Yang Guang Character Analysis Kinda
I'm going through my second read-through of Iron Widow and annotating it and decided to do analyses of the characters and the books entirely because I literally can't stop thinking about it. It's forever just in the back of my mind and I need to let the voices out somehow.
Before I start this, I do want to say it's not my intention to pardon Yang Guang's actions. I'm just trying to dig into his character, which means finding reasons for his actions. I do like him as a character (unfortunately), but I have no intention of defending or excusing him.
Who is Yang Guang?
Yang Guang is a character from Iron Widow who plays a large part in the first act. He's introduced in and the narrator of the prologue (written in third person). He's a Prince-Colonel Pilot who pilots the Nine-Tailed Fox Chrysalis. He's 19 years old and had been piloting for over 5 years (started before he was 14). Yang Guang is one of the strongest Pilots in the beginning of the series before he's killed by Wu Zetain (protagonist) (confirmed on page 80, chapter 8).
It's established early in the story that Yang Guang had killed Wu Zetian's older sister, Wu Ruyi, who became Yang Guang's concubine before the starting point of the story. It is immediately implied that Yang Guang had killed her sister off battle. In Heavenly Tyrant, Zetian straightforwardly states that Yang Guang had beat Ruyi to death and often had outbursts of rage, having beaten multiple women [to death] (pg. 211).
Yang Guang's Friends
Yang Guang, as far as the reader knows, has only one really good friend, which is Xing Tian, the Headless Warrior. The Moon Rabbit's Pilot also shows to have some comradery towards Yang Guang but it's hard to call them friends. Yang Guang also seemed to be decently liked by the other pilots, or maybe they just hated Zetian.
Yang Guang and Li Shimin
Yang Guang doesn't like Shimin. When the Vermillion Bird entered the narrative in the prologue, Yang Guang's first instinct was to outdo him by going into Ascended Form and defeating a Prince-class Hundun. "Maybe he'd finally shoot past Li Shimin, that convicted murderer who did not deserve to be Huaxia's top pilot" (pg. 3). "'No one's happy that a family killer like him [Li Shimin] is the strongest of us.'" (pg. 55).
Yang Guang and his Concubines
Yang Guang kept a distance from his concubines, never creating any genuine relationships or having genuine interactions with them. In the prologue, when he receives his concubine-pilot's memories in the link it states "pieces of her memories flurried through him, but he did his best to ignore them. It was best not to know too much about his concubines" (pg. 2).
This was an interesting statement because it makes me wonder where this sentiment came from. Why is it best not to know too much about his concubines? Was it something he decided on his own or was he told that? I think it'd be interesting to know a bit more about how Pilots were raised because of the fact that they were taken away at a young age to train, and to see how that affected their development and character. If this was something that was taught to them, to not care for the concubines and or it was something that they were forced to learn (upon killing concubine after concubine) it would add a lot more depth to the world building. But it's clear in its intent: letting the reader know that Yang Guang kept a distance from his concubines.
"He didn't remember her name. He tried not to. He went through so many concubine-pilots that it would be a paralyzing distraction to keep track of them", "she had known what she'd be getting into. She had made the decision to enlist for him", "the concubine's noble sacrifice will not be in vain" (pg. 5).
These quotes are taken from the prologue so they're coming from Yang Guang's perspective. Yang Guang who went into Ascended Form knowing that he was going to kill his concubine-pilot in the process, still shows conflicted feelings in the way that even though he numbs himself to the act of killing someone (which he had been doing for years), he still finds ways to reassure himself that it's for the greater good, and that it was inevitable. Not getting attached makes it easier for him to do his job- fighting the war, while assuring himself that it's fine that the lives of these girls (at least the concubine-pilots) died because they died nobly in battle, and therefore less of a burden for him to carry. Though we can then debate on whether or not it's better to not know these women to make it easier to let go and numbing yourself in the name of war, or to try and remember these women and to carry them on as you fight for the war.
