Fandom nonsense: wuxia, xianxia, danmei, baihe, Kinnporsche. Also languages, writing, history, orchids. Yi Citizen. In my 30s.
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katzenfabrik/pseuds/villainousfriend


This morning I laughed at my boyfriend for getting 'Pinball Wizard' stuck in his head, only to pick up Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils again at chapter 31, in which Duan Yu tries to solve the Zhen Long weiqi puzzle of the Deaf-Mute Old Man, Mr Intelligent, whereupon I of course got the same thing stuck in my head.

Really, all I need in a media platform is the ability to obnoxiously livetweet my book reading. Being off and on Twitter, I've missed a lot of chances to rag on Duan Yu (omg this NERD (affectionate) (also derogatory)).

This is the version of DGSD I'm reading, by the way. It's a fan translation by multiple contributors, lovingly rescued from forum posts and saved on that site. While I greatly appreciate the work of both translation and archiving, it's made for an uneven reading experience. If you're not desperate to read the story now-now-now, I'd advise waiting for a while, because there's going to be an official English translation, by Jonathan Hui. (How long does it take a book to go from 'someone is under contract to translate it' to 'it's in my grabby hands'? Probably ages, when it's as long as this one, I suppose.) Hui also gave this lecture, Is Jin Yong 'China's Tolkien'?, and while I know the face you're probably making at that question because I made it myself, I do recommend watching that or reading the transcript. The answer is more-or-less, 'yes, but not for the reasons people usually say that.'


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in reply to @villainousfriend's post:

Omg you're like the second English speaking person I've come across in the ether who knows what DG&SD is! I forced an American friend to rewatch the 2003 adaptation with me and basically had to pause every 3 seconds to drag the subtitle--even now reading your post, Deaf Mute Old Man is such an unfortunate translation 🥲 I'm lucky growing up on Jin Yong in a country with plenty great translations, but the fact that there hasn't been a good English translation for this classic is bonker!

How far along are you? Who's your favorite villain so far (because the villain cast in this series is just particularly delicious)?

It's incredible how few official English translations there are for Jin Yong's works! It feels like they're beginning to break through now, and I really hope that continues (plus more wuxia authors, please!!).

I just started reading Book 4, so I'm nearly 2/3 of the way through the story. Gah, it's so hard to pick a favourite villain... A-Zi started off entertainingly awful, but the way she's been ratcheting up her cruel behaviour makes me a little scared of where it will end (the last I saw of her was when she was using You Tanzhi to trap bugs to make poison with). The Four Evils are weirdly compelling, plus the Divine Croc of the South Sea (not a great translated title) is hilarious, and I really liked how the first translator in the version I'm reading managed to replicate their naming scheme: Evil Overflowing the Cup, No Evil Left Undone, Vicious Evil Demon Fiend, and To the Core Evil.

Possibly my left-field choice is Kang Min / Madam Ma, because of how much I enjoyed the scene where she drugged Duan Zhengchun—it was honestly satisfying to see one of his ex-girlfriends get some revenge on him!

What about you?

Ooh all good choices. I read the book nearly 2 decades ago so what I mostly remember is from the adaptations (which again, 2003 version highly recommend, still the best adaptation of this novel IMO--I checked out the 2021 version and god it was awful)

I think the Southern Crocodile ends up a favorite character after my latest rewatch--not really as villain though, just as a character! He's hilarious and brings so much levity to the sometimes really dark storyline.

Actually agree with you on Kang Min, except for her ending. The actress for Kang Min was also amazing, really charismatic, and not just a seductress.

I think you probably haven't met Xu Zhu yet...? His "teacher" is also one of my favorite villain-ish figures.

But overall... Duan Zhengchun is honestly the real evil of the story.

Duan Zhengchun is honestly the real evil of the story.

He truly is!

I just read the part where Xu Zhu meets his ‘teacher’, and I’m very curious what’s going to happen to him in future! The Divine Skill of the Northern Darkness to suck out somebody’s internal energy was bad enough when it was just stealing the energy, but to hear him say that it stole all of Xu Zhu’s Shaolin-taught martial skill is a new level of horror. I like it!