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pastelcheckereddreams · 4 months

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Four Seasons Manor (四季山庄): Set Layout, Part Three!

This is the third and final post detailing my set sleuthing adventure, looking for the sets that make up Word of Honor's Siji Manor. If you're stumbling over this post in the wild - hi! I draw architectural drafts of cdrama sets, as accurately to the show as I can. A huge amount of research goes into creating my art, and so far no set location has been as elusive as this one.

Split across two sets - one located in Hengdian World Studio's Spring and Autumn Tang Park, and the other in Hengdian's Huaxia film studio - this post is the final part uncovering the layout of Siji Manor. (And nothing will make sense if you read this post first, go back to part one and part two!!)

A reminder, before we dive right back into the breakdown of my completed birdseye view, that this last part will cover the main courtyard of what I have dubbed the "interior" Siji set, highlighted in red below:

Let's dive in!

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The Main Courtyard

The main hall (6), the largest building in this set, is what I and @minnarr, who shares my brainrot 🙏 and has been a great help in this process, have been calling "Everlasting."

This is because sign over the entrance reads, "萬古長青" (wàn gǔ cháng qīng), which to my layman's knowledge translates as "Everlasting and Evergreen," an idiom that can be extrapolated to mean "forever green throughout the ages," which describes a noble spirit or deep friendship that will last forever, like an eternal Springtime:

In the above screenshots, you can see that Chengling's training area (9) is set up in front of this main hall, and over his head in the third picture, you can just about see the moon window that is a feature of WKX's room.

Importantly, the pavilion (10) just about seen behind Chengling's training area, marks a de facto boundary for this set as it appears in WOH, as the camera angles of these episodes never never stray past it. For a long time - until I began to watch Mysterious Lotus Casebook and Heroes, which handed me the final puzzle pieces to rule out this set as part of the film parks - I thought the entire set must finish just to the right of the pavilion.

That is not so. If I pull up some screenshots from MLC and reintroduce the scant few photographs I've found of the "Mansion Scene" Huaxia set itself from part two, you can see this main courtyard in full:

In these photos and screenshots, we can now see the main courtyard almost in full: the main building with its projecting entrance (I'm unsure if the term portico applies to Asian architecture); the pavillion to its left, standing opposite Building 8 which we will come to in a moment; and Building 11 at the end of what, in MLC, is a central pathway - but that I have interpreted in my own drawing to be a path of scattered stepping stones like the rest of the set, considering the smaller courtyard (5) - as discussed in part two - appears to be taking on the role of a more formal courtyard.

'Everlasting' and 'Gentle Winds'

For a moment, though, I need to draw us back to the main building. This building - Everlasting - is very important as, by vehicle of drama magic, this is where the two Siji sets conflate.

In episode 24 we cut from a shot of the main building in the exterior Siji set, whose sign reads "風輕雲淡" (fēng qīng yún dàn), or "Gentle Winds and Light Clouds," to this interior shot of Everlasting:

And to confirm that this interior shot is Everlasting, or building 6, we return to MLC, where we are treated to an outside-to-inside shot of the build, whose inset floor matches that of WOH's Everlasting building, seen clearest in episode 24, above, and episode 28:

(I do have more screenshots that I may add in later, but right now I'm running out of steam, please just take my word for it. 😂)

Cold River Room

Now, unfortunately I've been unable to place the medicine room, in which ZZS grinds herbs, in what photo resources I have of this film studio. Likewise for the room I've taken to calling the "infirmary" (where WKX takes a healing bath after his confrontation with YBY). Equally as unhelpful, there's simply no discernible exterior details seen from inside these two rooms that I can dig my research claws into and try to identify a placement or orientation for them:

The room they spend their first night at Siji Manor in, however, is a different story. That room - dubbed as the "Cold River Room" by Minna - is Building 8.

This was quite easy to place, thanks to this screenshot of a behind the scenes video (that I've since long lost the link to, unfortunately - if you have a link, I'd be very grateful if you share it with me so that I may add the source). Here, we can see the column inscriptions on Everlasting through the window:

So I can confirm this building to be the room they spend their first night as Siji in, seen here behind Chengling as well as in a MLC screenshot - showing its place across from the pavilion clearly:

The Pond

The last part of the main courtyard - and of this set breakdown overall - is the pond and Building 11:

I had suspected their was some kind of water trough or strip of pond between the seating area (4) and the pavilion (10) for a while, but never had the resources to confirm it. I still can't. However, a film studio's entire purpose is to shapeshift from one design brief to another. Sometimes, there is a pond and sometimes there isn't, as these two images show:

The left image is a photograph from the article about Hengdian's film studios linked above, taken from the seating area (4), while the right image is a screenshot from Heroes episode 13, the camera positioned in front of Building 11. I simply decided that I liked the pond there, so I included it in my Siji layout.

As an aside, in this scene in Heroes, with the camera panning just a bit further right, we get a lovely clear shot of the archway from the formal courtyard (5) to this one:

Finally, we come to Building 11. You'll notice that I called the courtyard of the QHZ snow scene in WOH a "formal" courtyard (5), on account of the clearly defined, linear paving.

However, it doesn't have the large gate of a main courtyard:

This courtyard, the one with Everlasting, does. The winding steppingstones used as paving in the Siji set dressing of this location takes away from the formality of this courtyard that, once you see it in its entirety in shows such as MLC or Heroes, it certainly has. To that point, Building 11 - or rather, structure 11, as may be more appropriate to call it now - is actually a large gateway. This is easiest seen in Heroes, episode 13:

Of course, that doesn't mean we have to designate it as a gateway in the Siji layout. I don't think it's meant to have that identity, based on the above - well, it's not meant to have an identity at all. It's never seen in the show. But, given the Siji set dressing and the resemblance it bears to Building 8, the Cold River Room, I might consider giving it the identity of one of the rooms I've been unable to locate - the infirmary, or the medicine room.

Let me hear your thoughts!

I'd like to hear your suggestions and thoughts on that. On all of it! Because despite all of this research, I am still left with the gargantuan task of drafting it all into a finished piece. And as such, I am still faced with the dilemma I began to outline months ago in part one:

How could I merge these two very different sets together? Should I merge them together?

I have rambled ideas at friends about presenting an architecture draft that is simply reportage - showing both sets, and summarizing the information I've given you all here before making suggestions on how they could combine into "one true set".

But on the other hand, do I draft the Siji I see emerging in the crossover of these two sets - the one I can feel starting to take shape in my brain? And then simply offer this research up as the facts.

