#you had OPTIONS here and you went with ‘i have full faith in sect leader yao’?????

[labyrynth]

i might be inclined to to give more credit to that “jgy tried to kill everyone at the burial mounds and he’s so evil” post if if the conclusion wasn’t so dumb, but more importantly, if op wasn’t the clown that also made that “jin guangyao is so manipulative he manipulated readers into liking him” take

[robininthelabyrinth]

A prompt for you (though honestly I'll read anything you write because it is always excellent): Wen Ning never dies, but somehow still ends up becoming Wei Wuxian's most feared subordinate...

ao3

Untamed

“Sect Leader Nie,” Jiang Cheng said, hurrying after the other man, who stopped and turned with a welcoming expression on his face even though Jiang Cheng knew he was in a hurry after everything they’d just planned. After Nie Mingjue had volunteered to go into the Nightless City himself, a reckless charge to try to kill Wen Ruohan, while the rest of them attacked directly - a final strike, if they could only manage it. “I just…”

He trailed off, unable to complete the sentence.

He didn’t even know what he was doing here.

Nie Mingjue didn’t call him out on it, though, only stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder. “I appreciate your support,” he said, voice a little gentler than usual. Like he was trying to comfort Jiang Cheng or something.

Like he wasn’t the one volunteering to go die.

(Just like Jiang Cheng’s mother, and father, and - )

Oh. That’s why he came here.

“I’ll be there,” Jiang Cheng said suddenly, and Nie Mingjue blinked. “At – at the Nightless City. After you kill him, after we take the city…I’ll come find you, to make sure you’re all right.”

That was stupid, he thought to himself as soon as he said it. Nie Mingjue had an entire sect, and friends, and all that – he didn’t need Jiang Cheng hounding him with his insecurities, his worries, his fear that Nie Mingjue would die, too, die and leave him behind just like all the others. Why should he be the exception?

But Nie Mingjue smiled. “I look forward to seeing you then.”

Jiang Cheng swallowed and nodded. “It’s a deal, then,” he said, and watched as Nie Mingjue strode away.

He promised himself that he’d do as he said he would.

Even if all he found was Nie Mingjue’s corpse.

-

It ended up not being Nie Mingjue who killed Wen Ruohan, but rather a combination of Wei Wuxian’s new cultivation style and Meng Yao, who’d apparently been working as a double agent or – something.

Jiang Cheng wasn’t really clear on the details.

He rushed over to Wei Wuxian’s side at once, checking him over as best as he could, yelling at him over…he wasn’t even sure what, it wasn’t really important. Recklessness, probably. Wei Wuxian seemed to understand what he meant, though, grinning at him with bloodless lips.

“You worry too much,” he said cheerfully. “I’ll be fine. I just need to sleep for – a week. Maybe more. Let’s go back to camp, and I’ll do just that.”

Jiang Cheng was about to agree when he remembered his promise.

(Nie Mingjue hadn’t been there at the final fight, although Wen Ruohan hadn’t been at his full power, either. Had he sacrificed himself to wear down their enemy?)

“What is it?” Wei Wuxian asked, noticing.

“Chifeng-zun,” Jiang Cheng said. “I didn’t – see him.”

Wei Wuxian frowned. “You think…? Oh, poor Nie Huaisang..!”

Jiang Cheng wondered for a moment why Wei Wuxian’s first thought was of Nie Huaisang, then remembered that Wei Wuxian hadn’t been there for all those months of working as Nie Mingjue’s lieutenants, him and Lan Wangji and even Jin Zixuan. He wouldn’t have that personal connection with the man, beyond the brief meeting they’d had with him before the indoctrination camp - he wouldn’t have experience with his reliable competence and his talented leadership, his compassion or the gruff praise that he gave sparingly but sincerely and which made Jiang Cheng feel for once in his life like he was every bit as good as Wei Wuxian.

“I want to…” He was going to sound dumb. No, he was a sect leader, as Nie Mingjue often (gently) reminded him; he had to decide for himself what he was going to do, and have faith that his decisions were the right ones - and act accordingly. “We’re not leaving yet. We’re going to go further in, see if we can find him. Do you think you can hold up a little longer?”

“Yes,” Wei Wuxian said, straightening up. “I’ll be fine for a while yet. Let’s go.”

“You’ll tell me if you –”

“Yes, Jiang Cheng. Stop nagging. Now are we going or not?”

-

Unexpectedly, Nie Mingjue was alive.

Alive, and also extremely pissed off.

“I’ll take him back,” Jiang Cheng said to Lan Xichen, who looked relieved: he was protecting Meng Yao from Nie Mingjue for some reason. “Better to go separately.”

“Thank you, Sect Leader Jiang,” Lan Xichen said.

Jiang Cheng saluted and went over to Nie Mingjue, who was leaning on Wei Wuxian – a case of the injured helping the injured, in Jiang Cheng’s opinion, and he glared at his disciples until they ran over to assist them both.

Wei Wuxian was frowning, he noted. “What is it?” he asked, and Wei Wuxian shook his head, refusing to talk and inclining his head meaningfully down towards Nie Mingjue, who looked more tired than anything else. Exhausted, injured, even half-dead…“We should go.”

“No,” Nie Mingjue croaked. “There are probably – prisoners.”

“It can wait until we’re back at camp, surely?” Jiang Cheng asked. “We lost a lot of people in that battle. We could get reinforcements, then come back and do a full sweep when we’re less exhausted.”

“They might be injured, though,” Wei Wuxian put in, though he looked tired, too. “It’d be a pity for any person to die in Wen Ruohan’s custody right after we finally defeated him.”

It was a good point, Jiang Cheng thought, and although he was pretty exhausted himself, he forced himself to nod. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll go sweep the place, look for prisoners. But you two are going straight back to camp, okay? No exceptions, no heroism, nothing! If I get back and I hear that you two took a left turn and fell face-first off a cliff into a pile of magma because you thought there was a baby bird that needed rescuing, I will personally resurrect and stab you both!”

Both Nie Mingjue and Wei Wuxian were grinning at him in a suspiciously indulgent (and almost identical) sort of way, Jiang Cheng noticed, but they also agreed solemnly to make no detours, not even if it was the most heartrending of baby birds, and Jiang Cheng supposed he had to be happy with that.

They staggered off together as he turned to go further in, and as he did, he thought he heard Wei Wuxian say, “Tell me more about what Meng Yao said to you –”

-

“Sect Leader Jiang!” one of Jiang Cheng’s subordinates said, rushing over and saluting. “I found another cell!”

Jiang Cheng ran his hand over his eyes, wanting nothing more but to sleep. “Show me where,” he ordered instead.

