Radiant: Finding My Anthem in a Knight’s Unwavering Light

I made a post today honoring my favorite lore character from Arknights, Nearl the Radiant Knight! I only started playing Arknights maybe around a year and a half ago due to a friend’s recommendation. At the time, I was super cautious of gacha games because of having played some predatory ones in the past and swore off the genre. But something within me was curious and so one day I decided to try it out.

Considering how I usually skip storylines and just get straight into the action in previous games I’ve played, I decided to approach things a bit differently this time allowing myself to take things slowly and to savor the moments. To my surprise, I found the game’s story to be exceptionally deep, well thought out, rich in character development, and incredibly thought provoking. Seeing how all of the different characters connected to one another in this intricate world was like piecing together a fascinating and ever evolving puzzle. I grew attachments to different characters, especially the sweet bunny Amiya and Nearl.

What does it mean
to be a knight?
 
To be a knight
is to be the noble light
that illuminates the land!

Nearl is *very* protective of her inner circle and those whom she serves. I noticed her dedication to duty, commitment to what’s moral and ethical, and self confidence and I found myself incredibly drawn to her character. I believe she reminds me of qualities that I revere and respect. It feels noble, righteous, and upstanding. Her no drama approach to life is welcomed. She stands unapologetically in her own personal power — HAWTTTT 🔥!!!

While going through one of the side stories, I learned more about what happened to Nearl and it had me self reflect a lot. I went over it in my instagram post but this is what stood out to me the most:

Her story fills me with admiration. It recounts her time in Kazimierz, where she witnessed the corrosive effects of corruption and the abandonment of true knightly ideals. Instead of succumbing to the darkness, Nearl chose a path of unwavering morality and ethics, standing up for those who lacked power, and illuminating the injustices around her with her bright and radiant Light.

In the face of corruption and areas of questionable morality/ethics, it can be incredibly difficult for most people to choose to do the “right” thing. When you know you can benefit from something but also know that it can severely disadvantage or perhaps even harm others, what do you choose? Would you choose personal gain over the well-being of another or the collective? Sometimes it’s hard to say until we’re in those very shoes making those very complex decisions. As much as I’d like to say I’d do the right thing, I won’t actually know until the time comes to make such decisions.

Through my own journey grappling with these thoughts, I think what might help is knowing ourselves fully by diving deep into our own psyche, befriending our shadows, knowing what our core values are, having empathy for others and acknowledging how morally bankrupt choices could negatively impact the collective, and actually having a moral compass could be what helps us make better and informed decisions and to not yield to corruption. I know it’s easier said than done, but I wonder if there’s some truth to this?

Recently, I witnessed someone close to me in this exact predicament. When faced with unethical requests, this person chose the ethical and moral choice. To my dismay, what transpired after was not desired, as this person faced consequences that I found to be unfair. I thought to myself what a pity how quickly the rate of deterioration occurred when corruption took hold. It had me wondering how hard do we fight in these situations to prevent what’s great for humanity from falling or perhaps are there ways to prevent corruption from taking root in the first place? What protective measures can be put in place to protect that which is golden? What I learned from this experience is that if leadership is inept and worse, corrupt, anything positive or good for humanity can be quickly wiped out. It takes a lot of work and energy to create something beautiful and meaningful, and only seconds to destroy. So it’s important to know how to protect what we love and care about and ensure that corruption cannot take hold. Some things to ponder.

Back to Arknights, I recently wondered if Nearl the Radiant Knight had a theme song and lo and behold she did!

Again, not sure why or if it’s just a synchronicity, but the lyrics pierced right through to my heart. It seems these days, every Arknights song I find is just telling the story of my life lol. Feels like it’s my own theme song for the past decade of growth I experienced! This part of the lyrics really called out to me:

(Cause) you thought I’d disappear for good now.
You thought you left me here for dead, dead, dead, dead!
You thought that I’d be slowing down by now,
but think again, think again, ah…
You thought that I was gone for good now.
Praying I’d turn around instead, hey, hey, hey!
You thought that I’d be slowing down by now,
but think again.
Full speed ahead.

 

It’s you and me,
we’re going in,
we’re going head to head.
I’m coming at you like a bull,
all I see is red.
A fire in my righteous eyes,
you can’t hide.
Cause I’m the light illuminating every shadow, oh!
I’m coming for you,
I can see it that you’re running low
cause I’ve been reading the signs.
I feed the fear in your mind.
 

— lyrics from Arknights song Radiant

For some reason those lyrics really resonated with me. I don’t quite know why but perhaps it’s the phoenix reborn experience I had with my best friend or something else entirely. I just vibe with the lyrics so well. It might also be me having just emerged from my own solitary cocoon in which I let important lessons fester and integrate. I’m not 100% sure yet, but I’m excited to discover the full answer over time. While some of the lyrics have intense imagery, what resonates with me is the journey of returning stronger after challenges and the power of authentic truth-telling. For now, I’m just glad I have my own anthem that’s shared with one of my favorite Arknights characters!

Long story short, I guess all I wanted to say is I’M BACKKK, BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! 😏