[Answer] The Three Male Leads of The Legend of the Condor Heroes vs. the Three Brothers of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils: In a Team Battle, Who Laughs Last?

[Answer] The Three Male Leads of The Legend of the Condor Heroes vs. the Three Brothers of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils: In a Team Battle, Who Laughs Last?

Let me start with the conclusion: the Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils trio wins handily. They could probably wipe out the Condor cast in an instant. Here’s why.

Jin Yong’s martial world, taken as a whole, has a general pattern: each generation is weaker than the one before it. You can see this in the rapid decline after the era of the first Mount Hua tournament, and also in the long arc from a martial genius like Huang Shang to the near-collapse of martial arts by Wei Xiaobao’s time. So in terms of power scaling, comparisons really only make sense within the same generation of the jianghu. Once you move several generations later, there is usually significant decline.

From the historical setting alone, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils takes place during the reign of Emperor Zhezong of Song, while The Legend of the Condor Heroes is set in the time of Emperors Ningzong and Lizong of Song. That puts them roughly a hundred years apart. Even the Beggars’ Sect leadership reflects this: from its ninth chief, Qiao Feng, to its eighteenth chief, Hong Qigong, and nineteenth chief, Huang Rong.

Just looking at the sharp drop in martial attainment across the three successive Beggars’ Sect chiefs—Hong Qigong, then Huang Rong, then Lu Youjiao—you can imagine how many elite techniques were lost, and how much the sect’s martial tradition had faded, between the ninth generation and the eighteenth or nineteenth.

Of course, if you look at it from the angle of Tian Ji’s horse-racing strategy, then the very top fighters of the Condor era would probably still be able to defeat minor figures from the Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils era. But since the two teams being compared here are both the standout elites of their respective ages, the difference in level is obvious at a glance.

Q.E.D.