kisame 🪷

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There's Never Been A True Authority Dynamic

word count: 510

I talked about this a bit in my previous analysis on them and said that a more in-depth discussion about it would be included in this analysis, so let's begin with that first!

Despite having the titles of Teacher and Student, Anaxa & Phainon have never truly held a genuine authority dynamic within their relationship.

Phainon's respect for Anaxa runs deep—he does his best to be polite, in the sense that he believes they do have a set dynamic that he needs to respect, but continuously attempts to break down that barrier at the same time. Phainon wants to be closer to Anaxa, rather than just one of his many students or mere acquaintances.

They use the terms “teacher/professor” and “student” on one another, but they've long since passed that. Not just because Phainon is no longer a student of the Grove of Epiphany, but because the two of them together don't exactly hold the proper formality with each other outside of those titles.

Phainon often uses casual/informal terms with Anaxa as a means to try to get closer with him, however, he usually tries to follow up with something more formal because he doesn't want it to seem like he doesn't respect Anaxa, or the dynamic he thinks they have.

But despite that, Anaxa doesn't seem to mind as much as Phainon may think.

Unlike with others, there are multiple instances where we see Anaxa let Phainon get away with the usage of the nickname, along with the casual speaking. This is because Phainon is one of the only people Anaxa had allowed to be close to him.

If anything, Phainon is, and has been, Anaxa's equal.

Despite Phainon being sent to the Grove to learn, ultimately from Anaxa, he taught Anaxa things too.

As we know, Anaxa is not the most sociable person—at least in the sense that he does not have a lot of people who are his genuine friends and like him for Him.

When he had lost his sister, he truly had no one left. Along with that, his mentor Empedocles also cared deeply for him, but passed away as well.

Phainon is among the very few people who do not shun Anaxa out—he sees the other for himself, and not the foolish, or blasphemer, amongst other titles he's gained from those who disdain him. 

He has actively tried to get closer to Anaxa because he likes him for him, respects him for all he's taught, because Anaxa is Anaxa—true to himself. In Phainon’s voiceline about him, he says that Anaxa is the one who taught him that being unique and true to yourself is a virtue.

Once you understand that, you understand why Anaxa, slowly but surely, opened himself up to Phainon. Even if Phainon wasn't exactly aware.

This ties into the next segments so I won't talk too much about it right here, but it is so important to understand the way they view/see each other and how that ties into their relationship and the paths they are made to simulate.

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Phainon's Humanity, Anaxa's Reassurance, and the Vice Versa

word count: 1,138

Phainon has never been the nicest to himself.

Even before leaving for Okhema after the destruction of Aedes Elysiae, he carried himself as someone who would defend and protect, akin to a hero. Considering he is the prophesied Deliverer, one born with golden blood, and someone with a resolve so fierce to put his mind to anything, it was genuinely bound to happen.

With him being in Okhema, being taught to become the hero he is meant to be, it, of course, only got worse—him stripping away any other part of himself other than his hero front.

Especially with him having to meet Aglaea's expectations of eventually taking over as the leader of the Flamechase journey, Phainon had genuinely lost his sense of self at times.

Phainon hates and loathes himself, along with being incredibly self-sacrificial because he feels the need to give himself up for those he loves because he has lost too much.

We see in his later entries for As I've Written talking about Khaslana's feelings of self-sacrifice, grief, hatred, anger, and loathing. Not just towards what he has to endure but towards himself as well.

It's rooted in the fact that Phainon believes he's not perfect enough to be able to save and protect everyone, which delves into his immense anger and hatred at himself.

We know that previously, Khaslana had killed each loop's Phainon up until the four millionth recurrence.

Due to ‘the hero within’ beginning to fail in him, he had stopped killing Phainon with Cyrene, so that Phainon would be able to inherit all the coreflames Khaslana housed and take on the mantle of “Khaslana”, knowing full well Phainon would do it.

Combining all of his self-loathing with the knowledge that he chose to kill all the Phainons previously… you can likely assume where I'm heading with this.

Along with all of this, he is not one to particularly just open up out of nowhere about his past. So truly, most really only know him as the Hero of Amphoreus, never just Phainon.

