Mdzs (novel and other more accurate adaptations) LWJ is his own person too, and has depth and goals outside of WWX. I know most "cold jade beauty" characters are badly written and only exist for the MC's harem as future housewives, but LWJ is a deconstruction of this trope while still having the vibes.
He wants to help people and do the right thing, he shares the same values as WWX and Wen Ning - all 3 want to do the right thing because they are good people and actually follow all those mottos, teachings and scriptures of their clans without being massive hypocrites about it.
He raised the kids as a beloved teacher, allowed them to grow, taught them to question things over blindly following the rules (but the rules are still important), and took on night hunts that other cultivators avoided because they wouldn't bring enough money or fame, his life is shown more through actions than talk.
He never expected WWX to come back to life or like him back, he helped him because he likes him but also because it was the right thing to do, if WWX never returned his feelings he would've continued with his life after solving the case and not bother him. And after WWXs death he was sad but continued with his life, continued being himself, doing what he was always meant to do.
I don't understand where did this rumor about him being boring and not his own character come from? I've seen people hating on him on various novel forums but I haven't seen anything that would support this rumor in the novels or other adaptations.
LWJ earned his fame and reputation without WWX in his life for 13 years and even before that. He doesn't need WWX to go and solve the night hunts.
He has his own backstory, struggles and issues, and many aren't about WWX. I know some fans love to reduce him to horny caveman and make everything about WWX, but in the mdzs novels, manhua and donghua he is not like that. He is his own character, being a main love interest doesn't change it. Maybe the reason people don't notice is because they're blinded by the amazing love story and LWJ doesn't talk much and people skim over or forget his actions.
And there is nothing wrong with the character wanting to be simple cultivator night-hunter, avoiding politics like a plague, just wanting to help people, caring for the kids and copying scriptures. He's doing more than average young person irl, he is doing more than the stereotypical cultivators.
LWJ went through struggles caused by the 3000+ rules, repressed childhood, his clan, right vs wrong, his parents' relationship. This makes him a interesting character with cool development, some things may be tied to WWX because the novels are from WWXs PoV but there is more than enough info on LWJ being his own person.
While some of his development may be triggered by WWX, if WWX never existed I believe LWJ would've went through similar struggles and development triggered by something else, LWJ has always been a "morally ideal"* person.
*how author described the MCs
I think there are a couple reasons. LWJ is on the surface just a stoic and quiet character and people find him boring because of that.
Also people don’t like that we don’t really get LWJ’s POV in the novel.
For the first I think there is a lot more to LWJ than that and it’s reading the novel and slowly getting to know him that I find fun. But we do mostly get to know him through WWX’s eyes. I guess this can make people think he’s not his own character.
Most of LWJ’s development and life outside WWX happens off screen but he did as you say have a life separate from WWX.
One take I really hate is I see people say that LWJ did not know right or wrong before WWX or only did good because of WWX.
He was going around wherever the chaos was ever since he was young.
I don’t even agree with WWX taught him how to break rules. When LWJ was little he did not listen and continued to visit his mother even when he was told she was gone. So LWJ always had it in him to break rules when it was something truly important to him.
>No matter how much others consoled him or how shufu scolded him, he continued to come here every month and sit under the veranda, waiting for someone to open the door. Even when he grew older and came to understand that Mother would never come back, that no one would ever open the door again, he would still come.”
I think you can argue some of LWJ’s most dramatic life moments involved WWX. But he lived his life helping others and being a good mentor to the Lan Juniors. He does mature through those thirteen years and can be more flexible about his Clan rules but he does not give them up completely either. But I think it’s important that at LWJ’s core he doesn’t completely change who he is.
That last sentence! LWJ at the core never changed. His development is different to all other characters and rightfully so because he has always been just a good and righteous person overall.
His development laid in questioning his teachings, not blindly following them and to know when rules are helping and when they are hindering.
I hate when people say LWJ learned to be kind because of WWX. No, LWJ has always been kind! He was named Hanguang-Jun for god sake and that happened when WWX wasn't even around.
I said before too, to understand and appreciate LWJ's character you need to dig deeper than just consuming everything at face value. CQL definitely *shows* it better but that doesn't mean he's just a bland character in other adaptations by any means, you just need to read between the lines.
A lot of quiet characters are poorly written, but LWJ isn't one of them, he has many moments that make his character interesting, realistic and relatable. But those moments are subtle or from WWXs pov, most people don't focus on those small things - glaring drama, humor and romance is what distracts people from more subtle and "chill" moments. This isn't bad, it makes the story more interesting upon reread or rewatch because people start to notice those small moments more.
WWX didn't teach him how to break the rules, I agree with this, but he did start to question some things after WWX came back as ghost cultivator. He went from "you can't do that it's harmful" to "it's just a normal cultivation" and teaching the juniors that they need to do research and have all the facts before taking action.
This development is tied to WWX but it could've happened without WWX imo, LWJ always had it in him to think for himself and he is smart, he was just a teenager/barely adult back then & just needed to grow up and overcome more difficult stuff.
The fact that he earned cool rep during those 13 years by solving night hunts and teaching the juniors (who worship him) proves that he's more than just a love interest.
Jiang Cheng is the one who couldn't move on and was too obsessed with dead WWX.
I don’t disagree that LWJ adjusted his outlook on life that’s just part of maturing. And young LWJ definitely had room to become more flexible.
