#would overshadow jc’s character because of how they both fit the same niche

[mxtxfanatic]

@sunbunnyyy I’m sorry, but none of this answers any of the questions I asked nor is it accurate to the novel or mxtx’s intentions:

The framework of the world he was written into valued filial piety and repaying debts, the two things that Jiang Cheng blatantly and explicitly disregards throughout the entire novel. He upheld no Jiang traditions, which is why Lotus Pier is nigh unrecognizable by the time Wei Wuxian returns in his second life. He repaid no debts, which is why he ends up having two separate breakdowns over the golden core transfer. If we are going only by these two standards of morality that the story, itself, sets up, then Jiang Cheng is right next to Jin Guangyao in his immorality.

The framework of the story was created by a modern woman with a modern sense of ethics and morality that she expresses clearly in both the novel and her interviews about the novel, therefore you don’t need to know the morality of “that time period” because it doesn’t exist. The book was written now. The time period is literally now! To say that “we just can’t judge” like this fantasy novel written about a fantasy time period was written in that fantasy time period is not a good way to frame analysis.

I think he is not a moral person, based on my standards, because of some of the things I’ve listed above and quite a few more things I have not listed. I have evidence from the book that justifies that reading. I want to know whether you think he is moral or has moments where he acted morally and where in the book corroborates that reading. While the book and author take a clear stance on his character, you’re right, not everyone reads it the same when actually going through the book. Hence me straight up asking why people formed a conclusion that I do not see supported from the text, because it might be there but my feelings have given me a divergent understanding than others.

I have two Jiang Cheng-centric questions about how and why people perceive him the way that they do. This is only for people who do not think that Jiang Cheng is a bad person (not whether or not you like his character, but whether or not this character, if real, would be considered a good person by the average person). The questions are:

1) if you believe that he is or attempted to be a moral person, where are places in the novel where he displays, in your eyes, either moral action or intent?

2) in what moments does Jiang Cheng take the initiative in a given situation (being a leader, following his own desires, ect.) where he is neither prompted by an authority figure or following the lead of his peers?

(If it’s not an idea you got from the novel, you could say that, too, but I’m really looking for the opinions of people who are convinced that mxtx wrote his character to be at least “decent.”)