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i-am-literally-deranged · 6 months

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Alright, I'm finally ready to talk about how THIS GUY

Kaeya Alberich, is not only an Anghel lookalike, but ALSO is EXTREMELY Yuuya coded.

So first of all, this is written very specifically for an audience of established Hatoful Boyfriend fans who know next to nothing about Genshin Impact and its characters. If this finds its way onto the dash of a Genshin fan who is unfamiliar with Hatoful Boyfriend and you decide to read it anyway, just know going into this that you will be lost, and there will be serious spoilers for Hatoful Boyfriend. I do heavily suggest playing the game for yourself, as it is short, phenomenal, and best enjoyed without spoilers.

As for my usual Hatoful audience, there will be spoilers for Kaeya's backstory. However, this isn't especially significant to the overall plot of Genshin, so I don't think these spoilers would seriously affect anyone's enjoyment of the game. These are only spoilers for the backstory of one out of the (as of right now) 72 characters, which is entirely optional to encounter anyway. But still, if you would rather not be spoiled on anything in Genshin Impact, then here is your warning.

So to start this out, here is a quick rundown on who Kaeya is, and what his story is all about for context. Essentially, here are the spoilers.

The country of Mondstadt is currently in a cold war with an organization called the Fatui. There is another nation, Khaenri'ah, that was previously wiped out. They don't like Mondstadt either. Kaeya is one of the few remaining Khaenri'ahns left, and his father leaves him in Mondstadt as a young child to be a sleeper agent, with the intention that he will rise to a high position, and one day Khaenri'ah will come calling on him to betray Mondstadt. He is left on the doorstep of the Ragnvindr family, who are something of small time nobility in Mondstadt. He is adopted into the family, and so acquires a father, Crepus, and a brother, Diluc. Kaeya and Diluc are close until their father's death. When their father died, Kaeya, wracked with grief, confesses to having been a spy. Diluc blames him for their father's death, and identifies him as a threat to Mondstadt, and so turns on him and attempts to kill him. Kaeya escapes, but their relationship is destroyed, and with it his reputation as well. He carries on as the city's local shady fop, distrusted by all, despised by some. All the while working in the shadows to continue to support Diluc, and tearing himself up over his torn loyalties. And that is Kaeya Alberich, abridged for your convenience.

The core thing that a person needs to understand about both Kaeya and Yuuya, is that they are people who define themselves by their devotion. Their identities are tied inextricably to the idea of "belonging to" a certain person or purpose. Both of them struggle with really having an identity of their own, and finding direction for themselves. So instead, they outsource that to someone else. They wholly devote themselves to something to give themselves direction. Instead of introspecting and figuring out what they really want in life, they live in service to something else. A person, an organization, an ideal, whatever. Something that they can give their lives to. You don't need to think about what you're doing if the answer is always "Whatever is best for _____" and this is how Kaeya and Yuuya both manage themselves. They give themselves a sense of purpose this way. For Yuuya it's a way of justifying himself and coping with his guilt. If it was all for something, then it's okay. He can cope with it if it was all in service of Sakuya. He can justify carrying on if it's for Sakuya. For Kaeya, it's because he was quite literally born to serve a purpose. He was told explicitly "You exist to serve this purpose" and even once he moves on from the purpose he was made for, he doesn't know any other way to live. Kaeya only knows how to exist in service of others, and not for himself. Also like Yuuya, Kaeya suffers under an immense sense of guilt, and copes similarly by giving his life in service of something. It's somewhere between "justification" and "repentance." Yuuya tells himself that it's okay for him to carry on living and to do bad things if it's to protect his brother. Kaeya tells himself that he has to keep on living to do enough good things for his brother to make up for what he's done wrong. Both of them have abysmally low self worth, and are coping with that through this devotion complex.

