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guzhuangheaven · 2 months

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I'm rewatching Ruyi, and all I'm thinking is, "Why is Yanwan such a stupid person?"

She is surviving and thriving because of luck most of the time. How is it that her mother murders his child and Hongli thinks that maybe she is not evil because her mother didn't confess Yanwan's part but he spend over a decade hating on Yuyan because of an accessory and her ambitious son.

I feel the writer faltered and could have made her a more subtle and clever villain. Her only becoming a Consort because Hongli wanted to piss of Zhen Huan, I think sucked the most.

See, here’s where I think the writing is genius in terms of human psychology, because it shows just how utterly narcissistic both Qianlong and Yanwan and how much they see themselves in each other. Yanwan panders to Qianlong’s narcissism, so he literally willfully tells himself that a woman he favours can’t be that bad, to the point that he actually believes it. He wants to always forgive Yanwan whenever she pisses him off, because he can’t admit that he likes or gets turned on or whatever by someone so despicable, because what does that say about himself?

In the situation with Yongjing, he would rather believe astrology nonsense that Ruyi’s vibes killed Yongjing than consider there was foul play. He gets so hyped up with the idea of Yongjing being a good omen that when Yongjing dies he feels like he's losing face to ever have hoped so much. Face is a huge deal to a person like Qianlong, he can't deal with losing face like that so he turns it on Ruyi instead. Later he would rather deceive himself that yes somehow Yanwan’s mother can miraculously pull all off this huge feat of paying off midwives and people both inside and outside the palace to endanger Yongjing and frame Hailan in the process, than admit the obvious that she couldn’t possibly have done all of this without Yanwan’s will or involvement. And some people really are just so narcissistic that they would believe these excuses they tell themselves rather than think that they might be wrong.

Yanwan says it very succinctly in the end, he chose her, he raised her up, if she’s horrible, then what is he? That’s why he can’t ever admit to Yanwan’s worst actions until he can’t be in denial anymore, when it’s all shoved into his face in the end.

Yanwan basically spends her entire time as consort failing up because her benefactor (Qianlong) is too narcissistic to admit he was ever wrong and has the ultimate privilege to get away with that mindset. This happens in real life…

Anyway, I think while Qianlong is aware of Yanwan’s ambition from the beginning from the way she approaches him, and he nurtures that ambition to use her as a weapon against the empress dowager and Ruyi at times, he doesn’t see Yuyan (or do you actually mean Luyun and her hairpin?) in the same way. We see the Yuyan’s scheming private moments but I think for Qianlong, she’s just this plaything gift from a tributary state with a sharp tongue, and she is the equivalent of a sexy lamp to him. So he is blindsided when that toy dares have her own goals and uses her son to push her own gains.

If you mean Luyun, I always thought it was a perfect concoction of coincidences that sets up Qianlong’s suspicion of Luyun, from Langhua suddenly recommending Luyun as the next empress on her death bed even though she hasn’t shown any preference for Luyun before, after Qianlong just learnt that Langhua had supposedly done all these evil things, and then Luyun’s hairpin being found at the wrong place, then suddenly Luyun showing desire to compete to be empress that she didn’t have before and both Yongzhang and Yonghuang who were raised by Luyun acting up at Langhua’s funeral. With his tendency for paranoia of course he would be suspicious of her and he can continue to hold a grudge because Luyun isn’t a mirror to him the way Yanwan is.

#ask #legend of ruyi #如懿传 #ruyi's royal love in the palace #ruyi meta #clearing out the inbox #this has been in our inbox forever #send us asks and we might answer it in the same century

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starcrossed591 · 4 months

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CDrama Year in Review 2023

I'm still very much a CDrama beginner--I just started watching them in the summer of 2022--but since this is the first year I got into them in earnest, I figured I might as well do a year in review a la @dangermousie (whose lists I have found incredibly helpful in deciding which CDramas I really, really need to go back and watch as part of my CDrama education--so thank you!). So, without further adieu, here is my ranking of 2023 CDramas, in order of least enjoyed to most enjoyed*.

(See also: KDrama Year in Review 2023)

*Disclaimer: *not* a measure of objective quality

10. Royal Rumours: This drama was not great? Meng Zi Yi and Jeremy Tsui were fun, but the story started out messy and got messier. For some reason I still finished it, I think because I had a lingering cold and it was all my brain could handle at the time *shrug*

9. Gone with the Rain: I actually really enjoyed this one! The pacing was inconsistent, but Zhang Nan was fun as the irreverent Mo Xi, and we love a grizzled general. Special shout to the teacher who was not actually evil, just a sad lesbian whose gf disappeared on her

8. Love You Seven Times: Intriguing concept, not a strong enough FL to carry it through. The reincarnation stuff really worked for me at first, especially in their first mortal tribulation (as people, not CGI animals), but I got tired of it pretty quickly. I admit, the gifs of Ding Yu Xi as a sexy cat demon *did* pull me back in, but not enough for me to actually finish the thing, alas

7. Destined/Chang Feng Du: Started out really strong, and then stalled out on me. I think I only got up to about episode 22 or so, after their epic desert crossing and new start in a new state--they lost all narrative momentum for me there. I stopped watching and then just...didn't start again. I do, however, remain a big Bai Jing Ting fan, and will be keeping on eye out for whatever he does next

6. Hidden Love: (Contemporary) Age gap romances are hit or miss for me, but Zhao Lu Si absolutely stole/carried the show for me in this one. Although more fun imo when the main couple are in the the will-they-won't-they phase than in the family melodrama after they get together, still the only contemporary CDrama to get me to give it a go this year--and I'm glad I did

5. My Journey to You: Featuring my favorite murder girlies Esther Yu as Yun Wei Shan and Lu Yu Xiao as Shanguan Qian! Gorgeous costumes and sets, sweeping cinematography, and plot that kept me on the edge of my seat. Full disclosure, I have not actually watched the last two episodes because I got busy and then saw weird chatter about them, so I have no comment on the allegedly weird ending

4. Till the End of the Moon: Look, I know the ending wasn't ideal, but for the majority of its run, this drama owned my entire soul. It also introduced me to Bai Lu as Li Su Su, who inspired my first actual tumblr post (that wasn't a reblog) because I was so obsessed with her. And everyone knows that Tantai Jin is the CDrama ML of the year. 10/10, no regrets at letting it take over my life (and the OST my Spotify) from April to May of this year

