Burn it down AU // on AO3 // extras on AO3

Nie Huaisang doesn't let Lan Wangji know who the man he loved in his youth was and just like that, their fate is changed

(aka the one where nhs and lwj fall for each other instead of pining after men who turned away from them)

warning for self harm

Lan Wangji went to meet his husband, now sect leader Nie, to offer him comfort one last time before returning to the Cloud Recesses, and to gift him a small porcelain bird. He found the other man drunk and clearly depressed, but still appreciative of the present in spite of his state.

“A magpie,” Nie Huaisang sighed. “They’re clever, you know? Mate for life, or so it’s said. Don’t know why anyone would do that, but they do.”

“Hm.”

Lan Wangji sat near his husband, unsure what to do or say to comfort Nie Huaisang when he was so obviously distressed.

“I’ve heard that the Lans too only ever love once,” Nie Huaisang continued, carefully putting away the bird.

“Hm.” It was an old tale, one Lan Wangji had never given much consideration until recent years. He still wasn’t sure how he felt on that matter.

“Do you ever regret that it was Wei Wuxian?” Nie Huaisang asked.

“No,” Lan Wangji replied, the very thought of loving anyone else impossible, repulsing almost. It had always been Wei Wuxian. It would always be Wei Wuxian. To consider anyone else would have felt like a betrayal, like giving in to the voices around him.

“Lucky you,” Nie Huaisang chuckled bitterly, taking another sip of wine. “If I could, I’d choose someone else. Maybe you. At least I’d know where I’d stand if it were you, and I think you wouldn’t be a bad person to love instead of him.”

Lan Wangji frowned. “Huaisang is in love with someone?”

His husband starts laughing, only for it to quickly turn into heavy sobs. Lan Wangji immediately leaned closer to pat his shoulder, as he had done more than once in the past weeks. Nie Huaisang’s tears only doubled in strength. He moved as if he might try to hug Lan Wangji, only to stop himself at the last moment, curling up on himself instead.

“I just want it to stop,” he whined. “I just want things to be good. Nothing has ever been good since the war. I miss the time before, when I didn’t even know I loved him and it was easy! But now I’ve lost all my friends, and I’ve lost Da-ge, and I’m losing you and A-Yuan and… I was happy, I was so happy with you two! Wasn’t it good, all three of us?”

“It was,” Lan Wangji agreed, partly to comfort him, but also because it was true. They had gotten so comfortable together. It had taken a while to get used to this situation none of them had wanted, but… happiness was a good word for what they had built.

Lan Wangji too was sad to lose this, but he knew by then that nothing good ever lasted.

-

Nie Huaisang arrived in the middle of the night, furious and panicked, ranting about his brother’s body having disappeared. Lan Wangji took him to the rabbits’ pen so they could discuss what they had both discovered about the tomb, about a song played wrong, about betrayal from a man Nie Huaisang had called his friend and trusted as a brother.

“I needed to tell someone,” Nie Huaisang sniffed when he was done explaining. “And there’s no one… I can’t trust anyone except you. You’re Hanguang-Jun, you’re the best person I know and I… I can’t do this alone. I need your help.”

For a moment, Lan Wangji stared at his husband, his ears ringing with those words he had desperately wished to hear from another mouth. Once, he would have given anything to be asked for his help by the man he would have wanted as his husband, only to be rejected time and time again.

It wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the right man who had run to him, and Lan Wangji wondered if Nie Huaisang would have turned to him at all, had he had any other option. But it still made something shift inside his chest to have his assistance finally wanted like this.

“Of course I will help.”

Nie Huaisang smiled at him, a weak little smile without much joy to it, but one that spoke of trust and gratefulness beyond anything Lan Wangji had ever received.

-

Lan Xichen was devastated when Lan Wangji and Nie Huaisang told him about what Jin Guangyao had done, but he believed them and offered his support.

“You have a good husband,” Lan Xichen said when he was alone with his brother. “I’m… glad things worked out.”

“I’m glad too,” Lan Wangji admitted. “I am glad you chose him.”

Lan Xichen smiled. It looked so forced that his brother could only notice it, but he kindly chose not to comment on it. After a day filled with such difficult conversations, it did not surprise Lan Wangji that his brother found it hard to rejoice at that time.

-

The trip to Nightless City did not go quite as planned, and what they found there horrified both of them. Lan Wangji was glad neither of them had tried to go there alone, because neither of them would have managed without the other.

It was odd that he had come to make such a good team with Nie Huaisang. Lan Wangji would never have expected that. He’d always believed that whoever shared his life would have to be an exceptional cultivator, his match in all the art, a swordsman beyond compare with who he would go on Night Hunt to right the wrongs of the world. Nie Huaisang was none of those things, but he had proven that he was not a bad person to have at one’s side.

Still, as they rested at an inn that night after attempting to contact Nie Mingjue’s soul, Lan Wangji worried for his husband. First, because Nie Huaisang had been wounded in the fight with his brother’s arm, and was only then finally letting Lan Wangji treat his wound. Secondly because Nie Huaisang was never this quiet normally. His mood worsened with every passing moment, until he looked almost as severe as his brother did sometimes.

“What is on your mind?” Lan Wangji asked as he finished bandaging Nie Huaisang’s throat.

Nie Huaisang shrugged.

“We’d had an argument before he died, about Jin Guangyao. I think he still hates me. He was the only person left in my life who liked me and I’ve made even my brother hate me.”

Lan Wangji’s hand stilled against his husband’s neck.

“Not the only one.”

“A-Yuan doesn’t count. He’s just… he’s still a baby and I’m like family. He just hasn’t grown out of it yet.”

“I like Huaisang,” Lan Wangji corrected. 

Nie Huaisang made an impatient gesture. 

"You're used to me, it's not the same. If you'd had a choice in this, you would have happily gone the rest of your life never talking to me." 

Lan Wangji fell silent, taking a moment to consider that statement. It was true that he only became close to Nie Huaisang because they were forced to spend time together. But the same might have been argued of any pair of friends. Without the right circumstances, people failed to get close even if they were perfect for one another. 

He liked Nie Huaisang. It was a different emotion than the one provoked by Wei Wuxian. Less reluctant. Less desperate also. It was oddly easy to like Nie Huaisang, because their life together had been easy, as if they had been old friends from the start, or old spouses rather. There was no one else Lan Wangji would have trusted so much with A-Yuan, no one else he would have managed to talk to about his worries and hopes. He had never managed to reach that sort of trust with Wei Wuxian, no matter how he had desperately wanted to. But with Nie Huaisang… 

It really had been so easy to like his husband, and it had been painful to lose his constant company. 

"I like Huaisang," he insisted once he reached that conclusion. "I'm glad you were chosen for me." 

"I'm not the person you really want at your side though." 

"Wei Ying never wanted to be at my side."

It hurt. After so long it still hurt. It might never stop hurting to have been rejected again and again by the person he had most wanted, but… but Nie Huaisang gave him a crooked half smile, and took his hand, which soothed some of that old ache. 

"His loss," he said with a warmth and affection that had become rare since his brother’s death "Wangji's side is a good place to be." 

