#/thanks for having me ilu all

[khattikeri]

maybe a controversial opinion but while i really love jiang cheng as a character he is deeply self-centered as a person. and seeing people fight tooth and nail claiming he isn't, or is just misunderstood, or that he has genuine valid reasons to be selfish when plenty of other characters make the difficult choice to forego status and opportunities for what they believe is genuinely right to do (read: wei wuxian, wen ning, wen qing, lan wangji, jiang yanli, mianmian, etc.)

it's just odd to me. especially if they're talking about the novels.

mxtx didn't give jiang cheng the name "sandu shengshou" as a quirky coincidence. there's a REASON she named him & his sword after the 3 poisons of Buddhism (specifically ignorance, greed, and hatred). it's crucial to the story that jiang cheng is NOT selfless and that wei wuxian IS.

it's important to accept that wei wuxian is, by their society's standards, not morally gray; he represents several Buddhist ideals in direct contrast of jiang cheng and multiple people attest to wei wuxian's strong moral character, which is a lot of why jiang cheng even feels bitter about him to begin with.

it's crucial, because by the end of the novel jiang cheng realizes the extent of this and begins to let go!

the twin prides thing wasn't jiang cheng wanting them to 100% mirror the twin jades. he does care about wei wuxian, but he wanted wei wuxian to stay his right hand man, in part the way wei changze was for jiang fengmian.

and if there's one thing you can notice about wei changze in the novels, it's that literally nobody talks about him. he is only ever mentioned when his cool mysterious mountain sect wife cangse-sanren is mentioned, or (even more rarely) when they discuss him as a servant to jiang fengmian. regardless of jiang fengmian's own feelings, wei changze was considered lesser to him and didn't seem to outdo him, since nobody's out there years later still waxing poetry about wei changze's skills.

it may not be the only thing jiang cheng wants out of a twin pride dynamic, but it is a big part of it. regardless of his parents' intentions in taking wei wuxian in and treating him certain ways, this twin pride right-hand man thing is what jiang cheng has felt owed since childhood. he gave up his dogs for wei wuxian, people gossip about his sect heir position with wei wuxian there... jiang cheng wants the reciprocation of what he views as personal sacrifices.

he is ignorant to the depth of what wei wuxian must've suffered for over 6 years as a malnourished orphan child on the streets. he hates how wei wuxian's intelligence, witty charm, and cultivation abilities are naturally stronger than his own. he does care about wei wuxian a lot and want them to be together as sort of-brothers, sort of-friends, sort of-young master and sect servant...

...but if it's between that unclear (yet still caring) relationship and being able to save himself just a little bit more, jiang cheng nearly always manages to clam up in the face of danger and choose the latter, which ultimately benefits himself most. maybe it's a stretch to call that sort of thing greed, but it certainly isn't selfless.

there are of course plenty of justifications for this. it's his duty as sect heir. his home and sect was severely damaged by the wen attack and subsequent war; he had to protect himself, etc.

but doesn't that prove the point?

wei wuxian may be charming, but in terms of pure social standing, he is lower and far more susceptible to being punished or placed in harm's way by people who have more power and money. to protect wei wuxian, yunmeng jiang's long-term head disciple and semi-family member, even in the face of backlash and public scrutiny would've been the selfless thing to do. this is what wei wuxian does for the wen remnants in the burial mounds.

jiang cheng does not choose this. it's not even an unreasonable choice for him to make! nobody else in the great clans is doing such a thing, stepping out of line to take on a burden that could weaken them in the long-run. wei wuxian himself doesn't hate jiang cheng for it; he lets go of these things and focuses on what good he can do in the present.

jiang cheng thinks further into the future - what would happen to him if he continued vouching for wei wuxian and taking his side? what about jiang cheng's face, his sect's face? would wei wuxian even care to reciprocate somehow? everyone expects him to cut off wei wuxian for being dangerous, for threatening his position, for...

do you see what i mean? to call jiang cheng selfless for falling in line with exactly what people expected him to do after the war is not only wrong, it's foolish.

