#lx notes

link click, the show (and pvs): liu xiao is secretly manipulating the events of link click behind the scenes. do not trust him. he has cult vibes in his character pv. he's the mastermind/manipulator/whatever

map of dreams: liu xiao was labeled an evil sorcerer when he invented a potion that turns princesses into unicorns during his studies. he hid himself from everyone and just continues doing research in his wizard's tower. when lu guang defeated him, he upgraded the wizard tower's defense system and spent a ridiculous amount of effort researching how to undo his cilantro weakness.

Why Liu Xiao represents sin of LUST? To answer this question we have to start from the beginning.

Let's go back in flashback from S2 of how Li Tianchen met Liu Xiao.

Liu Xiao showed his courage and gained the trust of Tianchen and that's why he told Xiao about his situation at home, and he give Tianchen an advice - That was the beginning of their relationship.

Liu Xiao showed himself to Tianchen in his best light at his worst moment and that's why he loved him so much and admire him

And then we see Liu Xiao in the S2 finale where we learn that he is his childhood friend, and where he shows how manipulative he is by taking advantage of his friend being alone and hopeless and offering him to come with him because he already knows from the start that Li Tianchen has no other choice. So I think that at this point, Tianchen is aware of what he's getting himself into and that he has no other choice, just as he never had any in his whole life, but he thinks that this time it's different, it's his friend, a person who understands him and is still alive. That's what he thinks, but unfortunately he's wrong. He doesn't want to believe otherwise because he wants to believe that their friendship is real. Liu Xiao knows this and uses it. Their love is not mutual. Li Tianchen loves and respects Liu Xiao and we've already got an example that he would do anything for him, he brought him Liu Min's phone even though it almost killed him, but on the other hand Liu Xiao only sees him as an object that he can use for his own plans.

And that's what makes him LUST - Treats people as objects/puppets but pretends and convinces others that it's friendship

He only pleases himself and thinks that others should please him and convinces you that's how it should be

Prying into other people's privacy and spying on complete strangers for his personal goals is also a example of lust

He has a huge obsession with finding Cheng Weimin - literally dedicated years to researching and went overseas👀

He sticks up for anyone who seems interesting to him. - Every new character is his target. XD

Also lust is most common sin for a men and the author wants him to look like a average men (my guess)

And finally, I want to tell you my theory why in Dream Out PV Liu Xiao is shown with a click of greed and sloth.

Sloth is behind him because he always hires people to do the work for him and greed is under his arm cuz he is greedy for informations and wants more even though he already has enough

That's all for today! Tell me what you think and write your ideas in the comments! See you!

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something something the writers using the owl to describe liu xiao without making liu xiao himself vulnerable onscreen

like the owl being in a gilded cage

crack theory but not really, it'd be fun if the owl is actually all of liu xiao's innermost feelings manifested because liu xiao himself is too opaque and perfectionistic as a person. like, liu xiao the person is the ego and the owl is his id

anyway, maybe I'm being too "the curtains are blue" about it. but I just kinda find it interesting that the owl breaks the cage for the food vein offers and follows him around

whereas when xia fei is tasked to manage the bird's health, the owl plays around with him and doesn't leave the open door of the cage when xia fei asks, even though the owl clearly could fly anytime he wants to. almost like the bird wants to stay in the cage to spend more time with him. because once the bird loses its weight, xia fei has no more reason to take care of him or play with him

interesting too that liu xiao thinks the owl is gaining too much weight and wants him to go back to having a "predator's physique" like first of all. okayyyy man whatever you say. but I do like that they acknowledge how owls ARE predator animals!! but secondly, I wonder if liu xiao himself is identifying a personal struggle of wanting to stay and wanting to do things that means he has to leave the cage

when the trailer was released, a part of me still thought, "nah maybe the red puppets are just a manipulator metaphor thing and not necessarily about li tianchen. liu xiao could have had other victims." which. could still be true. however,,,

those shorts are so. li tianchen. the only other character who wore shorts in the series, afaik, is cheng xiaoshi (edit: for some reason I forgot lu guang also wore shorts. he just does not look like someone who likes wearing shorts). and while I do think liu xiao could try puppeteering them longterm for realsies (ltc and cxs also have a lot of parallels), we know xiaochen is the bad ending version of shiguang. so.

