#but now you dragging daddy mu’s name through the mud in defense of MU QING???

[mxtxfanatic]

Actually, want to return to this post real quick because people are now reblogging to agree with the inane addition, but I want folks to know that when you’re making an argument of literary analysis, “what I want to happen” is not valid evidence. “Well nobody in Mu Qing’s life died except for his dad, so him being passionate about committing war crimes must be because his dad got punished for saving people!” Literally nowhere in the book is Mu Qing’s father’s execution relevant except to say why people discriminated against Mu Qing. Mu Qing’s father is never brought up outside of that, not by Mu Qing or the narration, and it is mentioned once in a throwaway line. “Mu Qing’s father, the fallen hero” is a headcanon, not evidence for character analysis.

What we actually see in the story is Mu Qing, in his care for Xie Lian, saying that Xie Lian’s (and the people of the capital’s) lives are more valuable than the people of Yong’an who they are fighting. We see this reiteration before the flashback reveal when Mu Qing says that soldiers of one country should not worry about the safety of the civilians in another that get caught in the crossfire of their war. We see it again in the flashback with the one cup of water scenario. You do not need to headcanon some convoluted explanation for why Mu Qing would possibly think genocide is ok when the story makes it pretty clear that he and other characters place intrinsic value upon people they decide are “of status” that they do not apply to others. This is literally just in-group/out-group mentality.

On another note, 1) people get executed for more than just treason, past and present (and in fiction, since this is a fictional story not set in a real place or time), 2) using Xie Lian’s Central Plains General story to say that Mu Qing’s dad must have gotten executed “for treason” because “he was helping people” makes absolutely no sense when you consider the fact that Xie Lian, himself, didn’t get executed for helping people, either, 3) if his dad’s execution is what made Mu Qing forsake caring about people and promote genocide, then guess what? He’s still a shit person promoting genocide! You just made it worse because now, he’s promoting genocide to spit on the legacy of his own father! So now we’ve circled back around to: Mu Qing is not a working-class hero because he does not value people below him.

Mxtx said that we shouldn’t take the words of the general population and especially not the rich and powerful at face value when they unite to spread certain narratives, that we should find the truth by looking at the actual facts and the characters of the people involved to discern the truth. What she did not say is that if we don’t like the picture the evidence presents because it makes our favs look bad, then we should make up evidence of our own in disregard of the truth.