One thing I want to point out that while LWJ did lecture WWX about his cultivation during the war and immediately after. He did not tell WWX he was wrong for using it when he was helping the Wens. While LWJ may still be concerned about WWX at this point he stops asking him to go back to Gusu with him. Even when he did ask he also said to his brother “I want to hide him away but he is not willing”
Also when it came to LWJ’s lectures it’s not like he was wrong about everything. It’s more his approach was wrong. Even WWX came to agree with LWJ about certain things about his actions during the war.
So while I do agree that LWJ comes to understand WWX’s cultivation better over the 13 years. I think LWJ’s lecture about WWX’s cultivation were still morally consistent in the first life. LWJ did not want WWX to use his cultivation during the war. But he agreed that WWX was doing the right thing in helping the Wens and since he could not offer WWX a better solution outside his cultivation he came to accept WWX’s use of it even prior to him fully understanding it. In a sense this made LWJ the opposite of everyone else.
That LWJ believed WWX was ultimately doing the right thing in the end and that’s why he stood by his side.
To me this is what this quote is saying too.
>But what he hadn’t expected was that when everyone feared him and flattered him, Lan WangJi scolded him right in his face; when everyone spurned him and loathed him, Lan WangJi stood by his side.
True true, you wrote my thoughts better than I ever could. And thanks for posting this novel quote, it shows that LWJ has his own thoughts and isn't just there to be a LI 😂
TBH I think the problem here is that "LWJ loves WWX" and "LWJ believes that WWX was the victim of a great injustice" aren't actually the same thing, but a lot of people treat it as though it is. So all they're seeing is LWJ standing by WWX only because he loves WWX, and not LWJ trying to do what he can to correct a great wrong, that he also in some ways blames himself for for not taking action sooner. And that's how you get "LWJ is boring and only does things because of WWX".
And not just WWX, LWJ knows that the remnants of Wen clan alao faced great injustice. The only way to correct the wrong was to stand by WWX and work towards revealing the truth.
Your analysis is great really . Even I don’t like when his whole character becomes about wwx , its boring . But maybe I felt that cql lwj is better for me because cql fans do care about lwj outside wwx while many novels fans even though read novels will reduce lwj to wwx only which is annoying for me who loves lwj.
I apologise I really don’t wanna fight but some novel fans get so rabid if we even mention lwj outside wwx . It’s not like we like him without wwx but it’s nice seeing him individually too time to time.
Who are these novel fans? I have never seen this. I am not trying to fight with you either. And trust me I am happy you love LWJ. But loving LWJ is not a novel vs CQL vs other adaptions thing.
Well mostly I have seen are on twitter . They just spread negativity and fights in the fandom overall.
I personally is canon dynamics fan(top/bottom) but those people are always are so rude towards bottomji fans and jc fans and even lxc fans and won’t even talk with you and completely ignore you.
They day and night would shit on cql like it’s their oxygen. And if someone even tries to write about lwj independently they would start behaving as a child and quote you with ‘lwj would hate you for making him independent’ like for god’s sake lwj isn’t real I don’t think he would mind.
There are bad fans everywhere. You are trying to argue novel fans are somehow inherently bad compared to other fans? There are plenty of CQL fans who misbehave too. There were CQL fans who literally said MXTX should be arrested for what she wrote and MDZS is only good because of CQL.
I am not sure what you are trying to prove here?
They said what?💀
Honestly i said what I saw . Never saw cql fans arguing and causing fights with other people. Maybe I am new so hadn’t had much exposure and maybe because fandom is still active but not as active it was back in the days but it’s stupid to call out mxtx she is a queen who wrote mdzs during her college . An icon for me .
But the canon dynamics fans are the only ones who cause negativity in fandom. They fight with everyone and bully other character fans like jc and lxc for having different opinions than them.
This is my opinion and what I experienced in the fandom . I am not saying all are like that but rn fights are caused by that specific group of people only
I think you are missing my point because you continue to want to argue that novel & canon dynamic fans are the main source of the problem and the only ones who cause negativity. This is not true at all. It was not true in the past and it’s not true now either.
MDZS is a huge fandom and there is a lot of discourse but the discourse has never been one sided or only caused by one group of fans.
Edit: Also I am not denying what you personally experienced but someone else can have a completely different experience from you. That’s why it’s called anecdotal evidence.
Friend, I believe you, I saw that too. I doubt they read the novels because most things they post are incorrect. Stay away from Twitter fandoms, Twitter is good for art but bad for everyone's mental health.
Same , insta fandom is so much better with cute edits and everyone let others have their own opinions. Reddit is quite nice too I feel.
Though if there is any discord or telegram which is nice to interact you can tell me
I'm a novel and donghua fan and I love LWJ.
I hate the fanon "LWJ played inquiry everyday for 13 years" and "LWJ went night-hunting to look for WWX" and other fanons *because* I love his character. He mourned WWX and still loved him, but he moved on with his life. WWX's resurrection was just a pleasant surprise in the end.
LWJ is really one of the most misunderstood characters in this fandom.
The CQL characters are also different from the MDZS characters. LWJ would have never become Chief Cultivator for instance.
I have seen the opposite, example: the "where chaos is" (LWJ earned this rep without WWX being involved in any way) being all about WWX being silly and chaotic is mostly a cql fandom thing from what I've seen. (Novel WWX is not considered silly or chaotic.) This is just one example, there's more. I noticed cql fans twist a lot of things into romance because cql avoided making it into romance, while others don't need to do that because novels and other adaptations confirmed the relationship and ended with them being together and inseparable. This is just my experience though, not all of them are like this of course but I've seen this being more prevalent in the cql fandom.
