Phantom Blade Zero · Character
Inanis
Inanis is a Shadow Edict of The Order, its greatest master of Phantom Arts, and the Chord’s mother. She can barely set foot in the Waking Realm, so she helps Soul from a distance: the bells along his road, three artisan sisters who work for him, and a hidden place of her own, the Realm of Mirage.
- FactionThe Order, THE GILDED LOTUS
- Where you meetWeeping Creek Valley, Crimson Forest, Village of Lu, Mount Soulrend
- Quests3 in the quest log
Who is Inanis?
You first meet Inanis in Chapter 1, in Weeping Creek Valley, at one of her bells. She cannot enter the Waking Realm, so what Soul sees is an illusion of her that can only hold its shape for a short while. Her bells ring for him alone and mend all his wounds, and when a fatal blow lands it is the Discordance, she tells him, that carries him back to the last bell he touched.
She is also the one who helps Soul win back what he lost when his heart was pierced: with Remnant Dust she trains his lost abilities back, and she repairs heart damage. In places thick with Sha-Chi she makes memories visible as Memory Flowers, and in the Realm of Mirage she gives him Inanis’ Radiant Fan.
Her daughter is the Chord, a puppet who plays the pipa. A year before the game the Chord vanished in the Crimson Forest, and at the edge of that forest in Chapter 2 Inanis asks Soul to find her: the weeping he keeps hearing is her daughter’s voice, carried a thousand miles by the Art of Distant Calling. Inanis’ own past is in the six Memory Flowers of Resonant Strings in the Mirrorwood: a girl who was already performing on stage, a sick daughter, the Gilded Lotus, and the day Mu Tianmiao came to recruit her.
Who Inanis is to the others
Daughter
When the girl fell gravely ill, Inanis made a puppet and moved her consciousness into it so she could stay by her side. The pipa the Chord plays is Inanis’ work too, and in the Crimson Forest she asks Soul to save her.
“In the end, I made this puppet and placed her consciousness inside it. Just so she could stay by my side...”
In-game dialogueRecruited her
Mu Tianmiao stepped onto her Gilded Lotus untouched by its illusions and offered her a seat among the Shadow Edicts, with the complete Soul Displacement Scroll she needed to save her daughter. His other offer was Meng Hua: she was one of the Eleven, and The Order would fight them.
“Stand with the Order, stand with the Wulin, and wipe Menghua from existence!”
In-game dialogueHer artisan
Forge and her triplet sisters, Myst and Jewel, are artisans in Inanis’ service. On her orders they wait for Soul along his road to keep his weapons and gear in shape.
“The three of us serve Lady Inanis as artisans—not like those thick-headed fools who only know how to fight.”
In-game dialogueFellow Shadow Edict
Soul once stood beside her as a Shadow Edict. Now that The Order hunts him, no one else dares to help him: her bells, her artisans and her Realm of Mirage are all there for him.
“Those bells I've passed... and your help... was all this Inanis's doing?”
In-game dialogue
1 more ties the story reveals later
Old rival
Meng Hua, her master’s wife, took Inanis and her daughter in when they were thrown out into the rain, then planted a Rift to the Discordance inside the girl. Inanis swore to destroy her, and in The Order’s war with the Eleven the two perished together, their minds dissolving into the Discordance.
“My wife... Menghua. She saved you then... only to...”
In-game dialogue
Every quest with Inanis in it
Mysteries
Illusion of Inanis
At the edge of the Crimson Forest Inanis can only hold her shape for a moment, so she sends you deeper in, to a clearing thick with Phantom Arts where her illusion can stay longer. There she tells you the depths of the forest are an illusion born when the pipa she made was destroyed, offers to clear the mist ahead, and asks you to save the Chord.
Mysteries
Secrets at the Heart of the Lake
It begins with Firefly’s Memory Flowers in the Village of Lu, not with Inanis, but it ends with her: once the ritual at the Heart of the Lake is destroyed, you go back to her in the Realm of Mirage.
How this quest turns out
There she finally tells Soul what the Lady of the Veil is: Meng Hua of the Eleven, merged with a fragment of the Blight and set on spilling it into the Waking Realm. Meng Hua’s own voice answers, furious that her flawless plan has failed, and Inanis mocks her for relying on “those useless old fools”.
Collectibles
Resonant Strings
Six Memory Flowers of Inanis and the Chord in the Mirrorwood, from I. The Performance to VI. New Life. Together they tell Inanis’ life before The Order: her daughter’s illness, the Gilded Lotus, Mu Tianmiao’s visit, and the Soul Displacement Scroll she studied day and night to save the girl.
How this quest turns out
The last flower is the night it all ends: Inanis has mastered the scroll, built a flawless vessel and burned the scroll so no one can ever repeat the art. Then her daughter’s breath fades to almost nothing, and she has no other choice.
What happens to Inanis
The end of the story for this character
Inanis’ body is gone. She and Meng Hua perished together in The Order’s war with the Eleven, and what is left of her lives on in the Realm of Mirage. “If I can never return to the Waking Realm, what use is this shell?” she says when Soul tells her that her grace has not faded.
When Soul brings the Chord home to the Realm of Mirage, nothing of her daughter is left in the puppet. Inanis lets her go: some things, once they are gone, are gone forever, and they must look ahead. In one of the last fights she meets Meng Hua once more: “This time, The Chord’s pipa will shatter you!”
“If I can never return to the Waking Realm, what use is this shell?”
In-game dialogue
Keep reading
- QuestIllusion of InanisMysteries
- QuestSecrets at the Heart of the LakeMysteries
- QuestResonant StringsCollectibles
- MapWeeping Creek ValleyWalkthrough for this region
- MapCrimson ForestWalkthrough for this region
- MapVillage of LuWalkthrough for this region
- FactionThe OrderWho they are and who leads them
- FactionTHE GILDED LOTUSWho they are and who leads them
- WeaponInanis’ Radiant FanThe fan she gives Soul in the Realm of Mirage
- AllEvery character in Phantom Blade ZeroEveryone who appears in the story or a quest
Frequently asked questions
Why can’t Inanis enter the Waking Realm?
She can only appear as an illusion that holds its shape for a short time. Why her body is gone is a late-story reveal, in the fold under her fate.
What does Inanis give you?
Her bells, which mend all your wounds; training with Remnant Dust to win back lost abilities; heart repairs; Memory Flowers; and Inanis’ Radiant Fan, a blossom fan that can create a sanctuary anywhere.
Sources for this page 1
- Phantom Blade Zero Official Phantom Blade Zero launch build: the game’s own dialogue, documents, bestiary, quest log and loading screens, read 3 November 2026. Quotes are the game’s English text, unchanged.