#ask me about my hyperfocus

[writtenbygracewilliams]

Peerages & Titles: female inheritance

[Full list of disclaimers is in the master post but tl;dr is that sources for this information are not consistent, sources may be modern, and this may be edited/expanded at anytime as my research continues.]

I knew this was gonna be a messy one but I didn’t think it would lead to me reading a 40 pg UK parliamentary report 😭 strap in, but it’s fascinating and also lowkey relevant to the Featherington’s and Michaela Stirling.

Some baronies and earldoms in the peerage of England may be inherited by women/daughters.

Some old earldoms issued by letters patent are able to pass to heirs of the body, with no male preference, and follow the same rules of baronies by writ (see below).

In the early medieval period earldoms were passed to the son of the earl, or the brother of the earl if he had no children. If he had a single daughter, his son-in-law would inherit the lands and usually the peerage—but more complex cases may have been decided by the crown. [If passing to a son-in-law, it would presumably be abeyant until she married but I did not find this specifically mentioned.]

In the 13th century, the son-in-law would automatically inherit the peerage when inheriting the land.

In the 15th century, the earldom reverted to the crown—who would often regrant it to the eldest son-in-law.

In the 17th century, the earldom would revert to abeyance unless and until there was only one remaining daughter.

Women may inherit certain baronies in the peerage of England, if they were baronies by writ. From the late 14th century [1388 to be exact] most peers have been created by letters patent, however most baronies created before this time were by a writ of summons.

Having no letters patent, or remainder, baronies by writ are not limited to male heirs. A baron who left a sole daughter may have his daughter inherit the barony, and either be a baroness in her own right or her husband will inherit the barony. [I cannot confirm which for the life of me, but based on prior knowledge I lean toward the latter.] [Maybe it’s a choice? Highly unlikely.]

Where there is more than one daughter, the barony will fall into a state of abeyance between the co-heirs.

The co-heirs should reach an honourable agreement (without bribery or corruption) as to who will claim the title, the claimant then petitioning the crown to terminate the abeyance.

A claimant must represent at least one third of an abeyant title, and the title must not have been abeyant for more than 100 years.

If there is ever only one remaining co-heir, they do not have to petition the crown in order to assume the title.

The crown may intervene and terminate an abeyant title at any time.

The inheritance of Scottish peerages varies, but in many instances [and this applies to all Scottish peers] a daughter may inherit the title, and will do so over her younger sisters. Co-heirs and abeyance are avoided entirely in the peerage of Scotland. [I have plans to extend this point since the introduction of Michaela, bear with me, but as always feel free to drop q’s in my ask]

Many original limitations for succession in the peerage of Ireland are not known. Today, there is only one Irish viscountcy and one barony that may pass through the female line and they are both held by the same person. [Viscount Massereene and Ferrand].

Titles that cannot be inherited by daughters do not automatically go to daughter’s sons, a special remainder must be in place. [This is what Portia does/forges to say that her first grandson will inherit the Featherington estate, she creates (forges) a special remainder.]

For example, IF the Featherington Barony was created by writ [it clearly was not, but I think it would be cool if it was] then after the death of Lord Featherington the barony would have become abeyant. [Instead it becomes dormant]. Phillipa, Prudence and Penelope would have to agree amongst themselves who should inherit the title. Do I see that happening? No, they’re a trainwreck, but it would make good tv. Queen Charlotte [technically the Prince Regent] could intervene at any time to choose who will take the title/peerage/estate.

Kind of can’t believe I got through that, mad props if any of you did. Link to the master post here with all the peerage information, drop any questions in my ask :)

–GW xo

[grace-williams-xo]

If you ever wanted to know anything about English peers or titles [royals included],,,, I did weeks of hyper focused research so you don’t have to! There are 12 posts, here is the master post with easy to ready tables about basic forms of address and links to the 11 other deep dives.

LOWKEY if it doesn’t get a modicum of attention I’ll cry and I wish I was kidding

[grace-williams-xo]

Resident peerage expert clocking in for duty 🫡 [my info & deep dives here] The examples in the last paragraph are:

John Sterling, The Earl of Kilmartin

Simon Basset, The Duke of Hastings

Baby polin would be [using Thomas, bc that’s their first son in the books, but actually we have no idea what his name is and I’m mad]

Thomas Bridgerton, Baron Featherington

I cannot find confirmation of if/when such for uses of the name—rather than title—would be appropriate, especially in regency England, but I would think only possibly verbal reference and verbal introduction. I would hazard a guess that it would never be appropriate for a duke, and probably not a marquess or earl either.

