#mdzs canon

[ineedtorantaboutjiangcheng]

My first rant, and the reason I snapped and made this blog, is not about Jiang Cheng. It's actually about the characters around him.

See, I was reading this fic and, without naming any specifics, I was enjoying it. Nothing especially groundbreaking, but it was good enough that I was immersed. In fact, the thing that probably got me about this is that what I liked most about the fic, what was really sucked me in, was the characterisations. Wei Wuxian was the definite standout. Fic premise meant that he was injured, but he was being portrayed with his canonical resilience, which is rare enough that prior to this, I would have likely celebrated the fic for it's accuracy. It's a difficult thing to pull off, and I always give extra credit to authors who can walk the line of, essentially, whumping a character while still keeping them themselves.

Then it happened. Jiang Cheng showed up. I've sometimes clicked out of a fic just for that (the timing of his appearance is, occasionally, enough of an indicator of his role in the story that I know I'm not going to be able to jive with it), but I was immersed! And the author had gained my trust with the aforementioned character accuracy until that point! I was caught up, and ready to roll with whatever version of Jiang Cheng came out.

And, well, his behaviour seemed somewhat accurate to canon. Angry, accusatory, sort of irrational, in an overly suspicious way. Seemed pretty good. Again, the timing made me think that the fic was probably going to go the reconciliation path, but you know, I can get through that. I don't care enough about Jiang Cheng that his presence or absence alone is enough to ruin a fic I'm otherwise enjoying.

But then, imagine my shock. Jiang Cheng, post first siege (where, as far as everyone knows, he killed Wei Wuxian, and has spent the years since his death hunting down and torturing anyone who might be/reminds him of him. You can dispute Jiang Cheng's actions, if you wish, but not that this is how he is widely perceived), demands to see Wei Wuxian. And Lan Wangji, who loves Wei Wuxian, who spent stars knows how much time desperately trying to protect Wei Wuxian, who would stand between Wei Wuxian and the world if he had been allowed, just... agrees.

Lan Wangji. Agreed. To let a Jiang Cheng, who shows no, I don't know, remorse, or concern, or anything, toward a person he is credited with murdering, that Lan Wangji believes he murdered. And Lan Wangji just... yep. I'll just take you to see Wei Wuxian. Sure, he's injured, and vulnerable, and you show no sign of wanting to do anything other than a violence. Yep, right this way.

And THIS. THIS is why Jiang Cheng infuriates me. This is why I had to make this blog. Because I don't care about Jiang Cheng, love him, hate him, think he's the most evil scum imaginable, think he's the true victim of mdzs, I literally don't care. I don't have enough investment in the character to give a fuck about how accurate he is.

But I love Lan Wangji. I really do (and Wei Wuxian, and Wen Ning, and Wen Qing, and Jin Ling, and every other character even peripherally related to Jiang Cheng). So to see the characters I do care about being warped and twisted, just to try and force a particular narrative to play out about this one character? I've spent the past idk two hours as I set this up frothing with rage.

It's not like he's the main character of this fic. He's one of the last ones listed (after characters that are actually deceased throughout the entirety of the fic), and there's no, idk, Yunmeng siblings or reconciliation tag or anything. Full confession, I haven't finished the fic, but I'm well over halfway through, so I can somewhat confidently say that his presence, while maybe playing into something in the endgame, is not super critical.

And yet. The author, who until that point had been pretty good with their characterisations, felt the need to overlook one of the main characters primary personality traits (Lan Wangji's desire to protect people and keep safe that which he loves) in order to... make it slightly easier for Jiang Cheng to be shoehorned into the plot? Why? Just... why?

I'm frustrated. Frustrated, and confused. Is it lack of imagination? Could the author not think of a single other way Jiang Cheng might come into contact with Wei Wuxian after the first siege (assuming, of course, that he is alive)? I don't believe that, the author did well enough with thinking up some left field plot points at other stages of the fic. Did they overlook the fact that, Jiang Cheng having demanded Lan Wangji take him to Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji could have just... not done that? Lan Wangji, Mr. You Are Not Qualified To Talk To Me, had no choice but to acquiesce to Jiang Cheng's will. He couldn't have just. refused. Or walked away from the conversation. Knocked him out and left. Or called out the inherent contradiction of Jiang Cheng wanting to visit someone he killed (again, regardless of your opinion on Jiang Cheng's culpability, it is made clear in canon that that is the version of events Lan Wangji knows/believes). Or at the very least placed conditions on Jiang Cheng that he's not allowed to do anything to harm Wei Wuxian.

