#also THIS is why wwx went through with the golden core transfer

[starry-eyed-psychopomp]

Hey so am I like the only one who picked up on the parallel between Madame Yu and Jiang Fengmian’s last words to Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian?

Because this is what Madame Yu does:

She hugs and kisses Jiang Cheng, then turns around and tells Wei Wuxian to protect him at all costs

And this is what Jiang Fengmian does:

He strokes Jiang Cheng’s head, then turns to Wei Wuxian and tells him to protect Jiang Cheng

I cannot stress enough that these interactions happen within five pages of each other. Like, Madame Yu is harsher with Wei Wuxian than Jiang Fengmian is, but these are fundamentally the same things. They comfort Jiang Cheng like parents, then they order Wei Wuxian to protect their son.

I’ll never really believe the take that Jiang Fengmian saw Wei Wuxian as a son and favored him over Jiang Cheng because when it came down to it, these were his last words to them. He may have been kinder to Wei Wuxian than Madame Yu was, but fundamentally he never saw him as any more of his own son than she did

[admirableadmiranda]

Hello! I love your metas and fanfics very much!

Since you have a vast knowledge about the text, I have a question: Do you think there's a possibility that WWX knew/suspected that JC distracted the Wens for him all along?

I personally think it's a possibility bc WWX is very smart, and didn't he said something along the lines of 'how come he didn't see JC on the way back to Lotus Pier when he's the one running as fast as he can' ? Though it's also possible for WWX to think that JC went back but got careless halfway through, so he was caught and got a faster ride back. What do you think?

This concept is something I saw on a Chinese "characters watching the series" fanfic a while ago, but the more I thought about it, the more I like it bc it would be such a hard slap to JC's ego and it's very funny. Imagine for some reason JC's actions are revealed post-canon and everyone thought that WWX will feel shocked or something, but in reality WWX isn't even surprised lmao. Still, whether or not WWX knew about it won't affect his decision to transfer his core to JC anyway.

You can ignore this if you want.

Hello anon! Thank you very much for the kind compliment.

As to your question, I certainly think it’s possible that Wei Wuxian could have come to that conclusion later on; although in the moment I think he’s less focused on why Jiang Cheng left and more finding him as quickly as possible before something bad occurs.

I personally think that in the end, Wei Wuxian chose not to dwell on why Jiang Cheng left, for all he knew Jiang Cheng got ambushed by soldiers when he wasn’t looking, or saw them coming and went looking for a new place to hide before getting caught, or possibly decided to try and lure them off, or even was so caught up in his anger and grief that right after Wei Wuxian left, he got up on his own to go try and kill any Wens he could with his bare hands.

Wei Wuxian rarely tries to guess at other people’s internal lives once the moment has passed. He may offer some theories or possibilities, but he doesn’t really linger in what drove the choices. They have been made now and he has to live in the world that comes after the choices. Regardless of what Jiang Cheng’s intent was, the end result is he got captured, his core crushed and Wei Wuxian gave up his own core so that Jiang Cheng could live and cultivate again, knowing that he could survive what Jiang Cheng could not.

He may have wondered and even come to the correct conclusion, but in the end it doesn’t change the outcome, and it doesn’t really change that Jiang Cheng continues to treat him worse and worse over time. As he himself says in the book, “let the self judge right and wrong. Let gains and losses go uncommented on.” Jiang Cheng made a sacrifice for him, yes, but so did Wei Wuxian. And if their mutual responses were to never say anything, but in their actions acknowledge that these choices were made and their care for the person involved shown, then MDZS would be a much happier book.

The point of the core sacrifice on Jiang Cheng’s side isn’t really to redeem him or prove that he was the one who lost the most of the two of them, it’s just to show how dramatically he’s changed between seventeen and thirty five. Once he cared enough about Wei Wuxian to do something risky and distract the Wens so he wouldn’t be caught. The Jiang Cheng of the present day certainly wouldn’t do that, the Jiang Cheng of the past was offered that chance again when Wei Wuxian went to protect the Wen Remnants and flatly turned it down. He made a choice once that put Wei Wuxian first and refused to make it again after that. For him Wei Wuxian was not worth the possible prices of anything, but he always held that lost golden core close in his heart as a reason why Wei Wuxian should stay by his side and not inconvenience him anymore. Wei Wuxian owes him the loss of his golden core (never mind that Wei Wuxian got him a new, stronger one and Jiang Cheng knows this even before he knows it was Wei Wuxian’s core) and he won’t forget that nor accept the returning of the debt and that is the first and most fracturing death of their relationship, is the part where Jiang Cheng is returned that which he lost and more…and doesn’t let go of the initial loss and continues to hold a grudge about it.

That’s why he never says anything at the end, cause there’s no point. Wei Wuxian wouldn’t hear it as an “I loved you” and Jiang Cheng couldn’t say it to him that way any more. There is too much bad behind them, Jiang Cheng has done too many cruel things and he knows this. That’s why it’s a good ending for him that their relationship finally ends and that last little secret dies with it. All it does is necrotize a dead relationship and hurt both of them again. Whether or not Wei Wuxian could guess on Jiang Cheng’s thought process, how does that make up for everything that followed? What difference does it really make?

The problem with people wanting Wei Wuxian to know about this sacrifice is it still doesn’t change anything that came later. If Wei Wuxian knows that Jiang Cheng deliberately distracted the guards to save him, then he still would secretly give him his golden core under the illusion of a gift from an immortal, he’d still get thrown into the burial mounds and invent his Guidao, Jiang Cheng would still get bitter and angry about Wei Wuxian surpassing him in cultivation and power levels and would still refuse to help him with the Wens or stand with him in any way. The only real difference it would make is that Wei Wuxian would have more ways to be disappointed in Jiang Cheng because he has a more concrete point of Jiang Cheng actively getting worse and following in his mother’s footsteps.

If it were meant to make a difference to Jiang Cheng, then we would have seen it in story. There is a point as a teenager where he could change, he could put in the work and grow as a decent person. But he doesn’t. Instead of letting that debt go as with a new golden core, nothing more is owed, he keeps holding onto it and demanding that Wei Wuxian do more and more to pay it, a debt that Wei Wuxian has fulfilled. You can’t do that if you want people to like and trust you. You can’t exponentially increase interest on a paid debt to make up for everything that you do. You can’t ignore your half of the give and take of the world. You can’t only take and never give.

It might be pretty funny if that got revealed and Wei Wuxian’s response was to ignore it. Given the way the book ends I don’t think it would come from Jiang Cheng, but maybe if it were a jc stan who went into post canon to yell at WWX for being “so mean to his brother” and reveal that tidbit, WWX would just ignore her and move on with his life because it still doesn’t change anything else. But I do really like the way it ended where Jiang Cheng just lets it and Wei Wuxian go because he makes the second loving choice to Wei Wuxian on the page in his life and stops holding onto that which he cannot keep.

[righteousinadversity]

I have been rereading the Novel, and today I finished Chapters Nightfall and Loyalty.

This is the point of the reveal of Wei Wuxian's fall. How he went from the promising young master to the scrouge of the Cultivation World. This is the last veil regarding his past, except for the Golden Core Transfer.

What is revealed during this time, destroys every single preconceived notion the story builds up through rumours since the beginning. The horror story of the Yiling Patriarch, the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation is finally, finally revealed.

And what is the story?

The story is about War. It is about a society, drunk on power and vengeance and hatred. It is about the worst parts of human nature, the ugliest side of the world. It is about a man, who suffered the worst sort of hells, who saw innocents tortured for nothing but their name, who threw himself against the world for them. Who knew righteousness by its name, who turned from the bright path lined with inactions and took the single log bridge of doing the right thing.

The Burial Mounds Arc in the MDZS is the arc where I like no one, NO ONE, Except WWX and the Wens.

I despise the Jins who tortured innocents, who were uninvolved in the War, who were living in wretched conditions as is. Who, in their cruel bid for power, slaughtered innocents, the old and the young. Who put a fucking child in a labour camp. Who tortured an old woman because she could not be used for labour. Who ripped their humanity away from them, making them into nothing more than dogs.

Jiang Cheng, who is the fucking personification of ungratefulness, of apathy and cruelty and selfish, selfish power. Who understands nothing of debts, nothing of righteousness, nothing of the basest gratitude. Who looked at a village of old and weak people and condemned them to their deaths. Who looked at the boy who rescued him and tried to put a sword through him. Who cut off the last respite for Wei Wuxian and declared him an enemy of the world.

I am angry, angry that neither NMJ nor LXC did anything to investigate the horrors the Jins did to the Wens, despite WWX, who had every reason to hate the Wens saying so in the banquet, despite knowing they were innocent of war crimes. I hate that they fought a tyrant who committed atrocities and did nothing as the atrocities continued under a different hand. I hate that they allowed the hatred for the Wens to overwhelm the good in them, and turned blind eye to cruelty. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

I very much side-eye JYL and LWJ for seeing the situation WWX was in and not lending him a helping hand, at least materialistically. Both are in complicated situations, I understand, but neither are absolved of the fact that they both saw WWX and the state he was in and did not offer any material support whatsoever.

The cultivation world, so drunk on their power, who turned on the man who was a war hero, who they praised for the very path they hypocritically called unorthodox.

I think of Wen-popo and fourth uncle and Wen Qing and the Wen Remnants, kind to the very end, and I am furious about what they suffered. I think of the family A-Yuan had, and I ache for him. I think of the people who became family for Wei Wuxian, and I feel a deep loss in my heart.

The Wen Remnants deserved none of the horrors they suffered; and every single one of the sects who led a siege against them despite knowing they were innocent (“The fifty cultivators on Burial Mound are also innocent, so why do you have to involve them?”) were responsible for it.

(On the other hand, Mianmian deserves a shrine built in her honour for looking at the growing corruption and saying, 'Fuck All Of You'. What a Queen.)

There is something so heartbreaking about this revelation, that this man who is cheerful, fun-loving, flirty and filled with laughter and love and kindness, who is mischievous and smart and powerful, suffered this for doing the right thing. That the crime everyone disparaged him for was standing up for the innocents. That society pushed a boy with starlight in his laugh to the very brink of death.

"Him, who failed miserably as he stood drenched in blood, who couldn’t do anything except silently acknowledge the critiques and accusations, who was wholly beyond hope, who could only cry in despair!"

That despite all of this, he still looks upon his past without hatred or thirst for vengeance, is still resolved to do the right thing, who will remember his actions, who will not deny them their anger, despite the fact that they are ungrateful pathetic cowards who did not deserve the righteousness he held in his heart.

Wei Wuxian deserves the world. Wen Remnants deserved the World.

[incarnadinedreams]

A random thought occurred to me, but:

Is there ever novel canon confirmation that Jiang Cheng actually knew Wen Ning went to Lotus Pier to find out what happened to Wei Wuxian afterwards, and not to participate in the massacre of the Jiang sect?

It occurred to me that this could be one of the many somethings that we as readers know, and that Wei Wuxian knows, but that he might have just... not mentioned to Jiang Cheng.

As far as I remember the timeline roughly goes:

They sneak back to Lotus Pier after being sent off and that's when they see all the dead bodies, the buildings being looted, etc. They both see Wen Ning examining the Jiang corpses on the battlefield. We later find out that Wen Ning saw them and didn't raise the alarm, but at the time they thought they just managed to hide well enough and set out towards Meishan.

I don't think we know the specifics of what happened after Jiang Cheng was captured or if Wen Ning had any interaction with him while he was conscious. Wen Ning knows enough to comment about Wen Chao finding the Jiang discipline whip and that "Jiang-gongzi should have other injuries as well", but what Wen Ning direct witnessed, what Jiang Cheng knows Wen Ning witnessed, and what exactly happened beyond that are all vague.

At this point even WWX is still suspicious of Wen Ning's motivations and considers killing him because they saw him with the Jiang corpses before - he himself assumes WN was part of the forces that helped slaughter the Jiang sect. But this is where WN explains to WWX that he only came to Lotus Pier because he'd heard what Wen Chao did and that he doesn't order his people to kill people. (JC is not even in the scene yet, that's when WN goes back in to get him.)

The next we see Jiang Cheng, he's still unconscious while being carried by Wen Ning out of Lotus Pier.

When JC finally wakes up he (understandably) freaks out about the fact that they're now in a Wen Supervisory Office, somehow, and doesn't know how the hell they got there except Wens, but is pretty quickly shut up via the coma-needle trick and is back to being unconscious for three days.

Then they leave, secret golden core transfer, WWX is captured, yada yada.

So if WWX forgot to clarify a few finer details later on, that would be completely understandable because there was kind of a lot going on at the time.

After this point there are never any specifics mentioned that I can remember. It's obvious Jiang Cheng knows they were generally helped by the Wen siblings based on his attempting to speak for them at the emergency conference, but he was completely unconscious for part of it and being actively deceived about the other part... he doesn't actually know very many details first-hand.

Mostly it would just be interesting to me if a lot of his obviously very mixed feelings towards Wen Ning could be in part because as far as he knows/thinks/witnessed, Wen Ning was there with the rest of the Wens as part of the group that actively slaughtered the Jiang sect. He saw him rifling through the Jiang sect's corpses himself.

