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- Herta's beauty is unquestionable, just like her foul temper.
- —Ruan Mei about Herta in one of Ruan Mei's daily messages.
RuanHerta is the femslash ship between Ruan Mei and Herta from the Honkai: Star Rail fandom.
Canon[]
Ruan Mei and Herta are both fellow members of the The Genius Society, with Ruan Mei being the 81st member and Herta being the 83rd, as well as being co-creators of the Simulated Universe alongside Screwllum and Stephen Lloyd.
Herta first mentions Ruan Mei after the player first completes the Simulated Universe, naming her as one of the creators of the Simulated Universe and describing her as a master in the field of creation. She also reveals that she and Ruan Mei worked together to connect the Aeons in the Simulated Universe to the paths of the actual Aeons. Ruan Mei's job is mainly providing data on the Aeons and tending to the prototypes of the universe, and Herta provides the location and resources, as well as inventing the systems.
Herta is an extremely intelligent individual, but is prone to being insensitive, showing little care and interest to things that do not interest her. She is someone who has a tendency to get bored of things very easily, and makes many unsympathetic comments. However, Herta is very passionate about the Simulated Universe, and when she wants to be, can be quite nice.
Whilst also being extremely intelligent, Ruan Mei is an extremely introverted and aloof person, very unwilling to socialize, even for a member of the Genius Society. Due to her traumatic past, she is very detached from her emotions and she views emotional bonds as weaknesses that only lead to you getting hurt, thus closing herself off from others. She spends majority of her time in isolated places, pursuing her endless research of all things related to life.
Herta describes Ruan Mei as a genius among geniuses, acknowledging her as an equal and expressing rare admiration for her. Ruan Mei is one of the only people who Herta treats with genuine respect, with Herta appearing to have a very good view of her. Even when Ruan Mei loses the Phase Flame from Herta's curio collection, such an action that should have annoyed her, Herta is unbothered and writes it off as as Ruan Mei owing her a favor, which she says is worth a lot more. Herta essentially seems to let Ruan Mei do whatever she wants, such leeway she has not granted to a single other person, with the reason behind this not having yet been revealed. However, it can be assumed that the reason Herta lets Ruan Mei do whatever she wants "as long as it keeps her happy", is because Herta is aware of how Ruan Mei truly feels, and how unhappy she is as a person.
Ruan Mei treats Herta with equal respect, and seems to also her consider her as an equal, as she states that in the Simulated Universe she would be at Herta's mercy. However, that is not the case in reality, implying that they are equals in the realm of reality. Ruan Mei acknowledges that most people find Herta's personality unbearable, however she herself does not care; She is one of the few people who are able to tolerate Herta, which was a factor in why Herta invited her to collaborate on the Simulated Universe, and why Ruan Mei accepted. Although, Ruan Mei's main reason was because of the Aeons, as they fascinate her deeply and she believes they hold some form of significant value. Although Ruan Mei does not let herself form emotional bonds and can not consider her fellow Simulated Universe creators friends, she states that she is still grateful to Herta for always granting her leeway on the Space Station.
When The Stars Of Ingenuity Shine[]
A few days prior to the events of "When The Stars Of Ingenuity Shine", Ruan Mei returned to the Space Station and borrowed the Phase Flame from Herta in order to conduct more research. At that time, she made her interest in the player known to Herta, wishing for them to serve as her "assistant". At some point, the Phase Flame mysteriously disappeared, likely due to the meddling of Duke Inferno.
The quest starts when the player receives a message from Herta, telling them she has some good news for them, namely that Ruan Mei is at the Space Station. If the player chooses to question why this is good news, Herta will respond saying it is good news to her. Herta informs the player that she called Ruan Mei and Screwllum to the Space Station to talk about important matters, and tells them to come back to introduce themselves to Ruan Mei when they are free, so that Ruan Mei can know who the person that has been testing the Simulated Universe is. She reminds the player to show Ruan Mei respect, reinforcing that you do not get many chances to meet her and they should consider themselves lucky.
