Lbfad - Blog Posts

Almost done watching LBFAD and I’m kinda sad. Decided to make some fanart to cope (& also did some skin painting art studies bc I’m struggling. 🫠)

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 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