My thoughts on Xue Yang's character (based on the drama and novel)
Xue Yang is a character I didnât fully understand until I finished The Untamed. I looked back on him with a bit of pity but little understanding. It wasnât until I listened to his character song that I truly began to dissect his character. Reading those lyrics completely flipped my perspective on him, and I went back to watch the Yi City arc again. I was shocked by how much I had missed. Xue Yang has since become one of my favorite characters of the series. Iâve spent so much time thinking about him and his motives that I finally decided to write down my thoughts. This analysis comes mostly from what I perceived, so it may differ from other peopleâs opinions. You are free to disagree with me.
Letâs start with what we know: Xue Yang was a street kid with a hard childhood. We know he was abandoned at a young age, but we donât know how young. However, he must have been old enough to survive, so he couldnât have been younger than four when he started fending for himself. We donât know who his parents are because he doesnât remember them, nor does he remember anyone else who had potentially taken care of him. His parents could be dead for all we know, or they could have dumped him somewhere when they no longer wanted to take care of him. Itâs all up to speculation. He also has a very high pain tolerance, probably due to constant beatings as a child.
When youâre all alone in the world, you have to learn to put yourself first. Thereâs no one to care for you, so only you can care for yourself. I believe that Xue Yang wasnât always a bad person because no one is inherently evil. However, because he was alone, there was no one to nurture him and teach him right from wrong. When all you experience is violence and hatred, that becomes your response to similar situations; you donât expect kindness or want to give it in return.
One of Xue Yangâs flaws as a child was his naivety â he was much too quick to trust. Thatâs how he got himself into such a bad situation. He was eager to have something he was never able to have (candy), so he immediately trusted that shopkeeper when he said he could have some as a reward for running an errand. What he got in return wasnât candy, but a brutal beating and a severed pinky. If Xue Yang had still had any faith left in humanity, this is the point where it would have left him. The remaining childhood innocence in him was gone. This brings me to an interesting piece of dialogue. In Yi City, when Xue Yang confronts Song Lan and tells him what heâs been up to, Song Lan curses at him, calling him an animal. Xue Yang laughs at him and says, âI quit using those words when I was seven.â And what happened to Xue Yangâs finger? âOne finger was ground into battered flesh on the spot. The child was seven.â Even Xue Yang himself knows that moment was when everything changed, and he still carries the resentment with him now.
Back to the cart incident. This event scarred him for life and was the primary reason he became a sociopath. Now heâs bent on revenge. He was powerless as a child; just another street rat who shouldnât be treated like a human being nor spared any pity. So, when he realizes he can do the same to those that hurt him, he takes it much further. When he was old enough and strong enough, he exacts his revenge. He wanted to make the Chang Clan feel his pain â not only for the finger he had lost but for his whole miserable life up to that point. If no one deigned to understand him, then heâd make them understand in the only way he knew how. With violence.
Xue Yang was only fifteen or sixteen when he slaughtered the Chang Clan, killing more than fifty people. This is where he meets Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan. From the first moment, Xue Yang hates Xiao Xingchen. Heâs so righteous, so full of light. He thinks he makes the world better just by doing a little good. What a hypocrite. Where was he when he was needed? Where was he when Xue Yang was a seven-year-old boy left crying in the streets after having his finger ground to a pulp? No, nobody can be that good.
When Xue Yang is captured by Wei Wuxian and the others, Xiao Xingchen takes him back to Qinghe to be apprehended, and Xue Yang vows to get his revenge on Xiao Xingchen for it. It isnât long after he escapes from Qinghe that Xue Yang slaughters Baixue Temple, blinding Song Lan in the process. According to Xue Yangâs logic, hurting Xiao Xingchenâs friend is just as bad as hurting Xiao Xingchen himself. This is what causes the rift between Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan. Without this incident, Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen may never have met again.
A few years have likely passed while Xue Yang was working for Jin Guangyao. He is probably closer to eighteen or nineteen when Jin Guangyao injures him and throws him out, which is how Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing find him. Xiao Xingchen doesnât hesitate in bringing Xue Yang back to Yi City with him and A-Qing and caring for his wounds. Xue Yang wakes up pained and disoriented, but he immediately tries to back away when he realizes who is tending to him. He doesnât know Xiao Xingchen is unaware of his identity, and probably thinks that Xiao Xingchen is getting ready to take him to face justice or something. But Xiao Xingchen insists that he doesnât need to know who Xue Yang is and that heâs only doing whatâs right. Xue Yang is clearly shocked by this admission. He truly cannot comprehend kindness, and this is the first time heâs ever experienced it.
This is also the first time we get to see his genuine smile. Itâs shocked and incredulous, like he canât believe this is happening, but itâs there. Throughout the series, Xue Yangâs snarky words and sly smirk are a token of his character, but now we know they are just a mask he uses to hide the small, broken child inside of him. If no one can see the hurt he hides, then no one can hurt him further. But with just one kind gesture, Xiao Xingchen was able to bring out the young boy who just wanted love and comfort.
This kindness is such a foreign concept to Xue Yang that he doesnât think itâs genuine for a long time. But as the years pass, Xue Yang comes to realize that Xiao Xingchen isnât a threat. This is something he scoffs at. Xiao Xingchen is ridiculously naĂŻve; so stupid. If he knew who he was living with, who he was eating with, he wouldnât act like this. He would treat Xue Yang the same way everyone else had. So, Xue Yang decides to trick Xiao Xingchen into murdering innocent people for revenge. Xue Yang canât wait for Xiao Xingchen to find out what Xue Yang has made him do because itâll break him. What this revenge is for is up to interpretation. Maybe heâs still angry about being captured and sent to Qinghe. Maybe heâs angry at the world for treating him so badly. Maybe Xue Yang wants to show Xiao Xingchen that his worldview is stupid and that there are no good or pure people in the world. I choose to believe that itâs the last one.
At least, this is his motivation at first â he slowly loses the will to harm Xiao Xingchen. This brings me to another interesting point. In episode three, Xue Yang says he doesnât fear death, he fears boredom. But isnât this domestic life heâs living with Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing considered boring by his standards? I think the boredom he speaks of is really the fear of being alone and having nothing at all. Now heâs happy, however reluctantly heâs willing to admit it. He wouldnât have put up with A-Qingâs petulant behavior if he didnât enjoy the time they spent together. Although they didnât get along at first, Xue Yang protects A-Qing and takes care of her like an annoying older brother. He teases her, sure, but he also cuts her apple slices in the shape of rabbits and gives her advice on how to scare away the people who bully her (even though killing them isnât great advice). Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing were the family he never had. Now he would do anything to preserve the life he is living.
After about a year, Xue Yangâs plan stopped being about revenge. Iâm not completely sure how he justified this change of heart, but I like to think he told himself he was still biding his time and that heâd get back to it eventually (even if he had stopped thinking about hurting Xiao Xingchen). Based on what A-Qing told Song Lan when he arrived at Yi City, Xue Yang hadnât taken Xiao Xingchen out on one of those night hunts in a long time. And most of the people that Xue Yang made Xiao Xingchen kill were the merchants that made fun of his blindness and cheated him with bad vegetables and high prices. It was a messed-up way to get revenge for Xiao Xingchen. Xue Yang hates being looked down on, so shouldnât Xiao Xingchen feel the same way?
Nevertheless, the time they spent in Yi City was probably the only time Xue Yang had been happy in his entire life. Xiao Xingchen was so in tune with what Xue Yang needed that Xue Yang came to care for him deeply. Whether those feelings were romantic or platonic in nature is up to the viewer, but I believe Xue Yang had fallen in love with Xiao Xingchen in the only sick and twisted way he could. Xiao Xingchen understood him more than anyone ever had, going so far as to listen to his idle ramblings and bring him a piece of candy every day after hearing that he had loved sweets as a child but could never have any. He managed to tame the savage beast in Xue Yangâs heart with only his presence and basic human decency. Xue Yangâs bloodlust was satiated as long as he had Xiao Xingchen to take care of him. At this point, I donât think he would ever actually kill Xiao Xingchen. He had stopped wanting to hurt him a long time ago. A-Qing? Sure. Sheâs expendable, but Xiao Xingchen is irreplaceable. Even if Xue Yang reluctantly came to care about her, it wasnât the same kind of bond. She had never shown him the same kindness that Xiao Xingchen had. He wouldnât hesitate to hurt her if she betrayed him, but she was important to Xiao Xingchen, which meant he couldnât do her any harm if he didnât want to disrupt their happy life.
