Still watching The Untamed and having feelings

[waterscroll]

I'm up to episode 31 of The Untamed and had to take a break because I found Jin Zixuan's death utterly devastating. I knew Jin Zixuan's death was coming from the beginning - we meet Jin Ling in one of the first episodes and know his uncle raised him - and I even read in advance the spoiler for how it was going to happen, but I wasn't expecting to find it so upsetting. I think what made it most upsetting to me was that he had a very good character arc that he was sort of in the middle of. He was a real asshole who was slowly learning to love and to think about people's perspectives other than his own. He died just as he was at the very beginning of figuring out how to use that to help the very bad political situation. So I'm going to sit here and be sad for a bit.

I know the next thing coming up is Wen Qing's death. I unfortunately liked the beginning of her character arc much better, when she was Wen Ruohan's reluctant spy. After the Wens were defeated I feel like the writers weren't sure what to do with her. It looks like they were trying to do a Wen Qing/Jiang Cheng/Wei Wuxian love triangle? I'm glad they didn't do that, but it kind of felt like she was left with nothing to do during the Yiling arc other than be Wei Wuxian's platonic housewife, which wasn't much fun to watch. I expect that her death scene will be devastating too, so I am procrastinating on watching it.

What *was* fun was watching Meng Yao scheme his way into Wen Ruohan's close circle and then murder him, then woobify himself by clutching Lan Xichen's robes, then scheme and plot his way into power while flirting with LXC at every opportunity. I had to go back to episode 4 and remind myself of their entirely shippy first meeting, then read all the spoilers for how things are going to go. Spoiler: devastatingly.

Anyway now I'm only reading fluffy fixit fics, including anything in the Jiang Cheng/Lan Jingyi tag (my go-to for fluff in the fandom) and any fixit in the Meng Yao/Lan Xichen tag (my go-to for cathartic fixes of a very bad situation).

Some recs:
this crossover vid with Lord of the Rings in which post-canon Lan Xichen visits Rivendell, befriends Elrond, and talks to him about grief and loss. Elrond was the very first character that I ever got fannish about so it's nice to see him again, and yes I think he and LXC would get along. The title is in Russian.
Make it Holy Another Meng Yao/Lan Xichen vid. Not a fixit but great for watching over and over while bawling my face out.
across the wheel, Jiang Cheng/Meng Yao falling in love as they co-parent Jin Ling. Would probably be a disaster but I like this optimistic and sweet take on it.
Complicit: Towards an alternate reading of CQL's Lan Xichen. Fake academic study that treats the various canons as based on competing historical analyses. Hilarious.

I can't imagine I'm going to write anything in this fandom, there's so much out there that I can find what I'm looking for without having to write it myself. But I think that's good for me for now, I'm feeling a little exhausted by life and don't have much active fannish engagement in me at the moment. So it's nice to just sit here and read other people's fics for a bit.

Comments

[alias_sqbr]

Yes, Jin Zixuan is far from my favourite character but the circumstances of his death leave this intense tragic sense of potential unfulfilled.

Overall it's no wonder there's so many fixits for the canon(s) :)

"Jiang Cheng/Meng Yao falling in love as they co-parent Jin Ling" is a pretty obvious premise but it had never occured to me before.

[waterscroll]

So many fixits!

There isn't a ton of Jiang Cheng/Meng Yao out there but it's an interesting premise. The one I linked was fluffy but it's also ripe for a good angsty 'what to do when you love your kid and your co-parent likes to murder people' story.

[scytale]

I'm glad they didn't do that, but it kind of felt like she was left with nothing to do during the Yiling arc other than be Wei Wuxian's platonic housewife, which wasn't much fun to watch.

Yeah, I definitely feel this too. I adore her a lot, even in the Yiling arc, though I'm more interested in her as a leader to the Wens. And I th ink the narrative was less interested in that then I am.

He died just as he was at the very beginning of figuring out how to use that to help the very bad political situation.

Yeah. :( And he was right in the middle of trying to resolve things.


What *was* fun was watching Meng Yao scheme his way into Wen Ruohan's close circle and then murder him, then woobify himself by clutching Lan Xichen's robes,

Haha. He is so good at woobifying himself!

[waterscroll]

He is so good at woobifying himself!

I know and it's terrible but I love it. It's fun watching him use what he has to get ahead. But it's also true that he's had a genuinely hard life, and that at that moment he had just taken out Wen Ruohan in ways that took great personal sacrifice and bravery. I do think that under slightly different circumstances (like, with a better dad) he could've ended up doing more good than harm, because he's not averse to doing good and he's extremely competent. But he's also very much not averse to killing people to achieve his goals.

[scytale]

I can definitely see an alternate future in which he would do good to Impress Lan Xichen (and everyone else). And maybe if he'd been able to pick up the ideas of honor instead of seeing them as a tool.

I'm sort of imagining what would have happened if Meng Yao had been in a more WWX situation, with people who cared for him and accepted him. Maybe with some of the complexities of WWX's situations elided.