Sword Stained With Royal Blood: ranting-ish

[meganbmoore]

The gneral LJ dorama fandom is about as deep as I've ever willingly gone into a fandom. Message boards scare me.  Fandoms scare me.  I generally avoid them like the plague.

Since I already knew pretty much how it ended, I've been reading threads on Sword Stained With Royal Blood, as opposed to the skimming I did to see if it was any good, and there are 2 things (both primarily from Sun Fei Fei fans) that I keep seeing from some that really irritate me:

1)  The idea the Chengzhi isn't interesting if he isn't in love with both Qing Qing and Ah Jie.

2)  That Chengzhi has to love Ah Jie or their relationship is irrelevant.

For the first...ok, lets ignore that he DOESN'T love both girls, that Qing Qing always seems to be more worried about and happier to see Ah Jie than Chengzhi, that Chengzhi obviously only loves Qing Qing even though he's an idiot when it comes to showing it or understanding a girl's feelings, that he barely treats Ah Jie any differently than he treats anyone else.  How on earth is a character a "better" character if he can't decide who he loves and leads both on?  To me, it seems that flip flopping back and forth  means he doesn't really love anyone and, saying that he does cheapens all three characters and his relationship with both girls.

And the second...that one actually irritates me more.  Part of what makes the series good to me is that he ISN'T romantically interested in Ah Jie.  Now, am I all for a "in love with my enemy" type story?  Oh yes.  When the characters are compatible.  Ah Jie and Chengzhi AREN'T compatible at all.  

Does she love him?  Yes.  Could he have loved her if he didn't already love Qing Qing by the time they met?  Probably.  But the point is that he already loved Qing Qing by then, and the idea of leaving her or being with someone else never crosses his mind.  Chengzhi can be happy with Qing Qing...in fact, the only time he's been happy since leaving the mountain was when he and Qing Qing were wandering around, having adventures, and the only time he really seems to be at ease is when she's by his side, even when she annoys him.  Even if he did love Ah Jie, they'd never be able to be together.  They just couldn't WORK.  And Ah Jie knows this, even though she loves him.  I don't think Chengzhi is aware enough of her feelings for him to have thought about it, but even if he did, Qing Qing would make it a moot point.

Does he care about her?  Oh yes.  He values her friendship and felt betrayed when he learned who she was.  And yes, he's attracted to her...the boy has hormones, but he gives her only a little more attention than he does anyone else except for Qing Qing, and he tends to even take her for granted(nothing resembling social skills in the boy.)  He wants to "save" her from her sadness, and I think the fact that he wants to help her even though he loves someone else means more than it would if he was in love with her.  It means that he wants to help her for purely selfless reasons, simply because she is someone he cares about and wants to help.  There's no personal gain for him...with Wing Qing, making her happy makes his own life happier, because she's an intrinsic  part of his life, but with Ah Jie, there is no gain for him beyond making someone else happy.  Even though it's romantic on her part, I think the fact that their relationship is a selfless friendship makes it much more poignant than it would be if  they were the OTP, and I think saying it should be romantic on both sides cheapens the relationship they have.

Anyway, only 5 eps left, so I should have it finished by tomorrow.

In other news, a few icons for the series:

    

Comments

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Those are gorgeous icons. Will definitely be taking 3 and 4.

I hate hate HATE it when a character (male or female) can't make up their mind who they like and lead them both on. Ugh.

As to enemies as star-crossed lovers? I love that sort of story (and initially even noticed SSWRB because I thought it was that sort of thing) but come on, there are plenty of those out there: Handsome Siblings, Romance of Red Dust, heck even non-wuxia dramas like A Love to Kill. It doesn't have to be that to be good.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

#4 is, I swear, the most perfect Qing Qing picture ever. And 3 is our resident hero of the CANON start crossed lover romance.

The thing of it is that he DOES know who he loves, he just completely sucks at showing it. Every other guy knows (there's one point where they're wondering why someone wants to meet with him and someone jokes that maybe the guy wants Chengzhi to marry his daughter and everyone but Chengzhi and Qing Qing die of laughter because they know it'll never happen) and most girls figure it out pretty quickly, but Qing Qing comes from a truly scummy family, so if you don't tell her you care, she might not realize it, so she tends to get jealous because he is literally the only thing she has and the only good thing she's ever had except for her mother...they were both completely friendless before meeting each other, so they're both...energetic...about making friends. It's just that Qing Qing knows perfectly well how easy it is to fall for Chengzhi(biggest Knight in Shining Armor complex EVER) and is territorial.

Enemies as lovers works when they're compatible(as is the case w/ Qing Qing's parents and another couple in the show) but if they aren't it bogs it down. If Ah Jie and Chengzhi were the OTP, it wouldn't be half as good. Much as I like both characters, they would be so boring and emo I'd fall asleep. But with him loving Qing Qing but caring about and wanting to save Ah Jie because she's his friend, it adds layers to the show.

