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[[quoteright:230:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/return_of_the_condor_heroes_novel.jpg]]

''The Return of the Condor Heroes'' is a {{Wuxia}} novel by Creator/JinYong and the second part of the Condor Trilogy, following ''Literature/TheLegendOfTheCondorHeroes''. It was first serialised between 20 May 1959 and 5 July 1961 in the Hong Kong newspaper ''Ming Pao''. The story revolves around the protagonist, Yang Guo, and his lover, Xiaolongnü, in their adventures in the jianghu (also called wulin, the community of martial artists), which does not approve of their taboo love between master and apprentice.

Alternate English titles of the novel include ''The Giant Eagle and Its Companion'' and ''Divine Eagle, Chivalric Companion''. Jin Yong revised the novel in 1970 and again in 2004. There are 40 chapters in the second and third revisions. Each chapter has a title composed of four Chinese characters. Most of the revisions are either clarifications or minor alterations of character motivations.

A four-volume English translation is in the making, with the first part, ''A Past Unearthed'', published in 2023.

It is followed by ''Literature/HeavenSwordAndDragonSabre''.
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!!''Return of the Condor Heroes'' presents examples of:
* ActionGirl: Pretty much all the girls.
%%* AffablyEvil: Jinlun Fawang.
%%* AlasPoorVillain: Ouyang Feng.
* AmazonBrigade: Until Xiaolongnyu takes Yang Guo as a student, all adherents of the Tomb school of swordplay are women.
* BadassPreacher: Despite being one of the most powerful fighters in the story, Yideng seems to exist to do nothing but mouthpiece Buddhism.
* BareFistedMonk: Monastic orders per se have nothing to do with it, but for some reason everyone in the very top tier of martial arts seems to eschew weapons in favor of their esoteric palm skills.
* BattleCouple: One of the translations of the novel title is ''The Legendary Couple''.
* {{BFS}}: In the novel, the Heavy Sword is a normal-sized ''jian'' that weighs 300 pounds because it's made of some weird super-dense material. But in most visual adaptations, they just make the sword huge.
** It's actually made of meteoric iron.
* BloodFromTheMouth: Xiaolongnyu gets this after Yang Guo refuses to take her as his wife.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: The Quanzhen Elders have to not only tolerate Zhou Botong's antics, but defer to him as their superior.
* CallBack: Being the sequel to ''Literature/TheLegendOfTheCondorHeroes'', there are several references to the events of the previous novel:
** Ouyang Feng and Hong Qigong return as side characters[[spoiler: and eventually die together on Mount Huo]]. Ouyang Feng is still insane and can't remember his name.
** Yang Kang's death is retold by Ke Zheng'e to Yang Guo.
* ChickMagnet: Yang Guo, to the point where he starts wearing a mask to stop random girls from falling in love with him at first sight.
%%* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Zhou Botong.
* ConflictingLoyalty: Yang Guo, after he finds out who killed his father.
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Ouyang Feng's skills.
* DoesNotLikeMen: The founder of the Tomb swordplay technique, because she was a WomanScorned.
* DualWielding: Besides merely using a weapon in each hand, there also exists a special skill in the story, known only to two people, that allows the user to use a completely separate fighting style with each hand. This turns out to be really important, because there also exist a pair of sword-fighting styles that when used side by side are synergistically invincible.
%%* EccentricMentor: Ouyang Feng, Zhou Botong.
* EmpathicWeapon: Not a weapon per se, but [[spoiler: Yang Guo created a style during the TimeSkip that was born from his sadness after (seemingly) losing Xiolongnyu named, appropriately enough, Sadness Palm. He can only use this style when he is sad.]]
* EmotionlessGirl: Xiao Longnyu, in the beginning.
%%* EverybodyWasKungFuFighting
%%* GuileHero: Yang Guo has moments of this.
* HandicappedBadass: [[spoiler: Yang Guo]] lost an arm and only becomes more powerful.
