It's more complicated than the series and very different, I'll try to explain as concisely as I can;In the novel,…
I don't disagree that he really knew people in the door before LJS entered the 1st door (unknowingly the 2nd time), but I think it'd just be those who interacted with him in the time after he became 'human' and he was establishing his own Obsidian in order to meet LJS in the door. His backstory for Obsidian was several years after all, but the people who knew Ruan Baijie and Ruan Nanzhu in the main story didn't go that far back, to the time since he was a 'teen'.
Also, copied/pasted from the novel, it reads: [He was the twelfth door. But the truth was, prior to the night-time riot of a hundred ghosts, Ruan Nanzhu had not been aware of this fact. His memories were flawless, as if he truly was the leader of Obsidian. As if he—having started entering doors as a teenager, having surmounted countless obstacles and tribulations, and having finally made it past the tenth door with great difficulty—was a completely normal person. Ruan Nanzhu had possessed no memories regarding the doors, and had also been of the firm belief that he was a simple human.]
So, canon-wise, he was never a teen, he never existed that long in the human world. He manufactured all of that before he wiped his memory. Also, his purpose didn't change after meeting LJS, he changed his entire existence's purpose for LJS in order to meet him. Remember, once he fully regains his memory, as written in the extra 'The Little Prince's Rose', he remembers he'd been watching LJS for years before LJS entered his first door. This is another chapter that confirms Nanzhu is not human at all. The TV series makes it seem like a video game, but the novel never actually says such a thing. Nanzhu is some kind of 'other being' and the World of Doors is some kind of realm he rules/ruled over.
From the novel extra: [Gods were gods because gods had no desires. When the gardener began to play favorites, it was as if a god had developed desires—perhaps he was no longer suited to this job.] Nanzhu is referring to himself in that final extra chapter. Talking about how he decided to step down in order to become human (or a rose as he called it)
As for why he went as a shadow and first formed an appearance that looked like LJS, I'd say it was because he had no corporeal human form and he needed to make one, he basically used LJS as a mould before refining his own appearance, and then he used LJS's history (that LJS would not longer remember) to create his own believable life story.
(I agree about talking about it and not getting boring! I love how complicated and cruel and unforgiving the doors were in the novel compared to the series, and I LOVED THE NOVEL ENDING. The series was overall more enjoyable for a few select reasons, but the novel is really amazing for many other reasons.)
It's more complicated than the series and very different, I'll try to explain as concisely as I can;In the novel,…
Yeah, Nanzhu was already a 'god of the doors' long before Lin Jiushi ever came along, but he didn't play with people in the 'game'. In the extras there's a chapter that refers to his existence before he watched LJS grow up and enter the door worlds, but it doesn't refer to him playing along with them. It's written as though he just observed people and they never much caught his interest, until LJS came along and he became infatuated.
But before he watched LJS make it to the 12th door, he never set himself up to play as a human and he never made himself vulnerable to death. When LJS comes into the picture he reset LJS memories and made up a backstory for himself so LJS could start the doors all over again, Nanzhu suppressed his own reality and memory in order to meet him as a 'human' and accompany LJS through. (as I understood it)
Nanzhu is not human though, the novel states that and Nanzhu acknowledges that. He even mouths "I'm the door." when LJS isn't looking and also the novel mentions that LJS knows he's not human, he figured it out some time during the 11th door. So he def didn't have a past in the 'real' world.
I just finished the seriesSo can someone tell me was there some difference in the ending from the novel???If yes…
It's more complicated than the series and very different, I'll try to explain as concisely as I can;
In the novel, in the 11th door, during the day, Nanzhu and Jiushi are trapped in separate worlds, 'reset' worlds, where there's no danger and everyone is alive but they don't exist in each other's worlds. Then at night, the world turns back to the shared dangerous game world and they have to battle their way through their former door enemies in waves with a little help from past dead friends/allies (similar to the show but more detailed and over a longer period of time). In the night time shared world, they find their way to each other inside the door and help each other survive, but in the day they're separated again at daybreak involuntarily. Slowly, the longer they survive, their night times together starts to become shorter, until one day there is no more danger or battles or night time together, and they're separated completely inside the door. So Jiushi ends up stuck in the 'reset' world, where no one died but no one he met during his time in the doors knows him. And of course, no Lanzhu.
