#compared to jiang yanli and lan wangji

[motivationisdead]

I think it’s both equal parts amusing and frustrating how people write Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian’s relationship in fanfiction because they clearly know how Wei Wuxian acts with the people he loves-

He’s clingy, teasing, praises them often, generally thinks the world of them and constantly says as much, always keeps their comfort in mind, and whines to them constantly about things that don’t really bother him because he knows they will indulge him.

-And yet they somehow fail to notice, even while including all these things into their relationship in their story, how Wei Wuxian fails to demonstrate any of these same actions with Jiang Cheng in the novel.

I wouldn’t say Wei Wuxian doesn’t care about Jiang Cheng at all but how he treats Jiang Cheng can really not be compared to the way he treats Jiang Yanli or Lan Wangji.

That play whining he does with Jiang Yanli and Lan Wangji? He does that because he trusts them to indulge him and receive the comfort and affection he’s asking for. Wei Wuxian complains to Jiang Cheng plenty but I can’t recall a single moment in which Wei Wuxian went to Jiang Cheng for comfort, support, or displayed any kind of vulnerability to him on purpose.

There’s isn’t even really any friendly bickering or teasing between them in the novel. There’s Jiang Cheng criticizing Wei Wuxian and complaining and Wei Wuxian waving off his comments.

Even Wei Wuxian’s biggest show of care to Jiang Cheng, giving up his golden core, feels to me like it never would have happened if Wei Wuxian hadn’t been raised to feel indebted to the Jiang’s and like it was his responsibility to keep the sect going.

It’s just… jarring honestly.

[whetstonefires]

Back when I was watching cql but hadn't touched mdzs someone--(was this you @rhinefall?) said the show had really overemphasized the pseudo-familial, fraternal elements of the story, at the expense of wangxian.

(Which I found deeply off-putting ngl because it makes it sound like the show made up a lot of the meaty content there, which it did not. Its major invention in that area is jiang cheng's crush on wen qing.)

And it's like. Looking over them both. I can see where that statement is coming from, in that The Untamed frontloaded jiang cheng, gave jiang yanli extra appearances, and generally expanded the ratio of page/screen time for the backstory in order to let that carry more of the obvious narrative arc. Since the romance arc could not play out as in the novel, due to censorship.

But being able to compare them now, I honestly feel like what cql actually wound up exaggerating most was...wei wuxian's relationship with lan wangji???

Because. They had to take the romance out. But they also had to make them love each other or there's no point. Which means wangxian had to be friends.

Which in turn means that in the live action version teenage and young adult Wei Wuxian consistently pays attention to, focuses on, confides in, and routinely interacts with Lan Wangji very much on purpose, as part of a relationship he values, considers strong, and is making an effort to maintain.

None of which is true, in the novel.

[randomness-is-my-order]

you know what is genuinely heartening for me about wei wuxian’s character? we can very easily discern that throughout the course of the series, countless people are ready to kill wei wuxian but on the flip side?? wei wuxian is also someone who is capable of inspiring enough loyalty and love that people are willing to die for him. this is a random reference but i remember having a discussion about a kdrama (strongest deliveryman for anyone who’s curious) and this one person said that it is easy to tell how good of a person the main character is because he has all these people surrounding him, ready to listen, ready to lay down their lives for him. and that is exactly the case with wei wuxian–it is a testament to his character that people like wen qing, wen ning, jiang yanli made the sacrifices that they did, just so he could live on. it is a testament to his character that lan wangji, an absolute paragon of virtue, would 100% die for wei wuxian. and yes, wei wuxian would stick his neck out for each of them as well but it’s the fact he doesn’t have to–that this loyalty is not transactional but something he has inspired within these people simply by being himself and doing the right thing and proving that he is deserving of their loyalty.

it’s the fact that other “leaders” of their world did not only fail at earning loyalty but they were such horrible people that instead, they inspired betrayal within their subjects. it’s so fascinating how wei wuxian’s effect on people compares against the cultivation sect heirs and leaders because, despite all the odds stacked against him, he did a better job at actually leading the cultivation world (the war victory, the advocation for the wen remnants, the inventions that advanced the cultivation society) than any of these political figures at their peaks (and this includes jin guangyao with his watchtowers and lan wangji’s arriving where the chaos is stuff, though these are validly debatable).

okay but point is: it is very easy to make people hate you and want to kill you, atleast in the mdzs world, but it is far more difficult to inspire the kind of loyalty that would make people want to die for you and wei wuxian, somehow, managed to do just that and not just once. also, that the people loyal to him, are some of the most morally upstanding characters–as perceived either by the cultivation world and/or the fandom. isn’t that so telling?

[qiu-yan]

Do you have any feelings opinions or analysis of the golden core reveal or just how the scene in the ancestral hall went down?? Because I have a lot of feelings about it but I can't quite put them together into words and I love your analysis of the story and jiang cheng

thank you for the ask!!!! and thank you for your kind comments!!

god i have so many opinions about the golden core reveal, and the ancestral hall scene that precedes it. i don't quite have all my thoughts in proper essay order right now, but i will probably write another long-ass post about my Hot Takes some day soon.

unorganized thoughts as of right now:

for the ancestral hall scene, i am almost purely on jiang cheng's side. jiang cheng was rude as hell and he did verbally escalate instead of peacefully allowing wangxian to leave, yes. however, they are in his house. they are in front of his ancestors. they are in his ancestral hall, which they entered without permission. to me, it seems like wei wuxian wants to have his cake and eat it too: he wants to avoid jiang cheng and all the anger the jiang cheng of the present has at his (very real and rather devastating) mistakes, but he also wants to freely come and go in jiang cheng's own goddamn house, like he used to be able to when he still had a positive relationship with jiang cheng. if wei wuxian is going to act like jiang cheng and yunmeng jiang are nothing to him anymore, then he should properly commit to being a full outsider.

it's also interesting how wei wuxian focuses his retorts in his argument with jiang cheng on "how dare you be cruel to lan zhan!!! i'm protecting lan zhan!!!!" when in my view the vast majority of jiang cheng's verbal abuse was directed towards wei wuxian himself. jiang cheng calls lan wangji "riffraff" and "an outsider," but that...is incredibly mild language to me. jiang cheng is ruder to wen ning (by calling him a "wen dog") for heaven's sake. instead, jiang cheng is much nastier towards wei wuxian himself: wei wuxian is shameless, wei wuxian's idiotic hero complex got all his family members killed, wei wuxian is why jin ling is an orphan, wei wuxian is a heartless ingrate, etc etc.

wei wuxian, defend YOURSELF! jiang cheng is barely being nasty at all to lan wangji, but he IS being nasty to YOU! compared to all the horrid shit he yells at you, he barely even brings up lan wangji at all! at the very least, tell jiang cheng not to call wen ning a "wen dog"!

i haven't fully thought this out yet so i'm not sure how fully i stand by it, but the fact that wei wuxian gets that heated "defending lan wangji" when jiang cheng barely even insulted lan wangji that much, is very interesting. it implies to me that, while wei wuxian thinks he does not have the right to properly rebut jiang cheng's criticisms of himself, that he truly is guilty and therefore should just take jiang cheng's verbal abuse of him lying down - deep down, he is still upset about jiang cheng blaming him specifically. when jiang cheng calls wei wuxian an ingrate who got all of jiang cheng's family members killed, wei wuxian is in fact upset and does in fact want to protest. however, he is unable to openly do so because he also feels incredibly guilty himself about the role he played in jin zixuan and jiang yanli's deaths, and therefore thinks he does not have the right to defend himself against jiang cheng's rage on the same issue.

but wei wuxian is still upset and still wishes to rebut jiang cheng's fury. therefore, "defending lan wangji" becomes an excuse for wei wuxian, a pretext to find issue with jiang cheng's arguments and therefore fight back. it's somewhat similar to when someone writes an incredibly effective counterargument to your post, so you hyperfocus on mocking them for a spelling error instead: you can't think of a way to properly rebut their rebuttal, so you jump on the first thing that gives you an excuse to disagree with them and poke holes in their argument. wei wuxian believes (accurately or not) that he does not have the right to defend himself against jiang cheng; however, he is fully justified in defending lan wangji from jiang cheng, which gives him an excuse to argue back when jiang cheng insults wei wuxian.

