Family
Lan Wangji
During their youth, Wei Wuxian frequently enjoys teasing the strict Lan Wangji, by such actions as slipping pornography into a book he is reading,[1] or falsely claiming that his forehead ribbon is crooked.[2]
The summer after his time studying in the Cloud Recesses, Wei Wuxian continually speaks of Lan Wangji to the Yunmeng Jiang Clan disciples in Lotus Pier, implying that he enjoyed Lan Wangji's company.[3]
Although Jiang Cheng firmly states that Lan Wangji hates Wei Wuxian, Wei Wuxian insists that he does not hate him in return and even offers to carry Lan Wangji after hearing about his broken leg.[4]
Their relationship frays somewhat upon Wei Wuxian's turn to Demonic Cultivation, as Lan Wangji considers his actions cruel, bloody, and bad for his temperment. However, they maintain a working relationship during the Sunshot Campaign.[5]
After Wei Wuxian becomes a pariah for his defense of the Qishan Wen Clan remnants, his downfall eventually leads to the Bloodbath of Nightless City. In severe distress, Wei Wuxian rants that he knew he would always have to fight Lan Wangji.[6] However, Lan Wangji still saves him after the battle, though Wei Wuxian is too traumatized to recall any of it.[7]
After his resurrection in the body of Mo Xuanyu, Wei Wuxian frequently attempts to use Mo Xuanyu's reputation as a cutsleeve to repulse Lan Wangji, hoping to drive him away.[8] However, Lan Wangji's steadfast assistance and protection begins to warm his heart; as Wei Wuxian put it:
"When everyone feared him and flattered him, Lan Wangji scolded him right in his face; when everyone spurned him and loathed him, Lan Wangji stood by his side."[9]
Still, Wei Wuxian represses his feelings for Lan Wangji until Jiang Cheng accuses him,[10] and even after, remains oblivious to Lan Wangji's love for him until Lan Xichen reveals the truth.[7] Immediately afterward, however, Wei Wuxian publicly declares his love by reassuring Lan Wangji that he had "really wanted to sleep with" him.[11] The two marry shortly after the incident at the Guanyin Temple, and they maintain a loving, passionate relationship.[3]
Jiang Cheng
After their initial spats upon Wei Wuxian's introduction to their family, Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian become close.[12] Although Jiang Cheng frequently scolds Wei Wuxian for his reckless behavior, he cares deeply for his martial brother. Jiang Cheng insists on carrying Wei Wuxian once he is beaten as punishment, to Wei Wuxian's relief.[13]
Wei Wuxian insists that, when Jiang Cheng becomes Clan Leader, he will be his right-hand man. They will be the Twin Prides of Yunmeng, to match the Twin Jades of Gusu.[14]
After the massacre of Lotus Pier and the melting of Jiang Cheng's Golden Core, Wei Wuxian insists on having his own golden core transferred to Jiang Cheng. He undergoes two nights and a day of surgery without anesthetic, for a fifty-percent chance that Jiang Cheng will be able to cultivate again.[15] However, he never tells Jiang Cheng the truth, afraid to see his tears and anger.[16]
Their relationship sours upon Wei Wuxian's insistence on protecting the remnants of the Qishan Wen Clan. Jiang Cheng refuses to assist because of the political cost, resulting in Wei Wuxian's defection from the Yunmeng Jiang Clan. Still, Jiang Cheng takes his sister Jiang Yanli to visit Wei Wuxian before her wedding and even suggests she ask that Wei Wuxian give her future child a courtesy name.[17]
Later, Jiang Cheng Blames Wei Wuxian for the deaths of Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli. He leads the First Siege of the Burial Mounds to kill Wei Wuxian,[18] and after his resurrection, remains hostile.[19][20][10]
However, once the truth of his golden core is revealed, Jiang Cheng returns Wei Wuxian's flute Chenqing,[21] and though the two do not reconcile, there is no longer any enmity between them.[22][23]
Jiang Yanli
