thatswhatsushewrote | ASKS: jgs and jgy

[originally posted here on october 11, 2024.]
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anonymous asked:

"sometimes i have to remind people that JGS's a horrible and terrifying person. i sigh every single time bc people forget for some reason. is there anything you want to remind the fandom?"

my answer:

oh, many things lol. i suspect the people who most need to be reminded are not particularly interested in anything i have to say at this point, however, if they don't have me blocked already. but in short: yes! jin guangshan is a horrible person who ruthlessly takes advantage of jin guangyao's filial piety to further his own political agenda. he's the selfish, greedy, power-hungry villain that jin guangyao's detractors believe jin guangyao to be, and i think it's a fundamental misunderstanding of jin guangyao's character to state that he "becomes his father" by the time he comes into power. because that just isn't what happens, and there's no support for it in the text.

(edited to add: or rather, the "support" that his strongest detractors rely on to support their arguments falls apart under close scrutiny, because you quickly discover that when acting under his own power, jin guangyao chooses governance and moderation rather than greed and destruction. he's morally complex for sure, and willing to get his hands dirty and bloody, but he is not jin guangshan.)

to anyone reading this who feels tempted to say "but ray, the sex workers, the brothel--" please don't bring these crimes up if you're going to separate them from their emotionally charged catalyst, aka jin guangyao discovering that jin guangshan could have chosen to rescue meng shi from literal sexual slavery, but chose not to because "literate women are too much trouble." meng shi dies from her illness while languishing in poverty, when she did not have to; in jin guangyao's eyes, jin guangshan is his mother's murderer, and there is no one else in the novel that he loves more than meng shi (no, not even lan xichen!). do you hold wei wuxian's several month-long murder-torture bender of the wen sect disciples after the sacking of lotus pier against him years after it has happened and he is no longer vengefully murdering and torturing people? if you don't judge wei wuxian by the actions he takes 1) at his lowest, and 2) when he has been directly provoked into trying to protect himself, why do you choose not to extend that same grace to jin guangyao?*

* this is not actually an invitation to @ me with discourse on this post unless you're going to be normal about it. if you can't be normal, please save us both the time and energy we'd otherwise waste spatting with each other, and just, idk. go play the sims or something.

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[this post didn't include any tag commentary, shockingly enough.]