People who decry Kaeya for “getting away with irredemable/villainous behavior” always tend to miss one huge problem with that statement:
He didn’t get away with it. Every time he fucks up he gets called out by another heroic character (this is an important distinction), is treated like he’s in the wrong by the narrative, bears consequences that often last YEARS, and ends up trying to do better even when the other parties still haven’t changed their negative view of him. And if anything, it’s the other characters in the situation who never have to answer for some messed up behavior that would’ve been immediately called out if it they weren’t “nice, ideal” white characters.
I’ve already gone into how that imbalance was struck with him and Diluc, and how he’s often the one who had to deal with all the uncomfortable shit, accountability and effort into that relationship while all the external support was going to Diluc, but never to him.
That’s not all though. Kaeya pulled the Traveler into an underhanded plan that involved a fake treasure hunt, and all the “he LIED!” crying in the fandom would’ve been warranted…if he’d gotten away with it or it was completely one-sided, but that’s not the case. Meanwhile, there’s not nearly as much mention for how the Traveler caught on fairly quickly and decided to see how far this goes (making it an even situation to begin with and not the common fandom assumption that the Traveler was uwu innocent [TM] and being manipulated). Nor any mention of Paimon suggesting that they skip reporting to Kaeya, effectively ditching what she thought was a legitimate mission, to get the treasure for themselves (you know…that lack of transparency Kaeya gets ragged on for except she’s doing it for purely selfish reasons??).
And even afterwards, guess who got called out for his behavior while the other party’s equally questionable ones are forgotten about like it’s a trip to the store. Yeah, the situation was even and Kaeya does have a good reason for doing it, but even then? He still apologized to the Traveler anyway. He does get backlash for it and is treated like he’s in the wrong in-game. Even afterwards, the Traveler and Paimon are allowed to take multiple digs at how “shady and untrustworthy” he is and call his integrity into question, treatment that continued to last for years just like the consequences of his fight with Diluc. Kaeya does not remain static, however: after he apologized for roping them into his plans, he proved afterwards that he really meant it by gradually becoming more transparent with them. As soon as the end of the Mondstadt Archon Quest, he was honest towards them about staying behind in the city and gathering intel even though he knew he’d probably get backlash for it. Even when he was under cover, he became much more direct with what the Traveler needed to do to help him and why, like in Jean’s Story Quest or “A commission from that guy.” He even reveals his Khaenri’ahn origins to them on his own volition and actually chooses a quiet time to do so (showing that he’s also learned from his mistake with Diluc), is completely transparent with them when he plans to scam the scammer in his Liyue Hangout Branch, and despite all the secrets and shady dealings in Paralogism he never thinks to lead the Traveler on a wild goose chase. And most of all? He does not hold it against the Traveler for being upset with him, even if he is hurt by some of the shit they say to him.
Meanwhile, the Traveler and Paimon’s behavior was never addressed, which honestly would’ve been fine if it weren’t for a lot of things that happened afterwards. Because you know what can be unlocked soon after this Story Quest? That’s right: Commissions. And a good three of them involve situations where the Traveler and Paimon willingly help a bunch of Mondstadters lie for more selfish and shallow reasons, but don’t get nearly as uncomfortable over as they did with Kaeya trying to protect the city.
Such as Godwin and his five-year lie just to save face and avoid admitting he made a mistake. And yet you don’t see the Traveler and Paimon calling him irredeemable or accusing him of being a slacker or untrustworthy, even though he thought losing a trinket was a good enough reason to completely ditch his girlfriend and job, and still made it all about how “ashamed” he was when he got caught.
Or Draff and Grace’s inability to own up to Timmie about his dad because they’re afraid of hurting his feelings or ruining his childhood. This completely misses how Timmie’s childhood is already being ruined by the lack of closure and his constant longing for his father to the point a lot of his time is eaten up by standing on the bridge waiting for him. And while the Traveler does ask what they’re going to do when he gets older, they double down on it and it never gets addressed, and it’s still going on to this day.
Or with how they keep helping Guy lie to his father, also for years on end, because the guy was just ashamed about being assigned the back gate. Again, with very little judgement towards him.
