Weird random thought in the shower this morning. Xie Lian's heavenly title is Xianle, the name of his kingdom. Banyue is named after her kingdom, too. They both feel like total fuck ups who screwed over their homelands. I have no idea what it means or if that's just a common thing in ancient fantasy china but anyway. Thought I would mention it before I forget again bc I just found it an interesting choice.
Thinking about places being symbolic of people and how banyue was torn apart emotionally and physically by the two sides of her mixed heritage forced to become a symbol for a civilisation that used and abandoned her and how that mirrors how Xianle used and abandoned Xie Lian. They were both so young so had the weight of their respective nations literally placed on them with their names and when they crumbled under the weight their nations fell because a single person can’t be responsible for everything but they now have to be followed by that shame for the rest of their existence their titles are their biggest failures and everyone who says their names reminds them of their failures again and again. Ugh. Free them.
