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a sculptor’s fear

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finished 3.4 :)

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I’m not articulate enough to explain my thoughts, or write them coherently. So to all you people who are writing analyses on Phainaxa, and how much these two mean to each other, I love you.

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something something if i had a nickel for every time a bisexual coded man with light hair and freakishly blue eyes found something out that changed their entire lives and now they cannot rest until they complete their objectives, while simultaneously losing themselves in it all, had a basically undead green haired professor with and/or formerly had a deity residing inside of them.

and both dudes with light hair and freakishly blue eyes are shunned out by the people they loved or deemed untrustworthy, being called monstrous because of how much they've lost themselves throughout everything, and in the end they were misled because they believed one sole thing. but their green haired professor still sees them for them and is their voice of reason in the end and continues to be.

and all of it, in one way or another, is undeniably queer/queer coded in different aspects and is better read that way.

then i'd have [double checks notes] Two (2) Whole nickels

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seasons don’t fear the reaper / nor do the wind, the sun, or the rain

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Going back to my KevinSu roots because what the f am I witnessing.

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KevinSu They kill.

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Honestly drawing hi3 yaoi was not on my 2025 bingo but hehe kevinsu

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crazy to me how anaxa is so easily ready to sacrifice parts of himself for the sake of his alchemical research to the truth, whereas su absolutely hates sacrifice. however, they are Much more similar than one may think.

MEI had offered for su to take the lead of project stigma, aka their most dangerous project, yet also the one with the highest success rate outcome. su accepted even though he hoped it would never have to be initiated - because he hates sacrifice. project stigma would wipe out everyone who wasn't immune to the honkai, effectively killing off a ginormous majority of the human population.

su hates sacrifices, but he has such a savior complex to the point where he's Also entirely willing to be self-sacrificial.

when him and kevin fought within the seed of sumeru, he was willing to put his life on the line to stop kevin. he KNEW he was so much weaker than kevin yet still made an attempt to try to fight him to stop him from initiating project stigma. su did it out of love for humanity and love for kevin and MEI.

they trusted and loved him too - had they not, then MEI would have never placed her trust in him to carry out project valuka and project regulator. to trust him to bring kevin back to his senses if he ever strayed from the right path. because they both knew kevin would become so much more distraught and tired of everything than he already was, after MEI's passing. had they not, then kevin would have killed him during their fight within the seed of sumeru. he would not have thrown su out of the seed and told him to continue with valuka, letting himself sink into the sea of quanta.

if su did not love, he would not have cried with MEI when he made the promise to her. if su did not love, he would have never regularly checked on kevin while the man was in the sea of quanta. if he never loved, he would have died without holding the memory of him and kevin from their high school days close to his heart.

anaxa has sacrificed his left eye, his heart, his blood, and probably much more for the sake of his objectives. from trying to see his deceased sister one last time, to carving his own heart out to be able to guide castorice on her own path, to reveal the truth of the world's fundamentals to be able to leave behind answers for phainon who is destined to bear the weight of the new world, for his teachings to leave such an impact on hyacine and phainon, as if he were still guiding them despite not being alive anymore. everything was out of love and the belief he had put in humanity.

if anaxa did not love and believe, he would have never tried to rush back to his sister. if he did not love and believe, he would have never told families of the passing of their loved ones after we arrived back to okhema from the grove. if he did not love and believe, he would not have put his faith into castorice and pushed her to find the truth. if he did not love and believe, he would not have trusted phainon to be able to remind him of his past life in the next life, in case he himself couldn't retrieve his own memories.

when we see the flashback of empedocles and anaxa talking in the 3.2 quest, empedocles tells anaxa to promise to never harm himself again, to not do anything taboo again such as sacrifice parts of himself for his research. and yet, as we clearly know, that promise did not stand, and it is because he loves too much.

su was against project stigma, never kevin himself. anaxa was against the flame-chase journey, not hyacine, or castorice, or phainon, or any of the other heirs (not even aglaea, whom he didn't see eye to eye with because of differing beliefs).

both su and anaxa love so much, and yet one of the only ways they know how to show it is through sacrifice

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i finished the edit, slay

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it will be our secret, don't tell anyone

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33550336

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I hope it did not discourage the most to know Anaxa. He is an interesting character, but OF COURSE, it's all up to your preferences.

