#except jgs that bitch can die

[acequinz]

God I love how the more I read mdzs the more I realise there's in fact no perfect good person.

Even WWX and LWJ may have strong and good morals but that doesn't automatically make them perfect good people.

LWJ often comes off as rude and makes a lot of mistakes with WWX and his communication. He doesn't stand up for the Wens because he has responsibilities towards his own sect.

WWX also is purposely rude and while his heart is in the right place he does a lot of things without considering the consequences which does snowball into him having the worst fucking time of his life.

And everyone else is a lot more obviously flawed.

LWJ and WWX often flow under the radar because they are gay and the people around them are doing much worse.

NMJ for all his talk is in fact blind to the very obvious difference in class, it's a very "I don't see colour" as a response to arguments about how racism affects people differently.

JGY is very obviously painted to be the worst for some very appropriate actions(like yeah those things are fucked up and need to be called fucked up) but then even his good actions are painted bad when they were actually helping the people and it boils down to bastard son of a whore. And mind you this wasn't a result of him harming the actual innocent people (the ladies he used to kill jgs) but revenge from NHS cause he killed his brother.

NHS who threw everything away for revenge, the sect and have absolutely no fucks about collateral damage as he chased to squash jgy to ground. (Yes it brought WWX back so I am not mad about it but it's clearly nothing good.)

Jiang Cheng is Jiang Cheng.

LXC was being LXC and he was gay and in love with an "eviler" gay man. He was too passive in the Jgy vs NMJ thing because he kept trying to fix it and while I understand his reasons I think NMJ would have lived longer if he didn't have to interact with jgy as much as he did.

Now there are morally good people.

LWJ and WWX because the author specifically said they were.

It doesn't mean they are perfect, they are stumbling and falling over their feet too and I love that so much.

Like fuck yes!!!! Fumble and stand back up while you can.

And also LWJ may stand with his cancelled wife but if at any point WWX does actually lose his morality LWJ would strike him down because honestly it's what WWX would want too and he would be miserable about it. LWJ stands with his cancelled wife not someone who is purposely committing wrongs.

[sleepy-salami]

Jin Zixuan and Wen Qing for the ask game?

Thank you <3

Jin Zixuan

How I feel about this character: He definitely deserved better. We mostly saw him as a rich narcissistic asshole throughout the novel, and when he becomes a better person... it's for 15 minutes and then he dies. I kinda like how CQL toned down his asshole-ness a little and turned it into awkwardness. And he still has one of the best character growth arcs in both stories.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Jiang Yanli and no one else, thank you, she's perfect and why would anyone want someone else when Yanli is right there. (I haven't even seen any other ships with Zixuan, though ChengXuan is funny as a concept)

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Jin Zixuan and Jin Guangyao would have been unstoppable, if Jin Guangshan wasn't such a piece of shit. I believed JGY when he said that he have never wanted JZX to die, Zixuan might have been one of the few Jins to treat him nicely. He even had his passionate rant about how people with poor backgrounds are often much better than nobility. Directed at Jiang Yanli, but still. He got the spirit.

My unpopular opinion about this character: Everyone and no one is guilty of Jin Zixuan's death. In this house we reject Demonic Cultivator Su She and Jin Guangyao Who Is Guilty Of Every Crime. And in the novel it's... it's such a massive fuck-up on all sides of the conflict, because no one wanted Jin Zixuan dead, but everyone contributed a little. JGS, JGY, Jin Zixun, Su She, Wei Wuxian, yes Wen Ning too, and even Jin Zixuan himself ("I'll try to grab this mentally unstable demonic cultivator who is currently convinced that I want to kill him, what can possibly go wrong?"). It's not a very unpopular opinion, is it? I just wanted to say it somewhere.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: He would have been a good husband and father... I miss him so much.

Wen Qing (under the cut, because it's getting long)

(I’m mostly talking about her novel/donghua version here, because her character and story are a bit different in CQL... but I have a mess of all adaptations in my head anyway) How I feel about this character: Beautiful. Queen. Goddess. My favorite MDZS girl. I’d let her stick all her needles in me and then I’d thank her. AND she’s a complex character which makes her even more perfect. I love how multidimensional she is. She looks like a boss ass bitch at first, and it’s a correct assumption, she absolutely can kill you in seconds, and she might. But then you learn about the softer side of her personality, about how deeply she cares for her family. And then you realize how far she’d go to protect her loved ones, because that’s the main thing she cares about. And in the end you also see how naïve she is despite all her skill and competence, if she thinks JGS will be satisfied with her and Wen Ning’s deaths and leave Wei Wuxian alone. But everything she does, she does out of love, and... I just admire her so much.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Again, ChengQing in CQL is nice but she would probably kill him, and novel!WQ would kill him even faster. Wen Qing/Jiang Yanli is also nice, two queens deserve to be together. I also will explore that NMJ/WQ ship one day.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: As much as I love her relationship with Wen Ning, I’ll go with Wei Wuxian. They’re just. So perfect together as friends. Two gay geniuses with a lot of braincells, but Wen Qing has all of them. Every interaction they have brings me so much life. That moment when WWX complains that there’s nowhere to sit in his man cave, and Wen Qing just sweeps his Creative Mess™ from a stone bed onto the ground and invites Lan Wangji to sit there, while WWX cries in shock? Iconic. And then she literally dies for him and it hurts

