#unsupported

[arte1misia]

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"a sick, uneducated unsupported populace is easier to control.

when vou remove core foundations of what a human being needs, there is increased dependency and desperation to cling onto what remains.

we cannot have a flourishing society with opportunity for all without functioning systems that support the people and our communities over corporations, billionaires, and political interests"

[antifatemptress]

ubereats driver fucked up and spilled coffee all over our breakfast/lunch order so it's time for max duty with no food LETS FUCKIN GOOOOOOOO

[svsssfanonarchive]

Exposing SVSSS Fanon: 24/∞

APHRODISIAC-PRODUCING PLANTS ARE AN EVER-PRESENT DANGER IN THE WORLD OF PIDW

Rating: FANON - UNSUPPORTED

One of the most common tropes that I have ever seen all across SVSSS fanfiction is the use of aphrodisiac-releasing plants or "fuck-or-die" plants, as a plot device in order to get two characters together. Surprisingly enough, however, there is not a single mention of such plants existing in PIDW.

I debated on whether to rate this as neutral or unsupported, since typically I will choose neutral when there isn't any kind of evidence for or against something-- however, in this case, I chose unsupported due to the sheer amount of times that SQQ's narration references the sex scenes and plot devices in PIDW, and the fact that not once was any specifically sex-related plant mentioned among them.

We do know that there are all sorts of rare plants used as plot devices in PIDW:

"Do you still remember creating a plant that only appears every thousand years?” Shang Qinghua was speechless. “Your description is way too broad. Bing-ge’s eaten at least eighty, if not a hundred plants like that.” (7 Seas, Ch. 5)

and

...the number of mythical flowers in Proud Immortal Demon Way numbered at least in the hundreds, and every single one was at least a thousand years old, and when you added on all the mythical grasses and mythical trees, who the hell could remember all those names?! (7 Seas, Ch. 3)

Naturally, we also do not know all of these plants, so it cannot be said with certainty what sort of plants are included or excluded from the set. However, the effects of the plants we do know of are as follows:

Thousand-Leaves Snow Petal Lotus

"This flower has grown within the depths of Jue Di Gorge for thousands of years. Its spiritual qi is extraordinary, and furthermore, it is the natural bane of creatures from the Demon Realm. It emits an innate barrier that repels demonic beasts." (7 Seas, Ch. 4)

Additionally, when Luo Binghe absorbed the flower, it increased his abilities, likely due to the spiritual qi contained within it:

Incidentally, he even absorbed the nutrients of the mythical flower the girl had just eaten, and so his martial ability once again made great progress (7 Seas, Ch. 3)

Sun-Moon Dew Mushroom

The Sun-Moon Dew Mushroom was also called the “flesh mushroom,” and this name was entirely literal. Though this mushroom wasn’t especially useful for cultivating, it still grew by collecting spiritual energy from nature along with essence from the sun and moon. If you planted its sprout in soil rich with spiritual energy, nurtured it, meticulously sculpted it, and watered it with blood and qi, once it matured, you could cultivate a living body of flesh. The body could grow just fine, but it was impossible to also create a soul via this method. That was to say, you could only grow a soulless, empty shell. (7 Seas, Ch. 9)

This is by far the most well-known of the mystical plants of SVSSS, considering the fact that it directly contributes to a major plotline. It is also notable that this plant was not used by Luo Binghe in PIDW:

In [SQQ's] defense, this mushroom wasn’t reserved for Luo Binghe. Rather, it was supposed to be for one of his opponents... ...If it were a thing that affected the main plotline, or if it were some mystical flower or herb meant to provide one of Luo Binghe’s power-ups, he wouldn’t have had the guts to try and steal it. (7 Seas, Ch. 5)

Also notable here is the mention of mystical flowers and herbs providing Luo Binghe's power-ups-- this is seemingly the primary purpose of mystical plants in PIDW.