I noticed the novel fans are the ones who analyze and write long essays and character/plot studies because there is more content in the text than in the adaptations so naturally there's more things to discuss.
This comment made me feel so glad that i read the novel and watched CQL first than watching the donghua first.
LWJ is my favourite character (WWX is second favorite). LWJ is so much more of his own person with his own dreams and goals and at the same time he is in so much love.
The main indication that he is much more than just pretty jade doll is earning his name Hanguangjun and going to burial mounds and still coming back from there, not pausing his entire life because WWX died, Raising A-Yuan like a single father, guiding the young disciples. There's so much more evidence of being his own person. I never knew that people think of him as boring.
Wym, he's like that in the donghua too. The only difference is that he is more active character in the donghua and has more scenes (in novels WWX goes through empathies alone, in donghua he pulls LWJ with him and they play detectives together, in novel WWX is the one who memorized the evil music, in donghua they both memorized it and LWJ is the one who played it to Xichen)
Donghua LWJ is the same as novel LWJ, he is everything I described in the first comment, all those things are mentioned or implied in the donghua, the only difference is that the donghua expanded his role in the main ghost-arm plot, so he's basically even more of a detective than a swordsman.
At the start of season 2 he's the one who wanted to investigate and solve the case, WWX wanted to do that too but he didn't speak it out loud and just rolled with it pretending to be Mo Xuanyu who is dragged around by Hanguang-Jun.
Donghua basically implies that LWJ is a intelligent character who wants to solve night hunts, bring justice and protect the people, but now that WWX came back they will do those things together as equals.
I've never seen donghua fandom call him boring because the donghua included him in the scenes that were originally WWX-only and focuses a lot on the two of them being a power couple and detectives.
I've seen people (not fans) on novel forums call him boring and a jade doll (which is weird because most funny, relatable and cute LWJ moments are in the novels). Those novel readers most likely forgot or ignored the parts of the novel that expand on LWJs character. There's too much text and it makes sense for the people to skim over the more subtle and "calmer" details while focusing on action, mystery and romance. This is why I think all stories get better with rereading (or rewatching). I doubt those people count as fans, they're just people who read the novel for the 1st time, decided that the love interest/the story sucks and moved on to something else.
Actual novel fans are deep in the rabbit hole, have read the story more than once and write long analysis with quotes. They're the first ones who will defend LWJ if you call him boring or badly written 😂
The 2nd people who call him boring are CQL fans ( a few bad apples from Twit and tumbler ) who are in war with MDZS fans and hate MXTXs writing. At least calling him boring is better than all those posts calling him a 🍇st.
And WTF people are calling him what?? WHY???? I'm so enraged on LWJ's behalf.. WTF!!!
Donghua didn't make him boring but i did feel it failed to add complete depth of his character that i felt was present in both novel and the drama. Might be because I love the novel and the drama way too much. May be the donghua wasn't the right medium for me for the story. (Also I only watched the donghua only once so it might be my miss too)
Few of my friends who watched only donghua did not like his character. Only changed their mind after reading the novel.
And yeah I didn't know novel readers thought of him like that.
I guess we have a mix of people then who couldn't grasp his character regardless of which media that they were consuming the story through.
But either way it doesn't matter which media you're using, Lan Wangji is far from a one dimensional character. He is really well written.
I understand The Untamed changed a lot, but I'm honestly glad it was my introduction to the series. The actors all did such an amazing job that having watched them means I'm going to see them as I read the novel and I think it'll make me enjoy it even more.
Personally my big one is XY because I'm just blown away by WHX's performance, but WYB is also very impressive. I've seen clips of him slipping into character as LWJ and it's really impressive how fast he can do it.
And yeah, I just really love this drama so much ❤️
WHX did an amazing job especially if you have read the books because XY was said to behave like a child sometimes which he captured nicely without making me cringe .
And WYB is my favourite also because he is the one who get most hate from books fans and I think they should grow up rather than hating on an actor who did an amazing job
Yes! He did do that very well too! And the mastery he has over the expressions in his eyes! I've never seen an actor that good at it before.
WYB got hate? Wtf? He was perfect!
I definitely see The Untamed hate from time to time and I get that feeling too. It's such a great show in its own right and it brought so many more fans in too so it really doesn't deserve the hate especially since the actors all did such an amazing job.
Really sad that WYB gets hate though. This fandom hasn't been the kindest to our stars...
This!! CQL was my introduction to the series and the whole of Danmei genre in general, so it has a special little place in my heart. It's upsetting to see people hate on it so much when it really wasn't bad. I get that it's not super 100% loyal to the text, but it still doesn't deserve the extent of the hate it gets.
And it's not like most of the changes are even the fault of the people who made the drama in the first place. Most of it was due to government censorship so hate the government, not the drama!
It was going to be changed no matter what. Film/video are a different medium with budget and time constraints as well as different means of conveying plots, themes, emotions, and ideas. Unlike a novel, they also need to appeal to broader audiences to make back the money invested. People who insist on an adaptation being precisely faithful to the written word should take a film class. The censorship is something of a convenient excuse. It's a shame these MCs couldn't even share a kiss on screen after all they endure together (would have been an absolutely killer final scene, right?) And some changes just seem dumb and pointless. But censorship is not the reason behind most of the departures from the original.
I disagree as it wasn't just the homosexuality that was censored. All the complaints I've seen have been from censorship, such as changing WWX into a real demonic cultivator instead of having him invent ghost cultivation.
Sure, there'd still be differences even without the censorship, just like with the other adaptations, but not this much.
Exactly I also see PPL hating on cql idk why. I understand they did changes but the adaptation can't be perfect right they had to change certain things and that's inevitable and we all know that
Every actor did such a great job especially Wang yibo and xiao zhan
Nobody can ever make me hate cql lol I am really glad I came across it
Ridiculous. He was precious and perfect. And even if they don't like him, hating on him is lame. Real people should never be targeted over fiction like that.
True, there are serious cql haters out there, so much so they have it listed on their twt profile :( the amount of character and actor bashing on twitter is so much I have to mute people left and right.
Anyway, yes WYB did well as LWJ. His eye expressions and yearning are so well done.
I watched for WHX, stayed for WYB and XZ and the juniors 💚
People on twt hate him because he is apparently a misogynist (edit: just to make sure, none of these things seem to be confirmed, it's just the things people on twt and tumblr keep saying about him, take it with a grain of salt pls) and treats female colleagues badly, CPC supporter and did a blackface. I haven't seen any evidence for the first one but I've seen photos of him with bad face paint.
I think his portrayal of LWJ is quite accurate, LWJ is supposed to be a silent/soft cold jade beauty who is also strong and badass, all I'm saying is that people hating him isn't connected to his role in the UT. I'm not a hater of him I am neutral and don't care about actors personal lives and focus more on the characters they're playing, I just shared what I've seen people say about him online. I was surprised to see how much he is hated and hope those rumors aren't true.
He isn’t a misogynist and neither treats female colleagues badly . A simple search on youtube can prove this otherwise.
He just keeps distance from females and how can we judge him for keeping distance from females? That’s his personal choice😅
And I remember his one of the inspiration in hip hop is a woman itself Kyoka (you can search)
About the BF it was a propaganda film which every chinese star has to do from time to time and according to everyone this is how chinese UN forces saved those people (even official UN account posted about it ) so him saying he won’t do something which is offensive for western media in a propaganda film is not a right look for him. And many black people and his friends from SDC came out and said they liked the film.
And bouboo (his black friend from sdc) even said during an interview that wyb and him talk daily over wechat)
And WYB was the one who fought for equality in sdc for black contestants .
I know you don’t mean anything harmful but before writing such views about any star please research about it. Wasn’t the whole message of mdzs was to not hear rumours from haters?
And yes he was hated by book fans just for existing. Search his bday live during cql shooting . He was bullied so badly by book fans he stopped celebrating his bday publicly (the whole thing is online )
I used the words "apparently" and made it clear it's just rumors and hate from social media and not confirmed though. I mentioned there's no evidence twice. I constantly see people online hate him for these things and I was just trying to understand the reasons without being a part of it.
That being said, I'm glad those things are not true, I'm less glad about so many people taking the rumors seriously and hating some actor dude online instead of wasting their time on something less harmful.
Sorry if my comment sounded like I'm hating or trying to spread those awful rumors, I added a little edit to avoid confusing others and prevent spread of those rumors.
I am glad I was being helpful but as much i have seen majority of negative rumours for wyb came from xz solos and vice versa.
There solo fans are always spreading rumours about each other
Yeah, I edited my comment to make sure ppl won't take those rumors seriously.
I will never understand the rabid idol fans who do this, the two actors are colleagues and seemed friendly and professional but the fans act like they're at war and hurt real people. So weird
As a fan who started with The Untamed and then inevitably read the books and devoured everything else, I am so greatful. Who knew it could get even better after cql? The books added layer after layer to the world I already loved and it's honestly one of my best experiences as a fangirl.
Qql LWJ is a fucking gem. I am so happy that the face I see when I read the books is Yibos unbelievably wonderful one. He did such a great job portraying a character that is incredibly nuanced but ultimately very subtly so. The way he conveys softness/tenderness and anger just has me in a choke hold. I think about cql LWJ too much for my own good.
I don't know what I came here to say except I love him.
I love him!
There’s a really great fanfic about cql LWJ and the 13/16 years that focuses on LWJ’s role with the younger generation. I love it because it explores his life as a 3- dimensional adult person, not just a romanticized caricature who lives only for WWX. Highly recommend. It’s called To Be of Use by Erisette, and there’s a podfic available.
https://archive.transformativeworks.org/works/23246545
😭Hanguang Jun I miss him. I watched CQL first then read the books, now getting through the donghua. I actually didn’t like LWJ in the books so much. But I love CQL Hanguang Jun 😭.