Some titles, more common contemporarily, include territorial designations. For example, the former prime minister’s full title was Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire. It is incorrect to omit any part of the territorial designation unless you omit all of it. Baroness Thatcher is fine, Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven is not; but the latter may be used informally.

This style of title is more common for barons and viscounts. Anthony could be The Viscount Bridgerton, of Aubrey in the County of Kent (he is not, I don’t even think Aubrey is a place). Thomas could be Baron Featherington, of Mayfair in the County of Middlesex (I think this was the county it would’ve been in at the time but I digress).

Given earls, marquesses and dukes typically have of in their title anyway, the territorial designation is typically before a comma within the title ie: The Duke of Hastings. However, it is still possible.

This is not his title, and rules differ slightly in Scotland anyway, but an example of what John’s title could be as an earl is The Earl Stirling, of Kilmartin in the Shire of Argyll and Bute.

Hello!

I read your post about Penelope and Colin leaving at Featherington house and it makes sense that they want to keep this house but do you think it means Portia is here with them??? I mean, it was nice to have her see Penelope at last and that they understand each other but I'd like them to be on their own in the house and I liked the idea that they had a new home, a house where Penelope did not have bad memories.

Also, as with the Mondrichs it's confusing to me that their first son does not have their name anymore 😅

I loved this season, it was the best one for me ❤️ and I think we'll see them happy (and in bed 😏🥰) in future seasons!

Thanks!!

They might keep Portia there with them, or she might move to a dowager house off screen like how Prudence and Philippa moved to their married homes off screen. Violet, at the beginning of the season, made note of looking for a dowager house to move to, as did Anthony when he was talking to Kate about it. Society wise, it seems that when the new lord takes over or gets married, the dowager usually ends up moving. Anthony actually likes and cares for his family, and from what Kate said it seemed in India, Violet would be expected to stay with all the other unmarried siblings. So that's why Violet hasn't moved yet, and probably the real reason why is they don't want to get a new set.

We only ever saw one or two rooms of polin's married home so I am leaning in that they are more than likely going to have them at the Featherington House and maybe their other home will be for kept as their nest egg for when their son is grown a fully realized lord. Nothing wrong with that, and I find it somewhat healing that Penelope is probably moving past the hurt and bad memories to make new and good ones with her husband and son and possibly future children. Another reason why I think they'll keep them there is how often Colin was over there for the first two seasons. I mean, with how often he was there, Portia should have charged him rent.

As for the Mondrich boy, he still has his family name. When people say his title, it's the name of the estate. Like with John. His name is John Stirling, but his title is Earl of Kilmartin or Lord Kilmartin. Same thing with Simon. He's the Duke of Hastings, but his last name is Basset. I'm not sure how the peerage system works, but I'm guessing it kind of depends on how long it's been in the family, what their rank is, and when it's passed along. Because as we seen in the show titles, pass to the closest living male relative and say that's your sister's son than yeah, he's gonna have a different last name, but we also still need to know which estate he's the lord of.

[uncanny-tranny]

In political spheres, I so often want to ask, "is what you're doing 'punching up,' or are they just an easily-available, acceptable target?"

[constellation-sapphic]

Kinda fucked (but also kinda the best possible way it could have happened) that I developed a special interest into mormon doctrine, theology, and history AFTER I stopped believing in it.

I know sooooo much more now than I ever did as a believing member. And I think you can only fully acknowledge the history after you've stopped believing so maybe this was the only way I would have learned as much about mormonism as I have

[a-passing-storm]

I did too much drawing and writing so I’m writing with my left hand now, and I’m reminded of how weird it is that I’m ambidextrous.