There's still a long way to go, but thank you for being here! As always, if you'd like to support my research madness and help fuel my many artistic endeavors, please consider donating to my kofi or checking out my print shop:

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And happy new year! I hope 2024 brings you happiness and opportunity in all that you wish ✨

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

#nikkidraws #四季山庄 #山河令 #four seasons manor #word of honor #shan he ling #shl meta #woh meta #word of honor meta #woh set design #shl set design #set design #yeeting this from me now it's taken two days to do both of these posts at the same time 😭#i hope this last post makes sense i'm so tiiiiired

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smolnerdisms · 9 months

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I think something that gets me so much about Wen Kexing in Word of Honor, is his line "It's too late." He uses it twice when Zhou Zishu is going on about how he's finally found Zhen Yan again, and then a few more times when Shen Shen confronts him about his parents. At that point, he cries out in despair- "They're both dead, along with Zhen Yan." And it's just so completely gutting.

I have a unique experience of being betrayed, of my family being hurt, by people who I trusted, who formed a large part of my community, my identity, and who I thought would help us in time of need. It led to such a horrible traumatic experience, for all of us. And it does feel like a part of me has died. I keep meeting people who are part of this community (and have nothing to do with the others) and they still believe in it and wonder why I don't. But the reality is, I don't have the ability to anymore. I suspect I will regard this community with distrust and skepticism for years to come. It is indeed too late. The part of me that believed is long gone, replaced with anger and trauma that will never fully heal.

I am in a unique position to understand why Wen Kexing had such a burning desire to burn the world down and himself along with it. Because sometimes, all you want to do after such a horrible betrayal is hurt the ones who hurt you. Calling them dogs and demons doesn't even faze me. Even though there is good people in the mix, they didn't do anything to help and so they're going to be part of the pyre too.

So at the end of the series, when Wen Kexing takes his revenge on Zhao Jing, and calls out the Jianghu for namedropping his father but not helping them, it gives me a very sick sense of satisfaction. That's what I wish I could do as well, but I can only engage in the catharsis that fiction allows.

Wen Kexing is a fucked up little guy. But he's my fucked up little guy. And I understand him perfectly.

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minnarr · 2 years

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Reference post: Jinwang, Zhou Zishu, and Jing Beiyuan according to Word of Honor

I started reading Qi Ye after finishing Word of Honor, and at first I approached it as potential background for Word of Honor. But the more I both read that and looked at the details given to us in Word of Honor, the more another approach made sense to me. Word of Honor takes character names and elements from Qi Ye, to be sure, but the context and details often change quite a bit. I’ve talked a little bit in a previous meta about the differences/similarities in my head between Jinwang and Helian Yi.

However, some of the differences in biographical detail stuck out so much that it occurred to me that it might be more productive (as a writer of fanfiction for Word of Honor alone) to take all of the details we’re given and apply it not to analyzing differences, but to seeing what picture the show does give us. Approached as characters independent from the source text, what can we figure out about them and the situation that made them?

That’s a lot of words to say that I’m basically just going to share my notes: what we do know, just from what’s said in the drama. Also, to preface, I know very little Chinese! I am just squirrelling away what I can from subtitles and resorting to dictionaries, so I can’t give a ton of context or analysis beyond what’s presented on a surface level and I very well may have missed or misinterpreted some things. Would love to hear about it if I have.

The Princes of Jin

To start with: Jinwang is neither an emperor nor the heir to one. This is explicit from episode 1. Our first glimpse of Zhou Zishu and Tianchuang come in a scene set at the mansion of a jiedushi. Li-daren (the jiedushi in charge, and Princess Jing’an’s father) is writing letters in haste to let others know that Jinwang is secretly training assassins in Tianchuang with the intention of killing court officials and rebelling.(1) In episode 11, when Zhou Zishu tells Chengling and Wen Kexing the truth about who he is, he says that for generations the Zhou family have followed the jiedushi of Jinzhou, which suggests to me Jinwang holds the same position that Li-daren does.

There are different kinds of princes besides heirs to emperors. In this case, it’s probably a title bestowed on one of Jinwang’s predecessors by the emperor. The Jinwang of present day is at least the second prince in his line: his father is always spoken of as either the former Jinwang (先晋王) or, in a flashback in episode 24 to a time when he was still alive, wangye (王爷). In the same flashback, Zhou Zishu addresses the man who will become Jinwang as shizi-ye (世子爷), Notably, this is not the title Helian Yi has in Qi Ye, taizi, because he’s not a Crown Prince. (It appears to be pretty consistent with what you’d call the heir to someone in Jinwang’s position).

So, what about the emperor? Well, we actually do hear a little about him when Han Ying shows up to lightly menace Gao Chong in episode 7. Gao Chong gets angry at the threats and says, Tianchuang might rule over the Northwest, but we’re in Yueyang City, under the rule of the emperor. And then we literally don’t hear anything about him. When Xie’er says in episode 34 that he plans to announce himself as the new emperor, his plan involves killing Jinwang first. Jinwang himself, in episode 1, says he plans to be emperor within the next three years. Whoever and wherever the current emperor is, it’s fairly clear that Jinwang’s expected to take his place: not as heir, but by taking power.

A dark room, and a window to heaven

The origins of Jinwang’s bid for the throne go all the way back to the time the former prince was still in charge. By all appearances, Former Jinwang was quite a volatile leader. The episode 24 flashbacks give us the story of Jinwang and Zhou Zishu’s laoshi. Former Jinwang believed slanderous rumors about laoshi and had him thrown in prison and then executed. Not only that, his body was left outside for scavengers to pick apart. Zhou Zishu promised a grieving Jinwang that he would find it and bury it properly.

Zhou Zishu’s father also met his death at Former Jinwang’s hands, as Han Ying reveals in episode 29. He found a letter in Jinwang’s study that said Zhou Zishu’s father was killed secretly for treason against Jinwang. Zhou Zishu had previously believed he died of an illness; he was Former Jinwang’s best friend and trusted subordinate.(2) With later context about Zhou Zishu’s father’s quest for the secrets in what became the World’s Armory, it seems likely he was killed for that failure.

Before dying, laoshi wrote a poem in blood on the walls of his prison. For the poem and better context on it, please check out this post. I’m not sure whether we’re supposed to believe that Tianchuang’s name is a reference to this poem, but Zhou Zishu at the start clearly believed he and Jinwang could make things better. Jinwang certainly never forgets the poem: he recites it in episode 1 as he watches Zhou Zishu ride away with the Nails in his chest.

