History YMMV / GrandmasterOfDemonicCultivationMoDaoZuShi

* HilariousInHindsight:
** Su Shangqing, Jin Ling's voice actor in the ''donghua'', expressed his interest in voicing Jin Guangyao if he wasn't cast as Jin Ling. Two years later, he would eventually voice Jin Guangyao in ''Series/TheUntamed''.
** In the audio drama Wang Kai voiced Lan Xichen, who is an overall NiceGuy and a CoolBigBro to Lan Wangji. Wang Kai would later go on to voice Jiang Cheng in ''Series/TheUntamed'', and everyone knows that Jiang Cheng is anything ''but'' a NiceGuy and has an extremely poor relationship with Lan Wangji.
** In the novel, Nie Huaisang praised Wei Wuxian's idea of harnessing resentful energy due to its practicality and its benefits. In the ''donghua'', Nie Huaisang is voiced by Liu Sanmu, who would then be the voice actor for Xue Yang in ''Series/TheUntamed''.

* EvilIsSexy:
** Wei Wuxian's Yiling Patriarch era is the darkest time of his life due to his brutality towards others when using demonic cultivation as well as his sanity slippage. Still, every single fan finds his appearance there to be extremely attractive, even in moments where he's downright terrifying.
** Xue Yang's good looks and charisma is why he has a sizable fanbase despite being a villain and one of the most violent characters in the novel.

*** Even if nothing of this sort is told or even hinted at in the novel, there's a disturbing amount of fans who believe that Qingheng-jun kidnapped and forcefully married Madam Lan before imprisoning her. Some would even go so far as to accuse him of [[MaritalRapeLicence raping her many times]] until she died under his captivity and that he's emotionally abusive to his sons.

* ValuesDissonance: has it's own page [[here]]:

* ValuesDissonance:
** The manhua initially depicted Lan Wangji slapping (instead of merely shoving) Wen Ning in a fit of jealousy the first time he gets drunk, and was later changed to shoving after criticism from Chinese fans. While Western fans wouldn't bat an eye at this at first, in China slapping someone has harsher and more demeaning connotations.
** Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's sexual life has clear undertones of a dominant-submissive dynamic, with Wei Wuxian being the submissive and Lan Wangji being the dominant. While such a dynamic is commonly portrayed in Chinese media, whether in ''danmei'' or in other genres, many fans from the Western fandom easily make the misassumption that [=WangXian's=] relationship follows the cliches in the yaoi genre that are widely considered to be problematic. However, those who are familiar with the aforementioned dynamic that [=WangXian's=] relationship is entirely equal, and one is simply the bottom while the other is the top in bed because it's their preference.
** While Jiang Fengmian's aloof and passive way of dealing with his kids' issues can earn much disdain from Western audiences, the Asian audience is not as fazed by it as by their culture's standards he isn't anything special as a parent, fitting into the actual position and approach to parenting that real-life Asian fathers do.
** [[spoiler:Lan Wangi's actions after the Bloodbath of Nightless City and his punishment get different reactions/interpretations depending on one's stance on collectivism or individualism. For Chinese audiences and those familiar with collectivist society, it's understood his whipping is lenient and deserving as he essentially committed ''treason'' by betraying his clan for someone who killed thousands, some of who might be their clan members; that he was fortunate he wasn't executed because his clan hid his transgression to save his life while keeping his reputation intact. This is lost on many Western audiences who make the misassumption Lan Wangji is unjustly punished and locked away for three years for saving his loved one and for being morally right in modern-day values. The entire Lan Clan, especially Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen, is criticized as being abusive for whipping him, with some even arguing they could have the power to stop him from being punished.]]
** Chinese readers barely bat an eye on the practice of seclusion, especially with the time [[spoiler:Qingheng-jun secluded himself and his wife and on Lan Wangji's three-year seclusion.]] Meanwhile, Western and first-time ''xianxia'' readers criticize this practice as they mistakenly equate secluded meditation to being forcefully put in solitary confinement or, even worse, totally cut off from human contact, not recognizing that secluded meditation is a standard cultivation practice in ''Wuxia/Xianxia'' stories[[note]]it's main purpose is to focus/refocus, center/re-center yourself to level up one's core, to help with healing (Lan Wangji's reason for seclusion), or process and work through one's feelings (Lan Xichen's reason for seclusion), all their needs are met during this time, and visitations are allowed unless the person secluded doesn't allow it[[/note]]. While secluded meditation is sometimes used as a punishment,[[note]]Think of it as the equivalent of being sent to detention after offending a teacher or breaking a school rule, only with kneeling[[/note]] the Lan Clan used this as an excuse to hide a bigger secret that would have destroyed their reputations and the aforementioned people are aware of their actions so they all willingly entered seclusion.