My unpopular opinion about this character: I often see the narrative that, while the Wen sect did a lot of really bad stuff, the Wen siblings were “innocent”, I think even Wei Wuxian uses that wording and, well. Wen Ning, yes, he has done nothing wrong, ever, in his life. Wen Qing? We have to remember how powerful she was, how high her position in Qishan Wen Sect was. She was the same rank as Wen Chao. People hoped she would become the next Sect Leader, it was a possibility. Even if she used her power to occasionally stop Wen Ruohan from executing people, everything Qishan Wen has done over the years was done with her participation or silent approval. It was her timid little brother who finally made her do something about it. And I don’t blame her for putting her own and her family’s safety before the rest of the world, because it’s an understandable choice, and a difficult situation to be in, but still, I wouldn’t call her 100% innocent. And it’s not a bad thing, it adds more layers to her character.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish she weren’t burned alive by an angry mob, accomplishing literally nothing with her sacrifice, yeah. I also wish she stuck some needles in Wen Ruohan so he just fucking died, and Wen Qing somehow became the Sect Leader, and everyone lived happily ever after and no one died (except Wen Ruohan, but he had it coming). If there’s a fanfic with that AU, please send it to me.

[trensu]

Episode 32: The One where the Moonlit Rooftop BETRAYS Us

Remember how the last episode brutally tore the heart right out of our collective chest?

Well get ready to dial that pain up to ELEVEN BC THIS TIME AROUND THEY RIP THE HEART RIGHT OUT OF US AND THEN CRUSHES IT BENEATH THEIR HEEL

And i can’t even skip most of it!! Bc it is crucially important to know what state of mind our beloved sunshine boy is in for everything to make sense!! 

Especially for what’s going to happen in the next episode!

So we HAVE TO SUFFER. THERE’S NO WAY AROUND IT.

We start our episode at the super fun jin ancestral hall in lanling where jyl is mourning the death of her husband!!

Enjoy this bc this is literally the least painful moment in the entire episode!!!

My precious sunshine boy is lurking behind a pillar, guilt-ridden and alone

He can’t get any nearer bc of the guilt

But he can’t stay away bc that’s his sister, his most precious person

Too bad madam jin spots him

AND THEN JYL SEES HIM AND STARTS CRYING

WWX’S FACE HERE, OH GOD, I CAN’T EVEN DESCRIBE IT

STRICKEN? HEARTBROKEN? DESPAIRING?? WHATEVER IT IS, IT MAKES ME WANNA CRY

So he flees, he can’t face his sister, not when he’s the reason she’s grieving

We’re in the middle of a forest again! It’s even less fun than the last time we were in the forest!

MY DARLING WWX IS HALLUCINATING

HE’S HALLUCINATING HIS SISTER

HE’S SO DESPERATE FOR ANY SCRAP OF KINDNESS OR AFFECTION HERE. 

HE’S SO ALONE.

THE RESENTFUL ENERGY IS TAUNTING HIM “LET US OUT, LET US HELP YOU. YOU CAN ONLY RELY ON US”

HE’S SCREAMING BACK AT THEM, “GET LOST, GET LOST, LEAVE ME ALONE”

IT’S AWFUL. I WANNA DIE.

Now we’re at Qishan, listening to a bunch of cultivators gossip

Again.

The Wens’ bodies are hanging from rafters, all out on display in the open

Because slaughtering them wasn’t horrifying enough, they had to humiliate them after death too. Fucking jin clan.

Wwx appears behind the group and scares the shit out of them (GOOD)

He calmly pulls out his demon flute and starts playing

Within three notes he’s got the entire group of gossips pinned to the ground. Then he played a little extra just for kicks.

THAT’S MY BOY, SHOW ‘EM WHO’S BOSS

Now he’s like, why’d y’all stop talking? Weren’t you saying how you were gonna stop me?

And some idiot rando is like, you think you’re hot shit bully us weaklings?? You should go fight the clan leaders at their big celebration.

Wwx starts to choke him out bc he’s annoying him but wwx gives us this epic line

“Every injustice has its perpetrator.”

And he ditches those basic bitches to hunt down the guys that killed his people

Now we’re watching all this pompous sect leaders celebrating the murder of innocent lives, but we’re not gonna get into it bc they piss me off and nobody needs to pay attention to jgs’s speeches ever

Although i will mention that lxc and jc both look very conflicted at the events that are going down

HANGUANG JUN!!!

We’re back with the basic bitches and lwj appears!!

Lwj: where is wei ying?

Of course his first words in the episode are about wei ying. 

And they’re all aw, you just missed him bro, he left about an hour ago 

Lwj: where did he go?

And they’re like, Nightless City to hang out with the sect leaders!

Lwj’s face here is just, Worry and Dread. 

We’re back with the sect leaders. Jgs is talking again

Thankfully, wwx interrupts him with his mental breakdown!!

AND HE INTERRUPTS BY SHOWING UP ON A MOONLIT ROOFTOP

MOONLIT ROOFTOP, HOW COULD YOU??

YOU WERE SO KIND TO US BEFORE!! WE TRUSTED YOU!! WE LOVED YOU!!!

WHAT DID WE DO WRONG?? HOW COULD YOU BETRAY US THIS WAY??

Jgs: what are you doing here?

Wwx: why can’t i be here? don’t you guys want me here? I’m saving you the effort of hunting me down!

Then there’s a lot of back and forth with rando cultivators throwing accusations at him and wwx making Valid Points left and right

As we all know, Valid Points don’t make a smidge of difference against the incredibly stupid and obstinate. 

