1st montage: Qiao Feng
2nd montage: Duan Yu
3rd montage: Xu Zhu
4th montage: Wang Yuyan
5th montage: A'Zhu
6th montage: Zhong Ling
7th montage: Mu Wanqing
8th montage: A'Zi
9th montage: Murong Fu
While one can never simply trust Wikipedia unless there's a green mark, lock, or a star, there are certain things which you'll know is true. That is provided you're in familiar territory.
The Eight Friends
In the Buddhist lore, there are eight entities deemed beyond human. Yet, they still remained bound to Saṃsāra, better known as the cycle of being human (that's the best I can explain it. Sorry). In short, these eight entities are still considered human in terms of desires and emotions. Below is how I'd classify the individual characters accordingly. Note that Louis Cha managed to troll himself upon realizing that his characters have gotten more complicated (read: more humane).
Deva
Duan Yu [段誉]
In Buddhist lore, deva is quintessentially an invisible entity. Unless there's a human having an (?) opened divyacakṣus (i.e. this). This is NOT to say that a deva=a ghost. Rather, we can easily equate them with the concept of "unseen beauty" or "unseen value".
Why him: Duan Yu would be basically one ridiculed as a loser by the standard of the society. However, this lucky lobo actually boasted innate talent (according to that fatso Yue Laosan [岳老三]) and/or pure dumb luck (talk abt having 2 smoking hot gf in the form of Zhong Ling [钟灵] and Mu Wanqing [木婉清]).
A/N: Despite whatever objective view I'm willing to take, I still resent the fact that Louis Cha decided to troll yours truly via the whole Wang Yuyan [王语嫣] deal. Makes sense to the cynics, but utter bs to the romantics.
Nāga
Qiao Feng [乔峰]
The Buddhist equivalent of a serpent, only that they're not evil by default. Also known as dragons [龙], the nāga are in charge of protecting the devas from the wrath of those who called themselves the asūras.
Why him: Qiao Feng was actually the master of the Eighteen Dragon Taming Palms [降龙十八掌], so we can see quite a bit of irony here. However, it must also be said that without the presence of water (i.e. seas, oceans, and rivers), a dragon is as good as ****ed. This is synonymous with Qiao Feng's character development where pretty much 60% of his story was a major identity crisis. That's until we got one bloody Hong-gi becoming his friend. No, I'm not referring to F.T Island. Rather, he's none other than the historical Yelü Hongji [耶律洪基].
A/N: Apparently, Qiao Feng actually taught us a valuable lesson in life-There are many ways to die, but only two ways to live.
Yaksha
Xu Zhu [虚竹]
Yaksha do have an interesting gender divide. If you're a gal, it means you're smoking hot. If you're a guy... well, let's just say that 'tis not so bad being Tyrion Lannister himself. Better known as guardian spirits of mother nature, the Yakshas are quite obviously seen as carefree.
Why him: Two words, one name. 'nuff said. Srsly guys... the real Xu Zhu was anything but a looker. Def not that other Louis. At the same time, above mentioned part on being carefree seemed to be... well, I might as well let the Carefree Sect speaks for itself: 逍遥派掌门.
A/N: I realized getting hitched w/that super hot princess of Xixia [西夏] is like calculating the likelihood of dating Taylor Swift/Daniela Hantuchová/Horikita Maki/Park Shin-hye. Depending on how you see this parallel, it can be either super scary or super lucky. Depends, I guess...
Maybe both?
Garuda
A'Zi [阿紫]
Natural enemy of the nāga, the garuda always enjoy snacking one or a few of 'em. According to the Buddhist lore, the garudas detest the nāga. However, they are also tasked with protecting the devas. Which sounds kinda weird... kinda like how jolly ol' McCain would welcome the Ayatollah singing "bomb... bomb... bomb... bomb, bomb IS..."
Why her: I know it sounds truly weird... but whatever she did in-plot seem to only further that most tragic ending Louis Cha has ever done.
A/N: I could have included You Tanzhi [游坦之] as well, but I prefer to put him under another category. I mean, why would I be so stupid to classify him as Qiao Feng's better? No proof that Qiao Feng would ever lose against this bloke mano-a-mano...
Gandharva
Xu Zhu [虚竹]; Qiao Feng [乔峰]
I'd call this Xu Zhu's grandest moment of reckoning. To every monk, being reborn as a gandharva is tantamount to being proven as a failure. The reason behind this is very simple: Gandharva is quintessentially one of, if not the lowest fella in this caste system. In short, being reborn as one means you've just attained level 1 for your basic ethics. Def reserved for buggers guilty of rape, murder, and victim blaming. Not that buggers in my context should be seen as gay though...
