it's kind of surreal to be doing renheng analysis on main story dialogue wow
To begin with, I did not think they would interact this patch at all. Blade's release is presumably in 4.3 so I thought the plot would build tension on their imminent meeting with 4.2 maybe ending with a cliffhanger of them running into each other. But imo having that tension build through their interactions works out a lot better, especially with what we now know of Ashveil's history with the quintet and the involvement of the Abundance.
Firstly I just want to point out that Dan Heng went from going out of his way to prove he wasn't Dan Feng, to taking all of one patch to betray the Xianzhou- apparently, Tingyun doesn't know why he left, and Sunday doesn't tell her.
Which means a couple of things: That Dan Heng isn't particularly invested in the Xianzhou's view of him, and also that he doesn't trust them.
He goes to find Blade, entirely of his own volition, with the explicit purpose of not apprehending him; he emphasises that keeping an eye on Blade is as far as he'll go.
And Blade is surprised about this, because of course he is. They haven't interacted since before Penacony. He has no reason to expect Dan Heng would seek him out or help him, and he's probably going to be further blindsided in their future interactions by the fact that Dan Heng no longer considers them to be strangers.
So anyway, Dan Heng gets straight to leaking intel.
He warns Blade that Yao Guang is after him, and of the potential threat from Shuhu.
And then that last line. "The only part of you that I would consider violent is the one that isn't even you" from the guy Blade tried to kill however many times is insane. Dan Heng does recognise that Blade isn't an inherently violent person, despite everything.
Also, this is so fucked up. Just in general. Nearly all Blade ever does is get used by other people, get hurt as collateral damage.
It's not even Blade himself that's the threat, it's some creature that's way more powerful than him using his body. And this is probably where the blank script comes in: The significance of it is Elio saying that he's giving Blade the choice, and that Blade has to make a choice for himself. Loss of agency is definitely something he has in common with Dan Heng, but Dan Heng has learned by now to take comfort in making the best choices he could with what few options he did have. Blade, meanwhile, is resigned to fate, and his arc in Planarcadia is very likely to be centred on overcoming that resignation.
You can also tell from the camera work during the above line that Blade is worried about Shuhu. He knows Dan Heng is right and he's probably scared. In the next shot, though, he smiles, and tries to intimidate Dan Heng, but the thing is-
He doesn't actually argue. What he's really saying is "There's nothing you can do about it," because that's simply what he believes. A weapon is supposed to be used. A weapon shouldn't fear being used.
At this point Silver Wolf says what we've all been thinking which is that this is kind of gay and i mean. yeah.
Blade is worried about Shuhu, and there's a lot of internal conflict going on. But at the same time, he is also not going to admit under any circumstances that Dan Heng is right.
It's actually kind of fascinating to me how what was Star Rail's biggest ship, and is still one of the biggest, was built nearly entirely off of backstory and implications. They had a whole two onscreen conversations and Blade was only in his right mind the second time around. We heard secondhand about how close Dan Feng and Yingxing were, despite how their personalities should have clashed, but we never really saw it. For me it was always less "they seem like they're in love" and more "they deserve to love each other again", and so giving them an actual dynamic and having them play so well off each other was definitely the best thing the writers could have done for them.
I like that the writing makes fun of them, too. They act like they're fighting but they barely actually disagree on anything. They're both normally pretty calm people but they clearly bring out the worst in each other. Their dynamic is conflict, even when there's no reason for it to be. They each think they can intimidate the other into backing down, and they're both wrong, and that does make them kind of look like idiots.
That said, they do calm down a little when Silver Wolf leaves, and interestingly, this is where they do actually disagree with each other.
Dan Heng thinks they can change fate. Blade does not. Dan Heng even says he's not interested in arguing on the subject, because it probably doesn't matter to him whether or not Blade agrees. He's said on previous occasions that what Blade does is Blade's choice. He does value Blade's autonomy, probably more than Blade himself does, and he doesn't need Blade's help. He's arrogant enough to believe he can change fate on his own. Tracking Blade down was just is just as much a means to make sure he doesn't interfere as it is to keep him out of the Xianzhou's hands.
Nothing in particular to add about this part, I just like that they have this casual banter about what should probably be a sensitive topic. It shows their familiarity with each other, and it's not over something from the past. There actually seems to be more sarcasm and taunts involved where they're familiar with each other, compared to when Dan Heng brings up his experience with the Express- something Blade knows little about- and Blade doesn't respond.
And then, despite all the previous posturing, Blade goes ahead and gives Dan Heng all the information he's asking for.
He doesn't offer information, but he doesn't withhold it either, and Dan Heng keeps his questions straightforward. And Blade does end up being right about there being more than one source of Abundance- there's both the research society and Evanescia.
And then this line. There is so much to unpack in this one.
Keeping an eye on someone can mean keeping them under control, or it can mean keeping them safe. In this case, it probably means both. Dan Heng fitting "I'll protect you" and "I'm the stalker now, asshole" into one sentence, only to sort of backpedal by clarifying that he's only keeping an eye on Blade, not trying to hurt him, is a perfect encapsulation of their current relationship. The fact of the matter is that they're simply too important to each other to not care, but that, at the same time, they've hurt each other too much for caring to be simple.
I also think that they probably just needed to fight a bit for enrichment, because they do calm down over the course of the scene. They've argued enough that they both feel they've gotten across the message of "I don't forgive you, just so you know", and so now they can cooperate without either of their pride taking too much damage. Blade even seems like he might be happy with the arrangement.
The fact that Dan Heng actively draws attention to the fact that he's reversing their roles is meaningful on a narrative level, too. The camera angle is very similar to earlier in the scene with Blade's "So, what's your plan? Kill me again?" Like this is Dan Heng's answer to the question. His plan is, put simply, to turn things around one way or another. He believes he can change their fate- probably not just within Planarcadia, but in general. I'm fairly sure this is something he'll be able to convince Blade of in due time, too.
If it's about taking back control, that makes me think that Blade's arc in Planarcadia is likely to result in him gaining some control of Shuhu's power, enough that he isn't constantly relying on Kafka to stave off the Mara.
(This is also still very gay. For all that they feel the need to say something sarcastic and/or condescending every other sentence, they don't seem at all uncomfortable with each other. Neither is scared of the other, and nothing they say is ever particularly cruel. They let each other into their personal space when there's plenty of room to back away.)
Anyways their dynamic is sooo good and that's without even talking about Silver Wolf and Ashveil. Ashveil is going to be such a good foil you guys don't understand.
