Musings on Yan Lin, a lethal little love puppy
I think part of the reason Story of Kunning Palace is sticking with me so much is how incredible the secondary characters are. I’ve written about my weird obsession with the terrible Xie Wei already. But I think my favorite character is Yan Lin. It’s an interesting choice to set him up in the story the way they did. He’s a finely tuned killing machine, and also the sweetest puppy you’ve ever met.
(heavy spoilers from here on)
The story puts him up as the first possible love interest for Jiang Xuening and he’s not without faults. It’s clear, even to him, that she’s just not that into him. Initially he presses on in a way that could become creepy if he kept forcing it, no matter how nice he is. But he gets a big reveal from his father, and becomes keenly aware of politics and the danger to his family and just grows up, like right there on the spot.
It’s notable because so much of Jiang Xuening’s work to change the future after reincarnation seems to be around making sure Yan Lin doesn’t become the monster he was in her past life. And while she facilitates some of the confessions that change YL’s life, the real change comes from how he chooses to face it and deal with the world. Even at his most down moments he never completely loses his sunny disposition, keeping him at sweetest puppy status.
But what’s really astounding about his character is how he decides to deal with his feelings for Jiang Xuening. When Xie Wei asks him pointedly what he will do if his love likes someone else, YL says as long as she’s happy he’s fine and you can sense the sincerity in him. (As a side note I truly believe this is a turning point for Xie Wei to realize he might be able to act on his attraction to JXN, since his loyalty to the Yans is suddenly no longer a hinderance.)
YL’s father, Yan Mu, is also an excellent character, full of good advice, and true care for the children he sees himself responsible for. You see it most in the care he offers Xie Wei, the tacit understanding of his true identity and giving him a place in the family without revealing him (that family shrine scene made me cry both times I watched it). But Yan Mu is equally careful with Yan Lin, asking gently about JXN’s apparent rejection, and listening thoughtfully to YL’s answer. But it’s important because it’s clear his father is much of why YL became this sunny, thoughtful person, and not the monster of JXN’s previous life (where Yan Mu was killed before any of the hard reveals YL had to deal with), but also YL isn’t the emotional disaster Xie Wei is very much because YL always had his father to guide him and keep him steady.
I’ve mentioned elsewhere the choice his show made not to have the leads be morally righteous or good fighters, or any of the other kind of things usually attributed to protagonists. It’s interesting because Yan Lin is the kind of guy you expect to be the lead in a romance or even just standard wuxia. He’s kind and thoughtful, his life transformed by loss and damage to his family’s reputation he must fight back against and/or overcome. He’s a superior fighter and leader of men, ready to use his sword to put down unjust opponents or rebellion. In most stories he would be the guy who gets the girl. But here he just isn’t.
And how he deals with that is probably the most fascinating thing about him. In the previous life that Jiang Xuening is trying to atone for/change, at the moment Yan Lin loses his family and reputation, he is also rejected by JXN. On the surface it’s easy enough to say ‘Oh he lost his dad and his love so he went bad.’ But when we see who YL is in this life, it becomes clear it’s something more than that because his relationship with JXN isn’t simply that he loves her and wants to marry her. Many of the choices JXN makes in the story are to save YL, to protect him, she is constantly concerned with him, even as she repeatedly tells him that she only wants friendship from him and doesn’t love him.
The reality of that friendship is what makes him stand out as a character. JXN’s devotion to him reads on screen like real friendship. When she doesn’t choose him, he declares (in several scenes across the show) that he only wants her happiness and will support any choice she makes. And even as you see his sadness at her rejection you can believe the sincerity of his statement. YL’s desire to marry her seems equally born out of a true understanding they have and wanting to share his life with her based on that mutual understanding. Which is a great basis for romance! (And also somewhat parallels the JXN + Xie Wei pairing in their own understanding and acceptance of each other, alas for YL, JXN’s understanding wasn’t quite mutual in the same way with YL).
What gets me the most is his trust in her. Several times they say to each other “you treat me the best of anyone.” But the story really shows this to us. When JXN visits YL in prison before his exile he asks her point blank why she didn’t choose him. Unable to tell him about her reincarnation with memories, she explains she had a dream of the events of her previous life. Rather than dismissing or cajoling her he takes her emotions around this very seriously and insists that he must have been awful and truly hurt her.
This conversation really cements what we’ve been told of their profound friendship and deep connection and that’s something we don’t see enough in any fiction, but especially not between a man and a woman, and certainly not after he’s been rejected.
The true consideration he gives her feelings in every circumstance is astounding. And while some of this does seem to come from how Yan Mu raised him, it’s something YL never loses in this life. But once you’ve seen the whole of YL’s story in this life, it becomes clear that in the past life it isn’t simply that he went bad at the loss of his father and his lady, but that the solidity of his friendship with JXN and their honesty with each other that helps keep him grounded in this life just as much as the support of his father does. (The fact that JXN essentially creates a different Xie Wei in this life matters to YL’s end as well, but her deeper connection XW is initially born out of her desire to protect YL.)
For the remainder of the show his wistfulness at not being chosen is obvious, but he maintains repeatedly that she’s free to choose her own love and he only wants happiness for her. And it feels genuine when he says it. It’s really quite a feminist stance. And when it’s put up in opposition to Xie Wei being possessive, jealous, and truly toxic (in so many ways) the contrast is so stark it’s incredible that the same story could give us both characters.
Yan Lin remains a deadly sword wielding puppy to the very end and I’m grateful to story for giving us that sunny bit of hope all the way through.
(a small side note: I do hope we get to see a lot more from this actor. I understand his Weibo was blocked and he was banned in a way that affected other dramas he’d filmed because of his participation in the White Paper protests. But I applaud his sincerity in that and standing up for justice. It’s a testament to him as a person and clearly part of why he was able to play this kind of character so well. It does appear he’s maybe been able to recover his career from this and I’m looking forward to watching him, however briefly, in The Legend of Shen Li and I hope Peacock in Wonderland gets released.)
“the solidity of his friendship with JXN and their honesty with each other that helps keep him grounded in this life just as much as the support of his father does. (The fact that JXN essentially creates a different Xie Wei in this life matters to YL’s end as well, but her deeper connection XW is initially born out of her desire to protect YL.)”
