Anyone who's been paying attention at this forum during the past few years knows that I'm not much of a Yeung Gor fan. Generally speaking, I've found him one of the more irritating personalities I've ever been acquainted with...both in fiction *and* in real life. Nevertheless, it's not all bad news all the time. There were moments in RETURN OF THE CONDOR HEROES when Yeung Gor won even me over. Here's a look at some of my favorite Yeung Gor moments:
1. Making Peace Between North Beggar and West Poison: At the point when they killed each other at Mt. Hua, there was probably no avoiding the deaths of North Beggar Hung 7 Gung and West Poison Au Yeung Fung. It just seemed destined to end that way, although Yeung Gor did his best to prevent it. I doubt that even the Janitor Monk could've prevented Hung 7 Gung and Au Yeung Fung from killing each other at that point (well, maybe the Janitor Monk could have, but you can't blame Yeung Gor for not being the Janitor Monk). Yeung Gor did succeed in helping Hung 7 Gung and Au Yeung Fung to bury the hatchet between them and make peace with each other prior to their deaths, and by learning their martial arts, Yeung Gor ensured that their legacies would endure.
2. Preventing Wong Yung From Having A Miscarriage: Wong Yung damn near had a miscarriage at Luk Manor, and she probably would have lost her babies (maybe even her life) if Yeung Gor hadn't intervened. The thing is: she was chewing him out for having "stolen" the Dog Beating Stick Technique at the time (which was untrue), but he set that aside to do the right thing anyway.
3. Defeating Fok Do at the Heroes Conference at Luk Manor: Yeung Gor saved face for the entire Chinese wulin here, but just as importantly, I like the way in which he did it. He pulled the whole thing off with humor and style, ridiculing the Mongols and having fun while getting Chinese wulin out of a fix. Yeung Gor was always at his best when he was being light-hearted and not taking himself too seriously. He had fun defeating Fok Do and it was fun to watch him do it.
4. Defending Gwok Family and Seung Yeung Fortress: This one is somewhat compromised by the fact that it was because of Yeung Gor that Gwok Jing got injured in the first place. Nevertheless, Yeung Gor was the main reason that things worked out all right in the end. You need to admire his resourcefulness too: in terms of martial arts and sheer number of enemies, Yeung Gor was *way* outclassed here...but he used his wits to fend off multiple threats (Golden Wheel Monk, Mongol mercenaries, Lee Mok Sau) and save the Gwoks and Seung Yeung Fortress.
5. Saving the Lives of Mo Brothers: This one always gets overlooked, but I think it's one of Yeung Gor's greatest moments. First, he stops the brothers from killing each other. Then, after the brothers are poisoned by Lee Mok Sau's needles, he saves their lives again. There he was, dying of Passion Flower Poisoning, so what did he do? He chose to sacrifice what would have been the last three days of his life to save the lives of two guys who'd never been kind to him. Knowing Yeung Gor, he probably would have preferred to spend the final three days of his life with Little Dragon Girl. He gave that up to save the Mo Brothers. I'd count this as one of his finest moments.
6. Forgiving Gwok Fu for Cutting Off His Arm: Nobody in the story or reading the story would have blamed Yeung Gor for cutting off Gwok Fu's arm in retaliation for her unwarranted attack on him. Heck, even Gwok Jing was prepared to cut off Gwok Fu's arm as retribution for what she had done. Yeung Gor had his chance to avenge the loss of his arm, but passed it up because he couldn't bring himself harm his Uncle Gwok's child. Yeung Gor sometimes gets criticized for having not cut off Gwok Fu's arm, but I think that along with # 5, this was another one of his finest moments.
7. Sixteen Years As the Divine Condor Hero: I'm glad he did something productive and useful with his time while waiting for Little Dragon Girl instead of sitting around moping.
8. Fixed Relationship Between Chow Bak Tung and Ying Goo: The Tragedy of Chow Bak Tung and Ying Goo was in its sixth decade by the time Yeung Gor got involved, but Yeung Gor was the one who finally got things set right. Chow Bak Tung and Ying Goo were happily reunited and the scales were balanced among Chow Bak Tung, Ying Goo, 1 Deng, and Kau Cheen Yan at last. Yeung Gor should play peacemaker more often.
9. Gwok Seung's Birthday Gala/Securing Yeh Lut Chai's Beggar's Union Chiefdom/Killing Fok Do/Banishing Dat Yee Ba/Torching Mongol Base Camp: It doesn't get much better than this. Yeung Gor accomplished ALOT this night. First, you've got to like a guy who would go to the lengths that Yeung Gor did to make a youngster happy on her birthday. In doing so, however, Yeung Gor also took care of some important serious business. He killed Fok Do, saving Gwok Fu's life and securing the Beggar's Union Chief position for Yeh Lut Chai. At the same time, Yeung Gor also banished Dat Yee Ba to Tibet, removing yet another threat from the Mongol arsenal. To top it all off, he and his associates torched the nearby Mongol base camp, putting yet another monkey wrench into the Mongols' plans to attack Seung Yeung. In that one night, Yeung Gor made up for nearly all of his father Yeung Hong's crimes and redeemed the Yeung family name. Not bad for a day's work.
10. Rescuing Gwok Seung From the Golden Wheel Monk/Killing Mongke Khan: ...and the coup d'grace. Yeung Gor's double masterpiece of rescuing Gwok Seung from the Golden Wheel Monk and then going on to kill the Mongol Khan Mongke, thereby securing the safety of Seung Yeung Fortress for another thirteen years. Of the three CONDOR HEROES TRILOGY leads, Yeung Gor had the most spectacular end to his story. Gwok Jing's telling off of Genghis Khan at the end of LEGEND OF THE CONDOR HEROES was great, but didn't come close to this. Cheung Mo Gei's leadership of the Chinese wulin against the Mongol troops attacking Shaolin Temple in HEAVEN SWORD & DRAGON SABRE wasn't quite as glorious because he was just another face in the crowd in the whole operation.
So from a guy who generally doesn't like Yeung Gor much, here are ten moments of his I did like. Don't say I don't give him credit where credit is due.