-

It took a while to prepare that final corpse finding spell, and all the while Nie Huaisang’s mental state became worse and worse. It brought back terrible memories for Lan Wangji, of seeing Wei Wuxian slowly crumbling into pieces before his eyes, unable to do anything to help.

Nie Huaisang too tried to push him away, but he wasn’t as good at it, or perhaps he was simply less reluctant to be helped. After what was probably the first true fight of their marriage, Nie Huaisang gave in and agreed to have Cleansing once again played to him. It did not take all his pain away, but he no longer seemed so desperate, and stopped talking about slaughtering every single Jin.

Then finally, after months of patience, the spell was ready for use.

Lan Wangji left A-Yuan with Hou Tianjian as soon as he received the news from Nie Huaisang, warned Lan Xichen that he had to go, and flew straight to the Unclean Realm. Nie Huaisang immediately took him to his house, and started explaining how this would go. It was an unpleasant spell to say the least, using methods that Wei Wuxian would have probably not frowned upon. It made sense that the Nie sect did not want these methods of theirs to become too well known.

"This one will work for sure," Nie Huaisang said, emptying a small vial of blood on a compass. “It has never once not worked since its creation. We’re going to get my brother back, Wangji!”

Lan Wangji dared not asked where the blood came from. At best it was an animal's, at worst a criminal's. Either way, he would rather not know.

But just as Nie Huaisang promised, this time they got a reaction. The compass’s needle started moving, pointing them toward four different directions. It was not a surprise to find that Nie Mingjue’s body had been cut in parts, they’d been expecting it, and yet it was still a shock. Nie Huaisang paled and trembled at this confirmation that Jin Guangyao had truly desecrated his brother’s body in such a manner. Lan Wangji grabbed his shoulder so he wouldn’t collapse, half wishing to pull him into a hug. It seemed like something that Nie Huaisang might need. Before Lan Wangji could act on that impulse, Nie Huaisang had himself back under control and was taking notes as to the direction they should head to first. 

-

They did not go very far for the first part of Nie Mingjue.

They did not even leave the lands owned by Qinghe Nie.

To both their horror, they found the legs of Nie Mingjue inside a mausoleum belonging to the Nie sect. Nie Huaisang explained its purpose while they searched it, his voice growing increasingly desperate with each new use of his blood compass which seemed to point at nonsensical directions once they were inside.

“The walls,” Lan Wangji said when his husband finished explaining how that place worked, what it did, and the horrifying understanding of what Jin Guangyao had done dawned on him.

Nie Huaisang furiously shook his head, tears forming in his eyes that he would not allow to spill.

“It can’t be! I was there when we repaired it! I supervised it, I wanted to be a good sect leader, to take responsibility, I… I would have seen it! All the bodies were whole, I saw it, I saw them!”

“Yet Chifeng-Zun must be there.”

Nie Huaisang wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, and together they opened the wall in the place the compass pointed to. There was a body there, a whole one. They exchanged a look, and without a word Nie Huaisang started undressing that man, checking first his right arm since they had found the left one already, then his torso. Nie Huaisang cried out in horror at the sight of a line of careful stitches attaching foreign legs to that man’s torso, their skin a different shade than the rest of his body.

Nie Huaisang roared like a wounded beast.

“I trusted him!” he shouted, breaking into tears. “I trusted him, I liked him so much! But Da-ge was right, he was always right! I trusted him and he did this, I trusted him…”

Lan Wangji looked at his husband, kneeling next to the half body of his own brother, curled up and shaking from tears and rage. He moved without thinking, kneeling next to him and pulling him in his arms. It did not bother him when Nie Huaisang’s arms encircled his waist to cling at his back, when the other man buried his face against his chest to sob.

Nie Huaisang had long ago become one of those precious few people whose touch Lan Wangji welcomed.

More than welcomed, perhaps.

Lan Wangji rubbed circles on his husband’s back, silently trying to comfort him, to show him that he was not alone, that there was someone else for him to trust. Someone who would not turn on him the way Jin Guangyao had.

Nie Huaisang cried and cried, until he had no tears left, until he was just sobbing and hiccuping in Lan Wangji’s arms, until he calmed down, still clinging to his husband’s back. They remained like this a long while, longer than was safe in such a place. But Lan Wangji refused to be the one to break the contact, not when it felt right to be holding Nie Huaisang who so clearly needed it, and it seemed Nie Huaisang as well refused to be the one to give up on it.

They only let go of each other when they heard the voice of a Nie disciple calling out to them, surprised to find them there on his patrol.

Nie Huaisang quickly tore himself from Lan Wangji’s embrace and went to meet his disciple to feed him a lie about an anomaly he’d detected with one of the entrapped corpses, and how it would need to be discreetly replaced.

Lan Wangji tried not to think too much about how right it had felt to be holding his husband this close.

Fierce corpses and conspiracies he could deal with, but this he was not ready to face yet.

-

It took Lan Wangji over a week to finally understand where the blood used in the tracking spell came from.

When he entered their room at an inn and found Nie Huaisang cutting into his own arm to get fuel for the compass, Lan Wangji felt stupid for not understanding sooner.

“It’s the only way!” Nie Huaisang hissed before his husband could say a word. “It has to be a blood relative or it doesn’t work. If you don’t like it, go away, I’ll find him on my own!”

Lan Wangji said nothing. He closed the door behind him, and put down the tray of food he had bought for their dinner. Still silent, he came to kneel next to the bed on which Nie Huaisang sat, and grasped his husband’s arm. Nie Huaisang barely resisted before letting him inspect the cut. It was deeper than it probably needed to be, and longer too. Lan Wangji sent some spiritual energy into it so it would heal faster.

“I have to do it like that,” Nie Huaisang insisted, nearly pleading now. “I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you wouldn’t like it. It’s bad magic, I know, but…”

“I don’t like it,” Lan Wangji agreed. “Not because it is bad. Because Huaisang is hurt.”

Nie Huaisang huffed, and tried to pull his arm away. Lan Wangji did not allow it.

“Ah, Wangji, careful with what you say. I’ll start thinking you care about me if you say things like that!”

“I do,” Lan Wangji protested.

Nie Huaisang was his friend, his husband, the other father of his son. Of course he cared. He thought he had made it clear.

He would need to make it clearer, because Nie Huaisang gave him a very odd look, as if he were almost scared to hear those words, and that wouldn’t do. He needed Nie Huaisang to know he was appreciated.

“How much blood is needed?” Lan Wangji asked, hoping that subject would be less distressing to his husband.

“That full vial every time.”

It was not a lot of blood as such, but they had been using the compass every day. Even for a stronger cultivator, this would not have been ideal. Lan Wangji quickly gave the situation some thought.

“We stop using it every day,” he decided. Nie Huaisang opened his mouth to protest, but Lan Wangji silenced him with a gesture. “We do not need it every day. We will take note of the direction and follow it. If the direction changes, we act accordingly. Your diet must also be changed to help you replace that blood. I will be monitoring your health.”

“It’s not necessary, I’m just fine,” Nie Huaisang pouted. “It’s just a little blood, who cares?”

