#in the words of lin

[jittyjames]

i'm scared to talk about them bc every time I talk about fic plans I somehow always end up hating them and never posting bc I feel like I've overhyped them and people are going to think I'm weird and cringe and suck, BUT I'm really excited about whump: the musical and I want to post my fics now but I can't :(((((

[k-odyssey]

大梦归离 Fangs of Fortune | episode 20

[subwaylesbians]

masai condescendingly referring to cleon as “miss”, and then a moment later cleon using it as an honorific when referring to cyrus, is such a slick way of acknowledging his hypocrisy without so much as breaking the flow of her argument

[every-momento]

you can go home, but only as a memory

postcard // i had years been from home by emily dickinson // eric hurst // pledging allegiance by noor hindi // letters from home by zarina hasmi // the bedroom by vincent van gogh // breathe by lin manuel miranda // the house that built me by miranda lambert

[riothegreenwitch]

i don’t forgive you, but please don’t hold me to it

the mountain goats/succession/phoebe bridgers/richard siken/ethel cain/lin manuel miranda/richard siken/the national/succession/richard siken

[randomnameless]

Why do we still have in 2024 stupid takes like Rhea created and enforces the crest system?

Bcs Rhea BaD anon.

More seriously,

FE Fodlan is one of one of the most divorced FE verses from its fantasy elements (see : Nabateans being as important as Ignatz's leather shoes) : Tellius has the Laguz existing, Archanea/Ylisse has manaketes hanging around and being a core point in FE Archanea, Elibe has its entire history involving dragons and the best ending finally be about acceptance between the two races, Magvel has zombies, Valentia has terrors and in SoV we have dragons and magic dragon blood, Fates has dragons (and laguz-like!) and even Jugdral have people with magic dragon blood.

(i ranted and ranted and ranted under the cut, so it's a bit long)

Unlike Fodlan, Jugdral's "people with magic dragon blood" are a key element to the story told at large, and it bleeds through the mechanics used to tell that story. FE4 wise, toddler!Seliph has a S rank in swords when Beowulf, even if he trains his entire life, will never achieve A rank in swords. Base!Julia with her holy weapon can smack Loptyr, when max!invested (at least lore wise) Forseti!Ced will never be able to kill him.

It's unfair for Beo and Ced, but that is how the verse works because, in that verse, some people are mc guffins or "the only ones" who are able to do something, or even, straight out, stronger/have more talent than others.

In traditional fantasy settings we have the "same" sort of rules, you have elves who do X and Y, humans won't can't, dwarves who can't either but they can do W, orc who can do J, etc etc.

Even for all of the "deconstruction of the genre!" gimmick ASOIAF has, according to some people, Dany is fire-proof and Jon most likely survives after being assassinated because he is a Stark and can use his doggo as a back up save, both things Edmure Tully will never be able to achieve.

Tolkien has Numenoreans being straight up blessed by the Valar/stronger/longer lived/etc etc than middle-earth humans, on top of also having elves, dwarves and ents.

Ergo : power inbalance is baked in the fantasy genre.

And yet, the writers often manage to tell some version of "the ones who have less power are no less important", like with Tolkien, it's a bunch of hobbits who manage to take down the greatest "evil" of their era, or some message like "having more power/being more important means you are bound to help the ones who have none" thingie.

In Fodlan, the "beings who have more power" than humans are the Nabateans (+ Sothis herself!). Sothis can create life, her daughter - through unknown means - can create artifical beings, one her children can control weather (the one who was turned in a milkshake for Charon!), one of them has monstruous strength (the one turned in a milkshake for Blaiddyd), one of them could communicate with animals (Timotheos iirc - if we assume he was a Nabatean or got his powers from his crest), her granddaughter can set up an AOE to heal what would otherwise be fatal wounds (it's heavily implied this is what Flayn did when she overused her power and went comatose) etc etc.

This is the original power inbalance in Fodlan.

