#but he loves wei wuxian SO much. he loves him so much

[fanaticat]

OK no I can’t just reblog with tags about how pretty he is. Because. Obviously. That. LOOK at him.

But then LOOK AT HIM. I absolutely love this scene and his acting. Lan Wangji’s world-view is unraveling in real time. Like it’s such a monumental moment for him that I don’t think Wei Wuxian totally picks up on at this point in their relationship.

He has literally found the secret hidden underbelly of his supposedly righteous, perfect clan. The Yin Iron is the actual physical representation of the darkness hiding underneath all the pretty exterior of the Lan Clan.

He goes from confused, then scared, and eventually determined to figure it out anyway. It’s like one of the first moments we get a glimpse of him growing into the man he becomes by the end of the series - like one of our first looks at Hanguang-Jun. He’s not QUITE ready to look at all the hard things yet. He’s basically forced into this position. But really, he could’ve gone “well shit we aren’t supposed to be here clearly, I trust my clan and my upbringing and I’m finding a way out with this outsider before he sees anything else he shouldn’t.” But he doesn’t. He looks at the ugly parts head on, figures things out, and lets himself and his understanding of the world be a little bit changed.

(And Wei Wuxian goes with him. It’s so perfect that he is by Lan Zhan’s side when he has one of his first big moral upheavals of the show).

(I think I might still love this show just as much in 30 years)

THE UNTAMED episode six

[lavender-phoenix-flames]

"People deal with trauma differently"

I read a quote by a psychologist the other day, it was:

"Trauma explains people's actions, it doesn't justify said actions"

I think more people need to hear this, yall sound absurd when you say "his mistreatment of jin ling stems from his sufferings etc" first of all, this isn't a defense at all and he isn't any more traumatized than the other characters on the show, his sufferings doesn't fucking justify him slapping jl to the ground. Also your refusal to admit his behavior as abusive is very telling.

And no one is here to condemn the existence of abusive and complex characters like jiang cheng, we are pointing out his bad behavior and toxic patterns and we don't need his stans going "people hate complex characters everyone needs to be an angel these days" that's not the case at all, trauma doesn't justify his actions and hating him is reasonable.

Infact, we need characters like him to appreciate kind, brave, righteous, selfless and good hearted characters like wen ning, wei wuxian, wen qing and lan wangji, who went through the horribly traumatic situations and didn't turn evil or took on toxic behaviors. You don't know how hard it is to stay kind through all adversity, jc is weak willed, spineless fool and him not taking a stand for innocent wens is his cowardice, false hatred and lack of respect for people who risked so much for him, his clan and his own pathetic existence, his hate of wwx is cuz his unreasonable jealousy and envy.

Jc deserves all the hate he gets, if jc stans can't love him for the loser, pathetic asshole he is then it is not my problem. Stop posting baseless shit to justify him in canon jc tag.

[randomness-is-my-order]

thinking about the “single-plank bridge” and how wei wuxian’s circumstance becomes all the more heartbreaking when we contexualise the kind of person he is. wei wuxian is never shown to be an isolated entity from the very start of his story. even when he lived on the streets, he had a way of connecting with those around him and wheedling shopkeepers into maintaining his daily sustenance. quickly after he came to lotus pier, he formed bonds with jc and yanli. wei wuxian was genuinely interested in people and forging friendships with those he liked. his junior disciples loved him. he was canonically one of the most popular young guys in the cultivation society. he frequently interacted with the common folk in yunmeng or anywhere else he happened to visit. at the guest lectures in the lan sect, wei wuxian was able to inspire multiple disciples (not just nie huaisang) into following his shenanigans. he is also able to befriend some of the wens, prime among them are ofc wen qing and wen ning. for a story as heavy in interpersonal conflicts as mdzs is, it is a given that people and their relationships will be centre stage and wei wuxian isn’t in the least lacking in these relationships. we see this even after his reincarnation that wei wuxian, even when he tries to stay disconnected, forms new bonds with ease. the juniors that are first wary of him soon come to deeply admire him and wei wuxian in turn becomes protective over them.

in short, wei wuxian is defined by his relationships as much as he is by his actions and convictions and thoughts. never once are we made to believe that wei wuxian’s ideal choice would be the “single plank bridge”, that he would be completely at ease with his isolation, that he would ever want to pick that option as a preference. in fact, the single plank bridge ideology has never been one that wei wuxian is shown to inherently gravitate towards or recommend/preach to other people. but that ideology is a last resort.

