#lltg meta

[raine-kai]

Mapping out the ages of the Emperor's children in Love Like the Galaxy

For an AU fic I'm writing, I felt the need to map out the ages of the emperor's ten sons and five daughters from Love Like the Galaxy, and thought that maybe perhaps this would be of interest to others, too. I'll start by laying out all the info I have amassed from canon, the particular constraints for elements that I have decided matter to me personally, and then I'll lay out 2 possible age schemes I have mapped out--1 if there are twins involved, and 1 if there are single births only.

You would think, if any of the princes or princesses addressed each other, the forms of address would give you a clue to their relative ages, and all that would remain is to just figure out specifically how many years lie between each, but alas...the only ones I have been able to find are between pairs whose age relationship is not in question in any of my age maps.

But if you have info that I've missed, please do tell me, I would love to have more info.

First, the info we have from the book canon goes as follows:

Xuan Shen'an has five sons and three daughters.

Yue Heng has four sons and two daughters, though she also has one son who died prematurely (he is not counted in the numbers); the birth after his was a princess.

Xu Meiren, the maid who became a concubine, has just one child, the Fifth Prince.

Second Princess and Third Princess are Yue Heng's, all the other princesses are Xuan Shen'an's.

First Prince (or Crown Prince, or Zikun) and Second Prince are Xuan Shen'an's.

Third Prince (Ziduan) and Fourth Prince are Yue Heng's.

Fifth Princess is the only child born after the war ended 13-14 years prior to canon. (This is info from the drama, and I do not remember if it corresponded to the novel, but I'm going with it.)

Luo Jitong mentions that pre-time skip, all the princes younger than the Fifth Prince were too young to consider as prospective husbands. So they all must have been in their teens, probably skewing younger.

Zisheng entered the palace 13 years prior to canon, and is called Shiyi Lang (十一郎, Eleventh Young Master), meaning that by the time he entered the palace, the tenth prince had to already have been born.

The only way I can find to assess the age of the Second Princess relative to her brothers is via her friend Qu Lingjun, who is her friend. It's mentioned that Yue Heng would have loved to have Qu Lingjun as her own daughter-in-law (via Ziduan), but the age was inappropriate--which suggests to me that the Second Princess is older than Ziduan.

Zikun and Qu Lingjun have been married to their respective spouses for six years in the novel, ten years in the drama. This means they have to have been of marriageable age by some definition 6-10 years ago depending on the canon.

Additional constraints from me, for my fic:

Due to the way the Emperor and Yue Heng deferred to Xuan Shen'an, it makes sense to imagine that they would not have started trying for a child until after Shen'an has safely given birth to at least one son. This means that Yue Heng's eldest is likely 1-2 years younger than Zikun (a point which is relevant, because if I chose to map 1st princess as elder than Zikun, then I wouldn't see Yue Heng being able to have her first child for 3-4 years after Shen'an started having children).

Ziduan must be Zisheng's age or older. In fact, it makes the most sense if he's a few years older.

That said, Ziduan and Zikun can't be THAT much older than Zisheng, or it makes no sense why he is such a trusted friend and advisor.

Fifth Prince is probably 20 or 21, and given the kurfuffle his conception caused in the palace, it makes sense to imagine that there are no births in the harem for some time after his.

SO. This is a birth order, with only single births. Ages listed are at the time of the drama canon, when Shaoshang is 15 and Zisheng is 21:

First Prince (Zikun, 28, born to Shen'an)

First Princess (26, born to Shen'an)

Second Princess (25, born to Yue Heng)

Second Prince ( 24, born to Shen'an)

Third Prince (Ziduan, 23, born to Yue Heng)

Fourth Prince (21, born to Yue Heng)

Fifth Prince (20, born to Xu Meiren)

Sixth Prince (18, born to Shen'an)

[unnumbered prince born to Yue Heng who did not survive]

Seventh Prince (17, born to Shen'an)

Third Princess (16, born to Yue Heng)

Fourth Princess (16, born to Shen'an)

Eighth Prince (15, born to Yue Heng)

Ninth Prince (15, born to Shen'an)

Tenth Prince (14, born to Yue Heng)

Fifth Princess (12-13, born to Shen'an)

And this is the birth order of you allow for occasional twins. Again, ages mapped to drama canon:

First Prince (Zikun, 26, born to Shen'an)

First Princess and Second Prince (24, born to Shen'an)

Second Princess (24, born to Yue Heng)

Third Prince (Ziduan) and Fourth Prince (22, born to Yue Heng)

Fifth Prince (20, born to Xu Meiren)

Sixth Prince (18, born to Shen'an)