this is evidenced by the fact that, in the ancestral hall scene, wei wuxian does not defend wen ning from jiang cheng at all. jiang cheng also gives wei wuxian shit for "let[ting] the Wen dog wander around in front of our gates," but wei wuxian just fully lets that comment slide in favor of defending only lan wangji. while this could be because lan wangji is present to hear jiang cheng say this while wen ning is not, for me, another reason comes to mind as well: in wei wuxian's mind, wen ning is also involved, however tangentially, in the deaths of jin zixuan and jiang yanli. wei wuxian's guilt extends to encompass wei ning as well. therefore, wei wuxian feels that he also does not have the right to defend wen ning from jiang cheng. it is only lan wangji out of the three people jiang cheng insults that wei wuxian has the right to defend, because lan wangji alone was not involved in the jiang family tragedy of wei wuxian's first life.

also, it was wei wuxian who first escalated a verbal confrontation into a physical one.

regarding the golden core transfer scene.....first, i find it absolutely hilarious that wen ning of all people spilled the beans to jiang cheng, and got so mad about it to boot. king, you helped operate on him. king, you helped lie to him about it. king, there is no shortage of things you have the full right to be angry with sect leader jiang about, but him believing the lies you actively chose to tell him and not figuring out that you were lying is not one of them. as someone else put it, one person between wen ning and jiang cheng had a free and active hand in removing wei wuxian's core and putting it into jiang cheng, and that person was not jiang cheng. wen ning helping violate jiang cheng's bodily autonomy and then weaponizing said nonconsensual surgery later in an argument against the same jiang cheng is kind of crazy to me, honestly.

imo (and i'm stealing from an analysis i read somewhere), wen ning was this harsh about the golden core reveal despite being one of the surgeons who nonconsensually operated on jiang cheng and then lied to him about it for similar reasons as i described for wei wuxian above. wen ning is also deeply angry with jiang cheng for a lot of things: jiang cheng repeatedly calls him a "thing" and kicks him around like he isn't a human being; jiang cheng also led the first siege of the burial mounds, which killed all save one of wen ning's family members. that is a completely reasonable thing to be mad about. but wen ning, having seen firsthand the wrongdoings of qishan wen, probably has a guilt complex of sorts about being a wen; more importantly, he feels incredibly guilty about his "role" in killing jin ling's father. therefore, wen ning probably does not feel he has the right to defend himself from jiang cheng.

but deep down wen ning is still angry. he is still incredibly angry with jiang cheng for the things jiang cheng did to wen ning. and, while wen ning may not feel like he has the right to defend himself from jiang cheng, defending wei wuxian from jiang cheng is a different matter. in wen ning's eyes, wei wuxian did no major wrong and always had good intentions. therefore, jiang cheng has no right to be angry with wei wuxian. therefore, if wen ning absolutely wrecks jiang cheng's shit defending wei wuxian (and not wen ning himself), then wen ning would be entirely justified.

second - and my thoughts on this haven't fully baked yet - there's this undercurrent in both the golden core transfer scene and the guanyin temple scene that, because wei wuxian gave jiang cheng his core, jiang cheng does not have the right to be angry with wei wuxian for the pain wei wuxian's actions caused jiang cheng. that jiang cheng is now permanently indebted to wei wuxian, which therefore voids all of jiang cheng's right to say that wei wuxian hurt him.

i don't like this undercurrent. i don't like this idea at all. if someone - even accidentally - caused you a lot of pain, the fact that they also once sacrificed themself for you does not negate the pain they caused you. you should be grateful for what they did for you, but that doesn't mean you no longer have a right to your pain.

to flip the script, jiang cheng in reality also sacrificed himself for wei wuxian: he only lost his golden core to begin with because he drew that wen patrol away from wei wuxian. it is factually correct to say that, were it not for jiang cheng, wei wuxian would very likely be dead. but if anyone were to say: "jiang cheng once sacrificed himself for wei wuxian, meaning that wei wuxian owes his life to jiang cheng; therefore, wei wuxian does not have the right to be angry with jiang cheng for the first siege of the burial mounds," that would be fucking stupid. because that's not how it works.

i hold this to be true even though there is a cause-and-effect relationship between each person's sacrifice and their later actions. wei wuxian not having a golden core explains a lot of his later lying and other behavior, and jiang cheng having been tortured because he saved wei wuxian in turn explains a lot of his later resentment and other behavior as well. but neither of their fates were set in stone. both of them still had free will and still could have made different decisions afterwards.

the above is all a lot of blaming, refutation of blaming, and morality wank, so here are some assorted non-morality opinions:

the gift of the magi esque dual-sacrifice wei wuxian and jiang cheng pulled for each other is my favorite part of the story. like holy shit.

wen ning did phrase the golden core reveal to be as hurtful as possible. i find the idea of a sacrifice performed out of love and care for the recipient later being weaponized against that same recipient to be a very interesting idea.

wei wuxian absolutely did not give up his golden core out of only a sense of duty. there was quite a lot of duty, obligation, and guilt (spurred on by jiang fengmian and yu ziyuan's last words to him) mixed into his reasons, but i think wei wuxian gave his golden core to jiang cheng because he loved jiang cheng and didn't want to watch jiang cheng suffer.

jiang cheng, meanwhile, led the wen patrol away and thus got captured in place of wei wuxian purely because he loved wei wuxian. in doing so, he specifically failed his duty to his dead parents, his ancestors, and his sect.

wei wuxian's internal narration about how he later conceptualized the golden core transfer as "his duty to the jiang" is interesting because it is written to be a post-hoc justification. as in, he came up with those reasons and that line of thinking after he already gave up his golden core, and was trying to make the outcome acceptable to himself.

jiang cheng postcanon is in a position to start healing. this take is also stolen from an analysis i read somewhere else, but the one question that's been cooking jiang cheng for the past 13 years is Why. why did wei wuxian do all that? did wei wuxian ever truly care about him, about his family, or was wei wuxian lying from the start? wei wuxian consistently accomplishes the impossible, so how could wei wuxian allow this to happen? but now that jiang cheng knows wei wuxian gave his golden core to him, suddenly all these questions have answers. the cause and effect relationship between A and B makes sense now. and now that jiang cheng has answers, he can let the questions stop cooking his brain and begin to heal and move on.

thank you again for the ask and the kind comments!

[wutheringskies]

everyone is like: if wei wuxian told everyone he gave his core to Jiang Cheng, all of this wouldn't have happened!

me: if he told jiang cheng, it would be WORSE.

consider these points:

Jiang Cheng was a newly appointed sect leader, hell-bent on revenge, finally surpassing others. He would emotionally break if he finds out it's all because of Wei Wuxian's core. He wouldn't want to lose it; but Wei Wuxian holding that over his head will make it terrible for him; rage, tantrums; in that war-time would have literally robbed him of his senses.

This is a war. If some people find out Wei Wuxian doesn't have a core, what's stopping the enemy from finding out? Even so, there would be people who wish to kill the ever-powerful son of a servant. The hundreds-hole curse could only succeed because Jin Zixun had low cultivation. Think of how many enemies (Wens, and the others) Wei Wuxian had. They don't dare curse him because 1) they believe he has superior cultivation and 2) if he comes for revenge with his stygian tiger seal and chenqing, it simply wouldn't be worth it. So, high risk and low reward. but in actuality, if someone did curse him, without a core to cleanse him, it would be fatal!

As the "son of a servant" and "wielder of immense power," his place in the cultivation world was already unstable. If they find out he doesn't even have a core, he cannot stay in the cultivation world! If he leaves, then there's no protection guaranteed for him from those who wish to claim his power anyway!

