It Makes Life Interesting For Him - Tumblr Posts

Just read a post about WWX and fandom mischaracterization of him. And they have good points! But they ask why people mischaracterize him. And like... honestly, I am sure that some of the people who do do it for funsies. Like.. writing no thoughts, bi-disaster Wei Wuxian is FUN! And it fits with the persona he sells to people. That is the thing. His entire persona is "don't pay attention to me, I am just a silly boy doing silly things."

Which brings up my second point. If the narration is centered around the rumors and perceptions of the world around Wei Wuxian (parts of it is, for sure) then it is easy to buy into those perceptions. If Wei Wuxian wants people to think he is a frivolous playboy, people will think it. Because yes, he is that good. But so... the reader might remember that most/ best.

Also, lots of fandom comes from CQL. I came from there. Sometimes it is hard for me to remember what was in CQL and what happened in the novel. But if you come at it from CQL, then we don't get much of his perspective, really. I mean a little. And his relationship with Lan Wangji is quite different. It is expanded. He gets more time before the bad things happen with Lan Wangji. He gets more time as a carefree (relatively speaking) youth.

I agree that he has immense social intelligence, he has to. People who live with volatile people often are. They are often hyper aware of the people's moods around them. They are careful to pay attention to the way others think.

He is a genius! He is amiable, lots of people like him. He seems impulsive. But I think that his "impulsivity" is a combination of two things: he doesn't bother to explain his mental leaps and he has a different set of priorities than most of his peers.

Remember, he is used to Madam Yu's style of punishment, where it doesn't matter if he actually did something wrong, she'll find some reason to be mad. So, he has to find his own morality. He has to listen to his own heart. If the rules don't matter to the adult in charge of guiding you (even just one of them), then you have to figure out what rules matter to you.

So, if he is brilliant and has his own moral code, he might seem quite impulsive. He might seem like the annoying friend. Is he absolutely aware of what he is doing? Yeah.

Have I forgotten where I was going with this? Lol Yes, yes, I have. But I don't think that writing Wei Wuxian as an annoying, impulsive brat is completely wrong, especially if you are writing from the perspective of someone other than Wei Wuxian. Lan Qiren absolutely thinks that of him and would see all his actions in that light. Jin Zixuan would think something similar. Might even consider him to be violent and dangerous, given their history. Even third person could be written that way, if that is what Wei Wuxian is trying to portray. Also, I think that people should write what they want. And people should read what they want.