u/Educational-Fun-2228

Note: Usually I make it known that the post isn't strictly about romance, but this time it's different. This one is 100% intended for shippers. You can read it or skip this one, whichever you prefer. The Traveler will be Aether this time around, but everything applies to both twins (as always).

And just to be clear, even though I'm discussing romantic implications this is still within the domain of shipbait. I'm not saying Kaveh and Alhaitham make out with the Traveler off-screen, but the devs sure don't mind if we think that.

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Point one: Shady introduction

The way our dynamic duo got introduced in Layla's event was...different. We saw their shoes while Alhaitham mumbled something about wanting to nap on the job. Then we got a view of their backs before finally getting to see them properly. Flashy much?

The rest of the gang didn't get such a dramatic introduction, so these two immediately grabbed my attention. Furthermore; if we take a look at Alhaitham's previous appearances we notice that he often enters our screen this way. The camera tends to linger on his body parts - his torso, his arms, his legs - anything except his face, honestly.

This indicates a hidden agenda.

After all, avoiding one's gaze is cause for suspicion since it hints at the presence of secrets. As social beings, we look to a person's face to gauge their intentions. Hiding their expressions from our view causes a bit of unease and suspense.

It also sets up a secretive tone for their presence, which means we have to look past the surface and pay attention.

Point two: Jingling keys

The writers think we're cats (kinda).

They love to use "chaos" and bickering as a way to distract us from something deeper that might be going on in the scene — as if they're jingling keys in front of a cat to divert its attention. Of course, that's not the only reason Kaveh & Alhaitham act disruptively. Yet once they start acting childish we should pay attention since it's usually a cover for something else.

Such was the case during this event.

Point three: The lies

If bickering was used as a distraction, then what were we being distracted from?

To put it simply: their lies.

Alhaitham is usually the one who can't stick to honesty, but this time Kaveh wasn't very forthcoming either.

We all heard Kaveh say that he had lots of free time, right? But if that were the case, why would he clown on Alhaitham so hard? If Kaveh had "time in spades" as he claimed, he would be living just as leisurely as the scribe.

But was that true?

Well, no. It wasn't.

He was genuinely offended when Alhaitham called him sedentary.

Kaveh replied by saying: "Excuse me? I've been going about work as normal, thank you. And — might I add — you do way less work than me!"

This implies that Kaveh didn't have much free time because he'd been busy with traveling and projects, presumably in the rainforest. In other words, Kaveh lied about having free time just so he could join the desert mission.

As for Alhaitham's lie, well, he lied about the reason for appearing at the café. If you believed he was there to buy coffee, congratulations — he tricked you. [Me too though, it took me a while to realize...]

It was already odd to see them buying coffee together since the guys have a roster, and judging by the way Mehrak acted it seems like it was Kaveh's turn to go shopping. We know Kaveh lets Mehrak fetch coffee quite often, so seeing Alhaitham do it probably caused some confusion.

Yet even if we assume it was Alhaitham's turn to shop, he did not give a single flip about the coffee beans. He left them behind like they were dirt. We know he's not distracted by Kaveh's ranting so he didn't accidentally forget them. He straight-up left the purchase without a single care — knowing that Kaveh is probably gonna forget to take it (which would've happened if Paimon hadn't reminded him).

So why was Alhaitham even there?

Like Kaveh, Alhaitham was looking for an excuse to see a cherished friend. These goofballs couldn't be open and honest about missing Aether terribly. No no, they had to act all suspicious and weird because they're hopeless (affectionate).

Point four: No care for the mission

They didn't care about the desert mission.

At all.

They pretended to care, sure, but we have several hints that tell us otherwise.

To start, Alhaitham expressed his interest in the expedition by eavesdropping on the group and even questioning Layla directly, yet he was a pain in the 🍑 during the trip.

Very contradictory.

Mind you, that's not how this man acts if he's truly invested. We saw him take things seriously during the AQ and his SQ, so much so that his attitude impressed even Paimon.