3. The Story of Kunning Palace: More Bai Lu is always a good thing, and she's extra fun here as the transmigrated former evil empress and totally-over-your-nonsense Xiang Xue Ning here. The reverse haremness of it all totally shows why Bai Lu is the chemistry queen, especially with the princess (Liu Xie Ning) and cranky, morally grey, would-fail-gym-class strategist Xie Wie (Zhang Ling He). So glad this drama made it out of the CDrama vault and didn't languish indefinitely in censorship hell

2. A Journey to Love: Finished this one two days ago as of this writing and am still not normal about it. Ren Ruyi (Liu Shi Shi) and Ning Yuan Zhou (Liu Yu Ning) lead an exceptionally strong ensemble cast in this wuxia that explores the complicated relationships between love, duty, loyalty, loneliness, and companionship. Ruyi and Yuan Zhou are far and away one of my fave OTPs of the year, but just as compelling are the relationships between friends/brothers/fellow assassins Yu Shisan, Yuan Lu (ugh my heart), Qian Zhou, and Sun Lang. This drama definitely has one of the strongest ensemble casts of the year. And the character growth of Yang Ying from little princess abandoned in the cold palace to who she becomes by the end will stick with me for a long time. Plus another 10/10 OST!

1. Lost You Forever S1: I'm not normally a reverse harem girl, but the longing, loss, and hard resolve portrayed to perfection by Yang Zi as Xiao Yao really did it for me here. This whole drama struck an emotional chord for me, and where TTEOTM consumed my soul, LYF took over my heart. Xiao Yao's relationships with her power hungry, overprotective cousin Cang Xuan; hot snake demon Xiang Liu/playboy archery shufu Feng Feng Bei; and perfectly devoted Tushan Jing are all equally compelling to me, and while I may know who she ends up with in the end, who I *think* she should be with changes based on who's on screen at any given time. And A'Nian, my favorite bratty princess who really just needs some strong parenting, holds a special place in my heart. I know we may never get S2, and even if we do, censorship means it probably won't be what the drama makers are capable of, but I'm so glad for this little piece of absolute perfection. And, again, a top notch OST!

Fave Drama: Lost You Forever, by just a hair over A Journey to Love. See above.

Least Fave Drama: Royal Rumours--truly why did I finish this, what was past me thinking

Biggest Disappointment: 2023 is also the year I read Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir, my very first CNovel! But then I didn't even bother checking out its adaptation, Romance of a Twin Flower, because it got rid of everything that made the novel such an addicting read, including a brilliant, strategic, ice cold FL and an ML who actually kind of sucked at the beginning, only to grow on you very, very slowly over time. I'm grateful that the chatter around the drama is what brought the novel to my attention, but other than that, hard pass.

Favorite Male Character: Lots of good ones this year, but I'm gonna go with Cang Xuan (Zhang Wan Yi) from Lost You Forever. The conflict he faces between getting enough power to protect the people he loves the most and that power making him incompatible with those loved ones is so compelling, and his yearning for Xiao Yao even when she's right in front of him is wrenching. Full disclosure, I also just really love the sound of his voice

Favorite Female Character: This could easily have gone to Li Susu (TTEOTM), Xiao Yao (LYF), or Ren Ruyi (AJTL), but I'm gonna go with Bai Lu's Xiang Xue Ning in The Story of Kunning Palace. Something I really loved about this character was just how jaded Xue Ning really was, even in her second go round at life. Yeah, she wants to make amends for the harm done in her previous rise to power, but that has hardly turned her into a good--or even pleasant--person. Instead, she's incredibly skeptical and still plays most things ice cold, especially with her family. As a bonus, we got plenty of Bai Lu's fantastic side eye as she basically had to do high school all over again when she gets called into the palace despite her very best efforts not to be.

Favorite Ship: Ren Ruyi and Yuan Zhao from A Journey to Love have got to be it. They balance each other out so well, and over the course of the drama, learn to communicate effectively with each other whenever they have a problem. They also recognize that not all problems can be solved by ~love~, which makes their relationship even more compelling when they decide to prioritize each other in a way that respects what the other wants from life.

Favorite Secondary Ship: Little princess Yang Ying and Yuan Lu absolutely broke stole my heart in A Journey to Love. Doomed love even more than the main OTP, these two's youthful romance was such much fun to watch, especially as they egged their respective mentors on in their own romance. Yang Ying's recognition that her first love did not have to be her only love is also something I always love to see, even as it broke my heart that (spoiler) she and Yuan Lu never really had a chance at an HEA. Their relationship really exemplified a key theme of this drama: that you should love the people you love while they're still with you because tomorrow is never promised.

Non-2023 Dramas that I Watched: Two non-2023 dramas I watched that deserve a special shout out are Love and Redemption and The Sword and the Brocade. Love and Redemption prepared me to really appreciate the big swings that Till the End of the Moon took, and The Sword and the Brocade went a little way to filling the Story of Ming Lan shaped hole in my heart. The Sword and the Brocade also had absolutely searing critique of the concubine system, even as it featured one of the most genuinely good-hearted FLs I've seen. Would recommend both!

Most Looking Forward To: Yes, I'm a sucker and the censors (not to mention the characters) will probably break my heart, but I'm still crossing my fingers that Lost You Forever S2 will live up to the promise of part one. See above: still a CDrama beginner, have not yet had all the optimism knocked out of me. Sue me.

#CDrama #year in review #Lost You Forever #A Journey to Love #The Story of Kunning Palace #My Journey to You #Hidden Love #Chang Feng Du #Destined CDrama #Till the End of the Moon #Love You Seven Times #Gone with the Rain #Ren Ruyi #Yang Ying #Yuan Lu #Bai Lu #Meta #CDrama Review

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qserasera · 10 months

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My dream svsss live action (cont)

Part 2

part 1 for my headcanon live action cast here

the last post didn’t have enough room to include all the characters, so here’s the rest of ‘who would i cast in a liveaction svsss drama’ thoughts and why

Shen Yuan - ?? or Bai Jingting

pic from my drama list here. i don’t have the Strongest opinion on the actor for shen yuan because he would only be in like. a few scenes at the beginning. i think bai jingting could do a reasonably good job, since he knows how to. hmm how to describe it...do comedic face journeys in a way that still feels true to a historical period drama?? like he knows how to be funny without coming off as too modern. he’s also doing an Excellent job as a main role in Chang Feng Du, for anyone who’s asking. otherwise some other actor from a youth drama/college setting drama could probably be a nice candidate, if they know how to switch from serious/air of slightly disdainful cynicism to Peak Comedy and obliviousness at the drop of a hat (which i wouldn’t know bc i don’t watch a ton of modern cdramas ; w ; )

Yue Qingyuan - Tony Leung

no thoughts, head empty, who else can exude guilt and yearning like a sexy, sexy cologne??? for yqy it would be Nice to have an actor who can pull off the competent smiling look with an air of hidden melancholy and. like. yep.

