Aether is the male protagonist in Genshin Impact, a role-playing action game released in 2021. If you’re new to Genshin Impact, you might be wondering whether to choose Aether or Lumine.
In this article, I’ll explain more about Aether in Genshin Impact, whether you should pick Aether over Lumine, and more. Let’s get into it.
What Is Genshin Impact?
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Genshin Impact is a manga-style role-playing game developed by miHoYo. It takes place in Teyvat, a fantasy world complete with mystery and adventure.
One thing that stands out about Genshin Impact is its amazing designs. The developers really put a lot of work into designing and creating the game.
Genshin Impact is free to play. While there are in-game purchases, you can win the game by playing the free characters only.
In the game, your adventure consists of looking for and finding your long-lost sibling in the magical world of Teyvat. That is where Aether and Lumine come into play, but more on that in a second.
Teyvat is a world devastated by the collapse of an ancient civilization built by people with unique capabilities and powers. You’re an outsider to this world, but you’re on a mission, so you have to figure it out and explore it.
The world has seven nations, including Sumeru, Mondstadt, and five others. A unique god rules over each nation – but not all nations are ruled by gods.
Khaenri’ah, a ruined civilization that collapsed over 500 years ago, was not ruled by gods.
The gods bestow special capabilities on some of the population.
You came to this world with your twin sibling; both of you are travelers of worlds. That was hundreds of years ago, though.
A god captured both you and your sibling after you discovered Khaenri’ah under siege. The god took your sibling and sealed you away.
You only woke up now, and your goal is to find your long-lost sibling together with Paimon, a character that you meet.
As an open-world game, you’ll be able to traverse mountains and bodies of water, fighting dangerous monsters alone or with friends. It’s a multiplayer-friendly game, making it all the more fun.
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To defeat all those enemies, though, you’ll need to master the seven elements. The seven elements, such as ice, water, lightning, and wind (they are called different names in the game), allow you to inflict certain conditions on your enemies.
You will visit different cities and nations and come across many things. I’m not going to go into too many details, as I don’t want to give you too many spoilers.
Just know that it will be an exciting journey, with various twists and developments that you might not have expected. You’ll meet interesting characters and have the time of your life.
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Who Is Aether in Genshin Impact?
At the start of the game, you’ll be able to choose Aether or Lumine as your main character. You’ll later be able to build a team of over 20 characters, including Amber, Jean, Lisa, and many others.
However, your main protagonist will always be Aether or Lumine.
Aether is the male character in Genshin Impact. Lumine is the female character.
Whether you select Aether or Lumine, your goal is the same: to find your long-lost sibling. You will be the “Traveler” traveling through the world of Teyvat.
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Is There a Difference Between Aether and Lumine? Which Character Is Better?
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At first glance, the only difference between Aether and Lumine is cosmetic. Aether is a male, while Lumine is a female.
The rest of the game is the same, for the most part. Your sibling will also be different, though.
In other words, if you choose Aether, you will have to save your twin sister. If you select Lumine, you will have to save your twin brother.
It’s a crucial difference in the storyline, and you may prefer one over the other. Do you want to be the prince charming who saves his sister, or do you want to be a brave woman who travels through many worlds to save her brother?
You may also prefer the costume of one character over the other. Of course, in addition to the costumes, their voices are different, as different voice actors are used.
Just remember that you can’t switch later.
In addition to all that, however, Aether and Lumine may have several differences when it comes to capabilities. Let’s explore that, but keep in mind that such differences aren’t very big and won’t make a massive impact on the game.
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Aether vs Lumine: Differences in Powers
According to Republic World, there is no difference in powers between the two characters. The difference is purely cosmetic, so choosing one over the other will have no practical difference in the game or your ability to win it.
However, not everyone agrees. Some players feel that while Aether excels in some areas, Lumine excels in others.
According to a poster in the Genshin Impact Wiki forum, writing based on their own observations, Lumine has a higher attack charge, meaning you can give your enemies a stronger charge when attacking them.
Aether, on the other hand, is taller. As such, Aether will sprint faster than Lumine, who is a girl and is shorter.
According to another source, Aether is also better at climbing faster simply due to his taller height. It is simply basic mechanics.
He is also able to swim faster.
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So, who wins? Aether is able to run, climb, and swim a little faster, giving you a slight advantage over Lumine when fighting enemies.
At the same time, to make up for that, Lumine deals more damage with her charged attacks, especially on the second hits. That can be an even better advantage when fighting enemies.
How big is the difference, really? According to a Reddit post, the advantage that Aether has when running or climbing is very small – he can only run around 1.7% faster than Lumine.
In other words, the advantage is so small (it typically amounts to a fraction of a second) that it might not be worth choosing Aether over Lumine just for his larger size.
On the other hand, the advantage that Lumine has over Aether when it comes to charged attacks is a stronger charge of around 20%. If that is the case, then Lumine wins over Aether when it comes to power and fighting enemies, regardless of Aether’s larger size.
The fact that Lumine’s attack charge is stronger is confirmed by a post on the HoYoLabs forum. The poster even compared his attack charge strength as Lumine to his friend’s, who was playing Aether.
It’s also worth noting that the animations are somewhat different for the two characters when doing things like bunny-hopping.
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So, Is Aether or Lumine Better?
While the game developers haven’t officially confirmed it, it seems that Lumine has a stronger attack charge, based on the observations of many players. At the same time, Aether runs and climbs a bit faster.
Ultimately, the choice is yours. The difference is mostly cosmetic, so look at the characters and check which costume, voice, and storyline you like better.
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How Old Is Aether in Genshin Impact?
Aether doesn’t have an age in Genshin Impact, but that has not stopped players from speculating on his age. Based on his appearance, he is probably a teenager of 16-18 years old.
However, we know that Aether and his sister traveled to the world of Teyvat over 500 years ago before they were captured by a god. Apparently, though, once they were captured, sealed away, and put to sleep, their age hasn’t changed much.
Perhaps when Aether was sealed, time sort of stopped for him, and so his age did not change.
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Who Is Older, Aether or Lumine?
Aether and Lumine are siblings. You can choose one or the other as your character and go on a hunt for your missing sibling.
However, which one is older? Again, the game isn’t very clear about that, but players have speculated on it.
First, Aether and Lumine are twins, as they look very alike. If it is true that they are twins, then they are around the same age.
Even if they are twins, though, one has got to be older than the other. So, which one is it?
Some have speculated that Lumine is older as she looks older, but that’s not true. According to comments on this Reddit post, if you understand Japanese, Chinese, and Korean (the voiceovers are available in several languages), you will realize that Aether is the older brother.
That is because Lumine refers to Aether as 哥哥, which means “elder brother” in Chinese. In Japanese, Lumine calls him “onii-chan,” which means big brother.
Lumine also refers to Aether as 오빠, or Oppa in Korean, which is commonly used to refer to an older brother.
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Final Thoughts
When playing Genshin Impact, you can choose either Aether or Lumine.
The decision will mostly boil down to their appearances, although Aether does run a bit faster while Lumine has a stronger attack charge.
