Question: ep. 40, "Guard against the heart of the evil..."

[dorinda]

Just finished another rewatch the other day, and I was wondering about the words "Guard against the heart of the evil/Spread the virtue of the kind". What do we know about them, if anything?

I didn't run across them anywhere else in the series... are they a proverb? Are they from the novel? They're obviously extremely important to Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan, and they both know them, but I wasn't sure if there are any other clues, or if it's something we are free to just make up ourselves.

Left to my own devices, I was imagining that maybe they created or learned the phrase back in Ancient Haixing together (in all the offscreen time there we surely just didn't see :D ), which is why the reveal of the contents of the necklace made Zhao Yunlan repeat them. But that's just me improvising.

Any thoughts?

Comments

[shadaras]

It appears to be an oblique novel reference! (Link goes to a tumblr post answering an ask about this exact line, including translation notes.)

Pretty sure that in drama-verse, though, the exact backstory is entirely up to your imagination. :)

[dorinda]

Oh wow, thank you!! Finding things on tumblr is such a crapshoot--I really appreciate the link.

That is very interesting indeed!

[shadaras]

You're welcome! I am very grateful I remembered both reading something about this before and that it was probably on dtriad's tumblr; otherwise I doubt I would've been able to find it. :)

(I also love your idea that the dramaverse explanation has something to do with their time together in ancient Haixing!)

[trobadora]

Thank you for linking that! I knew I had seen something like it before, but couldn't dig it up.

dorinda, I love your idea that it's something they encountered/created together in Ancient Haixing!

[trickytricky]

I had kinda vaguely assumed it was related to the Guardian Order when I watched (seemed like that kind of thing), but it's groovy to learn that it's actually adapted from a bit in the novel!

Aside from the literal derivation of it, I just always *loved* what the timing and contents of that phrase recited by each of them in turn meant to them in the more... metaphorical sense, I guess? That when Shen Wei said it, he was using those words that clearly held an important meaning to him as a talisman, a reminder of what he was hanging on for, what he'd sacrificed so much for, something that helped him gather the last of his strength and willpower to do what still needed done to save everyone in the world...

And like, Shen Wei must have felt so scared and so alone there at the end; on the cusp of death from the killing blow delivered by his brother, in terrible pain, teetering on the edge of ultimate defeat, just desperately clinging to life by his ragged fingernails so he could pull off that final impossible Hail Mary play and try to save everyone else... and he recites that line to give himself that final boost of willpower he needs to get himself over the finish line, and you can just see on his face that it has so much depth of meaning to him, it gives him so much peace there at the end to know that he managed to live up to his deeply-held convictions.

And then. AND THEN. When Zhao Yunlan has put it all together, when he finally, truly understands what really made Shen Wei tick, what his motivations were, what he ended up sacrificing in order to protect others... you get this absolutely *gorgeous* implicit, but so powerful moment of endorsement and peaceful acceptance and soul-deep understanding from Zhao Yunlan... somehow he just knows what Shen Wei's final thoughts were, he perfectly puts into words what was driving him, and Shen Wei gets to experience that perfect moment of being seen, being known by a man who loves him, and accepts him as he is, and would have done the exact same thing in his place because deep down in the most foundational stuff that makes them both up, they hold the same core values, the same deeply held convictions.

That in every way that counts, Shen Wei hadn't been alone there in the end at all. Neither of them were. They were together in spirit, had helped one another become the best versions of themselves that each of them wanted desperately to be, seeing one another true in a way that no one else ever had, through it all.

Eugh, sorry, rambly comment is rambly, but damn, I really love what the show (and the actors!) did with the deliveries of that repeated line there at the end, and how much meaning they managed to pack into it.

[dorinda]

I think a good long comment is perfectly appropriate to this intense sequence in the show!! And yesssss, the timing and the meaning make it all so amazing, sigh.

That in every way that counts, Shen Wei hadn't been alone there in the end at all. Neither of them were.

100% agreed!

[elenothar]

Don't mind me, I'm just crying over this meta now.

(That in every way that counts, Shen Wei hadn't been alone there in the end at all. Neither of them were.)

[sakana17]

I need to quote this entire thing:
When Zhao Yunlan has put it all together, when he finally, truly understands what really made Shen Wei tick, what his motivations were, what he ended up sacrificing in order to protect others... you get this absolutely *gorgeous* implicit, but so powerful moment of endorsement and peaceful acceptance and soul-deep understanding from Zhao Yunlan... somehow he just knows what Shen Wei's final thoughts were, he perfectly puts into words what was driving him, and Shen Wei gets to experience that perfect moment of being seen, being known by a man who loves him, and accepts him as he is, and would have done the exact same thing in his place because deep down in the most foundational stuff that makes them both up, they hold the same core values, the same deeply held convictions.

because it is so beautifully expressed! YES to all of this! <3

[trobadora]

I have to quote all of this:

And then. AND THEN. When Zhao Yunlan has put it all together, when he finally, truly understands what really made Shen Wei tick, what his motivations were, what he ended up sacrificing in order to protect others... you get this absolutely *gorgeous* implicit, but so powerful moment of endorsement and peaceful acceptance and soul-deep understanding from Zhao Yunlan... somehow he just knows what Shen Wei's final thoughts were, he perfectly puts into words what was driving him, and Shen Wei gets to experience that perfect moment of being seen, being known by a man who loves him, and accepts him as he is, and would have done the exact same thing in his place because deep down in the most foundational stuff that makes them both up, they hold the same core values, the same deeply held convictions.

That in every way that counts, Shen Wei hadn't been alone there in the end at all. Neither of them were. They were together in spirit, had helped one another become the best versions of themselves that each of them wanted desperately to be, seeing one another true in a way that no one else ever had, through it all.

Oh god, yes, you describe it so beautifully and perfectly. ♥

[thisfanfeels]

Your words so perfectly captured the meaning of why they both said it. Thank you! (more weeping now...)