We won’t get into too much detail here bc it honestly doesn’t even matter what they’re saying, but there are a couple cool lines that i wanted to include

Somebody says something about him having a grudge against Jin Zixun a year ago

Wwx: Little characters like him i forget in 3 days, much less a year.

Which, like, LOL bc he’s right, jz was an insignificant little worm except worms are good for soil so he’s MORE insignificant than a little worm (i’m sorry worms, i shouldn’t have insulted you that way!!)

Later somebody says something about how they had admired wwx before but now they hate him

Wwx: Both your hatred and admiration is so cheap!

WE DO GET A COOL SCENE HERE THO

Some basic bitch shoots him with an arrow and it hits him right in the chest

Wwx barely even flinches

He tears that arrow right back out and covers it with resentful energy

Then LITERALLY THROWS IT BACK AT THE GUY WHO SHOT HIM AND PIERCES HIS CHEST

IT WAS AWESOME

And then he gives us another cool line.

Someone calls him vicious for shooting the guy who shot him before and he says “you’re already branding me as someone who uses wicked tricks, you can’t be counting on my mercy to let it go, right?”

It’s basically a whole ‘you want a bad guy? I’LL SHOW YOU A BAD GUY’ moment. Which looks cool, right, but is also super upsetting bc THIS IS MY PRECIOUS SUNSHINE BOY

MY PRECIOUS SUNSHINE BOY WHO ONLY EVER WANTED TO PROTECT THE WEAK AND DEFENSELESS

Now there’s a battle breaking out! Between the cultivators and the resentful spirits wwx summons 

WWX LOOKS SICK AF PLAYING HIS DEMON FLUTE AND SUMMONING SPIRITS, LIKE ALWAYS.

But we don’t care about this battle.

This battle doesn’t matter. Even if it does look pretty cool.

Because all the important stuff happens on rooftops, as we already know.

And on the rooftop WE SUDDENLY HAVE LWJ SHOW UP WITH HIS GUQIN

HE’S PLAYING MAGIC MUSIC.

HE’S FACING DOWN WWX.

Wwx: lan zhan, you’re here. You should have known i’d be immune to the Song of Clarity

Lwj whooshes his guqin away.

Wwx: lan zhan, i knew one day we were gonna have a real fight.

anD WWX STARTS PLAYING HIS DEMON FLUTE AGAINST LWJ

LWJ DRAWS BICHEN AND STARTS DIVING SWORD FIRST TOWARDS WWX

AND EVERYTHING HURTS

WWX SLAMS HIM BACK WITH RESENTFUL ENERGY BUT LWJ PUSHES RIGHT BACK

Lwj: wei ying, stop it!

Wwx doesn’t respond. In fact, he’s kept his eyes closed and unresponsive since he started playing his flute, PROBABLY BC HE CAN’T BEAR TO WATCH HIMSELF ATTACK HIS SOULMATE

I ALSO CAN’T BEAR TO WATCH HIM ATTACK HIS SOULMATE BUT HERE I AM WATCHING BC APPARENTLY I ENJOY SUFFERING

Lwj: wei ying, stop it now!

Wwx: lan zhan, do you think i have any other choice now?

Lwj: the situation has changed!

Wwx: what?

Lwj: trust me. It’s not that simple.

Wwx: what do you mean?

But before we can get any answers or clues or anything useful, we get interrupted by jyl’s voice crying “a-xian!”

And thus begins the world’s WORST, MOST PAINFUL GAME OF MARCO POLO EVER

Because jyl is on the battlefield, still in her mourning robes. And she’s calling for her brothers. 

Both jc and wwx hear her and instantly start looking for her

Wwx ditches the rooftop (and lwj with it), gives up his high ground and dives into the battlefield to look for his sister

He gets attacked by some cultivators and we hear the strum of a guqin

Lwj followed him! And defended him against attacks, BC THAT’S WHAT HE DOES FOR HIS SOULMATE. THAT’S HIS WHOLE THING.

Lwj: wei ying, your flute!

What he means is, keep playing, i’ll protect you from attacks while you get to your sister

And wwx starts playing again, bc EVEN AFTER he and lwj fought one another with all they had, he still trusts lwj

Jyl, jc, and wwx all take turns calling each other’s names. MY YUNMENG SIBS ARE TRYING TO REUNITE

Meanwhile we see lwj flitting about the edges of the screen blocking attacks left and right, and keeping wwx safe

SUDDENLY, we hear the sound of a second flute pierce the air! And the puppets get more vicious. WWX IS NO LONGER IN CONTROL

Btw, apparently, we the audience are the only ones who can hear this second flute BC NOBODY ON-SCREEN SEEMS TO QUESTION THE FLUTE MUSIC PLAYING EVEN WHEN WWX VERY OBVIOUSLY DOESN’T HAVE THE FLUTE AT HIS MOUTH TO PLAY IT

IT’S SO FRUSTRATING. I THOUGHT THESE CULTIVATORS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE SOMEWHAT INTELLIGENT BUT NOTHING THEY’VE DONE EVER SHOWS THIS

And oh fuck, once the second flute takes over the puppets we get the SAD BACKGROUND MUSIC FROM “THE ONES WHERE WE GROSS SOB FOREVER”

FUCK

I CAN’T 

I’VE BEEN FUCKING PAVLOV’D TO INSTANT TEARS AT THIS MUSIC, DAMN IT ALL.

NOOOO, NONONONONO I’M NOT READY, I’M NOT READY, I’M NOT READY

The yunmeng sibs are still crying out for each other as this Sad Music plays aND I JUST CAN’T.

