ayingdidi

[ayingdidi]

It absolutely fries my brain whenever I see people say akshually, allying with the Jin Clan after the Sunshot Campaign was a *smart* *pragmatic* political move.

Like, hello? This is diplomacy 101: you don’t ally with a group that’s blatantly untrustworthy. It's basic common sense. Sure, the Jin Clan might be wealthy, powerful, and influential, but all of that is completely worthless if they’re just going to stab you in the back. Which—surprise!—is exactly what happened. Nie Mingjue got his ass assassinated, and Lan Xichen? His clan’s secrets and techniques got stolen right from under him. All thanks to their brilliant little alliance.

It’s one thing to ally with a snake bc you're desperate or the rewards massively outweigh the risks (and even then, you’d better keep both eyes open), but that wasn't even the case here. Neither Nie Mingjue nor Lan Xichen needed the Jin Clan that badly. The Jiang Clan, the one that was hit the hardest during the war, managed to rebuild itself just fine without any major help. But sure, tell me again how the Nie and Lan Clans couldn't possibly survive without Jin "assistance."

Both Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue prioritized their personal feelings over what was best for their clans. They agreed to the alliance not because it was a sound political move, but because they felt personally indebted to Jin Guangyao—Lan Xichen for being saved and cared for during his escape from the Cloud Recesses, and Nie Mingjue for having his life saved during the confrontation with Wen Ruohan.

Both of them knew how shady as hell Jin Guangyao was. But Lan Xichen, in his willful optimism, convinced himself that Jin Guangyao MuSt HaVe HiS ReAsOnS and chose to overlook the gigantic red flag. Meanwhile, Nie Mingjue was on some bizarre crusade to "reform" Jin Guangyao, thinking he could somehow guide him down a better path or something.

So, was allying with the Jin Clan a “smart” “pragmatic” political move? Absolutely not. It was the kind of disaster you get when you put personal feelings before facts and hope a known snake won’t bite you—spoiler: it always does.

[ayingdidi]

The funny thing about JC defenders is that they always try to argue that JC refusing to cover the Wens and side with WWX was the correct political move. In the short term, perhaps, but in the long term, that was proven wrong in the books themselves.

(It's even funnier thinking that correct political moves exist in a bullshit political system that blatantly serves only the gentry, is held together by hearsay and rumors, and has no actual system of laws that can serve as a basis to accuse, judge, or punish someone.)

So how was JC's refusal to side with WWX and the Wens considered the "correct political move"? Reasons include that the Jiang sect was still recovering from the war, that going against the Jins would result in another war that would end in major losses on the Jiang sect's side, and that the Wens weren't and shouldn't have been a priority for JC at all.

Let's clear a few things up. The Jiang clan was not the only clan recovering, so were the Nies and the Lans. In the aftermath of the war, it's not explicitly stated how well the other sects were doing, so we couldn't really tell if the Jiangs were worse off than the other three. It could be noted, however, that the Jins retained much of their wealth and influence, so much so that Jin Guangyao was able to take the position of Chief Cultivator with little to no opposition. The main point, though, is that at that moment in the aftermath of the war, we could not easily assume the Jiangs were the worst off, as the other three sects also lost many disciples in the war, and we didn't really know how much the other sects recovered.

For the second reason, if a major war somehow did happen again, this time Jiangs vs everyone else, everyone else would lose. WWX's presence single-handedly helped them win the war against the Wens. A war between the Jiangs and the jianghu would be based on numbers, which reflects the war between the Wens and the jianghu. The Wens had more disciples, and no matter how many LWJs or NMJs you got up your sleeve, numbers make a big difference in war. That's why WWX's skills were a critical part in winning: he is a one-man army of thousands. He could easily make up for the gap in numbers. That's why the Jins kept trying to get rid of him—they were nervous about so much power belonging to only one faction: the Jiangs. JGS couldn't exactly claim his desired role as Chief Cultivator if a younger, smarter, and more powerful individual was still around to keep him in check.