The Ties That Bind

This is the final mystical plant mentioned in SVSSS-- and also the only one with a negative effect:

This plant sowed its seeds in the bodies of living beings, and they were especially attracted to people who gave off energy. Recklessly deploying one’s spiritual or demonic energy attracted these seeds to oneself. That was why Shen Qingqiu had stuck to physical combat as much as possible and avoided using his spiritual energy. When Ties That Bind seeds entered one’s flesh, they didn’t hurt, only faintly itched. But once they sprouted from the flesh that was their soil and burst forth through the skin, every inch of rent flesh from which they grew erupted in violent agony. Furthermore, the more you used your spiritual energy, the faster they grew. If you went as far as to use a spiritual blast, they would sprout like mad, budding in an instant. (7 Seas, Ch. 16)

Now, obviously, since there are only three of these plants mentioned within SVSSS, it is far from the eighty to a hundred mystical flowers, plus the additional trees and grasses, which we know nothing about at all. It wouldn't at all be unlikely for one of these many plants to have an aphrodisiac effect, or to produce a fuck-or-die poison-- but I personally feel that it would be likely for Shen Qingqiu to mention this directly in his narration had it been as common trope in PIDW as many fanworks imply.

Of course, it isn't unreasonable for fandom to come to the conclusion that such plants were present in the PIDW world-- after all, sex pollen is a fairly common trope, and PIDW contained a great variety of sex scenes. However, here it is important to note that Proud Immortal Demon Way WAS NOT purely an erotica, porn, or hentai novel. Fundamentally, it is a power fantasy-- and papapa scenes are just one part of that power fantasy.

In the original text, it is described as "YY", which is a slang term that literally translates to something like "mind masturbation"-- but that doesn't mean purely sexual content, instead it refers to a wish-fulfillment, escapist setting, a non-academic fantasy world, where the primary focus is on the main character becoming more and more powerful, overcoming more obstacles-- in Luo Binghe's case, this includes defeating all of his past enemies and marrying all of the beautiful women he came across. The sex scenes were just one part of the power fantasy-- erotica for erotica's sake was not the goal.

That isn't to say that PIDW didn't feature an abundance of sex scenes-- after all, that was one of if not the most-desired plotlines, and Airplane was made to cut backstory content in favor of them:

"And back then, everyone in the comments section was saying they wanted to see the other plotline, right? The one where Bing-ge bravely conquered a hundred flowers, you understand. A whole hundred holy flower spirits who had from their birth never laid eyes on a man, and all of them virgins. Cucumber-bro, how I suffered while writing the chapter of the hundred flower buds’ first mass-blooming! And still you roast me…” (7 Seas, Ch. 14)

Still, the power-fantasy of PIDW encompassed many different factors-- the battles and revenge against the villains and the ever-increasing power level as stronger and stronger enemies were defeated were just as important as the sex scenes and harem plotlines to the overall effect of the story.

My hypothesis for the origin of the theory that "the world of PIDW is full of fuck-or-die plants" is that it comes from the common sex-pollen trope in erotica and fanfiction, PIDW's reputation as containing quite a lot of erotic material, as well as a few select passages of SVSSS which link plants and flowers with sex-- one of which is the passage above, regarding the hundred flower spirits. I think that the more significant root for this theory, though, is the curing of Without a Cure through sex.

In SVSSS fanfiction, I have found it most common that the sex-inducing plants are specifically of the fuck-or-die variety (therefore, able to be categorized as poison) rather than the pure aphrodisiac variety. This lines up quite well with Qin Wanyue's affliction by Without a Cure in PIDW-- and its subsequent cure:

Then, in the end, how was the poison cured? After the down and dirty scene, the girl’s poison was naturally cured! Was it ridiculous? Cliché? Implausible? …But it was satisfying, right? Ridiculously satisfying, so ridiculously satisfying, ha ha ha ha… Look, Luo Binghe was of both human and demon blood, right? And the demon half of his bloodline came from their number one Saintly Ruler—from the heavenly demons of old! A wee little demonic poison wasn’t even strong enough to get stuck between Luo Binghe’s teeth, and he instantly absorbed and digested it during their you know. (7 Seas, Ch. 3)

However, the poison itself had little to do with either flowers or sex-- it was simply an incurable poison, which just so happened to be cured by dual-cultivation with a half-Heavenly Demon. There's a debate to be had as to whether the sex itself was the cure, or if it was Luo Binghe's bodily fluids in any form (curable by his blood as well), but that is all a topic for another post. Regardless, though this created a fuck-or-die scenario, it had nothing to do with fuck-or-die plants. Even in this scenario, the sex was only coincidentally a cure, with the characters not aware of it until afterwards:

The girl thought, “Since I’m about to die, I must leave behind some memories to ensure that my life won’t have been in vain. I don’t have many days left, after all, so I won’t suppress my feelings anymore.” Then, using her weak and fragile body, she pushed Luo Binghe down. (7 Seas, Ch. 3)

