How did Aglaea die in Honkai Star Rail?

Honkai Star Rail’s Version 3.3 update continues the Trailblazing expedition at Amphoreus with the mission titled The Fall at Dawn's Rise, where Aglaea plays a crucial role. This quest has delivered the climax for the current trailblazing expedition in the Amphoreus region.

During this mission, Aglaea, one of the Chrysos Heirs, is impaled by Caenis and the Cleaners in the city of Okhema. Her death becomes a turning point as the story concludes with Dan Heng, the Trailblazer, and Chrysos Heirs in this Flame-Chase journey.

---

Aglaea's death in Honkai Star Rail: Explained

Following the vote by the people and the Council of Elders to continue the Flame-Chase journey, chaos breaks out in Amphoreus. Despite the outcome, Caenis, an elder from the council and the 27th head of the “Cleaners,” defies this decision and targets Aglaea directly, seeing her as a threat to Okhema's future.

With the rising hostility towards the Chrysos Heirs from them, Aglaea made a devastating choice: not to resist, but to surrender to the path laid out by Caenis and her followers, even as they intended to instill fear and break her resolve.

Throughout Honkai Star Rail, she stands out as a character who chooses courage over fear. Her death unfolds in two symbolic moments, each marking the loss of a different part of her identity and fulfilling the prophecy of her death foretold by the Tribios, one of the first Chrysos Heirs.

The Fall of her mortal self

As the Chrysos Heirs, including Dan Heng and the Trailblazer, are intercepted by the Cleaners across Amphoreus, Aglaea is cornered in Okhema’s bathouse by Caenis with some Cleaners in tow, who attempt to threaten the lives of the common people she vowed to protect, not her own if she resists.

Caenis also mentions the little mute and deaf girl who had given Aglaea a bracelet after she had saved her in the past. To make her point, she threatens to make the girl blind as well.

Confrontation by Caenis and the Cleaners (Image via HoYoverse)

In the end, she acquiesces to Caenis' plan. She is stabbed through the heart by Caenis and the Cleaners using a dagger made to kill Chrysos Heirs. Her body eventually falls to the lower floor of the bathhouse as the people of Okhema present there watch in horror.

This act was her final message and part of her plan. By sacrificing herself, she sways the people to side with the Chrysos Heirs, bringing the Flame-Chase journey to its ending phase. This was later revealed to Phainon in the letter that she had left for him.

Dissolution of her divine self into the pool of gold

After the demise of her mortal form, in the form of a golden nymph, Aglaea asked the Grand Craftsman Chartonus for a final wish, which was to forge her remaining divinity into a bracelet.

Aglaea’s divinity in the form of her golden threads protected Phainon and the others (Image via HoYoverse)

This bracelet had once been a gift from the same girl that she had saved in the past, and was now meant to carry her remaining dying powers. She intended this as a final support for the Flame-Chase journey, specifically for Phainon.

Her remaining divinity, stored in the bracelet, fulfilled its final purpose by protecting Phainon and the others from falling into the pool of gold using her divine threads.

Her bracelet finally loses its divinity and drowns in the pool of gold (Image via HoYoverse)

When the threads couldn’t hold on any longer, the bracelet itself fell into the pool of gold at the bottom of the Sky Titan’s Fortress of Dome "Eye of Twilight", one of the new unlockable map areas in Honkai Star Rail.

As it melted away in gold, her divine essence was released, fulfilling her prophecy of taking a “final bath in warm and radiant gold.”

---

Who is Aglaea in Honkai Star Rail?

Aglaea, an elegant dressmaker, became a demigod after overcoming and inheriting the coreflame of “Romance” from the Titan of Romance, “Mnestia.” She has helped maintain the order between the Chrysos Heirs and the commoners over the city of Okhema with empathy and gentle guidance using her golden threads.

Aglaea with the Trailblazer performing a ritual (Image via HoYoverse

Even after becoming a demigoddess, she always retained her humanity and never used her divine powers from the coreflame to dominate or harm the people. She represented a balance between grace and responsibility throughout her life.

---

The significance of her actions

Aglaea knew her end was near. After living for over a thousand years as a demigoddess, her senses had begun to dull, and her human shell was becoming a living corpse. This was a clear sign that even as a Chrysos Heir, you can’t defy time and fate forever.

Like many Chrysos Heirs before her, she had already foreseen her death with the prophecy. But she understood what it needed to achieve. Her sacrifice wasn’t just a personal choice, it was meant to be a turning point for everyone. She knew that only something this drastic, and the timing of her death, could stir the people of Okhema and push Phainon into the role he was meant to fill.

Once a lighthearted, carefree presence, Phainon ultimately steps into the role of the leader following her death. Her final act of defiance against Caenis and the Cleaners rallies public support for the Flame-Chase journey, compels Phainon to take charge, setting the stage for the final confrontation with Aquila, the Sky Titan.

Aglaea bids goodbye to Phainon (Image via HoYoverse)

In the end, Aglaea’s end wasn’t a defeat but an act of transcendence. Her choice to die on her terms, rather than allowing Caenius and the Cleaners to undermine her resolve, reveals the strength of her character. This moment highlights the emotional depth of Honkai Star Rail, adding layers to the game’s worldbuilding and narrative richness.

Her sacrifice lingers, not just in the hearts of the Chrysos Heirs but also in the hearts of the players who have witnessed it.