They finally set eyes on one another, only to see a puppet come up behind jyl

Jc is begging wwx to stop the puppet bc he thinks wwx is still in control

Wwx is so desperate here that he doesn’t even use his flute, he just starts SCREAMING at the puppet to stop, “GO AWAY, DON’T TOUCH HER”

And lwj sees this all happening! He follows wwx’s line of sight and sees that jyl is about to get cut down by a puppet

LWJ SEES THIS AND IMMEDIATELY TRIES TO GO TO HER AID

BC HE KNOWS JYL IS WWX’S PRECIOUS PERSON. TO PROTECT HER IS TO PROTECT WWX’S HEART

Also i like to think that lwj and jyl bonded over their love for wwx way back in “the one where jyl captains the ship” so he’d want to protect his friend anyway

But he gets intercepted by two other puppets who attack him and keep him stalled far away from jyl and wwx 

FUCK

WHY

GOD DAMN IT

The puppet cuts down jyl from behind

AND IT FUCKING HURTS ME IN THE DEEPEST PART MY SOUL

And wwx is in a state of shock bc HIS SISTER, HIS BELOVED SISTER IS HURT, HIS SISTER IS HURT

Wwx makes a mad dash towards her

But Lwj intercepts him and says “wei ying, stop your puppets! Stop them!”

Wwx doesn’t listen to him. He flings lwj’s arm away and keeps running

Wwx finally makes it to where jyl fell, where she’s now being cradled in jc’s arms

Wwx reaches for her but jc shoves him away

Jc: you said you could control them, you said there was no problem

He’s not even really yelling here, but his voice is all cracked, hoarse, and pained

Wwx: it’s not me, i don’t know! i didn’t make them kill people, why can’t i control them? I lost control of them!

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING

I’M HURTING SO MUCH RIGHT NOW

I’M SICK OF CRYING, SHOW, I’M SICK OF IT. PLEASE STOP. WHY MUST YOU HURT ME

Jyl is still alive!

Jyl: a-xian, xianxian

She reaches and puts her hand on the side of his face

Jyl: you ran so fast, i didn’t have enough time to look at you and talk to you

AND I’M FUCKING SOBBING BC SHE SOUNDS SO WEAK AND WWX HAS TEARS STREAMING DOWN HIS FACE AND EVERYTHING FUCKING HURTS

Jyl: i wanted to tell you--

But she doesn’t get to finish that sentence bc she sees someone aiming for wwx’s back and she shoves him out of the way to protect him

She gets a sword to the chest

And the rando cultivator holding the sword is all it’s not my fault, i was aiming for you, wwx this is your fault!

FUCK YOU RANDO CULTIVATOR FUCK YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL

Wwx starts to choke him out, which is good bc i wanted to do that myself too

And jc is sobbing, rocking his sister’s body

AND THIS IS WHERE THE EPISODE ENDS

WHAT

THE 

FUCK

NO, I CNA’T, I CAN’T, I’M HURTING SO MUCH, COME BACK AND MAKE IT BETTER GOD DAMN IT

I HAVE NO MORE TISSUES!! TISSUES ARE CURRENTLY A HOT COMMODITY, I CAN’T JUST GO OUT AND BUY MORE

FUCK, JUST LEAVE ME HERE TO DIE. I CNA’T ANYMORE.

Return to Masterpost

[llycaons]

40. oh, boy. we got some highs and lows with this one

I find it fun and unusual that jgy being a bad guy isn’t even really a spoiler. like, up until just past sunshot he was a sympathetic poor kid with a knack for lying his way out of situations (with one stint as a wen mole) but by the time he’s murdering civilians onscreen for the approval of his father the audience pretty much knows he’s going nowhere good

but he’s probably at his most disturbing this episode. we’ll get to that

I wish we actually knew what lwj told lsz about wwx. lsz doesn’t have the full picture obviously but you don’t defend a widely reviled mass murderer in from of a kid he orphaned with no outside influence

lwj probably really emphasized not judging until you know all the facts, not turning your back on people who initially appear unworthy, and empathizing with/supporting people who are struggling. but idk how that translates to defending the yiling laozu over a decade after his death. did lsz spend a lot of time wondering about him? jingyi in the novel was a big fan of the yllz. just another part of the series left unexplored...

anyway. wwx shooing wen ning away from his window so he can have a private little tea date with lwj only to start talking business and get interrupted by lxc is so funny. you’ll get there, wwx

why was there a month in between this scene and the koi tower visit? what was wwx even doing? where was wen ning?

jc meeting the lan delegation and snidely asking lxc to introduce “this famous cultivator” is so asdjsadkf what a bitch

and then jgy goes “oh jc dotes on jin ling more than anyone” and honestly in his own way I bet he does

lxc and jgy have been friends for like 20 years and lxc trusts him very deeply based on their interactions in gusu and jgy’s efforts during the sunshot campaign but like...he’s so fake? he’s got such a painfully fake smile plastered on, he’s making nice with everyone he meets, he appears to have zero principles and has never stood up to any authority figure in his life except revealing himself to wrh, and like? how is this person so trusted by lxc when everything he says is so manufactured? who is he, really, under the facade? did lxc really never look deeper than what made him comfortable? when he says he’ll investigate and make a just decision, I believe him. I just wish he’d been able to do that a long time ago

to be fair, jgy was actively manipulating and lying to him constantly and like - ok you can also tell that lxc has a lot of sympathy for how jgy is treated based on his background AND that lxc is predisposed to trust jgy because he feels other peoples’ disregard of him is unfair because it’s based on his parentage. and lxc is right! it’s completely unfair to treat someone like shit because of their parentage! which is probably why he and wwx are able to get on so well and wwx’s father’s status has never ever been an issue for lxc.

