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adolshadow · 2 years ago

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[Costume Contextualization] Watch me Traveler, you will be Full of my Wisdom (Nahida Trilogy – Costume)

Hello everyone, I am AdolShadow. I am a religious studies scholar currently studying at NYU who loves Genshin and writes content on Genshin's digital historiography.

This is my first time posting on Tumblr. I am hoping to translate some of my work from other platforms here. As a scholar, I am not only into studying Genshin. I also do research on Sekiro: Shadow Dies Twice, Detroit: Become Human, and many other video games. I am hoping to know other game historians and anyone who is into researching games. I want to befriend all of you and talk about games happily! Thank you all very much in advance.

In this article, I will talk about Nahida. Of course, she has a lot of information in Genshin. Therefore, I will break the sections into the costume’s contextualization, Nahida’s context as a Dendro God in the historical writings, and how Nahida fits the historical background of Sumeru.

Whether it's Raiden, Venti, or Zhongli, Hoyoverse has put a lot of effort into designing Archons. Without further ado, let's take a look at what historical background and culture were referenced in the design of Nahida's costume.

If you like the content, please like and leave a comment below. I actually have a lot of similar content on my Hoyolab channel. Please take a look. I will soon translate more content here.

Hoyolab: https://www.hoyolab.com/accountCenter/postList?id=102330380

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Physic of Purity

With pure white clothes and green embellishments, the appearance of Nahida reveals its freshness and purity. In the past 500 years, she has neither experienced the pain of World Tree rot nor witnessed the cruelty of the war in Khaenri'ah. Nahida is undoubtedly happy by her “ignorance” of the world. However, being imprisoned since birth also means that she has never been in contact with the real world and has never used her body to touch or feel it. Therefore, the newly born green and pure white can just reflect Nahida's pure heart and newborn vitality.

Let’s take a look at the picture in detail to find out what is worthy to discuss on Nahida’s costume:

The first thing to notice is the pattern on Nahida's cloth. This dense and characteristic pattern is derived from Persian stained glass. The decoration on Nahida's head comes from the artifacts – Deepwood Memories, but the flower of life part, Labyrinth Wayfarer has a special meaning for Nahida. Additionally, I subjectively think that the material of the Nahida bracelet is brass. The Persian craftsmanship can also be seen in the decorations of the brass on the body and feet. Last but not least, the overall green color comes from the characters of the Persian New Year – Amu Nowruz, [1].

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Persian Stained Glass

(Stained Glass [2])

Stained glass is the procedure of adding metallic oxides in the glass making, which gives the glass colors. Different oxides will give the glass different colors, making an appealing visual effect. The earliest stained glass can be traced back to the craftsmen in ancient Rome, but what I want to talk about here is the stained glass technology introduced to Persia in the 8th century.

In his book The Book of the Hidden Pearl, Persian craftsman Jābir ibn Ḥayyān explained the processes and materials required for making various colored glass [3]. Through this book, the stained glass of Persia is slowly shown to the public. In Sumeru, we can see its displays in various ways. Under the context of Nahida, stained glass is used to portray the beautiful space of the ult, Illusionary Heart.

In fact, the clothes of another Genshin character also displays Persian stained glass craftsmanship. She is the "young" and “beautiful” scholar, Faruzan.

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Heart of the Labyrinth

(Labyrinth/ Maze [4])

Labyrinth was mentioned in one of my previous articles LINK (It is in Chinese). In that article, I roughly talked about the etymology of Labyrinth, which is originally built by the early Greek, Daedalus, as a gift to the King Minos of Crete. Labyrinth is designed to constantly change, and the entrance traveler enters does not necessarily become the exit when the traveler wants to come out. Labyrinth, indeed, is an ever-changing object.

I mention the labyrinth in this article because of the artifact, Deepwood Memories. Among them, the name of the flower of life is Labyrinth Wayfarer. Through the story of the flower of life, we understand that it belonged to the first maiden to follow in the footsteps of the King of trees through the forest labyrinth. In order to guard the king's labyrinth, she must hunt and defend it all the time. In this process, she protected many children who got strayed into this labyrinth. She passed down this tale of herself and the hunt to the children when they left the labyrinth. The story of her then reached to people's ears.

Although I don't think the maiden here refers to the Goddess of Flowers, the story of the flower of life plus the maiden who follows the King of the forest do have a little too much connection at here. Well, not to discuss that, what needs to be pointed out here is that in addition to the above-mentioned characteristics of the “maze,” where people get in and get lost, “Labyrinth” beyond the sense of a maze also guides you into its center.

