Blue Riverās love for Glory and Changing Springās name
Edit: Thx Jou for pointing out I used å® instead of the correct 宫 by accident WHOOPS and giving me a another possible definition. And yeah, smoke and flowers and trees also tie into the lasting vs non lasting imagery uwu
Okay, okay, okay, because I am a total POETRY SIMP I have have HAVE to scream about THIS ONE SCENE in the Season Two animation. (Sorry for all the caps I just CANNOT get over this aaaahhh)
This is the part where Blue River is talking to Changing Spring about their plans to take over the world destroy Happy.
Now this scene is INCREDIBLY IRONIC, but for you to have context, I have to explain context.
Iām sure everyone who has read the novel or any form of TKA media that has Blue River and Changing Spring and their dynamic has some form (no matter how slight) of the roles they play as characters, but if you donāt or canāt really figure out how to voice it, NO WORRIES, I will explain.
In a word, foils. Blue River and Changing Spring play off of each other. Changing Spring is someone who loves Glory, yes, but his passion for Glory is different from how he started, and a LOT of characters exhibit this kind of role. From Tao Xuan, to Liu Hao, to the guild leaders in game. And Ye Xiu is very much on the other extreme. His love for Glory is completely unmarred by anything, which is why the conflict between him and EE begins in the first place.Ā
Itās not necessarily good or bad, but itās pure and true, and itās through Ye Xiu that Blue River rediscovers that purity of joy and passion he and the other guild leaders had lost. This is clearly shown in the way he reacts to everything that goes on with surprise and, you can tell, sorrow. He decides to stay with Ye Xiu because he can feel that purity in passion Ye Xiu has, the same kind Blue River, and probably all the other guild leaders and pro players, once had. In a time where the game, was just that, a game. Not political, not filled with deceit and with everyone fighting for their own interests, just joy, just passion. No matter if its the way Blue River reacts to Changing Springās plans or the way he tries and talks with Thousand Creations, or how he stays to be Happyās babysitter.
And thus, it makes the above scene SO IRONIC.Ā
First of all, I have to mention the origins of Changing Spring's name.
Changing Spring, ę„ęč ChÅ«n yƬ lĒo (lit. Spring grows old very easily) comes from a version of the čÆē Cipai éēę”Ā QÄ«ngyĆ¹ Ć n (lit. Case of the Green Jade, and by case I mean like a... a criminal case, not a briefcase) called åå (TĆ³ng qiĆ”n Same as What Once Was) by ęč”„ä¹ (ChĆ”o bĒ zhÄ« ). I donāt know if any of you remember this but in my analysis of Lord Grimās name, one of the possible origins was also a Cipai. In case you donāt remember what a Cipai is, its basically a tune with a set structure for lyrics wherein the lyrics get filled in. Thereās often many, many versions of one Cipai, filled in by different (or the same) people over maybe a short period where it was popular or maybe over the course of several dynasties.Ā
éēę”Ā·åå
ļ¼å®ļ¼ ę蔄ä¹
å幓äøåé½éØéć
äæ”å¹é©¬ļ¼ē¾ééć
ēåŗéŖéø¾ē¹å¹“å°ć
宫č±å¤“äøļ¼å¾”ēēåŗļ¼åøøę„ęåę©ć
éč§ēæ»ęē¾¤ä»ē¬ć
ęØå°åäŗŗé“ęę„čć
ē½åęå 彤åŗę³ć
ēŗ¢å¢å¤©é»ļ¼ē¢§ęæ ēéļ¼ē»éØčæ·č³čć
(okay so I spent a lot of time trying to find an analysis or translation, but couldnāt find one so youāre gonna have to bare with my shitty analysis. If you want a TL;DR, just read the first two paragraphs, because this part isnāt actually important to the scene in TKA itself, itās just because Iām a fucking poetry simp)
The title of the poem is åå, meaning āthings now are the same as they were beforeā. Yes, two characters, nine words in English. Chinese is hella dense lol. Chao Buzhi was a Song Dynasty poet, thus the (å®) before his name.Ā
The primary image used here is a contrast ofĀ āmortalā andĀ āimmortalā or rather, things that last vs things that donāt. Time has passed, things may or may not have changed.
å幓äøåé½éØéć In the first line, å幓 ten years äøå most likely, havenāt walked/been down (if we consider the other characters) é½ the capitalās éØé roads. Pretty straight forward, it indicates a passing of time, itās been ten years since he guyās walked the roads of the capital.
äæ”å¹é©¬ļ¼ē¾ééć Second line. äæ” trust, honesty, reliable å¹é©¬ horse, most likely, the authorās ē¾ I'm not sure about this actually, because the meaning of this word that fits most here isĀ ārecommendā and āuseā, however, thatās not often used? Itās more commonlyĀ āfearā orĀ āembarrassā, which doesnāt make as much sense éé overlapping/reusing/the same roads. I think, but Iām really not sure, that this means that his trustworthy/reliable horse takes him down these familiar roads.
