Eagle Trilogy

I had read this book when I was in sec 3 and I reread it during the weekend. The title of the book of is The Legend of The Condor Heroes (射雕英雄传).

The 1st time that I heard about this wuxia novel is when I watch Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre. The drama was so good so I went to search for it,I got the translated version of the novels. They are actually a trilogy,the 1st book is The Legend of the Condor Heroes,2nd is The Return of the Condor Heroes (神雕侠侣) and finally the Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre (倚天屠龙记).

The story is set during the Song dynasty-Mongol Invasion-Yuan Dynasty period. (yes,its that long). The first 2 novels are mostly about romance and the mastery of Kung fu.The 3rd novel is about Nationalism.

I don't want to talk of the characters cos there so many of them. I want to focus on the swords and the secret of the swords.

It was revealed that the two weapons, the Heaven Sword (倚天劍) and the Dragon Saber (屠龍刀), were actually reforged from a single sword, the Heavy Black-Iron Sword (玄鐵重劍, xuán tiě zhòng jiàn), which Yang Guo (楊過) wielded in The Return of the Condor Heroes, set nearly a century ago.

The Heavy Iron Sword belonged to Dugu Qiubai (獨孤求敗), 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. Later, when Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü left Xiangyang, they left the sword with the couple Guo Jing (郭靖) and Huang Rong(黃蓉). It was said that 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.

Hidden within the blade of the Dragon Saber was a book of military strategies and manoeuvres entitled Wu Mu Yi Shu (武穆遺書), which was written by the famous Song Dynasty patriot Yue Fei(岳飛). Similarly, hidden within the blade of the Heaven Sword were two scrolls detailing the powerful martial arts Jiu Yin Zhen Jing (九陰真經) and Jiang Long Shi Ba Zhang (降龍十八掌).

The Dragon Saber was given to Guo Jing and Huang Rong's son(郭破虜) while the Heaven Sword was bestowed upon their younger daughter Guo Xiang(郭襄), who would become the founder of the Emei Sect.

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 (thereby revealing the hidden items within), was the source of the claim that whoever possessed 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 via the leaders of the Emei Sec which was succeeded by Zhou Zhiruo as leader of the Emei Sect and the secret was passed on to her. In the novel, she managed to gain possession of both weapons through her cunning and deception and she broke them, thereby obtaining the secret items hidden within them.

Analogy

In Chinese culture, the Dragon is the symbol of the ruler or emperor, which was probably why the Saber was featured to be of a gold-copper colour in many of the adaptations. The full translated name of the Saber is ‘The Dragon-Slaying Saber’ (屠龍刀), as such the name of the weapon implies that it is used to ‘slay the emperor’, which in this case refers to the Mongolian ruler.

However, throughout Chinese history, several rulers have become tyrants, much like the mythical dragon getting out of control and killing innocents. The Heaven Sword’s full translated name is ‘The Heaven-Reliant Sword’ (倚天劍), and the Sword symbolises Heaven. In Chinese culture, the emperor is respectfully called ‘the Son of Heaven’ (天子), thus Heaven is the true and only authority in deciding who the ruler of China should be.

In other words, the secret within the Dragon-Slaying Saber can be used to "kill" (dethrone) the (Mongolian) ruler and replace him with another Han ruler as a brilliant militarist can utilise the military book to its full potential and stage a successful rebellion to overthrow the Mongols and restore Han Chinese rule. However, should the new emperor turn out to be a tyrant the secret within the Heaven-Reliant Sword can be used to destroy the tyrant (kill the tyrant physically with martial arts).