#NIF meta

[waterlilyvioletfog]

I’ve been re-watching the Wei Zheng plot recently and we just came to the scene where Xia Jiang accuses Jingyan of freeing Wei Zheng while simultaneously the Empress accuses Consort Jing of treason. The timing of the two events is Prince Yu’s call, btw, it was his idea to rouse tempers by hitting on two fronts, and it might’ve worked if not for two things: 1) the emperor is by nature suspicious and paranoid, and convenient timing will strike him as contrived, not accidental, 99 times out of 100. 2) the thing no one (including the first time audience) knows is that the Emperor asked Consort Jing to do that so you’re actually maneuvering him into a position of defensiveness.

Anyways, the point I wanted to make here is from the beat where the eunuchs come in with the initial accusation from the Empress— Consort Jing has committed treason, please come deal with it— which causes the Emperor to immediately fly into a rage, casting recriminations upon Jingyan as an unfilial son, an ungrateful child of an ungrateful mother, and begins literally kicking his adult son while he’s down, knocked from kneeling upright to kneel-sitting forlornly. This moment is for me a microcosm of everything the Emperor does. He’s quick to judge, to overreact, he lashes out at innocents, and not only innocents but those completely unrelated to the crime, often without verifying if they’ve done anything wrong. He’s also most likely to fly into a rage when you do something he personally encouraged you to do— but as soon as that thing becomes an accusation upon another’s lips, he abandons his previous trust and begins without hesitation to denounce and decry. The only reason Consort Jing is able to get out of this is because she’s so obviously meek, calm, and obedient. If she’d been reduced to tears, or claimed he told her to set up the memorial tablet, he would have taken the bait and punished her harshly. In fact, although he castigates her for not confessing to the actual crime she’s accused of, it’s important that she took the tact of girlhood friendship because anything else— including the “acceptable” answer— would have destroyed his ability to trust her. Consort Jing’s endless poise and circumspection is the real thing that saves her here. Not even the Emperor’s personal knowledge of her innocence could have saved her if he began to doubt her intentions.

[anndramarama]

I feel like the scene in this is gifset by @guzhuangheaven is where Lin Chen officially, consciously crossed over.

To what mindset, I'm not quite sure, but he has avoided that last bit of conscious introspection for a long time, but now the threat to Changsu is not something that Changsu with all his powers can defend against in the moment, and the threat isn't Changsu's deteriorating health, which Lin Chen is at turns empowered to battle directly and helpless to change at all.

Lin Chen knows that the battle against the poison was lost a long time ago, as part of a past he can't change, and the fact of that moves like a leviathan in Lin Chen's psyche, making him more unhinged and eccentric every year.

So if he has a chance to pick up a sword and defend Changsu in a direct and visceral way, he's going to take that chance, all appearances of neutrality be damned.

(He would take any chance to do it, too; he would feed himself dangerous drugs or transform into a mythical creature, or spin the roulette wheel of time to save the person he loves.)

Think about the way he delivered his diagnosis and treatment plan to Nie Feng and Xia Dong (and Changsu and Mu Nihaung). He was flippant and direct and rude, a bit too much like an actor on a stage, because there was no way he could be even a little bit himself, or behave in a way that was closer to normal (think about how Yan daifu might have summarized their options for contrast).

He couldn't be somber because Changsu depends on him to be anything but (the one time when he did start to show his true feelings MCS literally broke down and cried).

He couldn't show too much compassion because Changsu reads that as pity, and Lin Chen knows that MCS carries that heavy burden every time he interacts with Mu Nihaung.

He can't be too enthusiastic about Nie Feng's rather excellent prognosis because Changsu chose the other path, the one that had the treatment that was worse than death and would make his life miserable and comparatively short, and dwelling on that forsaken possibility can only lead to despair.

So with his choices so limited Lin Chen plays up his eccentricities, his supposed medical objectivity and curiosity, and no one can see the man behind the curtain. He might as well be a disembodied voice during that diagnosis dialogue, because Lin Chen is present but largely unseen by everyone except MCS, who can only metaphorically look at his shadow during moments like this -- and MCS can only look at it sidelong, in denial, and in strict control of himself.

Which is a good thing, because sometimes Lin Chen is internally screaming and enraged, and already furious with a grief that burns too bright for the few human eyes that are tuned in enough to see him clearly.