Did he ever learn differently? Did Wei Wuxian ever pass that info along, or did they avoid talking about it completely? Because of course he wouldn't want to talk about that time, they've got bigger concerns and he's desperately trying to hide secrets over here, the last thing he wants to do is talk to Jiang Cheng about their time in Yiling, right?

Even later during the "flower that blooms alone" confrontation in the cave, WWX only alludes to WN helping them recover JFM and YZY's bodies and shelter in Yiling (i.e. stuff that happened after the massacre), but did anyone ever say "oh btw even though we saw him there right after, Wen Ning also didn't actually directly participate in murdering your family"?

When I read the novel initially I think I just assumed that he did, at some point, clarify the circumstances of how and why Wen Ning got to Lotus Pier that day... except that's an awfully huge assumption that I'm not actually sure is safe to make, given the general clusterfuck of events and unconsciousness and also All The Stuff Nobody Bothered to Tell Jiang Cheng as a general theme.

I'm not sure if it even matters, in the end. Compared to all the other far bigger things he didn't know, would it make any difference at all? Would such a small detail really have changed anything about how things played out?

But it's something that occurred to me that could be an interesting point to pull into headcanons and fic or whatever if nothing else...

[not-rude-ginger]

"He got all the emotional intelligence either side of his family could muster, which isn't a lot but he's got more than the rest!" xD You are so right about our princeling. Love JL so much for it and you get it.

Also, if it's "appreciating details of not-rude-ginger's writing" hour, then I love your LWJ. Post WWX resurrection, LWJ can sometimes come as someone who no longer cares about anything if it's WWX doing something, but that is a disservice to his character, which is why I greatly appreciate that you show him disagreeing with him not just in the inconsequential, but also things that WWX really thinks he's doing right, both in the present when he tries to trick JC (and everyone else) into moving "the parasite" into WWX's own body, and also in the past, when LWJ admits that under further inspection the golden core transfer was a little fucked up. Having LWJ actually say that WWX is wrong when he crosses boundaries and is important for the future balance of their relationship, so I really love you for showing it. [Not having the narrative (and LWJ) rewarding WWX's bad traits is important for his development!]

Another thing I absolutely loved about your LWJ was that his attempt to apologize to JC went absolutely sideways. I adored it because JC saw right through him (because JC can be insightful!) and called him out in a way he didn't know how to face (because LWJ hates the fact JC can understand him! tries to force him to examine things he doesn't want to!) and the goodwill moment just crashed in such a natural way it was beautiful. And yet, despite that, later LWJ still stayed to protect JC when WWX was needed elsewhere, awkwardness and all. I love him for that.

(An extra LWJ detail I enjoyed: his reaction to XY's death. I love the reminder that even though he's as much of a war veteran as WWX and JC, he was never as vicious as they were, and certain things are less palatable to him. Still, he marches on.)

Oops, I didn't realize I had that much to say, my bad! Bunny got excited because I absolutely love your writing. Thanks so much for sharing your stuff with us! 🐰💛

All this love is amazing!!

I love LWJ in all his stubborn bitchy glory and while he's more fun to write in Ink because that's a comedy and his reactions are funny, I enjoy finding his depths in For What because I feel he still has strong convictions, even if a lot of it becomes very WWX focused. Still, not letting WWX do self sacrificing stuff is better for everyone so he can't just let him do anything he wants.

Also, him and JC have excellent chemistry and woe to all if they ever bury the hatchet completely and become a WWX and duckling defense team.

Also, while he's mostly been in the background of For What, he is having to absorb that JC isn't some cold hearted monster but a very competent and caring person, even if he doesn't like his style. He's been going on his own journey in Lotus Pier.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Wei Wuxian comes back from the Burial Mounds with the inability to lie. Somehow it seems to be a curse inflicted by Suibian- Sandu?- who is not amused by wwx's decision to just give his core away.

Thank you! <3

“You cannot do this to me,” Wei Wuxian hissed at his sword.

His sword did not respond.

This was not a surprise, since it was a sword, and yet Wei Wuxian was convinced that Suibian was to blame for his current dilemma. After all, what else could explain such a very specific issue tied directly to his golden core other than the only other thing he had allowed a direct tie into it?

Besides, everyone knew that spiritual weapons were temperamental, in need of careful care and consideration, and Wei Wuxian had, well, more or less done the one thing that meant he was going to have to give up using Suibian. It made sense that Suibian would be angry enough to curse him.

Also, when Jiang Cheng had handed him Suibian and their hands had been on it at the same moment, the sword – Wei Wuxian would swear – had very briefly vibrated, as if in response to a command.

And ever since then…

Well.

Listen, it’d be one thing if he walked out of the Burial Mounds without the ability to lie, okay? A weird churning compulsion to tell the truth, originating deep in his belly right where his golden core had once been before he’d given it up...yes, it would make sense. It would be – weird, incredibly so, but it wasn’t like his particular brand of demonic cultivation had much precedent, what with all the other variations involving a great deal more murdering people to harvest their power. Not to mention the whole idea of cultivating post-golden core; that wasn’t exactly something that had happened many times before!

So that would have made sense. Since it was new, it was reasonable that there would be side effects, even bizarre side effects.

It was not reasonable that the side effect in question – the inability to lie – had an area of impact that tied directly into the presence of one Jiang Cheng.

No Jiang Cheng? Wei Wuxian could be as free with the truth as he liked.

Jiang Cheng somewhere in the vicinity but not immediately present? He started tripping up on it. Strange restrictions appeared on his tongue, choking him; there seemed to be no logical sense to them or to the way they wove in and out of his speech, presumably depending on where Jiang Cheng was standing at any given moment. Why some exaggerations were acceptable while others were considered untruths and thus forbidden, Wei Wuxian had yet to figure out.

Jiang Cheng standing beside him?

It was time for Wei Wuxian to keep his mouth shut because every word that passed through his lips had to be weighed and found truthful as if he were standing before the judges of the dead.

That was all bad enough, of course, but recently even omissions had started burning at his lips, and that was just very much not on.

“It’s for his own good,” he argued, pleading, beseeching. “You can’t make me tell him. He would only be hurt if he knew!”

Suibian did not respond.

It was, after all, just a sword.

Even if it was currently behaving more like a backstabbing dagger.

(Nie Huaisang would have said that the sword wasn’t acting like anything at all.

Wei Wuxian had circuitously brought up the issue to him on one of his rare visits to the safe back line, reasoning out of sheer desperation that Nie Huaisang was the only person he knew that was gullible enough that he could tell the whole story to him without risking him figuring out the entire thing.

Nie Huaisang had laughed long and hard at it – Wei Wuxian couldn’t really blame him, since he’d claimed it was a story he’d seen in a play and if it had been happening in a play he would’ve found it funny, too – and then said that the playwright had missed the obvious answer: that it wasn’t the sword at all.

What could it be other than the sword, Wei Wuxian had asked.

It’s all in his mind, Nie Huaisang had said. He feels guilty, so he’s doing it to himself, and he’s blaming the sword because it’s the only other thing that he feels guilty towards. What else could it be?)

“Wei Wuxian!” Jiang Cheng called, and Wei Wuxian grimaced, hastily hiding Suibian away so that he could pretend to have forgotten it back at camp - so that no one would ask him to use it. He’d apologize to it later. “Are you ready to go?”

“Physically yes, emotionally no,” Wei Wuxian called back, and heard Jiang Cheng snort like a pig with amusement – at least someone was getting something out of this, and no, he wasn’t counting Nie Huaisang.

He didn’t especially want to go, didn’t want to have to be constantly on mental alert to make sure he didn’t blurt out something stupid and life-destroying, but what could he do about it? In the end, he went.

Jiang Cheng looped an arm over his shoulder. “More Wen sect to kill,” he said, briefly looking tough and serious and even, dare Wei Wuxian think it, manly, and then promptly ruined it by smirking at him with exactly the same sort of dumb face he’d used that one time they'd planned on slipping dye into the water Uncle Jiang used to use to wash his hair. “Emotionally ready for that?”

“Comparatively speaking, yes,” Wei Wuxian said.

Jiang Cheng shook his head. “I’m not going to ask what’s going on with you, because if you wanted me to know, you’d tell me,” he said, demonstrating surprising maturity, and possibly also the receipt of advice from the crumpled letter he’d shoved away half-hidden; Wei Wuxian wondered who Jiang Cheng was corresponding with that would dare give him advice like that. “But – you’ll tell me eventually, right?”

“Yes,” Wei Wuxian said impatiently, and then blinked, surprised at himself.

If he’d said it, here with Jiang Cheng so close, then it must be the truth.

He would tell him.

Maybe not immediately, but – eventually.

When he’d agreed to the golden core transfer, did all those things to keep the secret from Jiang Cheng, to make sure he didn’t know, he’d thought he’d take the secret to his grave. He wanted to. He still thought it would only hurt Jiang Cheng to know what he’d done – Jiang Cheng would take it all the wrong ways, doubt himself, blame himself, hurt himself, when all Wei Wuxian wanted was for him to be happy and healthy.

But – Suibian or no Suibian – he couldn’t lie right now.

And if he couldn’t…eventually, one day, Jiang Cheng would ask.

Something would happen.

He’d find out.

If he did it in an unguarded moment - when Wei Wuxian was drunk, perhaps, or over-tired after battle, or punch-drunk after a close encounter - that would be the worst possible thing. He wouldn’t be able to plan out how to phrase it or how to couch it or how to reassure him; it would be nothing but betrayed looks all the way down and Jiang Cheng storming away and all attendant disasters. He’d have to quit the Jiang sect and go live on a mountain out of sheer shame, and that sounded awful even if he could probably con one of those quiet-loves-solitude types like Lan Wangji into joining him. 

And so the only thing to do was…

“Hey, Jiang Cheng,” Wei Wuxian said. Attempt the impossible. “After the battle today, can we – talk?”

“Of course,” Jiang Cheng said, brightening up like the sunrise. “Any time.”

[icecreamkink]

watched all of the untamed / cql in two weeks after my friend 1 told me abt mdzs a hundred years ago and my friends 2 and 3 tried to get me into cql for like two whole years and there are.

feelings.

very first scene is a very dramatic death in the middle of nightmare battle on sith planet land . i will forget abt it in the next tenish episodes and then will be very surprised when it becomes Extremely Painful

anyway magic flying gays and possession and human sacrifice! we are off to a great start

in retrospect, chaos goblin wei wuxian must have had a blast pretending to be so cRaZy and be as disruptive as he could as mo xuanyu lbr

listen. why is fire always evil coded. cant a magic clan wear red, black and orange and have flame motif while being wholesome?

For Legal Reasons These Are Not Zombies

i wish the politics of the sect were a bit clearer, especially at the beggining when the wen clan had sm power, was wen ruohan the chief cultivator? is that why they were so slow in responding to the attacks? im v confused by the pre yiling patriarch politics

fighting in the roof by the moonlight as way of flirtiiiiiiing. as i understand this is a wuxia/xianxia trope and honestly...... thank u for ur service

slight bullying and being a nuisance in general, as a way of flirting we love to see it

wwx: if i drink on the rooftop, thats not inside the cloud recesses! hmmm check and mate :D lwj: i will fuck u up so help me god   wwx: :0

i lov them

through hell or high water (quite literally) wei wuxian rem ains a trashfire gremlin till the end and i love him with my whole heart

in the pt subs wei wuxian calls jiang cheng a stubborn duck and i dearly wish that had come back

my opinions on almost every character goes from love to hate u - Hmm Me Like U - BABY. ILY. and i am Very Pleased w that. its been a while since i loved such a complete cast so much i think

no really. i WONT go into a detailed rant abt what i love about each of these characters and each of their relationships to each other. but i COULD. 

some lan disciples in the loudest whisper ever: YEAH THATS THE JIN BASTARD MENG YAO HEARD THE GOT SUPER HUMILIATED BY HIS DAD LOL SURE HOPE HE DOESNT TAKE SLIGHTS TO HIS CHARACTER TO HEART

lan xichen, immediately: i must Love him 

being into problematic ppl is in the Lan genetics, we come to realize

wen qing deserves so many awards for so many things but not snapping and just stabbing wen chao is at the top 

that scene at lan qirens class where wwx talks about using resentful energy to fight a violent spirit. exquisite.

