Dugu Qiubai (Traditional Chinese: ª¹ÂÇó¡; Simplified Chinese:
¶À¹ÂÇó°Ü; was a character mentioned in 3 of Jinyong's novels. He
was given the nickname "Sword Devil" to reflect his skill and
devotion in swordsmanship.
Introduction
His skills are legendary as he is one of Jinyong's most mysterious
characters. In fact, he has never made an appearance in any of
them. His legacy is seen in the Return of the Condor Heroes and The
Smiling, Proud Wanderer, as well as the Deer and the Cauldron. He
supposedly achieved the philosophical level of "swordsmanship
without a sword."
His Dugu Nine Swords was described in Smiling Proud Wanderer, used
by Linghu Chong, which contains nine forms to defeat or overcome
any types of attack. It based on the principle of "no patterns
bests any pattern" because one cannot predict (and counter
correspondingly) a move which does not have a pattern. Therefore,
in theory this technique of fighting has no style and cannot be
beaten (given that the wielder is a martial arts adept who can
apply this technique effectively).
The Dugu Nine Swords are all about offensive moves. The idea is
that when one forces one¡¯s enemy to have no other choice but to
defend himself, there is no need to defend one¡¯s self.
Although each move was just one stance, it had endless variations.
The more one learns, the more powerful it becomes when one
comprehended the connections between each stance. The last three
stances are said to be the most difficult ones.
The 9 Stances
General Index Stance (¿ÔEʽ)
Sword-defeating Stance (ÆƦʽ)
Broadsword/Knife-defeating Stance (ÆƵ¶Ê½)
Spear-defeating Stance (ÆÆʽ)
Mace-defeating Stance (ÆƱÞʽ)
Whip-defeating Stance (ÆÆË÷ʽ)
Palm-defeating Stance (ÆÆÕÆʽ)
Arrow-defeating Stance (ÆƼýʽ)
Qi-defeating Stance (ÆÆâʽ)
The first move of the Dugu Nine Swords, General Index Stance, has
many variations to implement the General Index Script.
The second move, Sword-defeating Stance, is to defeat sword styles
from every school.
The third move, Broadsword/Knife-defeating Stance, is to defeat
broadsword/knife moves of Single Knife, Double Knives, Willow-Leaf
Cutlass, Ghost-Beheaded Saber, Large Cleaver, and Horse-Cutting
Blade, etc.
The fourth move, Spear-defeating Stance included techniques to
defeat pole weapons such as long-handled spear, long-handled
halberd, snake-shaped spear, staff, fanged cudgel, white wax stick,
Buddhist monk¡¯s staff, and Buddhist monk¡¯s spade.
The fifth move, Mace-defeating Stance is to defeat short weapons
such as steel club, iron mace, point-sealing peg, crutches, Emei
sting, dagger, war axe, iron plate, octagonal hammer, and iron
awl.
The sixth move, Whip-defeating stance is to defeat flexible weapons
such as long cord, whip, three-section cudgel, chain spear, iron
chain, fishing net, and morningstar.
The seventh move, Palm-defeating Stance is to defeat martial arts
which uses one¡¯s fists, legs, fingers, and palms. If the opponent
would fight against a sword with bare hands, he should be very
skillful in the art that the use of weapons means little to him.
The Palm-breaking Stance included techniques to overcome boxing and
grappling, joint manipulation and point sealing, demon claw and
tiger claw hands, iron sand divine palm, and the type of bare-hand
martial arts.
The eighth move, Arrow-defeating Stance covers many kinds of
missiles and projectiles. To learn this stance, the practitioner
must first learn the skill of distinguishing the type of the
missile by ear. He not only should be capable of blocking the many
kinds of projectiles coming from the enemy with his long sword, but
also redirecting the missiles to counterattack and injure the enemy
with his own missiles.
The ninth move, Qi-defeating Stance, is to defeat opponents who
have great inner energy. In the novel, it was not clearly explained
how this stance actually works. A common evaluation among fans is
that it may base on pin-pointing attacks on certain parts of the
body to prevent the opponent from exerting his qi.
To master these sword techniques, the key lies on comprehension and
not simply rigid memorizing. Once the essence of the sword
techniques is understood, it can be used in endless ways, hence the
idea of no pattern as a stance. Thus during combat, the more these
stances are forgotten, the less restricted the practitioner becomes
by the original stances.
Dugu Qiubai has another technique, namely the Heavy Sword
Technique. It was used by Yang Guo and has a rigorous requirement
on qi energy. This technique emphasizes that simple actions, when
accompanied by potent qi exertion, can be more effective than the
most complicated forms of attacks.
The Heavy Sword Technique requires the Heavy Sword (see below) to
perform. It is stated in the book when Yang Guo was learning this
technique, he commented that average swords would be broken right
away once he exerted/ channelled his qi energy into the sword. The
weight of the Heavy Sword would also boost the power of his thrusts
and swings.
It should also be noted that Yang Guo managed to meet the qi energy
requirement to attain Heavy Sword Technique by following the qi
training process Dugu Qiubai undertook (guided by the Giant
Condor). Later on,Yang Guo became one of the most powerful qi
practitioners in his time. This can be used as the basis to
evaluate the qi energy power of Dugu Qiubai.
[edit]
The Debate
It was argued among fans that whether the Dugu Nine Swords or the
Heavy Sword Technique is more advanced. While there is not a
definite answer (from the writer or the book) to this question,
there is a reference in the JinYong 100 Questions session during an
interview:
Q: Did Yang Guo manage to learn Dugu Qiubai's swordsmanship? How
advanced he was in the area of martial arts?
A(Jinyong): Partly because Dugu Qiubai had not passed on a complete
record/ script, his (Yang Guo) swordsmanship was not very strong.
Yet his qi energy was stronger than Linghu Chong, as he had been
training in the waterfall for sixteen years.
[edit]
The Tomb of Swords
Dugu Qiubai wrote about himself (this is what Yang Guo read at the
Dugu's Tomb):
"Having roamed the martial arts world for more than thirty years, I
have killed all my villainous foes and defeated all heroic
champions, under Heaven there's no one who can be my equal. Without
any other choice, I could only retreat and live in seclusion in
this deep valley, with a condor as my companion. Alas, throughout
my life I searched for a good adversary but in vain, I am truly
lonely and saddened. DEMONIC SWORDSMAN DUGU QIUBAI"
In his Sword Tomb, it is stated:
"The Demonic Swordsman Dugu Qiubai has become the invincible and
unchallenged warrior under Heaven, he therefore buried his swords
here. Alas, the heroes of the realm bowed down before me, now my
long sword is of no use anymore... the agony!"
The first sword - "Fierce and aggressive, able to penetrate every
obstacle. With it, I competed with the heroes of the Northern
Plains during my teenage years."
The second sword - "The Violet Flexible Sword, used it prior to the
age of thirty. I accidentally wounded a righteous man with it, it
turned out to be a Weapon of Doom. I felt great remorse and
abandoned the sword in a deep valley."
The third sword - "The Heavy, Blunt Sword, complexity is useless.
Before I reached the age of forty, I used it to roam the entire
Empire under Heaven."
The fourth sword - "After the age of forty, I no longer relied on
weaponry. Trees, bamboo and rock can all be my swords. From then
on, the essence of my cultivation slowly reached the level of
overcoming the sword without a sword."
Film and Television
He appeared in a movie, The Ashes of Time, filmed by Wong Kar Wai
with permission from Jinyong who received credit as co-writer. The
movie was a prequel to the Legend of the Condor Heroes.
TVB filmed a TV series on Dugu Qiubai, but the story was created by
TVB and is by no means considered canon.
