Kaveh and his themes of legacy
(Specifically the importance of collaboration when it comes to building one)
One of my favorite things about Kaveh is how reflective he is on life. Whether it be the past or the future, he always seems to consider the role others play in the legacy you leave behind.
He wants to create buildings that move others the same way they’ve moved him throughout his entire life. No matter how many years pass, he wants his buildings to be able to outlast generations. To grant hope for future generations and because that would mean that they’ve acknowledged him across the vast stream of time.
His theme of legacy connects with the huma bird too. With the way Kaveh is constantly reaching towards new heights. The Palace may be his magnum opus, but he doesn’t stop there. With one of his most recent projects being the library in the desert. It’s said that the huma bird is never to alight on the ground. It lives its life flying invisibly high above the earth. Not only that, but they say that even just a glimpse of the huma bird can be enough to grant people happiness for the rest of their lives. Much like the feeling Kaveh wants to evoke with his art. However many obstacles he runs into on the way doesn’t matter, because all of that pain will one day fade into nothing. So why not pour everything he has into leaving behind something that he’s proud of even if sometimes it comes at the cost of himself?
Kaveh yearns to keep control over his life and his reputation, he has an intense need to get things right. He doesn’t revel in having control, it’s more of a necessity in his eyes because otherwise should he do? Let others write his narrative for him? No way! Kaveh wants to be respected. He’s worked hard for too many years to let himself stay in ruin, he knows what it feels like to get his work dismissed because it leaned more into aesthetics and beauty than was generally accepted in Sumeru for a very long time.
Art is extremely relational and subjective. Much like with his mother, not everyone understands Kaveh’s creations or his thought process behind them. I think Kaveh would leave traces of his imperfections in his creations. Not in their structure, because he would never jeopardize someone’s livelihood and there’s a reason he values the balance between aesthetics and functionality so much. But to be able to connect with people, you can’t come across as untouchable. There has to be some kind of emotion tied to it, a reason why others should care. Kaveh’s fully aware of that, and the keychain anecdote is proof of it. As soon as there was a story attached to it, Kaveh was fully willing to help out regardless of whether it was true or not.
Which is why he’s so eager to collaborate with others on many occasions. An example is when he asked Tighnari to recommend specific ornamental flora for the Palace during the initial planning stages. During the Interdarshan Championship, he and Faruzan collaborated to make the mechanical butterflies. He points out that even though he made the butterflies, the idea was all Faruzan’s. He also asks Alhaitham to look over his proposal during Nahida’s birthday event. Despite everything, he does seek out Alhaitham’s opinion because he sees the value of collaboration. He’s someone who longs to be understood, and to me, him asking for Alhaitham’s opinion is like including him in his creations and therefore his legacy.
The point here is that is takes a village! It all comes back to companionship, because there’s a reason it was so heavily emphasized during Kaveh’s hangout. Even in the message board in Port Ormos, we see Kaveh telling Alhaitham that mutual assistance, fairness, and righteous anger drive the world.
He disagrees with the idea that “the fittest survive” in response to Alhaitham saying he wished Kaveh wouldn’t interfere with others’ fates so much when Kaveh offered to help some ship maintenance workers find jobs. As a side note, that whole conversation is super interesting in terms of showing Alhaitham and Kaveh’s philosophies pre-AQ, and it really highlights Alhaitham’s privilege when he tells the Port Ormos workers to “go to sea and try their luck” despite them not having the money for that at the time. Pretty cool to see how the Archon Quest challenged some of Alhaitham’s views.
But anyway, Kaveh wants future generations to know that they don’t have to do it alone, and that their passions are worth pursuing. It’s why he gives guest lectures in the Akademiya, and why he offers that free class to those kids in his hangout. Kaveh is also aware of his own flaws, and even if his pride can make him hold back from admitting them like how Alhaitham says in PoP, I like to think that he eventually gets to a point where he can speak about the obstacles he’s faced more freely. And that would be really inspiring for other people who hesitate to chase after their dreams or speak out for what they believe in out of fear of the “what if’s”.
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