Compare and Contrast The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation & The Untamed

I really appreciate the approach to adaptations that seems prevalent for popular genre writing in China.  If something is appreciated, it’s often remade in multiple formats—live adaptations, donghua, manhua, even sometimes chibi donghuas as well!  This is certainly the case for Mo Dao Zu Shi, or Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu.  And while each version has it’s own nuances, strengths, and gaps, I have a particularly warm spot for The Untamed, the live-action adaptation.  Sure, the special effects are pretty hacky, but the way it tells the story of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji really resonated for me.

No doubt part of this has to do with how I first encountered the story.  When I first learned of danmei, I binge watched all of the Heaven Official’s Blessing donghua in 2 days.  I enjoyed it so much and wanted to share it with my partner, so I committed to watching The Untamed with him before reading the book.

It took us a while, but we made it through and then I finally read the novel directly.  I expected to have a strong preference for the book, but the truth is that I kind of wish I could smush them together into one meta-narrative.  There were things I think each did incredibly well, and my experience of the story was improved by consuming them both. Here’s what I liked the most about the original novel and what I enjoyed more in the TV adaptation.

Please note that this is absolutely chock full of spoilers for both!  If you want to check out something spoiler-free, here’s my review of the novel.

Romance and Sex

First and foremost, the novel has clear romance that includes verbal affirmations of affection, affectionate touching and extensively detailed sex scenes.  This is only alluded to in The Untamed due to Chinese censorship requirements.  Censorship of queer stories is terrible, and the experience of reading the novel is strongly preferable from this aspect alone.  I do think that The Untamed did the best they could under the circumstances, with lingering glances, occasional touches, and unspoken nuances having to carry the day.  It certainly reads as queer between the lines, but it’s delightful in the novel to have the romantic relationship between the characters be text, not subtext.

Adolescent Relationships

The main component I highly prefer in The Untamed over the novel version of MDZS is the much more developed relationships between the entire main cast of characters during their adolescence.  Bringing Wen Qing and Wen Ning into the fold and giving them more background depth and motivations was a fantastic addition. Seeing Wen Ning’s character arc and growth adds important depth his later relationships with Wei Wuxian and others and elevates him from a lackey to a meaningful companion.

Additionally, witnessing Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Yanli support one another, banter, laugh and play together creates so much more pathos for the eventual tragedies that befall them all.

Finally, the added depth to the adolescent relationship between Lan Wangji annd Wei Wuxian was deeply moving.  Watching them move from a state in which they were intensely antagonistically drawn to one another to a state of respected allies and friends meant that Lan Wangji’s arc really landed more solidly for me.

Main Plot

In the book, the main plot (finding Nie Mingjue’s remains) is much more cohesive than the confusing Yin Iron collection quest + random hand and head in The Untamed.  I’ve heard speculation that this change was intended to be less gruesome than the book version and possibly required by censorship policies, which I suppose is an outcome that’s achieved.  While I very much like the added interactions between all of the main players during the extended Gusu engagement, I wish they’d found a way to do so with a plot that hung together throughout the entire show and had a cohesive and satisfying conclusion.

Villain Depth

I also appreciated in the novel the opportunities at times to go into greater depth in certain arcs.  The Yi City arc definitely was explained with a lot more consideration to the interrelationships between the characters that led to the tragedies we see unfold.  For me this depth and background again made the resolution more emotionally resonant.

Moral Ambiguity

There are several changes to the Wei Wuxian’s actions and impact inThe Untamed that muffle the moral ambiguity of his character. I understand this was an intentional decision to align with Chinese broadcast standards. In The Untamed, Wei Wuxian’s actions are always deeply justified, and the times in which he is accused of immoral acts are all the result of him being framed by clever villains operating in the shadows.  However in the book, Wei Wuxian is directly responsible for two notably heinous acts: killing thousands of cultivators to escape, and killing Jin Zixuan when he loses control of Wen Ning.

In The Untamed, these are falsehoods intended to besmirch Wei Wuxian’s character and bring him down (although the exact reason for this remains a bit vague—presumably this will enable the theft of the Tiger Stygian Amulet or something).  Whereas in the book, he truly loses control and makes mistakes.  This makes Wei Wuxian seem more fragile and fallible in the book, someone in over his head and reaching the end of his skills, abilities, and emotional coping strategies.

In The Untamed, this makes him an all the more tragic figure, a righteous hero devoid of allies and support.  While I’m not entirely sure which version of Wei Wuxian I like the most, I did find that The Untamed version made it easier to understand Lan Wangji’s growing admiration and love for him.

Wei Wuxian’s Death

This is a small detail, but one that stood out to me—I found Wei Wuxian’s dramatic death in The Untamed to be incredibly cinematic and intense, whereas the more drawn out and quiet death scene in the book was less impressive.  I can see why they would have wanted a much more cohesive and visually stunning scene for the show, and I think it’s a valuable edit that would have improved the book as well.

Conclusion

As you can see here, there are parts I strongly prefer in the books—and developments in The Untamed that I think provide additional depth and poignancy to the story over the way it was told in the book.  I’m very grateful to have had a chance to enjoy them both, and would highly recommend watching or reading in any order.  Next up for me is the donghua!