JingRen

Jingren is the slash ship between Jing Yuan and Blade from the Honkai: Star Rail fandom.

Canon
Jing Yuan and Blade (formerly known as Yingxing) share an intertwined history of which has not yet been revealed. Following their acquaintance, they were soon coined as a bickering duo with deep connections. Despite the unclear timelines, it is heavily implied that both men have practiced under the same Sword Master of Luofu, and were once ironically in perfect harmony while operating the High-Cloud Quintet as a legendary team of five. In present time, Jing Yuan has become the wise and brave Arbiter-General of Luofu, Xianzhou, who aims to ensure peace and win wars, while Blade has become a Stellaron Hunter whose job is to work against the Interastral Peace Corportation. Although this change has pitted them against each other in terms of goals and moral values, it appears that them being on disagreeable sides once more, metaphorically for the sake of old times, has neither affected their habit of getting involved with one another nor their arguably strange, unexplained narrative of working together against all odds.

The Two Disciples
Jing Yuan, a product of respected background and long-life heritage, grew up aware of the wishes his parents had for him. He was trained by no other than Jingliu as he matured, but he was also trusted by his parents to carry on the legacy and inherit the mantle of a scholar or an official at the Realm-Keeping Commission. Instead, after graduating the academy, he joined the Cloud Knights as means of escaping a life doomed with boredom and family expectations. He proved to be worthy of the esteemed title, as his feats were commended as a well-taught, stalwart knight, and praised were his masterly strategies. Soon word of his flawless, bloodless victory would reach the busy ears of Xianzhou Generals, who take it upon themselves to appoint Jing Yuan to a position of importance within the alliance.

Blade, on the other hand, has never settled. He was a child without family and honour and his name, unlike Jing Yuan's, held not even an ounce of prestige for the Xianzhou Natives. However, in order to perfect his craft and his education, the outworlder has always been on the move. Barely a teen, he has lived alone among strangers and other long-life species that were never of his kind. He has travelled across ships as a short-life merchant vessel since Zhuming, Xianzhou, and his final stop was the Luofu. There, the young man was able to expand his knowledge. The excellence of new Luofu mechanics were a fascination to him, so it was only natural for his childlike intrigue to feed into his itching obsessions. He would soon find himself dedicating all of his hours to forging hundreds of marvels, like he was running out of the time that everyone, but him, seemed to have. His efforts and unrivalled consistency eventually made him the Furnace Master of Luofu, who is expected to forge the best weaponry for Cloud Knights to weed through abundance terrors. Although the timelines are unspecified, it is speculated that he and Jing Yuan were roughly around the same age when Jingliu had decided to train them.

Based on the manner in which Blade wields his sword, the weapon he made for Jingliu, it is also assumed that he was her student. He basic attacks the target in a motion that he shares with Jing Yuan but when they both strike, Blade attacks the left and then the right from below, while Jing Yuan basic attacks the left and then the right from above. Both of their attacks, when finished, form a cross. Interestingly enough, they also mirror each other when they casually attack outside of battle. Jingliu's leaked basic attack comes with two strikes just like the two men, but she first attacks from the right before she does the left and when finished, it does not form a cross. Meaning that Blade and Jing Yuan may have aged together as well as practiced privately to adapt her combat sequences.

High-Cloud Quintet
Hearing the tale of Jing Yuan's successful expedition, the flawless victory against Jellyfish Puppeteers and the victory that brought him more status, Master and previous Sword Champion Jingliu offers him an invitation to join the High-Cloud Quintet. This invitation reunites them both and presumably Blade, who was already there, peaceful and still ever busy with his creations. Jing Yuan was the last member to join the team, but his addition was the backbone of their heroic run.

Blade's character story: (part IV) introduces us to the relational ties he had developed since arriving at Luofu. His friendship starts with the literary format of Jingliu being mentioned first, and ends with no other than Jing Yuan himself, who is described as the boy who kept bickering with him. He who was mostly ever in arguments with the craftsman, had one day stopped their disputes completely at the sight of what was made for him by Blade, that being the Devastator Glaive. Upon seeing the masterpiece, Jing Yuan breaks character and grabs the weapon, only to then promise Blade that he would never part with it. Given that they were at each other's throats most of the time, this event might have been incredibly odd to witness by onlookers as much as it was for themselves.

Starfall Reverie
The Devastator Glaive is the only archetype weapon for Cloud Knights. While Blade was in charge of forging promising equipments for the alliance, his inventions remained loyal to the simplicity of two designs. Cloud Knight Patrollers are the main wielders of this weapon. These particular glaives come with less mobility and space for combat choice, but it's fairly easy to use when the user is aware of the fact that its weight requires both hands for efficient combat. However, in Jing Yuan's character introduction, we learn that his gifted glaive is actually called the Starfall Reverie.

Fanon
Jingren is currently one of the most popular slash ships in the fandom. In chronological order, after Dan Heng/Blade and Dan Heng/Caelus.

Despite the lack of direct lore and frequent leaks, including main storyline involvement, the pairing has accumulated an impressive amount of 410+ works on AO3. While the number is still in active growth, the aforementioned ships have had the opportunity to reach their current milestones, in terms of written content, with the aid of in-game interactions, early lore, and non-canonical speculations.

The ship between Jing Yuan and Blade is made in a way so captivating that their unrevealed past and unexplained ties to each other have turned the heads of both franchise fans and non-players alike. The fandom has been curious about the two since their character reveal in the Nightmare PV, 2022, and have continued to be as equally invested following the release. Furthermore, the pairing is by far the most popular when it comes to garnering engagement for content creators. For what has been very subtly placed to push the pairing in-game, their charm and attraction is undeniable to even those who deny their implications.

Trivia
Hoyoverse's execution of love between two characters, when designed and written with the intent to share an exclusively romantic bond, tend to be extremely subtle and reliant on the inexplicit details. Other heavily implied popular ships like Kavetham and Beiguang also reflect that custom. In the Hi3 fandom we have Kiamei and Bronseele who existed before the implementation of stricter censorship laws, but the interpretation of female friendships in media and culture often blurs the line between romance and friendship, so companies are granted more room to hint at sapphic relationships without breaking those laws. In comparison to that of gay representation, Hoyoverse relies on acts of service and bonds that cannot be explained, both in the past and present, to haul the possibility of love between two men over the surface. This is the general takeaway from the company's shipping culture, and it is not to be used as intrinsic comparison, because each relation is brought into light under different circumstances.

Based on miHoYo standards, the company makes an elaborate effort to make their romantic pairings clash in terms of visuals, objectives, and history, as equally as they are designed to match. Like the most popular ships across all three fandoms, Blade and Jing Yuan have the similar basis and foundation as every other initial pairing with the potential of exploring a more complicated route. In no way is it yet comparable to the existing relations in other franchises, who sit with fully fleshed out backgrounds, as their history remains unknown, but their connection hints heavily at unfolding more curiosities in the nearby future.

The same way Blade has little bits of red in his design, Jing Yuan has little bits of blue. The same way they have huge chunks of red, they also have huge chunks of gold in their design. But when Jing Yuan exists conclusively through the colour white, Blade exists through the colour black instead. Where Jing Yuan helms the golden Lightning Lord print on his chest, Blade helms a golden Demon on his back. They are a perfect reflection of each other as much as they are perfect opposites, and that is also proven through the fact that Blade is a short-life species working to make a living, while Jing Yuan is a long-life with a stable, fruitful living condition.

Fandom

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