Anaxa does not devote himself to the prophecy or the Flamechase, despite being a Chrysos Heir meant to bear a coreflame. He detests it, does not bow himself to the titans, and instead follows his own truth.

Anaxagoras is also one of only two people, the other being Cyrene, to constantly humanize Phainon from out of his Deliverer role.

This is so insanely important to their relationship for a multitude of reasons.

Let's get into how Anaxa sees everything: he does not worship the titans like the rest of Amphoreus do. He recognizes that they exist but does not revere them.

Anaxa knows that nothing and no one is inherently perfect nor celestial.

To understand this is to understand how Anaxa sees Phainon.

Phainon is not perfect, and he will never be, no matter how hard he tries. He is said to be the Chrysos Heir who has no flaw, yet that in itself is an inherent flaw.

Rather than disdaining him for it (Anaxa would never do that anyway), Anaxa sees that he is imperfect and ordinary, and it doesn't change how he may feel about Phainon.

Phainon will always be Phainon to Anaxa.

Despite Phainon choosing to follow the prophecy, despite him following the titans, it will never change how Anaxa may feel or see him.

After the 3.2 Trailblaze quest, we unlock another voiceline about Castorice from Anaxa.

“So what if she's a Titan? She's still a student of the Grove.”

His view on her doesn't change. She's still Castorice to him—the same applies to Phainon.

Paired with this, again, Anaxa is one of two people who constantly humanize Phainon; he refers to him as only Phainon or Phainon of Aedes Elysiae, rather than the hero he's made out to be.

Even with Khaslana, when Anaxa had confronted him in recurrence 134, he had recognized that despite Khaslana saying he was doing this for everyone else, for humanity, in truth he was not only hurting the humanity he swore to protect but also himself. It's precisely why Anaxa had told him to turn back.

Due to the fact that Phainon really only sees himself through his hero role, topped with the fact that Khaslana was certain he was the only one who could save everyone, it only weighed him down even more.

His methods of retrieving the coreflames had to change over time, because none of the others knew who he was and viewed him as untrustworthy due to not being able to find solid proof in what he was telling them.

Yet Anaxa, without fail, always helped him, until he eventually changed his methods. He never chose to fight or be violent with Khaslana.

Looking at this from another perspective, let's revisit some of what I explained previously:

Phainon will always be Phainon to Anaxa, and Anaxa will always be Anaxa to Phainon. They see each other for who they are, even if they may walk different paths, and that is why they've let each other in. It's why their relationship is the way it is.

For Khaslana to tell Anaxa, who never even met him in those other loops, that he was once his pupil, it was basically letting Anaxa know that this man, who he doesn't even know, actually liked him.

He liked him enough to stay his pupil, to stay under his tutelage. He talked about Anaxa to his own face, about his personality, and what he remembers from his previous Anaxas.

He talked to Anaxa like he actually cares—because he does, he has, and always will.

Anaxa is not very liked amongst a general crowd, solely because of his differing opinions on the titans.

For Khaslana to tell him all this, again, despite not having anything to back up his claims, in a way, it was him being told that there truly was someone else who liked him, for him.

It's as if Phainon, even if he is pulled away by the waters, Anaxa is someone who will always reel him back onto shore, grounding him and making sure he knows he will always be human—always be Phainon.

And Anaxa who is constantly shunned out, will always have Phainon who simply likes him for being himself, respects him for all he knows and has taught, taking his time to go out of his way to acknowledge Anaxa and get closer to him.

It's almost, if not literally, parallelism and poetic in the way with how Anaxa is so heavily hated and treated like less than a human by others, whereas Phainon is so heavily loved by people, but loses sense of himself with how people treat him.

Yet Anaxa, the blasphemer, the foolish, the one who most disdain and dehumanize, is the one to remind him—to bring him back.

—

Anaxa and Death, Phainon and Comfort

word count: 594

It's very important to understand that version 3.2's theme was always about life and death.

I actually really want to talk about both Castorice and Anaxa's parts in the mission, with how they intertwine and represent what the other is actually supposed to front, but I'll save that discussion for another time.

In order to recognize Anaxa's relationship with death, let's explore his relationship with loss and grief first.

From the start, since he was a child, he's had to deal with loss and grief.

His parents had passed away when he was very little, later on, he lost his sister to the black tide, and then his mentor eventually passed away as well.

All of these things are triggering factors for why he's so self-destructive and quite blatantly and openly suicidal. He harms himself through his experiments as a means to unhealthily cope.

He's mulled over his eventual death countless times. He's planned out his tombstone. He has already written an epitaph. He's even already thought about his will. He doesn't want people to shed tears over his death—at least those who do love him, because though it may not be very many, they love him so dearly.

From the very first 'As I've Written' entry we read about him, it already mentions death and how he cleans his grave every Month of Reaping.

But despite all that, he fears death.

Anaxa fears death but is incredibly suicidal all at once, which is why he harms and sacrifices so much of himself through his experiments. He holds so little regard for himself due to loss and grief.

In 3.2, the crowd at Dawncloud had chanted in favor of Anaxa's execution, wishing for him to die because of his actions of blasphemy toward Kephale. Then, later on, at the end of the mission, we're in the Genesis of Vortex about to watch him die.

It was so important to Anaxa to have Phainon there.

Those who witnessed him ripping the coreflame out of his chest were Phainon, Aglaea, Trinnon, the Trailblazer, along with Cerces, who died alongside him in that moment.

Amongst them, Phainon was truly the only one who was close to Anaxa.

Anaxa died in a place he doesn't consider home, with the eyes of people he doesn't see eye to eye with or those whom he doesn't know well personally, watching him kill himself.

For Phainon to stay and be there, even though Phainon himself didn't want to watch someone beloved to him die, it meant a lot to Anaxa.

Phainon visibly turns his head away from Anaxa's figure in the cutscene, crossing his arms and staring elsewhere because he can't bear to witness the other man's death—someone who he loves and respects so deeply, someone who he's tried so hard to get closer to.

And that someone is going to die right before his eyes, but no matter how much he couldn't bear to watch, he stayed because it's love that he has for Anaxa.

Phainon, not fully understanding what Anaxa was talking about, but believing him anyway, because he trusts him. And Anaxa, who reciprocates that very trust by knowing that if he were to forget everything of his past life, he would still have Phainon.

Phainon promised him that in the new world, the two of them would be reunited.

It's that type of comfort Phainon brings—the love and trust they both have for each other.

For Anaxa, who is afraid of death, to be comforted by someone he trusts, even if for a little, before he ultimately dies.

—

Anaxa to Khaslana

word count: 959

3.4, Phainon's release patch and the debut of Khaslana in the story, mentions Anaxa a lot.

Not even just from Phainon/Khaslana—Lygus mentions Anaxa a great deal as well. We also obtain the information of Nous's/the Erudition's true involvement within Amphoreus; a key factor being that Amphoreus is entirely built upon an undetected scepter from the second mechanical war. It's no surprise that the embodiment of Erudition within the simulation was brought up so much.

Along with that, Anaxa always seems to be the last one or at least one of the last people we see in Khaslana's memories or hallucinations—such as when the Trailblazer saw past recurrences for the first time, or when Khaslana was on his way to fight Hyacine for her coreflame in the 23,570,000th recurrence.

Khaslana's hallucinations picture Anaxa to view him as the Deliverer, one who will save all—because again, he sees himself that way and assumes everyone does too.

Khaslana also appears to be the most “gentle” with Anaxa, out of all of the other heirs, evident from even the earliest loops.

There was a recent change within the JP text and dub during recurrence 134, where we see Khaslana and Anaxa talking with each other before they enter the Luminary Throne.

The line was re-recorded and edited in the story, from Khaslana calling Anaxa ‘professor’, to just simply Anaxa. This was entirely intentional, not even just with the JP, but also the other languages choosing to have Khaslana merely call him Anaxa. And Anaxa doesn't try to correct him.

In comparison to eternal recurrence 33,550,336, when we first meet Flame Reaver and Anaxa, rather than killing him then and there, he merely stares at Anaxa's unconscious body. 

