Ravages of Time - Parallels (feat Sun Quan chapters)

I have already talked a bit about Heaven and Earth chapter, but I will expand on it a bit as well








Definition from TV Tropes: ‘Essentially, the A-plot is repeated in miniature in the B-plot. By looking at the results of one, the main character or audience gains a greater understanding of the other. This is a fairly common variation on Two Lines, No Waiting, as it gives the story layers and depth while remaining concise. It allows you to more fully explore each story — they prop one another up.

For example, suppose the A-plot has the heroine trying to get a pair of rare birds to mate. The subplot is the heroine is in denial about being in love with her best friend. By getting the birds together, she realizes she is in love with her friend. Another example: A lawyer defends a client who is accused of incompetence because of his age. The B-plot shows the lawyer worried that he's too old for the job. In defending his client, the lawyer realizes he's not ready to retire yet.

Often results in a Double Aesop, but not always; not all examples have characters learning a lesson. For example, the main plot of King Lear (Lear banishing faithful Cordelia and being betrayed by his other daughters) is mirrored in the Gloucester subplot, where Gloucester disowns faithful Edgar and is betrayed by his illegitimate son Edmund. The two stories are obvious parallels, but nobody learns anything from them (except the audience, who learn to be horribly depressed).’


As a core example of indirect usage, I will take the 406th chapter, continue to continue - it was already examined in detail, thus we can get straight to the point.

This scene is parallel to that scene when Taishi Ci was recruited by Sun Ce, so it is basically a two-sided mirroring of both, the one who got recruited and the one who recruited.

including Taishi CI's death also was a decision that helped to elevate the arc, as it allowed an extra weight to be felt from the battle. The clash of Chibi/red Cliff is a major event but it lacks much loss among the primary cast we follow. Moving his death gives a sense of sacrifice to the Sun clan coupled with Zhou Yu's soon after without having to make up a character like in John Woo's Red Cliff. We've seen Taishi CI and Zhang Liao develop in their respective arcs as protagonists in their own rights and now they are locked in a fight where only one can live. Similarly the battle if Red Cliff is the exact same thing only on a larger scale for each respective cast.






So let us first focus on Taishi Ci. when Sun Ce was talking about loyalty with umbrella and recruiting Taishi Ci, he was covering sage's blindness (symbolized by the bright sun - another layer being that it is hard to look at the sun, in a sense that it is hard to determine the truth behind the loyalty on your own, as it is as hard to question the loyalty as hard it is to look at the sun) with his umbrella. So if in that scene Taishi Ci was recruited, here it was his departure. Only this time, he was not getting enlightened as there was sagely sun to blind him, instead it was a night, amidst the rain - and yet he still was seeing the sun, meaning he knew from Sun Ce that loyalty was a method, but he still choose to be blinded by it, because Sun Ce was a man he respected and saw as a brother. A man worth being blinded for. People should remember that it is up to them towards who and what they are loyal to.










Taishi Ci's role here is swapped, now not his soldiers (by his command), but he is the one suffering because of the misjudgment of the commander and that commander is now getting persuaded by the enemy to question his loyalty. This time ordeal is not only complex because the strategy regarding the subject matter got even more solid, as him being persuaded by Cao is part of the plan, but also because of how Taishi Ci's deeds are mirrored and subverted (because they did not defect because of lack of loyalty and yet it still was presented as flawed and the oldman refused to not be punished (just as the kid wanted to bathe in sun to feel whatever the enemy felt)), as he was the young wave criticizing the old age back then, yet now it was reversed and he is about to reap whatever he sow. Basically, the old and the new generations exchanged places. in that both 'defected' due to (an alternate understanding of) loyalty.




In case of Sun Quan, it is a difference of weather - if it was a sunny day in Sun Ce’s case, as he was dealing with external factor, the soldiers, in terms of alluring loyalty with an umbrella in his hands, in Sun Quan’s case it was but a rainy day, as he was dealing with internal factor, including advisers and everyone else on top of soldiers, in terms of alluring corruption with an umbrella, that he discarded as a symbol of breaking the hierarchical status within the faction. After all, if they were to give in to Cao Cao, their whole war would be in vain, as everything else would go to the corrupted state again and as Cao Cao had ever expanding power, he could undermine the Sun clan exactly in the same manner as the others were doing it.










About this scene I also greatly appreciate the fact that Cao Cao tried to resolve the situation without waging the war first and foremost, even if in vain. Sun clan is tired of being controlled around by corrupted higher-ups that freely discard, now they want to be the ones in charge.










Well of course, there can also be found several other parallels even within Sun Quan’s character alone so let’s use the opportunity. We can take 526th chapter as an example (and few scenes from chapters around - to give more examples of subtextual action that were made there, that may as well have served as a foreshadowing and ‘show-don’t-tell’)













As a preface, let’s establish one thing. Parallel between Zhao Yun and Sun Ce is made by Zhao Yun few times saying the ‘catchphrases’ about lumping everyone together to save the same and weapon slipping (we do know that Zhao Yun has heard of these sentences, because they have met each other long ago) of his in front of Sun Quan. And of course a mere passive-aggression was not the point of throwing some cool lines - Zhao Yun may as well represent the inner dwelling grief of Sun Quan that he has a hard time to overcome as he is forced by tradition to care more about the general picture rather than his own family. Considering that Zhao Yun is also dealing with loss and coping with it by getting his emotions number (and getting one with the numbness of his senses), the parallel gets more likely as they are foiling each other.










