kaeyayayaya

Kaeya being pushed into “opening up about his feelings” by someone else (often Diluc, the Traveler or Jean) only for them to react badly despite them being the ones who apparently wanted this so much in the first place, and the character who pushes him is never called out on it except maybe by Kaeya who’s swiftly called an idiot and forced to apologize while they get vindicated.

Why it bothers me: If someone wants Kaeya to open up to them about his true feelings or something bothering him, there’s an extremely high chance that it’ll make them uncomfortable and even question things they thought they knew, and they shouldn’t get to act like the victim when Kaeya was trying to say “no” to begin with and they were the one pushing which is what often happens. It doesn’t make them come off as a concerned friend, it makes them come off as entitled to his privacy when they’d barely done anything in both the game and the work to prove that he can trust them with vulnerable information. And often insulting his intelligence on top of it? That’s a one-way ticket to never be trusted with his vulnerabilities again, not the enlightening thing that’ll make him see their “love” for him. If anyone’s an idiot, it’s not Kaeya for trying to be honest about how bad things are for once after being shoved into it, and having an appropriate reaction to behavior that just reinforces how unsafe it is to open up to others. It would be one thing if this was purposefully done and they had to think back on it and do better for Kaeya’s sake, but that’s rarely the case or it’s blamed on them not being in control of their feelings (which Kaeya never has the luxury of using as an excuse both in the game and these scenarios btw because of how he faces backlash if he does).

Pavo ocellus 🦚

A prestigious clan, an entire family that played vital roles in their society for decades if not centuries, gone in one night. The head of the clan dead, the eldest MIA, and the youngest suddenly renounced the clan. The biggest player in the alcohol industry that Teyvat has to offer now has no real figurehead, and though we know that Elzer ended up picking up the pieces, it for sure took a couple years to truly reach smooth sailing again.

That's in the economics stand point.

Social is even worse. Crepus was an active member of Mondstadt, he visited the church, he was friends with many many high ranking people of all organisations (Varka, Cyrus, Seamus, Frederica, etc). His death would've rattled every organisation whether he was closely affiliated or not due to his connections.

Diluc and Kaeya were known to be so close that people often referred to them as twins despite Kaeya being younger and adopted. Diluc having been Mondstadt's youngest knight, he would've been very loved by everyone due to his outgoing nature and passion to protect. Kaeya was considered charming, polite, a sweet young man who stood next to his brother as a helping hand.

The citizens loved them.

And then suddenly, Diluc resigns without a word and leaves without a goodbye. On the same night, Kaeya was reported to be critically wounded, some rumours flying about a cryo vision and burn marks.

A few months later, Kaeya removed the Ragnvindr name from his legal documents, now only going by Alberich. It might not be a formal disownment due to him still being a minor, but it sent the message all the same.

A few months after that, he was promoted to Cavalry Captain and replaced his brother's position in the knights.

Mondstadt watched as Crepus's youngest morph into a silver-tongued charmer, walls so high that people forgot the person behind it. Most of the folks chalked it up to aging and growing up into his own person, though a select few stared at Kaeya in pity. A boy who lost it all. A polite and reserved young knight turned charmer to cope.

The entire structure of Mondstadt was shaken in a single night with no time to recover due to disasters after disasters.

One death of a prominent figure was bad enough, especially with his contributions to the core of their economy and the knights, but both his sons as well? The ENTIRE Ragnvindr family, at least legally, down in one night?

A prestigious clan, an entire family that played vital roles in their society for decades if not centuries, gone in one night. The head of the clan dead, the eldest MIA, and the youngest suddenly renounced the clan. The biggest player in the alcohol industry that Teyvat has to offer now has no real figurehead, and though we know that Elzer ended up picking up the pieces, it for sure took a couple years to truly reach smooth sailing again.

That's in the economics stand point.

Social is even worse. Crepus was an active member of Mondstadt, he visited the church, he was friends with many many high ranking people of all organisations (Varka, Cyrus, Seamus, Frederica, etc). His death would've rattled every organisation whether he was closely affiliated or not due to his connections.

Diluc and Kaeya were known to be so close that people often referred to them as twins despite Kaeya being younger and adopted. Diluc having been Mondstadt's youngest knight, he would've been very loved by everyone due to his outgoing nature and passion to protect. Kaeya was considered charming, polite, a sweet young man who stood next to his brother as a helping hand.

The citizens loved them.

And then suddenly, Diluc resigns without a word and leaves without a goodbye. On the same night, Kaeya was reported to be critically wounded, some rumours flying about a cryo vision and burn marks.

A few months later, Kaeya removed the Ragnvindr name from his legal documents, now only going by Alberich. It might not be a formal disownment due to him still being a minor, but it sent the message all the same.

A few months after that, he was promoted to Cavalry Captain and replaced his brother's position in the knights.

Mondstadt watched as Crepus's youngest morph into a silver-tongued charmer, walls so high that people forgot the person behind it. Most of the folks chalked it up to aging and growing up into his own person, though a select few stared at Kaeya in pity. A boy who lost it all. A polite and reserved young knight turned charmer to cope.

The entire structure of Mondstadt was shaken in a single night with no time to recover due to disasters after disasters.

One death of a prominent figure was bad enough, especially with his contributions to the core of their economy and the knights, but both his sons as well? The ENTIRE Ragnvindr family, at least legally, down in one night?

yes, of course, he's loyal to mondstadt. that's his home, he loves it and it's people very much. of course.

that does not mean he doesn't care about khaenri'ah at all. like, come on, he has khaenri'ahn symbols all over his official captain uniform. his uniform in general is not unlike say, thrain's. and he designed it himself. do you think he did all that for shits and giggles?

there's also the vision on his sailwind shadow outfit which really summarizes my entire rationale on it's own.*

some people use kaeya's hang-out event "all the world's a stage" ending as an argument, because kaeya does not improvise the ending, and in the end qubad chooses not to return to his homeland. and i say, exactly! it's the canonical ending to the play, outside the improvisation. it's the script! qubad's fate!

kaeya's fate is that he'll be forced to choose someday. that it'll be either this or that. that's the fate he REJECTS, that he declares he will resist!

i believe that ultimately, kaeya's goal is to find a solution that saves both nations; so that he never has to choose at all.

to say that he will definitelly choose mondstadt when we don't even know his exact connection and relationship with khaenri'ah is just biased.

I'm kinda new to the fandom and everything I've learned about Kaeya so fast is kinda scaring me with the death flags. Like, most fictions (and people, unless they're suicidal) would classify choosing to sacrifice yourself a difficult decision (not because it's not clear to make, but because is just a hard thing to do?) So, I'm kinda scared I'll have my favorite character dying on me yet again (I swear it always happens to me). Please hoyo don't kill my sweet blue pirate wanna be.

Hi anon, welcome to the fandom!! I'm so glad you asked!

Text:

The first time we hear about Kaeya's "choice" is in his Vision story that goes as follows:

If Khaenri'ah and Mondstadt went to war, which side should he support? To whom should he offer his assistance: his birth father, who had ruthlessly abandoned him? Or his adoptive father, who had loved him and raised him? For the longest time, Kaeya had agonized over these impossible questions, caught between the opposing demands of loyalty and duty, faced with an impossible choice between truth and happiness.

The second time was Mona's voice line, which isn't as explicit, I suppose.

Then we've got his Hang-out Event. In big short (bc I don't want to spoil too much in case you aren't there yet!), there's a character that parallels Kaeya and they have to choose between two nations as well.

Interpretation:

So yes, most sources point rather firmly to a choice between two nations. That said, I believe Kaeya's conflict is as much about the nations themselves as what they represent, as he himself says in the Vision story.

Mondstadt stands for his family, friends and all the love he recieved there. It's warm summers, azure waters, grapevines and crystalfilies glimmering in the sun. A fairy tale, really, compared to Khaenri'ah.

Khaenri'ah itself is the harsh reality, the many terrible truths about Teyvat. Celestia's constant surveilance. The Abyss and corruption, ever encroaching. A cautionary tale against ambition.

To choose Mondstadt is to turn a blind eye to the horrors his people faced and are still facing. To pretend that sunshine world of knights and gods and Visions is simple and kind. It's to abandon those who still suffer at the hands of Teyvat's occupant.

And to choose Khaenri'ah is to leave all of this, his happiness, and himself behind. He'd turn away from the sun and venture back into the shadows. As Khaenri'ah's Last Hope, he would face the dark truth of this world head on and challenge it, at the price of his spot by the side of everything he holds dear.

(Well, in theory, anyway. I don't believe choosing to help Khaenri'ah would dissuade, say, Jean from at least trying to understand his perspective. But you know what I mean, yeah?)

("Challenging the truths of this world" is still on his radar, of course, I just hope he gets to do it with his friends and family by his side :3)

Notes:

If you want to know my perspective, it's true Kaeya has a lot of deathflags, but I'm not too worried! Genshin writers have been skillfully avoiding killing any playable characters. While it would be possible (in my opinion) to make Kaeya's death a satisfing ending, I don't believe that's the kind of story they want to tell! Of course there always has to be a first time, so he's not 100% safe, I suppose, it's probably too early to worry <3

I'd definitelly recommend taking it slow with all the lore crumbs! There's so much to learn and it can get overwhelming.