Wei Wuxian cares deeply for his shijie, even punching her fiancé Jin Zixuan for insulting her.[13] Jiang Yanli, in turn, frequently dotes on him, providing him with soup[14] and peeled lotus seeds.[24]
Jiang Yanli defends Wei Wuxian as her real brother when others insult him,[25] and even after his estrangement from the Yunmeng Jiang Clan, comes to Yiling to show him her wedding outfit, requesting that he choose a courtesy name for her future son.[17]
Despite her grief over Wei Wuxian causing her husband's death, Jiang Yanli insists on seeing him again. At the Bloodbath of Nightless City, she is the lone person able to reason with him. Wei Wuxian nearly stops the onslaught of Fierce Corpses, but when she gives her life to protect him, he uses the Yin Tiger Tally to commence the Bloodbath.[6]
Wei Changze
Wei Changze is Wei Wuxian's father. Although Wei Wuxian has few memories of him due to their early death, he remembers his father as a quiet man who allowed him to ride on his shoulders.[26]
Cangse Sanren
Wei Wuxian's mother dies alongside his father, and one of Wei Wuxian's few memories is of Cangse Sanren sitting on a donkey, smiling at him while he rides on his father's shoulders.[26]
Yu Ziyuan
Yu Ziyuan is frequently hostile towards Wei Wuxian, angry at her husband's favoritism of him over their own son, Jiang Cheng.[14] However, although she lashes Wei Wuxian with Zidian to appease the Qishan Wen Clan, she refuses their request to cut off his right hand,[27] and Wei Wuxian later realizes that the lashes she had delivered are nowhere near as severe as she had claimed. Her last words to Wei Wuxian are a request that he promise to protect Jiang Cheng with his life,[28] a promise he keeps at great cost to himself.[15] He is devastated by her death.[29]
Jiang Fengmian
Jiang Fengmian treats Wei Wuxian as his own son.[30] Because of his love for Cangse Sanren and friendship with Wei Changze,[14] Jiang Fengmian brings Wei Wuxian to Lotus Pier after finding him on the streets after his parent's deaths.[19] Wei Wuxian refers to him as "Uncle Jiang,"[14] and is devastated to learn that he has died in the massacre of Lotus Pier.[29]
Lan Sizhui
In his first life, Wei Wuxian knows Lan Sizhui as Wen Yuan, the child among the fifty Qishan Wen Clan remnants on the Burial Mounds. Wei Wuxian enjoys spending time with Wen Yuan, taking him to town,[31] burying him in the soil to grow taller,[32] and allowing him to chew on his flute Chenqing.[33]
Once they reunite in his second life, Wei Wuxian admires Lan Sizhui's talent as a cultivator and a leader before he knows his true identity. He frequently advises Lan Sizhui in night-hunts,[34][35][36] and entrusts him with leading the juniors in dangerous situations.[37] The two experience a heartfelt reunion once Lan Sizhui reveals himself as Wen Yuan,[33] and Wei Wuxian continues to tutor him in night-hunts upon his return to the Cloud Recesses as Lan Wangji's husband.[38]
Jin Ling
Wei Wuxian first meets his nephew soon after his resurrection. As Mo Xuanyu is also Jin Ling's uncle, Jin Ling disdains towards him, and, not knowing who Jin Ling is, Wei Wuxian inadvertently mocks his orphanhood.[39]
For his mockery, Wei Wuxian slaps himself after learning Jin Ling's identity,[40] and, despite Jin Ling's animosity, continually intervenes to save his life, including during his reckless fight with the Heavenly Maiden[8] and his encounter with the Stone Castles.[41] As a result, Jin Ling begins to soften toward "Mo Xuanyu," even rescuing him from his uncle Jiang Cheng.[42] Upon learning his true identity, the distraught Jin Ling stabs him.[9]