Then some humans "stole" this power from Nabateans, and got a share of it themselves, which is what is later called "crest" : aka, some humans got a part of the super/magic powers that Nabateans originally had and thus, because, for all intents and purposes, "super-humans".

Now, Fodlan discourse started with FE16 being released in 2019, not that long after GoT's ending - which was trash - and in an era where fandom turned from "harmless fun" to "something that looks like activism and earns you point if you manage to use it to express your real life opinions".

In 2019, after Dumb and Dumber tanked GoT and removed most of ASOIAF fantasy parts to deliver "sex that sells" with a moldy plot, some part of the fandom started to conflate and harass people over what they like, and how it, apparently, reflected on their real life opinions ("if you hate this female character it means you hate women!"/"if you think X becoming king is a good ending, you don't value democracy!").

So, we have this fantasy setting with its inherent power inbalance... that quickly became something that is/was unacceptable, because IRL, power inbalance is based on bullshit and something everyone decries - so if your beloved media reflects on what you like IRL, you can't like a setting with an objective power inbalance, even if is justified by magic which doesn't exist irl like shooting eyebeams or some people being more "special than others" who can live up to 1500 years old.

Fodlan's power inbalance, for some parts of the fandom 2019, cannot be justified by traditional fantasy settings so, those settings/fantasy elements are straight out ignored.

Thus the "crests"' magic effects/powers are ignored, and dumbed down to, roughly, what a middle school student would think "nobility" is/was in the Middle Ages/Renaissance.

Jean-François Marie Pierre de Bourbon isn't inherently better at smashing things with a sword than Bob, or at healing than Roger, any "advantage" Jean-François Marie Pierre de Bourbon has over them is, maybe, that he started training earlier.

In Fodlan?

If Jean-François Marie Pierre de Charon has a major Charon crest, he can dance and clap in his hands to summon rain. Bob and Roger, no matter how hard they train, will never be able to do that. Jean-François Marie Pierre de Charon will thus be seen as having higher "value" or being straight up "better" than Bob or Roger, because as long as he is here, your crops will never suffer from drought.

But... we can't have that, because if you confuse fandom and real life opinions and aspirations, you cannot admit that some people in Fodlan are inherently "better" at something, only because of their blood, otherwise, what would it translate to IRL?

This is why, imo, part of the fandom (and the game sure doesn't help! Fodlan is no Jugdral and its gameplay lacks coherence regarding the in-game lore! Remember how Raphael can use a relic and only loses 10HP, when Miklan, plot wise, was turned in a demonic beast?) that loves this take, arguably, reduces crests to a title and family name.

Why should the Bourbon family rule over us, when they're no better than Roger or Bob? Isn't it unfair the Bourbons are still valued nowadays when the only thing to their fame is their name, and not what they are actually doing?

The game plays coy about crests - we know each of them has a specific power - but it never reveals what are those powers (lore wise!) save for 2 of them. So are crests superpowers, or just a family name with a particle, or both? Is the "system" (a friend made a post debunking any idea of "systemic" application of this notion in the three countries) based on bullshit, or on, objective superpowers?

Dimitri tries to tackle the issue, but only around relic usage : the Gautiers are valued if they have a crest because they can use their superweapon to protect the border. But what about valuing House Charon's ability to bring rain and guarantee good harvests? What is the other superpower tied to the crest of Gautier that isn't "use a femur and wreck havoc with it"?

If Marianne's ability to talk to animals is tied to her crest, why isn't it more developed? Instead of having useless shit like talking and befriending horses like a Disney princess, we could have Maurice-blooded people be masters of counter-intelligence, imagine if they can talk to birds/rodents and ask them to scout various areas or spy/ask them what they saw ! Hell, we could have had a situation where in a fog of war map, where Marianne, if, idk, through Billy fed enough animals in the monastery, would have a better field of vision than anyone else, with some blurb/one-line about her relying on the animals around to know and see what is going on! Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

FE16 eludes the question, because the character who "questions" a world centered around "crests" is the marketable asset of the game, and cannot be challenged in any meaningful capacity v- she feels it's unfair that her crest seemingly dictate her life, and only in the gacha game with ery serious writing like the Heavy Plate Corps or Sniddies, does she get a modicum of self-reflection - or at least someone challenging her - where she is told that she could use the superpowers she has to help people instead of blaming the world for getting one.

