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[joys-of-everyday]

We're happy to announce the second annual YQY Weekend Event! It will be held from July 5th to July 7th. Above are the prompts and rules. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

[joys-of-everyday]

In regards to why Yue Qingyuan is like that when it comes to Shen Jiu, I have some thoughts.

To begin with, I always interpreted their relationship as purely platonic/familial (though perhaps with potential to turn into something else had things been different. I think their personalities are compatible in that way.)

Because of that, empathize with Yue Qingyuan from my place as the oldest sibling, and because of it I think I can understand him when it comes to his behavior regarding Shen Qingqiu. (Because of that, I admit I'm not objective, so don't take this as a serious analysis and just my thoughts)

And for this I feel that Yue Qingyuan, more than allowing Shen Qingqiu to do what he pleases because he feels guilty, feels responsible for Shen Qingqiu's actions. He doesn't let Shen Qingqiu abuse his disciples, be hostile towards their fellow peak lords, and "engage in debauchery" just because he doesn't want to further strain their relationship, but because all of this is his fault.

When Shen Yuan first transmigrated and Yue Qingyuan asked him to stop punishing Luo Binghe, it didn't feel like he was making an attempt to stop Shen Qingqiu from further abusing the boy, but like the admonishment of an older sibling telling their little brother to stop acting a certain way. A "why are you doing this? You are not getting anything out of it, there's no reason for this other than you being cruel, stop it." Had Yue Qingyuan been making an attempt to stop him from harming his disciple, he would've done it. He's the sect leader, he could just take Luo Binghe to another peak if not outright order Shen Qingqiu to stop.

There was a time my younger sister started bullying a classmate, she didn't see it as such, and I know she's not purposely cruel but she was young and thoughtless. In that situation I didn't take the other kid's side and reprimanded her harshly, yelled at her for being mean, ordered her to stop. I asked her why she did that (boy was annoying/everybody else was doing it too (and so it couldn't be wrong)) and told her that what she was doing was cruel, that everybody was being cruel to that boy, explained to her how bullying works, asked her how would she feel if she was annoying and everybody made fun of her, and asked her if she wanted to be a bully.

Yue Qingyuan said something along the lines of ''that boy hasn't done anything wrong, he tries so hard, aren't you tired? Hasn't it been enough?" He didn't take Luo Binghe's side like he should have, but he appealed to Shen Qingqiu's logic. He knew Shen Qingqiu and had an idea of why he was doing it, and addressed it calmly, tried to convince him to stop because there was no point, he was only making himself angry. He wasn't assertive either, only coaxing, because he also felt all of this was his fault. And not only that;

I believe Yue Qingyuan genuinely loved Shen Qingqiu, but he didn't like him anymore, and he felt terrible for it. He cared so much for him, yes, Shen Qingqiu was the only person he actually cared about and he couldn't be objective when it came to Shen Qingqiu. But he was constantly exasperated by him, he was so disappointed, and he knew he could like him again if Shen Qingqiu just stopped acting so caustically. But what right did he have to dislike Shen Qingqiu after how he failed him? If Shen Qingqiu acted like this it was because he was hurt, and whose fault was that? a

Love and like are not mutually inclusive. Think about a parent, a friend, a sibling, an aunt or an uncle. Someone you loved so much as a child and who was good to you. Someone who gave you gifts and played with you and heard you ramble and rant for hours, who defended you from others, who always had a smile for you. Now think about the time you realized they were a bigot, or that they yell to waiters, are cruel to animals. That they hit their partners or their children. You felt disappointed (and even betrayed) but you still loved them, you just didn't like them anymore, and you could no longer trust them, but if something happened to them, you'd be inconsolable. And you just know that if they just stopped you would like them again, you'd be so proud, you'd be so happy. In many cases like this what actually happens is that people feel guilty for loving someone so awful. In Yue Qingyuan's case, he felt guilty for not liking him.

Shen Jiu was not a good man, but he was hurt and the world had never been kind to him, so Yue Qingyuan took it upon himself to be unconditionally kind to him (even if he didn't realize that the way he chose to be kind also hurt Shen Qingqiu) and Yue Qingyuan was also the reason why Shen Qingqiu was so hurt, if Shen Qingqiu was cruel or violent, the blame fell on Yue Qingyuan's shoulders. How could he even dare to side eye Shen Qingqiu for how he behaved, when he wouldn't be like this if it weren't for Yue Qingyuan?

Yue Qingyuan's guilt doesn't come solely from not getting Shen Qingqiu out of Qiu manor, but from every single consequence that followed his failure. He's at fault for any and all of Shen Qingqiu's sins. He is also the only person who will ever be good to Shen Qingqiu, who knows he isn't the monster he made himself to be. He has no right to be disappointed in Shen Qingqiu's actions because they are his fault, he would never dare impose his own will above Shen Jiu's because hasn't Shen Jiu been subjected enough to the whims of others? he will never use his authority to stop him, he's the only ally Shen Jiu has, and he's also the only person in the whole sect with power over Shen Qingqiu, which puts him in a position to hurt Shen Qingqiu in ways no other could, to damage beyond what any other would be able to.

Yue Qingyuan's regrets are way more complex than what people make them out to be. Yue Qingyuan is aware that his silence about the fact that he did come back but was too late wounds Shen Qingqiu deeply, and the longer he doesn't explain himself the more Shen Qingqiu hurts. But this is also the only way he has of punishing himself, and he also feels guilty about it.

Imagine how he must see his own situation, Yue Qingyuan is respected and well liked, rich and powerful, he will never have to submit to other's wishes, he is free, untouchable, his brother is alive and healthy and so close. He has it all and more he ever dreamed of, and deserves none of it, how could he ever allow himself to be forgiven? When in the end he's the person who has hurt Shen Jiu the most.

There are more reasons why he keeps quiet about the Linxi caves, most stem from trauma, and I believe his own need for punishment is one of them.

So when I see his behavior being reduced to ''he doesn't want for sqq to hate him more'' or ''he's just ashamed and guilty'' I feel sad because, Shen Jiu might be the most misunderstood character by other characters in the story. But Yue Qingyuan is the most misunderstood character by the fandom.

[joys-of-everyday]

I just watched ContraPoint’s Twilight and so clearly, I need to write about BL. She even told me too! (2:42:40)

Firstly, if you know anyone who goes “why is BL so xxx (derogatory)”, this is an excellent video to point them to. Yes, it’s 3 hours long. That is how thoroughly it defends BL Twilight.

Secondly, I don’t particularly want to discuss whether I agree or not with the finer details of every statement Natalie makes. In broad strokes, it is an excellent video.

