#it'll take two minutes

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

MDZS Notes + Analysis — Chapter Two: “Reincarnation”

Three main things stood out to me when rereading this chapter: the theme of status, our intro to WWX, and the information we’re given about his state after death.

…Well, four things, but the other one will get its own post.

The theme of status is immediately introduced* with ‘MXY’’s treatment and the backstory of MXY and his mother, yet again showing just how well MDZS’s ideas are integrated into the text and how well it’s paced! You’re introduced to every important theme so, so early on. Two screenshots are analysed below:

(See: entitlement of the upper classes towards the lower classes, and how this can exist even between members of the ‘same family’; and arguably the idea of debts between a richer family and someone who was 'taken in'. There are a surprising amount of parallels between MXY and WWX, but I'll make my own post about that)

(See: once again, differences in status between members of the same family, and also the worse, and disposable, treatment of one daughter because she was "the daughter of a servant". Now, why does that phrase sound familiar...?)

Also, MXY's mother was sixteen when she attracted JGS's attention... if you somehow needed even more material to hate the guy...

We also get introduced to WWX’s personality(!), which immediately disproves the rumours from last chapter on how he'd cast the world into ruin:

(That's one of the first questions he asks after waking up – I love how he's so concerned about this! It shows us two important things, too: 1) Morality is important to WWX, and 2) Doing immoral things seems to be out of the ordinary for him. Both of these stand in direct contrast to the picture of WWX we were painted earlier!)

(Same thing here, along with showing us some of the (healthy!) pride WWX has – he wouldn't be offended at this if wasn't something he held as important within himself)

(I use this quote again, but here it's once again proving that the vengeful, evil WWX who'd sink the cultivation world into "nothing but chaos and despair" at the first chance he got... very much does not exist.)

(And finally, it's explicitly confirmed here that he's not the type to take exessive revenge and take pleasure in it... at least at this point in time, because. MXY definitely had reason to think this considering Sunshot!WWX, if everyone had been working from the truth. But importantly that isn't who he is now, and isn't who the WWX villified by the cultivation world was – imo that's including Nightless City, we'll get to that when I reach it. But note that actions during the Sunshot campaign aren't even mentioned in the prologue, because, shock, they actually helped the cultivation world win the war! Though that doesn't mean they weren't part of rumours + the WWX hatred mill later.)

Then some non-morality related things:

This is just really funny to me, with how the makeup being badly applied (:o) is enough of an issue to merit a thought – WWX I love you.

And then this way of thinking comes back a few times esp during the earlier chapters, enough to be noted I think.

Confirmation on WWX's status after he died – it's not anything new to point out, but this chapter does give us rare insights into what state he was in during the post-death, pre-rebirth period.

So, he was somewhat conscious, enough to be aware of what he was(n't) doing – seeking vengeance, haunting the living – and was seemingly in control of those actions. However, he was specifically a "wandering ghost" – his soul didn't pass onto the afterlife or "return back to Earth"** like the body-offering spell's caster's would. He was conscious that a long time had passed as well, and this long period of downtime where he could accept + deal with what happened in his first life is what likely allowed him to be so well-adjusted the second time round – even taking into account the remarkably good way he tends to deal with things in general (cue the "forgetting the wound when the pain fades" quote, it summarises WWX's mindset really well)***.

Also, as for resisting the summons from the prologue – I'm wondering how much was due to WWX's experience with resentful energy + general capability (if that affects it..?) allowing him to consciously refuse, how much was due to WWX not being the type to hold onto resentment (so possibly spells targeting ghosts, full of this resentful energy, wouldn't be as affected?), and how much was due to the relative lack of knowledge about how ghosts/resentful energy works compared to WWX. Or, if it was something else. Either way, achieving the impossible, that's WWX for you :D

It is interesting that he hasn't heard a voice in ages despite wandering, too – do ghosts just not hear the same way, or did he deliberately avoid areas with people? I could see both, the second being more likely, especially considering how many people wanted to summon him back for... less than stellar purposes.