However, at the Second Siege of the Burial Mounds, Jin Ling is uncomfortable at reminders that he had stabbed Wei Wuxian and seems to have lost his hostility.[43] When Jin Ling nearly dies at the Guanyin Temple, Wei Wuxian expresses that he cannot bear it if his sister's son dies before his eyes.[21] Ultimately, after the events at the Guanyin Temple, Jin Ling chooses to forgive Wei Wuxian for his unintentional role in his parent's death. In contrast to his uncle Jiang Cheng, Jin Ling maintains a friendly relationship with Wei Wuxian, allowing him to continue teaching and advising him on night-hunts, as well as address him affectionately as "A-Ling." While night-hunting at the Bai Residence, Wei Wuxian expresses his pride in Jin Ling's growing maturity.[44]
Allies
Wen Ning
After Wei Wuxian's defense of his archery skills, Wen Ning deeply admires Wei Wuxian, to the extent that he risks his own life and the life of of his sister Wen Qing to save Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng after the massacre of Lotus Pier.[29]
Consequently, Wei Wuxian holds deep gratitude toward Wen Ning. Once Wei Wuxian learns that Wen Ning has been taken captive by the Lanling Jin Clan in the aftermath of the Sunshot Campaign, he disrupts a private banquet to launch a rescue mission. When he discovers that Wen Ning has already been killed, he raises him as a Fierce Corpse and uses him to kill several of his captors.[45] He then protects his family at the Burial Mounds and works to reawaken Wen Ning's consciousness, rendering him the first conscious Fierce Corpse.[17]
Although Wei Wuxian initially lashes out at Wen Ning after the death of Jin Zixuan,[46] he knows that he himself is the culprit, as Wen Ning had been a tool in his hands at the time. In the end, Wen Qing has to paralyze Wei Wuxian so that she Wen Ning and can surrender to Golden Carp Tower.[47]
Soon after Wei Wuxian's resurrection into Mo Xuanyu's body, he is surprised to see Wen Ning answer his summons of a powerful creature to defeat the Heavenly Maiden, proving that he has not been burned as Jin Guangshan had claimed.[34] Wei Wuxian eventually frees his chains and removes the nails that control him from his head, enabling his friend to regain his consciousness once more.[48][49]
Wei Wuxian worries for Wen Ning's lack of direction, as he has followed either Wen Qing or Wei Wuxian for his entire life.[50] When Wen Ning eventually decides to part from Wei Wuxian after the Guanyin Temple incident, Wei Wuxian feels both sorrow to see his friend leave, and happiness at his independence.[33]
Lan Jingyi
Lan Jingyi is the first person in Mo Village to speak to the newly-resurrected Wei Wuxian with kindness, though his kindness quickly gives way to anger when Wei Wuxian steals his Spirit-Attraction Flag.[51] Once he is brought back to the Cloud Recesses, Wei Wuxian frequently irritates Lan Jingyi by insinuating sexual activities with Lan Wangji.[52]
Wei Wuxian later saves Lan Jingyi and other juniors from Corpse Poisoning in Yi City.[53] Lan Jingyi seems to believe a romantic feelings exist between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, expressing his horror that Wei Wuxian has not said any meaningful last words to Lan Wangji before his fight with Xue Yang.[54]
When Wei Wuxian's true identity is revealed, Lan Jingyi expresses fear that Jin Ling will attempt to stab Wei Wuxian a second time, showing his faith that Wei Wuxian is not the villain he is commonly believed to be.[43] At the Second Siege of the Burial Mounds, Wei Wuxian uses the talkative Lan Jingyi to learn information on the suspicious Su She.[55]
After marrying Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian frequently night-hunts with and tutors the juniors, including Lan Jingyi, one of the few juniors whose name he can remember.[56][36] Furthermore, although Lan Qiren has forbidden the juniors from talking to Wei Wuxian during the clan banquet, Lan Jingyi quickly breaks the rule once they are away from Lan Qiren.[23]
Ouyang Zizhen
Ouyang Zizhen is among the junior cultivators aided by Wei Wuxian in Yi City. Wei Wuxian considers Ouyang Zizhen a sentimental type given his description of A-Qing's ghost and teases him that he would be quite the romantic in the future.[57]