Finally, we get to the part of why I'm making this long-ass post on a caffeine-driven rage. See, the point of trying to stop a powerful faction from committing atrocities is to stop them from thinking they can do it whenever they like. The Jins were given a pass to do whatever the hell they wanted to a small, outcasted faction (the Wens), and they proceeded to take that pass as a pass for everything else. Nobody stopped them from torturing the Wens, so what's stopping them from allowing a mass murderer like XY to run wild in an attempt to create their own WWX? Definitely not NMJ, hahaha, because, y'know, the hypocrites in the gentry have already decided that whatever the Jins do is alright so long as it's not their problem. An exterminated clan isn't their priority. So, what was stopping XY from going out and doing it again to SL's sect? Absolutely nothing! Because the Jins could cover it up and no one could say a word despite how suspicious it was, because hey, remember what happened to the last guy that spoke up against the Jins?

Calling out the Jins on their crimes against the Wens, who were elderly and children save for WQ and WN (who JC owed his damn life and core to), would have created a precedent of not allowing massive crimes to slide under the radar. But because the opposite happened, because nobody fucking realized that apathy and selfishness don't fucking help in the long run, two sects were exterminated because JGS and JGY were basically given an "okay, fine, just keep that bullshit away from us". That's not actual justice. That's not "morally grey". Allowing people in power to trample over others just because it doesn't affect you personally is not sustainable, because what happens when it's you they've decided to trample over? Are you going to complain? Are you going to look to others for help, when you personally couldn't be bothered to offer your hand to those who suffered? When the reason the people trampling over you gained that power is because you allowed it?

The unopposed killing of WWX and the Wens led to the political climate that allowed the massacres of two sects because the Jins were trying to protect and satisfy their pet project. It led to the murder of NMJ because JGS/JGY wanted to keep people from checking their power. If JC couldn't find it in his heart to be sympathetic to the Wens, fine, but at the very least, he should have considered the potential harm in rolling over and giving a political faction too much power.

[ayingdidi]

To whom it may concern,

Nie Mingjue’s blind spot

That part where Nie Mingjue asks Jin Guangyao something on the lines of ‘are you different than them/ what makes you different’ and then claiming that he himself would never use his privilege for his own benefit is so funny…

Like babe, you are great and have your own trauma to deal with, but you know… you managed to openly attack and injure your sworn brother with zero consequences because you are the privileged legitimate sect-leader, and he is the whoreson grudgingly recognised.

Talk about privilege blindness of the elite… really!!!

[ayingdidi]

Do you know what always really gets me every time I read it? During the second siege of the Burial Mounds, when the poor old corpse of Granny Wen makes her appearance...

The figure was smaller than the others and stood hunched over. There was a gaping hole in its skull, suggesting it had been bludgeoned to death. Soaking in the bloody water had left its sparse white hair stuck to its forehead, and with its skin and flesh half decayed on top of that, it was a repulsive, terrifying, and uncomfortable sight to behold.

Vol 4, Chapter 19 - 7S

I know that most of us will agree the first siege was totally horrifying and completely unjustified - after all WWX only fought each time because he was defending himself. But come on?! How can any cultivator even justify hitting a defenceless old lady with such force that they smashed a massive hole in her head?! Which utterly disgusting creep did that!?

I've seen a few people defending the siege in the past, for some bizarre reason, mostly in an attempt to justify JCs actions at leading the whole thing. But seriously, someone caved that woman's head in and then unceremoniously threw all of their corpses into the blood pool!

And even after all of that, whatever remained of the murdered Wen remnants managed to muster up the remaining strength they had left and save not only WWX, LWJ and the juniors, but even some of the people who killed them and disrespected their dead bodies so brutally, many years ago.

Yet some people in the fandom still call WWX the "bad guy" during his reluctantly titled YLLZ era, when he was literally a radish farmer living on a desolate mountain, playing with a toddler and keeping innocent people safe. Oooo what a diabolical man he was *shakes fist *

[ayingdidi]

Reblogging this again because someone pointed out my mistake in mixing up self-worth with self-esteem. To clarify, I’m talking about WWX’s self-worth here, not self-esteem (though he isn’t lacking in self-esteem either).

