I got permission from the commenter to share it to this page because I thought it was a really well thought out post analyzing Mingi Yi and Ji Bo Zais character as well as comparing and contrasting them.
I’ve added the link to the commenters’s profile
Jibozai and Mingyi are byproducts of the different extremes of trauma response in correlation to the psychological and behavioral development from their past. This is a case of trust vs mistrust. Trust being ji bozai and mistrust being mingyi.
Here's my not so little take on this. Please take it as a grain of salt. This is also hugely generalized based on opinion.
MING YI/ MING XIAN:
Let's start first with Mingyi. My baby gurllllll. From the moment she was born, she was a tool for the empire's pride and the empress' schemes. I woud not say any spoilers, but if you've read the novel, you'd know. Her lifeline was to be useful, or else sufffer, worse, rot to die. Now this usually in context with people who have deepseated loyalty towards a predator, Wherein they are blindsided by their faith to the point where they couldn't comprehend whether its good or bad for them.
Mingyi, being told to repress all her being and be excellent at everything, has really impacted her views on life, this, ultimately trickled down to her character as person. In this case, she isn't so sure of herself, let alone have the backbone to confront her inner demons. It doesn't also help when she wants acknowledgement from her empress mother. She (empress) was her (MY) lifeline and her compass. Her words are like the heavens mandate to her. Lets also not forget how many schemes had she survived outside of her emperial family.
Now onto her mistrust on Ji Bo Zai, I would say, she ultimately feels so trusted, and loved, and cared for. He has given her trust, and she doesn't know how to reciprocate it. Now its easy to say: 'then just tell him the truth!!!!' but its not always easy.
She is incapable of trusting people aside from the empress (and her familiar 27), and even then, she also has a bit of mistrust towards her mother (the empress)and almsoet everybody. She is a walking contradiction and because of that, this is where the lying starts. She doesn't know where or whom to confide her secrets. On the other hand, she fully submits to the empress, but she can't really open up to the empress or else she loses her usefulness. MY also could not open up with JBZ as she doesn't know how, and even then, she also couldn't trust on anyone even when they've given them so many evidences of love and trust.
Now lets get to my man, my baby, my hubby, Ji Bo Zai. He suffered so much from the moment he was born, and was betrayed a hundred or a thousand times already. Having to suffer physical, mental and emotional abuse, on top of that, he was poisoned by the Heavenly Grief, he, at that time has learned to succumb to dying young.
Ji Bo Zai, also, from the day he was born, was established as a tool. But the thing about him is that he has grown to have hope. He hopes to escape from the wretched life he has and avenge his plight as well as others that suffered in that kind of situation. He understands that this is not what it should be and that he should not be in that kind situation.
That is why he learned to understand that betrayal and trust are up for him to decide. That is the power he holds. He knows what he wants and he can decide what is wrong and what is right. He had strong mental capacity and capabilities, which ultimately shaped his character. He learned who trust and who to distrust.
He then found a leeway for escape and ultimately met his life savior, his master Bo Yu Lan. Now, you might think this is the same as ming yi, right, JBZ has found someone, somewhat of a mother figure to him. Another thing is that, why did JBZ learned how to trust his master and MY couldn't even trust JBZ.
This is because JBZ had learned to pave his own way. He is capable of trust because he understand that human nature are molded from their situation. Not to mention, he has also experienced genuine help. The time when his escape was arm reach, he met his master, which tried her very best to heal him. This could be a mend or bend situation, and I think if his master is twisted, he could also become one. But who cares, right? He has someone he could rely on, and the one who gave him geniune kindness.
That is why Ji Bo Zai is loyal, kind, and capable of trust, because he knows himself and he had the capability to scrutinize peoples character. That is why he learned how to trust Mingyi because despite her contradictory words, her actions seemed to be genuine and true.
Now lets compare and contrast, shall we?
With all of these traits, who do you think is more vulnerable?
Gosh, they suffered so much! I don't want to invalidate them. However their trauma response is not the same. To put it in a perspective: Ming yi is like a puppet, where as ji bozai is a pet. You wanna know why?
