Alhaitham

The Akademiya's Stoic Scribe Alhaitham is a playable Dendro character in Genshin Impact.

Alhaitham is a member of the Haravatat of the Sumeru Akademiya and the Akademiya's Scribe, responsible for documenting their findings and drafting ordinances. Despite his brilliance, people within the Akademiya are perplexed by Alhaitham due to his unwillingness to aspire for higher office in spite of his egocentricity, and many have been at odds with him for his uncompromising view on rationality and the truth.

The current scribe of the Sumeru Akademiya, a man endowed with extraordinary intelligence and talent. He lives free — free from the searching eyes of ordinary people, anyway.

Alhaitham is a scholar who is fueled by a desire to understand the underlying principles of the world around him. He greatly values the pursuit of knowledge and dislikes meaningless noise and matters that distract or divert him from his chosen pursuits. To this end, while he is unambitious and enjoys leisure, he will do what he deems necessary to maintain a comfortable life. Similarly, he dislikes holding positions of authority, even turning down the position of Grand Sage and resigning from the position of Acting Grand Sage as soon as he can.

Alhaitham focuses greatly on himself at all times. However, he does not do so out of a disregard for others; instead, it is a result of his rationality. He believes that as it is impossible to save everyone, it is important to focus on one's own well-being first. Contrary to what his peers think, Alhaitham does not look down upon anyone and tends to give equal weight to everyone, be they human or god. He also places great importance in the value of humanity and has astute insight into human nature. While he does not keep this a secret, he rarely bothers to correct others' unfavorable assumptions unless it would prove more troublesome to allow them to persist.

Alhaitham is 6'1". He has pale skin, gray hair that turns lighter at the ends, and with a few locks that have pale turquoise undersides, and light turquoise eyes with yellow pupils.

The current scribe of the Sumeru Akademiya. This title may sound very impressive, but it's really because the Akademiya has a culture of using official titles to inflate one's ego. The role of a scribe may seem prestigious, but the truth is, a scribe does not have to be present at all major meetings, nor does he participate in core decision-making.

He can be rather smug with people he knows.

The current scribe of the Sumeru Akademiya. This title may sound very impressive, but it's really because the Akademiya has a culture of using official titles to inflate one's ego.

The role of a scribe may seem prestigious, but the truth is, a scribe does not have to be present at all major meetings, nor does he participate in core decision-making. The scribe is simply responsible for classifying and archiving important documents, and his presence is not required at all times. It is for these exact reasons that in Sumeru, where books and manuscript documents were once managed as a resource, the scribe is one of the people in the entire Akademiya who is in the know about various matters. In fact, one can say that this position is rather similar to that of the Grand Conservator. After all, the person who manages the various texts is the one who has privileged access to profound wisdom. Alhaitham, the current scribe of the Sumeru Akademiya checks all the boxes above. Not many people know who he is, but he knows a lot of information that is unknown to everyone. He does not attend any non-essential meeting, and when he does, he only records key points, jotting down other minute details based on his mood. People don't often pay attention to him, let alone know how much detail this scribe can detect in a simple meeting.

A capable person who keeps a low profile for too long is often perceived as someone with a mysterious identity and ulterior purposes. Alhaitham himself is a powerful rebuttal to all these cliché views: he is a brilliant man, but he is only an ordinary employee of the Akadmiya, with a stable job and a cushy house in Sumeru, leading a carefree and comfortable life.

Sometimes, people find it next to impossible to catch the current scribe in his office. Little do they know about the scribe, other than his name, "Alhaitham," and that he is supposed to be present during work hours. The fact is, no one knows his whereabouts, and all they can do is leave documents and files on his desk.

Alhaitham couldn't be more satisfied with how things are. The man might be at home or in the library, but he'll never appear where people wish him to be.

Having an entirely unpredictable schedule affords undisturbed freedom.

The title of a "scribe" may sound impressive to most Akademiya students, but this fancy name is just a product of the Akademiya's culture to use unnecessarily high-flown titles.

