Marcel, real name Vacher, is a quest-exclusive NPC that appears as one of the main antagonists in the Archon Quest Chapter IV: Act II - As Light Rain Falls Without Reason.
Profile[]
Marcel is a Fontaine businessman and the leader of the Confrerie of Cabriere, which was considered to be a sister organization to the Spina di Rosula that was led by Callas. But in reality, it is a front for his underground Sinthe business. He made a fortune through his successful Sinthe business and use it to fund his experiments on Primordial Seawater. Over twenty-years spree, he would abduct young women around Vigneire's age to be experimented on and became the wanted culprit of the infamous serial disappearance case. According to his research notes, he dissolved at least twenty-four women for his experiments.[3]
His true identity is Vacher, an adventurer hailing from Snezhnaya who traveled to Fontaine. There, he met another adventurer named Vigneire and fell in love with her. Later on, Vigneire came into contact with Primordial Seawater during an underwater expedition and she was dissolved in front of Vacher. Because of it, Vacher is dedicated on reviving her no matter what it takes and will not hesitate to eliminate anyone who threaten his plan. He also destroyed all records of his old identity as Vacher and adopted a new identity, Marcel, to avoid getting caught. Marcel is a name that Vacher and Vigneire settled on for their future child.[3]
Personality[]
Vacher used to be a kind person until Vigneire's untimely demise. Her death would cause great suffering for him and he wanted to reunite with her at any cost, even contemplating suicide at one point just to do so. However, upon learning of the Primordial Seawater, Vacher made an attempt to revive Vigneire by dissolving other women as subjects for his experiments. Unaware that Vigneire wanted him to simply forget her, Vacher continued with his experiment despite obtaining the same result multiple times. He also produced and distributed Sinthe to fund his research, all the while being uncaring to the harm and ruin he brought to his victims, consumers, and their relatives alike.
Marcel didn't hesitate to get rid of anyone who threaten his plan or a traitor of his Sinthe business. He remotely poured the Primordial Seawater on Vaughn when he was about to reveal his identity during Lyney's court trial and after seeing Navia interfering with the serial disappearance case, he tried to target her by spiking her drink with Primordial Seawater.
Marcel maintained a guise of innocence and patience to concoct his plan, as he was never considered a prime suspect in the cases until being exposed by the Traveler and Navia, likening the latter to an "idiot daughter". Once irrefutable evidence of his wrongdoings was presented, Marcel lost his composure, ranting how Fontaine ignored Vigneire's fate and his sadness while remorselessly using his own misfortune to justify his actions while becoming intoxicated by drinking Sinthe during the trial. Upon being given the chance to reunite with Vigneire, Marcel immediately took the opportunity to do so, unaware that he had run to his own death. Even when the spirits of his victims made it clear that Vigneire had no intention of forgiving him for his atrocities, Marcel could not comprehend how she hated him, while still being unable to feel any guilt for what he committed.
Appearance[]
(To be added.)
Quests and Events[]
Archon Quests
Story[]
History[]
Vacher was an adventurer from Snezhnaya who traveled to Fontaine. There, he met another adventurer named Vigneire and fell in love with her. However, during an underwater expedition, she accidentally came into contact with water from the Primordial Sea and was dissolved into water in front of him. Vacher became greatly depressed by her death and sought to reunite with her by using the Primordial Seawater, but he was unable to dissolve as he was not from Fontaine.
In a desperate attempt to bring back his lover, Vacher abducted women around Vigneire's age and experimented on them, resulting in them too dissipating into water. Vacher would abduct many women over a twenty-year spree, becoming a cold case of serial disappearances of young women. To maintain his guise of innocence, Vacher assumed the identity of Marcel and destroyed all records of the name Vacher. During this time, he started his Sinthe business, selling a recreational drug made from Primordial Seawater diluted with normal water that produces many pleasant hallucinations, but it had dangerous side effects, and even a withdrawal effect should a person stop using it.[4]
Jakob Ingold's research conclusions were used as the basis for Marcel's research, although his exact writings have not been disclosed.[3]
Vacher would later associate himself with Potton, who had discovered a formula by chance to create a skincare lotion, which used the remains of dissolved Fontanians as its base. This unintentional joint venture between the two allowed Vacher's group to dispose of plenty of evidence linking them to their crimes.
He founded the Confrerie of Cabriere, which was considered to be a sister organization to the Spina di Rosula that was led by Callas. Due to the dangerous side effects of Sinthe, Callas began banning it from Poisson and investigating it. Three years before the events of the game, when Marcel heard that Jacques, an associate of the Sinthe business, had betrayed him to join Callas, he was determined to get rid of them for threatening his plan. Marcel hired an assassin to kill both of them during a banquet organized by Callas, which Marcel also attended. Jacques was killed, but Callas survived by seizing the gun from the assassin. However, Marcel secretly poured the Primordial Seawater on the assassin and dissolved him, thus removing all traces of the assassin in the crime scene. Callas was blamed for the murder of Jacques, but rather than defending himself in court and likely testifying against the Sinthe producers, which would have caused them to retaliate against his daughter Navia, he chose to die in a duel against Clorinde. For years after the incident, Marcel did not attempt to harm Navia, as this would trigger Callas' associates to share crucial intel about the Sinthe business with the authorities.