The player then returns to the Space Station and approaches Herta and Asta to speak to them about Ruan Mei. The player comments that there is quite a big crowd today, and Herta agrees, saying that it is a a summit between three Geniuses after all. Herta reveals that a few days ago she and Ruan Mei went to see the portraits of everyone in the Genius Society, as Herta wanted Ruan Mei to have her own portrait, but Ruan Mei declined the offer. Herta found that confusing, but it was alright as long as Ruan Mei was happy. If the player chooses to ask if Ruan Mei is a great person, Herta will respond with "That's like asking "Is Herta a great person?" The answer is obvious!". Herta sighs that Ruan Mei is certainly talented, but it is a pity she spends her life living like a hermit, but nothing more really needs to be said for someone intelligent enough to become Herta's research partner, and the player should go and find her.
The player locates Ruan Mei, and the two converse with one another for a while, with Ruan Mei offering the player her dessert. After the player eats it, they start to act very strangely, much to their bewilderment, and Ruan Mei reveals that she added a harmless anti truth serum to the dessert, but will give them the antidote once her problems have been sorted out. Ruan Mei reveals the problems to be lifeforms that escaped, and enlists the player's help to locate them, as she does not wish to get Herta or Asta involved.
Whilst the player is locating the lifeforms, they are given the option to speak with some researchers, who are complaining about how Herta lets Ruan Mei do whatever she wants, letting her "take over the Space Station", and one of the dialogue responses is "Herta is spoiling Ruan Mei", although the player is not allowed to say it, as that goes against the anti truth serum.
Ruan Mei messages the player in the middle of the lifeform recovering, revealing that an urgent matter has come up that she needs them for. Upon arriving in Herta's Office, Ruan Mei reveals that the urgent matter to be that Herta called a meeting between the three Geniuses. Ruan Mei wishes for the player to attend it with her, as she does not want Herta to worry herself over those unimportant matters, even though it is likely that she would not care, and it would be good to have someone on her side.
Once entering the Simulated Universe, Herta gently greets Ruan Mei, surprised to see the player with her. Herta remarks that it has been ages since they were all gathered together, wondering how long it will be before that is the case again. Getting to the point, she reveals that she wishes to find another partner for the Simulated Universe, taking Ruan Mei by surprise at the fact she wished to kick Stephen Lloyd out. Herta quickly informs Ruan Mei that is not the case, she wishes to find a fifth partner instead. Ruan Mei asks what Herta would do if that fifth partner was Polka Kakamond, and Herta is very enthusiastic, stating how much she wants to meet her and talk to her. Herta asks Ruan Mei if Yu Qingtu is still alive and they are still in contact, to which Ruan Mei does not comment on, and instead asks if it would be okay for the player to leave. Herta agrees, saying it is entirely up to Ruan Mei, however, before they can leave, Ruan Mei's occurrence randomly spawns on the table, causing Herta to be surprised and asks if Ruan Mei intends to keep this "programming error". Ruan Mei agrees that she will, and Herta tells her she can always do whatever she wants, as long as it helps her with her research. Ruan Mei then walks the player out, asking that they resume locating lifeforms in the Seclusion Zone. Ruan Mei reveals that Herta used to use it to welcome visitors, however because of the Legion's invasion it was abandoned, and Herta gave it to Ruan Mei. The player then leaves to take care of Ruan Mei's "headache".
After exploration of the Seclusion Zone, the player discovers that after hitting a wall in her research, Ruan Mei began conducting an experiment that she did not wish for Herta and Screwllum to discover, out of suspicion they would not approve of it. After seeing a suspicious entry log from a robot, the player returns to the upper floor, and runs into Dr Veritas Ratio, who he reveals that he knows that Ruan Mei had managed to create a clone of an emanator, and it is stored in a giant incubator on the lower floor. After locating the incubator, the player is forced into battle with the clone, however it dies after 56 seconds and the player leaves to get answers out of Ruan Mei.
When locating Ruan Mei, she tells the player that the meeting is now over, and wonders when the next time that the three of them reconvene will be. She apologizes for the mess she made, saying she regrets her "selfish" experiments, and revealing that the anti truth serum will wipe the player's memory of her, which is the best outcome for the both of them. She remarks that Herta and Screwllum still have problems they need to solve here, but that she will leaving without bothering with goodbyes, and maybe the player will meet her again one day. A cutscene shows several projections Herta and Screwllum moving around Ruan Mei's lab, as she reads a message her creations wrote for her. Ruan Mei smiles softly at them as they nudge her leg and exits the room, gesturing for them to follow her.