Misc:

Poor Mo Xuanyu....

--

*Well, reinforced – in the prologue, one of the things said about WWX is that "if not for the YunmengJiang clan’s adopting and teaching him, he would have been a hobo living on the streets", which is among the insults people throw. So of course, class-affecting-perception is tied to WWX from the very beginnning! But this is the first time it's actually explored, not a throwaway line.

**Though that may be what's literally happening to WWX's soul here – it is wandering around Earth – I don't think that's what this line refers to. There's a very good meta on how different translations handled that line, I really recommend it (tysm @/mxtxfanatic for finding it)!

***It would be very interesting to read a fic where it felt like no time had passed for him since his death, actually! Though the extremely stressful circumstances are gone, it would still be interesting to see a WWX for whom the Siege, Nightless City, Qiongqi Path etc are pretty recent – but only in fic territory, since I'm so, so glad we got the WWX we did in canon. Also, I'd love to see a fic maybe exploring some of his time as a ghost...?

[mamawasatesttube]

i really want a story in which tim and lois get up to snoopery, sneakery, spying, and shenanigans together. i don't have a plot for this yet but i want it so bad. lois would be such an enabler to tim and i want to see it!!!! they're both nosy little bastards with an inability to stay in their own lanes (ha) or to sit idly by when they perceive they can do something about a problem!! i need them to get up to something together...

[journeyman-tier-fibercraft]

I’m so happy with this gradient it’s soooooo smooth. This shawl is a real challenge to knit both because of the structure of this yarn and the actual pattern itself is written in a way that’s really frustrating, but at least it’s beautiful enough to only be slightly extremely annoying.

[endermiss1000]

Here's the no-bake cookie recipe that has been sustaining me this past week (almond butter should work fine if you cant have peanuts) (hopefully the conversions are correct, I did my best to get accurate numbers but I am American)

2 cups/400 grams of sugar

1/4 cup/21 grams of cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon (the little one)/1.4 grams salt (i just eyeball it tbh)

1/2 cup/125 mL of milk

1/2 cup/113 grams of margarine (a full stick)

1/2 cup/90 grams of peanut butter

3 cups/255 grams of quick/instant oats

Put first five ingredients in a pot and turn on the heat to about medium/medium-high, bring to a full rolling boil. Boil for 2 minutes, then turn off the heat. Stir in peanut butter until melted. Add oats and mix well. Drop spoonfuls onto wax paper/parchment paper/whatever you put on your cookie trays to peel stuff off easily. Place trays on the counter to let the cookies set or in fridge to make them set faster.

[moongothic]

The more I've seen people go "Oda said this" and "Oda said that", the more it has been making me want to just go and read through all the fucking SBS just to find actual sources for what Oda actually has said (specifically about Luffy's family), when and where, because the misinfo is starting to drive me up the walls and I want to be able to be like "nu-uh" (but with confidence and proof) if/when I see misinfo

Problem is that I'm going to have to go through about 107 volumes worth of SBS to do this

[mrs-luigi-vargas]

I know I'd decided to only write one more bowuigi fic aside from the one I'd already written but I can't stop thinking about the idea of Bowser repeatedly kidnapping Peach for relationship advice and Peach getting so fed up with him about it that she tricks Luigi into being her body double so that Bowser kidnaps him instead and they can talk like Actual Adults instead of using her as a third party to vent to all the time

[running-in-the-dark]

ooooh. we got an apartment!!!

the house isn't completely finished yet so we can't move in until April. we'll have to figure that out. but that's fine. it's in the town where my husband works! which is amazing.

[aroacee-of-spades]

really, the only thing anybody in customer service wants is one day without wanting to pin somebody onto a board and shoot ten knives into their torso mediaeval style

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

MDZS – Prologue thoughts + analysis

"Great news, Wei Wuxian has died!"

