Acknowledgment of Contradiction And The Use of Character Foils - The Eighth Genius
Note: that this analysis will also involve speculations to nail the point that it is centered on the character introduction and that this analysis also includes the opinions of not only me but other members of the community as well.
The first things first, let’s start with the definition of the terms that will be a subject matter in this text.
By nature, contradictions are the details that by themselves prove the wrong of a system that they inhabit, thus efforts are made to avoid them like a plague, as it is strongly believed that any combination of statements, ideas or features will crumble if it consists the inconsistent details – it is considered as an antonym of “confirmation” for a reason. They also tend to make perfect counter-arguments.
Ravages of Time argues that not only everything is consistent, but also from the point of view of the ones that are trying to assert the ideas, said ideas can be built on contradictions, can consist of contradictions, and said contradictions could be used to secure the system. It is still better to hide that fact from the masses to avoid the confusion
(Strangely enough, inconsistencies within the writing of RoT actually enhance its consistency)
A foil of a character, on the other hand, is a tool of the story-telling. It is certainly similar to the “contrast” in artworks, as it is supposed to highlight character trait by placing it near the opposite character train – common usage is the calm and pragmatic sidekick next to the hotheaded protagonist.
In idea, every character can foil any character in the story, so the key part of foiling is the interactions of the concrete personalities. In this analysis, I will explain as to how Ravages’ manages to connect the threads indirectly, through the organic mirroring of the circumstances and affiliations.
Let’s get started.
From the perspective of the governorship or leadership in general, “contradiction” and it’s acknowledgment was always one of the fundamental parts of The Ravages of Time – be it either Cao Cao’s campaign with the image of corruption, which was motivated by greed, for the greater good or selfless selfishness of Sun clan that was aimed at the fundament of the corruption that is the Han dynasty (ironically, against their contradictions) or Liu Bei’s fake image of a saint or even assassin Liu Da who seeks the comforting life through the court by going against himself to the point of forgetting it – everything is chained to the rulership, because that’s exactly what affects everything else.
Full embracement of this exact idea – considering how coherent and varied it is with many sides, even when it comes to religion and politicians *cough* LOGH *cough* – is what allowed RoT to stand out among any other war and political drama. And despite the dense story-telling that spans more than 500 chapters, its brilliance is still being polished by not only showcasing the usefulness of this theme, but also the criticism through its shortcoming, which results in the cycle of never-endlessness (and, arguably, the placement of RoT above any competitor, but that’s but a mere meta-talk):
there’s the floating text in 372 that appears to praise the down-to-earth approach (associated with Guo Jia) of seeing humans as being more crow-like (with its positive and negative connotations, both nurturing toward their own and vicious toward targets) rather than dragon-like (with associated images of nobility and grandeur), offering the suggestion that perhaps the thing about humans is that they aspire so much (and as it’s insinuated, cause so much trouble in the process) without realizing their station and limits and how such ambition and greed are nonetheless part of how they are in the world
now it’s not made completely clear how this monologue is connected to Guo Jia’s stances, but perhaps one way to establish the link would be to assume that if Guo Jia doesn’t have a lofty view of humans, he could embrace the path of ruthlessly carrying out the reforms one insists on (never mind if others accept them or see them as virtuous), hoping for the best that perhaps at the end of the day things could work out (and someone could pick up the pieces the morning after once he’s gone and this is where Xun Yu is supposed to come in, the comfort after the chaos)
what Zhuge Liang takes exception to is the notion that the comparison of humans to crows (even if it’s a useful corrective to the boastful comparison of humans to dragons) somehow justifies the brutality of the process of pacification… thus the counter retort that people are people, crows are crows (of course this too assumes that Zhuge Liang knows better about what it means to be human)
and this brings us to the ‘immovable and twisted rationality’ that Zhuge Liang decries (even if he concedes that some sort of peace that is to say the peace of a pacified population desperate for anyone to impose clear order and guarantee safety can be founded on ruthless subjugation as historically attested in the rise of empires and regimes)
Guo Jia (and by extension, Jia Xu and Sima Yi and others like them) wouldn’t mind exploiting and perpetuating that rationality so long as there is a convenient path to quelling the unrest (which they see partly as a result of greed and ambition that form part of the human condition) and putting in place some sort of reform to help manage the chaos
on the other hand, Zhuge Liang still believes that humans can be guided and governed by virtue, that loyalty discourse can be used not simply as a cynical method to prop up the ruling order, but as a moral principle that prevents needless bloodshed (yet he finds himself in the compromised position of having to wage bloody crusades but under a righteous banner)
Now it may seem as if the Dark Art of War is too extreme and warmonger-like, so we need a reminder, that Guo Jia is perfectly aware that it is required for some guides to arrive after him, otherwise the realm won’t be saved as you can’t achieve the world-peace by being one-note (meaning, that it is a “cooperation” of different ideologies and images, not necessarily a “war” against each other) and on top of that, he does try to affect the morale of the “enemies” to the point of them surrendering as soon as possible, which means that his people also won’t die (as a cherry on top, he will also fake the number of opposing body count to spark the fear in others as well) - of course, this is not supposed to be a justification of his “art” and he won’t deny it.
