The bravest man in The Untamed is actually this guy right here casually rocking up to Jiang Cheng and poking him in the stab wound.
@winepresswrath so it’s not wwx they’re literally all like that. jc is the odd one in the clan
It kind of makes sense! Their motto is attempt the impossible. He is impossible; they attempt.
# i feel vindicated somehow # yunmeng jiang disciples at any given minute: # yeah that’s our cat we didn’t choose him he chose us # such is the way of cats: he’s ours forever now # he’s a total asshole! (said proudly) # he shredded your hand? yeah man he does that. dodge better. # git gud or get gutted as the poet says # he has a personal space bubble you hafta not violate # it’s between two and ten feet in radius. how do you know where in that range? # u gotta sense it. feel out the vibes. be ready to duck. # shit u didn’t sit in His Spot did you? ofc he’ll shred u if u sit in His Spot # we love him and he loves us. how do we know? # he fucking lives here he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t love us u moron # if anyone ever breaks and enters we know he’ll get em. better than any guard dog # don’t mind the static electricity it happens sometimes
Look, we are TOLD wwx superficially embodies Jiang traits more than jc, who is more like his Yu mom. We can extrapolate from here that jc is in charge of a whole sea of violet Wei Wuxians, including the trait of thinking that Jiang Cheng is the absolute bee’s knees.
I love this headcanon so much for both its hilarity and its hidden pathos. Because the Jiang clan were originally rangers. The Jiang clan’s motto is “Attempt the Impossible.” The Jiang clan values freedom of expression and individuality, and their disciples are known for their honest and unrestrained ways. So of course Jiang Fengmian was going to fawn over Wei Wuxian even if he hadn’t been the son of his two best friends. Of course the Jiang disciples are going to watch the clusterfuck that the Takedown of the Yiling Patriarch became and go “…Huh. DUDE! THIS MEANS OUR BRO WWX STILL LOVES US!” *chestbumps and smashes beer can on foreheads* Of course they are going to POKE THEIR NOTORIOUSLY SHORT TEMPERED CLAN LEADER IN THE STAB WOUND and be like “You’re wounded?? Are you okay?? Does this hurt??” Because the Jiang sect is comprised of a bunch of feral goblins who only learn etiquette so that they do not bring Dishonor™ upon their clan whenever they have to interact with the stuffier sects.
The thing is… would anyone described above be able to rebuild a clan from the ashes?
No. To rebuild a sect from the ashes requires diligence. It requires dogged determination as you slough through a million boring but important details. It requires gritting one’s teeth and doing LOADS AND LOADS of mind-numbing paperwork. It means minding your p’s and q’s among the other sects and being properly deferential without being a pushover. It requires setting and sticking to a budget. It means having to keep a billion random details in your head and not mixing them up so that you don’t accidentally use funds that you earmarked for the food budget to re-roof the mess hall.
It requires Jiang Cheng.
Wei Wuxian might be brilliant, but he is also the poster boy for ADHD. He is a bona fide, easily bored ENxP. The typical Jiang disciple is great in a pinch and tide-turning in a campaign, but they are not steady, stop-dicking-around-in-the-lotus-pond-and-finish-building-that-deck, I-will-take-these-brain-meltingly-tedious-duties-and-make-them-my-BITCH type people.
But Jiang Cheng is.
Ironically, the aspects that made him a disappointment to his father feel that he was sub-par or lacking in fundamental Jianginess were exactly the aspects that enabled him to accomplish the impossible task of rebuilding his sect from the ground up while impossibly young, reeling from a devastating massacre, lacking guidance of any sect elders, and angrily grieving the withdrawal of his sect brother’s support.
Personally, I think this is EXACTLY why the other Jiang disciples love him. He takes care of ALL that boring/tedious/not-fun stuff and just yells simple orders at them! Add to that the fact that Clan Leader Jiang will use Zidian to rip out the intestines of anyone who dares insult you or the sect, and they’ll follow their beloved Grumpy Cat to the ends of the known universe and beyond!
There’s definitely some truth in this. It could be argued that Wei Wuxian went and established a de facto Yiling Wei/Wen sect, but that was an accident. And while he was viewed as “the leader” by the Wen remnants, a lot of that came down to his being their rescuer and guide (and highly charismatic…and a man). But once day-to-day life and survival necessities kicked in, he spent most of his time performing experiments and tinkering and muttering to himself and basically being the ultimate dark academic in his cave while Wen Qing ran the actual nitty-gritty sect-management stuff.
Wei Wuxian isn’t a follower. Like, AT ALL. But that by no means makes him a leader, either – and he doesn’t want to be. Otoh, Jiang Cheng *is* something of a follower, and the seeming irony of that is that it helps prepare him to understand and navigate and tolerate the world in which he’s destined to be a leader.