* RonTheDeathEater: Despite the fact that not everyone operates a BlackAndWhiteMorality in the story, one would be surprised that many fans warp some good characters as such:

** Wei Wuxian looks up to Jiang Yanli as his mother figure for a good reason, but some fans call her an enabler of the abuse Wei Wuxian experiences within the Jiangs. Accusations ran from her downplaying Jiang Cheng's actions whenever he lashes out at Wei Wuxian to unknowingly gaslighting him into staying with his "abusers" by treating him with "minimal kindness". The novel makes it clear that it's only Yu Ziyuan who mistreats him and aside from her, he's a spoiled servant with a prodigious position within the clan, which is an enviable position for someone of his status and a ''huge'' incentive to stay with the family compared to living in the streets. She defends her martial brother many times even though she's not safe from her mother's wrath, and cherishes him as a brother to [[spoiler:to forgive him for Jin Zixuan's death and take a stab wound for him even while she's injured.]]

* RonTheDeathEater:

** The Wen refugees were harmless and had no intention of repeating their clan's crimes, yet get dismissed by fans who claim that Wei Wuxian was completely in the wrong to leave Jiang Cheng's side and go against the cultivation world to save and protect them. A few would even go so far as to add that even if they're innocent, Wei Wuxian should have let the Jins kill them instead.

*** Some fans deride Lan Xichen for his passivity, his trusting of Jin Guangyao more than Wei Wuxian, and calling Wei Wuxian "the greatest mistake [Lan Wangji] made". This is ignoring that Jin Guangyao is talented in hiding his true colors and Wei Wuxian's reputation understandably makes it hard to trust him, Lan Xichen did not know that Wei Wuxian’s flirting was initially trying to freak Lan Wangji out and that he was still always fair in his dealings with Wei Wuxian, only calling him out after misunderstanding that he was only playing with his brother's feelings.

** Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen only exchanged a few words InUniverse, yet it is still one of the most popular pairings.
** Some fans have taken to shipping together Jiang Yanli with some of the other female characters with who she hasn't had even a single interaction within the novel, namely Wen Qing and Mianmian, for the lesbian shipping appeal.

** MXTX once said in an interview that while she's alright with shipping, she emphasizes that the flagship couple should never be broken up or reversed.[[note]]a term used for switching a couple's dynamic, eg. Wei Wuxian as the Seme and Lan Wangji as the Uke[[/note]] The Chinese and Japanese fandom respect her wishes that it's extremely rare to find fanworks of Wangxian reversed or shipped with others as doing so would lead to vicious backlash from other fans. On the other hand, the Western fandom protested and argued that the author should have no business dictating her fans' creativity. As such, fanworks of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji reversed, separated to be shipped to their preferred pairings, or become a LauncherOfAThousandShips are more widespread in the Western fandom.

** Some fans tend to play up Wei Wuxian's brutal moments and accuse the story of running on a ProtagonistCenteredMorality because he gets a happy sendoff unlike some other characters. The narrative however establishes that he is one of the most righteous characters of the novel and that the other cultivators are hypocritical for demonising him and glorifying themselves when they're no better than him (if not more morally questionable); his worst moments only occur when he's protecting people, retaliating against his wrongdoers or is out of control, and he's otherwise one of the few heroic characters that acts like how a cultivator should and so more than deserves his happy ending.

