Nika + Asura Crumbs …?

Honestly, I can't stress enough how important the theme of family is in mdzs. IMO it is the main theme of the book. Of course romance and devotion is important, but there's something so special about the way families are portrayed in mdzs and how important they are. (I watched donghua and read some of manhua btw)

Let's start with sibling relationships:

The whole plot started because of love for a brother and rage for how unjust his death was. The whole Cloud Recesses arc is an amazing set up for Wangxian etc, but it also shows the complicated yet sweet relationship between WWX and JC. How they both care so much about each other, how they tease each other. IMO JC did see WWX as a brother and loved him as such. Every time he scolds Wei Ying, it's always about Wei Ying's safety. Usually it's not "How dare you use demonic cultivation, you're gonna get our clan in danger", it's " If you keep it up, I won't be able to protect you". Even during the Wen invasion, the they're still together, they sacrifice themselves to save another. And don't get me started about Jiang Yanli, she loves her brothers very much. Despite Madam Yu creating a competition between the boys or Jiang Fengmian's lack of action and even enablement of WWX' dangerous and irresponsible behavior, they still love each other. I can ramble about yunmeng trio so much, but in short despite everything they went through, they cared for each other deeply. After Jiang Yanli's death everything changes, because imo the boys fully internalized Madam Yu's last words. WWX bring pain and destruction to Yunmeng. I think I need to stop, or we'll be here all day.

Or, another example: Nie bros. Nie Mingjue had to basically raise A-sang. They do deeply care about each other, and despite everything they'll be here for each other. Yet the desire to protect NHS from sad reality of golden core and qi deviation, their relationship soured a little. But it's obvious even for an outsider like WWX, that NMJ loves his brother. He pressures NHS, because he feels that he's starting to lose it. He wants to prepare his little bro to be a decent leader and to live without him. And NHS literally makes it his life mission to avenge his Dage even if it means having a blood on his hands.

Lan brothers show a good brother relationship. Lan Xichen supports LWJ in everything he does. Even his love for WWX. He gets protective, when he thinks WWX is laughing at LWJ's feelings. Lan Zhan is deeply saddened when his brother is missing and helps him discover the truth about his best friend's death. They're almost perfect siblings. (Plus they're super funny when drunk).

MXTX deserves an award for writing so many different sibling dynamics. And that's not all, she also portrays this different parental relationship so interesting.

Like, the nephews you didn't want, but care so much about, that you don't want them to suffer like their father did (Lan Qiren and this family drama); the kid of your husband's unrequited love, whom he seemingly loves more than your own children (Yunmeng Jiang happy house), JGS and the myriad of the kids he has ect. I love this variety so much.

I just love so much how MDZS has so much themes. Every time I think about MDZS, I find more and more interesting points and moments that change my perception of the characters. Every character is so humain and has their own motivation, that I can't truly hate some of them (apart from Wen Chao, his mistress and JGS, they suck).

TLDR: MXTX is a queen of writing complex human characters.

tsukkiyama in a studio ghibli au request.

Kagehina coded

(insp)

hope is incurable haemophilia // “how do you know he died for sure?”

David Mitchell - Slade House / Emily Brontë - Wuthering Heights / Hanif Abdurraqib - Rumours and the Currency of Heartbreak / Mathias Salina - Dream / Katie Maria - I wanted to ask / Andrew Kozma - Song of the Insensible / Rebecca Solnit - A Field Guide to Getting Lost / [??? Not sure can’t find it now] / Richard Siken - Portrait of Fryderyk in Shifting Light / Amy Engel - The Revolution of Ivy / Michael Dickman - Killing Flies / Sue Zhao / Ada Limon - Bright Dead Things / Amy Tan - The Joy Luck Club / Translation from MDZS Extra ~ Villainous Friends / Richard Jackson - Nothing But Trouble / Louise Glück - Persephone the Wanderer

[ID: A web weaving featuring Jiang Cheng from The Untamed and quotes.

"Grief is an amputation, / but hope is incurable haemophilia:"

Jiang Cheng looking argumentative and saying, "How do you know he died for sure?" and then looking upset when Lan Jingyi says, "People say you killed him yourself."

"You said I killed you - haunt me, then."

Jiang Cheng angrily asking "Mo Xuanyu" "Who are you?"

"If I have the destruction of something that I once loved to carry with me at all times, isn't it like I still have a companion?"

"You wander around town, looking in dumpsters, checking pawnshops, asking strangers, hoping to find the thing you love."

A civilian saying, "However, for the past 16 years the young clan leader, Jiang Cheng, still hasn't found his body."

"I don't / want you to be sorry / I want you to / come home."

"If my brother's dead, I am not alive. / If I'm alive, my brother can't be dead.""

Jiang Cheng looking at "Mo Xuanyu". He looks almost hurt and confused

(A continuation of the first quote) "you bleed"

'those who do not love each other are not separated.'

Wei Wuxian asking Jin Ling, "Do you know why your uncle wanted to catch me?"

"You hate someone as deeply as you love them"

Jin Ling replying, "He suspects you're Wei Wuxian."

"I made a shape of the shape he made, subtracted what he shared with anyone else. There wasn't much left but it felt like him, wild and scared."

Jiang Cheng after Wei Wuxian reveals himself through Fairy.

"I don't understand how the pain of losing him can be a pale shadow in comparison to the pain of finding him again."

(A continuation of the first quote) "and bleed"

"I sit down for dinner / with my dead brother / again / This is the last dream I ever want to have"

Jiang Cheng angrily saying to Wei Wuxian, "You didn't go to Lotus Pier when you were revived."

"One day - I will tell you about the dream I had, where you and I were together and you did not leave, where I was not terrified and you were not numb, where things were the way we wished they could be and not the way they are."

"You're the muscle / I cut from the bone and still the bone / remembers, still it wants (so much, it wants) / the flesh back, the real thing, / if only to rail against it, if only / to argue and fight, if only to miss / a solve-able absence."

Jin Ling: "My uncle is always catching those who could probably be him."

"Isn't hate merely the result of wounded love?"

Jiang Cheng watching Wei Wuxian play Chenqing in Guanyin Temple.

"He still thinks Wei WuXian hasn't died. If Wei WuXian returned, he might not search for his sword, but he'd definitely come for Chenqing And so, he would definitely not give up Chenqing."

Jiang Cheng crying in Guanyin Temple as he and Wei Wuxian look at each other.

"Our promises leave without closing the door."

"As is well known, the return of the beloved does not correct the loss of the beloved".

Jiang Cheng with a bittersweet expression, watching Wei Wuxian leave after Guanyin Temple.

(A continuation of the first quote) "and bleed." End ID]

I have a soft spot for them 🥹

Set sail~! 🏴‍☠️

Some more watercolours for you all since you liked Jiang Cheng so much

#sobbing over perrito comforting puss through a panic attack

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)