#you have a point with the territorialness of jc towards wwx

[mxtxfanatic]

In one of your recent reblogs, I think you had a semi rhetorical question asking smth like, what could JCs actions be if not homophobic? And ever since I've been trying to put my headcanon into words and figure out *why*.

(Pls take this just as an alternate headcanon, not me trying to push my views.)

I've been trying to remember why JC didn't seem homphobic to me at first glance when I read the book, then I realized - my headcanon was that he would have reacted the same way if it was a woman - that he's romance and sex repulsed in general, not just between men.

If it had been a woman WWX had been with on that final night in Lotus Pier, a woman that WWX cuddled up to and then bowed before his parents with... that's still a different person taking *his* spot as important to WWX.

That he got angry at the bowing scene, not because they weren't paying respect properly - but because it was so final, like WWX was saying "thank you", "I'm sorry", and "goodbye" - that he'd no longer need to come back to him. (Bc he can still want wwx back no matter how he actually feels about him. He should be here, under him; what right does he have to leave again? ... which is a bunch of BS, but who *ever* said JC is a logical, rational person instead of a ball of conflicting emotions.)

So... yeah. I think he would have hated whoever WWX brought - that it was *Lan Wangji* was icing on the cake.

Then why didn't he get fussy when his Shixiong always flirted with girls? Because they weren't *actually* a threat. WWX never even considered *actually* following through on any flirting - not until his Lan Zhan. He didn't seem thrilled with it either, though, but he couldn't really say anything bc it was more normal to everyone else, and WWX would tease him about that.

...I hope this is coherent; I just woke up and had the explanatory brainwave insisting I reasons to that rhetorical question *right now*.

In summation: my headcanon is that JC is romance and sex repulsed on all levels, and would have hated it just as much if Lan Wangji was a girl that was taking WWX away.

Hm, I agree with everything here except the romance- and sex-repulsion, but also in a slightly different way (and I see the other ask about this not being a defense of jc, so I won’t respond to it as such). These are where I diverge:

Just to get this out of the way, the text establishes Jiang Cheng as homophobic upon his first meeting of “Mo Xuanyu,” who was doing nothing at the time for jc to feel any discuss towards if his issue is romance or sex, so that’s an established fact. But with that out of the way, I agree that jc was really territorial of Wei Wuxian and that he definitely picked up on the finality of wwx’s actions in the ancestral hall. I also agree that jc would have acted just as acerbically towards wwx bringing a woman, but for a different reason: he would have probably seen a woman as a threat to wwx’s servitude due to the history of wwx’s father leaving the Jiang to follow his wife, as wwx had done (for entirely different reasons). This is also supported by the way jc is always upset at wwx in the scenes where wwx “flirts” with other girls and women, like when he is teasing Mianmian and in the lotus pod seed extra when he “flirts” with the girls who gave them watermelon, so maybe you have a point there. But jc being dismissive towards wwx flirting with women as a way to dissuade wwx from pursuing them is different from the marked disgust he shows towards the idea that wwx could like lwj, something he felt the need to “expose” (his words). So while jc would hate anyone wwx brought home, he’d hate a woman because she threatens wwx’s loyalty to him, but a man because he’s a homophobe.

However, I disagree that this is sex- and romance-repulsion because jc only shows this towards wangxian, not towards the idea of other couples like Jin Guangyao and Qin Su or Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan. Jc would have been present for jyl and jzx’s courtship, but is famously shown as being fine with them being together, no problem. It’s even mentioned in the wedding dress scene that jc had been the one reassuring jyl about her outfit, meaning he was also intimately involved in that planning of his own free will, past the requirement of just picking a date and passing everything else off to servants. All jc saw was wangxian hug and decided it was “too intimate.” He doesn’t show this same disgust when wwx flirts with women, just annoyance and dismissiveness. That’s just the homophobia babes lol

[sasukimimochi]

Hello everyone! Happy Holidays ヾ(•ω•`)o ❤ I drew an icon for the winter so I wanted to share it with you guys! I also included my first attempts haha, I hope you guys enjoy your end-of year!

I'll include some wips under the read more line for design stuff i've been working on for Ghost of Mine and The Wild Plum Tree! It's a lot, but don't get too attached to any of it since i'm very much still figuring out what i want to keep. Hope you guys like em though! Happy holidays again!! (ﾉ*ФωФ)ﾉ👻🐇💖✨

Check out my other MDZS stuff here! ❤

So as you all know I've been working on designs for GOM & TWPT and these are what I've gotten done! This first one is a wip of my youth WWX. Some of you that read my fic and see the messages i leave sometimes might have seen it before!

Then the biggest feat I've been trying to get is figuring out my preferred design for Jiang Cheng. I'm pretty satisfied with the progress, but he's still quite difficult for me so only the last one really started to get in the territory i wanted was the last one. I still need to balance this though as its leaning too far into my preferences i think and not enough into the typical style of JC.

So to start, there's the different hair styles i was looking at. I was also experimenting with his body type and the scars, cuz idk exactly how many scars he has, I haven't looked it up（；´д｀）ゞ

Then one of his outfits (for nicer days, not a typical outfit for him). Then another attempt at his typical outfit, which was more towards what I wanted (kind of like the mobile game outfit!) but not quite there.

Then I went back to trying to design his face and eyes again, getting much closer to what I wanted! I still need to adjust it, but this is the closest so far. To get that dark-eyed cat-like look, I decided to sketch his eyes black unless rendering from now on, cuz it brings that look that I want.

Now we move on to Zhu Xiaoyi and Zhu Hui/Xu Shi. They're mdzs OC characters i'm using as extras in TWPT and may also show up in GOM from time to time. Their designs aren't fully fleshed out yet but Adult Xiaoyi is my baby at this point honestly.

