#lan sect

[rowein1102]

Uncle-nephew time 🥺✨

[elaichichais-blog]

I imagine Lan Sizhui appears very poised, like the perfect Lan disciple but only Jingyi knows how fucking weird he really is, like their conversation sometimes go like this-

Lan Sizhui during a night hunt: Wow, do you smell that? Reminds me of home for some reason.

Lan Jingyi: There’s a fucking corpse behind the tree.

Lan Sizhui: this is the best thing I’ve ever eaten. Truly delicious.

Lan Jingyi: it’s a fucking boiled

radish.

Lan Sizhui: Sometimes I wonder if the moon feels lonely, surrounded by so many distant stars yet always shining alone.

Lan Jingyi: Dude, go to fucking sleep.

[lurkinginnernarrator]

I think Lan Jingyi is important. Specifically in what he represents: In the Cloud Recesses Study Arc we see how stolid the Lan Sect is, and with Lan Wangji's whipping we see how blinded the Lan Sect can be by its own ideals that it forsakes the morality those ideals represent.

When we see Lan Wangji in WWX'S second life we see the change Lan Wangji has initiated in his own clan.

That change is embodied in the one Lan Jingyi.

He's loud, brash, emotive, unfiltered and sometimes rude, all of which are anathema to the Lan Clan's sacred ideals of comportment and image. While Lan Jingyi does get punished for infractions it should be noted that he's never dissuaded from his own nature. There is no alienation of Lan Jingyi from his clan. Lan Jingyi is fully Lan, we don't ever see him excluded and we don't see his relationship to his clan in any interpretable as estranged.

What does that tell us?

It tells us that the Lan Sect is changing. If we went purely on the Lan Sect we see in years prior it would not be surprising to see a character such as Lan Jingyi continually disparaged for his anathemic nature, looked down upon and excluded for his differences and punished for his 'undesirable traits'.

We do not see Lan Jingyi's passion being trained or beaten out of him. Instead, we see that the Lan Sect, especially through Lan Wangji's teachings and reforms, are doing their best to model Morality and Righteousness.

The flourishing existence of Lan Jingyi is a testament to the emendation of Lan Sect values; true righteousness being valued over the appearance of it, benevolence in action instead of in name. Mercy. Grace.

Lan Jingyi is the product of Lan Wangji's reforms and trials.

We see Lan Wangji suffer for his innate passion, punished for it by the hands of his own sect. But we also know Lan Jingyi never will.

Lan Jingyi is a sign of growth.

[queernightly]

Seriously why don't the Lans get any criticism for their part in the Siege of the Burial Mounds? They were just as guilty as everybody else! And Lan Sizhui IS RAISED BY the people who had a part in making him an orphan? Wen Ning lives with the people who had a hand in killing everyone he's ever known?? Do the Lans not deserve some blame?

[danmei-blobs]

The Lan Sect

Behold the Lan Sect!

Peerless cultivators! Magnificent fur fluffy like a cloud! The absolute pride of the blob Jianghu and they won't let anyone forget it!

What a nice bunch of blobs!

[rovadeve]

Honestly it’s a bit confusing that we barely see anything of the female Lan cultivators. What we know is that they are there and they live in the Cloud Recesses, on their own grounds away from the men. Yet, most former sect leaders have been men. Do they also lead the female Lan sect members? Or do the female Lan sect members have their own leader, who’s a sort of second-in-command? Is this usually just Lan-furen, but since Lan-furen was in seclusion they have a different leader or no leader at all? Could there be a female sect leader, with a male second-in-command? And the library pavilion is clearly in the part of Cloud Recesses where the men live. Do the women have the exact same library, with a different copy of each text? Is it considered gender neutral ground (I think canon disputes this)? Is there a second wall of rules on the womens’ side of the Lan sect? Are there differences in rules and differences in cultivation practice? Do children under a certain age all live on the womens’ side, or are boys brought to the male side as soon as they don’t need milk anymore? Do married couples life together? Are there houses in a sort of neutral area for married couples? If one parent dies, does a kid live with the other parent regardless of their gender? Are kids raised kind of communaly anyway? Do the female Lan disciples also take students the way Lan Qiren does? The fact that Jiang Yanli doesn’t come with her brothers in MDZS canon kind of disputes this, unless her parents don’t think her cultivation is high enough. They dó have their own cold springs, Wei Wuxian confirms this when he goes to sneak up on Lan Wangji. Does this imply that they have everything the men have, plus maybe a few extra cultivation practices and facilities which are necessary for women, like a pavilion for a midwife? MXTX please I need answers

