everything the jc & wwx epic yunmeng duo truthers wish they were is literally just what the story does with jl & wwx, down to the way jl's worst behavior actually is somewhat excusable due to his age and upbringing (aka what if jc was raised solely by madame yu and the jin), how wwx's past actions are something jl has real reason to resent wwx for (because he lacks context, because his parents' deaths were directly related to wwx even if they weren't engineered by wwx, because again he is a child), the way wwx is inclined to be more actively paternal and hand-hold jl through his worldview/personality shift, how they are able to reconcile and recycle their relationship into a closer and more understanding family dynamic, even the "wwx has high connections to major sect leaders" thing is more tangible through jl post-canon. i would concede that jc & wwx are unbeatable at least in terms of battle prowess, but we also never really see jc & wwx fight together in any significant way. the closest wwx gets to embodying any resemblance to the promised twin jades/twin prides dynamic is actually with wn, arguably even more legendary as the yllz & ghost general, a connection that literally transcends the grave, a synergy such that they are literally able to communicate without words. notice how wwx's promise to become the twin prides of yunmeng with jc comes on the heals of jc's jealousy over wwx & lwj's defeat of the xuanwu. wwx has to leverage himself out of his sick bed to soothe jc's insecurity—this does the opposite of imply an established foundation for a twin prides dynamic.
like, i'm not saying this just to dunk on jc, literally all of these facts enrich his character and the tragedy of jc & wwx's relationship. none of it is coincidental. jc & wwx's brotherhood is rife with miscommunication (willful on both sides, for different reasons), bitterness, envy, and entitlement. trauma is an important factor, but not a distinctive cause of their dysfunction, considering the amount of baggage tangled up in wwx's relationships to wn and jl (which we see play out similarly in jl's case. which is on purpose). i even kind of hesitate to say their falling out was "doomed" (ie. inevitable) in the same way a lot of other events in the story were, since jl & wwx's reconciliation is the symbolic inverse of that assumption—aside from any arguments you could make about details and circumstances, jl can and does choose to let his animosity go. therefore...so can jc, because jl is jc's obvious foil. aka, jc's character is informed by his contrast to jl only because they also mirror each other. both are introduced at the same time, in the same narrative place (especially irt their hostility towards wwx/mxy, but also in terms of general unpleasantness in personality/outlook), but as jl progresses through jc's character arc in reverse, the narrative rewards him for it. he has more reason to dislike mxy than jc had to distrust wwx in each of their respective beginnings, and yet jl chooses to change for the better (narratively this is also in close connection to his increasing acceptance of wwx/"mxy" which is, again, opposed to jc); the culmination of this being his ability to forgive wwx. the implication, then, is that his hatred of wwx was not inevitable or warranted (at least not long-term, or to such an extent), which is emphasized by the fact that jc can also no longer justify his own hatred in the end. very basically: their relationships with wwx are only doomed insofar as jl & jc decide they are.
there are more honest and compelling reasons for jc & wwx's falling out than just being like nebulously doomed by fate and circumstance. why must we fit everything into overdone patterns and tropes and cliches. shocking, sometimes characters are tailor-made for their own stories. if jc's resentment is misplaced and unreciprocated, what does that say about jc? could jc & wwx's failed brotherhood possibly serve to reflect the story's themes of power, complicity, and corruption in any way? i feel like this should be way more interesting to people than it typically is, at least imo. but most fans don't even want to acknowledge they broke up the bros at all, which is disappointing. to say the least.