If Song Lan hadnât found them, how long would Xue Yang have stayed? I donât even think he knew. He just knew that he didnât want to leave anymore. Xiao Xingchen gave him too much for him to want that. The viewer can easily see the happiness in his eyes when he looks at Xiao Xingchen. Xue Yang acts like a kid around him â playing games, joking around, making him laugh with childish remarks. Even in the quiet moments, heâs happy. This was especially noticeable in the campfire scene. It wasnât shown in the original drama, but in the special edition, Xue Yang smiled at Xiao Xingchen from across the fire, and the look in his eyes as he gazed at his daozhang was so tender that it honestly caught me off guard. It seemed to catch Xue Yang off guard too because he caught himself, and the smile slowly fell. Itâs like he realized what heâs doing and remembered that this should be about revenge.
Where in the past, Xue Yang hated Xiao Xingchen for his righteousness, he now loves him for his naivety. Without it, Xue Yang knows that Xiao Xingchen would be disgusted with himself. There would be no more laughs, no more games, and no more smiles. Then Xue Yang would lose the one person who didnât treat him like dirt. So, when Song Lan finds them, Xue Yang immediately perceives it as a threat to their domestic life. He knows how important Song Lan is to Xiao Xingchen, and thereâs no doubt in his mind that Xiao Xingchen wonât hesitate to leave with Song Lan when he discovers Xue Yangâs identity.
Furthermore, Xue Yang resents Song Lan for taking Xiao Xingchenâs eyes (even though it was voluntary on Xiao Xingchenâs part and was essentially Xue Yangâs fault). His logic tells him that having Xiao Xingchen kill Song Lan would be the perfect way for Xiao Xingchen to get his revenge. What Xue Yang doesnât understand is that not everyone thinks about things in the context of revenge. I donât believe Xiao Xingchen ever truly regretted giving up his sight. But Xue Yang canât comprehend how someone could be that selfless.
This is where it all falls apart. A-Qing sees what happened to Song Lan, and she runs to Xiao Xingchen and tells him everything. When Xiao Xingchen comes back to confront him, Xue Yang spills it all. Thereâs nothing left for him to lose. His mask falls again, and he basically bares his soul to Xiao Xingchen. This is probably the first time heâs told the story about his finger, and I think he genuinely thought Xiao Xingchen was going to understand him; that if he knew what Xue Yang went through, heâd sympathize with him and justify his action (thereby justifying his feelings). Instead of that, however, Xiao Xingchen calls him disgusting, and it flips a switch inside of Xue Yang. How can Xiao Xingchen call him disgusting when heâs killed people too?
I think one of the reasons Xue Yang led Xiao Xingchen to kill those people was to bring Xiao Xingchen down to his level. Xue Yang doesnât think that anyone can be as good as Xiao Xingchen claimed to be, so he had to taint his perfect record. Maybe if he killed people, Xiao Xingchen would understand him. Xue Yang thought that when Xiao Xingchen found out, heâd stay with him. Now heâs not the same righteous person he used to be, so how could he be good enough to travel the world with Song Lan? No, he should stay with Xue Yang instead and live a happy life together.
So, when Xiao Xingchen calls him disgusting, Xue Yang was probably confused and upset, which made him instinctively put his mask back up. Being vulnerable only hurt him again, so heâs back to harsh words and smirks, telling Xiao Xingchen that this is why heâs always hated him and that all of this was fun. Fun in every sense of the word: the killing and the happiness.
