Grazina

Grazina Myklukho is a historical character in Genshin Impact who lived in Nod-Krai around 500 years ago, during which her experiments on kuuvahki and plants led to the creation of Mandragoras.

Profile

Grazina was a Senior Researcher at the "Post-Apocalyptic Elysium," an apocalypse bunker built during the Belyi Tsar's reign, in anticipation of the Cataclysm. Under Supervisor Morozov, she and the bunker's other researchers conducted experiments on kuuvahki's ability to purify the Abyss, which led to the creation of the plants that later came to be known as Mandragoras. However, they were unaware that Morozov was Rotwang's follower, and that the bunker was meant to better propagate the Abyss throughout Teyvat rather than stop it.

Morozov deliberately introduced breaches of Abyssal monsters and contamination into the bunker, causing numerous fatalities; he also silenced a maintenance worker who discovered that the outside world was not actually destroyed. Grazina's doubts about Morozov's actions came to a head when Brahe — who had become the third "Reed Miller" — infiltrated the bunker. Realizing that the bunker was a hoax all along, Grazina worked with Brahe to save the children in the bunker and put an end to Morozov's tyranny. While they killed him, the bunker's Abyssal contamination meant that he would one day be resurrected as an Abyssal monster. To prevent him from escaping into the outside world when that day came, and to prevent people from entering the bunker and becoming his sustenance, Grazina decided to seal the bunker from within, believing this would also serve as atonement for her complicity in Morozov's actions.

Appearance

While not much about her appearance is known, it's likely that Grazina possessed relatively fair and attractive features given how Brahe calls her a "beautiful lady."^[1]

Story

Throughout her time in the bunker, Morozov instructed her and the other researchers to experiment with kuuvahki and its influence on the Abyss. Grazina led experiments based on earlier research showing that kuuvahki had a catalytic effect on the growth of certain plants. Through controlled breeding, she and her team developed a new plant variety that could autonomously absorb kuuvahki in a manner similar to photosynthesis, purifying Abyssal corruption. With the plants a success, Grazina requested the addition of pipelines to the ventilation system for the purpose of circulating kuuvahki supplied by the plants,^[2] known thereafter as the "purification system."^[3] She hoped that the plants would one day allow the bunker's descendants to return to the surface world.^[2]

Morozov agreed to the request,^[2] and ordered that experiments be tested on the purification system's effectiveness against Abyssal creatures such as Rifthounds. However, this led to a breach of Abyssal contamination and monsters within the bunker, causing several fatalities and causing several others, including a child named Payva, to fall ill. While Morozov expressed his condolences and promised treatment for those affected,^[4] Payva and the others died. Grazina implored Morozov to end the experiments,^[5] but request was presumably ignored and more residents fell victim to the Abyss.^[6]

Unbeknownst to Grazina, these "breaches" were intentional on Morozov's part, in order to further Rotwang's ambitions. The pipelines could circulate Abyssal power just as easily as it could kuuvahki,^[7] and Kotelnikov — a maintenance worker whose disappearance she inquired about^[3] — was silenced when Morozov realized he had discovered the truth: that the outside world was not destroyed.^[8]

At some point after the bunker was established, Rotwang was killed once at the Pillar of Embla, then resurrected and sealed at Kipumaki Cliff.^[9] Brahe — the third "Reed Miller" — was on a mission to hunt down Rotwang's allies and learned about Morozov's bunker. He infiltrated it and made contact with Grazina, informing her of the outside world's true state and of Morozov's treachery. She was convinced and agreed to kill Morozov on his behalf,^[1] while Brahe would take the surviving children out of the facility and into the care of Solovei and Aila, as well as specimens of the kuuvahki-absorbing plant (which Brahe named the Mandragora, after a fictitious plant in Snezhnayan folklore), in return.^[10][7]

As part of her ploy to personally meet with Morozov, Grazina sent him two messages: One strongly worded message berating him for the residents' deaths,^[6] then an apology for the previous message and a request to discuss the matter in-person.^[11] Before going to confront him in-person, Grazina left a recording of herself addressing an unknown person(s), presumably some surviving researchers, to share a final drink before their anticipated fight to the death.^[10]

Morozov was slain in the confrontation, but Brahe had forewarned her that he would one day resurrect as a mindless monster. Morozov made the bunker's broadcast signal and doors impossible to turn off or close, and destroying the facility would release all the Abyssal corruption inside it, Grazina decided to seal off the bunker to prevent Morozov from escaping and keep outsiders away, as Morozov would be able to devour them for sustenance. She also felt guilty for proposing the purification system and failing to consider how it could be used to transmit Abyssal contamination, and considered the deaths of the bunker's residents to be as much her fault as it was Morozov's or Rotwang's. As such, she chose to seal herself within the facility as a form of atonement, and presumably died inside.^[7]

Legacy

The Traveler and Paimon enter the bunker during the World Quest Return to Sender in Series East of the Moon, West of the Sun, and can discover the apocalypse bunker's story through the various recordings and message logs scattered throughout the facility. They ultimately confront the resurrected Morozov (called the Ultimate Calamity) and defeat him for good, either here or at Piramida (depending on whether Return to Sender or The Last Night, the First Light is completed first).

In a dialogue option, the Ultimate Calamity briefly takes on the dialogue name The "Ultimate Calamity"? — Gentle Female Voice, a tagline also used for Grazina in the Ancient Recordings.^{[Note 1]}

Trivia

• Grazina bears several notable similarities to Aila, another major historical Nod-Krai character from the cataclysm:
  • Both were subordinate to someone who, unbeknownst to them at the time, was an associate of Rotwang's (Morozov and Lovia)
  • Both were convinced to turn against the person mentioned above by someone with ties to Avrelian, the first Reed Miller (Brahe and Solovei)
  • Both express strong distaste about the lies they spread, unwittingly or not, in a written record they left in a location they sealed off (the Terminal Log in the Apocalypse Bunker, Aila's Notes in the Sanctum of the Oathbearer)

Etymology

• Her name Grażyna was created by the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz. It is derived from the Lithuanian adjective gražus, meaning "pretty" or "beautiful".
• Her surname Myklukho, may be derived from the Russian scientist and explorer Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay (also spelled Miklucho-Maclay), known for his work as a ethnologist, anthropologist, and biologist.

Notes

Other Languages

Language	Official Name
English	Grazina
Chinese (Simplified)	格蕾兹娜
Chinese (Traditional)	格蕾茲娜
Japanese	グラジーナ Gurajiina
Korean	그라지나 Geurajina
Spanish	Grazina
French	Grazina
Russian	Гражина Grazhina
Thai	Grazina
Vietnamese	Grazina
German	Grazina
Indonesian	Grazina
Portuguese	Grazina
Turkish	Grazina
Italian	Grazina

Change History

References