No one had to drag him into Deshret's ruins or beg him to do something. In fact, he often took initiative when he deemed something to be important. Now contrast that to his utterly infuriating attitude during Layla's event.

That man did not care.

Kaveh wasn't any different, he just hid his disinterest quite well. If we look back though, he lost track of his thoughts two times during their bickering at the café.

Do you remember which things he forgot?

Coffee beans and the problem in the desert.

A pattern is emerging.

If a topic is easily forgotten, chances are that it's not that important. So when we look at everything collectively, we realize that neither of the guys cared about the coffee or the mission. That's not why they appeared, and it's not why they agreed to come along.

And really think about this.

Kaveh was raging the entire time about being overworked. Not to mention that he would need to take time out of his busy schedule for this unnecessary trip. Quite a tedious and inconvenient task, to say the least.

On the flip side, Alhaitham would rather slack off and stay at home than go anywhere, yet suddenly he had the motivation to do extra work out in the desert (even if he dragged his feet).

Both men would have every reason to sit this one out — especially since no one asked them to tag along — yet they still went, right as the Traveler appeared in Sumeru again.

Not subtle at all, guys.

And to drive the point home how little they cared about the mission compared to the rest, just look at how their inner thoughts differ once the group meets Thoth.

Tighnari: "Quite the one-sided conversation."

Sethos: "Is this what the Ibis king was like?"

Cyno: "He seems quite eloquent. I wonder if he plays cards..."

Paimon: "That all went over Paimon's head..."

Traveler: "So, when the notes mentioned something being "off" with the Ibis King...It was because he's in the form of a cat."

While the rest are musing about the talking cat they had just met, this is what these two goofs are focusing on:

Kaveh: "Hah! I knew Mehrak was a great name. Go me!"

Alhaitham: "Let's see...What page was I on again? Should've brought a bookmark."

One is praising his own taste in names, and the other is lamenting his missing bookmark. Can't you tell how invested they are in this whole ordeal?

[heavy sarcasm]

And speaking of sarcasm...

Point five: They knew

While fans didn't think twice about their curious behaviour during the event (aside from thinking it was a bit ooc and gimmicky), the guys themselves knew what was going on. After all, they know each other too well to be easily fooled.

We see this through their jabs and sarcasm.

For example, Kaveh called out Alhaitham's lie right in front of us: "Oh please, I know you. Half the battle was over the minute you said you were "curious." We couldn't stop you from joining if we tried."

What was immediately noticeable (at least in the EN version) was Kaveh's extremely sarcastic tone. We also saw his annoyed expression and heard the way he mocked Alhaitham's supposed "curiosity."

All of this indicates that he knew Alhaitham's true motive, which had nothing to do with the mission. I mean, think about it. Kaveh was yapping about Alhaitham being lazy and "unemployed," yet when the scribe wanted to participate in the mission he was met with even more sarcasm.

Huh...?

Shouldn't Kaveh be glad that Alhaitham took his nagging to heart? Well, he would've been glad if he hadn't seen through Alhaitham's nonsense. The scribe continued to slack off in the desert until Kaveh was close to crashing out (as expected).

In other words, Kaveh was right to mock Alhaitham's "interest." This wasn't about his curiosity, the gods, or the ruins. Alhaitham just wanted to be close to a certain someone.

Not to worry. Alhaitham "returned the favor," but that happened a bit later in the desert. Once their groups reunited in the ruins, Kaveh and Paimon were kinda yelling back and forth in a large chamber.

To that, Alhaitham stated: "(...) You don't have to shout...Of course, if you're expressing your excitement at being reunited, by all means...pretend I never said anything."

Alhaitham acted as if this was directed at Paimon, yet he gave a pointed look in Kaveh's direction afterward, suggesting that he was actually addressing the blonde.

Chances are that he wasn't talking about one singular moment either. He was insinuating that Kaveh became louder and more expressive due to seeing the Traveler again.

All that joy had to get out somehow, right?

In fact, the first thing Kaveh apologized for at the café was for being kinda loud. So this was a theme since the start. Then in the desert, Alhaitham hinted that he knew all too well what got Kaveh so excited.