Literally, the only ones who would genuinely care would be Lan Wangji and Jiang Yanli. And what could they do? Lan Xichen would be sympathetic, but when has sympathy saved lives when there's no follow-up action? Nie Mingjue would commend his sacrifice, but will he save the Wens? Nope. Nobody would magically go like, "oh, let us help wei wuxian who doesn't have a core tragically."

Among the general public, would anyone look at it as anything other than a grand sacrifice for his superior? "Wei Wuxian is really loyal," and when he saves the Wens, it would go down the path of, "Can't believe he betrayed the Jiang Clan."

The only one who wished to know the why's and the how's and the reasoning behind it all was Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji, who would try his utter best; but Wei Wuxian himself was so powerful. Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan were powerful. Wen Qing and Wen Ning were also powerful. All the righteous people had tragic ends - if Lan Wangji was allowed to know, he would push harder at Wei Ying. But will Wei Ying accept it? Will he feel a certain disregard of respect? A lack of trust from Lan Wangji because they dont have the fundamentals down?How can it magically make things alright, when their issues go deeper than Wei Wuxian being on an "unorthodox path"? So, who's to say, even if Lan Wangji realized it all, somehow forced himself into Wei Wuxian's space when Wei Wuxian did not want it with some OOC syndrome, but even then what can he do? In the end, rather than just one, both would die. The odds are bad when it's 1 vs 3000, but is it much better if it's 2 vs 3000?

Wei Wuxian's arrogance protected the secret that would've signed him out of the war, out of the cultivation world. The fear people had for him protected him. Even after his death, they only noticed the annihilation of minor clans because "oh no yllz is here to take revenge!" If he acted weak and approachable and sad, just how few would hold true empathy compared to all the many that would see an opportunity to strike? Whoever wields power, speaks out, and is from an unproveleged background yet sitting among the gentry is already an outcast.

The only way he wouldn't have died were if he were someone who bowed to servitude, if he kept quiet, if he counted his losses and gains like Jin Guangyao. Will this harm me? Yes. So I cannot do it.

That's not Wei Wuxian.

"Let gains and losses remain uncommented upon." If the whole world wishes to kill innocents to satiate their own hatred then the whole world is wrong, and he won't stand up for it - whether or not, he has a romantic relationship with Lan Wangji early, or if he's actual siblings with the Jiangs (like actually adopted.)

Whether he wields a sword or his flute or nothing at all; whether he's loved or hated, he is bound to be resented by those who are hypocrites. The loss of his golden core won't shake them with empathy, but mockery not just towards him, but towards Jiang Wanyin as well.

"Congratulations, Jiang Cheng, for killing the man who killed your entire family (false, but you know) and was unrighteous!"

"But isn't the Jiang Clan only alive because of Wei Wuxian's core?"

"Jiang Wanyin is such a loser; he took his servant's core."

That would be a fucking literal nightmare. That is why, Wei Wuxian doesn't say a word or whine or cry. He probably thought he could wait until Jiang clan is in a better spot and tell only Jiang Cheng, but by then, he'd already been caught up in the Wen's situation.

[carrot-felisidad]

I read somewhere that The Gusu Lan's simplicity in terms of fashion sense is often overlooked, as it reflects their discipline and resolve towards cultivation. But then I also noticed that YunmengJiang's flashy purples are often overlooked, too. Like, my man Jiang Cheng is the most well-dressed man out there, and Jiang Yanli was always Aesthetic Goals TM. Wei Wuxian may be in his simple blacks and reds, but compared to other sect robes, I find his robes elegant and fashionable.

Although in terms of flashiness, Lanling Jin clan may be the winner, but I find their robes tasteless, with their brand logo in front, like rich people who wear bad fashion as long as the prints louis vuitton or chanel are visible.

But Yunmeng Jiang? *Chef's Kiss* All adaptations understood the assignment that this is the kind of family that supports all the local tailor shops. Each sibling has their own shop because one shop cannot accommodate their NEEEEEED for fashion robes. Meanwhile, Lan Wangji has been wearing the same robes since he was 18. He probably only has two sets that he washes everyday. Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng:

[fwoopersongs]

On 33 elders and the Lan's Discipline Whip

This tumblr post by @qiu-yan the other day on moral luck in MDZS came past my dash, and there was a mention of the thirty three elders in the Lan Clan who were injured by Lan Wangji - some of you may remember it better as the reason for his thirty three whip scars xD. And I remembered reading (mostly on twitter) people saying things like he got whipped 33 times 'for going against his sect elders', or that the elders deserved it for acting unjustly. Maybe this was a CQL thing??? But I wanted to share my understanding of the situation from reading the novel.

For the record, elders here aren't like ‘Elders’ in the sense of people in positions of power within a clan i.e. 长老 as you might see in sects from more conventional Xianxia novels. Instead, its noun for ‘older generation’ i.e. 前辈 within the clan. 

So, here's a translation of Lan Xichen’s recount to Wei Wuxian of how Lan Wangji came to bear scars of thirty three strokes of the Lan Discipline Whip from Chapter 99/100, Discipline Whip Scars aka Hensheng: To Hate Life 3.

On Versions I’m comparing between two versions of the novel where the first chapter title is: {1} 魏无羡死了，大快人心! (lit: Wei Wuxian is dead, gratifying news for everyone!) & {2} 重生 (lit: Alive Again). The version I’m translating is {1} from the website Zhenhun using footnotes to compare it against {2}. Line breaks and other cosmetic or grammatical changes are ignored. References to chapter numbers and such will be based on {2} since this is the version used on the MDZS fandom Wiki. All chapter titles also are referenced from the wiki.

Wei Wuxian repeated, "Discipline Whip scarring?!" 

He grasped at Lan Xichen again and said, "Clan Leader Lan, I truly have no idea. Please, tell me. How did he get those injuries? Does it have something to do with me?!?”

Embittered anger surfaced on Lan Xichen’s face, "If it doesn’t ‘have anything to do with you’, did he perhaps scar himself for no particular reason at all?” [1]

Zewu-jun had always been restrained and composed to the utmost, but this was a matter which had impacted Lan Wangji and thus uncharacteristically, his anger was roused. Yet after observing Wei Wuxian's expression carefully, this anger receded slightly and he asked tentatively, "You… you've had some memory loss?"

"My memories?" Wei Wuxian said. He immediately tried hard to see if there was anything he could not recall, and then replied, "I don't think there’s any period of time which I don’t remem — yes!"

There was indeed one period during which his memories were blurred and indistinct.

The bloodbath at Nightless City!

On that night many years ago, he had believed Wen Qing and Wen Ning gone, their bones ground to dust and scattered by their enemies. On top of that, seeing the Great Clans on their impassioned, self-righteous warpath and witnessing Jiang Yanli die before his eyes, he finally utterly lost control. Combining the two halves of the Yin Tiger Tally, he unleashed it, allowing it to kill indiscriminately. The dead under the Tally’s power killed others, who then became new fierce corpses, creating an endless supply of massacring puppets which turned the place into a blood-soaked hell.

After that, [2] although Wei Wuxian could just barely manage to stay on his feet, he distantly felt himself leave this slaughterhouse of a ruined city. There was a long period in which he was not fully aware of anything. When he finally came back to himself, he had already been sitting in a daze at the foot of Yiling’s Knoll of Unmarked Graves [3] for a long time.

Lan Xichen asked, "Do you remember now?"

Wei Wuxian murmured, "That period at Nightless City? I… I’d always thought that I had wandered back in a daze, but..."

Lan Xichen was so angry he could have laughed, "Young Master Wei, How many enemies were you up against that night? It was three thousand! No matter how much of an unparalleled talent of this age you may be - withdrawing entirely unharmed under those circumstances? How could that be possible?"

Wei Wuxian asked, "Lan Zhan... what did Lan Zhan do?"

"What did Wangji do. If you don’t remember it yourself, I fear he will never tell you of his own accord, and you certainly won’t be asking [4]. Fine. Let me tell you." Lan Xichen said.

