The Honkai Star Rail 2.0 story introduced us to a bunch of new and exciting characters. One of them is Robin, the most popular idol in Penacony! In just a blink of an eye, Robin became one of the most loved characters in the entire game, which is mainly due to her adorable looks. However, many secrets surround this oh-so-cute character, so let's take a look at what we know about Robin so far.
When you look at Honkai Star Rail's Robin, it's really hard not to fall in love with her! In addition to her beautiful blue dress and sky-blue hair, the little halo and her light green eyes immediately catch people's attention. Next to that, she is an incredibly talented singer and idol, so it just makes sense that the people in the game and we as players absolutely adore her.
But as we found out during the 2.0 main story quest, there is more than just one big secret that surrounds Robin, and if we're being honest, we do not really know much about her at all! I'd say it's time to change that!
Honkai Star Rail Lore: The Truth About Robin
Every one of us who is even a little interested in the story of Honkai Star Rail should have noticed some inconsistencies in the Penacony story. So it makes sense, that many players are already busy theorizing what is really going on the planet of festivities.
Next to Aventurine, Black Swan and Sparkle, who all have definitely some secret business going on, we have to take a closer look at Robin.
Honkai Star Rail: Is Robin Dead?
We should take care of the most important and obvious question first: Is Robin really dead?
In short: Yes, Robin is dead, at least for now. However, when Sunday talks about his sister’s demise, he calls it a “spiritual death”. And as we know, on Penacony, there exist two realities: The real world and the Dreamscape.
Since we don’t really know what killed Robin, it's hard to tell, in which of these two realities she died, however, it seems to be in the Dreamscape. But then, there comes a pretty important quote from Black Swan to mind:
“There is no death inside Penacony's dreamscape. That's the promise of the family and the blessing of the Harmony. Not even a Memokeeper can break this barrier.”
This means, if Robin did die in the realm of the Dreamscape, she should still be alive in the real world! But why does Sunday still act like if his sister is gone for good?
But let's take a step back and try to understand this “spiritual death” Sunday was talking about! — We’ve seen Robin (and Firefly) die within the Dreamscape, and as we know that if you die in the dream, you just wake up basically! Now onto some theory crafting: What I personally think “spiritual death” means in the context of the dream, is that the dream considers them to be dead so they can no longer enter the dream!
For someone like Firefly, for example, that’s a big deal because she cannot really interact with the world outside the dream because of her illness.
Firefly is suffering from a rare disease called Entropy Loss Syndrome. This illness causes delayed reactions in her body. In the Dreamscape world of Penacony, however, she is free of the disease.
Given that Sunday is sad about Robin’s death, probably means that Robin may have a similar disease to Firefly. This would result in Robin not being able to perform her big upcoming show and that also explains, why everyone in The Family, including Sunday, is trying to hide what happened to Robin.
Honkai Star Rail: Robin's Robotic Voice
The very first time we meet Robin in Penacony, she appears next to her brother Sunday, and gets kindly introduce by Aventurine. Robin herself is not as talkative as the others, however, she does greet us and the crew with a single sentence, expressing her interest in us.
However, if you listened closely, you can hear, that something is really off with Robin's voice! Especially with her career as a singer in mind, it's really quite unusual. Her voice sounds almost robotic in a way, and many players were really not sure what this is supposed to mean!
Especially since we know, that this has to be the real Robin and not Sparkle mimicking her. The times when Sparkle was speaking as Robin, there were no such robotic sounds and in general, Sparkle's imitation would never be that unprofessional.
So why does her voice sound so strange?
One pretty interesting theory about Robin's voice is related to other residents in the Penacony Dreamscape. If you pay attention to how they talk, you will notice a similar voice as the one Robin displayed in the very first scene. What if people that stay in the Dreamscape for too long, start to change due to the strange conditions in this dream world? What if they, piece by piece, turn into real robots and Robin's changing voice is the first step of her transformation?
As we know, Robin is well-known all over Penacony and many admire her and her performances. And if we take the first theory into consideration, about Robin may have the same disease as Firefly, it would make sense that she spends a lot of time in the Dreamscape.
Honkai Star Rail: Robin's Powers & Music
Let's take a quick look at Robin and her powers. In the scene where we, as the Trailblazer, fell into the Dreamscape, it was Robin & Sunday who greeted us. They tried to explain to us, why we're feeling a little weird and dizzy at the time and shortly after, Robin seems to use her powers to make us feel better and less sick. — She called it harmonizing! (Yes, she will be a Harmony character as well.)
Actually, Robin psychic power is related to her species: Halovians. Halovians were an ancient species that once worshiped Ena, the Aeon of the Order, but after Ena was assimilated by Xipe, Halovians joined the Family. The Halovians characteristics are their Halo and angel wings located in their nape and next to that, they have psychic abilities!
This also explains why Robin is such a talented singer in Penacony: She uses her powers to make people feel calmer and like her voice whenever she starts singing!
Quite a fascinating species if you'd ask me!
In the end, there are many other mysteries surrounding Robin and The Family, and it is expected that when Robin finally appears on the 2.2 banner, many of these mysteries will be solved. Until then, we have to keep theorizing what may be the final truth.