But nope! In the space of a single scene, just by his very presence, apparently, Jiang Cheng is able to turn a fully fledged, well characterised version of Lan Wangji into a robot that cannot disobey a human's will due to it's programming.

And it may seem like I'm ragging on this poor author, or that I'm getting too worked up over one scene, and, and, yeah, that would... that would be correct (hence I'm trying to avoid saying anything identifying about the fic, though I realise that might lessen the impact of my arguments). But the thing is, it's not just this fic. Or just this author.

It's everywhere.

I cannot count the number of fics that have characters that otherwise align pretty well with their canonical selves, only for all that to go out the window the second Jiang Cheng shows up. It's like people can't help themselves. Jiang Cheng appears, and every other character must suddenly become whatever version of themselves makes Jiang Cheng appear most sympathetic/reasonable/well-intentioned. Whatever helps the author make Jiang Cheng be what they want him to be.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji definitely get this the worst. Wei Wuxian goes from an intelligent, calculating individual, who excels at reading the situations he's in and figuring out what's going to get him the outcome he wants*, to a reckless idiot who charges in without thinking because he wants to "be a hero". And Lan Wangji goes from someone who has repeatedly failed to save the ones he loves, and so is appropriately determined to protect them as much as he can (without becoming his father), to someone who thinks he always knows best**, and will happily put someone he loves into a potentially deadly situation because... I don't know. His thinking is pretty much never clearly explained, but I've seen different half-reasons. Sometimes Lan Wangji just thinks that Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are such good, good brothers, and that Jiang Cheng is so important to Wei Wuxian that the chance to hold a conversation with him is worth Wei Wuxian... best case scenario, being verbally abused, worst case, being tortured to death. Sometimes he thinks he wouldn't be able to stop Jiang Cheng which... haha. Even Jin Ling, who reflexively defends Jiang Cheng over everything, thinks that Jiang Cheng doesn't stand a chance against Lan Wangji. Sometimes he thinks he shouldn't interfere with someone else's family... even though they aren't related, and Jiang Cheng cannot, under any circumstances, acknowledge Wei Wuxian as anything other than a disciple/servant. Also, Lan Wangji gets involved in everything. That's kind of his thing. You know... going where the chaos is? There's certainly a lot of chaos whenever Jiang Cheng is around...

But really, it's everyone. Wen Ning goes from being so defensive of Wei Wuxian that he breaks a promise and reveals a secret he kept for nearly twenty years just to get Jiang Cheng to stop talking shit, to usually being passively pushed into the back seat, his bond with Wei Wuxian glossed over in favour of the "brothers"***. Wen Qing, a person so devoted to Wei Wuxian that she sacrificed herself and her beloved brother on the off chance that it would mean he wouldn't have to face consequences for Jin Zixuan's death, is suddenly chastising Wei Wuxian for not doing more to smooth over their relationship. Jin Ling goes from creating a diversion so that he can help Wei Wuxian escape Jiang Cheng, despite knowing he would get in trouble for it, to trying to trick them into being in the same room. It's everyone.

Every. Single. Character. Must be changed, must behave in ways antithetical to their personalities and relationships, because it seems that's the only way many people can reconcile with their affection for a character that behaves the way Jiang Cheng does. In order to keep Jiang Cheng even slightly resembling his canonical self (angry. violent. verbally abusive at every possible opportunity), and yet still have him be welcomed and beloved by the other characters, every other character must lose integral parts of themselves. Mo Dao Zu Shi is, in many ways, a surprisingly tightly woven story when you start pulling threads, and if you want that jumper to work like pants, you need to get the scissors and start cutting.

Or at least, I can only assume that's what's happening. I can't fathom any other reason as to why so many fics, that are otherwise fairly true to character, veer so wildly OOC as soon as he appears. And it is so, so many fics. Note: I've read, ballpark, around two thousand mo dao zu shi fics (yes, I have no life. no, why do you ask?), and this happens in a staggering amount of them.

And basically, this is the root of my issue with Jiang Cheng. I don't care how you write him, he can be the most loving, soft, compassionate individual in the world in your fic, it's your fic, you write what you like****, I'm just going to engage less with those parts, because I don't care as much. You can make him greet each sunrise by weeping, and coo over every baby he encounters on the street, and weave blankets for the homeless in his free time. I literally don't care.

What I care about is the changes made to the other characters. That in order to raise Jiang Cheng, other characters must be dragged down. That he must be there, and he must be the secretly misunderstood caring brother, so every character that could challenge that in any way must be changed, by any means necessary, to prevent that.

