successiontamed real

In this way he really is a classic iago type villain: at a certain point (by which i mean his death) he finally stops talking, refuses to explain further, lets his crimes stand on their own. The rest of the cast, as well as the viewers, theoretically have all the information we need to make sense of him—we know his tragic backstory, we know all about his resentment and vengefulness and pain, we know about his twin desires for both control and acceptance. Yet it seems, somehow, that his actions cannot be reduced to these motivations alone. It’s as if he operates outside the realm of human psychology entirely, and is instead a natural force, a monolith, a void turning away all attempts to rationalize. He is a gap in the otherwise easy-to-read text of cql, and it is exactly this illegibility that animates him as a villain, that gives him his outsize narrative power.

The way I see jgy treated in fandom is often as a puzzle to be solved, usually with an undercurrent of anxiety involved, as if by filling in the missing pieces we can finally once and for all Understand Him. In this sense it doesn’t really matter whether this explanatory impulse ends up coming down on the side of “he is a consummate evil person, and here is why,” or “he is a maligned blameless victim, and here is why”: both are a kind of uncomfortable moral fidgeting, an attempt to escape the queasiness that jgy’s actions make us feel. Personally I am not very interested in this puzzle-solving, both because I think it tends to be inadequate—it still falls into the chasm of inexplicability—but more importantly because it has nothing to do with why I like jgy as a character. I think he’s great not in spite of but because of the simple fact that we just don’t know why he did any of it. All we know is that he exists. 

because, yes, actually, “give up trying to get dad’s approval” is an option. “back out of the marriage and accept the dire status consequences” is an option. “play healing music instead of evil music” is an option. “don’t kill people” is an option. “just fucking leave and start over somewhere else” was always an option, as he himself demonstrates, as it is his backup plan. “just find a way to live as a poor person with no political power” is an option. 

it is so weird to me that some interpretations want to take all of his agency away by claiming he was forced into all of his actions. he wasn’t! that’s why he’s a complex character! not because he had no agency! he’s interesting because he had tons of agency–which is not the same thing as status or power!

it is certainly not the same thing as being able to make good choices. dear lord no he has terrible options, and they are all choices that people shouldn’t have to make. (gosh i wish i didn’t have to just find a way to live as a poor person but haha here we are.) i am not arguing with that. and people with a shitty array of choices before them will often do shitty things. poverty sucks! rigid class structures crush the people at the bottom! powerful rich people are garbage! but he has better options than, say, a-qing or xue yang at various points, as literal orphans on the streets, or the sex workers and servants he used in his schemes. at the same time, he has much worse options than most of the other characters, as people from families with abundant wealth and status. within that context, he made deliberate, calculated choices (while not always having all the data) that led to unforeseen consequences that required new deliberate, calculated choices! that’s why he’s interesting and why his story as a person struggling in a rigid and unfair class structure resonates.