 It establishes Good Student lan wangji, wei wuxian as curious and questioning and not afraid of taboo,  lwj sees that wwx is not, in fact, a dumb ass hes just a Dumbass,  shows us the audience (esp. a western audience) how shocking the idea of disrupting the dead/dying and controlling resentful energy actually is,  the theoretical foreshadow arguing, everyone else like ‘shUT UP’,  “and how could you ensure that the resentful energy would obey you and not hurt other?” “well i havent thought that far” and of course, lan qiren just straight up lobbing a hard object at wwx head,. chefs kiss

fellas is it gay to bother the hot rule obessessed nerd from ur school and make drawings of him with flowers in his hair and then hide gay porn in his book to antagonize him and ask him to hold ur hand and be ur friend and talk to him all the time and get him drunk and give him bunnies bc you know he likes them and give him a lantern and always want his attention and dedicate yourself to getting him to smile-

and after all of that wwx rly said oh i Admire him, aksd like yeah we all were there in high school buddy

i have Learned. caves = gay.

 accidental marriage +beint physically tied together with the sacred married ribbon+ gay panic+foreshadowing+bunnies! in the cave (1)

the story abt lan yi and baoshan sanren tho. i would like to see it

early days wen bros pull my heart strings like a guqin 

EVERYTHING about the lantern scene; disaster hets jiang yanli and jin zixuan; how wwx made lwj a bunny lantern. how soft and touched lwj was. wwx gleefully pointing out he was smiling and lwj IMMEDIATELY PULLING HIW SWORD ON HIM LMAO. tragically foreshadowy promises to do right by pepople, living without regrets. lwjs 'oh no do i love him??' face. just. all of it. 

i have it on good acc that in the novel lwj is explicitly Repressed Gay Panicked Big Horny which is delightful and rly Adds to the performance

 baby lwj is really just conceal dont feel dont let them know u have EMOTIONS (derogatory)

jiang cheng rly went "why dont.u go play with HIM if u like him so much"

jc and wwx have big BIG annoying sibling energy dont think too hard abt it or youll cry

lotus pier is soo pretty :((((((((((((((((

up until episode 13 you could think this could be a magical ancient chinese gays pride n prejudice w swords and shenanigans ................youre just not prepared for the game of thrones of it all

seriously ha ha ha i cried so much w this show my eyes genuinely swelled up . like. physically. fun timez fun timez

that being said, its hilarious that wen xu goes to cloud recesses like 'come out or ill kill all these hostages' and then DOESNT WAIT FOR AN ASWER AND KILLS THEM ALL IMMEDIATELY. do u know how blackmail works sir

 would like to make it recorded that from day one i was like 'CALL A GODDAMN CULTIVATION G20 THIS ASSHOLE SECT IS LITERALLY MASSACRING YALL!!' and it took them like 3 or 4 massacres to do anything and they STILL sent their heirs into their territory  LIKE

when wwx cites the gusu lan rules to wen chao tho. that rebel/attention whore/cutie pie 'look lan zhan i DID memorize the rules after all' ‘also a big fuck you to the wen sect :D :D’ sweet spot that scene achieves . delicious

all the cultivator young masters being petty af even though they are practically prisoners at the cave is hilarious and i love them

hurt and comfort + gay mistunderstandings + watsonian gay declaration music + accidental evil acquisition! at the cave (2)

its like where do i start? the fact theyre both trapped and kind of heavily injured inside an isolated cave with a murder turtle? wwx gay panicking lwj into coughing up bad blood? lwj being jealous as wwx babbles abt mianmian? telling him he shouldnt play with people and wwx saying he never played him? wwx going Oh. I See what is happening. YOU like mianmian, and lwj absolute done face ??? (iconic) wwx touching the sacred married ribbon Again? the telepathic communication? the sword? WEI WUXIAN ASKING LAN WANGJI TO SING TO HIM AS HE IS PASSING OUT AND LWJ SINGING HIM. THE SONG. HE WROTE. FOR WWX. AND THAT HE CALLED. THEIR SHIP NAME????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

they are SO insufferable pleeeeease

in the words of my friend 1 : “CQL is so gay we were all amazed how it got past the censors Ofc unfortunately it can't be novel level gay But they did their best And we love them for it”

in the theme of songs THIS OST. WUJI HAS BEEN LIVING IN MY MIND RENT FREE SINCE I FIRST HEARD IT the whole ost is so so sO beautiful.

 the costuming in this is also soooo exquisite. the embroidery? the fabrics? the details? how every sect and clan has a distinct style and architecture? (also ik they based each off of dif periods in chinese history which is REALLY fucking cool) just chefs kiss

the direction too!. i enjoy the unusual camera movements and i think they give it that Vibe, also their composition is PARTICULARLY good when it comes to telling the subtext through position of camera/position of character (like nhs off to the side in scenes he at first glance doesnt need to be/ how lwj is often centered when hes Jealous Yearning at wwx being affectionate w other ppl, wwx return from burial mounds etc)

ik madam yu is like Badass Milf Check and shes not getting any mom of the year awards but im delighted at how messy she is. IMAGINE that woman on tiktok

you better have enjoyed gay cave (2) bc its Just Pain from here on out! 

jiang fengmian and madame yu win the Most Dramatic Way to show they do care about each other, actually ..... ever :)

i thought jiang yanli jiang cheng and wei wuxian forcing themselves to escape yunmeng barely holding on after their parents are killed was going to be the height of pain in this show. ha. 

the family dynamics in general on this showwwww, both blood/ adopted/ found families, brotherly bonds and lifelong friendships just. rly. truly. fucked me up. theyre all so important and complicated and well rounded and beautiful and tragic

and beyond being a Win For the Gays im so glad the relationships w wwx and jiang yanli/ wen qing were NOT changed from platonic bc they are so much better like that imo. like maybe if we didnt Live In A Society it wouldnt be so, but the fact wwx and others can love and value them so much and theres nothing romantic or sexual abt it is like. so refreshing. especially @ jyl, with the way he and jc are overprotective of her and shes such a nurturing/care taker figure for them, it would just not vibe as well if they made it romantic

i love that this is a story abt Wei Wuxian, the Yiling Patriarch aka Actual Satan/Boogey Man/Village With/Public Enemy Number One , my dude is literally a necromancer who only dresses in black and has evil smokey black tendrils wafting out of him, but the really edgy one is still jiang cheng, pastel purple fashion icon

and speaking of best/worst siblings wei wuxian and jiang cheng *immediately starts crying* 

The Golden Core Transfer i just. no thots only tears 

wen qing and wen ning putting themselves in so much danger just.... to help them. wn saving jc from wen chao. wq finding a way to get wwx to transfer his core. like thinking about the monumental work these two did to help wwx and jyl and jc... jyl trying so fucking hard to be strong and keep on moving and giver her little brothers comfort after losing everything... jiang cheng. losing his parents and his home and his ability to do anything abt it and his complete desperation and lack of self worth and turning on them with agression  when he didnt realize all that they did for him ... hhhhhhhhhhhhh

me, pointing at the whole cast “i just LOVE them mom!!!”

its sad tho, that BARELY ANY of the women have like.... actual important conversations let alone relationships with each other at all in the story. and like wq and jyl have stayed at the same place for extended periods of time, where wq actively took care of her TWICE,  and still! not one measly convo, nothing! ................ .𝓌ₕᵧ

everyone in this show need a good sip of Self Worth and Stop Sacrificing Yourself juice 

ngl the sword flying looks very dumb 

“a-cheng, please bring a-xian back.” “i will, i promise.” ;-;

the whole calling each other by the More Intimate Version of the name, first as teasing and later as true intimacy. mmmhmmm yes

untamed where everythings the same but wwx evil flute song is eoeo

related that scene when wwx comes back from the burial mounds for the first time w demonic cultivation and he acts all formal and calls lwj hanguang-jun and keeps being evasive and distant and mean and soooooo................. facetious 

and how hes kind of desperately trying to keep intense lwj at bay (A FIRST) and avoiding actually talking to either of them and its all tension ughhh and then he MOCKS his and lwjs relationship, he jokes w him in this like... mean echo of their usual ~banter~ oof 

 and like!!! uncertain but so relieved jc who just HUGS him w no reservations for once and its not like he isnt just as worried as lwj abt wwx and what hes doing, but he chooses in that moment to enjoy getting him back first and mmhmMMMmMm yes (maybe my favorite scene in the whole show? MAYBE SO. ) 

highkey hurt me but also. i might be into mean wwx. i will take no criticism.

lan zhans sad eyes tho :((((((((( 

on one hand i wish we could have seen what happened at the burial mounds but on the other the timeskip adds so much flair to his return so im hnnn

also i love that hes been missing for 3 months reappears kinda melancholic and bloodthirsty and knowing malign tricks and jc is like 'so. are u sad bc of lan wangji'

when ur bae survived the war but he thinks ur evil/ might be evil so you cant kiss :///

hmmm talking at the rooftop under the moonlight not mentioning everything that stands between usssss

they are the two jades of lan and we’ll be the two heroes of yunmeng is the type of line u dont even need to know whats gonna happen to know thats gonna be sad

when they fight wen ruoshan at the nightless city i thought that was the battle we see at the first ep and its not and its so easy and theyre all like ‘yayy we won go wwx!’ i was just. SCREAMS WHAT is gonna HAPPEN

so like. post burial mounds/sunshot campaign pre yiling patriarch wwx is like. ultra arrogant, ultra mocking, peak lil shit and it gave me e v e r y t h i n g i wanted

even tho having the wen prisoners at the targets at phoenix mountain and still having wwx and jzx shooting the arrows was???? so.... tone deaf 

wwx: fucking w demonic energy   jyl: he has never done anything wrong in his life, ever <3 <3 (mood)

the parallels between meng yao/wei wuxian (and even xue yang a bit?) are Seen and they are Valid

wwx post burial mounds: can yall SHUT UP abt the goddamn sword (suibian left the chat)

LIKE truly, we talk abt the angst and yearning with wangxian. but what abt wwx and suibian. xianbian / xianqing angst and comfort 100k

take a shot everytime someone coughs up blood

zidian is simply the coolest spiritual weapon rip to suibian and chenqing and bichen and sendou and baixa........ but tis the truth 

cons: everyones families died in a nightmare war! everyones homes burned to the ground! everyone is traumatized! pros: everyone gets cooler clothes and weapons!!

wen ning and a-yuan and yanli bestest babes squad dont touch me rn

everyone: brooding and fighting                                                                wq and jyl: why dont you try some acupunture/drinking some soup and calm down huh? how abt that bitch?? 

showing the battle/massacre at the nightless city first was genius actually bc then everytime we have a cute scene w yunmeng bros and theyre like 'we'll be together forever! uwu' youre like oh. oh no. oh no no no. 

justice vs lawfulness vs means and ends 👁

jc: stay in the right path and practice the art of the sword                        wx: yeah thats not gonna happen chief

my reaction to wwx renouncing to the sect politics to help the wens was just that elmo burning gif in succession

the dramatic rain. wen qing desperately calling out to wen ning. the ghosts/puppets killing the guards. how terrifying wn actually was while wwx was controlling him :( lwj goeing after him to try and stop him and then he just; he Sees him and understands him even if he cant actually do anything about it other than let them go. 

“there must be somewhere in this earth we can go to :(((((((((”

"IF I HAVE TO FIGHT THEM, I'D RATHER IT BE YOU. DYING BY YOUR HANDS WOULD AT LEAST BE WORTH IT." oh my god oh my god oh my goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooddddddd

also lwjs umbrella is white w black smoke.. .  . nice

yiling patriarch / demonic farming burial mounds settlement is like one of my favorite concepts. they an "EVIL" FARMING COMMUNITY LED BY THE VILLAGE WITCH COME ON

they planted TURNIPS and LOTUS FLOWERS and ONE (1) baby and made lanterns and a common hall :(((((((

wen qing and wei wuxian, baddest bitches and genius science best friends i absolutely LOVED to see it. they rly went ‘is anyone gonna sibling/project partner that’ and didnt wait for an answer

both wwx and jyl getting lotus ponds at the burial mounds and in lanling bc they miss lotus pier ;;;;;;;w

;;;;; wish jyl had actually gone into the burial mounds. we were robbed of jyl and wq meeting again and jyl meeting a-yuan and seeing the settlement and the homes and all ;w; at least jc did go, stab wounds and broken arms and all

wwx like... having thrown his whole life away to help the wens (yeah the sect leaders and jin guangshan in particular wanting his stygian tiger amulet was an Element but still) and not.... necessarily regretting it, but grappling with all of the consequences of it... becoming moody and drepressed at times, missing his family and lotus pier and his friends and probably simply missing being around people and causing trouble, extrovert that he is, lashing out at the wens and at a-yuan, just in general the whole messiness of that experience

the way the resentful energy does affect his temperament is rly nice bc its not too in your face,(i mean outside of the Shaky Hands of Rage) but like he clearly has a much lesser control on his anger and impulsivity (tall order) than both before bm and after hes ressurected

on that note A-YUAN BABIEST BABY BOY BEST BOY

lan zhan being like oh hey there wei ying fancy meeting u and our son here. just passing by u know how it is hmmmmMm and then PLOT TWIST having defied orders to go see him and being punished for it. oof;;

 they habent seen each other in like? a year? and now theyre tgt 10 seconds and are already parenting a child together

also lwj rly kneels down in the snow way too much to be healthy

wwx: calm down guyssss i wont lose control of demonic cultivation omgggg  .   spoiler alert: he loses control of demonic cultivation

did u enjoy cute children? good bc now the Real Pain Begins

jiang yanli and jin zixuan rly out there APROPRIATING both disaster gays AND bury ur gays huh ;w;

i KNEW jin lings birthday was gonna fuck something up but the GASP that left my body when wwx lost control of wn and killed jin zixuan .. . . 