anyway. this is soooo li tianchen. I feel ill. 11/10 execution btw. I get to see him being miserable-by-proxy for three seconds and it's enough to feed me until S3 where he probably won't even show up for more than 10 frames until like. episode 12 or something (<- keeping expectations low for my own wellbeing)

also I need to point out that liu xiao actually wears the blindfold first before it transfers to li tianchen. I wonder if the tattoo symbol (organization?) did something to him first and he's just continuing the cycle, or whatever.

idk, liu xiao with the blindfold (and covering the mannequin's eyes!!!!!!) is just a super interesting detail considering (gestures hands) the vibes

and then you have liu xiao, who dislikes... cilantro. and fish mint.

incorporating "liu xiao is into perfumes" in my headcanon now, I guess. also kinda makes sense for his character lol. fragrance as a hobby is incredibly niche, can get very expensive, greatly affects whatever image you want to project (what scent you're wearing affects how others perceive you)

the funny thing is, I think he's actually way more dressed down in last year's birthday art even though he technically isn't. this year's birthday art is more like... him being performative for a magazine, which makes sense because he is like that, he's very careful about how he's perceived. though considering this year's theme is "morning time", we've seen glimpses of other characters in their pajamas, or doing some kind of morning routine like making breakfast. once again, liu xiao dodges any display of vulnerable authenticity while still keeping with the theme

the thing too is like. I don't think li tianchen is unaware that liu xiao is using him or sees value in him for being useful, rather than for who he is. he just also doesn't care at this point, imo? maybe he also has a hard time seeing value in himself as a person, so in his eyes, liu xiao's pov makes sense

because li tianchen attaches his identity to being “a good brother” and without xixi. well. what is he then? he has no family, no friends, and all the adults in his life failed him. and in his eyes, when he finally asked for help (by giving the photo to lu guang, and then later kidnapping cheng xiaoshi lol) it didn't work out.

so of course when liu xiao calls him up and reaches out a hand, what else was li tianchen supposed to do?

it's like. look, maybe one day liu xiao is gonna ask him to jump off a cliff for him. do you think li tianchen would be surprised? 'cause I don't think so. I don't think he's naive about what they are. but he's gonna do it anyway because what else is he gonna do? "do I have other choices?" he's gonna do it because it's liu xiao who asked him. his "friend" who has always been "right" thus far

in a twisted way liu xiao hasn't “failed” him like everyone else has. li tianchen is a person who really needs to have a sense of power and control over his life and not even liu xiao is giving him that, but it sure is the closest thing because nobody else is gonna offer him anything

interestingly, I think the only other person we've seen him call a "friend" was cheng xiaoshi, whenever he references them having little "games" built on "trust" which. in hindsight. is hilarious because that's a very liu xiao way of speaking lol

anyway, totally headcanon territory, but my ideal S3 dynamic for them is if they both know liu xiao is only pretending to give li tianchen control but liu xiao is really the one who holds all the cards. and maybe that's fine. li tianchen wants to "feel" in control but maybe not actually, because he actually thrives in chaos and being out of control imo. insert prometheus lyrics here, or something. whenever li tianchen tries to take control of his life it kinda spirals. so like. this partnership works out for both of them. also li tianchen is totally a guard dog kinda character and without xixi, well. he might as well put that energy into liu xiao now. something something he's still an older brother to liu xiao who is the estranged younger sibling of the liu family, even though their power dynamic is actually flipped. it's like playing house; it's all pretend, but it makes li tianchen feel good about himself, and maybe that in itself is worth it. maybe, to him, it's the best he can ask for now. and also he still obviously looks up to liu xiao so it's not like this is a hardship for him

they're kinda messed up but I hope they get messier in S3 lol. we still really haven't gotten much of liu xiao's inner thoughts so I would love to see what he actually thinks of li tianchen in S3. something something "those lost in the darkness are my friends"

like does he even like tianchen as a friend? does he see himself as saving him, or using him?

someone (jae lee?) covering liu xiao's eyes in the beginning reminds me of how, in the pain pv, liu xiao was shown being blindfolded while covering a mannequin's eyes. the mannequin only wears a blindfold after liu xiao's blindfold is gone, and in the brief moments that liu xiao opens his eyes, he doesn't wear a blindfold. they are now establishing a pattern of liu xiao's eyes being covered, which I feel is a pretty big deal since it runs contrary to the image of a mastermind, which he is also being marketed as. a lot of people see masterminds as some kind of all-knowing person, but liu xiao is being depicted as someone who probably can't see everything. this tracks with canon like how he doesn't seem to know why lu guang's heartbeat was like that in the airport scene in yingdu.

