Something I'd like your input on because I'm just not sure if I missed something but... what in the world did Dain think Kaeya was at the start of that archon quest? Like I know he said he was a descendant of the Abyss founder but does that mean the cursed can still have children who are perfectly fine? Are they all just taking care of their cursed parents deep underground and that's why we've never seen any but Kaeya or are they afraid the curse only starts for those not full blooded when they step out of their homeland like referenced in the Sumeru journals and so no one dares step out? Cause if NOT Dain has far more manners than I for not shaking Kaeya immediately and asking just what the hell he is (or even after the quest when he learns that family had broken the curse and not being like "hey sorry traveler I'm gonna go hunt down that friend of yours cause honestly what the FUCK") Dainsleif's nonchalant reaction to seeing Kaeya has been haunting me since the quest came out cause of the implications that would mean on just what's actually left of or in khaenri'ah/abyss or if he thought initially that Kaeya was created like Albedo and simply took up the last name
I definitely would have thought the people theorizing children of the cursed would have been using this scene as evidence for their theories or something but at least at that time of searching I didn't see anyone bring it up
i genuinely can't tell how much dainsleif knows about kaeya. they were all pretty nonchalant about it, even paimon who by all accounts should have been more prying, because well...she's paimon.
unfortunately, i think it all comes down to bad writing and leaving out information to build suspense. like how the traveler should also shake venti by the shoulders to ask about their sibling. we know dainsleif is determined to get answers to the point he'll dive headfirst into random portals, so i think they just put them both back into lore jail so the game doesn't immediately end lol. it wouldn't surprise me if kaeya doesn't show up again in the next dain quest for this reason.
about that journal that mentioned people turning once they went outside: i actually think the author of that journal is the hydro rogue who is standing near it, surrounded by a couple of mourning flowers.
it's incredibly tragic, but their handwriting got increasingly distorted which implies that they got cursed anyway. the mourning flowers indicate that their family died there, (possibly of starvation before the curse could reach them), and the rogue is unwilling to leave their final resting place.
so for now it does seem that the curse is inescapable no matter where you are.
all in all, kaeya's situation is incredibly strange. what keeps bugging me is that his father called him their "last hope". this would imply that he's the ONLY one who can live in the "human realm" for the lack of better term. OR "last hope" refers to a collective of kids like kaeya who were placed in teyvat which is messed up if true.
you know it's funny how we've gotten zero information about the other half of kaeya's family… unless??
warning: slight crack
Kaeya: According to the merchant I bought it from, mysterious spirits called Jinn often live in lamps like this, and this lamp in particular once housed a very powerful Jinni.
in kaeya's hangout, we are gifted a mysterious lamp. kaeya says the merchant who sold it to him claims it once housed a powerful jinni. this lamp is called Mysterious Lamp of Fate Ordained. (remember this.) kaeya then explains what the jinn are as if he just discovered brand new information which is odd because kaeya has told klee a story about a jinni trapped in a lamp before.
aforementioned story is a reference to the story of The Fisherman and the Jinni from One Thousand and One Nights and also to the in-game book The Shepard and the Magic Bottle, a four star quest item that permanently stays in your inventory.
both stories concern a jinni being freed from a magic bottle upon which they grant three wishes. curiously, kaeya uses the last wish of the in-real-life story instead of the game's. in his version, the jinni gets trapped, in the book of the game, the jinni stays freed.
Kaeya: He said to the Jinni, "Wait, how could your massive body fit inside such a small bottle? I won't ever believe it unless I see with my own eyes!" The Jinni became angry, and said, "Mwahaha. Foolish boy, you dare question my powers!?" The Jinni then returned inside the bottle and the boy swiftly sealed it shut.
The Shepard and the Jinni
The young man hesitated for a moment, and asked the last question.
"What's it like to live in a bottle?"
Seemingly having never heard of such a question before, the spirit was slightly surprised before she answered slowly.
strangely enough, it's not the first time kaeya has been connected to lamps. in the furniture description for Trusty Portable Lamp he went around telling children that the souls of fireflies are trapped inside lamps.
No thanks to the Cavalry Captain's jests, a rather morbid children's tale exists in Mondstadt concerning these lamps. The nuns have had to explain to the kids that no, these lanterns do not contain the imprisoned souls of fireflies.
furthermore, his ascension material is The Spirit Locket of Boreas. probably just another coincidence but nothing can ever be taken for granted when it involves this guy. perhaps all of these strange associations with imprisoned spirits is foreshadowing something bigger, who knows.
still, in the context of his hangout, kaeya's gift being a lamp is actually pretty random compared to gifts of other companions.
so i started thinking, the play and the intaglio showed us his ties to the alberich clan while the other routes showed his ties to mondstadt so it stands to reason that we should have hints towards the unknown maternal side of his family right? could this be the lamp?
before we dive into crack territory let me explain what the jinn are first. they're spirits born from night-blue water lilies that were nourished by nabu malikata's blood. jinn can take the appearance of blobs like dori's spirit or that of humans, and they can even reproduce with them as seen with everyone's most behated lamp, liloupar.
we have no idea how kaeya seemingly dodged the curse but what if he was blessed by a jinni? maybe someone made a contract with a jinni and this is how he's able to age normally. it could even be connected to his lucky coin that can land on any side he wishes. if guoba can be a stove god, it's not too far-fetched to think the coin could house some kind of spirit.
Kaeya: Of course, this whole arrangement hinges on a preexisting amount of trust between the two of us. I can't just get any strange coins to listen to me.
also, liloupar said something interesting about jinn being able to take someone's pain away from them:
Jeht: Can Jinn feel pain too?
Liloupar: The Jinn have little need for a vessel, and even less need for senses. But should we begin to connect with others… Then we will take from them their pain… Even should we not comprehend the source of it.
who knows, perhaps this could even extend to a curse.
moving on to the good stuff:
these tcg cards show an unknown woman wearing the Vourukasha's Glow artifact set that is associated with nabu malikata. her outfit resembles nilou's outfit, which is modeled after nabu malikata's, but is noticeably lacking the horns nabu malikata was said to have.
the description for this card is Scions of Khvarena, which means that this lady is most likely just a follower or heir of nabu malikata.
(however, columbina, who is very likely to be a seelie survivor like nabu malikata, has bits of dark pink hair and is also lacking the horns, meaning we can't exactly determine that this woman isn't nabu malikata.)
in any case, the loading screen for khvarena is also called Scions of the Khvarena and it tells us something interesting: that khvarena can dwell inside humans.
Scions of the Khvarena
Thanks to the nourishment of the Amrita, the Khvarena split apart to manifest countless forms. Some can find themselves dwelling within individual humans, while others might develop an awareness of their own…
khvarena are spirits that can purify abyssal corruption. they were created by nabu malikata. another interesting bit of trivia is that khvarena used to be localized as Soul Light.
taking a gander here but what if this lady and other human heirs of the khvarena are people who have the khvarena inside of them? i have actually speculated about this before that kaeya's mother might have had khvarena inside of her which ended up neutralizing or suppressing kaeya's curse.
you see, khvarena can reverse the effects of the abyss. and it was said that the oasis could cure all ills. though i should add, it probably isn't very effective on khaenri'ahns who are already cursed, as we've seen with dainsleif who was actually there recovering at the amrita pool but is still zombified.
(khvarena is green energy, and what i found curious is that the lamp kaeya gives you actually emits green smoke when you touch it. kaeya's favorite drink is death after noon, which is green due to the absinthe within. in literature, absinthe is known as The Green Fairy...)
to me, the most intriguing part is that khvarena is based on khvarenah, the divine royal glory.
Khvarenah is an Avestan word for a Zoroastrian concept literally denoting "glory" or "splendour" but understood as a divine mystical force or power projected upon and aiding the appointed. The neuter noun thus also connotes "(divine) royal glory", reflecting the perceived divine empowerment of kings. The term also carries a secondary meaning of "(good) fortune"; those who possess it are able to complete their mission or function.
when you read this, does it not remind you of kaeya's character? we all know by now that kaeya is associated with nobility/royalty, and good fortune (with his lucky coin and some of his dialogue).
Mona: Kaeya Alberich? He's a Pavo Ocellus. Destined for greatness and grandeur… and to hide ugly realities behind a layer of charm and elegance. He believes he has made a clean break with his past, but one day fate will catch up with him. When it does, he will have a major decision to make.
we don't know what kaeya's name is derived from, but it could be from the legendary Kayanians, who were also said to possess khvarenah!
anyway, back to the scions, i think it's possible that the following tribes are the scions of khvarena.
The matriarchs of the Tanit, Uzza, Shimti, and other tribes besides all refer to themselves as "Daughters of the Flower Goddess."
the Flower Goddess is nabu malikata who also calls the khvarena daughter of flowers, meaning these tribes are very likely to be the scions.
"My Khvarena, daughter of flowers…"
and like the lady on the card, matriarch babel of the tanit tribe has light pink hair.
(though, as a reminder, unbeknownst to her, babel was not actually born into the tanit tribe so we can't use her as a reference as she most likely did not have the blessing of khvarena, which is what i suspect is the reason she had to use poor JEHT.)
unfortunately, there's zero information about the other two tribes but shimti caught my eye here.
Ashima was a West Semitic goddess of fate related to the Akkadian goddess Shimti ("fate"), who was a goddess in her own right but also a title of other goddesses such as Damkina and Ishtar.
shimti means fate!!!
FATE!!
mysterious lamp of fate ordained!!!!
peacock accessories, gold accents and dead mom sidebraid!!!!
Traveler: I never knew you could inherit eye patches.
Kaeya: My! (Traveler), how could you not know such common knowledge! This is no different from children inheriting their hairstyle from their parents!
kaeya last name shimti REAL you heard it here first-
ok you can laugh now but wouldn't it be nice if kaeya's mom turned out to be a pretty pink haired lady who is a descendent of nabu malikata? i think it would be nice 😌.
this flower, which was worn by pilgrims and the scions of nabu malikata, resembles the spantamad darshan symbol; a peacock with branches underneath. the branches underneath resemble the branches of irminsul (and even the blue lines dainsleif has on his body but that's for another discussion.)
the wiki speculates that the feathers are meant to represent the seven elements. this makes sense as spantamad is dedicated to the study of leylines and the elements. after some googling i found this:
[...] in Yazidi mythology, when Tawûsî Melek descended to earth, the seven colours of the rainbow transformed into a seven-coloured bird, the peacock, which flew around every part of earth to bless it.
so the symbol being a peacock isn't just randomly chosen. that's great! now let's see what Tawûsî Melek actually means-
edit: apparently the spantamad peacock actually existed in the in-game universe! the description for jadeplume terrorshroom goes as follows:
Its tail has a lovely jade plumage that seems very similar to that of the ancient sacred beast that the Spantamad school reveres. As far as the logic of mimesis is concerned, it seems quite likely that the two beings once walked the earth together.
does this mean that the spantamad peacock is actually the divine bird simurgh, fashioned from khvarena? huge implications for kaeya if this is the case.
a question that's on everyone's mind: where did kaeya live before coming to mondstadt? personally, i think one possibility is that he lived in the dark sea. the dark sea is not necessarily a literal sea; it includes places that are outside of teyvat, like remote islands, with possibly enkanomiya being one of them. not much is known about this place but venti actually seems to allude kaeya might have arrived from there judging by the poem he gives him:
Venti: "Majestic waves cresting, surf roaring its tale, none but the ocean to hear as I sing."
Venti: "The stars in my eyes as I chart toward the horizon, that into one day, from the endless dome of night I shall spring."
the poem contains oceanic imagery, darkness and...singing?
oh that's right, because
THE DARK SEA USED TO BE INHABITED BY SEELIE (and the context of venti's poem is that they are writing hymns in front of the cathedral because of course they are!)
This wasteland is said to be a land beyond the dominion of the deities, inhabited only by the grotesque ghostly remains of fallen gods, where the former palaces of the Seelie now stand empty.
there is a tale of a seelie survivor singing a mournful song and playing a lute in one such a ruin. some have speculated it could be columbina since she's the only seelie we know of aside from nabu malikata, sang at signora's funeral, and the characters in chinese for "damselette", columbina's other title, are the same as the ones used to refer to the seelie "maiden".
just wishful thinking because the dark sea isn't just one landmass, but would be pretty funny if kaeya actually knows of columbina.
more strange stuff about these ruins and their possible origins below the cut:
the interesting thing about these palaces and the hall in the dark sea is that they are described as GRAY, probably because of whatever disaster befell them…
[…] where the former palaces of the Seelie now stand empty. So when the solitary old wolf passed by a gray palace and heard the sound of music coming from within, it caught its attention. […] Intrigued, the wolf stepped inside the gray hall, trod across the overgrown weeds, and passed by a broken sarcophagus, on which a portrait of the deceased ruler was still clearly visible.
and then i remembered something that has been bugging me for a while: there is a mention of an unknown golden hall and a golden palace by the adventurer zhiqiong and the boatman from tsurumi island.
"Boatman": The fog is long scattered, and long scattered is the fog! Yet who has not boarded? The lady of the golden hall shall be angry. Most angry... Ye old who linger on things yet strange and new, let us return, let us return, to the golden halls upon the moon.
this boatman would guide the lost shades on tsurumi island to the "far side of the river" possiby referring to the afterlife.
