Ben Hargreeves Going From A Silly Side Character Who’s Presence Was Completely Dependent On Another

Hello Anon!

In general, it’s a little hard for me to find Jun Wu’s care sincere despite his claims since he was clearly more taken with the idea of Xie Lian rather than who he truly was as a person 😬

In Xie Lian, Jun Wu believed he found a kindred spirit, someone so much like his younger self, which sparked his desire to have Xie Lian as his heir while he positioned himself as a mentor there to guide him, both as Emperor Jun Wu and White No-Face. As Jun Wu, he does successfully obtain Xie Lian’s utmost respect and a willingness to be led by him, but that doesn’t mean much since his divine alter ego’s perfection is hollow. He wants someone to love him and never leave even when confronted with his worst side, hence why he mostly tries to “recruit” him in the form of his destructive alter ego White No-Face. 

I mainly see Jun Wu’s feelings as a self-centered obsession driven by his own loneliness. He longs to connect with Xie Lian because he believes him to be the only one who can empathize with the pain he’s been repressing all this time. He so desperately clings onto the hopes he has projected onto Xie Lian that he’s willing to endure 800 years of trying and failing to get him on his side. 

But of course, the big issue is that empathy is a two-way street and Jun Wu utterly fails on his side. He who has been traumatized by his past became a hardened manipulator who values control above all. Things like trust, honesty and communication, everything needed to form a healthy bond, have long been thrown into the pits of Mount Tonglu. 

As expected of Xie Lian’s shadow archetype and Hua Cheng’s foil, White No-Face instead seeks to groom Xie Lian into the image he has of him by worsening his despair while making himself out to be the only one who understands him. He tries to deliberately instill within Xie Lian a sense of dependence. Ultimately, it’s all gaslighting designed to make the “happy” friendship in his head come true. Jun Wu wants to be fully accepted but the abandonment of his former best friends + not receiving any help when he most needed it left him unable to trust or open up to anyone, so he can only rely on power and control, which naturally fails to get him what he most desires. 

Jun Wu was once a tragic victim who fell into the abyss due to circumstances beyond his control. He can’t bear to ever experience that again…That’s why he decided to go from victim of fate to enforcer of fate by becoming the Emperor that created the current dynasty of Heaven by  force and deliberately shaped the course of Xie Lian’s life. In being Emperor, he represents “heaven’s will” and that power is what lets him control other people’s lives as the one who can impose “fates” onto them.

That now brings me to examine the theme of fate and the father-son dynamic that factor significantly into Xie Lian and Jun Wu’s relationship… 

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thinking about the motif of debt/repayment in scums villain e.g:

"It was merely a wave of a hand to you both, but to me, it is a debt I'd pursue through ten thousand deaths." -Zhuzhi Lang

"A drop of kindness should be repaid by a torrent." -Zhuzhi Lang

"Qi-ge will remember this loyalty; in the future he'll definitely repay you." -Yue Qingyuan

"To think that a lifetime's moment of loyalty actually had to be repaid with so much" -Shen Qingqiu, on how Original Yue Qingyuan got pierced by 10 thousand arrows to save Shen Jiu

And probably most famously, "Everything that's happened in the past, I'll repay it all to you today." -Shen Qingqiu

the crux of Proud Immortal Demon Way is, after all, revenge. tianlang jun taking revenge on the cultivation world, luo binghe taking revenge on his scum teacher, qiu haitang taking revenge on shen jiu -- so it makes sense that the same ardour would be given to repaying good things as it was to repaying bad.

and. if you think about it. every character either successfully repays their debts OR has their original motive resolved eg: zhuzhi lang dies protecting tianlang jun, shen qingqiu "dies" absorbing binghe's demonic energy OR luo binghe's teacher no longer being scum, su xiyan never actually betraying tianlang jun

except one character.

yue qingyuan failed to come back like he promised. he failed to prevent qiu jianluo's abuse. he failed to save shen jiu from burning to death. when he found out shen jiu didnt die, he failed to resolve the original motive by telling him "i actually did come back for you." when he tried, it was too late and shen jiu had died and he failed to realize he was talking to a different person.

in a world defined by reimbursement, qi-ge failed to ever reimburse shen jiu.

Mayhaps you've already taken a shot at answering this. Why do you think people in fandom get Dick Grayson so wrong?

to be totally honest i don’t know? like, i’d say a significant part of it is because the two icebreaker comics people seem to read when they’re getting into dc are red robin and under the red hood.

rr2009 is about a complex grief spiral that challenges dick and tims relationship before they ultimately reconcile, but if ur not interested w engaging w the story it’s very easy to villianise dick (and damian) for tim whump.

utrh also relies on a lot of context from other comics at the time, and i think a lot of people conflate bruce’s actions to dick, particularly with the movie, to make jason the victim rather than actually considering the actions he takes. idk. we fear complexity, ig

it’s weird because many of dicks most important and foundational traits — community, his relationships with his neighbours, his status as a big brother and mentor to young heroes, his kindness, his abrasive but ultimately loving relationship w bruce, his propensity to pick arguments, and his role as a beacon of light in gotham — evidently are popular because they’re consistently lifted to give to other characters. in return, dick is flattened to either an absolute enabling asshole or a total idiot with no friends who can’t even defend himself. it sucks

even in regards to angst…. a lot of what people write fic about has happened to dick rather than other characters. in modern canon he was fired during an argument with bruce. he was homeless and isolated during the latter half of grayson’s 96 run. he’s consistently hurt by bruce and his other family members when they throw hands at him outside of combat. like…… *smacks him* this bad boy can fit every fanon trope in him np

itd be nice for people to engage more with his character, but same with damian or cass it would require that other characters not be trapped in permanent victimhood or actually meet dick on his level. dick is the most emotionally intelligent person in that family and uses his powers to say the most heinous things imaginable. he’s the second best detective. after cass he’s probably the most dangerous physical combatant. he doesn’t need tim drake to show him how to reset his wifi password

Loser Reader gets isekai'd into their favorite horror smut game, but instead of the humans being the love interests it's all the monsters who terrorized the MC and their group who are also now nightmare horror femboys-

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Friend: Look out, it's coming right for us!

