A thread on why you shouldn't hate on Jiang Cheng and instead, you should love him - I sacrificed my soul to write this

This feels like it's going to be long so bear with me. If you disagree with anything I write, feel free to tell me. Please read to the end before saying anything

I'll start by saying that I'm going off Mo Dao Zu Shi. Not CQL. Why am I not using CQL? Well, bc CQL is very obviously wangxian-centric. I don't know if it was censorship or not, but it placed great importance on the two main characters which is expected.

I appreciate the drama, without context, it's an amazing drama with brilliant actors. However, it's unfortunately also my most disliked adaption of mdzs.

It essentially changed a lot of aspects of the original novel and warped the actions of many side characters to directly vilify them. Anyway, those things are for another thread.

Before I begin, let us agree that mdzs is from wwx's perspective and he is an unreliable narrator, especially bc he's been away for 13 years.

I'll start by listing the reasons I've seen so far:

1. Jiang Cheng led the siege to Burial Mounds and essentially killed wwx
2. He's ungrateful for what wwx has done for him
3. He hates wwx and this is evident through his torturing of demonic cultivators
4. He confronted wwx and lwj in the Jiang ancestral hall and attacked them

Overall, he's a violent, rude and jealous

The infamous Burial Mound Siege. Let me ask you. What would you have done if your were jc? The Jiang Sect had just been recently built, the three other major sects had formed an alliance with each other (The Venerated Triad) leaving you out, your brother left you for the sect

responsible for the death of your entire sect but more importantly your parents, and your sister had just been killed. There was rly no way jc would be able to find a way to defend wwx from the other sects, not when wwx killed thousands of ppl at nightless city and

all the sects despised him. The jiang sect did not hold the power to do this.

He didn't even have enough time to grieve, not when everything happened so fast.

Furthermore, wwx was not mentally stable at this point. Demonic cultivation was harmful to his mind and body and he has proved that he had lost control of his new-found powers multiple times throughout the novel. Additionally, keep in mind that the whole novel is in the

perspective of wwx. He's really an unreliable narrator. In the prologue, other cultivators even said that if they were jc, they wouldn't have let wwx go that far and they would've put an end to him the moment he defected.That jc had allowed wwx to live for far too long.

Moreover, although jc led the siege, he did not kill wwx. I quote from the novel, "Although Jiang Cheng was one of the main forces, he did not give Wei Wuxian the final blow. Because he cultivates the demon path, Wei Wuxian's powers had backfired and he was ripped to pieces".

Therefore, you can see that wwx holds responsibility for his own death. He even tells Wen Ning that jc did not kill him.

Moving on, apparently jc's ungrateful for what wwx has done for him. Apart from giving him his golden core, wwx didn't do anything else at all. Instead, wwx has constantly taken away from jc his whole life, as well as brought trouble for jc.

Let's start from the beginning. The moment wwx had stepped into Lotus Pier, jc's dogs, the only comfort that his father loved him, were immediately taken away due to his fear of them. Jc had swapped out his only companions for wwx, who was to be his friend.

Not only was his dogs taken away, but it was also his father's and sister's attention. Yzy was also not a very helpful factor as well in this situation.

Let's establish that jfm is a horrible father who was really the reason for all the problems within the family. There is no excuse for him. He brings his personal problems (i mean his problems with yzy) into his relationships with his children. He never truly treated jc the way a

parent should treat their child. A lot of ppl defend jfm by saying exactly what wwx did. "You're the next sect heir, of course he would be stricter with you. I'm someone else's child, of course he would be more lenient for me" or he's the typical asian parent who doesn't praise

their children. This notion becomes questionable when jc says that he believes that jfm dislikes him simply bc he is similar to his mother. As a child of a strict upbringing myself, I have never once questioned my parent's affections for me.

The fact that jc does is already problematic. To add to this, it seems that jfm's favouritism is well-known in the cultivation world. Jin Zixuan knows it and even Wen Chao knows of the Jiang's situation. There really is no excuse.

I've seen threads where they say that jfm is a bad father bc he is unable to give criticism when deserved and can only sing praises, which is a direct reason why wwx doesn't understand his actions have consequences. However, to me, he was just a horrible person who practiced

favouritism bc of his individual problems. He is definitely capable reprimanding, as seen when he lectures jc for "not understanding" the clan motto. Jfm simply favours wwx, hence, is unable to criticise and only praises.

Jfm was incapable of showing that he loved his son to begin with, jc remembers being held only 5 times in his entire life, but the with the addition of wwx, this situation only worsened. Of course, wwx never asked to be taken in, but this is a factor to add in to jc's situation.

Jiang yanli, the sweetest and kindest person in mdzs, although not extreme, is also shown to favour wwx over jc. It is only shown in the small details, such as feeding wwx soup or making wwx soup, or the infamous scene where she dies at Nightless city without even a word to jc,

but it is still there. Yzy, possibly the only person who saw the good in jc, was never very helpful, but only fuelled it as well. Jealous over her husband's possible infidelity constantly pitted jc against wwx, only enlarging jc's insecurities every time he lost. Although it was

unintentional, wwx's arrival just added fire to the jiang family's situation, yet despite this, jc never blamed him for it. Growing up, jc never mistreated wwx and he treated him like a brother, disregarding hierarchy.

