Zombie/other Post-apocalyptic Story Character Concept: The Unsettling Optimist.

Zombie/other post-apocalyptic story character concept: The unsettling optimist.

The protagonists of this story encounter an oddly formal loner who seems creepily happy-go-lucky to be wandering alone out there all alone, and assume that this poor fellow is just flat-out insane. A lot of people lost their minds when the world collapsed. An argument is had about whether they can spare the resources to take in somebody who might be a liability, but eventually a consensus is reached that if this mf has been surviving just fine all by themselves so far, surely they're not completely off their roller.

Besides, they don't seem to be out of touch with reality, just... Weirdly cheerful about it. Like wandering around a zombie-infested wasteland is the best thing that ever happened to them. Like it's a privilege to get to eat questionable canned food, to wander from half-collapsed building to another, to argue about where the group is supposed to be going. Like it's a pleasure to be there, and they don't mean it with sarcasm.

And one time when they manage to kill an animal for food, the newcomer volunteers to butcher it like that's a totally normal task that they're used to doing. And working with sure hands and a casual smile, they offhandedly remark how interestingly different it feels to butcher an animal. Full record scratch when everyone within earshot pauses to process what the fuck they just said. How exactly is someone who's clearly that familiar with taking apart meat from bones unaccustomed to butchering animals?

Well, you know how every post-apocalyptic/zombie story seems to have that one place that seems like a clean and tidy wonderful utopia on the surface, but turns out that they're cannibals that eat people? Yeah, that guy is from there. Escaped from there, in fact, and not long before the protagonists found them. And the reason why they've been over the moon about getting to be a part of the whole post-apocalyptic roving band of survivors is the freedom. They get to choose what miserable cans to eat, what miserable ruins to sleep in for the night, what hopeless direction they will miserably trek. And the zombies? The zombies are the best part.

Imagine the joy and luxury of knowing for sure for the first time, that there is absolutely zero overlap between the people who form the community that you rely on to survive, and the people who will kill and eat you if you make one single mistake.

Well. Well. I hadn’t realized such egregious lies were on the wiki. I generally use it to double check character height and the trivia section.

At the same time, I had forgotten how casual Wei Wuxian was about Chengqing at the end. Literally did not care. Which is an interesting difference in their mindsets. Jiang Cheng was totally sure that Wei Wuxian would come for Chengqing, that it must be special and symbol/source of power. Wei Wuxian doesn’t care.

Jc stans whining about being bullied out of the fandom when they should have been bullied out of the Wei Wuxian’s wiki:

Or Jiang Cheng’s wiki:

Or the official release of the novel like:

when it said that Jiang Fengmian showed favoritism towards Wei Wuxian over Jiang Cheng in the character descriptions

when it reworked the section where the novel says Jiang Cheng "has no love in him"

when they were omitting lines of text that reflected unfavorably on Jiang Cheng (just one example of this happening in one of the volumes).

Slick diction will get you every time if you don't stop to think about why the writer has chosen a specific word choice. Whoever's been doing the bullying has obviously not been doing a good job. Explanations with evidence under the cut:

Jiang Cheng doesn't "insist" on carrying Wei Wuxian; Wei Wuxian is carried onto him and he carries him out because he thinks Wei Wuxian's reaction to the pain will make him look bad:

After the beating finished, Lan WangJi silently stood up and walked outside after saluting toward the the disciples in the ancestral hall, showing no evidence that he had been injured. Wei WuXian was the exact opposite. After he was carried onto Jiang Cheng’s back, he groaned for the whole way. ... (break where wwx is explaining why he was punished to the others) "...Jiang Cheng, walk slower. You’re almost shaking me off.” Jiang Cheng wanted to not only shake him off, but, even more so, to make a few man-shaped dents on the ground by slamming his head down, “Is simply carrying you not up to your standards?!” Wei WuXian, “I never asked you to carry me, in the beginning.” Jiang Cheng was enraged, “If I don’t carry you, you’d probably stay in their ancestral hall and roll on the ground all day long. I don’t have that thick of a face to lose! Lan WangJi even had fifty more strikes than you, and he even walked by himself. Yet, you have the nerve to pretend that you’re crippled. I don’t want to carry you any more. Get off, now!” Wei WuXian, “No, I’m wounded.”

—Chapt. 18: Refinement, exr

Wei Wuxian doesn't "insist" on being Jiang Cheng's subordinate. He is giving Jiang Cheng a pep talk about how he will never replace him after Madam Yu accuses him of being Jiang Fengmian's bastard child in front of Jiang Cheng:

Jiang Cheng was stuck between his father and his mother. After a moment of hesitation, he moved to his mother’s side. Holding his shoulders, Madam Yu pushed him forward for Jiang FengMian to see, “Sect Leader Jiang, it seems that some things I have to say. Look carefully—this, is your own son, the future head of Lotus Pier. Even if you frown upon him just because I was the one who bore him, his surname is still Jiang! ... I don’t believe for one second that you haven’t heard of how the outside people gossips, that Sect Leader Jiang has still not moved on from a certain Sanren though so many years have passed, regarding the son of his old friend as a son of his own; they’re speculating if Wei Ying is your...” ... [Wei Wuxian] hopped off the fence, “And, who said that being a sect leader means that you have to go along with the style of the sect? There have been so many sect leaders in the YunmengJiang Sect, I don’t believe at all that everyone was the same. Even the GusuLan Sect had an outlier like Lan Yi, but who would deny her position and her abilities? When talking about the famous cultivators of the Lan Sect, who could skip over her? Who could skip over her Chord Assassination technique?” Jiang Cheng was silent, as though he had finally become calmer. Wei WuXian put his hand on his shoulder again, “In the future, you’ll be the sect leader, and I’ll be your subordinate, like your father and my father. So what if the GusuLan Sect has its Two Jades? The Yunmeng Jiang Sect will have its Two Prides! So, shut up. Who said that you don’t deserve to be the sect leader? Nobody can say this, even you can’t either. If you do you’re looking for a beating.”

—Chapt. 56: Poisons, exr

Wei Wuxian doesn't "insist" on giving his golden core to Jiang Cheng. He is coerced into it by the debt invoked by the Jiang leaders before their deaths to protect Jiang Cheng with his life, and at that moment, Jiang Cheng was determined to die if he had to live without a golden core:

Wei WuXian, “Do you really want to die?” Jiang Cheng, “I can’t seek revenge even when I’m alive. Why shouldn’t I die? Maybe I’ll be able to turn into a ferocious ghost.” Wei WuXian, “You’ve been undergoing soul-calming ceremonies ever since you were young. You won’t be able to turn into a ferocious ghost even after you die.” Jiang Cheng, “If I can’t seek revenge no matter if I’m dead or alive, then what’s the difference between the two?” After he said this, he wouldn’t speak again no matter what. Wei WuXian sat by the bed. He looked at him for a while. Slapping his knees, he stood up and began to busy himself. When evening came, he had finally finished making a meal. He placed everything onto the table, “Get up. It’s time for dinner.” Of course, Jiang Cheng ignored him. Wei WuXian sat in front of the table. He picked up his own chopsticks, “If you don’t replenish your strength, how can we go take back your golden core?”

—Chapt. 60: Poisons, exr

Jiang Cheng doesn't return Chenqing "once the truth of his golden core is revealed." He returns it mid-battle because Wei Wuxian's whistling wasn't strong enough to effectively contain Nie Mingjue's corpse. After the battle, he simply doesn't demand it back.

Lan XiChen turned the direction in which his blade pointed, while Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi sped up their melodies as well. But the effects of the whistle had already been overcome. It would be much harder than before for it to take effect again. At this point, somebody on the side suddenly called, “Wei WuXian!” Wei WuXian answered immediately, “What?” Only after he answered did he realize that the one who called him was Jiang Cheng. Wei WuXian felt somewhat surprised. Jiang Cheng didn’t respond directly. Instead, he took something out from his sleeve and tossed. Wei WuXian caught it by instinct and looked, only to find a black, gleaming flute along with a crimson tassel. It was the ghoul flute, Chen Qing! ... Remembering that Jiang Cheng was the one who brought it, he turned over there and commented casually, “Thanks.” He waved Chenqing, “I’ll... be keeping this?” Jiang Cheng glanced at him, “It was yours in the first place.”

—Chapt. 108, exr

Jiang Cheng didn't "feel gratitude" towards the Wen siblings for saving and protecting him. He owed them gratitude due to his life debt and for a debt for aiding him in reclaiming his parents' bodies and home. He repays neither:

Jiang Cheng’s brows were knitted. He rubbed the vein that throbbed at his temple and soundlessly took in a deep breath, “... I apologize to all of the Sect Leaders. Everyone, I’m afraid you don’t know that the Wen cultivator whom Wei WuXian wanted to save was called Wen Ning. We owe him and his sister Wen Qing gratitude for what happened during the Sunshot Campaign.”

...

With Sandu, he pointed at Wen Ning who lay on the ground, “The only way of making up for things is for us to end things before they get the chance to!” Wei WuXian, “End what?” Jiang Cheng, “You burn this corpse right now and return to them all these leftovers of the Wen Sect. That’s the only way to make the subject die!” As he spoke, he raised his sword again, preparing to attack. However, Wei WuXian clenched his wrist, “Are you joking?! If we return Wen Qing and the others to them, they’d meet nothing but a dead end!” Jiang Cheng, “I doubt you’ll even return all of them. Why do you care what kind of end they meet? A dead end it is, then—what does it have to do with you?!”

—Chapt. 73: Recklessness, exr

Jiang Cheng forgives Jin Zixuan because he wants an alliance with the Jin Clan, and his sister's marriage is his bargaining chip.

All the times Jiang Cheng has physically assaulted Jin Ling, along with how the boy views his uncle

gritty realism in my shows? no no, you misunderstand

I want nitty gritty realism in my shows

I do not wish for fantasy that is Dirty and Sad. I wish for fantasy where beleaguered accountants and politicians do battle between territories via manipulating prices on various treasure types, all in the attempt to boost their rich foes past the Dragon Threshold and get burnt alive when the dragon arrives to claim their stuff. Show me the ramifications of a Summon Food spell on farming. Show me the Counterspell arms race.

Gimme that sweet sweet serotonin of micromanagement

15. Jin Guangyao was ‘forced’ into any action by ‘societal pressure.’

16. The Niè cultivation is the same as what Wei Wuxian does.

17. If they keep referring to what Wei Wuxian does as ‘demonic’ cultivation rather than ‘ghost.’ Thought they seem to be trying to sidestep it by just referring to it as ‘cultivating with resentful energy,’ or if they’re feeling fancy, ‘yin energy.’

So, You’re Reading a “Meta” About Wei WuXian....

Here’s some flags to look for to know that this is probably a bad faith/just plain ignorant post:

1. The Blog Icon: Is it a picture of Jiang Cheng, Yu ZiYuan, or Jin GuangYao?

—Very possible you should just skip it/block the post, but sure, let’s not judge a book by its cover and continue.

2. The Narrative Disproved It (The Topic) 

The Fall of Lotus Pier was Wei WuXian’s Fault

Wei WuXian’s cultivation harms his body and mind

Wei WuXian is to blame for the Wen Remnants deaths

Wei WuXian intentionally killed Jin ZiXuan

Jiang Fengmian favored Wei WuXian/Loved Wei WuXian over Jiang Cheng

Yu ZiYuan secretly cared for Wei WuXian

Wei WuXian was the aggressor at Nightless City and Qiongqi Path

Etc.

3. Words and Phrases

Arrogant

Lazy

Heroic Complex

Oblivious

Privileged

Politically Inept

Doesn’t think of the consequences of his actions

Abandoned Jiang Cheng

Broke his promise to Jiang Cheng

Didn‘t get Jiang Cheng’s consent

Etc.

There are plenty more, but I can’t think of them right now. Anybody want to add anything else?

Jiang Cheng Stans, Yu ZiYuan Stans, & Jin GuangYao Stans Don’t Clown On My Posts

People will claim to be a fan of some thing and then hate all of the themes and motifs and story lines and plot lines and protagonists and antagonists like man I don’t think that you actually like it here