(But really, do they? It's fanfiction. Can you really think of no way to make Jiang Cheng be the character you want him to be without mutilating everyone else? If you truly feel for him, truly think his actions make sense, truly wish to show how his relationships can be fixed without him altering his own attitude... then shouldn't it be easy enough, to persuade others of this, without turning the cohesive characters around him into a farce?)

* - since I know this is going to get disputed, even if only internally, by someone; the literal second scene involving Jiang Cheng (immediately post dancing-statue attack, Jiang Cheng suspects and wants to test with Zidian) has Wei Wuxian realise he's not going to be able to escape without some proof of innocence (i.e. reading the room, despite the stress of the moment). He then deliberately steps out of cover so Jiang Cheng can hit him, proving he's not possessing Mo Xuanyu, and then, when that's not enough to guarantee his freedom, he recognises that, and plays on Jiang Cheng's ego (and ymmv homophobia) by saying he's not his type, so Jiang Cheng can't take him without losing too much face, which Wei Wuxian knows he won't do, since Jiang Cheng is very concerned with reputation and appearances (after all, that's why he refused to help Wen Qing and Wen Ning, in spite of the debt he owed them). If that doesn't indicate Wei Wuxian is a clever person who thinks things through, I don't know what does.

** - not as worried about this being disputed, but I can see people thinking this so; no, Lan Wangji doesn't think he knows best. He did when he was young (or, at least, thought the rules he lived by were definitive morals), and that's what led to his rigid black-and-white thinking regarding rules and such. Then he got older, and got more experience, and made some mistakes, and realised that different people approach the world differently, and that he needed to be more flexible and meet people halfway if he wanted to be able to help them. See his change in attitude toward mo dao/gui dao.

*** - fic challenge; see how many fics that portray Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng as close, loving brothers, and also contain the close, caring, trustful friendship between Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning. It's very, very few. On some level, I think everyone who wants to show Jiang Cheng as #bestbrother knows that, from his actions to his attitude, Wen Ning is what a beloved, caring, bad-reputation-but-is-actually-just-misunderstood baby-brother-figure should be.

**** - at the end of the day, everyone has the right the write whatever they like in their fic. I'm a full supporter and encourager of that. But if you don't make it clear that you are going to write OOC, I reserve the right to feel frustrated when I stumble across it. I would never comment it in the fic itself, Ican't imagine anything more poorly mannered, but I am, apparently, not above vague blogging about it (hopefully vague enough that no one can identify any specific fics).

#mo dao zu shi #mdzs #mdzs canon #sorry #the worms were too strong #on the plus side i do feel better now

[worstmdzstakes]

One of the worst takes: that Wei Wuxian was in any way wrong for nightless city, or that Wen Remnants and Wei Wuxian died because he was too arrogant to ask for help

These are definitely both stupid takes!

💩Fanon bullshit💩 - WWX was in the wrong at Nightless City:

Can people in the fandom not grasp when someone is being treated unfairly?!

The sects stated that the matter would be settled for the time being if WQ and WQ gave themselves up and they would leave WWX and the remaining Wens remnants alone.

How would anyone feel to find out they had sacrificed their lives for nothing? That the cultivation world was still planning an attack on the burial mounds, intent on murdering every single innocent person that lived there.

What happened at Nightless City was straight up defence. Granted, WWX was out of his mind with trauma, but overall, it was the congregation of sects that made a move first.

As WWX concluded himself:

“Oh?” Wei Wuxian helped the one who’d spoken dissect his statement. “So if he wants to kill me, he needn’t have any misgivings about dealing a lethal blow. If I die, that’s just my bad luck. But if I defend myself, I must have reservations about who I hurt—even about whether I should touch a single strand of anyone’s hair in the first place. In short, you can ambush me, but I can’t fight back. Is that right?”

7S vol 4

It seems that some people in the fandom are more like the idiots of the cultivation world who blindly followed without question.

MXTX wished her readers to be like LWJ in virtue and WWX in character - not the mob who could not see what was truly right or wrong.

💩Fanon bullshit💩 - WWX won't ask for help:

There was never anything truly arrogant about WWX. He put a bravado on to stop people attacking him and finding out he no longer possessed a golden core, that he had a weakness which could be exploited. It was all to stop people looking too closely at the fact he had no spiritual powers and was weaker than before.

Throughout the novel WWX has no qualms with asking for help - just look at him when he was trying to save the ungrateful Su She from the waterborne abyss. He asked for help. The only issue is, people don't usually give him it. He's used to fighting things out on his own, relying on himself and his own skills. Then LWJ comes along and he helps without even being asked.

Just who could WWX ask for help when he was protecting the Wen remnants at the burial mounds?!