In a traditional FE setting, where some Lords question why they were born with power/or are in powerful positions, the answer is always that no matter what they were born with (or without in Leif's case!) what is more important is what they decide to do with that power. Elincia never wanted to become Queen? She will still fight and protect Crimea and its people. Marth is the last hope of Altea, even if it means leaving Elice behind. Seliph doesn't want to fight in Thracia anymore or feels like he's a fraud? He can turn tail and return home, while the world around him falls apart. Leif also feels like a fraud because he doesn't have superpowers like his cousin? Does that mean he should turn his thumbs and watch as his people are being caught/enslaved/sacrificed?

In Fodlan you have no reflection like this : Linhardt is, imo, the best example.

Dude hates blood and has a crest (aka magic powers) geared towards healing, you could make a case that for someone who has hematophobia, being a healer is difficult and this would be the reason why he refuses to heal/use his powers to help people around him... but no. Lin's laziness is played for laughs, and his refusal to do anything not related to his topic of interest is never questioned/analysed under the angle of, say, a head nurse who has no crest and laments that she couldn't save everyone who was hurt during an assault, who snaps at him for having the "gift" he has and not using it for the sake of people around him.

"What Lin decides to do with his power?" : Well, nothing.

Instead we have a reflection on his bright mind going to waste if he lazes all day long, culminating in his Supreme support where an Imperial facility is created specifically to cater to his tastes, that will enable him to research crests as much as he wants...

But still, nothing about his innate "healing" power!

In the end, it's no surprise that part of the fandom latched on that "crest = nobility title" because the Fodlan verse refuses to develop anything about its fantasy elements (hell, iirc Nopes swaps "crests" for "blood" and "titles" in its Supreme route ?).

"Sure, but where does Rhea fit in this nonsense?"

Rhea is, in this vision, the ultimate target !

For all of the "I ignore fantasy elements", Rhea is always (in FE16 at least!) turning into a dragon : no matter how hard you want to ignore fantasy, she's here to remind you tht, in this verse, dragons exist.

But most importantly, as Fodlan must be analysed through an IRL lens otherwise modern fandom cannot engage with it, Rhea, by virtue of being the lady in charge of a religious organisation called "Church", is also seen through a lens : Rhea BaD bcs Religion BaD and Catholic Church BaD.

FWIW, thanks to the five years of discourse we had, I learnt more about cultural values and differences existings between, here and the rest of the world - especially a place that is overepresented on fandom spaces - on organised religions especially the catholic church. Of course this bled on fandom takes and analysis, which projected some users' irl bias against the Catholic Church on the fandom organisation and entity that is the Church of Seiros. Combine this with secularism being now weaponised and used to ridicule people in spaces like r/atheism and you have a perfect recipe for "Religion BaD = Catholic Church BaD = fictional organised religion with a catholic flair BaD".

Granted, given how a certain loLcalisation team also originates from this place, it's no surprise that some "creative liberties" they took tried to hammer even more, let it be in the script or the fucking "what is this game about?" page on their website, how this fictional organisation is basically a squenix trope of "evil cult manipulating everything in the shadows and sekritly controlling the world".

Besides, the main heroine of the game (even if that comes with a twist!) opposes this faction (CoS and especially its leader!) and, by the way those games are built, as seen earlier, they cannot disavow her too much, else the entire gut-punch the devs were gunning for (you are betrayed by your beloved character! But unlike what happens in Baten Kaitos, you only are attached to her because she is your avatar's simp) will fall apart. So she must be, somehow, right and not motivated by more personal and heinous reasons, like not accepting "non-humans" to have powers over humans, or thinking the world is not a place for them (this was carefully scrubbed out in Nopes, btw!).

