Biography of Gunnhildr

A historical work by the modern Mondstadt historian Eckhart Gunnhildr, who sifted the broken legends of the aristocratic age to tell the story of the clan's ancestor Gunnhildr.

May Barbatos's clear wind brighten the reader's eyes, and may Mondstadt's free wind blow long.

The Gunnhildr clan springs from an ancient legend. Three thousand years ago, in the age when "Decarabian, the Lonely King of the Tower" warred with "Andrius, King of the North Wind," on Mondstadt's still-wild frozen plain, Gunnhildr was the strongest chieftain among the wanderers.

Gunnhildr's father had once been a retainer of Decarabian. Unable to bear the lonely king's capricious tyranny, he led his people out of the gale-roaring old city. But survival was hard in the wasteland beyond the walls: though the refugees escaped the tyrant's claws, they were soon trapped in endless wind and snow.

Just when the clan was at its last extremity, a spirit among the thousand winds heard Gunnhildr's prayer. Thus the young daughter's devout appeal and the refugees' cries buried in snow condensed into faith. Faith gathered about the wind spirit like streams into a clear spring, and brought the spirit power. So he gave this clan a small shelter, and shared protective strength with the chieftain's daughter.

After her father died, Gunnhildr became chieftain of this nameless people and their first high priestess, guarding her kin to the end. When the Anemo Archon Barbatos challenged the heartless lonely king, she led her people to face the god's wrath; when Barbatos at last freed the tyrant's subjects from the raging winds, it was she who crowned the newborn Anemo Archon with laurel.

Later, after Barbatos departed, nobles rose widely across Mondstadt—though these god-empowered rulers would, a thousand years on, be known for corruption and cruelty, even Barbatos himself could not foresee what would come after centuries.

Gunnhildr's descendants were also among Mondstadt's great houses. Unlike the lawless Lawrence clan, the Gunnhildr always held the ancestral charge "ever guard Mondstadt," and did all they could to protect Mondstadt's people. In the struggle to overthrow the aristocracy they stood with the folk, and thus escaped exile.

Today the Gunnhildr clan has given the Knights of Favonius many great clergy and valiant knights. One may well believe they will forever keep the ideals of their ancestors and the Anemo Archon's charge, guarding Mondstadt's land and people.