He rather unfortunately concluded LWJ disapproved of him and his methods - yet, unbeknownst to him, LWJ helped him as much as he could, defending him and the Wens during meetings and when the fierce corpses broke out alongside WN after they met in Yiling.

His own sect leader threw him to the proverbial dogs and declared him the enemy of the cultivation world! Hardly helpful! WWX knew JC wouldn't help, even though he owed the Wen remnants a life debt and was honour bound to repay such a thing. Why the hell would WWX ask JC for help when he already knew the answer. He knew JC was too full of resentment and hatred to even lift a finger and JC only proved it the minute he arrived at the burial mounds and sneered at the old and weak before trying to kill a defenceless WN who he personally owed so much to. Even an idiot could see that he wasn't going to help - so what does that make the people saying otherwise? Hmm...

#mdzs #mdzs novel #mdzs canon #wei wuxian #mo dao zu shi #mob mentality #wwx is not afraid of asking for help #shit the fandom says

[lancabbage]

Wow.

I was so excited to read the first volume of the MDZS manhua and I open the book and turn to the first page...

Disappointed, frustrated and just plain annoyed...

Right off the bat, 7S have got the most basic and fundamental part of the plot completely wrong. WWX did not invent the demonic path!!! He invented the ghostly path!!!!

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #mdzs canon #mdzs manhua #wwx invented the ghostly path #not the demonic #banging my head off a brick wall #seven seas

[dimpledlianfang]

Here's some pics of jiggy. Because this is a jiggy blog, and he's hot✨️

Contemplation~~

Dimples ~~

Jiggy in the moment~

Contemplation pt 2.

His posture is always so elegant. I love when he stands likes this.

And it's canon~~

See!

~~

Make way for Jiggy. He's already tiny, and the hanfu is making him look more smol.🤭✨️

Ok ok. Other than the fire talisman. Look at his sleeves! And tiny hands🤭🤏💗💗~~

#jin guangyao #dimpledlianfang #jiggy is hot #meng yao #mo dao su zhi #the untamed #lianfang zun #zhu zanjin #jgy #guangyao #jin #mdzs au #cql #mdzs donghua #mdzs #mdzs canon #Guanyin temple

[lorddio]

wei wuxian is so valid for being like i wanna be the provider i wanna go out and work the fields and after a hard day come home to my house husband who coddles me and cooks me food and then disrespects me in bed

#mdzs #mdzs canon

[canes-venatici200]

Question~ Who would be the most terrifying if they travel to the past, Meng Yao or Nie Huaisang?

#mdzs canon #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #meng yao #nie huaisang

[ask-mdzs-canon]

There's a LOT of confusion over fanon and canon, but we're here to help with any canon questions you may have.

Feel free to drop us an ask and we'll get back to you asap.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #mdzs novel #mdzs canon

[benevolenterrancy]

I absolutely love just how many time-travel fix-it fics there are in this fandom

#mdzs #wangxian #wei wuxian #wei ying #wwx #lan wangji #lan zhan #lwj #mdzs juniors #jin ling #lan sizhui #lan jingyi #ouyang zizhen #currently reading tragedy is not the end by hobbsy3 on ao3 and holy shit guys #anyway any sort of fic that messes with time to alter canon events hold a special place in my heart and the number in this fandom delights #we're all watching every dumb decision made by. everyone. in this series and screaming desperately for them to Be Better #my art

[dangocheeked]

2023.10.31 ☆ happy birthday, wei wuxian!

#mdzs #mdzs fanart #wangxian #wei wuxian #lan wangji #lwj is god's strongest soldier #i love post-canon wangxian and their little games #wwx would run his mouth about all the ways that dastardly hanguang-jun has besmirched the yiling laozu's virtue once again!!!! #obviously wwx has to act out a little so lwj would be forced make him *behave* #they have the nastiest papapa over it #happy birthday wwx i hope u get the dicking u deserve

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lan Wangji Goes To Lotus Pier AU: Part 5: Flip Slip.

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 4.5)

#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #mdzs au #Yungmang Jiang Training Arc AU #lan wangji #wei wuxian #digital art #Trying out some digital techniques to see if I can get closer to feel/style of my traditional comics. #So far the biggest difference is *colouring* Digital colouring feels...not good. I have complained about this before and I'll complain agai #Before we get into the sad stuff with Yungmeng Jiang in the PD-MDZS comics lets have some lighthearted fun! #Remember that if anything bad happens to these Jiang disciples in the canon comic - they are happy in this AU B'*) #I think one of the funniest things about the teenxian dynamic is how WWX accidently finds things that get LWJ to feel flustered. #My guy wwx goes 'I'm going to lightly bully/tease this nerd 'cause his reactions are funny.' and LWJ goes “My god. He's everything to me.” #Part two of the fun part of this dynamic is that LWJ is ever so lightly self aware enough to LOATHE THIS CRUSH. #Hence why I have been marinating on this 'Accidental Lan headband miscommunication' concept. #This is how LWJ assumes that WWX knows what the band means in this AU. This will be relevant later. #And YES! I am still going to be making comics for this AU. I have so many ideas I simply can't hold onto forever.