BUT jgy knows that this is lxc’s soft spot so he really plays it up around him, he really drives home how lowly he thinks he is and how humble he’s been so far, going so far as to bow every time he sees him (probably) in order to make lxc feel compassion for him and reinforce himself as a victim and an unfairly treated by society but ultimately humble and worthy man. fuck.

xy was right about him being a good actor. but he’s even better at manipulation

koi tower is actually so pretty. jgy’s taste and subtlety has substantially improved the decor. or maybe it looks exactly the same and jgs just had rancid vibes. I don’t remember

nhs running forward to throw himself sobbing onto jgy and lxc as a plot to distract them and allow the letter to be delivered AND wwx to wander around/do recon. god what a legend

QIN SU!!!! she is so pretty and SO YOUNG god I am so mad she’s killed off and so soon too! all survivors of assault do is die I guess

and she has to deal with who she thinks is her harasser returning under the protection of a very powerful sect...

side note her dress is so gorgeous and so is her room

lwj being asked by wwx for guidance and saying “just do whatever” isn’t very helpful! but it’s not like he’s the people person out of the two of them

wwx being like “I cannot fucking deal with jiang cheng I’m going to leave this one to you lan zhan” I don’t blame him

uncle and nephew bonding!!!! god it makes me so happy. look how much jin ling cares about him! look what wwx has to teach him

“If you haven’t beaten up a few people at your age your life is not complete” who the fuck gives this advice to a teenager I am wildly in love with the character of wei wuxian

and JL is so excited to hear that too he sits down all attentive like “REALLY?” I love him so much

PAPERMAN TIME!!!! really this episode is just full of delightful and satisfying interpersonal scenes that are offset by the incredibly upsetting situation developing in jgy and qs’s quarters

but for now - blowing a kiss!!! messing around with the headband!! electric guitar!! spy music!!! paperman wwx swinging his legs as he hitches a ride on that basket because even as a paper cutout he has personality! pure joy

but once we see qs again, she’s physically ill. and it’s entirely jgy’s fault no matter how much he lies or sidesteps or tries to claim he had no choice. he’s despicable, he really is. literally all he cares about is how it makes him look and his own reputation and power and position

the entire scene with them together just makes my skin crawl. especially the moment where he embraces her from behind and presses himself so close to her and talks about loving and cherishing and respecting her as if anyone genuinely respectful would have done what he did. at least she got to slap him

in many ways I find jgy’s relationship with qin su to be far more disturbing than his relationship with lxc. and he’s at his worst with her here. dismissing her questions, invalidating her disgust, assuring her that her son’s death was necessary for his own goals, telling her that he’s never treated her badly and she has no reason to be upset, then turning to paralyzing her when his words fail. for god’s sake, he was more concerned about the banquet than about her well-being

it’s also a further example of the incredible power a cultivator holds over an ordinary person and what kind of power imbalances/abuse/corruption that can lead to

I know jgy turned around because wwx was doing his nose-rubbing habit and made a rustling noise and jgy thought nmj was making noise but then to reveal the decapitated head of the man he viciously murdered and asking him out loud “why can’t you leave me alone?” is like objectively hilarious

[amethystshipper]

I've seen some posts blaming Nie MingJue for beeing an asshole to JGY as the reason he became the rat he was, and I don't like to reblog posts just to add my completely different idea because that's douchy, so here is my opinion.

Now, NMJ is not a delicate flower, we all agree on that. He's loud and in your face and he doesn't back down when he thinks he's right, which is most of the time. However, unlike Sect Leader Yao for example, I don't believe he does it because he's an asshole, but he's just genuinely arriving at a conclusion based on his own life experiences, which he thinks are universal, and believes he's doing the right thing for everyone, not just himself. We see this in Fatal Journey, when he doesn't think to question the puppets that appeared out of nowhere and just blames it on the saber curse, unlike NHS. He's not an idiot, he ruled over Qinghe for quite a while, and iirc we're told he's a good tactician, he just never considers thinking from the point of view of evil people, because why would he? He's a good guy, he doesn't need to think of wicked tricks. And that's his biggest weakness, seeing everything in black and white. Not because he's a moron, but because he genuinly cannot understand why someone would voluntarily do bad things.

He also doesn't really question things that he already formed an opinion on. The Wens? Evil. LXC? Good. Demonic cultivation? Bad. LXC? Good. JGY? Rat. LXC? Trying his patience sometimes, but good. He believes in the blade curse because that's what happened to all previous generations, so why would he doubt it? I would have loved to see him live if for no other reason that I think his relationship with NHS would have changed after that, and the 2 of them together would be the perfect team.

My issue is, NMJ didn't just randomly throw JGY out on his ass. In his eyes, he comitted treason: he killed one of his own men, and he clearly planned to blame it on someone else. This was premeditated, not a heat-of-the-battle kind of thing. The general guy was an asshole, I'm not debating that, but we do have precedent that NMJ does not tolerate bad-mouthing other people in his sect, so why JGY didn't just go and tell him escapes me. The Nie might not have rules like the Lan, but that doesn't mean the Sect Leader is not gonna flatten you like a pancake if you're a bitch.