Lin Chen had long ago stopped speaking to Changsu in absolutes. Changsu is going to die. Soon, tomorrow, a month from now, two months, three? No one knows. Lin Chen doesn't know, he can only make predictions and wait.

He would rather not make predictions. He would rather not be asked, thank you. Leave Lin Chen alone. Let him brew medicines and banter with MCS and drink, and wait for the sun to come up on one more day where his friend is alive to drink the medicine, tease him, and see another sunrise.

Now back to the same remarkable gifset I referenced above. OP captioned it "Lin Chen and Fei Liu worrying about Mei Changsu: a full time occupation. Look at Fei Liu," and I owe OP big time because, yes, let's look at Fei Liu, and let's talk about Fei Liu and Lin Chen.

We see and we're told that they don't get along. Lin Chen is a bit of a dick to Fei Liu even though he seems fond of him too: he teases Fei Liu, tries to play with him mostly unsuccessfully, and seems to use him as a distraction to help play up his (Lin Chen's) eccentric behavior. I think there was also a comment about Fei Liu wanting to avoid Lin Chen because Lin Chen makes him (Fei Liu) drink medicine, but I'm not super clear on that.

We see that they "don't get along," and if anything this amuses MCS. Fei Liu comes to MCS for help, asks to be saved, and MCS helps Fei Liu. Because MCS can do that, it doesn't require physical strength, only that he plays the role of the "good dad" according to the established dynamic in their family of three.

So we're told that Lin Chen and Fei Liu don't get along for all the reasons above, but we also see that they're a really good team when it's necessary. There's the scene where they're chasing Qin Banruo, for instance. Later, Fei Liu sits across from Lin Chen while he makes Changsu's medicine and talks about their upcoming tour of jianghu, and they both agree that it doesn't matter where they are as long as the three of them are together. (Yeah.)

That's quite a contrast to the scene in the gifset, where Lin Chen is anxious, and possibly feeling helpless, and definitely contemplating violence.

And where's Fei Liu in that scene? He's shut down, head on the wall, inert.

This is the same position he's in when MCS is ill sometimes, or he's upset about something. Because we are supposed to understand that while Fei Liu can't quite articulate what he's feeling, and is mentally still a VERY young child, he does react immediately to situations and has an intuitive understanding about what's going on around him, particularly with regard to MCS.

So, how does Fei Liu feel about Lin Chen, and more specifically why does he seem to dread his presence in previous scenes, to the point that he captures and is going to kill the pigeon sent to summon Lin Chen?

My guess is that Fei Liu sees right through Lin Chen. He knows what Lin Chen is feeling under all the bluster and weirdness, and he knows that the dark feeling coming from his other parent affects MCS too.

However we read their relationship, Lin Chen and Changsu are very, very close; they live with each other off and on and love each other deeply; they understand each other better than almost everyone else around them; they rescued a child and parent that child together. Their little trio is intimately connected by time, experience, trauma, and pain.

Lin Chen and Changsu both playact that all is well but they can't fool Fei Liu, especially when they are together.

So it makes sense that Fei Liu would want to keep them apart as MCS gets sicker and that dark feeling grows, because it's scary. They're Fei Liu's world and that world is breaking down continually, weirdly, unpredictably.

He wants them to stay in their corners, thank you, because he's afraid of how it feels when they're together.

But back to that gifset:

At the start of this post I theorized that Lin Chen crossed over from even paying lip service to neutrality, but where else did he cross over? From ongoing anger to something like acceptance of MCS's inevitable death, in a way that would allow him to prioritize Fei Liu in the moment?

Or did he move on from anger to full-on Denial?

Because after that scene Fei Liu is pretty much at ease in Lin Chen's presence, and part of the reason for this (long, sorry) post was to try to understand why.

If he's moved on to Acceptance, good for Lin Chen. He might have a chance at good mental health in the near-ish future (think five years post-canon, and that might be a generous estimate).

But if he crossed over into Denial and it's strong enough to fool Fei Liu? I think Lin Chen's long term future might be a lot darker than one would expect from the always-sunny, temperamental, eccentric jianghu doctor.

[junemermaid]

writer life:

start an ot3 fic

become obsessed with the underserved side of the triangle and spend two chapters on establishing the dynamic of the canon love interest and best friend while the actual main character chills off-page

sigh and decide to blame canon for leaving this obvious gap you now need to fill

[kimboo-york]

Nirvana in Fire rec list & Resource database!

