Tianyi x Le’garde
Franchise: Fear & Hunger
Color: Red & Yellow
Tropes: Soulmates, God Couple, Devoted to You
About
It’s not stated in game how Le’garde met Tianyi, or how Tianyi managed to join the Knights of the Midnight Sun. However, Tianyi had proved useful for the mercenary group, despite being blind, as he knew how to get information about enemy forces, and conjure strategies for many decisive wins.
Tianyi is an NPC near the entrance of the dungeon. He can join the party if you save Le’garde. If you do not save Le’garde, and inform him of Le’garde’s death, he will disappear from the entrance and reappear in Le’garde’s cell. He will not speak to the player for the rest of the game. After spending 30 minutes in the cell, Tianyi, alongside Le’garde’s body, disappears. It is unknown what happened for this to occur, though the assumption is that it played out similar to D’arce’s S ending.
Tianyi’s dialogue, like Le’garde’s, is limited, and their dialogue together is reserved for cutscenes. However, there is an exception with Tianyi. If you do party talk immediately after meeting Nilvan, Tianyi will state, “I do not like her, and she doesn't like me.”
He appears to be aware of Le’garde faking amnesia, but never does much beyond hinting at this knowledge during cutscenes involving Le’garde before it’s revealed in game. If Ragnvaldr is in the party, and you do not stop him from killing Le’garde, you will be forced into an inescapable and difficult fight. It is recommended that you do not have Ragnvaldr in your party, or avoid the inciting cutscene, as a result.
In the dreamworld, if Tianyi is in the party, there is a brief, additional cutscene right before seeing Ragnvaldr’s cutscene. Tianyi is seen discussing different plans with Le’garde, where the scene ends right after Tianyi asks the man, “Should I visit you later tonight, for a more private discussion?”
During the scene in which Le’garde is about to sit on the Throne of Ascension, Tianyi does not appear surprised by Le’garde’s course of action. He was actually aware of Le’garde faking his amnesia, which surprises Le’garde and D’arce, if she’s in the party. Tianyi explains that he knows Le’garde, and though he wasn’t sure why he had been pretending to have amnesia until now, he would never betray the man, and thus did not say anything. After Le’garde’s speech, he says that he doesn’t care what Le’garde does, but he will follow him no matter what. Though the response he gets isn’t particularly enthusiastic, Tianyi still immediately follows after, going to the Void. Depending on who’s in the party, Tianyi’s actions are described as reckless and stupid.
When you meet Le’garde in the void, there is a brief dialogue between Le’garde and Tianyi, where Tianyi will refuse to fight Le’garde, but beg to stay with him in the void. Le’garde will eventually relent after hearing that Tianyi has been affected. In Ending C-II, he is briefly mentioned to still be following Le’garde, having been affected by the void in a similar way.
Tianyi makes several brief appearances in the second game, both as Kaiser’s advisor, Hua Jingyu, and his wife, Hua Lili, or Lily, which is what most contestants refer to his feminine persona as.
During his appearance as Jingyu in August’s confrontation, he will admit that he was Lily the entire time, catching August off guard and allowing Jingyu to escape. August will see the player, and discuss what had happened for a moment, where he’ll admit that he had thought Lily was Jingyu’s daughter, or even his granddaughter.
As Lily, he will be seen catching up to Kaiser during the end of the cutscene where Pav confronts Kaiser. If playing as O’saa, Nas’hrah will make a comment about Lily, calling him a ‘transvestite’ and ‘sodomite’ among other derogatory terms, most of which are in reference to the relationship between Lily and Kaiser.
There’s a newspaper featuring a photo of Kaiser and Lily in the newest update, though what that newspaper will say is currently unknown.
What I love about them
They are forever devoted to each other. Tianyi has always been disillusioned with humanity, while Le’garde slowly became disillusioned in a similar yet different way. They rely purely on each other for any meaningful human interaction. They do not care for others, only each other. While they never quite fully understand each other, everyday they learn a bit more, and in turn, love each other a bit more.
How they met
Read how they met here!
How they got together
After working together for a few years, Tianyi was becoming more aware of rumors being spread about both him and Le’garde, mostly about their relationship. Some were about them having a secret relationship, while others were much more vulgar. He was also being used by some of the more shadier of the Knights of the Midnight Sun, due to his status as a sex worker. Tianyi was planning on leaving for good, to either move back towards Xuanyuan or to find another city in another country in Europa to stay, but Le’garde caught him. After a heated discussion, Tianyi admitted to both being worried about Le’garde’s reputation, and how he was being treated and used in the group. Le’garde didn’t say much afterwards, but did thank him for his honesty, and asked for Tianyi to stay for another few days.
During those few days, Le’garde weeded through his soldiers, and either forced them out of the army, or killed them outright, depending on their responses to both the rumors of his and Tianyi’s relationship, and their answer to how they view and treat Tianyi. After the third day, Le’garde came up to Tianyi at the dead of night. Tianyi, having known what Le’garde was doing, asked why he was going through such lengths to make him stay. Le’garde told him the truth, about how he’d heard the rumors long before Tianyi had mentioned them to him, but couldn’t bring himself to care about them. How they had, in one way or another, forced him to reflect on his emotions towards Tianyi, and the reason why he dreaded the idea of their partnership eventually ending. And how he despised the idea of his soldiers using a man he respected for their own personal pleasure and gain.
It might not have been a “proper” confession, but Tianyi knew the meaning between each word Le’garde said. It was the start of a relationship, one that was an open secret.
Favorite Headcanon / AU
Will elaborate one day, but my favorite AU is a “no gods” AU, or a modern AU.
Modern AU: Le’garde is a veteran who was discharged after becoming disabled due to inprisonment in enemy territory. Tianyi is a physical therapist who was not assigned to Le’garde’s case, but works in the same practice. They met at a bar and hit it off from there.
No Gods AU: Plays out similarly to the first game, except Le’garde is not attempting ascension, but rather attempting to unite Europa through military prowess and uniting the people.
Important Dates
July 24th, 2023
January 10th, 2024
Tags
Leader x Advisor, Superior x Subortinate
References for them
Dungeons, magic, godhood, immortality, snakes, swords
Links
Song
https://open.spotify.com/track/2IjLtXQKaA9dTcnPwQJoeu?si=526fe6d01c41434f
