mammothmatriarch

I'm not saying they're related buuuut

I wanted to discuss Alhaitham and Kaveh’s canonical relationship now that we know all of Kaveh’s character stories and voicelines. I will not be going into event or quest leaks since I have not seen them, so rest assured this is just the information from Kaveh’s profile.

Short summary: Alhaitham is two years Kaveh’s junior, and Kaveh befriended him out of curiosty, since so many people had a low opinion of him. Kaveh himself described Alhaitham as his “best friend” at this time, and when they met it was when Kaveh had just started living on his own for the first time (an arrangement he very much disliked, thinking of home as a “cold and lonely” place). They end up working on a project together along with several other scholars, but all but them gradually drop off as they cannot keep up with Alhaitham and Kaveh’s overwhelming intellect.

Kaveh attempts to help his peers, stretching himself very thin and burning out as he takes up their workload so that they do not fall behind. It actually reminds me of Alhaitham’s story quest, where the scholar doing all the work behind the scenes is unappreciated and eventually hits a breaking point, taking his own life. Before Kaveh can get to such a point, Alhaitham confronts him:

“ Kaveh maintained that Alhaitham was too much of an egoist, that he could be much better welcomed amongst people if he would just care about helping out more often. Alhaitham for his part pointed out that Kaveh’s impractical idealism was just a flight from reality, and that it would come to be a burden on his existence someday, and the source of Kaveh’s altruism was naught but his inescapable sense of guilt. “

And this is the beginning of the end. Alhaitham uncovers the reality that Kaveh’s altruism is not born of his selflessness, but instead out of guilt for feeling that he cannot inconvenience others the way he encourages others to inconvenience him. It is a cutting and blunt remark from Alhaitham, one that Kaveh cannot cope with:

“ Kaveh felt cut to the quick by someone who was his best friend. Alhaitham had seen through the reality that he had never been able to face, causing him to feel reality’s bite for the first time “

And some people have pointed to this as the reason their relationship fell apart, that Alhaitham’s words were simply too severe and he ignored how they would make Kaveh feel. While it is true that Alhaitham does bluntly hurt Kaveh’s feelings here, it took two people to split them apart - Kaveh’s response is:

“ Kaveh steadfastly declares that he regretted making friends with this all-too-intelligent person. The two parted ways in a single stroke. Alhaitham would remove his name from that thesis, while Kaveh would rip his copy of the thesis apart in a fury — only to put it back together with deep regret. He sensed that he would not be able to change his friend, with the reverse also being true. ”

The nail in the coffin wasn’t Alhaitham forcing Kaveh to face the reality of his life, but instead that was the catalyst for Kaveh declaring that he regretted his and Alhaitham’s friendship. Considering Kaveh is Alhaitham’s only friend (or at least, the friend through which he met all his other friends), I can only imagine how that would have felt. And ofc Alhaitham is an exceedingly rational person, but he does have feelings.

I thought that in their current relationship, Alhaitham had let go of most of his anger and Kaveh was the one still caught up in the past. After all, Alhaitham often seems teasing in his jabs, where Kaveh sounds more genuine. While this does still seem true to an extent, Alhaitham’s line “where were you when Sumeru needed you most?” feels worse now we know that Kaveh was the one to renounce their friendship. They both were “abandoned” in a sense by all the people closest to them, but while that made Alhaitham reserved and self-reflective it made Kaveh cling on to those around him to avoid looking inward at himself.

And Alhaitham removing his name from the thesis, reflective of a clean break. Kaveh, on the other hand, tears it to shreds - he’s spiralling, angry and guilty, but he also can’t face the truths that Alhaitham exposed to him. It’s important, imo, that Kaveh then repairs the thesis. I take that as an implication that he wants to repair their relationship, he just does not know how to. 

This can also be seen in Kaveh’s voiceline ‘About Alhaitham - It’s Complicated’:

“ Alhaitham helped me out a fair amount recently. If we were still as close as we were during our student days, then I’d be thanking him every chance I got. Now, though… I can’t seem get a word of appreciation out of my mouth. Even if I could, I wouldn’t want to give him the satisfaction. I guess you could say our relationship is something of a mixed bag these days? Honestly, with everything that’s happened, it almost feels like the universe has been playing pranks on us… It’s hard to make sense of it all… too much to process for one lifetime. I will say that it’s not every day that you get to know someone like him — I just wish he could rein in some of the worst excesses of his personality. Okay, yeah, that’s never gonna happen. “

I don’t think I can express how closely this links Alhaitham and Kaveh together. It’s not just old friends with differences of opinion; they quite literally make up parts of one another.

