Genshin Impact, the sprawling, free-to-play Action RPG currently taking the world by storm has, among its numerous other virtues, a refreshingly deep narrative to immerse yourself in. Indeed, despite being a Gacha game of some serious magnitude, Genshin Impact is by no means a shallow cash-grab. It is, in many ways, fully deserving of the scouter-shattering hype levels it is currently enjoying.
But with any good narrative full of interwoven, character-driven storylines, come good questions. Questions like the exact nature of the icy relationship between Monstadt’s resident batman, Diluc, and everybody’s favorite Cavalry Captain, Kaeya.
Are Diluc and Kaeya brothers? Well, we took a look at the official lore to answer that question, and then some.
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Are Diluc and Kaeya Brothers in Genshin Impact?
Kaeya, the… unorthodox Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius, is indeed the adopted brother of Monstadt’s resident Batman, Diluc Ragnivindr.
This familial connection, however, does little to assuage the stark contrast between the two brothers’ personalities, and indeed, by the start of Genshin Impact, the two have little to do with each other any longer.
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Diluc harbors a bitter disdain for the Knights of Favonius that Kaeya is Cavalry Captain of. After the death of Crepus Ragnivindr, their father, the then Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, Eroch, went out of his way to cover up the true circumstances of his demise — at his own hands with the backfiring of a counterfeit Vision, known as a Delusion, created by the shadowy Snezhnayan cabal, the Fatui.
A cabal that Diluc spent years hunting, Revenant-style. So rest assured, our singed pretty boy Diluc certainly knows his way around a bushwacking. But why is he so dead set against the Knights of Favonius and his own brother in particular?
What Drove them Apart?
According to Genshin Impact lore, no two blood brothers could have been closer than Diluc and Kaeya in their youth. They were all but twins, united in their devotion to their father and the mission behind the Knights of Favonius.
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That was until their caravan was attacked by Ursa the Drake, the very same beast that originally clashed with Vanessa, one of the founders of the Knights of Favonius hundreds of years before. It was only with a secret and ultimately twisted power that Crepus was able to fend the beast off — but at the cost of his life.
The Delusion backfired, mortally wounding him and leaving him to die in Diluc’s arms while Kaeya was doing a fine job at being too little, too late.
By the time Kaeya arrived, their father was long dead. Meanwhile, instead of helping Diluc investigate the mysterious power his father had wielded, Eroch chose to go out of his way to hide the truth and obfuscate the investigation– obliterating Diluc’s trust in the very order that he had devoted his life to.
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The order that Kaeya would remain eternally loyal to.
This, the Knights of Favonius, is the fork in the road that ultimately drove the once inseparable brothers from each other, with Diluc intent on doling out justice himself in secret as Monstadt’s Darknight Hero, while Kaeya remains ever-faithful to the institution sworn to protect the people of Monstadt.
But…Who is Kaeya’s Real Father?
When asked, Kaeya is quick to tell you that his father played the classic “heading to the store and never coming back” card on him when he was young, abandoning him in Monstadt.
The truth is, Kaeya’s biological father didn’t abandon his son this way. While the official lore is conspicuously vague on the exact circumstances of their parting, what is certain is that Kaeya is originally from Khaenri’ah, an eighth and yet unreleased, undisclosed region of Teyvat.
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We’re only speculating here, but there is some reason to wonder if, perhaps, Kaeya might be something of an heir to the throne of this distant land. Jean’s voice lines mention a legend of a king of Khaenri-ah that is never expounded upon.
But, if the writers and designers chose to follow the age-old storytelling rule of Chekhov’s Rifle (i.e. that if you show a rifle in the first act, it must be fired by the third act) this could hint that Kaeya — our only link to the region thus far — is related in some way to the monarchy of this distant land.
Add to this the classic archetype of the orphan in a foreign land being heir to a foreign throne and you have the building blocks of a pretty tried and tested narrative arc that can tie in both Kaeya’s past and the storyline of this mysterious region of Teyvat.
But let’s see it. We have a lot more ground to cover, both literally and figuratively, before we’ve waded that far into Teyvat.
For more Genshin Impact guides, walkthroughs, tips, tricks, and other content (we have memes!) be sure to check out our stuffed-to-the-rafters Genshin Impact archives.
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