something something wei ying only accepting his feelings for Lan Wangji when he feels they are returned, despite knowing deep down (very deep down) that he's had a crush on him that blossomed into something more since he was 15.
something something wei ying only talking about it being actually hard to he coreless to anyone years and years after only when a secret he died with was exposed and he couldn't hide anymore; and his response being to just put it all behind.
something something wei ying blatantly questioning why he was treated unfairly in Lotus pier when he was younger yet glossening over those memories in a cycle of "it wasn't that bad," and "it was sorta bad."
wei ying not responding to any of Jiang Cheng's remarks or anyone else's but going to look at his face in a river after slapping himself and only standing up when it's Lan Zhan getting slandered
wei ying being his usual sunshine self at burial mounds and later revealing that of course, he knew at that time, that it was all a matter of time
in cql and in the donghua we get the "I threw him into the burial mounds" but in MDZS? we don't.
something about how anytime there's a scene we feel would speak to wei wuxian, the narration switches to someone else, whether it be Jin Ling finding it weird that he didn't say a word in Iron Hook Extra while figuring out that the hero just wanted to scream; or instead of his thoughts about the servant matter, being shown Lan Sizhui's "Wei wuxian looked confident so it shouldn't affect him"
something about Wei Ying stating he doesn't care for people's opinions and he doesn't really but still listening to what they're saying and thinking if they're right or wrong and hiding his face from Lan Wangji
something about Wei Wuxian looking into Lan Wangji's eyes during the Koi Tower scene and thinking he looks disgusting
Hey just read your lovely hands fanfic and the concept of the blood pool being a prison for malevolent entities barred from the cycle of reincarnation is so COOL , is it a thing implied between the lines and we western audiences lack the cultural context to recognise it ?, or is it something you came up with if so can I have permission to incorporate the concept into my own fan works?
It is a cultural thing. It's not even implied in the novel. It's just outright stated. But it's one of those hundreds of tiny cultural details that probably fly over the head of the international audience.
Remember when the Wen people came back as bloody corpses to protect Wei Ying and fought back the fierce corpses riled up by the repaired Yin Hufu?
In this part, the novel describes the events following the first Sige of the Burial Mound. After the hundred cultivator houses slaughtered these defenseless elderlies, women, and children, they threw their corpses into the blood pool, thus forever barring them from reincarnation.
The phrase the novel uses is 永不超生 (lit. to never again be reborn, to be barred from the cycle of reincarnation forever). That's not a figure of speech. The novel is being literal. The Burial Mound itself is already a prison for all kinds of undead and ghost wraiths. The blood pool, by the novel descriptions, amounts to a maximum security cell. A ghost in the Burial Mound can eventually let go of their grudge/resentment and enters the afterlife/reincarnation. But anybody thrown into the blood pool doesn't have this option.
永不超生 is commonly portrayed in Chinese culture as a punishment by the authority of the underworld. That's not a judgment that a mortal is allowed to make.
The fact that the Hundred Houses carried out 永不超生 on the Wen is a detail that speaks of both their arrogance and their awareness of their guilt.
The Hundred Houses are well aware what they did to the Wen remnants is a sin. The custom of the time is, if you profess yourself to be the righteous side and slay someone seen as 'evil/villain,' it's customary to hang their corpses up for all to see.
Remember Nie Mingjue beheading Wen Xu and hanging Wen Xu's head at the gate of Uncleam Realm for all to see? NMJ is not doing that just because he has a vendetta against the Wen. He's doing that as part of ancient customs to declare to all that 'his kill is righteous,' that he doesn't need to hide it, and that Wen Xu and the Wens are villains that need to be put down.
That's the principle. Justice has no need to hide.
But not only did the Hundred Houses hide the corpses of the Wen remnants, but they also imprisoned their souls, hoping that would keep the Wen from coming back as grudge wraiths or for the karmic cycle itself to snap back for this sin.
The Hundred Houses built up the Wen remnants to be this evil army at Wei Ying's beck and call. So they need to be put down. But the truth is that they were just a bunch of elderlies, women, and children who spent all their lives being doctors (as they belong to the Qihuang branch, with their own pacifistic philosophy).
Had the Hundred Houses performed the custom and showed their supposedly righteous kill to the world, then the truth would out. That they were either liars or stupid, and that they best be prepared to repay for their transgression on both innocent Wens and on the authority of hell itself.
And that, my friend, is why the second Burial Mound Siege ended the way it did, and why the vast majority of those same cultivators left Wei Ying alone afterward. What do you think those same cultivators think when their victims break out of the supposedly unbreakable maximum security cell to save Wei Ying (another of their victims)? And then those same Wen souls entered the afterlife?
The Western vernacular for this part is: Karma is a tenacious bitch with a long memory. It doesn't matter how much they lie about their crime and act like they are righteous or how good they think they hide the proof of their deeds. Heaven and hell itself are watching.
....Sorry, I have some strong feelings about the treatment of the Wen remnants.
That is to say, feel free to incorporate it in your works.
look, i’m not saying that lan wangji intentionally tied wei wuxian’s soul to the love song he wrote for him as a teenager.
i’m just saying that the first time wwx heard it was while he was slipping away in a dark cave with nothing but lwj’s voice to hold onto.
i’m just saying that the lans already have songs written to bind the dead.
i’m just saying that after he died he was not compelled to answer inquiry because he was already beholden to another song.
i’m just saying that it was the first song that he played in his second life — the song he associated with pacifying the dead and leading them away from the edge of madness.
i’m just saying wwx is remarkably well adjusted for someone who died as brutally as he did and was literally summoned up as a spirit of vengeance.
so i'm not saying that lwj intentionally bound wwx's soul, but maybe, just maybe, a soul in need of a tether found a song that would hold him, and then never let it go.
