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One of my favorite scenes in cql is the banquet when wwx tries to get info abt the wens and he says to jgs, oh, so you think I should just hand over the yin amulet to you? You think all of cultivation society should follow you?
It exposes the sheer hypocrisy of their society: they say it is the worthy who reach the top, but it is those who seek power while being "civil" (all that fuss over wwx disrupting the banquet and being rude) who are at the top--jgs who nakedly seeks to control the yin amulet.
I don't love the scene bc wwx shows off his power, but bc he shows off his awareness of the power jgs is trying to steal. The thought I always come back to is: chief cultivator is a made up role!
Despite that, jgs was still able to convince all the other clan leaders that wwx (that servant's son, the one whom all bad rumors and the ugliest face 
would stick to) is the one disrupting the proper order.
would stick to) is the one disrupting the proper order.
Having a leader of all the clans is what they fought a whole war to avoid! But wwx is out of line for questioning jgs and the chief cultivator role? For questioning jgs IN the chief cultivator role? It is ridiculous and painfully plausible given our current authoritarian reality.
Jgs is brilliant at using civility to consolidate power, but it requires complicity by the rest of clan society.
At the banquet after the sunset campaign, jgs declares himself Chief Cultivator, but no one objects except nominally nmj.
At the banquet after the sunset campaign, jgs declares himself Chief Cultivator, but no one objects except nominally nmj.
Jgs chides nmj for being late in a good-natured (read passive-agressive) manner. Jgs is very good at being genial while acting as if he has the authority to criticize nmj. He's testing boundaries like abusers and authoritarians do to see what they can get away with.
The bit about offering then rearranging chairs confuses me. Is nmj is being offered the Wen throne? Nmj refuses to take the seat. Is this how jgs tests if nmj--the least compliant clan leader--wants to seek power? Seems so given jgs's self-satisfied fauxpology.
Visually and symbolically jgs assumes power at the literal seat of their previous oppressors because that's his goal: domination. See how jgs is at the top closest to the throne on a higher pedestal than everyone else. Great pan out shot, too.
The jiangs and yao and lxc and jgy making nice while lwj sits apart represents the trade off between getting allies/resources and not being made complicit but having no power. Wwx also often stands aside or outside: lwj and wwx separate themselves from society.
There is a real material cost to not getting along! Iirc, jgy lends lxc the money to rebuild cloud recesses. Making nice often with people you dislike means not being in wars, which is important after your resources have been depleted after just fighting in a war.
This scene with lxc, jgy, and nmj is complicated! Jgy calls nmj by his most formal title "chifeng-zun." Lxc "reminds" jgy to call nmj brother bc they're all bros now, right? Jgy didn't forget, tho. Jgy knows that nmj is still angry with him for killing the bullying nie sect guy.
Crucially, lxc provides cover for jgy by giving him permission to call nmj "brother." Ofc lxc doesn't know their bad history and thinks everything is ok now that jgy's spying role has revealed jgy to be "good."
There's a great thread I can't find 
about lxc's classism.
Lxc and his noblesse oblige: this is a society that rewards worthy men, and jgy shouldn't be too shy to call nmj brother now that society (ie lxc) has deemed him worthy and they have all sworn to be brothers.
about lxc's classism.Lxc and his noblesse oblige: this is a society that rewards worthy men, and jgy shouldn't be too shy to call nmj brother now that society (ie lxc) has deemed him worthy and they have all sworn to be brothers.
The whole sequence is amazing.
Nmj: looks at jgy angrily then turns to lxc (really? this guy?)
lxc: nods his head (I vouch for him)
nmj: (i guess)
jgy: *pregnant pause* da-ge
So much reputation laundering. Now gusu lan can be rebuilt!
Nmj: looks at jgy angrily then turns to lxc (really? this guy?)
lxc: nods his head (I vouch for him)
nmj: (i guess)
jgy: *pregnant pause* da-ge
So much reputation laundering. Now gusu lan can be rebuilt!
I say all this as someone who likes lxc (he is kind!) and can understand his choices. That's how the game is played among the elite: the "good" are made to be good, the "bad" are made to be bad. The worthy help the worthy lest society falls apart. Even good people are complicit.
