Another Genshin Impact character seems to have leaked before developer miHoYo could officially announce the new addition to the roster. The supposed character, Yelan, hails from Liyue and is said to have a connection to Fu Hua from miHoYo’s other game, Honkai Impact. But just how legitimate are these leaks? And when might Yelan grace us with her presence? Here’s all that and more.

A datamined cutscene shared on YouTube on September 9 seems to reveal footage of Yelan, showing off her intriguing design — along with the juicy rumors surrounding her links to some familiar faces from the main Genshin story.

As we count our Primogems in anticipation, here’s everything we know about Yelan in Genshin Impact.

When is the Genshin Impact Yelan release date?

MiHoYo has not yet confirmed this character will join the game at any point, so we don’t yet have a concrete release date for her. That said, based on previous leaks, we can make some educated estimates.

Yelan is rumored to be a five-star character, and she’ll arrive at the earliest with Version 2.4, which comes on January 5, 2021 (assuming miHoYo keeps to the schedule of updating the game every 42 days).

The upcoming livestream event for Version 2.4 will debut soon, where we’ll find out if Yelan will join the Genshin Impact roster as part of 2022’s first Genshin Impact update.

What are the Genshin Impact Yelan leaks?

There have only been two concrete leaks relating to Yelan so far. The first occurred in July 2021 when the dataminer Dimbreath found her name in the code. In September 2021, Yelan was identified by the leaker UBatcha as a background character in a datamined cutscene. She’s wielding a polearm in this scene.

Yelan will be a bow-wielder, according to leaker Project Celestia. It was believed that crossbows would be a new weapon type, but it turns out this is not the case, as Yelan will only use a bow.

Is Yelan in Genshin Impact related to Fu Hua from Honkai Impact?

Upon Yelan’s debut in the leaked video, certain players drew visual comparisons between her and a popular character from Honkai Impact named Fu Hua. Currently, it’s unknown if Yelan is related to Fu Hua in any capacity or if miHoYo drew from the Genshin Impact sister game to design Yelan.

It’s unlikely that the similarities between Fu Hua and Yelan will be present in the 3D model.

Certain Genshin Impact characters have used similar designs to Honkai Impact characters. For example, the Anemo Archon Venti is a ringer for the Wind Herrscher from Honkai Impact, Wendy. Similarly, Raiden Shogun is visually similar to the Thunder Herrscher, Raiden Mei. When similarities happen, they seem very intentional.

Archons and Herreschers are among the most powerful forces in Genshin and Honkai, respectively. While this connection is small, it has been used to theorize the future of both series.

Unless Yelan is planned to have a large role in the future of Genshin Impact, giving them a visual connection to Fu Hua would undermine things previously established in the relationship between Genshin and Honkai. It’s likely just a coincidence they look similar in this specific shot.

What is the Genshin Impact Yelan story?

We don’t yet know how Yelan will fit into the Genshin Impact story, but there are some theories out there.

One theory is that Yelan is a younger Madame Ping. This is based primarily on that Yelan seems to be holding the Cleansing Bell.

Another theory suggests Yelan is the human form of the Adeptus known as Cloud Retainer. If the video is to be trusted, Cloud Retainer has a color scheme similar to Yelan’s.

Cloud Retainer was allegedly previously planned to become a playable character named Shenli, who was revealed in a data-mine. Yelan could be miHoYo’s second attempt at designing the character. We previously saw miHoYo perform major character redesigns with Mimi, who is believed to have become the Inazuma character, Kokomi.