Dendro

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Archon: Buer
Domain: Sumeru
Elemental Reactions: Aggravate, Bloom, Burgeon, Burning, Hyperbloom, Quicken, Spread
Gnosis: Unknown
Strong Against: Hydro
Weak Against: Pyro

In General

Difficult, but Awesome: Tying to how Dendro is the element of wisdom, it can be challenging to pull off some of their more advanced reactions to their maximum potential depending on the situation.
- Dendro + Hydro = Bloom, a Dendro Core is then created which can interact with either Electro to initiate Hyperbloom which deals single-target Dendro damage to an enemy, or Pyro to make Burgeon which deals AoE Dendro damage to anything that are surrounding the afflicted cores.
- Dendro + Electro = Quicken. Afterwards, two other reactions can be procced depending on whether a Dendro or Electro attack hits the Quickened target. Dendro activates Spread while Electro creates Aggravate. Both deal additional Base Attack damage to the element that initiated the reaction.

Green Thumb: Dendro is the power of nature and plant life in Teyvat.

Liyue

Baizhu

Yao Yao

Inazuma

Kirara

Sumeru

Alhaitham

Voiced by: Yang Chaoran (Chinese), Yuichiro Umehara (Japanese), Jun Seung-hwa (Korean), Nazeeh Tarsha (English)
Introduced: January 18, 2023 (v3.4 "The Exquisite Night Chimes" [first half])

Admonishing Instruction

"Oh? You're concerned about all the rumors you've heard about me? Don't bother, because I don't care whether you believe those rumors. Just don't throw extra trouble my way, and we'll be fine."

Rarity: 5★
Birthday: February 11
Element: Dendro
Weapon: Sword
Associated Weapon: Light of Foliar Incision
Model: Tall Male
Constellation: Vultur Volans, the Flying Vulture
Specialty Dish: Ideal Circumstance (Sabz Meat Stew)
Normal Attack: Abductive Reasoning
Elemental Skill: Universality: An Elaboration on Form
Elemental Burst: Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena
Utility Passive: Law of Reductive Overdetermination (10% chance to craft double the amount of Weapon Ascension materials)
Affiliation: The Akademiya

An eccentric star alumnus of the Haravatat Darshan and Scribe of the Akademiya, responsible for compiling data. After meeting the Traveler and Paimon and helping them fend off a hustler, events eventually lead Alhaitham to form part of a plan where they, alongside many other people around Sumeru, help overthrow the Akademiya Sages and free Lesser Lord Kusanali.

Alhaitham's self-description as a "feeble scholar" belies not only his cunning mind, but his strategic swordsmanship, with a particular emphasis on making good use of "Chisel-Light Mirrors" which augment all his regular attacks with a Dendro effect that cannot be overridden with reactions and periodically augment them with a Projection Attack which increases in potency proportional to the number of Mirrors he has, of which he can hold up to three at once. His Elemental Skill, Universality: An Elaboration on Form, is a swift lunge on his enemies, and whose direction can be altered in its held form, which automatically generates one Mirror, while his Elemental Burst, Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena, summons the "Particular Binding Field," a phantasmal hall of mirrors that deals Dendro damage on all enemies within its radius, as well as consumes the Mirrors to increase its hits, before replenishing them after a brief delay, inversely proportional to the number consumed.

Once Alhaitham tires of leading from the back and takes matters into his own hands, he gains the ability to generate Chisel-Light Mirrors with his charged or plunging attacks, and both Projection Attacks and the Particular Binding Field gain a damage boost proportional to his Elemental Mastery stat. Furthermore, as Alhaitham masters the perfect combat theorem, Projection Attacks can now cut into the cooldown time of Universality: An Elaboration of Form; Alhaitham gains the ability to provide a temporary boost to Elemental Mastery, either for himself whenever he generates Chisel-Light Mirrors, or for the party whenever the Mirrors are consumed when summoning the Particular Binding Field (in addition to Alhaitham's Dendro Damage Bonus); Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena can now automatically generate three Mirrors regardless of the number consumed befoehand; and trying to generate Mirrors while there are already three on stock instead confers a boost to Alhaitham's Critical Rate and Damage.

Alhaitham can only be obtained when the Caution in Confidence Character Event Wish is active.