Critter Pick[]
After completing "When The Stars Of Ingenuity Shine" the "Critter Pick" event is unlocked, which revolves around tending to and breeding Ruan Mei's lifeforms to create new types. Near the end of the event, the player meets a creation by the name of "Wisteria Cake", whose personality and appearance are very clearly based on Herta's. She reveals that she was Ruan Mei's first creation, and is researching her origin story and background with the help of her friend. That friend then comes over to introduce herself as "Lambda's Friend", with her appearance clearly resembling that of Ruan Mei's, and sharing a slightly similar disposition. Another creation by the name of "The Butler" sulks about how it is unfair that Ruan Mei created Lambda's Friend, to which Wisteria Cake snaps at The Butler, telling it to shut up and to not ever talk to her friend like that ever again. Wisteria Cake then asks the player to continue nurturing lifeforms to help with continue her "gene sequencing project" research.
After nurturing the Wisteria Cake recipe, the player then sends the photo of Wisteria Cake to Herta, telling her she is one of Ruan Mei's creations who looks just like Herta. If the player chooses to tell Herta that even Wisteria Cake's personality is like her own, she responds with "Oh".
Later, Asta messages the player about Wisteria Cake asking if they have seen her, to which the player says they have, and her personality and appearance is just like Herta's. The player tells Asta about Wisteria Cake showing up with her friend, and wanting more lifeforms to be nurtured so she can research them. Asta expresses surprise that Ruan Mei's creation is just like Herta, and asks if the friend also looks like someone the player knows. The player tells her about Lambda's Friend and her resemblance to Ruan Mei, which Asta finds very interesting. Asta then informs the player that Wisteria Cake requested help so they should go see her.
When meeting with Wisteria Cake, she reveals that it is actually Lambda's Friend who needs help. Lambda's Friend explains all the creations miss Ruan Mei very much, and she feels bad that although she looks like Ruan Mei, she is not her, asking if the player could reach out to her. Wisteria Cake requests that the player send a photo of her and Lambda's Friend to Ruan Mei, as she is curious about how she and Herta would react to it, as well as a group photo of all the lifeforms. Lambda's Friend expresses worry she might just leave the messages unread, but the player assures her that Ruan Mei will definitely want to check the photos out. When taking the photos, Wisteria Cake complains that she has to stand in the middle, and to get her best angle as she needs to look good, to which Lambda's Friend tells her she already looks great.
After completing the event, if you accommodate Wisteria Cake and Lambda's Friend together, they talk about planning to advance their research project and simulate their own nano universe together, remarking that unfortunately at their size they will not be able to get things perfect.
Keeping Up With Star Rail[]
For Ruan Mei's Keeping Up With Star Rail, Herta was invited as the co-host alongside Owlbert. Owlbert introduces Ruan Mei as the 81st member of the Genius Society, a sweet-tempered and elegant scholar who specializes in biological science who was gazed upon by Nous due to her talent and perseverance. He remarks that she is praised and well respected by some in the Genius Society, whereas others find her methods questionable.
The episode then begins, revealing the reason for Herta's co-hosting being she wants the inside scoop on Ruan Mei that Owlbert promised to deliver to everyone, causing him to feel very pressured. Owlbert launches into a detailed description about Ruan Mei's path and type, as the details of her attacks and how her buff works. He then comments that he could listen to the music playing all day, jokingly asking when Ruan Mei's album is coming out, to which Herta responds that Ruan Mei is not interested in making a musical debut. Owlbert then excitedly describes the special buffs Ruan Mei gets in the Simulated Universe, to which Herta asks if he really thinks the Trailblazers are that impressed by her "pretty tricks", before reaffirming it is fine as long as Ruan Mei is happy.
As Owlbert continues his explanation about Ruan Mei's kit and the buffs she provides, Herta comments that the science of life is both the creation of it and the destruction of it, so naturally Ruan Mei knows just as much about taking away life as she does creating it. Owlbert casually comments that the Space Station is very busy today, wondering if there is perhaps another visitor, however Herta tells him that it is simply lab materials being delivered, as Ruan Mei has already moved onto new research. The battle between enemy and characters begins, with Owlbert narrating how exactly Ruan Mei is combatting it with her buffs. Ruan Mei begins walking towards the enemy to deliver her ultimate, and Herta buts in trying to stop her, before resigning and once again stating it is alright if it keeps Ruan Mei happy.