“I care,” Lan Wangji reminded him, distractedly stroking the skin of the arm he was still holding. “I do not want Huaisang to be hurt.”

Nie Huaisang stared at him with an intensity neither of them could quite handle, forcing both of them to look away.

“You don’t have to do this,” Nie Huaisang muttered, weakly trying to pull his arm away again. And again, Lan Wangji refused to allow it.

“I have to do this. You are important.”

“To A-Yuan,” Nie Huaisang huffed, a spot of colour on his cheeks.

“To A-Yuan,” Lan Wangji granted him. “To me as well.”

More colour spread to Nie Huaisang’s face, and Lan Wangji felt the other man’s heartbeat quicken. He looked intently at Nie Huaisang, wishing to say something that he could not yet quite put into words, not even in the secret of his own mind. He wanted to explain just how important Nie Huaisang was to him, how much he cared, how deeply it saddened him that Nie Huaisang couldn’t see it, how he wished he were better with words to say it the way it needed to be said.

Lan Wangji hadn’t found it so hard to speak on any subject since he had made a similar realisation about Wei Wuxian, years before.

That, perhaps, ought to have been a clue as to what was happening.

But before Lan Wangji could fully process his own thoughts, Nie Huaisang started complaining about being hungry. That took precedence over Lan Wangji’s internal ramblings. He finally let go of his husband’s arm and went to pick up again the food he had brought. He made sure that Nie Huaisang ate his whole share, even when he accused Lan Wangji of being a nagging mother.

Someone had to take care of Nie Huaisang, and Lan Wangji did not mind being that person.

-

It had been good luck to meet Song Lan, more so than they realised at first.

Of course, Lan Wangji was a little star struck at first upon meeting such a renowned rogue cultivator and being offered to travel together since they were headed the same way. It was hard to say if Song Lan noticed, but Nie Huaisang did and teased him mercilessly over it every time they were alone. Lan Wangji did not mind. If anything, he was glad that Nie Huaisang’s mood was decent enough to think of joking this way. It had become rare since his brother’s death, and Lan Wangji had missed it.

It was good to have met Song Lan.

They only understood how good that had been when a blind girl led them to the place where she lived to meet a man that she claimed was Xiao Xingchen, and they found themselves facing Xue Yang instead.

Lan Wangji and Song Lan fought against him, while Nie Huaisang forced the blind girl to come with him so they could warn Xiao Xingchen of what was happening. Furious to see whatever nefarious plan he had come up with fall apart like this, Xue Yang pulled out every dirty trick he could. In a moment of distraction Song Lan was hit with corpse poisoning, distracting him just long enough that Xue Yang would have had a chance to slice open his mouth, if not for Lan Wangji’s intervention.

It was then that the fog already present around them since the start of that fight grew thicker, blinding Lan Wangji. Xue Yang was light enough on his feet that it made his attack nearly undetectable, the only warning his killing intent.

Thankfully Xiao Xingchen joined them at that point, and it seemed that not being able to see was not a problem for him. Lan Wangji, at that moment, guessed it had to be that the rogue cultivator’s level was simply great enough for it. He only understood later the true reason behind his ease, and cursed Xue Yang all over again.

It was a thrilling fight. To be side by side with two such renowned cultivators, trying to capture a black hearted villain whose crimes could not be denied because he had confessed to them with dark glee… it was the sort of life Lan Wangji would have dreamed of in his youth.

It only occurred to him too late that if Xiao Xingchen was there, then Nie Huaisang might have returned as well. Lan Wangji would have expected his husband to wisely remain hidden, since he was no fighter. And perhaps Nie Huaisang did remain hidden, but not well enough, because Xue Yang found him.

Lan Wangji’s blood froze in his veins when he heard Nie Huaisang’s pained cry coming from inside the fog.

He dashed ahead, following the sounds of a commotion. In the thick fog he spotted two figures struggling, the taller one having the clear advantage, the smaller one trying to protect a third shape curled up on the ground. Later, the blind girl who wasn’t blind in the least explained that Xue Yang had stumbled into the place where she and Nie Huaisang were hiding, and that he had wanted to make her pay for her betrayal. Nie Huaisang had tried to protect her, only to be stabbed. When Lan Wangji found them, Nie Huaisang was trying to stop Xue Yang from pulling his sword away so he could not strike again.

Distracted by this struggle, Xue Yang could not defend himself when Lan Wangji attacked, slashing at him with enough strength to sever his arm. The shock of that wound was such that Xue Yang could not resist the talismans Lan Wangji and Song Lan, alerted by the noise, threw at him to immobilize him.

With this taken care of, Lan Wangji turned to his husband. They were close enough that even in that fog he could see Nie Huaisang smile at him.

“I knew you’d rescue me,” Nie Huaisang said, before collapsing on the ground.

Lan Wangji heard a shout, which he did not realise then was his own. He rushed to Nie Huaisang’s side, inspecting his wound with trembling hands. He swiftly removed Xue Yang’s blade from his husband's body and poured as much spiritual energy into healing the wound as he could, desperate to heal him.

He could not lose Nie Huaisang.

Not him as well.

Lan Wangji was not sure he would have the strength to survive another loss.

He wasn’t sure he’d have the will to survive this.

The universe must have taken pity on him that day, because Nie Huaisang’s wound reacted well to Lan Wangji’s spiritual energy and soon stopped bleeding. Xiao Xingchen, although clearly shaken by everything that had happened, promptly offered to take them to his house so they could better care for Nie Huaisang and make sure that Xue Yang was properly chained up.

Lan Wangji picked up his unconscious husband in his arms, holding him close to his heart as they made their way to the house in question.

Later, when Nie Huaisang’s life was certain to be in no danger, when it was sure that Xue Yang would not escape, Lan Wangji came to sit on the side of his husband’s bed. He took the other man’s hand, needing to feel its warmth, and set out to patiently wait for Nie Huaisang to wake up. Before too long, he had the surprise of being joined by Song Lan.

Song Lan, with that cold politeness of his, enquired about Nie Huaisang. He appeared relieved to find that the other man was stable. His own corpse poisoning had been handled already. Aside from Xue Yang, nobody would have lasting sequels from that fight. Not physically, at least. It would probably take Xiao Xingchen a little time to recover from the ways Xue Yang had manipulated him, but he was a hopeful person and already making plans to leave Yi City so he and that not-so-blind girl could start travelling with Song Lan, exactly as he had once done before Xue Yang ruined his life a first time.

“Sometimes, life gives you a second chance,” Song Lan said, looking outside where Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing were putting their things in order. 

Lan Wangji nodded, his hand still holding Nie Huaisang’s. His husband would be fine with a little rest. His ridiculous, impossible husband who should have known better than to put himself in danger but had done it anyway, because Nie Huaisang was nothing if not dedicated to doing what was right. 

It had never occurred before to Lan Wangji how much Nie Huaisang trusted him. Even though the other man had turned to him time and time again since his brother’s death, Lan Wangji had told himself that it was simply by lack of choice. But the way he had said he knew Lan Wangji would rescue him, as if it had been an evidence to him… and he was not wrong. Lan Wangji had come running at the first sign of trouble. Lan Wangji would have done anything to protect that husband of his, this man he cared so much about that he did not know how to handle it.

