By Isaac Espinosa

My favorite video game character comes from Honkai: Star Rail, and while she wasn’t in its 3.6 version update, I adore her all the same. Previous five-star characters The Herta and Anaxa returned, along with new characters Evernight and Dan Heng: Permansor Terrae. Any of these four would be incredibly valuable for a relatively new player like myself due to how powerful they are. 

But unfortunately, I must forgo them all. It’s not because they’re weak, but because I’ve currently saved up all of my pulls in pursuit of  another character: Acheron. She’s my favorite, for so many reasons.

Acheron is powerful, and that’s a plus for me. To understand why, here’s a bit of backstory, not only of Acheron, but of Honkai Star Rail (or HSR for short). Acheron was introduced on March 27th, 2024 during the game’s 2.1 version update. At that time, the game was focused on the planet of Penacony, a place that allowed people to escape to the world of dreams, an apparent paradise with a luxurious resort-like atmosphere. But this dreamscape concealed a mystery that our main characters must solve in order to save Penacony from imminent disaster. That’s because the Dreamscape of Penacony slowly becomes a prison, luring people in with the allure of a utopia that never ends. 

I found that even among Penacony’s colorful cast of characters, like Sparkle, a mischievous masked fool who wishes to spread chaos, and Sunday, Penacony’s troubled, twisted antagonist, Acheron stands out.  Even if you only observed her at surface level, there’s much to admire: her character’s unique outfit and color scheme that aptly represent her power through gameplay, and the stellar voice acting (Allegra Clark is the English VA) that brings this fascinating character to life. Despite Acheron’s claim that she is one of the faction known as the “Galaxy Rangers,” her origin is shrouded in fog, with no one sure why she’s on Penacony, or how strong she has the potential to be. By the end of 2.1’s main quest, Acheron’s true power is revealed: she is the Emanator of Nihility. 

What’s that mean? In HSR, every character follows a particular path, and these paths determine how the character is usually played. For example, characters on the Path of Erudition deal remarkable amounts of multi-target damage, while characters on the Path of Abundance heal allies and restore HP to the team. Emanators, who are chosen by that path’s Aeon (essentially its god), draw power from the Aeon to become stronger than anyone around them. 

This would normally be a positive, but Acheron is a unique case. The Aeon of Nihility, IX, believes that all life is meaningless and that it is worthless to take any action at all. This is reflected in the Aeon’s current physical form: a black hole. Anyone who would dare peer into that black hole would feel numbed and dejected, devoid of life. In the world of HSR, such nihilism should have made it impossible to be an Emanator of Nihility, because even gazing upon IX is too much for most people. 

This all changed with Acheron, who was able to peer into the dark abyss of IX and not completely lose herself. It was due to this that Acheron became the Emanator of Nihility, with her sheer willpower becoming the key thing that would prevent a sure descent into madness.

As the Emanator of Nihility, Acheron has access to a terrifying amount of power. Simply unsheathing her blade is enough to bring time itself to a standstill. One slash of Acheron’s sword wiped out the millions of people within the Dreamscape of Penacony and destroyed the barrier that separated dreams from reality. 

So Acheron is one of the strongest characters in the HSR universe, but she did not choose this. Like a curse from the great beyond, this blade and its power have forced Acheron to walk down a path filled with shadows, an abyss that took away her homeworld and pushed her toward an uncertain future to live out the rest of her days alone. 

To make matters worse, using the power of Nihility slowly destroys Acheron in every manner that isn’t her physical form. Her senses such as taste, scent, and even her memories, all slowly fade into nothingness the more Acheron wields her blade, regardless of intention. Even if she gains clarity upon having the sword unseathed, not putting it away would force Acheron to succumb to the fate that she so adamantly denies: falling into that pool of nothingness that is the Nihility. It means Acheron must only use her powers on those that have fully embraced their death, to which she will use the Nihility to guide them towards a quick but peaceful end. 

Despite this, and everything else that Acheron has endured, her values still stand tall and true. Most of those that fall under IX become sin thirsters, deceased beings that fall into an endless loop of their past mistakes. But not Acheron, who instead chooses to forge towards the Nihility’s end and serve as a guide for those who have lost their way. 

Acheron cherishes life and the idea that everything we do right now matters more than the fact that it will all end one day. Her ability to tackle her existential fears elevates the universe of HSR. And her masterfully-written character especially resonates with me; my own outlook on life has grown more positive as I’ve seen so many inspiring things and met so many wonderful people. It’s rare that I get emotional toward any form of media nowadays. But witnessing the message that HoYo portrays through Acheron has, during these real life hard times, brought me to tears. 

As she says in her farewell message before leaving the main story of HSR, “(O)n the road towards the end, there are still many things that we can do. And because of this, the ‘end’ will thus reveal a completely different meaning. That is the meaning of ‘Journey’”. 

Bronx native Isaac Espinosa is a Member of the New York Videogame Critics Circle. Along with being named the Circle’s first assistant Mentor, Isaac also coaches students for CEI Esports.

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