That's all for now!! I hope you guys enjoy your holidays v w v ❤👻🐇

[pieridae-art]

Special Lan Xichen analysis post

As I’ve previously said, Lan Xichen is a very flawed person and that’s okay! I want to examine him at several parts of the story and pick apart some of the criticism he gets. So let’s talk Lan Xichen!

Siege of the Burial Mounds: I really like this one shot from the donghua where the Sect Leaders of each sect (NMJ, JGS, and JC) are shown at the siege and beside them representing the Lan sect is… Lan Qiren. Not LXC. Setting aside the perfect storm JGS set up for the siege to occur (I don’t care who led it; JGS is the problem post-Sunshot Campaign about 99% of the time), I think this is because LXC stayed back in the Cloud Recesses with LWJ tending to his wounds post-whipping. Not assuming LXC’s absence, however, the siege was led by JC and orchestrated (because separating the twin prides of Yunmeng and artificially creating tension within the jianghu was a deliberate action) by JGS. Not saying LXC’s participation is okay just because he wasn’t the driving force behind it but imagine if the Lan sect stood against the other sect’s wishes. Standing up for WWX would have been the right thing to do but were the Lans in any position to oppose the siege with their sect in the process of rebuilding? Going along with the siege, to me, is an act of cowardice, not malice. Extra note: we see his capability of defending the Wen remnants when JGS is talking shit about them and WWX but he is shut down immediately and does not speak up any further. This is not a matter of hypocrisy; it’s a matter of fearing the consequences.

NMJ’s death: this is rocky territory. It was a bad idea full stop to force proximity between them hoping everything would sort itself out. But you simply cannot blame him for NMJ’s death because he couldn’t have known. One could argue that he endangered JGY by forcing him to be near someone who tried to kill him several times. I think that’s an oversimplification of the situation. To me, this was a gesture of trust. Trust that NMJ will make an attempt to restrain himself/get better and trust that JGY will aid him in doing so. As we know, this trust is misguided. He’s rather naive to think this would work. But he is humored anyway by two people with bad intentions toward each other. LXC is not at fault for this going south when it was at a certain point inevitable. But he did enable it.

That one line about WWX being LWJ’s only mistake: I get so defensive because honestly I’d have said much worse in his position! Think about what he knows about Wangxian’s relationship leading up to it. He saw his brother devastated that the man he loved was being corrupted and harmed by his cultivation, watched as LWJ despaired over him and fought the elders and got whipped for him. He’s only seen his brother suffer due to his love for WWX. Was saying this okay? No. Consider the circumstances surrounding this line, however. Also criticizing him for this is just plain nit-picky to me lol there’s plenty this man has actually done wrong to criticize him for.

And another thing: stop saying he favored JGY over LWJ!! The entire point of his denial surrounding JGY is that there was no solid, tangible proof that was damning enough for him to outright condemn JGY without some level of unfair assumption! He was trying to be fair about the investigation! Might I add: WWX was the only one who saw NMJ’s head in Jinlintai. Had it been LWJ to see it and approach him I think the story would’ve gone differently! But it wasn’t. And he wanted to have faith in his friend from an underprivileged background constantly facing slander and mistreatment despite doing good things for the world against the jianghu’s wishes because isn’t that what LWJ did with WWX? LXC learned his lesson from WWX’s death, he just practiced it on the wrong person.

What have we learned? Lan Xichen was complicit in and enabled a lot of Bad Things if he was not an active participant, most of it willingly and some of it unknowingly. He’s unfair sometimes. He’s weak willed and lacks the strength to actually stand up for anyone in a meaningful way. He’s naive. In my opinion, he was in denial for a large portion of his story about the harmful effects of his actions.

And I adore him! He’s got the capacity for so much good and he fails to live up to it! He wants to be righteous and he doesn’t know how without putting the people he is responsible for at risk! He thinks he can do conflict resolution and he just can’t! By the end of the story, he is painfully aware of all of this and he lives knowing he did the wrong thing over and over and over again. He got the only outcome he could ever have. I don’t think he deserved his ending but I do think he might have earned it.

[annalacerda17]

This is a bit of speculation based on what the novel tells us about the world of MDZS.

I think a lot of ppl don't realize how important repaying one's debts is in a society like the one in MDZS. JC refusing to repay his debts isn't just him being his shitty self, but a very serious moral failing with practical consequences if it became widely known, especially for a sect leader.

In a society like MDZS's, refusing to repay one's debts shows that the person doesn't have any credibility. Would you, as a leader, want to make an alliance with someone like that? If JC can ignore the plight of ppl who had previously saved his life when it cost him nothing, why would you believe he wouldn't betray your alliance at the first sight of real or imagined trouble?

As a subordinate, would you risk your life for a leader whom you've seen abandon, and even personally kill, people who'd risked everything to save him in the past? It's all fine while WWX is considered the public enemy number 1, but what happens once that's no longer the case? What happens when JC's subordinates hear about the golden core transfer? Because JC wasn't exactly being quiet in that scene, and it's shown in cannon that JC's subordinates don't have any love for him. They fear him and are miserable when he's around because of his temper. Would this ppl stay by his side when it no longer benefits them? Would they stay by his side if it meant risking their lives, when they know JC has a history of abandoning and killing ppl he owes his life to?

The novel shows that JC already destroyed the legacy of his sect. He doesn't understand the values of his ancestors, the ppl of Yunmeng fear him and no longer bother to ask the Jiang sect for help, because they know JC won't do anything. The novel goes out of his way to show that, for all that JC and YZY liked to say WWX would destroy the Jiang sect, the truth is that it's JC who destroyed his family's legacy with his own two hands. His bad reputation is widely known already, to the point that, even as a sect leader who has money, power and prestige in a deeply classist and patriarchal society, JC can't find a single woman willing to be his wife.

I think part of the reason JC is the only big villain who doesn't get punished is because he is his own punishment. Not only on a personal level by refusing to move on, but also on a less personal level.

To me, JC's entire character journey points towards the eventual decline of the Jiang sect. Already, we've seen that the principles and an ancestral traditions of the Jiang sect have died under JC's rule. His inability to marry and reproduce seems to indicate that the Jiang sect will eventually be left to JL, JC's only blood relation. But before that, the reputation of the Jiang sect is already bad, and with WWX no longer the number 1 enemy, I think it's likely to decline even further.

This, along with JC's bad temper, bad personality and bad reputation even in his own territory should somewhat impact his ability to recruit new disciples over time, too.

[plan-d-to-i]

"Who knew the truth about wen remnants." by karmiya, certain truths have been brought to light.

link: Who Knew the Truth About the Wen Remnants?

My qualm was :

"I did still leave out the debt he owes to Wen Qing and Wen Ning, because I felt like that was definitely veering too far into 'let's analyse everything wrong with Jiang Cheng as a person' territory."

I get where they're coming from but the point is jiang cheng's debt towards the Wens is critical in judging his failure to speak up for them, and his failure to speak up for them is pivotal in ensuring their miserable ending/ the events that led to the siege. It's even discussed w WWX in the cave. I've written before that the idea the Wens were a danger was a red herring to incite the mob and justify the Jins invading the Burial Monunds (so many things used to incite mob frenzy usually are) so JGS could get his hands on the Tiger Seal. So what WWX needed wasn't someone to publicize the identities of the Wens but the support of a person in power. Everyone catches some blame for letting it happen but it's impossible to blame everyone equally. The Jins instigated it, and jc was in a unique position to prevent it as the closest person to WWX, the one who owed the Wens a life debt and also a Clan Leader who by the time this happened had, with the help of WWX, rebuilt his sect, and had more than enough power alone, and virtually limitless power w the Yiling Patriarch on his side. Lastly:

"Lan XiChen knew that because of what happened to his father, Nie MingJue abhorred Wen-dogs more than anything, especially with how intolerable he was toward evil. Lan XiChen didn’t say anything else. (Chapter 73, Exiled Rebels translation)

Lan Xichen may well be one of the least prejudiced in his attitudes here, and he still drops the topic like a hot potato because he doesn’t care enough to risk upsetting Nie Mingjue or making a fuss. Quite frankly, the subtext here is that he just doesn’t care enough to pursue it. "Nevertheless a great read, beautifully supported by quotes. Thank you for sharing it with me.

Again here I get what op wants to say, but this was easily solved by jc divulging he owed WQ & WN a life debt. The fact that LXC spoke up at all is a huge deal considering the Cloud Recesses were actually burned down by the Wens and his father died as a result of it. Harboring jc as they had, healing him, returning Zidian and the bodies of his parents opened WQ & WN to the risk of death (and immense torture) from Wen Ruohan. This would have been a big deal, and would definitely have given LXC a reason to "care" to stand up to NMJ who himself would not have been as hellbent against them had he heard this.

-

Jiang Cheng mocked, “Those sect leaders thought you gathered some leftover forces and crowned yourself king of the hill. So it’s only the old, the weak, the women, and the children.”

(Chapter 73, Exiled Rebels translation)

Jiang Cheng: “Wei Wuxian has betrayed the sect, and publicly regards all cultivation sects as enemy! Yunmeng Jiang Sect hereby expels him, breaking all ties with him and drawing a clear line between us. Henceforth, no matter what this person does, it will have nothing to do with Yunmeng Jiang Sect!”

(Modao Zushi Radio Drama, Season 3 Episode 5, Suibian Subs)

*edit* Since reading this the first time I saw a great point brought up by grewlikefancylowers about it. I think that does illustrate a very significant weakness I initially overlooked in that particular post. Great read: link.

[inessencedevided]

Once you're done with the entire show, could you maybe do sorting for all the characters? I usually know the house for each character, but I have literally no idea with The Untamed. WWX for example I can equally see him as a Gryffindor, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff and my brain hurts trying to decide.

First of all: I'm so so sorry anon! This took ages to answer! I hope you're still out there to read this! I started answering ages ago and then trailed off because I had to think about it. So here goes:

Thank you so much for this opening! I LOVE sorting non-HP characters into Hogwarts houses!! And for some of these, I’ve already done so in my head ages ago :D

Disclaimer: I’m mostly going off live action canon here, but will make some comments about the novel from time to time.

Disclaimer 2: Obviously, these are extremely subjective. If anyone disagrees, I would love to hear your counter arguments! I love discussing these things!

Wei Wuxian

GRYFFINDOR!

I know you said you weren’t sure but in my book, he’s a textbook Gryffindor. I’m not saying he doesn’t have Hufflepuff or Raveclaw traits (his sense of justice and his “out of the box thinking” kinda genius come to mind), but those aren’t the main drive of his actions imo. WWX follows his confiction and he often does so without even considering a second option or a compromise, especially before his death. And he is not afraid of deviating from the law or societal expectations to do so. This alone could also make him a Slytherin. The reason I wouldn’t place him there is the way he acts very much in the open. He doesn’t try to bring about change by quietly working in the background. He openly calls people out on their bullshit, even when it is clearly to his disadvantage and might just come back to bite him in the ass. Imo, WWX is a brilliant example of how a gryffindor might be driven to doing some very questionable shit given the "right" circumstances.

