#I’ll put these in here too

[l4tchk3y]

I love Espio so much. I wish chameleons were real.

[doodleous]

The trio everrrrrr

[kittykatninja321]

You can talk about what you wished had happened, or what you think should’ve happened, but when it comes to what actually happened, Jason is not the prodigal son, Bruce did not slaughter a fatted calf for his return!

[aesthetic-gem]

okay but tr!foolish clearly enjoys not knowing the end. the thrill, the anticipation of what will happen next. how will this end. how will i keep moving forward after this. this is one of his main traits. his open giddyness to the unknown. that’s the opposite of tr!bad who would prefer to know the conclusion. who won’t take a fight he doesn’t know the guaranteed outcome of. who toils and plans and prepares on how he will do something and how he wants it to end.

life prefers the journey ahead while death prefers the expected ending.

yesterday was funnily enough such a good example of this. tr!bad knew exactly what was laid out to him. he knew the goal, he knew where and who was going to be there. although he played no part in the killing, he knew what was going to happen on the stage before the curtain call. while tr!foolish, he went ahead and just followed tr!owen understanding the gist of what’s really going on, but antsily waiting to see how this will happen. what truths will be revealed. will he live or not. he’s not stupid. he understood the risk. the trust was never fully there, but the totem likes gambling on what will come after. a willing actor of the play.

[broresteia]

good mornin! an update, if u will

[factoryfollies]

The Edday

[itssofuckingover]

compilation of 12s projection onto bill and onto her relationship with heather and what it tells us about how he views and approaches his relationship with missy. yay!!

[devildogdemon]

I gotta be straight with y’all: in a story full of brutal maiming, unforgiving starvation, and scorched earth warfare, that R-i-i-i-p is probably the most real and painful thing to read for me. Every single time 😭 Being a dude, it’s a pain I also have the heavenly privilege of never knowing, which means it’s probably worse than I’m imagining 😬

It makes me feel even more for Katniss later on their Victory Tour. She’s absolutely fuming at the bullshit double standard of Peeta getting to sleep in AND keep his body hair while she has to be up early and stripped to the bone 😤 And she is so right for that. She even mentions how she actually liked the return of it 🥺 and they’re taking it away from her again 😠

This is why post-Mockingjay, I will accept nothing less than a Peeta Mellark who adores his furry-legged kitty. For one thing, he’s probably been checking out her legs since the sixth grade, hair and all. But more importantly, between now and the end of the story, he experiences probably the worst leg pain imaginable 😭 He sees no sense in being cruel to your legs, especially when you have the good fortune to still have two. He will kiss those hairy legs of hers every opportunity he gets. When Katniss speaks of them growing back together, there’s absolutely a literal component to it for me 🥰💚🧡

[billievalentine]

Got a little too silly with the champagne! I’ve been in love with the retro clown look for so long…

♡ ig ~ iheartbillievalentine

[a-stars-art-blog]

Factors of consideration

[long rambling of my thoughts about this headcanon below]

The older I get the more I think about me and my friends and how some of us are starting to move away to bigger and better things. As you would expect as we all met in high school or before, in the same town. But it’s expected that most of us won’t stay here.

And while thanks to modern technology we can still talk and sometimes visit, it’s never the same as being together in person imo.

And that’s why I imagine his scene here. I imagine Albert always had the dream to go to Germany. A place with a budding and flourishing advancement in Science. He studies and works hard to accomplish said dream. Never giving it a second thought bc he’s never cared about anything as much as science.

Maybe his family is supportive but doesn’t understand his drive. His passion. Maybe nobody did. Maybe people thought him weird and on the verge of unscrewing his head loose. But he doesn’t care. Or even if he does, all the more for him to work extremely hard to prove them wrong.

But then something unexpected happened: he made a dear friend. Someone who acknowledges his dedication and finds respect in it. Someone who listens to his ramblings and seems interested even if they doesn’t completely understand the material. Someone who truthfully wants to be his friend bc they’re not the type of person to beat around the bush or lie for the sake of another’s feelings.

