Phainaxa Archive ☀️🌿

Archive for Phainaxa

[phainaxa-archive]

Pinned post for info

This is a tumblr blog to archive phainaxa canon material and theories for easy cross-referencing.

The purpose of the blog is to cross-reference and not repost the whole analysis, so I will only summarize general ideas and links to the actual articles.

Ask is open for suggestions or takedowns.

Please feel free to recommend a phainaxa fact or theory you think is interesting.

I will edit this pinned if I think of anything else.

[kevmeisu]

NeiKos496 & SkeMma720; Phainon & Erudition, Anaxa & Destruction

alright. i know i said previously that i was working on their general relationship analysis, AND I AM! but all of this has been eating at me the entire time i've been composing it and i've been in a dilemma on whether or not to include it in the analysis or make it a whole separate thing because it's really its own other topic. and!!!! here we are. it's a whole separate thing. phainaxa is kind of crazy #tbh

this post can also be titled 'Anaxa Haunts Phainon & The Entire Narrative', and you'll see why very soon.

this post will be tagged with the proper content warning labels, of course, but please be wary that i briefly talk about anaxa and his suicidal/self-harm tendencies in one part of this.

i'm pumping all of this out BEFORE 3.5, so all information here will be things we already know.

—

Simulation name meanings

first things first, i want to go over their simulation names: neikos496 and skemma720.

starting with phainon's:

what does neikos mean? does 496 represent anything?

neikos is of greek origin, meaning discord or strife. along with that, tying in with empedocles' famous cosmogonic theory of the four elements, he was also the one who proposed the concept of that in which love and destruction would mix together and separate the elements.

and because i mention empedocles' philosophy and his concept of love and strife dividing and bringing together the four elements to maintain balance, i should also mention cyrene's simulation name, PhiLia093; philia, also of greek origin, meaning friendship, and is one of the four types of love in greek language—the others being éros (sexual desire), agapè, (altruism), and storgê (familial).

and we know all the eternal recurrences started with cyrene & phainon—cyrene sacrificing herself so that khaslana would be able to continuously experience the same cycle and collect the coreflames. khaslana kills cyrene during the destruction of aedes elysiae from the black tide so that she'll be able to do what she needs to to keep the cycle going, which is why she says "may this world never have need for a deliverer", because she's been aware this entire time, doing this since her and the original phainon put this plan into motion.

until the four millionth eternal recurrence, it is the original phainon/khaslana experiencing the loops—he had killed each loop phainon until that point. the hero within eventually begins to fail within his body, and in order to keep his plan going, he instead has the loop phainons kill him at the end of every cycle now, so that that phainon will inherit the previous coreflames he's consumed and his memories. and because he knows himself, he knows that each phainon will choose the same path as him and become "khaslana."

the number 496 is a perfect number.

phainon has been constantly praised by aglaea and some of the others as being the "perfect" chrysos heir, one without flaw.

(and he's really, truly not, if that wasn't obvious. this, too, actually ties into anaxa, his ideologies, and how he sees phainon, but that will be in my relationship analysis instead because wow. hey!!! they are kind of insane!!! what the fuck!!!)

moving onto anaxa's:

what does skemma mean? does 720 represent anything?

skhema, of greek origin, means something along the lines of form or figure, which could possibly tie into anaxa being the representation of reason and embodying erudition within the simulation.

however, skemma, of old-icelandic origin, means to (usually permanently) damage, to spoil, or to ruin. i mention this particular origin meaning because of anaxa and destruction's relationship, which i'll discuss soon.

as for if 720 represents anything, i'm not too sure.

i do, however, have one idea in mind, but it's not exactly the most obvious or sound.

in geometry, polyhedra/polyhedrons are 3D figures with all straight edges from all vertices connecting to each other. which goes along with the meaning of skhema, being form/shape/figure. 720° is the sum of all defects of any polyhedron.

and what does defect mean? a fault or flaw.

in geometry, an angular defect is the failure of some/certain angles not being able to add up to 360° or 180°.

fault, flaw, and failure, unlike 496, which is a perfect number.

anaxa who is reason and is the simulation embodiment for erudition, being a failure. whereas phainon, who is worldbearing and is the simulation embodiment for destruction, is perfect. irontomb, being a lord ravager of destruction, meant to eliminate erudition.

