#now this ruthless devotion and malignant obsession being succesful in the end while leaving such bitterness in its wake makes me scream | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

onhoude · 11 months

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I absolutely love the genius of Nie Huaisang during the final confrontation at the Guanyin Temple.

The man appears and disappears from the story entirely (there's no mention of his whereabouts for pages at a time), only to slightly sway the direction of the confrontation or battle whenever he is mentioned.

He wakes up exactly when Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng had spoken just enough to have the issue laid aside for now (p. 57), and then he simply vanishes from the pages if not for a mention or two, wailing in surprise to see Nie Mingjue's corpse there.

Then, when it looks like Wei Wuxian will succeed in sealing Nie Mingjue, Nie Huaisang appears miraculously near Su She and Jin Guanyao, only to be injured, despite otherwise consistently hiding behind Lan Xichen (p. 104).

Because of their status as half-siblings, the scent of his blood rouses Nie Mingjue and sets him back up against Jin Guanyao.

It is brilliant how he moves around while being effectively insignificant most of the time.

And his commentary! When rereading the story, he truly reads like a malignant jester.

After melodramatically reminding everyone how he is pitiful and scared of any pains and aches, he wails:

"Why am I so unlucky? Getting randomly captured by Su Minshan on the road... He started out just trying to make a break for it moments ago, too, but then turned around and stabbed me. If I was in his way, he could've just pushed me aside... Why use a weapon?" (p. 109).

'[U]nlucky', 'random', and 'why would he do that?' All things to push the blame to happenstance or others. He didn't do anything but be his usual incompetent self!

And, of course, with everyone on edge, as they had more than enough time to have seen Jin Guangyao manipulate expertly and be aware of how dangerous he is, his final act of tricking Lan Xichen into killing Jin Guangyao is especially striking (p. 111). Sorry, Lan Xichen.

In particular, because this is too direct of an action for Nie Huaisang! The most obvious of his ploys! The situation is instantly suspicious! Everyone knows (or at least highly suspects but is also confused by the idea that) Nie Huaisang did that on purpose!

So, yes, he acted rashly there, maybe seeing his last chance for his vision of revenge escape before his eyes and he seized the first opportunity there was.

This was impulsive! And it only worked because he was so jumpy and easy to look down on!

No, Nie Huaisang's entire plan wasn't openly revealed or even indeed confirmed (though kudos to Wei Wuxian for spelling out every step of Nie Huaisang's actions on the spot), but he let a glimpse out of his malice at that moment and the intent to manipulate the situation to have Jin Guangyao killed was called out:

"To think I'd fall like this, by your hand..." Jin Guangyao spate hatefully (p. 114).

But even though Wei Wuxian and Lan Xichen doubt Nie Huaisang's story, they can't really do anything. Or, rather, it's meaningless to even try. Because just like Nie Huaisang's lifelong reputation as a good-for-nothing is considered an indisputable fact, Jin Guangyao now has an irreversible taint on his character as a manipulative and vain liar that cultivators will be in no rush to see be disputed. Even Lan Xichen isn't entirely sure of what happened, as shaken as he is by it all.

It was also his final act, in a way, because from then on Nie Huaisang had a different reputation for those who were present. There is an unease there: his traces aren't entirely covered! There are now people out there who may be wary of him, could raise questions, or at least see him in a different light now. And genuinely, even with Jin Guangyao's name cursed into oblivion, it's a good thing for Nie Huaisang that those who could potentially call him out may not do so any time soon, if ever.

Lan Xichen goes into seclusion, Jiang Cheng is focused on Jin Ling and Jin Ling himself is already being discredited because of Jin Guangyao's reputation (we also don't know if either of them is suspicious of Nie Huaisang in the first place and most likely isn't), and that Wei Wuxian practically retreats from Jianghu politics with Lan Wangji.

Ah, it's brilliant. I love Nie Huaisang's arc so much, I'm just giddy about it all.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #nie huaisang #mdzs spoilers #mo dao zu shi spoilers #thickest skin of mdzs #< another tag I use for nie huaisang for being purposefully shameless for over a decade all for revenge for his brother and not caring #what others are saying about him nor who he has to kick down for his plan to succeed #now this ruthless devotion and malignant obsession being succesful in the end while leaving such bitterness in its wake makes me scream #delightfully so #totally forgot to add: the references are to pages of the english fifth volume by seven seas #my bad #it's been a while since i did anything for uni can you tell

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