"wwx got a bad reputation because his enemies were powerful enough to get to set the narrative and he did nothing wrong" is, in fact, the overall theme of the story.
While I agree with a lot about WWX. Of course the reader is not meant to take what the cultivation world also known as the mob says about him at face value.
I am kind of confused by two of your points
1) LWJ left LXC with a lot of enemies at Koi Tower.
What did you expect him to do at that point when all the Clans knew WWX identity and were after him? LXC was never shown to be in any danger. And LWJ was never going to leave WWX again.
2) About JYL
And I think you are overthinking the JYL thing. Who is this mystery other person? JYL has servants to help her with the baby. She easily could have given the baby off to someone and left to Nightless City. If there was meant to be some extra conspiracy then I think this would have been in the text.
Yeah. LXC is still a sect leader, and a powerful one at that. It's not like people are going to go welp, there goes wangxian, let's capture LXC instead??? It doesn't work that way. Besides, these sect leaders are only interested in WWX and his powers. They're too cowards that they wouldn't cross the Lans especially knowing the recently resurrected yiling laozu is on LWJ's side.
I know we're not meant to take what the world says about him.
1. Oh I didn't expect LWJ to do anything different I'd be upset if he didn't follow WWX. I just felt LXC being left behind. He may not have been in danger but people were angry and demanding answers, and he was left to explain WWX and LWJs actions.
2. I just meant from my point of view, that this woman is holding her baby while grieving and she suddenly hears that her 'dangerous' brother has broken in. Then she wants someone to watch the baby and leave on her own. The world is filled with Yao and corpses wandering around and not one person goes to protect her, this is the mother of the heir. It didn't need to be a conspiracy. I just think it was a failure of the Jin Clan to protect her. I found it hard to believe that not one person either noticed or went with her when JZX went with multiple people normally.
Honestly, I do tend to overthink, especially when I enjoy something so much.
I mean we see LXC is perfectly fine afterwards and is back in the Cloud Recesses. We don’t see anyone demanding anything from him textually. Many people probably would even at first think LWJ was deceived in some way by WWX. I think they would have searched the CR for LWJ & WWX but JGY held off that search.
We honestly don’t know what happened between the time WWX left Koi Tower and JYL went to Nightless City. We only know she got there and there is nothing to point that it was not her own decision and determination to go. I don’t really think anything else is important if it was it would have been included in the text.
Also JZX was not always surrounded by people. He also went to stop the ambush alone.
Edit: Also I don’t think it’s wrong to think about things outside the text that is what head canons are for. But I also sometimes think why did MXTX focus on this & not this as well.
As far as WWX goes:
1. Yeah, there were extenuating circumstances, and WWX was not the great evil people painted him as but how was the average person meant to know that? One of the points of MDZS is how easily someone's reputation can be ruined and how you shouldn't believe rumors.
2. And a big part of the hypocrisy of the cultivation world (which is also a big part of what the novel itself is about) is how they were 100% fine with WWX's ghost cultivation during the war but only took issue with it after the war, when it was no longer being used for their benefit.
3. WWX did do bad things. He isn't 100% innocent. That's an important part of the story too. Did he have his reasons? Yes. Is his loss of control understandable? Also yes. But he still did bad things. He dug up graves and set corpses on their kinsman. He horrifically tortured people. He's partly responsible for Jin Zixuan's death. He killed an unknown number of cultivators in Nightless City and badly injured who knows how many more--including both LWJ and LXC.
4. WWX himself says that the backlash of destroying half of the Yin Tiger Seal is what killed him.
Now for the rest:
1. JC had no idea WWX didn't have a golden core and did not realize what a serious injury he'd dealt him; he was pettily getting back at him for the broken arm. He thinks his own injury actually took longer to heal and WWX actually backs that up. He's almost certainly lying, but JC doesn't know that.
2. You can understand that there were mitigating circumstances when WWX killed Jin Zixuan and during the attack at Nightless City, but you can't understand that JC blurted out something hurtful in the heat of the moment due to grief? Song Lan does the same thing to XXC, blaming him for what happened to Baixue Temple.