The courtyard oath

Jinwang’s success is not his alone. He had several close friends and allies, all of whom have left him by the end of the show. The most vital of these in the drama appears to be Zhou Zishu. His Tianchuang propels him to power, and they’re also kin: Jinwang is Zhou Zishu’s older cousin of another surname (he bids Zhou Zishu to address him as 表哥, biao-ge). We don’t really know exactly how they’re related, but I would guess it’s more likely that Former Jinwang married his friend’s sister than that Zhou Zishu’s mother was Former Jinwang’s sister. Both are fun ideas to play with, though.

There are more, though! In episode 30, during what I like to think of as the Worst Wine Party Ever, Jinwang reminisces about a promise made ten years ago in Qingluan’s courtyard. All the friends there would dig up this wine and drink it together. We are treated to a vivid picture in Jinwang’s rose-tinted reminiscences: a flower-filled courtyard, with Jing Beiyuan playing the qin, Qin Jiuxiao playing xiao, Yunxing(3) doing a sword dance, and Qingluan(4) composing songs. And Zhou Zishu and Jinwang, side by side.

Of course, by the time of this reminiscing, everyone but Zhou Zishu is gone. Yunxing went far away to the borderland, Qingluan committed suicide, Jiuxiao died in a battle in Lucheng (which Jinwang orchestrated), and Jing Beiyuan...

Okay, I admit, I have not finished Qi Ye, so I have no clue how he escaped Helian Yi in the book, but this is so tasty. Jinwang apparently believes that he poisoned Beiyuan to death. Zhou Zishu brings this up straight-faced despite knowing full well Beiyuan is alive, and it seems like when Wu Xi and Beiyuan come up in the show he’s always known he was alive and just happened to lose touch. So...somehow they made that happen.

Also, I don’t really have another place to bring this up, but this thing about how they adapted Jing Beiyuan just makes me laugh. When he introduces himself in episode 30, he says that he’s the seventh child of his generation. (I guess to justify the Qi Ye title?) And I just. PLEASE. Imagine there being six more of them. Imagine Beiyuan having OLDER SIBLINGS and being the way that he is.

I’m not going to go over everything that happened with Jiuxiao, because I figure people know/remember? That’s a pretty prominent part of Zhou Zishu’s emotional journey. But if anyone doesn’t and wants an account hit me up.

Shatuo origins

I don’t really know why the show did this, but this is kind of one of the things they did that most locates Jinwang in a place very different to Helian Yi’s: they decided to give his family a non-Han origin story and use that to tie him into the World’s Armory. This comes up right at the end of the show, in episode 36, when Zhou Zishu and Jing Beiyuan discuss Jinwang’s reason for wanting the World’s Armory.

I’m going to give the untranslated subtitles here for anyone who wants to take a crack at them, along with what Netflix gives in English:

Looking back, he and I are both descendants of Shatuo.(5) Our ancestors succeeded in stopping a riot, so they were granted the national surname and were appointed as jiedushi. That’s how we got what we have today.

王爷跟我追根溯源

本是沙陀后裔

因先祖平乱有功

方才得赐国姓

官拜节度使繁衍生息

才有了而今的局面

If we go further back, our clan from this branch was the subordinate of Tuojie(6) Imperial kinsmen.

可是如果再往前论

我们族这一支实则隶属拓揭王族

The World’s Armory, it turns out, was actually originally a legendary vault among the six clans of different surnames that Jing Beiyuan and Jinwang’s families come from. The key was broken up into six pieces, which Beiyuan suggests is the five Glazed Armor pieces plus the key. It was supposed to contain the secret to a long-lasting country, which (as it turns out) is a bunch of sacks of grain and farming manuals written in Tuojie characters.(7)

It’s fairly clear that this has always been Jinwang’s pursuit (there’s a shot of him in episode 12 with an old drawing of the Glazed Armor/six keys), as well as his father’s (since the quest for it got Zhou Zishu’s father killed). So this ends up tying him a lot tighter into the whole web of nonsense around the Glazed Armor, too.

Locations

The show tells us that Jinzhou is in the Northwest during the tete-a-tete between Gao Chong and Han Ying, and elsewhere Hedong is mentioned in episode 1. Jin + Hedong seem to identify it as the area around Taiyuan; there was a Hedong circuit in the area during the Tang dynasty, as well as a state of Jin with the same character as Jinzhou in Word of Honor. Both seem to have been ruled by Li Keyong, but for that I’m relying on Wikipedia entries referencing Chinese-language sources. All of this to say, you’re probably safe setting it in modern-day Shanxi.

Some building names gotten either via Netflix subtitles or pointing my phone camera at screenshots to extract characters:

Jinwang’s palace (or possibly just the main hall) is called Lichun Palace [Hall] (黎淳殿).

After giving the Nails to Bi Changfeng, Zhou Zishu emerges from a building called Guiyun Pavilion (归云阁), presumably the same one he was just walking through with all the stone and Tianchuang guys and the dramatic skylight. Zhou Zishu’s painting with the flowers is kept in a building called Chongming Court (重明苑). This might be his home? I’m really unclear on how all this fits together.

A few aerial views for good measure:

The Tianchuang complex

The palace

Also, as a point of interest, the dragon banner does not appear to be Jinwang’s personal symbol.

This banner appears inside Lichun Palace:

This one outside Li-daren’s mansion:

And this one on the front of Guiyun Pavilion:

And I think that’s what I’ve got! Surprised how much there is on all of this in the nooks and crannies of this show.

---

(1) Netflix subtitles give us a few of the addressees: the governors (taishou) of Changsha and Nanning.

(2) Also, his brother-in-law.

(3) He Yunxing is one of the conspirators in Qi Ye, and you could probably transplant who he is in that novel easily into this setting.

(5) This one line spurred so much wiki-holing and speculation about the setting for this from me. Look, I’m just saying

(4) Less so Su Qingluan of Qi Ye, a beautiful young woman who tries to and fails to ensnare Helian Yi and his party in schemes on his brother’s behalf. (And whose death, in another lifetime, was the center of the falling out between Jing Beiyuan and Helian Yi).

(6) No amount of googling has saved me. The best I can come up with is a type of warrior among the Shatuo Turks via a Baidu article I skimmed via Google translate, but that’s not at all how the show treats Tuojie. If anyone has any idea what’s going on here I would love to know.

(7) I think there’s some stuff about agrarian vs. nomadic cultures baked in here that I am not the person to address, it’s definitely A Thing I Would Like to Read Up On along with a billion other things.

#word of honor #word of honor meta #my meta

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fateandloveentwined · 9 months

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wuxia, xianxia, and cultivation differences meta

translations: wuxia 武俠, xianxia 仙俠, and cultivation 修真/修仙 (xīuzhēn/xīuxiān)

think i've seen posts on this eons ago, and i'm pretty sure there are tons of these online, but since this has been written up already let's just have another one.

wuxia 武俠

wuxia and xianxia sound similar, but basically for wuxia it is about the pugilistic world (江湖 jiānghú). It is relatively more down-to-earth, and people practice martial arts ("kungfu") in their current life -- they do not do it to become xians (仙) and gods (神) however.