Ning Yingying - Amy Sun

she did a good job in the eternal love series (totally different drama from the one about the peach blossoms and 3 lives). i honestly had mixed feelings about the show, but i did watch at least two season of it so. who knows. she was very good as jing xin with the scenes she was given, even tho i bounced off the actual heroine’s personality type completely

Liu Mingyan - Kira Shi

not much commentary here!! this was just on general looks and acting feel probably. haven’t seen her specifically in any fight-heavy/wuxia shows (but i did watch weaving a tale of love and story of minglan) so. i think for looks, she does contrast pretty distinctly from the above ning yingying casting, idk idk

Liu Qingge - Li Hongyi

if you need someone to play like. a seemingly more pretty but delicate look warrior while also being dangerous, he can do that! his acting skills would pretty much be up to task, etc etc

Sha Hualing - Tang Wei

confession time is that i haven’t actually. watched lust, caution which she starred in (which i heard was very good and also got her blocked out of a lot of other acting projects afterwards), but i do think her overall face profile has the right vibe

(Guest Role) Su Xiyan - Dilraba Dilmurat

i just liked how she played her main role in the long ballad, and dilraba also knows how to give off that no-nonsense competent aura as a heroine while also being emotive for romantic-type storylines and passionate feelings

(Guest Role) Tianlang-jun - Wallace Huo

you need an emperor-type actor with capriciousness, humor, danger and vulnerability??? it’s him.....he would be so so so good, i know this in my heart!!! (for a sample of his acting, there is a clip from the ruyi drama here u could check out)

#qserasera reads svsss #more live action headcanons nonsense #i really really do think wallace huo would be INCREDIBLE for a tianlang-jun role tho #i have not actually seen ruyi but i have seen him in other stuff im 90% sure #feel free to leave thoughts in the replies or i guess u could reblog this or whatever #svsss #long post #words words words #meta

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shangyangjunzhu · 3 years

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i always had a hard time understanding why yuyan targeted ruyi in particular. i am aware that due to the amount of affection qianlong shows ruyi and her lack of family support makes her the right target to overthrow nevertheless there is something personal in the equation.

with langhua we know for a fact why she hates ruyi; ruyi is a representation of everything she is not and everything she does not have. langhua’s inability to get over the fact that ruyi was almost in her place in addition to her jealousy over qianlong’s affection for ruyi is really what fuels her desire to screw over ruyi. as for xiyue, she is is incredibly petty and competitive. towards the end of her life, xiyue points out how she was never hongli’s choice (he only chose ruyi and langhua), which is definitely something that has always bothered her. by the time qianlong ascends to the throne, the only thing that seperates ruyi and xiyue is their ranking and ruyi is only a rank below her. their both equally favored and childless, which is why she is insistent on proving her superiority which is eventually why she frames ruyi.

with yuyan she is not emotionally invested in qianlong or any of the inner court struggles but somehow her conflict with ruyi runs deeper than ruyi being an easy target? is it because she sees ruyi as a difficult competitor as she is not easily manipulated like langhua, xiyue or luyun?

#legend of ruyi #ruyi meta

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renewedmotionforjudgment · 3 years

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I doubt I’m the first person ever to think about this, but think about how intentional Ruyi was in the last episode about making sure that Qianlong never whitewashes their history. Because she’s seen Hui Guifei, Jia Guifei, and even Chun Guifei in a very similar predicament to her when they were dying — alone and locked in their palace without the emperor’s favor only to have Qianlong posthumously award then even higher titles to seem like their downfall never happened. Empress Xiaoxian, whom Qianlong treated with such disdain and suspicion but he behaved after he died as if he was this devoted husband. Ruyi knows that Qianlong would do the exact same thing when she dies and didn’t want that happen to her.

I don’t think anything really redeems Qianlong TBH, but maybe the only unselfish thing he did was to not whitewash Ruyi’s history with him because he recognized that’s not what she wanted.

#legend of ruyi #ruyi meta

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theravennest · 3 years

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Let’s Talk: The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion

I finished all 40 eps about two weeks ago, actually. I enjoyed it for the most part, the 1st half especially, but there were several things near the end that took me out.

But first some of the good bits...

The cast chemistry was immaculate. Our four main lead actors were a lot of fun together. Not just Zhang Zhehan and Ju Jing Yi, but also Wang You Shuo and Xu Jiaqi (Loved them!). The four of them have such obvious ease with each other after their previous work together in Legend of Yun Xi and it made scenes with any combination of the main four really pop.

I was especially drawn to the sisters’ relationship and the Prince-Vassal bond going on between Prince Su and Little Marquis. (Y’all know I’m a sucker for both sibling stories and stories about fictional royals and their loyal vassals.)

Most of the ancillary characters were interesting, actually. As y’all know from my last post about this one, I was crack shipping like crazy all the side characters. 😂 This cast made it easy for me.

Except for Prince An. (Sorry to hit the bad so early.) Good god, I hated that man. His character was poorly drawn in pretty much every way, which is unfortunate cuz he’s the main antagonist. Any story with a main antagonist that just doesn’t work is always gonna be weaker.

Also, no offense to people who like that actor but he was the only cast member who did absolutely nothing for me in terms of performance. So much of the story was focused on his weaksauce motivation and dry acting like, my god, put me out of my misery I do not care.

Anyway, the set design and costuming was top notch and I even enjoyed the broader story ideas the show was trying to put forth. The sitcom vibe of the first 20 eps or so was SOOO good. Our four mains’ comedic timings were pitch perfect.

Unfortunately, the writing took a sharp nosedive in the back 3rd or so and it had a rough ending. (The lightning strike on the tower scene, the fight in the underground temple, the return of Prince An’s mom...all of that was trash. let’s be real.)