It's quite funny to view the entire situation with this in mind. Like, imagine being Kaveh and trying to get Alhaitham out of the house for once, only for the scribe to willingly travel for a blonde twink without being asked. And you can't really say anything because you dropped everything to do the same thing.

These two are frying me 😭

I know the devs won't do it, but we should get a scene where the Traveler gets squished between their chests while they argue over who gets to spend time with their friend.

Point six: Framing reveals everything

This is the part where we look at the composition of the scenes.

A lot can be communicated without words simply by adjusting the framing. It's a useful tool in visual storytelling, and unsurprisingly, several shots reveal just how laser-focused the guys were on Aether.

The relevant screenshots will be in the comment section, as always. I'll explain the basics here, and then y'all can take a peek below to see what I'm talking about.

1) Alhaitham's coat [romantic]

In a few frames, we can see Alhaitham's coat (and body) enveloping Aether, almost like a shield. It looks somewhat possessive in its execution. The Traveler is "boxed" into the corner of the screen while Alhaitham's presence, which is frankly overwhelming, acts as a barrier between Aether and the rest of the world. It's rife with romantic undertones.

2) The umbrella [romantic]

We have a similar situation with Kaveh, but in his case, it's the umbrella at the cafe that visually separates Aether from the group, thus highlighting him as the center of Kaveh's attention.

While Kaveh talks about helping his friends there's an unnatural pause as he glances at Aether, which is when we notice the unusual framing.

That odd little pause suggests that this focus isn't caused by platonic friendship, but by something else. I'm sure people know that hesitation implies how there's something more to this, since a strategically placed pause changes the context.

If it were truly platonic, surely Paimon would be included in the framing as Kaveh's friend, but she simply isn't. Neither was she included in Alhaitham's example. Hint hint.

And before you assume I'm reaching, I'm really not because the devs included platonic framing as well; which does include both Aether and Paimon.

3) Count on your friends [platonic]

While Kaveh was yapping about the importance of relying on your friends, Paimon and Aether were the focus of the shot while Layla was outside of the frame.

No one is surprised at this point.

I'm not saying that Kaveh hates Layla, but Paimon and Aether were the friends Kaveh came to support. And this time there were no odd pauses that would indicate that he meant something romantic.

So in conclusion; if Aether is the focus of the frame, there are odd pauses and insinuations of something more than friendship. If Aether and Paimon are the focus, the context is platonic.

The message is crystal clear, and the same sentiment is repeated with Alhaitham. If it's only Aether, the vibe is protective, possessive, and yes, romantic. Yet when Paimon gets included the vibe mellows out into something platonic.

4) Goodbye, you three [platonic]

Alhaitham wasn't saying goodbye to three people before packing for the trip. What I mean by that is: his words may have addressed three people, but the framing revealed his true feelings.

Once he moved away from the group, the shot focused only on Paimon and Aether as they waved him goodbye, excluding Layla who was standing right there next to them. In reality; the scribe was concerned only with two people, not three.

This also isn't me saying that Alhaitham hates Layla. I'm simply saying that when it comes to their motives for joining the mission, Alhaitham and Kaveh were there for the Outlander. Layla just happened to be there as well.

Point seven: The symbolism of coffee

I won't go too deep into this, but I'd like to point out how there's something strange going on with coffee (as a symbol).

This is the second time coffee beans have somehow brought Aether and the guys together. If we recall, Kaveh was busy with shopping in Cyno's quest when he stumbled on Cyrus and the gang, which is how he and Alhaitham got involved with the mission.

Kaveh was buying coffee beans back then (among other things), and Cyno's entire quest was oddly coffee-themed. Even this time around, shopping and coffee were somehow "responsible" for bringing these friends together.

Very interesting.

In fact, the first time we ever heard of Alhaitham and Kaveh working together (successfully) was when they picked out a gift for Aether. It was revealed in Kaveh's first birthday letter, and do you remember what the gift was?

Yeah, coffee beans.

So not only did these two agree on which coffee beans to send despite their differing tastes, but the letter seems to imply that their collaboration went smoothly. Bickering is less important than gifting your cute friend, huh?

There's a curious connection there.

Anyways, that's it for now.

I'm excited for the upcoming quest! 🫶

Note: Am I confident in this theory? Not at all, yet I want to discuss the possibility. And let's get this out of the way: Ship what you want. Even if there's some truth to my observations, I highly doubt the devs will come out and confirm anything due to the amount of shipbait surrounding these two. Also, spoilers for Linnea's quest.

Anyway; if you've seen some of my previous theories, you already know that I suspect Alhaitham to be an evolved human. Forbidden knowledge is a potent mutagen that affected the desert region, and its presence pushed Deshret's followers into a new stage of human evolution.

The mutation sharpens their senses, increases their physical strength, their agility, and their intellect. It even enhances their beauty.

It might also affect certain personality traits, such as pride, stubbornness, protectiveness, selfishness, and altruism. How the person turns out also depends on where they live, their habits, and their diet.

Despite what it looks like on the surface, I wager that Alhaitham and Kaveh have hidden desert roots. This means they've likely been affected by the mutation.

To put it simply: I don't think they're regular humans and I will die on this hill. I haven't mentioned Kaveh in this context before, but I've long grouped him into the same category. Furthermore, heir origin might be in Aaru Village. And I suspect that the two men even share a family lineage.

To be more precise, they might be twins.

I've long noticed several motifs they share with Aether & Lumine (& Paimon).

To summarize: "The sun & moon motif [yin & yang if you prefer it], the architect & the scribe motif [the Traveler with their magical teapot where they design things & the Abyss sibling with the magical scroll].

There are shared themes of finding one's family, the notion that a home can be a person rather than a place, choosing different paths in life, a mysterious floating companion that's important to the pair, and the concept of fate playing tricks.

Plus, the story repeatedly points out the parallels between characters [example; Siraj claiming that Paimon & the Traveler are like Alhaitham]"

Even the recent KFC collab made me pause. What many don't know is that Kaveh likely referenced Parsifal in the promo video; a figure inspired by Robin Hood who lived at the time of Mondstadt's aristocracy.

And you see, Parsifal had other siblings.

While he was a legitimate heir, Eberhart was his half-brother, an illegitimate son who sought to regain the glory of the noble families through ruthless means, which involved removing his legitimate brothers, Parsifal and Ingbert.

Eberhart encouraged Parsifal’s idealistic, chivalric nature and "phantom thief" antics to goad him into rebelling against the aristocracy. Eberhart acted as a major antagonist in Parsifal's life, engineering his downfall to secure his own standing within the noble Landrich family.

While the collab has Alhaitham and Kaveh working together, I'm sure you see the similarities. Kaveh plays a noble thief, attending the banquet to steal a valuable item. Meanwhile, Alhaitham appears to be the antagonist of the story, supporting the aristocracy until he's revealed as a traitor.

In lore, Eberhart shares some traits with Alhaitham, such as being able to decipher old inscriptions and easily manipulating those around him.

Kaveh's design and lore likewise have subtle nods to Parsifal, such as his blue feather and his mother being compared to an aristocratic lass. This doesn't prove anything conclusively, but it's worth mentioning.

What made me consider this theory further was Linnea's Story Quest. It's one thing to suspect there's a plot about long-lost siblings, but it's another to be served such a story on a silver platter (even if it's not directly related to the guys).

Truth be told, it wasn't long before Celaeno started reminding me of Alhaitham.

The dark aesthetic, downturned eyes, eavesdropping, stalking, evading questions, reserved, able to see the future [I suspect Alhaitham can do this through his predictive abilities if nothing else], and of course, she has a "dislike" for a person that's the exact opposite of her — her estranged sister.

Sounds very familiar, yes?

On top of that, Celaeno described her abilities as "feeble" in comparison to the rest of humanity, much like Alhaitham called his combat abilities feeble in comparison to the Eremites — and then it hit me.