it is a choice made when his hand is forced, when no other comfortable option is allowed to him, when every door is shut in his face and isolating himself from the people he has known is the only avenue left with him. the single plank bridge is about sticking to his beliefs and not giving up, about doing the right thing no matter what because someone needs to take that stand and wei wuxian has never not been that someone.

i think that it is so crucial that the single plank bridge wasn’t so much a choice that wei wuxian made than a choice that was made for him simply because he refused to give up on the wens.

he was denied alternatives. he was denied help. sometimes, the anti-culture discourse overcorrects itself into painting every heroic act that happens to be sacrificial as a default ‘hero complex’ and self-sacrifical tendencies, ignoring the build-up of those difficult decisions and how, in this story, in mdzs, wei wuxian wasn’t foregoing the crowded broad road but that the crowd on the broad road had foregone him.

[trans-xianxian]

it's simply that it's so clear through the whole first part of the story that jiang cheng truly loves wei wuxian with his Whole Heart despite how dysfunctionally he often treats him, and the thing that crumbles it all is wei wuxian's own profound act of love for jiang cheng As His Older Brother. it's simply that maybe if they just didn't love each other so much none of it would have ended this way. I'm going to be sick I tell you SICK

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

News spreads fast.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[dragonselkie]

I LOVE how cute wei ying finds lan zhan after his reincarnation, like as soon as they’re working together he goes back to having his First Crush and it’s adorable, how innocently in love he still is. being surprised about how lan zhan teases back now, how cute he found drunk lan zhan, the teasing and clinging coming so easily. you can really tell, for wei ying, it has only been a few years of separation 🥺

[spottedgardeneelstan]

dead waltz.

[phoenixkaptain]

My favourite part of MDZS is how cool Wei Wuxian is.

Like, we don’t talk enough about how cool he is. He performs Empathy three times. His ability to use a flute is so powerful, the song doesn’t even have to sound good for it to work. He brought a dead guy back to life (kinda sorta).

But especially, I love how Wei Wuxian treats ghosts and corpses! Wei Wuxian just hangs out with corpses, for FUN!! He scares away low-level corpses just by existing! He hears the voices of the dead to the point that he can’t enter a place too full of resentment without getting a headache from the constant chatter.

I also really like the Extra where Wei Wuxian is just like “Well, the ghost will go away when he’s done screaming. I’m not worried about it.” And he just leaves a screaming ghost at some guy’s house so the ghost can move on peacefully (as peacefully as is possible when one moves on by screaming).

I love all of this so much because Wei Wuxian is constantly saying that people have too high of expectations of him. Xue Yang telling him to put Xiao Xingchen’s soul back together is just one example of this. Someone will tell Wei Wuxian to do something and he’ll be like “How powerful do you think I am?!” And it’s like… Wei Wuxian, you spent six hours hanging onto a cursed sword in the Xuanwu’s mouth, you survived three months in the Burial Mounds and then returned to make it into a semi-livable place, you killed at least a thousand people that one time, and you came back from the dead, just to name a few.

Wei Wuxian is so strong. He’s so cool. He is terrifying. He is unstoppable and unflappable if only because he gets over his embarrassment in about fifteen seconds! He just rolls with it! He rolls with anything that happens! He remains Shocked and Apalled by Lan Zhan’s behaviour for all of five minutes before basically going ���lol okay”! He told Lan Zhan that he wanted to sleep with him in front of Lan Xichen, Jin Ling, a handful of Jin disciples, and the literal bad guy of the novel!!!

(I’ll never get over that scene. It is so funny.

WWX: “I need to say something, it can’t wait.”

JGY: “Then just say it right now as you are.” (Referring to the fact that Wei Wuxian has a wire wrapped around his throat that can kill him in seconds)

WWX: “Good point! Lan Zhan, we should’ve fucked.”

This scene is so fucking funny, I will absolutely never get over it)

I love powerful protagonists and honestly, Wei Wuxian is at the top of the list when it comes to overpowered protagonists. The only thing that phases him is dogs, and even then, he himself admits that he can get used to their presence as long as they aren’t barking.

TLDR: Wei Wuxian is so powerful and I totally get why Lan Zhan fell for him.

[factsilike]

My first impression of LWJ: "Oh god, not another one of those broody, cold asshole CEO-type of Male Leads, is it??

