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sid_guardian2019-12-05 08:01 pm
extrapenguin) wrote in sid_guardian2019-12-05 08:01 pm
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Guardian Episode by Episode: 38
Welcome to the rewatchalong! This week we watch the antepenultimate episode, 38! The Imgur screencap album has 70 images.
(Episode 39 will be dealt with on Monday and episode 40 the following Friday, probably.)
Previously on:
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5
Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10
Episode 11, Episode 12, Episode 13, Episode 14, Episode 15
Episode 16, Episode 17, Episode 18, Episode 19, Episode 20
Episode 21, Episode 22, Episode 23, Episode 24, Episode 25
Episode 26, Episode 27, Episode 28, Episode 29, Episode 30
Episode 31, Episode 32, Episode 33, Episode 34, Episode 35
Episode 36, Episode 37
This week, there's a field trip to Dixing and Ye Zun ties people up.
Characterization
Chu Shuzhi continues sort of being Guo Changcheng's background support system. He gives a very nice little speechlet of support when Guo Changcheng's about to livestream, and also continues his scathing insight run with "The fear of death has made them forget their will to live."
Guo Changcheng, OTOH, is going full into Responsibility, what with indulging the SID-wide livestreaming fetish to deliver the last thoughts and wishes of the deceased to their hopefully-listening nearest and dearest. He also shows gumption by resisting Ye Zun's whole mental suggestion thing, but then again, when we were shown the mind control scene, he ... said to Ye Zun, "You go to the bathroom dressed like that?" and Guo Changcheng, um, I don't know what it's like in your universe but in mine people do their clothes adjustments inside the stalls, not outside the bathroom, wtf.
Even if he has a halo, he still needs to get a second brain cell to rub against the first one.
In the secret room, the manual is written in what looks like seal script (similar to what levitated about Ye Zun's pillar in episode 27), which Zhu Hong can read – unlike Da Qing. She also kneels before Fu You (logical, given that if Ma Gui has a portrait in the Haixing Department of Supervision office, his compatriot Fu You should've lived on as a legend in her tribes as well).
Left to right: A wastrel cat who probably only learned to read once forced by circumstances, a snake who paid attention to the classics, and the token human.
Zhao Yunlan continues his entitlement thing with being the one to use the Sacred Wood to open the door to the secret room, despite Zhu Hong being right there and also the High Chief of the Yashou Tribes. His judgement also gets a little clouded, I guess due to stress/insomnia/Shen Wei being away – I'm not sure if Professor Ouyang stabbing himself with the serum again was worth rushing him, frex, and the whole agreement about Zhang Shi getting to have his body if he had to sacrifice himself for the Guardian Lantern was a bit wtf, given that Guo Changcheng was right there, but more on that anon.
Or perhaps he just wanted the excuse to nap.
In Dixing, he twigs on to Wu Xiaojun's fakery delightfully fast, and then does a quick one to give the bartender the Lantern later. We also get an 100% delightful scene of Zhao Yunlan being growly over Shen Wei and vowing to kill whomever hurt him.
"You have lost because you are stupid and I am smarter than you."
Our supervillain Ye Zun continues projecting like an IMAX – asking Shen Wei how it feels to be a prisoner, or reiterating that Ye Zun is the master and gege the slave isn't going to give him any huge revelations – and then has what seems to be a complete deranged breakdown over his fight with Shen Wei not being the epic battle of equals he wanted. Also all the jealousy issues over Zhao Yunlan. And in an epic display of WTFery, he doesn't notice that the Guardian Lantern (you know, the largest Hallow) is missing until the other three don't merge. Oh Ye Zun.
"Why is this not going exactly like in my favorite revenge fantasy, cultivated over first an adolescence of abuse and then 10 000 years of empillarment?"
Shen Wei's theme this episode seems to be too little, too late. He finally asks Ye Zun why he hates him so much! (At least two decades too late to get an actual answer.) He finally criticizes the Regent about Dixingians living in a timeless darkness! (When he's tied to a pillar and has no political power to change anything or make others change things.) I suppose he's also woozy from blood loss, given all the bleeding he's been doing, and since he's full-on suicidal and planning to sacrifice himself in a big kaboom, he's sort of ... ticking off items on his "do before you die" checklist. It's sort of sad. Especially when he doesn't even get a proper hug with Zhao Yunlan!