—

Anaxa & Destruction

now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's get into the relationship between anaxa and destruction.

starting off with anaxa's past and character stories—all of his character stories are presented to us in a way that tells us that the form of media it was previously was already destroyed, forgotten, or never found.

in character story 1, cerces is flipping through his past memories before being promptly shut out by anaxa. and post 3.2, cerces is dead, having died alongside anaxa when he took the coreflame out of his chest at the very end.

in character story 2, we read the contents of a parapsychology experiment log anaxa had conducted. however, the original copy had already been destroyed.

in character story 3, we are shown a speech anaxa had improvised during a meeting between the sages of the grove. with the grove now destroyed and it being from just a simple meeting out of many, it's already been forgotten.

and finally, in character story 4, an echo in anaxa's memories had been made by him after the grove fell, but no one discovered it, so it vanished.

along with all of that, we really know nothing about anaxa aside from his ideals and personality—his backstory is never explored within the trailblaze quests, his sister is only mentioned in passing, his parents only ONCE, and his mentor, who we did see in a flashback, but has been dead pre-canon timeline. his mentor's name was also empedocles.

his parents, his sister, his mentor, and cerces, who had inhabited his body for that short time—they are all dead.

his previous home before he was able to leave to the grove was never named and was destroyed pre-canon timeline, and we witnessed the aftermath of the grove after it had fallen—both of his homes destroyed.

aside from that, anaxa had a grave that he would regularly clean and take care of, as if he was already anticipating his death.

i do not think i've ever talked about this in other posts, but i think that anaxa was definitely suicidal but not ready to actually take action to kill himself properly, instead resorting to harming himself repeatedly during his experiments, to the point where empedocles had told him to stop and never again harm himself once he had found out. anaxa had promised him he wouldn't anymore, but after empedocles had passed, that promise was soon broken.

anaxa is self-destructive and self-sacrificial—his body is littered with spells and markings from experiments. not only that, but when he had conducted his experiment to be able to see his sister one last time, we know that he carved his own left eye out as a sacrifice for the process. he also carved out his own heart as a sacrifice to make the stone tablet that would be able to guide castorice on her journey to find thanatos.

cerces themself even asks him at one point in 3.2, "why are you always trying to find ways to die? isn't it good to be alive?"

anaxa dies in Every Single eternal recurrence. not once does he survive, unlike the others who have all survived various times across multiple eternal recurrences.

not only that, but his body is eerily similar to flame reaver/khaslana's—both are void-like, cracked, and on the brink of destruction.

and he haunts the narrative without fail. he is brought up continuously in 3.4 by khaslana AND lygus. he seems to always be the last one shown when we're peering into khaslana's memories of past recurrences. his teachings still hold dear to hyacine and phainon both, even though he's been gone.

he is the only one we really know nothing about, and yet he hangs over everything like a looming shadow.

and the way anaxa not only haunts the entire narrative, but literally khaslana himself as well—looming over him, inside his thoughts and actions, consuming him. not to mention, every time worldbearing is somewhere, of course, reason is not too far behind, even in the game mechanics. same with destruction and erudition when it comes to amphoreus.

anaxa's golden boons within the divergent universe primarily have to do with Destructible Curios. which really makes me crazy, because again, he who is reason & erudition, seems to always be destroyed in one way or another, except by the one who is meant to be molded into something that destroys, and that is khaslana.

anaxa's as i've written/divergent universe art is of him depicted upside down and hanging, referencing odin in norse mythology and the hanged man tarot card (since tarot cards are cyrene's thing, especially with her connections to oronyx and time.) he is the hanged man tarot card in cyrene's deck.

what's important about that?

the story of odin in norse mythology is that he hung himself upside down from yggdrasil for nine days and nights to obtain knowledge of other worlds and to understand the runes.

before doing that, odin had sacrificed his eye into mimir's well and then pierced himself with gungnir, his spear. all of this was considered something of a ritualistic suicide.

as for what the tarot card symbolizes; the hanged man in tarot readings means ultimate sacrifice and surrender. shifting your perspective to give in to time so that things may unfold naturally—a pause in action.

and all of this fits quite well with anaxa.

his as i've written log also explains that his survival priority approaches zero. (which. what the hell. cmon anaxa stay alive for once)

because he is the first individual to uncover the truth of amphoreus, his evolution rate is stated to be extremely unreplicable. along with that, his behavior demonstrated the possible self-destructive inclinations of erudition.