I hope from point 1, 2 it’s clear that I don’t want to reiterate too much that the video covers, so if you have time to do anything, I recommend going to watch it. That being said, I think there are interesting points to go deeper with the slightly different perspective of BL, so I’ll jot down some loose thoughts.

DHSM

So apparently… Twilight is yaoi coded? I’ve never watched or read Twilight in my life so maybe I’ve been sold the wrong impression.

Yaoi, and then BL, has always been constructed on narratives of power and its subversions. Pio makes an excellent post here linking to a neat interview which covers, from a different perspective to Natalie (who focuses on straight romance), some of the conversations around power and fantasy.

Natalie defines a framework in which this narrative exists: Default Heterosexual Sado-Masochism, or DHSM (1:26:47). This is a series of dichotomies that are often associated to each other: masculine, active, subject, lover, dominant, top… vs feminine, passive, object, beloved, submissive, bottom… Yes. It’s seme vs uke, gong vs shou. The criticism and defense of such narratives have been well-trodden, and Natalie gives a good account. I’ll leave that for now.

What I find interesting, and what Natalie mentions, is the natural scope of BL to subvert DHSM itself. Notable is the myriad of tropes that seek to subvert the common dichotomy – the feminine seme, the muscular uke, the younger seme, and so on, so forth. Or works where both parties play the roles of gong and shou – WWX’s active pursual of LWJ’s affections… hell, almost the whole of MDZS is LWJ being reactive to what WWX does, flipping the dynamic in its entirety.

But I think that even in its most standard, vanilla DHSM version of BL is already subversive of these expectations. The almost infamous “but I’m a man!” uttered so often by the uke when faced with the affections of a man (wow, gayness, how terribly exciting) can be interpreted as mild homophobia, yes, but it occurs to me now that it is a subtle marker of agency. The uke is surprised to be the object of desire. And thus we learn that object/beloved is disjoint from womanhood, even if the work doesn’t go as far as to untangle it from femininity.

Is that surprise in itself referencing the default view that men are not objects of desire (women are), and therefore problematic? Who knows. Then again, it do be the case that you can’t comment on a thing without presenting the thing. (*cough* Scum Villain *cough*)

Ah Power

“Is it really fine though?” says Natalie, halfway thought the video. (1:23:07)

I’ve defended BL to the moon and back. I still would. But always there is a little person sat in the back of my mind reminding me of all the moments I cringed. The overwhelming DHSM, the casual misogyny, the slightly bizarre takes queerness… Don’t get me wrong, there exist BL works flying in egalitarian gay space communism, and BL isn’t like… uniquely bad among media despite the frequent bashing it gets (have you watched the average shonen?). But I like BL. That’s why I know intimately all the issues it has.

My gay male friends tell me that BL often disappoints them because it’s not reflective of their experiences. Fair enough. I think a lot of BL (by the nature of what it is) is on the whole reflective of female (and Asian) experiences/perspectives. While I have no intention of telling anyone what they can and can’t write, it… idk, feels strange, that so much of society’s perspective on gay men (overwhelmingly so in Asia, and increasingly so in the West) is shaped by… not gay men.

Food for thought.

Another question that sometimes strikes my darkest hours is… why yaoi and not yuri? Why BL and not GL? Well it turns out that a lot of women (the main target audience, if you weren’t aware by now) are into men (Surprise!), so I guess that’s not particularly surprising. Then again, it seems reasonable to think there’s an element of wanting a blank slate. Woman is Other, said idk… Beauvoir. For a woman to woman, there must be a reason she womans. A female character cannot exist without navigating – explicitly or implicitly – social structures that work against her. Even a world that removes those barriers with the good old worldbuilding becomes commentary on today’s society. And ngl, the last thing I want to be thinking about when reading my escapist fantasy is the unfortunate circumstances we live in (*big sigh*).

Is that internalised sexism? Should I think deeply about my biases and my apparent inability to think of women as just people? Maybe. Sorry, my political correctness is not high on my mind when reading smut.  

The seen seen, the desire desired

Who are you attracted to in BL? Some say you (the obviously female reader)(I’m feeling exceptionally sarcastic today, but I realise this doesn’t translate well to text) are meant to relate to the uke and feel attraction towards the seme. From experience… this doesn’t track. Often because erm… the audience of BL isn't all straight women it turns out.

But an interesting point that Natalie raises is the capacity for a reader to relate with characters in what are perhaps unexpected ways (cf Part 6: Identity). BL often jumps between the perspective of seme and uke. If straight fantasy gives women the opportunity to relate with both the desire and desired, then BL gives the capability of being everything at once – the powerful beloved, the pursued subject, the desire desired - through both the uke and seme. After all, how common is the sentiment “I don’t know if I want to fuck him or be him”? (I’m gonna digress and say I don’t think people mega-braining multiple POVs as they read BL, but I will highlight the way BL tends to portray both parties as loving and beloved.)

There’s something inherently voyeuristic or polyamorous about BL. Natalie states that blank slate characters are blank slate as to not generate envy – blurring the identity of the uke enough that they become indistinguishable from the reader. This is not the template of BL. The uke is often just as developed, if not more developed in character than the seme, with the reader’s capacity to relate to multiple POVs meaning they can see the uke from the outside, as separate, as object, as Other. Either the reader disappears in the narrative, everywhere and nowhere at once, or is tucked between them (“I want to fuck/be fucked by both.”).

Representation

In general, I prefer to be excited about what we do have rather than nitpicking the individual. Works that subvert tropes, tropes that subvert tropes, authors trying to better understand the queer community, conversations around what media representation we want to see etc. etc. get me excited. BL broadening its scope from escapist smut fantasy (tbc, nothing wrong with that) to more “mainstream” slice of life/fantasy type works is something I welcome. Some bits of BL fandom have been some of the nicest I’ve seen. It’s a community that I think is special, and whether I think media should be child friendly aside, I think it has the capability to be a really positive influence.

It strikes me that while BL isn’t reflective of the most standard gay male experience… it is, in some way, a gay male experience.

And I say this in a way that is literal for me and my trans brethren, but also maybe this is true more broadly, in an abstract sense. Natalie suggests that women relate to big, hulking alpha men in romance with a masculine element of themselves. When/if you relate to characters in BL, do you relate to them with a masculine element?

Well, not always and not everyone, and the gender of the characters themselves are often more complicated. ig what I’m trying to say, is that BL might not seem like an accurate reflection of the world to some, but it is a reflection of something, and maybe we should value that.

And as a final remark, I don't think anyone needs to intellectualise their interests as hard as I sometimes do. Keep enjoy what you're enjoying. You're doing great :)

[joys-of-everyday]

Update, I got into Zelda.