(In was, in fact, not great news)

Jokes aside though, what a great way to start your novel – it immediately intrigues you, especially since you likely know WWX is the main character from the blurb at least*. It also introduces one of the main themes of the novel right off the bat, ie scapegoating and mob mentality – not a word is wasted. And I love how it clearly lays out all the things that will be explored/contextualised/proven false in later chapters. In order:

Jiang clan 'adopting' and teaching WWX (proven false/contextualised) – they did take him in and teach him, but it wasn't a full adoption, he wasn't of equal status. Though it is true that he'd be living on the streets otherwise. Part of the reason rumours are so hard to distrust is because there's a grain of truth in them. Also, it's cool how apart from his death, this is the first thing we hear, and the first flashback also takes place in this period!

WWX defecting (contextualised) and leading to the Jiang Clan's near-extermination (proven false i'd argue, at the very least heavily contextualised). It's interesting that they seem to asociate the fall of Lotus Pier, which happened a few years before, with WWX's ('evil') actions now, though it does make sense – but also I wonder how did people came to that conclusion? Did they just make associations themselves (WWX is evil –> WWX was taken in by the Jiangs –> Lotus Pier was destroyed a few years ago –> WWX was there –> WWX caused it)? Did JC mention it to people deliberately, since we know he blames WWX for it? Did people hear JC mentioning it more privately (expressing anger, he does not hold it in) and spread the rumour themselves?

WWX's 'demonic' (ghost) cultivation being the reason for him turning evil and his eventual downfall (proven false, there are some great metas on how guidao isn't actually corrupting. See: how WWX keeps using it in his second life and is completely unaffected, and how in his first life he was suffering from way more stress and a lot of trauma – especially SunShot era – which could easily have explained the seeming change in behaviour during that time. Same for Qiongqi Path and Nightless City)

WWX massacring 3000-or-5000 people at Nightless City (heavily contextualised, reasoned with a little during the Second Siege. I have more to say on this but we'll get to it in time).

And then various other things, eg emphasis on how necessary it is to cultivate the righteous path or else – despite the discovered irony of 'righteous' cultivators besieging and killing 50 innocent people, while the 'demonic' cultivator is the only one protecting them – along more information about WWX's death (most of which is confirmed by passing words/thoughts of WWX) and the destruction of the Yin Tiger Tally.

But the things listed above are said first, which is quite important. MDZS is very much a mystery story, both for WWX, LWJ and often the Juniors uncovering the clues about the missing body parts – but also for us readers, as we find and piece together the missing knowledge and context WWX's past, and the full story hidden behind it. And it's so cool how MXTX lays out what we'll explore (our leads, if you will) so clearly, within the first moments of the first chapter of the book.

(If you want to go there, just like how WWX found his first lead/motivation to investigate within the first few (relative) moments of being brought back to life, with the hand at Mo Manor, but I might be reaching a little too far... anyway parallels in MDZS narrative structure I love you so much)

Other details in this chapter:

I love how this comparison is used:

Having read the book, we know there was a very recent war, so this speed/comparison would be very familiar to everyone! A subtle way of setting up and showing the efforts of the Sunshot Campaign, though you wouldn't recognise it the first time round.

Admittedly we don't know how subjective/exaggerated this POV is, but there is evidence for the fact that hundreds of smaller clans participated (or at least wanted to participate before Nightless City..?), judging by the fact that three thousand cultivators gathered to plan to kill him. Surely that's not just the Great Sects. But on the topic of that, yup, all four sects were involved (I don't think it's disproven later, and all four sects did gather at Nightless City as well**), there's no one 'good one' that wasn't corrupted or complicit.

Even by just reading what the crowd says, it's cool how you can tell that at least some of what's being said is untrustworthy:***

Already, they're contradicting information and exaggerating rumours – also note that later on at the Guanyin Temple (Hatred 2), LXC, someone I trust more, says three thousand when talking about the number of cultivators at Nightless City (even not considering what WWX said during the Second Siege). That contradiction and exaggeration does make you doubt what they're saying a little already! As well as the fact you know there's more to the story due to, again, WWX being the main character.

