#longwang

[thebritishdragon]

fur as white as the clouds

And here we have the dragon king Longwang! Which literally means dragon king- I’ve looked for information about this dude and apparently he was sorta violent until Buddha mellowed him out. Black dragons in Chinese mythology are usually seen as vengeful creatures. While white dragons are seen as pure and a sign of rebirth.

[welcome-to-fernweh]

I like to think of the present dragon gods of Eleturn are, like, chill with weird mortal stuff as long as it isn’t a serious threat to them. So like, yeah, anonymously gift them short FanFics of them and they’ll be like, “Eyup, same shit as always.”

Zhí Míng

Jiān Bīng

Xuānyuán

Mèng Zhāng

Líng Guāng

I’m sorry milord, but the peasants are nailing erotic artwork of you and your court jester to the church doors again

[wes-laye]

Erosion

| 230623

[Angst and sad times warning]

[stardust-falling]

Elemental Dragons of Teyvat designs + doodles (plus bonus Zhongli bc i love him)

[welcometoteyvat]

oh, alright </3

(source)

[astrugglingacademic]

Zhongli gave Azhdaha eyes and sight, right? I'd love to see Azhdaha gently taking care of/coaching a newly blinded Zhongli.

[gaydragontournament]

ROUND 2: PART 3

Propaganda under cut

Azhdaha/Retuo Longwang (Genshin Impact)

● An ancient dragon that swore loyalty to and made a contract with a god after he granted him sight. When over-mining in his territory caused erosion (a condition that eventually effects all immortals in game) to settle in faster than it should have, his god sealed him underground to protect humanity. It's implied that Azhdaha had a moment of lucidity and allowed himself to be sealed. In any case, when in his right mind he agrees with the decision, though, when not, he feels betrayed and angry. In game he possesses a young man in order to prevent himself from being unsealed and makes his deep devotion to his god very clear, insisting there was no one he trusted more. The two share a bittersweet goodbye at the end of the quest. Something about being willing to trap himself forever because he believes in the judgment of another man is pretty gay.

Lord Arum (The Penumbra Podcast: Second Citadel)

● Okay so from what I've listened to he's not called a dragon but he is a four-armed, two-legged reptilian man who is born/created to be the guardian and caretaker of an ancient massive magical plant house called The Keep. So, magic lizard guarding magic castle sounds like a dragon to me.

He falls in love with a male human knight and a female human scientist. Bi and poly rights! We have enemies to lovers, homoerotically charged duels, and desperate acts of kidnapping to save the only thing he loves that leads to him finding more people to love (and also saves the only thing he loved).

[3slash74movies]

[thecollectibles]

Longwang Temple Part 1 by Guodong Zhao

[uhoh23]

Person A - I think he's a Wanderer

Person B - DEMON

Me - THE DRAGON KING HAS ARISEN MY BRETHREN

NGL I was originally leaning more towards the demon theory bc there's a lot of evidence for it, but the problem that I have with the demon theory is that it now feels TOO obvious, like the devs are trolling like how they joked about him being a vampire. All three main theories make sense tho - demon, wanderer, or dragon.

There's so many demon implications - 1. The N109 zone being a lawless place that apparently has little sunlight, hence why there doesn't seem to be many plants, making it sound like the underworld bc the underworld probably wouldn't have much life in it, its another version of Hell. 2. Sylus' flower is the Datura, sometimes known as the "Devil's Trumpet." 3. Demons love deals. They trick humans and according to Christian lore, hate humanity. Sylus enjoys using people, even with the good in him. He's always trying to get something.

Point is, it kinda seems TOO on the nose...but the dragon theory is less obvious for me. I would have NEVER thought he was one until I did my research on Chinese mythology 🤣 AND BOY DID I FIND some INTERESTING things. Let's start with the most IMPORTANT point - In Eastern mythology, dragons can shapeshift between human and dragon. There's TWO dragons in particular that stood out to me - Fuzanglong and Longwang.

Fuzanglong - Dragons of hidden treasure. They live underground and hide gemstones, golden nuggets, their most prized possession a magic pearl. Has horns, demonic looking eyes, and dark red is associated with them. Sometimes known as "Keeper of the Underworld." They can cause volcanic eruptions when awoken or when they leave the underground. Elusive to humans.

