Sonnet

Sonnet was the Goddess of the Iridescent Moon, the third and smallest of the original Three Moons of Teyvat. After the war of funerary flame, her fear of dying spurred her to merge the remains of the Iridescent Moon with the Abyss, after which it became known as the Crimson Moon in Khaenri'ah before eventually being found and laid to rest by Columbina.^[1]

Profile

Sonnet was the youngest of the Three Moon Sisters of Teyvat, and the older sister of Columbina.

Appearance

Much like her sisters, Sonnet was a tall and fair maiden. She has long pink hair that flows down her back and pink eyes. There is a pink crescent moon on her back to represent her status as the Goddess of the Iridescent Moon. She has flowing white robes that are lined with shades of purple, and dark and light pink. She also wears golden sandals that lace up to just below her kneecaps.

She also wears various golden jewel pieces, including a circlet that resembles a laurel in her hair and bands around her arms.

Quests and Events

Archon Quests

• Song of the Welkin Moon
  • Act III: A Nation That Doesn't Exist
    • Everlasting As the Moon (as "???")
  • Act VIII: True Moon
    • The First Sliver of Moonlight

World Quests

• The Unmanned Vessel
  • The Unmanned Vessel (I)
  • The Unmanned Vessel (II)
  • The Unmanned Vessel (III)

Story

Old World

Sonnet was created by Dragon King Nibelung, as the ruler of the third and smallest of the Three Moons,^[7] to govern the world in his stead while he was travelling the cosmos beyond the skies.^[9] According to legend, her light was the faintest of all moons - barely visible to the naked eye - yet when she shone, she produced fleeting halos.

The Moon Sisters were the sovereigns of the night sky in primordial Teyvat who dwelled in the Lunar Palace and rode through the heavens in a silver carriage. Sovereignty was held by one sister at a time, switching places three times a month.^{[Note 1]} The three sisters were all in love with the morning stars, and it is said that their love for the morning stars was "equal" to the affection between the sisters.^[10]

During Nibelung's absence, shadows "poured over the sky." Xiuhcoatl visited the moons in hopes of picking up Nibelung's trail, but only received silence from each of the sisters. It is unclear if they purposely didn't speak or couldn't.^[6]

When the Heavenly Principles first arrived upon Teyvat, they were peacefully received as a guest by the moon sisters. When they began to impose their new order upon Teyvat, Sonnet was the sole sister to voice her opposition to their intrusion, although she ultimately deferred to her other two sisters' decision to merely observe the consequences.

After the Heavenly Principles overthrew the Seven Sovereigns, all of Teyvat and its Moons were put under their control,^[11] forcing the moon goddesses to enter a precarious peace treaty with them - something the dragons saw as a betrayal.^[6] Sonnet, like her sisters, was horrified by the atrocities committed by the Heavenly Principles against any life that challenged its authority or rules, believing its methods to be excessive and going too far compared to the gravity of the offense.

War of Funerary Flame

When Nibelung eventually returned from the Abyss, he waged a devastating war of funerary flame against the Heavenly Principles for dominion over Teyvat. This caused the sisters to fall into dispute over whether they should take sides in the conflict, or remain neutral to avoid further ruin.

Nibelung interpreted their actions as disloyalty, and subsequently imprisoned all three of them in the Moon's reflection while fashioning their moons into terrifying weapons of war. The Heavenly Principles responded by shattering the Eternal and Iridescent Moons while flinging the Frost Moon beyond the False Sky. The destruction of two moons and the physical banishment of the third caused the Moon Goddesses to lose their rationale for existence in Teyvat, causing the world to reject their presence and gradually sap away their strength until they disappeared entirely..^[12]

It is implied^[13] that this disaster took place thirty days after^[14] Sonnet and her sisters witnessed the union of Koitar and Anacharsis.^[15] It overturned the sisters' carriage and ransacked the palace of the stars.^[10] The dragons celebrated the destruction of the Moons on account of their perceived betrayal.^[6]

Legacy

Sonnet remained imprisoned within the Moon's reflection even after the Iridescent Moon was shattered, oblivious to the events that had transpired during the war. She eventually became aware of the truth when she was visited by a future aspect of Columbina Hyposelenia, a revelation which shocked her.