He’s found so much joy in another’s company that he completely forgets his plan to leave the country. The plan he’s had since he was a boy.

The best friend he’s ever had. He would leave behind. Completely unknown if they would ever see each other again. Suddenly, he’s not too sure about it anymore. Surely there are universities in London that had excellent science programs. That could get MAYBE him to where he wanted. But it wasn’t his dream. The one things he’s been working for up at this point. Is it worth leaving behind his newfound loved ones? To be alone again in a foreign country?

There’s more to this headcanon/idea. I’ve daydreamed about it a lot. Albert expresses his concerns to Barok. And Barok, being the little darling he is, ofc he encourages Albert to follow his dream. Nothing would make Barok happier then to see his friend achieve his passions. It takes some encouraging but, as we know, Albert chooses to continue his studies in Germany. An incredibly bittersweet moment between the two. But the thought of the other becoming someone great and achieving great things is enough to keep their spirits high. And after all, they could always write letters to each other.

(Oops)

[catcherwrites]

I feel like it’s as good of a time as any to remind everyone that if you have a convention in your area - they should (ideally) provide the public some way of requesting panels/guests

If they do, ask them to put together a panel for The Dragon Prince! Request the cast and crew be invited to your local conventions! It might not seem like a lot and it may not pay off the way you’d want it to, but it’s a worth a submission and you might get lucky!

[o0o0thorn0o0o]

Karma: But why act so smug? You won by only 1.8% :P

Gakushuu: Shut it—a win is a win.

———

Some doodles based on this very hectic poll. I know I’m a little late, but I’m also on a trip up north rn.

A hint of AsaKanza because I haven’t drawn AC in a while, and I’d like to include the gal. That, and I got some encouragement from Luna to include Yukiko.

That, and because I be hella biased towards my favorites, as y’all should know by now :P

[saorsawrites]

i hate the idea that you must make everyone like you because i can show somebody my favourite song in the whole world and they will tell me it’s terrible but that doesn’t mean i can’t still dance to it and adore it…we are not universal but maybe we are somebodies favourite song

[ihonestlydontknowwhattocallthis]

Taskmaster season 19 episode 3 out of context

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

Wei Wuxian and Narrative Agency – Part One

For Xiantober Day One: Genius… albeit stretching the prompt so it refers to MXTX and MDZS itself, but at the end of the day it’s still about WWX – so no harm done!

(Part Two | Part Three | Full version on AO3)

The narrative is a very active player in MDZS’ story. How it presents information, what it chooses to show and omit, often reflects important facets of its themes and characters – Nie Huaisang, for instance, is so good at hiding behind his mask that not even the narrative can hold him accountable; the present day’s storyline as a murder mystery and the slow reveal of information about the past both prompt the reader to think critically about the truth of events, when the importance of thinking critically is an important theme; and the dangers not thinking critically (and instead basing conclusions on rumours without much evidence) are shown by tricking unquestioning readers into the very same trap the cultivation world falls into, as the information given by the title, summary and in-universe rumours – which contradicts how we see actually Wei Wuxian act – turns out to be false.

But nowhere do I love this trait more than in its treatment of Wei Wuxian – and, more specifically, in its way of emphasising his agency. We’re not just told how much his active choices define his character, and we’re not just shown this in-universe through his personality, worldview and the events he causes. I’d argue that this aspect goes a step further, and shapes the structure of the out-of-universe narrative as well.

There are two main ways this happens: one, in how the aspects of Wei Wuxian’s life that are shown and hidden directly tell us what’s important about his character (which is good writing but isn’t necessarily tied to this shaping of the narrative), which is what we’ll explore today; and two, how what’s shown and hidden reflects what Wei Wuxian himself prefers to dwell on, resulting in the narrative respecting his own thoughts and feelings on matters (which very much is tied to it). We’ll explore this at a later date.

But as for now – let’s explore my favourite aspect of MDZS.