When we psychoanalyze Wei Wuxian’s actions—like his tendency to protect others at the cost of his own well-being or sacrificing vital parts of himself to help others— and linking it to his abusive upbringing, it’s understandable to fall into the prevalent modern, Western interpretation that he might have low self-worth. The idea is that his upbringing made him see himself as less valuable, leading to his selflessness and self-sacrificial behavior.

While this is a valid reading from a psychological standpoint, it misses the mark when we take into account the cultural and genre context of MDZS. Wei Wuxian is written as a traditional hero, especially in the wuxia sense, where selflessness, honor, and sacrifice are seen as virtues—not something to be viewed negatively. His self-sacrifice is not about devaluing himself but about standing up for what’s right, regardless of the personal cost. It’s an intentional, principled choice.

In the context of MDZS and Chinese heroic tradition, his selflessness and self-sacrifice are about commitment to justice and protecting the vulnerable, not about self-worth issues. Seeing Wei Wuxian's selflessness and sacrifice as negative not only misinterprets his character but also goes against the themes and cultural context of MDZS. His actions are meant to highlight his heroism, not serve as indicators of low self-worth or trauma.

I think this whole "Wei Wuxian has low self-worth" take comes from viewing his heroism through a purely modern Western lens, when in reality, it's actually written as a classic example of traditional Chinese heroism, where selflessness, honor, and sacrifice are seen as strengths.

In a lot of modern Western interpretations, people often analyze characters through a psychological lens, connecting their actions to trauma or emotional baggage. While there's no problem with this approach (bc MDZS does actually explore some elements of modern psychological complexity), relying on that alone can miss the bigger cultural picture.

In Wei Wuxian’s case here, his selflessness, which is tied to traditional heroism and a strong moral compass, gets misunderstood as low self-esteem or a reaction to trauma. This misreading reduces his heroic sacrifices to emotional damage, instead of seeing them as intentional, principled choices driven by a strong sense of moral responsibility.

Wei Wuxian’s choices—like protecting the weak, sacrificing his golden core, and standing up for what’s right even at a huge cost etc— are grounded in this type of traditional heroism and NOT simply a byproduct of trauma. In MDZS, sacrifice and selflessness isn’t about self-doubt or a lack of self-worth; it’s about courage and staying true to one’s principles.

[ayingdidi]

I think this whole "Wei Wuxian has low self-worth" take comes from viewing his heroism through a purely modern Western lens, when in reality, it's actually written as a classic example of traditional Chinese heroism, where selflessness, honor, and sacrifice are seen as strengths.

In a lot of modern Western interpretations, people often analyze characters through a psychological lens, connecting their actions to trauma or emotional baggage. While there's no problem with this approach (bc MDZS does actually explore some elements of modern psychological complexity), relying on that alone can miss the bigger cultural picture.

In Wei Wuxian’s case here, his selflessness, which is tied to traditional heroism and a strong moral compass, gets misunderstood as low self-esteem or a reaction to trauma. This misreading reduces his heroic sacrifices to emotional damage, instead of seeing them as intentional, principled choices driven by a strong sense of moral responsibility.

Wei Wuxian’s choices—like protecting the weak, sacrificing his golden core, and standing up for what’s right even at a huge cost etc— are grounded in this type of traditional heroism and NOT simply a byproduct of trauma. In MDZS, sacrifice and selflessness isn’t about self-doubt or a lack of self-worth; it’s about courage and staying true to one’s principles.

[ayingdidi]

In my opinion, redemption for Jiang Cheng's character is impossible. It’s odd how most discussions about his potential redemption always solely centre around his relationship with Wei Wuxian.