Me after reading the novel several times: "I'M SO NORMAL ABOUT THIS GUY. HE'S SO SO GOOOD!!!! GHFGGFHDSETYGFDGG BEST PARTNER, BROTHER, FATHER, BEST EVERYTHING-"

Seriously, the way he struggles with his perception of wrong and right and what he's been told all his life is the right thing versus what he's been shown the right thing is, the way he loves and yearns so deeply but is just as determined to not trouble his love interest with his desires, lest he feels obligated to reciprocate out of (God forbid) gratitude or a sense of debt, the way he grows and learns from his mistakes and becomes a better man in a way that few characters in the novel, or in general fiction, do and is so, so righteous. (Growing up is not easy! And he had a lot of that to do before he could become a partner to WWX, because he didn't exactly treat him as an equal. But he does, and I love that so much!)

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

Wei Wuxian and Narrative Agency – Part Three

For Xiantober Day Five: Past and Present, in which the author gets very unhinged about what parts of the past are shown and how that’s affected by the present!

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

The Power of Agency: Shaping the Narrative

When I've discussed Wei Wuxian's agency previously, I’ve talked about how what’s shown and omitted tells us about a character, and we’ve talked about the character himself. Though this is a niche topic, it’s not necessarily something out of the ordinary to analyse, and we can assume everything up to here has been in some way intentional.

This? Linking structure to a character’s in-universe preferences?

This is where we get unhinged.

Before I start, let’s quickly establish something which will be important later: although Wei Wuxian is the central character, MDZS isn’t strictly from his POV. While omitting events a character doesn’t like to dwell on and concealing things the character wishes to hide is common in books with only one narrator, MDZS has multiple narrators which it switches between relatively quickly. This includes Wei Wuxian, but it also includes nearly every major character that appears in the story, and omniscient narrator as well. As a default, this format doesn’t lead to this deliberate shaping and omission because of one character’s preferences, since we have many other sources of information and events – which is what makes Wei Wuxian’s influence over the narrative and structure so interesting. We could have access to a lot more information, and access to it at different times, than we do (and that’s not an insult, quite the opposite!).

To begin: we’ve established that times such as Wei Wuxian’s time on the streets, his three months in the Burial Mounds and his loss in the Siege aren’t shown because Wei Wuxian has little agency there. But that’s not the only special thing about them. They’re also the three most traumatic times in his life, and so moments Wei Wuxian himself either can’t remember, or doesn’t like to dwell on.

This is why discussing Wei Wuxian’s treatment of tragedy in his life was important. Firstly, it shows he doesn’t focus on the tragedy in his life, so the idea that the narrative not focusing on this tragedy relates to his character has merit; secondly, it affirms that this is not a passive trait, but a choice. Therefore, when the narrative omits events due to this aspect of Wei Wuxian, it’s respecting not only a character detail – which would be cool by itself – but also an active decision. One that shapes the story it’s made in.

In other words, its very structure is respecting Wei Wuxian’s agency!

Now, of course there are flashbacks to other moments of his past he probably wouldn’t like to dwell on, too. But within the structure, they’re only shown when Wei Wuxian is thinking about them (or when he has reason to)!

Wei WuXian hadn’t woken up yet. His eyes were still tightly shut, yet his hand didn’t let go either. He seemed to be dreaming, muttering, “… Don’t… Don’t be angry…” Lan WangJi seemed somewhat surprised. His voice was gentle, “I am not angry.” Wei WuXian, “… Oh.” Hearing this, as though he finally felt assured, his fingers loosened. Lan WangJi sat beside Wei WuXian for a while. Seeing that he was motionless again, he was about to stand up when Wei WuXian grabbed him with his other hand, hugging his arm and refusing to let go. He shouted, “I’ll go with you, quick, take me back to your sect!” Chapter 63, EXR translation

Which, of course, is him dwelling on…

Lan WangJi spoke one word at a time, “Go back to Gusu with me.” Hearing this, both Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng were surprised. Quickly afterward, Wei WuXian laughed, “Go back to Gusu with you? To the Cloud Recesses? Why go there?” He immediately seemed to realize, “Oh. I forgot. Your uncle Lan QiRen hates crooked people like me. You’re his proudest disciple, so of course you’re the same as him, haha. I refuse.” Chapter 62, EXR translation

…the painful flashback immediately preceding this. The third set of flashbacks (which are also painful) are a similar case. Look at the contex:

He lifted the bottom of his robe, revealing a prosthetic leg made of wood, “This leg of mine was destroyed by you, that night in the Nightless City (…)” (…) “Wei WuXian, I won’t ask you if you remember or not. Both of my parents died by your hands. You owe too many people. You definitely won’t remember them either. But, I, Fang MengChen, will never forget! And never forgive you!” (…) “In the fight at Qiongqi Path, my son was strangled to death by your dog Wen Ning!” “My shixiong died by poison, his entire body festering due to your cruel curse!” Chapter 68 (immediately preceding the flashbacks), EXR translation

And Wei Wuxian’s own thoughts and words:

Wei WuXian looked at the cultivators before the Demon-Slaughtering Cave. Their expressions were the absolute same as those of the cultivators from the night of the pledge conference, pouring their wine on the ground as they took the pledge to scatter the ashes of the Wen Sect’s remnants and him.  (…) Wei WuXian, “Now it’s time to ask just whom it is that treasures it so much. It’s like Wen Ning. Back then, some certain sects or so were scared to death of the Ghost General. They said they’d kill him on the surface, but behind their backs they hid him for over ten years. How strange. Who was the one that said his ashes had been scattered back then?” Chapter 79 (immediately succeeding the flashbacks), EXR translation 

Once again, Wei Wuxian’s own thoughts relate to the flashbacks we’ve just been shown. And, as I previously mentioned, though all the events which are shown are tragic, they’re also events which Wei Wuxian’s own choices and actions shaped – which he has this to say about:

“The things I did, not only do you remember them, I remember them too. You won’t forget them, and they’ll stay even longer in my mind!” Chapter 82, EXR

Admittedly, this applies more to the third set of flashbacks than the second (which is still fitting as the third set was the most recent), as in the second, although he still had agency within and influence over his circumstances, the majority of the pain was caused by others’ actions (excluding, of course, the Golden Core transfer… which is something we know stays for a long time in his mind, albeit with a caveat we’ll soon discuss). But it’s still important to note – especially considering that otherwise, focusing on this very painful time in his life wouldn’t seem like something very in-character for Wei Wuxian to do.

Of course, this can all just be explained by good writing. It is best to insert flashbacks when they’re relevant to the characters and events in the present day! But it is interesting to compare these to the start of the (not painful) Gusu flashbacks, which open this way:

At a later time, Wei WuXian pondered upon the reason why his relationship with Lan WangJi wasn’t good. Getting to the root of the matter, everything started when he was fifteen, coming to the GusuLan Sect with Jiang Cheng to study for three months. Chapter 13, EXR

Again, considering the circumstances around which these flashbacks take place – returning to the Cloud Recesses for the first time since the lectures, and meeting Lan Wangji once more – it makes complete sense for Wei Wuxian to be thinking about these events*. So it does fit the pattern of Wei Wuxian dwelling on something, thus leading to the narrative dwelling on it, too (and being shaped by his thoughts)… but there’s another layer to this. Importantly, it is the only flashback where Wei Wuxian’s present thoughts don’t lead to this happening, with his thoughts at an unspecified future time leading to it, instead. I like to interpret this as the text saying that, since these events aren’t something Wei Wuxian wouldn’t focus on in normal circumstances, he can dwell on them at any time. Therefore, they’re free to come up in the narrative at any time as well, even if he’s not dwelling on them in the present moment!

So, to summarise: Wei Wuxian’s decision not to focus on the painful times in his life directly influences the narrative to not focus on these times. When painful times are brought up and shown to us, it’s in the context of him thinking about them in the present day, and even then, his most painful moments still aren’t shown to us. His agency in this regard is still respected by the narrative structure.

This is the main way his agency influences the structure of the narrative, but I’d like to talk about the revealing and concealing of information, too. For example, I said I’d talk about the Golden Core transfer – though Wei Wuxian does think about this many times, as evidenced by his internal narration in Chapter 103. But unlike everything we’re shown through the flashbacks, this is something Wei Wuxian is actively trying to hide from others. And the narrative respects this choice (Wei Wuxian’s agency, again), never reveals it even when it would be relevant in the flashbacks, and we find out not through narration, but through a character’s dialogue!

And to clarify – I know these aspects may not be in the book for this exact reason. Showing flashbacks in relevant moments is good writing, concealing an important plot point you want to do a reveal for is necessary writing, and MXTX has said she didn’t want to write about Wei Wuxian’s time in the Burial Mounds, due to not liking to write transformation sequences (and also because it would not be pleasant at all, which likely also applies to Wei Wuxian’s death). That doesn’t prevent it from also being intentional – MXTX’s intelligence is shown in many aspects of this book, and there’s nothing disproving it – but there’s no proof for either option, so I won’t pretend there is. I bring this up because I know this feels like I’m overanalysing, as I feel that way as well.