Lan Wangji

Now, he’s a different story. I have a lot more problems sorting him, maybe because he is not our point of view character. And he's the reason why it took me so long to answer this ask. My conclusion might be controversial, so let me work up to it. Slytherin? His most slytherin trait, imo, is his determination and drive, which I think stems, among other things, from a desire to prove himself. However, I believe his main reasons for this were family loyalty and (somewhat headcanon territory) the rejection he must have felt at his parents absence. And I don't see him as cunning either, as that always carries a certain level of deceitful intent, even if it's not malicious. And deceitful? That's one thing lwj certainly isn't. So, Slytherin is not a good fit for him. Ravenclaw maybe? He is certainly very intelligent, but that intelligence is more due to his studious nature and his focus, imo. And wisdom and out-of-the-box-thinking are not traits I would associate him with, especially in his younger years. So gryffindor then? He is certainly brave in many ways. He is enduring and stubborn, both gryffindor traits. But he also someone who takes his time to arrive at decisions, unless he is under extreme emotional duress (losing his mother or the love of his live). His bravery, to me, seems to be deeply rooted in his deep deep devotion. He goes through extreme, long lasting pain for the few people he holds close to his heart. In the end it all comes down to his heart, his loyalties, his devotion. Ironically, even more so in the book than in cql. And that loyalty, that steadfastness, that devotion is extremely hufflepuff.

So here you go:

HUFFLEPUFF! (There is no yellow:/)

(And now I really wanna write that AU :D on first glance, lwj would make such an unusual hufflepuff, with his cold and aloof behaviour. I want to play with this idea now!)

Lan Xichen

HUFFLEPUFF!

Aaaahhh! Now I really like the idea of the twin jades of hufflepuff. :D and Lan Xichen is a bit more obvious right? He certainly has the intelligence of a ravenclaw, but his defining characteristics are his devotion to his duty, his kindness, his fairness and his willingness to carefully consider all sides. A hufflepuff to boot. No wonder, I love him so much.

(And now I can't help but imagine lan Xichen, welcoming his little brother at the hufflepuff table, beaming with pride. And later, making sure that they eat at least 1 meal per day together because he knows his brother doesn't make friends easily, even in a house as theirs. Until there's a certain rebellious and bright eyed gryffindor, with a penchant for DADA ...)

Jiang Cheng

He, too, gave me a hard time sorting him. Ravenclaw, I discarded immediately. Gryffindor came next. He's definitely brave in his own way. Going on after the devastating loss of his entire family is brave beyond anything I can imagine, but his motivation why he did it, I believe, was a mixture of family loyalty and his competitiveness and drive to prove himself worthy. Thise are hufflepuff and Slytherin traits, respectively. I would tip the scale towards the latter, simply because his inner conflict is so defined by his feelings of inferiority, his feelings of never living up to his parents expectations. He's in that weird place of being both extremely privileged and emotionally neglected. It reminds me of Draco, come to think of it. So, my favourite angry grape, I'll place in ...

SLYTHERIN!

(He's even rockin' the snake aesthetic already :D)

Jiang Yanli

With her association with cooking and motherly love she seems to be a rather obvious hufflepuff. She is certainly brave, too, enduring her family's near destruction and moving on, or standing in front of her adoptive brother and defending his place in her family and in society. But again, it's very much tied to the people she loves. So yeah,

HUFFLEPUFF!

Nie Mingjue

The jock to end all jocks and still he's got a heart of gold. He's kinda the cliche gryffindor and I can't find a reason to not place him there. So *head barely touches him*

GRYFFINDOR!

Nie Huaisang

SLYTHERIN!

If the twist at the end didn't happen, I'd have placed him in Ravenclaw, as it is, he is such a quintessential Slytherin and also, just ... my favourite kind, especially in cql, where he just fuvjs off to paint his fans and leaves others to do the heavy lifting. He got what he wanted, revenge for his beloved older brother. It reminds me a bit of Horace Slughorn (minus the people collecting). He doesn't want to be at the top. He just wants a comfortable enough life and the possibility to reach his very specific and not at all mainstream goals. A legend. (In mdzs, where he becomes chief cultivator, he's still a Slytherin, albeit a slightly less interesting one.)

Wen Qing

Now, she is another hard one. Another fiercely loyal person (although that's a common trait in mdzs/cql), she also had to show incredible resourcefulness to survive and still stick to her principles throughout her life. But to mention that she invented and su subsequently performed the first core transfer in history. (In the book, it is specifically mentioned that the essay on this subject was written by her). In short, this woman is s genius in her field and forward thinking and incentive. All of those are textbook Ravenclaw traits. So, with her we have ...

RAVENCLAW!

Wen Ning

Puh, he is hard. I know, with his timid behaviour and gentle nature, hufflepuff comes to mind BUT ... he strikes me as a neville. As in, his bravery lies in the fact that his own insecurities hinder him constantly and yet he overcomes them every day in a hundred small ways. He is brave precisely because he is afraid of so many things. And, like Neville, when his sense if right and wrong demands it, he takes a stand. His rescue of wwx and jc extremely dangerous circumstances and the core reveal come to mind. So, even though he probably argues with the hat to place him in hufflepuff, I'll place him in ...

GRYFFINDOR!

Jin Guangyao

SLYTHERIN!

Do I have to explain this?

Luo Qingyang

I know, she's a much more minor character than the others but I love her and this is my post, so she's in it. Do i have to say it? I hate to be the "Gryffindors ftw!!!"-one (as a proud snake), but yeah, Nie Mingjue was goddamn right when he said that she's got more backbone than half the cultivation world combined. My queen snapped and removed herself from the narrative and I love her for it!

