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Post by Admin on May 25, 2014 13:04:02 GMT
The Condor Trilogy is a trilogy composed of three wuxia novels by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). The novels in the trilogy are: The Legend of the Condor Heroes (射鵰英雄傳), published in 1957. The Return of the Condor Heroes (神鵰俠侶), published in 1959. The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (倚天屠龍記), published in 1961.
The first novel is set against the backdrop of political and military conflicts between the late Song dynasty and Jurchens-led Jin dynasty, while obscure Mongol tribes, united by Genghis Khan, emerge as a major world power.
The second novel depicts the many military conflicts between the Song dynasty and the Mongols. The historical Battle of Xiangyang is featured in the novel.
The third and last novel is set in the Yuan dynasty, established by the Mongols who eventually conquered the Song dynasty and the rest of China. Towards the end of the third novel, the Yuan dynasty is overthrown and the Ming dynasty is founded.
What do you think about this trilogy? Which one is the best? Let's discuss it here!
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Post by caiyi on Aug 8, 2014 0:55:45 GMT
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Post by siuyiu on Aug 8, 2014 18:20:49 GMT
in response to andrea's question, i've always liked the storyline of ROCH best, even though i've only skimmed LOCH and HSDS (and therefore have taken the adaptations with grains of salt in terms of faithfulness to both storyline and characterizations). guess it's because i prefer YG as a protagonist to GJ and ZWJ.
as to the blog post caiyi linked: interesting! i've always been curious as to the changes made in the 3rd edition. so, overall, the major changes are to do with interplays between characters, esp in the romantic sense? i wonder if there are any "structural" changes to the storylines themselves--the blog post seems to only want to talk romance. well, to give my two-cents on the focus of the blog post (two major points: HYS had a crush on MCF, YG had more-than-brotherly feelings for GX), i think the changes to HYS's love life enhances his character while the same change diminishes YG's. HYS has always been portrayed as anti-status quo, anti-convention, so having these "unhealthy"/inappropriate feelings for his student further proves how little he cares about propriety. but for YG, his borderline-fanatic and obsessive (which in some lights can be called "unhealthy" as well), single-minded love for XLN was a significant definition of him as a unique character, so for him to suddenly make goggle-eyes at another female, especially after sixteen years, means a big shift in characterization. obviously, in real life, this happens, but it also changes how we define the uniqueness ("weirdness") of YG.
again, my two-cents only.
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Post by caiyi on Aug 10, 2014 2:11:58 GMT
Siuyiu. I agree with you regarding YG. His steadfastness to XLN is one of his defining characteristic. Removing it remove on of his defining personality. JY said he made the characters love more than one or have change of heart to make the character closer to reality. If that is the case, his view of reality is very narrow. To him, there's only one reality when in fact different people love differently. There is another post that praise the good part of ROCH ice0.pixnet.net/blog/post/17267477
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Post by siuyiu on Aug 10, 2014 3:52:57 GMT
ah, that is a change for the better, definitely! the bits about YG "going to the dark side" were always problematic in that how he handled and thought about things didn't always make sense. it's one thing to have the character do bad things to realize he's actually on the side of the angels, so to speak, but when he does things that are against his character, purely to suit the writer's purpose, it's a big fail. it's what fanfiction dubs as OOC (out of character).
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Post by siuyiu on Jul 14, 2018 6:33:52 GMT
instead of starting a brand new thread for this very minor quibble, i'm tagging it here. i've been getting acquainted with the recent adaptations of LOCH & ROCH, and there's one thing i was reminded of that i just wanted to point out as a small criticism of JY: while he's definitely an excellent writer, one of the best, his aesthetics could've used some polishing. in a tiny scene in ROCH, right before XLN's supposed suicide, she and YG are strolling and come across an unnamed variety of flower that gets dubbed "long nui hua" (i.e., XLN's flower). it is bright red. and hence my quibble: for someone who is supposedly fairy-like and ethereal as XLN, to make her namesake flower a bright red one? that's got to be the worst, most gaudiest colour imaginable to choose. the TVB 1983 adaptation properly addressed this issue by making the flower a pale lilac one. but i know subsequent adaptations, in order to be "more true" to the source, went back to the garish red. and it's a case where being blindly faithful to the source isn't a good thing. and that's my tiny grump. it's a minor thing. but i just wanted to point out that even the great JY didn't get everything right.
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Post by caiyi on Jul 18, 2018 11:17:00 GMT
I know dragons come in all sort of colors. When I think of the word '龍', I always thought of the color red. Maybe the idea's from all the Chinese New Year decor and the red color dragons in chinese embroidery.
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Post by siuyiu on Jul 18, 2018 16:38:08 GMT
oh, i'm completely aware of why the colour red would have been chosen. i'm just grumbling that the colour doesn't suit XLN, that's all.
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