Like Thousand Autumns and Faraway Wanderers/Word of Honor, it has more historical background and ties to the current court and kingdoms, because people are living in the moment and concern themselves with worldly issues.

Martial arts may seem unrealistic, but in view of chinese fantasy it would be considered "real". It consists of fighting moves and internal energy, which they call qi or nèigōng (內功), and at times you see people flying around, climbing hills and jumping across rooftops which is qīnggōng (輕功).

xianxia 仙俠

A level up would be xianxia, where characters in the story cultivate to become xians (and gods, like in the heaven official's blessing). They don't really care about earthly issues here now, because their ambitions lie beyond the current world, and cultivation, getting stronger, and an immortal life are majorly all their goals.

You may not always see them working towards that purpose, such as in mdzs they are considered a lower-xianxia society (低魔), meaning people don't go through all the steps of cultivation and only stay at the stage before the "golden core" stage.

In xianxia, characters still learn basic fighting moves aka. martial arts, but to direct the internal energy they use línglì (灵力), zhēnqì (真气), and fǎlì (法力), all xianxia terms you commonly see. "neigong" is practically nonexistent in this genre. That's why people building up their "neigong" instead of "lingli" are likely never going to be able to cultivate.

cultivation 修真/修仙

A subgenre in the xianxia category would be cultivation. Characters actively go through the stages of cultivation, and likely for the MC, because they are the main character, they successfully become a xian and exit the world at the end of the novel.

There are many stages of cultivation, usually defined at the beginning of the novel in the synopsis, and a typical example of the different levels would be this:

练气，筑基，金丹，元婴，化神，炼虚，合体，大乘，渡劫

And with a cursory search, an English translation would be something like this, albeit not with all the cultivation ranks identified.

Qi condensation (练气), Foundation establishment (筑基), Core Formation (金丹), Nascent Soul (元婴), and the names after that vary too greatly with translation and fandom so I'll jump straight to Immortal Ascension

extra info: getting into the philosophy of it all

It'd be interesting to note that the word "xiá" (俠) permeates all these genres. This is something akin to the concept of "hero", but not at all also, and I'd love to speak more on this but this post has already gone way longer than I hoped it would be, so perhaps another day.

Regardless, it is interesting to note that wuxia has a greater emphasis on "xia" than xianxia. (some joke that cultivation doesn't have the word "xia" in it, and much of that is because characters have foregone heroism and focused on gaining powers and working towards ascension instead). As a result, wuxia is more confucianism-oriented, though not without its taoism and buddhism influences.

xianxia, on the other hand, is mainly derived from "dào" (道), from taoism, which is another lengthy concept if I ever get to it.

And some may have heard of the "farming" genre, 种田 (zhòngtián). This has to do with golden fingers (mary sues) in imperialistic china, earning a wealth of money, and all that. It has nothing to do with cultivation, alike they sound in english.

that's it for now, hmu if you wish to ask/discuss!

(and apologies for the pinyin translations, hope it's understandable still! formally writing pinyin they are supposed to be two separate words not one.)

#danmei #mdzs #word of honor #cdrama #thousand autumns #cnovel #wuxia #xianxia #cultivation novel #chinese language #chinese #fate's meta

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5ummit · 1 year

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Stucky used to be my comfort ship.

I used to think Steve and Bucky cared for each other so deeply and tragically that their love – even if only viewed as platonic – could not be denied by anyone. Not after Steve spent THREE whole movies, the entire Cap trilogy, proving how much Bucky meant to him over and over and over. Steve was willing to fight for him and die for him in every single movie. I used to think that even if Marvel gave Steve another love interest, even if he died in Endgame, it wouldn’t change or negate how devoted they were to each other. That they would still be friends “til the end of the line.”

Little did I know what awaited me in Endgame was a fate worse than death.

Steve left and in doing so rewrote everything we thought we knew about him and his relationship with Bucky. About who Steve is as a character entirely. It wasn’t just that he abandoned his supposed best friend, who he had been chasing and obsessing over for years. Who was there for him and looked after him ever since they were children. If Steve had left the Bucky he used to know in the 1940s for some love interest and a life without him, it would still be pretty out of character, but I would eventually get over it. 1940s!Bucky was confident, happy, and had family and friends who cared about him. Endgame!Bucky is not that Bucky.

Endgame!Bucky is broken and lost and just now learning how to be a person again. Endgame!Bucky has no friends and no family. Endgame!Bucky just spent the last 70 years of his life going from one fight to another, being brainwashed and tortured and manipulated and abused. Endgame!Bucky is clinging by a thread to the one and only thing he knows and values in this world: Steve.

This is the Bucky that Steve chose to leave.

If Steve was any kind of friend at all – if Steve was truly a hero and the morally upstanding person he’s portrayed as, a person worthy of wielding Mjolnir – he would know these things about Bucky, his best friend since childhood, and at the very least, would refuse to leave his side until Bucky had some sort of support network and seemed well-adjusted enough to handle it. But he doesn’t. Even in their farewell scene when Bucky (looking like a kicked puppy) says to him “I’m gonna miss you” Steve won’t even echo the sentiment. He just says “it’s gonna be okay,” as if he’s aware of the pain Bucky must be in and essentially tells him, “don’t worry, you’ll get over it.” And I’m not even going to get into the terrible way Steve treated his other best friend, Sam, by keeping him completely in the dark about his plans for absolutely no reason and abandoning him as well.

Marvel didn’t just make Steve act out of character in Endgame in an effort to no-homo him and create a ~surprise twist~. They didn’t just make him a bit selfish and a bad friend. They straight up made him a villain, and I will never ever forgive them for it.

#in honor of the endgame anniversary #have this rant that I've had sitting in my drafts for like two years #which I wrote up at one point to get it out of my system #still just as true now and I'm still mad so I figured I might as well post it #the whole thing would be absolutely shakespearean if it weren't so goddamn out of character #stucky #steve rogers #bucky barnes #anti endgame #marvel #my words #marvel wank #my meta

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chonkymoth · 8 months

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going off of that twitter post about how Nandor is fucking giddy when talking w the Baron about how Guillermo killed all the vamps in the theatre and how he doesn't want Guillermo to change:

Nandor is happiest, or at least proudest, when recalling his own days as a fearsome warrior — his acts in conquering, slaughtering, and pillaging. He talks so highly of himself from that point in his life. And it begs the question if he considers vampirism a curse, at least in part, because he is no longer that once ruthless leader and fighter. In terms of overall vampires, he's honestly just kind of average it seems. And when it comes to Guillermo he's downright soft, to the point that multiple other vampires have pointed out that his feelings towards Guillermo and the way he treats him are odd, to say the least, for a vampire/familiar relationship.

