More Penacony/Metropolis Parallels and Other Speculation

(Originally posted on Cohost on February 26th, 2024)

Having finished all the side quests and with the next update on the way (not to mention my desperate attempts to avoid leaks), I wanted to put down some predictions and observations on paper before we find out the truth. Spoilers ahead!

First, there's Firefly and Sam. I've been slightly obsessed with looking for parallels between the Penacony story and 1927 classic sci-fi movie Metropolis ever since I saw how aesthetically connected they are. In Metropolis, the city is divided between the upper level where all the rich aristocrats live, and the underground home of the oppressed working class. The protagonist meets a beautiful, virtuous young woman named Maria, who lives in the underground. She wants to see the two sides make peace, even as dissent is brewing among the workers. This young woman is kidnapped by a mad scientist who copies her likeness onto an artificial human, who he plans to use to incite the workers to revolt. Of course the truth eventually gets out, the protagonist is reunited with his true love, and peace is restored to the city.

If you plug in Firefly as Maria, you can see some easy parallels. I'm particularly interested in her connection to Sam, who plays the role of the artificial human for this train of thought. I'm not one of those people that thinks Firefly IS Sam. I can ignore the fact that we saw her turn into a puddle of water prior to meeting Sam, but her bits of memories you find later imply she is talking to Sam and seems confused about what's going on. Of course, we don't hear anyone responding so she could still be Sam and talking to someone else, so I can't rule it out 100%.

(Side note on the overall plot: the Stellaron hunters using Firefly's death to piss of Trailblazer enough to burn down Penacony for them sounds like something they might do, just saying.)

Either way, we do know Firefly had something shady going on with Sam. She also talks about going after the Watchmaker, her dream where she sees the planet scorched to the ground, and she worries that someday we may be enemies. Was she working with Sam to overthrow The Family? It's impossible to say for sure, but there is a connection there. In short, I feel pretty confident there will be some kind of insurrection and we have not seen the last of Firefly.

The other notable character I wanted to discuss is Acheron. I've seen the speculation that she is literally Raiden Mei from Honkai Impact 3rd. While I don't know enough about that game to make definitive statements, I think we need to accept that the two Honkai games are not that closely connected plot wise, and we should treat Acheron as her own character. That said, I think she may be some kind of "grim reaper" type that is tasked with guiding people to their fated demise. There is evidence that the dreamscape is a virtual afterlife, particularly after playing all the side quests. Many of the NPCs you meet are already dead and hanging on to some unresolved feelings from their past life. I mean, even Sunday and Robin, caretakers of Penacony, are angelic creatures with wings and a halo.

This may be a bit of stretch, but one of the first things Acheron asks Trailblazer is if they met before. Trailblazer literally died fighting Cocolia, was she looking for us then? Also, their first meeting ends with Acheron trying to kill them again. Later, when Firefly is killed, they want you to know that Acheron very explicitly does not draw her sword and makes no attempt to stop it. If Something Unto Death is there to take people when their time has come, is Acheron there to make sure it happens? Black Swan seems to be complicit in this scene, as if she understands that's what Acheron is here for. While I can't stand Adventurine and can't wait to kick his ass, I think he's telling the truth when he says Acheron is not just a Galaxy Ranger as she claims.

Of course, Honkai Star Rail is not just going to copy the plot of Metropolis and especially not their own games, so using parallels to make predictions is mostly pointless. But I do think it may give some insight on the mindset of the creators and what kind of themes they are looking to explore. Also, it's kind of fun. See you all in the 2.1 update.

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