If he hadn't just lost half his blood, he'd get a nosebleed thinking of Zhao Yunlan.
Now, the Dixing field trip. If Zhang Shi knew that Guo Changcheng's karma was so good that it could save the world, why couldn't he have said that Guo Changcheng could also light the Lantern? Then they could've kept the Hallows on Haixing and merged them there, and the Hallows project would've been completely separate from the mission to rescue Shen Wei. Make Ye Zun go kaboom with the merged Hallows, find Shen Wei from Dixing, fuss over him and patch him up. Or at the very least go to Dixing without the Hallows and without Guo Changcheng (because Guo Changcheng and the Hallows are required for merging the Hallows), so Zhao Yunlan's accompanied by someone with actual powers. Argh.
Canon details
Cinematography
Shots from afar
The entrance to the secret room. Opening the door. Shen Wei being tortured. Zhao Yunlan compliments the architechture.
Shen Wei's face when he uses his yutoudao to prop himself up is some wonderful close-ups
It was a long haul.
And tilted shots to accompany subverted expectations
After Shen Wei finally asks Ye Zun why he hates him so much. Zhao Yunlan tells Wu Xiaojun he's stupid and Chief Zhao ain't buying it.
Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
Still the same affair:
Now available with a death glare.
Did Shen Wei take off his glasses?
Ye Zun took them off for him!
(Episode 39 will be dealt with on Monday and episode 40 the following Friday, probably.)
Previously on:
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5
Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10
Episode 11, Episode 12, Episode 13, Episode 14, Episode 15
Episode 16, Episode 17, Episode 18, Episode 19, Episode 20
Episode 21, Episode 22, Episode 23, Episode 24, Episode 25
Episode 26, Episode 27, Episode 28, Episode 29, Episode 30
Episode 31, Episode 32, Episode 33, Episode 34, Episode 35
Episode 36, Episode 37
This week, there's a field trip to Dixing and Ye Zun ties people up.
Characterization
Chu Shuzhi continues sort of being Guo Changcheng's background support system. He gives a very nice little speechlet of support when Guo Changcheng's about to livestream, and also continues his scathing insight run with "The fear of death has made them forget their will to live."
Guo Changcheng, OTOH, is going full into Responsibility, what with indulging the SID-wide livestreaming fetish to deliver the last thoughts and wishes of the deceased to their hopefully-listening nearest and dearest. He also shows gumption by resisting Ye Zun's whole mental suggestion thing, but then again, when we were shown the mind control scene, he ... said to Ye Zun, "You go to the bathroom dressed like that?" and Guo Changcheng, um, I don't know what it's like in your universe but in mine people do their clothes adjustments inside the stalls, not outside the bathroom, wtf.
Even if he has a halo, he still needs to get a second brain cell to rub against the first one.
In the secret room, the manual is written in what looks like seal script (similar to what levitated about Ye Zun's pillar in episode 27), which Zhu Hong can read – unlike Da Qing. She also kneels before Fu You (logical, given that if Ma Gui has a portrait in the Haixing Department of Supervision office, his compatriot Fu You should've lived on as a legend in her tribes as well).
Left to right: A wastrel cat who probably only learned to read once forced by circumstances, a snake who paid attention to the classics, and the token human.
Zhao Yunlan continues his entitlement thing with being the one to use the Sacred Wood to open the door to the secret room, despite Zhu Hong being right there and also the High Chief of the Yashou Tribes. His judgement also gets a little clouded, I guess due to stress/insomnia/Shen Wei being away – I'm not sure if Professor Ouyang stabbing himself with the serum again was worth rushing him, frex, and the whole agreement about Zhang Shi getting to have his body if he had to sacrifice himself for the Guardian Lantern was a bit wtf, given that Guo Changcheng was right there, but more on that anon.
Or perhaps he just wanted the excuse to nap.
In Dixing, he twigs on to Wu Xiaojun's fakery delightfully fast, and then does a quick one to give the bartender the Lantern later. We also get an 100% delightful scene of Zhao Yunlan being growly over Shen Wei and vowing to kill whomever hurt him.
"You have lost because you are stupid and I am smarter than you."
Our supervillain Ye Zun continues projecting like an IMAX – asking Shen Wei how it feels to be a prisoner, or reiterating that Ye Zun is the master and gege the slave isn't going to give him any huge revelations – and then has what seems to be a complete deranged breakdown over his fight with Shen Wei not being the epic battle of equals he wanted. Also all the jealousy issues over Zhao Yunlan. And in an epic display of WTFery, he doesn't notice that the Guardian Lantern (you know, the largest Hallow) is missing until the other three don't merge. Oh Ye Zun.
"Why is this not going exactly like in my favorite revenge fantasy, cultivated over first an adolescence of abuse and then 10 000 years of empillarment?"
Shen Wei's theme this episode seems to be too little, too late. He finally asks Ye Zun why he hates him so much! (At least two decades too late to get an actual answer.) He finally criticizes the Regent about Dixingians living in a timeless darkness! (When he's tied to a pillar and has no political power to change anything or make others change things.) I suppose he's also woozy from blood loss, given all the bleeding he's been doing, and since he's full-on suicidal and planning to sacrifice himself in a big kaboom, he's sort of ... ticking off items on his "do before you die" checklist. It's sort of sad. Especially when he doesn't even get a proper hug with Zhao Yunlan!
If he hadn't just lost half his blood, he'd get a nosebleed thinking of Zhao Yunlan.
Now, the Dixing field trip. If Zhang Shi knew that Guo Changcheng's karma was so good that it could save the world, why couldn't he have said that Guo Changcheng could also light the Lantern? Then they could've kept the Hallows on Haixing and merged them there, and the Hallows project would've been completely separate from the mission to rescue Shen Wei. Make Ye Zun go kaboom with the merged Hallows, find Shen Wei from Dixing, fuss over him and patch him up. Or at the very least go to Dixing without the Hallows and without Guo Changcheng (because Guo Changcheng and the Hallows are required for merging the Hallows), so Zhao Yunlan's accompanied by someone with actual powers. Argh.
Canon details
- Ma Gui says he thought the Hallows' abilities were just legends – so he didn't make the Hallows, he just found them somewhere?
- Either all passages to Dixing or just the passage in Yashou lands are unstable when first opened
- Zhao Xinci hugged his son for the first time in 20 years
- All the passcodes used in the Haixing Department of Supervision building come from the lab
- Using his powers reinforced the suggestion planted within Guo Changcheng, so would that mean that Dixingians with powers are more vulnerable to Ye Zun's mind control?
- Zhang Shi says he was born 9 900 years ago, so unless Ma Gui lived to well over 100, the war didn't actually happen quite 10 000 years ago (more like it ended 9 950 years ago).
Cinematography
Shots from afar
The entrance to the secret room. Opening the door. Shen Wei being tortured. Zhao Yunlan compliments the architechture.
Shen Wei's face when he uses his yutoudao to prop himself up is some wonderful close-ups
It was a long haul.
And tilted shots to accompany subverted expectations
After Shen Wei finally asks Ye Zun why he hates him so much. Zhao Yunlan tells Wu Xiaojun he's stupid and Chief Zhao ain't buying it.
Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
Still the same affair:
Now available with a death glare.
Did Shen Wei take off his glasses?
Ye Zun took them off for him!
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Chu Shuzhi continues sort of being Guo Changcheng's background support system.
I'm very fond of their interactions in these episodes.
Now, the Dixing field trip. If Zhang Shi knew that Guo Changcheng's karma was so good that it could save the world, why couldn't he have said that Guo Changcheng could also light the Lantern?
I think he was afraid that if he came out and said it, Zhao Yunlan would insist that he couldn't let one of his people sacrifice themselves.
Ma Gui says he thought the Hallows' abilities were just legends – so he didn't make the Hallows, he just found them somewhere?
One of the enduring mysteries of the world. Where did the Hallows come from? Why do they have those specific shapes and powers? Why do they like Zhao Yunlan so much?
Ye Zun took them off for him!
Ouch.
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Yeah, he ... doesn't really seem to have had the time to switch clothes. Or he thinks they're so iconic he can't swap? Though now I wonder whether getting a new wardrobe would help with his issues.
I actually didn't get the impression Guo Changcheng would be sacrificing himself at all – I thought it'd be more like, his karma is so good that part of it can go live in the Lantern and the most he'll suffer is equivalent to a headcold. (Cf his karma being good enough to save the world once.)
I have a lot of cracky theories, like the Hallows being Shen Wei (and Ye Zun?) who time travel back and then do stuff to preserve the timeline. It wouldn't explain why they have those shapes and powers, but it would explain why they like Zhao Yunlan so much! (And then they could happily play house inside the Lantern forever.)
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Extreme Makeover: Dixing Edition.
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I am still confused about this. Are you not supposed to pee whilst wearing fancy clothing? I wish Guo Changcheng had actually roasted him for his OTT fashion but nope.
We also get an 100% delightful scene of Zhao Yunlan being growly over Shen Wei and vowing to kill whomever hurt him.
THIS SCENE ARGH, the acting is just stunning from both of them and it's really their last moment alone together and it's just so desperate.
Our supervillain Ye Zun continues projecting like an IMAX
Indeed. He really can't cope with people refusing to die in the most satisfying fashion. The bit where he uses his bleaching power to take the bloodstains off his sleeve is hilarious, though.
I suppose he's also woozy from blood loss, given all the bleeding he's been doing, and since he's full-on suicidal and planning to sacrifice himself in a big kaboom, he's sort of ... ticking off items on his "do before you die" checklist. It's sort of sad. Especially when he doesn't even get a proper hug with Zhao Yunlan!
SORT OF SAD?!?!?!?! Sorry I gotta take a second to BOGGLE over the stiffness of that upper lip. MY ENTIRE SOUL IS PAIN, PENGUIN. SHEN WEI IS LYING IN THE GRAVEL WITH SO MUCH STILL UNDONE AND I AM DISSOLVING.
Ma Gui says he thought the Hallows' abilities were just legends – so he didn't make the Hallows, he just found them somewhere?
WHAT. I. I thought he was at least there for the making of the Hallows? Argh. Do we know anything for sure about the origin of the Hallows? They were made out of material from the meteor, right, so they can't be older than Shen Wei?
Zhao Yunlan's death glare is pretty hot, and I'm very very fond that incredibly ominous shot with Shen Wei's bloody, bent glasses in the foreground.
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Honestly, my best idea so far is that in Haixing, humans don't pee (???), and thus Guo Changcheng's only exposure to people pissing is Chu Shuzhi and Zhu Jiu. Or maybe it's just Guo Changcheng who doesn't pee? I have no fucking clue. (Like, the only scenario in which this makes the least bit of sense is a genderswap one where girl Ye Zun is asking girl Guo Changcheng for a tampon or something, and girl Guo Changcheng is appropriately alarmed by the amount of white girl Ye Zun is wearing. Or one where Guo Changcheng is an actual space alien who doesn't pee.)
People rag on Ye Zun for having dumb plans and not knowing how to count to four, but he did just get out after being stuck in a pillar for ten thousand years, which counts as torture, and someone should take him to a therapist.
I mean it's not like he's dead? (Yet.) :P /upper lip stiffness level: diamond
Ma Gui told us he made them from meteor material, but since apparently he didn't and only found them, we have no fucking clue. They have powers and really like Zhao Yunlan?
The bloodied glasses are actually interesting – did Shen Wei cough up blood so hard that spatters flew to his glasses, or did Ye Zun whip him up a bit, decide the glasses were harshing his squee, and gently remove gege's glasses so that the torture project could go just like he'd imagined it to go?
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I don't know much about splatter patterns, but as a glasses-wearer, I'm not sure that's Shen Wei's blood. It's only on one lense, so it didn't hit him in the middle, and it's not even entirely on that lense and there's no streaks/blurring/dripping. I think he was close and got hit from the blood of someone standing near him.
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Huh, that's interesting! But who could it be? The Regent and Lord don't have any wounds, and Wu Xiaojun is just fine. Who else has been near Shen Wei recently? Some errant palace guard going :o at the Envoy being whipped?
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Ah yes, finally, positive evidence for the "humans excrete differently on Haixing" theory! Or the "Guo Changcheng is some other fourth species we don't understand" theory, which has more explanatory power, if I'm being honest. The genderswap AU makes it cute, though. If Ye Zun came up to me dressed like that and asked for a tampon, I too would have concerns! (Ye Zun: "chill, I have magic powers for getting bloodstains out of whites.")
That was you. You did that. :P
*scream*
With the angle of the left nose pad (and the right temple also looks bent to me? The tip is not lying flat) I had assumed that the glasses had been hit or whipped right off his face, which splattered blood on them, and then Ye Zun picked them up and set them politely aside. (this does not account for
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Quick, someone write fic where Guo Changcheng's actual alien parents turn up and ask him what he's learned on this planet! (Give his true form tentacles?)
...I would ask her to marry me and participate in a science experiment to figure out how far her powers extend, perhaps even in that order. *g*
I'll have you know that the lurkers
supportjoin in with me in e-mail!Aw, I just wanted to imagine Ye Zun pausing his torture session to tenderly remove the glasses from gege's face before resuming. But yeah, them getting whipped off is probably more realistic.
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Yes! It's not even crackfic, there is so much about that boy that needs to be explained. (ok the tentacles are just for fun.)
You are going to have to fight me for fem!Ye Zun, sorry. She'd probably find that diverting! Or perhaps we can work out some kind of sharing arrangement? At the very least, I'm gonna need to pet her.
aw sorry. I love that image, though. The glasses do seem to have been placed aside, not just left to lie where they fell, at least?
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*nods sagely* Truly, it is the most reasonable explanation for his ... everything. And tentacles are an easy way to mark someone as an alien! (As well as boost Guo Changcheng's sex appeal.)
I am 100% amenable for sharing arrangements! (After all, I am pretty sure that petting fem!Ye Zun counts as a physiological need.) I do think she'd be very confused by all the petting.
It's just:
YZ: *whips gege*
YZ: ...no, those glasses weren't part of my elaborate revenge daydreams.
YZ: *tenderly removes Shen Wei's glasses, sets them on the side table*
YZ: *whips gege again*
SW: *is confused*
But I'll take comfort in Ye Zun tenderly placing the glasses on the table, even if they fell off with the first strike.
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Given his experiences in bathrooms with a) Chu Shuzhi and b) Zhu Jiu, I think Guo Changcheng is getting a complex.
Did Shen Wei take off his glasses?
Ye Zun took them off for him!
I now believe that you have included this item in all these rewatch posts JUST SO you can use this answer and that glasses shot here.
And I guess it's Ye Zun we have to thank for all these images of Shen Wei being absolutely shatteringly gorgeous (and shattered....)
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Hm, true! Since all his tormentors have been wearing an over-waist-length coat, I am now envisioning Guo Changcheng spooking from Zhao Yunlan when Zhao Yunlan enters the same bathroom as him whilst wearing a trench coat. :P
Believe it or not, it was mere happenstance! But yes, I saw an opportunity and seized it.
Indeed! If only we got an ending where Shen Wei swoons a bit into Zhao Yunlan's arms but everyone is fine, sigh.
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Chu Shuzhi remains one of the coolest.
"You go to the bathroom dressed like that?"
Guo Changcheng, otoh, remains the same failbunny, powers or not.
I'm not sure if Professor Ouyang stabbing himself with the serum again was worth rushing him, frex
I think after seeing what the serum did to multiple personality guy, Zhao Yunlan figured use of the serum could lead to nothing desirable.
the whole agreement about Zhang Shi getting to have his body if he had to sacrifice himself for the Guardian Lantern was a bit wtf, given that Guo Changcheng was right there
Oh face it, Zhao Yunlan would never let one of his own sacrifice himself if there was something he could do to prevent it.
Zhao Yunlan being growly over Shen Wei and vowing to kill whomever hurt him.
I ADORE that scene. And also the one where he spits all that blood at Ye Zun. This is a total BAMF Zhao Yunlan ep.
"Why is this not going exactly like in my favorite revenge fantasy, cultivated over first an adolescence of abuse and then 10 000 years of empillarment?"
LOLOL.