Yang Guang's Script
In Chapter 7, pages 65-66, Zetian takes a peek into Yang Guang's memories and finds out he uses the same fucking script on every concubine he's with. Which is honestly kinda hilarious. But let's think about what this could mean about Yang Guang. Like I said, Yang Guang seemed pretty adamant on not getting close with his concubines, like the way how he ignored their memories, tried not to remember their names, hell, he probably wouldn't be able to pick out any of their faces given he didn't see the similarities with Zetian and Ruyi. So this script that he uses is probably made to keep his distance. But other than it being used as a plot device to help Zetian remember that she was in a mind realm, it also raises the question: do other pilots do this? Yang Guang is the only 'normal' pilot that's not in a balanced match that the reader gets a look into, so everything we know about pilots is through Yang Guang which…isn't a lot. If every pilot uses a script, then is it the Sages that tell pilots to do this? To keep their distance? Or is Yang Guang just fucking weird and decided this was easier, to just memorize a script and use it like an NPC?
It's the Sages
So let's say Yang Guang and the other pilots who don't have balanced matches are told a script to use on their concubines. Yang Guang is just following the rules then, and if the script is being held in place by the system, we can then assume that pilots were told not to get close to their concubines, and that it's not just a 'Yang Guang' thing. This makes Yang Guang seem less cunning and more like a loyal solider who's good at following orders. If this was the case, it would also make it feel like Yang Guang was almost 'brainwashed', and I mean it in the way how people are when born into a cult. This could also lead to a 'what happens if they do get attached and they're not a balanced match'? Like would they be punished because they broke the script? Though, that doesn't seem as likely because the concubine would probably die before they could get close anyway.
Yang Guang is an NPC
Let's say that Yang Guang is the only pilot with a script like this. A script that he memorized to keep a distance with his concubines while also acting interested and intimate. This gives him more character, in the way that he's willing to go these lengths to not get close to these women. It also makes him more pathetic because…he was willing to make his own script. Like imagine him testing each line to figure out which one worked before making a final draft that stuck. It's honestly so stupid it's bafflingly hilarious. And he would be so proud of it too.
Socializing is important to one's health and important in life overall. We can assume Yang Guang had a decent social life with the other pilots, but socializing with different types of people with different experiences and mindsets are just as, or even more important. Because the pilots have similar, if not the same, mindsets, it's nothing more than just an echo chamber. Compared to his scripted lines with his concubines, Yang Guang can't have normal conversations with girls. Well he could, he might, but we honestly don't know. (I think it'd be pretty funny if he's shit at talking to girls if they weren't concubines.)
Contradiction
Everything I said above shows that Yang Guang tries to keep a distance from his concubines, or at least stop himself from having genuine relations and interactions with them. We could take it as he doesn't really care for his concubines and only uses them for their 'uses'. And yet, Yang Guang went to go see his new concubines. This always seemed to confuse me, while I can still find reasons as to why he went to see them, like curiosity, image, etc., it still threw me off when in the prologue it's written that he tries not to get too close. This event also seemed to rush the plot forward- but I'll get more in-depth about this another time.
Yang Guang's Abusive Behavior Part I
The most abusive behavior we see from Yang Guang is his physical abuse. Sexual abuse is implied and not enough dialogue with him can be concluded for emotional/mental abuse.
