Ok, Childe as a wuxia/xianxia trope. It's honestly a bit embarrassing how well this fits.
(blame @a-yarn-of-purple-prose for this post and if anyone here is a wuxia fan feel free to correct me, I'm new to the genre)
Wuxia is a Chinese martial arts fantasy genre you are all familiar with. An adjacent genre is called xianxia, "immortal heroes", it ramps all the fantasy elements up to eleven and skews tropes a bit (we'll get back to that).
A common trope is some kind of unorthodox school/sect or technique, allowing to achieve greater power without the usual decades of training. It could be straight-out evil or just revolving around chaos.
Such a martial school is usually called an evil/demonic sect (sect is more like a clan in that setting, not the modern concept of sect) and their techniques tend to drive practitioners to insanity. Either because they are inherently corrupting or because getting too much power without growing as a person is really not the best thing for your mental health. They are also often cast from hp points.
And then there's the archetype of a demonic sect heir. The best pupil or simply someone who has inherited a lost art. Proud, always greedy for more strength, often noble in some weird way.
*points to our calamity of a boy*
Common elements of such stories include:
Falling into some weird realm or meeting a weird person who teaches the hero a Forbidden Technique
Learning a technique too quickly through some sort of magic/alchemy/memory manipulation
Some people are so singular in their pursuit they become insane (走火入魔)
Ambition bad, loyalty and family good
Conflicting loyalties, generally a conflict between a chosen path and personal weaknesses/attachments (could be both ego and familal love, and this is more of a xianxia trope)
Fits like a horoscope so far but wait.
There's a very interesting case of Korean murim genre (their version of wuxia) where sects are less varied (I recommend this post for a basic introduction) and we get three paths:
Justice/Righteous/Orthodox/Light — theoretically they keep the Evil Faction at bay, and protect innocent people, but usually are corrupt to the core
Evil/Unorthodox/Dark — these try gaining as much power as possible and attempt ruling the whole world
Demonic Cult — usually dont take part in evil and justice battles, follow their own code of conduct based on their religion, value strength above all else.
(I'm sure there's a similar distinction in wuxia too, I just can't find it in the deluge of lore)
"Demonic" is closer to "pagan" or "heathen" than Christian idea of demonic here, their beliefs are often based on Zoroastrianism and worshipping a sacred flame. Do you remember all the Persian themes used for Khaenri'ah? And Surtalogi being the flame on Surtr's sword in Norse mythology. I also had the impression that Genshin gnostic references are based on the Zoroastrian-flavoured branch of Gnosticism.
In murim the trope of demonic sect heir is called "heavenly demon" (I believe, a more correct translation would be "supreme heathen"), they are utterly badass, live for the glory of battle, seem more like forces of nature and follow a very strict honour code often conflicting with normal human ethics.
(do I need to spell it out)
TvTropes also says this about Korean stories:
(do I need to spell it out pt.2)
I'm not sure why a Chinese studio would focus on the Korean version of this trope but I'm sure something like this exists in China as well or maybe there's a popular manhwa that inspired authors.
Xianxia extends the fantastic element further, focusing on Taoist concepts and practices and adding all kinds of magical realms (celestial, demonic, etc) and magical beings and making immortality achievable. I still need to read more about it but if I understand that right, demonic heir trope turns into a demon prince in this case. An actual visitor from the demon realm or a practitioner who achieved immortality through dubious means.
These are fae-coded in a way very similar to Childe and have a certain nonchalance towards things most humans would consider traumatic. They are simply not bothered by them, having a different set of morals or faring from a realm that is much worse.
Our boy isn't that (he's still very much human) but he's aesthetically coded like one, same as Scaramouche is yokai-coded, despite not being a yokai.
So. When people say Childe's arc is a reference to Journey to the West, it's not entirely untrue, JttW is the classic of xianxia genre and Childe does belong to the same genre. He, however, is not Sun Wukong but a different, darker trope.
This also explains why he has that "shonen anime protag but not quite" vibe. Shonen was heavily influenced by wuxia but this trope never quite made it to anime or maybe never became popular enough. It's not a deconstruction, it's a different story. Or perhaps a deconstruction of that different story.
“Why do you keep repeating this name, guys?”
My headcanon is that Venti doesn’t remember Rukkhadevata, but his winds do.
I mean, she existed and people were talking about her, but after they just forgot about her. However, people’s words are remembered by winds of time.
And we know that Venti can summon winds of the past, even if he didn’t hear personally some words, he still can find them in his winds.
I believe he forgot about her as well, but still knows about her and the whole situation, because his winds tell him that. Those sneaky bitches.
scara hc: sad wet kitten scara was born after he met kazuha's friend's cat. how dare his boyfriend give another feline attention? why does kazuha allow that his fur on his clothes? kitten scara will sit in the rain until kazuha (who saw his theatrics from a window) shows up on their porch, crouches down and opens his arms wide. scara 1 - white cat 0
youre so right
Alhaitham is a descendant of the Scarlet King, he never knew his father besides the many stories. Hundreds of years have gone by and still unknown to the followers of his father and the researchers in the Akademiya of his origins. Alhaitham lost interest in his own origins and barely looks back into his father's life.
(Maybe not the best song but it came to my mind)
Before the Archon War, Rukkhadevata, the Goddess of Flowers, and the Scarlet King had lived peacefully in Sumeru. King Deseret had the people of the desert as his followers. There was a rumor of an unknown divine being who met with the Scarlet King, people never talked about it openly, they spoke of how if he ever revealed this person they too would be revered.
King Deseret kept the divine woman a secret, he wanted her to have a peaceful life while having a relationship with her. Often she gave him her time whenever she could, him being overly bored, often appreciated her effort in their limited times to meet.
