The Legend of the Condor Heroes (4 volumes)

Author: Jin Yong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber is the third book in the "Three Romances" series. The male protagonists of these three books have completely different personalities. Guo Jing is honest and straightforward, Yang Guo is deeply passionate and unrestrained, while Zhang Wuji's personality is more complex and also relatively weak. He shows less heroic spirit, though he has many virtues, he also has many flaws, perhaps making him more similar to ordinary people. Yang Guo is absolutely proactive. Guo Jing is very firm on major issues, but needs Huang Rong to push him on minor matters. Zhang Wuji's life is always influenced by others and dominated by the environment, unable to break free from constraints. In love, Yang Guo is utterly devoted to Xiao Longnü, disregarding social norms; Guo Jing wavers between Huang Rong and Princess Hua Zheng, purely out of moral values, never hesitating in love. Zhang Wuji, however, is always entangled and ambiguous. Among the four girls—Zhou Zhifei, Zhao Min, Yin Li, and Xiao Zhao—his love seems deepest for Zhao Min, and later he also said the same about Zhou Zhifei. But deep down, how much does he love each of them more? Perhaps even he doesn’t know. The author doesn’t know either. Since his personality is already written this way, all developments depend entirely on his character, and the author cannot interfere. Someone like Zhang Wuji, no matter how skilled in martial arts, will never be a great political leader. Of course, he never wanted to be one. Even if forced to, he would inevitably fail. China’s three thousand years of political history have long made the conclusion clear. Successful political leaders in China must meet three conditions: "endurance," including self-restraint, tolerance, and cruelty toward political rivals; "decisiveness"; and a strong desire for power. Zhang Wuji lacks half of these conditions. Zhou Zhifei and Zhao Min, however, both have political talent, so though beautiful, they are not lovable. In my heart, I love Xiao Zhao the most. But I can’t let her be with Zhang Wuji, and the thought often leaves me melancholic. Therefore, the love stories in this book are not particularly beautiful, though they may be more realistic. Zhang Wuji is not a good leader, but he can be a good friend. In fact, the emotional focus of this book is not on romantic love between men and women, but on the brotherly bonds between men, the camaraderie of the Seven Heroes of Wudang, and the paternal love between Zhang Sanfeng and Zhang Cuishan, as well as between Xie Xun and Zhang Wuji. However, the grief Zhang Sanfeng feels when he sees Zhang Cuishan commit suicide and the sorrow Xie Xun experiences upon hearing of Zhang Wuji’s death are written too superficially; real life is not like that. Because at that time, I didn’t understand. March 1977.