 |
This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (February 2009) |
 |
This article may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (February 2009) |
| The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber | |
|---|---|
| Author | Louis Cha |
| Original title | 倚天屠龍記 |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | Chinese |
| Series | Condor Trilogy |
| Genre(s) | Wuxia |
| Publisher | Ming Pao |
| Publication date | 1961 |
| ISBN | 1-58899-183-0 |
| OCLC Number | 51068759 |
| Preceded by | The Return of the Condor Heroes |
The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (simplified Chinese: 倚天屠龙记; traditional Chinese: 倚天屠龍記; pinyin: Yǐ Tiān Tú Lóng Jì; Jyutping: Ji2 Tin1 Tou4 Lung4 Gei3) is a Chinese Wuxia novel by Louis Cha. It was first serialized in Ming Pao in 1961 [1]. The literal translation of the title is The Tale of the Heaven-Reliant and Dragon-Slayer.
Louis Cha revised the novel in 1979 with a number of amendments and additions. This is the edition which is the most familiar to readers. A second revision was published in early 2005, incorporating later thoughts and a lengthier conclusion. The second revision introduced many changes to the plot and cleared up some ambiguities in the second edition, such as the origin of the Nine Yang Manual. However, some fans are disappointed with the new revisions.[citation needed]
The novel was intended to be the third and final installment of a trilogy after The Legend of the Condor Heroes and The Return of the Condor Heroes. The historical background was set in the late Yuan Dynasty, nearly a century after that of the second novel, which is set in the final years of the Song Dynasty.
As typical of many of his other Wuxia novels, Louis Cha implemented elements of history in the story, including characters such as the founder of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang, Chen Youliang, Chang Yuchun, Zhang Sanfeng and factual organisations such as the Ming Cult. The political clash between the Han Chinese and the Mongolians is also prominently featured in the plot.
Contents |
Plot
Set in the late Yuan Dynasty, the story revolves around a pair of priceless and extremely powerful weapons, known respectively as the Heaven-Reliant Sword (倚天劍) and Dragon-Slaying Saber (屠龍刀) which many pugilists covet. Either or both of them are thought to allow their wielder to rule the Wulin, according to a widely circulating rumour in a repeated mantra[1]. The reason for that is lost at the beginning of the story.
The protagonist Zhang Wuji is of mixed heritage: his father Zhang Cuishan hails from the righteous Wudang Sect under the master Zhang Sanfeng, while his mother Yin Susu is from the unorthodox Heavenly Eagle Cult. As a boy, he lives with them and his godfather Xie Xun on the isolated northerly island where he was born. He returns to the Chinese mainland and loses his parents after they are cornered by several pugilists coveting the Dragon-Slaying Saber. At the same time, he is wounded by the Xuan Ming Elders and survives after seeking medical treatment from the physician Hu Qingniu.
His adventures further lead him to discover the long-lost Nine Yang Manual and he masters the skills within, becoming a formidable pugilist. Subsequently, he resolves the conflict between the Persian-based Ming Cult and the six major orthodox sects, who are intent on destroying the "evil" cult. He earns the respect of the Ming Cult's members and becomes its leader after mastering the powerful skill "Heaven and Earth Great Shift". He reforms the cult and helps to improve its relations with the other sects. He becomes a key figurehead in leading the resistance forces to overthrow the tyrannical Yuan Dynasty.
Throughout his adventures, Zhang Wuji finds himself entangled in a complex web of love relationships with four maidens. The first, Yin Li, is a horribly disfigured girl who is actually his cousin. The second, Xiaozhao, is a beautiful Chinese-Persian servant girl who understands him very well. The third, Zhou Zhiruo, is a childhood friend whom he develops a strong bond with. The fourth, Zhao Min, is a Mongolian princess and his former arch-rival. Yin Li is apparently killed in the middle of the story while Xiao Zhao returns to Persia.
