The Untamed, second time through.

[which_chick]

I'm going to have to run through this a second time because there is a lot to unpack.



Episode 1: Things I completely effing missed the first time around.

The reason our young journeyman cultivators from Cloud Recesses are listening to stories about Wei Wuxian is because evil scenery chewer Xue Yang is 100% the guy behind the curtain with the fan, and later paying the storyteller with a lump of gold. Xue Yang is trying to sow some seeds of doubt because when the effects of the reforged Stygian Tiger Amulet (half strength) start showing up, he wants people to think it's the Reincarnation of Wei Wuxian. Classic misdirection. :)

We do not for sure see Xue Yang, he's kind of behind a curtain, but those are definitely his cuffs and that's his fan when he's behind the curtain. Also it is 100% for sure his swagger when he tosses the gold nugget to the storyteller. It is him, no lie. I completely and totally missed ALL OF THIS STUFF in the first go-round.

The young cultivators are the same adorable ones we see in the second half (which is also the opening stuff) except now I can actually recognize them, which is nice. They tell us about Lan Yuan right up front, too. Very helpful. (I also missed this because there were so many. But then on the second effort, I was like "Hey, It's The Same Young Cultivators!")

The cloud-n-wind passing over the building while the young cultivators listen to stories of Wei Wuxian is Wei's probable arrival at Mo Xuanyu's hut(?) in the Chez Mo Compound. Because of course it is.

All we ever see of the real Mo Xuanyu is the barefooted guy in the Wei Wuxian wakes up reincarnated scene. (I spent a fairly large amount of time wondering what happened to him in the first watch, if he'd come back, etc.)

Wei Wuxian acts weird about the Cloud Recesses cultivators the first time he sees the herd of them because he's worried one of them might recognize him from the before times, but they are all way too young for that.

The young cultivators tell us that the song Wei Wuxian plays, badly, on what looks like a grass whistle, is a song from Gusu. (I did not match up Gusu as "Location Of Cloud Recesses" until this go-round. I have the dumbs.) Anyway, it is that song also, the thematically important one we hear over and over in the show. I am reasonably sure at this point that that song is also how Lan Wangji recognizes him in the first place. Will pay attention for rewatching purposes because that would be very satisfying. Is it also the Murder Turtle Cave Song? Might could be. We'll find out in the rewatch. :) This is part of WHY we rewatch.

These guys are little journeyman cultivators out doing their thing and the weird shit at Chez Mo is honestly more than they can handle. They summon Lan Wangji for backup. Man can make an entrance. Does the costume department weight the sleeves and robe hems so that they fly out in properly nice ways? It wouldn't take a ton of weight, just a little.

Wei Wuxian has to hide because he figures Lan Wangji is gonna recognize him immediately. He's not... far wrong on that but it doesn't happen in this episode.

Nice to see that Lan Wangji doesn't need stories to bring Wei Wuxian to mind. :) First mention of Stygian Tiger whatsis and right on cue, young cultivators are Maybe Yiling Patriarch Is Not Dead as per the storyteller set up and okay, now that I'm comfortable mapping "The Yiling Patriarch" onto "Wei Wuxian" this makes more sense.

The dude in black running away from Chez Mo late at night after Lan Wangji shows up is also Xue Yang, I expect. Wei Wuxian would not have to run away and also he'd know it would be more... suspect and out-of-character to run than to just do a little crazy on site. Xue Yang would have been there generating this whole scenario so that it can be blamed on phantom Wei Wuxian whom he DOES NOT expect is actually back among the living and he needs to make a clean getaway so that his plan works.

At this point, Lan Wangji also does not know for sure if it's Wei Wuxian. He's thinking that direction because of Stygian Tiger Amulet energy and not because of anything else as yet.

Comments

[sunshine304]

Ah yes, the important rewatch for maximum gut punch effect at certain moments! XD Plus, a lot just makes more sense now!

is because evil scenery chewer Xue Yang is 100% the guy behind the curtain with the fan, and later paying the storyteller with a lump of gold.
I’m sad to say that no, it’s not Xue Yang. ;D (I don't think you're mixing up the name because scenery chewing swagger is definitely XY's thing!)
The robe with those particular cuffs/sleeves is worn by someone else, but only in like, one episode? And in ep 1 we wouldn't recognise it yet, but the biggest hint here is the fan... ;D


I also forgot the names of the junior cultivators and definitely didn’t catch the “Lan Yuan”, as he’s always addressed as “Lan Sizhui” later. Also, yeah, there are just so many of them. XD Luckily, they refrain from basiclaly giving any other Lan junior disciples any lines except for Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi, so after a while they're recognisable.

Mo Xuanyu is such a tragic character and I’m always sad that we only get stories about him without him ever actually being present so that we could judge him ourselves.

