Short Stories of Genshin Impact: Tsurumi Island - Through the Mists

Date: Fri Mar 27 2026

This is the first of hopefully many blogs talking about major storylines and world quests in Genshin Impact. I think a lot of people skip on these things because sometimes the lore behind it and the actual dialogue can become quite bloated, but there’s some pretty thrilling stories that are told. Some of them are focused on the past, whilst some has the player heavily involved. Some end in a happy manner, whilst some can have a darker tone. And I’m going to talk about them.

The first blog about this stuff is going to start on a darker tone. Inazuma has an island called Tsurumi Island which has the “Through the Mists” storyline. Summarizing the story, the traveler is first tasked by the adventurer’s guild with helping Sumida (an NPC) retrieve a relic to support her novel about the land. The traveler then travels to Tsurumi Island and meets Ruu, a boy from the civilization that lived there. Or well, used to lived there as Sumida notes that the civilization that Ruu had come from had ceased to exist a long time ago. Ruu notes that the island has strange properties and to get the relic, the ceremony praising Kapatcir, the thunder bird, has to be completed. The traveler then helps Ruu and the people complete the prerequisites for the ceremony (note that all the people at the site had acted strangely as if the traveler wasn’t there).

Upon returning to the cermonial site though, all of the people had vanished, and the relic had been left. But when the travler tried to take the relic back to Sumida, the relic vanishes. Talking to previous people who had tried to help Sumida results in similar experiences however Kama, the NPC who steered the boat, talks to the traveler about the past of the island. The civilization on Tsurumi Island was facing a crisis and had needed help from the thunder bird. Ruu who had formed a connection with the thunder bird through his singing and promised to meet again, had been sacrificed in order to please Kapatcir to bring his friends back from the Sea of Darkness.

But Kapatcir was enraged by this and the broken promise, killing all of those who lived on Tsurumi Island and trapping the civilization in a time loop, forced to relive the destruction for eternity. Ruu did not know this and completed the sacrificial ceremoney countless times. The traveler then destroys the perches for the ceremony, causing anguish from Ruu before learning that Ruu’s ancesters had lived on through Kama and that Kapatcir was angry due to Ruu’s sacrifice.

So to satisfy Kapatcir (who had been killed by the Raiden Shogun when going on a rampage), they had brought Ruu’s soul through a feather to Seirai Island where Ruu had then sang for Kapatcir. This ended the time loop, finally letting the ancient civilization rest. Returning back to Tsurumi island, Ruu had decided to follow his friends and explore the world of Teyvat with his friends. But first, he wanted to rest and that is where the story ends.

This was a really sad story to play through and while there were moments that I had felt could be better portrayed, I think that this is one of the more impactful stories Genshin has produced, reaching the hearts of a lot of content creators found online. Even hearing Ruu’s melody or seeing his NPC model causes people to be sad (even 3 years later!) and I think that says a lot about how well-written his character turned out to be. Not only does this story keep a relatively interesting plotline throughout playing, but it also touches on a few philosophical concepts. The islanders, despite facing a crisis from the Sea of Darkness, did not want to be sacrificed and instead chose Ruu as he had the closest connection. I think the story also portrays the topic of innocence and a strong will really well. Ruu had been alone for countless loops trying to complete the cycle so that the civilization may continue to live.

It’s also cool to see this lore was already told at the beginning of the game! More specifically, the Thundering Fury relic set describes the story behind Ruu. This piece of lore was introduced when the game came out (9/28/2020), and Tsurumi Island was release in version 2.2 (10/13/2021). For such a small storyline in the game, I think it’s incredible that the developers and writers already had a vision for the place.