The Ace: Alhaitham is a star alumnus of the Haravatat Darshan, which specializes in semiotics, linguistics, and study of runes, to the point that he is appointed Acting Grand Sage. He is also talented at pickpocketing, very skilled with the sword, in top physical shape, is very precise as a strategist, demonstrating an excellent understanding of psychology to integrate those it into his plan to free Nahida. He is also a good actor, as seen during the Archon Quest.
Almighty Janitor: Alhaitham is clearly overqualified to be just a "feeble scholar," to the point he is considered a strong candidate for the next Grand Sage. However, he rejects the promotion because he only helped the Traveler to keep his job and lifestyle intact.
Anger Born of Worry: A more stoic example than most cases. The "Parade of Providence" event suggests that Alhaitham is particularly harsh on Kaveh for his self-sacrificing nature because he knows that Kaveh's pursuit of his ideals has caused him more harm than good in life due to his tendency to prioritize the happiness of others over his own. After the second round, he noticeably has a concerned look after hearing about Kaveh's "tribulations" in the desert from Faruzan, and the Traveler later learns from Kaveh that Alhaitham scolded him in his own brutally honest way for problem-solving in a way that isn't befitting of his senior status, but also for putting himself in a situation where he would have to rely on luck to win the points that round, despite knowing full and well his "bad luck" caused him to lose the first one. Given that Alhaitham didn't mind Kaveh drawing lots again in the first place and even playfully teased him about it before the drawing began, it's clear that he was using lots as an excuse to scold him for putting himself in danger.
Animal Motifs: Birds of prey in general. His constellation is a vulture in English and a peregrine falcon in Chinese and Japanese. His name (Haitham (هيثم)) means "young eagle" or "young hawk" in Arabic.
Armor-Piercing Question: As recounted in Kaveh's fifth Character Story, when Alhaitham met Kaveh again years after their friendship ended during their Akademiya days, Kaveh unloaded all his repressed frustrations about how his life had come to ruin from trying to materialise his ideal vision onto Alhaitham, to which the latter asked, "How has realizing your ideals gone for you?" causing Kaveh to reflect on his words, and ending with him resolving to not give up on his ideals no matter what.
Assassin Outclassin': The entire plot of Alhaithham's Story Quest is about him outwitting a scholar who attempted to kill him for personal reasons while he was Acting Grand Sage with very little effort.
Awesomeness by Analysis: In his Story Quest, he acknowledges Siraj's competence and meticulousness as researcher. Letting a test subject of his to escape is a mistake Siraj would never make, thus Alhaitham instantly knows that Ilyas is a bait intentionally sent by Siraj to lure him to the Hive.
"Back to Camera" Pose: His splash art shows his back view as he steps away from his Particular Binding Field, with his head turned to the side to face the viewer.
Badass Bookworm: A talented alumnus of the Akademiya who is often seen reading during his breaks, and a proficient fighter with a sword.
Badass Cape: He wears a cape that covers only his left shoulder, and he is one of the best fighters of the Akademiya.
Baritone of Strength: In the Japanese dub, Yuichiro Umehara gives Alhaitham a much deeper voice than the others, and he is a deadly practitioner of the sword, despite his claim as a "feeble scholar".
Best Friend: Formerly to Kaveh during their days at the Akademiya.
Bigger on the Inside: His house is more spacious inside than the exterior's small appearance would suggest with a very large entryway, an enormous living room, a large study, and several halls, two of which that connect to inaccessible doors. The back isn't connected to Sumeru City's giant tree, so it's impossible to handwave it as the interior being carved into it either. It's also large enough for Kaveh to have his own bedroom.
Blatant Lies:
- Alhaitham's statement to the Traveler that he is merely a weak, feeble scholar compared to the Eremites they are working with completely disregards the fact that he was able to easily overwhelm Mizri, a leader of an Eremite band, and fought Cyno, leader of the Akademiya's police, to a draw. Lampshaded by Kaveh in Alhaitham's Character Demo who calls the statement a bold-faced lie.
- Alhaitham's overall attempts to downplay his actual capabilities and achievements ultimately come across as this, as the results he brings forth with his actions contradict his humbler claims.
Boring, but Practical: In his character trailer, Alhaitham tells his friends that he tries to minimize the actual fight by analyzing first and then spot the weak points.
Alhaitham: Essentially, more time on contemplation, less time on execution. Simple, isn't it?
Cyno and Tighnari: ... Not really.
Kaveh: Ugh, I knew we shouldn't have brought this up to you.
Alhaitham: I thought my answer was quite engrossing.
Brick Joke: In the denouement of the Sumeru Archon Quest, Alhaitham offhandedly mentioned having taken both keys to his house with him when celebrating with his allies, only to casually dismiss it with an "oh well"; given that his roommate is Kaveh, as indicated earlier in the quest, he could be messing with him by keeping him locked out while he's away, or locked in since Kaveh won't be able to lock the door when he leaves. As a playable character, one of his idle animations has him pull out a pair of keys out of realization that he still has them in his possession while free roaming, only to smile and nonchalantly put them away.
Brilliant, but Lazy: Although he is intelligent, it is outright stated in his first Character Story that Alhaitham is too lazy to possess many ambitions unlike several of his peers. Also, in his voiceovers, he revealed that the reason why he took the position of the Akademiya's scribe is because its work is simple, and that he would rather nap if he has nothing to do.
Brutal Honesty: He doesn't hold back much of what he says, especially about Kaveh, because he believes that truth exists to serve no one. Kaveh's fifth Character Story reveals that this is what caused their friendship to end, as he bluntly stated that Kaveh does good for others to escape the reality of the guilt he's carrying, claiming that it would one day ruin him.
Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: He's constantly at odds with his roommate Kaveh due to their differing personalities and ideologies and he has a voice line in which he expresses that he'd rather not have him home due to Kaveh working loudly in the dead of the night, but for some reason doesn't simply kick him out and reclaim ownership of his house. The reason why he allowed Kaveh to live with him in the first place, also tying into the reason he allows him to stay, is explored in his fifth Character Story, in which it's explained that Kaveh is an excellent mirror of himself whose presence as a fellow genius can expand and perfect Alhaitham's limited vision of the world, all of this suggesting that he actually enjoys or finds it necessary to have Kaveh around despite his complaints.
Cassandra Truth: Due to their vitriolic relationship, Kaveh doesn't believe Alhaitham's account about the events of the Sumeru Archon Quest while he was away.
Character Development: Alhaitham gets a little bit of development at the end of "A Parade of Providence: Act III," with this being further confirmed in an optional conversation with Kaveh in "When the Curtains Close"; while he acknowledges that other people hold certain views that he doesn't necessarily agree with, he doesn't see the point in arguing with others about the correctness of one's views anymore since sometimes being correct means nothing at all. He later confirms this to Kaveh who he’s been debating philosophies with for years and who has been equally stubborn on his viewpoint, feeling that their discussions have long since moved on from right or wrong. After explaining this to him, he decides to back off and let Kaveh think what he wants about whether the Sachin incident will repeat again in the future.
The Chessmaster: He is responsible for much of the plot to rescue Nahida from the Sages, directing The Traveler and their allies along for the preparations. The plan itself involves a hefty dose of Batman Gambits and Flaw Exploitation regarding Sumeru's reliance on the Akasha, with a dash of Kansas City Shuffle.
Child Prodigy: He was one of these before maturing into a Teen Genius. Having been born to a Haravatat mentor and a Vahumana scholar, Alhaitham inherited his parents' intelligence and began reading abstruse academic journals at the age of seven, outpacing his peers in terms of intellect. Taking this into consideration, Alhaitham's preference for homeschooling meant he wouldn't be officially enrolled into the Akademiya until after her death. Kaveh's fifth Character Story also clarifies that he started school later than his peers, but that his grades stood out above the rest.
The Comically Serious: He's a stern and serious character whose eccentric personality causes him to do things such as turning a stew recipe into a pizza-like creation and buy extremely ugly decorations (according to Kaveh).
Color Motif: His design is mainly green, which fits his Dendro vision, as well as black, the color of the Haravatat Darshan he studied in.
Commonality Connection: His fourth Character Story reveals the reason he allowed Kaveh back into his life and home despite their openly vitriolic relationship. Kaveh is as similar to him as he is different; they have few familial connections, know each other better than anyone else, and are labeled geniuses by the Akademiya, but both have different outlooks on the world as scholars, which has made Alhaitham view Kaveh as a perfect mirror to himself. Alhaitham's grandmother, who raised him and whom he was very close to, was also a Kshahrewar scholar, the same Darshan that Kaveh is an alumnus of, adding another layer to their connection.
Cooldown Manipulation: His first Constellation upgrade, Intuition, shaves 1.2 seconds off the cooldown time of Universality: An Elaboration of Form whenever a Projection Attack hits an opponent (with at least one-second intervals).
The Coup: Is The Chessmaster behind the plan to overthrow the Sages in Chapter III Act V.
Deadpan Snarker: Despite his stoic personality, Alhaitham will occasionally let out a line or two like the example below, much to Paimon's annoyance. He becomes especially snarky around Kaveh.
Paimon: "He's starting to read his book again! Hey! Are you even listening?"
Alhaitham: "Would you like me to lend you something to read?"
Declining Promotion: Alhaitham is offered the position of Grand Sage at the end of the Sumeru Archon Quest after Azar is permanently expelled from the Akademiya. He declines, as he dislikes being a leader. That said, during his Story Quest he was appointed Acting Grand Sage anyway despite his reluctance, and at the end reveals that he immediately filed his resignation from said post, lest it become permanent, what with the lengthy process of selecting new Sages, let alone the Grand Sage.
Difficult, but Awesome: Alhaitham's kit is on the more technical side, as his optimal damage output and Dendro infusion is derived from carefully managing how many Chisel-Light Mirrors he has activated. Thus, planning his attacks ahead is crucial, and any mistake will be extremely punishing due to the brevity of each Mirror at four seconds, not helped by the comparatively lengthy cooldown times for the three sources of the Mirrors—eighteen seconds for both his Elemental Talents and twelve for his first-ascension passive, Four-Causal Correction (in addition to an above-average Energy cost of the Burst at 70 points). Perfectly scheduling each Mirror's activation, however, rewards astute players with Alhaitham becoming a blitz of Dendro attacks that can cut through swathes of opponents.
Dub Name Change:
- In English (or rather, Latin), his constellation means the Flying Vulture while in Chinese^*written as 天隼 and Japanese^*written as 隼, his constellation name specifically refers to peregrine falcons. However, it should be noted that Vultur Volans was an alternative name used by the Romans for the real life eagle constellation Aquila.
- Downplayed in the case of his actual name. He's called "Alhaizen" in the Chinese and Japanese voice-overs, but "Alhaitham" in the English and Korean voice-overs.
Does Not Like Spam: His least favorite food is vaguely any soup-like dishes because they're difficult to eat while reading. His specialty dish has him somehow transforming Sabz Meat Stew into a pizza-like dish instead, which would indeed be easier to eat while reading a book. It also appears that he just dislikes soup in general, as he requests to take it home in his "Spices of the West" dialogue without even trying it.
Dramatic Deadpan: In the event "Parade of Providence", when Kaveh is confronting Sachin's remains attached to the Diadem of Knowledge and suddenly breaks it in the middle of Sachin's speech, Nilou reacts with a shocked gasp... while Alhaitham simply reacts with a deadpan yet mildly curious "Oh?".
Dual Wielding: The third hit of his normal attack string involves him briefly wielding a second saber.
Elemental Eye Colours: Zig-zagged. He has green irises as befitting his Dendro vision, but his pupils are red with some white in the centre.
Elemental Weapon: A variant, as he uses his Dendro Vision to create a second kukri in battle, separate from the sword that can be equipped to him.
Emperor Scientist: Becomes the Acting Grand Sage after the events of Chapter III, though he also quickly resigns from the position.
Everyone Has Standards:
- Alhaitham is blunt, shady, and self-interested most of the time, but he voices his displeasure at the Akademiya's schemes, calling them out for the flagrant violation of their own rules. He also believes in respecting the boundaries set in the pursuit of academics and knowledge, unlike his less scrupulous superiors.
- In his Story Quest, he describes Siraj's execution of his Hive Mind concept as "too conservative" and suggests that the only way it could be stabilized is by removing the test subjects' humanity. He immediately elaborates that had Siraj proposed such a thing, he would have lambasted the venture as equally senseless, noting how such inquiries into human evolution run hypocritically contrary to it.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
- He's more "pragmatic" than "evil"; that said, an argument between him and Kaveh on the Port Ormos bulletin board reveals that he can't comprehend why Kaveh would "waste" his time and mora helping ship merchants that were out of work instead of letting them go out to sea and try their luck. He even goes as far as to accuse him of acting like a "goody two shoes."
- The event "A Parade of Providence" reinforces his stance as an egoist, and he expresses a dismissive stance on empathy and idealism, viewing the latter as a philosophy that he doesn't agree with and one that unfortunately has its supporters. He also notes that Sachin, who himself was an idealist at one point, couldn't comprehend someone sacrificing themself for the greater good, in a way that he implied that he felt similarly.
The Exile: Subverted. When Alhaitham goes berserk from exposure to a Divine Knowledge Capsule (though it turns out he was faking it), Azar orders him to be kicked out of the Akademiya. Like every other exiled scholar before him, Alhaitham was later seen in Aaru Village, albeit getting there by himself, as exiting Sumeru City in between the Traveler freeing Nahida and confronting Scaramouche reveals that Alhaitham had knocked out the guards that were supposed to escort him. After the corrupt Sages were purged and Nahida ascends to rule Sumeru, he returns to the City.
Exotic Eye Designs: Alhaitham's eyes have green irises and red, diamond-shaped pupils with white highlights in their centers, making them stand out compared to most other characters' eyes with only colored irises and circular pupils in a slightly darker base color.
Expy: Of Su from Honkai Impact 3rd. Both have grey hair with mint shades, the same Chinese voice actor, associations with birds and Sumeru, wears clothes that are green and black with a sash on the right side of his body and heeled boots in his default outfit, and is ex-best friends with a fellow alumnus whose name starts with a “K”, is a claymore user and has a Cleavage Window due to a falling out caused by their Idealist vs. Pragmatist conflict.
Fantastically Indifferent: According to his Vision profile story, he didn't care much about receiving his Vision, even putting off looking into it until the next day because he was preoccupied with his research trip.
Of course, he knew what it was — a Vision, the proof of one's power. However, this item did not mean much to him. A believer might have perceived this divine item to be a thing most lofty, but to him, it was no more than a useful tool.
Female Gaze: During cutscenes within the game as well as his official reveal in the 3.4 livestream, the camera will occasionally focus and provide closeups of his sculpted torso and chest.
Fire-Forged Friends: The entire plot to save Nahida made Alhaitham and Cyno become cordial to each other, to the point Cyno says that Alhaitham is one of the few people he considers reliable despite their differences, and Alhaitham agrees to attend the party celebrating Cyno's reintegration to the Matra. His second Character Story anecdote also confirms that this also applies to the rest of the participants in the archon-saving operation, where Alhaitham will actually greet them with a nod or two when he sees them as a sign of their friendship.
- As seen in Alhaitham's trailer, he has become on familiar enough terms with Cyno that he is willing to join him, Tighnari, and Kaveh to hang out, drink wine and casually debate about his fighting style.
- In one route of Kaveh's hangout, he even turns up to Tighnari's dinner to celebrate Collei's progression in her studies. Kaveh expresses surprise at this, noting that he "could probably count the number of times [he'd] actually come to gatherings like this on one hand."
Flash Step: Universality: An Elaboration on Form allows him to warp right in front of his target, and whose direction can be manually changed in its held form.
Flechette Storm: When Alhaitham possesses three Chisel-Light Mirrors, the Projection Attacks take on the form of raining Dendro blades.
Foil:
- To Kaveh on several points:
  - In Chinese, Alhaitham's^note and Kaveh's^note taglines in their character introductions form a duilian couplet, a type of Chinese poetry that requires using words and tones that may individually contrast each other but form complementary lines of meaning as a whole. As the one that was released earlier, Alhaitham's tagline forms the top line of the couplet, while Kaveh's tagline completes it.
  - In appearance, Alhaitham is a muscular Hunk with short grey hair and green irises in green and black skintight clothing while Kaveh is a slender Pretty Boy with golden medium-length hair, red irises and prominently wears loose red and white garments. They also wear wing-like capes that emphasize their Red/Green Contrast, though Kaveh's is fully fitted to cover his shoulders, while Alhaitham only wears his cape on one shoulder and has the other side hanging loosely off of him.
  - In personality, Alhaitham is cold and rational while Kaveh is dramatic and prone to acting on his feelings of righteousness even at the cost of himself.
  - Alhaitham has a limited range of facial expressions and rarely smiles, reflecting his usually serious personality. On the other hand, Kaveh is one of the most expressive characters introduced in Genshin Impact, displaying a wide range of facial expressions even in short exchanges, emphasizing that he is far more lively and dramatic.
  - In Nahida's voice lines, she describes Alhaitham as "holding a body of knowledge more advanced than most could imagine" but doubts his wisdom due to how he views the vast majority of people, while Kaveh has "an almost-perfect grasp of what it truly means for Sumeru to be a Nation of Wisdom".
  - In terms of social status, Kaveh is renowned across Sumeru as one of the most high-profile figures in the industry, idolized by his juniors in the Kshahrewar, and he's viewed as a star alumnus of the Akademiya. Compared to Kaveh, despite his brilliance as well as his high position in the Akademiya, Alhaitham is relatively unknown.
  - In social relationships, Kaveh wants to fit in and, as an empath, has no trouble making friends, as evidenced by his friendship with nearly every Sumeru character prior to the Archon quest. He was also said to have a lot of friends in school. Alhaitham, on the other hand, is asocial and decidedly had no friends before Kaveh due to finding social relationships unnecessary. Even after "befriending" Sumeru main characters like Dehya, Cyno, and Tighnari, he still avoids most social gatherings, and his idea of being friends with them is acknowledging them in public before continuing on his way.
  - From a financial aspect, Kaveh is in debt to Dori due to the project he took on from her and has to room with Alhaitham secretly. Meanwhile, Alhaitham is affluent enough to afford a "cushy house" and sustain his lifestyle, especially after resigning as the Acting Grand Sage.
  - In the Japanese dub, Alhaitham uses the casual and assertive first-person pronoun ore, while Kaveh uses the informal yet humble first-person pronoun boku.
  - They often argue about their opposing philosophies, with Alhaitham being pragmatic while Kaveh is idealistic, or Alhaitham being an individualist while Kaveh is a collectivist.
  - Alhaitham's fourth Character Story anecdote invokes this trope, explaining that the reason Alhaitham took Kaveh into his home in the first place is that he was so different from himself, and Kaveh's presence as a scholar with different views could enrich his outlook on the world. Kaveh's fifth Character Story also emphasizes on how their differences form a more comprehensive perspective of the world together.
    As far as Alhaitham is concerned, Kaveh is a familiar face, similarly lacks familial attachments, and is the polar opposite of himself as a scholar — that is to say, an excellent mirror.
    Rationality and sensibility, language and architecture, knowledge and human feelings... Things that can never be integrated are what constitute the two sides of the mirror — indeed, of the entire world.
  - Both of their constellations are birds. Alhaitham is represented by a vulture or peregrine falcon depending on the language, which are birds of prey with mostly black or gray feathers, while Kaveh is represented by the bird of paradise, which feeds mostly on fruits and insects, with the males having colorful feathers.
  - One of Alhaitham's idle animations has him look at projections of words, which contrasts with Kaveh's idle animation of him looking at a projection of an architectural design.
  - Alhaitham and Kaveh have both created multipurpose technology that they use in battle along with their abilities, though Kaveh's creation and how he uses it work on a much grander scale. As for Alhaitham, he invented headphones for his music player, and while their primary purpose is noise-cancellation and listening to music, they are also used to target and lunge at enemies via flash stepping. In Kaveh's case, he created Mehrak, a multi-function toolbox that can be used as his assistant in his work as an architect, or for combat.
  - Alhaitham's least favourite food is anything soup-based, while Kaveh counts soup as among his favourite foods. Additionally, Alhaitham's special dish is based from the Iranian herb stew Ghormeh sabzi while Kaveh's special dish is fatteh, which originates from Arabian cuisine, contrasting the cultures that their characters are derived from.
  - Alhaitham and Kaveh's contrasting senses of self-worth not only results in their opposing social behaviours, but also cause them to become too self-absorbed in their perspectives and ignorant in some areas. Alhaitham is so sure of his "objective" perspective of reality and closed-off to anyone that doesn't interest him that he is unaware that his belief that "healthcare is free in Sumeru" is actually erroneous, and Kaveh's Guilt Complex stemming from his father's death compels him to feel responsible towards any living creature in need, prioritise others over himself and reject pure goodwill, resulting him, as Alhaitham puts it, to never achieve his ideal of "bringing happiness to all" because he does not include himself in that "all".
  - Alhaitham is Brilliant, but Lazy, preferring to put in minimal effort in anything that doesn't interests him and has no ambitions other than living a simple existence, while Kaveh is a perfectionistic Workaholic to the point where he would sacrifice his sleep and comfort to make changes to his own work without anyone's input and has lofty ideals that he strives to achieve despite acknowledging that he may not be able to attain them without losing himself in the process.
  - Alhaitham and Kaveh were raised in single female guardian households after the death of their fathers in their formative years, but Alhaitham's grandmother gave him the love and support he needed to become a self-confident and mentally healthy adult while Kaveh's mother inadvertently neglected her son's emotional needs because of her depression, causing him to develop a Guilt Complex and constantly struggle severe self-worth issues and internal conflict.
  - They have very different fighting styles that contradict their personalities. Alhaitham is noted to be rather lazy, but has a faster, aggressive, and physically strenuous combat style, combining acrobatics with sharp-cornered strikes and targets and lunges at enemies with his Elemental Skill. Meanwhile, Kaveh is hardworking to the point of being a workaholic and is always keeping busy, but has a slower and more hands-off approach to combat. He rarely directly wields his claymore despite being shown to be able to, instead utilising Mehrak's grab function and syncing it up with his own body movements to control its direction and impact with sweeping circular motions. His ability to buff and manually detonate Dendro cores for extra damage also plays into his hands-off style, as it would involve gaining the most benefit with minimal added effort.
  - Alhaitham's Elemental Burst creates an elaborate illusory ceiling that prominently features a four-pointed star at the centre like the one featured in the Musing Tawny Tapestry carpet furnishing, which mentions the Kshahrewar (Kaveh's Darshan) in its description, while Kaveh's Elemental Burst is more simplistic, projecting a cubic space that resembles a laser level (calling back to his occupation as an architect), while his Dendro-infused normal attacks and Elemental Skill feature the same six-petaled design on the Glorious Emerald Tapestry carpet furnishing that the description mentions was made by Alhaitham.
- He and Cyno have a lot of common points. Both are high ranking alumni of the Akademiya who prominently wear black, have serious and deadpan personalities, defected from the Akademiya during the Archon Quest to help the Traveler save Nahida, and received their visions while reading. However, they differ in the details of those points. Cyno is driven by his strong sense of justice and is straight up lawful, while Alhaitham is moved more by cold logic and his own interests, and is willing to bend the rules if he finds them logically flawed. Cyno can be dorky off the clock, while Alhaitham is serious almost all the time. And while Cyno's title is General Mahamatra and leader of the Matra, Alhaitham's usual job as a scribe at the Akademiya is pretty much the equivalent of a file clerk.
- He and Tighnari are both Deadpan Snarker Dendro vision holders named after historical Arab scientists who prominently war dark green, have similarly green and red/orange two-toned eyes and are at one point in time the Best Friend of a light-haired red-eyed Akademiya senior. However, Alhaitham has a strained relationship with Kaveh while Tighnari's and Cyno's relationship is mostly harmonious, save for Tighnari's lack of tolerance for Cyno's joke-telling. Furthermore, within the two pairs, Alhaitham is the junior with a simple green and black colour scheme who works as a civil servant in the Akademiya in contrast to Kaveh's colourful clothing and occupation as an independent architect while Tighnari is the junior with a more colourful outfit who insists on working outside of the Akademiya in contrast to Cyno's predominantly purple and black outfit and position as General Mahamatra.
Foreshadowing: In Act II of "Parade of Providence," Kaveh is able to provide the Traveler and Paimon the files on Sachin as Alhaitham asked him to look over them earlier. This foreshadowed that Alhaitham knew Kaveh would be involved with Sachin in some way, not only because Sachin wanted Kaveh as his successor, but also because Alhaitham looked into Kaveh's father's past involvement, which he informs Kaveh about in a post-event conversation between them.
Friendless Background: Alhaitham's Character Stories reveal that before meeting Kaveh, he decidedly didn't have any friends due to a lack of interest in interpersonal relationships. In his childhood, he chose not to attend a public school because he found other students and lectures boring half a day into being there. This mindset continued into adulthood, as he avoided unnecessary interactions to the point of being impossible for his colleagues to find during work hours.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Alhaitham doesn't have a particularly strong positive impression among his peers in Sumeru, with many of them treating the Scribe with caution or distrust in their voice lines due to his rational and blunt personality. This likely stops being the case after the Sumeru Archon Quests as his character demo demonstrates that he hangs out with Kaveh, Cyno, and Tighnari for card games and drinks, and many of the voice lines about him from the other characters reveal that they are aware of his cold demeanor, but value his talents and qualities. Furthermore, his Story Quest reveals that some of the antipathy leveled towards him by other scholars was due a disgruntled scholar who had personal grievances against him artificially implanting his hostility into his test subjects to work together to get rid of Alhaitham. In one route of Kaveh's Hangout, Tighnari even invites Alhaitham to a celebratory dinner to mark Collei's progression in her studies to consult his opinion on the future literacy curriculum the forest ranger designed for her along with Cyno and Kaveh, and they go on to "enjoy a relaxed and pleasant dinner" together.
Friendship Denial: Alhaitham claims that he and Kaveh aren't friends when asked by Paimon despite there being a lot of evidence to the contrary, such the as pair continuing to live under the same roof despite their constant bickering, their casually going to cafes and taverns together (and Alhaitham consequently regularly covering Kaveh's tab), and Alhaitham mentioning Kaveh a lot, to the point where he has four voice lines dedicated to him, the last which was supposed to be about Tighnari. Even outside of his voice lines, Alhaitham makes a couple of unprompted allusions to Kaveh, which confuses whichever character that is around to hear him mutter about him, such as Dehya and Paimon.
The Gadfly:
- Despite his complaints and desire for quiet, Alhaitham seemingly enjoys arguing with Kaveh and uncharacteristically goes out of his way to do so:
  - Viewing the message boards across Sumeru will show that Alhaitham occasionally unpromptedly responds to messages Kaveh leaves first, leading to an argument.
  - In the Sumeru Archon Quest, there are two instances of Alhaitham going out of his way to fight with Kaveh, the first being Alhaitham's choice to be vague when Kaveh came to him seeking information about the situation with the sages, which devolved into an argument that Alhaitham egged on. The second is after the Traveler and Paimon finish speaking to him after his discourse with Kaveh, and Alhaitham says he should leave before Kaveh shows up to argue with him again. Exiting the room and returning shows that not only did Alhaitham stay and wait for Kaveh to come back, with his dialogue further suggesting that it had been a while since Kaveh left and came back, but he also continued to egg on the argument they would have.