He’d already dispatched one of his disciples to act as a runner to Lan Xichen, asking for him to send more disciples from his Lan sect and the Nie sect (which he’d been helping coordinate in Nie Mingjue’s absence) to help get all the prisoners out – there were so many of them, and many of them were, as predicted, in poor health. He would’ve preferred to ask someone else, since the Lan and Nie sects had suffered as many injuries as his Jiang sect, but the small sects were focused on themselves right now and the Jin sect…well, they’d done so little in the war up till now that he’d almost forgotten that they were an option until one of his subordinates had suggested them, and then he’d dismissed the suggestion, too.

If the Jin sect were here, he thought ungraciously, they were probably busy trying to find the treasury.

At least the Lan and Nie sects had managed to confiscate the Yin metal first.

At some point, they’d have to find a way to destroy it…

Distracted by thoughts of politics, Jiang Cheng followed his subordinate down a twisting hallway to yet another set of cells, dark and dank but not quite as close to the place where the Yin metal had been used to refine ghost puppets, and there were men and women chained to the wall here. Unrecognizable, most of them, beaten and starved. They were probably the scions of small cultivation clans…

“Wen Ning?” he blurted out, surprised to recognize the kind-looking face of one of them. To barely recognize: Wen Ning had circles under his eyes, bruises on his face, and his usually round cheeks were thin. “What are you doing here?”

“He’s been here for weeks and weeks,” one of the other prisoners said at once. “He’s not – one of those Wens.”

Wen Ning could still blush, Jiang Cheng noticed, and as much as he would have said he hated all those surnamed Wen – well, that wasn’t quite true, was it? Wen Ning had been there with Wen Qing, when they’d helped them. Jiang Cheng had rescued and released her, giving her that comb as a keepsake…it would be manifestly unjust to make the exception for one and not the other.

His disciples were looking at him.

“What are you waiting for?” Jiang Cheng snapped at them. “He’s a prisoner, he’s hurt. Treat him as you would any of the other prisoners we’ve rescued.”

That would be his story, he thought, if anyone later came knocking at his door to ask what he was thinking, letting a Wen go free.

-

Maybe it was his fault, Jiang Cheng reflected. He shouldn’t have thought ‘go free’.

Go free implied that Wen Ning would go somewhere else, rather than following him and Wei Wuxian around like an imprinted puppy. It only got worse when Wei Wuxian spontaneously declared that he would help him find Wen Qing to make sure she was safe – without asking Jiang Cheng first, which was unhelpful.

“We can’t be seen as being partial to the Wen sect,” he groaned, head in hands. “Not even the distant branches, but much less someone adopted by Sect Leader Wen himself…no offense meant, Wen Ning.”

“None taken,” Wen Ning said.

“But they helped us,” Wei Wuxian argued, clearly choosing to take the offense on Wen Ning’s part. “It would be unjust for us to turn on them now, when we have the power and they don’t, when they took risks on our behalf in the past.”

Jiang Cheng squinted at him. “Is this related to your weird thing about Lianfeng-zun?” he asked. Wei Wuxian had taken a firm stance against the man recently, and had spoken of it incessantly.

“No! Or, I mean – I would’ve done it anyway, okay? Listen, I really don’t like that guy.”

“No,” Jiang Cheng gasped dramatically. “You, Wei Wuxian, don’t like Lianfeng-zun? Wen Ning, did you hear that? Can you believe it?”

Wen Ning was hiding his face behind his sleeve – a Jiang sect outfit, one of Jiang Cheng’s own spares, since that was what they had, but the dark purple suited him rather well. Better than the red ever had.

His shoulders were shaking with laughter.

“Traitor,” Wei Wuxian told him.

“Sorry, Wei-gongzi!” Wen Ning giggled.

(Jiang Cheng did not think that Wen Ning was cute when he laughed, nor did he wish to see it happen again, to be the cause of it again. He was the leader of a sect, with an obligation to have heirs to carry on his parents’ legacy – he could think Wen Qing was pretty, even if she wasn’t exactly an advantageous match, but he was not allowed to think the same about Wen Ning.)

Wei Wuxian sighed and flopped down. “His conduct is questionable,” he grumbled. “Lan Zhan agrees with me…Anyway, why are we talking about Lianfeng-zun again? I thought we were talking about finding Wen Qing, and the rest of Wen Ning’s family?”

Jiang Cheng groaned again. “I can try to raise it at the meeting in Lanling,” he said, even though they’d all agreed that it made the most sense for the Jin sect to be the ones to resettle any prisoners of war, mostly on account of them having the money, the manpower, and the time, being the only sect that didn’t have significant work to do rebuilding after Wen sect aggression. “Provided you behave. Okay?”

-

Wei Wuxian, predictably, did not behave.

“Sect Leader Jiang?” Nie Mingjue unexpectedly said from the doorway to the room Jiang Cheng was staying in, and Jiang Cheng spun to stare at him in horror that someone was seeing him in this state. The other sect leader stepped inside, ignoring the mess of things on the floor from Jiang Cheng’s temper tantrum, and closed the door behind him. “Are you all right?”

Jiang Cheng opened his mouth to say something – something confident and self-assured, something that would help brush away Wei Wuxian’s atrocious behavior and his own as nothing to worry about, something befitting the sect leader of the Jiang sect – but the words stuck in his throat and, instead, to his absolute disgust, he burst into tears.

He expected Nie Mingjue to make a hasty exit at that point, appalled by the rampant display of emotionality, and that he’d have to apologize later for disgracing himself in such a fashion. That had been the way it had always gone with his parents, his father who hated sadness and his mother who hated weakness, and so he wasn’t expecting it at all when Nie Mingjue stepped forward and pulled him into his arms. Into a hug.

It was terrible: there was absolutely no way Jiang Cheng would be able to get ahold of himself now that he was feeling warm and protected and like someone gave one single damn about him.

Nie Mingjue didn’t let go of him, not even when he tearfully apologized for making a display – “It’s not wrong to have feelings, Jiang Wanyin, and it’s not harming me to be here while you let them out.” – or even when, in broken unfinished unpolitical sentences, Jiang Cheng started stuttering his way through…he wasn’t even sure what he was saying.

Possibly a rendition of all the bitterness and resentment he’d ever had in his life.

When it was done, after he’d wept all the tears he’d hidden inside of him, Nie Mingjue said only: “Feeling better?”

Jiang Cheng swiped at his eyes with his sleeve. “…yes,” he said, realizing that he did. “I’m sorry –”

“Do not apologize for having emotions like any other human being. Or for being a burden on me, which you are not.”

Jiang Cheng wished it didn’t feel so good when Nie Mingjue – stiff, stern, harsh Nie Mingjue, who rarely said kind words and never said anything just for the sake of saying it – said things like that. It would make it far easier to keep his dignity intact.

“Why did you come here?” he asked, instead. “It wasn’t to hear me talk about Wei Wuxian.”

