totaly not obsessed with a tall tan cryo swordsman

LMAOO where are y'all finding these ideas ? 😂

I hate that this makes sense and it sounds like the type of fanfiction I would've eaten up in 2021. You know the type: the funny, fluffy slice of life you read between the most angsty works of your life.

Lemme add my little grain of salt to that:

- The cat owner that encouraged Kaeya's little deception is Albedo. I can just imagine his deadpan face staring at cat!Kaeya, and deciding to let Diluc take care of it during the day while he's busy with experiments that don't need a feline input or hair folicules. (Cats when the activity requires zero cats...)

But instead of being a normal, civilized freaking human being, he just kinda drops cat!Kaeya in Diluc's backyard, knowing he or some of his staff would see him and take him in. Then it would be up to Kaeya to come back home when night comes. (Albedo would definetly be the type to talk to pets like they're conscious human beings. But in his defense cat!Kaeya is very smart).

- Its Hillie and Mocco that find the cat first. They coo over him and start their usual gossip rounds while petting Kaeya until Adeline comes over to scold them. She would be professional and tell them to go back to their duties and to set the right exemple, she'd try to ignore the cat. That of course triggers Kaeya's diva instincts and he flops onto her shoe to give her the most violent puppy eyes she ever recieved.

...So there goes her professional composure and she brings Kaeya into the estate to feed him.

- Adeline would be his primary care giver (food, bath if he gets dirty which is very rare, and just overall being the one Kaeya follows the most).

- Hillie and Mocco would be like the little kids cats run away from because they're too loud, too smothering or pet too hard.

- Elzer had been cat!Kaeya's second favorite at first. Mostly because he smuggled him treats behind Adeline's back. Then he got cocky. Grave mistake.

One day, Elzer beckoned him over with a closed fist. Kaeya trotted across the room, already imagining the treat waiting for him. When the hand opened, it held nothing. Not a crumb. Nothing but sheer disrespect. Kaeya met the man's smug grin, turned around, and decided that Elzer no longer existed. (A status that can be negotiated with enough worship and offerings...)

- Then there's Diluc, who comes back from work to see his estate had been conquered by a furry lord in his abscense.

- Cats always seem more attracted to the people that say they hate cats, or are indifferent to cats. So you better know cat!Kaeya would not leave Diluc alone but in a very specific game of push and pull.

- He can't lose the title of being Adeline's favorite child, so he'd definetly cause mischief to piss Diluc off , with bonus points if it makes Adeline scold him.

Here's a non-exhaustive list of things Kaeya would do :

> Steal Diluc's bed and not move.

> Push his pillows and blankets to the ground to make it seem like he didnt do his bed and make Adeline scold him.

> Being a smug bastard.

> Only responds to "Master Kaeya".

> Would bite Diluc’s ankles hard enough for him to startle but not enough to leave a trace. If Diluc makes a reflexive sharp movement like jerking cat!Kaeya off, he'd make those dramatic sounds cats make, tipping off Adeline something happened in order for her to scream from another room : "Master Diluc, stop bothering Master Kaeya!"

(Classic younger sibling technique. Whoever screams the loudest wins. I dont make the rules.)

But cats are equilibrists. He knows when to push and when to pull back.

So when he feels he's pissed Diluc off enough for the week, he'd give him some mischief-free time like cuddling up on his lap while he's working, or headbutting his leg. Sometimes, the master of the winery would wake up to the cute fucker loafing on his chest, sound asleep, and he'd run late on his schedules because he spent half an hour debating whether to move or not.

- Diluc would never admit it, but the little bastard was growing on him.

And just when he was about to buy Kaeya a collar, something to really make him part of the winery ; he discovers this is all Albedo's fuckass plan to get a free pet-sitter for his equally fuckass cat while he's working.

(Diluc will file for custody of cat!Kaeya for the week and Albedo gets him back for the weekend. Klee also invades Dawn Winery because she would miss her feline partener in crime. Now Diluc's babysitting tasks have doubled : a little shit of a cat and an arsonist child. This is his life.)

I ordered the harbingers figurines for my birthday.

Well they came ten days late BUT they're here and now my Kaeya shrine feels a little less empty until I get some more merch of him.

(Ofc i put pierro on top because he's Kaeya's papi in my heart 😼)

(Years ago, i bought a crown in a super sketchy shop to like represent prince Kaeya theory lol. And i recently got his cryo vision because its cool af. Added his little eye patch too.)

They even come with their own little cards 😫 i need to up my art skills so I can paint tarot cards of them right this instant.

Do yall know if anyone ever done it before? 🤔 lemme know.

Anyways I m so happy, happy birthday to me🤩

Thats so helpful I didnt know! I usually just say whatever in the tags because I thought it was funny, so thanks a lot!

A theory of why Kaeya may not be half-sumerian, but rather a full blooded kaenriahn.

I had a conversation with a fellow netizen about kaeya in which they were insisting Kaeya being half-sumerian was canon, while I tried to remind them it was a theory. Chaos ensued.

I will thus be deconstructing each argument one by one, and adding my own takes on them for structure, because otherwise this might get chaotic.

I will also explain why i believe this makes more sense because it will tie to an even grander theory, one that most of us Kaeya enthousiasts know ; Kaeya is from the future.

NB: Keep in mind that this is just speculation and theories, I am not saying any of this is canon. You are entirely free to think Kaeya as half-sumerian especially if your ethnicity corresponds to a country on which sumeru was based. Kaeya doesnt have a real world ethnicity, and it doesnt impact his character in any ways, so have fun! ;)

ROADMAP :

● What does the half sumerian theory say?

- his mother is sumerian

- he cant be full blooded because he's tanned.

- he has different pupils from Dainslief, Clothar and Halfdan who are confirmed pure blooded kaenriahn (from the eclipse dynasty).

- his alternative ouftit has very heavy south and east asian motifs.

- the peacock is the national bird of India + his name means 'monsoon flower' in sanskirt.

● How does that relate to his character and possible fate?

● End notes.

Edit: this is going to be a little long, so make sure you have time ^^

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I. Dive into the half-sumerian Kaeya theory.

I.I. His mother.

So, the theory's foundation lays upon a canonical fact :

When the Cataclysm occured, a handful of able-bodied survivors were led to Sumeru by The Schwanenritter knights in order to evacuate the crumbling Kaenriah. Said knights battled the abyssal monsters that attacked Khaenri'ah when the cataclysm struck, and continued to do so after bringing Khaenri'ahn citizens aboveground to Sumeru.

Sumeru's population was not unaware of their presence, and they even gave them the title of "Heroes of Dahri" for their contributions to keeping Sumeru safe from the monsters.

That order of knights was led by Anfortas - who is heavily implied to be an Alberich.

And there is another kaenriahn we know well, also from the Alberich bloodline, that lived in sumeru ; Clothar Alberich.

So basically, the theory goes as such : since some kaenriahn survivors were evacuated to Sumeru, its possible they kept living there and kaeya's mother might thus be sumerian. Especially since that makes two alberichs mentionned in this particular setting.

I already dislike this argument because Kaeya's mother was never even remotedly mentionned in game or in any external official source. Its basically creating a character out of thin air to justify a headcanon.

When a heritage matters, hoyoverse would always leave a sort of Easter egg. For instance Alice was already mentionned as soon as in version 1.0 , same with Kleiner though his name was'nt revealed until much later. Hell, we even have the parents/grandparents of characters that have no big lore relevance like Xiangling, Itto (my goat) or Yoiymia. But in Kaeya’s case, there is nothing that concerns his mother. So I'm less inclined to take it as a viable argument.

Invoking this would also mean you'd have to answer the question on the transmission of the curse; can the children of cursed kaenriahns also be cursed?

It doesnt seem to be the case. After all, Arlecchino is a confirmed descendent of Kaenriah and suffers from neither kaenriahn curses.

Her curse is named Balemoon Bloodfire, which she inherited because she is a member of a specific bloodline of the Crimson moon. Not the curse of immortality nor the curse of the wilderness.

So assuming the kaenriahn survivors in Sumeru settled in a tribe , secluded from the rest of the world , then they wouldve needed 20 whole generations of children to span the 500 year gap between the cataclysm and Kaeya's potential birth.

( the words in italic are taken from Dainslief's own words when he speculated about Direidyth's origins, but even then he said it did not make sense and he doesnt seem to know of any such tribe.)

If that were the case, then where is the Kaenriahn diaspora? Surely we would've encountered them? Surely the akademyia researchers would've found traces of them- those scholars who are so fond of researching Dahri. But we have nothing.

And i have a possible explanation for that.

The reason there were enough able-bodied survivors to even guide out of Kaenriah is because the curses had not been cast yet. And between the times where they emerged in Sumeru and the curses were cast- most of them had already died.

Let us retrace the time line of events :

1) After leaving Kaenriah and emerging from the Girdle of the Sands, the Schwanenritter and the Khaenri'ahn survivors that followed them made their way eastwards to Dharma Forest. And not so long after that, Hildric (one of the knights) died of multiple-organ failure, meaning he wasnt cursed to immortality yet, nor had he been transformed into a hillichurl.

2) For some time, the knights fought dark beasts and monsters of the abyss. It is no surprise a lot of them would have perished there knowing they were weakened by the Cataclysm, the endless fighting and the food-shortage they had already suffered months leading to the Cataclysm. (See rerir's flashbacks).

3) Hadura betrays Anfortas and wounds his left eye, which leads to the regent king executing him (so another death).

Then the wiki says something that sets everything off : "With the Schwanenritter down to the last man, Anfortas continued to fight alone until his own presumed death." Meaning every single one of them have died and Anfortas was the only one remaining before he presumably died as well.

4) Ronova casts the curse of immortality, and the curse of the wilderness transforms non pureblooded kaenriahns and fully teyvatian people that had resided in kaenriah into monsters. (We can see in Pierro's flashback that Kaenriah was already aflame and beyond recognition when she set the curse).

So overall, with the lore we've got, I doubt there was enough survivors to sustain 20 generations of kaenriahns until the canon time line. And given we've established the curse isnt hereditary, I doubt the offspring -who thus has a human life span and absolutely no attachement to kaenriah- would spend their lives stuck to that ancient plot instead of living their own lives to the fullest.

And even the first generation of immortal kaenriah is probably long gone, the same way the royal guards of Khaenri'ah, The Black Serpents, either turned into Shadowy Husks or remained as Black Serpents, but with a monstrous form and still suffering from erosion like Halfdan. Thus unrecognizable as humans. Remember Captaino, Pierro, Dain...they're the odd ones, not the rule.

Pierro doesnt seem outwardly affected by the curse for some unkown reason.

