Personal ramblings on TTEOTM

oceanstarjp

“I agree.  I think part of the failure was the cut scenes.  There was failure in explaining that as he died he reversed all in distress way to where he brought the dead back to life.  His soul was also in the reversal which was why he was able to come back.  When I see the final scene I always understood it to mean that his soul is slowly being repaired and he will return.  However, I am satisfied with the end and his journey.  He could finally free himself from the terrible fate and life he had so that when he returns he is free from evil and slaughter and LSS no longer has a mission on her shoulders.”

Yes, I have the same thought as you. I had mentioned stated I think this is a suitable ending therefore, he could be free. After awhile I look inti the detail from the ending again and feel that if you look deeper you could find the ending you wanted. 

 Thingnguyen62:

I have other reasons why I like the original ending cause Tantai Jin still remains the Demon King after his return to the demon realm with Susu fully accepted him after what he did and waited for him with their lil Ami and their loyal subjects welcoming him back with open arms.  It was a perfect to say that both light & dark need to co exist to achieved harmony 

This! 

Yes, LSS accepts TTJ for who he is. She know how possessive, petty, etc. he can be even after he became Bai Ziqian but she is also not without flaws. 

At the end of the day, they are right for each other, the perfect foil - the Yin and the Yang. ??

It still hurts me that at episode 39, TTJ was saying all those sincere wishes and hopes in such a cold voice and with those cold eyes. The only times he broke were when LSS asked why the Devil God wanted such a mundane mortal life, and when she asked if there was no turning back from there. 

And to suffer through LSS's misunderstanding of him, all the things she said about him after he became the Devil God...

After being a goddess, and seeing through all of TTJ's lies, LSS must hurt double after he physically died.

“Yes, re-thinking on every level. LSS would have hurt a lot. She loves TTJ as deeply as he love her, the pain will be so much when she knew his choice. Hence the ending tombstone scene by LSS was the saddest, first time we saw her true love for TTJ. And have to live on with her daughter holding the pain and grief, will be a life long struggles. I always felt that if the death is the end, the living is often the one who suffer as they carry the memory and will always be yearning of the loss.”

Sadly, she was always in conflict because of her mission. She wants to love him but she couldn’t. Until the end she still had doubt. When TTJ died, her world suddenly tumbled down. Everything she long for is too late to be reverse. Agree with your last sentence of your message. Keanu Reeves once replied the host who asked him what you think will happen when you died. He said I do know that the ones who love me will miss me. Not just miss, forever LSS will live with regrets. To me the ending is good ending with everything is fulfilled, the only thing is left was regrets.

“On so many aspect, we are stuck here because this drama is thought provoking and gave us so many open spaces to explore and ponder;).”

Agree to that fully. Never had I been thinking over and over again, discuss or stay on the page after a drama had ended. This drama has me thinking out of the box as well. This is why I love this drama dearly. I may wish that they have more spaces to explore, to explain the detail and need not to cramp all in 40 episodes but I really appreciate every moment of it.

So I've read the thread on Ji Ze's master plan on destroying the Devil God, and I just had this thought.... fate/destiny doesn't really work like that, as if it was a plan, clear cut and has to be done the right way. Sometimes it feels as if we thought we took charge of our lives, but find out that we were meant to be that way all along, just like how TTJ fought against being the DG all his life as CJM, but eventually he had to embrace being DG to save everybody. As Ji Ze said, everything happens for a reason, which can be not always what we intend, but what we need to do.

For me, I think Ji Ze just opened choices for LSS when he spoke to her, guiding her on how to destroy the DG (destroy is the word, not kill, necessarily). It could have gone either way: either LSS actually kills the DG, or LSS destroys the DG through love.

The choices:

The DREAM shows LSS the two ways on how to destroy the DG: through might, when MY seals in the evil bone in the heavenly pillar. That makes the ADG disintegrate into air and disappear for thousands of years. But there's also the gentle way, when MY sacrifices his divine essence to exchange with SJ's evil bone. 

The TEAR can be activated into two ways: one is of course the obvious way, transform into the Soul-slaying Nails which really are meant to destroy the devil bone and kill the DG. For me, I think all nine nails could have been used and finally eradicate the essence of DG. LSS could have succeeded nailing all nine nails and killed TTJ there on the wedding day. The other way is to not transform, and it will only exist to symbolize that the DG has sympathy/empathy for humanity, enough not to activate the All-in-Distress Way and destroy it. This second way would only be possible if...

