The Untamed - Tumblr Posts - Page 3
We ALL know what he's talking about, am I right?
Sorry for more or less stealing this image, I meant no disrespect by the move, I just REALLY liked the artwork and I found it quite hilarious! Again, please forgive me for posting without your permission!
@gentil-minou and @quiet-contrary: Thank you for giving me the artist's identity. I took down my post, as you said I should, and I am reblogging it instead. Again, thank you so much!
Crossover Mo Dao Zu Shi x Tian Guan Ci Fu
What kind of saber is baxia anyway?
I love my bloodthirsty princess of a cursed blade, and in my heart of hearts i am nothing but a sword nerd, so i've been extremely fascinated by Baxia and how we know frustratingly little about what she actually looks like!
I mean, look at bichen, right?
Bichen in the donghua:
Bichen in the drama:
They're clearly not exactly the same. The scabbards are different, and the guards have a different shape. But these are recognizably different iterations on one theme, right? Thin jian with a white grip silver guard, light blue tassel and silver mounting accents on the scabbard.
Now this is baxia in the donghua:
And baxia in the drama:
????????
THAT'S A COMPLTELY DIFFERENT WEAPON
it doesn't stop there either, the audio drama is kind enough to give us ANOTHER COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BAXIA
pretty! But how is that he same sword??
And when we go back to the novel, we get very little information on her appearance other than the fact that her blade is tinted red with all the blood she's absorbed. Which none of these designs incorporate.
This is not a dig on the designs itself, they're all quite gorgeous in their own right and i'm going to spend a while discussing all of them! Because isn't it fascinating how, since we know little about novel baxia beyond "saber" all of these designs ended up so different? What kinds of sabers are these, anyway?
So, a chinese aber, aka a "dao" (刀) just means a sword that has only one cutting side. As opposed to a jian, which has two.
You can see how that leaves a LOT of room for variaton.
I've actually seen some people get confused because Huaisang's saber in the untsmed is thin and quite straight, making it superficially resemble the jian more than drama!baxia, but it is still clearly a saber!
See? only one cutting blade!
This, to me looks a lot like a tang dynasty hengdao
credit to this blog for providing his image and being a great source for all this going forward.
TANGENT: during all this I found out the english wikipedia page for dao is WRONG! Ths is what they about the tang hengdao!
So that sounds like the hengdao was called that during the sui dynasty, but then, after that, started being called a peidao, right?
WRONG
I LOOKED AT THE SOURCE THEY USED AND IT SAYS THIS:
IT WAS CALLED THE PEIDOU UNTIL THE SUI DYNASTY, AT WHICH POINT IT WAS CALLED A HENGDAO. Which would carry over to the Tang dynasty. This was the source wikipedia linked! and it says something else than they say it does!
Anyone know how to edit a wikipedia article?
ANYWAY
BACK TO BAXIA
Since we're already at the drama, let's look at drama baxia: She's also straight! the general term for straight-backed saber is Zhibeidao, but that's a modern collector's term, and doesn't really say anything about which historical kind of saber baxia could be based on. Another meta i found on the drama nie sabers already went on some detail here.
I'm gonna expand on that a little: The kinds of historical straight-backed sabers we see resemble the hengdao a lot more than they do baxia. They don't go to their point as harsly as she does (she's basically a cleaver!) and they're all way skinnier.
No, my personal theory is that instead of being based on any kind of historical sword, drama!baxia is based on a Nandao.
I mean, come on, look at it!
Baxia!
The Nandao... isn't actually a historical sword. It was invented for Wushu forms. There's a really fascinating article about its conception, but that's why the swords in the images look a little thin and flimsy. Wushu swords are very flexible and light, they're dance props, not weapons to fight with. There are actual steel versions of Nandao, but they're recreations of the prop, not the other way around.
So That's one way in which Baxia differes from the Nandao: she's actually a real weapon. The other is that, as you can see above, the nandao has an S-shaped guard. Baxia doesn't. She's also much more elaborately decorated, of course. Because she's a princess.
Now: audio drama baxia!
This is much easier. with that flare at the tip?
Oh baby that's a niuweidao, all the way!
There are more sabers with that kind of curved handle, but the broad tip is really charcteristic of the niuweidao. The Niuweidao is also incredibly poplar in modern media, often portrayed as a historical sword, but it originated i nthe 19th century! And it was actually never used by the military!
That's right, the Niuweidao was pretty much exclusively a civilian weapon! That makes its use here anachronistic, but so is the nandao, and considering that the origin story of the Nie is that they use Dao intead of Jian because their ancestors were butchers, portraying them with a weapon historically reserved for rebels and common people instead of the imperial military is actually very on theme!
Finally, Donghua/Manhua baxia. These two designs are so similar I'm going to treat them as one and the same for now.