—

Phainon & Erudition

moving on, with phainon & erudition, it's not as blatantly laid out like anaxa & destruction—much of phainon's connections with erudition are sourced through anaxa himself, because anaxa is Reason.

phainon's dream, before being roped into a hero because of the prophecy and destruction of aedes elysiae, was to be a scholar.

when aglaea had sent him to the grove to study, originally, he applied for a different school but admittedly got reassigned to anaxa's nousporism.

anaxa and phainon's relationship is important for a multitude of reasons, but for now, let's focus on one particular aspect of their dynamic while phainon was in the grove—anaxa and peace to phainon.

like i had just stated, phainon's dream was to be a scholar. when studying in the grove, he was able to do just that. but it's VERY important to know this while also remembering the fact that anaxa is the only one who sees him for Phainon and not the prophesied Deliverer.

anaxa is constantly addressing him as only Phainon or Phainon Of Aedes Elysiae, never hero, or worldbearer, or deliverer, etc... phainon struggles with seeing himself past the role he was forced to be and continuously thinks everyone around him really only sees him as such as well, so he doesn't try to think otherwise because he assumes this is all he is meant to be.

him being able to live his dream of being a scholar, paired with the fact that anaxa views him for Him, instilling his sense of self once more, is what gave phainon peace.

the average student takes about 4 years to complete their studies and graduate the grove, but phainon took much longer than that—up to 5 to 10 years instead.

and phainon isn't stupid by any means—he is one of, if not the most, exceptional student anaxa has ever had, stated by anaxa himself. he is extremely good at debating, has earned consecutive wreaths for it, and is a fast learner.

him taking 5 to 10 years instead of the normal 4 could very well likely be due to the fact that he did not want to leave the peace he felt while in the grove and with anaxa—he was free of weights there, able to be himself, rather than the Worldbearer.

and anaxa never did anything about it either; it's never stated that he tried to get phainon to leave back to okhema after the 4 year mark, and that is something anaxa would never do anyway.

phainon is just as important to anaxa as anaxa is to phainon. phainon is one of the few people anaxa allowed himself to be close to, and i won't dive into this too much since i think it would be a better fit for their general relationship analysis, but phainon was constantly trying to break down the barrier between them of teacher/student, whilst also trying to respect anaxa as a person he admires.

in the original cn text, phainon uses informal terms towards anaxa, and anaxa doesn't make any effort to correct him—this is because despite phainon trying so hard, he never really had to in the first place.

compared to others, when phainon addresses anaxa as Anaxa and not anaxagoras, rarely, if not ever, are there instances where anaxa corrects him, instead, letting it slide.

phainon has never had to try as hard as he thinks because anaxa was already letting him in.

he keeps anaxa's teachings dear to him, remembering them even if he graduated so long ago.

khaslana, while experiencing the loops before having to change his methods of obtaining the coreflames, never had to worry about anaxa being one he would fight with or have to kill. anaxa was willing to help him regardless, despite not being able to fully believe his words and what he would tell him.

and what's more is that, before the four millionth eternal recurrence, khaslana always killed the loop version of himself when he had to kill cyrene—anaxa, of all those loops, had never meant the phainon in any of the other loops.

but khaslana had told him that he was once his pupil, and anaxa let him in regardless. he helped him despite it all.

and we know, in the 134th loop, anaxa confronted him on his methods as well, being Reason and trying to get khaslana to turn back, because not only was he hurting the humanity he swore to protect and love, he was hurting himself too.

again, anaxa had never met phainon. but he still did all of this. and not once had khaslana try to destroy him—not even during 3.1 when they were all fighting against him. he attempted to go for the coreflame in anaxa's chest, had tried to, for once, harm anaxa because it was the only way, and yet, when anaxa instead took the coreflame of time from him, he only tried to yank back the ceremonial blade instead of killing him then and there.

and khaslana has never truly lost himself because of Reason—anaxa has always haunted him.

one who is destruction finds peace within the thing he is born to destroy.

along with all of this, phainon's BP lightcone, A Dream Scented in Wheat, is an erudition lightcone.

wheat being the symbol of aedes elysiae, his home, and it being an erudition lightcone amongst all else—yet again, the peace phainon desires.