Dainslief got a ring from Vedrfolnir which continuously resets his condition in order to preserve his body from the rot and his mind from the erosion.

And Capitano is just the goat. (But even as a human, his constitution and strength made him able to rivak gods and be ranked first harbinger so you can't compare random nobles to him).

But I digress. Those who were pure blooded kaenriahns were mostly nobles, and we also know they were a minority in Kaenriah because this kingdom was actually founded by a singular bloodline and only those who share that blood are considered pure blooded and aristocracy so again, our population of possible immortals is getting smaller and smaller.

With all that in mind, i feel like its pretty unlikely they could have spanned 20 generations of perfectly healthy, un-cursed humans that never set foot in kaenriah and therefore have no attachement to it or its reconstruction, to create Kaeya who would for some reason be the last hope? Even though he should be a normal human?

Seems quite far fetched to me.

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I.II. Chocolate man

Now, we all know our glorious king kaeya has some delicious melanin, and I'm not about to argue that fact.

However, I'm not about to let slide such innacurate and bordeline racist comments on how Kaeya's skin tone would forbid him from being fully Kaenriahn knowing the nation is based on the Nordic and Garmanic sphere.

When hoyoverse creates a nation, they usually take care to put at least one 'dark skinned' character on the roster of the nations that should have them.

For exemple there are no dark skinned characters in Inazuma or Fontaine because Japan, France and England didnt originally have an indigenous population with such traits.

But Liyue has Xinyan, because China has a lot of ethnic groups that are naturally more tanned and develop even more of a tan as they live, especially in Southern China, which features tropical and subtropical climates.

Sumeru has Cyno, Candace and Dehya, and Natlan has Ifa and Iansan to save the day.

This may be news to you, but its very stereotypical to assume all nordic people were blonde, blue eyed, pale skinned persons and historically innacurate so I'll give a brief history lesson on that :

14,000 years ago, the first inhabitants of the Scandinavian peninsula came from the south. They were Western Hunter-Gatherers ; characterized by tanned skin and blue eyes with mostly dark hair colors. (MHH that sounds like someone we know...). They were later joined by Eastern Hunter-Gatherers who had lighter skin, hair and blue eyes.

In 2020, a massive genetic study of over 400 Viking skeletons was published in Nature. It completely denied the "blond, pale Viking" stereotype. A lot of them had olive and tanned skin with darker hair pigments.

(Sources : Cambridge University, Nature, CNN and ING).

So overall, we can say that darker skinned individuals were always indigenous to the north and pretending otherwise is simply racist.

Now if we link that to Kaenriah, which is inspired from old Norse mythology, and has many references to vikings (names such as Halfdan, Dainslief, Irmin) (or their customs to give sounding names to their swords, like Capitano 's sword Antumbra meaning Eclipse), then it would be logical for kaenriah to have at least one darker toned character -> Kaeya.

Kaenriah was created by one bloodline, which we can assume is the royal line. The alberich clan has often been linked to it, and canonically had very high status.

So we can compare Kaenriah's first families to the first indigenous of the north, meaning it makes sense for an Alberich to bear its ancient phenotype. Especially when you remember how conservative their clan was, so they likely didnt marry out of the clan and other prestigious clans often, which was why Caribert was ostracized.

Kaenriah also had another big inspiration, the german tale written by Richard Wagner : Der Ring des Nibelungen, in which the dwarf Alberich steals magic gold from the Rhine river and forges a ring of power.

Then the ring gets stolen once more by a man named Wotan and in a fit of anger Alberich curses the ring to bring death to whoever dares wear it.

This leads to Wotan breeding a line of mortal heroes until the birth of Siegfried, (who is incredibly reminescent of kaeya btw..) who manages to win the ring, but dies, leading to a 'world-ending fire that destroys the gods' and bring the ring back to the Rhine maidens.

And this opera is based on Germanic and Nordic Mythology, meaning its characters are accurate to the germanic tribes of that time which included a lot of olive/tanned skinned persons given they were in constant contact with the Roman Empire and Celtic peoples to the south and west. (And we already went over how Nordic people could look).

So overall and once again, we can conclude his skin color does not negate his nordic origins, and being darker skinned does not automatically mean the character is from a typically southern country. Especially in the context of genshin where skin color isnt a good indicator of a person's origins (just look at Nefer... or the whole Natlan cast).

EDIT : An even more incriminating argument is that...we actually have another kaenriahn with the same skin tone as kaeya, who lived during the Eclipse Dynasty : Thorkell is a quest-exclusive NPC who appears in the Archon Quest Special Operation in Song of the Welkin Moon.

(Shout out to @sparetwin who brought this to my attention in the comments.)

So yes, even while living underground, we have someone that matches Kaeya's skinetone.

So we can completly wipe off the "he's tanned so he's from sumeru!" argument. Let's continue.

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I.III. About his pupil

I remember with fondness the time where i first discovered the half-sumerian Kaeya theory and everything seemed to make sense.

Back then, the only confirmed pure blooded kaenriahns we had actual game models for were; Dainslief, Clothar (Caribert's adult appearance is based on his memories of his father), and Halfdan. And kaeya's pupil is different from theirs which led to us believing it was due to a difference in bloodlines -> kaeya is half-blooded.

Except genshin revealed more pure blooded kaenriahns over time. And we can thus separate the pupil phenotype for the Eclipse Dynasty in two categories :

- the larger star pupil, with a transparent middle. Essentially this : ◇

Exemples : Dainslief, Clothar, Rerir (pre sinner and post sinner), Halfdan and Guthred

- the slightly smaller, full colored star pupil. Essentially this : ◆

Exemples : Pierro, Kaeya and...Rhinedottir. Or her original eyes anyways. Dont believe me?

Rhinedottir's eyes changed after she merged with Naberius.

All the shades have golden eyes, and the more dominant phenotype with eclipse dynasty citizens were blue-ish eyes. I believe Rhinedottir's original eyes were thus like the blue-gray one with the star pupil which, if you ignore the inverted Y slapped on top, is the exact same as Kaeya's.

The X and Y on her pupils represent the 2 chromosomes - the same way the halo behind her head does, which is a subtle way of reminding us she absorbed Naberius, the Shade of Life.

Both Pierro and Rhinedottir were pure blooded kaenriahns present during the Cataclysm so Kaeya's eyes bearing the same pupil disqualifies it from being a viable argument in the halfblooded case, whether sumerian, natlanese or celestial for all I care.

So we're back to square one, once again...or are we?

But then why would he say:

"You're a pure blooded kaenriahn, aren't you?"

to Dainslief ? Its almost as if he's suggesting Dainslief could've been both a halfblood and yet retain a human appearance...

And i think it has a lot to do with another recurrent theme, being that Kaeya is a big fat liar.

Remember, Kaeya never talks about his past, unless he has something to gain from it. Yet for some reason, he brought up Kaenriah first? In a place as non intimate as a coffee shop no less? That's already fishy.

Kaeya knew Dainslief was listening in (based on the scene where we see dain behind a wall, and kaeya goes silent for a moment. Kaeya never goes silent. And at the end of their conversation he says "Next time, dont listen in from the side lines, let me buy you a drink." meaning he knew the man had stalked him).

Since he knew the man was following him , Kaeya thus lured him into a confrontation to 'clear his name' in a public setting he could easily leave any time the conversation got too deep, and where he was also in the company of the Traveller which already trusts Kaeya to some degree.

Kaeya not knowing it was an Alberich who founded the Abyss order makes zero sense given his level of intel and his involvement in the abyss order (which he never denied..). His reaction was also incredibly suspicious. He wasnt that shocked. He quickly swept it under the rug by shifting the conversation to "maybe that's why my father left me in mondstadt after all". And he played dumb by saying he didn't know his family name had such a baggage.

And when Paimon asked if he was involved with the abyss order he merely said "Relax. I'll be just as willing to hunt them down tomorrow as I was yesterday" ...which means nothing.

Paimon asked to clarify his position and Kaeya answered by saying his position hadn't changed. It doesnt say if he indeed contacts them or not to begin with.

So i think, this was Kaeya’s way to act oblivious, to minimize how much he seems to know about Kaenriah and thus seem less like a threat. He knew dainslief was listening in when he said he didnt know much about Kaenriah, that he only knew it was under Sumeru from a book, etc. And he even added in the little innocent story of Crepus dragging him back by the ear.

Making a subtle mistake like saying "you're a pure-blooded kaenriahn" when it should've been a no-brainer made Dainslief significantly less on edge and more tempted to believe Kaeya really doesnt know much, by the way he said that the 'the weight behind the Alberich name might come as a surprise' and how he warned Kaeya to 'not try to discover too much about his roots.'

But kaeya lets details slips that he shouldn't be able to know if he really was that uninvolved with Kaenriah: "Being cut off from certain things" , "the Sinners are all that's left" , "A hydra, an eight headed banshee, a wicked abyss dragon" etc.

It's subtle.

It's playing right in our faces.

But as Kaeya says during the first part of his hangout : sometimes the best hiding spots are just in plain view.

And so our little spy gets to live another day !

(Sorry to put it all in one picture, but there's a limited amount of pictures one can use in Tumblr ^^)

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I.IV. His dagger bandit ouftit

Kaeya's alternative ouftit gives off a South and East Asian vibe due to the items of clothing, notably thanks to the Harem Pants (Sirwal). It also has some peacock feathers, ans I think the gold accents also play a good part.

And its going to sound quite stupid (because it is lol) but Kaeya's ouftit looks sumerian... because it was made by a sumerian artist, in Sumeru. The same way Ayaka's alternative ouftit she recieved in Fontaine is clearly inspired by European fashion. But that wont make me say she's not fully inazumian and that her mother is from Fontaine.

Her dress leans heavily into 19th-century Victorian structure, but the pastel color palette, light floral motifs, and the heavy use of lace and ruffles are direct aesthetic callbacks to 18th-century French Rococo fashion. So a mix of english and french fashion; exactly Fontaine's two biggest inspirations.

I dont think i need to spend that much more time on this. Kaeya's ouftit fits the theme of desert bandit, the same way Klee who played a mage got a witch hat, and the same way every other genshin impact skin doesn't really represent anything. If there's anything to take away from this event ; its Kaeya's heavy connection to pirates (looking at you, Reed Miller...). But thats a story for another time.

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I.V. Diluc and Kaeya's obsession with birds needs to be studied...

So the final nail in the coffin that once made me believe Kaeya really could be half-sumerian is the fact the peacock is India's national bird, and the fact his name has a meaning in sanskirt: monsoon flower.

But...it doesnt actually mean anything in the context of his character. The monsoon flower is a symbol of romance and renewal; none of which particularly screams Kaeya.