I have been busy updating my NiF database! I have added a new tab, "Resources," which contains links to all kinds of information about the drama Nirvana in Fire, the novel Lang Ya Bang, and cultural/historical facts/meta!!!!

Here's a peek:

So whether you are a fan who just wants to know more, or a fanfic writer who needs to know more, please partake of all the great information here!

If you have any suggestions for resources I have missed, please let me know.

[janmisali]

Number Tournament: [the number of responses to the pre-tournament google form] vs THIRTY-SIX

2277 (the number of responses to the form I posted where people could nominate their favorite numbers to compete in this tournament)

seed: 29 (18 nominations)

class: meta

definition: a meta joke that was probably funnier when the form to suggest numbers for this tournament was still open

36 (thirty-six / nif)

seed: 36 (14 submissions)

class: highly composite number

definition: six times six, written as 100 in seximal (base six).

[fateandloveentwined]

perhaps an index — the chinese side of fandom things

excuse this i'm a little bit of an organising person so here's an attempt to make things neater; [return to general intro]

current interests: NIF / 2ha / tgcf + mdzs / 第一仙师 / modern day fics here and there; i tend to prefer cnovels over cdramas bc i read faster than i watch shows coughs

marked 🍂 are stuff i'm highlighting <3

meta #

definitions, “etymology”, whatever comes my way

general meta

🍂wuxia, xianxia, and cultivation differences meta

🍂wuxia and confucianism

morality in wuxia and xianxia (rblg)

chinese and word choices

City C, University P -- the way modern chinese names places

the chinese "i love you"

creates #

on creations, translations, thought experiments and fic recs.

analyses # and stuff i made up

🍂antithetical couplets (multi)

chapter 275 (2ha)

🍂poetry lines befitting mcs and xjy (nif)

🍂Anle and Nirvana in Fire: what's so mesmerising about NIF's worldview (nif)

Zhou Zishu (tyk/woh; in chinese)

🍂5 notes on Xie Lian and maybe a note more (tgcf)

attempted translations #

⟶ song translations

from afar silver butterflies flutter like glistening orbs, dashed across the starry sky (tgcf donghua x one flower one sword)

isle of land - song translation (陆屿 from 内娱第一花瓶 audio drama)

🍂long darkness — cháng yīn 长喑 translation (nif — xiao jingyan)

⟶ amendments on the title of 长喑 cháng yīn // long darkness

⟶ (Thoughts on 【长喑 】Part 1/3) @ yj's super elaborate response post TT

⟶ excerpt translations

he knelt amidst, and kissed the earth. (panguan)

🍂chapter 60, fragmented souls (shangxian)

chapter 84, wildfires (shangxian)

lotus as the heart (nif — li chong fanfic)

recommendations #

Nirvana in Fire fic recs

🍂cnovel recs (in chinese)

wonky thoughts #

🍂number of unique chinese characters in a book

to all the fandoms I've loved before

fate's stuff #

miscellaneous stuff that i posted or commented on.

Very Subjective Comments on literary prose in danmei and cnovels

chinese webnovel favs/recs

⟶ xianxia-specific favs mentioned at bottom of this post

NIF vs. MLC vs. MDZS polls (on overall franchise, character, and worldview/themes)

🍂THE TEARS ep34 (woh)

interpretations realisations aka. headcanon analyses #

i tries to answer (essentially asks) #

other “non-selectively mine” tags that might interest one: #interpretations realisations (headcanon analyses), #chinese language, #chinese (on culture), #reads and books (current reads and book/tv series-related stuff).

link to kofi-coffee if you're so inclined.

[starmeadowsystem]

Nif-Point Moral Evaluation: King Dedede from Kirby

What is Kirby?

Kirby is a videogame series where you play as a silly little guy named Kirby and go on silly little adventures. The lore gets pretty wild sometimes but it's like mostly lighthearted.

Who is King Dedede? What does he do?

King Dedede is a tyrant turned genuine hero of Popstar. After stealing all the food in Dreamland, he gets his ass handed to by Kirby in half an hour of gameplay. Interestingly, during the after credits scene of this game, he just cries and regretfully sulks away, with Kirby following after. In "Revenge of Dedede", a reimagining of the game's hard mode from Super Star Ultra, King Dedede tries settling his grudge with Kirby in a formal grudge match where he even gives them a hammer, at least after sending his army after them. Notably, when Bandana Waddle Dee, one of his minions, expresses concerns about being completely overshadowed by Kirby, Dedede decides to spare him. The minion fights Kirby anyway. And lives. After losing the electric cage match against Kirby, he solemnly gives up his grudge and accepts defeat as he and his remaining loyalists disappear into the desert.

