The Greats - wulin's "Greatest Generation"

[Ken Cheng]

In Jin Yong's wulin universe, most generations have one or two supreme fighters whose skills tower above all others' in wulin. The generation of fighters who became prominent before the birth of Gwok Jing, however, might be wulin's Greatest Generation. Consider who emerged from that generation:

Central Divinity Wong Chung Yeung
Ancient Tomb Sect Founder Lam Chiu Ying
East Heretic Wong Yerk See
West Poison Au Yeung Fung
South Emperor Deun Chi Hing
North Beggar Hung 7 Gung
Old Mischief Chow Bak Tung
Iron Palm Union Chief Kau Cheen Yan

That's *eight* all-wulin Greats from a single generation. I don't think any other generation of wulin yielded that many top-level fighters. What was it about that era that produced such a great generation of martial arts experts?

[PJ]

Depending on what you mean by "generation." Wang and Lin were way older than the rest.

DGSD had 10 fighters at or above the Greats' level:

1. Sweeper Monk
2-4. Xiaoyao Pai Elders
5. Xiao Feng
6. Xiao Yuanshan
7. Murong Bo
8. JMZ
9. Xuzhu
10. Duan Yu (questionable, but most here seem to think so)

[Dirt]

In Jin Yong's wulin universe, most generations have one or two supreme fighters whose skill tower above all others in wulin. The generation of fighters who became prominent before the birth of Gwok Jing, however, might be wulin's Greatest Generation. Consider who emerged from that generation:

Central Divinity Wong Chung Yeung
Ancient Tomb Sect Founder Lam Chiu Ying
East Heretic Wong Yerk See
West Poison Au Yeung Fung
South Emperor Deun Chi Hing
North Beggar Hung 7 Gung
Old Mischief Chow Bak Tung
Iron Palm Union Chief Kau Cheen Yan

That's *eight* all-wulin Greats from a single generation. I don't think any other generation of wulin yielded that many top-level fighters. What was it about that era that produced such a great generation of martial arts experts?

There's also the monk that created 9yang, thought he wasn't a pugilist. And Jue Yuan, though again, he's not a pugilist. DGQB should have been an older contemporary of Wang Chongyang and Lin Chaoying.

[chibidaisuke]

The Greats' generation might be the greatest since they have the highest number of same aged people on par with each other and they were all way above others of their time, but DGSD by far has the highest number of powerful fighters. PJ's previous post pretty much sums up all the fighters in DGSD who were above the Greats.

[Ken Cheng]

Depending on what you mean by "generation." Wang and Lin were way older than the rest.

DGSD had 10 fighters at or above the Greats' level:

1. Sweeper Monk
2-4. Xiaoyao Pai Elders
5. Xiao Feng
6. Xiao Yuanshan
7. Murong Bo
8. JMZ
9. Xuzhu
10. Duan Yu (questionable, but most here seem to think so)

They all lived at the same time, but they clearly were *not* all of the same generation. The Janitor Monk and the Siu Yiu Sect members *might* have been of the same generation, although I suspect that he might be a generation older than they. Siu Yeun San and Mo Yung Bok (and I suspect Kau Mor Tze) were a generation younger than the Siu Yiu Sect Elders, and Kiu Fung was a generation younger still (I suppose that Hui Juk and Deun Yu would be the same generation as Kiu Fung).

There was a reason why the original list did not include Gwok Jing or Yeung Gor, despite their martial arts being at the same level as the other Greats: Gwok Jing was a generation younger than the Greats, and Yeung Gor was two generations younger.

[Ken Cheng]

There's also the monk that created 9yang, thought he wasn't a pugilist. And Jue Yuan, though again, he's not a pugilist. DGQB should have been an older contemporary of Wang Chongyang and Lin Chaoying.

I think Dook Goo Kau Bai was at least one generation older than Wong Chung Yeung and Lam Chiu Ying. If they were of the same generation, the Wong/Lam pair would have likely heard of Dook Goo Kau Bai, and vice-versa.