Zhou Zhiruo's character is the most complicated of the four as she loves Zhang Wuji, but has to turn against him as she is bound by an oath to her teacher Abbess Mie Jue (who hates and distrusts Zhang). Mie Jue devises a vicious scheme for Zhou to seize the two weapons by exploiting Zhang Wuji's love for Zhou. Zhou also turns vicious after Zhang Wuji reneges his promise to marry her and she swears vengeance on Zhang. Zhao Min is initially Zhang Wuji's rival as they are on opposing sides. However, Zhao Min gradually falls in love with Zhang Wuji after their various encounters and she even turns against her clan to help Zhang Wuji.
At the end of the novel, Zhang Wuji decides to retire from the Jianghu after he mistakenly believes that the Ming Cult's members are intending to turn against him. He decides that Zhao Min is his true love and they leave for a reclusive life far away from society. Zhang Wuji gives up an opportunity to become the emperor as the Ming Cult eventually overthrows the Yuan Dynasty and ideally he will become the new sovereign. Instead, Zhu Yuanzhang becomes the emperor and founds the Ming Dynasty.
The two weapons
The origins
The two weapons, the Heaven-Reliant Sword (倚天劍) and the Dragon-Slaying Saber (屠龍刀), are reforged from a single sword, the Heavy Iron Sword (玄鐵重劍), which Yang Guo wielded in The Return of the Condor Heroes.
The Heavy Iron Sword belonged to Dugu Qiubai, a great swordsman whose skills were unmatched in his lifetime. Yang Guo chanced upon the Heavy Iron Sword while he was recovering from the Love Flower's poison and the loss of his right arm. When Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü depart from Xiangyang, they left the sword with the couple Guo Jing and Huang Rong. The sword was melted and special steel material was added and it was reforged to become two weapons; the Heaven Sword and the Dragon Saber.
In the third revised edition of the novel, the Heaven Sword was reforged from Yang Guo's Gentleman Sword (君子劍) and Xiaolongnü's Lady Sword (淑女劍) while the Dragon Saber's origin remained unchanged.
The secret
Hidden within the blade of the Dragon Saber is a book of military strategies and manoeuvres entitled Wumu Yishu (武穆遺書), authored by Yue Fei. Similarly, concealed in the blade of the Heaven Sword are two scrolls detailing the Nine Yin Manual and Guo Jing's trademark martial arts "Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms".
The Dragon Saber was given to Guo Jing and Huang Rong's son Guo Polu while their younger daughter Guo Xiang inherited the Heaven Sword.
The content of the hidden book and scrolls, in addition to the fact that the weapons can only be damaged and broken when used against each other, was the source of the claim that whoever possesses the Dragon Saber will rule the world and yet only the one who possesses the Heaven Sword can stand against the wielder of the Saber.
The secret of the weapons was passed down only from the leader of each generation of the Emei Sect to her successor. Mie Jue is succeeded by Zhou Zhiruo as leader of Emei and the secret is passed on to her. In the novel, she gains possession of both weapons through her cunning and deception and she breaks them to obtain the contents.
Analogy
In Chinese culture, the Dragon is the symbol of the emperor or sovereign ruler, which is probably why the Saber is featured as a gold-copper blade in many of the adaptations. The full translated name of the Saber is "Dragon-Slaying Saber" (屠龍刀), which implies that it is used to "slay the emperor". The "emperor" refers to the Mongolian Emperor Huizong of Yuan in this case.
Throughout Chinese history, several monarchs have become tyrants just like in legend, when the Dragon goes out of control and becomes a menace. The Heaven Sword's full translated name is "Heaven-Reliant Sword" (倚天劍) as it embodies Heaven. In Chinese culture, the emperor is respectfully called the "Son of Heaven", which implies that Heaven is the ultimate authority in determining who is the sovereign ruler of China.
In other words, the secret within the Dragon-Slaying Saber can be used to "kill" (dethrone) the (Mongolian) emperor and replace him with another (Han Chinese) ruler. Ideally, a brilliant military leader can utilise the textbook to its full potential by staging a successful rebellion to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty and restore Han Chinese rule. However, if the new emperor turns out to be another incompetent or tyrannical monarch, a righteous pugilist can master the skills from the manuals in the Heaven Sword and assassinate the tyrant and replace him with a wise and benevolent emperor.
