And better than the Sweeper Monk? Sacrilege!!
Trying to compare characters between books is far more problematic, though. There isn't much basis for comparison, and the older=better argument is not sound. So I have to compare what the characters are described as being able to do, and how good they are compared to the rest of the character in their story. By the end, Sek Poh Tin can do things that I can't imagine any other character pulling off, and it would take 10 or 20 (or 30 or more) of the top fighters to be able to match him. As far as I can tell, no other novel protagonist is even close. I don't even think that neither the Sweeper Monk nor Tin San Tong Lo would be able to beat him.
And better than the Sweeper Monk? Sacrilege!!
Who is smarter?
Sek Poh Tin is not stupid, but the Sweeper Monk is really sharp.
Sek Poh Tin: 0 Sweeper Monk: 1
Who is more saintly?
Sek Poh Tin, obviously.
Sek Poh Tin: 1 Sweeper Monk: 1
Who has better luck with women?
Sek Poh Tin has a bit of luck. The Sweeper Monk is, well, a monk.
Sek Poh Tin: 2 Sweeper Monk: 1
Who has nuttier martial arts?
The Sweeper Monk is just really strong, but Sek Poh Tin's skills are just bizarre.
Sek Poh Tin: 3 Sweeper Monk: 1
Who is more weird?
The Sweeper Monk observed the two nasties in the Shaolin temple and didn't say anything.
Sek Poh Tin: 3 Sweeper Monk: 2
Who is the better cook?
Sek Poh Tin wins this one.
Sek Poh Tin: 4 Sweeper Monk: 2
Who is better at cleaning up?
Tie. The Sweeper Monk is the world's best janitor, but Sek Poh Tin does laundry as well.
Sek Poh Tin: 4 Sweeper Monk: 2
The Sweeper Monk gets a 10 point bonus for being bald. For having the better name, Gow Dzap Jhung gets a bonus of 5000 points.
Thus, in my highly scientific analysis, Sek Poh Tin wins by a score of 5004-12 (with a standard deviation of +/- 2 points).
P/S:The theory the older generation has better kungfu level is not true but DGSD was the peak where all the kungfu at its highest level and began sliding afterwards.
Most people agree that the kung fu level started sliding after DGSD, but what about SoD? You have Star Draining Kung Fu, DG9Swords and Qua Hua Bo Deem. How do those compare?
Obviously I'm not being serious about Sek Poh Tin being that much better than the Sweeper Monk. It's just not possible to make any real comparison of fighting skill. I personally think that Sek Poh Tin is better, but someone can claim otherwise. Not only could both our arguments be valid, but both of us could be absolutely right (heck, I argue with myself on this kind of topic all the time). It is in the eye of the beholder.
When I first read about the Sweeper Monk, I was impressed by his skill. But I was much more impressed by his strength of will. Being able to floor an opponent with a single blow is not as awesome as ending a feud peacefully. Of all the martial artist in Demigods and Semi-Devils, none have the spiritual balance that the Sweeper Monk has.
By the same token, martial arts do not define Sek Poh Tin. Instead, his nature is his prevailing virtue. In the entire novel, he did not start a single fight, he did not knowingly insult anyone, and he went out of his way to help anyone he could. In him, we can find a strange combination of high intelligence and extreme innocence. Even after he underwent the trials and tribulations of the martial world, Sek Poh Tin still managed to hold a very positive view of the people around him. Hostility, hatred, and vengeance are all completely foreign to him. His character works for me. It's not because I am anything like him, but because I am inspired by the possibility that anyone like Sek Poh Tin exists.
Oh, by the way, if someone can correct me on any mistakes I made, I would appreciate it. My information is from the novels, but my Chinese could use some improvement.
- Perfectly balanced Yin and Yang, very powerful
- It gave him enormous strength
- Allowed massive jumps (but he didn�t know how to land!)
- Rendered poisons harmless to him
- For a short time, Sek Poh Tin could force poison gas from his hands
- He could absorb blows from very good fighters with no ill effect
Bits and pieces of Snowy Mountain Sword form
Ding But 3�s martial arts from Ding Dong
Ding But 4�s martial arts
Gum Wu Dao sabre form
Basic martial arts from his parents (before this Sek Poh Tin didn�t really know how to fight. He just used whatever seemed to be a good idea.)
Martial Arts from the poem Hap Hak Hang. This is actually more a martial arts suite like 9 Yin than a regular form. There are 30 phrases in the poem, one phrase would teach sword techniques, the next taught leaping ability, etc. Whoever learned any of the techniques would be the best in the world at it. Even those who learned incorrectly raised their skills to phenomenal levels (Dheng 3 and Lee 4 are hardly the best, but they still could take on a hundred martial artists). Sek Poh Tin learned all the techniques properly. When he learned the last phrase, the poem took control of him and he started destroying the writing. The two masters of the island (almost certainly the best fighters in the world) tried to stop him, but they couldn�t. Sek Poh Tin was completely unaware of what happened after the fight was over (of course, he is usually unaware of what happened at any time).
In my mind, the poem turns the novel into a fantasy. It is simply too strange and grants amazing powers (governments and corporations would love to get a hold of the mind control techniques).
P.S. I didn�t take umbrage at anything. I just felt that Sek Poh Tin�s character was much more interesting than his fighting skills. I also wish that these characters are noticed for something other than their martial arts.
I would still like to receive any clarifications/corrections if I have any inaccuracies.
The TV show was on a few weeks ago, but I only caught a couple of episodes (school�s fault), but it was obvious that it was nothing like the book. The good news on this front is that there is a mainland production of Hap Hak Hang in process. I don�t know any details about it though.
let's do another comparison.
both sweeper monk and sek por tin can defeat their opponents with kung fu, but wsb doesn't need it. he'll just make you turn around and then he'll stab you.
wsb 1pt the other 2 0pt
sweeper monk is a monk and has no woman while sek por tin only has one woman. wsb, with 7 wives and mabye more after the story ended.
wsb 7pts and the other 2 0pts.
i forgot, but how many opponents have both sweeper monk and sek por tin defeated. oh well
wsb 200pts and the other 2 200pts for defeating 200 opponents each. well, it's probably a lot more or a lot less, but no time to count.
who's smarter?
jm 5 pts, sek por tin 2 pts, and wsb 10000 pts.
who's got more money?
wsb $2 million something (around there) during the ching dynasty. jm $0 cause he's a monk. sek por tin $10 maybe during the ming dynasty.
wsb 2million pts. jm and sek por tin 10pts, but $10 in the ming dynasty is like $100 in the ching dynasty.
so the pts are. wsb 2million pts. sek por tin and sm 100pts.
so the total is ws 1 billion some odd pts (give or take from other stuff that i didn't mention), while sek por tin and jm combine are less than a 1000 pts.
therefore, wsb is invincible!!!
You catch on really fast, and I agree with your assessment. The only change I would make is to deduct 5 or 6 points from Siu Bao because of some of the nasty things he did, and award him a 5 or 6 point bonus for doing them so well.
I am still a little disturbed though. You used my highly scientific, hyper-accurate analysis without paying me any royalties. But you did such a good job that I have to let you off with a compliment. Keep up the good work (but never use it for evil).