The song is indeed extremely important! I think the subtitles don’t tell you the name (only the Japanese dub does), but this is indeed their “love theme”, as it were. Lan Wangji only played this song at home where A-Yuan would’ve heard it as a child so he recognises it, but assumes it's just a traditional Gusu song like other stuff Lan Wangji might've played for him. Lan Jingyi doesn't seem to know the song, he just complains how awful it sounds. XD Come on, our man Wei Wuxian is doing his best with a piece of grass!


I’ve rewatched part of that ep now because it’s been a while and a) WTF at YouTube subtitles being completely wrong at how the Juniors address Lan Wangji, and b) Lan Jingyi is far too excited as he says that perhaps the Yiling Patriarch is back. XD

Also the person running away – I’m not sure what the consensus is in fandom but it’s not Xue Yang, who at this point in time should’ve already been stuck in Yi City and have his own drama play out there. I think it's supposed to be our mysterious guy from the beginning, wanting to check out if his plan is working and then making a hasty retreat because he definitely doesn’t want to be caught by… anyone.

[which_chick]

No biggie. At this point this is not that guy, this is that other guy is my life. Oh well.

Wiki has helpfully clarified that this guy is not that guy (shocker), he's actually Nie Huaisang, a name I will probably butcher about six times, our behind-the-scenes puppetmaster for the whole enormous revenge plot thing.

Nie Huaisang wants to depose Jin Guanyao because Murder Dimples killed Nie Huaisang's half brother (the guy with his head sewed back on, in the temple at the end). That's the why for his revenge. Motive, sorted.

Now, Nie Huaisang is not a front man (he tells us this at the end of the show), which okay, some people work better in the shadows. That evil dude from House of Cards (British version, I didn't watch the US remake) comes to mind. No reason you couldn't be a force for... maybe not-evil... from the shadows as well. (He only rates "maybe not evil" because there is a shitbucket of collateral damage in this revenge plot. His hands are not super-clean.)

*sigh* The thing is, I could kind of see why Jin Guanyao might have wanted to stir up Yiling Patriarch fears. If people are starting to look at YOU like you're the baddie... it is sometimes very useful to summon a greater evil to give people something else to focus on. That sort of worked for me as an explanation as to what might be going on here. (It was a lovely theory, destroyed by facts.)

Since that's NOT what is going on, what IS going on?

Our mastermind plotter dude Nie Huaisang wants to... prime people to be ready to see Wei Wuxian out and about. That's what the storyteller is for. I don't know why he wants this, though.

I expect that there is no point to having people ready to believe in Wei Wuxian unless you're going to then provide a Wei Wuxian for them to believe in.

However, we do not (near as I can tell) see anything where Nie Huaisang talks to Mo Xuanyu about this. There is no "Y'know, they treat you like shit. You deserve better. How can you let them do that to you? If I was in your shoes, I would show them for real. I'd... I'd... I'd set the damn Yiling Patriarch on their asses! I bet they'd be sorry then. By the by, I have here some numbered notecards limning a summoning ritual for the guy and also a complete set of stencils for the required talismans, be sure to use fresh blood for that, your own is best. I'll just leave all this stuff on the sideboard in case you need it later."

Probably that part happens off screen, yeah?

It's a bridge too far for me to imagine that a storyteller telling stories about Wei Wuxian is sufficient to motivate some kicked-out pervy halfway incompetent cultivator to root out an exceptionally obscure ritual and then level up sufficiently to get the damn thing to work. Probably Mo Xuanyu was steered and/or aided in this process.

But why does Nie Huaisang want Wei Wuxian back among the living?

I don't have the faintest idea.

Pretty much the only damn thing that Wei Wuxian does once he's alive again is bop around the countryside with Lan Wangji, exchanging Meaningful Looks and trying to solve the mystery pertaining to Events At Mo Manor. Like, seriously, that's what they do. They follow clues and they go different places and uncover more evidence body parts and stuff. Basically, they are bromantic Cultivator Detectives. That's what they do.

Am I supposed to believe that Nie Huaisang brought about the revival of the most lethal necromantic cultivator in recent memory in order to gain access to his ... detective skills?

Wei Wuxian is NOT KNOWN for being detective-y. Not saying he couldn't do it, but it's not his primary skill or his secondary or his tertiary. Dude's got a lot of skills.

