“Stay behind my back, General”

 

This is my analysis of the correlation between Jing Yuan and Dan Heng in the patch 2.4 based on my experience, intuition and knowledge of the two cultures. In this thread I'll also interpret some of Dan Heng's behaviour to the best of my understanding and observations. Therefore, it will contain many subjective judgments. Please note that this is only a personal analysis and is not purposed to reflect the true intentions of the developer.

1. Please consider before opening this post … Because it may also open up other perspectives for you (lol, /j)

2. I borrowed 2 accounts and played the patch 3 times. So it was a lot of effort.

3. Since English is not my native language, I may use the wrong words, but I tried my best.

4. I don't know Chinese. My translation is based on dictionary and context, plus a little judgement based on my knowledge of the similarities between Vietnamese and Chinese, so please excuse any errors.

5. This post is not intended to criticize the English translation, but merely to provide further perspectives.

6. This article is mainly about my experience playing in ​​CN, VIE and ENG, so I will not mention other languages ​​here. This does not mean that I deny their accuracy.

 

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Erm. Here is the thing. When I played the VIE (subtitle) version, I felt the connection between Jing Yuan and Dan Heng was stronger than when I played the ENG one. Like “why don’t I feel that way when playing it in ENG?”. After some research, I found out that it's because of the cultural differences when changing languages. Basically, language can be translated but culture can't.

For example, in this Dan Heng’s line:

When I read the English version, nothing stood out to me. But when I read it in VIE, Dan Heng's use of words seemed somehow familiar. As if I had seen it somewhere before. So I looked through Jing Yuan's messages again and found this:

In the ENG version, these two sentences have nothing to do with each other. But in the CN or VIE version, Jing Yuan uses the phrase “合情合理” while Dan Heng uses the phrase “于情于理”. These two idioms are not 100% similar in terms of words, but in terms of context, they are the same. Both refer to something that we should do because it is “emotionally and rationally right”. Actually, this idiom is quite common, so it’s not strange that people reuse it. What I am saying here, though, is that if I were playing in a language other than CN or VIE, it would be difficult for me, or perhaps others, to see the similarities between them in terms of word usage and speech patterns. This is somewhat unfortunate in my opinion.

As we know, the conversations in HSR often have many layers and almost impossible to see through after just one play. To fully understand it requires a certain understanding of Chinese culture, history, literature combined with a little experience, EQ and high concentration. But since China and Vietnam had a history and we share many cultures, I presume to say I can understand some of the things reflected in the phrases. I also think the direct translation from CN to VIE is more accurate. Since both have many common idioms.

As far as I know, China also has many social classes and the way each class speaks is very different. One of the things that makes me feel the connection between Dan Heng and Jing Yuan is ... the way they speak. It's like if you talk to someone too often, your way of speaking will gradually become similar to that person's. But to put it neutrally, since they are both from Xianzhou, their manner of speaking is considered quite literary, ambiguous and implicit, and they both often use idioms when speaking.

This is not surprising, as the people of Xianzhou were inspired by the real ancient Chinese. But as far as we know, Dan Heng was imprisoned in Shackling Prison from birth and was later banished from Luofu. He spent most of his life adrift in the galaxy. But when he returned to Xianzhou Luofu, he quickly immersed himself in its culture and was not afraid to flaunt his Luofu roots. In addition, he also adhere to the rituals of the Xianzhou people.

And what I like most is that after each patch, HYV further reinforces Dan Heng's connection to Xianzhou Luofu - his homeland - through the details interwoven into Dan Heng's style that I consider very "Xianzhou". Actually, from 2.2, Dan Heng has paid a lot of attention to the fact that he is a Xianzhou native, for example, correcting BootHill right away when he used the wrong Xianzhou saying "Talking. Do all the talking" – which I think, from 1.4 to 2.2, a lot of things must have happened between him and ... (ahem).

Back to this scene, as we know, no matter which option we chose, he still says this with no hesitation. Without analysis, it’s easy to see no matter what, Dan Heng still chooses to go to Luofu and this is his subjective will. Whether we wanted it or not, the most canon thing here is still Dan Heng's "homesickness".

 

In addition, he also actively convinced the AE crew by explaining the Wardance to them in detail, as if he was the one who organized the festival directly (hey hey, aren't you meddling a bit too much in the affairs of the "real organizer"?). Obviously, even without looking through the shipping lens, you can still see that he really wants to participate in the traditional festival of Xianzhou Luofu. 

Otherwise, in this line he used the idiom 杯弓蛇影, which the ENG translation simply says “no need to worry”. But this phrase actually means (see the 4th pic). Hey bro, you’re becoming more and more like a Xianzhou person.

 

What confused me is that in this sentence, the word "want" is used for the ENG version, but it is actually "choose" (选) in CN and VIE. This is really just a personal feeling: when I read the ENG version, I felt like Dan Heng was just re-explaining Welt's statement about why Jing Yuan is organizing the Wardance now. But the VIE and CN versions make it feel like Dan Heng is directly commenting on Jing Yuan's actions. The literal translation would have been: "And what Mr. Walter said is right. The Ambrosial Arbor Crisis has just ended, and both the long-life and short-life species are still feeling uneasy. Jing Yuan chose to hold the Wardance at this time, obviously to stabilize the external affairs of Luofu." 

(Erm ... it sounds like what Welt said is also what Dan Heng already had in mind. And he judged Jing Yuan's actions as reasonable (as if it was his business lol, bro cares too much about his boyfriend's business). But the ENG version gave me the effect, that he said so, because Welt told him that <-- more indirectly).

 

Following is a list of “evidences” that show Dan Heng’s understanding of Luofu. For example, when everyone was still wondering where to go, he immediately pointed out the most prominent spot of the on the dock. He also showed his deep understanding of each place in Luofu, and also reviewed their quality when TB was asked to recommend. There are two hypotheses here:

1. Is that he read those things in books and memorized them very well.

2. He was (secretly) guided on a tour of these places by “someone” (lol)

No matter what the answer is, it cannot be denied that Luofu is very familiar to Dan Heng.

 

At this moment, after greeting Yanqing, when choosing the first option, Yanqing seemed surprised to see that Dan Heng had also come to Luofu, and then showed a confused and awkward expression. After all that had happened, he obviously didn't expect Dan Heng to still want to return to Luofu. Yanqing's expression unintentionally made clear Dan Heng's desire to return home despite the incidents. (Obviously, the kid didn't know what had happened between Jing Yuan and Dan Heng recently that made him want to come back here that much, lol).

 

Then Dan Heng expressed his concern about the timing of the Wardance, as if it was his business???? I mean, it's a bit weird, right? His interest in Jing Yuan's foreign policy seems to somehow affirm his "host" status over Xianzhou Luofu? Because what if he felt it was not appropriate to hold the Wardance at this time? Would he interfere in this matter?

Here he once again used the word "choose". At this point, he seemed to completely remove any doubt about Jing Yuan's decision on the timing of the festival (I don't know about other cultures, but in Vietnamese culture, commenting on other people's choices is a very private matter). Like it or not, Dan Heng was very concerned about the political situation in Xianzhou Luofu and almost considered it his business.

 

After the incident at the dock, Yanqing told us not to let Jing Yuan wait too long. Then Dan Heng calmed the boy down and without waiting a second ... he left. I mean it's normal for someone to leave. But the way he took the initiative to leave and was also the first one made it look like he was really eager to see Jing Yuan. But I think I’m just being delulu.

Hey, everyone see it??? How quickly he turned and walked away, lol (don't blame me, shipping is a hard job). And the two just looked at Dan Heng as if waiting for him to lead the way (but I thought Yanqing was the one leading the way?)

 

 

Fast forward to the section where we met General Huaiyan. Unlike his two companions who were still bewildered, Dan Heng and Yanqing immediately assumed a solemn posture to greet General Huaiyan. He once again affirmed that Xianzhou culture and etiquette were deeply ingrained in his flesh and blood.

 

 

At this point it was so obvious to see Jing Yuan mentioning Dan Heng's name first that there was nothing to discuss. I just added it to fill the thread, lol.

Here I would like to discuss a little bit about the words that General Huaiyan said. The English version translates 后世 as “reincarnation” (which is not wrong), but in the VIE and CN versions it’s rather “posterity, later generation”. Therefore, I think it seems correct to say that Dan Heng is the descendant of the previous High Elder. General Huaiyan is also a reasonable and subtle person. His way of speaking is very skillful and has the demeanor of a superior.