Now, we do know that aphrodisiacs do exist in the world of PIDW, but only one aphrodisiac is actually mentioned, which is produced by succubi:

Even if he was Great Master Liu, being poisoned by the succubi’s natural, innate Mesmerizing Fragrance—or in other words, their aphrodisiac, was profoundly…not good! (7 Seas, Ch. 23)

It's perfectly likely for other aphrodisiacs to exist in the world of PIDW, and for plants with aphrodisiac effects to exist, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that such plants may have been used in some of the many, many harem plotlines. However, the aphrodisiac here is an ability belonging to a certain type of demon rather than a plant, and this is the only time where it is mentioned that some external cause is meant to induce lust in someone (Xin Mo is a matter for a future post as well). Rather, it seems that harem members are mainly drawn in by Luo Binghe's power, talent, looks, and generally magnetic appeal, rather than being forcibly drawn in through aphrodisiac plants or specifically fuck-or-die poisons.

Everything in PIDW was about bringing satisfaction to the (male) readers-- so, to determine whether fuck-or-die plants would have been a common plot device, we would need to ask would this plot device provide such satisfaction? It could-- but that would also depend on how it is portrayed. In fanfiction, both parties are often rendered helpless by whichever plot-device plant is being used as a means to get the characters together. In PIDW, though, I feel like it might play out a little more differently-- likely, there would be more plotlines in which Bing-ge himself was not affected, but instead generously helped out whichever maiden was currently afflicted and suffering, through which the romantic relationship was established.

Of course, it would still depend a lot on the specific plotline being followed, so this is more of just a suggestion to consider how the mechanics of such a plant would work to provide satisfaction to PIDW's target demographic, and whether to follow or subvert those expectations and tropes. Alternatively, because of the genre shift that occured during SVSSS, it wouldn't be out of place to include tropes more common to danmei, or to fanfiction, in that universe-- where it may be more common to have scenarios where both parties (especially the POV character) are incapacitated and affected. Every writer, of course, has the freedom to explore whichever tropes and plotlines they wish to-- but it could be interesting to look into genre tropes and see how they may or may not apply.

Typically, these arguments would lead to a neutral rating, rather than unsupported, since there is no direct evidence against the existence of such plants-- however, this post is not primarily meant to address the existence, but rather the prevelence. The existence of aphrodisiac or fuck-or-die plants in the world of PIDW would be neutral or even somewhat likely, but the topic being analyzed is the common fanfiction trope that within the world of PIDW, fuck-or-die plants appear frequently and are a well-known, common threat that the cultivation world's inhabitants must be prepared to face at any time.

I think that if that were the case in PIDW, there would have at least been one single mention in Shen Qingqiu's narration of a fuck-or-die or even an aphrodisiac plant-- perhaps as something that he himself would need to prepare for and worry about after transmigrating. However, there is no such mention-- therefore, while they may exist, it is not likely that sex-inducing plants are an overly common sight in the world of PIDW. The mystical plants seen in SVSSS are either poisons, power-ups, or utilities, and it is implied that most of the many other plants in PIDW would also fall into that category.

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

Exposing TGCF Fanon: 3/∞

QUAN YIZHEN HAS TASSEL EARRINGS:

Rating: FANON - UNSUPPORTED

It is never stated if Quan Yizhen has earrings of any kind in the novel. He also does not have them in the art for the Seven Seas novels. I would rate it as unsupported, since the art for the novels don't always stick with canon (e.g. Shen Qingqiu having green eyes), and it's never addressed in the novel.

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

Exposing TGCF Fanon: 2/∞

XIE LIAN DOESN'T KNOW HIS FOOD IS BAD

Rating: FANON - UNSUPPORTED

Xie Lian's food is known to be inedible to most. So does Xie Lian know this? It is show in the novel that Xie Lian believes his cooking to be ok, and he believes that he has gotten better at cooking. However, each time he opens the pot lid, he becomes aware that the result could kill.

