LHC - why is he considered a likeable character?

[Candide]

Background: My uncle (mum's brother) was the one who introduced me to wuxia. He's a wuxia geek himself, having collected almost every edition and adaptation. His most favourite book is Xiao Ao Jiang Hu and his most favourite character is Ling Hu Chung (LHC). As a result, the first book I read is also XAJH and I liked LHC from his descriptions, even before I actually read the book. Note that I read JY wuxia novels before I watched any adaptation of them. For Gu Long it was the opposite for me. Therefore, please note that this discussion is purely based on the novels, not adaptations. Feel free to compare the novel's LHC v.s the adaptation's LHC, but keep in mind that my opinions are based on my interpretation of the novel.

After the first read (I love rereading books), I loved XAJH and LHC became my most favourite character. I then went on to read all other JY novels before rereading XAJH. The second time, I started noticing things that I don't quite like about LHC. The third time, I started to hate him towards the end. The fourth time, I think he's a loser sometimes. The fifth time... In other words, the more I read XAJH the more I dislike LHC, to the point that I don't feel like rereading XAJH now since I'm afraid I'll end up putting him in the Yang Guo basket. Some of you will know what that means.

My question for this discussion is: why is LHC generally considered a very likeable character? Why is he many people's most favourite characters? To me, after reading XAJH over and over, LHC seemed like a happy easy going kid at the beginning who had so much potential but never could make use of them, and folded like a tent when the goings got tough. He's liked for his carefreeness, but IMO he very frequently crossed the line between carefreeness and selfishness.

1. The Sun Moon cult

As you know, LHC was offered many times by Ren Wo Xing to become the vice cult leader of the Sun Moon cult, but he refused them all. In the first few times, he did not accept the offer because he still wished to go back to his beloved Huasan school. In the second last attempt, he told Ren Wo Xing (or was it Ying Ying) that he did not want to associate with these kinds of people (pointing at the dead ones who just tried to molest Yue Lingshan but got killed by him jumping out of the snowman). To which Ren Ying Ying replied that it was because the cult was ruined by DFBB, and LHC should help them to fix it up. In the last one, he flat out refused as he did not want to be an arse-kisser like the rest of the cult seemed to be.

Does anyone think that LHC's situation was almost similar to ZWJ's situation with the same cult ? However, there was a difference. ZWJ tried his best to turn the Ming cult straight, whereas LHC didn't even try. I started disliking LHC then for a few reasons:

- I'd love to see LHC become the vice cult leader. Would've been heaps cool, don't you think ?
- He either had the abilities (to be the vice cult leader) but didn't want to help, or did not have the abilities but turned down the work not because of that reason, but because he was either too carefree or too high and mighty to do it.

He could've done it like ZWJ: uniting the cult, teaching them to do good, not evil and stopping the bloody wars between the cult and the other orthodox sects. That would have been a huge responsibility, and I can't really blame LHC for not taking it, but I feel that he refused it for all inappropiate reasons for someone of his caliber.

Still, if it were just for this, I wouldn't dislike him.


2. The United 5 Sword schools

You know the story. LHC trusted YBQ too much like a sheep trusting a Kiwi farmer, and followed him all the way despite all the warnings from various people, until he found the nasty truth. I found LHC's handling of the situation too immature and irresponsible. Very luckily for him, it turned out nicely but it could've been a disaster with everyone killed (including him) and YBQ ruling the entire wulin. Was he too emotionally attached that he could never realise how serious it was ? If so, he wasn't carefree. Or was he too carefree so that he didn't give a shit about how everyone in wulin would suffer as a result of his miscalculations/mishandling ? Either way, he sucked. When Fang Zheng and Chong Xu presented the situation to him, I could sense (and it was written as well) that he was panicking inside, realising that this was too big a task for him. THAT was too much ? Pffftt. If only I had his abilities and my brain...

