#I mean yeah this response is suyao tinged

[jin-zixun]

As a big fan of both characters, I'll say I don't agree but also I knew I'd see this comparison. Because I *can* see some superficial similarities. Plus, Qi Rong is treated in canon the way Su She is treated in fanon tbh, just like this annoying guy everybody hates and doesn't want around. But Qi Rong does deliberately make himself an annoyance! He's always going after people trying to get that attention he ordered. I don't know how far you are in TGCF so I don't know how much more I should say.

As for the relationship between him and Xie Lian, well, he's his little cousin. He admires Xie Lian and becomes disillusioned by him, along with everyone else. His regard for Xie Lian is Xie Lian's fall in full reflected in a single person who emotes strongly and doesn't hold anything back. Qi Rong is a stand in for all of Xianle.

Su She... Does not fill that role for Lan Wangji. Everyone still loves Lan Wangji. Su She is just resentful of being compared to Lan Wangji. (Su She is actually quite accomplished especially for a guy without any prominent bloodline, but that's a different conversation). For Qi Rong, it seems others are more resentful of being compared to him. Both characters are accused of copying more powerful people (but honestly Su She is just doing things the way he learned them because he's from the same sect as Lan Wangji) but for Qi Rong, he copies anyone who has something going for them because he doesn't understand how they have what he wants and he's desperate for connection.

Qi Rong is kind of defined by being this kid with trauma and probable undefined mental illness that hasn't figured out the world or his place in it, or how to care for and be cared for by other people, even after 800 years. Do both characters have an inferiority complex? Yeah probably, but like so do a lot of MXTX characters, so I'm not sure it's enough to say they play the same role.

Su She does figure out how the world works. He does find a place in it. He's the Chief Cultivator's right hand man! I mean that's his role in the narrative when it comes down to it, isn't it? He's not still an outcast desperately trying to cause problems for the establishment 800 years later. He's established after only a dozen, when most of his action takes place. He's a foil to Lan Wangji (who I would not call an analog to Xie Lian in any case) but less because of any inferiority, and more in how far he'll go to defend Jin Guangyao.

I don't see where Su She 'goes rabid' either tbh. He belongs to Jin Guangyao and he does what Jin Gunagyao says until the end where he dies for Jin Guangyao. He isn't rabid, he is fully subdued the whole time, and happy to be so. He does not emote strongly for the most part actually. Unless he's deliberately trying to obfuscate or defend Jin Guangyao. He's generally a very subtle character who is trying to stay hidden through most of his story.

If I had to think of an analog for Qi Rong I'd say somewhere between Jin Zixun (evil cousin who hunts humans for sport) and Xue Yang (amoral murder twink looking for that attention he ordered). But honestly, I think Qi Rong is best enjoyed as his own thing.

as someone who's just getting into tgcf and trying to ascertain qi rong's vibes based on what I've been seeing, would people who've read mdzs and tgcf say su she and qi rong seem to play somewhat similar narrative roles?

like there's lan wangji of the gusu lan, this really upstanding and accomplished dude, and then there's su she who's... not that. With qi rong there seems to be a similar contrast to xie lian.

also to me the vibes seem to read like (again, no idea how accurate this is) qi rong is a feral pet Vs su she who's like a domesticated creature gone rabid