im sorry and thank you aaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaAAAAaAAAAA 

when wen ning and wen qing were telling wwx their plan i was saying NO NO NO NO NO NO out loud in despair 

also can we talk abt how wq is definetely talking about only the both of them surrending themselves but then? everyone else just surrenders w them? IT MAKES NO SENSE LIKE WHY WOULD THEY what would be the Point

 sometimes there are some pretty gaping jumps in logic and continuity that are just like                     ?          ?

wwx: oh so when you try to murder me its justified but when i survive through dark magic and murder all of you its a "war crime"

unsurprisingly, his most feral, most spiraling moment talking to the sect leaders on the roof and attacking them and even fighting lan zhan is among my favorite scenes... its like, so painful to watch but also   so       thrilling   (and maybe my wen bbs dying arose some resentful energy in me what can i say) 

and its JUST, all they ever wanted was to do good but then... war. and trauma. and hubris. 

jiang cheng on the ground clearly thorn between what to do and feel is a Mood, lets just say

i was already crying when jyl showed up, but if i wasnt-

 i suffered SO MUCH through this series trying to figure out WHY jc would kill wwx. and when i understood. its somehow not as bad as i thought and also MUCH MUCH WORSE

a look into my group chat during the last flashback episodes:

SO ANYWAY. after the BLOOD BATH and RIPPING YOUR HEART OUT and FEEDING IT TO YOU  the untamed goes ‘ayy back to the present!! tu du dud ud du’ 

literally it ends a quarter into an episode and then KEEPS GOING i had to pause and stare blankly at the ceiling for an hour

babie cultivators and detective soulmates . i do need some cute after All of That 

(not that the pain is over LOL)

lwj is significantly less emotionally repressed in the present and its delightful. hes just ALL IN with wwx. and not just in the ‘i would and have killed various men and risked my reputation for you’ but also ‘ur tired here have a drink i brought it up cause i know u like it and it want you to be happy, always’

“when everyone praised me and wanted my power, you were the only one that challenged me. now that everyone hates me and wants me dead, youre the only one that stands by my side.” hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnn 

and just filling in the blanks how lan zhan searched for him. for all of those 16 years he searched for him and was punished for it and raised a-yuan, the only survivor of the burial mounds settlement, as his own in gusu......

and jiang cheng.  being the tough love uncle . having raised the yunmeng jiang clan from the rubble all alone, his whole family dead, some of it on the blame of his own brother, his siblings, his closest friends gone.......and only jin ling there needing his guidance. 

THE PARALLEL BETWEEN JIN LING BEING A LIFELINE FOR JIANG CHENG AND A-YUAN FOR LAN WANGJI AFTER THE BATTLE AT THE NIGHTLESS CITY  

great now i made myself sad

and like . the fact! that lwj and jc dislike each other!!. jc projects blame onto him for wwx both “leaving” him and indirectly causing their families deaths and when hes so consumed by it he makes wwx an enemy, lwj is there now? trying to protect him?? and lwj, who can never understand the pain that wwx , indirectly or not put jc through, but who was right there when jc tried to kill him and will never allow him to hurt wwx again. and how they like. in a way project blame of their tragedies onto each other while dealing with some type of survivor guilt and in their own way still loving wwx through it all???  amd in way its kind of fundamentally selfish but also tragically understandable? and like when u put it against the fact that after he disappears during the sunshot campaign they were looking for him together and fought together??

JUST. THE CHARACTERS. AND THE RELATIONSHIPS IN THIS. MAN. UGH. GOD. 

and like i think thats what makes it so good? its such a sad and painful and violent story, edgy even, but its compelling bc at the center of it there are all of these relationships and different types of love and hope and. :( i love it

enough crying lets talk abt wwx sleeping at the jingshi with lwj and wearing his under garment for a minute 🙏

 jin ling just has that Was Raised by JC energy tho lmao i love him

babie cultivator squad is the perfect ammount of cute and comedic relief while still bearing the weight? of the narrative in a way, both from sizhui and jin lings existences, and also. like. how do i put this. they feel hopeful? they were born after a war, they came of age at a time of relative peace, they dont hold on so closely to the resentments of their parents/father figures, they are specifically shown as more accepting and open minded. and its like.... Hope for the future  

one of the ?? things  i love the most is the fact that the main cast are often in situations where theyre hunted/running but they like. never wear disguises... just going around in their gorgeous expensive clan clothes and hair ornaments and distinctive spiritual weapons.... maybe w a straw hat on, just for kicks

wwx teacher 🥺🥺🥺

so this is why its called Yi City Misery huh

a-qing is such. an icon. im so sad. my girl even knew to leave xys dumb self rotting by the road but no one listens to her thats why theyre all dead or sad 

her and xue yang measuring each other up was so entertaining lmao

 its the funniest thing when hes like. HERES MY SAD STORY. FOR WHY IM A SADISTIC MURDERER. I BROKE MY HAND ONCE. 

like ok someone broke his hand in a horrible way, and like Poverty, i get it but also like.......... that lost the brunt of a proper sob story like, 50 sadistic murders ago bby

and i love that xingchen does not entertain that for a second hes like ‘not ?????? good enough???’ and the best thing is he wasnt even like 'u hadto be the bigger person' or sth but ' well then break that dudes hand back, rip his arm off for i care, what do the rest of us have to do w anything???” 

anjo sensato :(

xue yang is like..... the sexy sadistic evil version of a himbo..... a meanbo...

the fucked upness of xy’s feelings for xxc/ xxc and sl feelings for each other... like my dude literally gave his bf HIS EYES. and xy getting so attached to xxc .... the fucked up fake domesticity.... having him hurt sl..... then desperately trying to bring him back ...................... oof

song lan........... literally had his eyes AND tongue removed, his bfs eyes put in place, was almost killed, turned into a puppet by his bf unknowingly, manipulated by xy, sees his bf killing himself in despair.... and STILL finds the strenght to get up from there, and keep on traveling and helping people and attempting to fix xxcs soul.......... like, my man. damn. 

wangxian looking at songxiao and seeing an Actually more painful parallel for themselves. ft. that Color Coding. 

THE A-YUAN/SIZHUI REVEAL PUNCHED ME IN THE HEART but in a good way for a change

should have know that he would be the Best Boy the cute one w all the braincells

the butterfly AND the bunny lantern. i see how it is

u know is very convenient that no one can see the stark black veins on wen nings neck, ever 

BAT WEN NING 

wns face when lwj comes into wwx room like ‘:0 omg did u two finally get your shit together? good for you master wei good for u’ 

(they didnt) (yet)

DISASTER DRUNK LWJ. JUST. THRUST SOME CHICKENS TO SHOW UR RESSURECTED BAE THAT U LOVE THEM.

i have absolutely no idea WHY they gave lwj the same punishment for fighting his own sect/allies to protect the burial mounds as when they got drunk on cloud recess class days.... like? its such a ... emotional continuity error again

also is lwj gonna get an actual friend besides wwx , ever

mianmian marrying and having a family and a cute life after saying FUCK U AND UR SYSTEM TOO in a much less unhinged and dramatic way than wwx......... fills me w joy

also lol the idea that like. her husband not knowing that shes friends w satan/the boogey man/the village witch is hilarious

i love nie mingjue bc hes the resident Though Guy but also the most dramatic bitch in this show and thats Saying Something

jin ling cant have one uneventful relative can he

the fact that everyone present already knew “mo xuanyu” was wwx at the stairs is so funny, their faces are like ‘oh............ wow. that. sure is a development. shock” 

in the tradition of extremely loud whispers wwx tells lwj with twelve guards standing like one meter away from them: HEY PSH LAN ZHAN PRETEND IM FORCING YOU TO STAY W ME DO IT

oh my god oh my god

the absolute Yearning on his face when he leaves wwx and a-yuan at the burial mounds and refuses to stay for dinner was already Enough but the fact?? they brought it back?? to this declaration of love?? their expressions??????? strike me dead right now just go ahead

lFor Legal Reasons We Cant Kiss but we will have a very sappy declaration of love and trust and look at each other in way that is the actualization of 💞💘💗💖💓💘💞💗💖💘💗💖💕💞

also icb all the sect leaders and guards are standing there watching them say they like like each other with a dozen swords pointing at their neck

i enjoyed the depiction of the fickle public perception and how easily it can be used to scapegoat people. when the sect leaders turn on jgy and wwx knows thats its more for convenience than anything else...

poor lxc is literally like 'oh so when YOUR problematic boyfriend gets called evil its a misunderstanding but when its MY problematic bf-'

ok like i cant get over nmj let jgy play a song that messed with his temperament at all, like maN u KNEW he might be shady wth

wwx: “hey dont say anything bad abt lan zhan hes not an arrogant dick, thats just his face. 

ME ON THE OTHER HAND"

the cultivators as wwx is poking holes in their narrative is literally *nazaré meme*

"wei wuxian-!" "what did i break your leg, too?" not to be problematic but i laughed so hard

not as hard as "you dont have the rank to talk to me " tho

i Enjoy that, over the course of story, wwx sees that... theres nothing truly to Do, but move on. he saw how his arrogance and his mistakes hurt others, and hes trying to fix what he can, but he already did die for his mistakes and there are things he cant fix and that's. just how it is. even towards jgy, the narrative doesn't go gleefully and completely with "lets make THEM pay bc theyre the big bad" bc its not that simple, and it wouldn't lead anywhere but more pain...

re him and jiang cheng and the wens and kinda. isnt that what nhs did? scheming to displace jgy out of revenge more than any justice and doing so in the most painful way?

idk if that actually makes sense im truly just babbling

i thought the scene at the lotus pond would be CUTE but the context was PAIN again

jiang cheng finding out about his golden core and his conflict with wwx at the guanyin temple .... destroyed me but in a nice way kinda.... same way it destroys him look at his face oh god

and. the fact??? he sacrificed himself for wwx?? first?? and he'll probably never tell anyone much less wwx???? keeps me up at night

i havent decided if the neckbreak transition between jgy does sth super Evil or does he he does OR Does He yes he does O R does heeeee is sth i dislike or not

jin guangyao and wei wuxians most interesting parallel is that... theyve both seen 'hmm hey this system is fucked up' and wwx went 'so fuck it all i will renounce it and challenge it' and jgy went 'so fuck it i will use all of it to my advantage and manipulate it to my goals and whims'

the fact jgys mom was actually great and he loved her and his whole issue w it was more than simply being ashamed of being a bastard kinda got me ngl

never trust a dude with a fan.

nhs and jgy: the first rule to a convoluted and decades spanning violent revenge plot is to have fun and be yourself! 

when a-yuan finally FINALLY remembers ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;-;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; wen ning has someone in his family back and a-yuan has someone to talk abt his wen family and wwx has him back bc he survived and lwj raised him anD HES THEIR SON. THEYRE MARRIED AND HAVE A SON. UGH.

and theyre allowed to heal. everyone is allowed to try and recover and be happy

netflix put all of the 3 endings on top of each other and it looks kinda weird actually BUT I DONT EVEN MIND :’’’’’’’’’)

the gasp that left me when lwj says ‘wei ying’ and wwx turns.........

there was also a screen with ‘thank you mxtx for creating these characters, we hope their wishes come true’ and i might. have cried then too. maybe. 

that was . a ride. as is proven by this behemot of a ramble clearly i just really needed and Outlet. i am currently trying to convince dumb monkey brain to not consume the other medias of mdzs immediately bc i REALLY need to like. live. a life. and take care of real responsibilities.  *longest oh boi ever*

[sneakydraws]

Well, here it is - a lengthy explanation of each card in my mdzs major arcana deck and what I meant to convey/what i would have changed in retrospect/what alternatives i considered! It’s a bit messy and my typing style is lazy but hopefully it will be an interesting read to some of you :)

And so you don’t say I didn’t warn you - jiang cheng’s section (11 justice) is absurdly long lmao

