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thegraysquirrel · 19 days ago

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HitsuKarin had/has so much potential, it’s not even funny.

This post has been edited as of 2022+ to add some new info & links, in bold ;)

Their names complement each other. The Hitsugaya surname means “winter valley”. Karin’s name means “summer pear”. Hitsugaya can be associated with “cold”, while Karin with “hot”.

Their colors also complement each other. Hitsugaya’s eyes are teal, whereas Karin’s eyes are a dark grey. Hitsugaya’s hair is white, while hers is black. His skin tone is tanned, & hers is creamy. He can be associated with the color blue, & Karin with the color red (she does like the color).

They’re both calm, serious, brave, & strong. Usually the most level-headed ones when with others.

Both have a temper when provoked. Will speak out if necessary. May shout.

Both have shown their caring & protective sides, as well as wanting to help others.

Both like some form of nature. Hitsugaya likes to be outside looking up at the sky, whether it’s at the stars or the sunset. Karin likes to play outside in the daytime.

Both are looked up to. As captain of his division, Hitsugaya is a leader & is well-respected by his subordinates, even though he’s far younger than them. Karin’s group of friends all seem to admire her & follow her lead, even though they’re all boys.

Both have a sister/sister figure they’re completely different from, but get along just fine. Karin has Yuzu, while Hitsugaya has Hinamori.

Both have a family member/figure who constantly ticks them off & the like. Karin with Isshin, Hitsugaya with Matsumoto.

They are also the youngest out of their respective families/family figures. Karin is actually the youngest Kurosaki (according to one of the databooks & mentioned in Bleach Brave Souls[1], Yuzu is the older twin), while Hitsugaya is the youngest out of his family figures.

The differences in their personalities & activities also complement each other. While Hitsugaya is more on the serious, “uptight” side, Karin is feisty/fiery & outgoing. While he is often working, Karin is chilling. While he likes to take naps (according to the Bleach databooks), Karin likes to play her fav sport or video games.

Not too sure if Hitsugaya’s been shown to be feared or not (not including the time before he was a Soul Reaper when the kids around him all feared him due to his large reiatsu, “cold” personality, & looks), but people probably don’t want to mess with a prodigy captain who was said to eventually surpass new Captain-Commander Kyoraku in a 100 yrs (said by Kyoraku himself). Karin’s friend, Midoriko Tono (who was only shown in the manga), seemed to often get on Karin’s bad side & showed panic when Karin had comically threatened her once.

Karin’s dad, Isshin, was the former captain of the 10th Division, while Hitsugaya had been his 3rd Seat before becoming the new captain.

In the official novel version of the 2nd Bleach movie, “The DiamondDust Rebellion: Another Hyorinmaru”, Karin is the one who finds an unconscious Hitsugaya in the forest & manages to take him to the family clinic. Hitsugaya had mumbled ‘King’s Seal’ deliriously & Karin let Ichigo know about this. Ichigo later tells Hitsugaya when he wakes up that it was Karin who brought him & asks him about those strange words. (Here’s the scene [2] I found of the novel in a Chinese translation. Another site [3] that mentions it. And here’s a fan translation [4]—finally!!).

In “Bleach Drama CD 8”, Hitsugaya & Karin interact on tracks 3 & 10. (Here are the fan translations & audio [5]—omg!! I didn’t even know these tracks existed!)

On Track 03. Park, Karin is surprised to find a sleeping Hitsugaya at the park, where he’d been waiting for their soccer practice. Karin says she should’ve taken a photo of the “caught off guard”/or “cute” look on his face, which he’s relieved didn’t happen. She reminds him that he was invited to dinner after practice that day, to which he says he remembers in tsundere-like annoyance.

On Track 10. Kurosaki Clinic, Hitsugaya finds out the dinner is actually a late surprise birthday party for him by his assigned team, courtesy of Matsumoto (who’ll be late). Karin mentions to him that she made an excuse to Yuzu about his team so she won’t suspect their true identities. As everybody enjoys the food, he also finds it delicious, & Karin suggests they should celebrate his birthday again later that year in December, with Yuzu suggesting a hot pot for winter. This invokes thoughts about the upcoming Winter War in him but he dismisses them when questioned by Karin. Hitsugaya then asks her why she uses honorifics with Matsumoto but not with him, & she says it’s because Matsumoto claimed that he relies on her for everything. This incites him to shout at his lieutenant when she finally arrives.

According to some Japanese websites (here’s one [6] for example), anime episode 132, “Hitsugaya, Karin, & Soccer Ball” had come from a draft suggested by Kubo. So it’s canon..?!! I still can’t even-

If that is so, then Hitsugaya also likes soccer, is good at it, & works well with Karin. He’s impressed by her high reiatsu & observes her, is protective of her (her friends & opposing team were irrelevant), plus, he lets her call him by his first name (which is surprising, since he doesn’t let anyone do so).

Does this mean that Kubo wanted to make a manga chapter of their meeting, but couldn’t because Shounen Jump, so he decided the anime could make it happen instead? Kubo HAD said in one or more interviews that there were MANY things he wanted to incorporate into his manga but never had the time or wasn’t allowed to. That’s why he probably suggested a few other things to the anime company that he wanted in the anime as well.

The fact Karin’s always been able to see ghosts & then started to see Hollows. Finding out about Ichigo’s secret. Her increasing reiatsu & powers (such as being able to see a soul’s memory, as was the case with the soul boy in the parakeet), & her having to go to Urahara for help & what he told her in chapter 428 - he said that if anything happened, he’d prepare what she needed (which we still don’t know what he meant unless it’s what we think). She said it was her turn to protect (the translation varies between wanting to protect her brother & protecting her family in general). Was this foreshadowing that Karin was going to have a bigger role in the manga? Was she maybe going to become a Soul Reaper? This is what we still want to know. (So she was going to encounter Hitsugaya either way).

After the 1+ year time skip, both of them aged “equally” (middle schoolers). Interesting, Kubo, interesting…

We got to see how they would look as adults… I can’t get over this ship-fanservice… SO GOOD-LOOKING & they match!! Interesting, Kubo, interesting…

So yeah, basically this ship is amazing, & had- HAS (screw it!!) so much potential. Forever ship this.

