#Ling Wen is so relatable it is occasionally concerning

[ineedtorantaboutjiangcheng]

My first rant, and the reason I snapped and made this blog, is not about Jiang Cheng. It's actually about the characters around him.

See, I was reading this fic and, without naming any specifics, I was enjoying it. Nothing especially groundbreaking, but it was good enough that I was immersed. In fact, the thing that probably got me about this is that what I liked most about the fic, what was really sucked me in, was the characterisations. Wei Wuxian was the definite standout. Fic premise meant that he was injured, but he was being portrayed with his canonical resilience, which is rare enough that prior to this, I would have likely celebrated the fic for it's accuracy. It's a difficult thing to pull off, and I always give extra credit to authors who can walk the line of, essentially, whumping a character while still keeping them themselves.

Then it happened. Jiang Cheng showed up. I've sometimes clicked out of a fic just for that (the timing of his appearance is, occasionally, enough of an indicator of his role in the story that I know I'm not going to be able to jive with it), but I was immersed! And the author had gained my trust with the aforementioned character accuracy until that point! I was caught up, and ready to roll with whatever version of Jiang Cheng came out.

And, well, his behaviour seemed somewhat accurate to canon. Angry, accusatory, sort of irrational, in an overly suspicious way. Seemed pretty good. Again, the timing made me think that the fic was probably going to go the reconciliation path, but you know, I can get through that. I don't care enough about Jiang Cheng that his presence or absence alone is enough to ruin a fic I'm otherwise enjoying.

But then, imagine my shock. Jiang Cheng, post first siege (where, as far as everyone knows, he killed Wei Wuxian, and has spent the years since his death hunting down and torturing anyone who might be/reminds him of him. You can dispute Jiang Cheng's actions, if you wish, but not that this is how he is widely perceived), demands to see Wei Wuxian. And Lan Wangji, who loves Wei Wuxian, who spent stars knows how much time desperately trying to protect Wei Wuxian, who would stand between Wei Wuxian and the world if he had been allowed, just... agrees.

Lan Wangji. Agreed. To let a Jiang Cheng, who shows no, I don't know, remorse, or concern, or anything, toward a person he is credited with murdering, that Lan Wangji believes he murdered. And Lan Wangji just... yep. I'll just take you to see Wei Wuxian. Sure, he's injured, and vulnerable, and you show no sign of wanting to do anything other than a violence. Yep, right this way.

And THIS. THIS is why Jiang Cheng infuriates me. This is why I had to make this blog. Because I don't care about Jiang Cheng, love him, hate him, think he's the most evil scum imaginable, think he's the true victim of mdzs, I literally don't care. I don't have enough investment in the character to give a fuck about how accurate he is.

But I love Lan Wangji. I really do (and Wei Wuxian, and Wen Ning, and Wen Qing, and Jin Ling, and every other character even peripherally related to Jiang Cheng). So to see the characters I do care about being warped and twisted, just to try and force a particular narrative to play out about this one character? I've spent the past idk two hours as I set this up frothing with rage.

It's not like he's the main character of this fic. He's one of the last ones listed (after characters that are actually deceased throughout the entirety of the fic), and there's no, idk, Yunmeng siblings or reconciliation tag or anything. Full confession, I haven't finished the fic, but I'm well over halfway through, so I can somewhat confidently say that his presence, while maybe playing into something in the endgame, is not super critical.

And yet. The author, who until that point had been pretty good with their characterisations, felt the need to overlook one of the main characters primary personality traits (Lan Wangji's desire to protect people and keep safe that which he loves) in order to... make it slightly easier for Jiang Cheng to be shoehorned into the plot? Why? Just... why?

I'm frustrated. Frustrated, and confused. Is it lack of imagination? Could the author not think of a single other way Jiang Cheng might come into contact with Wei Wuxian after the first siege (assuming, of course, that he is alive)? I don't believe that, the author did well enough with thinking up some left field plot points at other stages of the fic. Did they overlook the fact that, Jiang Cheng having demanded Lan Wangji take him to Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji could have just... not done that? Lan Wangji, Mr. You Are Not Qualified To Talk To Me, had no choice but to acquiesce to Jiang Cheng's will. He couldn't have just. refused. Or walked away from the conversation. Knocked him out and left. Or called out the inherent contradiction of Jiang Cheng wanting to visit someone he killed (again, regardless of your opinion on Jiang Cheng's culpability, it is made clear in canon that that is the version of events Lan Wangji knows/believes). Or at the very least placed conditions on Jiang Cheng that he's not allowed to do anything to harm Wei Wuxian.

But nope! In the space of a single scene, just by his very presence, apparently, Jiang Cheng is able to turn a fully fledged, well characterised version of Lan Wangji into a robot that cannot disobey a human's will due to it's programming.

