Liloupar

Liloupar, also spelled Liloufar, was a historical figure in the Great Red Sand and the Desert of Hadramaveth in Sumeru. She was a Jinni who originally served Nabu Malikata and after her death, served King Deshret. Liloupar is best known for her role in the destruction of Gurabad, which she wrought over three generations as revenge against her husband Ormazd, who became a tyrant after becoming the vassal king of the desert.

Profile

Like most Jinn, Liloupar is rather proud and only gives her allegiance to those whom she deems worthy. She takes the Traveler as her new master and, accordingly, holds the Eremites in low regard due to their attempts to use her for their own gain. Having previously had her soul split by King Deshret as punishment for the destruction she caused at Gurabad, she seeks to reclaim her fragments and restore her full power.

Appearance

In The Shepherd and the Magic Bottle, her descendant is described as having amber eyes, which could possibly translate to Liloupar herself possessing this same eye color; the Legacy of the Desert High-Born circlet was also worn by her. Otherwise, apart from the loose pinkish depiction in The Murals of Gurabad, Liloupar's appearance remains largely unknown; but — like most of the important historical Jinn in the region — it is implied that she mainly took on an human appearance and could also shapeshift into multiple other beings as well.^[9] Due to King Deshret's punishment thousands of years ago, in the present day she appears as two orbs inside a floating bottle.^[10]

Quests and Events

Archon Quests

• Song of the Welkin Moon
  • Act IX: As All Falls to Emptiness
    • A Divergence Leading to Oneself
    • Ancient Shadows Re-Emerge
  • Act X: Truth Amongst the Pages of Purana
    • Darkness Looming
    • Your Past Is Like a Garden

World Quests

• Apocalypse Lost
  • Memories of Gurabad
• The Dirge of Bilqis
  • The Temple Where Sand Flows Like Tears
  • Dune-Entombed Fecundity: Part I
  • Dune-Entombed Fecundity: Part II
  • Dune-Entombed Fecundity: Part III
  • The Eternal Dream, Ever Lush
• "The Falcon's Hunt"
• Tadhla the Falcon
• The Fallen Falcon

Story

As a Jinni, Liloupar was said to have been born from the water lilies that grew from the streams which came into being from Nabu Malikata's footsteps. Like most other Jinn, she lived in Ay-Khanoum,^[11] which Nabu Malikata and King Deshret jointly constructed for the Jinn. After Nabu Malikata's death, the Jinn turned to serve King Deshret,^[12] who had promised them that their late mistress slumbered in the Orchard of Pairidaeza and that he would one day revive her.

The shepherd Ormazd, with King Deshret's grace and Liloupar's aid, united the desert peoples and defeated Huvashtra the Tyrant. Liloupar fell in love with him and believed he would be the one to realize Nabu Malikata's dream of a mortal society free of slavery.^[13] However, Ormazd grew corrupt and tyrannical, much to Liloupar's fury. To take revenge on his "betrayal," Liloupar plotted to curse Gurabad with three generations of ruination, twisting her own children's fates to accomplish her goal.^[14][1]

Liloupar gave birth to a daughter, Shirin. Before she delivered their daughter into Ormazd's hands, she prophesied three times: First, that Shirin would fall in love with a great hero and bear a child who would surpass their father, second, that many of her relatives would have a sweet end, and third, that she alone would be given her father's kingdom. The "great hero" whom Shirin married was her half-brother Kisra Parvez, Liloupar's son and Ormazd's adoptive son, but their marriage was a loveless one while Ormazd shunned her due to Liloupar's warnings to him; under Liloupar's influence, Shirin assassinated Ormazd and her other siblings with poisoned honey, which led to her insanity and Kisra's ascension as the new ruler of Gurabad, who dubbed himself "Parvezravan." Later, Shirin bore a son, Shiruyeh. Although she doted on him, Parvezravan feared his son due to Liloupar's prophecy and exiled Shiruyeh after he reached adulthood, forcing him to don a brass mask to disguise himself.^[2]

Over time, Liloupar twisted Parvezravan's ambition into all-consuming greed. She influenced him to replace human slavery with Jinn-powered machines, which brought him unimaginable wealth but left his people without work or land.^[7] He became a despised tyrant. Meanwhile, Liloupar also had a hand in secretly goading her grandson Shiruyeh into murdering Parvezravan and taking over the throne by helping in rallying the commoners and slaves who suffered under Parvezravan's heavy yoke.^[15] Liloupar then assisted Shiruyeh one last time using the power of the "dark abyss," but in the end, this power destroyed Gurabad and most of its inhabitants.

King Deshret himself returned to punish Liloupar for the tragedy she caused at Gurabad — he split the Jinni into seven fragments and had the "divine sages" hide them across the Great Red Sand.^[10] The most dominant fragment was kept in Liloupar's Cell.

