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| “ | Do you think... Do you really think I wanted to do any of this? Pay attention to you? What for!? Have you ever paid attention to me? Ever empathized with my pain? Ever known how it feels to watch the love of your life dissolve right in front of your eyes!? | „ |
| ~ Marcel's villainous breakdown after being exposed by the Traveler. |
Marcel, real name Vacher, is a major antagonist of the 2020 action role-playing fantasy game, Genshin Impact who serves as the main antagonist of the first two acts of the Fontaine Archon Quests and the posthumous antagonist of Furina's Story Quest.
He was a Snezhnayan adventurer who settled in Fontaine and started to study the properties of Primordial Seawater after the death of his lover, Vigneire. He eventually used research of it by the Narzissenkreuz Ordo to formulate a psychedelic drug known as Sinthe by diluting it with normal water, eventually becoming an infamous drug lord in Fontaine.
He was voiced by Tada Keita in Japanese and Tony Waldman in English.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- For 20 years, he kidnapped and serially murdered at least two dozen women an attempt to bring back his lover, Vigneire, after she was dissolved into the Primordial Seawater.
- It is even noted that he treats his subjects as nothing but objects, labelling them as numbered “female specimens.”
- While other human antagonists with similar resources like Nathan and Babel Tanit have did worse, Nathan works for Pierro, the director of the Fatui, and Babel had more associates than Marcel, who only had several Gardemeks and a few associates. In addition, Babel had wider business coverage than his Sinthe trafficking ring, allowing Marcel to be equal with them in heinousness with less resources.
- Even though he frames himself as a tragic victim after being exposed in court, the Oceanid calls him out by saying that his love for Vigneire does not justify any of Marcel's murders.
- In the end, he shows zero remorse for any of his villainous actions.
Background[]
- Started a business to mass produce a psychedelic drug named Sinthe, created from Primordial Seawater diluted with normal water, using the notes from the Cataclysm-era researchers of the Narzissenkreuz Ordo, Rene de Petrichor and Jakob Ingold about the Primordial Seawater.
- Sinthe is a very addictive compound with euphoriant properties but with extremely dangerous withdrawal side effects, which led to the destruction of several families, to the point where Callas, head of the Spina di Rosula, sought to put an end to its trade.
- He hired a Fontainian assassin to murder Jacques when he finds out about his plans, then pins the blame on Callas by dissolving the assassin in Primordial Seawater.
- He was indirectly responsible for Callas’ death as he requested to be slain by Champion Duelist Clorinde to clear his name.
- In case Navia became a further hinderance to his operations, Marcel secretly planned to assassinate her.
- He manipulated a theatre troupe into giving Sinthe to their attendees by offering to be a sponsor for them.
- When the troupe found out what they were doing and instantly backed out, he killed their director, Aurelie, in retaliation.
- Even worse, he did not kill her immediately and forced her to watch as he dissolved other victims before moving on to her.
- He framed or indirectly caused Colter to be sentenced to prison for one of his crimes, resulting in Colter turning on Navia when he found out about Melus' death.
- He even sold the remains of the Fontainians he dissolved to a group of criminals who used the remains to make potions that allowed them to alter their appearance to avoid getting caught for their crimes and even commit identity theft.
Fontaine Archon Quest[]
- He planned to kill a woman named Halsey (actually Liliane, a thief from Mondstadt) with the aid of another criminal named Cowell during Lyney and Lynette’s magic show.
- After Cowell accidently gets killed instead of Liliane, he used Lyney and Lynette's ties to the Fatui through the House of the Hearth to scapegoat both of them for the murder.
- In addition, this later resulted in Fatui Harbinger Tartaglia being falsely accused of the serial murders.
- He dissolves the Garde, Vaughn, with Primordial Seawater in a desperate attempt to try to cover up the secret behind his plans.
- He further attempts to eliminate the Traveler and Navia for revealing his plans by spiking their Fonta drinks with Primordial Seawater. When that plan fails due to the Traveler not being Fontainian and Paimon drinking Navia’s Fonta, Marcel attempts to dispose of them, along with Melus and Silver, with his own army of Gardemeks.
- Upon being exposed in court, he blames Fontaine's justice system for looking the other way when Vigneire was dissolved, while also provoking the audience by stating that those who he dissolved will never return just like her, when it was really his own fault for the experimentations the whole time.
- His death was played for karma as the Oceanid chose not to take on Vigneire out of his disgust for his selfish deeds, drowning his soul upon being confronted at the Fountain of Lucine.
- To add to the fact, nobody, not even Navia, mourns for him.
- Not even Neuvillette with the full extent of his Hydro authority can resurrect people dissolved by the Primordial Sea because their minds have been melded into a hive mind, causing them to continue existing in an undesirable state indefinitely.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- He is shown to genuinely care for Vigenire, begging the Oceanid to show him Vigneire once more and was extremely distraught when she died and when Vigenire refused to see him as an Oceanid.
- While it doesn't justify any of his actions, he can be considered somewhat tragic due to losing Vigenire to the Primordial Seawater which caused him to began serially killing women just to prove that Fontainians can dissolve into the Primordial Seawater which the Marechaussee Hunters at the time of Vigneire's death didn’t believe when he told them about it, as well as believing that he could bring Vigneire back from being dissolved by dissolving other people.
[]
- Marcel on the Villains Wiki
- Marcel on the Genshin Impact Wiki