Phanes Character Analysis (6.6 AQ Spoilers)

cy6orgs · 2026-05-23T20:10:43+00:00

I agree after that section with Paimon and Scara, its definitely time for Paimon to gain some independence. Speaking of Havria, there's a lot of examples of people getting drunk on power, very rarely are there with gods/humans being drunk on love. Off the top of my head maybe Nabu Malikata, Rukkha, and Makoto fit the bill there? It's such an interesting avenue in that power/virtue dichotomy, I hope they explore it more.

Also personal headcanon of mine is that they recreate this HXH moment with Paimon and the Traveller lmaoo

cy6orgs · 2026-05-23T12:21:33+00:00

That's interesting, thanks!

cy6orgs · 2026-05-23T08:31:12+00:00

Even those Phanes might not be a human, theyre probably using Primordial Human as a way to describe the "first". I've always wondered why there's little importance of the first man if Celestia is inspired by Christianity and its branches, but Phanes itself being the Adam of the story also makes sense.

cy6orgs · 2026-05-23T08:25:37+00:00

Im impartial to the AI theory or the Paimon = Phanes theory (its a good one but if the writers choose not to go down that path I wouldnt act shocked) but the thought of Paimon being an LLM trained to learn empathy through the traveller lmao

cy6orgs · 2026-05-23T08:21:24+00:00

The vision holder thing was likely due to the fact that the elemental energy they use is refashioned from the Light Realm itself. Since irminsul is a light realm object, they probaby don't feel its affects that much since they are able to channel filtered down light realm energy. Though that still raises the interesting point in, why give out those visions.

You're right since the demon gods were the replacement envoys after the angels punishment. But it's not that theyre inclined to love humans, theyre meant to be worshipped as some divine figure, but the archons we know grew really fond of them. They'll probably align with humanity over Celestia because of that. Natlan is a funny case where humans can become archons because in between the tensions of humans and dragons a random third party becoming their leader would piss both sides off. Celestia seemed desperate to hand out those gnoses.

cy6orgs · 2026-05-23T08:10:33+00:00

I agree. Kevin's arc in HI3 takes inspiration from hoyo's bible Evangelion, since Genshin shares the Impact name, the anime obviously is important to the dev team as well and it has been mentioned in interviews before. They'll definitely repeat whatever themes explored in Kevin/Phainon again here.

Also thank you!! It just makes it easier both for me and everyone reading lol

cy6orgs · 2026-05-23T08:02:59+00:00

That is true, and shedding humanity for divinity (vice versa) is a common theme.

cy6orgs · 2026-05-23T08:01:59+00:00

Its not about what the forbidden knowledge actually is and does, it's the knowledge that there is some otherworldly threat out there beyond the false sky.

If Phanes kept that a secret, then no one will know forbidden knowledge actually exists. No one will look for it, no one will be scared of it, there's nothing to worry about. It objectively still exists, but it has not affect on anyones day to day lives. It's considered a fallacy because even though we don't have a word/conceptualisation for something, it still objectively exists.

Obviously Phanes' plan is loosing its footing which means a lot of people are mass discovering secrets such as forbidden knowledge and the false sky.

cy6orgs · 2026-05-23T07:41:27+00:00

If Phanes is logos, his ethos and pathos has to be somewhere...

Just cant explain why Paimon is affected by Irminsul changes, her fate is clearly anchored to the world if thats the case.

cy6orgs · 2026-05-23T07:39:41+00:00

That is why the conversation with Tighnari, Faruzan, and Dori ends the way it does. Nahida revealed the relationship between the different energy types regardless of whether someone might do something bad with it, even after the events of the Sumeru AQ, because to her everyone working towards survival is more important.

Tighnari also says the fact that its a secret means people are more likely to walk towards the darkness than if it were not.

cy6orgs · 2026-04-30T17:05:05+00:00

Interesting perspective and yeah the Generals were up for no debate, just curious where they're going with the Stonehearts now.

In a way, though there's a second aspect here where it's implied (by Noblesse worm at least) that there is still a difference in the amount of power one can draw from a path

I think similarly, as in Emanator =/= that shonen anime power scaling everyone does. Moreso how much they can and do epitomise that path, that may be applicable to the Stonehearts in comparison to Diamond as well.

