#like. for example Love and Redemption - no matter how good luohuo jidu was Bai Lin could only see him as a devil

[mejomonster]

The biggest fear watching like eps 15-29 of ice fantasy was like oh No OH Dear WHO is Ying Kong Shi's daddy because several things could very easily swing from people are setting up a romance to that's his sibling territory real quick!!

Which his mom being a mermaid??? ALSO added to this nightmare! ToT his mom calls the Mermaid Saint leader mom, and Lan Shang is Shi's Moms older sisters daughter. And everyone was contemplating marrying Lan Shang to Shi which would be cousins?? But then eventually there's a scene with Shi's mom and the Mermaid Saint that sort of implies his mom was treated/regarded "as a daughter" but is not actually her blood daughter. So thankfully I don't think Lan Shang is actually related to Shi or his mom except for being connected to Mermaid clan generally. Not that Lan Shang or Shi would ever be together, since they have a frienemies/friends kind of vibe, but still it was momentarily horrific in the context of Mermaid Saint trying to set it up when reveals hadn't come out yet

Then there's Fire King... Shi's mom thinks she slept with the fire king, but also seems aware on some level she slept with something More powerful than the fire king and the ice king and that's what made shi. So like? While shi is not the fire kings kid... most of the ice kingdom leaders Think he's the fire kings kid, fire king also thinks shi might potentially be his kid, and shi's mom doesn't really reveal to the audience it's probably something More Monstrous that is his dad until after all these assumptions got presented. MEANWHILE shi is not as up to date as the audience, thinks his mom lied and he IS the fire kings kid, which fucks him up a lot personally for a myriad of reasons - he thinks he's the enemy's son, he thinks as a kid when he killed the enemy fire prince he killed a Family Member, he must feel confused af about the situation with Yan Da, he thinks he almost killed his Actual Dad for his ice dad who's always wanted shi dead... just a lot of very sucky feelings for Shi while he's believing the incorrect assumptions. Like shi baby thank Fuck you aren't actually the fire kings son but just you thinking you are is already hella traumatizing

THEN there's the case of people maybe finding out who his actual daddy is later... the saints clearly got one of their own killed trying to read baby shi's future, that killing force was probably his dad/connected to his dad. His dad is probably some ancient fire ice immortal tribe, probably had to do with the She Yin situation idk.

Also the dark mist possessing shi and claiming it was from a higher form of immortal and wants the 3 realms to burn? Fascinating. I am wondering if like.. whatever immortal is the dark mist/shi's dad is like the USUAL xianxia type immortal - actual heavenly clan or demon clan type, since this whole show so far has operated in a world of immortals devoid of those Two usual powerhouses. Maybe long ago the heavenly clan and demon clan got wiped out (either by each other or the other clans like ice and fire), and this dark mist remnant wants payback. Having a bigger Immortal Type be Shis dad might also explain why he is So Overpowered.

#ice fantasy #ice fantasy lb #liveblog #basically 1 arc was like let me give the watcher a heart attack about all the ppl being pushed toward shi romantically #who might be his siblings -.- then eventuallt the show was like #ACTUALLY dont worry none of those people are his dad. BUT his actual dads probably pure Monster #which is worse for like. him in general long term. #but then poor shi isnt up to date on the monster dad reveal. hes still stuck on the incorrect 'my dads the fire king' info #which is traumatizing him plenty currently #also i found it interesting this show went the Ka Suo and Shi actually atent related at all route #because i expected shis mom to be where the not-ice powers came from so i was definitely wrong lol. i figured ice king Was his dad at first #so like. its even more impressive to me that ka suo is SUCH a good older brother he continues to see shi as his little brother #to care about and love regardless. shi also is imoressive for continuing to care about an older brothers happiness and freedom #when they have zero blood tie or political reason to need or want to help each other now. #they keep pickiny them against the world cause theyre found family #which means a lot to me. especially when in royal shows and clan shows. family ties and reveals can drastically change allegiances #like. for example Love and Redemption - no matter how good luohuo jidu was Bai Lin could only see him as a devil #or sifeng. no matter how close he was to seventh bro as a found family friend. once #he was revealed demon instead of human he was immediately distrusted.

[mejomonster]

this show covers too much for me to even express but. in short like. i love how compassionate Love and Redemption as a story is.

i love beyond words that the final battle is supposed to be luohuo and bai lin, with sifeng trying to support luohuo getting closure and healing, with all the demon/luohuo’s/humans wanting to avoid a giant bloody world destroying fight. i love that the good guys are trying to prevent a massive war - and that’s all luohuo/xuanji/god of war has EVER been trying to do. luohuo came to talk to bai lin long ago to tell him he had a way to END the war!!! god of war ended it, got surrender from the Asuras - and it was BAI LIN who made her anihilate the Asura from existence instead of just leaving it at the peace god of war had already accomplished!!! the world has BEEN at peace since and if bai lin would just leave luohuo jidu the fuck alone, then luohuo jidu does NOT want the world to burn - he just wants answers for the wrongs personally done to him and his entire people by bai lin!