[kawhump]

I’m starting out with digital art, do you have any tips for beginners? Your art is like amazing so

thank you so much!! I'm very flattered you'd wanna ask me. oh boy, lets see... hmm...

never be afraid to use a tool because its 'cheating.' digital art will offer you a thousand tools that make drawing easier and more fun. it doesn't even waste paper to try all of them. undo and transform are just the tip of the iceberg. I highly recommend messing around with whatever free brushes you can find for your program, as well as all of the options in the drop down menus. also, mess with the layer blending options, I promise they're not as scary as they seem at first and they will change your life.

secondly, if you can find a way to make art more fun, DO IT. you may have to branch out to learn new things, but you also have to make drawing more fun than video games or netflix in order to learn anything. I hate drawing linearts, so I just don't. I love shading and blending and rendering, so I do that a lot. now I wind up making paintings every time I sit down because I get lost in the sauce. even little things like a brush feeling nice to scribble with or bright colors making sketching more fun are worth pursuing.

also, watching speedpaints can be really helpful and fun for learning process and technique things.

that's all I got, I think. sorry for being kinda cheesy, and thank you very much for the ask, I like talking about art :D

[giantkillerjack]

I am trying so hard to learn how to recreate junji ito's style, and I literally think that the line work is so detailed that my poor little crippled wrists are not up to the task

But! I think I have figured out a way to work around that using pre-made cross-hatching brushes in clip studio! Which means hopefully I can focus on getting down the major shapes of his illustrations, and then i can learn how to fill in the ludicrous amount of tiny tiny little lines digitally!

and THEN I am going to draw characters from the video game Don't Starve Together in that style! And vice versa. I would love to draw a cute little chibi of Tomie 😈☠🙀

Time to crack into the file entitled "scary boi jail" that I keep on both my phone and my computer, so I can trace a bunch of panels from Uzumaki.

Happy Twisted Flesh Tuesday, everyone!!

[proximacentaurib]

Guess who spent 17 hours doing an assignment they didn't think would take more than 5 max

[it-may-be-dull-but-im-determined]

Intermissions were originally because (like DVDs back in the day kids), cinema reels could only manage so much run time and had to be changed (in very early cinema, they had as many as four intermissions to change reels..!). Even as tech improved, in the 50s the 3D stereoscope reels needed a break to be switched out as well. And that's leaving aside the other big plus of intervals that theatres rely on - it's an opportunity to bump profits by selling more food and drink. Afaik, most UK cinemas at least make more profit from that already rather than ticket sales even without intermissions, so it's no small thing to consider bringing them back with longer films taking up more screens as it is.

And intermissions are making a comeback in some cinemas this year specifically - the unexpected success of Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon have meant that Vue have been trialling intermissions in some of their UK branches for longer screenings, and apparently have had good feedback.

Indian cinema has famously always had intermissions and that's never stopped being a thing! Most Indian films shown in UK cinemas include the intermission as well, and that isn't going anywhere.

(I say this having dithered over booking London Film Festival stuff recently because they were four hours long, with no interval. Steve McQueen's documentary Occupied City - about the legacy of nazi occupation on Amsterdam - I couldn't fit in. But I did indeed rock up for a four hour screening of Menu Plaisirs - Les Troisgrois, in which a 93 year old director spends several months embedded at a historical family run French Michelin restaurant. It's niche to begin with! You could hear people psyching themselves up as they went in (some of them had obviously seen the 3.5 hour KOTFM the previous day) and honestly it was quite entertaining seeing who out of the sold out audience started leaving after the two hour mark. It's super slow and gentle and immersive and it's... Just interesting. You learn stuff. You can absolutely pop out halfway through to visit the bar and the loo and not really miss anything. I think a themed intermission where they make an event of it and serve relevant food & wine would make for an awesome event, but otherwise I just took note of the runtime and stocked up on quiet snacks before I went in and it was fine).

Unpopular theatre opinion: intermissions are bad and I wish we could just have a 2.5 hour performance uninterrupted, like people manage perfectly well at movie theaters. It always just kills my emotional immersion. Set changes and costume changes valid, but the art form could adapt in other ways. Or making the intermission experience somehow also part of the performance? Just something more interesting and intentional than dumping people out into the lobby to buy m&ms.

