walk into the fire, become the delusional demon
or: a rambling about wuxia, devilman and childe falling into the abyss
because genshin is a chinese game, the first thing i was reminded of after getting acquainted with wuxia (martial arts genre) and xianxia (cultivation/fantasy genre) was childe's fall into the abyss.
some of the protagonists of these novels fall into a pit they have to survive in and come out of it "corrupted" one way or another. for example, wei wuxian in mdzs gets thrown into burial mounds, survives on his own and comes back having learned demonic cultivation that he uses to summon corpses (or spooky black smoke if u watch the live action) while becoming a bit arrogant in the process. luo binghe in svsss also spends some years in something called endless abyss and then comes back as a changed man (now with power and a hot bod).
it’s somewhat similar to childe’s experience in the abyss, where he enters as an innocent child whose dream is to become a hero and comes out with a “demon king armor” (foul legacy’s original chinese name) and the newfound desire to sharpen himself into a weapon, to seek power in the battlefield for the sake of power.
i wrote a post a while ago where i traced some patterns between harbingers/delusion users using teppei, childe, scaramouche and dottore as points of reference. it seems they tend to lose focus of their original dream and obsess over a short-term goal. teppei was already helping the watatsumi troops before using a delusion, but he was fixated on the idea of physical strength and military recognition; scaramouche’s true desire was to obtain a heart, but he chose to fulfill it by becoming an artificial god with a stolen gnosis; and childe has not forgotten his commitment to protect children’s innocence, but his main ambition has morphed into becoming the weapon rather than the hero. teppei was handed a delusion, while scaramouche and childe went through traumatic experiences, and all their journeys seem to be defined by obsession of some kind as a result.
in wuxia novels, the term 走火入魔/zǒuhuǒrùmó is a common trope (inspired by real life taoist beliefs) that can be translated as something along the lines of “walk into the fire, become the demon”, where 走火 means to escape a fire or to fire a weapon accidentally, 入 means “to enter” and 魔 means “demonic”, thus being translated as “becoming demonic”. it’s used when a character suffers negative consequences while practicing a martial arts technique (usually “unorthodox” in nature) that goes wrong somewhere along the way, which can trigger physical and/or psychological effects.
a second use for this trope is a deviation from the “righteous” path due to being influenced or being led astray by demonic forces. it is also used in modern everyday talk to refer to people who enter a mindset that’s so obsessive they can’t pull themselves out of it, such as: social media or mobile games.
(this post was very helpful to understand the meanings of 走火入魔)
here’s an excerpt from an essay that analyzes martial arts manuals as the usual culprit of 走火入魔:
Moreover, the martial arts manual in this book becomes a metaphor for power: “If you want to learn this skill, you must castrate yourself” is a metaphor for the horrible way in which one can become absorbed with the pursuit of power to the point one will not hesitate to sacrifice much of one’s cherished humanity, and it confirms that power can terribly corrupt a person! Laozi said, “Don’t show someone things that will incite desire and his mind will not be confused”. Martial arts manuals are clearly “something that will incite desire”, and how does it throw humanity into disorder? Wuxia authors look at it from different perspectives to concretely and vividly portray for us many forms and appearances.
in simple words, regardless of the use, it implies that the character/person gets lost in the sauce.
we know childe in the game as a friendly antagonist that serves the fatui, known all over teyvat as an “evil” military organization, so would he qualify as a “hero” that gets corrupted to begin with? considering the references to greek mythology in his lore, it sort of evokes the feeling of a classical hero archetype, with his birth name even being “ajax”.
an innocent child with a noble dream of being a hero like classical greek myths, falls into the abyss where he acquires a secret technique that harms his body every time he uses it and becomes obsessed with a goal that deviates from his original aspirations, like wuxia/xianxia protagonists.
and then he’s forced to join the military.
if you’ve made it this far, thank u, this is less an analysis that sticks to authorial intent and more an info-dumping of my interests, and if u want to keep going pls bear with me through another info-dumping (there is a point i promise).
devilman is a manga about a boy who merges with a demon in order to save the world from other demons. the author’s works are very influential in japanese manga (from berserk to evangelion to chainsaw man, and he also basically invented the mecha genre), and i personally really like this manga, so any time a character goes through a transformation into a monster i cant help associating them to it.
i’ve been wondering if childe’s case could go a little further than that.
devilman was published in the 70s but was conceptualized in the aftermath of world war II and the usamerican occupation of japan, and is heavy with commentary about war. the protagonist becoming “devilman” is a metaphor for conscripted soldiers who are handed fire power in exchange of being used as weapons themselves. rather than a critique or a think piece, i consider devilman to be more a depiction of the author’s anxieties and fears in real time, and the story’s conclusion is more about the futility of war, regardless of the characters’ motivations, and the dangers of power.
“kid loses their innocence due to horrific circumstances, acquires a demonic power and is then forced into a military role to be used as a weapon for war by choice” is the essence of devilman’s protagonist, and a simplistic summary of childe’s backstory as well, who chooses to serve the tsaritsa as a fatui harbinger.
greek myths usually end in tragedy, devilman’s main characters lead themselves into destruction, and with wuxia protagonists it’s a 50/50 chance. so let’s hope childe gets to beat the odds.
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