 

Although this was the first time he met General Huaiyan, Dan Heng was very open and was the only Nameless who directly spoke to him. At this point, I had the feeling that Dan Heng did not consider himself a “guest” but rather a “family member” or “close friend” here. He was quite confident about his position towards Jing Yuan and in Xianzhou Luofu. After General Huaiyan apologized to AE for coming at the wrong time, in the CN version Dan Heng said “怀炎将军言重了” (somehow like: “oh please, you are exaggerating /pos”), while the VIE version translated it as “You are so ceremonious”. The ENG version is actually not bad but it is quite general. Here, it can be seen that he was quite comfortable talking to General Huaiyan, but also very respectful (typical asian child, lol). It doesn't give the impression that he's someone who's been exiled for a long time.

 

This is a rather complicated but familiar scene for us shippers. Dan Heng has now confirmed Jing Yuan's precarious situation with Yanqing, which proves that he has been ... observing Jing Yuan the whole time. Ok, I mean observing the whole situation but including Jing Yuan. Not to mention Dan Heng's judgment on the political things of Xianzhou (because it's too obvious) and the fact that he clearly saw Jing Yuan's pressure and and read all of his intentions when inviting us here. Unlike other deductions, where he mostly asks questions to answer himself, then comes to a conclusion. At this point, Dan Heng certainly knew about the whole process that Jing Yuan will go through as well as the risks he will face when getting involved with the Ambrosial Arbor. It could be said that he knew all this in advance. But he is willing to stay and help Jing Yuan, lol.

 

 

Yanqing's closing line shows that: It is true that only Dan Heng can read Jing Yuan’s situation. This line in CN version is a bit more sentimental: “(only) After listening to what Mr. Dan Heng said, I became aware of the undercurrent surging behind this.“

 

In this scene, Lingsha wanted to intervene in the incident at Alchemy Commission and asked for advice on “remedy” to repair it (the territory of the Luofu Cloud Knight), then Dan Heng gave sincere advice based on his understanding of the relationship between the Vidyadhara clan and Alchemy Commission. Actually, I don’t understand this part very well so I can’t discuss much (again, his style of indirect speech) but I think Dan Heng is advising Lingsha to stay out of this. I’m not sure.

 

I didn’t quite understand the hidden message in Lingsha’s words. But contrary to what I thought, when talking about the exile order, the “camera” didn’t focus on Dan Heng’s face but rather on Yanqing’s. I guessed that the conundrum between “Jing Yuan’s exile order” and Dan Heng had been removed at this point, so Dan Heng no longer had any burden in his heart? (or it’s never been). So what needed to be paid attention to now was Yanqing’s reaction to the information Lingsha gave.

 

 

In this conversation, Dan Heng asked General Huaiyan if the General of Yaoqing was the only one who came to investigate the Ambrosial Arbor Crisis. This seems to be a rhetorical question, as Dan Heng already knew the answer. We can see that from Dan Heng's expression, which was not very surprised, but somewhat like ... disappointed? (while March and TB were gaping).

 

This is not really related but I think this scene is so close to a child being lectured by his parents in front of his friends, lol. Jing Yuan sounds even more pitiful in the CN version (it's rare to see his morale outmatched, lol).  The last sentence Huaiyan said, if translated literally, it sounds like: “When this old man treats you with sincerity, you young man should not hide it anymore” (lol, “young man”, in our eye he is an 800+ old man)

The conversation with General Huaiyan is very interesting. He is indeed a wise man. If playing at CN, VIE, all his speeches are more like implicit lessons.

Here I would like to discuss a little on what Huaiyan meant. He said that the “host” will send out a skill warrior to guard the ring, etc., to demonstrate the prosperity of Xianzhou martial arts, and thought that the person who should do that is the High Elder of Luofu (referring to Dan Heng).

I consider this character to be quite ... dangerous, difficult to understand and not simple at all. Every word he says has some meaning. But in order to ease my headache, I prefer to think that Huaiyan implicitly regarded Dan Heng as a member of the “host” and recognized his strength and accepted him as the High Elder in his heart. On the other hand, I feel like this is some kind of signal for Jing Yuan. And it also seemed that he saw Dan Heng’s enthusiasm for Luofu during this visit home.

