about Ruoye
What’s interesting about Ruoye’s (若邪) name is that, the second character in its name, “ye” (邪), is usually pronounced as “xie” (not the “xie” in Xie Lian), and almost never as “ye.” However, mxtx confirmed the pronunciation of “Ruoye” herself. So what might be the significance of 邪 being pronounced as “ye”?
邪 is no longer pronounced as “ye” in modern Chinese, and there’re two instances in classical Chinese where it’s pronounced as “ye”: first, as an interrogative particle in a sentence; and secondly, when it’s used within the name of the ancient legendary sword Moye (莫邪). So it’s very hard not to associate Ruoye with Moye, the sword forged around 500 BC that has achieved mythical status in Chinese tales.
Moye is in fact originally the name of a swordsmith. Legend goes that Moye and her husband were commissioned by the king to forge swords, but they had difficulty melting the metal in the furnace when forging the sword, so Moye threw herself into the furnace which eventually induced the metal to melt. After the sword was made, it was named after Moye. So we see the similarity between the sword Moye and Xie Lian’s weapon Ruoye: they both came into being as a result of human sacrifice. Moye gave her own body to forge the sword; Ruoye came alive due to Xie Lian’s blood and the resentful and catastrophic energy given rise by the death of XL’s parents.
Behind both the stories of Moye and Ruoye, there’s the ancient Chinese superstition that in order to forge a weapon of the highest calibre and with its own soul, human sacrifice is required for it, so that human spirit and life force can be absorbed into the weapon. Blood, in particular, was seen as the essence of the human life force, and crucial to creating an object imbued with human spirit. This might explain why Ruoye was so close and loving to Xie Lian as soon as it came to life, as it was stained with Xie Lian’s blood. So to sum it up, the pronunciation of Ruoye’s name tells us two things: first, that it is a very ancient weapon, since 邪 is only pronounced as “ye” in classical Chinese; secondly, like the sword Moye, Ruoye has a dark and bloody origin in human sacrifice.
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