Latest Posts by sombredancer - Page 3

My tribute to "The Silmarillion", part 2. Embroidery of Silmarils and their fate. To the Sea One Silmaril was thrown by Maglor in the depths of sea because it had burnt his hands unbearable. You can see here the ocean waves, the star of the House of Fёanor, Maglor's hair, Maglor's hands burnt to the flesh and the Everlasting light of Silmaril in them.

To the Earth The other Silmaril was buried in the core of the Earth with it's host, Maedhros, because of the pain that jewel caused. You can see here the red wave of magma swallowing Maedhros, two white lilies as a symbol of his death, the star of the House of Fёanor, Maedhros' hair, his golden hand instead of missing one, the left hand burnt to the flesh and the Everlasting light of Silmaril shining through his fist.

Arda Envinyanta The third Silmaril is in the hands of his creator, Fёanor. It`s told that at the end of times he will resurrect and break his jewels by himself in order to return the Everlasting Light to Arda Healed. You can see here some blooming flowers of Arda Healed, the star of the House of Fёanor, Fёanor's hair with the flower hairpin (each flower of which represents one of his seven sons), his hands adorned with rings and the Everlasting light of Silmaril above them.

For more entourage photos and close-ups you can visit my AO3:

Li Xiang Yi and Di Fei Sheng being each other's nemesis: a brief summary.

Previous year my biggest crush canon was "The Silmarillion" by J.R.R. Tolkien, specifically the story of Fёanor's sons. So here I am. Before and After All that they had before turned into ashes, only bloody Silmaril burnt Maglor`s hand in the end.

Cenotaph Cenotaph is some kind of symbolical grave where is no one to be buried. In my mind one is ready to let their deceased ones go when it seems that their grave has become empty. Maybe before it was a real grave of Maedhros' and Maglor's brothers but life goes on and now it feels empty indeed.

Beyond Sorrow Maglor plays Noldolantë and his kantele laments about all the loses and regrets of his with quenya word nainië (lament). But his heart still hopes for the reunion of all Eldar and forgiveness from Valar and Eru in Arda Envinyanta and sings with quenya word estel (hope).

Hot GIFs to get your attention

I still can't cope with the ending of TtEotM, so I want to read something similar to "Black Moonlight holds the BE script": a bad guy, a good girl, love and then the happy end. (Or maybe watch something like LbFaD). Can you guys advice me something? It`s not necessary should be something Chinese, I enjoyed "Cruel Prince" by Holly Black although the dynamics was quite different.

Mmm... Foodp((0))rn

Thoughts on TtEotM

Well... I didn't like it. LYX was marvelous, CGI, too, plot elements were pretty good changed to tie the story up (and the part with Ming Ye was better tied to the main plot than in the book), but still... I didn't like it. In the book it was the story about man without abilities to feel something, his "love" in the first part of the story was wicked and twisted, so the contrast with the second part was huge and palpable. TTJ was a monster and became a man, he turned from egoist who only wanted to survive no matter what to person who was ready to give away the most precious thing for him (his life) to make his beloved happy (it happened that saving the world was the thing that could make his beloved happy, so he sacrificed himself to do it). And his heroic deed was rewarded with resurrection and a normal life with his family and new-found home. The story in the drama has nothing to do with that. There is a poor boy (no monster at all!!!) who constantly suffers and wants to die, falls in love with the first person who treated him well and sacrifices himself for the world that was so unkind to him. It`s awful! I know that Chinese people love the idea that you should die for the greater good, but this philosophy is as far from my heart as Jupiter from the Earth. Maybe DFQC will remain the only one drama "villain" who's got the happy end. And that drama will stay my favorite.

Love this book a lot, so I`m very excited to see the drama! Enemies to lovers is my jam, you know. Especially if there is a lot of sufferings and than the HE.

This is one of my favourite moments where I adore the voice actor who has dubbed Wang Hedi. I'm in love with iconic Qingcang's "Leeeeet's gooooo"! I can do nothing with myself, just rewatch this scene like hundred times to hear it once more. The second favourite thing of mine is "Dooon't cryyyy" in episode with burnt flower soup.

I should say that I absolutely in love with the voice of the actor, who has dubbed Wang Hedi in this drama. Wang Hedi speaks Mandarin with a Sichuan accent, that's why he hasn't got "proper" for Chinese state TV pronounciation and should be dubbed by some actor who has. At the same time, Wang Hedi's voice pitched higher than dubbed actor's one and would be not so harmonious with the image of fearsome lord (it suits better to Xiao Lanhua in Devil's body). So I like the dubbing a lot!

Spending the night on your roof

Spending the night on the roof of one's beloved is an ancient Chinese way to confess one's love. This is it.

Living & Dead Whose 墓碑 is there?

I agree with much of your critique on LBFAD. DFQC wasn't evil, he was tortured into being a weapon so I don't really get why he needed to suffer so much for redemption. I would have loved to see him use his newfound powers in the finale to demonstrate that he still remained the most powerful in three realms. Power of love so to speak.

I was annoyed by all the pointless suffering too. But perhaps DFQC needed to suffer and sacrifice to become worthy of glazefire? Like how he had to suffer to get hellfire in the first place? That's the only way I can stomach all the DFQC whump post ep 26. It serves no narrative purpose otherwise.

When I first watched the drama I was unhappy with the ending. I loved the early episodes and preferred badass, rational, logical DFQC over the version we got at the end. But then I realised that he wasn't invincible. That hellfire didn't really save him from imprisonment. Only Orchid could have saved and healed him so in a way his life was a gift given by her. That helped me to make peace with the ending.

