#xie lian

alskdjslkdjf this is one of those things where I’m like “yes, somewhat, and I keep trying to figure out how to articulate it but I can’t quite figure it out.” and I mean the obvious divergence is in starting points - their relationships begin in nearly polar opposite ways.

I think the Xie Lian / Xiao Xingchen parallel is stronger than the Xue Yang / Hua Cheng parallel, though I feel like…if this makes sense? you can see some of the seeds of Hua Cheng’s character in Xue Yang’s. like, developed differently, taken in a different direction, but there’s…it feels more like an ancestry than a parallel.

but Xiao Xingchen and Xie Lian…yeah. way back someone sent me an ask (that I never got around to answering, whoops) positing that Xie Lian is sort of like Xiao Xingchen if Xiao Xingchen was a protagonist, and while that’s not entirely true (Xie Lian I think has more dark edges to him, as seen in the way they break differently - though you could argue that if Xiao Xingchen’s suicide was unsuccessful…but I have a very hard time seeing Xiao Xingchen going for revenge the way that Xie Lian does).

there’s certainly something, though, about a belief in justice, deep kindness, an idealism that ultimately breaks down in the face of the cruelty of the world (as manifested by outside intervention - arguably you could draw more lines with Xie Lian’s relationship with Bai Wuxiang and Xiao Xingchen’s with Xue Yang than Xie Lian’s relationship with Hua Cheng).

I don’t think it’s absolute parallels or the same story - not least because of Xie Lian’s origin from privilege, as opposed to Xiao Xingchen who was always an outsider - but…I can see why people make the comparison, and I don’t think it’s entirely an uncalled for one.