This basically serves as a set-up to what will RoT shift into and who will be the main actor of the following arc. So, in the same way as Zhuge serving as a foil to Guo Jia, the Eighth Genius is being introduced in his arc and the Eighth will even get focused in the following arc. In the Red Cliff arc Eighth did exactly what Zhuge was doing prior to active participation – judging the conflict and “reporting the weather” – and yet he fails to predict the seventh (well, at least, he waited longer). This dynamic will be further established at the end of the Four Commanderies arc and as of now, we need to completely dissect 8th’s introduction, to have a deeper understanding of what will their discord stand for. All in all, each and every sentence uttered by his mouth is quite worth the attention.
at this point, Zhuge Liang outweighs the 8th in terms of reputation and narrative placement (not to mention that throughout the series, Zhuge Liang has been the one guy most in touch with the rest of his classmates on the sidelines and the one guy the other classmates either admire or dread or want to compete against), though the 8th’s status as a shadow counterpart to Liaoyuan Huo (because of the Zhao Yun angle) makes him parallel Zhuge Liang (who in turn serves as the mirror collaborator/nemesis to Sima Yi) in one respect in that both have strange ties to the eponymous duo of Ravages
in addition, the 8th parallels Sima Min (in being the last and shadiest on the list of 8 illustrious names) and possibly the 8th eccentric (assuming this member shows up and fits the pattern), and in terms of outlook he can be compared to Yuan Fang
Another thing that we need to pay attention to in the Red Cliff arc, though, is Eighth’s interest in mind control (as we know, character introductions In RoT reveal a lot about the characters) – as Water Mirror says, to subdue the enemy without a fight is the strongest method of war, but the eighth insists that the method, that the evil cultists are so infamous for, is actually the most productive one (probably because avoiding the war merely keeps the people safe, but is not satisfying – it is not doing anything to enhance the condition of them, as it won’t save people from themselves), but even if one won’t give in to the temptation and derail from the bright path, these techniques are leaving everlasting negative effects on person’s mind.
So, if we were to speculate, the most likely theory is that the Eighth learned said methods, which ties to another theory of him being the renowned scholar named Zhang Song (that being said, I’d rather see Zhang Song as another character altogether (whether the 8th takes that alias later on or just cooperates with him/them since I’d rather see duplicated names than merged characters)), but let’s talk about later on.
But… why and when did he betray the expectations of his teacher? The first one is rather easy to guess. It is about his ideology of individualism – instead of waging meaningless wars with tons of unrecorded blood being spilled, which would also limit everyone else’s desires and freedom (represented by Fang-er), that comes from the natural craving to the anarchy of human nature, whenever it is caged in order, why not exploit and weaponized and control vices and viciousness of a person? Instead of forming a collective mindset, why not try to understand the mind of every single individual? Instead of relying on brainwashing through moral propaganda, why not have faith in inherent human selfishness?
Him being an assassin resonates to this idea very well, because he is doing everything on his own and is not commanding a mere group, collection of people. He is doing things alongside them, understands them, and is, in fact, closer to reality than other classmates. Sure, Zhuge, too, understands the nature of his surroundings, but he is still a man of principles and his viewpoint is stuck on that – growing colder to actually personal human interactions and yet he is the one who values a human life the most (this mirror’s to 8th’s apathy, despite him acknowledging the personal desires in an individual)
To be fair, he is more of an assassin than any other character with the same profession in this story, because he actually lacks identity as nobody knows who he is if he won’t reveal everything by himself and, funnily enough, he is free to hide his identity even if he were to choose a warlord (also, he does not really HAVE TO be devoted to any of them and choose as many he wants to choose for the sake of his plans, which would mirror 7th’s “devotion until death”) and he could attach to himself whichever identity he wishes. Lack of identity was fatal in the hands of Sun clan and lethal in the hands of Sima Yi, whereas they still had some kind of connections, so now imagine how peculiarly promising is 8th’s potential, who does not seem to have any attachments.
I may as well rightfully declare that his lack of identity has a gargantuan perk to counter the cynicism of history – Whatever he does will be judged by future generation’s own assessments, yes, but if 8th’s real identity remains unknown, no one will know to whom they are supposed to connect all of his actions that he committed with the identity of others, hence the perpetual inaccuracy of historical records. Akin to Yuan Fang, who is an original character of Ravages of Time (the difference being, that if Yuan Fang has an original identity, 8th can “grab” identities of actual historical figures and get away with it)
As the last student, of course, the similarity with the first student Yuan Fang (well, his “lord” was chosen instead of him, by being a son of Yuan Shao – that selfish romantic really had no chance to CHOOSE to live for himself with his loved one, huh?) is apparent. Aside of the fact that Fang was connected to the cultist, he was also trying to practice the art of survival, (which he did not manage to perfect, thanks to his daddy) and even being able to kill people by his own hands (as much of a prodigy as he is). But ironically, (which can also be considered as a contradiction) the simplest desires are the root for the grandest ambitions and at the end of the day, Fang proves this point of 8th that self-serving desires may even seduce someone to achieve grand visions, he is delving into the corruption, rather than taking care of “his” people individually. And, after all, 8th does not really resemble to romantics.