All three of these can be unlocked in the same year that Kaeya’s SQ was around…even back then, the Traveler and Paimon had more empathy to give to some white NPCs lying for selfish reasons than to someone who’s meant to be a close ally to them. Already it makes them look like hypocrites who can’t even get their values straight. And of course, our amazing and good (TM) main characters are never called out for this discrepancy, while the NPCs also face no repercussions or consequences for it to this day. It’s especially egregious in Godwin’s case, because what do you mean Varka knew the entire time and was covering for him???
And then, later on, they won’t even tell Kaeya anything about what they learned of the Alberichs and the truth about their misplaced reputation. Or Crepus and Ursa the Drake, despite being someone who meant a lot to him. And unlike Kaeya hiding his heritage/secrets for safety reasons, this is stuff he has an absolute right to know, and if it’s the Traveler telling him he would not lash out at them for it. This is the kind of lack of transparency that they got to get upset at him over, and they get to do it with no consequences. And to have them continue to treat him like the same person who led them on a wild goose chase at the beginning of the game while they were the ones who never had to learn and develop? They have no grounds to be calling him a liar, that’s for sure.
This is another situation where Kaeya was in the wrong, is treated as such and got to do better where the “good” characters’ questionable actions are ignored, and they never got to develop and ended up looking like hypocrites as the game went on. And it’s not the first or last time (I have a lot to say about some of them, especially about the manga arc that people still villainize him over).
Since he’s half Khaenri'ahn his vision actually hurts him, whenever he uses it, it feels like there's ice in his veins and it burns (the way ice burns not the way fire burns)
Kaeya can't get near a statue of seven without feeling pain mostly in his covered/missing eye
Whenever he's near a statue and he starts thinking of Khanri’ah the wind will pick up and hurt him but if he's thinking of Mondstadt the wind is calm and inviting.
After Crepus died the wind was very harsh on him for a while before it died down again.
Kaeya strikes me as someone who’s been in 2, at most 3 serious relationships in life and was the one broken up with each time. The first couple exes ended things amicably, and although there’s no real warmth between him and them and their new (married) partners, there’s civility.
The last ex was the only one who didn’t want to stay friends, and had moved on within a month of the breakup.
thinking about tha bunny cafe series from @jade-parcels, particularly about Kaeya Alberich, of course.
you were one of those people who thought it's like a cat cafe with cute fluffy bunnies only to walk into the shop and be welcomed by first-seat sight of Kaeya's pecs. You almost passed out.
After the misunderstanding is fixed, you are offered a drink on the house as an apology, and you can't stop eyeing Kaeya from your spot at one of the tables. Your eyes meet and you look the other way, tugging on the strand of your hair in embarassment. Cute.
he walks right up to you and you're practically evaporating in your chair from embarassment. Kaeya places one hand on the table, leaning closer to you and asks if you want to order anything. He's there, right next to you, giving you complete bunny boy experience and you just want to die. Without looking at him you point at one thing at the menu. He's not put off at all, more like excited about the shy bird that he caught in his paws. When he brings you your drink, he makes sure your fingers brush. You almost jump off of your chair.
You quickly finish that second order and basically run out of the shop with very amused Kaeya resting his elbow on the counter and waving you goodbye, thoroughly enjoying your embarassment.
It's almost a month before you visit cafe again, and Kaeya thinks you've forgotten about them. When one day you walk in with your friends and he almot drops whatever he was holding.
You keep coming to the cafe, either alone or with friends, but every time without fail, he catches you staring at him when you think he is not looking. He doesn't have to, he can feel your simping all across the bar and it's adorable, even little appeasing to his ego. To have someone so smitten with him, makes him want to stretch it out, want to enjoy your attention little more.
he loves flustering you. He loves when you get all flustered from his teasing. although he knows when you're too uncomfortable and when he overdos it he makes sure to apologize.
Not to say he hasn't done any staring of his own. You're usually fixed onto a book or writing into your computer, so you don't notice him. Which is another thing that frustrates him. Your attention should be on him and him alone, simping over him like any other of his customers. You're always come order, sit there and leave. You don't even request him specifically. "We're cafe, Kaeya. It's what people do." Ningguang reminds him, but that's not the point. He knows you love him, you should talk to him more, flirt with him too.
Instead he watches you become good friends with Diluc. Sure, you don't flirt with him at all, but all the more annoying. He acts more like your brother than he does to him.
It's slow and torturous, and almost frustrating, to the point where he's asking himself if he's the one teasing you or you teasing him. And you only exchanged like five sentences! He likes people who play hard to get, but you're just mean. He's right there!