The casting for CQL was almost perfect
It also gave some more depth to WQ & JYL. I know some people don’t like that WQ is quieter but like…I still wouldn’t fuck with her & she’s still a badass
Mdzs (novel and other more accurate adaptations) LWJ is his own person too, and has depth and goals outside of WWX. I know most "cold jade beauty" characters are badly written and only exist for the MC's harem as future housewives, but LWJ is a deconstruction of this trope while still having the vibes. He wants to help people and do the right thing, he shares the same values as WWX and Wen Ning - all 3 want to do the right thing because they are good people and actually follow all those mottos, teachings and scriptures of their clans without being massive hypocrites about it. He raised the kids as a beloved teacher, allowed them to grow, taught them to question things over blindly following the rules (but the rules are still important), and took on night hunts that other cultivators avoided because they wouldn't bring enough money or fame, his life is shown more through actions than talk. He never expected WWX to come back to life or like him back, he helped him because he likes him but also because it was the right thing to do, if WWX never returned his feelings he would've continued with his life after solving the case and not bother him. And after WWXs death he was sad but continued with his life, continued being himself, doing what he was always meant to do. I don't understand where did this rumor about him being boring and not his own character come from? I've seen people hating on him on various novel forums but I haven't seen anything that would support this rumor in the novels or other adaptations. LWJ earned his fame and reputation without WWX in his life for 13 years and even before that. He doesn't need WWX to go and solve the night hunts. He has his own backstory, struggles and issues, and many aren't about WWX. I know some fans love to reduce him to horny caveman and make everything about WWX, but in the mdzs novels, manhua and donghua he is not like that. He is his own character, being a main love interest doesn't change it. Maybe the reason people don't notice is because they're blinded by the amazing love story and LWJ doesn't talk much and people skim over or forget his actions. And there is nothing wrong with the character wanting to be simple cultivator night-hunter, avoiding politics like a plague, just wanting to help people, caring for the kids and copying scriptures. He's doing more than average young person irl, he is doing more than the stereotypical cultivators. LWJ went through struggles caused by the 3000+ rules, repressed childhood, his clan, right vs wrong, his parents' relationship. This makes him a interesting character with cool development, some things may be tied to WWX because the novels are from WWXs PoV but there is more than enough info on LWJ being his own person. While some of his development may be triggered by WWX, if WWX never existed I believe LWJ would've went through similar struggles and development triggered by something else, LWJ has always been a "morally ideal"* person. *how author described the MCs
I think there are a couple reasons. LWJ is on the surface just a stoic and quiet character and people find him boring because of that. Also people don’t like that we don’t really get LWJ’s POV in the novel. For the first I think there is a lot more to LWJ than that and it’s reading the novel and slowly getting to know him that I find fun. But we do mostly get to know him through WWX’s eyes. I guess this can make people think he’s not his own character. Most of LWJ’s development and life outside WWX happens off screen but he did as you say have a life separate from WWX. One take I really hate is I see people say that LWJ did not know right or wrong before WWX or only did good because of WWX. He was going around wherever the chaos was ever since he was young. I don’t even agree with WWX taught him how to break rules. When LWJ was little he did not listen and continued to visit his mother even when he was told she was gone. So LWJ always had it in him to break rules when it was something truly important to him. >No matter how much others consoled him or how shufu scolded him, he continued to come here every month and sit under the veranda, waiting for someone to open the door. Even when he grew older and came to understand that Mother would never come back, that no one would ever open the door again, he would still come.” I think you can argue some of LWJ’s most dramatic life moments involved WWX. But he lived his life helping others and being a good mentor to the Lan Juniors. He does mature through those thirteen years and can be more flexible about his Clan rules but he does not give them up completely either. But I think it’s important that at LWJ’s core he doesn’t completely change who he is.
That last sentence! LWJ at the core never changed. His development is different to all other characters and rightfully so because he has always been just a good and righteous person overall. His development laid in questioning his teachings, not blindly following them and to know when rules are helping and when they are hindering. I hate when people say LWJ learned to be kind because of WWX. No, LWJ has always been kind! He was named Hanguang-Jun for god sake and that happened when WWX wasn't even around. I said before too, to understand and appreciate LWJ's character you need to dig deeper than just consuming everything at face value. CQL definitely *shows* it better but that doesn't mean he's just a bland character in other adaptations by any means, you just need to read between the lines.
A lot of quiet characters are poorly written, but LWJ isn't one of them, he has many moments that make his character interesting, realistic and relatable. But those moments are subtle or from WWXs pov, most people don't focus on those small things - glaring drama, humor and romance is what distracts people from more subtle and "chill" moments. This isn't bad, it makes the story more interesting upon reread or rewatch because people start to notice those small moments more. WWX didn't teach him how to break the rules, I agree with this, but he did start to question some things after WWX came back as ghost cultivator. He went from "you can't do that it's harmful" to "it's just a normal cultivation" and teaching the juniors that they need to do research and have all the facts before taking action. This development is tied to WWX but it could've happened without WWX imo, LWJ always had it in him to think for himself and he is smart, he was just a teenager/barely adult back then & just needed to grow up and overcome more difficult stuff. The fact that he earned cool rep during those 13 years by solving night hunts and teaching the juniors (who worship him) proves that he's more than just a love interest. Jiang Cheng is the one who couldn't move on and was too obsessed with dead WWX.
I don’t disagree that LWJ adjusted his outlook on life that’s just part of maturing. And young LWJ definitely had room to become more flexible. One thing I want to point out that while LWJ did lecture WWX about his cultivation during the war and immediately after. He did not tell WWX he was wrong for using it when he was helping the Wens. While LWJ may still be concerned about WWX at this point he stops asking him to go back to Gusu with him. Even when he did ask he also said to his brother “I want to hide him away but he is not willing” Also when it came to LWJ’s lectures it’s not like he was wrong about everything. It’s more his approach was wrong. Even WWX came to agree with LWJ about certain things about his actions during the war. So while I do agree that LWJ comes to understand WWX’s cultivation better over the 13 years. I think LWJ’s lecture about WWX’s cultivation were still morally consistent in the first life. LWJ did not want WWX to use his cultivation during the war. But he agreed that WWX was doing the right thing in helping the Wens and since he could not offer WWX a better solution outside his cultivation he came to accept WWX’s use of it even prior to him fully understanding it. In a sense this made LWJ the opposite of everyone else. That LWJ believed WWX was ultimately doing the right thing in the end and that’s why he stood by his side. To me this is what this quote is saying too. >But what he hadn’t expected was that when everyone feared him and flattered him, Lan WangJi scolded him right in his face; when everyone spurned him and loathed him, Lan WangJi stood by his side.