Puppet, by definition, is a movable model of a person or animal and is typically moved either by strings controlled from above or by a hand inside it. I'll put emphasis on the strings. She is attached to a person, which controls her everybeing. By far the most telling example is like living with a tiger mom and an unreliable environment. Every word your mom said should be right, or else suffer from the consequence of angering her. Your moves are limited and you only have one goal: to make her proud so that she will stand high in a PTA meeting, or every gathering she is invited to. Not to mention, that if you open up to someone, one way pr another you're always in the wrong, and your reputation will be muddied. So you, as a child, your consciousness lies on the fact that you shouldn't and couldn't control your life. You life for your mom, you are your moms alter ego. You as well should not let everyone know you, or else you'll be used. This is what Mingyi is. Why should you trust others when you can't even see a good thing about you? (yes, trauma dumping at its finesttttt).
Ji Bo Zai is a pet. He is your puppy, your kitty, your baby. Even if he is not yours, he is a live, breathing animal. He bites when he doesn't like what your doing to him, can be aggressive or extremely loyal. He can whine and fus about not getting much attention, or he can rip your arm up because you're not good to him. He also knows how to let you submit to his decision and you can never know when he's manipulative or not. In simple terms, he has his own conciousness. Pets are known to be extremely loyal, however its up to how the behaviour and effort of their fur parents (I refuse to use the term owners) or other peoples kindness. Plus they can sense your friendly, too!
Overall, I am not really eloquent with words but I hope this helps you understand more about them. I am very much overstimulated by LITC and I want this drama to end as its not good for my mental health. Bad thing is its just a drama I'll be watching for just a month, however I'm writing shit at 1 am up until 5 am, and this shit aint good because I've put my studying on hold for this. Midterms is on monday, and I've still got lots of materials to study. Either way, I need a break.
Just a short thought-I don't know if this drama is more tilted towards female audience or not( to me it seems…
The subgenre of Xianxia dramas is primarily geared towards female audiences which is why it is so heavy on the romance. I think Fangs of Fortune was maybe the first drama that was not.
I loved when Destiny bring the demon because it was just so refreshing lol
That’s OK everybody’s taste are different. I loved it. I’ve re-watched it several times and I think it’s honestly one of my favourite dramas this year, along with moonlight mystique
Ming Yi has suffered so much emotional manipulation and is told she is only worth anything if she can provide/meet…
This is why I absolutely hated love and redemption lol. I remember the time people were going on and on and on about how great it was and I tried to watch it initially couldn’t get past the first episode or two and then went back and tried to watch it again. I wouldn’t necessarily my intention was hooked, but it was like once I got into it I couldn’t stop watching it, even though I felt like it was watching a train wreck I couldn’t look away from. The constant misunderstandings and miscommunication drove me fat shit crazy lol.
i don't understand why it's such a bad thing to forgive her? forgiving is good why are we trying to say otherwise?
Here is the thing it’s like when something happens and you react in the heat of the moment and then later on you have time to think about it and you’re like OK maybe I shouldn’t reacted that way and you calm down which I think he did. In the preview and I know previous can be misleading. All you see is her entering his spirit well she picks it up, transforms it and then she’s like thinking about how she failed him. Then it cuts to him interrupting her so we never actually see if she’s going to take it or not, I mean obviously her drugging him might be a good indication, but she still could’ve changed her mind if he had not interrupted her. He gets upset and tells her that she’s just like everyone else before attacking her in which she has to defend herself, although I can’t remember if she attacked him first I don’t think so but I could be wrong lol he then says that he never wants to see her again so she leaves. So maybe after like his initial reaction he thought about it and thought maybe she wouldn’t actually do it. I don’t know. I actually don’t like it when they take too long for to not acknowledge her feelings so I’m OK with him for giving her easily but I was just explaining that maybe some people aren’t.
i don't understand why it's such a bad thing to forgive her? forgiving is good why are we trying to say otherwise?
