#character: jiang wei

[movielosophy]

Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty 2 - Hermit Jiang

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Not beating the allegations.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[bobcat-art]

mo dao zu shi? don’t you mean

Jiu Jiu’s Bizarre Adventure

(thank you @princess-of-purple-prose for the image description!)

[doublxpresso]

MDZS color wheel challenge!

[atqh16]

I don’t think Wen Ning told Jiang Cheng about the golden core because he wanted him to know he owed Wei Ying or any of the sort. Like a lot of people seem to think that and therefore conclude Wen Ning was out of line. But it’s more likely that he did it to give Jiang Cheng the wake up call he needed. Because he has lived for 13 years in denial of the truth in that Jiang Yan Li’s death was not Wei Yings fault and he himself had a hand in his brothers demise. It was meant to be a reminder to him of who Wei Ying actually is and the made up version he has in his head is a perception that has been warped by his anger and grief. It’s meant to be a reminder of how much Wei Ying loved him. Jiang Chengs anger is understandable but it doesn’t justify him treating Wei Ying the way he did and putting all the blame on him without ever trying to comprehend the choices his brother made and why he made them.

[sonik-kun]

Reminder that canon Jiang Cheng is:

- Self-sacrificing. There have been numerous examples in the book where JC is willing to lay down his life for his family and sect without a second thought. Charging at Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu in the turtle cave. Stepping in front of his mother to protect her from the core melter hand. Distracting the Wen before they discovered WWX. Offering himself as a hostage in return for JL in the Guanyin Temple incident, etc.

- Fiercely protective of his family. The above bullet point elaborates on this part well. But I would also like to add that he is extremely protective of JL. He follows him on nighthunts and is the first person JL calls for whenever he is in trouble. The moment JL sends out a flare, JC is instantly in there, dropping everything for him.

- He allows JL to be a child. Despite the historic context and the stiff upper lip attitudes of that time period, JC allows JL to be a child still. He is spoilt rotten and never knew the same horrors those of his previous generation had to endure. JC does all he can to keep him safe from that to prevent similar incidents from happening again. He also allows JL to healthily express his emotions and never once scolds him for crying. The moment he sees him upset, he's in there soothing him, ready to throw hands with whoever hurt him.

- He doesn't use corporal punishment methods on JL despite it being the norm of that society. JL explains this to WWX who was shocked to discover that JC doesn't punish JL, despite his threats. JL is horrified by the notion and is very comfortable and secure around his uncle. Secure enough to give him sass even, something JC would never dreamed of doing to his elders.

- He is an excellent and attentive leader. He built his sect from the ground up and recruited people on his own all whilst he was still a teenager, still recovering from trauma and torture. He brought his sect back from the brink of annihilation and built it back up as a major sect on very minimal experience with little next to no guidance.

- He's politically savvy. From a young age, he was always socially aware of everything, valuing the safety of his sect and family above everything else. He correctly predicted WWX's downfall and tried so much to warn him and save him from it. Powerless in that moment, he chose his sect over WWX in fear of them being annihilated a second time should he side with him. WWX understood and respected this, so defected of his own accord.

- He still believed in WWX and held onto hope for him, even when things were looking bleak. Despite WWX siding with the Wen, the sect that almost annilihated his own, JC allowed WWX to go with them and remained friends up until WWX inadvertently got JZX and JYL killed. He still allowed WWX to see his sister and even name his nephew. They visited each other in secret regularly despite the risks of being caught, and JC tried to defend him even in the face of the three most strongest sects. He wasn't successful, but he tried.

- He is more reasonable and level-headed than the rumours lead you to believe. We see this when the prostitute comes to testify about JGY. He calmly considers her word and everything she has to say. Not once was he rude or snappy with her. He also remembers his etiquette and addresses elders with manners and respect. He may at times be quick to anger, but he is also quick to calm himself down and conduct himself properly as we see in his first scene where he lets "MXY" go, despite being a practicing demonic cultivator.

- He let's WWX go in the end. The moment he learns the truth about everything and that WWX wasn't entirely guilty for everything everyone accused him of, JC drops all feelings of aminosoty towards him. He doesn't blame him, nor does he actively pursue him anymore and demand he answers for his "crimes." JC got all the answers he wanted from him and instead of holding on to grudges and resentment, he let WWX go to be happy with LWJ, despite clearly wanting him to come back to Lotus Pier. He understands and respects that WWX is ready to move on and start a new life with LWJ. It hurts him, but he respects that decision.

There are many more positive traits I could discuss here, but I'll be here all day if I did.

