A Garden of Dandelions

If my hands are idle and my mind needs a break, here you will find me

[henshengs]

fuck meeeeeee I COMPLETELY FORGOT that CQL robbed us of the vital 3zun moment of NMJ grabbing for JGY and LXC at the same time so he could kill them both together. THAT'S PEAK ROMANCE I APOLOGIZE FOR ALL MY NIELAN SLANDER

AND!!!! JGY denying it just at the last moment!!!! GOD DAMN

[khattikeri]

it's amazing to me that lan xichen isn't gay according to word of god, because what older brother (especially in homophobic xianxia universe china) instantly realizes his little brother is gay and in love just bc he's high strung and irritable lately thanks to a mischievous new boy in his class. it's one thing to tease or jokingly ask if there's a crush involved. it's another to Know.

and because what guy insists on a sworn brotherhood with two other men whose relationship with each other is publicly fraught, unless he really likes them both and is compromising because he knows he can't have them any other way? because a sworn siblinghood relationship is treated similarly (though not exactly) like a family via marriage?

lan xichen you are not slick no sir i know what you are

[rovadeve]

Bro hold my beer. For thirteen years, Lan Xichen was lead to believe that his plan to save Nie Mingjue using clarity did not work, even though it did. Presumably, for all those years he was thinking he failed his best friend. Meanwhile the clarity treatment actually WAS positively effecting Nie Mingjue until it was meddled with! Lan Xichen found a live-prolonging cure for the saber curse and he didn’t get to know or save his friend with it! Do you think he blames himself for not playing it for Nie Mingjue himself knowing his life would have been prolonged by two decades. Screaming crying maybe even bleeding (Nie Mingjue’s blood specifically)

[thatswhatsushesaid]

at least there's no more P.E. at least there's that

[fincalinde]

It feels like I'm stating the obvious, but just because 3zun become sworn brothers and are known as the Venerated Triad does not mean they are in any way a balanced or natural grouping. This is especially true in light of the way MDZS explores the disconnect between popular understanding of a situation and the underlying reality.

The world sees a triad that fell apart. In reality, that unity never existed. NMJ, LXC and JGY had one (1) peaceful and pleasant group interaction during the war, at Hejian, and every single subsequent occasion on which they were in each other's company was either marred by open violence or the threat of it. JGY has to lie to NMJ in order to escape certain death (and need I remind us all, if he hadn't done so then the Wen would have won the war). NMJ repeatedly tries to kill JGY or threatens to do so, while LXC on more than one occasion has to physically intervene. And, of course, when NMJ crosses the final line that shows he will never see JGY as an equal or respect him as a person, JGY finally retaliates against that violence to preserve his own life and advance his father's agenda.

3zun can only be meaningfully analysed when looking at their individual relationships and how profoundly they differ in both type and intensity. NMJ and LXC are friends, but LXC fails to see NMJ clearly. NMJ and JGY are peers, and one of them cannot handle that fact. LXC and JGY are two people in sync with shared goals despite the necessary deceptions that lie between them. The challenges Xiyao face are external to their relationship and due to the impossibility of JGY's circumstances pushing him to make impossible choices. Meanwhile, NMJ has the opportunity to choose differently and does not do so. It is NMJ's character and his cultivation of the sabre spirit that dooms him, not his place in 3zun or his proximity to JGY.

This is not the sad downfall of a triad who had potential. This is the ultimate fate of a man who couldn't overcome his own hubris, the hard choice made by a man trying to survive and willing to do what that entails, and the failure of a well-meaning friend to see the situation clearly when he proposed a solution that was never going to work. The best way to engage with these characters is to set aside the lens of the Venerated Triad and not begin from the starting point of seeing them as a contained unit. It's far more rewarding to dig into their differing dynamics and external pressures in order to build a fuller, more complex, and frankly more accurate picture of all three characters.

[frost-flower-fractured-ice]

As much as I love Xiyao, my favourite dynamic is when Jin Guangyao thinks he is straight and madly in love with Qin Su, Lan Xichen realises rather painfully that he wants to be with Jin Guangyao and tries to hide it (poorly; Jin Guangyao is also painfully aware of it but he trusts Xichen to not make things awkward or inappropriate), Nie Mingjue wants to use both his hands on his two sworn brothers but he doesn't understand that or whatever tf is happening with Xichen and Jin Guangyao, and then Jin Guangyao finds out Qin Su is his sister. He can't quite go back to simping after Xichen because he's made it clear Qin Su is his preference and now it would seem he was choosing Xichen as a concubine because his new wife wasn't entertaining enough and he is therefore no better than his father for cheating on her and er-ge doesn't need that kind of negativity in his life, not realising that Xichen is quietly pining while also being incredibly confused and miserable because a-Yao is clearly! not sleeping with Qin Su! He spends all his time with Xichen! What does this mean?! And as is the fate of women characters in such cases, poor Qin Su is confused and miserable and feeling ignored and left out because! Clearly! her husband doesn't like women at all (or at least he doesn't like her) and would rather go out with his er-ge all the time! BUT HE STILL SLEPT WITH HER TO FORCE THE MARRIAGE WTF IS HAPPENING TO HER!!!!

