totaly not obsessed with a tall tan cryo swordsman

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.

'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.

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 let me let 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 hitting on kaeluc shippers but loving Cyno x Tighnari when they said in game that they viewed themselves as siblings.

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 bother me?

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.

I've gotten a comment telling me to unleash my holy yap about kaeya since the guy is more misterious than i ever was during my 2018 emo phase. And you're right @ngc--224 .Absolutely. Kaeya is the king he thinks he is, and we have to talk about him more because litterally wtf.

So buckle up, because we’re about to dive into the Alberich family drama like it’s a Teyvat telenovela—complete with cursed immortality, questionable parenting, and Kaeya’s glorious plot armor.

Let’s meet the cast of this tragic soap opera:

CHLOTAR ALBERICH - ARE YOU PLANTING MAGIC MUSHROOMS ON YOUR LATE WIFE'S BODY AGAIN?

• Chlothar Alberich – The OG Abyss Order founder, cursed to immortality (but somehow died anyway).

• Key Actions:

• Conducted heretical experiments to reverse the Hilichurl curse on his son, Caribert.

• His notes imply he partially succeeded—but then dipped into the afterlife like "my work here is done."

• Plot Hole: HOW DID HE DIE?

ANFORTAS - PLEASE PAY YOUR OVERDUE CHILD SUPPORT!

• Anfortas, the Knight Marshal and the leader of the Schwanenritter. He declared himself the Marshal Regent after King Irmin became "indisposed," and led an effort to take Khaenri'ahn survivors aboveground and into Sumeru. Like alright dude, chill. My legs are opening-

• He's presumed to be from the Alberich clan,given that Kaeya's childhood lessons on the clan's history emphasized how "it was the Alberich Clan, who did not have royal blood, who stepped in as regents when the strength of the one-eyed king Irmin failed."

• Vibes: "The monarchy is over, but I’ll wear this fancy coat anyway."

• Kaeya's iconic sexy pirate grandpa, allegedly.

(Sorry gang, i don't make the rules).

CARIBERT – MY SHAYLAAA

• Life: Clothar's son with a monstadian baddie. Turned into a Hilichurl child, later died.

• Heartbreak Level: 💔 Worse than Qiqi’s memory.

• Name a hotter npc then him. I'll wait.

PIERRO – THE HOT COURT MAGE WHOSE DRIP DEFIED DECAY (ya know what else's drippin- NO PLEASE HEAR ME OUT-)

• Position: Former Khaenri’ahn royal mage, now Fatui Harbinger.

• Curse Anomaly: Shows no physical erosion (unlike Dain/Capitano). (his skincare routine involves bathing in Celestia’s tears.)

• Possible Alberich?  His design similarities to Kaeya are suspicious.

(PIERRO GIVE ME ONE CHANCE PLEASE, JUST ONE-)

KAEYA - THE GUY WHOSE LIVER IS AS TRAUMATISED AS HE IS

• Kaeya – The walking paradox.

• Descendant of Chlothar? Dainsleif says yes, but how? (remember: "Kaeya Alberich, descendznt of the abyss order's founder." = Chlotar.)

• Not a Hilichurl, Not Immortal: Broke the curse by vibing too hard. Because yeah, the rules so far were :

Full-blooded Khaenri’ahn = Big star pupil, immortal but rotting, so suffering from erosion (Dain, normally Pierro,Capitano).

Half-blooded = Small star pupil, turns into Abyss monster (Hilichurls, abyss mages, heralds..).

In which case, with Kaeya, doesn't make sense since he has :

• Small star pupil (should be half-blood).

• No immortality (aged normally in Mondstadt).

• No monster transformation (still pretty).

THE PROBLEM:

Dainsleif says Kaeya is Chlothar’s descendant, but:

• Chlothar had no known partner (unless he pulled a Zeus and birthed a child via sheer willpower).

• Caribert died as a child (no kids).

• SOLUTION? Well it's possible that Kaeya is Anfortas' lineal descendant and Chlothar's collateral descendant, so he s not directly clothar's descendant, but they're related, basically.

• Even if clothar had a partner, chances are she wouldn't have been kaenriahn since if she was a half-blood, she would be an abyssal creature and if she was pure-blooded, well their kid would also be pure-blooded. And that hypothesis stands for every generation of the Alberich lineage that led to our glorious one eyed king Kaeya. And so if she wasn't kaenriahn, then their kid would've just simply ended out being halfblooded and turned into a hillichurl too. Joy.

BUT SO WHY IS KAEYA STILL A HOT DUDE AND NOT SOME ROTTING 5 STAR MEAL OR A SILLY BILLY HILLICHURL??

On the same topic, we also know a few other poeple who hijacked the curses.

THE CURSE-BREAKERS: CLOTHAR & HALFDAN’S SUS DEATHS

• Clothar was immortal… but died anyway.

• Halfdan was an Abyss creature… but sacrificed himself to destroy the curse machine in the chasm.

• Kaeya: "LOL, curses don’t apply to me."

• Caribert died at 8 years old while the abyss sibling and the sinner were building the loom of fate. At that time, he was already a hilichurl...so what kind of power could've broken Ronova's rule when she clearly told Capitano there were no exceptions??

WHAT THIS MEANS, IN A NUTSHELL:

• The curse has loopholes—sacrifice, alchemy (khemia?), wierd abyss powers, or sheer nonchalance can break it.

• Clothar’s death might’ve passed immunity to Kaeya’s lineage. Since he must have found some way to off himself, it's probable he shared his discoveries . Now why the abyss order hasn't been cured if that was the case...well ughhh we don't know. Maybe they're just that thirsty for revenge.

