The Tragedy of Denia (WuWa 3.3)

Denia's story was one of the most personally resonant stories from Wuthering Waves that I could really relate to. While Aemeath's story during 3.1 was a generational peak and brought back strong sadness and emotional damage to every player, the themes of Denia's story hits hard for those who have especially endured depression and thoughts of self-harm, to the point that content creators who were playing this story ended up putting depression and self-harm trigger warnings on their chat.

The first theme in Denia's story is struggle for identity and self-worth. As a creation of Fractsidus whose only purpose was to be a Threnodian resonator of Aleph-1, she finds lack of real purpose in her life and it is exacerbated further by her not knowing her true name and birthday, making her feel like someone who is not real and not actually existing in the real world. Even after having friends and forging connections, the closest of all with Sigrika, she still doubts whether what she has is real and whether she deserve to have all that happiness.

While I know my name and my birthday, for so many years I did not have friends and was seen as the black sheep of the family. My family put a lot of pride and emphasis on educational and business achievements, but I was just this geeky nerd who is more interested in arts, games, writing and music. I was also a weeb and during the 90s that means you are constantly looked down upon as a weirdo in school and even though I had my own accomplishments in the video game and Japanese communities, it did not immediately translate to acceptance and friendship.

As the years passed, I started being more and more able to accept myself for who I am and be happy. But then, at one point in my life, the cancer hit. This brought me to the second theme of Denia's story, sacrificing for happiness. Due to the instabilities of her frequency, she is rapidly decaying and only had a week to live. As a cancer fighter who's been living with a deadline (and fortunately been able to beat it so far) for so long, I could immediately relate to what Denia was experiencing and feeling.

Denia tried to break away her connections with two friends who were closest to her, Sigrika and Nastasha. Her point of view is that if these two no longer see her as a close friend, or even hate her, they won't feel as sad or as hurt when she's gone. But Rover reminded her that things will still change, and no matter how they will one day able to overcome the hole that will be left from Denia's passing, they will never be the same.

Rover then asked her if she has ever thought of continuing to live, and was even about to invite her to the Black Shores. Denia did not want to even entertain the thought of having this hope, as she knows the cost is too high. Her continuing to live might lead to the destruction of Solaris-3 by Aleph-1. In the end, she chose to do what she believed to the best choice for everyone: sacrificing herself so that none of the people she loved and cared about would suffer. She also believed that this was the best choice for herself as it brought her closure. She no longer had to worry about her being a weapon, no longer had to deal with the grief and guilt that she might be hurting people dear to her.

Denia's final choice hurt me terribly, but it came from a place that I can understand. As a terminal patient, sometimes you are given hope to live a bit longer, but it might come with a heavy cost: your family's finances, the mental health of people close to you who have to continue seeing you suffer and so on. It is never an easy choice when you've reached that point and both sides of the options has heavy consequences. No matter what choice you pick, it will come with sadness. And for different people, the burden that they are willing to choose to bear might be very different. After all, who has the right to tell others how much pain they should be willing to carry in their lives?

Once again, Kuro Games have managed to craft a very human story that is relatable for many and I have been impressed by their latest storytelling. I can't wait to experience more of this and feel so emotionally broken that I am inspired to write again 🫠