JC is a nuanced character with a lot of flaws, but he also has a lot of positives that make his character realistic and relatable but also very likeable. He is a traumatised man with a troubled past, but he never allowed it to truly bring him down. He persevered, built up his sect, and raised a nephew with a pure heart. I think it's safe to say that despite his problems and despite everything he has gone through, JC is a survivor with a strong heart. He has a lot of admirable traits that you mustn't ignore or deny if you truly wish to enjoy and appreciate his character.

[qiu-yan]

thoughts

also wasn't sure what to do with the lan simp brothers so i guess they can sit on the side

[tbgkaru-woh]

The Untamed, but make it lesbian

[marshmallowwitharubberband]

Some time ago, I made this post of a silly idea that came to me while reading a poorly written fanfiction where my flu-addled brain started imagining everyone as vegetables. The idea wouldn't leave me, I had to draw it.

Yes, their clothes are a mix of TU, the donghua and other media bc I did this from memory and for giggles so I went with the details I associated the most with each character. No, I don't know how two leafy vegetables produced a pepper.

[demonicfarmer69]

hang out with wwx they said it'll be fun they said

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I've never been more normal in my life.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[yudidoodles]

I know this is nowhere near the most important thing during the Phoenix Hunt but its so funny to me that this is how he's trying to flirt lol

ft Wangxian being stupid in the background because that is the other reason this scene is so funny

[l-wandering-etranger]

oh and another take that I feel the mxtx- specifically mdzs fandom needs to hear is that none and i mean none of the characters have any set morality. this applies to their mindset, actions, feelings- the entire point is that you see where all the characters come from and recognise their actions. none of them are completely 100% good or bad. the point of the entire novel isn't to see and judge their actions. it's to see where they come from, what mindset requires those terrible or honourable actions. is it okay to call out a character on their actions? yes. but please for the love of mo xiang tong xiu remember what caused those actions and whether your call out is necessary instead of making posts like "character A was just trying his best and character B came and ruined everything that's why I hate character C". no. almost all the characters are shitty to some extent albeit in different categories. recognise that and you will appreciate mdzs even more.

[enby-axels]

i used to disagree with the interpretation that jiang cheng was using jiang yanli as a political pawn to improve his relationship with the jin clan, but then i reexamined this scene here:

like this conversation has layers to it. throughout it, wei wuxian is the only one who's actually concerned about jiang yanli, while jiang cheng barely spares her a thought. and i'll explain why i think so

starting from the beginning of this excerpt, we see that jiang cheng prioritizes his relationship with the jin clan. he berates wei wuxian for defending jiang yanli, but he does so in a way that completely negates her. instead, he characterizes it as wei wuxian picking a fight with jin zixuan and harming the jiang clan's relationship with the jins.

i found this really interesting. is jiang cheng doing this on purpose? is it subconscious? it's hard to tell. either way, it's incredibly revealing. by erasing the actual cause of the conflict, he can pursue his own ambitions while maintaining the illusion he's acting in his sister's best interests. (and at this point in the novel, jiang cheng has already established a pattern of lying to himself to avoid inconvenient truths. a self-gaslighting icon)

and then jiang cheng goes on to compliment jin zixuan's status, in response to wei wuxian complimenting jin guangyao's looks. he makes it clear that what he cares about is maintaining amicable relations with the jins' future clan leader.

with this, wei wuxian can no longer tolerate jiang cheng's self-justifications. he outright confronts jiang cheng's motivations for bringing jiang yanli to the phoenix mountain siege hunt. his phrasing is interesting: "you made a special point of bringing shijie along." i cannot know how exactly that went down, but it does imply that jiang cheng was unusually insistent about having jiang yanli be present at phoenix mountain.

there's room for interpretation here. was jiang yanli pressured to go to phoenix mountain? we can't know, although there is a consistent pattern in mdzs of her having very limited agency in her life. what we do know, at the very least, is that jiang cheng brought jiang yanli along and he was set on it; it was primarily his decision, not hers.

and jiang cheng all but confirms wei wuxian's suspicions! in response to wei wuxian accusing him of trying to arrange a match between jiang yanli and jin zixuan for political reasons, he says "it's not entirely out of the question." he doesn't even try to deny it; instead he justifies himself

wei wuxian can't tolerate this either. promises and hopes of jin zixuan changing for the better aren't enough. they live in a patriarchal, feudalistic society. if jiang yanli marries into lanling, she'll be completely at their mercy, and there would be little that he or jiang cheng can do about it. how can he sit back and let such a fate befall his shijie?

