#jiang cheng's 13 years of serial killing

[mxtxfanatic]

Fandom Gripe #13: this thing where Jiang Cheng-positive fics like to write off his homophobia and abusive possessiveness over Wei Wuxian as “abandonment issues” is delusional almost to the point of hilarity, because exactly how do you read a man using the death of his family to justify serial murdering innocent people as “abandonment issues”? And mind you, the first person he murders in his 13 (or 16 for the drama, I guess) years of serial killing is the man these fics claim is “his brother,” and everyone he murders after are people who remind him of his “brother” lmao

Double whammy when the fic in question doesn’t include the fall of Lotus Pier happening, so the Jiang family are all still alive, meaning jc has nothing to feel “abandoned” over except maybe his terrible mother. Triple whammy when said terrible mother is rewritten to just be a tough girlboss mommy who secretly deep down loves her children (and the orphan she still abuses, as per the fic LOL), meaning jc now absolutely has no reason to have abandonment issues as per the fic, itself.

(Also, the hoops these fics will go through to explain why jc’s “abandonment issues” only encompass wwx living his life outside of Lotus Pier but not Jiang Yanli marrying into the Jin, so now we have misogyny as a narrative crutch, yay! Maybe if dude was canonically a good person able to make friends outside of them being gifted to him by his father, he wouldn’t feel so “lonely” being surrounded by and in charge of a whole bunch of people his age, and his stans wouldn’t have to argue that jyl isn’t a “real Jiang” since she’s marrying out. Just a thought 🙃)

[plan-d-to-i]

Just read a take where the poster was like “JC has the most normal emotional reactions actually. Everyone else in the story goes either super heroic or super villainous in dealing with their trauma. But JC has his breakdown and then gets back to his life.”

And I’m just like: Uh, I don’t think his whole ‘hunt down anyone who does demonic cultivation on the off chance they might be WWX’ is a very normal reaction actually. This feels a tad extreme. It also feels like a distinct lack of letting things go to get back to his life. Granted there are people much more villainous in the story but that doesn’t make JC ‘normal’ in his obsession.

Honestly if we’re talking about someone who had their breakdown and then got back to their life, that’s LWJ.

me when someone says jiang cheng is the most human/most relatable/had the most normal emotional reaction :

Thank you for that very visible red flag 🚩 人(_ _*). Dude strategized and led a siege to kill a granny and a toddler and then went on a 13 year serial kidnapping/torture/killing bender... It's a hard pass for me.

[sepia-mahogany]

Idk why they make it more complicated and “nuanced” (JC stans favorite word they learnt last week and still don’t know how to use) than it is, killing a serial murderer is actually good, going around like a madman killing everyone who has the same last name as the murderer included a fucking homeless grandma is not good.

spending over a decade abducting and killing marginalized people that remind you of the guy you’ve always been jealous of? Big psycho energy

Yeap, they were innocent (granny wen 😭) and as you've said, there's a big difference among the two things, it shouldn't be controversial to say Jiang Cheng torturing people to death for 13 years (their only crime being practising unorthodox cultivation) is a bad thing.

People using that and Wei Wuxian's torture of Wen Chao (who btw jc also took part in) were the same thing?? Nope, it wasn't, it will never be.

[plan-d-to-i]

I see posts and twits (even from the people who don't like JC) about how JGY and XY are evil but JC is not, and I just don't understand?? like, if he was just a basic bitch, jealous and resentful and bitter, I would understand, but the guy planed and lead a siege to kill his 'brother' and people he knew where not a threat, knowing there was a toddler there! and then he spent the next 13 years (openly) being a serial killer who tortured and brutally murdered people routinely just because he could and knew he would get away with it, with no regrets, no empathy, not even a hint he had doubts about his actions. He used his power to target people who didn't have any chance against him, who were vulnerable; he trained his sect into being experts in abducting his victims, he tried to teach it to his kid nephew! How could that not be evil? Even if we ignore everything else he did, how can a serial killer be anything but evil?

I understand that the author said he is not, and maybe it's just me projecting, but she seemed to say it to avoid his fans? like she was reluctant to speak much about him at all? for me, the fact that she compared him to XY says more than anything that yes, he is evil.

sorry for the rant, I guess I'm just trying to understand. If you share this viewpoint about him, would you mind explaining why? (not that you need to explain anything, I'm just genuinely confused and don't know who else to ask. I trust your opinions, they are always clear and intelligent, so I decided to chance it.)

byw, I understand that he was a minor villain or an antagonist, whatever. He was boring and dumb. I just don't think it exempts him from being evil.

complex villain mastermind? no, he is too dumb and boring. But that doesn't exempt him from being evil.

If you happen to think he isn't evil would you mind explaining why? not that you need to justify your feelings and thoughts, but I'm genuinely confused about it. i know the author said he wasn't evil, but I always had the impression she was reluctant abt speaking of him at all, bc of his fans. That she compared him to XY says a lot, I think.

Ahah it's funny, I also felt from the interview that she didn't want to come right out and say something negative about jc and provoke his fans.

"In my mind, Jiang Cheng does have some fans, and these fans are really vocal about him in the comment section. So, I think there’s a lot of people who like him. They don’t treat him as the bad guy." (x)

lol Because the interviewer asked her several times if she doesn't think he's bad lol. But naturally that's just a vibe. She did something similar in the novel postscript:

Everyone should know what Jiang Cheng’s keyword is without me saying it. In the beginning, I thought with with XY’s existence, Jiang Cheng’s negative energy would definitely seem skimpy.

I'm like, no no tells us the keyword lol! But in the end it's really just negative energy. She thought XY would make his seems skimpy but it wasn't the case lmao! Another comparison to XY.

Male Host: So what do you think was Xue Yang as a person? Just as you have described Jiang Cheng?

MXTX: A person with a distroted world view. An unhappy childhood, someone who …deserves to be beaten by the protagonist. (x)

lol & that's the thing, "evil" is a pretty subjective word- like "love". What's "evil" to me or you may not be "evil" in the eyes of someone else. For example I don't think jc is capable of love, because he's too self involved to feel empathy for anyone else. Similarly, I suppose I wouldn't call jc purposefully malevolent. I think he's bad in the way particularly shitty people are bad when they have the power and privilege to give their faults free rein without fear of consequences. Because of his social position, wealth and strong cultivation the deep flaws in his character are enabled to do extensive, permanent damage unchecked. It's after all something that his father worried about and tried to instruct him against. That's why I think words like "evil" are ultimately useless to classify things. jc is not purposely setting out to do evil on a grand scale but he's deeply damaging nonetheless. Instead of helping his people jc is busy trying to still track down and kill WWX after he already caused his death and the death of everyone he was protecting. His own people are too terrified to seek his help. He demands things from others but doesn't repay his own debts. He only talks about what he's owed. He doesn't take responsibly for anything but only blames others. He's filled with envy and resentment for those who are better than him instead of striving to be a better person himself. His parenting not only did a number on his nephew emotionally but pushed him to repeatedly put himself in life threatening situations. He's so incredibly self absorbed, his concerns revolve only around himself. In that way, more than being evil, I just think his existence is damaging to others and I'd see zero drawbacks to humanity in having less people like him walking around.