And also, are we forgetting that, when JGY gets caught, he tries to blame it on Xue Yang, because he already plotted with him??? Like, I'm pretty sure killing the guy was a personal bonus. He didn't need to do it, there was a battle outside, he could have simply said XY escaped during everything, or that the Wen managed to break him out. I'm curious if it's explained in the novel, because I don't remember from the show, if JGY was actively working with JGS at this point, and the whole thing was their plan? I don't really understand why he freed XY, and I assume the undercover plot was after he got kicked out by NMJ, cause what would have been the excuse otherwise? Was he going to pretend that the Wens took him captive? But no, because then he would have gone straight to Qishan, but in the timeline he went back to the brothel and then helped LXC. There are some characters whose timelines confuse me so much, XY especially, but that's a different post.

Tl;dr JGY was already plotting evily before NMJ threw him out after he killed one of his own men in front of him, he didn't just go ape-shit for no reason on poor JGY. Was he a dick to him afterwards? Yes, but he had reason to, and I stand by that. I firmly believe he only accepted the sworn brotherhood because he wanted to protect LXC. JGY had a very hard life, but like XY, his choices are his own.

I think one of the best thing about this show is that every character had a good and a bad side, depending who resonates with you more, you can find arguments for both sides of the coin for each of them, and they're all valid. But at the end of the day, in-universe, all of them made their own choices and have to live or die by them. (Except JGS, if I see someone stanning him you're blocked, wtf????)

[devianta]

MDZS/Persona 5 xover that literally no one asked for

I just feel like there’s so much potential for this. Think about it, both of these works have themes surrounding the damage gossip can cause, getting punished for doing the right thing (no good deed goes unpunished), what constitutes justice, and the consequences of shitty parenting, amongst other things. 

Mostly I just want to run wwx’s palace. He has a palace, there’s no doubt about that, and I want to run it. I’d kill 500 men for the opportunity. Also, pretty sure his treasure would be his lost golden core. Meaning, that if you successfully steal that shit you get to give to it him and then he’d have a new one without 1) him having to die and be brought back in a new body or 2) having to fuck anyone else up. (Phantom Thievery ftw!) You’d just have to successfully complete the palace. That’s all. 

Can you imagine wwx as a boss? Like, can you imagine that boss fight? He’d have at least 12 health bars. I mean, this is the guy who got shot by an arrow, pulled it out, and threw it back, instantly killing the bitch who shot him. This is the fucker who got disemboweled by his brother, stuffed his intestines back in, and then went and bought potatoes. This guy got a super experimental operation done on him, got stabbed with his own sword by wen chao (at least in the donghua, can’t remember if this happened in the other adaptations), and was then thrown into burial mounds. Like after all that, he was literally thrown off a cliff and he was still able to move around. Wwx is not unlike a termite: there’s really not much that can kill him. During the Sunshot Campaign he managed whole battlefields on his own. He played the flute days and nights on end without rest. 

His boss fight would be near impossible but I would be so willing to try. BTW, I’m imagining this taking place after he’s moved into Burial Mounds with the Wen Remnants but before jzx gets dead. You know, before everything gets irreversibly fucked. So the Stygian Tiger Seal will definitely feature in the boss fight. Most likely it’ll be something you need to steal it during the fight. I’m imagining that he uses to summon endless waves of corpses that prevent you from getting any hits in so you have to distract him in order to steal the seal off him and finally be able to deal actual damage to him. That’ll be stage one of the fight. Stage two will be fighting wwx and shadow wen ning. You have to defeat wen ning before you move on to stage three. Wen ning exclusively uses physical attacks. Wwx never uses physical attacks. He mostly commands wen ning but throws out curse and almighty attacks every one or two turns. Stage three is just wwx and he starts hitting you with a crap ton of curse damage with some almighty mixed in to spice things up. He repels most physical attacks and all curse moves. He’s weak to bless skills but has a 50% dodge rate for them. Beating wwx earns you no money (b/c he’s poor af) but he drops 2x Shijie’s soup (restores full sp to all party members), 5x wen qing’s needles (cures any status condition), 5x curse talismans (does 50 dmg), and one (1) golden core. 

What does wwx’s palace look like? Where is it? I want to say Lotus Pier and the distortion (what he thinks of it as) is a graveyard/mausoleum/something along those lines. But an argument could be made for burial mounds. I’m not sure what the distortion would be though in that case. I feel like wwx sees burial mounds pretty clearly. No, I think wwx’s distortion revolves around Lotus Pier and his family there. Mini bosses? Jiang Cheng definitely. Maybe Madame Yu? Shijie would show up (his palace wouldn’t be complete without her) but she wouldn’t be a shadow you’d fight. She’d offer guidance or healing items. Lwj’s shadow would definitely be there but I’m not sure what his role would be. At that point in the story, wwx’s unknowingly in love with lwj and sees him as a nice guy who asks wwx questions he can’t answer. He believes that he and lwj will inevitably end up on opposite sides of the battle field but ultimately wwx does not want to fight him. He feels that a death at lwj’s hands would be a good death. So he might be a shadow you have to impress or prove yourself to before receiving help. I feel like wwx’s palace would be a bit like Futaba’s in that he wouldn’t have full control over it because he no longer has complete control over himself or his demonic cultivation. Which is why I think there would be shadows in wwx’s palace that act counter to his purpose of pushing others away (not unlike in Futaba’s palace). If anything, I feel like his palace would be like a weird mix of Futaba’s and Nijima’s palaces. Because wwx has that distinct self-blaming loneliness that so permeated Futaba’s pyramid but he also has that single-minded determination and overbearing hubris that featured so strongly is Nijima’s casino. I don’t know. Nijima, in her boss battle, repeatedly yelled “I must win! I must win at any cost!” and I can kinda hear wwx saying something similar but it would be more along the lines of “I must protect them! I must protect them no matter what!” “Them” of course being his family and the Wen Remnants. 