Because Tumblr is dumb with links, here are some, just copy & paste:

[1] https ://miyukikurosaki .tumblr .com/post/173609471994/56-happy-birthday-yuzu-and-karin-3 [remove spaces]

[2] https://www.wenku8.net/novel/0/67/19293.htm

[3] http://www.wikiwand.com/ja/%E5%8A%87%E5%A0%B4%E7%89%88BLEACH_The_DiamondDust_Rebellion_%E3%82%82%E3%81%86%E4%B8%80%E3%81%A4%E3%81%AE%E6%B0%B7%E8%BC%AA%E4%B8%B8

[4] https ://almightybuttcheeks .tumblr .com/post/702987125787967488/bleach-diamond-dust-rebellion-novel-translation [remove spaces]

[5] https ://almightybuttcheeks .tumblr .com/post/719180329885302784/translation-of-the-hitsukarin-parts-in-that-bleach [remove spaces]

[6] https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLEACH_(%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A1)#%E6%97%A5%E7%95%AA%E8%B0%B7%E5%85%88%E9%81%A3%E9%9A%8A%E5%A5%AE%E9%97%98%E8%A8%98

#hitsukarin #bleach #what do you call it #when a ship has no 'true' canon material #but has all of this #when authorial intent is something you never cared much for #(in terms of how 'canon' it makes a ship)#but then it has seeped through all the cracks anyway #ah hitsukarin; the filler ep that made me skip the rest of bleach #that made me read my first fanfic after I finished ep2 #I cannot believe their hold hasn't lessened #anyway I learned something new about the CDs ty op

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thegraysquirrel · 1 month ago

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#*snort*#video #this is my humour

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thegraysquirrel · 2 months ago

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there’s nothing purer or better than how much kids enjoy being picked up and then hurled at soft surfaces

#hm #*stares at the kid who likes to wrestle with others*#*stares at the same kid who will do cartwheels unprompted*#ah.

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thegraysquirrel · 2 months ago

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So I thought this was commonly known internet navigation (but apparently it might just be those of us who have been using the internet since the 90’s who still know it). Or so it seems based on… a grumpy comment I got.

When you see an arrow like this:

It means you click it to expand out a hidden section.

It’s an accordion section/menu! It’s useful in web design to hide information that may be overwhelming under specific headers so people can only see what they need.

Here I’m using it for people who need the content warnings to be able to check, but for those who don’t need them and don’t want to be spoiled to just move right past without accidentally reading anything.

It’s still the user’s responsibility to click the arrow and read things as they need! But it is all warned. (And, yes, the all encompassing issues are already a tag on the fic, I’m just providing additonal warnings per chapter.)

#oh interesting #for future reference #html code

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thegraysquirrel · 2 months ago

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#image #this is like a summary of some dynamic #a really neat summary #that I'll tag it as #prompt

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thegraysquirrel · 2 months ago

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THEORY: KAEYA IS HALF-SEELIE

Back by unpopular demand: Seelie Kaeya theory.

I have already talked about this before, many, many times, but I wanted to gather all my jumbled thoughts from the past few months into one proper post along with some new revelations that further support the theory.

I just want to clarify first that I don't like abandoning the narrative in favor of a theory. I wouldn't be constantly trying to push for this if I wasn't at least 80% sure.

Kaeya is my favorite character in the whole game, but I am well aware of the limitations being put on his character…

…Unless 5-star Kaeya comes through for us, that is.

*UPDATE: added a section on Arlecchino 🥳 (4.6 spoilers)

**added more info about Nicole (4.7)

Apologies for the long read but I had to make it as thorough as possible, you understand.

INDEX

1. Seelie = Angels 2. Connections to Seelie and the Jinn 3. Midsummer Night's Dream 4. Nicole Reeyn 5. Arlecchino 6. Visual Similarities and Characteristics 7. Perinheri

SEELIE = ANGELS

Seelie are equated to angels in the game. The floating eyeball versions are even modeled after a type of sea slug called Sea Angels. In case you need more evidence than that:

Nabu Malikata is a Seelie survivor. Her last name Malikata can be derived from malayikata ملائكة which means angels/messengers in Arabic.

The Jinn were created from Nabu Malikata's blood, they are referred to as the "descendants of Seelie" in the world quest "The Falcon's Hunt".

Seelie were heavenly envoys who would deliver messages from Celestia to humans. Nabu Malikata even refers to them as the "fallen envoys of heaven", after they were cast down.

So, if you ever happen to spot the phrase "heavenly/divine envoys", they are actually referring to the Seelie.

As for what they may have looked like, the Mural Room in Dragonspine features a depiction of an envoy with wings and what looks like horns or a crown on its head. Translated from Latin, the text next to it is as follows:

Fidelis angeli iuvant The angels help the faithful

Seelie are guides who reward humans with treasure after they lead them back to their Seelie courts. Simply put, they are returning a favor. Who else do we know of who is obsessed with favors?

ANGELS GEORG

The Seelie Kaeya has a bunch of notable connections to angels, the more you start to look for them the more you notice.

According to Kaeya's character story A List, he owns a book called The Adventures of Angelos, in which he keeps a list of names. Angelos, of course, means angel.

Between the pages of "The Adventures of Angelos," you find a list of names written on a sheet of official Knights of Favonius letterhead paper.

Kaeya's favorite haunt is Angel's Share. The logo for Angel's Share is two angels drinking from a wine glass. Angel's Share was established by Dawn Winery, where Kaeya was left at for unknown reasons. According to Diluc's character story, Crepus told him the following:

"The world would never turn its back on the faithful."

This is reminiscent of the mural in Dragonspine: "The angels help the faithful."

Furthermore, the teacups used to represent the mage Nicole can be found in Dawn Winery. Nicole is known as the "guide who never gets lost" and there is one teacup missing in the trailer. We'll get back to that piece of porcelain later.

It's possible that Dawn Winery had some dealings with the Seelie or that it was established by them. Remember Crepus owned a Delusion which means he must have had ties to the Fatui. We know of one character who is both Seelie and Fatui: Columbina.

Columbina is most likely a Seelie since the decorations in her hair match perfectly with the decoration on the Seelie courts. The character of Columbina is also known as a fairy-like dancer; fairies is what the Seelie are in popular culture… (More on that later.)

In the third volume of the book Drunkard's Tale, a lone wolf meets a Seelie survivor who is singing in an unfamiliar language. This Seelie is speculated to be Columbina. The Seelie is adressed as Maiden with the same characters in Chinese as Columbina's other title Damselette.

少女 = Damselette / Maiden

Curiously enough, this particular volume of the book can be found in Dawn Winery.

Kaeya's favorite drink is Death After Noon. This is based on the real drink "Death in the Afternoon", which famously contains absinthe. In the Book of Revelation, Apsinthion, or Wormwood, is the name of an angel or star who fell to earth.

The Abyss Mages chant in Enochian which is the language of the angels. They use this language when they regenerate their shields and to control the Hilichurls. The Abyss Order mostly consists of former Khaenri'ahns.

When Kaeya spots the Abyss Mage back in the Temple of the Wolf, it speaks to him in Enochian. They even added a subtitle to highlight its importance.

Kaeya: There's no way hilichurls organized an ambush like this themselves — not with their limited mental capacity… (A Hydro Abyss Mage reveals itself) Kaeya: Thus YOU were behind this. Hydro Abyss Mage: Gohus, Chiso Vonph.

Kaeya claims he's blessed with certain linguistic powers when the Paimon asks him how he gathered information about the Abyss Twin.

Paimon: What exactly did you have to do to find this out!? Kaeya: Heh… Let's just say I'm blessed with certain linguistic powers.

In the manga, it was implied Kaeya was able to read an unfamiliar script that not even Lisa, the Akademiya's best student in two hundred years, could understand.