But the thing is, I think the thing he respects the most about Guillermo is those same qualities he once had. He sees Guillermo as someone who is powerful and strong and fully capable of holding his own (and tbf he's very right). Him wholeheartedly vouching to the others to spare Guillermo in the name of the "warrior's code"? Yeah, that. And he knows vampirism changed that about him. I think, deep in that emotionally constipated little brain of his, he's so scared of Guillermo getting turned and no longer having those qualities he loves and respects, and instead turning out just like Nandor. We as a fandom talk a lot about how Nandor is scared Guillermo would leave him — and Nandor's said as much — and I do think that's a very good chunk of his hesitation to turn Guillermo, but I think a lot of it, too, is that he's scared of Guillermo turning out just like he has.

Yet, when Nandor sought out a wife last season, he wanted someone devoid of those exact qualities he seems to relish and uphold. He wanted someone that basically just lifted him up rather than be his equal, his counterpart. Nandor got rid of people who bested him in a fight, who were too pretty or alluring, who were funnier than him, etc. And he found, seemingly, the perfect person for him within those tight guidelines....and then proceeded to change every single thing about her. Until finally changing her to be an exact copy of Guillermo's boyfriend. Aka: he desires what Guillermo desires.

Which leads to the question of what does Guillermo desire? Well, that's not nearly as hard to piece together since he's much more open about his feelings. Guillermo desires and values the qualities that, he thinks, come with being a vampire — being ruthless, powerful, and attractive. It's the whole reason he finally said fuck it and went to Derek, because he was so tired of being him. He never realized that he already held all of those qualities he valued ("I don't feel powerful. I don't feel sexy" that's because you already were those things, love). It's just that he discovered the hard way that those qualities weren't really intrinsic to being a vampire. But, back to the point I was trying to make; basically, he values all the qualities Nandor had/has. Former fearless ruler and warrior of a nation, who had 37 wives, and is now a bloodthirsty and terrifyingly strong vampire who fucks around with anyone he wants? Check, check, and check.

So, if Guillermo desires Nandor and Nandor desires what Guillermo does, then Nandor is realistically looking for someone that compliments him and is equivalent to him. Someone who he recognizes to have all of the qualities that are fundamental to who he is and was. Man, I wonder who that could be.... And honestly? I think Nandor is finally starting to connect all these dots himself. Which is just adding to his fear of Guillermo changing in any way. Because he likes and respects who Guillermo has become over these past seasons. And I'm so scared and excited to see how he takes Guillermo being turned, both now and after he sits with the information for a while, because, realistically, Guillermo hasn't changed, not really. But will Nandor realize that?

#he's an emotionally constipated himbo your honor #anyways that's enough of me being on my bullshit for today #sorry for the random meta drop yall #but if they dont fuck soon im gonna go crazy mark my words #wwdits #wwdits spoilers #wwdits meta #nandermo #nandor the relentless #guillermo de la cruz #mine #rambles

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mejomonster · 9 months

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Guardian really set my expectations of "censored bl cdramas" and man that was a high bar and probably not fair of me to expect.

Guardian really opens with Zhao Yunlan asking Shen Wei "are you married? You're such a catch. Can I take you out to eat? Here's my number A-Lan call me" which like even on face value id say thats called flirting (unless I guess ur so straight Straight blinders on that 2 men have to physically fuck in front of u to consider something gay)

Then of course there's shen weis pining shit but like, that's not Hammer down obvious to I guess the most oblivious person in denial

But Zhu Hong saying she likes Zhao Yunlan, Zhao Yunlan repeatedly refusing her and feeling bad about it, Zhu Hong repeatedly acknowledging he picked SHEN WEI over her (making it fairly clear it was a romantic pick and she Lost it to a guy) and shen Wei, brick that he can be at times, tells her it will only take a few years for the feelings to fade when she'll get over Zhao yunlan. The guy in love with him, instead of her. Yeah shen wei, she's definitely not wishing she could stab you for that insensitive remark. But she's too good of a person to.

Which. I'd say the above two points establish fairly overtly that: Zhao Yunlan is into men, that his colleagues assume he's also into women (if Zhu Hong thinks she has a chance), and that Shen Wei is Zhao Yunlans romantic pick. So Shen Weis sexuality? Well he doesn't dispute being Zhao Yunlans romantic pick, and Lin Jing assumes they're lovers with dialogue (yes he's saying opposite day stuff but his opposite day is just not being a liar and spy). So Shen Weis sexuality includes Zhao Yunlan.

And so like that's just. Fairly overt explicit stuff about their relationship. There's also the "a very oblivious person could argue its only implied" flirting. (And everything going on with Lao Chu and Xiao Guo, the side couple... oh my heart ;-; when they almost froze... the family dinner at Xiao guos... Lao chu admiring how kind Xiao Guo is, scaring him trying to say he's a cannibal and Xiao Guo not running away)

There's the coat sharing macho trying to be the man helping the damsel both of those fuckers do galore, shen wei moving in across the hall (which is either stalker or deeply in love or - as is true, both), shen wei implicitly moving in (this one's vague ill admit to be fair), the fucking "You're good with your hands" line from Zhao yunlan which is absolutely a porn line, every villain in the show viscerally aware Zhao Yunlan is who Shen Wei wants to protect, Ye Zun pretending to be Shen Wei by calling Zhao Yunlan cute names and asking if his outfit looks nice (and all of That), Zhao yunlans romantic ass hit me through the heart line of "if you're trouble I want a lifetime of you" at the wedding (not ever over it), the fucking lollipop scene in ye old haixing. Just a bunch of flirty type scenes, romantic tropes galore. And that's not even covering the actual genuine subtext of ALL the cases paralleling how shen wei and/or how Zhao yunlan feel implicitly (which are just subtext to be fair... how shen wei thinks he lost kunlun, how Zhao yunlan ISNT him so it hurts he's a stranger or he IS in which case he's a liar and shen weis grieving, the case where a dixingren and human love each other and Zhao yunlan notices he wants to be close to shen wei even though shen weis lying etc).

Like. They felt as canon as Tara X Willow in Buffy. Or at least as much as Xena x Gabrielle, the center relationship of the show where all stories of the episodes are always at least in some way about them.