I mostly blame this on three things: the missteps with the Prince An character, the lack of development of Rong’s prophetic dreams even though that was the main premise of the show, and the jump-the-shark moment that was the wedding night and its subsequently underwritten fallout.

Now to clarify, I don’t mean to say the wedding night event shouldn’t have happened at all but rather the execution of it within the story was poor and it negatively impacted 90% of the other character motivations/progressions and the overall pacing.

You know, it felt like that thing you do as a writer where you wake up and have a specific scene in your mind. It’s evocative, impactful, fun, or otherwise intense. But you just have that scene and it’s something that would have to happen in the middle of your story. So you work your way backwards to try to get to that scene and you do your best to get the characters to make decisions to get there but when you sit down to write nothing works out. It’s clunky or OOC for the scene to still happen so you end up having to either scrap the evocative scene or keep the clunky lead up and hope no one notices. That’s what that wedding scene and everything that happened after felt like. They wrote themselves into a corner and just struggled to recover until the bitter end.

The main pairing suffered the most because of the poor writing choices. No matter how much chemistry ZZH and JJY have together, even they could not completely salvage Rong’s yo-yoing behavior with Prince Su. They started off so wholesome and then dove into such toxicity and miscommunication for no reason.

Don’t get me wrong. I can very easily enjoy angst. But Fu Rong consistently broke this man down. After ep 25-26, it stopped being good angst and became so awful to watch all the emotional manipulation and turmoil. There’s something broken in the writing if 9 out of 10 times Prince Su cried or fell into depression it was because of something Rong did or said to him after jumping to a conclusion with only part of the puzzle pieces gathered.

I could forgive some stuff because Prince An was manipulating things but some stuff was just all Rong not giving Prince Su the benefit of the doubt or plain old not doing her due diligence in investigating. She is supposed to have inherited the most prolific and successful spy organization in the show and she still got 90% of her conclusions wrong. It was like she was determined to always think the worst of Prince Su no matter what despite how often he went above and beyond to help her. Despite the fact that he literally had a reputation as a general for being a harsh taskmaster but fair and just.

I think what broke me was when she did the bare minimum investigation into her own father’s death and just fully blamed Prince Su without confronting him honestly or even considering his personality or their relationship up until that point. She really believed a single street seller’s entire testimony over the man she lived with and supposedly loved for months. Girl...

And this is after she’d previously mistakenly accused him of killing her mentor with very few facts to the point where she stabbed him on their wedding night.

There came a point where I actually wanted Prince Su to finally, truly divorce Rong and settle down with someone who could love him right. Maybe give him time to heal from the repeated heartbreaks, betrayals, and the literal stab wound in his chest but he was so fucking in love with Rong, he just couldn’t escape.

(If there were behind the scenes production reasons for the clunky-ness of the back half, I would not be surprised at all but ultimately they don’t matter cuz the story we got was the story we got.)

Imagine if we had gotten a Rong who used her prophetic dreams to navigate the cut throat world of royal politics. Or imagine if we’d gotten Rong as a true apprentice to Ruyi who learned both metalsmithing and spycraft in the first half and took over the pavilion as a competent leader in the second half. As it stands, it just felt like wasted potential.

I’m glad they had the modern day special AU eps tho cuz those were great. Zhang Zhehan and Ju Jing Yi had the opportunity to really showcase their incredible chemistry but in a modern setting and with better writing than the back 3rd of BRYP.

Now let’s talk Zhang Zhehan since he was the reason I started this in the first place. I loved him in this. I truly did. He was stern and serious but also playful and sweet. He was romantic but awkward, badass but vulnerable. He really delivered a nuanced and charming performance. I loved every second.

I think my favorite moment wasn’t some badass fight or even a super romantic moment. No, it was when he got drunk and started crying like a little baby cuz Rong was constantly doubting him no matter what he did. It was simultaneously sad and hilarious. Like gut busting funny. Y’all can watch it here:

youtube

I laughed so fucking hard at this. Oh my god, guys! This shit was too much.

Random Thoughts:

The romance between the 2nd leads was A+. Truly an adorable affair. Though I think they should’ve gotten together officially earlier around ep 25 or so and we should’ve seen the rest with them as a couple.

The costuming was so good y’all. For all the main four characters but I was especially drawn to Prince Su’s outfits.

The ghostly pale look with the bright red lips and eyeshadow makeup for Rong did not bother me at all. I actually liked it for her though I think it would’ve worked better if she’d had more explicit prophetic abilities.

I could’ve used more actual war scenes with Prince Su and Little Marquis.

The OST for the show SLAPPED!

That one kid spy in Ruyi Pavilion was voiced by the same actor as Chengling from WOH and I have never double-taked harder. lmao

Even though there were things I didn’t like in this show, I appreciated how gay I could make it in my last post. Truly it was a bisexual’s dream aesthetically.

#the blooms at ruyi pavilion #cdrama #zhang zhehan #ju jingyi #liveblogging #meta #reviews #long post

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cuterocks · 2 years

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tags

sideblogs: guardian ❀ art & classic lit ❀ personal

mxtx tags scum villan's self saving system - novel - svsss read • mdzs - mdzs first read ⁕ the untamed - bts - novel - fatal journey 3zun, nielan, nieyao, xiyao - songxiao, lanlan art, edits, fics - cosplay - meta, headcanons - memes • heaven official's blessing - novel - tgcf read

novels corto maltese les miserable moby dick sherlock holmes the blind concubine the epic of gilgamesh

tv shows advance bravely - novel alice in borderland atla - beyond evil caleb gallo cash or trash columbo criminal minds fleabag good omens hannibal - reaction interview with the vampire justice in the dark killing eve legend of fei - braincell throuple love death and robots - zima blue lucifer miraculous ladybug misfits ms cupid in love our flag means death - art, edits - meta, headcanons - memes rocco schiavone severance shadowhunters supernatural the blooms at ruyi pavilion the flaming heart the good place tlok - art, meta, headcanons the long season the sandman the terror the umbrella academy the way of the househusband the witcher what we do in the shadows winter begonia x files your highness class monitor

movies be somebody crimson peak disney how to train your dragon il signore delle formiche interview with the vampire mamma mia mcu - thorki, stucky, loki, venom pacific rim prince of egypt rocky horror picture show studio ghibli - howl’s moving castle sympathy for mr. vengeance the green knight the hunger games the matrix thirst (2009) too cool to kill twilight what we do in the shadows

actors baron chen chen kun dev patel freckle harvey guillen ji chen ji xiaobing li bowen liu yuning meng ziyi qi peixin rhys darby shuntaro yanagi song jiyang tim curry vico ortiz wang yang wang yibo wang yizhou xiao zhan yu bin yu qing zheng fanxing

other acnh brian david gilbert chris fleming gris stardew valley pokemon speak your language day the arcana other

favourites: poetry, stories - visual, concept - reaction images hands, red thread, tarot, trans things important - translations - media links - asks - my things private links