Well, it won’t be fair if I do not mention that Zhuge (by torturing people) and Zhou Yu (by being a sparring partner of Sun Ce)… and even Xun Yu (by slapping a wolfneck)… are more than capable of doing some things by their own hands.
So far we can feel free to say, that 8th is not being seduced by desires (take a shot every time the eighth contradicts himself and yet never stops making sense) and he is a quite unemotional human being, considering that after the death of his oath brother he did not really look affected, remained perfectly calm and rational – basically took a duel out of respect and Yun’s lack of stamina. You could argue that he had his mask on, so it would have been hard to notice his emotions, but he instantly gave orders of retreat after the death of “the lord” and it was also implied that he does not really connect well with others.
He wears the mask of a caring person, while Yun wears a mask of an uncaring person.
(Honorable mention of his ability to rapidly adapt to the situation – which should be coming naturally to a person who is a good judge of double meanings (pointed out by his hand signal first and then by “he discovered the secret of various books in the world”)
It is quite fascinating to see such a person to be aware of everything and be appealing. In some mediocre stories, he would have been extremely childish and overdramatized at it, lacking any kind of human decency. On the contrary, 8th respects his enemies, is quite affable, acknowledges the contradictions within the human nature and acts according to it, and does good deeds for others (“repair your shed”), even if not unconditionally – as he is a morally grey character, and not ham-fisted at that.
This brings us to another philosophical part of his views – the value. “Feel helpless all you want, it won’t do anything for you”, every individual has their own, but to attain said value they first need to realize what their defining uniqueness is by themselves, instead of relying on either someone else or heavens and then act on it, make use of it. They must make a choice whether they will be “childbearing” tools or… weapons. To me his reaction (or lack of thereof) to this line of his oath brother “undertake its duties when called to the office; retire otherwise” felt like he (oath brother) completely lost the value in his (8th) eyes, by not only being enslaved to the whore for naught all these years, but also clinging to the brother (when he could have just let the woman infiltrate Shu). This page here can also be easily interpreted as if someone should trade their own valuable people, but it can also mean that people should see the value in whatever they have, whether they be items or loved ones, and cherish them.
So, in short, you do not need to imagine yourself (self-delusion) as a god-emperor to give yourself the value and be content to live.
Above we discussed how 8th is encouraging and guiding others towards seeking the value in themselves, but that is not quite all, is it now. Sure, you find value in yourself and the people around you, but the said value needs to be defined by something. To apply 8th’s standards, the more benefit is from someone, the more is his or her value. And even if she was merely being traded for a lovesick man, she still had some value in her.
He is acting as if he does not view people as objects, Yun is acting as if he does not view her as a loved one (material value against the emotional value)
Infiltration of Shu is quite obvious with all of these details and that freely be interpreted as if 8th is focused on Shu, but we could also take it as a hint that he has tried and may still be trying to plant some moles in other factions as well.
In addition, he usually talks whatever is necessary without much care to his actual intent, which not only results in an interest rabbit hole but is also a very intriguing character trait and a means of manipulation. Reason for that being the fact, that most of what he is saying is actually… true. Yes, his words are self-serving. Yes, his words do not reveal what his actual motives are. Yes, he is purposely aiming at your most vulnerable topic. But he is the only one telling you the truth about yourself and he is the only one giving you the freedom of choice towards what you crave.
Give it a bit of attention and it will seem as if he represents the PAINFUL part in “truth is painful” and Liu Bei could be representing the COMFORTING part in “lie is comforting”
The beauty of the 8th Genius’ dialogue with Zhao Yun to me is that, despite all of his words being self-serving, they were probably the most honest words Zhao Yun had ever heard. Even Liu Bei or Sima Yi never mention the fact that Zhao Yun has essentially been a slave all these years, who has given up on his happiness to fulfill the wishes of others. And yet here comes this unknown man who manages to get to the very depth of Zhao Yun’s character in a mere couple words. And to make it even more beautiful, Zhao Yun faces these words that cut him to the core head-on, and not only acknowledges them but in the face of these truths and in the face of a final chance at his own happiness, he chooses again to remain a slave for the sake of someone else’s desires. And that’s what makes the 8th Genius so enticing to me. If he can get to the bottom of such an enigmatic character like Zhao Yun in his very first appearance, I can only imagine what he’ll do later on.
Though I have to note that the 8th isn’t the only one to have confronted Liaoyuan Huo with a dilemma… Zhang Lei sort of did that in 293, Liu Da offered something similar in 384 (the difference I suppose is that whereas they challenged Huo to choose between 2 masters, the offer of the 8th, even though less genuine, is for Huo to choose between serving a master or walking away)
in another note, it’s important to stress that if warmongering is the problem (especially if we consider that what usually happens when regimes wage war as a distinct form of mass conflict unlike popular uprisings and insurgencies is that pacified populations are coerced or cajoled into expending their labor and lives to feed machines of organized violence that mainly benefit a select few) it’s not a matter of who wins or loses since the game itself is rotten regardless of goals and intentions
Alas, one other issue is that many cut ambitious conquerors (especially if they exhibit charisma and are on the winning side) some slack, while those motivated by ideology or principle (especially if they’re losing) are selectively denounced as zealots for trying to push a program
And yet who doesn’t like heroic tales…
That’s how the 8th stands out among his classmates mainly in terms of how his rhetoric focuses not so much on principles and ambitions (even Zhou Yu’s attachment to the Sun clan involves sticking by some notion of continuity), but simple and personal desires and choices – which fits the narrative of the Four Commanderies and analogically makes it stand out among the other arcs. It is an arc, which highlights the how empty is the shell of people, who are getting defiled by their own egos or thorny roses, beneath the surface of their facade and how some of them stop, start listening to the voice of reason and thus develop into respectable men while maintaining their individuality. The unconventional part that elevates this arc into being a masterpiece is the fact that even protagonists may have a facade and in overall, not every facade is shallow or/and they do not serve solely the corruption.
Sure, I talk a lot about the comparison with Zhuge, but these details were brought from this exact arc that is not even focused Zhuge, but aside of masterfully crafted indirect hints, Four Commanderies put on a table way more than just that. The obvious one being the personal conflict with Zhao Yun, which I already mentioned:
There 8th “asked” Yun to choose what’s his actual happiness, his own life or someone else’s path (that is burdened with failure) – little did 8th know that from Yun’s perspective it did not really matter what he would have chosen, because of how both of these choices are important for Yun as a person, how both of them are what he is craving for and how both of them are going to enslave. And he can’t even choose to not choose, because he would be going against himself in ANY case. As cold-blooded as he is, Zhao Yun got numb by making the best possible choice – “Three days. More than enough”. Truly, 8th failed at psychological warfare (and even if had an upper-hand in a duel, it did not really matter), but admitted that Yun made a right choice, without explaining himself – I think the existence of Zhao Tong made the choice correct. When a father and a son met, both of them found their “pieces of jade ornament that can be traded for cities” (note how Yun compared his son to Sun Ce – that was rather delightful for Tong, considering that no one was taking him seriously whenever he was comparing himself to Sun Ce). That was quite well symbolized by the lively tree near Yun. Usually, whenever a life-changing event happens in his life, he is near a dead tree.
So many lives that he cared about are no more, what’s one more.
(And if I were to fanboy over him more – “Huo” did not really return after the warrior’s duel (named as “a path of no return”))
Briefly to come back to Zhuge, the one who basically pulls some strings behind Yun – when 8th mentioned the facade of the “greater good”, I was suddenly reminded of a saying by melancholy 7th about “benevolent realists” when he was talking about how people like to shield themselves with “FOR THE GREATER GOOD”, while in actuality they are masked egomaniacs. But if Zhuge says that people use “greater good” as a mere excuse (as he always dislikes the certain type of people), 8th remarks that these self-proclaimed paragons of virtue (such as 7th) are merely deluding themselves and the concept of “greater good” does not even exist.
In short, lying to others that you are a savior vs. lying to yourself that you are a savior
If you think that the introduction of this character is already great enough, you need to get prepared, because the revelation, that completely recontextualizes these events into something even more meaningful and profound, is yet to come.
1) Let’s first start with the woman. Women, naturally, represent femininity and romanticization (that usually is being born from being closeted and they are the ones hung on empathy and emotions usually), thus killing her is obviously an indicator for both, 8th and Huo, getting numb and hardened, completely devoid of said softness and cravity to selfish hopefulness them. It's also interesting to note that in the chapter of Zhao Yun's internal thoughts about how she has occupied his memory for long, the chapter starts with Zhao Yun first thinking about the Sun lady (another female, also highlighting emotions and empathy, but in a more vocal manner) - as a hint of their foil (Sun lady even became a blade on Liu Bei's throat as if she were an assassin and was also waiting for Zhao Yun as much as Lady Fan did), it was quite easy to confuse as to whom Zhao Yun was referring to, as the narration swiftly transfers from one target to another. Of course the difference is that Zhao Yun cares only about one of them, but has to treat both of them in a similar manner.
Her relationship to Zhao Yun practically originated from childish playfulness and desires, through a random and superficial gamble kick-starting their deep and long-lasting fate. Not only that, but they got immediately wed, even before meeting each other - basically wedding being used as an excuse to forcefully start drinking, completely cheapens the value of women in general, hence her contemplating about her own value. This throws us back to the flashback of Huo back to his childhood and meeting with Liu Da, when he himself exchanged his self for a mere bun, so as to highlighter his problems with self-worth, originating from him having literally nothing at that point of his life and being severely scorned for trying to survive, with no altruistic being at sight.
