Ruan Mei is Not as evil as you think | Honkai Star Rail
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ธ.ค. 2023
- I heard a lot of people say Ruan Mei is an evil scientist that experiments on lifeforms. That's just not true!... at least the evil part... surely she is not evil right?
In this video I hope to shed some light on why Ruan Mei does the things she does in her story quest, I hope you enjoy it.
#honkaistarrail #lore #hsr #ruanmei #update #impact #honkai #explained #drratio #goldandgears #story #aeon #herta #genius #genshinimpact #genshin - เกม
Happy new year everyone, may your wishes come true 🎆
Happy new year, man starting the new year with your video means a lot of lore comming XD
Happy New Year!
Happy new year, may your channel grow...and grow!
Ruan Mei is an interesting case of "the curse of understanding". People say that she is a sociopath or she doesn't understand emotion, but the truth is the exact opposite, she understands it too well. She KNOWS how life works, and can quantify it to an exact degree, which steals it's wonder for her.
If you ask a normal person what they think is more important, a single ant or a dog, then almost everyone is going to say the dog, for multiple reasons that can be boiled down to "the dog is more complex". But for Ruan Mei they are both the same level of simplicity.
That brings problems, because while she logically can understand emotion, where it comes from and how it works, that doesn't stop her from having emotional needs. She craves affection, which she strongly associates with research thanks to her childhood, but the understanding that comes from that research saps away at her joy once she has the actual result. That leaves her in a negative loop when she needs to create life to feel joy but can't invest herself in the life she created because it only brings her misery.
That is also why she is so interested in Aeons. They offer her a win-win condition, either she can research them indefinitely, keeping the disappointment of fully understanding something at bay, or she does understand them and can become one, letting her escape from the misery loop she is stuck with as an Aeon is defined by their path and so would not be shackled down by "unnecessary" considerations.
That is the exact definition of a sociopath. A sociopath understands emotions perfectly well logically. They just don't empathize with others. In that they don't feel sadness when seeing others sad. They however can become sad or angry. And they know why others feel sad or angry. But they don't share that feeling with them. This lead to manipulation of others to satisfy their own emotional needs which she does to the trailblazer and to Herta using them for her own means while lying to them about her true intentions. She then doesn't sympathize with her own creations so she doesn't have the motivation to meet them. She is a sociopath through and through
@@neurofiedyamato8763 Except that she DOES empathize, which is why she FORCES HERSELF to keep as much distance as she can because distance will always help in managing emotions.
If she couldn't empathize then she wouldn't have a problem with staying close if it was convenient for her, but she not only runs away as soon as possible, she ensures that any new relationship she has to make is as impersonal as she can.
It is also shown in how she "manipulates" Herta and the Trailblazer, in that she barely does, considering how absurdly blunt her approach is.
Ruan Mei used the materials that Herta gave her to research, and when that research did a potentially problematic "oopsie" she kept quiet to evade a discussion with her, like a kid trying to not get in trouble with her parents (and quite unnecessary, since Herta was perfectly aware and knows that feigning ignorance is the easiest way to deal with her).
And with the Trailblazer she is even blunter she shoves the cake that will put the relationship in a way she prefers and tells us outright that she doesn't trust us. She is unwilling to open up and the event is far more direct coercion that manipulation.
The distance is the directly desired result, not the by-product. It is also not actually that effective, which is why Ruan Mei is also a depression bomb ready to blow up and why she is so ambitious in her research, her current emotional situation is not really sustainable.
I think you present a very interesting analysis of her character
She's the kind of person that isn't afraid to go beyond extreme when it comes to her reasearch, but at the same time becomes apathetic towards things that doesn't interest her. I guess that does come with the title Genius under Nous cause so far all member of the Genius Society we've come across are people with morally grey characteristics. If she wants to be an Aeon that bad I think she does have one foot on the path to it after all Aeons are born from pursuing extremities of their goals enough to change the fate of the entire universe.
The path in question tho seems to tap upon the scope of Yaoshi's Authority given that her expertise is of Biological Sciences. Probably one of if not the mightiest roadblock she'll ever meet in the journey towards Aeonhood. If she wishes to stray away from the influences of other Aeons she must create a path most unique to her.
Maybe the path of Birth or Creation is something she can go for. Yaoishi does have jurisdiction over life but for me it seems that he/she is leaning more towards Longevity and Eternal Existence. So if Ruan Mei goes forth and touch upon the path of Birth or Creation she might just strike a good deal. This path might just encompass all that exists in the universe after all there is no existence without conception at least that is for me. Even stars are born out of dust and gases. If there is enevitable end then maybe there's also an enevitable beginning. If she can find the meaning of Genesis for all things then maybe just maybe she's can graduate from being Genius Society Number 81 to Ruan Mei "Mater Omnium" (Mother of all) Aeon of Creation. 🎉
Now whether that path is Greater than Yaoishi's or any other Aeon alive atm is a matter that still needs pondering. I guess we could also say it's just the right time for her to go crazy since The Propagation which is also an Aeon who stems from life is already dead. 💀
Anyways although her actions are questionable I like her character. I want to understand how the gears in her mind work. I'm no genius but I guess I'm just attracted towards intelligent people. 😅
Yaoshi and the path of Abundance is not really centered on "life" itself. It's about ending the finality of life with immortality. It's like a bastardization of life if anything. I think a path signifying life, birth, or creation could very much exist at the same time with no overlap with Abundance. Even if they could not co-exist because they are too similar, the path of life would become the dominant path and effectively extinguish the path of abundance because it is the broader concept. That's how it works. Creating a similar path will only end in the death of the path's Aeon if the path is less broad as a concept to a very similar path. Life, birth, and even creation are definitely all more broad as concepts than abundance as it stands.