[elogval]

One day in the Cloud Recesses 🐇🐇

[bluecygnets]

if you read the rules of the lan clan, you'll notice that it's a combination of confucian, buddhist, and taoist teachings. overall, it's basically just guidelines on how to live a healthy and harmonious lifestyle to aid one's cultivation towards immortality and to maintain peace and harmony within their community.

every named lan clan member breaks some rules throughout the story. and it's not to show that the lan's are hypocrites but that the principles behind it all matters more than the actual rules by themselves, that the lan clan's people and its rules really aren't as inflexible and unreasonable as people think.

part of understanding the rules aimed towards discipline and righteousness is developing wisdom and discernment, knowing the when, why, and how of the rules. lan wangji masters these rules and knows when and how they can or should be broken and what the appropriate consequences should be

when drunk lan wangji commits his pretty crimes, wei wuxian posits that he is doing things he couldn't do as a child. lan wangji did have a longing for living a more unrestrained life which seems to have been sparked by wei wuxian entering his life (see: lotus seeds extra) and seems to really only want to live that life if it's with wei wuxian, which is fitting because, according to the lan clan customs, they are only allowed to let go of restraint with their fated person.

for wei wuxian, rule-breaking and being immature and the subsequent punishments are all part of childhood. wei wuxian gets punished for deliberately breaking the rules of the community in which he is a guest in and rules which he had been well-informed on. he mostly just has to copy texts and only gets a more severe punishment after multiple offenses on the same rule. when he becomes an adult, he very much acts mature and any mischief is done all in good fun but he also never does as much as he did when he was younger. he even helps enforce the rules himself because he understands that it's also a necessary part of growing up and life in general

"but if the lan's are so righteous, why didn't they save the wen remnants and participate in the siege of burial mounds?"

on the topic of the wen remnants, i will just link this nuanced meta on it

on the topic of the siege of burial mounds, it's politics and also justice. for one, wei wuxian had lan clan blood on his hands. wen ning, who was essentially wei wuxian's weapon, lost control at koi tower and ended up killing the lan disciples who were present to assist. it's also implied that some lan disciples were also killed when wei wuxian activated the yinhufu at nightless city. and so it's within their duty to seek justice for the lost lives of their own people. second, they can't not participate. it's in the best interest of the entire clan and its people, which was still in the process of rebuilding at that time, to not make enemies out of other clans, especially the jin's who, at that time, were the most powerful and who, through jin guangyao, were providing immense help in the said rebuilding process. even then, the lan clan and the nie clan were only there as back-up and weren't part of the main offensive force which were the jiang's and the jin's.

lan qiren's dislike for wei wuxian was, in the beginning, due to wei wuxian's immaturity. eventually, it was because he was very protective of lan wangji, his most precious nephew whom he loves and treasures. same goes for lan xichen. he gets mad at wei wuxian because he thought wei wuxian was playing with his little brother's feelings even after everything that lan wangji went through for him. (and wasn't wei wuxian the same towards jin zixuan in his relationship with jiang yanli even as they were about to be wed)

and in the end, while it is said that lan qiren adds rules telling people to stay away from wei wuxian, nobody really follows it and he even mentors the juniors. he's also still officially acknowledged to be lan wangji's cultivation partner which makes him an official member of the lan clan and the lan family.