Yelan/Storyline

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Last edit: Romanoff Blitzer at 2026-07-08 03:49:24 (UTC) (2 months, 3 days, 20 hours ago). If this was over two weeks ago, please contact the editor who placed the tag before removing it.

Yelan is a Liyue intelligence agent that directly answers to Ningguang, handling national security matters behind the scenes.

Profile

Personality

A mysterious person who claims to work for the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but is a "non-entity" on the Ministry of Civil Affairs' List.

—In-game character attributes and profile page text

Yelan is said to be quite secretive and mysterious; while claiming to work for the Ministry of Civil Affairs, she's frequently absent from work most of the year. Despite this, Ningguang tolerates her general absence while Keqing appreciates her work, although the latter wonders as to where she gets her intelligence from. She employs psychological tactics to catch her targets and get all the information she needs from them.

Outside of work, Yelan approaches life at a calm and carefree pace. She frequently enjoys napping whenever possible, but will adjust her schedule as needed for the day's tasks. The reason for this is because of her physical frailty, a hereditary trait within her family. When handling particularly troublesome cases, she tries to save up her energy to complete everything in a single go.

In the presence of others, she is said to be very pleasant and polite. When alone, she's said to show a far different side of her as an extremely reliable, powerful and intelligent woman. She also has a high tolerance for spice, eating raw or dried Jueyun Chilis after deeming Xiangling's spiciest dish not enough for her. She dislikes sweets, claiming that they're too easy to get addicted to and disrupts focus.

Appearance

Yelan uses the tall female model. She has pale skin, light emerald-green eyes, and dark blue hair and asymmetrical bangs that are lighter at the tips.

History

Past

Yelan's ancestors, Boyang and Rongzhao, lived during the cataclysm. Her family was in possession of a priceless heirloom known as the "Fascinating Bracelet," a pair of bracelets that could be turned into a simple communication device through a spell passed in her family. However, she lost one of these during an operation against Pantalone, rendering it impotent. To make up for her loss, she infiltrated one of his secret trade routes and stole a robe made with fur from an ancient beast that the Harbinger had intended to gift the Tsaritsa.^[5]

Yelan would later enter a contract with Ningguang, serving as an intelligence agent for the good of the nation. She established a large network, monitoring everything both inside and outside the nation. This network was also responsible for preventing the Northern Intelligence Network from taking root in Liyue, as Yelan and her associates prevented them from bringing their influence there, regardless of how they approached her.^[6] Through this, Yelan would also become acquainted with Nefer, buying intelligence from her for large amounts of Mora.^[7]

Present

Shortly after the Osial crisis, Yelan had just returned from overseas. The Fatui, who originally held Yanshang Teahouse, were largely out of the game and Yelan used the opportunity to wrestle control of the teahouse from them. The teahouse would serve as a place to gather more intelligence and also some leisure time. This caused the teahouse to gain a notorious reputation in which others were warned not to play against her, lest they lose their savings.^[8]

While the Traveler does not see her at first, Yelan tracked them into the depths of The Chasm, saving them from a Ruin Serpent by firing a charged shot at a crystal above it. This crystal was actually a Celestial Nail, and she left with a smirk after ensuring the Ruin Serpent was destroyed.^[9] This caused the seal to break, which ended up getting Paimon's attention as she asked the Traveler to investigate it. They ran into Yanfei and later Kuki Shinobu and Arataki Itto. Itto began arguing with Yelan, causing the ground to shake and drop them at the depths of the Chasm. She warned Shinobu and Itto to keep their mouths shut before heading off to get her bearings, later returning to the group.^[10] As they came upon a door that revealed their darkest secrets, Yelan refused to enter the door, stating that she would have to kill everyone if she did due to her work with Ningguang.^[11] The group finally came upon a mirage of the Fantastic Compass, with Yelan and Xiao working together to manipulate its energies to let them escape back to the surface.^[12]

After the events in the Chasm, Yelan was contacted by Uncle Tian, who felt ill and decided to find a successor to succeed him as the Tianshu. Yelan agreed to help Tian pick a successor from his trained disciples, Qianwei, Mingbo and Zhiyi. From the initial assessment, the Traveler believed that Zhiyi was the ideal candidate, but Yelan told them that their appearances might not match their motives. As such, she called several associates to investigate their backgrounds, though the associate sent to investigate Zhiyi, Wupei, was missing, so she decided to do it herself. They soon found significant anomalies in Zhiyi's alibi, and she declared him the winner in order to lower his guard. Zhiyi was later found to have colluded with the Fatui to take Tian's position for himself, but also deceived them as he knew they could not have an influence in Liyue. Knowing that did not fully commit to the plan, Yelan offered Zhiyi assistance, who agreed to her terms. She also expressed regret that she could not grab Theofan, as Pantalone had gotten involved and had him taken away before she could act.^[13]