Thank you for your comment, Nonnie! I think that you get the point of the meaning of the pointless sufferings as the way to get the power of a Hero. A Hero is not an usual person, so to get some unique abilities he needs to pay the highest price (that only hero can pay and is not availible for commoners). At the same time there is a certain pattern in european and american culture (in chinese it is not but LBDAF feels pretty western and is much suitable for american and european viewers) that a hero should be spotless and shining, and for those who missbehaved in the past (even if they admited their mistake and turned to the light side) there is no forgivness. Only atonement and death (or, in the very few situations, atonement only, but then a person should suffer A LOT and be at the brink of death (or die and ressurect later). For me Qingcang is fluffy and didn't deserve sufferings but in terms of heroism he was a bad guy at the beginning and should pay for that. It's an interesting conclusion about "his mighty power could not save him from dying 30 000 years ago". I didn't think about it in these terms but I also admired the beginning of the story which starts with saving a villain. Good attitudes go round and cause world saving, what a nice thought for a series!

Some 27-36 episodes critique

Although I ADORE this drama and absolutely IN LOVE with it, I have some critique to say (because this beautiful thing could be more beautiful).

First 26 episodes of drama are perfect, I can`t say anything against. But then the tempo of storytelling rushes forward and the timing of scenes goes wibbly-wobbly. And it causes some problems:

💔 After a huge catharsis in ep. 26, instead of solving the main problem that disturbs heroes from being together, the plot revolves around Girl being future Moon Queen. But the conflict is still running and Girl didn't take Devil's side in it! There should be more political things in order to solve the main problem. Girl could try to convince Changheng in nessesarity to stop the war (since he became friends with Devil and knows that demons didn't kill 3000 immortal soldiers. The friendship with Devil is a Chekhov gun that unfortunately didn't fire). Maybe there could be somehow solved the problem of Changheng mother's crime or even of the betrayal of the First Moon Supreme. Instead of it there was a bunch of unnessesary masochistic acts and sufferings (and screenwriters even forgot about bone-piercing spikes immediately after showing us their effect). Not to mention the fact that receiving of these spikes and spitting out the antidote against Heart Curse is the biggest act of stupidity of a man who knows that everyone in Demon Realm wants to kill him if he is weak and that the war against his people can start at any moment. So, 12 hours per day he was being unable to lead his troops and at the time of Fuju Cave he is 24 out of 24 hours was unable to do something and even to defend himself.

💔 The Battle in ep. 31 is not epic enough and ends up in a strange way. They all were dead and then they are resurrected. They respect Goddes of Xishan but will it stop them from proceeding? Devil is in coma, Heavenly Emperor is still prejudiced and would take an opportunity to wipe demons away for good. So why did this truce start? I need more screen time for explanation.

💔 If there is a truce, show us widows who get their husbands back from the battlefield! It`s quite more interesting than half-of-episode-Jieli's-family-problems. 💔 Speaking of Jieli, the plot line about her being daughter of a fairy and a demon leads to nowhere. It didn't help to get peace between tribes, her father didn't persuade Heavenly Emperor not to kill demon people out of love for his daughter and lover, demon sister didn't force Danyin to do something to prevent war. This plotline is useless and takes too much time out of the main story in the final series. Jieli's story is fine, but everything in the scenario should work for the main story and this plotline doesn't. I would explain about Jieli`s fate much shorter.

💔 Demons are nice. Even little jerk Xunfeng is very loyal. Their Lord is not almighty anymore and tries to commit suicide because his heart is broken and they all respect him anyway and are not trying to kill him and take his place now, when the situation is not fatal anymore. Why then it was stated at the beginning of the story that demons adore only power and will kill everyone for it? I saw many viewers were nice surprised that Xunfeng was not hypocrite but this sudden loyalty of all demons feels unrealistic according to the rules of this certain universe. 💔 I don't think that «Oh, Chidi was right, it's Melkor!» and «Oh, Dongfang Qingcang is demon but can drive compassionate fire, not all demons are scum» was enough for Heavenly Emperor to change his mind. I understand that it`s uncommon for Chinese dramas to punish Emperor for his mistakes, but I definitely needed more intrigues at the Heavenly Court. Maybe Changheng should have stood up for his friend Devil (because in this drama is was stated that they are friends but no one did anything friend-like for another). Maybe Changheng should have found out the truth about his mother's crime or betrayal of the first Moon Supreme that could solve some misunderstanding between tribes. (It was hinted that there was something interesting behind GoW's mother's and Demon Tribe founder's stories but it never played out.) Or even more, Changheng could show to everyone that his brother is hypocrite who wants to achieve his goals even if it means to kill those who are not guilty and Jieli`s father and Danyin could support GoW to overthrown his brother. 💔 I think it should be known by viewers pretty earlier that Melkor wants to posess an immortal body and there are only two of them – Chidi's and Qingcang's. It would make suspense thicker and a tragedy of Rong Hao deeper. And I would give them more screen time to show that Chidi is strongly against her reviving at such cost. 💔 The moment when demons come to save Three realms by Devil`s order (to kill him) is nice but looks not so epic as it could. I would like to see that before demon reinforcement came fairies were exhausted and half dead, they were near to failure. So it would cause more feelings in viewers. 💔 Returning of Qingcang's powers was not epic enough. Only by rewatching it for the fourth time I understood that Girl wakes his consciousness up and he drives his new Fire to take Melkor aback for some moments. I would give this fight more time. (Here is a pretty complicated situation – this fire should be activated because of great love and to be seen by Heavenly Emperor in order to stop him being such a jerk, but in the moment when it appears, the main hero is Girl, so Devil can't rise and shine. So maybe it should be just an extended scene of Devil resisting Melkor.) 💔 In this drama there were a lot of hints (Chekhov guns) that didn't play out. The most memorable for me – the pill against every type of poision that Devil gives to Girl as betrothal gift. I waited for Jieli to steal it to cure herself. Why didn't she? And another thing: that was stated that only one who can defeat Melkor (when there is no Goddess) is Devil and, besides, his Fire can cleanse everything evil. But when his Fire came back even more powerful than before, he couldn`t fight Melkor, he only won a few moments of consciousness for himself. Why?