Which is why i am more partial to the idea the name Kaeya was derived from the name Kaja in Swedish (oh would you look at that, another nordic origin..) which means jackdaw.

The Jackdaw is a type of crow, which is often paired and confused with ravens. Biologically, ravens and crows belong to the exact same bird family (Corvidae), which explains why the terms are often used interchangeably in different translations.

For exemple, the treasure hoarders insignia is translated as " silver/golden raven insignia" in English, Chinese and Japanese but translated to "crow mark" in Korean, Portuguese, Viet and German.

"Ok ok, but how does jackdaw relate to kaeya more than monsoon flower does?"

Well, many reasons actually but lets start with the more obvious one;

There is a very famous fable written by the Greek storyteller Aesop called "The bird in borrowed feathers" with alternative names being "The Vain Jackdaw and His Borrowed Feathers" and "The Jackdaw and the peacocks".

The story goes as follows ;

"A jackdaw finds some beautiful peacock feathers and sticks them among his own. He disguises himself and struts into a flock of peacocks, hoping to be accepted.

But the peacocks quickly see through his disguise. They tear out all the borrowed feathers, humiliating him.

The jackdaw returns to his own kind, hoping to fit back in—but because he acted arrogantly and looked down on them before, his fellow jackdaws reject him too.

In the end, he is accepted by neither group."

(Reminder this is a summarized version of the story, not how it was really written. The real text is a lot more poetic but its too long to write here).

And right of the bat, we can see the parallels:

- The beautiful peacock feathers represent the glamorous identity he's built: "Cavalry Captain," "n°1 grandson in law" , "most eligible bachelor", "Quartemaster" , etc. This is the false plumage he wears to hide his true origins.

- The Peacocks are the People of Mondstadt ; the peacock flock represents the society he's infiltrated as a spy.

- The jackdaw rejects his own species out of pride. Kaeya has to abandon his Khaenri'ahn heritage to serve Mondstadt (even if we dont know if he'll stick to that once the time to chose comes).

Mona's voiceline about Kaeya is crucial here:

"He believes he has cut all ties with his past... but one day, fate will demand its due from him. When that day comes, he will have to make a major choice."

This perfectly echoes the fable's ending: the jackdaw is eventually exposed, left with nowhere to go. Kaeya's borrowed feathers won't last forever.

So basically, Kaeya isnt a Peacock, he is a Jackdaw in borrowed Peacock feathers.

And funny enough, his constellation looks oddly similar to the most popular illustration of the fable which has been used for covers of the book since 1919:

As you can see, a real peacock has a multitude of tiny feathers. Not just one feather planted on its forehead like a flag.

One could argue its a stylistic decision, but really? They couldve made it more accurate by adding more small feathers on its head. Look at Diluc's constellation. All that detail for owl eyebrows, its tail and wings. Look at Razor. Look at Rosaria. Look at any constellation in game.

Clearly if they wanted to make it more accurate, they could have. But they didnt.

For reference, here are some non archon constellations :

The peacock represents magnificence and royalty : the fact he is only parading as one might also be a wink at the fact the Alberich clan had no royal blood and still Anfortas Alberich became the Regent king. A temporary ruler with no royal blood. Like a jackdaw temporarily passing as a peacock.

So Kaeya is a Jackdaw.

A Jackdaw is a Corvidae.

And i have some more Corvidae/Kaeya links in stock.

- Kaeya has a history of being connected to the Treasure Hoarders. The YouTuber Ashiki has almost a whole video on it called [Secret Origins of Treasure Hoarders] and I'll kindly ask you to watch it because they're very talented and if i tried to summarize it here it would get way too long and it would feel like I'm stealing their discoveries (ᵕ ó ᴗ ò).

But the Treasure hoarders insignia are... you guessed it, Ravens and Crows!

Depending on which language you play as, you might get a "raven insignia" when you try to level up your Benett, or a "crow mark".

(Oh, Reed Miller mentioned once again..)

- I discovered through Yaeggravate (who posts on Tumblr) that Kaeya and Odin had quite a few parallels when she/they compared his birthday art side to an old illustration of the one-eyed Norse god.

Odin is quite famous for his two Raven companions, Huginn and Muninn, which mean "thought and memory".

They are Odin's eyes: they fly across the world daily, collecting information and memories before flying back to Odin's shoulder to add to his knowledge.

They are essentially, Odin's spies. Its how he keeps his godly omniscience.

So once again, we're thrown back in the spiral of "spies" "pirates" "raven/crows" "Kaeya". Its starting to be a lot.

And just as Dainslief says about coincidences :

There. is. no. such. thing.

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II. Ok but why should we care ?

You might tell me "Okay, we get it, you don't think Kaeya is from Sumeru but why is that important ?"

Well, its because i am more partial to this emergent theory thought by lore streamer Minslief : Kaeya is from New Kaenriah. Meaning Kaeya would essentially be from the future.

She explains that in the Natlan archon quest "A space and time for you", the abyss sibling is very close to creating a new kaenriah, especially since a corrupted Haden had already extracted the necessary memories from Dainslief during their confrontation in Ochkanatlan.

We also learn that Istaroth can bend time so that past and present can meet, which is how Direidyth could step into the future (our present) from five hundred years in the past.

But why would Istaroth do that for a random Kaenriahn village girl? Right during the Cataclysm no less- like didn't she have anything better to do?

Well Istaroth has a track record of helping civilizations, even those under Celestia's scorn:

For exemple she did not forsake Enkanomiya after it fell into the depths. Their pleas and prayers went unanswered by the Heavenly Principles and its other three Shades. Only Istaroth answered their cries, giving them an artificial light source designed to drive away the Bathysmal Vishaps.

She helped Inazuma by bending time once more between the past and the present to allow Ei to plant the Sacred Sakura tree, to protect Inazuma from the Abyss unleashed upon teyvat during the Cataclysm.

She tried to help Lang-Gan by warning Zibai of the necessity of cleansing the Abyssal corruption. And right before Zibai died, Istaroth decided to intervene, freezing her right at the moment of her death.

Overall, Istaroth clearly has a deep attachement to humanity and has always helped them, leading to her being worshipped in Arcadia, Mondstadt, Enkanomiya, and Hyperborea, both before and concurrently with The Seven's rise.

So if she sent a kaenriahn girl from the past into the present, it's also possible she could've sent a kaenriahn boy from the future into the present.

Kaeya is hinted at being linked with her because in a moment of pure relief, he said "Thank the Thousand winds" , the thousand winds being one of Istaroth's titles.

But... Istaroth was forgotten by everyone for "unknown reasons" , even by the people of that once worshipped her.

Then Kaeya couldnt have picked up on it from growing up in Mondstadt. (They all say "thank barbatos", even barbatos himself...).

So where did he know her from...?

If Kaeya was from New Kaenriah, then we wouldn't have to explain why he knows Istaroth, why he isnt cursed without imagining a tribe of survivors that lasted twenty generation, and if you werent convinced that og kaenriahns could be dark skinned; here we wouldnt have to worry about Kaeya having a sexy tan underground because New Kaenriah wouldn't be underground but located in the dark sea-

Which makes more sense when you remember his Character Story 4 where his father is giving him the little pep talk before abandoning him.

"Kaeya's father squeezed his son's lean shoulders as he spoke, seemingly looking right through Kaeya to some place far beyond. On the other side of the horizon sat their distant homeland of Khaenri'ah."

So...how could his homeland be on the other side of the horizon if it was underground?

Minslief continues by saying that Kaeya's purpose is thus not to save Kaenriah, but New Kaenriah.

Since it is entirely based off of the corrupted memories of its corrupted survivors, it is more than likely that New Kaenriah's ley lines were unstable or doomed to resume the same fate.

And so that would make Kaeya the only Kaenriahn from the future; which makes it a lot easier to accept he is it's "Last hope" rather than being the "Last hope" of OG Kaenriah which still has a few survivors and the whole Abyss Order trying to revive it. Plus potentially the alleged tribe of survivors in Sumeru Kaeya may or may not be from , with actual adults and not scared ten years old.

So with that in mind, New Kaenriah would be apart from the rest of Teyvat, in an entirely other climate and thus have no connection to Sumeru, or Anfortas, or any surviving kaenriahn that settled there before meeting their end.

And if you're enclined to believe this theory or think it may make sense, unfortunately it doesnt quite align with the half-sumerian theory which in my opinion was quite outdated anyways.

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III. FINALLY DONE

And that was it !

I want to clarify once again that this is just me participating in lore discussions which is normal fandom activities. You are free to think, headcanon, write and draw whatever you so desire!

But anyways, let me know what you think, I'm always open to dms or feedback. I wrote this in the heat of the moment, fueld by frustration (which lasted 3 hours..ouch..my fingers...) so if there are any mistakes lemme know :D

If you made it this far, really, congratulations! Your attention span is above 90% of the population ! And thank you !

Love you all, and until next time ! 🩵👋🏻

So this is my audiance?😭 I mean i know we have the audience we deserve...

(Cat boy kaeya confirmed 😼)

I am not saying female Kaeya and Diluc could not have had a confrontation. The emotional core of that night could remain exactly the same. But I think the form it takes ( the fact that it becomes a physical duel, with Diluc turning his blade on Kaeya) would likely be written very differently.

Because that fight is not just “Diluc gets angry at Kaeya.” Symbolically, it is the culmination of Kaeya’s lifelong agony over who he is supposed to choose: the family and home he found in Mondstadt, or the homeland and mission he was born into.

That night, Kaeya tells Diluc the truth about why he came to Mondstadt. We do not know exactly how much he revealed about Khaenri’ah or his mission, but he reveals enough to strip away the identity he built around himself. For the first time, he presents his real self to Diluc without the protection of a lie.

And Diluc rejects that self.

Then Kaeya receives his cryo vision. It reads less like a reward and more like a punishment: elemental power traded for the relationship that had made Mondstadt feel like home.

That emotional structure does not require them to literally fight with blades. The important part is not necessarily that Diluc physically hurts Kaeya; it is that Kaeya realizes that, for one terrible moment, Diluc can look at him and see an enemy.

But I think writers, especially in a game like Genshin, would be much less likely to stage it as the canon duel if Kaeya were a woman.

Physical fights between a man and a woman are already comparatively rare in major emotional climaxes. It is even rarer when the man is clearly stronger, older, armed, and positioned as the morally non-sympathetic character.

Fiction can absolutely write women as powerful fighters, especially in fantasy, but gender still changes how audiences interpret violence. A man attacking a woman does not arrive as neutral imagery; it carries cultural associations that writers often have to account for.