At least, not the lifelong story of how Jiang Cheng had always been second to him even before he’d shown up – how his birthday was only a few days later, his skill a little bit less, his temperament inferior, his life inferior; how Jiang Cheng could ignore all of that if only Wei Wuxian were his brother the way he was his, the way he’d promised to be, and yet more and more nowadays it felt as if it were slipping out of reach.

“It was,” Nie Mingjue said. “He’s been coming around rather a lot to discuss Lianfeng-zun. It was his vehemence on the issue that reassured me that I wasn’t overreacting to the unnecessary death of my sect cultivators at Lianfeng-zun’s hands –”

The what?

Maybe Jiang Cheng should have listed a bit more when Wei Wuxian started ranting about how untrustworthy he thought Lianfeng-zun was.

“– and you have always had the strongest confidence in his sense of righteousness, even after he switched over to using demonic cultivation. Based on that, I thought there might be some reason behind his actions.”

Wei Wuxian’s actions: kidnapping an entire cohort of Wen sect cultivators from a Jin sect resettlement camp, assaulting several guards, running away, bringing shame on the Jiang sect by association…

“If I knew anything, I would tell you,” Jiang Cheng said bitterly. “But that would require Wei Wuxian telling me. Anything. At all.”

Nie Mingjue nodded thoughtfully. “Do you think he acted maliciously?”

“What? No,” Jiang Cheng said at once. “Of course not.”

“Do you think his thinking was affected by his demonic cultivation?”

“I almost wish it was, but no. He’s always been – like this. Reckless and over-confident, never thinking of consequences.”

“So you still have faith in him?”

“Of course!”

“That’s good enough for me,” Nie Mingjue said, as if Jiang Cheng hadn’t spent half a shichen crying on his shoulder about how all of his problems and how he couldn’t do anything right. “Let’s go ask him.”

“What, now?”

“Are you doing anything else?”

-

Fair was fair, but politics were politics: “If you’d gone about it the right way, perhaps the Jin sect wouldn’t have a claim,” Nie Mingjue said, pacing around the Burial Mounds with a scowl. “But as it stands now, it’s your word against theirs – and yours will be considered impaired on account of your demonic cultivation.”

“What about the testimony of the victims?” Wei Wuxian demanded.

“Wen sect,” Jiang Cheng put in, and shrugged when Wei Wuxian glared at him. “It’s true! Like it or not, their surname is Wen, and for Wen Qing and Wen Ning in particular, they were Sect Leader Wen’s wards.”

“It was not our choice,” Wen Qing said. Her voice was cold, and she’d tried to return the comb to him, earlier, though he’d refused – why he refused he didn’t know, since her decision to approach Wei Wuxian to seek help in rescuing the rest of her family rather than him had cut off any hope of anything between them. Even if she eventually understood his perspective, or even apologized for judging him unfit or unwilling to help her, he didn’t think he could live the rest of his life with a woman who had picked Wei Wuxian first.

“That isn’t what’s important, though,” Wen Ning said unexpectedly, and they all looked at him. He ducked his head, picking at his sleeve. “It isn’t. Sect Leader Jiang’s right: our surname is Wen. It’s reasonable for people to assume that we’re loyal to the Wen sect, and to treat us accordingly.”

“We never fought against anyone! We’ve never –”

“It doesn’t matter what we did, jiejie,” Wen Ning said. “Whether or not we fought for our sect, we would’ve benefited if they won, right? You rise when your clan rises, and fall when it falls. Why should we be an exception?”

“Well said,” Nie Mingjue said, and Wen Ning abruptly turned bright red – Jiang Cheng shot him a sympathetic look; he entirely understood the issue there. “Your testimony will be deemed self-interested, and even asking for it will only undercut Wei Wuxian’s position. Not to mention the Jiang sect’s.”

Jiang Cheng nodded, but Wei Wuxian crossed his arms. “Then just kick me out of the Jiang sect,” he said.

“What?” Jiang Cheng exclaimed, and even Nie Mingjue looked startled. “Absolutely not!”

“Why not? Isn’t the whole point that the Jiang sect is being dragged down by me and my new cultivation? Kick me out, and the problem’s solved.”

“I could cut off your head, and that of everyone else here,” Nie Mingjue said. “That would also solve the problem, but for some reason I’m not suggesting it. Can anyone tell me why?”

“…because it’s a bad idea?” Wen Ning volunteered.

“Because it’s a stupid idea,” Nie Mingjue agreed.

“It is a stupid idea,” Jiang Cheng growled. “Even putting aside that I don’t want to cast you out, do you really think people will stop blaming the Jiang sect for your actions just because you’re formally not aligned with us?”

“There isn’t another option,” Wei Wuxian said. “I’m not giving up the Wen sect, I’m not changing my cultivation style, I’m not giving up the Tiger Seal – and I’m not dragging the Jiang sect down with me, not if I can help it.”

-

“Are they really calling me ‘Ghost General’?” Wen Ning asked on one of his visits to the Lotus Pier to pick up supplies for the Yiling Burial Mounds.

Since Wei Wuxian had been so set on splitting from the Jiang sect, they’d eventually reached a compromise, of sorts. Wei Wuxian’s actions in rescuing the Wen sect remnants was – not endorsed, per se, as it was clearly wrongful, but Nie Mingjue announced that he had examined the Wen in question and found evidence suggestive of malnutrition and abuse, which indicated at minimum some negligence on the part of the Jin sect in not supervising the guards better. Accordingly, the Wen sect would be removed from the Jin sect’s custody and permitted to set up camp in Yiling under Wei Wuxian, but as punishment for his reckless and unsanctioned behavior, Wei Wuxian was to be expelled from the Jiang sect.

Since the expulsion was mandated by external forces, rather than being a result of his own decision, Jiang Cheng was able to give Wei Wuxian a sizeable settlement as a gift for his separation – the cultivation world gossiped about it, but most people seemed to think he was just trying to get his own back at Nie Mingjue for supposedly forcing the decision to expel Wei Wuxian down his throat – and to set up something of a trade agreement to send them more, although exactly what the Jiang sect was getting out of their side of the ‘trade’ was still up in the air.

Despite these outward signs of remaining support, several small sects had made attempts on the Burial Mounds, growing more reckless once they realized that Jiang Cheng really hadn’t left any forces behind to protect it – stupid of them, of course, since the reason he hadn’t left anyone behind was because he didn’t need to.

Wei Wuxian could handle himself perfectly well.

As could Wen Ning, apparently – he was a truly excellent archer, it turned out, and capable of waiting in all sorts of strange places with perfect patience, even if sometimes he had strange ideas about painting his face with mud to better blend in. It’d been one of those incidents that had given rise to the rumor that he was actually dead, having been resurrected by Wei Wuxian…

“Yes,” Jiang Cheng said. “Sorry about that. I tried to tell them to stop, but…”

“It made it worse?”