The reference to the ‘universe’ is intriguing - while Kaveh is a romanticist who would use this flowery sort of language, in Genshin fate is a thing that plays a huge role. And his confession that it’s too much for a single life time, on top of the fact that their research project was on King Deshret (of whom Kaveh and Alhaitham share qualities)… I am not saying there is a reincarnation situation, but but Genshin often does use characters to reflect their historical figures. 

 In Alhaitham’s character stories, it’s revealed he considers Kaveh a mirror:

“ Kaveh is a familiar face, similarly lacks familial attachments, and is the polar opposite of [Alhaitham] as a scholar — that is to say, an excellent mirror “

and now Kaveh seems to agree, as this is from the end of his character story 5:

“ Rationality and sensibility, language and architecture, knowledge and human feelings… Things that can never be integrated are what constitute the two sides of the mirror — indeed, of the entire world. “

I made a whole other post about this after Kaveh’s drip marketing, but there’s even more now. One thing I personally find quite relevant is their attitudes towards other people; where Alhaitham is an extraordinarily self-reflective individual, Kaveh obsesses over the lives of others. He speaks about wish to “rein Alhaitham in” and an important part of his arc through his character stories is recognising that: “the most unshakable part of one’s past is a friend that will never change”. Alhaitham, on the other hand, obsesses over looking inward at himself, claiming that that’s the reason he enjoys Kaveh living with him.

Why are they so different in this way? Simply put: Kaveh is afraid of looking inward, of self-reflection because of the guilt he’s held onto for so many years. He’s extroverted and personable, he has no issue constructing the fantasy of his life for other people to see him through. But Alhaitham can look past all of that, like Kaveh says he’s the only one who truly knows Alhaitham, Alhaitham is the only person who really understands Kaveh.

But Alhaitham isn’t perfect - he’s so focused on himself because he can’t handle others. He doesn’t understand; he can’t comprehend why Kaveh acts like he does even they he knows him so well, and talks a big game about how emotions and logic combine to create human intention/action, but Alhaitham himself falls short of ever really getting it. To him it’s all a formula to be followed - he can get to the correct answer, but he doesn’t know what to do with it.

Kaveh writes in his journal about the project he and Alhaitham undertook, and it goes as follows:

“ Page 31: Some academic notes and architectural drawings. Postscript: “Our views are aligned, and they are complete.” This line has been struck out. “Our views are contradictory, but it is through contradiction that more speculation and philosophy may be born.” This line has been retained. Page 42: The cover of a thesis that has been torn up, then put together again. No postscript. “

Between them, there is this push and pull. They are completely alike but then entirely different. I’m not even talking specifically from a shipping point of view, their relationship is based around the idea that they are two necessary parts of one whole. Unironically, they would make excellent dual grand sages.

I’m really glad that Kaveh’s character stories dove into their complexity while not sacrificing Kaveh’s individuality as a character. In fact, Alhaitham talks about Kaveh way more in his voicelines than vice versa - perhaps a sign that Alhaitham is more at peace with their relationship? Kaveh believes that “Alhaitham never did perform a good deed unconditionally“ but in the archon quest, Alhaitham claims that he “does not keep track of favours”.

I think Alhaitham was hurt by Kaveh moreso than Kaveh was hurt by Alhaitham. After all, for Kaveh the painful part was being forced to reconcile with the reality of his life, it just so happens that Alhaitham was the one to reveal it to him. Meanwhile, Kaveh denounced their entire friendship just because Alhaitham told him the truth - that is a conflict based solely in their relationship.

and yeah, he was probably too blunt about it as usual, but i'm sure kaveh telling him that he regretted ever being friends with him (considering they were best friends - also, that confirmation from mhy that is canon is great - and kaveh is likely alhaitham's first friend) must've deeply hurt alhaitham. because yeah, he's intelligent and rational and doesn't outwardly emote much when he's not arguing with kaveh, but he's still human. he still has feelings. and it's kaveh that crossed the line and destroyed what they had between them (which i'm sure he'd regretted later, something that probably only added to the immense guilt plageuing him). we all knew that whatever happened between them had to have been explosive, given the hints from alhaitham's character stories, but ouch.

honestly, poor alhaitham. and poor kaveh. </3

Taken from the character stories recently leaked on project ambr.

Childhood:

When Kaveh was young, he was the only child of his parents, who were both accomplished scholars. Kaveh encouraged his father to take part in the inter-darshan championships - the same ones we see in the 3.6 trailer. His father ends up doing well and Kaveh is so so proud, tells his father to compete further.

He loses the championship by just a hair. Somehow, this leads to him going into the desert... Where he goes missing. Some time later, his body is recovered and he's announced officially dead.

