WangXian scenes in ‘The Untamed’ to always make you swoon

The Untamed is the story of Wei Wuxian (Xiao Zhan) & Lan Wangji (Wang Yibo), two young cultivators that fall in love in ancient China. Unable to stay away from each other, their relationship develops, despite their vast personality differences and the many obstacles they face in their world of cultivation. 

Due to very strict censorship laws in China, the creators of The Untamed had to get creative with the depiction of the relationship between Lan Wangji & Wei Wuxian. There are no physical exchanges between the characters, nor are there any verbal exchanges that solidify the characters as being in love, but it’s very clear that they are. 

The entire show is full of emotional moments that will really pull at your heartstrings. If we had to list them all, we’d be here for an eternity. WangXian’s love is special, though. Wei Wuxian & Lan Wangji touched the lives and captivated the hearts of so many people all around the globe, so we thought they needed celebrating. 

Here are just some of our favorite WangXian moments that will make you swoon!

Soulmates

In episode 25, Wangxian find themselves among other clan members on Phoenix Mountain for a hunting event. Wei Wuxian is sitting amongst the trees, playing his flute when Lan Wangji happens to walk by. The two share an emotional glance, something they become experts at during the show, and Wei Wuxian smirks, clearly happy to see Lan Wangji. 

Wei Wuxian attempts small talk, but Lan Wangji, not one to beat around the bush, gets straight down to it. Wei Wuxian attempts to tell Lan Wangji to mind his own business. It’s this very moment that Lan Wangji chooses to bravely dive right in and enquire about Wei Wuxian’s understanding of the nature of their relationship. 

“What am I to you?” Lan Wangji asks Wei Wuxian. As their song, Wuji, plays quietly in the background, Wei Wuxian responds that he once considered Lan Wangji to be his soulmate. Lan Wangji asserts that he still considers himself to be Wei Wuxian’s soulmate. Insert loud crowd cheering noises here. 

The English subtitles on Netflix don’t use the word ‘soulmate’ but WeTV does. Since WeTV is Tencent’s streaming platform, and Tencent is the company responsible for producing The Untamed, we’re going to assume that ‘soulmate’ is the sentiment viewers are supposed to take from this scene. 

The reason we love this scene so much is because this is the defining moment for anyone wondering if the relationship that exists between these two young men is bromance or romance. There’s no question about it: it’s romance, y’all. 

Single log bridge

In episode 42, as WangXian are surrounded by other members of the cultivation community, it is revealed that Mo Xuanyu (Xiao Zhan) is in fact Wei Wuxian in Mo Xuanyu’s body. Everyone freaks out because they still consider Wei Wuxian the enemy, so Lan Wangji & Wei Wuxian attempt to flee. 

As WangXian tries to leave Carp Tower, they find themselves surrounded by angry cultivators. Wei Wuxian pushes Lan Wangji away in an effort to protect Lan Wangji’s reputation. Lan Wangji isn’t having it though, and in a declaration of love so loud and clear it will induce a waterfall of tears, Lan Wangji stands up and claims his place by Wei Wuxian’s side. 

Wei Wuxian attempts to tell the crowd that he fooled Lan Wangji into thinking that Wei Wuxian was Mo Xuanyu. Before Wei Wuxian can even get his sentence out though, Lan Wangji shuts this notion down and tells the crowd of cultivators that he knew Wei Wuxian was himself, and not Mo Xuanyu all along. 

Wei Wuxian tries to give Lan Wangji a figurative escape route. Lan Wangji doesn’t take it though, and the two share a very intimate moment, as if the entire cultivation community isn’t surrounding them, witnessing the very intimate exchange playing out between the two men. 

Lan Wangji turns to Wei Wuxian and parrots Wei Wuxian’s own words back at him “the feeling of sticking to the single log bridge until it’s dark is indeed not bad”. Wei Wuxian & Lan Wangji proceed to stare at each other, mutual love radiating from them both. WangXian’s secret is out: it’s love, your honor. 

Lan Wangji makes it clear, he lost Wei Wuxian once before and he isn’t going to lose him again. Even though he doesn’t say it (boo censorship), his actions speak louder than words: Lan Wangji loves Wei Wuxian more than his own reputation, and Lan Wangji is willing to risk it all to protect the man he loves. 