"Young Master Wei, on that night after you took out the two halves of the Yin Tiger Tally, merged them into one, and slaughtered to your heart's content, you were at the end of your strength. Wangji, having been injured by you in your madness, was in about the same state. He was only able to get to his feet by leaning on Bichen. Even so, the moment he saw you stumbling away, he immediately followed.

"There weren't many people left conscious at the scene. I was barely able to move and could only watch as Wangji, with his Spiritual Energy clearly almost depleted, limped laboriously in your wake, then grabbed and pulled you onto Bichen. The both of you flew off on the sword together.

“I only regained my Spiritual Energy two shicheng* later and hurried back to the Lan Clan in Gusu seeking support. I was worried that if people from the other families caught up to the both of you first, Wangji would be perceived as your accomplice. The best outcome of this would leave him with a stain on his name for life and a damaged reputation, the worst scenario would be him being dispatched without a chance to defend himself. And so along with my shufu, I gathered thirty-three elders who had always praised and thought highly of Wangji. Together, we spent two days as the sword flies secretly [5] searching. That was how we found traces of your trail within the borders of Yiling. Wangji had hidden you in a cave. When we arrived, you were sitting on a stone within the cave, dazed, while Wangji held your hand, transferring Spiritual Energy to you and speaking softly [6].

“And the whole time, you were only repeating one word at him.

“‘Scram!’”

Wei Wuxian’s throat was dry, his eyes red. He was unable to say a word. 

Lan Xichen continued, "My shufu appeared suddenly before him, giving him a scolding and asking him for an explanation. He seemed to have expected us to find him, yet he said there was nothing to explain, that this was just how it was. Since childhood and even after growing up, he had never been defiant toward our shufu and me [7]. But for you, Wangji not only talked back to shufu, he even turned his sword on the cultivation practitioners of the same origin, the same bloodline of the Gusu Lan Clan as himself, severely injuring [8] the thirty-three elders we had requested help from...

Wei Wuxian buried his hands in his hair, saying, "I... I didn’t know... I really..."

Besides repeating that he really didn't know, there was nothing else was able to say. 

Lan Xichen tried holding back for a moment, but went on to add, "Thirty-three Discipline Whip scars! All the strokes within one session, one for each person. You ought to know how painful that is, how long it takes to recover from it! [9], [Note] After willfully sending you back to the Knoll, Wangji returned, despondent, to receive his punishment. How long he knelt before the Wall of Discipline! When I went to see him, I said ‘Young Master Wei has already made a grave mistake. Why would you compound it?’ But he replied that he wasn’t able to judge if what you did was right or wrong, and regardless of that, he was willing to bear all the consequences with you. [10] Those few years he was said to have spent ‘reflecting on his mistakes before the Wall’ were, at their core, because his motion was limited by his injuries. And even so, after learning of your death, he forced himself in this condition to get up because no matter what, he had to go to the Knoll and see for himself…” [11]

*One shicheng is approximately equal to two hours.

[1] This part in italics isn’t in {2}. [2] Added in {2}: But after going through all of these, Wei Wuxian’s body and spirit had been seriously damaged. [3] He was at the foot of a small hill near the Knoll in the revised version.  [4] This part in italics isn’t in {2}. [5] In {2} Lan Xicheng and his uncle explicitly requested the elders to keep this a secret.  [6] In {2} Lan Wangji was asking him something. [7] In {2}, Lan Xichen only specifies that Lan Wangji has never talked back to his uncle, leaving himself out of the sentence. [8] In {2} Lan Xichen says they were severely injured, nearly fatally. [9] There’s a break in {2} with Wei Wuxian’s inner thought of ‘This, he knew.’ Reason being what I have in [Note]. [10] This part in italics isn’t in {2}. [11] This part in italics isn’t in {2}.

[Note] Per Chapter 11, The Elegant Flirt 1: Wei Wuxian has never been beaten with the Discipline Whip before, but he has seen its mark on Jiang Cheng. They’d tried all sorts of ways to make the scarring go away, but it was in vain. All clans use it for disciplining members who had committed grave wrongdoing. Later in Chapter 59, Sandu: The Three Poisons 4, we learn that Jiang Cheng was hit with it by Wen Chao who got his hands on the Jiang Clan Discipline Whip.

// a thought //

We just learnt that Lan Wangji had been injured by a berserk Wei Wuxian himself, was struggling to stand and nearly out of Spiritual Energy. Then he had to control Bichen to fly them both to Yiling, and at least at the moment they were found, was attempting to heal Wei Wuxian with the Spiritual Energy transfer. From Lan Xichen’s account, it took Lan Xichen four hours to recover somewhat and regain enough Spiritual Energy to go home for help. So let’s say Lan Wangji did take some time off from minding the catatonic Wei Wuxian to replenish his Spiritual Energy, he’s still not fighting them at a hundred percent. His elders from Gusu Lan had not participated in the fighting at Nightless City (uninjured), but they’d all been on their swords for two days, searching for Lan Wangji. Probably still in a much better form than him though. How was he able to injure them ‘severely’? 

(I think there are two options. One, Lan Wangji is just that good of a fighter. Two, his elders were holding back.)

[wutheringheightsfilm]

I'm wondering how the progression of wx will look in odd geometry compared to canon (as in, they get together sooner? different dynamics?), and if/how the elemental magic is used in complementing each other. sorry this is super specific im just like. what about the wangxian 👀

HOT DOG. well :) let me crack my knuckles here this is gonna probably be a long answer!! i'll go bit by bit here...

to be honest, odd geometry is a huge divergence from canon. i have four fundamental things that change the story in absolutely huge ways, being:

elemental magic (obvi)

wei wuxian wasn't raised in lotus pier/as part of yunmeng jiang

wei wuxian doesn't die at the siege of the burial mounds thus isn't dead for 13/16 years and have to be resurrected

i have the sunshot campaign begin later than it does in canon. at the start of the story, all of the characters are slightly older; as in, i've aged all of wei wuxian's generation up to be closer to my age (most of them are in their early 20s) and adjusted their older siblings/the older generations accordingly (so, for example, jiang cheng is 20, wei wuxian is 20, and jiang yanli is 22)*

*so this means that classes at the cloud recesses still would have happened when everyone was 15, but the sunshot campaign just doesn't begin until jiang cheng, wei wuxian, and lan wangji are 20

which, it is so fun to play around with the implications of all that but it's also challenging. SO, how all of this impacts wangxian...

so just by virtue of what's going on here (namely wwx not being dead for over a decade) they definitely do get together sooner. since wei wuxian wasn't raised in lotus pier, he doesn't attend the classes at gusu when everyone in his generation were teens, he doesn't meet lan wangji until they're both 20 at the wen indoctrination camp (which through a series of events, wei wuxian gets roped into sneaking into attend).

as for their dynamics, there's layers to this!

because of how wei wuxian has grown up, there are two things: 1) his personality is not the exact same as it is in canon--how could it be, when he's grown up in such different circumstances?--however, his core traits are the same: he's still inventive, clever, and creative, he's still extremely compassionate and cares deeply about justice, especially for those who are disenfranchised, he still has an extremely strong (to the point of, at times, it being debilitating) sense of duty and a habit of putting others before himself, and being secretive and at times repressive about his emotions. he just doesn't act as...idk, childish? as he might in the show or the novel. he's a bit more grounded, a bit more serious.

because of that, i think it's maybe a bit easier for lan wangji to be more open with wei wuxian, or to accept his friendship sooner. they aren't such polar opposites as they seem in early in the show/in the novel.