Why them: If you believe in karma (not that I buy it anyway), it means falling from grace=you've done something really bad. Unlike how those real caste supporting mooks view the dalits, there's nothing sinful behind both our heroes becoming untouchables. While it'd be utterly stupid to blame that princess for Xu Zhu's fall from grace, pointing the finger to those trigger happy dudes where Qiao Feng was concerned could be seen as somewhat justified. That is until we see this moment of revelation.
Asura
Murong Fu [慕容复]; Jiu Mozhi [鸠摩智]; Murong Bo [慕容博]; You Tanzhi [游坦之]; Xiao Yuanshan [萧远山]; Duan Yanqing [段延庆]; pretty much 90% of Duan Yu's problem [i.e. 父债子还]
Where should I start??? Okay, let's start w/the last one.
If there's anything in common between father and son, it'd be the tendency to get horny. Okay, I know this is too harsh a judgment on Duan Yu since his only moment of horny lust was actually instigated by Duan Yanqing (i.e. the numero uno of the Four Great Villains [天下四惡 / 四大惡人]. When I reached that part where Duan Yu was forced between having sex w/Mu Wanqing (who by then was alrdy unveiled as Duan Yu's "half-sister"), my heart ended up in my mouth. I was like... "oh shit, let this not happen..." Thankfully everyone managed to bail out w/o losing a hair or virginity. It'd be outright horrendous otherwise since Duan Yanqing was truly a scoundrel.
If only Duan Yu' dad nvr fooled around... ~le sigh~
Not only that, but it seemed that plenty of Duan Zhengchun's old flings might have developed some form of homicidal impulse. Note that only those marked w/* are to be considered homicidal bitches on a homicidal mission.
Dad had sex w/Li Qingluo [李青萝]*, therefore Wang Yuyan became my "sis".
Dad had sex w/Qin Hongmian [秦红棉]*, therefore I nearly had sex w/my "sis".
Dad had sex w/Gan Baobao [甘宝宝], therefore Zhong Ling's dad actually recognized her "bro" since I got bishonen looks.
Dad had sex w/Kang Min [康敏]*, therefore she became a mad bitch horny for my best bro forever. (okay, that's stretching the truth a bit far. Kang Min did try to seduce Qiao Feng though. That was after she's revealed to be a mistress of toy boys)
Dad had sex w/Ruan Xingzhu [阮星竹], therefore my best bro forever nearly killed you. (okay, I admit that Qiao Feng's anger towards Duan Zhengchun was unjustified since everything was instigated by that mad bitch Kang Min. Didn't prevent Qiao Feng from committing culpable homicide tho...)
Then we have Duan Yanqing. Ever wondered how would you feel if that man you loath the most said to others that "he's my son LOLZ!" Basically, that'd either make you a fake bastard (bloke's barking mad) or a real one (that man actually shagged your mom! OH, THE HORRORS OF HELL AND PURGATORY!!!!). Altho to be fair, it was Duan Yu's mom making the first move. Hell hath no fury like a lady scorned, said hell actually provided a road to heaven for her only son. I really envy that Duan Yu...
Ofc we have Qiao Feng's dad. This loony old man was actually the cause of Qiao Feng's misery. Even though his intention was well-meaning (i.e. he couldn't bear the sight of his son serving the enemy like an idiot), his methods actually played vital part where Qiao Feng's untimely ending was concerned. In short, I take back my statement on A'Zi just now. Wait,,, does that mean I should put Xiao Yuanshan as the garuda while A'Zi should be under the kinnara category? Grrr... I screwed up big time here...
Ofc we have Qiao Feng's dad. This loony old man was actually the cause of Qiao Feng's misery. Even though his intention was well-meaning (i.e. he couldn't bear the sight of his son serving the enemy like an idiot), his methods actually played vital part where Qiao Feng's untimely ending was concerned. In short, I take back my statement on A'Zi just now. Wait,,, does that mean I should put Xiao Yuanshan as the garuda while A'Zi should be under the kinnara category? Grrr... I screwed up big time here...
