Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan are the Same Person
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Synonym(s) | What if...Shen Yuan WAS Shen Jiu? |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
This article or section needs expansion. |
The Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan are the Same Person is a popular The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System trope. It usually divides into two general escenarios.
One where Shen Yuan transmigrates as per canon and discovers, either by slowly or abruptly regaining his memories, that he was always Shen Jiu, the original Shen Qingqiu. And another where Shen Jiu never loses his memories and dies his canon death, but finds himself reincarnating as Shen Yuan, to then die again and transmigrate as usual into his old body.
Trope Conventions
Depending on whether or not Shen Jiu has his memories from the beginning the tone of the fic varies a lot.
Many fics where Shen Jiu reincarnates as Shen Yuan first, and then goes back to his own body, have angst undertones, as Shen Jiu deals with the torture inflicted on him previous to his death and also suddenly finding himself again in his original world. It usually turns into him either seeking redemptions for his previous life actions or deciding to abandon the sect to live life for himself.
Meanwhile in fics where Shen Yuan slowly, or abruptly, remembers he is Shen Jiu, there's usually a lot of difficulty reconciling both half of his personalities, the modern transmigration and the scum villain persona. This usually leads to a lot of self conflict and realisations about the Original Shen Qingqiu real background.
Related Pairings
There are many pairing associated with this trope, but two stand out:
- Original Shen Qingqiu/Yue Qingyuan Very popular pairing, usually develops as Shen Jiu remembers his traumatic death in his previous life and how Yue Qingyuan died trying to save him. Common trope is Shen Jiu discovering somewhat the secret about the Xuan Su Sword.
- Luo Binghe/Original Shen Qingqiu This can either develop as Shen Jiu as Shen Yuan building a relationship of master/disciple with Luo Binghe before regaining his memories that later turns romantic. Or another common trope is that both Shen Jiu and Luo Binghe retain the memories of their previous lives, leading them both to develop a new relationship in this life.
Example Fanworks
- The Grand Unified Theory of Shěn Qīngqiū by 00janeblonde. Liu Qingge/Shen Yuan | Shen Qingqiu/Yue Qingyuan. Time Travel Fix-It, Slow Burn, Slice of Life. Shen Yuan new game pluses himself into his own past during the events of Maigu Ridge, while learning he is always been Shen Jiu and regaining his memories. Epic world building, good teacher Shen Jiu, and slice of life style. Some 600k+ words as of September 2024. (2019-present)
- And the same by AMereDream. Original Shen Qingqiu/Yue Qingyuan. A One Shot that shows Shen Yuan slowly regaining his memories as he paints them (2021)
- Unfinished Business by kitsunealyc. Original Luo Binghe/Shen Jiu | Original Shen Qingqiu. Having died again after reincarnating as Shen Yuan, Shen Jiu is offered the chance to go back to his previous life and fix his mistakes. But no matter what he does Luo Binghe continues to observe him with resentful eyes (2021)