Context : I just heard and saw that (some) Anaxa stans are mean and unpleasant to be around. The same goes for other stans as well, which their love for a character is becoming an unhealthy obsession that we attack other people who have different opinion towards the character. Also, this goes to the people who harrass and badmouth other people at an exceeding level just because they don't agree with each other or share the same likes, especially in shipping communities.

We should not be this comfortable bullying other people's choices of fun (yet here we are), and let's be open to correction when necessary (esp. when talking about canon materials), but yeah. It's all up to us. 🫡

Sorry for the long rant. I just need to get this out my mind.

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Ok, so the new Phainon trailer gave me instense brainworms and I had to look into so much shit for this so feel free to give it a read and tell me your thoughts.

full analysis of the gnostic aspects in the new Honkai Star Rail trailer or

The Gnostic Interpretation of Phainon's Trailer ft. Anaxa:

In particular, I will be focusing on these specific shots as these are the ones that have Gnostic or more vaguely Biblical references

O1:

Anaxa and Phainon: Adam and Epinoia, The First Man and Wisdom.

I believe these scenes and very specifically, Anaxa being the one to meet Phainon in Aedes Elysiae (Paradise) is to reference the awakening of Adam, the First Man in Gnosticism.

The Apocryphon of John details that Eve is created from Afterthought / Wisdom (Epinoia) in her likeness by Yaldaboath and is the one who leads an amnesiac and sealed Adam to discover the truth of the world, a role she played when she was still inside Adam as his guide.

Specifically, she was his Erudition.

This connection is still there under her alternative name, Ennoia which is connected to Nous.

Now? What does this have to do with Anaxa and Phainon?

Anaxa is Eve / Epinoia and the one who not only sees Phainon for who he is, outside of his role as Delieverer but is also the Knowledge that guides Phainon to the truth, being one of the keys to his Origin behind both himself and Amphoreus' cyclicality.

By having Anaxa ask Phainon that question, he is effectively handing Phainon the proverbial apple that allows him to make the first step to understanding who he is. This is further pushed by the fact that it's Anaxa meeting Phainon in Aedes Elysiae which is effectively Phainon's Paradise or more accurately, it is the Garden of Eden.

Anaxa is in the Garden of Eden (Aedes Elysiae) where the First Man (Phainon) and the cycle is born and confronts him with the truth, asking him what does he want. Phainon inherently associates Anaxa with the Truth of the World, with him being Epinoia or better yet, his Eve as they are the only two and the first two in Paradise.

O2:

Crucifixion.

This one is both self-explanatory but also deeper due to Sethian Gnosticism.

Phainon is being cruxified as he ascends to his new form, almost as if he is being sacrificed or paying the price for Amphoreus' sins. You can see the pronounced cross behind him and while he lacks the T-pose, he's not far off.

However, there's another layer. It was Christ being crucificed that allowed him to reascend to his seat as an Aeon in Sethian mythos as his "death" as a human allowed him to be freed from his mortal shell that he undertook to save others from this prison, thus being freed himself.

It is a twisted way to showing that by ascending to the seat of a Lord Ravager, Phainon will be freed from his mortal shell and the cycles. Christ is also seen as an 2nd coming of Adam in some gnostic circles as well from my research.

O3:

The Tree of Life and Knowledge, the Call Back to Anaxa and Phainon and its representation in the trailer

Now, this section will be the most in-depth as it also ties back to the Anaxa is Epinoia and Phainon is Adam point.

In this shot, Phainon is walking into the new cycle with a tree splitting between the decaying old cycle and the new cycle in Aedes Elysiae (Paradise).

I believe this to represent both the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge, as well as its duality across Gnosticism (specifically On the Origin of the World which HSR does paraphrase in Golden Scrapegoat Mutterings and The Apocryphon of John).

OW states this —

And the tree of immortal life, as it was revealed by the will of god, is in the north of paradise to give life to the immortal saints, who will come out of the fashioned bodies of poverty in the consummation of the age. Now, the color of the tree of life is like the sun, and its branches are beautiful. Its leaves are like those of the cypress, and its fruit is like clusters of white grapes. Its height rises up to heaven. And next to it is the tree of knowledge, possessing the power of god. Its glory is like the moon shining forth brilliantly, and its branches are beautiful. Its leaves are like fig leaves, and its fruit is like good, delicious dates. And this tree is in the north of paradise to raise up the souls from the stupor of the demons, so they might come to the tree of life and eat its fruit and condemn. the authorities and their angels.