"but they faked their falling-out!" okay. why fake it to begin with, except to protect jiang cheng and the jiang sect's own face? is that selfless? who does it ultimately serve to protect? wei wuxian canonically internalizes the idea that he stains all that he touches, including lan wangji, and agrees to the fake fight because he doesn't want to cause the jiang sect harm. regardless, it eventually slides into a true falling-out, and in the end jiang cheng is more or less unscathed reputation-wise while wei wuxian falls.

that isn't selfless. it's many things! it's respecting his clan and his ancestors, it's making a good plan for the future of his sect and cultivation... but it isn't a truly selfless in the interest of what's right rather than in the interest of duty and what's good for him and his family lineage.

that brings me to my next point: even though wei wuxian hid the truth of the golden core transfer, jiang cheng spent nearly 20 years believing that the golden core "renewal" he was given was a birthright gift of wei wuxian's from baoshan-sanren, an immortal sect teacher of wei wuxian's mother's and a martial elder to wei wuxian.

of course we all know that's a big fat lie, but jiang cheng believed that wei wuxian gave up a critical emergency use gift to him for decades! he was lied to, yes, but jiang cheng immediately agreed without even needing to be convinced. the light in his dead eyes came back with hope the moment wei wuxian even said baoshan-sanren's name. he accepted wei wuxian's offer to give that up to him and take it via identity theft without missing a beat.

with how mysterious and revered baoshan-sanren is, that's obviously not a light sacrifice to just give up to anyone, no matter how close they might be to you. pretending to be wei wuxian to take the gift could even be considered dangerous. what if she found out and got offended? could wei wuxian be hurt by that?

jiang cheng doesn't even hesitate. wei wuxian is the one who mentions that if jiang cheng doesn't pretend to be him, the immortal master could get angry and they'd both be goners. and funnily enough, the day they do go to "the mountain", jiang cheng is the one worried and suspiciously wondering if wei wuxian was lying to him or had misremembered.

of course they've both been traumatized like hell prior to this point. but still: it speaks to how broken he was at the moment as well as to his character overall.

i digress: jiang cheng "gets his golden core back" via what he believed was a gift that should've been wei wuxian's to use in serious emergencies. rather than use it for himself, wei wuxian risked his own safety and gave it to jiang cheng... and jiang cheng still ends up embittered and angry, believing that wei wuxian is arrogant and selfish.

if he truly views them as 100% brothers and equals with no caveats, why would he think that way? it's not like he needs to grovel before wei wuxian for doing that, or to reciprocate... but this is what i mean when i say jiang cheng feels he is owed things by wei wuxian. wei wuxian's actions hold a very different weight in jiang cheng's mind, and jiang cheng himself doesn't ever act the same way, except once.

is it wrong for him to feel like he is owed something? it depends. many asian cultures, including my own, feel that a person owes their family in ways that may not make sense to westerners. for example, it's considered normal for a child to owe their parents for giving birth to them, or to other caretakers for feeding, clothing, sheltering, educating them, etc.

however, something like verbally saying "thank you" or "i'm sorry" to family is considered crazy- why would you owe that? you're supposed to inconvenience your family; saying thank you or sorry is the sort of thing you say to a stranger or acquaintance. i get half-seriously lectured by my elders on this a lot even now, even though they know such phrases are just considered good manners in the US.

this muddies up the idea of wei wuxian being jiang cheng's family vs his family's charge or servant even more. jiang cheng wants wei wuxian to be close... but ultimately doesn't really choose to use what power he DOES have to protect wei wuxian. he considers himself still owed something that in his mind wei wuxian flagrantly never repays.

this isn't even getting into how despite spending a majority of his time with the yiling patriarch he never once noticed that wei wuxian stopped using any spiritual power-based cultivation. even lan wangji, who met them far more rarely, realized that something was wrong and that wei wuxian had taken some sort of spiritual damage, hence the "come with me to gusu".

of course manpain is fun and i'm not immune to the juicy idea of them reconciling and talking things out... but jiang cheng is deeply mired in his own desire to be "above" wei wuxian in multiple ways, and doesn't realize the extent of wei wuxian's actions, the intentions behind them, and the consequences wei wuxian knowingly faced for them.