  - The conclusion of the Sumeru Archon Quest has Alhaitham realizing he snagged both his and Kaveh's house keys, but instead of thinking to return them to him, he laughs it off and says, "Oh well." It also carried over to Alhaitham's first idle animation, while in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean he’s surprised that he had them on his person before letting out a "hmph" and putting them away. In English, Alhaitham stares at the keys before muttering a "whatever." In all versions, he can actually be seen smiling while examining the keys.
  - In his Story Quest, he teases Kaveh about the painting he was trying to hang up after Kaveh checks in on him to see he's safe, causing Kaveh to walk off in a huff. Notably, he is smiling during this exchange. In the argument between them at the end of the quest, he pokes fun at the painting again to piss him off after Kaveh criticizes his capabilities as the Acting Grand Sage.
  - After revealing to Kaveh about Kaveh's father's involvement with Sachin in the 3.6 Interdarshan Championship, Alhaitham playfully asks Kaveh to thank him a third time when Kaveh thinks he pretended to not hear him the previous two times.
- Alhaitham appears to get a kick out of bullying Paimon and has done so numerous times during the Archon Quest, much to her annoyance. It carries over to his 2023 Birthday message, where he suggests she go to the House of Daena and read some books "that she may enjoy" knowing that she finds the books he finds enjoyable perplexing. Even in his birthday art caption, Paimon fears accidentally waking him up because of the prospect that he might ask her an impossible question.
- He also occasionally likes to make some quips when talking about his hobbies, half-joking that he purposely chooses to read complicated books to mess with others.
Gathering Steam: Chisel-Light Mirrors infuse all his attacks with a Dendro effect that cannot be overridden with elemental reactions, periodically augment all his normal, charged, and plunging attacks with Projection Attacks within at least 1.6-second intervals, which increase in potency depending on the number of Mirrors on hand (to a maximum of three at a time), and are consumed to increase the hits of the Particular Binding Field.
Gem Tissue: Alhaitham inexplicably has a diamond-shaped green gem embedded between his collarbones, which he shows off through a similarly diamond-shaped window in his shirt.
Gentle Touch vs. Firm Hand: Alhaitham is the Firm Hand to Candace's Gentle Touch. He explains to the Traveler that while she will cuddle them to their heart's content, he'll remind them of the seriousness of their situation.
Good Is Not Nice: His words and antisocial behavior have a tendency to offend others, but his actions, such as leading Nahida's rescue operation to personally intervening in Matra operations to figure out how to implement much-needed reforms in the Akademiya as Acting Grand Sage, speak for themselves. This is downplayed, however, as he primarily did these to keep his simple lifestyle intact, to the point that he immediately resigned as Acting Grand Sage after only a few days due to the unwanted workload it would place onto him. He also treats saving Nahida as though it was a matter of course for what it would lead to and doesn't take pride in having done so.
Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: A temporary example with Nilou as the commentators of the 3.6 Interdarshan Championship. Nilou was cheerful and tried to give good commentary, occasionally looking to Alhaitham for additional input, while Alhaitham only commented on what he believed was necessary, resulting in dry commentary on his end when he was asked questions on anything else. He would also leave the site after every round without telling anyone where he was going.
Guile Hero: In addition to his aforementioned skills as The Chessmaster, Alhaitham also puts on an epic act of failing at being a Fake Defector and Obfuscating Insanity that utterly fools Azar, using the chaos to plant a tampered Knowledge Capsule that becomes an important cornerstone to his entire plan.
- In his Story Quest, he immediately saw through Siraj's plan to use Ilyas as a Trojan Horse and allows the latter to fulfill his objectives while subtly manipulating him in order to turn the former's Hive Mind against him. In addition, he ensures Cyno tasks the Matra with investigating and apprehending the Hive's infiltrators in the Akademiya in order to ensure the breakdown of its unity.
Guyliner: It's subtle but he wears red eyeshadow at the sides of his eyes. He also has drawn-on bottom lashes, possibly meant to resemble the kohl makeup that is commonly worn in the Middle East.
Headphones Equal Isolation: Alhaitham's headphones are connected to a music player he keeps in his sash. He uses them to listen to music or block noise in order to read in peace and avoid talking to others.
Hunk: Has some shades of Pretty Boy due to his chiseled face, but Alhaitham is still pretty tall and muscular, with his outfit showing off some of his abs and especially his biceps. Alongside Itto, this especially puts him at odds with most of the other playable male characters.
Hiding Behind Your Bangs: He has his left eye covered by his hair, which goes with his stoic and loner personality.
Homeschooled Kids: While he was initially enrolled in the Akademiya at the age of seven, he was pulled from school the same day due to his disinterest in his fellow students and the boring lectures his teachers gave. From then until his grandmother's death, he was homeschooled, and developed his critical thinking skills through reading his family's physical book collection.
Humble Hero: Subverted. He often describes himself as "merely a feeble scholar", to the point others think it's either false modesty or him trying to downplay his actual strength. In reality, Alhaitham just doesn't see the necessity of bragging about himself to others, and he hardly sees himself as a heroic person, since all his motivations are just logical actions to keep his own lifestyle intact.
Hypocrite:
- In his "Alhaitham's Troubles" voice line, he comments on people inviting additional trouble into their lives and advises them not to do so, as life has enough hardships. This advice comes from someone who has welcomed their noisy ex-friend back into their life as an indefinite housemate with whom they constantly bicker.
- Another example happens in Alhaitham's Story Quest when Kaveh nags Alhaitham about not cleaning up his books in front of the Paimon and the Traveler, aka their house guests, and fills the room with an awkward silence. Alhaitham calls him out on his supposed lack of conversational skills, despite being far worse at it, and Kaveh doesn't let the comment slide.
Alhaitham: Can you feel the awkwardness in the air? I hope you're aware of your lack of conversational skills.
Kaveh: Oh, so the pot's calling the kettle black, is he?
Iconic Item: His gold and green headphones, which he's never seen without.
Idealist vs. Pragmatist: Many of his arguments with Kaveh revolve around their differing values and philosophies, with Kaveh being the idealist while Alhaitham is the pragmatist. This is exemplified by their friendship-ending argument during the joint project in their Akademiya days: Kaveh wanted the other participants to be able to keep up with him and Alhaitham due to believing that wisdom should be uncovered by many people and that the gaps in their abilities were obstacles that could be overcome with effort, while Alhaitham felt that the gap in talent between themselves and the other participants was too wide to be compensated even with hard work. Hence, Kaveh wore himself thin trying to help the other participants while Alhaitham refused to help, causing them to clash when the other participants became discouraged and exited the project.
I Just Want to Be Normal: Despite his impressive intelligence and various skills, Alhaitham is ultimately a very normal person who desires nothing more than to live a normal, comfortable life, even if he has to go to extreme lengths like overthrowing the sages and utterly changing Sumeru's political landscape to do it. He's largely successful at pursuing the normal life he wishes to lead, too.
Improbable Use of a Weapon: Alhaitham can kick his kukri at his opponents, like what Zhongli did with his spear before him.
Individualism vs. Collectivism: Alhaitham's individualism has recurringly clashed with Kaveh's collectivism in their numerous debates. Alhaitham is harsh on Kaveh's altruism due to the latter's self-sacrificial tendencies, while Kaveh criticises Alhaitham's selfishness at not helping others unless he can benefit himself in exchange when he has great capacity to do so without disadvantaging himself.
Insufferable Genius: Though he doesn't boast about his talents, the strictly logical way he thinks and blunt manner of speech can still sometimes irritate others. He also does not hesitate to call out when others are mistaken about something, often doing so in a rude manner. He also had this reputation back when he was a student in the Akademiya, as his peers and teachers described him as difficult to get along with despite, or even because of his exceptional brilliance and talent. Kaveh was the only one who disregarded his reputation and decided to approach and befriend him anyway.
Intelligence Equals Isolation: Alhaitham's intelligence led him to prefer homeschooling at a young age as he found everyone else at school to be boring, and as a student at the Akademiya he would skip classes if he decided self-learning would be more efficient and did not mingle with fellow students to the point where Kaveh, who he views as his equal, was his Only Friend. Unlike other examples of this trope, however, Alhaitham is completely content with his solitude, believing that socializing is unnecessary and preferring to spend his time alone.
In the Blood: According to Alhaitham’s fifth Character Story, he inherited his intelligence, talents, and personality from his parents.
Jerkass Has a Point: Deconstructed. Alhaitham frequently criticizes Kaveh's situation as well as aspects of his personality, such as his altruism and near-limitless empathy for others; however, he makes these criticisms in part out of concern for his old friend's tendency to risk or even sacrifice his comfort and happiness for others, causing him more harm than good in various aspects of his life. Kaveh is currently in heavy debt and homeless due to his tendency to martyr himself on his ideals and because of reluctance to say "no" to things that may harm others, forcing him to live with Alhaitham while constantly fearing the damage to his reputation should it be known. Alhaitham would know about Kaveh's self-destructive tendencies, almost all done to assuage his guilt over being partially responsible for his father's death, better than anyone else, and he's warned him about his excessive kindness in the past when they were still students. However, by refusing to approach Kaveh's issues tactfully, his attempts to steer him onto what he perceives as the right path only widens the schism in their relationship further. Furthermore, Alhaitham's tendency to criticize Kaveh for irrelevant things, combined with his open opposition to Kaveh's worldviews, has only made Kaveh less receptive to the valid critiques Alhaitham makes.
- Kaveh's Hangout Event revealing that he's fully self-aware about his issues, as well as perfectly capable of self-reflection without Alhaitham's input further deconstructs this as it suggests that Kaveh disagrees with him at least in part because he's such a jerk with his delivery.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Alhaitham hates small talk, can be rude to almost everyone, and is not averse to beating information out of people; however, he has displayed a more decent side on occasion.
- He has shown to display some kindness towards the Traveler, and while he threatened a couple of Ayn al-Ahmar members with violence and was rude to the staff of the restaurant they were in, the fact that the former were scamming people to get rich enough to win an auction for the Divine Knowledge Capsule and that the latter are willing accomplices makes his behavior understandable. He also had the decency to warn the Traveler about the scam and get their money back, even if he was just using them as a pretext to disrupt the scheme. The fact that he is also a Token Good Teammate among the Akademiya's leadership helps too.
- In Aaru Village, he intercedes for Shani and emphasizes to the Traveler that her reluctance to share information with them was not out of malicious intent.
- He volunteers himself as a replacement prisoner for the Radicals in order to secure the captured maddened scholars and get more intelligence for the party, despite acknowledging the risks should the Radicals decide to act irrationally.
- During his confrontation with the two Eremites, he also forces them to return the 500,000 Mora the Traveler paid for information. While he claims that he did so to make them even for giving him an opportunity to confront them, he also warns the Traveler to be wary in the future in case the Eremites try outright mugging them instead.
- Alhaitham is openly complimentary of Dehya's intelligence (note that the Akademiya has discriminatory policies against desert folk) and is disappointed that she chooses to remain among the Eremites instead of working for the Akademiya where her brilliance could be of good use.
- Despite their attitudes toward each other during most of onscreen their interactions and Alhaitham's desire for a peaceful life, he allows Kaveh, who lost his home due to debt, to room with him despite regularly being at each other's throats. Even after overthrowing the government to keep his peaceful life intact, Alhaitham doesn't make much of an effort to get rid of him, instead only passive-aggressively asking when he'll build himself a mansion or suggesting he should move out if Kaveh can't stand his personality, rather than the other way around. Even further, he doesn't push the issue after Kaveh changes the subject and Kaveh is seen at home decorating in Alhaitham's Story Quest, which takes place some time after this argument, implying that he only made these remarks out of spite.
  - Several message board conversations also confirm that Alhaitham regularly pays some of Kaveh's frivolous expenses, such as his tavern and café tabs.
  - In Alhaitham's Story Quest, Kaveh complains about Alhaitham not helping him with housework and leaving his books in a state of disorder. While Alhaitham doesn't acknowledge Kaveh's comment during the discussion or in the NPC conversation between them after, reading his thoughts via Nahida's skill will reveal that he plans to tidy them up and move the unused ones to the House of Daena, implying that he did take notice of what Kaveh said.
  - An optional post-"Parade of Providence" conversation between him and Kaveh reveals that he was secretly looking into Sachin in part because of Kaveh's father's past involvement, which is why he had asked Kaveh to look over the files in Act II of the event. After the Interdarshan Championship was over, he sought Kaveh out specifically to inform him about it. As well, he chooses not to argue with Kaveh's view that the Sachin incident won't repeat again since he believes their debate has long since moved on from who's wrong or right, mirroring his earlier statement that sometimes being correct means nothing.
  - Kaveh's fifth Character Story reveals that after Kaveh went bankrupt, despite how their friendship ended disastrously and not seeing him in years, Alhaitham could tell his old friend was going through something while all of Kaveh's other friends were oblivious, and he listened to Kaveh all night as he vented about how life had oppressed him. Following this, Alhaitham invited Kaveh to his home and the two began living together.
  - Soup is Alhaitham's least favorite food, while warm soup is one of Kaveh's. Alhaitham will ask if he can take any soup the player gives him home in his "Spice's From the West" event dialogue, implying that he'll give it to Kaveh.
  - In a branch of the "A Dear Memento" path of Kaveh's Hangout Event, he expresses concern for Kaveh after hearing from the Traveler that he's been having trouble, distracting him so that he could discuss it with the Traveler privately after Kaveh initially tried to prevent them from telling him. He also offers some insight and understanding of Kaveh's situation in a non-critical way, explaining that Kaveh should be able to reject unreasonable demands from clients as the leading genius of the Kshahrewar and a talented architect with a claim to fame, but that he doesn't due to his tendency to prioritize the feelings of others over his own. In the end, he comes to the conclusion that while Kaveh's issues could be solved with a change in his personality, they should respect the path he’s chosen for himself because everyone is different.
- At the end of his Story Quest, despite Ilyas' role as Siraj's Trojan Horse, he expresses nothing but sympathy for his circumstances, even noting that he is braver than he gives himself credit for.
  "Judging from his experiences, he is more courageous than the average person. There's no need to lay even more criticism on him. Criticizing the brave only shows how weak you are."
Kukris Are Kool: As part of his basic attacks, Alhaitham wields a kukri in his left hand.
The Leader: Types 1 and 2. Alhaitham is for all intents and purposes the lynchpin of Nahida's rescue operation, formulating a fool-proof plan and utilizing his assets masterfully to execute it flawlessly with a level head. While Alhaitham tries to downplay his capabilities as one, the Traveler, Cyno, and Dehya all admit that he is a wise leader and has what it takes to lead Sumeru to the new era as the Grand Sage; they only wish that he also possessed the charisma to bolster morale. He even held the Grand Sage job for a while in his Story Quest, doing very well in the role before he resigned from the position at the end of it.
Light 'em Up: Subverted; while his element is obviously not that of light magic, his stronger Dendro powers take on the form of light, namely his Burst using mirrors to reflect bright Dendro energy around to slash apart targets.
Like an Old Married Couple:
- His seemingly constant public bickering with Kaveh makes them come off like one. The two apparently bicker in the open so often that it's gossiped about around Sumeru. Despite this, the two still live together and appear to know each other very well.
- His Story Quest plays this up, as Kaveh essentially behaves like a househusband to him, taking care of the housework and decorating the home for them, seemingly without Alhaitham's permission, which Alhaitham doesn't appear to care about outside of making fun of Kaveh's difficulty with hanging a painting straight. Kaveh also demands that Alhaitham take him with him when he goes furniture shopping, which Alhaitham doesn't object to, only focusing on the fact that Kaveh would make him buy him a drink afterward.
- Despite their previous disagreements in the event, in Act III of "A Parade of Providence," he dismisses Kaveh's celebratory dinner party because he believes Kaveh will pack up some food and bring it home for him. Scanning Kaveh at dinner with Nahida's "All Schemes to Know" skill reveals his internal dialogue about ordering more food to take home, indicating that Alhaitham was correct.
Loner-Turned-Friend: While it was only hinted at in his own fourth Character Story, Kaveh's fifth Character Story goes into greater detail; Alhaitham was decidedly a loner in the Akademiya, as he was not interested in interacting with other people and was described as difficult to get along with by his peers and even teachers in the Kshahrewar. Kaveh, who was lonely after his mother left for Fontaine for work, approached him in the House of Daena, with the two eventually becoming best friends after some interactions. Kaveh's "About Alhaitham: It's Complicated" voice line confirms that they were quite close during these days.
Meaningful Name: Alhaitham's name and genius bears several references to Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), a tenth-century Arab physicist and astronomer from the Buyid Emirate (in modern-day Iraq) who spent much of his life working for the Fatimid Caliphate (in modern-day Egypt), in particular in optics.
- Alhaitham's Elemental Burst has him use "Chisel-Light Mirrors" to reflect Dendro attacks onto enemies.
- According to legend, al-Haytham feigned madness so he can be placed under house arrest and escape suffering worse from the notoriously temperamental Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, whose ambitious hydraulics project at Aswan he declared impractical. Similarly, Alhaitham faked being driven mad by the Divine Knowledge Capsule in front of Azar so he can sneak the Traveler in as a Trojan Prisoner so they can contact Nahida; in addition, his Story Quest reveals that a year ago he vetoed Siraj's thesis to create a collective consciousness on the grounds of impracticality, to say nothing of possible ethical violations.
Men Can't Keep House: Even with Kaveh around to do the housework, a closer inspection of his home shows that there are books littered everywhere. Kaveh calls him out on it in Story Quest, nagging him to tidy his unsorted books away if he's no longer reading them. While Alhaitham initially snarks at Kaveh for making the room awkward by calling him out on his unwillingness to help with housework, scanning him with Nahida's "All Schemes to Know" skill before leaving his house reveals that he plans to do something about the mess.
(There's dust on the bookshelves. I should tidy them up sometime and bring any unused books to the House of Daena.)
Mirror Character:
- He shares a lot in common with Lisa. Both are highly intelligent alumni of the Akademiya with green eyes who ended up having low-key positions as librarians^note. The difference between them is the motivations behind these lifestyles. In the case of Alhaitham, he only wants to have a quiet life and describes himself as a man with very little ambitions, while Lisa was one of the brightest minds in the Spantamad Darshan until she returned to Mondstadt and settled down as librarian of the Knights of Favonius out of disappointment with the Akademiya's bad practices and her desire to have a steady job that allows her to have tea breaks.
- He and Dori are both significant figures in Kaveh's life who are extremely reclusive despite holding high status and wealth, and have caused the architect no shortage of trouble and annoyance due to their self-interested personalities, but also helped him in contrasting ways. Dori helped Kaveh achieve his ideals by granting him full creative freedom with the design and construction of the Palace of Alcazarzaray that he couldn't find in previous projects, while Alhaitham helped him with the practical realities of living by sheltering him after he became homeless. Though Alhaitham doesn't condone Dori's behaviour, he expresses appreciation at her attitude towards life.
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Another factor contributing to his decision to stand against the Akademiya. Already put on guard by the Sages' promise of divine knowledge, he eventually realized after his first outing with the Traveler that they intended to dispose of him by rendering him insane with a Divine Knowledge Capsule.
Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Subverted. Alhaitham can be a jerk with the way he talks and with the rational lens he views life through, but a plot point in his Story Quest is how others will readily make assumptions about his motivations and how he views others when in reality, he doesn't have any bad intentions and doesn't look down on anyone, rather, he only wants to keep his distance and look at the world objectively.
The Mole: During the middle one-third of the Sumeru Archon Quest, he admits to the Traveler that the Sages originally assigned him to spy on them with the promise of "divine knowledge," but has since given up on that mission by the time they met at Port Ormos, and has also grown suspicious of the offer after seeing Mizri being driven mad from using the Divine Knowledge Capsule. During the climax, he uses his long-standing order to pretend to betray the Traveler, both to lull the Sages into complacency and so he can sneak the Traveler in as a Trojan Prisoner and rescue Nahida.
Motifs: Mirrors. They show up prominently in Alhaitham's character demonstration and his gameplay and one of his talent ascension materials is Mirror of Mushin. Alhaitham also represents one side of the two-sided mirror that reflects the world, encompassing knowledge, language, and rationality, as well as learning, thinking, and doing, whereas Kaveh represents the opposite side, encompassing sensibility, architecture, and human feelings, as well as benevolence, compassion, and comprehension.
Moveset Clone: Alhaitham is a reworked Keqing. Like the Yuheng, Alhaitham is a swordsman whose Elemental Skill allows him to instantly warp to his targets and grants an elemental infusion to his weapon for a few seconds, while his Burst covers a wide area-of-effect dealing multiple slashes of elemental damage to those caught in it. There are some similarities in their animations, as best shown in their side-by-side comparisons.
Mr. Fanservice: For someone who calls himself a "feeble scholar", Alhaitham is incredibly ripped and the camera angles in some cutscenes make no effort to hide that. In addition, his default outfit consists of a skintight sleeveless top that accentuates his muscular physique, as well as showing off his prominent abs and biceps.
Must Have Caffeine: According to his "Good Morning" lines, he can't start a day without coffee.
It's a little early for me... Let me get a cup of coffee first.
Mythology Gag: Alhaitham shares traits with Su from Honkai Impact 3rd.
- In appearance, Alhaitham has the same grey hair with mint shades, a default outfit that is mostly black and green that has a sash on the left side of his body and heeled boots, as well as the same Chinese voice actor. However, Alhaitham eyes colours are the inverse of Su's, with the former having red pupils with green irises while Su has green pupils with red irises. Alhaitham also has a noticeably muscular body and short hair while Su is slim and has long hair.
- Alhaitham and Su are similarly associated with birds, though Alhaitham is associated with birds of prey (specifically falcons and vultures) while Su is associated with peacocks from the form that he takes during his "Active Honkai Reaction".
- Both Alhaitham and Su have a complicated relationship with a fellow alumnus whose name starts with a "K", is a claymore user, and has a Cleavage Window.
No Historical Figures Were Harmed: While he does have some references to his namesake, Alhaitham can also be read as the Genshin Impact equivalent of Aristotle, especially when his relationship with Kaveh, who appears to represent Plato, is considered;
- Alhaitham's philosophy, egoism, corresponds to Aristotle's way of thinking, whereas Kaveh's philosophy, idealism, corresponds to Plato's.
- Aristotle and Plato famously debated opposing philosophies, which Kaveh and Alhaitham frequently do in between their other trivial debates.
- Plato was Aristotle's senior, which mirrors the seniority Kaveh claims over Alhaitham in age and graduation status.
- Both Kaveh◊ and Alhaitham's respective Portrait poses visually call to mind the poses of Plato and Aristotle in the famous "The School of Athens" painting.
- Alhaitham also references Aristotle’s book "The Physics" in Archon Quest Chapter III: Act IV.
Nominal Hero: Of the "Leave Me Alone" variety. During the Sumeru Archon Quest, the primary reason he decided to lead the rescue of Kusanali and foil the Sages' plans was so he could keep his simple lifestyle intact. And towards the end of his Story Quest, he reveals to the Traveler and Kaveh that he tendered his resignation as Acting Grand Sage almost as soon as he was appointed to it, all while keeping the same salary after he's demoted back down to being a Scribe.
Not in This for Your Revolution: His primary motivator for assisting the Traveler in solving Sumeru's crisis, and overthrowing the Akademiya's former system, wasn't for heroic purposes nor for any sort of personal gain such as usurping Azar from his position (even when he was appointed Acting Grand Sage, he immediately tendered his resignation after a few days); he simply enjoys his position as the Akademiya's Scribe and the sages' schemes would've greatly dampened the enjoyment he draws out of it.
Not So Above It All: Alhaitham is known for being an extremely rational person. This doesn't stop him from engaging in petty arguments with his roommate Kaveh on noticeboards across Sumeru and in public.
- Despite his image as a serious scholar, he isn’t above engaging in social activities like banquets or casual hangouts, as he willingly goes to the banquet organized by Nilou and drinks at the tavern with Kaveh, Cyno, and Tighnari while they are in the middle of a game of Genius Invokation TCG. When talking more about himself, he tells that he goes to the tavern for an after-office drink, questioning why it’s so weird that he also has very common pastimes.
- His voice line about the desert is him complaining about sand in his shoes.
No, You: He does this in "A Toast to Victory," with this being the first demonstration of how his normally calm and rational disposition shifts into an impudent and immature personality during his arguments with Kaveh.
Kaveh: Maybe it's because you've never said anything good about me before.
Alhaitham: Yeah, well, I share a similar sentiment. And anyone who knows you as well as I do would surely do the same.
Obfuscating Insanity: He pretends to lose his mind with a Divine Knowledge Capsule in front of Azar, allowing himself to be subdued along with the Traveler and Paimon, all to trick the Sages into complacency and think they have everything in control.
Odd Couple: The stoic and pragmatic Alhaitham is this with the romanticist Kaveh. In Nahida's voice line about Kaveh, even she is surprised to hear that they are roommates.
Omniglot: According to Alhaitham, one of the requirements to graduate from the Akademiya is to master at least 20 languages, and his ability to read the ancient Deshret runes in Act IV of the Sumeru Archon Quest is crucial in revealing the truth behind the collapse of King Deshret's civilisation and proving that Great Lord Rukkhadevata never betrayed him, which convinces Rahman to abandon his prejudice against the rainforest people and lend his support for the subsequent plan to overthrow the Sages and save Kusanali.
Once Done, Never Forgotten: Played for Laughs. He has a habit of using things Kaveh has done in the past (or several minutes prior) against him in their arguments.
Only Friend: Back when they were students at the Akademiya, he had an "only friend" in Kaveh, who was also his first known friend. Their friendship, however, did not continue due to their inability to agree on anything, and they are still at odds with each other years later.
Only Sane Man: Despite what everybody thinks of his attitude, Alhaitham is possibly the only person in Sumeru who actually has their marbles together, as the Sages are treading on forbidden territory with their ambition to create a god, and over-reliance on the Akasha making the general populace ignorant to the Sages' machinations. Finally, the Traveler's, Cyno's, Candace's, and Dehya's "hit first, ask questions later" mentality prevents them from learning about their enemy objectively and allows the sages to lead them astray. If it wasn't for Alhaitham's calm rational mindset and his knowledge on the Akasha, rescuing Nahida and punishing the Sages would've been a pipe dream.
Passive-Aggressive Kombat: His method of arguing with Kaveh involves passive-aggressively bringing up of Kaveh's failings, much to his annoyance.
Perpetual Frowner: Downplayed. While he's seen frowning 99% of the time he does occasionally smile, though it tends to be so small that it's easy to miss.
The Philosopher: Downplayed, although he displays this trait, aligning his views with egoism. This puts him at odds with Kaveh, another philosopher whose views align with idealism, and they have frequently debated each other on their opposing philosophies through the years they have known each other, never reaching a consensus, as stated in Kaveh's "Old Sketchbook" story:

Page 31: Some academic notes and architectural drawings.
Postscript: "Our views are aligned, and they are complete." This line has been struck out.
"Our views are contradictory, but it is through contradiction that more speculation and philosophy may be born." This line has been retained.

Page 47: An excerpt from a school publication. The original title is unknown, and the preserved content is as follows:
"The selfish cannot understand wisdom's final destination. Though all of us might claim to have a place in this great hall of learning, we must understand that it is people, and not knowledge, that make our world what it is. Without a vessel, knowledge shall have no home. Universal values must naturally have some merit to be named such, and denying their general meaning does not mean that minority viewpoints will arise accordingly. This is the case with aesthetics. Beauty is something objective that exists in human hearts. It will not lose its value simply because some people cannot understand it."

"To view oneself as some mighty vessel is to fall to the narrowness of the researcher. Know that truth has never existed for the sake of individuals. The logic of the world coexists with nature, and this will not easily change whether it is interpreted as such or not. Excessive belief in the object is self-disclosure just the same, a manifestation of a lack of confidence in the subject. Moreover, one who is sufficiently self-confident will not need to constantly use plural forms of address, such as 'we.' I alone am sufficient to sustain this position — this I can assert."

The Power of Language: As a Haravatat scholar and the Scribe, he is well acquainted with the impact of words, contemplating in his Character Teaser how words have recorded all matters under the sky, but only form an incomplete picture of the entire truth. He also comments how "a few words were enough" to bring down Siraj and his Hive during his story quest, telling the latter to "believe in the power of words".
Power Stereotype Flip: Instead of the nurturing, kind personality that's associated with nature and thus Dendro, Alhaitham is instead pragmatic (in a guile way), blunt and disinterested in stuff that doesn't concern him (which is a lot). Downplayed in that he's still a decent person.
Properly Paranoid:
- In the Archon Quests, Alhaitham abandoned his original assignment to spy on the Traveler and decided to research the Divine Knowledge Capsule on his own because of his doubts about the Sages' offer of "divine knowledge" in exchange for obeying his orders. His suspicions turn out to be well-founded when he witnesses Mizri going mad as a result of receiving said knowledge.
- In his Story Quest, Alhaitham instantly deduced that Ilyas is a mole sent by Siraj to lure him to his doom based on his own experiences with the Vahumanna scholar and sought to take action personally in order to sabotage Siraj's plans.
Real Men Eat Meat: He is the buffest male character in the playable cast and he appears to prefer meat, as his special dish, "Ideal Circumstance," is made from "Sabz Meat Stew," and his preferred dishes in the event "Spices of the West" are "Fragrant Steak" and "Fragrant Sunshine Sprat." He also discusses the difficulty of grilling meat with the player in his special dialogue for his preferred Furnishing Item, "Fervid Aroma."
Rage Within the Machine: He had his doubts about the Sages' intentions when one of them approached him to spy on the Traveler in exchange for "divine knowledge", which were confirmed when he witnesses the consequences of using the Divine Knowledge Capsule firsthand. This leads him to start planning The Coup to overthrow the Sages.
Raised by Grandparents: His parents died when he was young, leaving him to be raised by his grandmother as detailed in his fifth Character Story.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes turned red when he seemingly uses the Divine Knowledge Capsule in a desperate attempt to escape being imprisoned by the Corps of Thirty when Azar "figures out" his plan to hinder the Sages, which, as past victims of the Divine Knowledge Capsule have done, made him insane and proceed to attack Azar. It turns out to be subverted however, as he had modified his Akasha Terminal beforehand to turn red to fool Azar, and it (along with his eyes) return to their normal colour once he is safely escorted outside the Akademiya premises.
Red/Green Contrast: Alhaitham primarily wears green and is a calm individual while his passionate roommate Kaveh wears red.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: He is the Blue (cold, stoic, and analytical), to Kaveh's Red (histrionic, emotional, and temperamental).
Reflecting Laser: Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena, summons the Particular Binding Field, a phantasmal hall of mirrors that bounces beams of Dendro energy four times within its damage radius; if there are Chisel-Light Mirrors active, they are consumed to add a pair of extra hits each (for a maximum of ten). His fourth Constellation upgrade, Elucidation, increases his own Dendro Damage Bonus and his allies' Elemental Mastery stats for fifteen seconds by, respectively, 30 points and 10% per Chisel-Light Mirror consumed whenever he triggers the Burst (for a maximum of 90 points and 30%). This effect is cleared if Alhaitham uses his Burst again while it is still active.
Regenerating Mana: A pair of variants regarding Chisel-Light Mirrors.
- Two seconds after triggering Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena, Alhaitham generates a number of Mirrors inversely proportional to that consumed when the Burst was triggered: three Mirrors if none are consumed, two if one, one if two, and none if three. His sixth Constellation upgrade, Structuration, removes this restriction and allows him to regenerate three Mirrors regardless of the number consumed beforehand, in addition to a Status Buff (see below).
- Alhaitham's first-ascension passive, Four-Causal Correction, allows his charged or plunging attacks to generate one Mirror whenever they strike enemies (within at least twelve-second intervals).
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: In Alhaitham's Story Quest, he gives one to Siraj after defeating him that breaks down just how self-absorbed the latter's perspective was.
Siraj: I know very well that you've never viewed me as an equal. When you were with us, you always had a distant look in your eyes. You don't need to hide it. I know it better than anyone else — the arrogance that comes with being a genius. Nobody likes being treated like that!
Alhaitham: Your perspective is entirely born from your habitual way of looking at things. From your perspective, you probably think I'm like you: someone who doesn't "fit in." However, I've never placed myself on a pedestal. I just want to distance myself from meaningless noise and look at everything objectively. On the other hand, you have failed to come to terms with who you truly are. You care too much about winning and how others perceive you.
Siraj: You mean to say that... I'm the arrogant one here?
Alhaitham: Is that not so? Arrogant, and emotionally fragile.
Reputation Apathy: Throughout his life, most people who knew him described him as difficult to get along with and unapproachable. Despite this, he is unconcerned and actively wishes for people to continue perceiving him in this way, even going so far as to warn the Traveler against sending any trouble his way even if they believe the rumors surrounding him.
Right-Hand Hottie:
- Alhaitham is a muscular and handsome man, whose work as the Scribe involves administrative work such as minute-taking during meetings, classifying and archiving documents as well as drafting ordinances.
- Unlike Yae Miko before him, his significant role in the Archon Quest does not earn him this position with the Dendro Archon Nahida, as overthrowing the Akademiya leadership and saving her were all done so he could return to his normal life; once it's over, he loses almost all association with her, with Wanderer becoming her right hand instead in A Parade of Providence.
Roommate Drama: He annoys the hell out of his roommate Kaveh due to his coldly logical and stubborn personality. One of their most common discussions involves their different taste in decoration and Alhaitham leaving his books scattered around the house.
Save Your Deity: Is the strategist and leader who organised the effort to free Kusanali from her prison during Chapter III Act V.
Secret-Keeper: Being the one who houses Kaveh, he is naturally one of the few characters aware of Kaveh's bankruptcy and is tasked with keeping it hidden from the public. However, he appears to be less concerned with concealing other aspects of Kaveh's current situation, as he readily informs the Traveler and Paimon that they're roommates after being asked what their relationship is and later tells Kaveh that he has no reason to hide the fact that they live together so carefully because the truth will eventually come out.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He is the Manly Man next to Kaveh’s Sensitive Guy. While not emotionless, Alhaitham observes the world through a more rational lens and doesn't let his emotions influence his actions. He also is poor with housework, visibly more muscular, and dresses primarily in black and dark green. In contrast, Kaveh is far more emotional and views the world through a compassionate lens, helping others even at the expense of himself. He's also an artist, is tasked with tidying up the house (which he appears to do unprompted at times, according to Alhaitham's Story Quest), has a more slim body, and dresses colorfully.
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Alhaitham always carries some book with him, which he reads during his breaks. When Paimon wants to know what his book is about, she can’t understand a single paragraph and gives up completely. Makes sense, since he is from the Akademiya's Semiotics school.
"I like reading difficult and abstruse books, and seeing others scratch their heads in confusion. I'm only joking. I don't delight in others' misery, and rarely do I encounter a book that's difficult for me."
Signature Headgear: Wears a pair of green noise-cancelling headphones with golden embellishments with a wire attached to his left headset that extends down his torso. As a playable character, this appears to enable his flash stepping Elemental Skill.
Sleeves Are for Wimps: Downplayed. Alhaitham's outfit doesn't include sleeves, although he does wear opera gloves, which would mitigate this effect. The thing is, it ends up making the fact that Alhaitham has fairly large biceps more visible. Not really noteworthy in and of itself, except he's the only character with biceps that large. Even Itto, who is tall with washboard abs, doesn't have much in the way of muscle mass.
Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: Alhaitham's more technically demanding playstyle befits his Awesomeness by Analysis approach to fighting.
Small Role, Big Impact: Not Alhaitham himself, but his deceased grandmother, whose relationship with him is detailed in-depth in his fifth Character Story, was a major contributor to the character Alhaitham is in the present. Most importantly, the prayer she left for him in one of her books that encouraged him to live a peaceful life is the primary reason he goes so far to honor her wish and preserve his lifestyle in the Sumeru Archon Quest, even overthrowing the government to do so.
The Smart Guy: Alhaitham serves this role while working with the Traveler, Cyno, Dehya, Candace, and Nilou to uncover the Sages' conspiracy and subsequently overthrow them to put Lesser Lord Kusanali back into power.
Snark-to-Snark Combat: Most of his onscreen interactions with Kaveh consist of the two snarking at each other after they get off-subject.
The Social Expert: Despite his introverted personality, Alhaitham knows exactly how people at the Akademiya think and behave, which he exploits in favor of the group's plan to rescue Nahida. He is in charge of formulating the plan, since he discovered that they were tracking Cyno's patterns, manages to avoid a scholar by making him think that he is supposed to know why they were at the Akademiya unannounced (which works as expected), takes advantage of Azar's arrogance by letting him believe that they were outmatched, and knows very well that the guards are too reliant on the Akasha, allowing him to manipulate them by tampering with their orders.
- He utilizes his understanding of Siraj and general human behaviour against the latter in his story quest, not only recognising Ilyas as bait that Siraj had put out to lure him in from the very moment he saw him, but also made remarks to Ilyas that enable him to question the power hierarchy of Siraj's Hive Mind as well as the unjustified loathing towards Alhaitham that Siraj had imbued in all his subjects as the Overmind, causing the members of the Hive Mind to eventually overthrow Siraj when Ilyas returned to the collective consciousness and share his feelings of doubt with the other members.
Spell Blade: Universality: An Elaboration of Form summons up to three Chisel-Light Mirrors that endow his normal, charged, and plunging attacks with a Dendro effect that cannot be overriden with elemental reactions, in addition to triggering a wide-ranging Projection Attack whenever his enhanced attacks hit enemies, with increasing potency depending on the number of Mirrors in the field.
Spell My Name With An S: Though his name is spelled "Al-Haitham" with a hyphen in real life ("Al-" is simply Arabic for "the"), the game has chosen to spell it as "Alhaitham".
The Spock: He's known for operating purely by rationality, which leads him to take actions and express opinions many people would find unacceptable. This causes a lot of conflict with his roommate Kaveh, who's The McCoy.
Sticky Fingers:
- For an academic, Alhaitham is really good at snatching things out from under people's noses. Not only does he sneakily pocket the Divine Knowledge Capsule while Mizri was being arrested, when he pretends to use it in Azar's office and wildly attacks in a fit of apparent insanity, he deliberately crashes against the Grand Sage's desk, and uses that brief moment to not only swipe a specific Knowledge Capsule, but swap it for one that contains a fake order to arrest an escaping Kusanali. The Traveler notes that this is partly because of how Alhaitham keeps his head cool when under pressure.
- This is Played for Laughs in his second idle animation, as it shows him realising that he accidentally snatched Kaveh's house key along with his own.
Status Buff:
- Alhaitham's second Constellation upgrade, Debate, allows him to gather up to four stacks of a 50-point Elemental Mastery boost that last eight seconds each whenever he generates a Chisel-Light Mirror, and which can continue to stack even if there are already three Mirrors active.
- In addition to allowing him to fully replenish his Chisel-Light Mirrors (see above), his sixth Constellation upgrade, Structuration, increases his Critical Rate and Critical Damage by, respectively, 10% and 70% for six seconds should he generate Chisel-Light Mirrors if there are already three in the field.
The Stoic: Downplayed. Alhaitham can show emotions, though he rarely does, and changes in his facial expressions are hard to notice if the player isn't paying attention. For example, there is virtually no difference between his "Default" and "Serious" expressions in Kamera mode, and his "Pensive" expression is just him squinting a little.
Storm of Blades: When triggered through plunging attacks, Projection Attack manifests as a rain of swords made of Dendro energy.
Strong Family Resemblance: If the "stiff-looking couple" that Kaveh's mother met more than thirty years ago were indeed Alhaitham's parents, Alhaitham not only looks like his father, he also has the same mannerism of lifting up his leg to rest on his knee when sitting in a chair to read.
Surrounded by Idiots: Nahida's voice line about him implies that he regards the majority of people as defective since they are incapable of achieving his level of intellect. His Story Quest, on the other hand, implies that rather than looking down on others, he observes them with indifference.
Symbol Motif Clothing: Curiously, his cape features a few of the same eye-like motifs that can be found on the Golden Wolflord.
Tall, Dark, and Snarky: He is tied with Kaveh for being the tallest male of the Sumeru cast, dresses in green, teal, and black, and he occasionally has his moments of deadpan sarcasm (especially around Kaveh).
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Initially, he is not fond of Cyno and does not enjoy having to work with him. Regardless, the two manage to put aside their differences for the sake of the greater good of Sumeru, and by the end of it they have formed a friendship based on mutual understanding.
Think Nothing of It: He dismisses the Traveler's thanks in the Archon Quest due to his lack of interest in keeping track of personal favors. This mindset doesn't apply when Kaveh thanks him, however, leading to this exchange in "A Parade of Providence":
Kaveh: "…Thanks for letting me know all this."
Alhaitham: "Uhh, what?"
Kaveh: "I said, thanks for letting me know. Hey! Stop acting like you didn’t hear me! You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?"
Alhaitham: "They say that earnest thanks should be given thrice, so… One more time, please."
Token Good Teammate: Along with Cyno, he is one of the highest-ranking members of the Akademiya to never support their plans, stating that the Sages' actions have crossed the line.
Ungrateful Bastard: Played for Laughs towards the end of his Story Quest. When Kaveh points out that he took the time out of his day to tidy up the living room for Alhaitham instead of catching up on his work, instead of thanking him, Alhaitham brings up that Kaveh needs to pay him the rent he's owed so he can buy furniture with it, a reaction which only ticks Kaveh off more because of his poor decorating choices.
Tsundere: He treats Kaveh harshly during their interactions but expresses concern for him when he isn't around or paying attention, suggesting he cares about him more than he lets on. This is exemplified in the second branch of Kaveh's Hangout Event's "A Dear Memento" path, where he uses his usual The Gadfly tendencies to distract Kaveh before privately asking the Traveler to elaborate on their claim that Kaveh was having trouble with evident concern after Kaveh walks out of earshot. They have a discussion about Kaveh's situation, which Alhaitham offers insight into, and praises Kaveh in the middle, before returning to his usual teasing tendencies as soon as Kaveh returns.
- Before this, Alhaitham had approached Kaveh and the Traveler in the House of Daena from a distance after allegedly hearing Kaveh's loud voice through his noise-canceling headphones, claiming he wouldn't have noticed them otherwise. From the player's point of view, Kaveh was speaking at normal volume, and Alhaitham was nowhere to be seen when they first arrived, meaning he shouldn't have heard him talking anyway. This implies that either Alhaitham's headphones are defective, or he noticed them come in and was waiting for a point of entry to intervene.
Unreliable Expositor: In spite of his claims of wanting to uncover the truth of the world, Alhaitham occasionally makes claims that are contradicted by reality:
- According to Alhaitham, a stall owner once conned Kaveh into buying keychains to feed children in poverty, which he found amusing for Kaveh to fall for due to Sumeru providing free healthcare while also implying that the nation meets the needs of its residents. However, the story gives us reason to doubt his claim; not only does the player have to take Alhaitham's word for it that the duping happened (with these words coming from someone the player comes to know as self-serving and who mocked Kaveh helping people that were actually in need before), but his reasoning as to why Kaveh was getting conned is incorrect:
  - The lack of affordability of Sumeru's healthcare has been brought up at several points in the story, with Dehya at one point speculating that the Homayani family struck a deal with Hakan Al-Ahmar to pay off healthcare loans.
  - In Dori's backstory, her sister passed away because of her family's inability to afford the needed medicine, which kicked off her obsession with money in the present.
  - Even if Sumeru City provides for its residents, the people of the desert are not actively included in this coverage, and struggle to survive each day, with Dehya's Character Teaser showing her bringing an orphan from the desert to an orphanage in Sumeru City to give them a better life. If Kaveh was duped, it might have been because the stall owner wasn't as charitable as he claimed, not because there aren't starving children. That said, it's just as likely that Alhaitham was just being Alhaitham and viewed Kaveh's actions as unnecessary due to him involving himself in someone else's problems.
  - Daily Commissions involving the Bimarstan, Sumeru City's medical wing, reveal it to be understaffed to the point that just cleaning up after patients can be too much, much less keeping track of the treatment progress of patients that have returned home. Doctor Zakariya often has to make sure his patients are actually following his prescribed treatments, and is also burdened with creating prescriptions for people as far away as Aaru Village. Even though the Bimarstan claims to provide free healthcare, it could easily be too busy for urgent cases, or too underfunded for cases involving extensive and more importantly expensive treatments, which is a problem that can crop up in free healthcare systems in real life as well. It probably doesn't help that the fees and tax revenue from business tend to end up as funding for the Akademiya's researchers; a tax officer by Sumeru's docks is berated by her superior from the Navbed for lowering those extraneous rates to encourage trade.
  - At the end of "A Parade of Providence," Kaveh chooses to donate all of Sachin's money to help poor families, which Alhaitham, the scribe, must ratify and report to the Akademiya. This suggests that there are still children living in poverty and not getting the support they need in Sumeru, despite the availability of free healthcare.
- Alhaitham also makes a strange comment in his "About Tighnari" voice line, claiming that Kaveh foolishly built a house on top of a Withering Zone. Without context, this statement just makes Kaveh look like an airhead that made a dumb and dangerous decision; however, Kaveh's fourth Character Story reveals that Alhaitham wasn't telling the whole story, and painted a completely different picture of the incident. Not only was the "house" Kaveh building the Palace of Alcazarzaray, it was also not built on a Withering Zone; the Withering crept onto the property despite all of Kaveh's immaculate planning and preparation for anything that could go wrong, making it an unfortunate incident that no one involved in the project could have predicted nor prevented. Even stranger, there is no indication that Tighnari himself had any involvement with the Withering Zone incident, let alone that he knows it happened in the first place, despite Alhaitham stating that Tighnari not holding it against Kaveh makes him a good person; neither Kaveh nor Tighnari speak of his involvement, and they both talk fondly about Kaveh asking for his help in picking the ornamental flora for the Palace of Alcazarzaray. Tighnari also has no idea how or why Kaveh ended up in debt in the first place, further indicating that he's in the dark about the whole thing.
- In "A Parade of Providence," despite knowing why Sachin chose Kaveh in the first place, Alhaitham claims that even Sachin struggled to comprehend the notion of sacrificing oneself for the greater good, implying that he believes Kaveh and Sachin's perspectives aren't completely aligned. This is despite the fact that Sachin's satisfied smile after Kaveh rebelled against him indicated that he approved Kaveh's decision to not better his life in order to help others in need, which was, in itself, a form of sacrifice, and allowed Sachin's consciousness to move on now that he's chosen the right successor. Tighnari also later implies that Sachin chose Kaveh knowing he would make that decision.
- Alhaitham provides insight into Kaveh's situation in The First Ideal Path of Kaveh's Hangout Event, stating that Kaveh should have the right and confidence to reject any unreasonable demands made of him, and that Kaveh's attitude has a fundamental flaw that must be corrected in order to reconcile his desire to please his clients while also being satisfied with his own work. This is contradicted by the events prior to this discussion, as the Hangout Event began because Kaveh was tired of his client's unreasonable demands and left the project entirely, telling him to find another genius to work with. In the path where he is convinced to work with Badawi again, Kaveh is also able to reach the conclusion of standing his ground against his client on his own, without falling into the same pitfall of letting Badawi control the direction of his design in the way Alhaitham suggested he would. The path ends with Kaveh coming up with his own design inspired by the Traveler, which he is proud of and does not seek Badawi's approval over.
Unreliable Narrator: While Alhaitham's fourth Character Story is not narrated by him, it does tell the story of his Akademiya days with Kaveh leading up to their present situation from his perspective and leaves out key details that were only revealed or clarified with the release of Kaveh's fifth Character Story. Among these details, some notable things include:
- The first time Alhaitham and Kaveh met. Kaveh first approached Alhaitham in a library after hearing about him from his peers and teachers, which is also brought up in one route of Kaveh's Hangout Event.
- The title of the joint project they worked on together, which was a thesis titled "Decoding the Runes and Architectural Philosophy of King Deshret’s Civilization."
- While Alhaitham and Kaveh initially began the joint project together, other students came and went when they realized they couldn't keep up with the two intellectually until they were again the only ones left working on it. Alhaitham's side of the story solely focused on the fact that Kaveh is the only person with whom Alhaitham had ever worked on a project, making no mention of other participants.
- The presence of other participants was also revealed to be what caused their relationship to strain rather than the project itself, as Kaveh was frustrated with Alhaitham's refusal to help others, and Alhaitham was frustrated that Kaveh spread himself thin by helping others rather than accepting that "ordinary" people can't keep up with them and there's nothing they can do about it, no matter how hard they worked. This eventually led to their big, friendship-ending argument, in which they both said hurtful things to each other and Kaveh declared that he regretted ever befriending Alhaitham.
- There's an explanation for how they began living together. After coincidentally reuniting in Lambad's Tavern sometime after Kaveh went bankrupt, Kaveh spilled his guts to Alhaitham about how difficult life had been on him, which Alhaitham attentively listened to all night. Following this encounter, Alhaitham invited Kaveh to live with him.
- Kaveh's story also explains their home; it was originally a research center assigned to them by the Akademiya for their project, but it eventually fell into disuse and was given to them to do what they please. The property was converted into a proper home after Kaveh forfeited his rights to it. However, according to Alhaitham's Character Story, it was always a house that Kaveh turned down because he already had a home at the time.
Upgrade Artifact: A couple of variants:
- Alhaitham's fourth-ascension passive, Mysteries Laid Bare, increases the damage of Projection Attacks and the Particular Binding Field by 0.1% for every point of Elemental Mastery he has, to a maximum of 100% (equivalent to at least 1,000 points).
- His third and fifth Constellation upgrades, Negation and Sagacity, increase the talent levels of, respectively, Universality: An Elaboration on Form and Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena by three.
Vague Age: In Kaveh's fifth Character Story, he is revealed to be two years younger than Kaveh, who is implied to be in his late twenties.
Vitriolic Best Buds:
- Downplayed. They both respect each other as geniuses and don’t consider themselves to be friends in the present after the falling out they had in their Akademiya days, but they’ve stuck together for so long that they’ve garnered a reputation around Sumeru for their vitriolic relationship.
- During his Story Quest, Alhaitham appears to dismiss Kaveh's concern for him after learning about the Siraj incident. However, we see the tail end of Alhaitham telling Kaveh about Siraj and the two discussing it in an extra conversation that takes place after the Traveler and Paimon "leave" Alhaitham's house to get dinner.
We Used to Be Friends: His fourth Character Story hinted at the story behind his relationship with Kaveh, although Kaveh’s fifth Character Story added clarification. They were best friends in the Akademiya, having approached him first in a library after hearing from their peers and teachers that he was difficult to get along with. Their friendship began to deteriorate while working on the joint project “Decoding the Runes and Architectural Philosophy of the Ruins of King Deshret’s Civilization,” as they discovered that they were utterly different in views, academic direction, how they treat others and personalities. But while their differences caused strain, what ultimately ended their friendship was Alhaitham pointing out that Kaveh used excessive altruism to try and escape from the guilt he felt over his father’s death, and that one day it would bring him to ruin. Angered, Kaveh declared he regretted ever befriending him, and they parted ways.
Weapon Specialization: At the time of his introduction, Alhaitham's banner ran concurrent with that for the 5★ sword Light of Foliar Incision. Its substat is Critical Damage percentage (which can reach 88.2% at Level 90), while at its fifth and final refinement its "Whitemoon Bristle" passive increases his Critical Rate by 8%, as well as endows Alhaitham with the "Foliar Incision" effect whenever his element-enhanced (i.e., Dendro) normal attacks hit enemies (with at least a twelve-second interval), which increase the damage of normal attacks and Elemental Skills by 240% of his Elemental Mastery stat, lasting either for twelve seconds or 28 hits, hence allowing Alhaitham to get a lot of mileage out of Chisel-Light Mirrors.
Wild Card: Downplayed. Despite being affiliated with the Akademiya, whose leadership has been showing extremely questionable behavior throughout the Sumeru Archon Quest, the end of the First Act implies that Alhaitham may have his own agenda. After secretly stealing the Divine Knowledge Capsule from Mizri, he contemplates whether to immediately return it to the Akademiya or pry into its secrets. While he sides with The Traveler against the Akademiya, he makes no bones that he has his own agenda, which turns to be opposition to the Sages' schemes threatening his way of life as a Scribe, as well as the autonomy of his fellow scholars.
With Great Power Comes Great Perks: He was largely uninterested in receiving a Vision because it was of no use to him in his research, though he believes it is effective for resolving physical disputes.
You Remind Me of X: In his Story Quest, Paimon nags Alhaitham about attempting to leave her and the Traveler with unanswered questions about Siraj, to which Alhaitham responds by vaguely saying, "Your behavior is reminding me of some other people." Skip to the scene inside his home in which Kaveh has a similar reaction to Alhaitham abruptly leaving without an explanation, suggesting that Alhaitham was comparing Paimon to him.

Collei

Kaveh (and Mehrak)

Kaveh

Voiced by: Liu Sanmu (Chinese), Yūma Uchida (Japanese), Lee Jung-min (Korean), Ben Balmaceda (English)
Introduced: May 2, 2023 (v3.6 "A Parade of Providence" [second half])

Empyrean Reflection

"People who know what drives them to create deserve our respect. Wouldn't you agree?"

