Character Profiles
Breathtaking Mature Beauty Huang Rong (1208-1273)
According to the revised edition of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, she is a woman of the Southern Song era and was once the nineteenth leader of the Beggars' Sect. In the first two books of the Condor Trilogy, Huang Rong develops from her early portrayal in The Legend of the Condor Heroes into the mature woman of Return of the Condor Heroes. Huang Rong is one of Jin Yong's most celebrated heroines.
Critic Wu Aiyi once observed that most other female characters in Jin Yong's work are merely shaped figures, while Huang Rong feels alive: she has strengths and flaws, she grows, changes, and ages like a real woman. After reading these two novels closely, you feel as if you know Huang Rong's whole life. The precision of the writing does not feel like the creation of a character so much as the portrait of someone the author knew and loved.
The most famous online verse about Huang Rong is the Water Immortal: Ice gauze and snow-willow shimmer in layered beauty; a light boat stands like an immortal. Her intricate heart and keen wit move with effortless grace. Frost and wind strip away the green of youth, yet even with white hair and a worn heart, she remains understood. For Jing she is devoted without reserve, using every possible scheme to hold the city walls; for now, the poem must pause.
Her face is stunning beyond compare, impossible to look at directly. She is delicate, lovely, and unrivaled in grace. In a white robe bright as snow, she seems to drift toward you like a fairy from a mountain of ice, a spirit from another age. Her beauty is clear and lively, so extraordinary that even in the first bloom of adulthood she is already the most striking beauty I have ever seen. When her eyes sweep past, her radiance shocks the world and leaves every other beauty looking dull by comparison. Her loveliness has the fresh, rain-washed clarity of the Jiangnan waterways, like dew gathered among blossoms, translucent and pure. Her skin is whiter than snow, her brows and eyes are painted with exquisite precision, and she is slim, bright, and refined. In the wind, her white robe stirs like a lily blooming in the dark, light and pure, giving her all the splendor of youth. Her eyes are crystal-clear and extraordinarily lively, with a quick, unworldly purity. A faint smile often lingers at the corners of her mouth, making her face uniquely beautiful, with a touch of innocent openness and a natural, effortless charm. On Mount Jun, her jade-like face carries a coral flush, as lovely as spring flowers and as bright as dawn; no one could bring themselves to spit at her, and the Beggars' Sect's rule was broken for her alone. On Peach Blossom Island, with her brows lifting and sleeves raised, she dances beneath the flowering trees, her white robe moving with the wind. Even the legendary fairy maidens of the Eastern Sea could not compare with her clear, transcendent beauty.
She seems to come from an immortal isle, untouched by the dust of the world, her aura fresh, pure, and natural. Though still in the first bloom of adulthood, she already carries a playful, almost mischievous innocence. She is a swallow under the eaves of Jiangnan, soft-spoken, elegant, and tender, a true daughter of the south. Full of spirit and radiance, she has a lightness and grace that make her seem like a sprite fallen into the mortal world. Raised on books and poetry, she also carries a refined, literary elegance. Every smile and every glance has the flavor of poetry and painting. Pure, clear, lively, warm, gentle, graceful, and sincere, she is like morning dew newly gathered, like a rare flower just opening, a fairy from beyond the world, unmatched under heaven.
Her eyes are bright and translucent, shining with life. Her large black eyes are especially lively, her lashes long, her brows finely arched, and her expression often soft and pitiful.
Her skin is fair as snow, like white jade. The skin at the back of her neck is smooth and creamy, luminous as frost.
Her hands are soft, warm, and smooth, delicate and boneless, with wrists white as snow.
Her voice is like silver bells, bright and crisp, sweet yet clear, low and lingering, stirring the heart and leaving the spirit drunk with it.
When she first appears, she is petite and slender; a year later, the last traces of girlishness have faded and she has grown into a graceful young woman.
She is quick-witted, incredibly clever, charming, adorable, mischievous, and extraordinarily intelligent, still as still as a virgin and as agile as a startled hare.
She can sing, dance, compose poetry, swim extremely well, and is skilled in the zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, song lyrics, cooking, sign language, numerology, and the arts of Qimen and the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, among many others.
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Heavenly Immortal Xiaolongnü
She is calm and detached, neither sad nor joyful. From the time she was brought up in seclusion, her master taught her not to let emotion show: no crying, no laughing, only stillness and composure. Granny Sun followed the same teachings and would not allow Xiaolongnü to vent joy or anger, so she never learned how to plead for anything, much less how to act spoiled before her master or Granny Sun. After she became Yang Guo's master, she placed herself above him and wore a solemn expression; when Yang Guo joked and teased, she might find it amusing, but she would neither respond nor laugh. Yet the desire to seek affection is part of human nature. Once she left the ancient tomb and devoted herself wholly to loving Yang Guo, she cast those old teachings into the sky and followed her own heart. When she wished to be happy, she was happy; when she wished to grieve, she grieved; she no longer forced herself to suppress her natural feelings. Her heart is crystal-clear, untouched by dust. She is tender and devoted to Yang Guo, and indifferent to the rest of the world.
