Alyrium Denryle wrote:Look, these are very very diverse genres and it is very difficult to generalize across them. I have seen people talk about both literature and actual folklore in this thread. Literature is completely non-comparable. The level of powers between authors varies so much, the argument is pointless. There are some things that can be said about actual folklore though.
Nitpick here. Canonisation of the Deities, Journey to the West Sun Wu Kung are both novels. Yes, they were so immensely popular that they became part of the actual pantheons/religious canon but they DID start off as novels.
First, cannon fodder infantry: Europe wins. In a real contest, most of the fighting and holding of territory will be done by european infantry, which had better steel, and more of it.
Not in fantasy world folklore. Both Japan and China literature fielded heavy plate troops. This is if you ignore Zhuge Liang and his battles against the barbarians, which utilised reed armour which were so tough, they turned aside iron/steel weapons at will.
Also, I believe it is the Asian fantasy which has more stories fielding the mass fielding of magic chariots/carpets/etc. Zhuge Liang carts for example were self propelled in the novelisation.
This is before we go into the more fantasical parts such as the Legend of Zu. Entire flying armies anyone?
Once we consider the folklore, I am not really sure. Asian dragons may have been viewed as gods, but from what I remember of Asian folklore, the things they actually do are not a whole lot different from the european variety. Depending on the story, you get various forms of shapeshifting, transforming others, cursing of people. Euro-dragons tend to do a bit more despoiling.
Try again. Chinese dragons controlled the weather and climate. This is ignoring the more esoteric asian forms which also controlled geography.
Epic heroes? Well, I dont know much about asian epic heroes, so perhaps someone spelling a few of them out to me would be a good starting point.
Guan Yu. He's an ACTUAL god now.
Hell, the three brothers are all canonised gods, its just that Guan Yu is the one who's worshipped by both the police AND the Criminals.
He turn aside zombies, ghosts, and in a very epic B grade movie, the three brothers possess the vampire doctor to beat back this Western vampire king.(My Vampire Doctor).
Let him land on any Lyran world to taste firsthand the wrath of peace loving people thwarted by the myopic greed of a few miserly old farts- Katrina Steiner