And this is how no one is with anyone else but they are all a confused and upset mess. And then ✨️plot✨️ happens.

[personontheswing]

every time jgy goes: i felt like [x] but i'm sure everyone else only saw a smile: WRONG. you know who is seeing everything on your face? da-ge. dage is looking at you and going wahts wrong and you go Nothing :) :) :) dont worry about it and hes like YOUR LYING and jgy is like why are you accusing me of LYING DA-GE im doing the normal and perfectly reasonable thing of hiding my feelings which is not lying. it's Being Polite. <- not that he says any of this.

and lxc is in the background also noticing and going it's okay a-yao :) don't worry about it and hissing at nmj behind his back like its okay if he has secrets da-ge and da-ge is hissing back not if i can FIX them does he not trust us??? and lxc goes well if you act like THIS

and they do this again and again until everyone is dead

[eternalauwhereeverythingisok]

[disgracefulthings]

Wei Wuxian: So, since you're dating multiple people, does that mean that you have a favorite boyfriend?

Lan Xichen: Of course not! I love my partners equally!!

Nie Mingjue: Xichen

Meng Yao: Xichen, obviously

Lan Xichen, sighing: At least they have something they agree on...

[disgracefulthings]

Lan Wangji: Why can't I have a morally questionable boyfriend when you do?

Lan Xichen: A-Yao isn't morally questionable!!

Lan Wangji: He's literally dragging his sworn brother's corpse right now

Lan Xichen, noticing Jin Guangyao: A-Yao, did you kill da-ge?

Jin Guangyao, dragging Nie Mingjue's corpse: Of course not er-ge, he's just sleeping

Lan Xichen: See Wangji, he's just sleeping

Lan Wangji: ( ,,⩌'︿'⩌,,)

[ineedaplacetostay]

I was going to make a post about how hard it is to be a Nie Mingjue fan and a Jin Guangyao fan, because if you consider it they both have their issues and their good qualities, but then I thought about it and realized this actually needed to be an apology to Lan Xichen post.

Sorry, king, I get why you were like that.

[teach-me-teachey]

Imagine pushing forty and still caught up in a situationship…..happened to my good buddy Lan Xichen

[rovadeve]

I’ve said it before but it remains beautiful how unwilling Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue both are when Jin Guangyao first calls Mingjue ‘Da-ge’ in the show. Jin Guangyao looks like he was forced to eat sand with glass splinters in it as he says it. Nie Mingjue looks like he is being forced to walk through fire. And they do it anyway because the most beautiful man on earth said they should :)

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

i do find it funny i keep seeing shi wudu and nie mingjue likened re: trios, but the venerated triad exists because they were all really important and instrumental during xianxia world war z and the three tumors exist because everyone else fucking hates them because they suck

[thatswhatsushesaid]

a collection of 3zun-centric (ish) shitposts, plus bonus huaisang:

[cultivateme]

jus a bunch of boys w a bunch of problems

[neo--queen--serenity]

I think about Meng Yao's time under Wen Ruohan constantly. Like it's always talked about in passing as this thing he did, for better or for worse, but I think it's one of the more horrific side-plots of MDZS.

Did Meng Yao enjoy the power he wielded as Wen Ruohan's favorite? Or did the horror, the wider implications of being Wen Ruohan's favorite haunt his every step, whittling away at his sense of self? How much control did Wen Ruohan exert over him? How close, how entitled, did Wen Ruohan feel to his right-hand man? Did he love Meng Yao as a member of his own family? For a dictator famous for his abuse of power, how did this affect the shape of his favoritism?

And, in turn, did Meng Yao feel loved by Wen Ruohan, by the Qishan Wen he worked with? He held a position that was hard-won by acts of loyalty and blood; his Wen comrades, at the very least, understood his worth. Did they mistreat him, like everyone else? Did he have a sense of community with them? Did he miss this dynamic, once he gained his own seat of power in the cultivation world? And did he feel guilt for missing it?