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nyerus · 4 years

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Xie Lian and Hua Cheng’s Luck

I’ve been asked about the topic of Xie Lian and Hua Cheng’s luck on some servers and by friends a lot--so I thought I’d make a whole post on it for good measure, haha! This is as accurate to canon as possible, but there is also some theorycrafting involved since there are some missing gaps we have to fill in for ourselves.

So first off, we know that Hua Cheng was born under the Star of Solitude, a star sign that ensured that he would either be extremely unfortunate, or extremely fortunate:

Upon his birth, as a result of being under such a star sign, Hua Cheng absorbed all the misfortune released by Tonglu (and thus was also born with his unusual red eye). I.e., he ended up being born cursed. He was doomed to misfortune and hardship--but there was something that stopped it.

The Star of Solitude can be nullified if the person meets a savior figure. As we see in book 2, this is precisely what happens to Hua Cheng. When he falls from atop the stands during the ShangYuan parade in XianLe, he is caught and saved by Xie Lian. And interestingly, Xie Lian actually saves Hua Cheng multiple times in book 2 alone (in every sense of the word--physically, spiritually, etc).

While the first instance of being saved is certainly due to chance, one can actually even argue that the other instances where Xie Lian saved young Hua Cheng to be... rather lucky events. This is where some theorycrafting is involved, so it needn’t been taken wholeheartedly. But basically, it seems awfully lucky that Xie Lian was there to help young Hua Cheng all those times. From saving him from Qi Rong, to freeing him from the ghost lanterns. It could be chance, but it could also be chance that’s attributed with a little luck in Hua Cheng’s favor. We can conclude that after being saved during the ShangYuan parade, that’s when Hua Cheng’s luck started to turn around.

But even without that notion, we can continue onwards to a slightly different theory. That after Hua Cheng’s star sign and misfortune were nullified, his luck was as normal, maybe a little better. Certainly not at the level it is presently, but alright. However, after death, his luck could have reversed from that of his birth. Born unlucky, died and "reborn" lucky--if you want to get poetic or symbolic. (Xie Lian being at the right place at the right time to free Hua Cheng from the ghost lantern is actually shockingly lucky, all things considered.) But regardless, if we go off what Guoshi said: if Hua Cheng is not tragically misfortunate, then he will have the best of fortunes. And regardless of anything, his misfortune did not follow him after death--and certainly did not follow him after he became a Supreme. Thus, we can interpret this literally as an if;then statement, and conclude that now he must be 100% lucky because that’s the only option left.

The main point I want to make here though is that there’s a misconception that Xie Lian’s luck went to Hua Cheng, as his last believer--i.e., when Xie Lian got his 2nd cursed shackle. But this is not what happened, and is not what Xie Lian asked for!!! Xie Lian asks very simply for his luck to be dispersed in general to flow to the less fortunate. Xie Lian at that point in time thought that he had literally no believers left. He just watched as his last believer was destroyed in front of his own eyes. Who would he think would be left to absorb that luck? Thus, he asked for it to be dispersed in general:

Additionally, Xie Lian’s luck was never anywhere near the level that Hua Cheng’s presently is. Hua Cheng isn’t just relatively lucky--he has perfect luck to the point where he will always get the outcome he desires. Even if 100% of Xie Lian’s luck flowed to Hua Cheng, it would not get the latter to the heights of fortune he’s famous for anyway. Xie Lian was simply never lucky enough for that.

To move on though, it’s unclear the status of Xie Lian’s luck post-canon. Free from his cursed shackles, some of his original luck may have returned to him (or started to), or the dispersion could have been a permanent thing in the first place--it’s hard to say. There is not much evidence about it. At least he has a perfectly lucky husband by his side to make up for it, in any case!

TLDR; Hua Cheng is lucky not because Xie Lian’s luck went to him, but more likely because his star sign was nullified/reversed when Xie Lian saved him as a child during the ShangYuan parade. That, and/or it (further) polarized after his death and becoming a Supreme Ghost King into the Perfect Luck he has presently.

#tgcf #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #hob #tgcf meta #meta #nyerus.txt #tbh tho its vague that you can really sort of make up your own headcanons for the status and origins of both their levels of luck #i just wanted to give my two cents!#also the luckiest thing about Xie Lian was that he was born a prince #everything else about him he got either because of his status or thru his own hard work

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beneaththebrim · 4 years

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Hi! Do you think there's any deep significance about the topic of luck in tgcf? It gets brought up so much.