💔 It stated that Goddess' powers should be activated after her marriage (OK, let's leave the mechanics of it aside). It was activated in the final battle while she was kissing possessed Devil, but we couldn`t see it in a full glory. The same green light was in mortal realm when she protected Devil from evil spirits, nothing special. Why?

💔 Devil's Blood of Heart coming to Girls hand is a nice visual parallel with Xishan grass seed coming right into Devil's (not Changheng's!) hand, but I didn't understand why. It would be more logical (and more soul-tearing), if Girl would fight for it in that Galactic Mind Palace or would go to mourn her beloved into Demon Realm and would find there in some of Devil's caskets Bone Orchid bracelet. At last it would be better than this straightforward cheating with «Look! Everyone's primordial spirit vanishes without trace and only Devil left a huge piece of his! How mysterious!». 💔 I would like to watch Girl raising his soul, talking to it, making magic/healing manipulations just as we saw him doing it for her (and it was nice). 💔 I would like to see a normal epilogue. These 42 seconds of reunion feel like a fever dream of a poor Girl. (The same feeling I have got when I watched «Blue Whisper». I absolutely sure that merman made his girlfriend up inside his mind at the very end while waiting for her to come back out of volcano and no one can make me change my mind). This type of endings is very typical for Chinese xianxia dramas (It is some kind of curse indeed, only «Love and Redemption» ended in satisfying way). Maybe it`s the attempt to sit on two chairs: HE-lovers could see here HE and BE-lovers could see here BE, but I would like to see 20 minutes more of what happened after their reunion.

💔 Because of what I said above the ending of the story doesn`t bring the cathartic feelings. I think that the end of the mortal story arch was more satisfying and the battle in ep. 31 was more epic (still not enough, but though) than the very end of the story. These beautiful characters and the whole awesome story deserved better! I had higher expectations from the ending of this drama because first 26 episodes were P.E.R.F.E.C.T. so I was a little bit upset. But even if I have some critique to voice, the scenario was adorable, so many things were tied up together and mirrored each other! I don`t know if I ever can write something so well played out! These are not screenwriter problems. These are scene timing problems.

I LOVE to chat, so feel free to write your opinion to me.

How to fight your doom (Pt. 6)

Episodes 27-36 From now on the fearsome and almighty Demon Lord turns to be extremely gentle and soft and it causes in some viewers cognitive dissonance. But is his defence I could say that he is in love for the first time in his life, his love is finally requited so his teenage delight is understandable. Besides, he is like that only when he is tête à tête with the Girl.

The great awkwardness of the moment when you are jealous and at the same time fragile in terms of your love. I like Girl's face expression here. The most part of Silent Moon Palace story arch Girl tries to be worthy of Demon tribe as if she already decided to turn to their side (which is strange) and still tries to persuade Devil not to kill demon and fairy people on the battlefield (which is a really good idea). She even agrees to be tortured if it can ease demons' hatred. At the same time Devil takes his punishment as an atonement for losing opportunity to return his people from stone captivity.

So, Devil and Girl try to find a compromise, that can solve the Romeo and Juliet problem, but at the end of a day there are only two opportunities – to be apart or to solve the main conflict. The story, though, chooses for them both variants at once, which is the sacrifice. If you can't bear your beloved as well as your folk suffering, you can protect them all at cost of your well-being, your life and your pain.

Devil sacrifices himself: if Girl would not love him anymore, she would be safe (because the bracelet could be removed) and his people would be saved as well (demons could use Chidi`s soul from the bracelet to break the spell over 100 000 soldiers). Girl would be sad, yes, but it would be more painful for him as he destroyed his love with his own hands. But this plan doesn`t work so he decides to sacrifice himself in more physical way and to hand himself in the claws of ancient Melkor in order to save his people without killing his beloved.

Girl sacrifices herself as well. She kills herself in order to save Devil`s life but it also miraculously solves the main conflict: resurrected demons and fairies all bow to her divine power and start truce.

«I promise you to stay with you forever». So they are truly heroes in this story. In the hero`s journey a true hero is a person, who is ready after all hardships and inner development to sacrifice everything, even his own life, for the greater good/well-being of all people/his country etc. In Chinese culture The Folk is much more important than one person, so self-sacrifice is the right way to portray the real hero in there.

Btw, patricide is an unforgivable sin in Chinese (as well as European) culture, but authors of this story craftily turned it into «father`s suicide for the greater good and out of parental love», so it was the hint that Devil will be alive in the end of the story).

I don't think Devil did to Girl so many bad deeds during the story that he needed to punish himself for that at the end(and to allow Siming to beat him up). Maybe it is something that is left from the novel, in which Devil was not so fluffy and nice. His misbehave at the beginning of the story couldn't shake Girl's good attitude towards him so it barely pained her. Kidnapping her can't handle as his bad deed – he saved her and she really couldn't go back without dying under the hand of Heavenly Emperor. A wish of destroying Fairy Realm was not a crime against Girl specifically and at the end Girl understood his reasons (although she didn't want it to happen). Her suffering in Fuju Cave was willingly. The only moment when he really hurted her was the moment he lied to her before war, but it wasn`t cause of her death. If he said to her the truth, she would sacrifice herself as well in order to save him. So I think that this huge bunch of sufferings and punishments for Devil is the part of his redemption. If you are a villain (even if you are soft and fluffy and empathic in your soul) you should die or atone.

I like that story coils itself like Ouroboros, biting its tail: at the beginning of the story Devil unwillingly made nice things to Girl and she liked it – at the end of it he pretty willingly makes the same nice things to her with no effect; before, he was disgusted thinking he can be Girl's servant and by the end he WANTS to serve for her but she doesn't need him anymore. It shows that nothing can be started over again. Love gives you only one chance to build it in a right way.

Then he is ready to let her go and confesses his love for the last time: «Everyone feared, hated, relied on or respected me and only you loved me with no reason and accepted me with all my thorns and dickery but I haven`t got an opportunity anymore to say to you that I`m no more that thorny jerk». And (the power of accidents!) it is the reason why resurrected Goddess gives him a hint that he was heard.

It`s funny but only because resurrected Girl is THE girl he wanted to get back he finally looks into her Book of Fate and decides to change her fate.

Farewell kiss feels bittersweet. Devil never prefers duty over love throughout the story. He chooses to punish himself and to kill himself instead. He makes impossible for Girl, goes against Heavenly rules and gets his punishment for that, which is death. And a really hard choice, hero's choice is up to Girl. She needs to shatter the primordial spirit of her beloved one in order to save the world (a shattered spirit can't reincarnate and can't be put together again, as it was in case of Chidi's and her Student's, who are gone for good). And she does it.

It`s funny: fairies say that Goddess` sealed abilities can be revealed only with marriage with GoW but we can see them in their full power when she protects her loved one Devil (in the Mortal Realm and in the Final Battle too).

Devil`s demon army coming to help in the name of Three Realms and his ability to get the Glazed Fire although he is a demon wraps the conflict between demons and fairies up for good. Even Heavenly Emperor admits that he was wrong thinking that demons (read: inferior, wicked and cruel beings) are not capable of doing something like that.

Our heroes are indeed cheaters (THE POWER OF ACCIDENT!): it turnes out that at their first meeting their souls were intertwined and Girl's primordial spirit filled everything inside of Devil. And it was the reason why he has an opportunity to resurrect her. And, honestly speaking, at these circumstances, did he ever have a chance NOT to fall in love with her? If it isn't a fate, what is it then?

And the main cheat is his comeback at the very end of a story (I read it on tumblr in someone else's meta, but I think it is pretty logical to be true): she places her curse on his body once more (the previous curse disapreared when she died), tying him to her and ORDERS him not to go when he starts dissipate. So his Blood of Heart, a piece of primordial spirit, can't disobey and puts itself into her arm.

An interesting thought: as I remember, the heart-hidden hairpin was used by the Moon Tribe Founder so her Fairy-ex-BF couldn't see her heart. Does it mean that the same curse connected them too? Could it be that Xishan curse had always something to do with love relationships? And then, if your Girlfriend IS the powerful Goddess, who can resurrect hundred of thousands people at once, it is only matter of time when she resurrects you.

It is a beautiful story which represents ideal «enemies to lovers» relationships development (but in a fairytale way, because, as you could see, THE POWER OF ACCIDENT reigns here). It has got everything that you need to believe in their relationships: unusual methods to get close, painful unresolved romantic tension, ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE salvation of this romantic tension, sufferings and parting that only build their final union more joyful for viewers. I`m under impression. Wow!

Episodes 1-7 Episode 8 Episodes 9-13 Episodes 13-19 Episodes 20-26

How to fight your doom (Pt. 5)

Devil's love is in full bloom and he meekly accepts it. I adore this scene very much, it is so heart-warming. Episodes 20-26

The Romeo and Juliet problem is acute, so everyone suffers and is with the long face. Girl, as well as Devil, decides to put the love problem aside and to focus on the higher goal. The problem seems to have no salvation, so they don`t even try to think about it. And here we have our deus ex machina Jieli, who forces them to talk to each other face to face.

While talking, Girl tries to catch on something that could bring the salvation, but only finds out that everything is hopeless. He IS in love with her and also he IS willing to crush Fairy Realm. And also he is proud (Am I not capable of pretending to be just a reach mortal? Ha! Watch me!), but empathic to sufferings of his folk and prefers fair fights to dirty wins. There is nothing in his personality that could count as disgusting character features. The conflict between Girl's love for him and her craving for peace between tribes is tearing her apart. So she rides him on emotional rollercoaster: she doesn't want to say «no» and can't say «yes».

Devil is very solid in his feelings for Girl (as always) and all the hopelessness of the situation makes him quiet and extremely sad. He even allows GoW and Dragon boy touching him! He also is an EXELLENT learner in terms of emotional intelligence stuff: he understands that his magic powers and status can't conquer Girl's heart and accepts that he can do nothing about it. He carefully analyses his previous behavior and finds out that he was rude to Girl and made her cry so it's natural that she doesn't like him and likes God of War instead. His love ability has bloomed fully and it makes him suffer from unrequited love.

Girl finally accepts her feelings for Devil (with the help of side characters) and there is a funny situation: three months ago it was her sweet dream to be God of War`s bride and now she feels only sadness about it.

Unresolved romantic tension of these two is palpable and it is the most beautiful part of this story arch: Devil is jealous (with a reason), sad and angry because of his unrequited (as he thinks) love and Girl is jealous (with no reason) and because of it fails to expose her feelings to him.

There is a Chinese legend that once Chinese Emperor loved his wife so much so he had been helping her to draw her brows, although it was stricktly female's thing to do. That's why drawing female lead's brows by a male lead is a lovely Chinese romantic trope.

«Wife, are you still mad at me?»

There is a nice moment when he enjoys pretending to be her husband (because he would like to be one) and she enjoys him enjoying acting (because she wants to be with him too).

Finally he proclaims his feelings for her for the third time and in the most beautiful way («I feel like I've known you forever. I have seen you in fairies', demons' and mortals' clothes but the most beautiful dress on you is tonight's wedding dress. Although tonight's wedding is a fake, I feel like I am really married [to you]») and lets her go: if she can`t bear to see him killing her friends, he will understand her hatred.

But it ends up them choosing to be together (in absolutely ADORABLE way! I love episodes 25-26 sooooo much) and delaying the salvation of the Romeo and Juliet problem for later. When the time comes, Devil chooses Girl over his duty and kills Chidi, and Girl chooses to be with Devil and to think about coming war later.

At last misalliance problem finds it`s salvation:  it turns out that he is Demon God and she is Fairy Goddess, they are equals in magic powers and status.

I LOVE mortal story arch because it has got the great emotional tension (I suffered from knowledge that Girl should marry GoW and because cinnamon rolls are in love but couldn't voice it) and delivers the HUGE catharsis feeling at the end of it (Hurray! They are finally together!). Unfortunately, the very end of the story doesn't have the same satisfying feeling (I will explain it later).

And then the Silent Moon Palace story arch begins.

Episodes 1-7 Episode 8 Episodes 9-13 Episodes 13-19 Episodes 27-34

How to fight your doom (Pt. 4)

Episodes 13-19 To fix the situation the story needs deus ex machina, and because the power of accidents is very huge in this story, it`s not a problem to have one represented by Shop girl Jieli. She brings to Girl a simple thought: it always matters only what you DO for each other, not what you SAY. Words can be a lie or can be misunderstood, but deeds are always deeds. Girl thinks carefully and finds out that Devil is in fact very caring even if he said he was pretending. So, just a monster turns back into a caring criminal AND a monster. And then she finds out that he was so heartless in ancient times because of his dead Feelings Tree and is willing to revive it for him.

 There is the hint to the main plot of a story we don`t know fully yet: he says that even ancient gods can`t fix someone`s primordial spirit or Tree of Feelings, but later we will learn that she IS an ancient goddess and she can fix primordial spirits as well as Trees of Feelings.

She likes that he cares for her and because of that she likes him too. She really wants to repay his kindness by doing something important to him but she also thinks that she can fix him and turn him into an ordinary demon (whom it will be easier to like). It`s an illusion that lovers often have: if there is something disturbing in people we like, we often think that we can fix it with the power of our love, our fairy power or whatsoever. We like not a person that in front of us but an image of this person in our mind.

Then he saves her from Haishi city and their mutual care starts to be very obvious to each other.  On their way home Girl takes a chance to look into daily routine of demon village and she learns that war and hatred took from them too much. Demon people are in pain, their wish to take revenge is understandable, although she can`t support them at this point. And Devil demonstrates that he is an EXELLENT LEARNER once more: he doesn`t force Girl to take off the hairpin to bare her feelings nor will he do it later even as he will be badly in need to know about them, because she asks him to respect her private mind space (she likes him at this moment already, obviously, and doesn`t want him to know it).

Devil`s father is really a jerk. Like God of War before, he represents that type of people who sacrifice their love according to fulfill their duty. Maybe it was the right way in those circumstances (it`s a popular moral dilemma IRL), but it unbearable hurts those who are sacrificed. To be sacrificed by the most beloved person in the world, to be called a patricide and to be hated by only left relative so much that he gave up on the whole realm to kill him hurts Devil a lot.

He was a very sensitive child and now, returning to his real self, he is in huge pain. He wants to be free of it by any means because there is no chance to calm it (as he thinks).

Before, he told Girl that he is Moon Supreme and doesn`t need someone to love him, but the whole story is about him craving love (from his father and from Girl later) and willing to give much more in return if someone will be willing to love him first.

Girl is very eager to help him to be the man from her fantasies about how he should be, so she makes huge effords to recover his feelings, to reconcile him with his dead father and his almost dead brother. And she moves from these legends about how awful Devil is to the thought that he is something other than stories she has been told in Fairy realm. A little bit better that that.

Sometimes external pain is much bearable that internal, so here Devil`s punishment of himself starts. He saves his brother but also punishes himself for all of these years when he didn`t care of what he has done.

And then he shows us that he is a really GOOD LEARNER: he simulates his illness to get attention of the girl he likes the same as she faked her illness before to lure him into Fake Arbiter Hall and to swap their bodies.

And when life gives him a chance to learn how to express his affection to his nearest, he embraces this opportunity fully. He embraces his ability to be merciful, in love and empathic even if he knows that it means to him being in pain or losing his great power. He knows he will lose it as his Feelings Tree will recover so he is terrified when he finds out Girl really has cured it but then he chooses by himself to feel good things as well as bad things. There is no use in great power if you are a living corpse without everything that makes you a living being.

Knowing that Girl likes him back (according to her care and eagerness to help him in recovering his soul and body no matter what) he thinks they can be together and he can make her happy by making the biggest wish of her come true. There is no lack in his way of thinking: his goal as Demon lord is to avenge his people and to wipe away their enemies and her wish is to have an opportunity to go back to Fairy realm. He can kill two birds with one stone. And she is terrified of his words because her rose-tinted glasses have broken. He can`t be just an ordinary demon and live with her happily ever after because it is in his power to wipe her nearest and dearest people away just by flicking his fingers and, what is even more awful, it`s his duty to do so. It is the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet in a nutshell.