At one point, Xie Lian wants to treat Hua Cheng to a meal, and show off his cooking skills:

"Xie Lian had spent the last few days studying up on cooking and felt he had perhaps gained considerable insight; his heart was full of confidence." Seven Seas book 3, page 301

However, it doesn't go so well for him:

"The moment the pot cover opened and the smell of its contents wafted outside Puqi Shrine, Qi Rong started screaming curses ... Before opening the pot cover, Xie Lian had been full of confidence. Now he doubted himself again -- he had tried his best and exerted so much effort, but it had resulted in this...entrée. Hua Cheng was watching; whatever should he do? Was he really going to make Hua Cheng eat something like this?" Seven Seas book 3, page 304-305

Xie Lian believed he had improved, but then realized that it was still inedible. This quote shows that Xie Lian not only knows his past cooking is bad, but is able to recognize it still is bad. He then uses the food as a threat, telling Qi Rong he would feed it to him if he didn't leave the body (He feeds it to Qi Rong and Qi Rong still stays). This shows that Xie Lian is aware his food could hurt somebody.

Xie Lian attempts to cook again, when Hua Cheng took the form of Lang Ying.

"Not even Xie Lian himself could bear the sight of [his food], and he turned to wash the pot, rubbing his forehead. 'Forget it, don't eat it. Throw it away' Yet after he finished washing the pot and turned around, he saw that Lang Ying had taken a plate and silently eaten the food. ... '...Heavens, are you alright? ... 'Do you feel bad anywhere?' ... Even Qi Rong and Black Water had lost their minds when they ate his cooking, but Lang Ying could actually handle it...Had he been that starving, or had he received an unexpected increase in strength and power?" Seven Seas book 4, page 221

Xie Lian acknowledges that his cooking could make somebody feel sick, but he also occasionally acts as though he isn't aware. I see this as him trying to feign ignorance so as to not embarrass himself. When he's with Qi Rong (who he wouldn't be embarrassed in front of), he uses his food as a threat. When he's with Hua Cheng, at least at the beginning, he feels as though his cooking is something to be ashamed of. Overall, while the book itself seems to contradict and support this idea, I think that Xie Lian is aware his cooking is bad

[svsssfanonarchive]

Exposing SVSSS Fanon: 9/∞

LUO BINGHE HAS CURLY HAIR

Rating: FANON - UNSUPPORTED

Luo Binghe's hair texture in the novel is not described as either curly or straight. There is only one place where his hair texture is referenced at all:

Shen Qingqiu forced his eyes open and looked down, only to find a small head with a curtain of soft black hair. (7 Seas, Ch. 28)

The idea that Luo Binghe canonically has curly hair was likely cemented within western fanon because of the EN TL official art depicting his hair as curly. However, the depiction of Luo Binghe with curly hair as a headcanon originates before the Seven Seas novels were released.

There are multiple editions where the cover art depicts a wavy-haired Luo Binghe, including Burmese, Korean, Thai (though this one is only very slightly wavy, if it isn't just an atmospheric detail), revamped Taiwanese, and of course the English version, which is by far the most curly.

However, all of these releases occured in 2020/2021, which is after the depiction of Luo Binghe with curly hair was already popularized in fandom.

The most likely original source for this headcanon is the fact that Luo Binghe is commonly compared to a sheep or lamb:

Such a selfless and considerate attitude! For a moment, Shen Qingqiu could almost imagine that he was a cute and harmless little sheep grazing on the grass and playfully nudging Shen Qingqiu’s knees, bleating, “baa baa.” (CNoveluv, Ch. 33) With that considerate display of selflessness, for a moment Shen Qingqiu could almost believe that the individual before his eyes was still that bleating, grass-loving little lamb who had huddled behind his knees. (7 Seas, Ch. 6)

This is just one of many such comparisons made throughout the novel-- though the comparison is always made to describe Luo Binghe's personality rather than his appearance, it could certainly draw an association with curly/fluffy hair, and influence the way he is portrayed in fanart.

For example, this post by @/zeldacw from 2018 (a year after the first major EN fantranslation projects began) directly states that this comparison is the origin of that particular artist's headcanon and depiction. By that point in time, the depiction was not yet as sweepingly popular as it became later on, though there had been a few other depictions of curly-haired Luo Binghe by that point in time.

However, by 2019, a comment on the BCnovels translation was made which states: "Many of the fanarts of Luo Binghe that I have seen pictured him with soft curly hair. I’m quite fond of the idea actually, it gives him the innocent child-like image"

By this point in time, the depiction of Luo Binghe with curly hair has taken off enough to become common, but it is not yet assumed to be canon. It's reasonable to assume, though, that the cover artists followed off of this same trend in fandom.

