Jun Wu In-Depth Character Analysis
Jun Wu never understood what he truly wanted.
ăâYouâre right, I donât understand,â Guoshi said. âItâs been so many years; youâve been a god and youâve been a ghost king. All that should be killed are dead, all that youâve wanted is in your hands, so why are you doing this to yourself? What exactly do you want? What do you want to prove?â
Hearing this, a flash of confusion appeared on Jun Wuâs face. ă (Chapter 240)
On the surface, it seemed as if Jun Wu wanted Xie Lian to follow his footsteps. After all, the first time Mei NianQing asked Jun Wu what he wanted, "[âŠ] he said that he want[ed] [Xie Lian] to become his perfect successor. If there was anyone in the world who could understand him completely, it was [Xie Lian]. Once he succeeded, then [Xie Lian] would never betray him[.]"(Chapter 219) Indeed, Bai Wuxiang always told Xie Lian to "come to [his] side" (Chapters 187, 188, 189) Because when Xie Lian said "body in abyss, heart in paradise", it was like a stab to the chest for Jun Wu (in fact, "stab to the chest" is what the characters Zhu Xin, his sword, means; Xie Lian also pierced Jun Wu through the heart with Zhu Xin during their ultimate battle) because when Jun Wu's own body was in abyss, his heart could not be in paradise. He desparately wanted to show that he wasn't alone in this. How can anyone, even the most kind-hearted Xian Le, have their heart in paradise when their body is in abyss? How can anyone, having gone trough so much pain and suffering, not make the same decisions he himself did? Jun Wu needed Xie Lian to follow his path to validate himself.
You see, that's the problem. Jun Wu didn't have a sense of self. "The God-Pleasing Warrior wore a golden mask, playing the role of the number one martial god of a thousand years who subdued evil: The Heavenly Martial Emperor, Jun Wu.âThe real Jun Wu pleased the gods just like his impressionist did. Except when Xie Lian leaped to catch the falling Hong Hong'er, the mask fell off -- it stayed on for Jun Wu. Jun Wu kept wearing the mask, hiding his true face. He smashed all the mirrors in the Wuyong Palace, afraid to meet his reflection; he hated when anyone called him by his previous title after that. He never processed his emotions, releasing them into the early kiln, projecting them onto Xie Lian. The black ghost of Jun Wu on Yinian Bridge asked three questions: What is this place? Who Am I? What is to be done? The white ghost of Jun Wu is Bai WuXiang, wherein the characters WuXiang means "no face". He did not have his own face, his own identity, but that of others -- the human face disease. If the living people of Wuyong placed their expectations on their prince, then the deceased burdened him with their resentful spirits. He had always been for the people: when they adored him, he wanted to save them; when they despised him, he wanted to destroy them. His actions depended on external values. He had no sense of self. Jun Wu never knew what he himself truly wanted.
 His names were Jun Wu and Bai Wuxiang.
The dichotomy that is his identity caused him to go crazy. God and ghost. So much love and so much hate. Half crying, half smiling. The Heavenly Martial Emperor and the White-Clothed CalamityâŠâŠ
Perhaps only Mei Nianqing knew this side of him.ăXie Lian felt when he was addressing the other as "His Highness", he wasn't talking about âJun Wuâ nor âWhite No-Faceâ, but that young Crown Prince of two thousand years prior.ă(Chapter 217) That young Crown Prince, covered his face up with a mask, protected his body in white armour, froze his heart beneath layers of Mt. Tonglu snow. Lest we forget that "The widespread backstory of 'The Heavenly Martial Emperor' in the mortal realm, his background, his literary references, his interesting hearsays, appearance, characterâŠ[were] all fake.â(Chapter 219) "Jun Wu" was the shell of a man. And oh, how Mei NianQing missed the real him, so much so that the characters NianQing means "miss you". The Guoshi of Xianle once told his disciple, âRemember: when humans ascend, they are still human; when they fall, they are still human.â(Chapter 68). In addition to hitting one of the central themes of TGCF head on, Mei NianQing was, in a sense, speaking about Jun Wu. Between all the forms -- god to ghost -- Mei NianQing appreciated the human Jun Wu most. He was the only person who saw him as human.
And perhaps that was what Jun Wu wanted all along.
The Prince of Wuyong could not stand being "accused [âŠ] that he'd changed, that he'd forgotten his heart, that he was no longer the Highness of the past. Those words truly executed the heart." (Chapter 218) And if you were wondering, yes, the characters used for "executed the heart" are Zhu Xin, the name of his sword. In the Kiln:
ăWhite No-Face replied quietly, âWith his appearance, neither man nor ghost, no one would treat him with sincerity, so staying in this world was suffering in itself.â
Suddenly, Xie Lian said, âYour Royal Highness?â
In that instant, Xie Lian could tell; that creature probably wanted to answer to that address, but he held back.ă (Chapter 199)
When Bai Wuxiang said "with his appearance, neither man nor ghost, no one would treat him with sincerity", he wasn't just talking about Lang Ying. He was talking about himself. Xie Lian called him by his previous title, and Bai Wuxiang wanted to answer. He didn't because he thought it was too late to turn back. He had already traveled too far down the path of destruction. Yet, when Jun Wu was finally defeated, "[Xie Lian] actually noticed a trace of relief on Jun Wuâs face, as if a heavy burden was let go. He couldnât help but wonderâperhaps, to be defeated by someone, to end these relentless days of brokenness and madness, was possibly Jun Wuâs wish deep down." (Chapter 240).
That should answer our question -- which self did Jun Wu want to validate? On the surface, it seemed as if Jun Wu wanted Xie Lian to follow his path of destruction. Beneath it all -- perhaps unconsciously -- he wished Xie Lian could be proof that the Crown Prince of Wuyong wasn't so stupid in his dream after all.
He gifted Xie Lian Hong Jing, the sword that can reveal a ghost's true identity. He never bothered to repair the crack in his armour, the area where Xie Lian told Hua Cheng to attack. And when Xie Lian told him that the trick he used to defeat him was called Shattering Boulders on the Chest, Jun Wu replied, "Beautiful."
If Xie Lian gave himself three days to search for a reason -- the man who gave him the bamboo hat -- to not unleash the human face disease onto Yong An, then Jun Wu spent two thousand years trying to convince himself. In the end, Xie Lian became the man who gave Jun Wu the bamboo hat. Xie Lian stared right into the eyes of the abyss and offered a hand.
To quote Zhihu (a Chinese platform) users:
"Xie Lian is a ray of light in the darkness, and Jun Wu is the darkness with a ray of light in his heart. You and I are both born under the Ominous Star and die against the will of heaven. My inner demon is a raging fire, and your rebirth a torrential rain. For thousands of years, no one has been worthy to slay the hatred inside me except you."
"He is glad that Xie Lian beat him, which shows that Xie Lian's path is also feasible.
I don't have a chance to take that route but you can.
You can create a better world. "
"Jun Wu gives Xie Lian the black sword, and Xie Lian gives Jun Wu the bamboo hat.
I give you the sword that accompanied me when I was the Crown Prince,
You give me the hand that pulls me out of the abyss. "
"You want to use Xie Lian to affirm yourself.
You don't want Xie Lian to follow your broken path to affirm your current self.
Instead, you hope that Xie Lian will still stick to his heart after facing so many things, so as to affirm the Prince Wuyong back then.
In the rainstorm, we receive a bamboo hat.