Physical Abuse
Yang Guang's abuse is at first 'heavily implied' (practically admitting it). "By the way Yizhi froze stiff when I told him my sister had been whisked into his watchtower reserves. By the black eye she carried during the only video call my family had with her, a bruise she claimed she got from 'walking into a drone'. By the way she died without any alert of her falling ill" (pg. 55-56). Then, it's proven in his memories that Zetian finds. "When I finally wrench out a memory of him grabbing a girl by her hair and smashing her face against a wall, I get my proof" (pg. 66). And in Heavenly Tyrant, Zetian states how this behavior was repeated and how it was swept under the rug. "'…She was a girl you helped settle into this watchtower. Yang Guang killed her while throwing a fit. He did that a lot, and you knew, didn't you?'" (pg. 210), "'I don't blame you for the things _he_ did. I know no one would've listened if you'd spoken out. You would've been punished while making no difference. But from now on, you can no longer watch these things happen in silence. If anyone hurts a girl under your care again, you let me know, however you can.'" (pg. 211). Here, Zetian is talking to Auntie Dou, the lady who helped her 'settle' or prepare to settle in Yang Guang's Watchtower in Iron Widow.
So Yang Guang is a batterer. Straight up. When it comes to sexual assault, I feel like it's easier to miss because of these reasons: the system, and it's not shown that he's taken women without consent explicitly (but it is implied in a scene that I will get to). Subtext is important!!!
Sexual Abuse: Abuse Within the System
Iron Widow throws it in your face how women are nothing more than slaves and objects in Huaxia and to men. This is something the reader learns immediately and is reminded of constantly.
When Zetian gets ready to become a consort for Yang Guang, there's a quote from Auntie Dou. "'From this day onward, you exist to please him, so that he may be in peak physical and mental condition to battle the Hundun's that threaten our borders. His well-being should be the most prominent subject of your thoughts. You will bring him meals when he is hungry, pour him water when he is thirsty, and partake in his hobbies with him with lively enthusiasm. When he speaks, you will give your full attention, without interrupting or arguing. You will not be moody, pessimistic, or indifferent, and-most importantly- you will not react negatively to his touch.'" (pg. 41-42).
The system is setting everyone up for failure. The reason why I bring this up is because of this perspective: Yang Guang, who was taken when he was young and made to become a big-shot pilot, is given girls and women that spoil him, pleases him, and lives to his mold and standards…that's obviously going to fuck someone up in the head. So to what Yang Guang believes is normal, is actually far from it. His understanding of relationships are skewed because the only relationships he can base his off of are the older pilots and his peers- which aren't at all good examples.
The possibility of him sexually assaulting a concubine is unquestionable, but he may not even entirely recognize it because of the normalization of it in their society. Because she "can't reject him", there is never true consent happening between any of the concubines and the pilots. It's similar to marital rape. Just because they're married, it doesn't mean it's consensual. Just because they're concubine and pilot, and the concubine 'chose' this, it doesn't mean it's consensual. True consent should also be done enthusiastically. Not coerced or threatened. When a concubine plays her role, it's hard to say that it's being done enthusiastically because she will think about her job and the repercussions if she were to say 'no', which would end in what I assume her death or an unreasonably harsh punishment.
Yang Guang isn't stupid. It's hard to say if he understood and recognized the issues entirely, but he must've known what he was doing to a certain degree.
Sexual Abuse: Chapter 6
When Zetian realizes she's going to be thrown into battle, she understandably panics and tries to escape. And Yang Guang's conclusion was to manhandle her into submission. His first physical act was wrenching Zetian back when she tried to run. When she didn't calm down, he slams her face-first into the mattress and pushes his knee to her back to pin her down. Then he uses her own clothes against her, tying her up.
This comes very naturally to Yang Guang. There's no hesitation, no pauses, everything he does is fluid, like he's done this plenty of times before. And he most definitely has.
"A drawer opens. Rummaging. A slick tearing noise. His hand comes around and slaps a wide piece of tape over my mouth" (pg. 61).
Yang Guang has tape in his nightstand. Zetian doesn't describe him moving away from the bed, so the drawer would've been really close by. And he has tape in it. No normal person has tape in a drawer right beside their bed. Yang Guang has this tape here for situations like these- to make a concubine submit.
