tgcf-fanon-exposed

pfp and banner from the tgcf donghua

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

hii!

this blog is the tgcf counterpart to @svsss-fanon-exposed and @mdzs-fanon-exposed :3. both those blogs are the inspiration for this one. this blog, like the others, is made to differentiate tgcf fanon from canon. i haven't seen as many fanon things being accepted as canon in the tgcf fandom, but we might as well make the counterpart!

i will post once or twice a week, and i will be citing the seven-seas translations as my source, but i may reference the donghua/manhua at points. a list of topics i have covered is under the cut :3

i am a professionally obsessed with tgcf -- i have read the novels/watched the donghua multiple times -- so send me asks! it can be anything, as long as its related to tgcf. maybe its something you've seen come up a lot but you aren't sure if its canon, or you just want to see how canon your headcanon is.

i speak minimal chinese, so i sadly cannot reference the original novels very often. i cannot talk about chinese culture as well, as i am unfamiliar with it.

please keep in mind that this is for fun! ill try an answer as many asks as possible, however it probably wont be consistent. i will also try my best to keep a neutral standpoint on everything i talk about as well. just because something isn't canon doesn't mean you can't like it!

Edit: Please note that while I try to differentiate canon from fanon, there is no denying I can be wrong! I would be more surprised if I was always right! And I haven't seen it happen with this blog, but please don't think that every single thing from here is correct. I try my best, but do not take what I say as purely correct. Any work of literature is going to have some level of nuance and many different interpretations will exist. Plus, the EN versions are translated, so some meaning will be lost. And I try not to let my biases get in the way, but they are still there. It is nearly impossible to be completely neutral.

The rating system! I'm using the same one as @svsss-fanon-exposed

CANON: this is supported by the text, and most likely explicitly stated. if you're trying to be as canon-compliant as possible, this rating is for you.

FANON – SUPPORTED: not directly stated in canon, but it's a very likely interpretation! most likely was hinted at or a reasonable conclusion to come to from the novel.

FANON – NEUTRAL: who knows if this is canon or not. most likely wasn't covered in the text, or there isn't enough evidence to swing one way or the other.

FANON – UNSUPPORTED: not directly stated in canon, but it's a very unlikely interpretation. most likely was a reasonable conclusion to come to from the novel.

FANON – CONFLICTING: this idea directly contradicts something stated in the text. if you want to stay as canon-compliant as possible, this rating is not for you.

and lastly, please add onto my posts with more evidence! i'll try to find as much as possible but there is always a chance i missed something.

stuff i've talked about:

CANON

TBA

FANON - SUPPORTED

Qi Rong Has Green Eyes

FANON - NEUTRAL

Mu Qing is a Medic

FANON - UNSUPPORTED

Xie Lian Doesn't Know His Food is Bad

Quan Yizhen Has Tassel Earrings

FANON - CONFLICTING

TBA

CANON EXAMINED

Hua Cheng's String, Eyepatch, Braid + Xie Lian's String

What are the Four Different Ghost Ranks?

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

Could you do a rating on Mu Qing's hair color? I see people saying he has silver or black hair and I want to know if theres a canon answer

Hi! I answered this here

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

love your blog btw, thank you for taking timw to do this!

my question is: where did the “mu qing has silver hair” fanon come from? and has it been explicitly stated in the book what his hair colour is?

Hi! I'll go ahead and answer this really quickly. So apparently the Donghua team originally released promo art that depicted Mu Qing with white/silver hair. Sadly, that didn't continue and Mu Qing in the donghua has black hair.

Additionally (and I looked months ago, so maybe I missed it), Mu Qing's hair color is never stated in the novel. Because it's never stated, you can kind of assume it would be black/brown, since any unusual hair color would have been pointed out, but it's very much up to interpretation.

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

Examining TGCF Canon: 3/∞

WHAT WAS HUA CHENG'S AGE AT DEATH?

Hua Cheng likely died as a teenager/young adult. When Xie Lian first sees Honghong’er, he asks,

“‘How old are you?’ ‘Ten’” Seven Seas book 2, page 265

Jump to the nameless soldier helping Xie Lian in the caves, and serving in the war. When Xie Lian runs into him again, he describes him as,

“This young soldier was clearly only a child, barely of age” Seven Seas book 3, page 84

While the age for “of age” may be different in China, it would be around 18. The young soldier was probably a teenager, maybe 16 or 17. Then, the soldier dies. It isn’t clear how much time passed, but Wu Ming is described as:

 “Based on his voice and physique, he [Wu Ming] was determined to be a “young man.” Seven seas book 6, page 274

Given all of this, Hua Cheng likely died between the ages of 16 and 20. Whenever he did die, he died quite young. 