** Due to Lan Qiren being a stereotypical Chinese elder with traditional Eastern values, his strict upbringing of his nephews in things like only letting them see their mother once a month, and [[spoiler:for whipping and secluding Lan Wangji for years after he saved Wei Wuxian in the Nightless Capital Massacre,]] some fans claim he is a borderline abusive guardian to his nephews or that he doesn't care about his brother's family at all. Not only is this ignoring the reason for his strictness, or Lan Wangji's dubious actions,[[note]]Lan Wangji siding and saving Wei Wuxian (who just became a mass murderer) is equivalent to ''treason'' and it's all but stated he would be ''executed'' if anyone else found out what he's done, and his seclusion is to hide the fact that he was recovering from his whipping.[[/note]] which the man himself is aware and has accepted the consequences, it's shown that Lan Qiren is lenient to his younger nephew despite his strictness [[spoiler:by allowing Lan Sizhui's adoption and later reluctantly accepting Wei Wuxian as his partner.]] Some would even accuse him of being homophobic against Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's relationship when his distaste is more for other reasons rather than homophobia.
** Some fans deride Lan Xichen for his passivity, his trusting of Jin Guangyao more than Wei Wuxian, and calling Wei Wuxian "the greatest mistake [Lan Wangji] made". This is ignoring the fact nobody guessed Jin Guangyao's true colors until it was too late, Lan Xichen did not know that Wei Wuxian’s flirting was initially to try to freak Lan Wangji out, and that he was still always fair in his dealings with Wei Wuxian, only calling him out after misunderstanding that he was only playing with his brother's feelings.
** Even if nothing of this sort is told or even hinted at in the novel, there's a disturbing amount of fans who believe that Qingheng-jun kidnapped and forcefully married Madam Lan before imprisoning her. Some would even go so far as to accuse him of [[MaritalRapeLicence raping her many times]] until she died under his captivity and that he's emotionally abusive to his sons.
* TheScrappy: While she's a nameless BitCharacter who's only given prominence for either three sentences or thirty seconds maximum, but don't expect anyone to have any positive opinions about the female cultivator who decried Lan Wangji during the Second Siege arc. The best that can be said about her is that her question of "What wicked means did [Wei Wuxian] use to get you on his side?!" is used as a running joke in the fandom.

** The novel didn’t go into much detail on the Sunshot Campaign itself other than a few important parts like Wen Chao's demise and Wei Wuxian's fight with Jin Zixuan. Details of events during this period are very sparce; either scattered all over the novel, or just glossed over whenever a character recalls something from the past, and there is more focus on events that happened before or after the campaign itself.

** [[spoiler:Lan Wangi's actions after the Bloodbath of Nightless City and his punishment get different reactions/interpretations depending on which one's stance on collectivism or individualism. For Chinese audiences and those familiar with collectivist society, it's understood his whipping is lenient and deserving as he essentially committed ''treason'' by betraying his clan for someone who killed thousands, some of who might be their clan members; that he was fortunate he wasn't executed because his clan hid his transgression to save his life while keeping his reputation intact. This is lost on many Western audiences who make the misassumption Lan Wangji is unjustly punished and locked away for three years for saving his loved one and for being morally right in modern-day values. The entire Lan Clan, especially Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen, is criticized as being abusive for whipping him, with some even arguing they could have the power to stop him from being punished.]]
** Chinese readers barely bat an eye on the practice of seclusion, especially with the time [[spoiler:Qingheng-jun secluded himself and his wife and on Lan Wangji's three-year seclusion.]] Meanwhile, Western and first-time ''xianxia'' readers criticize this practice as they mistakenly equate secluded meditation to being forcefully put in solitary confinement or, even worse, totally cut off from human contact, not recognizing that secluded meditation is a standard cultivation practice in ''Wuxia/Xianxia'' stories[[note]]it's main purpose is to focus/refocus, center/re-center yourself to level up one's core, to help with healing (Lan Wangji's reason for seclusion), or process and work through one's feelings (Lan Xichen's reason for seclusion), all their needs are met during this time, and visitations are allowed unless the person secluded doesn't allow it[[/note]]. While secluded meditation is sometimes used as a punishment,[[note]]Think of it as the equivalent of being sent to detention after offending a teacher or breaking a school rule, only with kneeling[[/note]] the Lan Clan used as an excuse to hide a bigger secret that would have destroyed their reputations and the aforementioned people are aware of their actions so they all willingly entered seclusion.