2) there are slightly different class dynamics here that actually make a huge difference: wei wuxian didn't grow up in lotus pier and was not raised within polite cultivation society. no matter how much of an outcast madam yu made wei wuxian feel by trying to alienate him from her "real" family, he still was generally accepted by Society at large and was looked at and mostly treated with respect. he still gets called gongzi, and within yunmeng jiang called da-shixiong,--though, of course, coming from some people it can be read as sarcastic... i highly doubt wen chao was calling him wei-gongzi out of any sort of respect--and is overall accepted. of course, people still try to ostracize him for his status, but the cultivation world at large doesn't actively bully him much (and in all honesty, they don't really bully him at all while jiang fengmian was still alive) until he does something they don't like. apart from a few scenarios, wei wuxian wasn't given the disdain that you might expect the son of a servant to receive---honestly, i sort of wish class was talked about more in regards to mdzs and cql because it really does fascinate me. wei wuxian occupies such an interesting space within the cultivation world and i wish people discussed it more.

in my fic, though, since he wasn't raised within lotus pier and was never brought into the yunmeng jiang sect, he doesn't have the fallback of jiang cheng and jiang yanli being able to officially call him their brother--not yet, anyway. he doesn't have a sect leader to point to and be like, "i've been accepted by someone of experience and reown" and have the support that can come from that. he and lan wangji have been raised in very different spheres, and it changes how they interact with each other. there's an extra layer of formality that they now have to chip through. it's no longer lan wangji being extra formal towards someone of exactly equal standing towards him, there's now an extra layer that they have to reckon with. of course, wei wuxian is still lan wangji's equal in every way that matters--they are still the same age, they are still both incredibly talented with their areas of cultivation and respective fighting styles, they both have a mutual respect (and eventually love) for each other etc etc, they just don't belong to the same circles of society and this has to be dealt with.

of course, when the sunshot campaign is over and wei wuxian will have assisted the rebellion against the wens in winning, his status changes. he will be respected, if not feared, because eventually the cultivation world will figure out what he's able to do and fear it being used against them.

which brings us to their elemental magic and how that affects their dynamic as well !! AHHH!!!

so, wei wuxian can control qi (i can clarify any questions you or anyone else might have about this if needed) and lan wangji's affinity is water. at the beginning of the story, wei wuxian pretends to also have an affinity with water, and claims he heals with it--this backfires on him hard during xuanwu cave, when he has to heal lan wangji's broken leg and obviously, as someone with an affinity for water, lan wangji would know what healing someone using water is like and this is not it.

ultimately, wei wuxian is a healer. that is his favorite thing to do, it is what he prefers to do---despite having the powers he does (which, for a while, even he doesn't fully understand), and the demonic cultivation he will be able to do, he doesn't actually enjoy using his qi controlling abilities negatively on people much. he will do it if he has to, and will definitely enjoy using it to enact revenge on people who deserve it, but at the end of the day, he just wants to help and heal people.

i honestly think this suits lan wangji's temperament quite nicely--they would make a very good team, what with lan wangji's habit of going "wherever the chaos is" and helping people out with resentful spirits and night hunts.

even in the original odd geometry from 5 years ago, they were never opposing elements--though that would certainly be interesting LMAO!!!

as a reward for getting thru all of that... i shall leave you with... A SNIPPET <3

(from chapter 5, time is the movement of grief. context: this is at lotus pier, post xuanwu cave) He looked up, and saw Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian moved over on the dock to make room for him to sit, which he did, cross-legged so he wouldn’t get wet. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, listening to the crickets. The golden light of the setting sun made Lan Wangji look devastatingly beautiful. It took Wei Wuxian’s breath away. When Lan Wangji turned his head and met Wei Wuxian’s eyes, there was nothing Wei Wuxian wanted to do more than kiss him in that moment. It was a startling thought. He looked away as calmly as he could. 

THANK YOU FOR ASKING COR I REALLY LOVED ANSWERING THIS!!!!!

[shanastoryteller]

I’d love another continuation of Marriage Assasin WQ! (Thank you for naming it 😅) I’m loving the new POVs! Thanks and happy halloween!

a continuation of 1 2 3 4

It's taking too long.

Weeks have dragged on into months. Her uncle hadn't expected her to find it quickly, otherwise he wouldn't have set up a marriage in lieu of some sort of visit, but Wen Qing knows that his patience has to be fraying.

But she's searched Lotus Pier top to bottom, has gone diving in their lakes and climbed their mountains, but the Yin Iron is nowhere to be found, not even a hint of it. She knows it has to be around somewhere, but the tools they'd used to confirm it's existence don't do her any good now. It must not be as precise as they thought it was, because it always goes off, says that she's practically on top of it or right next to it, but short of tearing Lotus Pier down board by board she's not sure what else she's supposed to do.

It doesn't help that Wen Ning loves it here. That he's so open and happy, that he and Wei Wuxian often go hunting together or practice their archery, that Jiang Yanli always has a soft smile and something warm and edible for him. It doesn't help that everyone is so nice to her, that being Wei Wuxian's wife accords her respect and deference from everyone in Lotus Pier. It had made it easy to search, but guilt rolls around in her stomach every time a friendly face is happy to show around their Madam Wei.

"Are you alright, Wen Qing?" Jiang Cheng asks.

She looks up from scowling into the pond to find her brother in law staring at her, his eyebrows dipped together. She should brush him off, should change the subject, but instead she asks, "Has your father ever wanted something out of you that you couldn't give?"

His eyebrows shoot up. "Talking to Wei Wuxian, are you?"

Well, he is her husband, but she has no idea what Jiang Cheng is implying.

That must be obvious, because a moment later his cheeks color and she says, "He used to always compare me and Wei Wuxian growing up, and I never came out ahead."

"But you're," she starts, then stops herself, frowning.

Jiang Cheng is smart and strong and dedicated to his clan. He's a cut above his peers and an admirable heir.

But she's spent months with Wei Wuxian. She's seen him and Lan Wangji spar. She's seen him and Jiang Cheng spar.

"You're better suited to clan head," she says impulsively and the refuses to regret it because it's true. Wei Wuxian may be the superior fighter and have a knack for seals that borders on inhuman, to say nothing of the flute she's never seen him use. She assumes he has to be at least competent with it, considering he bothers to carry it around, but she's only seen the Lan musical cultivation used a few times. It's surprising that they let an outsider learn it, but considering how enamored Lan Wangji is with Wei Wuxian, it's possible he taught it to him without his clan's permission.

"Thank you," Jiang Cheng says, his eyes warm, and a smile on his face that she does her best to sear into her memory.

She doubts he'll ever smile at her again after she kills his brother.

[fluesterscherben]

Ideas/Headcanons about a Yiling Patriarch!Jiang Wanyin Roleswap AU

Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan can't marry, because Jiang Yanli becomes Sect Leader of Yunmeng Jiang when her brother is persumed dead after the burning of Lotus Pier and can't marry out of the Sect. And the Jin won't let their one legitimate heir marry out, obviously.

Lan Shizhui is instead named Jiang Qiumeng ( roughly "dreams of autumm", a very embarassing name, more fit of a sword then a child, also from the same poem as "Wanyin") -> Wei Wuxian named him, obviously. He is very bad at naming children (and swords and animals and...).

Jiang Yanli lives and is Sect Leader of Lotus Pier.

Xuanyu had a sword that he named "Zhen" ("needle" -> because when he was at coi tower other disciples told him he should stick to needlework rather than swordplay, so he decided to be petty when he got a sword)

Jiang Wanyin's demonic cultivation was pretty much a demonic version of the sword path as compared to canon Wei Wuxian's focus on demonic musical cultivation. It has some similarities to the Nie's method, but his "sword spirits" need to murder humans rather than resentful creatures. He had his sword with him in the burrial mounds because his core was crushed when he was thrown in and Wen Chao thought it would be fun to give him a weapon he couldn't use just to ramp up his despair.

He called his undead suporters by actually calling rather than playing music. (Imagine him just standing in a field of corpses and yelling "Wake up, lazy bastards!")

He helps the Wen Remnants only because he remembers Wen Ning, who cleaned his wounds and forced him to eat during their journey from Lotus Pier to Yiling, all while muttering quiet apologies for his family's actions. When he runs into Wen Qing after the war he first fights her and intends to kill her, until she screams about Wen Ning being missing. Then he agrees to help her find him and chucks some medicine at her head while he stalks off to get them horses.