[unnumbered prince born to Yue Heng who did not survive]

Third Princess (16, born to Yue Heng)

Seventh Prince and Fourth Princess (16, born to Shen'an)

Eighth Prince and Ninth Prince (14, born to Yue Heng)

Tenth Prince (14, born to Shen'an)

Fifth Princess (12-13, born to Shen'an)

Aaaaaaaaand bonus round!! My fic needs aside, what do I think would ACTUALLY make the most sense for their canon ages, given what we know? Here's a mapping with only single births:

First Prince (Zikun, 26, born to Shen'an)

First Princess (24, born to Shen'an)

Second Princess (24, born to Yue Heng)

Second Prince (23, born to Shen'an)

Third Prince (Ziduan, 21, born to Yue Heng)

Fourth Prince (20, born to Yue Heng)

Fifth Prince (19, born to Xu Meiren)

Sixth Prince (17, born to Shen'an)

[unnumbered prince born to Yue Heng who did not survive]

Seventh Prince (16, born to Shen'an)

Third Princess (16, born to Yue Heng)

Fourth Princess (15, born to Shen'an)

Eighth Prince (15, born to Yue Heng)

Ninth Prince (14, born to Shen'an)

Tenth Prince (14, born to Yue Heng)

Fifth Princess (13, born to Shen'an)

Look at that breakneck birthing schedule toward the end... 😱I'm not going to add a mapping for multiple births, because at this point I feel like (in the absence of additional information that I've missed, which is definitely a possibility) if you have fic needs, you can adapt them to suit.

Anyway, hope this helped somebody other than myself... 😂

#love like the galaxy #wen ziduan #wen zikun #third prince #emperor wen #yue heng #xuan shen'an #lltg #lltg meta #? #what do you even call these bouts of obsessing over details #fanfic #age mapping #just watch #I missed something major from the novel and it's all wrong actually #and I'll have to start over

[burningthegallows]

Love Like the Galaxy and Names, pt 1

So I've been doing a bit of research for the monster fic, and I figured I would put together some name lists since I had so much trouble finding the names/titles/characters of certain characters.

This is very much incomplete and google translate helped a lot, so ... take that with a grain of salt. (all pinyin and characters from googlet)

{I kinda think this goes without saying, but just in case, if you see errors, take issue, or have questions, please correct me/reach out!}

Chengs:

Grandmother Cheng 程 (maiden name Dong 董) has three sons:

Papa Cheng

Second Uncle Cheng

Third Uncle Cheng

Papa Cheng is Cheng Shi (程始) (Shi 始 = beginning). Lieutenant 校尉 in the army (translation, google; i have also seen this translated as general, colonol, and captain). Marquis of Quling 曲陵侯 (Marquis in this sense = Duke. Word used: Huo 侯 has variations throughout history; common nobility title; different translations tell me different things); Qu Ling 曲陵 is ... i actually have no idea. is it a place? is it a concept? is it just a name/title not attached to a fief?

Cheng Shi is married to Xiao Yuanyi 蕭元漪, who i could not find out much more about. Her name uses these characters: 蕭 : mournful and 元漪 (元 first 漪  ripple). personally, in light of her relationship with Cheng Shaoshang, i think this is a banger choice.

Second Uncle is Cheng Cheng (程承) (Cheng 承 = bear)

Third Uncle is Cheng Zhi (程止) (Zhi = End). First he was made Hua County Magistrate (驊縣縣丞 = huá xiàn xiàn chéng). Then he became 郡守, which google tells me is 'Sheriff' but also means Governor? So, I am assuming that this role is a magisterial one at either the prefecture (1 step up) or province level (several steps up).

{To overly simplify, provinces (省, sheng) (34 total) are made up of multiple prefectures; prefectures (州, zhou) (339 total) are made up of multiple counties (Xian).}

Cheng Zhi is married to Shen Shunhua 桑舜華, Csh's 3rd Aunt. She married down, because her first fiancé (whose name is ... Huangfuyi, 皇甫儀 ??) was a negligent jerk. She is Daughter of the Mountain Lord (山主之女), the lord of Bailu Mountain Academy (白鹿山)

{Note that the character for Hua here in her name 'magnificent'; it also appears as a radical (wc?) in the character to Hua in Huaxian}

Next generation: Cheng Zhi has no kids yet; Cheng Cheng has Yang Yang, and Cheng Shi has Cheng Yong, Cheng Song, Cheng Shaogong, and Cheng Shaoshang.

