Xiang Liu and You (Yes, You)

Sep 23, 2023 01:28 am

AH :
but more because they like the ending that XL arranged, including his sacrifices (which are a huge part of what makes him compelling as a character IMO)

Sure, his sacrifices are a big part of the appeal, but ehhh...no, I still think he's more appealing alive, you know. Sorry my boy, I love you too much.

AH :
By definition I guess we'd all be people who are okay with XY ending up with TSJ

Erm. No. Hahahahahaha

insideout91

Sep 23, 2023 01:33 am

nathsketch:
Sure, his sacrifices are a big part of the appeal, but ehhh...no, I still think he's more appealing alive, you know. Sorry my boy, I love you too much.
Erm. No. Hahahahahaha

Why he need do this sacrifices if no one will appreciate it ever(((

I understand @AH from storytelling side, buuuuuut we here want him happy and alive ! travel somewhere with Chubby)) his life already was too hard, why all other characters got their HE except him(

nathsketch VIP

Sep 23, 2023 01:35 am

ErickaRamirez:
Yes, that’s kind of racist

Totally, yes.

nathsketch VIP

Sep 23, 2023 01:37 am

insideout91:
his life already was too hard, why all other characters got their HE except him(

Yes, precisely this. The others did their part okay, but he did SO much, and then boom, dead in that horrible way. No, siree. I grew up on a healthy diet of fairy tales, so this is just too much for me lol

Sep 23, 2023 01:51 am

ErickaRamirez:
Can you believe that some people had told my daughter that she has an accent when she was born here 16 years ago ????

Sometimes kids just aren't very smart about these things ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

When I was little other kids didn't believe I was from my birth country because I *didn't* have an accent. I left before I was even two!

And when I moved to another country in middle school plenty of kids made fun of the leader of the country I moved from... no matter how many times I explained that I also didn't like him. I couldn't vote for him anyway, but if I could, I wouldn't have.

Most of those kids figure these things out eventually. The ones who don't aren't worth knowing. No need to spare them a second thought.

nathsketch VIP

Sep 23, 2023 01:56 am

AH :
Sometimes kids just aren't very smart about these things ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
When I was little other kids didn't believe I was from my birth country because I *didn't* have an accent. I left before I was even two!
And when I moved to another country in middle school plenty of kids made fun of the leader of the country I moved from... no matter how many times I explained that I also didn't like him. I couldn't vote for him anyway, but if I could, I wouldn't have.
Most of those kids figure these things out eventually. The ones who don't aren't worth knowing. No need to spare them a second thought.

Yes, but it's a pity that these kids usually are the way they are because of their parents. No child is born with these prejudices, so that says a lot about the world we live in :(

CEMS2001

Sep 23, 2023 01:57 am

AH :
Sometimes kids just aren't very smart about these things ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
When I was little other kids didn't believe I was from my birth country because I *didn't* have an accent. I left before I was even two!
And when I moved to another country in middle school plenty of kids made fun of the leader of the country I moved from... no matter how many times I explained that I also didn't like him. I couldn't vote for him anyway, but if I could, I wouldn't have.
Most of those kids figure these things out eventually. The ones who don't aren't worth knowing. No need to spare them a second thought.

Totally agree . And sometimes kids can be pretty mean with their words

Kokuto

Sep 23, 2023 02:00 am

nathsketch:

There's Kokuto, but she's been on Copium for so long that she doesn't even know what she likes anymore ?

LOL! Copium abuse might be true.

But, I KNOW what I like. MORE SCREEN TIME!!! Laying there crying over XY and bleeding for ten minutes? Okay, I'll take it.

Sep 23, 2023 02:01 am

nathsketch:
Sure, his sacrifices are a big part of the appeal, but ehhh...no, I still think he's more appealing alive, you know. Sorry my boy, I love you too much.

Every sacrifice and hidden moment of selflessness made me love him 10x more. For me, he'd be a different character without them.

nathsketch:
Erm. No. Hahahahahaha

Lol, don't worry nathsketch. Somehow I already had an inkling that you weren't in that camp.

insideout91:
Why he need do this sacrifices if no one will appreciate it ever(((

Because he wanted to. That's the heartbreaking beauty of it.

And I'd say there were people who appreciated the sacrifices he made to the extent that they were aware of them. I'm sure Gong Gong appreciated his sacrifices on the battlefield and his unending loyalty. TSJ openly says he's grateful for XL. XY wasn't aware of most of his sacrifices, but at the very least she definitely knew how he treated her during those 37 years in the clam shell and for the 10+ years that he taught her archery. Ah Nian and Sir Bi know about him saving XY a second time, and the Royal Mother and Sir Bi know about XL breaking the bug connection. We do have a few proxies who can appreciate parts of the things he does. But only the readers get the whole picture.

insideout91

Sep 23, 2023 02:16 am

AH :
Because he wanted to. That's the heartbreaking beauty of it.

I agree with it! its just death not HE or good end for me in any universe((

AH :
XY wasn't aware of most of his sacrifices, but at the very least she definitely knew how he treated her during those 37 years in the clam shell and for the 10+ years that he taught her archery.

not remind me that ungrateful XY, who forget about 37 years after 5 min ??

nathsketch VIP

Sep 23, 2023 02:48 am

I found this very interesting comment on Reddit, and it really hit hard especially the last sentence:

"It's a painful admission as well as rejection. I think up until she was revealed to be the Haoling Princess, XL dared to hope that he had found a partner -- in fact, the casting call sheet for his character said “He had no expectations for the future until he encountered her, who had a childhood experience similar to his own. He gradually developed feelings for her, longing for a future together, only to wake up from the dream when he discovered her true identity"

But when XY basically admitted that she can't let herself fall for him and that he's not the type that a woman should fall for -- I think the first statement shut the door on him even considering courting her and the second statement was the final nail hammered to keep that door shut because I think he took it as "I could never fall for a demon" although I think she meant it as you're the kind of person that once I love you it will be too deeply and no going back.

I don't like talking about their relationship because for me personally it's very triggering. Not the physical stuff he did to her/ordered done to her in the beginning that a lot of people can't seem to get over, but all the heavy painful emotional stuff between them that is unspoken...and the message the writer seems to be sending that someone broken and abused and enslaved his entire existence doesn't deserve to be loved."

No one really talks about the overall moral of the story. And it seems to me that it just perpetuates this idea that the "different" ones deserve to be abused, to be vilified, and finally, to be denied a happy ending. We see this in countless novels, from Hans Christian Andersen to Victor Hugo. Same with all the traditional monster stories.

This is just one more example of this message. It doesn't matter if the "monster" does all those good things that only we the readers can witness. From the moment the story established that he is this violent creature that is feared by everyone, the writing was on the wall and it was never supposed to end well for him, despite all the growth and character development. I remember one commenter (BunnyFreak if I'm not mistaken) said that demons should be hunted and killed in every drama they appear in because humans hate them and that's the way it should always be. I had to read it twice to make sure such nonsense had really been written.

Anyway, the author claims that he's her favorite character and I don't doubt that, but she still refuses to break this cycle of continued abuse he's been subjected to his entire life. She gives him this semblance of self-determination by making clear to us that no matter how tragic people may perceive his ending to be, it's something that he chose for himself, as a sort of consolation for the readers. Well, of course, he could never choose anything other than that, because he himself doesn't think he deserves anything more than just dying gloriously on the battlefield.

I dislike this kind of message with a passion. I hate to see people thinking they are not worthy of a better life, that they shouldn't dare to wish for more, and instead just resign themselves to a certain fate, thinking that the world would be better off without them. If we were talking about real life, we can see this with people who struggle with addiction, or with a variety of mental disorders and other illnesses that usually make them the outcasts of society. There's nothing selfless in thinking you don't deserve more.