to not recognize this about jiang cheng, especially in the novels, is really revisionist if you ask me. i reiterate that i really do like him a lot. he's flawed, angry, traumatized and has poor coping mechanisms, an overall fascinating character... but he is not selfless nor ideal, and i seriously draw the line at people saying he is.

wen ning shoves this all into his face at lotus pier to disastrous results. it is the reason why jiang cheng's a total mess at guanyin temple, and the reason jiang cheng ultimately doesn't tell wei wuxian about the fact that he ran towards the wens on purpose.

for that one last act of his to have really been selfless, he needs to not seek anything in return. he did it purely because it was right to do to protect someone else. if that means wei wuxian never finds out about it, so be it.

that moment that ended up causing jiang cheng irreversible harm is not a debt that wei wuxian owes him. it hurts, but no matter how bitter it is, that realization is so important to him changing in the future.

[skibasyndrome]

.

[its-leethee]

There was an Old Startouch who swallowed a lie: It was about how the cycle begins and it ends again. Shunned by his peers and cast from the sky, he's patiently plotted and planned and devised his promised return; a reckoning long surmised. He swallowed the lie to spite the heavens.

I don't know why he despised his brethren in the skies. Will the cycle end with the Great Ones' demise?

There was an Old Startouch who swallowed a dark mage: "My favorite!" he cried. Merely the first of many he'll move on this stage, pawns in a game they cannot defy; tainted by darkness and fated to die. He swallowed the dark mage to silence the lie. He swallowed the lie to spite the heavens.

I don't know why he despised his brethren in the skies. Will the cycle end with our fears' demise?

There was an Old Startouch who swallowed an archdragon: "Mysteriously died," it was said, the grim cost of the loss of our primal paragon was the vacuum of power left in her stead; chaos and ruin spread under moonlight stained red. He swallowed the archdragon to subdue the dark mage. He swallowed the dark mage to silence the lie. He swallowed the lie to spite the heavens.

I don't know why he despised his brethren in the skies. Will the cycle end with our gods' demise?

There was an Old Startouch who swallowed a queen: much left unsaid, it implies her judgement was stayed--but did you hear how he said it? Obscene! Known to all as merciful, kind, brilliant, and wise, somehow blinded by arrogance and caught by surprise. He swallowed the queen to scare the archdragon. He swallowed the archdragon to subdue the dark mage. He swallowed the dark mage to silence the lie. He swallowed the lie to spite the heavens.

I don't know why he despised his brethren in the skies. Will the cycle end with our loved ones' demise?

There was an Old Startouch who swallowed a secret: The meanings many-sided; is this a test, or a riddle? If fate is a lie, why then must we fight it? Would we recognize the truth even were the key provided? If we're stronger together, why then stay divided? He swallowed the secret to subvert the queen. He swallowed the queen to scare the archdragon. He swallowed the archdragon to subdue the dark mage. He swallowed the dark mage to silence the lie. He swallowed the lie to spite the heavens.

I don't know why he despised his brethren in the skies. Will the cycle end with our enemies' demise?

There was an Old Startouch who swallowed the sun: No light nor shadow left to hide in. What is done cannot be undone. The world drowned in darkness: is this how he'll win? Will the stars at last submit to look upon their fallen kin? He swallowed the sun to smother the secret. He swallowed the secret to subvert the queen. He swallowed the queen to scare the archdragon. He swallowed the archdragon to subdue the dark mage. He swallowed the dark mage to silence the lie. He swallowed the lie to spite the heavens.

I don't know why he despised his brethren in the skies. Will the cycle end with our world's demise?

There was an Old Startouch who swallowed the heavens: And that's how the cycle ends and begins again.

[moresrush]

I did wanna pop up out of nowhere on your feeds for a second to just thank this community tremendously. My latest piece, which was a fully rendered Osvitio moment, was meant to be reflective of the very first piece of fanart that I drew for this game. I really do love this community. I love the people I have met and connected with. I love getting to talk about the blorbos. I appreciate people who helped nudge me back into it after a 3-month hiccup. And I wanna thank everyone who has liked or reblogged my stuff, especially with wild tags. It really makes my day. It's because of you guys that I have worked much harder on my art style and I cannot wait to show you some of the things I am workin' on in the background. So thank y'all. I'm real happy to be here.

