Ashes of Time (Chinese: 東邪西毒; pinyin: Dōngxié xidú; literally: "Eastern Heretic, Western Poison") is a 1994 Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai, and loosely based on four characters from Jin Yong's novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes.Wong completely eschews any plot adaptation from the novel, using only the names to create his own vision of an arguably unrelated film.