In Kirby's Adventure, he at least tries doing something good. Learning about Nightmare invading Dreamland, King Dedede tries taking the Star Rod from the Dream Fountain and breaking it into little pieces. Unfortunately this doesn't work because Kirby, due to Dedede's lack of communication, believed that he was up to his old tricks at the time and fixed the star rod and put it back in its proper place, unintentionally unsealing Nightmare in the process. King Dedede then launched Kirby into space so he could take care of Nightmare, which they did.

Having been possessed by Dark Matter three times over, by Kirby 64 he decides to tag along with Kirby, Adeline, Ribbon, and a Waddle Dee while they save the galaxy from Dark Matter. He's also very teasy and he ends up helps Adeline through a portal in cutscene, as well as letting Kirby ride piggyback in a few levels.

He also tags along with Kirby in Return to Dreamland along with Meta Knight and Bandana Waddle Dee.

Mistaken for the hero of the lower world and kidnapped by Taranza for queen Sectonia's sake, King Dedede was once again saved by Kirby. However, this time, he proved to be essential to the safety of Dreamland and Floralia, as he piloted a cannon to launch Kirby to Sectonia, and when she had Kirby restrained, he broke them free and set up the final hypernova attack against Sectonia with Taranza, who had enough of her at this point.

He also... Tries fighting against the interstellar corporation of Haltmann in Planet Robobot, and tags along with Kirby again after he gets possessed by a jamba heart in Star Allies.

In his most recent outing, which at the time of making this post is Kirby and the Forgotten Land, King Dedede gets possessed yet again (this time by Fecto Elfilis, who I know is going to be controversial lmao) and has to be freed by Kirby. Once he is, he gives Kirby a little smile as thanks, but then the Beast Pack rapidly approaches their location. When one of the waddle dees in the scene trips, King Dedede immediately turns back and throws them into the escape elevator, giving up his chances in the process as he fights off the might of the Beast Pack offscreen.

dw hes ok

Although he stole all the food in Dreamland, King Dedede isn't heinous enough to stand out for two main reasons: The heinousness standard is extremely high in Kirby with Popstar being threatened pretty much every game at this point, and the manufactured famine he caused could have been far worse. On the benevolent side, however, I think he easily stands out- he helps save Popstar multiple times, even playing an essential part in this once or twice, and is perfectly willing to put himself in harm's way as shown in Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

Since he's completely past his old ways, the only thing I can count against him is his ego, honestly, which he's consistently characterized with. He has paintings of himself everywhere in his castle. In The Forgotten Land's post game, he opens his mouth and points to it. Even if I have to dock points for it, I have to admit it's quite endearing.

Author's Verdict: 52 (Strongly Good)

[thelaithlyworm]

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride? 😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers? 🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write? 🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

The "Lion and the Serpent" series, hands down. It started with a series of short-short fics about a villain and a hero who individually retired after season 2 of a show (The Musketeers), and in my fics had started working together. Then some of the backstory hints I'd been dropping hit a big reveal and I started dragging in more characters and some unsolvable problems and Drama and... there was a point where I thought I'd written myself into a corner, then History Itself gave me an opening. Amazing, all around.

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

Yes, when I was writing "Bright Soul" (Nirvana in Fire Daemon AU). A lot of readers had been making some guesses about What's Going On With Mei Changsu's Daemon, and I threw in an entirely new counter-explanation halfway through to confound them. (And there's honestly some interesting plot involved with Pigeon so I'm glad I did it.) I really need to get my NiF writing spoons back and finish that.

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write?

Google Docs, usually - very basic. Then I paste it into the AO3 Rich Text box and tweak out all the extra spaces it adds before hitting Post.

Though - with the Big Meta I've been writing on Time Raiders, with all that image hosting, it ended up being less stress to write each chapter in html, down to the <p>paragraph breaks</p> (I'm not crying, honest.)

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

Have fun. Love the things you love and write them down.

Try for short projects when you start - or if it's a long story you want to write, try to chunk that down into related short things with their own start and ending. The point is - you're training yourself into a new skill, and the more comfortable successes when you're still learning how the tools work, the better foundation you have when things get challenging.