Tiger, of course, is implying the ambition. And what is the ‘weakness’ of these with ambition and problems with self-worth? Correct, the wish to have control over others and the higher is the value of the ones they are supposed to control, the better they gonna feel - considering the fact that nothing really affects Huo, we can deduce that he purposely arranged the stage of him seeing as drunk to seem for the lady as if she is above him and potentially have the full control over him. Now for it to not seem as if the relationship is one-sidedly unhealthy and as if women were not manipulative by using their own ‘pure’ presences for their own good, as there are no good families in a war torn country, it must be highlight that woman also took her part in constructing the stage - she purposefully went out of her room and stood exactly in front of Huo, exactly after he won and was asked to make a wish, then went back as if she was shy, as if inviting him by playing hard to get, but actually readied a knife, or rather have always had a knife to her, as a thorn.
And as they saying was mentioned, “the kid wants to roast me like a goat or something” in which it is not clearly indicated to he meant exactly as a kid, we can view this ordeal as the subversion of the sheep-wolf dynamic - who is the sheep and who is the wolf, between them and between their ‘parents’?
What we can take from the ambition is ‘but what would happen if Huo instead went on a path of having an ambition of control?’, of course, in this case Huo himself would just have been a tool of the ones that would perpetually have a higher ground than him, he would have been controlled instead of he himself controlling anything and would not have had any meaningful relations. Again, a crooked path destined to loneliness and suffering.
Her and Huo are surprisingly similar, to enforce my point of her representing the path of Huo, if he could have been a woman and we most definitely are aware of the fact that he also had feelings for Xiao Meng. The similarities start with their names, that which they were born with, being unknown and both of them being in a family, that which they do not relate to and have no attachments (implied that her mother was using herself as a beauty trap for her father, as well). Her mother was also a named, implying her inheriting the problem of not being able to find her place in the world, the lack of identity and how she is awaiting for her saviour (Huo) to come to her, just like how Huo has always been waiting for someone else to come and save the world (Selfishness against the selflessness, yet again). Both of them are also assassins, used to infiltration as of now.
And of course, when both of them are getting what they want from each other, they also relate to each other and are full of nostalgy out of it once they get separated (considering how Huo labeled their time as the happiest one in his life, naturally as he has never experienced human warmth up so close before), it is no surprise that both of them have each other deeply rooted in mind and are longing to be reunited, considering how they were satisfied with their relationship and are unsatisfied with their current predicaments, wanting more and more out of each other.
Everyone died with a stab from the back in this arc, the ones who could not find their place in the world died from a place they could not observe to symbolize that as well, but at least she died content, as her mind was cleared from the overthinking that clouding her views and expecting the worst, which is naturally from a human being who does not think good about herself and does bad things, she seeks answer from her perspective, asserting as to what she would have done in his place to herself - but now she is free.
Readers do tend to have problems with the lack of foreshadowing of their relationship, but I disagree with it. Earrings were directly established as a foreshadowing and it is not really something that Chan Mou made up in that very chapter, but it is a part of culture. Huo’s lack of interest in other women should also be taken into account. On top of that, it was traditionally used by women, so Huo getting them implied two things - first, Huo being sure of his feelings and the girl not being sure of her feelings, as she also has malice in mind and gets confused. Second, my point of Huo’s femininity is once again enhanced.
2) Zhao Fan’s case is rather easy to elaborate on. He represents the “pretentiousness” (by compensating his lack of masculinity and love from his loved one, through the pretense of just babbling hollow words (merely citing others - not to imply that what he says is not matching to what is happening, but he is jut describing things, instead of affecting anything), as he is not capable of doing anything else) against the “reality” of Zhao Yun (less talk, more action attitude of his and the creditless deeds he has committed that empower someone else’s name, while he does not care even if he is a laughing-stock (on top of being an assassin - purposely hiding his own identity). plus the playfulness that is hiding the coldblooded nature beneath the surface). So both of Fans have the problems with self-worth (in the case of man it is originated from the fact that he is so fabulous and used to richness and grander image over himself, but can't win over the heart of a mere woman living in poverty - but the origination of woman's issues with her self-worth is the polar opposite, as he has nothing both in terms material items and upbringing, so her only chance to be unconditionally recognized and have the control of the greatest weapon in the world is Huo. Again, problems with grander (above-the-surface) and deep (below-the-surface) desires, with both of them having the blurred line - instead of being grounded) and what is also amusing is the fact that their relationship is somewhat a repetition of Fan's mother's relationship with the one who lost the to Huo - the fate never changes.
That pretentiousness would define Zhao Yun as well if he was not so hardened by the high amount of struggle he lived through and later be polished by Liu Bei. Huo would have been in his place if he were to come to his loved one instead of Xiao Meng. But that would come with its own negative consequence, as he would not have been loved. It is amusing how he was letting the woman to use her beauty trap on others, for him to be able to delude himself that he was not the one the most deeply trapped in said trap. He is, indeed, a lecherous man trying to put up a facade of the opposite.
2) 8th’s case is a bit complicated. They do share the path, but with the polar opposite approach. “Sharing the path” is amusing on its own right, though. Huo took the name “Zhao Yun” and will get recorded in history with someone else’s name, but the guy who was born with the name “Zhao Yun” won’t be recorded in history with his own name as well. Still, his name will exist in history, but it is going to be a guy, who’s completely different from the original Zhao Yun. Talk about an identity crisis.