“It made it so much worse,” Jiang Cheng sighed. “Anyway, would you like to drink?”

“…do you mean tea?”

“No.”

“Yes please,” Wen Ning said. “I have been – so stressed. You wouldn’t…actually, you probably would believe it.”

“I grew up with Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng said grimly. “I believe anything.”

-

“It would be good to bring a representative of Yiling Wei sect to the conference, even if it can’t be Wei Wuxian himself,” Nie Mingjue remarked, looking down at the plans Jiang Cheng had laid out for the first discussion conference to be held in the Lotus Pier since the war. “You’re on good terms with Wen Qionglin, aren’t you? Ask him –”

“No!” Jiang Cheng exclaimed, then realized he was being suspicious and cleared his throat. “Maybe someone else should invite them.”

Nie Mingjue looked at him over the table. “…has something happened?” he asked.

Jiang Cheng stared down at the plans and hoped he wasn’t blushing. “Nothing important,” he said, and his voice cracked on the last sound – embarrassing.

Still not as embarrassing as that time he cried into Nie Mingjue’s arms, no, but still…embarrassing.

“Oh,” Nie Mingjue said. “You slept with him.”

“How can you tell?” Jiang Cheng hissed, mortified beyond all belief. “Is it – written on my face –”

“According to Huaisang, it’s always a safe guess,” Nie Mingjue said, and shrugged when Jiang Cheng gaped at him. “Either they admit that that’s the case, as you just did, or they get all up in arms and explain what it really was while denying it.”

“That’s –” Really useful and Jiang Cheng will have to put it into effect immediately. “– terrible.”

“Works, though. Why the embarrassment? I didn’t think the Jiang sect cared about cut sleeves.”

“We don’t,” Jiang Cheng said, sitting down and putting his head in his hands. “But I’m sect leader –”

“You had sex, it’s not like you got married.”

“I used to have a thing for his sister.”

“Awkward, I suppose, but it never went anywhere, did it? One can hardly hold your past inclinations against you –”

“We were both thinking about you,” Jiang Cheng blurted out, and then promptly wanted to die. He could have just not said that. He could have said anything else but that. He could stab himself right now and maybe Nie Mingjue would be so distracted by the bleeding and screaming that he would just forget what Jiang Cheng had just said…

“You could always just ask,” Nie Mingjue said.

Jiang Cheng looked up through his fingers. “…are you serious?”

Nie Mingjue looked at him with arched eyebrows. “Are you asking me if I’d be flattered by being propositioned by two extremely beautiful and deadly cultivators?”

“I wouldn’t rank those two as equally desirable traits in a lover,” Jiang Cheng said, and it was almost not a lie, “but…yes?”

He thought for a moment.

“If I did invite Wen Ning to the Discussion Conference…”

-

“Well,” Wen Ning said. “This wasn’t how I was expecting to end up.”

“Me, either,” Jiang Cheng said. He was staring up at the ceiling and thinking about not moving again for – possibly ever.

“Same for me,” Nie Mingjue, on his other side, agreed. “But I have no objections to how it worked out. There aren’t two other cultivators I’d rather be with.”

“There’d better not be,” Jiang Cheng said on automatic, then considered bashing his head in – luckily both Wen Ning and Nie Mingjue reached over and put their hands under his head so he couldn’t, which made him feel warm and happy in a way subtly different from the way the sex had. “I mean, who else would it be? Zewu-jun and Lianfeng-zun?”

“Wei-gongzi still thinks Lianfeng-zun is trying to kill you, you know,” Wen Ning said to Nie Mingjue, who looked long-suffering. “He’s got this idea –”

“He can’t be trying to kill me,” Nie Mingjue argued. “He’s just offered to help Xichen play calming music for me –”

“Wei-gongzi said that maybe he’s trying to kill you through the music –”

“I’m going to sleep,” Jiang Cheng announced. “When I wake up, we can discuss the political implications of letting there be rumors about us sleeping together, which will make it both convenient for us to do this again and also maybe using the potential threat of a Yiling Wei-Yunmeng Jiang-Qinghe Nie alliance to force the Jin sect to take action so we can figure out once and for all if Lianfeng-zun is actually planning to do something. But for the moment, I am going to sleep.”

“…seems fair,” Nie Mingjue agreed. “Communication and straightforwardness is important in relationships like these.”

“Uh,” Wen Ning said, glancing at Jiang Cheng. “About that…if, theoretically, I were to know something about someone…”

[gffa]

I’ve just seen the TCW Season 7 and I’m already pissed at that girl who accused the Jedi of starting the Clone Wars. Who does she think she is?