And it may seem like I'm ragging on this poor author, or that I'm getting too worked up over one scene, and, and, yeah, that would... that would be correct (hence I'm trying to avoid saying anything identifying about the fic, though I realise that might lessen the impact of my arguments). But the thing is, it's not just this fic. Or just this author.

It's everywhere.

I cannot count the number of fics that have characters that otherwise align pretty well with their canonical selves, only for all that to go out the window the second Jiang Cheng shows up. It's like people can't help themselves. Jiang Cheng appears, and every other character must suddenly become whatever version of themselves makes Jiang Cheng appear most sympathetic/reasonable/well-intentioned. Whatever helps the author make Jiang Cheng be what they want him to be.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji definitely get this the worst. Wei Wuxian goes from an intelligent, calculating individual, who excels at reading the situations he's in and figuring out what's going to get him the outcome he wants*, to a reckless idiot who charges in without thinking because he wants to "be a hero". And Lan Wangji goes from someone who has repeatedly failed to save the ones he loves, and so is appropriately determined to protect them as much as he can (without becoming his father), to someone who thinks he always knows best**, and will happily put someone he loves into a potentially deadly situation because... I don't know. His thinking is pretty much never clearly explained, but I've seen different half-reasons. Sometimes Lan Wangji just thinks that Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are such good, good brothers, and that Jiang Cheng is so important to Wei Wuxian that the chance to hold a conversation with him is worth Wei Wuxian... best case scenario, being verbally abused, worst case, being tortured to death. Sometimes he thinks he wouldn't be able to stop Jiang Cheng which... haha. Even Jin Ling, who reflexively defends Jiang Cheng over everything, thinks that Jiang Cheng doesn't stand a chance against Lan Wangji. Sometimes he thinks he shouldn't interfere with someone else's family... even though they aren't related, and Jiang Cheng cannot, under any circumstances, acknowledge Wei Wuxian as anything other than a disciple/servant. Also, Lan Wangji gets involved in everything. That's kind of his thing. You know... going where the chaos is? There's certainly a lot of chaos whenever Jiang Cheng is around...

But really, it's everyone. Wen Ning goes from being so defensive of Wei Wuxian that he breaks a promise and reveals a secret he kept for nearly twenty years just to get Jiang Cheng to stop talking shit, to usually being passively pushed into the back seat, his bond with Wei Wuxian glossed over in favour of the "brothers"***. Wen Qing, a person so devoted to Wei Wuxian that she sacrificed herself and her beloved brother on the off chance that it would mean he wouldn't have to face consequences for Jin Zixuan's death, is suddenly chastising Wei Wuxian for not doing more to smooth over their relationship. Jin Ling goes from creating a diversion so that he can help Wei Wuxian escape Jiang Cheng, despite knowing he would get in trouble for it, to trying to trick them into being in the same room. It's everyone.

Every. Single. Character. Must be changed, must behave in ways antithetical to their personalities and relationships, because it seems that's the only way many people can reconcile with their affection for a character that behaves the way Jiang Cheng does. In order to keep Jiang Cheng even slightly resembling his canonical self (angry. violent. verbally abusive at every possible opportunity), and yet still have him be welcomed and beloved by the other characters, every other character must lose integral parts of themselves. Mo Dao Zu Shi is, in many ways, a surprisingly tightly woven story when you start pulling threads, and if you want that jumper to work like pants, you need to get the scissors and start cutting.

Or at least, I can only assume that's what's happening. I can't fathom any other reason as to why so many fics, that are otherwise fairly true to character, veer so wildly OOC as soon as he appears. And it is so, so many fics. Note: I've read, ballpark, around two thousand mo dao zu shi fics (yes, I have no life. no, why do you ask?), and this happens in a staggering amount of them.

And basically, this is the root of my issue with Jiang Cheng. I don't care how you write him, he can be the most loving, soft, compassionate individual in the world in your fic, it's your fic, you write what you like****, I'm just going to engage less with those parts, because I don't care as much. You can make him greet each sunrise by weeping, and coo over every baby he encounters on the street, and weave blankets for the homeless in his free time. I literally don't care.

What I care about is the changes made to the other characters. That in order to raise Jiang Cheng, other characters must be dragged down. That he must be there, and he must be the secretly misunderstood caring brother, so every character that could challenge that in any way must be changed, by any means necessary, to prevent that.

(But really, do they? It's fanfiction. Can you really think of no way to make Jiang Cheng be the character you want him to be without mutilating everyone else? If you truly feel for him, truly think his actions make sense, truly wish to show how his relationships can be fixed without him altering his own attitude... then shouldn't it be easy enough, to persuade others of this, without turning the cohesive characters around him into a farce?)