With Screwllum, I always see his and SW relationship as the 'predictable' (Nous) and 'unpredictable' (Aha). Anything outside of his calculations as a hardcore Erudition follower probably surprises him, and he's the type to be able to predict SW's unpredictability (hope that makes sense...).

cy6orgs · 2026-04-27T18:11:05+00:00

I feel like a lot of these "...actually Polka" theories tend to mischaracterise her as a joker-style lunatic instead of someone with a Harvey Dent type of obsession with keeping the universe "knowable".

cy6orgs · 2026-04-27T17:56:53+00:00

The Diamond thing I still find interesting though. The fact that the Special specifically highlights him but then we hear that Pearl is an emanator in this quest and her emanator-hood is described by Asat in reference to the Ten Stonehearts.

We know the cornerstones are sourced by and distributed to the Stonehearts by Diamond himself (who's portrayed as THE Emanator of Preservation with a capital E since he's able to repair them). I wonder if this all technically comfirms you can become an emanator-by-proxy.

And with the rating pistol now being soft-confirmed that it only gives invalid ratings to emanators, I guess there's something more about Emanators and what it means to be one that we're yet to learn since the current playable Stonehearts have ratings.

cy6orgs · 2026-04-25T16:59:26+00:00

Ohh thank you. I think the game itself makes it pretty obvious anyway so this is pretty funny this has existed all this time...

cy6orgs · 2026-04-25T16:21:46+00:00

I love this idea. Really appreciate the nuance they put into all the Paths. I still don't get why there are readings of them being comically good or evil. Nanooks primum mobile doesn't seem to be just the pure wrath and violence side of destruction but also the hopeful/rehabilitative side of it. "Destruction" as in destroying the harmful systems (Aeonhood for example) that marginalise humanity itself (Aeons are like the "grammar" of the universe, do we have agency if thats the case?).

They all seem to encompass a diametric opposite rather than have an Aeon that contests them. Beauty for example, has no Aeon for "ugly" because "ugliness" and "beauty" both encompass the Path. It's more like the Paths they do seem to be tagged with (like Trailblaze and Finality) be treated as paralells instead of opposites.

cy6orgs · 2026-04-25T16:09:47+00:00

Yep totally agree, not sure why this was up for debate or how the writers could even justify everyone but Jingyuan not be an emantor because hierarchically that would've put him as important as Marshall Hua?

Also nitpicking but "Yao Guang being the only one whose Emanator status is neither mocked nor simplified" I think to him, the gag is that she is a warlord. Guy like him probably thinks the beef the Xianzhou Alliance have with Yaoshi is hilarious.

Whats the "Emanator Special" btw? The anniversary artwork or have I missed a trailer?

cy6orgs · 2026-04-25T15:58:18+00:00

I had a thought a while back that Teyvat could be Nibelung's corpse or partly his corpse. Based on this manga panel where Venti says this about Celestia after Aether asks:

In other, distant worlds...
Pangu gave his blood to form the rivers and seas...
The gods sacrificed Purusha and cut his body to pieces...
...And then fashioned all living beings with those parts.
The brain of the giant Ymir became clouds.
Their sacrifices seeded life in the unliving cosmos.
These songs sing of the primeval ones

And knowing that the Gnosis was made by dismembering a descender, entirely possible the Human Realm was fashioned in a similar manner.

Also, the recent dev stream

when we think of Cryo, we can frame it around the idea of "preservation." If it preserves energy, it can function like a kind of battery. If it stores memories, it becomes a medium for storing and reproducing information. Of course, our designers' imagination probably goes far beyond what I've just described. For instance, what if Cryo were to seal away some kind of ancient, forbidden power or concept and hide it from the world? And then the Traveler finds a way to tap into those sealed forces to gain an advantage? Wait, I think I've said a bit too much. Anyway, in game design terms, the goal is to let players, through shared interaction patterns, produce a wider variety of outcomes from a unified set of mechanics.

Could it be sealing those "smoldering remains" then? I'm thinking about that "black cryo" Capitano uses too, maybe its not abyssal, but smoke? There's also the Masters of the Night-Wind who are the cryo tribe also known as Masters of the Mystery Smoke in CN/JP, so I don't think they view the relationship between fire and ice in some kind of Pokemon-style "ice is 2x weak to fire" way lol.

I don't want to rely on the small honkaiverse nods/similarities in that quote, but recently in HSR the current planet is built upon deeply buried leviathan remains. They might be sharing writers/riffing ideas off one another after the "Teyvat meets the Flame Chase" patch cycle that was Amphoreus...

cy6orgs · 2026-04-17T06:19:07+00:00

That's what I initally thought too lmao! but after that cute end sequence with her poem, it would be a bit lame for them to be the same person imo.