0 the fool  I elaborated on this in the post itself but yeah basically jin ling is kind of representative of all the damage and trauma caused by the past, and there’s a kind of danger there of him falling victim to the same vices as the older characters and repeating the same mistakes and perpetuating the cycle of war and misery (the cycle that we already see with how the jin sect became the new wen sect, and later with how jgy became the new wwx) and he has a lot of room to grow! He grows so much over the course of the novel, comes to realise the complexities of the past and gets a harsh life lesson in how nothing is as black and white as it seems. But ill save talking about his progress for the end, for now whats important is that he has room to grow and also a dog. I don’t really have a justification for the sun, i mostly just thought it looked sick? It made its way to the next card as well, where it makes a bit more sense, but then i realised it was a dumb motif to include 1 the magician I still very much like wwx for the role, and that illustration would have probably had him raising a corpse on his left and pointing threateningly to the sun on his right. I considered including the table as well, with some mdzs relevant items replacing the card suits. Anyway, like i said wwx got a few cards to himself already so i went with the alternative wq design, since i think she fits the card as well. Both she and wwx are highly skilled people, extremely driven once they set their mind to something. The card to me symbolises the creative mind as well as a general drive for action, which fits them both - wwx was famously a prolific inventor, and wq came up with a previously unheard of surgery, after all. This card strays pretty far from the rider-waite deck design, largely because i was still figuring out how i wanted to approach this series, but you can still see the influence. 2 the high priestess I was actually going to skip this card at first because I couldn’t think of a fitting character, but once i considered a qings character post death, it all fit pretty well. She was already a highly intuitive person in life, and in sharing her memories with wwx she is, in a way, relaying a kind of secret knowledge. Anyway she’s one of my fav characters so im glad i got a chance to include her. The coffins could be interpreted to be xxc and sl or xxc and xy 3 the empress Theres other mother figures in mdzs who got to be mothers for a longer time, but jyl definitely embodies the positive aspects of this card the best. She’s nurturing, kind, emotionally supportive, she already mothered wwx and jc quite a bit when she was young. Plus i liked that the rw card had both water and flowers, making an easy lotus connection. In retrospect the stars look kind of out of place and i should have replaced them with something more relevant... Also, i should have had her hold a lotus seed pod instead of a flower, haha 4 the emperor Like i said I considered jc for the role but hoching bullied me into admitting that nmj was better… they’re both more of an inverted emperor than an upright one but then again theres hardly any character in mdzs who would fit upright emperor so. Jgs was also considered but he’s even uglier than nmj so i couldn’t bear to draw him 5 the hierophant It was pointed out to me that lqr would have fit this card better and the truth if that statement haunts me to this day. Unfortunately I have no space in my brain for lqr so lxc got the role instead. My main reason was his role during the wen destruction of gusu lan, when he ran away with the contents of the library - this is why there’s bookshelves behind him. The keys, take, from the rider-waite deck, are meant to represent the gusu pendants that allow you to enter 6 the lovers Im sure many people would have chosen wangxian here but I uhh don’t really care abt wangxian personally? And also their love story is so convoluted that jyl and jzx seem idyllic by comparison lol. Also i didnt really have an idea for who to put in the angel’s place for wangxian… mme jin certainly did not get these two together in the end but undeniably she and mme yu did initially give them a chance to fall for each other so. Thats something i guess. Anyway the trees became their sects’ flowers and the mountain became the burial grounds - an omen of their tragic fate, basically 7 the chariot There might have been other characters who fit this card better but i couldn’t really think of another card for lwj and i thought it would be weird to not include him… anyway i don’t really care for current timeline lwj BUT i do like that he was clearly influenced by wwx to walk his own path in life based on his moral convictions rather than follow his sect’s rules blindly. The chariot is to me a card of self control, self determination and focused action, so it seemed fitting. The composition felt kind of empty without the actual chariot so i padded it out with the guqin, the cloud recess in the bg (it doesn’t look great but i tried to replicate the drama design….) and the bunnies which conveniently fit the colour scheme of the sphinxes in the rider-waite design 8 strength Like i said before, my interpretation of this card is more… morally ambiguous than the quote unquote official meaning, so i thought about manipulative or duplicitous characters more than kind characters whose strength is expressed through gentleness (though i did consider jyl briefly for the latter interpretation). As such, i considered both jgy and nhs, but ended up going with jgy largely because i couldn’t pass up the opportunity to put the nie sect’s beast as the lion. 9 the hermit My thoughts immediately went to bssr lol. It may be an overly literal interpretation but whatever, i like it just fine. And i like that i managed to echo the rider-waite silhouette in the mountain and the tree (and even in bssr herself) 10 wheel of fortune God i love the parallels between these 2… this card to me is about how you cant trust your current situation, good or bad, to last forever, and these 2 embody that perfectly imo. Wwx went from son of a well off servant and a powerful cultivator, to street rat orphan, to adopted son of sect leader jiang, to double orphan, to MIA, to terrifying but admired warrior, to terrifying and despised traitor, to dead, to, at the very end, suddenly respected and trusted again. The dishonesty and cheapness of whatever the public’s current opinion of him is is portrayed beautifully as far as im concerned. And jgy of course claws his way up to power only to instantaneously become public enemy number one, to the point that he’s probably blamed for stuff there’s no reason to believe he had a hand in. Wei wuxian’s silent astonishment at how quickly the cultivation world turns against jgy and towards him again is a delicious moment of thematic resonance.  11 justice I settled on this card for jc after he got booted from the emperor seat but i do think it fits, in a somewhat convoluted way. I turned both the sword and the scales into visual representations of the golden core transfer (can you tell im obsessed with it). According to biddy tarot, the justice card is partly about searching for the truth, and the scene where jc finds out about the transfer is of course a big deal. I was also very influenced by the reversed meaning again - which is about being reluctant or unwilling to face or accept the consequences of your actions. I feel on an intuitive level that this fits jc but I’m not sure how well i can explain it - it’s something about how he’s a little too comfortable scapegoating wwx for things that were also, if much less so, influenced by his actions, and also something about the way he keeps wwx at an arm’s length emotionally but still leans on him and accepts his support when he really needs it, and somewhat hypocritically expects wwx to put the needs of him and the jiang sect before the needs of others. And also something about the core exchange is the consequence and proof of wwx’s deep - terrifyingly deep, even - love and care for him, which is something jc doesn’t seem to let himself acknowledge. Maybe even something about how you could argue that the way all of the jiangs acted around wwx - jfm’s favouritism that left him with the feeling of a debt he needs to repay, mme yus insistence that he be a servant more than a brother to jc, prepared to give his life for jc, and jc’s own unwillingness - or inability, he was a child after all - to clearly acknowledge wwx as an equal to himself, enabling wwx’s self sacrificial and protective tendencies - that all of this was what caused wwx’s complete and unquestioning willingness to do whatever it took to protect jc, and therefore paved the way to the golden core transfer. And i don’t mean this to be scapegoating jc - especially considering how young he was when this all went down, it wouldn’t be fair to expect this level of emotional perceptiveness, awareness and maturity of him - but i think adult jc has to grapple with the fact that the chain of cause and effect was not as simple as wwx fucking everyone’s lives up to be a martyr, and that both jc and his parents had a role in that story as well. I don’t even necessarily think this is something that jc only realised in the current timeline - i think it’s something he felt on some level this whole time, and it probably led to a lot of feelings of guilt - but the suibian reveal definitely puts it in sharp focus, and i think he’s now better equipped to handle this introspection than he was as a recently orphaned, traumatised teenager, lol. ANYWAY the window with the fabric is both a nod to the rider-waite design and a reference to the destruction of lanling - i actually did some basic ass research for this, and it seems that in ancient china fabric would indeed be hanged in a window if the normally used paper was damaged. The design of the window, as well as the very idea to use it to imply the reconstruction of lanling, was taken from this great piece of jc angst by my pal moroll1! Oh yeah also the covered window kind of works as a denial of forgiveness for jc because it’s like a halo but covered up... Also I completely forgot to put a blindfold over his eyes which would be perfectttt because blind justice and the core exchange......... ok moving on 12 the hanged man I always have issues with this card because i cant find a satisfactory summary of what it’s really about. Best i can tell it symbolises a need to hit pause, surrender or let go of something… ive also seen it tied to sacrifice? So mo xuanyu doesn’t fit perfectly, but sacrifice is definitely there in a surface level reading kind of way, and the idea that you have to surrender or let go in order to achieve your goal does fit the whole deal of getting revenge but giving up your life in exchange and not being there to see it 13 death This is probably one of my favourite cards, definitely not because I have huge issues with change or anything…. I see this card as signalling the necessity of change or putting an end to something / leaving something in the past in order to start anew? At first i considered putting past wwx, mxy and current wwx here as a kind of transformation and one cycle flowing into the next... But firstly, I’d already used mxy in the very previous card, so putting him in again would feel like overkill, and secondly, the longer I thought about it the less convinced I was that this would even fit with the card’s meaning? Because coming back from the dead doesn’t like... trigger an internal transformation within wwx or anything? Anyway, fun fact: the design I ended up going with was actually originally intended for judgement! I thought I was being very clever with the whole “figure plays an instrument and the dead rise” parallel, but apparently I’d just completely forgotten that the judgement card had a completely different composition... Truly I was boo boo the fool... But yeah anyway at the end of the day I figured the design would kind of work for death as well, with Wen Ning and the theme of transformation, (since in his case coming back as a fierce corpse does actually mark a certain transformation in behaviour) and Wei Wuxian’s protection of the Wen people essentially signifying an attempt to break the cycle of oppression if that makes any sense? Like, wwx is trying to revolutionise the way the world works a bit, if you catch my drift 14 temperance  The centrist card! Again this is probably going off track from the “official” interpretation, but to me this card has a certain “don’t commit fully; do everything in moderation; don’t take either side” flavour to it that i personally find infuriating irl and that i very much assign to lxc. It’s entirely possible that I’m misinterpreting his character because i didn’t really pay him (and the 3zun in general) much mind while reading, but hell, I’m allowed to pick favourites and choose who i want to interpret deeply vs shallowly. Again, i wish id chosen lqr for hierophant because its so annoying for a character i don’t care about to get two cards…. But oh well 15 the devil My alternative idea for this was jgy as the devil and lxc plus nmj as the figures, but since all three had been featured already (multiple times, even!) i figured I’d go with xy instead, especially since he’s among my faves lol. I think the devil signifies something along the lines of unhealthy attachment, obsession or addiction, which isn’t 100% accurate in the case of xxc and a-qing, but if i stretch it a bit to cover toxic relationships in general, and especially manipulation or negative influence, i don’t think it’s half bad. My main struggle here was to choose who amongst the xxc/sl/aq trio to choose for the human figures. 16 the tower Arguably jin zixuans death and the following massacre of nightless city were the final and most direct reason for the siege of burial mounds, and the tiger seal is good shorthand for wwx’s loss of control over his powers, which led to the deaths of jzx and jyl. When reimagining major arcana i like to feature some kind of building in this card (spoilers for a possible future project but in my rose of versailles major arcana set the tower is bastille) and even if it’s not a tower, the image of wwx looming over the gathered crowd from atop a rooftop is so good i couldn’t resist 17 the star Struggled with this one - considered both jin ling and lsz for it, as symbolising a hope for the future, but that was kind of covered by the world so it wouldn’t make sense to include here as well... As usual when I struggle with interpreting a card (as opposed to understanding it but struggling with matching a character to it, like with death or moon) I went to biddy tarot and read all the details about its meaning. What i got was that this card signifies an incoming period of introspection and inner peace following a time of turmoil, as well as a general moving on into a new, better phase of one’s life or finding new meaning and purpose. The figure also suggests someone vulnerable, but possessing a keen sense of intuition as well as a good degree of practicality and common sense. Given all those, I settled for mianmian because IM LOVE HER..... I also kind of see her as a prelude to the “just one person is enough” theme present in tgcf!! And i think her decision to abandon her sect because she saw the toxicity and corruption in it is a very inspiring action - even if it didn’t make a large visible impact, i think the appearance of her and her idyllic family at the very end of the novel - paralleling and mirroring wangxian - implies that at the end of the day, it was a meaningful one 18 the moon Another card i ALWAYS fuxking struggle with - this time less because i can’t grasp its meaning and more because I can never find a character that fits it well. I usually get fixated on the “dreams and subconscious” part, but if i lean more on the “disguise, deceit, anxiety and fear” part, i eventually figured the whole yi city arc wouldn’t be a bad fit. I say the entire arc because it really does encompass all those themes if you include both the past and the present - xue yang’s disguise, his tricks with the villagers, a-qing’s lies and even xxc’s reluctance to talk about his past as well as xue yang pretending to be xxc all fit the disguise and deceit angle, and the general mystery and creepiness of the current timeline yi city work well with the anxiety and fear - the mist, the slow uncovering of the past, even a-qing being revealed to be an ally after scaring the shit out of the protags. I definitely struggled with including all the elements and characters, and even moreso with making them vaguely fit the rider-waite composition, but i think it ended up okay ish. OH and i completely forgot to draw mist swirling around them :( 19 the sun I was considering mianmian’s family for this one, but since I used her for star, I ended up with wwx and his parents instead. Once again I’m reinterpreting the card a bit - normally I think it symbolises incoming times of pure happiness and abundance, as well as a connection with the inner child, but I gave it more of a nostalgic or sentimental twist - wwx looking back at the brief glimpse of his happy childhood. 20 judgement another card that i struggle to interpret a bit... Here i actually used the tgcf tarot zine as a reference! In it judgement is summarised as “rebirth, following duty, absolution” SO i figured that nhs, mxy and wwx all together would fit pretty neatly... wwx achieving (public) absolution through clearing his own name after being reborn, and nhs sort of calling on wwx to expose jgy’s crimes... It’s a bit messy but not bad I think! 21 the world This ties very closely to my read on mdzs as a story - which is that it’s, at the end of the day, largely about cycles, and about how hard it is to break them, but how we gotta keep trying and have hope anyway. Or maybe more precisely, that the people directly involved with and influenced by the trauma of the past might not be able to get over said trauma and that the hope for healing from it will be shouldered by the new generation. Or something like that… Basically what i mean is that jc and wwx and lwj and lxc and nhs and jgy and all these people who were in the thick of the sunshot campaign and the siege are so profoundly affected by it that it genuinely feels by the end of the story like there is little hope for them to ever truly overcome that trauma and build a better future without repeating the same old mistakes - but there is a glimmer of hope in the new generation, specifically in jl and lsz. And it’s a bit paradoxical, because they have also been directly impacted by the past tragedies - lsz having his entire clan wiped out after wwx failed to protect them, jl losing both his parents to wwx’s mistakes - but despite that loss, and despite coming from arguably the two opposing sides of the past conflicts, they are both, in the end, capable of moving past that tragedy, of recognising the complicated nature of those conflicts (jl’s moment of clarity at the end is both heartbreaking and hopeful) and forging friendships between clans in the process. I honestly think that the extra where jl is struggling to assert his authority as sect leader, to treat his subjects well and to cooperate with other sects in a truly amicable way is the single hopeful ending note for the larger themes of the novel - it allows us to imagine that maybe these kids can learn from the mistakes of their elders rather than getting sucked in by resentment at those mistakes, and actually build a brighter future for the cultivation world. And sidenote, this is also why i have a soft spot for jin ling and lan sizhui as a ship... speaking of which their poses were directly referenced from the lovers card ehehe

Looking back, I’d like to add some symbol of jin ling’s trauma so that it mirrors baby wen yuan in the tree stump... maybe his father’s sword? 