From that point forward, Kaveh's home becomes a cold, lonely place full of sadness. He believes that if he hadn't encouraged his father, he never would have died. Kaveh desperately holds onto this idea that, so long as he never inflicts pain on anyone, he'll somehow rediscover the warmth of his childhood.

Akademiya:

Kaveh joins the Akademiya as part of Ksharewar darshan, the same as his mother. His mother, who has been depressed since his father died and unable to create art, receives a job offer from Fontaine. While Kaveh says it's fine and she should go, he's in fact consumed by loneliness.

He's an excellent student, the best from his darshan in many years. Alhaitham enters the Akademiya two years his junior, and makes a less positive name for himself - while they are very different and do butt heads, Kaveh gets to know him out of curiosity. He meets Alhaitham right as his mother leaves him to live alone for the first time in his life, and they become close.

Kaveh considers him his best friend, at the time.

Together, alongside several other students, Kaveh and Alhaitham embark on a group project. But they are geniuses and the other members of their group struggle to keep up, dropping out one by one. Alhaitham sees no issue; he and Kaveh can complete the project alone, they should not slow down to artificially uplift the others.

Kaveh, meanwhile, is too kind hearted. He stretches himself thin in order to take up everyone else's workload on top of his own, slowing down and burning out.

Alhaitham tells him not to, that it's not good for him or for the project. Kaveh says he's heartless, that he should be more willing to help others. It becomes heated, then, Alhaitham pointing out that Kaveh needs to stop feeling guilty for everyone else's problems - that he's only so focused on other people because he can't bear to look inward at himself. His altruism is not a symptom of selflessness but of overwhelming guilt.

It's the first time someone has read him so perfectly. Kaveh finds himself exposed, upset and angry in front of the person he considered his closest friend. The reality Alhaitham described is one that he cannot face. So Kaveh strikes back, tells Alhaitham that he should have never befriended him - that he regrets their entire relationship.

They part ways immediately afterwards. Their joint research is never completed, but the research space is offered to them both. Kaveh writes it off, unwilling to stay in contact with Alhaitham. In addition, Alhaitham removes his name from the thesis and Kaveh tears up his copy - only to put it back together some time later.

Career:

Over time, Sumeru becomes more and more radical. The arts are seen as completely useless, senseless decoration. Kaveh's vision of design is the combination of aesthetics and practicality, but all the jobs he receives ask for a completely rational approach. He's stunted, realising that he can't realise his dream like this. Kaveh can't help but become more and more depressed over the state of Sumeru.

Then, like a shining light, he's offered the perfect commission: a huge mansion with near complete creative control over the design. It's Dori's commission and she is mostly uninterested in the process - simply asking that it be beautiful, extravagant and secluded in location. Kaveh convinces Dori to go out of her way for the mountainside view, and she finally agrees.

Disaster strikes halfway through construction. A withering zone overcomes the building site, destroying the materials and leaving the progress completely impossible to recover. Dori is incensed - if Kaveh hadn't persuaded her to change the building site, it would never have happened. She wants him off the project.

Kaveh sits on the ruins of the mansion overnight, considering. He's desperate to finish the project - certain it will sate the desire for fulfillment he's had for so long now. But Dori has lost so much money and she's so displeased with him, all he can do to get back on her side is to recompense her for all the materials so that she no longer sees the whole thing as one huge financial loss. Kaveh has savings, but not nearly enough... His mother's house is under his name though, and that would get him up to 70% of the cost.

The next day, Kaveh sells off all his assets and gives everything to Dori. She allows him back onto the project, unpaid. Kaveh makes further additions that are over budget, and by the time the palace is completed he's heavily in debt and homeless.

He feels fulfilled by the project's completion at first, but quickly falls into despair at his life circumstances.

The circumstances:

Kaveh turns to alcohol to drown his sorrows, camping out at Lambad's tavern day and night. When his old associates visit, Kaveh pretends that he's just in between jobs, on break. Out of sympathy, Lambad gives him free drinks and keeps his table reserved. For two weeks, he stays in the tavern in this way, paying Lambad's kindness back by redesigning the booths for him. He's completely penniless, and so he can do nothing else.

Then, by chance, Alhaitham visits the tavern for a drink, finding Kaveh. He immediately sees he's in a bad way, and Kaveh can't help but unload all of his troubles onto the man he once considered his best friend.

At this, Alhaitham asks a difficult question: "how has realising your ideals gone for you?". It asks Kaveh to face the reality of his life again, harsh and cold, but it comes from a genuine place that tells Kaveh to engage in some self reflection.

I will weep if the stars deem it so, I will break when the tide is low,                                There’s something missing                                      I don’t think I am whole

[Der Blaue Walzer | The Blue Waltz] - [Ferdinand von Reznicek] 

original under the cut