Greatly appreciate @Yulsa for sharing this beautiful and in-depth article about our protagonist Tang Lici, and…
Thank you so much for the translation! I really love the depth of this analysis and nailing what makes Tang Lici such a fascinating character. I have seen quite a few cdramas at this point, and I can't find anything analogous... It's a journey of a character that is ALREADY powerful from the beginning, already in charge and already shouldering responsibility of the world that noone can relate to... It's hard to make such character both believable and sympathetic, and then send him on a journey of further discovery...
Firstly, I appreciate @Yulsa for sharing this insightful article, which I encourage everyone to take a look at.…
thank you for this summary! I missed a lot of the nuance when reading the original with machine translation, really appreciate you taking the time to write this out!
When Fang Zhou died, Tang Lici said he would save him.When Chi Yun died, Tang Lici said he was sorry.When Shao…
Ooh, love this observation!
I think it's his progression in relationship with the concept of death. Shao Yanping is a bit of an outlier here, because the reaction is to a death that he did not directly witness.
But if we keep Fang Zhou, Chi Yun, Liu Yan and Ye Mo, then the way I see it is:
Fang Zou -> Denial. At this stage he is not willing to accept death at all.
Chi Yun -> Guilt. He has accepted that death is irreversible, and now in the face of it he blames himself both for Chi Yun's death and for missed chance to be a better friend/master.
Liu Yan -> Forgiveness. At the end they focus on what was good between them.
Ye Mo -> Combination of acceptance and forgiveness. He is giving Ye Mo his final guidance as his master, how to live the next mortal life, showing that he holds no grudges. 'We will meet again' is also a promise that 'I will die too', i.e. the ultimate acceptance of his own death.
Want to highlight this really beautiful (and long!) post on douban about the tragic but strong character of Tang Lici: https://www.douban.com/group/topic/343944391/?_spm_id=MTY3NTk0Njcx&start=0&_i=5223643gN7VLvR . I don't know any Chinese, so I read in auto-translation through the browser, but it was still impactful. If anyone has done a good translation and has a link, please share! This post really needs more exposure
I think it's his progression in relationship with the concept of death. Shao Yanping is a bit of an outlier here, because the reaction is to a death that he did not directly witness.
But if we keep Fang Zhou, Chi Yun, Liu Yan and Ye Mo, then the way I see it is:
Fang Zou -> Denial. At this stage he is not willing to accept death at all.
Chi Yun -> Guilt. He has accepted that death is irreversible, and now in the face of it he blames himself both for Chi Yun's death and for missed chance to be a better friend/master.
Liu Yan -> Forgiveness. At the end they focus on what was good between them.
Ye Mo -> Combination of acceptance and forgiveness. He is giving Ye Mo his final guidance as his master, how to live the next mortal life, showing that he holds no grudges. 'We will meet again' is also a promise that 'I will die too', i.e. the ultimate acceptance of his own death.