Jing Yuan then immediately showed his intelligence by cleverly defending Dan Heng and affirming Bailu's status as a High Elder. He also did not forget to add a little praise for Huaiyan's "sense of humor" as a spice. From this moment on all four were “safe” and three were freed from embarrassment. His intelligence truly made me “convinced in heart and mind”.

 

 After the trouble with the Wardance, we can see that everyone turned to Jing Yuan to expect an answer, but then ... Dan Heng spoke up again to relieve Jing Yuan and explained the generals' actions to his two friends on behalf of Jing Yuan, without a word exchange. It was obvious that Dan Heng was very concerned about Jing Yuan's problem and saw through his dilemma at this moment (the tacit understanding so strong).

 

Next is the viral scene where Jing Yuan apologizes for his secrecy, in which no matter which option TB chooses, Dan Heng still chooses to stay behind to support Jing Yuan (oh, love). That means if the crew chooses to leave, Dan Heng still chooses to stay behind to take the interrogation. All just to clear Jing Yuan's name.

 

Look at him reassuring Jing Yuan. So soft.

This is the part that I think is the most important. Here it can be seen that, in contrast to the solemn welcome that Dan Heng gave to General Huaiyan, this time, he didn't even respond to General Feixiao's greeting. But I don't think that a polite person like Dan Heng wouldn't respond to someone who greeted him like that. So I put forward a hypothesis: Dan Heng might have intuitively seen that General Huaiyan was on Jing Yuan's side, and no matter what his purpose was in coming to Luofu, it wasn't to harm Jing Yuan. But Dan Heng was quite wary of General Feixiao, because he probably see in his mind that she came here with an almost "hostile" attitude towards Jing Yuan. And with his protective nature (for Jing Yuan), it only increased his wariness towards General Feixiao.

 

 

Jing Yuan seemed to have noticed this as well, and it made him reintroduce Dan Heng to ease the awkwardness. But after Feixiao interrupted Jing Yuan and told him about her knowledge of Dan Heng, he showed an unfriendly attitude towards her as if facing an opponent. At this time, Feixiao used the word 隔世 to refer to Dan Heng. I think this word is quite ambiguous. If translated into VIE, it would be “separated generation”, but if translated into ENG, it would be “former lifetime”. So I will skip it without discussing it.

 

A little off topic but this part is so funny. All 3 translations are different in color, lol. VIE version translates black, CN version cyan and ENG version green. So what color are you Dan Heng, lol.

 

But in short, the generals still stubbornly stuck to Dan Heng's status as Yin Yue Jun in Xianzhou and did not refer to him as a Nameless, as if "this is not a guest, this is a family member". But what I'm interested in here is the difference in Dan Heng's behavior towards General Huaiyan and Feixiao.

His attitude when greeting General Huaiyan

His attitude when greeting General Feixiao

 After hearing Dan Heng’s answer, Feixiao praised him for his clever tongue. Sound familiar? Jing Yuan was also rated by Feixiao as someone who “has a way with words”. And to both of them, she said “I like it”. There seemed to be something similar in the way they spoke that brought out Feixiao's interest. But to discuss it a bit, in the CN version Feixiao actually said: “General of Divine Foresight is indeed a man of culture. Just a few of your sentences can be compared to a complete collection of Xianzhou’s idioms.”

 

In the confrontation scene with Feixiao, there was a part where Dan Heng took all the blame for trespassing Luofu's boundaries. Then Feixiao said, if he was really guilty, then it wasn't just him who was guilty (Jing Yuan was too, lol). This part was really emotional when reading the VIE version (or maybe I just delulu).

 

 

Then we know very clearly Dan Heng's determination to go to the Shackling Prison, even though it was the place where he was imprisoned. All just to clear Jing Yuan's name with the belief that Jing Yuan would not let anything happen to him. But what I wonder is whether he trusted Jing Yuan to the point of not having any doubts? Or did he know about all this already? (If so, who told him about this possibility?) Then Dan Heng volunteered to go down there right before Jing Yuan could express his opinion on this. At this point it is hard to see whether Jing Yuan knew about this in advance, maybe, maybe not. But the fact that Dan Heng spoke up like that makes me feel that it is not important, because whether it was Jing Yuan's subjective will or not, he would still do it for Jing Yuan. 