3. Indecisiveness in love

I don't know why people hang shit on ZWJ for being indecisive about which girl (among the 4 that loved him dearly) he loved the most, but say nothing about LHC who was much worse in that regard. YLS didn't even love him. She showed her attitude to him about a million times in the novel. He just didn't get it and kept being obsessed with her. It was so pathetic. All the time he was around RYY (who was such a great girl IMO) he was constantly thinking about YLS. I normally don't care much about romantic bullshit, but sometimes while reading, I felt like yelling to him: make up your ****ing mind! At the end, if YLS didn't die, he would be in a huge mess. Compared that to ZWJ's situation, where all girls truly loved him and were willing to do anything for him. Not to mention they were equally attractive. YLS had nothing over RYY, didn't love LHC, accused him with all sorts of nasty crimes without any concrete evidence and was generally a ***** when she was with him.

I wouldn't include this part if people didn't give ZWJ shit. Since people do, it should be fair game for LHC as well. I really feel sorry for RYY. At least at the end of HSDS, ZWJ really knew who he loved the most (ZM). LHC seemed like he was still clueless and his love for RYY was more out of gratitude than anything else. Too bad there was nobody better than LHC in XAJH.

4. What's that carefree bullshit all about anyway ?

Initially one part of XAJH (and LHC) that I really liked was carefreeness. I didn't quite understand what it is at first, my uncle just briefly told me what LHC was like. Then I read the book and quite liked it until I reread it a few times. What's carefreeness? Is it doing whatever you want to do and not giving a shit about the consequences or others ? Or is it releasing yourself from all responsibilities or hassles in this world and enjoying the freedom to do whatever you want without being judged ? The first is nasty, and I doubt LHC was like that. The second is wishful thinking only, and if you try too much to achieve that, you'll turn selfish. Any other interpretation of carefreeness?

Was LHC carefree ? I think he was not. He was way too emotional and cared too much about YBQ, YBQ's wife and YLS. He was too proud and stubborn to be carefree (otherwise he would've accepted Fang Zheng's offer to be a Shaolin disciple, luckily things turned out well for him). The only time he seemed to be carefree was at the beginning, when he wasn't presented with any hard task. When he did, he turned into a mess. He was really pathetic at the end. He agreed to join YBQ no matter what happened in the 5 Sword School Conference, although he was warned, just because YBQ was his sifu. That wasn't so carefree, was it ? He let YLS's word seriously injure his shoulder just to make her happy, not caring about RYY and other people worrying about him. Now THAT's what I'd call care-friggin-free

I kind of forgot what ending I was thinking of after all that ranting. Anyway to sum it up, I think that the character LHC is an easy going and generally nice guy to be friends with, but is hopeless in dealing with social affairs (not just politics but relationships as well) despite the tremendeous abilities that he fortunately got. I have no idea why his so many flaws are usually ignored and he's so much liked, while some other characters with similar (or less serious) flaws are flamed to hell and back for it. Is it because people only look at the outside and see that he's such an easy going person (not that easy going in my book) who loves to drink, has some sense of humour and is good at flirting ? That's all good, but I prefer looking beyond those minor qualities in a person.

[Yang Ming]

Good topic!

[bliss]

I have to admit that I am a bit prejudiced in that LHC was my first JY character that I've encountered as well so from my pro-LHC point of view let me take a few blind stabs at answering your criticisms. ^_^

1. On his handling of the Sun-Moon Sect
I think this is a little bit more complicated than it seems due to the people involved. For one, LHC was pretty sure he and RYY were going to be a couple, lets disregard his constant longing for YLS for now. Given that, RWX was the cult-leader and was inherently a pretty NASTY guy who killed and murdered rather unscrupulously. Knowing full well RWX's attitude (and his namesake) LHC probably knew he wouldn't be able to influence RWX to reform and change his ways. Furthermore, it would conflict with his RYY's wishes. If he DID choose to be vice-cult leader, he would probably have been forced to do a lot of misdeeds OR just refuse RWX's commands altogether. And it would also end up forcing RYY to choose sides between father and lover. I think LHC saw it as a blatantly lose-lose situation and figured it'd be best to avoid such a thing. ZWJ was the unquestioned leader of the Ming Sect. LHC would still have to answer to RWX one way or the other. Much more difficult to reform a sect with the power hungry mass murderer still in power.

On the other hand, we can see that LHC was given the leadership of Hengshan, which was probably just as big a headache. LHC did his best and accepted this role despite the fact that it bore immense responsibility, so if anything, we can't totally call LHC a person who shys away from responsibility and burden.

2. 5-Swords Schools
Hmmm ... we have to take into account that LHC was about 25-26 ? and grew up in Huashan for the better of I believe 16 years? YBQ and Ms. Yue were basically his parents. Throughout those 15-16 years, it is inevitable that unconditional love grew between them. There were many parts in the novel where it was stated that YBQ genuinely cared for LHC as well, towards the beginning, like a son. It wasn't until things swirled out of control for YBQ after learning PXJF that he became quite apathetic to everyone. That being said, LHC still had the image burned into his head of a loving father of YBQ. How can we blame him for clinging on to this relationship? Everyone wants to have hope that their parents are genuinely GOOD people and not evil. We can't blame LHC for being incredibly filial and choosing to have faith in his foster-father of 15-16 years.

Lets take other examples of this: XF, was incredibly loyal to XYS even after finding out that XYS had murdered his foster parents, teacher, etc. And XYS wasn't even THERE FOR HIM HIS WHOLE LIFE. Yes, we can say XYS was acting out of vengeance, but his acts were still wholeheartedly evil before repenting to the sweeper monk. Regardless, XF forgives him without second thought and even states that he will take all blame for his father's crimes. No one ever questioned XF's blind filial piety to XYS, why should it be different for LHC to YBQ?

3. Indecisiveness in Love
Well, I kind of really hated the whole YLS character so I'm going to just play Devil's advocate in arguing for this. Similar argument as above, the two grew up together. For so many years, LHC grew up with the idea that YLS will be his wife. And it seemed that way as well, before LPZ showed up. All the emotions from all those years can't just be swept away so easily. So lets at least give LHC some credit in being faithful to his first love, regardless of how annoying and unlikeable she was. Love is blind anyway. I'm sure we've all fallen in love with people everyone would suggest we not fall in love with, no?

4. As for the carefree part, I think the best descriptions of it are during the exchanges between him and FCY. The two seemed to be of the same "carefree" nature and thats why FCY liked LHC so much. He was carefree in the sense that he was somewhat blind to people's opinions about him. LHC didn't care much for what others thought, unless of course it had a direct consequence on Huashan. Anyway, I really enjoyed the conversation between him and FCY when FCY asked him, "Is it ok to use underhanded and despicable methods against evil people?" LHC naturally answered "yes, since you are dealing with despicable shameless people anyway." FCY then asked the harder question, "what if you are dealing with good people?" LHC answers, "well if a person wants to kill me, i just can't let him. even if its a good person, if i am forced to, ill still use despicable and underhanded methods." Anyway, it just showed that LHC wasn't afraid of being himself and was quite sure of who he was, regardless of any image others might have of him.

To me, LHC of course cannot compare to the super ideal heroes such as GJ and XF. LHC was more of a "real" person in that he is a decent representation of what it means to be human. He succumbs to emotion but still stands tall in the face of right and wrong because he has a strong and firm belief in his virtues, morals, and principles.

[Laviathan]

I agree with your analysis of Linghu Chong. Of course he has a lot of flaws.

But I still like him.

Because I think he's cool.

Linghu Chong has flaws, and he doesn't mind to show them. He is carefree not in the sense that he has no worries or does what he wants to do. He is carefree because he is exactly how he is. He is not fake, he's completely real. The Linghu Chong we see on the outside is the same Linghu Chong as from the inside.

Yang Guo seems arrogant and proud, but deep down inside he is insecure. Chen Jialuo seems mature and wise, but he is in fact very emotional and weak.

Linghu Chong is interesting because he does not wear a mask. He does not need one to protect himself, unlike everyone else.

[flyingfox2002]

Liking or disliking is a subjective matter, liking a character doesn't mean one has to think he's perfect.

I like LWC because he reminds me of me. I like YG too because he reminds me of me too.

Of course, there are parts of his personality that I don't particularly like, like his alcoholism, his blind devotion to his sifu, and his tendency to get too down on himself. I admire loyalty as a quality in a person, but LWC went overboard.

However, in my personal balance of likes and dislikes for LWC's character, the "likes" outweighed the "dislikes" easily. The LWC traits I admire the most: Brave, funny, not afraid of death, not judgmental, kind, chivalristic, smart, genuine, respectful, doesn't cave in to pressure, etc. He definitely personifies the term xiao ao jiang hu.

On the flip side, objectively, you could say GJ was perfect, but I don't particularly like him.

[Zhuge Liang]

1) When LHC joined forces with RWX, however brief it was, the outcome was replace one *** with an even bigger one. In fact, given the state of DFBB due to KFBD, he might actually have been the lesser evil.

I am glad LHC refused since he sorely lacked the political abilities to be able to deal with RWX and do any good. Denying RWX of his abilities could only be a good thing.

4) I think of him as carefree as in that he is blessed with immense skills but does not strive to attain power.

[rabadi]

Great topic. I once asked a similar question, I think the title of my thread that time was "Why is LHC everybody's favourite hero?" or something like that. I merely asked that simple question, of course, since I don't think I can ever write a long analysis like what Candide just did I also approached it from neutral stand point since at that moment I have not started reading Lanny Lin's translation yet and I only relied on Chow Yun Fat's adaptation. The thread is long gone, unfortunately.

[bliss]

Great topic. I once asked a similar question, I think the title of my thread that time was "Why is LHC everybody's favourite hero?" or something like that. I merely asked that simple question, of course, since I don't think I can ever write a long analysis like what Candide just did I also approached it from neutral stand point since at that moment I have not started reading Lanny Lin's translation yet and I only relied on Chow Yun Fat's adaptation. The thread is long gone, unfortunately.

blah based on Chow Yun Fat's adaptation, LHC would be the most hated main character ever ... no offense to Fat-ge but he was a horrendous LHC. Shoulda stuck to gun-fights

[rabadi]

Didn't Ritchie Ren also make a horrible LCH too? Oh wait... a horrible CLX, I guess

Well, I did not have negative thinking, nor did I have positive thinking towards Chow Yun Fat's LHC. I must admit, though, that I have a positive thinking towards Sam Hui's LHC in Swordsman movie, better than Jet Li's version. But that's just me.

[hentaixp]

sam hui;s lhc amuse me, jet li 's lhc is queer, book's lhc make me love him , jackie lui's lhc confirms my love for this character

[Candide]

To bliss:

1.

If you reread my first post, you'll see that I did not blame LHC for not taking that huge responsibility. What I don't agree with him is that he seemed to refuse it for the not very appropiate reasons. He should've said that he was simply not capable. Instead, it was about how he didn't want to associate with these people, or how he's always been taught that these are evil guys and he'd have no hope of coming back to Huashan etc.

2.

I think your XF-XYS analogy cannot be applied to this situation. Before the Shaolin meeting, XF did not know that XYS even existed. I can guarantee (as anyone would) that if afterwards, XYS tried to kill innocent people, XF would be the first to stop him.

LHC could be forgiven for initially declaring that he would follow what YBQ said. That's perfectly understandable, as you have explained. However, after he realised what YBQ's plan was all about, he was not "carefree" enough to swallow his pride and openly challenged YBQ for destroying Huashan and other schools, for practicing the evil art and all other stuff.

3.

Personally I don't give a damn about that. However, I thought since ZWJ copped so much flak for his "indecisiveness" in love, LHC should too.

4.

That part was one of my favourites. I really liked LHC when I read it. However, towards the end, I realised that he only had big words. Did he apply that line of thinking when dealing with YBQ ? Nope. Even after knowing full well YBQ's evil deeds, the answer was still a resounding No. I'm not suggesting that LHC went all blood-thirsty and chopped YBQ up into pieces but he should at least try to do something about the situation, instead of turning his back, taking a deep sigh and pissing off somewhere while other people had to suffer for it. Where were his "dirty tricks" when YBQ tried to kill him?

[Candide]

I agree with your analysis of Linghu Chong. Of course he has a lot of flaws.

But I still like him.

Because I think he's cool.

I think he's cool too (or I thought so) that's why I tried not to reread XAJH again otherwise I'll dislike him.

Linghu Chong has flaws, and he doesn't mind to show them. He is carefree not in the sense that he has no worries or does what he wants to do. He is carefree because he is exactly how he is. He is not fake, he's completely real. The Linghu Chong we see on the outside is the same Linghu Chong as from the inside.

Hmm I can't entirely agree there.

Take his problems in love for instance. On the inside, it was a huge mess. He loved YLS and couldn't forget her, but never declared his love to her, or let it go completely. He wasn't even sure if he truly loved RYY or not, not perhaps until the very end. If YLS hadn't died, it would've been terrible. On the outside, what was he like ? He tried to appear as if he really loved RYY and only considered YLS as a sister.

While handling all the wulin politics, he wasn't always himself either. He always seemed confused and not knowing what to do. He didn't even say it out loud, didn't ask for help (if RYY didn't get all of these people up to Hangshan and help him out, he would be in deep doo-doo). All he did was to drink himself silly.

Maybe I didn't get your idea right, but the LHC inside isn't quite the same as the LHC outside to me. I'm not saying that he's a fake, like YBQ, but I can't really give him the credit for what you said he is.

Yang Guo seems arrogant and proud, but deep down inside he is insecure. Chen Jialuo seems mature and wise, but he is in fact very emotional and weak.

Very much agree with your analysis.

Linghu Chong is interesting because he does not wear a mask. He does not need one to protect himself, unlike everyone else.

I don't think he had a mask, but he wasn't even sure what his "face" looked like once he realised how evil and dangerous wulin was. Please refer to my comment on bliss's post which contained the conversation between him and FCY on carefreeness. He had the right ideas, and I think that's very good, but he didn't know how to apply them, or wasn't sure if he should apply them.

[Candide]

Liking or disliking is a subjective matter, liking a character doesn't mean one has to think he's perfect.

I like LWC because he reminds me of me. I like YG too because he reminds me of me too.

I wish I could find one that reminds me of me :-/

Of course, there are parts of his personality that I don't particularly like, like his alcoholism, his blind devotion to his sifu, and his tendency to get too down on himself. I admire loyalty as a quality in a person, but LWC went overboard.

I agree. He did go overboard in many things.

However, in my personal balance of likes and dislikes for LWC's character, the "likes" outweighed the "dislikes" easily. The LWC traits I admire the most: Brave, funny, not afraid of death, not judgmental, kind, chivalristic, smart, genuine, respectful, doesn't cave in to pressure, etc. He definitely personifies the term xiao ao jiang hu.

He's not a bad guy, he's a very nice person indeed. Would make a very good friend. However, I see nothing admirable about him. I like the qualities he had, which you just listed, but as I said initially, I think they are minor and not enough to make me admire a person.

On the flip side, objectively, you could say GJ was perfect, but I don't particularly like him.

Guo Jing was far from perfect IMO, although he's my most favourite character. I don't get some people's (not you) opinions on GJ. On one hand they say that GJ is boring or not likeable because he's perfect/flawless. On the other hand, they say that he's too stubborn, too loyal, dumb, slow etc.

I must say that I started liking GJ initially because of Huang Rong However the more I read LOCH the more I like him. If there is a person that can live up to Laviathan's quote:

"He has flaws, and he doesn't mind to show them. He is carefree not in the sense that he has no worries or does what he wants to do. He is carefree because he is exactly how he is. He is not fake, he's completely real. The X we see on the outside is the same X as from the inside",

it is Guo Jing.

LHC, while having some good "features", still has many "bugs" that need ironed out before those "features" can truly work as advertised.