Be kind: to yourself; to other people.

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

Whoever I'm writing at the time, I guess. Hmm. Looking at my Works section, I've gone really hard on Aramis d'Herblay (The Musketeers), Mei Changsu (Nirvana in Fire), and Wu Xie (Daomu Biji).

I'd say what they have in common is they're all Hero characters. Genuinely heroic. They're also tricksy, sad little shits with questionable self-care skills, so I get a nice balance between, 'This person is Awesome', 'you horrible little man', and, 'I really need to wrap this guy in a blanket, stat'

[pastelcheckereddreams]

Rewatching NiF ep 13 and -  I never noticed before how, when Jingyan is first establishing his authority and assembling trustworthy advisors, Mei Changsu suggests those he thinks Jingyan would easily befriend (as much as he can befriend them, with his status) not simply for the political potential they have. Most telling is how he, Advisor Su, follows up on how Jingyan’s relationships are progressing with these ministers. It not only speaks to a master strategist who knows (perhaps more intimately than he otherwise should, as a mere jianghu chief who has inserted himself into court politics) the prince’s temperament and the people he would gravitate to as trustworthy individuals; it also subtly shows just how much he, Lin Shu, wants Jingyan to build relationships with people who are good for him, and who will aid him best in the years to come. He just wants his friend to be as comfortable and supported as he can be in the years to come, because as much as he has thrust Jingyan on this path (the path and role Jingyan himself would never think to assume, but the one Lin Shu knows he can fulfil) he knows that he, himself, will not be there to support him in the long run. As much as Lin Shu - Mei Changsu -’s motives are selfish, he still tries to protect and empower his friend, by giving him all the tools he needs to become the just ruler the narrative demands he becomes, and Lin Shu knows his friend can be. As selfish as Mei Changsu may think he is, as Changed as he may think he is, he is - at his core, defiantly - still Lin Shu, trying to protect his friend.  

[anndramarama]

Was going to make a post where I explain/justify why I empathize with Xiao Xuan a bit more every time I rewatch NIF, but after thinking more critically I know that must be BS because he's ten kinds of awful even if he is a very human villain, it's just that Ding Yong Dai's performance is THAT GOOD.

[guzhuangheaven]

Recently I read that putting on a hanfu the opposite way symbolizes you are dead, and I've seen in some dramas some specific characters put on hairpins also the opposite way. And this always looks out of scene/intentional because all the surrounding characters wear it the normal way. Eg:- Mei Changsu in NIF. Does this also symbolize something close to "basically dead" or is it just an artistic decision?

I’m not sure if it’s a deliberate message but it is certainly an appropriate interpretation of the way MCS usually wears his hairpin in the opposite direction to mahy to other characters.

[intyalote]

Just finished Qi ye!! Wow. They are all such horrible people! And so compelling! I read your posts, and your comparison with NiF - it’s giving me so many thoughts! On the one hand NiF is kinder to its protagonists - when they need to kill the sons of corrupt officials, the sons have committed their own crimes, while in QT he is innocent. But it isn’t just that! The line that hit me hardest of the whole book was when Helian Yi realised he’d been fighting for the throne, but done nothing to build

up the country. The opposite of MCS and JY! MCS spends ten years preparing and most of his stratagems also give justice to others while advancing their position. MCS embraces the trolley problem, and hates himself because he would kill one to save the rest, but I think he also understands that the trolley problem is a false dichotomy / who put the person in the road, what safety systems can be put in place to ensure the breaks don’t fail. The QY gang have a much narrower focus - just. Let’s change the driver of the trolley. I’m really interested to see if we see how Helian Yi develops - he had the realisation his thinking is too narrow, will he build on that? Wu Xi is the one who comes out best - he remembers the Gran Shamans words, his main focus appears to be mostly Beiyuan, but he IS thinking about his country all the time, which means he can give both the Shamans reasons and Wu Xi’s reasons to argue for going to save Da Qing. I do love the main couple. Awww you really want This toxic poisonous, pretty creature? Okay Wu Xi you should get him! I also wanted to say thank you for recommending reading Qi ye first - it made the scene in the first chapter of tyk with Helian Yi hit so much harder. (Really hit me in my Jingyan raw spot!)

