un.

the E1 and E2 stayed remotively the same. the new version is just more detailed. the real fun starts with E3.

on the og one we see is the movement from his skill, an attacking move, something Blade was really associated with at the begginig of the game. no real personality, just exhaustion and madness caused by mara. the urge to snap back, immediate need to attack. he clutches onto the sword, he stokes it with his hurt hands. the new one? he rips something off his body, some kind of neck accesory, i believe to be associeted with yingxing's xianzhou zhuming heritage. it has similar color palette to yunli and also resembles the oval shapes seen in her own design. juding by the fact they're related i do think it has something to do with xianzhou zhuming. what's more important is he let's go of the damn thing. im still not sure about the way they're gonna lead his story but there's something very powerful about the gesture.

then there's E4 which absolutely broke me.

i've spoken about blade being portrayed as a faceless character before and i truly believe his og E4 kind of proves it. yes, we see him, but his face is turned sideways. we see only a profile, only a half of his face. again looking somewhere far away, gazing away from the viewer. new one is another example of a very bold statement and a shift in the narrative. he's facing us, no shame no reluctance. and what's more we see both of his faces - blade aka the stellaron hunter and yingxing, reflected in the blade he wields. both of them looking at the viewer, both of them facing the present.

then there's E5 which may not seem that different since it's just a fragment of his portrait. however!! we can see the clear difference in the outfits. the old one is tightly closed, very restrained and moderate. hiding his scarred skin, all the bandages and wounds underneath it. once again it's like looking away, hiding from the real picture. denying the hurt human flesh, all the pain he's carrying wheras the new one is shoving the wound right into our faces. he is hurt, he knows it, we know it. this time there's no backing away, there's full awarness of the pain and burden. this time however it's not a source of shame but rather power.

last one, my beloved E6 proving once again that they mantained the faceless agenda for him. most vulnerable state? one he will never face you in. i absolutely adore his og E6, i alwayes considered the image a tier top choice. no bandages, no gaze, just scars. it feels so silent and lonely. as always facing away, looking in the past as the source of all suffering and the only direction he's heading to. the knew one? they went a bit crazy with it. tiddies out, once again facing the player. no shame or whatsoever. we see the burning spider lily, symbol of passing, wether memories or life itself. where is it? right on his heart. something he's been stabbed through countless times, something that was a painful reminder he's unfortunetly still alive and nothing will change it.

you know who also has a blazing heart? general huaiyan, of the xianzhou zhuming. a place where yinxing achieved his great craftsmanship, where he truly came to be. i believe mortenax blade to be the exact middle place between yinxing and blade we knew till now. he's both of them, but also he's neither. as he stated in the 4.2 quest he's blade, an identity he chooses for himself. we finally see him trying to truly shape it and let us see him for himself. and so there's yingxing in the reflection of his sword, the ends of his hair no longer red but greyish, the flaming heart he carries within himself. he is abomination, yes, he is something he swore to destroy but at the same time, he is still an extension of xianzhou, wether anyone likes it or not.

there's something so powerful about the way hoyo showed it all through his design, through a body he never truly had an autonomy over. yingxing was a smith, a briliant one. in yunli's companion quest we've seen the art of crafting a sword with a soul in it. i believe we might see it once again in blade's storyline. yingxing is not a ghost that haunts him, it's the past he carves into a tool he names himself after. i truly believe that no matter how badly dehuminised he was, nothing could break the creative spirit. especially with the entire smith symbolism. you risk your life working in a forge. you create in fire, through melting, changing of form until you create a tool. going through fire and flames straight to the harmony.