Wang Baoxiang, Sexuality, + Effacement
You know what else though... for all this talk about Ouyang (especially that last reblogged post), Wang Baoxiang ALSO has these repeated moments where he could almost have saved himself. And this is where my loyalty-first heart struggled against Parker-Chan's authorial decisions, because I like a character who stays true to their person forever and ever. But I also found it so, so valuable as a contrast to the durability of Ouyang/Esen and Zhu/Ma.
His own sexuality and romantic attachments are effaced over and over again in this really fascinating, palimpsestic way. First we know him as an effeminate man, and the narrative lures us into the belief that it expressly rejects (repeatedly!): that his femininity is a sign of his queerness. (And not just queerness but complete homosexuality and status as a bottom--all those stereotypes!)
THEN we learn about his before-times, and that it was him, not Esen, who enjoyed going to brothels and having casual, fun, reciprocated dalliances with women.
THENNN his own self-betrayal in allowing the Third Prince to fuck him (based on his reputation) turns into a slow-burn romance that starts to give him his humanity back. (Before it's doomed forever, ofc.) And it's never quite clear if he's attracted to the Third Prince, but he absolutely feels something deep and real for him.
AND THENNNN from the darkest place he's ever been, as the Great Yuan, already infinitely corrupted and corrupt, he still can't bring himself to hurt "Lady Shin" (aka Ma). And that turns into something almost true, and we see his humanity really start to come back (i'm thinking of that smile scene when he believes they are going to be parents together... oh my heart).
And of course, at the end of it all, when Zhu claims what's hers (i.e. her marriage to Ma, the throne, the Mandate, her own empire, etc.), Baoxaing is the one and only loose end. Parker-Chan Zhu lets him go and commands him to take a new name and become a new person.
Out of the entire cast, he is by far the most well-suited to this task, as he's effaced and remade himself so many times before. But god... the damage of it all. How can he go on?? I can't imagine him living with that level of new trauma and new betrayal, on top of the crippling homophobia/femme-phobia he experienced as a child.
This series constantly reinforces Zhu's almost supernatural resiliency, because absolutely everyone is dragged through the most torturous events imaginable over and over and over (and just when you thought that was enough, once again). Ouyang, Esen, Xu Da, and nearly everyone else dies, and in some way it is almost a relief. Baoxiang doesn’t get that relief.
I wonder if he does better than Ouyang did in trying to stay after the end....
