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mewtwo24 · 2 months

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I can't stop thinking about the revelation of Luo Binghe's heavenly demonic heritage and how striking the differences are in SVSSS vs PIDW.

In terms of the original, how Shen Jiu's violence was unexpected but numbing after a point. How Luo Bingge's awakening would be a means to freedom; that while he might be reviled by human immortals, at least he no longer had any reason to give a damn what they thought. Demonic cultivation would exact the wrongs that had been acted on him tenfold in cold blood, to repay youthful admiration and blind trust with all the cruelty unleashed on him indiscriminately. How easy it was for Luo Bingge to choose power and performance because he had little if nothing else of substance to turn to.

For Luo Bingge, otherness is an easy second skin because he's never once belonged in the first place. Sneering is natural when the entire world has done nothing but badmouth, ridicule, hit, and condemn you for things that were never within your control. “What does it matter that you're a monster now?” Luo Bingge seems to think, “You were and will be a monster always.” Every facade, every ill-intended act of deception and violence is merely injustice reaping its due.

Luo Binghe (Bingmei) has no such liberties.

For Luo Binghe, the trappings of comfort and belonging end up yielding an entirely new problem, a reversal of Luo Bingge’s non-conundrum. His fear is that Shen Qingqiu’s love might be conditional rather than a despair that it is non-existent, because in many respects it is for the surrounding immortals; they go from calling Binghe a promising and shining youth to a demonic scourge born to invite ruin in the span of a handful of years. Shen Qingqiu, caught between what he wants to do versus what he believes he must do and his own fears, sours Luo Binghe’s trust to quivering doubt. What Bingge desperately craved was precisely what put Binghe through such unrelenting turmoil. Where difference and change is freedom for Luo Bingge, it is a chilling and unwelcome prospect for Luo Binghe.

For Luo Binghe, the thought that he could be something monstrous to the person he loves is a form of self-annihilation; so much of his desperation to appear non-threatening to Shen Qingqiu is rooted in this self-same anxiety. In the wake of Meng Mo’s intervention, Luo Binghe cannot even bring himself to ask “What does it matter that you’re a monster now?” He can only cling to the desperate belief that if he can just conceal what he is for long enough, the future he always dreamed of might still be within his reach: an eternal life of peace by Shen Qingqiu’s side.

For Luo Binghe, the rejection of his humanity means rejecting the people who nurtured him wholeheartedly (the washerwoman, transmigrated Shen Qingqiu) with love and kindness. Even despite the confusion behind Shen Qingqiu’s change, even despite how enigmatic and reticent he can often still be, Binghe recognizes powerful instances of tenderness and care in his actions. Someone who stubbornly healed his wounds, who was unable to watch him be brutally bullied without due recourse, someone who trusted in him and his potential with his whole heart.

For Luo Binghe, power and demonic strength mean absolutely nothing because he has love. He doesn’t want them, and even when he does have them they are used in service of protecting Shen Qingqiu. Xin Mo isn’t able to take over because Luo Binghe isn’t strong enough to resist its temptations to subjugate the world, it happens because he exhausts so much energy trying to preserve Shen Qingqiu’s life that his resistance fractures. And even when Xin Mo succeeds in warping Binghe’s mind, the end result is still in service to a desire to be close to Shen Qingqiu’s heart. In the end, he continues to seek love.

Where the inexorable tides of change become opportunity (arguably even a boon) for Luo Bingge, for Luo Binghe this change is the focal point of his calamitous loss. How Luo Bingge's ascension is a ruthless and seamless transformation--all of his experiences hardening him into something harsh and brutal and unyielding to survive. How Luo Binghe's is instead a fall from grace; the corruption of innocence and stolen youth--of dreams razed to ash and safety obliterated.

And after all, doesn't it hurt so much more to have known peace and thrash that it will forever be out of your grasp? ...Than to live in such tumultuous waters that gentleness is an alien, loathsome, and unfathomable thing. For the former, a feeling of safety may never be restored--always looking back before looking forward. For the latter, there is nothing but the grim and solitary march on, eyes shuttered to all else.

I feel like that's why I love the ending of the third novel, as disturbing as it may appear to a lot of readers. Shen Qinqiu expresses his disbelief and hurt that Luo Binghe would lie to him and choose so much destruction, but for Luo Binghe it all has a singular source. Without love, he has nothing. He cannot choose a life devoid of the person he loves.

(I once read a fic where Luo Binghe says ‘I never wanted to be a demon’ to Shen Qingqiu and I think it metaphysically changed me as a person. Every single day I think about it and try not to bawl my eyes out. Anyways.)

#svsss #scum villain's self saving system #luo binghe #shen qingqiu #bingqiu #luo bingge #there's a much longer analysis post i'm plotting regarding bingqiu and sqq specifically but god #this shit? this guts me every single time i read fanfic or reread the original text #pretty much this and tianxi is a direct hit to the gut for me #i will never be over how relentless mxtx is about the importance of kindness/compassion #how even a single person's acknowledgement of our deepest vulnerability is enough to change us irrevocably #how that is a foundational aspect of what it means to be a person in the world. the most animating force #mxtx is such a real one i'm sorry i just adore her work

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nyerus · 3 years

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Hi, nyerus.....If you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite MXTX characters (top 5 from each novel)? And why? I'm sorry if you've answered this question before.

Thank you so much for asking! I would love to! (Apologies for the delay, and also for how long this is lol....)

TGCF

1.) Xie Lian: I could write forever about why I love him, but XL is just a really great character who subverted my expectations. He's gentle and compassionate, but also funny and snarky on the inside. His character arc is the classic hero's journey but told out of order. So we meet him when he's already wise and world-weary, then get to see what he was like before, and how he finishes his journey later on. He's extremely inspiring, to show that our choices and our actions are what make us, and ultimately no one can take those from us.