Actually, I don't think she necessarily wants to become an Aeon. At least that's not her ultimate goal. It appears to me she is merely interested in the "answers" to question "what is the origin and fundamental essence of life", and the cultivation of life is just a method to reaching that answer.
If anything, what she is doing, or what any of the Genius Society members are doing, seems to be a mirror of Nous themself. They are merely seeking answers to questions that interests them. Aeons seems primarily driven, even restricted, by a certain ideology or philosophy, not power or governance over any concept - Ergo, if anything, Ruan Mei's philosophy is much closer to the Erudition than the Abundance anyways
@@DiamonDust Essentially Yaoshi appears to be just a branch of a tree and not the core. If Ruan Mei is able to become the seed itself then she'll definitely be able to change even the flower that it bears and purge the plague out of it's systems. What's interesting is that just as much as there are sickness in the Universe there are also countless of forces seeking to eradicate Yaoshi and his abominations. What if they met Ruan Mei. If the birth of a purer Path signifies the fall of Abundance would they be willing to gamble in a research of creating an Aeon that could swallow Yaoshi? 😂 Probably not I guess haha after all it'll become an even bigger problem if the said Aeon becomes a mix of Abundance, Propagation, and more in one.
@@zackang4731 True that it seems like Aeonhood is just another method for her to find out the essence of life more than anything else. The reason why I find her close to Abundance and Propagation is that although she has the same cadence Nous her curiosity comes from trying to understand the Fundamentals of Life. Nous on the other hand does not only carry that but also seeks to find answers to all things or maybe he has the answer to all things. Meaning it can be as minute as a how weather changes or as grand as the end of the Universe. Even Lan the Hunt was born out of Yaoshi's gaze. It's also a possibility that a Genius under Nous can go off course.
@@shinrinwitch5832 I was thinking something similar after I typed that. We saw Luocha and Jingliu about to propose some plan to Jing Yuan and the Xianzhou for how to destroy Yaoshi. Maybe it involved destroying the path of abundance with the formation of a new path, who knows. That's way easier said than done though. I'm not sure there even is any guaranteed way to become an Aeon, or to create an Aeon. Historically, it seems they have been born from major large scale events that have some relation to the path concept - and that is quite difficult to replicate for testing. Ruan Mei has also apparently created tons of life on new planets, but did not become an Aeon. Maybe it needs something even bigger. Ruan Mei is likely the closest to unlocking that answer, but I don't think she has that answer yet.
I think, as a general rule, any character that seeks to become an aeon should be treated with suspicion at the least and considered a threat when they endanger others. The creation of a new aeon is always tumultuous, especially when paths conflict, and anyone that would want that kind of power doesn't deverve to have it. Not to mention she's very manipulative- "children behave better when given random rewards" is literally all she does in SU, and I wonder how many would do as she says or trust her because of the reward showers she gives them in SU- I know I did until I saw her character trailer and found out what she actually wants. If she keeps going down the road of wanting to become an aeon I think she would have to be morally bankrupt or completely sociopathic and selfish. Also, you'd think after everything she's seen in the simulated universe she'd know that being an aeon absolutely sucks.
I think people heard the aeon bit in her trailer and simply ignored everything else she mentioned... Her character has so much more to offer, like in her trailer she also says that she has nothing to gain or to lose right before the aeon bit which basically tells us that she doesn't seek becoming an aeon for power but rather for research and understanding since she wants to find out the origin of life and thinks becoming an aeon will her with that, it makes me really pity her because she's so ambitious but there's nothing else for her to research on "life is so colorful but has nothing to do with me" she's willing to give up her human life which she values to become an aeon (knowing it sucks) beacuse there's nothing else for her to do... She's not suspicious or a threat she's just serverly misunderstood detached from reality... someone just needs to get her a therapy session or two and we should be good😭
your point is valid and sound but doesn't fit here for one major reason, her motivation is not evil or malice, she doesn't want to be an aeon for the power of it, but to learn more about life, she doesn't want to cause anyone any harm, she's simply tunnel visioned on her research, I feel people really didn't take anything else from her trailer but the Aeon part, which is a shame because she's such a complex character and one that can't just be looked over and put into "black" or "white"
@@pinkwhitney780 From her point of view it makes perfect sense- but that's because she doesn't care about anyone else. When aeons are made worlds are unmade, the fabric of reality changes texture- she doesn't care about the consequences ("nothing to lose") because to her there are no consequences ("nothing to gain"), she simply wants to know the truth behind life. Which is a fine goal from a scholarly position but when you're literally trying to create the emenator of one of the most destructive paths in history (the propagation eats planets and ruins entire star systems) inside of a space station where people live, next to a planet where people live, she doesn't get to sweep it under the rug because it didn't end up a disaster this time. People might think that she's wildly irresponsible and shortsighted but I think because she is so successful at cultivating life wherever she goes and is surrounded by life, she doesn't place any value in it. To her 'life' is just something like atoms firing in an accelerator or chemicals bubbling in a test tube, something to experiment with and understand mechanically- which is literally sociopathic. Don't get me wrong though, I think her character is really interesting and complex, and I also have complex feelings towards her, but I don't think she's fundamentally a good person, at least, not until she learns how to be. Until she learns the 'value' in life, not just understands the process of it.
