#& LXC who grew up with and lived the same path as LWJ - who even is said to resemble him visually - his parallel line - shuts himself away

[inalandofsadclowns]

Jin Guangyao and Wei Wuxian’s lives mirror each other so perfectly actually. They are basically the same person until their corresponding downfalls. And after their deaths we only get to see how WWX grows as a person, but if the story went on longer, we would arguably find some further similarities. And I’ll get to that later, just bear with me.

Starting from their births, here are some of the parallels that jump to mind at once:

Both spent their early childhoods in poor conditions.

Both grew into talented cultivators in the clan of their mother’s acquaintance.

Both had a father figure of questionable relation to them: Jiang Fengmian was rumored to be WWX’s actual father, while JGY’s place at the Lanling Jin had been questioned, because for all anyone knew, JGY could have been a random bastard with no actual relation to Jin Guangshan.

Both had a ‘fierce’ stepmother who despised them. The husband of the stepmother was afraid of her in both cases.

Each had a brother – the lawful child of the parental figures – whom they outshined.

Both played a role in their parental figures’ deaths (clearly very different roles though).

Both WWX and JGY develop their closest bonds with one of the Twin Jades of Lan.

This is where the parallels just get so blatantly obvious. Also it’s Madam Lan and Qinheng-Jun's relationship which both Wangxian and Xiyao mirror. The Lan in question’s beloved person fucks up bad. At the end QHJ, LWJ and LXC, in the following order: saves Madam Lan’s life, tries to save WWX but fails, takes JGY’s life himself. As a final result, the Lan boys close themselves away from society.

As a result of Mo Xuanyu summoning WWX, him and JGY even became blood-relatives.

And I’m sure there’s even more of these.

Of course, as I mentioned, we only have WWX/JGY parallels until the point of their deaths. Up to that point, both their stories are sad and tragic. Though JGY had accumulated his mistakes for much longer than WWX, and accordingly, he had a much higher mountain to blunder down from, which gained him a more painful death.

Following this pattern of similarities between the two, I imagine JGY would be back eventually. Since he became a fierce corpse in canon, he’d go on living the same way as Wen Ning.

And then the parallels would continue – to a certain point.

When WWX thinks back to his past life, he notes that he used to be quite arrogant. I think JGY would have the same realization.

WWX managed to shape his tragedy into a happy ending, because he got a second chance at life, in which he accepted his past mistakes and learned to grow fom them. And that is the important stage of character development, one which JGY did not live to make. (Likewise, WWX did not get to live it either pre-Qiongqi Road, but he is the central character of the novel, therefore his second chance has been told.) When JGY has repented he’d come back, too, probably as a fierce corpse, then he could finally begin his redemption arc, and technically go through a similar character development as WWX: accept the mistakes, grow from them.

WWX’s philosophy of the single plank bridge was a reoccurring element. First he used the phrase at Burial Mounds while he lived with the Wen Clan remnants, then post-Qiongqi Road LWJ brings it up, quoting WWX, when they were fleeing from Carp Tower. Wangxian end up living according to this philosophy, leaving the politics and their previous lifestyles in the cultivation world behind for a quiet and peaceful life together while wandering through narrow paths and single plank bridges. WWX’s character arc comes to an end.

This should be the point in the story, where JGY and WWX’s parallelled roads finally separate.

An unbothered life with LWJ is exactly the lifestyle that fits both WWX and LWJ’s personalities. JGY’s endgame, on the other hand, would not be a retreated life with LXC: cultivating and night hunting, just the two of them, for the rest of their days. JGY was born a leader. A politician. You see, apart from the misdeeds guided by arrogance, he did a hell of a good job with Lanling. He eliminated his father’s corrupt regime, increased the public welfare and safety by his policies and the watchtowers. This IS what he was supposed to do.

Lan Xichen was not cut out to be a lone cultivator, either. He’s sociable, he’s a kind, self-conscious leader of his clan, he loves being clan leader.

JGY and LXC were a team, and as a team, the two were able to move mountains. They were practically what the concept of sworn brothers was made for. This is simply a dynamic that one is born to have with another.

And so, this – a team, sworn brothers, an alliance between two prominent clans – is what they shall continue to be for a completed character arc. Pointing at how there is no right or wrong answer when one must choose the crowded broad road or the narrow path. The core is to choose the one which fits, the one which lets one become complete.