Who do you -like- the most from Smiling Proud Wanderers?

[Wu Xing]

Inspired by PJ's "Who do you -hate- the most from Smiling Proud Wanderers?". I create this new thread (it is my first time to create a new thread).

I believe SPW is one of JY's most complex novels in term of character design. I think there are a lot that we can discuss. Although many people in this forum have discussed about all these characters before here and there, it is probably interesting to put into one thread (if no one has done it before).

In SPW, all characters has flaws and no one is perfect. All of them probably has both qualities we like or don't like. How can we like someone by the good qualities and overlook other not-so-good qualities?

Therefore, to balance what PJ has begun, do you have passionately liked/loved anyone from SPW?

[PJ]

It seems, people are much more interested in hating than loving.
What a bitter forum this is

[Ren Wo Xing]

Three guesses, and the first two don't count.

[Wu Xing]

It seems, people are much more interested in hating than loving.
What a bitter forum this is

PJ, I'm thinking exactly same thing as you.

[Candide]

Three guesses, and the first two don't count.

1: Ren Ying Ying

2: Xiang Wan Tian

3: Dong Fang Bu Bai


My favourite: Ren Ying Ying. I like pretty girls who are little shy when I'm around but can also be feisty & playful, and can be deadly to other dudes. Her personality is my type in real life as well.

LHC would've been my favourite if it had not been for his screwing up at the 5 Swords Schools meeting.

[pannonian]

Qu Feiyan, Xiang Wentian, Zheng E.

[PJ]

From an ELOC perspective, I like GREAT YIN YANG PALM Yue Hou the most. Great name, Great feat.

From a personality perspective, I like a lot of people.

[pannonian]

From an ELOC perspective, I like GREAT YIN YANG PALM Yue Hou the most. Great name, Great feat.

From a personality perspective, I like a lot of people.

What do you think of Moore Watson?

[yittz]

XWT, RYY, RWX and Sect leader Mo of HengShan.

Although Madam Yue is great as a person, I find her boring as a character.

[smurf120]

I tend to like the selfless and smart characters so Ren Ying Ying ranks top for me. Then its Linghu Chong due to his open and heroic personality (big strike against him is yearning for YLS and general hesitancy).

I find Yu Lin (the nun) adorable and naive and the Blue Phoenix to be worldly and interesting. Xiang Wan Tian is smart and vicious (I guess that's what it takes to run a sect) but also not afraid to stand up to admit things.

The 6 Peach Fairies can alternate in the like/hate list.

Fav secret character is Feng Qing Yeung (I call them secret characters because our hero sees them but their identity not well known to others or don't show up often includes Mo Da (?), Yu Lin's mom)

[Ren Wo Xing]

Fang Zheng: Arguably the best Shaolin abbot in all of Jinyong's novels in terms of character, and possibly in martial arts as well, at least respective to the others in the same novel (by the end of the book, with DFBB dead, he was almost certainly #1 or #2 in the entire Wulin, depending on how good Feng Qingyang was). This is not the case in any other Jinyong novel.

Mo Da: His name literally means, "Not Big"! His nickname is "The Night Rain over Xiao and Xiang"! How can you not like a guy like that? His temperament and character is very strange and unique as well.

Ren Woxing: Nothing needs to be said here. Arguably the most keenly intelligent man in the entire novel (and one of the most intelligent men in all of Jinyong's novels), with tremendously profound martial arts and an insightful mind, and a straightforward character, who is generally possessed of excellent judgement regarding other people. Quite frankly, the best 'villain' (I almost want to call him an 'antihero') in all of Jinyong.

Ning Zhongze: The "Jade Maiden of Huashan" is one of the most heroic women in Jinyong, who received praise even from Ren Woxing for her heroic and straightforward spirit. She understood Linghu Chong better than perhaps any. Alas, as Ren Woxing said, she was a "flower stuck on a pile of dung" in the form of Yue Buqun.

[Wu Xing]

It has been a long time since I read the whole novel. Through time, I lost many of my personal feeling on many characters in the novel. It is probably because of JY's idea of creating this novel based on his political idea. My impression of the novel is more on the storyline and the role/relationship among characters rather than any individual character (which is somewhat different from JY's other novels such as LOCH, ROCH, HSDS, DGSD, etc.).

Although there are a number of characters in SPW that I really like (such as Linghu Chong, Feng Qingyang, Ning Zhongze, Yilin, Ren Yingying, Chongxu, Fangzheng, etc.), I don't really have any special feeling in my current memory for most of them. I did spend some of my time try to come up with name(s) that I believe I like the most...surprisingly it was not easy. However, eventually, one name came to my mind and I believe that I really like this character. I think he is really a cool person. Unfortunately, he appear only short period of time in the novel.

