The greatest "xia" who had less then stellar "wu".

[Ken Cheng]

All the great wuxia heroes ended up becoming extraordinary martial artists...ones who were so powerful in their fighting skills that few could challenge them. For them, it was not difficult to impose their will upon the evil and uphold justice.

Not everybody is blessed with super martial arts powers, however. Who in wuxia fiction represented the hero whose martial arts were not stellar, but was nonetheless so full of courage and compassion...so full of heart that he would fight a villain to the bitter end in the name of protecting the innocent and upholding justice even if he had next to no chance of beating the villain?

[ChronoReverse]

How about LWC saving Yilin? He was clearly outclassed and he still did all he could to save her.

[wkeej]

the 6 yr old guo jing helping tuolei to fight against dushi and the others. 2 against at least 5

[Ken Cheng]

My personal favorite was the 15-year old Cheung Mo Gei escorting little Yeung But Fui to her father Yeung Siu's home in the Kun Lun Mountains. At the time, Cheung Mo Gei's martial arts were negligible, and he was slowly dying of Yeun Ming Divine Palm poisoning. Notwithstanding, he protected and cared for a little girl with whom he was barely acquainted over a journey of thousands of kilometers...their lives threatened numerous times by hostile martial artists. That kind of heroism takes some hardcore cajones.

[miette]

Not sure if this applies or even if it happened in the novel, but I like how the young GJ tried his best to protect the archer (Zhe Bei?) and refused to divulge his whereabouts despite numerous beatings and scoldings from the other Mongolians, and even when one of them threatened to kill him. I recently watched this scene in CCTV's LOCH and was quite impressed with the boy. In fact, he was adamant to keep mum even on the brink of death.

[Ken Cheng]

Not sure if this applies or even if it happened in the novel, but I like how the young GJ tried his best to protect the archer (Zhe Bei?) and refused to divulge his whereabouts despite numerous beatings and scoldings from the other Mongolians, and even when one of them threatened to kill him. I recently watched this scene in CCTV's LOCH and was quite impressed with the boy. In fact, he was adamant to keep mum even on the brink of death.

That was our first indication of what the character of Gwok Jing would be like: he was loyal, compassionate, trustworthy, and steadfast. He knew what his principles were and nothing could shake them. He had no fear for his personal welfare, and would die for what he believed to be right.

[miette]

My personal favorite was the 15-year old Cheung Mo Gei escorting little Yeung But Fui to her father Yeung Siu's home in the Kun Lun Mountains. At the time, Cheung Mo Gei's martial arts were negligible, and he was slowly dying of Yeun Ming Divine Palm poisoning. Notwithstanding, he protected and cared for a little girl with whom he was barely acquainted over a journey of thousands of kilometers...their lives threatened numerous times by hostile martial artists. That kind of heroism takes some hardcore cajones.

Yes, I thought that was extremely sweet of ZWJ, particularly the way he prioritised Buhui's welfare when they fell prey to the Kunlun folks and the 2 guys who ended up being poisoned by him.

[Candide]

Yeah that GJ saving Jiebe (or however you spelt his name) is in the novel. Afterwards, Jiebe gave him a big piece of gold but he refused and told Jiebe that his mum taught him not to take any present in return for helping a guest.

Another good one GJ did was to jump in and save Huazheng from the leopards that were charging at her. He was 6 years old. What a man.

The 14-15 year old ZWJ was probably the best in this regard.

On the other side, we have a teenaged YG who biatched about almost everything. Sheesh, I don't think Wei Xiaobao whined that much.

Who in wuxia fiction represented the hero whose martial arts were not stellar, but was nonetheless so full of courage and compassion...so full of heart that he would fight a villain to the bitter end in the name of protecting the innocent and upholding justice even if he had next to no chance of beating the villain?

Ha Zhu or whatever his name was in the HSDS's Hero Conference on Shaolin stood up to the murderous diesel-powered feminazi nuns and bra-burning witches of Er Mei, and got shot to death while holding the body of a guy he didn't have any close relationship with, but decided to stand up to protect his honour.

Duan Yu had some good deeds even when he had zero inner energy and martial arts.

I dont' know what his name in pinyin is but the guy who hired ZZR's father's boat to run away from the Mongols and got rescued by ZSF (after he brought ZWJ to Shaolin) - later became a great Ming general and got whacked by ZYZ after he became emperor - was pretty tough. He had two poisoned palms on his back, tried to run away from the Mongols and their top Tibetan monks while protecting a little boy and a little girl for 10 days.

The dying ZWJ on Brightness Peak at the end of the battle "I will not let anyone kill a Ming cult follower, even if I only have one last breath." He wouldn't be able to fight a kid at that time so I think he would qualify for Ken's criteria.

[xuelian]

Yu Zhao Xing and Li Sheng of the Beggars' Union in LOCH.. their kungfu was terrible, but they did all they could to protect Ms. Chen from Ouyang Ke. Even if they failed in the end, they had good hearts.

[PJ]

<<On the other side, we have a teenaged YG who biatched about almost everything.>>

On the other hand, we have you who ***** about YG almost more than anyone. Kudos to you my friend.

[Candide]

Ssshhhh. Don't point out the obvious.

[i_fotted]

HR always comes to mind. How many times she used her wit to save GJ and/or H7K from massive wulin fighters superior to her.

[Black Night Sea]

HR vs OYF in Iron Spear Temple, Ke Zhen’e departed no longer blind.