Honkai Star Rail 3.4 livestream title hints at a grim ending for Era Nova of Amphoreus 

Honkai Star Rail’s upcoming 3.4 livestream, titled "For the Sun is Set to Die," is scheduled to take place on June 20, 2025. The newly released official art for the broadcast is already sparking lore speculation. Featuring chibi versions of characters like Phainon, Herta, Screwllum, and Owlbert, the art may seem normal at first glance. However, such illustrations often carry deeper meaning.

Following the previous version 3.3 quest, The Fall at Dawn’s Rise, the art could hint at something serious happening in Amphoreus.

Note: This article is subjective and speculative in nature.

A title that foreshadows doom

The title of this Honkai Star Rail livestream, For the Sun is Set to Die, suggests more than just an ending. It hints at the fall of something divine, something once radiant and eternal.

Phainon bids farewell to every Chrysos Heir (Image via HoYoverse)

The Chrysos Heirs are the bearers of Coreflames and are the key to the overall story in Amphoreus. However, after the tragic events of the version 3.3 quest, every Chrysos Heir the Trailblazer met has died. Now, only Phainon remains. He’s left to face the aftermath of this journey, accompanied by Lygus and Cyrene.

The absence of other major characters from the key art deepens this concern. Phainon’s presence at the center of it all may not signal hope. Instead, it could be a warning that the story won’t end the way we expect.

The Mobius Loop of Amphoreus in Honkai Star Rail

This idea comes into light from Amphoreus’ repeated focus on cycles and events happening over and over again. The region is themed around things lasting forever (as depicted via an infinity symbol) and explained as a place where events keep repeating.

Black Swan reveals Amphoreus from outside (Image via HoYoverse)

This aligns with theories in the Honkai Star Rail community that Amphoreus may not be a real world, but rather a constructed simulation under the Genius Society.

Both Herta and Screwllum (who've also been shown in the version 3.4 livestream art) have previously hinted that Amphoreus is influenced by the Emperor’s Scepter. This is a powerful device connected to Rubert I, member #27 of the Genius Society, and the one who began the Mechanical Emperor’s Wars.

A depiction of Emperor Rubert I in Simulated Universe (Image via HoYoverse)

In previous dialogues in Honkai Star Rail, Herta describes the scepter as capable of reshaping or simulating entire civilizations. If Amphoreus is indeed a test chamber, then the deaths of the Flamechasers might be part of a closed loop. Each new cycle resets the world and its chosen inheritors of Coreflames, only for tragedy to unfold again and again.

Is there no escape?

The inclusion of characters like Herta and Screwllum suggests that outsiders are watching Amphoreus closely. However, in Honkai Star Rail, such intervention may come at a cost.

Lygus is telling Herta about the consequences (Image via HoYoverse)

Back in the version 3.2 quest, Through the Petals in the Land of Repose, Lygus had warned Herta not to get involved. He stated that further interference from outsiders like her could break the shackles of a Lord Ravager. This is another name for an emanator of Destruction sealed within Amphoreus’s endless time loop.

As Honkai Star Rail version 3.4 approaches, the stage is set for a dive into the truth and history behind this mysterious realm. Will Amphoreus ever reach the Era Nova promised by the Chysos Heirs, or is it simply a prison, trapped in an endless cycle of lost hope and ruin? The official art of the livestream doesn’t provide answers, but it certainly sets the tone.

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Edited by Niladri Roy