[2.2] Death of the Sweet Dream: The Complete Story of Penacony - Honkai: Star Rail Lore

*POST VIDEO NOTES & CORRECTIONS* - Gallagher probably isn't an Emanator of Enigmata (as far as we know) but he was suggested to be one (and the data bank entries kinda suggest it, but they're unreliable), and I neglected to correct that later in the recap. - I made a similar mistake with the power of clockwork. Clockwork's power stems from the Trailblaze but behaves similarly to Robin + Sunday's Harmony tuning power. It was portrayed as a Harmony power until Dreamflux Reef, and I neglected to correct the statement at that point in the recap. Sorry about that! - I did say that Aventurine was aware of Acheron being an Emanator of Nihility, but he was only aware of her being an Emanator. WE knew she belonged to Nihility and I merged the statements together incorrectly. - If anyone has a good idea about how to timestamp this, hit me with it. I reordered so much stuff, I dunno where to start. Enjoy?

I now realise that the whole reason for the fall of Ena's Dream is basically that a confused child got lost and stumbled into a place he wasn't supposed to be in

when the world needed her most.. she returned!

I feel the need to mention that Oswaldo Schneider, the IPC guy mentioned at the very end is, a former Nameless, the guy responsible for the Katica-Avgin Extinction Event (why Aventurine is the only Avgin left) and the reason why Boothill's adoptive daughter is dead. Oswaldo Schneider was responsible for the IPC 'takeover' of both of their homeworlds and killed both of their families in the process. I wouldn't be surprised if Aventurine actually ended up teaming up with Boothill to get subtly get revenge on Oswaldo Schneider.

Its so funny that firefly is the one that overpowered blade and forced him to listen to elios proposition

Another hint about the true nature of the dream also exists all the way back in 2.0. By finding all the Origami Birds you receive a message from Dr. Blues, one of the main Origami Birds. The important part is that he asks you to meet him in the hotel in reality. If you were observant you would have noticed the same thing Black Swan noticed about Misha, a dream entity in reality. This is rather cool because if you went out of your way you’d have a major piece of the puzzle early all for exploring around, a really cool reward when you really think about it.

Penacony got the attention of the Aeon of Lore, Ashikai. I feel so blessed.

One little detail about Gopher Woods name, that I find cute and albeit a little on the nose for him, is that the material he’s named after was used to construct Noah’s Ark. I’m sure Ashikai, and others, know this, just felt like sharing that little tidbit, in case there’s anyone that didn’t.

I love how you touched on the siblings' wings. And it goes beyond the Harmony Trailblazer's splash art. Robin has her wings full on top of her dress, and is capable of opening them with no problems (as we see in her skill). But Sunday only has one full wing, the other is clipped and as such he keeps both under his coat, meaning he couldn't open them even if he wanted to do so. Also, with their head wings is similar. Robin's are intact, but one of Sunday's is pierced. I also adore how Robin's colors are of the Harmony, while Sunday's are of the Order. They ate with those designs.

I'm pretty certain that Gopher Wood was cool with Sunday changing the plan, because that was his plan from the start. He "groomed" Sunday into the role, so to speak, after the discussion about the Charmony dove that showed Sunday as the more suitable candidate for the role of the person keeping everyone dreaming.

ASHIKAI DOING HSR VIDS!?!?!?!? More please. MORRRREEEEEEEEEEEE

Thank you for the recap. Penacony's plot is so ridiculously complex I needed a summary to double check that I'm not crazy and that I did actually understand everything lol

3:30 From what I understand, Acheron is asking these questions to gauge if the Trailblazer is anywhere close to "waking up" and realizing that they're in the dream that Sunday created. Acheron's role in the "borderland" dreamscape is to guide people who finished a dream loop back into it, giving them clues and asking questions in the hopes that someone might wake up. This is also why she says "Another one..." when we meet her for the first time in the borderland, because she has to guide someone again. It's pretty neat considering that she's also the one who guides lost souls as an Emanator of Nihility, and a reference to the Acheron in Greek mythology. On that note, I also believe that whenever Acheron (in Sunday's dream) speaks in red text, it's the borderland Acheron taking a bit of control over the dream Acheron to speak to the Trailblazer, to make them see the "red" in the dreamscape (the key to waking up) and also to make sure that Trailblazer (or us, the player) stays on track of the story (hence why certain dialogue options just lead you to a red text option).

About the buttons, Sparkle mentions that would explode, and when people in the dream receive fatal damage they are immediately woken up from the dream, so I think this was just a counter measure she had for leaving the dream in case the nameless couldnt deal with Chicken Wing boy

I personally believe Sparkle's buttons were supposed to be used just as she said - during the Charmony Festival. If the Festival were to take place, that would mean the Nameless couldn't stop Sunday, people would use the buttons and whole of Penacony would end up being blown up. But because we succeeded, Sparkle's help wasn't needed.

penacony. was LITERALLY a fever dream

Man, not many people really talk about the Clockie tales and its relevance behind the story of Penacony. The cartoon served as a media retelling the history of Watchmaker saving the Asdana citizens, as well as the internal strife between Watchmaker and The Family.

About Death a.k.a. Sleepie: the exact condition to summoning it is less trying to sleep but keeping your eyes closed. Firefly asks the MC to close their eyes and summons Sleepie, and after they're transported to Dreamflux Reef she says that's the secret. If we slow down the video of Firefly right before she was stabbed, we can see that she was standing with her eyes closed. When we meet Sleepie for the first time, we catch its attention because the MC (and presumably Firefly) closed their eyes due to a blinding flash of light from a TV screen. Going through the list of death victims seen in 2.1, most of the deaths are situations where the victim would have closed their eyes. Sunbathing, feeling fear due to situations such as being inside a turbulent ride, fixing makeup, dozing off, etc. Now obviously Sleepie won't appear as soon as someone so much as blinks, but when it thinks the person is trying to sleep, which it's not exactly good at judging.

I think gopher wood groomed Robin and Sunday to diverge in mindsets to push Sunday into a corner. When he so easily decided to let Sunday merge with Ena, Sunday even comments that Gopher wood expected this outcome.

I think it’s cool how Sunday is very much so like Icarus, both trapped and desiring freedom, but ultimately falling to their demise by flying too close to the sun (in this case the sun being Sunday’s unattainable ideals of a perfect world). It’s all I could think of during his boss fight