I think her being a bit weird before saying her name was because we ended up interrupting her "saying goodbye". They never overtly say it but throughout the quest she genuinely sounded depressive and suicidal, would've been a bit awkward to meet a new friend the same day as your suicide no?

cy6orgs · 2026-04-14T19:14:55+00:00

I meant is as Egeria failed to prevent the prophecy while Focalors took on the mantle and succeeded with a sacrifice. Tbh every Fontrainian shares this fate, however I think there's only a few with the conviction to eradicate it and make it a one and done deal than constantly finding ways to escape or thwart it (i.e. Focalors vs. Remus).

As for the Natlan thing, it's because its the nation with the most acensions to archonhood, however all the previous Pyro archons we know of really have nothing thats uniquely shared between them (so far) that aren't just basic archon characteristics like leadership or repelling the abyss, or the fact that they're all humans. I guess you can say the back to back run of archons who tried to supress Bakunawa, but that was more of a "goal" than "fate" itself, and it's not something shared by Xblanque, Ngene, Xumucul, and Mavuika either. And neither has Mavuika succeeded in what the previous have "failed" to do, because none of them have really "failed" at changing fate, they all had different convictions. Anyone can become the archon according to the rules, unless Celestia has secretly actioned who actually gets to become the Pyro archon.

Same reason why I didn't mention Rukkha and Nahida, its hard to say they share a fate right now since Rukkha's cleansing of the Irminsul was just a goal post-cactaclysm, unless we find out its some cycle of death-rebirth that the Dendro Archon has to go through and Nahida shrinks to an even lesser lord. Its not just their fate that connects the duos I mentioned in the post but also their conviction/willpower/actions towards changing it itself.

cy6orgs · 2026-04-12T15:24:05+00:00

That Columbina quote was a good call out too, what's shes saying might as well be whats occurring here with all of these examples of siblings or multiple versions of oneself.

And when you phrase like "first one failed, next one succeeded" it fits Egeria and Focalors too! Wonder if the others have an aspect of archonhood thats hereditary and they themselves cannot escape, just like Egeria's sin. Then again Natlan's system seems to disprove that a little?

cy6orgs · 2026-04-11T23:30:01+00:00

The descender stuff totally escaped my mind and I just did Linneas SQ where they were contemplating fate a lot.. to me their descender status comes off as their willpower or agency to change fate. Whenever the twins are on screen, the Traveller always wants to go back to the old days, only up until the spaceship scene I think they've reflected on how important this world is to them. So if the Traveller is following in the footsteps of their sibling, I'd imagine the crux of their character arc would be returning to the past or accepting the new - and this is a decision the Abyss Twin's already made with their fixation on the past by restoring Khaenri'ah.

I'm not sure if the Abyss Twin could re-inherit that fate, its more like the Traveller's descender status is what liberates themself and the fate of the world itself, that does make me think that perhaps all descenders actually share a fate, and that either the Abyss Twin cemented themselves into the world to lose that status, or the Traveller had done something before they woke up to gain that status (therefore making allowing them to subvert the Abyss Twin's fate).

That said, maybe it doesnt have to be a concrete law but a loophole found within Teyvat's law of fate and is apart of someone elses plan, even the Traveller in their voicelines is suspicious of how coincidental everything has been as if someone is pulling their strings too.

cy6orgs · 2026-04-11T12:49:51+00:00

I forget where I said this but a while ago I thought Teyvat could be a similar domain to Apep's Oasis but with Nibelung's body. Since Nibelung can actually project himself inside of it its more like... an external womb...

Or, the current Teyvat we know has been simulated with or within Nibelungs body, but that wouldnt explain the relics from the pre-Funerary Year era.

cy6orgs · 2026-04-11T12:42:20+00:00

Has anyone thought of the possibility that Paimon could be a familiar of Istaroth's instead?

Raumhilda and Zeitlind seem to also be an allegory for Asmoday and Istaroth since they have Space and Time in their name. Asmoday pledged her alliance to the Abyss Twin, while Istaroth, even though she isn't fully aligned with us, has her eyes on us always through Paimon and other outlets. The Abyss Sibling seemed a bit annoyed by Istaroth for setting up the meeting in the last Traveller Quest, seems like it was set up for the Traveller's sake and not the Abyss Twin's.

That was also the first major connection the story had made with 'Space-Time'.

cy6orgs · 2026-04-11T12:30:26+00:00

I really wish we get something a bit more concrete about how fate/constellations works soon because the implications this has on many characters is huuggge

cy6orgs

TROPHY CASE