I keep trying figure out who lord zhi is...check spoiler tag
I think it's Prince Qing, the villain from the start..... But we have to wait and see... I wish C dramas would move on from the whole hooded/masked villain cliche, it's just so overdone. There are other ways of concealing someone's identity. With that hood down to his lips, he'll trip and fall! Or his face will get itchy. No villain wants to look like a klutz.
Just finished rewatching this drama, and just want to say the Viki translation seems to convey a better understanding…
Ah I see... Yeah it's all a bit complicated. I've lost count of how many times I've rewatched this drama lol. Maybe this will help:
So after Shanggu's sacrifice Bai Jue became obsessed with 1) bringing her back and 2) taking the trial for her because he feels he forced her to die. He exhausted his powers during the trial to "freeze" it and then spent years gathering up her scattered spirit which he then created Hou Chi from. Then he researched the Power of Chaos and theorised it was a combination of "God" power and "Demon" power. So he went to the Eastern Sea cave and split his original being in two. Then recultivated his other half with "demon energy", but in the process of mixing the God "Shen" and "Yao" energies, something went wrong and his other half developed its own sense, overpowered him and essentially sucked the life out of him. So the overpowered half Bai Jue got stuck in that cave until Hou Chi, Qing Mu and Tianqi found him and set the process in motion of reviving him, which led to him rejoining with Qing Mu (when he was under attack in the Phoenix Parasol Forest).
Hou Chi was Shanggu's reconstructed spirit and body, so she actually was Shanggu, she just had an identity crisis later on when she found out... Then she was badly hurt by Wu Huan, which led to Gu Jun to return the piece of Shanggu's "original being" (different from her spirit) that he had been cultivating for her, which eventually leads to Shanggu's "re-awakening" 100 years later. However, Bai Jue sneaked into her bedroom and removed all her memories from the point where she returns from the Nether Realm. He returns the memories to her after he sacrifices himself in the trial at the end and then she suddenly sees the big picture essentially. So, actually, Hou Chi and Qing Mu are just parts of Bai Jue and Shanggu without their memories.
Just finished rewatching this drama, and just want to say the Viki translation seems to convey a better understanding…
Oh really? What major differences did you notice? Actually, generally speaking, subtitles miss out a lot of context because some aspects of Chinese don't translate well to English. I am not a native speaker, but nowadays I can understand most of what is said, so I can fill in the gaps. There are all kinds of subtleties that you miss if you rely on subs like jokes, puns, titles and clues/suggestions and so on... Some really helpful subtitle writers add little explanation notes in brackets! Actually, sometimes the subtitles aren't complete either so you miss out on important info sometimes!
By the way, since you mentioned it, what is your religion?
Just started this and my initial impression is that it gets serious and sombre too quickly after a deceptively light start. There's not enough building of tension. I have a similar issue with Luoyang but in a different way. It gets fast paced and dramatic before you've had a chance to become attached to the characters.... Really good dramas build the tension up gradually and give you more time to get acquainted with the characters before introducing so many obstacles. Unless the first few episodes are more like a prologue, the pace of this drama feels off.
After 2 episodes I am bored, everything feels fake, and the romantic moments were literally forced. I just read…
Give it a chance, it takes a while to grow on you. Many had this impression in the first few episodes... Me too. Now it's one of my top 5 favourite dramas and I've rewatched it several times. If you liked other xianxias you will most likely like this too.
While waiting, some of us are on the lookout for younger female leads who might one day replace Dilraba, should…
Actually, the West also differs a lot in terms of progressiveness. I'm from Sweden which is at the forefront of a lot of social progress (in most ways, but not all, the far right has been rearing its ugly head more and more), but I'm half English and I'd say the British are slightly less progressive, but only in comparison to somewhere like Sweden lol. Women are more likely to go into more traditional gender roles there even if they don't have to. I know a few English girl friends that stay home and do the housewife gig. The difference is they do it because they want to not because they're expected or required to.
When I speak with Asian people they often seem to have a perception that all Westerners are all the same. But I mean, in Europe alone, there are so many countries with differing values and cultural norms. Even within one country you find the South and the North might differ too...! I'm living in Germany now and the North and South are definitely different, the South is more conservative, also Catholic, but the North is more Lutheran and usually more progressive.
As you say, depends where you are... Same goes for Asia! I've just started learning more about Asia and Asian culture since getting into C and K dramas a couple of years ago, it's definitely been very interesting! Like you said, influences like Confucianism and the like have had a big role to play in society even today. A good example of that is in Chinese culture how cousins are treated more like siblings and even called by those terms!
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I wish C dramas would move on from the whole hooded/masked villain cliche, it's just so overdone. There are other ways of concealing someone's identity.
With that hood down to his lips, he'll trip and fall! Or his face will get itchy. No villain wants to look like a klutz.
So after Shanggu's sacrifice Bai Jue became obsessed with 1) bringing her back and 2) taking the trial for her because he feels he forced her to die. He exhausted his powers during the trial to "freeze" it and then spent years gathering up her scattered spirit which he then created Hou Chi from. Then he researched the Power of Chaos and theorised it was a combination of "God" power and "Demon" power. So he went to the Eastern Sea cave and split his original being in two. Then recultivated his other half with "demon energy", but in the process of mixing the God "Shen" and "Yao" energies, something went wrong and his other half developed its own sense, overpowered him and essentially sucked the life out of him. So the overpowered half Bai Jue got stuck in that cave until Hou Chi, Qing Mu and Tianqi found him and set the process in motion of reviving him, which led to him rejoining with Qing Mu (when he was under attack in the Phoenix Parasol Forest).
Hou Chi was Shanggu's reconstructed spirit and body, so she actually was Shanggu, she just had an identity crisis later on when she found out... Then she was badly hurt by Wu Huan, which led to Gu Jun to return the piece of Shanggu's "original being" (different from her spirit) that he had been cultivating for her, which eventually leads to Shanggu's "re-awakening" 100 years later. However, Bai Jue sneaked into her bedroom and removed all her memories from the point where she returns from the Nether Realm. He returns the memories to her after he sacrifices himself in the trial at the end and then she suddenly sees the big picture essentially. So, actually, Hou Chi and Qing Mu are just parts of Bai Jue and Shanggu without their memories.
Hope that helps!
I'm going to go get a glass of water now.
Just kidding. 😉
By the way, since you mentioned it, what is your religion?
Anyway, most people like myself rate once we've finished watching the drama, the drama hasn't even finished airing yet, how can I rate it?
Unless the first few episodes are more like a prologue, the pace of this drama feels off.
If you liked other xianxias you will most likely like this too.
When I speak with Asian people they often seem to have a perception that all Westerners are all the same. But I mean, in Europe alone, there are so many countries with differing values and cultural norms. Even within one country you find the South and the North might differ too...! I'm living in Germany now and the North and South are definitely different, the South is more conservative, also Catholic, but the North is more Lutheran and usually more progressive.
As you say, depends where you are... Same goes for Asia! I've just started learning more about Asia and Asian culture since getting into C and K dramas a couple of years ago, it's definitely been very interesting! Like you said, influences like Confucianism and the like have had a big role to play in society even today. A good example of that is in Chinese culture how cousins are treated more like siblings and even called by those terms!