Now that the official cover art of the books depicts Luo Binghe with curly hair, despite his hair texture never being directly stated in canon, the official art is taken to be a canonical depiction especially by new fans joining the fandom through these official editions, and by fanartists continuing to keep up with the trend of drawing Luo Binghe's hair as curly.

However, common fandom depictions give his hair an even curlier, fluffier, or coilier texture than the cover art does.

This has no basis in the novel's text.

One additional statement that is commonly tossed around as a source is that Luo Binghe's hair is described as fluffy. This is an incorrect statement-- nowhere in the novel, whether the official translation or fantranslations, is Luo Binghe's hair described as being "fluffy."

(many thanks to @verycharismaticdragon , @loxare , @mochhio , @nottherailtracer , @iwhateveryou , @danmeiireader for positing potential sources, and @furbygoblinxiv and @cum-villain for timeline sleuthing!)

I've heard it said plenty of times that all Chinese people have naturally straight black hair. This is not true (I say as a wavy-haired Chinese person who gets tired of the erasure sometimes). It's not common, but it's not as rare as people think-- but wavy or curly Chinese hair behaves differently from other ethnicities'. It's relatively coarse and stiff, has a tendency to be frizzy, and (at least in my own experience) almost impossible for there to be any kind of uniformity to the curl, and takes a lot of work to style well-- many Asian people with curly hair will just straighten theirs instead.

One could argue that because Luo Binghe's hair texture is never described as curly or wavy, then there is no reason to think that it would deviate from the typical straight hair. In my opinion, this is significantly likely. Without the EN art, I would certainly not imagine Luo Binghe to have curly hair, and would assume it was straight.

There are also Chinese beauty standards to keep in mind, which overwhelmingly favor straight hair.

Of course, because it is never directly stated whether he has or doesn't have wavy or curly hair, it cannot be said that it is against canon. Furthermore, his appearance has a bit of an idol-like air to it, and some idols do have wavy or curly hair.

Therefore, it is not impossible that Luo Binghe has curly or wavy hair. However, since it would be likely that an uncommon hair texture would be described directly if it were intended to be canon, and Shen Qingqiu's narration would almost certainly have mentioned it with his tendency to gush over LBH's appearance, it is not particularly likely.

There's not really anything wrong with depicting Luo Binghe as curly-haired, and it doesn't even directly conflict with canon-- however, if he does have curly hair, he would have curly Asian hair (albeit, curly Asian hair that miraculously looks as though he had used a complicated hair routine but really he just woke up that way because he is the Protagonist™)-- so if someone isn't familiar with the hair type, it wouldn't hurt to do a little bit of research before drawing/writing about it.

However fans choose to portray it, though, it should not be assumed that Luo Binghe's hair is canonically curly.

[svsssfanonarchive]

Exposing SVSSS Fanon: 7/∞

SHEN YUAN WAS A SOCIALLY AWKWARD, INTROVERTED SHUT-IN BY NATURE

Rating: FANON - UNSUPPORTED

The common depiction of Shen Yuan in fanworks is that he was an antisocial shut-in who never left his room, spending all day reading and commenting on webnovels, and always focused on his computer or phone screen or a book. This is frequently coupled with the depiction of Shen Yuan as chronically ill, as something caused by this illness, but it is also generally used even when such illness is not featured, likely as part of the stereotype of someone chronically online who has the time to spend on making long-winded comments on online forums and reading a 20 million word novel in a short span of time.

However, while canon does not directly state otherwise, the depiction of SY!QQ's personality conflicts with this interpretation and portrays him on multiple occasions as someone who enjoys going out into the world, exploring, and interacting with others, to the point where it is used to deliberately contrast his nature with Shen Jiu's:

At the same time, how could he not want to go out and play? Up until now, he’d been hunkered down inside Qing Jing Peak’s Bamboo House, forced to fake being an awesome master of arts and literature, meaning everything he did had to be done “blandly”: blandly speaking, blandly laughing, blandly practicing the sword, blandly being a poser—bland to the point that he often had the urge to scatter a handful of salt over his head! What a damn pain! And now when he finally got a break to take a trip down the mountain, he was still trapped in his room because of the System’s stance that “the original Shen Qingqiu liked quiet and would be unwilling to mingle.” (7S Ch. 2)

