#nie mingjue my beloved!!!!!!

[tavina-writes]

I have been recently thinking about NHS and JGY's relationship, especially as it pertains to how much they understand each other, and I'm pretty sure the conclusion I'm coming to is that JGY doesn't actually understand NHS at all except like, in vague superficiality?

This is not an argument about whether or not JGY cared about NHS (though he seems to have some pretty big blind spots on what is actually good for NHS or what he actually desires, which, again come back to not really understanding what makes NHS tick) because I don't think you can spend well over a decade cleaning up someone else's problems without caring for the person in question. But more like, the events of the Temple and the Discussion Conference prior to the Temple and indeed anything leading up to the Temple at all would not have occurred if JGY actually understood? NHS? at all?

Like, obviously NHS was concealing the truth and acting while he proceeded with his revenge scheme, JGY (who presumably had some amount of time to think about who could possibly want him dead/disgraced/fleeing off to Dongyin) doesn't even begin to suspect that the person who wrote the letter and arranged all of this might be NHS until LXC's already stabbed him.

That's a pretty big fucking blind spot considering the whole thing is being unearthed because of NMJ's murder corpse put together shenanigans. Like he knows to hide Chifeng-zun's head but not to suspect Chifeng-zun's brother???

Like I think this might go beyond "doesn't understand anything about this other person besides on a very superficial level" to "might genuinely have some pretty big MISconceptions about who this person is or what they're like."

[angelxd-3303]

Me: well, I have a few favorites in Untamed.

Wei Wuxian: *goes insane*

Nie Mingjue: *gets beheaded*

Wen Zhuliu: *dies horribly*

Lan Xichen: *spirals into a depression and lives in seclusion*

Yanli: *dies, apparently*

Jiang Cheng: *becomes an emotionally repressed asshat*

Me: welp. 🥲

[3cosmicfrogs]

if you're still taking requests for weird nieyao/3zun this but good

(it's supposed to be a dog collar over his decapitated stitches that says 'IF LOST RETURN TO OWNER--Jin Guangyao)

sdkjbhafjsgh i love you you are brilliant. i see your vision and have expanded upon it.

i am however incapable of simply making shitposts, because at some point Vaguely Horny Brain took over. linking the outcome of That in the rb.

[kagamikoi]

💚💙💛 Long story short, I drew 3zun as cats (picture below!) and then, i was thinking again about this modern AU where Lan Huan owns 3 cats and he cherishes them very much but his two bfs are just jealous of all the attention he gives to his cats but ofc it's not like they have choice anyway so in the end, all three of them take care of the cats ... and i swear i'm melting just thinking about them god 🤧

[noenvyy]

Yet another shameless WIP fanart plug for the fics

"All Men are the Same" by the awesome @mostlikelytofangirl and it's corresponding fic "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by yours truly. My last one was an angsty one so I really wanted to give this one a romcom vibe. Ah Nieyao you messy, messy pair. Can't get enough of em! Hope to have the finished piece out soon <3 Links to the fics can be found below.

"A Good Man is Hard to Find"

And the awesome original piece "All Men are the Same"

[yuyu-finale]

nielan museum au!

[eastofakkala]

CQL textposts (2/?)

[mostlikelytofangirl]

I love how Guangyao and Mingjue represent two extremes both in terms of values and in terms of height (one is the shortest person in the book and the other is the tallest) but their names mean the same thing (bright jade) and they end up in the same place (the coffin) at the end of the book. Mxtx says wwx and lwj were created in binary opposition but their core was the same, and it feels like the same holds true for nieyao.

I'm right there with you anon!

Nieyao really are polar opposites, and more than once they are portrayed as the two sides of an argument. The height difference is also something I appreciate very much lol, but they truly seem to be designed to even look as opposite as possible.

ALSO, as I mentioned before, the coffin treatment is something mxtx gave endgame canon couples in her other works, so there's that :D.

I have to say tho that, unlike wangxian, idk about the "same core". The main conflict with nieyao was that their innermost values didn't align. NMJ upheld honor, justice and righteousness even at the cost of his own life (and others'), whereas MY/JGY was nothing if not a survivor ready to do whatever it took to achieve his goals.

I WILL grant it to this statement tho, they were both stubborn af and pure unadultered determination when they believed in a cause.