I KNOW THAT FEELING, but it’s entirely fitting with the state of the galaxy at this point, that they blame the Jedi as part of the problem, rather than understanding who they actually are and how little say they actually had.This is why Star Wars: Propaganda is one of my favorite books, that it’s such a great in-universe look at the bigger picture of everything that happened and it shows so much of how the Jedi’s PR problem shaped so much of what happened.In the lead-up to the Clone Wars:          “The Core Worlders became more enamored with the fleeting distractions of fame and fashion, transitory fascinations with sophistication that left little room for messages of faith or tradition that the Jedi exemplified. The lack of representation in the galactic mindshare undoubtedly fixed their future, as dark forces were on the rise that would poison the public sentiment toward the Jedi in the decades to come.”  (Star Wars: Propaganda | by Pablo Hidalgo)The beginning of the Clone Wars:         “Dooku had a commanding voice that demanded attention. He also had the authority inherited from his previous role, a former Jedi Master of the Order. Once again, the Jedi Order’s eschewing of the galactic spotlight allowed another to reshape the image of the Jedi, and for nearly a decade, the most famous Jedi in the galaxy was one who advocated for the dissolution of the Republic.”  (Star Wars: Propaganda | by Pablo Hidalgo)        “It was Chancellor Palpatine himself who recommended that images such as this poster not be used to bolster wartime support for the Republic, citing sympathy toward the Jedi discomfort. Very few examples exist of government-approved imagery that showcased the Jedi Knights in their capacity as military leaders.”  (Star Wars: Propaganda | by Pablo Hidalgo)       “The ancient eight-spoked sigil of the Republic found new application on freshly minted Republic war machinery as well as on snapping flags and military banners. These were the soldiers risking all for the sanctity of the Republic and the cherished freedoms of democracy—so went the stirring messages, ballads, and holographic short subjects. Absent from these portrayals was any lingering focus on the Jedi Order.”  (Star Wars: Propaganda | by Pablo Hidalgo)        “At the start of the Clone Wars, the Jedi were largely kept out of Republic propaganda, with the clone troopers becoming the face of patriotism during the conflict. This was the preference of the Order, which eschewed imagery of heroism or the romanticization of warfare.”(Star Wars: Propaganda | by Pablo Hidalgo)When saying why the Jedi weren’t enough and the Republic should vote for creating a galaxy-wide miliary, the Republic’s propaganda laid the seeds of “don’t trust the Jedi”:         “Rather than detail the inevitable horrors of impending war, its singular lightsaber and well-chosen words instead demonstrate how undefended the Republic was. In crafting this message of vulnerability, the Commission for a Safe and Secure Republic (a nonprofit think tank based on Level 5121, Coruscant) also unwittingly seeded a secondary story that would grow during the Clone Wars—that no salvation lay in the direction of the Jedi Knights.”(Star Wars: Propaganda | by Pablo Hidalgo)Showing just how little choice the Jedi actually had:        “In the blink of an eye, it seemed, the galaxy was embroiled in a full-scale galactic war. The Separatist Alliance congealed into the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a coalition of loosely aligned worlds united for war. It pooled its resources to purchase huge quantities of battle droids, creating a ready-to-deploy army. The Republic mobilized its newly activated clone forces and hurriedly brevetted the Knights of the Jedi Order into military commanders.”(Star Wars: Propaganda | by Pablo Hidalgo)         “A lot of people say, ‘What good is a lightsaber against a tank?’ The Jedi weren’t meant to fight wars. That’s the big issue in the prequels. They got drafted into service, which is exactly what Palpatine wanted.”  (George Lucas)         “Absent from this hero-making were the Jedi Knights. Citizens who witnessed the Jedi in action were understandably in awe of their abilities, but it was the clone trooper who was the public face of the war effort. The mystic Jedi remained forever inscrutable to the Republic citizenry at large. To the Separatists, they were branded as hypocrites (thanks to firsthand criticism by Count Dooku). That they could so callously brandish a clone army—“slaves bred for war,” as Separatist propaganda proclaimed—did not speak well to their character, though few among the Separatists knew that the Jedi were given no choice in the matter.”(Star Wars: Propaganda | by Pablo Hidalgo)When pointing out uhhh the Jedi aren’t actually like that, it was once again that other people shaped their image for them:         “After three long years of conflict, which included military strikes that reached the heart of the Core Worlds, public opinion soured on the war. More and more citizens saw the conflict as fruitless and demanded a negotiated settlement. It was during the height of this discontent that Chancellor Palpatine shocked the galaxy by exposing the Jedi Order as traitors. Despite some muted protests in the Senate, Palpatine easily spread this claim by reminding the galaxy that Dooku, the Republic’s greatest threat in a thousand years, was a former Jedi.“ (Star Wars: Propaganda | by Pablo Hidalgo)And the part that sums everything up the best of all:        “Anti-Jedi sentiment was more a product of their cultural absence rather than a refutation of anything substantive. Separatist worlds that had experienced lawlessness attributed that to Jedi neglect, a failure of policing. Indeed, the war itself was a failure of the peacekeepers. To these disaffected worlds, the Jedi were just one more symptom of an inattentive Core World. They imagined the Jedi to be cultural elites, or in the case of this piece, a zealous sect of warmongers.        “Had the Jedi made more of an effort to engage in the populace, such deadly misunderstandings could have been avoided.”(Star Wars: Propaganda | by Pablo Hidalgo)This book is the best example of showing how things got to where they were and it’s a really good example of showing why the Jedi chose the paths they did–for one thing, they were drafted into the war, both in-world and out-of-world sources have said so.  We’ve seen them try to object to things like, THEY DID NOT WANT TO SEND ANAKIN TO TATOOINE, PALPATINE MADE THEM, they did not want to let Anakin hang around Palpatine, but had no evidence to object with and so Palpatine shut them down, they did not want to put Anakin on a Council he wasn’t ready for, but Palpatine made them, Mace wanted leniency for Boba Fett, but the Judiciary Branch ignored his plea, when Dooku was a Jedi, he talked to the Senate to ask for help for Outer Rim planets, they told him him that he was stepping out of line to address them this way, to stop trying to influence them (an implication of “don’t you dare use your weird and scary mind powers on us, you weirdo Jedi!”, I think) AND how they eschewed getting deeper into the propaganda because it romanticized war, as well as they believed their traditions and faith would speak for itself, BUT that allowed over and over and over again to have OTHERS shape the Jedi’s image.By the time they would have realize it was a problem, so many of them were already dead and they had thirty tire fires to put out and they were exhausted and still had more to do and nobody really wanted to listen.The above shows an incredibly consistent pattern of the Jedi were drafted into this war, they weren’t given a choice about the clones, their image was spun by people who had an incredibly vested interest in painting them as the bad guys for their own manipulations, and they eschewed public imagery because they didn’t want to become known as warriors, they didn’t want to romanticize this war.So when the people of the GFFA are like, “Yeah, the Jedi are just part of the Core World Elites!  They never come down here with us lowly folks!” that’s playing into the propaganda that was spun about them (look how it also conveniently ignores how many “lowly” worlds they’re visiting and working with), it’s playing into what Palpatine was selling, what the Separatists were selling, and ignoring what the Jedi were actually doing and saying, what they actually had feasible options for.When people accuse the Jedi of starting the wars, it’s supposed to be contrasted against the audience knowing the truth–that Palpatine started that war, but that we know he was a master of propaganda and manipulative lies.  That girl accusing them of starting the war isn’t meant as truth, the idea that the Jedi were Core World Elites isn’t meant as truth, it’s meant as part of the political landscape that they weren’t prepared to navigate (because they’re not meant to be politicians!), but that people painted them that way because Palpatine wanted to make sure they were to blame for everything wrong in the galaxy so that when he murdered their children and burned their home, people would just stand by and watch.That girl saying it was the fault of the Jedi is a huge part of the story, how the galaxy believed the lies about them.  She’s wrong, but she was fed a steady diet of GFFA FOX News and we know exactly what’s going to happen because of it.

[neoblogcrying]

“Let’s Play a Game” pt.7

Here is the next part! This will be up on AO3 as well very soon! Not sure why the horizontal line isn’t working for me today but welp--- here we are

Another close call on this one. Had trouble deciding between two of the options, but you figured it out in the end, and settled on one answer. Good job.

Ultimately you decided to do the gutsy thing and tell the truth! Was this the correct answer? Was it the wrong answer?

Let’s push play and find out.

RESUME GAMEPLAY!

BEEP!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shen Yuan knew he couldn’t lie to his brother.

No, he could lie, but he wouldn’t. Lying to him was the worst thing anyone could do if they wanted Shen Jiu to trust them. Shen Jiu wasn’t very trusting of most people (if not all people), so lying even as much as one time could cause him to distrust you for as long as you draw breath into your lungs.

