Oh my stars!

Lan Sizhui has to be at least 17, possibly 18, and most of the other juniors are a similar age with Jin Ling being on the younger end at 15. Everyone agrees that these are children (they’re right) and that they should be protecting them and preventing them fighting and running into danger, that their safety is a priority and they shouldn’t be involved with the adults’ conflicts.

And it’s just- Jiang Cheng was 17 when he became a wartime sect leader. Wei Wuxian was 17 when he was thrown into the burial mounds and became one of the most feared combatants of the Sunshot Campaign. Lan Xichen was 19 when he became Sect leader. Jin ZiXuan was maybe 18 when he was doing most of the actual frontline fighting for his sect.

I’m not sure how much that theme carried through for other clans but likely a considerable amount since the Wen’s had eradicated the leadership of many of the minor clans first.

But the Juniors are children and it’s the adults’ job to protect them. And the adults are there, they’re present and they are planning to leave the children the hell out of it because that’s an option now. These kids aren’t allowed in their war conferences- they’re only there for this as hostages because it’s a given that their parents would come and rescue them.

Like, by no means am I trying to weigh up the MXTX love interests' separation periods (as I like to think of them), but Hua Cheng had hope that he would find Xie Lian - he had so much hope that he actively searched for eight hundred years for him before he found him. Luo Binghe was able to bring Shen Qingqiu back, was in the midst of doing so when the mushroom body situation happen and then (while it wasn't Luo Binghe who did it) did bring him back.

Wei Wuxian died. Like straight up, no coming back, impossible to see him again, died. And I sometimes feel like saying that Lan Wangji was waiting kind of undermines the fact that this was a soul-crushing thing, and this was just going to be the rest of his life. There literally was no fucking shot of Wei Wuxian coming back in anyone's even remote comprehension, and the fact that he did come back was a fucking miracle in and of itself.

Lan Wangji mourned for those thirteen years. Hua Cheng searched, Luo Binghe (it's been a while so call me out if I'm wrong) was almost in denial over Shen Qingqiu's death even though he comprehended the sacrifice so he planned, but Lan Wangji mourned, and was going to mourn for the rest of his life. He just had to get used to the fact that he would never, ever get to see the love of his life again. There wasn't even a body to bury. It was just the memories and the gradual, slow descent of those memories disappearing with aging.

ALSO now that I'm thinking about it, the fact that he couldn't even talk to anyone else about it. Obviously, there's this whole thing of memories being kept alive through like sharing and talking about them, but Wei Wuxian cemented himself as basically a taboo subject. A monster who is only talked about to scare people or to curse out his name. Those who remember him can't or won't talk about him for one reason or another, and that means that Lan Wangji is left all alone, mourning someone who nobody even cares to talk about, and that will be the rest of his life. He has come to terms with the fact that he will die with the faint memory of Wei Wuxian's smile and that's all.

And, once again, this isn't trying to make a competition out of the separation periods, I could just as easily talk about how Hua Cheng's despair of not being able to find Xie Lian but knowing that he is alive somewhere (or is he? Has he gone? Faded away? Is Hua Cheng just looking for a memory?). I could talk about that desperation that Luo Binghe felt at losing the only person he had ever loved and been loved by, who had sacrificed himself to save him when he needed him most, who gave so many mixed signals, and then needing to get him back by any means necessary. But this post was borne of me being tired of the 'waiting' label being applied to Lan Wangji's mourning period.

It makes it so full circle when, in Guanyin Temple, Wei Wuxian (who doesn't need protection) wholly accepts Lan Wangji's protection for the first time.

The progression of that dynamic os so well done. Wei Wuxian subtly progresses from outright rejecting it and "trying to escape" it (but honestly, was he really trying to get away? Jury is still out) to fussing about it (are you trying to show who has the thicker face here?) to being unable to refuse it (comatose after a stab wound) to being "secretly delighted" at it... to wholly accepting that this person will do whatever it takes to keep him safe and healthy and whole.

I know it was hard on Lan Wangji in the beginning, but can you imagine the relief he felt at holding this man in his arms that first night in the Jingshi? The secret wonder at simply feeling this man breath?