[joys-of-everyday]

imagining the story from pei ming's perspective is rlly funny i think. this god from all that time ago ascends again (you were there for the first two times) and immediately waltzes into a situation that fucks something up for your descendant (putting both of your reputations on the line, messing up how hard your descendant worked to become a god and how hard you worked to ensure that he would have that chance) and then refuses to let you smooth the situation out and on TOP of that your friend's little sister (who hates you and who you are trying to look out for by request of your friend) is on your case about it too. so you've gotta work all that out and then like. you chill for a little bit (still kind of upset about your descendant) until your friend undergoes a heavenly calamity. and then in the space of like A Day the god from earlier shows up again with a fucking ghost king, your friend dies, the little sister you're supposed to be looking out for disappears, and everything just kinda goes to shit. so you're like. grieving. trying to process everything. until your OTHER close friend goes off the fucking rails with the spirit of that guy she murdered, and then you get called out to the spooky ghost mountain where you're confronted with the girl whose death YOU were essentially responsible for and have never really come to terms with, and then like. you just kind of hang out with these gay people until everything resolves itself. fight some ghosts. fight the heavenly emperor. get your friend to stop being evil for a little while so she can fix the filing systems. and then you just have to keep being the god of love i guess

[joys-of-everyday]

Part 5 of Mingning in different outfits

Yuan dynasty

[joys-of-everyday]

Wei Wuxian is, unfortunately, not the self destructive MXTX protagonist

He had phases:

Phase one: reckless teenager who just doesn't consider consequences because he's a dumb teenager. Not self destructive just high int low wis stat because he's literally like 15

Phase two: self destructive but in the "traumatised youth who is self medicating his pain away and also going through his tortured genius phase" which to be fair his peers were also going through their own mental health struggles at the time so no one was riding the mentally stable train. Even without dying this was hopefully a temporary phase. If he was a millennial he would have been really into My Chemical Romance during this time

Phase three: not self destructive, trying to get OUT of situations but still ending up IN situations despite his best efforts but generally giving off a "I'm a dad and too tired for this drama. I just want to go sight seeing"

Xie Lien from what I understand wasn't so much self destructive as deeply depressed (still haven't finished the book)

Shen Qingqiu on the other hand

The man never met an obstacle where he didn't at least consider literally dying as the solution

He tries to literally self destruct the first time during Sha Hualing's raid on Cang Qiong when poisoned hoping to take her out with him and is only stopped by Liu Qingge showing up

Actually self destructs when Binghe comes back to "fake" his death and also calm Binghe's ass down

His plant body death wasn't his fault I'll give him that

Risks death for Binghe in the mausoleum several times

Self destructs AGAIN at Maigu Ridge to restore Binghe's mind and only lives because the system took pity on him

I'm guessing the only reason he stops self destructing for Binghe is because Binghe destroys Xin Mo and maybe because he realised it makes Binghe too sad idk

Anyway Shen Qingqiu is the only truly and literally self destructive MXTX main character and that's why he's the best and worst and just most character ever

[joys-of-everyday]

I love characters who are broken and insufferable and tragic and beautiful. I love characters who are morally fucked.

I also love characters who are good. Shining symbols of the greatest bits of what humanity offers. Compassionate and authentic. Brilliant, and uses all of that brilliance to make the world a little bit better.

Characters who are good and struggle against the brutal realities of the world, over and over until it destroys them. Characters who refuse to bend their principles and break as a result. A spark smothered, innocence destroyed. But in those final moments, burning brighter than the sun.

And also too, characters who are good and struggle against the brutalities of the world and fucking win. Who show that life can be good, can be better, can be everything you wish and dream it to be. Characters who show that people can be kind. People can endure and forgive and be wonderful.

[joys-of-everyday]

Part 4 of putting Mingning in different outfits!

Song dynasty.

[joys-of-everyday]

If you're writing a fix it au that makes Shen Jiu not repeat the cycle of abuse it's important to also keep him an asshole

He can be made a better, less abusive man but he cannot exist with the shady bitch nature removed

I'm trying to figure out how to make him not so much befriend Liu Qingge but make the two of the realise they they can be the Anti-Social power unit during enforced social situations

Like they become somewhat less antagonistic to each other when they realise by teaming up they can keep everyone away during social events by being Team Unpleasant

Add in Shang Qinghua and you have two assholes and a weirdo who is also low key an asshole

If Qi Qingqi joined they they would be the mean girls of the Cultivation world

Cang Qiong Mountain should be renamed to Yue Qingyuan and the 11 Peak Assholes

[joys-of-everyday]

Shen Jiu is an asshole (affectionate). I want to cuddle him and give him a home and feed him nice food.

[joys-of-everyday]

SQQ(SY)'s character arc

Last time I talked about Shen Jiu's character arc, so this time, let's talk about Shen Yuan's character arc. Here's the theory of character arcs I'm working on for reference. If Shen Jiu's arc in SVSSS is an (abstract) redemption arc, then Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan) is an (abstract) enlightenment arc.

I say 'abstract' because I'm not talking about the spiritual enlightenment that 'enlightenment' often refers to, but the more general meaning of the word 'enlightened' aka. to have a better understanding or wisdom of something. Character arcs are often framed as 'goal-misbelief-truth' (good video on misbeliefs here) - the character works towards a 'goal' (which is not necessarily the 'truth'), is hindered by a 'misbelief', which is related to the 'truth'. Take Shen Qingqiu. His 'goal' is to get away from Luo Binghe. His 'misbelief' is that Luo Binghe wants to harm him. The 'truth' is that they love each other. When I say 'enlightenment arc', I'm referring to the specific way that Shen Qingqiu discovers this 'truth', not as a slow process of learning (a growth arc), but as a sudden moment of revelation. There are two points that this occurs - first in the dreamscape where Shen Qingqiu realises Luo Binghe's intentions, and second on Maigu Ridge, where Shen Qingqiu realises he's been hurting Luo Binghe all along.

Let's talk about enlightenment arcs

I made this up. Someone might have already done this (it feels like a natural thing to think about). If you've come across this/thought about this, please let me know >.<

To be clear, enlightenment arcs are not constrained to certain cultures, and are not that uncommon either. Here's a Western example: in the 2021 film Don't Look Up, Randall discovers a 'truth'. All along, what he cared about wasn't arguing with people online or hooking up with sexy news presenters; it was the time spent with his friends and family. The 'moment of revelation' is very sudden, probably less than 15mins in the film. Enlightenment arcs underpin a lot of romantic comedy, where the revelation is in the form 'A likes B'. Secondly, enlightenment arcs aren't just 'super fast growth'. They're structured in a way that is fundamentally different from a growth arc. Whilst growth arcs may have 'moments of revelation' where the truth fully hits the character (those 'power of friendship' moments), they're still building on things that the character has been discovering up to that point. Meanwhile, an enlightenment arc contains a fundamental turning point. An 'it was all a lie' moment.