[pomefioredove]

need overblot boys with epel, and floyd with a reader that randomly lore drops as if they're an old dad like "yeah lol my old school had a shooting once....anyways *SNOREE*" and when asked they just agree and walk away and never elaborate whatsoever💀 if you feel uncomfortable feel free to delete or ignore‼️love ya pookie💥

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ a reader with a backstory

I got u 🫡🫡

summary: wacky reader lore type of post: headcanons characters: riddle, leona, azul, floyd, jamil, vil, epel, idia, malleus additional info: romantic, reader is gender neutral, reader is yuu

you find new ways to raise Riddle's blood pressure every day

little guy is worried enough as it is

you've already got your school work, taking care of Ramshackle, taking care of Grim, taking care of all the other freshmen, taking care of-

well... you get it

the last thing he needs is to hear another one of your stories

"oh, yeah, that's like the time I got stabbed"

"????? WHAT??"

what's entertaining to you and ADeuce is mortifying to Riddle

if you're not careful you'll end up sleeping on the floor in his room

where he can keep a close eye on you

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

you're like Leona's little court jester

and he takes you with him everywhere

it's not easy to get a genuine laugh out of him, after all

besides, what's so bad about a little dark humor? it's not like you died or anything

he knows you're a resilient little thing

and you seem to love telling him about "that time you crawled into a drainage pipe", anyway

you make him laugh; he likes you

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Azul indulges you

his white noise machine stopped working last month and you make for excellent background ambience

so, he lets you talk yourself in circles about your school work, your friends, Grim, Grim again

and then you drop the most HEINOUS bombshells in the middle

"blah blah blah Grim, blah blah Crowley, blah blah, that one time I got lost in the woods for a day, blah blah-"

he loses his train of thought every time

now, Floyd is the complete opposite

he will hyperfocus on the most mundane details

and ignore the bombshells

will give you an, "oh, that's cool" to your ghost story but will find you the pair of socks you mentioned liking three months ago

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Jamil is just fascinated by you

you as a person, of course

but also the fact that you're still alive

one night, he's explaining the reason he makes all of Kalim's food and you're like

"oh, yeah, I get it. I got mold poisoning once and hallucinated for a week"

?????

then you go right back to asking him about the recipe

sitting on the counter, as happy as could be

"HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!!!"

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Vil is used to this

he knows that look on your face

he will shush you with a finger to your lips before you even start

"don't tell me, I'm stressed enough as it is"

he's going to break out if you keep at it

he finds you quite... macabre

which is entertaining until he sees you going down a flight of stairs without holding onto the railing and remembers all those stories you'd told him

he's just... concerned for you, that's all

and he does NOT appreciate Epel for encouraging it

"tell us more about the time you fell down that hill into that pile of rocks, Prefect!"

:D

like a kid in a candy store

learning new Lore is like the highlight of his week

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

"talk about having a high luck stat..."

Idia is more entertained than anything

he thought these kinds of things only happened in anime, but...

...there you are

it sounds like you experience more in a single month than he has in his whole life

and you know what?

GOOD

you can keep your freaky real-world experiences!

he'll just live vicariously through you

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

poor Malleus

he's been putting so much effort into learning and blending with human culture, and now here you are with your terrifying stories

you tell him in such earnest, too

you seem so... unbothered by it

perhaps humans are less fragile than he thought?

of course, he shouldn't have underestimated you in the first place :)!

then you come over for dinner one night

"hahah, yeah, last time I was at someone's house their grandma threw a lamp at my head and I got a concussion"

Silver and Sebek both go >_>

Lilia goes <_<

and then Malleus is there like, "ah, another fascinating tale :)"

[writtenbygracewilliams]

Peerage & Titles: rank and precedence within the peerage

[Full list of disclaimers is in the master post but tl;dr is that sources for this information are not consistent, sources may be modern, and this may be edited/expanded at anytime as my research continues.]

Sovereign > Royal family > Archbishop of Canterbury > Archbishop of York > Great Officers of State [eg Prime Minister] > Peers

Peers of England > Peers of Scotland > Peers of Great Britain > Peers of the United Kingdom > Peers of Ireland

However, never will a peer of a lower rank precede one of a higher rank [regardless of peerage]

Duke > Marquess > Earl > Viscount > Baron > Baronet

A married woman will always take on the title and precedence of her husband, even if it is her subsequent marriage and/or a lower rank or title.

A dowager peeress precedes the present holder of the same title. For example; Violet precedes Anthony.

A divorced peeress is no longer entitled to the privileges and styles of peeress that their marriage granted them. However, in the case of a Duchess, she may use the title without the The. For example; if they were to divorce, Daphne would go from Your Grace, The Duchess of Hastings to Daphne, Duchess of Hastings. The inclusion of the first name is to differentiate from a future wife of The Duke. If Simon remained unmarried, Daphne may be simply Duchess of Hastings.

