Summary
- Honkai: Star Rail explores the concept of immortality, showcasing the negative effects of living forever and the struggles associated with it.
- The game differentiates between long-life characters who live for hundreds of years and immortals who are reincarnated after 700 years.
- The curse of immortality in Honkai: Star Rail is linked to a turbulent history involving Yaoshi and the Abominations of Abundance, resulting in the transformation of people into zombies with golden plant-like growths.
Honkai: Star Rail may have a more intergalactic theme, but it still possesses fantasy elements that are familiar to longtime HoYoverse fans. The most obvious has been the special abilities that each character has, and how they're all connected to powerful gods known as Aeons.
Interestingly, the subject of immortality also plays a big role in Honkai: Star Rail. Players will encounter this the moment they reach the Xianzhou Luofu, which is the second location the Astral Express Crew will travel to in the game. However, the concept of living forever in Honkai: Star Rail isn't as magical or ideal as some would believe.
Honkai: Star Rail Has a Different Take on Immortality
Honkai: Star Rail has a number of long-life and immortal characters. The difference between the two is that the former would only live hundreds of years before dying. This includes Foxians like Tingyun and Yukong. Meanwhile, immortals don't die completely, like Vidyadharas Bailu and Imbibitor Lunae, who get reincarnated after living 700 years, and the Stellaron Hunter Blade, who's looking for a way to end his immortality.
To understand the curse of immortality in Honkai: Star Rail, one must understand the Xianzhou Luofu's turbulent history involving Yaoshi the Abundance. Thousands of years before the events of Honkai: Star Rail, Yaoshi bestowed the blessing of immortality upon Xianzhou citizens through a tree called the Ambrosial Arbor. Upon eating its fruits, the citizens would become loyal followers of Yaoshi, or the Denizens of Abundance.
However, Yaoshi's blessing came with a price as the citizens turned into the Abominations of Abundance, who experienced the negative effects of immortality and would be infected with Mara. The Mara-Struck could be likened to people turning into zombies with golden plant-like growths mutating and coming out of their bodies. Mara-Struck people would also lose their minds, just like what happened with Jing Yuan's swordmaster and future five-star character Jingliu.
Lan the Hunt, also known as the Reignbow Arbiter, would later defeat Yaoshi and the Abominations of Abundance to save the Xianzhou Luofu. The Ambrosial Arbor would later be sealed in Scalegorge Waterscape, where draconic beings called the Vidyadhara watched over it.
In Honkai: Star Rail, a Stellaron landed in the Xianzhou Luofu, which created more Mara-Struck Soldiers and other Abominations of Abundance. A sect called the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus would also form in hopes of acquiring a "cure" for mortality, which meant they needed to be infected with Mara. Lord Ravager Phantylia the Undying would also promise to give them Yaoshi's blessing of Abundance. Instead, she turned them into Antimatter Legion using her powers of Destruction.
With the recent rollout of Honkai: Star Rail Version 1.2, players would get a glimpse of how the curse of immortality affects Blade. It's been implied that Imbibitor Lunae prevented his death, which would explain Blade's anger towards him. Kafka has also hinted during the Honkai: Star Rail Special Program that their leader Elio promised Blade "a funeral." This is why the Stellaron Hunter's voice lines often portray him as being relieved once he comes close to death.
Honkai: Star Rail doesn't shy away from heavy topics, like how Aeons would deceive mortals and go as far as murdering them. If immortality has been seen as a blessing in other forms of media, the game has turned the concept around its head to show the other side. Even long-life species often talk about the struggles they would experience as they watch many of their human peers die from old age.
Immortality might become an occurring theme in Honkai: Star Rail, especially since the Xianzhou Luofu arc still isn't finished. Players would have to wait and see how the Astral Express Crew would deal with the Stellaron and end the Abundance curse in the area, and also if Honkai: Star Rail's Blade would be able to succeed in his mission to become mortal once again.
Honkai: Star Rail is available now for PC and mobile devices with a PS5 version releasing in Q4 2023.