Untamed: empathy
Jan. 17th, 2020 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandrootSome commenting with Rana crystalized something for me, so have some thoughts on the topic.
Thesis: Wei Wuxian's defining feature is his empathy.
I mean, yes, he's also made of arrogance and capability and a certain exasperation with social mores. But the motivation of his major decisions is always his ability to feel for and feel with another person.
He's not just upset that Jin Zixuan might take Jiang Yanli away from him, but explicitly angry that he's rude to her, that he's hurt her. And, when it's clear that that's still who Jiang Yanli wants, Wei Wuxian gives in and stops protesting.
He's not just being chivalrous or defiant, when he interferes in Wang Lingjiao's attempts to kill or maim Mian-Mian, which seems to be Jiang Cheng's assumption based on the specific protests he makes, and even novel!Lan Wangji's assumption based on his (really bratty) jealousy. Wei Wuxian's attempts to shift the focus of Wen bullying to himself are all about sparing others pain, and hit a peak of 'no fucks left' revolt when the bullying hits a similar peak of pain and danger.
When he hauls off and drags the surviving Wen out of slavery (and into the Burial Mounds, oi), it's not just his sense of justice or his growing inclination to vengeance that drives him. Or, perhaps more accurately, Wei Wuxian's sense of justice grows out of his awareness of other people's suffering and his visceral sense of this as human pain that needs to be relieved. (Honestly, it's no wonder he and Wen Qing make such good partners in crime.) Similarly, his inclination to vengeance is still shaped by an urge to prevention more than simple rage. Witness his retribution, in that event, which is to let those tortured to death rise and seek out their tormentors rather than just erase the whole Jin contingent.
You can see the same thing in the way he lets Nie Huaisang go, in the end, rather than try to execute some abstract justice for his plotting.
Xue Yang, who is clearly established with a background of privation parallel to Wei Wuxian's, is equally explicitly framed as his opposite precisely by his utter lack of empathy. (Many lives could never compensate for one finger, because it was his finger but other people's lives.)
Novel-side, when Wei Wuxian first emerges from the Burial Mounds, the narrative describes him as now seeking companionship from and giving his sympathetic attention to his revenants. Even drowning in revenge and the energy of resentment, it's still his nature to build that kind of relationship.
I would even argue that the almost literal murder he lets Jiang Cheng get away with isn't just out of guilt--rather it's an extension of a long-standing pattern in which he sees Jiang Cheng's insecurity and pain, and consistently tries to ameliorate it, never throwing their competitions but always making it clear that he's on Jiang Cheng's side and will support him.
And really, that's what I like most about Wei Wuxian's character, even more than his snarky sense of humor or the whole wrestling-with-cosmic-power thing. He can fuck up sometimes, yes, but in the end every step he takes is rooted in empathy. That's what makes him shine, to me. About the only time that ever fails is when it should, perhaps, be directed at himself, hence his novel-side obliviousness to Lan Wangji's world-ending crush.
Thesis: Wei Wuxian's defining feature is his empathy.
I mean, yes, he's also made of arrogance and capability and a certain exasperation with social mores. But the motivation of his major decisions is always his ability to feel for and feel with another person.
He's not just upset that Jin Zixuan might take Jiang Yanli away from him, but explicitly angry that he's rude to her, that he's hurt her. And, when it's clear that that's still who Jiang Yanli wants, Wei Wuxian gives in and stops protesting.
He's not just being chivalrous or defiant, when he interferes in Wang Lingjiao's attempts to kill or maim Mian-Mian, which seems to be Jiang Cheng's assumption based on the specific protests he makes, and even novel!Lan Wangji's assumption based on his (really bratty) jealousy. Wei Wuxian's attempts to shift the focus of Wen bullying to himself are all about sparing others pain, and hit a peak of 'no fucks left' revolt when the bullying hits a similar peak of pain and danger.
When he hauls off and drags the surviving Wen out of slavery (and into the Burial Mounds, oi), it's not just his sense of justice or his growing inclination to vengeance that drives him. Or, perhaps more accurately, Wei Wuxian's sense of justice grows out of his awareness of other people's suffering and his visceral sense of this as human pain that needs to be relieved. (Honestly, it's no wonder he and Wen Qing make such good partners in crime.) Similarly, his inclination to vengeance is still shaped by an urge to prevention more than simple rage. Witness his retribution, in that event, which is to let those tortured to death rise and seek out their tormentors rather than just erase the whole Jin contingent.
You can see the same thing in the way he lets Nie Huaisang go, in the end, rather than try to execute some abstract justice for his plotting.
Xue Yang, who is clearly established with a background of privation parallel to Wei Wuxian's, is equally explicitly framed as his opposite precisely by his utter lack of empathy. (Many lives could never compensate for one finger, because it was his finger but other people's lives.)
Novel-side, when Wei Wuxian first emerges from the Burial Mounds, the narrative describes him as now seeking companionship from and giving his sympathetic attention to his revenants. Even drowning in revenge and the energy of resentment, it's still his nature to build that kind of relationship.
I would even argue that the almost literal murder he lets Jiang Cheng get away with isn't just out of guilt--rather it's an extension of a long-standing pattern in which he sees Jiang Cheng's insecurity and pain, and consistently tries to ameliorate it, never throwing their competitions but always making it clear that he's on Jiang Cheng's side and will support him.
And really, that's what I like most about Wei Wuxian's character, even more than his snarky sense of humor or the whole wrestling-with-cosmic-power thing. He can fuck up sometimes, yes, but in the end every step he takes is rooted in empathy. That's what makes him shine, to me. About the only time that ever fails is when it should, perhaps, be directed at himself, hence his novel-side obliviousness to Lan Wangji's world-ending crush.