During a Lantern Rite, Yelan was investigating a string of burglaries that involved an ancient tune to intimidate people into fleeing without a fight. With the Traveler's assistance, they nabbed the suspect, Fujing, and Yelan reprimanded the Treasure Hoarder for taking advantage of a fear that he had once been paralyzed to. She gave him a few hints remarking that he could have made an honest life before taking him into custody.^[14]

Having had some time to spare, Yelan attempted to take a vacation in Fontaine but these plans were derailed when a crime syndicate began using Liyue goods in the black market. She collaborated with Edler, and over the course of two months, they destroyed most of Rovere Pellicia's syndicate. The investigation spread across both Liyue and Fontaine, during which they learned an auction was planning to take place in Hotel Debord. The Dark Financier, wishing to cut his losses, hired a Treasure Hoarder known as Scamface to blow the ship up, but the plot was foiled by the Traveler and Yelan. As auction day approached, Yelan changed her outfit to the Tranquil Banquet and monitored the attendees, focusing on a man named Diderot. With all suspects handled, Diderot, an unassuming victim, agreed to help bring his boss to Yelan. They confronted Rovere at the outskirts of the Court of Fontaine, who expressed anger at her for destroying his life. Yelan fought Rovere and his Clockwork Meka alone, successfully defeating him and coldly castigated him as a nobody who would rot away in a cell for the rest of his life. Edler and two Gardes arrived to take him into custody, concluding the case.^[15]

In another Lantern Rite, Yelan was investigating an unusual case of illnesses in Qingce Village. This was later attributed to an abnormal fetor growth, and Ningguang had tasked her with heading into the border. Fortunately, the Traveler's arrival ensured this did not happen, and Ningguang had her go to the Gate of Injury, which was in the Chasm.^[16]

Yelan would accompany Keqing into investigating a strange Ley Line anomaly at Qiongji Estuary. When she and her team went in, they found various monsters and items, but as they went deeper, they found themselves getting weaker and the monsters more stronger. The Traveler, who was informed by the Adventurers' Guild, arrived and helped them quell the waves of enemies.^[17]

Following the events of the Nod-Krai quest series, Yelan was tasked with dismantling an international syndicate which had been equipped with advanced weaponry, resulting in numerous attacks across Fontaine and Liyue that the authorities were unable to quell. She went with Beidou to Nasha Town in order to find the supplier, running into Chevreuse, who was also looking for the mastermind. At first, Yelan suspected Aino due to her dabbling in machinery, but she and Chevreuse later ruled her out as she was too confused to understand what was going on. As the Traveler walked in on the trio, they told them that they would have to report them to Nefer. Yelan agreed to go with them, correctly anticipating that Nefer had predicted such a scenario in the first place. Nefer informed the two that she could not let them apprehend people at the expo, but could technically do so if they bargained outside the expo's jurisdiction.^[18] Using a pincer trap, both the Liyue and Fontainian authorities managed to capture a large amount of spies, but they soon discovered that the prototype ballistae had been stolen. Suspecting Ashvapati, Yelan told Chevreuse that she would track him down and allow the Gardes to apprehend him when the time was right.^[19] She soon tracked his hideout, where they discovered Ashvapati had his own motives. They met the arms dealers at the meeting point, where she explained to him how weaponry could be repurposed into entertainment, citing fireworks as an example and closing the case.^[20]

Trivia

• The bracelet on Yelan's right arm glows blue when her Breakthrough ability is ready.
• Yelan is seen wielding the unascended version of Aqua Simulacra in many quests and cutscenes, such as her cameo in The Chasm Delvers, throughout Perilous Trail, and near the end of her Story Quest, as well as Version 2.7 artwork, her Character Demo, and Collected Miscellany.
• The die thrown in her idle animation can give any of the six possible rolls at random.

Etymology

• Yelan's name, 夜兰 Yèlán means "night orchid."
• The Chinese name of her constellation, 幽客座 Yōukè-zuò, literally means the "Shadowy Guest Constellation." The character 幽 yōu can also be alternately translated as "remote," "concealed," or "tranquil."
  • In Imperial China, 幽客 was another term for hermit scholars (隐士 yǐnshì).
  • This may also be a reference to the Chinese literary work 西溪丛语 Xīxī Cóngyǔ, "Collected Sayings of the Western Creek", written by the Song Dynasty scholar Yao Kuan (姚宽), which has a section describing thirty flowers as thirty types of guests. In it, orchids are called 幽客 "shadowy guests."^[21]
• Yelan's Chinese title, 兰生幽谷 Lán Shēng Yōugǔ, "Orchid Grows in the Dark Ravine" is derived from the idiom 兰生幽谷，不以无人而不芳 lit. "Orchids growing in the dark ravine will not cease their fragrance for a lack of people."

References