Satisfied with that conversation, Song Lan left the two of them alone. Through the window, Lan Wangji saw him walk up to Xiao Xingchen to help him with something. Once, it would have filled Lan Wangji with envy to see the two of them work together like that, their every movement speaking of trust and habit even after years apart. But there was no envy that day. There would not be envy again, Lan Wangji realised.

It took him a moment to notice when Nie Huaisang woke up, but Lan Wangji eventually noticed the more rapid pulse in the hand he was still holding. When he looked down at the bed, he found his husband looking back at him with an expression he could not quite read.

“You saved me,” Nie Huaisang whispered.

“You knew I would,” Lan Wangji replied, letting go of his husband’s hand to push away the hair that had fallen before his eyes.

Nie Huaisang smiled weakly, leaning into that touch. Without thinking about it, Lan Wangji cupped his cheek, which made the other man’s smile widen.

“Ah, Wangji, Wangji,” he sighed. “I’ll be getting ideas if you keep being so nice to me, so you should stop.”

“They would be the right ideas,” Lan Wangji calmly replied.

He felt Nie Huaisang flinch, saw his eyes widen as if in fear.

“Wangji, don’t make me hope for something I can’t have,” he whispered. “I can’t go through that again. I know who you want, who you love.”

“I want a man who stands at my side and is happy there,” Lan Wangji said as he gently stroked Nie Huaisang’s cheek with his thumb. “I love a man who sees me and finds me worthy of trust.”

“Lans only love once.”

Lan Wangji huffed at that old tale. He had never thought of it in his youth, before clinging to it with desperation when everyone tried to order him to turn away from Wei Wuxian. Now, though, it felt as nothing more than a story, a cautionary tale to encourage Lan children to be careful with their affections.

“Not all Lans,” he stated, leaning forward to carefully kiss his husband.

Nie Huaisang gasped against his lips, but did not push him away.

It was a sweet first kiss, Lan Wangji thought. Different from the one he had stolen on a tree, so many years before. Nie Huaisang’s lips were a little parched but retained a certain softness, and he was leaning eagerly into the kiss rather than fighting to escape it.

When they parted, Nie Huaisang was smiling more brightly than he had in months. More brightly than he ever had before, Lan Wangji thought, and the realisation that he was the cause for such happiness made him smile as well.

He then kissed Nie Huaisang again, simply because he could, because it was allowed, because it was welcome, because he loved this man he had married, with whom he was raising a child.

Lan Wangji loved him and after that second kiss Nie Huaisang returned those words to him before kissing him again, and again, both of them too happy to stop.

Psssst, if you want an excuse, here it is. tell me about that sunshot campaign AU. I wanna know.

*rattles my headcanons like cat treats for all the nhs stans*

OKAY, SO. I'll give you the extremely abbreviated version ahahha it’s still hella long, but- listen-  I have this very specific, absolutely ooc Nie brothers Sunshot au that I like to return to now and then. 

(Also sorry for the delay, Anon, for some reason this hc was hard to pull from my brain into reality so please forgive the lack of grammar as i wordvomit some impromptu worldbuilding.)

Context:

1) I saw the Unclean Realm gate and I a complete historical architecture nerd but also cultural noob said that is a place that knows siege warfare.

2) I like to think that there’s this untapped geopolitical history between Qishan and Qinghe that is just begging to be explored, re: the use of children throughout history as political hostages 

(Consider: young second master Nie Huaisang being yeeted into Qishan, and knowing Wen Chao and Wen Qing and Wen Ning before that confrontational scene in the Gusu arc - big yes. I have a scene for that specifically that is Adjacent to this. 

But ALSO consider: second master wen chao being yeeted into Qinghe at a young age and spending time with nhs and nmj and just being a more 3d character in general with Complex Motivations and Things. 👀👀 juicy villain backstory hello i was not ready for my brain to take this turn today)

3) Also, on the topic of backstory, you can prise nhs referring to lwj as “wangji-xiong” ("wangji-ge") from my cold dead hands.

4) I like to imagine, thanks probably to fanfic like come from my inkstone, that Huaisang has been involved in the logistical side of the Sunshot campaign, running supply trains and stepping up to govern the Unclean Realm in his brother’s stead because nhs in this fic has Political Smarts and Things (the “things” is Feelings and I stan this ot4). 

And finally,

5) to frame the rough start of this au, i have a Specific Scenario, which is borrowed heavily from this fic, without you (i don’t know what i’d do). In the fic, nhs basically rides all the way from Qinghe to the Nie camp to warn nmj of an attack on the Unclean Realm only to collapse dramatically off his horse and I live and breathe that kind of commitment to hurt/comfort, so of course I incorporated that into my headcanon.

Okay wait one more thing to note, 

6) all this backstory is absolutely saturated in my Nie brothers feelings from Fatal Journey. *plays Qinghe Jue on repeat* Just, yknow, peppering in that Nie sect-centricity. 

So - finally - the AU:

- nmj is alerted by zonghui because we stan one disposable spin off character of a single rider galloping towards their encampment. it’s huaisang, his plain riding gear (basically the main fatal journey outfit) splattered with mud, his horse foaming at the mouth im sorry horsie.  the dire owl is arcing low in the sky, screeching its omens, and nmj is afraid.  

- nhs dismounts from his horse already pushing past nmj, towards the tent with the battle map. blah blah insert drabble and nhs being all exhausted but determined to lay out the updated positions he’s memorised, that Nie temper trickling out. nhs informs nmj that the unclean realm is under siege, the enemy taking advantage of nmj’s distraction and the lack of seasoned warriors left in Qinghe. in my head, the enemy is an external force that qinghe, as a border country, has dealt with on their own for decades. tbf i’d need to check the actual map that flashes past in the drama etc to say how accurate this is (probably not very, but i crave cultural nuance and worldbuilding). 

- this puts the nie sect in a precarious position. nmj must lead the campaign against wen ruohan, but an external force (perhaps allied with the wen) threatens their homeland. nmj himself cannot go, and cannot spare many men. he cannot be in two places at once. he almost despairs, right then and there - if they win the sunshot campaign, but lose the unclean realm, what becomes of his sect?

- and huaisang is smiling at him, a little sadly, as if he already knows how this conversation plays out, as if nmj does too- “dage-” “no.” “-i will go.”  it’s practically suicide. his didi, with all his knowledge of strategy, knows nothing of battle. but here he is, offering to fight the invading forces in his stead, with only the handful of men that nmj can spare. loyal men. men who would rally behind their second disciple without question, because despite his flaky attitude, nhs- “what kind of nie would i be,” huaisang says, too calmly and too flippantly, “if i did not defend our ancestor’s land?” then, almost gently,  “we are nie. if we are to die, we should both meet it on the battlefield.” nmj stares down at his knuckles, white against the curling yellow map that spells out their defeat. memories of their father pressing behind his eyes.  