Although he wouldn't lie if he said there wasn't any progress. You've become more relaxed around him, even complimented one of his earrings. He made sure to wear it every day he works at the bar.
you're suprised he remembers your orders and has a good guess on what you may want that day. of course hedoes! it's his job to tend to his every customers need. he winks at that and you wish for the ground to open and swallow you whole.
he call you sweetheart, mostly to get your attention, “Sweetheart, pay attention to me” he’ll whine, leaning over the table so you can get a good view of his chest “I haven’t seen you all week! I’ve missed you so much~”
you scold him about his flirting. there could be someone who would get the wrong message and think he's serious and get their feelings hurt...like you, but you won't ever admit that.
once a customer was a little too touchy and pushy and was making Kaeya uncomfortable. You tried to resolve things peacefully without getting security involved. That is, until the curstomer said some very...entitled and nasty things to you. The speed at which your attitude flipped could only be rivaled by the speed the customer found themselves with their ass on the sidewalk. Kaeya will never admit that, but he swooned a little that day at how you protected his honor. Whenever he gets a chance he brags about it to customers while you bury your face in your hands.
sometimes i think i kin kaeya in a way that we're both entp 7w8 (well i'm an 8w7 but whatever) and secretive like ... if kaeya had a s/o it's not that he won't let them in his life, he'd probably take a while until he says anything to them (and might hurt the s/o because of this)
kaeya is sweet but he's aware he could be closed because of his past and the confidentiality he holds but it can be misinterpreted by his s/o that he's not letting them in his life but he Tries. he might be a bit disconnected but he definitely wants to step up for them idk i kin him i'm a kaeya kinnie maybe
A huge issue with treating Kaeya like he and Diluc are on equal terms for them to reconcile is that it not only dismisses how Kaeya has legitimate reasons to believe that he was never safe in Mondstadt, but it also ignores one of Diluc’s biggest sources of conflict that isn’t Kaeya’s fault but still feels the sting of regardless.
These reasons are also why I’m not sure if Kaeya telling Diluc on any other day would’ve changed much, other than maybe preventing the huge fight; because there’ll still be the elephant in the room if he told him on a different day:
“How could he not have told us sooner! I thought he trusted me! How could he not feel safe around us?!”
“But everyone taught me they were the villains! And he’s…one of those villains?!”
“He didn’t think Father was worthy enough to tell? How could he think like that? Father’s a good person!”
“How could he not feel safe in Mondstadt? It’s full of good people! How could he not trust us?!”
Because what genuinely screwed with Diluc that day wasn’t Kaeya’s terrible timing (though that was the final straw that broke the camel’s back), it was the multiple moral dilemmas back-to-back on top of his father’s death and no one really meeting him where he was and supporting him through it (also kinda messed up that Kaeya, who was a child and wasn’t perpetuating Mond’s moral values, gets saddled with the sole responsibility of Diluc’s feelings by the fandom while there were multiple adults involved that day who could’ve done something to help Diluc and didn’t - wasn’t Varka supposed to be a huge source of support and comfort for both boys for instance??). Like, finding out your morally upright father did some deals with the same organization that he repeatedly taught you were the bad guys, and behind your back no less after years of him teaching you how unacceptable both of those things are? Then the organization you were brought up believing were the pinnacle of justice and comfort providing the complete opposite of those things when you needed them the most, especially after how much of a huge game they talked about protecting Mondstadt and being for the people (and even now)? Then finding out that your little brother, who hasn’t really done anything wrong, was one of those “bad guys” you were taught to go after all your life? That’s over a decade of an unsustainable moral mindset crashing down all at once, and on top of the pressure, blood, sweat and tears you were put through trying to maintain it. That foundation came crumbling down, and it was absolutely brutal, and Kaeya ended up bearing the brunt of it first and foremost as the designated “bad guy” he was brought up believing in which I’ll explain more about.
