#luohoujidu

[mademoiselle-red]

The wager that Sifeng didn’t quite win 

(a Love and Redemption analysis + headcanons)

In episode 58 of Love and Redemption, Sifeng challenges Bailin to a wager: he bets that Luohou Jidu is not a heartless demon hellbent on destruction. If he loses, he and Luohou Jidu would go to hell and die together. If he wins, Bailin will never appear in Jidu and Xuanji's lives again. At this time, Jidu and Xuanji are sharing one body. No matter whether he loses or wins, by the terms of his wager, Sifeng would remain by Jidu/Xuanji’s side (in death or in life) and Bailin and Jidu/Xuanji’s will never see each other again. 

Later, things seem to turn out exactly as Sifeng hoped: Luohou Jidu is influenced by Xuanji’s feelings and lets go of his desire to destroy the world. Bailin admits that he has lost the wager, and publicly apologizes to Jidu/Xuanji and asks her to kill him.

Xuanji’s soul takes back control over her own body, and following Sifeng’s wishes, she decides to let go of her hatred for Bailin and tells him: “I have no more room in my heart for hatred. I don’t want anything to do with you anymore.”

At this point in the story, Si Feng seems to have completely won the bet.

(In addition, the fact that Xuanji refers to Bailin as "other people” here is also very revealing: she really doesn't care about Bailin anymore. Xuanji has completely let go of her romantic feelings as the God of War and her hatred as Luohu Jidu. She is unwilling to take the life of “other people".)

But as Luohou Jidu had said in a previous episode, he is not Chu Xuanji. Sifeng knows Xuanji very well, but he doesn't truly know Jidu, and Xuanji, as just one small part of him in his ten thousand years of life, doesn't fully understand her other self either. So they both underestimated his fixation on Bailin. The moment Xuanji announced that she will have nothing more to do with Bailin, Jidu separated from her body. From that moment on, it became impossible for them to be one person again, because Jidu refused to get over Bailin. 

Since Xuanji doesn’t want any part in Bailin's life or death, Jidu finally leaves her behind to deal with Bailin on his own. In Luohu Jidu's life, Bai Lin could never be just "other people''. He stole Jidu’s life and forced him to become his. Now his life is forfeit: he now belongs to Jidu just as much as Jidu once belonged to him. 

So I think here, Bailin, who has lost the wager to Sifeng, wins back half the “prize”. Jidu is unwilling to follow Xuanji in fulfilling Sifeng's dying wish. He is unwilling to never see Bailin again. 

At the end of the story, he and Bailin recall the time they spent together, and finally confess to each other how they never forgot the time they spent together and how much they both cherished their bond.

A thousand years ago, all Luohou Jidu wanted was to be able to drink with Bailin every day. A thousand years later, he still cannot let go of their drinking date, the cup of wine that Bailin never drank, and the feelings that Bailin didn’t reciprocate.

Not only does he want Bailin to die, he also wants to die with him. This was when I started shipping this pairing. In most revenge plots, the protagonist kills the enemy who wronged him, and moves on. Why would he accompany Bailin in death and reincarnation if all he sought was revenge? What else does he want from Bailin? 

He cannot forgive Bailin for his betrayal and cruelty, but I think he also couldn't bear to just kill him and never see him again. The thought of Bailin never appearing in his life again is unthinkable. Luohou Jidu refuses the terms of Sifeng’s wager. He will never let Bailin go. 

A thousand years ago, he showed up to a date with his soulmate (actual word used in the drama) with a heart full of warmth and trust, but all he received in return was "betrayal by the one he loved and trusted". His original heart was dug out and sealed, and replaced with crystal heart. 

After a thousand years, when the crystal heart turned into flesh and blood, he left half of it with Xuanji and gave the other half to Sifeng to return his ten lifetimes of love and devotion (after all, this crystal heart grew flesh and blood because of Sifeng). 

So all that is left with Luohou Jidu now is his original heart, the one that was chopped to pieces by Bailin a thousand years ago. It is a heart full of love and hate, all tangled up. But the object of this heart’s love and of it's hate is Bailin, and only Bailin. 

This heart has been waiting for a thousand years for Bailin's reciprocation. And reciprocate he does. Bailin finally drinks his cup of wine, finally acknowledging who they are and who they have been to each other all these years. 

They look into each other’s eyes as they leave together, their gaze affectionate and gentle. 

[psychoticgirl]

@luohoujidu​ replied to your post: “ferrific replied to your post: Loki on his knees...”

crumbs are all we ever needed 😂😂

Correct! We were born and raised on scraps, this is enough

He’s literally collared and on his knees looking at her like THAT??? The filth writes itself at this point

[hacash]

Rules: answer the questions and tag nine people you want to get to know better/catch up with!

I got tagged in this approximately a thousand years ago by @hippity-hoppity-brigade so thank you and I’m sorry it took so long!

