Okay, for once I thought of something when I was in a place to write it down. One thing that's been bothering me in the episodes since the Sunshot Campaign: every time there's been a public debate of any kind regarding Wei Wuxian's words or actions, when Lan Wangji takes his side, people immediately dismiss (or are suspicious of) his opinion, because he's known to be such good friends with Wei Wuxian. In the novel, everyone thought they hated each other. It was such a widespread rumor that even Wen Qing was aware of it, and after Lan Wangji's visit to the Burial Mounds, she even commented on it. Obviously, the rumor had no way of surfacing in the show, since the Sunshot Campaign was too short (and Wei Wuxian too inactive) for them to have countless public arguments about his demonic cultivation. But without that rumor, without all those arguments, the opening of the battle that will become the Nightless City Massacre makes no sense, because why would Wei Wuxian (let alone the audience!) believe his steadfast best friend is suddenly trying to kill him? Of course, in the novel we knew Lan Wangji wasn't trying to kill him, because that was one of the rare moments we were told what he was thinking, and so the reader knew he was actually trying to destroy Chenqing, thinking that it was an evil instrument that was corrupting the man he loves. In the drama, we're not told that and their relationship is almost perfect (except they're not allowed to act on their feelings) so...I mean, they put that opening attack in the opening credits, it's one of the Netflix thumbnails, and the art design painting for it is the cover of the art book (at least for the English version anyway), but when we actually get to that moment, it's been entirely undermined by everything that's led up to it.
Or. Well, I won't get to it until the next episode after this one, so...🤷🏻♀️
I guess I just wanted to write that down while I remembered it.
Oh. But I need to keep that in mind in the early stages of my fic: they never got any reputation for disliking each other in this version of canon, so no one should be surprised when they're seen together. (After the Sunshot Campaign is over in my fic, they're kind of forced to come out about their relationship due to something being overheard when all the allies are gathered in Nightless City for the victory celebration. (Following the show's lead there...) So obviously at that point people should only be surprised to see them apart. 🤣)
Also, I think I may have decided another detail to work into my fic's setting. Given the way the show seems to prefer having people pay with chunks of "silver" instead of coinage, I'm thinking maybe they decided that in the setting for the show, the empire just outright died, and there is no mundane government anymore. According to the art book, they drew on the Jin and Wei periods for visual design. The Jin Dynasty in question (did I already post about this?) was the one founded at the end of the Three Kingdoms period that we Westerners are familiar with from the Dynasty Warriors games. (Among various other pop culture IPs, many most of which are also Japanese in origin. 😰) Then there was a period called the Sixteen Kingdoms, in which small kingdoms rose and fell at the drop of a metaphorical hat. That was followed by the Wei Dynasty, which also fell in disarray after a while, leading to the Northern and Southern period (in which Thousand Autumns is set). Anyway, I'm thinking that the lack of coinage--and the constant massive battles without any sign of imperial authority coming around to find out why people are slaughtering each other in such numbers--makes it plausible that the drama is set in such an alternate history that the government itself just failed entirely, and thus the cultivation clans are as close to government as there is in the area, which would explain why Wen Ruohan was able to exert such crazy amounts of power. Given that in my fic I actually had the other clans dividing up the Wen Clan's territory after the Sunshot Campaign as if they were literal warlords, I think I'm just going to make that an official part of the AU setting, that the clans are actually ruling the land, even if they don't specifically talk about it that way.
I think.
I dunno. I'm still on the fence about that, I guess.
And yet it sorta makes things make more sense, in a way? (Though I do have some places where they talk about what normal armies and rulers of men do, so...does that make it more or less plausible that they're actually running the country? Hmmm....not sure who to ask for advice on that...)
Actually, that might make a really interesting fic in and of itself: the failure of the normal governments and the early clan leaders (who we only know the names of two of, Wen Mao and Lan An) stepping up to protect the people in the absence of any imperial court. Maybe they'd even have to put down some warlords who were trying to become new kings and were crushing the people in the process. Unfortunately, it would require a level of historical research that would be difficult to pull off without being able to speak Chinese. Or at least having access to a really well-stocked university library system. (As I am supposed to be researching Late Bronze Age Babylon right now for book four of the Atalanta and Ariadne series, I really should not even attempt to research such a fic. I guess I'll either put it on the list of "fics I'd like to write someday" or maybe I should look and see if anyone else has already written such a fic.)
Anyway. Incomprehensible nonsense, rambling and spoilers follow.