Yup! Yes, very much so 😅

It’s implicit in the title of the novel: What is a blessing but a hope for good fortune?

Now, when I talk about luck, I must inevitably talk about fate and free will, because luck, in a sense, is a liminal state between them. It’s an element of randomness that turns the tables one way or another.

We see this in the arc words: “By heaven official’s blessing, no paths are bound.” In other words, with luck and compassion, one’s will can be achieved, regardless of fate. Big theme of tgcf, there.

Let’s dig into how this theme plays out:

I’ve written a little bit about luck in my mask meta, which I wrote back when Book 3 had just been finished translated. The main thesis of that meta is that in TGCF, the act of masking correlates to playing out one’s predestined role and fate (you can see this in how Jun Wu plays his roles as heavenly emperor in his armor and ghost king in his mask; you can also see how Xie Lian plays out his role as Jun Wu’s heir in the Shuangyuan parade, up until he drops his martial warrior mask to save Honghong-er).

Through a certain lens, one can view the central conflict of tgcf as a battle between fate and free will: Xie Lian is always one who wants to provide another cup, to take the third path, to determine his own fate. Jun Wu, meanwhile, a victim of a cruel fate, seeks to constrain Xie Lian’s path.

But Xie Lian escapes this fate, for a number of reasons: his sense of empathy, his humility, bystander intervention, and a stubborn enough believer. Often, these come down to the sentiment that ”It only takes one!”: When fate and free will are at a stalemate, someone or something happens that saves the day.

Enter luck!

TGCF is a book where, I think, a lot of the good luck/bad luck, a lot of the karma balances out in the end: for every great ascension there is a great fall; for every good fortune there is a bad one. We see this especially in the Black Water arc: Shi Wudu manipulates and rages against fate, and dies for it; He Xuan loses his humanity that he might be a force of retribution, and in so doing he loses his only close friend; Shi Qingxuan ascends and lives in luxury without deserving it, then abruptly loses everything, also without deserving it. There’s a certain symmetry to the distribution of karma.

The Black Water arc, as well as the fate of Wuyong, provide a tragic backdrop–situations in which fate and luck have combined to produce a bad outcome: Fate beats free will.

But, where He Xuan has bad luck, Hua Cheng has good luck. Where Mei Nianqing always loses at cards, Hua Cheng amasses wealth in his gambling den.

What makes him different?

We know that after his second ascension, Xie Lian requests not only a cursed collar to suppress his spiritual power, but an ankle shackle to disperse his luck–that way he might experience misfortune, but those around him would be better off than normal. Symmetrically, Hua Cheng is a Star of Solitude. As the Ch.67 end note has it:

Hua Cheng has power over luck, likely due in part to his being a Star of Solitude. We can also infer that Xie Lian is the savior who stops Hua Cheng from causing those around him misfortune. In Ch.220, we’re also given the following information:

It appears that Hua Cheng’s birth star originally combined with the kiln’s curse to bring him the ‘worst of misfortunes.’ However, Xie Lian saving Hua Cheng and assuring him when no one else would, Xie Lian giving Hua Cheng a reason to live–all this reverses Hua Cheng’s fate, causing him to have the ‘best of fortunes.’

And it’s Hua Cheng’s seemingly miraculous intervention at several crucial moments in Xie Lian’s life–his second ascension, his escape from the kiln, breaking out of heaven’s lockdown, breaking the shackles–in which luck intercedes on behalf of Xie Lian’s ‘third path’. Free will beats fate. Even Jun Wu lampshades it in Ch.92:

Miracles, a majority of which are wrought by Hua Cheng’s intervention. But ironically, it is in part the power of Mount Tonglu’s curse on Hua Cheng which imbues him with such immense power over luck. Somehow, by the workings of the universe, Hua Cheng’s fortune helps to balance out the tragedy of Wuyong, without Jun Wu even realizing it.

But that’s just it, isn’t it?

At that Shangyuan parade, Xie Lian plays his fate, and Hua Cheng is a victim of his. But through a compassionate act of free will, both of their fates diverge at that moment. A miracle, perhaps; good luck begetting good luck.

I think the last lines of Ch.244 have it best:

There’s a certain reciprocity to the phrase ‘Heaven Official’s Blessing’: is the heaven official giving or receiving a blessing?

Both; both. :)

(All pictures from miqqumi’s translation of the official manhua; all quotes from Suika’s translation of the novel)

#tian guan ci fu #tgcf meta #hualian #xie lian #hua cheng #ask brim #anon

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