We don't know where Kaeya lived beforehand but he might have lived in the Dark Sea. The Dark Sea is not a literal sea but any place outside of the rule of the Seven. Think Enkanomiya and possibly Khaenri'ah.

Kaeya: But, as you can see, this is but a deserted land. Based on previous experience, I decided that it would be best to wait for contact.

In the Midsummer Island event, Kaeya says he's been stranded on an island before, and in typical Kaeya fashion does not elaborate. (This might be connected to the Nameless Island, which Kaeya visited on his birthday.) Venti alludes Kaeya might have come from the Dark Sea, by the poem he gives him:

Venti: "Majestic waves cresting, surf roaring its tale, none but the ocean to hear as I sing." Venti: "The stars in my eyes as I chart toward the horizon, that into one day, from the endless dome of night I shall spring."

Palaces of the Seelie can be found in one particular ruin of the Dark Sea: Drunkard's Tale, where the Seelie maiden was situated. (AKA Columbina)

This wasteland is said to be a land beyond the dominion of the deities, inhabited only by the grotesque ghostly remains of fallen gods, where the former palaces of the Seelie now stand empty.

In the Veluriyam Mirage event, Kaeya starred in a play written by Zosimos. According to Idyia, Zosimos based the play on a rumor he heard about a thief and a mage, meaning there might be some truth to it. He then combined the story with Idyia's backstory.

Kaeya's character, the unnamed dagger bandit, follows a shooting star, which turns out to be a woman. The dagger bandit is most likely meant to be someone related to Kaeya, since he hailed from a dark realm and his vision is modified to look like an 8-pointed star (as per Zosimos's design). The dark realm could very well be Khaenri'ahn.

As it turns out, Zosimos's namesake Zosimos the alchemist, claimed fallen angels were the ones who taught humans the art of metallurgy.

The ancient and divine writings say that the angels became enamoured of women; and, descending, taught them all the works of nature. From them, therefore, is the first tradition, chema, concerning these arts; for they called this book chema and hence the science of chemistry takes its name.

…Yeah, I don't think it's a coincidence the play Kaeya starred in was written by this specific guy 😮‍💨

Maybe we're meant to equate the fallen star with a fallen angel. Whoever this fallen star and dagger bandit are, is unknown, but I think we can safely assume it has something to do with Kaeya's family and/or Khaenri'ah's deeper lore.

Kaeya's constellation is a peacock. Peacocks have countless eyes just like how angels are popularly depicted. In Renaissance art, angels are even portrayed with peacock wings.

The description of Kaeya's friendship namecard in CN implies he has many Augen. 👁

孔雀漂亮尾羽上的花纹很像是永不闭上的眼睛。所以凯亚并非少了一只眼睛、而是··· The patterns on the beautiful tail feathers of a peacock resemble eyes that never close. So Kaeya isn’t missing an eye, but…

And then it just trails off. I think it’s meant to say: "Kaeya isn’t missing an eye, rather he has many of them."

Perhaps they were being literal.

The Jinn In his hangout, Kaeya gifts the Traveler a lamp said to have housed a powerful Jinni. As said before Jinn are descendants of the Seelie.

The people turned against each other, and the Jinn scattered across the lands… Broken souls became fuel to a titanic machine, and the mindless descendants of the Seelie were degraded into slaves of infinite power…

In comparison to other companion gifts, who are connected to their item in some way, Kaeya's gift stands out as an outlier… unless it is a surprise tool that can help us understand him later.

He is also familiar with the tale of the Shepard and the Magic Bottle, although he changes the ending of the story as he recounts it to Klee. This book is about a Jinni who gets freed from a bottle...

From his hangout, we learn Kaeya owns a lucky coin that can allegedly do anything he wishes from it. He then goes on to say there's a pre-existing arrangement between them. Perhaps this coin has a Jinni fragment inside of it similar to Benben.

That would be the simple explanation… but nothing is ever simple with Kaeya.

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Now onto the most damning piece of evidence. Kaeya himself is based on the changeling baby from Midsummer Night's Dream. Oberon is the Fairy King, whose name is the French derivative of Alberich.

This checks out as Oberon was also an important figure from the Merovingian Dynasty that included names such as Chlothar and Caribert.

Titania is the Fairy Queen, who adopted her scion's baby after she died in childbirth. This baby was the son of an Indian king, in other words, an Indian prince.

In today's popular culture, Titania is the Queen of the Summer Court, also known as the Seelie Court.

Most literature, folklore, and pop-culture interpretations of faerie depict Titania as the actual leader of the Seelie Fey, she often rules the Summer Court.

Princess Fischl is also connected to this play, as she had created a Sommernachtgarten, or Summer Night Garden, that now lies in ruins in the domain Midsummer Courtyard.

Suddenly Kaeya and Fischl being featured in the Midsummer Island events start to make sense. I wouldn't be surprised if Fischl showed up again in this year's summer event.

How Kaeya and Princess Fischl are connected is still unclear but the possibility of them being related keeps growing. Whatever the case, the Indian prince's (adoptive) mom being a Seelie Queen is pretty straightforward.

"But isn't he adopted? That means he isn't a Seelie!" Yes, but remember Oberon, Titania's husband, is Alberich who Kaeya IS related to.

It's hard to tell what direction they're going in, but I have no doubt Kaeya is half-something, because the other character he is based on is Hagen, who is always half-Human, with the other part being either dwarf or elf.

With all the angel/Seelie/Jinn connections, I think we can guess what Kaeya's other half is.

Before I forget: Oberon and Titania fought over the child; Oberon wanted the boy to become a knight, his henchman, but Titania refused as she felt obligated to raise him in his mother's stead. Unfortunately, Oberon succeeded in getting Titania to hand over the child, as he had trapped her in a dream-like state...

Another fun thing I discovered is that the title of the trailer Winter Night's Lazzo is a reference to Midsummer Night's Dream as well.

An explanation for this could be that aside from the aforementioned Seelie, there exist a darker counterpart, the Unseelie, which has its roots in Scottish folklore.

The most common courts from traditional legends are the Seelie or Summer Court, and the Unseelie or Winter Court.

In popular culture, the Unseelie Court is the Winter Court ruled by the Queen of Air and Darkness: the sister of Titania. This Winter Queen seems to be unnamed but I've found some call her Mab, another reference to one of Shakespeare's plays.

Did you know they probably named Snezhnaya after the fairy tale of the Snow Queen, which is Snezhnaya Koroleva in Russian? Snow Queen, Winter Queen, Tsaritsa... The shoe fits 🤷🏽‍♀️

In Genshin, there is no mention of any Unseelie yet, but if the Seelie are like angels, then the Unseelie might be the equivalent of fallen angels or demons. Well, we shall see how that plays out.

Back to Titania, she was a fairy who adopted her friend's son after she passed away. Is there is a character who could fulfill this role for Kaeya, acting as some kind of guardian angel?

NICOLE REEYN

Nicole is a witch of the Hexenzirkel, known as Mage "N". She is a powerful prophet capable of divining the fate of the world.

She is also a teacup.

