My favorite story trilogy of all time:
What is the
Condor Trilogy?
1. Consists of the following 3 works: i. Legend of the Condor Heroes (1957) ii. Return of the Condor Heroes (1959) iii. Heaven Sword & Dragon Saber (1961)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condor_Trilogy
2. Each part adapts into a TV series of
no less than 54 episodes each 45 min. long. If the entire Trilogy was adapted as is, it would be 3 x 54 x 0.75 = 120 hours long!
3. If we substitute "Condor Heroes" for "Jedi Heroes", we get STAR WARS
4. (i.) story is about two characters born at the same time. One traveled down the dark path and succumbed to it. This person also murdered and then perished ( = Anakin Skywalker). But b4 he died, he had a child (= Luke Skywalker). The other char of the same age was good but was conveniently left out of SW Ep I-III b/c it's impossible to adapt a 24-hour work into 3 movies.
5. (ii.) story is about child of evil char in (i). who grew up to find out his father's real nature. His mother died shortly after giving birth to him. Growing up as an orphan, he met a woman many years his senior (= Padme) who became his master and lived with her. Eventually they fell in love. He then lost his arm in a scuffle with a spoiled brat (daughter of good char in (i) who never appeared in SW Ep I-III d/t time constraint). A giant Condor (= Millennium Falcon) then saved him and trained him. Afterwards he became so powerful with his remaining arm that no ordinary man was a match for him. He befriended the Giant Condor and sought to redeem his father's reputation by being good fighting alongside the Giant Condor. One of their arch nemesis is a very powerful monk with destructive flying wheel weapons (= Darth Sidious/Golden Wheel Monk), whom they eventually defeated. Before losing his arm in the scuffle with the spoiled brat, hero met two elders, who died peacefully shortly after teaching him (= Yoda + Obi-Wan becoming Forces ghosts after training Luke). They imparted the skills he needed to defeat Golden Wheel Monk's minions (=Darth Maul + The Viceroy; The Viceroy can actually fight good in Condor Trilogy, unlike in the prequels where he uses his political influences to "fight") early on.
6. (iii.) story is about the heroes in (ii.) who left half of a secret map in each of the metal blades of the Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber before they died. The map leads to a secret location of a Kung Fu training manual that contains the heroes' cumulative Kung Fu knowledge (rather than to Luke Skywalker as is in Ep VII). Everybody sought to possess both re-known swords. Eventually a newly appointed leader of a female cult, Zhou Zhiruo (= Kylo Ren), obtained both swords broke their blades, pieced together the secret hidden map within the blades, and sought out the secret Kung Fu manual. After learning Kung Fu skills that made her near invincible she became corrupted by its powers and turned to the Dark Side. But the skills took a long time (years) to learn. Zhou Zhiruo needed to become powerful quickly, so she learnt the shortcuts instead. Meanwhile, the one-arm hero in (ii.) had a female descendant (= Princess Leia) who was taught the full skills that took years to learn. She was able to tame Zhou Zhiruo in the end using the same set of skills that took her years to master rather than months. Lurking within the backdrop, there is an evil Shaolin monk (=Snoke) who plotted to bring chaos and destruction to the world as a sort of revenge to being betrayed and hurt by a woman he once loved. His plans was eventually thwarted by an orphan (=Rey), the heir of a different but albeit powerful cult than Zhou Zhiruo's (Kylo's), who together with his Godfather (=Luke Skywalker's new role) actually saved girl Zhou Zhirou (Kylo) and even befriended her in their childhood. Eventually the orphan grew up to recoup the title of Master of his cult, and even trained under his Godfather (Luke). As he became increasingly powerful (more so than Zhou Zhiruo/Kylo) he was increasingly more capable of thwarting the evil Shaolin monk's (Snoke's) plans...
1961 (iii. the last in the Trilogy was first published as a serials in a newspaper in HK) ---> 16 years later 1977 (STAR WARS Ep IV).
How did George Lucas know about Condor Trilogy in such a short amount of time?
1. Possible theory: By accident as part of espionage program on China. To be effective, espionage on a country must involve all levels, such as the popular culture, what the crowd is thinking, not just on its military...