#danhengposting

[nihiluxelation]

Dan Heng is the Mother Earth

or Dan Heng's Connections to Various Earth Mother Deities and their adjacent deities as of Permansor Terrae's Reveal

Alternatively known as "MilfHeng is Real, the Official Essay." /lh

This particular piece will present the connections Dan Heng has to several Earth goddesses; specifically Bhumi, Houtu, Tara, Cybele, Gaia and her Roman equivalent, Terra / Tellus Mater. This analysis will also mention two other characters — The Trailblazer, very specifically Caelus and Yingxing aka Blade as well as briefly mention Phainon. These connections can be looked at as either platonic or romantic depending on the context you prefer.

O1: Bhumi & Houtu

Our first examples are Bhumi & Houtu. This is because Bhumi was actually namedropped by the ENG variant of the Keeping Up With Star Rail video for Dan Heng PT. This reference also serves as both a Buddhism reference (to the ten stages a Bodhisattva must take to achieve Buddhahood) and also the deity in Hinduism herself (as well as what her name means, which is Ground or Land in Sanskrit).

At first, I believed it was simply talking about the ground, regarding Samudartha with Samudra being Oceans & the CN variant of the title translating to Earth Dragon's Chant. However, I decided to check the origin root word as I believed it could be deeper.

With this, I found Bhumi, the Hindu goddess of the Earth as well as the personification of the Earth itself who also shares Dan Heng IL's lotus imagery and is connected to Pritvi, who does exist in Chinese Buddhism under the 二十四諸天 and was essential to the Buddha's ascension. Further investigation also led me to Houtu, Bhumi's Chinese equivalent and a major thread in this connection.

Houtu (后土) or Queen of the Earth is the personification of the Earth within Chinese mythos and one of the 4 Heavenly Ministers. Very importantly, according to the 礼记 (Book of Rites), she is the assistant deity to Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor — who is connected to Earth via the Wuxing system and is believed to be connected to, if not the same being (but reincarnated as the divine) as Huanglong, the Yellow Dragon (who resides over Saturn, aka Phainon but that's for another time).

This connection becomes more obvious with his splash art, having a gold dragon (and 4 in his animations).

Houtu is also connected to the Yellow River, having installed mountains to redirect the Yellow River into the sea according to the 山海经 (Classic of Mountains and Sea). I believe in this instance, Dan Heng is both Huangdi and Houtu with his dragons as Huangdi's incarnations while he himself is Houtu, the Earth itself. It also references Houtu's origins as a male deity before becoming a female deity later within her worship.

O2: Tara

The second - but in my opinion, most prominent - deity is Tara, specifically Buddhism's rendition of Tārā. Tara not only ties together Dan Heng's connection to the Trailblaze and Permanence but is also prevalent in Dan Heng IL's imagery, (alongside his Azure Dragon connections and link to the Buddha). While the extent of Tara's relations to Dan Heng will have its own post (as it runs extremely deep), the Earth aspect will be discussed in this segment.

First of all, the particular Tārā Dan Heng PT has connections to is specifically Khadiravani (Green Tara), the forest deity as well as White Tara. As shown in his idle 1, DHPT has control over plantlife - being so intertwined that he can be said to be the Earth. Green Tara herself represents the vitality of plant life - encouraging the nourishment of all flowers and plants. Another connection is that Green Tara is associated with protection, being the one invoked when one needs deliverance from suffering. We see this exact parallel with Dan Heng PT being Preservation as well as his 1000 year journey to find Trailblaze, saving them from Evernight's imposed samsara.

In White Tara's case, Dan Heng PT shares her associations with longevity and fertility, being the aspect that looks after all creation as their "mother" - bestowing longevity upon those suffering and being swift to those who need her. This is a characteristic that carried over to Dan Heng PT - especially shown in his lines, magazine entry and his transformation scene.

Tara, especially as Green and White Tara, is a goddess who carries the burdens of others, protect those suffering and hears the voices of billions akin to Dan Heng carrying millions of lives in his soul.

Reminder - this is extremely brief and does not cover all of his connections to Tara (and by extension, especially Yeshe Tsogyal). This will get its own post in the future.

O3: Cybele, Terra and Gaia

I chose to group these 3 together due to shared origins and motifs that DHPT shares. This is also the most obvious as Georios in themself is based upon Terra & Gaia as the living embodiments of Earth itself. Dan Heng carries over this connotation as well, however, it is more emphasised through the Trailblazer - specifically Caelus.