Some time goes by in that world before Jiushi finally figures out the door clue and finds the keys, one is for a door to stay in the fake reset world where everyone is alive (including a fake Lanzhu who doesn't know him), or with the other, he can go back to the real world, where everything that happened is real (the loss and the struggles and suffering). Jiushi chooses to go back to reality, because in the novel by that point he and Lanzhu have already been in an established relationship for a while and Jiushi wants to get back to him to be with him. He only wants to be with Lanzhu again, so he doesn't hesitate.
But when he goes back, everything is back to how it was, except at Obsidian no one knows who Ruan Lanzhu is, it's like he never existed. Jiushi has a hard time dealing with it, but he has to continue with life on his own, until about a year passes and then one day he gets a call from Obsidian saying Lanzhu is back and looking for him.
Turns out, Lanzhu (who, yes, he is an 'NPC' in both versions) is the 12th door, actually sort of is the 'game', like the god of all the doors vibe, and he'd been watching Jiushi for a long time until he eventually put himself into the 'game world' to meet Jiushi specifically (Jiushi's past is a whole other thing I'm not getting into here), but when he did that, he made himself forget who he was and gave himself a convincing 'human' life backstory memory and also made himself vulnerable to the doors so he could really seem human and he could really die.
During his time stuck in the door, much longer than Jiushi, Lanzhu gradually remembers and relearns who he is and only after he does he finds the keys and immediately goes back to the real world to find Jiushi because he wants to be with him. Once he steps back into the real world, everyone remembers who he is, like they'd just been waiting for him to come out of the door.
So, they end up together in the real world, with Jiushi having figured out at some point that Lanzhu is not human, but neither of them ever address it and they live happily ever after. There's even more to it honestly, but this is crux of it I guess. 😅
Basically, the series ending was just the tip of a very big ice burg.
Because it is a game, and their goal which was to purify (reset) the game has been achieved. Just like a computer…
That still doesn't validate 78 though. The 'game' was technically purified the moment they cleared the 11th door because Lanzhu was taking over. So if they'd ended it on 77, it still could have indirectly lined up with the novel.
Jiushi would have been in the illusionary world where everyone was alive and didn't know him (which happened in the book and the show) and they could have let the show end there, where he's trying to get back what he lost. It's not exactly like the book, but for viewers and fans the ending would have been open enough to assume he got back SOONER, and not as an old man who wrote himself as a program into a game.
It kinda' made it seem like Jiushi had a pretty sad life and ending, you know? The show is still amazing in the end, even 78 couldn't bring it down.
OK I finished it and I'm back to say that ending was some bullshit. The whole show had issues, but that ending was just saving the worst for last for real 😂 who greenlit this shit?
I'm sorry, but a Chinese teacher saying I won't give you homework over the vacation is too farfetched, do they expect me to believe that? That's taking fiction a step too far...
That’s really interesting, maybe the remaining episodes were revised/are during the revision again due the censorship…
Ain't no one who knows the source material is gonna' watch that farce. They'll probs get a lot of backlash and cyber hate 😂 they'd be better off not releasing it.
does the series have a lot of "bromantic moments"..like what i really wanna ask is are there scenes which kind…
As the other person mentioned, there are definitely moments where their their interactions cross the line into less than platonic, and yeah, some of their conversations are well scripted and acted out to imply romantic feelings, quite intense and intimate. Just the way Lanzhu says Jiushi's name in ep 67 was really weighted. I like the 'skinship' (as it's called) because it's not forced, it's natural in the scenes, but still obvious. Also, just my opinion, but I don't think TS comes across as bromance. So basically, you'll have plenty of fluttering moments :D
i guess they changed the ending bcos anti gay censorship
Ah okay, well I just wanna say that in the book at the end there is the real world and the game world, just like the series. So the series creators didn't deviate from that, and the people who died technically lived in both versions, just in a different way from the series (I'm being vague so I don't spoil it too much). So everyone 'lives' technically, if that's what they wanted to focus on.
Ep 78 didn't feel like it was about that. The excessive time lapse and making JiuShi have to 'recreate' the spirit realm as a new game implies a different outcome, it hints that to some extent what Juishi experienced either wasn't real or that he never truly gets back to the spirit realm. The ending almost implies he just created a game to console himself for what he lost.