Rarity: 4★
Birthday: July 9
Element: Dendro
Model: Tall Male
Weapon: Claymore
Constellation: Paradisaea, the Bird of Paradise
Specialty Dish: The Endeavor (Fatteh)
Normal Attack: Schematic Setup
Elemental Skill: Artistic Ingenuity
Elemental Burst: Painted Dome
Utility Passive: The Art of Budgeting (100% chance to refund a portion of the materials used when crafting Landscape, Building, and Courtyard-type Furnishings)
Affiliation: Independent Design Studio

A renowned architect, famed for such works as the Palace of Alcazarzaray, and an Akademiya graduate of the Kshahrewar Darshan. Having gone broke following the construction of the palace, he moved in with Alhaitham, although he frequently argues with him due to their vastly differing opinions. Their arguments are found across bulletin boards in Sumeru City and Port Ormos.

With his trusty robotic toolbox buddy Mehrak, Kaveh specializes in manually detonating Dendro Cores by scanning the battlefield and dealing wide-ranging Dendro damage through his Elemental Talents. His Skill, Artistic Ingenuity, does so in a radius around him, while his Burst, Painted Dome, does so in a cubic area in front of him, in addition to putting Kaveh into a state which infuses all his attacks with a Dendro effect that cannot be overridden by reactions and increases both the damage range of all his regular attacks and his interruption resistance, as well as boosting the damage potency of Dendro Cores generated by the party.

Once Kaveh gets closer to financial stability, he can now be healed by Dendro Core detonations, be it regular or through sub-reactions, and the state induced by Painted Dome gains the ability to gather stacks of an Elemental Mastery boost whenever Kaveh hits enemies. As soon as Kaveh learns to fully balance between caring for others and for himself, Artistic Ingenuity gains the ability to boost his Dendro Resistance and Incoming Healing Bonus, the state induced by Painted Dome also gains a boost to his attacking speed, Dendro Cores he generates increase in potency once they burst, and all his regular attacks enhanced by Painted Dome gain the ability to unleash Pairidaeza' Light, a wide-ranging burst that automatically detonates Dendro Cores.

Kaveh can be obtained from any banner.

