Thread by @CATACLYSMICEVIE

SPOILER WARNING but I think the contrast between Jun Wu and Xie Lian is great and all and they’re great foils, but…

the contrast between Jun Wu and Hua Cheng is SO UNDERRATED.

Because both show tendencies towards obsession, but the differences in their obsessions are IMPORTANT

Had to delete that twice because I can’t type.

But like Jun Wu genuinely believes that he loves Xie Lian and that by forcing Xie Lian to experience what he did, he’s creating someone that understands him. Grooming someone worthy of succeeding him.

But that ISN’T love.

Part of me thinks that’s exactly why he orchestrated the confrontation between Xie Lian and Lang Qianqiu in the gambler’s den arc. Because he WANTS to see Xie Lian resent and lash out at the younger, adored crown prince. One he’s assumed a mentorship position over.

Because it clearly echoes the relationship between Xie Lian and Jun Wu. And I don’t believe the initial interest he took in Xie Lian was benevolent. Even the Guoshi was EXTREMELY wary of it, because he knew: it was actually spiteful.

He WANTED Xie Lian to feel that same spite.

He told himself that he loved Xie Lian and was helping him, but Xie Lian was never really more than a tool for self validation.

Hence why Jun Wu tried to gaslight Xie Lian into becoming white no-face

Because if Xie Lian couldn’t find a third path, if he ended up becoming vengeful and cruel like Jun Wu, that would validate the fact that Jun Wu didn’t have another path. That it would validate why things turned out the way they did.

And it’s not LOVE if you only think of what the other person can do for you, and you can ONLY allow them to exist if they’re under your control. That’s narcissism and obsession.

Whereas Hua Cheng also has this obsession with Xie Lian and a hatred for the world, it’s different.

Because Hua Cheng has EVERY reason to hate society, and to some extent he does. He ALSO became obsessed with Xie Lian at the peak of his power and beauty, and he COULD have enjoyed watching his fall from Grace, but he didn’t.

For someone with nothing, constantly brutalized and despised for things out of control, it COULD have been validating to see that even a prince, who had everything he DIDN’T, could fall and be as miserable as him.

But Hua Cheng NEVER resented Xie Lian for having things he didn’t

For him, his obsession with Xie Lian was something that kept him alive. QUITE LITERALLY, and at some degree from Xie Lian’s own invitation: “Take me as your reason to live.”

It was never about what Xie Lian could do for HIM, it was always about what HE could do for Xie Lian.

He never asked Xie Lian for ANYTHING. He worshipped in his temples when they were crumbling. Even when Xie Lian was completely lost, angry, and vengeful, Hua Cheng followed him. But unlike Jun Wu, he didn’t ENJOY seeing Xie Lian become vengeful.

Because he knew it came from a place of intense pain, and Hua Cheng understood that, because he knew what it was like to feel the world LOATHE you. Just like Jun Wu. But Hua Cheng wanted to SHEILD Xie Lian from that, not force him to endure it.

Like when he initially asked Xie Lian to allow HIM to be the one to release Human Face Disease a second time, I don’t think it was out of a desire to avenge Xie Lian, like he said—I think it was because he KNEW how deeply Xie Lian would regret doing such a thing later.

And I think it is SO relevant that it’s on Mount Tonglu where Hua Cheng is given a choice: to sacrifice a few humans to save the rest. Like what Jun Wu did, sacrificing people to the volcano.

But Hua Cheng does the OPPOSITE, choosing to rip out his own eye instead.

Instead of needing Xie Lian to become like him in order to VALIDATE Hua Cheng’s own shortcomings, Hua Cheng emulates Xie Lian’s kindness at times as a means of worshiping him. His devotion to Xie Lian is a form of self salvation and improvement.

THAT is love.

And you could argue that the power dynamics are completely different, because Jun Wu was always above Xie Lian and Hua Cheng was always below, but at the start of book one, Hua Cheng is essentially the ONLY being of comparable power to Jun Wu.

He’s literally an inverse. Powerful enough to ascend, but discarding it because he could look at Jun Wu and sense exactly what he was, so he becomes a de facto leader within the ghost realm.

And it’s worth remembering that he was SO powerful that even AFTER giving Xie Lian enough power to fly the mega morphin power rangers statue around with ALL OF THE GODS on it ALL OVER THE PLACE, he was still able to go toe-to-toe with Jun Wu in single combat and even wound him.

So there really WASN’T this huge power difference between him and Xie Lian any more by the time they met. With the cursed shackles in place, the power dynamic would have initially been in Hua Cheng’s FAVOR, but his attitude towards Xie Lian remained the same.

And JUST LIKE Jun Wu, he constantly inserted himself into Xie Lian’s path through all five books. But where Jun Wu was trying to manipulate Xie Lian and control the outcome, Hua Cheng’s ONLY concern was to keep Xie Lian safe, and help him succeed.

Not HUA CHENG’s version of success, mind you, but what Xie Lian wanted.

And he was ALWAYS the most concerned with preserving Xie Lian’s freedom, saying, “Just keep doing whatever you want to do.”

No matter WHAT Xie Lian wants to do is, good or bad.

If he was like Jun Wu, he very well could have TRIED to manipulate the situation so HE was the one who ended up in the Kiln a second time, not Jun Wu or Xie Lian, and risen again as an even more powerful supreme and tried to take Jun Wu down that way, but he never attempts that.

Instead, he does the COMPLETE reverse of what Jun Wu has done for the entire series, and sacrifices all of his energy to shatter Xie Lian’s cursed shackles, setting him free.

Because Hua Cheng doesn’t NEED validation or control, he just wants Xie Lian to be safe, and free.

If the similarities between Xie Lian and Jun Wu are there to display the power of self determination and forgiveness, I think the similarities between Jun Wu and Hua Cheng show how one CAN love to the point of obsession, but selfish obsession should NEVER be mistaken for love.

Anyways I just think it’s neat ✌️