@@mosho64 I absolutely agree that she is complex and interesting, but as I also said to another respondent I think she's fundamentally sociopathic and doesn't regard 'life' as having any value aside from the knowledge she can extract from it before moving on to something else. To me good and evil are kinda plastic and wiggly words that mean different things to different people, but I definitely think that she is antisocial to the degree that she doesn't care what happens to the lives of others with regards to her research or the universe when and if she does manage to become an Aeon. An Aeon being created makes cosmic changes to the universe as a whole, especially when paths collide, kill and combine. Her ascension might end the lives of billions and she doesn't even seem to consider that as a consequence. I personally think that's at least a LITTLE evil.
I definetly see a lot more nuiance in her. she isn't malicious to her own knowledge but her brain is very messed up and distorted. I sense she will cause many more problems in the future
If Ruan Mei discovered about the Honkai or the Sea of Quanta, that would be very dangerous. She might provoke an actual Honkai invasion or do the same experiment that Vita did to became Sa.
I mean honkai as a whole is alot smaller in concept than aeons she is researching.
Meeting Ruan Mei is literally an eye opener fo everybody when it comes to trusting these geniuses, Dr Ratio assessment on them is very on point and I can see why he is always so pissed in them, they literally don't care for the masses that blindly worships them. The only geniuses that you can actually trust are the likes of Screwllum and Stephen Lloyd.
Tbf, most of them didn't care for the title of Genius to begin with either. Herta actually already openly admits she doesn't care for the researchers in the Space Station. Mr. Ratio is angry at them because he believes in noblesse oblige, that the geniuses should use their genius to benefit humanity. However, each of the geniuses so far seems to be only interested in their own scholarly pursuits for their curiosity, so usually they don't even bother sharing their knowledge.
The clearest example is the universal translator and ultralong-distance comms created by Elias Salas. Apparently the Genius Society were using them around 100 Amber Eras before the Intelligentsia Guild managed to reverse engineer them. (Elias somehow has very strong feelings about getting the Genius Society members to work together, which is why he created and found a way to distribute them to the members and future members)
The first few minutes after you met Herta you'd already know that the Genius Society is full of crazies. Generally speaking, you can't really "trust" any Pathstriders since they are working on inhuman eldritch logic (the Astral Express crew is probably the sole exception since Akivili is the most humane Aeon). Dr. Ratio isn't exactly wrong, but he's also suffering from an inferiority complex towards the Genius Society. He planned the whole farce just to make a point to Screwlum.
Don't forget my man Aiden
screwllum is a pretty nice guy but even ratio calls him out for standing by and letting things play out with the phase flame. ratio really does have a point with their indifference in the pursuit of knowledge
They didn't ask to be worshipped lol, that's why they don't care about them. If anything, it is annoying and gets in the way of their research. The main moral issue with them is that they often do not share their own inventions to better society despite being the most talented inventors and scientists in existence. I think people exaggerate though, I don't think they have some obligation to share. It's their own personal passion projects, that's how they see it. They should share, but they can't be bothered or they don't want to. With all the dangerous stuff they probably invent it might actually be better that they don't bring it out into the open all the time.
Tbh, many people defined Ruan Mei as a sociopath and i think that falls flat. Sociopaths while manipulative and more dull on expressing emotions, are more impulsive and sometimes not really attuned to other people's state of mind. A more accurate term would be a Psychopath. A person who only has their goal in mind, obstacles in the way be damned. They are calculating and good planners, hyperaware of others state of mind and emotions but their way of empathy goes only as far as to how it could benefits them and further their reach to become closer to their goal.
Happy New Year, man!
I decided to read her backstory in the wiki and noticed that her focus around "life" seems to be deeply influenced because of her homeworld, a planet bleesed by the Abundance. Yoashi is know for giving life to their creations to the point they go through a rather evolution, such as the Borosins and Mara Struck.
Calling her evil would be a understatement. She is aware of her mistakes and gives no rebuttals about it. I would say that she is more akin to crazy-skewed scientist, her need of control, her rather lone wolf atittude and the rather (unhealthy) form of dealing with negative emotions such as grief or sadness gave her character of layers.
If we define "evil" as morally wrong or immoral, she certainly is evil. She thinks her Aunt's "love" is the best because she bought her snacks, she's a textbook psychopath. The nuance is that she isn't intentionally evil and malicious.
She just needs a real friend 😭
her real friend which she created and abandoned
A real friend which she drugged to forget about her.
