Introduction/Friending Meme

[shadaras]

Hello and welcome to Ghost Valley!

This is a community for everyone who loves Word of Honor, Tian Ya Ke, and related topics (actor RPF, Qi Ye, etc.), and we're excited to get to know everyone who's found their way here!

(Basic comm rules can be found here.)


Please introduce yourself so that we can learn a little about our fellow fans! Share how you learned about this fandom, a favorite scene or character (and maybe a bit about why you like them?), which adaptation(s) you know, or any other fun facts you have about your relationship with Tian Ya Ke or Word of Honor. :)

If you make any fanworks—gifsets, meta, twitfic, fanart, more formal fanfic—feel free to mention what you make and where you post it. This can be part of your introduction, or you can simply post directly to the comm about your work! Promo yourself! There's so much content out there, and it's great to get to know the creators behind all the splendid work. :)


And optionally, if you'd like to expand your Dreamwidth circle and have more WOH/TYK people on your reading list, here's a basic friending meme – just copy the template and paste it into your comment:

<strong>DW username:</strong> <strong>Usernames elsewhere:</strong> (ao3, twitter, tumblr, discord, etc.) <strong>What you post about:</strong> <strong>Your other fandoms:</strong> <strong>Post frequency:</strong> <strong>Access policy:</strong>

Comments

[shadaras]

Hey all! I'm Shade/@shadaras, one of the mods here. :)

I don't recall exactly who in my DW circle first pointed me towards Word of Honor, because it was like the first little pitter-patter of a rainstorm; a few little drops, and then the whole sky starts pouring. A lot of my friends, both on- and off-line, got into SHL, and so I've been talking about it a lot with them since the show started airing.

I fell in love with the show from the first time we saw Wen Kexing in all his Valley Master glory, and continued to love it because of Zhou Zishu's slow realization that maybe he wants to live, Chengling's determination, and also Ye Baiyi being a delightful enigmatic gremlin.

I watched the first 8 episodes of Word of Honor (all that was out at the time), decided to read Tian Ya Ke (and enjoyed it), saw ep10 and started writing fanfic (shadaras), then read Qi Ye while waiting for more episodes to air and fell massively and utterly in love with Beiyuan and Wu Xi (they are possibly my favorite characters in the novel-verse).

Xie'er is probably my favorite Word of Honor-specific character! He is beautiful and terrible and full of murderous schemes, and I want him to have good things in his life.

Favorite scenes include things like YBY and WKX fighting about wanting to see ZZS's chest, ZZS fucking up Prince Jin, and any time Xie'er is playing his pipa. :)

[rekishi]

I think a few of you actually know me, but well. :)

I'm rekishi (Sam works, too) and I can finger point at alice_montrose for first telling me about WoH and shadaras for pointing me at the novel. I actually read TYK before watching a single episode of SHL, so I'm usually back-comparing. (Yes, I'm aware I shouldn't do that...)

I really loved the novel, because there where quite a few situations where my expectation where turned on its head and the whole thing was resolved much more reasonably (like the whole identify reveal, which was a complete non-issue and so pleasing!). Also the way ZZS was slowly but steadily ceding small quarters to WKX. That they're both adults and mostly written as adults who have done things and seen things and and both somehow managed to preserve some of their humanity and make the conscious decision to turn away. WKX outrageous flirting was also deliciously enjoyable.

The drama is fun, too! Though I'm not actually through yet so :) but the changes that were made are all nicely woven into the fabric of the narrative and Xie'er is definitely an improvement over the novel character.

As I said I'm still watching the drama, and all my thoughts to date on both TYK and SHL are in my TYK/WoH tag. You're more than welcome to pop over and say hi, I usually post brief thoughts about the episodes I watch.

And just for completeness sake:

Usernames elsewhere: rekishi, rekishi#7231 on Discord but I don't use that a lot
What you post about: journal title says it all: fandoms, science, and other ramblings
Your other fandoms: it...waxes and wanes? Silmarillion and adjacent/LoTR, MDZS/CQL, Coldfire, others but those are the ones I posted about this year
Post frequency: I'm back to posting at least weekly after a very lengthy fandom hiatus
Access policy: Mostly public, but I access lock identifying information (if you pop in say hi otherwise I have no clue where you came from)

[trobadora]

Hi, I'm Dora, the other mod! I've been in Guardian fandom since 2018, so when another priest adaptation started taking off I naturally heard about it. Suddenly everyone was talking about Wenzhou! At some point I thought, well, why not check it out? Youtube was up to maybe episode 12 at the time. I loved Wen Kexing all in his unhinged Valley Master glory from the start, and I enjoyed the wuxia shenanigans a lot, but Wenzhou didn't really hit me in the shippy feels until I got to episode 15 - though now it works retroactively for the early episodes, too. *g* Somewhere in the wait for new episodes I also read the novel and loved it too.

