which_chick | (Reply)

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Well, it is quite normal to be better at differentiating faces of our own ethnicity than that of others, simply because we usually grow up in that environment - like I'm in Germany and so it's a given that I'm surrounded by mostly white people and find it easier recognising these faces. That said, I'm also not suuuper good at recognising people just from their face - like all these up-and-coming young white actors? No fucking idea who all of them are, names and faces completely interchangeable. XD
I've also had it happen in real life that people act like they know me and I'm thinking really hard where I know them from. XD Often, it's because they know my parents/grandparents, but it could also be horse-related, or from work or whatever. I was at a meet-up from a website once where a girl and I stared at each other for quite a while, because we both felt like we knew each other from somewhere. Names didn't ring a bell and we couldn't find a connection where we might have met. Was this my lost soulmate from several lives ago? Who knows. XD We never could figure out why we thought we must know each other. Weird.

But anyway, you don't need to keep all these juniors disciples straight, as only three (+1) are important: The two Lan boys (nice Lan Sizhui and loud Lan Jingyi), the arrogant Jin boy (WWX's nephew) and kinda Ouyang Zizhen (the kid dressed in red who is a romantic) - he's not really important but he is very beloved by the fandom and they make a fun quartet.

(*psst* It's Jiang Cheng, with a g. Chen would be a completely different name. XD And I'm sure he'd be super angry at you. XD He's my beloved angry purple grape.)

Yeah, WWX coming back as himself is a dead give-away, especially because he's really bad at disguising himself. Like, he's got the mask he's usually wearing around the people who know him from before (except Lan Wangji because he knows anyway), but other than that? He dresses the exact same way as before, he can't help but act/talk in his usual way (even though at times he tries to play up the supposed role of Mo Xuanyu, but mostly he forgets XD), he has the fucking flute of evil, and notoriously hands-off Lan Wangji sticks to his site like glue, the deadest give-away to ever give something away. XD It has to be said that many of the characters from his old life can't be sure it's him, though - they do have strong supicions, though, until they're able to confirm one way or another.

Yeah, Xiao Xingchen & Co weren't mentioned for a long while... I also had to actually rewatch eps 1+2 after the flashback ended in ep 33, because I had completely forgotten about the evil sword spirit. XD

The whole Xue Yang/Xiao Xingchen/Song Lan drama is a whole tragic arc - basically, Xue Yang wanted to get revenge but he also kinda... fell for XXC in his twisted way, played house for a while and then had fun getting revenge on Song Lan - which ofc fucked up XXC when he realised that he'd killed his former best friend, so suicide it was. Which fucked up Xue Yang because see twisted "I think I've fallen for my enemy" thing. And since Xue Yang always admired WWX and wanted to be like him, he hoped to revive XXC - or at least preserve him until he could come up with a way to revive him. He hoped that WWX would be able to help him do that but it's not possible because XXC's soul shattered when he killed himself (out of grief, despair etc.). So yeah, XY fucked around and found out, I guess.

Yeah, they talk around the suspect a lot - the sword spirit belongs to Nie Mingjue's sword. Nie Mingjue is the headless corpse in the coffin and who Lan Wangji's brother calls "dage" - big brother; his bestest friend in the whole world who is considered dead after qi deviation though his body wasn't found at the time (qi deviation: where the meridians that hold their spiritual energy inside the body basically fuck up and the person starts... exploding? Kinda). And they are indeed talking about Jin Guangyao, the smiley guy with the big hat, who is also bestest friend with Lan Wangji's brother but had a fraught relationship with Nie Mingjue. So you're right - if he is indeed the evil guy with the mask, Lan Xichen will be very hurt and betrayed.

But, you have to dribble out enough breadcrumbs of information for the super-observant people to be able to get it. Gotta do the groundwork, so that when you get to Grand Reveal, people can think back on what they saw and didn't notice or didn't take seriously enough and go "Yeah, okay, I get it" instead of "WTF?! NO WAY!"
And that's why "subverting expectations" and having twist villains without any build up often gets rejected by the audience after the initial "whoa!" moment of shock. XD If a story is done well, the really observant readers/viewers should be able to guess the villain/twist/whatever - they'll get satisfaction from the reveal for being right about it, while people who didn't catch it initially will get satisfaction from being super surprised/shocked and then realising that yes, there were hints, they just didn't notice. So many stories have fallen flat in recent years because this was not heeded, twists were not set up and therefore the audience got pissed (for example, Game of Thrones...).

There is some kind of THING with the rabbits.
There is indeed! They a re a symbol for queerness. Check out this tumblr post for a short explanation. (No spoilers, you've already seen these things and it's just about the animal symbolism.)

He's not... good at the leading part, particularly. Can't make decisions. Tries to be weirdly friendly with everyone?
Jin Guangyao in general is good at leading a sect (in universe, only Nie Huaisang who is running Nie Sect and called the "headshaker" is considered a bad sect leader), but his background as the son of a prostitute (not concubine, that wouldn't be as bad) causes his standing with the old school clan leaders to be very difficult, especially in his own sect because the Jin are all about class. And being son of a prostitute makes him come from the lowest class. That's why he is so extremely friendly and deferential to everyone; always polite, don't cause a fuss. He does cultivate, but his cultivation isn't very good because he started to work on it so late in his life (a cultivator would start as a small child; he couldn't because again, son of a prostitute).