A lot of men are raised with the idea that a “good man” does not hit women. Whether or not that belief is fair, universal, or useful, it shapes storytelling. A writer who has a male character violently attack a woman, especially someone younger, vulnerable, and emotionally close to him, is inviting the audience to judge that character through a different moral lens.

And that is extremely relevant to Kaeya and Diluc.

Diluc was eighteen. Kaeya was younger and therefore still a minor. Diluc was a prodigy in the Knights of Favonius, had received his pyro vision at ten, and had spent years learning to use it. Kaeya, meanwhile, was visionless until that exact confrontation.

Even in canon, there is an enormous imbalance in that fight: Diluc is older, more experienced, already armed with a vision, and furious; Kaeya is younger, confessing something deeply vulnerable, and only receives a vision during the confrontation itself.

Now imagine if Kaeya had been a girl.

Diluc would be an older teenage boy with a claymore and years of pyro vision experience turning his weapon on a younger, visionless girl who has just confessed the truth about herself.

Even if female Kaeya were just as clever, skilled, and emotionally complicated as canon Kaeya, that visual would make Diluc appear much more frightening and disproportionate.

It would not just read as two sworn-brothers-turned-enemies fighting. It could read as a stronger young man using overwhelming force against a younger girl who has just made herself emotionally defenseless in front of him.

That would be difficult for the narrative to recover from, especially because Diluc is consistently characterized as protective and gentlemanly.

In Kaeya’s hangout, Adeline tells the story of Captain Wu arriving at Dawn Winery after being robbed, stripped of his clothes and thrown into the water. When Diluc sees a naked man approaching his female staff, he assumes the man may be threatening or harassing them and immediately comes out with his claymore, ready to protect them, before Kaeya explains what happened.

So writing that same Diluc as someone who turns his blade on a younger female Kaeya would challenge his characterization in a way I do not think HoYoverse would want to explore.

And I think you can see a broader pattern in Genshin and HoYoverse stories. They often give their strongest, most emotionally intense bonds to characters of the same gender: Kaeya and Diluc, Kaveh and Alhaitham, Ei and Yae Miko, Phainon and Mydeimos, Hysilens and Cerydra, to just name a few.

That does not mean male–female relationships are absent, but they are often written with more distance, less overt emotional intimacy, or less direct physical conflict.)

When women do fight men, they are frequently placed in a clear position of power. Kazuha blocking Raiden Ei’s Musou no Hitotachi is not an equal fight in the slightest; Ei is still a god with overwhelming authority. Arlecchino fighting Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet is also framed around her complete superiority: she sends them flying with ease.

Meanwhile, when HoYoverse wants to be especially brutal, it is often more comfortable letting women fight women, like Raiden Ei and Signora. That avoids the particular cultural discomfort of depicting a man physically dominating a woman.

So my point is not that female Kaeya could never fight Diluc. She absolutely could. But I do not think the canon version of that fight would be staged the same way.

Instead, I think the confrontation would probably become more psychologically violent than physically violent. Diluc might draw his weapon but stop. He might burn the room around her. He might corner her, call her a spy, or say something that makes it impossible for her to believe she still belongs in Mondstadt.

Then her cryo vision could appear not as a weapon to fight him equally, but as a shield: freezing his flames, blocking his words, creating the distance she needs to survive the moment.

And that could be just as painful because Kaeya would still reveal herself. Diluc would still reject what he sees. She would still lose the person who made Mondstadt feel like home.

The difference is that the tragedy would not be “they crossed blades.” It would be that Diluc did not need to strike her for her to understand that she was no longer safe with him.

That would fit when we remember that physical fights are not the only way for characters to recieve visions.

Lisa simply wished for a vision to proceed in her studies of elemental energy and the moment the thought crossed her mind, a vision appeared.

And in the case of female kaeya recieving her vision after a psychologically violent confrontation with diluc, we can draw parallels with how Beidou , Furina, Wriothesly and even Navia recieved their visions.

For exemple, Beidou fought a giant sea monster named Haishan for three days. She got her vision immediately after she chopped off the monster's head. She did not get her vision during the three days she fought the monsters but right at the end, when she could finally catch her breath.

Furina received her vision after a massive psychological release. It appeared during her first stage performance after stepping down from her centuries-long act of pretending to be the Hydro Archon.

For Wriothesly, he found his vision on his first day in the Fortress of Meropide. It appeared right after he accepted his new reality as a prisoner, shifting his mindset from despair to self-reliance.

As for Navia, her vision appeared during a moment of intense grief and emotional collapse. It manifested right after she lost her father and close companions, symbolizing her sudden, heavy responsibility to lead her people.

So in all of those four cases (and maybe more, but i didnt read the vision stories of every character) their visions appeared either after a fight (Beidou) or after a psychologically violent event/period that was the threshold to a new life (Navia, Furina and Wriothesly).

Male kaeya crosses both of those boxes (fight with diluc + him having to find his own place in mondstadt after losing his home, symbolized by his cry vision which he sees as a reminder of his sin).

But female kaeya would, in my opinion and for all the reasons I previously explained, lean more into the second option.

Thats pretty much it, thank you for reading if you made it this far :)))))

I must also thank you for the opportunity to clarify this point which i made in passing in my previous post about Hoyoverse's handling of antagonists and morally gray characters according to gender.

See you next time 👋🏻🩵

That was a request I got a few weeks ago, I wrote a whole thing then accidentally deleted it and Tumblr does not have a "request memory" so I couldnt pin the original comment. 😭

I can only hope this will make its way back to whoever made the request!!!

Well a grand hello to this philosopher !

Sorry for the time it took me to get to this take, its my first vear of medical school fresh out of high school so pressure was on lmao.

This is a very interesting take so i took some time to think it through.

I have shared a few short. surface level rants on the hexenzirkel before - mainly focused on Rhinedottir - but this just gives me the opportunity to delve a little more into details and just kind of recap what we have so far about the hexenzirkel and their future.

Now the Kaeya part is actually interesting and i've never really thought about what would become of his character if he'd been a woman instead. This is going to be a good opportunity to expend my ideas on my favorite character.

That being said, and as a wise short Italian plumber with a mustache and a red cap once said; Let's-a go!

PS : Keep in mind this is just a personal opinion based on my interpretation of the lore :) You are free to disagree and I'll gladly hear you out on it!

ROADMAP:

1. Morality of the hexenzirkel- or the lack thereof.

2. Fandom perception of morally gray characters according to gender and Hoyoverse's role in it

3. Kaeya

4. Conclusion

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I. Morality of the hexenzirkel- or the lack therof

First, let's establish some basic facts about the circle before judging its morality.

The Hexenzirkel is a supposedly mysterious group, founded by Alice when she was still a young child known as the "little merry-witch." They don't seem to have any overarching goal as an organization unlike, for instance, the Fatui. The individual members largely pursue their own goals. That's because Alice's admission standard wasn't nobility or virtue. Her only requirement is to be interesting. Which is why Rhinedottir became a prized member of the circle of witches.

That is already a problem, in my eyes. While never being explicitly cast in either a benevolent or antagonistic light, this does not imply neutrality. Willingly associating with problematic people because they are 'interesting' isnt a neutral or good stance.

An easy example: whenever human rights are up for debate (abortions, queer rights, workplace inequalities) there are people who vote to protect them , and others who vote against. Those who remain silent and do not vote are just as guilty as those voting against, because they aren't doing anything to defend those rights.

And if only it was just them associating together! Alice explicitly says in the Nod-Krai Archon Quest that she would "clean up after dear Rhinedottir." She also took in Albedo at Rhinedottir's request. It was Alice who brought him to the Knights of Favonius, believing they had the resources to build him a large research lab. She is still a reliable friend to Gold.

So basically we shouldnt expect the Hexenzirkel to be a family-friendly order as it was created by Alice, who is herself deeply problematic and selfish.

To start off strong, Alice is well aware of the cataclysm and how the innocent people of kaenriah were cursed to transform into monsters and suffer for the rest of eternity. She still does not have a shred of sympathy for them.

Her "experiments" include launching Hilichurls at high speeds towards the sky just to see if they'd reach Celestia. She has tied Hilichurls up inside cabins of active Ruin Guards. According to the Teyvat Travel Guide, she even attempted to make a Hilichurl slave farm to power Mondstadt's windmills by putting them in giant spinning balls (yes, the same ones we use for hamsters), feeding the older, exhausted Hilichurls to the stronger ones to "recycle them" and keep the mills going.

In the city of fucking wind, mind you. Wind mills only need wind to function. It's in their name.

She also blew up a large portion of Stormterror's Lair and its surroundings because she thought it wasn't aesthetically pleasing enough, with no respect for wildlife, nature, or the potential casualties if a group of adventurers or knights had been there.

Overall, Alice's "experiments" have no scientific basis. They are purely for her own enjoyment. She is deeply amoral, if not outright cruel, and she has no respect for life or smaller, weaker creatures. This is also showcased in more niche anecdotes: like how she emotionally scarred Yae Miko or injured one of Sara's wings.

As such, one cannot expect morality from a group that was:

1. founded by someone deeply amoral,

2. filled with people that said amoral person liked, and

3. composed of people who accepted to associate with her and the other members she chose.

Remember: in some situations, neutrality is only convenience or cowardice, rebranded as peace.

I dont even feel like i need to talk about Rhinedottir's crimes as everyone is quite aware, but for the sake of being thorough |'l still summarize them here.

She created a wide variety of creature as experiments, most of them being somewhat sentient and having a will of their own, only to experiment on them and discard them if they displeased her.

The only subject she was satisfied with that we know of is Albedo, whose creation also produced many failures like Subiect Two, whom she disposed of by dumping them in Durin's stomach. Subject two was the only one who survived this.

Her other creations were let loose, endangering the rest of the world and even beyond the boundaries of Teyvat. Examples include the Bakunawa, whom she couldn't control and who even injured her; the Rifthounds and Riftwolf Whelps; the Fellflower; and the Golden Wolflord, who is obsessed with invading worlds outside his own just to "make a name for himself" because Rhinedottir never gave him one.

And thats not even including the doomed dragon duo. Durin who was still an innocent child, was corrupted beyond recognition and unleashed upon mondstadt only to be killed by Barbatos and dvalin even if he was mentally corrupted and never realized he was hurting people. He was left to rot on a freezing moutain, only visited by his mother when she wanted to use his stomach as a gravesite for his other siblings.

And then there's Elynas, who managed to realize he'd been corrupted and was harming others through his simple existance. He was so distraught by it that he took his own life.

She also doomed Khaenri'ah by choosing to partake in Abyssal energy. The five sinners were repeatedly said and shown to have been able to break the Khaenri'ahn curse, but they never did.

II. Fandom perception of morally gray characters according to gender and Hoyoverse's role in it

I think the title of this segment speaks for itself because we have a very glaring exemple presented by the game itself : Rhinedottir vs Dottore.

Now, while there is a large community in the fandom that loves Dottore, it is undeniable he has his haters. Very vehement haters who despise him and not without reason. Most of the hate stems from the fact that he caused the suffering of many, including beloved playable characters such as Diluc and Scaramouche.

But...doesnt this remind us of someone else?

Rhinedottir is related to basically every bad thing to have ever occurred on the surface of Teyvat in the past 500 years. She caused the suffering of playable characters and beloved NPCs like Dainsleif and Capitano. Yet I have yet to see any hate account for her. The comment sections of posts she appears in are just a bunch of people calling her "mommy."

I do believe hoyoverse contributes a lot to this narrative and double standard because it never holds its female characters to any level of accountability.

If alice had been a man, she would've been called an absent, neglectful dad. She litterally only sees her kid once a year.

"B-but she sends klee fun things! Like the dodoco islands and the Veluriyam Mirage!"

Ah yes. You mean the fun toys and experiences she provides once a year to excuse her absence? No different from a neglectful dad that tries to buy his kid's affection with tablets and pocket money. Alice would've been flammed for this if she was a man. How can I say that for sure? Just look at the amount of people hating on Varka.

But Hoyoverse refuses to see it through that lense, instead making her seem like a cool, fun mom. I refuse to believe klee doesnt miss her mother or father - any kid would- but hoyoverse burries that natural consequence in order to prevent Alice from looking bad.

Same thing with Rhinedottir. We started getting some real talk about her in game during the paralogism archon quest.

And they tried so so hard to press on the aspect of family, of making Rhinedottir a mother, albeit a horrible one.

"Ah yes, my mother who is responsible for the downfall of a nation, the eternal suffering of innocent people she could undo but doesnt want to and abandonned all her kids but me because I was born perfect. She s just unusual."

So we're supposed to feel bad for her now? Because she suffered from the madness she willingly chose by absorbing abyssal power with the other sinners? We're supposed to be happy for her??

Meanwhile, when someone tries to bring up how Zandik might not have been evil from the start; how he was chased out of an entire village by angry adults with fire and spikes as a young child, and "lost" his empathy at age 8 (meaning he did have it at the start), people start complaining that we should just let Dottore be evil. That we don't need to give a sad backstory to everyone, or try to redeem them.

But if its a hot woman - who is arguably worse than dottore - then its not so bad right?

It also ultimately boils down to hoyoverse refusing to let women be villains or have complex psyches, they always have to redeem them in some way or make them allign with the traveller even if it doesnt make sense lore wise while they allow male characters to have different stances towards the traveller, like Pantalone who watched the mc's journey closely but also understands they are a liability to his plans and does not hesitate to stand against them.

Even xiao who is often clowned on for being shipped with the traveller, establishes clear boundaries not to push, like not speaking ill of Rex lapis.

"Morax...? What do you know of this name?! He gave me the name Xiao, and released me from the endless pain I endured. I will not forgive those that dare to speak against him, even you." (About Xiao : IV)

To some extent, I do understand that Hoyoverse might not be able to make (female) characters truly evil if they are to be playable. But in that case, I would much rather they introduce NPCs who could take that role. For example, Wuthering Waves puts actual effort into their NPCs, and some of them become vital allies or villains in the main quests. A few examples are Cristoforo, The Shaper, and Avidius. (Not to mention their designs are GORGEOUS).

It would at least prove they arent incapable of writing morally gray/evil women, thet just can't make them playable. And that would've been fine.

III. Kaeya

Now this part was a little more tricky for me because I'd never stopped to think about how being a woman would impact Kaeya's character.

So let us start by shaping a little ID card of him:

□ At first glance, Kaeya doesn't seem like a very complicated character. Our first interactions paint him as charismatic, someone who resorts to unorthodox means to get what he wants. At this point, nothing would make a difference. We have characters like Yelan who are quite similar to him in this aspect and still well liked.

□ But then you start looking a little closer, and you realize Kaeya's character is torn in more ways than one. First and most obviously: his conflicting loyalties to his homeland and the land he came to view as home.

□ With that comes his behavior. He pushes others away and refuses to let himself be read—and yet he still does good in the shadows, where he thinks nobody will notice his gentle heart. Like when he threw Jean a party during her story quest, but refused to take credit and asked the MC to pretend it was their idea instead.

During the quest "a commission from 'that guy'" (the guy being kaeya), kaeya and his informant Vile work in the shadows to protect a woman named Jiliana being stalked by treasure hoarders. He stops the traveller from involving the knights in this, because Vile mentions during the prerequisite quest "A Surprise Gift" that the Knights of Favonius have a habit of being too thorough and bureaucratic.

If they caught wind of Treasure Hoarders extorting a Church sister, they would launch a massive, loud, public investigation. That would expose Jiliana's past as a Treasure Hoarder and ruin her reformed life where she is married and had a lovely daughter. So basically kaeya went through a whole convoluted process to deal with both the official affair of a sister being threatened and keeping Jiliana and her family safe without ever trying to boast about it.

In all segments of his hangouts, kaeya is shown helping others by outsmarting bad guys. And they want us to focus on him pulling his strings and spinning his shady kaeya things, but you just have to look a little longer to see he did it all to help someone, like how he scammed a scammer in Liyue, or how he asked if the sumeru play would loose money if altered the script, etc.

So basically we can summarize him like this :

•morally ambiguous without being outright villainous,

•emotionally guarded,manipulative while still deeply compassionate,

•traumatized without having that trauma excuse everything he does,

•charismatic enough that different people can interpret him very differently.

So as he is, I do not think the fandom perception of him would change had he been a woman. His traits arent inherently gendered.

But.

The question is whether HoYoverse's writing patterns suggest a female Kaeya would receive the same treatment in the first place. Would gender bend kaeya really just be kaeya with boobs or would he be shifted into something a little different?

Female playable characters in Genshin often end up with stories that emphasize empathy, nurturing, or emotional accessibility (and i dont mean they end up kind! Just that they always end up showing emotional vulnerability, like we have seen with Sandrone). Even when they're morally gray, the narrative frequently spends time explaining or softening their actions.

Male characters are somewhat more likely to be left intentionally inscrutable. Kaeya, Dainsleif, Childe, Wanderer, and even Zhongli who continue to keep major secrets for years without the story rushing to justify every aspect of their behavior.

For the sake of academic honesty, I'll still add the counter exemples of Arlecchino and Yae Miko where those writing problems arent as bad, but they are genuinely the only female characters I can think of that were allowed to be morally complicated and manipulative (even though most of it is off screen). But also 2 female characters in almost a hundred not fitting the trend isnt exactly a feat.

Male Kaeya's appeal is built around mystery. The game is comfortable leaving questions unanswered:

◇ Is he a descendant of kaenriahn survivors or something more interesting?

◇ Why does he hide his eye?

◇ What are his true loyalties?

◇ How much does he actually know?

If Kaeya had been female, it's possible the writers would have felt more pressure to make her motivations emotionally explicit earlier, rather than letting ambiguity linger for years. That's a trend seen in some —not all— of Genshin's female story quests. I also doubt her relationship with diluc would've been untouched because it wouldnt be a good look for diluc to fight a visionless younger girl, almost kill her and abandon her there.

So my view would be:

- Would hoyo allow fem!kaeya to be complex: Probably yes, because it's tied to the central narrative of kaenriah.

- Presentation of that complexity? That's where I think gender could plausibly have changed things, with a female Kaeya potentially receiving more overt emotional framing and less prolonged ambiguity.

And without a male kaeya to compare it to, I think fem kaeya would ve been peak too and I dont believe the fandom would suddenly hate her. But I do think she would be less liked than male Kaeya currently is because of how genshin tends to conform female characters to certain standards and it makes their characters loose a small spark of individuality.

IV. END THOUGHTS

So basically, anon's hot take consisted of "kaeya would be hated if he was a woman" and "the hexenzirkel would be hated if they were men".

I understand where the first take was coming from, and right out the bat i was tempted to agree. But with the reflexion i have written across this vlog, I believe it would not be the case.

However, I am much more inclined to agree with the second part.

I don't believe the Hexenzirkel would be hated if they were male. I think they would be reviled. I think the fandom would call them exactly what they are: a group of amoral, dangerous individuals, some having caused immeasurable suffering and face no consequences for it.

But because they're women, because Hoyoverse refuses to let them be true villains ; they get a pass.

My best way to argument this is just using dottore. While he is broadly liked as a villain, he is also criticized and his acts are never forgotten. If he'd been a woman, chances are Hoyoverse wouldve written him a lot more differently and perhaps he wouldn't have died.

So that was my position on Anon's hot take ! I hope i could remain as objective as possible even if i never quite hid my distaste for the hexenzirkel, especially Alice and Rhinedottir because I actually like the others if not for the fact they continue to associate with them 🫣. As always, if you agree or disagree feel free to comment why. I am very prone to changing my mind as I am quite open minded (or at least I try to be) so its always nice to hear people's opinions!

I wish you guys well! I m excited for Snezhnaya! :D

I completly agree ! Diluc is a character that is a bit more complex than it appears at first glance and his flaws are often swept under the rug or romanticized.

Over all diluc is one of my favorite characters in the game and one i ve built and regularly use for the fun of it. But i also have a lot to say about him. Keep in mind its okay to love a character and be critical or them. Diluc has many positive aspects i wont be talking about here because its not the subject but of course this post isnt meant to bash diluc. Him being an imperfect character makes him much more realistic and likeable/relatable in my opinion so this is really just meant to be a character analysis.

With that said, here is my train of thoughts on this matter :)

Duty, Justice, and the Spaces Between : An examination of Diluc Ragnvindr.

ROAD MAP OF THE POST :

I. Where it started - Crepus's parenting

II. The child soldier reality

III. Emotional regulation (or lack thereof)

IV. The Kaeya situation

V. Black-and-white morality in practice

VI. Vigilantism and hypocrisy

VII. Where we are now

(Last update : 09/05/26)

I. Let's Talk About Crepus First

The fandom romanticizes Crepus endlessly while demonizing Kaeya's father . But Crepus being a loving father doesn't mean he was a perfect one. I'd say being loving and offering your kid stability is the least you can do.

Crepus never got a Vision, despite his life-long longing for one. Then his ten.year old son gets one effortlessly. Instead of processing his own feelings, Crepus poured all his dreams and expectations onto Diluc, even if unconsciously. And Diluc, being a child who adored his father, absorbed that completely , making his father's approval the center of his world.

This isnt much of a headcanon and more like reading between the lines of his second character story from which i took a few extracts :

[ Master Crepus' wish was for his son to become the most esteemed knight of all and safeguard Mondstadt, the City of Freedom.

