The stories behind some of the last words and epitaphs in Honkai: Star Rail’s Dragonbone City

Styxia, or Dragonbone City, is for all intents and purposes a city of the dead. Introduced in Honkai: Star Rail 3.2, it has an intricate connection with Thanatos, the Death Titan, and its empty, dark alleys are mainly populated by lost souls and butterflies, which are regarded as messengers of the Titan.

Amphoreus being a world based on mythology, some of these butterflies are indeed divine messengers and can communicate — and they’re all too happy to share some last words as well as epitaphs they’ve heard and seen over the centuries in service to Thanatos.

As usual, HoYoverse didn’t miss the chance to pepper these fictional quotes with historical references, so it’s time to reveal their true origins.

“The strongest.”

- Quote from HSR

“To the strongest.” – the last words of Alexander the Great, allegedly.

Alexander the Great died in his early thirties after creating one of the largest empires in the history of the world, entering the annals as one of the greatest generals of all time. Countless generations of young men from Greece and Rome up until today regard him as a hero — but unlike his fame, his empire proved to be fleeting. Following his death, his closest friends and generals tore his realm apart, taking pieces of it for themselves.

According to one source writing three centuries after the fact, his friends asked Alexander on his deathbed to whom he wanted to bequeath his empire. He responded: “To the strongest.”

Naturally, there are many doubts as to the authenticity of the quote, as is always the case with last words. Other sources depict Alexander as too weak to speak before his end or have him hand over his signet ring to one of his companions. It’s equally possible that someone simply invented the quote in retrospect, knowing about what would happen, or that one of his friends made it up to justify their deeds.

“Kill me, or be guilty of regicide.”

- Quote from HSR

“Kill me, or you are a murderer.” – the last words of Franz Kafka, allegedly.

Aside from giving his name to one of Honkai: Star Rail’s most beloved characters, Franz Kafka was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century with the term Kafkaesque later being coined to describe the absurd and bizarre situations depicted in some of his writings.

Kafka is one those authors who were appreciated much more after their death than during their lifetime, and so he died a relatively unknown man in 1924, aged only 40, from tuberculosis — or, rather, from starvation due to tuberculosis making eating impossible for him in his last days. 

He’s supposed to have told his doctor “Kill me, or you are a murderer” to convince him to give Kafka an overdose of morphine to ease his end.

“Water.”

- Quote from HSR

“Water.” – the last word of Ulysses S. Grant, allegedly.

Ulysses S. Grant has many achievements to his name as one of the United States’ greatest generals of all time and one of its presidents. Battling throat cancer, Grant managed to finish writing his memoirs and then died five days later. Allegedly, his last word was “Water,” which likely referred to the flask of cocaine water next to his bedside that was used to treat his pain. Both the original bed and that flask of water remain at the cottage Grant died in even today.

This is probably the quote with the highest probability of being authentic, when compared to every other candidate.

“The only thing I wish to say in this last moment is that I can only give my life for my city-state once.”

- Quote from HSR

“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” – the last words of Nathan Hale, allegedly.

Nathan Hale was a soldier and spy during the American War for Independence, risking his life to relay information on the British war efforts back to the Continental Army. His true loyalties found out, Hale was captured and then executed by hanging. Given the opportunity for a final speech, Hale allegedly ended it with “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,” possibly quoting a popular play about Roman politician Cato the Younger, but equally possibly invented as a romantic embellishment fuelled by wartime patriotism.

Whatever the case, all present at the execution agreed that Hale met his punishment with great dignity.

“Oh, time, the omnipotent Oronyx, please deliver news of our fate to all. To preserve the sacredness of the Veil of Evernight, we slumber forever on the famed Oleinus Plains.”

- Quote from HSR

“Go, tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie.” – the burial monument at Thermopylae, allegedly.

The Greeks honored their fallen soldiers at the Battle of Thermopylae – best known as the last stand of the 300 Spartans in popular culture today – with a monument, the inscription written by the contemporary poet Simonides of Ceos reading “Go, tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie,” as recorded by the historian Herodotus.

Unfortunately, the original stone bearing the epigram is lost, so there is no way to verify what it actually said. Still, given that Athens and Sparta were embroiled in a bitter rivalry following the Persian War, it stands to reason that the Spartans would want to emphasize the sacrifice of one of their kings and his soldiers at Thermopylae in service to the Greek cause on top of bolstering their reputation as disciplined warriors — and this epitaph certainly would’ve achieved all that.