Sonnet ultimately joined her sisters in deciding to abdicate their lunar authorities to Columbina, who, at their request, proceeded to use her new powers as the Trilune Goddess to send their now-mortal shells back to Teyvat. Of all the sisters, Sonnet was the most fearful at the prospect of death, looking to her sisters for emotional support even as the Moon's reflection began to take its toll on her body after it was shorn of its divinity.

Like Aria, Sonnet was destined for death the moment she left her lunar prison - for a moon goddess cannot survive without her moon. Personally experiencing the shattered Iridescent Moon was evidently an excruciating ordeal for Sonnet, causing her to become overwhelmed with pain and terror. In her desperation, she fused her fading soul with the Abyss in a last-ditch attempt to prolong her lifespan, which kept her barely alive at the cost of perpetual torment and resulted in her transforming into the baleful Crimson Moon.^[16]

At some unknown point in time, all remains of the Iridescent Moon and its Marrow were sequestered away within an Abyssal domain through unclear means. For this reason, unlike the remains of Aria, they were never found by the people of overworld Teyvat. According to Lauma, Sonnet's remains vanished in an instant,^[17] which Columbina confirms that she cannot sense them anywhere on the world of Teyvat.^[1]

The Khaenri'ans eventually discovered the Crimson Moon and founded their Crimson Moon Dynasty around using it as their conduit to the Abyss. The domain which contained the Crimson Moon's marrow was sealed, and could only be accessed temporarily through a specialized ritual. The sages of the Crimson Moon Dynasty used this ritual in an induction ceremony to 'brand' any children received in their otherworldly orphanage with the light of the Crimson Moon.^[1]

The power of the Crimson Moon manifested as the Balemoon Bloodfire within the descendants of its royal bloodline.^[1] These 'bloodflames' were in reality Sonnet's former power fused with Abyssal energies, and had the special ability to leave behind afterimages of any person they burned, earning them the moniker of "Two Worlds' Flames" for ostensibly bridging the gap between life and death.

When the Crimson Moon Dynasty was overthrown by the Eclipse Dynasty of Khaenri'ah, much of the knowledge of the Crimson Moon era and its practices was either lost or deliberately destroyed, and members of the Crimson Moon bloodline were systematically purged under the rule of the Vinster King. Despite his efforts, the bloodline was never completely wiped out, as finding the survivors became increasingly difficult. The descendants also discovered ways to subvert extinction by entrusting pieces of the Crimson Moon to each other as a failsafe against their powers dying out - as demonstrated by Tholindis and Frithr.

Around five hundred years after the Cataclysm in Khaenri'ah, the Traveler and Columbina, the Frost Moon's successor, would enter the Crimson Moon's domain with the intent of retrieving the Iridescent Moon's marrow, hoping to use it to restore Columbina's kuuvahki in order to stand a chance against the revived Rerir in Nod-Krai. They recruited the help of Arlecchino, one of the last surviving descendants of the Crimson Moon bloodline, who used her Balemoon Bloodfire to perform the ritual which opened up the path leading to the moon's burial grounds.

When the Traveler and Columbina enter, they discover the Iridescent Moon's broken husk hanging in the sky and its Abyss-corrupted marrow hidden within its reflection. The Traveler absorbs the abyssal power to restore the marrow to its pure essence, upon which Sonnet regains a brief moment of lucidity. She speaks to Columbina as if reunited with a long-lost friend, but from Columbina's confused expression, understood that the Columbina before her wasn't yet the future Columbina Hyposelenia that met the Three Moons in the moon's reflection. Addressing her by the name "Hypo-", Sonnet expresses her gratitude at being rescued, and bids a sad farewell before finally passing away for good. Columbina could only assume that the dying Sonnet had confused her similar aura with Canon's.

Once the Iridescent Moon's will has faded, a 'dark presence' within the domain awakens and tries to take back the marrow while the Moon's remnants rain down like meteors at the Traveler and Columbina - but with some last-minute help from Arlecchino, they manage to make their escape in time. After using the Iridescent Moon's marrow to replenish her strength, Columbina hands it over to Arlecchino as part of her agreement, claiming that it will make her much stronger since she was already a part of the Crimson Moon's bloodline. Later, in a confrontation shortly after Moon-Prayer Night, the marrow is stolen by Dottore, and Columbina Hyposelenia, as she had named herself, escaped into the moon's reflection. There, she would meet her elder sisters for the first time and complete the predestined time loop.^[18]

Dottore eventually succeeds in becoming a False Moon God by combining the powers of the two Moon Marrows and an artificial marrow that he created himself as a replacement for Columbina's power. However, his reign is short-lived as Columbina is reborn on Teyvat as the Trilune Goddess and defeats him with the help of the Traveler and various factions of Nod-Krai. Following this battle, the artificial marrow is destroyed, and the other two are reclaimed - following which, Columbina once again returns the Iridescent Moon's marrow to Arlecchino.

