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Thread: Would it really be that bad if certain wuxia villains achieved supreme power?

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Jul 2008


    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    Many wuxia villains are motivated by power...specifically, power within wulin. Hence, they covet supreme martial arts skills so that no one could challenge them. That's why West Poison Au Yeung Fung risked everything to gain the 9 Yum Jen Ging, and why Dung Fong But Bai and Ngok But Kwun gave up manhood itself in an attempt to master the Qwai Fa Bo Deen. It's almost Wuxia Villain Cliche # 1.

    Hence, in each wuxia story with this plot development, the good/heroic characters struggle valiantly to thwart these villains from achieving martial arts supremacy. The heroes typically are concerned about the villains' threat to *wulin*.

    Think about that for a moment: wulin represented a very small portion of the overall population, and since people in wulin *chose* to adopt a career and lifestyle that they knew to be inherently violent and dangerous, isn't getting killed by a powerful martial artist just part of the deal? A natural occupational hazard that comes with the career?

    It's not as if the likes of Au Yeung Fung, Kau Cheen Yan, Dung Fong But Bai, or Ngok But Kwun would become major menaces to the general population if they achieved martial arts supremacy. If any of these individuals became the most powerful martial artist in the world, their enemies might suffer...and *maybe* wulin in general might suffer (although that remains to be proven; the above individuals might not be heroes, but given supreme power, who says they wouldn't use it for positive ends?), but it's not as if Au Yeung Fung or Dung Fong But Bai would suddenly go out and eat babies and torture senior citizens after having mastered the 9 Yum Jen Ging or the Qwai Fa Bo Deen. These wulin villains posed very little threat to the general population no matter how powerful they became; the only people who really had to worry about them were their wulin enemies.

    Now there's an exception for certain villains: Mo Yung Bok would have used his martial arts as a stepping stone for rebuilding his Yin Empire in a bid for world conquest, but that's because he had political ambitions that stretched way beyond wulin. Lee Mok Sau would have posed a threat because she was just plain cruel. Mui Chiu Fung would have been dangerous because she needed random targets for practicing her martial arts. For the most part, however, wulin menaces contained their troublemaking to wulin, and the scope of their menace was really limited.

    That's why the heroic quest to "save wulin" doesn't impress me much; wulin, for the most part, can take care of itself. It's those who *can't* fight for themselves that I think should concern the heroes more.
    either zuo leng chan or yue bu qun would have became emperor of china if left unchecked.

  2. #22
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2002

    Default Would villains gaining power actually be bad?

    I was watching reruns of "The Return of Chor Lau Heung" starring the dreamy Michael Miu and Simon Yam, and a big part of the plot is stopping the villanous Bat Prince from becoming the king's heir.

    But would it actually be that bad?

    This guy has the discipline to train himself to be one of the best martial artists in the world, created an underground empire from scratch (and according to weird series chronology, pretty sure he's only ~20-25 years old) that rivals all of wulin, and is clearly one of the most intelligent people portrayed. On the other end, we have a weak king that doesn't seem to have much control over his government, received his authority through birthright, and doesn't seem particularly competent.

    As shown, the Bat Prince was not particularly evil or needlessly cruel; he was just efficient and ruthless when administering the rules which he set forth from the ones who agreed to serve him. He was charming and charismatic, and could easily charm the masses into doing what he wanted, but had a dark side that would do whatever he needed to accomplish the necessary goals -- i.e. the perfect traits for a king.

    It seems so natural to oppose the baddie into becoming king, but it sure does seem like he would have made a pretty good king!

  3. #23
    Senior Member
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    Oct 2002


    You know the saying: "The winner becomes king, the loser becomes the bandit".

  4. #24
    Senior Member Mandred Skavenslayer's Avatar
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    Jan 2014


    I agree that Bat Prince was very capable, but he was also vindictive and mentally damaged. If given absolute power he might have turned into another First Emperor.

    If we only talk about abilty then Chor Lau Heung would be perfect. He was just as able and sane.

  5. #25
    Junior Member
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    Jun 2013


    Yea I agree that OYF becoming #1 wouldn't pose much of a threat to the general population.

    MCF would be fine too if someone told her that she doesn't have to literally practice on human skulls... She'll probably still want to kill GJ and JN7G, but other than that she doesn't have much motivation to do much else

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