How to pronounce Wriothesley in Genshin Impact: Name's origin and in-game pronunciation audio

Wriothesley is a Genshin Impact character whose name often confuses players who read it. Often, the pronunciation of that word might startle them. The etymology of this name goes back to the English nobility, who gained some notoriety from the 1500s onward. It was primarily a surname of those times, whereas the playable administrator of the Fortress of Meropide uses that word as his first name.

Genshin Impact characters pronounce Wriothesley as "Rise + Lee" (alternatively known as RYZE-lee). Some people in the real world use a different pronunciation of his name, such as "Reesley" or "Rizzley." Such inconsistencies often lead to confuddling gamers even further.

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How do Genshin Impact characters pronounce Wriothesley?

This video shows how Genshin Impact characters pronounce Wriothesley's name in four languages. The English one pronounces it as "Rise + Lee" multiple times. Interestingly, the other languages emphasized the "o" part of his name.

Contrary to expectation, nobody pronounces it as "Rio + Thez + Lee" or "Rai + Off + Salee."

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Alternative pronunciation

Genshin Impact's pronunciation of Wriothesley differs compared to how other people say it in the real world. The above video shows an example of somebody saying it as "Reesley." That's notably different from how it's said in the game, yet Travelers should know that real-life words can often have multiple ways to pronounce them.

The official English voice actor for Genshin Impact's Wriothesley even noticed the popular trend of pronouncing this character's name and made a video. However, it's a joke clip parodying the common confusion surrounding how a person is supposed to say it.

One notable thing that is partially true about this clip is players are actually supposed to ignore some of the letters when pronouncing this name, even if it is used to the wrong effect here.

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Background of Wriothesley's name and origin

Even Wikipedia uses a different pronunciation (Image via Wikipedia)

Based on this list, it would appear obvious that this name was mostly relevant from the late 1400s to the late 1800s. There haven't been any notable examples active after 1873 with this alias on Wikipedia, although curious Travelers can find some more names of real-life people on Ancestry.co.uk afterward.

As far as notable people go, this name was primarily associated with English nobility, which astute Travelers should remember that Fontaine takes some inspiration from France and England. Thus, it makes sense why the administrator of the Fortress of Meropide is named the way he is.

Note that his name doesn't have any symbolic meaning today. The coat of arms for this family used a blue shield with a yellow cross overlayed on it, with either white hawks or doves, depending on the year.

The real-life coats of arms associated with this family from the 1500s (Image via Wikipedia)

That's everything Travelers must know about the origin of Wriothesley's name. The several pronunciations of his name are incredibly inconsistent across several different mediums, although it is worth mentioning that Genshin Impact characters usually say it as "RYZE-lee."

Keep that in mind next time you see his name in a build guide, Spiral Abyss stats, or anything else that involves spelling it out. Characters in this game usually don't have such complicated pronunciations.