Wriolette

Wriolette is the slash ship between Neuvillette and Wriothesley from the Genshin Impact fandom.

Canon
The first time Neuvillette and Wriothesley meet is in court where Wriothesley was tried for murder. The trial was very short since Wriothesley confessed immediately, so it had most likely lasted less than an hour. Years later, Neuvillette and Wriothesley meet again and Neuvillette helps Wriothesley earn the title of "Duke of Fortress of Meropide", and fight for his reputation. The first time that Wriothesley publicly wears his vision the first to comment on it is Neuvillette who, according to Wriothesley, seemed almost happier than him.

Chapter IV: Act III
In Act 3 of the Fontaine Archon quest ("To the Stars Shining in the Depths"), Neuvillette describes Wriothesley as "shrewd". He tells Paimon and the Traveler that he is the highest ranking manager of the underwater prison, and suggests that they avoid any confrontation with him.

When the Traveler and Paimon meet Wriothesley, he says he personally welcomes them only because they are acquaintances of Neuvillette. Wriothesley and Neuvillette have "personal dealings", according to Neuvillette, and a relationship of mutual respect and trust. Wriothesley responds most notably to Neuvillette probably due to the fact that Neuvillette was the one who helped Wriothesley in gaining his now reputation and fixing his old mistakes.

Diluvies Chapter
During Neuvillette's story quest, there's a file on his desk the player can look into, which is titled "About Wriothesley". According to the file, Wriothesley was sent to trial for probably clandestine fights and was tried by Neuvillette who, after Wriothesley's quick confession, remained silent for a long period of time.

Character Voicelines
"Wriothesley is a trustworthy man. I fought hard for the title and reputation he now has. I expect you to think that I've simply been duped by his flattery and appearance of loyalty... But to that, I would quote the Inazuman proverb: "The words unspoken are the flower." Which means, some things are best left unsaid."

- Neuvilette's voiceline about Wriothesley "I was once summoned by Neuvillette to discuss some matters with him in his office. When I approached the Palais Mermonia, I saw him standing by the road, completely drenched in the rain. I held out an umbrella for him, and while he thanked me politely, his expression was a little... distressed, I guess. I can only assume that I had disturbed him in the middle of something."

- Wriothesley's voiceline about Neuvillette

Fanon
The ship began when Neuvillette and Wriothesley were leaked as the only two tall males in the Fontaine lineup. Although not much was known about them during that time, people thought they gave off enemies to lovers or old married couple vibes. The two also have contrasting designs, Wriothesley is messy, asymmetrical, and red, while Neuvillette is clean, symmetrical, and blue. Many fans also think they resembled Gepard and Sampo, a popular Honkai Star Rail ship. All of this made quite a few people ship them. Shippers also liked to joke about the two of them getting married in the Fontaine story. This led to fans creating fanart, fanfiction, and memes even though the two characters hadn’t been released yet.

Once the Overture Teaser was released, along with the JP voice actors, the ship gained even more popularity. Especially since fans noticed Wriothesley’s JP voice actor is Daisuke Ono, while Neuvillette’s is Hiroshi Kamiya. Ono and Kamiya are close friends and are known for voicing popular slash pairings. A few examples are Erwin and Levi, and Shizuo Heiwajima and Izaya Orihara respectively.

In the teaser, Wriothesley was seen with Sigewinne, making lots of people headcanon them having a father and daughter relationship. Shippers have also added Neuvillette to the headcanon, making Sigewinne their child. This headcanon is further supported with Neuvillette's voiceline about Sigewinne.

A lot of fanworks depict Wriothesley asking out/flirting with Neuvillette. Recently, there has also been a lot of fanart showing Wriothesley being protective of Neuvillette because of this tweet. In fanworks, their personalities are mostly portrayed as opposites, with Wriothesley being the teasing and playful one while Neuvillette is the serious and responsible one. This is mostly because of past leaks, which show Neuvillette with a serious expression and Wriothesley with a smug smile. Although the leaks were inevitable to change and now we can see in their marketing, both Wriothesley and Neuvillette have a serious expression. This made some people portray them that way instead.

The ship has become extremely popular in the fandom due to Wriothesley's flirt with Neuvillette and their strong bond, regarding each other as one of the few important people in their lives and also the bond that formed between them years after the Wriothesley trial.

Currently, Wriolette is the most popular Fontaine ship on AO3. On the website, they have 800+ fanfics.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION


 * TWITTER

Trivia

 * In the 4.1 preview page, Wriothesley and Neuvillette have an animation together where they are in an office together at night, they seem to be dodging each other's gaze.
 * Neuvillette's least favorite dish is BBQ meat without sauce, Wriothesley's special dish is BBQ meat with a special sauce
 * During the 4.1 cutscene, Wriothesley and Clorinde try to contain the primordial water in a tense scene but as soon as Neuvillette arrives Wriothesley seems to calm down immediately.
 * Despite the Fortress of Meropide being quite detached from the outside world, we know that Wriothesley and Neuvillette see each other quite often in Neuvillette's office.
 * In a scene, when Neuvillette says he's pretty sure he doesn't need help, Wriothesley responds with a "Wooow~" which according to fans in all versions of the game seems like flirting.
 * Immediately after, he also looks at Neuvillette from top to bottom which makes it seem like he's "checking out" Neuvillette.
 * Neuvillette says he avoids having personal relationships, despite this, he very often says he has a personal relationship with Wriothesley.
 * Wriothesley once covered Neuvillette from the rain by sharing his umbrella and Neuvillette kindly thanked him.
 * So far, we know that Wriothesley is the only human with whom Neuvillette shares an intimate bond.