She has some but only few, her noticable friend is Yu Qingtu who always bake cakes and deserts for her and another genius, she is #55 if I recall. TBH what she needs is a friend that is not a genius, like the members of the Express, or US to be specific.
i can be her friend
yes, and I think she is a kind hearted person.
The thing i love about her is that, she is totally different from what we have seen before, i like her unique personality.
Checking our pulses to catch us off guard, acting super frank and offering us cake? 90% of the people clicked on take a bite out her snack proving that she has completely understood human emotions, reactions and all that
To ruan mei her true love and friend is her research and the hunger to become greater and to be looked upon, she has long mastered how a human psychi works.
I think shes the kind of person who has truly realized her true talent and is ready to polish it, another extremely well written character by hyv team imo.
She also purposely had a little bits of cake left on her mouth to reassure us she isn't feeding us anything suspicious.
Shes simply a genius.
@@AW.7475 Ooh that's smart, that didn't occur to me yet
Yes, she's fascinating, I like learning more about her
@@ItzaMystri im glad someone took time out of their life to read this hahaha!
indeed, i like learning about characters with depth as well
Well Written? It would be if the game treated her like the Villain she is. Not a Friend to have a Chat on the Astral Express. What Frustrated People with Ruan Mei is the game doesn't let you be rude to her. We could be to Kafka, and Troll everyone around us but not Ruan Mei.
Non of Our Options actually showed as strong of a hate as we could to Kafka. The only one was being mad at getting eaten and still it felt mellow.
I doubt she's well written when the game never treats her that makes sense to the story. A Villain you shouldn't have on the train.
@@arnowisp6244 i respect your opinion my friend but i was merely talking about her characteristics.
With kafka? We knew kafka ever since we came into the space station. It would only be normal for us to have a being "rude" to her option since we know she has every secret we wanna know because afterall, she was the first ever person we saw when we were born. (entered the game)
So i actually don't see, why would we be mean to ruan mei? Who's clearly in a group with herta automatically making her trustable? Trolls and jokes aside
Story wise it was a wise move by hyv
If a kid kills his dad playing with his very much real gun, he isn't evil, but he still killed his dad. Ruan Mei is like that kid to me. She wants to understand life in the most complete way posible, yet she is unwilling to engage with said life in the most basic and close ways she already can and should be doing it. Her understanding of life is just... so lacking, like somebody who knows how to make a car but doesn't know how to drive. And her ignorance and unwillingness to learn escencial parts of the experience of life brings great harm to many, given she isn't just working with cars. Once again, just like the kid, she isn't evil, but is terribly irresponsable, and contrary to the kid, she SHOULD BE responsable, and mature enough to take the responsability she herself has chosen to take when decided to create sentiant life of all things. Again, not evil, but harmfull and cruel, non the less.
But she is responsible tho? She left her creations on the station because it was the best solution for them, as she said herself. There they're taken care of. She recognised that she can't respond to their affection because she lacks the understanding of it, and it was the first time she created something so emotional. If she was "cruel", as you described her, then she wouldn't care about the well-being of her creations, wouldn't care about visiting them, and just killed them off, instead of leaving at the place where they can be raised.
I agree that she mentally a child but cruel? She asking as to deal with emanator because we experience with it in simulated universe that thing doesn't even survive that long she even ready to help us if we ask her, and she also provide basic necessity to the criterrs.
I will think she cruel if she sell criterrs as food to get rid of them or make emanator eat the criterrs to make them survive much longer.
@@miqs9 agreed on this.
I think it is common for most of the genius society members to be lacking in emotions. Like just look at herta she lacks empathy same with Ruan mei and screwllum is a fk8ng robot XD
They are kinda messed up
Ironically, Screwllum seems to more human of the group and he is a robot.
I think Herta deep-down does care, she just doesn't really show it.
Stephen Lloyd and Screwllum are proably the only sensible ones in the group, I mean come on Stephen works hard to help his parents and the dude is literally the youngest of the bunch and prodigy child at that. Probably Herta too but her ego is literally high LMAOoo
@@idontspeakjapanese6289 Tell me About it
you realise we haven't seen the real Herta right for all we know she could have emotions/empathy (most likley not since she doesnt show her true self since she doesnt have 'time' for any of us hence the puppets or maybe she does because she sends the puppets who knows)
I'm convinced that hoyoverse fanbase is just illiterate and ignorant. The sheer amount of blatant misinformation regarding her character and actions, the usage of complex psychological conditions based on one single trait, and toddler level overreacting as a cherry on top. It's even more amazing than Topaz treatment.
media literacy is gone in hsr and genshin 💀
paimon literally tells us things straight in our faces and some people still have super wrong takes
True lmao like she's SUS but she's not Evil imo.
This is why ratio was given for free to everyone lol
Ah yes because trying to bring back the swarm that turned the universe into hell is definitely not evil for sure. Im sure of it
@@kyarumomochi5146 thank you for proving my point
Her whole arc makes me believe we will see more of her in the future if somehow the Aeons are directly involved in the story.
Spoilers:
If you ask Dr Ratio about Ruan Mei, this is what he says:
"How many people have been fooled by her claim to fame as a hermetic genius?
It seems more to me that she wants to explore much more than just life...