As per his father's wishes, Diluc trained rigorously to make himself worthy of the Ragnvindr name. ]

[But the words of praise he valued most of all were: "Good job. Now, that's my son."

His father's words fueled the fire inside his heart and served as his greatest motivation. Diluc was so young back then. ]

Crepus never taught Diluc emotional regulation, because Crepus himself was insecure and ashamed of his own vulnerability. He hid things from his everyone he loved and who loved him back (the Delusion through his dealings with the Fatui). He modeled a worldview where duty and justice were simple, black and white concepts, never broadening Diluc's perspective to accommodate nuance.

This is the foundation everything else builds on.

II. The Child Soldier Reality

Let's be direct: Diluc was a child soldier.

He got his Vision at ten. By fourteen, he was Mondstadt's youngest Cavalry Captain ; a military leadership position requiring years of intensive combat training. The kind of work that cant be done in an office. The kind of job where a mistake may cost someone's life. That means from age ten onward, he was being trained to fight, to kill monsters /arrest criminals, to lead soldiers. His childhood was sacrificed to preparing him for this role. The feelings any kids his age harbors - wanting to play, spend time with friends, ect- they probably were fulfilled but second only to his duty. After all, younger diluc is described by the game as a soul that firmly believed in duty and justice. Those kind of things are taught, much like Frederica hammered "Mondstadt first" in Jean's head to the point that she now suffers from it, overworking herself to allign with this idea of duty.

(And I feel like while diluc, idolizing his father so much, may not realise the extent of it all but jean most likely did. Both by witnessing Diluc's life but also by living it herself, hence why she refuses to knight Noelle despite her being fully capable of becoming a knight. Because she believes Noelle is too young to shoulder such responsibilities, not because she can't take it but because she doesn't deserve to have her childhood taken away by it. Especially since Noelle is described as that strong and will likely rise in ranks pretty fast the moment she gets knighted).

Kaeya was also a child soldier, carrying his own nation's weight though in a much more grim setting.

But when you look at the structure; both boys had their childhoods stolen by their fathers' agendas. And yet the fandom treats the two men differently because Crepus is "kind" and Kaeya's father is an unknown "other."

Now , the fandom in this case isnt entirely blamable for this "rules for thee but not for me" dynamic because the way crepus and Kaeya's fathee are presented are quite different in context. When crepus is mentionned, its either through Diluc, Varka or the dawn winery staff; in other words we are looking at the man through the eyes of the people that love him. Meanwhile, when talking about Kaeya's father, its always linked to how he abandonned his son in Mondstadt. Any mention of the Alberich bloodline is in a setting relating to something ancient and dangerous like Kaenriah or the Abyss order. And its not like its a lie to say Crepus was a good man. Its just dishonest to ignore he had his flaws , just as it wouldn't be fair to imagine Kaeya's father as a monster without yet having had any lore reveal, and given their circumstances as survivors of Kaenriah.

I feel like the double standard is worth highlighting for two main reasons.

First it allows for more interpretations of Kaeya and his father's relationship and lore. I don't believe his father to be evil or heartless, as it seems leaving his son was an act of despair, a 'last hope' and he did apologize to him in the same breath. And for kaeya, it also doesnt suit his feelings either to make his father out to be this wretched, irresponsible man that only sees him as a tool because during the event "of brews and ballads" some people of Mondstadt heard voices, carried by the winds of the anemo archon.

The voices were obviously ones they longed to hear as Diluc heard Crepus say "that's my boy!" , Rosaria heard the voice of the man that raised her, Razor had a vision of his parents and Kaeya (who was watching the winery so you'd think he would also hear Crepus) heard his father say "This is where you must stay, you are our only hope. Forgive me, Kaeya." And i think that the part he wanted to hear was the apology- but hoyo couldnt just place an apology without context, they needed to make us understand it was his father talking and thats why it still had the mention of his abandonnement.

Second, because it serves Diluc's character no good to ignore this part of his life. It explains most of his actions actually and i'll explore this through my following points.

Little update : I ve seen a lot of people debating when diluc got his vision. When you look it up, the top searches say it was never mentionned. But it was. Just not in game. It was in thr Manga released before the game did. I'll leave the exact panel right here :)

(It also speaks of the expectations diluc lived with as the ragnvindr heir which is a very nice addition to the point i was making!)

III. Diluc's Central Flaw: No Emotional Regulation

This is the core issue from which everything else flows.

When Crepus died, Diluc's first instinct wasn't processing his grief or even turning to the people that shared it (the winery staff for instance, Varka, or anyone really). It was to go to a foreign country and commit mass murder. He targeted Fatui strongholds in Snezhnaya, likely killing many subordinates who had nothing to do with his father's death.

"There is often a lack of thorough communication between fellow Harbingers, Harbingers and their subordinates, as well as between different divisions of Fatui operatives." - Genshin Wiki

Amongst the Fatui's recruits, some show up out of their own will much like the young men and women of other nation who also chose to serve their country. Others are orphans from the House of the Heart, or were drafted like Tartaglia. (Once again information i got from the genshin Wiki). So they're not all there out of their free wills alone. Some were forced (like the children that arlecchino mercifully releases after wiping their memories), some were groomed. So some are victims of circumstances.

People who likely never left their homeland, likely never played a hand in the international events that harmed people, who had families. Diluc murdered them anyway. It got so bad the Harbingers noticed him, and he would have died if the Curatorium of Secrets hadn't saved him. And however 'evil' we may call the Fatui, there is no defending yourself on someone else's soil.

In my eyes, this isn't justice at all. He targeted anyone with the fatui insigna, not the ones responsible for his pain. By killing them he most likely created countless other '' Dilucs ''. Families that wonder why their loved one returned home in a box and wishing the worst on the one who did this.

The summary of this point would be that until his eighteenth birthday, Crepus's approval was the center of his world, and with that came being an exemplary knight of mondstadt and being good to kaeya. Since he spent his childhood reaching for that goal, he missed out on the phase of his developpement where a child/teen is supposed to build their sense of identity. And thus when crepus died, the knights shed light on their corruption and kaeya betrayed him, the three pillars of his world collapsed and he was left only with his rage and grief which he couldnt handle without proper emotional regulation. Its already hard enough to lose a parent (especially when raised by a single parent) but in Diluc's case, it being only at age eighteen and given everything else that was stated, its not far fetched to call it very traumatizing.

I see this a lot in the genshin fandom where trauma is invalidated because its not trauma that came from something big like surviving a cataclysm, or having all your friends brutally murdered or other glorious traumas. Some are quieter, 'less interesting' lore wise but vital to the identity of a character.

IV. The kaeya situation

Kaeya's confession was terribly timed, yes. But let's look at what actually happened:

Kaeya, a child when he was sent to Mondstadt, confessed he was an "agent" (Chinese text uses "agent," not "spy", the connotation matters). Whether he named Khaenri'ah specifically is unclear.

Diluc, eighteen years old, should have been capable of thinking: Kaeya was a child. Kaeya had no choice. Why is he telling me this now?

Instead, he tried to kill him. Result: Kaeya got his Vision.

Then Diluc banned him from the winery.

Kaeya refers to diluc as his "older sworn brother". Older by how many years is not mentionned, but it means that by the time diluc was 18 and leaving, he had left his minor (ex?) sworn brother alone, wounded, banished from the only home he'd known in mondstadt, with no support system. A decision made in pure emotional volatility I suppose since now years later, kaeya can stroll into the winery despite them not having talked about it.

But thats another problem. Kaeya choses to stroll into Angel's Share instead of going to the Cat's tail. Choses to sit at the bar. Kaeya does the reaching, even if through banter and annoying smirks.

Meanwhile diluc never makes that effort back. We know he still cares about him to some measures especially with the latest patches (Luna V at the moment i am writing this) where kaeya and diluc are seen together at the winery in the windblume event where we photograph anomalies. But this didnt come from them sitting down and having a conversation. Its more like kaeya reaching and diluc passively allowing things because as the years pass he gets less and less angry. But he doesnt drop his walls conpletly either. Call it pride or wariness or anything really. But its a fact. Kaeya carries the entire emotional labor of maintaining even this fragile connection. And i hate how hoyoverse seems to be subtly hinting to kaeya being the one to need to bear the responsibility of making amends when both of them have things to answer to.

V. Black-and-White Thinking in Practice

Diluc sees the world in absolutes. This means:

● The Knights are corrupt → the Knights are entirely worthless

● The system is broken → the only solution is to work outside it entirely

● He's right → anyone who disagrees is wrong

He has no patience for nuance, for people doing their best within broken systems, for slow reform. The Favonius Order was cleansed of Eroch and corruption largely through work Diluc wasn't there for. Work Kaeya and Jean and everyone else stayed to do. But Diluc still sneers at them, calls them inefficient, knowing fully well that 80% of knights are on expedition and the remaining 20% are his peers (his age and sometimes younger) stretched thin as it is.

This leads to the next point :

VI. Vigilantism and Hypocrisy

Diluc decided his way was "the way" and went full vigilante. He doesn't act in self-defense, he seeks out conflict, enforces his personal version of law without legal authority. In any real-world context, this would carry criminal charges. If he truly wanted to arrest criminals, he could rejoin the knights just as Varka keeps pestering him to. Yet, even now that the knights are fully clensed of corruption, filled by friends of his childhood, people he trained with and people he trained under; Diluc still stubornly sticks to his way.

And here's the hypocrisy: He maintains all the benefits of the system he rejects.

He's still "Master Diluc" of the wealthiest estate in Mondstadt. He still has social power as the city's "uncrowned prince", economic influence, the respect of the townspeople. He gets to be above the law while benefiting from every structure the law upholds.

When ordinary people break laws, there are consequences. When Diluc does it, it's romanticized as heroic vigilantism.

Meanwhile when he went to snezhnaya for three years, he left the entire manor and business to his staff, who had to run everything while he was off burning Fatui strongholds. People who didn't sign up for that responsibility but carried it anyway because they consider themselves family. Even if they did it off their own free will, it was incredibly unfair to them and I doubt diluc properly apologized. The fact that he even assumed it would be an okay thing to do, especially when they themselves were grieving the master they'd served for years, is problematic.

VII. Where We Are Now

Diluc has lived, seen, and done things that should make him think twice. Instead, he marches forward with the same absolutism, the same refusal to examine himself, the same emotional unavailability. His character has shown little evolution because he's frozen: emotionally still that eighteen year old who lost everything, unable to integrate the trauma and grow.

He continues to badmouth the Knights. He hasn't worked on being emotionally available to those who care about him. His relationship with Kaeya remains stagnant because Diluc won't do his share of the reaching.