I really adore both Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu, and their mutual darkness and ruthlessnes and capacity for violence that contrasts so beautifully with how gentle and kind they can also both be. ♥ ♥ ♥

Two favourite scenes from the drama: the one in episode 10 where Wen Kexing kills Bai Wuchang (see my icon). And the fight with Ye Baiyi and its aftermath in episode 27.

My favourite scene from the novel is the one where they almost have sex the first time - where ZZS tells WKX he can't tell if he's serious because "I have not experienced many instances of sincerity over the course of my life, and cannot identify it." ♥ ♥ ♥

I hope to write fic eventually, but I haven't yet. These things take time to percolate for me.

For the friending meme:

DW username: trobadora
Usernames elsewhere: Trobadora - I'm not really anywhere else except occasionally on glymr's discord.
What you post about: my fandoms (meta, fic, squee, that sort of thing); fandom in general; writing in general
Your other fandoms: I'm very multifannish, so expect to see a variety! My main fandom is Guardian, though, and other longstanding ones are Sherlock Holmes and its various adaptations (I'm a Moriarty fan), Grimm, the Coldfire Trilogy ...
Post frequency: sometimes daily, sometimes not at all for a while when life gets busy
Access policy: I don't friendslock much, so I don't really have one.

[shadaras]

Yay! :D Welcome! I am glad you are here too. <3

That they're both adults and mostly written as adults who have done things and seen things and and both somehow managed to preserve some of their humanity and make the conscious decision to turn away.

Yes! Agreed! I love that it's a story about (re)finding yourself that's about adults who are learning how to live with themselves again and find meaning and joy together. <3

I actually read TYK before watching a single episode of SHL, so I'm usually back-comparing. (Yes, I'm aware I shouldn't do that...)

Nah, why shouldn't you do that? :) It's fun! I love seeing people talk about adaptation-based differences, and that's so much easier when you consume the entirety of a canon (either original or adaptation) before looking at the other.

[trobadora]

I fell in love with the show from the first time we saw Wen Kexing in all his Valley Master glory

So delightful! I could rewatch those scenes in a loop. And also Zhou Zishu in his Tianchuang look. *g*

Favorite scenes include things like YBY and WKX fighting about wanting to see ZZS's chest, ZZS fucking up Prince Jin

Oh god, yes, these are both excellent scenes! (And really, YBY is the gift that keeps on giving.)

[trobadora]

Hi there! *waves*

That they're both adults and mostly written as adults who have done things and seen things and and both somehow managed to preserve some of their humanity and make the conscious decision to turn away

Yes, this, so much! ♥ ♥ ♥

[shadaras]

And also Zhou Zishu in his Tianchuang look. *g*

The most attractive he ever looks in the whole show. :3 Yeah! I love his Tian Chuang outfit.

(And really, YBY is the gift that keeps on giving.)

He is! He really really is. (His actor is as well? Even if I don't see much actor-based stuff, everything I've seen about YBY's actor is him being a ridiculous gremlin somehow.)

[shadaras]

their mutual darkness and ruthlessnes and capacity for violence that contrasts so beautifully with how gentle and kind they can also both be

<333 we have had multiple conversations about this and I am still like !!! every time it comes up again. Somehow, despite everything they've gone through, they're still kind! They still look at the world and find things to love, and they still care even when they might rather not!

[rekishi]

I hope to write fic eventually, but I haven't yet. These things take time to percolate for me.

*looks at WIP folder*

*whimpers*

And the fight with Ye Baiyi and its aftermath in episode 27.

All the YBY interactions are just...! But yeah, this was so expected. So unexpected!

[trobadora]

I like ZZS's softer looks a lot, but yeah, I can't honestly disagree. *g*

(To be fair, from what I've seen the whole cast consisted of gremlins and nothing but gremlins. :D)

[rekishi]

Yeah the thing is it is not a coming of age story. They're still relatively young, of course, but they have some life experience and stuff has happened to them.


Nah the back-comparing is just...I'll always find something lacking because we're all primed towards what we know and stuff. It's probably fine, but adaptions will always be different. Often they're an improvement! Still, each adaption is basically its own canon.