Titles of Research Papers Wei Wuxian could have written or co-written:

An Alternative Method of Cultivation: This Can't Possibly Go Wrong

Yin Iron Artifacts -- Be Safe Out There
(Forging, Limitations, MSDS, and Unused Materials Disposal)

Agency In The Undead -- A Case Study
Includes interview notes with Necromancer Wei Wuxian
(Lead author: Wen Ning)

Tender Plants in Tough Places: Farming Reclaimed Lands

Give Voice to the Voiceless -- Non-Verbal Interview Techniques for the Quick and the Dead

Send Your Flat Stanley! (Safer Reconnaissance Using Talisman Figures)

Field Mentoring Young Cultivators: Strategies to Build Effective Competence

My point here is that the dude's got chops in a wide variety of skillsets. And he *is* clever. We see Wei Wuxian being clever throughout this thing. He thinks his way through stuff. And while we, ourselves, do not think of him as being a clever problem solver, he kind of is.

I mean, I guess this kind of works? But... detective-ing is not gonna be anyone's first guess as to why the hell someone resurrected Wei Wuxian. Or their second guess. Or their third. And maybe that's the point.

Still kind of feels like a lot, though.

[sunshine304]

Yeah, NHS would love to not be front and center at all, no matter where or when. What he actually wants to do in life is paint, collect birds, read porn. And that would’ve worked fine if his brother hadn’t been meanly killed by Jin Guangyao through evil betrayal music. XD

Now, he has to be front and center because he suddenly is sect leader, a job he never wanted and is ill-suited for because it means he has to do actual *shudder* work.


But yes, revenge! Once he realises that it’s Jin Guangyao who was responsible for Nie Mingjue’s death (sth that gets explained in "Fatal Journey", the tie-in movie I *ahem* still need to watch), that’s the only thing that drives him. And he doesn’t just want to kill JGY – that likely would be easily accomplished – no, he wants to totally destroy him and the reputation he so painstakingly built up. Nothing else will do.


But you’re right that he’s not the typical mastermind character. He stays in the shadows, he is a bit of a puppetmaster, but… he doesn’t plan everything in complete detail. He’s not Jin Guangyao who is indeed a typical mastermind character who will have contingency plans upon contingency plans. That’s actually why Nie Huaisang can’t plan too meticulously ahead – Jin Guangyao will notice that something is up.

I think someone in fandom once said that Nie Huaisang isn’t that great at masterminding but he’s incredibly good at cleverly winging it. That’s why he is there for many steps of the plan instead of staying far away from the scene – because he can’t predict how exactly it all will play out and therefore he has to act in the moment to steer things in the direction he wants them to.


He only rates "maybe not evil" because there is a shitbucket of collateral damage in this revenge plot. His hands are not super-clean.)
Absolutely! He’s not happy about collateral damage, but he’ll take it if it means he’ll get his revenge.


If people are starting to look at YOU like you're the baddie... it is sometimes very useful to summon a greater evil to give people something else to focus on. That sort of worked for me as an explanation as to what might be going on here.
It’s a good theory! It would be a nice distraction.
Jin Guangyao has been trying to make nice with everyone for years. So far, his plans have worked (he got rid of competition and opposition), he’s got an extremely strong ally in Lan Xichen, sect leader of the most righteous and respected sect there is, … but still, the sects don’t really respect him because of his heritage. And I think what’s most important about him is that he lives in constant fear that he will lose what he’s build for himself at any given moment, that it will all be ripped away. And he’ll eliminate whoever is in his way.
But I don’t think he would’ve wanted to use Wen Ning since the Jin sect had told everyone that they’d killed him back in the day, so Wen Ning suddenly showing up would’ve been a really bad look for Jin Guangyao. He could’ve blamed his father, sure, but still, he’s been sect leader for a while now and no-one would believe that he didn’t know about Wen Ning hanging out in the dungeons or wherever. Stirring up rumours of the Yiling Patriarch, yes, but Wen Ning doesn’t really fit.


I think the show glosses over the whole Mo Xuanyu background story far more than the novel does. Mo Xuanyu lived at Carp Tower for a while as a teenager and there he found Wei Wuxian’s notes on demonic cultivation – the notes that the Jin sect had taken from the Burial Mounds after Wei Wuxian’s death. He got really into that, then got thrown out of Carp Tower (we only have the rumours why), but that’s how he knew about the ritual.

At the time Nie Huaisang hung out at Carp Tower a lot; he was new as a sect leader and heavily relied on Jin Guangyao (and also Lan Xichen) since they used to be sworn brothers with Nie Mingjue. That’s how he got to know Mo Xuanyu and likely clocked quickly that the kid was being bullied and also had some mental health issues. Him always hanging out there but mainly to whine and cry and make drama meant Jin Guangyao got complacent around him - "Just silly Huaisang making drama about sth unimportant" - so NHS found opportunities to wander around Carp Tower and snoop.