The Ace: Kaveh is the Kshahrewar’s leading genius, who is deemed nigh unparalleled in the last few decades and carved out his name in the Akademiya’s history by excelling in school and making many achievements in the field of architecture, such as his building his magnum opus, the Palace of Alcazarzaray, at an early age. As a result of his academic and professional achievements, he is also renowned across Sumeru as one of the most high-profile figures in the industry and is held up as a role model by his peers. And in the department of social relationships, he is also quite liked among the Sumeru cast, most of whom he befriended before the Archon Quest began. Most notably, even the Dendro Archon Nahida has high praise for him, claiming that he has an almost perfect grasp of what it truly means for Sumeru to be a nation of wisdom.
The Alcoholic: The first item he lists when telling the Traveler his favorite foods is alcohol, and he admits to drinking away his sorrows in excess due to the stress of his various troubles. As well, the "Monthly Frustration-Be-Gone" Furnishing Item description reveals that he buys a basket of various wines once a month, able to catch them when they're discounted before anyone else knows about it.
All-Loving Hero: Subverted. Although his character story implies that he inherited his sensitivity and empathy from his parents—qualities they were said to have passed on to him while raising him in their loving home—his excessive altruism is, in part, a result of his guilt over his father's passing and the subsequent collapse of his once happy family. This ends up being discussed in his Hangout Event, where he is unsure whether he still helps others to make himself feel better or if it’s because he is genuinely empathetic and idealistic.
All the Other Reindeer: Subverted in his backstory; while he had a good number of friends in the Akademiya and earned himself a positive reputation among his peers, he recalls feeling many critical looks from some of the other students for some time due to having lost his father at an early age.
Ambiguously Gay: While nothing is stated explicitly, much of the official content that relates to his relationship with Alhaitham appears to imply that he has strong yet conflicting feelings toward him, whatever those feelings may be:
- He talks about Alhaitham a lot, as Collei and Tighnari point out, and holds onto the memories of their time as best friends in the Akademiya, lamenting the fact that they aren't close anymore, and even keeps the torn up thesis from the time they worked on a project together for years despite how badly their friendship ended because of it. He's also very Tsundere toward Alhaitham, never wanting to give him the satisfaction of admitting he cares but also gets annoyed when Alhaitham misses opportunities to spend time with him, such as in Alhaitham's Character Demo.
- It's also worth noting that while he is always polite to the Traveler and comes to view them as a friend, his feelings toward them appear to be neutral, and he is one of the few characters who never make a pass at them in any of his official content, not even in his Hangout Event, where even a lot of those that aren't treated like outright dates have some options for flirting or at least have "date-y" looking scenarios in the Hangout Memories. In fact, his only "date-y" looking Hangout Memory is one that gives the impression that he's on a double date with Alhaitham, Tighnari, and Cyno, which the Traveler and Collei have stumbled upon,◊ when viewed out of context.
Animal Motifs: Birds. His Constellation is the "Paradisaea," aka the Bird of Paradise. His outfit also calls to mind birds, as he wears a large, teal-gradient quill behind his left ear, a cape that resembles a pair of wings, and a shirt with a tail-like back.
- His constellation also resembles most depictions of the Huma Bird, a mythical Iranian bird of legend that is said to be a compassionate bird that represents good fortune and grants happiness for the rest of one's life to those who catch a glimpse of its shadow, which could be evocative of Kaveh's compassionate heart and stated desire to bring happiness to others. The Huma Bird was also often referred to as a "bird of paradise" in Ottoman poetry, further lending to this.
The Atoner: Discussed in his Hangout Event; In the past, he believes h that he frequently went out of his way to help others, even if their problems had nothing to do with him, to relieve the guilt he felt for being the indirect cause of his father's death. However, in the present, he wonders if he still feels this way, as after much self-reflection he can't figure out why he can't walk away from those in need and can only speculate on the real reason for his behavior.
Kaveh: Maybe it's just like what those Vahumana scholars often say — it's hard for people to truly understand themselves. I could be doing things out of endless guilt, or I could be doing them out of a strong sense of empathy. It could even just be a matter of conceit. The potential motivations could number in the dozens, but the actions they result in are the same.
Badass Bookworm: A scholar from the Akademiya that is renowned for his academic brilliance and perfectly capable of holding his own in battle.
Badass Cape: Shows off his prowess in battle while sporting a red and gold cape around his shoulders.
Badass Fingersnap: While his battle animations show that Kaveh can summon and send Mehrak away at will, his idle animation instead shows him sending away Mehrak by casually snapping his fingers.
Beneath the Mask: While he appears to be quite confident, he is secretly suffering from his poor financial situation and carries unresolved guilt from the collapse of his once-happy family following his father's death, which he feels responsible for.
Berserk Button: He's quite sensitive to criticisms about his work, whether it be decorating or as an architect. One of his Serenitea Pot dialogues is him angrily snapping at the player if they choose to have the Traveler say that they didn't find the Palace of Alcazarzaray all that impressive, only for him to collect himself and claim he's not so easily offended.
Best Friend: Formerly to Alhaitham during their days in the Akademiya.
A Boy and His X: A man and his multi-function automated suitcase.
Break Them by Talking: Sachin's monologue, which only has a negative impact on empaths, is capable of doing this to Kaveh, causing him physical as well as mental anguish.
Brick Joke: At the end of the Sumeru Archon quests, Alhaitham mentioned having snagged both of his house keys when celebrating with his allies, and one of his idle animation as a playable character has him realize he still has them in his possession. The joke comes full circle with one of Kaveh's idle animations, where he feels his pockets and realizes his keys are missing, before bemoaning that he apparently lost them again.
Bring It: One of his combat voice lines is "Come at me!"
Brief Accent Imitation: In "A Parade of Providence: Act II," he did a pretty accurate imitation of Alhaitham's snooty drawl and inflection when quoting what Alhaitham said to piss him off to Paimon and the Traveler.
Broken Ace: For all his fame and brilliance, Kaveh's current life is less than ideal due to a variety of factors, including having to carefully conceal the fact that he's in debt from the public, being on bad terms with someone he once considered his best friend while living under the same roof as them, and having deep-seated issues stemming from his traumatic past.
Brutal Honesty: In his "About Cyno" voice line he doesn't hold back on expressing his dislike for Cyno's sense of humor and says that it shouldn't be endured while sober.
The Call Put Me on Hold: Kaveh's Vision profile story's subject. While he was aware of the existence of Visions from a young age and knew they were something one would receive if they were placed in a near-death situation or had a strong wish, he did not receive his even after being placed in such a situation, and as a result, he stopped thinking about them and the types of people who would receive them after some time passed. He didn't get his Dendro Vision until he was well into adulthood, when he staked everything on his ideals, building the second version of the Palace of Alcazazaray, with Celestia rewarding him for his perseverance.
Can't Hold His Liquor: He quickly becomes inebriated after having one drink in his Hangout Event, although Lambad claims that his tolerance is usually higher. Humorously, he sobers up just as quickly.
Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: Subverted. Kaveh has been shown to be most volatile when Alhaitham is around, and he frequently complains about him, but he can't help but mention him when he's not around, and nags about Alhaitham missing opportunities in which they could have spent time together.
Can't Take Criticism: Zig-zagged. In Act II of "A Parade of Providence," he rants about Alhaitham criticizing him for his actions in an offscreen argument they had before the Traveler and Paimon arrived at their home. However, before that, when Faruzan pointed out how dangerous his antics were and how his decision-making wasn't befitting of his status as a genius, and when Paimon begins a much more direct discussion about the same topic, he's far more receptive to what they're saying, implying that it's the delivery, or simply Alhaitham, that sets him off, rather than the criticism itself.
Catchphrase: In the Japanese dub, "Kimi te yatsu wa…!" ("You...!") He says it in nearly all of his interactions with Alhaitham whenever he pisses him off, which is often.
Celebrity Is Overrated: He takes great pride in his work as a master architect and sees it as an escape from his worries, but he feels shackled by the titles, rumors, and misconceptions surrounding him and his work as a result of his fame, and lives in shame and fear of the public discovering his bankruptcy. When asked about his fame, he dismisses it as exaggerated, despite the fact that the story emphasizes that he is the most famous designer in Sumeru.
Character Development: An interesting case in which a lot of his character development occurred offscreen before the player met him, with the player only seeing the aftermath of how he's a bit grown from his past mistakes and is working to pick up the pieces of his life after the incident with the Palace of Alcazarzaray.
My troubles? …Hmm, the most obvious one would be my financial situation. It's not that I can't make Mora, it's just that I can't seem to hold on to it. So many things in this world require money, and if you're not careful, it just disappears… Don't worry about me, though – I'm much better than I used to be. I’ll be more careful to live within my means in the future.
Child Prodigy: In the "Past Mementos" branch of Kaveh's Hangout Event, it's revealed that he was artistically gifted from an early age, having drawn a highly detailed rendering of Port Ormos with crayon when he was under five years old◊.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: Combined with a Guilt Complex. He frequently goes out of his way to help others, even if it contradicts his own goals because he would feel guilty if something bad happened to them as a result of his negligence.
Cleavage Window: A male example. The shirt that he wears has a V-shaped collar that exposes the middle part of his chest.
The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: He's an architect, but has no house of his own.
Color-Coded Elements: Subverted. He uses a Dendro Vision, which is associated with green, but his color palette is fairly diverse, to the point where green is only incorporated into minor parts of his design, such as his neck accessory, earrings, and, by extension, his toolbox Mehrak.
Comfort Food: While it’s not his favorite dish, fatteh is revealed to be his comfort food in his Vision profile story. Having learned how to make it from his father when he was a young boy, he made it again after a long time after he decided to stake everything on building the second Palace of Alcazarzaray. He also derives his specialty dish "The Endeavor" from it.
Commonality Connection: Teams up with Faruzan in the first round of the Interdarshan Championship due to both working with machines in their field of research. It’s also revealed that Kaveh previously consulted Faruzan on how to make his mechanical swiftflies small and nimble for his interior design project.
Cope by Creating: The description of his Character Demo "Edifice of Sincerity" suggests that his work as an architect serves this purpose for him:
Drafting blueprints, designing models, and refining proposals… These matters demand the greatest expenditures of effort and thought from an architect. But to Kaveh, they are also things that can calm his heart and distract him from his frustrations.
Cultural Rebel: Downplayed Trope. He is a highly talented scholar in Sumeru society who has chosen a career path that is not only acceptable in their culture, but is also supported by the Akademiya. Despite this, he has expressed dissatisfaction with Sumeru's systematic devaluation of the arts, as his designs were dismissed for being both beautiful and functional, despite Sumeru society's preference for the latter. While he would eventually properly to rebel against the system by designing and building the Palace of Alcazarzaray, which earned him national fame in the process, it would only happen after years of adhering to Sumeru's views and working on monotonous and visually boring projects due to his belief that attempting to change things on his own would not only set him back but also drag others down with him.
Cultured Badass: He's a Vision holder whose interests in the arts extend beyond just incorporating them into architecture, as he also enjoys painting, sculpting, music, and the theater. He can also play an instrument.
Dark and Troubled Past: Very troubled. Kaveh was born into a happy and loving scholarly family, but their happy times ended when he encouraged his father to compete in the Interdarshan Championship, which set off a chain of events that led to his death. His naturally sensitive mother fell into a deep depression after learning of this, leaving Kaveh, who had begun to blame himself for his father's death, to care for her and cope with his own grief, guilt, and loneliness alone. His mother would eventually move to Fontaine for work sometime after he entered school, all but completely abandoning him and leaving his developing issues to fester further. After graduating and pursuing work under his own name, he struggled for recognition in his field because Akademiya and society at large devalued the arts and marginalized anyone who wanted to work with or incorporate it into their work, even if it was in a career path deemed "acceptable" by society. During this time, his mother would remarry and decided to stay in Fontaine permanently, leaving him alone in Sumeru. Later, he was hired by Dori to design and build her an extravagant palace and was allowed to do as he pleased with it, which he viewed as an opportunity of a lifetime, however, in a cruel twist of fate, the first version of it was destroyed by an unforeseen spread of The Withering 70% into its completion, forcing him to pay out of his own pocket to partially fund its second construction. While he gained national renown as an architect in Sumeru after its completion, a combination of risking everything to fund the construction and being guilted by Dori into taking on the remaining debt led to his homelessness and bankruptcy, landing him in his current situation after he was invited by Alhaitham to live with him after they reunited in Lambad's Tavern.
Dark Secret: The fact that he's bankrupt, which is unknown to most of Sumeru save for a few people in his friend circle that have kept it a secret, such as Alhaitham and Tighnari. He's deathly afraid of word getting out.
A Day in the Limelight: The v3.6 event "A Parade of Providence" gives a little insight into understanding his character, as well as aspects of his backstory involving the death of his father.
Deadpan Snarker: Less so than Alhaitham, though he's not above snarky exchanges.
Kaveh: Hah, that's rich coming from you. If humans aren't humans without their humanity, then you'll probably evolve into some other species in another decade, I wager?
Alhaitham: What about you? Are you going to devolve into a fungus?
Kaveh: At least I'd be a fungus with empathy.
Determinator:
- After the first iteration of the Palace of Alcazarzaray was destroyed by the Withering, Kaveh decided to take a chance and build a second version, raising funds for 70% of its construction by selling his childhood home and possessions, as well as using his savings. His dedication to pursuing his ideals earned him his Dendro Vision, which he discovered in the center of his Signature Dish "The Endeavor."
- In his fifth Character Story, after being confronted by Alhaitham about how the pursuit of his ideals has brought him to ruin, he comes to the conclusion that it wasn't the his ideals that were mistaken, but the methods he used to achieve them, and resolves to not give up on them no matter the cost. This determination is reflected in his "Feelings About Ascension: Conclusion" voiceover.
The more power I wield, the more things I can accomplish. Even if achieving my goals comes at a cost, and even if all my hopes and dreams are built on pain and suffering... I don't want to turn back now.
Detrimental Determination: In at least one aspect of his life, his determination to pursue his ideals at any cost has caused more harm than good; He achieved great fame as an architect renowned for their artistic vision when he completed the second iteration of the Palace of Alcazarzaray, reaching the pinnacle of his ideals, despite still living in a society that devalues art, and when he transferred his assets, he gained a Vqision because of his commitment to his goals, but he still ended up bankrupt because of his decision and has suffered greatly as a result. He acknowledges this in his fifth Character Story.
As the years passed, and he was beaten back by reality time and time again, Kaveh was forced to admit that his persistence born of wishful thinking was not always useful.
Disappeared Dad: His father died in quicksand some years prior to the Sumeru Archon Quest. His death fuels Kaveh's decision to compete in the Interdarshan Championship which his father had previously competed and lost, so Kaveh sees it as fulfilling his dream in his place to honor him.
Dismissing a Compliment:
- In "A Toast To Victory," Alhaitham commends Kaveh for being a master builder and craftsman that has a chance of being appointed as a sage, to which Kaveh reacts by expressing suspicion at the sincerity of the compliment due to Alhaitham supposedly never praising him before.
- At the conclusion of the Interdarshan Championship, Kaveh rejects Sachin's inheritance, opting to donate all of it to charity, and smashes the Diadem of Knowledge to prevent future contestants from being exposed to the negative effects of Sachin's research. After praising him for his "sense of justice and idealism that many aspire to, but few dare to follow through with," Alhaitham dismisses it as ridiculous and points out Kaveh's major flaw, claiming that despite being aware of it, he is too proud to admit to it. He then goes on to say that what Kaveh said earlier was worthy of a victory speech and congratulates him on winning the championship, prompting Kaveh to snapback about him giving insincere praise and to advise him to focus his commentary on the competition rather than his views.
- In his Hangout Event, Kaveh expresses reluctance to accept a compliment from the Traveler and briefly overthinks it, explaining that he's gotten so used to sarcasm that he can't tell what compliments are genuine.
Despair Event Horizon: Crossed it after going bankrupt, spilling his guts to Alhaitham after running into him at the tavern where he was staying at the time. It doesn't last, however, as he becomes determined not to abandon his ideals after being confronted by Alhaitham.
Ditzy Genius: Deconstructed. He is a reputed genius, but he frequently gets himself into trouble since his empathy and desire to help people often outweigh making logical decisions and frequently contradict his own goals. When Paimon and Faruzan point out his decision-making, he explains that it's in his nature to behave this way and that he doesn't feel it has anything to do with his genius since they’re his own choices made with acknowledgment of the potential consequences of his actions. This also puts him at odds with Alhaitham, who’s also aware of this trait in him and believes that Kaveh's abilities are incongruous with his personality.
Doing It for the Art: An In-Universe example. He didn't earn any Mora after finishing the second version of the Palace of Alcazarzaray, and it bankrupted him not only because he used up all of his funds building it, but also because Dori compelled him to take on the debt from overspending on its construction. Despite this, he continues to be proud of his creation and believes that the fact that his vision was realized is enough.
Dramatically Missing the Point: This occurs in "A Parade of Providence" after Kaveh reveals to the Traveler and Paimon that he and Alhaitham had a quarrel over the events of the second round, with Kaveh being angry about Alhaitham ruining his high from winning rather than acknowledging the real reason Alhaitham was scolding him in the first place, which was because Kaveh tries to solve problems in ways that put him at a disadvantage and create more problems for himself, which is a flaw in his character that Alhaitham perceived him as being oblivious of until the end of the event.
Drowning My Sorrows: Admits to doing this in his "More About Kaveh V" voice line due to the various stresses in his everyday life. He also spent several days in Lambad's Tavern doing this after going bankrupt and feeling the weight of his life coming down on him.
Dual Wielding: In a unique way; the claymore is Kaveh's base weapon, but he also uses his toolbox called Mehrak for offensive purposes in battle.
Early-Bird Cameo: While he wasn't seen in person until Act V of the Sumeru Archon Quest, he is featured in writing on the Puspa Café and Port Ormos message boards, as well as mentioned on the Mahamata bulletin board by Lambad.
Elemental Personalities: Played with. His Vision is that of Dendro, and while his reasons to help others are fueled by Chronic Hero Syndrome, he's genuinely kind and truly likes helping others, which does coincide with Dendro.
The Empath: He has a delicate and sensitive heart, which allows him to recognize and understand the various emotions of others, even when they are unaware of them. This ends up being a plot point in the event "A Parade of Providence," as his empathy makes him susceptible to Sachin's influence.
Establishing Character Moment: Downplayed. Kaveh is first introduced arguing with Alhaitham, with the interaction giving the impression that he is volatile and prone to dramatics. He is, however, relatively calm and mild-mannered during most of his interactions with other characters, including the Traveler, only becoming temperamental when Alhaitham or Dori (to a lesser extent) are involved.
Everyone Has Standards: Shows two instances in "A Parade of Providence":
- He rejects the inheritance Sachin intended for him as his successor, donating it all to desert dwellers in need after hearing from Sachin that they were suffering, despite knowing that the amount of Mora he would receive would solve all of his financial problems and then some. When Tighnari questions him about it later, Kaveh says it's because he'd rather not accept mora from someone if he didn't intend to carry out their wishes, as accepting the inheritance would mean he'd have a moral obligation to continue Sachin's research, which he pointedly didn't agree with.
- He hesitates to let Cyno buy the rare TCG card from him for 1 million mora because he doesn't want Cyno to end up in the same situation as him, that is, miserably in debt, as a result of spending all of his funds on his hobbies, and because he would feel bad taking such a large amount of money from a friend. He only accepts after Cyno reassures him that he has enough disposable income to afford such a purchase.
Exotic Eye Designs: His catlike pupils are outlined in black but filled in to be half-dark red and half-pink, matching the color of his irises. The blacks of his pupils are also partially outlined in a pink that goes into a pale yellow teardrop-shaped highlight at the bottom.
Exposed to the Elements: While he's mostly covered up, his gratuitous cleavage and back windows prove to be an issue when it gets cold, as evidenced by his "When It Snows" voice line.
Brrr... Feels like the wind's creeping in from the back of my shirt... and also the front...
Extreme Doormat: Subverted. His Character Story reveals that he will be compelled to help any and all who ask, even if he doesn't want to because of a lingering sense of guilt from his past. Despite this, it's shown that he isn't rendered completely incapable of saying "no" to requests and demands made of him:
- In Alhaitham's Story Quest, he quite pointedly refuses to follow through with Paimon’s request to give her hush mora in exchange for keeping it a secret that he lives with Alhaitham.
- In the climax of "A Parade of Providence," Kaveh smashes the Diadem of Knowledge in defiance of Sachin's monologue and refuses to help spread his harmful research as his successor. He also later donates Sachin's entire estate to help the needy.
- In his Hangout Quest, he is first encountered arguing with his client that kept making unreasonable demands in regards to changing his design to their liking, ending off this interaction by refusing to continue working with them and telling them to find another genius to work with. If the player convinced him to give his client a second chance, he stands his ground and doesn't hesitate to use blunt language with him.
- Act I of his Hangout Event reveals that despite being the creditor in control of his life, he is not afraid to call Dori out on her greed and selfishness:
  - While he almost agrees to Dori's 500 thousand mora introduction fee, he quickly changes his mind and calls her out on her selfishness, convincing her to introduce him to her associates for free. Furthermore, when the business proposal fails, he doesn't hesitate to call her a scammer for attempting to charge him despite knowing the proposal would not be accepted all along.
  - When Dori gets fed up with Kaveh's attitude and threatens him subtly by reminding him that she is his creditor, he dismisses the threat by saying he will pay everything he owes her in due time and maintains his stance.
  - At the end of the route, while he relents to Dori's scheme to scam him of his commission fees, he decides to recoup his fees by ordering expensive wines and dishes for dinner that she will pay for until it is fully covered.
Faster Than You Look: Similarly to Dori, he doesn't directly wield his claymore, instead using Mehrak’s grab function to "wield" it and swing it on his command. Unlike Dori, who is a bit slower in combat because of this, Kaveh is able to attack a bit faster than most claymore users due to his claymore being swung like a sword. His constellation Grace of Royal Roads also increases his attacking speed by 15% during his Elemental Burst Painted Dome.
Famed In-Story: He is known throughout Sumeru as one of the most prominent figures in the industry, is regarded as an outstanding alumnus by the Akademiya, and is recognized as a role model by the students of the Kshahrewar.
Female Gaze:
- During his introductory scene in "A Parade of Providence," he gets gratuitous shots of his lips, thighs, and butt, as well as his back window.
- His Character Demo "Edifice of Sincerity" gives a gratuitous and long-held shot of his ass.
Fictional Document: Though the player doesn't receive a visual representation of the documents, Kaveh has several of them from various points in his life in his old sketchbook, keeping them as memorabilia.
Flying Weapon: Rather than wielding his claymore by hand in combat, Kaveh uses Mehrak's "grab" function to keep it suspended in the air while he controls its movements and impact remotely.
Foil:
- To Alhaitham on several points:
  - In Chinese, Alhaitham's^note and Kaveh's^note taglines in their character introductions form a duilian couplet, a type of Chinese poetry that requires using words and tones that may individually contrast each other but form complementary lines of meaning as a whole. As Alhaitham was released earlier, his tagline forms the top line of the couplet while Kaveh's tagline completes it.
  - In appearance, Kaveh is a slender Pretty Boy with golden medium-length hair, red irises and prominently wears loose red and white garments while Alhaitham is a muscular Hunk with short grey hair and green and red irises who wears green and black skintight clothing. They also wear wing-like capes that emphasize their Red/Green Contrast, though Kaveh's is fully fitted to cover his shoulders, while Alhaitham's only wears his cape on one shoulder and has the other side hanging loosely off of him.
  - In personality, Kaveh is dramatic and prone to acting on his feelings of righteousness even at the cost of himself while Alhaitham is cold and rational.
  - Alhaitham has a limited range of facial expressions and rarely smiles, reflecting his usually serious personality. On the other hand, Kaveh is one of the most expressive characters introduced in Genshin Impact, displaying a wide range of facial expressions even in short exchanges, emphasizing that he is far more lively and dramatic.
  - In Nahida's voice lines, she says that Kaveh has "an almost-perfect grasp of what it truly means for Sumeru to be a Nation of Wisdom" while she describes Alhaitham as "holding a body of knowledge more advanced than most could imagine" and doubts his wisdom due to how he views the majority of people.
  - In terms of social status, Kaveh is renowned across Sumeru as one of the most high-profile figures in the industry, idolized by his juniors in the Kshahrewar, and he's viewed as a star Alumnus in the Akademiya. Compared to Kaveh, despite his brilliance as well as his high position in the Akademiya, Alhaitham is relatively unknown.
  - In social relationships, Kaveh wants to fit in and, as an empath, has no trouble making friends, as evidenced by his friendship with nearly every Sumeru character prior to the Archon quest. He was also said to have a lot of friends in school. Alhaitham, on the other hand, is asocial and decidedly had no friends before Kaveh due to finding social relationships unnecessary. Even after "befriending" Sumeru main characters like Dehya, Cyno, and Tighnari, he still avoids most social gatherings, and his idea of being friends with them is acknowledging them in public before continuing on his way.
  - From a financial aspect, Kaveh is in debt to Dori due to the project he took on from her and has to room with Alhaitham secretly. Meanwhile, Alhaitham is affluent enough to afford a "cushy house" and sustain his lifestyle, especially after resigning as the Acting Grand Sage.
  - In the Japanese dub, Kaveh uses the informal yet humble first-person pronoun boku, while Alhaitham uses the casual and assertive first-person pronoun ore.
- They often argue about their opposing philosophies, with Alhaitham being pragmatic while Kaveh is idealistic, or Alhaitham being an individualist while Kaveh is a collectivist.
  - This trope is invoked in Alhaitham's fourth Character Story, which explains that the reason Alhaitham took Kaveh into his home in the first place was that he was so different from himself, and Kaveh's presence as a scholar with a different perspective could perfect his outlook on the world. Kaveh's fifth Character Story also emphasizes how their differences form a more comprehensive perspective of the world together.
  As far as Alhaitham is concerned, Kaveh is a familiar face, similarly lacks familial attachments, and is the polar opposite of himself as a scholar — that is to say, an excellent mirror.
  Rationality and sensibility, language and architecture, knowledge and human feelings... Things that can never be integrated are what constitute the two sides of the mirror — indeed, of the entire world.
  - Both of their constellations are birds. Alhaitham is represented by a vulture or peregrine falcon depending on the language, which are birds of prey with mostly black or gray feathers, while Kaveh is represented by the Bird of Paradise, which feeds mostly on fruits and insects, with the males having colorful feathers.
  - One of Alhaitham's idle animations has him look at projections of words, which contrasts with Kaveh's idle animation of him looking at a projection of an architectural design.
  - Alhaitham and Kaveh have both created multipurpose technology that they use in battle along with their abilities, though Kaveh's creation and how he uses it work on a much grander scale. As for Alhaitham, he invented headphones for his music player, and while their primary purpose is noise-cancellation and listening to music, they are also used to target and lunge at enemies via flash stepping. In Kaveh's case, he created Mehrak, a multi-function toolbox that can be used as his assistant in his work as an architect, or for combat.
  - Kaveh counts soup as among his favourite foods while Alhaitham's least favourite food is anything soup-based. Additionally, Alhaitham's special dish is based on the Iranian herb stew Ghormeh sabzi while Kaveh's special dish fatteh originates from Arabian cuisine, swapping the cultures that their characters are inspired from.
  - Both Alhaitham and Kaveh's contrasting senses of self-worth not only results in their opposing social behaviours, but also cause them to become too self-absorbed in their perspectives and ignorant in some areas. Alhaitham is so sure of his "objective" perspective of reality and closed-off to anyone that doesn't interest him that he is unaware that his belief that "healthcare is free in Sumeru" is actually erroneous, while Kaveh's Guilt Complex stemming from his father's death compels him to feel responsible towards any living creature in need, prioritise others over himself and reject pure goodwill, resulting him, as Alhaitham puts it, to never achieve his ideal of "bringing happiness to all" because he does not include himself in that "all".