Duke > Marquess > Duke’s eldest son > Earl > Marquess’s eldest son > Duke’s younger son(s) > Viscount > Earl’s eldest son > Marquess’s younger son(s) > Baron > Viscount’s eldest son(s) > Earl’s younger son(s) > Baron’s eldest son(s) > Viscount’s younger son(s) > Baron’s younger son(s) > Baronets

Children of the eldest son of a peer have precedence. For example; if Edmund was still alive [meaning Anthony would not yet be Viscount] then it would be Edmund > Violet > Anthony > Baby Edmund II > Benedict > Colin > Gregory > Anthony’s younger son(s)

Daughters take precedence after the eldest son’s wife, but before the younger son(s)’s wives. For example, if Edmund was still alive, Daphne [as Duchess, as she takes her husband’s precedence] Edmund > Violet > Anthony > Kate > Benedict > Colin > Gregory > Eloise > Francesca > Hyacinth > Sophie > Penelope > Lucy.

Canon example, because Anthony is Viscount, Daphne > Violet > Anthony > Kate > Baby Edmund II > Edmund II’s wife > Anthony’s younger son’s > Anthony’s daughters > Anthony’s younger son’s wives > Benedict > Sophie > Colin > Penelope > Gregory > Lucy > Eloise > Francesca > Hyacinth. Much like Daphne, Francesca will outrank Anthony once marrying an Earl.

Let’s all get on the same page about the full ranking/precedence, at the end of s3. Simon > Daphne > Auggie > John > Francesca > Saphne’s younger children (boys first) > Violet > Anthony > Kate > John & Francesca’s hypothetical eldest son would go here > Portia > Baby Polin, Baron Featherington > Baby Edmund II > John & Francesca’s hypothetical younger children (boys first) > Baby Polin’s eldest son > Kanthony’s future children (boys first) > Baby Polin’s younger children > Benedict > Sophie > Colin > Penelope. Polin will be outranked by their grandchildren. [I know that canonically John and Francesca have no children, but I wanted to illustrate].

This one melted my brain a little ngl. Master post here, it’s got general peerage info and links to all my other deep dives. Drop any questions in my ask :)

–GW xo

[hurryupmerlin]

One of the funniest fucking things is that by now I figured out there are like 5 shippers on the entire internet that actually create content for this burning trash pile of an OTP. I am number 6.

The rest (about 25 people) just consume the content, but don't interact. And that's it, that's the entire Fi/Ordo fandom.

I worked with less before, I can do this

[irisintheafterglow]

uno wild card: stop writing for coparenting!megumi with satoru or draw 25

me, with 95 cards already in my hand:

also cw this is angst/comfort 'cause apparently i'm in the mood for pain

"shh, shh, baby. you're okay. i'm right here. you're okay." his breath is still rapidly uneven, chest heaving while you hold him in your lap on his mattress. "megs, you need to breathe. you're okay. i've got you." it wasn't often that megumi had nightmares; but, every few months, something triggered in his mind and had him seeing monsters that weren't real. as if by instinct, you felt that something was off tonight. there wasn't any time for explanation as you peeled satoru's arms from your torso, just a hyperfocus on the panicked child in the next room over.

"i don't-i don't-" his voice breaks into strangled cries and his little fingers grip tighter on your clothes, one of satoru's old pajama shirts. fat drops run down his cheeks, eyes irritated and red. you continue to hush the boy, gently running your fingers through his hair as his tears soak through the fabric of your top.

"they won't get you, megs. i promise," you whisper into his temple, pressing your lips tenderly to his forehead. "you're okay." his chokes for air have decreased slightly, but he's still trembling like you'd just pulled him from a frozen-over lake.

"where's satoru?" you sigh, chest aching at the implications of those two words. it wasn't that megumi didn't want you there. whatever woke him up must have distressed him so much that he was actually acknowledging your boyfriend. it broke your heart into a few more pieces.

"next door, fast asleep. do you want me to go get him?" he immediately tenses against you, wrapping his arms around your neck so you couldn't get up. "megs?"

"please don't leave me," he pleads. his voice is small and riddled with fear. you nod, slipping one arm under his tiny legs so that he's hanging on you like a monkey.

"can i bring you to our bed? is that okay?"

"mhmm," he hums exhaustedly into your shoulder. his breaths have evened out to a relatively calm rhythm, but he still holds on to you like you'd launch into the stratosphere if he let go. pulling back the covers with one hand, you gently set the boy down next to satoru, who sleepily blinks open a curious blue eye.

