Lan Xichen, beste wo gibt.

When thinking about Jin Guangyao turning out Like That I think one of the things that sticks out to me is he didn’t really have allies at his own level. Like, in terms of jobs where people treat you as lesser than and you just have to pretend to not be bothered, with restaurant work one of the most helpful things is having coworkers you can complain about tables with. Like, just someone you can be like “ugh that table was so rude” and they’ll be like “ugh what assholes.” Jin Guangyao had his mother, but that’s a different relationship, and she had such high aspirations for him. Then Lan Xichen took his side a lot, but he’s both in a wildly different social strata and doesn’t seem like the kind of person you can complain too, he’s a bit too positive. I guess there’s Xue Yang but Xue Yang’s response to stuff isn’t to complain it’s to fully commit violent crimes. So like idk when I think of pre-violent crimes Jin Guangyao I’m like huh yeah he kind of didn’t really have anyone he could release any of those emotions with. I think about it too in combination with the repeated thematic material regarding the way resentment builds up and becomes more violent when it’s allowed to do so (like Wen Ning being more aggressive as a corpse because of how timid he was in life and unable to express his frustrations, and the Hookhand extra where they realize what the spirit needed was to be able to vent the pain he was unable to do in life, and etc etc).

A lot of characters in MDZS could have done with being more physically ill. Wei Wuxian should have had rashes and migraines and big bruises that take forever to heal and hallucinations after losing his golden core. It has been keeping him healthy for so long; his body doesn’t know how to do it anymore. Nie Mingjue should have been physically falling apart the further the saber curse progresses. His organs should fail, forcing him to use more spiritual energy. He should not be abke to stomach food on some days and not be able to quit eating on others. Baxia should control him. Nie Huaisang should suffer the same, he’s just better at hiding it. Meng Yao should have had bad joints, a bad leg and a remaining head trauma from being thrown down so many flights of stairs. Jiang Cheng should have pain in his abdomen sometimes, as if something with his stomach is not right, not entirely his. He should have some pains and ailments Wei Wuxian used to have. In MDZS, characters barely have any lasting physical issues from what happens to them. They should have

A lot of characters in MDZS could have done with being more physically ill. Wei Wuxian should have had rashes and migraines and big bruises that take forever to heal and hallucinations after losing his golden core. It has been keeping him healthy for so long; his body doesn’t know how to do it anymore. Nie Mingjue should have been physically falling apart the further the saber curse progresses. His organs should fail, forcing him to use more spiritual energy. He should not be abke to stomach food on some days and not be able to quit eating on others. Baxia should control him. Nie Huaisang should suffer the same, he’s just better at hiding it. Meng Yao should have had bad joints, a bad leg and a remaining head trauma from being thrown down so many flights of stairs. Jiang Cheng should have pain in his abdomen sometimes, as if something with his stomach is not right, not entirely his. He should have some pains and ailments Wei Wuxian used to have. In MDZS, characters barely have any lasting physical issues from what happens to them. They should have

making every conversation into being about The Character with the same reliability and conviction of a youth pastor going “you know who else partied? our lord and savior”

sometimes you see Takes™ that make you go "mmmhmmm okay yeah i see we both interpreted that differently based on what the show gave us, but i see how you arrived at your ideas even if they're different from mine," and then sometimes you see Takes™ that make you go "brother what show did you even fucking watch"

“If he is truly false I will not tolerate it” “I know” is actually such a craaaaazyyyyy exchange given that when WWX betrayed everyone, LWJ fought and injured LXC himself to protect him. if their positions had been reversed LWJ woulda fucked up everyone at the temple!

The thing about twin jades is that they're. Theyre. Two of themmmmmmm

They're important..

I feel like not enough people play with the fact that Lan Xichen knew Nie Mingjue from before he ever received Baxia, while Meng Yao has only ever known Nie Mingjue while he was under Baxia's influence. A lot of Lan Xichen's insistence that Nie Mingjue just has a bad day and isn't really like this might have to do with the fact that he genuinely used to know a Nie Mingjue who wasn't anything at all like this. While Meng Yao has always seen the anger and paranoia that is now turned on him somewhere in Nie Mingjue's eyes and his way of dealing with things. To Lan Xichen, a different da-ge just genuinely exists, while to Meng Yao, this idea is just a hypothetical.

NieLan to me will always be a very quiet relationship. From the start they know they can’t have the other for themselves. They can write long letters and spar whenever possible and kiss and maybe sleep in the same bed and the things that come with it, but they’ll never be able to marry; better yet, they are expected to marry other people some day. I think their relationship is build on an unspoken promise to love each other in their hearts if not in each others arms. Which I think is their tragedy when things start to go awry; Nie Mingjue becomes more angry and unreasonable. He cannot stop this. He knew he was meant to take up the curse from the moment he was born. Lan Xichen doesn’t want to see it. Maybe he can’t see how bad it has gotten. Yet, maybe, in private, Nie Mingjue is so much softer to him than he is to other people (of course - Nie Mingjue would never allow himself to hurt his lover). Maybe Lan Xichen does see it, and he desperately wants to get his old lover back. It hurts him to see Nie Mingjue this way and it hurts how he cannot get along with his a-Yao. Maybe, in the dark, he desperately tries to kiss it better, knowing that their unspoken promise to love each other is both strained beyond repair and they both try to hold on to it more tightly than they ever did before. They so, so badly just want to go back to what they knew, and they both know in the depth of their hearts where they don’t dare tread that it’s never going to happen. Maybe, when Nie Mingjue dies, a terrible part of Lan Xichen is happy he won’t have to see his lover get even worse; that he gets to keep what was still left from the first time he ever fell in love. Maybe he’s happy it’s over, and Nie Mingjue can rest. Maybe he’s wracked with guilt over not being able to cure his lover. He keeps smiling through all of it