“observing the passing of time and waiting for its coming, cannot compare to dealing with time and making use of it” – This throws us back in time, as far as the early chapters go, when Yun had an internal monologue about waiting for someone who would change and save the world. Around that time, 8th was persuading Huo’s loved one about how meaningless it is to just wait for something. Perhaps Huo would have undergone 8th’s path if he were to study as a genius to save the world instead of waiting for someone else to do it, but at the end of the day, he managed to understand where he belongs to.
Huo was waiting because he did not see himself as someone who could really make a difference in the world (“if martial arts would have made a difference, then the key positions in the world would already be dominated by various schools”). Meaning, that only “grander” things affect the world (such as Jesus and Dragon). but 8th begs to differ, with an argument that the delusions of grandeur should be broken for people and that even “books”, as tiny as they are, can affect the masses (for example, how Sun clan was hiding the true Art of War for themselves)
“what we need to learn now is observation and patience” – still paid off in Huo’s case and so it did for another Yun as well, as he was busy all these years, observing not only the human nature but the hidden meanings and uses of certain things, such as the literature as a tool of lying (“you won’t understand history without knowing how to lie”). This also foils how Zhuge was “waiting” and cultivating the illusions about Liu Bei for all these eleven years.
It is quite ironic and contradictory when 8th is talking about how important it is to know “where one stands” and yet he lacks identity and that helps him to stand (“infiltrate”) in any faction, at the same time. But us not knowing the identity of 8th further empowers my approach. Matches well with Huo trying to suppress his emotions and forget himself, thus becoming numb and losing his identity, as he won’t even get credit for his heroic deeds.
Basically Zhao brothers can be seen as the Yun’s identity crisis, a conflict between his duality of nature (Fan – wanting a normal life with his loved one. 8th – wanting to go with Liu Bei). And Huo killed Fan by his own hand, so killing the “longing for a personal happiness” also took a life of his loved one at the same time, by 8th mirroring his hand.
As to how similar 8th is to Liu Bei, we can talk about that right now. Meanwhile, 8th was judging the character of an assassin, Liu Bei was also being busy by judging the character of another Zhao and that, you guessed it, allows US to judge 8th as the mirror of our Chinese Jesus as well. To begin with, it is implied that both of them have two oath brothers so that comparison is not really far-fetched.
On the surface, both of them are good at judging the characters and while they are at that, none of them are using their real identities, but the substantial difference between them is that – Liu Bei is using the identity of being the cult of a personality, while 8th is not using any identity at all; Liu Bei is giving away a sincere brotherly love, thus gaining help from them on their own accord and that is something 8th is alien(ated) to (Zhao Fan was enslaved to his desire, rather than the aspiration of his brotherhood).
Now it should be noted that even if Liu Bei is getting a warm love and help from his oath brothers is a good thing, of course, Chen Mou has not forgotten that even such kind and heartfelt intent/actions can be harmful to the lofty aspirations. I also daresay that there is a great potential of showing the enormous flaws behind saving the world as a cult of a personality.
The first is directly connected to the relationship between the “savior” and the masses – there will be a part of people, who will have an urge to completely become reliant to the “shelter” that was provided to them and not only lose the sense of individuality in the process, but also get so soft in the process that they won’t be able to stand on their own again so easily.
The second problem comes exactly from that and both of these could be depicted in RoT through Liu Shan’s character arc – for the world to be shaped as in the eyes’ of Liu Bei, he has to alienate himself from the garden of earthly delights and the human beings themselves, thus he himself will become a tool, who will only be able to care about his comrades-in-arm. After all, he values them more than his own son. So as to say that both ,going above for grander ideas and going down, for deeper meanings, results in an alienation from the center, the earth, the world.
Right in the queue is standing a dragon (aka, not human) Zhuge Liang, who will also drag Liu Bei’s son to the moon. Moon of course represents the principles of Zhuge Liang and he is going to nail them in Liu Shan’s mind so much, that there will be no one to take the child on earthly adventures to gain necessary experience about the reality and human interactions - he will merely be an incarnation of a dream. After all, Liu Shan is neglected to the point of being used in schemes even as a child. Although the role of Sun Shu in this ordeal is still a mystery.
One thing is clear – without Sun Shu, Liu Shan is going to become an anti-thesis of 8th’s ideology.
To have a clear idea and understanding of what I am talking about, you could always watch that Ghibli movie named “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya”. The Emperor there is so out of touch, he is not even aware that he should not touch women without their consent and his inhuman behavior results in a girl wanting to escape from the reality and may as well kill herself.
8th’s ideology won’t result in such degradation, but Liu Bei has his own arguments against that world-view. If 8th blames people for having the delusions of their own grandeur, Liu Bei says that people have delusions not about their own selves, but about the world itself, as to how it is “structured”. So, people are not defiled, they are just following the wrong path and guidance could fix that. Zhao Tong depicted as someone who is not being as educated and well-read as Liu Bei further nails the point.
