NOT SPOILER OR LEAK FREE

I read his character stories and listened to his voicelines what the fuck

why isn't he evil

why is arlecchino nice

stop

Saw a post saying "Lyney can do no wrong". Sorry bestie, but he's an asshole.

Lyney is an actor and magician. His whole life is lies and he enjoys it. If you look closely at the Fontaine teaser, he smiles brightly at Lynette when their show is over:

And he's smiling when he bows. He loves it. But, like Arlecchino says, "You are first and foremost actors." Lyney is an actor. What do all actors do for a living? Lie. Lyney lies. As stated in the leak above, Lyney is constantly lying. He also does not care about people, except for Lynette. His leads me to the conclusion:

He's an absolute asshole.

Good. I want more assholes in this game. But now I'm done with his personality, onto his lore.

What do we know about his lore?

According to leaks, Lyney and Lynette were raised by Arlecchino in the House of Hearth, an orphanage mentioned in an Inazuma world quest and iirc a chasm world quest as well. Since the person who mentioned the HoH in the Inazuman quest was a Fatui mage, there's a high chance that Lyney and Lynette work for the Fatui. And well this is confirmed in the trailer when we see Arlecchino.

She definitely knows them, and they definitely know her. She's also incredibly powerful. My conclusion is that they work for her directly. As stated above, Lyney cares very little about other people, so chances are he is fully aware of what he's doing being her agent and just does not care about the consequences. He will gladly, NOT HESITANTLY AND WITH GUILT, but GLADLY speak in his web of lies if it meant Lynette was safe. Don't know much about Lynette, but that's not what this post is about.

Now for a Fontaine story theory:

My idea is that Lyney will betray us to Arlecchino and if he's hesitant to do so (which I doubt), Lynette will be used as leverage. The Traveller and everyone else in Fontaine has no idea that he's an agent for the Fatui, and think of him as the charming and cheery magician who sometimes performs. Therefore, he's trustworthy in their eyes. Lyney is an actor, so he can definitely lie his way into gaining the Traveller's trust. But then he betrays us to Arlecchino and is revealed to be her right hand. And he's smug about it because he knows he's going to get rewarded. There might be a Lyney boss fight, but there's a higher chance of it being Arlecchino boss fight. Arlecchino is also set to be playable, which will be fun.

TLDR:

Lyney is a little bitch who hates everyone except Lynette

He most likely works for Arlecchino

I need him to betray us to Arlecchino

ALSO LYNEY HAS A CAT THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION AS IN ACTUAL LIVING CAT THE ONE LYNETTE HAS IS ON A SPRING YOU SEE THIS LITTLE MENACE HERE I NAMED HIM CHESHIRE HE'S SO CUTE: