REBLOG: nhs's capability as a sect leader and chief cultivator

[thatswhatsushewrote]

[originally reblogged from danmei-confessions here on august 29, 2024.]
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anonymous asked:

I respect the anon who claimed Nie Huaisang was the one sending the anti Jin Guangyao posts, but Nie Huaisang didn't run his sect into the ground. He was a poor sect leader and probably depended on Nie Mingjue's sworn brothers more than most would say was a good idea, but I don't think we hear about Qinghe and the Nie sect doing poorly. We hear about Nie Huaisang being a headshaker and doing a poor job but not about his land and his sect suffering. I think?

danmei-confessions answered:

.

[i reblogged this ask with the following:]

we do, actually.

from the EXR translation

In the past, Wei WuXian and Nie HuaiSang studied together, so there were a few things he could comment about this person. Nie HuaiSang wasn’t an unkind person. It wasn’t that he was not clever, but that his heart was set somewhere else and used his smarts on other areas, such as painting on fans, searching for birds, skipping classes, and catching fish. Because his talent in terms of cultivation really was poor, he formed his core around eight or nine years later than the other disciples of the same generation as him. When he lived, Nie MingJue was often exasperated by the fact that his brother didn’t meet his expectations, so he disciplined him strictly. Despite this, he still didn’t improve much. Now, without his older brother protecting and supervising him, under his lead, the QingheNie Sect declined day by day. After he grew up, especially after he became the sect leader, he was often troubled by all kinds of affairs unfamiliar to him and looked for helpers everywhere, mainly his brother’s two sworn brothers. One day he’d go to Jinling Tower to complain to Jin GuangYao, and the next day he’d go to the Cloud Recesses to whine to Lan XiChen. With the two leaders of the Jin and Lan Sects supporting him, he still barely managed to settle on the sect leader position. Nowadays, whenever people mentioned Nie HuaiSang, although they didn’t say anything on the surface, the same phrase was written on their faces—good-for-nothing. (pg 114)

there are a couple different ways to interpret this:

• nie huaisang, through no malicious fault of his own, is just incompetent. he doesn't have the instincts for leadership and, as a direct result of neglecting his studies and ignoring nie mingjue's attempts to teach him (however misinformed those attempts were), hasn't acquired the skills to learn to lead, either. he sucks at this job because he is badly suited for it and also wasn't adequately prepared before nie mingjue's death, but he isn't doing any of it on purpose. OR,
• nie huaisang is feigning incompetence in order to ensure that he is never viewed as a threat by any of the other sects or by jin guangyao specifically (i have other thoughts about this, namely that he was never in any danger from jgy before the guanyin temple confrontation, but that can wait). this means that he intentionally chose to neglect his responsibilities and his obligations to his sect for the purposes of pursuing a decade-long revenge quest against one man, and allowed his sect to suffer for it.

either way, whether his actions are a result of unintentional incompetence or willful, malign neglect, he's a bad sect leader.