If Supreme Leader, who we are supposed to root for and whom the game ultimately rewards because "reforms" happen in the endings, says that the CoS is the reason why humans value superpowers, she must be right, or at least, not completely wrong???

Which raises the final point on this topic : FE16 came in 2019, which was election year in the US, and we all know that election time in the US means the rest of the world is also affected, even if the rest of the world, well, isn't the US. As I mentionned, the US is over-represented in fandom spaces, and fandom is far from being a safehaven from all the mayhem and passion that always boil during election time and its immediate following.

Coupled with the "my fandom faves define my real life opinions" thingie I already wrote about, and we had an explosive cocktail for bad takes, needless aggressivity, ridiculing people with dissident opinions because they are seen as "wrong", etc etc. And let it be something trendy or not, especially when (young?) people are arguing about "politics" in online spaces, but it always boils down to gross simplification of various complex issues and/or using catchphrases or "shock-value" words to win over whoever is reading/listening.

(et je ne dis pas ça parce que certains de nos politiques font des "immigrés clandestins ou pas" la source de tous les maux, ou le fait que nos députés font la même chose en ce moment, Jonluk et Marine main dans la main, pour paralyser l'Etat afin de pousser Manu à la démission et éviter la case prison pour Marine)

I always thought the "CEO of racism" was a meme, but through Fodlan discourse, I started to wonder if it was something started seriously by someone who really thought that "racism" is caused by one person.

And we finally get to the point : somehow, somewhat, Rhea is supposed to be responsible for people/humans valuing superpowers.

Forget that the same "quest to obtain those superpowers" led to the extermination of her kin, or how the devs themselves explained that people - at least in their setting - always want more power :

As a result, what would happen to humans who gained power... they would want even more power, and find a dragon much stronger to beat in order to collect materials forcefully, in order to make even more powerful weapons... and so that was the cycle that was born. And that was the birth of Fodlan's Ten Elites

Wait, kill that, those superpowers don't exist since the game and the characters (bar Catherine, but I agree with @9thwither here, Cat is one of the most overlooked characters in this fandom!) never talk about them, so they don't exist...

Rhea is thus the reason why people value bloodlines - especially since those bloodlines don't come out with superpowers.

It sounds better and closer to what you could "hear" irl, from someone who's discoursing on the internet to explain "why" some people are more valued than other, it's because of religion and the Pope! It cannot be because of, well, human greed or just the need to have more power (for good or wrong reasons), no.

"But random, the Church most likely promotes a "divine right to rule" doctrine and let the 10 Elites' families rule over their clans in Faerghus thus gain nobility!"

Sure, but everything is moot if you consider this : to make this take viable, we ignore the game and consider that crests are just bloodlines, and not, objective sources of superpowers.

So why are we, discussing about this hypothesis/theory, even arguing about what the game says and/or does?

Bob Blaiddyd can kill a giant lion/wolf with his fists at base level, is it because of a supposed doctrine that people rally and want to be in Bob's graces, or because Bob has the power to protect them all? Karen Charon can summon rain, are people siding with her because Rhea told them to, or because Karen can make crops grow?

In conclusion : why people are still, in 2024, sprouting those takes?

1- Because they refuse to engage with the game and realise that it is a fantasy game belonging to a very specific genre

2- Because fandom opinions reflect on your real life opinions and likes : so they must find a reason to oppose what their perceive as an unacceptable power inbalance otherwise it means that they support the various inequalities that exist IRL

3- Because Religion BaD and bar the "projected takes from transposing feelings about an IRL church on a fantasy one" more and more people tend to prefer an "easy to proceed" solution than think about multi-causal issues and find solutions that might not.