•••

dmbj - art, edits, fics - meta, headcanons - memes ⁕ word of honor - bts - novel wenzhou - yewenzhou, yexie - hanwenzhou art, edits, fics, fic recs, cosplay - meta, headcanons - memes

#tags

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endlessdream7 · 4 years

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Kill That Man

Chapter 63 The Ambush of Wang Yijie

After painting the charm paper she bought, Yu Qing Yao came out and bought more charm paper, then closed the door to paint more charms.

After five days had passed, she has saved more than 600 second-level charms.

As soon as Yu Qing Yao came out, she went straight to the Royal Treasure Pavilion in the city.

She bought a white dress with a lotus pattern and a turquoise dress with an orchid pattern. She can’t wear one all year around, right?

The two magic skirts were both woven from spirit silkworms, and cost a total of seventy second-grade charms, or seven thousand dao dollars.

In fact, Yu Qing Yao herself knows how to refine weaponry, but she just doesn’t have the materials, nor the drawings, nor has she tried it herself.

Then, she bought a superb magic weapon, Purple Cloud Ruyi. This Ruyi is made of purple millennium lightning wood, and it is extremely helpful for casting lightning spells. Three Heavenly Lightning spells are stored at each end of the Purple Cloud Ruyi. The power is comparable to the spells of the Jindan realm.

This magic weapon was much more expensive, and it took Yu Qing Yao three hundred second grade charms to buy it.

She bought the book "The Royal Demon Ban" with 100 second level charms, and 120 second level charms for the "Five Elements of Thunder" book.

The Royal Demon Ban features a spell that can ban a Nascent Soul Demon King, but of course, first you have to capture the Demon King and beat him half to death before you can have a chance to cast this spell.

After learning it, Yu Qing Yao can only ban Foundation realm demons.

The "Five Elements of Thunder", is about the method of practicing the five elements of thunder. This type of thunder method is very powerful, ten times more powerful than ordinary thunder, and the difficulty of practicing is dozens of times greater. The first is that it is difficult to find the materials for practicing it. You have to find treasures with lightning properties in the five elements, and refine them into the five internal organs.

Five elemental treasures are easy to find, but it's one in a million if they have the thunder attribute. To gather the five elemental treasures, it may not be possible to succeed even if you search for hundreds of years.

During the practice, the slightest mistake can cause the internal organs to collapse and die.

Lightning spells are inherently powerful, and difficult to control, introducing them into the fragile five organs is a very dangerous thing to do.

98 of the 100 who practice are going to die, leaving one crippled, and the last one’s fate is in the hands of God. If it wasn't so difficult to cultivate, the Royal Treasure Pavilion wouldn't have taken it out, and sold it so cheaply. This is a treasure that can be cultivated all the way to the Nascent Soul realm.

In this world, the Nascent Soul stage is already the ultimate master.

However, Yu Qing Yao has a system, so once shes learned it, just add points. Finding treasures are unnecessary.

The heart law she majored in became the Five Lightning Heart Sutra.

Yu Qing Yao only has 10 charms left, so she has no choice but to use 5 charms to buy another large stack of charm paper to go back, ready to close the door for another three days to paint more charms.

Three days later, Yu Qing Yao had once again saved up 300 charms, she pushed open the door and came out, surprised to see Zhou Xinyang and Shu Chang Yue arrive.

On the sixth day after the ranking battle ended, Shu Chang Yue brought his senior brother and teamed up with people from Golden Top Sect, to ambush Feiyun Sect’s team in a mountain.

Rushed up, killed 20 or so people, discovered that the person they wanted to kill was not there.

Shu Chang Yue and Zhou Xinyang were dying of depression.

Halfway through the ambush, kill Wang Yijie. Everything can be pushed to Golden Top.

But now, Wang Yijie has fled back to Feiyun Sect, which is not easy to handle.

Its not necessarily possible for these people to kill up Yuntai Mountain alone. Even if you gathered all the Daoists of Golden Top Sect, it would still be a bitter battle. On Mount Yuntai, Feiyun Sect has operated for hundreds of years, and there are countless magic formations on it.

And to assassinate Wang Yijie, I don’t know how long they would have wait in Baishan City before the opportunity came. They can't wait that long.

Although the people of Golden Top regret that Wang Yijie is not in, they still cheerfully chased down the people of Feiyun Sect.

Feiyun suffered heavy losses this time, and only two elders escaped.

Lord Wang spent seven days traveling day and night to get back to Mount Yuntai.

The first thing he did was find his eldest disciple, Qi Kaitai, and ask, "Where is Qing Yao?"

Qi Kaitai smiles, "Master, Junior Sister Yu is out traveling."

Lord Wang is anxious and harshly shouts, "Why did you let her out? When did she leave and who did she go with?"

Bewildered, Qi Kaitai replies, "Half a month ago, my Junior sister succeeded in building her Foundation and said she wanted to go out for a walk, so she went down the mountain by herself."

Sect Master Wang asks in amazement: "She has succeeded in building her Foundation?"

Qi Kaitai said cheerfully: "Yes! Junior Sister is so gifted that she succeeded in building a Foundation in half a month. I had personally protected her, and held a celebratory feast for her afterwards."

After a speechless moment, Lord Wang said, "Did she say where she was going?"

Qi Kaitai said: "Junior Sister said that she would just walk around Baishan. I don't know where she went."

"Has anyone come from Yunhai Sect?"

"No! What are they doing here?"

Lord Wang didn't bother to talk to his eldest apprentice, he burned incense and sent a letter to Yu Qing Yao to ask about it, but there was no response after the incense was burned.