[trobadora]

RIGHT??? You've got one leader of evil ghosts who's decided he's going to burn down the world for his vengeance. And you've got one assassin who noped out of everything and decided to just sunbathe and drink until he died. They're both vicious and violent and cruel - we see them being viciious and violent and cruel! And yet they're still capable of kindness, and regret, and tenderness, and they can still find someone who understands them, and something to live for, something better than self-destruction. I love them so. ♥ ♥ ♥

[rekishi]

We so often see the opposite (or it's a teenage story) that this is really refreshing.

[trobadora]

Hee! *beams at your WIP folder*

It's SO good. And YBY just ... he's so much fun. :D

[rekishi]

No, no WoH yet. I have like zero ideas. I actually hope it stays that way. I have a long ass CQL story to edit and 4 (or such) more Silmarillion and mayyyybe then I can talk about new stuff. Maybe.

(Yes, that's what I'm saying now.)

YBY is too old for everyone's bullshit.

[shadaras]

The back-comparing thing interests me partially because I sure did it a lot for Guardian (read the novel, then watched the show), and that specific level of spoilers-that-aren't-real-spoilers was honestly really fun to me? They're such different stories! But being able to compare them I think helped me get into the drama from the start, so... It's interesting! :) With TYK vs SHL, I'm especially curious to hear what you'll think as you head into the ending of SHL!

[shadaras]

His softer looks are also good! I just love the sharp edges and the contrast the Tian Chuang stuff makes against how ZZS desperately wants to present/be now.

(Ahaha yes, I have also gotten that impression.)

[shadaras]

<333

(I have nothing to add, just more YES THIS!)

[rekishi]

It's so slow going partially because I've heard enough very vague things about the end that it'll be...not what I want it to be probably. I should just rip off the band aid but *flails*

Need to think about a readalong. But not until I don't know how busy work will be once I'm back at it.

[shadaras]

<333 I know people who like the end! I know people who don't like it! I know where I stand about it, but the only way to learn what you think is to watch it for yourself. :)

...rereading TYK with people would be fun... But yeah, see about work-stuff first. :)

[rekishi]

Yes yes, I will, I will. It's not that I don't want to see it! It's a fallacy thing I'm sure!

I have a few weeks of work to catch up on (and...emails...so many emails...probably) and then I'll see if I can maybe get something organized. Maybe by then I'll be done with Qi Ye.

[peachpai]

I kept hoping someone would get a DW comm going, so thanks mods! :)

Hi everyone! I started watching SHL the same week it started airing on Youtube after my my roommate heard about it on twitter, and was hooked pretty quickly. I didn't read TYK until the show was almost over (and I am currently reading Qi Ye now). I very much prefer the show, though the book was still fun. I like a lot of the characters, but Zhou Zishu the most. I haven't contributed much to the fandom yet, just one little ficlet and some flocked meta, but I've also got a 5500-word and steadily growing SHL meta/fic notes document, so...uhh...

DW username: peachpai
Usernames elsewhere: owlpockets @ AO3 and tumblr (I have Discord well, but add selectively.)
What you post about: A blend of real life and fandom - disability, chronic illness, cosplay, crafts, writing, ttrps, leaving academia/changing careers, day to day stuff, media I like, occasional meta, etc.
Your other fandoms: Always Dragon Age, lately The Untamed. Bunch of other stuff listed in my profile if you're curious.
Post frequency: Highly variable, but lately about once a week.
Access policy: Friends locked, but pretty open to meeting new people.

[shadaras]

:3 Whenever you have the time, I'll be excited!

[trobadora]

Hi, welcome aboard! I really wanted a comm too. Hopefully there's many more of us. :)

Yay for fic and meta, and steadily growing notes! I have a bunch of notes myself, and I hope some of it will go somewhere, some time soon. *g*

TYK and SHL are very different, yeah. And I like them both in different ways, but I'm really glad about some of the changes. Like Xi Sang Gui - that was inspired. (She's one of my favourite secondary characters in the drama.)

[shadaras]

Yay! Welcome! :D

Being part of the fandom, even if mostly you're lurking and talking to your friends, is contributing! And if you've got a 5.5k document, that definitely sounds like you're thinking about what more you could add. :) I'd love to see some of that meta, once you have it in a state you're ready to share!

(oooh do you have Qi Ye feels? I love Qi Ye very much and am very happy to talk about it! <3)