Both characters might have a problem with telling the truth, and they also share a distaste for curiosity. That's a lot of similarities for me to simply brush them off.

Then I looked more closely at Linnea's and Celaeno's design, and honestly? I have a hard time believing that Celaeno is older.

To me, they could pass for twins.

Granted, they could simply be sisters with a slight age gap, but since the goth fae is giving me strong Haitham vibes, I reserve the right to doubt her story (for now).

If she lied about their age difference and/or withheld crucial information about their origins, then the reason Linnea was switched as a child isn't entirely true either. Perhaps it had to do with the sisters themselves rather than it being a coincidence that Linnea was born later. We can only speculate.

This brings us back to Kaveh and Alhaitham. Whether others agree with me on this or not, their designs have baffled me for a very long time since they also reminded me of twins. Not identical twins, but fraternal twins who act as polar opposites (like Lyney & Lynette.)

I'm aware that Alhaitham is canonically Kaveh's junior, but there's a slight chance that this has to do with their dynamic at the Akademiya rather than their true ages. In fact, it struck me as a little odd when Alhaitham questioned Kaveh's seniority during the interdarshan championship.

Kaveh's response was, "What, am I supposed to earn the title of upperclassman now?!"

Interesting. Why was it ever suggested that seniority could be earned? It's funny how this reminded me of Aether & Lumine again.

In Traveler's voiceline 'About Being Siblings,' they say the following:

"Lisa and Amber feel a bit like sisters (...) Amber often runs errands for Lisa. Older siblings asking their younger siblings to do things for them so they can slack off is a rather common practice. But, my brother/sister and I are the same age, so we had to decide these things via rock-paper-scissors."

Since they're equals, the twins let luck decide who gets to be the metaphorical younger sibling. It's very cute and wholesome, but it also displays a level of fairness. Having only one twin do all of the work could cause resentment.

Now back to the roommates. Only once I paid attention to rank and seniority did I notice that Alhaitham and Kaveh "battle" over it no matter which aspect of their life we look at. At the Akademiya, Kaveh is the senior and he wants Alhaitham to respect his status, yet that doesn't always go over well.

Meanwhile, Alhaitham has the upper hand as the landlord of their home. Kaveh does the chores because he feels obligated plus the scribe likes to slack off, yet when Kaveh objects to this passive attitude the results aren't always positive.

In fact, that's why Kaveh was close to crashing out during Layla's event. When it comes to work; Alhaitham does next to nothing. When it comes to household chores; he does next to nothing.

Yet Alhaitham has it easier in life regardless.

It's not fair to Kaveh, especially if they're secretly the same age. It's still unfair if Kaveh is canonically older, so you can understand his frustration.

It feels like they're constantly battling for the privileges of being the older brother, yet they're "locked" in their respective roles by what could be seen as fate. Unlike Aether & Lumine, they don't get to draw lots because Kaveh keeps losing on that front.

This could just be a coincidence, it could be a narrative tool, I know, but it's still there, and it still raises some questions.

What's also interesting is that Linnea and her sister are "Augury Birds," a very rare type of fae. And as we all know, Kaveh and Alhaitham are associated with birds. From their constellations to their designs, all of it is avian-inspired to a noticeable degree.

I checked all constellations of Sumeru characters, and the only other character with a bird constellation is Layla. You know, the girl we recently found out has a lineage going back to Tulaytullah. And perhaps she isn't the only one. I'm guessing this is also linked to Kaveh & Haitham even though they don't resebmle Layla physically.

For those who may not know, Aaru Village was founded by refugees from Tulaytullah and other declining desert kingdoms. It further fuels my suspicions, as you can imagine. I wouldn't be too shocked if Layla and the guys were distant relatives.

And isn't it funny that they share a theme of duality? Alhaitham & Kaveh have their mirroring while Layla has a split personality. If "night Layla" had her own body it would be the same thing as with the guys. After all, night Layla is the polar opposite of "waking Layla".

Do you see what I mean?