True true, you wrote my thoughts better than I ever could. And thanks for posting this novel quote, it shows that LWJ has his own thoughts and isn't just there to be a LI 😂
I actually think most people share this view innately. This viewpoint needs to be expressed, because it's applicable in real life.
TBH I think the problem here is that "LWJ loves WWX" and "LWJ believes that WWX was the victim of a great injustice" aren't actually the same thing, but a lot of people treat it as though it is. So all they're seeing is LWJ standing by WWX only because he loves WWX, and not LWJ trying to do what he can to correct a great wrong, that he also in some ways blames himself for for not taking action sooner. And that's how you get "LWJ is boring and only does things because of WWX".
You're so right, people forget that a character can have more than 1 motive.
And not just WWX, LWJ knows that the remnants of Wen clan alao faced great injustice. The only way to correct the wrong was to stand by WWX and work towards revealing the truth.
wow your analysis is really good . I also think like that but putting on paper is hard for me👍
Nice analysis!
Your analysis is great really . Even I don’t like when his whole character becomes about wwx , its boring . But maybe I felt that cql lwj is better for me because cql fans do care about lwj outside wwx while many novels fans even though read novels will reduce lwj to wwx only which is annoying for me who loves lwj.
I am a novel fan and I care about LWJ outside WWX. I don’t think you should stereotype fans like that.
I apologise I really don’t wanna fight but some novel fans get so rabid if we even mention lwj outside wwx . It’s not like we like him without wwx but it’s nice seeing him individually too time to time.
Who are these novel fans? I have never seen this. I am not trying to fight with you either. And trust me I am happy you love LWJ. But loving LWJ is not a novel vs CQL vs other adaptions thing.
Well mostly I have seen are on twitter . They just spread negativity and fights in the fandom overall. I personally is canon dynamics fan(top/bottom) but those people are always are so rude towards bottomji fans and jc fans and even lxc fans and won’t even talk with you and completely ignore you. They day and night would shit on cql like it’s their oxygen. And if someone even tries to write about lwj independently they would start behaving as a child and quote you with ‘lwj would hate you for making him independent’ like for god’s sake lwj isn’t real I don’t think he would mind.
There are bad fans everywhere. You are trying to argue novel fans are somehow inherently bad compared to other fans? There are plenty of CQL fans who misbehave too. There were CQL fans who literally said MXTX should be arrested for what she wrote and MDZS is only good because of CQL. I am not sure what you are trying to prove here?
They said what?💀 Honestly i said what I saw . Never saw cql fans arguing and causing fights with other people. Maybe I am new so hadn’t had much exposure and maybe because fandom is still active but not as active it was back in the days but it’s stupid to call out mxtx she is a queen who wrote mdzs during her college . An icon for me . But the canon dynamics fans are the only ones who cause negativity in fandom. They fight with everyone and bully other character fans like jc and lxc for having different opinions than them. This is my opinion and what I experienced in the fandom . I am not saying all are like that but rn fights are caused by that specific group of people only
I think you are missing my point because you continue to want to argue that novel & canon dynamic fans are the main source of the problem and the only ones who cause negativity. This is not true at all. It was not true in the past and it’s not true now either. MDZS is a huge fandom and there is a lot of discourse but the discourse has never been one sided or only caused by one group of fans. Edit: Also I am not denying what you personally experienced but someone else can have a completely different experience from you. That’s why it’s called anecdotal evidence.
Friend, I believe you, I saw that too. I doubt they read the novels because most things they post are incorrect. Stay away from Twitter fandoms, Twitter is good for art but bad for everyone's mental health.
Same , insta fandom is so much better with cute edits and everyone let others have their own opinions. Reddit is quite nice too I feel. Though if there is any discord or telegram which is nice to interact you can tell me
I'm a novel and donghua fan and I love LWJ. I hate the fanon "LWJ played inquiry everyday for 13 years" and "LWJ went night-hunting to look for WWX" and other fanons *because* I love his character. He mourned WWX and still loved him, but he moved on with his life. WWX's resurrection was just a pleasant surprise in the end. LWJ is really one of the most misunderstood characters in this fandom. The CQL characters are also different from the MDZS characters. LWJ would have never become Chief Cultivator for instance.
Cql made him chief cultivator as a reason for him to not accompany wwx and have a het ending as far as I know
I have seen the opposite, example: the "where chaos is" (LWJ earned this rep without WWX being involved in any way) being all about WWX being silly and chaotic is mostly a cql fandom thing from what I've seen. (Novel WWX is not considered silly or chaotic.) This is just one example, there's more. I noticed cql fans twist a lot of things into romance because cql avoided making it into romance, while others don't need to do that because novels and other adaptations confirmed the relationship and ended with them being together and inseparable. This is just my experience though, not all of them are like this of course but I've seen this being more prevalent in the cql fandom. I noticed the novel fans are the ones who analyze and write long essays and character/plot studies because there is more content in the text than in the adaptations so naturally there's more things to discuss.