Zhiqiong: The golden city… The black watchtower…! cough The heavenly envoys have left…!
zhiqiong was deliriously rambling about this because she had been trapped in the black mud from the chasm. heavenly envoys are referring to the seelies/angels.
hadura, a member of the schwanenritter from khaenri'ah, earned the title of sentinel of the golden hall.
Old Orders: …Knight Commander Hadura, who has successfully led the operation to stall the beasts, is hereby conferred the title of "Sentinel of the Golden Hall" …by order of Marshal Regent Anfortas…
i checked the cn terms side by side and they are different so it's probably not the same golden hall as what the boatman mentioned.
however, dainsleif did say that the inverted city within the chasm has similar architecture to khaenri'ah…
Dainsleif: The closer we draw, the more I am inclined to conclude that these ruins belong to a more ancient civilization still.
Dainsleif: That said, the architecture here does somewhat resemble that of Khaenri'ah… At least, it would if it were the other way up.
could these ruins from the dark sea AND the chasm have originally been from the heavens/celestia/moons? i remember when i was reading up on ishtar/inanna, the mesopotamian goddess who istaroth is probably derived from, that there is a myth involving her brother, the sun god, helping her bring down a temple from heaven.
hmm, remember how the chasm was formed allegedly because of a star or solar chariot falling to teyvat?
and in norse mythology, there are a couple of very important halls (sometimes described as golden), most famously valhalla, but also sessrumnir which belonged to the goddess freyja. freyja would receive half of those who were slain in battle while odin would take the other half to valhalla.
odin's equivalent in the game is king irmin. the boatman mentions a lady of the golden hall, and funnily enough freyja means lady. 👀
Really quickly about the golden hall, khaenriah is inspired by norse mythology, so connecting the golden hall (which is often what valhalla is described as) to the dark sea (which is where seelies come from + has connections to khaenriah) would not be a far reach at all.
oh yeah for sure! i thought about this some more and doesn't the concept of vision holders being selected with the potential to ascend to celestia sound eerily similar to odin and freyja selecting which warriors can enter their hall 🤨 i wonder if celestia has their own freyja equivalent...
i forgot to mention it in this post but these halls were the halls of angels according to the seelie maiden
Her skin was ashen white and her head was bowed down, her slender fingers gently stroking the fragile strings of the lute as she played a long-forgotten and mournful melody. [...] "The last singers, the first Seelie, they played their final tune in the halls of angels."
and according the book moonlit bamboo forrest, "the sovereign carriage got overturned 👀 and laid ruin to the halls of stars"
With time, disasters overturned the sovereign carriage [of the moon sisters] and laid ruin to the halls of the stars. The three sisters of the night turned against one another, leading to their eternal parting by death. Only one of their pale corpses now remains, ever shedding its cold light...
What are your thoughts on the seer Kaeya theories that were going around? Cause apparently I have many thoughts that I'm trying to keep from spamming you with lmao basically there's him not being a seer and his network really is that good (but not good enough to tell him about the nations wide treasure hoarder scheme), him being a seer (same issue as before), having only vague premonitions (which is funny cause he uses them as stories to spook kids), or he DOES have seer information it just isnt his own (second hand and why he had to lure out Dain for confirmation). Each have some merits but all still have some pretty glaring issues as well that it's hard to tell which way the story is going to go.
oh i have MANY thoughts about this (warning: it's a long read)
IS KAEYA A SEER?
PART 1: HINTS OF OMNISCIENCE
from the very beginning we are told and shown kaeya is very knowledgeable.
勇敢的小伙子班尼特对这位无所不知的大哥信赖有加.
Bennett, a brave young man, has a lot of trust in this big brother who knows everything.
in kaeya's official chinese profile, bennett trusts kaeya as his omniscient big brother.
kaeya's constellation is a peacock. the tailfeathers of peacocks have spots resembling eyes. kaeya's namecard in cn hints at kaeya having many eyes…
孔雀漂亮尾羽上的花纹很像是永不闭上的 眼睛。所以凯亚并非少了一只眼睛,而是
The patterns on the beautiful tail feathers of a peacock resemble eyes that never close. So Kaeya isn't missing an eye, rather... [he has many of them].
fischl's voiceline about kaeya is as follows:
Fischl: His nature is obscure, his fate a mystery, and his speech a vexing tapestry woven of both fact and fiction… Perhaps he and I share the burden of mystical sight…
NOW i want to make it clear that fischl is actually important to understanding kaeya. kaeya is in part based on the indian prince baby from midsummer night's dream. midsummer night's dream in german is mittsommernachtstraum, which is the inspiration behind the name of fischl's princess outfit, immernachtstraum. princess fischl seems to have existed in teyvat, as seen in the description for midsummer courtyard:
With the fall of the ancient lost civilization, the once prosperous and magnificent Sommernachtgarten was also buried underground, leaving only its ancient trees and stones to remember its past glory.
sommernachtgarten is in turn mentioned in the book flowers for princess fischl. this book is published by yae's publishing house just to add more to how suspicious this all is.
what the connection here is, i really cannot say, but for now fischl's voiceline about kaeya should NOT be taken for granted.
PART 2: SEER, POET, KING
let's look into the possible meaning behind the name "kaeya".
MANDATORY DISCLAIMER: there are many possibilities for what "kaeya" might mean so please don't take any of this as fact. however, i have no doubt the creative team are aware of the many meanings behind his name and could possibly be playing around with that. i would too, if i were a writer.
some of sumeru's mythology draws inspiration from the shahnameh, the book of kings, which is a persian epic. in kaeya's hangout he plays prince qubad, opposite frasiyav. i have talked about this before, (see: the bottom reblog) and how i suspect frasiyav might represent irmin. i believe qubad's namesake is either kay qubad or kay qobad. however, the character kaeya is playing is based on siyavash, son of kay kavus, (and future son-in-law of frasiyav 👀 but let's leave that discussion for another time). these are all characters from the shahnameh. siyavash and qobad belong to the kayanians.
KAYĀNIĀN (Kayanids), in the early Persian epic tradition a dynasty that ruled Iran before the Achaemenids, all of whom bore names prefixed by Kay from Avestan kauui
so, could "kaeya" actually be derived from this dynasty's epithet "kay"? let's take a look at what kauui can mean:
As an epithet of kings and the reason the dynasty is so called, Middle 𐭪𐭣 and New Persian kay(an) originates from Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬌 kavi (or kauui) "king" and also "poet-sacrificer" or "poet-priest".
Kavi is the Indo-Iranian term for “(visionary) poet.”
i'm oversimplifying it but basically kay can stand for seer, poet, king (not to be confused with soldier, poet, king). all of these terms are connected to kaeya.
king: alberich literally means elf king, or ruler of elfs, and kaeya has been foreshadowed to be royalty
poet: kaeya has taken poetry "lessons" from venti and this even comes back up again in his hangout…with venti again
so if we follow the pattern the seer part would also apply to him, right?
Their poems are made by their thoughts (mati, etc.), and they send their “poetic visions” (dhī) into the divine world.
this is very interesting because it reminds me of the venti route in kaeya's hangout titled: Poems Dedicated to the Wind AND of dainsleif's character description. the text is a prophecy in the form of a poem given by a self-proclaimed prophet.
The confluence between the past and future.
The original calamity had been overturned, yet the island in the sky set the earth to burn. Chalk pursues gold, in this time inopportune, the eclipse is swallowed by the crimson moon. The future must atone for bygone mistakes, as the bond familiar falters and breaks— of the same blood, elders and the youth… Such is the cycle of the world, in truth. Dain, what is that strand of blonde hair to you? Someone you must kill? Or the object of your penitence?
—A self-proclaimed prophet.
now, i'm NOT claiming kaeya wrote this or will say this to dainsleif, but my point is that there is a connection between seers and poetry.
(HOWEVER, the fact that the text refers to dainsleif as dain denotes a friendship between the speaker and dain, (remember dainsleif is literally named after kaeya's sword, there's no way they won't become friends), and self-proclaimed prophet implies the speaker isn't well-established as a prophet yet 👀. furthermore, kaeya references the second part of the prophecy (which is likely about him) in his hangout.
Kaeya: History always repeats itself.
Kaeya: Perhaps there's an inept god out there deciding everyone's fates… much like the Akademiya student drafting Darbil's scripts.
Kaeya: Yep, "inept" is a good word for it. Honestly, it might even be a little too civil to describe a god who turns fathers against their sons and is bent on endless warmongering… don't you think?)
now, because kaeya tends to lie a lot, it's hard to tell if he's actually good at writing poetry. the poem he wrote to venti sucked major ass, but since kaeya likes to mess with venti bc he knows he's barbatos, this was most likely on purpose.
the talent books kaeya uses are the same as venti's: the ballad books. here's the description for philosophies of ballad:
Poetry is the soul of the land of the wind. Poetry is the manifestations of the desire to spread the word.
SOUNDS AWFULLY SIMILAR TO WHAT WE JUST ESTABLISHED ABOUT "KAY" AND POETIC VISIONS… getting waaay off track here but i think we can safely connect kaeya to seer, poet, king.
PART 3: THE BURDEN OF MYSTICAL SIGHT
bet you're probably thinking, "seer kaeya needs more evidence than hearsay and etymology". let's think back on it: has kaeya ever shown any hints if foresight? well, that's a bit harder to figure out. it certainly does seem as if kaeya knows more than he should. before we go any further, i propose two interpretations of seer: a prophet OR someone who can see beyond the limitations of the world, like a melusine.
alright, let's list all the times kaeya showed off his huge brain:
a) he knows venti is barbatos. to be fair, this isn't that hard to figure out for anyone who looks too closely; venti is complete shit at hiding his identity. but the question of how and when exactly kaeya came to this conclusion remains unanswered.
b) kaeya could sense the abyss mage in the temple of the wolf but the traveler and paimon did not. in the same vein, he could also sense dainsleif spying on him. this might have something to do with the corruption or some type energy inside of them, but who knows, maybe kaeya has eyes in the back of his head. edit: muted-honey pointed out that back in the windblume festival, kaeya could sense a suspicious individual (rosaria) behind him from his right side 😮💨
c) kaeya probably knew alice was the one who was behind the golden apple archipelago from the start. also not that hard to figure out, plus he's met her before so he knows what she's like. but then why did he pretend to be in the dark the entire time?
Kaeya: Huh? Did I ever guess what was going on, you ask?
Kaeya: Haha… not a chance. I'm much too naive, I was in the dark the whole time.
WHO WOULD EVEN BELIEVE THIS OBVIOUS LIE 😭
d) the tcg cards. hoo boy. kaeya left a deck of cards inside the cat's tail for the traveler to use, apparently he didn't even touch the cards.
Diona: Uh, a customer left it behind a few days ago. But he wasn't even playing the game while he was here.
Diona: Eh, it's already been a few days and he still hasn't come back to claim them. Who knows, maybe he left them here on purpose…
this is never explained or brought up again. how did he know the traveler would need a deck of cards??? WHY DID HE EVEN DO THIS???!
e) kaeya knew idyia was an oceanid all along. nothing groundbreaking here, but kaeya's attempts to downplay his perceptiveness is reminiscent of the alice situation.
Kaeya: So our General was the first to notice? It seems like she's more perceptive than she lets on…
Eula: I'd say the same about you, Kaeya.
f) kaeya was expecting the the traveler to show up in the caribert quest. this is also never explained or brought up again. he even went so far as to wait every single day for them to show up. this is interesting because it could mean that whatever foresight kaeya received simply isn't detailed enough. think the stone slates from the fontaine prophecy; it only showed the stopping points but not the journey.
g) if you pay close attention, kaeya mentions luck/chance/fate a LOT. especially when he runs into the traveler, like 'how unexpected', 'didn't expect to see you here' etc. i'm not going to go back to collect every instance, but trust me it's enough that it reaches mona levels. even his death voicelines reference this…
Fallen II: That was unexpected…
yeah why was that unexpected kaeya? because you already know you're not supposed to die yet or what?
PART 4: NABU MALIKATA, NICOLE, AND KHAENRI'AH
now let's go back to the kayanians again, because there is something very interesting about them…
The word is also etymologically related to the Avestan notion of kavaēm kharēno, the "divine royal glory" that the Kayanian kings were said to hold.
kavaēm kharēno means khvarenah. the kayanians possess khvarenah! i already go a bit in depth here about the in-game notion of khvarena and how kaeya or his mother could've possessed this.
the tl; dr is that khvarena are born from nabu malikata's body. this was then fashioned into a divine bird which i only recently found out could've been a peacock. (see the post i linked, specifically the addition.)
this is important, not only because kaeya's constellation is a peacock, but because NABU MALIKATA was a prophet, nabu even means prophet!
IF kaeya has the khvarena inside him, could he be able to divine the future as well, albeit to a lesser extent than a visionary?
so that's the nabu malikata of it all, let's move on to nicole. as you know, nicole's teacups are found in dawn winery. i do believe this a deliberate choice: every other witch is given an incredibly elaborate looking teacup but for nicole they chose to reuse the dawn winery teacups.
then they even put kaeya in the same shot with the teacup during his hangout! could not have dropped a bigger hint here!
nicole is a visionary, a guide, a disembodied voice, could it be that she is actually whispering in his ear, occasionally providing him information? it doesn't seem likely as nicole only shows herself when a significant change has occured, but we can't rule out the possibility just yet. or is the teacup simply a hint that like nicole, kaeya is omniscient?
now about khaenri'ah… don't take my word for it but i believe khaenri'ah could be derived from "priestess/priest of the winds" in arabic.
priest of the winds (kahin riah) كاهن رياح
priestess of the winds (kahinat riah) كاهنة رياح
most likely they chose this because of the anemoi gods (the cardinal winds) being attested as "priestess/prophetess of the winds" in mycenaean-greek.