GRYFFINDOR!

Let's get to the juniors:

Lan Sizhui

Now, maybe the hufflepuff does run in his family because I do think he belongs there, too. His defining characteristics are shown to be kindness, fairness and filial piety, even though he also has a mischievous streak and does not shy away from confrontation when he thinks his warranted (politely defending "Mo Xuanyu" in front of the Mo clan comes to mind). So yeah

HUFFLEPUFF!

Lan Jingyi

His brash and outgoing nature would make him a good gryffindor fit, certainly. However, the trait I associate with him the most is his nonconformity and that in a sect where that is highly unusual. He might not be as much of a social butterfly as Luba, but he still reminds me more of the kind of eccentricity associated with ...

RAVENCLAW!

Jin Ling

Now he's hard. Maybe because he postures a lot though that's something that's true for a lot of these characters. He tries to imitate his uncle but has non of the trauma to back it up, though he is an orphan and,in his position, probably pretty lonely which leads to the kind of breakdown we see him having over his confrontation with the person who killed his parents and he can't even really blame and so he just... crumbles. And non of that really helps me in my search for a house for him. I don't really see him as a Slytherin because while he loves to posture and play his privileges, he mostly crumbles under pressure and I don't think there's conviction behind it. He's certainly not sly either. Rabenclaw? Nah. I see neither outstanding amounts of eccentricity or wisdom. Gryffindor? Maybe. He's certainly impulsive. And he displayed bravery both in Yi City and even more so in the Guanyin temple where he had to face the fact that one of his uncles, the men who raised him, would kill him to achieve his goals. Still, what left the biggest impression on me was how, after his own world had just completely changed, he send his dog away because wwx would fear him. And how he then tried to get his uncle to talk to wwx. So I'd tentatively go with

HUFFLEPUFF!

Ouyang Zizhen

Another hard one because we don't know him very well in canon. But what we do know is that he is very emotional (passionate one might say) and has no qualms going against his father in a fit of teenage rebellion. I love him for it but that's not that much to go on. Both of these point to gryffindor however, so that's where he goes. :D

GRYFFINDOR!

So ... that's where I'll leave it. I know I missed the Yi city arc but it's getting late and I'm tired. 😅 If anyone wants to add them, feel free!

Congrats of you've made it this far down! :D

Please, do come and discuss these with me!

[djinmer4]

MDZS Dream

SCRevenge scenario

Cloud Recesses burns, Lotus Pier dies as in canon, the Jin side with the Wens.  JC gets his core melted and gets released by WN, but the Jiangs never meet up again so WWX has no opportunity to give his core to JC.  JYL gets captured and forcibly married to JZX, to give the Jins some claim over Lotus Pier (a bribe from the Wens).  NMJ goes underground fighting against the Wens, ends up killing Wen Xu at some point.  Rather than focus on NMJ, WRH decides to attack the Unclean Realm, reasoning that NMJ will have to give up once he has NHS.

Except it doesn’t actually work that way and NHS proves way more competent at defensive strategy than anyone ever expects.  In the end, WRH has to reverse strategies, catching NMJ (with some assistance from MY) and using that to have NHS surrender.

Of course, despite having essentially conquered the entire cultivator area, doesn’t mean it’s all smooth sailing for WRH.  For one, despite being the largest cultivator sect, the Wens have vastly overextended themselves.  They can’t actually afford to replace all of the current administration, especially with people like LXC and WWX running a resistance against them.  So NHS rules Qinghe Nie as the Wens viceroy, with the threat that if anything happens, NMJ will be the one to suffer for it.

That doesn’t stop him from coordinating with JYL and LXC, and becoming the mastermind behind the resistance (he even eventually gets WQ and WN on board), but there’s nothing WRH can actually trace back to him.  Indeed, NHS sets it up so that WRH starts suspecting the Jins are behind the rebellion rather than anyone else, and JGS’s blatant power plays don’t help his cause.

At least part of this is due to getting MY to help the cause.  NHS doesn’t fully trust MY since he betrayed NMJ (NHS gets at least one other spy, SMY maybe, into Nightless City.), but if MY protects NMJ from any permanent damage in the Fire Palace, NHS will force JGS to acknowledge MY at the end of the war.  Except as time goes on, MY actually does get disillusioned and goes from wanting JGS approval to wanting him humiliated.

NHS meets JC along the way (although my dream didn’t tell me how).  JC ends up splitting his time working as an assassin for NHS (swords yes, but also demonic cultivation) or as his bodyguard.  They start a relationship along the way.  JC really isn’t the leader of Yunmeng Jiang at this point (JYL has been recruiting like mad, and the survivors reluctantly admit that for a cultivation clan they’d rather have a weak cultivating woman for a leader rather than a non-cultivator man), so they actually make plans that if they both survive, JC will marry into the Nie Sect.  A little something to look forward to.

Endgame starts with NHS going to visit WC.  He brings JC with him (so that JC can scout out Nightless City), and it was a pretty funny scene because NHS dresses up JC as his female concubine.  WC *squints* “You’re concubine looks an awful lot like the Violet Spider.”

NHS *breezily*: “She’s from Meishan Yu.  With Yunmeng Jiang gone they’re kind of desperate for an ally.  The Lans don’t do arranged marriages or concubines, everyone knows JGS has no problem abandoning his sex toys and there’s no way your father would you to have a potential assassin as a concubine.  I think they’re hoping I marry her” *leers at JC* “Besides, whatever Madame Yu’s faults, no one ever said she was ugly.”

