Trojan-witch - Trojan-Witch

Hello! While I know this point must have already been talked about a lot in the fandom but since I have only recently read tgcf, I don't know much. I came across threads on where people talked about Hua Cheng being obsessive and toxic, with his existence being centered around Xie Lian and hence not having a grounding personality and life of his own + the scene of Ten Thousand Gods Cave.

Since I have been reading your metas, I was curious about your thoughts on this? Thank you!

Sure thing! Apologies for the slow response, this whole thing with my back has been really disrupting everything I want to accomplish. Now, I think that Hua Cheng is obsessive in a way that could easily become toxic, but calling him obsessive+toxic relies on only a shallow reading of the character and limiting yourself to the point where he is at the very start of the story, ignoring all the character/relationship development that happens over the course of a very long book.

Now, when it comes to the flashback books? Hua Cheng can have a little obsession, as a treat. I’m not going to say that the way he feels back then is any kind of basis for a healthy adult relationship, but Hua Cheng is approximately ages 10-17 over the course of book 2, and isn’t much “older” after his death as the ghost fire and as Wuming in book 4. He’s not relating to Xie Lian in a way that’s going to lead to a relationship of equals at that point, but he’s also a kid who’s worshiping a god who saved his life at a young age, twice, and who comforted and reassured him when their kingdom’s guoshi told him that he was doomed to bring misfortune to everyone in his life. All of their interactions in book 2 are extremely good reasons for why Hua Cheng would idolize him and obsess over him in that way, and I’m not going to fault him for any of it.

Now, I would say that the end of book 4 illustrates how badly that kind of idolization can go better than anything set in the present day, but it’s telling that this is also the point where Xie Lian abruptly realizes how much he doesn’t want to be Like This, and hauls his life around. Even eight hundred years later, he’s more ashamed to speak of this part of his life than anything else. He’s way more willing to laugh at his own pain and suffering than he is to even mention a time where he was cold and controlling with someone who offered themself to him.

SO. In the present, Xie Lian has a very good reason to know that he does not want to take advantage of someone else’s offered devotion. It’s an old memory, but when we see how much he doesn’t want to talk about it, it’s clear that it made an impression. If the direction of this book was only up to Hua Cheng? He’s already made it abundantly clear that he’s willing to sacrifice his everything, including his sense of self, if Xie Lian asks, but Xie Lian has confirmed very strongly to himself that this is not what Xie Lian wants.

And Xie Lian is walking a very fine emotional line in a lot of ways that he himself isn’t even fully aware of, but the early development in the book has this really interesting balance in the dynamic between him and Hua Cheng. He’s happy to rely on Hua Cheng for advice and help, but he’s also completely willing to worry for him (when he jumps into the sinner’s pit) and to gently scold him (when he jumps into the sinner’s pit). Hua Cheng worries about what will happen if Xie Lian finds out who he really is, but Xie Lian pretty much confirms it to himself, and when Hua Cheng is finally anxious enough to ask about it, Xie Lian’s main reaction is ‘isn’t the important thing that I like you as a person?’

If Hua Cheng was left to his own devices, he’d obsess over Xie Lian in a way that let himself suborn his entire identity to whatever Xie Lian wants from him, but Xie Lian has been so horribly lonely for so long, and even before a relationship enters the picture, what Xie Lian wants is a friend. And Xie Lian, on his own, is determined not to let himself take advantage of a person the way he took advantage of Wuming. And no matter how much Hua Cheng wants to submit himself to Xie Lian, what’s more important to him is what Xie Lian wants. The meta that’s been doing good circulation that I bet you saw was about how Hua Cheng developed his own independent sense of self over the last eight hundred years, no matter what he’d originally wanted, but as he gets to know Xie Lian in the present, Xie Lian makes it clear that Xie Lian likes who he became. 

Hua Cheng does still definitely take the position that ‘whatever Xie Lian wants is more important than what I want’, and that could go badly in so many ways, but from the very beginning, Xie Lian is firmly, firmly expressing, ‘I like who you are and I want to be friends.’ Xie Lian doesn’t scold Hua Cheng for being a dick to Fu Yao and Nan Feng, or for breaking heavenly artifacts, even one that used to be one of his own treasured possessions. He scolds Hua Cheng because ‘you jumped down into that pit and I was afraid you would be hurt.’ He doesn’t try to sand off Hua Cheng’s sharp edges or change him, and isn’t willing to sit back and relax as Hua Cheng puts himself in harm’s way. He doesn’t give Hua Cheng room to make himself a less-than, and (probably unintentionally) positively reinforces Hua Cheng when he lets bits of his own true personality show through. One of the reasons I love this book so much is because that relationship could have so easily turned toxic and controlling, but the main pair like each other so much that they manage to pull through into a healthy, balanced relationship.

It’s not a perfect relationship, because perfect relationships are boring and unrealistic, and there’s no tension in a story if two characters are perfectly in step. But by the end of the story, this is a more perfect relationship than I’d ever expected to be invested in, because they’re so in sync, haha. 

