Could GWM's eldest disciple have helped GWM be more successful in ROCH?

[Ken Cheng]

The Golden Wheel Monk has a reputation for failure in ROCH. A huge part of his failures can be attributed to his own choking in battle at critical junctures, but a part of it is also because he really didn't have much good help in his endeavors during ROCH. The other Mongol mercenaries that Kublai Khan hired were more competitors than assistants, and they hindered the Golden Wheel Monk more than helped him. Moreover, the Golden Wheel Monk's two living disciples, Dat Yee Ba and Fok Do, weren't very helpful to him either. For starters, both Dat and Fok were relatively weak martial artists. Compounding this was Dat being a dimwit and Fok having issues with courage/loyalty.

The Golden Wheel Monk's first disciple died sometime before we first encounter the Golden Wheel Monk in ROCH and thus, never appeared alive in the story. From what is *said* about this first disciple, however, he was much better than Dat Yee Ba and Fok Do in all departments.

If this first disciple had not died and was still serving the Golden Wheel Monk in ROCH, would the Golden Wheel Monk have been more successful in his endeavors during the story?

[goodrick]

Not sure if he would be more successful but it definitely wouldn't hurt to have a great disciple assisting GWM in his evil quests.