of, or pertaining to aias.

childe, after the trauma™ he experienced falling into the abyss, didn't... come out right. this much we understand. as much as a little snezhnyan boy might value strength because he's a little snezhnyan boy, his experience in the abyss exasperated this immensely. but before i get into that, i want to briefly address him being snezhnyan, and how that might inform the root of his values and obsession with strength and this ideal of the "warrior." i'll go into a couple points.

1. snezhnya is heavily based on two cultures from what we can understand of its naming conventions and some colloquialisms in childe's english localization: a. russia, and b. ancient greece. this inference can be made because we know that: 1) snezhnya as a name itself sounds relatively russian, but its archon is the cryo archon and that's not exactly subtle (russian tundra, anyone?). but 2) he often refers to the traveler as "comrade." again, this isn't subtle, and if anyone doesn't understand what i mean by this, i would encourage you to watch pretty much any war movie involving a depiction of russians, as much of a stereotype as it might be. but, stereotyping found in popular media is exactly what they seem to be playing into.

what might be a little more subtle for those two are not familiar with greek texts is the greek influence that can be found; which is quite as simple as recognizing that childe's name, ajax, is in direct reference to ajax the great in the iliad. i have mentioned this briefly, but to pair ancient greek influence with a russian overtone of a region isn't far fetched. the russian language stems from the same branch as attic greek — the russian alphabet is even based on it. beyond that, the value placed in the ideal of the "warrior" or "soldier," — i.e. strength — as well as on family runs somewhat parallel in common depictions in media of these two cultures.

point being: these two cultures heavily value strength and family — including the "blood of brothers is thicker than the water of the womb," as in "comrades," — in the sense of the ideal soldier/warrior, because if value was not placed in this people wouldn't survive the environment. i believe this can also be inferred of snezhnya, which is depicted and/or teased as being an arctic tundra. the "weak" quite literally won't survive this culture/region, nor would they be able to protect the family — which is an integral value of childe's character, right down to his vision being hydro. i'll return to that point in a moment.

all of this was to say — he might've valued strength even before his experience in the abyss, but after it, it's quite literally noted that something about his personality... changed. cracked, if you will. he now places such immense value in strength as a warrior to the extent that it is arguably the core his character revolves around as a principle — even to the extent of hurting himself through the use of his delusion. but can you blame him? look at the trauma he experienced as only a child — and managed to survive (with help, of course, and teachings that shaped him into what he became). but realistically, were it not for that shift in his person, he would/should be dead. he has such a fuckin' celeb crush "notice me senpai" thing going on with il capitano because in childe's eyes, capitano is sort of that epitome / ideal of the leader/soldier/warrior.

childe, in experiencing the trauma he did, became centered around the concept of a "warrior" — what that means, and how one must achieve it — and he's very prideful in that way as well. he sees no purpose in working in the shadows like his colleagues unless such methods are strictly necessary to achieve his goal. he's named after ajax the great, who was not only a key figure in the greeks winning the war in the iliad, but was one of the most famously renowned warriors in all of greek (mythological) history, a descendant of zeus, and placed alongside figures such as achilles.

but i also fully believe this obsession with strength stems from not only his trauma, but is rooted in this principle of value placed on family. his vision is hydro, which we know is about protection, including protection of family; look at ayato, for example, where nothing is more "precious" than family and the protection thereof. in this way, i think childe believes he cannot protect his family (e.g.: teucer) if he doesn't constantly reach for this platonic ideal of the "warrior." even if that protection extends far beyond physical strength. there are two quotes from childe that i think really sum up his principles in both regards:

"If you make a promise, you keep it. If you make a mistake, you apologize. And if you give someone a dream, you defend it to the end." "If it makes me stronger, I'll take it. Vision? Great. Delusion? Don't mind if I do. Heretical teachings from the Abyss? Sign me up."