Kaeya specifically struggles with a lack of personal direction for himself. In the beginning, he was told that his purpose was to infiltrate Mondstadt as a sleeper agent, in service of Khaenri'ah. His purpose was to restore Khaenri'ah, and he was dutiful in fulfilling this. Hw worked hard to establish himself in Mondstadt. He was good, and he was loyal to his mission, for a while. But at some point, living with a loving family overwhelmed the initial loyalty that he had to his blood father who abandoned him, and to this home country he had never lived in. It clicked in his head that no matter what he did, he would be a betrayer. It was no longer simple to just be good, and be loyal, and obediently complete his mission, because to be loyal to his blood father would be to betray the father who loved and raised him. But to betray his mission to remain loyal to Mondstadt and to his new family would mean forsaking the purpose he was born for, and more importantly forsaking Khaenri'ah. The last words his blood father ever spoke to him were "You are our (Khaenri'ah's) last hope." So the guilt of that weighed heavily on him. Eventually though, he did decide that his loyalty lay with Mondstadt and the Ragnvindrs. Please note that this is considered contentious and unproven in the Genshin fandom, but there absolutely is proof of this, that I will touch on later. Kaeya is often framed as a sort of villainous figure, and this is both intentional and misleading, but a few too many people fell for this framing and believe Kaeya to be genuinely malicious rather than self depreciating. So to get back to my current point, which is Kaeya's lack of personal direction, we'll need to talk about Diluc for a moment.

In the comparison between Kaeya and Yuuya, a comparison must also be drawn between Diluc and Sakuya. Both of them were raised from a young age with the expectation that they would one day be leadership figures. They are both extremely headstrong and possess an incredibly impressive drive. When they set their minds to something, that something will be done, one way or another. They're smart, capable, and kind of a pair of assholes. Their view of the world was very heavily shaped by their fathers, who they respect above all others. Although I would never suggest that Crepus Ragnvindr, legendarily good father, is in any way comparable to Monsieur Le Bel. Diluc also has a bit of a penchant for xenophobia, but trust me, it is nowhere NEAR the degree of Sakuya's straight up racism. And crucially, they are the brothers that Kaeya and Yuuya have their dysfunctional relationships with, where both of their lives sort of orbit around this one person that they have placed on a pedestal. These are the people that they have devoted themselves to, and the way that Kaeya and Yuuya relate to their devotion is the core of their similarities, as it is also the core of their identities.

To the directionless Kaeya, Diluc's headstrong nature provided an invaluable sense of purpose. Diluc always knows exactly where he's going, and what he's doing. He's driven and opinionated, and this allowed Kaeya to slide easily into the roll of follower. When they were growing up together, Diluc would set his mind to something, and Kaeya would make it happen. Diluc would get them into trouble, and Kaeya would get them out of it. Kaeya essentially made himself into Diluc's sidekick, and that was what he was most comfortable being. He didn't need to forge his own identity, or decide on direction for himself. More than that, by backing up and supporting Diluc, he had a way to repay the family that took him in. Kaeya could sort of pay rent in the space he took up, by protecting Diluc. Beyond that, He loves his brother, and This is the way that Kaeya loves. However, Diluc's nature is also exactly what led him to turn on Kaeya. Decisive and justice driven, he views the world in very staunch black and white terms, and he doesn't hesitate to violently enforce this worldview. Diluc is an actual vigilante nowadays, but the seeds of that were always there. And when Kaeya did something that he saw as evil, he saw as a betrayal of their family and their home, he immediately brought down his personal justice upon him. It was a personal justice that Kaeya had previously supported, and encouraged. And it is a personal sense of justice that cost Kaeya his eye, and his home. After their father died, and Kaeya confessed to being a spy (more on this later) Diluc tried to kill him. And with that, Kaeya's sense of direction was completely gone in an instant. He could no longer follow Diluc, or substitute Diluc's direction for his own. This is the way that Diluc is what Kaeya has always oriented himself around, and how being deeply protective of Diluc was something of a coping mechanism for Kaeya. As we already know, Yuuya's path in life was also rather abruptly derailed by an act of violence between brothers. Then his life after that was shaped by dedicating himself to Sakuya. Very similarly, being deeply protective of Sakuya is a kind of coping mechanism for Yuuya, and Yuuya orients his entire life around Sakuya.