* - since I know this is going to get disputed, even if only internally, by someone; the literal second scene involving Jiang Cheng (immediately post dancing-statue attack, Jiang Cheng suspects and wants to test with Zidian) has Wei Wuxian realise he's not going to be able to escape without some proof of innocence (i.e. reading the room, despite the stress of the moment). He then deliberately steps out of cover so Jiang Cheng can hit him, proving he's not possessing Mo Xuanyu, and then, when that's not enough to guarantee his freedom, he recognises that, and plays on Jiang Cheng's ego (and ymmv homophobia) by saying he's not his type, so Jiang Cheng can't take him without losing too much face, which Wei Wuxian knows he won't do, since Jiang Cheng is very concerned with reputation and appearances (after all, that's why he refused to help Wen Qing and Wen Ning, in spite of the debt he owed them). If that doesn't indicate Wei Wuxian is a clever person who thinks things through, I don't know what does.

** - not as worried about this being disputed, but I can see people thinking this so; no, Lan Wangji doesn't think he knows best. He did when he was young (or, at least, thought the rules he lived by were definitive morals), and that's what led to his rigid black-and-white thinking regarding rules and such. Then he got older, and got more experience, and made some mistakes, and realised that different people approach the world differently, and that he needed to be more flexible and meet people halfway if he wanted to be able to help them. See his change in attitude toward mo dao/gui dao.

*** - fic challenge; see how many fics that portray Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng as close, loving brothers, and also contain the close, caring, trustful friendship between Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning. It's very, very few. On some level, I think everyone who wants to show Jiang Cheng as #bestbrother knows that, from his actions to his attitude, Wen Ning is what a beloved, caring, bad-reputation-but-is-actually-just-misunderstood baby-brother-figure should be.

**** - at the end of the day, everyone has the right the write whatever they like in their fic. I'm a full supporter and encourager of that. But if you don't make it clear that you are going to write OOC, I reserve the right to feel frustrated when I stumble across it. I would never comment it in the fic itself, Ican't imagine anything more poorly mannered, but I am, apparently, not above vague blogging about it (hopefully vague enough that no one can identify any specific fics).

[djinmer4]

Matchmaking for the Greater Evil (1/4)