I do feel sorry for Ah Jie, though, as I know what happens to her in the end.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Completely OT, but episode 6 of Why Why Love will make your Kingone-loving heart explode from the sheer awesomeness of it all.

Seriously. I am going to do a huge picspam...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It's entirely possible that I feel a mild compulsion to raid WWL picspams and make icons, but lack the proper incentive to distract me from Stardust and SSWRB icons atm...

[curlyjo1.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what all of these are about (and don't need to get into anything new), but I'm absolutely drooling over the costumes. Beautiful stuff.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Do not say such things when I'm on a halfhearted quest to wn the world over to wuxia.

but click the sswrb tag...I've posted tons of pics and mvs

[lostopenwindows.livejournal.com]

I've never read the SSWRB novel, before seeing this adaptation I had only seen Crimson Sabre (which was awful, it seemed like Chengzhi loved Ah Jiu more, plus I got the impression that Ah Jiu was evil). But I heard that in the earlier editions of SSWRB Chengzhi was only in love with Qing Qing. Although Ah Jiu had feelings for Chengzhi he only thought of her as a friend. I liked that idea better... the changes in the latest editions turns Chengzhi into a light version of Zhang Wuji from Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

My only Jin Yong exposure before this is the recent ROCH, and so far I much prefer this.

I honestly haven't heard one good thing about Crimson Sabre...apparently Ah Jie was really wretched there.

I read about the changes in the latest editions...most people seem to hate them. I think the relationship with Chengzhi and Ah Jie is much more interesting with him loving Qing Qing but still valueing Ah Jie's friendship, which I think is the case here. He worries about her, but he got over her identity pretty quicki, and was pretty blunt with her in the palace, both in her rooms and when he was leaving...pretty much "we were friends and i won't hurt you and i'll try to protect you, but we're on opposite sides now" and it didn't seem to bother him. In fact, he seemed really cold to her when she was asking him if he'd come back to see her.

[lostopenwindows.livejournal.com]

I don't remember much about Crimson Sabre because it's been years since I watched it... but Charmaine Sheh was Ah Jiu was awful (in fact she's awful in most Jin Yong dramas she's been in). The only redeeming thing about CS was Kong Wah as Golden Snake Swordsman but even his storyline was twisted.

I think this SSWRB did a pretty good job with the "love triangle". It wasn't too melodramatic, Chengzhi does care about Ah Jiu but doesn't pine after her because they're on opposite sides. But I dislike how in JY's novels almost girls can't be friends with a guy without having romantic feelings for them at the same time. I was pretty disappointed that Wan Jiao'er fell in love with Chengzhi and liked her a lot more before that happened.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I still have 3 eps to go, but they're definately doing a good job with it...even though the romantic affection only goes one way with Chengzhi and Ah Jie, the caring does go both ways, tnd there's the feeling he COULD have loved her if things had worked out differently(but I can't see them ever having worked out at all...even if he did love her, one would pretty much have to give up who they were to be with the other)

I was irritated when Wan fell for him, too, esp since the liking between her and her senior seemed to go both ways earlier...I was liking that while the other girls seemed kind of smitten when they first met him(understandable, what with his need to save and befriend everyone he meets) they also know they already had a good thing going for them and he wasn't exactly available anyway. So far, though, at least Hui hasn't done the same...she liked him at first but ended up(so far) with who she should be with, with no pining for Chengzhi involved.

[lostopenwindows.livejournal.com]

Agreed about Chengzhi and Ah Jiu. There's the feeling of "what if?" but they could not have ended up happily together as they were.

I didn't like how it seemed like Wan Jiao'er just married her senior because she knew Chengzhi loved Qing Qing. Before falling in love with Chengzhi she seemed like a much more independent character. I think the relationship between Chengzhi and Xiao Hui is more of a brother and sister relationship than a romantic one. It's reminiscent of the one between Zhang Wuji and Yang Buhui in HSDS, they knew each other when they were little and remained friends (and nothing more) even as they grew up.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Wan Jiao'er in the first half seemed to know that Chengzhi loved Qing Qing and to value Qing Qing's friendship, and then suddenly, as soon as Qing Qing was kidnapped, she started trying to take her place and not think anyone would notice, which I thought definately cheapened the character. It was also irritating because it was obviously just driving home the fact that he'd lost Qing Qing, temporarily or otherwise, and hurting him. I think I feel worse for her senior that he was barely her backup choice (when he should have been her first choice) than I would have if she hadn't chosen him at all.

I don't know much about HSDS beyond the hero apparently being rather wishy washy about his feelings, but childhood friends/siblings is definately Xiao Hui and Chengzhi's relationship. I think she liked him a bit at first, but loved the guy she ended up with throughout. I actually really wish we'd seen more of them, as well as the general they were working with and his wife.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

WOnderful icons! I love number 1!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

thankies.