[Candide]

1) When LHC joined forces with RWX, however brief it was, the outcome was replace one *** with an even bigger one. In fact, given the state of DFBB due to KFBD, he might actually have been the lesser evil.

I am glad LHC refused since he sorely lacked the political abilities to be able to deal with RWX and do any good. Denying RWX of his abilities could only be a good thing.

Please refer to my previous post. I think the same way too, however I think LHC refused it by giving inappropiate reasons.

4) I think of him as carefree as in that he is blessed with immense skills but does not strive to attain power.

I don't see why these two (being carefree and striving to attain power) should be mutually exclusive, if that power is to be used for good, not evil.

Didn't Ritchie Ren also make a horrible LCH too? Oh wait... a horrible CLX, I guess

The period 1995~2001 (IIRC) was a sad one for wuxia fans as Richie "dropped pie" Ren destroyed the images of every wuxia hero, one by one, that we grew to love.

As for Chow Yun Fat, his LHC sucked. Funnily enough, the theme of that adaptation is one of my all time favourite wuxia themes.

[Laviathan]

Hmm I can't entirely agree there.

Take his problems in love for instance. On the inside, it was a huge mess. He loved YLS and couldn't forget her, but never declared his love to her, or let it go completely. He wasn't even sure if he truly loved RYY or not, not perhaps until the very end. If YLS hadn't died, it would've been terrible. On the outside, what was he like ? He tried to appear as if he really loved RYY and only considered YLS as a sister.

Nope, don't agree. He loves Yue Lingshan, it showed and everybody knows that. He was nervous to tell her, and later on he got jealous because of Lin Pingzhi. He couldn't hide his feelings. Yingying knows that Linghu Chong loves Yue Lingshan. He never tried to conceal that. And no, he certainly did not pretend to love Yingying and treat Yue Lingshan as a sister. I don't understand how you got that conclusion.

While handling all the wulin politics, he wasn't always himself either. He always seemed confused and not knowing what to do. He didn't even say it out loud, didn't ask for help (if RYY didn't get all of these people up to Hangshan and help him out, he would be in deep doo-doo). All he did was to drink himself silly.

Well, he was confused and didn't know what to do. And that's why he drunk himself silly. I know it's incredibly stupid. Linghu Chong does lack proper judgement and organisational skills. He didn't ask for help, because most of the time he didn't realise he needed help (like with his inauguration as Hengshan leader)... It's not like he's irresponsible, but he's just not a person who thinks ahead clearly and does long-term planning.

I don't think he had a mask, but he wasn't even sure what his "face" looked like once he realised how evil and dangerous wulin was. Please refer to my comment on bliss's post which contained the conversation between him and FCY on carefreeness. He had the right ideas, and I think that's very good, but he didn't know how to apply them, or wasn't sure if he should apply them.

Now, Guo Jing is a person who has a very fixed set of moral codes and strict beliefs. He acts according to his principles. Even if it means leaving the girl he loves (Huang rong) and marrying somebody else (Hua Zheng), he will keep his promise. Xiao Feng differs from Guo Jing in the sense that Xiao Feng's nature is brutal, his gentleness grew from his sense of morality. Xiao Feng, in a rage, would raise his hand to strike a doctor who annoyed him, but in an instant he would stop, because his decency controls his violent nature. It's very normal to get angry, but in Xiao Feng's case, he knows that he has the power to kill, so he must control his temper. Guo Jing however, after a long period of pondering wanted to chop off his own daughter's arm, because he has to do what is right according to his principles. I think that's very scary. So, IMO, Xiao Feng is a violent man who became gentle due to his own moral principles, while Guo Jing, gentle by nature, would commit brutal acts to uphold his moral principles. That's why I like Xiao Feng more than Guo Jing.

Young Yang Guo did not have a clear set of moral rules. He is quite amoral, in the sense that it all depends on his feelings. If a person treats him good, he will do the same. If someone treats him badly, he would see him as an enemy.

And then we have people like Duan Yu, Xuzhu and Zhang Wuji who are just nice, good and sweet.

