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Thread: Who can solve Ode to Gallantry?

  1. #1
    Senior Member devilz91's Avatar
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    Default Who can solve Ode to Gallantry?

    Besides Shi Potian?

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    Moderator kidd's Avatar
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    Crucial requirement - illiteracy.
    Other requirements - basic martial knowledge, good imagination

    Who else are illiterate besides SPT and WXB?
    什麼是朋友?朋友永遠是在你犯下不可原諒錯誤的時候,仍舊站在你那邊的笨蛋。~ 王亞瑟

    和諧唔係一百個人講同一番話,係一百個人有一百句唔同嘅說話,而又互相尊重 ~ - 葉梓恩

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    Junior Member sceonn's Avatar
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    What was Ode to Gallantry anyway, I mean the Martial Art itself?

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    Quote Originally Posted by sceonn View Post
    What was Ode to Gallantry anyway, I mean the Martial Art itself?
    Basically a set of instructions on how to manipulate the qi around in your body, encompassing swordplay, qinggong, unarmed combat etc. You follow the brush strokes of certain characters or its accompanying illustrations, and your qi will move accordingly. The actual meaning of the words themselves are utterly useless, and serve as a big red herring.

    I'm curious to know why everyone thought it was a martial art in the first place. Their martial interpretations of the writings on the poem are very, very strained.

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    I've only seen the series, but was it accurate that everyone who practiced it increased their martial arts significantly? If so, was there ever an explanation on how that happened? It seems quite farfetched considering some of these guys spend years living and breathing martial arts, and some "placebo" martial arts poem is able to cause them to advance greatly.

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    Senior Member Ian Liew's Avatar
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    It pains me to think that if I ever ended up in that room with my wife she'd end up learning the art and I'd be sitting there sulking.

    Or worse, since I can read some words but not all, I'd end up with fire deviation from having skipped several steps here and there.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ian Liew View Post
    It pains me to think that if I ever ended up in that room with my wife she'd end up learning the art and I'd be sitting there sulking.

    Or worse, since I can read some words but not all, I'd end up with fire deviation from having skipped several steps here and there.
    Actually, it shouldn't be impossible for a literate/semi-literate person to learn - after Shi Potian explained how he was learning to the two island masters, they got it almost immediately. It merely takes someone to first notice that the secret is in the brush strokes and not the meaning of the words themselves, and point it out to you (and for you to take them seriously - shouldn't be difficult if all of a sudden they can casually beat the living daylights out of you ). However, the words were apparently written to be extremely enticing to literate martial artists, and so they end up missing the trees for the forest.
    Last edited by Doc Kwok; 01-26-12 at 09:08 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by tape View Post
    I've only seen the series, but was it accurate that everyone who practiced it increased their martial arts significantly? If so, was there ever an explanation on how that happened? It seems quite farfetched considering some of these guys spend years living and breathing martial arts, and some "placebo" martial arts poem is able to cause them to advance greatly.
    There was no explanation in the novel.

    My own guess is that it simply focused their attention onto the martial arts, making them constantly think about it and experiment with new radical ideas. They also had access to the best martial artists in the world to spar with and bounce ideas off, so it isn't too surprising that they exhibited great improvement. This isn't due to the content of the words though (which we know to be worthless), just their captivating qualities.

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    Senior Member PJ's Avatar
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    Who can solve Ode to Gallantry?
    Sheldon would say: The creator of Ode to Gallantry.

    Unless, of course, the creator forgot, which could happen if he spent the next 40 years playing video games. But wait, they didn't have that back then. OK, maybe he went fishing instead. What kind of fish hooks do you think they used? Did they use artificial coloring on the bait to make it more attractive? Ah, back to the point. It is possible that even the creator forgot the details of his creation. So answers are never really perfect.
    Last edited by PJ; 01-26-12 at 11:23 PM.
    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?」

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    Quote Originally Posted by Doc Kwok View Post
    There was no explanation in the novel.

    My own guess is that it simply focused their attention onto the martial arts, making them constantly think about it and experiment with new radical ideas. They also had access to the best martial artists in the world to spar with and bounce ideas off, so it isn't too surprising that they exhibited great improvement. This isn't due to the content of the words though (which we know to be worthless), just their captivating qualities.
    True, another theory could be that they subconsciously followed some of the strokes and attributed it to the poem itself.

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    Perhaps Sha Gu from ROCH is a good candidate

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    Zhou Bo Tong or Guo Jing

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