#The question about what makes a person themselves is super interesting #Is it the memories? Is it personality? Is it body? Is it resemblance? What about narrative reiteration? #Bronya is not Silver Wolf but they're both HI3 Bronya but also they're not #Is March the same person she once was? What about the Trailblazer? Welt looks at Himeko and Silver Wolf and feels like drowning #but he is looking at nothing other than something eerily recognisable #Vidyadhara are reborn anew as if washed clean but Dan Heng's process was skewed. What does it mean to Dan Heng? #He has the body he has the moves he has the stern haughty air he has muddy memories he can't quite recall but something stays #Is he or is he not the same? Where does one end and the other start? Where do they overlap? #Does how others regard him influence whether he is or isn't Dan Feng? #Does the memories of others weight more than your own memories and will? #What does constitute a person? How is selfhood constructed?

What are the ontological implications of all this? #If vou respond to these questions one way in one context when it comes to one character, can you confidently reply the same thing #in a different context for a different character? If not, why? What does it say? #It's not a straight up answer. The question is what's interesting and it's what makes Dan Heng's story interesting #Seeing it dogmatically negated mainly for the purpose of a ship annoys me a lot #It is a constant in HSR but it's even more clear after playing HI3. This problematic about what constitute identify and selfhood #and whether or not they're the same thing is a constant there too. With Kiana, with Otto, with Kevin, with Fu Hua, with the simulations #of the Flame Chasers most notably with Mobius but in general with the continuation of their goals and feelings, Klein as human and as ELF, #the iteration of consciences of the Herrschers, the puppets of the Herrscher of Domination, the influence of the Herrscher of Corruption, #the many times characters are found in different universes being slightly different yet recognisable, the amount of times characters seem #to reiterate existences in different eras, echoing past selves with past faces yet different,... #And usually it's not easy to respond to all of them with the same answer, which only opens more questions. It's extremely interesting #and it's obviously a topic Honkai as a game cares about a lot. But no. Nothing matters. Dan Heng *is* Dan Feng yes or yes no questions asked #No problematic. No questioning. No doubts. All usually because of a ship.