#helian xi

[bebemoon]

hard to find

[tbgkaru-woh]

Word of Honor + Tian Ya Ke + own interpretation character redesigns, inspired by both show adaptation and the novel (and a sprinkle of my own designs cause I love designing characters)

[mtkay13]

(and way more TYK designs below!)

Here it is! My personal designs of the (mostly) full TYK cast! What I mainly learned from this: TYK has a lot more characters than expected, haha.

My idea was mainly to get a clearer image, for myself, of all the people appearing or being mentioned in the book (and btw, a big chunk of the characters above died before the story even started and don't even get a line, but, you know...). One of my guidelines was, everyone has to look interesting, has to look like the main character of their own story. TYK is pretty much a story about side characters... so if noone is a main character, everyone is, no? (...does that even work? lol) Some of these designs were inspired by SHL, because it being the first one I saw, it of course left an impression in my mind. The rest is essentially taken from the few descriptions we get in the book, and my own imagination (plus some help from pinterest for the clothing). Rong Changqing is 100% inspired from @tbgkaru-woh depiction of him.

One noteworthy thing: the giant dog is too big. I thought it was supposed to be the size of a big horse, but it's actually the size of a pony... woops. Now, additionally:

The protags families! Wen Ruyu and Gu Miaomiao had to look heroic because that's pretty much what their characters are about. The traditional Wuxia story heroes that marked the legend. Conversely, the Zhou family has to be as plain and normal as possible, haha. ZZS says, in QY, that he's often called "Zhou San" (=Zhou three), which means he's the third child in his family. Since I like the idea of him being the youngest, I only gave him an older brother (who will inherit the position of head of the family and thus justify ZZS being able to leave for a shady remote sect) and an older sister. And as another bonus:

Hehehe. So these are... let's say, the men in ZZS' life, before WKX.

- Jiuxiao, of course, because I'm convinced ZZS had feelings for him

- Huang Xu, an OC developed with Bichen (son of a HLZ supporter, whose family ZZS infiltrated for a while --as Su Yan-- to try and sway them towards HLY's cause ((Su Yan's "Yan" is the same "Yan" as in Zhen Yan, just as a little nod to SHL))) - Zhu Ai, a magistrate OC, developed with Moose and Bichen, who's deeply infatuated with ZZS --only knowing him as that one guy who handles imperial guard watch tours and trains guards--

-and one guard I just like to imagine having a crush on him too. I started working on some guy from WKX's childhood too, but I feel like WKX's past is such a huge can of worms, I'll save all of that for later, haha.

[chemical-abscess]

The Gang

And a secret fifth thing

[ber-go]

You are my safe space

[toaster-fire-art]

Beiyuan

plus a bonus Zhou Zishu because i binge reread TYK in like 3 sittings.

[coreofgold]

@lavendaers for Jing Qi

"Would you like to visit the Gems and Minerals with me?" Wu Xi asks. "I think you would like them." And Wu Xi already thinks Jing Qi is the brightest gem so he just wants to compare.

[smiling-shoe]

*everyone is in their teen years approximately*

Wu Xi, wanting to spend more time with Jing Beiyuan: You have many books, you're well educated. And I want to know more about history and, ehm, other things, so... Maybe you could... Teach me something?

Jing Beiyuan: I'd be glad to! But I have to give you a word of warning: I really like teaching and lecturing.

Wu Xi: Why do you call it a "warning"? This is not a threat.

Zhou Zishu, knowing Beiyuan for plenty of time: Oh, believe me, with him - this is.

[chandiewashere]

*insert me reading lord seventh and trying to figure out what the pairing is*

[vanilla-phantoms]

Some qi ye sketches from when I was first reading it

[cryptidafter]

What about Qi Ye characters for the bingo? JBY, HLY, WX, PA and sable?

Almost one bingo but not quite. This one was very fun! Feel free to ask for elaboration on anything; I love talking about QY characters but I didn't want this to get too long. I left off the sable because I don't really have thoughts on it other than 1) cute and 2) laughing whenever it mauls LJX lol

[ranexpositioning]

For possibly the first time ever, I'm not as enamored with the main character as I am with the guy I'm supposed to hate.

I keep thinking about Helian Ye, and how he's really the only one who doesn't get to be happy. Who never had the chance to be happy. Who did he have, really? Did he really have friends? Weren't they all scared of him? And after everything, they all left him.

Helian Ye. Great emperor. Number one under the heavens. Born to scheme and rule for all his life. How great is that?

[geneticcatalyst]

Yes yes I so agree with your tags. You're so right, JBY probably went to private rooms with a lot of sex workers & then paid them a ton of money to do nothing. Word would probably get around eventually; people he paid off prior would probably jump on the chance to entertain him again when he returns lol. He probably asks them to keep quiet, but if he's done this with multiple people from the same brothel, then. Well. They're probably talking. And at that point he would have to. You know. Actually pay for sex work, instead of paying people to not do their jobs

Constantly thinking about poor Ming Hua. Imagine one day someone tells you that you have to follow this shady dude named Zhou Zishu to a private temporary residence or be guarded by him because the guy who has become your main source of income at work name-dropped you in front of the emperor and the crown prince is chugging vinegar about it

POOR MING HUA i almost forgot he basically ended up in witness protection over that...

[pretty-dianxia]

Between Helian Yi and Wu Xi, who would you choose???

PLEASE!!! THERE IS NOTHING TO THINK ABOUT!! NOTHING!! DO YOU THINK I WILL TRUST A MAN WHO KILLS INNOCENT INSECTS, ATE HIS DOG, KILLED A PERFECTLY HEALTHY JASMINE PLANT, OR SKINNED A FOX ON A WHIM???

THERE IS JUST ONE ANSWER AND IS THAT GENTLE PERSON WHO WOULD CHALLENGE DESTINY, JUST TO GIVE YOU A HAPPY LIFE.

[ber-go]

the realization that jing beiyuan got two kingdom rulers simping for him lives in my mind rent free

[bellaroles]

Lol, even a little girl wants Jing Beiyuan as her wife. This guy is absolutely waifu material!