So the trick really is that, when they actually agreed on something, they were an absolutely brilliant team. Not only did they complemented each other to perfection by being so different and having opposite strengths and weaknesses, but also their egos got to play nicely: NMJ is not proud or petty in the sense that he will grant credit when credit is due, and will encourage and praise honest work; on the other hand, regardless of what some ppl say, MY/JGY is not power hungry for the sake of power, we have seen time and time again that he will submit to other's authority when they deserved his loyalty (aka treating him well).

All MY/JGY wants is to feel safe and appreciated; all NMJ looks in ppl around him is someone he can trust. If they bring that to the table for each other, like they did as superior-underling during Sunshot Campaign, then they will be ridiculously compatible and a force to be reckoned with in spite ---or even because of how different they are.

Opposite attract, after all 🤭

[chenqingssuibian]

today is a good day to love nmj <3

[lavenderjiang]

i love nie bros

[shanastoryteller]

Happy happy pride month 🌈🏳‍🌈🥳 Are you still doing the “cursed identity porn” au where LWJ can’t really see the Yiling Patriarch (because the mask?), but still tries to settle into being married to him? (Or JC traveling back in time?) Thanks!

a continuation of 1 2 3

Lan Wangji watches Wei Wuxian fold himself back into the silent, untouchable persona of the Yiling Patriarch and he mourns the loss of the warm, cheerful man he’s gotten to know. He still doesn’t understand the need for the secrecy, why he cannot be both the kind and generous father and sect leader and the man powerful enough to win a war and tame the Burial Mounds. But Wei Wuxian asks so little of him that he can’t bring himself to push for more than he’s willing to give.

Meng Yao does most of the talking while they travel, procuring their rooms and ordering their food. He does it with the same casual efficiency that he does everything and Lan Wangji thinks that this is a skill he must have picked up in the Nie, must have learned in service of Nie Mingjue.

They share one room even though they can afford more, but there’s a wariness that Wen Qing can’t hide and Meng Yao likely is that causes them to draw close. After Meng Yao comes back with dinner, Wei Wuxian takes off his mask and he’s surprised at how weary his husband looks, a weariness that he hasn’t seen once in the Burial Mounds, no matter how rowdy the children or demanding the villagers or intense the cultivation.

Lan Wangji lays his hand on Wei Wuxian’s arm, squeezing to get his attention. He meets his gaze slowly and offers him a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” he says. Lan Wangji raises an eyebrow and the warmth in voice seems real enough when he adds, “I am, I promise. We just have to get through this night hunt and we’ll be back home and everything will be fine.”

He doesn’t understand what everything is, why attending a night hunt as a war hero is causing so much discomfort, but he just tips his head down and says, “Yes, it will.”

Lan Wangji always sleeps lightly and that night everyone wakes him at least once. Wen Qing’s nightmare wakes her before he can, Wei Wuxian tosses and turns, and Meng Yao gets up far too early to pace the length of the room. He can easily withstand a night of poor sleep, so he says nothing.

They gather whispers and stares as the walk through Lanling and walk up the Jin’s obnoxious steps. Lan Wangji greets Sect Leader Jin and Madam Jin, curling his lip back when they neglect to greet Meng Yao but lets it lie when Meng Yao catches his eye.

They’ve barely stepped into the banquet hall when a beloved and familiar voice calls out, “Wangji!”

Xichen does not break the rule against running, but he does walk very quickly over to them, a bright smile lighting up his face. Lan Wangji wonders at how different he looks to when his brother saw him last. He still wears his silver cloud ornament around his forehead, but now it’s on a black ribbon. He has on soft grey robes embroidered with red and silver and a black underrobe made of the same fine silk as his ribbon. He does not think it is a color palette that is flattering on him, but at an official event such as this it's important that he wears his husband’s colors.

His brother grips his wrists in his hands. “Are you well?”

Lan Wangji smiles then says gently, “Sect Leader Lan.”

Bewilderment crosses Xichen’s face before being replaced in understanding. He squeezes his wrists then steps back, going into a shallow bow. “Greetings, Patriarch. Apologies for my break in decorum.”

Meng Yao waves a dismissive hand, “It’s fine, he’s not offended. You are his brother in law now.”

And his husband cares very little for decorum.