The difficult thing is people think that he should take more time to forgive her because of the amount of times she’s lied to him and the betrayal he feels. I don’t think he’s necessarily forgiven her yet, you can not forgive someone and still care about them and what happens to them
Ming Yi has suffered so much emotional manipulation and is told she is only worth anything if she can provide/meet…
Highly recommend watching when destiny brings the demon there’s literally no misunderstanding. The characters have good communication pretty much from the beginning. When there is a problem like when the mail lead forces, the female need to do something one time. (forces her to kill someone.) in his world is somebody bullies you it’s tit for tat so or I for an eye so it’s like if they bully you or try to kill you you shouldn’t show remorse and try to kill them lol. So after obviously she’s extremely upset and she tell him that she needs space which he gives her. He acknowledges that he shouldn’t of made her do that and he’ll never do it again and guess what he doesn’t lol
Ming Yi has suffered so much emotional manipulation and is told she is only worth anything if she can provide/meet…
I think the thing is though is that it’s actually not been that long from what I understand because I know other comments have said it’s only been like a month maybe a bit longer. So that’s actually not very long at all.
Ming Yi has suffered so much emotional manipulation and is told she is only worth anything if she can provide/meet…
But that’s because they did a good job of showing the suffering the mailing went through, but not necessarily showing the suffering, the female lead went through. Maybe I’m just sensitive because well I’ve been reading tons of books spoilers, but I didn’t necessarily need to know her background to read between the lines and understand that you don’t grow up into someone who is so distrustful and guarded, who lies easily unless you’re like a psycho unless you’ve had an extremely traumatic and difficult childhood. The thing is like people are like this in real life sure now we have therapy where you can get counselling to overcome that stuff, but they don’t have these professions in these realms or whatever.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CDrama/s/gG0tE5c9uT
I got permission from the commenter to share it to this page because I thought it was a really well thought out post analyzing Mingi Yi and Ji Bo Zais character as well as comparing and contrasting them.
I’ve added the link to the commenters’s profile
https://www.reddit.com/u/golden_joie/s/yQmVSzuTQ5
Jibozai and Mingyi are byproducts of the different extremes of trauma response in correlation to the psychological and behavioral development from their past. This is a case of trust vs mistrust. Trust being ji bozai and mistrust being mingyi.
Here's my not so little take on this. Please take it as a grain of salt. This is also hugely generalized based on opinion.
MING YI/ MING XIAN:
Let's start first with Mingyi. My baby gurllllll. From the moment she was born, she was a tool for the empire's pride and the empress' schemes. I woud not say any spoilers, but if you've read the novel, you'd know. Her lifeline was to be useful, or else sufffer, worse, rot to die. Now this usually in context with people who have deepseated loyalty towards a predator, Wherein they are blindsided by their faith to the point where they couldn't comprehend whether its good or bad for them.
Mingyi, being told to repress all her being and be excellent at everything, has really impacted her views on life, this, ultimately trickled down to her character as person. In this case, she isn't so sure of herself, let alone have the backbone to confront her inner demons. It doesn't also help when she wants acknowledgement from her empress mother. She (empress) was her (MY) lifeline and her compass. Her words are like the heavens mandate to her. Lets also not forget how many schemes had she survived outside of her emperial family.
Now onto her mistrust on Ji Bo Zai, I would say, she ultimately feels so trusted, and loved, and cared for. He has given her trust, and she doesn't know how to reciprocate it. Now its easy to say: 'then just tell him the truth!!!!' but its not always easy.
She is incapable of trusting people aside from the empress (and her familiar 27), and even then, she also has a bit of mistrust towards her mother (the empress)and almsoet everybody. She is a walking contradiction and because of that, this is where the lying starts. She doesn't know where or whom to confide her secrets. On the other hand, she fully submits to the empress, but she can't really open up to the empress or else she loses her usefulness. MY also could not open up with JBZ as she doesn't know how, and even then, she also couldn't trust on anyone even when they've given them so many evidences of love and trust.