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

at what age did hua cheng die?

Love your blog btw

here ya go!

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

Hello! I am putting this out there to see if anyone else would be interested in helping me run this blog. I want to post often, but don't have the time with my writing projects. DM me (@circus-complex) if you are interested!

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

I was looking into the difference between the revised/not revised editions of TGCF, and realized it may have an impact on this blog. I own the revised editions of TGCF in Chinese, but have only read the Seven Seas translations (non-revised). I am trying to get a grasp on what changed, but this blog will be functioning with Seven Seas as the basis. If I ever say something that contradicts the revised edition, please let me know! Going forward, if there is something in the revised version but not the original, or vice versa, please tell me so I can make note of it.

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

Difference Between Fanon Exposed VS Canon Examined 

Partially for my own convenience, I wanted to make a post that would differentiate what kinds of asks would get a Fanon Exposed Rating, and what would get a Canon Examined Post. 

Fanon Exposed: A statement that can be proven/disproven. E.g.: Does Hua Cheng call Xie Lian gege?

Canon Examined: A question with no clear yes/no. E.g.: What does Hua Cheng call Xie Lian?

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

Due to other events, this blog may not update much during the month of February. I am trying to stock up on posts, but I will be quite busy this month. Hopefully I can stick to the once a week schedule, but it may go inactive for a short while.

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

I may just not remembercorrectly, but has there been any instance were Qi Rong's eyes have been described as green?

here you go! sorry this took so long, tumblr kept eating my drafts

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

Exposing TGCF Fanon: 4/∞

QI RONG HAS GREEN EYES

Rating: FANON - SUPPORTED

Qi Rong isn’t stated to have a specific eye color within the novel, however he has green eyes in the Manhua and Donghua. While the manhua/donghua aren’t always good sources of information, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume he has green eyes. Hua Cheng had a red eye, and his main color is red. His title (Crimson Rain Sought Flower), also has an allusion to red. Qi Rong’s color scheme is green (and it’s in his name, Night Touring Green Lantern), so he may be the same.

Images of Qi Rong under the cut

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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]

I will be posting once a week, Wednesday, at 6:30 am. Hopefully I will be able to move it up to twice a week once I get more posts queued.

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

Could you please do a rating on the different ghost ranks? I see alot of different terms for the 4 ranks out there, including on the wikis chart. Thank you for your time!

Here it is! Hope the link works, tell me if it doesn’t.

This is another example of the wiki sucking. 7seas used Malice to mean a third tier ghost, but the wiki lists it as a fourth tier. Supreme seems to be first tier across everything though.

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

Examining TGCF Canon: 2/∞

WHAT ARE THE FOUR DIFFERENT GHOST RANKS?

Since TGCF has to be translated, there can be different terms applied to each rank. For this, I'll be using Seven Seas translations, as well as giving the term in Chinese. I'll also talk about what separates each of these ranks.

Fierce (恶, è): The lowest level ghost. Directly translates too evil, fierce, to harm, ugly, coarse, and vicious. These ghosts have the ability to kill a single person. No examples of these ghosts have a key role in the story, they aren't enough of a problem.

Malice (厉, lì): Second rank ghost. Directly translates too strict and severe. These ghosts can kill a handful of people. Some examples would be Cuo Cuo, Lan Chang, Rong Guang.

Wrath (凶, xiōng): Third rank ghost. Directly translates too terrible, fearful, vicious, fierce, ominous, inauspicious, and famine. These ghosts can kill an entire city. Some examples would be Banyue, Kemo, Qi Rong, and Xuan Ji.

Supreme (绝, jué): Highest rank for a ghost. Directly translates too to cut short, extinct, to disappear, to vanish, absolutely, and by no means. These ghosts can lay waste to the entire world. This would be Hua Cheng and He Xuan. Bai Wuxiang could count as one as well.

"A 'fierce' murdered one, a 'malice' could murder a sect, a 'wrath' could slaughter an entire city. As for the most fearsome 'supremes', once they were born into this world, they were destined to bring ruin to nations and people and complete disorder everywhere" Seven Seas book 1, page 52

All translations are from Purple Culture Chinese-English Dictionary. Really useful, I recommend using it! It translates word-for-word, and doesn't automatically assume meanings. Hard to use for English -> Chinese, its meant for Chinese -> English

[tgcf-fanon-exposed]

i added a new section, fanon examined (yes i am using the same as @svsss-fanon-exposed), so if a few numbers aren't lining up rn, thats why

[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