[thosewildcharms]

rip it had to happen :')

[fluxweeed]

hey. hope this message doesn't bother you. I love you. I love your work. you are one of my favorite fic authors, I am absolutely obsessed with everything you write. reread everything ten times over, drarry or not, fluffy or angsty - even when it absolutely shatters my heart (e.g. for lack of wanting, SUCH a great fic btw i'm so obsessed with it). the four doors? life changing. two to lie and one to listen? engraved into my brain for eternity. what's mine is yours? what a ride holy shit, im VERY normal about it. wrapped? my comfort read. and so it goes.

if I could aggressively smother you with kudos and love I WOULD!!!

awhile ago you said that there's no such thing as "big deals" in fandom and I 100% agree but at the same time you are a big deal TO ME!!! not in the sense of any kind of hierarchy but purely based on the fact that I think you are such a cool person and your writing is amazing and poignant and your presence in fandom makes it so much better. it's been a pleasure following you here on tumblr and just reading your tags and posts.

idk I just think you rule. that's it. thank you for hanging with us. MWAH 💛

ahhhh anon sorry for leaving this message sitting in my inbox for a couple of days but !! i have zero idea how to react to this!! you're so kind!! thank you!! please discard any and all inclinations u have that i am a cool person bc i can assure you i am NOT!!

[muzzlemouths]

Muzz!!! Hello I hope you're doing well waa!

I hope you're sleeping also!! squints my eyes at you (affectionate)

KIBS!!!! HELLO KIBBS HI. I'm doing alright thank you for asking!! I hope YOU are doing FANTASTIC!!!!!! don't look at my sleep schedule though. it's fine I promise it's FINE but don't. look at it ok

[badboysupr]

to all the muses out there who have been genuinely nice to leo:

i'm sorry

he is literally a disaster and a half (or maybe about 5385865363 disasters, tbqh) and is2g every single time anyone just shows common decency to him, he has an Entire Moment that should be backed up by a dramatic musical number at this rate bc jeezum

jeezum

[cicidraws]

we got nothing in the cabinets rn

if anyone wants to, not obligated: cashapp is $CieranSpeakman

[variantia]

BELLUM. *falls down the stairs and lands on the dash* what'd I miss

[graffitibible]

Tell us, Korse: do you understand what you were made for?

You were a child when your world decided that you would make a better killer than a man. Accept this fact. Internalize it. Weigh it against the number of lives you've taken. How many deaths on your conscience, when you were specifically designed not to have one? How many names must be put to the faces you have hurt before they begin to have any weight?

How long will you allow the aftershocks of the destruction you enacted to chew through the foundations of your universe before you're willing to do something about it?

You don't get to be a killer and a hero, Korse. It doesn't work that way.

But you only came to comprehend the cost when it was attached to a name and a face that you came to love.

Love is a selfish emotion, Korse. But you loved anyway.

And now you can live with the consequences.

[corntort]

someone needs 2 study the effect of being trans (specifically masculine presenting trans people) and the need to reject any and all femininity

[selfshippinglover]

Funny little Sona doobles <3

Still stuck on the colors but eyyyy getting there

What of he had a Steven Universe moment?(super OOC I know but based on a little rp I was reading)

This is shit so I'm leaving it doodle buuuut almost full ref??

Alastor is starting to recover! I feel better :)

[ekleipsi]

--- sorry i've been MIA and only answering a handful of things. still on a sort of "semi-hiatus," and like i said. perpetually lurking but. working 6 days a week and in the throes of negotiations on a work contract, re negotiating the lease on my apartment, moving states, etc. so i'm just extremely mentally distracted. and diablo 4 also just came out so. rip.

--- basically i'm big apology for those waiting on stuff from me and i promise i've not forgotten and will get to it. been a rough time and ilu all for your patience and understanding in knowing that i'm rly trying not to push myself and only answering/responding to little things that i'm feeling.

[byanyan]

me quietly hoarding away all my found family dynamics with absolutely no tears in my eyes shut up u didn't see anything

[derelictheretic]

That tag game is really funny bc everyone is intimidating to me until I talk to them, all of u scare me (affectionate)