- the next morning, after some moving backstory about nhs and nmj and filial piety on which the entire believability of this character development rests so ofc I haven't written it nhs has his hair braided up into a different style by his brother - easier, for riding. for combat. the nie know what it means. he is still in those plain robes, sleeves cinched for battle. but a sabre rests at his hip and his brother’s hairpins glint in the cold morning light. behind him, six other disciples including zonghui, sit atop restless horses, waiting nmj’s nhs’s command. nhs smiles up at his brother, who cannot help the deep, distressed frown that saturates his whole face. “dage,” he says, gripping nmj’s elbow and resting their foreheads together. “let’s be brothers in our next life.” 

- “xichen,” mingjue says eventually, his breath barely mist in morning air. “i have sent my little brother to die.” as serene as the white silhouette beside him appears, lxc’s grip on his elbow is like a vice, tight with anxiety and unspoken fear. big brother solidarity in this trying time.  

- there is no word from nhs for a long time. nmj sits at the victory banquet alone, the table to his left set, but empty. then- 

running footsteps. a disciple, in qinghe greys. “zhongzhu!” 

nmj is only tangentially aware that grip on his cup could crush a man’s throat. before he can bid the man to speak, however, the herald announces an arrival, his voice booming through the hall and cutting all curious chatter - “Nie-er-gonzi!”

nhs swans into the hall, fan wafting a leisurely tempo against his satisfied grin. “Dage!” he calls, “You started without me!” 

Nmj surges from his seat and is halfway through the hall before he even realises it, sweeping his brother into his arms. “Huaisang,” he says, chin tucked against the crown of his brother’s head. he means to say- a lot of things. but by the tightening of nhs’s arms around his waist, nhs already knows.

- against all odds, they’ve won on both fronts. zonghui himself isn’t sure how it happened but yes nhs absolutely just talked his way out of a battle because his tongue always was as sharp as qinghe steel. and no, master, er-gongzi is still absolutely hopeless with a sabre, we saw like ten minutes of actual combat tops. but we did manage to strike some sort of political deal nhs is like 64% sure you’ll hate but will eventually see sense about. it’s cool, this won’t come back to bite him in the ass after you die at all. 

- resume canon plot.

...

that’s it anon that’s all i got

i got a little carried away at the end but t’s the short version i swear

anyway i hope you enjoyed my ooc sunshot au in which nhs is the bamf his character arc deserves.

LARATTDMA (long ass ramblings about things that don’t matter, actually)

“why does jin ling flinch in cql if jc allegedly has never hit him?”

well what... were you expecting him to do? let’s start with that. jin ling is a cultivator in training, and it’s a profession where quickness of reflexes can decide on whether you live or not. is he supposed to stand still? i know he got himself caught in a man-eating tomb but cut him some slack

(why does no one make this kind of analysis about lwj surprise attacking wwx with a sword to his throat, repeatedly, i wonder)

BUT ALSO:

i don’t know, it’s weird. why was there a closeup on jin zixuan making a weird face when lxc was forced to drink alc in jinlintai? why is xuanwu turtle’s tongue wiggling so sensually? why is xue yang, judging by his facial expressions, clearly daydreaming about having a very fun orgy with everyone present during his way to/stay at the unclean realm? i do not know. why did jc even raise a hand in that moment? in earlier episodes, he didn’t bat an eyelash when jin ling was being more bratty than that. watsonian explanation: they both just got through an emotional wringer, repeatedly, so while it’s not the coolest thing about their very last appearance in the show, one kinda can excuse slightly “ooc” behaviours because... trauma. loads of it.

no, honestly, i’ll need to rephrase that: T R A U M A jiang cheng’s life in particular is one long trauma festa and it super doesn’t whip my cream when people act understanding towards wwx but hate jc for how they dealt with it. it’s not as simple as ‘well wwx got fucked up and he was a gentle loving soul, meanwhile jc was a cunt’. no, bro, wwx’s suffering didn’t make him kind, wwx’s suffering made him aggressive, distrustful, and self-harming. i understand that in our world it’s noble and virtuous to set yourself on fire so others can grill their sausages, but aside from that, i feel it’s important for us to know that it’s not good. i often say ‘learn to internalize it like a normal person’ but this is because i, too, am fucked up and trying to be funny about it. hurting yourself instead of hurting others isn’t a BETTER coping mechanism. they’re both bad. they both suck ass. is that clear

doylist ponderings:

in general, though, this is an example of things the show does that would probably make more sense in the novel, but not exactly in the show itself. here, jiang cheng raises a hand on jin ling, jin ling covers his face, and jiang cheng slowly drops his hand. this would make sense, but only if:

jiang cheng has been repeatedly shown hitting him before, giving us a theme, a pattern that would break in this scene, and

jiang cheng, for some reason, was prone to forgetting that jin ling is his sister’s son.

because what do we hear, very briefly? the yunmeng siblings/jyl theme. hand raise -> the theme -> hand drop. if you ask me to compile things jc is aware of 100% of the time, “jin ling, the son of his sister, is his only remaining family” would be the first thing on the list, and “shijie and wei wuxian were the most important people in his life and take a closer look at how that ended” would be the second. sure, jc is rough around the edges, but as it’s been actually established, his threats are empty. he’s rough in everything, also showing affection.

maybe it’s the difference in upbringing (of the fans), but i’ve never even considered that his threats of leg breaking had a sliver of sincerity in them. both wei wuxian and jiang yanli know that. idk, it’s just... a really familiar thing to me, not only in my family but also in my surroundings, and i’ve even heard it from more laid-back teachers, and again: everyone was aware it was a joke. i’d have to be given additional context to hear something like “just try catching a cold and i’ll strangle you” as anything other than a display of care and fond exasperation. and it doesn’t have to be visibly, audibly fond for it to work! it really doesn’t! it’s the matter of knowing people. i’ve had teachers turn their stern gazes upon me and ask what are you saying? and i knew it was a joke, the teacher’s way of saying now this doesn’t make a sliver of sense. see: the wonderful scene in lotus pier w/ pretending to throw up the soup in episode 24. so again, when jin ling says his uncle never hits him and his threats of leg damage are only talking, i have no problem believing him.

all in all, it’s a difference of approach. if you decide jc is an abusive, toxic asshole who vents his self-loathing onto poor jin ling, then no matter where you look, all you find is the proof for that. similarly, if you think jgy is a lying, manipulative rat, his tears will look fake and his explanations will be nothing but cheap excuses to you. and like, i’m not objective either because i, for one, relate to jc a lot and it’s easier for me to understand him and his behaviours (in case it wasn’t clear lol) but like. we remember what the moral of the story was, right? that nothing is purely black or purely white? rings a bell? yyyyep

I was scrolling through my dash, as one does, and saw .gifs of the scene where the juniors are defending WWX to Sect leader Yao, and I was just smiling and thinking “ah, the kids are all right this time, it will be better”. And then I realized that ... the kids were all right the previous generation, too? And it would have been so easy to see them band together, especially after everything?

Hear me out. In essence, there’s no difference between the juniors and the ... OG juniors. (We need a name for them. Is there a name for that generation??? Cause we have the parents, and we have the juniors, what are WWX&co named??? Whatever, I’m sticking with OG juniors.) Each of these groups went through shitty situations, the OGs arguably through worse with the war and all. But before the war, we have 2 major bonding moments: the Cloud Recesses classes, and the Wen indoctrination. What if they actually bonded together, and their relationships were more flushed out? (Keep in mind I only saw the live-action drama, so that’s what I’m basing everything on.)