#guardian #weilan #meta #rant #to be fair: word of honor cdrama did JUST as much as guardian on feeling basically canonically explicitly gay #as long as u can interpret overt flirting with men and them being soulmates as love.#cause yeah there are no kisses. but still like... yeah theyre in love.#and like.. man zhu hongs love triangle plot is Central in making the Guardian romance as overt as it is #obviously irs easy to put in: its a girl love interest for zhao yunlan #but its also a love interest he Rejects for shen wei. so like. cdrama land says he cant say i love you to a man?#but he can say he doesnt love a girl and hes picked the man instead. im just saying it works well to make that overtly clear #dont even get me started on chuguo ;-; i love them so much and acting defijitely helped intensify it

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sirenofthegreenbanks · 2 months

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it FUCKS ME UP that THE ONE THING that displays GROWTH and a better life and a reaching of a dream for these characters is ALSO THE VERY SAME THING that MAKES THE RED WEDDING POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!! how dare!!!!!!!!! like, zzs started out wanting to make better decisions if he has the opportunity and to give people second chances if within his power, do good over more violence (result: a-xiang and cwn die, the valley is massacred). wkx wants nice things for his sister after finally reaching a point in his life where he can safely display his affection and invest in a good future (result: his sister dies in his arms trying and failing to avenge her would-be husband, in her bridal clothes, and the place he wanted to transform is massacred). a-xiang spends most of the show jumpy and prickly, accusing people of the worst. in truth, she wants a life where she can trust that someone has her best interest at heart, even if things are uncertain. (result: her husband gets killed in front of her, she avenges him in a suicide mission and fails, her family get massacred with wkx almost killing himself over achieving her last wish). i mean, theyve all fought so badly for love and hope, to reach a point where they can put the worst behind them! and its exactly this wish to make a change, do smth different than before, that KILLS THEM!!!!!!!!!!!! its evil

#EVIL!!!!!!!! (appreciative)#henlo! this is a post from my ongoing word of honor liveblogging rewatch #i like it so much that im putting it up individually hehe #word of honor #ghost valley #wen kexing #my thoughts #zhou zishu #gu xiang #meta #shl #word of honor episode 34 #word of honor episode 35

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randomfoggytiger · 9 months

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Mulder's Dichotomy in Three Words

Mulder spends Three Words trying to hide his trauma from Scully, scraping together the only smiles he can manage for her benefit.

It's after the Doggett mention that Mulder springs from adrift to vehemently territorial, catching Scully accidentally in the crossfire (her "Mulder will you listen?" and his "No!" from E.B.E. serving as a definite precursor for this episode.)

Mulder's actions leading up to the finale become a blend of both emotions; but he still whips out a smile or soft glance for his Alien Baby Baby Mama (and his Three Stooges.)

There was even an almost light-hearted, bantery moment about his and Scully's baby (a shade of Empedocles to come):

...until Mulder divined that his old friends wanted to side with Scully's caution over his need to know the Truth (a backslide into his behavior in One Son.) It's only then that he directs some of that anger her way.

When Scully walks back in her apartment later, Mulder knows something is wrong immediately (because he is still paying attention), getting up ASAP when she doesn't respond.

The second and last time Mulder gets sharp with his partner is when she admits to wanting to withhold some information from him (his scolding an ode to Elegy's "Why can't you be honest with me?")

There is no onscreen resolution between himself and Scully that bridges into Empedocles; but we do see Mulder nearly tear up (and duck his head to hide it) as he defends his actions to a roundly chastising Doggett.

It's safe to conclude that after this debacle Mulder had time to reflect and confront what he'd been unable to fight (his PTSD), prompting him to open up and reconnect with Scully.

His PTSD doesn't go away (...right?) but Mulder does attach himself firmly to Scully's side again. And, really, isn't that what it's all about?

Thank you for reading this Bernie Knopp's slideshow~

Enjoy!

#txf #Mulder #Three Words #S8 #screenshots #analysis #mine #PROOF #x-files #xfiles #the xfiles #xf meta #meta #I rest my case Your Honor #E.B.E.#One Son #Empedocles

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wxywardsun · 10 months

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Supernatural truly peaked with its earlier seasons I mean just take a minute to think about it! All the grain,the deep colors,that odd feeling of nostalgia watching the earlier episodes (I get that a lot when I see episodes from the early seasons and I still don’t know how to explain it). It’s just something about the way it always looks like it’s autumn,it’s probably a little chilly out and there’s always some unexpected thing that goes bump in the night. Midwest gothic incarnate and that’s what I love!

#is this just me saying words? yeah…#why can’t it be AUTUMN YET???#boooo summer booooo heat…#give me crunchy leaves and cloudy skies #supernatural should’ve stayed like that the whole time #sure there are moments where the later seasons give off the same feel as s1-5 #but those seasons were the HEIGHT of ‘ooo look at the grain!!! look at the colors!’#that’s why I love purgatory and jacks introduction episode #honorable mentions #Billies introduction + everything about 4x01 + deaths introduction episode #and apocalypse world..I LOVED apocalypse world #dead in the water too #I just love me some grain!!!#supernatural #spn #supernatural appreciation posting #spn meta #(is this meta???? idk…)

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pastelcheckereddreams · 4 months

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Four Seasons Manor (四季山庄): Set Layout, Part Two!

I found it. I finally found the second set. I'm so ridiculously proud of myself 😂 All details will be revealed and broken down shortly, here and in a third part, but first let me recap my Siji Manor drafting progress so far:

If you're stumbling over this post in the wild - hi! I draw architectural drafts of cdrama sets, as accurately to the show as I can. A huge amount of research goes into creating my art, and so far no set location has been as elusive as this one. All of my set design projects start with a lot of research and resource gathering, to ensure that I am drafting the sets as accurately as possible. One element of each of my finished pieces is, as you may know, a birdseye view of the set. I include this to show the spatial relationship of the architectural elements I draft, and to give the fictional location cohesion and comprehensibility as a "lived space," further enriching - I hope - your experience of my art and of the show itself.

This process, however, becomes incredibly complicated to achieve when 1) the set I am trying to draft is split across different film locations, especially if 2) I can't find one of the sets.

At the time of my last post, linked here, I had located the set used for the front courtyard of Siji Manor in Hengdian World Studio's Spring and Autumn Tang Park, (what I have begun to call the "exterior set"), and had ruled out the wider set as locations for the main "interior" set - the inner courtyards of Siji Manor where the majority of the scenes in episodes 24-29 take place.