But also, enlightenment arcs are arcs, not just moments. You can't just 180 in the middle of an arc and go 'so they discovered the truth and were forever changed'. That will probably leave readers severely dissatisfied. The 'moment of revelation' requires serious set up, some parts of which I want to demonstrate with Shen Qingqiu's arc in SVSSS.

1. The audience/reader should know your 'truth' well before the revelation

A twist without foreshadowing is... kind of just annoying. If in the middle of a sports story, the MC suddenly decides actually the industry is screwed and sports competitions are unethical, then rides off into the sunset with the love of their life having decided happiness and comfort is more important... well good for them, but it would be awful to read. By the time the revelation comes around, the reader should at least be able to acknowledge why the 'truth' is what it is.

For SVSSS, it is abundantly clear right from the start that Luo Binghe is madly in love with Shen Qingqiu. Luo Binghe might as well be holding a sign in red flashing lights which says 'I love you' at all times. The second revelation is... more subtle. From Luo Binghe's return from the abyss to the start of the holy mausoleum, we're led to believe that Luo Binghe is this yandere character who killed resident cinnamon roll Gongyi Xiao out of jealousy. But almost as soon as the first revelation (Shen Qingqiu discovers Luo Binghe is in love with him) is done and dusted, we're led straight into uncovering the second revelation.

In succession we learn that 1) when Shen Qingqiu tells Luo Binghe to leave him alone, he does, to Shen Qingqiu's surprise 2) Luo Binghe wasn't responsible for the sowers (start of Mausoleum) 3) Luo Binghe goes to great lengths to protect Shen Qingqiu (Mausoleum) 4) Luo Binghe wasn't murder boy actually. That was Zhuzhi-Lang all along (demon realm scene) 5) Luo Binghe is a sad wet puppy who needs a hug (tea scene in flash back) 6) Bingmei isn't like Bingge at all (end of flashback) 7) Bingmei has separation anxiety

All along the way, Shen Qingqiu's care for Luo Binghe is also reiterated. We learn that Shen Qingqiu is willing to go through great pain to protect Luo Binghe, and that he would rather face down the entire cultivation world than leave him. By the time Maigu Ridge comes around (chapter 21 in Seven Seas translation), the revelation is natural.

Note: the 'truth' can be ambiguous. In Everything Everywhere All At Once (great film!) 'truth'=googly eye. Interpret that as you will. (As in, of course all of this is alluding to something like 'human connection good' or 'meaninglessness and absurdity is fine actually', but it's felt rather than told.)

2. The character is completely missing the mark most of the time

In an enlightenment arc, before the revelation, the character is completely oblivious to the 'truth' and is often actively working against it for the majority of the time. This is what separates an enlightenment arc from a growth arc - the dissonance between the message the reader is getting from step 1, and the actions of the main character. You probably recognise the vibe: characters that are 'oblivious', 'frustrating', 'why are they so dumb?!!!! (affectionate)'. Or characters who are pitifully drowning in their faults/traumas and are pushing away the people trying to warn them.

Pulling this off is a technical skill. A Silent Voice does this in a really cool way, with dissonance between Ishida and Nishimiya's actions, combined with the eerie quality of the music, portraying Ishida's complete obliviousness to a really important thing that will soon hit him like truck. A lot of people have written cool posts about Shen Qingqiu's obliviousness to both Luo Binghe's feelings and his own feelings. I wrote a short post here on Liu Qingge's role in this for SVSSS. In summary, how to create romantic tension without telling your MC:

Have your MC obsessed with the love interest, but in an 'appreciating objective beauty' way

Have your love interest be obsessed with MC, but make MC allergic to sensible logical deductions

Wife plot your MC

Liu Qingge (with help from Gongyi Xiao)

3. But just before the moment of revelation, the character should be in a position to understand the 'truth'

Everything in an enlightenment arc is building towards a moment of revelation, but this moment is extremely fast. There is basically no time for character development, so you need your character to be ready for the 'truth' before the moment happens, e.g. maturity or life experiences or wtv. If you told Shen Qingqiu at the beginning of SVSSS that Luo Binghe will fall in love with him and he needs to look after him or cause pain, he would probably laugh in your face. Some maturing has to happen before he is capable of realising this. This kind of character development is the same as in any arc and there's lots out there on some of the ways to do it, so I won't go into this. However, in an enlightenment arc, this is uniquely difficult to pull off. Because for a long part of the arc, the MC is increasingly ready for the 'truth', but makes no progress towards finding it. (If they did, it would be a growth arc.)

Here's two techniques to make this work.

The first technique is to withdraw information from the MC. They might be ready for the truth, but they don't know it because.... they just don't know. For Shen Qingqiu's first revelation (Luo Binghe is in love with him) he finds out because Luo Binghe kisses him. This is information he didn't have before (that Luo Binghe wants to kiss him), so when he gets it, that forces a change in his world view.

But one has to be extremely careful with this - since you need the readers to be aware of the 'truth' and the MC to not be, this can rapidly devolve into the hated (badly done) misunderstandings trope (misunderstandings can be done well. This is an easy way to do them badly).

The second technique is to distract your MC. They are too stressed/traumatised to think straight. ('aaah he wants to kill me' -> 'he's in love with me' is obviously a big leap and the 'aaaah' feeling is hard to get out of) They are too focused on their goal and the rewards that this is giving them to stop and think. (For Shen Qingqiu Operation run away from Luo Binghe/stop Tianlang-Jun takes too much precessing power while they're in action) Or maybe their misbeliefs cause them to shrug off evidence of the 'truth' and diverts their thoughts to other things ('he doesn't like women' + 'protagonist can't be gay' -> 'he must be asexual' ...??? I love the SQQ logic)

This is used for both of Shen Qingqiu's revelations, but relies on it more heavily in the second half (in part because of practicalities. The second revelation is also largely about Shen Qingqiu's internal feelings, which is not something an external event can give you information about). Note that as Shen Qingqiu gets closer to the final revelation, the 'distractions' get stronger. Regret of Chunshan causing Shen Qingqiu to feel humiliation and embarrassment. Tianlang-Jun threatening to destroy the world. Luo Binghe's declining reputation and increasingly unpredictable behaviour. All of these are work to prevent Shen Qingqiu from self-reflecting on his relationship with Luo Binghe.