Let’s see…other than drinking wine and TCG, I think he’d be making friends with the local critters and learning about the environment/ecology of Teyvat. With the way he befriended a dusk bird in Sumeru, suggested feeding the pigeons with the Traveler in one of his hangout branches, how he was talking with the cat in his 2024 birthday art, and is literally in charge of the knights’ horse division, I’m convinced he goes out of his way to care for stray animals in Mondstadt at least once a week and they all love him. And just a small bit I noticed, but he’s really good at noticing and respecting the boundaries of animals and other wildlife, and even teaches Klee about the Fungi during the beginning of the 3.8 summer event. Not to mention how he’s knowledgeable enough to alert the knights to an invasive fish species in the 4.1 Dodoco event, when Klee showed him a strange fish she caught. I think Kaeya’s more of a nature nerd than he lets on, and it’s something he likely learned as a hobby rather than part of his day-to-day job.

Besides that, I think he’d also be doing a lot of writing. Not only does he canonically have “beautiful handwriting” as seen in Hidden Strife, writing nothing but reports can get old quickly, and we’re aware that Kaeya tries to avoid boredom as much as possible. One way to stave off that disinterest and keep it from affecting his work would be to write other, more engaging things in his free time. He mentions keeping track of the Alberich Clan’s history, so that’s one thing he’d be writing. He also writes guidebooks for Klee, offers to write one for the Traveler and has probably done that for other people, so there’s that. More often, though, I think he’d do a lot of creative writing and spin fictional stories, and we’ve been shown time and time again that Kaeya loves storytelling. Not only does it give him something to tell the local kids, but for someone who feels trapped by fate it can be a time for him to dream of something different, even if it’s just temporary. Honestly, I can see him publishing a storybook under a pen name, then getting a laugh out of people making theories about the author.

If he has days of free time, I can also see him trying to meet up with friends who don’t live in Mondstadt. We see him keep in contact with the Theater Troupe and keep up with what Collei’s been up to, and he visited Thoma in Inazuma for his birthday recently. Tbh, I’d like to see these interactions with characters from other regions spotlighted a bit more for Kaeya, because it feels like all the game ever does is make it look like his life revolves solely around the knights, the Winery and the Traveler when it clearly doesn’t. We see how well characters from outside of Mond take to his charm and kindness, why not expand a bit more on those instead of restricting him to the same old in Mondstadt? Surely, for example, he’d be taking part in at least a few TCG tournaments with how known for it he is around Mond, and he could meet other formidable players like Hu Tao or Cyno. Hell, we don’t even see Kaeya get decent treatment/interactions with other Khaenri’ahns. It’s really weird when they’re trying to build up some big lore plot (TM) where he can’t give up either of the two nations easily, but narrative wise are only willing to consistently humanize/absolve the flaws of one nation (interestingly enough, the one that has shown the most worship towards the current system - seriously why is everyone so obsessed with Visions to the point they’ll be strict on their kids over it, it’s really noticeable next to all the other nations) while treating the other like it’s only good for info and answers. And honestly, having Kaeya build connections outside of either of those two wouldn’t be bad for him, because as I’ve discussed multiple times, Mondstadt has so much unchecked shit that it would not be a safe environment for Kaeya’s prior generational trauma even with good intentions, so him seeing how people from other nations deal with that and move forward would be interesting. Out of all the things I’d imagined him doing, I’d love for this one to get a ton of screentime and exploration - how would his dynamics with non-Mondstadters, and even non-Khaenri’ahns work out when they’re explored for more than five minutes?

Occasionally, he might go someplace where people can’t reach him for a good half hour or so. When it comes to in-game social gatherings (like the end of Jean’s Story Quest or the Mondstadt leg of the TCG event), you can spot Kaeya away from everyone else trying to think in peace. There’s also the fact that if you build the Park Square set in the teapot, and invite him there, he talks about how nice it is to be able to enjoy it for an extended period of time without the caveat of being called back to duty at any time. Understandable, cause a job involving public interaction can tire someone out, not to mention he still has a ton of things weighing on his mind including all his past trauma. Plus, if he’s particularly upset or at his limit, going to an unreachable place means he wouldn’t end up hurting anyone if he lashes out because of that pressure.

Even in his free time though, Kaeya wouldn’t completely detach himself from the public. I can see him having tea with some old people, or trying to get to know everyone in a way that doesn’t involve serving them, which would actually give him a healthier view of the people he’s meant to be helping than if he just viewed or interacted with them as part of his job. We know he still keeps his eyes and ears out for possible threats, and all of his hangouts show that even if Kaeya’s not supposed to be working, if someone’s in a tight spot/stuck on a problem and he happens to be around, he would not leave them hanging and expects nothing in return for his help. Even if he’s on an outing with the kids or taking care of animals, he’d still be paying attention to everything around him in case he has to raise his sword. And in the meanwhile, he’d probably be wishing for a world where he’d not only not have to do that anymore, but be able to play a part in creating that world for the future generations.