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Ynali want to help the Wen Remnants too, but can't because of the Sect they have to run and their already precarious standing in polite society. If the other sects turn against them they don't stand a chance, even with the Yiling Patriarch on their side.

Yunmeng Jiang does not participate in planning the burial mound siege. They sent only one representative to the actual event: Wei Wuxian who is secretely tasked with damage control. But he is only one man - he can't save more than an old lady and a little boy. (Jiang Yuan grows up with a Granny, a Shibo, a Aunt Jiang and an A'Ling.)

After his resurrection Jiang Wanyin finds a dog skeleton by the side of the road. He revives it and names it "Huaguan" ("flowercrown").

The novel is not a romantic comedy, but solely a murder mystery/gothic horror-esque story.

No love story, only sibling and family feels.

During sunshot Lan Wangji tried very hard to help Jiang Wanyin return to orthodox cultivation because Wei Ying cared about the guy's health. Jiang Wanyin blew up at him for being a righteous prick.

[lansplaining]

with all the hunger game polls going on atm w some obvious strong contenders going out all ready (lxc..) who do u think would actually win the games, if everyone got dropped into a hunger games setting

(either w minimal cultivation - so no inedia or flying on swords etc - or any cultivation at all?)

okay so

if we're running this like the ACTUAL hunger games, instead of just a free-for-all with everyone, here is how it breaks down for me:

Jiang Tributes: Yanli and Wei Wuxian (Jiang Cheng got picked and he volunteered, of course, though I was deeply tempted to do it the other way around, but that's my pro-JC bias showing)

Jin Tributes: Mianmian and Jin Guangyao (forced to volunteer for Zixuan by his dad)

Lan Tributes: Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji (because there are no named Lan girls jdfljsdkf and I think it would be a point of pride that they not ask anyone to take their place. desperately tempted to send Su Minshan in place of one of them, though)

Nie Tributes: Nie Huaisang and Nie Mingjue (i mean there's literally no other Nies so :|)

Wen Tributes: Wen Qing and Wen Ning (sent by their uncle to make an example of them)

Wei Wuxian, Wen Qing, and Lan Xichen, and Nie Mingjue's priorities are to protect their (sect) siblings, which puts them at an immediate disadvantage because they are not prioritizing personal survival. Honestly the best case scenario for WWX is if Yanli dies early, but he's also skilled enough to not let that happen.

People will argue that Huaisang is less of a burden to Nie Mingjue than he tries to seem, but I think improvising in the wilderness in a realm where he can't stir up an angry mob is going to neuter him of his strongest skill.

In contrast to both, Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji are going to be operating as a pretty seamless unit, except for the part where they both keep trying to die for the other one.

Ironically, Wen Qing is probably the one holding Wen Ning back-- by trying to protect him, she's not really letting him get in the mix and show off his skills, to both of their detriment.

This leaves us with Team Jin. Future rogue cultivator Mianmian and spy and assassin Jin Guangyao are a very compelling pair, and they have the skills to take advantage of the fact that they're the only ones not held back by family ties.

uh sorry this got long

If Yanli dies early enough, Wei Wuxian obviously has what it takes; the question is whether that happens. I think with two canny manipulators in Nie Huaisang and Jin Guangyao, who are both content to use people's loved ones against them when needed, Yanli stays alive to keep Wei Wuxian distracted (and obviously the Lans and the Wens aren't going to kill her).

However, I don't think Nie Huaisang lasts long. Nie Mingjue wants to push him to fight for himself, and he'd end up in over his head. This would just push Nie Mingjue over the edge in terms of rage and grief, and he'd lose a fight he probably should have won because he's just coming undone, and/or maybe just qi deviates.

Though Mianmian becomes a rogue cultivator, she isn't one yet, and in canon as a teenager she's a bit of a crybaby. She puts up a good fight but she can't compare. Ditto Wen Ning and Wen Qing, though Wen Qing probably gets at least one murder assist by incapacitating someone who someone else comes along and kills later.

Lan Xichen kills himself rather than forcing either Lan Wangji or Jin Guangyao to kill him. The question is only whether this is a Twin Jade pact or if Lan Wangji is left to face down Jin Guangyao in the final two. I honestly thing a direct fight between them is a toss-up, but I think Jin Guangyao has a longer history of channeling his grief into murder rather than incapacitating sadness and self-destruction, and that gives him the edge to win.

[sillygoofyqueer]

The Untamed review: episode three!!!

Nooo, the tavern has been fully booked, who did this to them 😔

PRETTY WOMEN

MIANMIAN!!!!!!!!

Checking them out, Wei Wuxian??

Of course it's the Jin clan, god, money-hungry bastards

Steal it. You know you want to.

Wei Wuxian, what are you up to???

Don't put the blame on other people!!!

Go on Mianmian, you're such a badass

Hehe, Yuando

Look at him giggle!!

You fucking flirt, it's funny that you're so gay as well

And now you introduce yourself, white /aff

She's such a good wing woman, I like this girl

GO ON MIANMIAN!!!!!

He's not a playboy, he's gay

I love them both so so kuch

JIANG YANLI!!!!!

My poor baby girl

Who the fuck is kicking them out

Kill him. Just- kill him.

Who's this bro criticising everything???

Mianmian, it's not your fault he's rich 😒

As if he needs all those people

Look at her, ain't she so pretty??

What the fuck is Wei Wuxian holding?? A stick

Who does this bozo think he is

Shut your mouth, bozo

Jiang Cheng is being too civil

Let Wei Wuxian at 'em

Nobody needs that many servants

Hehehehehe, he's such a tease.

Bro's like 'don't touch me peasant'

Drawing your sword against WEI WUXIAN?? Dumbass

Bbg, you deserve so much better. You're much prettier than him.

So neat 😔

FUCKING RUDE

The bozo needs to learn how to whisper

Wei Wuxian, you're ruining the tension

I want to flick my sleeves as well

THEIR TICKETS!!!!

They were kicked out by a pompous monster

He's always thinking of alcohol

Who knows why they were arranged to be married

THE SIMULTANEOUS SHRUG

CLOUD RECESSES!!!!!!!

Bros can't even get in

They look very good in white

LAN WANGJI!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He's very good at hearing, no point whispering

What's up with him???

Bro's chilling

Look, it's his boyfriend

The way his eyes stay on Wei Wuxian for a moment

He's very stern, leave him alone

Wei Wuxian looks like he's gonna cry

Ahhhh!! AHHHHHH!!

The silencing spell!!!!!!!!

I like how he hits Jiang Cheng, like it's his fault

LAN WANGJI PAUSED FOR HIM, AHHHHH

He's literally just going to find the invitations, don't worry

It looks chilly lmao

Awww, Wei Wuxian is not one to be easily embarrassed

Jiang Yanli 😭😭😭

Who's that??

LAN WANGJI!!!????!??!

He literally got everything and now he's been ditched

Alcoholic 😔

Wei Wuxian looks so chuffed with it

What is bro doing??? HE JUST BROKE IT

Look at him, so jolly with himself

He's fucking clambering around like a little squirrel

"Oh, hey boyfriend"

Look at him glare, I'm cackling

The fucking side eye

The way he clutches the alcohol so protectively

He's giggling so much

HE'S TRYING TO SHARE THE ALCOHOL WHAT A GUY

Trying to silence you because you're so hot, my guy

Even their fighting is gay for each other

Okay, seriously, what the fuck is Wei Wuxian holding in his hands??

Bro, guy has actual skills and you're shocked??? What a guy

Why can't someone gay fight with me like this?

Literally threw himself off a building just to save his alcohol

"turn around" EYOOOOOO FOR WHAT

DON'T INSULT YOUR BOYFRIEND'S CLAN, WHORE I LOVE YOU

"I can drink OUTSIDE the Lan boundaries, right?"