This is heightened by everyone saying, later, that if WWX returned, 'the cultivation world, or even all of mortal land, would be faced with the most insane damnation and revenge, sinking into nothing but chaos and despair' – something immediately disproven in the beginning of the next chapter, immediately suggesting that a lot of these rumours are much more untrustworthy than they seem.

His death here is made even worse by the belief that (iirc) the state of your body after death affects the reincarnation of your soul...? That definitely contributes to the 'karma' the people mention in screenshot after.

This hurts already, but hurts even more after knowing WWX's fear of dogs due to them always biting him when searching for food...

--

*I wouldn't be surprised if this opening plays a big role in why why MDZS seems to have the biggest following of all MXTX's books. Openings are probably the most important part of the novel, since you start with no attachments that would make you keep reading, and MDZS absolutely nails it. I love it so much!

**Off-topic, but I do wonder how painful being at the meeting at Nightless City (before WWX showed up) was for LWJ...

***I'm curious about this extract, actually – the 7S translations has an extra line/distributes this differently? If anyone knows the original Chinese, I'd love to know which one is more accurate.

[inspector-montoya-fox]

Lol

[dandyshucks]

need Guz to hug me tightly for like an hour solid oh my god dhdjdkl I went driving for the first time in over a year and I chewed my lip raw 😭😭

I'm starting to look like a caricature of Anxiety with all these physical symptoms and signs LMAO

[maulfucker]

4k words and they're still only almost taking off their pants can't these bitches fucking go faster <- guy in control of the pace of the story

[saucy-mesothelioma]

You are given the chance to pick any piece of media and art (and I mean any) to be buried on the earth as the world's legacy; it can be anything, from audios to images to movies and interactive media. Think of it as the Golden Record, though with the certainty that someone somewhere will discover it again in the future and know how to use it.

What would you choose?

This question took a lot of consideration, but I think I finally have an answer. The M*A*S*H TV series collection.

Although the series does focus primarily on the Vietnam war, it's got a lot of messages that've really stuck with me through the years. It's a perfect mix of humor and tragedy and in my opinion shows so many ranges of human emotion as well as dealing with various conflicts both physically and mentally. It's a series that I feel will have some relatability to whoever would come across it and manage to watch the whole thing. And even if they don't relate to any of the stories, I'm confident that certain episodes like "Sometimes You Hear The Bullet" and "The Interview" will definitely leave an impression on them. M*A*S*H is a wonderful combination of funny, serious, and heartbreak and I think it really speaks to the idea of the human spirit in its highs and lows.

[binch-i-might-be]

FINE. I am going to cut this cucumber

[meownotgood]

Hey mags! How are you?

So, this is really self-indulgent, so I apologize if I ramble a little-

Recently I decided to do a hair transition back to my natural wavy hair, and it's been kinda hard taking care of it bc I never learned the right way to do so (I couldn't figure out if it was wavy or curly so at some point I just gave up and straightened it) but now I think it's a little better than it was before, but I've had some people tell me that the haircut I got looks weird, so that really bummed me out bc I don't know how to properly style it yet.

So, could I please ask for some thoughts on aki reacting to reader that changed hairstyle from medium size and straight to short and wavy? This is very specific and kind of silly, but it has affected me way more than I'd like to admit hdhajsha

Love your blog btw! I hope you have a nice day/night! 💕💕

yes, of course!!!

I think aki is pretty peculiar about how he keeps his own hair, so he's bound to notice a change in yours. he asks you a little bluntly, why'd you change your hairstyle? and when you answer, he says, hm. I like it this way. it's pretty.

and he's no expert on hair styling, but if you'd like, he'd be willing to offer some help. it upsets him to think of you not being happy with your appearance, he wants you to feel as beautiful as he thinks, knows that you are. he does some more research on styling and asks if he can try doing your hair for a change, hoping to cheer you up and pamper you a little.

[numberfiveisback]

me and my one braincell: we're doing it we're doing it we're doing iT WE'RE DOING IT WE'RE DOING IT WE'RE DOING IT--