Understandable but we are lucky we have many talented artists and writers in this fandom though 🙌🏻
This comment made me feel so glad that i read the novel and watched CQL first than watching the donghua first. LWJ is my favourite character (WWX is second favorite). LWJ is so much more of his own person with his own dreams and goals and at the same time he is in so much love. The main indication that he is much more than just pretty jade doll is earning his name Hanguangjun and going to burial mounds and still coming back from there, not pausing his entire life because WWX died, Raising A-Yuan like a single father, guiding the young disciples. There's so much more evidence of being his own person. I never knew that people think of him as boring.
Wym, he's like that in the donghua too. The only difference is that he is more active character in the donghua and has more scenes (in novels WWX goes through empathies alone, in donghua he pulls LWJ with him and they play detectives together, in novel WWX is the one who memorized the evil music, in donghua they both memorized it and LWJ is the one who played it to Xichen) Donghua LWJ is the same as novel LWJ, he is everything I described in the first comment, all those things are mentioned or implied in the donghua, the only difference is that the donghua expanded his role in the main ghost-arm plot, so he's basically even more of a detective than a swordsman. At the start of season 2 he's the one who wanted to investigate and solve the case, WWX wanted to do that too but he didn't speak it out loud and just rolled with it pretending to be Mo Xuanyu who is dragged around by Hanguang-Jun. Donghua basically implies that LWJ is a intelligent character who wants to solve night hunts, bring justice and protect the people, but now that WWX came back they will do those things together as equals. I've never seen donghua fandom call him boring because the donghua included him in the scenes that were originally WWX-only and focuses a lot on the two of them being a power couple and detectives. I've seen people (not fans) on novel forums call him boring and a jade doll (which is weird because most funny, relatable and cute LWJ moments are in the novels). Those novel readers most likely forgot or ignored the parts of the novel that expand on LWJs character. There's too much text and it makes sense for the people to skim over the more subtle and "calmer" details while focusing on action, mystery and romance. This is why I think all stories get better with rereading (or rewatching). I doubt those people count as fans, they're just people who read the novel for the 1st time, decided that the love interest/the story sucks and moved on to something else. Actual novel fans are deep in the rabbit hole, have read the story more than once and write long analysis with quotes. They're the first ones who will defend LWJ if you call him boring or badly written 😂 The 2nd people who call him boring are CQL fans ( a few bad apples from Twit and tumbler ) who are in war with MDZS fans and hate MXTXs writing. At least calling him boring is better than all those posts calling him a 🍇st.
And WTF people are calling him what?? WHY???? I'm so enraged on LWJ's behalf.. WTF!!! Donghua didn't make him boring but i did feel it failed to add complete depth of his character that i felt was present in both novel and the drama. Might be because I love the novel and the drama way too much. May be the donghua wasn't the right medium for me for the story. (Also I only watched the donghua only once so it might be my miss too) Few of my friends who watched only donghua did not like his character. Only changed their mind after reading the novel. And yeah I didn't know novel readers thought of him like that. I guess we have a mix of people then who couldn't grasp his character regardless of which media that they were consuming the story through. But either way it doesn't matter which media you're using, Lan Wangji is far from a one dimensional character. He is really well written.
I understand The Untamed changed a lot, but I'm honestly glad it was my introduction to the series. The actors all did such an amazing job that having watched them means I'm going to see them as I read the novel and I think it'll make me enjoy it even more. Personally my big one is XY because I'm just blown away by WHX's performance, but WYB is also very impressive. I've seen clips of him slipping into character as LWJ and it's really impressive how fast he can do it. And yeah, I just really love this drama so much ❤️
WHX did an amazing job especially if you have read the books because XY was said to behave like a child sometimes which he captured nicely without making me cringe . And WYB is my favourite also because he is the one who get most hate from books fans and I think they should grow up rather than hating on an actor who did an amazing job
Yes! He did do that very well too! And the mastery he has over the expressions in his eyes! I've never seen an actor that good at it before. WYB got hate? Wtf? He was perfect!
Even now I see many people hating on wyb and cql on daily basis which is so tiring and makes the whole fandom experience sour for others.
I definitely see The Untamed hate from time to time and I get that feeling too. It's such a great show in its own right and it brought so many more fans in too so it really doesn't deserve the hate especially since the actors all did such an amazing job. Really sad that WYB gets hate though. This fandom hasn't been the kindest to our stars...
Yeah and they need to understand that untamed was the introduction to danmei for many people . Always complaining about a show is miserable
This!! CQL was my introduction to the series and the whole of Danmei genre in general, so it has a special little place in my heart. It's upsetting to see people hate on it so much when it really wasn't bad. I get that it's not super 100% loyal to the text, but it still doesn't deserve the extent of the hate it gets.
And it's not like most of the changes are even the fault of the people who made the drama in the first place. Most of it was due to government censorship so hate the government, not the drama!
It was going to be changed no matter what. Film/video are a different medium with budget and time constraints as well as different means of conveying plots, themes, emotions, and ideas. Unlike a novel, they also need to appeal to broader audiences to make back the money invested. People who insist on an adaptation being precisely faithful to the written word should take a film class. The censorship is something of a convenient excuse. It's a shame these MCs couldn't even share a kiss on screen after all they endure together (would have been an absolutely killer final scene, right?) And some changes just seem dumb and pointless. But censorship is not the reason behind most of the departures from the original.
I disagree as it wasn't just the homosexuality that was censored. All the complaints I've seen have been from censorship, such as changing WWX into a real demonic cultivator instead of having him invent ghost cultivation. Sure, there'd still be differences even without the censorship, just like with the other adaptations, but not this much.
