The Witch of Purple Roses, Lisa Minci, is one of the precious few free to play characters available to all players in Genshin Impact. She also holds the distinction of acting as the official librarian of Mondstadt, overseeing the book collection located in the Knights of Favonius' headquarters. When she isn't perusing the more fascinating tomes in the library's restricted section, Lisa enjoys napping, shirking, flirting, and using her Electro Vision in Genshin Impact to electrocute those who abuse or fail to return her books.
Her fondness for roses is an accurate reflection of her character: beautiful, seemingly demure and delicate, but with a prickly temperament that demands both caution and respect. She also has an intriguing history that Genshin Impact only gives players a glimpse of.
While a librarian isn't the sort of position most people would associate knights, it's important to remember that Mondstadt is a city that has a cavalry captain but no horses, and a force of Outriders consisting of a single girl. It's also worth noting that as much as she abhors hard labor (or moderate labor, or minor inconveniences), Lisa's skills with electricity make her a formidable ally for the knights. And if her appearances in the Windblume Festival quests are any indication, she takes particular relish in shocking troublemakers.
While her stats and skills are unfortunately outpaced by certain 4 and 5-star characters, Genshin Impact's Lisa can still be devastating in combat with the right build and a bit of practice, even without 5-star weaponry. Those looking to kit out the languid librarian for combat should seek out Thundering Fury artifacts to boost her electro-damage. Other stats to watch for are Elemental Mastery and energy recharge, as her elemental burst takes a while to warm up, but it has a huge AOE and decent duration, making it easy to trigger Electro reactions.
Sumeru Academia's Finest
Sumeru Academia is the greatest institution of magical learning in Teyvat (that has been referenced thus far), and Lisa holds the distinction of being the college's finest graduate in two-centuries. The specific exploits that earned her that title are unclear, though her character stories mention that she has an enormous breadth and depth of knowledge, allowing her to speak on almost any topic. It can also be deduced that Lisa is a fair hand at alchemy, seeing how one of her character talents provides players with a chance to produce potions without consuming all of the reagents.
So why did a famous scholar decide to abandon her studies for a humble position as a librarian/lady knight? In short, Lisa saw what unchecked academia can do to people. She saw several of her masters wandering the wilds of Sumeru, driven mad in their pursuit of magical wisdom. Meanwhile, other experts would take seats on impotent advisory councils, only for all their wisdom and expertise to fall upon deaf ears. Presented with a choice between obsessive, blind study, and wrestling with the mire of academic politics, Lisa kissed Sumeru's ivory tower goodbye in favor of a quiet and easy life in Mondstadt.
This mix of pragmatic ease and fierce intelligence have earned Lisa many admirers in Genshin Impact's fan community, including some very skilled cosplayers.
Recommended Reads
Unsurprisingly, Genshin Impact's Mondstadt hosts a great number of books in its library, many of which are required to complete certain achievements, like those needed for the Mortal Travails Series I. Some notable volumes from the library include the entire Hex and Hound series, most of The Fox in the Dandelion Sea, as well as most of The Boar Princess series. Each of these book series develop the history of Mondstadt and some of its famous families, delivered through amusing short stories.
Hex & Hound tells the story of Dietrich, one of the lords from the Lawrence family, which was a corrupt aristocratic clan that ruled over early Mondstadt, prior to Vennessa's rebellion. The Boar Princess chronicles the natural of history of the region through a nursery-rhyme-like story for children. And The Fox in the Dandelion Sea details the legend that the young child, Sage, speaks of outside of Mondstadt's front gate.
Library Regulars
Even though the library is Lisa's responsibility alone, she has delegated various duties such as restocking, fetching returns, and other busy work to various nights including Huffman, Swan, and Flora. In the end, the only work that Lisa personally sees to is categorizing, curating, and studying books and documents. Outside of the Genshin Impact's Windblume festival, when the library becomes a crowded spot for infatuated couples, the library is usually quiet and mostly empty. But Ella Musk, the little girl who aspires to speak with Hillichurls, is a frequent presence in Mondstadt's library, as she is either researching or studying Hillichurlian.
Genshin Impact is available now for mobile devices, PC, and PlayStation 4, with a PlayStation 5 and Switch release forthcoming.
