#idr the novel too well but in the drama he has nightmares and sees visions of his dead loved ones

[llycaons]

wait sorry unrelated but I just read a post about wwx postcanon and how it's a happy ending for him because he's in a stable place, with the person he loves, reaching out to jin ling, bonding with the other juniors, asking after wen ning, etc. and the post mentioned that because he has such strong support network he's able to recover from his past life and look to the future, which is all stuff I generally agree with, and it has this reply

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are traditional heroic gongzi in Chinese fantasy lore. To have them wallow in self-pity or process "trauma" is not within character.

far be it from me to claim to be an authority on traditional Chinese wuxia heroes but I feel like that's an oversimplification? wwx isn't exactly the same as any other traditional folkloric hero, and the author was acutely aware of the suffering he went through. and (I thought) she deliberately wrote him as recovering from what happened to him through his postres storyline through his connection to and support from lwj. like...man maybe I just saw what I wanted to see. idk! it's not how most western stories would handle trauma but it's not like he or the author COMPLETELY ignored it. wwx drinks wine and comiserates in 43 to lwj, I'd consider that processing what happened to him. and wwx visiting BM and reflecting on what happened there...oh fuck that's drama only. OH in the novel the three jiang kids come back together after they retake LP and cry together, that's definitely part of their processing!

and also!!! WHY is trauma in quotes like it's made-up 😭 also wwx literally has a phobia of dogs from being chased on the street as a child and I think trauma exists in the story as a real and recognized force so even if they don't deal with it it's very silly to put it in quotes. I think idk I'd be interested in what other ppl think too