Of course, I can already guess that some people might argue that they don't "refuse to engage with the game" since this take is more a less a condensed version of the Supreme spiel, and as developed above, the game does - willingly - a shit job at demonstrating that her spiel is nonsense (they had to add the "greed" part in an interview released after the game and its only and final DLC!), just like her sockpuppet who supposedly learns how misguided he was in certain routes... only to end with the same ice cream, albeit with a different topping.

However, Dimitri and Sylvain mention how crestless children are disowned in Faerghus... when Dimitri's own uncle is ruling over a domain himself, Ingrid's brothers exist in the background and Gustave is still Baron Dominic's brother, on top of having been the royal master at arms for at least, depending on the route, 3 generations of Faerghan kings.

In a game where Dorothea can blame the Goddess for fighting in a war her bestie started - without anyone pointing this out - it's obvious this verse has unreliable narrators, but after 5 years and having played all routes in both games + a DLC + a dev interview explaining how and why some humans acquired crests...

Tl;Dr :

Reason 1- is most likely the most prevalent why this take exists anon, "because some people refuse to engage with the game" with the added topping of "save for what Supreme Leader and her sockpuppet say that I can use to demonise the characters I don't like".

[novaae]

fics where the gaang kids have emotional maturity is so fucking ew

like youre telling me that the senior citizens drama that carried the show (lin and tenzin, lin and suyin, bumi tenzin and kya) is all comprised of people who went "ah yes all of us suffer in our unique way and forms, and our issues with each other are a consequence of expectations and a weird childhood" ????

absolutely no sir

i need bumi at age 68 going like "wow tenzin youre so fucking lucky" while tenzin is still reeling with how his childhood being sacrificed was for nothing, and lin, suyin and tenzin being jealous of bumi and kya for stepping out of their family's shadow while bumi and kya literally have their dad's literal followers not know they existed (and they're tenzins ELDER siblings)

all of them are fucking idiots with 0 ounce of emotional maturity (yes, even lin and kya. they can have 0.1 emotional maturity as a treat) and dont understand each other

izumi can watch on with a smoothie in hand while she's like "goddammit iroh leave the UF already my son"

[trek-tracks]

DearTheodosiaMeme.Kirk.jpg

[beifong-brainrot]

Lin should've left the police force, I'm not even saying it to be anti cop or smth I just genuinely think it would be a good arc for her.

Like Lin tells us point blank in 'Old Wounds' that she became a cop in a misguided attempt to please her mother.

Lin: When I was younger, all I wanted to do was please my mother. I became a police chief because I thought it would make her happy ... but it didn't. You need to make your decisions based on what you want. Don't make the same mistakes as I did.

It's not a leap to say that trying to immitate her mother was Lin's attempt at trying to get her mother to pay attention to her, something Toph didn't do much with her daughters. This may also explain why Lin seemed so hellbent on scolding and putting down Su. But this didn't work, as Toph had been growing disillusioned with policework at the time, with Suyin's arrest probably being the wakeup call that Toph needed, as she quit the year after that.

However, it was probably difficult for Lin, who seemed to have idolised her mother to an extent to accept that Toph quit out of her own free will or any sense of displeasure with policework. It may also be a case of sunk cost fallacy. Lin would be about 23 when Toph quit, and probably well on her way into the police force's higher echelons. All in an attempt to garner her mother's approval.

Having her mother suddenly lose interest in policework means Lin aimed her life in a direction that she chose for a reason that is now null and void. It doesn't help that we have about 6 more years of Toph and Lin cokmunicating until it was radio silence between them, which I believe Toph may have spent trying to convince Lin to not be a cop lol.

So Lin may have found a convenient explanation for her mother's sudden heelturn in Suyin.

Lin: When we were in Mom's office that day, you could've taken responsibility for what you did. But instead, you stayed quiet and let Mom throw her whole career away. Suyin : Mom didn't throw her career away. She retired the next year. She was a hero. Lin: You think she wanted to retire? She was so guilt-ridden about what she did to protect you that she didn't feel worthy of her badge.