The way Lan Zhan grumbles like a toddler

The silencing spell, what a guy, I really love Lan Wangji

What's wrong with this fool? That looks nasty.

Hay pretty boy LAN XICHEN XOXOXO

Oh. Lan Qiren too. Hi.

Wangji shouldn't be bringing around any corpses.

CULTIVATORS GOING MISSING?!?????

Lan Qiren what are you doing bestie

He looks angry hahahaha

Grumble grumble grumble "who's making that noise?" THE STAIN UPON YOUR CAREER

Lan Xichen is being so polite and kind compared to Lan Wangji, I have to wonder how many people preferred him to Lan Zhan upon first watching this

"I can't blame the innocent, but I can't defame our rules 😔" so sincere

"how would you like to punish this guy?" Lan Xichen, I love you, but how the fuck would Lan Wangji ever want to punish his boyfriend?

TRANSCRIBE THE PRINCIPLES THREE HUNDRED TIMES???!?! LAN WANGJI, YOU SADIST

The fear in Wei Wuxian's eyes is my favourite part I think, really brings it all together

Anything but that, lmaooo

"bro, get rid of the silencing spell, pleeeaaaseee 🥺"

Bro is literally lying, I love him.

The hesitance as he backs away, cackling

BLAMING IT ON JIN ZIXUAN!!!! THAT'S MY BOY!

At least he's being honest about the Emperor's Smile.

"I didn't even get a sip before he broke oneee 😔😭" He's just fucking complaining and I love him for it

I love that Lan Wangji is just staring into the distance casually without any sort of expression. He's so me

He may have violated the principles, but he's just a little guy.

Of course he can't.

"also, he helped the Jiangs get in-" "brooooo, why would you drop me in like that???" Is what I think Lan Wangji would say if he talked often

The romantic music playing I'm cackling

THE CHEEKY SMILLLEEEEEE

He looks so teasing as he wanders over, who couldn't fall in love with that

Bro's grasping his sword because he has never felt this gay in his life

The puppy dog eyes "I'm sorry, okay? 🥺🥺🥺" Is killing me. I too would become gay for this guy.

Lan Xichen smells the gay tension and cuts through it with a sword

THE POUT HAHAHAHA

WOAH. Dead body. He's literally calling them out.

NIGHTLESS CITY?!??!

WEN QING YOU'RE SO PRETTY!!!!

Booo, not Wen Chao.

Stop. Trying. To. Do. Evil.

Take your brother with you, who knows what they'll do to MY LITTLE MAN.

Yes, yes I am.

Wen Qing nooooo

You've bowed three times now

Show off.

Nah, the wind is fucking insane right now

THE CORPSE IS SITTING UP AAAAAHHH

Wei Wuxian is literally in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He's literally a genius, oh my god.

Lan Wangji wanting to be in sync with him ahhahaha

"he's like a puppet" me too

Brilliant makeup, by the way. Props.

Gazing into the moon like any good gay person would.

Brotherly bonding timeeeee.

Chatting about the corpse in the other room lmao

I wouldn't mind living in Gusu.

HE'S JUST GOTTEN BACK BRO. I love them so so much.

He probably has been too strict on the gay guy. But they're actually such a good team.

HE WANTS HIM TO MAKE FRIENDS!!!

Name dropping Wei Ying, matchmaking for real

Lan Wangji looks pissed but he's just kind of in love, it's fine.

Which corpse are you? Tag yourself.

XUE YANG, YOU VILE LITTLE THING. HOW ARE YOU.

Fuck off Wen one name or another

L there's only a shard of it.

Xue Yang is such a guy, I love him so much. Listen to him giggle.

Just kill him yourself, Xue Yang.

I'm going to fucking eat him, PLATONICALLY.

Watch him strut!

Bro wants to beat the clan, he knows how to barter with someone #icon.

[fierrochase-falafel]

CQL music analysis part 1: Local homosexual lunatic over-analyses people singing (with spoilers)

The Untamed has 2 albums, one of which contains all the songs with vocals they had recorded for the show. While I recommend all of them, a few favourites of mine being Bu Wang (for Lan Wangji) and Woodland (for Wen Qing), I'd like to focus on the fact that only 2 of them are in the show: the classic Wu Ji and Yi Nan Ping.

It's interesting that Yi Nan Ping is the only song other than Wu Ji, the literal wangxian song, to actually appear in the show.

Considering the main characters of the show are Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, it makes sense that their joint song Wu Ji is the most well-known; especially when you add the fact that it appears at the end of every CQL episode. It also appears several times in the middle of the show (especially episode 50, where they played it about 5 times just to make it really sink in how close wangxian are). On the album it has a Xiao Zhan only edition, a Wang Yibo only edition, a chorus edition with both Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo, and a Bibi Zhou edition- it's very clear that this is a song made up of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, whether by themselves or together they are singing to and about each other.

Yi Nan Ping, however, is labelled on the album as [Interlude], as opposed to the [Theme] of Wu Ji. It's 4th from the bottom of the album. The song is recognised as Jiang Yanli's song at large by fans, which makes sense because it's heard when Jiang Yanli is onscreen, but I am going to speculate as to why it was not labelled directly as Jiang Yanli's song despite it clearly reflecting her character. The only 2 vocal tracks being Wu Ji and Yi Nan Ping was very deliberate to reflect Wei Wuxian's closest relationships. The show centers around him ultimately, it's largely in his point of view and so we hear vocal tracks in moments where he feels the most intense. For Wu Ji, it shows his relationship with Lan Wangji quite clearly, as one of his closest relationships.

My theory with Yi Nan Ping is that the reason it's not labelled Jiang Yanli's song is because it represents the bond of the Yunmeng trio itself rather than just Jiang Yanli. Jiang Yanli's loving and caring nature is presented as that which brings the 3 of them together- when she first brings her brothers back from the Yunmeng woods, consistently when she gives them lotus and pork rib soup, when she dies to protect Wei Wuxian. The lotus and pork rib soup is kinda like a motif representing when they were kids and could just play with each other, and come back to drink her soup that tastes like home. None of the actors for the characters sing in this song, the song is more like a sisterly blanket Yanli has for all of them where it represents their bond together rather than their own voices. One could also intepret it as Jiang Yanli singing, and that bringing all 3 of them together. I think it says a lot about her that she doesn't have an individual song named as being for her, but the songs she is involved in uplift the ones she loves and it becomes 'their song' rather than 'her song'.

Wu Ji, compared to Yi Nan Ping, has both the voices of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji in abundance. Focusing on the chorus version, even if Wang Yibo says less individual lines (which is quite in character for Lan Wangji), his presence in the song is always felt. When I listen to Wu Ji, it's like Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are two halves of one tiger tally, the song incomplete without each other's voices pulling through. Wu Ji requires that which Yi Nan Ping doesn't: in the sense of the characters having to mutually acknowledge and be open about their feelings, singing them out loudly to the world together. Considering Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng's relationship is frought with hidden feelings and miscommunication, Jiang Yanli's open love being what brings them together makes perfect sense- it's notable that the former 2 are only open with each other when they're forced to be at last in Guanyin temple (Wei Wuxian wouldn't have voluntarily told Jiang Cheng about the golden core operation, and Jiang Cheng never actually ended up telling Wei Wuxian why he ran away in the first place, resulting in his core loss). Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji though come clean within their first conversation after Wei Wuxian's resurrection, and have always put the effort to understand the other's position on important matters. In CQL, they're always as open about their feelings as they can manage from the get-go. Personally, I feel this sets up a dichotomy between Wei Wuxian's 2 closest relationships- that with the Jiang siblings and that with Lan Wangji.