(Here, narrative agency will be considered the ability of a character to meaningfully influence their events and the story they’re in.)

Tragedy, Circumstance, Choice

If we simply look at Wei Wuxian’s backstory in a vacuum, it seems almost typically tragic. His  parents died in circumstances beyond his control, he was left alone as a child with nobody to care for him, he was forced to grow up fending for himself on the streets, he was faced with abuse when he finally was taken in… as with all typical woobies, everything simply happened to him, and none of it was good. It’s just another example of the lack of agency being used for sympathy points, right?

…Except there’s one problem with that idea. We don’t actually see any of this.

It would’ve been easy to start the flashbacks during these times. We’re telling the story of Wei Wuxian in (largely) chronological order, and these are likely important experiences for him! But instead of starting in his street days, or evenat the moment Jiang Fengmian took him in*, we start at the lectures in the Cloud Recesses. That’s not even something mentioned in, and therefore something that’s able to disprove, the rumours at the start of the novel. So why is this the case? 

Well, there are multiple reasons – the main one being that MDZS is also Lan Wangji’s (and Wangxian’s) story, and having the flashbacks open with their first meeting is very satisfying. But I want to focus on something else.

This period doesn’t have to be shown, because what happens to Wei Wuxian, especially out of his control, isn’t what’s important about his character.

We’re not even at Lotus Pier here, where Wei Wuxian certainly has more agency than he would’ve had as a young child, but where the harm caused by Madame Yu is still completely out of his control. Here, he has agency! Though there are consequences, he is free to act, and what happens to him is a result of those actions and not of circumstance. Yes, he gets punished more than others who also take those same actions (due to classism); yes, it’s not his choice to be picked on by Lan Qiren in class (yet look how he responds, twisting the situation to his advantage and ending up tricking Lan Qiren into letting him leave, which is what he wanted to do. He is not at all helpless here!); yes, these choices have been influenced by his learned mindset from Madame Yu that punishment is arbitrary and will happen anyway, so you may as well do what you want regardless. But there is cause-and-effect here. It’s not circumstantial tragedy.

Therefore, instead of our first impression of past!Wei Wuxian being that of an unfortunate woobie, it’s of someone who has the freedom, ability and will to choose and act (and that’s after these initial tragic events have taken place). This is compounded by the fact that before we see any of his backstory, we get a similar impression of him in the present day.

If the purpose of his tragic past was to earn him sympathy points, to make us pity him due to how much he was influenced by events out of his control, this would’ve been a terrible way of going about it… and it’s this that betrays the true reason for its existence. Because now, the flashbacks instead show us how little these tragedies define who he is! From the very start, Wei Wuxian isn’t someone defined by circumstances out of his control, but rather by who he is as a person and by what choices he makes in the present day (which is both a mindset in-universe, and a nice little out-of-universe detail that lines up! Because out-of-universe, this means he’s not defined by sympathy points from a backstory, but rather by his great character writing… aka, by who he is as a person and what choices he makes). And this refusal to be defined by tragedy is a conscious choice on his part, too – but we’ll explore that more later. 

The important thing is that this idea of Wei Wuxian isn’t because of what exists in his past, it’s because of what parts of his past are shown to us (as well as what he chooses to do, with agency, in the present). 

Now, if this relationship between what’s displayed and what’s omitted was just a one-time thing, I might’ve considered it a cool detail or a nice way to establish a character, but not something the narrative is actively focusing on. But it’s a pattern that continues throughout the flashbacks. What, arguably, are the two other most important times in Wei Wuxian’s life where he doesn’t have enough agency to meaningfully influence his circumstances? His three months in the Burial Mounds (before escaping – he managed to assume some control of the circumstances but not enough to substantially reduce his suffering in his time there), and his loss and death during the First Siege. And we’re not shown either of them! We skip to when Wei Wuxian has emerged from the Burial Mounds and is torturing the Wens, or we skip to the present day – both times he has agency once more, because, again, what he’s like without it doesn’t matter enough to be shown. 