Alice says Nicole is the guide who never gets lost and that she is obsessed with guiding people. That's literally Seelie 101!

Alice: The "guide who will never get lost" is N, otherwise known as Nicole. You may have not encountered her yet, but she is a truly extraordinary woman who has made this world's direction and order her subject of study. Alice: Some of you may be fortunate enough to have already heard her voice. Like a prophetess, she will only speak to guide people toward the truth when a change has occurred in the world. Alice: She has a tendency to… suddenly speak in someone's mind without any warning.

New dialogue from Wolfy, the stuffed toy from Imaginarium Theater, pretty much confirms Nicole is a Seelie. He talks about a "Boar" Tribe, where the "boars" did bad things and were punished by their Master.

Wolfy: The master took out a rusted set of scales, and told the boars to stack their own things on both sides. If the scales tipped to one side, they could leave.

The boars who gave up their heads turned into animals like wolves, snakes and lizards and the boars who gave up their muscle became rabbits, instinctively guiding people to treasure. Guiding people to treasure is the number one job of the Seelie husks.

Loading Screen Now you see them; now you don't. Once a mighty race that lived to guide mankind, now the most Seelie offer is a little treasure to willing followers.

However, there was one boar who placed their head and muscle evenly on both sides of the scale, which caused it to break in the middle. This "boar" is Nicole.

Wolfy: And so she became a mute person — for she had placed her voice upon the scales as well. Wolfy: She is also a friend of Madame Mage, and I hear she likes to speak in people's heads!

The witch pictured on this slide from the Hexenzirkel teaser is most likely Nicole since it immediately cuts to her teacups.

She is blowing away wind similar to depictions of wind deities. The accompanying subtitle even is "sometimes, we all need to vent our troubles to the wind". This could mean Nicole is some kind of air spirit…or a Seelie, who were once "faster than a storm" according to the Aranara.

Furthermore, Nicole losing her voice, or perhaps giving it up, is reminiscent of the fairy tale The Little Mermaid, written by Hans Christian Anderson, Anderdottir's inspiration. In the book, the mermaid sacrifices her voice to become human. However she fails to uphold the condition and dies, which turns her into an air spirit.

Perhaps she's a Seelie, or a descendant of the Seelie, similar to the Jinn. In the Danish opera Holger Danske, Titania is the Queen of the Sylphs, who are air spirits. We don't have Sylphs mentioned verbatim in the game yet, aside from Venti being an air spirit.

Kaeya conveniently has several references to the wind.

He is dubbed the Frostwind Swordsman, his outfit is called Icy Featherflight, his OTHER outfit is Sailwind Shadow, his sixth constellation is Glacial Whirlwind, and he has a passive that decreases stamina consumption…

Noelle even describes him as someone who comes and goes with the wind.

As mentioned in the previous section, Kaeya was stranded on a deserted island, this might be referring to the Nameless Island, which, according to an old blog post on the official CN website, Kaeya visited on his birthday. Where this island came from is unclear but it is shrouded in mist and invisible on the map.

The Nameless Island has a sun-or moondial associated with the God of Time. The weathered transcription is as follows:

Ravaged Carving: "Stories brought on the wind will bloom into legends in due time."

You can also hear this faint voice speaking when you do the quest related to the island:

Faint Voice: "An ancient tale comes whisked in the wind…" Faint Voice: "In time, it will grow and sprout once again…"

In the same blog post, Kaeya says the following:

我还有很多故事…还有很多时间。 I have plenty of stories… and plenty of time.

😮‍💨

When Kaeya casts his burst you even see him pull the wind towards himself, towards that eight-pointed star.

Furthermore, he came to Mondstadt during a LATE SUMMER NIGHT'S STORM, contradicting the fact that there hasn't been a single storm in Mondstadt since Venti gave them his protection.

Kaeya's Character Story "If Master Crepus hadn't taken me in, I doubt I'd have made it through the storm that night."

Vind: Since Lord Barbatos began protecting Mondstadt, we have not seen a single storm, and the watchtowers have slowly fallen into disrepair.

He probably wasn't lying about this since Varka could have easily fact-checked this with Diluc or Dawn Winery.

Perhaps Nicole was responsible for this odd contradiction if she was the one who guided Kaeya and his father to Dawn Winery. Coincidentally, the Jinni Liloupar was able to command sandstorms at her will.

Liloupar once had the immense power to command sandstorms at her will. The howling gale that lashes the desert used to be the blade and shield at her disposal.

Since the Jinn are descendants of the Seelie, perhaps Nicole could have a similar power. (Or maybe she became a giant wind turbine, who even knows anymore.)

"But why would a witch go through all this trouble for just one guy?" If Titania took care of her friend's baby after she died, then maybe Nicole was friends with Kaeya's mom and decided to offer her protection.

Or perhaps they were sisters. There is after all a teacup from the same teaset missing from the trailer.

Let's just get this out of the way first: No, Nicole is not Diluc's mom, the pattern on the teacups can be found within the architecture of Dawn Winery, which means she's either the founder or an ancestor of Crepus or both. Angel's Share is named as such for a reason.

Diluc does not possess any huge Seelie/fairy/angel/witch connections other than Angel's Share so I don't think she's related to him. Kaeya on the other hand 🤷🏽‍♀️

I am not going to say anything about the possibility of Nicole being Kaeya's mom, but I will say that Nicole's name means "Victory of the people", while the first character in Kaeya's name means victory as well.

Nicole = from νίκη (níkē, “victory”) +‎ λαός (laós, “people”). Kaeya = 凯亚, 凯 = music of triumph; paean; triumph; victory

And please don't forget the poor missing teacup next to Nicole's, it is no doubt going to be important.

Anyway, Kaeya does have some serious connections to Princess Fischl, with hints at him being a Prince continuing to persist, so he's definitely not some random guy. Whether he's aware of this or not is debatable.

He's called "our last hope", by his father, which like everything pertaining to Kaeya, is never explained. However, the Aranara Aranaga describes hope as a dream that never dissipates… A Midsummer Night's Dream if you will 😉

Aranaga: There are dreams because there is memory. Memory is nourished, so there is life. So, it can grow, the thing to repel Marana (forbidden knowledge). Traveler: I'm guessing you mean "hope"? Aranaga: Yeah, right you are, Golden Nara (Traveler). The thing that flows, cannot be seen, cannot be touched… Hope. Like the wind… But it never dissipates, like a dream.

Nabu Malikata Nicole has some fascinating similarities with Nabu Malikata that I will briefly list here:

Nabu Malikata last name can mean angels but it can also mean queen. Nicole Reeyn's last name is derived from reine which also means queen.

"Nabu" means prophet in Akkadian and she was able to predict her own death, Nicole is a prophetess too.

After Nabu Malikata disappeared, Deshret dreamed of her feeling her way through a crystalline maze. The inside of Irminsul is a crystalline maze. Nicole is part of the Hexenzirkel who travel to the Irminsul to study it.

Nabu Malikata is the Mistress of the Orchard and Wine, Nicole has ties to Dawn Winery, a wine orchard.

Nabu Malikata is also a dream-mother, capable of giving humans dreams. According to Furina's character blurb, Nicole left a fabel inside someone's dream.

I can't say they're the same person but this is one of those things that will keep haunting you once you uncover it. And now they will haunt you.

ARLECCHINO

Enter "Father".

What we know of her so far is that she is the last surviving descendant of Khaenri'ah's Crimson Moon clan. Arlecchino's blood is cursed, yet unlike the other curse-bearers we know like Dainsleif and Chlothar, she still ages visibly. Before we get ahead of ourselves, it's specifically stated in her boss description that she IS the Crimson Moon's SOLE scion, so Kaeya is likely not part of that bloodline.

Someday, the hearth-fire's faint radiance shall burn the old world away, incinerating the final scion of the baleful moon as well.

I think we all know by now that Arlecchino has some angelic features.

Like Kaeya, she is associated with an animal with many eyes: a spider. And like Kaeya, she wears one prominent wing on her back but only when she is in battle. This wing is actually crafted by her from spider silk, so it's not actually an "organic" wing.

Arlecchino shares boss theme lyrics with the most famous one-winged angel in recent history: Sephiroth (FF7). They are both in turn inspired by Abezethibou, a fallen angel with one red wing. The interesting thing about Sephiroth is that he was born from an experiment, where they injected cells from an alien "calamity" into him when he was still a fetus. This led him to develop the iconic one black wing.

Furthermore, the title of Arlecchino can be traced back to the Erlking, an evil elf who could kill children with just one touch. Arlecchino does seem to be somewhat inspired by him as seen in this comparison.

Erlking means Elf King which just so happens to be the meaning of Alberich (Elf King). 🤨 There's even a dude straight up called Alf (elf) in the Perinheri book.

In the Romance-speaking world, beings comparable to elves are widely known by words derived from Latin fata ('fate'), which came into English as fairy. This word became partly synonymous with elf by the early modern period.

😑…

Since the Balemoon Bloodfire that runs through Arlecchino's veins originates from the long-dead Crimson Moon, it's possible that either the moons are angels or they were the ones who created them. The Seelie must have come into existence somehow; it would make sense for them to originate from the Moon Sisters.

The moons would not be as low-ranked as the Seelie-angels, they'd most likely be akin to Archangels/other higher ranked angels. Luckily for us, Mona's astrolabe conveniently uses the names of 4 Archangels.

(From the Wiki) Mona's astrolabe (Outer ring): GBL URL MKL RPL The archangels Gabriel, Uriel, Michael, and Raphael.

…It is unknown who they are referring to but since she is using her astrolabe to divine someone's fate they're probably the names of the three Moon Sisters + Sun. (We can't be sure yet if the Four Shades are the Moon Sisters/Sun so I will refrain from making that assumption until we know more.)

Arlecchino has another weird ability: her blood can create afterimages or shadows which appear like this around her in her boss fight:

These look awfully similar to the Pari in-game, and Pari just so happen to be like fairies in Persian mythology. Arlecchino's nickname was even Perrie, which is probably a pun on Peri, the inspiration behind the Pari.

In the game, the Pari are sentient beings of Khvarena, which in turn was separated from Nabu Malikata's body. As it happens, Khvarena can also dwell inside humans, these people are called the scions of Khvarena. (More on that here where I proposed Kaeya's mom might have been one of these scions.)

Stamen of Khvarena's Origin Nabu Malikata: "And so I separated you (Khvarena) from my body, and I ask you now to prevent that nightmare's coming."

No doubt about it: Arlecchino is carrying the bloodline of a (dead) moon angel…thing. Maybe all Khaenri'ahns are descendants of angels, but it's hard to say for now if they inherited it through normal means, or if the Crimson Moon clan used a ritual to transmute their blood. According to the book Perinheri, the Crimson Moon dynasty was deeply involved with alchemy, though it fell off by the time of the Eclipse Dynasty.

(Perhaps they even used the Moon's remains (ashes) to achieve this. Maybe that's why Arlecchino glitches: she was "re-born" from the "afterimage" (ashes) of the Crimson Moon.)

Combined with Zosimos's play implying the fallen star was a fallen angel, Khaenri'ahns could very well be descendants of fallen angels. In that case, they could be like the Nephilim, who are descendants of humans and fallen angels. Nephilim is often translated as giants or the fallen ones, which is very funny considering the meaning of Titania's name (Titan).

Speaking of Titania… In Arlecchino's teapot voicelines she talks about an opera called The Unexpected Dream. Unclear if this is referring to thee Midsummer Night's Dream, but given what we know of this game and its apparent obsession with the play, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume it is.

The name Titania for the queen of the fairies appears to have been the invention of Shakespeare, for, as Mr. Ritson remarks, she is not "so called by any other writer." Why, however, the poet designated her by this title, presents, according to Mr. Keightley, no difficulty. "It was," he says, "the belief of those days that the fairies were the same as the classic nymphs, the attendants of Diana. The Fairy Queen was therefore the same as Diana whom Ovid (Met. iii. 173) styles Titania."

Also, scholars suggest Shakespeare's Titania is ultimately referring to the moon goddess Diana, so make of that what you will. There's even a part in the play where Titania looks up at the moon and likens it to a crying eye… Another fun fact: on Tsurumi island, there's a mural from the ancient civilization ruins that references a poem about Diana by the Latin poet Catullus.

In any case, Arlecchino basically adds fuel to the theory that Khaenri'ahns might be the descendants of angels/Seelie. Though whether they inherited it naturally, through snorting up moon ashes or making deals with suspicious purple crystals remains to be seen. The Balemoon Bloodfire is dubbed a "noble blood" which means the Crimson Moon clan was regarded as nobility. Just another thing Arlecchino and Kaeya have in common.

This poses another conundrum for Kaeya though: if it's his Khaenri'ahn father who gave him his supposed "angel" ancestry as opposed to his mother, we're still left with the mystery of where he got his royal heritage from. Nobility ≠ royalty.

The Alberichs weren't of royal blood, we know this, yet Kaeya's prince-baiting adventure continues, same as it ever was 😮‍💨

BREATH OF THE FEYWILD

This is the fun part where I list similarities between Kaeya and the Seelie, from his design to his personality.

Visual Design As you know, Kaeya has a giant wing on his back with three feathers. (Funnily enough the pattern on the outer border is the same as the sun- or moondial on the Nameless Island 😑)

No one else has wings on their outfit other than Paimon and Skirk who has a tiny one on her back. Arlecchino has one wing that only appears in battle or during her charged attack. Seelie courts have a little wing emblem and that angel in the Dragonspine Mural has a stylized wing.

Kaeya has one eye and wears a fluffy boa, same as the Seelie husks we see floating around. Though Kaeya doesn't have two horns, the peacock on his namecard does have two little feathers on its head.

Also, the Seelie emblem on the domain murals look similar to the 8-pointed star on Kaeya's outfit. The downward point is elongated which could represent the cone-shaped legs the Seelie husks have.