Furthermore, where Yi Nan Ping reminisces about the past consistently (the most notable refrain in the chorus being, 'Can you still hear someone calling out “A-Xian”?', using the first online translation I could find by radishtears), Wu Ji reminisces vaguely about the past but always comes back to looking to the future (repeating, 'Why not soar high and free as a bird with the winds and waves, and sing this one song together to the world?', courtesy the genius lyrics translation). Yi Nan Ping is always a soft, comforting echo representing Wei Wuxian's past with the Jiang siblings and Wu Ji boldly looks to his future with Lan Wangji. They represent very different relationships and carry different connotations to a current Wei Wuxian, but they are the most important relationships to him to the point that they have vocal tracks directly present in the web series.

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

I know I always gotta everything Twitter (or X or whatever is called) says with a grain of salt, but I remember one time I was seriously baffled: where the user was literally projecting their political beliefs in the Jiang family, especially Madame Yu because she was girlboss I guess? Still, they said something like "I'm sure they would be pro-choice while the Lans are pro-life!", hated Lan Wangji because he reminded them of their "spoiled and entitled younger sibling", and treated Wei Wuxian like an idiot for being the reason Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli's engagement was broken since he "ruined her life and wasn't good", all the while comparing Wei Wuxian and their OC while lifting their OC as better.

It was a rollercoaster of a profile for sure, but the amount of projection was insane. But after what I saw, I don't wanna hear about Jiang Cheng or Madame Yu's stans don't project on them or see them for what they truly are...

Oh boy... this was a ride that may be a bit too much early to deal with...

Look, I understand finding a similarity with a character and wanting to make that personal. Have at it alllll you want, all got those self-insert blorbos we like to self-impose on in the cringe privacy of our minds (I'll even out that mine used to be Tails from Sonic when I was 7!)

But there has to be a line of knowing it's frivolity I have made up, and something that is wildly untrue for the source that I have been given. Just because I personally think it should be a certain way, does not mean that is what is intended or, how it is provided to me from the text.

No I highly doubt the Lans are comparable to a heavily politicized topic in America much less the Jiangs as these world spheres are different and cultural context matters to not imply western centric politics that can be seen as you fetishizing and demeaning the original country of origin to americanize it based on personal bias.

[frogizz]

The Untamed Episode 32ish spoilers

I've been real quiet about my thoughts watching The Untamed. I haven't read the novel yet but I've been looking at the fan wiki so I know how different things kinda are. Anyways, I'ma list how I feel about the characters and what not. I am at episode 32 or 33 btw.

Yanli is a sweetheart, an angel, a gift to this Earth AND HOW SHE DIES IS HEART WRENCHING! She just gave birth a month ago, she just lost her husband to some stupid fight, her injury and death is blamed on her kinda innocent brother, IM FURIOUS. She deserved so much more than she got, I knew she died young but not like this!

I never trusted Jin Guangyao from the start, I don't like his face (It's the character, not the actor, the actor is fine). He is shady and from the looks of his wiki page, I was right about my gut feeling.

Jin Zixuan has been a tough guy for me to like, but honestly, as long as he made Jiang Yanli happy, he was decent in my book.

THE HYPOCRATES THE JIN CLAN ARE. Explain to me how they think they can do whatever they want just because they aren't the Wen Clan? Their mentality is that they can do what they want because they believe they're already incapable of doing or being bad, when they should really be having the mentality of avoiding doing bad actions and reflect. Jin Zixun annoyed the hell out of me because he was the main culprit of acting just like he was all high and mighty.

Jin Zixun and the other smaller clans just HAD to point fingers and antagonize somebody, didn't they? Like of course, the Wen clan did terrible things, but you don't kill innocent people! Wei Wuxian didn't need to play the hero, but honestly, who would've stepped up to save them? Everything would've been fine if jin Zixun didn't assume Wei Wuxian cast that spell on him and went for the violent route.

I know Wen Qing doesn't show up as much in the novel, which I'll be sad reading through scenes I expected her to be in after watching The Untamed, but she is one of my favorites. She is innocent, or at least mostly, in my eyes. Her actions were those of "I don't want to exactly get involved, and I also kinda think that my clan is doing some bullsh*t but I can't exactly rebel now can I?". I could be wrong, but she deserved a better fate.

Wen Ning, oh my gosh, he deserved better too, he was such a good kid, SUCH A GOOD KID, and he got abused and basically tortured. He deserves more than to be a ghost puppet.

WEI WUXIAN YOU IDIOT, YOU MADE A PROMISE TO YOUR SISTER, YOU TOLD HER THE THREE OF YOU WOULD BE TOGETHER FOREVER YET YOU RUN OFF SO EASILY TO SAVE THE WEN REMNANTS?! Of course, who would've saved them if not Wei Wuxian, that's not necessarily bad. But he just didn't think twice about the promise he made to Jiang Yanli when he just left like that. Not cool dude. Not. Cool.

I don't hate Jiang Cheng, and I don't love him either. I like him, his actions are valid and especially his thoughts are too. To me he is reasonable and makes judgement based on what the audience sees, so I think he is sometimes portrayed as some angry guy when really, he is reacting to things without knowing the full story.

OOH I JUST KNOW THAT MOFO WHO WAS MAKING THE SPIRITS GO OUT OF CONTROL AT THE NIGHTLESS CITY WAS JIN GUANGYAO. Now, I have no evidence, but hear me out, where TF did he go after all the fighting broke out?

I really wanna write some fanfics of 2-5 chapters of different "What if" scenarios regarding Wei Wuxian's decisions in his life and how things could've been better.

Wen Yuan is so adorable and I will protect him with my life. I don't know too much about how he is as Lan Sizhui (btw, I think he's only an adult in The Untamed because he's around 3 when he was Wen Yuan and 16 passed so he's older compared to the novel which makes him 16 years old as Lan Sizhui. Fact check me please).

The music has me in a choke hold.

I have no opinion on Lan Wangji besides he's cool and Wei Wuxian's biggest supporter.

I care a lot more for Wen Ning, Wen Qing, and Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli, and Wei Wuxian relationships being fine and healthy than I do for Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangi. Mostly because we don't get to see the romance in The Untamed but I hope to see that connection and care for their relationship more when I read the novel. Until then, the siblings are all I care about because they're family and they could've been so happy together.

The way I sobbed when the Jiang clan was attacked and the previous Jiang clan leader and his wife died. The way the Jiang siblings were now orphaned and Wei Wuxian was orphaned a second time. (I call all three of them the Jiang siblings, is there another thing I can call them that would make more sense? I know Wei Wuxian was a part of the Jiang clan but he doesn't have the family name nor is he part of the clan anymore.)

Lan Xichen is another one of my favorites. Never hated any of his actions or words for one second. He is so agreeable and likeable for me. Reminds me of how I felt towards Yue Qingyuan when reading SVSSS. 10/10 character, mwah.

Where TF are my Nie Huaisang scenes, he barely shows up and I kinda wanna see him more.

Jin Ling is so adorable as a baby but damn does he take after his uncle.

I find it sweet that even after leaving the clan, Wei Wuxian was still allowed to see Jiang Yanli's wedding dress and even name his nephew. So sweet, I cried at that scene. She was so pretty, she was so generous to give a portion of the soup to Wen Ning and I love her generosity and kindness to the heavens.

I'm not gunna lie, I wasn't expecting Jin Zixun's death to be like how it was but it was kind of deserved? I was a little sad when Jin Zixuan died though, only because Jiang Yanli would be a widow with a newborn. Can't hurt my girl emotionally like that, just can't.

Last but not least, I can't remember his name and that one chick, but that Young Master Wen, I hated his face, his smug look, I think his death was deserved. And that lady he had with him all of the time, so annoying, so pitiful, they did a great job acting because they made me hate their faces.

Oh yeah, and, Wei Wuxian is an idiot, but a thoughtful idiot. I say that affectionally and I don't think he's actually full of himself (my interpretation can be so wrong and I'll realize that later). He does things for others not to look good (or at least that isn't the main concern), but to actually do something that no one else does. He plays the hero because no one else will help. Although, yeah, he does take on big challenges to look cool but at the end of the day, It's not really all for his own gain.

Okay, that's it. See another post like this when I finish Ep. 50 and I can't wait to find access to the animated MDZS!