Sylus and the color red go hand in hand. Couple that with the "treasure" talk that reminds me of Nightplumes due to Sylus saying "A man's heart goes to where his treasure is." Just like a dragon protecting his treasure. Sylus also enjoys gifting MC gems as a gift 🥺 There's also that scene where it looks like MC is underground, blood on her hands, and lava seeping through the ground. This ties to the volcano aspect and the underground aspect of this particular dragon.

The Dragon King - IT GETS WILDER. A guy named Longwang could shapeshift from dragon to human at will. He was the source of rain. His human form had red eyes and his dragon form typically had red scales, but some artists would opt for other colors. Longwang was the king of all dragons, immortal, and eventually he became a God in the story of the Lotus Sutra. His dragon form had wings, claws, and horns. He had four dragon brothers who could also shapeshift, lived in a luxurious palace in the sea, and he ate gems. Longwang was benevolent usually, but he was known to have a bad temper and be intimidating. He also apparently had thousands of kids 🤣

Sylus - has red eyes, he's intimidating to most, gets annoyed easily with most, can't die (or so he claims), the gems thing again, and he's rich. He very well could be a God with his crazy healing abilities and apparent immortality. The Lost Oasis card specifically brings up God's and Longwang played a significant role in a Chinese literature piece called Investiture of God's.

Last, but not least, Sylus' zodiac sign...I find it FUNNY how COINCIDENTALLY this man is an Aries in the Western zodiac, yet in the Chinese zodiac the Aries equivalent? IS A DRAGON. Just search up "Aries in the Chinese zodiac" 💀🫣 The devs did their zodiac homework bc Sylus has MANY of the Aries traits, so who's to say they didn't purposely choose Aries due to it's ties with the Dragon zodiac?

Aries Traits - love the chase in romance and they view crushes as a conquest to conquer, domineering, competitive and hate losing, adventurous, natural leaders, very straightforward, dominant. Dragon Zodiac - natural leaders, adventurous, very straightforward, competitive, can be arrogant, impatient, impulsive 👀🤣 Granted, maybe none of this proves he's a dragon, but I think this stuff is super interesting nonetheless 🖤

[yoga-onion]

Legends of the humanoids

Reptilian humanoids (4)

Five Dragon Kings – the Five Coloured Dragons with Directions in ancient Chinese belief

Historically there arose a cult of the Five Dragon Kings in Chinese legend based on Wuxing (5 elements, Nature Philosophy on Taoist cosmology). The name Wufang longwang ( "Dragon Kings of the Five Regions/Directions") is registered in Taoist scripture from the Tang dynasty, found in the Dunhuang caves, also be known as the Magao caves.

Incorporating elements of traditional Chinese beliefs, the Five Elements, it associates the Five Dragon Kings and the five coloured dragons with the five directions. In the east, there is the Blue Dragon God King, who has 49 Dragon Kings under his command, who control 70 myriad myllion small dragons, mountain spirits and sundry charms. The document states that it is the work of the small dragons and spirits under the control of the Dragon King that cause poison and disease to people, and that they should pray to the Dragon King who oversees them for healing. The Red Dragon God King is located in the south, the White Dragon God, the White Dragon God King in the west, the Black Dragon God King in the north and the Yellow Dragon God King in the centre, each with a considerable number of Dragon Kings, countless small dragons and charmed demons. 

The Azure Dragon or Blue-Green Dragon (Qīnglóng), or Green Dragon (Cānglóng), is the Dragon God of the east, and of the essence of spring. The Red Dragon (Chìlóng or Zhūlóng, literally "Cinnabar Dragon", "Vermilion Dragon") is the Dragon God of the south and of the essence of summer. The White Dragon (Báilóng) is the Dragon God of the west and the essence of autumn. The Yellow Dragon (Huánglóng) is the Dragon God of the center, associated with late summer. The Black Dragon (Hēilóng), also called "Dark Dragon" or "Mysterious Dragon" (Xuánlóng), is the Dragon God of the north and the essence of winter.