With the enemies defeated, the episode comes to a close and a very unamused Herta declares that she is still waiting for the inside scoop on Ruan Mei. A shocked Owlbert exclaims he thought she was here to review the show, to which Herta irritably asks him if she looks like someone with that kind of free time to waste. Herta then tells him given she is here, she wants him to test the Simulated Universe for her, given he once claimed to be the "Simulated Universe GOAT".
Daily Messages[]
One of Ruan Mei's daily messages has her reaching out to the player, asking for reaffirmation that they frequently test the Simulated Universe for Herta. Ruan Mei reveals she lost a set of ruan strings, which should be in Herta's office, and asks that if they happen to stumble upon it they please bring it back for her. Ruan Mei then adds that if Herta asks anything, to tell her that she got so mesmerized by Herta's portrait that she forgot about her strings, and that Herta would not inquire any further. Regardless of whether the player chooses to remark that it sounds so flattering or sounds unconvincing, Ruan Mei says she is simply stating the facts, and that Herta's beauty is unquestionable, as well as her foul temper. She tells the player she is prone to getting absorbed in research whenever she is at the Space Station, so anytime she leaves something behind she will use that "excuse" with Herta. If the player chooses to ask if Herta knows about the Phase Flame Ruan Mei left behind, Ruan Mei states that is just one Curio among her large collection, and she will not be bothered by its absence.
In another daily message, Ruan Mei messages the player asking if they have seen Stephen, stating that not even Herta and Screwllum could find him, and assuming he is slacking off somewhere or even asleep. But before the player can properly respond, Ruan Mei says that she has managed to find him, with all credit going to the "Stephen Bait". The player can then choose to inquire if there is a "Herta Bait", to which Ruan Mei responds that Herta's preferences are clear, and any interesting Curio would do the trick.
Quotes[]
- “Some may find her personality unbearable - I can understand the sentiment, but I simply don't care. Of course, Herta knows this too, so I accepted her invitation.”
- — Ruan Mei's voiceline about Herta.
- “Ruan Mei is a genius among geniuses - I won't deny that. I don't always get along with her, but I do admire her... Maybe that admiration is mutual.”
- — Herta's voiceline about Ruan Mei.
- “If this were the Simulated Universe I'd be at your mercy - but this is real life.”
- — Ruan Mei's voiceline when added to the same team as Herta.
- “I don't usually get to see you outside the Simulated Universe. Who do you want to experiment on this time?”
- — Herta's voiceline when added to the same team as Ruan Mei.
- “This is a strange, instinctive feeling. The one named 'Herta' is rather similar to me. I mean... similar on a deeper level.”
- — Ruan Mei about Herta in Part IV of Ruan Mei's lore.
- “If Herta asks anything, just tell her I got so mesmerized by her portrait that I forgot about the strings. She shouldn't probe any further.”
- — Ruan Mei about Herta in one of Ruan Mei's daily messages.
- “Herta's beauty is unquestionable, just like her foul temper.”
- — Ruan Mei about Herta in one of Ruan Mei's daily messages.
- “But I'm grateful to Herta for always granting me some leeway on the space station.”
- — Ruan Mei about Herta in one of Ruan Mei's visitor interactions on the Express.
- “Well, the project was jointly launched by four members of our society. There's Ruan Mei, a master in the field of creation. She cultivated the protoplasm simulating the Aeons.”
- — Herta's dialogue about the other creators of the Simulated Universe.
- “'Ruan Mei possesses extraordinary perception and cognitive integration abilities, easily capturing microscopic details of reality and synthesizing them into a torrent or information within her mind, which she uses for deductive thinking. She's also very low-key...' Low-key? That's hilarious!”
- — Herta about Ruan Mei in "Swarm Disaster".
- “Tsk... a grand mystery of the Aeons' lives! Isn't this what Ruan Mei cares most about?”
- — Herta about Ruan Mei in "Swarm Disaster".