Ahhh I’m so glad you liked it! I love all the NIF parallels you picked up on - NIF is a much more optimistic story in many ways but both have some very interesting things to say about freedom and court, and though MCS and JY are a million times more honorable and just than anyone in Qi Ye there are interesting similarities. Like you said, JY and HLY both get left alone as Emperor at the end, and also - I think the sacrifice MCS regrets most is what he does to Jingrui, similarly to how what Zhou Zishu regrets most is Jiuxiao, and both cases are not necessarily the worst things they’ve done but involve a loss of innocence (and that Jingrui can mostly come to terms with it and live, while Jiuxiao dies trying to atone for crimes that aren’t even his to bear, is indicative of a core difference in the two: in NIF there is always room for just and honorable people). Then if you’ve seen NIF2 there’s also the Xiao Pingjing and Jing Beiyuan specialty “I’ll save my country when it needs saving but after that I’m out.” I could go on forever comparing the two - they even both end in invasions (and the fact that the Qi Ye invasion is a direct result of our gang’s narrow focus...).

Thanks a lot for these asks! Your thoughts are very interesting and it’s nice to know that you’ve enjoyed my recs! I hope you enjoy TYK as well, because it really just turns everything in Qi Ye on its head in an absolutely baffling way.

[semirahrose]

Call me a pedantic weirdo, but every once in a while I read a summary of Nirvana in Fire, and it feels wrong when MCS/Lin Shu’s plan to put a good man on the throne and redress the Chiyan case is referred to as “vengeance” or a “revenge spree.” I mean, admittedly, it’s a catchy term. In a show that is particularly hard to summarize, it also makes for a heck of a compelling hook, an easy way to describe the plot to potential viewers. But it’s not accurate?

I have too many feelings about this send help. I mean, as a teenager, he watched his father and 70,000 loyal men (many under his command) die in a brutal massacre at the hands of people he should have been able to trust. He somehow survived his wounds and a considerable fall only to wake and presumably discover in short order that, back in the capital, his entire family and many relatives were dead, either by execution or by their own hands. His closest friends and living (shell-shocked, grieving) loved ones were on very, very thin ice. He underwent unimaginably agonizing (and permanently disfiguring) treatment and then hatched complex plans for over a decade.

He threw away his appearance, his health and strength, and whatever tenuous ties he still had to the comparatively innocent, happy boy he was before the massacre. He assumed the mantle of a calculating strategist and approached his closest friends as a stranger. Disgusted by the person he perceived himself to have become, he forged onward.

The instigators of the Chiyan massacre killed tens of thousands. The paranoid emperor himself gained his throne through bloodshed.

Revenge, by its very definition, is to “inflict punishment in return for injury or insult.” Not only MCS but our whole primary cast had mountains of reasons to lash out. Honestly I could hardly blame them if they did. MCS/Lin Shu’s goal, though, from the beginning, was to reveal the truth, exonerate the restless souls of the unjustly murdered, and put the country he once loved on the path to a brighter future. As much as was possible in a place where corruption was rampant and the slightest whiff of dissent meant execution, he planned and carried out a bloodless revolution. And... that’s pretty darn cool?

That’s it. Tens of thousands dead, his entire family and his good name and his health and his very identity stripped from him, and he did everything he could to do the opposite of what was done to him: reveal the truth instead of hiding or twisting it, and let the country’s justice system render judgment on the crimes he brought to light.

It doesn’t have the same ring as “revenge spree,” but I prefer it that way.

[presumenothing]

You know what, I want to talk about the awesomeness that is Jingmum. This is the lady who after confronting the fact that all her loved ones are either dead or in immense amounts of emotional/physical pain, offers to take care of the rest of the plan for the retrial. and MCs doesn't even kinda deny she could do it, cause at this point she totally could!!??!!! I mean she spent years trapped in the palace with infrequent visits from JY, unable to do anything, but she waited (1/2)

whoops, sorry I don’t exactly remember what it said but really, just the fact that after years of waiting she slowly and methodically collects what power she can. So when the time comes she can fully support her son(s). All the while remaining the kindest and classiest lady to ever Grace the imperial halls. (Also Lin shu was totes terrified of Jingmum, cause she ALWAYS knew what was what. And she would just stare at him, with that LOOK till he went and did what she wanted)Jingmum is the best mum

so!! I love!! Lady Jing!! she’s like… idk Nihuang but with more smiley and less knife emoji, ready to serve up demise on a cold platter for these two

but honestly if you think about it Jingmum had possibly the closest relationship to many of those who died after Lin Shu himself? first to Lin Xie as a brother, by extension she’d probably have known everyone in Lin manor, we already know she was close to Yueyao, and she probably watched Jingyu grow up too while tending to Yueyao. like. the only other surviving person who might’ve been as deeply connected to so many of them would probably be Yan Que? because deep as Jingyan’s grief is I’ve always felt it was more individually tied to the loss of Prince Qi and Lin Shu. which is no less terrible. but Jingmum lost basically the whole world of people she was close to in Jinling. and we already know how Yan Que reacted to that.