[Image bottom: One of the Buddha statues in Mogao Caves, China]

伝説のヒューマノイドたち

ヒト型爬虫類 (4)

五方龍王 〜 古代中国の信仰における五方位に結びつく五色の龍王

歴史上、中国の伝説には五行(5つの要素) に基づいた「五方龍王信仰」があった。敦煌石 (莫高窟) で発見された唐代の道教経典には、「五方龍王」という名前が記されている。

中国の伝統的な信仰の要素である五行 (道教の宇宙論に基づく自然哲学) を取り入れ、五龍王と五色の龍を五つの方角と関連付けている。東方には青龍神王がおり、配下に49の龍王をしたがえ、それらが70万億の小龍や山精・雜魅を従えている。この文書の趣旨は、四方八方どこにでも、人間を毒や病に侵す龍王の手先がいて、彼らの主である龍王に救済を祈り求めなければならないということだ。南方には赤龍神王、西方には白龍神王、北方には黒龍神王、中央には黄龍神王がおり、同様にそれぞれ相当数の龍王、無数の小龍、魅鬼などが配置される。 

蒼龍または蒼緑龍（靑龍）、または緑龍（蒼龍）は、東の龍神であり、春の本質を表す。赤龍（辰砂龍 または 朱龍）は南の龍神で、夏の神である。白龍は西の龍神であり、秋の神である。黄龍（黃龍）は中央の龍神で、晩夏に関連している。黒龍（黑龍）は「暗龍」または「神秘龍（玄龍）」とも呼ばれ、北の龍神であり、冬の精髄である。

[journeytothewestresearch]

Good Source for Trans Monkey King Headcanon

While Sun Wukong is not historically or canonically transgender, I wholeheartedly support anyone with a headcanon portraying him as such. A great example of spiritual gender transition from Buddhist scripture that could serve as a basis for your headcanon is the “Dragon Girl” (Longnu, 龍女) from chapter 12 of the Lotus Sutra (Miaofa lianhua jing, 妙法蓮華經; a.k.a. Fahua jing, 法華經, c. 3rd-century).

She is first introduced to an assembly of Buddhist deities as the eight-year old daughter of the Dragon King Sāgara (Suojieluo longwang, 娑竭羅龍王) and one of an unfathomable number of dragonfolk enlightened by the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī’s (Wenshu shili, 文殊師利) lessons on the Lotus Sutra. Her teacher describes her as a great student prodigy with a deep knowledge of Buddhist Law, as well as having many advanced spiritual achievements. But this upsets some among the assembly because the notion of a young girl approaching Buddhahood so quickly flies in the face of convention, which normally calls for untold aeons of severe austerities before one can achieve awakening. Her accomplishments are called into question at first, but everyone is appeased when she offers a priceless jewel to the Buddha, and he quickly accepts it as a symbolic gesture. Then:

The girl said [to the assembly], “Employ your supernatural powers and watch me attain Buddhahood. It will be even quicker than that!” At that time the members of the assembly all saw the dragon girl in the space of an instant change into a man (emphasis added) and carry out all the practices of a bodhisattva, immediately proceeding to the spotless World of the south, taking a seat on a jeweled lotus, and attaining impartial and correct enlightenment. With the thirty-two features and the eighty characteristics [of a Buddha], he expounded the wonderful Law for all living beings everywhere in the ten directions (Watson, 1993, p. 188). [1] 女言：「以汝神力，觀我成佛，復速於此。」 當時眾會，皆見龍女忽然之間變成男子，具菩薩行，即往南方無垢世界，坐寶蓮華，成等正覺，三十二相、八十種好，普為十方一切眾生演說妙法。

A drawing of the Dragon Girl and the priceless jewel (larger version). Image found here.

Note:

1) For the Dragon Girl’s story, see Watson, 1993, pp. 187-189.

Source:

Watson, B. (Trans.) (1993). The Lotus Sutra. New York: Columbia University Press.

[wes-laye]

🍤

[stardust-falling]

Does anyone know of any good, canon-lore and characterization-compliant Rezhong or Neuvili fics?

[welcometoteyvat]

If it is fated, Morax, we will meet again.

historia antiqua act II: movie posters

extras here

[astrugglingacademic]

Honestly surprised that there was never an animatic of Zhongli sealing away Azhdaha to the all time classic: The Apology Song