If you’ve spent any time scrolling Genshin Impact fan forums, TikTok edits, or official character reveals, you’ve probably wondered are there black characters in Genshin Impact. As a long-time traveler who’s cleared every Archon quest and leveled up almost every released 4 and 5-star unit, I’ve dug into official lore, developer comments, and community discussions to answer this question as thoroughly as possible. Representation in media, especially global games with tens of millions of players, matters a lot to many fans, so it’s no surprise this question comes up every time HoYoverse teases a new character drop. You don’t have to sift through hundreds of Reddit threads or outdated fan wikis to get accurate, up-to-date answers here.
Are There Black Characters in Genshin Impact? The Short Answer
Yes, there are multiple canon Black characters in Genshin Impact, scattered across different regions of Teyvat. Most of these characters hail from Sumeru, the region inspired by a mix of Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian cultures, though some appear as NPCs in other areas too. It’s important to distinguish between playable units and NPCs here, since many of the first Black characters released were non-playable, before HoYoverse added playable options to the roster. You won’t have to look too hard to find these characters if you’ve played through the Sumeru Archon quests, but some only appear in limited-time event storylines.
- Dehya: A 5-star Pyro claymore user from Sumeru’s desert region, released in Version 3.5. She’s one of the most prominent playable Black characters in the game, with a full personal story quest and a central role in the Sumeru Archon quest arc.
- Candace: A 4-star Hydro polearm user, also from Sumeru’s desert, released in Version 3.1. She’s the guardian of Aaru Village, with deep ties to the region’s ancient king lore.
- Kaeya: While his official lore leaves his exact heritage ambiguous, many fans and official art confirm he is coded as a person of color, with many fans headcanoning him as Black, partially due to his origins in Khaenri’ah.
- Various Sumeru desert NPCs: From Eremite mercenaries to Aaru Village elders, dozens of minor and side NPCs across Sumeru are explicitly designed as Black characters, with distinct cultural references to real-world North African and East African communities.
You don’t have to complete all Sumeru side content to encounter most of these characters, but doing so will give you a much deeper look at their backstories and roles in the region’s long-running conflicts between the rainforest akademiya and desert communities. Many of these characters have wildly different personalities, motivations, and skill sets, so they avoid the flat, one-note stereotypes that often plague diverse character designs in mainstream games.
Common Misconceptions About Genshin Impact’s Black Characters
There’s a lot of misinformation floating around about these characters, especially on social media platforms where short clips are often taken out of context. One of the most common false claims is that Dehya and Candace are “whitewashed” in official art, but that’s usually the result of low-quality fan edits or inconsistent lighting in cutscenes, not official design choices. If you compare their character model previews from official HoYoverse channels, their skin tones are consistent and clearly darker than most other playable characters from regions like Mondstadt and Liyue. Another misconception is that all Black characters in the game are villains or mercenaries, but that’s not true either: Candace is a beloved village protector, and many of the desert NPCs are scholars, healers, and community leaders with positive, nuanced storylines.
You’ll also see people claim Kaeya is not a Black character, and that’s fair to an extent, since HoYoverse has never explicitly confirmed his heritage. But it’s important to respect fan interpretations that align with marginalized player experiences, especially when those interpretations have been widely accepted by the community for years. Some people also argue that there are only two Black playable characters in the game, which is technically true right now, but HoYoverse has dropped hints that more diverse characters are coming in future region updates.
What the Genshin Impact Community Has Said About Representation
As you might expect, the release of Dehya and Candace was met with a lot of excitement from Black Genshin fans who had been asking for more diverse playable characters for years. Many players shared fan art, cosplay plans, and stories about how meaningful it was to see characters that looked like them in a game they loved. That said, there has also been valid criticism from the community, especially around the release of Dehya, who many players felt was underpowered compared to other 5-star characters at launch. A lot of fans saw this as a sign that HoYoverse put less effort into balancing a character targeted at marginalized players, which sparked widespread discussions about how dev teams prioritize different segments of their player base.
HoYoverse has not made any direct changes to Dehya’s kit since her release, but they did add her to the standard banner so all players can get her for free over time, which was a common request from the community. There’s also been ongoing discussion about the lack of Black characters from regions outside Sumeru, with many fans pointing out that Teyvat is a huge, diverse world, and there’s no reason Black characters can’t appear in Mondstadt, Liyue, or Fontaine just as they do in real life. These conversations are almost always respectful, though you will occasionally see bad faith actors trying to stir up drama around representation for clicks.
Future Plans for Diverse Characters in Genshin Impact
HoYoverse has not released any official statements about specific upcoming Black characters, but we can make educated guesses based on upcoming regions and past developer comments. The next region after Fontaine, Natlan, is inspired by pre-Columbian Mesoamerican and West African cultures, so it’s almost guaranteed we’ll see more Black playable characters when that region drops in a future update. If you want to see more diverse characters in the game, the best way to make your voice heard is to leave respectful feedback on official HoYoverse channels, rather than attacking other fans or devs on social media. HoYoverse has a track record of listening to player feedback when it is shared constructively, so your input really can make a difference.
It’s also worth noting that HoYoverse has been getting better at representation with each new region: Sumeru had far more diverse character designs than Liyue or Mondstadt, and Fontaine introduced even more varied skin tones for both playable characters and NPCs. You don’t have to settle for low-effort representation either: players have every right to ask for well-written, powerful characters that feel like real people, not afterthoughts added just to check a diversity box. Another thing to keep in mind is that Genshin Impact is a live service game that is still being updated, so there’s plenty of room for the dev team to add more Black characters, adjust existing character kits, and expand on lore for characters from underrepresented backgrounds in the coming years.
At the end of the day, if you were asking are there black characters in Genshin Impact, the answer is a clear yes, though there is still plenty of room for improvement when it comes to representation in the game. Whether you main Dehya, love Candace’s low-key village guardian vibe, or are holding out for more Black playable characters in future updates, it’s totally valid to care about who you get to play as in a game you spend hours in every week. The community’s feedback over the past few years has already pushed HoYoverse to make small but meaningful changes to its character roster, so there’s good reason to be optimistic about what’s coming next for Teyvat’s diverse cast of characters.