- “Herta has a thing for inventing quirky systems and gadgets, while I nurture the prototypes of the universe and the Aeons.”
- — Ruan Mei about Herta in the Simulated Universe "Ruan Mei" occurrence.
- “I don't get it. Whatever. As long as she's happy.”
- — Herta about Ruan Mei in "When the Stars of Ingenuity Shine".
- “Ruan Mei is certainly very talented, but she hardly interacts with anyone. She lives like a hermit. Pity.”
- — Herta about Ruan Mei in "When the Stars of Ingenuity Shine".
- “What more needs to be said for someone smart enough to become Herta's research partner, hmm?”
- — Herta about Ruan Mei in "When the Stars of Ingenuity Shine".
- “I don't want Herta to worry herself over these frivolous matters, even though she probably wouldn't care anyway.”
- — Ruan Mei about Herta in "When the Stars of Ingenuity Shine".
- “Hi, Ruan Mei, I've been waiting for you.”
- — Herta to Ruan Mei in "When the Stars of Ingenuity Shine".
- “Whatever, as long as she's happy.”
- — Herta about Ruan Mei in Ruan Mei's "Keeping Up With Star Rail" episode.
- “Ruan Mei make sure you don't... Eh, forget it. Whatever keeps her happy.”
- — Herta about Ruan Mei in Ruan Mei's "Keeping Up With Star Rail" episode.
- “Who cares about that? I'm still waiting for the inside scoop on Ruan Mei.”
- — Herta about Ruan Mei in Ruan Mei's "Keeping Up With Star Rail" episode.
- Herta – “I still thought you wouldn't come.”
- Ruan Mei – “Things related to you two[1], I always cared about very much.”
- — Herta and Ruan Mei in "Antinomic Waltz".
- Herta – “Congratulations. Experiment failed again, didn't it?”
- Ruan Mei – “...”
- Herta – “I told you before that there are mistakes in your method.”
- Ruan Mei – “...”
- Herta – “I gotta tell you, I've been getting some big breakthroughs recently...”
- Ruan Mei – “I'm sorry. What did you say?”
- Herta – “Well, I can't say how great these breakthroughs are. They might only affect half the cosmos.”
- Ruan Mei – “Let's hear it, then.”
- Herta – “Hmph. A genius of my caliber... it's not something you'll just get to hear randomly...”
- Ruan Mei – “I understand. I made some desserts. We can talk and eat at the same time.”
- — Herta and Ruan Mei in "Geniuses' Greeting".
Fanon[]
RuanHerta is considered a somewhat rarepair among the fandom, with a more small amount of shippers compared to other bigger ships. However, the two have been shipped together since the beginning of the game, due to their status as colleagues and their appearance in the "Geniuses' Repose" Light Cone together. Fans liked the interaction between the two, and took away from the lightcone that the two seemed to get along, despite the Genius Society members being known for being aloof and poor at social interaction.
As Ruan Mei was an unreleased character with little information known about her at the time, RuanHerta quickly became Ruan Mei's most popular ship. The small amounts of fanart and works they received at the time typically portrayed Ruan Mei as very friendly and teasing, embarrassing the irritable Herta with her actions, or Ruan Mei straight up flirting with her.
After Ruan Mei was released in version 1.6, their dynamic was revealed to be different, mainly on Ruan Mei's end, as she was revealed to be very aloof and unwilling to form emotional bonds with others as a result of her traumatic past. Nonetheless, RuanHerta still gained a slightly bigger fanbase and veteran shippers received more fuel for the ship. This was mainly influenced by Ruan Mei's daily message where she stated that Herta's beauty was undeniable, along with Ruan Mei being one of the few people the typically insensitive Herta was shown to treat with genuine respect.
A few months after version 1.6, during the Penacony arc, RuanHerta began to become more popular, with more fanart and fanfiction being received of them and more people beginning to appreciate their dynamic and interactions togther. They have since gained a more significant fanbase, overshadowing their previous rival ship RuanStelle. RuanHerta is mostly rivaled by Herta's other popular ships, Hersta and Silverta, and Ruan Mei's more popular ship RatioMei.
Currently, RuanHerta have 20+ works on AO3.
