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Character Analysis of Chu Youwen

se0ulmate
 ChineseDramaFan:
Same thing she wouldn't have left him if she knew he was blind-sided by the Emperor in killing her family. That's the whole crux of things: he felt guilty himself because he was the leader of the Night Fury; he couldn't simply say, "It's none of my business, I didn't do it."

Again, she would've known if he'd communicated that. She was a reasonable character for the most part, so I doubt she'd take it out on the Night Fury when it's the King who gave the order and then proceeded to try and keep manipulating her. Sure, she'd be angry at Night Fury, but ultimately a reasonable person would seek revenge on the King. 

Bo Wang letting her kill him (when she loves him) isn't going to help her emotional state. It would mess her up even more to have to live with that (but I know she dies, so whatever). That's common sense. But at the end of the day, what people will accept in their dramas is different. Basing an entire plot on a misunderstanding is frowned upon among authors and screenwriters, because it's unimaginative and lazy. (Unless they're doing it in a tongue-in-cheek way). I tend to agree with them. If I would've known this drama's plot hung on that, I wouldn't have watched it.


 Kee:

@ ChineseDramaFan I feel the same but people will not agree since they are fixed that he is abusive and toxin. We should just enjoy the series and let them think whatever they want, since there is no use in arguing when they dont want to understand or even listen. Glad that you understood his character and liked him.

You can listen and understand a character, and still dislike them lol. Listening and understanding someone doesn't automatically mean you'll like them. That's not how it works. 

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Kee

@seOulmate Okay thank you for letting me know:)lol

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ChineseDramaFan

@se0ulmate, what would you do if you feel so guilty about something bad that has happened and is linked to you? How do you redeem yourself? I just feel it's such a pity that you don't enjoy this drama based on your perception of the character. Anyway, of course it's not my loss as I have enjoyed it, and I'm not trying to make you see what we see. Have fun! :)

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Kotori

Just finished watching the Wolf so joining this discussion slightly late. I enjoyed his character and understand his behavior though the writing was confusing so that his motives was not obvious. I was pretty furious with the ML’s behavior in the middle as well (I wrote a lengthy wolf review about the story). 

But apparently, the original story was more logical (the novel version and the first adaptation but was cut and edited later). Will try to summarize this in three points: 

1. In the original story the ML himself did kill FL’s father but heard the bell of FL, recognized her and saved her. Therefore he had a much stronger motive not to tell the FL about the truth and the hatred of FL towards ML is also justified rather based on misunderstanding. 

2. In the original novel,  after the ML fell off the cliff he actually dropped into a poison pond that can turned him into a real wolf when he smells blood. He became more less ”human” as compared to the drama adaptation. As a wolf, he was like a blank sheet which follows the order of the herd wolf (his owner) to whom is extremely loyal - if his owner is FL he is good, if he is owner is the king, he becomes a killer machine. That would explain his long loyalty to the king even if it was obvious he was only using the ML. However, this version would make the ML more flawed. 

3. The drama adaptation cut out a lot of scenes from FL2. In the original version FL2 had a snake poison in her own body that can counter the ML wolf poison. But he had to suck her blood and it can only happen twice before she dies. That's the true explaination for ”sharing the same body and dying together”. In the novel FL2 did it once for him after he was being whipped by the king. At the end of the story, there was no poison that slowly killed the ML but he himself went ahead to kill prince 2 but was pieced in the heart by prince 2 . When FL rushed to the ML, prince 2 tried to ambush her but ML2 arrives and pushes him off the wall where he dies.

Instead of travelling the world with Bao Na, she forces ML2 to marry her. ML2 finds FL who hid herself after ML’s death. In fact FL2 took away ML’s body after the fight however the ML was seen somewhere being alive. This means there is a chance that FL2 sacrificed herself to save ML and he is still alive. Thus ML2 and FL decided to look for him. 

As this shows the original ending was not this tragic but hopeful. But the characters were less heroic and more flawed. To please the audience the ML was changed to more humain and loyal to FL but this confused the story and seemed less logic. 

I am not sure I can support the writer’s decision. What do you all think? Looking forward to hearing your opinions! 

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ChineseDramaFan

@Kotori  , Wow, wow, wow! Love your explanation. Now I can see why things are what they are, though I love the drama adaptation. It's so interesting to learn the supernatural side of the story. I was quite flummoxed in the beginning about ML being a wolf. Comparing him killing her father in the original story and him not having involved in the killing at all, definitely I would have loved the drama version. As you pointed out, the original story does give hope for the ending that both ML and FL have not died, and possibly HEA. For me, the HEA element is not as important as the beautiful romance they have, and together in death. Thank you so much for your valuable input here. Love it!

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Kotori

@ChineseDramaFan

Sure, happy to share! Glad you liked it. I was looking for some more fan analysis as I was bit confused about the story’s logic. Now it made more sense. But I also really enjoyed the drama especially the male lead. His romance with the FL is really beautiful. 