But this still leaves Lin in a situation where she is in a career she chose to cater to a mother who was no longer interested in said career. But we know Lin doesn't do particularly well with change, so it's very in character for her to just stay in policework. She still is able to reap some mental benefits from this role as well, probably vestiges of her idealisation of her mother.

We see Lin utilse her title as a moral highground several times, as well as use it against people who displease her, such as when she tried to arrest Pema. We should talk about that more in conversations both about tlok's weird stance on cops and its weird behaviour in female on male abuse because Lin only slapped Tenzin once but she engeged in bunnyboiler level behaviour and we just laugh it off

This leads to Lin trying to play the 'job' card even when she doesn't have the right to. Like in Zaofu, when she seems to be under the impression that she is doing her job by protecting Korra who is, mind you, not a citizen of Republic City, nowhere near Republic City, actually BANISHED from Republic City.

Korra: Stop trying to protect me! I'm the Avatar. This is my job! Lin: Don't lecture me about jobs!

Lin's inclusion in B3 always felt out of place because she is a police officer, not a white lotus member or anything of the like. Her jurisdiction begins and ends in Republic City. So why is she not only protecting the Avatar in a different country but also willingly commiting crimes against said country in a clearly marked Republic Citu Police Airship like I'm shocked the Earth Queen didn't declare war after the airbenders escaped.

And my obvious guess is that Lin heard about the Red Lotus and of course she cares for Korra in her own special little way and do she wanted to help Korra. But she's too emotionally constipated to actually admit it, so she somehow manages to bullshit her way into still acting as if she's doing her job.

Lin uses her job as police chief as a safety bubble that enables her stagnation. Because, as I've mentioned multiple times, that feels like the main theme with Lin. Stagnation. She managed to beef with the 16 year old version of her sister for almost 30 years. Jinora is around 11 in B1 yet Lin still acts like the breakup is fresh, even chanelling her anger at Tenzin onto Korra, an unrelated teenager. Lin acts immature and childish, and reverts to a seemingly much younger version if herself especially around Su.

Suyin : Oh, she's horrible. She thinks she can just do whatever she wants. Lin: Sounds familiar. Suyin: What? Lin: Nothing.

And I love that about Lin. I think it's a very good character flaw (even if the fandom tends to iron over Lin's less palatable traits). And I for one have a shocking amount of experience with women who act like Lin it's like a family tradition among the Polish women of my family.

Especially when tlok's whole theme is change and growth. But Lin's growth is... miniscule. Sure, she opens up more to Su, but her arc in B4 is essentially the same as in B3. Lin Estrangement 2; Mommy Issues Boogaloo!

And I find that extremely dissapointing. Because there clearly is some evolution there. Lin no longer idolises Toph and actually calls her out on her actions. Probably because once she started hanging out with Su, she demystified Su in her head and realised that Su was a literal kid at the time, and not responsible for Toph's actions.

And I really like that about Lin's storyline. I just wish her development had been leaned into more. Lin quitting the police force could've easily been a very good symbol of her not only cutting herself off from her attempts at pleasing her motger and choosing to live her life 'for herself' but also it would be a begining of an era where Lin has to start living life without the comfortable insulation that her job gave her. I think it would be a good arc for Lin, showing that it's never too late to change one's questionable coping mechanisms.

[yuuugay]

friends r good guys have friends

[lalalaugenbrot]

i'm so proud of myself bc someone in a class yesterday claimed that the word dämlich changed meaning and used to mean something like damenhaft originally — and i didn't correct them!! bc as we all know people ~in the past~ HATED women so of course they changed it to meaning stupid 😤😤 — which of course is untrue both generally and especially in this case... and it's not like i have to be right about everything all the time but i hate misinformation especially when it assumes that everything in the past has always been done with malicious intent, so i have to let at least you know that:

a) dämlich has the same origin as dumm, deriving from something meaning foggy-brained and very originally deriving from meaning dark (hence also Dämmerung)

b) Dame of course derived from lat. domina, lit. meaning Herrin

[vanillaxoshi]

Yoo Look at this!