In Roman mythology, Caelus represents the Sky and Terra is the Earth itself, both with intertwined fates and existences. The dromas event even pushes this further with the baby droma having the possible name "Uranus", which references Gaia also being Uranus's creator in Greek mythos (which strengthens the Georios-Gaia connection). Gaia also has the same parthenogenetic "birthing" aspects Dan Heng's species has.

However, uniquely, the Cybele connection appears to be DHPT only (although, Georios has the mountain aspect) and it has to do with DHPT's association with the Permanence. Cybele specifically has a legend alongside a consort named Attis who was given immortality after his demise. Attis suffered for Cybele's love, having died in self-inflicted destruction and revived with regenerative immortality and eternal youth. This aspect matches the story between Yingxing and Dan Feng / Dan Heng, who is revived as a madman with eternal youth and regenerative immortality akin to the changing seasons Attis represents.

Akin to Cyblele who is classified as a Potnia Theron (Mistress of Animals), Dan Heng's connections to animal life is more emphasized than with Terravox and Georios which is reflective in how Gaia and Terra did not maintain as strong a connection to animal life from their progenitor.

O4 Conclusion

I hope this was a fun read! Uh, I do not have much to say after this, the actual proper analysis for Tara is far longer but since I got E2S1 DHPT, I wished to finish it! Thank you for reading!

Tagging: @kevmei & @tamsylum

[nihiluxelation]

[nihiluxelation]

"oh hey dan heng, time to read your character stories."

"dead sea scrolls"

"what"

"Dead Sea Scrolls."

[nihiluxelation]

ok before i actually complete that analysis, im lowkey kinda sad the way dan heng is written androgynously (not in the sense of gender neutrality but in the sense that he takes heavily from both masculine and feminine inspirations in his writing) isn't discussed by the fandom because the fandom can't act normal about it and i say this as someone who nicknamed him milfheng. the dude literally references both the Buddha himself, the Azure Dragon and two female Bodhisattvas (Tara & Yeshe Tsogyal) in one fell swoop and it would be cool to see more discussion about it but considering how people reacted about Big Mama (Dan Heng PT)'s model change, i don't think it will ever happen.

[nihiluxelation]

A Full Analysis and Interpretation of Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae's Design

From Both a Gnostic / Biblical and In Game Lore Viewpoint.

I know, I know, three days late! But I have this circling my head so here I come!

In Game Lore Analysis

DanTe's, as I will be calling him throughout this analysis, design looks simple from first glance, being a merging of 3 major components:

→ 4 ★ Base

→ Imbibator Lunae

→ Georios / Terravox Elements

I believe Hoyoverse did this to indicate the three most important phases in Dan Heng's existence: His present, his past and his future. Who he is, who he was and who he will be.

At the core, Dan Heng is himself. The Guard of the Astral Express, a Trailblazer who cares about his friends. He's someone who has overcome the branches of pain and is a loving, kind man who learned so much. That is why the basis of the design is his 4 star design. Because no matter what happens to him, he's still Dan Heng, the identity he chose for himself and who he will always be until the day he dies and if he deteriorates and forgets like what happens in 3.4's Terravox As I Have Written, he will still remain Dan Heng in his heart, no matter what. It also makes sense as Dan Heng never chose to be embedded into Amphoreus' history and thus, did not have any change of clothes either — as he was isolated from humanity and thus, no way of communication. Which is also amusing as DanTe's design also references his beta design and his shirt design changed with details that looks like the Earth cracking.

But Dan Feng and Imbibator Lunae are also a part of his past and his design contains elements of this as a result. In his Imbibator Lunae design, he's someone he no longer is. It's a title he doesn't want and a face he is forced to have. It's not him, it's a body of a ghost who wished for nothing but to be erased from the narrative and left to die like a ghost story but instead was martyred against his will or used as a predatory, cautionary tale and left to never be understood by those who knew him.

For instance, his tassel from his 4 star design's color has changed to a similar, if not the same shade of red that Blade, or Yingxing possesses on his person. What strikes me out is that this is the only instance of red on DanTe's design outside the red ribbon on the upgraded Cloud Piercer, (which I believe is another instance of referencing Yingxing and something that carried over from Dan Heng's 4 Star Design and a way of showing that he always held him close even before finding out they were one in the same.)

Having this tassel match Blade's show that he's accepting his connection with Blade, just like he had started to do in 1.4 but more steadily. By accepting Dan Feng, he has to accept his sins, all of them and admit that Blade is one of those who suffered from Dan Feng's love.

