What's the difference between Noelle and Barbara?
Barbara needs to learn to say no—but only that.
In Barbara's story quest, there's a scene where she encounters an injured Treasure Hoarder in the wild. Her clerical nature compels her to heal him. There are two branches to the outcome:
If the Traveler drives the Treasure Hoarder away, she says she understands;
If the Traveler doesn't, and asks why she'd heal a criminal, she explains she has a Vision and can handle herself. If she can't, she'd just leave medicine behind rather than heal them directly.
She's very aware of basic precautions.
Even when she encounters overzealous fans, she tries to avoid them. And when she can't, it turns into not knowing—or being too shy—to say no.
So, Barbara only needs to learn to say no.
But Noelle… she needs more than that. She needs to see that the world can be cruel, to recognize the darkness in people's hearts.
She doesn't just enjoy helping others—she actively seeks out people who need help.
At best, this leads to her wasting time on things that don't need assistance.
At worst, it puts her in danger—like the time she nearly died from a fever after rescuing someone in Dragonspine. And that wasn't a one-time event.
In her character stories, she's described as having frightened a Snezhnayan merchant out of his plot to sabotage Mondstadt's wine industry just by being too hospitable. In her hangout event, she even redeemed a fake wine dealer through sheer kindness.
But things won't always go so luckily.
That fake dealer came with the intent to scout out Dandelion Wine production. He got exactly what he wanted—and also got to enjoy Noelle's hospitality for a full day, free of charge.
Noelle isn't like Barbara. What she needs isn't just the ability to say no—she needs to recognize lies, darkness, and human malice. Her pure white heart needs to be tinged with gray, made more fit for the real world.
She needs to tarnish that crystal-clear, childlike heart of hers—like glass smudged by soot.
And maybe that's what the Knights don't want to see happen. And that's exactly why Victor Wang hesitated.
"Alright, let me put it more bluntly. If you can never join the Knights unless you change your personality, would you be willing to change?"
"My… personality?" Noelle looked puzzled. "I'll try my best to learn from the Knights."
"What if you could only choose one: help others, or join the Knights. Which would you pick?"
"…Those two things don't conflict, do they?"
"So, you haven't figured out what you really want yet? Do you want to join the Knights of Favonius to better help others, or do you help others because you admire the Knights' virtues?"
"They're not mutually exclusive," Noelle replied firmly.
"Then let me change the question. If two people called out to you at the same time for help, who would you choose?"
Noelle thought for a moment. "I'd look at how much time each request takes, and how important they are."
"And if it's three people?"
"That… I guess it'd be the same?" Noelle sounded unsure.
Victor Wang furrowed his brow. He realized Noelle's problem with refusing others was even more serious than her blindness to human malice. The 'curriculum' he'd mentally designed for her shifted and reshaped several times—until it finally settled.
He didn't push the five, ten, or a hundred person hypothetical to pressure her. Instead, he changed the subject.
"I heard you almost died once while saving someone."
"A true Knight never retreats. So, I didn't either." Noelle still hadn't realized how serious the problem was.
"That's admirable." Victor Wang leaned his right cheek against his hand and looked lazily at her. "We've talked so much—it's probably time I told you my dream."
"Oh, right! What is it?"
"It doesn't matter anymore. I can't achieve it. I'm… dying. You know about my condition. It's gotten worse. Even wearing a cloak in broad daylight, I'm in so much pain I can barely walk."
"But at six o'clock earlier—"
"It eases up in the evening, so I can manage. But it's starting to spread into the night too. Soon, maybe I'll be suffering all day and all night."
Noelle's eyes widened in surprise, her face filling with sadness. "I remember you said you'd found a way to heal it… how…?"
"I did find a way. But the process is long. I have to travel across all seven nations of Teyvat. Do you think I have any chance of recovering, when I've lost even the daylight?"
"…Don't give up! You can get better!"
"Then why don't you help me?"
"I can? How?"
"Be my personal maid. I'll be in a wheelchair. You push me around Teyvat and help me find a cure. You've risked your life to help strangers—I'm your friend. You wouldn't let me die, would you?"
"Eh…?"
Noelle's face went pale.
To accompany this man across all of Teyvat… who knew how long it would take before they returned?
She had family to take care of, her duties in Mondstadt, and her dream of joining the Knights. Was she supposed to throw it all away?