His chatacter overall shows no sign of holding himself accountable or changing his ways.

Perhaps hoyoverse intends to adress this through the future lore of kaeya; whether he choses mondstadt or not or a third route and how it will impact diluc. But for now, this is what we have:

A man whose righteousness isn't virtue, but interrupted emotional development dressed up as morality.

And erasing his flaws does him and us both a disservice as a character and as a fandom.

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There it is! Thank you so much if you read this to the end. I hope I manage to answer you while remaining as objective as I could, but of course we are talking about emotions so at some point you have to think subjectively. :)))

If any of you are interested in other character and societal analysis that relate to kaeya, diluc and mondstadt in general, @ashesofdawn has a lot of posts that will satisfy that craving! She/they has/have a lot of insights regarding Mondstadt and Hoyoverse's problems that you may have not thought of. Or did think of but not nearly as well written and detailed as they do , lol.

With Varka's release and his voicelines discussing his fellow Mondstadters, something caught my attention, specifically how he refers to Kaeya as "Diluc's adopted brother." Once again, I find myself sighing at the historically low effort the English translation team has invested. This post is a clarification of Kaeya's standing in mondstadt and in the dawn winery.

Reminder : I am here to talk about lore and facts, not shipping. I personally ship Kaeya with Albedo, but whatever you ship is none of my business as long as its morally sound ;)

With that out of the way, lets get going.

ROADMAP OF THE POST :

0: Language and cultural context with Tighnari and Cyno parenthesis.

1. Misunderstanding of Kaeya's guilt.

2. Misunderstanding of Diluc's character.

3. Misunderstanding of their current dynamic.

When in doubt, always turn to the original versions. That, i assume, we can all agree on no matter the context.

HoYoverse is a Chinese company, and that cultural foundation bleeds into every aspect of their character designs—from how they fit certain beauty standards (their lack of dark skinned characters...) to their consistent emphasis on Chinese culture, with Liyue events like Lantern Rite being yearly celebrations we always participate in.

So when i created a second, no wish account, i figured i might do it in chinese. And here is what i have noticed and what the CN fans have gathered.

First of all, in instances where Kaeya calls Crepus "father" in English, he calls him "yifu" in Chinese which isn't quite the same. In Chinese, adopted father is "yangfu," and someone can be both your yifu and yangfu simultaneously because yifu means "foster/sworn father" because it carries a social and emotional value, not a legal one. An accurate description of its social/emotional aspect would be 'father figure'.

'Yifu' does not carry legal implications like an adoptive parent does.

For the English translation team, calling Kaeya Crepus's ward would have been more accurate than saying he was adopted. And "ward" is precisely the word used in the Chinese version of Kaeya's story quest when both he and the Traveler pass by the winery.

The primary difference is that adoption is a permanent, legal, and total transfer of parental rights to new parents, making the child a legal family member. A ward (or guardianship) is usually a temporary arrangement where a guardian manages a child's care without severing legal ties to biological parents. (In that sense, hoyoverse has repeated this pattern in mondstadt with Varka , rosaria and razor. He never adopted them, but in his voicelines he refers to them as "my two kids" and often relates to others' parenting experiences.).

Which means that in no point in kaeya's life was he not an alberich. Kaeya never bore the Ragnvindr surname.

So right off the bat, we get our confirmation that Crepus is not Kaeya’s adoptive father so kaeya and diluc cant be adoptive siblings. But lets take it a bit further and analyse their relationship too.

Xiongdi is what Kaeya calls himself in reference to Diluc. This word can mean "brothers," but also "brother" as in 'bro' or 'homie.' In this context, where it's singular, the word 'brother' is no different from saying 'friend' or 'buddy.'

My chinese is modest at best, so allow me to permit some native Chinese speakers explain it: (this is from a genshin forum. I tried to sample the ones that explain it the most clearly.)

For those of you familiar with Asian cultures, you know how the way people address others always carries some sort of seniority or hierarchical connotation. Honorifics are incredibly important, and elders can get offended if you don't get them right.

Terms like "oppa" in Korean, "gege" in Chinese, and "niisan" in Japanese all mean "brother" but are widely used in various contexts that don't involve blood ties. "Oppa" and "gege" can even be used by couples. So I encourage you to read with an open mind and leave Western assumptions at the door. Genshin is a Chinese game, so we ought to understand its cultural background too.

I understand that we have no cultural equivalent to sworn brothers in the west , but its not a reason to change the script. Even the Spanish team ended up changing "adopted brothers" to "sworn brothers" in Kaeya's details. If the players are confused, they would've simply needed to look up what sworn brothers are and it would've been that.

Out of all the translations, english and french are the only ones who still call them adoptive siblings. I couldve written this about the french community but we already speak english and play in english anyways lol.

The vast majority of the CN/JP fandom does not see them as brothers, nor were they intended to be seen that way. The pair from the start of the game was intended as your traditional fanservice ship-bait, along with Jean/Lisa, Beidou/Ningguang, and Zhongli/Childe. It follows all the major BL tropes, which you'd recognize if you're into cultivation donghua, webtoons, or anime. They simply don't have the same norms as we do for such relationships.

A very well-known example would be Mikasa and Eren from Attack on Titan. She was raised as a ward by the Jaeger family after her parents died, leaving her orphaned. She grew up alongside Eren, cared for by the same parents. And while she may think of them as second parents, her being in love with Eren has always been clear and nobody had a problem with it. And Attack on Titan is deemed by many as one of the best anime out there.

Or even Caleb, from the game Love and Deepspace, who is a romance route whom we call "brother" in chinese, Korean and Japanese as he and the Mc were brought up by the same woman. (In the english versions, he is merely called a childhood friend). If it didnt shock you there, why should it shock you with kaeya and diluc?

I'll make a small detour here and point out the hypocrisy of the discourse concerning Kaeya and Diluc's relationship with many western players saying kaeluc shippers are justifying family kinks with the original chinese meanings, but loving Cyno x Tighnari when they said in game that they viewed themselves as siblings.

When kaeya and diluc being adopted brothers is said to be an error in translation, people are mad, but when the game presents tighnari and Cyno as siblings, suddenly they're very interested in the chinese text, and how it is supposedly a traduction error. I dont doubt it is, I m just pointing out the double standard. I am not a kaeluc shipper myself, but every time I try to argue my point the effect is still the same.

Of course, I cropped/hid the user names as I am not trying to engage in personal discourse or attack anyone. As soon as you admit kaeya and diluc s status of adopted siblings is a translation error, then you can admit they were not in fact raised as siblings. People can grow up together without creating sibling like bonds. Take for exemple the trope childhood friends to lovers. Some people are basically born together (with their parents being friends) , go to the same pre-school, school and college and fall in love. They grew up under the same roof, but that doesnt equate to them being raided as siblings for all the reasons I have previously mentioned.

As someone who studies languages in her free time, I know it's paramount to check original texts, especially with Chinese and Japanese because they are such rich languages, as well as being from a completly different cultural background. There are many instances of the English translation team messing up, like calling the Dendro Archon "he" when the Chinese term was gender-neutral, Alhaitham's English translation and voice direction being more rude compared to JP/CN, and many more examples you wouldn't catch if you didn't play the game on two different accounts in two different languages or interact with foreign fans.

With that said, what are the lore elements that make this misunderstanding entails?

1. Misunderstanding the Nature of Kaeya's Betrayal & Guilt

With the "adopted sibling" interpretation, Kaeya’s betrayal is framed as a profound act of familial treachery. He was given a home, a name, and a family, and he repaid that kindness by lying and, in his mind, causing Crepus's death. His guilt is the guilt of a son who failed a perfect, loving father. His conflict becomes a simple binary: blood family vs. chosen/adoptive family instead of a duel of loyalty to nations he considers home for various aspects that trenscend just the ragnvindr family. (Him getting a nice job, being welcomed by the city and beloved by the elderly. Being dear to persons like Klee, Bennett and the winery staff. Just overall building himself a cosy little nest in mondstadt outside diluc and crepus).

As a ward, Kaeya's position was always more precarious. He was a child taken in out of pity or a sense of duty, given shelter and a future, but never fully granted the ultimate security of a legal son. This doesn't diminish Crepus's kindness, it might even highlight it as a selfless act of raising someone else's child. However, it adds a layer of profound insecurity to Kaeya's psyche. The sense of precarity it gave a child kaeya would explain why he would've been too afraid to reveal the truth sooner.

2. Misunderstanding Diluc’s character

Under the "adopted sibling" lense, Diluc's actions after Crepus's death seem cruel, legally questionable, and emotionally disproportionate. A biological child cannot simply disown a legally adopted sibling. This makes Diluc appear overly emotional, irrationally angry and purely vindictive, stripping him of his own nuanced trauma.

If Kaeya was Crepus's ward, then upon Crepus's death, Diluc, as the new head of the Ragnvindr estate, would have had considerably more legal and social standing to sever the guardianship. He wasn't disowning a brother; he was expelling his father's former ward. This action is still born of immense pain and rage, but it's also an act of asserting his new, unwanted authority and cutting all ties with the person who embodied his father's final, traumatic moments.

The concept of "sworn brothers" is a powerful trope in Asian media, distinct from both legal adoption and simple friendship. It's a chosen bond, often formed in youth, based on mutual respect, shared experience, and a vow of loyalty. It can be more intense than a biological bond because it's a choice. This framework perfectly explains their childhood closeness, their training together, and their shared dreams of becoming knights. It also explains the depth of Diluc's betrayal. His sworn brother, the one person he would've chosen to stand with against anyone and anything, being revealed to have been lying about his identity all along.

The betrayal becomes a violation of a sacred, chosen pact.

3. Misunderstanding the Nature of Their Current Dynamic

As adopted siblings, their current animosity is seen by the fandom as a "brotherly feud" that will inevitably be resolved so they can be a family again. The focus is on reconciliation and restoring the family unit. This often leads to narratives where their conflict is minimized or evident.

Their dynamic is far more tragic and complex. They are two men who were once closer than brothers, bound by a chosen oath, now shattered by a revelation neither could control. Diluc's rage isn't just at Kaeya's lie, but at the shattering of the sacred bond he chose to enter. Kaeya's guilt isn't just about betraying a family, but about being the one who broke their oath. Their current relationship is a cold war between two people who know each other intimately, making their clashes more pointed and their distance more painful. It's a story about the fragility of trust and the impossibility of returning to a state of innocence.

Reminder: whether Kaeya saw Crepus as a father or not does not impact his relationship with Diluc. Crepus was surely a good guardian and father figure to him, but Kaeya and Diluc’s relationship is entirely their own and based on a choice and no one can take that away from them.

