Yunmeng Brothers: Insight on why their bond is as it is in Shadows Symhonie
Replying to comments, it made me wish to write an actual post about Jiang Cheng&Wei Wuxian, especially as headcanons solidified as I write more.
It’s been implicit in chapters so far, but Jiang Cheng was present when Wei Wuxian lost Lan Wangji. To be precise, I’ll reveal Jiang Cheng was in the same area, and arrived when Lan Wangji was already dying.
And what really hit Jiang Cheng deep is to see how broken Wei Wuxian was. As it is written in the chapter Where you go I follow:
Wei Wuxian's sobs as he broke into his arms, crying about his stolen happiness, wondering if he ever deserved it or if it had just been given to punish him better-
That really shook Jiang Cheng. Wei Wuxian was not doing good for a while, even as he worked to save Lan Wangji, and while there were others who care, Jiang Cheng has always one of the three people Wei Wuxian carried the deepest in his heart (Jiang Yanli, Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng).
Jiang Cheng ended up the only one that actually knew Wei Wuxian, and so who could actually stop him from risking his own health. The fact Jiang Cheng carried both love and hate meant he was the best placed to help and ground Wei Wuxian, while countering his recklessness.
However, Jiang Cheng himself had to learn to ground himself, to be able to make his anger calmer, different. But the thing is, when he saw Wei Wuxian break, something in himself broke too. At it says in Where you go I follow, he has seen Wei Wuxian break too many times. He realizes he doesn’t want to see a broken Wei Wuxian anymore.
What is healing for Jiang Cheng is that, for the first time, he actually, genuinely, is the one that can help, protect, and anchor Wei Wuxian. He doesn’t want to hurt him, and his care, his wish to protect grows stronger, and is stronger than the wounds he had. So, bit by bit, he finds himself forgiving and letting go of the past, neither of them forgets it, but the wounds heal, forgiven.
And what’s important is, they also realize why it didn’t work out before. They tried to be something that didn’t actually fit their core values, their personality. They tried to push the other to be more like themselves. But as it is written in A morning glimpse:
I can't believe it. All this time, and still it's you who lives up to our motto.
We live up to it, A-Cheng. This time-
No, Wei Wuxian. Don't make this promise again.
We're not Twin Prides. We are brothers, and we have everyone depending on us.
They realized the promise of twin prides would have never worked, because in the end, it implied for Wei Wuxian to be a subordinate of Jiang Cheng, and a loyalty limited to Yunmeng Jiang.
What they mean, when they say “we are brothers” is that they are equal, and they know they have each other back. No matter where they go, no matter what they do, they can count on each other. But they are both also free to protect what matters to them, to have different focus.
This promise, of brotherhood, of being equal while being free to focus on different things, while knowing the other will always have your back, will take its full meaning later in the story. Of course, this promise is with them all the time, but you will understand later why Jiang Cheng ended up making clear to Wei Wuxian that he is not bounded to Jiang Cheng nor Yunmeng Jiang.
(Yes, that is a little hint~)
In short: Jiang Cheng realized he did not want to see a broken Wei Wuxian anymore or ever again, found himself being for the first time the one person that was Wei Wuxian’s anchor, and his care was stronger than any old wounds, making him grow in new ways to be able to prodive the support he wished in his heart to give. At the same time, his no-nonsense manner he can have, his unwillingness to allow Wei Wuxian to be stupid, made him well equipped to support Wei Wuxian.
In the end, what comes to light is that, for Wei Wuxian, there are two people he cannot live with. Lan Wangji, and Jiang Cheng. He can handle the pain of not having one when he has the other, but ultimately, he cannot have his full happiness if he doesn’t have both of them.
It’s best summarized by this line (still in Where you go I follow):
“You're not his replacement, A-Cheng. You can't be what he is to me, and he can't be what you are to me. That's what I told you myself, didn't I?”
Of course, he is even happier with Jiang Yanli alive. The thing is, until they actually worked on time travel, they didn’t know they might be able to also have her be alive, so while there would always be a sadness in them because she wasn’t there, they had learned to live without her (which they know she would have wanted them to). And this means that Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian learned to rely on each other way more, while Wei Wuxian also had learned to rely a lot on Lan Wangji. And thus, this is why I say that, to Wei Wuxian, both Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng are needed in his life to be able to truly feel happy.
On a final note: while others have helped them, it is indeed Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng who are the ones that will be able to be the backbone, foundation, of the whole plan to create a brighter future that they had once lived through. In big part due to their bond, and the central part Wei Wuxian plays.
This time, they are Yungmeng Brothers in a genuine sense, a force to be reckoned with.
