Was Kau Cheen Yan introduced to *replace* Mui Chiu Fung and Au Yeung Hak's roles?

[Ken Cheng]

Until they died at around the same point two-thirds into the narrative of LOCH, Mui Chiu Fung and Au Yeung Hak served as secondary antagonists in the story. Neither one posed the threat to Gwok Jing and Wong Yung that West Poison Au Yeung Fung did, but the protagonists couldn't fight Au Yeung Fung in every battle, and the other Jin flunkies were not strong enough to pose a serious threat to Gwok Jing and Wong Yung by that point.

Hence, Kau Cheen Yan really begins to play a much bigger role in LOCH at around that time. At about 95% of a Great's martial arts ability, Kau Cheen Yan seemed to provide an antagonist whenever Jin Yong didn't want to pit the protagonists against Au Yeung Fung.

[Dirt]

Qiu Qianren is Zhou Botong's foil.

[tape]

Yeah the way it seemed was that QQR was meant to be a character that Guo Jing/Huang Rong could fend off, but OYF was more or less an insurmountable obstacle that they could only run and try to use their wits on -- which is counter to the idea that QQR is more or less Great level.

[Ian Liew]

I think Mei Chaofeng and Ouyang Ke stopped being secondary antagonists much earlier before their deaths. Mei Chaofeng had pretty much moved into anti-hero mode after the Returning Cloud Manor scene - although she would still continue killing innocents to practice her claws (which was what led her into conflict with Tan Chuduan) she was never going to raise a finger against Guo Jing or his teachers anymore. Ouyang Ke was also no longer in a position to serve as a threat to Guo Jing and Huang Rong, other than where the plot somehow placed them in that situation in Niu Village. I don't think Qiu Qianren was ever an enemy they could fend off (in that sense, neither was Mei Chaofeng as they never did fight again after Guo Jing improved enough to match, and possibly beat, her), but almost another super-enemy which they had to frequently run from. The third part of the story tended to focus on bigger things than little skirmishes, though - politics became a bigger focus, and there were numerous new characters to deal with.

I feel that Qiu Qianren was merely a plot device introduced to push Guo Jing and Huang Rong towards Yideng/Ying Gu and introduce the characters.