2.) Hua Cheng: This is no surprise! I also just adore HC for being a very intense character! He's completely devoted to XL and that zealotry is very unique in a character. He's 100%, not 50, not 75. While he has a lot of relateable aspects, this part of him is utterly fantastical, on the level only myth and fable can achieve--which tracks. After all, he isnt a Ghost King for nothing. In the story, he is the embodiment of the purest devotion, no strings attached.

3.) He Xuan: I actually like him for the same reasons as HC! He too is a walking fable, only instead of devotion, he represents vengence. (They're actually like foils of each other, which is quite neat.) I really adore his arc, and how murky his whole character is. It tells a cautionary tale of how sometimes, our worst enemy--the one who makes us most miserable--is often ourselves. SWD wronged him greviously, but HX's obsession with vengence ultimately prevented him from getting the peace and recompense he wanted in the end. Absolutely stellar storytelling.

4.) Mei Nianqing: While I often question his motives and methods, he is still a really good character. Caught between wanting to be a mentor and protector to XL, but still loving (platonically or romantically, that's up to you) JW. He's the only father figure in XL's life that actually took him seriously, even if he did have to come around to it. But ultimately, he was proud of who XL became even before he ascended. He was just terrified of XL drawing the attention of the one man he shouldn't--and did. However his belief in superstition and fear of Hong Hong-er also makes sense, even if it's sad. MNQ is also just a quirky and fun dude lol.

5.) Mu Qing: I really like how complicated and murky MQ's is in terms of his inner turmoil. I'm somewhat similar to him in the way he thinks, and it's real work not to make things worse for myself by expecting the worse. His background makes him naturally suspicious of... basically everyone, all the time, and it's honestly understandable. Ultimately, he does understand that you can't make assumptions about people's intentions by projecting your own insecurities onto them--which I think is something everyone can relate to. I really like his subtle journey of self-realization and self-forgiveness, and he ends up far better for it.

MDZS

1.) Lan Wangji: I love the fact that LWJ was just so ready to Night Hunt himself to death upon the loss of his beloved. As you can tell, I really like complicated characters who have extreme traits, haha! That being said, I just also really like his stoicism and reliability.

2.) Wei Wuxian: Naturally, it's hard not to love WWX! He decided "yeah maybe the ends do justify the means" and went for it. To us, he is the hero. To the regular people of the world? Whose ancestors were dug up and disturbed to be used by the Yiling Laozu? His blackened reputation is not without cause! (Like... JGY literally has done more positive and helpful things for regular people than Wangxian, but those metas already exist lol.) Once again, his gray morality is what makes him so damn good, and can be debated at length!

3.) Jiang Cheng: JC gets a bad rep, but oh boy he doesn't make things easy for himself at all. However if I was in his position, I probably would be much worse off. He lost EVERYTHING, and still trudged on because there were people who depended on him. His hatred of the Wens also makes sense in the context that... that's often how humans react to and process extreme trauma. We find something to blame and *waves at literally every major conflict since the dawn of time.* (His rumored torture of innocent people due to that is reprehensible, of course, but given that MDZS is a book about how rumors can make or break someone's life... we should take that line with a grain of skepticism, much like all other hearsay.) He's not typically the type of character I like, but I found him really interesting to read.

4.) Jiang Yanli: I really love JYL, who decided to be the emotional backbone of her family from the time she was a child. It was an undue and extremely heavy burden to bear, but she did all of it without complaint. That's strength. I think many elder siblings can relate to her having to step up and be the third parent, when the actual adults fail at it.

5.) Wen Qing: I really like her arc in the novel, where she makes some of the hardest decisions anyone will ever have to make, over and over and over again. I don't typically love very "rough" characters, but she has ever right to be that way (and it makes sense for her character, and isn't just a tacked-on character trait like hair color or eye color in a CC), and honestly I want to marry her very seriously.

SVSSS

1.) Luo Binghe: Probably the most misunderstood main character of all of MXTX's works. LBH is neither truly a crybaby nor is he a ruthless maniac. He's right in the middle, in the valley of misanthropy. And yet, he knows just how to use his charisma to get his way. Cunning and devious, intelligent and ruthless. Meanwhile, he craves love and intimacy--something he could only ever dream of.

2.) Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan): Extremely refreshing to see an transmigrator know how to handle transmigration almost flawlessly. (Me reading/watching other works with this trope and wanting to tear my hair out at the protags = me sympathizing on a personal level with SQQ.) This also proves to be SQQ's fatal flaw!! His knowledge of the novel is both a boon and a obstacle to him, and prevents him from understanding the other characters as people until he lets go of his pre-conceived notions. And of course, his snarky as heck inner dialogue is amazing.

3.) Liu Qingge: I don't actually even know why I love LQG as much as I do. He's just neat.

4.) Tianlang-Jun: Honestly same goes for TLJ. He's just great though, and I have a blast reading about him. He wanted to see the good in humanity, and ultimately comes around after writing them off.

5.) Yue Qingyuan: He's a fascinating character. Harmless on the outside, but a quagmire on the inside. His love for Shen Jiu was quite... problematic, in that he saught forgiveness from SJ, without actually ever taking the time to understand him or to make amends. Patronizing and judgemental, yet willing to let SJ get away with literally anything because of his own unresolved turmoil, etc etc. Fascinating.

#if this sounds like I want to study some of these characters under a microscope then you'd be correct #i also have a lot more faves i would want to talk about but actually it's a lot of work to Think #i just really love characters who make me think or are very complicated #tgcf #mdzs #svsss #asks #nyerus.txt #thanad-zid

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