He confesses his love for her once more («I don`t care who you are, I only want you to be by my side forever») but she refuses him. Although she is in love, she finally understands their misalliance and pushes him away. It hurts her as well as him and he can`t understand the reason. «You took so much care of me, you did so much for me, was I wrong thinking you liked me?» he asks her in another words. Although her explanation of a problem is pretty clear («Can you give up on your home and friends for me?» «And you? Can you give up on your duty for me?»), he doubts that she refuses him only because of that  (and this is so HUMAN – to be in complex, hopeless situation, to suffer from it, not knowing if you should leave it for later or let it go completely). So he doesn`t give up on his plans although he is in pain and loves her and she also decides to disturb his plans although she is in pain and loves him too. No one chooses love over their duties by now (just as Devil`s father and God of War did), but love is still an option and neither Devil nor Girl wants to give this option up.

The Romeo and Juliet problem has got two ways to be solved: either the conflict is not huge and could be resolved (or someone turns side), or you just broke up (and someone optionally dies in process). This story orders us it`s variant of the Romeo and Juliet problem salvation, which is not death (at some point of view).

Episode 1-7 Episode 8 Episodes 9-13 Episodes 20-26 Episodes 27-34

How to fight your doom (Pt. 3)

Episodes 9-13 From now on, Devil is interested in Girl not only because of the curse. Нe likes that Girl likes him and, as a result, he likes Girl back. And it changes his behavior, making his attitude more obvious. He could protect her just as before, by forcing her to stay always within his eyesight, but instead of it he secretly gives her an amulet so he could protect her from afar (because she didn`t want him to be here). This amulet is made of Blood of Devil`s Heart, that is very xianxia thing too (In c-dramas I have watched this is the most powerful magic of immortal beings, which is used to save and to protect the most important people. Extracting it out of one`s heart is very painful and destroys part of one`s cultivation. Maybe it doesn`t work this way in this story, but I like to think of it so). And then he says that he doesn`t want to disappoint her, so he would wait until the most important for her meeting is over to ask her again to fix the Destiny Book.

So, they like each other and they are equal for now: some ordinary fairy and some ordinary demon. But as we know, she thinks he is an ordinary demon only by accident (the power of accident in this story is HUGE): she sneezed while he was introducing himself so she didn`t hear his true name. And sooner or later she should face the truth and cope it somehow.

Btw, it`s funny, that in this story Heavenly Emperor says many times, that God of War is the only equal to Devil, but we repeatedly can see that he is not. Even with the help of his hypocritical friend he can`t beat Devil. The situation in Emperor`s Hall brings Devil`s and Girl`s relationships on the next level by revealing their misalliance: he is not just ordinary demon.

"So, you are Dongfang Qingcang".

She cries because this level of caring she saw only from her long gone Mistress. And he fights all the Fairy Realm forces including Heavenly Emperor himself to take her back! First of all, of course, he protects his life, but he doesn`t destroy Emperor`s Hall ONLY because Girl asks him not to do so. He does as she said because her opinion is important to him. He hopes to win her heart.

This scene is beautiful too: he doesn`t kill God of War because of Girl`s plea but also he tries to show her that people like GoW never choose her over their duty. Unlike Devil himself (and Devil will choose her over his duties plenty many of times). She is in love with GoW and Devil wants to win her heart over him, so he tries to show her what he can do for her everything that her dream beloved can`t. It`s the right way to impress the girl.

"Do you want to save her or your Shuiyuntian?"

But now their relationships change a lot. She knew him before like a caring criminal who is in love with her. And now she knows that he is also the most fearsome monster in the world, covered with blood of fairies as well as his own father`s, a man, who was hated by everyone in the Fairy Realm so much, that his death date has been celebrated each year for 30 000 years. She is afraid of him. She thought she knew him, but she understands now that she doesn`t know him at all.

And the great tragedy of this moment is that he can`t understand it. For him everything is left the same. He treats her as well as before and thinks that she likes him as before.

He shows her his power out of petty jealousy (Devil is obvious more powerful than GoW and any fairy in Fairy Realm, in the Demon Realm everyone respects power, so why is Girl not impressed and still dreams of GoW?). But he still wants to win her heart so he makes very romantic thing and rides with her a dragon (it`s Chinese romantic trope and I like it a lot).

This is my favorite visual moment in this drama: a young and beautiful goth prince holds his beloved girl while her emotions swing from horror to excitement.

When they are in his realm, he wants her to treat him like before and proceeds to do things to please her. He even proclaims his feelings (not «I love you», but very straightforward anyways): I`ll do everything for you and indulge everything to you. But she irrationally wants to go back, wants to see God of War and that pisses Devil off. He is used to take whatever he wants, to conquer everything he needs (and he says it directly when they talk about home), but human`s heart can`t be conquered. Angry Devil tells Girl he was pretending all the time and even orders Dragon boy to find a sword pieces to kill Girl safely off. It`s very understandable but it ruins their previous relationships to the ground: before Girl thought that he treated her well AND a monster, but now only monster in her eyes left.

But he is really fluffy and nice guy in his soul and the only way to show it to Girl is to force her to know more about him and his usual life. So here we have another body swap.

"I think Shangque is very loyal to you and would never betray you. You don`t know human heart so you don`t know about it".

Forced to spend her time with the monster and to be in his shoes for a couple of days, Girl learns a lot: spooky demons are not so spooky as fairies have said – they are just another immortal race; it`s hard to be the demon lord – everyone is afraid of you or hates you, you can`t trust anyone, even your relatives; Devil is really a jerk, although is more like human being jerk, not this faceless monster from the fairy legends.

He feels that she treats him in different way and even questions himself if it is because he is the legendary demon lord, but in his mind there can only be two options in girl`s heart: either she likes him (and not GoW at the same time)  or she doesn`t like him.

He knows he is already dead because she obviously likes GoW and wants to go with him.

So when Girl saves his life instead of going back with GoW he thinks she chooses him over GoW, so this is partly the reason why he kisses her for the second time (but mostly because he wants to mock GoW with her choice), but she rejects him again and leaves him not understanding anything.