While it’s true that Jiang Cheng wronged Wei Wuxian, his biggest crime isn’t his treatment of Wei Wuxian—it’s the massacre of the Wen Remnants. His redemption shouldn’t just be centred around his relationship with Wei Wuxian, it should focus on the Wen Remnants, who were brutally slaughtered under the siege he led.

Making peace with Wei Wuxian doesn’t erase the much larger moral crime of leading a massacre against innocent people. True redemption should be about confronting the full extent of one’s wrongdoings, and in Jiang Cheng’s case, that means dealing with the massacre, not just his wrongdoings against Wei Wuxian.

Jiang Cheng never reflects on the massacre, expresses any regret for the innocent lives lost, or takes responsibility. For Jiang Cheng to even have a chance at redemption, he��d need to show real remorse for what he did to the Wen Remnants—and honestly, I just don’t see that ever happening.

[ayingdidi]

drives me nuts when people treat jin guangyao or wei wuxian like they're socialist revolutionaries like no! they're not!! in fact their respective roles in society and complacency regarding its hierarchies is why ANY of the story even happens to begin with!!!

jin guangyao doesn't hold bitterness just because he was born lower class. he is bitter because others deride him and his prostitute mother in spite of both their intelligence, skills, and efforts to climb the ladder.

why do you think we were shown scenes of other prostitutes in the brothel deriding meng shi for being literate, for "trying" so hard? why do you think we were shown scenes of anxin taunting meng yao and throwing shit at him because he was trying to learn cultivation at his mother's behest?

why do you think jin guangyao arranged for the arson of that brothel, burned to the ground with everyone except sisi inside? that's not the behavior of someone who believes in true equality and the inherent worth of sex workers as human beings!

that's the behavior of someone who thinks he's better than them. the behavior of a man who already came up on top through political games and war crimes, backstabbing and spying for the sake of the "greater good".

i won't rehash his argument to nie mingjue that he didn't have a choice-- he had some choice, but no matter what he does his class will come up and people will always assume the worst and try to hurt him for it, which forces his hand to do whatever will protect him best (hence 'no choice').

jin guangyao did everything he could to secure his own safety and a place among those already higher up. and by that point, he'd won it.

the fact that the temple rebuilt on the brothel site is to guanyin, the goddess of mercy, is even more ironic! the fact that jin guangyao has the goddess's statue carved to look like his own mother is proof that he viewed both her and himself as higher than them. more worthy than them.

of course he cared about the general welfare of others (read: the watchtowers). but consider also that there is no watchtower near yi city, which ended up being one of xue yang's playgrounds. jin guangyao can and will turn a blind eye to certain sufferings if it is convenient to him.

sure, jin guangyao made undeniable contributions to cultivation society and accessibility, but he is not at any point trying to topple existing class structures. his adherence to them is in fact integral to his own downfall in the end.

it brings with it the inevitability of society conveniently ignoring his triumphs and genuine moments of humanity to deride him once more as an evil, disgusting son of a whore once his crimes come to light.

now for wei wuxian. he's the righteous protagonist of the story and he doesn't give a fuck what society thinks, yes, but he wasn't out there trying to cause an uprising so that all the poor servant classes and lower could become cultivators. he wasn't trying to redistribute wealth or insinuate that those who are lower deserve to be viewed as equal to the gentry.

the most critical and non-explicitly stated fact of mo dao zu shi is that wei wuxian has always been resigned to his position in the social hierarchy.

his unreliable narration, especially regarding his own past and thoughts, is so damn important. he doesn't EVER tell the reader directly that people treated him any which way at their leisure because of his parents' differing social classes.

no. instead we are shown how much prestige he is afforded as cangse-sanren's son-- reputation as a talented and charming young cultivator, made head disciple of Yunmeng Jiang-- and how little respect he is given in the same breath, as the son of servant wei changze.

the way he is treated by others is as fickle as the wind. if he obeys and does as told, there is no reward. of course he did that, that was the expectation to start with! if he does anything even slightly inconvenient, there is a punishment. of course he has no manners, what else would you expect from an ungrateful son of a servant?