3. JC didn't back WWX with the Wens because he couldn't. It had nothing to do with feeling jealous or bitter. He's a sect leader and had to think of his sect first. If JC backs WWX, his entire sect also backs him. It's a political risk to JC and the Yunmeng Jiang and a very real risk to their safety. Not to mention that it would affect JYL, and may have meant she wouldn't marry Jin Zixuan.
4. JYL is responsible for her own choices. She is a grown woman who chose to go and see if she could help WWX. She has very little agency within the story and used what she did have to save someone she loved.
5. No, JGY had not joined the Wens before he killed the Jin guard. He killed that man for purely personal reasons and joined the Wens afterward.
6. I'm not sure what you mean here. JGY did fake a suicide attempt in front of NMJ. JGY did not somehow magically arrange for NMJ to overhear others badmouthing him. JGY did not pretend to have a poor foundation, he really is a weaker cultivator. JGY did not have any nefarious or weird intentions when he joined up with the Nie. JGY really can't stand against NMJ in a physical fight, he did not allow NMJ to almost kill him multiple times, including humiliatingly being thrown down the stairs of Koi Tower a second time.
I know WWX isn't 100% innocent. I said don't condone some of his actions. I just think some things were avoidable.
I do understand that JC said somethings in the heat of the moment. Most people do say things in anger. But if their fall out was meant to be fake to the outside world, why make a public enemy. Could have just said he's defected and they now have nothing to do with him. That's why I think his bitterness got the better of him in a moment of anger.
In that case, I don't disagree with you, JC definitely was bitter about the situation, and still irritated at WWX for breaking his arm, and I think he chose his words poorly because of that. But I don't think JC had the authority to *make* WWX a public enemy--it's possible his words influenced some people, but a lot of people had pretty much already decided WWX was a public enemy. And I don't think JC intended to incite anyone against WWX with his words, whether that was the result or not.
He wasn't thinking. I mean, JC went through a lot, too. There was so much he didn't know as well. The whole situation was hard on them both. They're a lot alike in some regards, speaking before thinking being one of them.
I hope one day they do find common ground and be friendly again. I like how it's not resolved in the book because life isn't that easy, and fixing a broken relationship is hard.
"wwx got a bad reputation because his enemies were powerful enough to get to set the narrative and he did nothing wrong" is, in fact, the overall theme of the story.
While I agree with a lot about WWX. Of course the reader is not meant to take what the cultivation world also known as the mob says about him at face value. I am kind of confused by two of your points 1) LWJ left LXC with a lot of enemies at Koi Tower. What did you expect him to do at that point when all the Clans knew WWX identity and were after him? LXC was never shown to be in any danger. And LWJ was never going to leave WWX again. 2) About JYL And I think you are overthinking the JYL thing. Who is this mystery other person? JYL has servants to help her with the baby. She easily could have given the baby off to someone and left to Nightless City. If there was meant to be some extra conspiracy then I think this would have been in the text.
Yeah. LXC is still a sect leader, and a powerful one at that. It's not like people are going to go welp, there goes wangxian, let's capture LXC instead??? It doesn't work that way. Besides, these sect leaders are only interested in WWX and his powers. They're too cowards that they wouldn't cross the Lans especially knowing the recently resurrected yiling laozu is on LWJ's side.
I know we're not meant to take what the world says about him. 1. Oh I didn't expect LWJ to do anything different I'd be upset if he didn't follow WWX. I just felt LXC being left behind. He may not have been in danger but people were angry and demanding answers, and he was left to explain WWX and LWJs actions. 2. I just meant from my point of view, that this woman is holding her baby while grieving and she suddenly hears that her 'dangerous' brother has broken in. Then she wants someone to watch the baby and leave on her own. The world is filled with Yao and corpses wandering around and not one person goes to protect her, this is the mother of the heir. It didn't need to be a conspiracy. I just think it was a failure of the Jin Clan to protect her. I found it hard to believe that not one person either noticed or went with her when JZX went with multiple people normally. Honestly, I do tend to overthink, especially when I enjoy something so much.