This kind of escalation is important for an enlightenment arc, because that's how tension is built. Think of it like a spring. The more energy you store in it, the more dramatic the release is.

4. Making your 'moment of revelation' hit home

In an enlightenment arc, absolutely everything rests on a single moment. Get this wrong, and the whole arc falls flat.

I say moment of revelation, but the 'moment of revelation' might be an entire episode or chapter, or even longer. A moment of revelation is a transformation, and here it is 'very fast growth'. Actually discontinuous character arcs aren't usually advisable, so there should be a natural sequence of things happening that get you from A to B. Often, there is a external driving force (or 'small scenario pusher') which forces the MC to confront the 'truth'. Alongside this, there may be a series of thoughts the MC has, dispelling the misbelief and arriving at the 'truth'. In visual media, moments of revelation can be given impact by having a definitive moment where an actual thing happens e.g. Music changes, symbolic cues, use of colour palettes and lighting etc.

Some popular forms of 'revelation' include

- a conversation, where the MC is told the 'truth'. ('I love you!' proclaims the love interest. 'Oh wow who could have guessed,' says the main character.)

- a conversation, where the MC is told the 'misbelief', but dramatically counters it with the 'truth'. ('you're just like me,' says the villain. 'No, I'm not!' says the hero.)

- an event, which forces the MC to question and disregard their 'misbelief'. ('I'm all alone' thinks the MC, but when they wake up in hospital, they are surrounded by friends.)

- exposition (often used in writing, for first person, or third person limited) where the MC's thought process is explained

MXTX leans very heavily into exposition, and the second Shen Qingqiu revelation is all of chapter 21 (Seven Seas), which includes like 10 paragraphs of straight text (in the original serialisation, this was chapters 78-81). This long 'moment of revelation' is a good opportunity to dissect one way a 'moment of revelation' can unfold.

1. The doubt. The closure of Tianlang-Jun's story (a story of hatred and betrayal turned to one of love and sacrifice) works as a final bit of foreshadowing, while Luo Binghe's descent into madness shakes Shen Qingqiu terribly.

Upon hearing him admit to his lunacy, Shen Qingqiu's heart spasmed with a dull pain. "Binghe, get away from that sword first," he said quietly. "The farther the better."

2. The realisation. Next we have Yue Qingyuan's reveal (a story of loyalty and sacrifice gone wrong because of miscommunication). Shen Qingqiu has an 'oh fuck' moment in the middle of this, then immediately after starts to throw off his misbeliefs and starts making his deductions towards the 'truth'.

Everyone said Luo Binghe had gone mad. Even he himself had smiled and admitted it. Xin Mo, which Luo Binghe had finally managed to suppress after a million words of struggle in the original work, had gained the upper hand in this struggle and invaded Luo Binghe's mind. This wasn't a result of one or two events, but a slow accumulation over time, until finally it had completely erupted. Numerous signs had long since made themselves apparent, but Shen Qingqiu had never noticed. Or perhaps he should say that he'd never realized that Luo Binghe was actually so insecure, to the point of having an inferiority complex.

3. The reflection. With this realisation in hand, Shen Qingqiu continues to think about all the things that he's done that has hurt Luo Binghe and seeks to fix the wrongs, ending with the (in)famous Maigu ridge papapa.

Why hadn't he told him earlier? It was just like Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe. Why hadn't he told him earlier? If he hadn't been so cavalier, so full of conjecture, Luo Binghe might never have darkened. He could have remained the sweet and bashful disciple he'd been on Qing Jing Peak.

4. The big truth reveal. And finally Shen Qingqiu's 'truth' is made clear. He loves Luo Binghe, has always loved Luo Binghe, and wants nothing more than for him to lead a happy life. And in turn, Luo Binghe loves him, not in dark yandere demon lord way, but a child who wants security, having been thrown away so many times.

Shen Qingqiu made sure to emphasize every word. "If I were her, no matter how venomous that drug was, I would have drunk it down without hesitation, then escaped the Water Prison. Afterward, I would draw all its effects into my own body. No matter how agonizing the process, no matter if the price would be complete destruction of my marital aspect, no matter if it meant a horrible death: I absolutely would not allow my child to suffer even an ounce of harm."

He'd only ever been a child. Walking the world alone, tripping and stumbling countless times. Wanting only those few things, yet never able to grasp them. If only Shen Qingqiu had realized this earlier, he thought, he'd have definitely... definitely...

5. The acceptance. With the truth out, Shen Qingqiu's mental crisis is over. He accepts the change, and is happy to die with Luo Binghe.

"Dying together" also included a "together". It didn't seem that bad.

((Completely for fun, and if you're HxH fan, let's see how this template works in a different story. In HxH (big spoiler alert!). Meruem in the Chimera Ant Arc has an enlightenment arc. (You can tell because there's 6 panels where everything goes white.) The 'moment of revelation' starts quite slowly, and ends with a 12 page climax (in the manga). 1. Meruem doubts Pouf and suspects he is missing something important in his memories. 2. He is suddenly reminded of Komugi 3. Meruem recalls his time with Komugi and has Big Feelings. 4. Meruem's feelings are acknowledged. 5. Meruem walks off, having not killed a traitor, indicating he has no more desire to lead the Ants.))

Summary

I hope I have convinced you that Shen Qingqiu's character arc in SVSSS is an enlightenment arc, in that the discovery of his 'truth' is a sudden, dramatic reveal, and that this was interesting run down of some of the ways MXTX makes this work :3 As ever, comments/complaints/suggestions are greatly welcomed.

Acknowledgement

All this theory on character arcs was heavily inspired off these video essays on character arcs:

Hello Future Me's video on redemption arcs

Schnee's video on madness arcs

[joys-of-everyday]

sqq's fursona

what fandom thinks it is:

what luo binghe thinks it is:

what sqq thinks it is:

[joys-of-everyday]

Part 3 of putting Mingning in different outfits. A-Ling joins in!

Tang dynasty

So much to choose from 🤯 Sort of gave up on embroidery and prints. So intricate. So pretty U-U

[joys-of-everyday]

My formations are complete, my weapons are polished. I return with my response. *rubs hands*

Firstly (I've reblogged this saying this in tags but I'll say it again) but great post! This gave me so many thoughts that I have done very little irl work this week *cries in stress but we ball* (Clearly svsss is more important) and spawned four different posts. My present to a mutual U-U (You don't have to read it. It's awfully long, but it was fun writing)

Anyway, I'm not going to add anything conclusive because I've already stated my headcanon and it is just that - a headcanon. But I wanted to add a few (okay, a lot of) thoughts and clarifications.