Someone made a great timeline for the novel that shows that Mo Xuanyu actually wasn’t a teenager when he made the sacrifice; he was at least in his mid-twenties. But he was full of hatred for the life he was living and he wanted revenge by any means possible. It might have been quite easy for Nie Huaisang to talk Mo Xuanyu into enacting the sacrifice spell, as Mo Xuanyu was “into” demonic cultivation and Wei Wuxian was kind of an idol, I guess. And who else to summon but the evilest person you can think of? *g* But the assumption that many in fandom seem to have that NHS drove a teenager to suicide isn't really accurate.


You're right that the storyteller didn't motivate MoXuanyu - the plan with the sacrifice spell was already in motion. It was basically to remind people of the Yiling Patriarch and also perhaps to draw in Lan Wangji - who was known for following rumours of demonic cultivators showing up anywhere, perhaps with the tiny hope that his Wei Wuxian had come back.


But why does Nie Huaisang want Wei Wuxian back among the living?
One reason is that WWX is indeed, as you’ve said, very clever. Nie Huaisang knows this from their youth – WWX thinks out of the box, he’s great at all kinds of problem solving and thinking over complicated matters. Nie Huaisang himself isn’t great at legwork and stuff, so he needs some clever people who can do that for him.

Also, Nie Huaisang has circumstantial evidence but nothing concrete at this point to destroy Jin Guangyao. The body of Nie Mingjue has vanished (as we find out later, it’s in Yi City, where Xue Yang or Su She stored it it seems), Nie Huaisang doesn’t know about the secret room at Carp Tower where his brother’s head is (ooor he doesn’t know how to get in, I’m not sure about this point), and he only has an idea about how Jin Guangyao killed Nie Mingjue (evil music), but again doesn’t have any proof.

The music thing obviously comes from the Lan sect as Lan Xichen trained Jin Guangyao in musical cultivation so that Jin Guangyao could then play Cleansing for Nie Mingjue – which Jin Guangyao turned into the evil music (Song of Turmoil) to worsen Nie Mingjue’s health issues instead of improving them. But Lan Xichen trusts Jin Guangyao 100% (mainly because Jin Guangyao saved his life back in the day when Lan Xichen was fleeing from the burning Cloud Recesses after the Wen attacked) and to just go there and be like, “Hey Xichen-ge, I don’t have any proof but I know in my heart of hearts that your bestest friend in the world, the guy you trust with your literal life, killed your other best friend/my big brother through evil music. Please just trust me on this. Perhaps check the books in the library.”

Wouldn’t go down so well. Lan Xichen would think about it, of course, because he is a diligent man, but he would also talk to Jin Guangyao about it – or act in a way that would make Jin Guangyao suspicious.

But there is another very righteous man in the Lan sect who doesn’t have any close connection to Jin Guangyao, who would be all for justice, especially considering that a) his sacred musical cultivation was used for bitter betrayal and murder, and b) his beloved died tragically and hated by the cultivation world, with the Jin sect being a very prominent player in his downfall.
No love lost between Lan Wangji and Jin sect, really. XD Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had also shown in the past that they work well together, they’re both very intelligent and righteous – perfect for the legwork in search of Nie Mingjue’s corpse.

Releasing the saber spirit at Mo Manor was done by Nie Huaisang as well, to get the Lan sect to show up. He needed Lan Wangji in the area for when his lost love was resurrected, because Lan Wangji would ofc recognise him quite quickly and wouldn’t waste the opportunity to go night-hunting with Wei Wuxian again.

Also, tbh, Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang were really good friends back in the day. Bringing back one of your best friends from the dead so they might help you solve the murder of your brother doesn’t sound so far off.


We don’t see so much of it on the show, but night-hunting can often turn into mystery solving. Yeah, sometimes it’s just a monster sitting there that needs to be killed (and that’s what we get a lot of in the show), but it can also be mysterious happenings/deaths and the cultivators have to first find out what causes them (perhaps a restless ghost that needs to be released into the afterlife etc). The fanfiction for the show/novel has a whole lot of “casefic” because of this. It’s a staple of the genre, which I also didn’t know when I got into the show.

So indeed, resurrecting Wei Wuxian to do detective stuff with the love of his life isn’t far-fetched. :D
(He actually does a whole Miss Marple reveal back at the Burial Mounds when they accuse Su She of being Jin Guangyao’s accomplice *g*)


And from there, Nie Huaisang basically guides them along to where he needs them so they can gather the clues. Having Lan Wangji finding the clues that point clearly to Jin Guangyao not only having killed Nie Mingjue, but also being responsible for a whole lot of other shit will definitely go down better with the cultivation world than Nie Huaisang saying it, as he’s known for being ditzy and unreliable.


Someone on tumblr once said that Nie Huaisang is just very good at seeming non-threatening, gathering information by any means possible, and kicking the hornet’s nest to see what happens. That fits quite well.

It is, indeed, a lot. :D