Things & Stuff

But there was a hopelessly angsty romance part of me from my teenage years that reawakened with a VENGEANCE when I saw “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” on Aziraphale’s playlist and I’ve not known peace since.

It’s also An Experience to see them next to each other, those songs. Crowley’s sinned devotion loud and blaring in “Take Me to Church” while Aziraphale’s is soft and solemn in “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.”

middle earth isn’t saved because no one faltered or came close to despairing or who sank to their knees in weary defeat. it’s not saved by pride or conviction or even strength. it’s saved because enough people do what they have to do even if they have to do it in the darkness. in the dust. with the ashes of hopelessness and bitterness in their mouths. because enough people took another step. Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Aragorn, Theoden, Boromir, Faramir, Merry, Pippin. And many don’t. For every hero there is someone who gives into the “reasonableness” of despair—Saruman, Denethor, Grima, even Gollum—but enough. Enough people said “it doesn’t matter if we lose, I will keep fighting” and then they do.

And that GETS me. It is the most hopeful thing about the lord of the rings to me. There is so much that sums up its spirit, so many beautiful quotes and moments, but to me it’s never been the most famous of the quotes about hope and love that hit me hardest but a line from the films. Before the battle for minas tirith, one of the soldiers says “we cannot defeat the armies of Mordor” and Theoden answers “no. but we will meet them in battle nonetheless.”

In MDZS the sects are family-based (thanks, Wen Mao!) and so their power is very much like noble families, where people are loyal to the main inner family because, well, they’re the direct descendants of the founder. There isn’t quite the same “divine right of kings” as you get in European countries, but there is the implication that by virtue of family/bloodline, they should be in charge. This tracks with principles of filial piety, too.

However, Jiang Cheng’s entire family was murdered. He presumably still has relatives through his mother’s side (MeishanYu) but Yu Ziyuan married out, so he doesn’t have the same claim there that he would have with the paternal family. Since all the Jiangs would stay with the Jiang sect, they’ve all been killed, so he doesn’t have support from paternal family, either. What this means is that all the people who naturally would have been his disciples, all those that would have been under his leadership just because of his birth, are gone. (Sure there might be a few still floating around, who hadn’t been at Lotus Pier at the time of the massacre, but certainly not enough for a whole sect!)

So Jiang Cheng has to rebuild the Jiang sect based on merit. He has to convince rogue cultivators to come together under his banner, to follow him as their leader. He has to have that arrogance and pride, because if he is wishy-washy at all, who is going to follow him? He has to draw that around himself as armor, he has to be prickly, he can’t show weakness - not if he is to rebuild his sect and get his revenge.

And he did that himself. He had already drawn people to his banner and was already calling himself the Jiang Sect Leader before they found WWX. Even if people then joined the Jiang sect due to WWX, WWX wasn’t teaching them. WWX refused to teach anyone demonic cultivation, so who was the person actually teaching and leading these recruits? Jiang Cheng.

And WWX leaves the Jiang sect, and WWX dies, and Jiang Cheng continues to build the Jiang sect up. He’s all alone, trying his best to maintain a connection with his last living family (Jin Ling), trying to keep the Jiang sect independent and strong. Of course he has that attitude, of course people say that you shouldn’t offend the Jiang sect and especially not Jiang Cheng! He has had to defend himself and his position in a way that no other sect leader has, because it’s not just “should you be the leader” it’s “should this sect even exist at all?”

the most laughable one was the YunmengJiang Sect, the people of which either had been killed or had scattered, leaving only Jiang Cheng, who was younger than even Lan XiChen and was still a child born yesterday, who had nobody in his hands but still dared call himself sect leader, holding up the banner of rebellion as he recruited new disciples.

– Ch. 61 of the ExR translation

Wonder what they’re whisperin’ about

Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves: