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riventhorn I'm putting this discussion behind the cut because it contains spoilers for Episodes 38 through 40.
I'm interested in how others feel about Shen Wei's decision not to tell Zhao Yunlan about his end-game plan for stopping Ye Zun, i.e. turning himself into a bomb.
Personally, I think it was the right decision--or perhaps it is more accurate to say, the best choice of many bad options. Regardless of whether he told Zhao Yunlan or not, I don't think Shen Wei would have changed his decision to sacrifice himself to stop Ye Zun. If he had told ZYL much earlier, say when he first conceived of the plan or during the famous kitchen scene, it would only have resulted in a lot of fighting, anger, and sorrow, because ZYL would certainly have tried to stop Shen Wei or done something drastic himself to try and stop Ye Zun. I mean, just look at ZYL's face in these moments in Ep 38 when Shen Wei is hurt and how absolutely devastated he is: https://youtu.be/V2dUtbSz4hQ?t=1823
By not telling ZYL, Shen Wei is able to be with him without Shen Wei's looming death hanging over them. Shen Wei, of course, knows what is coming and has to bear that, but I consider it more an act of kindness and love not to tell ZYL as opposed to looking at it as a selfish act.
Beyond this moment, it raises the interesting question of when it is appropriate to keep secrets, to keep people in the dark, to hide bad news, etc. I know I've read this somewhere, although I can't remember where, but it was something to the effect of how a strong and lasting relationship may not necessarily depend on the parties involved sharing everything with each other.
I'm interested in how others feel about Shen Wei's decision not to tell Zhao Yunlan about his end-game plan for stopping Ye Zun, i.e. turning himself into a bomb.
Personally, I think it was the right decision--or perhaps it is more accurate to say, the best choice of many bad options. Regardless of whether he told Zhao Yunlan or not, I don't think Shen Wei would have changed his decision to sacrifice himself to stop Ye Zun. If he had told ZYL much earlier, say when he first conceived of the plan or during the famous kitchen scene, it would only have resulted in a lot of fighting, anger, and sorrow, because ZYL would certainly have tried to stop Shen Wei or done something drastic himself to try and stop Ye Zun. I mean, just look at ZYL's face in these moments in Ep 38 when Shen Wei is hurt and how absolutely devastated he is: https://youtu.be/V2dUtbSz4hQ?t=1823
By not telling ZYL, Shen Wei is able to be with him without Shen Wei's looming death hanging over them. Shen Wei, of course, knows what is coming and has to bear that, but I consider it more an act of kindness and love not to tell ZYL as opposed to looking at it as a selfish act.
Beyond this moment, it raises the interesting question of when it is appropriate to keep secrets, to keep people in the dark, to hide bad news, etc. I know I've read this somewhere, although I can't remember where, but it was something to the effect of how a strong and lasting relationship may not necessarily depend on the parties involved sharing everything with each other.
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Date: 2019-03-30 12:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-30 05:46 pm (UTC)I'm not sure about that either. I think Ye Zun says that before, Shen Wei would have been a match for him, so perhaps they would have been evenly matched, but still not guaranteeing Shen Wei would win.
I agree Shen Wei should have told ZYL the two of them were brothers a lot earlier, although I wonder how much of Shen Wei's reticence in explaining the past was due to how much he knew about Kunlun being ZYL and concerns about messing up the timeline, as obviously ZYL had not yet gone back in time. I am still pondering that question of when Shen Wei realized ZYL was Kunlun and when he figured out exactly how the whole time travel thing had worked.
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Date: 2019-03-30 11:00 pm (UTC)This is one of those areas where Shen Wei's possible secrets shade over into how much Shen Wei's put together about Zhao Yunlan's Excellent Adventure, for me. Does he remember "Kun Lun" being shocked to learn they were brothers 10K years ago? If he does, and if he figures out ZYL must have time travelled with the assistance/interference of the Hallows, he may say nothing to protect the space-time continuum. If he hasn't figured out the time travelling yet (maybe believes ZYL has amnesia, like Da Qing), or isn't sure if it already happened, he may believe ZYL remembered/recognized Ye Zun when Ye Zun manifested just before ZYL went blind. I'm just not sure it's something he's deliberately keeping from ZYL, though it's equally possible it's just, as you say in your last sentence, that Shen Wei's not in the habit of volunteering information.
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Date: 2019-03-31 02:03 am (UTC)Except he knows Zhao Yunlan is human, and he's met his father. And given the gun and the lollipops, it kind of has to be time travel, doesn't it? I thought he'd figure that out as soon as he arrived in Haixing 20 years ago (if not before).
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Date: 2019-03-31 02:30 am (UTC)All that really tells him, though, is that Zhao Yunlan's originally from this time period. I think the gun and lollipops confirm for him that this isn't just someone who looks like the love he lost, this is his love, but he's still trying to figure out how and when the time travel happen/ed possibly right up until it does, and thus how much ZYL knows, and how much it's safe for ZYL to know. If he realizes ZYL hasn't traveled back in time before that point, and doesn't make the connection between Ye Zun looking like Shen Wei and being related to Shen Wei, he may think it's safer for ZYL not to know. Which, given Ye Zun's instability, is possibly the case.
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Date: 2019-03-31 02:39 am (UTC)So when you say "If he hasn't figured out the time travelling yet" you mean if he hasn't figured out when the time-travelling happened, not if it was time travel, then?
(I feel like if the SID Chief had serious memory problems, it would either be in his file or Chu Shuzhi would know and have reported it, but I suppose they could have hushed it up if they were very careful.)
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Date: 2019-03-31 03:14 am (UTC)Oh, sorry. I think that was just me not being clear.
So when you say "If he hasn't figured out the time travelling yet" you mean if he hasn't figured out when the time-travelling happened, not if it was time travel, then?
Right. I think once he knows ZYL's the right person, he probably posits time travel as the most likely theory, and given that temporal effects are theorized as a side effect of using the Hallows, he may even determine they're the most likely culprits (and then warn ZYL to stop messing with them, because who knows how much time travelling they might send ZYL on without Shen Wei to stop it, he's even jealous of the time his younger self will get to spend with ZYL). Add another reason he's pissed that ZYL can't keep his hands off the LD.
(I feel like if the SID Chief had serious memory problems, it would either be in his file or Chu Shuzhi would know and have reported it, but I suppose they could have hushed it up if they were very careful.)
Ha! True. I was thinking more of situational amnesia, like Shen Wei wondered if ZYL had gone to the past and forgotten it on his return. Many of their early encounters are reading to me, on rewatching, as Shen Wei prompting ZYL, trying to understand why ZYL doesn't recognize him (and trying not to lose heart that this is his Kun Lun, because lollipops! And also Da Qing!). He doesn't see the gun until the Hanga Tribe arc, which I'm at now, but I think he's pretty convinced already. I also think he's still on the fence about what exactly happened, though; he hasn't brought up any temporal effects yet. I don't think those come into play until at least two of them are together, which might be the point when he starts working it out.
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Date: 2019-03-31 03:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-31 04:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-31 05:29 am (UTC)I don't think he needs to theorise about this: in the past, ZYL was quite clear about retrieving the Hallows being his "mission", and when they had them, he was all, "Okay, so where's my wormhole?"
he's even jealous of the time his younger self will get to spend with ZYL
Oh, whereas I think he really cherishes that time and wouldn't change it for anything. I think that's a large part of what holds him back from revealing himself sooner.
Add another reason he's pissed that ZYL can't keep his hands off the LD.
Or the fact that ZYL keeps passing out/getting sick when he touches them?
Many of their early encounters are reading to me, on rewatching, as Shen Wei prompting ZYL, trying to understand why ZYL doesn't recognize him (and trying not to lose heart that this is his Kun Lun, because lollipops! And also Da Qing!).
*pets him* I tend to put that down to wishful thinking, which he can't quite suppress (and I'm having a lot of fun rolling around in the angst in fic *ahem*). I think by episode four, when he says that an important person gave him his name, he's pretty resigned to the fact that ZYL isn't his Kunlun yet, especially given ZYL's stated attitudes to Dixingren.
He doesn't see the gun until the Hanga Tribe arc
I feel that he would have seen it, or at least been aware of its existence, when it belonged to Zhao Xinci. (Though that does leave a space-yet-to-be-filled-in in my head about why he wasn't subsequently paying more attention to SID chiefs thereafter.)
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Date: 2019-03-31 12:46 pm (UTC)