If he lied now, his brother would never trust him again.

While he had faith in his ability to act, and twist his words in a masterful way that he can say what he wants but make it sound like what the other party wanted to hear… he knew full well that Shen Jiu asked him the question KNOWING the answer.

It would be absolute insanity to lie now.

Avoiding the question would serve the only purpose of making him suspicious.

“I don’t see why you are asking me that while knowing the answer. Yes, the medicine is for Yingying, but not because she was hurt. Luo Binghe sustained injuries from being bullied by his fellow disciple brothers, and she wanted the medicine to help him.”

Shen Jiu loathed the little bastard. He had so much of his brother’s attention all while being a worthless piece of shit (All thanks for Shen Jiu, of course, but that’s neither here nor there)!

He truly had some luck, given the fact he hadn’t died yet. He was given a fake manual, but the fact he hadn’t died from an ‘accident’ yet was truly telling. When was the bastard going to die so his younger brother would finally stop going on about him?

What was it that he saw in him? How utterly annoying!

Jealousy? Perish the thought. Shen Jiu HATED the kid, and having his brother be so… so OBSESSED with him was nothing but a migraine. If not for the fact that he was concerned that his brother would get upset and leave him, he would have tried to kill the brat a long time ago.

Occasionally the Peak Lords must go to recruit new disciples to join their peak. Luo Binghe was the one and only disciple that Shen Yuan was able to choose before his sickness got the better of him.

You could say that Shen Jiu was effectively trapped by his foolish brother’s decisions. This idiot sure knew how to choose a loser.

No matter what Shen Jiu had to say about Luo Binghe, Shen Yuan had absolute faith in the young protagonist. He’d always say, “Just you wait, he’ll soar above the skies! I know he’ll reach new unprecedented heights! Be kind to him and I’m sure he’ll return fortunes to you in good faith. He’s a sheepdog who will follow you until the very end.”

Loyalty was probably the only quality of Luo Binghe that Shen Jiu would appreciate if nothing else. Heaven knows that he wouldn’t like the fact that the protagonist would grow so strong in the future. It would only remind him of his own wasted potential.

Shen Yuan wished that he would’ve been able to find his brother much sooner, but it wasn’t that easy. Prior to this, he was a simple reader of the novel, and the novel never went in depth about Shen Jiu’s background. By the time Shen Yuan found him, it was too late to begin preventing some of the harm Shen Jiu sustained over the years of abuse.

Really, it took him a long time because he had no idea what to expect. How was he to know at first that he was thrown into the novel? As far as everyone knew, Shen Jiu didn’t have a twin brother! The damned system didn’t tell him anything until years later when his nagging finally paid off!

It only took him one month to pack up and leave the house in search of Shen Jiu.

While he knows that he wasn’t raised with great care in the Qiu household, that’s all he knew about Shen Jiu’s past. Anything prior to that was a mystery and he never had the chance to delve into his elder twin’s past. He feared that he would ask the wrong thing at the wrong time and then be cast aside.

Only Shen Yuan knew of his struggle in the past to get Shen Jiu to trust him and feel comfortable with him.

The silence in the room was stifling. Shen Yuan waited for his brother to finish brushing through his hair before they could switch places. Even if he was mad, he was still gently brushing through his hair with the comb. Who said that Shen Jiu didn’t have a kind bone in his body? Shen Yuan will fight you!

“If you had to choose between saving your brother or that brat, who would you choose?” At first, Shen Yuan was stunned to hear such a question coming from his brother, but he answered without hesitation.

“I would save Binghe.” Dumb answer? Probably, but answering with a blatant lie would only piss his elder brother even more. You always want to choose the lesser of the evils. Besides… “If brother is unable to save himself, would I be able to save him? I’ve faith that my brother would be able to save himself with his strength and wit. Binghe on the other hand would require assistance.”

A small snort sounded behind him. It was the happy sort, he’ll have you know.

When in doubt, praise him. It will inevitably gain you some points that you’ve lost.

Shen Jiu was as proud as they came and needing to be saved by his younger brother of all people would be nothing short of an embarrassment of a lifetime.

“Your turn.” Shen Jiu handed his brother the comb and they swapped places. Just as how his brother let his hair down and brushing it gently, Shen Yuan returned the favor.

Of course, he also chose to ask a question himself. “If brother had to choose between saving Zhangmen-shixiong or me, who would you choose?”

It’s only fair that he asks a hard question in return, is it not?

Awkward silence filled the air as neither said a word. Shen Yuan slowly brushed through his brother’s silky smooth hair, wondering if or when Shen Jiu would answer.

He’d always known there was something going on between the two, but he never knew what it was. While Shen Jiu didn’t seem to care for Yue Qingyuan, it wasn’t necessarily mean it was true. It was plain as day to Shen Yuan that his brother cared a lot for the man, Yue Qingyuan.  

His brother would always give way to Yue Qingyuan and he would often act in the benefit for the Sect Leader. During that time, the two men obviously recognized each other.

Whatever history they had together, they must have known each other prior to Shen Yuan finding his brother in the Qiu mansion, beaten.

“I understand, brother. I’m not hurt by it.”

His refusal to answer was enough. Whatever relationship they had with each other it far outweighed the relationship the twin brothers had with each other. One could even consider it payback for saying that Shen Yuan would save Binghe over his own brother.

What kind of relationship did they have? It was clear as day that the two were intensely loyal to the other, but their relationship was so… strained. Mostly, it was strained on Shen Jiu’s part rather than anything. Yue Qingyuan cared for Shen Jiu deeply (if his bias was anything to go by), but he often held back because he knew he would upset Shen Jiu if he acted too familiar.

Not to toot his own horn, but Shen Yuan had 100% confidence that he’d be able to fool anyone into believing he was the true and (dis)honest goods. Yue Qingyuan was the only one who could tell the two apart.

Albeit he’d need at least 3 seconds to tell them apart, he had the ability.

“Get your useless trash to save you.”

Shen Yuan chuckled to himself. Was his brother sulking? Do he want to save his little brother from impending doom? Although he wanted to argue that Binghe wasn’t trash, this wasn’t the time nor place to start any arguments.

Instead, he would bury those insults deep in his heart for now. “Zhangmen Shixiong told me earlier how you will be descending from the mountains soon?” It was time for a change in topic.

This scene never made it into the books, so this mysterious venture was eating away at his curiosity since the moment he heard about it.

“I will be going down with the disciples to test their mettle.” There came the simple answer.

No matter how long he waited, there wasn’t any supplementary information fed to him. This is how Shen Yuan secretly gauged how angry his brother was. The elder twin was full of information and he quite enjoyed showing off his vast knowledge.

