been thinking about this in relation to how people interpret lan wangji's character. some people are just haters but there are also well-meaning people who end up misinterpreting his character in their efforts to prove that lan wangji is a well-written character because of sticking to writing standards or narrative analysis standards that were probably taught to them/us in school or which we acquired through interactions in our communities dedicated to analyzing media. some people invent a character arc for lan wangji that doesn't exist because we think that a character "must" have a 180° character development for said character to be well-written. just as op says in their tweet, static characters can also be well-written. lan wangji does change and grow up but ultimately, his core, his ideals, his principles all stay the same. this is also true for wei wuxian's character but it is especially true for lan wangji as his unchanging and resolute morality serves as an anchor, a source of hope and a moral compass for wei wuxian, for their society, and for the narrative. the progression of the entire main story and wangxian's happy ending is hinged on this. wei wuxian's resurrection and the investigation that follows would not be possible without lan wangji's static nature.
i saw someone on tiktok bring this up recently, there is also the case of lan wangji and wei wuxian being mary sue's so people invent character flaws that dont exist or overly criticize their flaws, especially lwj who is often regarded as "too perfect and that's boring" because writing conventions say mary sue characters tend to mean poorly written characters. the op of the tiktok i saw said, nonverbatim, that mxtx did so well with making main characters/ a main pair that are both mary sue's work in mdzs. and i agree, i have also been thinking of this for the past few months. i've said in a previous post that i love that wangxian are good and interesting and even further, wangxian are ideals and yet they are just as compelling as other characters who are very flawed (maybe even more compelling depending on personal tastes). wwx and lwj's characterizations are so fun to play with and to think about. it is proven by how popular it still is in the danmei/BL space 10 years after publication, by the amount of fanfics that have been written and are still being written about them.
what adds another layer of brilliance to wangxian being mary sue's is that the way mxtx did it, it serves to further highlight the flaws of the society's system. here are two ideal people who have all the ideals, they are intelligent, powerful and good beyond compare. they are even beautiful and, in lan wangji's case, hold positions of privilege. and yet, they still experience suffering and pain because their society is not built to foster ideal goodness. instead, it is permissive or even supportive of greed and selfishness, etc. the burden of change then does not lie on the individual alone. and our protagonists also do not get their happy ending through individual efforts alone, it also depended on their microsystems (i.e., friends and family) caring for them, accepting them, and supporting them. it supports the idea that what their society needs is systemic change which can only happen through collective effort, not just heroes who will save us from our troubles over and over. and isn't all of that so true to our real life societies also? while wangxian may not be real and people like them most likely do not exist in our world, the messages that they convey resonate very well with the audience because they are reflective of real life.
these are things that i have also been guilty of in the past but we grow, we learn. at the end of the day, what we really have to ask is if the character fits the story, if their arc makes sense to their character and to the story, if there's a significant purpose behind the way the character is written, etc. as always, there are exceptions to any rule or, as some may say, rules are meant to be broken. we have to understand why a rule or a standard even came to be in the first place so that we may apply them properly in creating stories that are not only well-woven but which are also unique and interesting.