I may be a delusional crazy person, but I blame Hoyo for my descent into madness. And since we've gone this far into the rabbit hole, why not go a bit further?

Remember Sachin?

That man openly admitted to conducting research on human nature in the desert, and something tells me he wasn't always concerned with the ethical side of things. What's more, he described his offer to Kaveh as his "very last experiment".

Kaveh was technically a test subject.

Right in front of our noses.

There have been other unethical experiments going on in the desert involving humans, so is it really that hard to imagine that someone (and I'm not pointing any fingers) decided to split up a pair of twins and put them with different foster families?

All alleged.

All a conspiracy theory.

But, it wouldn't be all that surprising.

There are a lot of options as to what went down (if anything did), and it includes some very unsavory research involving children. Which could also explain Dehya's curious abandonment. She might've been a victim of unethical research as well.

I'm not saying this is for sure true, but I will say that the game created some curious links between Kaveh and Dehya.

To start; both of them have blonde hair. Well, Dehya has blonde accents on her dark hair while Kaveh has darker accents on his blonde hair (an odd inversion btw), yet blonde hair is rare on characters from Sumeru. Not to mention that blonde locks are most often spotted on Eremites.

Both of them have lion symbolism. Dehya's is quite obvious while Kaveh's is a bit more subtle, like the Kshahrewar logo and his lion keychain. Both characters value beauty, they're associated with the color crimson, and to my knowledge, they're the only ones with a self-healing mechanic.

They also feel restless; with Dehya refusing a job at the Akademiya because it didn't suit her character and Kaveh constantly traveling for his work, even if it means going into the desert. And while it was played as a joke, drunk Faruzan mistook Dehya for Kaveh, calling her a genius architect.

Are the writers saying they're family too? Or are they hinting that children like Dehya and Kaveh are unique in some way, and therefore targeted for human experimentation?

I don't know, but it seems connected. And if any of this is even remotely correct, then Alhaitham could have similar motivation as Celaeno for befriending Kaveh.

What if he came to the Akademiya not just for his education, but also to find his brother and unlock Kaveh's full potential? Perhaps Kaveh's abilities were stunted just like Linnea's. Alhaitham didn't seek him out because he wished him well, but because he was jealous of him.

We're told that seeing the future is a heavy burden to bear, which means Alhaitham would've suffered in silence if he had such abilities. Perhaps like Celaeno, he assumed his sibling had it easy only to find out that Kaveh's life was in shambles.

After witnessing Linnea's life, Celaeno was grieved and wished to comfort her sister; to reassure her that she still had a family. Her wish to see Linnea suffer was quickly abandoned upon learning the truth.

So what if that's what Alhaitham is doing? Though unlike Celaeno, I'm not so sure Alhaitham would've told Kaveh the secret about their background. Not yet, at least. But this is a wild guess, it could be that Kaveh does know yet he didn't take it well.

Whatever the case may be, it's a bit odd that Alhaitham treats Kaveh as though the architect has no family attachments when he does — just not in Sumeru. It might be a teeny-tiny detail, seemingly insignificant. Yet it's not helping my delulu. If their biological parents are long dead, then Kaveh has no "real" family except Alhaitham.

And the scribe knows this.

Mind you; it's also possible that some sort of magic/alchemy is at play with these twins. People have long speculated that Aether & Lumine were created through alchemy or similar means, which means they're more like two halves of a single being.

Think in terms of a split Azhdaha or Furina.

This could also be the case with Linnea & Celaeno, as well as Kaveh & Alhaitham. There are still many unknowns and uncertainties, yet such a storyline would fit right in with Genshin's core themes.

That's all for now ✌️

Ps. Just for fun, I googled what "Linnea" means...you can draw your own conclusions:

"A twinflower (Linnaea borealis) is a delicate, creeping, evergreen dwarf shrub found in cool, northern hemisphere forests. It gets its name from its highly fragrant, pink-and-white, bell-shaped flowers, which hang in identical pairs at the end of short, slender, Y-shaped stems."