The earliest attestation of the word in Greek and of the worship of the winds by the Greeks, are perhaps the Mycenaean Greek word-forms 𐀀𐀚𐀗𐀂𐀋𐀩𐀊, a-ne-mo-i-je-re-ja, 𐀀𐀚𐀗𐄀𐀂𐀋𐀩𐀊, a-ne-mo,i-je-re-ja, i.e. "priestess of the winds".
it says priestess but ijereja can also mean PROPHETESS. does this also not remind you of what we discussed before, of the poems/visions written to the wind?
khaenri'ah does have connections to divination. king irmin is based on odin. odin hung himself from the world tree yggdrasil to gain extensive knowledge about the world, sacrificing his eye in the process. the description for the quest item silver twig references this legend;
"Trees" also symbolize wisdom. In one of the legends, a sage hanging upside down on a tree had acquired the knowledge of how to inscribe runes and control sacred words, and thus followed the kingdom established along the tree's roots, eventually gaining a glimpse of the secret of the cosmos.
now based on what we know of odin, i think this sage was irmin and not deshret. HOWEVER, we should take note of how the sage's gender is made unclear… 👀 in any case, this makes it likely irmin posesses foresight, or at least acquired the means to divination. is kaeya covering his eye a hint that he's in a similar situation?
looking at the other khaenri'ahns we have in game, it seems pierro is also quite knowledgeable. however, one explanation could be that he's using columbina to divine the future since she's a seelie like nabu malikata.
dainsleif claims to have knowledge of fate itself and i think it has to do with the blue irminsul lines on his body… these lines resemble the branches of irminsul and the dragon queller, azhdaha's tail. in the description for the dragon-queller, they call this energy moonlight.
A strange tree whose branches flow with clear, cold moonlight.
we've established kaeya attracts crystalflies towards him, and crystalflies are drawn to elemental energy and leylines… should be noted that a TON of crystalflies can be found in the vourukasha oasis, which is filled with khvarena. if dainsleif is infused with this irminsul "moonlight", could kaeya also possess this then?
if he does could this be why he has extensive knowledge of many things? why he could sense dainsleif and the abyss mage? why he was placed in mondstadt (moon city)?
back to your original question: is kaeya a seer? let's review the evidence presented to us:
characters call him omniscient or suspect he is
kaeya's name could mean seer
kaeya is VERY observant, to the point where it seems like he has 4D vision, but attempts to downplay it
kaeya is connected to several important figures who are prophets
that being said, i can't confidently say kaeya is a seer… but based on all of this, it would be pretty weird if he wasn't.
I wanted to collect my thoughts on the newly released book Perinheri, focusing on the usual overlooked suspects such as Kaeya, the Seelie and the connection to Princess Fischl.
TL;DR: Kaeya is (probably?) not cursed because he's half-Seelie
I strongly recommend reading the book first, which you can buy in Fontaine's book shop. Link to the official website here.
Perinheri is "based on a legendary story known throughout Khaenri'ah, but there are none left who can verify this." Ok, first of all, Kaeya and Zhongli are right there, you even put their names in the book!! Second of all, Khaenri'ah is only ever referred to as the "Kingdom" throughout the rest of the story. 🤨 Most likely because it went by a different name back then.
I think most people are aware this book is probably connected to Arlecchino because of her constellation Ignis Purgatorius which is Latin for Cleansing Fire. In the book, the titular Perinheri is made to crawl through a dark corridor filled with ash. He is pulled out of the other side, "reborn".
This fits with depictions of Purgatory:
The faithful dead go through the furnace and once purified ascend towards Heaven. Some of the faithful are plucked by angels, the result of intercessory prayers.
That being said, I don't really want to dig into the Arlecchino connection too much, since we'll find out what her deal is in a few weeks anyway, and with story spoilers running rampant, it won't be much fun anymore.😮💨
FALLEN SEELIE
But isn't it fascinating how one of the characters' name is Angelica who guided Perinheri out of a subterranean realm?
Kaeya has connections to the Seelie who are equated to angels in the game. Brief summary here, but the meat of it is that Kaeya most likely has Seelie roots and Nabu Malikata's last name can mean "angels" plural in Arabic. This wordplay tells us Angelica is without a doubt a Seelie, or at the very least someone belonging to the angel category. (The Jinn, for example, are descendants of the Seelie.)
What's funny is that Kaeya owns a book called The Adventures of Angelos, that he deliberately showed to the Traveler. Dude has been dropping hints since the very beginning! It's almost as if he's important to the plot or something.
Perinheri reveals the curse laid on Khaenri'ah is not unique to them and affects those who have forsaken or betrayed their god. There are a few other instances in Teyvat's history that have people turning into beasts, but no further information was given which made it hard to tell how it was connected to the curse of the Cataclysm.
Ukko, the last survivor of the fall of Sal Vindagnyr, was turned into a Frostarm Lawachurl. His final recorded words were of him asking for the destruction of the world as a last middle finger to the gods.
Didn't work.
Shiruyeh, Liloupar's grandson, fell into the abyss thanks to the behated lamp's machinations, and brought back a plague to Gurabad, which turned his people into wild creatures without faces.
Something interesting is that one of the six sins of the Akademiya is to revere gods without acts of devotion. Perhaps the other sins are connected to the conditions of the curse as well:
Cyno's Character Story 5
To prevent researchers from being devastated by their own knowledge, the sages laid out six cardinal sins.
They held that all the crimes in this world derive from these six sins.
The first is to interfere with human evolution;
The second is to tamper with life and death;
The third is to delve beyond the universe;
The fourth is to investigate the origin of words;
The fifth is to revere gods without acts of devotion;
The sixth is to attempt the forbidden and fear none.
According to Angelica, the "pure-blooded" (for lack of better word) aristocracy of the Kingdom persists because any offspring they have with those who forsook their god will be affected by the curse as soon as they venture outside.
The witch, Angelica, explained thus: "Hleobrant is the descendant of those who forsook their god and came to the Kingdom. This is why the Kingdom's obstinately pure-blooded aristocracy persists. This is the price of betraying your own god."
The implication here is that the Kingdom seems to be protecting its people within its borders. Those who have come from another world like Perinheri are also curse free.
Angelica herself is not affected by any curse. It's hard to say if she was telling the truth here but she claims to have come from a nation that was defeated by Zhongli. Keep in mind, it's possible that she was only saying this to cast herself in a more favorable light by disguising herself as a fellow god-hater.
Whatever the case, since Angelica is most likely a Seelie, who were cast down by the heavens for reasons unknown, we have to analyze her words a bit more carefully.
The Seelie were also cursed after all.
Arama: Seelies are just empty husks that race left behind. This is because they were born with a curse: If they fall in love with Nara, they shall lose their intelligence and strength, and their bodies will regress.
Explains why Angelica led Hleobrant on and to his demise. Not unlike a certain other Seelikata we know.
Angelica: As for you, Perinheri, you are one who drifted there. Thus, you bear no such curse. You may not have the nobility to shoulder a world, but you too have your own destiny. And as for me? I betrayed no one, not for a moment, until my god died, so I too bear this curse not. But you now see who I truly am, yes?
"Until my god died." If Angelica is a Seelie, then who would her god be? Istaroth? A moon sister? Both? Something to think about…
As for why Angelica did all of that...No idea. Maybe she was just being a little silly. Haha, get it? Because Seelie means silly. But guiding people with a promise of a reward only to lead them into a trap sounds eerily similar to what Kaeya did in his story quest... and in the manga.
It's because he's silly 😂!
ANGELS GEORG
How exactly Kaeya is connected to Seelie is unknown but the character of Kaeya is partly based on Hagen/Högni who is himself half-human/half-dwarf or half-elf. If Kaeya is also half-human then mayhaps the other half could be Seelie.
If Kaeya is half-Seelie, it would explain why he isn't cursed: Angelica. Angelica never betrayed her god. If Kaeya's "pure-blood" father, had a child with a Seelie who never betrayed their god, then maybe the curse wouldn't transfer to Kaeya. This is just one suggestion because we have no idea why the curse gives immortality to pure-blood Khaenri'ahns and if it can be passed on or not.
(As an aside, Kaeya's father is most likely cursed. Kaeya said his hand writing was atrocious, which implies his hands were losing dexterity like Chlothar's.)
I'm aware of the technicalities and the plotholes here such as "uhhh aren't Seelie all empty husks" and "don't they regress if they fall in love"?? Well, we know at least there were survivors out there, meaning there might be loopholes. Columbina, Nabu Malikata, and maybe even Nicole are all characters who weren't husked to floating eye state.
And of course there is Angelica, whose name I joked about being Kaeya's mom's name long before this stupid book came out. 😮💨 RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS, ARE WE, HOYOVERSE EMPLOYEE READING MY BLOG
(It could also be that Kaeya's mom was a descendant (Jinni) or scion of the Seelie instead, which I have talked more about here.)
Another alternative is that he's something akin to Perinheri: a child who drifted from some destroyed world. This doesn't seem likely though. Kaeya has the patented star shaped pupils that are more prominent in official art than in the game.
I will say however, that Kaeya's pupils are very different from other Khaenri'ahns such as Dain, Halfdan and Clothar. His pupils are similar to Pierro's which are also "solid". Maybe Pierro is in a similar situation as Kaeya.
Kaeya is in part based on the changeling prince from Midsummer Night's Dream. Changeling in this context means a human child raised by fairies... The title of the Harbingers' trailer, Winter Night's Lazzo, is probably a nod to this play…
In Scottish folklore, the Seelie have a darker counterpart: the Unseelie. Unseelie haven't been mentioned in the game yet, but it's likely they do exist. Perhaps they're the fallen angels, abyssal creatures or even the pure-blood Khaenri'ahns. It's hard to say without more information.
The Seelie Court is ruled by Titania, the Fairy Queen from Midsummer Night's Dream. While the Unseelie Court is their cold, somber counterpart, described as a winter's night...
Fischl's princess outfit is called Immernachtstraum which is also a nod to Midsummer Night's Dream. It's like Fischl and Kaeya belong to the Seelie, also known as the Summer Court, while the Tsaritsa belongs to the Unseelie, the Winter Court.
Getting off track here, but whatever's going on with Kaeya is connected to Princess Fischl and it's difficult to talk about either of them without acknowledging their strange bond.
Lastly,
Kaeya's Character Story 4
Sinister thoughts flashed through Kaeya's mind, and he simply smirked:
"This world is truly… fascinating."
Why say world, why!? He just had to throw that in to confuse us even more!
Recently I found out that Kaeya took the traveler to the nameless island on his birthday. No one would go to such lengths if the place wasn't important to them. This island has a ravaged moon-or sundial belonging to the God of Time. The platform on the island can also be found in two places in Dragonspine; the Mural Room and the Secret Room. What the purpose of these things are is unclear, (my guess is elevators), but the Mural Room just so happens to have a painting of a giant angel on it.
The fact that the island is shrouded in mist, hidden from the map, implies someone very powerful brought Kaeya and his father to Mondstadt. If Kaeya's mom was a Seelie then perhaps she was the one who brought them above ground. I can also see a scenario in which a fellow brethren of hers might have helped out.
Such as, I don't know, someone with connections to the Seelie and Dawn Winery. Like Nicole or Columbina, who just so happens to be part of the Fatui… Someone must have given Crepus that delusion after all. 🤷🏽♀️
(Venti was taking a power nap at the time, so it can't be him.)
IMMERNACHTREICH
A while back I proposed Fischl might have been a ruler of Khaenri'ah. And now Perinheri has dropped more crumbs unto our laps.
Princess Fischl is the ruler of the Immernachtreich, which is appointed as the future realm of Fischl. This is an important distinction because it means this Realm wasn't always hers. The Immernachtreich is described as an otherworldly place where everything will eventually flow into.
Mitternachts Waltz
Everything in this world must pass through the doorway of their destruction unto the future kingdom of the Prinzessin. In the silence of her pitch-dark Nachtgarten would they find a place to slumber.
Flowers for Princess Fischl: Phantasmagoria
Every good, bright and noble thing must eventually fall to inexorable entropic destruction, and the final destination of the universe is the realm-in-waiting of the Prinzessin, Immernachtreich.
More About Fischl:
To condemn the guilty, to sanctify the just, and to draw all castaway dreams into the embrace of the infinite Immernachtreich.
Something about that sounds familiar!
Perinheri Vol 1
Due to the Kingdom's unique position, things from outside this world were always leaking into it. The Kingdom's weapons would wipe out the calamities slipping in, but what of all the other objects? Such as, say, a child who may have come from some destroyed world?
A child from a destroyed world leaking into an underground Kingdom and the Immernachtreich, another subterranean realm, the doorway of their destruction.
Both realms are welcoming to castaways.
The annoying thing is that it's unclear if Khaenri'ah is the same as the Immernachtreich since Fischl describes her Kingdom as a "small and forbidden paradise". Perhaps Fischl created a subset within the underground realm that kept people safe. At least for a while.
She did after all create a Sommernachtgarten, or Summer Night Garden, that is referenced in the domain Midsummer Courtyard. See, I didn't just mention the Seelie Summer Courts for no reason; Fischl might've been the princess of the Seelie/Angels. But there's little else to corroborate that other than the wings on her back and the Seelie like emblem on her waist...