Well friends, just over a year later, I have confirmed that my suspicions in my very first Siji Manor draft post were, in fact, true. The second shooting location for Siji Manor was inside one of Hengdian's film studios. It was filmed in the "Mansion Scene" set, in Huaxia Shed #2:

My journey to finding this set lead me through two other dramas, and to the discovery that this set was also used for part of the filming of WOH episode 5, in Sanbai Manor. By cross-checking all of these scenes, I've been finally able to identify all relevant buildings and map the main set for Siji:

(First part of an insane, dizzying breakdown under the cut. It's long. It's confusing. Godspeed.)

project list | kofi | prints

I will begin by saying that, although I am confident of this layout as you see it above being Siji Manor, I am not certain that this is the full Mansion Scene in Huaxia Shed #2. This is because my only source for the photos above comes from this article, which also includes three photos I've been unable to place in relation to the above map, despite clearly being from the same area. Moreover, because of the lack of wide camera angles or even full use of this above set in WOH itself, my scale/placement of buildings in relation to each other is still a little off. I've also given myself some artistic license with minor parts of the landscaping. That being said, let me break down this set layout for you, and reveal Siji Manor to you all:

WKX and ZZS's rooms

Buildings 1 and 3 are used as WKX and ZZS's rooms respectively. My confirmation of this fact - and many more to come - comes from the drama Mysterious Lotus Casebook (MLC), in which we see a clearer view of the courtyard between the rooms itself, where the kitchen in WOH resides (labelled 2):

Firstly, how do I know that the kitchen where Chengling has his chicken showdown is outside WKX's room? Because we can see it outside in this screenshot:

And how do we know that this room, WKX's room, is the one on the left side of the screen in the Mysterious Lotus Casebook screenshot? Because that room, belonging to Yun Biqiu, matches the layout of WKX's room:

(Note that WKX's room is used as the Princess's room in episode 1 of WOH, and despite significantly different set dressing/modification, her room - WKX's room - bears the same structural layout as Biqiu's. But you probably just have to trust me on that latter point because they like to move walls and floors in the film studios.)

To verify building 3 as ZZS's room (which is likewise used as Li Xiangyi's from MLC), and to show that you can walk straight through this room from the kitchen (2) courtyard into the formal courtyard (5), I'm going to have to let these door panels do the heavy lifting for me:

Did you follow that? Don't worry, I've mapped the route on a copy of the main birdseye view below. Hang in there!

Formal Courtyard

The snowy screenshot above brings us to what could be considered the "formal" courtyard of this mansion - the QHZ snow scene! It is the fact that this scene occurs with ZZS's room to the right (note those door panels) that makes me headcanon ZZS took up residence in QHZ's room on his return to Siji (and that WKX took Qin-furen's....).

There isn't much to say about this courtyard itself, but enjoy these screenshots from MLC:

Now, did you remember those other door panels? In MLC, Li Xiangyi walks from this courtyard around the side of his old room (again - note the door panels) past a small, private seating area for his/ZZS/QHZ's room - labelled as area 4.

This brings him, and us, along the walkway dividing the kitchen courtyard, and the main courtyard of this set. If you're struggling to follow along (as even I am at this point😵‍💫), this is the route I have taken you on so far:

I'm about to divert you into Sanbai Manor, WOH episode 5, for a look at area 7, and then we will dive into the main area of this Siji Manor set in part three.

So, surprise! This set is also briefly used for Chengling's room in Sanbai Manor. I thought I was crazy for this, but damn it, I was right. Here's a view of his "room" which is actually the side of the main hall (6):

It's at this point that I concede it might have just been easier to start this breakdown with the main courtyard and main hall. Whoops.

Anyway, I hope this first part has been an interesting, if chaotic, read. Let me know your thoughts so far! Have you been able to follow along okay? Do I need to clarify anything? What do you think about the revelation of all these sets colliding? (Particularly if part one and the first set is fresh in your mind.)

As always, if you'd like to support my research madness and help fuel my many artistic endeavors, please consider donating to my kofi or checking out my print shop:

project list | kofi | prints

Now, click through to part three below, where I will take you through the main area of Siji Manor. See you there!

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

#nikkidraws #四季山庄 #山河令 #four seasons manor #word of honor #shan he ling #woh meta #word of honor meta #shl meta #woh set design #shl set design #set design #yeeting these from me now it's taken two days to do both of these posts at the same time 😭

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lesbi-lan · 1 year

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Hot take: Wu Xi and Jing Beiyuan are such an odd couple because they don't really understand eachother (like WenZhou do).

Hotter take: But like? They do? Wu Xi sees through Jing Beiyuan's affectations to his deepest motivations and understands how much he feels bound by duty and circumstance, and even accepts the 'worst' parts of him. While Jing Beiyuan knows exactly who Wu Xi is and later what Wu Xi wants (him) but just doesn’t necessarily approve because of said duty and circumstance. Superficially, yeah there are misunderstandings (planned and unplanned), but they are actually very connected past even all the karmic trappings of "life."

Hottest take: The grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one, but the grumpy one and the sunshine one aren't the ones you think they are.

#qi ye #wu xi #xiyuan #jing beiyuan #priest #like I usually don't meta but I love these two so much #and it's probably time to read qi ye again #I love them your honor #tian ya ke #word of honor

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inaconstantstateofchange · 4 months

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astarion/durge/halsin & hanwenzhou: a manifesto

For @sugarbabywenkexing and @realitycheckbounced, because you asked, and I am more than happy to deliver.

Starting notes: I do not at all like reducing characters to simple archetypes/tropes, so trust that the complexities of the characters and their interactions are implicitly maintained, and this is of course not anything like a 1:1 connection (how could it possibly be), just core themes that stood out to me from both relationship dynamics.

Also, the Durge connection is going to be affected by how you personally conceptualize/play Durge, but I am writing this with a Neutral Resist!Durge in mind, so that's what we're going with for the sake of this meta.

Spoilers for both canons, but especially the Dark Urge backstory.

Durge & Zhou Zishu

[Using my own Durge, Kelis, for the image - incredible art by @somespareserotonin-please]

A cult leader of a murderous organization, with an ocean's worth of blood and evil on their hands, who has broken away from that past but doesn't expect or even pursue anything like forgiveness or true redemption.

These characters are so unique to me because they hold regret for their actions, but not in the traditional "past evil seeks redemption" way that is familiar. They're so much more complex in their motivations, desires, and conceptions of the world than that.

Astarion & Wen Kexing

Steeped in blood and spending the majority of their lives being taught that power is all that matters, and those who have power will only ever use it against those who do not. The only way to get out from under the heel of those above you is to overthrow them, take their position, become worse than they could ever be.

When free from the oppressive darkness they were "raised" in, even for a brief period, they grasp onto it with a bloodthirsty glee.

