jin guangyao remains THE most compelling and dynamic non-protagonist character in mdzs, and no amount of rudely tagged character hate will change that

"but i hate him and NEED to share that i hate him with anyone who might check the character tags!!!"

🖕😌🖕

no you don't

pov you’re zewu-jun sitting at the newly rebuilt Cloud Recesses library and you glance up. it’s late. it’s almost time to retire to your rooms and fetch some tea.

part 1 of the Cloud Recesses detailed study

What never came across in either translation or the drama is that JGY spoke in kindergarten teacher voice (the one people often say the use to pacify angry customers) almost all the time, esp during guanyin temple.

What could have been part 1/2

text post meme: 3zun pt 1

finally in the process of reading the Guanyin Temple scene and holy shit if WWX isn't the protagonist of all time. We're in the Big Final Confrontation and so far my man has done fuck all except cuddle in LWJ's lap while everyone else is losing their shit and when he DOES finally do something he summons an army of naked, writhing, moaning sex corpses that even his allies just desperately wish Were Not There. stupendous, no notes

just carve a smile into your face and keep it there

Guy on fire since 5 minutes old: "Stop complaining. Being on fire is fine actually. Why don't you just set yourself on fire."

Rip jgy you would have loved excel

Daily reminder that when the Cloud Recesses got attacked, and LXC went on the run and JGY saved him and helped him hide, the Wens were in full power. They were the undisputed ruling clan. So much so that they could demand the other sects to send their heirs to them as hostages, and nearly kill the said heirs, fearing no consequences. And no sect had decided to try anything against them yet. They didn't think that ALL THE OTHER SECTS TOGETHER could do anything against the Wens. (And they truly couldn't if it weren't for Meng Yao.)

A little insignificant outcast like Meng Yao was FUCKED if he was caught hiding away THE Zewu-Jun.

And yet he did it! He didn't like...drag LXC to a doctor and said "I found this mysterious wounded man with an unknown identity. He's your problem now. Ciao. :)" No! He fully took care of him and hid him away and helped him rebuild the Cloud Recesses! (And listen, the Xiyao agenda of the show when Meng Yao specifically thinks of "Zewu-Jun" when he hears about the fall of the cloud recesses while he himself is bleeding on the ground and goes to save LXC after his banishment is very beautiful, especially for LXC. Imagine seeing this cute guy that you developed a crush on with one look and a total of 5 minutes of interaction before the guy left. And then suddenly in your worst & most desperate situation, the guy suddenly appears like an angel like you've manifested him and saves you and nurses you back to health and takes your hand in rebuilding your sect every step of the way. BUT! Book!Meng Yao didn't even know LXC! There has never been a tender hand touch and LXC gracefully saving him from an awkward and cruel social situation! He just saw a man and saved him out of the kindness of his heart regardless of the risks for himself!)

And LXC wasn't even the only person he saved individually. He saved Qin Su, too. if he's saved these two individually who knows if he had saved more people. Daily reminder that JGY is the kind of person who will go out of his way to help people when he can.

Am I obsessed with their narrative parallels? Who can say ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sorry I only have sketches and WIPs now ☹️

The Evidence:

Jin Guangyao is referred to as looking so much like his mother that people mistake the statue of her as being of him.

JGY's mother was widely known as an incredibly beautiful woman.

JGY wears an iconic and silly looking hat (to draw attention to his attained station, even though no one else of the same station in any adaption is wearing that hat style)

My (Totally Correct) Conclusion:

JGY was tired of people looking at him and thinking "what a beautiful woman" so he started wearing a gender affirming hat. Now people look at him and instead think "what a silly hat"

And it's better

Something about the fact that these shots are all grouped together, one after another, visually giving them equal weight just gets me. The narrative knows what's going to happen between JGY and Huaisang at this point, knows how it's going to treat JGY at the end of everything. And it still takes time to show Meng Yao instinctively and immediately going in front of Huaisang and Huaisang instinctively and immediately hiding behind him. It takes the time--literally, showed it in the background and focused on it with the same general amount of time as the other shots--to show that this act of protection and trust are just as real and true as Jiang Cheng defending his sister, as Wen Qing defending her younger brother.

Like, I dunno! There are other Nie juniors there! They have swords and shit! Huaisang could have gone and hid behind the wall, but he hid behind Meng Yao! And Meng Yao could have moved back with Huaisang, but he steps directly in front of him!

There's a lot CQL did to JGY's character and narrative that I don't like and that flatten or just straight up erase his full complexity. But I really appreciate the lengths that it went to in Episode 4 to explicitly tell us that he does not hesitate to protect Huaisang, even though at this point he does not have a sword and definitely does not have anywhere near the same cultivation power (if any) as any of the rest of the people in the room.

Right now, after being publicly humiliated, unarmed and definitely outclassed, he is brave. Along with the rest of the characters, he's allowed to be uncomplicatedly young and loyal and just as innocent as any of the other students there.

AND IT WAS A TIME TRAVEL FIX IT ALL ALONG!!! part 2/2 -› part 1

jin guangyao text post meme