also, for later, note how liu xiao where's white while the person (jae lee...?) wears black. in the background, there are a lot of white feathers, and liu xiao has a lot of feather accessories in his outfit. we see white feathers during the blindfold section of the pain pv as well. I also find it interesting that liu xiao seems to be praying here.

next scene. there's some interesting religious imagery here. jae lee is depicted with symbols of justice (scale, cross, sword, etc) while liu xiao wears a hood to cover his head and holds a goat skull. we've seen goat heads before in the manipulator mv. like liu xiao in the moth to a flame trailer, people with goat heads are shown in a prayer position. meanwhile, it's implied that the headless statue with feathered wings is liu xiao.

note also how a lot of statues have human heads in the mv, and liu xiao throws darts on the heads.

there are many ways to interpret this. I'll just offer one, though I could very well be wrong here.

as a disclaimer, I don't think that the mvs are necessarily connected within a functional continuity, but I do think they share deliberate symbolisms between each other. so if we put all this together, I think the headless statue in in the manipulator mv might have once had a goat head instead of a human head. or, someone else threw the dart that lopped the statue's head off. in any case, there's a cycle of actions being repeated

liu xiao puts blindfolds on mannequins; someone else covered his eyes once. perhaps he guides people with goat heads like they're puppets on strings, because he once wore the head of a goat as well.

actually, I think the goat imagery could be about scapegoats. according to the merriam-webster dictionary, a scapegoat is:

1. one that bears the blame for others 2. one that is the object of irrational hostility

the second one is interesting, since sonnet 121 was quoted in the pain pv ("unless this general evil they maintain / all men are bad and in their badness reign") and it's a sonnet about bad reputations vs being actually bad, and the hypocrisy of humans to judge someone when they are capable of being vile themselces.

and according to wikipedia:

A scapegoat is one of a pair of goats used in the Yom Kippur Temple service during the era of the Temple in Jerusalem. The scapegoat had a band of red wool placed on it, and was then released into the wilderness, taking with it all the sins and impurities of the people as an act of symbolic atonement. The other goat was sacrificed.

this isn't the first time liu xiao is depicted with symbols of sacrifice. though the below image is a fanart from inplick and not official art, we also know how deeply inplick is involved with character designs for link click and probably knows where the story is headed. note again how liu xiao wears white here.

again, this is just one interpretation of many though...

next, the title card. the song is moth to a flame so already we're getting themes of temptation here. also, given the eye color change, jae lee seems to be an ability user?

I really like the detail of him stepping on the feather and the dead bodies to avoid getting blood on himself. but the moment liu xiao touches his sword, the whole screen turns red. the blood drips from the edge of the sword ans is inescapable now. chastity being "corrupted" by lust/temptation.

there are some interesting outfit changes here in this moment for liu xiao. initially he is tied up, wearing white, with feathers on his shoulders, and wearing something like a crown of feathers, or maybe even a laurel wreath, which was worn by victors celebrating their roman triumph.

after he touches jae lee's sword, his clothes turn to black and, interestingly, he wears a crown of thorns. which is famously associate with jesus christ. the romans placed a crown of thorns on his head as a mockery. more importantly, jesus was also a well-known sacrificial figure who took in the people's sins as an act of symbolic atonement on their behalf. you know, like a scapegoat.

however, unlike jesus, I don't think liu xiao is depicted as some kind of altruistic martyr, but more like a seductive temptation. "can a blade stained with the blood of lust still retain its righteous edge?"

the color change is interesting to me as well. liu xiao always wears black in canon, so to see him in stark white colors is jarring.

a couple of last thoughts on liu xiao's relationships:

I wonder if perhaps we'll see more of sonnet 121 play out with jae lee and liu xiao. for example, maybe jae lee knew of liu xiao's reputation and was going to enact justice based on that, but somehow he sees past that reputation and is himself corrupted instead. in both map of dreams and pain, liu xiao is shown to be some kind of wish granter in fantasy AUs, so I wonder if the canon equivalent of that is jae lee getting something desirable (a "wish") from liu xiao (chastity giving in to lust)

we've seen the wish granting with liu xiao and vein in pain. unlike jae lee, who sidesteps the blood, vein probably embraces it -- all the violence and carnage his desires entail. in that sense, jae lee is an interesting foil for vein. I wonder if vein ever had to deal with liu xiao's reputation before understanding him. maybe he's one of the few who doesn't have to, or doesn't care enough to