When Trailblazer, Castorice, and Trianne arrive, he moves almost as if to defend Anaxa—he does not ever try to harm or hurt Anaxa while he's still sitting on the throne unconscious. Only when Anaxa wakes and makes his own moves against Flame Reaver, does he go against him.

Anaxa is physically weaker than most; he really isn't lying when he calls himself a frail scholar. Along with that, he is a physically disabled character due to him only having one eye and his body being more susceptible to not being able to move as one would able-bodied—the latter reason being enforced by how much he physically harms and neglects himself as well.

Why do I bring this up? Because of when in 3.1, where we use Anaxa as bait to fight against Flame Reaver so he can buy us time: Anaxa's body in general is already weaker than most and considering he quite literally became undead not too long ago, with Cerces's coreflame being the sole reason he's able to move at that moment, it's a surprise on its own how he was able to hold his own against Flame Reaver for that long.

And we know Flame Reaver is absurdly strong. Of course he is, considering Khaslana has to carry literally millions of coreflames and is strong enough to be able to kill literal titans.

So once again, but while he was fighting Anaxa in Castrum Kremnos, he could have killed him for the Reason coreflame right then and there. But he did not. He didn't even visibly harm Anaxa.

Almost as if he could not bring himself to actually kill him.

Which is bizarre, as we know, because he has, at least now, zero hesitation when it comes to killing the others for their coreflames, such as Mydeimos and Cifera in version 3.3.

Khaslana's goal is to collect enough coreflames across countless loops to be able to gain enough power to fight back against Nanook and the Destruction. Yet he seemingly didn't want to kill Anaxagoras for the Reason coreflame.

It's also bizarre how similar Anaxa's and Flame Reaver's bodies are—both cracked and void-like.

In the Chrysos Heirs wiki on HoyoLab, Anaxa describes Phainon in their relationship as “an unforgettable student”, yet Phainon seems to be the one who is unable to forget Anaxa no matter what. 

Anaxa not only seemingly haunts the narrative of Amphoreus but also Khaslana himself.

In Phainon's trailer, Anaxa is the last one we see bleeding out, then it transitions to Phainon's hand with blood on it, and into the iconic wheatfield scene we know between the two, where Anaxa asks Phainon what his dream/ideal is.

3.4's abundance of Anaxa mentions also show how much Khaslana is unable to forget him, not only because he remembers what's been taught to him, but also because Anaxa was the one who would guide him out of the dark and back into the light.

Just like what I said previously; Anaxa is the one who pulls Phainon back to the shore—he's someone who Phainon knows brings him peace and that's why Khaslana thinks about and hallucinates him so frequently, which directly plays into how much he misses him too.

Khaslana and Anaxa truly are the same, in a general sense; both are incredibly self-destructive, self-sacrificial, and love humanity, yet humanity never truly seems to see them for them.

Khaslana is dehumanized by the other heirs and the journey itself, due to him not being able to provide evidence for his claims, and with his body becoming more and more inhuman with the more coreflames he gains. They've even nicknamed him the Executioner.

Anaxa is dehumanized as a person for merely having differing opinions. There's hardly anyone actually willing to listen to his reasoning, as they deem him to be a blasphemer who spouts nothing but lies and falsehoods against the Titans they worship.

They're two sides of the same coin, both incredibly different and similar, paralleling each other perfectly and deliberately.

—

Phainon's Nanook Parallels with Anaxa's Nous Parallels

word count: 889

Both Phainon and Anaxa’s stories are insanely similar to Nanook’s and Nous’s.

Nanook ascended from the planet of Adlivun, a planet that had been greatly affected by the Swarm Disaster and both Mechanical Wars. THEY are also the youngest amongst the aeons.

Due to the destruction of THEIR planet from the events mentioned, THEY ascended to aeonhood and became the aeon of Destruction Nanook we know now.

Comparing this to Phainon's story, it's really not far off at all.

Aedes Elysiae was destroyed by the Black Tide, causing Phainon to leave for Okhema and begin his journey of being a hero—much like how Nanook ascended to aeonhood after the destruction of Adlivun.