One of Diluc’s defining traits is his relationship with justice and how ingrained his admiration for his father was in him, and it’s a driving force behind both his positive traits and his flaws. But unlike Kaeya, who already arrived in Mondstadt with an outsider’s perspective and was questioning everything about Mond’s and Khaenri’ah’s cultural values from a young age, Diluc was never put into a position where that was challenged in any way, and for years, he was stuck in the same loop of black-and-white thinking, not helped by how he grew up around multiple other people who had normalized the same (like Jean and her mother, who also never got challenged on it even up til now and are prominent members of society). Not only was his father and legacy the pinnacle of goodness, but so were the knights, and to be the best people that they could be (TM) they had to see one path all the way through. He also never seemed to be taught that maybe the “bad people” or “sinners” who deviated from that path might not be so monolithic, and only got that label because of unfair biases (which sounds a lot like how so many top students and high achievers in Chinese communities are brought up, and puts so much of the game and fandom’s Mondstadt glazing and the kind of biases that make it into the narrative via the Traveler into context). To top it all off, that kind of one-track view of justice and goodness isn’t sustainable in the long run, especially with how it’s shown that Mondstadt’s extreme values on it aren’t shared by most of Teyvat and not even by Barbatos himself all that much. Hell, has anyone else noticed how Kaeya, Eula, her cousin, Benny, etc. actually thrived when they had quests outside of Mondstadt, and more often than not didn’t have to deal the kind of judgement and preconceived biases that they faced while there? Eula’s cousin even said that he was able to unlearn the Lawrence clan’s toxic ways because people outside Mond just didn’t give that much of a shit about enduring legacies and names and treated him like a regular person. There’s a reason pointing and going “Mondstadt is so peaceful and drama free!” doesn’t hold a lot of weight when this is what even the game decides to keep showing us. Diluc spent a lot of his time training and working within the knights and with his father, so there likely wasn’t a lot of room for him to think about that (especially seeing how today’s generation of knights were, those were Diluc’s peers and they definitely reinforced a lot of his view of the world) and a lot of his travels around the world were clouded by revenge and the Delusion. It explains why despite disapproving of how the knights protect Mondstadt and wanting to do it himself in a “different” way, it’s still just as surface-level as the way the knights do it, and he still has a tendency to cling on to the worst parts of the nation’s culture and unlearned biases whether he realizes or not. He still talks a big game about hard work and condemns laziness (which is a mindset that not only harms people like Kaeya, but also affects the self-esteem of people like Jean and others who seemingly meet those standards), he still holds onto the image of his father and legacy as if it’s flawless (which I’ll go into in the paragraph right after this one), and he still keeps secrets as much as the rest of the people do. While I don’t doubt that he genuinely cares for Mondstadt and wants to protect it, he hasn’t moved past his juvenile sense of justice in doing so, and that has effects on the people around him no matter how well-meaning he is. And if you really want to protect and care for those around you, acknowledging that is just as, if not more important than fighting monsters.
There’s also this whole parental worship thing that seems to be going on with a lot of the Mond characters, as we’ve seen with not just Crepus, but Jean and Barbara’s parents, Mika’s parents, the Lawrences, Diona and Draff, etc. If anyone’s wondered just why, say, Frederica Gunnhildr’s able to do messed up things and still be praised for it, it’s because there’s this pervasive belief in a lot of Chinese households I’ve noticed growing up that no matter how harsh with your kid you were in their youth, it’ll all be erased if they get a successful job position or marriage. That’s including the trauma - and people wonder why a lot of Chinese and East Asian people don’t seek mental health services, it’s partly cause many had been taught to idealize this type of crap rather than see it as a problem and people don’t seek help for something they can’t identify. Thus, if your kid gets the position they’re expected to, everything you did was justified, you’ve done so much for them and it’ll have paid off. Look, they have so much prestige and money! No, they can’t possibly develop a mindset that’ll end up hurting themselves and other people! /s And from experience, trying to talk to your peers about it gets you shamed, even (especially) if they’ve been in those shoes because that’s what happens when you’re taught to glorify something like that. And just so we’re clear, I’ve seen non-Asian families in the west act like this a lot too so it’s not even exclusively an “Asian thing”. (If you’re reading this and you were raised this way and feel anything negative, I hope you know that you’re not too difficult or too much for being unhappy about it. Believe it or not, success doesn’t erase your need for comfort and human feelings and you deserve to have that acknowledged.)
