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Hero Born Q3: Guo Jing
Guo Jing's the hero of this story, but is he a worthy one? He's pushed into martial arts training because of a promise by his parents and a bet by the people who rescue them. He struggles to learn the skills, and only progresses when Ma Yu teaches him inner strength. He's always rather naive and innocent and is described as being a bit stupid.
What do you think of the idea of having flawed character as the hero? Do you think it makes the book stronger or weaker?
Comments
I'm not sure he's flawed as such - surely a flaw would be if he soaked up all the training and then went round mugging old ladies for spare cash, or something?
He certainly isn't meeting the trope of being innately able to master all the stuff from birth, but then don't lots of heroes / protagonists have to struggle to come into their own? Or find themselves defeated multiple times before starting to win?
As the book went on I got the feeling that it was necessary for the serial nature of the genre - the technique is developed by the story more than the character.
Guo Jing's unusual flaw is that he's not very bright. Ignorant POV characters are needed so that people can explain things to them. But often POV characters are somewhat aspirational, and I'm not sure how many people will aspire to being a bit thick.
Yes, the very long prologue wasn't necessary, but that's a perennial problem of where to start the story.
I didn't read any very long prologue, I read a fascinating back history. What makes Guo Jing interesting is that his strengths are his weaknesses and his weaknesses are his strengths. The other wulin artists strive to polish their vulnerabilities away, but Guo Jing does not.
...which arguably is the ideal Taoist way to tackle one's weaknesses
Yes - I am assuming this is the path he takes.