His name is ... Mo Da ...‘Night Rain of Xiao Xiang,’ the leader of Hengshan Sword School. His appearance and personality in the novel, to me, is very interesting. Only thing that I feel bad for him is about he was "defeated" by Yue Lingshan in the 5 Swords Schools meeting...which personally I don't accept that he was really defeated by her. And..no...it doesn't mean that I don't like Yue Lingshan because of this.

[HuangYushi]

1. Mo Da.
2. Xiang Wentian.
3. Ning Zhongze: But her character could have been better developed.

[shen diao xia]

(1) RYY after RWX is dead
(2) RYY after meeting LHC
(3) RYY before meeting LHC

She's definitely the type of woman for me after XLN (provided she does not run away all the time).

[PJ]

OK, my SPW picks will all be ELOC. To hell with the main characters.

1. GREAT YIN YANG PALM Yue Hou

2. Master of Wind & Thunder Hall, Tong Baixiong

3. CONDOR HERO Shangguan Yun

[Ren Wo Xing]

Yue Hou is a rather decent chap, and of course, his long distance Yin Yang Palms is one more instance of amazing XAJH abilities.

Great choice on Tong Baixiong! Tong Baixiong is a superb character indeed! Faithful and loyal to his friends, with outstanding martial arts, and yet absolutely stubborn and determined and unshakable in his resolve. He repeatedly clashed heads with Ren Woxing when the latter was still the sect leader, executed another Elder who tried to prevent Dongfang Bubai from becoming the new sect leader, then resisted against Yang Lianting when the latter was causing havok the sect. He is indeed an awe-inspiring heroic figure of Jianghu, who I would rank very highly as well. Only, he didn't appear until very late in the novel, and had only a cameo appearance, which is why I didn't think of him.

Although, I'm not sure why you picked Shangguan Yun. Although he was supposedly a heroic, straightforward character in the pre-novel era, due to DFBB and Yang Lianting, by the time he was introduced in the novel, he had become an ***-kisser, which disappointed Ren Woxing greatly.

[pannonian]

Does no-one have any love for Moore Watson, the wine connoisseur?

[Wellesley]

I like many characters in this novel, but my favorite is Ren Wo Xing. Xiang Wen Tian is another of my favorites in this novel, and I am very surprised that many other forum members like him as well.

In terms of which character would I wish for Jin Yong to elaborate more on, perhaps detailing his past more, that would be Ren Wo Xing. Such a flashback would make for a very entertaining read.

Ren Wo Xing did more with shards of Beiming than Ou Yang Feng did with half or so of 9 Yin, as Ren created a different and powerful martial art. Of course Ou Yang Feng created Hamo Gong, countered all the techniques of the Dog Beating stick so I admire his genius too.

Another reason I like Ren Wo Xing is because of his superb intelligence; the plans he hatched to conquer the other schools were excellent. His dirty tactics and Jing Wuming style courage that overcame FangZheng were very impressive too.

Furthermore, he is a master at using weapons as well as fighting unarmed, on top of being an inner power inventor. His bare fingers are enough to remove the heart of a man armored with a suit that is invulnerable to swords and sabers.

Ren is a villain, but he does not harm people without a reason. I think the only villains that I truly abbhor are rapists like Tian BoGuang or those who torture needlessly, maybe because I have accepted the fact that death is a normal thing in the past world, where people had to compete ruthlessly to survive.

I also liked his background story of trying to solve the problems of his martial arts and being imprisoned under a lake.

Did Ren solve the weakness of XiXin Da Fa? I believe he did, but perhaps the damage has already been done throughout the years and that's why he died so suddenly. Maybe Ren reached the state where the foreign inner power streams cannot do further damage to him, but he had already suffered too much in the past.

Other characters that I liked reading about in SPW would be Lin Pingzhi, as I'm sure most JY characters can admire his filial piety, he is sort of the opposite of Zhang Wuji, whom I don't like.

I like reading about mr. Black-White as well, I thought he was a very original character, he would blend in well in a Gu Long novel. I like his martial arts style, and his inner power and finger technique are pretty cool too.

Yue Buqun, even though I hate hypocritical politicians in real life, is an interesting character, so is Zuo Lengchan.

[Extremer88]

Yue Buqun, even though I hate hypocritical politicians in real life, is an interesting character, so is Zuo Lengchan.

This is the first time I saw someone saying Yue Buqun is interesting. Nice one, Wellesley.

[Wellesley]

Hehe I find YBQ to be much more interesting and dangerous than Golden Wheel Monk would could be the main villain in a child's story.