Wei Wuxian
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Wei Wuxian (魏无羡) |
| Occupation: | founder/grandmaster of demonic cultivation |
| Relationships: | Lan Wangji (friend, love interest/husband), Jiang Cheng (adopted/martial brother), Jiang Yanli (adopted/martial sister), Jin Zixuan (brother-in-law), Jin Ling (nephew), Wen Qing (friend), Wen Ning (friend), Nie Huaisang (friend), Mo Xuanyu (body donor) |
| Fandom: | Mo Dao Zu Shi, The Untamed |
| Other: | given name Wei Ying (魏婴) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Wei Ying (魏婴), courtesy name Wuxian (无羡), is a protagonist of the serialized danmei novel Mo Dao Zu Shi (MDZS) and its audio drama, manhua, donghua, and live-action drama adaptations. He is an extremely popular character in fandom and, with Lan Wangji, represents half of the juggernaut canon ship.
History
Chinese fandom
English-language fandom
Common Pairings
Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian is by far the most popular pairing.
On the AO3, other ships for Wei Wuxian tend to be m/m: Jiang Cheng/Wei Wuxian (1063 works)[1], Wen Ning/Wei Wuxian (214 works)[2], Lan Xichen/Wei Wuxian (166 works)[3], Jiang Cheng/Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian (123 works)[4], Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian/Wen Ning (114 works)[5], Nie Huaisang/Wei Wuxian (90 works)[6], Jin Zixuan/Wei Wuxian (88 works)[7], and Lan Xichen/Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian (72 works)[8]. Het ships include Wei Wuxian/Wen Qing (41 works)[9] and Jiang Yanli/Wei Wuxian (22 works)[10].
Fanon and Common Tropes in Fanworks
(links to relevant trope pages, explain fanon characteristics)
Sexuality
Some fans headcanon Wei Wuxian to be bisexual, due to both his canonical romantic interest in Lan Wangji, as well as his tendency to otherwise flirt with women, especially when he was a teenager. In The Untamed, Jiang Cheng remarks that Wei Wuxian is "probably flirting with [some] Mianmian," referring to a female character who Wei Wuxian had defended before. Wei Wuxian is also very close to Wen Qing, another female character, who fans may also ship with him. Many fans tend to take these interpretations to state that Wei Wuxian is canonically bisexual, though no word specifically deigning his sexuality is ever used in any Chinese or translated text.
Regardless, the dedication to this headcanon has led to quite a bit of wank within the Wangxian fandom. Many fans with this headcanon have accused other fans who call Wei Wuxian "gay" as erasing his bisexuality. Other fans are also not fond of the trope of Wei Wuxian battling his internalized homophobia (sometimes known as "Straight Boy Wei Ying") being represented in fanwork (though it does occur in canon), accusing the trope of also erasing his bisexuality. Despite this, bisexual Wei Wuxian is widely represented in fanworks.
Family Relationships
In canon Wei Wuxian is the orphaned child of Jiang Fengmian's friend and servant, and Jiang Fengmian takes him into the sect and makes him the first disciple. Due to Jiang Fengmian's suspiciously favorable treatment of Wei Wuxian, it is widely believed that Wei Wuxian is his secret love child. However, Wei Wuxian is never officially acknowledged as Jiang Fengmian's biological son, nor is he ever formally adopted into the Jiang family. Wei Wuxian refers to the Jiang siblings, Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli, using standard wuxia terminology: younger martial brother (shidi) and older martial sister (shijie).[1] In contrast, a lot of English-language fanfiction simplifies his canonically ambiguous relationship to the Jiangs and presents him as a third "adopted" sibling. This is especially true in modern AUs and other non-wuxia AU settings.
Example Fanworks
Fanfic
Fanart
- The YiLing Patriarch, Archived version by aizel-kon on tumblr (Feb 12th, 2019)
- 이릉노조 위무선, Archived version by tmvptm on twitter (Aug 31, 2019)
- we, of course, came from hell, Archived version by wuxxxian on tumblr (Jul 09, 2020)
- One of my favorite book characters ☺, Archived version by elfinfen on tumblr (Sep 7, 2020)
- happy early birthday to the fallen sun by lanbungee on tumblr. Also on twitter. (Oct 25, 2020)
- untitled by mmungnothing on twitter. Also on tumblr. (Feb 18, 2021)
- Wei Wuxian, do you want revenge?, Archived version by zelkams-art on tumblr (Mar 29, 2021)
Vids
Meta
Fannish Links and Other Resources
- Wei Wuxian character tag, Wei Wuxian-centric tag, Wei Wuxian POV tag - fanworks at AO3
- character information at Wikipedia
- Wei Wuxian character page at MDZS wiki
- Bottomxian Week 2023
Notes
References
- ^ relationship tag accessed 1 January 2021
- ^ relationship tag accessed 1 January 2021
- ^ relationship tag accessed 1 January 2021
- ^ relationship tag accessed 1 January 2021
- ^ relationship tag accessed 1 January 2021
- ^ relationship tag accessed 1 January 2021
- ^ relationship tag accessed 1 January 2021
- ^ relationship tag accessed 1 January 2021
- ^ relationship tag accessed 1 January 2021
- ^ relationship tag accessed 1 January 2021