Moving on, we should factor in that wwx constantly brought in trouble for jc. Wwx, who did not understand that his actions have responsibility. Wwx, who had jfm backing him up his whole junior life. Wwx, who did not carry the burden of being the sect heir. Jc was there the whole

time, sometimes helping wwx in his adventures, but mostly defending wwx if they were ever in trouble. Remember when wlj wanted yzy to cut off wwx's hand? Well, also remember, jc begging on his knees for his mother not to do it? Jc really genuinely loved wwx as a brother, even

though he was never adopted into the family. It is without a doubt that wwx's actions escalated the fall of lotus pier and the death of jc's parents, yet jc still loved him and still sacrificed himself by distracting the wen clan, but of course, wwx will never know of this, canon

wise anyway. For those of you who are going to say, 'well, he should've just told wwx'. Don't forget that wwx told him in guanyin temple jc shouldn't think about it anymore, that it's all in the past, and that it's repayment for everything that happened to the Jiang sect.

Well, this probably why he didn't want to tell wwx, bc what's the point of burdening wwx when he wants to move on?

And despite everything, that jc had helped wwx with during their childhood and teenage years, after the Lotus Pier massacre, wwx still went on to risk the sect's reputation. JC had tried to protect wwx, he had told him at the burial mounds that if he continued on this path,

he would not longer be able to protect wwx. What did wwx say? He told jc to tell everyone that he had defected and left the Jiang sect himself.

No matter how heroic, no matter how noble the act, it was executed in all the wrong ways. Consider this in jc's perspective. The man who you have always regarded as your brother, the one true friend you've had your whole life, the person you've always tried to protect,

who promised they would be together forever, suddenly leaves you for the sect that is responsible for your parent's death. Of course you would be angered and feel betrayed. And despite all this, he still brought Jiang Yanli in her wedding robes to show him,

quite touching until her eventual demise and the death of Jin Zixuan, leaving an orphaned jin ling.

Wwx's heroic complex and arrogance brought his downfall, something that a lot of people don't understand. While his sense of justice is admirable, the way he tried to solve all these problems are questionable and brought jc a lot of trouble to deal with.

Sure, wwx was a reliable older brother to jc, but it was this trust that came back to bite jc in the ass.

Let's discuss the golden core scene. 3 people consented to this golden core transfer; Jc was not one of these ppl. Wwx knew that jc would never approve of the golden core transfer if he was awake, so he took advantage of jc's trust in him and transferred it without him knowing.

This is without a doubt, a scene that I have been constantly torn over. Wwx, who thinks he knows the best for his brother as the older sibling. Wwx, who thought that jc was stupid enough to go back to Lotus Pier alone. Transferred his core into jc without his permission, keep in

mind that he promised yzy to always protect him and that he had failed this. Was his transfer out of love or was it out of guilt?

Of course, it was still a very brave act for wwx to accomplish, however, morality-wise, it is quite questionable. And now, jc-haters are saying he should be grateful for one core that he didn't even know was inside him. How can he be grateful for something he had no idea about?

It's ridiculous and completely disregards the problems that wwx has caused for jc.

Now imagine this being used against you in an argument. This brings us to the Jiang ancestral hall scene probably the scene where jc all the anti-fans gather. He calls out wwx for bringing lwj into the ancestral hall, especially when protecting lwj was the reason why wwx

triggered the wens. This is not wrong. It is only another example of wwx doing the right things in the wrong ways. No matter how angry jc was at wwx, he never once brought out the fact that he had sacrificed himself for wwx and that was why he lost his core. He never exposed mxy

as wwx, despite being certain that he was wwx even at dafan mountain. In the next scene, where other ppl (aka wn) comes into to 'fight' for wwx, the golden core secret is used against him, and he's supposed to be grateful for it bc only with it would he be who he was today.

It's manipulative and why should jc be grateful for something he knew never of, nor asked for? It's ridiculous and the hate is uncalled for.

Correspondingly, after wwx died, jc didn't adopt any dogs and he always kept Chen Qing. Constantly cleaned it too, obvious from the fact that it didn't sound rusty when wwx played it again. A lot of ppl give credit to lwj for waiting all those years for wwx, playing inquiry

and never losing hope. Not enough credit is given to jc for doing the same thing. It is obvious, he also waited for wwx's return.

This leads the controversial topic of jc torturing demonic cultivators who he suspected were taken over by the soul of wwx. You ask, if he really waited for wwx and truly loved him, why did he torture those cultivators? Well, he obviously tortured those cultivators to find out

if they were wwx or not, but the novel never explicitly said he killed them.

It was only implied. Remember that this is in wwx's perspective so obviously he would think the worst. I'm not justifying jc's torturing of innocents, but since the novel is in wwx's perspective, it never tells the true reason why jc was trying to find wwx.

What would he have done if it was wwx? No one will know.

Before anyone continues to say that jc is violent and rash for doing all this, then please remember that other characters have also killed innocents before, but they don't nearly have as much hate as jc-

Think about xue yang. He's obviously responsible for unforgivable things, yet it's all brushed off with childhood trauma and the fact that he's attractive

Jc was grieving. It's obvious by his breakdown in the guanyin temple when he's finally faced by wwx, when h finally talks to wwx seriously in wwx's second life, that he's still upset and torn over the past. He knows he should hate wwx for all he's done to him in his life, but now

obviously can't bc of the golden core and the lingering fact that he still sees him as a brother.

People who don't understand the depth of his character and throw hate at other ppl's interpretations are uncalled for and immature. At the end of the day, jc just wanted his family

to be by his side. He wanted his brother to stand as his right-hand man like he promised , wanted someone to choose him over others and see him as he rly was. He's gone through as much torment and suffering as wwx and this shouldn't be brushed away .

I don't hate wwx, he's really the perfect morally-grey protagonist. But the amount of toxic fans who see him as a man who has never done anything wrong really trigger me. If you've read the whole thread, thank you!