ēåŗéŖéø¾ē¹å¹“å°ćThird line. ēåŗ Aristocracy, basically. Specifically,Ā āprincesā as in brothers of the emperor. I believe it uses åŗ (residence/mansion) to refer to the people of the aristocracy/the scenes involving the aristocrats. éŖéø¾ here we have our firstĀ āimmortalā imagery. This phrase means an immortal cruising leisurely on a divine mount. Yes. Itās that specific LOL. ē¹ like å¹“å° when young. When who was young? Not sure. Could be saying like how it was when the author was young, could be saying itās a youthful thing to do. I lean towardsĀ ālike when the author was youngā. So, in summary, just like in the authorās youth, the aristocracy play and walk about leisurely (like immortals).
宫č±å¤“äøļ¼å¾”ēēåŗļ¼åøøę„ęåę©ć Fourth Line. å®«č± if Iām not mistaken, å®«č± should be a kind of flower hair/head accessory worn by examinees when the emperor administers a banquet in honour, can also be the imperial gardens. 夓äø can be understood asĀ āaboveā or āon the headā. å¾”ē incense burner used by the emperor ēåŗĀ ābelow the smokeā possibly åøøę„ daily ę court, probably å return ę© early/morning. I believe this line is talking about the daily life of the court/in the palace. So above the imperial gardens, below the imperial smoke, people return early from the court (not sure about this part).
éč§ēæ»ęē¾¤ä»ē¬ć Fifth line. éč§Ā a cup full of delicious alcohol mmmhmmm yum ēæ»ę literally, flip hand. Iām guessing this means, motioning with hands/gestures. ē¾¤ä»ē¬ the crowd of immortals laugh/smile. More immortal imagery!!! Basically describing some sort of banquet/party/social gathering with wine, chatting laughing.
ęØå°åäŗŗé“ęę„čć Sixth line. ęØ hate å°å literally, this means dust and earth, however, it also means mortal-ness, anything to do with the mortality, so like the mortal realm, mortal attachments, or, rather, ordinary, insignificant people. So like, peasants äŗŗé“ the human realm, or like... human society. The world of normality and normal people ę easily ę„ spring č old/ages (itās Changing Springās name!). Hating how things age and change (how āspringā grows old with such ease) in the mortal realm.
ē½åęå 彤åŗę³ć Seventh line. ē½å white hair ę worry, want anxiously å check, divine, report, observe, estimate 彤åŗ the palace ę³ silent, without a trace, unable to find. Iām actually not sure what this means, but again, thereāsĀ āmortalā imagery in this line with theĀ āwhite hairā, commonly used to refer to the elderly/aging.
ēŗ¢å¢å¤©é»ļ¼ē¢§ęæ ēéļ¼ē»éØčæ·č³čćFinal line. ēŗ¢å¢ red walls, palace walls are red btwĀ 天 sky/heavenĀ é» hinders, blocksĀ ē¢§ęæ while the first character does mean green, itās actually a colour used to describe clear water, cause it often reflects the greenery around it and beneath its depths. The second character means a body of water, most commonly a moat. ē smoke é locks ē»éØ drizzle/light rain čæ· obsessed with/adores/confuse č³č fresh, aromatic grass. Again, this is a sequence of images, rather than a full on sentence. The red walls block the sky, the green moat locks in the smoke, rain confuses (?) adores (?) the fresh grass.
Back on track to the scene in the animation. You can see that beside Changing Springās name, thereās a sentence (the one circled in green), and it says:
ē»éØčæ·č³čļ¼å幓ē¹å¹“å°ć
Now, this actually also comes from the same poem. It uses phrases from the poem to create a new meaning. Ignore the preliminary translation, you can consider it to be able to mean:
Even after ten years have passed, the rain adores the grass just like in their youth.
The rain adoring the grass? Oneās love and passion for Glory. Even after ten years, our passion and love for Glory has not changed from what it was like in our youth.
This completely and accurately describes the difference between Blue River and Changing Spring. Itās on Changing Springās profile, but this is EXACTLY what Changing Spring has LOST. Changing Spring, his spring has grown old, things are no longer the same, but Blue River, who is the one talking to him about Lord Grim in this scene, rediscovers theĀ ārainās adoration for fresh grassā through Ye Xiu!!!
Itās such such SUCH a good fit too, because TEN YEARS. Ye Xiuās ten years of Glory, Happy taking the championships in Season Ten (whoops, spoiler) with memories of his youth (Su Muqiu, eternally 18, eternally young). And Iām just
ahsgdjfhjfgjhfgjdsfd YES YES
ANYWAYS hope you all enjoyed that... wow text wall of analysis. I just really, really appreciated this tbh. Like damn, that was GOOD. I love it and hope yāall love it as much as I do, wew.