So yeah. There's a LOT to unpack. The Alberich family is a mess, we ADORE them for it, and we are slaves to the hoyo lore machine and only the Khaenri'ah update release shall set us free.. I need coffee.

Like dude.

We all saw the winter night's lazzo trailer right? So why isn't anybody talking about :

1. THE "ROTTING IMMORTALS" CLUB (DAIN & CAPITANO):

Dainsleif: His entire right side is disintegrating (glowing blue veins, cracked skin)

Capitano: Literally a walking corpse with an artificial heart repurposed as tea pot filled with souls (his armor was holding him together, allegedly).

Common Theme: Their bodies are falling apart from the curse’s "erosion" (time eating away at them).

2. PIERRO, THE EXCEPTION:

●Skin smoother than a Teyvat sunrise.

●Voice like velvet-covered thunder

●Zero visible decay.

●Drip so powerful it defies physics. (Like frr dude's charisma is so heavy it has a gravitational pull).

BUT THEN WHY IS HE BUILT DIFFERENT?!

Theory 1: He is cursed, yes, but he s using a sort of relic to slow its propagation (Tsaritsa help? A Seelie relic? Pure rage?).

Theory 2: Skincare. (Khaenri’ahn alchemy = 5000 SPF CELESTIA-proof serum.)

Theory 3: Let’s be real: hoyo saw his design and went "No. He’s too hot to decay. Let the D.I.L.F. live." (Which yk what, hell yeah)

And oh we re certainly not going to talk about how pierro s design is litterally the same as kaeya's 🗿🗿.

(Spoiler alert: I am by no means a good genshin theorist. I m just a simp. Who happens to have a 10 year old's sense of humor)

LUNA 3 UPDATE

columbina is here 🤩 and with her, a small but potentially significant lore crumb was dropped.

Columbina about The Jester :

[He's quite the opposite of his codename, and that seems to be intentional. Although he's known as "The Jester," his tone is stern and serious, and he speaks in confusing riddles. The mask he wears depicts a grin that mocks the world, but he himself never smiles.]

Upon reading this, i instictively thought of kaeya. Pierro was never my first candidate to be Kaeya's father but the similarities are starting to get a bit too much. Speaking in riddles, his duality, wearing a mask/ 'fake personality' ... its all too reminiscent of Kaeya.

The similarities don't stop there.

In the the trailer 'the gods's limits' Pierro is shown up close with two shots : one during the cataclysm and one in current times.

In those shots pierro has the exact same pupils as kaeya : small and full, which we had in the past mistaken as a sign that kaeya might not be pure blooded due to dainslief and clothar having larger and not full in the middle, star shaped pupils.

But pierro has the same pupils and he was afflicted with Ronova's curse.

And halfdan also had the same pupils as dainslief but he was cursed and turned into a monster anyways.

Which leads me to my last thinfoil theory (all speculation)

Perhaps kaenriah had special bloodlines. Like the crimson moon dynasty had a main bloodline, which Arlecchino is from and is the source for the Balemoon Bloodfire running through her veins as well as her X shaped pupils. Tholindis was part of a 'sub branch' according to her wiki, and it would explain how she doesnt have said X pupils, and thus how she survived under Irmin's orders of killing the decsendents of the Crimson moon.

Perhaps, the eclipse could have something similar. Something that would explain the difference between the two referenced star shaped pupils.

Because Kaeya and Pierro (who both wear a patch over their right eye like King Irmin, which is a sign of nobility) have the same pupil and clothar, despite being a pure blooded kaenriahn, couldve been a collateral of a specific bloodline that granted the pupils shape and perhaps.. some kind of power too like the Balemoon Bloodfire? 🫣

Anyways I hope we ll see more of kaeya soon ! Couldnt be more excited for Snezhnaya;)

Small, full, star shaped pupils :

Big, non full, star shaped pupils :

The fandom is sleeping on the NATLAN ARCHON QUEST LORE BOMBS, and I’m here to SCREAM ABOUT IT.

Let’s recap:

• Capitano, our favorite 6’2" walking tragedy, was literally a sentient corpse whose heart acted like a teapot stuffed with dead Khaenri’ahn/Natlan souls. Iconic.

• Clothar is our equally iconic weird uncle who had a kid with a mondstadian baddie and spent his life figuring out how to cure his son...and also dies. Like- actually dies.

• Meanwhile, Capitano had to trigger a whole ass paradox before the shade of death, just to give the souls he carried, rest. (and even then, when Thrain told her "if you don't agree, then let me be the sacrifice and die then" the Ruler of Death was like ‘LOL no, <3’ ).

BUT HERE’S THE PLOT HOLE THAT KEEPS ME AWAKE:

HOW DID CLOTHAR ALBERICH JUST… DIE?!

This man was cursed with immortality like Dainsleif/Pierro, yet we found his BONES UNDER MUSHROOMS like some forgotten side quest.

Meanwhile, Capitano had to orchestrate a dimensional paradox just to maybe rest. WHAT GIVES?!

POSSIBLE ANSWERS (RANKED BY COPIUM LEVELS):

• The Alberichs hacked the curse ( Trough alchemy? Sheer spite?).

• Clothar stuck the loom of fate so far up where the sun doesn't shine, it rewinded his existence until when he wasn't born WHO SAID THAT???

I was reading it over because I was bored, and I simply couldn't overlook the irony of the situation. You know when you suffer from something and you simply want someone else to suffer the same as you so that they can understand ? It's as if Kaeya enjoys making people make difficult choices like he himself has to. His own twisted and bitter way to give them a taste of the medecine that was forced down his throat since celestia knows long.