Shen Wei's theme this episode seems to be too little, too late. He finally asks Ye Zun why he hates him so much! (At least two decades too late to get an actual answer.) He finally criticizes the Regent about Dixingians living in a timeless darkness! (When he's tied to a pillar and has no political power to change anything or make others change things.)
Well. We don't know if he's never said any of that before. He could just be trying one last time? IDK.
If Zhang Shi knew that Guo Changcheng's karma was so good that it could save the world, why couldn't he have said that Guo Changcheng could also light the Lantern? Then they could've kept the Hallows on Haixing and merged them there, and the Hallows project would've been completely separate from the mission to rescue Shen Wei. Make Ye Zun go kaboom with the merged Hallows, find Shen Wei from Dixing, fuss over him and patch him up. Or at the very least go to Dixing without the Hallows and without Guo Changcheng (because Guo Changcheng and the Hallows are required for merging the Hallows), so Zhao Yunlan's accompanied by someone with actual powers.
I am totally with you for the last bit - taking Guo Changcheng of all people was supremely idiotic.
But Zhang Shi never said that Guo Changcheng could light the Lantern and survive (and for all we know, he might not) so whether or not GCC is wick material is really beside the point where Zhao Yunlan is concerned. So that's where that beautiful plan falls down.
Ma Gui says he thought the Hallows' abilities were just legends – so he didn't make the Hallows, he just found them somewhere?
This is just weird, yeah...
The Shen Wei close-ups... the death glare... the glasses... ***melts***
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He is! I actually wish he got to face off Ye Zun, with Ye Zun monologueing and Chu Shuzhi shooting off snappy one-liners in response.
But Professor Ouyang's already been serumed up and not being rational, so IDK if a second dose of serum would necessarily mean doom time? (Especially at such short notice Zhao Yunlan couldn't, idk, ask Ya Qing to shoot off a feather, or for Zhu Hong to use her snake powers.)
It sort of has an "I never said any of this before and now I'm going through all the things I bit my tongue on and saying them because I'm about to die" vibe to me. And neither Ye Zun or the Regent seem to expect the question/react like they've been asked the question before, imo.
IDK, I always got the impression that Guo Changcheng's pure karma could light the Lantern so that the consequences for Guo Changcheng himself would be just "he's a bit woozy for a few weeks" or something. So the whole "sacrifice of a willing soul" thing was a secondary Lantern-lighting method, and siphoning off some good karma to make the Lantern glow would be the first, which wouldn't require sacrifice.
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I am becoming increasingly convinced by a crack theory of mine that Ye Zun makes the Hallows sometime in the future, sends them back in time/they send themselves back in time, and so they imprisoned him for 10K years to keep him safe and ~~Preserve The Timeline~~. This also explains why there's no user manual and their fixation on ZYL.
> Zhang Shi says he was born 9 900 years ago, so unless Ma Gui lived to well over 100, the war didn't actually happen quite 10 000 years ago (more like it ended 9 950 years ago).
With sufficiently large numbers like that (such as Methos being 5000 years old in Highlander), I assume a lot of wiggle room on either side, like several hundred years could go by while the war was still "ten thousand years ago".
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Honestly, that makes as much sense as anything. It handily explains all the things!
Oh, yes, but I wanted to highlight Zhang Shi bringing up his age at the specificity of the hundreds, rather than the thousands of years. More accuracy!
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I just noticed that the other day. (To be specific, he says, "I thought that using the Hallows to pass through the restrictions of time and space was just a legend." (My emphasis.) So presumably he was less doubtful about at least some of the other functions?)
My current working theory/head canon is Ma Gui found or was given schematics from the spaceship (there seem to be written materials on the table in Alliance HQ, so literacy isn't an issue), and he forged the Hallows based on the schematics. In which case, he did make them, and "legends" is just a fancy word for "the impression I got from the inadequately annotated blueprints, why are people so bad at documentation"??? *sprinkles theory with handwavium powder* \o?
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I mean, the Treaty is written, so they definitely have literacy. Though if there were plans, what prevented others from forging their own Hallows? Are our Hallows broken due to being forged from meteor material (which was not part of the spaceship)? WTF is going on?
(That is, yes, I would read a 100k epic just about worldbuilding. Because WTF.)