Parsifal

Parsifal,^[1] also referred to as the Phantom Thief and later as the Skipper's Chief Mate,^[3] was a Mondstadt aristocrat who lived during the time of the Mondstadt Aristocracy one thousand years ago. He was a legitimate heir to Landrich and brother to the illegitimate heir Eberhart and legitimate heir Ingbert.

His chivalric nature and desire for justice, egged on by Eberhart,^[1] led him to become a vigilante who targeted his fellow aristocrats. Eberhart would eventually turn on him, forcing him to flee to Liyue in disgrace. He joined the Skipper's crew and eventually met his end in battle against the sea monster that the Skipper sought to take revenge on.

Parsifal was the wielder of The Alley Flash, Alley Hunter, and Iron Sting, and fictionalized accounts of his and his lover's, the Blue-Eyed Spear Witch's, story can be found in Wine and Song and Heart's Desire: Sapphire. His ultimate fate after his exile from Mondstadt is detailed in Heart of Depth.

Story

When he was younger, Parsifal was known for his disobedience and love of chivalric play-acting^[1] which he developed from reading the tales and songs of his ancestors.^[2] Eberhart incited him to achieve his dream of becoming a phantom thief^[4] and Parsifal stole a sword from his own family's vault and left his noble house to hide among the streets.^[2]

Vigilantism and Downfall

After that point he roamed the city like a commoner and used his swordsmanship to rob the rich nobles and give the goods to the poor commoners. At the time people feared to light fires during nighttime, so he was able to hide easily.^[2] Sometime along the way he acquired a bow and used it in his robberies, which he was quite successful at, causing much fear and rage among the nobles.^[5] At least some of his stolen goods he gave or sold to a mysterious shopkeeper that collected rare items.^[6] The commoners loved him, but he would rather drink with friends than care for romance. That is, until a certain night when he was leaving a mansion with stolen goods and noticed a woman in a window whose eyes were as blue as the gem in the silver cup he had just stolen. Struck by her beauty, he climbed up to her, pried the blue gem out of the silver cup and gave it to her as a gift. This woman was the Blue-Eyed Spear Witch.^[7]

Unfortunately, this blue gem had the crest of the ruling family on it, and when the woman's master found out she had it, she was punished, which caused her to become angry at Parsifal despite still being in love with him.^[6] The next time they met, she warned that someday she would pay him back for the scars inflicted on her due to his actions,^[3] and they seemingly never met again. It's unknown whether the nobles had any idea what the true identity of the phantom thief was, but he continued stealing from nobles in Mondstadt for a long time.

Eberhart eventually deceived Parsifal in some way, forcing him to flee Mondstadt so that Eberhart could usurp his legitimacy.^[4] Parsifal buried the sword he had used as a phantom thief and then fled across the sea.^[2]

Aftermath and Death

Words that cannot be sung... Have I also forsaken the truth for illusions?
Having lost it all, and given it all up, and then sinking beneath the waves...
...Maybe this isn't the worst of endings, after all. Hahahahaha!

—Parsifal, before his death^[3]

Despondent over his brother's deception and his failure to reconcile with his lover, Parsifal fled to Liyue with only the slim sword known as Iron Sting and a blue feather. Depressed, he eventually became an alcoholic who drowned himself in the demon drink to forget his past. At some point, he fell in with the Skipper and became his Chief Mate despite his alcoholic tendencies. When the Skipper went to get revenge against a sea monster for his old crew, Parsifal followed. They managed to slay the sea monster at the cost of their own lives.^[3]

Parsifal would never discover that Eberhart used the Blue-Eyed Spear Witch's love for him to eventually slay her.^[4][8] The people of Mondstadt, who never learned the true ending to Parsifal and the Blue-Eyed Spear Witch's tragic relationship, wrote songs that gave them a happy ending as a motivational tale.^[7]

Some five hundred years after their deaths, Parsifal and the Blue-Eyed Spear Witch were used as the basis for a play written by the Fontainian playwright Coppelius. This play inspired the stage names for the magician Parsifal the Great and her sister-and-assistant, Josephine.^[9]

Trivia

• While not all its details fit, The Exile may be another rendition of Parsifal's story, or was the basis for it.
• Parsifal is also the titular hero of Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal, which is an adaptation of a Germanic epic poem.
• Parsifal robbing the rich and giving to the poor is likely a reference to Robin Hood, a figure from English folklore who is most associated with this stance; like Parsifal, he also had done this to fight against tyranny.

Gallery

Genius Invokation TCG

Heart of Depth

Wine-Stained Tricorne

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References