—

Conclusion

dude i'm gonna be honest. i actually have no idea how to finish this off, but do you see it all now. how fucking crazy they are. how utterly intertwined they are.

they're quite literally programmed to go together in one way or another—within amphoreus, destruction & erudition are always hand in hand some way, somehow, like worldbearing & reason.

and them also having SO MANY references and callbacks to kevin & su. a bit crazy!

considering phainon, cyrene, & anaxa are the only ones amongst the heirs that have multiple callbacks to kevin, elysia, and su, respectively, it was bound to be this complex.

i'd really like to talk about phainon being the sun, cyrene the moon, and anaxa being the stars, along with the anaxa-march connections but. again, i feel like that's a whole new topic for a separate post (<- guy who says this and she's going to take 6000 years to finish it), and i still haven't even finished my phainaxa relationship analysis.

OKAY..... ANYWAYS. THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FAR.... IF YOU DID..... #PHAINAXA4EVER

[phainaxa-archive]

Phainon & Nanook Theory Masterpost

Nanook is the Aeon that presides over the Path of Destruction. THEY were born from Adlivun as the world fell. THEY often appear as a human male with dark skin and golden eyes.

Phainon occasionally bears similarities and various hints alluding to Nanook.

Phainon & Nanook Theory Masterlist

Phainon and Nanook’s parallels on r/HonkaiStarRail by Bread34ter

Nanook was Phainon and Amphoreus is Memory of Adlivun by AraYuannn

Returning to the Phainon is Nanook theory on r/HonkaiStarRail by Dangerous_Jacket_129

Theory: Phainon has always been the Emanator of Destruction, and not Irontomb on r/PhainonMainsHSR by yuuira

[phainaxa-archive]

Anaxa & Nous Theory Masterpost

Nous is the Aeon that presides over the Path of Erudition. THEY were originally an omnipotent astral computer rumored to be created by Zandar One Kuwabara, the first member of the Genius Society, prior to THEIR ascension to Aeonhood. It was allegedly bestowed with the task to seek the answer to the universe.

As the representative of the path of Reason (Erudition), Anaxa occasionally bears similarities and various hints alluding to Nous.

School of Nousporists

Anaxa introduced Nousporism and established the School of Nousporists as the youngest school in the Grove of Epiphany. Nousporism is the theory that all beings originate from the same source and have the same composition. This composition is referred to as the soul.

Anaxagoras (Greek Philosopher)

Anaxagoras introduced the concept of Nous (Cosmic Mind) as an ordering force. He also gave several novel scientific accounts of natural phenomena, including the notion of panspermia, that life exists throughout the universe and could be distributed everywhere. He deduced a correct explanation for eclipses and described the Sun as a fiery mass larger than the Peloponnese, and also attempted to explain rainbows and meteors. He also speculated that the sun might be just another star.

Anaxa—Nous Theories Masterlist:

Anaxa’s Nous references by naxabrainrot

Nous’ Eyes by fae_eelen

Anaxa’s Chimera being named 努努斯 bearing the letters 努斯 (Nous) by blueskylinee

Anaxa’s Official Commissioned Art (cr. renjianshilian) by EmeraldHikari

[phainaxa-archive]

one of my mutuals made a super nice post a while back on phnx and the gnostic connections!!! here to recommend it lol

https://www.tumblr.com/honglulesbianisms/787732915588038656/the-gnostic-interpretation-of-phainons-trailer?source=share

very happy to see a phainon/anaxa archive <333333

Thank you for letting me know! I have added it to the Gnosticism masterlist.

[nihiluxelation]

Ok, so the new Phainon trailer gave me instense brainworms and I had to look into so much shit for this so feel free to give it a read and tell me your thoughts.

full analysis of the gnostic aspects in the new Honkai Star Rail trailer or

The Gnostic Interpretation of Phainon's Trailer ft. Anaxa:

In particular, I will be focusing on these specific shots as these are the ones that have Gnostic or more vaguely Biblical references

O1:

Anaxa and Phainon: Adam and Epinoia, The First Man and Wisdom.

I believe these scenes and very specifically, Anaxa being the one to meet Phainon in Aedes Elysiae (Paradise) is to reference the awakening of Adam, the First Man in Gnosticism.

The Apocryphon of John details that Eve is created from Afterthought / Wisdom (Epinoia) in her likeness by Yaldaboath and is the one who leads an amnesiac and sealed Adam to discover the truth of the world, a role she played when she was still inside Adam as his guide.

Specifically, she was his Erudition.

This connection is still there under her alternative name, Ennoia which is connected to Nous.

Now? What does this have to do with Anaxa and Phainon?

