alizaydszulfiqar

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speedrun reading a 16 book series challenge GO

#i was really trying to not go through the tags but here i am and this is my sign to comeback once im done #i thought reading liveship would feel like a chore to get to fitzfool again but I'm really enjoying it so far #cr: ship of magic #rote

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Life and death

#THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF ART #SHDKSSHSKGSHAKAK #ZUTARA

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I needed to practice hands, so I did gay fanart about it

#so prettyyyyy #hwdtw

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Ma Xiuying from the Radiant Emperor duology!

Design/research notes under the cut

The characters read 馬秀英 (Pinyin: mǎ xiù yīng), her personal name, and 孝慈高皇后 (xiào cí gāo huáng hòu), her name as Empress.

There's certainly no dearth of material on Chinese clothing history out there. That is, if you can read Chinese, which I can't, so everything I have is from secondary and tertiary sources and/or relies on translation software. Fortunately, we're dealing with historical fantasy here, so some anachronisms are not only allowed but encouraged.

While Shelley Parker-Chan takes many liberties, the books are still set in a very specific time period, which is both a blessing and a curse. Most readily accessible resources will tell you about dynasties, which can span hundreds of years, and the duology takes place in a transitional period. So how to dress a Semu girl from the Yuan dynasty who lives with Nanren rebels wanting to revive the Song dynasty and who later becomes the first Ming empress?

Let's go through them one by one. The best resource was this book which is on the Internet Archive. I disregarded Mongol and Semu influences for the design since clothing is very much political and a way to either stand out or fit in with the surrounding society, see for example Wang Baoxiang wearing a topknot in Khanbaliq. Ma, I imagine, would want to fit in with the Nanren around her, so she's pretty much wearing the attire of Han women under Yuan rule. For the hair I went for something that looks youthful while being plausible, though I found very little on hair in this period, so who's to say.

The next one is from a specific scene in the book, so there is some description to go on: red, long sleeves with gold embroidery, high hair, red and gold ribbons. Since this is the scene where Ma declares herself queen and future empress in front of the Red Turban, it has to be a very deliberate dress. It therefore takes inspiration from Song aristocrats' broad-sleeved gowns as well as from 翟衣 (dí yī), the highest ceremonial gown of both Song and Ming empresses. (Some examples for 翟衣 are in this post, which also features the bird shaped crown I just had to include, and this post.) Her hair still has the loops, but it's much more sculpted.

Finally, Empress Ma! This is mainly based on the two actual portraits I could find of the historical figure that Ma is based on, with elements taken from other portraits and paintings. It includes 凤冠 (fèng guān), the phoenix crown, 霞帔 (xiá pèi), the sash, and 禁步 (jīn bù), the jade belt. This video shows how Ming dynasty layers are worn, but it refers to a much later period so it's not quite the same as Ma's.

(Some additional, historically irrelevant notes: I realized too late that a right-to-left timeline might be more appropriate. Oh well! Also, how the colours photograph frustrates me, I swear I did not make her this deathly pale. And finally, some of the characters look a bit smudged because my cat spilled water on them. I did what I could to save them.)

#oh my god this is everything THANK YOU OP🙇‍♀️ #i love her she's so gorgeous she's so cute she's the best AAAAAH #ma xuiying #the radiant emperor

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Looking at these two scenes from He Who Drowned the World and I’m just consumed thinking about how Baoxiang didn’t need Lady Shin to love him back, he didn’t even need her to exist, all he needed was to know that he himself was still capable of love, of anything other than destruction and cruelty.

And for someone to see how he still desperately wanted to have that capacity for good things, despite continuosly claiming otherwise (and of course that someone was Ma).

#yeah this is okay (I FEEL INSANE) #the way ma always knew what to say to him gets me soooo (⁠ ⁠≧⁠Д⁠≦⁠) #hwdts #wang baoxiang #ma xiuying

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I’m so curious if during Wei Wuxian’s Yiling Patriarch era the people of Yiling could recognize him.