It's just TOO far from the novel, in which the time lapse of separation is only a year-ish and the spirit realm is 100% real, no doubts about it. If it'd ended on 77, it was open in a way where viewers could assume what happened in the novel actually happened in the series too, even without seeing it. It would have been perfect.
But wow, if they did add 78 because of censorship, then that's just a new low. So then, like, the series creators decided to make it that Jiushi couldn't find his way back to Nanzhu as a healthy young man with his whole life ahead of him to be happy, because it's what....too gay for China's censors? I can't even 😂😂😂😂
i guess they changed the ending bcos anti gay censorship
I dunno about that, and i can't really discuss it because I don't wanna' spoil you since you're still reading, but I think the ending of the series at ep 77 (while still being quite different than the novel) would have been perfect and didn't go against censorship at all. I honestly don't understand ep 78 as a choice to close the series.
So, I finished the novel and I gotta say, the ending of the book is 11/10. I gave the series a 9.8 [9.5 on MDL] because the ending didn't quite do it for me, but the book hit JUST RIGHT. That said, where I usually think the original is best, honestly, I'd say I prefer the series in more ways than the book. Comparing the two;
Book preferences- The Ending Some of the door events and conclusions The relationship (BL) duh
Series preferences- Basically everything else I even prefer the characterization changes and choices in the series when compared to the book, which almost never happens for me. What they did with the series actually added gravity and a lot of emotion to the plot that I didn't feel reading the novel. Anyway just my opinion.
I really think this live adaptation is top tier. If episode 78 didn't exist, I'd have def rated it 10/10.
The novel is original and best and worth reading (if you're a reader to begin with) and yes, sexually explicit…
Yeah, it does, there are also some additional short stories, like extras. Also the ending is different, since the original novel is not censored. So the relationship is clearly established.
1 
Also, copied/pasted from the novel, it reads:
[He was the twelfth door.
But the truth was, prior to the night-time riot of a hundred ghosts, Ruan Nanzhu had not been aware of this fact. His memories were flawless, as if he truly was the leader of Obsidian. As if he—having started entering doors as a teenager, having surmounted countless obstacles and tribulations, and having finally made it past the tenth door with great difficulty—was a completely normal person. Ruan Nanzhu had possessed no memories regarding the doors, and had also been of the firm belief that he was a simple human.]
So, canon-wise, he was never a teen, he never existed that long in the human world. He manufactured all of that before he wiped his memory. Also, his purpose didn't change after meeting LJS, he changed his entire existence's purpose for LJS in order to meet him. Remember, once he fully regains his memory, as written in the extra 'The Little Prince's Rose', he remembers he'd been watching LJS for years before LJS entered his first door. This is another chapter that confirms Nanzhu is not human at all. The TV series makes it seem like a video game, but the novel never actually says such a thing. Nanzhu is some kind of 'other being' and the World of Doors is some kind of realm he rules/ruled over.
From the novel extra:
[Gods were gods because gods had no desires. When the gardener began to play favorites, it was as if a god had developed desires—perhaps he was no longer suited to this job.]
Nanzhu is referring to himself in that final extra chapter. Talking about how he decided to step down in order to become human (or a rose as he called it)
As for why he went as a shadow and first formed an appearance that looked like LJS, I'd say it was because he had no corporeal human form and he needed to make one, he basically used LJS as a mould before refining his own appearance, and then he used LJS's history (that LJS would not longer remember) to create his own believable life story.
(I agree about talking about it and not getting boring! I love how complicated and cruel and unforgiving the doors were in the novel compared to the series, and I LOVED THE NOVEL ENDING. The series was overall more enjoyable for a few select reasons, but the novel is really amazing for many other reasons.)
But before he watched LJS make it to the 12th door, he never set himself up to play as a human and he never made himself vulnerable to death. When LJS comes into the picture he reset LJS memories and made up a backstory for himself so LJS could start the doors all over again, Nanzhu suppressed his own reality and memory in order to meet him as a 'human' and accompany LJS through. (as I understood it)
Nanzhu is not human though, the novel states that and Nanzhu acknowledges that. He even mouths "I'm the door." when LJS isn't looking and also the novel mentions that LJS knows he's not human, he figured it out some time during the 11th door. So he def didn't have a past in the 'real' world.