Wei Wuxian reaches forward and lightly presses up on Xichen’s arms to coax him out of his bow. The spell on the mask makes it impossible for Xichen to comprehend Wei Wuxian’s smile, but Lan Wangji hopes that his soft touch conveys something to his brother.

[tavina-writes]

I'm sure better people than I have made a post about this, but just saw someone else get confused about the name of the Unclean Realm/think it's a bad translation of something else and I'm not. I'm not sure what to say exactly except perhaps that while I know it's a joke it's kind of irritating.

(On the face of it, Unclean Realm is not a bad translation, but the connection between 不净世 (bujingshi) and 不净观(bujingguan)/asubhabhāvanā, the contemplation of defects in order to rid oneself of desires, etc, cannot! actually! be denied!)

Anyway. This is just a mild rant I can expound on this more/discuss what asubhabhāvanā/bujingguan actually is, and how that's thematic to the Nie and also NMJ and NHS but like just! mayhaps! your jokes are damaging and also not very funny.

[two-corpses-in-the-burial-mounds]

My thought is that if there's an underground market for Nie Mingjue's fanarts in MDZS (which, ofc there is, the man is 7th on the best-looking young masters list, as well as being a talented, bachelor clan leader), Nie Huaisang is definitely contributing to the supply on the market if not completely monopolize it.

See, having a share in this market is his way of keeping control of what's actually ON the market, not to mention making a little side money.

You want a drawing of NMJ being all serious and scary in official clan leader garb? You got it. NMJ accidentally broke a chair as he sat down angrily and fell on his ass? Absolutely have to be publicized, that's what you get for breaking my chair da-ge. NMJ being shirtless on the training ground? Sure, that will get probably da-ge some suitors. NMJ training with his saber? Yeah let's put some good action posters out there. NO not that saber you creep, any merchant who circulate illicit explicit content better WATCH IT!

Like, he has his principles you know, that's still his beloved da-ge, making sure no actual nude is circulating, just making some pocket money by supplying the fans with some cool behind-the-angry-face silly fanarts. Peak younger sibling behavior.

[3cosmicfrogs]

i'm just having a silly goofy time smushing my barbies together in new and interesting ways.

[fincalinde]

I see you have done some really thoughtful metas. What're your thoughts on Nie Mingjue? IMO he's a lot more complicated than he's usually assumed to be...

One of my classic absurdly late ask responses! Glad you enjoy the meta.

I think NMJ occupies a fascinating place in the narrative, because his ultimate fate is inevitable despite the fact that he theoretically has more agency than most (all?) of the rest of the main cast.

For a start he becomes clan leader at a young age, and while that comes with its pressures it's undeniably an influential position. He's the leading general of the Sunshot Campaign. Then, after the Sunshot Campaign, the Nie and the Jin are by some margin the most powerful clans. So, in a political sense NMJ has immense power. In theory he has the ability to make far better choices. He could stop persecuting JGY, who literally has no choice but to follow his father's orders, and he could choose to focus his ire where it belongs: on JGS. And he could also choose to counter JGS in ways that don't push the jianghu back to the brink of another devastating war.

Except he can't make those choices. And I want to make a strong distinction here: he is not like other characters such as JGY or LXC or JC, whose choices are limited by their clear understanding of their own limitations and the political landscape (including but not limited to the fact that a post-Sunshot descent into war between the Nie and the Jin would be catastrophic). No. NMJ's choices are limited because by the end of the Sunshot Campaign his mental capacity is irreversibly compromised.

Not only is NMJ terminally ill, but we're given clear examples of contrast between NMJ early in Sunshot and NMJ late- and post-Sunshot. Pre-Sunshot NMJ understands the Wen have political and cultivation power that utterly outclasses him and his clan, so he stands by and tolerates their existence. He knows it would be suicide to go up against them, and it's only when the Wen cross a line and all the clans unite that he's able to actually do anything about the fact that WRH murdered his father.

Contrast that to NMJ by the end of Sunshot, so irrationally obsessed with JGY that he's willing to jeopardise the hard-won (and fragile) stability of the jianghu by trying to kill him. Reminder: when NMJ kicks JGY down the stairs, he starts to follow him down with the express intent of killing him. As in, he fully intends to murder the legitimate son of his main political rival and an immensely powerful clan leader on the steps of his own home. That is ludicrous. Pre-Sunshot NMJ wouldn't have done something like that for his own beloved father, let alone for a grudge.