We know he went into town and was treated pretty normally. It could be that people didn’t know who he was, or they knew did and didn’t care, either of which would be incredibly funny:

Yiling citizen: Oh look there’s the radish guy! He’s quite nice, always sweet to the kids and his radishes are surprisingly good!

Visiting cultivator: that’s the Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian

Yiling Citizen:

What

—————

Person who’s not from Yiling: I don’t know how you live here, I’d be terrified the Yiling Patriarch would come and kill me!

Person from Yiling: I saw Wei Wuxian trip over his robes, fall flat on his face, and just lie there while his child poked him

#Yiling citizen: what do you mean the man with the flute and corpse like friend is the Yiling patriarch? #that’s my radish seller! #the tagss lmaooo 😭 #mdzs #yllz

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Idk if this counts as a request but I go absolutely feral for the way you draw yllz!wwx. The way you draw his hair and exhausted face compel me.

You got it!!! He’s my fave version of WWX to draw,,

#yllz wwx my belovedest #mdzs #yllz

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#mdzs #wangxian

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thinking about the dynamic between wei wuxian and wen ning where they are neither platonic nor romantic but a secret third thing. as close as only someone who died and someone who summoned them back could be. familiar like a body part is familiar. physically intimate, but in a "held him while his stomach was cut open to carve the golden core out" or "put his ribs back into his broken chest and gave his body permission to take revenge" way. sharing a bond so deep it becomes unsettling. wielding someone like a weapon/allowing yourself to be wielded. saving each other over and over again to the point where you can't keep track of all the sacrifices and the debts don't matter anymore. suffering from wounds no one else can understand, missing people no one else remembers. neither of them chose this, yet both are still there for each other no matter what. i am so normal about them

#oh- yeah YEAH THIS!!! #i love their dynamic so much #they're my babies #they're so precious #and both of them deserve the whole damn world #i love them so fucking much #wen ning #wei wuxian #mdzs

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I don't think any protagonist can ever top Wei 'Yiling Laozu' Wuxian. No one is doing it like him. He is an icon. He can shoot arrows blindfolded. He is a prankster. He falls for a boy and decides immediately that he must have said boy's attention on him at all time. He is necromancer exacting his vengeance. He is just three years old. He is a flirt. He has his first kiss in his twenties. He does not remember your name. He does remember that one song his crush sang to him in a cave when he was injured and feverish. He is a sunshine boy. He survived the hell of hells. He died and was unhappily brought back to life. He's the bizarre genius, the miraculous hero, the force of the rebellion, the flower that blooms alone. He walks the single plank bridge alone. He is the awesome gay uncle who knows everything. He is a pretty boy. He is the most moral, steadfast person you know. He is just a man throwing flowers to his love. He rips his hard won talent out to repay a debt that never was. He is a sister's boy. He is an abuse survivor. He is an urban legend. He is one of the most handsome men of his time. He has so much trauma. He plants children like radishes. He threw the arrow he was shot with from a rooftop and killed someone. He is a talented musician. He is a scheming fox. He can drink you under the table. He is so fucking tired of this bullshit. He has probably long since burned his tastebuds with the spice he puts in his food. He is broke. He kisses skeletons on their hands in gratitude. He confesses his deep, abiding love in the middle of being held hostage. He attempts the impossible and succeeds. He is an untamed hero, standing against a world condemning the innocent. He is everything.

#HE HAS MY WHOLE DAMN HEART #god i love him sooooo much #wei wuxian #wei ying #mdzs

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My favourite part of MDZS is how cool Wei Wuxian is.

Like, we don’t talk enough about how cool he is. He performs Empathy three times. His ability to use a flute is so powerful, the song doesn’t even have to sound good for it to work. He brought a dead guy back to life (kinda sorta).

But especially, I love how Wei Wuxian treats ghosts and corpses! Wei Wuxian just hangs out with corpses, for FUN!! He scares away low-level corpses just by existing! He hears the voices of the dead to the point that he can’t enter a place too full of resentment without getting a headache from the constant chatter.

