| >> | >>29583
It's a classic Terminator 2 type situation. The Condor Heroes is not nearly as interesting of a narrative as Return of the Condor Heroes, so the question is do you want to watch/read one just to better understand the references of another? Here's my approach:
I'd recommend watching Return of the Condor Heroes, the 2006 TV series. Most of it is available on YouTube. If by the third episode, it's something you're interested in, then I'd recommend also reading A Hero Born, which is the first book in the Legend of the Condor Heroes series.
So, to answer you, here is the summary:
Guo Jing is the child of a murdered Song Dynasty patriot, and has been raised by Genghis Khan's army. He's your classic lovable oaf; kind of a dumbass, but very strong and kind. He is fated from birth to fight an enemy who is his opposite in every way. He winds up meeting the son of his father's blood brother, who was with him when he died. The son is Yang Kang, who is a devious fucking asshole, and wants to deny his heritage and conquer Song. They have some crazy adventures and meet a couple of sexy bitches.
Things turn sour because Guo Jing can't deny his heritage and won't help the Mongols invade Song, so Yang Kang tries to poison his girlfriend and accidentally kills himself. Yang Kang leaves behind his girlfriend and their son, Yang Guo. The Mongol invasion stops because Genghis dies suddenly, and Guo Jing and his girlfriend decide to raise Yang Guo. This is where Legend of the Condor Heroes ends.
Return of the Condor Heroes picks up with Yang Guo's childhood, which fucking blows. Guo Jing and his wife hate him because of what an asshole his dad turned into, and this inspires Guo Jing's kids to keep bullying and fucking with Yang Guo, who winds up turning into a huge dipshit asshole.
Guo Jing says "Fuck this kid, fuck that shit" and sends him to go live with monks, who smell like shit and abuse the fuck out of him. Kid runs away from the monks and accidentally winds up in the Tomb of the Living Dead, which is this spooky cave that the monks don't want to fuck with. Inside, he meets this chick named Xiaolongnu (the one in the picture) who is like 16 but has actually been alive for 40 years; she ages really slow because she sleeps on a block of ice, idk.
She ends up raising the kid, who ages normally, and then they fall in love, but the martial arts masters are like "Nooo you can't fuk ur teacher." But because she's secretly the greatest martial artist of all time (she's super fucking enthusiastic), she winds up raising Yang Guo to be the greatest martial artist. So she gets super ashamed and needs some space, so she leaves the narrative for like 16 FUCKING YEARS.
Yang Guo wanders around, getting into some shit here and there. Then he leads the Han Chinese to defend the Song dynasty from the Mongol Empire, which brings it all back around. Xiaolongnu comes back, they get permission to get married because they saved all of fucking China.
The third story is The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, and it's not even about anyone, it's about Yang Guo's fucking sword, which got melted down and made into two other swords. It's not great, don't bother with it. |