Both of their homes were destroyed by disasters unforeseen to them, resulting in their growing hatred.

We can also infer Phainon considered Okhema a home or safe haven as well, considering he's met people he's come to love and cherish very dearly there. We know Okhema, Amphoreus as a whole, was affected by the Black Tide.

Phainon and Nanook already share many similarities in general about them; Phainon is a creation of Destruction, so it makes sense.

Many have already made these connections between them, as they're more blatant than most. However, no one seems to really draw attention to the fact that Anaxa's character also seems to match Nous's story extremely well too.

Lygus's entire goal with the completion of Irontomb is to be able to destroy the path of Erudition and Nous THEMSELF. With Erudition/Nous's existence, it has singlehandedly confined the cosmos to the idea of Paths.

Nous's knowledge only consists of what THEY know, not everything there is to the entire universe. Which goes to only further, albeit unknowingly, restrict those who follow the path of Erudition.

And that also plays directly into the Circle of Knowledge, that of which is made in order to prevent Finality from descending onto the cosmos.

Nous was created by Lygus, or rather Zandar One Kuwabara, and basically evolved through learning information so much so THEY ascended to aeonhood. THEY calculate towards the ultimate solution through observing the essence of the universe.

But Nous raises more questions rather than answers—due to the fact that not even THEY know everything.

Anaxa, within the system logs, because he is the first individual to be able to uncover the truth of Amphoreus's fundamentals, his evolution rates are extremely unreplicable. Much like how Nous so quickly evolved and ascended, and how THEY reside over Erudition but also are one of the key factors for some of the other paths even existing because of the concept.

But, rather than simply learning it from another like how Nous takes in information, Anaxagoras learned it for himself as the first.

Anaxa already has connections to Nous, not just because of in-game Erudition, but also because of the real-life Anaxagoras, too.

The real philosopher Anaxagoras created the concept of Nous; a concept of the human mind in which we are to understand what is real and what is not—basically awareness, as people have put it simply. And if Anaxa is anything, it's that he is very aware.

Going back to Phainon, despite him sharing so many similarities with Nanook, he very bluntly hates THEM. His hatred rages toward Nanook, as the anger he feels for THEM is from the fact that his entire life, his home, and his loved ones are all merely pawns in a game of gods.

Nanook’s hatred started because THEIR home was destroyed, leading THEM to ascend and wish for destruction upon the entire universe, as THEY see it as a mistake.

Anaxa does not care for or revere the gods so we can assume he would not care for Nous either. Perhaps he would take interest in THEM or the others but would not follow any set path or worship them.

Phainon & Anaxa, their relationship alone, differs from that of Nanook & Nous—or really Nanook with any of the aeons.

As we know, Nanook seeks to destroy the other Paths with THEIR Lord Ravagers. Each Lord Ravager has a set path to destroy; such as Asat-Pramad with Elation, Phantylia with the Hunt, Zephyr with Nihility, and so on and so forth.

Essentially, it is a war between gods, which will evidently and eventually lead the cosmos to the awaiting prophesized Finality at the end of it all.

Yet Phainon holds no hatred toward Anaxa, even though he is practically part of Irontomb.

(I'd argue he even is Irontomb, considering Nanook took interest in him specifically and his rating gun number was unknown due to being immeasurable, which usually indicates a hint that a character is of higher power/an emanator.)

Irontomb, made to destroy the path of Erudition; Anaxa, who is made to represent Erudition within the system; but Phainon has never tried to destroy Anaxa, ever.

Within even their trailers, specifically shots of Phainon seemingly getting crucified and Anaxa's trailer art, they show similarities to the two aeons.

Phainon's pose is very similar to that of Nanook's—hands slightly raised, facing forward.

Anaxa's as well—he looks up in the same direction as Nous and the X in his name has a red slash across it, mimicking the light flare from Nous's red light.

Also extremely interesting how their respective BP lightcone arts show Anaxa in pain, while Phainon is at peace.

—

Phainon & Anaxa Mirror Mnestia & Cerces More Than You Think

word count: 749

This section goes hand in hand with some of the previous ones; we're going to be taking Phainon & Anaxa's relationship with each other and comparing it to that of Cerces & Mnestia's.