Unlike both previous baxias, The long handle makes it clear this baxia is a two-handed weapon, though Nie Mingjue is absolutely strong enough to wield her with one hand anyway. Normal rules don't count for cultivators.
Now, this is where things get tricky, because there are a lot of words for long two-handed sabers. And a lot of them are interchangable! This youtube video about the zhanmadao, one of the possible sabers this baxia could be based on, goes a little into just how confusing this can get. This kind of blade WAS actually in military use for many centuries, making it the most historically accurate of all the baxias. But because of that it also has several names and all of those names can also refer to different kinds of blades depending on what century we're in.
So here's our options: i'm going to dismiss the wodao and miandao, because these were explicitly based on japanese sword design, and as we can see manhua baxia has that very broad tip, so that won't work
(Example of a wodao. According to my sources Miaodao is really just the modern common term for the wodao, and the changdao, and certain kinds of zhanmadao... do you see how quickly this gets confusing?)
Next option: Zhanmadao.
Zhanmadao stands for "horse chopping saber" so... yeah they were anti-cavalry weapons. meant to be able to cut the legs and/or necks of horses. That definitely sounds like a weapon Nie Mingjue would wield. But if you watched that youtube video i linked above, you'll know the standardized Qing dinasty Zhanmadao looked very different from earlier versions. It was inspired by the japanese odachi, and more resembles the miandao than its ealrier heftier counteprarts.
Earlier Ming dynasty Zhanmadao on the other hand were... basically polearms. the great ming military blog spot, another wonderful source, says these are essentially a kind of podao/pudao (朴刀) which looked like this
Now that blade looks a lot like baxia, but the handle is honestly too long. Donghua!baxia straddles the line between sword an polearm a little, but while zhanmadao have been used to refer to both long-handled swords and polerarms, this was undeniably a polearm, not a sword.
If you want to know what researching this was like, I found a picture of this blade on pinterest-- labeled as a "two-handed scimitar"-- and the comment section was filled with people arguing about whether this was a Pudao, Wudao, Zhanmadao, Dadao, Guandao, or a japanese Nagita.
So... that's how it was going. This has kept me up until 2 AM multiple times.
However! Thanks to this article on the great ming military blog I found out there have historically been pudao blades with shorter handles!
Specifically, Ming dynasty military writer Cheng Ziyi created a modified version of the pudao to work with the Dan Fao Fa Xuan technixues-- aka technqiues for a two-handed saber, which would alter heavily influence Miaodao swordmanship-- thereby, as the article points out, essentially merging the cleaver-polearm type Zhanmadao with the later two-handed japanese-inspired design.
This is the illustration for the Wu Bei Yao Lue (武備要略) a Ming dynasty military manual
This blade shape in the illustration doesn't match Baxia exactly, but since it's a lengthened Pudao-like blade and we've seen above that those can match Donghua Baxia's shape, i'm gonna say that calling Baxia a Zhanmadao with a two-handed grip isn't all that innacurate!
However, because all of these terms are so intertwined, there are a dozen other things you could call her that would be about equally correct.
To show that, here's a lightning round of other potential Baxia candidates:
Dadao (大刀)
Which are generally one-handed and too short. However!
Another youtube video i found of someone training with a Zhanmadao that resembles baxia a little also calls it a "shuangshoudai dao" (雙手带 刀) shuangshou means two-handed, and while 雙手带 seems to refer to a longer handled weapon, when looking for a shuangshou dao or shuangshou dadao (双手大刀) we find a lot more baxia-resembling blades like here and here
I also found that, while the cleaver-like Dadao is strictly a product of the 20th centuy, since dadao just means big sword or big knife, it has been used to refer to loads of different weapons! Some people could've called the zhanmadao and pudao "dadao" during the Ming dynasty as well.
Another potential baxia candidate that mandarin mansion classifies as similar to the later dadao (though longer, as seen in the illustration below) is the "Kuanren Piandao"
Which piqued my interest because this diagram classifying different tpye of Dao:
Claims that a Kuanrenbiandao (diferent spelling, same sword) is the same as a modern day Zhanmadao.
(So once again, all of these terms are interchangable)
Another opton Is the Chuanmeidao/Chuanweidao (船尾刀) below you can see a diagram, based on the Qing dynasty green standard army regulation, of blades all officially classified as types of "pudao"
The top middle is the Kuanren Piandao, and bottom left is the Chuanweidao.
Both of these have a lot of baxia-like qualities.
So there you go! live action baxia is based on a Nandao, audio drama baxia is based on a Niuweidao, and Manhua/donghua baxia is some kind of two-handed Zhanmadao/Pudao/Dadao depending on how you want to look at it.
I'm honestly surprised no one has made the creative decision to portray Baxia as a Jiuhuandao, aka 9 ringed broadsword yet.