  - Alhaitham is Brilliant, but Lazy, preferring to put in minimal effort in anything that doesn't interests him and has no ambitions other than living a simple existence, while Kaveh is a perfectionistic Workaholic who would sacrifice his comfort and sleep to make changes to his own work without anyone's input, and has lofty ideals that he strives to achieve despite acknowledging that he may not be able to attain them without losing himself in the process.
  - Alhaitham and Kaveh were raised in single female guardian households after the deaths of Alhaitham's parents and Kaveh's father in their formative years, but Alhaitham's grandmother gave him the love and support he needed to become a self-confident adult while Kaveh's mother inadvertently neglected her son's emotional needs due to her depression, causing him to develop a Guilt Complex and struggle with severe self-worth issues and internal conflict.
  - They have very different fighting styles that contradict their personalities. Alhaitham is noted to be rather lazy, but has a faster, aggressive, and physically strenuous combat style, combining acrobatics with sharp-cornered strikes and targeting and lunging at enemies with his Elemental Skill. Meanwhile, Kaveh is hardworking to the point of being a workaholic and is always keeping busy, but has a slower and more hands-off approach to combat. He rarely directly wields his claymore despite being shown to be able to, instead utilising Mehrak's grab function and syncing it up with his own body movements to control its direction and impact with sweeping circular motions. His ability to buff and manually detonate Dendro cores for extra damage also plays into his hands-off style, as it would involve gaining the most benefit with minimal added effort.
  - Alhaitham's Elemental Burst creates an elaborate illusory ceiling that prominently features a four-pointed star at the centre like the one featured in the Musing Tawny Tapestry carpet furnishing, which mentions the Kshahrewar (Kaveh's Darshan) in its description, while Kaveh's Elemental Burst is more simplistic, projecting a cubic space that resembles a laser level (calling back to his occupation as an architect), with his Dendro-infused normal attacks and Elemental Skill feature the same six-petaled design on the Glorious Emerald Tapestry carpet furnishing that the description mentions was made by Alhaitham.
- He and Cyno are both light-haired and red-eyed seniors to a Deadpan Snarker Dendro vision holder named after historical Arab scientists who wear dark green and have similarly green and red/orange two-toned eyes, but Kaveh has a strained relationship with Alhaitham while Cyno's relationship with Tighnari is mostly harmonious, save for Tighnari's lack of tolerance for Cyno's joke-telling. Furthermore, within the two pairs, Kaveh's colourful clothing and occupation as an independent architect contrasts with Alhaitham as the junior with a simple green and black colour scheme and position as Scribe in the Akademiya, while Tighnari is the junior with a more colourful outfit who insists on working outside of the Akademiya in contrast to Cyno's predominantly purple and black outfit and position as General Mahamatra.
First Friend: To Alhaitham back when they were students in the Akademiya. After learning of Alhaitham's reputation from his teachers and peers, Kaveh approached him in the House of Daena after seeing him sitting alone away from the other Haravatat students and believing he needed help, and he became his first and only friend from there. They didn't last, however, as they would clash over their opposing world views, which resulted in Alhaitham unearthing Kaveh's buried trauma, irreparably damaging their relationship and bringing an end to their friendship.
Following in Relative's Footsteps: His mother was a well-known architect, and Kaveh, who expressed interest in designing and building as a child after watching her draw, would follow in her footsteps after enrolling in the Kshahrewar Darshan.
Friendly Fire Proof: A rare subversion. Kaveh's kit is centered on buffing and detonating Dendro cores, which deal damage to enemies and potential allies while healing him. This can be especially dangerous in co-op, as other players' characters can be hurt or even killed if someone uses his Elemental Skill and Burst without properly coordinating attack sequences with their teammates.
Friendship Denial: Kaveh claims that he and Alhaitham used to be friends but aren't anymore despite there being plenty of evidence they're still friends, such as the two continuing to live under the same roof despite their constant bickering and their regularly going to the tavern and cafe together (and Alhaitham consequently regularly covering Kaveh's tab). As well, despite claiming he dislikes Alhaitham's personality, Kaveh is offended when Alhaitham suggests he should move out if that's the case.
Friend to All Living Things:
- Deconstructed in the event "A Parade of Providence." During the second round, he met foxes in the desert region who began to follow him around and somehow "convinced" him to give them food. While frustrated that they continued to follow him after he helped them and initially attempted to drive them off using Mehrak, he eventually extended his empathy to them due to their predicament and guided them out of the leyline zone. Later, he is shown to be relieved when the round concludes since it ensures no more innocent creatures will be in danger.
- An official Character Short shows him planning to build a cottage for stray cats.
Gadgeteer Genius: As a Kshahrewar alumnus, one of his specialties is machinery, and one of his known accomplishments has been the design of his automated case Mehrak, which can be used as a weapon or assistant in his work as an architect, as well as a toolbox.
Gameplay and Story Segregation:
- Kaveh was out working on a project in the desert while Alhaitham and the others are working to overthrow the Akademiya's corrupt leadership and save Nahida in Chapter III Act V, having no clue what happened while he was away. However, there's nothing stopping the player from having Kaveh participate in Alhaitham's plan and witness what was going on in the plot if they obtained him before completing the Archon quests pertaining to said plot, and the game will still treat as if he has no idea what happened to the Akademiya's leadership.
- During the first part of his charged attack, Kaveh instructs Mehrak to swing his claymore for him as he walks forward, but even though Kaveh does not spin the claymore himself during this attack, his stamina is drained in a way that suggests he is, just like previous claymore users. It could have been explained as Mehrak's energy being depleted during this attack, but it is instead overlooked.
- As a playable unit, Kaveh has an "In the Desert" voice-over in which he states that, while this is not his first trip to the desert, he can't get used to the heat and is struggling. However, in his Hangout Event, he cheerfully offers to take the Traveler to the desert on two separate occasions, explaining that he frequently accepts projects that have something to do with the desert because there's a special place he frequently visits there in the form of the Desert Sanctum, which he visits to clear his mind during difficult situations. During these interactions, he makes no mention of his difficulties dealing with the desert's heat, nor does he show any signs of distress.
Genius Bruiser: While he’s not visibly muscular as far as the players are shown, he has a reputation for being a renowned genius and demonstrates battle prowess akin to the other well-trained characters introduced before him.
Gentleman and a Scholar: While he is hailed as a genius by his peers, he is usually fairly cordial when interacting with others, with the exception of Alhaitham. This extends even back to his Akademiya days, as he was welcoming to even the "ordinary" people that wanted to work with him.
Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: He is fully aware of people's bad behaviors, even if he doesn't understand it and occasionally attempts to empathize. This is best demonstrated in his dynamic with Dori; he doesn't believe her maliciousness stems from her being a bad person at heart, but rather from something in her past that has caused her current behavior, but his theory doesn't stop him from calling her out on her ruthless greed and self-centered personality.
Good Feels Good: Instead of acting out of self-interest, he finds satisfaction in helping those who are less fortunate and believes that is how the world should operate. This is taken in a rather different way, however, as helping others helps him to alleviate the guilt he would feel had he not helped them.
Green Thumb: Wears his Dendro vision on his left thigh.
Guyliner: Wears red eyeshadow on the outer V of his eyes, most visible when he closes his eyes.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He has pale blonde hair with dirty blonde ends in some sections and genuinely cares about others' well-being, wanting to help others in any way he can.
Hair-Trigger Temper: When something bothers him, he can be quite choleric to the point of explosive episodes, and he admits in his Hangout Event that he frequently argues with his clients. Even one of his Paimon's Paintings emotes depicts him being angry◊, emphasizing that anger is a defining characteristic of his, which is something that doesn't go unnoticed by the Traveler and Paimon.
The Traveler, watching Kaveh walk off in a huff: (Kaveh seems to be upset again...)
Hates Being Alone: Zigzagged; According to his Character Stories, he grew up lonely after his father died, and his mother's grief caused her to emotionally neglect him, which was exacerbated when his mother moved to Fontaine for work. To compensate for his loneliness, he would frequently try to fit in with others, ignoring the disparities in his talents versus theirs and taking on more work than he could handle in order to encourage them, which often backfired. When the players meet him in the present, however, he is hesitant to spend time with his friends when he is sad because he feels like he is pushing his burdens onto them, knowing that they can't actually help him with his problems and because he feels that he has a responsibility to set a good example for them as the oldest in their group. He only decides to spend more time with them and gain more positive experiences after reading his mother's letter and being encouraged by the player.
Healing Shiv: Kaveh's first-ascension passive, An Architect's Undertaking, allows Dendro Cores to heal him (equivalent to thrice his Elemental Mastery stat, with at least a half-second interval) whenever they either detonate on their own or trigger Burgeon or Hyperbloom.
Heroic Ambidexterity: Kaveh appears to be ambidextrous, with a preference for his left hand, as he uses Mehrak with both hands, but plunges with his right, and switches hands to hold things in materials. There is also a Paimon's Paintings emote showing him drawing up a blueprint with his left hand, but his official birthday art depicts him drawing one with his right.
His Own Worst Enemy: Said word-for-word by Dainsleif in his "Collected Miscellany" video; Despite his academic brilliance, Kaveh has brought most of his woes in his life upon himself because of his tendency to sacrifice his own comfort and happiness to support others, almost all in an effort to assuage the guilt he feels over his past, or to martyr himself on his ideals, leading to self-sabotage that conflicts with his goals.
Hot Teacher: He's very attractive and occasionally works as a visiting professor at Akademiya. He can also become a teacher independent of the Akademiya after taking on Alkami's former students in his Hangout Event's "Educational Organization" route.
Humble Hero: He is openly very proud of his work as an architect and his knowledge of aestheticism, but he downplays the fame he's achieved as a result of his accomplishments in his field of work when asked about it by the Traveler.
Hypocrite: Twice in his Hangout Event:
- When the players first encounter him in Lambad's Tavern, he warns them against believing that drinking is an elegant pastime because it is bad for your health, despite the fact that he is an alcoholic who drinks himself unconscious every other day.
- He constantly complains about his job as an architect and considers warning Collei against becoming one, even though he loves his job just as much as it stresses him out. The Traveler points this out to him, which he concedes to with a smile, and his Relationship Values meter even goes up by a heart.
Idealist vs. Pragmatist: Many of his arguments with Alhaitham revolve around their differing values and philosophies, with Kaveh being the idealist while Alhaitham is the pragmatist. This is exemplified by their friendship-ending argument during the joint project in their Akademiya days: Kaveh wanted the other participants to be able to keep up with him and Alhaitham due to believing that wisdom should be uncovered by many people and that the gaps in their abilities were obstacles that could be overcome with effort, while Alhaitham felt that the gap in talent between themselves and the other participants was too wide to be compensated even with hard work. Hence, Kaveh wore himself thin trying to help the other participants while Alhaitham refused to help, causing them to clash when the other participants became discouraged and exited the project.
Idle Animation: Along with his standard two idles, if the player does not immediately choose to continue attacking after an action, he has two other motions: one where he dusts off his hands after performing his normal attack string, and another where he nods at Mehrak after performing his Elemental Skill. He also has a unique one-handed claymore plunge attack animation in which he shakes his hand after he lands as a result of the impact. This distinguishes him from other claymore users, who plunge with both hands and thusly have the impact of the landing evenly distributed across their bodies.
I Just Want to Have Friends: Deconstructed. While he had friends all his life, he became lonely after his father died and his mother relocated to Fontaine for work, leaving him to grow up alone in an empty house. This resulted in him ignoring his genius to befriend ordinary people, eventually taking on their share of the work while stretching himself thin to encourage and keep them around when it became clear that they couldn't keep up intellectually with him. However, in the present, he has made many close friends, including Tighnari and Cyno, but he is shown to be hesitant to spend time with them at times because he feels he is burdening them with his problems.
Individualism vs. Collectivism: Another recurring topic of Alhaitham and Kaveh's philosophical arguments revolve around Alhaitham's individualism clashing with Kaveh's collectivism. Alhaitham is harsh on Kaveh's altruism due to his self-sacrificial tendencies, while Kaveh criticises Alhaitham's selfishness at not helping others unless he benefits from the exchange when he has a great capacity to do so without disadvantaging himself.
In-Series Nickname: "Light of the Kshahrewar," which he gained from his reputation as a master builder and craftsman.
Intelligence Equals Isolation: While he's had friends, he struggled to fit in with "ordinary" people at various points in his life due to differences in their abilities and his tendency to delude himself into thinking that they were simply obstacles that could be overcome with effort. Even though he took on their share of the work to encourage them, he couldn't keep some of them from becoming discouraged when they realized their lack of talent made them burdens.
Intergenerational Friendship: With Zaha Hadi, his mother's former professor and mentor, whom he's implied to have known since he was a child.
In the Blood: He gets his sensitive heart and good yet self-sacrificing nature from his mother and father, respectively.
In Vino Veritas: While he's not afraid to speak his mind under normal circumstances, his Hangout Event demonstrates that he's even more candid when he's drunk.
Ironic Name: The name "Kaveh (کاوه)" means "Royal" in Persian, and despite his high status in Sumeru society as a result of his fame and accomplishments, he doesn't live like royalty due to money troubles, instead leading a simple life in secret.
Irony: Initially, he owned half of Alhaitham's home since it was at first a research center built for their joint research, but the Akademiya later allocated it to them when their collaboration ceased and it fell into disuse. Kaveh gave up his right to property because he didn't need a home at the time, and it was soon converted into a proper home that he would move into after becoming homeless a few years later, though this time under Alhaitham's loose control as his landlord.
Is That a Threat?: How he interprets Alhaitham passive-aggressively implying that he should move out.
Alhaitham: Hm, it seems that you really can't stand my personality.
Kaveh: Hah, what was your first clue?
Alhaitham: Well, then you might as well move out of my house.
Kaveh: Are you threatening me? Stooping to a new low, I see!
It's All My Fault: He blames himself for his father's death because he encouraged him to compete in the Interdarshan Championship, which led to his father venturing into the desert after losing and eventually dying in quicksand. In "A Parade of Providence," he can learn from the Traveler or Alhaitham that Sachin was technically the cause of his father's death, but he will still blame himself for telling his father about the event in the first place, as this is how he met Sachin.
Jaded Professional: Downplayed. He is a master architect who has worked professionally in his field since graduating from the Akademiya, but he has faced many difficulties working in the industry, such as unreasonable client demands and low pay, as well as a lack of appreciation from clients for the amount of effort put in, leading him to complain about his job and warn others against becoming architects. However, while he complains and suffers a lot because of his job and the pursuit of his ideals, he openly admits that he enjoys his work and is openly proud of the fact that he can leave his mark on the world in the form of the buildings he created.
Jerkass to One: "Jerkass to Two" in his case; he's usually fairly friendly and mild-mannered with everyone he talks to except Alhaitham and Dori. It's Justified, given his rocky relationship with Alhaitham and Dori being the reason he's in debt in the first place.
Large Ham:
- Kaveh's Japanese voice actor Yuuma Uchida gives Kaveh a more youthful tone that's slightly more prone to dramatics than other language dubs, especially when he's speaking passionately about his work as an architect.
Let's bring them into the limelight!
- One of his combat lines in the English dub has him commanding the enemy to "Feast your eyes!"
Last Episode, New Character: While he was mentioned in several character voiceovers and appeared on Sumeru bulletin boards, he wasn't properly introduced in the story until the final Sumeru Archon quest, having missed everything that happened due to working on a large project in the desert away from Sumeru City.
Light 'em Up: Subverted; He is a Dendro vision holder, which is the plant element, but his stronger Dendro powers manifest as bright green holograms with flower-like patterns. In addition, when he unleashes Mehrak's energy in his burst, infusing it with his Dendro vision, it takes the shape of an expansive, cubic-light box.
- Unlocking Kaveh's sixth Constellation Pairidaeza's Dreams gives him the ability to unleash Pairidaeza's Light on the enemies he attacks during his Elemental Burst Painted Dome, causing them to explode with light every 3 seconds.
Like an Old Married Couple: He has this sort of relationship with Alhaitham. They frequently bicker, sometimes in public, which other Sumeru residents who know them comment on and aren't bothered by because it happens often, but they continue to live together in a somewhat domestic setup and appear to be the closest to each other and understand each other better than anyone else, which allows them to show sides of themselves they don't often show others, such as the otherwise mild-mannered Kaveh allowing his explosive temper to come out most frequently around Alhaitham, and the calm and rational Alhaitham becoming more bratty and petty when he's with Kaveh.
Like Father, Like Son: He resembles both of his parents and inherited aspects of their personalities, such as his father's kind and empathetic heart, as well as his idealism and selflessness, while he inherited, albeit superficially, his mother's stubbornness, perfectionism, and awkwardness.
Locked Out of the Loop:
- He arrives after Sumeru was saved and the sages were banished, as he had been out in the desert of Sumeru during the majority of Chapter III. So when told of it from Alhaitham, he has a hard time believing it.
- Averted in the event "A Parade of Providence"; If the player chooses not to inform him about his father's past involvement with Sachin, or simply fails to complete the side quest that will reveal this information, Alhaitham, who had been researching Sachin and Kaveh's father independently, will tell him instead.
Made of Iron: In the event cutscene of "A Parade of Providence," he recovers immediately after crash-landing on his head and neck and being thrown across the ground, reacting initially as if he had a mild headache, but shrugging it off a few seconds later.
Manly Tears: He sniffles a little after winning lots against Faruzan in "A Parade of Providence: Act II," believing his streak of bad luck has finally begun to change.
The McCoy: Kaveh is emotional, values the arts, and won't hesitate to help others in need, even when he doesn't have much capacity to do so. A bulletin board in Port Ormos records him offering to introduce some retrenched workers to a client and giving them his money despite being broke. He ends up arguing with Alhaitham about the value of doing such a thing.
Alhaitham: I wish you could do less meaningless things. Some people will succeed and some will fall, that's how the world works. Why interfere with it just to act like a goody-two-shoes?
Kaveh: Here the Scribe goes again with the mysticism. Why did I do this, you say? Because it makes me happy! And don't you forget that mutual assistance, fairness, and righteous anger are also what drive the world, not nonsense like 'the fittest survives'!
Meaningful Appearance: In a few ways:
- He's an architect whose earrings resemble the square and compass, the Masonic symbol that is representative of the tools of the architect and the builder.
- Creative people are sometimes characterized as wearing writing utensils behind their ears, with these usually being pencils. Quills are one of the standard writing and drawing tool in the Genshin Impact setting, and Kaveh wears one behind his left ear.
- According to his outfit description, his outfit was designed to evoke thoughts of birds in flight, with these most likely being Dusk Birds, calling back to his Animal Motif. His feather would also fall into his bird motif.
Meaningful Name: His name likely derives from Kaveh the Blacksmith, a prominent figure from the Shahnameh, an epic poem about Persia's mythical past, with that Kaveh having led a rebellion against the evil ruler Zahhak.
Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
- Like Nilou before him, Kaveh specializes in speeding up Dendro Core explosions; unlike her, however, he can do it manually on regular Dendro Cores.
- He's also the second Claymore user after Dori to (usually) not wield his claymore himself in combat, despite the fact that it's shown that he's able to, as he instead uses Mehrak's grab function to suspend his weapon and guides its movements remotely.
Mind over Matter: Kaveh uses Mehrak's mapping energy to perform a form of telekinesis, allowing him to control his claymore's movement and impact remotely.
Mirror Character: Has some similarities in common with Nilou:
- Both are art-aligned characters, albeit in vastly different fields, as Nilou is a dancer and Kaveh is an architect.
- Both have Persian-inspired elements to their characters.
- Both faced rejection and struggled for recognition in Sumeruan society due to the Akademiya's rejection and devaluing of the arts. Although they both eventually came to be respected in their respective fields, it happened at different points in their lives, with Kaveh gaining recognition in his backstory at a high price, while Nilou rose to fame by the end of the Sumeru Archon Quest.
- Both have kind-hearted personalities and a desire to help others, although they differ in that Nilou is simply mild-mannered and helpful because she can be, while Kaveh is a far more impassioned empath whose excessive altruism comes from a place of pain and guilt.
- Gameplay-wise, both kits revolve around Bloom reaction, with Kaveh's focusing on manually detonating Dendro Cores, while Nilou's converts them into more powerful Bountiful Cores that also detonate much faster.
Misery Builds Character: During the climax of the Interdarshan Championship, Sachin remarks that Kaveh is tougher than his father, which he attributes to all the hardships he faced in life in pursuit of his ideals. It is also implied that this is what fortified his mind against Sachin's brainwashing.
Missed Him by That Much: In the v3.8 event "Secret Summer Paradise", Idyia mentions that he had visited Veluriyam Mirage before the other characters and helped redesign many of the buildings there, explaining why many of the buildings reflect his style. While they don't get to meet him in person, the Traveler and Paimon do get an impression of his presence and the work he'd done in the Mirage, not only through the buildings he'd worked on, but also through listening to the play Skycastle Saviors, which features a character based on him called the Miraculous Architect. The play appears to recount parts of his work process while embellishing some of the details with fantastical elements in the same way that Zosimos did for the play about Idyia and her past.
Missing Mom: His mom moved to Fontaine when he was still a student, and he cites this as one of the potential beginnings of his life's downward spiral.
Momma's Boy: Seeing how distraught his mother was after his father's death, he decided he needed to be strong for her and set aside his own emotional needs to care for her during the difficult time, despite the fact that he was a child at the time. He also doesn't blame her for moving to Fontaine and beginning a new life, even saying he's happy for her and doesn't want to intrude on it by contacting her.
Motifs: He has several:
- "Mirrors." His title is "Empyrean Reflection," and he represents the opposite side of the two-sided mirror that reflects the world, encompassing sensibility, architecture, and human feelings, as well as benevolence, compassion, and comprehension, whereas Alhaitham represents the other side, encompassing knowledge, language, and rationality, as well as learning, thinking, and doing.
- "Home," particularly in his backstory. He's an architect who builds houses for others, but he doesn't just lack a home of his own after selling it; he lost it even before that when his father died, and his childhood home became a place devoid of love and affection, with no inhabitants to make it truly feel like the "home" it once was, which he came to blame himself for.
- Kaveh holds onto and strives for near-unreachable ideals, which are simultaneously symbolized through usages of paradise and the heavens as motifs, and are emphasized through his title "Empyrean Reflection," his Constellation the "Bird of Paradise," and his sixth Constellation Pairidaeza Dreams.
Mr. Fanservice: He's a pretty boy with a cleavage and back window, as well as a golden thigh belt above which his Vision hangs.
Mundane Utility: Mehrak can be an effective combat weapon when combined with Kaveh's Dendro powers, but Kaveh primarily uses it as an assistant for his work as an architect, such as using his Dendro Vision through it as a blueprint projection feature when showing off his designs to his clients.
Never My Fault: He shows signs of this in "A Parade of Providence." Rather than accepting the event points Faruzan offered him, he chose to leave his fate to chance by drawing lots, knowing there was a good chance he would lose, and then bemoans the fact that he did. Later, when the Traveler meets up with him, he's still thinking about how unlucky he's been, and speculates on what started his life's downward spiral, citing when his mother moved to Fontaine, meeting Alhaitham in a library, or getting into debt because of the Palace of Alcazarzaray as possible starting points for his unlucky streak.
Nice Guy: He's a generally kind man and an idealist with a philosophy that includes treating others fairly and assisting those in need, even if it occasionally comes at the expense of his own comfort and happiness. When once questioned by Alhaitham why he wastes his time doing such things instead of just leaving people to try their luck, he answers that doing so makes him happy.
No Hero to His Valet: He's a famous architect in Sumeru, as many of the cast members tell the player, and he's regarded as a role model by his peers in Kshahrewar. Even various NPCs mention his fame and praise him, which Kaveh dismisses in his "More about Kaveh: I" voiceover. However, despite being fully aware of Kaveh's status, genius, and other capabilities as an architect, Alhaitham regards him with little reverence because he knows Kaveh better and for a longer period of time than anyone else.
No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Kaveh can also be read as the Genshin Impact equivalent of Plato, especially when his relationship with Alhaitham, who appears to represent Aristotle, is considered;
- Kaveh''s philosophy, idealism, corresponds to Plato's way of thinking, whereas Alhaitham's philosophy, egoism, corresponds to Aristotle's.
- Aristotle and Plato famously debated opposing philosophies, which Kaveh and Alhaitham frequently do in between their other trivial debates.
- Plato was Aristotle's senior, which mirrors the seniority Kaveh claims over Alhaitham in both age and graduation status.
- Both Kaveh and Alhaitham's◊ respective Portrait poses visually call to mind the poses of Plato and Aristotle in the famous "The School of Athens" painting.
No Indoor Voice: While he's capable of speaking at a normal volume and does so in most conversations, he has no regard for other people's eardrums when he's angry, especially in the English dub.
Noodle Incident: According to a discussion on The Mahamata bulletin board, Kaveh went into Lambad's Tavern to collect several crates of the wine he and Alhaitham had purchased together a few days prior without Alhaitham's knowledge. Whether Kaveh stole the wine or simply brought it home for them is never explained, nor is this incident addressed in their subsequent conversations.
Odd Couple: As a romanticist, Kaveh contrasts very heavily with the stoic and pragmatic Alhaitham. In Nahida's voice line about Kaveh, even she is surprised to hear that they are roommates.
Odd Friendship: With Tighnari and Cyno, both of whom he befriended sometime before the Sumeru Archon Quest:
- In the case of Tighnari, he’s a renowned botanist from the Amurta Darshan and the leader of the Avidya Forest Rangers with a mostly subdued and sarcastic personality, while Kaveh is a renowned architect from the Kshahrewar Darshan and a passionate aesthete. Despite their differences in academic pursuits and careers, they are shown to be close enough that Tighnari was originally the only one other than Alhaitham in their core friend group to be aware of Kaveh’s bankruptcy, and has been helping him out wherever he can in that regard.
- With Cyno, he is a fearsome Mahamatra that doesn’t often hang with scholars but became good friends with Kaveh after meeting him through Tighnari. They're comfortable enough for Kaveh to playfully tease him in Alhaitham's Character Demo.
Only Friend: During their years at the Akademiya, he was Alhaitham's first and only friend, and they were known to be close. Their relationship collapsed, however, and they are still not on good terms years later.
Parental Neglect: After his father's death, he was emotionally neglected by his grieving mother, who was borderline catatonic from the shock of it. She eventually moved to Fontaine for work sometime after he reached school age, completely unaware of his lonely and guilt-ridden mental state.
Perpetual Poverty: Downplayed. He's forced to live a simple life because of his debt to Dori and is currently in a state where he can't afford to a place of his own and occasionally has to rely on his friends, namely Tighnari, to treat him to meals. His "Kaveh Troubles" voiceover and Hangout reveal, however, that he doesn't have a problem making money and that he could probably live a decent life with a little more effort to live within his means.
Perpetual Smiler: As a playable unit, his default expression is a smile.
The Philosopher: Among the mortal Sumeru cast, he and Alhaitham are the ones that fall into this role:
- As an idealist, he has frequently debated with Alhaitham, an egoist, on their opposing philosophies through the years they have known each other, never reaching a consensus. This dynamic is alluded to in his "Old Sketchbook" Item Story:
  Page 31: Some academic notes and architectural drawings.
  Postscript: "Our views are aligned, and they are complete." This line has been struck out.
  "Our views are contradictory, but it is through contradiction that more speculation and philosophy may be born." This line has been retained.
  
