Untamed Rewatch 16-20

[branchandroot]

Lots of parallelism in this set of episodes.

There’s the eye-donation thing between Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan, after the recipient lashes out at the donator in pain and loss, see also Jiang Cheng kicking Wei Wuxian in /the/ sorest spot.

One that won’t play out for some time, but is /painfully/ evident on rewatch is when Wen Qing says to Jiang Cheng that he can protect her, but can he protect her family and clan? Which he implicitly answers ‘no’ by not answering, and which Wei Wuxian later answers ‘hell yes’ by acting.

I also find it fascinating that the spirits of the Burial Mounds (and possibly also of the yin metal) offer/demand revenge to Wei Wuxian. That’s clearly (especially given what he does to the Wens) the way he channels all of their power to control it as much as he does. And that’s /also/ pretty much where Lan Wangji is at, striding through the Wens and strangling them as he goes. I mean, dude, when Jiang Cheng wants you to maybe dial it back a bit so they can question people first, you know you’re in heavy Vengeance mode. And for all that Wei Wuxian apparently carries an overwhelmingly dark aura with him like an extra cloak, these days, /he/ did spare Wen Qing, and he's suddenly got a very similar /posture/ to Lan Wangji, all straight shoulders and hand folded behind his back. They still balance and parallel each other in so many ways.

And however freaked out Lan Wangji is by Wei Wuxian’s new groove, he comes down shielding him, with his /back/ to Wei Wuxian.

It’s also notable that while Wei Wuxian manages to deflect Jiang Cheng pretty well from where he’s been and what happened, Lan Wangji reasons out promptly what path he’s using and Wei Wuxian spots that he’s knows it. He tries to keep some distance. When that doesn’t work, he tries a joking deflection. When that doesn’t work either, he slides straight into straight-up defiance and refusal of Lan’s ways/rules, but I also notice that he’s parting glance is not nearly as hard or angry as he’s been acting. So I’m reading that as yet another way to distance someone for his own good, and yet... not just that. Because Wei Wuxian /is/ riding the tide of revenge, and it clearly /is/ affecting him.

Jiang Yanli seems to be the only one he doesn’t completely keep face in front of.

Comments

[libitina]

I would love to talk more about the vengeance voices in the resentful energy. And also why on earth you hear Lan Zhan's, "Wei Ying" there. The only logic I can come up with for it being there is in his memory as an anchor, but it really doesn't play that way on screen. But with your vengeance Lan Wangji point, maybe his feelings are strong enough that he's leaking resentful energy that can head over to the burial mounds? That doesn't seem right. How? Why? What?

[branchandroot]

maybe his feelings are strong enough that he's leaking resentful energy that can head over to the burial mounds?

Oooooo, yes! I actually quite like this possibility. Especially because the mantra of WWX's name being the one thing that's running through LWJ's head tickles my "yay, angst!" inclination. I've always thought 'resentment' is a shorthand translation that loses a lot. In a lot of ways, that original concept seems to encompass grief/rage/loss/lack-of-fulfillment as well as straight-up malice and fury in the grecian sense. And boy howdy would grief/loss/rage describe LWJ, if he thinks WWX was killed.

[libitina]

Hah! And that idea was also on your journal.

(Making a doc to pull thoughts together)