[madbalalaika]

Commission for my dearest friend @teilzeiteinhorn 💖 A scene from a MDZS fanfic love, in fire and blood by cicer

#can't believe this is my first my first mdzs fanart since I've read it in like 2020 💀 #considering how obsessed I was with it back then #mdzs #lan wangji #wei wuxian #yiling laozu #art #fanart #sketch #digital art #canon divergence

[worstmdzstakes]

What are the worst MDZS fanon takes that make you pull your hair out and scream in frustration?

Let us laugh and debunk them together! If we get enough suggestions we are hoping to pit them against each other in a poll to find the most stupid shit fanon says!

Asks are open, anonymous is on - come at me!

#mdzs #mdzs novel #mdzs canon #mo dao zu shi #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wangxian #canon vs fanon #fanon bs #shit the fandom says

[pleasegivejinlingabreak]

apparently a lot of ppl hasnt seen this official art so!!!

#mo dao zu shi #mdzs #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #canon jiang cheng #the untamed #jiang yanli #mxtx mdzs #mdzs art #yunmeng jiang #yunmeng siblings

[cloudpalettes]

pleasant warmth ☀️

#mdzs #mdzs fanart #mo dao zu shi #lan wangji #lan zhan #wei wuxian #wei ying #wangxian #mxtx #i love them #this is post-canon wx to me #first time drawing wx chu after being hyperfixated for over a year damn that's so crazy #husbands !!!! #so in love !!!!!

[waterlilyvioletfog]

Something that is in fact SO important to Wei Wuxian is that, fundamentally, he is hot. He is Thee Hot Girl. He’s shooting five arrows blindfolded as a charged political statement and he’s doing it with zero magic powers AND he was sexy when he did it. He beats out his own brother (sorry, Jiang Cheng) for Most Eligible Bachelor despite being literally dirt poor and not a sect heir. He lives rent free in the minds of everybody twenty years later, to the point that JC and LWJ are literally Like That and NHS literally constructed his revenge plot around him and— look, just watch the scenes at the Second Burial Mounds Siege. Oh, and they use all his inventions, even though he’s an evil heretic, because uhhh they were really good inventions. Actually. Like he was in fact at the top of the field as an inventor and innovator. And he was hot. AND he had no powers. Whoops.

#cql #mdzs #the untamed #wei wuxian #cheng qing ling #(im mostly using show canon here I think?) #anyways its good we have xiao zhan to play him bc a) incredible actor but b) he’s hot. and wwx MUST be hot it’s nonnegotiable

[pocketfulofrecs]

watch what we’ll become by glitteringmoonlight

teen | 60k | wangxian | complete | arranged marriage

To get his hands on the Yin Tiger Seal, Jin Guangshan decides to make Wei Wuxian part of the Lanling Jin sect through marriage to his son and heir.

Exactly nobody is happy about this.

Ju’s thoughts - Wei Wuxian and Jin Zixuan have to get married for political reasons (Jin Guangshan is a greedy bastard) after the sunshot campaign. They make the best of it and become allies and then good friends. Lots of pining, because in this au Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji sort of have an understanding, and they very much like each other, but they can’t be together because of politics. So much pining, and no miscommunication. Things change for Wei WuXian for having people in his corner. Really sweet wangxian. (Jin Guangyao friendly). No infidelity.

Author’s tags: Background JZX/JYL, WWX & JZX are married but completely platonically, featuring my let WWX and JZX be bros agenda, slow burn? is it even a slow burn if they confess but can't be together for Reasons?, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It of Sorts, Angst with a Happy Ending, you've heard of enemies to friends to lovers, now get ready for, enemies to reluctant husbands to begrudging best friends

Remember to leave feedback to the author! <3 Comments and kudos feed the author’s soul.

#mdzs #mdzs canon #canon divergence #>50k #teen #wangxian #wei wuxian & jin zixuan #fix it #pining #arranged marriage #wei wuxian #lan wangji #jin zixuan #jin guangyao friendly #complete #multi-chapter #xuanli #glitteringmoonlight