WC: “That’s true.  Hey mind if I try her out for myself?”

NHS *shocked noises*: “WC, I’ve barely had a chance to taste her at all!  Save me some face and at least wait a few months before asking.  Besides, don’t your tastes usually run towards?” *makes hourglass gesture with his hands*

WLJ: “Exactly!  No one that flat could compare to me!” *starts making out with WC to prove that point*

JC *extremely petty, also starts making out with NHS because he’s like that*

NHS *Pikachu face because he was absolutely not expecting to get any on this trip*

Opening move of the endgame was actually killing JGS, then puppeteering his body (JC’s demonic cultivation) to have the Jin sect attack the Wens.  Stuff happens, JZX (both of them) die because unlike canon JYL never warms up to him again and has no problem with WWX offing her husband.  Besides, she already has JL by this point and she’s going to keep him to be Yunmeng Jiang’s heir.

The rebellion wins, pretty much the same way with MY offing WRH form behind.  Aftermath: WQ becomes new sect head (backed up by Qinghe Nie).  However the Wens lose a lot of money and territory and are no longer a Great Sect.  YJL takes JL back with her to Lotus Pier and she and WWX (assisted by LWJ) start rebuilding Lotus Pier.  NMJ finally gets released from prison and goes back to the Unclean Realm, but he’s in no condition to take up a leadership role right away (MY might have arranged so NMJ never got permanently maimed or his core melted, but NMJ spent a great deal of time getting tortured), so NHS is stuck with it for now.  Cloud Recesses also gets rebuilt (LXC and MY aren’t friends in this because NMJ was tortured for years by MY, and LXC can’t forgive that).

The Jins are the big problem.  NHS has JGS legitimize MY as Jin Ziyao before the he ‘conveniently dies of a stress heart attack’ and now there’s a succession crisis on whether the next head should be JL or JZY.  NHS backs JZY because he was helpful during the war, even though NHS is pretty sure this is going to be a problem along the line.  Yunmeng Jiang (all three of them) also backs this decision because they really don’t want JL growing up in Koi Tower.  This wasn’t resolved by the end of the dream.

Final plot point in the dream, as part of the reparations, WQ is offering to transfer the golden cores of the surviving Wen Sect cultivators (barring her and her brother) to anyone who got their core melted (no 50/50 here, WQ has had years to perfect the procedure and she’s going to be doing it in the best equipped room in the Fire Palace rather than some Supervisory Office in the middle of nowhere).  Starting with Wen Zhuliu, who somehow survived all the way through the war but is now going to be executed.  Dream ended with NHS encouraging JC to go through the procedure, even if it would mean that that would make JC the Yunmeng Jiang sect leader again and leave NHS alone.

[myheartismadeofstars]

MDZS Omegaverse where it is considered socially unacceptable to flaunt your status. Sometimes word gets out and your reputation is affected by what your status is (Omega males have their reputation harmed by being seen as weak and submissive, Alpha females called domineering ballbusters..but in a move, I have never seen done before: Alpha males are not considered the ideal. Male Alphas make good soldiers but tend to be hotheaded and arrogant and thus not in line with (what I understand of) Confucian Values. Omega Females are considered “the perfect status” for a woman, with Beta’s being acceptable. (Btw: I say all males can impregnate + Alpha females, and all females can be impregnated + Omega males)

(Beta -> Alpha -> Omega for males and Omega -> Beta -> Alpha for females to make it easy to remember)

The only people who are supposed to know your status for certain are your siblings, your parents, your spouse, and your children.

WWX has been an Omega since the beginning. His status got out at some point probably some point before the Sunshot Campaign or shortly after he returned from the Burial Mounds. It was part of the smear campaign against him (and certain parties JGS wanted to...well...forcibly mate WWX to make him submit and be controlled by them) the “I gave birth to A-Yuan” Joke is a bit more self-deprecating in this version (also, since I usually see people saying CSSR was an Omega, no. She was a Beta. WCZ, however, WAS an Omega!)

LWJ is an Alpha but many people believe him to be a Beta due to how perfect and controlled he seems (the Alpha-ness only really comes out a bit on the battlefield and a lot in bed). Literally, no one knows this. Even WWX probably doesn’t find out until their buddy cop road trip is almost over!

JC is an Alpha (one of the reasons he and LWJ don’t get along. Alphas are instinctively territorial and of course, JC knows WWX is an Omega). This was one of the things that he and his mother (also an Alpha) fought over. He’s protective of his Omega brother and she hates him. But also when an Omega is better than you, you get the shame and verbal abuse much worse.

JYL was a Beta. Perfectly acceptable for a woman, but not perfect...seen as kinda boring.

JZX was born an OMEGA (actually I headcanon while JGS is an Alpha ALL of his children are Omegas), however I headcanon that ABO!JZX is trans status (OtA) and so presents himself as an Alpha. Stereotypical Alpha cologne to confuse others, etc. So while people sometimes comment on him being “yet another arrogant alpha” he is actually pleased because at least they validate him.

Because he has two Alpha grandparents (one on each side) despite the fact that neither of his parents are one, Jin Ling is an Alpha. He’s still young and while JC loves his Alpha nephew, he worries he takes after him too much. 

Nie Mingjue was an Alpha, and completely unashamed of it. It was kinda an open secret since he was like, 12.

Nie Huaisang is an Omega. Another well-known one as he lives up to the dumb useless and vapid stereotypes. His brother was furious when the rumours included some personal stories that gave evidence to support the rumours. He never guessed NHS himself started the rumours. And he continued to play it up throughout the 13 years. After all, Omegas are harmless...right?