All of NMJ's flaws are obvious from the earliest point of his timeline: he's proud, he's inflexible, he's righteous but he's hypocritical. But early on we see examples of NMJ bending a little, of recognising nuance and showing, in his own inelegant way, his compassionate side. By the end, that's gone. The fan-burning incident alone (the fantrum!) demonstrates it. That's the way he treats his beloved didi, never mind how he treats his san-di.

Of course the narrative claims JGY can always talk NMJ round, but it's simply not true. In the end, the only way JGY can preserve himself is by making NMJ a promise he can't keep (to deliver XY's head) in order to buy himself enough time for NMJ to die and no longer be an immediate mortal threat. If JGY had not accelerated NMJ's decline, NMJ would have killed him and plunged the jianghu into another needless conflict.

I've spilled ink on the staircase scene already so I'm holding back on digging into this in more detail, but the fact is any discussion of NMJ's downfall is inextricably tangled up with JGY. The focal point of NMJ's descent is his obsession with JGY in particular, and it's important to remember what's relevant is not so much what JGY has or hasn't done but how NMJ treats him.

I do think one of the best ways to put it in context is to compare the way NMJ reacts to WRH to the way he reacts to JGY. WRH literally kills NMJ's father but NMJ has a cool enough head to know he has to bide his time. JGY on the other hand absolutely does betray NMJ's trust, in a situation where, again, if he does as NMJ wants (turns himself in) he's going to end up dead. And from that moment on, NMJ has no intention of giving JGY the benefit of the doubt. Yes, after LXC intervenes (remember, JGY would be dead without that intervention!) NMJ backs off and ends up agreeing to the sworn brotherhood, but he enters into the brotherhood in entirely the wrong spirit, seeing it as a way to monitor and subjugate JGY, who is already answerable to his father over and above any obligations to an elder brother.

Would NMJ at fifteen years old have listened to LXC and JGY's explanations in Qishan or later on the stairs at Golden Carp Tower? Possibly. But we don't have any examples of a time when he truly listened to JGY, and he was always going to end up this way regardless, taken out by a qi deviation and turned into the stuff of nightmares. JGY accelerated an existing process to save his own skin, but he didn't invent it out of whole cloth. So the tragedy of NMJ is not what JGY did to him. It goes back further than that, to when his ancestors first started cultivating the resentful energy of beasts.

Even then, contrasting NMJ to another character is illuminating. The text tells us NHS is in a bind: if he cultivates with his sabre, he's dooming himself. But if he doesn't cultivate with his sabre, he's pissing off his ancestors. The instinct then is perhaps to think—poor NMJ! He's in the same bind!

But NMJ never has a moment's doubt about sabre cultivation. NMJ knows the price and he pays it without question. NMJ doesn't agonise about how to balance his duty to his clan and his ancestors against his desire to not go violently insane. He accepts it as a fact of life and never thinks to question it or push back against it. He marches down the path that extirpates all his good qualities and leads straight to his worst self, and never so much as glances around in the hope of sighting a different way.

Again we're getting to that tension I find most interesting about NMJ: agency rubbing shoulders with inevitability. NHS finds a way to lead his clan and Word of God become Xiandu without cultivating with his sabre. Does that mean NMJ is responsible for his choices and he can't be absolved of his actions by blaming his inheritance? I don't necessarily have an answer for that, but I hugely enjoy exploring the question.

[angelxd-3303]

Spoilers for The Untamed series ahead!⚠️

My partner spoiled Nie Mingjue's death in the worst possible way lol.

For reference, I love this guy. He's one of my favorite characters; I've lovingly dubbed him 'Panther boi'. So you have to imagine, I'm sitting here minding my damn business working on some craft, and all of a sudden my beloved. The light of my life. My darling. They hold up one of those styrofoam heads you use for styling wigs and says: "Nie Mingjue coded lmao."

I'm like: "Tf? What happens to Nie Mingjue?? What happens to my panther boi?? Heh???"

And they're like: "O shit, I thought we were further into the series than that! Sorry lol."

And I'm sitting here like: