Deaths of Hung 7 Gung and Au Yeung Fung: questions and observations

[Ken Cheng]

Some questions and observations on the deaths of North Beggar Hung 7 Gung and West Poison Au Yeung Fung on Mt. Hua during RETURN OF THE CONDOR HEROES:

1. What was it that ultimately ended the lives of these two Greats? Did they inflict fatal internal injuries upon each other, or did they merely die of exhaustion?

2. Hung 7 Gung and Au Yeung Fung died laughing together after having spent half their lives trying to kill each other. Can we say the two of them lived as enemies, but died friends?

3. I really felt for Yeung Gor when he had to bury the two Greats at Mt. Hua. It was hard not to feel for him when his half-frozen fingers dug into the ice to dig the two elders' graves. The coldness in his hands was probably surpassed only by the chill in his heart: one was his adopted father, among the very few people who had treated him well during his childhood. The other was an elder hero whom he had known for only a few days, but whom he'd grown to love and respect. In any case, it must have been difficult to watch these two Greats die...and feel completely helpless to prevent it.

[qiaofeng]

1. i believe that it was a combination of both, they were already injured when they fought each other, not mortally thou. they then continued to compete with inner energy. + ouyang feng was insane and had total disregard for his life. hung 7 gong could do nothing except to match his inner energy to a save himself. as the both of them had similar levels of energy, they eventually exausted all their strength. injury + exaustion = death

2. i dont think u can call them friends, but they sortta buried the hatchet

[Wu Xing]

All one's life try to find meaning ... try to reach the goal in mind
Crossing with many ... challenging the world with brave
Fighting and struggling ... feeling proud of self
Through the end back to nothingness ... make a laugh to our innocence

[a tribute to the memory of H7G & OYF in the final of their lifes ]

[Dennis Chen]

1) They died of the same thing that Wong Chongyang: over-exertion. One common thing in Jin Yong is that no matter how good of a fighter you are, your age will catch up with you.

2) No. I think it's a display of the profound respect that they had for each other inspite of their hatred of one another.

3) This was a profound lesson for Yang Guo. No matter how good and powerful you are, death will come to you.

[Tazzy1972]

dun remember them being physically injured

[Ren Wo Xing]

They weren't injured; they died from pure exhaustion.

That was always one of the most touching scenes in ROCH to me; decades of enmity (then madness), dissolved in a single moment of laughter.

[JigSta]

A single moment of empathy for each other...

[CC]

They weren't injured; they died from pure exhaustion.

That was always one of the most touching scenes in ROCH to me; decades of enmity (then madness), dissolved in a single moment of laughter.

LQS and TSTL had a similar ending. But since their characters had less screen time, it doesnt have as much an effect on the reader.

[Ren Wo Xing]

They both died in laughter, but it wasn't simultaneous, as I recall. First TSTL saw the painting, said, "It's not her, it's not her!" and died laughing. LQS saw it afterwards, saying, "It's her?! It's her?!"

Not quite the same, IMO. OYF and H7G's deaths seemed to have much more impact than something like that. TSTL/LQS didn't seem to 'hua di wei you' in the end, and didn't so much 'forgive' each other as just stop caring, as I saw it.

[Tazzy1972]

did XZ suck their energies before they died??

[JigSta]

did XZ suck their energies before they died??

Yes. I don't think you CAN suck a dead person ...can you?

[rabadi]

Yes. I don't think you CAN suck a dead person ...can you?

Everything is possible with wuxia j/k
I once read this wuxia fiction by a local wuxia writer, and in it one of the main characters could actually gain internal energy out of a corpse. Gross, if you ask me

[sfccrx]

Some questions and observations on the deaths of North Beggar Hung 7 Gung and West Poison Au Yeung Fung on Mt. Hua during RETURN OF THE CONDOR HEROES:

1. What was it that ultimately ended the lives of these two Greats? Did they inflict fatal internal injuries upon each other, or did they merely die of exhaustion?

2. Hung 7 Gung and Au Yeung Fung died laughing together after having spent half their lives trying to kill each other. Can we say the two of them lived as enemies, but died friends?

3. I really felt for Yeung Gor when he had to bury the two Greats at Mt. Hua. It was hard not to feel for him when his half-frozen fingers dug into the ice to dig the two elders' graves. The coldness in his hands was probably surpassed only by the chill in his heart: one was his adopted father, among the very few people who had treated him well during his childhood. The other was an elder hero whom he had known for only a few days, but whom he'd grown to love and respect. In any case, it must have been difficult to watch these two Greats die...and feel completely helpless to prevent it.

1. They died of being overjoyed and happiness. They were amazed at how the other was able to conjure up a method that could defeat the others.

2. You can say that, but Au Yeung Fung spent half his lifetime roaming about not knowing who he was since he learned the 9 Yum Jen Ging wrong.

3. Yes, but he did learn a great deal from both, one who helped him learn to spit out poison, the other the art of Da Gow Pan, which he use to fight Fok Do.

[kyss of the sword]

[{quote=ken cheng}1. What was it that ultimately ended the lives of these two Greats? Did they inflict fatal internal injuries upon each other, or did they merely die of exhaustion?]

inner power exhaustion, inner power is what actual keeps you alive, everone has some, if you finish all of your qi then there's noting keeping your body running.

[Radken]

Can anyone recall why these two great became adversaries?

[sfccrx]

Can anyone recall why these two great became adversaries?

one was good, one was evil, both were at the top of there game. Au Yeung Fung wasn't really that bad until he let trying to acquire the book of 9 Yum Jen Ging consume him, I really felt bad that Yeung Hong killed his son, I really felt for him, but he was a great martial artist that can adapt very quickly, like towards the end when he beats Wong Yuk See and Hung 7 Gung.

Hung 7 Gung wasn't really much of a leader to the beggars, he was roaming about in most of the series minding his own business except when teaching Kwok Jing Hong Long 18 Jung and then eventually passing down the leadership to Wong Yung.

Damn I wish these were on unedited DVD's I'd be watching them on and on and on..................but at least I have the unedited VHS and the edited VCD.

[Ken Cheng]

Reviving this thread to pose another question:

As Hung 7 Gung and Au Yeung Fung were locked in their inner power death struggle, Yeung Gor intervened and attempted to save their lives by forcibly separating the two combatants. In the end, the valiant gesture did not save either Greats' lives, but the two Greats did live a few more hours...long enough to impart some of their best skills to Yeung Gor before dying.

The question is did Yeung Gor's intervention make a difference either way? If he hadn't intervened, would they have died even sooner? Conversely, did his intervention inadvertently accelerate their deaths? He had to take a risk in a desperate attempt to save the two Greats' lives. In the end, it didn't pay off and the two Greats died anyway, but I've always wondered if the intervention helped or hurt matters more.

[JamesG]

Reviving this thread to pose another question:

As Hung 7 Gung and Au Yeung Fung were locked in their inner power death struggle, Yeung Gor intervened and attempted to save their lives by forcibly separating the two combatants. In the end, the valiant gesture did not save either Greats' lives, but the two Greats did live a few more hours...long enough to impart some of their best skills to Yeung Gor before dying.

YG's intervention gave them the time to realize how foolish their life-long ego-driven competition was. They died laughing.

[Ren Wo Xing]

YG's intervention gave them the time to realize how foolish their life-long ego-driven competition was. They died laughing.

Not quite. His intervention just switched the competition to OYF's 'defeat' of the Dog Beating Stick. They died laughing, not because of the realization of their foolishness, but because HQG was amazed that OYF was able to defeat the stance of 'No Dogs Under Heaven', and OYF, in turn, with his mind finally becoming clear for a moment and realizing who he was, and who HQG was.

[Ken Cheng]

As fate would have it, Yeung Gor seemed destined to be witness to the deaths of Greats. He was sole witness to the deaths of Hung 7 Gung and Au Yeung Fung. Years later, he was among the witnesses of Kau Cheen Yan's death. Not long afterwards, he actually caused the death of the Golden Wheel Monk. Yeung Gor had seen more Greats die than any other character in L/ROCH.

It almost makes you wonder if he was eventually present to witness the deaths of South Monk 1 Deng, East Heretic Wong Yerk See, Central Mischief Chow Bak Tung, and North Hero Gwok Jing.