You Tanzhi was a man hell bent on two missions. Mission 1 was to bump off Qiao Feng due to the debacle at the Juxian Manor [聚贤庄]. Mission 2 was to score w/A'Zi. Since the latter was so besotted w/the former (which led to that most tragic ending in wuxia novels), it means Tanzhi actually had to undertake two missions at the same time. One must NOT dismiss the impact which the tragedy at Juxian Manor had on You Tanzhi. In fact, his pseudonym "Zhuang Juxian" [庄聚贤] was not just a way of remembering the past. Above all, it's the glue preventing him from going all into pieces. On one hand, he desired A'Zi NOT b/c of lust. But rather he desired companionship. Something which he craved after everybody else treated him like scum. And all b/c of what? Because his family members were a pack of jerks? Hell no! It was the unforgiving society which chose to be that greatest jerk! Ironically, Qiao Feng was also a victim of that very same jerkass society. Ofc things didn't help that said jerkass society refused to empathize with the likes of A'Zi.
Then we have Murong Bo. This son of a bitch was arguably the architect of pretty much 99% of the tragedy so as to speak. Under the guise of a righteous man (fact was that the Murong family were an upstanding clan right from the get go), he actually instigated the conflict between the northern Song and the northern tribes. So how did he do it? Very simple. By giving fake info. No thanks to his dick dastardly strategy, a perfectly innocent family was forced to death. Long story short, poor Xiao Feng [萧峰] lost his mother to a bunch of bloodthirsty crusaders while his dad attempted suicide. The only catch? Xiao Sr never kicked the bucket. This was when he decided to create his own hit list (I mean Xiao Yuanshan). While it must be stated that Murong Bo's role in the plot was minimal, the impact of his ambition to revive the long gone Yan Kingdom was to be extremely severe (read: starting a war between the proverbial Crusaders and the metaphorical Saracens).
Then we have Jiu Mozhi. Now that bugger is really a damn problematic one. His lust wasn't towards women (since he's a legal monk) nor was it down to power (since his surname wasn't Murong). It's due to a hunger for more power. And all for what? It must be stated that his quest for power was to be that numero uno supremo in the martial arts world. There are many ways to earn respect and fame. Some do it through power, others relied on money. Then there are those who are desperately proving themselves in the name of merit. Jiu Mozhi belonged to the last type. While it's good to be competitive, going to the extremes can AND will have... well, as what the Freakonomics series enjoy quoting, "unintentional consequences". He tried to obtain the manual for the Divine Swords of Six Channels [六脉神剑]. Much to his dismay,
As shit turned out, Duan Yu was the only one suitable for learning this. Why? Because only those from the Dali royalty [大理王室] had the right to learn it. This had nothing to do/ability, but rather the royal birthright. Scarily enough, it seemed that Duan Yu's memory was also super imba. Pretty sure he could easily recall pointless stuff happening more than 10 yrs ago (e.g. who were the ones bullying him 4 teh lolz).
In short, if you're good enough to remember useless stuff, it means you're old enough to remember important stuff.
As you can guess, Jiu Mozhi ain't givin' up just like dat. Pretty much 99% of his role was to hunt down Duan Yu, so that he could truly learn the power written in that holy book. As for the remaining 1%... well, let's just say that even utterly rotten religious bastards like him deserve a break.
If there's anybody capable of embodying the asura, surely it'd be Murong Fu. Just a brief intro on the asura here:
The asuras are seen as technically malevolent entities. This is very different from the other holy 7 in the sense that the rest actually have a decent/superior moral direction. The asura is one brimming with all kinds of negative emotions. One concept is that those departing to the asura realm are individuals who desired to do good, yet somehow managing to screw up by committing harmful acts (something which made Qiao Feng as qualified. Hate where such theory is going, man...). This is especially true for Xiao Yuanshan since the only immoral aspect of his character lies in the methodology (albeit good intentions in many cases tend to be subjective. Read: A'Zi). More damning assessment can be discovered here.
Was Murong Fu someone consumed by ambition? Well, I can pretty much liken his nature with his father. As they say, like father like son [虎父无犬子]. For the sake of his own selfish ambition, he cheated Wang Yuyan's feelings. For the sake of his own selfish ambitions, he desired the hand of that princess of Xixia (which culminated into that most fairy tale climax of the story). For the sake of his own selfish ambition, he had no qualms in spitting upon the basic morals of every human being. Yet, it must be stated that just like those doomed to be reincarnated as an asura, Murong Fu was a victim. He was a victim of circumstances, he ended up becoming his greatest enemy (something that I remembered to be part of the Buddhist dogma). For those who have seen the plot till the very end, I believe you all should understand what I'm talking abt. 'Tis ain't dogmatic rocket science, I'm sure of that...
To be cont'd...
b/c I too ****ing shagged out liao...
But don't worry, preview listed below.
Kinnara
Wang Yuyan [王语嫣]; A'Zhu [阿朱]; Princess Yinchuan [银川公主]
Mahoraga
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