* HeroicSacrifice: No matter what twists and turns occur, for some reason the fact that both lovers are poisoned and there's only one antidote remains constant throughout almost the whole story.
* {{Hikikomori}}: Xiaolongnyu, who never left the Tomb before she was forced to leave by Li Mochou.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Yelu Chucai, Mongke Khan, Wang Chongyang, Qiu Chuji
* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Xiaolongnyu wielding four swords at once, and then an entire roomful of swords.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Zhu Zhiliu uses a brush, Li Mochou uses a fly whisk.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: Yang Guo and Huang Yaoshi, Guo Xiang and pretty much everyone in the jianghu.
* KarmicDeath: All the villains get one.
* KiManipulation: Lots of things that could qualify for this but the One Yang Finger and its recurring depiction as a ki laser shot from one's outstretched index finger is probably the most glaring.
* KickTheDog: Gongsun Zhi's willingness to sacrifice his own daughter.
* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: Really more like *with* all her finery since her sleeves are one of Xiaolongnyu's favored weapons.
* KnightErrant: Yang Guo's occupation post-timeskip.
* LadyOfWar: Nearly every female character.
%%* LonelyAtTheTop: Dugu Qubai.
%%* LoveMartyr: Gongsun Lu'er.
%%* LoveTriangle: Wu brothers and Guo Fu.
%%* MasterApprenticeChain
* MisplacedRetribution: Li Mochou not only kills off Lu Zhanyuan, but his wife, his children, his remaining family and all the servants in his mansion, including his good friend Wu Santong. It's a miracle that Wu's sons survive.
* NoNameGiven: The Indian monk who accompanies Yideng.
* OldMaster: Half the cast.
* PairTheSpares: A rather glaring example when Guo Fu and the Wu brothers end up respectively with the son and daughter of Yelu Chucai and the girl who'd originally tried to assassinate them [[DefeatMeansFriendship until Yang Guo butted in and things went differently]].
* PatrioticFervor: Guo Jing gives a lot of jingoistic speeches about fighting in defense of the homeland.
* PetTheDog: What happens when a villain meets Guo Xiang.
* PoisonedWeapons: Used by hero and villain alike.
* PressurePoint: Besides the usual forms of this trope, which are taken for granted, various characters have special skills related to their pressure points that allow them to either negate, evade, or undo pressure point attacks, or to cause esoteric changes in their physiology for medical purposes.
* RivalDojos: Tomb Sect and Quanzhen.
%%* SignatureMove
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Yang Guo is not letting Xiaolongnyu marry anyone else.
* StalkerWithACrush: Zhen Zhibing.
%%* StarCrossedLovers
* StudentAndMasterTeam: Our heroes are technically this.
* SuicideByCop: Invoked. [[spoiler:Zhen ZHibing kills himself by [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice throwing himself on the gathered warriors' swords]].]]
* SupportingHarem: While Yang Guo loves only Xiaolongnyu [[ChickMagnet that doesn't stop him from getting random girls to be attracted to him]].
%%* TalkingIsAFreeAction
* TellMeAboutMyFather: No one wants to tell Yang Guo about his villainous father.
* TookALevelInBadass: It's a wuxia series, so characters are constantly training and improving, but Yang Guo's acquiring the Heavy Sword and Xiaolongnyu learning to combine Quanzhen and Tomb swordplay ambidextrously are both examples of massive quantum leaps in power that occur in a relatively short timeframe.
* UngratefulBastard: Gongsun Zhi. His wife Qiu Qianchi helps improve his martial arts, he returns the favor by cheating on her and later breaks her limbs and casts her into an underground pit.
* VillainForgotToLevelGrind: Li Mochou.
* WaxOnWaxOff: Catching sparrows.
* WireFu: In most visual media.
* WomanScorned: The backstory of Li Mochou, wherein she murders the man who scorned her, Lu Zhanyuan and his wife (at least one LiveActionAdaptation has her kill instead his brother Lu Liding and ''[[MisplacedRetribution his wife]]'' as Zhanyuan and his wife were already TogetherInDeath), along with his good friend Wu Santong, leaving the Wu brothers as orphans.
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