Just wait and see. The Genius Society Member with all the real ambition
is Her."
I particularly like morally grey characters they seem much more interesting than the classic justice or lawful good characters.
I still believe that she has some ambitions that would harm a lot of people. She seems to be a person to disregard other's life just for her own research.
It's also weird how she wants to go back and explore "No Man's Land". Does she wants solitude or does she hope to find life in such a barren world? Hec she might even have more research in thwre that's why she invited MC to come.
We will see her again for sure. Her character seems to be a big part of the future stories.
Hoyoverse fans can't handle villains, first Dottore now Ruan Mei 😭They want every character to be perfect and morally correct with no character depth whatsoever. I'm pretty sure they would shit their pants if they knew things Otto has done in Honkai Impact 3rd.
I know Otto also done many unquestionable thing in honkai impact 3.but ruan mei from hsr and dottore from genshin impact was worse because their mentality 🧐.Otto has reason and tragic backstory for his goal(but in my opinion it didn't justified his action).ruan mei and dottore will do any unquestionable thing so long as for their goal even without reason and tragic backstory😰😰.In my opinion, both of them can be worse monster than Otto because their lack of empathy to other people even without tragic backstory 🥴🥴
@@ahmadsyazani8221tbf we don't know what motivates ruan mei and dottore yet, it would be very unfair to compare them to otto who is a very fleshed out character in honkai lore
Both of them would be very interested and will want to know how Otto did those things rather than shitting their pants
Maybe its just me but I like that there is a character like this. She has her own motivation and is very different from other character personality's wise. I think it would be boring if every character just feel the same u know? I mean its a space-fantasy right? Some mad/genius scientist should be doing some crazy experiment. And I like the vibe of the new area. It feel like the true lab from Undertale lmao.
So what you're saying is, she could destroy ALL life on a planet, feel NOTHING about it, then her first response to the above action is to EARASE everyone's MEMORY of the disaster so she can't be held ACCOUNTABLE??? (Sure, she doesn't see it that way, but to everyone else...)
Also, she equivalates "love" with MATERIAL things (like how her birth mother doesn't give her candy but her aunt did) rather than the GIVING of the candy being a RESULT and symbol of love that her aunt had for her over the years.
So anything else like her aunt hugging her, telling her stories, and the act of caring for her as a PERSON doesn't even register in her mind and is considered useless.
To think that *screwllum* feels MORE human than her speaks volumes.
She creates life without appreciating it, and that could easily mean she doesn't care if life in general ENDS, even at HER hand, because it is considered a failure in her eyes.
That indifference will include the TRILLIONS of sentient lifeforms in the universe if she somehow becomes an AEON...
Well.. Considering the current Aeons:
- Lan(The Hunt) destroyed an entire world and all it's inhabitants just to "cure" the world of the blessings of the Abundance.
- Nanook(The Destruction) actively goes around destroying worlds and lives to hasten the end of the universe
- Yaoshi(The Abundance) gives the blessings of Abundance freely, cursing worlds with immortality and all the ills that comes with it.
- Aha(The Elation) actively messes with everyone for the sake of their entertainment, including what effectively is philosophical torture. This one is the most dangerous, because it's the most unpredictable.
The current ones are actively harming trillions of sentient lifeforms on a regular basis already. Not to mentioned most of the rest appear to be indifferent to sentient lifeforms anyway. It's also apparently ingame lore (one of the books or in the databanks about Aeons, can't remember which) that Aeons may have great power, but are severely restricted by their Path/ideology on what are the actions they can take. So it's not like they can just do anything they want, like you appear to imply.
@zackang4731 Well, her "path" at becoming an Aeon could easily be replacing the current life in the universe with ones she deems "geniuses" since what she currently see as life is "flawed"
Basically, it's an actively HOSTILE entity that is on par with the destruction path...
@@damien9683 I feel that's a mistaken interpretation. She seems to actually like the current existing lifeforms. What she finds "flawed" are her experimental creations, in that her experimental creations does not have the traits she expect the cultivation process to grant them. It's like.. trying to create a shirt but ended up with pants - it's functionally flawed as a shirt, even though it's still clothing
Herta and Screwllum Both are Human. Herta's worst trait is her Personality but she's saved Planets and seen Aeons face to face. Screwllum is a Diplomat for Human and Robot relations. Of course he has to feel human.
Ruan Mei has saved no Planet or anything heroic. She's only stuck in her research. She has no life outside of that.
@@zackang4731 Aeons can act with the Right path. Nanook as Destruction for one.
Or the Propagantion
Lan is just an A Person on Revenge given godlike power to pursue it.
Great video. Thank god someone finally understands her character. I don't know how anyone would see her as evil if they pay close attention to her motivations and actions.
That was the first thing I asked myself when I saw the title of this video. "What? She's evil?!?"
Well.. philosophically speaking, if you subscribe to the idea that certain actions are innately evil, and doing such actions makes a person evil.. Many people think like that.
I will draw parellel with Genshin (which is funny since HSR fans HATE to be associated with that Genshin's fandom), and note that many people also proclaimed Raiden Shogun as evil for legally executing a citizen who invoked the duel to the death law.
@@zackang4731it’s not about the duel. Is that she didn’t lift a finger when both sakoku and vision hunting were hurting her people.
