Conflicts of the Heart

Last updated: 26/10/2023

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Chinese Transcript Translation

When I had first heard celestial yearn I was so disappointed because it felt so rushed and I could not at all make sense of the scenario and the countdown at all.

They keep messing up the localisation for all the boys but with Celestial Yearn is more of a re-choreography: the English sometimes makes Xavier more generically forceful, and removes the Chinese script’s specific teasing language, emotional callbacks, and the most revealing part of the countdown... I used translators and other posts talking about this difference for reference.

Here is the complete Simplified Chinese script 沈星回：悬星向穹 and the complete official English localisation Xavier: Celestial Yearn.

The title itself

悬星向穹 is roughly:

A Suspended Star Reaching Toward the Firmament

悬星: a suspended/hanging star

向穹: facing or reaching toward the vault of the sky

Celestial Yearn has the general feeling of cosmic longing but discards the concrete image of a "solitary star suspended beneath the heavens."

The accompanying sentence is translated as:

银河在我意识里，于是我感受银河。 “The galaxy exists within my consciousness, and so I feel the galaxy.”

The largest differences

1. The Chinese repeats “bully you” as an erotic way

Early on, Xavier says:

到时候，应该不会说是我欺负你吧。

Closely:

“When the time comes, you won’t say I’m bullying you, will you?”

The localisation says:

“You won’t accuse me of being unfair when the time comes, right?”

Later, Chinese Xavier says she is looking at him:

像是被我欺负了。 “As though I’ve bullied you.”

But English changes this second use to:

“I’m not being rough at all.”

They are not the same 💀 The Chinese deliberately repeats 欺负. In romantic or sexual dialogue, it can mean bully, tease, pick on, take advantage of, or be wicked to someone. He warns her beforehand not to accuse him of “bullying” her, then later mocks the expression on her face because she looks as though he has done exactly that. This is peak Xavier behaviour 😭. This makes the last line in English, "Yes, Xavier is the worst." even better because it connects with this sadistic streak. He is tired of being a good guy all the time.

English translates the two occurrences as unrelated ideas—unfair and rough—so the callback disappears.

2. Chinese: “I won’t soften.” English: “I won’t let you go.”

Chinese:

原来是想耍赖…… 不行，这次我可不会心软……

Closer:

“So you were trying to wriggle out of it…” “No. This time, I won’t soften / I won’t go easy on you…”

English:

“You’re trying to slip away…” “No. I won’t let you go this time…”

These are both dominant, but they mean different things.

The localisation invents a more physical restraint: I won’t let you go. Chinese Xavier is saying that her evasiveness and attempts to charm him will not make him soft-hearted. It is tied to his emotional state: he usually yields to her, but this time he has decided not to relent.

So English Xavier physically traps her. Chinese Xavier tells her that she cannot make him fold so easily.

3. English removes her wrongdoing from his punishment question

Chinese:

所以，错了要怎么办呢？ “So, what should happen when you’ve done something wrong?”

English:

“What should I do?”

Then both proceed to punishment.

The Chinese makes the logic much clearer:

She broke the rules.

She was wrong.

What happens when she is wrong?

She gets punished.

English makes it sound like Xavier is merely wondering what he personally wants to do next or what she thinks he wants her to do.They are not the same... It removes the direct you did wrong, therefore you are being punished structure.

4. “I’m waiting for your performance”

Chinese:

我就在这里，等你表现。

Closer:

“I’m right here, waiting to see how you perform.” “I’m right here. Show me what you can do.”

English:

“I’ll wait and see what you’ll do.”

表现 means to demonstrate yourself, show your effort, perform, or prove yourself through your behaviour. He is sitting there and evaluating how well she can coax him.

The localisation communicates the basic situation but weakens the sense that she is being deliberately made to perform for him. Xavier is being extremely commanding here!

5. The Chinese specifically tells her to cooperate with him

Chinese:

除非。 这样。 还要配合…… ……这样…… 就会好很多。

Closer:

“Unless…” “Like this.” “You also need to cooperate…” “…Like this…” “Then it’ll feel much better.”