In Diluc, it manifests the hardest, because even though i mentioned above that Crepus was just as guilty of not living up to Diluc’s golden view of him as everyone else involved…Diluc never seems to want to entertain the notion that his father just wasn’t perfect, and that it’s not the end of the world if he acknowledges it. In his character stories, quotes and events that mention Crepus Diluc tends to glorify his father, never acknowledging his flaws and still wonders how proud he would be of him today, with Kaeya not even popping up in most of it. This was something Kaeya already accepted a long time ago about both of his fathers, that they weren’t perfect. He had resentment for his father leaving him behind, but processed that and came to terms with it, which we especially see from Caribert onward. He met Crepus already with the fear of what would happen if his secret was discovered, but grew to love him anyway and still tried to make the best of it - and honestly, I don’t think he was surprised when Crepus turned out to be hiding the delusion behind his and Diluc’s backs, because he already knew and accepted the man wasn’t as perfect as he claimed he was (which might also bring some context to him smirking during Crepus’s death while thinking that life can be interesting). Also, with all the stuff he was being taught along with Diluc about the “sinners” being the bad guys and likely hearing some unsavory things about his own home country…can you imagine how badly that fucks with a kid’s ability to trust people, especially if it’s coming out of the mouth of someone stated to be so amazing and in high standing and if others in Mondstadt were like that?? (Gee, I wonder why he didn’t tell his secret to all these nice people) Kaeya already had complicated feelings about two father figures at that point, which would also explain why he tends to be so casual about people not being perfect, including Diluc and the knights despite dealing with the effects every day. On the other hand, the knights and Kaeya often get reminded of how badly they fucked up while Crepus is still on that pedestal Diluc created for him, as if he’s trying to find any reason to not have to accept that his father might’ve messed up. And in turn, it means accepting that so much of what he’s been taught by him isn’t how the world works, which also explains why he hangs on to that one-track sense of justice even when it’s been proven to not work, even taking up the very thing that killed his father for a while to chase that justice and make the Fatui pay. Crepus’s values and teachings are probably his way of holding onto his father’s memory and perfect image, and it shows.
And the thing is, unlike with Kaeya and how much he gets humbled whether he actually deserves it or not, no one’s ever sat Diluc down and talked to him, or did anything that would challenge those notions in any way, especially not in the present day. The Traveler and Paimon don’t, Jean doesn’t, the knights don’t, the townspeople don’t, Alice doesn’t, Varka didn’t as far as we know, and even the characters who don’t think he’s the world’s most invincible man (TM), like Rosaria and the Dawn Winery Staff, aren’t shown talking like that to his face, whereas people can be blatant about how much they disapprove of Kaeya’s behavior whether he’s in listening range or not. Crepus would ground Diluc for getting into ordinary kid mischief, but never taught him anything that would challenge his views on justice and prepared him for the possibility that they wouldn’t hold up one day. The only people who don’t do that are Diona (who doesn’t get taken seriously because she’s a kid), Klee (also a kid), and Kaeya (who challenges Mondstadt’s status quo simply by existing as himself). Even Venti, who gets involved when it comes to challenging Kaeya’s notions about fate and sense of belonging, seems to get reduced to “more wine pls” when he’s around Diluc and hasn’t had many, if any moments where he challenges that worldview. None of these characters push back against his behavior towards Kaeya in any way either, even if Kaeya’s right there in the room with him. Another discrepancy is that unlike Kaeya, Diluc has a decent safety net and gets second chances that he doesn’t need to worry about being rescinded, and I think that’s a huge barrier keeping him from truly understanding his brother and why he might have trouble with seeing Kaeya as anything but untrustworthy or someone who needs to be pushed or set straight when a lot of Kaeya’s behavior has nothing to do with morals and everything to do with surviving (still shaking my head at Kaeya’s treatment in Ballads and Brews). Compare that to Kaeya, who actually did do self-reflection on that night and doesn’t blame Diluc for his reaction, and has easily acknowledged that he’s misjudged other people in the past, like with Collei.
As you can see…Kaeya didn’t create or perpetuate any of that. I’ve talked about that before too, but one thing I don’t think I’ve gone into deeply is how Kaeya disrupts Mond’s (and especially Diluc’s) status quo just by existing as himself, and why that would piss off a lot of people, including his brother.
There’s the whole thing of how the person who gets stereotyped as shady proves time and time again that he isn’t, and that’s really hard to wrap around some people’s heads especially if they were taught some one-track idea of goodness.