I also really like the Extra where Wei Wuxian is just like “Well, the ghost will go away when he’s done screaming. I’m not worried about it.” And he just leaves a screaming ghost at some guy’s house so the ghost can move on peacefully (as peacefully as is possible when one moves on by screaming).

I love all of this so much because Wei Wuxian is constantly saying that people have too high of expectations of him. Xue Yang telling him to put Xiao Xingchen’s soul back together is just one example of this. Someone will tell Wei Wuxian to do something and he’ll be like “How powerful do you think I am?!” And it’s like… Wei Wuxian, you spent six hours hanging onto a cursed sword in the Xuanwu’s mouth, you survived three months in the Burial Mounds and then returned to make it into a semi-livable place, you killed at least a thousand people that one time, and you came back from the dead, just to name a few.

Wei Wuxian is so strong. He’s so cool. He is terrifying. He is unstoppable and unflappable if only because he gets over his embarrassment in about fifteen seconds! He just rolls with it! He rolls with anything that happens! He remains Shocked and Apalled by Lan Zhan’s behaviour for all of five minutes before basically going “lol okay”! He told Lan Zhan that he wanted to sleep with him in front of Lan Xichen, Jin Ling, a handful of Jin disciples, and the literal bad guy of the novel!!!

(I’ll never get over that scene. It is so funny.

WWX: “I need to say something, it can’t wait.”

JGY: “Then just say it right now as you are.” (Referring to the fact that Wei Wuxian has a wire wrapped around his throat that can kill him in seconds)

WWX: “Good point! Lan Zhan, we should’ve fucked.”

This scene is so fucking funny, I will absolutely never get over it)

I love powerful protagonists and honestly, Wei Wuxian is at the top of the list when it comes to overpowered protagonists. The only thing that phases him is dogs, and even then, he himself admits that he can get used to their presence as long as they aren’t barking.

TLDR: Wei Wuxian is so powerful and I totally get why Lan Zhan fell for him.

#he's just so cool and so smart and sdhjjgd I LOVE HIM SO MUCH #wei wuxian #wei ying #mdzs

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imo reducing the jiang clan dynamics to "wei wuxian was only a servant, never family" undermines the tragic reality that he was both. his position was a dubious, unclear thing, complicated by his debts and the jiangs' varying intentions.

jiang yanli had called him her brother and treated him like one in direct defiance of their class differences and her mother's words. jiang fengmian had seen wwx as a replacement for his parents, not a son, as evident in his passive refusal to defend wwx and his prioritization of his actual son's life. yu ziyuan had seen him as an arrogant servant transgressing class norms and threatening her son's position, and she had consequently scapegoated him at every turn. jiang cheng, the youngest, inherited all of their sentiments in one way or another.

the love was there, it was not enough. so mdzs concludes the jiang clan sub-plots by having jc let wwx leave. that's important. he chose to let to go of the yunmeng shuangjie promise, the oath of fealty. because wwx's position with the jiangs — a brother, yet also a servant, an outsider, never an equal, certainly never a son, bound by duty — made a mockery of love. i think that's more tragic than him being solely a servant and nothing more.

and not to make this lan wangji (actually, everything is always about lan wangji), but that's why it's so important that wwx found a home in him, in a relationship that has no need for debts like "thank you" and "sorry."

#mdzs #mdzs meta

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still reading book 2 so PLEASE no spoilers !!!!

#agggtm #pipravi

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Nobody understands the bond between a girl and the mediocre book she read when she was 13 years old.

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happy valentines from pipravi💞

#pipravi #agggtm

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whenever i think abt the fact that ravi waited 697 days for pip and then text her THREE minutes after the verdict my heart breaks and i NEED holly to give me even one chapter of them being happy together again bc it’s not fair

#😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 #pipravi #agggtm

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I think I will never recover from this book

#I'm re-reading it again #I AM NOT READY FOR THE ENDING #can we freeze time when jest and cath interact for the first time 😭 #heartless #heartless marissa meyer #cathjest