Fandom[]
- FAN FICTION
- Herta/Ruan Mei tag on AO3
- Ruanherta hashtag on Twitter
- Ruanherta posts on Twitter
- Hertamei hashtag on Twitter
- Hertamei posts on Twitter
- Ruan Mei x Herta posts on Twitter
- ルアヘル posts on Twitter
Trivia[]
- On Ruan Mei's Character Introduction, Herta's Remark says "The pursuit of absolute meticulousness is exactly Ruan Mei's style."[2]
- In the CN 1.6 livestream, Herta's CN VA, Hou Xiaofei, went off script to say she wanted to become Ruan Mei's experimental dog.
- It is implied in the "Geniuses' Repose" lightcone description that Ruan Mei has already met/intends to meet Herta's real body when she promises to bring the real Herta desserts.
- She is shown to keep her promise when she interacts with Herta's real body, The Herta, in the "Geniuses' Greeting" lightcone, stating at the end she has made them desserts they can eat whilst they talk.
- Ruan Mei and Herta have two lightcones that they appear together in, "Geniuses' Repose" and "Geniuses' Greeting", making them the only characters to appear together in more than one lightcone aside from Hanya and Xueyi. Additionally, both lightcones have matching names.
- The readable "Ruan Mei's Lab Log", shows that Ruan Mei used fragments from Herta's puppet to try and create a lifeform that was a natural born genius.
- In the Seclusion Zone "Breeding Ground" area, an ad for Herta's manuscript is featured on an advertising bot.
- When entering the Simulated Universe for the meeting in "When The Stars Of Ingenuity Shine", Herta can be seen with a dialogue bubble above her head wondering why Ruan Mei has not come yet.
- The lifeforms based on Herta and Ruan Mei, Wisteria Cake and Lambda's Friend respectively, are best friends.
- The Nurture Recipe for Wisteria Cake describes her as "A little lifeform that loves beauty and the color purple...", and Ruan Mei has been previously described as beautiful on many occasions, and is an objectively beautiful woman.
- In the "Critter Pick" event, the location used to take a group photo to send to Ruan Mei is right next to one of Herta's portraits, and there is an option to add cute graffiti (with one of the choices being pink hearts), on the wall next to the portrait.
- Herta's "Added To Team With Ruan Mei" voiceline has her say "I don't usually get to see you outside the Simulated Universe. Who do you want to experiment on this time?", however in Chinese she says "难得在模拟宇宙之外见到你, 这次想拿谁做实验? 要我帮忙就直说。" ("It's rare to see you outside of the Simulated Universe, what do you want to test this time? If you want me to help just ask.")
- Information in game reveals that not every memory can form a lightcone when refined by a Memokeeper, only an individual's memories that can be classified as "important" or even "precious" can. It is possible for almost every lightcone to tell who the memory belongs to by referencing the Path of the lightcone with the playable Path of the character it appears to. Therefore based on these facts it can be assumed that the lightcone "Geniuses' Repose" that Ruan Mei and Herta appear together in is an important or precious memory for Herta, due to "Geniuses' Repose" being for characters following the Path of The Erudition like both Herta and The Herta are.
- Herta frequently makes remarks along the lines of "Whatever. As long as she's happy." as justification for letting Ruan Mei do whatever she wants. However when Ruan Mei is present, Herta instead says she can do whatever she wants "as long as it helps with her research", implying that despite it all, Herta does not want Ruan Mei to know how she feels.
- A leak posted in a Telegram channel in August 2024 stated that in one of the 3.0 lightcones, Herta would be interacting with Ruan Mei, however the message was then edited shortly after, with the information about Ruan Mei and Herta interacting being changed to Ruan Mei and Herta cuddling with one another. This was later proven to be incorrect, as the two were in fact just interacting with one another in the lightcone.[3]
Gallery[]
- Main article: RuanHerta/Gallery
Variations[]
- RuanStelleHerta refers to the ship between the two and Stelle
- RuanHerAsta refers to the ship between the two and Asta
References[]
- ↑ The "you two" Ruan Mei refers to is exclusively Herta and the Trailblazer, as she was in the presence of them both.
- ↑ https://www.hoyolab.com/article/23763715
- ↑ https://t.me/HSRTeamMew/853