After Kaeya and Diluc's relationship fell apart, Kaeya couldn't stop caring for him. Although Diluc had completely severed all ties with Kaeya, and in every interaction they had since the falling out he would verbally abuse him, Kaeya continued as he always had. Orbiting Diluc, cleaning up his messes, and getting him out of trouble. All behind the scenes. The way that Diluc talks about Kaeya perfectly echoes the ways that Sakuya talks about Yuuya. It's the same sort of brutal character assassination for both of them. Yuuya spends his life working behind the scenes to protect Sakuya. To get him out of trouble. To make sure that he can keep living the good life that Yuuya paid so dearly for him to have. It's a dynamic where one brother outwardly hates and resents the other, openly insulting them, while living a life that is propped up on that brother's willing and loving sacrifice, made out of a mix of both genuine love and care and desire for him to be happy, and out of a sense of self loathing and pinning their entire personal worth on how happy their brother is.

That self loathing doesn't only manifest in actual sacrifice that benefits someone else, but also in an intentional sabotage of their own reputations. If anyone here remembers when we talked about Yuuya's reputation for being a playboy, and I brought up that I think he spread that rumor about himself, Kaeya behaves the same way. The same way that Yuuya will intentionally cast himself as the villain, and will outright tell people that he's an untrustworthy easy-come easy-go here today and gone tomorrow kind of fella. It's him pushing people away, and it's self sabotage, and it's a self destructive behavior born from his poor opinion of himself. People like Ryouta, who believe what they're told, have dirt low opinions of Yuuya. Kaeya is in the same situation. Kaeya intentionally makes himself look bad. He has this persona as a sort of villainous schemer, that you never know what he's really up to or whose side he's really on. In this case, Amber is his Ryouta. Amber is a nice girl. Amber is a girl next door type. Amber trusts people, and generally believes what they tell her. Amber will absolutely brutally shit-talk Kaeya like it's nothing. She repeatedly suggests that Kaeya is either just not doing his job, or else is out doing something actively malicious, in situations where we know that Kaeya was quietly working behind the scenes yet again. Amber doesn't say anything bad about anyone else, except for Kaeya, because everything she is passing along is accepted fact. Everyone knows that Kaeya is a no-good villain. Everyone will tell you not to trust him. Kaeya also very similarly to Yuuya will pose this image of himself as some kind of slutty playboy, but we never once actually see him flirt with anyone. It's all a mask that they wear. It's part of the persona they put up to both protect themselves and hurt themselves.

I think that a specific place that this reputation destroying behavior comes from is their self image of themselves both being that of a dirty traitor. Kaeya somehow managed to betray both Mondstadt and Khaenri'ah. Yuuya betrayed his unborn half brother. They have these deep feelings of guilt looming over them. It is precisely because both of them place such importance on the concept of loyalty that they feel like they are somehow disloyal. That they aren't loyal ENOUGH yet. And so they are traitors. Kaeya and Yuuya both have these moral codes with loyalty at the very tippy top, and see themselves and their own difficult situations as being morally reprehensible. While their sense of identity is pinned on their dedication to their brothers, this self loathing is also central to their sense of identity. Kaeya and Yuuya both think that they are dirty betrayers, and that that's the worst thing a person can be. You see this a lot on Yuuya in his self-sacrificial tendencies. Also in his outright refusal to defend himself when people insult him to his face. Kaeya does a lot of that too. He tends to just take insults and agree with them, and then complain about it in private later.

Yuuya and Kaeya are both compulsive liars. Whether it's a matter of destroying their own reputations with false rumors, or deflecting from their secrets, every word out of their mouths is a falsehood. They lie constantly. They put up personas, wear masks, deflect with humor, anything at all before being upfront with anyone. They're running from themselves, and they're running from connection with other people too. It's a necessity to protect these massive secrets that they are guarding with their lives. Yuuya's entire life has been shaped by safeguarding the secret of what happened to the egg, and Kaeya's entire life has been shaped by hiding the fact that he was an enemy spy. It's driven them apart from others. I think both of them have forgotten by now how to stop lying. It's been a necessity for them for so long, that they can no longer turn it off. And so we have Kaeya and Yuuya's compulsive lying.