 Other palaces to conquer in the MDZS universe? (It might be easier to list the people who wouldn’t have palaces.) 

Jiang Cheng definitely has a palace. A very purple palace. Lotus Pier, the Revenge. But what does he see his home as? An empty house? Jyl did say in the Untamed that three of them must remain together forever. And what happened? Wwx ran off with the last of the Wens and Jyl got married and left. If anything, jc is lonely. All he wants is his family back. So his palace would either reflect the state of his existence: alone in an empty home with no one to call his own, or it would reflect his deepest desires: his whole family returned to him. What sort of palace ruler would he be? He has that inferiority complex and brother and mother and father issues. (So. Many. ISSUES.) I can see his wwx shadow being completely obedient, because that’s sort of what he wants. He wants his brother home again and fulfilling his promise, to be the other half of the twin heroes of Yunmeng. It might be fun to fight shadow!jc and shadow!wwx at the same time. The Phantom Thieves vs the Twin Heroes of Yunmeng, loser gets sent to the Shadow Realm! (Just kidding. Unless...?) The other possibility is that wwx is completely absent from the palace but his absence is blatantly obvious to anyone that gazes upon the palace, like walking into a bedroom with no bed. There should be a bed there. Everyone knows a bed belongs here but there is no bed. Jc’s palace should have a wwx but wwx is not here. But he should be.

What would jc’s treasure be? His original golden core? Probably not. As far as he’s concerned (at this juncture) the golden core in his body is his original, restored by baoshan sanren. So it’s not that. The puppies that he lost as a boy, that he was forced to trade for an errant brother? A possibility. That was seemingly the start of jc’s problems. First he lost his beloved dogs, then he lost the love of his parents. Jfm focused on wwx to the detriment of jc and madame yu wouldn’t shut the fuck up about how jc couldn’t compare to wwx. If wwx hadn’t come to lotus pier, jc’s parents might’ve been satisfied with him. But I sincerely doubt that. There were clearly problems between J-fucking-M and Mad-Yu’s (can you tell that I think nothing of these two assholes god what I wouldn’t give to kick their asses in the metaverse I’d tear their fucking hearts out to quote ryugi) marriage prior to wwx’s arrival. Wwx’s presence there only brought those problems to the surface. Whether jc is capable of recognizing that truth is another matter. (Sorry, jc but your parents are shit and their marriage was doomed to failure before they even made their bows.) 

Or would wwx himself be the treasure? Jc’s parents are dead; they can’t be returned to life and therefore are unattainable. Jyl didn’t necessarily abandon jc and I doubt he sees her leaving as a betrayal. Jyl’s marriage was more or less inevitable. She’s able to easily visit. There’s no real conflict there. Wwx, on the hand, defected from Jiang sect. Jc has to pretend to loathe him, to not want him back when the opposite is in fact the case. Most of jc’s problems, wishes, and desires center around this one person. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that wwx is the locus of jc’s world, the axis upon which all turns: the triumphs and failures, tragedies and victories. When wwx is missing, jc looks for him. When wwx drops his sword, jc picks it up and returns it to him. Whatever happens to one brother affects the other. Even if/when wwx isn’t obviously present in jc’s life, he’s still there, even if you don’t see one brother next to the other. Even though jc doesn’t know it at that point in the story, wwx is the core of jc’s body and, therefore, it would make thematic sense for him to the be the core of jc’s palace.

Other palaces? Well, Jin Guangshan and Jin Guangyao obviously. Su She is debatable. I feel like he’d be a Mementos run. Besides, he’s not important enough to warrant a palace. Likewise, Jin Zixun would be a Mementos case. Wen Ruohan would have a palace but we don’t get to really know him as a character so I can’t say what his palace would like look except that it would encompass the whole of Ancient China. Wen Chao would likely have a palace even though he doesn’t deserve the attention ripping his palace apart would require. Most likely it would be a cross between Kamoshida’s and Kanoshiro’s. Jgs’ palace would probably look like Kamoshida’s and Jgy’s would probably be like Shido’s. 

Am I missing anyone? What do you think the characters’ palaces would look like? Whose palace would you most like to run? Let me know! 

[circleofcatastrophe]

Episode 1- Big Brother Week

Title: I’m probably gonna shit myself so that’s how day 1 is going

Max

Day 1: everyone is saying hi and I have a big ass paper to right that I haven't started that's due tomorrow and I drank a lot of coffee and I don't drink coffee so I'm probably gonna shit myself so that's how day 1 is going

Julia

Should’ve hexed Tim he a cancer . Cancers are tricksters

Vi

I think I understand the challenge now that I was removed. Thanks Tim. ALL MY IOS PEEPS ARE GREAT. Cept I'm pretty sure they're gonna stab me early bc they dislike me :^). That's okay bc I'm only here for the hosts <3 jkjk. I love them. The tribe is fantastic even tho I have no idea who most of these people are. I hope some of the challenge will be familiar or else rip me.

Tim

The cast seems so great and iconic. I really like Sammy and Jacob but I'm sure everyone else already does.