Ice muscle and jade bone, cold and stunning beyond the ordinary. Like wind brushing over a jade tree and snow wrapped around jade buds, she stands above the common vulgarity and weariness of the world. Her face is pure and beautiful, pale and soft, clear and ethereal, beyond the ordinary, exquisitely lovely, detached from the dust of the world, beautiful as a fairy, enough to topple cities and kingdoms. Her skin is like ice and crystal, as lovely as a flower rising from water, as clear and unearthly as a mountain fairy. She wears a gauze-thin white robe, as if she were standing in mist and smoke, a layer of pale haze surrounding her so that she seems half real and half dream. Apart from her waterfall of long black hair, her whole body is white, startlingly beautiful and impossible to look at directly. Her bearing is elegant and refined, her beauty hard to describe, cold and dazzling all at once. When she smiles, she is like a rare flower just opening, a jade stone gaining its first glow, radiant beyond measure. Yet her skin lacks color and remains unnaturally pale, almost sickly, and even in candlelight her face shows not the slightest flush, which only makes her seem more pure and detached, as though she does not live on the world's food and smoke. She is beautiful beyond compare, pure beyond compare, cold beyond compare. Though born into the mortal world, every glance, every smile, every movement, even a single turn of her head, reveals the aura of an immortal maiden and leaves anyone who sees her intoxicated.
Her gaze is sharp with coldness, clear as autumn water, and as icy as black frost.
Her complexion is white and clean as snow. There is hardly a trace of color in her face, which is as icy and pure as a snowflake.
Her arms are white and radiant like jade, as smooth and pale as lotus roots.
Her voice is soft and lilting, yet there is not the slightest warmth in it. Even her polite speech carries an authority that is hard to resist.
She has a slender, lovely figure, delicate and fragile.
Her expression is cold and distant. She is as clean as ice and snow, and as cold as ice and snow; it is impossible to tell whether she is happy or angry, sad or joyful. Her blankness gives away nothing of her thoughts.
Her bearing is poised and elegant, her beauty hard to put into words. Her sleeves drift in the air as she stands with solemn grace, like a being from the heavens. Her hair falls over her shoulders in soft, glossy black strands, lovely to behold.
She carries a warm fragrance about her, mingled with the fresh scent of flowers and trees from the valley, so intoxicating that it stirs the heart and soul. Her hands are slender and white as jade.
Her feet are small and slender, and her white soles are unbearably lovely.
She usually wears plain white, though she has worn other colors only three times: first, the red wedding dress she wore when Gongsun Zhi tried to make her his wife, and again on the bridal night with Yang Guo; second, the green robe she wore after returning to Xiangyang with Yang Guo, and the Mongolian clothes she wore when they disguised themselves inside Kublai's army; and third, the brown robe she wore at the bottom of the Valley of Heartbreak.
1. Suddenly, outside the curtain, a soft voice said, "Granny Sun, why won't this child stop crying? What is going on?" Yang Guo looked up and saw a white jade-like hand draw back the curtain as a young woman walked in. She wore a thin white robe, as if she were standing in mist and smoke, and looked to be about twenty. Aside from her black hair, her whole body was white, and her face was exquisitely beautiful; only the lack of color in her skin made her look unnaturally pale.
2. Yang Guo looked up and met her gaze. He only felt that the young woman was exquisitely lovely and impossible to stare at directly, yet her expression was cold and distant, as white and cold as snow. He could not help feeling afraid: Is this woman made of crystal, or is she a snow figure? Is she human, a ghost, or some kind of celestial immortal? Though her voice was soft and melodious, there was no warmth in it at all, and for a moment he sat there, too stunned to answer.
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Alluring Mature Beauty Li Mochou
Her manner is coquettish, her eyes bright, her teeth white, her skin fair and supple, her almond eyes and peach-like cheeks full of life, her gaze lively, her cheeks lightly flushed. She is an outstanding beauty.
Yang Guo was shocked and turned around. In the candlelight, he saw at the doorway a striking Daoist nun, her cheeks lightly rosy, a half-smile at the corners of her mouth. It was none other than the Scarlet Serpent Fairy, Li Mochou.