Seelie and their beauty keep being equated to moonlight… Kaeya is canonically called good-looking in-game, and has unexplained lightstreaks in his hair.

He also ordered a Moonlit Alley in his hangout (with Venti present) and gifted the Traveler a Moon Pie for his most recent birthday😒. Surely of no importance whatsoever.

Personality I am basing this on the known Seelie we have in the game: Nabu Malikata, Columbina, and Angelica (from the book Perinheri).

First of, Seelie were guides of humanity, and taught them wisdom and language.

Arama: A Seelie? In the ancient stories, Seelies were a great race with wisdom and beauty beyond the pale of this earth. They traveled with Nara (humans) and taught Nara languages and the philosophy of nature.

… In his teapot dialogue, Kaeya offers to put together a guide for the Traveler when they ask for his wisdom.

Traveler: Can I rely on your words of wisdom in the future? Kaeya: I'm at your service. In fact… would you like me to compile a guide for you…? Kaeya: It would contain all kinds of practical knowledge for at home and on the road, including the techniques I have developed for communicating with people from all walks of life. I'd like to share it all with you.

Kaeya acts as a teacher for Klee giving her advice on how to dodge the authorities (Jean) and whatnot.

Speaking of dodging, as stated previously, Seelie were said to be faster than a storm, and Kaeya has a passive called Hidden Strength that decreases stamina consumption. He's actually one of the fastest running characters-gameplay wise.

The loading screen description for Seelie says the following;

Now you see them, now you don't.

Finally an explanation for Kaeya's ability to teleport in his normal attacks. It's just as Noelle said, he comes and goes with the wind.

In Scottish folklore Seelie will ask humans for help and give them a reward in return. In his Story Quest, Kaeya does the same, asking the Traveler for help and gifting them a sword for their efforts. Yes, it was a trap but he did do all of that, and in his Story Quest no less! Story Quests are designed as a glimpse into the character's life….

Wait a minute, he led them into a trap. Where have I heard that before?

Angelica! The woman from the book Perinheri is very obviously an angel (HER NAME LITERALLY GIVES IT AWAY) and thus potentially a Seelie, or at least someone belonging to the angel hierarchy.

Angelica led Hleobrant on with promises and then led him into a trap, not unlike what Nabu Malikata did to Deshret. She knew she was going to die and used his feelings for her to make sure she would never be forgotten.

Furthermore, if a Seelie is insulted they will exact revenge on those who wronged them.

Diluc: Yes… about Kaeya… Diluc: I should have known he would see this as the perfect opportunity to get back at me.

Dude pulled up the Wikipedia page on Seelie 😭😭😭.

Another thing about Kaeya is that he will collect the fears and sensitivities of people as material to tease them about. …In the Harbingers trailer, Columbina teases Dottore about his age, knowing full well he's sensitive about it.

Columbina: I must say, you're looking very young today, Doctor Dottore: You know very well that I do not take that as a compliment

Wanderer describes Columbina as someone who is eerily unbothered and unfazed in every situation.

About Damselette Let me ask: what should you do if you were to encounter a "damsel" who is oblivious and innocent at any given time, and unconcerned and unfeeling in any given situation? If it were me, I could at least challenge her to a fight. But if it were you… with your conscience, I would stay away from her.

In his character story, Kaeya is described as having a cavalier attitude which in that context means, "showing arrogant or offhand disregard; dismissive", since he put the lives of his men in danger by triggering a Ruin Guard ��. They hate to see a whimsical guy winning.

Character Story 5 Sinister thoughts flashed through Kaeya's mind, and he simply smirked: "This world is truly… fascinating."

You can also see this in Crepus's famous death scene where he was standing in the back smirking Just according to keikaku.

According to Scara, Columbina appears to be oblivious, though whether she's feigning or not remains to be seen. Kaeya has his own fair share of moments where he pretends to be in the dark.

Think the opposite of Furina who pretended to know everything.

He even acted like a "damsel" in need of help right of the bat in his Story Quest.

Kaeya: This is bad… Such a hassle… What am I going to do… Traveler: What's wrong, Kaeya? You don't usually lose your chill. Kaeya: Oh, thank the Thousand Winds! (Traveler), your arrival must be the grace of the gods! Kaeya: If I may ask — envoy sent by the Anemo God to save this mere mortal — could you spare a moment?

(Would be very fun if Columbina and Kaeya know each other from the dark recesses that is Kaeya's childhood and Kaeya is mimicking her behavior like some kind of mentee.)

Both Nabu Malikata and Columbina do not seem to possess human emotions which makes sense since they operate on a higher level than humans. Does make you wonder if Kaeya's occasionally strange behavior is a result of him being half-Seelie.

While not exactly a personality trait, Kaeya repeats some of Nicole's sayings which I thought was interesting.

Nicole: History does not change easily, but human hearts can. Kaeya: History always repeats itself. Kaeya: Anyway, that's exactly why actors need to wake up and realize they don't have to follow the script. There's nothing to stop them from following their gut and making it up as they go along.

As for why Kaeya would know this: find out in 2026 😂 (😭)

Venti Since fairies and air spirits are another potential branch of Kaeya's family tree we can consult the most prominent air spirit in the game: Venti.

Kaeya and Venti have a lot in common, personality wise. Both like alcohol, are mischievous, and have a very mellow attitude.

They also tend to disappear when we need lore the most.

This is very stereotypical of how fairies are portrayed. Down to their love of wine and penchant to pull pranks.

Is Venti some kind of Seelie? Well, he does have wings, and he was a single thread of the thousand winds which represent freedom… Freedom, just like Angelica.

Play within a play In Midsummer Night's Dream, the fairies toy with the humans like dolls. It's their meddling that causes all the mishaps in the play. They even call Oberon the King of Shadows, with shadows referring to the fairies as well as being Elizabethan slang for actors.

[…] even within this fictional world [Shakespeare] has created, the human characters are still treated as plot devices, pawns to be manipulated and directed across the play by the faeries.

If you've read the manga, you know where this is going.

If not:

“All the world's a stage, and all the people merely players – Kaeya Alberich”

–William Shakespeare

Kaeya has more instances where he treats people like they are fulfilling a role: in his outfit description he talks about the bandit and the knight as roles they have to fulfill. When he first meets the Traveler, he applauds like he just witnessed a performance. In Diluc's Story Quest, he breaks the fourth wall by mentioning the chapter of the Story Quest he's in.

Paimon: Kaeya!? Where did you come from? Kaeya: I just picked a good spot to quietly sit and watch the show. Paimon: Whaaa… You've been here this whole time!?

BECAUSE HE COMES AND GOES LIKE THE WIND KEEP UP PAIMON

And after Crepus's death he ponders on the roles he should have played: that of a son and that of a brother.

Very normal behavior…FOR A SEELIE.

You see, Deshret and Nabu Malikata created a City for the Jinn, called the City of Amphitheaters… where they had theaters 😮‍💨

Altar of Mirages The Jinn once used this place as a free theater and a paradise without sorrow or care.