Present Day

During the events of The Dirge of Bilqis, the Traveler and Jeht uncover a magic bottle containing a fragment of Liloupar's soul. Liloupar, seeing some of Ormazd's original promising traits in the Traveler, takes them as her new master.^[16] After obtaining her final soul fragment, Liloupar leaves to reunite with her children in Gurabad. She claims to feel no guilt for her past actions, but also states that it's her responsibility to face the Abyssal power she once set upon the city in order to find Shirin and Shiruyeh. The bottle is left behind with the Traveler and still provides the same benefits as when Liloupar inhabited it.^[7]

Liloupar descended into the city to face the calamity. Later, the Traveler, getting involved in the events in Natlan, defeated Gosoythoth. This somehow stopped the Abyssal calamity in Gurabad, and Liloupar fell into a deep slumber when she ensured there were no traces of it left behind. She later emerged from her slumber once more by the time of the events of Archon Quest A Divergence Leading to Oneself in Song of the Welkin Moon: Act IX - As All Falls to Emptiness, when the Traveler sought her out to see if she could handle the jinn that the Fatui had disturbed. Liloupar learned what had happened and immediately quelled the restless jinn and raging sandstorms before accompanying the group across Sumeru, resolving the Irminsul crisis on hand. Afterwards, Liloupar befriended Nicole and learned that Collei had remnants of her mistress, Nabu Malikata, embedded in her. She asked Nicole to help her get to Windrise and request that Collei meet them there to fulfill a wish: to remove Nabu Malikata's remains from her so that the jinni's soul could finally die happy. Collei, wishing to become a normal person, allowed Liloupar to absorb the god remains, and content with the remains of her mistress, she faded away to rest in peace.^[17]

Trivia

• Liloupar is likely based on the Assyrian queen Semiramis, a half-divine daughter of the Syrian goddess Atargatis who is the legendary founder of the city of Babylon. Semiramis' husband, the mythological king Ninus, founded the city of Nineveh, and both Babylon and Nineveh are major inspirations for the city of Gurabad and its lore. Liloupar and Semiramis share similar defining personality traits; various myths and legends regarding Semiramis portrays her as an extremely manipulative figure and schemer who is generally remorseless for the destruction she causes, which is seemingly being reminisced in Liloupar's character. This specific cruel side of the figure is explored in various ways throughout many traditions that diverge from the Greco-Roman and Persian myths around Semiramis.
• Medea appears to be another possible important influence on Liloupar's character and revenge narrative. Both are supernatural women who deeply love a man they help rise to power, only to turn against them after they betray the ideals or relationship that bound them together. Their vengeance is subsequently carried out through the man's family: Medea destroys Jason's new bride and kills their children, while Liloupar manipulates Ormazd's descendants into destroying one another and ultimately brings ruin upon Gurabad. Both also employ deception, prophecy/manipulation, and poison as instruments of revenge.
• Several parts of Ormazd's story derives inspiration from that of the Israelite king David, notably David's anointement as king of Israel by the prophet Samuel, who was sent on a prophetic mission to choose a new king after Saul had fallen out of favor with God; similarly, Liloupar, who possesses prophetic abilities, was sent by King Deshret to find a worthy king among the people, and chose Ormazd. They later went on to defeat Huvashtra the Tyrant, who can only be the Saul stand-in here, despite this narrative highly differing from the one found in the Books of Samuel, where Saul instead kills himself to avoid being captured by the Philistines.
  • Liloupar's revenge against Ormazd and his dynasty also appears to draw on the narrative of David and YHWH in 2 Samuel. Like David, Ormazd is elevated from a humble position to kingship through the favor of a supernatural figure, only to betray the trust placed in him by becoming a corrupt ruler. The resulting punishment is directed not only at the king himself but at his household and descendants, with ruin unfolding across subsequent generations. This closely parallels YHWH's judgment against David after his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, in which David is allowed to live and remain king, but is told that calamity will arise from his own house and that his dynasty will suffer lasting consequences. Liloupar similarly resolves to "hand ruin down from father to son, across three generations," turning Ormazd's own family into the vehicle of his punishment.^[7] 2 Samuel 12:7–10 (NIV): Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
• The Indonesian patch notes for Version 3.3 stated that all instances of "Liloufar" were being changed to "Liloupar." However, this was the only place to directly" mention any adjustment to her name and while newer texts consistently use "Liloupar," The Tale of Shiruyeh and Shirin — which contains the only instances of "Liloufar" and was written before Version 3.3 — remains unchanged in all languages.
• In the original Chinese text, when Liloupar refers to Ferigees as "sister," she uses 姐妹 jiěmèi, a term which is typically used for a person whom the speaker is not familially related to. That said, Paimon and the Traveler sardonically remark on their similar manners of speech being an indication of a familial relation, and there is insufficient information about Jinn to determine whether the two are "family" from a human perspective.

Etymology

• Liloupar could be a combination between Niloufar (Persian: نیلوفر nīlūfar, lit. "Water Lily, Blue Lotus"), also spelled Liloufar,^[18] and its Middle Persian form Nīlōpal.

Gallery

Version 3.4 "The Exquisite Night Chimes" Trailer - Genshin Impact-2

Version "Luna VII" "Truth Amongst the Pages of Purana" Trailer - Genshin Impact

The Next Page The Road Goes on Beyond Farewells 2

Liloupar Icon

Liloupar's mural depiction in Gurabad's Ruin - Temple of Deshret

Mother of the Jinn Avatar

Other Languages

Change History

References