Inspired by: https://mdzskinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/841.html?thread=120649#cmt120649

~~~~~~~

It starts during the Sunshot Campaign.

Jiang Wanyin is, barring Chifeng-zun himself, the most powerful and enthusiastic supporter of taking down the Wen Sect.  His drive attracts rogues and new cultivators like flies to honey, then he trains Jiang Sect’s new recruits to standards that impress even Nie Minjue.  He’s a hurricane on the battlefield, aggressively clearing out the enemy with floods of purple-clad soldiers, swift passes of Sandu, and burning strikes of Zidian.

Unfortunately, he’s a hurricane off the battlefield too.  He’s far, far too aggressive, plunging deep into Wen territory, forcing their other allies to race to catch up to him, driving his men into exhaustion, never retreating no matter the tactical situation.  Only Sect Leader Nie is spared his acid tongue, probably because Nie Mingjue’s the only person on their side that Jiang Wanyin actually respects.  Being the most frequent relayer of other’s orders to slow down, halt or even retreat, Meng Yao experiences the brunt of Sect Leader Jiang’s displeasure and the man is rapidly becoming a massive headache for him.

He hopes that when Wei Wuxian is finally found again, that it will calm some of the younger man’s temper, but unfortunately the recovery of Jiang Sect’s First Disciple seems to spur Jiang Wanyin to even greater heights of aggression.  The only silver lining, in this case, is that with the corpses doing a great deal of the heavy lifting, the Jiang Sect soldiers are finally getting from the constant battle and are no longer in so much danger of burn-out.

Reprieve comes from an unlikely source.  Nie Huiasang, like many other Qinghe non-combatants, has been sent to the Cloud Recesses, but he’s not letting that stop him from assisting.  He’s taken over most of Meng Yao’s former quartermaster duties and compiling reports from the territories they conquer.  Nothing that directly impacts the front, that’s still going to Meng Yao’s desk, but stuff about destroyed infrastructure and population, things they are going to need to know after the war is over and rebuilding has begun.  It mostly keeps the younger Nie away from the frontlines, but he occasionally accompanies dispatch and supply caravans in order to get a bet picture of the front and carry sensitive messages.

One such trip brings him to a Jiang war camp . . . with orders for Jiang Wanyin to retreat back up the valley and help Lan Wangji secure another Supervisory Office.  The orders come from Lan Quiren.

Meng Yao suppresses a wince, then steps up to shield the Young Master from Jiang Wanyin’s temper.  But to his surprise, Jiang Wanyin grumbles and shouts but does in fact order his men to pack up and prepare to retreat.  And without any prompting or coaxing from anyone else!  It’s such a surprise, he barely registers when A-Sang latches onto him and complains about being dragged to this horrid place and not being able to see Da-Ge before having to go back to the Cloud Recesses again.

Huiasang doesn’t come with orders for Sect Leader Jiang very often and Meng Yao ends up defecting to the Wens halfway through the war, but each and every time he does, Meng Yao observes the same pattern.  Jiang Wanyin will complain and shout and yell about losing ground, but he’ll automatically comply without needing Meng Yao or Lan Wangji breathing down his neck.  Even the quality of his shouting is different, still as loud as ever but without the bitter edge that indicates he’s about to attack the messenger for not giving him the orders to push, push and keep pushing ahead.  Huaisang complains too, but given that Jiang Wanyin never lays a hand on him, Meng Yao considers it a pretty big statement of how tolerant the Jiang Sect Leader is with his former classmate.  Meng Yao hasn’t been attacked either, but Meng Yao has had a lifetime of experience calming angry people and he knows it’s happened to other messengers.

It continues after the Seige at the Burial Mounds.  The Jin Sect is at its wit’s end, trying to dislodge Sect Leader Jiang from haunting (Lady Jin’s words, not Guanyao’s) Carp Tower.  Despite being concerned with rebuilding his own Sect, the man shows up religiously every month to check in on his nephew.  Finally, after that first year, Nie Huiasang makes the suggestion that they send little Jing Ling to Lotus Pier, to be raised by his uncle.  Jin Guanyao happily seizes upon the idea.  With his own marriage to Quin Su coming up and her pregnancy, having Jin Ling potentially be Lotus Pier’s heir rather than Carp Tower got him out of the way neatly.

He half expects Nie Huiasang to be back within the week, complaining about Jiang’s harsh behavior, but the boy sticks it out for six whole months, before being called back to Qinghe by his brother.  It’s the start of Huiasang’s busy traveling schedule for the next few years, shuffling back and forth between Qinghe, Lanling, and Yunmeng, carrying messages and observations to each of them.  Xingchen even jokes that Huiasang should add Gusu to his travel route, otherwise the only time he ever sees the younger is when the Lan Sect Leader visits Lanling.

It doesn’t last.  When Jin Rulan is five and Jin Rusong is four, Jin Guanyao brings up the ideas of the watchtowers, and certain elements take revenge by targeting Rusong.  Someone needs to tell Sect Leader Jiang that he will no longer have exclusive custody of Jin Ling, but there are no more couriers in Carp Tower willing to go to Yunmeng and this is not the type of thing that can be sent via spiritual messenger or one of Huiasang’s birds.  Out of options, he sends Huiasang himself and prays that he’s not sending his little brother to his death.

To his surprise, A-Sang comes back intact with Jin Ling, dressed in Yunmeng purple, a small army of Jiang Sect cultivators, and Jiang Wanyin himself.  The walking headache is as vicious as ever, not willing to let his only remaining relative out of his control.  It’s a strenuous week of negotiation that makes him contemplate the murder of all the involved parties more than once, but a compromise is finally hashed out, with Jin Ling to spend half of each year at Carp Tower and the other half at Lotus Pier, at least until either Jin Guanshan, Jin Guanyao or Jiang Wanyin produces another viable heir.  Jin Guanyao celebrates by getting blackout drunk with Huiasang.

That solidifies Nie Huiasang’s position in his schemes.  No matter what skills the boy does or does not demonstrate, the one consistency is that he has become Lanling’s unofficial messenger to Yunmeng.  Need to impose new tariffs on weapons?  Huiasang gets sent.  Jing Ling fought with his classmates again?  A-Sang, Lotus Pier is lovely at this time, please paint a picture of it for Quin Su.  Jin Guanshan just died, and Jin Ling’s going to have another stay another month at Lanling for the funeral?  Take this gift with my compliments to Sect Leader Jiang, and feel free to say for the entire month.  Just make sure you’re back in time to escort Jin Ling to his uncle.

The only time he doesn’t send A-Sang anywhere is just after Da-Ge was put to rest.  There are few things that could possibly be more upsetting during the mourning period than dealing with Sect Leader Jiang and Jin Guanyao isn’t cruel if he doesn’t have to be.  Huiasang begs off attending the next two Cultivator Conferences and Jin Guanyao gladly takes up the responsibility of inter-sect relations for the Unclean Realm, it’s the least he could do for his little brother.  And when he finds out Jiang Wanyin had barged into Huiasang’s seclusion, he takes the journey to Lotus Pier himself to chew out the other Sect Leader.  After all, if Jiang Wanyin is actually interested in Huiasang, he should have the decency to go through Huiasang’s protectors.

(Really, the only thing that could be worse is if Huiasang found out what really happened.)