Anyway, Fischl can see the threads of fate and has seen the causality of worlds too numerous to count. As we all know, she created another universe and founded paradise. This other universe might be a new branch that split off from the parent timeline.
In other words a parallel universe.
These branches are referenced in the description for Mitternachts Waltz, so I'm not just pulling this out of my ass.
Even the branch of the tree of time upon which the great and glorious Reman Republic nested would be cut off in the end, such that the nation founded by the other twin child of the wolves might rule.
Perhaps this is also what Perinheri's world was. Maybe the various destroyed worlds were branches that got cut off...
Another interesting similarity is that Fischl ran into a bunch of fate-resisting royals who devolved into beasts after denying her status....
Flowers for Princess Fischl (I): End Time Zersetzung
When the lone pilgrimaging princess reached the kingdom of eternal twilight, the fate-resisting royals chose to deny everything in their desperation.
They refused to recognize Fischl's noble stature and mission as the princess of the Immernachtreich; denied their 13,000-year lineage as a branch of the royal family; and forsook their own nobility and restraints as humans… devolving into clumsy and vicious beasts.
Huh, it's just like Angelica said 🤷🏽♀️. Kingdom of Eternal Twilight might be the "Kingdom" from Perinheri and the fate-resisting royals is code for those who forsook their gods. However, Fischl wasn't without sympathy and took it on herself to protect the Immernachtreich.
Narrator: The Prinzessin harbored much sympathy for all living things, and wished to never see them in pain. She harnessed the power of darkness and dreams to weave the night, and gave it the task to safeguard all living things.
The people celebrated and worshiped the Prinzessin's authority, and followed her call to migrate to the sacred land that would eventually be known as the Immernachtreich.
We established a nation on the Holy Land, revered the Prinzessin as The Absolute One, and introduced poetry, theater, and adventure to the Kingdom, laying the groundwork for the Immernachtreich.
One final stray thought:
That giant crying left eye on the cover may or may not be the same as Fischl's left Auge der Verurteilung, which caused her great agony due to its ability to pierce through the heart of all truths.
It could also be Fischl's enemy, the World Beast, a night-patrolling beast named "World", who casts a greedy eye on all dreams...
Perinheri
The crimson moon, hanging high in the pitch-dark night sky, suddenly turned around, revealing itself to be a titanic, horrified eye.
About Us: Shooting Down the World Beast
You seem to be troubled...? Oh traveler, you need not be perplexed. With my left eye, this "Auge der Verurteilung" that penetrates the threads of karma, I keep watch over your fate; with Oz's crow-eyes that have witnessed the nirvana of a thousand worlds, he observes your way forward.
If the ferocious night-patrolling beast named "World" casts a greedy eye on your dream, then I will shoot it down with my Magic Arrow of Holy Retribution!
brief post about kaeya's potential future arc (or why 5 star kaeya will totally happen 🔮✨️)
so something i noticed is that kaeya always removes or distances himself from the end of any situation he's in. (it's much more noticeable in his hangout).
first is crepus's death. he hangs back and doesn't get involved in his final moments.
kaeya disappears in the final section of the ballads and brews event. you can find and talk to every character except him.
in the venti route of his hangout, kaeya stays back when it's time to sing with everyone. venti then drags him back in. (what's odd is that venti didn't even notice he was gone at first 👀 "now you see them, now you don't")
Kaeya: Slipping away before the final verse is sung, before the poet has uttered the last line, before everything has concluded… I don't know, something about it just resonates with me.
klee says kaeya hasn't read her the end of the book series the fox and the dandelion sea yet, which is about a guy stuck in a loop. in somewhat the same vein, in the secret summer event, he tells her a story about the jinni and a shepard boy but changes the ending from what we know from the in game book…
and then we have the prince qubad play, where he quietly exits after it ends. he explains why himself (through nahida's auge):
(Use Nahida's All Schemes to Know on Kaeya, optional)
Kaeya: (I always like to extricate myself before things start getting tedious.)
in the same route, kaeya quotes the character jaques from shakespeare's play as you like it
Kaeya: Let me think... "All the world's a stage, and all the people merely players."
which is very fitting considering, quote the wiki:
Jaques takes no part in the unfolding of the plot, and confines himself to wry comment on the action and exchanges with his fellow characters.
he also silently does things for others without wanting to take credit, i.e. being rewarded.
and i think i know why 😏
in his character story, kaeya is referred to as a chess pawn in CN, he then repeats this in his hangout.
Kaeya: But I shall not bow to the will of fate. I am no pawn in heaven's plan.
further emphasizing it's not a random throw away term.
i'm neither chess expert nor chess amateur. but anyone can pull up a wikipedia page 😤
pawns are the only pieces that can't move backward, pawns can get promoted to another piece when they reach the end of the board, and… pawns are expandable, made to be sacrificed for the kingdom.
he even expresses the desire to age backwards….which pawns can't do of course.
A very simple such analogy is the Pawn — the expendable, powerless, nameless foot soldier who may, if his actions are brave and his heart is true, become a Queen (although someone more practised at the game may note that the pawn is really a symbol of why you should never overlook apparently powerless people).
that sounds exactly like kaeya's situation, doesn't it? many people have questioned why kaeya is a 4 star given his importance to the main plot, but i think it could be a deliberate narrative decision. (at least i hope it is 😬)
if kaeya is a pawn he can be promoted to a queen when he reaches the end…. except kaeya doesn't want to, as demonstrated by his unwillingness to see things through till the end.
why would he do this?
simply put, it's foreshadowing 😏
kaeya will have his character arc eventually, where the only sensible path is accepting that he must reach the end because pawns cannot stay pawns forever
Promotion is mandatory when moving to the last rank; the pawn cannot remain as a pawn.
there is some sick sense of irony in him declaring he won't be heaven's pawn, when a pawn can only stop being a pawn by moving forward.
i think kaeya's birthday letter about tcg of all things is also hinting at his arc:
If you think about it, playing cards aren't easy at all — you gotta do the math before throwing the dice, and be extra careful with your every move. One step wrong, and the whole table is turned. When that happens, don't you think it's most amusing to watch your opponent's frustrated face, hmm?
(uh oh, celestia 🤭)
say he does reach this metaphorical last rank, what would that look like for him? gameplay wise it would mean a promotion to 5 star status. story wise? a magical girl transformation into the second coming of fischl.
haha ok but, unfortunately i doubt it's that simple.
something else that has been foreshadowed is kaeya's eventual fate…
Traveler: What did you think of the story?
Kaeya: It was alright. I suppose the hero always has to sacrifice himself to save others, and it does make for some good storytelling. But it leaves you wondering how he really feels about the whole thing. Did he ever have second thoughts? Only he can know, I suppose.
Kaeya: My dear audience, I ask you this: Do you believe in fate? If fate decreed that your life was to end in tragedy, what would you do?
Kaeya: I, Qubad, will spend the rest of my days in a foreign land, till I breathe my last in a place far from home.
Kaeya: And anyway, life is short, so we should make the most of the time we have. Right now is the perfect time to relax and enjoy ourselves, and who knows how many other chances we'll get. So come on, what do you say?
Fallen I
还没尽…兴…
Haven't enjoyed...to the fullest...
When It's Windy
真是和平啊、可又能持续多久呢？
How peaceful, but how long can it last?
Traveler: Good night, Kaeya.
Kaeya: Is it that time already? I'm not sure I'm ready to say goodbye.
let's face it, these are death flags. no, kaeya is not going to perma die, but this might be what he has seen through the Auge der Verurteilung and why he's so reluctant to reach the ending of his story.
but in order to defy fate and become a 5 star you have to throw yourself into the embrace of the immernacht first 😈
Hiii, I have been losing my mind over this for months, and I needed to share my findings all in one place.
This might get debunked in a few weeks but until then there is actually a very high chance Capitano is Anfortas. …And not just because his constellation is a giant arrow pointing straight at him.
WARNING: This contains spoilers for the World Quest Shadows of the Mountains.
UPDATE (5.1): WE WON 🎉🥳
As a refresher, Anfortas was the Knight Marshal of the Schwanenritter (German for Swan Knights), a Khaenri'ahn warrior band who went on to protect Sumeru from the onslaught of the "Dark Beasts" during the Cataclysm. The giant Ruin Golems scattered in the forest and desert of Sumeru were piloted by them.
Barely-Legible Bulletin
In view of King Irmin's present indisposed state and the current unknown threats facing the Kingdom……Knight Marshal Anfortas has proclaimed that he will temporarily take up the post of Regent and lead the Regnum Concilium Ultimum until the Kingdom returns to a state of normalcy…
At some point, King Irmin became indisposed (unable to rule), which made Anfortas step in as a temporary regent until the Kingdom returned to a state of normalcy. (Didn't age well.)
Mysterious Box in a Secret Compartment: The writings are as follows: "Remember always that it was the Alberich Clan, who did not have royal blood, who stepped in as regents when the strength of the one-eyed king Irmin failed."
This is further confirmed in Kaeya's secret notes from the Hidden Strife event which implies Anfortas is part of the Alberich clan.
Later, Anfortas was betrayed by his comrade Hadura. He fought and executed them, losing his left eye in the process. With Hadura, the last of his comrades, gone, the Schwanenritter are no more.
The ultimate fate of Anfortas is currently unknown as is his exact relation to Kaeya and Chlothar. Whether or not Anfortas is Kaeya's father/uncle/grandfather/secret older brother is not the point of this post.
This is specifically about the connection between Capitano and Anfortas.
I will start by listing the reasons why he could be Capitano and then consider the reasons why he's not.
THE THREE NAILS
Capitano's constellation is likely the three nails which is a reference to the crucifixion of Jesus.
Triclavianism is the belief that three nails were used to crucify Jesus Christ.
I do believe it belongs to Capitano, since he said he would pick up the mantle of "salvation" and is in the nation where people can be resurrected. …Needless to say, we can assume there's not going to be 50 plot twists behind this.
The three nails symbolize salvation and redemption, as well as the suffering of Jesus. You can also think of it as a symbol of martyrdom.
Anfortas is named after the Fisher King from Arthurian legends, who guarded the Holy Grail. The Fisher King was cursed by an incurable wound, stuck between life and death, doomed to suffer for eternity. There are several versions of the legend, with differing names for the Fisher King, "Anfortas" being one of them.
As it happens, the Fisher King is likened to Jesus on the cross quite prominently, both in art and on stage.
Carman explores the use of Christian symbolism in Perlesvaus. He connects the Fisher King with Christ himself, noting his name, Messios, his function as a sufferer, and his death symbolizing the Crucifixion.
In the version of Wagner, he even gets stabbed by the Holy Spear in the same side as Jesus while he was crucified!
Parzival became the primary source for Richard Wagner's 1882 opera Parsifal, in which the Fisher King is wounded by the spear that pierced Jesus's side.
As if that wasn't enough, one of Anfortas' knights left a note inside a Ruin Golem. They state they don't know whether they will be seen as sinners or heroes but believe Anfortas will find a way to save them.
An Abandoned Letter
...I often think lately about how future generations will tell my story. Will I be a sinner? Or a hero......The situation here is dire, but I believe that our Marshal will find a way. I believe...
We once fought bravely here, doing our best to prevent this inglorious war. I believe that when it is all over... we shall recover our past splendor...Glory evermore... to Khaenri'ah...
This thematically fits the three nails. Unfortunately for this knight, Anfortas was unable to save Khaenri'ah and their people were condemned as "sinners" throughout history.
At the time of writing, Capitano says something curious in the trailer for 5.1:
Humanity's survival is worth any price
If I could go back I would do whatever it took to ensure their survival. You've experienced something similar, Mavuika. You should know exactly what I mean.
Though we don't know the full context yet, this is not a surprising revelation if Capitano is Anfortas; he lost his homeland Khaenri'ah, "the pride of humankind," after all. Furthermore, he compares his suffering to that of the Pyro Archon, the ruler of Natlan. Anfortas was also briefly responsible for the survival of a nation, acting as the KING regent of Khaenri'ah.
Another incredible parallel to the Three Nails can be found in the influential poem The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot which is about the Fisher King.
The Man with Three Staves (an authentic member of the Tarot pack) I associate, quite arbitrarily, with the Fisher King himself.
In the poem Eliot associates the Fisher King with the tarot card the Three Staves.
(The Three of Wands/Staves in Thoth and Rider Waite decks.)
The poem is actually important enough to be referenced in the game a bunch of times. If you recall, in the Veluriyam Mirage event, we ran into three brothers, two of which argued in front of Kaeya and Klee. Turns out the names of these two brothers are in the poem, with the game possibly using them as stand-ins for Anfortas and Chlothar. You can read more about it here in a separate post.
My point is, since the poem is a source of inspiration, it can be assumed the writers are aware of the association of the Three Staves with the Fisher King, aka Anfortas.
If true, I think they did something really clever here by combining the Three Staves with the Three Nails.
THE BLACK SERPENT
I think most people have noticed the draconic/serpent imagery on Capitano's outfit. He has black scales, makeshift claws and a bunch of infinity symbols.
It is curious then that Capitano is essentially dressed as a black serpent/dragon.
Dainsleif: Black Serpent Knights. They once belonged to the Royal Guard of Khaenri'ah.
(...Yet unlike Capitano, the Black Serpent Knights don't look anything like black serpents.)
Little known fact is that even though Anfortas was the leader of the Schwanenritter, his knights still wore the Black Serpent armour. Ynghildr, one of the Swan Knights, turned into a Shadowy Husk that used the Windcutter model.
Mysterious Chronicles: "…Ynghildr, Schwanenritter, 'Damsel of the Dale' …Went missing in the battle against the Onslaught of Dark Beasts. Only her … and signet ring were recovered. A proper knight's funeral was arranged for her…"
(We even end up fighting her during the WQ Vimana Agama 💔.)
In the Shadows of the Mountains WQ, we find out two Khaenri'ahn knights, also using Black Serpent armour, went forth to Natlan to stop the Abyss; their sacrifice turned them into statues for 500 years. I think it's highly likely they were sent there on Anfortas' orders.
This is because one of the knights has interesting lines before and after you bring him peace:
"Irizar": "Leave! Go… I don't want him to see me— like this—"
(The voice seems to come from the very depths of the unmoving statue. There is a hint of respect toward someone remaining within…)
Irizar: Did you see? Your orders have been carried out… You… won't be disappointed…
The thing is one of Anfortas' Ruin Golems is right next to Natlan.
This is also where you find the note written by the knight who worries if they'll be seen as sinners or heroes. I do not think they were ordered by Dainsleif, as his last order before he returned to the palace was "to protect the people of Khaenri'ah" while the last will of the Schwanenritter was to destroy the Cataclysm, which is an interesting contrast in itself…
Dainsleif: To this day, I still remember the final orders I, the Twilight Sword, gave to Halfdan on the day of disaster in Khaenri'ah, before I made haste back to the palace... "Inform all Black Serpent Knights to protect the people of Khaenri'ah at all costs."
Zurvan: They said that those heroes (Schwanenritter) had walked their path despite the ill repute they had garnered… And that it was to carry the will those heroes had borne, and to completely destroy the disaster from the dark depths that they had followed the heroes' path to this place.
My personal speculation is that the Schwanenritter was a special division from the Black Serpent Knights. From the book Perinheri, we know there was an Alberich who was "commander of half the knights". As stated by old man Pierro himself, the reliability of this book is a bit dodgy, but this might give us a clearer vision on who was in charge.
Anyway, if those knights were sent by Anfortas, there's a chance he might have ended up in Natlan himself as they were heavily affected by the Abyss. Perhaps something funky happened to him there amidst all the chaos… who knows? If we consider the three nails and what it represents, perhaps Anfortas died; but since he's a Khaenri'ahn likely cursed with immortality and Natlan's leylines are weak, death won't come to him that easy.
One other thing: on either side of the door to Khaenri'ah, there are two reliefs that show a guardian holding a sword. As it happens, their helmets are flat and have a huge 8-pointed star in the middle... just like Capitano.
OTHER SIMILARITIES AND SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR 🤨
–Both Anfortas and Capitano are commanders of an army. To paraphrase @kaeyacollection, if I was Pierro, I would want someone with experience to lead my army and not some random bloodstained guy from Mondstadt, right? Pierro and Anfortas would have undoubtedly known each other as Pierro was a Royal Mage and Anfortas was part of the Royal Guard, so it wouldn't be strange for Pierro to recruit someone who he's already familiar with and can depend on.
Mocking Mask
(Pierro): Since my level of learning could not compare with the sages, I failed to earn the favor of the previous ruler.
Furthermore, Pierro refers to King Irmin as the "previous ruler" which is an odd choice of words as it could either imply there is still a current ruler out there or Pierro simply acknowledged Anfortas as the last one, which has some interesting implications seeing as he only took up the position temporarily.
–Anfortas is highly respected, as shown by the note written by the knight who believed in him until the end. Someone even tried to write a letter to him begging him to petition the king. And if that knight who was sent to Natlan was referring to the Marshal, it means his main concern was that he would fail Anfortas.
Furthermore, there's a message left scattered across Ruin Guards with the encryption key being Anfortas' name…
Decoded message:
We Schwanenritters have fought to the last one
We don't know who left it there, and hell it might be Anfortas himself, but whoever it was certainly valued the name. Fun fact: the achievement you get when you interact with all the Ruin Guards is called In the Name of Anfortas. This is similar to the achievement In the Name of Favonius, which you can get after completing a daily commission that indirectly involves Kaeya!
As far as we can tell, Capitano is also highly admired. Viktor would rather work for him, Varka wrote an entire love letter about him and the voicelines of the Harbingers confirm he's respectable man. (Although Wanderer and those of us who have run into Cap's animal lava farm may have some questions 🤨)
About The Captain
"The ever-righteous Captain," "the brave and fearless Captain," "the nigh-invincible Captain"... Even my mechanical ears demand maintenance after listening to so many compliments from the members of the Fatui. Don't you think that possessing absolute righteousness is actually a latent danger? And that's without taking his great personal strength into account.
According to Wanderer, Capitano is seen as extremely righteous. We don't know enough about Anfortas to compare his morals with Capitano's but we do know that he executed his own comrade after a betrayal yet still gave them a proper knight's funeral since they were the last one left. This could allign with Cap's extreme righteousness and honor.
–Capitano proclaimed to the Pyro Archon that someone needs to pick up the mantle of salvation during a crisis…. which is exactly what Anfortas did. He stepped in when Irmin was busy poking holes in the veilussy of sin. Who knows? Perhaps Capitano doesn't want history to repeat itself.
–There could be another reason, though. You see, The Schwanenritter is named after the legend of the Swan Knight. These were an order of Grail Knights who would be sent out in secret to provide a ruler to a kingdom if there was none.
Members of this order are sent out in secret to provide lords to kingdoms that have lost their protectors
Furthermore, the Swan Knight had to hide his origins and name; same thing Capitano is doing.
The story of the Knight of the Swan, or Swan Knight, is a medieval tale about a mysterious rescuer who comes in a swan-drawn boat to defend a damsel, his only condition being that he must never be asked his name.
Varka: The man hides everything under the mask he wears, so no one can know his past or his origins.
–Speaking of which, when Capitano was first mentioned in Varka's letter, guess who was there to witness it?
What's funny is he doesn't even speak during this entire scene. They just forced him to stand there for seemingly no reason.
–Capitano is in Natlan. In Kaeya's hidden letters, there is a lot of fire imagery. Kaeya's father takes this even further by practically quoting Natlan's rule of resurrection. They even use the same term for ashes/embers in the original CN.
Mysterious Box in a Secret Compartment: A piece of it has been burned away, and the remaining parts show signs of having been rescued from that same flame.
Mysterious Box in a Secret Compartment: (Kaeya's father): "Though we could not restore Khaenri'ah to life, we of the Alberich Clan should lead lives as those who blaze like fire, rather than those who wallow in the embers."
Dainsleif (Travail trailer, Natlan): The rules of war are woven in the womb: the victors shall burn bright, while the losers must turn to ash.
Mysterious Box in a Secret Compartment: (Kaeya): "Now that I look at it, his handwriting was as grieving as a smoking ash pile."
I don't know what to make of it and perhaps there's no deeper connection, but you have to admit, it is a little odd…
–The name Anfortas is speculated to be derived from french "enfertez" which means infirmity or weakness/illness. This is a very interesting contrast to Capitano's strong man persona. Not to mention, Capitano's commedia dell'arte counterpart is a braggart who only boasted about his strength. Who knows, perhaps Anfortano is suffering from an ailment/curse and is using whatever means he can to make himself stronger. (Such as the "presence" inside him.)
That being said, in the book Perinheri, the Alberich who was commander of half the knights was part of the "mightiest figures in Khaenri'ah".
–For some reason, Kaeya has what looks like snakeheads with a split tongue on his pants. You can also find a version of this on Capitano's outfit. …Yeah, I don't know either.
Jokes aside, Kaeya is wearing the top half of Capitano's modified Fatui coat complete with weird double flaps and fur boa. (There was a Hoyofair fananimation a year ago where the artist portrayed Anfortas with black fur which is pretty funny in hindsight.)
If Capitano isn't related to Kaeya, I'm going to need a very good explanation for why they share the same terrible fashion sense.
–Both Chlothar and Caribert have black hair and blue eyes... just like our buddy Capitano. While that's not enough to claim they're related, it is certainly a point in our favor.
–Since Pierro was original enough to give the title of "the Doctor" to a doctor, it wouldn't be too out of place for him to dub a marshal "the Captain".
–Kaeya was adopted by Crepus, who owned a Delusion. Is it really a coincidence that Kaeya was taken in by a man with ties to the Fatui? If any of the Harbingers are connected to Kaeya, Pierro (Khaenri'ahn) and Capitano (identity unknown) would be the two biggest suspects, right?
WHY CAPITANO CAN'T BE ANFORTAS…HAHA UNLESS?
–As mentioned before, Anfortas lost his left eye. From Mika's character story, we know Capitano has glowing dark blue eyes plural. However, it's unclear whether he lost his eye in the literal sense or was only blinded. It's possible Anfortas simply grew the eye back but if that's the case I don't see the point in mentioning the loss in the first place, other than to draw a parallel to Kaeya (who didn't even lose his eye either…)
–Capitano uses a strange power that looks related to Nightsoul… …Whatever it is, it could point at him being from Natlan. However, the Traveler can use Phlogiston despite not being from Natlan. We don't have Pyro Traveler yet but I suspect they will be able to use Nightsoul as well.
Mavuika also says she sensed an "unsual presence" inside Capitano. This "presence" could explain his ability to use Walmart Nightsoul and why he has knowledge on a secret oath made 500 years ago (and why he has two eyes again).
–I think it's possible Anfortas is either Kaeya's "pirate" grandpa or his father and if that's the case the chances of Capitano being playable are abyssmal 💀. However, Arthurian Anfortas was famously saved by his nephew Parzival. If they go by the legend and Parzival is the equivalent of Kaeya, Anfortas could be his uncle instead.
In any case, we'll have to wait and see where the story goes from here. Even if Anfortas isn't Capitano, he still has major relevance that has yet to be revealed. Until then, much like Anfortas and Capitano, all we can do is suffer on the cross 👍🏽
*UPDATE 5.1: CAPITANO'S LINES FROM THE AQ
"The Captain": Why...? Because I am a survivor of Khaenri'ah. I've witnessed the devastation and terror of the Abyss with my own eyes.
"The Captain": That's right. My family, my comrades, my homeland... were all lost to the Abyss. It is an unforgettable pain, one that no amount of time could ever dull... not even five hundred years.
"The Captain": If I could go back, I would reject all false hope. I would do whatever it took to ensure their survival.
"The Captain": That story begins with the cataclysm five hundred years ago.... I failed to save Khaenri'ah from the rampage of the Abyss. When the situation became unsalvageable, I fled to Natlan with the remainder of my platoon.
"The Captain": Only to find that Natlan had fallen victim to the same tragedy. I defended this land for quite some time and, in the process, met the chief of the Masters of the Night-Wind, Ayizu. I'm sure many people viewed Khaenri'ah as the cause of the tragedy, but Ayizu was kind to me all the same, and even helped me in my time of need.
"The Captain": From that moment, I made it my mission to aid Natlan. In battle, a warrior fights to win. Even though my homeland was lost, I was already committed to this fight.
"The Captain": Heh, even without the mask, my past appearance is long gone. Even with the curse of immortality, the flesh still rots.
Paimon: Wait, do you know someone named Dainsleif? That problem doesn't seem quite so... extreme for him.
"The Captain": You've met him already?
Paimon: Yeah, a bunch of times. Sounds like you know him, too.
"The Captain": During the age of Khaenri'ah, all I knew was his name. The last time I saw him in person, he was traveling with the Prince. He carries a degree of pain and hatred that far surpasses my own.
I have already talked about this before, many, many times, but I wanted to gather all my jumbled thoughts from the past few months into one proper post along with some new revelations that further support the theory.
I just want to clarify first that I don't like abandoning the narrative in favor of a theory. I wouldn't be constantly trying to push for this if I wasn't at least 80% sure.
Kaeya is my favorite character in the whole game, but I am well aware of the limitations being put on his character…
…Unless 5-star Kaeya comes through for us, that is.
*UPDATE: added a section on Arlecchino 🥳 (4.6 spoilers)
**added more info about Nicole (4.7)
Apologies for the long read but I had to make it as thorough as possible, you understand.
INDEX
1. Seelie = Angels
2. Connections to Seelie and the Jinn
3. Midsummer Night's Dream
4. Nicole Reeyn
5. Arlecchino
6. Visual Similarities and Characteristics
7. Perinheri
SEELIE = ANGELS
Seelie are equated to angels in the game. The floating eyeball versions are even modeled after a type of sea slug called Sea Angels. In case you need more evidence than that:
Nabu Malikata is a Seelie survivor. Her last name Malikata can be derived from malayikata ملائكة which means angels/messengers in Arabic.
The Jinn were created from Nabu Malikata's blood, they are referred to as the "descendants of Seelie" in the world quest "The Falcon's Hunt".
Seelie were heavenly envoys who would deliver messages from Celestia to humans. Nabu Malikata even refers to them as the "fallen envoys of heaven", after they were cast down.
So, if you ever happen to spot the phrase "heavenly/divine envoys", they are actually referring to the Seelie.
As for what they may have looked like, the Mural Room in Dragonspine features a depiction of an envoy with wings and what looks like horns or a crown on its head. Translated from Latin, the text next to it is as follows:
Fidelis angeli iuvant
The angels help the faithful
Seelie are guides who reward humans with treasure after they lead them back to their Seelie courts. Simply put, they are returning a favor. Who else do we know of who is obsessed with favors?
ANGELS GEORG
The Seelie
Kaeya has a bunch of notable connections to angels, the more you start to look for them the more you notice.
According to Kaeya's character story A List, he owns a book called The Adventures of Angelos, in which he keeps a list of names. Angelos, of course, means angel.
Between the pages of "The Adventures of Angelos," you find a list of names written on a sheet of official Knights of Favonius letterhead paper.
Kaeya's favorite haunt is Angel's Share. The logo for Angel's Share is two angels drinking from a wine glass. Angel's Share was established by Dawn Winery, where Kaeya was left at for unknown reasons. According to Diluc's character story, Crepus told him the following:
"The world would never turn its back on the faithful."
This is reminiscent of the mural in Dragonspine: "The angels help the faithful."
Furthermore, the teacups used to represent the mage Nicole can be found in Dawn Winery. Nicole is known as the "guide who never gets lost" and there is one teacup missing in the trailer. We'll get back to that piece of porcelain later.
It's possible that Dawn Winery had some dealings with the Seelie or that it was established by them. Remember Crepus owned a Delusion which means he must have had ties to the Fatui. We know of one character who is both Seelie and Fatui: Columbina.
Columbina is most likely a Seelie since the decorations in her hair match perfectly with the decoration on the Seelie courts. The character of Columbina is also known as a fairy-like dancer; fairies is what the Seelie are in popular culture… (More on that later.)
In the third volume of the book Drunkard's Tale, a lone wolf meets a Seelie survivor who is singing in an unfamiliar language. This Seelie is speculated to be Columbina. The Seelie is adressed as Maiden with the same characters in Chinese as Columbina's other title Damselette.
少女 = Damselette / Maiden
Curiously enough, this particular volume of the book can be found in Dawn Winery.
Kaeya's favorite drink is Death After Noon. This is based on the real drink "Death in the Afternoon", which famously contains absinthe. In the Book of Revelation, Apsinthion, or Wormwood, is the name of an angel or star who fell to earth.
The Abyss Mages chant in Enochian which is the language of the angels. They use this language when they regenerate their shields and to control the Hilichurls. The Abyss Order mostly consists of former Khaenri'ahns.
When Kaeya spots the Abyss Mage back in the Temple of the Wolf, it speaks to him in Enochian. They even added a subtitle to highlight its importance.
Kaeya: There's no way hilichurls organized an ambush like this themselves — not with their limited mental capacity…
(A Hydro Abyss Mage reveals itself)
Kaeya: Thus YOU were behind this.
Hydro Abyss Mage: Gohus, Chiso Vonph.
Kaeya claims he's blessed with certain linguistic powers when the Paimon asks him how he gathered information about the Abyss Twin.
Paimon: What exactly did you have to do to find this out!?
Kaeya: Heh… Let's just say I'm blessed with certain linguistic powers.
In the manga, it was implied Kaeya was able to read an unfamiliar script that not even Lisa, the Akademiya's best student in two hundred years, could understand.
We don't know where Kaeya lived beforehand but he might have lived in the Dark Sea. The Dark Sea is not a literal sea but any place outside of the rule of the Seven. Think Enkanomiya and possibly Khaenri'ah.
Kaeya: But, as you can see, this is but a deserted land. Based on previous experience, I decided that it would be best to wait for contact.
In the Midsummer Island event, Kaeya says he's been stranded on an island before, and in typical Kaeya fashion does not elaborate. (This might be connected to the Nameless Island, which Kaeya visited on his birthday.) Venti alludes Kaeya might have come from the Dark Sea, by the poem he gives him:
Venti: "Majestic waves cresting, surf roaring its tale, none but the ocean to hear as I sing."
Venti: "The stars in my eyes as I chart toward the horizon, that into one day, from the endless dome of night I shall spring."
Palaces of the Seelie can be found in one particular ruin of the Dark Sea: Drunkard's Tale, where the Seelie maiden was situated. (AKA Columbina)
This wasteland is said to be a land beyond the dominion of the deities, inhabited only by the grotesque ghostly remains of fallen gods, where the former palaces of the Seelie now stand empty.
In the Veluriyam Mirage event, Kaeya starred in a play written by Zosimos. According to Idyia, Zosimos based the play on a rumor he heard about a thief and a mage, meaning there might be some truth to it. He then combined the story with Idyia's backstory.
Kaeya's character, the unnamed dagger bandit, follows a shooting star, which turns out to be a woman. The dagger bandit is most likely meant to be someone related to Kaeya, since he hailed from a dark realm and his vision is modified to look like an 8-pointed star (as per Zosimos's design). The dark realm could very well be Khaenri'ahn.
As it turns out, Zosimos's namesake Zosimos the alchemist, claimed fallen angels were the ones who taught humans the art of metallurgy.
The ancient and divine writings say that the angels became enamoured of women; and, descending, taught them all the works of nature. From them, therefore, is the first tradition, chema, concerning these arts; for they called this book chema and hence the science of chemistry takes its name.
…Yeah, I don't think it's a coincidence the play Kaeya starred in was written by this specific guy 😮💨
Maybe we're meant to equate the fallen star with a fallen angel. Whoever this fallen star and dagger bandit are, is unknown, but I think we can safely assume it has something to do with Kaeya's family and/or Khaenri'ah's deeper lore.
Kaeya's constellation is a peacock. Peacocks have countless eyes just like how angels are popularly depicted. In Renaissance art, angels are even portrayed with peacock wings.
The description of Kaeya's friendship namecard in CN implies he has many Augen. 👁
孔雀漂亮尾羽上的花纹很像是永不闭上的眼睛。所以凯亚并非少了一只眼睛、而是···
The patterns on the beautiful tail feathers of a peacock resemble eyes that never close. So Kaeya isn’t missing an eye, but…
And then it just trails off. I think it’s meant to say: "Kaeya isn’t missing an eye, rather he has many of them."
Perhaps they were being literal.
The Jinn
In his hangout, Kaeya gifts the Traveler a lamp said to have housed a powerful Jinni. As said before Jinn are descendants of the Seelie.
The people turned against each other, and the Jinn scattered across the lands… Broken souls became fuel to a titanic machine, and the mindless descendants of the Seelie were degraded into slaves of infinite power…
In comparison to other companion gifts, who are connected to their item in some way, Kaeya's gift stands out as an outlier… unless it is a surprise tool that can help us understand him later.
He is also familiar with the tale of the Shepard and the Magic Bottle, although he changes the ending of the story as he recounts it to Klee. This book is about a Jinni who gets freed from a bottle...
From his hangout, we learn Kaeya owns a lucky coin that can allegedly do anything he wishes from it. He then goes on to say there's a pre-existing arrangement between them. Perhaps this coin has a Jinni fragment inside of it similar to Benben.
That would be the simple explanation… but nothing is ever simple with Kaeya.
MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
Now onto the most damning piece of evidence. Kaeya himself is based on the changeling baby from Midsummer Night's Dream. Oberon is the Fairy King, whose name is the French derivative of Alberich.
This checks out as Oberon was also an important figure from the Merovingian Dynasty that included names such as Chlothar and Caribert.
Titania is the Fairy Queen, who adopted her scion's baby after she died in childbirth. This baby was the son of an Indian king, in other words, an Indian prince.
In today's popular culture, Titania is the Queen of the Summer Court, also known as the Seelie Court.
Most literature, folklore, and pop-culture interpretations of faerie depict Titania as the actual leader of the Seelie Fey, she often rules the Summer Court.
Princess Fischl is also connected to this play, as she had created a Sommernachtgarten, or Summer Night Garden, that now lies in ruins in the domain Midsummer Courtyard.
Suddenly Kaeya and Fischl being featured in the Midsummer Island events start to make sense. I wouldn't be surprised if Fischl showed up again in this year's summer event.
How Kaeya and Princess Fischl are connected is still unclear but the possibility of them being related keeps growing. Whatever the case, the Indian prince's (adoptive) mom being a Seelie Queen is pretty straightforward.
"But isn't he adopted? That means he isn't a Seelie!" Yes, but remember Oberon, Titania's husband, is Alberich who Kaeya IS related to.
It's hard to tell what direction they're going in, but I have no doubt Kaeya is half-something, because the other character he is based on is Hagen, who is always half-Human, with the other part being either dwarf or elf.
With all the angel/Seelie/Jinn connections, I think we can guess what Kaeya's other half is.
Before I forget: Oberon and Titania fought over the child; Oberon wanted the boy to become a knight, his henchman, but Titania refused as she felt obligated to raise him in his mother's stead. Unfortunately, Oberon succeeded in getting Titania to hand over the child, as he had trapped her in a dream-like state...
Another fun thing I discovered is that the title of the trailer Winter Night's Lazzo is a reference to Midsummer Night's Dream as well.
An explanation for this could be that aside from the aforementioned Seelie, there exist a darker counterpart, the Unseelie, which has its roots in Scottish folklore.
The most common courts from traditional legends are the Seelie or Summer Court, and the Unseelie or Winter Court.
In popular culture, the Unseelie Court is the Winter Court ruled by the Queen of Air and Darkness: the sister of Titania. This Winter Queen seems to be unnamed but I've found some call her Mab, another reference to one of Shakespeare's plays.
Did you know they probably named Snezhnaya after the fairy tale of the Snow Queen, which is Snezhnaya Koroleva in Russian? Snow Queen, Winter Queen, Tsaritsa... The shoe fits 🤷🏽♀️
In Genshin, there is no mention of any Unseelie yet, but if the Seelie are like angels, then the Unseelie might be the equivalent of fallen angels or demons. Well, we shall see how that plays out.
Back to Titania, she was a fairy who adopted her friend's son after she passed away. Is there is a character who could fulfill this role for Kaeya, acting as some kind of guardian angel?
NICOLE REEYN
Nicole is a witch of the Hexenzirkel, known as Mage "N". She is a powerful prophet capable of divining the fate of the world.
She is also a teacup.
Alice says Nicole is the guide who never gets lost and that she is obsessed with guiding people. That's literally Seelie 101!
Alice: The "guide who will never get lost" is N, otherwise known as Nicole. You may have not encountered her yet, but she is a truly extraordinary woman who has made this world's direction and order her subject of study.
Alice: Some of you may be fortunate enough to have already heard her voice. Like a prophetess, she will only speak to guide people toward the truth when a change has occurred in the world.
Alice: She has a tendency to… suddenly speak in someone's mind without any warning.
New dialogue from Wolfy, the stuffed toy from Imaginarium Theater, pretty much confirms Nicole is a Seelie. He talks about a "Boar" Tribe, where the "boars" did bad things and were punished by their Master.
Wolfy: The master took out a rusted set of scales, and told the boars to stack their own things on both sides. If the scales tipped to one side, they could leave.
The boars who gave up their heads turned into animals like wolves, snakes and lizards and the boars who gave up their muscle became rabbits, instinctively guiding people to treasure. Guiding people to treasure is the number one job of the Seelie husks.
Loading Screen
Now you see them; now you don't. Once a mighty race that lived to guide mankind, now the most Seelie offer is a little treasure to willing followers.
However, there was one boar who placed their head and muscle evenly on both sides of the scale, which caused it to break in the middle. This "boar" is Nicole.
Wolfy: And so she became a mute person — for she had placed her voice upon the scales as well.
Wolfy: She is also a friend of Madame Mage, and I hear she likes to speak in people's heads!
The witch pictured on this slide from the Hexenzirkel teaser is most likely Nicole since it immediately cuts to her teacups.
She is blowing away wind similar to depictions of wind deities. The accompanying subtitle even is "sometimes, we all need to vent our troubles to the wind". This could mean Nicole is some kind of air spirit…or a Seelie, who were once "faster than a storm" according to the Aranara.
Furthermore, Nicole losing her voice, or perhaps giving it up, is reminiscent of the fairy tale The Little Mermaid, written by Hans Christian Anderson, Anderdottir's inspiration. In the book, the mermaid sacrifices her voice to become human. However she fails to uphold the condition and dies, which turns her into an air spirit.
Perhaps she's a Seelie, or a descendant of the Seelie, similar to the Jinn. In the Danish opera Holger Danske, Titania is the Queen of the Sylphs, who are air spirits. We don't have Sylphs mentioned verbatim in the game yet, aside from Venti being an air spirit.
Kaeya conveniently has several references to the wind.
He is dubbed the Frostwind Swordsman, his outfit is called Icy Featherflight, his OTHER outfit is Sailwind Shadow, his sixth constellation is Glacial Whirlwind, and he has a passive that decreases stamina consumption…
Noelle even describes him as someone who comes and goes with the wind.
As mentioned in the previous section, Kaeya was stranded on a deserted island, this might be referring to the Nameless Island, which, according to an old blog post on the official CN website, Kaeya visited on his birthday. Where this island came from is unclear but it is shrouded in mist and invisible on the map.
The Nameless Island has a sun-or moondial associated with the God of Time. The weathered transcription is as follows:
Ravaged Carving: "Stories brought on the wind will bloom into legends in due time."
You can also hear this faint voice speaking when you do the quest related to the island:
Faint Voice: "An ancient tale comes whisked in the wind…"
Faint Voice: "In time, it will grow and sprout once again…"
In the same blog post, Kaeya says the following:
我还有很多故事…还有很多时间。
I have plenty of stories… and plenty of time.
😮💨
When Kaeya casts his burst you even see him pull the wind towards himself, towards that eight-pointed star.
Furthermore, he came to Mondstadt during a LATE SUMMER NIGHT'S STORM, contradicting the fact that there hasn't been a single storm in Mondstadt since Venti gave them his protection.
Kaeya's Character Story
"If Master Crepus hadn't taken me in, I doubt I'd have made it through the storm that night."
Vind: Since Lord Barbatos began protecting Mondstadt, we have not seen a single storm, and the watchtowers have slowly fallen into disrepair.
He probably wasn't lying about this since Varka could have easily fact-checked this with Diluc or Dawn Winery.
Perhaps Nicole was responsible for this odd contradiction if she was the one who guided Kaeya and his father to Dawn Winery. Coincidentally, the Jinni Liloupar was able to command sandstorms at her will.
Liloupar once had the immense power to command sandstorms at her will. The howling gale that lashes the desert used to be the blade and shield at her disposal.
Since the Jinn are descendants of the Seelie, perhaps Nicole could have a similar power. (Or maybe she became a giant wind turbine, who even knows anymore.)
"But why would a witch go through all this trouble for just one guy?" If Titania took care of her friend's baby after she died, then maybe Nicole was friends with Kaeya's mom and decided to offer her protection.
Or perhaps they were sisters. There is after all a teacup from the same teaset missing from the trailer.
Let's just get this out of the way first: No, Nicole is not Diluc's mom, the pattern on the teacups can be found within the architecture of Dawn Winery, which means she's either the founder or an ancestor of Crepus or both. Angel's Share is named as such for a reason.
Diluc does not possess any huge Seelie/fairy/angel/witch connections other than Angel's Share so I don't think she's related to him. Kaeya on the other hand 🤷🏽♀️
I am not going to say anything about the possibility of Nicole being Kaeya's mom, but I will say that Nicole's name means "Victory of the people", while the first character in Kaeya's name means victory as well.
Nicole = from νίκη (níkē, “victory”) + λαός (laós, “people”).
Kaeya = 凯亚, 凯 = music of triumph; paean; triumph; victory
And please don't forget the poor missing teacup next to Nicole's, it is no doubt going to be important.
Anyway, Kaeya does have some serious connections to Princess Fischl, with hints at him being a Prince continuing to persist, so he's definitely not some random guy. Whether he's aware of this or not is debatable.
He's called "our last hope", by his father, which like everything pertaining to Kaeya, is never explained. However, the Aranara Aranaga describes hope as a dream that never dissipates… A Midsummer Night's Dream if you will 😉
Aranaga: There are dreams because there is memory. Memory is nourished, so there is life. So, it can grow, the thing to repel Marana (forbidden knowledge).
Traveler: I'm guessing you mean "hope"?
Aranaga: Yeah, right you are, Golden Nara (Traveler). The thing that flows, cannot be seen, cannot be touched… Hope. Like the wind… But it never dissipates, like a dream.
Nabu Malikata
Nicole has some fascinating similarities with Nabu Malikata that I will briefly list here:
Nabu Malikata last name can mean angels but it can also mean queen. Nicole Reeyn's last name is derived from reine which also means queen.
"Nabu" means prophet in Akkadian and she was able to predict her own death, Nicole is a prophetess too.
After Nabu Malikata disappeared, Deshret dreamed of her feeling her way through a crystalline maze. The inside of Irminsul is a crystalline maze. Nicole is part of the Hexenzirkel who travel to the Irminsul to study it.
Nabu Malikata is the Mistress of the Orchard and Wine, Nicole has ties to Dawn Winery, a wine orchard.
Nabu Malikata is also a dream-mother, capable of giving humans dreams. According to Furina's character blurb, Nicole left a fabel inside someone's dream.
I can't say they're the same person but this is one of those things that will keep haunting you once you uncover it. And now they will haunt you.
ARLECCHINO
Enter "Father".
What we know of her so far is that she is the last surviving descendant of Khaenri'ah's Crimson Moon clan. Arlecchino's blood is cursed, yet unlike the other curse-bearers we know like Dainsleif and Chlothar, she still ages visibly. Before we get ahead of ourselves, it's specifically stated in her boss description that she IS the Crimson Moon's SOLE scion, so Kaeya is likely not part of that bloodline.
Someday, the hearth-fire's faint radiance shall burn the old world away, incinerating the final scion of the baleful moon as well.
I think we all know by now that Arlecchino has some angelic features.
Like Kaeya, she is associated with an animal with many eyes: a spider. And like Kaeya, she wears one prominent wing on her back but only when she is in battle. This wing is actually crafted by her from spider silk, so it's not actually an "organic" wing.
Arlecchino shares boss theme lyrics with the most famous one-winged angel in recent history: Sephiroth (FF7). They are both in turn inspired by Abezethibou, a fallen angel with one red wing. The interesting thing about Sephiroth is that he was born from an experiment, where they injected cells from an alien "calamity" into him when he was still a fetus. This led him to develop the iconic one black wing.
Furthermore, the title of Arlecchino can be traced back to the Erlking, an evil elf who could kill children with just one touch. Arlecchino does seem to be somewhat inspired by him as seen in this comparison.
Erlking means Elf King which just so happens to be the meaning of Alberich (Elf King). 🤨 There's even a dude straight up called Alf (elf) in the Perinheri book.
In the Romance-speaking world, beings comparable to elves are widely known by words derived from Latin fata ('fate'), which came into English as fairy. This word became partly synonymous with elf by the early modern period.
😑…
Since the Balemoon Bloodfire that runs through Arlecchino's veins originates from the long-dead Crimson Moon, it's possible that either the moons are angels or they were the ones who created them. The Seelie must have come into existence somehow; it would make sense for them to originate from the Moon Sisters.
The moons would not be as low-ranked as the Seelie-angels, they'd most likely be akin to Archangels/other higher ranked angels. Luckily for us, Mona's astrolabe conveniently uses the names of 4 Archangels.
(From the Wiki)
Mona's astrolabe (Outer ring): GBL URL MKL RPL
The archangels Gabriel, Uriel, Michael, and Raphael.
…It is unknown who they are referring to but since she is using her astrolabe to divine someone's fate they're probably the names of the three Moon Sisters + Sun. (We can't be sure yet if the Four Shades are the Moon Sisters/Sun so I will refrain from making that assumption until we know more.)
Arlecchino has another weird ability: her blood can create afterimages or shadows which appear like this around her in her boss fight:
These look awfully similar to the Pari in-game, and Pari just so happen to be like fairies in Persian mythology. Arlecchino's nickname was even Perrie, which is probably a pun on Peri, the inspiration behind the Pari.
In the game, the Pari are sentient beings of Khvarena, which in turn was separated from Nabu Malikata's body. As it happens, Khvarena can also dwell inside humans, these people are called the scions of Khvarena. (More on that here where I proposed Kaeya's mom might have been one of these scions.)
Stamen of Khvarena's Origin
Nabu Malikata: "And so I separated you (Khvarena) from my body, and I ask you now to prevent that nightmare's coming."
No doubt about it: Arlecchino is carrying the bloodline of a (dead) moon angel…thing. Maybe all Khaenri'ahns are descendants of angels, but it's hard to say for now if they inherited it through normal means, or if the Crimson Moon clan used a ritual to transmute their blood. According to the book Perinheri, the Crimson Moon dynasty was deeply involved with alchemy, though it fell off by the time of the Eclipse Dynasty.
(Perhaps they even used the Moon's remains (ashes) to achieve this. Maybe that's why Arlecchino glitches: she was "re-born" from the "afterimage" (ashes) of the Crimson Moon.)
Combined with Zosimos's play implying the fallen star was a fallen angel, Khaenri'ahns could very well be descendants of fallen angels. In that case, they could be like the Nephilim, who are descendants of humans and fallen angels. Nephilim is often translated as giants or the fallen ones, which is very funny considering the meaning of Titania's name (Titan).
Speaking of Titania… In Arlecchino's teapot voicelines she talks about an opera called The Unexpected Dream. Unclear if this is referring to thee Midsummer Night's Dream, but given what we know of this game and its apparent obsession with the play, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume it is.
The name Titania for the queen of the fairies appears to have been the invention of Shakespeare, for, as Mr. Ritson remarks, she is not "so called by any other writer." Why, however, the poet designated her by this title, presents, according to Mr. Keightley, no difficulty. "It was," he says, "the belief of those days that the fairies were the same as the classic nymphs, the attendants of Diana. The Fairy Queen was therefore the same as Diana whom Ovid (Met. iii. 173) styles Titania."
Also, scholars suggest Shakespeare's Titania is ultimately referring to the moon goddess Diana, so make of that what you will. There's even a part in the play where Titania looks up at the moon and likens it to a crying eye… Another fun fact: on Tsurumi island, there's a mural from the ancient civilization ruins that references a poem about Diana by the Latin poet Catullus.
In any case, Arlecchino basically adds fuel to the theory that Khaenri'ahns might be the descendants of angels/Seelie. Though whether they inherited it naturally, through snorting up moon ashes or making deals with suspicious purple crystals remains to be seen. The Balemoon Bloodfire is dubbed a "noble blood" which means the Crimson Moon clan was regarded as nobility. Just another thing Arlecchino and Kaeya have in common.
This poses another conundrum for Kaeya though: if it's his Khaenri'ahn father who gave him his supposed "angel" ancestry as opposed to his mother, we're still left with the mystery of where he got his royal heritage from. Nobility ≠ royalty.
The Alberichs weren't of royal blood, we know this, yet Kaeya's prince-baiting adventure continues, same as it ever was 😮💨
BREATH OF THE FEYWILD
This is the fun part where I list similarities between Kaeya and the Seelie, from his design to his personality.
Visual Design
As you know, Kaeya has a giant wing on his back with three feathers. (Funnily enough the pattern on the outer border is the same as the sun- or moondial on the Nameless Island 😑)
No one else has wings on their outfit other than Paimon and Skirk who has a tiny one on her back. Arlecchino has one wing that only appears in battle or during her charged attack. Seelie courts have a little wing emblem and that angel in the Dragonspine Mural has a stylized wing.
Kaeya has one eye and wears a fluffy boa, same as the Seelie husks we see floating around. Though Kaeya doesn't have two horns, the peacock on his namecard does have two little feathers on its head.
Also, the Seelie emblem on the domain murals look similar to the 8-pointed star on Kaeya's outfit. The downward point is elongated which could represent the cone-shaped legs the Seelie husks have.
Seelie and their beauty keep being equated to moonlight… Kaeya is canonically called good-looking in-game, and has unexplained lightstreaks in his hair.
He also ordered a Moonlit Alley in his hangout (with Venti present) and gifted the Traveler a Moon Pie for his most recent birthday😒. Surely of no importance whatsoever.
Personality
I am basing this on the known Seelie we have in the game: Nabu Malikata, Columbina, and Angelica (from the book Perinheri).
First of, Seelie were guides of humanity, and taught them wisdom and language.
Arama: A Seelie? In the ancient stories, Seelies were a great race with wisdom and beauty beyond the pale of this earth. They traveled with Nara (humans) and taught Nara languages and the philosophy of nature.
… In his teapot dialogue, Kaeya offers to put together a guide for the Traveler when they ask for his wisdom.
Traveler: Can I rely on your words of wisdom in the future?
Kaeya: I'm at your service. In fact… would you like me to compile a guide for you…?
Kaeya: It would contain all kinds of practical knowledge for at home and on the road, including the techniques I have developed for communicating with people from all walks of life. I'd like to share it all with you.
Kaeya acts as a teacher for Klee giving her advice on how to dodge the authorities (Jean) and whatnot.
Speaking of dodging, as stated previously, Seelie were said to be faster than a storm, and Kaeya has a passive called Hidden Strength that decreases stamina consumption. He's actually one of the fastest running characters-gameplay wise.
The loading screen description for Seelie says the following;
Now you see them, now you don't.
Finally an explanation for Kaeya's ability to teleport in his normal attacks. It's just as Noelle said, he comes and goes with the wind.
In Scottish folklore Seelie will ask humans for help and give them a reward in return. In his Story Quest, Kaeya does the same, asking the Traveler for help and gifting them a sword for their efforts. Yes, it was a trap but he did do all of that, and in his Story Quest no less! Story Quests are designed as a glimpse into the character's life….
Wait a minute, he led them into a trap. Where have I heard that before?
Angelica! The woman from the book Perinheri is very obviously an angel (HER NAME LITERALLY GIVES IT AWAY) and thus potentially a Seelie, or at least someone belonging to the angel hierarchy.
Angelica led Hleobrant on with promises and then led him into a trap, not unlike what Nabu Malikata did to Deshret. She knew she was going to die and used his feelings for her to make sure she would never be forgotten.
Furthermore, if a Seelie is insulted they will exact revenge on those who wronged them.
Diluc: Yes… about Kaeya…
Diluc: I should have known he would see this as the perfect opportunity to get back at me.
Dude pulled up the Wikipedia page on Seelie 😭😭😭.
Another thing about Kaeya is that he will collect the fears and sensitivities of people as material to tease them about. …In the Harbingers trailer, Columbina teases Dottore about his age, knowing full well he's sensitive about it.
Columbina: I must say, you're looking very young today, Doctor
Dottore: You know very well that I do not take that as a compliment
Wanderer describes Columbina as someone who is eerily unbothered and unfazed in every situation.
About Damselette
Let me ask: what should you do if you were to encounter a "damsel" who is oblivious and innocent at any given time, and unconcerned and unfeeling in any given situation? If it were me, I could at least challenge her to a fight. But if it were you… with your conscience, I would stay away from her.
In his character story, Kaeya is described as having a cavalier attitude which in that context means, "showing arrogant or offhand disregard; dismissive", since he put the lives of his men in danger by triggering a Ruin Guard 😂. They hate to see a whimsical guy winning.
Character Story 5
Sinister thoughts flashed through Kaeya's mind, and he simply smirked:
"This world is truly… fascinating."
You can also see this in Crepus's famous death scene where he was standing in the back smirking Just according to keikaku.
According to Scara, Columbina appears to be oblivious, though whether she's feigning or not remains to be seen. Kaeya has his own fair share of moments where he pretends to be in the dark.
Think the opposite of Furina who pretended to know everything.
He even acted like a "damsel" in need of help right of the bat in his Story Quest.
Kaeya: This is bad… Such a hassle… What am I going to do…
Traveler: What's wrong, Kaeya? You don't usually lose your chill.
Kaeya: Oh, thank the Thousand Winds! (Traveler), your arrival must be the grace of the gods!
Kaeya: If I may ask — envoy sent by the Anemo God to save this mere mortal — could you spare a moment?
(Would be very fun if Columbina and Kaeya know each other from the dark recesses that is Kaeya's childhood and Kaeya is mimicking her behavior like some kind of mentee.)
Both Nabu Malikata and Columbina do not seem to possess human emotions which makes sense since they operate on a higher level than humans. Does make you wonder if Kaeya's occasionally strange behavior is a result of him being half-Seelie.
While not exactly a personality trait, Kaeya repeats some of Nicole's sayings which I thought was interesting.
Nicole: History does not change easily, but human hearts can.
Kaeya: History always repeats itself.
Kaeya: Anyway, that's exactly why actors need to wake up and realize they don't have to follow the script. There's nothing to stop them from following their gut and making it up as they go along.
As for why Kaeya would know this: find out in 2026 😂 (😭)
Venti
Since fairies and air spirits are another potential branch of Kaeya's family tree we can consult the most prominent air spirit in the game: Venti.
Kaeya and Venti have a lot in common, personality wise. Both like alcohol, are mischievous, and have a very mellow attitude.
They also tend to disappear when we need lore the most.
This is very stereotypical of how fairies are portrayed. Down to their love of wine and penchant to pull pranks.
Is Venti some kind of Seelie? Well, he does have wings, and he was a single thread of the thousand winds which represent freedom… Freedom, just like Angelica.
Play within a play
In Midsummer Night's Dream, the fairies toy with the humans like dolls. It's their meddling that causes all the mishaps in the play. They even call Oberon the King of Shadows, with shadows referring to the fairies as well as being Elizabethan slang for actors.
[…] even within this fictional world [Shakespeare] has created, the human characters are still treated as plot devices, pawns to be manipulated and directed across the play by the faeries.
If you've read the manga, you know where this is going.
If not:
“All the world's a stage, and all the people merely players – Kaeya Alberich”
–William Shakespeare
Kaeya has more instances where he treats people like they are fulfilling a role: in his outfit description he talks about the bandit and the knight as roles they have to fulfill. When he first meets the Traveler, he applauds like he just witnessed a performance. In Diluc's Story Quest, he breaks the fourth wall by mentioning the chapter of the Story Quest he's in.
Paimon: Kaeya!? Where did you come from?
Kaeya: I just picked a good spot to quietly sit and watch the show.
Paimon: Whaaa… You've been here this whole time!?
BECAUSE HE COMES AND GOES LIKE THE WIND KEEP UP PAIMON
And after Crepus's death he ponders on the roles he should have played: that of a son and that of a brother.
Very normal behavior…FOR A SEELIE.
You see, Deshret and Nabu Malikata created a City for the Jinn, called the City of Amphitheaters… where they had theaters 😮💨
Altar of Mirages
The Jinn once used this place as a free theater and a paradise without sorrow or care.
Princess Fischl also introduced theater to the paradise of the Immernachtreich where her people would dedicate plays to her. (Don't underestimate how connected she is to all this!)
PERINHERI
In case you're unaware, a new book released in patch 4.5 called Perinheri has given us new Khaenri'ah lore. I'll only mention the bits relevant to the theory but it's definitely worth reading if you haven't already.
In the story, a woman named Angelica visits the "Kingdom" as a supposed Princess from some defeated nation. Angelica declares she will marry the greatest knight of the Kingdom and lists several names, one of which is Alberich, leader of half of the knights.
But that's not the interesting part.
Angelica leads Hleobrant outside the Kingdom's borders which causes him to transform into a beast. This is because he is cursed: his ancestors forsook their gods when they came to live at the Kingdom.
Angelica, however, bears no such curses as she explains:
The witch, Angelica, explained thus:
"Hleobrant is the descendant of those who forsook their god and came to the Kingdom. This is why the Kingdom's obstinately pure-blooded aristocracy persists. This is the price of betraying your own god.
As for you, Perinheri, you are one who drifted there. Thus, you bear no such curse. You may not have the nobility to shoulder a world, but you too have your own destiny.
And as for me? I betrayed no one, not for a moment, until my god died, so I too bear this curse not. But you now see who I truly am, yes?"
Look. I don't think I need to spell this out but Angelica is an angel, her name is even explained to mean "one who is as a divine emissary", which, as we established before, are Seelie. Kaeya even has that stupid book The Adventures of Angelos which is obviously a hint towards whatever the fuck he is.
Angelos, Angelica…. Need I say more? 😮💨😮💨😮💨
She also conveniently disappears at the end BECAUSE SHE COMES AND GOES LIKE THE WIND
Anyway, this could explain why Kaeya isn't cursed, his mother was a Seelie who never forsook her god. We don't know what the bloodline of Khaenri'ahns consists of… so I can't confidently say they are all descendants of angels. Kaeya definitely is though. You're still a Seelie and that's FINAL.
Otherwise I don't know how else you could explain all of the above.
If he's not a Seelie/angel or a descendant of one, then the only explanation I can think of is that he was blessed by one and is under their protection. Perhaps he was even raised by a bunch of them like the Indian prince from Shakespeare's play.
Maybe in some kind of Sommernachtgarten ☀️🌺
Or a Winter Palace 👸🏼❄️
Frost Prince, Sun Prince, Seelie Prince, whatever Kaeya might be, I will keep updating this post as we go along for the sake of the five people reading this 🫡.
It's like Shakespeare always said, it's Kaeya's world and we're all just living in it.
Wolfwood, the Symbolism of the Punisher and Tragic Narratives
MAJOR MANGA SPOILERS
Considering that my post on Wolfwood being a tragic character is doing the rounds and people seem to adore it in the most horrified manner, I thought it might be fun to point out some of Wolfwood's 'dead-since-the-beginning' motifs, specifically through what the Punisher signifies.
Symbolism of the Punisher
There are five (from what I've pulled out) things the cross-machine gun of the Punisher symbolizes. First and foremost, I'm going to talk about how the Punisher, in it's shape of a cross, represents Christianity and Christian morals. This is something that is highly ironic, as while it shape symbolizes the morality and salvation of Christianity, of forgiveness and unconditional love--and such missives as 'thou shalt not kill'--it is also clearly a specialized weapon created specifically to kill people, violating the assumptions of Christian morality.
In a way, this irony or contradiction reflects Wolfwood's own irony; outwardly looking like and pretending to be a priest with Christian morals while at any closer inspection is clearly an assassin. However, the inverted is also true; although Wolfwood is an assassin and kills people, it is shown through his moral quandaries, that these Christian ethics are ones that Wolfwood subconsciously believes in, but has rejected to survive in the world. As a result, the Punisher symbolizes the irony and contradiction of Christian ethics that Wolfwood carries.
Interesting side note, Chapel directly says that their actions as assassins--executing people with their machine gun crosses--is mercy and leads them to save themselves and others to redemption, much in the same way humanity was redeemed through the cross in Christianity, which is the excuse that Wolfwood carries with him for killing others; but that's a digression from what I want to talk about.
The second thing I wanted to talk about, was that in a way, the Punisher in a cross shape is apt, as the cross previous to Christianity was a literal torturous execution device. To be sentenced to crucifixion meant hours of pain until one finally died from asphyxiation. The Punisher in that manner, stays true to the execution part of the original symbolism of the cross, as it is being used to kill and hurt others; as well as in a way, it applies to Wolfwood himself, which we will get to later.
The third thing I want to talk about the Punisher, is how contextually it symbolizes Wolfwood's profession, and his connection to the Eye of Micheal (EOM), which causes him guilt (the fourth thing). The cross is literally given to him by Chapel, the man who inducted him into EOM; Chapel giving Wolfwood the Punisher, a prestigious weapon used by those from the EOM, can be considered the physical signifier of Chapel giving Wolfwood the brutal lifestyle that he lives under and his connections to them. Hell, specifically because of his weapon, Wolfwood is mistaken for being Chapel, it is so tied to EOM and Chapel himself. As well, by both being the weapon that shows his correlation to the EOM and the weapon that he uses to kill people with, the Punisher (and it's weight) also represents his guilt from the lifestyle, becoming literally the 'cross he has to bear' as a result of trying to protect the orphanage.
A quick, bullet point recap, of what the Punisher signifies:
Christian morality: unconditional love, absolution and forgiveness, and 'thou shalt not kill' and Wolfwood's irony around this concept
a literal historic torturous execution device
signifies his profession and connection to the eye of Micheal
signifies his guilt over his profession
Narrative doom and Wolfwood
The fifth thing I want to talk about, is how the Punisher and it's symbolism is related to Wolfwood being a narratively doomed character. I choose this specifically as the Punisher literally becomes Wolfwood's grave marker (or one of them, at least). Thus, the fifth thing the Punisher symbolizes as Wolfwood's grave marker is his death-- and how he's been dead since the beginning.
Hell--our first introduction to Wolfwood is him slumped under the Punisher in the desert, and assumed to be dead by the bus driver. The bus driver even comments that he's a really well-prepared dead guy, referring specifically to the cross of the Punisher, which in the first-ever panel we see Wolfwood, looks like a grave marker for him-- and ultimately ends up being his grave marker. Since the beginning, our introduction to Wolfwood is him as a dead character, and in a way, he remains so as he literally carries his grave marker throughout the story, only waiting until the right moment when he can truly die.
As well, not only is the Punisher literally his grave marker and is a symbol of his death, but the other symbolism that it carries can be considered to cause Wolfwood's death; Wolfwood's connection to the EOM, his guilt, and Christian morals. For Wolfwood's connection to the EOM and Chapel, it is Chapel whose actions cause Wolfwood's death. In fact, as Chapel is the one who gave Wolfwood the Punisher, Chapel is the one to give Wolfwood his grave marker--and was the one to ensure that it became his gravemarker. Since the beginning of Chapel taking him under his tutelage, he was condemned to die.
Not only does it symbolize Wolfwood's death as a result of Chapel, but it also symbolizes Wolfwood's guilt over killing as a result of working for EOM, which also contributes to Wolfwood's death. Wolfwood's guilt come into play in his choice to defend the orphanage alone, as he believed that due to his guilt he wasn't worthy or important enough to ask Vash to help him; even if he knows Vash has proved over and over again that he would put aside everything to help anyone. Ultimately, he is proved wrong when Vash shows up anyways, but by this time, it is already too late. Adding to this is Wolfwood's staunch refusal to kill Livio as he declares his belief in Vash--and Vash's principles, ie, Christian principles-- which also causes Wolfwood to die, which Chapel himself notes. As a result, it is his guilt, his connection to Chapel, and to a smaller degree, his acceptance of Christian ethics, that kills him--all things the Punisher, his grave marker, signifies.
As well, tying into the historical interpretation of a cross as a torturous execution device, one can take the symbolism of the Punisher, specifically of Wolfwood's profession and deep self-loathing guilt as a result of his ethics he's had to forsake, and interpret the Punisher as metaphorically torturing Wolfwood. And, as it's symbolism is tied to the reasons for his death, one can also metaphorically claim that it is also what causes Wolfwoods own death, or execution; fully fulfilling its historic significance.
Summary
TLDR/To summarize: The Punisher, in its cross shape, ironically symbolizes Christian values which both the punisher itself and Wolfwood contradict, although may aptly symbolize it's historic use of a torturous execution device. Contextually, the Punisher also symbolizes Wolfwood's connection to Chapel and the Eye of Micheal, as well as his guilt over killing people.
The final thing the Punisher represents, is Wolfwood's death, as it literally becomes his grave marker. This is connected to how he is narratively doomed as that he has since the beginning been carrying his grave marker, and even in our first interaction it is foreshadowed to be his gravemarker. The other things the punishers signifies is directly correlated to his death as well, such as Chapel being to one to give Wolfwood his gravemarker, and being the one to cause Wolfwoods death.
All in all, Wolfwood as a character was never, since the very moment we met him, meant to survive the series; he's been literally carrying his grave marker the whole time. There was never any chance of him being able to escape his life the way he so desperately wanted to. He's been dead since the beginning.
.
ANYWAYS Uhm if u enjoyed reading my meta, here's a master post of some other trigun meta I've done :D
Theme: Wedding
I made a whole comic because I can’t decide to draw Green in a dress or a tux.
Can you imagine an alternative timeline where I am unable to meet you? Because I don’t want to.
I love how Zhang Rishan's eyes are basically screaming for a day off every single adaptation. But the question is, if he is even capable of some sort of rest.
