ah yes, episode one. let's start analyzing, shall we? right off the bat, we begin with hearing two men conversing about how wwx met his doom. these voices serve as both wwx's thoughts as he stands at the edge of the cliff and as storytellers for those watching for the first time.

something that caught my attention was this quote:

"if i were jiang cheng, i would've k*lled him (wei wuxian) from the start."

this gives me the impression that everyone thinks that jiang cheng k*lled wei wuxian himself- meaning that jiang cheng must've been glorified for it.

in the next scene, we're met with :,) sect leaders :,) who were completely against wei wuxian and the stygian tiger amulet FIGHTING each other for it.

do you understand how hypocritical that is? everyone is blinded by it and its power and they all want it for their own benefit.

i doubt that they were fighting to have it and destroy it as (seen in the video) anyone who held it made it seem like they were holding the entire world in their hands.

also, this just makes me dislike sect leader yao and sect leader of baling for their hypocrisy.

:'/

also :,) is that baxia? :,) ahaha i really hope it isn't

i don't think nie mingjue would've fought everyone for the posession of the amulet tbh but who knows?

oh! would you look at that!

cinematic pause, screen freezes to emphasize the dramatic scene, cue sad mysic, aaaaand bingo- crying wei wuxian!

honestly, i love this scene so much because it breaks me in the best and worst ways. it shows us what wei wuxian saw (his perspective).

here's my take on what was going through wei wuxian's mind right then^:

-everyone's dead
-corpses everywhere
-chaos chaos chaos
-"this is all my fault"
-irreversible and unfixable
-"everyone hates me"
-"i hate myself"
-no energy to comprehend what happened

so what does he do?

this is it. there was nothing or no one that could've convinced him that it wasn't his fault. he himself didn't have the energy or will to even try and understand what happened tbh. there was literally no easy way out. he was truly convinced that he had nothing to live for.

in the beginning of the scene, we see wei wuxian holding onto his flute with tight fists. then we see a more relaxed grasp seconds before he made the decision.

confusion+resistance -> acceptance

trying to resonate -> acceptance

the want to live -> acceptance of death

okay.

firstly, wei wuxian closed his eyes having the last thing he saw be a mess but when he opened them again, unexpectedly, he saw lan wangji.

the LAST thing he would've seen before dying could've been the mess he believed he caused but he got to see LAN WANGJI one last time.

secondly, i want to talk about what's making me cry.

wwx's gaze sequence:

lwj's dripping blood, lwj's hand holding his, lwj's injury and shaky arm, and finally his tear-filled eyes.

aha.

can we talk about how lwj only sees wwx? fuck his own injury, he only wants and sees wwx.

absolute devastation

absolute devastation part two

i just wanna point out some things.

(help we're not even 5 minutes into the episode HAHAHA)

1. wwx gives lwj a small sad smile. it's a smile of acceptance and how lwj should accept wwx's death too.
kinda like: 'it's okay, i want this.'

2. jc's shaky sword (anger & hesitation)

ahah.

lwj's eyes are stolen from their longing gaze on wwx to be met with a sword.

wwx (even for a second) upon seeing jc thinks 'oh? maybe there is hope after all?'

that is until jc raises his sword in anger, further convincing wwx that nothing can be fixed.

AND BY THE WAY-

CQL WANTED TO MAKE YOU THINK JIANG WANYIN WAS A VILLIAN OR SOMETHING MAN.

like. they didn't show that he hit the rock and not wwx, yknow?

also, i love how they gave us wwx's sight and perspective by showing us lwj and jc staring down at him with different reactions as he fell.

so now we have the storyteller summarizing the irony of wei wuxian's life. he was a strong and skilled man, gorified by everyone, only to meet his doom by falling off a cliff with no trace of his body.

um can we talk about lan wangji for a second in this please because im broken

ahah... lan wangji standing at the edge of the cliff, unable to process that he's just lost wei wuxian, the man who he genuinely cared about. it's so out of character for him to stand like that, shoulders hunched over with a tight chest, which shows just how devastated he is...

i know i should speak about this more when we reach the 33rd episode's analysis but it really had me thinking:

1. how long did he stand there for with that expression?
2. how did he feel when everyone cheered for wei wuxian's death?
3. who found him first and how did they react?

ok we'll come back to that LATER as i can not fathom this sadness nonono! not here and not now!

instead, let's move on to lan sizhui and lan jingyi drinking tea please ahah

i love them so much okay so.

i think this scene kinda shows us how one of the duo is soft, gentle, elegant, smelling the tea WHILE BASSBOOSTED OOF the other throws an entire nut in his mouth and talks so loudly like

"STORYTELLER BRO!"

also i love the hinting at the robes.