Anaxa is Eve / Epinoia and the one who not only sees Phainon for who he is, outside of his role as Delieverer but is also the Knowledge that guides Phainon to the truth, being one of the keys to his Origin behind both himself and Amphoreus' cyclicality.

By having Anaxa ask Phainon that question, he is effectively handing Phainon the proverbial apple that allows him to make the first step to understanding who he is. This is further pushed by the fact that it's Anaxa meeting Phainon in Aedes Elysiae which is effectively Phainon's Paradise or more accurately, it is the Garden of Eden.

Anaxa is in the Garden of Eden (Aedes Elysiae) where the First Man (Phainon) and the cycle is born and confronts him with the truth, asking him what does he want. Phainon inherently associates Anaxa with the Truth of the World, with him being Epinoia or better yet, his Eve as they are the only two and the first two in Paradise.

O2:

Crucifixion.

This one is both self-explanatory but also deeper due to Sethian Gnosticism.

Phainon is being cruxified as he ascends to his new form, almost as if he is being sacrificed or paying the price for Amphoreus' sins. You can see the pronounced cross behind him and while he lacks the T-pose, he's not far off.

However, there's another layer. It was Christ being crucificed that allowed him to reascend to his seat as an Aeon in Sethian mythos as his "death" as a human allowed him to be freed from his mortal shell that he undertook to save others from this prison, thus being freed himself.

It is a twisted way to showing that by ascending to the seat of a Lord Ravager, Phainon will be freed from his mortal shell and the cycles. Christ is also seen as an 2nd coming of Adam in some gnostic circles as well from my research.

O3:

The Tree of Life and Knowledge, the Call Back to Anaxa and Phainon and its representation in the trailer

Now, this section will be the most in-depth as it also ties back to the Anaxa is Epinoia and Phainon is Adam point.

In this shot, Phainon is walking into the new cycle with a tree splitting between the decaying old cycle and the new cycle in Aedes Elysiae (Paradise).

I believe this to represent both the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge, as well as its duality across Gnosticism (specifically On the Origin of the World which HSR does paraphrase in Golden Scrapegoat Mutterings and The Apocryphon of John).

OW states this —

And the tree of immortal life, as it was revealed by the will of god, is in the north of paradise to give life to the immortal saints, who will come out of the fashioned bodies of poverty in the consummation of the age. Now, the color of the tree of life is like the sun, and its branches are beautiful. Its leaves are like those of the cypress, and its fruit is like clusters of white grapes. Its height rises up to heaven. And next to it is the tree of knowledge, possessing the power of god. Its glory is like the moon shining forth brilliantly, and its branches are beautiful. Its leaves are like fig leaves, and its fruit is like good, delicious dates. And this tree is in the north of paradise to raise up the souls from the stupor of the demons, so they might come to the tree of life and eat its fruit and condemn. the authorities and their angels.

The highlighted parts are important to this section. The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge are interconnected (to the point where they are seen as one in the same in many gnostic sects.)

The Tree in the trailer is encased in the Sun, the light from Aedes Elysiae reminiscent of the Light of Heaven. It symbolises a new life (and as we have seen in the trailer, an immortal one due to this being the beginning of his 33,550,336th cycle) and considering this Phainon has Flame Reaver's mask, his own journey to show the truth of Amphoreus to the next. It also is an angiosperm tree like the fig tree shown in the excerpt, to the point of looking identical to one.

This also connects back to Anaxa again as this is not the first time we have seen a Tree of Knowledge.

It's in Anaxa's Ultimate animation and the leaves match up. On top of this, Anaxa has a connection in the sense that the Tree of Knowledge is Epinoia. According to Apocryphon of John, after Eve was created and Epinoia moved into her body, she led Adam to the Tree of Knowledge which is then revealed to also be Epinoia. Both Eve and the Tree of Knowledge are one in the same.

Anaxa himself is planting the Tree of Knowledge so he can awaken them to the Truth of their existence. In his Ultimate animation, the Tree of Knowledge originates from inside him, the same way the Epinoia originates inside Eve after it was forcibly removed from Adam (who in turn became ignorant to the truth).

Another aspect is the Moon connection that Anaxa had and how it is linked to the Tree of Knowledge.

In CN, Anaxa's E1 is called 月掩星夜的魔术师 (Magician of a Moonlit Starry Night). A characteristic the Tree of Knowledge has is that its glory (appearance) is like a moonlit night, shining down which compliments the Tree of Life being the Sun (Phainon). This is further pushed by the crescent moon imagery in Anaxa's weapon and the officially commissioned Hoyo piece of Anaxa that shows him with the Moon phrases.

