The most common problem in long stories is that the strength of the characters is inconsistent, which is very common in Jin Yong's martial arts stories, such as in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", the Jiangnan Seven Monsters were also regarded as the overlords of the Jiangnan region when they first appeared, but a Qiu Chuji could take them down, and when the Five Absolute debuted, the Jiangnan Seven Monsters were even more insufficient.
And similar problems also appeared in "Water Margin".
There are a total of thirty-six Tiangang and seventy-two earth demons on the Shuibo Liang Mountain, a total of one hundred and eight leaders, if each leader has enough scenes, it will inevitably make the story become primary and secondary, so the author only focuses on describing some of the heroes, such as Wu Song, Lu Zhishen, Lin Chong and other heroes are all fierce from beginning to end, how powerful they were when they first appeared, and there was almost no collapse of the character in the follow-up plot, but it was as strong as ever.
(Wu Song, Lu Zhishen stills)
And there are some marginalized characters who are not so lucky, these people are just as bullish when they first appear, but in the later stages of the story, they are like miscellaneous soldiers.
First place: Nine-striped dragon
Who is the main character in "Water Margin"? Don't tell jokes, this is a group drama, where did the protagonist come from, but when you first read "Water Margin", do you dare to say that you didn't see Shi Jin as the protagonist?
He was the first to appear on the stage and later went to Liangshan, and at the same time, the shape of the nine-striped dragon was also extremely domineering, coupled with the rich child, and the character of righteousness, isn't this a typical stunned green? A proper protagonist character.
And his fight with Lu Zhishen proves that his strength is not bad, not to mention that he is really comparable to Lu Zhishen, and he can be regarded as a first-class master, but who would have thought that after going to Liangshan, this guy would become an extra.
(Shi Jin stills)
When it came time to conquer Fangla, it was even more excessive, and the author directly made him cannon fodder.
Let's see how he died: "Let's say that Lu Xianxian's army and horses will be close to Yuling Pass, and on that day, he sent Shi Jin, Shi Xiu, Chen Da, Yang Chun, Li Zhong, and Xue Yong to lead three thousand infantry troops to go out of the outpost...... Before he could say anything, an arrow was in the middle of Shi Jin, and he dismounted, and the five generals rushed forward together, and they could save the horse and go back. I saw a gong on the top of the mountain, and in the pine forests on the left and right, arrows were released together, and the five members would not care about Shi Jin, and each fled for their lives. ”
Who patrols under the gates of other people's cities? Isn't that a live target? Shi Jin died inexplicably.
Second place: General Shi
Compared with Shi Dalang, "General Shi" Shi Yong's fame is much smaller, in fact, as one of the seventy-two earths, he is not a general at all, so his nickname always gives people a sense of unworthy of the name, and even makes people feel inexplicable, how can he have any general talent?
However, when this character first appeared, the author still portrayed him as extraordinarily powerful.
The book only said: "The villain's surname is Shi Mingyong, and he was originally a member of the Daimyo Mansion." He only lives by gambling every day, and Hongo has a different name for the villain, called General Shi. In order to kill a person with a punch due to gambling, he fled to Chai Daguanren's village. I heard a lot of people talking about my brother's name, so I went to Yuncheng County to join my brother. ”
(Shi Yong stills)
Lu Zhishen beat that town of Guanxi and used three punches to make the other party return to the west, but Shi Yong was able to beat people to death with one punch, what a strange force is this? It is not difficult to see from here that Shi Yong has some skills.
But after going to Liangshan, he didn't make any outstanding contributions except for helping Song Jiang run errands and deliver letters, and when he was in Fangla, he was stabbed to death by that Wang Yin, like a miscellaneous soldier.
Third place: Iron Flute Immortal
When I was a child, when I collected the Water Margin card, the author had a very deep impression of the role of Ma Lin, after all, this person's nickname has the word "fairy", with a romantic and elegant temperament, it is difficult not to love, as if in this world full of rough men, he is a clear stream-like existence.
Of course, this guy has never been an immortal, and he doesn't have the kind of spells of Gongsun Sheng and Fan Rui, but the strength positioning given to him by the author is not bad.
(Ma Lin stills)
For example, he is introduced in the book as follows: "The third hero is surnamed Ma Minglin, and Zuguan is a native of Jiankang, Nanjing. It was originally a small fan of idlers, and he played a double iron flute, which made a big hob, and a hundred and ten people could not approach him. Therefore, people call him the Iron Flute Fairy. There are poems as evidence: the iron flute cracked, and the copper knife was frightened. Ma Lin's appearance is really strange, and the humane immortal was reborn. ”
One hundred and ten people can't get close to him, what is this not a first-class master? Don't think that everyone in "Water Margin" is an existence of ten thousand enemies, even if it is Wu Song, that is, the level of one hundred and ten people who can't remember.
Of course, the concept of one hundred and ten people is too abstract, and it is not a specific number, Ma Lin is definitely inferior to Wu Song, but it will not be cut in two by Shi Bao when he conquers Fangla.
Fourth place: featherless arrows
If you want to say that the hero with the biggest image gap between the front and back, Zhang Qing said that he is second, I am afraid that no one dares to say that he is first.
He is the last Tiangang hero to appear in the original book, and he also deserves this position of the press, after all, he beat the fifteen leaders of Liangshan in a row as soon as he made a move, and he was in the limelight for a while.
You must know that not all of those fifteen people are all grass bags, including Hu Yanzhuo , Dong Ping and other tiger generals, and even Wu Song and Lu Zhishen, who were the most fierce in the early stage of the story, have also become his background boards.
The book only said: "Lu Zhishen is carrying a Zen staff, and at this time he sees it, but he doesn't know what to do, and he strides and walks, but he forgets to beware of his stones." As he was walking, Zhang Qing shouted on his horse: 'Go! A stone was flying on Lu Zhishen's head, causing blood to burst out, and he fell after looking at it. Zhang Qingjun and horses shouted together, all rushing to the future. Wu Song hurriedly took two swords, died to save Lu Zhishen, and left the grain cart. ”
It can be said that Zhang Qing's flying stone stunt is unstoppable, even if Lu Junyi comes, he will have to take two stones before leaving.
(Zhang Qing stills)
Isn't that Zhang Qing invincible? Whether a character is strong or not, it's not a matter of the author's words, when Zheng Fangla, the author directly hid Zhang Qing's flying stone stunt in the snow, and let him fight with the enemy, but he stabbed into the tree with one shot, and the enemy took the opportunity to kill him, which is really ridiculous, which tendon do you say he is wrong? If you don't use the invincible flying stone stunt, you have to fight in a way that you are not good at.
If you want to say that the worst portrayal of the heroes in "Water Margin", or the most unlucky and regrettable heroes, there is none other than these four.