This is more just for my own notekeeping, but I got with one of my friends who studied Chinese to look into it and there's something there you all may find interesting, so sharing my secrets.
For those who do not know: Anfortas is Kaeya's ancestor. How far back, we are not sure, but he's an Alberich and he's the one Kaeya comes from as shown in Hidden Strife + some notes in Sumeru; despite what Dain may foggily remember.
He was pictured once and only once in the 2023 Hoyofair video Light in the Abyss (and I have a post screaming about it).
WOULD.
Anfortas Alberich was the leader of the Schwanenritter, a group of soldiers and knights that acted something like a cavalry in the fall of Khaenriah- he was the one who took Regency after King Irmin was unalived. So Grand Marshal Anfortas Alberich is more or less the acting king of Khaenriah, with the caveat "until peace is restored" which never happened. He never wanted it, it was elected onto him. He also disagreed with using abyssal power (as seen in some notes), so even if Dain doesn't remember him- he's team Dain.
The Schwanenritter protected civilians from Khaenriah and Sumeru alike during the fall, and were even named Heroes in some part of Sumeru (see: The Dahri), they were the ones that operated those giant Ruin Golems in the desert and forests. One by one, they all died until there was only one left: Anfortas.
Anfortas sent out one last transmission through the broken down ruin graders in the area: "We Schwanenritter have fought until the last one."
And finding this message gives you an achievement called "In the name of Anfortas".
Now this achievement is where I want to pick at it.
The description of this achievement in English translation is: Visit the place where the heroes met their end.
And it occurred to me I've never checked to see if that tone and implication is correct. There's multiple meanings of "the end" after all, so I wanted to check. People like to cite it as why they believe Anfortas is dead and I just don't buy that.
The Chinese has this as: 造访勇士们的终点
Which... isn't quite the same? There's some nuance here.
造访 - pay a visit.
勇士 - Warrior, Brave person. Hero works.
们 - previous word is plural. so- Heroes.
的 - connection word, so the previous owns the next thing.
终点 - The end, end point, finishing point, destination, finishing line (in a race), terminus
终点 is the word I was most curious about. It does mean "the end" but it... didn't seem to hold the same death implications as the EN. So I poked an (IRL) friend who studied Chinese for a few years (say thank you to Friend) and gave them the context of what happened and my curious points on it.
They said 终点 CAN mean death but that's not normally what it is. It's very mundane. You'd see it more on a train station or end of a road. It's something that just ends. The final point. It doesn't necessarily mean it died, but it could. It's just end. As they put it: The train has stopped and you have to get off here.
That being said, we talked about it and the EN does seem to be tonally off slightly. It gives this implication that someone died, and contextually all of them but one did, but it really just means the journey of heroes stopped. This matches up with what we know happened: all surviving Khaenrians began to see themselves as sinners (Kaeya, Cap's men in Natlan, ect). The kingdom fell. They lost. Their story as "heroes" ended.
So it doesn't inherently imply Anfortas died.
It merely says his time as a hero has finished at this place.
'Visit the place where heroes met their end', is accurate-ish, but it's missing that context; so I thought I would share it.
He may have died, but he may not have, but the race (to save Khaenriah) came to an end regardless.
There are no more Heroes in Khaenri'ah.
Friend as said it carries a little of inevitability or possibly a fixed ending implication with it: this was going to happen. There was always going to be an end of the road. That's how that word is often used, after all. You'd see it on a sign for "Road Ends" or something like that.
Regardless,
Hope everyone is having a nice day! Thanks for tuning in on my notes.
Also that 2023 video did show Rhine in it as well, and while she wasn't 100% accurate, she wasn't grossly inaccurate either. There's hope Anfortas will be even more fine if we ever get to see him or find out what happened to him in Khaenri'ah. Maybe how he's related to Kaeya more clearly in the future.
Listen. Look at him. LOOK AT HIM.
Would.
I need this man.
- tKet
Recommendations if You like my sort of explanations.
- Who was Anfortas and More Theories regarding his Relationship to Kaeya
- Anfortas Alberich: The Hidden Strife Box Analyzed and Retransalated
- Kaeya and Crepus, their relationship and more
- Kaeya and Diluc versus actual sibling dynamics
- Breakdown of Kaeya and Diluc interactions - Spoilers, they don't hate each other is.
- What Kaeya actually is to the Ragnvindrs
- Other messed up examples of sworn brothers and the one time it isn't.
- Kaeya using "brother" in the English translated webtoon and the actual translations
- Calla Lily doesn't exist
- Collection of all my Info Posts
- External: The Difference between CHS Kaeya, JPN Kaeya, and EN Kaeya.