** Some fans deride Lan Xichen for his passivity, his trusting of Jin Guangyao more than Wei Wuxian, and calling Wei Wuxian "the greatest mistake [Lan Wangji] made]. This is ignoring the fact nobody guessed Jin Guangyao's true colors until it was too late, Lan Xichen did not know that Wei Wuxian’s flirting was initially to try to freak Lan Wangji out, that he was still always fair in his dealings with Wei Wuxian, only calling him out after misunderstanding that he was only playing with his brother's feelings.

** Despite the story going out of its way to establish Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning as excellent or surprisingly good archers, the story never follows up it and doesn't see them make use of a bow and arrow as other means of fighting.

** It's popular in the Latin American corner of the fandom to deform the character's names because of their similarity with words in Spanish. Examples include Wi-Fi for WWX, "lancha" (literally "boat") for Lan Zhan, "Guayaba" ('guava') for Jin Guangyao and calling Jian Cheng "Juan Carlos" because the initials are the same.

* LostInMediasRes: Some readers find the novel's back-and-forth jump between the past and present hard to follow as many flashbacks are sprinkled throughout the story, that there is no indication if one is happening in the text. The ''donghua'' and ''The Untamed'' tried to mitigate this by combining the flashbacks in one giant arc, though this also created a caveat where the flashbacks went so long that it becomes jarring once it ends and returns back to the present timeline.

* Jin Ling's Uncle[[note]]Thanks to some TangledFamilyTree shenanigans and the concept of sworn brothers in Chinese culture, many fans joke that nearly every important character is Jin Ling's uncle of some sort.[[/note]]

** MXTX once said in an interview that while she's alright with shipping, she emphasizes that the flagship couple should never be broken up or reversed.[[note]]a term used for switching a couple's dynamic, eg. Wei Wuxian as the Seme and Lan Wangji as the Uke[[/note]] The Chinese and Japanese Fandom respect her wishes it's extremely rare to find fanworks of Wangxian reversed or shipped with others and doing so would lead to vicious backlash for the creator. On the other hand, the Western fandom protested this, arguing that the author herself should not dictate her fans' creativity. As such, fanworks of breaking up the flagship couple to turn them into a LauncherOfAThousandShips or shipping them to their preferred character is more widespread in the Western Fandom.

** Many fans love to label Lan Wangji as autistic, citing some of his traits like his sensory sensitivities, lack of tolerance of being touched, his auditory stimming with his guqin, his love of rules and order and scripts, and his difficulty understanding people and in his communication skills.

** While he is AffablyEvil, Jin Guangyao still garnered many fans who either tone him down in fanworks so he's easily shipped to other characters or defend his crimes even though it's clear in the narrative and the ''Villainous Friend'' extra reveals that ''chose'' to do all the heinous crimes he did even after the death of his father and never regretted all he's done.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Every interaction between Wei Wuxian and Lan Sizhui become endearing after one reads the finale since the reader is actually seeing [[spoiler: A-Yuan and his "Brother Xian" bond once again]].
* HypeAversion: Due to the ''incredible'' popularity of the series and each adaptation, some people find themselves overwhelmed by fan content and discussion of the series and that they end up attempting to run away from it completely.

* LostInMediasRes: Some readers find the novel's back-and-forth jump between the past and present hard to follow, as many flashbacks are sprinkled throughout the story and there is no indication if one is happening in the text. The ''donghua'' and ''The Untamed'' tried to mitigate this by combining the flashbacks in one giant arc, though this also created a caveat where the flashbacks went so long that it becomes jarring once it ends and returns back to the present timeline.