I've always said that the key to understanding Yuuya is to invert everything he says about himself. If Yuuya says ANYTHING about himself, it's lies. So you know that the truth about Yuuya is anything but that. Kaeya is the exact same. You cannot trust a single word he says about himself. Kaeya is a compulsive liar, and he actively seeks to destroy your opinion of him self-destructively. The only way to understand Kaeya is to invert whatever he says about himself. One of the few trustworthy descriptions of Kaeya comes, somewhat ironically, from Diluc. When asked about Kaeya his response is "You can only trust half of what he says... at best." And that's about the only description of him that you can really take to heart.

So getting back around to where Kaeya's loyalties truly lie, and why I don't buy it for a second when people think that Kaeya is still on the fence about his loyalty to Mondstadt. First of all, we know that almost everything he says are lies. So every time he tells us to our face that he is dangerous and untrustworthy, is a lie. But the real thing that seals the deal for me is that if Kaeya had ANY intention to remain a spy for Khaenri'ah, then telling ANYONE about that would be throwing his mission. ESPECIALLY Diluc of all people. So if he was still seriously on the fence, then why did he confess? What reason could Kaeya have possibly had to tell Diluc that he was a spy, if not that he was defecting. And it was Diluc's hair-trigger temper and extreme black and white worldview, paired with the fact that his father had died in his arms mere hours ago that led him to be so reactive and interpret Kaeya telling him that he had been a spy as meaning that he was still a spy. That's the sort of mistake that only a person like Diluc would make. If someone confesses to you that they are a spy, why would you EVER think that that means that they still have intentions to betray you? In that moment Kaeya showed his whole hand. He had all the cards on the table with Diluc. That's a show of loyalty. Then the fact that he has continued to look after him and protect him even after Diluc took his eye in retribution (and disinherited him. And made him homeless at 17. And generally destroyed his life. What Diluc did to him was really fucked up, actually.) While Yuuya might be kind of a crummy spy who makes it really obvious that he's a spy, that isn't something that he shares with Kaeya. Kaeya is a brilliant strategist, and he was able to keep the fact that he's a spy under wraps for a good eight or so years before he confessed. If Kaeya didn't want anyone to know, then no one would know. Kaeya is actually really good at keeping secrets. That's part of his undoing actually. Kaeya is so good at keeping secrets that he keeps them from the audience too, and so a lot of people fail to see what's really going on inside of his head. If Kaeya doesn't want you to know something, you won't know it. So then why did he tell Diluc that he was a spy? If Kaeya had ANY intention of completing his mission, why did he make sure that Mondstadt's greatest protector knew about it? It's simple. He wouldn't. No matter how you slice it, him coming clean to Diluc means that he never intended to complete his mission. Even if afterwards he grappled with his decision more because now loyalty to Mondstadt felt sort of pointless since he no longer had the people in his life who made him care about Mondstadt in the first place, he was never going to complete the mission. Kaeya's decision was made from the moment he confessed to Diluc. And it's a decision he has been backing up ever since then. From returning Diluc's vision to him after he gave it up, to exacting vengeance on the man responsible for Crepus's death, to painstakingly sabotaging every attempt to uncover the identity of the masked vigilante ensuring that he will be able to continue protecting Mondstadt, to how much of a home he has made for himself in Mondstadt. Kaeya has sent a very clear message of where his loyalties lie. And I know that I am contradicting myself here somewhat by citing something that Kaeya directly said, but six years after the falling out with Diluc when far away from Mondstadt, Kaeya ALSO confesses to the player about being a spy, and he says that while he used to be very torn up about this, but has long since moved on and accepted that Mondstadt is his home. Again, Kaeya is showing his hand in a way that he definitely doesn't need to, to a powerful person who would intervene if he were ever to turn on Mondstadt. If Kaeya was actually planning to betray Mondstadt, Diluc and the player character would be two of the worst possible people to know what he was up to. But those are the two people he chose to confess to. I just can't believe that Kaeya would do something that stupid.