aNYWAY YES end digression but she’s badass indeed. imagine if she’d really taken over the Chiyan plans from that point, somehow? because yes, it does seem possible that she could’ve succeeded with the rest of it – persuading Liyang etc. tbh she and Gao Zhan together could probably rule all of Jinling’s court if they set their minds to it, with the degree of influence they wield without anyone really realising.

(imagine that though. like Jingyan never would’ve said no to Lin Shu, but then we also have Lin Shu not daring to defy his mum. probably her moderating Stare of Doom is the only reason why Lin Shu didn’t bully Jingyan into the ground when they were kids. cue Nihuang taking notes in a corner)

[starmeadowsystem]

Nif-Point Moral Evaluation: Kirby :) (games)

Gonna start out with this lil guy as a test drive :)

Who is Kirby? What does he do?

Kirby from the Kirby franchise is a loveable lil guy who just likes sweets and friends. He is also a major hero known throughout all of Popstar. Now, this lil guy has 30 real life years of history behind him, so i think I'm going to go for a shorthand version of his actions.

The amount of times he saved Popstar from your wildest threats imaginable is... Well, quite a few, really. He killed Nightmare after (unintentionally) releasing him from his seal, he fought off Dark Matter three times in a row, he got betrayed by two separate characters (both of whom wanted power over Popstar, of course) and kicked both their asses, one time he went to fucking space and faced off against a cult and their dark god who threatened the entire universe. Actually, that wasn't even the first time he saved the universe: in Planet Robobot, he destroyed a being who attempted to kill all organic life. In Return to Dreamland, he faced off against a wizard who tried to conquer the universe, only to be assimilated by the artifact he used to take it over. What I'm getting at is that he's responsible for the safety of Popstar and the universe as a whole several times over.

But it doesn't even stop there- Kirby's also known for being a very good friend and a positive influence to others in general. The most notable example is King Dedede, a tyrant who stole all the food in Dreamland in the very first game, but had a change of heart once he had his ass beaten by Kirby and tried to do good in the next, albeit in a very roundabout way with no communication at all. In his most recent outing, King Dedede put himself in harm's way to save a single waddle dee fresh out of possession, and it's clear he wouldn't have done that without Kirby's influence. This isn't even the only case- Gooey was shaped by Kirby's love and attention, the villain of Return to Dreamland ended up regretting the harm he caused to Kirby, Taranza was able to stand up to Queen Sectonia because of Kirby, and there are probably a few other cases.

Kirby, due to all of this, is both very admirable and very simple. He's the hero. The good guy that you always play as, for good reason. Due to all this, I don't think I can say anything bad about him. There aren't any qualities that get in the way of his heroism (Kirby's Avalanche is NOT canon), he seems to understand the moral implications of his actions since he's happy when his friends are, and if Meta Knight and Galacta Knight are the same species as him then Kirby is technically also capable of being evil, meaning he does in fact have moral agency.

I. Don't really have much else to say on the matter tbh

Poster's Ruling: 55 (Pure of Heart)

[endlessnirvana]

Definitely not historically accurate. This is the Cyanide Pill TV Trope.

I was, however, disappointed that Nirvana in Fire failed to take advantage of the existence of a historical assassin’s teapot with two compartments that allowed one to serve both normal tea (to oneself) and poisoned tea (presumably to one’s enemies) without arousing suspicion.

Could’ve been used to explain why Princess Nihuang still decided to accept that drink after having been warned by Sir Su to be careful.

In Nirvana in Fire, one of the assassins chomps down on a suicide tooth to avoid being interrogated by Xia Dong. We were discussing whether or not it’s historical. Apparently it was developed by British and American secret service agencies during WWII but was never in common use. This Atlas Obscura article gave a nice summary.