I think the moments that show the ways it’s not obsessive in a toxic way best come through in the times when Hua Cheng has some sort of grudge against a person that Xie Lian genuinely cares for. It starts with the shitty teens in the Banyue arc, but even near the story end, Mei Nianqing is Xie Lian’s old beloved teacher, and is also the person who told Hua Cheng ‘wow! you’re destined to fuck over everyone who ever gets close to you’ when Hua Cheng was just a little kid. It’s clear that Xie Lian likes and respects him a lot, and Hua Cheng feels not at all compelled to play nice. He’s happy to continue being nasty as hell to Feng Xin and Mu Qing, who are Xie Lian’s next two closest friends. He’s not even willing to be nice to E’Ming even as 1) Xie Lian pampers it, and 2) E’Ming is literally a part of himself. 

And he doesn’t hide this at all. He’s willing to act in ways not at all aligned with Xie Lian’s own opinions, especially as time goes on and Xie Lian doesn’t correct him. He’s willing to act against Xie Lian’s wishes in order to protect him (taking back his spiritual energy in the black water arc, overexerting himself to the point of dissipation at the climax), and it becomes more clear as the story progresses that he’s a person who wants only the best for Xie Lian, but who exists independently from Xie Lian, and isn’t willing to completely defer to Xie Lian’s desires or to override Xie Lian’s desires for what he thinks is best. To me, this relationship is primarily defined by how much the two of them like each other, and especially early on, I could see it easily tipping in an unhealthy direction, but it feels like most of the later relationship development specifically exists to undermine that particular flavor of toxic dynamic, and what we end up with is a very sweet, very balanced relationship. Hua Cheng’s willingness to submit himself to what Xie Lian wants is overridden by Xie Lian’s desire that Hua Cheng be himself, because that’s the person who Xie Lian loves.

My headcanons on what was going on in karma's brain when they decided who was gonna go to the space station:

"no way i'm letting y'all launch me into the fucking space like-"

( "ssshit i forgot i have i crush on him")

("ok get a hold of yourself karma akabane you're not that weak, he may have a cute smile but- nonono DON'T-")

("god dammit!")

@whirlybirdwhat I knew that there was a reason I was so terrified of the fucked up Jungle-God-Island-Bone-Deer in your East Sea of Monsters AU

HAPPY BIRTHDAY XIE LIAN!! 2022

This is too good to not reblog

Justin and Griffin McElroy vs Stregobor

(for @the-winter-witcher and @anais-ninja-bitch who again tumblr won’t let me tag)

Belos stop making DIY clones challenge

Why Microaggressions Hurt Artist: Alli Kirkham (x)

I read chapter 1 and 2 and have many thoughts about Victor's childhood and personality. Sorry for the long post.

First of all, he's first five years of life were privileged and self-centered. At the time he was a only child pampered be his rich parents, never knowing hardship. Through the chapters, he talks about how his parents were never strict, how they were nice, good people, etc.

This brings up, again, the facts that he never experienced real consequences for his actions, don't know how the real world works - believing that in the end everything always work out if you try hard enough - and see everything through the egocentric lens that he can never be wrong, everyone else just can't see his brilliance.

We can see this with his initial pursuit of knowledge about the Natural Sciences. He became interested in alchemy and don't believe his father about the lack veracity in this studies. He persists in this journey to the elixir of eternal life, seeking fame, but never stops to reflect what this discovery could mean to the world in its practical application.

He just stops when after receiving irrevocable proof that his scientific branch is wrong. This first disappointment's already too much to his ego, and instead of just correcting himself, he completely abandons the Natural Sciences as if it personally insulted him and his world view.

You can also see Victor's egocentrism from how, even though we learn he has a younger brother, he never tell us his brother's name and he never features in his stories of childhood. This brothers existence challenge his belief of being the center of his family, the center of his everything, so, therefore, is discarded.

We could talk, also, about how his relationship and thoughts about Elizabeth differ from his relationship and thoughts about his brother. He don't see Elizabeth as his own person, or even as family, not really. Ever since his mother presented her as "a gift" to him, that's how he views Elizabeth. She is but a extension of Victor, how he sees her is just a reflection of how he sees himself She's, like him, perfect in everyway and, as his present, every compliment she receives is a compliment to him, his "owner". Because that's what we do with objects that belong to us, if someone says: "I like your bracelet" the correct responde would be "thanks", because this person isn't really complimenting the bracelet, but its owner.

I'm stopping here, thanks for reading.

Centaurworld was a lot of fun, so decided to draw my favs 👀👀👀

What’s great about Luffy’s brand of Chaos is that his decisions usually do make sense coming from his perspective and values. But the downside is that sometimes long-term viewers become so ingrained in that viewpoint that they lose sight of how bizarre Luffy’s thinking really is from the outside.

Like this dude really just said “I’m gonna catch a bunch of wild animals and make them look like me and release them all at once on a fancy tea party.”