His refusal to divulge information was proportionate to his anger levels.

Shen Yuan wanted to know more. How were they going to test the mettle of the disciples? How many disciples were going? It couldn’t be all of them. Perhaps it would be the youngest bunch? That would include Luo Binghe, wouldn’t it?

How would they travel down the mountain? With horses and a carriage? How long would they be gone for?

Is the distance they are travelling far, or is it close? How dangerous is this journey of theirs?

“It’s time for bed. Hurry and go to bed.” There was no room for any rejection. The younger twin was left pouting at his lost chance to pry for any extra information. How stingy.

The two readied their beds for sleep, sleeping on opposite ends of the room. They were still close enough that they could whisper and hear the other just fine.

Obedient as always, Shen Yuan prepared his bed and shuffled under his covers without a word, deep in thought.

Before, Shen Jiu was told to go because Shen Yuan was still sick. Now that he’s gotten better, he should be able to take his brothers place, couldn’t he? Since this descent from the mountain wasn’t written in the novel… it should be safe for him to take his brother’s place, wouldn’t it?

He might still be bad… but… it’s worth a shot!

“Brother.”

“What?”

Shen Yuan rolled over to gaze upon Shen Jiu’s back from across the room. Hm… yeah, he was still upset. Maybe now isn’t a good time to ask. Shen Yuan was acting as if he were a teenager biding his time before asking his father before he could go to a concert.

“I’m waiting.” Shen Jiu continued to show Shen Yuan his back.

The younger of the twin brothers bit his bottom lip in anxiousness. His elder twin was considerably upset, but it was a now or never situation! He mustered the courage to finally bring up what was eating at his mind. “Brother… about your trip down the mountain…”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DING DING!

Congratulations! You’ve successfully managed to unlock a mini-flashback event! Will you choose to watch it now, or will you wait until later to watch it? If you chose to watch it later, then you can choose to watch it the next time you trigger a flashback event.

Mind you that this is only when you trigger a flashback event, which is to say… you might never have another chance if you don’t play your cards right after this point!

You should choose wisely.

Ah ah~ Don’t worry, never fear! We won’t just leave you on a cliffhanger should you choose to watch the mini-flashback event. If you chose to watch it, we will continue with the story afterwards, so you best have coffee in hand, because we’ll jump right into it!

If you chose not to watch the mini-flashback event, we’ll simply jump right into the story and continue as we usually would.

Moderator #6 finished the poll, so it’s time!

                               What will Shen Yuan say to Shen Jiu?

Come back safely with everyone

Remember not to bully Luo Binghe

"Can't I go in your place instead?"

"Don't forget to bring me back some souvenirs."

                      [Previous Segment] [Table of Contents] [Next Segment]

[traveljaunts]

Rajasthan is the land of kings & queens- their kingdoms, palaces & forts and stories. When I visited Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, what intrigued me was that these places were not just about the grandeur, the colorful lifestyle and the desert but also about stories that took birth here. Stories of various kinds – war, love, sacrifices, stories between the rulers and the ruled, and many other tales of antiquity. There is not much fun in just looking at these places without knowing what had happened within the walls of these cities.

We heard stories and many stories during our visit to Jodhpur, a Bishnoi village, Jaisalmer, and Kuldhara. My son didn’t need any story book during the trip, we heard the tales directly from the locals. Hence, I thought of telling the little-known stories of Jodhpur Jaisalmer and nearby places this time rather than spell out which places to see and what things to do.

Mehrangarh Fort’s story

Mehrangarh Fort from inside

Movies inspire reality or reality inspires movies? This story for sure is no less than a movie. When Rao Jodha, the founder of Jodhpur wanted to establish himself after years of traveling in the desert, he needed to build a fort in a safe place as the old Mandore fort was no longer considered secure. The ideal location chosen for the Fort was on a hill in Jodhpur, then occupied by a hermit. Now, this meant displacing the hermit. The displacement made the hermit so angry that he cursed the Fort as well as the royal family- two curses at once!

Curse no 1 – He said that the region will always suffer the scarcity of water.

Curse no 2. -The King will never live to see his grandson.

Super angry man of India must have been an avatar of Sage Durvasa. We also don’t know how he was displaced? Anyway, to find a solution to the first curse, Rao Jodha built a house and a temple within the fort for the hermit to appease him (very near to hermit’s place of meditation). But this wasn’t all, the second step he took was an extreme. To make the site prove propitious, Rao Jodha decided on a human sacrifice. Now who would come forward? Not anyone from the royal family of course but a common man named Raja Ram Meghwal (Rajia) came forward to volunteer on a condition that his family be given acres of lands and treated as part of Royals after his death.

The agreement done and the tragic tale of extreme sacrifice ended in Rajia being buried alive in the foundation. When you visit the treasury room of this fort you would be surprised to know that it stands on top of his dead body. And Raja Bagh is the land near the fort where Raja Ram Meghwal’s descendants stay till date.

The second curse – a five generation old jinx became history recently after the present King, Maharaj Gaj Singh finally witnessed the birth of his grandson when his son Prince Shivraj and princess Gayatri Kumari of Jodhpur delivered their boy. For past 5 generations from Maharaja Rao Jaswant Singh to Maharaja Hanwant Singh, no one ever lived to witness the birth of their grandson. In fact, this also is close to a miracle as Prince Shivraj had a near fatal accident while playing Polo a few years back and was in the coma for months. It took ~ 2.5 yrs for him to walk again.

View from the top of Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur

Man looking out at Mehrangarh Fort

Sheesh Mahal in Mehrangarh Fort , Jodhpur

The stories don’t end here. Of the many gates leading in and out of the Fort, you will see a wall with handprints of fifteen royal women who had burnt themselves alive on the funeral pyres of their dead husbands. Its a place of worship now. So much so in the name of rituals!

Umaid Bhavan Palace where the Royal family stays at present and part of it is a hotel

Milky-white marble memorial to Maharaja Jaswant Singh II known as Jaswant Thada

Bishnoi Village’s  Story

Have you heard of Chipko movement or even Salman Khan’s black buck killing case ? If not, then let me introduce to you a Bishnoi village (also called Khejarli village, 26 kms from Jodhpur) where all these incidents took place.

Bishnoi is a religious offshoot of Hinduism which was founded after wars between Hindu and Muslims in Thar desert. This religion is based on 29 principals which detests killing animals and felling trees. Hence Bishnois are strong lovers of wildlife and trees, to the extent that they can kill themselves for the cause. When we went for a village safari, we saw deers and antelopes (such as blue bulls, black bucks, chinkaras and chowsinghas) grazing peacefully in the fields and backyards of their villages.

Specifically black buck (supposedly the incarnation of the founder of the sect, Guru Jambheshwar) and the Khejri tree (Prosopis Cineraria) remain extremely sacred for all Bishnois.

