Wei Wuxian and Chinese Virtues of 忠孝仁义
There’s a lot of conversation about Wei Wuxian and how he struck out on his path without a concern for the Jiangs; about how he’s 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 忠孝仁义 (and how the virtues, especially 义, is ingrained in him via the Jiang sect motto). WWX’s 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 he’s rude and bring about a lot of second hand shame) he still remembers the we-self (to borrow from baoshan-sanren’s post) context as the head disciple of the Jiang Sect. Even when he seems to abandon everything, he didn’t abandon his understanding of these virtues.
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I keep coming back to one quote in the novel that sticks with me – it is said by Wei Wuxian to Lan Wangji as they say farewell at Yiling.
“是非在己，毁誉由人，得失不论。”
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.
There’s been a lot of discussion on Wei Wuxian. Was he right or wrong, selfish or selfless?
But here’s the kicker – Wei Wuxian doesn’t care. It’s all very meta, because we’re 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 – and he doesn’t think they are wrong! It’s just not what he believes. 毁誉由人 means exactly that – let them talk, let them cast judgment upon his actions based on their own sense of right and wrong. It’s 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 – but doesn’t Wei Wuxian arguably owe an even greater debt to the Jiang sect for even being who he is today? Isn’t blood (or as close to the version of “blood” 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)? That’s a topic that comes up for debate time and time again, but there again we see the beauty of the phrase “得失不论”. Wei Wuxian knows. Or rather, he doesn’t know. We all hurry to say, “Well, if he didn’t do ABC, then arguably XYZ wouldn’t have happened”, 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 can’t control the turn of events, and he can’t control the fallout.
Which is to say, Wei Wuxian doesn’t give a rat’s ass about anything – “是非在己”. His motivations are individualistic. He’s not selfish, but he lives by his own set of rules, and that’s 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. It’s 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. I’ll say it here – my main gripe with the drama is how it waves off Wei Wuxian’s loss of control as someone else’s doing in order to strengthen his role as the protagonist. It wasn’t. He went overboard and lost control of himself, of the situation – 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. 是非在己 indeed! At one point in the show he even says, 管他绯我谤我，问心无愧而已. and that’s precisely to your point! :D
Gratuitous self reblog but I’m listening to 曲尽陈情 on repeat and I just noticed the line:
为义之诺 也曾削笛舍剑
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 JC’s 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 can’t 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 thoughts…)
