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The Untamed Fanfic Recs

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Haha yes, I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole (wink wink) and have no intention of climbing out. Do I recommend the original novel? Not really. But I love the live action and wholeheartedly recommend it, so that, you know, you can familiarize and delight in all the character traits that are brilliantly played up by fanfic writers in the stories I’m about to recommend 😀 Like seriously, these stories are so well written by people who have a mastery of the English language so it’s like… prose porn lol

If you don’t have time to watch a 50 ep long drama (it goes by so quickly though!), here’s the quick rundown of the lovely characters so you can dive into the fanfics without further introduction.

Wei Wuxian/Wei Ying – main protagonist, chaotic neutral, chaotic gay, oblivious, flirty, sunshine smile, dead for 16 years

Lan Wangji/Lan Zhan – main protagonist, neutral good, disaster gay, repressed, prone to gay panics, upright, faithful, pines over dead crush for 16 years

Lan Xichen/Lan Huan – Lan Wangji’s brother, lawful good, distinguished gay, can understand Lan Wangji’s deepest thoughts, lovely human being

Lan Qiren – Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen’s uncle, uptight, strict, dislikes Wei Wuxian

Jiang Wanyin/Jiang Cheng– Wei Wuxian’s foster brother, has a temper, snide, forever alone

Jiang Yanli – Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian’s older sister, great cook, lovely human being

Jin Zixuan – Jiang Yanli’s husband, “peacock”, disaster het

Jin Ling – Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan’s son, spoiled and neglected all at once, emotional late bloomer

Lan Sizhui/Lan Yuan – Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s adopted son, “radish”, lovely human being

Lan Jingyi – Lan Sizhui’s bff, sarcastic, fun, ships Wangxian

Wei Ning – Wei Wuxian’s friend/subordinate, neutral good, undead baby

Wei Qing – Wei Ning’s older sister, neutral, wicked medical skills, BAMF

Phew, there are tons more but they’re either dead or evil or have major spoiler tags. Without further ado, these are my favorite MDZS fanfics:

The (Several) Convenient Kidnappings of the Chief Cultivator by the Yiling Patriarch by misscam – live-action canon, funny, wholesome

The Moon Lives in the Lining of Your Skin by sarahyyy – college AU, roommates, mutual pining

Your Heart, Two Doors Down by ficklish – modern AU, neighbors, ft. baby Ah Yuan

Of Pining, Obliviousness and Failed Seclusion by misscam – live-action canon, mutual pining

I’m Here by snoflakesun – soulmate AU, mutual pining

If I Hurt, Will You Kiss it Better by by Ulan – modern AU, funny one-shot

Some of You by tangerinechar – showbiz AU, twitter verse, laugh out loud hilarious, mutual pining

Asymptotic by chinxe – historical AU, pining (yes there’s a trope pattern)

Willful Blindness Verse – modern AU, short snippets, oblivious pining, fluff

Please Forgive My Most Passionate Disruption by pumpkinpaix- college AU, exquisite pining, my absolute favorite

Now go read!

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16 thoughts on “The Untamed Fanfic Recs”

  1. I saw an email starting with “The Untamed fanfic recs” and my finger reacted faster than my mind! I love love love the live-action too! Their duet song is on repeat on my phone since june! I can’t get over how Wei Ying was portrayed so flirty, so candid, so perfectly! Thank you for the recs, imma read them right about now! 😍

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    • I didn’t like how their relationship was portrayed in the novel. In the drama, they start out as friends and you can see their friendship growing stronger with time, with them even declaring to be each other’s soulmates at one point before the event at Nevernight. Their fondness and trust is mutual and continues to be that way after WWX was summoned back to life. Whereas in the novel you really wonder about WWX’s sudden realization about his feelings for LWJ. I feel like he wasn’t oblivious but rather callous in his treatment of LWJ. I’m also not a fan of the intimate scenes in the novel. Let me be the first to say that I love smut. But it was all wrong in the book. I don’t even mind dubious consent if the sex scenes have been more tastefully written. Instead I got a deluge of mindless porn in the 11th hour almost as if LWJ wasn’t pining after WWX but rather lusting after his body, at 15 and still now. It killed every setup she did for them. LWJ’s faith, LWJ’s grief, all reduced to carnal banality. So yeah, suffice to say I’m not a fan of the book. I’m glad it gives the adaptation a good framework to build upon but the details drive me cray. Sorry if this was long and blunt.
      As for the fanfics, I never read AU either because it takes me out of the original world, and the characters feel like strangers. But for some reason Wangxian works in every universe. New jobs, new outfits, idc, their mutual pining and fondness for each other still slay me over and over 😂 I’ll give your fav fic a read. I should mention that I filter by chapters and don’t read anything overly long… so my list only includes one shots up to 10+ chapters.