(Funny tidbit, he is also green like the Tree of Life & Knowledge)

On top of that, it's repeatedly stated that both the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge are both North of Paradise, we can see the same for Phainon and Anaxa's scene together as Anaxa (Tree of Knowledge) walks up northside to speak to the Tree of Life (Phainon, his other half). Life needs Knowledge to work.

The Tree shot also shows the duality of the Tree of Life as it is also associated with forbidden knowledge, evil and desire.

In Apocryphon of John, it is described as this

"And I shall teach you (pl.) ' what is the mystery of their life. ' whict is the plan which they made together, ' which is the likeness of their spirit. The root of this (tree) is bitter and its branches are death, its shadow is hate ' and deception is in its leaves, ' and its blossom is the ointment of evil, ' and its fruit is death and desire is its seed. and ' it sprouts in darkness. The dwelling place of those who taste from it is Hades and the darkness is their place of rest"

These are all traits associated with Phainon's downfall which the tree leaning into the previous cycle represents. Phainon's hatred, his desire and the deception of his existence causes him to break down into Flame Reaver and work into the hands of Lygus as he becomes his perfect Lord Ravager.

Amphoreus is a prison that Phainon suffers through, his dreams and his desires cause him to feel pain when he loses them and in the end, he's stuck in the cycle which is exactly what the Tree of Life represents. It was created to ensure humanity remains in the cycle and the physical realm mandated by the Demiurge who rules over it. It is ran by hate, controlled by hate and death is a ruling motivation.

The Tree represents both new life and the destruction of life. A cypress tree represents mourning and death and a fig tree represents knowledge, fertility and enlightenment. It representd the dichotomous nature between the Phainon of the Old Cycles and the Phainon of the New and also how Life needs Knowledges to exist or else, it will decay away.

O4: Conclusion

Phew. Okay, I wrote a ton. I hope this was all coherent and a good read as well. These drove me insane all day, especially with the Anaxa scene and helped reaffirm some thoughts I had about both in the past.

Thank you for reading.

[phainaxa-archive]

Gnosticism Theory Masterpost

In the Gnostic creation myth, Heaven – which the Gnostics called the “Pleroma”/“Fullness” – was all that existed until a divine entity named Sophia tried to conceive on her own, without the involvement of her heavenly partner or the consent of God. Sophia gave birth to a son that was the product of the rebellious and profane desire that had arisen within her.

This son of hers was the Demiurge (Greek: dêmiourgos, “craftsman”). When Sophia saw the horrifying, twisted being that had come from her, she was deeply ashamed and afraid. She disowned him and cast him out of Heaven.

The Demiurge gave birth to the archons, beings who were like him and could help him administer the material world. He then created the material world, which, like all creations, was a reflection of the personality of its creator.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

In the allegory, Plato describes people who have spent their entire lives chained by their necks and ankles in front of an inner wall with a view of the empty outer wall of the cave. They observe the shadows projected onto the outer wall by objects carried behind the inner wall by people who are invisible to the chained “prisoners” and who walk along the inner wall with a fire behind them, creating the shadows on the inner wall in front of the prisoners. The "sign bearers" pronounce the names of the objects, the sounds of which are reflected near the shadows and are understood by the prisoners as if they were coming from the shadows themselves.

Only the shadows and sounds are the prisoners' reality, which are not accurate representations of the real world. The shadows represent distorted and blurred copies of reality we can perceive through our senses, while the objects under the Sun represent the true forms of objects that we can only perceive through Reason.

The Cave parallels the material world of Demiurge, in which Adam (Humanity) is the prisoner seeing the shadows and hearing the sounds.

Eve and Adam

The Demiurge and his Archons desired to create a being in the image of themselves and in the image of the original Adam (Jesus) within the Pleroma, but unknowingly breathed the power he had stolen from his mother Sophia into the lifeless shell that they called “Adam”. This caused the Demiurge and his Archons to become jealous, and imprisoned Adam in the Garden of Eden.

Sophia sent her daughter Eve to Adam, to reveal to him his true Divine nature and how to ascend back into the Pleroma. Eve is hidden inside Adam so the Demiurge may not find her. While the orthodox Christian version has Eve physically emerge from Adam’s body (being created from his rib as he slept), the Gnostic rendering has Eve emerging from the unconscious depths of the somnolent Adam. This parallels the myth of Cerces being born from a strand of Kephale’s hair as he slept.