Second reminder : Sworn brothers is originally a platonic relationship. As the world modernized, it transformed into a bl trope. But thus, seeing kaeya and diluc as platonic is 100% valid and is personally my way to go :))) just as shipping them would be equally valid.

So yeah that sums up what I wanted to say ! If you have questions or disagree dont hesitate to comment or contact me in a respectful manner :D

fandom wars are so cringe and we should focus on vibing and enjoying the game! Thank you for having read all my rant ! 💗💗💗

(Spoiler; its not pretty and its not any lore bomb; its purely me venting about her so buckle up senrior/ita)

Am I really the only one who feels deeply unsettled by Rhinedottir, also known as Gold? Let’s not forget — she’s one of the Five Sinners, directly linked to the onset of the Cataclysm. She didn’t just dabble in questionable experiments — she created and corrupted beings like Durin, the Riftwolves, Elynas… and then may or may not have unleashed them upon Teyvat. How fun!

And yet, in the 5.6 Mondstadt story quests, we’re handed this tragic little family drama where Albedo — her most successful creation — tells us "b-buT sHe WaSn’t aLwAys eViL."

I beg your finest pardon?

She’s (partialy) responsible for the downfall of an entire civilization — Khaenri’ah. And that’s not hyperbole. Her actions triggered a chain of events that led to not just genocide, but a fate arguably worse than death. The citizens of Khaenri’ah weren’t allowed peace. They became immortal, cursed to watch their bodies rot and their minds erode. Others were twisted into mindless Abyss monsters.

This wasn’t contained to one nation, either. Gold’s creations — her “experiments” — spilled into the world. Her monsters ravaged regions outside Khaenri’ah. Part of Inazuma is still tainted by her corruption 500 years later, in a state comparable to magical Chernobyl. And now, we’re supposed to feel bad for her? Sympathize with her story? Because that just seems like a whole bunch of foreshadowing for her to speed run redemption. Bullshit if ya ask me.

But wait! It gets better ; she supposedly “ascends” by devouring Naberius's heart and becoming the “Ruler of Life.” Life? The irony is nauseating. Or maybe i m just overreacting; after all, nothing says life like mass destruction and corruptive experimentation! 🤩

And she’s Albedo’s “mother.”

But let’s talk about that title — mother. She abandoned countless failed creations as part of her Primordial Human Project. She discarded her experiments like trash. One of them, Subject Two, was literally left to rot inside Durin. What part of that screams "mother" to you?

Even in the Natlan Archon Quest and “Bedtime Story,” we hear from survivors like Dainsleif and Capitano that the Five Sinners were once guardians of Khaenri’ah, but succumbed to the Abyss, gaining power that could destroy the world... The corruption was so well-hidden that even high-ranking Khaenri’ahns like Capitano were unaware of it.

And yet now, Gold is portrayed as some tragic, misunderstood figure who just had a “crazy alchemist phase.” Like oops, I made rifthounds that corrupted an entire nation for half a millennium. Oops, I helped destroy a civilization and triggered Celestia’s wrath. Teehee. But hey! I'm a god now :)

The part that really stings? My favorite characters — Kaeya especially — are all directly shaped by the Cataclysm. Their trauma, their burdens, their pain — all of it traces back to this single event. And one of the key people responsible is just… still out there. Not only alive, but elevated.

And to make things worse — Alice, Klee’s mother, who’s supposed to be a figure of immense power and eccentric wisdom, is still friends with Gold. She accepted Albedo, protected him, and by extension, shielded Gold. Even after everything.

How are we meant to accept that?

I can’t forgive her. I don’t care how tragic her backstory is or how noble her original intentions might’ve been. The consequences of her actions were catastrophic. She is not a misunderstood genius. She is a war criminal who turned her world into a graveyard.

Anyway. Gold? Not forgiven. She’s the kind of girl who says “trust the process” while the process is LITERALLY DOOMSDAY.

Extra : Rhinedottir: “I just wanted to create the perfect human.”

Also Rhinedottir: creates an army of eldritch horrors and curses an entire continent.

Extra extra :If I ever see Alice or Rhinedottir show up on screen, we’re having a conversation.

In a square room.

With no roof.

Four corners.

Ropes all around.

You might call it a boxing ring.

Also me : Thinking about how Lumine low-key despises Dainsleif for failing Khaenri’ah, only to turn around and become the Abyss Order’s princess under the watchful gaze of Vedrfolnir—aka ‘Zaddy Cube,’ Dain’s sketchy older brother and one of the five Sinners who maybe kinda sorta caused the whole Cataclysm? (And also probably the reason Dain’s got that ‘I haven’t slept in 500 years’ aesthetic)

So either:

● Lumine’s playing 4D chess whith the emotional intelligence of a bread loaf

● Dainsleif’s whole ‘woe is me’ act is hiding some shady stuff...

Either way, 5.7 we're waiting for you brother.

EXTRA ; i only added this after 5.7 but Lumine. Girl. "DaiNsLieF fAilEd To sAvE KaeNriAh!"

Miss girl you didnt just fail to save it, you abandoned it to wake up your sibling and run. Thats some serious attitude ya got here, keep it down .

"He believes he has made a clean break with his past, but one day fate will catch up with him. When it does, he will have a major decision to make."

Mona’s voiceline wasn’t just a throwaway prophecy—it was a warning. From day one, Hoyo’s been teasing a brutal showdown between Mondstadt and Khaenri’ah, and Kaeya? He’s the ticking time bomb at the center of it all.

Yet, somehow, the fandom keeps reducing him to "sneaky drunkard with daddy issues who’ll pick Mondstadt because ~found family~." Let’s set the record straight: Kaeya is far more complex, far more dangerous, and far more torn than people give him credit for.

Beneath that silver tongue and calculated smirks lies a man who genuinely cares—not just about Mondstadt, but about its people. And he proves it without needing recognition.

● "A Commission for That Guy": Kaeya works in the shadows, using Vile as his informant to protect Jilliana from treasure hoarders—without blowing her cover. No grand speeches, no pats on the back. Just results.

● Jean’s Party Planning: He straight-up tells the Traveler how to organize things, never taking credit. Meanwhile, when asked about other characters? He refuses to badmouth them (cough unlike Amber, Diluc, or Diona). Even when pressed about Rosaria’s secrets in his voiceline 'about Rosaria', he shuts it down: "That I cannot say."

● His Story Quests: Every. Single. One. shows him outsmarting the bad guys while helping others. Scamming a scammer in Liyue? Check. Saving a play in Sumeru? Check (and he specifically asked if the troupe would lose money before altering the script—because of course he did).

Kaeya isn’t just reliable—he’s *the most* reliable person in Mondstadt.

Diluc? Acts first, thinks later.

Jean? Burns herself out policing others’ limits (looking at you, Noelle’s knight rejection trauma—seriously, how do visionless randos like Wood get in but Noelle doesn’t?).

Kaeya? Gets. Shit. Done. Because he doesn’t care about looking righteous—just about results.

And let’s talk about how he’s basically Mondstadt’s de facto dad:

○ Wrote survival rules for Klee instead of locking her up in solitary confinement like Jean does, because he understands that its best to teach her to pursue her passions safely than banning them outright.

○ Taught Bennett sword skills.

○ Is name-dropped by Klee in every event because he’s that present in her life (he taught Klee and the other knights to play tcg. He even uses it as leverage to get Jean to take more breaks).

So yeah, in definitive, Kaeya definitely cares a lot about mond and its people. But unfortunately thats where most people stop in their reasoning. If Kaeya only cared about Mondstadt, he wouldnt be so conflicted. His loyalty is split because his heart is split. Imagine one day, your dad dumps a shitty mission on you for the sake of something (a country, a person, anything) you dont give two shits about. You wouldn't be nearly as concerned and torn as Kaeya apparently is. Lets gather some evidence here;

• "Mi Muhe Ye, meaning i love you, in the language of hilluchurls. ": In Venti’s poetry class, Kaeya wrote "I triumph over you" in Khaenri’ahn . A middle finger to the gods? Absolutely.

• Sumeru hangout: He rewrote a play’s script without changing its outcome—mirroring and foreshadowing Nahida’s "change only what can be changed" and the Hexenzirkel’s "fate can’t be rewritten, but you can work where the gods don’t look" in the Fontain archon quest where they discussed how to save it from the flood. The outcome of the prophecy couldnt be changed : Fontaine would be flooded. But there were still things they could change which ended up positively impacting what happened after the end of the prophecy.

• His Final Monologue in the sumeru hangout: "Perhaps there’s an inept god out there deciding everyone’s fate, like an author writing a book. But actors need to realise that they don’t need to follow the script—they have the freedom to improvise."

And when you think about the irminsul and ley lines having been described as Celestia's way to control teyvat's fate, his description of inept god from whose's script actors must break free is the same as what the abyss order, Kaenriah, sovereigns and the fatui think. A rebellion against Celestia's illegitimate rule.

So overall, kaeya has displayed a subtle but still clear disdain for divinity and their rule over teyvat, even while still holding affection for the elemental nations.

But then, what does that say about his endgame?

Well, obviously kaeya will be confronted to a situation where he would need to make a choice. But truthfully i dont think he's going to take one at all.

The theme of fate in genshin has always been recurrent and most often than not, with kaeya. And I think, with the sumeru hangout' play and dagger bandit play, hoyo has been hinting at Kaeya being an actor seeking to break free from the script/fate=Celestia's influence, and live freely.

[ updated ] As Mona predicts, Kaeya's fate is to make a choice, but kaeya does not want to be a "pawn in heaven's plan" as he so well says on stage as Qubad (interesting since the word chinese uses for him is pawn rather than spy which was the word the english translation went for...) so logically, kaeya breaking free of that fate is by not choosing at all and trying to reconcile both.

[ old prediction] He might be a character similar to Dainslief. Who seeks revenge on the sinners and holds grudges at Celestia for destroying Kaenriah, but still being against the abyss order and coming to term with the fact that his homeland is now a relic of the past and shouldn't be rebuild. He allies honoring the memory of his home and people, while also protecting Teyvat in a sense. His beef is with his sexy cube brother and his edge lord friends, and the Marijuana lady high up in the clouds with her rubix cubes (i m looking at you, sustainer of dry hair). But that would be too simple though. It would be hoyo s easy way out so kaeya can chose mondstadt 'in good conscience'. So in a similar fashion, kaeya may seek to help bring Celestia down while keeping his precious wine- ermm, Mondstadt, safe.

Anyways, to make further theories, we shall have to wait for some Kaenriah crumbs over the Alberich clan maybe, to try and figure out just how important that nation and people is to him or just what plot he could potentially be a part of.