What exactly are we talking about

Let me be super pedantic about definitions, because it seems conflation of terms is causing misunderstandings (in general, not specifically the post above).

Child abuse refers to intentional harm of children, but common practices from historic times, or in other cultures, falls firmly under what we would call child abuse. [And in all seriousness, I think in absolutely no circumstances should you beat your kids. (square brackets for the voice of reason)] But as you've mentioned, when we talk about fictional settings, particularly in genres that are influenced by earlier periods in history or based on other cultures, judging characters entirely by our own standards is very shallow. And as you've said, no way does LQG's teaching methods count as child abuse (for funny reasons, here is post discussing whether LQG's teaching methods are legal today. Conclusion is that it is probably child endangerment, rather than child abuse).

Despite the fact beating kids up is okay-in-fictionTM, SJ's treatment of LBH is child abuse because of it's clear intention to cause harm. The isolation, the bullying, the fake manual, the unfair punishments - all of this is malicious, targeted, and goes far beyond general harshness. Trying to harm a child is Not Okay, even in fiction. Even in the wild before times, murdering children would usually mark you out as a bad person. (and obviously this includes a wider set of people. harm is generally not good) And I think most readers understand this very well (including SY, our resident shonen anime fan). Shonen anime mentor characters aren't labelled child abusers (usually). Cinderella's step mother is.

In between is a bit of a grey area. There are action that have clear intent to harm, but are difficult to punish, because they are difficult to distinguish from actions that don't have intent to harm. Bullying a child under your care is child abuse. But how do you distinguish reasonable punishment from bullying? Also, intention isn't everything. No matter how much the words 'tough love' is thrown around, treatment that causes serious and permanent harm is child abuse. Given any set of standards for treatment of children, there are things that are considered to be problematic but are just about toing the line. In svsss world, where corporal punishment used on children is acceptable, a 'legal-but-asshole' teacher could look like someone who regularly beats up a child for minor infractions, dishes out such punishments unfairly and disproportionately, and turns a blind eye to bullying among students. (by our standards, this is firmly within child abuse territory. in particular, allowing severe bullying is regarded as neglect)

So for the purposes of this post, I'm going to call 'not-legal' for what would get you into Huan Hua's Water Prison and 'legal-but-asshole' for bad behaviour someone could conceivably get away with in the cultivation world (including things that are unacceptable for us). Note that this terminology may come in conflict with my original post.

LBH's exceptionalism

I think for me at least there is far more evidence to support that lbh was getting uniquely shitty treatment not because of anything he did but because sj didn't like him for various reasons, many of which actually stem from jealousy and his own insecurities about his cultivation and his life too, not helped by the fact that when choosing lbh for his peak, it was prompted partially by spite because lqg mocked him for starting cultivation late and implied lbh with his natural talent would be better than him.

100% agreement here.

LBH is from a poor background, has natural talent that was noticed by LQG, was at an ideal age to start cultivating, and has a kind mother. Big jealousy material for all of SJ's problems.

But also... I don't think this was exclusive to LBH. There's a lot of things in life that SJ hates. SJ hated LQG for these reasons:

Shen Jiu hated far too many people and far too many things. ... Liu Qingge had achieved success in his youth; his talents were extraordinary, his spiritual energy vast, and his swordplay awe-inspiring. His family background was excellent, and both his parents were alive. Any one of these things would have been enough to make Shen Qingqiu gnash his teeth and toss and turn for three days and three nights, let alone all of them together in one person.

- Seven Sea's Translation, SQQ&YQY extra

He had other reasons to hate LQG, but also like, the narration here closely follows his pov, so this was probably significant. idk but LQG was very good at inciting SJ's insecurities for just being his delightful self. (I love LQG. I love being mean to him too) Who knows, maybe a kid could remind SJ slightly too much of LQG and SJ would go off on them. Maybe not to LBH level, but you can get pretty bad without even coming close to LBH level.

Another thing is, I don't think LBH's set of characteristics is particularly unusual. Cang Qiong Mountain is the biggest sect in the cultivation world. We know from YQY that trying to get into a cultivation sect is what kids with nowhere else to go do. If the population is several million (and the population of China has been greater than this for a long while), one in a thousand, even one in ten-thousand talents are plentiful. If we're talking medieval living standards, the vast majority of people grow up poor. If LBH hadn't been there, I feel like some other poor kid would have taken his place. And maybe they had done, in the past.

And yeah, fiction doesn't work like real life. You've mentioned different interpretations, so I wanted to posit one: you could also argue that LBH's treatment not being exclusive works equally well, because it says something about how the harm caused by SJ's trauma is literally just collateral damage. There's no real reason that LBH was picked out. He was just at the wrong place, at the wrong time. SJ doesn't hate LBH (an innocent child). SJ hates a world that keeps throwing lemons at him. **

However, one thing I would raise, is that SJ is intelligent. (Intelligence 18, wisdom 11 or something) Also, this man is obsessed with his status. Like I genuinely can't see level-headed SJ risking his position in order to bully children. I think as long as he has self-control (which I headcanon as always until LBH turned up) he would only do things he could conceivably get away with, hence keeping everything in 'legal-but-asshole' territory. (Still abuse by our terms, and I think it would raise eyebrows in world, but not jail worthy by SVSSS terms.) (Even with LBH, he was conscious of not letting other's know what was going on, SY not getting OOCed for the whole 'don't let other's think I'm abusing you')(Also, remember how he was going through loopholes with YQY about how brothel visits are technically allowed)

What LBH is special for is his protagonist energy. Never stays down. Succeeds to an illogical degree. In terms of triggering SJ's insecurities, this is the absolute worst. SJ went through difficulties, and it broke him. Evidence for this: man is so upset that the fake manual doesn't stunt LBH's cultivation that he almost has a qi deviation (okay, not really, but he was quite angry about it). Theoretically, SJ might have started off in 'legal-but-asshole' territory, but got so triggered that he went completely overboard into 'not-legal' territory. (And even with LBH, a lot of his actions were through MF, giving him plausible deniability)

One remark is that I have a feeling you're suggesting that SJ "being a some bitter dude who hates kids and wants to ruin them because they're better off than him" would make him a 1D villain? (I might have misread that. if i did, sorry!!!) In terms of moralities, I actually like... don't care how many kids he was abusive (legal-but-asshole) to. Which is a statement that completely doesn't float irl, but actually I think it possibly shifts the narrative to view him more favourably (because of **), (A similar phenomenon is described in schnee's video on moral ambiguity, where Jinx is somehow 'less bad' because she kills indiscriminately and doesn't specifically care about the people's she's killing.) Also, after the first kid, there's responsibility on the people who didn't stop him too (sorry YQY, I was on your stan hill for so long but for academic integrity I have to concede here U_U)

(And all of this is on top of being harsh, which he was doing anyway. For YQY's comment, theoretically, if SQQ had been mistreating disciples consecutively, YQY could just have been talking about the current target aka. LBH)

I want to note here that by terminology gymnastics, 'SJ abused children other than LBH' and 'SJ's only child abuse crime was what he did to LBH' can simultaneously be true.