Another thing that, to me, speaks to Kaeya's loyalty to Mondstadt, and specifically to the Ragnvindr family, is the way that he has kept Crepus's legacy alive. Diluc is deeply and personally haunted by his father's death. But I find that in an odd way, Kaeya is doing a better job of doing what Crepus would have wanted. After Crepus died, Diluc ran away from Mondstadt and went on an extended trip hunting down and killing Fatui agents to avenge his father's death. Crepus had always wanted his sons to join Mondstadt's Knights of Favonius, and they did. But when the knights covered up Crepus's murder to save face, Diluc quit on the spot to dedicate himself to vengeance full time. Kaeya stayed behind, remaining a knight, and personally rooted out the corruption that caused that to happen. He got rid of the knights who were personally responsible for the cover-up. Crepus was a big supporter of the knights. When they proved themselves unworthy of that respect, Diluc turned on them. Kaeya stayed and made the Knights of Favonius into what Crepus had believed them to be. Crepus loved both of his sons, and would have wanted them to take care of each other after his passing. Kaeya has continued to dutifully look after Diluc all this time. Diluc permanently disfigured Kaeya and kicked him out of the house. Crepus was the kind of person who had his doors open to everyone, and you can see that clearly in the fact that he adopted Kaeya with no questions asked. Kaeya has carried this legacy on by being really personally involved in taking care of the children of Mondstadt. From adopting Klee (She is technically a ward of the Knights, but Kaeya has been shown to be her primary caregiver, and has also been referred to as her guardian on two separate occasions) to potentially having taught Benny sword fighting (Benny shares Kaeya's attack patterns, and the sword he carries in his official art was formerly Kaeya's). There's also little things like Kaeya sharing Crepus's passion for wine, while Diluc dutifully carries on the family wine business but hates the taste of wine himself. Diluc looks like Crepus. Diluc killed the people responsible for his death. Diluc carried on the family business. But Kaeya is the person who really carried on Crepus's spirit. He did the things that Crepus would have done if he had been here. That doesn't sound like the actions of a traitor to me. And to be honest, the way that some people believe that Kaeya is still a spy for Khaenri'ah makes me angry at how badly they have misinterpreted him, and have fallen for the negative talk that you hear about him. Kaeya is a liar, not a traitor, and spending just one minute listening to his actions rather than his words will tell you that.

Kaeya and Yuuya's arcs both pretty heavily feature the loss of fathers, but their relationships to those fathers is very different between the two of them. Kaeya's birth father used him, and abandoned him. Yuuya's birth father seemed to be a good man, and Yuuya loved him. The nobleman who adopted Kaeya after he lost his birth father loved and cared for him, and set him on the path to become the man he is today. The nobleman in Yuuya's life…… well, the less said about him, the better. But in both cases, they have the death of a good father looming over their heads, and somewhere out there still living is a father that they resent to the death. And in both cases, it's difficult to tell just how much influence their dead fathers have over their identity today, but that influence is clearly there, to whatever degree. Another one of these parallels that exists but sort of only in name, is their spy careers. Kaeya was a sleeper agent, and his arc is about his split loyalties and defecting to the group that he was originally sent to spy on. Yuuya turned to being a spy as a way of escaping from his situation. Both of them lose themselves to the role a bit, and use it as yet another crutch to get around forming a solid identity. But their spy careers are pretty different. Kaeya was very very good at being a spy, until he decided to stop. Yuuya kind of sucks at it a little, but he's definitely no turncoat. So it's a little hard to say who is the worse spy between them.

