That narrative is insane. Insane!
Honestly, ship wars make NO sense in a narrative as well written as this one - sure people can disagree who they'd prefer XY to end up with but the narrative is so clear and logical and inevitable (based on characters and interactions) as to why things end up the way they do, shipwise and otherwise and what it means.
I remember there was a narrative from fandom in s1 too that she settled for Jing and even then it boggled me. Yes, he does not fulfill literally every possible need and want for a person in her life she has (he can't take her on insane dates a la XY or share childhood connection or or) but nobody can, not if you are in any way emotionally healthy. In s1, she clearly fell for him and liked him and desired him. If that's settling, sign me uo.
And s2 - I agree so much that the reason XL has a chance is because she can't have Jing - he'd never have gotten a chance for her heart if the break-up of s1 did not happen. Yes, now as things stand provided XL would be willing to let go of his cause, she might eventually move on to him and be happy (and it wouldn't be settling either; just as earlier it was not settling for Jing and/or later it won't be either - people are complicated) but she is not there yet (and she never will be since he won't let her - one of the things that drives me insane about a certain type of discourse is that she cannot pick someone who won't LET her pick him; how would that work?) but that is not what's going to happen. It's a what-if at best. She's a woman who didn't settle when she chose Jing the first time and she won't be settling now either.
The very fact that she can't let go of Jing despite wanting to and she's the queen of let go shows how much she loved him (and yes, so do her insane standards for him - they are in proportion to how much she let him into her heart and how vulnerable and hopeful he made her and how unguarded.)
It does not make Xiang Liu less cool or less worthy or less anything but it's how the narrative rolls due to all these characters' traits and experiences.
I think fandoms in general tend to impose their preferences (in both "this is the guy I'd like" or "this is the narrative I want") on the existing narratives without much consideration of what the story is actually telling. But in a story as well written and as good at explaining exactly what people feel and why it's especially bad. Also, the need to bring down one love interest to bolster your preferred one is odd to me.
(And insert yet again my rant about fandom, for all its talks about green flags blah blah, really disliking gentle men with traditionally feminine virtues in fantasy narratives - see TSJ, see GZY in My Journey to You or Asule in NEF.)
janainaart
yousharknotpass
theartofmadeline
dededos
