Sigewinne/Storyline

Sigewinne is the Head Nurse of the Fortress of Meropide. A Melusine, Sigewinne's human-like state is a result of wishing to save her human friend through a spell learned by her master.

Profile

Personality

A Melusine and the Fortress of Meropide's head nurse. She cares equally for every convict locked in the undersea prison.

—In-game character attributes and profile page text

Sigewinne is extremely kind and wanting to help others wherever possible. When the Melusines first explored Fontaine, they were initially treated as monsters by the locals, but she managed to befriend a young girl and learned medical skills from a doctor willing to teach her. Sigewinne's determination in helping others culminated when her human friend became sick, but her parents shunned her because she was a Melusine. Not wanting to leave her friend to die, she willingly gave up her Melusine form to become more of a human with a special potion. After being sentenced to the Fortress of Meropide for breaking an ancient law, she chose to remain behind after her sentence was lifted to help its inhabitants, making her universally beloved.

Unlike other Melusines, Sigewinne has a more intricate understanding of humanity due to understanding the concept of death, which the Melusine race is exempt to. She also understands that there are illnesses that cannot be cured, but she does her best to take care of her patients nonetheless.

As a Melusine, Sigewinne has naturally increased hearing and eyesight, allowing her to discern traits that other people might miss. Likewise, her food is considered "unique," with Wolsey, Wriothesley and Escoffier showing an aversion to her food, especially her milkshakes.

Appearance

Sigewinne uses the short female model. Sigewinne is a Melusine,^[6] sharing a similar body type to the rest of her sisters, although she has a uniquely human-like complexion and set of hands.^[7][8] In comparison, her pink eye color, tall blue ears with frosted tips and curled tail are much more reminiscent of a typical Melusine seen around Fontaine. Her hair color is pastel blue fading to a purple with white highlights.

History

Past

As with all Melusines, Sigewinne was born from Elynas. She is one of the more older Melusines, having been born over 400 years ago.

Sigewinne was curious about the human world and was one of the few Melusines who chose to venture outside Merusea Village. This was in a time when the Melusines were viewed with suspicion, and Sigewinne was not treated well by most people. In spite of the persecution, Sigewinne persisted and eventually met a doctor (calling her the "witch") who was willing to teach her the true meaning of medicine. They worked together for some time, and Sigewinne learned from the doctor that some illnesses were not curable. As she struggled to think of an answer, the doctor dropped the matter.^[9]

During their travels, Sigewinne befriended a young human girl. The girl later became sick and Sigewinne tried to treat her, but her parents, who were among those who distrusted the Melusines, refused to allow her to do so. Worried over her plight, Sigewinne learned from her teacher the truth that Fontaine's humans originated from Oceanids. Believing that a Melusine's composition was similar to a human's, the doctor had made a potion that could transfigure Fontainians before dissolving. Sigewinne took the potion and gained a human appearance, successfully treating her friend. However, doing so also broke an ancient Fontainian rule which prohibited the forced transformation of a species into human, which was intended to keep Egeria's secret hidden.^[10] As such, Neuvillette sentenced Sigewinne to the Fortress of Meropide, but after seeing the suffering inside first-hand, Sigewinne decided to remain as the prison's Head Nurse, treating the patients with the kindness and care her teacher had taught her, making her universally beloved by its inhabitants. Her human friend eventually visited her, recognizing her right away despite her change.

While in prison, Sigewinne treated a prisoner named "Oldstone," a Fontainian who was nearing death. Oldstone initially refused Sigewinne's treatments, believing his end was near, but Sigewinne convinced him to let her treat him by claiming to cure his inability to last until his fated day. With her treatment, Oldstone managed to see his family a final time before passing away, who thanked her with gifts. As Sigewinne was planning to give them to the prisoners, she discovered a Hydro Vision and kept it.^[11]

Sigewinne witnessed the previous wardens overthrown by Wriothesley and continued to serve him as she did all the previous wardens. He made it clear that there was a hidden rule involving her and her infirmary; being mean to her would result in "extra" harsh punishment, with particularly violent newcomers being warned about her upon being admitted to the prison.^[12] She also witnessed many prisoners overwork themselves for Credit Coupons and decided to make an invigorating meal for them. Unfortunately, due to how Melusines perceived items, the meal in question was considered foul to humans, who refused to eat it. When she tried to make it for her first inmate, the prisoner was terrified and refused to eat it. She insisted on having the meal prepared, and as such, tasked Wolsey with preparing the meals on her behalf. While Wolsey questioned the ingredients, he nonetheless agreed to help her under the condition that no one saw her deliveries to him.^[13]

Present

The Traveler first meets Sigewinne as Wriothesley showed them and Paimon around the prison. They shared a meal at the Coupon Cafeteria, where she took a proper look at both and found them "cute."^[14] When she saw the Traveler work for two days straight at the Production Zone, she issued them her special meal.^[15]

Having met Lyney and his siblings at the prison, who had been infiltrated it, the two groups decided to learn more about Sigewinne. The Traveler faked an illness, prompting Sigewinne to treat them. She found nothing unusual but advised them to take a rest. She had already discerned that the Traveler had been faking it, but played along with the act.^[16] The Traveler and Lyney later confronted Wriothesley in his office, and when the latter tried to rush him, Sigewinne fired a tranquilizer from her gun to deescalate the situation. Clorinde later arrived with an unconscious Freminet, who had been caught by Primordial Sea-tainted water. Sigewinne diagnosed the symptoms and reassured Lyney that she would treat him, ordering them to the infirmary and taking Lynette with her on the way.^[17] She accompanied the Traveler back to the office, allowing them to speak with Wriothesley while she took Clorinde away for a diagnosis.^[18]

Sigewinne then treated the Traveler and Clorinde to another meal, giving them some milkshakes which they did not enjoy. She was relieved to see they were relaxed, explaining how she could perceive smaller details as a Melusine, though she hoped that Neuvillette would come and visit some day.^[19] When the prison's sluice gates broke, Neuvillette arrived to seal them. She asked the Traveler if they were okay, explaining that she was treating the injured. She asked them to stay a few days, wishing to observe them more and found their smiles contagious.^[20]

Neuvillette later heard that someone had ordered a hit on the Melusine Kiara and decided to personally investigate the matter himself. Sigewinne was surprised to see him at the prison and informed Wriothesley, later catching up with Neuvillette and informing him that he had found the suspect, Domenico. When Domenico admitted to putting the hit out to scare her, Wriothesley promised to deal with him later and had Sigewinne return him to his cell.^[21]

The Traveler's "sentence" at the prison eventually expired, and Sigewinne accompanied Wriothesley in escorting them out to the surface.^[22] She was later called during Furina's trial, examining the Hydro Archon after she dipped her hands in some Primordial Water, stating that she had the same reaction any other Fontainian would.^[23] The Traveler later met with Sigewinne after the prophecy cleared, where she tried to offer some new milkshakes to the group. Later, she spoke with Wriothesley, expressing disappointment he did not participate in a photo shoot, but also expressed content for using Jurieu and Lourvine as shields from prying eyes.^[24]

Wriothesley later had Sigewinne go out to the surface for a vacation, and the Traveler discovered her at the Court of Fontaine. Paimon asked about her heritage, and Sigewinne told them that she was a Melusine and chose to retain her human form ever since she changed herself, explaining her story to them. During the outing, they run into Rawat from the Fontaine Research Institute, who was marketing a new potion. Sigewinne analyzed it and found it to be of high-quality but could use some refinement, promising to create a better version. They then returned to the prison, where she resumed her duties and treated various inmates, learning from them that they were seeing their doppelgangers. The chaos resulted in some prisoners using it to escape, and Sigewinne asked to join the investigation, which Wriothesley permitted. They headed to Rawat's house, simply finding a sickly woman in bed. Sigewinne treated her the best she could and found a map detailing the location of the factory. Inside, they discovered the escaped prisoners and Rawat, who tried to suffocate them with poison gas. Sigewinne negotiated their release with a potion that would not use Primordial Water, and they pursued him to his house. The case was closed and Sigewinne later had the Traveler accompany her to the Morte Region to pay respects to her teacher. She also revealed a potion that could restore her original appearance, but she preferred her current form and destroyed the potion with them.^[25]

When the Wingalet was docked in Fontaine's waters, Sigewinne learned of the Traveler's plans to create an aquarium from Sandrone, and she agreed to help out as a consultant. Since she had some experience from the Chevalmarin Film Fantasyland, Sigewinne decided to apply the knowledge to the wild fish, though she discovered that some were more aggressive than others. She suggested that the aggressive fish be placed in the tanks to relax while investigating the cause behind their unusual aggression.^[26] Through further investigation, they discovered that the unnatural aggression stemmed from their habitats being ruined from shipwrecks and illegal dumping. Sigewinne began preparing plans to restore the waters to their natural state, such as increasing public awareness.^[27] In the end, most of the debris had been dealt with and Sigewinne submitted a report to the Palais Mermonia, where an expert would draft up relevant regulations and notify the appropriate agencies, while public awareness of underwater environment began to grow.^[28]

Trivia

• Similar to other Melusines, Sigewinne seems to have physical characteristics similar to nudibranch sea slugs, whose sensory organs (called rhinophores) are similar to long ears.
• Menthe has mentioned that Sigewinne invites members of the Marechaussee Phantom to drink tea with her in "her infirmary," but doesn't want them to work there for long unless they change paths to medical work. According to Menthe, this is because those "underwater" were sent there by the Phantom, and likely wouldn't want to see uniformed Melusines.
• The Vasari Passage Advertisement Board features a note from a Beauty and Skincare column that states Sigewinne will be hosting a lecture.
  • The wording of this message implies that Sigewinne used to host lectures but hasn't done so for quite some time.

Etymology

• Sigewinne may be named after Sigeminne (also rendered as Siegeminne), a figure from the Middle High German epic poems Ortnit and Wolfdietrich. In these stories, Sigeminne is a half-snake, half-woman being, comparable to the Melusine of European folklore.
  • This interpretation is supported by the name of her friend, the fellow Melusine Ottnit, who appears as an NPC in her infirmary and shares her name with King Ortnit from the same epics.
• Alternatively, the name Sigewinne may derive from the character's original Chinese name (希格雯, pronounced Xī gé wén), which appears to be a phonetic rendering of the Germanic name Sigwin. The English localization may have adapted the name from this transliteration, stylizing it as Sigewinne rather than the simpler Sigwin.

Other Languages

Character Title: Wondrous Dragonheir

References