[crossdressingdeath]

I just legit don't understand people who say that WWX giving his golden core was selfish or done only for himself. It's an argument that can only work by relying on the element of surprise created by the sheer implausibility of it, and I don't understand how it even managed to get hold in the fandom in the first place because just what mysterious advantages WWX gained from doing this? JC not dying? JC being able to be sect leader? JC not being sad? None of it is to WWX’s direct benefit,1/6

especially compared to what he lost to make it happen or that WWX was the best candidate to be the next leader if JC found himself unable to lead the sect. Plus in the situation they were in back then, even WWX knowing about the possibility of a core transfer and doing nothing at all and just watching JC letting himself die could not be considered selfish, tragic at most, because even when you love someone, you are not obligated to sacrifice your everything for them, especially when the2/6

chances of it working were only 50% at best as guestimated by WQ. So the argument that going far and beyond his duty in that situation is what makes WWX selfish is just so, so plain stupid. The spin on this argument that WWX is selfish because he didn’t think about JC’s feelings is even stupider because WWX did nothing but think about JC’s feelings? That’s actually the whole reason he gave him his core? He had already risked his life (and WN and WQ’s) to save JC from prison, and nothing was3/6

preventing JC from going on with his life other than his feelings about the situation. Of course, JC was right to be horrified and depressed by the terrible thing that just happened to him! But it doesn’t change the fact that the only reason WWX gave his core to JC was to spare his feelings; JC’s life was in danger after the golden core loss only because JC felt that his life wasn’t worth living anymore, and WWX would never have gone through with it if JC showed even the smallest sign that4/6

he could pull through. Like the whole reason that WWX didn’t speak about his sacrifice is selflessness because he didn’t want JC to feel indebted to him or JC to feel like his achievements weren’t his (WWX very well knew that JC’s first or even tenth thought wouldn’t be about how giving his golden core would impact WWX; it’s not even me gratuitously JC-hating, it’s shown in the narrative by the contrast between JC and LWJ’s reactions, LWJ who was also “lied to” and paid a terrible price5/6

his punishment, but whose first and only worry was if WWX suffered terribly during the operation or not.) We are supposed to see that JC's accusations that WWX just wanted to play the hero as absurd and in line with JC's tendency to needing a scapegoat for his own shortcomings because WWX never tried to leverage the debt to his own or people under his protection’s gain when he could very well have and went to his death with his secret intact.6/6

I mean if you think about it, the whole reason the golden core reveal happened is because a murdered teenager already resurrected once and thought dead again was freed on a accident from the prison he was left to rot in by another dead man, resurrected as a by-product of yet another man looking to avenge his brother’s death, and then the truth came out only because JC was attacking them. If not this astonishing series of coincidences, JC would never have known whose GC he has. 7/6

My response to the “WWX was just being selfish” argument is always “Okay, what did he gain from it?” It can’t be considered selfish if he got nothing out of it, especially given everything he lost doing it. You could maybe argue that he was being selfish in ignoring JC’s wishes, but JC only wanted to die because he didn’t have a core, so WWX giving him his solves that. No one would ever have known about the transfer if a situation hadn’t arisen where WN, against WWX’s wishes, told JC about it, so WWX didn’t want to play hero. WWX didn’t reveal it to try to push JC into helping him and the Wen remnants, so he didn’t want it as a bargaining chip. What did he get out of this transfer? I’ve yet to see a single “WWX was being selfish” argument that actually explains why it was selfish beyond “Oh, he just wanted to play hero”, which as I just said doesn’t make any fucking sense because if he wanted to be the hero he would’ve revealed it.

I am convinced that when MXTX wrote the golden core transfer reveal we were supposed to recognize that JC was being ridiculous and looking for a scapegoat so that he wouldn’t have to face his own failures. Everything in that scene screams to me that JC is clearly in the wrong and that MXTX deliberately wrote it that way. I mean, he spends the entire conversation about in it the temple jumping back and forth between “how dare you upstage me” and “this is the least you owe my family”! I... genuinely have no idea how so much of the fanbase became convinced of something that’s so obviously untrue.

[trensu]

Episode 19: The One with the Return of the Gay Yearning Death Grip, Now with More Sword!

After enduring EXTREME EMOTIONAL TRAUMA for the last THREE (3) EPISODES IN A ROW, we finally finally get an episode that has some wangxiantics again!!

I mean, they’re still gonna gut us emotionally here too but we can pretend it hurts less because of our brief wangxian moments!!!

Because this is the episode with the BURIAL MOUNDS

*cries*

Alright so golden core transfer Happened. 

Review: wwx is now weaponless, penniless, golden core-less, and alone

Except jk, he’s actually surrounded by wen flunkies, so not alone! Worse than alone!!

And we all know our beloved wwx has the survival instincts of a lemming so instead of you know, keeping his mouth shut for once in his life, he decides to mock and insult wen chao and his flunkies.

WC decides to take wwx on Evil Field Trip Part 2: Burial Mounds Edition and has wen zhuliu freaking drop-kick wwx into the cursed place

Oh, hello, Bad CGI, nice to see you again!

And here we have the Return of the Screams bc apparently wwx decided to keep the Screaming Sword of Resentment in his magic pouch??

Good thing he did, i guess?? Bc the Screams summon up some resentful energy that helps him survive the fall

We cut away a moment here to see our beloved wen sibs and we are sad bc they are locked up MOVING ON

Wwx is all alone in this awful place covered in dead things and lacking sunlight, THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF OUR PRECIOUS, LIVELY, SUNSHINE BOY

It’s terrible but we’re getting a piece of wangxian pie here (a tiny one)

So the Screams are still happening, and our wwx is collapsed on the ground not responding to any of them.

They’re all shouting “wei wuxian, wei wuxian” 

And still our precious sunshine boy lies there limp and exhausted

BUT SUDDENLY

AMIDST ALL THE SHOUTS

We hear a calm,soothing voice call “wei ying”

Wwx finally moves. He sits up and starts looking around for the source of that voice

BECAUSE THAT WAS LAN ZHAN’S VOICE

THAT WAS LAN ZHAN’S VOICE GENTLY CALLING “WEI YING” THREE TIMES

THREE!!! TIMES!!!!

And it’s so sad bc for a moment there wwx hears the voice and must think that lwj is there with him, there to rescue him!!

But he isn’t *cries* he’s not there and wwx just looks so lost and scared here *cries HARDER*

Instead of lwj, wwx finds the Screaming Sword of Resentment that legit says to him, “wwx, do you want revenge? Let’s be together.”

And, idk guys, swords that talk to you about revenge don’t seem like, the kind of swords you wanna be touching.

But wwx decides to become besties with it, i guess, and grabs it. 

The look of triumph on his face after he accepts the swords offer is really cool if you ignore how UTTERLY DISTRESSING the whole situation is

AND HERE’S THE SCENE WHERE LWJ MAKES THE MOST BADASS ENTRANCE.

YOU THOUGHT THE THING WITH THE ROOFTOP BACK IN "THE ONE WITH THE ICONIC REUNION” WAS COOL?? THIS ONE TOPS IT.

To set the scene: we’re at Qishan where Evil Summer School took place and a bunch of wen flunkies are getting drunk and bragging about their evil deeds bc why not

And then we get a shot of white shoes (boots?? Idk) slowly walking up the steps of the evil staircase

And then the camera gives us a shot at the top of the staircase and we see LWJ clad in all white in a bitchin’ new robe, slowly appear into view, rising a little more with each step he takes up the stairs and the wind is providing ambiance by swishing elegantly through his hair

As that is happening, we see the blue flash of power that shows up whenever lwj uses his guqin and it knocks the wen flunkies down on their backs BC FUCK YOU WEN FLUNKIES

We go back to lwj, and get a closer look at his face. His face is blank and hard as a stone, and he keeps going at this unhurried, unbothered pace

Bc he knows

HE KNOWS

He’s gonna get what he wants here and now, one way or another. And what he wants is information about wei ying.

CHILLS, GUYS, THIS SCENE GIVES ME CHILLS IN THE BEST WAY

THE MOST BADASS ENTRANCE IN THE SHOW

I LOVE IT SO MUCH

So after he guqin’s the wen flunkies down (and they start cowering) he towers over them all imperiously

Lwj: Kneel

(so commanding, his tone. I know at least some of you guys Felt Things at that)

(guys, I've been on ao3, I'VE SEEN YOUR TAGS, don’t try to deny it, you kinky bastards)

(It's okay, this is a no judgement zone, and lwj is looking hella sharp in his new outfit, I get it)

Lwj: where is wei ying

(so unyielding, so demanding, but not once does he raise his voice, what a BAMF)

The wen flunkie that lwj had been kinda choking with guqin magic raises his hand (lol, this isn’t a classroom pal)

Lwj: Speak.

And the wen flunkie informs him (and JC, who showed up at some point but whatev) that they dumped WWX in the Burial Mounds

Lwj, our precious darling lwj, we know he doesn’t have the most expressive of faces, right? But the way his face tilts ever so slightly downwards at the news, you can tell, you can tell, that he was hit with that sick, cold, sinking feeling in the stomach

Kneel. Where is Wei Ying. Speak. THAT'S ALL HE SAID IN THE WHOLE SCENE AND YET HE HAD EVERYONE CAPTIVATED (and Thirsty, in some cases, it's all good, it's all good)

After all that awesome, we are forced to watch wc and jj have a domestic spat of some sort AS IF WE’RE SUPPOSED TO CARE. WE’RE GONNA IGNORE IT BC FUCK THOSE GUYS

We’re back at Evil Summer School in Qishan, and we’ve got JC and LWJ doing that thing where they stare manfully at the mid-distance and talk about vaguely Feelings-related Stuff

WuJi starts playing in the background as JC tells LWJ about how WWX was supposed to meet up with him at Yiling and never showed up; i thought he went after you, he says, but maybe the wens really did dump him in the burial mounds

And the music freaking crescendos here bc some lan disciples show up with everyone’s swords but most importantly THEY HAVE SUIBIAN which they bring to lwj directly

Makes you wonder, huh. Why did they bring suibian to lwj when jc, wwx’s brother, was right there??

PROBS BC THE LAN DISCIPLES HAVE BEEN WITH LWJ AND JC THE WHOLE TIME AND REALIZED THAT LWJ IS IN LOVE WITH WWX BC WHY ELSE WOULD HE BE SEARCHING SO OBSESSIVELY

LWJ’s eyes widen just a fraction the minute he sees suibian

HIS SOULMATE’S SWORD

IT’S ALL HE HAS LEFT OF WEI YING RIGHT NOW

JUST LIKE BEFORE WHEN ALL HE HAD LEFT OF HIS HOME WAS BICHEN

STOP LEAVING LWJ WITH JUST SWORDS, LET HIM HAVE HIS LOVED ONES!!!

And god the way he GRIPS it with YEARNING.

All of his motions are still very sedate, but just the microexpressions we’re getting from him change the tone of the movements

Wang yibo - guys, idk much about any of the actors but this guy does a great job. Like, how does he make such emotional expressions when his actual face hardly moves??? WITCHCRAFT, I TELL YOU, WITCHCRAFT

Lwj tries to unsheathe the sword but here we find the Suibian has sealed itself (bc he’s a loyal sword; he aint cheating on his master with no one!)

Lwj: wei ying, where are you

Such quality Lwj Yearning™

And then we get interrupted by Plot Things again, ugh

Blah blah we’re at qinghe blah blah we meet jzx's asshole cousin and hate him blah blah

Lwj and JC show up at qinghe and interrupt jzx’s Disaster Het shenanigans (thank god)

Jiang sibs have a reunion while jzx and lwj stand awkwardly at the side

Lwj sees that display of Emotion and is like, nope, that is Too Much, i’m gonna distract myself by staring at this disembodied head hanging at the entrance

(he’s already in emotional turmoil bc his soulmate is missing, he cannot handle anything more than that!!)