The highlighted parts are important to this section. The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge are interconnected (to the point where they are seen as one in the same in many gnostic sects.)

The Tree in the trailer is encased in the Sun, the light from Aedes Elysiae reminiscent of the Light of Heaven. It symbolises a new life (and as we have seen in the trailer, an immortal one due to this being the beginning of his 33,550,336th cycle) and considering this Phainon has Flame Reaver's mask, his own journey to show the truth of Amphoreus to the next. It also is an angiosperm tree like the fig tree shown in the excerpt, to the point of looking identical to one.

This also connects back to Anaxa again as this is not the first time we have seen a Tree of Knowledge.

It's in Anaxa's Ultimate animation and the leaves match up. On top of this, Anaxa has a connection in the sense that the Tree of Knowledge is Epinoia. According to Apocryphon of John, after Eve was created and Epinoia moved into her body, she led Adam to the Tree of Knowledge which is then revealed to also be Epinoia. Both Eve and the Tree of Knowledge are one in the same.

Anaxa himself is planting the Tree of Knowledge so he can awaken them to the Truth of their existence. In his Ultimate animation, the Tree of Knowledge originates from inside him, the same way the Epinoia originates inside Eve after it was forcibly removed from Adam (who in turn became ignorant to the truth).

Another aspect is the Moon connection that Anaxa had and how it is linked to the Tree of Knowledge.

In CN, Anaxa's E1 is called 月掩星夜的魔术师 (Magician of a Moonlit Starry Night). A characteristic the Tree of Knowledge has is that its glory (appearance) is like a moonlit night, shining down which compliments the Tree of Life being the Sun (Phainon). This is further pushed by the crescent moon imagery in Anaxa's weapon and the officially commissioned Hoyo piece of Anaxa that shows him with the Moon phrases.

(Funny tidbit, he is also green like the Tree of Life & Knowledge)

On top of that, it's repeatedly stated that both the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge are both North of Paradise, we can see the same for Phainon and Anaxa's scene together as Anaxa (Tree of Knowledge) walks up northside to speak to the Tree of Life (Phainon, his other half). Life needs Knowledge to work.

The Tree shot also shows the duality of the Tree of Life as it is also associated with forbidden knowledge, evil and desire.

In Apocryphon of John, it is described as this

"And I shall teach you (pl.) ' what is the mystery of their life. ' whict is the plan which they made together, ' which is the likeness of their spirit. The root of this (tree) is bitter and its branches are death, its shadow is hate ' and deception is in its leaves, ' and its blossom is the ointment of evil, ' and its fruit is death and desire is its seed. and ' it sprouts in darkness. The dwelling place of those who taste from it is Hades and the darkness is their place of rest"

These are all traits associated with Phainon's downfall which the tree leaning into the previous cycle represents. Phainon's hatred, his desire and the deception of his existence causes him to break down into Flame Reaver and work into the hands of Lygus as he becomes his perfect Lord Ravager.

Amphoreus is a prison that Phainon suffers through, his dreams and his desires cause him to feel pain when he loses them and in the end, he's stuck in the cycle which is exactly what the Tree of Life represents. It was created to ensure humanity remains in the cycle and the physical realm mandated by the Demiurge who rules over it. It is ran by hate, controlled by hate and death is a ruling motivation.

The Tree represents both new life and the destruction of life. A cypress tree represents mourning and death and a fig tree represents knowledge, fertility and enlightenment. It representd the dichotomous nature between the Phainon of the Old Cycles and the Phainon of the New and also how Life needs Knowledges to exist or else, it will decay away.

O4: Conclusion

Phew. Okay, I wrote a ton. I hope this was all coherent and a good read as well. These drove me insane all day, especially with the Anaxa scene and helped reaffirm some thoughts I had about both in the past.

Thank you for reading.

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I genuinely hate people who baby Louis from Moriarty the Patriot. He is a grown ass man (23 in the beginning) and is in charge of MI6. Also people act like he is not one of the lord’s of crime and it’s just Liam. And also it’s not like Louis is constantly trying to prove that he is useful to his brothers and is not the ill child he was. He is genuinely extremely intelligent but this doesn’t show due to Liam and Sherly showdown throughout the series. Not to mention, he has killed people.

Anyway rant over, I just wanted to get that off my chest cause I genuinely love his character and he is so underrated.

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sherlock probably wouldn't mind otherwise, but the problem is we live in a society

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