Which one?
Which one?
hero...he did have the whole "i must protect" "i must do the right" thing going on
what a sell-out
"Are you man enough to eat tofu?"
Order of Knights of the Holy Tofu
STOP using DHMO! It kills innocent lives!
He was a bit of both. Depending on his state of mind and the particular chapter he's appearing in, he might be being one or the other.
In the end he was a hero.. i don't think we should count his childhood and while he was growing up.. since we count a person's MA at peak.. we should judge a character at the end when they are fully developed and their meaning in the novel is fully expressed.
Pretty much all the protagonists look pretty good by the end of their stories. To really give a fair judgment, the entire life must be considered. As a boy, Kiu Fung once murdered a doctor. As a young man, Gwok Jing abetted Genghis Khan in a series of disastrous wars. Got to take the bad along with the good.Originally Posted by batmankiller
OF COURSE THEY ALL DO *cough* Wei Xiao Bao *cough*Originally Posted by Ken Cheng
I think what they do later in life is more important than when they are growing up, physically and mind maturity wise.
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Hero and the most devoted lover.
I maintain: if we don't evaluate each of the protagonists by EVERYTHING we know about them, we only have a partial picture of the characters.
Originally Posted by Ken Cheng
same with Riddick (geesh, i keep bringing him up!) in the end of Pitch Black, he did go back to rescue the others, heck, he even risked his life to save them....but the fact stands that he's an anti-hero.
Yang Guo? he's a bit of both, IMO. like RYY said, he's still have this 'i must do the right thing', 'i must protect' sense, although sometimes his vengeance eluded this senses, he would still pull thru as the former wins.....am not looking at the end result (if i do, i might as well put Riddick in the hero group!) but throughout the story im thinking he's more of a hero than anti-hero.
Last edited by ghostdarTeal'c; 04-21-07 at 01:43 AM.
I think I will agree. If we only evaluated characters by their final outcome, then Jiumozhi will be a super kind monk, Murong Bo would be a benevolent man, and even Jinlun Guoshi (3rd edition) would be a life-saving hero.Originally Posted by Ken Cheng
Since Yang Guo went through some substantial character transformations, from a mischevious child to a heroic adult, it does him justice that we consider the whole package in describing Yang Guo, because each phase of his life WAS Yang Guo.
忽见柳荫下两个小孩子在哀哀痛哭,瞧模样正是武敦儒、武修文兄弟。郭芙大声叫道:「喂,你们在干甚麽?」武 修文回头见是郭芙,哭道:「我们在哭,你不见麽?」
Among all the protagonists, Yeung Gor probably struggled the most with the concept of heroism before he finally arrived at it. With each of the other protagonists, one really never has any doubts that each of them will ultimately choose to be heroes. In Yeung Gor's case, the final outcome wasn't decided until rather late in the story. He wavered and stumbled along the path of heroism numerous times before finally settling on the course.Originally Posted by PJ
Some people find this characteristic of Yeung Gor's particularly compelling; he was the only Jin Yong protagonist who really spent most of his story struggling with the ideal of heroism and how far he was willing to commit himself to it.
Err wait... if you're using the textbook definition of 'Anti-Hero' then YG is definitely an anti-hero. The original definition refers to 'a protagonist or notable figure who is conspicuously lacking in heroic qualities'.
However, modern usage of the term has been expanded to include generally 'heroic' characters who either use questionable methods (Batman, Wolverine), or have some serious character flaw (Cloud Strife of FFVII, Bu Jingyun in Wind&Cloud).
YG definitely fits both criteria.
The Truth is out there
I say we leave it there...
YG is a devoted lover as Gugu1995 said, being a hero is only second priority to him.
That's irrelevant to the discussion, however. Obvious, but irrelevant.Originally Posted by Bangs
Not quite, the topic is about YG being a hero or antihero. My post points out that YG is a hero but has a higher priority. This higher priority (being a devoted lover that is) occassionally made him decide to go against good people. But despite having the mind to do such things, he couldn't find the heart to do so. So all in all, YG is a hero.Originally Posted by Ken Cheng
That's tortured logic, if I've ever seen it.Originally Posted by Bangs
It also gives me this mental image of Yeung Gor, saying in a high, Michael Jackson-like voice, "I'm a lovva, not a fighta!"
Well, that IMO is what YG is. Hehehe. GJ on the other hand is the "This looks like a job for Super Guo Jing!", then he takes off his shirt to reveal that big SGJ logo and a blue shirt inside.Originally Posted by Ken Cheng
Never viewed YG as an anti-hero. He is a bit unconventional but not anti-hero in my book.
Wei Xiao Bao would be more of an anti-hero than Yang Guo...
To me, an anti-hero in the wuxia genre should be someone who lacks the qualities that usually make one a hero: courage, physical prowess/fighting skills, and good morals. Yang Guo have all three. While he may not be an idealist who wants to save the world like Guo Jing, he is by no means an anti-hero.