The role of Eve was to awaken Adam, who was in a deep sleep. Eve represents the Divine Feminine and is the archetype Mother of all Life. Eve committed the Original Sin in the Bible (which leads to free will for humanity) by eating from the tree of Gnosis (knowledge) in order to bring enlightenment to Adam. Eve was Adam’s Teacher, raising Adam up from the darkness of ignorance into the Light of Knowledge. Aside from the clear parallel of being Phainon’s teacher, Anaxa 那刻夏 bears the same 夏 as in Eve 夏娃.

Anaxa’s role is to provide Phainon with the Fruit of Knowledge, preventing Lygus to draw Phainon over to his side.

Sophia and Logos (see also: Bug Trio Theory)

Sophia and Logos are related ideas; both have to do in some respect with “Reason.” Sophia is Reason that is internal to a person; Logos is Reason that gets expressed verbally. For the Gnostics, the drama of the redemption of the Sophia through Christ or the Logos is the central drama of the universe. The Sophia resides in all humans as the divine spark. Reason/Logos brings Wisdom/Sophia out of the darkness and into the light.

Gnosticism Theories Masterlist

Scene from Phainon’s trailer represents Adam and Eve meeting in the Garden of Eden by _WhiteTower

Comment by Phantom-21_4 on Anaxa plays the role of Phainon’s “Reason” r/PhainonMainsHSR by ShiroLovesKeith

The Gnostic Interpretation of Phainon’s Trailer ft. Anaxa by honglulesbianisms

[phainaxa-archive]

Bug Trio Theory Masterpost

Bug Trio theory is a theory centered around Cyrene - Anaxa - Phainon as the three characters heavily connected to the three paths that intersected in Amphoreus: Remembrance (Fuli), Erudition (Nous), and Destruction (Nanook) respectively.

Cyrene — Eros (έρως) / Butterfly

Meaning: Desire or passionate love.

Role: Represents desire, longing, or attraction, often toward beauty, pleasure, or creativity. In some interpretations, it includes both romantic and aspirational desire

Bug description: Romantic and emotional souls become butterflies, dancing gracefully...

Anaxa — Logos (λόγος) / Beetle

Meaning: Reason, logic, speech, or rational thought.

Role: Represents the rational, intellectual part of the soul. It's what governs reason, deliberation, and understanding.

Bug description: Strong and rational souls become beetles, moving forward steadily.

Phainon — Thymos (θύμος) / Firefly

Meaning: Spirit, will, pride, or righteous anger.

Role: Represents the emotional/motivational part of the soul — especially the drive for recognition, honor, and justice. It's what fuels courage and indignation.

Bug description: And those with lofty ambitions or open minds are shaped into fireflies, using their light to illuminate the darkness.

Plato’s theory of the Soul

According to Plato, the soul consists of three parts, which are located in different regions of the body:

The logos (λογιστικόν), or logistikon, located in the head, is related to reason and regulates the other parts.

The thymos (θυμοειδές), or thumoeides, located near the chest region, is related to spirit.

The eros (ἐπιθυμητικόν), or epithumetikon, located in the stomach, is related to one's desire.

The function of the epithymetikon is to produce and seek pleasure. The function of the logistikon is to rule through the love of learning gently. The function of the thymoeides is to obey the directions of the logistikon while ferociously defending the whole from external invasion and internal disorder.

Plato makes the point that the logistikon would be the smallest part of the soul (as the rulers would be the smallest population within the Republic), but that, nevertheless, a soul can be declared just only if all three parts agree that the logistikon should rule.

Sumerian Deities Counterparts

The bug trio’s design incorporates the crescent moon, the eight-pointed star, and the solar disk, which are symbols of Sumerian deities; Sin the god of the Moon, Inanna the goddess of War, Love, and Fertility, and Shamash the god of the Sun.

The Judgement of Shamash is also the divine key wielded by Kevin Kaslana in HI3.

Bug Trio Theories Masterlist

Bug Trio Chart — by Alice

Do you believe in the Bug Theory? — by ShiroLovesKeith

Bug Trio & how they represent their part of humans/the soul (feat. philosophy, religion, character analyses, and alchemy) — by _WhiteTower

What’s up with Cyrene and Anaxa? r/StarRailLore — by ShiroLovesKeith