Lauren Artress said, "A maze is designed to make you lose your way, while a labyrinth is designed to help you find your way" [5]. Therefore, in the labyrinth of Kind of forest, visitors who enter even by accident should not be afraid. The Labyrinth designed by the King will lead visitors to the center and increase their knowledge, rather than make things difficult for them. Doesn't this coincide with the theme of the Lord of Wisdom, Nahida?

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Brass Artifacts

(Persian brass bowl [6])

Persia is not only superb in stained glass craftsmanship, but also in the production of metal utensils, especially silver ones. However, it should be noted here that the historical background of Sumeru is likely to be referred to the Sasanian Empire from the 3rd to the 7th centuries, in which glass craftsmanship talked above is included. However, most of the Persian brass crafts that I can find came from Ilkhanate around the 13th century, which is Persia under Mongolian control. Because the time is not lining up, I don't want to be absolute here. I think the bracelet and anklet on Nahida are brass work, but I'm not sure. (But if it is a silver craft, then it for sure aligns with Sasanian Empire)

In addition to the obvious brass-colored products on Nahida's body in Sumeru, Nilu also has some brass-colored decorations. However, it can be seen from the comparison that Nahida's bracelets obviously have more textures, which shows its exquisite craftsmanship.

Due to the invasion of Islam around the 7th century, the great Sasanian dynasty ended. The use of silverware and goldware in the Arab Empire was particularly regulated, so the Persians had to give up the use of large numbers of silverware as daily necessities. At this time, a method to replace silverware appeared, which is using the base of copperware with silver inlaid [7]. Such silver-inlaid products have many applications in Persian life, such as kettles, clocks, bowls, teapots, and bracelets [8].

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Nowruz

(Nowruz [9])

Persians’ New Year's day, Nowruz, falls on March 21st every year. This holiday belongs to the vast majority of Middle Eastern countries and cultures [10]. For example, my girlfriend will light candles, set up tributes, and celebrate the New Year at this time of year.

In this festival, there is a special person, his name is Baba Nowruz or Amu Nowruz. He is like Santa Claus, coming into the crowd, bringing gifts to children, and welcoming the New Year with them.

(Grandpa Nowruz [11])

Looking at his green coat, it is similar to Nahida's color pattern. Although this does not mean that there is a direct connection between them, if we bring in the concept of the "Sabzeruz Festival", it will the connection clearer.

Sabzeruz Festival, in fact, is related to the Persian New Year in multiple meanings. Sabzeh Nowruz, sprouted wheat, is one of the seven items that need to be prepared on Nowruz [12]. “Sabze” in its meaning is “green,” and “ruz” refers to “day.” Therefore, Sabzeruz Festival actually means Green Day, not really the birthday of the goddess of flowers. However, considering the birthday of the Nahida and the meaning of green as new life, the birthday of Nahida should actually refer to Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Therefore, the green color pattern of Nahida probably has a good connection with Baba Nowruz.

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What’s Next

After talking about the costume of Nahida, I should probably give you a teaser about what is coming next. The second part of the trilogy will be the background and textual research of Nahida, this name and its meaning.

Have you ever thought about the etymology of “Kusanali”? In fact, it comes from the Kusanali Jataka of Buddhism. What about the name, Nahida? It is actually derived from the Persian goddess “Anahita.” Hmm, what about “Rukkhadevata”? Well, that one is basically given in English, because in Hinduism, Rukkhadevata means tree spirit. Finally, “Beur,” the archon name, is our dear friend, Lesser Key of Solomon’s 72 Demon God, Beur. Wow, the name Nahida is so complicated and interesting. Don't you want to know more about the secrets inside Nahida? Stay tuned then!

PS : Thanks to my girlfriend Shah for some of the info here. She gave me a lot of inspiration and information on many art designs of Sumeru (the part with Persian culture).

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Reference :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amu_Nowruz

https://mymodernmet.com/stained-glass-history/

Resources are the same as 2

https://earthandaltarmag.com/posts/qs6pevk77i0lhpqlvv8w0u23f1sbwk

The resource is the same as 4

https://elizabethappraisals.com/brass-bowl-in-style-of-ancient-metalworkers/

https://persianhandicrafts.com/blog-posts/?journal_blog_post_id=19

Resources are the same as 6

https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-nowruz-day

Resources are the same as 9