Arlebina

Arlebina is the femslash ship between Arlecchino and Columbina from the Genshin Impact fandom.

Canon
Arlecchino and Columbina are both members of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers. Both of them make their first ever appearance during Teyvat Chapter Interlude Teaser: A Winter Night's Lazzo, alongside their fellow Harbingers. Little is known of the relationship between both characters, since they have not been released yet and they only appear in that teaser currently. However, since all the Harbingers are based in characters of the Italian theater Commedia Dell'Arte, many fans have started to make parallels with the play with Columbina and Arlecchino, since they are sometimes lovers and sometimes best friends in the original play as well as the british theatrical play.

Harlequin (or Arlecchino) is often considered the main figure of the Commedia Dell'Arte. In the original theatrical play, Arlecchino is a man, although he is one of the few characters to be played by both men and women, and he was a clumsy servant and clown, often described as agile and roguish. He was also described as being amoral without being vicious, and, unlike his fellow commedia servants, he did not hold a grudge or seek revenge against those who tricked or cheated him, which seems to be the opposite of the Genshin version of the character.

Columbina was the handmaiden of the daughter of the Venetian merchant Pantalone. She was married to Pierrot, but she was utterly enchanted by Arlecchino's adventures and so she fell in love with him and became his mistress. It was common at the Commedia dell'Arte for Columbina to sing and dance to get Arlecchino's attention, and she also uses disguises to get to her objective. Curiously, Columbina is shown singing in the teaser where she appears for the first time. In the british version of the play, Pantalone plays the role as Columbina's father who tries to separate the lovers or best friends.

Arlecchino and Columbina have contrasting hair colour schemes, and they have a few similarities in design - Arlecchino specifically has a "X" in her eyes while Columbina has a eye-patch that resembles a X aswell.

Fanon
quickly gained a big amount of attention when Columbina and Arlecchino were revealed in the teaser of the Harbingers as fans began to make parallels with the Commedia Dell'Arte. While many people argued Hoyoverse doesn't follow the Commedia Dell'arte precisely, it didn't stop the ship to receive a lot of fan works in Twitter with that fun observation of them being friends or lovers in the original play in mind.

This also serves the trope apparently, since Arlecchino in the teaser showed a bit of a more outwardly aggressive personality when speaking about Signora's death, while Columbina showed a more reserved personality, not really saying anything. Fans have also pointed out their height difference.

There are over 200 works depicting the two romantically on AO3.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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