Lan Wangji
This article or section needs expansion. |
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Lan Wangji (蓝忘机) |
| Occupation: | |
| Relationships: | Wei Wuxian (friend, love interest/husband), Lan Xichen (brother), Lan Qiren (uncle), Lan Sizhui (ward) |
| Fandom: | Mo Dao Zu Shi, The Untamed |
| Other: | given name Lan Zhan (蓝湛) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Lan Zhan (蓝湛), courtesy name Wangji (忘机), is a major character in the serialized danmei novel Mo Dao Zu Shi (MDZS) and its audio drama, manhua, donghua, and live-action drama adaptations. In the live-action drama he is the protagonist Wei Wuxian's friend/soulmate, and in the original novel and other adaptations he is the love interest. He is an extremely popular character in fandom and is half of the juggernaut canon ship.
Fandom History
Chinese fandom
English-language fandom
Events
Common Pairings
Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian (WangXian) is by far the most popular Lan Wangji ship. As of July 2023 on AO3 it has 33155 fanworks. Other Lan Wangji ships include
- Lan Wangji/Jiang Cheng (WangCheng or ZhanCheng) - 5915 fanworks[1]
- Lan Wangji/Lan Xichen - (Jadecest) 409 fanworks[2]
- Jiang Cheng/Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian - 320 fanworks[3]
- Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian/Wen Ning - 229 fanworks[4]
- Lan Wangji/Lan Xichen/Wei Wuxian - 184 fanworks[5]
- Lan Wangji/Wen Ning - 105 fanworks[6]
Fanon and Common Tropes in Fanworks
Inquiry
A popular fanon has Lan Wangji playing 'Inquiry' on his guqin to seek Wei Wuxian's ghost in the years between Wei Wuxian's death and return. This fanon predates The Untamed, and the source is sometimes attributed to the fic "Letter for Xian" translated into English in 2018 by 6989 from the Chinese fic 与羡书 by 蓝忘机. 6989's AO3 translation links back to a Baidu post dated March 2, 2016.[7]
Lan Wangji's character song for The Untamed mentions playing Inquiry, but this element is not mentioned on the show itself.[8]
Art Tropes
Animal-related: Portraits of Lan Wangji often include one or more pet rabbits (see WangXian#Bunnies), because Lan Wangji expresses he likes rabbits in several versions of canon (such as the audio drama and the live-action drama). There is also a general trend in fanart of adding bunny ears to characters, so for both these reasons, Lan Wangji has received this treatment. Lan Wangji has also been depicted as a dragon (see Dragonji and Foxxian).
Sad/Grieving: Canon skips over the years Wei Wuxian was dead before being brought back to life, and some fanfic and fanart imagines what Lan Wangji's grief looks like. First, there are plenty of artistic renderings of the "Inquiry" fanon:
- fanart, Archived version by SslGu on twitter (Feb 2, 2020)
- Sorrow flooding the heart, Archived version by _BEPS1 on twitter (May 29, 2020)
- Are you cold too, Wei Ying?, Archived version by kikipofffffffu on twitter (Dec 26, 2020)
Another approach is to show him remembering or imagining Wei Wuxian's presence as slightly transparent:
- Caught in a dream..., Archived version by akakumoeteru on twitter (19 April 2021)
- fanart inspired by the fanfic "Gathered Herbs & Sweet Grasses" by hansbekhart, Archived version by beccadrawing on twitter (Dec 30, 2020)
- untitled fanart, Archived version by mmungnothing on twitter. Features both sad guqin and ghostly Wei Wuxian! (Nov 19, 2020)
- Memories, Archived version by ereyzme on tumblr. Another sad guqin/transparent Wei Ying combination. (Dec 6, 2020)
Eye color: In the book Lan Wangji's eyes are described as light, and in the manhua they are drawn as golden, but in the live-action drama his eyes are dark brown. Art based on The Untamed is more likely to give him brown eyes than art based on other adaptations, but sometimes an Untamed fanartist gives him his golden eyes back.
Example Fanworks
Fanfic
Fanart
Vids
Meta
Links and Resources
- character information at Wikipedia
- Lan Wangji character page at MDZS wiki
- Lan Wangji character tag, Lan Wangji-centric tag, and Lan Wangji POV tag - fanworks on AO3
Notes
References
- ^ Jiang Cheng/Lan Wangji AO3 works tag, accessed 26 August 2021.
- ^ Lan Wangji/Lan Xichen AO3 works, accessed 26 August 2021.
- ^ Jiang Cheng/Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian AO3 works tag, accessed 26 August 2021.
- ^ Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian/Wen Ning AO3 works tag, accessed 26 August 2021.
- ^ Lan Xichen/Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian AO3 works tag, accessed 26 August 2021.
- ^ Lan Wangji/Wen Ning AO3 works tag, accessed 26 August 2021.
- ^ 【长生第二十四】与羡书（完结贺 十三年）, 2016-03-02. (Accessed 17 September 2022.)
- ^ Lan Wangji character song: Never Forget (Bu Wang) 不忘 translated lyrics on youtube