So, Cloud Recesses. You have the Jiangs, and then NSH, LWJ, WN and WQ added to the group, more or less willingly. JZX is still being a little bitch, but whatever, he’s there too, along with MianMian, who is arguably his biggest contribution. I will admit, there are ... levels ... of closeness. But you have the three gremlins getting together, and LWJ pulled in (again, levels), you have star-struck WN and tough WQ (who, need I remind you, took care of JYL at least once, which I bet the latter will not forget). You have LQR spitting blood because the boy is definitely his mother’s son, but LXC smiling indulgently, seeing his little brother finally make friends. (And LQR will remember that CSR was mischief made human form, and her son definitely follows in her footsteps, but both of them wanted always to help and not destroy, so there is definitely something wrong with the accusations that WWX wants to take over the world. And LXC will remember the Wen boy who stayed behind to save one of their own, and the Wei boy who dived in to help them both, and will not believe the grim tales of the fierce Ghost General and the Yiling Patriarch.)

After CR, WWX/LWJ/JC/NHS have their little murder adventure, with a WQ cameo.  LWJ is added to the gremlin dynamic and sure, he might not feel like he fits in at first, but WWX cannot seem to stay away from him, and he suffers in silence with JC while WWX is being an idiot and risking his life, omg, stop that, get down you demented cat, and then finds that there’s a certain bond little brothers with big brothers larger-than-life have, and maybe having two more friends is. Acceptable. They’re all supposed to be 15-16 at this point, teenage boys that started this adventure fully confident, at least on the outside. And then Xue Yang happens. And this is, I think, one of the biggest turning point for these four. Because, to a certain degree, all of them rely on rules. Their own, if nothing else. And here is a guy who just ... wants to see the world burn. He kills with no remorse, admits it gleefully, and is just awful in so many ways. This is their first brush with how brutal the outside world is, when they start to doubt themselves and their convictions. But then! XXC and SL appear, and it’s a breath of fresh air! Because there are terrible people and worse situations, but as long as they hold fast in their beliefs and work together and trust eachother, they can beat them!

So they go to the Unclean Realm, and they meet Daddy NMJ. And he’s been watching them approach, and he sees his little brother laughing with the boy in black, he sees him cackling while the one in purple is swinging his fists around; he sees him share a smile with Xichen’s little brother while the other two are laughing so hard they’re bent over so far they’re almost falling to the ground. And he doesn’t show it, because the Red Blade Master is gruff, and tough, and mighty, but in his heart he’s already adopted these kids who include his baby brother in their circle with so much ease, it’s hard to imagine him on the outside. (And in the future, when people are yelling about WWX’s darkness, this is the image he will have in his head: four boys being innocent and happy and his, how dare you try to touch them?!)

Cloud Recesses burns. LXC is nowhere. And then. The biggest paradigm shift - the indoctrination. Everyone arrives in Nightless City. The three OG gremlins watch LWJ back to his jade statue default, they lose their swords, they are on the same side with JZX and WWX/JC don’t know which one of these frustrates them more. It should be the looming war. It’s probably the JZX part. Now, I assume they spend at least a few weeks there, I don’t remember if it’s mentioned. But WWX always tried to get in front, to catch WC’s attention. (Because he’s the disposable one, right? High enough in status that WC is satisfied when he gets to punish him, but not a sect heir, not someone who will bring down a whole sect if he dies. Little does he know.) So don’t tell me that the others don’t rally around him. (Discreetly of course. They learn fast that he just gets more protective if others are hurt because of him.) There’s nothing stronger than a common enemy, and the Wens and WC, specifically, are definitely that. So they watch, and they remember WWX being beaten, whipped, humiliated, all so that others will not be. Not to mention that one night that he doesn’t tell even JC about, because it would crush his little brother to know he couldn’t keep his promise. They remember him staying behind so that they have a chance to escape the murder turtle. (And after the war, when the adults will try to damn WWX for being too arrogant and too prideful, the OG juniors will remember the kid who stood up to the Wen clan and has the scars to prove it, and all to protect them. Where was Jin Guangshan? Where was Sect leader Yao?)

Lotus pier burns. WWX disappears. JC and LWJ look for him for 3 months. And then. And then he comes back. And he burns the Sun to the ground, using dark cultivation and corpses and no sword, and everything that they were taught not to do, ever. And he succeeds where everyone else fails.

Afterwards, when the dust settles but not really, when life comes back to normal but not quite, when things become too boring apparently, the young ones see their elders muttering. And gossip. And look a bit too much at WWX, too closely. But this was a generation forged in the fires of war. They were not like their parents, who had time to figure out their shit and then go to battle, no. They were kids when it all started. There are no more kids amongst them now.

So when the minor sect leaders, subtly encouraged by JGS and JGY, talk about the “young” LC being a leader at such a young age with honeyed words that hide rot, NMJ and LXC rise to his defense. Both of them became sect leaders at young ages, both of them know how hard it is. LQR rises as well and the older ones expect him to be on their side, but they forget LQR got entrusted with a clan and 2 children that he was not supposed to have, so he will never demean another who was in an even worse position, but rose to the occasion despite everything that happened. The Lans promote knowledge and learning above all, and many people can learn a lot from Sandu Shengshou, wouldn’t you agree Sect leader Yao?

When the Jin sect complains about the Stygian Tiger Seal, rumors begin to spread from behind hand painted fans that they are after the artifacts of other sects. After all, does WWX not belong to YungmengJiang? Therefore, do his creations not belong to the sect as well? Who’s to say they won’t go after the treasures of the other sects next?

When JYL destroys Jin Zixun at Phoenix Mountain, JZX steps up to the plate and stands behind his fiancee. WWX is obviously her little brother that she cares deeply about, he will be his future brother-in-law, and honestly Zixun where were you even during the war?? You have demands now because?? Go shoot some arrows and chill. (JC is just standing there with crossed arms, looking at Jin Zixun without blinking, keeping a tight grip over Zidian who is the definition of  “lemme at him!!!” Jiejie doesn’t like it when he slices and dices people, although she’s not leaving much for him to chew on. It’s the most fun he’s had in years.)

When JGY sweetly suggest that there might be a viper poised to strike them in the back, NHS innocently asks “but San-Ge, didn’t your blow to WRH’s back help us win the war?” (NMJ has never loved his brother more than when he roasts JGY. Really, he could cry with pride. Here, A-Sang, there’s that fan you wanted. I ordered new birdcages to be build back home, you can have all the birds you want. Training is ... postponed.)

When news about the labor camps and the slaughtered Wens are revealed, many stay silent. A few of them cheer. But there are also a few that remember a boy willing to save someone from drowning, willing to risk his life to save the dead bodies of two parents. They remember the best doctor of their generation helping them heal, and rest, and save their loved ones. They remember that they are not the only children who were taken by this war, that they were not the only ones forced to make awful choices that haunt their dreams. They remember that it’s easy to stand back, but yet there was always one who stood up for the others, who would stand up for them, so how can they not stand with him now when he most need it?