  Page 47: An excerpt from a school publication. The original title is unknown, and the preserved content is as follows:
  "The selfish cannot understand wisdom's final destination. Though all of us might claim to have a place in this great hall of learning, we must understand that it is people, and not knowledge, that make our world what it is. Without a vessel, knowledge shall have no home. Universal values must naturally have some merit to be named such, and denying their general meaning does not mean that minority viewpoints will arise accordingly. This is the case with aesthetics. Beauty is something objective that exists in human hearts. It will not lose its value simply because some people cannot understand it."
  
  "To view oneself as some mighty vessel is to fall to the narrowness of the researcher. Know that truth has never existed for the sake of individuals. The logic of the world coexists with nature, and this will not easily change whether it is interpreted as such or not. Excessive belief in the object is self-disclosure just the same, a manifestation of a lack of confidence in the subject. Moreover, one who is sufficiently self-confident will not need to constantly use plural forms of address, such as 'we.' I alone am sufficient to sustain this position — this I can assert."
- His "About Lesser Lord Kusanali" voiceover gives a little insight into his thought process, as he praises her for virtue but wonders if she, too, has struggles, acknowledging that confusion is the beginning of wisdom and wondering how they can achieve true happiness in the face of it.
- He also muses on the meaning of art at the start of his Hangout, wondering whether he should see it as "a divine gift of inspiration from the gods, or an expression of the light of (his) own wisdom." At the conclusion of one of his Hangout Event routes, though he did not come to a definitive answer to his question, he determines that the purpose of his architectural efforts is to leave behind a legacy that future generations can appreciate and interpret, and is satisfied with understanding that the allure of art is that it is "inherently paradoxical and enigmatic", and being an artist means accepting the cycle of pain and joy involved in the process of creation.
Power Glows: He glows green for 12 seconds after his Elemental Burst, with Dendro particles rising around him.
Pretty Boy: Kaveh's one of the more handsome men in Sumeru, let alone the cast, with quite the chiseled face, prominent eyelashes, blond hair, and a slim physique. He also appears to be a bit toned, as his outfit's cleavage exposes noticeable abs.
Pursuing Parental Perils: Kaveh's father was described as an idealist who was too kind for his own good and died in the desert saving others. Kaveh inherited his father's idealism and tendency to self-sacrifice and would find himself in a similar situation in the desert, nearly dying as he attempted to escort a trio of desert foxes out of the leyline zone and passing out in the desert due to the heat, only surviving by using the last of his strength to return to the competition site after waking up.
Real Men Wear Pink: While he lacks inherently feminine qualities, he is described as a sensitive (mostly characterized by how quick he is to anger when slighted) and empathetic person, with artsy hobbies outside of architecture such as music, painting, sculpting, and going to the theater. He also has a cute lion-shaped keychain attached to his housekey, which is most likely one of the keychains Alhaitham mentioned him buying in his "About Kaveh: Getting Duped" voice line.
Red/Green Contrast: Kaveh has red eyes and a red cape and is a passionate individual while his calm roommate Alhaitham has green eyes with red pupils and primarily wears green.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: He is the Red (histrionic, emotional, and temperamental), to Alhaitham's Blue (cold, stoic, and analytical).
Required Secondary Powers: Because his kit focuses on detonating Dendro Cores, which are capable of friendly fire, he possesses a Passive Talent that heals him after he takes damage from them.
Rejecting the Inheritance: He was chosen by Sachin to become the heir to his estate and the successor to his research because he was a genius who could understand the suffering of those who were less fortunate. However, after experiencing the negative effects of Sachin's research through his empathy and hearing Sachin's intentions with him, Kaveh destroys the Diadem of Knowledge containing the fragment of Sachin's consciousness, symbolizing his rejection of Sachin's nihilistic philosophy, and decides to donate all of Sachin's wealth to the desert dwellers in order to improve their lives.
Roommate Drama: Kaveh is annoyed by Alhaitham's coldly rational and stubborn personality while Alhaitham doesn't share Kaveh's beliefs on the value of art.
Robot Buddy: Kaveh has one in the form of the automated case he created, which he calls "Mehrak".
Sensitive Artist: Kaveh is known to be an architect who values empathy, and his sensitivity and consideration for his clients are reflected in the functional and beautiful designs he creates.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He is the Sensitive Guy next to Alhaitham's Manly Man. While not emotionless, Alhaitham observes the world through a more rational lens and doesn't let his emotions influence his actions. He also is poor with housework, visibly more muscular, and dresses primarily in black and dark green. In contrast, Kaveh is far more emotional and views the world through a compassionate lens, helping others even at the expense of himself. He's also an artist, is tasked with tidying up the house, has a slim body, and dresses in a colorful style.
Sexy Backless Outfit: His shirt has a large diamond-shaped opening that exposes his back.
Signature Headgear: Wears a large teal-gradient quill behind his left ear and six red clips in his hair.
Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: He explains to the Traveler that he was far more idealistic as a student, but that he has since matured after experiencing the harshness of the world and realizing that overly naive people cannot survive in it. In the present, however, he has not become completely cynical, and he still believes in the goodness of the world as well as his ideals, albeit to a lesser degree.
Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Kaveh and Alhaitham do not get along despite living in the same house, even if not by choice on the former's part.
Skewed Priorities: Inverted and discussed in the event "A Parade of Providence". He nearly forfeited his chance to win points in the second round of the Interdarshan Championship to help the desert foxes who had wandered into the competition zone and couldn't figure their way out, believing that helping them was more important than completing the round at the time. However, the little water he had left didn't last long while he was escorting them, and he ended up passing out in the desert for several hours before returning to finish the round using what little strength he had. When Paimon and Faruzan confront him about putting himself in danger, he admits that, while he was aware of the situation he was placing himself in, there was no comfortable alternative and that his decision-making had nothing to do with his intelligence, as he simply would have felt guilty if he had left the desert foxes.
Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration:
- Kaveh is an architect whose attack animations call back to his line of work. His attack animations are in the shape of various angles, such as the reflex angle (180°–360°) and the straight angle (180°). His Skill animation shows him using Mehrak to scan the area around him, while that for his Burst animation is reminiscent of a laser level used in professional building work.
- Tying into his work as an architect, Kaveh's utility passive allows him to refund a portion of materials used to craft Landscape, Building, or Courtyard-type furnishing items in the Serenitea Pot.
- Kaveh is still grieving the death of his father after twenty years, and one of his Ascension materials is, fittingly enough, Mourning Flowers.
- Kaveh's emotional nature and sensitive heart are reflected in his Hangout Event mechanic, which is unique in that the Heartbeat Value represents his mood changes throughout the quest rather than serving as a health meter for the player. As a result, he can also gain and lose hearts independently of the player's dialogue choices, such as when he reacts to things said by the non-playable characters.
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Falls on the "idealism" side, which ends up being the subject of the event "A Parade of Providence". After listening to Sachin's borderline nihilistic monologue, as well as realizing what Sachin had in store for him as his successor, Kaveh destroys the Diadem of Knowledge to prevent it from causing further harm and chooses to donate the inheritance Sachin would have left to him as his successor to the needy in order to help make what Sachin deemed a sorrowful world a better place.
Smart People Build Robots: Being an alumnus of the Kshahrewar, which specializes in technology, his expertise isn’t limited to just architecture, as he also built his multi-purpose automated case Mehrak, which he uses for work and combat. He also created life-like mechanical swiftflies for an interior design project which were realistic enough to fool Cyno.
Snark-to-Snark Combat: Most of his onscreen interactions with Alhaitham consist of the two snarking at each other after they get off subject.
The Social Expert: As an empath that is able to understand various human emotions and ideas, he has no issue making friends and is tellingly on good terms with the majority of the Sumeru cast, save for Dehya and Candace, who don't appear to be familiar with him as far as the players are shown.
Somber Backstory Revelation: At the end of the event "A Parade of Providence", he tells the Traveler and Paimon what he knows about the circumstances behind his father's death, and how he feels he's to blame for it because he told him about the Interdarshan Championship in the first place.
Spin Attack: Being a claymore user, his charged attack similarly has his claymore spin around him, though he is unique from the others in that he is telekinetically controlling its movements via Mehrak, so he is able to walk in a straight line as the claymore goes 360 degrees.
Status Buff: His first Constellation upgrade, Sublime Salutations, allows Artistic Ingenuity to grant him a 50% boost to his Dendro Resistance and 25% to his Incoming Healing Bonus for three seconds.
Star-Spangled Spandex: The bottoms of Kaveh's cape have a sparkly pattern that resembles a red starry sky.
Starving Artist: Downplayed Trope. While he explains that it is difficult to make money as an architect due to the lengthy and difficult commission process, the real reason he lives in poverty is not because of his occupation, but because of his debt to Dori, which he incurred by spending his savings on building her palace while taking on the remaining fees in her place.
Stepford Smiler: He often appears quite cheerful and confident, but "Star’s Blessing" Layla, who is used to dealing with the constantly troubled and anxious "Daylight" Layla, believes that his mental situation is worse than "Daylight" Layla's due to the internal conflict that's keeping him from committing to winning the Interdarshan Championship.
"Star’s Blessing" Layla: It's like he's smiling on the outside, but there's no joy inside. Only sorrow.
Strong Family Resemblance:
- While Sachin's ability to recognize Kaveh due to his resemblance to his father was only hinted at in the event "A Parade of Providence," Faranak's drawing of his father confirms the resemblance between them.
- According to his mother's former mentor Zaha Hadi, Kaveh also bears a resemblance to his mother.
Stuff Blowing Up: Both of Kaveh's Elemental Talents cause Dendro Cores within their damage radius to burst instantly. In addition, his fourth Constellation upgrade, Feast of Apadana, confers a 60% damage boost to the Cores he generates.
Summon to Hand: Can summon Mehrak into his hand instantly, which he appears to do using his Dendro vision.
Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: While his creation of the Palace of Alcazarzaray earned him great fame in Sumeru and taught the nation's residents to see the beauty in architecture, his fame not only doesn't prevent him from facing common issues encountered in his profession, such as unreasonable demands from entitled clients for alterations to his designs, burnout, the length of time it takes to get paid, among other things, but it also hasn't completely changed the minds of Sumerian residents, as they still hold the opinion that the arts aren't worth discussing, they're just slightly less radical in their views than before.
Stone Wall: While his defense isn't particularly strong or weak if Kaveh is kept on the field he becomes nearly unkillable in bloom teams thanks to his passive talent An Architect's Undertaking, which allows him to heal from all types of Dendro Core damage with healing equal to 300% of his Elemental Mastery every 0.5s.
Super Mode: Painted Dome grants upon Kaveh twelve-second-long state wherein all his regular attacks enjoy heightened damage range and are infused with a Dendro effect that cannot be overridden with Elemental Reactions, increase his interruption resistance, and boost the damage of Dendro Cores his allies created beforehand. His fourth-ascension passive, A Craftsman's Curious Conceptions, allows the state to gather up to four stacks of a 25-point Elemental Mastery boost whenever his attacks connect (with at least a 0.1-second interval and to a maximum of 100 points), while his second Constellation upgrade, Grace of Royal Roads, adds a 15% boost to his attacking speed, and his sixth, Pairidaeza's Dreams, allows all his regular attacks to be occasionally augmented with Pairidaeza's Light, a wide-ranging attack that damages all enemies based on 61.8% of his Attack stat and automatically detonates Dendro Cores within their radii (within at least three-second intervals).
Super Gullible: He has a strong sense of justice and empathy, which, when combined with his guilt complex, makes him vulnerable to manipulation. As an example, according to Alhaitham, he once purchased a dozen keychains from a merchant who claimed the proceeds would be used to feed impoverished children.
Sword Lines: While every character that uses a sword or claymore has sword lines when they attack, Kaveh’s uniquely resemble an angle being measured out with every swing, taking the form of a straight or reflex angle. This becomes more obvious during attacks performed during his Elemental Burst Painted Dome, which gives his claymore Elemental Infusion.
Symbol Motif Clothing: He is a Dendro Vision user, which is associated with nature powers, and he wears various accessories that evoke the image of nature, such as golden flowers and butterflies on his cape.
Teen Genius: He is said to have excelled in school, earning him a reputation in the Akademiya long before his rise to national fame as the designer behind the Palace of Alcazarzaray:
- His work as a student on the joint-research project titled "Decoding the Runes and Architectural Philosophy of King Deshret's Civilization" with Alhaitham contributed to architectural studies, successfully improving the load-bearing structures of some special terrain features in Sumeru, which greatly improved the lives of those living in remote regions.
- He also often used to take on various projects exploring tomes from King Deshret’s kingdom with his fellow Darshanmates, with it being stated that they made significant results in their research despite their young ages.
Theme Naming: Almost all of his Constellations refer to well-known architectural structures, though there are differences in which structure is being referred to depending on the language. In English, there are:
- Grace of Royal Roads: Named for the "Royal Road," an ancient highway rebuilt by King Darius the Great.
- Profferings of Dur Untash: "Dur Untash," also known as "Chogha Zanbil" in Persian, is an ancient Elamite construct and one of the few existing ziggurats outside of Mesopotamia.
- Feast of Apadana: Named for "Apadana," a large hypostyle that was most likely the main hall of kings.
- Treasures of Bonkhanak: "Bonkhanak," also known as "Ka'ba-ye Zartosht," is a stone structure that is based on well-executed architectural principles.
- Pairidaeza's Dreams: "Pairidaeza," or a type of enclosed Iranian garden. Its name translates to "paradise garden."
They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: In the "Treasure and True Interest" route of his Hangout Event, he advises one of his students to refer to him as "Mr. Kaveh" instead of just his name when he returns as their instructor. In the Japanese dub, the correction was from "Kaveh-san" to "Kaveh-sensei."
Trademark Favorite Food: Alcohol, warm soup, anything with cream or cheese in it, and fresh fruit.
Trademark Hated Food: Dislikes anything too hot or spicy because of his sensitive tongue and has to wait for it to cool before eating.
Tsundere: He claims to dislike Alhaitham, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, such as his bringing up Alhaitham when he isn't present, which even Collei and Tighnari comment on.
- He begins both of his "About Alhaitham" voice lines by complaining about him, but he also defends him, and in the second voice line, he laments the current state of their relationship and the fact that they aren't as close as they used to be back when they were students.
- Despite having graduated from the Akademiya years ago, he still kept the cover of the torn-up thesis he and Alhaitham worked on together in his sketchbook as memorabilia.
- In the "Wondrous Times" route of his Hangout Event, Kaveh first encourages Tighnari to start his dinner party without Alhaitham, believing that he wouldn't turn up. When Tighnari goes ahead and does so, he initially agrees and then suddenly changes his stance and awkwardly suggests waiting for Alhaitham a little longer.
Unexpected Gameplay Change: Similarly to Layla's Hangout Event, Kaveh's is a little unique, though the differences are comparatively less noticeable on the first playthrough due to a lack of an explanation:
- The Heartbeat Value is essentially the player's health bar in previous Hangout Events (except for Layla's), and they gain and lose hearts depending on the dialogue options they choose, with it determining whether they fail the quest (if possible). In Kaveh's Hangout Event, his icon replaces the Travelers, and the Heartbeat Value instead reflects his mental state throughout the quest, allowing him to gain and lose hearts in accordance with his mood and even without the influence of the player. For example, he can gain and lose hearts during interactions with non-playable characters and is first seen doing so at the start of the quest after becoming burnt out from his argument with Badawi, losing all three of his hearts and forcing the player to begin with zero hearts. He can also gain hearts in reaction to things, indicating that he's happy, such as when he reads an excerpt from a junior thanking him for his book annotation in the House of Daena.
- He is also uniquely the only character thus far to not have a Heart emote animation, with his unique reactions being limited to Happiness (Music Notes), Anger (Anger Mark), Distress (Heartbreak), Thinking (Thought Bubble), and Shock (Exclamation Point) regardless of what the player says to him. It was likely replaced by his Sadness animation, which is a unique animation but lacks an emote.
Ungrateful Bastard: Lampshaded. Kaveh acknowledges that Alhaitham has helped him a lot in recent times, but can’t find it in himself to thank him due to their current strained relationship and because of Alhaitham's personality.
- Kaveh does manage to thank Alhaitham at the end of "A Parade of Providence" if Alhaitham tells him about his father, which leads to this exchange:
Kaveh: "…Thanks for letting me know all this."
Alhaitham: "Uhh, what?"
Kaveh: "I said, thanks for letting me know. Hey! Stop acting like you didn’t hear me! You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?"
Alhaitham: "They say that earnest thanks should be given thrice, so… One more time, please."
Unnamed Parent: Downplayed. His father's name is never revealed, although a postscript in his old sketchbook reveals that his mother is named "Faranak".
Unseen No More: He is referenced by several characters (Collei, Tighnari, Dori, Cyno, and Nilou) who were released pre-v.3.2 and mentioned in message boards across Sumeru prior to making his first physical appearance in the denouement of the Sumeru Archon Quest arguing with Alhaitham over the news of the changes within the Akademiya.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: When he was a child, he told his father about the Interdarshan Championship, which piqued his interest because of the prized Diadem of Knowledge that would be awarded to the winner. To make him happy, his father agreed to participate and win it for him, which Kaveh eagerly encouraged. A series of events led to his father's death after he finished second and ventured into the desert, and Kaveh came to blame himself for this, developing a guilt complex that still influences his actions today.
Upgrade Artifact: A variant—his third and fifth Constellation upgrades, Profferings of Dur Untash and Treasures of Bonkhanak, increase the Talent levels of, respectively, Painted Dome and Artistic Ingenuity by three.
Vague Age: While his age is never explicitly stated, much of his official material hints at him being in his mid-to-late 20's, particularly in the "Past Mementos" branch of his Hangout Event, where he states that he was less than 5 years old over 20 years ago and hadn't been born yet over 30 years ago.
- Another big clue to his age comes from the event A Parade of Providence, which states that his father died 20 years ago, around the time Kaveh was still young but had reached the age where he could attend school in the Akademiya, which is heavily implied to be between the ages of 7-9 years old for child enrollees.
Vocal Dissonance: Although he is also given a distinctly masculine voice in the other language versions, his voices in the English and Korean dubs are comparatively quite deep, somewhat contrasting his Pretty Boy appearance.
Weapon Specialization: In combat, he very rarely uses his claymore alone, preferring to fight with his toolbox, Mehrak, which he uses as a Catalyst to not only swing his claymore but also to execute various Elemental attacks via his Dendro Vision.
We Used to Be Friends: His fifth Character Story reveals that he and Alhaitham were best friends in the Akademiya, with Kaveh, who was lonely after his mother left for Fontaine, approaching the loner Alhaitham in a library after hearing from their teachers and peers that he was difficult to get along with. Their friendship began to deteriorate when they began working on their joint project "Decoding the Runes and Architectural Philosophy of the Ruins of King Deshret's Civilization," as they discovered that they were polar opposites in terms of views, personalities, dealing with people, and academic direction. But while their differences strained their friendship, what ultimately brought it to an end was Alhaitham pointing out Kaveh's guilt over his father's death and how he used helping others at his own expense to try to escape from it, deeming it the reason Kaveh would be ruined someday. Angered, Kaveh declared that he regretted ever befriending him, and they parted ways.
What the Hell, Hero?: Missed the events of Archon Quest Chapter III due to being out in the desert working on a large project while it was happening. Alhaitham calls him out on this when he returns in Act V: "A Toast To Victory".
Alhaitham: So, what great building did our master architect work on this time?
Kaveh: Like I need to tell you! Keep your nose out of my business.
Alhaitham: No, I think we deserve to know. Where were you when Sumeru needed you most?
Workaholic: In the "Leisurely Gathering" ending of his Hangout Quest, he reveals that he hasn't gotten a good night's sleep in months because of his clients constantly asking for revisions on work. This is at least in part self-inflicted, as we learn that his desire to be satisfied with his work conflicts with his tendency to prioritize the feelings of his clients over his own, leading him to constantly make revisions to his work at night. This is what led to his burnout at the start of the hangout as well as to him finally say no to a client who kept demanding unreasonable changes.
You Are Not Alone: The theme of the first "A Dear Memento" path in his Hangout Event. Despite being aware of his friends' support, he felt guilty for dampening their moods with his problems that couldn't be easily solved by encouraging words, while also feeling that relying too heavily on them would be setting a bad example as their senior. However, after reading the note his mother left for him in her diary about companionship and being reassured by the Traveler that it's normal to rely on friends in times of need, he attends Tighnari's dinner party, leading to the ending "Leisurely Gathering" in which he and his friends enjoy a meal together while discussing Collei's future.

Mehrak

Mehrak is Kaveh's multifunction toolbox and assistant that he built using a machine core excavated from King Deshret's civilization.

It debuted in Act II of the v3.6 limited event "A Parade of Providence," with a secondary introductory appearance in Kaveh's Hangout Event Act I: "The Pendulum of Weal and Woe."

Ambiguous Gender: Mehrak is only ever referred to as "it" by other characters, implying that Mehrak isn't gendered.
Ambiguous Situation:
- As the story doesn't go into too much detail about Mehrak's creation, it's unclear whether the machine core used to build it serves as its primary power source on its own, or if Mehrak is powered to some extent by Kaveh's own Dendro Vision via the core. Mehrak's face and functions are the same color as Kaveh's Vision powers, and Kaveh appears to summon it using his Dendro power, implying the latter, though nothing is explicitly stated.
- It's also unclear how Kaveh uses Mehrak. Mehrak appears to execute Kaveh's commands based on his body movements during combat, as Kaveh is never shown verbally commanding it, that said, Mehrak never "sees" Kaveh perform these movements, suggesting that there is more to it. Given that Kaveh essentially uses Mehrak like a Catalyst, it's possible that he has a link to Mehrak that allows him to control it via his Vision.
Artificial Stupidity: An In-Universe example. While Mehrak has a lot of utility and can act as an assistant to Kaveh in his work for mapping and surveying purposes, he explains that it isn't very smart and can't understand complex commands. This is because, unlike Karkata and Benben, it's not a mechanical lifeform and therefore not sentient.
Color Motifs: Its outer shell is white and green with gold accents, and its green parts, including its "face" and inner lights, are the same color as Kaveh's Dendro power.
Cute Machines: As part of Mehrak's design, it has a pair of glowing green lights that act as eyes and can display four expressions; neutral, happy, sad, and angry. It also shifts its segments to simulate the expression it's making.
Distinctive Appearances: Mehrak has a distinct mechanical suitcase-like appearance, giving it a different vibe compared to previously introduced benevolent machines. This is because it was built from scratch by Kaveh, save for its unseen machine core.
Do-Anything Robot: Downplayed. It's a hi-tech, multi-function automated case that has utility in combat when used in conjunction with Kaveh's Dendro vision and can also be used as a toolbox, a projector, or a surveying and mapping tool in Kaveh's work as an architect.
Lost Technology: Kaveh created Mehrak from a machine core discovered in the ruins of King Deshret's civilization. It's never clarified what Mehrak was originally, and Kaveh explains that the mysteries behind King Deshret's technology are still unknown, leading to differing opinions among the Kshahrewar on the subject.
Magitek: It is an automated case infused with Kaveh's Dendro Vision.
Meaningful Name: In two ways; Like Kaveh, its name derives from a character in the Shahnameh, but its name also translates to "radiant" in Persian, although the game translates it as "little light", both of which are descriptive of its appearance when it's infused with Kaveh's Dendro powers.
One-Steve Limit: Averted. Mehrak coincidentally shares its name with the nobleman addressed in the "Record of Gurabad: Part II."
Out of Focus:
- While it is a core part of Kaveh's playable unit from a gameplay perspective, Mehrak isn't acknowledged in Kaveh's voice lines or in any of his Character Stories, only getting a briefly addressed in the final entry of his Old Sketchbook profile story. In the latter case, the timeline presented in Kaveh's Old Sketchbook suggests that Mehrak was only recently built by Kaveh, explaining its absence from previous parts of his backstory, though its absence from his voiceovers, which take place in the present, is more questionable.
Page 115: Suitcase design draft. Postscript: "Mehrak is an ancient word, one I have used as the name for this suitcase. It means 'little light.' More than anything, I hope it really can understand what I'm saying."
- Mehrak is absent from all routes in Act I of Kaveh's Hangout Event except the "Blueprint for the Future" ending, where it makes a brief introductory appearance and has a cameo in the endings Hangout Memory. It is also only acknowledged verbally once, in a separate route, when Kaveh calls on it for combat.
Power Glows: When Kaveh uses his Dendro powers through Mehrak, it emits a bright green glow for a short period of time.
Ragnarök Proofing: Mehrak was originally a machine core excavated from the ruins of King Deshret's civilization that Kaveh purchased from a merchant and eventually modified to create his automated case.
Red/Green Contrast: Mehrak is primarily green and white with gold accents, contrasting its owner, who has a more colorful outfit but is primarily identified by his red cape.
Remember the New Guy?: While it's stated in Kaveh's Collected Miscellany video that Kaveh is rarely without Mehrak, Mehrak isn't seen or mentioned by Kaveh or anyone associated with him until it's introduction in the v3.6 event "A Parade of Providence."
Robot Buddy: Serves as an assistant to Kaveh in his work as an architect, primarily by helping in performing tasks such as surveying and mapping, and also has utility for him in combat.
Satellite Character: As a likely non-sentient toolbox designed specifically for Kaveh's use, it lacks any characterization or motivations aside from that purpose.
The Unintelligible: It's incapable of human speech and communicates in "Beep-boops." Kaveh prefers it that way because it means it can't give him an attitude.

Nahida

The Dendro Archon of Sumeru. More details on Nahida here.

Tighnari

Sandbox / Genshin Impact Dendro

Dendro

Liyue

Inazuma

Sumeru

Alhaitham

Voiced by: Yang Chaoran (Chinese), Yuichiro Umehara (Japanese), Jun Seung-hwa (Korean), Nazeeh Tarsha (English)
Introduced: January 18, 2023 (v3.4 "The Exquisite Night Chimes" [first half])

Kaveh

Voiced by: Liu Sanmu (Chinese), Yūma Uchida (Japanese), Lee Jung-min (Korean), Ben Balmaceda (English)
Introduced: May 2, 2023 (v3.6 "A Parade of Providence" [second half])

Mehrak

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Sandbox / Genshin Impact Dendro

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Dendro

Liyue

Inazuma

Sumeru

Alhaitham

Voiced by: Yang Chaoran (Chinese), Yuichiro Umehara (Japanese), Jun Seung-hwa (Korean), Nazeeh Tarsha (English) Introduced: January 18, 2023 (v3.4 "The Exquisite Night Chimes" [first half])

Kaveh

Voiced by: Liu Sanmu (Chinese), Yūma Uchida (Japanese), Lee Jung-min (Korean), Ben Balmaceda (English) Introduced: May 2, 2023 (v3.6 "A Parade of Providence" [second half])

Mehrak

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Index

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Voiced by: Yang Chaoran (Chinese), Yuichiro Umehara (Japanese), Jun Seung-hwa (Korean), Nazeeh Tarsha (English)
Introduced: January 18, 2023 (v3.4 "The Exquisite Night Chimes" [first half])

Voiced by: Liu Sanmu (Chinese), Yūma Uchida (Japanese), Lee Jung-min (Korean), Ben Balmaceda (English)
Introduced: May 2, 2023 (v3.6 "A Parade of Providence" [second half])