Do you have any thoughts on the dynamics between the generals of the Zhou army? I know JinZha and MuZha are described together a lot. NeZha seems to spend most of his time with YangJian and TianHua (and I’m assuming Lei ZhenZi since they get captured/beaten by the same guys in a few instances). NeZha also seems to shift in personality when TianHua and TianXiang die, making a lot less snarky remarks and killing opponents much sooner in battle (at least in Gu Zhizhong’s translation). Just a few examples
Ohhh, I have a bunch of headcanons regarding their dynamics. But before that, some infodumps:
-Nezha and Yang Jian's close relationship in FSYY may be a result of the novel taking inspiration from the "Emperor Zhenwu Kicks Demon Asses and Takes Names" genre of tales.
-Basically, in those stories, Emperor Zhenwu is sent to the mortal realm during the Shang-Zhou transistion to subdue demons and assist King Wu.
-FSYY kinda makes JZY take over Zhenwu's role. And in Yuan Zaju plays, Erlang and Nezha are often said to work under the Demon-Vanquishing Mansion of the North Pole, which is led by either Zhenwu himself or Emperor Ziwei of the North Pole's Central Sky (going by the variant where Zhenwu is one of the 4 marshals of the North Pole).
-Thus when JZY gains Zhenwu's role, he also gains his two employees from Zaju plays.
-Since Jinzha and Muzha only become a thing after Nezha, likely to flesh out the "Third Prince" thing and fulfill the classic folk tradition need to put characters in groups of set numbers, on a meta level, they aren't that close to Nezha either.
As for HCs, brace yourself, because there's a lot.
Thoughts on the Chan Junior Dynamics
-The Nezha + Yang Jian + Tianhua trio is certainly the most fun dynamic wise. Sadly, Huang Tianhua always end up getting ignored in favor of the Jianzha relationship.
(btw, I really dislike the "Yang Jian is Nezha's mentor/surrogate parent figure" take. Like, Nezha's actual master, Taiyi, is right there, and though these two are senior and junior brothers, they still come off more as equals in terms of status and abilities.)
-Nezha and Tianhua always has that vitrolic best buds vibe to me. Like, it doesn't take much for Nezha to acknowledge Yang Jian as senior brother, because their first interaction is a pretty good one, and his impression of Yang Jian is this polite, but not humorless guy with some OP shapeshifting skills.
-Huang Tianhua, though? They are both hotheaded, prideful youths prone to impulsive behavior, who've butted heads in-story. You bet Tianhua has tried to pull the senior brother card before and gotten a load of snark in return.
-Yep, whether Novel! Yang Jian has a sister or not, he's gotta be pretty skilled at acting the unofficial brother and breaking up arguments before they become too mean and heated.
-Complicating the matter: both Nezha and Huang Tianhua have brothers who fight alongside them on the battlefield, yet these brothers are practically strangers to them.
-Huang Tianhua is…well, spirited away from his family garden by Daode Zhenjun at the age of three, and when he joined the war to assist his family, he learned that his mom and aunt were dead because of Daji's plotting, and he has three younger brothers he'd never met before.
-Nezha's brothers aren't complete strangers, but they are distant enough to be unrecognizable during Nezha's first encounter with Muzha (probably because they spend most of their time away from home and studying under their respective immortal masters).
-And considering how the Patricide Arc went, I'd say Nezha isn't exactly eager to know them, at least during the first few years on the battlefield.
Tianhua: "Wait, why's Tianxiang crying? I'm just trying to lighten the mood!"
Nezha: "If my brothers find one more excuse to 'make up for lost time' I'm gonna brick them. Both of them."
-Strangely enough, their mutual awkwardness around their actual brothers becomes something they bonded over, and Nezha becomes quite friendly with Tianhua's younger brothers, to his mock contention.
-Which is my explanation for his angry reaction to Huang Tianxiang's headless body being desecrated by the Shang side.
-Interestingly enough, Nezha says: "He's your enemy, and if it's out of loyalty to your kingdom, decapitation is enough! What has he done to you that warrants hanging his body on the gate tower?"