I just suspect that there is another conspiracy here. Because going all the way to Shackling Prison just to take notes is a bit ... unnecessary. (It's like it's only meant to further emphasize Dan Heng's simp for Jing Yuan.)

 

 

Next is the part .... erm ... “as your wish” – Dan Heng. Actually, if you read the dialogue in Vietnamese ... it is ... very ... erm ... *fainting*. But I will roughly translate the Chinese sentence: “Just as what you said, General” / “I’ll do as what General said” (he didn’t use pronoun in this line), showing his absolute loyalty to Jing Yuan. 

This is just my own feeling: It seems that Dan Heng quite values ​​Jing Yuan’s position and respects him wholeheartedly. In my shipping eyes, in Dan Heng’s heart there is only one General and that is Jing Yuan, lol.

 

In the conversation with TB, Dan Heng once again emphasized that “it’s all because of me” that TB was dragged into this trouble. This is clearly shown by the fact that throughout the decisive conversations, Dan Heng only used I instead of We. This affirms all his initiative in getting involved in this matter. 

In addition, he also felt regretful when letting TB see Shackling Prison, because this is the darkest place of Luofu. This shows his effort to overcome the burden in his heart to restore Jing Yuan’s reputation. And once again, he affirmed his pride for Luofu when mentioning “the real sight of Luofu” (meaning that Luofu’s real sight should be a more beautiful place than this dark place). After all, no one wants to take their friends to a bad place in their hometown, right?

 

Another thing I noticed is that it seems that Dan Heng has come here with a different mindset now, no longer as a former prisoner but rather an insider trying to solve the Shackling Prison incident as a Xianzhou’s problem.

Here the CN version seems to express it more accurately: “Miss Hanya, where is the fastest way to the bottom of the SP? If we can't race against time, I'm afraid the entire SP will become our enemy.” (he is afraid that the SP will soon be taken over by the enemy if we don’t act soon).

Through this incident, Dan Heng seemed to have resolved his problems with the Shackling Prison and considers protecting this place his responsibility.

As an aside, although Dan Heng knew the Xianzhou Luofu stuff very well, it seemed that he doesn’t know much about the Ten Lord Commission things. The proof is that he was surprised when he heard Hanya talk about Xueyi still being alive. This could partly judge the limit of Dan Heng's knowledge regarding the matter of Xianzhou.

What happened after that, I have nothing more to say. But we can see here that Dan Heng regards Xianzhou Luofu as an inseparable part of himself and feels responsible for it. He never denies his origins. It can even be said that he is proud of being an important part of Xianzhou Luofu and does not hesitate to hide that pride from outsiders (like freely suggesting the use of Cloud Knights force to support his friends). He sees Xianzhou Luofu as his Home.

 

xXx

 

The important thing I want to say here is that Dan Heng's use of words has become much more "Xianzhou". When playing this version, I was quite surprised because there were some dialogues, especially when talking to the superiors, Dan Heng used his name as first person to talk. This is of course not about referring to himself as third person, but this is a typical Chinese culture that shows the modesty and respect, while emphasizing personality (like "personally"), often used by young people when talking to elderly or when apologizing. And this cannot be explained to foreigners, simply because this culture does not exist in Western countries. In English, there is no concept of using names instead of first-person-pronoun to talk (eg: “John know” instead of “I know” ... er ...). Therefore, to avoid confusing players, in the ENG version, only "I" can be used in all cases, making the characteristics of Xianzhou culture unclear.

As can be seen in the CN and VIE versions, Dan Heng uses this way of speaking several times to show humility towards General Huaiyan and Feixiao und even Lingsa. This, unfortunately, cannot be shown in the ENG version, making the character's true personality from a foreign perspective become vague and general.

 

Jing Yuan also uses this way of speaking when using his name in the first person when talking to the AE or other generals. That is why I find Jing Yuan's humility to be one of his outstanding qualities, while this is not so prominent in the international community.

 

Way too polite and well-educated.

 

Yanqing also used this way of speaking. But from the perspective of a young person who had been cultured in Xianzhou since childhood, this seemed to be normal thing.

 

xXx

Conclusion: The relationship between Jing Yuan and Dan Heng in this version once again shows that, even without looking through the shipping lens, it is still very precious and admirable. Because how many people are willing to risk their safety like that for their friends? Right?

 

End!!

(I still feel something missing here)