Then he realizes that he really doesn`t understand human heart: he thinks about her words and actions (she likes GoW and wants to be with him in the Fairy Realm, she plead for GoW`s life so many times when Devil fought him, so why would she save Devil?) and even asks Dragon boy what`s going on (He has HUGE potential to know humans hearts in all of their subtlety and it was a real crime to take this potential away from him in his past). But the most important thing in Dragon boy`s life is loyalty, so he thinks it was it (and from now on he starts to like Girl). Was it something more than Girl`s merciful nature in that moment? I don`t think so. But it tells Devil that he is on the right path. So he proceeds to make nice things to her. He is very solid in his feelings towards her.

I like this moment not only because of his will to make her happy (because he knows she likes flower showers) but also because she looks for him too when it happens. As if she thinks that he did not tell her the truth when he said that there is no love between them.

Episodes 1-7 Episode 8 Episodes 13-19 Episodes 20-26 Episodes 27-34

How to fight your doom (Pt.2)

Episode 8 I think this and the next one episode are most important for development of Devil’s and Girl’s relationships. The story is filled with fateful accidents as well as interesting parallels and some of them we can see in this episode too. It’s funny that at the beginning of the story Girl IS in love with God of War and he IS in love with her. You may think: if their feelings are mutual, what can go wrong? But God of War is too afraid to go against his brother (although he is more powerful than all of the fairies together, as we can see in ep. 26) and too fixated on his duty to get this mutual love. He lies to his brother that he doesn’t like and even despises Girl. And Devil shows this scene to her. I love that it happens by accident: Devil sincerely doesn’t know about GoW’s affection, so he doesn’t have any intention to disrupt their relationships, he just forces her to face the truth (and he also believes it’s true), but it will matter to romantic feelings of hers for GoW later. At the same time it parallels with the future situation when Devil himself tells the same lie to her face and it breaks hers as well as his life. A lie destroys any relationships.

Devil starts to feel something other than Girl’s emotions and I love how he tries to find some rational explanations why it happens. If Devil’s heart hurts when he sees Girl as GoW’s bride, it’s because of Girl’s physical state. Not because Devil cares. No way! If he is angry when Girl praises GoW, it’s because of wicked effects of the curse. Not because Devil is jealous, no. And Dragon boy watches it all with the poker face: «Master, when are you going to force her to fix Destiny Book? Not today? She needs to sleep? Hmmm… OK».

Then there comes this ICONIC scene:

Girl tries to refrain from tears and Devil says that she shouldn’t pretend to be strong in front of him because he knows how she feels. He knows it, obviously, thanks to the curse, but Girl doesn’t know about it, so she thinks he is very empathic. Knowing how another feels is very intimate thing, only our nearest and dearest ones can say how do we feel just by looking at us and only in front of them we can be ourselves and don’t have to hide our weaknesses and pain. Devil doesn’t get even medium level of emotional intelligence by now but he is a VERY good learner, so he does some very empathetic and important for their relationships things: when she asks him, if he looks down on her like others do, he squats. He SQUATS to be on the SAME LEVEL with her! He is ben zuo, the higher God of Demons, he doesn’t need to do it at all, but he does.

And then he wipes her tears. This movement is raw and quite not gentle but, as we will see later, he even doesn’t know how to smile and how to show his affection to his relatives. Tears wiping is a big deal for him. And again: he doesn’t have to but he does.

And after that we can see EVEN MORE ICONIC SCENE:

Girl knows that he is a criminal who has broken free from the Fairy Prison and is a demon from the enemy tribe. But she has no prejudice against «enemy» tribe. Devil has done to her mostly good deeds (let’s put aside that attempt to strangle her at their «first date»). She is very compassionate and doesn’t want him to die because of other’s prejudice, so she grabs him and hides him beneath the Arbiter Hall, in the sea.

Devil is almighty and doesn’t need to be saved, so maybe in this moment he thinks that she tries to save her precious GoW from his Hellfire. When she is out of breath and slowly falls to the bottom of the sea, we can see another parallel, which shows us Devil’s changes.

Devil high above looks like in his battle against Fairy Realm 30 thousand years ago: we can see only his silhouette, he is very afar and out of reach, indifferent to lives and deaths of those who beneath him. I find this scene a little bit funny because we all know: he can’t be indifferent to Girl’s life anyway, he is cursed and if she suffocated so did he. So Mighty Demon God sighs and comes down to breathe life into Girl.

What I love in this story the most – we can think about «point of no return» when their affection starts, but, exactly like it goes in the real life, we can`t find the certain moment. Forging affection is a process, not a flash that pierced one’s heart right away. So, even forced to save her life, he is truly embarrassed when they are at the Arbiter Hall again, he touches his lips trying to understand his current emotions and the Spring starts in his Sea of Heart with the first tiny green leaf of feelings. He is quite affected. But his affection is fragile and ghostly by now.

And then this BEAUTIFUL scene comes:

"Little flower demon?!"

He wakes up. Somewhere. He was unconscious. He was knocked out by little, harmless and suspiciously nervous Girl. And he wakes up. He wasn’t poisoned to death. He wasn’t imprisoned. Everyone in this world wants him dead, he was short-sighted and could be already dead but he is still here. And Girl says that she knows he is enemy of her tribe, she knows how risky it is to send him away now, but she CARES about his safety, well-being, warmth and food and wants him to go back to the Demon Realm so no one could kill him.

Later, when he comes back, he learns that this 10% of soul recuperation couldn`t be proceeded not because of Girl`s unrequited love for GoW but because she really was worried about him.