This similarity helps to entic the emotions within Sun Quan, towards Zhao Yun. the 526th chapter opens with him describing Zhao Yun and foreseeing his omen - “you once changed the world, but it was only to pave the way for someone” and “there is no one coming to rescue you…” indicates that he noticed the parallel between Sun clan leadership and Zhao Yun and said words could also describe both Sun Ce and Zhou Yu. He now believes that leadership of Liu Bei is similar to what he is expected to be doing and talks as if he has a high ground, but in reality he is just projecting as he is contemplating just who has left to remember and care about him - “will your master care about you when you return? Be they the current or the former? How many of your old comrades remain?”... Also note how Zhao Yun mentioned that his lord has returned, considering he has great hearing capabilities and Sun Quan, who does not have such capability, thought it was just a wishful thinking of his… and yet he cares as much about Sun Quan life, as much he cares about his sister’s life - personal things are no longer part of his path.













Talk about Lady Sun… she is exactly who Sun Quan remembers next as his existential crisis has kicked in - if even his (Quan’s) sister is going after Yun, rather than to him (Quan again)... how can he discard all of these things and sacrifice himself for the greater good? - and exactly the parallel is what made him realize that you should just do some things without really haggling over certain unanswerable things. If it was a dream, there would have been flowers scattered around… but all he sees is just a chaotic dust on a hard ground, a metaphor on its own, as Sun Quan’s expectations have begun to crumble on its own, to the point that Sun Quan even shouldered Yun’s burden in hopes to connect to his sister as well and the final nail to that coffin was Liu Bei’s arrival, when he showed brotherly love and how he cares about Yun at least as much as the general picture… So if he (Quan) can’t live in a dream, then how come Yun is living Quan’s (at least from his perspective) dream? Even Zhao Yun did not need Sun Quan anymore.

























He witnessed what he himself always lacked and very much needed to see - True brotherly love. And now was the time when he wanted to have experienced the same, the most. (Un)fortunately, in this exact time our protagonist, the epitome of human empathy (sarcasm btw), who even dared to look identical to Quan's brother who just died, arrived with the salt to drop all over Quan’s earth - He just slapped Quan's hand coldly, with no love/care whatsoever… Not only his dear sister, but even Yi favors Yun..






The destruction of the expectation and as well as Sima Yi and Zhou Yu having identical faces are thematic parallels(call-back) on their own.

The expectations of family could be connected to the Lu Bu’s expectations of loyalty, from the 123th chapter.





-Lu Bu was talking about ignorant people being ignorant, Sun Quan - idiots being idiots.

-Both in the middle of their beliefs being shattered.

-Both are facing the characters that are basically mirroring each-other, Yun and Wei.

-Similar sentences about crying, laughing.

-Lu Bu even talked about dust, while we had dust drawn here.





On the other hand, Zhao Yun has finally taken the role of Dian Wei, the one who was representing Zhao Yun’s ideal self - if it was Dian Wei giving a lesson of loyalty of soldiers in 123th chapter, it was Zhao Yun giving a lesson of filial loyalty






( I find the deliberately tilted panels in 526 somewhat amusing, almost like a visual metaphor of shattered expectations )

This parallel (to Lu Bu) helps to emphasize that Sun Quan’s reputation is in shambles (in the next chapters) because of his attitude.





And in case of identical faces, it was a deliberate move from the author from a long long ago. it was mostly for the perspective of Sun Quan - Both of them raised Sun Quan and he was in-between their clans and both of them, on the surface (the face) loved him as a family member and both of them, on the inside, prioritized their clans (Zhou Yu's "clan" representing the cooperation, while Sima Yi's "clan" representing the individualism) and, as a result, Sun Quan lacked love, thus had to make INDIVIDUAL choices for the sake of his SUN clan (basically, combining the two), while still maintaining the conflicting emotions towards both of them (as the faces are the same, he mixes them while drunk, I would guess... or is trying to remove Sima Yi connection from his memory and gives all of the credit of raising only to his brother. Either way, line is blurred for us to understand what and who exactly he meant, and that is for good - as he is trying to not ‘haggle over certain things’, he is drinking alcohol to cope with it and keep his mind distracted)





At least, now he understood the very essence of Art of War. Thinking outside the framework was not only to use the Art of War as another tool of warfare on its own, but there was another layer - to learn how to live a life. But he still has to learn the final lesson and the next few chapters will take care of that.





In their next chapter, we see Sima Yi ‘encouraging’ Sun Quan and patting him on the shoulder, this takes us back to the very first chapter when Sim Yi patted on Xiao Meng’s shoulder and we all are aware how Sima Yi exchanged Xiao Meng for his own agenda, which he is planning to do with Sun Quan as well right now. Businessman (harmingman) relying on you? What could go wrong? Should we ask Meng? No, Quan rather not.





Now to see it from the perspective of Sun Quan - Sima Yi is trying to cover up Sun Quan’s identity and take it away from the Sun clan, while telling the other soldier that he is supposed to remember the real job, to harm the Sun clan… this could be directed to Sun Quan as well, considering Sima Yi here called Sun Quan his own spy, in other words, a tool. Sun Quan refused Sima Yi’s hand and got rid of Sima Yi’s hand (just like Yi, who coldly slapped his hand), in other words, shackles. As he has had enough. He coldly gave Sima Yi an agreement, but that agreement holds different meaning for Sun Quan… and calls Sima Yi the master of calculation that has finally entered the scene, to culminate his passive-aggressiveness, that Sima Yi is unaware of, right now.








Interesting how the chapter starts and ends with the similar questions








There were other interesting nods around these chapters. Namely the Sima Yi's character arc regarding waiting














Other examples could be derived from the 532th chapter, like when the Sima lady placed a hand on her forehead without uttering a word and that doctor needed to see this new guy off. Implying that he is a headache and the assassin needs to get rid of it as soon as possible. So, would you kindly ‘decipher other codes’?