But Kaeya also disrupted the status quo by being unable to trust the people of the “safe” city of Mondstadt, including Crepus and Diluc, enough to tell them something important about himself. And like I’ve said before, Kaeya has many legitimate reasons for feeling that way, but for the people on the receiving end of that who are involved in his life, it would involve the difficult task of looking inward and thinking about why he wouldn’t - and in turn, realizing that maybe they weren’t as safe or perfect as they thought they were. And for people who’ve never had to worry about support for them being rescinded in Mondstadt, like Amber, Rosaria, the Traveler, or Diluc himself, it can be hard to understand why he’d think like this and easier for them to be mad at him for being “stupid”, “mean” or a “liar” when they have a privilege that he’s never known. (Think about that not only the next time you wonder why Kaeya won’t just “open up” to his friends, but why a certain acquaintance or person online isn’t keen on revealing everything to you on the first day of meeting you. Hint: it’s not because they’re “mean”).
Then there’s Kaeya being a knight with a prestigious job, yet still being able to find time to do other things while everyone else is working harder and harder to prove themselves “worthy”, especially in public. He’s pushing back against one of those things that everyone does without questioning, and indeed, even the characters who would be “unconventional” by Mondstadt’s standards, like Diluc, Rosaria, Eula, and Lisa all either put overworkers on a pedestal or condemn people for perceived “slacking off”, which makes it all the more jarring when a Mond resident doesn’t do that aside from one joking line towards the Traveler. Never mind that he’s actually shown doing a much better job and having a healthier relationship with the people he’s meant to be helping because he isn’t doing paperwork and being at everyone’s service 24/7 (For example, him talking to the citizens on his off time and interacting with them in public other than servicing them means he can better get to know them as people and listen to what they need instead of rushing in like some hero, and it really says something when he has an amazing track record of being there for people in the way they need). But because he’s not doing the thing that everyone else is putting energy in, that’s going to piss people off no matter how much it’s shown to be a positive.
To an extent, there’s also Kaeya not really participating in that parental worship that Mondstadt has going on. He doesn’t see Crepus as perfect, which also likely affected the way Diluc sees him in the present day considering how much he looks up to his father, and further reinforces the likely idea in his head that Kaeya can’t have cared about him at all since he wasn’t singing him praises. But like I said, Kaeya didn’t need to take credit or perform some huge gesture for someone to truly care for them, and that’s something that a lot of Mondstadt (and the fandom tbh) really struggles with, and not just when it comes to him.
With all that being said, I’m against the notion that all this makes Diluc a sinner or unforgivable. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of media out there that depicts trauma as tainting a person until the right one (TM) swoops in and fixes everything, and that’s a gross notion. He’s not a bad person at all, and he clearly cares about the people in his life, and about Mondstadt and making it a better place, but he has a lot of learning and growing to do, and even if he spends decades after doing so, that’s not a bad thing and would showcase how much of a kind and open-minded person he can be. Recovering from what happened to him won’t necessarily involve going back to the way he was before his 18th birthday - because that identity of his was built on an extremely fragile and unsustainable system that was already taking a toll on him. In the present time, he’s not broken, he just needs to figure out what kind of life and identity he wants to build for himself with what he knows now and what he’s experienced. An important milestone for him would be accepting that Crepus wasn’t perfect, and that there were some glaring holes in the things he taught him. He can still love his father after the fact, just have him acknowledge that he was human at the end of the day and that his worth doesn’t hinge on how much of his father’s standards he can fulfill. In turn, they could also have him reevaluate his sense of justice, especially with everything we’ve gradually learned about Khaenri’ah and the hilichurls (who have been shown time and time again to not be the horrible sinners Celestia treated them as), who he’s often seen clashing with and who have a connection with Kaeya. And they could even have something like becoming more self-aware of his and his father’s shortcomings and how they might’ve affected the way Kaeya could open up to not just them, but others as well. Something like this could actually progress into a reconciliation with Kaeya (who’s already taken his fair share of accountability and development in-game both with and without Diluc) smoothly, or even regaining trust in the knights again (who also have a lot of reevaluating beliefs to do). He wouldn’t be able to be the same person ever again, but that’s okay, he’s not broken for it, and he should be able to figure out what kind of life he really wants.
