Episode 93: Captain Beidou

We’ve talked about the crazy, made-up names we have for things in the game, but typically, they’re obviously not correct. But somehow, Tif convinced a few friends – including Feens – that Beidou had some wild combat voice lines. “Tanashes” instead of “To Ashes” and “The Neverending Hot Dog” instead of “Power that Ended Haishan!” are a few faves.

Tif talked about the origins of Beidou’s name and how it means “Northern Dipper” (aka Big Dipper) in Chinese. This asterism (cluster of stars within a constellation) can be found in Ursa Major and was used by ancient Chinese astronomers as a basis for navigation. It’s only fitting that China named its IRL navigation satellite system “BeiDou.”

If you moved from a place called Upriver, what would you name your new home? If you said Downriver, you’re in good company with the people Beidou lived with as a young girl. We know little about her time in Downriver except that she had a BFF named Xiling. You can meet Xiling by the bridge in front of Wangshu Inn, but they haven’t talked in years.

Beidou is the captain of The Alcor, the flagship vessel of Beidou’s fleet, The Crux. It is the boat you take from Liyue to Inazuma, which is now anchored outside the Guyun Stone Forest. Tif pulled out her space nerdom again to tell us that Alcor is the name of a star in Ursa Major (Big Dipper). We love it when the devs include these IRL connections in the game.

Feens loves trying a good glitch in the game, so when she could sneak her way into the hull of The Alcor, it needed to be documented. And what’s better than a creepy ship bottom? A creepy ship bottom with zombies.

Beidou and Kazuha’s plan to reignite a dead vision with their fighting challenge didn’t go as planned, but in the end, Tomo’s vision did regain its spark, even if just for a few moments. During the epic battle with the Shogun, Kazuha was able to block the Musou no Hitotachi with the help of his friend’s vision.

Beidou is a member of the unofficial eyepatch gang, but we think hers might actually be needed (we’re looking at you, Fischl). Could it have come from her battle with Haishan? Or maybe an old pirate injury? Or maybe she had one too many and fell off a dock like her crewmember Xu Liushi.

A child isn’t exactly who you’d expect to find on a pirate ship, but it would definitely be an orphan if you were to find one. Such is the life of Little Yue. His parents were sailors on The Crux, so when they died during one of their voyages, Beidou decided to raise this little orphan boy along with the rest of the crew.

We don’t actually have canon love affairs between playable characters, but the closest we get to one in Liyue is Beiguang. There are endless innuendos between Beidou and Ningguang throughout the story and some extra flirty ones like their Lantern Rite encounter. We can’t get enough of this sapphic love affair between these two powerful leaders of Liyue.

With a handful of drinking-related voice lines, it’s no surprise that Beidou takes a swig during one of her idles. Feens is concerned she might have a problem, but Tif & Bee think it just comes with the territory. Pirates, treasures, spirits and bar-room brawls.

As he’s been doing all season, Bee gave us a Myers-Briggs personality type for Beidou. He feels she’s an ESTP (The Entrepreneur). Which seems pretty fitting for a person who made their way from poverty to captain of a successful fleet.

Here are some helpful links if you’re unfamiliar with the pop culture references we mentioned during the episode. Tif sang “Papa, can you hear me?” from Yentl. And told us about the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System.

Thank you to fellow travelers Anthony & Ash for writing in. We truly appreciate your questions and comments! If you’d like to send us mail via the Komaniya Express, reach out on our Instagram, X/Twitter, or email. We’d love to hear from you! And Kirara could use the work.