-My HC is that he has more or less accepted the fact that people he knew might die on the battlefield just because Fate Says So, but isn't quite ready for the depth of personal hatred and cruelty war can inspire yet.
-Also, I feel like the Yang Jian & Tianhua brotherhood is just as strong. Like, when he heard the news that Tianhua had died to Kong Xuan's subordinate, he got pretty angry, if the poetry is any indication.
杨戬听得黄天化已死，正是：道心推在汪洋海，却把无名上脑来。
-It isn't enough to make him lose his cool in his subsequent battle with Kong Xuan, but it's probably the most explicit description of anger we've seen from this guy.
-I can see Nezha and Yang Jian becoming much closer after Tianhua's deification yet also feeling deeply guilty about it, like they are hurrying to fill in the missing space, further complicated by the "deification isn't perma-death yet the person you know is still lost" factor.
-For Nezha specifically: he is destined to be the Vanguard of the Zhou army, but for over half of the novel, he doesn't seem to have that official title, while Huang Tianhua does introduce himself as "Vanguard with the Formal Seal".
-Only after Tianhua's death does JZY give the seal to Nezha and make him the head vanguard.
-Like, imagine if these two have bickered about the vanguard thing before, and Nezha finding out that his destiny——the fated position he always viewed with a mix of pride and entitlement——only comes true at the cost of a friend's life.
-There's probably shared anger and guilt at not being able to protect Tianhua's remaining family, even though their fate is sealed long before the war itself.
-Which is how I read Yang Jian's most ruthless deed, when he tricks Zhang Kui & Gao Lanying into slaying the former's steed and elderly mother while they are attempting to execute him, for the explicit purpose of destroying their morales.
-Like, it actually gets a disapproving line out of the Ming annotator of the novel, who comments that "Those who are the nicest and most obedient are often the most cruel, too." (可见极乖巧之人，是极恶毒之人)
-It also happens right after Huang Feihu, his brother, and the other four future Five Mount Gods died at Zhang Kui's hands. Though Yang Jian rationalizes it as military tactics and psychological warfare, personally, I feel like an element of "an eye for an eye" is at play here too.
-As for Huang Tianhua himself? This piece of old rambling in JTTW Discord pretty much sums up my thoughts.
-Finally, Lei Zhenzi...kinda like Wei Hu, he doesn't get a lot of spotlight or character. But if you wanna expand on his personality, I feel like a potential point of focus will be his relationship with King Wen and King Wu and the Zhou lineage.
-Since he's born from a great thunder, adopted by King Wen (then immediately taken away by Yunzhong Zi as a student), and transformed into a fierce winged warrior via eating magical apricots in order to rescue his father.
-Not only is there awkwardness from meeting the adoptive dad and brother he's never seen before, but also the whole monstrous transformation thing——like, King Wen has 99 sons prior to adopting Lei Zhenzi, yet he'll always be the odd one out.
(His fellow Chan juniors are of no help whatsoever when it comes to learning about normal family interactions. Not that they don't want to, but theirs either have zero presence in their lives until very recently, or are exemplars of How Not To Family.)
-I'd love to read a story where Lei Zhenzi is trying his best to integrate himself into this huge family, during or after the Investiture War, and eventually finds out about Boyi Kao...
-Also, in pre-FSYY novel version of the story, Lei Zhenzi and Yin Jiao essentially serve the role of Nezha and Yang Jian in the novel: both are born to destroy the Shang.
-Novel! Yin Jiao no longer has that association, considering that his destined role and Patricide Arc get taken over by Nezha, and he is rewritten into a tragic betrayer instead.
-But I'd love to see adaptations that add in some interactions between these two sons of opposing rulers——the Thunderborn Child vs. Last Heir of the Shang.
-Both become monstrous warriors via magical consumables. Both oppose the Shang (at least initially, for Yin Jiao). Yet what Lei Zhenzi wants (a father, a brother, a family) is what Yin Jiao can never escape, and it ends up dooming him.