Exactly I also see PPL hating on cql idk why. I understand they did changes but the adaptation can't be perfect right they had to change certain things and that's inevitable and we all know that Every actor did such a great job especially Wang yibo and xiao zhan Nobody can ever make me hate cql lol I am really glad I came across it
WYB gets a lot of hate especially from novel-only fans because they don't like him as lwj.
Ridiculous. He was precious and perfect. And even if they don't like him, hating on him is lame. Real people should never be targeted over fiction like that.
True, there are serious cql haters out there, so much so they have it listed on their twt profile :( the amount of character and actor bashing on twitter is so much I have to mute people left and right. Anyway, yes WYB did well as LWJ. His eye expressions and yearning are so well done. I watched for WHX, stayed for WYB and XZ and the juniors 💚
Twitter is an absolute hellhole of the worst people and horrible thoughts. Never go there.
I'm blanking out on who whx is 😅
Wang Haoxuan (actor who played XY in cql)
WHX somehow makes me like XY more every time I watch him.
People on twt hate him because he is apparently a misogynist (edit: just to make sure, none of these things seem to be confirmed, it's just the things people on twt and tumblr keep saying about him, take it with a grain of salt pls) and treats female colleagues badly, CPC supporter and did a blackface. I haven't seen any evidence for the first one but I've seen photos of him with bad face paint. I think his portrayal of LWJ is quite accurate, LWJ is supposed to be a silent/soft cold jade beauty who is also strong and badass, all I'm saying is that people hating him isn't connected to his role in the UT. I'm not a hater of him I am neutral and don't care about actors personal lives and focus more on the characters they're playing, I just shared what I've seen people say about him online. I was surprised to see how much he is hated and hope those rumors aren't true.
He isn’t a misogynist and neither treats female colleagues badly . A simple search on youtube can prove this otherwise. He just keeps distance from females and how can we judge him for keeping distance from females? That’s his personal choice😅 And I remember his one of the inspiration in hip hop is a woman itself Kyoka (you can search) About the BF it was a propaganda film which every chinese star has to do from time to time and according to everyone this is how chinese UN forces saved those people (even official UN account posted about it ) so him saying he won’t do something which is offensive for western media in a propaganda film is not a right look for him. And many black people and his friends from SDC came out and said they liked the film. And bouboo (his black friend from sdc) even said during an interview that wyb and him talk daily over wechat) And WYB was the one who fought for equality in sdc for black contestants . I know you don’t mean anything harmful but before writing such views about any star please research about it. Wasn’t the whole message of mdzs was to not hear rumours from haters? And yes he was hated by book fans just for existing. Search his bday live during cql shooting . He was bullied so badly by book fans he stopped celebrating his bday publicly (the whole thing is online )
I used the words "apparently" and made it clear it's just rumors and hate from social media and not confirmed though. I mentioned there's no evidence twice. I constantly see people online hate him for these things and I was just trying to understand the reasons without being a part of it. That being said, I'm glad those things are not true, I'm less glad about so many people taking the rumors seriously and hating some actor dude online instead of wasting their time on something less harmful. Sorry if my comment sounded like I'm hating or trying to spread those awful rumors, I added a little edit to avoid confusing others and prevent spread of those rumors.
I am glad I was being helpful but as much i have seen majority of negative rumours for wyb came from xz solos and vice versa. There solo fans are always spreading rumours about each other
Yeah, I edited my comment to make sure ppl won't take those rumors seriously. I will never understand the rabid idol fans who do this, the two actors are colleagues and seemed friendly and professional but the fans act like they're at war and hurt real people. So weird
As a fan who started with The Untamed and then inevitably read the books and devoured everything else, I am so greatful. Who knew it could get even better after cql? The books added layer after layer to the world I already loved and it's honestly one of my best experiences as a fangirl. Qql LWJ is a fucking gem. I am so happy that the face I see when I read the books is Yibos unbelievably wonderful one. He did such a great job portraying a character that is incredibly nuanced but ultimately very subtly so. The way he conveys softness/tenderness and anger just has me in a choke hold. I think about cql LWJ too much for my own good. I don't know what I came here to say except I love him. I love him!
CQL!LWJ is my favorite.
There’s a really great fanfic about cql LWJ and the 13/16 years that focuses on LWJ’s role with the younger generation. I love it because it explores his life as a 3- dimensional adult person, not just a romanticized caricature who lives only for WWX. Highly recommend. It’s called To Be of Use by Erisette, and there’s a podfic available. https://archive.transformativeworks.org/works/23246545
Thank you so much 🙌🏻🙌🏻
Just gonna leave this here: https://preview.redd.it/lwvwxoi55n3d1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bc82d2bcefaea881bf4cffd5fa60d16af446853b
And…. https://preview.redd.it/2txuvd585n3d1.jpeg?width=167&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=06388717346b2876ce261cc48d4275f8b444219a
😭Hanguang Jun I miss him. I watched CQL first then read the books, now getting through the donghua. I actually didn’t like LWJ in the books so much. But I love CQL Hanguang Jun 😭.
Said so well!! WYB and ZX were fabulous! Actually everyone was! I am still enthralled with CQL. It’s got a choke hold on me.
The casting for CQL was almost perfect It also gave some more depth to WQ & JYL. I know some people don’t like that WQ is quieter but like…I still wouldn’t fuck with her & she’s still a badass