#i think mdzs is like howls moving castle in that you'll love whichever version you consume first and hate the rest

[tea-cat-arts]

I think part of why Lan Wangji becoming cultivation chief is such a meh ending to me is that two of the reoccurring ideas throughout the novels are that good and bad leaders come in cycles, and that people will always have reasons to justify why they're "totally not breaking the rules guys". Lwj being in the position to make rules just seems like such a bandaid ass solution (especially given we're shown the original Wen was a decent guy and most of the rules he established were more or less virtuous, they just got overturned by later generations + we get that long sequence in book 4 of the clans justifying how their treatment of the wens is totally legal and moral).

Meanwhile book lwj has put himself in the position where he has completely taught one generation of cultivators how to think critically and watch out for propaganda, and- as he is still a teacher by the end- can continue doing so for potentially hundreds of years