- Aurelie
Not much is known about the personal lives of Marcel's victims in the serial disappearances case, save for one: Aurelie, who was a director of an amateur performance troupe; her disappearance is the central plot point behind Furina's Story Quest, Animula Choragi Chapter: Act I - "The Little Oceanid". Before she disappeared, one of her members, Vilmant was offered by a merchant for a huge sponsorship in exchange that the latter provides the drinks for the audience during performances. Vilmant agreed immediately without consulting Aurelie, and on the day that the merchant delivered the goods, Vilmant was shocked to see that the drinks were actually Sinthe. Aurelie was likewise shocked when Vilmant reported the goods to her and contacted the merchant that the partnership could not go through. The merchant was livid and harassed the troupe for turning back on their word, even threatening to sue the troupe for an astronomical amount of damages. Eventually, it all came to a head when Aurelie suddenly told her troupe to leave the city for a while. She was never found again.[5]
Her notebook was found among other pieces of evidence that was used to convict Vacher. In the notebook, she chronicled her last days in the hands of Marcel, noting how Marcel and his cronies have complete disregard for the lives of their victims and use them until they die. She was experimented on, alongside other victims, and witnessed how some would be taken, never to be seen again. She tried rallying the other victims in order to motivate them, in spite of the illness she contracted while kidnapped; she also expressed her worry that other members of her troupe would be kidnapped alongside her. And before she was murdered, she was able to write down one last revision to the script of the musical she was writing then, titled The Little Oceanid. The script was eventually finished by her troupe under the direction of Furina, and the role of the main character Clio was dedicated to her.
Present Day[]
After the Traveler arrived in Fontaine, Marcel attended Lyney and Lynette's magic show at the Opera Epiclese to get his next victim. He planned to dissolve a Fontainian painter named Halsey and let Lyney take the blame. He tasked prop manager Cowell and the Garde Vaughn with assisting him but unbeknownst to any of them, Halsey was actually a thief from Mondstadt named Liliane. His plan failed when Liliane knocked Cowell out, with him being subsequently crushed by the sabotaged water tank, while Vaughn's deception was discovered. Vaughn was about to reveal his boss's identity during the trial, but Marcel remotely poured the Primordial Seawater on him, dissolving him in front of the court audience.
After the trial, Marcel attempted to target Navia by spiking her drink with the Primordial Seawater, but Paimon drank it in her place. He then sent a large number of Clockwork Meka at the Traveler for their interference, but this was foiled by Navia and Clorinde, the former having deduced someone was targeting them. Navia visited Marcel who maintained his innocence and said he would always be willing to help her. After Melus' investigation, the Traveler and Navia believed that Marcel had ulterior motives, with Navia heading to the Opera to accuse Marcel after hearing the news that Tartaglia was being accused for the serial disappearances case. Meanwhile, the Traveler infiltrated Marcel's Sinthe facility, collecting evidence to finally implicate Marcel with the serial disappearances and reveal his true identity as Vacher. After confessing to the crimes, the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale found him guilty.
While he was taken away by the Gardes, Marcel asked the Traveler about how they found out his real name, and the Traveler told him about the voice in the Fountain of Lucine. He requested to be taken there. Due to drinking a huge amount of the Primordial Seawater during the trial, Marcel was able to see the mysterious Oceanid that he believed was Vigneire, but soon discovered that, in truth, the Oceanid was the collective consciousness of his victims. The Oceanid harshly castigated Marcel for his selfishness and murderous ways, telling him that Vigneire hated him for his actions and chose not to appear before him. Afterwards, the Oceanid, with Vigneire's consciousness reappearing among them, "drowned" him to death. In the real world, his death was ruled as a panic attack.[3]
Trivia[]
- The alias "Marcel" used by Vacher was derived from one of the many baby names found in Vigneire's notebook. The name "Marcelle" was circled, while the others were crossed out.[3]
- Vacher's known victims:
Etymology[]
- Marcel's real name, Vacher, is a reference to Joseph Vacher, who was a French serial killer in the 19th century.
- The name Marcel is also a reference to another French serial killer, Marcel Barbeault.
Other Languages[]
Marcel
| Language | Official Name |
|---|---|
| English | Marcel |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 玛塞勒 Mǎsàilè |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 瑪塞勒 Mǎsàilè |
| Japanese | マーセル Maaseru |
| Korean | 마르셀 Mareusel |
| Spanish | Marcel |
| French | Marcel |
| Russian | Марсель Marsel' |
| Thai | Marcel |
| Vietnamese | Marcel |
| German | Marcel |
| Indonesian | Marcel |
| Portuguese | Marcel |
| Turkish | Marcel |
| Italian | Marcel |
Vacher
| Language | Official Name |
|---|---|
| English | Vacher |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 瓦谢 Wǎxiè |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 瓦謝 Wǎxiè |
| Japanese | ヴァシェ Vashe |
| Korean | 바셰 Basye |
| Spanish | Vacher |
| French | Vacher |
| Russian | Вашер Vasher |
| Thai | Vacher |
| Vietnamese | Vacher |
| German | Vacher |
| Indonesian | Vacher |
| Portuguese | Vacher |
| Turkish | Vacher |
| Italian | Vacher |
Change History[]
References[]
- ↑ Twitter: EN VA Self Announcement (Archived)
- ↑ Twitter: JP VA Self Announcement (Archived)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Archon Quest, Chapter IV, Act II - As Light Rain Falls Without Reason, Part 3: When All Return to the Waters
"Female specimens twenty-two, twenty-three, and twenty-four were dissolved..." - ↑ Archon Quest, Chapter IV, Act II - As Light Rain Falls Without Reason, Part 2: The Truth, Lost With the Rain
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Story Quest, Furina, Animula Choragi Chapter: Act I - "The Little Oceanid", Part 3: This Life, Just Like a Light Trickle of Song