i love so much that the devil king is the person i’m rooting for, that sifeng the demon bird is the most level headed peacekeeping fucking person, that the bad guy is just Completely Irredeemably Evil and WE know that - and him being ‘heavenly’ makes 0 difference. because he’s the one trying to wipe out demons and humans right now. he’s the one who started all these crimes, and he’s where they’ll end.

i love that Wu Zhi Qi came to get those cehai weapons from the god of war FOR the memory of luohuo (foreshadows zihu huh..), i love that he’s so KIND. i love that the solution him and LingLong and MingYan and company have to stop the potential war??? is to speak to the Heavenly Emperor. And again - completely surpassing any expectations - there is no celestial beast fight at the gates (like there’d be in so many other shows). Instead they’re kind, and feed the beast and act nice and get the BEAST to agree to let them in - showing that even in this world full of monsters like Bai Lin, some people choose to do so much better. To be kind to people who haven’t hurt them. And to be willing to try to come up with alternatives to problem solving that aren’t as ruthless. Like? Also Mingyan being willing to forgive Ruo Yu? To At least work side by side with him? Yet MORE compassion - and a perfect contrast to Bai Lin. Bai Lin, who had a lover as an Asura, an Asura Star of Mosha who still saw him during a war and constantly tried to END the war so they’d all be okay - and Bai Lin violated him, tore him up and wiped his memories and turned him into a puppet, and made him kill his entire people. Bai Lin, who could NEVER be even a speck of the HERO that Mingyan is. Because Mingyan grew up into a person now, who would never drug a friend, who would not take someone’s offer of peace and use it to stab them. Mingyan ‘grew up’ with the same morals as Bai Lin/Hao Chen - demons evil, protect righteousness, heaven is good, etc - and yet Mingyan is now standing as a mature fully realized example of something Bai Lin can never be. Where Mingyan took betrayals, took his experiences, and grew - Bai Lin became the betrayer first, and never learned or cared that it was wrong of him to be that person. 

i just love beyond words that heroism in this show is compassion and kindness and thoughtfully knowing that your choices matter and that anyone’s life is precious and it can’t be left to just follow orders and think it’ll be okay. so much about this show is well crafted, but especially this message. that striving to be kinder, to try and avoid hurting if there’s another (probably harder) solution. it is this really wonderful value in heroism, and i love it So much more than i’d love a bloody battle with celestial beasts or a stupid showdown between demons and heavenly celestials. even if there IS a showdown, in this show - its all based in the characters and themes.

it all comes down to what luohuo/god of war/xuanji went through. i just finished episode 57 - with all the god of war flashbacks. And they were heartbreaking, but perfect. i think of all of this character’s evolutions - i like god of war them best. especially once she finds out all of the truth. because she’s ‘luohuo’ before 10 lifetimes of suffering and memoryloss, she’s still god of war/changed, and she honestly could’ve maybe recovered and healed if she’d like. gotten revenge on bai lin then gone to live with sifeng back then (he was xi xuan i think?). but instead bai lin made her suffer even longer, and luohuo jidu’s split 2 halves got even more resentful (the one in the bottle hellbent on becoming as bad as bai lin to make him pay, the god of war half becoming so bitter that no one is trustworthy and equally losing faith in any compassion or goodness in this world - only with sifeng to counterexample what bai lin put her through). i absolutely love xuanji as a character - her entire character arc from beginning to end is so engaging to me, and it ties in with every theme so well (or rather i guess, all the themes of this show expand out from her personal character story). 

i just. in summary i love the compassion Love and Redemption places as the most heroic thing. It is more heroic to risk trying to learn to trust, to try to support others and love others, than it will EVER be to try to hurt others. It doesn’t matter if what you are fighting are ‘monsters’ or ‘others’, its still braver to risk opening up and trying to love and trying to see the humanity in people when its there (like the demons who dont deserve to die, the humans who dont deserve to die due to bai lin’s war, the asuras when hey surrendered), and to really contemplate who are the people who need to be stopped (is it the people we are Told are ‘bad’ or is it people persecuting/trapping/harming others - we need to really look at who is harming others in society versus who we’re told is, etc). This show did absolutely amazing with these themes, and i didn’t expect them at All going into a romance xianxia. I am so used to the great heaven/demon battles, and righteous sects, and i didn’t expect these kinds of nuances at all. I especially didn’t expect like - a story purposely choosing to skip a great demon/celestial battle on behalf of a personal character arc to get closure (which emotionally is WAY more important but not as ‘flashy’ visually to some ppl), a story purposely picking for ppl to be compassionate to a celestial beast instead of slaughtering it (again, it does WONDERS to help the themes, but visually i feel most shows just go for bloody battle and don’t even care to view any celestial beast as a ‘living thing’ with any characterization at all).

its just. so nice. 

#love and redemption lb #love and redemption #meta #xuanji #luohuo jidu