wei wuxian's righteousness is not a matter of adhering to principles he was explicitly taught, the way nie mingjue values honor or the way jiang cheng always tries to prove himself. wei wuxian does the right thing regardless of what the consequences are to him because his good deeds are always downplayed and his bad deeds are always singled out, no matter who or how many people were doing it with him.

he has faced this double standard since childhood. there are points in the novel where it's clear that this sticks out to wei wuxian, but does he ever fight back against that view of himself? does he EVER, at any point in the story, explain his actions and choices to jianghu society and try to debate or appeal to their sense of reason?

no. because he knows, at his very core, that any explicit deviation from their interests whatsoever will be punished.

slaughtering thousands of people is fine when they want him to do it, and when the alternative is unjust torture, re-education camps, and encroachment upon other sects' lands.

slaughtering thousands of people who are trying to paint him as evil for not going along with their genocidal plans, however, is punished.

wei wuxian knows his acceptance among the higher classes is superficial and unsteady. from the age of 10, when jiang fengmian took him in, he knew subconsciously that he could be kicked out at any time.

he knows that cultivation society doesn't care about war crimes and concentration camps and mistreatment of the remaining wen survivors of the sunshot campaign. but the right thing to do now that they aren't at wartime is to help them, plus they'd punish him either way for it, so he will.

in this regard wei wuxian is more self-aware of his position than jin guangyao. he does care about common people and he does try his best to help them as an individual. even if that ends up with him disabled, arrested, targeted in sieges, or dead.

but is he revolutionary? in the full equality, fight the establishment, rewrite laws, change social structures and people's perceptions of class sense?

no. no. he isn't.

now my knowledge of chinese society and history is fairly limited to my hindu diaspora upbringing and our shared cultural similarities ... but speaking to what i absolutely know us true, adherence to one's social class is expected.

this is rigid. efforts and merits might bring you some level of mobility, but in the end, the circumstances of your birth will always be scrutinized first, and your behavior compared to the stereotypes of where and how you originate.

mdzs is not about revolution, and none of its characters are able to truly change its society. there is no grand "maybe cutsleeves aren't inherently bad" or "i'm sorry for persecuting you and believing hearsay, you were truly a good person all along!" at the finale.

people ignore history and repeat it again with the next batch of ugly gossip and rumors.

wei wuxian, lan wangji, and luo qingyang find peace only by distancing themselves from cultivation society and its opinions.

jin guangyao and wei wuxian both cannot ever escape from others' perception of their origins and actions. regardless of their personal beliefs, they are not revolutionaries.

[ayingdidi]

Maybe it wasn't clear from my earlier post, but this premise is meant to be deeply unfair to Sizhui but it’s NOT meant to be just another scenario for Jiang Cheng to angst over.

I included tragedy for a reason. There’s no happy ending in this AU; the story will inevitably end in tragedy and a bad outcome for Jiang Cheng.

The hazy idea I have is that maybe Lan Wangji's injuries were more severe than in canon, preventing him from coming to Burial Mound. As a result, it’s Jiang Cheng who stumbles upon Wen Yuan. Lan Wangji never learns that Wen Yuan survived. Realistically, there’s a 99.9% chance that Jiang Cheng would throw Wen Yuan into the blood pool with the rest of the Wen Remnants and be done with it. But I’m interested in exploring that 0.01% chance where he decides to spare him—maybe on a whim or perhaps with a more insidious motive.

The end result is that somehow, Jiang Cheng grows to love Wen Yuan in his own unhealthy way, similar to how he did with Wei Wuxian and Jin Ling. Then, as canon events unfold, Wei Wuxian is resurrected, and suddenly the truth about Wen Yuan's identity comes crashing down.

There would be no reconciliation or forgiveness because there’s no getting over what Jiang Cheng did to the Wen Remnants. Wen Yuan would surely be conflicted about his feelings for Jiang Cheng, but I want to stress that there will be no forgiveness.

The ending I envision is for Wen Yuan to leave Jiang Cheng and be with Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning. Over time, away from Jiang Cheng’s influence, Wen Yuan might find his own path to a happy ending.