Halsin & Han Ying

Loyalty and devotion are the very core of these characters, deep-rooted. They feel the weight of responsibility upon their shoulders and they wear it like a mantle. When they make a promise, especially to one they are devoted to, they will see it through, no matter how long it takes, or how much it requires of them.

Relationship Dynamics

Astarion and Durge are to each other, in so many ways, what Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing are in another universe. They find each other at a time when their fates are at a point of divergence, and they find a kindred spirit - a kindred monster - within each other. They make each other better, but they do not make each other morally good.

Durge and Halsin have the capacity for a very similar relationship dynamic to Zhou Zishu and Han Ying. In an ideal situation, Durge is the one who makes it possible for Halsin to make good on his century-old vow to see the Shadow Curse broken. He showcases a great deal of respect for Durge as a leader, and a significant amount of loyalty and adoration for them as well.

Finally, Halsin and Astarion have the potential for a relationship with similarly disparate and flexible conceptions as Wen Kexing and Han Ying. They can be equal partners in truth, bonded first over their shared devotion to Durge, if provided enough time and narrative support to build such a relationship. They can be comrades with a bond of devotion only, not engaged romantically with one another but appreciating the other for their importance to Durge. They can be neutral parties, without true care for one another, but still cordial for the sake of their shared love. These are just three examples of a truly infinite number of variations.

Thank you for coming to my TedxTalk. All six of these idiots are so absurdly important to me. I'd love to hear any thoughts you may have!

#voidling speaks #my meta #meta #hanwenzhou #astarion/durge/halsin #astarion/durge #halsin/durge #halsin #astarion #durge #kelis #bg3 #word of honor #zhou zishu #wen kexing #han ying #halsin/astarion #wenzhou

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arktaisch · 4 months

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Bring on the mutant clones!

So apparently, the way to get a good, 'proper' wuxia drama these days that isn't yet another Jin Yong or Gu Long adaptation is to make a well-constructed fanfiction-style re-imagination of a JY or GL classic. That way it can be simultaneously fresh and familiar. And if the writing, acting, action sequences, etc. are good, it's so much fun and I love it. These past few years, I really enjoyed watching "Word of Honor" and "Mysterious Lotus Casebook", both of which are clear cases of this. (Note: I haven't read the books for WoH or MLC, so this is based on the dramas only.)

"Word of Honor" is obviously heavily inspired by Jin Yong's "Smiling Proud Wanderer" (Xiao Ao Jiang Hu), except redone as a BL/danmei. It even keeps the various orthodox sects from XAJH (the Five Mountains Sword Schools Alliance! plus the Shaolin, Wudang, Beggars, etc.) as part of the setting, features a hunt for a MacGuffin (key to some ultimate power or other), and is full of that flavor of treachery and scheming for power reminiscent of XAJH. It's been a while since I watched WOH, so I've forgotten most of the details, but I remember getting a strong XAJH vibe from it.

"Mysterious Lotus Casebook", which I just finished watching and loved even more than "Word of Honor", has more of the feel of Gu Long's "Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword" (Xiaoli Feidao series, book 1). Come on, the protagonists even have the same surname: Lotus Li (Xiangyi/Lianhua) vs Flying Dagger Li (Xunhuan)!

Both of them can pass as scholarly types (though Gu Long's Mr. "Number Three in the Exams" Li more so) and went from a high status position to retiring from the jianghu for ten years. Both are clever, tricky types who live by their wits.

Both of them pushed their female love interests (and deceived them) onto their 'friend' who actually hated/plotted against them. The protagonist comes off better (as in, I don't want to punch him in the face quite as much) in MLC than in "Sentimental Swordsman" --- he doesn't treat her as his property to be traded away. And in theory the female character had more agency in MLC, though I felt let down by the actor here. I think she was supposed to be more driven by guilt (because she broke up with the male lead right before his supposed death) rather than sadly pining after and still in love with him. It would have worked better if she came off as being genuinely in love with the other character, but on screen it feels like she was just worn down and never liked him that much. So as a 'fix-it' to that aspect of "Sentimental Swordsman"… maybe. In theory.

They both get the "enemy is someone you thought you had good relations with" trope (admittedly a common one in wuxia)…

…While their real friend is called "A-Fei" and is a top-notch swordsman. And both A-Fei's are plagued by a professional seductress (who uses drugs and poisons) who clings to/falls in love with them!

They both meet their number one fans. Dagger Li actually marries his in the end, but in MLC that only happens in the eyes of the real life fans (the subtext is definitely there, though I prefer to read it as platonic bromance). The whole thing is funnier in MLC, with Fang Duobing starting out as a naive doofus who claims to everyone he's a disciple of (supposedly dead) Li Xiangyi, including to the man himself and to A-Fei who knows the truth. Then he feels so betrayed when he finds out the truth, and that was all done really well in the show. Another similarity: the girl in "Sentimental Swordsman" has a kick-ass granddad, while Fang Duobing has his mom (another great character), the leader of Tianji Hall (I love a good mechanism specialist).

There's an actual book in-world that lists the top-ranked martial artists! The MLC one seems to be updated regularly, even. That was also a thing in "Sentimental Swordsman", with characters constantly citing the book at each other, and some were completely obsessed. It's kind of a running joke in both.

Solving all the mysteries (and the tomb raiding!) was reminiscent of Chu Liuxiang, another Gu Long protagonist (my childhood favorite). And for non-wuxia influences, Li Lianhua reminded me of Howl from "Howl's Moving Castle" with the lying and slithering out of situations, not to mention the cool-looking mobile home!

So yeah, instead of trying to get a fresh take on adapting a book that's already been adapted like twenty times and offending the purists if you make too many weird changes, file off the serial numbers and take a few steps to the side for a more interesting and coherent re-mix! And set it in a fictional dynasty so you can use fake historical figures and kingdoms to suit your plot without worrying about slandering real people (while I love Jin Yong's use of actual history, even he ended up changing some characters in later revisions because of that) or how much the characters are allowed to affect things on a bigger scale. Plus you can update and improve on the things that were annoying or outdated in the "classics". You're free to change the meaning of the tale to suit yourself without any need to distort the intentions of the original writer.

That's not to say it's impossible to come up with completely new wuxia stories, but building new variations on old stories is worthwhile, too. And beneath any surface similarities, each version has its own story to tell. That said, ninety percent of everything is crap… so besides these two shows I liked, there were a bunch of ones I didn't, whether an adaptation of an old wuxia classic or something newer. (Some of those may improve in later episodes, but I guess I'll never know…)

Long live the mutant clones!

#wuxia #mysterious lotus casebook #sentimental swordsman #word of honor #meta

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