No—a real Knight never retreats…
"Two nights from now, I'm leaving Mondstadt. Same time, same place. If you're willing to help me, come then.
"If you don't… maybe in a few months, maybe in a few years, I'll die far away from home."
Victor Wang stood and leaned close to her face.
"Please… you must save me."
You must save me… you must save me… you must save me…
That calm, low voice echoed endlessly in her mind. It wouldn't go away.
Noelle was at a complete loss.
She never imagined a simple check-in would lead to something like this.
And yet deep inside, a voice told her: Helping others must not be refused—especially when a life is at stake.
She was about to run after Victor Wang and tell him she would go.
But the moment she tried to stand, a wave of selfish thoughts pinned her in place. She struggled against them, and at best managed to rise halfway before collapsing back down.
"No—elle—!"
A call rang out from the nearby Cat's Tail tavern.
She sprang up, armor clattering, skirt fluttering slightly, and without hesitation, she dashed toward the Cat's Tail.
Victor Wang, watching in secret, sighed. Under the cover of night, he walked onto Mondstadt Bridge and stared at the reflection of the starry sky in Cider Lake.
["Master! What would you do if two people asked for help at the same time?"]
"I'd weigh how much time and how important each request is." The answer echoed Noelle's.
["Then! What if it's three people?"]
"I'd ask other Knights, fellow adventurers, or even capable bystanders to help."
["Whoa! Isn't that cheating?"]
"What else can I do? Even if I split in half, I can only help two people at most."
["Hmph! That's not much better than Noelle's answer."]
A breeze rippled across the lake, scattering the stars' reflections—but Victor, with his sharp memory, kept counting them in his mind.
He realized something: Noelle always tries to shoulder everything on her own.
You can see it in the Dragonspine rescue incident, her solo attempts to fix crises during the dragon disaster, and even just now during their talk.
Was saving someone on Dragonspine a bad thing? No. Was it dangerous? Very.
Then why not find more people to go together?
It wasn't heroism. There are many people—Victor included—who instinctively try to solve things on their own.
When he first became a corporate grunt, every task from higher-ups—no matter how unreasonable, difficult, or time-crunched—he would try to finish anyway.
If it didn't get done in time, he worked overtime. If overtime didn't solve it, he took the blame and got chewed out in meetings.
But what he learned was this:
If you don't understand something—ask.
If something's unreasonable—speak up.
If there's a problem—report it.
If you shoulder everything yourself and mess up, you take the fall. If you tell your boss in advance and mess up—everyone shares the fallout.
Thinking of those days, he couldn't help but laugh. Two and a half years of dragging his team lead Li into countless messes… what a mess that was.
"Helping three people at three different places all at the same time? I can't do that. Life is full of things we can't do. What else can I say?"
"Let me tell you about a thing called the trolley problem. It's like a runaway carriage that can kill people, but it can only go down set tracks.
"One day, it's about to reach a junction. On the main track, there are five kids playing. On the side track, there's one kid.
"You're just a regular person—but you're holding the flag that lets you choose whether the trolley changes tracks.
"So, here's the question: do you let it stay on course and kill the five careless kids, or switch tracks and kill the one innocent one?"
["Huh?! What is this nonsense? Why do I have to decide?"]
"Exactly. That's the kind of no-win feeling I'm talking about."
["Hmph! What would you do?"]
Victor thought of all the online answers—some refused to act, others analyzed it by ethics, law, or fairness. Some even said to kill everyone for equality. It had spiraled into absurdity.
"I'd stick to my usual method: get help. I'd wave the flag to steer the trolley toward the single child, and have my teammate tackle him to safety. And if you insist I'm the only one there—then I refuse to answer."
["Hmph! That's cheating! If it were me, I'd sacrifice the one to save the five."]
"Then you've murdered an innocent person."
["I had no choice! It's five versus one!"]
"So… you're the kind of sword spirit who'd sacrifice a few for the many."
["Hmph! If that's what you think, sure."]
"And what if you were the one being sacrificed?"
["Ah! Then let me just die, I guess!"]
"And what if the one being sacrificed… was the person you love most?"
["I refuse to answer!"]
The trolley problem has no right answer. That's what makes it a problem.
Victor kept probing—just to see Little Wen fume with frustration.
And as expected, it was delightful.