Xiao Xingchen finding out that he killed Song Lan was the last straw. Xue Yang is still laughing as Xiao Xingchen slits his own throat. It takes a moment for the realization to set in, but as it does, the smile falls from Xue Yangâs lips, and his hands begin to shake. This is the third time his mask has fallen. His eyes begin to well with tears, but he tries to keep up his act, saying that dead ones are easier to control, but the only one heâs acting for is himself.
The next scene is the one that really solidified Xue Yangâs feelings for me. He cleans the blood from Xiao Xingchenâs skin with the same care that Xiao Xingchen had shown him when he first found Xue Yang in that ditch. Xue Yang clearly thinks that Xiao Xingchen is going to come back and that the ritual will work, that he staves off his tears and sets out food for both of them. He considers eating his candy but then decides he should wait until Xiao Xingchen comes back. If heâs back, then Xue Yang is sure to get another piece.
When he realizes that the ritual isnât working and Xiao Xingchen isnât coming back, he breaks down. The tantrum he throws is so full of rage and anguish that it really shows the depth of his feelings for Xiao Xingchen. Again, he goes back to acting, trying to guilt Xiao Xingchenâs dead body into coming back to life by telling him all the terrible things heâll do to Song Lan and A-Qing if he doesnât reawaken. Obviously, Xiao Xingchen canât hear him, and Xue Yang knows this, even if he doesnât want to admit it. He finally dissolves into tears, screaming and crying over Xiao Xingchenâs corpse. This may have been the first time heâs cried since he lost his finger. Crying is for innocent, naĂŻve children, and it doesnât help anybody. But now Xue Yang has had a taste of pure sweetness and doesnât want to go back to the bitter life he has known, so he finally lets himself weep for all the things he could have had.
Xue Yang spent the next seven years trying to bring Xiao Xingchen back to life with no success. We donât know much about his activities after Yi City, but we have gotten information through rumors that Shuanghua was being used to kill innocents. It seems like Xue Yang wanted to keep a part of Xiao Xingchen with him. He even continued his sick revenge plot after Xiao Xingchenâs death by gouging out the eyes of and killing the remains of the Chang Clan, including their leader, Chang Ping, by lingchi. Xue Yang doesnât blame himself in the slightest; he just thinks that Xiao Xingchenâs death was an unfortunate consequence of the situation. He will put the blame on anyone and everyone other than himself. Thus, instead of performing lingchi on himself like Wei Wuxian suggested, he takes out his anger on the remains of the Chang Clan.
Everything Xue Yang does in the present is tied to Xiao Xingchen, yet he still canât bring him back. So, when he heard that the Yiling Patriarch had suddenly come back to life, Xue Yang knew it was his last chance. The sword ghost/ghost arm is what led Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji to Yi City. It was pointing to its murderer. Iâm sure Xue Yang could have avoided a confrontation if he wanted, but this was intentional. As for the juniors, I have a feeling that Xue Yang was behind the cat corpses that led them to meet up with Wei Wuxian. This is still unclear though because Xue Yang doesnât have a real reason to get them involved. The only person he needs is Wei Wuxian.
Xue Yang has tried everything at this point. So, when Wei Wuxian finds him in Yi City, pretending to be Xiao Xingchen, he is completely desperate. I do wonder if that is something he has done more than once. Did he often go around dressed as Xiao Xingchen? Was he playing with the life they had in Yi City? Pretending he was still there? Or was it a one-time thing to trick Wei Wuxian into dropping his guard? I also wonder how often he used his own sword because only after Lan Zhan took Shuanghua from him did he pull out Jiangzai. That could be because he was acting as Xiao Xingchen, but we canât be sure. However, that isnât the point. Right now, Wei Wuxian was Xue Yangâs only option because the Yiling Patriarch surely knew things he didnât. Xue Yang had lived with Xiao Xingchenâs corpse for those seven years, keeping him in pristine condition. Iâm pretty sure the only way Xue Yang could have done this was by giving him spiritual energy every day, which would be incredibly draining. I donât think Xue Yang had an exceptionally strong golden core to begin with either. He is primarily a demonic cultivator, which means he doesnât use his golden core often. It must have taken most of his strength to keep Xiao Xingchenâs body in such good condition. But anything for daozhang, right? Xue Yang needed Xiao Xingchenâs body to be perfect when he returned. He also put aside his pride and used Song Lan for protection all those years. He kept the one person he continued to hate with a burning passion around him for so long.