"and where might you be going?" he quietly asks in the darkness of the room, propped on an elbow as you make to go back to megumi's bed. megumi was already fast asleep, curled into himself with satoru's hand protectively on his head.

"i'll be right back; i'm gonna go grab his wolf."

"come back quickly. i miss you," he yawns and you can tell it's taking a lot out of him to not fall back asleep. still, his constant need for your presence has you chuckling under your breath.

"i've been awake for five minutes, love."

"five minutes too long, so hurry up." it's barely twenty seconds that you're gone, picking up megumi's favorite stuffie and crawling back under the blankets with your boys. his arms unconsciously wrap around the wolf and he sighs deeply in contentment. despite the calm, your chest still felt like it was aching for the boy and it was almost too much. it almost is, until satoru's hand reaches out to brush your cheek with his knuckles. "hey, beautiful."

"hi, handsome. you okay?"

"i'm great, albeit a little sleepy," he drawls, glancing down at the snoring kid between your bodies. "nightmare?" you hum in assent, pulling megumi closer when he flips over to hug you. satoru takes his chance and tugs both of you into him until his arms stretched over both you and megumi. "he say what it was about?"

"he didn't, though it must have been pretty bad since he was asking for you," you reply. you expect a lightheartedly indignant protest, but all you're met with is a deep, deep frown. "why the face?"

"poor kid shouldn't be having nightmares so bad that he forgets he hates me." you scoff, careful not to wake the kid. your kid.

"he doesn't hate you, satoru."

"okay," he concedes, "'mildly dislikes' for the sake of comedy."

"there you go," you smile at him and he gazes lovingly back at you.

"you know, i really didn't plan for you to be part of this mentorship equation," he confesses and your eyebrow raises in question of his point. "but," he continues, pressing a kiss to your nose. "i'm so glad you're in it."

"i love you, satoru."

"you promise?"

"on the moon and the stars."

[eobe]

Crosshair and Mayday 🫶🏼 and the black ice vulture from the outpost on Barton IV.

This is my ‚the outpost‘ appreciation, because this episode always got me under my skin.

I get goosebumps, especially when this bird appears. It has a very strong symbolism for Crosshair. Strong, sharp eyes and claws, focussed and alone 🦅

And Mayday is truly Crosshair‘s ‚mayday‘. The last must, that he needs to grow out of his imperial hyperfocus hurt ego and hurt heart trip ✨

War is shit. This episode shows us, that war is dirty and nothing but a wastage of lives, time and ressources and also the inner war of a character who has to get out of his comfort zone he had sunken in almost too deep. We can learn from this heavy example, that it’s never too late to make big decisions and start to grow, even when it hurts to face oneself.

I‘m rambling… ☺️ Maybe because Autumn is coming and I love ‚to fall‘ 🍂 to get myself cosy and seclusive 🫖 to ask myself the big questions and slowly grow into the best version of myself ✨

So what do you think about that? Let me know, I love deep talk 🫶🏼

[qiu-yan]

Do you have any feelings opinions or analysis of the golden core reveal or just how the scene in the ancestral hall went down?? Because I have a lot of feelings about it but I can't quite put them together into words and I love your analysis of the story and jiang cheng

thank you for the ask!!!! and thank you for your kind comments!!

god i have so many opinions about the golden core reveal, and the ancestral hall scene that precedes it. i don't quite have all my thoughts in proper essay order right now, but i will probably write another long-ass post about my Hot Takes some day soon.

unorganized thoughts as of right now:

for the ancestral hall scene, i am almost purely on jiang cheng's side. jiang cheng was rude as hell and he did verbally escalate instead of peacefully allowing wangxian to leave, yes. however, they are in his house. they are in front of his ancestors. they are in his ancestral hall, which they entered without permission. to me, it seems like wei wuxian wants to have his cake and eat it too: he wants to avoid jiang cheng and all the anger the jiang cheng of the present has at his (very real and rather devastating) mistakes, but he also wants to freely come and go in jiang cheng's own goddamn house, like he used to be able to when he still had a positive relationship with jiang cheng. if wei wuxian is going to act like jiang cheng and yunmeng jiang are nothing to him anymore, then he should properly commit to being a full outsider.