English:

“Unless…” “You do it like this.” “And…” “Yeah, like that…” “It’ll help.”

The localisation entirely drops 配合—cooperate, coordinate with me, move along with me. In Chinese, Xavier is not only repositioning or instructing her. He explicitly tells her to participate in coordination with him.

That word reinforces his commanding nature: he directs, but she is required to follow and respond.

6. “Your hands could melt me”

Chinese:

尤其你的手很热……现在放在这里…… 烫得像要把我融化了……

Closer:

“Especially since your hands are so warm… Put them here now…” “They’re so hot it feels as if you’re going to melt me…”

English:

“Don’t forget your hands. They’re warm… Put them here…” “It’s hot. I feel like I’m melting…”

This is the one point where English is better than the Chinese ver. “Don’t forget your hands,” is more overtly instructional than the Chinese.

But Chinese makes her the active cause: your heat is going to melt me. The English becomes a more detached physical observation: It’s hot; I’m melting. When I first heard it in English, I was so confused like why is he melting 😭?

The original is needier. He is directing her while admitting what her touch does to him.

7. 哄 is an entire romantic dynamic, not merely repayment

The Chinese repeatedly uses 哄, meaning to coax, soothe, placate, humour, or lovingly coax someone out of sulking:

还有百分之八十要哄。 “There’s still eighty percent of me left to coax.”

The English translates that particular line very badly:

“You still need to coax me. You have 80% left.”

Bro 80% of what left??? 😭

Later Chinese says:

明明……是你要哄我。 “You’re clearly the one who is supposed to be coaxing me.”

English changes it to:

“You’re the one who’s supposed to make it up to me.”

“Make it up to me” frames the interaction as repayment for wrongdoing. It also doesn't connect the previous 80% with making up/coaxing so it falls flat.

哄我 is more intimate and almost indulgently childish: I’m upset, so pet me, please me, coax me until I’m happy again.

That is very Xavier. He is angry and sulking, but instead of withdrawing, he makes her lavish attention on him while continuously reporting how much more coaxing he requires.

8. “Your mouth says no, but your heart says yes”

After asking whether she likes the “reward,” Chinese Xavier responds:

口是心非。

That means:

“Your mouth says one thing, but your heart says another.” “You don’t mean what you’re saying.” “You’re saying the opposite of what you truly feel.”

English:

“That sounds like an excuse.”

The Chinese indicates she verbally denies liking it while her physical reaction tells him otherwise. He directly calls out the contradiction between her words and desire.

“Sounds like an excuse” merely implies that her explanation is weak. It is also very vague... It removes his certainty that he can read her body and knows she is enjoying herself. It takes away the dominance and control that he clearly has in this scene.

9. Chinese Xavier keeps yearning for greater closeness

Chinese:

想要……离你再近一点…… 再近一点……

Closer:

“I want… to be a little closer to you…” “Closer still…”

English:

“I want… to be closer to you…” “Come here…”

English turns the second line into a command. Chinese repeats the desire itself.

That repetition makes him sound needy and almost dazed: he is already touching her, but it still is not close enough. He wants closer, then closer again.

The English Xavier is more conventionally dominant. Chinese Xavier is dominant and openly needy at the same time.

10. The countdown alteration is fucking criminal

Chinese:

现在只剩最后的百分之三了…… 百分之二…… 百分之……

Closer:

“Only the final three percent remains…” “Two percent…” “One per—…”

He never says 一, “one.”

The Chinese transcript literally stops after “percent…”. The implication is that he becomes too overwhelmed to finish saying the number!!

English:

“We’re down to the last 3%.” “It’s at 2%…” “Now it’s at 1%…”

The English localisation completes the countdown for him.

That completely alters the heat of the moment. In Chinese, his carefully controlled game finally collapses: he has been evaluating her, directing her and assigning percentages, and then at the last percentage he loses the ability to continue speaking. This is a power moment for the sub/mc and the English localisation takes it away. She made the dom lose control.

Immediately afterward he says that he suddenly does not want it to end.