Jin Guangyao could not afford omegan heat suppressors before the Sunshot campaign so he was also well known as an Omega. Yet another thing people would hurl slurs at him for.

LXC is a Beta. One of the reasons he is #1. He often ended up having to mediate between NMJ and JGY (in the words of LXC “I have never seen an Alpha get so violently angry at an Omega in heat before...” and before anyone accuses him of being naive, yes it was anger, Furious, in fact.)

Wen Ning is an Omega. Kinda Omega classic too. That makes his transformation into the Ghost General so terrifying. 

Wen Qing is an Alpha. Again, discriminated against because of her status. She didn’t care. She loved her brother and WWX and all her family. There were a few rumours that she was the other parent of Wen Yuan (mother or “father” no one could agree)

LSZ....I’m still on the fence about tbh. I could see him as any dynamic. (I headcanon his father is Wen Xu and he’s an Alpha for sure, but A-Yuan himself? I could easily see him as a gentle Alpha, an ideal Beta or a self-confident Omega, though I lean towards Beta or Alpha)

LJY, on the other hand, is an Omega. No I do not take criticism. 

OYZZ I think is either a Beta or maybe an Omega? (the Junior Quartet could possibly look like JL and his harem of Omegas to outsiders if LZS and OYZZ are Omegas lmao)

Uhh...

Yi City group?

XXC is an Omega (interestingly BSSR is an Omega as well. Considered an extreme outlier because both women and Omegas are generally thought to not be very good cultivators) 

SL is a Beta

A-Qing is an Alpha

XY is either an Alpha or possibly Null (check my linked headcanon under LWJ for what Null is) idk why I just always instinctively thought of XY as Null. Maybe it’s the “completely out cast from society” and the fact that being unable to smell distress in others wouldn’t dissuade his antisocial thoughts and behaviours. And well...people wouldn’t usually show much compassion for a Null street kid. they have almost no “value” to anyone or society. So he’s even more on his own than in canon.

[crossdressingdeath]

Okay I’ve had a very long day and people are being super defensive of JC on my dash so uh. I’m gonna talk shit about him for a bit. Because it’ll make me feel better. And I don’t want anyone arguing with me about this so I’ll put it behind a cut and if you don’t want to read someone talking shit about JC in a super unstructured manner then... don’t click read more, I guess? 

So here’s one thing, to start. In The Untamed specifically, I can argue with near-absolute certainty that JC killed WWX. LWJ had him, and that guy is insanely strong; I don’t doubt for a second he could’ve pulled WWX up if he’d been given the chance. Maybe JC didn’t put a blade through WWX’s heart himself, but if he had stayed out of it WWX probably would’ve lived. I don’t know how long he would’ve lived, and I doubt he would’ve thanked LWJ for saving him, but he probably wouldn’t have died on that cliff. Hell, killing him quickly might have been a kindness; I’m not an expert on how far you have to fall to die instantly on impact and I don’t know how high that cliff was, but depending on how he landed and if he bounced off anything on the way down it’s possible (though maybe not likely) that WWX wouldn’t have died right away. If I had to choose between a quick death via a blade through a vital part or a more lasting death via serious internal damage from a very long fall... Yeah, I’d take the stabbing. Obviously I’m not saying that not being able to go through with killing his brother makes JC a bad person; I’m just saying that when his choices were doing nothing (which, reminder, here means letting LWJ pull WWX up (or at least try to)), helping LWJ save his brother, finishing WWX off quickly (JC is trained in combat, I’m sure he knows where to stab for the most merciful death possible under those circumstances), or letting WWX fall to his death... I just find it interesting that JC chose the latter.

Hell, even before that, if JC had done something sooner a whole lot of pain could’ve been avoided. (We’re out of the Untamed-exclusive stuff, by the way.) Now, I get that as a very new sect leader of a sect that was almost obliterated JC’s position is... precarious, to say the least. However! An awkward position doesn’t automatically mean he can pretty much abandon his brother! That is not how familial ties work! Especially when he never takes WWX’s position (which was equally precarious if not more so) into account while talking about how WWX abandoned him.

Put yourself in JC’s shoes for a moment, here. Most of your family is dead. Your brother, you know, was thrown into a hell pit and hasn’t been seen for three months. Then, joy of joys, you find him again! Except now your ever-cheerful, ever-kindhearted brother can raise the dead and, oh yeah, has spent all his time since escaping the hell pit that no one survives torturing people to death with demonic cultivation. What do you do in this situation? I’m fairly sure your answer was not “Throw him on the front lines as your most valuable weapon without giving him so much as a chance to come to terms with all the horrible things that have clearly happened to him”. Yes, yes, they were in the middle of war, but you don’t get to throw your very obviously messed up brother onto the front lines and then be shocked when there are serious consequences for doing that.

Also, going back to positions: People talk a lot about how JC’s position was so difficult, and I’m not saying it wasn’t, but... here’s the thing. WWX’s position was so much worse. JC is the sect leader of an old and powerful sect. The Jiangs might have lost a great deal, but there are still alliances he could call on, favours he could probably cash in, treasures reclaimed from the Wens he could use... He’s not exactly helpless. He has to be careful, but he’s not entirely defenseless. Meanwhile, WWX is the incredibly powerful demonic cultivator with a dangerous weapon everyone wants to get their hands on and a brother he’s known to have a somewhat strained relationship with. We see in canon that the sects are actively hunting for a chance to get their teeth into him after the Sunshot Campaign wraps up. All WWX has is his own power and JC’s support. I keep coming back to what JGY says at the temple, about how JC made WWX an easy target by making it obvious their relationship was rocky, and... he’s right. I doubt JC intended to do it, but he made it very easy for the sects to split WWX off from him. And while JC was still a sect leader and largely untouchable, WWX was infinitely more vulnerable. Again, I doubt he meant to paint a target on his brother’s back, but the fact that he missed it in favour of getting pissy about WWX being better than him yet again says something about him.