On SJ, themes, and narrative extrapolation.

Sure it can be interpreted in different ways, but to me personally it means that sj was supposed to have a background that explained his actions towards lbh and lbh specifically *because* of how he triggered sj... no thanks to lqg for making sj riled up in the first place by comparing them... but also this is kind of establishing a connection between them as well from the outset no?

Having said all of that, this is 100% valid and there's actually evidence for this. We have foreshadowing right at the start!

In his previous life, Shen Yuan had been well-off growing up... Perhaps due to this carefree upbringing, devoid of either competition or pressure, he came to believe that ranking in the top ten of a competition was good enough, so long as it had more than ten people. Therefore he'd never understood what scum villains like Shen Qingqiu were thinking as they dug their own graves. ... So why did he have not even a speck of the poise expected of an immortal? Why did he act like one of those bitter courtyard-complex concubines with too much time on their hands? Why was he so unable to tolerate the main character no matter how innocuous his behaviour, and why did he spend day in and day out scheming up new torments for him, even getting others to do so in his place? Even if Luo Binghe was blessed with heavenly talent, and even if his aptitude was exceptional to the point that he was more or less cheating... there was no need to envy him to that extent, you know?

- Seven Seas translation, Chapter 1: Scum

But this is interesting so I want to unpack the first part of what you said

He served a purpose in the original pidw narrative that got cut. He was supposed to be different to lbh's other enemies in that he was supposed to be 3D not just a 1D villain meant to be face slapped and moved on from. Sqh said all the foreshadowing etc amounted to nothing. Sure it can be interpreted in different ways, but to me personally it means that...

This is what I'm going to call 'narrative extrapolation', basically anything that considers the question 'what makes sense within the narrative/character arc?' to events that aren't canon or open to interpretation. I tend to veer strongly towards 'what works within the worldbuilding given?' or 'how would this work in real life' (the essay above). I'll call that 'setting extrapolation', and as you've pointed out, setting extrapolation often fails when a particular narrative is being pushed. e.g. It's not realistic that the main character wins against all odds through the power of friendship or wtv, but these events are necessary to push forwards the character arc.

@salmonpinkisnice (hi! thanks for the comments!) also does narrative extrapolation and comes to a different conclusion:

And I don't think it would narratively add anything to make you doubt sj's multiple victims, it just didn't focus on them bc lbh was tbe only relevant character to face his abuse. The other allegations were disproven to show sj wasn't pure evil and was more complicated, but making lbh the only victim kinda goes against that.

So that had me thinking... what is SJ's character arc? What is his character 'supposed to do'? I went and made a theory of character arcs (which is still in progress but seems functional for now) and applied it to SJ. Something very interesting happens. When you take SJ's arc in the order information is presented to you in SVSSS, SJ's character arc is (abstract) redemption aka. things go up. But if you take the information in chronological order, it is an (abstract) corruption arc, aka. things go down. (I want to be clear that these are not moral judgements, but literally things go up vs things go down) In SVSSS, we learn about SJ backwards - starting from his worst behaviours and accusations, then gradually dispelling the accusations and giving him more and more positive characteristics.

Applying narrative extrapolation on SJ, it 'should be' that eventually all the accusations are dispelled, and actually, he's not a bad person at all. For example, it's not actually canon that SJ didn't sleep with women in brothels (he can do that and not contradict anything in the text, if we're taking virgin piss scene as ambiguous), but extrapolating narratively, it makes sense that allegations of 'murdering sect members' and 'lechery' are false. Take this a step further, and 'abusing other disciples' also disappears.

(Note that SY does a lot of narrative extrapolation in the opposite direction. In PIDW, SJ is a 1d villain, or a true flat arc. So extrapolating narratively, absolutely everything he does is bad)

But in chronological order, you get a different story - SJ's slow moral corruption. As you've said, his earlier behaviours are all justified (our first long repost chain was on SJ's teenage murder sprees lol)(I do agree that it was justified though). During his disciple days we see him antagnoising his fellow sect members but not technically not breaking any rules. In his peak lord days he's abusing at least one child. At the beginning, he's accused of being a bad person. By the end, he's calling himself a bad person. His good characteristics fail to advantage him, his bad characteristics are rewarded. Someone described a corruption arc as the 'making of a villain', but I think so called 'blackening arcs' tend to veer more towards villains-with-complexity, while corruption arcs have a permeating sense of inevitability and helplessness. (Also neither arcs necessarily end with a villain. it's things go down quickly vs things go down slowly)

Applying narrative extrapolation to this, here is a another theory - SJ gets worse and worse as his peak lord days continue. What might have started off as malicious rumours eventually becomes closer to the truth. We have (sketchy) evidence for this too:

"If, in the future, you see someone fall into a qi deviation, don't panic, and don't rush up rashly thinking you can save them. You must stay calm and call for help; don't try to do it yourself. If you don't, you'll definitely be more of a hinderance than anything, and you'll make a big mess, and you'll abandon yourself to despair from then on. You'll never be free of it for the rest of your life - even jumping into the Yellow River won't wash you clean!"

- Seven Seas Translation, Airplane Extra

and SJ's mental health problems unfortunately have a precedent of making him less likable. I've theorised SJ's (slightly less extreme) downwards spiral in this post.

So what 'should' SJ's character be. And here's a third interpretation. Maybe the answer is nothing. Or rather, purposeful ambiguity. A large part of SVSSS is about SY learning to stop seeing people as narrative devices. People don't fit into character arcs. That's okay.

(But this isn't fun for analysis, so I'll posit it and ignore it for the rest of the time)

Being Mean to Rich Kids

Do I think he'd have reason to hate rich brats? Yes, sure he would. But the thing is he doesn't identify with rich brats... he expects rich noble bratty kids to be spoiled and have everything he couldn't have. Why would this incite his insecurities and his self hatred? It wouldn't. It just wouldn't trigger him. It might annoy him. He might dislike them and even be harsh with them. But it wouldn't make him hate them the way he seems to hate lbh.