Linghu Chong's philosophy was: "Well if a person wants to kill me, I just can't let him. Even if its a good person, if I am forced to, I'll still use despicable and underhanded methods." But in a real-life situation, he was too compassionate to do so. Incredibly silly of course, but I think it's a very noble thing to do. More noble than Xiao Feng, Guo Jing or Yang Guo. You understand my point?

- Violent guy who tries to control himself
- Supergood guy who has to do good no matter what
- Guy who just doesn't care about morals as long as people don't harm him
- Boring goodygoody sweet and nice guy who doesn't hurt a fly
- A nice guy who says he will be "No More Mr. Nice Guy" if someone harms him, but in the end he still remained a nice guy, despite his boasts.

I somehow prefer the last guy above the rest.

[Dennis Chen]

I prefer the nice guy who tries hard to get everyone to get along.

[flyingfox2002]

I think Lav has given a nice summation of each character. I would disagree with the statement that YG was amoral however. If you considered GJ and WY "good" and OYF "evil," then YG's aiding of OYF could be considered "amoral." However, we know that GJ and WY are good only because of the LOCH history, YG is not privy to the characters' past history. He considered GJ and WY picking on a crazy old man "wrong," thus he did have his own sense of morality, it was just that his morality may have differed from ours. Secondly, he tried to save the Lu Wushuang and Cheng Ying from Lee Mo Chou by throwing himself at LMC (chapter 2), thus it's clear intrinsically he has altruism and chivalry in his blood (which to me is a far better indication of a hero than someone who does the "right thing" because it's the right thing to do), it just took him time to tailor himself to more suit society's definition of what a "hero" should be.

To try to make my point in a clearer way, I would say that YG was not "amoral" in the sense that he had no sense of right and wrong, he simply had a different set of morals than us ("us" meaning the "orthodox" interpretation of "morals") who have a pre-existing bias of which sets of characters are "zheng" and which are "xie." Considering how YG spent his first 14 years of life, it is perfectly understandable that he is not "orthodox" or a "good boy". I think I might still be muddling what I'm trying to say as I am trying to type as quickly as I can from work, but hopefully you understand.

To add a thing about GJ. This man was really strict and tight-a$$ed about society's principles. He had a reason (or an excuse, depending on your perspective) based in perceived-righteousness about every tough decision he had to make.

Also about LWC, he was not afraid to kill if he needed to, but he did not kill unless he had to, which adheres to his principle which he told Feng Qing Yang (Fung Ching Yeung) pretty well.

[Dennis Chen]

Yeah. I would classify Yang Guo as a guy who doesn't care about the 'norms and mores' of his society.

[hentaixp]

sometimes i find that good morals don limit to society's principles but guo jing stick to them so tightly that its like a religion, don't obey , you will deem as a traitor to the gods. morals come straight from heart rather than what society says , imho yang guo has better grasp of what is moral than guo jing

[SkineePanda]

He's much more real than most wuxia heroes yet much more heroic than most real people. He's not like Guo Jing who deems himself responsible for the fate of the entire nation, he's just a regular, easy-going, good-hearted guy at a second-rate martial arts school. No ambitions, no high goals yet somehow find himself in a high position.

Some would put him down for his loyalty for Yue Buqun and his devotion to Yue Lingshan but just part of what makes him so likeble. No one likes a hero who changes his loyalty quickly or easily. If he really did switch sides to Shaolin after finding out he was kicked out, he would've been seen as a oppurtunist. Intead he nearly collapsed and wept when he read the letter, thats true loyalty. For LHC, he really thought he's going to stay in the Huashan school and be with YLS forever. But he gradually realize that it was not the case and it was a painfully hard process. He was depressed and heart-broken. So what? That just makes him real. Who hasn't been down and out? And just how easy is it to say 'just snap out of it' and "get over her and find another girl" but that wouldn't be LHC. That's what make him so likeable, his outstanding qualities(loyalty, devotion, friendliness, righteousness,etc) as a character which makes us like him. And the situations, decisions and ordeals he had to go through which made him easy to relate to. LHC's the man.