Or that everyone acted the recent archon quest didn’t happened.
@@andytorres6052 there are quite a number of people who brought that "murder" up as a case example. Anyways the details aren't exactly the point. The point is how/why we classify an action as morally bad, THEN extrapolate to say that anyone who does that action is morally evil.
To be clear, I'm not for or against this philosophy. I just feel I can see why some people see her as evil.
My personal stance is that she isn't. Or rather, I'm finding it hard to project our sense of morality onto the Star Rail universe - It's a fantasy world where many people appears aligned with core ideologies(Paths), and the core ideology(Path) is the moral good. At a fundamental level, what they consider as good or evil is quite different from us.
it is human tendency to try categorizing something ( and even themselves) even without complete understanding of the subject,
then put all everything into one word even tho that word can't represent whole of the context.
it is in our defense mechanism, and even more obvious on certain people
I respect her cunning. Finally, a morally gray character with a complicated personality, and a goal beyond the fanciful.
She didn't "drug" us, she prevented us from talking about her secrets. We weren't drooling on the floor in some basement.
Y'all are just mad your waifu is not being cutesy towards you.
Same with Dr. Ratio. Don't get me wrong, I'd love a paladin-esque character who's good natured and inspiring, but I'm not going to _hate_ a character that tries something different.
Ok... I agree with you on all of this except one thing. She 100% drugged us lmao, come on. She secretly fed us a drug, that is drugging someone by definition regardless of what the drug is. It's not an overly harmful drug, but it's very morally grey and a bit unhinged to drug someone to keep a secret lol. That being said, I love her character for it. I tend to like flawed characters more, it would not make me dislike her.
Characters that could fit into the paladin-esque 'spectrum' I think are Gepard, Welt and Argenti.
Except Dr. Ratio didn't Drug us and the guy saved those researchers from the Annihilation gang while using it as a Learning experience to stop those researchers of their cringe worship of Herta and geniuses and be actual Researchers instead of Superfans.
Also. He's based and funny.
Right? She deffo drugged the Trailblazer which contributes to her moral-greyness which I actually love because I love trash-talking characters while playing quests LMFAO. Saying she didn't drug the Trailblazer is like saying I didn't "drug" you I just made you fall asleep to bring you to my house.
she's not evil at all. I think she's a kind hearted person.
Aeons have many adjectives to describe themselves, kind hearted isn't one of those. Becoming an aeon means getting rid of all emotions and just following your path
also fun fact, she only cares about knowing the essence of life becuase when she was little and saw that creature she felt wonder and she wants to have that feeling again
I dunno, man, I’m not trusting somebody that sends me to fight a self-exploding space creature with a baseball bat and drugs me so I can’t ask about what to expect when I get there.
She kind of reminds me of Otto from HI3 from some reason. But this time it isn't about trying to revive Kallen or human experimenation. Not unless you do count her life forms as such.
Ruan Mei is cute.
As they say, an origin story explains one’s actions, it doesn’t justify them. While she herself may not be evil as her intentions aren’t malicious, her actions that she takes being devoid of any morality, are. At that point, she doesn’t even follow the mentality of the ends justify the means as even that thought process takes into consideration whether the means can be justified
Great videos as always
Her story was understandable at the very least . I still have no clue what Argenti story was about lol
Well Idrilla and the KoB get mentioned a lot compared to the most side aeons and iirc supposedly had some major involvement in the SD and the Propagation although it's indirectly mentioned.
In my opinion, the lesson in that story is the question that Himeko asked, what is Beauty to us?
His mission (and character) is a reference to Don Quixote.
Uh, to dumb it down he is a man of great conviction who seeks and protects "beauty". Kind of a variant of a chivalrous knight focused on the concept of beauty. the most interesting part about him is that even though Idrila is said to be dead, he still follows the path of beauty and he believes in his heart that she is still alive. She is almost certainly dead, but that's what makes his relation to a "dead path" interesting. Actually not so different from how the nameless still follow Akivili's ideals.
I can change her
smashable villain
The 2nd part of the quest (after we are done with Mei) confused me a lot, I would love to watch a recap from you
genius + highly motivated + well equipped and funded + no empathy/feeling/idea towards consequences or possible harm of her actions = greater villain than the big bad evildoers who like to come out and make speeches about how evil and destructive they are. she's the type who casually created something that (if successful) could have ended so many lives, worlds, maybe entire star systems, just because she felt like it and was curious - that's worse than the usual mega-villains who know they will cause suffering, but see that as a means to an end. for Ruan Mei, suffering and destruction don't even enter her thoughts as she sets out on whatever she's doing. that means her capacity for bringing suffering is limited only by her own capabilities, and unfortunately those capabilities are very high. but on the other hand, she's good looking.
I agree Ruan Mei fill all this boxes to be a greater villain. It's scary and interesting.
You wanna know my crazy crackpot theory. I think the final act of the game is gonna be replacing the aeon of abundance with someone new and create a new path. Kafka wants to be a legend, Ruan Mei wants to become an Aeon, and Luocha/Jingliu think they can stop the Abundance with a mysterious way. I think it’s going to be a culmination of characters from all over that we’ve met, not just trying to stop the Abundance at this point, but trying to achieve their dreams by killing it.
Other think that I catch is, ruan mei mentally still act as a child she doesn't even understand how herta and screwllum think, this proofed by how she think that herta will get angry because she secretly insert her own "event" inside simulated universe. Hell herta and screwllum (especially herta) literally treat her as a child (grandchildren in case of herta).
Ruan mei literally a child that ask some "stranger" to fix her problem because she afraid her parental figure will get angry if they find her secret while in reality herta pretty much doesn't care and screwllum feel like some understanding old grandpa.
I'm understand if people call her bad person, but evil or satan incarnate? Hell no.
She literally give all basic necessity to all her criterrs and people still she doesn't care to her creation.
Thanks for this video, the continuance mission(s) were kinda unnecessarily bloated and I definitely did not keep up with the entire storyline, let alone individual character ambitions and whatnot. Thanks for summarizing it all!
There is no strict definition of evil so that is up to personal interpretation rather she is or isn't. She however didn't have ill intent. But I find that she shows sociopathic tendencies. She lacks a moral compass, have trouble sympathize and empathizing with her creations and even with the trailblazer. She also have no qualms with lying or even manipulating people close to her or people she just met.
I don’t think she’s evil, but she’s definitely far from a good person. While she’s not going out of her way to hurt people, she also doesn’t care if people do get hurt, physically or emotionally.
First one need to understand what "evil" is truly mean. She is not born wicked or evil in general, but if we can say is her action to us was "evil" then yes it is. To a certain degree it is wicked to not completely tell us what was going on when we fought her creation. That can be considered what evil is if you look at the true definition of it.
Not an evil character by specific but still her action toward us is evil despite her being bad at communicating she knows the consequences and she admits that she is irresponsible. She knows what she is doing is not good toward us. She doesn't care but that's still evil of her to do.
She is.
I understand why people hate ruan mei but I ultimately see it is as them not having good media literacy. She is a manipulator that’s the point of her character. She understands life to such an extent that she knows how to control it.
Also about her story quest 1st she definitely couldn’t have taken on an emanator on her own hence why she gets your help. 2nd the forgetting part of the drug seems really passive and might not even work correctly. She implies that in some of her text messages.
She’s not evil but very very flawed
not evil, but definitely a bad person
"Ruan Mei never conceals her desire to understand the 'life', and I'm no exception."
Other than Kafka and High Cloud Quintet members, I realized that her interesting behavior has caught my attention. Perhaps we'll encounter her again in the future, but this time, would be complete answer to the puzzle she pursuits.
She seems to lack a moral compas, or at the very least have one that is severely warped, and she is unbothered by the tremendous danger and pain/suffering she may or may not cause others, which does fit one definition of evil.
Doing ethical life-creating experiments is kinda impossible in the first place. Her creationa are living, sentient and conscious pudding-cat hybrids ffs. I cannot overstate how much of a red flag it is to nonchalantly create such beings. And dont get me started on roofying MC on first contact by making them eat a drug that takes away their free will and later causes amnesia.
Remember, actual evil is very different from the cartoonish disney version of evil. There doesn't beed to be malicious intent, apathy and indifference are enough.
And she does currently fit that bill based on her actions and what we saw of her personality.
Ruan Mei isn't evil in that she hasn't done truly evil things that we know of. However, I would say she is definitely capable of doing evil things for her obsession. I mean, many of the Genius Society have already done so (and still remain members, like Dr Primitive). She is definitely sus, and should be treated as such, but that's also part of why I love this game's world.
I CAN FIX HER
😭😭
We all can TBH, a lot of scientists IRL are like that especially the past ones 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Sadly you can’t, she will experiment on you
for me "evil" is currently an exxagerated analysis for her, i would say just an irresponsible mother😔
I just see her as ambitious tbh
The creepiest thing about Ruan mei and her parents is how she sometimes acts as if they were still alived.
I still don't get it.. Why people feel pity for her?? The amount of bad and moraly wrong things she done is insane.
Chill man😂, many people on the same side with you. My opinion: She iss that bad and I'm pretending not to see her existance lol🙂😃 Now I think what would be best for her is to go back to that No Man Land, isolated from human society, continue her research, become whatever she want ( people say Aeon then Aeon) and be happy forever after with her success. EASY🎉 she need ThErapY or FriEnd? NO no need to fix that cause she doens't need any so why bother. We just need peace with no trouble maker like her jump in the story and make a mess, just to left us to take the janitor work for her. WIN WIN situation❤. I hope you will love the idea hehe.
fr
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Hm, how very interesting, I wonder what else we’ll learn about her?
Really people hate her? She never kill anyone, Raiden Shogun did it more worst and comunity still like her..
So shes basically an anti hero that makes me love her even more
So I assume Herta didn't allow Ruan Mei to do research on her? Because like Herta is literally Emanator of Erudition
Well to be honest, we don't even know if herta has a physical body, and even if she has one she might have reasons to not show anyone.
Also, Ruan Mei was worried Herta and Screwllum wouldn't like her experiments regarding Aeons and Emanators.