An official comic from Monsta !

Cahaya so cute here-

This is so adorable and yes the name jokes i love it

[weirdo-from-bonesborough]

I prefer “Mary and John were normal people” so so so SO much more, however,

Time traveling Dick Grayson: I kinda… don’t join the family business? I mean I still use everything you taught me! Just for vigilantism instead?

Mary: I’m… not sure I’m surprised or not

Dick: really?

Mary: well… you always did love Robin Hood. I should have known you would try your hand at the whole “steal from the rich, give to the poor thing.” I mean, you are my son after all.

Dick: um.

Mary: you stick it to the man. Right, Dick?

Dick: uhh well you see-

John: it’s okay sweetheart, we support you as long as you’re happy, right dear?

Mary: oh of course I am! I would still love you even if you became… oh I don’t know what, John help me out

John: a walking corpse enslaved to the bourgeoisie whom’s every emotion and individuality has been torn away leaving nothing but a shell who knows only violence and obedience

Mary: right- what?

Dick: yeah I’ve been meaning to ask-

John: -about Aunt Harriet? Because I’ve been wanting to ask about what Aunt Harriet’s been up to!

[fullofobsessions]

"Burr, when you see Hamilton, thank him for the endorsement."

Aaron, are you Alexander's letters to Eliza?

Because you just got burnt!

[baeshijima]

okay. so. since i have finished the wuthering waves main story currently available (act vi) as well as jiyan's story quest, i can finally have some thoughts about him to do somewhat of an analysis on his character (bear in mind this will still be quite limited since i don't have access to his voicelines/other character voicelines about him, along with his story since i just pulled him today ;w;)

this, uh, will also be long. like. long. you have been warned :'D !! (also slight geshu lin analysis bc parallels and contradictions and raahh)

for the sake of some spoilers for act vi and his story quest, the rest will be utc !!

1) how others see him

okay, so from what we've seen so far, jiyan is initially presented as a reliable and duty-bound character. he's a general, so of course he has to be responsible and be a certain way, especially when in front of his soldiers, who view him as all these characteristics as well as being relatively stoic and work-focused. this is hinted throughout the quests and through npcs, and in his story quest they're also hesitant to ask jiyan to join their team believing he wouldn't take part in such things like the gulpuff relay race, only for wenshu to say otherwise:

it isn't really a surprise that they wouldn't know jiyan has other sides to him; they're his subordinates. it's also typically what he shows them as "general jiyan", rather than just "jiyan" himself. basically just a line between work and personal life, if that makes it clearer.

the people of jinzhou, and the midnight rangers especially, all respect him. on top of being the youngest appointed general, he is presented as an "invincible warrior no enemy stood a chance against" (from his story: the reason to fight). he is essentially their light and voice of reason.

though this could be due to the fact jiyan tends to keep his troubles and pain to himself to avoid worrying those around him, and to continue performing what is expected of him as a general.

an example is during act vi, after jiyan confronted the geshu lin's phantom from the retroact rain:

this was also seen at the end of act vi, where i believe it was yuehui who commented on the wounded state of jiyan being worse than the majority, but returning to his duties shortly after and seemingly not resting properly to sufficiently recover. (well, jiyan was a medic, so hopefully he did properly tend to himself and have breaks... glares at him...)

all in all for this segment, jiyan is largely viewed as a powerful general whom the public and his soldiers know they can fall back on without worry, as they have full confidence in his abilities to protect.