WWX is not alone. The YungmengJiang clan is not alone. These kids went through hell and back in the past couple of years, and they will be damned if they will let another rise in WRH’s place. This ends now.

Untamed rewatch Episode 10

GREMLIN TIME GREMLIN TIME

-see the first time I watched this, I misread xingchen having tracked xue yang entirely and i thought xxc and xy had known each other for a While...like xue yang was his evil ex or something. that impression intensified when song lan was introduced. I still kind of stand by that interpretation lol, it’s funny 

-xue yang deeply fucking obnoxious but i love

-“let’s just watch” oh my god wwx. you could’ve pulled him off balance with that talisman way more than you did, you know. I know you’re getting your own personal martial artsmovie here, but come on dude

-this fight is really cool tho!! I love yi city gang!!!

-xxc’s tiny smile when he says “Zichen” just fuck me up

-“I happened to hunt nearby” uh huh, I’m sure song lan, you just HAPPENED to BE IN THE AREA...

-ahh everyone admires songxiao so much! lwj actually smiles the tiniest little bit when he says their titles, which is adorable, and wwx and jc are also clearly impressed. honestly I can imagine them all nursing secret dreams of being independent cultivators for a while after this

-one day I’ll write a very unfortunate wwx/xy ship manifesto and it’ll just be this scene

 -xue yang’s expression when wwx asks why he killed the Chang clan...chilling. there’s so much here that hits harder on a rewatch, wow.

-oh wwx calls him xiao-xiong, cute-I wonder what meng yao’s motivation is in asking songxiao to come back to the unclean realm with them - trying to secure advantages for his sect?

-I love wwx being like “oh you guys are just like me and lan zhan!!” like, the “young queer person just starting to figure themselves out sees themselves in older gay couple” vibe is so strong and like. I really do have a lot of feelings about it

-I also feel very deeply about this one-minute conversation wwx and xxc have. wwx wants so badly to know about his mom :( and xingchen is so kind about it. I think it’s interesting what his expression does when he mentions not being able to go back. he misses living on the mountain a little, I think. it’s amazing how much character he’s invested with for how little we ultimately see of him. -“don’t forget me xingchen!” hoo boy. 

-again, I originally interpreted those glances songxiao give each other as “that’s your creepy ex right?” “yeah, don’t worry about it, I’ll explain later”. amusing in hindsight.

-lwj gazing after xxc and sl as they leave, and the look he and wwx share...the sheer amount of Longing infused into this episode is...wow.

 -I think this meeting plants some seeds for lwj’s later choices, too. it clearly does for wwx, he’s very gung ho about the idea of working together based on likemindedness rather than blood, but lwj needs some more time to admit to himself that that’s what he wants. 

-hey is lwj smiling a little when they get to the unclean realm? I wonder if he’s spent a lot of time here with his brother

-cannot pay Any attention to what anyone is saying at the unclean realm cause I’m just watching xy’s stupid face

-ooh evil summer camp is coming up

-hey nmj calls him wangji, that’s cute and interesting. it’s clear he and lxc have known each other for a quite a while, so he probably is at least friendly with the younger Jade by association

-the first time we watched this scene with xy and nmj, my sister was, like, pretending to do xue yang’s internal monologue, which was mostly variants on “yes daddy” and I had to tell her to shut up because I was laughing so hard

-WHEN THEYRE TALKING ABOUT HOW NMJ VALUES MENG YAO, XUE YANG IS GIGGLING IN THE CORNER...DOES HE THINK THEY’RE BANGING

-xue yang and meng yao do a Lot of significant glancing at each other this episode. game recognize game. I wonder when meng yao decided that xy was an asset to him

-if the unclean realm had a decent HR department we could’ve avoided all this

-the xue yang-xue chonghai connection is stupid and does significant damage to xue yang as a character, the whole point of xy is that he’s got no background and no ancestry, he really is just some asshole who does what he wants

-oh hey it’s wen zhuliu

-okay but why does Netflix translate red blade master but no one else’s title

-the earnest shock and hurt on nmj’s face when meng yao kills the captain...ouch

-legit thought meng yao was gonna be killed at this part the first time I watched it 

-around here my mom asked if yanli was the only actual female character (this episode is a complete sausagefest) and I was like no...except...yeah...the women situation is so dire in this show, and like it’s partly from the source material, but still. it irritates me whenever I pay attention to it. 

-does wen chao call xy a tragic lad...what

-nhs pacing anxiously with his fan while his brother confronts meng yao...yikes

-my mom thought nmj and meng yao were actually brothers for some reason?

-“I don’t regret having met you, chifeng-zun” really rhymes with “if I could die by your hand it would be worth it”, huh. his expression, too

The Untamed / MDZS, resources post, stuff I needed as a writer

ORIGINAL POST AT DREAMWIDTH! (and updates will be there too and maybe on tumblr, if I remember)

(this is a copy paste, the formatting might not survive)

(also available on AO3)