I think responding to the issue of how badly Kaeya gets treated/shafted in content with “Give him more Khaenri’ah-related plotlines!” or “make him royalty!” misses the overarching issue at hand: how Kaeya himself isn’t valued or treated as worthy of respect by other characters or the narrative, and regardless of how involved he is in the story or whether the content is in Mondstadt or Khaenri’ah. And how much more insidious that is because of his marginalized identity both in and out of the game.
I point out how disrespected Kaeya tends to be when it comes to Mondstadt-related content a lot, and how fucked up it is that entire cast gets treated like the nicest found family (TM) at his expense over the past five years. But thing is, Hoyoverse and the fanbase have not been that different when it came to content about his Khaenri’ahn roots either. I talk a lot about how Kaeya’s feelings or how he might be affected by anything are almost never considered when it comes to anything in Mondstadt, but it’s not like that’s done for his nation of birth whenever they remember to give him content for it.
A glaring example would be in the Caribert Quest, where Kaeya tells the Traveler and Paimon about his Khaenri’ahn heritage. Which as we know by that point, is a key part of his vulnerabilities and got him attacked the last time he tried that with someone, so it’s a pretty big deal. The Traveler remains focused on their precious answers (“Khaenri’ah…”/“Speaking of Khaneri’ah…how much do you know about it?”) even though their close friend just confided in them about being a refugee/survivor of an ongoing genocide of his people (and they know this since this takes place after Requiem Echoing in the Depths), and he doesn’t even get a “you alright?” or anything else that would consider his feelings on the matter because that’s not important to those precious answers and lore. Then when Dainsleif shows up and reveals that an Alberich founded the Abyss Order, they’re so quick to become suspicious of Kaeya being involved and still have no regard for his well-being after a lot of heavy, personal things about him were dropped, some without his consent??? I don’t blame him for leaving as quickly as he could. I’ve talked about how dehumanized Khaenri’ah and its people get by all the lore and theory chasing, and this was another way it happened. And this came right after they spent the intro calling him crafty, suspecting him of playing a prank, and scolding him for being irresponsible towards Jean completely unwarranted…really not helping their case.
Then later on, the Traveler sees a memory that reveals that Chlothar founded the Abyss Order after being desperate enough to find anything, anyone who would be able to save his only family, and essentially had his vulnerabilities taken advantage of by…someone who we later learn is Dainsleif’s brother. Which makes how quick Dain was to reveal that Kaeya’s ancestor founded the Abyss Order look hypocritical, and the game does nothing to acknowledge that discrepancy…when I say Kaeya gets absolutely no respect from the white Khaenri’ahn characters and that the colorism towards him doesn’t vanish in Khaenri’ah content, this is what I’m talking about. This would actually be something important for the Traveler to tell Kaeya, they’ve been friends for years after all…but they don’t do that. Nor do they tell him about another descendant, Caribert, being a hopeful soul who just wanted others to be happy just like Kaeya does. And what makes it so much worse is that Kaeya spent so much of his life believing that he wasn’t a good person, and the world constantly sent messages to him about how he’d never escape his family’s shady past…only for said family to not have totally evil motives or even absolute autonomy in the matter for the most part. Telling him would’ve lifted a huge weight off his shoulders, and provided a chance for the Traveler to show how much of a good friend they can be towards him and reciprocate his kindness…nope. Acting “holier than thou” towards Kaeya is the thing we should be focusing on in Traveler-Kaeya interactions, amirite. How he feels about something so heavy can’t possibly be taking a toll on him as long as the Traveler and audience can get their precious lore and answers. /s Doesn’t help that they still have moments of suspicion or scolding Kaeya for his morals after this, which…your friend is literally dealing with the aftermath of a 500-year-long traumatic event with barely any support, you’re in no place to judge him, no amount of that would’ve been appropriate until maybe after you acknowledge and even apologize for your preconceived notions of him first. He deserves that at the very least.
