#to lump it together is a disservice to Wei Wuxian

[admirableadmiranda]

People are really out here comparing ONE instance of WWX torturing WC and WLJ (something that is framed as wrong) to YEARS of JC tormenting suspected demonic cultivators and then brushing off JC’s actions. ?????

Yes, sadly. This is a take I have seen multiple times from different people, and it frustrates me every time it comes back around.

I also want to note on Wang Lingjiao, that while yes, she is tortured by Wei Wuxian in that he reverses all the talismans in the area and sends the spirits after them, he does not lay a hand on her personally at all. To him, she is part of the Wens to be taken down, not as personal as Wen Zhuliu or Wen Chao. In addition, no one ever mentions that Wei Wuxian leaves her body as is, but Jiang Cheng when seeing it, shoves the stool leg down her throat till it's in her entire body.

And yes, to an extent what Wei Wuxian does to Wen Zhuliu and Wen Chao is treated as wrong, but it is also treated as what they deserve for what they in particular did to him and Jiang Cheng. I almost get the feeling that Wei Wuxian's particular target of ire is actually Wen Zhuliu, who crushed Jiang Cheng's core and was at the fall of Lotus Pier, as well as made Wei Wuxian fail in his duty to Madam Yu and Jiang Fengmian (he is busy fulfilling debts he does not owe, but that was a whole post by itself), so what he does is the same thing that Wen Zhuliu did to him, break his ward and leave him helpless to do anything to change it. Jiang Cheng breaking Wen Zhuliu's neck and taking over the situation changes the feeling of it from Wei Wuxian's exacted vengeance to Jiang Cheng's hunger to hurt.

One thing these takes rarely mention is that when Wen Chao is tortured to death is that Jiang Cheng is right there too, goading on Wei Wuxian and actively participating. This is not something where Wei Wuxian is doing it all by himself, his sect leader stepped in and took command of the situation and decided that they would torture him to death together. What we can take from this situation is that Jiang Cheng already has no problem with the idea of torture. He could have let Wei Wuxian do his own thing, he could have stopped it, but instead he chooses to do it with him and takes pleasure in it.

I could go over all the lines that prove that Jiang Cheng tortures people both off and on screen on very little pretense, he's certainly excited about getting Jin Ling to feed Mo Xuanyu to his dog long before he ever knows that he's actually Wei Wuxian, but people better at metas than me have covered these already.

For me, the part that matters the most to me is intent. With Wei Wuxian, he targets two very specific people and stops after that. The only other torturous act he does is right before the battle of Nightless City where a bunch of people right after the death of the Wen siblings are talking about killing him and the people he protected again in violent ways and there is officially no more time or hope, their last attempt to soothe the mob mentality of the sects failed, and what he does is summon heavy ghosts to crush them on the ground. In contrast, pretty much all of the torture Jiang Cheng does is in peace time, after Wei Wuxian is dead, regardless of innocence or reason, yet for some reason does nothing about Xue Yang, is not even mentioned to speak up. It is contrasted as an action he wants to take, there's no pressure of time or honor to be reclaimed.

I don't know. With some of these fans, you can quote passages from the novel until you're blue in the face and they will still tell you that there's no basis, it's only rumor, Wei Wuxian did it just as bad. It's an exhausting feeling some days to have to hear this and I understand your frustration, anon! What matters to me is that no matter how loud they yell and how much they complain about me using the tags that I do is that this is still a fantastic book, with adaptations that bring in new people every day and this is over all a fun fandom to be in.

The wheel turns, perceptions change, I doubt these opinions will fully disappear, but the stranglehold of them is already loosening. Don't lose heart, anon. We're here and listening too.