Furthermore, I’d argue this does actually contrast the other tragic events we see in Wei Wuxian’s later life. Things do go horribly wrong, but it’s either due to choices he knows the consequences of (see: rescuing the Wen Remnants in the first place), or instances where he still has some ability to act in the situation and influence it within the limitations. If he’d had no ability to influence circumstances at Qiongqi path, he would have died in the ambush; if he’d been unable to do that at Nightless City, he would’ve died then, too (of course Lan Wangji helped him escape as well). The attention drawn to him losing control of his actions in both instances is very interesting, but intentional or not, it’s still his actions influencing the plot. And that influence happens to be detrimental. The very ability to act and influence, at a base level,  is not taken away (though, of course, that doesn’t make these events any less tragic).

So, so far, the narrative seems to be telling us that the ability to act and choose is key to Wei Wuxian’s character. And it’s doing it through omitting his moments without agency in favour of instead showing us his moments with it. 

Let’s see if this is echoed in the text itself before we go further – because even with this pattern, nothing would end up mattering if Wei Wuxian’s agency wasn’t actually that important to the story itself. But thankfully it is, and that first impression we get of Wei Wuxian in the Cloud Recesses turns out to very much be accurate! Though there are defining circumstances out of his control that occur, such as the massacre of Lotus Pier, the majority of the important events of his life are due to his own choices. He didn’t happen to be forced to cease traditional cultivation and solely use guidao, didn’t happen to lose his Golden Core in a fight with Wen Zhuliu or due to some force in the Burial Mounds, it was his own choice to give it and his spiritual powers away. He didn’t tragically happen to get targeted by the cultivation world, it was a result of him acting on his morals and protecting the Wen remnants (a choice which he was fully aware of the implications of). He isn’t a protagonist to whom things simply occur, and that activeness and agency is my favourite thing about him. 

That’s not to say that the times Wei Wuxian doesn’t have agency, or feels like he doesn’t have any, don’t exist at all, either – but they are rare enough to have attention directly drawn to them in his internal narration:

Or else what could he do? He could do nothing. He was powerless. Lotus Pier had been destroyed, both Jiang FengMian and Madam Yu were gone, and Jiang Cheng had disappeared as well. He was the only one left, alone, with not even a sword in his hands. He didn’t know anything, he couldn’t do anything! For the first time, he discovered how little his power was. In front of something as large as the QishanWen Sect, it was the same as a mantis trying to stop a chariot. - Chapter 59, EXR translation

(And even in this circumstance, note that he still does force himself to act – to carry on searching for Jiang Cheng, to place his faith in Wen Ning – and does accomplish his goal (albeit with the help of others)! So even in dire situations, he isn’t simply passive. This is actually also the case with his time in the Burial Mounds, almost certainly the First Siege, and even his days on the streets as well (Chapter 20: he did actively fight with dogs to get food despite their danger and his growing fear of them, rather than just waiting and hoping to somehow receive some more). He can’t influence or immediately influence his circumstances, but that doesn’t stop him from trying.)

Overall, although they do influence him, Wei Wuxian is very much who he is in spite of his circumstances, not because of them. We’re shown the importance of his agency both in-universe by the major impacts his choices have on himself and the plot, as well as by narrative presentation – important periods where he lacks the ability to meaningfully influence anything are often mentioned but not directly shown, which suggests that such moments and circumstances aren’t as important to understanding Wei Wuxian’s character as moments where he does have this agency are. And I’d argue this works very well. Depending on the version of the story you consume, you may end up having different interpretations as to how much circumstances were at play nearer the end of his life – but nobody comes out of MDZS thinking about Wei Wuxian, the poor bearer of yet another generically tragic backstory.

(Part Two | Part Three | Full version on AO3)

—

*We are shown this moment in more detail in Chapter 23… but even then, it’s through the framing of Wei Wuxian remembering Jiang Yanli’s narration, not through a flashback proper or even him remembering the experience itself!

[databuffer]