Loser Reader: Why does that monster have such a fat ass?.... [Shouting] Hey, why's your ass so fat?!

[The Monster blushes - pointing at its leather face with four of its spider-like arms]

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Loser Reader: I found your missing eye. We're cool now, right?

Femboy Ghost Yan: Finally....I am whole. Now we can be together, my love.... Will you take me as your groom and/or bride? I'm fine with either title so long that is is you I wed.

Loser Reader: Huh. This isn't how this plotline went when I played this game-

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Friend(?): Y/n! I love you!

Loser Reader: Finally, a relationship with someone who's alive or doesn't have three mouths... Actually,that second one isn't so bad- besides the teeth

Friend, eyes black as the night sky: Which is why I won't let this one take you away from me.

[The friend grins from ear to ear - slowly walking backwards into oncoming traffic]

Loser Reader: God-DAMNIT! Every fucking time it's always the same shit-

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Antagonist, pointing a gun at Reader: You're what they seem to be after. What's stopping me from shooting you in both legs and giving them what they want?

Loser Reader: uhhhh ughhhhhh....Fuck it-

[Loser Reader rushes forward and kisses them on the lips before shoving them away as if they had been the one to kiss them]

Loser Reader: Whoa....Whoa! Dude, we're just friends! If my boyfriends found out you kissed me they might kill you-

[Their attacker's face goes pale as dozens of hands pound and claw at the windows of the cabin they're trapped in]

1 0. Y E A R S. I N. T H E. J O I N T. M A D E. Y O U. A. F U C K I N G. P U S S Y !

It has been years and Kiryu still hasn't recovered... He can still hear him...

you guys ever think about the fact that charlie and neil probably barely talked in the summer. that they were best friends but neil, or both of them, were just so busy over the summer that they barely talked. that charlie, or both of them, were so worried on the first day of school every year that they weren’t going to be close anymore because they hadn’t talked. and then they get to welton and it’s like no time has passed because they’re not best friends. they’re brothers.

Please i need people to understand that the tragedy of robins is that their parents did love them.

Dick’s parents love him they didn’t want to leave him. Jason’s parents loved him, they didn’t want to be trapped in poverty and crime. Steph’s mother loved her, she didn’t think Steph would get caught up in her husband’s schemes. Tim’s parents loved him, they never meant for him to be as alone as he was. Cass’s father loved her, he wanted her to be as strong as she could be. Damian’s mother loved him, she was raising him in impossible circumstances. Duke’s parents loved him, they never planned to get caught up in the attack.

And yes, these situations are different. Duke and Dick’s parents were good people, Steph mom and Jason’s dad are sometimes depicted as abusive but at other times shown to be struggling with their circumstances. Tim’s parents and Damian’s mom were good people who should never have been parents. Cass’s dad was a bad person who shouldn’t have been a parent. With Cass, there ended up being abuse, and with Damian too because one way or another Talia or the league’s training and general way of life would’ve harmed Damian, and some depictions of Tim’s parents imply severe neglect. But deep beneath that, despite the circumstances and even the failure of the people themselves, they did love their children, and were trying in their own way.

Just like Bruce loves his children, and why I’m sort of against the terrible father depiction. Because I think he’s traumatized and his knowledge of parenting would give him a poor subconscious fathering ability, but CONSCIOUSLY he loves his children, and he would try. That’s the difference. All the robins were loved, but they all lost their parents anyway. And they all will be loved again, because even is he fails, Bruce loves them too, and he is trying to do right by them. He’s trying to make sure none of their stories are tragedies.

Imagine a SVSSS x S-Classes that I raised Au!!!

IMAGINE A SVSSS X S-CLASSES THAT I RAISED AU!!!

SHEN YUAN AS YOOJIN, SHEN JIU AS YOOHYUN, BINGHE AS SUNGJAE, QINGGE AS TAEWON!!! DO YOU SEE THE VISION!!!!

Please please please, Someone with writing talent pleeaase!!! I'm literally on my knees!!! .·°՞(≧□≦)՞°·.

When your late wife has never told to you about the friendly shadow monster vibing in the local sewers

The idea that "Hannibal has to compromise on his victim pool for Will to be ok with eloping with him post fall" falls apart when you realise that Will is drawn to Hannibal regardless of his cruelty. Will watches Hannibal kill Abigail right in front of his eyes and still chooses not to sever ties. He chases after him in Europe, genuinely tells him "I forgive you." Will understands Hannibal's nature... He understands that he feels unbelievably compelled by Hannibal whilst knowing he is who he is — a sadist who tortures people into their deaths, someone who fucked up Will's head and framed him for murder for the lols — and Will still feels compassion for him; this is the kind of creature Hannibal is, and he is also mind-numbingly complex and incredibly attractive to Will. The conflict is not that Will has to be okay with Hannibal killing 'innocents', it's that Will has to look in the mirror and be able to accept a version of himself who has also murdered people, directly or indirectly. Hunting killers, being in their heads, Will understands intimately the difference between a killer and a non-killer. For so long his fear has been that he will fall off the metaphotical cliff and be seduced by the nature of murder. Those intrusive thoughs he has tried very hard to keep at bay, and now that he has killed Dolarhyde, it will be immensely difficult for him to reconcile with that version of himself. Post-fall, the conflict should be Will's cognitive dissonance, and not whether or not he can bend Hannibal's behaviour.