But, whether it’s intentional or not, it exists in the text, and I adore it – so, regardless, it’s something I’ll explore. Because taking this into account… We aren't just told about Wei Wuxian having agency, we aren’t just shown it in the text, we aren’t even just shown it through which parts of his past are shown and hidden in the structure of the text (as I talked about in Part One). The parts of the past that are shown and hidden also have an in-universe reason for being shown and hidden, this reason being the choices he makes! Agency is the ability of a character to influence the story they’re in, but Wei Wuxian’s agency, as a property of a character who only exists in-universe, shapes the out-of-universe structure as well! That’s how we’re shown its importance! How cool is that?

At The End Of The Road: Summary and Final Thoughts

In this essay, we’ve covered how important Wei Wuxian’s agency is not only to the events of the plot, but to the structure of the narrative as well. The narrative omits periods in which Wei Wuxian has little or no agency, in favour of showing us periods in which he does, even when important events happened in the former. This indicates that who Wei Wuxian is without agency isn’t important enough to be shown to the audience, and therefore that his agency is an integral aspect of his character in MDZS. We’ve discussed how both in-universe and out-of-universe, tragedy does not define him – out-of-universe, the tragic events in Wei Wuxian’s life are used not to build sympathy but rather to show his strength of character and who he still is despite going through them; and in-universe, he chooses not to focus on the negativity and resentment caused by his circumstances or others’ actions, instead staying true to his moral compass and enjoying his life in the present day. Finally, we’ve also explored how this choice is another reason for the omission of certain events from the narrative, resulting in his agency shaping the story in a very literal way – it affects the out-of-universe structure, as well.

It’s quite fitting, for a story whose essence is about defying a conventional narrative – that of righteous clans rising up and defeating a great evil – and about a character who defies many conventional narratives on his own – that of status defining how skilled you could be, that for a golden core being necessary for cultivation and other paths being unavailable, that of a tragic but complete story of someone killed for staying true to their moral code (instead, that character returns to life and has a happy ending) – to have its own narrative play a role in such an important and interesting way.

(Or, if an image would be preferable:)

Thank you for reading!

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

--

*This strong relation to the present day circumstances is another reason I love the flashback placement so much (and why I think it’s such a loss both screen adaptions altered it so strongly)! 

[miniminijiminni]

lan wangji has to be the most interesting character in mdzs to write in a modern au. like. yes, his personality and beliefs chance after he meets wei wuxian, but he changes AGAIN after wei wuxians DEATH!! so like?? who would he be in a non-cultivator modern au??? the possibilities are endless!!!!

[capriciouscrownprince]

With all the love and respect in the world, as it is the day after his birthday, Wei Wuxian is a little bit stupid.

"So what if he's seen it before? [...] a number of people [who have] tried to learn the Yiling patriarch's way of controlling corpses with flutes"

Yes, but have any of them succeded in controlling the lapdog of the Yiling patriarch, Wen Ning? Have any of them succeeded full stop?

(Also no spoilers because I'm only on book 1, please don't take this seriously lmao)

[rhymaes]

The Untamed, Eps. 19, 20 // Red, Chase Berggrun

[trans-xianxian]

obsessed w the scene where wei wuxian goes to jinlintai to ask about wen ning, because when he comes in, while he Has sort of crashed their party, he is still, Technically, following all of their social rules. he's polite, and courteous, and respectful. he tries to speak with jin zixun away from everyone else first, he's well spoken and appropriately vague, he doesn't say anything when everyone continues to insult him directly to his face. they all know what he Means but he is, technically, still behaving exactly as a respectable cultivator should. and then it sort of starts to go sideways, and you're like uh oh. we can still make it out of here unscathed tho I bet. he hasn't said anything crazy yet. but then wei wuxian looks jin guangshan in his face and says "please allow me to ask another question - does jin zongzhu think that without the qishan wen sect, lanling jin is supposed to take it's place naturally? so everything should be handed over to you, and everyone should follow your orders?", which is insane,

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Not beating the allegations.

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[dragonselkie]

happy birthday Wei Ying!!!!! you deserve all the love in the world (with your lwj) 🩵❤️