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herrscherofmagic · 9 months ago

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First of all: this is absolutely amazing and I can't thank you enough for this analysis of Acheron!!

Second: I just wanted to add a mention of Honkai World Diva, which is Mei's signature song from the GGZ days when Mihoyo was literally a smol indie company; a cover of it was used in Lament of the Fallen in HI3rd!

"Crimson moon shines upon a town that is smeared in blood…" Cried the diva given into lament All those sweet little dreams buried deep in memories until the very end -Honkai World Diva lyrics

I'm really far behind on the story and haven't even started Penacony nor seen most of the promo material, so all the little glimpses I've caught of Acheron & Black Swan content have confused me, and in general I've been losing interest in HSR's main story and have been trying to get back

but with all the context you've given in this analysis, plus the lyrics of Honkai World Diva, it feels like Acheron is a totally different character for me now

like, Mei never truly "lost" Kiana in most versions of their story. Yes in GGZ when God Kiana ended the world at the end of the Retrospective arc, but otherwise they managed to hold on and fight together for most of the time. and in HI3rd ditto, Mei never truly "lost" Kiana. She was close, yes, but Kiana endured and they reunited eventually.

So Honkai World Diva always fit Mei but in a sorta loose way, it always felt almost like a parody of Mei's actual story, y'know?

BUT NOW WITH ACHERON??? HELLO?????

Like at first in Genshin with Raiden Ei I thought her story sorta fit HWD as well because of the loss of Makoto, and the whole "red moon" thing from the Khaenri'ah cataclysm. But with Acheron it's so painfully clear in that teaser image and with all the other context you've given.

If Acheron lost her "Kiana" then all the lyrics would fit her story nearly perfectly!

O your smile is tainted and your face is cold There's no more comfort in your lips and cheeks The whirling noise is pulling me within The tainted carcass of this world

[Pre-Chorus] All the incandescent stars of heaven will die at the end of days Your gentle soul given to damnation

The death of the person closest to Acheron and the disaster in which it happened. (also... "your gentle soul given to damnation" is such a powerful line and I pray to Da Wei that we get something like that in HSR's story!!)

[Chorus] "Crimson moon shines upon a town that is smeared in blood..." Cried the diva given into lament All those sweet little dreams buried deep in memories until the very end

[Verse 2] Lost and faded truth of bygone memories Hiddеn deep in my corrupt body

Imagery of the disaster and Acheron's despair, along with the memories being "buried away" with Acheron seemingly unable to remember neither the good nor bad of her past life; also the "corrupt body" of her white-and-red form

[Pre-Chorus] I can hear the voices of the people I miss in this final song I would tremble just to hold them once more

[Chorus] "Florid moon shines upon a world that is doomed to die..." Wailed the diva given into lament All our pale, fleeting dreams are where the truths are hidden Until they fade away

"Crimson moon shines upon the town that is smeared in blood..." Cried the diva given into lament All those sweet little dreams buried deep in memories until the very end

The mention of the truth being "hidden" in fleeting dreams, paired with the teaser when Black Swan was diving into Acheron's memories to find the "truth" about whatever happened w/ the Annihilation Gang...

obligatory post before acheron's release

obviously, it's established that acheron is a variant of raiden mei. her real name is not actually acheron (confirmed through the livestream, but...come on, we all already knew that). specifically, there's loads of similarities in her design to the herrscher of thunder above all else

similar hair structure, hair part, n hairpiece (n obviously the color, too),

sword structure, patterns, n nearly identical handles,

one "red" arm,

the bust/halter,

and of course, the color scheme as shown in acheron's "emanator" form, n the horns shown in the livestream

with all that in mind, i imagine acheron is a variant of mei who failed to save the person closest to her (her kiana, to simplify it), n/or watched them die, or even killed them herself. it's shown during her dance with black swan that there was obviously someone important to her in her past, conflict arose in a setting much like the one featured in the livestream, n there's even imagery of her walking alone with only the moon in the sky to keep her company

kiana has been associated with the moon n moon imagery since the flyme2themoon days; her origin was quite literally a game about blasting off to the moon

this teaser resembles thunders over nagazora to me, as well as mei watching kiana's end in honkai gakuen

there's also the fact that the type of emanator acheron is, an emanator of nihility, is classified as a self-annihilator; those who have felt the pull of nihility n been unable to escape drowning in it. self-annihilator's take the meaning of nihility to heart, so much so that it erodes their bodies n memories

acheron has been confirmed as the self-annihilator type in her character introduction posted recently. what really strikes me about this line is the phrasing of "existence is nothing"

sounds familiar, doesn't it?

mei is characterized by the tragedies in her life, n how they impact her. growing up isolated, a kidnapping at a young age, bullying at school, suicidal tendencies, n the constant reminder that the girl she loves more than anything in the world will always put the overall well being of humanity over herself

to me, acheron is a mei shaped by loss. the mei we remember from hi3 had the chance to grow n change; to learn from her mistakes, n to fight for a better world, bc she had the support of her friends n her most important person. acheron doesn't seem to have that level of support from anyone, at least not anyone still in her life currently

which brings me to my next point. she HAD a "kiana," but ultimately lost her. n this is the result

acheron is incredibly powerful, but her power seems incredibly volatile. she carries this innate sadness with her wherever she goes, n the very path she walks n the very aeon she became an avatar of strips life of all meaning, all the beauty from the world

it's a far cry from the mei we know, bc clearly, there was a very pivotal change in her development that i can only attribute to the loss of her world's "kiana"

#im gonna be SICK i stg #i am going to explode into a bajillion tiny pieces #i demand financial compensation for the critical emotional damage this post dealt to me #so i've been somewhat ambivalent about acheron so far #even w/ the design parallels to mei #but i didn't realize the other thematic parallels like the moon imagery or nagazora-like scene #this is DEVASTATING and i think i'll never recover #the thing is I love the idea of “what if [alternate path/ending]?” for characters!!!!#like a “what if kiana fell to honkai and fought side-by-side with HoV” or “what if bronya rand & seele no-last-name swapped roles in life?"#that kind of thing right???#so realizing that Acheron is basically a “okay but what if Mei DIDN'T get the help she needed” is like #idk it feels like one of my favorite headcanons made actual canon >~<#obvi it's not officially confirmed yet but still... holy shit #i'm saving for kafka but this is actually swaying me to consider acheron now #and i've been dragging my feet on penacony but this is seriously motivating me to do it #if nothing else at least to figure out acheron's story T_T #ALSO I LOVE NIHILITY SO MUCH #one of the core pillars of a recent fanfic idea i've been brewing up has revolved around Nihility #specifically the idea of Kiana in the HI3rd setting falling into despair and becoming a “self-annihilator” of sorts #basically being struck to the core by the path of Nihility #so this is such an interesting parallel to that #a million-plus-one thanks for this post because i certainly wouldn't have put 2 and 2 together to figure this out myself #thank you thank you thank you thaaaaaaaaaaank you!!!

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