@@MrLoreAddictPretty sure that Herta and Screwllum are already aware of her plans, they most likely decided to opt for silent wisdom and just to observe, just like what Screwllum did during Dr. Ratio's quest, he choose to observe instead if immediately saving the kidnapped individuals.
I don't think there are ANY Emanators of Erudition. Where did you read about that?
Because I've not even encountered the idea that Nous blessed anyone, merely a gaze. Similar to how Nanook has gazed upon the Trailblazer early on in the game.
@@zackang4731 at the begining of the game when we play Kafka and interact with portrait of Herta, SW tells us that she is Emanator of Erudition
@@Badieon ah ok found it thanks.. hmm does that imply all the Genius Society members are Emanators? Or is Herta a special Genius
Tbh, Ruan Mei is evil and misunderstood
Ruan Mei isn't evil she is just a psychopath
"Ruan Mei is not evil"
Well, yeah she is just someonewho don't think whether her action are evil or good, neither before she commit them nor after, thus lot of her action are straight up evil. All thing considered calling her as such is not wrong, but she certainly not malicious.
Let's not forget:
- she force fed us truth syrup which prevented the trailblazer from spealing about her like why?,her existence is not a secret,the scenes were hilarious though.
- shw wants to become an aeon at any cost.
- she uh,tormented her test subjects until they wished for death and um committed unalive.... multiple times......yeah that's fucked up.
- she created intelligent creatures and set them free in herta's space station,and let's not forget causing the little cuties an existential crisis.
- she fed fruits of immortality to some test subject to stay alive longer.
She's 100% no doubt evil...but that doesn't make her a bad character
when did she do the third and fourth ones?
@@ichimafu go read in game records i forgot where exactly vut it's in the new zone of the the space station....no wonder she hated her little creations,these tiny cuties have been through hell with her
My definition, I believe she is a psychopath
As soon as Ruan Mei said she wanted to know what it takes to become an Aeon, that immediately threw up red flags. Ruan Mei thought it was simply a "mistake" to try recreating freaking EMANATOR in Herta's basement, and didn't care about the catastrophic consequence until now. She struggles to care about her pet life forms, even after MC repeatedly indicates Ruan Mei should. She screams sociopathic behavior that sounds typical of the Genius Society.
Dr. Ratio is an asshole, but turns out, he cares a lot about trying to better humanity. So to me, his dislike of the Genius Society is valid.
Shes definitely evil but only because of apathy
1. She drugged us
2. She abandoned her creations like a dad abandoning his kids to get the milk.
3. She can touch me, but I can't touch her?
4. She created a giant swarm bug in the space station.
5. She wants to be an aeon.
Idk, she might be misunderstood, but I think she actually is a villain. Not all characters must be good, but that doesn't mean they are likeable either. Me personally, I like her as a unit but that is basically just it. She is hot but there are a lot in this game who is hot anyways so eh.
first
even if she was, I am far to lesbian to care if she's evil
I agree with you but she really sucks like i know people with communication issue but being that bad is almost dumb
Listening to this made me realize Ruan Mei isn't well written or even Nuanced.
No. She's unintentionally Evil. Like almost Comically so.
No wonder the devs thought it wouldn't be off if the Trailblazer made them a Guest of the Astral Express. We aren't supposed to hate her this much because she's supposed to be unintentionally evil. Not actually evil. And yet the Writers failed at that. She just too evil in the Trailblaze quest to be anything else.
Going out of her way to dodge responsibility for her actions is why we hate her so much. It conflicts with how the game has us treat her b
i dislike her so much... she do all kind of thing that endanger other and she abandoned her creation making them insecure and vulnerable... she created an unpredictable monster... she was so manipulative... she literally drugged us and people hype her so much just because she a pretty girl... she is a mad scientist that wanna play god and if she was a male there no way she would be overhype like this and everyone would dislike him... her animation is no better than Yukong or is she prettier than Ting Yun... she is the first limited 5* Harmony character but never the last so i hope the next limited Harmony won't be so dislikeable and i am getting sick and tired of support character being Chinese or woman
Hanabi coming to kick you in the shin
The statement about if Ruan Mei was male doesn't make sense. Are we forgetting Dr.Ratio?? He watched us fight Scaracabaz and did nothing, he also had possesion of the phase flame all along,using it to save the scientists but also to try to make the scientists start doubting the Genius Members and make a mini-revolution in the space station.He is also extremely rude and blunt with everything he says and actively dislikes people who are ignorant and the people who worship the Geniuses.And people love him for that. Ruan Mei's morally grey motives are the main factor a lot of the player base likes her,she is a breath of fresh hair for all the morally good characters the game has.
The last stamement of the Chinese or women characters is weird?Like your playing a chinese gacha game made for men,and we are currently on the Xianzhou patches,it makes sense that most of the release characters are either chinese or women.
And spoilers of the characters of 2.0. Hanabi/Sparkle is also a 5 star harmony character and she is part of the masked fools and maybe even an emanator but that is not confirm,so you will have to expect her to be probably unlikable as well
@AguaDespotave bro really comparing humanityless genius society members to someone who was going to interfere if we were going to die to the bug to doctor ratio
chill, she wont hurt you, she's not real ...
All characters don’t have to be morally good