Episode 69: The Flame Mane, Dehya

As with most of characters, we first learn about Dehya in her character teaser. But instead of the strong, fearless mercenary we first meet in game, we see a compassionate, selfless woman helping the children of the desert start a new life in Sumeru City. It really showcases the two sides of her personality.

Watch on YouTube: Dehya: Dawn Over the Sand

On the other hand, Dehya’s character demo jumps right into her fiery side as she fights other mercs outside of Aaru Village. Who else makes an appearance? Of course our other desert beauty, Candace.

Watch on YouTube: Dehya: Fiery Lioness

Dehya’s collected miscellany video highlights her honesty, bravery, and fairness: Traits not always seen in the mercenaries of the Sumeru Desert.

Watch on YouTube: Dehya: Passion of the Burning Sands

In the episode, we recap Dehya’s story quest and unearth family secrets that she wasn’t even aware of. We learn that Dehya’s good nature is a trait she shares with her father, something she probably would have liked to have learned while he was still alive.

Watch on YouTube: Dehya Story Quest

Dehya’s relationship with Dunyarzad can be debated, but one thing is for certain: They are very close. After working as Dunyarzad’s bodyguard for many years, their friendship continued even when Dehya was no longer employed by the Homayani family. Some may say they’ve become sisters (like Feens) and others think it’s more romantic (like Bee). What do you think? Let us know and help settle the debate.

Dehya is beautiful and strong, no one debates that. But did the game go too “girly” with her to juxtapose her strength? We chat about her obsession with makeup and shopping, all stereotypical fem traits, and whether the developers tried too hard to show you can be a warrior and glamorous at the same time. Tif thinks the idle animation where she checks her makeup is a bit cringe.

Did we mention that Dehya can be very intimidating? If you’re not sure how intimidating, you can ask Sarrat, but be patient. It’s hard to understand him ever since he tried to bite his own tongue off to avoid giving Dehya any intel. Of course, he wasn’t successful. Instead, he passed out from the pain, and Dehya – shocked someone would be so dumb to try that – tended to his wound.

While at first it seems like Shahzaman (Dunyarzad’s father) is up to some shady business, we quickly learn that he is repaying a debt to Dehya’s father. When Dunyarzad was a child, Kusayla saved the Homayani family from some Eremites trying to rob them in the desert. From that moment on, her father orchestrated Dehya’s future from afar.

Deshret’s Relics are some pretty rough people, and Dakun Al-Ahmar (one of the smaller brigades within the larger group) thinks that they murdered Kusayla. We go with them and Dehya to the Dark Valley Domain to take down the baddies, which seemingly doesn’t take too much to do. Perhaps the massive fire Kusayla started that freed many of their subordinates left them a tad bit weak to fight.

At the end of the story, the tongue-guy delivers Dehya a box of Kusayla’s things. At this point, she thinks she knows everything about dear old dad, but nope! Inside the box is the equivalent of a drunk text in which Kusayla spills all the beans. He explains how he found her orphaned and alone in the sand and took her as if she were his own. It’s actually quite a beautiful story of selflessness and how you can’t always judge a book by its cover.

At first glance, it’s hard to tell if Dehya has funky hair or cat ears. With so many characters with animalistic traits, you just never know. But as you can see in this picture, it’s all hair. The lighter strands create the illusion of cat ears. She’s just embracing her lionessness and not a distant cousin to Diona.

Feens adamantly believes there are no pillows in ALL of Teyvat. So much so that while recording, Tif got photographic proof from the place we shack up at during the Sabzeruz Festival. There’s no guarantee that it’s comfy, but it’s a pillow nonetheless. Feens 0, Bedding 1.

Imagine not realizing there’s a vision dangling from your belt? Granted, her outfit has a plethora of accouterments, but really? Just another doohicky hanging off your person.

Here are some helpful links if you’re unfamiliar with the movies we mentioned during the episode. Bee’s intro melody is from the 1992 Whitney Houston movie The Bodyguard. Feens references Shrek and donkey’s realization the dragon is a girl.

Thank you to fellow travelers Kirk & Elliot for writing in. We truly appreciate your questions and comments! If you’d like to send us mail via the Komaniya Express, reach out on our Instagram, X/Twitter, or email. We’d love to hear from you! And Kirara could use the work.

Kirk brought up the inverted world theory and thanks to Redditor u/Exosocck, we have a visual representation of the multi-layers that make up our world. As Bee mentioned, the three layers are the Void Realm, the Human Realm, and the Light Realm.

Elliot mentioned the great lore drop at the end of the recent Itto event, the Iridescent Arataki Rockin’ for Life Tour de Force of Awesomeness. Ei and Yae Miko have a fun little quip that ends with a mention of the ‘bigger war.’ We can’t wait to see what that’s referencing!