Makoto's behalf, while Makoto better understood the importance of mortal life and its fleeting moments. The public image of a single eternal Shogun concealed this succession.

During the cataclysm roughly five centuries before the Traveler's arrival, Makoto went to Khaenri'ah and died. Ei had also lost cherished companions over the centuries. Grief and the prospect of further loss made change feel like a threat to all she sought to protect. She embraced a still, enduring order as a defense against both impermanence and the erosion that threatens long-lived beings.

Seeking an enduring vessel for Inazuma's rule, Ei developed the art of puppet-making. An earlier prototype later became known as Scaramouche, or the Wanderer; Ei did not destroy him, but instead relinquished him. She ultimately created the Shogun in her own likeness, transferred her consciousness away from ordinary bodily existence, and entrusted her Electro Gnosis to Yae Miko. The Shogun's rigid governing rules became a source of conflict when Ei's outlook began to change.

The Vision Hunt Decree becomes the focus of the Traveler's struggle in Inazuma. Certain officials of the Tenryou and Kanjou Commissions cooperate with the Fatui and misrepresent the country's circumstances to sustain the policy. Ei is not simply innocent of the decree: she knows it is being carried out and considers its restraint on individual ambitions compatible with her ideal.

The Electro Gnosis Ei had entrusted to Yae Miko also passes into the Fatui's hands during the conflict. When Scaramouche threatens the Traveler at the Delusion factory, Miko secures the Traveler's safety by handing him the Gnosis. The bargain takes place without Ei directly participating in it.

After the duel before the throne, the puppet executes La Signora; later, the Traveler faces Ei within the Plane of Euthymia. Yae Miko's intervention and the combined aspirations associated with the confiscated Visions challenge Ei's insistence on an unchanging Inazuma. Ei agrees to abolish the Vision Hunt Decree, though this does not instantly resolve every consequence of her earlier policies.

In 'Reflections of Mortality,' Ei leaves her isolation to see Inazuma City with the Traveler. She encounters dango milk, modern light novels and photography—ordinary pursuits that make the passage of time visible in ways her long withdrawal had concealed. These interactions are not merely comedic distractions: they give her a direct encounter with the lives she claims to safeguard.

A dispute involving Kujou Kamaji and the Takatsukasa Clan then forces her to consider governance in practical terms. Ei witnesses the resolve of people trying to uphold their responsibilities despite personal weakness and political strain. She begins to distinguish the value of inherited convictions from the impossible demand that nothing ever change.

In 'Transient Dreams,' Rifthounds threaten the Sacred Sakura's roots and the Traveler accompanies Ei as she confronts memories of the cataclysm. Figures drawn from the past, including a former retainer, remind her of the people and moments her notion of Eternity had failed to honor. Ei's evolving conviction causes the puppet's fixed directives to resist her control.

Ei confronts the Shogun within an extraordinary realm of consciousness. The puppet tests whether her creator's change of purpose betrays their original ideal; the duel continues for the equivalent of five centuries in that realm, while time outside follows a different course. Ei ultimately prevails without destroying the puppet's independent will. She invites the Shogun to become her kagemusha, or martial shadow, echoing the role Ei once served for Makoto; the Shogun accepts.

After the struggle, a remnant of Makoto's consciousness emerges from the Musou Isshin. Makoto entrusted it with a message for a future moment when Ei could understand the worth of dreams and change. Ei receives a seed linked to the Sacred Sakura and plants it through an extraordinary disturbance in time, explaining the tree's seemingly paradoxical existence in Inazuma's past. Ei suspects the involvement of a power connected to time, but the story does not establish every mechanism as certain.

The encounter finally allows Ei to bid Makoto farewell and accept an Eternity that can preserve hopes and memories without freezing every moment. After returning to Inazuma, Ei resolves to review the nation's present condition together with the Shogun and abolish the Sakoku Decree. Unlike the earlier repeal of the Vision Hunt Decree, this decision ends the policy of keeping Inazuma closed to the wider world. The game remains an ongoing narrative; these quests establish a decisive change in her outlook, not a final end to her story.