Duan Yu

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Duan Yu (Traditional Chinese: 段譽; Simplified Chinese: 段誉, style name Heyu, temple name Xianzong, posthumous name Xuanren) was the king of the Kingdom of Dali between 1108 and 1147. He was the longest ruling King of the Dali Kingdom.

Following a family tradition, Duan Heyu's father Duan Zhengchun abdicated and became a monk in 1108. Duan Heyu succeeded him as the King of Dali and renamed himself Duan Zhengyan.

Duan Zhengyan abdicated and became a monk in 1147. He was succeeded by his son Duan Zhengxing.

[edit] Duan Yu in fiction

Duan Yu is a fictional character in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, a wuxia novel by Jinyong. He is one of three main characters in the novel, along with Qiao Feng (喬峰) and Xu Zhu (虛竹). The trio's individual yet intertwining stories constituted the fabric of the novel.

Duan Yu is a prince of Dali, the (supposed) son of Duan Zhengchun (段正淳), the heir to the Dali throne, and Dao Baifeng (刀白鳳). Duan Yu was a pacifist by nature. Despite the long tradition of practicing martial arts in his family, notably the coveted Yi Yang Finger technique, he refused to learn it due to his influence by Buddhism and his disdain for fighting and killing. When his father tried to force him, he resorted to running away from the royal courts and began his solo adventures.

It was rather ironic that, given this context, Duan Yu would acquire three supreme martial art skills, almost completely by accident:

• Ling Bo Wei Bu ("Wave-like Subtle Steps", 凌波微步), a skill of rapid movement and manouevres, enables him to escape from enemies.
• Bei Ming Shen Gong ("The divine skill of the north", 北冥神功), which enables him to absorb an opponent's inner energy, or Qi, rendering them powerless. Duan Yu however did not learn this skill in its entirety, thus unable to execute it at will.
• Liu Mai Shen Jian ("The divine sword masteries of the six channels", 六脈神剑), which allows him to materialize his energy into the shape of a sword blade, channel it through six veins in his hand, and discharge it through his fingers with devastating effect. Once again, Duan does not have full mastery over the skill until the advanced stages of the story. This is arguably the most powerful martial art in all of Jinyong's novels.
• Duan Yu is also immune to poison: by complete accident, he swallowed the Zhu Ha (朱蛤, a poisonous toad), which instead of killing him, provided him with poison-repelling powers.

His father, Duan Zhengchun, was a notorious libertine who had affairs with several women who - much to Duan Yu's dismay - were revealed to be the birth mothers of several of his own love interests. Despite encountering numerous potentials, Duan Yu has only one true object of affection: Wang Yuyan (王語嫣), the cousin of Murong Fu (慕容復), who became an enemy of Duan Yu's. Wang was initially infatuated with Murong and found Duan irritating; however Duan's perseverance won her over. However he was devastated to find that Wang was also fathered by Duan Zhengchun.

Yet, in an ironic turn of events, it was revealed in the end that his true father is Duan Yanqing (段延慶), a deposed crown prince of Dali who sought to (and eventually succeeded in) kill Duan Zhengchun. Duan Yu reluctantly accepted the truth.

Duan Yu became sworn brothers with Xu Zhu and Qiao Feng, a relationship that is crucial to the novel. Duan Yu became the emperor of Dali at the end of the novel.