What I want to explore in this AU is for Jiang Cheng to face the consequences of his actions against the Wen Remnants. We don’t get this in canon. Nevermind regret, I don’t think he spared a single thought for the innocent Wen Remnants who were murdered. In this AU, he is forced to confront his actions because of his love for Sizhui.

I'm actually really intrigued by the idea of a Jiang Cheng raising Sizhui AU—not in the "Jiang Cheng, the bestest Jiujiu" kind of way, but in a tragic, heart-wrenching sense where a traumatized child is unknowingly raised by the very person who wiped out his entire family. This trope is incredibly fascinating and could be used to dive deep into Jiang Cheng's character—his hatred for the Wen Remnants, his complex unhealthy love-hate relationship with Wei Wuxian, and now the added layer of raising Wei Wuxian’s pseudo-son. The thought of Jiang Cheng initially hating Sizhui, only to gradually and unintentionally grow to love him, and then having to confront the painful reality that he was the one who caused unimaginable suffering to someone he loved like a son, is just chef's kiss. The potential for angst and tragedy here is absolutely delicious.

But, of course, Jiang Cheng stans hate complexity and nuance, and seems to live in this bizarre reality where Jiang Cheng murdering Sizhui's entire family has no consequences—it's all about him being the best Jiujiu evahhh. 🥴

[ayingdidi]

I'm actually really intrigued by the idea of a Jiang Cheng raising Sizhui AU—not in the "Jiang Cheng, the bestest Jiujiu" kind of way, but in a tragic, heart-wrenching sense where a traumatized child is unknowingly raised by the very person who wiped out his entire family. This trope is incredibly fascinating and could be used to dive deep into Jiang Cheng's character—his hatred for the Wen Remnants, his complex unhealthy love-hate relationship with Wei Wuxian, and now the added layer of raising Wei Wuxian’s pseudo-son. The thought of Jiang Cheng initially hating Sizhui, only to gradually and unintentionally grow to love him, and then having to confront the painful reality that he was the one who caused unimaginable suffering to someone he loved like a son, is just chef's kiss. The potential for angst and tragedy here is absolutely delicious.

But, of course, Jiang Cheng stans hate complexity and nuance, and seems to live in this bizarre reality where Jiang Cheng murdering Sizhui's entire family has no consequences—it's all about him being the best Jiujiu evahhh. 🥴

[ayingdidi]

This idea that none of the great clans could offer the Wen Remnants protection because it would lead to war is so ridiculous.

People always throw out this excuse to defend Jiang Cheng, Lan Xichen, and Nie Mingjue for their involvement and complicity in the Wen Remnants massacre, but it's a complete bullshit.

For the Jin Clan to declare war on another great clan, they would need a solid, irrefutable justification. Look at Wei Wuxian: he wasn’t part of the gentry, had no support after cutting ties with the Jiang Clan, and his reputation was already down in the drain. Yet even with all of that, it still took the death of Jin Zixuan, the clan's heir, for the Jin Clan to finally have a strong enough justification to declare war against him. Declaring war on another great clan would require far more than that.

Taking in the Wen Remnants and supporting Wei Wuxian wouldn’t have sparked a war. At most, it would have strained diplomatic relations and potentially broken a few alliances and the Jin Clan would no doubt apply political pressure. But that's as far as it would go—there would be no full-blown war.

[ayingdidi]

The logic that’s applied by the ‘Rhaenyra’s kids aren’t bastards’ crowd is sooo warped it’s so fun. I just know there’s absolutely nothing going on up there. It’s like watching someone with no common sense, tools, or instructions build ikea furniture. they got all the pieces but they are somehow putting them together in a way I could never have even conceived of. The suggestion that being a bastard is only a legal status, and they were claimed by laenor, thus making them trueborn?? Because legality always aligns with fact. Right? Right?? That’s something we all know to be true. After all, everyone knows if you kill a guy and you never get caught you didn’t really kill him. Common sense really.

[ayingdidi]

This is so bad faith reading.

There's literally nothing on the text that suggests you should read WLJ's death as sexual in any type of way.

Sure, you could interpret it that way if you wanted to, but again that's your personal interpretation, stop treating it as an objective fact.

If MXTX intended for WLJ's death to be read as sexual, she would have written it that way; she would have included the sexual undertone but the text doesn't reflect this. Instead her death is simply written to highlight WWX's ruthlessness and brutality. See, you could have condemned WWX for this.

Instead anon went out of their way to toss big words with heavy connotations around and use misleading and manipulative language to paint WWX as something that he was not.

i am way more disgusted by wei wuxian’s brutal, sexualized murders of both wang lingjiao and wen chao than i am by anything jin guangyao does to the sex workers. jin guangyao may have had those sex workers executed to cover up his complicity in his father’s death, but he doesn’t torture them sexually for the express purpose of seeing them suffer. which is something wei wuxian definitely does to wang lingjiao.

“no it was the ghosts” lmfao whatever you need to tell yourselves to preserve your fanon interpretation of wei wuxian, bastion of morality and cuddler of bunnies. but he was right there watching this go down. killing a woman in a different, less sexually charged way was totally within weight wuxian’s power, and he chose the most vulgar and humiliating method he could imagine.

and no, she didn’t deserve it. no one deserves to die like that. not even wang lingjiao.

.

[ayingdidi]

Alicent being Otto's favourite child despite being younger and female could've been good if Alicent was half as bad as people make her out to be/if she was anything like her book counterpart, instead of it just being because she was young and easy to manipulate.

[ayingdidi]

“In PIWD, it says Luo Binghe always sought og!Shen Qingqiu’s acknowledgment, even with the abuse—this proves he always loved him. 😍"

Have you ever considered that og!Luo Binghe was a horrifically traumatized child who hoped that if he could just earn his abuser’s acknowledgment, the abuse would finally stop and he’d finally be treated with basic human decency? That clinging desperately to this foolish hope was the only thing keeping his sanity intact through the relentless excruciating abuse. And in the end, it was all in vain, as something in him irreparably broke when his abuser finally tried to murder him?

[ayingdidi]

WWX: telling everyone that the Jin Sect is torturing & killing their prisoners and bluntly called out the Jin Sect as the second coming of the Wen Sect.

LWJ: is this true?

JGY: yeah lol, but WWX should just stfu

LXC: *ignoring JGY blatant confession to instead condemn WWX "rude" behaviour* WWX has changed.

Lmfao and y'all have the audacity to paint this disgusting piece of shit as a righteous and honourable person, Lan Xichen–no matter how hard this fandom tries, they can never make me like you.

[ayingdidi]

The dumbass scene with Rhaenyra isn't Alicent's liberation arc; it's simply a shift in who holds her reins. Instead of men, it's Rhaenyra now.

Alicent's true liberation arc should have happened in S1 when she was actively beefing with everyone around her; she was plotting to have Rhaenyra’s treason acknowledged, scheming to outmaneuver Otto, and was not afraid to defy Viserys' wishes.

All of this culminated in the confrontation at Driftmark. That should have been the moment of Alicent's liberation—the point where her worst fears come to life, proving her right; Rhaenyra’s flaunting of her duty finally led to Alicent and her loved ones bearing the consequences.

Viserys, in the same breath as he coddled and protected Rhaenyra, demanded that Alicent let go of her grievances and make peace with the injustices she had endured. At that moment, Alicent realized she deserved better, so she snatched Viserys precious dagger and tried to stab the very woman he ordered her to reconcile with—the same woman who, moments earlier, had demanded that her son be tortured.

Alicent stabbing Rhaenyra should have been the ultimate rejection of Viserys—a moment where she finally broke free from his shackles. That should have been Alicent final stance against her jailor. Alicent refusing to bow to his demands, and is finally free to seek justice for herself.

This should have been Alicent's liberation arc.