Ultimately, I think MY would learn how to let loose if she realizes that her entire being is not about being useful. It's frustrating to wait, however, it takes a lot of effort to breakthrough from the trauma. As cliché as it may sound, she is a glass, unfixable as she is, but she needs to know that she still shines even when broken. My baby gurl needs to be on hermit mode and therapy. She deserve peace and self reconciliation
Ji Bo Zai
Now lets get to my man, my baby, my hubby, Ji Bo Zai. He suffered so much from the moment he was born, and was betrayed a hundred or a thousand times already. Having to suffer physical, mental and emotional abuse, on top of that, he was poisoned by the Heavenly Grief, he, at that time has learned to succumb to dying young.
Ji Bo Zai, also, from the day he was born, was established as a tool. But the thing about him is that he has grown to have hope. He hopes to escape from the wretched life he has and avenge his plight as well as others that suffered in that kind of situation. He understands that this is not what it should be and that he should not be in that kind situation.
That is why he learned to understand that betrayal and trust are up for him to decide. That is the power he holds. He knows what he wants and he can decide what is wrong and what is right. He had strong mental capacity and capabilities, which ultimately shaped his character. He learned who trust and who to distrust.
He then found a leeway for escape and ultimately met his life savior, his master Bo Yu Lan. Now, you might think this is the same as ming yi, right, JBZ has found someone, somewhat of a mother figure to him. Another thing is that, why did JBZ learned how to trust his master and MY couldn't even trust JBZ.
This is because JBZ had learned to pave his own way. He is capable of trust because he understand that human nature are molded from their situation. Not to mention, he has also experienced genuine help. The time when his escape was arm reach, he met his master, which tried her very best to heal him. This could be a mend or bend situation, and I think if his master is twisted, he could also become one. But who cares, right? He has someone he could rely on, and the one who gave him geniune kindness.
That is why Ji Bo Zai is loyal, kind, and capable of trust, because he knows himself and he had the capability to scrutinize peoples character. That is why he learned how to trust Mingyi because despite her contradictory words, her actions seemed to be genuine and true.
Now lets compare and contrast, shall we?
With all of these traits, who do you think is more vulnerable?
Gosh, they suffered so much! I don't want to invalidate them. However their trauma response is not the same. To put it in a perspective: Ming yi is like a puppet, where as ji bozai is a pet. You wanna know why?
Puppet, by definition, is a movable model of a person or animal and is typically moved either by strings controlled from above or by a hand inside it. I'll put emphasis on the strings. She is attached to a person, which controls her everybeing. By far the most telling example is like living with a tiger mom and an unreliable environment. Every word your mom said should be right, or else suffer from the consequence of angering her. Your moves are limited and you only have one goal: to make her proud so that she will stand high in a PTA meeting, or every gathering she is invited to. Not to mention, that if you open up to someone, one way pr another you're always in the wrong, and your reputation will be muddied. So you, as a child, your consciousness lies on the fact that you shouldn't and couldn't control your life. You life for your mom, you are your moms alter ego. You as well should not let everyone know you, or else you'll be used. This is what Mingyi is. Why should you trust others when you can't even see a good thing about you? (yes, trauma dumping at its finesttttt).
Ji Bo Zai is a pet. He is your puppy, your kitty, your baby. Even if he is not yours, he is a live, breathing animal. He bites when he doesn't like what your doing to him, can be aggressive or extremely loyal. He can whine and fus about not getting much attention, or he can rip your arm up because you're not good to him. He also knows how to let you submit to his decision and you can never know when he's manipulative or not. In simple terms, he has his own conciousness. Pets are known to be extremely loyal, however its up to how the behaviour and effort of their fur parents (I refuse to use the term owners) or other peoples kindness. Plus they can sense your friendly, too!
Overall, I am not really eloquent with words but I hope this helps you understand more about them. I am very much overstimulated by LITC and I want this drama to end as its not good for my mental health. Bad thing is its just a drama I'll be watching for just a month, however I'm writing shit at 1 am up until 5 am, and this shit aint good because I've put my studying on hold for this. Midterms is on monday, and I've still got lots of materials to study. Either way, I need a break.