I think my favorite thing about 3zun is that all three of them are actively trying to make 3zun work, but because they all have completely different worldviews and circumstances, the harder they try the more they push each other away. It's a microcosm of some of the themes of the novel and I love it
To elaborate...
NMJ thinks the way to make things work is to essentially guide JGY to a heroic path at all costs. JGY thinks he's being threatened. (He's not wrong.)
JGY thinks the way to make things work is to keep NMJ happy at all costs. NMJ thinks he's being manipulated. (He's not wrong.)
LXC thinks the way to make things work is to mediate between NMJ and JGY and not to take sides. NMJ and JGY think they're not receiving the support they deserve. (They're not wrong.)
And of course, this all ties in with the framework they have towards life. NMJ thinks life is short so honor is all that matters in the end. JGY thinks life is dangerous so you have to do what it takes to survive. LXC thinks life is complicated so you have to navigate it as carefully as you can. So if any of them tries to confront the others, they have a kneejerk reaction of "No, that's how you end up doing something dishonorable/dying/ruining everybody's lives." Which terrifies them. So conversations quickly become unsustainable, but not talking isn't sustainable either, it just makes things crumble less obviously. There's no easy solution here, because NMJ was raised to die young, JGY was raised to survive at all costs, and LXC was raised to be responsible for every life around him. How do you go about finding common ground for all three of them?
Jiang Cheng, some three years post Sunshot, looks at this mess and thinks "I've dodged a bullet, actually."