At the Second Siege of the Burial Mounds, Ouyang Zizhen defends Wei Wuxian's innocence to the many cultivators present, including his own father.[43]
Wen Qing
Wen Qing reluctantly shelters Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng in the Yiling Supervisory Office after the massacre of Lotus Pier, fearing for the safety of herself and her brother.[58] Wei Wuxian later persuades her to transfer his Golden Core to Jiang Cheng, though she warns him the odds for success are only fifty-percent.[15]
Wen Qing begs Wei Wuxian for help once Wen Ning is enslaved by the Lanling Jin Clan,[45] and, once he sees her distress at her brother's death, promises her that he will reawaken Wen Ning's consciousness.[59]
At the Burial Mounds, Wen Qing often scolds Wei Wuxian for drinking,[50] his dangerous duel with Jiang Cheng,[31] and his spending habits.[46] However, when she declares her intent to surrender to Golden Carp Tower to save Wei Wuxian, she has to restrain him with a needle to prevent him from stopping her.[47]
Her impact on Wei Wuxian shows in his advice to Jin Ling thirteen years later: that there are two cringeworthy phrases everyone has to say, no matter what: "Thank you" and "I'm sorry."[19] These are, in fact, the last words Wen Qing speaks to him.[47]
Luo Qingyang
Wei Wuxian assists the efforts to save her life when Wen Chao orders her strung up as bait for the Xuanwu of Slaughter.[4] She, in turn, speaks against the exaggerations of his crimes, even leaving her clan when they mock her for it.[59] After Wei Wuxian's resurrection, he encounters her during a night hunt, and Luo Qingyang introduces him to her family.[60]
A-Qing
Wei Wuxian first encounters A-Qing as a ghost in Yi City.[57] Through Empathy, Wei Wuxian learns her past and thinks highly of her cleverness.[54] After he learns her story, A-Qing aids Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji in their fight against Xue Yang, at the cost of her own soul. Wei Wuxian helps collect her fractured soul and returns it to Song Lan for him to nurture back to wholeness.[61]
Neutral
Xiao Xingchen
While the two never meet in person, Wei Wuxian is intrigued by the fact that Xiao Xingchen is from the same sect as his mother and therefore his shishu, or martial uncle.[62]
Song Lan
After learning that Song Lan's Fierce Corpse is controlled by needles that Xue Yang has drilled into his head, Wei Wuxian removes them.[63] After he regains consciousness, Wei Wuxian empathizes with the painful memories Song Lan suffered and declines to ask him more questions.
Wei Wuxian then gives Song Lan the Spirit-Trapping Bags that contain both A-Qing and Xiao Xingchen's scattered souls, before asking what Song Lan plans to do. Song Lan writes that he will roam the world exorcising evil beings while nurturing their souls back to wholeness.[61]
Lan Xichen
Wei Wuxian considers Lan Xichen gentle and benevolent, in contrast to his stern brother.[64] During his time studying at the Cloud Recesses, Wei Wuxian even complains about Lan Wangji's punishment to Lan Xichen, who sympathetically tells him to use the cold springs to heal himself.[13]
Wei Wuxian considers Lan Xichen too kind and pure for his desire to see the best intentions in people.[65] However, after the Guanyin Temple incident, Wei Wuxian suggests that Lan Wangji tell his brother the real reason Jin Guangyao saved Sisi, if it will comfort him.[33] After returning to the Cloud Recesses as Lan Wangji's husband, Wei Wuxian inquires after Lan Xichen's welfare, aware that he is grieving.[66]
Nie Huaisang
Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang become fast friends while studying at the Cloud Recesses.[30] Nie Huaisang lends porn for Wei Wuxian to prank Lan Wangji and helps copy the rules for Wei Wuxian. In return, Wei Wuxian aids him on an exam, until Lan Wangji catches the both of them.[67]
