The Author Makes Very Obscure Connections and Celebrates Not Giving Up Yet
It's the twentieth "episode" of Existently! To celebrate, I decided to follow my heart and write about something I'm passionate about that's really specific - I mean, a single Easter Egg in a single game that I don't even play. But things can be more than they seem, can't they?
I "discovered" this Easter Egg aimlessly browsing through Honkai Star Rail's Reddit in search of fun lore. Honkai Star Rail, which was introduced to me by friends, is a Space Fantasy Rpg developed by Mihoyo/Hoyoverse. It follows the Astral Express, a space train carrying a lovable cast of passengers called Trailblazers who choose to travel along the Star Rail, exploring unique worlds along the way. One of the worlds visited is Penacony, a tourist destination known for its giant New York-like dreamscapes, or dream worlds filled with entertainment.
This is where Brave New World comes in. Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, is a dystopian novel about a "Perfect World" where pleasure is mandatory and controlling. And yes, pleasure means sexual pleasure, so I don't recommend reading this book unless you're prepared for *graphic* scenes. Don't ask me how I found this book.
How do they connect? Take a look at this item description I found in Honkai Star Rail (Abbreviated to HSR, right) and this quote from Brave New World (left). Similar, no?
Upon further thought, this kind of makes sense. The key phrase in Penacony's main story arc was "Why do people slumber?", referring to the escapism of the dreamscape from harsh reality. We see this question answered by many characters in the plot; the terminally ill (and many other things) Firefly says it's because we're scared to wake up, the lucky gambler Aventurine says we sleep to practice experiencing death. Even the seldom-speaking main character (whose gender and name you can choose, but is typically referred to as the Trailblazer) answers poignantly: "Because we will wake up from our dreams." In the dreamscape you can experience happiness and freedom all the time, similar to the utopian society in Brave New World, but in both worlds the "realness" of this emotion is questioned.
Maybe that's what it's like in the real world too. We're all searching for our source of happiness, a reason for satisfaction, but if we find it, is it real? Or are we all "dreaming" to escape the sad reality of life?
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say. It's been a busy few weeks for me.
I can't believe that, despite many missed deadlines and low quality posts I've put out, and that I still don't have a real domain name, I've still managed to stick with this blog of mine for over six months. I'm not sure why, but I'm glad its there for me to try and practice being responsible. People from the future, thanks for reading this. My next post will probably be low effort again, just to balance out all the overanalyzing and word salad I've been doing these few weeks. Until then!
-Tomatobean
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