I mean look at it! Incredibly imposing. Would make for a great Baxia imo. (@ upcoming mdzs manga and mobile game: take notes!)
Okay but like Wen Kexing at least wanted redemption in doing good things to clear his name in the end; Xue Yang was evil and he knew it to the point that even when he found the life he could have had and a family he wanted, he couldn't help ruining it and never admitting that he did anything wrong. His "regret" manifested in doing even MORE insane stuff to try and maintain control and push the blame onto others.
I love both of these unhinged boys but at least my lovely Wen Kexing got his senses back with the power of true love and eyeliner-remover
Most Unhinged Round 3: Wen Kexing (Word of Honor) vs Xue Yang (The Untamed)
[Submitted Reasons Under Cut]
Wen Kexing: "that scene in episode 4 where he’s like frowning and upset that he got blood on his hands… babygirl YOU just stuck your hand through a man’s throat after single handedly massacring like 40 people in broad daylight. What did you think was going to happen…. And then next episode he’s like “oh poor little old me I can’t even kill a chicken. who is going to take care of me I’m just a humble little philanthropist who needs a big strong man to protect me.” babygirl you’ve led a bloody reign of terror for like 8 years now after skinning your predecessor alive and the people known as being the most cutthroat and evil in the whole martial arts world literally call you Lunatic Wen because you regularly gruesomely kill your subordinates to make examples of them…. He recognized a boy he met once as a child 20 years later by his shoulder blades and decided to marry him right then and there. He decided to not burn down the entire world because he wanted to become a housewife. If he was hinged once, he no longer is now."
Xue Yang: "Spoilers but this man had his pinky finger run over as a child and decided to murder literally everyone in retaliation. He thought ending many lives equated to his loss of the smallest and least useful appendage on one hand. He tricked a man into murdering the love of his life so that he could continue being with him (the man was blind and didn’t know who he was). When the man found out what he did he killed himself and xue yang tried to reanimate him. Sick. Twisted. Unhinged."
One of my favorite additions that the MDZS adaptations gave us was the little detail that, in addition to storing Emperor’s Smile in his room, Lan Wangji also stored bamboo flutes and was implied to have learned how to carve them and did so on a regular basis.
I just really like the idea that even though he didn’t know if Wei Wuxian would come back, he was preparing for it anyway. He raised Lan Sizhui and tried to train the juniors to be open-minded and unbiased, he held the weight of his whip scars and the sun brand on his chest, he filled his room with Emperor’s Smile that he might never be able to give Wei Wuxian.
I like to think Lan Wangji was learning to carve bamboo flutes even before Wei Wuxian died, since his methods of expressing himself often manifest in secret actions rather than words. Before he knew it, he found himself taking an interest in making dizi flutes and had a collection of them building up - and Lan Xichen is watching with a knowing gaze and offers to tune the flutes to help him improve (does Lan Wangji know how to play any flutes? I assume Lan Xichen knows somewhat how to play a dizi even though his Liebing is a xiao but I'm not a floutist so idk). Bonus angst if Lan Wangji ended up burning a pile of flutes every time he had a breakdown about Wei Wuxian being dead. Then he just goes around carving more.
The original novel has Wei Wuxian using the same out-of-tune bamboo flute nearly till the end, but like - Lan Wangji seeing Wei Wuxian playing badly just to (poorly) hide his identity and then Lan Wangji being so madly eager to show off his skills that he prepared just to serve Wei Wuxian at any and all times. He just whips out a bamboo shaft and a carving tool, and masterfully makes a flute in moments, and Wei Wuxian is oblivious like "Wow, nice job, thx!" and doesn't fully grasp that Lan Wangji is saying "I will make you a thousand bamboo flutes because I love you and will give you whatever you desire, that little surprise and pleasure on your face is worth all the time I waited -"
You know?
Still working way too hard on an MDZS fic BTW, like it's way over 1000 pages in Google Docs and half of it is me just transcribing the novel and the other is me repeating my feelings on everything with an OC or three. What am I doing with my life?
Doctor Who and The Untamed. I mean, Wei WuXian would love the TARDIS, but I'm not sure the TARDIS would love him. Might expel him into space. Lan Wanji would not be amused. The Doctor, on the other hand would be delighted by xianxia cultivation and honestly can you just see him on his own personal flying sword omg.
combine your first real fandom with your current one to create a terrible, terrible au
If someone asks me what is Beauty, I'll show them this.
omghijkl this is so beautiful 😭😭
© maomao爱花卷
※re-posted with permission ※please don’t remove the source
YanQing modern AU - in which Wen Qing is a popular makeup artist on YouTube, and Yanli is a devoted fan (with a little bit of a crush) 💘
Drew this last year for JGY’s birthday but never posted it here. I hope he enjoys his tea with Zhao Jing 🍵
inspired by this post by @drwcn... all the Jin bastards canonically see Stab as their way of solving a problem when the situation gets dire, which I think in a universe where the sibs get a chance to get to know each other, might give poor JZX a bit of a complex
Kdo by vyhrál: The cruel indifference of the universe (touha odmaturovat) vs the indomitable human spirit (tolik čínských seriálů na youtube s titulkama teď dokoukám Word of Honor a pak si znovu pustím The Untamed a pak asi Heaven Official's Blessing a vlastně mi tu leží ty knížky a vlastně bych se mohla začít učit mandarínskou čínštinu a koukat na to bez titulků a
i was like “jiang cheng’s courtesy name could be translated as Nightsong River” and asma said “that sounds like a unicorn name” and that, NATURALLY, got me thinking about unicorns
[images are three paintings of unicorns. the first resembles a warmblood or andalusian, with a kirin-like horn and an pale, icy-grey coat; his mane, tail, and feathering are white and stylized to look like clouds; a long white ribbon is wound halter-like around his face and trails off from where it’s tied behind his ears. the second resembles a fine-boned arabian in a rakish pose, jet black and backlit with eerie red light, mane and tail so long they tangle like smoke. a bold red ribbon is in his tail. the third has an athletic build, a roman nose and an angry expression, is black with purple highlights, a silver chain around one stomping hoof and purple lightning sparking off his horn and raised forehoof.
the fourth image is several sketches of further unicorns: a blustery alicorn colt; one with an overgrown mane, shackled hooves and blank eyes; one blindfolded with a broken horn; a stout, bearded one communicating disgruntedly with a much smaller, delicate-looking one; and a secretive-looking one with curled mawari ears. the ears are labeled, “these instead of dimples.”]
I watched Mo Dao Zu Shi and just couldn't help but draw WangXian.
I also hyperfixated on them hard. Like really hard. So await more art with the Chinese husbands 😅
Something that is in fact SO important to Wei Wuxian is that, fundamentally, he is hot. He is Thee Hot Girl. He’s shooting five arrows blindfolded as a charged political statement and he’s doing it with zero magic powers AND he was sexy when he did it. He beats out his own brother (sorry, Jiang Cheng) for Most Eligible Bachelor despite being literally dirt poor and not a sect heir. He lives rent free in the minds of everybody twenty years later, to the point that JC and LWJ are literally Like That and NHS literally constructed his revenge plot around him and— look, just watch the scenes at the Second Burial Mounds Siege. Oh, and they use all his inventions, even though he’s an evil heretic, because uhhh they were really good inventions. Actually. Like he was in fact at the top of the field as an inventor and innovator. And he was hot. AND he had no powers. Whoops.
it's not talked about enough, how lan wangji begins mirroring wei wuxian in body after he dies. It's symbolic, I think, and also very beautiful.
See, it's pretty clearly stated that there was no body left of wei wuxian after his death. There was nothing left. Lan Wangji checked. But wei wuxian and him– they were a part of each other. They were mirrors, in sharing the same morality and beliefs. They were a single soul, just in different bodies and expressing their morals in different ways.
And so, Lan Wangji, grieving and so, so alone, becomes Wei Wuxian. He begins to be him in his absence – in his death – because he believed in him and believed the world to be better for his existence and now he was gone. And lan wangji had a responsibility to that, to the vow they took.
The wen brand, exactly where wei wuxian's own was. The whip marks, the same as the ones probably left by zidian on wei wuxian's back. Breaking the rule on drinking, to understand wei wuxian's love for it better.
Keeping pieces of him in private, becoming him in public. Teaching students under his tutelage wei wuxian's techniques. Being bolder, more shameless, more like the man he loved.
Wei Wuxian's body and soul may have been lost forever, but not to Lan Wangji. He who knew wei wuxian better than the back of his own hand. The world may have killed him, but not to Lan Wangji. No, to him, wei ying was always alive, living in him, in a-yuan, in jars of wine and bottles of chili oil, in hidden flowers between pages of books, in the rabbits hopping about, and at the core of the urge to live with no regrets.
Something I believe in my heart of hearts is that Feng Xin and Mu Qing originated as one character and that character is Jiang Cheng.
I am sick so please entertain me
I know that some of you, my lovely followers, have managed to never fall down any Chinese rabbit holes no matter how hard I've pushed.
So if you have NOT watched The Untamed or read MDZS, only gleaned what you can from Tumblr posts being foisted upon your dash, please tell me what you believe to be the plot of The Untamed. (If you have watched it, reblog this because I'm sure you also have followers who have not seen it and I will take all comers.)
The Untamed remake where everything's the same but the soundtrack is replaced by Talyor swift songs
Happy birthday to our boy! Lan Xichen ( Liu Hai Kuan )