Yang Guang's Abusive Behavior Part II
Factors that could contribute to abusive behavior are past experiences, personality, social and cultural norms and more. Past experiences and social and cultural norms are just a few of the factors that I believe are what further shaped Yang Guang to what he became. In Huaxia, it's socially and culturally acceptable that women are treated like shit. This makes it harder for someone who isn't a woman realize that this treatment a problem, and sometimes the victim's themselves don't think of it as a problem as well. An example of that would be Zetian's mother and grandmother. When it's so normalized, it's hard to think that it could be anything but. Yang Guang, a man who grew up watching men overpower women, will not question it and do the same, mimicking what he would see. Because that's what's normal to him.
Pilots are taken to fight at a young age. Yang Guang who had been piloting for over five years means he started piloting before the age of 14. The way how their life and training worked through their growing years are ultimately unknown because it's not talked about within the book, but it is said how the Sages think being thrown into battle is the best way to learn. So a young kid fighting a battle, sapping qi from his concubine-pilot and would most likely and ultimately kill her, while also feeling wave after wave of heavy emotions from each Hundun that they kill would be traumatizing. It's said that exposure to abuse (violence) can deregulate a child's development by reducing its resistance to stressful events which leads to issues with the ability to regulate emotions. Especially because they're being thrown into a high-stress situation, and since gender roles matter a lot in Huaxia, pilots most likely don't get the mental health help that they need. Which leads to untreated mental illnesses (like PTSD). Strict belief of gender roles, untreated mental illnesses, and inability to regulate emotions are just a few factors that lead to abusive behavior, all of which Yang Guang has. I'm assuming the untreated mental illnesses part.
Narcissism:
Narcissistic Personality Disorder could lead to abusive behavior. That is not to say every person diagnosed with NPD is abusive nor is every abuser narcissistic. I just happened to notice Yang Guang had some traits of NPD, I am not at all diagnosing him. I'm not a psychiatrist.
What is Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)?
NPD is a mental illness that falls into DSM-5 cluster B. This category of mental illnesses have dramatic, emotional, or erratic features, which also include Antisocial Personality Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder.
Some traits of NPD are: (there's a lot more but these are the one's I'm talking about)
Having a grandiose sense of self-importance
Constantly seeking validation
Arrogant and haughty attitudes
Having A Grandiose Sense of Self-Importance or Confidence
Yang Guang takes pride in his position as a Prince-colonel class pilot, someone who's one of the strongest pilots in Huaxia. He finds what he does to be very honorable, and often values the world's safety over individuals. "He went through so many concubine-pilots that it would be a paralyzing distraction to keep track of them. And he couldn't afford to be distracted. He had a world to protect" (pg. 5). But Yang Guang isn't delusional. He doesn't think he's some savior hero that can do anything. He's still pretty realistic when it comes to it. "'No one's happy that a family killer like him is the strongest of us. But there are things more important that a single person's issues.'" (pg. 55). Because of his lack of delusion, this trait could just be confidence. Since there's so little material, it's hard to say.
Lack of Empathy
This was stated in the prologue. "Yang Guang was one of the most powerful pilots alive precisely because he could detach from them so well" (pg. 3) about Hundun's. His lack of empathy could also be extended to his unattachment to his concubines, the way how he tries to not remember their names and ignore their memories, how he could so easily say it's for the world's safety and that they chose that fate themselves.
Constantly Seeking Validation
In the prologue, Yang Guang mentions his fans who are watching. "Yang Guang stayed hyper-vigilant, not telling himself make a mistake, lest he disappoint his fans" (pg. 3), "Yang Guang focused on crushing and spearing the rest of the herd, reassuring his fans that their homeland would continue to be safe," (pg. 5). In both of these statements, it's about the performance of his actions, not the actual result. He doesn't want to make a mistake, not because it's life or death for him, but because he doesn't want to disappoint the people watching. He crushes the rest of the herd because he wants his fans, the people watching, to support him, and praise him for his actions and his work. (Man Qin Zheng would fucking hate this guy lolol).