Unlike many who consider Nie Huaisang unintelligent for his failing grades and poor cultivation, Wei Wuxian believes his friend is quite intelligent. His heart simple lies in things besides cultivation, like fans, skipping class, watching birds, and catching fish.[68]
Wei Wuxian eventually pinpoints him as the orchestrator of Jin Guangyao's downfall, from persuading Mo Xuanyu to sacrifice himself, to releasing the Demonic Left Arm in Mo Village, the endangerment of the junior disciples in Yi City, the presumed desecration of Meng Shi's body, and the stabbing of Jin Guangyao.[69] Wei Wuxian suspects that Nie Huaisang will be making a play for political power in the future.[70]
Lan Qiren
In the beginning, Lan Qiren views Wei Wuxian as a problematic student who is a poor influence on his other pupils. For his part, Wei Wuxian merely views him as a stubborn and strict teacher.[67]
After Wei Wuxian's resurrection and marriage to Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian is well aware that Lan Qiren struggles to tolerate his presence in the Cloud Recesses, viewing him as a corrupting influence on his nephew.[23]
Jin Zixuan
Wei Wuxian and Jin Zixuan have a volatile relationship for several years. At the Cloud Recesses, Wei Xuxian strikes Jin Zixuan for his disrespectful comments toward Jiang Yanli, as well as his mockery of Jiang Cheng's relationship with Jiang Fengmian. As a result, a brawl breaks out in the Cloud Recesses.[13] Later, during the Sunshot Campaign, Wei Wuxian beats him again in Langya for his harsh words to Jiang Yanli over a misunderstanding.[71]
Despite his enduring belief that Jin Zixuan is an arrogant "peacock,"[71] Wei Wuxian respects Jin Zixuan's courage in protecting Mianmian in the cave of the Xuanwu of Slaughter.[4]
Wei Wuxian is elated when Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli invite him to Jin Ling's one-month celebration, declaring his intention not to badmouth Jin Zixuan for an entire year as a result. When he accidentally kills Jin Zixuan during the ambush on Qiongqi Path, he reacts with horror and despair, aware of the pain he has caused his sister.[46]
Nie Mingjue
Wei Wuxian's experience in Empathy allows him to understand several of Nie Mingjue's decisions, such as swearing brotherhood to Jin Guangyao when they are known to have a tense relationship. Additionally, Wei Wuxian reflects that although many people both feared and respected Nie Mingjue, quite a lot feared the Yiling Patriarch without respecting him.[65]
Enemies
Jin Guangyao
In his first life, Wei Wuxian thinks well of Jin Guangyao, lamenting that he is much better than his brother Jin Zixuan.[12] After his resurrection, despite considering Jin Guangyao the prime suspect in Nie Mingjue's murder, Wei Wuxian maintains that he does not hold a bad opinion of him.[72]
Once Wei Wuxian discovers that Jin Guangyao is indeed hiding Nie Mingjue's severed head, he seeks to expose him.[9] However, even after discovering that Jin Guangyao helped arrange Wei Wuxian's downfall on his father's orders,[73] Wei Wuxian does not seem to have any personal animosity towards him, as he displayed a deep understanding of his antagonist's actions and motives. After Jin Guangyao's death, Wei Wuxian understood that the statue in the Guanyin Temple is built to honor Meng Shi, not Jin Guangyao,[22] and he later informs Lan Wangji that the real reason Jin Guangyao had saved Sisi was her kindness towards his mother.[33] Wei Wuxian likewise reflects that the rumors society once spread about him are similar to the rumors currently spread about Jin Guangyao,[70] expressing skepticism towards many of them.[74]
Jin Zixun
Although Wei Wuxian threatens and humiliates Jin Zixun before a banquet for his enslavement of Wen Ning,[45] he does not appear to hold a personal grudge against him. In fact, he does not even recognize him when Jin Zixun ambushes him on Qiongqi Path, convinced that he has inflicted him with the Curse of One-Hundred Holes. After Wei Wuxian loses control of Wen Ning, Wen Ning kills Jin Zixun.[46]