** Poking fun at Jin Guangyao being one of the shortest man in the male cast is a popular subject of fanarts.
* MisaimedFandom:
** There are members of the Western fandom [[NoYay who don't take kindly to shipping Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng together]] due to believing that Wei Wuxian was adopted into the Jiang family. Though they were certainly close enough to be family in the past, they were martial brothers which are entirely different from adoptive brothers, and they saw each other more as brothers-in-arms.
** One of the most popular gags that the fandom likes to bring up is how Lan Xichen is the biggest ShipperOnDeck for [=WangXian=]. However, anyone who reads the complete canon material will realize that it's actually inaccurate; while Lan Xichen did encourage his younger brother to befriend Wei Wuxian in the past, his opinion of Wei Wuxian became more and more negative over time, and under the misassumption that Wei Wuxian knew of Lan Wangji's feelings but continued to toy with him, called him the only mistake (or the reason behind the only mistake) his brother ever made. While those words were said out of BigBrotherInstinct, they're still not the words you'd hear from a ShipperOnDeck, right?

** MXTX stating that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are morality ideal caused a lot to cry foul as many would point out that this would contradict the GrayAndGrayMorality setting, Lan Wangji's implied selfishness and Wei Wuxian's unsavory acts in his first life. Interpreting what she actually meant led to debates on how morally right they really are with some outright ignoring this stance.

** While he is AffablyEvil, Jin Guangyao still garnered many fans who either tone him down in fanworks so he's easily shipped to other characters or defend his crimes even though it's clear in the narrative and the ''Villainous Friend'' extra reveals that ''chose'' to do all the heinous crimes he did even after the death of his father and never regretted all he's done.

** Most of the audience cheered when the unbearable and cruel Wang Lingjiao finally got a good smacking from an enraged Yu Ziyuan and and met her much-needed demsie when Wei Wuxian dealt with her in the most gruesome ways in each adaptation.

** Some fans have taken to shipping together Jiang Yanli with some of the other female characters who she hasn't had even a single interaction with in the novel, namely Wen Qing and Mianmian, for the lesbian shipping appeal.
%%* DeathOfTheAuthor: You'd be surprised (or not) about how rampant this trope in is all sides of the fandom, such as how several fans read the novel or view its adaptations yet bash Creator/MoXiangTongXiu for a multitude of reasons.%%needs more context

** Many fans love to label Lan Wangji as autistic, citing some of his traits like his sensory sensitivities, lack of tolerance of being touched, his auditory stimming with his guqin, his love of rules and order and scripts, and his difficulty understanding people.

** Jiang Cheng is meant to be a complex and flawed character, while very sympathetic, is still a jerkass who has massive anger issues towards his former martial brother that he'd [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured and killed demonic cultivators]] to make sure he won't return back and never helped civilians until the situation is too dire to ignore. That doesn't stop fans from downplaying his atrocities while insisting that his aggression is from AngerBornOfWorry, takes his scathing accusations of his martial brother at face level that they [[RonTheDeathEater blame Wei Wuxian himself]] for all the hardships they've faced and for not wanting to fix their relationship, when it's clear in the narrative that his reluctance of helping anyone is one big reason for Wei Wuxian's downfall, his NeverMyFault attitude makes the latter very reluctant to mend the bridge between them, and there's a very good reason why nearly everyone feared him and has [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech no good things]] to say about him at all.

** [[spoiler:Lan Wangi's actions after the Bloodbath of Nightless City and his punishment get different reactions/interpretations depending on which side of the world. For Chinese audiences and those familiar with collectivist society, it's understood his whipping is lenient and deserving as he essentially committed ''treason'' by betraying his clan for someone who killed thousands, some of who might be their clan members; that he was fortunate he wasn't executed because his clan hid his transgression to save his life while keeping his reputation intact. This is lost on many Western audiences who make the misassumption Lan Wangji is unjustly punished and locked away for three years for saving his loved one and for being morally right in modern-day values. The entire Lan Clan, especially Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen, is criticized as being abusive for whipping him, with some even arguing they could have the power to stop him from being punished.]]