"he gets only partway before something soft and warm presses against his mouth.
lips. lan zhan’s lips. lan zhan is kissing him."
- "mask" by @humanformdragon
warprize!ji art i made as part of our collab for for bottomjibigbang!
Now that you've read it, I can finally talk about your 50th ep reaction.
“What? Spit it out Wangji you’re making me nervous.” What could be said? Can’t say ‘I love you.’ Can’t say ‘We should be kissing now’ can’t say ‘I’m being censored.’ And anything else would be a lie.
“You guys were metaphorically rolling around in a haystack 30 seconds ago!” You knew what wasn’t there.
Your confusion, your distress, your attempts at rationalizations were all you knowing that the story wasn’t being told right. They couldn’t say they were censoring, but they made us *feel* it. (kudos to the creative team)
I think they made sure it felt wrong. It felt confusing on purpose because it didn’t make sense in the story for them to part. People who read the novel knew. But also many others who hadn’t read it also ‘knew’.
Because they couldn’t tell the story that made the most sense. They couldn’t follow it to its obvious and natural conclusion. I loath the censorship, but I adore that it shows how the story and their arcs don’t make sense without their romantic/sexual resolution.
They couldn’t say they were censoring, but they made us *feel* it.
You are 1000% deadass right. Couldn't be more accurate if you tried. Absolutely. Without question. Entirely. Wholly. Completely. Right.
Seeing hot takes about Wei Wuxian's personality and confidence levels floating around again so thought I'd chime in with my own.
Wei Wuxian does not lack confidence. In fact he is often overly confident, as noted by himself post resurrection.
I think his biggest issues are
1. He views kindness towards himself as transactional. He must pay back any kindness as best he can. However, his own kindness is free of charge. Remember what others do for you, not what you do for others.
2. If someone has to get hurt, he'd rather it be him. This, i believe is the core (cough) of the hero complex Jiang Cheng scolds him for. Its okay if he gets hurt because its him. And he knows he can handle it. And if he can handle it, he has to.
3. He has a fundamental, deep set mistrust of authority figures. His own experiences teach him thst its better to ask forgiveness than permission because youll get punished either way. If you want something done itnis your responsibility. His support from those in power growing up was inconsistent which makes it hard to ask for help.
On paper, these line up with a lot of what the reader may experience as anxiety or lack of confidence/self-worth in their own life. Overcompensation, inability to ask for help, self-sacrifice and the like. The issue is that the motive isnt the same, even if the symptoms are similar. The reason people, including myself at times, depict wwx as being anxious or lacking self-worth i think is mostly projection turned fanon. Its cathartic and easier to relate to.
Wwx does not see himself as worth less of than others in his life. In fact thats part of what raises some other characters hackles. How dare this son of a servant act like he's one of us?!
I think a lot of his issue is really about debt (that he will repay if it kills him(spoiler: it does)), overconfidence in his own ability (though i think he is forcing that out of desperation at the end of his first life because he can't afford to be wrong (spoiler: he was wrong)), a lack in confidence in the skill or motives of others (not completely unjustified ngl), and a desire to keep those he love from harm as much as he can (success may vary).
ok ur couple loves each other but do they even like each other. do they get up to mischief are they little schemers together do they whisper to each other in cahoots. are they sick in the head. do other ppl think they're bad separately but 4x as worse if they're in the same room. do u know something is up if one of them is sat there by themselves laughing and the other has disappeared mysteriously. if your couple isnt giggle whispering bc of some dark jokes that theyre telling one another, theyre boring and im not interested in that romance
Wei Wuxian might actually be my favourite depiction of an adult interacting with unrelated kids that I’ve ever seen in fiction. He reminds me of the adults I look back on fondly from when I was growing up, and of the adult I want to be when interacting with teens through work etc.
He’s fun and silly and teases them, but knows when to step up as the adult in the situation and be responsible.
His degrees of closeness to them are appropriate; closer to the ones who are “his kids” (ie Jin Ling as his nephew and Sizhui eventually as his son), and friendly but not excessively so with the others.
He actively watches out for the kids and protects them from danger, but also gives them practical advice and opportunities to spread their own wings and exercise their own abilities.
He impresses upon them that they don’t need to achieve the things their fathers and uncles had by their age: he was there, he knows those tales of glory are rooted in blood and suffering, and he works to free the juniors from the pressure to hold themselves up to that shallow veneer of triumph as a standard.
He even occasionally drops good relationship advice even before he and Lan Wangji get their shit together: the bit in Yi City where he refuses to waste time on the whole “I won’t leave without you!” thing and instead tells the kids essentially, “No. I trust him, and I have to do what I need to do, and leave him to do what he needs to do,” really sticks with me.
Anyway…rambling, but yeah. I love him, and I love that he’s sometimes a disaster but he is so good at switching to Adulting Mode as needed. Also there’s definitely some very bittersweet thoughts to be had about the fact that, aside from his brief sweet memories of his parents, Yanli was definitely the one who taught him how to be a caretaker. And now, he gets to use what she taught him to watch over her son.
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