The LOVE THREAD is created. The tear and the thread are of course connected to each other because one cannot exist without the other. (Okay, so I realized something....) The love threads activate the creation of the tear, which in turn creates the Soul-slaying Nails with the growing of the love thread. I realize that it will be inevitable that the nails will form, that the tear can't exist without transforming, and there lies the sadness of it because having the DG realize pure emotions such as love will eventually destroy him in whatever way. Here comes in the Heart Guarding Scale. If LSS decides to use the nails to destroy TTJ's evil bone, the HGS will decide if TTJ was worthy to be saved. (So was it coincidence that MY took out his heart scale? Was it coincidence that he create Xiaoyao Sect with it? Was it coincidence that Xiaoyao has this treasure, and pass it down to the mortal XL, who in turn passes it to TTJ? One word: fate.) That's why it can only block the last three nails because decision process is soooooo slow HAHAHA. (and dramatic effect, I suppose) 

For me, I don't think Ji Ze planned all these things to happen. Like all diviners in history, he can only predict what can happen if certain decisions are made. That's why really, LSS is so pitiful in not knowing how to accomplish her mission because there was no sure way of destroying the Devil God. But Ji Ze can only nudge things into motion, like telling MY about TTJ and LSS, making him make the Bo're Dream, and choosing TTJ to take his role in the dream. By that, MY can also gauge if TTJ really was worth saving, thus making the spirit of MY activate the HGS in time to save TTJ. 

As for Ji Ze being trapped in the abyss, I suppose he saw himself having that fate, which makes his actions during the God-Devil war so much more tragic. He knew he was going to be ended in the war, and so took precautions to preserve his consciousness in the Barren Abyss just for LSS. He knew his fate, but he knew that LSS would also need guidance. He could have fought against his fate, but how could he have done? Only Ji Ze knows what he foresaw for himself. (Reminds me of the Ancient One in Doctor Strange, when she told him she couldn't see beyond the hospital balcony scene)

So what about the World Overturning Jade/World Alluring Jade (I think I prefer the WOJ since SJ said it can overturn worlds)? FATE. Everything happens for a reason.......... thus, the tragedy of SJ's life was meant to happen no matter what, so she can create the WOJ. Why didn't Ji Ze mention this during their meeting? He actually did, and gave advice to SJ. His "Remember why you came here" is not only for LSS's benefit, but also for SJ. If she remembered that she came to the immortal realm because of her love for MY, then she wouldn't have been swayed by TH's lies. She was too focused on her love being only one sided that she didn't stop to consider if her love was having an effect on MY. If she had only loved fearlessly, and involved MY in her love, then...........

I know, I know, so how about her family then? "Remember why you came here". If she ever truly loved MY wholeheartedly and fearlessly, then she would have come to MY no matter what, trusted MY to seek justice for her, not revenge, even if that justice was not entirely equal, but then, justice doesn't necessarily translate to equal repayment (like how murderers could only get life imprisonment when their victims got a worse fate).

(at this point, am I contradicting myself when I wrote my thoughts in the rewatch? ahahaha. well)

(and at this point, my head is bursting with what if scenarios, so I'll just stop for now. For everything, I only have one answer there: FATE.)

The point of this lengthy essay is, everything happens for a reason. Ji Ze, as the God of Time, and of prophecy, could only push things around to lead them to the fates that await them. That's why he couldn't comfort LSS when she was feeling conflicted about her mission, when she realized TTJ loved her to the point of taking the porridge from her even if he knew it was poisoned, and that he was willing to marry her despite his perception of her betrayal. TTJ and LSS's fates were already written, one to be destroyed, and the other to do the destroying. 

"Everything happens for a reason." It was their fate to meet. It was their fate to fall in love. It was their fate to destroy the Devil God.  

 "Don't indulge in foolishness." If LSS wanted to owe TTJ, she had to owe the world. If she owes the world, she will owe TTJ. But thinking about owing and not owing is foolishness, because what really matters is her decision and her actions.

"Seize the chance." LSS has only one shot to destroy the DG. She shouldn't waste it. 

Fate is something we mortals can never understand fully, and whether we think we go against it or go with it doesn't really matter much. Fate only gives us choices on what to do, but what matters is the decisions we make, and the actions we do.

(If that doesn't make sense..... I know. ahahaha)

(I'm ending things so lamely. ahahah)

k bye.