Jin Guangshan
Wei Wuxian sees through Jin Guangshan's lust for the Yin Tiger Tally as part of his quest for power over the cultivation world, mocking him for it.[45] Jin Guangshan views Wei Wuxian as a significant threat to his climb to power, as Jin Guangyao later claims that his father ordered him to orchestrate Wei Wuxian's downfall.[73]
Xue Yang
After witnessing the deaths of Song Lan, Xiao Xingchen, and A-Qing through Empathy, Wei Wuxian declares to the junior disciples that "Xue Yang must die."[63]
Wei Wuxian confronts Xue Yang over his regret at killing Xiao Xingchen, though Xue Yang refuses to admit it. Eventually, the combined efforts of Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, and A-Qing mortally wound Xue Yang, and Wei Wuxian recognizes that Xue Yang's severed arm still holds the now-rotten candy Xiao Xingchen had once given him.[61]
Wen Chao
Initially, Wei Wuxian merely holds contempt for Wen Chao's arrogance during the junior's indoctrination.[24] He mocks Wen Chao to his face using the words of Wen Mao, and even to hold a sword to his neck in the cave of the Xuanwu of Slaughter.[75]
However, after Wen Chao overtakes and massacres Lotus Pier,[29] then captures and tortures Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian holds great hatred for him. Even when he believed he will die at Wen Chao's hands, he feels thrilled at the idea of becoming a fierce ghost to haunt him.[58] But when Wen Chao throws him to the Burial Mounds, Wei Wuxian spends three months refining his techniques before using them to drive drove Wen Chao mad, and, with the help of Jiang Cheng, tortures him to death.[76][77]
Wang Lingjiao
Wei Wuxian holds a low opinion of Wen Chao's petty and cruel mistress during their indoctrination.[75] When, Wang Lingjiao later visits Lotus Pier to punish him for his actions during the fight in the cave of the Xuanwu of Slaughter,[27] and when Yu Ziyuan retaliates, sends off flares that summon enough cultivators from the Qishan Wen Clan to massacre Lotus Pier.[28] As a result, Wei Wuxian despises her.
After inventing Demonic Cultivation, Wei Wuxian drives Wang Lingjiao mad enough to castrate Wen Chao[77] before she chokes to death by shoving a stool leg down her own throat.[76]
Wen Zhuliu
After his capture by Wen Chao, Wei Wuxian makes sure to commit Wen Zhuliu's face to memory, the face of the man who had not only melted Jiang Cheng's golden core, but also killed Yu Ziyuan and Jiang Fengmian.[58] When Wei Wuxian takes his revenge, he mocks Wen Zhuliu as a loyal dog for his unwavering obedience to Wen Chao. When Wen Zhuliu replies that he has a debt to repay, Wei Wuxian scorns him, asking why his debt has to be repaid at the expense of others.[77]
Wei Wuxian then declared that his goal is to force Wen Zhuliu to recognize how helpless he is to protect Wen Chao from him. Jiang Cheng uses Zidian to restrain Wen Zhuliu as he and Wei Wuxian torture Wen Chao to death. Wen Zhuliu is also killed that night.[77]
Su She
Su She and Wei Wuxian have minimal interaction during the latter's first life, although Wei Wuxian saves him from the Waterborne Abyss,[78] and Su She attempts to save him from the Xuanwu of Slaughter. Because of his poor archery skills, Su She accidentally injures Wei Wuxian instead.[75]
After his resurrection, Wei Wuxian pinpoints Su She as Jin Guangyao's accomplice and the one who has sealed the spiritual power of his fellow cultivators during the Second Siege of the Burial Mounds.[55] At the Guanyin Temple, Wei Wuxian defends Lan Wangji from Su She's accusations of arrogance.[11]
When Wei Wuxian learns that Su She is the one responsible for Jin Zixun's Curse of One-Hundred Holes, he angrily asks why Su She hates him. Su She replies that he had not meant to frame Wei Wuxian, and, in fact, that his reasons had nothing to do with Wei Wuxian.[79]