#Halfdan Dain and these BSK

[reginrokkr]

Not me getting feels because of Dain when he claimed that the Black Serpent Knights, whose duty was to protect the gentry, were ordered to protect everyone by himself when the Cataclysm struck. The way Halfdan felt so affected by the fact that he and those who followed Dain couldn't do that and the relief on his face when Dain praised him for doing his duty for 500 years. That hits hard man.

[reginrokkr]

𝐋𝐗𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈. Meaning behind Dáinsleif's visits to the Nameless City.

Today in this fine Sunday eve I choose emotional violence in thinking that Dain has now a reason to return to the Nameless City of the Chasm every now and then to place a lil Inteyvat in the same place that Halfdan drew his last breath.

[reginrokkr]

𝐂𝐕𝐈𝐈. Dáinsleif's resilience in the face of not losing his sense of self.

The previous rant in the tags made me think once again about the insane level of resilience Dain has to not lose himself or fall into madness. Because there are too many factors against him that would make it so easy for him to lose his mind: a curse that inflicts him chronic pain and that is slowly replacing his mind and soul with the putrefaction of the all-too-tempting Void. A genuine grocery list of traumas and other emotional damage that I'm sure that the Abyss Order exploits to try to get to him, because what other choice do they have when nothing works against him and all they do is run away from him? Without mentioning that it's canon that he still struggles with nightmares of bloodshed and it wouldn't be odd to presume that he self-chastizes himself for what happened even if he couldn't have done anything to amend for other Khaenri'ahns mistakes or fight against who knows how many gods descended to Khaenri'ah. Knowledge factor is also one that could be very detrimental even if it's widely considered a gift to be this wise and have all knowledge at the reach of his fingertips, because sometimes knowing too much is enough to drive one mad. Others could've lost it for being unable to accept the reality the world at large is facing— it's one of the reasons Nahida seems to spread knowledge in riddles so it's up to the knowledge seekers to unearth the true meaning of them as opposed to give it all at once on a tray due to the consequences it might have.

Considering that Irminsul seems to oppose however it can the Void until it's too much for it to handle it anymore, I have no doubt that it plays a large role in keeping Dain's sanity intact even after 500 years when others wouldn't have succeeded. But I'm also a firm believer that no matter if you give someone the tools to fend for themselves, if the person in question doesn't do the work they won't go anywhere even if they have everything they need to do just that. We only see in small glimpses how tired Dain is and that after all this time, very specific events can shake him to the core (like in Requiem of the Echoing Depths when he was lamenting that he was late to save those poor Hilichurls, the BSK and Halfdan) and while it's a common thing in the fandom to see him siding with the Abyss Order because of the Abyss Twin (in this blog we don't talk about that :|), I think that it's disregarded a lot how strong he is for still holding true to who he is and do what's right for the majority of the population in Teyvat, even if that means going against the people he once protected in Khaenri'ah.