Haino is such a superior ship that needs to be talked about more, so I decided to list out all of the important elements that go into this pairing.
1) Haitham is apart of the haravatat, which is the darshan that deals with ancient ruins and linguistics. Cyno has a clear understanding of ancient languages (and it’s pretty interesting to note that his ascension material includes the forbidden curse scroll that might suggest that he’s deciphered, or at the very least, is aware of forbidden info that he has to remain silent about). All of this implies that he could’ve been apart of the haravatat as well, since Haitham said that students need to master 20 languages before they graduate. It’s pretty possible that these two were either apart of the same darshan or have very similar interest in their areas of study.
akademiya sweethearts is canon ✨
2) Cyno’s talent ascension is admonition, which comes from “a pure heart and is to be paired with wise thinking.” A cute sentiment to consider when thinking of Cyno, since he’s often regarded with distain from the other researchers, despite being pure of heart. And on one of the mahamata bulletin boards, a student of the haravatat likened the Matra to the sumpter beasts, which cyno sees as a compliment since sumpter beasts are considered to be “friends of humanity,” (and cyno sees himself as a protector of humanity).
You know who’s apart of the haravatat? Haitham. You know who’s aware of cyno’s true nature? Haitham.
3) Both Cyno and Haitham are considered outcasts for different reasons, but they’re very much two sides of the same coin. They’re both ppl who have strong convictions and ideals and are both on the side of justice even if their methods are drastically different. They both seem to respect and hold each other at a high regard (although they’ll never admit that), and I find it cute how Cyno’s voiceline about Haitham is him basically admitting that he’s not too fond of overly intelligent ppl bc they try to control everything, yet Haitham is the exception to the rule. To me, that sounds like an acknowledgment———that even if Haitham can be pretentious, he’s still a good man at his core, which means a lot coming from Cyno, who admittedly struggles to understand people (yet he does feel strongly towards those who are secure in their beliefs).
And if it was Haitham who made that sumpter beast comment, then that also means he understands Cyno at his core as well. Although, I fully believe that the archon quest made it pretty obvious that they got closer together by the end of it.
4) Lore wise they hit it off in two different areas—-the in game content and the historical aspect via Egyptian religion (Cyno/Anubis and Haitham/Thoth). The former would be the theories about the SK/Kasala. I’m not too fond of the idea of Haitham being the direct “reincarnation” of the SK, but if he were to be his descendant or maybe an android made to house his remains (similar to Scaramouche being made to house Ei’s gnosis), then that would give so much lore material for the pairing, especially since Kasala seemed very fond of his king. Haino would be the literal definition of fate bringing two intertwined souls back together after centuries of being apart———the idea that they’ve been given a second chance to finally be with each other and do things right. With that in mind, it kind of makes sense why Haitham read that extensive notebook about Cyno, but I’ll talk about that in my next point.
There are the Egyptian inspired concepts with Cyno being Anubis (peak his jackal inspired head piece) and Haitham being Thoth (note his bird themed outfit + blue/green color scheme, which can be seen through Thoth, who happens to look eerily similar to the bird headed statues in the desert ruins——ya know, the places related to the scarlet king, who Haitham is already thought to be connected to). Anubis was a god associated with death and he played an important role in the transition from life to death. He would weigh the hearts of people seeking judgment, which is very befitting for Cyno and his role as a Matra. Thot was told to be the scribe and was often depicted alongside Anubis, since it was Thoth’s job to keep record of Anubis’ judgement. Thot was also said to be the inventor of language (which fits Haitham as he is both the akademiya’s scribe and a student for the darshan of linguistics). Even on a religious level, haino has a lot of symbolism as they’re intrinsically tied together in a way that’s pretty noteworthy imo.
Not to mention that this couple also has the moon/sun imagery going on, since Thoth was the god of the moon and Anubis was the son of Ra, who was the god of the sun ✨
5) Let us not forgot the thick ass notebook that Haitham admitted to reading that detailed Cyno’s daily routine.
I always thought it was funny that he read this, bc what exactly was his reason if not because he was interested in knowing more about the general 📸.
During their first altercation, Haitham practically admits that they hardly interact, yet he chose to read an entire notebook about Cyno and his day to day routine? Why? Even Cyno mentioned that he’s been pursing Haitham for “a long time,” and it’s just hilariously placed dialogue when considering how distant they “claim” to be (yet, they always seem to know everything about each other…ok bro.)
Going back to point 4, I wouldn’t be surprised if these two somehow felt compelled to know more about each other, since they are some hardcore parallels between them and the SK/Kasala. Even Cyno seemed to acknowledge his own linage by the end of the quest, so their whole dynamic just reeks of “fated pair” energy (straight down to Haitham being self sacrificing much like the SK).
This couple just hits every trope imaginable and they have a lot of chemistry both in the quest and in the lore (assuming it’s all true). I need more ppl to hop on this train.
Side note: As much as Cyno was all “don’t trust him, he’s xy and z, he surely didn’t think twice to keep working with Haitham. And after seeing his voiceline about him, it all makes sense why 🤭
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