** Jiang Cheng is meant to be a complex and flawed character, while very sympathetic, is still a jerkass who has massive anger issues towards his former martial brother that he'd [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured and killed demonic cultivators]] to make sure he won't return back and never helped civilians until the situation is too dire to ignore. That doesn't stop fans from downplaying his atrocities while insisting that his aggression is from AngerBornOfWorry, takes his [[FanDumb scathing accusations of his martial brother at face level]] that they [[RonTheDeathEater blame Wei Wuxian himself]] for all the hardships they've faced and for not wanting to fix their relationship, when it's clear in the narrative that his reluctance of helping anyone is one big reason for Wei Wuxian's downfall, his NeverMyFault attitude makes the latter very reluctant to mend the bridge between them, and there's a very good reason why nearly everyone feared him and has [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech no good things]] to say about him at all.

** Jiang Cheng is meant to be a complex and flawed character, while very sympathetic, is still a Jerkass who [[ItsAllAboutMe who doesn't care about the general populace unless it benefits him]] and has massive anger issues, especially to his martial brother. That doesn't stop fans from downplaying his atrocities while insisting that his aggression is from AngerBornOfWorry, takes his [[FanDumb scathing accusations of his martial brother at face level]] that they [[RonTheDeathEater blame Wei Wuxian himself]] for all the hardships they've faced and for not wanting to fix their relationship, when it's clear in the narrative that his NeverMyFault attitude towards Wei Wuxian makes the latter very reluctant to mend the bridge, and there's a very good reason why nearly everyone has [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech no good things]] to say about him at all.

** Luo Qingyang, better known as Mianmian. Her role in the story is very minor, but the readers loves her for being one of the very few who stood up for Wei Wuxian and the only female character who survives the story ''and'' gets to have a happy ending.

** If persecuting Wei Wuxian in the Nightless City wasn't enough, then [[spoiler: massacring a group of innocents and throwing their corpses in a pool of blood definitely counts]] for almost everyone of the cultivation world. Besides Lan Wangji, almost no one is exempt from being guilty of this.

** Despite his politeness and timidness being his main traits, Wen Ning has been vilified by some fans and accused of not being as nice as he seems. A core reason is that these fans see his decision to reveal to Jiang Cheng [[spoiler: the truth about his "healed" golden core]] as unnecessarily cruel. However, Wen Ning is only compelled to act this way when the situation gets violent, and one would not blame him for laying it out on Jiang Cheng cosidering [[spoiler:the latter had led the siege that led to the deaths of his family]].

** Due to Lan Qiren being a stereotypical Chinese elder with traditional eastern values, his strict upbringing of his nephews in things like only letting them see their mother once a month, and [[spoiler:for whipping and secluding Lan Wangji for years after he saved Wei Wuxian in the Nightless Capital Massacre,]] some fans claim he is a borderline abusive guardian to his nephews or that he doesn't care about his brother's family at all. Not only is this ignoring the reason for his strictness, or Lan Wangji's dubious actions,[[note]]Lan Wangji siding and save Wei Wuxian (who just became a mass murderer) is equivalent to ''treason'' and it's all but stated he would be ''executed'' if anyone else found out what he's done, and his seclusion is to hide the fact that he was recovering from his whipping.[[/note]] which the man himself is aware and has accepted the consequences, it's shown that Lan Qiren is lenient to his younger nephew despite his strictness [[spoiler:by allowing Lan Sizhui's adoption and later reluctantly accepting Wei Wuxian as his partner.]] Some would even accuse him of being homophobic against Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's relationship when his distaste is more of other reasons rather than homophobia.

** Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's sexual life has clear undertones of a dominant-submissive dynamic, with Wei Wuxian being the submissive and Lan Wangji being the dominant. While such a dynamic is commonly portrayed in Chinese media, whether in ''danmei'' or in other genres, many fans from the Western fandom easily make the misassumption that [=WangXian's=] relationship follows the cliches in the yaoi genre that are widely considered to be problematic. However, those who are familiar with the aforementioned dynamic that [=WangXian's=] relationship is entire equal, and one is simply the bottom while the other is the top in bed because it's their preference.

