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Thoughts on Characters & Events-SPOILERS!

Didi

Hi everyone!  I am obsessed with this show, and wanted to start a thread on reactions to characters and events.  I wanted to begin with Concubine Lin because I thought she was such an interesting character (really all the characters were).  She was an antagonist, but I have this respect for her ability.  She raised herself up from nothing by carefully looking for someone whom she could manipulate, and she rode the wave until she achieved her goal--her daughter was married into a prestigious noble family.  I have mixed feelings about her because she couldn't afford dignity--not while being a concubine--and she only had herself to rely on.  Ming Lan, as a foil to her and her daughter, is an anomaly in terms of being able to achieve her status.  

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Meep

The thing is, she didn't actually raise herself from nothing. Grandma was the one who took her into the fold and that's how she got to meet Sheng Hong and how to manipulate him. And while Grandma probably did look down on her a bit, she was going to marry her off to a respectable family iirc. 

Other than that I agree with you, she was pretty good at manipulating Sheng Hong and the main wife, and knew exactly what buttons to push. She did luck out though, because Sheng Hong and the main wife were kind of stupid. As Lady Wang later said, if Concubine Lin had been in her household she would have died a long time ago. 

She also spelled her daughters doom, because her daughter never learned the limitations of her mother's tricks. Her mother should have been way clearer on the fact that her strategies only worked due to her circumstances. But she probably didnt realise that at the end either, since she believed she could have taken over the Sheng Estate easily had it not been for Grandma (and granted, she was probably not wrong). 

I think Concubine Lin was like the entry level manipulator and Stepmom Qin was the endboss manipulator, because she was the one who really showed how you can manipulate *everyone*. 

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Didi

I agree with you that Concubine Lin was def. an entry level manipulator.  You were right: she did her research, was clever, and raised her status.  But I disagree: I think she comes from nothing because she has no one to rely on but herself.  There is no family backing her.  

I thought you made an interesting point when you said she spelled her daughters doom.  This show has a lot of thematic elements that are consistent, and one has been the concern about marrying above you: Rulan stated she wanted to marry below herself so that she had power; her eldest sister married above herself and is harassed.  Hence the father wanted Mo'er to marry someone who was more compatible with her social status, and was a good person.  Unfortunately, Concubine Lin's end game speaks to her arrogance and over confidence: she was never really punished, so  of course she would have the confidence to pull off such a scheme, she even said so: the father knew about Concubine Wei he just ignored it.  This is also played out in Gu Ting Ye's story line--stepmom spoiled him because she wanted him to make mistakes.  What do you think?

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Meep

You make a good point when you say she had no family to back her up, as this show showed, having a family to go back to and to back you up is one of the most important avenues for a woman to ensure she is not completely at the mercy of the family she marries into. MingLan's mom coming from an empoverished family being one of the tragic early examples of what can happen when you have no backing.

On the other hand, I think that if Concubine Lin had not married Sheng Hong as a concubine, Grandma would have kept supporting her. Just like I think MingLan will always look after her former servant girls (if Danju is ever in need, MingLan will definitely help her. Xiaotao married the cutest puffball Shitou, who will probably take after his master in the important ways and there wont be any concubines in their household either xD). This is just a guess of course but if I recall correctly, Grandma did say that she particularly liked Concubine Lin before she pulled the Sheng Hong seduction stint.

And granted, from Concubine Lin's perspective seducing Sheng Hong was hitting the jackpot. She got to live as the most powerful concubine for probably almost 20 years and had it not been for MingLan wanting revenge in the end I think Sheng Hong would have even forgiven her for the MoLan incident. 

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sofi1993

thanks for the thread I've been obsessed with the show too about concubine Lin, I could sum up her strength in two big points:
1 her ability to come up with ideas, solution, plans and save herself when she is in very bad situations/hits rock bottom.
ex: - she was able to become a successful concubine, and make many comebacks even after her family gets destroyed/loses everything - when her husband got imprisoned in the castle she didn't lose time and went to make money to save herself.

this point becomes  clearer if we compare her with the main wife who get's triggered easily, and loses herself/goes into a rage episode or a meltdown at every small inconvenience, she couldn't control herself / think of solutions, she mostly just cried and whined.

2 the second point  is the fact that she was shameless and morally bankrupt, she was ready to do anything and go to any length to achieve her big plan) ex: killing ming lan's  mom,making her daughter seduce /sleep with the count's son 

I wasn't really a big fan of hers and didn't find her admirable, I thought she was a pretty average manipulator  ,overconfident and arrogant for the level of her skills. her plans worked mainly because her husband "loved" her / she knew how to play him (using his mom's story).


her blind trust in her husband's love and loyalty (she thought he would never give her up), her arrogance and her devotion to make her big plan (marrying molan to the count's son) a success no matter what, is what caused her downfall.

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