He understands that Yu Qing Yao is not in Baishan and is thousands of miles away.

His heart sank, Qing Yao wouldn't have discovered something and secretly ran away when I wasn't around, would she?

Now Lord Wang is angry, he says "I asked you to watch her, why did you let her run away?"

Qi Kaitai is surprised and says, "Junior Sister has successfully built her Foundation and wants to go out for a walk, how can you say she ran away?"

Without answering, Lord Wang asked with a gloomy face, "Did she say when she would be back?"

Qi Kaitai replies, "Junior Sister promised to hurry back in a year."

Lord Wang turns away depressed, he can only hope that Yu Qing Yao is really out to play, and would remember to make it back for the New Year.

Qi Kaitai sensed that something was wrong with Master’s attitude towards Junior sister.

He can’t help but wonder why.

After a few days, the team that had gone to Hua Mountain did not return. Lord Wang became anxious again, burning incense and sending letters, he received a reply from two elders.

They replied that the team that went to Hua Mountain was ambushed by Golden Top Sect, and was wiped out, they were seriously wounded and hid out to recover.

When Lord Wang knew about it, he was so grief-stricken, and angry that he almost vomited blood.

This group of people died, three years later, what about the challenge?

“Old man Chen, you and I are enemies till death!” Wang Yijie looks at the sky, roaring.

When the news came out, there was mourning on Yuntai Mountain.

Lord Wang didn't expect Lord Chen to do what he wanted to do. He also wanted to kill all the Golden Top people who competed in the challenge, but he didn't get in touch with his ally.

Three of the most capable elders are dead, and nearly 30 of the most elite disciples are dead, this is a huge loss to Feiyun Sect.

The death of the Taishang elder hit Feiyun Sect the hardest.

Without this group, there's no certainty of winning the challenge in three years, and two, there's no longer any advantage against Golden Top Sect.

Lord Wang regretted that he had left alone first. He always felt that if he had been there, he would have been able to spot the ambush beforehand, and they would not have been so badly killed or wounded.

He did not know that the main purpose of the ambush was him.

This kind of hatred can only be quelled by war.

Lord Wang instructed the army of Baishan City to wage war against Wuzhou again.

At that moment, Golden Top’s team returned, and Lord Chen unceremoniously organized a counterattack.

The two sides are fighting again.

Yu Qing Yao didn't know there was a war on that side again, she was playing with Zhou Xinyang in Han City.

Everyday go on a scenic tour, eat, drink and be merry, playing till her heart’s content.

Terms:

Purple Cloud Ruyi- A scepter or a wand. Like this...

太上 - Taishang- Title of respect for Daoist; A great elder; A powerful elder usually in atleast Jindan realm.

Cultivation ranks:

Nourishing Qi

Foundation

Jindan

Nascent Soul (I referred to it as Yuan Ying earlier, its also known as Meta-baby, but I’m gonna go with Nascent Soul)

#Kill That Man #KTM #KTM Chapter 63

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things-i-think-and-junk · 2 years

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I posted 4,938 times in 2021

20 posts created (0%)

4918 posts reblogged (100%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 245.9 posts.

I added 3,221 tags in 2021

#asoiaf - 688 posts

#costume - 571 posts

#dany - 347 posts

#art - 274 posts

#this - 268 posts

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#the spanish princess - 209 posts

#book dany - 200 posts

#the story of yanxi palace - 174 posts

Longest Tag: 35 characters

#jonerys parallels and foreshadowing

My Top Posts in 2021

It’s interesting to see how many parallels exist between the Legend of Zhen Huan and the Story of Yanxi Palace. There is the similar villain in the Empress with the same motive of wanting to monopolize the Emperor’s love, but also certain story points that are reminiscent. Zhen Huan leaves the palace at one point and is forced to do hard labor at the nunnery, to the point of being sick. While Yingluo isn’t cast out of the palace, she is sent to the slave house and forced to do hard labor until she gets sick.

There’s small details as well. Kites make an appearance in Zhen Huan, as a way the Emperor tries to please her during her birthday. Yingluo uses a kite to lure the Emperor to her side. Both women use similar tricks to ensnare the Emperor, such as turning him away. Both women have forbidden loves with members of the royal family (17th Prince for Zhen Huan and Fuheng for Yingluo.)

They both end up becoming defacto Empresses after they manage to bring about the downfall of the former.

I know Legend of Ruyi is the direct sequel, but I like watching Zhen Huan and then going to Yanxi Palace and seeing the parallels. I think this works just as well for a sequel.

33 notes • Posted 2021-02-02 22:05:07 GMT

Why is it every male youtube commentator of ASOIAF has to label Dany as impulsive and hot headed when it’s not supported by the text? Why do they label her ambitious and assume she’s going to be angry that one of her relatives (allegedly) is alive? Or they speculate about how she’ll go crazy and fire and blood?

I mean, I know why, but it’s still irritating that always the men doing this.

34 notes • Posted 2021-10-22 08:02:03 GMT

YOUR DUTY WAS TO BE IMPARTIAL AND UPHOLD YOUR OATH TO PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION! FUCKING MITCH MCCONNELL!

35 notes • Posted 2021-02-13 22:00:57 GMT

People are so desperate to hate on Dany that they write meta after meta on how fAegon is real and it serves no narrative purpose for him to be fake.

49 notes • Posted 2021-03-06 07:18:32 GMT

It’s really not a coincidence to me that so many of the people who push fAegon being real and claiming he’s so vital to the narrative are people that have S/ansa as an icon or S/ansa banners. It’s not exactly hiding your bias, especially when they go on long tangents about how Dany brings nothing to the table, is some incest monster and only has exiles and dragons at her disposal. Stay pressed fam.

Meanwhile they conflate the show and assume that everything that came from it 100% is in the books, overlooking that fAegon was left out completely. I can say that I feel that was mistake because he does add something to the narrative and is a fascinating side character. I look forward to seeing where it’s going to go. He’s not going to be king. If anything, I expect Jon Connington to go full PTSD and just burn the city to the ground, as he thought Tywin might have long ago.

I know people want to find someone, anyone else to take Dany’s position and power, but it’s not going to be your boy, Young Griff. The Mummer’s Dragon is going out in a blaze and it will be epic and awesome, but he’ll be forgotten when the real war starts.

And guess what’s going to help win that real war? Dragons.