Proposal chickens

In episode thirty-six, Lan Wangji is drunk. As Wei Wuxian tries to lead Lan Wangji back to the inn for the night, they get a little lost. WangXian stumble across a residence with chickens in the yard, and drunk Lan Wangji charges in. 

He pulls two chickens out of the coop and presents them to Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian seems confused by Lan Wangji’s drunken antics. The whole scene seems innocent enough, and certainly serves up comedic value. However, there is more at play here than meets the eyes. 

IN some regions in China, chickens are linked to marriage in a variety of ways. There are rituals that involve a man presenting a woman with a healthy chicken during a marriage proposal, as well as a variety of other rituals involving chickens during actual wedding ceremonies. 

A popular theory with regard to this particular scene in The Untamed is that Lan Wangji is, in fact, declaring his love and proposing marriage to Wei Wuxian. Due to the strict censorship laws applied to the content of this show, those words obviously couldn’t be spoken between the two characters. 

How did this even make it past censorship at all? We’re calling it plausible deniability. You’ll notice Wei Wuxian is really confused by the whole situation. Wei Wuxian even says that Lan Wangji is acting crazy, probably because of the drunkenness, but we know better. 

Turtle cave

The scene in Turtle Cave spans over both episodes 13 & 14. Even though it is just Wei Wuxian & Lan Wangji hanging out while they’re waiting to be rescued, so much subtext occurs that we couldn’t write a piece about all the greatest WangXian moments and not include this one. 

Lan Wangji’s leg is injured badly & Wei Wuxian attempts to care for the man the best he can under the circumstances. Wei Wuxian yanks off Lan Wangji’s sacred headband to tie a stint on Lan Wangji’s leg. This is significant because Wei Wuxian knows that no one is supposed to touch a Lan clan headband except for the owner, and the owner’s significant other. He puts it back in place later while Lan Wangji is sleeping, because he understands that not wearing the headband would stress Lan Wangji out. So sweet. 

Wei Wuxian also tries to force the stale blood out of Lan Wangji’s system by attempting to undress them both. Lan Wangji panics, which in turn causes his body to vomit up the blood. The sexual energy between the two of them is high here. Lan Wangji’s panic at the thought of them being naked together is pure comedy. 

The pinnacle of this scene, however, occurs when Wei Wuxian brings up Mianmian (Ann Wang). A pretty girl from the Jin clan. Wei Wuxian is going on about how Mianmian will remember him forever, while Lan Wangji is clearly overcome with jealousy. Lan Wangji accuses Wei Wuxian of flirting with him, and says that one shouldn’t flirt if one doesn’t mean it. 

How this particular scene escaped censorship is unclear, but Wei Wuxian denies that he was flirting with Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian’s inability to see that he was, in fact, flirting with Lan Wangji (and had been for most of the darn show) is endearing. 

The scene is further elevated when Wei Wuxian asks Lan Wangji if Lan Wangji likes Mianmian romantically. The exasperated look that Lan Wangji gives Wei Wuxian in this moment is nothing short of hysterical. Clearly, Lan Wangji needs to be more obvious about his feelings for Wei Wuxian because the Wei Wuxian is clueless! Lan Wangji shakes his head in disbelief. Us too, Lan Wangji, us too.

Dog! Dog! Dog!

Episode 34 opens with Fairy, Jin Ling’s (Qi PeiXin) dog, chasing a terrified, screaming Wei Wuxian through town. Fairy is the very antithesis of scary, sporting a fluffy coat and a droopy tongue and a happy smile as he gallops after Wei Wuxian. Jin Ling, the little brat, watches on with amusement and does nothing to help. Cornered by the dog, Wei Wuxian calls out for Lan Wangji to come and assist. 

Like the boss he is, Lan Wangji flies through the air and lands dramatically on the ground between Wei Wuxian and Jin Ling. He raises his arm that yields his sword as a warning: back off, or else. Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian cowers dramatically behind Lan Wangji, unable to reign in his fear. 

It becomes clear pretty quickly that there isn’t really any danger. However, even as Fairy saunters off, Lan Wangji holds his post in front of Wei Wuxian, staring viciously at Jin Ling. It’s Lan Wangji’s resolve, his fierce protectiveness of Wei Wuxian that makes this scene so swoon-worthy. 

Lan Wangji’s message to everyone is clear: in order to get to Wei Wuxian, you will have to go through Lan Wangji first. Jin Ling concedes and storms off, clearly defeated. WangXian: 1, cultivation community: 0.