Parvezravan

Parvezravan, originally named Kisra then renamed Kisra Parvez after his adoption by Ormazd,^[2] was a historical figure in Sumeru who was best known as the second-to-last king of the ancient city-state of Gurabad. His renown in battle gave him the epithet Spirit of Victory.^[3]

He was Liloupar's son, making him the biological younger brother of Shirin of Gurabad, whom he married. He was Shiruyeh's father, but his wariness of his son due to Liloupar's warning ultimately led to his death and Gurabad's destruction.

Story[]

Kisra was Liloupar's son whom she had as part of her vengeance against her lover, Ormazd.^[4] She left Kisra to be raised by the giant divine bird Ghognus, and Kisra's ambitions and Ghognus' aid led Ormazd — the vassal-king of King Deshret and Liloupar's lover — to adopt him. Kisra's many exploits and feats, such as allegedly conquering ninety-nine other vassal states, gave him the epithet "Spirit of Victory."^[2]

To reward Kisra for his valor, Ormazd bestowed him with the name "Parvez." He also gave Kisra his daughter Shirin's hand in marriage,^[2] unaware that their fates were part of Liloupar's plan to take revenge on him.^[4] The marriage turned out to be a loveless one as Kisra saw Shirin as a means to the throne and did not truly love her. Liloupar took advantage of this to have Shirin, with Kisra as a reluctant co-conspirator,^[5] serve poisoned honey to her father and her other siblings at a banquet, causing their deaths. Shirin went insane after seeing the consequence of her actions, while Kisra took advantage of the situation to become the new king,^[6] dubbing himself "Kisra Parvezravan."^[2]

As Vassal-King[]

Parvezravan desired even greater power and turned to his mother for guidance. Liloupar designed machines driven by Jinn spirits and gave them to her son, and then gave him the idea of creating a massive machine to mass-produce them through a dream. The Jinn for these machines were created by Shirin, whose insanity led the Jinn to be created "mindless and malformed." These machines brought Parvezravan a vast amount of wealth and he seemingly abolished slavery for the betterment of Gurabad. However, because the slave labor was now performed by the Jinn machines, this led to increasing socioeconomic disparity as former slave owners no longer needed to sustain a human workforce and the former slaves no longer had a means to make a living.^[4]

This had all been part of Liloupar's machinations, who had fostered Parvezravan and Shirin's son, Shiruyeh. Parvezravan, having heard Liloupar's warning that his son would become even greater than himself, had always been wary of Shiruyeh and banished him from Gurabad once he reached adulthood. Forced to don a brass mask to disguise his identity, he took on the name "Khorramdin" and touted himself as the savior of the common people, as well as the emissary of Nabu Malikata. He led a rebellion against Parvezravan and eventually emerged victorious. However, his victory — brought by Liloupar, who had used the power of the "dark abyss" — caused the deaths of his followers and the inhabitants of Gurabad, and the city itself sank down into a deep chasm.^[4][5]

Parvezravan's exact manner of death is unknown; in Liloupar's memories, he turned into a dark monster,^[4] whereas Eremite history claims he was killed in his bedchambers by Shiruyeh.^[5]

Legacy[]

Few people know the truth behind Gurabad's destruction, and many different interpretations of Gurabad's history exist. Parvezravan is recorded in Eremite history as both a great hero and a tyrant, Shirin is seen as a schemer who plotted Ormazd's and Parvezravan's deaths to get her vengeance at her dull and loveless life,^[5] and Shiruyeh is known as a coward who caused Gurabad's fall and unleashed Shiruyeh's Plague.^[2]

At Lamb-Devourer Rock, the password to Thutmose's secret base is "Marg bar parvezravan."^[7] The phrase is Persian for "Down with Parvezravan."

Trivia[]

Etymology[]

• Parvezravan's names and story are derived from the story of the Sasanian king Khosrow II:
  • The name "Kisra Parvez" and his epithet, Spirit of Victory, comes from Khosrow's alternate name, Khosrow Parviz (Persian: خسرو پرویز "Khosrow the Victorious"), with Kisra being the Arabic version of Khosrow's name. For both Khosrow and Kisra, the epithet was derived from their numerous conquests and victories in battle.
  • Khosrow's marriage to Shirin and his death at the hands of his son Sheroe were popularized, and heavily fictionalized, in the tragic romance Khosrow and Shirin. Genshin Impact depicts the overall relationship between the characters rather differently from the historical and historical fiction counterparts: Kisra and Shirin were in a loveless marriage, which motivated Shirin to convince their son Shiruyeh (the real-life Sheroe was the son of Kisra and one of his other wives, Miryam) to plot Kisra's murder.
• "Ghoghnus," which is briefly mentioned in Kisra's backstory, appears to be an alternate romanization of the Persian word ققنوس qaqnos, which means "phoenix." It is derived from the Arabic قُقْنُوس quqnūs, "swan," which itself came from Ancient Greek κύκνος kúknos, "swan."
  • Various notes and messages related to the Ruin Golems in Devantaka Mountain and the Valley of Dahri reveal the existence of a Khaenri'ahn group known as the Schwanenritter (German: Swan Knights). They were active in Sumeru during the cataclysm 500 years ago, during which they used their Ruin Golems to fight against creatures of the Abyss. However, the similar naming scheme between the Schwanenritter and Ghoghnus appears to be coincidental.

Other Languages[]

Change History[]

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