it's also interesting how wei wuxian focuses his retorts in his argument with jiang cheng on "how dare you be cruel to lan zhan!!! i'm protecting lan zhan!!!!" when in my view the vast majority of jiang cheng's verbal abuse was directed towards wei wuxian himself. jiang cheng calls lan wangji "riffraff" and "an outsider," but that...is incredibly mild language to me. jiang cheng is ruder to wen ning (by calling him a "wen dog") for heaven's sake. instead, jiang cheng is much nastier towards wei wuxian himself: wei wuxian is shameless, wei wuxian's idiotic hero complex got all his family members killed, wei wuxian is why jin ling is an orphan, wei wuxian is a heartless ingrate, etc etc.

wei wuxian, defend YOURSELF! jiang cheng is barely being nasty at all to lan wangji, but he IS being nasty to YOU! compared to all the horrid shit he yells at you, he barely even brings up lan wangji at all! at the very least, tell jiang cheng not to call wen ning a "wen dog"!

i haven't fully thought this out yet so i'm not sure how fully i stand by it, but the fact that wei wuxian gets that heated "defending lan wangji" when jiang cheng barely even insulted lan wangji that much, is very interesting. it implies to me that, while wei wuxian thinks he does not have the right to properly rebut jiang cheng's criticisms of himself, that he truly is guilty and therefore should just take jiang cheng's verbal abuse of him lying down - deep down, he is still upset about jiang cheng blaming him specifically. when jiang cheng calls wei wuxian an ingrate who got all of jiang cheng's family members killed, wei wuxian is in fact upset and does in fact want to protest. however, he is unable to openly do so because he also feels incredibly guilty himself about the role he played in jin zixuan and jiang yanli's deaths, and therefore thinks he does not have the right to defend himself against jiang cheng's rage on the same issue.

but wei wuxian is still upset and still wishes to rebut jiang cheng's fury. therefore, "defending lan wangji" becomes an excuse for wei wuxian, a pretext to find issue with jiang cheng's arguments and therefore fight back. it's somewhat similar to when someone writes an incredibly effective counterargument to your post, so you hyperfocus on mocking them for a spelling error instead: you can't think of a way to properly rebut their rebuttal, so you jump on the first thing that gives you an excuse to disagree with them and poke holes in their argument. wei wuxian believes (accurately or not) that he does not have the right to defend himself against jiang cheng; however, he is fully justified in defending lan wangji from jiang cheng, which gives him an excuse to argue back when jiang cheng insults wei wuxian.

this is evidenced by the fact that, in the ancestral hall scene, wei wuxian does not defend wen ning from jiang cheng at all. jiang cheng also gives wei wuxian shit for "let[ting] the Wen dog wander around in front of our gates," but wei wuxian just fully lets that comment slide in favor of defending only lan wangji. while this could be because lan wangji is present to hear jiang cheng say this while wen ning is not, for me, another reason comes to mind as well: in wei wuxian's mind, wen ning is also involved, however tangentially, in the deaths of jin zixuan and jiang yanli. wei wuxian's guilt extends to encompass wei ning as well. therefore, wei wuxian feels that he also does not have the right to defend wen ning from jiang cheng. it is only lan wangji out of the three people jiang cheng insults that wei wuxian has the right to defend, because lan wangji alone was not involved in the jiang family tragedy of wei wuxian's first life.

also, it was wei wuxian who first escalated a verbal confrontation into a physical one.

regarding the golden core transfer scene.....first, i find it absolutely hilarious that wen ning of all people spilled the beans to jiang cheng, and got so mad about it to boot. king, you helped operate on him. king, you helped lie to him about it. king, there is no shortage of things you have the full right to be angry with sect leader jiang about, but him believing the lies you actively chose to tell him and not figuring out that you were lying is not one of them. as someone else put it, one person between wen ning and jiang cheng had a free and active hand in removing wei wuxian's core and putting it into jiang cheng, and that person was not jiang cheng. wen ning helping violate jiang cheng's bodily autonomy and then weaponizing said nonconsensual surgery later in an argument against the same jiang cheng is kind of crazy to me, honestly.

imo (and i'm stealing from an analysis i read somewhere), wen ning was this harsh about the golden core reveal despite being one of the surgeons who nonconsensually operated on jiang cheng and then lied to him about it for similar reasons as i described for wei wuxian above. wen ning is also deeply angry with jiang cheng for a lot of things: jiang cheng repeatedly calls him a "thing" and kicks him around like he isn't a human being; jiang cheng also led the first siege of the burial mounds, which killed all save one of wen ning's family members. that is a completely reasonable thing to be mad about. but wen ning, having seen firsthand the wrongdoings of qishan wen, probably has a guilt complex of sorts about being a wen; more importantly, he feels incredibly guilty about his "role" in killing jin ling's father. therefore, wen ning probably does not feel he has the right to defend himself from jiang cheng.