Reward Dependence
Individuals with NPD have high reward dependence, to the point of demanding praise when completing tasks or forming new relationships. So remember the contradiction section from before. The part where I said I couldn't really make sense of why Yang Guang, who seemed like he didn't want to get close to his concubines, yet still went to greet them? This was one of the reasons why I could understand that contradiction. Yang Guang would feel a sense of accomplishment, wanting to hear praise for simply 'being nice enough to greet his new concubines', or something along the lines of that.
Arrogant and Haughty Attitudes
Just any part when Yang Guang and Wu Zetian interact in the mind realm. Especially on page 68 where he made her prostrate before him and talked down to her, like a mask falling off. That's until she goes in for the kill though.
Possible Causes:
Again, because we don't know what it's like growing up as a pilot, Yang Guang could have experience either of these that could have affected his worldview and self-view. If he were to be praised excessively, it would explain his confidence and his lack of fear of consequences for his actions. But if he were to be excessively judged, he may be playing up an act while taking his frustrations out on his concubines. Trauma (which is true because war is traumatizing) or abuse are also possible causes, as well as being rejected as a child. All of these are possible childhoods for him, and all of them would still make him the same character.
Metaphors:
Nine-tailed fox
Yang Guang's chrysalis took form of a nine-tailed fox. That was his icon (*cough* fursona *cough cough*). Nine-tailed foxes are a type of fox spirit that were known to be mischievous shapeshifters. They would trick people and had the ability to disguise themselves as a beautiful man or woman. This was a perfect metaphor to Yang Guang's personality. Yang Guang, when Wu Zetian first meets him, is described as boyish. He features were cute, and his actions were almost endearing. But this façade crashes when he aggressively manhandles Wu Zetian and looks down on her in the mind realm. He disguises himself as an endearing boyish hero, when in reality he's an abusive asshole.
Green
Yang Guang's color was green. A few meanings are rebirth, inexperience, and luck. Which is funny because I don't think this color represents him at all. In fact, I think this was for Wu Zetian. He really is just cannon fodder.
Jungle
Yang Guang's mind realm is a jungle. But why a jungle? The origin of the word jungle is Sanskrit and means 'rough (not gentle; violent or boisterous) & arid (lacking in interest, excitement, or meaning)', which fits Yang Guang. Yang Guang, who is abusive (rough) and is/was disposable, who was nothing more than just another pilot of his time (arid). Jungles are also fragile ecosystems, because they are dependent on other species, which represents Yang Guang's constant seeking of validation. Even though he seems dangerous and untamed (his actual personality), he's still fragile at heart (ugh), wanting people to praise him, to look at him, and without that, he might just crumble (lose his shit).
My Understanding of Yang Guang:
There could be a part of him that feels like he has to hide his 'true' self, like he has to act like someone else (disguising himself), and thus taking his frustration out on his concubines (because they're of lower status). Yang Guang seems to have self-esteem issues, wanting validation and praise while also thinking well enough of himself- or at least act like it. He's in a one-sided competition with Li Shimin in the prologue, wanting to surpass him in ranking, but Yang Guang isn't delusional. He's pretty rational, and stays aligned with his own values. But growing up in a warzone, his mental state isn't at all stable. Yang Guang actually doesn't seem to be a sociable person since he only has one named friend, which could mean he either has a hard time making close relationships or he chooses not to get close to people. Or both. Considering he wrote a script to woo women who are paid to sleep with him I think he's just genuinely ass at getting to know people on a deeper level. He also doesn't seem stupid. Honestly, I feel like he's the kind of guy to plan things out to make sure it at least goes decently right. Maybe he has anxiety? I wouldn't completely write that off. Because there's so much unknown in his past and a lot of this is just me guessing what's possible. So basically headcanons.
AND I'M DONE. FOR NOW. I THINK. I HOPE.
I didn't proofread. It's late, I'm tired, I think you can kinda tell. We'll see if I yell in agony for forgetting something lolol