When forbidden knowledge brought forth the violet sandstorms and breakouts of Eleazar, the Scarlet King, his majesty, made a sacrifice to his people for the mistakes he made discovering this dangerous piece of knowledge. The divine being also succumbed to the effects of forbidden knowledge, she was gone and nother fatality counted in the Eleazar Hospital.
Not any older than a few weeks, no mother or father to be by his side. The child was a boy and his crib had his name carved into it, the inscription read "Alhaitham." A newborn alone in the world to soon be lost to time.
The followers of the Scarlet King mourned him, paying respect to their god to venerate him. A follower of him looked into the homes of the deceased to collect their belongings and distribute it to their families. They came across a strange house, almost deserted in the sand dunes, they checked out the structure for anything of the sort. All they found was a trembling boy, almost 10 months old, biting down on his index finger in the darkness and clutching his blanket. Rushing to the crib they saw the little boy, cupped his cheek, and looked down to see the carving on the dusty cradle.
Part 1 Complete
How morbid is it that I kind of want a sequel / aftermath timeskip of Married in Red where Da-jeong is found out to have framed Bok-su, which leads to that university taking Bok-su back into the program, and Bok-su not only gets her life somewhat back together, but she also ends up getting a boyfriend/girlfriend who becomes her fiancé(e) and then they get married?
Basically, Bok-su getting everything that Da-jeong had (and almost had) but lost in the end.
I saw a theory (more of an idea, really) on Reddit that Kaveh might become the next Grand Sage, and I just wanted to squeal about that for a hot minute.
(And for clarity cos I feel like it'll come up: Kaveh doesn't have any reliable leaks relating to his kit nor his rarity (whether he's a five star or four star), and even if he is a four star he could very well still be super important to Sumeru's chain of authority (see Ningguang and Kujou Sara if you're doubtful)).
Anyway, my squealing:
It actually makes a surprising amount of sense for Kaveh to become the Grand Sage based on quest info alone - Alhaitham says at the end of Act 5 of the archon quest that he "wouldn't be surprised if Kaveh was appointed as a sage":
While his tone sounds sarcastic, Alhaitham is typically quite honest with his words. His deceits always come by omission, not by lying. Of course, Kaveh assumes Alhaitham is being mocking here, but then in Alhaitham's story quest Kaveh says himself that he should have been made Grand Sage over Alhaitham -
So we have examples in both of Kaveh's in game scenes that convey a desire (or, at the very least, a capacity) to be a Sage. These exchanges are rather comedic though, so I think we should take evidence from Nahida herself; specifically, her "About Kaveh" voiceline:
(sorry for the poor quality)
Nahida herself praises Kaveh's understanding of their Nation and of wisdom itself, whereas she admonishes Alhaitham's viewpoint in her corresponding voiceline about him. This implies that Nahida would choose Kaveh over Alhaitham as Grand Sage.
Lore wise we know that Kaveh is an accomplished graduate of the Ksharewar Darshan, widely known and well-liked. He built the Palace of Alcarazy(?) and the NPCs there sing his praises. While his interactions with Alhaitham are goofy, he can evidently keep up with him in debates and in Alhaitham's voicelines he says that Kaveh's intellect is equal to his own.
Also, there is a pattern in the game so far: each non-archon 'leader' or 'authority' has the vision matching their archon. Jean for Mondstadt, Ningguang for Liyue and Sara/Yae for Inazuma (depending on your perspective). It seemed that Alhaitham would fill this role in Sumeru, seeing as he's dendro and did take over as the Acting Grand Sage, similar to Jean's title. However, his time in that position is incredibly short-lived since he resigns at the end of his story quest (well, technically before it even starts). It is likely that "who will be the new Grand Sage?" will be an ongoing plot thread in Sumeru, much like "when will Varka return?" is in Mondstadt.
Since Kaveh is dendro, he would suit this pattern very well.
I also do just love the vibes of what it would mean for his character, and I think it would be very fun for Sumeru to be led by someone so wholeheartedly compassionate for everyone around them. Kaveh loves the arts and cares a lot about other people, so he matches Nahida's vision of Sumeru much better than Alhaitham does. Which isn't to say Alhaitham is cruel or uncaring, but that he is (as he says himself) not suited to the responsibility of leadership.
And, speaking of Alhaitham, the way this would develop their dynamic is actually rather funny. Technically Kaveh would become Alhaitham's boss, but everyone around them would be aware that Alhaitham saved the country and that Kaveh has only received the position because Alhaitham passed it over first. Can you imagine how frustrating that would be for Kaveh? Technically in charge, but with this information looming over everyone's heads?
Since Hoyo does like to keep a certain status quo, especially in voicelines, it's likely that Alhaitham and Kaveh will remain roommates. This still works even if Kaveh is promoted, with four possible explanations:
Kaveh's debt to Dori is so huge that he's financially screwed for life regardless of his salary
Kaveh is so bad with money that even once he's paid off his debt he still fails to save up for his own house
Because technically Alhaitham's house should also belong to him, Kaveh is stubborn and refuses to move out
Alhaitham and Kaveh reconcile/figure themselves out enough that they actually want to live together even if there's no financial incentive to
Also, I cannot overstate how amusing it would be for the Kavetham dynamic shift of Kaveh getting to fuck with Alhaitham a little as payback for all Alhaitham's trolling.
Anyways, this is a theory/hc that I really like, so I hope we don't get a mystery Sumeru character in 4.6 or something that we've never heard of before who gets to become Grand Sage.
If this receives 50 reblogs ( 🥺✨) I’ll do my best animating that track (probably animatic like this one, dunno) the real question is, my style or Hetalia style?
It means he likes you
"K N E E L"
Had this crossover stuck in my head for a bit hehe