lanzhn

what I really love about Lan Wangji’s character development is that his personality doesn’t change, but his acceptance of who he is does. he is calm, he is prude, he is quiet, and he is righteous, those are all things that are deeply part of him, but they are not the only ones.

when he was younger he could not reconcile being calm but having strong feelings, being prude but wanting someone, being quiet but having loud thoughts, and being righteous but loving someone his sect disapproves of. but then as he grows older, and is shaped by the events of his life and grief, he learns to not be rigid anymore, that he can be the collected Hanguang-Jun and also the passionate Lan Zhan.

before, he held himself back and denied anything that felt contradictory, now he accepts all sides and know they are not opposites but just different parts of himself. his calm is a side of himself as much as his feeelings are, they can both exist inside not in opposition but in continuity, and so can his reserve and his desire, his silence and his thoughts, his love for his sect and his love for Wei Ying. he truly learns to be himself and not be torn anymore between the pressure to be a perfect disciple and wanting happiness, he learns both can be done.

the Lan is a part of who he is, but there is not just one way to be a Lan, he does not have to repress anything to be Lan Wangji, quite the opposite. besides, isn’t being a passionate lover part of being a Lan anyways?