In truth, the scribe does not have to be present at all major meetings, nor does he participate in core decision-making. The scribe is simply responsible for classifying and archiving important documents. However, in Sumeru, where books and manuscript documents were once managed as a resource, the scribe is one of the most "in-the-know" people in the entire Akademiya. One can say that this position is rather similar to that of the Grand Conservator — after all, the person who manages texts will have privileged access to profound wisdom.

The Nation of Wisdom places academics and knowledge above everything else. As such, a scholar acknowledged by others within the Akademiya usually possesses a higher social status. Alhaitham was born to just such a family of well-received scholars. His parents died very early in an accident, and he was raised by his grandmother, a Kshahrewar scholar.

Alhaitham doesn't have many recollections of his parents. He learned from his grandmother that they were both employed by the Akademiya, with his father being a mentor in Haravatat and his mother, a renowned scholar in Vahumana.

Alhaitham has inherited his parents' intelligence, and he was always the sharp kid amongst his peers, so much so that he started reading abstruse academic journals at around the age of seven. Having noticed his exceptional talents, Alhaitham's grandmother suggested that he attend school early. However, it only took half a day in the Akademiya for little Alhaitham to report this back to his grandmother: Everyone he met there was boring and he preferred reading alone to listening to their meaningless courses. Alhaitham's grandmother saw his parents' talents and personalities in him, and agreed to let him stay home to be self-taught.

To Alhaitham, "to be self-taught" means to read, break down, reorganize, and question. Due to his family background, he was lucky to be exposed to books made of paper. Interestingly enough, he takes more pleasure in reading his grandmother's hard-copy collections than obtaining knowledge from the Akasha directly.

As opposed to the Akasha, books are inflexible and rigid, and there is no guarantee that their contents are error-free either. To use such a medium of knowledge is to dance with potential misinformation. The majority of people in Sumeru hate this, but Alhaitham derives great enjoyment from it. It was from reading that he acquired the ability to learn, analyze, and even rectify, and ultimately, he has learned to question. If the rustic and primitive method known as reading is ever any trouble, it is trouble that Alhaitham appreciates.

Alhaitham's grandmother told him: "You and your father both like reading. Now, I can't say if the two of you have been given too much share of wisdom or not, but always remember that being different is a gift."

Knowledge is to be recognized, pursued, and trusted, but one should never forget to question it. Perhaps only those who come to such an understanding will not be easily moved by Canned Knowledge and other convenient knowledge media. And only someone who had already met these prerequisites would have casually read the Akasha manual sealed deep within the House of Daena.

As Alhaitham's grandmother had said, books contain useless information, and sometimes in large amounts, but his sharp mind will sift through them — and if a book he has read lingers in his memory, it will come in handy one day.

After his grandmother's passing, Alhaitham managed her funeral on his own, inheriting her properties and her small library. Before she passed away, Alhaitham's grandmother gave him this earnest blessing: "You are such a smart child. Many such people have large egos and a propensity to act on their own. You are outstanding and possess a broader horizon than ordinary people. This is not a bad thing, but you must take care to have a clearer mind than others. You must understand that vain pursuits are but dust, and that you must discern your path with the greatest of wisdom."

Later, Alhaitham applied for the Akademiya and was immediately admitted, scoring high marks in the Haravatat entrance exam. He was informed that his grandmother had also applied for him to be able to attend classes in other Darshans. Following his late grandmother's advice, Alhaitham has always kept a low profile and a clear mind, and always makes decisions for himself.

Years later, when Alhaitham moved into his new house, he brought all those books over. While sorting through them, he flipped through a few that he had read long ago. The journals that had well-wishes written on their title pages were from his mother's collection, and the ones with reference materials inserted between pages and notes on the margins had once belonged to his father. On top of them, there was a thick book with an exquisite, emerald-colored cover. On the title page, his grandmother had written thus: May my child Alhaitham lead a peaceful life.