Now who has dragons, I wonder?

57 notes • Posted 2021-03-07 20:09:41 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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guzhuangheaven · 7 months

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Been reading Ruyi fic, lots of "go back in time or reincarnate" but I haven't seen one where the dowager empress goes back in time, say to hongli's wife selection or post his as ension. Do you think, with the knowledge she has that she'd try to support Ruyi early on, knowing she's nothing like her aunt?

Well, in the universe of the author's mind, the empress dowager is supposed to be Zhen Huan, and if anyone were to write a time travel fixit, it would be as a Legend of Zhen Huan fic rather than a Legend of Ruyi fic.

But to your point, I don't think the reason the empress dowager disliked Ruyi in the beginning was because she thought Ruyi was like her aunt. She disliked Ruyi because she was her aunt's niece. There is no reason for it. It's pure spite born out of their rivalry. That's why it didn't matter to the empress dowager whether Ruyi or her aunt died at the beginning - if the aunt died, the empress dowager gets rid of her rival, if Ruyi dies, the aunt's hopes die which is pretty much the same. It's not personal to Ruyi.

The only thing that would help Ruyi get anything like a happy ending is changing Qianlong, which the empress dowager can't do, not in her capacity as not-his-real-mother, and not in her capacity as an empress dowager who isn't supposed to weild substantial power and has to claw and fight for every inch of bargaining power she can get through the puppets she plants in Qianlong's bed. It doesn't matter if the empress dowager travels back in time or not, Qianlong's descent is much more complicated than anything she can do. Ruyi traveling back can choose to not marry Qianlong, to not become empress or whatever, what is the empress dowager going to do, not put Qianlong on the throne? For what purpose? To save a girl she doesn't really care that much about anyway? In the conceit of the story there was no other suitable heir and the bigger dynastic picture would triumph here. He wasn't a horrible emperor, relatively speaking. He was just a horrible husband.

Even if she travels back in time, the empress dowager is not going to make Ruyi Hongli's wife. Despite knowing what Langhua becomes, Hongli at the time needed Langhua's family's power and Ruyi brought him no political advantage. She's not going to save Ruyi from the cold palace either - neither Qianlong nor her believe Ruyi was guilty in the first place. Locking up Ruyi was a political move, not a punishment. There's no knowing what averting all of that and having Ruyi a player in the harem for those 3 years is going to do to the balance of power. It might have just hastened the inevitable end. The empress dowager isn't a sentimental person towards the women in the harem. She's not going to just help them, because. She's not going to upend a chess board she knows the end of, just to deal with some unknown forces of danger which might even come from Ruyi herself as someone who was never brought so low. She might feel more sympathy and a glimmer of respect in the end of Ruyi, but that was towards a woman who doesn't pose any danger, any harm, who doesn't want anymore power for herself. That was a Ruyi who stands in contrast to what Qianlong had become but has also been pretty much trampled by what Qianlong's become. That Ruyi is a harmless object of sympathy and easier to respect.

Now, an empress dowager who unwilling time travels and does fuck all but just sits back and wait for things to play out as she knows it would, because in the end she comes out relatively unscathed, that I can totally see.

#ask #legend of ruyi #ruyi meta #cdrama #meta

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dreamofasupernaturalchamber · 3 years

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Dabb's Dream of a Red Chamber: Dean, Sam, Cas, Jack, and the roles they play

In my last post, I explored how Dean starts off as Qin Keqing in S14 but becomes Lin Daiyu later on in the season. The transition point is 14x13-- the 300th episode. I always found it funny that Dabb chooses the Ruyi Baozhu to start this episode. It's a Buddhist item, and of course, SPN becomes very Buddhist toward the end (which is why everyone hates the finale). What I want to talk about today is Baozhu as both a pearl and a name.

This name appears in Dream of a Red Chamber. Who is Baozhu? One of Qin Keqing's maids who volunteers to be adopted by her after her death so she can play the role of the daughter during the funeral. She then becomes a nun after the funeral-- fitting, no, considering her name? Let me tell you this: a monk (and this gets interesting, but I'll get to that later) arrives at Lin Daiyu's home when she's young and says the only way she'll live a long life is if she becomes a nun. Obviously she doesn't choose this route. But going back to SPN--Dabb twists the Baozhu into another Buddhist message-- so why not use some other artifact from Buddhist lore? Why Baozhu?

I think it's because Baozhu is the combination of the Bao from Baoyu's name, and Zhu, which means pearl. The emphasis is on the pearl, which makes sense-- Dabb isn't going to involve yu, or jade, when Cas (the character corresponding to Baoyu) is secondary in this episode. Dean is the one who makes the wish, and so the treasure is going to represent him.

So who is associated with pearls in Red Chamber? Qin Keqing, for one-- she has maids who carry "pearl" in their names. And Lin Daiyu, who is the reincarnation of the Jiangzhu (Crimson Pearl) Fairy. She's also associated with the Jiling Pearls, which foreshadow the Jia family getting dragged into the royal family's power struggle.

But Dean is nothing like Lin Daiyu, readers might say! He's not sickly. We'll get to the sickly part later-- let's first talk about Lin Daiyu and what she represents.

First and foremost-- Lin Daiyu represents rebellion. Not literal rebellion (although if I'm not wrong, the Jia family gets into huge trouble for aligning themselves with the wrong princes), but rebellion against societal conventions and patriarchal feudalism. The last thing Baoyu wants to do is take the imperial exams and become an imperial bureaucrat-- but this is exactly what his family wants him to do. This is what Baochai, Shi Xiangyun, Xi Ren, and all the girls want him to do-- except for Daiyu. Daiyu tells him, "You should do what you want." And so they think of each other as zhiji, which I suppose can be translated as soulmate, but really means "a friend who knows me." A zhiji is a friend who knows your soul.

And this fits Dean and Cas-- Dean is the one who encourages Cas to rebel against Heaven. Dean is the one who asks Cas what he wants. Dean is the one who bucks convention; he's the subversive one, the one who represents free will.

(And as a side note, Qin Zhong, the younger brother of Qin Keqing, is another one of Baoyu's more subversive loves-- he dies just as Baoyu's oldest sister is made the highest ranking imperial concubine, which indicates that Baoyu's attempts to buck against feudalism are destined to fail and foreshadows Lin Daiyu's death. Qin Zhong, Qing Zhong-- his name tells us that Baoyu is a lover.)