I'm tagging @goatsandgangsters @paintedimagining @rubecso @jammeke @dollsome-does-tumblr @mithlomi  @luohoujidu  @celticaurora @nettlestonenell

Three relationships

Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee - The reason I love them together is because even though I don’t ship them romantically, you don’t have to ship them romantically to know their love for each other is the entire heart of LOTR. (although the romantic samfro content out there is some of the best I’ve seen) There’s such tender devotion on either side (you lose it a little in the film but in the books Frodo is so devoted to Sam as well and so eager to look after him and better him) and they care about each other so much and the fact that it’s the friendship between a gentleman pacifist and a gardener that destroys the most potent evil in Middle Earth is so fucking revolutionary. Also, the end where Frodo invites Sam and Rosie to live with him as an OT3/Queer Platonic Threesome (choose according to your preferences)? just *chef’s kiss*

Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe - I think reading AoGG at age 8 ruined my expectations of romance for the rest of my life. The idea of the cocky-but-not-too-cocky academic rival-turned-best-friend who Anne ends up marrying because he can make her laugh (proving that her romantic fantasies about some dark brooding Byronic hero are just a bit bleh compared to someone who can genuinely make her happy) slayed me as a kid, and I haven’t yet entirely recovered.

Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt - Can I just start by saying how great it is (and how sad that I found it great) that the key romance on Parks and Rec is between two people not in their twenties who are established in their lives and had to wait for that mind-blowing romance? I still worry that if you get to thirty without experiencing that that any romance you have is going to be very dull and ‘grown-up settledy’ and so it’s so nice to see this defied with Ben and Leslie. They support each other in their goals wonderfully and are so fun and ridiculous together, and show the importance of both loving and liking your partner - plus any ship that starts as ‘workplace nemesis’ is a great one for me.

Last song: Island - The Starting Line

Last movie: I’m in the middle of watching all the James Bonds with my parents and we last watched Die Another Day which was daft and camp but I’m very excited to get onto the Craig era now

Currently watching: I neeeeed to watch Shadow and Bone but my mental health has been shredded for the past few months so injecting much new stuff into my brain is an effort. So I’m currently watching Rhod Gilbert’s Work Experience which, for anyone who can access BBC iPlayer, is a Welsh comedian trying out different jobs and showing what it’s actually like working them to the public - many are either underappreciated or misunderstood (such as rubbish collector, teacher or tattooist) and he does an amazing job of breaking down preconceptions while still being hilarious. I’ve also just started watching Loki which is good fun because it’s just Tom Hiddleston eating the scenery for 50 minutes at a time and clearly enjoying the hell out of it.

Currently reading: I just finished reading Fault Lines by Emily Itami - it’s a pretty standard woman-in-unhappy-marriage-with-kids-meets-someone-she-actually-falls-in-love-with story but it’s written so beautifully it doesn’t feel tropey or dull at all. Would very much recommend.

[halsinthebear]

@transmascporthos tagged me in this so now I want to tag @jeynepoole @murraybaeman @luohoujidu and @flightlessboy

[manticoreimaginary]

luohoujidu tagged me to spell my url in song titles, and so I did. I can’t be bothered to tag anyone specific, so I tag Anyone Who Is Bored

Madraykin - Queenadreena Aerials - System of a Down Needle Into A Bug - Repo! The Genetic Opera Throw  Your Arms Around Me - Hunters & Collectors I Can't See New York - Tori Amos Carolus Rex - Sabaton Out of Hell - In This Moment Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham Ever Dream - Nightwish Icarus - Jason Webley Mariella - Kate Nash Alesia - Eluveitie Get Off - The Dandy Warhols I'm Still Here - Johnny Rzeznik Nevermind - The Birthday Massacre All My Rage - Laura Marling Renholder -  A Perfect Circle You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby - The Smiths

[psychoticgirl]

mithlomi replied to your post: “The people who know you best are the ones...”

No but listen, listen… Sif doesn’t let people close to her unless she trusts them how do we think he got close enough to cut her hair dude it’s all coming together

He was sleeping right next to her obviously!!!

luohoujidu replied to your post: “The people who know you best are the ones...”

that's the shit 👌🏼

good shit! mmm mmm good

the-boxgirl replied to your post: “Loki on his knees in front of Sif...”

"It's good to see you too Sif" 😭😭😭😭

HELP i’m having such a good time wallowing in the pain!!

[psychoticgirl]

luohoujidu replied to your post: I can’t believe it’s 2021 and we’re getting actual sifki

2021 or 2012 I no longer know 😂

[hacash]

luohoujidu said: no but i’m greatly enjoying your descent into madness

too-tookish-to-care said: I have never watched ted lasso and to be frank, didn’t even know the show existed. I don’t even know what is going on, but Rebecca is my favourite and i ship her with ted

so first off I would encourage you both, and anyone else, to give it a try: this show is the literal embodiment of the ‘this show watered my crops, cleared my skin, added ten years to my life’ ethos without ever getting overly schmaltzy

(in a weird way it almost has similar vibes to lotr??? in the sense that the difficult moments of life are never sugar-coated or ignored, and yet it is all about hope, community, family, love, etc. it’s very hope-punk without ever getting cynical)

secondly @too-tookish-to-care​ this is precisely how the show gets you. I saw gifs, thought that Ted and Rebecca would be the only thing I really cared about, and a few weeks later I’m getting overly emotional about an entire fictional team of footballers and I don’t even like football.

Out of curiosity, how many (if any!) of my mutuals watch Ted Lasso? I’m curious to know how many people I’m driving to distraction with this constant gif-and-meta reblogging.