Also agree. The comment about rich kids was perpendicular to the discussion. I've explained in the comments somewhere, but this is just a theory for a) why SJ has a reputation for being a bad teacher (which is not the same as why he is a bad teacher) b) how he excuses his behaviour and gets away with the worst of it.

[Kids being rich is absolutely not an excuse for ill-treatment btw. They're still kids. But also, some kids are allergic to being told off]

On YQY

Having said that YQY takes responsibility for all children after the first that SJ is mean to, I've decided YQY needs more fans so let me be an aggressive YQY stan for a second (in the least serious way possible) Firstly, as you've said, the only abuse that YQY canonically ever saw was the legal-but-asshole bits. For @salmonpinkisnice I don't think YQY is not that indulgent of SJ. YQY is indulgent towards SY, but that's because SY doesn't really do things that are bad, and the times he was accused of doing bad things (skinner demons) it was very clear from the situation that he was being set up.

(my big defense is here and the "On YQY's ignorance of LBH's treatment section" at the end outlines my thoughts in more detail).

So did SJ abuse children?

By abuse I don't mean canon-typically standard treatment of children which is highly dubious by modern Western standards (under which absolutely everyone would fall under) (including SY funnily enough. Putting kid's lives at risk is serious stuff nowadays. Health and safety forms are a lot of work U-U), but 'would cause a gasp of horror in-world'. As far as I can tell, this is where the debate currently lies:

For: SY tells us SJ abuses children and makes a habit out of it. We have YQY's reaction to SJ selecting LBH at the trials.

Against: SY's reaction of YQY is absolutely not to be trusted, along with all of what SY says about SJ.

My two cents: I was in the for camp to start out with, but @slytherinzidian has changed my mind significantly. Also, this folds into my headcanon that YQY wasn't aware of the Not Okay things that SJ was doing but sidetracking, sidetracking.

Time to play devils advocate 😈

(You are completely welcome to ignore this if you don't like this kind of debate 😊 I mean all of this in a very lighthearted way)

Although SY's words can't be trusted, what there is fair amount of evidence of is SJ's treatment of LBH, as well as a general vibe of how he ran the peak, curtesy of SQH's narration (also unreliable, but it's something.) We know SJ was at the very least rather strict, and MF was a bully with SJ's permission. Is it realistic that LBH is the only person to receive unfair treatment? (idk. maybe yes) Certainly, there were a number of things that signaled him out - LQG chose him, he had a similar background to SJ but was seemingly more fortunate - but these aren't exactly exceptional traits, and SJ's decision to pick on him in particular feels like it was somewhat of an arbitrarily 'I don't like him'. It doesn't seem unreasonable that SJ's treatment of LBH would be part of a larger pattern.

Now this doesn't necessarily mean SJ abused other children to the same extent as LBH. Two things. 1) Qing Jing is described as a peak of rich children 2) SJ's main motivation was jealousy. I think most children put in LBH's position would just leave, particularly if they had nice homes to return to. If they left or their talent was squandered, SJ would have had no need to escalate. LBH was both exceptionally fortunate and talented, as well as incredibly stubborn, putting him in a unique position to gain SJ's ire. So my headcanon is that SJ did in fact have a precedent of destroying talents, insofar as making children miserable tends to destroy their passion for things (there are plenty of legal-but-asshole ways to do this - allowing bullying and being unfair being one of them).

Remark. I've seen headcanons that it was the name 'A-Luo' which got LBH into trouble. I'm not convinced, mainly because QHT is called 'Tang-er', so presumably, if QJL had a diminutive, it would be 'Luo-er'. Also, QHT calls him 'gege'.

Adjacently, I think SJ would have been exceptionally strict towards rich young lords who think themselves super talented and above everyone. He would have driven them home with raging fires of fury or smth. And realistically, they are the ones most capable of kicking a fuss, and probably the reason SJ gets the 'child abuser' label in the cultivation world (one more in the long line of the cultivation world not being able to judge people for things they've actually done.) (Not that I think this is an okay thing to do in general, but it is several degrees more okay than what went down with LBH)

So my final conclusion is... maybe there were a few poor sods who didn't deserve to get driven off the peak but were (and the responsibility partially lies with MF as well), and tbf even if LBH was the only person SJ ever abused it would still be pretty bad, but it probably wasn't like cartoon villain levels of hating children.

Now if you got this far, here is a poll

(bad practice to put poll after propaganda but the poll is an afterthought so wtv)

[joys-of-everyday]

Tagged by @slytherinzidian tysm!

Get to know you better

Relationship Status: Single 😎

Favorite Colors: Pastel Pink (objectively, the best colour ever /j)

Three Favorite Foods: Curry, scones, kakiage-udon

Song Stuck in My Head: Nothing atm surprisingly

Last Song I Listened To: Wake Me Up - Avicii

Last Thing I Googled: term dates. problems with booking rooms being a pain in the ass U-U

Time: Afternoon

Dream Trip: Trip to China has been on my bucket list for ages. I'll think about where when it becomes a bit more realistic

Anything I Really Want Right Now: hmmm.... bags to magically pack themselves.

Tagging @rainy-days-and-cabbage @stardust-falling @meridissa @bai-meigui @lryghe @zykamiliah if you want to :)

[joys-of-everyday]

Fun thought: whether you take events to be in the order the information is presented to you or in chronological order changes SJ's character arc.

In text:

Scum villain (abuses LBH) -> even more scum villain (supposedly kills LQG, assaults NYY etc.) -> tragic backstory (the big flashback) -> still scum villain (pours tea on LBH) -> even more tragic backstory (YQY reveal)

conclusion: 'scum villain with tragic backstory' (alluding to a blackening arc)

YQY&SQQ extra:

boy separated from friend (pre Qiu manor) -> boy escapes abusers -> man is salty and misunderstood (brothel reveal) -> man is destroyed by their own traumas

aka. a disillusionment arc

Airplane extras:

Man is scary -> man is misunderstood (saves LQG) -> man is even more misunderstood (actually he didn't kill LQG in the first place) -> man is dead

Now he's haunting the narrative.

Putting everything together, SJ's arc is a positive one (positive in the sense of things go up, not happy or good or anything like that). Pretty much every new bit of information paints him in a more positive light (positive as in the synonym for good this time). He starts off as irredeemable villain, and by the end his death is actually quite sad. Overall, this is a redemption arc (in the abstract sense. More on character arcs here.)

But here's the catch. Putting everything together in chronological order (of PIDW), we obtain:

separated from friend -> kills abusers -> dislikable, but misunderstood -> takes anger out on innocent party -> despised but also terribly misunderstood, misunderstood but despised for good reason -> the big fall

aka. a corruption arc!