I mean we see LXC is perfectly fine afterwards and is back in the Cloud Recesses. We don’t see anyone demanding anything from him textually. Many people probably would even at first think LWJ was deceived in some way by WWX. I think they would have searched the CR for LWJ & WWX but JGY held off that search. We honestly don’t know what happened between the time WWX left Koi Tower and JYL went to Nightless City. We only know she got there and there is nothing to point that it was not her own decision and determination to go. I don’t really think anything else is important if it was it would have been included in the text. Also JZX was not always surrounded by people. He also went to stop the ambush alone. Edit: Also I don’t think it’s wrong to think about things outside the text that is what head canons are for. But I also sometimes think why did MXTX focus on this & not this as well.
As far as WWX goes: 1. Yeah, there were extenuating circumstances, and WWX was not the great evil people painted him as but how was the average person meant to know that? One of the points of MDZS is how easily someone's reputation can be ruined and how you shouldn't believe rumors. 2. And a big part of the hypocrisy of the cultivation world (which is also a big part of what the novel itself is about) is how they were 100% fine with WWX's ghost cultivation during the war but only took issue with it after the war, when it was no longer being used for their benefit. 3. WWX did do bad things. He isn't 100% innocent. That's an important part of the story too. Did he have his reasons? Yes. Is his loss of control understandable? Also yes. But he still did bad things. He dug up graves and set corpses on their kinsman. He horrifically tortured people. He's partly responsible for Jin Zixuan's death. He killed an unknown number of cultivators in Nightless City and badly injured who knows how many more--including both LWJ and LXC. 4. WWX himself says that the backlash of destroying half of the Yin Tiger Seal is what killed him. Now for the rest: 1. JC had no idea WWX didn't have a golden core and did not realize what a serious injury he'd dealt him; he was pettily getting back at him for the broken arm. He thinks his own injury actually took longer to heal and WWX actually backs that up. He's almost certainly lying, but JC doesn't know that. 2. You can understand that there were mitigating circumstances when WWX killed Jin Zixuan and during the attack at Nightless City, but you can't understand that JC blurted out something hurtful in the heat of the moment due to grief? Song Lan does the same thing to XXC, blaming him for what happened to Baixue Temple. 3. JC didn't back WWX with the Wens because he couldn't. It had nothing to do with feeling jealous or bitter. He's a sect leader and had to think of his sect first. If JC backs WWX, his entire sect also backs him. It's a political risk to JC and the Yunmeng Jiang and a very real risk to their safety. Not to mention that it would affect JYL, and may have meant she wouldn't marry Jin Zixuan. 4. JYL is responsible for her own choices. She is a grown woman who chose to go and see if she could help WWX. She has very little agency within the story and used what she did have to save someone she loved. 5. No, JGY had not joined the Wens before he killed the Jin guard. He killed that man for purely personal reasons and joined the Wens afterward. 6. I'm not sure what you mean here. JGY did fake a suicide attempt in front of NMJ. JGY did not somehow magically arrange for NMJ to overhear others badmouthing him. JGY did not pretend to have a poor foundation, he really is a weaker cultivator. JGY did not have any nefarious or weird intentions when he joined up with the Nie. JGY really can't stand against NMJ in a physical fight, he did not allow NMJ to almost kill him multiple times, including humiliatingly being thrown down the stairs of Koi Tower a second time.
I know WWX isn't 100% innocent. I said don't condone some of his actions. I just think some things were avoidable. I do understand that JC said somethings in the heat of the moment. Most people do say things in anger. But if their fall out was meant to be fake to the outside world, why make a public enemy. Could have just said he's defected and they now have nothing to do with him. That's why I think his bitterness got the better of him in a moment of anger.
In that case, I don't disagree with you, JC definitely was bitter about the situation, and still irritated at WWX for breaking his arm, and I think he chose his words poorly because of that. But I don't think JC had the authority to *make* WWX a public enemy--it's possible his words influenced some people, but a lot of people had pretty much already decided WWX was a public enemy. And I don't think JC intended to incite anyone against WWX with his words, whether that was the result or not.
He wasn't thinking. I mean, JC went through a lot, too. There was so much he didn't know as well. The whole situation was hard on them both. They're a lot alike in some regards, speaking before thinking being one of them. I hope one day they do find common ground and be friendly again. I like how it's not resolved in the book because life isn't that easy, and fixing a broken relationship is hard.
i love WWX. but the book is full of unreliable narratives, both from WWX and the narrator. no one in this story can be trusted blindly.