Beginning with Cerces & Mnestia, they withhold the tropes of creator/creation and teacher/student.

Mnestia had fallen in love with Cerces and cried to them, confessing their love beneath the giant tree, but ultimately gained no response or reciprocation, in which they passed away crying tears of blood, then rebirthed from their golden cocoon as a more humanoid figure.

Thanatos, the titan of death, was even moved by Mnestia's tragic passing, and as a result, those who had lost their lives to love were allowed to be reborn into golden butterflies, the titankin.

Mnestia then set off on a journey across all of Amphoreus, to learn and consume all forms of love that everyone and everything has for each other, to which when they finally returned back to Cerces, they wove all the love they gained into a golden chrysalis with body and heart, then gifted it to Cerces who finally accepted and reciprocated.

Mnestia, no matter what type of love, loved Cerces regardless.

Comparing this to Phainon & Anaxa, it's very similar to how Phainon wants to be closer to Anaxa.

He doesn't truly get a direct confirmation that he is indeed closer to anaxa, but he kept trying regardless. And Anaxa, like Cerces, eventually accepts the other in and loves them all the same.

In fact, in Phainon's voiceline about Anaxa, he says that Anaxa had named him The Man Cursed By Mnestia due to all of the love he has, and Phainon accepted that nickname and took it in stride because it was Anaxa who taught him to be unique.

Of course, because they are lovers, Cerces and Mnestia bring each other up often—we see Cerces mourning Mnestia at certain moments during 3.1. Much like them, Phainon and Anaxa are constantly bringing each other up.

Khaslana in 3.4 with how much he mentions Anaxa and Anaxa calling Phainon unforgettable and his best student.

Cerces asks Anaxa about Phainon in 3.2, and that moment is one of the genuine times Anaxa smiles.

In the Era Bellica, Cerces had accidentally lost their divine form, to which Mnestia, unable to accept that their lover was injured, collected Cerces's scattered bodies to weave them together with threads and bring the other back to them.

In 3.2, Phainon expresses the most concern out of anyone else when he realizes Anaxa's position in the play of things, afraid that the man will get manipulated by the senate/Council of Elders, considering his ‘extra vulnerable state’ of having just escaped from the Grove and withholding the Reason coreflame in him that was keeping him alive.

Thus, it leads to him wanting to find Anaxa to protect him.

(Which hey. Phainon.... he really is the man Cursed By Mnestia, because Anaxa was really the one who Manipulated Them lol.)

To further understand them in comparison to Cerces/Mnestia, you have to remember that they are both quite self-sacrificial.

From the moment we first see Anaxa and Phainon, you can already understand that they are ready to destroy themselves for others.

Phainon was entirely willing to throw himself into a tough spot if it meant he would be able to protect Anaxa during 3.2, despite Aglaea telling him otherwise.

And with Anaxa, he's completely ready to sacrifice parts of himself for the sake of others and his objectives because he is someone who values humanity and someone who loves so much—just like Phainon.

Phainon and Anaxa hold little to no regard for themselves. They loathe themselves, yet they care and love each other and those around them, devoting themselves and loving humanity to the point of self-sacrifice and self-destruction.

Cerces and Mnestia hold love for each other in the way that is devotion; they value humanity and what they bring, because to love is enough, and to love is reason, no matter what you may do for it.

Mnestia observed all kinds of love, to love Cerces even more than they already did, and it is all because of humanity.

Phainon and Anaxa had learned love from the people around them; Phainon with everyone in Aedes Elysiae, Anaxa with his older sister. And with each other, they show that love, too, with the things they're willing to do for the other, no matter what kind of love it may be.

—

Conclusion

woah. you made it this far. IM SO LATE ON POSTING THIS. i've had this draft saved since august 25th. but i've been swamped with work and other irl stuff, so it sucks. thank you to everyone for being patient with me, lol. i hope this was a good read for all of you! phainaxa is insane.

if there was anything worded weirdly or typos involved... or it the word counts are actually miscounted... you're free to kill me