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      • To be frank i kinda agree with you on the suddeness of his emotions. It kinda came out of nowhere but i consider the smutty chapters to be extras like post canon snapshots of their sex life so that’s probably why that doesn’t bother me cos i felt like we were just seeing flashes. But yh I’m not rly a fan of how quickly WWX decides he loves LWJ after learning of his feelings. I would probably prefer the tv show if it was explicit in them having a relationship cos i understand that the tv shows have to deal with chinese censorship but yh feelings are feelings and erasure of queer content is always displeasing. Still the tv show was gd so glad they didn’t make it het. It would hurt more
        Also if you filter based on length, you probably won’t read Cradle then. I filter by length but I go the opposite way. I like to read fics with over 50000 words oreferably over 100000. I don’t why i just don’t like short fic.
        Thank you for replying to my comment though. I’ve heard ppl say they didn’t like the novel as much as the show before and I was kinda confused (mostly cos i read mdzs in snippets, abandoned it and had half forgotten it when i finished it but remembered liking it very very very much) now i get why ppl make those comments.

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        • It wasn’t just the sex. Even their first kiss was problematic. Idk, maybe the author is into noncon kinky stuff but it’s not my cup of tea.
          Omg imagine if they had gone hets with the adaptation. This hamster would have flipped some tables. Yes I also would prefer it if they could be more gay explicit instead of throwing bromance around. Seriously China! BUT I grew up on Jane Austen and I breathe stolen glances & unspoken devotion like an addict. And tbh by the time we get to the boat scene they don’t even bother with subtexts anymore. They have really done justice to Wangxian.

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          • Yeah. The non con stuff is a guant giant turn off. I had the same problem with the sex scene in scum villain which i felt was unnecessary dub con and painful for the mc. It’s one of the things i don’t like about her novels and many bl novels in particular. This days i scan for rape tag with eagle eyes and dump no matter how high the rating is. Only safe, consensual, comfortable sex scenes here. Although tbf I’m not huge on sex scenes any more. I don’t particularly enjoy them no matter how well written because i see them as interruption in what i want which is chracter dynamics, plot and world building. They can be done well but even then I keep on thinking i genuinely don’t care about this. If there was a cutaway scene, it would serve the same purpose of letting us know they had deepened their relationship without wasting words on penetration action.
            But I’m glad the untamed went the way it did. It won’t beat guardian because although that drama was not as good as the untamed the actors were effing divine. Still it’s close and the untamed actors did very well.

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          • haha IDK why but after reading your comments I feel you might like the author’s third novel 天官赐福. I saw some didn’t really enjoy MDZS but loved TGCF for similar reasons. The way she wrote the relationship kinda fits your taste. (she made the MC has all time to realize his feelings and develop his relationship with ML, ML being loyal and respecting him by not forcing his feelings to him despite the long wait, no kinky dubious scenes, no car scenes and etc etc.. )
            The author has really improved a lot after writing MDZS (she was a student when she wrote the novel;;;;) and after your comments I think maybe you might enjoy the main leads dynamic in this novel so I thought to recommend it you /o\

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            • Ooh thnx for the rec. It sounds really promising and I need a distraction while waiting for my car to get fixed 😆. Tbh I’m okay with dysfunctional relationships in fiction, but only certain kinds? Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t, and it may just come down to personal preferences. If it feels logical and organic I’ll buy it. If not, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

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  3. Pingback: The Untamed Review. Love this Wuxia C-Drama | Running With the Copier

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