Let’s be honest—even if it’s 2026 and Fontaine’s waters have long since receded into memory, there are some Genshin Impact moments that still make your eye twitch. For me, that moment is the Wondrous Shadows sub-event from the 2022 Lantern Rite Festival. I can still feel the mix of frustration and sheer awe as I stared at those twisted black silhouettes, the clock ticking down, wondering how on Teyvat a blob of shadow was supposed to be a deer. Yes, the final three lantern riddles—numbers 7, 8, and 9—were brutal. And I’m here to walk you through them (again), because even four years later, I still get asked how to solve them faster than the timer ran out.
Back then, Wondrous Shadows had us rotating and positioning segments of an image until the full picture snapped into place. Sounds simple, right? Well, that’s what I thought until the later puzzles started laughing at me. The catch was a merciless time limit before the hint kicked in. And I’m not ashamed to admit: I deliberately let the timer expire on those final riddles. Why? Because the Riddle Progress bar on the bottom left was an absolute lifesaver. It showed your completion percentage as you got closer, and once you saw that bar rising, you knew you were on the right track. Honestly, is there a bigger relief in a gacha game than seeing a number go up after twenty minutes of panicked tinkering? I don’t think so.
The 7th Lantern Riddle: The Deer (Moon Carver)
I remember staring at this one thinking, “Is that a horse? A weird rock?” Then the hint revealed it was an adeptus. The shadow finally transformed into Moon Carver, that majestic stag we’d seen in cutscenes. You had two segments to move besides the full image itself, and the trick was getting each segment to face the correct side of the screen. I was rotating pieces so frantically I nearly pulled a muscle. The final form is this elegant deer silhouette—look at the antlers!
I doubt many players got this without help or the hint. The segments were deceptively similar, and if you didn’t line up the angles just right, the progress bar stayed stubbornly at 0%. Did you figure it out on your own, or were you like me, sacrificing your pride on the altar of the hint timer?
The 8th Lantern Riddle: The Blooming Flower
After the deer, I braced myself for another abstract nightmare. But the 8th puzzle was… a flower? Yes, a blooming flower, and surprisingly soothing once you saw the pattern. Again, two segments plus the full image. When I finally solved it, the silhouette blossomed into something almost poetic. Take a look:
It made me realize that Wondrous Shadows wasn’t just about gaming skill; it was about patience and visual imagination. Could you see the petals in those abstract shapes before the hint? I certainly couldn’t, and I suspect most of us were just chasing percentage points.
The 9th Lantern Riddle: The Crane (Cloud Retainer)
And then came the final boss. Three segments to juggle, not two. The shadow resolved into Cloud Retainer, the magnificent crane adeptus. This one was so precise that I nearly gave up. I rotated, flipped, and cursed my way through multiple attempts. The segments had to lock together perfectly, and the full-image orientation required almost surgical precision. Here’s what it looked like when done:
If you managed this without the hint or a guide, you have my eternal respect. By 2026 standards, it still stands as one of the more obtuse puzzles HoYoverse has ever thrown at us. The satisfaction of seeing that completed crane was worth the headache, though.
Is It Worth the Effort? Let’s Talk Rewards
Here’s the kicker: the final three riddles only gave you Mora, Mystic Enhancement Ore, and Hero’s Wit. No Primogems, no Affluence Talismans—just resources. At the time, many players (including me) felt a little cheated. But looking back, that’s quintessential late-game Genshin: every bit of Hero’s Wit and Mora matters when you’re building that 10th character. And Mystic Enhancement Ore? Well, you can always forge more, but free is free.
So, should you have bothered? Absolutely. Even as a veteran player, resources accumulate slowly, and these puzzles were a one-time event. If you were a completionist, skipping them would have felt wrong. And let’s be real: sometimes we play these minigames just to prove we can beat them. Did you walk away feeling triumphant or just drained? I was a bit of both.
Final Thoughts
Four years later, I still chuckle when I see Cloud Retainer’s elegant form and remember my frantic puzzle-solving. Wondrous Shadows was a perfect example of how Genshin Impact loves to nestle maddening little challenges inside its most festive events. If you’re a newer player who never got to experience those lantern riddles, consider yourself lucky and unlucky at the same time. You missed the pain, but you also missed the weird joy of finally seeing a blooming flower where only chaos once lived. To those who were there: did you solve them alone, or did you instantly hunt down a guide? Tell me your horror stories—because we all have them.