Assorted LINKED CITIES discussion thread

[jiang bao]

Di Yun was weak.
Dantes played with his food, Di Yun still got played despite his kungfu. Guess he didn't have the money, connections and looks to go with it.

He really didn't get "played" after he matured and got good at kung fu. Things could have ended pretty well at the end, except for Qi Fang's own stupidity. (She didn't have to go back to save WG and WZS at all. Their sealed pressure points would have naturally opened and they could have kicked out the wall - the fact that WG was able to kill her proves that)

He was definitely not smart but he wasn't so dumb that he made idiotic decisions that make you go wtf like Chen Jia Luo did.

[yittz]

He really didn't get "played" after he matured and got good at kung fu. Things could have ended pretty well at the end, except for Qi Fang's own stupidity. (She didn't have to go back to save WG and WZS at all. Their sealed pressure points would have naturally opened and they could have kicked out the wall - the fact that WG was able to kill her proves that)

He was definitely not smart but he wasn't so dumb that he made idiotic decisions that make you go wtf like Chen Jia Luo did.

I haven't met Chen Jia Luo. I was refering to the incident with Hua in the snow place. He wasn't ruthless enough with WG and WZS, nor with his own sifu. He put Qi Fang's blind happiness above his.

In Monte Cristo, it feels like he's playing chess and you can see the pieces falling into place. Di Yun was clueless how he's going to get revenge.

[jiang bao]

DY was just some schmuck from a village who was unlucky enough to be collateral damage in someone else's scheme.

He wasn't actively plotting vengence anyway (until he escaped from the snow valley). He wasn't just trying to stay alive most of the time.

So yeah, he was weak insofar as being passive most of the time.

But, I don't think that given his background, he did anything so outrageously stupid that makes a reader smack his forehead and say "he should have known better!" Even H7G made the foolish mistake of saving OYF, and H7G should've known better.

[Demitre]

DY was just some schmuck from a village who was unlucky enough to be collateral damage in someone else's scheme.

He wasn't actively plotting vengence anyway (until he escaped from the snow valley). He wasn't just trying to stay alive most of the time.

So yeah, he was weak insofar as being passive most of the time.

But, I don't think that given his background, he did anything so outrageously stupid that makes a reader smack his forehead and say "he should have known better!" Even H7G made the foolish mistake of saving OYF, and H7G should've known better.

Well he was stupid in that he let a lot of his enemies go, even after they described their crimes against him, to him.

Plus, when he still sucked and was with the Grandmaster guy, he would always try to stupidly save the chick; never really forming any kind of plan.

[jiang bao]

Well he was stupid in that he let a lot of his enemies go, even after they described their crimes against him, to him.

Plus, when he still sucked and was with the Grandmaster guy, he would always try to stupidly save the chick; never really forming any kind of plan.

Which enemies are you referring to?

Wan Gui, he spared for the sake of Qi Fang and her daughter, to repay them for saving his life earlier. He realized that it was QF who put him on that boat when he and WG were passed out in the woodshack.

[Demitre]

Which enemies are you referring to?

Wan Gui, he spared for the sake of Qi Fang and her daughter, to repay them for saving his life earlier. He realized that it was QF who put him on that boat when he and WG were passed out in the woodshack.

What about the beggar guy? He spared the cannibal guy, the evil grandmaster(at least he wanted to), his master, the hooker.

Every character pretty much wronged him in that book; and he spared everyone.

[PJ]

Every character pretty much wronged him in that book; and he spared everyone.

After Di Yun reached the highest level of martial arts, he could have easily killed some of them if he wanted to, but he was too kind to do so. In Jin Yong's later novels (HSDS, DGSD, OTG, ADS, SPW), there is a more notable trend of peace-loving bestowed onto the protagonist, who are not as interested in revenge as earlier characters such as Guo Jing, Yang Guo, Chen Jialuo, and Yuan Chengzhi.
(Xiao Feng was very vengeful at first, but he eventually became Mr. World Peace)

By the way, the Blood Sabre Grandmaster saved Di Yun's life, so Di shouldn't dispose of him easily.

[Demitre]

After Di Yun reached the highest level of martial arts, he could have easily killed some of them if he wanted to, but he was too kind to do so. In Jin Yong's later novels (HSDS, DGSD, OTG, ADS, SPW), there is a more notable trend of peace-loving bestowed onto the protagonist, who are not as interested in revenge as earlier characters such as Guo Jing, Yang Guo, Chen Jialuo, and Yuan Chengzhi.
(Xiao Feng was very vengeful at first, but he eventually became Mr. World Peace)

By the way, the Blood Sabre Grandmaster saved Di Yun's life, so Di shouldn't dispose of him easily.

Well Dantes didn't kill anyone with his own hands either, and he repented and gave mercy to his final enemy.. so I think most books do that.

Di Yun was a wuss throughout the books even after getting powerful. Why did the Grandmaster need to save him? Because some tools on a horse decided to kill first, ask question later. And Di Yun of course repays such kindness with risking himself to rescue her.

I don't know what inspiration The Count of Monte Cristo gave JY, but I don't see it. JY has had stories about heroes finding knowledge in caves/animals plenty of times, so sudden acquisition of knowledge through misfortune is not something new to JY; it's more like a cliche. The wrongfully imprison thing has been done before The Count. The Count's story is one of hope, justice, vengeance and forgiveness. The only lessons I gleaned from Link is greed is bad.