Idk why by jzx decides to join him

Jzx: hey, that’s wwx’s sword! Did you…

Lwj: *Death Grips bichen AND suibian with Extra Yearning™*  

Lwj: evil summer school has been burned

SUBTLE CHANGE OF TOPIC THERE, LWJ

Also, c’mon jzx, LWJ IS NOT HERE TO TALK ABOUT OR ACKNOWLEDGE ANY MORE FEELINGS RIGHT NOW OKAY

Jzx goes off to talk about something unimportant and lwj is like phew, dodged a bullet there

Except, JUST KIDDING

Jzx: soooo, where’s wwx? I need to return his sister to him

Lwj: *stoically silent*

Lwj: *refuses to look at jzx*

Lwj: *gives off major I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT vibes*

Jzx: *doesn’t take a hint*

Jzx: yeah, so where is he??

READ THE ROOM, JZX

Idiots, we’re surrounded by emotionally incompetent idiots

Lwj doesn’t react until he hears jyl softly gasp when jc updates her and even then, it’s only to just briefly glance in her general direction

OUR BOY IS HURTING, POOR LWJ

And now we’re back to Plot Things

Blah blah battle strategy blah blah nmj looks imposing blah blah baxia does a thing blah blah

Jzx: yeah, so we’re doing great, we just gotta take back gusu and yiling now

Lwj: I volunteer AS TRIBUTE for the mission in Yiling

Jc: dude, SAME, plz red blade master, let us go there

Nmj: uh, idk guys, that’s right next to the wen’s stronghold…

Lwj; red blade master…

Nmj: yeah, okay, fine

Wow, capitulated pretty easily there, pal. Thought you were supposed to be a tough guy, nmj…

We get a jiang sib moment

With soup, ofc

Ooooh, now we get to watch jj have a mental break AND IT’S GLORIOUS

Disembodied eyeballs!! How fun!

And that’s the end of that episode!!

Oh god, i’m so glad we finally got some wangxiantics. Like, not a lot of them, and they didn’t share screentime BUT THEY WERE STILL VERY EMOTIONAL WANGXIANTICS

THEY MISS EACH OTHER SO MUCH *SOBS*

Return to Masterpost

[adhd-wifi]

Wei WuXian, Trauma, & ADHD (Part One???)

What’s up y’all I’m here with another ADHD-Wei Ying post, featuring his trauma this time. In case anyone is wondering, here’s the first one. Full disclosure, I have not formally studied psychology and mental illnesses, speaking only from my own experiences plus what I’ve researched to understand my own conditions and otherwise. Specifically, I will be talking about ADHD and its relationship with PTSD, but not as much about the latter as I know less about it.

As usual, this is long and rambly and contains a bunch of spoilers, so it’s under the cut we go. :P

== Line Break ==

Wei WuXian grew up with a strong sense of loyalty towards the Jiang Sect, especially Jiang FengMian, believing that he owed them for giving him a home, a happy life, and the chance to become a cultivator, but never truly considering himself a proper family member, mostly due to Yu ZiYuan as her abuse towards him often targeted the fact that he wasn’t a “true” son to her and JFM. She also often compared Jiang Cheng to him, and JFM never bothered to address that problem and continued to favour WWX. As a result, WWX, who didn’t see JFM’s flaws due to gratitude and being spoilt by the man, ended up blaming himself for YZY’s abuse of himself and JC, and this led to him growing up internalizing the idea that he was a “burden”. 

This is a common response in children with ADHD, since ADHD causes difficulty with emotional control and children in general tend to blame themselves when they are put into such a situation, so an ADHD-WWX would take this to quite an extreme (more on that later). Of course, we must also remember that he had been alone on the streets as a child for months, and there are surely factors of trauma involved in there. But I’ll also get into that later when I talk about this trauma as a whole. 

Moving on, after Lotus Pier fell, we know WWX’s sense of guilt and debt to the Jiang Sect increased severely, and then he went through three more extremely traumatic experiences, namely; the golden core transfer, being thrown into the Burial Mounds, then actively taking part in a literal war. This was basically the most traumatic period of his entire life, and he was incredibly driven by a terrifying desire for revenge against the Wen Sect, which JC encouraged. 

WWX maintained his sanity (for the most part) throughout all this. Of course, we do see him change drastically, his happy and positive personality almost completely gone, but for the most part, he seems…”alright”. Now, it’s important to note that WWX not EXPLICITLY showing signs of trauma is in fact fairly common, as people suffering from PTSD do often repress things and pretend things are okay, so take this theory I have with a grain of salt. 

That theory is because he’s “alright” because he’s used to the trauma symptoms already. To elaborate, ADHD and PTSD (assuming this is what he ended up with), actually have a lot of overlap, to the point that even today there are multiple cases of misdiagnosis between the two, especially in terms of childhood trauma. In my theory, I’m guessing that WWX honestly thinks “he’s fine, because the symptoms he’s experiencing are basically things he’s already lived with throughout his life, and they just “got worse” because he lost his golden core”. 

Of course, this begs the question: “What if he just has PTSD (as a child) and not ADHD then? He does have trauma from being on the streets and abuse with the Jiangs.” 

It’s certainly possible, and I will admit that part of the reason I so badly want to think that WWX has ADHD is because I have it and I relate to him, but it really isn’t the only reason. I do see signs of ADHD that aren’t inherently related to PTSD (they could be, as everyone reacts and responds to trauma differently, but it’s not likely). Said signs which I mostly copy-pasted from my previous ADHD Wei Ying post are: 

Came up with a wild and unorthodox solution for a difficult question despite already knowing the “proper” solutions (Literally just his head being full of thoughts and ideas that aren’t necessarily anxiety-based)

His idea of organisation is a chaotic mess to everyone else (Inability to recognise mess rather than the inability to keep things organised)

Obsessed with spicy food because everything else is is too bland (Sensory issues)

Locked himself in a cave to work on inventions while forgetting to eat and sleep (Hyperfixative behaviour)

Somehow remembered a short, nameless tune Lan Zhan played for him once despite there being several factors that should’ve led to him forgetting, all because that tune was a special moment between him and Lan Zhan 

Now, I want to talk about one specific trait that is a symptom of both ADHD and PTSD-related trauma responses, which is the fact that WWX reacts explosively when he’s angered, though he never reacts like that for his own sake. Let’s examine the two scenes when he punched Jin ZiXuan for insulting/hurting Jiang YanLi. 

In the first incident at the Cloud Recesses, he punched JZX and fought him badly enough to get himself expelled and caused JFM and the Jin-Thot himself to directly speak to Lan QiRen about it, but WWX is shown to have gotten over it fairly quickly, even playing with ants during his punishment and being proud of punching the peacock. In the second incident, which we know as the war camp soup incident, WWX again punched JZX but instead of fighting him, he angrily leads JYL away while making it clear that he thinks JZX doesn’t deserve her. We also know that WWX remained angry for quite a bit afterwards. 

While it’s obvious the second incident is much more severe than the first, with JYL actually present and brought to tears because of JZX, and also the stress factor of them being in the middle of war, it’s still also very obvious that WWX’s explosive anger response has very significantly worsened. The main difference here is the fact that remained angry afterwards, meaning he’s lingering on the incident longer, while he got over the first incident easily. This alone leads me to believe that the first incident was more of an explosive ADHD response, while the latter was the result of both trauma and ADHD. 

So anyways, this post got longer than expected and I’m honestly still not done. For now, I’ll leave this post as “Basically why I think Wei WuXian has both ADHD and PTSD”, and MAYBE post a part two about the specifics and comparisons of the two conditions. 

I would love to discuss this further with anyone who may have better knowledge of PTSD and trauma responses, because I do find Wei WuXian’s relationship with his mental health a really strong point of his character. So if you do had knowledge in that field, please let me know if I made any mistakes and feel free to ramble on right back at me. 

Thanks for reading!

[yiling]

Untamed rewatch Episode 18

Or, my sister and I give each other significant looks whenever golden cores are mentioned and my mom suspects nothing

-netflix why do you want me to think that’s a chicken. that’s a whole live ringneck pheasant. do you think i don’t know what one is?

-SONG LAAAAAAAAAAAAN

-ohhhh the way poor zichen trembles when they ask him what happened...

-i always wonder why song lan went to the temple alone that time...how might have things gone different if xingchen had been with him?

-love wwx gently making fun of his suicidal sibling. like, he’s trying to cheer jiang cheng up and give him some hope, and he’s also in a good mood because he found a way to save his brother. but, knowing about the golden core reveal, he’s also trying to disguise his own apprehension. hiding everything under his playful persona like before, but it’s more feigned than ever.

-hey wwx says yanli and wen ning were hanging out. would’ve liked to see that

-wwx and wq’s relationship is so interesting. I love that she already had the sleeping powder with her. they must’ve gotten thick as thieves during this whole little interlude. the inherent intimacy of trying to save someone else’s life together, and also they’re the only one in on this huge lie you’re building together

-“can you hide the truth the rest of your life” well he did! he successfully took it to the grave, it’s not HIS fault he got woken back up!

-my sister also pointed out that wei wuxian probably wasn’t expecting his life to be much longer! i don’t think he really expected to walk away from the golden core transfer, and i wouldn’t be surprised if he had been passively suicidal this whole time. 

-wwx drugging yanli is legitimately incredibly awful. it’s in character and I understand why he does it but. it’s fucked up. it’s fucked up!

-they found the cutest child in the world to be baby wwx huh

-Ah yanli really started calling him a-xian from the moment she met him huh ;_;

-god this flashback is just unspeakably cute

-wwx thinks his sister will be angry with him when she realizes what happened, but jc disagrees and says she never would. it’s interesting, because i think wwx is always expecting, in the back of his mind, for people to be angry at him, even those who have shown him unconditional love like shijie (it’s the abuse). on the other hand...I think jyl should get to be angry about this, tbh. 

-I want to know whether yanli and song lan talked on the way to lanling. and whether she was angry. and what song lan thought then about sacrifices made for a loved one without their knowledge or consent :) and how he’s participating in one :)

-ah song lan’s surprise when they bow to him is so adorable, sir I love you

-oooof song lan asking them to pass a message to xingchen and not being able to get the words out hits so, so different. I remember the first time we watched this my sister and I thought it was funny because we were like “AWW SONG LAN WANTS THEM TO TELL XINGCHEN HE LOVES HIM BUT HE’S EMBARRASSED.” but knowing what passed between them...how could song lan convey the weight of his regret in a few words, through an acquaintance?

 -“none of them cherishes their own lives” as usual wq is the only one with common sense. also fits with what i was saying about wei wuxian, but he doesn’t have a monopoly on suicidality here. unfortunately.

-this random MEANWHILE IN SUNSHOT interlude is funny, but lwj stepping on the wen flag is so spicy

-wwx telling jc not to be so reckless next time really hits difference too. there cannot be a next time for either of them.

-It’s so obvious this is wq when you know what to look for lol

[crossdressingdeath]

Seriously, JC stans always have the wildest takes on MDZS/CQL (nothing against people liking or loving JC, I’m talking people rewriting the story in their heads to be about JC, the wronged protagonist). I have seen recently that WN was probably jealous of the relationship WWX has with JC, so that’s why he felt the need to reveal the truth about the GC in Yunmeng in order to mess with it (nothing to do with all that JC has done to WN or WWX ofc). Why would anyone be even jealous of WWX’s1/7

relationship with JC post-time skip? Especially WN or LWJ who saw just how badly JC let WWX down in the past? Even if one forgets the attempted killings, it’s just not great, especially compared to WWX and WN's time together where they went through death together and fought against the full cultivation world while JC was sitting it out as an onlooker? Also normal people aren’t jealous of someone having siblings, ffs, that’s only JC and only as he’s viewed by the fandom at that. 2/7

Alternatively for a different OP, JC should spend time with WN to teach WN to stand up to WWX who is exploiting him. First of all, JC hates WN guts and wants to kill him, so uh, maybe they shouldn’t spend any time together, and yes, WN knows WWX biggest secret about the GC and yes, he feels the need to protect him physically both because WWX can’t anymore fight against cultivators with his coreless body and because he feels indebted to WWX both for protecting the Wen refugees and doing never3/7

attempted before magic to bring him back to (half-)life, and he does it because WN is someone who will save or help people if he can, like the whole save JC subplot, and is really scrupulous about returning good will, again the whole save JC subplot because WWX was nice about his archery once. For the most part of the story, WN and WWX were fighters allied on the same side, WN protecting WWX so WWX could keep on protecting the other Wens and back then and now, WN didn’t want to go away4/7

because he genuinely likes WWX and is worried for him. I also don’t remember rn if that CQL scene is in the book where near the end when WWX talks with LWJ about how WN should take his own path in life, but in both, after the dust settles, WWX is safe and WN is seen with less horror by the world, WN goes on a journey with LSZ and then onto his own adventures. There are things that can be objectionable about WWX’s treatment of WN, but the idea that somehow WN is tricked or pulled into fighting5/7

for WWX totally against his own will and that WN must learn to resist (from JC of all people!) is laughable. Is it really so hard to believe that WWX helps people and has a personality that is attractive, so people want to follow him and be loyal to him? I know that people deciding to follow him is not something that ever happened to JC in the story, but it doesn’t mean that WWX is a master manipulator or the fact that JC never pays back his debts is a laudable behavior that should be6/7

emulated or held as an example. It sure makes life easier, but some people really care about living a right life, not just an easy one.7/7

WN helps WWX because he loves WWX! Whether you think that love is platonic or romantic isn’t really important, WN just loves him, and stands by him because he loves him. WWX isn’t forcing him to stay, or forcing him to serve him; he’s happy to let WN go at the end because WN is a person and WWX is painfully aware of that even as WN lets WWX control him. JC, meanwhile, can’t even acknowledge that non-undead people have thoughts and feelings and aren’t puppets that he can move around as he sees fit. Everything WN does for WWX (saving JC’s miserable life, fighting at WWX’s side, revealing the golden core transfer) are done because WWX is someone who means everything to him. JC is only alive because WN loves WWX enough to take the risk of going against his sect for him! The thought that WN would need or want to go to the man who slaughtered his family to gain “freedom” from the man who’s always stood by him and his family is ludicrous at best. And frankly if WN is trying to “ruin” WWX and JC’s relationship his thought process is probably “This man does nothing but hurt WWX even when they’re supposed to be close, even if WWX wants them to be close the best thing I can do for him is get him away from JC”.

This argument, that WWX is manipulating or forcing WN to stay with him and fight, actually really pisses me off? Because manipulating someone to stay with him is what JC does to WWX and everyone seems just fine with it then, but more than that because WWX and WN’s bond is just... so incredibly important to the story. WN risked death to help WWX after Lotus Pier fell because a moment’s kindness was enough to win his loyalty. It speaks to how little kindness WN got in his life before then, yes, but also to just how magnetic WWX really is; he gained a lifelong ally and friend with just a few kind words, treating WN well and acknowledging his skill even when he failed. WWX never forces WN to stay with him, and when WN chooses to go his own way WWX is... sad at not having his friend with him, yes, but happy to see WN branching out on his own. WWX is genuinely happy to see WN leave him because he was scared that WN thought he didn’t have a choice. That scene at the end where WWX is glad to see WN off on his own adventure blows the entire “WWX was just using WN” argument away. WWX never wanted to force WN to stay with him, and WN clearly didn’t feel forced; note that he doesn’t feel the need to ask WWX if he can go, he just... tells him he’s going with the clear expectation that WWX won’t try to stop him, which he doesn’t. These two stay together because they love each other, and even when they part to live their own lives there’s still that understanding that they love each other and matter to each other, that this isn’t a final goodbye, just a “See you later”. That easy acceptance of the fact that they can’t always be together but they’ll always be friends, that certainty in the fact that living their own lives apart from each other won’t damage their bond? That matters. Especially given how WWX’s other major brotherly relationship was completely destroyed by the idea of WWX leaving to live his own life and do what he thought was right instead of what his brother wanted from him. Can we not ruin this incredibly important bond in a desperate attempt to argue that actually JC is better than WWX?

[crossdressingdeath]

Okay, rant time. Someone on mxtxconfessions said they didn’t think JC was that tragic, and there was someone who responded who started out strong, pointing out that losing his entire clan is actually pretty tragic, and how the Wens tortured him, but then went ahead and said that he had no idea WWX had given him his golden core, and how JC now had a broken relationship with his brother, which was apparently really tragic, as if JC himself didn’t ruin it, which makes me so mad, because one, WWX also lost all those things, and suffered even more, and two, can we stop portraying WWX and JC’s relationship as something sad? Leaving each other is the best thing they could’ve ever done, and it made me happy that it happened, but this fandom does not agree with me. Also, again, JC was not alone during all of this! WWX was at his side experiencing this things too! Why are these people forgetting that? Also, the worst thing that happened to him was losing his golden core, which was probably the only thing that affected him, as he was completely fine after he got it back. Yes, he had trauma, which is horrible, but I’m tired of fans overplaying it, and acting like his entire life was just so so sad, when he was actually one of the luckiest characters. He has wealth, privilege and status, and no one can say anything against him. And don’t even get me started on the whole ‘hE hAs No FrIeNdS’ argument. He has no friends because of his shit personality. He doesn’t have a wife because of his shit personality. You make friends by being nice, not by being mIsUnDeRsToOd, and cannically torturing people! Also, him doing one good thing for WWX doesn’t automatically make him a good brother. Honestly, I’m surprised WWX didn’t have a more platonic version of Stockholm Syndrome because of what JC has done to him. Also, how JC speaks to WWX is a very well-known tactics abusers use, to guilt their victim! More people need to speak up about that. Also, if y’all are so mad about the core transfer, start writing fics with WWX not giving up his core to JC, and make it seem like actual canon. Wait! You can’t, because JC wanted that core! He wants it so fucking bad, and that’s why he hates it! Also, JC stans need to stop with the whole-victim blaming! Like, shit, because of those stans, it makes me want to dump JC in a ditch, and let him rot as d!e there.

Wow, this got out of hand.

Honestly? Given WWX’s habit of insisting that everything JC does to him is justified even when it’s things like calling him a traitor to the sects and leaving him to die, I think if he’d stayed with JC much longer he very well might have ended up with something similar to Stockholm Syndrome. After all, if I’m remembering right one of the signs of that is the victim thinking their captor is being kind because they’re not as cruel as they could be. That certainly sounds like Yunmeng bros’ dynamic to me.

JC’s life was sad. He lost his home, his parents... it sucks. I’m not going to say he hasn’t been through a lot of shit, because he has. But the thing is, MDZS has a very strong thread of tragedy running through it. Everyone’s life is sad in this! Especially in the flashbacks! WWX lost everything JC did and more; LWJ’s mother died when he was young and his father died when his sect was burned to the ground, not to mention the love of his life dying horribly and leaving LWJ as almost the only one in the world who mourned him instead of celebrating his death; one of LXC’s dearest friends killed the other and was killed in turn by LXC himself, along with the aforementioned parental death; NHS’s brother died horribly right in front of him, killed by someone NHS trusted and loved like a second brother, and he gave pretty much his entire adult life over to revenge; JL’s parents both died when he was a baby and then as a teenager he learned that the man who raised him who he loved dearly had a hand in at least one of their deaths and did a bunch of other horrible shit besides; and that’s not even getting into the Yi City arc... Everyone suffers in this story. One of the major running themes, though, is that you cannot let that suffering make you cruel. Think of XY, who wiped out a sect over a finger; think of JGY, and everything he did. Their atrocities were fueled by their suffering, and the narrative makes it very clear that this is not okay. The narrative makes no attempt to justify or handwave the things JC does as not that bad because he was sad, because that’s not a justification. JC did terrible things. He shouldn’t get out of atoning for them because he had a hard life; the only reason he can is because an accident of birth gave him the power and status the major villains could never have. JC’s situation is tragic, but the kind of tragic that’s only a tragedy because those involved chose to make it that way. JC could be surrounded by people who love him, he could do so much good, he could fight to keep anyone from suffering the way he did again. Instead he wallows in his suffering, brings it down on anyone he doesn’t like, drives everyone who might have stood by him away. Whether he can see it or not, JC is alone because he chose to be.

(And yeah, isn’t it funny how there are no fics where WWX keeps his golden core and JC loses his and remains reasonably in character? Wonder why that could be. It can’t possibly be that even the most hardcore JC stans can’t find a way to make that setup work, could it?)

[crossdressingdeath]

1/7 I think the thing that annoys me most about some JC stans (not talking about everyone here, but I’ve unfortunately seen a number of them doing this) is how they seem to refuse to admit to JC’s faults. I feel like with other characters, people can at least admit that they’ve made mistakes, and acknowledge that it doesn’t take away from them as a character. For instance WWX is my favourite character but I can say that the guy has made mistakes - he’s not some perfect character who

2/? has done no wrong, but he’s still a great character and he is a good person. But people do make mistakes. There are some JC stans that just seem to completely ignore anything he’s ever done - no, JC never hunted down demonic cultivators, it’s all a lie from jealous cultivators! Or even worse - JC was actually offering those people PROTECTION and that’s why they never left lotus pier (sadly some fics have actually gone down this route). No, JC has every right to be mad at WWX because

Okay let me try summarising this instead haha. Part 3: people acting like WWX 'abandoned' JC first, and going on about WWX not getting consent for the golden core transfer, and how some even blame him for what happened in the ancestral hall because apparently he was there without JC's permission. And then some people who claim LWJ is being disrespectful to JC, who is a sect leader, which I find so dumb

4/7 because I don’t think he is ever disrespectful. Hostile, yes, and he calls JC out when he’s wrong because you don’t just mindlessly accept whatever a ‘sect leader’ says. But overall I think the thing that annoys me the most is people who get genuinely mad that WWX moved on with his life after Guanyin Temple. Like...JC has tormented him numerous times since he came back. And yet people actually try and use JC’s trauma as an excuse and say that WWX needs to understand JC better

and then part 5 - people acting like it's WWX's responsibility to 'fix' JC, when WWX has every right to go after his happy ending and finally do something for himself. And JC is a grown adult and if he wants to reconcile, then he should make the first step and stop expecting WWX to have to be the one to do it. And also how JC has given WWX no sign that he even wants to fix their relationship. Okay, hopefully tumblr doesn't eat up these summaries haha

7/7 and act like WWX owes him some sort of apology for...honestly I don’t even know what. Leaving to protect innocent people that JC wanted dead? Dying because of JC? Deciding he didn’t want to put up with JC’s abuse anymore? Also - for the love of god people, stop acting like JC’s sacrifice suddenly excuses everything he’s done. They can’t judge WWX’s for the core transfer and then praise JC at the same time. Haha this got so long...If tumblr eats any of this up, I have copied xD

Hey, that actually worked!

Yeah, I’ve also seen the “JC was actually protecting those demonic cultivators and that’s why everyone thinks he tortured them to death and he’s been seen torturing them and no one ever sees them again!” thing, which is... stupid. It’s stupid. Even if he is taking them away for their own protection (he’s not), the fact that they apparently never leave despite having lives outside of Lotus Pier and all evidence suggests torture is involved suggests it’s less protection and more brainwashing. At best.

And yeah, there’s a lot of bullshit about how WWX should’ve just let those innocent people die horribly in labour camps for the crime of having the wrong name even though two of those people saved his and JC’s lives because JC didn’t want him to, and not being okay with doing that is some huge betrayal of JC. I try to find some amusement in the fact that the people who insist JC has never hurt anyone ever are now saying that not letting people die is betraying him, but...

The whole thing with the ancestral hall is like... WWX was there without JC’s permission, this is true. He maybe should’ve asked first and not brought an outsider in, this is also true. But here’s the thing. JC was following them through Lotus Pier. This is in the text. He waited until they went into a place they weren’t supposed to be and then came in to insult them and their relationship. If he just didn’t want them going into the ancestral hall, he could’ve stopped them before they went in! But he deliberately waited for them to do something he could scream at them for. He wanted an excuse. If it hadn’t been the ancestral hall, it would’ve been something else. Blaming WWX for JC looking for a fight is just... no. And LWJ is maybe technically disrespectful? Because JC is a sect leader and so technically outranks him? But given the way JC talks to and about everyone he meets he really doesn’t have a leg to stand on here.

Yeah, there’s a huge thing about how WWX needs to try to understand JC. He made things so hard for him, if he’d just listen and make an effort everything would be fine! Not a word about how JC was awful to WWX for over a decade and WWX just took it because that was “just how JC shows affection”. Like, WWX has been ‘trying to understand JC’ from the moment they met. If he’s finally gotten sick of having to make constant excuses for the way JC treats him so that he can be even vaguely happy with his brother... good for him. This is important character growth with WWX realizing he shouldn’t have to constantly put up with being treated like shit! And people act like it’s a bad thing! Ugh!

And it is not WWX’s responsibility to drag JC into a reconciliation kicking and screaming. If JC wants them to be brothers, he’d better fucking act like it. Seriously, JC never matures beyond that little kid throwing a tantrum because his dogs were taken away. He doesn’t want to have to put in actual effort, he wants WWX to come crawling back to him like always so he can kick him around again. If he takes the first step, then he’ll be saying that he cares about having WWX around, and he won’t be able to act like he’s doing WWX some huge favour. Also, WWX is married to LWJ, so there’s no longer a sense that he hasn’t got anywhere else to go. If JC can’t treat WWX like shit without fear of consequences, he doesn’t want him around.

And you know what? WWX has apologized. He’ll probably continue to apologize in the future. He’s sorry. He’s so incredibly sorry and I don’t know how anyone with even a passing familiarity with the story could miss it. It’s JC who acts like he’s never done anything wrong and doesn’t need to apologize. The one time he took a risk for WWX doesn’t mean he now doesn’t have to apologize for a decade of abuse, any more than the golden core transfer invalidates WWX accidentally having a hand in JYL’s death.