Princess Fischl also introduced theater to the paradise of the Immernachtreich where her people would dedicate plays to her. (Don't underestimate how connected she is to all this!)

PERINHERI

In case you're unaware, a new book released in patch 4.5 called Perinheri has given us new Khaenri'ah lore. I'll only mention the bits relevant to the theory but it's definitely worth reading if you haven't already.

In the story, a woman named Angelica visits the "Kingdom" as a supposed Princess from some defeated nation. Angelica declares she will marry the greatest knight of the Kingdom and lists several names, one of which is Alberich, leader of half of the knights.

But that's not the interesting part.

Angelica leads Hleobrant outside the Kingdom's borders which causes him to transform into a beast. This is because he is cursed: his ancestors forsook their gods when they came to live at the Kingdom.

Angelica, however, bears no such curses as she explains:

The witch, Angelica, explained thus: "Hleobrant is the descendant of those who forsook their god and came to the Kingdom. This is why the Kingdom's obstinately pure-blooded aristocracy persists. This is the price of betraying your own god. As for you, Perinheri, you are one who drifted there. Thus, you bear no such curse. You may not have the nobility to shoulder a world, but you too have your own destiny. And as for me? I betrayed no one, not for a moment, until my god died, so I too bear this curse not. But you now see who I truly am, yes?"

Look. I don't think I need to spell this out but Angelica is an angel, her name is even explained to mean "one who is as a divine emissary", which, as we established before, are Seelie. Kaeya even has that stupid book The Adventures of Angelos which is obviously a hint towards whatever the fuck he is.

Angelos, Angelica…. Need I say more? 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

She also conveniently disappears at the end BECAUSE SHE COMES AND GOES LIKE THE WIND

Anyway, this could explain why Kaeya isn't cursed, his mother was a Seelie who never forsook her god. We don't know what the bloodline of Khaenri'ahns consists of… so I can't confidently say they are all descendants of angels. Kaeya definitely is though. You're still a Seelie and that's FINAL.

Otherwise I don't know how else you could explain all of the above.

If he's not a Seelie/angel or a descendant of one, then the only explanation I can think of is that he was blessed by one and is under their protection. Perhaps he was even raised by a bunch of them like the Indian prince from Shakespeare's play.

Maybe in some kind of Sommernachtgarten ☀️🌺

Or a Winter Palace 👸🏼❄️

Frost Prince, Sun Prince, Seelie Prince, whatever Kaeya might be, I will keep updating this post as we go along for the sake of the five people reading this 🫡.

It's like Shakespeare always said, it's Kaeya's world and we're all just living in it.

#Genshin Impact #meta #thinky thoughts #Kaeya #Wow!!!#I came here from the Capitano meta posts #It's all been such nice reads!

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thegraysquirrel · 2 months ago

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I mentioned this on Twitter, so I had to here as well. (Someone has brought this up before, tho I can’t remember where.) I love the attention to detail of the Forger kitchen in the manga. There are Bondman stickers all over the kitchen cabinets and drawers, at the perfect Anya height! 🥰

You can spot them in these panels

I think it’s so cute her parents are letting Anya make her house a home by sticking her stickers everywhere. (I was NOT allowed to do that as a kid.)

The apartment in the anime is iconic, but very sterile. It never changes. The manga apartment looks much more homey and lived in and I love the little details like these that shows a young child lives and plays there. For Agent Twilight to let her do this, the boy’s a big softie I think. I wonder what he thinks when he passes by these stickers all over his “temporary” home. ❤️

#spy x family #gosh I never noticed!#I'll pay attention next time the apartment appears #Anya Forger #Twilight #Yor Briar

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thegraysquirrel · 3 months ago

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Lessons were learned

#spy x family #Yor #Twilight #fanart #I'm sure Yor had something to drink here for courage

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thegraysquirrel · 3 months ago

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#omg it IS blorbo from my shows #video #blorbo

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thegraysquirrel · 4 months ago

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HOW DO YOUR PERCEIVE BLUE AND GREEN?

#boundary at hue 170 #greener than 77% of the population #which is to say I consider a lot of things blue

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thegraysquirrel · 4 months ago

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Since the whole thing with NaNoWriMo has gone down, I've noticed that one of their former sponsors, Ellipsus, has cut contact with NaNoWriMo because they do not support their stance on AI; I didn't know what Ellipsus was, but upon further research I've found that they are a writing platform that works a lot like Google Docs and Microsoft Word, only with a heavier leaning on the story-writing aspect and connecting with other writers - and they also completely denounce any use of AI, both in the writing process itself and in the use of their platform. I really appreciate that.

Since this is the case (and since I've noticed Google has begun implementing more AI into their software), I've decided to give Ellipsus a try to see if it's a good alternative to Google Docs (my main writing platform). It's completely free and so far, I've found it simple to use (although it is pretty minimal in its features), and I really like the look of it.

I figured I'd spread the word about this platform in case any of you writers would want to give it a try, and if you do, let me know how you like it!

#for future reference #writing

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thegraysquirrel · 4 months ago

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Literal definition of spyware:

Also From Microsoft’s own FAQ: "Note that Recall does not perform content moderation. It will not hide information such as passwords or financial account numbers. 🤡

#for future reference

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thegraysquirrel · 4 months ago

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Petition to create the term “rad herring” for when you something in a story has no bearing on the actual plot and won’t help piece together any of the big twists, but is just too fucking awesome an idea not to include.

#rad herring c:#writing

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thegraysquirrel · 4 months ago

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hitsuhina // ginran:

the conflict between love and duty

It will always be mildly funny to me that while hitsugaya was ready to murder his vice-captain’s childhood friend, gin refrained from murdering rangiku’s captain’s childhood friend.

I blame bleach for getting me back to rambling about these two. I’ve always been really intrigued with their dynamics. gin obviously joined the gotei 13 solely for rangiku, and you can infer that rangiku followed him there because they didn’t have any other close relations in their childhood (unlike say hitsugaya and hinamori, or renji and rukia). There’s a slight contrast as to how rangiku was as a kid and how she is now. While she seemed withdrawn and was content to just be by gin’s side as a child, in the gotei 13 she flourished. gin obviously left her intentionally, both the first time as a child and even while in the gotei 13 because while I’m sure he intentionally never formed other close bonds so that he could focus on his revenge for rangiku (mayhaps except for kira, his instructions for kira to distract the tenth squad seemed to me to be his way to ensure rangiku and kira specifically wouldn’t be caught in the mess in central 46, toss up for me if he suspected that hitsugaya would definitely rush back).

Despite devoting his life for revenge for rangiku, I’m sure he thought he wouldn’t be good for her which was why he always left her. rangiku, meanwhile, despite most certainly loving gin and joining the gotei 13 to follow him (say in contrast to momo who already had dreams of becoming a shinigami), stands by soul society in the end (which I’m sure gin also accounted for, he wanted her safe).

