A four-minute video billed as a Genshin Impact 7.1 trailer has been passed around as if it were the real thing, complete with a title card, two new five-star characters, and a duel against Ronova that ends with the Traveler and Dainsleif throwing everything they have at the Ruler of Death. It is well made. It is also not a HoYoverse release.
Quick answer: The video titled “A Requiem for the Underworld” is a fan-made concept trailer. There is no official Version 7.1 trailer showing a Ronova boss battle, and the only officially revealed 7.1 playable characters are Vesna (Anemo) and Vodyanitsa (Hydro).
Where the “A Requiem for the Underworld” video comes from
The clip is a concept piece built to look like a version-update preview for a Snezhnaya storyline. It opens on a stalled chessboard with a voiceover wondering why the black king has not moved from his throne, then moves through a run of original scenes that were written and assembled for the video rather than pulled from a live build.
One immediate tell is the presentation. Subtitles are burned directly into the frame for almost the entire runtime, from roughly the two-second mark to the four-minute mark, which is not how HoYoverse ships its own promotional videos. The title card itself, “A Requiem for the Underworld,” is not an update name the game has ever used.
Between the cinematic beats, the video also stages small, quiet scenes, including a sequence where Aether and Paimon share a meal with a green-haired maid before the meeting turns into a short scuffle.
Here are the beats the video moves through, in order.
The Ronova battle scene, explained
The “god level battle” everyone is reacting to sits near the end. Ronova taunts her opponent, asking whether he truly believes he can face her directly, and gets a dry line back about gods who trash-talk. Aether answers with a vow to accept whatever price the fight demands, then he and Dainsleif charge her inside a crimson void lined with eyes.
Earlier, the video builds toward that fight with an escalation scene. Ronova shatters a pillar while the threat of a Nail of Retribution hanging over Snezhnaya is raised, and she declares she can now kill without further consequence.
The surrounding dialogue leans on real lore vocabulary, which is a large part of why the video reads as authentic. It references collecting the Gnoses, the scattered remains of the Third Descender, gathering Seals of Life in order to defy death, and the four Shades of the Heavenly Principles governing Life, Death, Time, and Space. Pierro gets his own moment in a darkened hall with an old photograph, and Asmoday is name-dropped in passing.
Note: the closing shot, a hooded figure with dual-colored eyes telling the Cryo Archon that it is time to reclaim what is theirs, is original to the video. It is not a teaser for anything HoYoverse has announced.
Vesna and Vodyanitsa: Official reveal vs. concept versions
This is the part that makes the video genuinely confusing. Both names are real. HoYoverse revealed Vesna and Vodyanitsa as playable characters for Version 7.1 through drip marketing, so the concept video is using confirmed names attached to invented designs, titles, and kits.
In the video, Vesna is a five-star Anemo sword user drawn as an elf with fairy wings, dressed in blue, white, and gold, fighting with wind-based slashes. Vodyanitsa is a five-star Hydro character with a siren and mermaid aesthetic whose attacks and burst are built around singing and water, framed by lines about being the last Water Imp left in her theater.
| Element | Where it stands |
|---|---|
| Vesna, Anemo | Officially revealed as playable in 7.1, identified as Commander of the Druzhna, the Tsaritsa’s elite troops |
| “Snowy Banquet’s Sharp Blade” title | Written for the concept video, not an official character title |
| Vodyanitsa, Hydro | Officially revealed as playable in 7.1, identified as Prima Donna of the Korolevskiy Troupe |
| “Lingering Siren-Song” title and siren design | Created for the concept video |
| “A Requiem for the Underworld” update name | Not a real version title |
| Dainsleif fighting alongside the Traveler | Part of the concept video only |
| Seals of Life and Third Descender dialogue | Original script for the video, built on existing lore terms |
Ronova is real, and she already confronted the Traveler in 7.0
Ronova, the Ruler of Death, is one of the Four Great Rulers created by the Heavenly Principles, and her existence predates the Archons. She governs the laws of death across Teyvat and can define or withhold death entirely, which is how the curse of immortality was laid on pure-blooded Khaenri’ahns. The Frostmoon Scions call her Tuonetar.
She is also already in the game’s Snezhnaya story. In the Chapter VII, Act II quest content, the red eye symbol carved into Mitya’s palm is identified as Ronova’s mark from Snezhnayan folklore, and the investigation ends with Alyosha dropping the disguise and revealing himself as the Ruler of Death. Ronova explains that the theater’s altered Ley Lines drew her in to collect the dead, that everyone inside is already dead, and that the Traveler cannot be claimed easily as a Descender, before a fight that shatters the domain.
She turns up again in the Version 7.0 story with Paimon unconscious on the floor, warning the Traveler against interfering in Snezhnaya’s affairs and firing a crimson beam that Aether intercepts, with Pierro walking in afterwards. So a Ronova confrontation is not an invention. The fan video simply escalates a scenario the game has already staged twice.
What leaks claim about Ronova in Version 7.1
Separate from the fan video, community leaks hold that the Snezhnaya Archon Quest continues in 7.1 and that Ronova appears as a story boss, with a chance of becoming Snezhnaya’s first weekly boss. Leaked banner listings put Vesna and Vodyanitsa alongside Skirk and Escoffier reruns, and point to the Moonchase Festival returning. None of that is officially confirmed, and banner phases in particular shift.
The more dramatic Ronova claims circulating on leak boards, including a version where she attacks Paimon, triggers divine judgement, and dies in a single patch with all the Archons showing up, were widely dismissed by the same community. The usual objections were straightforward. There is no sitting Hydro Archon for a full seven-Archon gathering, a Shade dying with no buildup makes little sense, and the notion that a character becomes playable if she gains enough popularity does not match how the game ships characters.
How to spot a fan trailer before you share it
Two Snezhnaya videos are currently doing the rounds with fabricated expansion names, one titled “A Requiem for the Underworld” and another labelled “Everwinter Without Mercy.” Both look polished. A few checks separate them from the real thing quickly.
- Check the update name against the version number. Genshin Impact version trailers carry an official update title, so an unfamiliar name like “A Requiem for the Underworld” is the clearest giveaway.
- Compare character titles to the drip marketing. Vesna is Commander of the Druzhna and Vodyanitsa is Prima Donna of the Korolevskiy Troupe. Alternate titles in a video are invented.
- Look for hard-coded subtitles running the full length of the video, which official promotional cuts do not use.
- Be skeptical of unannounced playable cameos. Dainsleif fighting beside the Traveler in a character showcase is a concept-video flourish.
The short version: is that the underlying pieces are genuine while the trailer is not. Vesna and Vodyanitsa are confirmed 7.1 characters, Ronova is a canonical Shade who has already squared off with the Traveler in Snezhnaya, and everything stitching those facts into a four-minute update preview was built by a fan. Treat the boss fight as a well-executed pitch, not a preview of what Version 7.1 will actually deliver.