During the years that Luo Binghe is in the Abyss, Shen Qingqiu spends most of his time off the mountain:

During these three years, other than occasionally asking Liu Qingge for assistance in clearing his meridians to treat his poison, requesting medicinal prescriptions from Mu Qingfang, and briefly visiting Qing Jing Peak to arrange leveling missions for his disciples, Shen Qingqiu spent most of his time wandering about the outside world. He passed the days leisurely until an urgent notice from Yue Qingyuan arrived to suddenly summon him back to Cang Qiong Mountain. (7S Ch. 6)

For someone who is a shut-in, especially when fearing (what he thinks is) his inevitable death, it would be far more likely that Shen Qingqiu would shut himself inside the bamboo house as much as possible. Instead, he copes by going out and exploring the world.

After he wakes up in his mushroom body, instead of going off to hide away in seclusion somewhere (which would have been in line with a shut-in, antisocial personality), he instead thinks to immediately try to establish relations with the demon realm:

The first step to starting his all-new life would, of course, have to be proceedings with which Shen Qingqiu was most familiar. First, for a prop, he needed a folding fan, one with a white silk base, decorated with an ink wash painting of mountains and rivers. Shen Qingqiu snapped the fan open and waved it before his chest, sending his long hair and whiskers flying. Perhaps his image wasn’t ideal and was slightly unsuited to said prop, but that didn’t matter. With a folding fan in hand / Badass act at my command... ...this actually opened up a new line of thought. These minor demons had never dared to do more than snoop and thieve here and there. But if he could supply them with an honest channel for small goods, perhaps within this world that revolved around cultivation and monster-fighting, he could forge paths into a new frontier based on farming and amassing capital? Shen Qingqiu irresponsibly fantasized for a while, then felt that if he were to accept underlings, they needed to understand each other’s cultural practices. (7Seas Ch. 9)

He has established good relations with his martial siblings and frequently spends time with them:

Whenever the sect siblings from Cang Qiong Mountain got together, the conversation never stopped, and any little remark could get played on forever. But today, their conversation was extremely short. They usually headed off to Zui Xian Peak to have a meal together... (7Seas Ch. 32)

He even goes so far as to invite Shang Qinghua to visit Qing Jing Peak, before he is aware that SQH is a transmigrator:

“They were harvested from the tea fields of my senior disciple Ming Fan’s family,” Shen Qingqiu said affably. “As for whether they’re high-quality, won’t Shang-shidi know if he comes for tea at Qing Jing Peak?” (7Seas Ch. 26)

Instead of simply hiding away in a house while waiting for Luo Binghe to recover from his deaging, Shen Qingqiu instead goes to get a teaching job:

Shen Qingqiu soon got so bored that his bones began to itch, so he casually took up work at the largest academy in the city. (7Seas Ch. 28)

Throughout the novel, Shen Qingqiu's characterization is consistently established as someone who gets bored when he is forced to stay in one place and do nothing. Unless there is someone providing him with adequate companionship (he didn't travel as much when LBH was on Qing Jing Peak, for example), or he is indisposed in some way, Shen Qingqiu is almost always going out to explore the world and meet people.

Because of the way that he is stressed and bored when stuck inside, and how he goes out to cope with that, it's fairly easy to say that Shen Yuan/Shen Qingqiu is an extroverted person.

Now, does this completely deny the possibility that he was a shut-in in his former life? Not necessarily. It does, however, make it far more likely that he is not a shut-in by nature, and that if he did spend all day in his room, it was likely due to some other factor, such as depression.

Shen Qingqiu is characterized as an extroverted person with an attractive personality, and while his internal monologue can be at times somewhat awkward, the way he is perceived by others is not so. He expresses no desire to hide away in his room all day and becomes unhappy if he has to. He likes to go out and experience new things and meet new people.

The idea that for no other reason than his personality Shen Yuan spent all his time in his room or was antisocial in any way is not supported by canon, and in fact there is far more evidence to the alternative.

[svsssfanonarchive]

Exposing SVSSS Fanon: 4/∞

CHRONICALLY/TERMINALLY ILL SHEN YUAN

Rating: FANON - UNSUPPORTED

It isn't an uncommon thing for fans to headcanon their favorite characters as disabled, or queer, or otherwise having experiences that relate to the fan's own identity or promote fandom diversity. This in itself can be a very positive and affirming thing.