** [[spoiler:Lan Wangi's actions after the Bloodbath of Nightless City and his punishment get different reactions/interpretations depending on which side of the world. For Chinese audiences and for those familiar with collectivist society, it's easily understood that Lan Wangji deserves the punishment as he essentially committed treason by betraying his clan for someone who killed thousands, some of who might be their clan members, that he's fortunate he wasn't executed because his clan hid his transgression and loves him too much to let him die. This is lost on many Western audiences who make the misassumption Lan Wangji is unjustly punished and locked away for three years for being morally right in modern-day values, and the Lan Clan, especially Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen, is criticized as being abusive for whipping him, with some even arguing they could have the power to stop him from being punished.]]

** Some readers theorise that Jiang Cheng has post-traumatic stress disorder, due to the amount of trauma he accrued in the flashback arc that still haunts him in the present timeline and his inability to feel (let alone) express emotions that aren't anger or grief.
* DracoInLeatherPants: Xue Yang is one of the villains of the story with the most heinous crimes, yet he's very popular among the fans and tends to be toned down in fanworks.

* MemeticLoser: Despite being an enchanted weapon owned by a powerful cultivator, the fandom likes to pokes fun at Bichen and exaggerate a embarrassing incidents its gone through -- being used as a seam ripper to cut pants off corpses, as a shovel, [[spoiler: as a dildo]]...

* ShipMates: A lot of fans who ship [=WangXian=] tend to ship [=XiCheng=] and/or [=XiYao=] as well, with both Lan brothers having partners and going on double dates being the main appeal. Fans would also throw in [[=SongXiao=]] due to their similarities with [[=WangXian=]].

** [=XiCheng=] is a very popular ship in both the Western and Eastern fandoms, despite the fact that that Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen never have a proper one-to-one interaction and are only seen standing side-to-side in a few frames ''at best''.
** Even though their only InUniverse interaction has them fighting each other, there's a small part of the fandom that ships Song Lan and Wen Ning, since they're both fierce corpses with tragic backstories. The few fics that feature said ship tend to have the two meeting by chance after the events of the novel.

** While Jiang Fengmian's aloof and passive way of dealing with his kids' issues can earned much disdain from Western audiences, the Asian audience is not as fazed by it as by their culture's standards he isn't anything special as a parent, fitting into the actual position and approach to parenting that real-life Asian fathers do.

** The ''donghua'' is considered the most contested adaptation. Some see it as another great adaptation that, even with its restrictions due to China's censorship laws and its limited episode count and runtime, still does well in translating the source material into an animated format. Other fans see it as subpar because it's not as faithful as the audio drama and rearranged the order of events that played in the past and present time.

** The slow and tortorous manner in which Wei Wuxian dealt with Wen Chao in the novel might be a little hard to stomach for some readers, to the point that some readers (albeit understandably) feel a bit sorry for the latter. However, the more straightforward and climactic way Wei Wuxian executes his revenge in the ''donghua'' by tearing him to pieces with resentful energy leaves all the viewers with no problems in watching Wen Chao get his gruesome comeuppance.

** The "Incense Burner" extras are controversial especially amongst the Western fandom due to the questionable nature of the sexual content and whether they're tasteful or not.

* ShipMates: A lot of fans who ship [=WangXian=] tend to ship [=XiCheng=] and/or [=XiYao=] as well, with both Lan brothers having partners and going on double dates being the main appeal.

* ShipToShipCombat: Due to Xiao Xingchen having been a very important figure to both Song Lan (his old friend) and Xue Yang (a criminal who nevertheless spent a few years living with him and was determined to bring his soul back), the argument of whether [=SongXiao=] or [=XueXiao=] is the better pairing of the two can get heated if you don't ship both.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Despite the story going out of its way to establish Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning as excellent or surprisingly good archers, the story never follows up it and doesn't see them make use of a bow and arrow as other means of fighting.

** The Venerated Triad gets this as well assuming you don't ship all three together, due to their complicated backstory, the fact that Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue spend much of the story on opposing sides. Whoever isn't included in the preferred couple is often [[RonTheDeathEater completely vilified]], or in Lan Xichen's case for [=NieYao=] shippers at least deemphasized.