The English lets him remain verbally coherent through “one percent,” which makes his loss of composure less obvious. This exact countdown difference is also what players comparing the Simplified Chinese performance vs english noted.

11. The final question is more pointed in Chinese

Chinese:

不在家的时候，有没有想沈星回…… 想着我的时候，做了什么……

Closer:

“When you weren’t home, did you miss Xavier…?” “When you were thinking about me, what did you do…?”

English:

“When you aren’t at home, do you think about Xavier…?” “What do you do while I’m on your mind…?”

The localisation turns a specific past-tense interrogation into a general habitual question.

Chinese Xavier asks:

While you were away, did you miss me? And when you were alone thinking about me, what exactly did you do?

Given what is happening during the conversation, 做了什么—“what did you do?”—is an extremely pointed insinuation. He wants her to tell him what she physically did while fantasising about him.

The English retains enough for the implication to survive, but making it general “What do you do?”. It softens the feeling that he is demanding a confession about a specific occasion and not entirely sexual in nature either.

My Favourite English Line

That being said, I do actually prefer than English line "I like this... I like this so much..." Xavier's actor did a number there. He sounded sooo needy and somehow being told he likes this intead of just saying he's enjoying sounds more vulnerable.

Xavier's English voice actor is hard carrying this card. He is doing all the work here. He is so good. I feel like he himself had very little context because the localisation is really not that good. So he probably studied it himself and added so much character to it. It's truly so well done.

There is an Actual Character Difference

Chinese Xavier is genuinely sulking. He warns her that he will not soften this time, makes her coax him, evaluates her efforts, tells her to cooperate, guides her touch, recognises that her words contradict her body, grows needier for closeness, loses his composure before reaching one percent, and then asks what she did while fantasising about him.

English Xavier physically refuses to let her go, speaks about roughness, tells her to make things up to him, claims his reward, and stays coherent enough to complete the countdown.

The English version presents a fairly recognisable soft-dom scene. The Chinese version is much more specifically Xavier: stubborn, quietly demanding, intensely attentive to her reactions, shamelessly needy beneath his control, and unable to maintain his composure once she gives him what he wanted.

---

References:

For all that is unholy, Celestial Yearn havers must listen to the simplified CN dub, plz 😩💦 : r/LoveAndDeepspace

Celestial Yearn. 😵‍💫 : r/LoveAndDeepspace

沈星回:在你身边/悬星向穹 - 恋与深空WIKI_BWIKI_哔哩哔哩

so your astarion 'lamentable plums' poem

tldr i've always liked astarion as a character because it's really funny and a little scary how one to one we are, especially in terms of backstory. And I gotta say, your poem knocked the wind out of me. What astarion had with rats, I've also had, and just based on the poem, I think you understand. The 'living is not the same as refusing to die', that sums up everything so painfully poignantly when you're in a situation like that. Your poem is so beautiful and unsettlingly perceptive, it's made me feel things and think about our (mine and astarion's) situations in ways that I haven't in a long time, if ever. You've created something really amazing and i hope you'll be very proud of yourself because it's something you very much deserve. And if astarion were here, I think he'd treasure it deeply. I don't think he'd be very pleased with it lol - he doesn't tend to be very pleased when he's perceived that deeply - but I think it's the kind of thing he'd keep with him forever and read every night in his tent because it's so very important. I speak as someone who knows painfully and personally the kind of things that astarion's been through and your poem really nails it. congratulations my dear, you've made something really incredible /genuine.

(I know my tone in this message might not come off the way I'm intending it to lol - I mean everything very genuinely, there's just an introspection? ig? going on rn that makes me sound probably more solemn than I mean to lol. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day! And do keep writing dear, you're very good at it)

Oh my god... I'm so sorry, I've not been using tumblr and I didn't see this until now.

Thank you so much... I have no words for what you said. Thank you. Astarion is someone I relate to a lot for many reasons and ig that's why it comes off as perceptive. I didn't think about how he would feel about my poem so reading what you said gave me chills... Thank you so much once again for your kind words. I'll keep writing 🥺