When Wei Wuxian tells Xue Yang he canât bring Xiao Xingchen back to life because his soul is too broken, Xue Yang refuses to believe it. Itâs been seven years already; he canât give up now. Deep down, I believe Xue Yang knows Xiao Xingchen wouldnât want anything to do with him even if he did come back, but he canât figure out why. Because nothing was his fault, of course.
Something Wei Wuxian said really struck me as I went back to rewatch episode 39. Before the fight, Wei Wuxian turns to Xue Yang and says, âyou disgust him to the core, yet you still want to pull him back to play this stupid game.â Xue Yang responds with âI want nothing of the kind.â And heâs being honest. He doesnât want a stupid game â he wants something real. He wants a life where Xiao Xingchen knows his identity and stays with him in spite of it. He just wants one person to accept him as he is, but that will never, nor could ever, happen ânot with all the crimes he has committed.
When Lan Wangji cut off his arm, leaving Xue Yang bleeding on the ground, I think he knew it was over. There was nothing left for him now. He was never getting Xiao Xingchen back. He never had him in the first place, not in any way that counted. So he laughs, blood spilling from his lips, to cover up the tears he wishes he could cry.
Heâs ready when Song Lan stabs him, dying with a smile on his face as he gazes at the last piece of candy Xiao Xingchen had ever given him. Itâs blackened and inedible, yet Xue Yang held on to it for so long; it was a reminder of his daozhang and of why he was fighting so hard. Like his character song said, he was âtoo determined to let go.â
Itâs kind of sad that even in death, he was never respected by anyone other than Xiao Xingchen, and all of that was built on a lie. He didnât even get a proper burial, although I suppose he kind of deserved it. Xue Yang is the character I pity the most in this series. He isnât a good person, nowhere near it, and he deserved the end he got, but I wish things could have been different. What hurts is that it just as easily could have been Wei Wuxian. If Xue Yang had been taken in as a child; if heâd had his own Jiang Fengmian, his own Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli, he could have been happier. Maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe he would have met Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan and started a sect with them. Realistically, he and Xiao Xingchen would never be lovers because Xiao Xingchen was so strongly connected to Song Lan, but I think they could have been friends.
However, one question I still have is did Xue Yang fall in love with Xiao Xingchen because of how he treated him or because of the person Xiao Xingchen really was? If they had met under different circumstances (and if Xue Yang had had a support system when he was young), would Xue Yang have still fallen in love with him? I guess thatâs up to the viewer to decide.
Ultimately, Xue Yang is still a sociopath who canât understand empathy or feel remorse, so I donât think he regretted any of his crimes. However, I do believe that Xue Yang regretted the consequences of his actions in Yi City. He didnât want Xiao Xingchen to die, but his actions were what caused his death. Itâs more of a dissatisfaction with where things ended up than feeling guilty for his death. Although I donât think Xue Yang felt remorseful, that doesnât mean he wasnât grieving, nor does it mean his feelings for Xiao Xingchen werenât as genuine as they could have been.
I donât know where Xue Yang or Xiao Xingchen will end up now, but I hope theyâll both be happy in their next lives. The same goes for A-Qing and Song Lan (when he finally meets his true end). There are so many things that contributed to Xue Yangâs unstable mind, but I think the moral of the story is that it pays to be kind. If just one person had taken pity on him as a child â had shown him that there was good in the world â I wonder what kind of person he would have become.
I already know how cruel fate is
Not looking, not asking, not grieving, not hating
Waiting to relive my life just for a single person
I tried searching in the darkness of night
When I am trapped in the past
I still hope that a flicker of light will appear in my heart
The legend of this lonely city
And gifted to me my karma
I am waiting for this karma to liberate spirits, liberate souls, and liberate me
Even though I am already too determined to let go
If I get rid of these inner demons
Gaining freedom from destiny, starting all over again
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