This realization is very important for him as we can see later in this story. In his life Devil always was an enemy to be hated or a weapon to be relied on. But even almighty evil lords are just human beings deep in their hearts. If you are strong it doesn’t mean you don’t need to be cared, supported and loved. So this situation pushes him to rethink his life and his father’s teachings about affections. And in this scene he also learns how to show his attachment: later in Human Realm he will give to Girl food on the go as she in this boat scene does.

Btw there are plenty of stories when people fall in love with nice attitude towards them (and GoW is one of them), and I find it much healthier than to fall in love at first sight or with someone’s appearance. So, although Devil’s Tree of Seven Emotions will bloom far later, I think in this episode him falling in love with Girl starts to be inevitable.

Episodes 1-7 Episodes 9-13 Episodes 13-19 Episodes 20-26 Episodes 27-34

How to fight your doom (Pt.1)

Episodes 1-7 I LOVE how this story starts (because the beginning circles up with the end like Ouroboros)! The Girl breaks the Heavenly rules to save her beloved one and changes his fate, so he wouldn`t die from Devil`s shattered primordial spirit attack. Because of that she falls right into the arms (and onto the lips) of the Worst Monster in Three Realms. And CURES him.

She gathers his shattered in 7 pieces soul (it`s very Chinese thing, I often see in novels that immortal beings have 7 souls and 9 spirits or something like that), puts it back into his body and heals even those injuries that were caused by his father long before his "death". This beginning feels right. Their journey starts with curing and IS about curing each other in different ways.

Devil is allpowerful and fearsome but also feral and broken, so the only way for him to accept his chance to be cured is to put him into the situation when he is forced to behave in another, unfamiliar way. So there is a curse that helps him to understand feelings that he`s gonna be able to feel for the first time in 38 thousand years and prevents him from his standart way to solve problems (such as to kill the girl).

(Btw I LOVE how this show is accurate to the details: if she is injured, the same bruises we can see the whole day on her as on him.)

Forced to take care of Girl`s safety and mood, he (with the great killing intent) learns how to do nice things to others and to be empathic.

But he is not thrown out into the endless sea of feelings without lifebelt, Girl guides him, explains to him what`s going on with him (and he can`t even kill her for that, LOL). And some feelings he needs to learn by his own. (Later we will see that he is an exellent student and embraces his ability to feel and to love fully).

I like how entangled the most part of their relationship look like: he is forced to do nice things to Girl and in process starts to ask himself, why does she feel what she feels and why does he feel something about it. Why does he care if she is happy not to see him again ever in her life? Why does she blush when she speaks about her dream beloved? Why does she drink his flower soup when it tastes awful? We can see even tiny green sprouts of jelousy start to grow in his heart little by little (it`s not so much about romance, but about his warrior`s fame at first). Only by force he could begin to think about it and the curse helps him with that a lot.

On the other hand, Girl is very naïve, she doesn`t understand that Devil is Devil indeed and that he forced to be nice to her, so she supposes that he really likes her. Her soul is injured too: she has been bullied by other fairies, she lives all alone, no one takes her words seriosly, she is quite ordinary, quite invisible. And Devil gives her (against his will at first) opportunity to feel how it is when someone cares. It could be wicked cheating of fate if Devil would not be so fluffy and soft in his soul. But he is. Episode 8 Episodes 9-13 Episodes 13-19 Episodes 20-26 Episodes 27-34

Because love no matter what overpowers death

"In this world people hate me, fear me, rely on me, admire me. But she is the only one that loves me. I`m full of thorns and only make her sad. I`m a jerk. But she is a fool, she knows I`m that bad but she makes excuse to forgive me and holds me tight even if it hurts." " Everything in the world is fate except love."

Some thoughts about DFQC after ep. 30

It`s very very painful to see Dongfang Qingcang suffering. I adore this character so much. Despite his demon origin he is rightfull, noble and has a heart of gold. His whole life was unending sufferings: first his father tortured him in order to make a weapon out of him, then he and his tribe were defeated by "good guys" because of their race and his spirit was trying to destroy the seal during 30 000 years to break free and avenge his people. And now he is willingly going through Hell again and again. He punishes himself for those things, that shouldn`t be punishable. He is just a human (OK, demon, but in this universe it`s the same), humans are allowed to love and to make mistakes. He doesn`t need to bear all the weight of the world on his shoulders. Fighting against seduction of Ancient Evil he choses to sacrifice not the Moon Tribe or Xiao Lanhua, but himself. Poor, idiot cinnamon roll! With his feelings and loved one or without them, his life is horrible and I feel sorry for him so much! He doesn`t deserve this.

Two days till I will devour a bucket of broken glass.

I strongly dislike the trope when someone who is in love with one person is forced by fate or circumstances to be with another. Hate it so much. And I have to watch it for 12 series in a row.

I'm afraid that those romance pieces that we could see in OST trailer but havent seen in drama yet are from dreams of DFQC and never happen in reality. And I`m also afraid that one of them will die, because problem of Romeo and Juliette can hardly be solved in another way.

I know that novel has HE but the drama plot has plenty of differences by now and Chinese people like to film BEs. Besides, DFQC killed his father, it`s an unredeemable crime in Oriental cultures.

Please talk to me, I want to share my love and fear with someone.

*It`s me sitting under my tree of love for this drama and trying to brace myself*

Meet Sima, a biblical Seraph. I proud of this handmade angel because everything from concept art and chose of materials to building was made by myself and the result is perfectly nice.

The portrait of my colleague Andrey

“New moon, lay your mercy on me tonight...” (с) Swallow the Sun I wanted to draw this a long time. The font is designed by Taras Makar. 

Deep black space and mortal solitude

Once we watched russian movie “He is a Dragon”, so I drew this.

My favorite character from Solo: A Star Wars story