Cheng Yong is first brother. 詠, Yong: chant, song, tune 

Cheng Song is second brother. 頌 Song: praise, song of celebration 

Cheng Shaogong (少宮) and Shaoshang (少商): two different strings on an ancient instrument, a qin (i have read better explanations of this, but I haven't been able to find any recently. Any recs?)

Cheng Yang (程姎) is daughter of Cheng Cheng (2nd uncle) and Aunt Ge. I was unable to find a good translation of Yang 姎, but the character does feature the female radical. Cheng Yang is also 程氏三娘子 (cheng third lady) which brings up an interesting question of mine... how df does numbering work in these families?

Cheng Shaoshang is 4th lady, which makes sense to me because she is forth child; cheng yang is third lady, which ... ok, maybe makes sense, but then, who are the first two cheng family ladies? are we to assume that their two older sisters died? Is the numbering consistent across all families? i.e., is it the same numbering done by the imperial family?

{genuinely all this research started to figure out wtf they were calling each other}

I'd also like to add Lian Fang, 蓮房, lotus pod. She's exceptional.

And that's enough for now. i think. let me know if you want more... i have done a lot of research for this monster.

#love like the galaxy #lltg #lltg meta #meta ish? #this is NOT an area of expertise #please correct me if im wrong #this time period has fascinated me #so ill happily plot and plot and plot

[burningthegallows]

Zhou Yafu and Huo Buyi

Zhou Yafu, 周亞夫, was a minister in the early/mid Han period. His father was the paragon of military virtues, he made a name for himself fighting the Xiongnu with economic and military strategy, and he was responsible for ending the Rebellion of the Seven Princes in less than three months.

While Ling Buyi's character relies on a lot of tropes, there are also some particular historical figures that are being played with.

(There's a certain sense of humor to it in lltg (can't speak for the books) like making Ban Jia terribly sheltered and easily lost--snerk)

Some interesting things about Zhou Yafu:

He worked mostly under Emperor Wen's successor, Emperor Jing

The Rebellion of the Seven States was shut down under Emperor Jing

He was given the title "Defender-in-Chief" for, among other things, actually training his armies

He, like Huo Buyi, was General of the Cavalry and Chariots and deputy minister of the household

His older brother was executed for committing murder, thus he inherited his father's title and fief

Emperor Jing would eventually lose faith in Zhou Yafu and he would be fired and later imprisoned

When his son was discovered to be stealing from the Imperial Armory, they were both accused of treason, and he starved himself in prison

He tried starving himself once before in prison, but css his wife talked him out of it

Today he is thought of as some paragon of principled, martial virtue

There aren't a ton of direct parallels, but something about the details when Wendi was talking about his sworn brother, Huo Chong, reminded me of Zhou Bo, Yafu's father.

I'm sure it colored my research, but after I decided that lby was based on Zhou Yafu, I started thinking about the show as an au retelling. Like, history, but what if Zhou Bo and all of lby's siblings were murdered during the Lü Contention.

[As a further aside, even if I do think that Zhuo Yafu was the historical inspiration for Hou Buyi, Emperor Jing is not the third prince. Third prince is Emperor Ming]

#little history post because yafu came up in my non-fic related research #and I was tickled #lltg #love like the galaxy #ling buyi #hou buyi #lltg meta #sorta #yafu is a name I borrowed for my fic #it's the name of lou yao's horse #lol seemed fitting don't ask

[burningthegallows]

things I love about ling buyi, part ???

the banger scene between him and yue heng where she asks him what he needs to feel the relief of justice, and he tells her that there is nothing the yue family owes him.

I just think it's pretty chill of him to realize that it's not entirely marquis yue's fault. sure, dude took advantage of the situation to have the head of the Xuan family killed; but his actions alone were not responsible for the fall of gu.

what's ridiculous about buyi is that he's not actually all that blinded by revenge — by the time he gets to this moment with yue heng, he's already been murdering and manipulating left and right, and it hasn't given him any peace. he knows that it's not the answer--insisting on marquis yue's death, and he doesn't push.

of course, then he takes all of that frustrated rage and points it inward, and we know how the rest of the story unfolds....

(pretty well for him, in all actuality—didn't die, lost very little, gained a fief even as he was demoted...)

the point is, buyi is not irrationally obsessed with revenge, and that's why I like him. sometimes it seems that he doesn't even want it. he approaches it like its a duty

{also, can I just .... there's something utterly delightful about how filial piety has shaped lby and css's adolescences, and yet it's not what draws them together, but actually pushes them apart.}

#lltg sometimes feels a bit like a commentary on legalism and filial piety #the law is the law is the law #the patriarchy is the patriarchy is the #ling buyi #lltg #lltg meta #I guesssssss #really just more of me thinking of this idiot