but deep down wen ning is still angry. he is still incredibly angry with jiang cheng for the things jiang cheng did to wen ning. and, while wen ning may not feel like he has the right to defend himself from jiang cheng, defending wei wuxian from jiang cheng is a different matter. in wen ning's eyes, wei wuxian did no major wrong and always had good intentions. therefore, jiang cheng has no right to be angry with wei wuxian. therefore, if wen ning absolutely wrecks jiang cheng's shit defending wei wuxian (and not wen ning himself), then wen ning would be entirely justified.

second - and my thoughts on this haven't fully baked yet - there's this undercurrent in both the golden core transfer scene and the guanyin temple scene that, because wei wuxian gave jiang cheng his core, jiang cheng does not have the right to be angry with wei wuxian for the pain wei wuxian's actions caused jiang cheng. that jiang cheng is now permanently indebted to wei wuxian, which therefore voids all of jiang cheng's right to say that wei wuxian hurt him.

i don't like this undercurrent. i don't like this idea at all. if someone - even accidentally - caused you a lot of pain, the fact that they also once sacrificed themself for you does not negate the pain they caused you. you should be grateful for what they did for you, but that doesn't mean you no longer have a right to your pain.

to flip the script, jiang cheng in reality also sacrificed himself for wei wuxian: he only lost his golden core to begin with because he drew that wen patrol away from wei wuxian. it is factually correct to say that, were it not for jiang cheng, wei wuxian would very likely be dead. but if anyone were to say: "jiang cheng once sacrificed himself for wei wuxian, meaning that wei wuxian owes his life to jiang cheng; therefore, wei wuxian does not have the right to be angry with jiang cheng for the first siege of the burial mounds," that would be fucking stupid. because that's not how it works.

i hold this to be true even though there is a cause-and-effect relationship between each person's sacrifice and their later actions. wei wuxian not having a golden core explains a lot of his later lying and other behavior, and jiang cheng having been tortured because he saved wei wuxian in turn explains a lot of his later resentment and other behavior as well. but neither of their fates were set in stone. both of them still had free will and still could have made different decisions afterwards.

the above is all a lot of blaming, refutation of blaming, and morality wank, so here are some assorted non-morality opinions:

the gift of the magi esque dual-sacrifice wei wuxian and jiang cheng pulled for each other is my favorite part of the story. like holy shit.

wen ning did phrase the golden core reveal to be as hurtful as possible. i find the idea of a sacrifice performed out of love and care for the recipient later being weaponized against that same recipient to be a very interesting idea.

wei wuxian absolutely did not give up his golden core out of only a sense of duty. there was quite a lot of duty, obligation, and guilt (spurred on by jiang fengmian and yu ziyuan's last words to him) mixed into his reasons, but i think wei wuxian gave his golden core to jiang cheng because he loved jiang cheng and didn't want to watch jiang cheng suffer.

jiang cheng, meanwhile, led the wen patrol away and thus got captured in place of wei wuxian purely because he loved wei wuxian. in doing so, he specifically failed his duty to his dead parents, his ancestors, and his sect.

wei wuxian's internal narration about how he later conceptualized the golden core transfer as "his duty to the jiang" is interesting because it is written to be a post-hoc justification. as in, he came up with those reasons and that line of thinking after he already gave up his golden core, and was trying to make the outcome acceptable to himself.

jiang cheng postcanon is in a position to start healing. this take is also stolen from an analysis i read somewhere else, but the one question that's been cooking jiang cheng for the past 13 years is Why. why did wei wuxian do all that? did wei wuxian ever truly care about him, about his family, or was wei wuxian lying from the start? wei wuxian consistently accomplishes the impossible, so how could wei wuxian allow this to happen? but now that jiang cheng knows wei wuxian gave his golden core to him, suddenly all these questions have answers. the cause and effect relationship between A and B makes sense now. and now that jiang cheng has answers, he can let the questions stop cooking his brain and begin to heal and move on.

thank you again for the ask and the kind comments!