(Thanks to the translator Merc, who told us that this idea was conveyed through the wordplay that was lost in translation)
Surely, they won’t settle about the definition of the right path so easily. If 8th thinks that people should start valuing whatever they have and whatever they are able to do. Basically, the idea of saving the world won’t ever be fulfilled, because the world will only be saved after people save themselves – Liu Bei answers that one does not have to choose necessarily a mediocrity (in 8th’s case, broken people that he chose, such as Xiao Fan) and give it a value, just because the world in their eyes is ruined. Basically, gems still can be found in every corner, but they won’t polish themselves, so the world is still worth saving and could be saved if only we showcase what they can value.
In short, 8th thinks that everyone could have their own things to find value in, but Liu Bei wants to create one general “shelter” that everyone will find value and solution in (and our boy Huo got both)
What makes the feud between 8th and the Shu compelling could be summarized in two features
1) When Cao camp is full of elite soldiers who were trained for what they are doing and Sun clan is fully family oriented and thus chains the family members, Liu camp is full of opportunistic individuals that choose their path on their own. On face value, 8th should be quite fond of them, but divergence comes when the said individuals view someone else’s path as something grand and enslave themselves, forgetting to why even they want a better world and are sacrificing themselves just for someone else. Despite that, they still remain as somewhat respectable in the 8th’s eyes.
2) The inherent duality of men, as both of these approaches find their justification within the human nature and, at the same time, it also serves as a counter-argument to each other – in times of order, people are going to seek disorder and in times of disorder, people are going to seek disorder, hence comes the pivotal point in the dynamic between 8th and 7th – If one wants to make use of human’s longing for peace through crafting the fake cult of personality, which will achieve stalemate and turn into status quo, another one wants to make use of human’s craving for desire through the dispersion of their delusions of grandeur first, by which people would lose interest in waging meaningless wars over meaningless lands and reputations.
After all, “winner takes all” is but a surface level aspect of how Ravages of Time deals with its roots - Poetic tragedies, with proper emotional baggage to convey the horrors of war and an exploration of the inevitability of history and the meaninglessness of our struggles when confronted with it.
Of course, we are not finished here, because aside from Shu, 8th has enough potential to foil Sima clan as well.
Let us start with Sima Yi himself. I’d argue both are exceptional men from powerful clans destroyed by forces beyond their control. Sima Yi being set up by Pang Tong and Sima’s destruction changing him irreparably into a darker man. Like Hamlet the main driving force of the story is his revenge and just like Hamlet his actions unknowingly cause a similar tragedy to his own occurring. Sima Yis actions destroyed the Zhao Clam just like Pang Tong eventually destroyed the Sima as a scapegoat. Both attempt to gain revenge and return their clan to greatness. Yet while Sima Yi joins a future kingdom the eight opposes one and fails with his oath brother being forfeit. The irony being that Sima Yis entire life changed by one tragedy yet he doomed another man like him to the same fate unwittingly at the very start of the series.
One was Zhao Yuns best friend while the other is arguably his most dangerous enemy now.
I think there’s a surprising amount of similarities and parallels between the two even this early.
Oh, and both killed a woman Zhao Yun loved. Sima Yi by inaction and the eight in a moment of direct revenge.
I’m perhaps not articulating this the best but the aptest dramatic comparison I can think of is he’s the Leartes to Sima Yis Hamlet. Whether they will end up having the same conclusion as those two characters is up in the air though.
And meanwhile, 8th was concluding his not-so-grand spectacle, another member of Sima clan was introduced in the story – Sima Min, who is also an eighth member, rather polite and even was detached from other seven for quite a while and are considering as some kind of anomalies. After a line “seven out of the eighth aim high. One sticks to the low road”, even comes a hat of the 8th, whom we, in fact, described as someone who stands out by sticking to the low road. If I were to speculate, Min is going to be the one defending his own brothers, but 8th is going to be the one attacking his own brothers.
Both of them also serve as the premises for the next arc, even if they are not participated much in it, as of now: “Breaking the tradition” and the lies behind the books about warfare.
Now let’s come back to the long-postponed theory-crafting of mine.
-In the 468th chapter was revealed a dungeon that was used for torturing people. It belonged to the 8th who was gathering information about the routes of Shu. Then in 483 was revealed that Zhuge Liang had the exact same dungeon.
-In the 480th chapter on the other hand was revealed that Zhang Song was brought a fake map and thus Zhuge, who thought that Song was aiding Cao Cao, set a trap for him. There was someone special near Liu Zhang who was manipulating the information as if Liu Zhang was incompetent. That was a trap for Shu.
-Now in 483th Zhuge started a discussion about Zhang Song and 8th at the same time. After all, in the 468th chapter was also found a map, which was most likely made by the 8th. Key point was, that both of them were made in the same style, thus were made by the same person. The difference was, that the map made for Shu was fake, and the map made for 8th – was legitimate.
-At the start of the 483 chapter, Zhuge mentions how hard it is to track 8th and unless he announces his name, no one will know and yet, as a result of what was mentioned above, Zhuge deduced that 8th indeed graduated. Meaning, he has actively participated in the ravages of time already.
