Genshin Impact has been praised by many of its fans for providing players with a wonderful assortment of characters to choose from. Aside from bearing unique abilities, many of the game's playable and non-playable characters alike boast detailed backgrounds and histories, which can be explored through the game's quests.
With regard to playable characters, Travelers often have the option to engage in Story Quests, which will showcase a particular playable Genshin Impact character on a brief series of quests. While not all playable characters have a Story Quest available, players also end up learning much about the characters through the game's main storyline, and special events as well.
One of the more sporadic "special events" in Genshin Impact entails special birthday messages. In short, every playable character's (including the Traveler's) birthday is commemorated by a special in-game message containing gifts. While the Traveler's birthday message is sent on the player's registered birth date and authored by miHoYo itself, all the other birthday messages are sent by each of their respective characters. So for example, Travelers received a letter from Zhongli on his birthday. As such, these notes often give lovely insight into the character's history or internal workings. Bennett's birthday message, sent on February 28th, is no different.
Bennett is a hyper-popular Pyro Vision wielder who comes as a bit of a surprise hit, considering he isn't even a five-star character. The powerful four-star essentially allows players to deal quick damage while not only buffing, but also healing, their teammates. One of his keynote traits is his unbelievably bad luck (which is so bad that even his birthday is February 29th, meaning he can only actually celebrate it every four years), which co-exists with his ceaseless optimism. Another one of Bennett's unique traits is his upbringing, which involves not one, or two dads, but many.
Upon reading Bennett's birthday message, players have been quick to point out that it begins by asserting that Bennett actually has "dads," rather than a singular "dad." For those unfamiliar with Bennett's lore, this immediately brought to mind the notion that Bennett has two fathers. This, however, is not entirely the case. Bennett does consider himself to have two dads, but he would also probably say he has many more than two dads. Players can rest assured though, there's no known connection between any of Bennett's relatives, the lonesome Diluc, and/or his adopted brother, Kaeya.
Bennett, an orphan, was taken in as an infant by a dying member of the Adventurers' Guild. When the elder perished, other older adventurers all came together to raise Bennett as the Adventurers' Guild's sort of resident child. Now, Bennett adorably refers to all of these men as his "dads." As per Bennett's birthday note, they've decided to celebrate his birthday this year with a large cake - perhaps it's one like the Birthday Cake for Traveler? Of course though, Bennett feels bad to be receiving all the extra attention on what isn't even his actual birthday (February 29).
While some fans might be quick to say that Bennett's backstory confirms the "two dads" theory to be incorrect, many of its queer fans have countered with the argument that, actually, the point is still rather similar, despite Bennett's lack of explicitly gay parents. Which is to say, the actual point is: Bennett has an absolutely non-"traditional" family, one which absolutely resonates with many of Genshin Impact's fans, especially those that are part of a queer or otherwise non-nuclear family.
Whether he has two dads, or seven, or three dads and a couple of "moms" and "uncles," Bennett certainly understands the feeling of coming from a family that isn't always seen as the "Classic" sort. Not only that, but he also seems to embrace the feeling, and proudly champions his unique family. And simply put, that's what's important and exciting to many of this happy-go-lucky Pyro expert's fans. Bennett may not be a rising queer icon like Pokemon's Peony, but Genshin Impact clearly isn't afraid to cater some of its content towards its evidently present LGBTQIA+ fanbase.
Genshin Impact is available now on the App Store, Google Play, PC, and PS4, and is currently in development for the PS5 and Switch.