I feel like I have a lot more to say, but also like I'm starting to run out of the energy to properly expound upon my points, so we're going to do a lightning round of comparisons to rush through all the points that I felt are important, but I'm struggling to really organize my thoughts about. Yuuya's arc feels like it should be described as a redemption arc, not because Yuuya actually did anything he needs to be redeemed for, but because Yuuya himself is seeking forgiveness and redemption for his guilt complex. But it's really ambiguous who exactly it is that he is seeking forgiveness from, if it's Sakuya, the universe itself, or his own forgiveness. I talked about this in my big Sakuya essay. Kaeya's story is also a redemption arc, but not for crimes he has actually committed. It's hard to say WHAT exactly it is that Kaeya is so overwhelmed with guilt for, other than like, once upon a time having had bad intentions towards people who he learned didn't deserve it. And it's even harder to say who he is trying to seek forgiveness from, because it's distinctly not Diluc. Kaeya very much feels that Diluc owes HIM an apology, and not the other way around. Which, to be fair, he's definitely correct about. Again, reminder that Diluc disinherited him, kicked him out of the house leaving him homeless at 17, disfigured his face, attempted to kill him, and made him into a social pariah. It might be that he feels like he feels like he took advantage of Crepus's kindness, and feels a need to repay him for that. To be totally honest, I don't think even Kaeya knows who it is that he wants this forgiveness from. He just knows that he feels crushed by guilt. He hides all of his good deeds as best he can, and seems to feel that being widely hated by his peers is a kind of repentance. Very Catholic of him tbh.

That also leads me to my next point about their reputations, both Kaeya and Yuuya deeply long for social connections but push everyone away as hard as they can. Then through the persona they play in public, they take on this big gregarious hyper-extroverted character, and they are ridiculous, and make a clown of themselves for attention, and use flirtation as a sort of social crutch. They flirt, but it's empty. They are big and loud and colourful, yet somehow sort of detached. There is so much distance between who they are and the character they play that no amount of social interaction they might get through that mask ever actually reaches them. There's this deep and aching loneliness to them. They're so far away through these layers of walls and deception and personas that no matter how bright and warm they might act, it's cold inside. None of that warmth ever reaches into their genuine core, which is freezing and so so desperate for genuine connection to another person. Also they both play characters that are way more outgoing and extroverted than they actually are. Yuuya might actually be an extrovert, just less OVERWHELMING extroverted than the character he plays, but Kaeya is definitely not. The real Kaeya is 100% an introvert, and the loud, silly, playboy persona is a complete fabrication. The moment the spotlight is off of him, he's quiet. He likes to sit back and let other people do the talking. Kaeya never knew how to talk to people. When he was younger he was content to let Diluc do 100% of the talking to other people, and would just follow his lead. It kind of feels like the persona he plays now is meant to cover for that. Kaeya doesn't know how to talk to people, so he pretends to be someone who does. He fakes being someone who is confident and extroverted and vibrant, to cover up for the fact that he's kind of out of his depth having to deal with people on his own, and not having a home base person to go back to anymore. Kaeya knows how to manipulate people. He knows how to fill a stage, how to keep an audience. He knows how to make you think what he wants, or do what he wants. To call him "socially incompetent" wouldn't exactly be accurate. But Kaeya has no idea how to connect with others, or even how to interact on like a basic level, when he isn't playing some game, or trying to get something from them. Kaeya's social skills are invested 100% into deception and manipulation. And now he can't hold a basic conversation without being in character as this or that. Kaeya has forgotten how to just be Kaeya. It's just this weird mix of introversion and loneliness that leads him to pretend to be the most extroverted person in any room that he enters, and it reminds me so much of Yuuya. They use the exact same crutches to fill this gulf of loneliness caused by their compulsive lying and secret keeping. Yuuya plays the role of a suave James Bond type spy, and Kaeya that of a swaggering swashbuckling pirate.

Another common theme between the two of them is the question of whether or not self sacrifice is, in a way, a selfish act. You're forcing this burden of debt onto someone without asking them. Sakuya has no say in owing Yuuya a life debt. I talked about this before, the resentment that Sakuya feels in regards to owing Yuuya as much as he does, and how Sakuya was sort of robbed of his agency and his ability to forgive Yuuya on his own terms (or to NOT forgive him) because now he owes him to much and if he doesn't let him back into his life, he would be a huge asshole. Diluc is constantly trying to escape from Kaeya's support to stand on his own, but every single time he falters, he finds himself being caught by him again and again, and he seems to kind of resent that. In both cases, they are being so self sacrificial partially for selfish reasons. It's to satisfy their own need for martyrdom, to quell their self-loathing. But the objects of their devotion didn't really consent to this, and they are both the proud kind of person who hates owing anyone. And now this debt has been forced on them. Yuuya and Kaeya are simultaneously selfless and selfish. They don't care about whether or not their brothers actually want their help or their sacrifices. They will do it regardless. They also have completely outsourced their identities and sense of validation to their brothers, who never agreed to being the crux of their entire self image.

Another comparison point is the topic of race, and how the people around them tend to brand them as some form of "dirty" because of their parentage, and they sort of implicitly accept this because they view themselves as dirty as well. There's this theme of filth, both moral and physical. Yuuya is constantly harassed by Sakuya for being a "mongrel" for being a commoner, for being some form of bird mixed race. Because Sakuya is racist. Khaenri'ah is literally a cursed bloodline, and the fact that Kaeya is only half Khaenri'ahn is actually somewhat plot relevant. Kaeya is mixed race and as a result is literally cursed by his filthy blood. And Diluc has some xenophobic tendencies, and ALSO makes some bigoted comments about Kaeya. Both of them let this behavior go completely unchecked, because 1. They never defend themselves from slander, and 2. They seem to have internalized this stuff to some degree, specifically because it jives really well with their self loathing tendencies. They WANT reasons to hate themselves. So there's a confirmation bias at play here that's making them be just the tiniest bit racist, but only towards themselves.

The last comparison point I wanted to touch on is actually a notable contrast between the two of them. Yuuya seems to have ended up as a bit of a pacifist since the egg incident. He always runs rather than fights back. Kaeya is very much not like that. Yuuya has this terrible gentleness to him, but Kaeya has this almost sadistic streak. But it is also through Kaeya's much more aggressive stance that some more of his true loyalties shine through. Like the fact of just how truly fucking vindictive he is towards people who have been a threat to Mondstadt or to his family. He fucking destroyed the knight that covered up Mr. Ragnvindr's murder. When he found another child sent into the walls of Mondstadt to destroy it, just the same as he was, he almost MURDERED A LITTLE GIRL WITHOUT HESITATION. The only reason he did not kill a child to protect Mondstadt was because someone intervened. And while that's definitely something dark about him, it's also really telling. It's telling of his true loyalties, and telling of how deeply protective he is. And it also makes his nonviolence against Diluc speak that much louder. In contrast, Yuuya's gentleness is sweet and endearing, but is also so fucking stupid. Yuuya is bringing Vash The Stampede ethics without bringing Vash skills. And of course, every single Hatoful Boyfriend character is morally wrong for not having murdered Shuu with their own hands by now. Every single one of them (except for Nageki) bears that sin, but Yuuya especially. So like, on this one specific trait I feel like Yuuya is good (derogatory) and Kaeya is bad (affectionate) and it's another way that I can't help but see them as mirror images of each other.

In conclusion, Kaeya Alberich is for the Hatoful girlies.

#hatoful boyfriend spoilers #genshin impact #kaeya alberich #yuuya sakazaki #wheeew been a while since I last did one of these #I've been thinking about this for literally years now #Finally organized it enough in my head to put into words that at least kind of make sense - ish #Significantly more fleshed out version of that word bomb I dropped on Ash the other day #LOOK EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT MY SPECIAL LITTLE GUY OKAY?#HE'S MISUNDERSTOOD AND IT DRIVES ME UP A WALL #but I know that you guys will understand #You will understand his Yuuya-coded goodness #I NEED him to be everybody's Blorbo-In-Law

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