Unfortunately, in this story of peace and love, entered Maharaja Abhay Singh in 1730 AD, ruler of Jodhpur. For the construction of his new palace, he wanted to burn lime and needed wood. Khejarli was the only place with abundant greenery and lot of Khejri trees. He ordered wood by felling the trees and sent his royal party to Khejarli.

To stop the royal party, a Bishnoi lady named Amrita Devi protested against the act but to no avail. She said it was an act of insult to her religious faith and she would rather give away her life to save the green trees. The axes, which were brought to cut the trees, severed her head. Undaunted by the incident, her three daughters also came forward and met the same fate. The news spread like wildfire and others came forward too. When it stopped, 363 people, young and old, men and women, sacrificed themselves while hugging the trees to stop the men sent by Maharaja.

By the time Maharaja got to know, it was too late. He apologized and also issued a royal decree prohibiting cutting trees or killing of animals in Bishnoi village and in nearby areas forever. This incident was a forebearer of the 20th-century Chipko movement.

Now, this remote village is a cultural hub and is frequented by many celebrities thanks to the promotional efforts by the Maharajas to showcase the rich Marwari & tribal. Here are a few glimpses of our experience with the locals.

Me and my son on the Jeep Safari to Bishnoi Village

Meeting Bishnoi family. Offering Opium to the guests is part of their tradition and I did taste

Eating fresh directly from the farms at Bishnoi

Pottery making in Bishnoi village with the awarded artist

Learning to weave with the artist

The Story of Golden Fort of Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer is one of my favorite places in India. Authentic and unique! Jaipur is pink, Jodhpur is blue and Jaisalmer is Golden.

Bada Bagh near Jaisalmer- The royal Cenotaphs

  Colorful Rajasthani puppets

The famous Kalbelia dance of Rajasthan during desert camping

Thar desert Safari – Me and my son

The Jaisalmer fort that stands amidst the unending golden sand of Thar desert is known as Sonar Qila or Golden fort. It is one of the largest and the only inhabited fort in the world which is a UNESCO heritage site now. It is the second oldest fort in Rajasthan; honeycombed with narrow winding lanes, houses and temples in between along with a number of handicraft shops, guest houses and restaurants, the complex is so expansive that almost 1/4th of the town’s population is located in this fort itself.

It was built in 1156 AD by the ruler Rawal Jaisal. Made of yellow sandstone, it changes its color from lion yellow during the day to honey-gold at sunset. For years, this fortress city served as a refuge and way-station for caravans and travelers along the route. With British, it lost its importance as a trading town as other trade routes opened.

Standing near the Golden Fort of Jaisalmer

This fort’s history is equally spellbinding with many battles and folk legends bursting out from within the walls. There was a king, a sage and a prophecy to start with.

When Rawal Jaisal, the founder was checking out Trikuta, the present location for a more secure place for his new capital, he met a sage called Eesul who was staying there. Eesul told the Yaduvanshi Rawal Jaisal about Krishna’s prophecy according to which a descendant of Yaduvanshi clan would one day establish a kingdom on Trikuta. However, he also predicted that the kingdom would be attacked two and a half times (two Jauhars and a Sako) if established there.

Despite this, Rawal Jaisal moved his capital on this rock in the golden desert.The first Jauhar took place in 1294 during the reign of Alaudin Khilji. For 8 years the Bhatis (the locals) defended the fort but for the lack of ammunition and food their defeat seemed certain.The only option left was to perform the rite of Jauhar. 24,000 women (young & old) committed suicide so as to save themselves from the hands of the enemies. Men later opened the doors of the fort to advance to their death.

The second time, it happened in late 14th century when Firoz Shah Tughlaq besieged it. This led to the suicide of 16,000 women and the death of the ruler, his son as well as 1700 warriors.

The last was in 16th century, a deception by an Afghan leader Amir Ali who took permission to let his wives’ visit queens of Jaisalmer but sent full armed warriors in disguise instead. Taken by the surprise, when Rawal realized that the defeat was certain, he slaughtered his womenfolk with his own hands as there was insufficient time to arrange a funeral pyre. Tragically immediately after the deed was done, the reinforcements arrived. Amir Ali was defeated and the Fort was taken under control.

By the way, the ancient capital of the Bhati dynasty before it shifted to Jaisalmer , was in Lodrawa, a village 15 kms from Jaisalmer. You can see stunning Jain temples there.

Lodhurva Jain temple near Jaisalmer

Story of Havelis of Jaisalmer

There are 3 important Havelis (big houses) in Jaisalmer each with its own unique history.

Patwon Ki Haveli

This fellow – Guman Chand Patwa- was the richest merchant of Jaisalmer, so rich that he could afford to even lend money to Kings. This Haveli was built for him and his five sons.

Patwon Ki Haveli by Travel Jaunts

Nathmal Ki Haveli

This was the Haveli of Diwan Mohata Nathmal, then Prime Minister of Jaisalmer. Two Muslim architect brothers Haathi and Lulu worked on this Haveli, constructing one-half each of the building from the same plan in 1885. The two halves turned out to be absolutely different to each other and at the end had to be  joined together by a facade.

Salim Singh Ki Haveli

Salim Singh’s father was brutally murdered in the palace while working as the prime minister of Jaisalmer when Salim was just 12 years old. Under such circumstances, Salim grew up with hatred and revenge. When he himself became the prime minister in 1800s, he became ruthless. His actions not only brought misery to the kingdom but also made many royal traders of Jaisalmer to move towards adjoining Pakistan. As a result, Salim Singh was stabbed by one of the nobles. That attack didn’t kill him though however his own wife poisoned him to death to bring an end to his story. This man infact had seven wives and two concubines.  Which one killed him, am not sure!

Story of Kuldhara

Kuldhara is a haunted, eerie, abondoned village  26 kms from Jaisalmer. It once was a prosperous village inhabited by Paliwal Brahmins. As per the legend,the local ruler (Samant) was harassing these Paliwals by levying huge taxes. To add to the ordeal, the ruler fell for a girl of the community, possibly the daughter of the village chief. He left no choice with the villagers but to accept what he wanted. Out of desperation, the entire community vanished over-night. No one knows where they went and what happened to them. Today this place is uninhabited due to many rumors that float around including the mysterious deaths and presence of Ghosts in the area.

Kuldhara near Jaisalmer by Travel Jaunts

For more read here

These are just a few stories that I have heard. If you have heard more, write back. Would love to hear and publish them here.

Jodhpur Jaisalmer – What no one tells you about? Rajasthan is the land of kings & queens- their kingdoms, palaces & forts and stories. When I visited Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, what intrigued me was that these places were not just about the grandeur, the colorful lifestyle and the desert but also about stories that took birth here.