In the novel, in the 11th door, during the day, Nanzhu and Jiushi are trapped in separate worlds, 'reset' worlds, where there's no danger and everyone is alive but they don't exist in each other's worlds. Then at night, the world turns back to the shared dangerous game world and they have to battle their way through their former door enemies in waves with a little help from past dead friends/allies (similar to the show but more detailed and over a longer period of time). In the night time shared world, they find their way to each other inside the door and help each other survive, but in the day they're separated again at daybreak involuntarily. Slowly, the longer they survive, their night times together starts to become shorter, until one day there is no more danger or battles or night time together, and they're separated completely inside the door. So Jiushi ends up stuck in the 'reset' world, where no one died but no one he met during his time in the doors knows him. And of course, no Lanzhu.
Some time goes by in that world before Jiushi finally figures out the door clue and finds the keys, one is for a door to stay in the fake reset world where everyone is alive (including a fake Lanzhu who doesn't know him), or with the other, he can go back to the real world, where everything that happened is real (the loss and the struggles and suffering). Jiushi chooses to go back to reality, because in the novel by that point he and Lanzhu have already been in an established relationship for a while and Jiushi wants to get back to him to be with him. He only wants to be with Lanzhu again, so he doesn't hesitate.
But when he goes back, everything is back to how it was, except at Obsidian no one knows who Ruan Lanzhu is, it's like he never existed. Jiushi has a hard time dealing with it, but he has to continue with life on his own, until about a year passes and then one day he gets a call from Obsidian saying Lanzhu is back and looking for him.
Turns out, Lanzhu (who, yes, he is an 'NPC' in both versions) is the 12th door, actually sort of is the 'game', like the god of all the doors vibe, and he'd been watching Jiushi for a long time until he eventually put himself into the 'game world' to meet Jiushi specifically (Jiushi's past is a whole other thing I'm not getting into here), but when he did that, he made himself forget who he was and gave himself a convincing 'human' life backstory memory and also made himself vulnerable to the doors so he could really seem human and he could really die.
During his time stuck in the door, much longer than Jiushi, Lanzhu gradually remembers and relearns who he is and only after he does he finds the keys and immediately goes back to the real world to find Jiushi because he wants to be with him. Once he steps back into the real world, everyone remembers who he is, like they'd just been waiting for him to come out of the door.
So, they end up together in the real world, with Jiushi having figured out at some point that Lanzhu is not human, but neither of them ever address it and they live happily ever after.
There's even more to it honestly, but this is crux of it I guess. 😅
Basically, the series ending was just the tip of a very big ice burg.
Jiushi would have been in the illusionary world where everyone was alive and didn't know him (which happened in the book and the show) and they could have let the show end there, where he's trying to get back what he lost. It's not exactly like the book, but for viewers and fans the ending would have been open enough to assume he got back SOONER, and not as an old man who wrote himself as a program into a game.
It kinda' made it seem like Jiushi had a pretty sad life and ending, you know?
The show is still amazing in the end, even 78 couldn't bring it down.
Ep 78 didn't feel like it was about that. The excessive time lapse and making JiuShi have to 'recreate' the spirit realm as a new game implies a different outcome, it hints that to some extent what Juishi experienced either wasn't real or that he never truly gets back to the spirit realm. The ending almost implies he just created a game to console himself for what he lost.
It's just TOO far from the novel, in which the time lapse of separation is only a year-ish and the spirit realm is 100% real, no doubts about it.
If it'd ended on 77, it was open in a way where viewers could assume what happened in the novel actually happened in the series too, even without seeing it. It would have been perfect.
But wow, if they did add 78 because of censorship, then that's just a new low. So then, like, the series creators decided to make it that Jiushi couldn't find his way back to Nanzhu as a healthy young man with his whole life ahead of him to be happy, because it's what....too gay for China's censors? I can't even 😂😂😂😂
That said, where I usually think the original is best, honestly, I'd say I prefer the series in more ways than the book.
Comparing the two;
Book preferences-
The Ending
Some of the door events and conclusions
The relationship (BL) duh
Series preferences-
Basically everything else
I even prefer the characterization changes and choices in the series when compared to the book, which almost never happens for me. What they did with the series actually added gravity and a lot of emotion to the plot that I didn't feel reading the novel.
Anyway just my opinion.
I really think this live adaptation is top tier. If episode 78 didn't exist, I'd have def rated it 10/10.
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