Characters
Protagonists
- Zhang Wuji (張無忌)
- Zhao Min (赵敏)
- Xiaozhao (小昭)
- Xie Xun (谢逊)
- Zhang Sanfeng (張三丰)
Antagonists
- Zhou Zhiruo (周芷若)
- Cheng Kun (成昆)
- Mie Jue (灭绝)
- Song Qingshu (宋青書)
- Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋)
- Chen Youliang (陳友諒)
Adaptations
Films
| Year | Production | Zhang Wuji | Zhao Min | Zhou Zhiruo | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Omei Film Studios (Hong Kong) | Cantonese language. 2 episodes. Cheung Ying and Bai Yan played Zhang Wuji's parents. | |||
| 1965 | Omei Film Studios (Hong Kong) | Lam Ka Shing | Chan Ho Kau | Connie Chan | Cantonese language. 2 episodes. |
| 1967 | Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) | Cheung Yick | Cheng Pei-pei | Shu Peipei | Entitled "神劍震江湖" |
| 1976 | Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) | Entitled "五毒天羅". Starred Elliot Ngok, Lo Lieh and Jing Li | |||
| 1978 | Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) | Derek Yee | Jing Li | Candice Yu | |
| 1993 | 永盛電影公司 (Hong Kong) | Jet Li | Sharla Cheung | Gigi Lai | Entitled Kung Fu Cult Master (倚天屠龍記之魔教教主). Directed by Wong Jing |
TV series
Due to the fact that the story features a young man choosing between several beautiful women, this story's plot is often customised to showcase the talent of the new actor in each series who plays Zhang Wuji. Each of the TV series features a slightly different beginning and ending.
| Year | Production | Zhang Wuji | Zhao Min | Zhou Zhiruo | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | TVB (Hong Kong) | Adam Cheng | Liza Wang | Angie Chiu | See The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (1978 TV series) |
| 1984 | TTV (Taiwan) | Roy Liu | Liu Yupu | Yu Kexin | Producer Wong Tin-Lam. Roy Liu simultaneously played Zhang Cuishan. |
| 1986 | TVB (Hong Kong) | Tony Leung | Kitty Lai | Sheren Tang | Simon Yam and Carol Cheng played Zhang Wuji's parents. |
| 1994 | TTV (Taiwan) | Steve Ma | Cecilia Yip | Kathy Chow | Steve Ma simultaneously played Zhang Cuishan. |
| 2000 | TVB (Hong Kong) | Lawrence Ng | Gigi Lai | Charmaine Sheh | Damian Lau and Michelle Yim played Zhang Wuji's parents. |
| 2003 | CCTV (Mainland China), CTS (Taiwan), Mediacorp (Singapore) | Alec Su | Alyssa Chia | Gao Yuanyuan | Although a different beginning is featured and Mongolians were featured more prominently, the main plot remains largely unaltered. This version is the first to depict the events in chronological order as opposed to the original novel which was in a revelatory style. Alec Su simultaneously played Zhang Cuishan. |
| 2009 | CCTV (Mainland China) | Deng Chao | Ady An | Liu Jing | Producer Zhang Jizhong |
Comics/Manhua
- Ma Wing Shing (馬榮成), the renowned illustrator of Fung Wan, adapted the story. Louis Cha is credited as the writer while Ma handled the illustration work. In 2002, ComicsOne published an English translation. While the plot details remain intact, some of the story's events were presented out of order from the novel.
Video games
- An old-school RPG adaptation encompasses the entire story.
- In 2000, a newer adaptation was released by Softworld; however, the movie ends after the confrontation at Bright Peak.
- In 2004, SoftWorld released another adaptation. Instead of the traditional turn-based RPG, this version has a real-time battle system (similar to Diablo), and encompasses the entire story.
See also
References
- 倚天屠龙记 百度百科 (Chinese)
External links
- Jin Yong Teahouse (Chinese) - fansite of Jin Yong's novels in Cinese
- Fei Hong Xue Ni (Chinese) - Jin Yong forums in Chinese
- Jin Yong Jianghu (金庸江湖) (Chinese) - fansite, forums and complete works of Jin Yong's novels
- Tales of the Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Slaying Saber (English) - translation of the novel at Wuxiapedia.com
- TV adaptations (English) - fansite
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