I will reiterate, of course, that this blog is not meant to say that anyone's headcanons are bad or invalid-- no matter what canon says, anyone can have whatever headcanon they please.

However, there is a difference between headcanon and incorrect interpretation.

The idea that Shen Yuan, prior to transmigration, was chronically or terminally ill is something that falls more heavily into the latter category. Rather than being known as a headcanon or even acknowledged as fanon, this idea is often taken as canonical fact or "default" in western fandom.

It does not stem from one person's creative interpretation of a character, but instead from an inaccurate TL note on a passage in an earlier fan translation of the novel.

In this early translation, the following passage:

不过沈清秋要求真的不高，在这边混吃等死，颐养天年，他就心满意足了。反正跟他前生过的日子也没啥差别。

was translated as:

However, Shen Qingqiu didn’t have any high requirements. He’d be content to just while away his time here and wait to die. At any rate, it wasn’t much different from his previous life. (CNoveluv/BCNovels Ch. 3)

Attached to this was the following Translator's Note:

Previous life: Bit of a subtle hint that our main character probably had a terminal illness or something that would have taken his life in time.

(many thanks to @furbygoblinxiv for quotes!)

This TL note is where the idea that Shen Yuan was canonically chronically/terminally ill originated.

However, the assumption is wholly incorrect. The phrase "混吃等死" is a saying which translates literally, to "aimlessly eating meals and waiting for death," but refers to a lack of ambition and general listlessness, or someone who just wastes their life away, not making anything of themselves.

This is in line with Shen Yuan's original description of himself:

From early on, he’d known that even if he idled the rest of his life away, he’d never want for food. Perhaps due to this carefree upbringing, devoid of either competition or pressure, he came to believe that ranking in the top ten of a competition was good enough, so long as it had more than ten people. (7S Ch. 1)

In fact, this same phrase 混吃等死 is used here in the original text, where the translation says "idled the rest of his life away."

In fanworks, Shen Yuan has sometimes been referred to as a "pretty boy waiting around to die," specifically in reference to having poor health in his previous life. This comes from another section later on in the novel:

He based this body on the appearance that he, Shen Yuan, originally had in his past life. It wasn’t as good as Shen Qingqiu’s immortal demeanor, but it could still be considered a pretty good body. The only thing was that it gave off a bit of a dispirited feeling like he was a pretty boy sitting around waiting to die. (BCNovels Ch. 44)

Yet again, this is a translation of the same phrase as before, and while not incorrect in terms of a literal translation, the true intention of the phrase does not carry over well to western audiences.

Within the novel itself, there is nothing that directly implies that Shen Yuan was terminally or chronically ill. The headcanon itself is valid as a headcanon, but not if it is taken as a canonical fact.

Of course, it cannot be entirely disproven either-- which is why this post is rated as fanon-unsupported instead of fanon-conflicting. One could argue that his cavalier attitude toward Without-A-Cure could be a result of past experience with chronic illness, or his general disconnect from his past life and body, and that would be a fair enough interpretation-- however, it could also be explained by something like depression (while I am well aware that depression is a chronic illness, the fanon of chronically ill Shen Yuan almost always is referring to specifically physical chronic illness). Either interpretation would be equally arguable, and fans should choose whichever resonates with them personally to use in their works or otherwise for themselves-- or neither, if they would prefer!

However, it should NOT be argued that chronically/terminally ill Shen Yuan is a canonically-proven fact, as it is based on an inaccurate interpretation by a translator, not on the original text itself , and it should not be spoken of as if it is any kind of erasure for Shen Yuan not to be portrayed as chronically ill.

The idea had already circulated throughout western fandom circles by the time the official English TL came out-- so it was deeply entrenched within fanon by then, and many fans likely didn't pay too much attention to the changes because of this. However, the official translation interprets the two passages listed above the following way:

Still, Shen Qingqiu was a man of few needs; he would have been satisfied just idling away to a ripe old age. In that way, it wouldn’t be that different from how his previous life had been going. (7S Ch. 1)

[Shen Yuan's appearance] just had a bit of a certain listlessness—the listlessness of a worthless pretty boy idling his life away. (7S Ch. 9)

This translation, while not word-for-word, is far more accurate in spirit, and much harder to misinterpret.

Because of misunderstandings such as this one, I highly recommend that fans who have not yet read the official translation do so, as many other such inaccuracies and misinterpretations have been clarified in this translation.