That is not the only change. In some scenes, the upgraded Cloud Piercer appears similar to Jing Yuan's Starfall Reverie, someone else from the High Cloud Quintet and is partly why he was able to evolve into Dan Heng to this day, being the one alongside Caerolum Venti who vouched for Dan Feng to not be executed and also his exile, which allowed him to be found by the Astral Express.

Jing Yuan was such an changing force in Dan Heng's life that his weapon changed to reflect the relationship the general once had with Dan Feng as friends & allies and how Dan Heng is accepting that in its entirety, rather than say "I am not him."

Dan Heng's pose and his seemingly older appearance also takes after Dan Feng and Yubie, with Dan Feng being older than the average High Elder (having been around before Xueyi's death) and Yubie being the first scrapegoat of the Preceptors. Both of which suffered after years and years and live through DanTe. In a way, he is honoring their legacy and not letting their "sins" dictate their end. He also bears longer hair. Not as long as either of them but enough that its a perfect midway length between Dan Feng / Imbibator Lunae's and his own.

These details are a small love letter from his future to his past and his way of making his past his to own and the power of Imbibator Lunae his to control. He is not a puppet or a sinner but his own person who will embrace his faults, his past and not run away. He's even shown cutting the maple leaf which represent his past (the Feng in Dan Feng (枫) means maple) meaning he is no longer running but facing it head-on.

His Georios elements are said to be caused by the Permanence which leads me to believe there is a connection to the path Georios / Earth is simulating and Long THEMself. As a result, his body began changing him in response to the Permanence's presence, a need to keep existing.

The gold coloring seems to not only reference the golden blood of Destruction that runs through the veins of the Chryso Heirs but also the Ichor Line of the High Elders, which in Greek Mythology is also golden which not only represents his divinity in Amphoreus but also his perceived "divinity" in the eyes of his people as the closest existence to the Permanence in the Vidyadhara and thus, effectively divine.

This is doubled by the splash art using an animals that represent the gods in their respective mythologies; Dragons (Chinese Mythology) which are well-known but also more important, swallows. Swallows in Greek Mythology are associated with transmutation, especially of the soul and it was said that the gods can transform into swallows.

These aspects amplify that DanTe's a bridge between different paths and embodies both, even if he's an reluctant guard that suffered a millennium. He is the truest form of permanence, everlasting but ever growing. The soul is the same but it changes, evolves and grows and becomes born anew.

Biblical Interpretation

Now, for my biblical interpretation / theory. This section is merely a presentation of an theory my friends and I looked into.

I believe DanTe is a representation of the Beast of the Sea and the Beast of the Earth from Revelations 13, as well as their shared representation in Thelemaism, Babalon and Therion.

Amphoreus uses a variety of both Gnosticism and Biblical aspects from Kephale using the Chinese name for God (天父, Heavenly Father) and having scriptures modeled after prayers to quoting On The Origin of the World in Golden Scrapegoat Mutterings, the very threads of Amphoreus is questioning divinity and having a dichotomy between the creator / the worshipped and the created / the worshippers, as emphasised by Lygus.

Dan Heng was also the first subject of a visual biblical reference as in 1.2, Exodus was referenced with Dan Heng splitting the sea so I do not believe Hoyoverse would be incapable of doing so once again.

For instance, in the original design of DanTe, he is shown holding fire. In Revelation 13:13, it is mentioned that the Beast of the Earth "performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people."

The Beast of the Earth also "had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon."

The Beast of the Earth deified the Beast of the Sea and with its power, inspired the people of the world to worship and follow them against God (who in this instance would be Lygus himself who views the CHs as obstacles obstructing his perfect plan and his perfect Destruction).

In this instance, DanTe is both the Beast of the Sea and its Rider, Babalon. Both are empowered by "The Dragon", have connections to 7 and are connected to the Destruction, due to Dan Heng being assimilated into Amphoreus and becoming a Chrysos Heir as well as originate from the Sea and rose from there. It is an inversion of the roles they play biblically. To Lygus, its an Anti-Messiah role, someone who wishes to rip apart and help destroy Irontomb, his most perfect creation he made as God, a demiurge figure. To us, its the inverse. The Beast of the Sea and the Beast of the Earth are the heroes helping to stop a false God from hurting the real world in his desperate drive to find the truth and the Prime Mover of life.

I hope you enjoyed reading this! Feel free to tell me what you think!

tagging: @hematomes

[nihiluxelation]

dan heng is trans. transmasc, transfem, all of them, hes just trans, okay. mother and father. like arlecchino.

[nihiluxelation]

hear me out, hear me out. goth dan heng.

[nihiluxelation]

wife spotted and shes looking fine