pent | Memories are the Prelude to Dreams: Aventurine & Dr. Ratio Analysis

When you bid farewell to loved ones, you should cry while they can still hear you. That's the only way they'll know just how many people love them.

Honkai: Star Rail version 3.8! I was very excited for this patch because I love Penacony. The patch did not disappoint, and there was so much juicy Penacony lore. Plus, I love Firefly and the Sellaron Hunters, Robin and Sparkle got more fleshed out, and Constance is a really cool character.

But best of all, my two blorbos Aventurine and Dr. Ratio got screen time. Together, even! I could talk about each of their scenes all day, but I'll just stick to one scene today.

Below is a spoilery analysis of some thoughts pried from their heads.

Deepest Desires

Jade's Cornerstone, as we learned in earlier Penacony patches, reveals people's desires. When she uses it on everyone within Ena's Dream in 3.8, we get to explicitly see the desires of a few characters.

Gambler's Wish

I hope that I'll see her again after I die. Then she'll know that I, too, am only human... And all humans will find happiness in the end.

Aventurine's desire is really interesting to me. Most of the other characters' wishes are pretty simple and straightforward. Aventurine's desire to be seen as a person is shrouded in pain.

Assuming that "she" is his sister, it makes sense that Aventurine has a lot of built up resentment against her and the rest of the Avgin clan. A lifetime of trauma has probably created a need to pin all this injustice on someone or something, and it's easy to target near his origin point. Aventurine despises his good luck and thinks of it as a punishment or curse, and he does not like when people use him for his luck.

Unfortunately, that's his whole life: Aventurine was revered as a holy object with the Avgins, then treated as property during his enslavement, and is currently living as a valuable asset for the IPC. All he wants is the freedom to be human, himself, a person... without any weighty expectations or conditions.

Notably, and despite his insecurities, Aventurine very strongly thinks of himself as human, and as someone who deserves happiness. Which brings us to Dr. Ratio's wish...

Mundanite's Wish

One day, those who live will all come to understand how they need to think to create their own happiness.

Dr. Ratio's zealous drive for equality is quite interesting to me.

Even in the deepest depths of Dr. Ratio's guarded, private thoughts, he perceives himself as a Mundanite... someone who is just an ordinary human who should be perceived as such. No one human should be revered or held above their peers, no matter what they accomplish.

In a touching way, it's exactly what Aventurine wishes for. It makes sense that Dr. Ratio and Aventurine work so well together, being so deeply idealistically aligned.

Dr. Ratio notably excludes himself when speaking about his philosophies: and it's interesting that he distinctly does here, too. In his deepest desires, Dr. Ratio's wish is not even in the first person. He is strictly thinking about the betterment of others.

So, our gloomy doctor wants others to find happiness; his own feelings as an individual are completely irrelevant.

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