Wei Wuxian and Chinese Virtues of ĺż ĺäťäš
Thereâs a lot of conversation about Wei Wuxian and how he struck out on his path without a concern for the Jiangs; about how heâs reckless and not giving a sh*t about his role within his society; about how he had a family and siblings and threw it all away for his sense of right and wrong. But the way I read his actions is within the context of the virtues of ĺż ĺäťäš (and how the virtues, especially äš, is ingrained in him via the Jiang sect motto). WWXâs major decisions can all be read as him acting in accordance with one or more of these virtues. Even when WWX is being his most irreverent self (and yes heâs rude and bring about a lot of second hand shame) he still remembers the we-self (to borrow from baoshan-sanrenâs post) context as the head disciple of the Jiang Sect. Even when he seems to abandon everything, he didnât abandon his understanding of these virtues.Â
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I keep coming back to one quote in the novel that sticks with me â it is said by Wei Wuxian to Lan Wangji as they say farewell at Yiling.
âćŻéĺ¨ĺˇąďźćŻčŞçąäşşďźĺžĺ¤ąä¸čŽşăâ
And I just want to talk about the sheer genius of this line, because it really is the single line that comes into my mind whenever I see all these really great in-depth discussions around the motivations and morality of the characters. To me, this line encapsulates the core theme of the novel, and the core belief of Wei Wuxian upon which all his actions are founded.
Thereâs been a lot of discussion on Wei Wuxian. Was he right or wrong, selfish or selfless?
But hereâs the kicker â Wei Wuxian doesnât care. Itâs all very meta, because weâre doing the exact thing he talks about when he says that line. He knows people will talk. He understands not everyone will share the same axis of morality as he does â and he doesnât think they are wrong! Itâs just not what he believes. ćŻčŞçąäşş means exactly that â let them talk, let them cast judgment upon his actions based on their own sense of right and wrong. Itâs not up to him what others think about him.
To a person whose family might have been murdered by Wei Wuxian, even to Jiang Cheng, his actions are needless and the consequences could have been avoided. After all, the Wen siblings did help rescue Jiang Cheng and repair his golden core â but doesnât Wei Wuxian arguably owe an even greater debt to the Jiang sect for even being who he is today? Isnât blood (or as close to the version of âbloodâ that he has) thicker than water? Does it not go against the very grain of loyalty to knowingly subject your sect to humiliation and danger to try and save these outsiders (who, yes, are innocent, but so are most of the Jiang disciples)? Thatâs a topic that comes up for debate time and time again, but there again we see the beauty of the phrase âĺžĺ¤ąä¸čŽşâ. Wei Wuxian knows. Or rather, he doesnât know. We all hurry to say, âWell, if he didnât do ABC, then arguably XYZ wouldnât have happenedâ, but at the end of the day, he chooses to never dwell too much on what he has accomplished or destroyed, because he knows he canât control the turn of events, and he canât control the fallout.
Which is to say, Wei Wuxian doesnât give a ratâs ass about anything â âćŻéĺ¨ĺˇąâ. His motivations are individualistic. Heâs not selfish, but he lives by his own set of rules, and thatâs what makes him all the more striking in a landscape where others are bogged down by responsibilities to their sect, to their families and to their traditions. Itâs what makes him set off on a path of what he believes is right, and we respect him all the more for it, because what a strong person he is to stand against thousands for his conviction!
Does it make him a hero? In my opinion, no. I think MXTX makes it clear that it is also this conviction that brings as much misfortune to others as it does to him, and it is this conviction that ultimately causes him to lose control. Iâll say it here â my main gripe with the drama is how it waves off Wei Wuxianâs loss of control as someone elseâs doing in order to strengthen his role as the protagonist. It wasnât. He went overboard and lost control of himself, of the situation â he admits as much in the novel.
I refuse to think of him as a misunderstood hero, but in my mind it strengthens him so much more as a character with complexity, almost like he is a human who, like the rest of us, has to live with the morality of the choices that he makes. And he does so without a problem, precisely because these were the choices that he made.
ooooh. I did not recall that line. ćŻéĺ¨ĺˇą indeed! At one point in the show he even says, 玥äťçťŻćč°¤ćďźéŽĺżć ć§č塲. and thatâs precisely to your point! :D
Gratuitous self reblog but Iâm listening to ć˛ĺ°˝éć on repeat and I just noticed the line:
为äšäščŻş äšćžĺçŹčĺ
For the sake of the promise of YI, I have crafted a flute and abandoned the sword.
Asghfysggsghsfafs!
The song frames the golden core transfer as wwx fulfilling his promise to JC to always support him as JCâs right hand man, as the other hero of Yunmeng Shuangjie.
I said yesterday that this song gives me all the feels and he talks about all the feels, ok? Can I go cry now? I canât take this.
(also, the line indicates wwx made Chenqing himself. I translated the verb as craft but it means to peel or whittle. The novel says Chenqing is made from burial mound black bamboo⌠and boy does that give me thoughtsâŚ)