Character Mentions

Character Stories

Character	Stories
Arlecchino	Vision
Columbina	Character Story 4 Tri-Lunar Convergence

Character Voice-Overs

Character	Voice-Overs
Columbina	About the "Tri-Lunar Convergence"  Media:VO_Columbina About the Tri-Lunar Convergence.ogg Media:VO ZH_Columbina About the Tri-Lunar Convergence.ogg Media:VO JA_Columbina About the Tri-Lunar Convergence.ogg Media:VO KO_Columbina About the Tri-Lunar Convergence.ogg The three goddesses bestowed their powers upon me, which converged into a force that is both dazzling and gentle. Through it, I can feel their attachment to this place, and I can sense the hopes and wishes they offered to this world in their final moments. I will inherit their moonlight and use it to illuminate the world beneath the moon — the place we all call "home".
Skirk	About The Will of the Moon  Media:VO_Skirk About The Will of the Moon.ogg Media:VO ZH_Skirk About The Will of the Moon.ogg Media:VO JA_Skirk About The Will of the Moon.ogg Media:VO KO_Skirk About The Will of the Moon.ogg I once saw the three moons of Teyvat when I was passing through the false sky. Two are utterly destroyed, their lifeless remains drifting aimlessly through space. The one that remains intact shows no signs of life either, but its will has not faded completely. Maybe there's a chance that one day, a glimmer of truth will emerge in the false sky — a truth belonging to this world alone.
Zibai	About the Three Moon Sisters  Media:VO_Zibai About the Three Moon Sisters.ogg Media:VO ZH_Zibai About the Three Moon Sisters.ogg Media:VO JA_Zibai About the Three Moon Sisters.ogg Media:VO KO_Zibai About the Three Moon Sisters.ogg The Three Moon Sisters? Well... I understand that they had a very close relationship. When one of them did not feel like being on duty, she would beg another to take her place, then make it up to her later with gifts of makeup and jewelry. However, so liberal were they with this ad-hoc shift-swapping business that it sometimes led to chaos. For instance, there once was a year when all three moons aligned, but this only happened because they all got the timing mixed up. And so, there came a day on which only one moon should have been on duty, but all three appeared in the sky at once. They hurried to line up in a row, two moons trying their best to hide behind the one who was supposed to be on duty... but alas, they still gave the poor people down below a most terrible fright. They burned incense for several days straight... After that incident, the sisters asked me to try to convey to the people of the world that the sight of three moons together in the sky was not an omen of impending disaster, nor a sign that regime change was nigh. Naturally, I put the question back to them, inquiring what such a phenomenon should represent to humanity. They hemmed and hawed for a while before finally saying: "It means... It means a festival is coming, and... everyone should eat Fullmoon Cakes, and... stuff..."

Gallery

Song of the Welkin Moon Teaser- Moonlit Ballad of the Night - Genshin Impact

Valentine's Day 2026 - Columbina
Official Genshin Impact X (Twitter)

Song of the Welkin Moon Personifications

Three Moon Goddesses

Facade as viewed from a different angle

Trivia

• Sonnet shares her English voice actress, Sara Secora, with Dunyarzad.
• In the Song of the Welkin Moon Teaser: Moonlit Ballad of the Night, Alice inspects a piece of paper with the words "Aralos," "Solnari," and "Cannon" written on it. Due to the connection of Solnari with the Crimson Moon via Rerir, it is possible that it is an alternate name for Sonnet herself.

Etymology

• A sonnet is a type of poetic form closely associated with love poems. It is derived from the Italian word sonetto, meaning "little song."
• Trivia is Latin for "crossroads" (literally "three ways") and an epithet for the goddesses Diana and Hecate.
• "Iynx" refers to an Oread nymph in Greek mythology who cast a love spell on the god Zeus, and was turned into a wryneck bird as punishment. The English word "jinx" is derived from this word. It also refers to an ancient Greek magic wheel or whirligig toy emblazoned with wrynecks, which was used to cast spells. This is perhaps the real-world basis of Moon Wheels in Genshin Impact.

Notes

Other Languages

Change History

References