Have you heard? The rubbish heaven official is having an affair with the ghost realm's #1 bigshot--and it's on Netflix now!

This thread will be an intro to Tian Guan Ci Fu, aka Heaven Official's Blessing, with a focus on the donghua to celebrate its Netflix release today!

Before I get into anything I want to put some content warnings for the series up-front. TGCF has strong themes of death, war, trauma, and loss. Body horror is recurring, particularly in the novel, and suicide or suicide attempts are a common backstory for characters.

It's a great series! But it can be pretty heavy, so please tread with caution.

Now then! TGCF is a fantasy BL webnovel by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (who you may also know as the author of Mo Dao Zu Shi and Scum Villain's Self-Saving System). It has an ongoing manhua (comic) adaptation and a donghua (animation), the latter of which is the focus of this thread.

It's about a disgraced god, a powerful & feared ghost king, and their intertwined fate going back 800 years. Along with the romance, there's plenty of action and mystery!

I have a few more notes I wanna make real quick, and then I'll get to some character intros!

1. The donghua currently only covers the first two arcs, which is about halfway through the first book of 5. The manhua isn't very far ahead of that either, to my knowledge.

2. There's a couple of characters I've decided to skip because it's hard to talk about them without spoiling their introductory arcs! Sorry to XJ and BY </3

3. Some quick terminology:

Heavenly Official: Gods, basically. Formerly mortals, ascended through great deeds.

Junior Official (called Deputy Official on Netflix): Lesser gods, appointed by heavenly officials rather than ascending.

(1/2)

(2/2)

Four Calamities: The 4 most powerful & feared ghosts in existence

Three Tumors: 3 gods who are very important & revered, but disliked due to their personality and/or reputation

Okay, that was a lot to get out of the way early on in the thread, but now it's time for the fun part: character intros!

XIE LIAN
Aka: His Highness the Crown Prince (Taizi Dianxia), God-Pleasing Crown Prince, etc

-The mc!
-Formerly a crown prince loved by his people and the heavens alike, he's fallen from grace and is now a scrap collecting god with a single dilapidated shrine
(1/2)

XIE LIAN (cont)

-800 years of misfortune have led to him being very good at rolling with whatever comes his way
-Friendly and good-natured, generally
-"Do no harm but take no shit" basically
-The world's worst cook. His food can be used as a bioweapon

HUA CHENG
Aka: San Lang, Crimson Rain Sought Flower

-The love interest!
-One of the Four Calamities, and easily the most feared among them
-Very mysterious. Knows a lot. Very interested in XL
-I was asked to call him the ultimate gayboy. It's true, he is

MU QING
Aka: General Xuan Zhen

-A martial god
-Formerly XL's personal attendant, but has (supposedly) cut ties with him
-Rolls his eyes A Lot
-I'm calling out a mutual here. Hey Jenn come get your tsundere fix

FENG XIN
Aka: General Nan Yang

-A martial god
-Formerly XL's bodyguard, but, like MQ, has (supposedly) cut ties with him
-Notably has a hard time talking to women
-There are actually spoilers tied to him so I'd be careful looking him up!

God I'm stupid I forgot to put something of the Utmost Importance in FX's summary which is that he has a big-- /j

FU YAO (left) & NAN FENG (right)

-Junior officials under Mu Qing & Feng Xin, respectively
-They help XL out frequently
-At each other's throats constantly
-...They really aren't even trying to hide it, huh

LING WEN
Aka: Ling Wen Zhen Jun, Nangong Jie

-Heaven's foremost literary god
-One of the Three Tumors
-She keeps all the processes & procedures in heaven running smoothly
-Serious & work-oriented, always overworked, please give her a vacation
-Popular among sapphic fans

XIAO YING

-Only present for the first arc but I'm including her on account of I love her
-A plain mortal girl who helps XL & company
-Skilled at mending & tailoring clothes
-She's just. very sweet. Xiao Ying my daughter you deserve the world

LANG YING

-A boy living in the mountains with Xiao Ying's aid
-His bandages hide a certain condition that shouldn't exist anymore, and yet...
-Be careful of potential body horror/trypo/skin trauma images if you look him up!

PEI MING
Aka: General Ming Guang, The General Who Broke His Sword

-Martial god of the north
-One of the Three Tumors
-MASSIVE womanizer
-Saw Hualian kiss and went "damn, the prince has game"
-Personally, I am not immune to Pei Ming

PEI XIU
Aka: Pei Su (see below), Little Pei

-A junior martial god appointed by Pei Ming
-Also Pei Ming's distant descendent
-Generally very calm & composed, but he loosens up later in the novels

About his name: The character used for his name, 宿, can be read a few different ways. Fan translations of the novel used Sù, so it's what most older fans are used to and how older things refer to him; it was only with the donghua that we learned it's actually Xiù.

SHI QINGXUAN
Aka: Wind Master, Young Lord Who Pours Wine

-Local genderfluid wind god
-Flips between male & female forms whenever they desire (guy mode hasn't shown up in the donghua yet tho)
-Carefree, just likes to be pretty & drink & have fun
-DO NOT LOOK THEM UP. SPOILERS.

MING YI
Aka: Earth Master

-SQX's friend(?)
-Surly & unfriendly. Just likes to stuff his face
-I only have pics of him in fem mode bc he also hasn't shown up in masc mode yet but trust me he actually hates this. He was peer pressured
-DO! NOT! LOOK! HIM! UP!!!

And... I think that's about everyone relevant in the first two arcs, except two characters that are hard to talk about without spoiling their respective arcs!

If you've made it this far and you're interested in watching or reading it, please do so!! The donghua is currently 13 episodes including a special, with a second season on the way, and available on Netflix and Bilibili.

If you watch that and decide you want more... you're in luck! The original novel series, translated in full, including all extras, can be found here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oXnp5Y2OD70i78utu4BcQ3xgAlygypd0

I'll definitely add to this thread when season 2 starts btw because that's most likely when my fav will be properly introduced
In the meantime, if you liked this thread, keep an eye out! I do this sort of thing a lot!