-In 483 Zhuge also did deduce that this man was merely “named” as Zhang Song. Meaning, his actual name is different. Now, how did 8th managed to convince him to not reveal that even after the torture session is a mystery. I can only think of “eccentric magic” (which I think is exactly what 8th needs for his plans, but it is also something that he wants the least) or heavy psychological pressure (considering that one guy with the damaged psyche in his chamber, chapter 468)
-Even more interesting came into the play after several chapters. It was revealed that there is another Zhang Song, who was aiding Ma Chao (who was also getting help from the Sun clan) and whose face was not revealed suspiciously. Why would there be several people with the same name? That’s rather CLOUDED (excuse the pun). One thing is certain, 8th is behind Song tricks, whether he is the one using that name, is actually named that or is cooperating with original Zhang Song – is another mystery. Zhuge did ruin his plans AGAIN (was it the third time?), but he still is cultivating his influence.
To conclude the analysis, let’s get back to the titular topic with a little hierarchy.
On the first level, there are stories with a black and white morality. Usually, black side is cartoony cynical, with no redeeming qualities and white side is cartoony idealistic, with irrelevant flaws (being hot-blooded and etc) – and the Ravages of Time even features such “stories” in deceptive schemes and labels them as “propaganda” (social commentary)
These “black” sides sometimes tend to be “justified” as if they were realistic (for example, for some reason, it is ok to have such characters if the setting is in the middle ages). Such explanations completely ignore the fact that no fiction is realistic and that every “realistic” being has redeeming qualities.
On the second level, there are stories with seemingly grey morality, through the presentation we do not actually see this moral ambiguity, so the presentation falls apart just because the characters’ words (what is talked) and actions (what is shown) contradict each other so much, that story does not seem self-aware anymore – a prime example would be a good guy, who wants to achieve a stalemate, but his actions tell otherwise and no one is actually calling him out on that hypocrisy. Also, everyone he faces is clearly inferior to him from a moral stand-point.
In such stories “black” sides may even have characters that were abused and victimized in childhood and now they are apparently pointing out the flaws in the system by blatantly indulging themselves in atrocities (for some reason). This is not only a cheap emotional manipulation but completely superficial and immature, as they are whining about the system by being worse than it and do not offer any solution to fix the system or a better alternative – they are merely amazed by the fact, that the world is imperfect and cannot accept it.
On the third level, there are stories with seemingly grey morality, but now they are doing the opposite. Characters constantly talk about the loss of humanity for the greater good, but they never commit to it and even if they were to do some questionable things (that most likely are glorified), they would still whine how bad the “greater good” is, despite not finding (or even trying to find) any better alternative. Here lies a huge contradiction in the presentation – It is preachy propaganda of “necessary evil” and, at the same time, does not want to acknowledge it, thus the story has a hypocritical point.
In such stories, “black” sides tend to be THE flaws of the system, with no redeeming qualities. They will be one-dimensionally incompetent and just abuse their power just for the main characters to have an excuse to commit “necessary evil”. In such cases, people tend to close their eyes on them being one-dimensional “as soon as they fir the narrative”. Such readers/watchers forget why it’s relevant for characters to not be one-dimensional – it is not realistic, considering you can be a flaw in a system and still have positive dynamics to something/someone else. It also lacks artistry, considering how crystal clear will the stance of the author is going to be by implementing such cartoony characters in his story. So… if the writing is so implausible… how are we supposed to trust the author on his beliefs and preferences, if he can’t implement said beliefs and preferences in an organic way even in his own world?
On the fourth level, there are stories with actual grey morality, where every character AND organization has its pros and cons properly presented. Without further complications, focuses on two sides of the conflicting ideas and naturally tells a realistic story, full of plausibility (Eureka Seven and Terra E, as examples)
On the fifth level, there is the Ravages of Time, conceptually exploring said contradictions. It not only has more than two sides with full of characters with their own agendas, but they all are making use of various “contradictions” and that is something I wanted to highlight through the Eighth Genius, who is full of contradictions externally, but fully self-aware internally.
Now it is not outright said that contradictions are bad. Quite the opposite – even if they are full of shortcomings, they are also full of benefits and if everything can be used your and someone else’s good, why would contradictions prove the exception? After all, if any effort is futile and doomed, what it all meant to you and how content you were at your death’s bed is all that matters. Which is another contradiction, because on face value, there is no objective reason to do anything if everything’s meaningless, but at the end of the day, you at least accumulated the experience for the future generation, who will also have to postpone the passive decay of the world (but the said shared experience will lead to even more bloodfest, which is unfortunately inevitable in any case)
Failure of self-loathing stories is not seeing beyond the fixed framework. Ravages’ point, on the other hand, is that – contradiction, like anything else (for instance, loyalty), is simply a method and it was set as a framework to fit someone else’s agenda. Of course, merely trying to step out of a framework is not enough, as you are going to meet others who already did that. That’s exactly what’s so alluring about this piece of art – it not only examines a single contradiction with a hopeful solution (Self-loathing Zhuge not raising Liu Shan as a hypocrite), but offers plenty of other alternatives.
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