Dean doesn't die from what looks suspiciously like TB, which is how Lin Daiyu dies in the last forty chapters of Red Chamber-- however, we know that those chapters are ghostwritten and doesn't fit her panci, or the poem that foretells her fate, the hints that she's married off for political purposes, or Zhiyanzhai's footnotes which indicate that she dies of a broken heart. Zhiyanzhai is very likely the coauthor of Red Chamber, and their notes indicate they were there for most of the events of the story (Red Chamber is thought to be a retelling of how the author's family fell upon hard times-- of course, there are other interpretations too, which I will talk about in a separate post). Dean dies from a broken heart two times. The second time takes.

Now let's talk about Cas and Baoyu. Baoyu is usually considered the reincarnation of Shen Ying Shi Zhe, who is a heavenly monk in another dimension. He waters the Crimson Pearl Grass every day, and she becomes a fairy as a result; it's hinted that he falls in love with her, which threatens his cultivation/enlightenment, so he runs off to the human world to gain more enlightenment, and she follows him and decides to repay her debt by crying all of her tears for him (the lyric "don't you cry no more" comes to mind). Yes, Lin Daiyu is the fairy this blade of grass becomes. Yes, Shen Ying Shi Zhe is responsible for giving her life, much as Cas is responsible for lifting Dean from perdition.

Cas also falls from Heaven to experience love, but up until Dabb took over, this was usually framed as a positive thing. I'm-- not quite sure Dabb actually frames it as a positive thing. Cas's ending calls to mind the endings of the gods/fairies who fall from grace because they fall in love in Chinese folklore-- they either become human, or they become enlightened and regain their standing in the heavens. Baoyu's real ending is unknown, but it's not hard to guess that he becomes enlightened and goes back to being Shen Ying Shi Zhe-- which would match nicely with Cas's ending.

There's another version of Red Chamber (there are multiple versions-- again, remember, this is a work of metafiction, and this will come into play later) where he's considered to be one of the rocks Nuwa was going to use to patch a hole in the sky, but was discarded. We usually interpret this rock as the piece of jade Baoyu was born with, but I do want to point out this version, because Cas, given his performance in the later seasons, also fits this description.

Then there's Sam-- he contains shades of Baoyu (he marries someone after Dean dies, but he's never happy, which is what happens to Baoyu; this is foretold in a song Baoyu hears in Bo Ming Si), but I'm going to argue that he is Baochai. Who is Baochai? The other girl in the love triangle-- Baoyu loves Daiyu, but marries Baochai instead (this plays out differently here). What does she represent? She represents money (there's the gold radical in chai, and it's often said that her union with Baoyu is a marriage of gold and jade, and her family is exceedingly wealthy). She represents adherence to tradition. She and Daiyu are like "sisters" at one point, but that falls apart because Lady Wang hates Daiyu and wants Baochai as her daughter-in-law instead. And even though Baochai and Daiyu top the first volume of the beauties, they share a poem that foretells their fate; all the other women get their own poems. And what's Baochai's fate?

It's a one liner-- a gold hairpin (chai) buried in snow. I've seen all sorts of theories flying around that she's supposed to die in the snow, but honestly, I think the ending in the ghostwritten chapters is probably close to what was planned for her. She marries Baoyu, but he leaves to become a monk and she lives alone in the Jia family. In the ghostwritten ending, she also has a son. Her room at the Jia's mansion (she lives with them)? It's compared to a Snow Hole; she's a minimalist when it comes to interior decoration.

And let's look at Sam's ending. He basically lives in a shrine to the dead with his one son, and it's clear his marriage was short-lived (no pictures of the wife). His ending is a perfect match for Baochai's.

And then there's Jack. I compared Jack to Baoyu in the previous post, and again, if you look at the stories of Shen Ying Shi Zhe and the rock (especially when you consider that Jack was born to stop the apocalypse/make the world a better place), you can see the similarities. But he also represents other characters-- Daiyu and most likely Prince Beijing, who's the head of the four princes, or the old guard; those two characters are connected through Baoyu, which makes for a nice trio of characters.

How does Jack represent Daiyu? There's the way he's not entirely welcome in his own home (Lin Daiyu lives with the Jia family, and Lady Wang dislikes her immensely.) There's the way he dies in 14x08-- from what looks suspiciously like TB, just as Daiyu dies in all the TV adaptations and in the ghostwritten chapters. He changes identities after this death -- he becomes the prince.

Let's finally talk about Prince Beijing. He's young-- under twenty. The Jia family is close to him. He clearly plays a role in the power struggle-- if we're going off the real prince he's based on, then he should be in the faction against the dowager emperor, which means he's loyal to the emperor, but most analyses claim that he's not loyal to the emperor. One piece of evidence for the latter viewpoint: he attends Qin Keqing's funeral in full regalia, which is considered disrespectful, and hands Baoyu a bracelet of Jiling pearls that the king gave him to symbolize their brotherhood. That's-- not what you do with what the emperor gives you. It's just not done. (That being said, I can see the real prince getting away with that, because he was the real emperor's favorite brother.) Baoyu then hands Daiyu those pearls, and she throws them away. Later on, Baoyu will hand Daiyu the prince's straw coat and she tosses it away again. She doesn't accept anything from Beijing until she's forced to. We can interpret this as Daiyu disapproving of Baoyu's alliance with Beijing (and there are other interpretations that assert Beijing is responsible for marrying off to distant lands, but since the last forty chapters were never written...).

This fits Jack. He's TFW's only hope against Chuck, who is both the emperor and the dowager emperor in this story. Cas has faith in him, just like Baoyu likes Prince Beijing. Dean doesn't have faith in him, just as it's implied that Daiyu doesn't have much faith in the prince either. This is where the meta gets very interesting, because who is Chuck? The writers? The network? What does it mean if he's both the emperor and the dowager emperor? I'm going to talk about this next in a post on the meta structure of SPN and Red Chamber.

What I want to point out before I end this post is that it's very likely Dabb planned these very controversial endings for Dean, Cas, and Sam-- I doubt censorship had anything to do with it. SPN may have been a story about a fight between the writers and the network, or it may have been a Buddhist story, but either way, I'm pretty sure SPN ended exactly as Dabb meant it to end.

#spn meta #dean winchester #castiel #jack kline

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