What about in other content? The other Khaenri’ah-adjacent character in his vicinity, Albedo…their earliest and most well known “interaction” if you can call it that is him drawing everyone else nicely, then drawing Kaeya with only a circle and an eyepatch. Yet another character showing Kaeya that everyone thinks he’s “off” or “different” and will treat him as such…yippee. Even if that wasn’t the original intent, when it’s stacked up with all the ways other Mondstadters have treated Kaeya differently from the rest of the crew it looks so much worse than if it had just been Albedo doing it. And the fandom thinks Kaeya deserved it for being a “liar”. And after that? Albedo continues being snarky towards him with the only times he’s positive being…when it’s about something Kaeya can do for him or others. God damn it. And once again, Kaeya is the one who has the standout behavior in this dynamic - while everyone else describes Albedo as an untouchable genius, Kaeya highlights his charm and ability to get along with others in his quote about him. This extends to how considerate he is about getting him a gift as well: rather than something sciency or stereotypical for a researcher, Kaeya remembers how much Klee means to Albedo and gets them a gift with a matching set. Kaeya is consistently humanizing towards Albedo (which also means a lot when you recall how Albedo desires to fit in with and understand humanity), but we do not get to see Albedo reciprocate that with Kaeya.
On top of that, we never get to see how Kaeya feels about Irmin when we find out more about the guy. Irmin being the regent responsible for a lot of Kaeya’s current pain and trauma - not only for his role in starting the Cataclysm, but also as someone whose family had to pick up the pieces after Irmin’s rule collapsed. Not to mention it was that Cataclysm that made Kaeya unable to grow up in his homeland no matter how much he wanted to. Same with Rhinedottir, one of the frontrunners of the Cataclysm who’s getting much more focus with the Hexenzirkel and Sinners gaining more plot visibility. Or the other Sinners, one of which again, was responsible for his emotionally vulnerable ancestor’s creation of the Abyss Order. Or Capitano, who was not only with an organization that Kaeya’s directly clashed with in the past, but also performed a lot of heroic deeds without thanks and recognition and has the same style of bladework that he does??? C’mon.
Though it’s also worth noting that if Kaeya meets other Khaenri’ahn characters, I’d like to see their dynamics develop and be fleshed out rather than “we’re from the same country, we instantly get along!” I really hate that one cliche, mainly because I’ve faced it in the form of a microaggression in the west (“You have to know *insert Chinese or East Asian person* right?? No? I think you’ll like each other right away!”) and it essentially treats people from one nation/continent like a monolith or like they all must think the same, which…ugh. Look, two people being from the same birth nation might not have to deal with certain cultural barriers while interacting with each other, but it does not mean the interaction will go smoothly or they’ll instantly vibe. People who come from the same countries/cultural backgrounds still have to get to know each other, build trust, and solve conflicts, and yes, that includes all the effort that goes into that stuff. No amount of fewer cultural barriers makes a relationship suddenly not need any of that. And the Khaenri’ahns we’ve seen all have distinct personalities and backgrounds, particularly Kaeya and Arlecchino - they all would still have to put in the work in their one-on-one interactions. But tbh, that’s much more interesting that expecting them to instantly get along anyway.
And the thing is…of all people who could be involved in the Khaenri’ah plotline, Kaeya’s feelings and perspective should be among the most important and prioritized. He isn’t just someone with a vague connection to Khaenri’ah who wasn’t affected by any of its affairs at all - he’s a direct descendant of one of the surviving families of the Cataclysm. A family with one of the most well-known names (Alberich) both in the past and the present for Khaenri’ah. His existence also implies that the curse isn’t permanent/has a clause, and whether he already knows or will find out later on…that’s some shit that he would have some massive feelings over. He got hyped up as “our last hope” for Archons’ sake. We can tell all this has taken a toll on him from how it manifests in his secretive, sometimes even off-putting behavior since his very childhood…but let’s just blame it on him being an anti-hero or suspicious based on a bunch of people pleasers’ standards rather than do the uncomfortable work of acknowledging how fucked up it is that one person had to deal with all that with little to no support, and that anyone in his shoes would’ve probably had a much worse reaction multiple times over than what we’ve seen out of him. Giving Kaeya more Khaenri’ah, or even any other nation’s content, would only work out if he’s being valued for more than what he can do, and his feelings are treated with just as much importance as anyone else’s.
Why is it always “Kaeya is a traitor and liar for not telling people his secrets!”
And never
“Expecting Kaeya to trust easily and divulge things about himself when his birth family lived under a ruler who hunted down anyone who he viewed as a threat to his rule to the point some people even had to safeguard parts of their heritage (keep in mind the Alberichs succeeded Irmin after his fall), he grew up in a different household and country where he saw that emotional regulation was practically nonexistent, and a lot of that hasn’t changed and grown while he did during the course of the game isn’t nearly as fair or reasonable as most of the fandom thinks it is actually.”