The fact that he says there’s nothing he can do after WWX absconds with the Wen remnants says... something else. Now, I’m terrible with politics; while he definitely should have supported his brother in a perfect world, with a sect to look after and JGS hunting for weak points I genuinely don’t know if he could have at that point. (Again, I really do think he should’ve tried to step in before things got to this point, but... well, he didn’t. No use crying over spilled milk and all that.) So okay, he couldn’t do anything. I’ll take him at his word; if nothing else, I can believe he was too bad with both politics and people and too inexperienced to find a way to step in. But he then takes his brother’s request to remove him from the Jiang sect to avoid any trouble coming to their doorstep and goes off and tells the sects that his brother is a traitor. Let me put that another way. He tells the people who are looking for an excuse to murder his brother and take his writings and inventions for themselves that his brother has betrayed them. I think we have reached the point where malice and stupidity become impossible to tell apart. Honestly, I can only see two possible thought processes for this: Either he actually wants to bring the sects down on WWX’s heads (unlikely) or he’s so terrible at politics that he genuinely didn’t realize what the logical result of his words would be (more likely, but means his parents did a terrible job of teaching him how to be a sect leader). Although, given he apparently spent enough of the 13 years between WWX’s death and resurrection spending so much time torturing demonic cultivators to death because either he thought they might be WWX or they just reminded him of him that most of the citizens in his territory are too scared to go to Lotus Pier for help unless they’re in imminent life-threatening danger I don’t think you can argue he was a good sect leader by any stretch...

Oh! Speaking of parents and teaching: Jin Ling. Now, part of this might be a cultural thing that I’m not familiar with, but JC is an absolutely god-awful guardian. Pretty much all he does is insult JL, belittle him, or threaten him. Yeah, he cares in his own way, but take it from me: When your parents (or uncle, in this case) spend most of their time insulting you but also keep you safe from any external danger and do their best to help you grow, you don’t end up a happy, well-adjusted adult; you end up miserable and confused because you can’t hate or like the person raising you and get stuck between love and resentment. JL is clearly desperate for affection, but he can’t admit that to anyone. It’s no surprise he mourns for JGY so deeply even after everything; the guy was pretty much the only one in the poor kid’s life to treat him with open, honest affection before he met WWX! The comparison between him and Sizhui (as the only other child raised by the main cast) is striking; even though LWJ seems like he should be just as bad a parent, he raises Sizhui with love and kindness, and so did WWX before him. And the result is... so very different. Sizhui is the very goodest of boys and I love him with all my heart. Anyway, it’s no wonder JL gravitates towards WWX and defends him once he’s gotten past his initial reaction of stabbing the guy; WWX is so open and explicit with his affection! Is he a perfect parent? No, probably not. But he focuses more on making it clear to his army of juniors that he loves them and respects them as people and wants them to be happy with where they end up in life than he does on making them fit his image of what they should be. Of course someone who’d be raised with JC copying his mother and constantly getting on their case about not being good enough would gravitate towards someone like that.

Okay, this is getting long. Last point: WWX has to put in so much emotional labour in their relationship even before everything goes tits up? The best example for me is the scene where WWX promises they’ll be together forever, Twin Heroes of Yunmeng, the huge promise that both JC and an annoyingly large portion of the audience think he should’ve kept no matter what. Yeah, out of context it’s very sweet, but in context? WWX has just barely recovered from the fight with the Xuanwu. He’s been conscious for... maybe an hour, at most? He nearly died. And yet he has to drag himself out of bed to chase JC through Lotus Pier to comfort him because JFM was paying more attention to WWX. Who, again, almost died. JC is so busy being pissy about this that he forces his brother, still recovering, to chase him through Lotus Pier to comfort him for something their parents did. Most of the time, JC has a right to be upset that JFM so obviously prefers WWX. Looking in from the outside the situation is clearly more complicated than he paints it, but I don’t blame him for not seeing how bad things are for the rest of the family. ...I know that sounds sarcastic, but I do mean it. His siblings are very good at hiding how badly their family situation has hurt them. Anyway, though, on this one occasion I am entirely on JFM’s side here. WWX threw himself into danger so JC wouldn’t have to go to the indoctrination camp alone even though he didn’t have to, then some time later JC returns alone and informs him that WWX is trapped in a cave with the Xuanwu of Slaughter, then when JFM finally manages to reach him the Xuanwu is dead and WWX is all but dead. I 100% do not blame him for focusing on WWX in this situation! He did something fully-grown cultivators with far more experience failed at and almost died in the process! Given JC must be... what, 16 at the youngest, probably older by this point? I would expect him to grasp that. He’s old enough to have developed empathy. Hell, he should be right there with his father and sister, proud of WWX’s accomplishments and relieved to see him awake and recovering. Instead, WWX has to drag himself through Lotus Pier and swear to stay by JC’s side for the rest of their lives just to get him to stop sulking because WWX was better than him yet again.

...Yeah, as you might have grasped, I don’t think WWX had any obligation to uphold that promise. He shouldn’t have been expected to be tied to Lotus Pier by a vow he made as a teenager to get his brother to cheer up. In fact, a very large part of me wishes he’d broken it sooner. Comparing the way JC treats him to the way the Wens and LWJ treat him (setting aside that those are of course very different kinds of love) I can’t help but think things might have gone infinitely better for him if he’d found a different family a lot earlier.