Jacob

first of all i want to die. also sammy won hoh nice idk him all that well so im a little bit nervous. i dont really know whats gonna happen but its whatever wigg!! my strategy is to have an emotional breakdown about my day in public chat so everyone feels bad for me and keeps me safe this round :~)

Tim

Sammy won and woo! I knew he was gonna win but lets see who he snakes with his nominations.

Vi

Sammy who? I didnt realize who was in the tribe. Jkjk. I could carefully less. It’s been a day and so I haven’t gotten close to many people. Hopefully when I finish my irl stuff I can finally focus but if I get voted out (which I hope not) that’ll be fine too. Can’t wait to see how tribal or whatever that is about to happen turns out like

JG

Ugghhh so close to winning HoH oh well, I gave it to Sammy cause we talked alot and it would feel wrong to not give it to him plus I wanted to secure my spot this week and he guaranteed I would not go up, let's hope. Not many other people have talked to me which, is a little unsettling but maybe I am too paranoid.

Chrissa

I am glad sammy won as he promised me safety. not much else has happened but I will update when there is.

Christian

Okay first DR of the season. Nicole's a bitch. I don't think we will ever get along, and neither of us has made the effort to add each other on Skype. Now that we got that out of the way, let's move to things that are actually relevant. I love all the new faces in this cast. I've never seen any of these people before, except Regan and Max. I think I hosted Louise in BB Unititled? Unless there's another Louise in the community, that I don't know of. I've been talking to people one on one, and most of those conversations have been genuine. Yesterday evening I found out Jacob is from WV and we live like 30 minutes away from each other. So that was an instant connection, and we ended up forming an alliance called "West Virginia Legends". Let's hope that actually lasts. I have some faith that it will. When the house call happened I was like "yes let me get on that call". 1. I had the thought of Sammy and his nominations 2. I knew if I got on the call it would give me a chance to talk to people and try to form a bond 3. If I would have won HOH this week I wouldn't have needed to get on lol. Hopefully Sammy keeps his word and doesn't nominate anyone that was on call. When Sammy asked who we wanted nominated I said "well Nicole" but I didn't push for her to be on the block, because that's dumb and from my past experiences in games you never know when someone could already be working together early or late in the game. I just said "do whatever you feel comfortable with".

Arika

dang toot I was nominated

Louise

!!! im not nominated!!! we r living hunny!!! sammy treated ur girl good but aj is nommed fuck!!!!! i love him more than i love my own self he is my dad/son and such a precious human being!!! so im glad i don't have stress for myself but now i have stress for aj everythign is a mess! i hate regan she a ho and everyone else i like me and tim agree that the texture of bread is NASTY so we stan!

Tim

I haven't been nommed thats great! I get to sit back until a possible renom and hope im not renommed.

Tim

If I get renommed I will CRY

Tim

Woo im not nommed so im gonna vote for Louise tbh maybe. Or AJ let me check lol.

Sammy

Hey so this is my first confessional....I’ve been slacking! However I want to make good confessionals for this season so that when I look back at them I can be like “what was I doing”. Anyway, let’s start from the beginning! Okay so when I got casted I noticed a few familiar faces that i was so excited to play with. 1.) AUTUMN!! she is one of my favorite people in this community and I’ve played with her before, I don’t think I could betray her in this game so if at all possible i want to work with her. Then I see Jacob, Dom, and Regan! I’ve been wanting to play a game with these people so I’m glad it finally happened, they are super nice and just have fun personalities. I also saw Tim and Chrissa who I have played games with before, and Tim is so nice but Idk if he’s gonna leak any info of mine or not bc in Lago he leaked my alliance...RIP...but I think he’s a great person so🤷🏻‍♂️ And yeah love Chrissa!! I’m really liking JG so far and I want to work with him so woo.

Sammy

okay also, we had the hex HOH competition which is basically just luck. I was in class for the majority of it and when I got out of class I saw that there were like 6 people left and I was one of them. Then I started talking to people saying, “hey if you don’t hex me I won’t nom you:)” just so I could win the first HOH comp. I did this because I want to build up a good resume early on and i know this wouldn’t make me look like a threat bc it was a luck comp😅. So I won HOH, and decided to nominate two people who I got to know the least(also i told like so many others that i wouldn’t put them up so rip). I put up Arika and Aj and I really like them both it’s just they were the least active. Then we had POV and i fell asleep bc I’m a FLOP and i got a strike for not submitting. Arika pulled herself off(which I’m okay with bc she wasn’t really my target). Aj didn’t even submit which was sad bc their game was on the line:/ i had to renom and i chose Louise bc i have spoke only a few words with her and SHE IS SO NICE! However she was one of the few people who i didn’t promise safety. Again, she isn’t really my target. I was trying to cause the least amount of drama as possible and I think people are content with my choices. Oh and we had a “tribe/house” call but it kinda was a mess. I think everyone was slightly irritated that Regan wouldn’t let anyone else talk (no shade bc Regan is awesome) but yeah we got to know a lot about Regan and her bad driving skills...REGAN DONT RUN ME OVER IN THIS GAME. Anyways start your engines, it’s gonna be a wild ride!

Vi

So I picked uh... wait I forgot... Louise? I only picked him/her Bc it was the only name I could remember out of the two noms. Oops. Sorry. I mean it really doesn’t matter considering neither of the noms really talked. *sigh We shall see tho

Chrissa

I am so glad sammy is hoh especially with the veto i was made to play, idk who is gong but he said vote AJ and AJ hasn't attempted to talk to me so okay!