The Trailblazer (Chinese: 开拓者; pinyin: Kāituòzhě; lit. 'pioneer'), alternatively known as Caelus (穹; Qióng; 'vault') or Stelle (星; Xīng; 'star'), is the main protagonist of the video game Honkai: Star Rail, developed by miHoYo. In the game, the Trailblazer is part of an interstellar group known as the Astral Express, who travel to the various worlds in the universe in an effort to connect them. Along the way, they solve the problems faced by each of those worlds and befriend the people thereof. The Trailblazer was one of the first characters to be released in the game, having been in the game since launch in late April 2023. With each new world, the Trailblazer unlocks a new Path, or role in combat. The Trailblazer's gameplay was widely compared to that of one of miHoYo's other main characters, the Traveler from Genshin Impact, and their personality was seen as eccentric but charming. Critics took notice of their appreciation for trash cans.
Design and release The Trailblazer appeared alongside several other characters in the game's closed beta trailer released in April 2022. The Trailblazer also appeared in another closed beta trailer released in January 2023. In the trailer, the female Trailblazer, Stelle, was seen with fellow Nameless, March 7th and Dan Heng, walking around the planet of Jarilo-VI, but not much else was revealed about them. They are described as a "special traveler". Players can also select a male Trailblazer named Caelus instead of Stelle. They are also free to input the name that the Trailblazer will use in most of the game. Once a gender is chosen for a Trailblazer, the player is unable to change their decision. The developers stated that they wanted the Trailblazer to be more than a simple voiceless character who leads the plot. They instead wanted to "breathe life" into the Trailblazer. They felt that a sense of humor naturally emanates from the Trailblazer, and expressed hope that players' images of them would be influenced by their own choices. Their personality is heavily influenced by the player and their choices. Honkai: Star Rail's combat system consists of different Paths a character can take, which dictate the role they play in a party; a different version of the Trailblazer is released for each Path, and they operate differently from one another. The first edition of the Trailblazer was released on April 26, 2023, alongside the game itself. Caelus is voiced in Chinese by Qin Qiege, in Japanese by Junya Enoki, and in Korean by Kim Myung-jun. Stelle is voiced in those languages by Chen Tingting, Yui Ishikawa, and Kim Ha-ru, respectively. In English, they were originally voiced by Caleb Yen and Rachael Chau; however, they were replaced by Shaun Mendum and Chloe Eves, respectively, in 2025. In an interview in 2026, Chau stated that she believed the Trailblazer to be "a little dumb" but capable in a fight.
Appearances
Before the events of the game, the Trailblazer was a member of a group of criminals called the Stellaron Hunters, with the goal of neutralizing the danger posed by Stellarons, very powerful objects which are known as the Cancer of All Worlds. Not much else is known about their lives before the game takes place, other than that they had been raised by Kafka during their infancy. In the game's first mission, the Trailblazer and the receptacle where they were kept were teleported inside a space station owned by Herta, a researcher and genius. The space station is infiltrated by members of the antagonistic Antimatter Legion, and several Stellaron Hunters also arrive including Kafka, taking advantage of the chaos. Kafka releases the Trailblazer from their receptacle, puts a Stellaron inside their body, and subsequently wipes their memories. She then escapes. The Trailblazer wakes up and befriends March 7th and Dan Heng, who help them escape the space station and board the Astral Express, a spacefaring train which travels between planets. The Trailblazer meets other members of the train's crew, including Welt Yang and the crew's navigator, Himeko. The group's first major stop is Jarilo-VI, a planet frozen by a Stellaron. The Trailblazer and their allies defeat a corrupt political leader there, Cocolia, using the power of the Preservation, and subsequently transfer the planet's leadership over to her daughter who promises reform. The group next travels to the Xianzhou Luofu, a starship, which they save from being threatened by the Antimatter Legion and gain the recognition of the Aeon of The Hunt. After this, the Xianzhou forms an alliance with the Astral Express. In Penacony, the crew enters a vast shared dream called the Dreamscape, and what begins as a sort of glamorous festival spirals into conspiracy when people are seemingly killed by a mysterious entity. The still-amnesiac Trailblazer meets Firefly, who reveals herself to be a Stellaron Hunter and who hints that they have a past together, but cannot go into detail about it. The Trailblazer restores reality with help from allies, in part due to the power of the Harmony. After Penacony is Amphoreus, a hidden world which is eventually revealed to be a simulated universe created by a sentient supercomputer. The Trailblazer joins a campaign to break the loop with the power of the Remembrance, and they learn that the planet incubates a Lord Ravager of the Antimatter Legion to attack the Aeon of Erudition. The Trailblazer gains the assistance of the Xianzhou Alliance, the Interastral Peace Corporation (IPC) and Herta's forces to defeat the Lord Ravager. Cyrene, a divine intelligence tied to the world's origin, sacrifices herself to stabilize the timeline and entrusts the Trailblazer with the memories of Amphoreus. After Amphoreus, the Astral Express heads to a planet called Planarcadia, and the Trailblazer participates in the Phantasmoon Games, a spectacle where contestants compete to become the Aeon of Elation.
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