2) his nature

another thing is that he is a very meticulous character. this is portrayed through his constant check-ups on the midnight rangers, the people, the area, and also through his habit of being very particular about cleanliness. (this was mentioned in his profile reveal, though i'm not sure if it's talked about anywhere in game.)

despite the responsibilities and consequences he faces, he makes sure everyone is looked after in his own way. i think it says a lot about him, and possibly about his family having a history of being in the line of medicine.

taken from his story: [what's inside his gourd?]

jiyan, however, has a tendency to hide his troubles from those around him, instead placing greater emphasis and priority on the current situation(s) or his comrades.

for instance, barely anyone is aware that the deceased soldiers — people whom he failed to save — haunt his nightmares, further pressured by the burden of his position and the fact every action of his can have even the slightest of consequences.

taken from his story: [the reason to fight]

he is resolute in this regard, fully committing to his beliefs and what he deems to be righteous. even despite the risks of overexertion which may follow, jiyan will still see it through to the end regardless of the outcome.

taken from his story: [the unyielding will]

(also, i would just like to say i'm thankful we do get mentions of ability overuse/overexertion confirmed, along with tacet mark sensitivity to a certain degree, since this could be one of the many triggers for overclocking (basically the loss of control of a resonator through a trigger of sorts), and i just want more lore and stuff on what overclock actually is. hopefully we get to see a character go through it in the future, as bad as it sounds, because it's just so fascinating and interesting and !! okay. back to the analysis. sorry.)

this was explicitly demonstrated during the boss fight in act vi, where jiyan jumped in front of us to take and block the attack sent our way, incidentally knocking him down and causing our "awakening", only to then quickly recover and continue supporting us through crucial moments during the fight, even at the cost of his own well-being (read: the injuries he later sustained that were mentioned by yuehui post act vi).

that doesn't mean he isn't sentimental to those around him. in fact, he is probably one of the most caring and (though can be in quite subtle ways) expressive characters we know of so far. in his own, discreet way, he makes sure everyone is tended to and left without worry no matter how trivial the problem, for that is his duty as their general and fellow comrade.

taken from his story: [silent caretaker]

following that, jiyan takes camaraderie very seriously. this is well-established in his story quest, wherein the basis of it surrounds jiyan's insight about his team, his comrades' sacrifice and honouring the dead.

as well as these lines from his trailer, wherein his resolve to save people was seen as futile from the veteran rangers who already lost hope.

and yet, despite their dissuasion, jiyan continued on doing what he can for his people, and to minimise the losses as much as possible going forward.

at the end of the quest in particular we see him at probably his most vulnerable, where he asks us to plant an emortia for him should he die (i won't let him.); the very same flower he has been planting for each passed soldier for who knows how long.

the whole scene gave us a glimpse of the inner workings of his mind where he is just "jiyan" with no title attached to him. in this scene, he is just a man who wishes for his fellow soldiers to be able to rest at ease knowing a new day will come, and that their sacrifice wasn't in vain.

3) geshu lin parallels sorry. i couldn't help myself. (i'm not sorry.)

also, i think another aspect i find interesting is the parallel between the current general jiyan, and the former general geshu lin. by this i mean geshu lin in both jiyan's trailer and the beginning-ish of act vi was depicted as someone ruthless in the way he is okay with there being sacrifices if it means they will achieve victory, and essentially sees avoiding that to be cowardly.

meanwhile, jiyan, as we have seen in the section prior, does his utmost to avoid as many casualties as he possibly can. a major part of his character is built around the notion of camaraderie and fighting for what he believes is right, which clashes with geshu lin's own thoughts.

even so, geshu lin notes how they are inherently similar, if not the same in a couple of instances:

jiyan's trailer also had geshu lin say this:

which could have a lot of implications, one of which being that they both want to save everyone and keep the peace of huanglong, yet their principles and how they go about it diverge in spite of their shared wish.

where geshu lin has little reservations (well, at least that we know about from this small snippet) about having to sacrifice his soldiers if it means achieving his end goal, jiyan will plan and plan and plan to do his utmost to reduce the number of casualties as possible while also maintaining efficiency, even if it means he alone has to go to the forefront to clear the way.

tldr: we love jiyan. he is the beloved. the best man who probably needs someone to constantly make sure he is prioritising himself despite his previous medic status. but we love him anyway. 🫶