Wow, would you look at that - we have new artwork for the upcoming Genshin Impact livestream that shows off Varka in all his glory, alongside not one, but two new male characters! Pigs may actually be flying.
Today, socials announced the date, time, and artwork for the next special program, titled "Homeward, he Who Caught the Wind". It's Genshin Impact Varka's time to shine, after being an anticipated character for so many years - though it seems he's not alone. For a start, Diluc is on the poster (for the first time since the game's 1.0 release, by the way), along with an as-yet-unnamed character and what appears to be an enemy.
We can use some deduction to figure out who at least one of these new guys is, though. If you're not a fan of leaks - look away now. The character behind Varka to the left is most likely Lohen, a leaked character said to be on the standard banner upon release. You can't see too much on the poster, so we can't confirm what stature he has or see a vision.
His name is already in the game, as he's the Vice Captain of the Knights of Favonius' Fifth Company, with Varka having mentioned him recently. He also states that Lohen is "tougher than himself", so we're expecting some beefy stats - though given that Varka's kit is pretty lacklustre, it won't be hard to out-damage the Grand Master himself, sadly.
As for the other figure, on the right-hand side of the graphic, there's a masked man wearing an outfit that looks very similar to the Bloodstained Chivalry artifact set pieces. According to in-game lore, the Bloodstained Knight himself is called Roland, so it makes sense that it's him appearing on the poster. Leaks have suggested Roland's weapon type is a sword, though it doesn't quite suggest that he'll be playable. Most likely, he'll be an NPC in the story and not join the roster, like Nod-Krai's antagonists Rerir and Dottore.
A sad day for us husbando collectors, to be sure, but we're about to get Varka to add to our muscle-bound lineups - even if he may not be able to clear endgame content without a very specific team. Still, two new male characters in one drop? After the dry 5.0 patch, where we only got Kinich as a male five-star - I still only have one copy of Ifa, too - I'm not mad.