13. Li Mochou secretly admired them: these two had been cheek to cheek and intimately close in the ancient tomb, yet they had still kept to proper conduct; the woman remained a pure and untouched virgin. She rolled up her sleeve, revealing a vivid cinnabar virgin mark, and her two white arms resting side by side made a striking sight. But she herself had only preserved her chastity because she had no choice, whereas her junior sister had someone willing to die for her. Fortune and misfortune were utterly different. Thinking of that, she could not help sighing deeply and let go of Xiaolongnü's hand.
14. In truth, Li Mochou was older, but her beauty was even greater than her disciple's. Hearing this only made her angrier, though she still kept silent.
15. Li Mochou nodded and smiled faintly. "Very well, thank you. My surname is Li, my given name is Mochou. In the martial world they call me the Scarlet Serpent Fairy, and some also call me the Scarlet Serpent Fiend. Have you heard my name before?" Yang Guo shook his head and said, "I haven't. Miss, with beauty like yours, you look as if you have descended from heaven. How could anyone call you a fiend?" Li Mochou was already in her thirties, but her internal power was profound, and her skin was so fair and tender, with not a single wrinkle, that she still looked to be about twenty.
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Headstrong Beauty Guo Fu
Wu Xiuwen's first meeting with Guo Fu: Wu Xiuwen had been brushed off three times in a row and felt rather embarrassed. Looking closely, he saw that she wore a pale green silk robe and a string of bright pearls around her neck, her complexion tender and fair as cream, as if it might drip with water, her eyes lively and her brows long and slender. Even so, he could not help feeling drawn to her because she was so beautiful, yet her stern expression made him shrink back.
Li Mochou's first meeting with Guo Fu: Li Mochou looked at her and saw a young woman with jade-snow skin and painted features, and something moved in her heart. She thought, Madam Guo is said to be one of the great beauties among today's heroes. I wonder how I compare with her? Could this young woman be her daughter?
Yang Guo's first meeting with the younger Guo Fu:
A red-clad young woman came riding toward him, horse and rider together blazing like a lump of fire, with only her white face untouched by red. Seeing the twin sculptures and the red horse, Yang Guo had already guessed that the woman in the saddle was Guo Jing and Huang Rong's daughter, Guo Fu. He had not seen Guo Fu in years, and whenever he thought of her he remembered a spoiled, overbearing woman. Who would have expected that she had now grown into a breathtakingly beautiful young woman with a face like spring blossoms? After the gallop, a sheen of sweat glistened on her forehead, and the red of her cheeks against the red robe made her look even more alluring.
Yang Guo sees Guo Fu again:
Yang Guo turned his head and saw a young woman in a pale green dress stepping quickly out of the temple. Her arched brows, tiny upturned nose, white-jade face, and dawn-bright complexion made her unmistakably Guo Fu. Her clothes were not especially luxurious, only a string of pearls hung at her neck, casting a soft glow that made her look as delicately composed as if she had been carved from powder and jade. Yang Guo glanced at her once and, feeling ashamed beside her, immediately turned away.
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Gentle Beauty Cheng Ying
Cheng Ying is a character in Jin Yong's wuxia novel Return of the Condor Heroes. She was originally the young lady of the Lu family manor, a proper daughter from a distinguished household. After the Lu family was slaughtered by Li Mochou, she barely survived. Huang Yaoshi took her in as his last disciple and taught her the martial arts of Peach Blossom Island and the Five Elements formation. She is inward in temperament and of above-average skill. Her cousin Lu Wushuang is far less skilled and sharp-tongued, and after she causes trouble, Cheng Ying is usually the one who cleans up the mess. Through a chance meeting with Yang Guo, she once fought alongside him against their enemies, and in their mutual respect as a gentleman and a lady, real feelings arose. Yang Guo, however, had no intention of taking her heart, so to make her give up, he became sworn siblings with her. In the end, she remained unmarried and spent her life with her cousin Lu Wushuang.
Appearance: fair-skinned, lovely, gentle, elegant, graceful, slender, with a pale and luminous complexion and skin bright as snow. On her oval face there is a small dimple and a faint hint of shyness. Though she is not as otherworldly as Xiaolongnü, she is still a stunning beauty. Because her skin is so fair, she blushes easily, and when she does, her face turns rose-red and all the lovelier. Sixteen years later, her face was still as smooth as cream, her brows and temples still dark as before, looking just as she had more than a decade earlier, her grace undimmed. The novel gives only a few lines to Cheng Ying's appearance, but her beauty is enough to make Li Mochou feel murderous intent the first time she sees her, to make the strikingly handsome Yang Guo pause, and to shake even the usually arrogant Guo Fu's confidence in her own looks. Cheng Ying is truly beautiful: in a blue robe, slender and graceful, clear and refined, like a supple green bamboo.