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Thread: Which main characters in wuxia would be good supporting characters in other stories?

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Default Which main characters in wuxia would be good supporting characters in other stories?

    Yes, it's the inverse of that other thread.

    In wuxia fiction, there are some main protagonists who go on to appear as supporting characters of other stories. In the Jin Yong universe, Gwok Jing became a major supporting character in ROCH after having headlined LOCH, and Chan Ga Lok stepped down from the main character role in BOOK & SWORD: GRATITUDE & REVENGE to a supporting character role in FLYING FOX OF SNOWY MOUNTAIN. Over in Gu Long's universe, I believe Lee Chum Foon showed up in a story or two that didn't feature him as the main character, and Tse Hiu Fung went on from being the main character of THIRD YOUNG MASTER'S SWORD to a supporting character in FULL MOON, CURVED SABRE.

    What other main characters who did not appear as supporting characters in other stories, however, could have been good supporting characters? To be a good supporting character, the character must not steal the thunder from the real main character, but must somehow facilitate the story of the actual main character.

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    Senior Member CC's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    Yes, it's the inverse of that other thread.

    What other main characters who did not appear as supporting characters in other stories, however, could have been good supporting characters? To be a good supporting character, the character must not steal the thunder from the real main character, but must somehow facilitate the story of the actual main character.

    'Stealing the thunder' is only possible if the author allows enough screen time. It will have almost no relationship with the characteristics of the 'Main character' from the original novel. So you can stuff any hero into another story safely as long as the author doesn't have him pop up every other chapter and kick butt.
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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CC View Post
    'Stealing the thunder' is only possible if the author allows enough screen time. It will have almost no relationship with the characteristics of the 'Main character' from the original novel. So you can stuff any hero into another story safely as long as the author doesn't have him pop up every other chapter and kick butt.
    I'm not so sure about that. Gwok Jing had significant "screen time" in ROCH, and in many of his appearances, he was awesome...but he didn't make Yeung Gor look bad (at least not as a martial artist) because it was understood that 1). Yeung Gor was still young and developing whereas Gwok Jing had attained his peak and 2). Yeung Gor would eventually attain that peak as well.

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    Senior Member yittz's Avatar
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    Give XF a bit of time he will steal the thunder. I think ZWJ will make a good supporting role.
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    Senior Member CC's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    I'm not so sure about that. Gwok Jing had significant "screen time" in ROCH, and in many of his appearances, he was awesome...but he didn't make Yeung Gor look bad (at least not as a martial artist) because it was understood that 1). Yeung Gor was still young and developing whereas Gwok Jing had attained his peak and 2). Yeung Gor would eventually attain that peak as well.

    Well, GJ did not pop up 'every other chapter' and JY controlled GJ's butt kicking. If GJ had to intercede in the last battle and Dragon Palm GWM after YG got knocked down, that would have made a difference.

    Anyway, thats my point. The author can easily control the 'hero effect'. Its not the character in question. Replace GJ with XF in ROCH and it won't make a difference as long as XF doesn't start smacking people in the face more often than GJ did or break GWM's palms in the first meeting.
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    Quote Originally Posted by yittz View Post
    Give XF a bit of time he will steal the thunder. I think ZWJ will make a good supporting role.
    ZWJ made a good supporting character in the one and only completed wuxia RPG here.
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    chen jia lok makes the perfect supporting character
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    I am also a loyal fan of Old TVB series.althought I am a after 80's ,i think the old tvb series are better then tvb nowadays,recently,i watched the YiTianTuLongJi, played by Tony Leung ,i like Zhangcuishan most of all.he is a handsome,upright,one-girl guy.a hero!

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    Quote Originally Posted by CC View Post
    'Stealing the thunder' is only possible if the author allows enough screen time. It will have almost no relationship with the characteristics of the 'Main character' from the original novel. So you can stuff any hero into another story safely as long as the author doesn't have him pop up every other chapter and kick butt.
    Interestingly enough, over in GL's world, it seems that former main characters manage to steal the thunder with the very LEAST screen time possible.

    Examples include Ah Fei (stole all the thunder in BCLZ), Ye Kai (stole Fu Hongxue's thunder in TYMYD in ONE sentence), Little Li (percy jackson'd everyone and their mothers in their stories at the slightest mention of his name).
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    Quote Originally Posted by bliss View Post
    Interestingly enough, over in GL's world, it seems that former main characters manage to steal the thunder with the very LEAST screen time possible.

    Examples include Ah Fei (stole all the thunder in BCLZ), Ye Kai (stole Fu Hongxue's thunder in TYMYD in ONE sentence), Little Li (percy jackson'd everyone and their mothers in their stories at the slightest mention of his name).
    Little Li made everyone wet their pants at the slightest mention of his name, whether it was about morals or martial arts Ah Fei's appearance made Fu Hongxue and company look like little brats who had just entered jiang hu. Xie Xiaofeng was another figure who everyone warned Ding Peng not to mess with.
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    I feel like in wuxia and even stuff like real life, a person from the previous generation to outclass the new always produces an awesome effects, so probably all characters probably would be good. For example, if XF and DY showing in LOCH to show north and south how dragon palms and finger qi is truly done. Or GJ being awesome in ROCH as we get to see. Would be nice to see someone like XLN and YG go into HSDS and slap around Zhou Zhiruo or the crappy fighter ZWJ. Take the example of sports, people often love the starts of their generations, be it Magic and Bird in 80s, Jordan in 90s, Kobe in 2000s, or lebron now. People will always harp back to their generation saying the dude is the best. Nevertheless, we as readers get to experience it all first hand. So in general, they probably would be all good side characters since they would be theoretically wiser and more powerful in their older age.
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    The NBA is pretty great now. Many good teams. Would be hard to argue the 90's weren't stronger as a whole, and the early 2000's aside from Kobe/Shaq were much weaker, but now advanced defense and offenses are making teams much better even if the talent is debatable.

    Eventually systems will develop into more and more efficient systems, but we still need some transcendent once-a-generation talent like Shaq/Jordan/Lebron/Wilt to appear to utilize it fully! Since the modern era, one player seems to have always risen above the rest. Lebron and Jordan are clear, while Shaq gets SOME debate, but the real debate in my opinion is how much better he could have been had he really, really tried. I don't think Lebron or Jordan could elevate their game much further.

    I wonder if in the future there will be a "4 Greats" period, where 4 players all have claim to the best. If Jordan didn't exist I guess the 90's would be somewhat close...but it would seem more of a who is the best center with Hakeem, Robinson, and young Shaq.

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