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Kee

@ kotori 

thank you so much for explaining so well. I would have loved the show and male lead even if he had killed her family since I feel, that way he avenged his wolf family,  a family is a family no matter they are animals or humans. This way they are equal to love or hate each other. I felt very sad for the male lead since he had to sacrifice so much for the female lead at the later part of the story,he had to take all the blame on himself when he had nothing to do with it ,the original version makes a lot of sense for his loyalty towards the king as well as his guilty conscience towards her and also makes sense why he acts rude to her or making her strong the hard way where people say there is a easy way to make her strong .I understand him, he was taught and brought up that way,  a person's character or the way they behave depends on how they were brought up so it makes sense now..... if he is so soft and sweet then where does he live up to his name the wolf or brought up by the cruel king..... can u tell me from where did u read the novel please... thank you.

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Kotori

@Kee

I agree with you. I like when stories are more logical instead of more charming and perfect characters that suits people’s taste. I would have loved the ML even if he really did all the evil things but know how to remorse. And that would make the FL’s love greater if she really can love for whom he is rather than just clarifying misunderstanding. 

I did not read the original work but watched a summary of the online. But you can find the novel pretty quick. It is in Chinese though. Here is one version:

http://www.xfuedu.org/bxwx/3849/

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Kee

@ kotori 

Glad to know that someone agrees with me. Yeah loving someone for whom they are,irrespective of their imperfection is true love and this series is about true love not about perfect love which many people look for , but being imperfect makes it more genuine and shows its uniqueness from other series. thank you so much for the link :)

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ChineseDramaFan

@Kotori, upon pondering further, and reading what @Kee says, yes, I agree with you guys that it would have made things even more interesting and more justifying for his behavior towards her had he involved in the killings. Like what @Kee pointed out, it's all about true love. Furthermore, his killings are based on orders, not of his own planning and he wouldn't have known that she's the daughter of the Ma's - he didn't even know her full name. This would have made her even more painful because she couldn't hate him (he didn't know the elder Ma was her father), and yet she wanted to avenge for the dead. Had it happened like this, I think drama viewers who are already hating Bo Wang would blow up XD XD XD. As it is, mild actions as such comparatively have already triggered their intolerance. You guys have made me loving this Bo Wang character even more. :D

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Kee

@ChineseDramaFan

I feel the same way ,if the original version was released and he was directly involved in her father's death then many people who watched till the end would have dropped the series without thinking deeply or considering his situation,  and would have missed such a true love story... people should try to accept imperfect and real characters than prince charming and perfect characters so many unique and interesting series can be produced.  I am delighted to know that you are loving Bo Wang's character whom I love so much...

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ChineseDramaFan

@Kee, what you say is so true. Many viewers tend to equate good dramas as happy endings. They want to watch good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people stuff, otherwise they'd consider the dramas are bad with poor writing. In a way, I can empathize with such viewers. Many of them watch dramas for entertainment and happiness, so they don't want stories that haunt them and make them uncomfortable.

If you haven't, you should check out Goodbye My Princess. Haunted me for a long time :D

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Kee

@ ChineseDramaFan 

I can totally understand because I am one too. Happy endings are great but those never stay with us for a long time but sad endings or bittersweet endings leave a great impact on us ,dont you agree ? We talk abt them for a  long time and the series and the authors work stays with us for a long time just like how scarlet heart ryeo , goodbye my princess and so many others stay even after years..... i dont complain abt happy or sad ending and hope that someday people can understand and respect the artwork, irrespective of the ending.....myself and some people just want to watch something fresh and new ,since its boring to watch the same characters and storylines...

I am definitely going to watch goodbye my princess after I can finally move on from the wolf but I don't want to let it go anytime soon.....XD

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Kotori

Love your two’s discussuons! 

Though I did not rate this drama very high because of all the illogicallities but I truly love the story as an entirety. And like both of you I love Bo Wang as a character. He is for sure my favorite character this year. I wish makers would respect original works more just how Untamed or Hikaru no Go received good ratings after the makers respect original works. But on the other hand they might loose viewerships. 

The wolf has a Douban rating of 6.2 but a viewer count of 200k (most of them probably because of Xiao Zhan) but also thanks to that Darren Wang gained a lot of fans and positive publicity. Really hope he gets more chances to do great work. He was just so good. I am in love with this actor. 

What do you guys think about the ending? I personally think ML should have died instead of FL (similar to original ending). The whole series was going this way and the edit was awkward for me. But lately more BE dramas let the FL die. Why? Cause people like to see ML suffer? 

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se0ulmate
 Kotori:
1. In the original story the ML himself did kill FL’s father but heard the bell of FL, recognized her and saved her. Therefore he had a much stronger motive not to tell the FL about the truth and the hatred of FL towards ML is also justified rather based on misunderstanding. 

Oh my God! Thank you for writing this. That makes so much more sense! Why didn't the screenwriter keep that in???  

 Kotori:
As this shows the original ending was not this tragic but hopeful. But the characters were less heroic and more flawed. To please the audience the ML was changed to more humain and loyal to FL but this confused the story and seemed less logic.

Yes, the changes definitely confused the story and seemed less logical. That's why I didn't like it. I could've stomached the drama if it left most of the explanations from the novel. Oh well. But I'm glad I came back here to read that. 

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