and while wei wuxian refuses to shy away from the precarity of jiang yanli's position and the possibility of jin zixuan turning out like his father, jiang cheng dismisses his concerns, merely saying, "he wouldn't dare!" but how can he possibly guarantee that? it's a flimsy defense and he knows it. we, as the readers, having the benefit of knowledge that while jin zixuan is flawed, he would never do such a thing. but jiang cheng and wei wuxian have no reason to trust the man who's already humiliated jiang yanli once before.

interestingly, jiang cheng immediately deflects from the accusation aimed at his own motivations by directing the conversation to his sister's feelings. jiang yanli likes jin zixuan, so "what more can we do?" but this is an obfuscation of jiang yanli's circumstances. while jiang yanli does like jin zixuan, at this point in time she did not want to be around him! in fact, she never once pursued a relationship with him

notably, this line shifts the responsibility from jiang cheng (whom wei wuxian is accusing of using jiang yanli as a political pawn) to jiang yanli herself. but we as readers know better. we were there for jiang yanli and jin zixuan's conversation during the siege hunt. she has little say over anything, even her own life

throughout this conversation, jiang cheng is evading inconvenient truths and mentally avoiding his sister. he loves her, but it's a selfish sort of love. he is, perhaps subconsciously, rewriting her reality to serve his own interests.

this is in sharp contrast to wei wuxian who asks uncomfortable questions and, rather than running away from reality, confronts it. it's important that after his argument with jiang cheng, he seeks out jiang yanli herself to hear her opinions on love.

i could write a whole other post analyzing the sequence of scenes following jiang cheng and wei wuxian's argument — particularly the flashback to when wei wuxian first arrived at lotus pier and how this could tie into his resolve to support jiang yanli, just as she did for him.

but i want to conclude this analysis by focusing on jiang yanli. because even her location here speaks volumes. wei wuxian asks where jiang yanli is, and jiang cheng answers that she can't go anywhere but the kitchen, her chambers, and the ancestral hall. "and sure enough," the narration notes, "there she was." by illustrating how she's trapped on a physical level, the story is outright telling us that, as a woman, jiang yanli is confined. (more specifically, she is confined as a woman with weak cultivation. while her mother, a powerful cultivator in her own right, was able to travel and night hunt as she pleased, jiang yanli lacks this privilege.)

i think this was a fitting way to punctuate and contextualize the preceding argument. nothing jiang yanli wants for her life is allowed to matter. it never has.

what can she do? jiang yanli loves jin zixuan, but that alone will never be alone to transform their relationship into a mutually loving one. she lacks the power to force him to change, and more importantly she doesn't want that power. back at phoenix mountain, she eschewed what little power she was (forcibly) granted by madam jin. even though she was pressured to accompany jin zixuan during the siege hunt, she still refused to use that opportunity to get closer to him.

because jiang yanli doesn't just love. she loves selflessly and without imposition. she could never pursue a relationship with someone she believes hates her, even if the basis of that hatred is unfair to her.

so based on her established character traits, i don't think jiang yanli is someone who would want her family to arrange a marriage to someone that (supposedly) hates her. nor can she be convinced by them into believing it will magically work out. the only one who can transform her relationship with jin zixuan is jin zixuan himself — not just because he has the power to as The Man, but also because he is the sole person on this planet that can convince jiang yanli that he truly loves and wants to be with her

[ayingdidi]

In my opinion, redemption for Jiang Cheng's character is impossible. It’s odd how most discussions about his potential redemption always solely centre around his relationship with Wei Wuxian.

While it’s true that Jiang Cheng wronged Wei Wuxian, his biggest crime isn’t his treatment of Wei Wuxian—it’s the massacre of the Wen Remnants. His redemption shouldn’t just be centred around his relationship with Wei Wuxian, it should focus on the Wen Remnants, who were brutally slaughtered under the siege he led.

Making peace with Wei Wuxian doesn’t erase the much larger moral crime of leading a massacre against innocent people. True redemption should be about confronting the full extent of one’s wrongdoings, and in Jiang Cheng’s case, that means dealing with the massacre, not just his wrongdoings against Wei Wuxian.

Jiang Cheng never reflects on the massacre, expresses any regret for the innocent lives lost, or takes responsibility. For Jiang Cheng to even have a chance at redemption, he’d need to show real remorse for what he did to the Wen Remnants—and honestly, I just don’t see that ever happening.

[bokvshou]

"jc didn't understand wwx".

no, and rightly so. because wwx decided to shut down completely and not let anyone know anything. that was his decision. because yes, we knew why wei wuxian did what he did and we understand him, but other people? other characters? they had no idea, not even the love interest knew what was going on with wwx. jiang cheng didn't knew shit nor did he have enough information until the very end of the story.

you can blame other characters for the decisions they made all you want, but don't pretend that wei wuxian's silence and stubbornness didn't influence these very decisions.