Loyalty is a funny thing in bleach. The gotei 13 is a military organization. The loyalty of the shinigami to soul society are reflected in their loyalties to their superior officers. Which is why I always thought the vice-captains always had it hard. It just so happened that hitsugaya ended up being on the side of “good”, but coming from an organizational standpoint, he was as much a rogue element as say gin at the time, breaking all those rules and what not. So really, both kira and matsumoto were exemplary vice-captains. I mean how are you supposed to judge when your loyalty to your captain is supposed to end, especially when that loyalty is encouraged and even demanded in the gotei 13?

Most of the conflict in the soul society arc really came from the loyalties of shinigami to soul society being tested against their personal loyalties (like renji with rukia and byakuya). It really was an interesting arc for me because you had captains like kenpachi who had no loyalty to soul society at all, as well as kurotsuchi who obviously committed heinous actions but didn’t really break any of soul society’s rules or orders.

And this is why I hate it when momo’s actions during this arc are diminished or disregarded. Because what I love most about momo is how she will always try to do the right thing despite personal risk to herself or facing much stronger opponents than her. When she faced hitsugaya, it wasn’t a betrayal or her choosing aizen over him, but rather her fulfilling her shinigami duties. In an alternate world where aizen really was good and hitsugaya was evil, or it had been hitsugaya who died with aizen implicated in the letter, I imagine she would still pursue the same actions, despite the torture her soul was under.

She was neither wrong or naive in that instance because that letter really was written by aizen, and who would’ve suspected that a dead man would lie. Despite everything, even hitsugaya who had a more objective view could only imagine that the letter had been altered.

hitsugaya and aizen (at the time) are close to her heart, people she cherished. But in the same way she took a stand against hitsugaya when it seemed like he was a threat against soul society, she also took a stand against aizen for soul society and her squad (it’s the parallels). aizen’s hubris was in thinking that momo couldn’t live without him, that he was her purpose. But momo had a dream to become shinigami and protect and help people long before aizen, and long before even hitsugaya had such notions. It’s not anything anyone can take away from her, and I love that so much about her.

And yet the dichotomy between momo being the dutiful shinigami and yet still having a soft and pure heart, especially towards the people she loves. From her perspective, she was doing her duty as a vice-captain of the gotei 13 in fighting hitsugaya, but despite that hitsugaya could be evil, she still falls back to her closest address of him, one laden with intimacy and history. This is the same way she ends up slipping and calling aizen, ‘aizen-taicho’ (ah once again with the ironic parallels).

The fight is full of meaning and I’d love to ramble about it too. I still think her purpose was two-fold, one is of course to fulfill her duty despite knowing that hitsugaya is stronger than her (like the regai arc would show too), but the more tragic one I think is that I think she thought that if hitsugaya really is so far gone as to have killed aizen and put soul society in danger, and if she wasn’t strong enough to beat him, then she might as well be killed by her precious childhood friend. She never unleashes her shikai nor does she use kido. Even after all that, and even facing her captain’s (alleged) murderer named by her dead captain himself, she couldn’t bring herself to go all out, which speaks a lot about how much she really treasures hitsugaya. Maybe she also unconsciously thought that if there was anyone who hitsugaya would refrain from fighting or change his ways for, it would be her (again another parallel with rangiku and gin).

This conflict between love and duty is also present in rangiku. Despite that she’s been loyal to soul society all this time, at the end of it all, she still chooses to go after gin, instead of say, staying and healing her defeated captain.

momo and rangiku are in contrast to hitsugaya and gin. gin is obvious. he doesn’t care who he hurts or what gets destroyed as long as his revenge for rangiku is fulfilled. it just so happens that destroying aizen will also ensure soul society’s safety, and therefore rangiku’s safety. hitsugaya is a bit more balanced in that he has other bonds apart from momo (although I’m pretty sure after gin bonded with rangiku, he decided he didn’t need anyone else because he might have been pretty sure by then already that he was going to die for her).

However, I’m pretty sure in my heart that he will never take any action willingly that could hurt or endanger momo, even if it was to protect soul society or other people. Again, I’m pretty sure that if their roles were switched and momo had been the alleged traitor or that she really had turned evil, he would never raise his sword against her (as the regai arc would show), even if it was for soul society. It’s lucky enough that the person he wants to protect wants to protect soul society and is in soul society. His best friend was killed by soul society but he stays in the gotei 13 for momo. I’m sure he understands the great import of being captain, and this is especially compounded when we later find out that he and rangiku had a great relationship with isshin and his captain later on disappeared. He doesn’t make light of the haori he wears, especially because it’s as if it’s something isshin passed on to him, but again he is willing to discard that weight and responsibility because of momo. He even expressly says it out loud that his purpose in perfecting his bankai is so he can better protect momo.

In other words, while momo and rangiku act with their loyalty to soul society and protecting others in mind, even when it breaks their heart at times (doing the difficult thing in other words for the greater good), gin, and to an extent, hitsugaya’s personal loyalties are toward rangiku and momo respectively.

This is say in contrast to ichigo. Both gin and hitsugaya have a greater personal stake against aizen. His speech against ichigo that a blade not full of hatred wouldn’t reach him was wrong. It was precisely because ichigo sought to protect everyone (and also because he’s the hero), that his blade reached aizen, in contrast to gin and hitsugaya. What happened in fake karakura town tells us that vengeance and violence will consume and end up destroying that we love. Despite hitsugaya’s oath of protection towards hinamori, he causes her grievous harm. Despite gin’s vowing to go on this journey so rangiku won’t ever have to cry again, the only time we see rangiku cry in the series is upon gin’s death.

this tumblr post describes them perfectly:

“my favorite ship dynamic is betrayal. not when they betray each other but when one or both of them turn against their cause, their principles and/or loved ones for the other. bonus points if the person they’re abandoning everything for didn’t remotely expect it. ultimate declaration of love. “you mean more to me than everything i ever believed in. i am more loyal to you than my conscience. i love you more than the thing i would die for.”

What happened to them is tragic, but you can’t deny the beauty of their devotion and love. While I can’t get over hitsugaya’s and gin’s actions, it’s really momo and rangiku whom I love. While hitsugaya or other people perhaps may wonder how momo could even want to save someone who stabbed her, it’s that incredible capacity for forgiveness that lets her forgive hitsugaya and allows the both of them to move on (arghh, they’re chock full of dramatic ironies). It’s the same for rangiku who can forgive both kira and gin. Despite that gin hurt her deeply, she can say goodbye properly and think of him fondly. Despite that it was the girls who were hurt, it is the guys who can’t get over it. Both momo and rangiku don’t let hatred consume them, and this lets them fare better than their male counterparts. While hitsugaya and gin may be stronger physically, momo and rangiku are definitely stronger emotionally and more wholly. And for all of the gaps and weaknesses in the manga, I love how kubo portrayed these relationships and the lessons they imparted. That’s why I’ll always love these two pairs.

#bleach #meta #I never realized Rangiku only cried once ;-;#really enjoyed reading it and linking it up with my own thoughts #but most importantly getting a deeper appreciation #for these characters <3 ty #Ichimaru Gin #Matsumoto Rangiku #Hinamori Momo #Hitsugaya Toushirou #parallels

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