The Untamed / MDZS, resources post, stuff I needed as a writerApr. 11th, 2020 05:46 pm ateanalennFinding info for this show / how to write about / pitfalls to avoid was a pain :( I guess that's part of having fandom on Tumblr. Since Tumblr's search function only works by selling a kidney and sacrificing a goat, I had to rely on Google. Which, not great. Anyway, useful stuff I found to understand this fandom: • MDZS on Dreamwidth: theuntamed_mdzs (active) mxtx (community focused on all the works by the author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. Not active, but it's there) theyilingweisect (community sharing fics, meta, discussions. Not active either since jan 2020) • MDZS aka Mo Dao Zu Shi (book) aka Grandmaster of Demobnic Cultivation / The Untamed (drama) (there's also an audio drama, a manhua, a donghua, ...) - the novel's en glish fan translation at Exiled Rebels (complete ) As far as I know, this is the most popular translation, though I would like to know if anyone has another translation that they think fit best. - the drama is streaming on Netflix, Viki, WeTV & Youtube. From what I heard around, Netflix and Youtube are the most accessible, obviously, but Viki has the best subtitles (and a whole lot of annoying pubs though). I think that I heard somewhere that there are fan subtitles made, will update if I find the link again). • About names: • The Untamed: A Primer Basically an overview of what is this drama, a few spoilers (but under arrows to open so less risks to see something you didn't want to see). Useful list of titles for the main charas! (ex: Wei Wuxian:    Young Master Wei    Wei Ying (use of this name denotes “I feel affection for you”)    The Yiling Patriarch (use of this name denotes “I think you are evil”)    A-Xian / Xianxian (use of this name denotes “I am your loving older sister, have some soup”)    Lan Wangji:    Second Young Master Lan    Lan Zhan (use of this name denotes “I feel affection for you”)    Hanguang Jun (use of this name denotes “I respect you, and you are also famously very beautiful”)    Wangji (use of this name denotes “I am your older brother and I wish you’d make a friend”) ) • Another primer tumblr by sonickitty with a few where-do-I-find links • Alexandra Rowland explains What Is The Untamed twitter (with pics) • How Ancient Chinese Names Work - Learn from The Untamed Detailed explanation of what's going on with the names (aka Lan Wangji, Lan Zhan, Hanguang-jun) • Dramatis Personae for Modao Zushi the book dw (another detailed who's who/names list) • Names again, Chinese/Mandarin conventions twitter (aka ex the accents aren't necessary, they're there for pronunciation and some explanation of who would use full name/shortened name) • Infographic: birth name vs courtesy name vs title vs respectful address  twitter • Quick table / honorifics guide tumblr by cleyra • Mo Dao Zu Shi | 魔道祖师 The various adaptions tumblr by gravitydefyingtears • A list of MDZS FanFic Common Misleading tumblr by kazeki • A conversation about linguistic register, Lan Wangji, and I guess Wei Wuxian can come too tumblr (pretty important text to understand how lwj speaks) • Writing Lan Wangji's speech patterns (aka say the most in the least words) and the follow up Lan Wangji moving into the lowest, most vernacular linguistic register to try and get through to Wei Wuxian tumblr by hunxi-huilai • Using "You/I" vs "Title-as-you" tumblr by hunxi-guilai • Sword names tumblr by hunxi-guilai • Honorifics: jun vs zun tumblr by hunxi-guilai • THE spreadsheet: Mo Dao Zu Shi Character Name Chart, recced by flamebyrd (of who uses what for whom) • Misc Info: • 59 slides of awesomeness by chatcolat. Who's who, plot summary, humor. Beware, so full of spoilers you'll cry if you want to keep some mystery, but! concise recap of what happens in the show to keep the timeline in mind. • Everything about those cultivation sects in ‘The Untamed’ Quick who's who of the various sects (Gusu Lan, Lanling Jin, Yunmeng Jiang, Qishan Wen, Qinghe Nie. Protip: first word is basically the location, second is the sect/clan name). • Reference for Modao Zushi Writers: Chinese terms ao3. "This is to provide a reference for writers who are unfamiliar with Chinese literary conventions or terms used in canon." • Resource list dw: Libitina's twitter links for Meta, Linguistics, Costumes, Food, Edits, Art. • Actual drama title vs English drama title twitter • How "Mo Dao Zu Shi" became "Chen Qing Ling" became "The Untamed" tumblr by hunxi-guilai • Very necessary meta about why the novel/extras seems to have so many sex consent issues and how translating to English potentially gives a very different overall feel to the scene (ex: ExR = "you're too much, you're way too much" becomes chiaki_himura's "you're good, you're too good", becomes bigbadredpanda's "you're amazing, you're the best"). Also, Chinese language enables to shorten sentences which makes stuff implied, 's your job to see context clues.) • hunxi guilai's master list of various detailed topics re-Chinese language/customs tumblr • "Wangxian" is such a clever portemanteau tumblr by untamedconnotations • Song Lan didn’t just say that Xiao Xingchen was “nice-looking,” he basically said that Xiao Xingchen was smokin’ hot except like, in two characters and blanketed with literary respectability. tumblr by hunxi-guilai (this is only relevant because xxc IS the most beautiful person, really and needs to be protected at all cost) • The Unclean Realm isn't "unclean" has in dirty/bad, it's most probably to show the difference of way of cultivating vs the other sects tumblr by hunxi-guilai • WuJi, the love song's fan translation tumblr by iarrod • Timeline: • 59 slides of awesomeness by chatcolat. Who's who, plot summary, humor. Beware, so full of spoilers you'll cry if you want to keep some mystery, but! concise recap of what happens in the show to keep the timeline in mind. • A google spreadsheet, via mihanada's GoDC timeline wip (Year/Event/Notes/Ages/...)     • MDZS Timeline, that meta AO3 post on speed by TheWickling. Useful if you want all the details, a bit difficult to navigate/understand when you just landed in the fandom. Still very useful. • And the sequel: On Character's Ages  ao3 "A collection of meta on the possible ages for different  characters in MDZS and what ages they would be during key events in the  timeline." • Modao Zushi, birthdates/timeline dw Dirthdates starting with 0 = wwx's birth year. Succinct & useful. • Maps • Fan made mdzs / untamed worldmap twitter • Places of The Untamed - Where They Are in The Real World • IRL sect locations reddit • Google Map of clan locations in Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation tumblr • Lotus Pier really is one of the most underrated but beautiful places. twitter • Gifsets and images: - Mo Dao Zu Shi / The Untamed drama character guide! deviantart picture = name, who's who in pics. - The Untamed sect sigils - In Which LWJ Gives Not A Single Shit, A Thread #LanWangji #WangXian #cql #TheUntamed SPOILERS for most of the show twitter - The various stages of hairstyles + accessories twitter - SongXiao are in love, got married, are living happily ever after,(FITE ME) twitter by shenweiss - Realizing that wwx is wearing lwj's silk undershirt and the follow up: Qiren's face when he notices xD twitter - gingersnapwolves's Untamed tumblr tag - thewickling's mdzs tumblr tag - hunxi-guilai's cql tumblr tag - compilation of wangxian just being gay and making everyone feel like a third wheel twitter by weiwxngji - wwx swoons a lot and he's gorgeous twitter - Alexandra Rowland explains What Is The Untamed twitter (with pics) - grinding ink requires great patience, often represents that one is willing to wait for another’s feelings twitter - sad compilation of wangxian gazing into each other’s eyes that no one asked for, you’re welcome twitter - This frontal view of Wei Wuxian laying on Lan Wangji’s lap is everything. twitter - Lotus Pier really is one of the most underrated but beautiful places. twitter - Sometimes you see something, a picture, a video, just a snippet of a short moment, and you SEE the love. twitter - CQL’s working title was hot murder husbands twitter (this is amazing) - Lan Wangji just looks a thousand times more intimidating with golden eyes twitter - #TheUntamed’s spinoff webmovie #FatalJourney posters twitter (yessss, nhs, one of my fav) - Don’t you love how exactly 0.5 seconds of this video is Lan Zhan explaining that only spouses are allowed to touch the headband and the rest of the entire 2(!) minutes is a complication of Wei Ying touching it anyways... he said I wanna marry you. twitter • Fic Recs: - DW guest Post: Untamed Fic Starter Pack (a few fics for each subject (ex post canon, juniors centric, ...) - Twitter thread starting with Alexandra Rowland asking for fluffy MDZS/Untamed fic recs. (good new-fandom starter too!) - That twitter thread collecting a list of lady-centric Untamed/MDZS fics Which, good, because as much as I love the fandom, once again women don't exactly come out on top. How many are still alive at the end? I can think of one previously Jin sect lady, but that's it on top of my head, soooo. - Libitina also has posted a lot of mdzs fic recs dw - A "they're students in lockdown and socially distancing" WangXian ficlet tumblr by besanii And bonus: a capybara enjoying a good scritch because I love those dog-sized guinea pigs, seriously, that twitter account is my daily dose of cuteness Also, have some guinea pig on a cutesy bridge PS: I thought that this would be fast because I didn't have that much info to collect at one place, buuuut. It's been 5 hours and it turns out that I did lol.   Still, if you have anything else of potential interest, don't hesitate to leave a comment, please :D