Ravages of Time/Characters

The Sima clan

One of the richest and most prestigious merchant clans residing in He'nei of Yanzhou, which boasts vast material wealth and business influence as well as multiple court connections. At the beginning of the story, the teenage Sima Yi has become the clanshead thanks to his intelligence and keen business sense. Following his audacious schemes, the clan has not only withstood the chaos and remained firm in its position as the rich patron of He'nei but also become a force to be reckoned with among many warring factions. However, little by little, the clansmen find themselves sunken deeper into the chaos they (or rather, Sima Yi and his right-hand-man Liaoyuan Huo) helped create.

• Annoying Younger Sibling: Sima Yi's little brothers who drive everyone nuts with their little tricks.
• Battle Butler: Jia Kui's father to Sima Yi.
• Bodyguard Betrayal
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
• Despair Event Horizon: When their mutiny fails in volume 25, and the clan elders are killed by Cao soldiers.
• Decapitation Presentation: The fate of Sima Yi's Fourth uncle when the Sima clan's mutiny is sabotaged.
• Driven to Suicide: ..and the fates of the remaining clansheads, two of which are results of Self-Destructive Charge.
• Fiction 500
• I Fight for the Strongest Side: More like, 'invest' in the strongest side. And will turn on them the moment things look unsavory. Too bad serving Cao Cao just doesn't work that way.
• Kill'Em All
  • Came Back Strong: It is now ally with the Zhang and Shan clan thanks to Sima Yi's marriage to Shan Wu Ling (aka Zhang Chun Hua) and, by Sima Yi's machinations, has united the merchant clans in Cao Cao's homebase.
• Mole in Charge: Jia Kui.
• Monochromatic Eyes: Jia Kui.
• Morality Pet: The entire clan, and to some extent even the Crippled Legion (especially Liaoyuan Huo), to Sima Yi.
• Nice Guy: Sima Yi's brother, Sima Lang.
• Only in It For the Money: The reason for their involvements in warlord affairs.
• Our Death Is Just The Beginning
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money
• The Scrooge: Sima Yi's three uncles.
• Undying Loyalty: Many of their servants have this trait.

Sima Yi

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"The world is filled with evil, and fighting it is like hitting a rock with an egg. Years of war would only bring misery to the living. It may be better to help the strongest power to conquer the world, then after a speedy restoration of peace, take over the reign."

The head of the famous merchant clan Sima, and also the strategist behind every success of its assassin squad, the Crippled Legion. He's not interested in taking the side of any warlords, and only makes a move when it gives his family a new business opportunity. With Liaoyuan Huo, his schemes behind the scene have been crucial in many major wars, and have caused some others, between warring states, even though historically it will not be tens of years later until Sima Yi makes his first appearance. However, the interferences of other schemers on the scene make it inevitable that he soon will have to take a permanently active role in the conflicts of this era. After his clan is exterminated during a mutiny against Cao Cao, he finally joins Cao Cao's side to plead impunity for the remaining members of his family. His true goal is, however, to help Cao Cao defeat all other warlords, and then seize power from him.

It should be noted that he is the implied 'phoenix' in the series title, a fact several times lampshaded in the narratives.

• Always Someone Better: Sima Yi to every other strategist. Only the Eight Geniuses are spared The Worf Effect in a duel of wits with him, themselves being universally acknowledged as the best strategists of China.
• Animal Motif: He's often compared to a wolf and has a neck like one, which once saves his life from a Neck Snap, but his true animal motif is the phoenix. In-universe, Pang Tong is the only one who seems to realize this and has commented on it. He should know, since Sima Yi beat him in solving a puzzle, the reward for which was the two title Fledgling Phoenix and Crouching Dragon. The only other one to solve the puzzle correctly, Zhuge Liang, got the Dragon title - meaning the Phoenix title might very well have been Sima Yi's, had he been one of the Eight.
• Bishonen: Not that we can't see it, but it's even indirectly confirmed in-universe. He looks identical to Fifth Genius Zhou Yu, THE bishonen of the Three Kingdom period.
• Book Dumb: According to one of his old classmates, he could barely pass because his grades were so bad. It might just be a case of Brilliant but Lazy, though, as the same classmate admitted he never beat Sima Yi in maths.
• Brains and Brawn: The brains to Liaoyuan Huo's brawn.
• Brilliant but Lazy: At first. And then he finds his Goal in Life...
• Best Served Cold: His plan for the eventual payback against Cao Cao.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Is seen as suffering from this by others. Which makes him terrifyingly effective as a Red Herring Mole, as Yuan Fang finds out too late...
  • As Cao Cao's Dragon with an Agenda, he's also constantly stabbing Cao Cao in the back by helping out the man's formidable enemies.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive
• Crazy Prepared: Competes with the Eight Geniuses (and beats them, very likely) to be the king of this trope in this series. The fact that he has more hidden pieces to be used at the last moments to save the day than anyone else on the same gameboard is lampshaded for God knows how many time, and quite a number of fans have been frustrated by his over-the-top resourcefulness to the point they consider him the resident Deus Ex Machina.
• Didn't See That Coming: Who could have known that Xu Lin has another son ?
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Has one in the 1st chapter, of how his life will end.
• Dragon with an Agenda: To Cao Cao. To anyone who doesn't suspect his hidden ambitions, he's just an Enigmatic Minion.
• Fake Defector: He frequently makes use of the fact that Cao Cao killed his entire family and he wants revenge to become buddy with the enemy side and feed them the wrong information.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He tends to get too deeply involved in warlord conflicts for the sake of family business, and easily overlooks Liaoyuan Huo's unnecessary meddlings in other warlord conflicts. He's aware of the risks but keeps at it because of the big profits. Before long, his clan has drawn Cao Cao's attention, and the secret of his underhanded businesses with the Crippled Legion become a major weakness to exploit. That's how Xun Yu forces his clan to surrender for Cao Cao to extort money from, until its near financial collapse. Pang Tong also makes use of it to persuade him to raise a mutiny against Cao Cao, and causes its demise. Later, he swears to drop these habits.
• I Did What I Had to Do: His reason for betraying Xiao Meng to Cao Cao. Liaoyuan Huo is, naturally, not placated.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How he will die, as shown in chapter 1.
• King Incognito: He likes to wear servant's clothes and walks around acting like one (tending to horses, cooking, etc.). It frequently leads to Right In Front Of You moments, when people realize (usually too late) that he's the de facto leader of Sima clan and the guy in command of the Crippled Legion.
  • Later, when his identity is pretty much known to everyone, he changes his fashion style to another more befitting his status.
• Magnificent Bastard: On par with the Eight Geniuses in this regard, too.
• Not in This For Your Revolution: He's known for aiding warlords and igniting multiple wars just to expand his family business. It doesn't please a lot of people, including his friend and subordinate Liaoyuan Huo.
• Oh Crap: When he realizes Pang Tong's plan has backfired on him and his family.
• Refusal of the Call: The beginning narration states that he has repeatedly had a dream which prophesies his and his sons's ruling of the Wei empire and lording over Cao Cao's descendants, which is, in true prophetic dream style, as obvious about his destiny as obviousness can get, but he refuses to think much about it. Liaoyuan Huo is convinced his strategic brilliance can be used for good, but he isn't interested. He no longer refuses the call after his clan is exterminated.
• Teen Genius
• The Chessmaster
• The Chosen One: The titular fiery phoenix who will be the eventual winner of this war.
• The Man Behind the Man
• The Trickster
• True Neutral -> Neutral No Longer
• Understanding Boyfriend: To Shan Wu Ling, whose Magnificent Bitch tendencies are rather too hard for many men to swallow.
• Unholy Matrimony: With said beautiful, intelligent and equally unscrupulous Shan Wu Ling. Zhang Lei even Lampshades it at one point.

Zhang Lei: A match made in heaven... a dog and his bitch.

• Wild Card: Sima Yi's strategic genius and his clan's monetary influence are great allies for any warlords to have. Too bad they just couldn't care less about who comes out the winner, only how much cash they can make out of each campaign, and will switch to whichever side that benefits them. This attitude is what eventually convinces Cao Cao that an unreliable ally is better a dead ally, and he wipes them all out.
• Worthy Opponent: To the Eight Geniuses.
• Young and In Charge: He's been in charge of family business since his teens and brought it unprecedented fame and wealth with ingenious schemes.

Crippled Legion

The famous assassin squad under the control of Sima clan and Sima Yi. They consist of handicapped fighters, who weaponize their handicaps and take advantage of the fact that people tend to underestimate the disabled to carry out their missions, with a success rate close to 100%. Their leader is the notorious "one-eyed leader", currently Liaoyuan Huo. Other members are Guo Ang (whose handicap is an amputated arm), Zhang Lei (whose handicap is an amputated leg), and Xiao Meng who is an eunuch. Another is San Chuan, a muted assassin who rarely appears.

They are partially disbanded after Xiao Meng went MIA during a mission and Liaoyuan Huo left to find him. With Guo Ang's death during the Sima clan extermination and Xiao Meng's death in Xiapi, the Crippled Legion ceases to function as a group, although the remaining lone member still acts under Sima Yi's command.

• Badass Crew: Alas, no more.
• Battle Butler: Quite possibly a given status of each member. They place high in the hierarchy of family servants, shown by how they're normally adressed as senior servants by others.
• Bash Brothers
• Berserk Button: San Chuan, the Japanese assassin, will launch at whoever laughs derisively (or seems to do so) at Sima Yi.
• Did You Just Punch Out Lu Bu
• The Dragon
• Despair Event Horizon: Crosses it when Xiao Meng goes missing and Liaoyuan Huo runs off to search for him.
• Dwindling Party
• Eyepatch of Power: Is a Red Baron for the leader of the squad, also his trademark looks. It can be misleading to outsiders, because the current leader is not blinded at all. It's actually a physical trait of the 1st generation leader, the original legendary one-eyed assassin.
• Genre Savvy: Look at their MO. It was the 1st generation leader who advocated it.
• Historical Domain Character: Liaoyuan Huo who is Zhao Yun, Xiao Meng who is Diao Chan and Guo Ang who fathers Guo Huai, later to be a famous general of Cao Wei empire.
• Losing the Team Spirit: After Xiao Meng went MIA.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast
• One-Man Army: Save for Xiao Meng, each of the Legion member can be qualified as one, especially Liaoyuan Huo.
• Professional Killer
• Team Spirit: And how! It's even one of their combo technique, which gives Lu Bu a hard time.
• The Mole: Mainly Xiao Meng and Liaoyuan Huo. The leader succeeding Liaoyuan Huo, Xu Ding, is one for Cao Cao.
• The Smurfette Principle: Kind of averted with Xiao Meng, who is technically not female.
• The Voiceless: San Chuan, the assassin who normally serves as Sima Yi's bodyguard.
• You Are in Command Now: Sima Yi to Zhang Lei after Liaoyuan Huo left the Sima clan to find Xiao Meng.

Liaoyuan Huo/Zhao Huo/ Zhao Yun

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"I wait for the moment the fiery phoenix scorches the plains."

The young leader of the Crippled Legion and a friend to the Sima clan's young head, Sima Yi. Liaoyuan Huo is an assassin with prodigious fighting skills and an unique handicap that makes him one of the strongest warriors in the story. Unlike the amoral Sima Yi, Liaoyuan Huo is a very righteous man who values justice and, despite their strong friendship, hates Sima Yi's indifference to the world's chaotic state. He's also discontented with the life of an assassin, but nevertheless stays unwavered in his loyalty to the clan and commitment to his comrades, whom he treasures. The 'fire' that 'scorches the plains' (the three characters 火 'huo' and 燎原 'liao yuan') in the series title refers to him.

He's also Zhao Yun, later to be one of the Five Tiger General of the kingdom Shu led by Liu Bei. Following the destruction of Sima clan, he serves Liu Bei as a part of Sima Yi's Plan to extract revenge from Cao Cao.

• A Father to His Men: He considers the Crippled Legion his family.
• Badass: Deserves special mention for the healthy amount of Crowning Moment of Awesome he's resonsible for in the series. And also for being Zhao Yun.
• Bishounen
• Chick Magnet: Sun Shu's smitten with him, and Xiao Meng (who's technically not a chick) is deeply in love with him. He seems to be quite popular with the courtesans in Luyang, as well.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Indulges this. Sometimes it works out well, but other times it leads to dire consequences. Such as when he aids the Xuzhou defense against Cao Cao's campaign and thus gives Cao Cao the clue and evidence he needed of the ties between Sima clan and Crippled Legion. Or when he stays to fight alongside 'Sun Ce' against an army of hostile rebels, which turns out to be for naught as 'Sun Ce' is still killed and he's not even the real Sun Ce, and the Crippled Legion suffers severe loss, including Xiao Meng going MIA, to get him out of it alive.
• Conflicting Loyalty: What he's slowly realizing that he will have to face - between his righteous lord, Liu Bei and his true master, Sima Yi.
• Despair Event Horizon: Crosses it twice when Xiao Meng goes missing and during the Sima clan's extermination.
• Determinator
• Different As Night and Day: With the unscrupulous Sima Yi. However, they still manage to be an awesome combo of strategist and fighter. It does cause an rift in their partnership, which only deepens as Huo is influenced by other upright and honorable individuals such as Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei. In the end, Huo's loyalty to his clan and master is about the only thing that keeps him going along with Sima Yi's schemes. He regards Sima Yi and Liu Bei as this, too.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Turns out he has one as well, the same one Sima Yi has, in fact. He's the monster who kills Sima Yi in that dream.
• Feel No Pain: His handicap. Consequently, anyone who has engaged him in battle (or might be just a witness to it) tends to express wonders.
• Foil: To Sima Yi's immoral business-oriented mind.
• Foe-Tossing Charge: Which scares Yuan Tan shitless.
• Futile Hand Reach: His famous scene of parting with Xiao Meng.
• Genius Bruiser
• Heartbroken Badass: For a short while, after Xiao Meng's death.
• Hitman with a Heart
• Ho Yay: He knows Xiao Meng is an eunuch but treats him like a girl, and Xiao Meng is deeply in love with him.
  • The novel also implies that he's pretty much oblivious to Xiao Meng's and his own feelings, until things go down the hill.
• I Have Many Names: He finally settles for Zhao Yun, a name Liu Bei gives him.
• Improbable Weapon User: When he gets serious, he likes to toss some-inches-long kunais at the enemies with deadly accuracy and very impressive sound effects (you have to wonder how he did that). When he gets absolutely badass, he uses a hoe. No, really.
• I Will Find You: To Xiao Meng. But he will be too late.
• Meaningful Echo: Not exactly the line, but the context in which it's spoken - "May your beautiful dream come true, Young Master".
• My God, What Have I Done?: When he realizes Pang Tong has taken advantage of him to bring down the Sima clan.
• My Master, Right or Wrong
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Sima Yi's own faulty judgements aside, it's Liaoyuan Huo's thoughtless heroic meddlings that ultimately effect the Sima clan's downfall. Both times.
• Street Urchin: Was one, before he was taken in by the 1st generation leader of the Crippled Legion.
• Super Senses: In particular, his hearing, which is also incredibly good at picking up (fake) accents.
• Unwitting Pawn
• The Fettered
• Took a Level In Badass: More like, jumps and leaps levels in badass.
• What the Hell, Hero?: A subtle one directed at Sima Yi, after Xiao Meng's death.
• You Are Worth Hell: To Xiao Meng.
• Young and In Charge: People finds it hard to believe that young as he is, he can be the leader of the Crippled Legion. They're convinced the moment he shows off his skills.

Xiao Meng/ Diao Chan

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"Call me a girl and I will kill you."

The archer of the Crippled Legion and an eunuch. His feminine beauty gives him great advantage when acting as a spy, but he's very sensitive about it and reacts violently to whoever touches upon the subject of his gender. It was during a mission to spy on Dong Zhuo that he adopted the name 'Diao Chan', thus linking his existence to one of the most famous women (although fictitious) of Chinese history. Like Liaoyuan Huo, Xiao Meng considers the other Crippled assassins his family and cherishes not-so-brotherly affections for Liaoyuan Huo.

He went MIA during a mission, and ended up in Lu Bu's camp. Manipulated by Lu Bu to assassinate Cao Cao in accordance with Pang Tong's scheme, Xiao Meng, together with Liaoyuan Huo, unwittingly brought about the Sima clan's demise at the hands of Cao Cao. Desperate for vengeance, he aided Lu Bu in resistance to Cao Cao's Xuzhou campaign, and when Lu Bu failed, proceeded to again make an attempt on Cao Cao's life. Due to Sima Yi's betrayal, he failed and was subjected to a brutal execution, but a glimpse of foresight at Sima Yi's long-term sheme just before dying allows him to rest in peace. However, his death greatly aggravated Liaoyuan Huo, and despite his wish, enlarged the rift between him and Sima Yi.

• Attractive Bent Gender: He's disguised himself as Diao Chan, one of the four famous ancient beauties of China.
• Berserk Button: Just try calling him "sister".
• Broken Bird: He has gender issues.
• Cannot Spit It Out: He loves Liaoyuan Huo, but is so conscious of his body's condition that he's convinced they will not have a chance together.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: His final assassination attempt on Cao Cao fails. He's stabbed in the stomach by a thrown lance from Xiahou Dun, falls from a tower, gets stripped half-naked by Cao Cao's army, is killed by Cao Cao, then his body is impaled with dozens of lance.
• Death Seeker: Especially after he met Lady Sun.
• Enemy Mine: He allies with Lu Bu, who is by no means a trustworthy friend, during Cao Cao's 2nd Xuzhou campaign.
• Even the Guys Want Him: As said, he's Diao Chan, though to be fair, most of the guys infatuated with him (Dong Zhuo, his sons and nephew, etc.) do not know he's male. However, knowing he's one doesn't make less heads turned at the sight of his beauty, or stop Liaoyuan Huo and Lu Bu from having the hots for him.
• Femme Fatale: His Diao Chan persona.
• Friend to All Children: He's the nanny of Sima Yi's little brothers, who are very fond of him (and calls him sis). Even Lu Bu's little daughter likes him, and thinks he smells like her late mom.
• If It's You It's Okay: He absolutely hates being called a girl, but he's overjoyed when Liaoyuan Huo does it in their parting moment.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: As to be expected of someone whose teacher can do somersaults in mid-air and shoot accurately at the same time.
• Improbable Weapon User: He can make a makeshift set of arrow and bow from hair clips.
• Kill the Cutie
• Let Them Die Happy: He could have died with the regrets of having failed to avenge the Sima clan, but the well-timed appearance of Jia Kui, Sima Yi's infamous mole, makes him realize that Sima Yi has not lost the will to pursue revenge. His last thought indicates that he does not blame Sima Yi, and dies in peace.
• Replacement Goldfish: In the novel Xiao Meng, the child Xiao Meng was adopted by two influential eunuches in the court because he looked like an Emperor's concubine one of the eunuches had feelings for.
• So Beautiful It's a Curse: Invoked in the novel, while in the manhua the trouble stops at attracting unwanted male attentions.
• Sugar and Ice Personality
• Stoic Woobie
• Taking You with Me: Tries this to Gan Ning, during the latter's siege to kill 'Sun Ce' and Liaoyuan Huo. It fails.
• Team Mom: Although he will turn you into a pincushion if you call him a girl or even girly-looking, this is what he acts like to the other Crippled Legion members.
• The Archer: A deadly one. He outmatches Gan Ning, a famous general and archer, who compares his skills to Huang Zhong's, an even more famous general and better archer.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Briefly, when he realizes that his futile attempt to kill Cao Cao could have risked the entire Sima clan being endangered again, and Sima Yi's plan for revenge being foiled. He's glad to know that it didn't.

Zhang Lei

• Action Survivor
• An Arm and a Leg: Two legs, after the fight with Xu Ding.
• Kick Dude
• Blue Oni: To Guo Ang's Red Oni.
• Team Dad
• Undying Loyalty

Guo Ang

• Adult Child
• Bald of Awesome
• Conversation Casualty
• Dead Sidekick
• Gory Discretion Shot
• Older Than He Looks: By the time he dies He is married and has a son.
• Super Strength

Liu Da

The founder and 1st generation leader of the Crippled Legion, and also the original legendary one-eyed assassin.

• Chekhov's Gunman: He shows up in volume 15, very much alive and still kicking ass.
• Cool Old Guy
• Cool Teacher: He has a good eye for recruiting talented assassins who will become great assets for warlords in the future. Some of them are Liaoyuan Huo who is Zhao Yun, Dian Wei a great general of Cao Cao, Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang who serves Sun Quan. He also tutors Shan Wu Ling's little brother, who is actually Sun Quan.
• Eyepatch of Power: Sports one when he was in charge of the Crippled Legion.
• I Fight for the Strongest Side: Why he left the clan and oh boy, how wrong he is. Because Sima Yi is still a notch above Shan Wu Ling and the Shan clan.
• Jerkass: A coldly practical, calculating and full of Genre Savvy jerkass.
• Living Legend
• Politically-Motivated Teacher: To Liaoyuan Huo.
• Retired Badass

The Eight Geniuses

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The eight genius military advisors who are students of Sima Hui 'Shujing' (commonly translated as 'Water-Mirror'), a famous teacher who educated many famous strategists in the previous decades. Their abilities far surpass the common men of this age, and thus their service is much sought after. Whichever warlord faction, no matter how diminutive, is chosen by one of the Eight will soon become a competitive force in the race to conquer and unite China. Once a Genius has chosen a lord, he will take off the mask and uniform (which was designed identically with the purpose of hiding their respective identities) and leave the school.

So far the revealed Geniuses are: Yuan Fang, Xun Yu, Jia Xu, Guo Jia, Zhou Yu, Pang Tong, Zhuge Liang. The Eighth has made very few appearances in the series, and his identity has fueled much fan speculations. Of the Eight, five have picked a master: Yuan Fang who serves the Yuan clan; Xun Yu, Jia Xu and Guo Jia who serve the Cao clan; lastly Zhou Yu who serves the Sun clan. The Sixth Pang Tong and the Seventh Zhuge Liang have expressed their approval of a lord (Liu Bei) but are yet to join him.

Below are tropes associated with the Eight Geniuses:

• Badass Finger-Snap: Seems to be the new fad among the four participants of Guandu.
• The Chessmaster
• Crazy Prepared: It's part of their job description.
  • Special mentions goes to Yuan Fang with all his long-term plans for the Northern conquest, Guo Jia for planning for the Guandu showdown 20 volumes before it officially takes place, and Pang Tong for delaying his graduation to gather warlords for his glorious anti-Cao Cao campaign.
• Garb, Hat, Mask: Their uniform. Its purpose is to make it impossible for people to tell them apart.
• Cool Mask: Will drop this when they join side with a warlord.
• Dwindling Party
• Genre Savvy
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Most notable are Yuan Fang, Jia Xu and Guo Jia.
• Manipulative and Magnificent Bastards: Any of them can be seen as both by the people they manipulate and the people their manipulations benefit, but so far Guo Jia and Yuan Fang take the cake.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Discussed, to put it in Yu Ji's words - "In terms of bringing chaos, how are the Eight Geniuses different from the Ten Attendants ?" indeed.
• The Plan: They are the undisputed masters of nearly every possible manifestation of this trope.
• The Strategist
• They Just Don't Get It: All of them have invoked this at least once, because the guys on the receiving end usually don't have the foresights and brilliance to understand their schemes.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: They all aspire to bring an end to the endless wars, and are more than willing to wage more wars to achieve it. Subverted with Yuan Fang and Zhou Yu, whose motives are somewhat more personal.

Yuan Fang

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The lone crane prefers the peace of seclusion; how could he be heard across the heavens…

The First Genius. A member of the prominent Yuan clan, Yuan Fang's primary goal is to expand his clan's territory in the north, and acts as First advisor to the clan leader Yuan Shao. He is Yuan Shao's illegitimate son, but since his brilliance far surpasses his three half-brothers (Yuan Shao's legitimate sons), Yuan Shao inwardly acknowledges Yuan Fang as the true heir and spares no efforts to strengthen his position within the clan; he even kills Yuan Fang's childhoos sweetheart to force him into a marriage he wants no part of. Although Yuan Fang never truly forgives his father for this, over the years he starts to relent to Yuan Shao's plans, and gradually manifests the ambition to take over the clan and overthrow Imperial Han. The course of the story also observes Yuan Fang's transformation into a ruthless man unhesitating to eliminate anyone in his way, even his former classmates.

• Animal Motif: The crane.
• Badass Bookworm: He and Zhou Yu are the only ones among the Eight Geniuses who are both strategist and general, a fact which gives him a definite advantage over "table strategists" like Guo Jia.
• Beauty Mark
• Break the Haughty
• Calling the Old Man Out
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Xiao Cha, the daughter of one of Yuan Shao's subjects. Naturally, Yuan Shao, who wanted him to have a prestigious marriage befitting his status, does not approve.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Many, many of Yuan Fang's schemes involve him making moves which seem to be in his allies' favors, but turn out to be backstabbings of the most vicious kind in disguise. And the Guandu arc is where he goes on a rampage with this.
• Curb Stomp Battle: When he utilizes his Feng Hou formation.
• Death by Genre Savviness: He's the only one who's ever seen through Sima Yi's Fake Defector scheme, and it backfires horribly for him.
• Dragon-in-Chief
• Didn't See That Coming: Sorry Yuan Fang, this time Sima Yi is not The Mole.
• Due to the Dead: His body is properly taken care of in a funeral pyre arranged by Xun Yu, Guo Jia and Jia Xu. Bittersweetness ensues, as they reflect on what Yuan Fang's ending foreshadows for the future of the Eight Geniuses and bids him farewell, their enmity entirely burned away by the fire.
• Gone Horribly Right: He prepares for the takeover of the clan by inciting hostility among the potential heirs, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, to wear their forces out. When he is no longer around to keep them in check, the tension escalates to uncontrollable height and leads to the clan's defeat.
• I Shall Taunt You
• Kill'Em All: What he eventually does to the warlords of Guandong faction, one after another. In the battle of Guandu, this is his plan for his father, three half-brothers and Cao Cao. Guess how? He lures the first three to gather in one place and the last one in another, then burns them both up.
• Killed Off for Real
  • Go Out with a Smile: Because in his last moments, he saw the ghost of his sweetheart Xiao Cha return to take him with her.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight
• Murder the Hypotenuse: His own lover was a victim of this trope, and God knows it, Yuan Fang's not averse to pulling it again if another marriage offer comes along.
• Omnidisciplinary Strategist: Multi-talented? Check. Extremely adept at both warfare and politics ? Check. Well-versed in an esoteric battle formation that overpowers Sun Tzu's Art of War ? Check. Honor student of Shujing, teacher of many famous strategists and Zuo Ci, one of the Eight Eccentrics and a leader of Taiping cult? Check. People, meet the First of the Eight Geniuses.
• Out-Gambitted: By Guo Jia when it comes to planting moles.
• Parental Favoritism: Yuan Shao favors him the most out of all his sons, as he considers Yuan Fang the most capable of them all.
• Preacher's Kid: Invoked as Type 2 - he's supposed to be the immoral bastard son that overthrows the three-generation-loyalist tradition of Yuan clan that Yuan Shao, his father, advocates. That's in name only, mind you. The preacher and the kid in this case are more like birds of a feather.
• Resigned to the Call: He's never really that interested in taking over the Yuan clan (or China, for that matter), but due to circumstances and Yuan Shao's manipulations, gradually yields to this idea.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Xiao Cha.
• Start of Darkness: The death of his sweetheart, Xiao Cha, is one for him.
• Teen Genius
• The Mourning After: Xiao Cha's.
• Too Clever by Half: Big time, and he pays dearly for it. When Sima Yi offers to be his mole and assist the Yuan clan from inside Cao Cao's ranks, he immediately knows Sima Yi is playing the Fake Defector card again, and employs appropriate countermeasures. What he fails to take into account is, Guo Jia has sent Sima Yi precisely because he actually counted on Yuan Fang to make that deduction and focus on handling Sima Yi, while the true Mole, Yang Qing, will be able to operate without inhibitions. The results? Thanks to everyone's attentions completely being diverted to Sima Yi, Yang Qing successfully burns the Yuan army's rations and assassinates Yuan Fang, ensuring a decisive victory for Cao Cao.
• Took a Level In Jerkass: And he continues to take them throughout the events that lead to the Battle of Guandu. By Guandu, he's a full-fledged Jerkass Ice King, and becomes Cao Cao's, the three Geniuses' and Sima Yi's most dangerous opponent to date.
• Tyke Bomb: What Yuan Shao intended him to be, anyway. When he resists the idea, things go tragically wrong for him.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid
• White-Haired Pretty Boy
• Xanatos Gambit: His crowning ones are the Guandong faction vs. Dong Zhuo arc in which he ultimately turns every defeats of the Guandong faction, mainly suffered by other minor warlords, into critical strategic advantages for his clan. In the Battle of Guandu, he pulls another, on an infinitely more epic scale, that can give Pang Tong a run for his money. Had it succeeded, it would have resulted in the simultaneous removal of his greatest obstacles (his father, half-brothers and Cao Cao), the union of Yuan clan and the victory against Cao Cao's faction. And note that in the events after his death, it's revealed that he's even taken into account the prospect that it could fail, and has calculated so that even then, there would be no harm done to him and his opposing factions would shoulder all the blame.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Has a remarkable talent for it.

Xun Yu

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"With my guidance, an anti-hero would only be Imperial Han’s most loyal minister."

The Second Genius. Xun Yu's true strength is diplomacy, but he's as well-versed in warfare as any of the other Geniuses. From the beginning days of Cao Cao's faction, his benevolent ministry, as opposed to Guo Jia's 'Darkness Ideology' in military affairs, has helped fortify Cao Cao's rule. Thus stems his nickname, 'Zhang Liang', a homage to a famous advisor who aided Liu Bang in the construction of the Han dynasty.

Unlike Guo Jia and Jia Xu, the two Geniuses whose aim is Cao Cao's eventual rule, Xun Yu works toward the restoration of Imperial Han. Believing Cao Cao to be the only one able to achieve this, Xun Yu pledges his loyalty to him, even after Cao Cao's ambitions manifest in Guo Jia's favor. Xun Yu's greatest feats to date are the recruitment of thousands of Yellow Turban's troops and the Emperor's capture, both of which have contributed monumentally to Cao Cao's faction, elevating him to the status of most influential warlord of the land.

• Ambadassador: With his nephew Xun You.
• Armor-Piercing Slap: To Sima Yi.
• Badass Pacifist: He's the Nice Guy of the Eight Geniuses who prefers to settle things without bloodshed. Not killing and decimating everything in his way like Jia Xu or Guo Jia can make it harder for him to get things done, but it doesn't mean his strategies are any less incredibly effective.
• Beauty Mark
• Beware the Nice Ones: Slaps Sima Yi for being a money-hungry warmongerer and totally leads Cao Cao by the nose during the entire Emperor rescue arc in volmume 19. People don't cross Xun Yu for a reason.
• Break the Cutie: By Cao Cao's massacre of millions of civilians in the 1st Xuzhou campaign and Yuan Fang who shoots him on sight in the very 1st battle of Guandu arc, but he gets over both fairly quickly.
• Crazy Prepared: "Eons of cultivation for one moment of utilization", indeed.
• Noble Top Enforcer: His people skills and merciful policies gave Cao Cao a good start and raised his status from a defeated warlord to an influential one, and are the reason Cao Cao is so popular with the soldiers and people he conquered.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Guo Jia at first, since his generous methods simply do not go hand in hand with Guo Jia's habit to massacre millions in his Plan. It was quite one-sided as Xun Yu did most of the teeth-clenching while Guo Jia was totally cool with it. Their partnership significantly improves over time, though.
• Ten-Minute Retirement: Cao Cao's adoption of Guo Jia's vicious military strategies shocks him into shutting himself away (and being absent for the most part of Xuzhou campaign), but several volumes later he turns up to help Cao Cao out of a pinch against Lu Bu and Chen Gong.
• The Social Expert

Jia Xu

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"Darkness precedes the light of dawn."

The Third Genius. A friend of the Fourth Genius Guo Jia, Jia Xu is a fervent believer in the 'Darkness ideology', the belief hailing actions of utmost cruelty, rather than of benevolence, as the ultimate mean to pave way for peace and prosperity. This causes his rupture with the way of justice Shujing taught, which he deems obsolete, and his premature graduation from the school of Shujing. He has a positive opinion of ruthless and cunning warlords who have the will to wage wars to bring peace to the people.

During the course of the story, Jia Xu has served various lords. He was particularly loyal to Dong Zhuo, the Imperial Prime Minister whose inhuman reformist method was the closest to his ideal. After Dong Zhuo died in Lu Bu's usurpation, Jia Xu joined forces with Dong Zhuo's son-in-law Niu Fu and successfully overthrew Lu Bu. Since then he's expressed the intention to join Cao Cao and secretly kept in touch with Guo Jia, but still stayed with the remnants of Dong Zhuo's faction. When Cao Cao's expedition against Lu Bu began, Jia Xu returned and played one of the vital roles in Lu Bu's eventual elimination.

• Badass Boast: This guy has a reputation for claiming to accomplish impossible feats with minimal forces and backing them up in ways you cannot believe. In fact it's gone to the point that even saying it alone is sufficient to scare off his opponents.
• Butt Monkey: Because he's Surrounded by Idiots until he joins Cao Cao, who simply wouldn't take his good advices. He always gets the last laugh.
• Dangerously Genre Savvy: He's very much aware of the fame surrounding his Badass Boast and Thanatos Gambit, and uses it to his advantage as Lu Bu and Liu Bei learn the hard way. His Thanatos Gambit is a good example of this trope as well.
• Deadpan Snarker: Just like his other incarnations.
• Despair Event Horizon: Crosses it when his lord Dong Zhuo and his sworn brother Li Ru died in Lu Bu's usurpation, having not heeded his advice.
• Establishing Character Moment: Gets an epic one in volume 10. People knows he's tough stuff when he outgambits Lu Bu, who has been on a streak of brilliantly outgambitting others (including one of the Eight Geniuses, Yuan Fang), twice.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: To Guo Jia, who is too depressed about his declining health to put his tremendous talents to good use. It helps Guo Jia get over it and join Cao Cao's side.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Guo Jia.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: To avenge Dong Zhuo and Li Ru He helps the kind of Li Jue and Guo Si take over Chang'an and approach the young, defenseless Emperor. About ten volumes later, the once prosperous Chang'an can now barely hold together, civilians are starved to death and take turns robbing the palace, and the Emperor has to run away with court officials.
• Paranoia Gambit: He's been enjoying pulling this lately. Like it much, Liu Bei?
• Thanatos Gambit: His trademark move, which thrice has overthrown Lu Bu. And he didn't even use it the third time, he merely made Lu Bu believe so.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Like Guo Jia, a proponent of this trope.

Guo Jia

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"If you want a revolution, why care about what the world thinks?"

The Fourth Genius. He's praised as the 'King of strategic decisions', a nod to his ability to account for virtually every scenarios possible in his plans. Like his close friend Jia Xu, Guo Jia is also a proponent of the 'Darkness ideology', which hails actions of utmost cruelty, rather than of benevolence, as the ultimate mean to pave way for peace and prosperity. This, while perpetuates his fame as Cao Cao's 'darkness', also strains his relationship with his upperclassman and comrade Xun Yu.

Much to Guo Jia's despair, he is afflicted with a terminal illness (possibly tuberculosis), which dooms him to a premature death. Guo Jia has long since resigned himself to fate, reluctant to enter anyone's service, until Jia Xu persuades him to join Cao Cao, a warlord they both deem worthy of serving. As Cao Cao's right-hand-man, he plays a vital role in expanding the influence of Cao faction, which grows vigorously and quickly equals that of the Yuan clan.

• Animal Motif: The crow.
  • Ravens and Crows: His appearances in earlier volumes are sometimes followed by a flock of crows. He's even portrayed with crows in a volume cover.
• Awesomeness By Analysis: Liaoyuan Huo really should have thunk twice before trying to bluff this guy.
• Dangerously Genre Savvy
• Determinator: According to Word of God, this is why he's the best of the Eight Geniuses - he's extremely capable of making a lot of decisive strategies and hard decisions. Also, note that according to the doctor he isn't well enough to engage in stressful activities such as commanding armies or scheming stuff, yet he has been workaholicking on them for nearly 10 years. That says something about a man's will.
• The Dragon: Cao Cao's most trusted advisor.
• Four Is Death
• Jerkass: Even his officers and colleagues can't stand him sometimes. He can be worse, if you happen to be Sima Yi.
• I Have Your Family: Pulls a very subtle one on Sima Yi, and still makes it look like a well-intentioned effort on his part to protect Sima Yi's family.
• Ill Guy: with Incurable Cough of Death. But none of these can stop him, ever.
• Moral Event Horizon: His first advice to Cao Cao was to massacre tens of thousand of people in the first Xuzhou campaign. Xiahou Dun called both him and Cao Cao out, and Xun Yu gets sore with him for a long time. And it prompted an outraged Zhuge Liang into action.
• Necessarily Evil: Up to Eleven.
• Out-Gambitted: By the combined efforts of Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang in volume 13.
• Properly Paranoid: Regarding Sima Yi, which sparks an implicit antagonism between them.
• Refusal of the Call: At first, because he believes his illness will kill him before he can accomplish anything. He gets over it after Jia Xu gives him a pep talk about how he should try to live his life to the fullest, instead of waiting it out.
• The Unfettered
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Even when the means involve ordering genocide-level massacre, and exaggerating the actual count of casualty to scare off his enemies.
• Xanatos Gambit: Two for Lu Bu, both occur in the Xuzhou campaigns. Also the Battle of Guandu, which is basically a game of tit-for-tat Xanatos Gambit between him and Yuan Fang. He wins.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: He does not like it when Cao Cao comments that from an outsider's perspective, the fight between him, Xun Yu, Jia Xu and Yuan Fang (basically, an in-fighting between former classmates) in the Battle of Guandu is a delightful sight to behold.
• Your Days Are Numbered

Zhou Yu

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"Heaven is not dead. He is just forging a magnificent clan."

The Fifth Genius. Of all the Geniuses to have made an appearance, Zhou Yu's goal strays the furthest from their common ideal: rather than striving to bring peace to the land, he pledges loyalty to his sworn brother, Sun Ce, and dedicates his genius to the resurrection of the fallen Sun clan which may or may not imply his intentions to found the future Wu kingdom independent of Imperial Han. For this, he's disliked by the Seventh Genius Zhuge Liang, who likens him to Sima Yi, another man of staggering brilliance but without noble ambitions.

Zhou Yu's strength lies in troop deploying and counter-espionage, the later of which was the basis for his ingenious scheme to turn Yuan Shu's men against each other, tremendously diminishing Yuan Shu's force. With his aids, Sun Ce was able to escape safely to the Eastern region and embark on his conquest to regain the old glory of his family. As of now, the Sun clan has almost completely conquered the Eastern land and joined the fray as a rapidly rising power.

• Badass Bookworm: He's also an admiral, and is trained in combat.
• Bishounen: Has a nickname for it.
• Brains and Brawn: The brains to Sun Ce's brawn. Kind of zigzagged in this case, as Sun Ce being Sun Ce, Zhou Yu even admits that sometimes he fails to catch up.
• Identical Stranger: When his mask is off, he looks identical to Sima Yi. It's even lampshaded at some point.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Sun Ce, his sworn brother.
• The Lancer: To Sun Ce.
• Not in This For Your Revolution: His main motivation is helping his sworn brother, Sun Ce, revive the Sun clan and restore its rightful government of the Southern region. Needless to say, the patriotic Zhuge Liang doesn't approve of him anymore than he does his Identical Stranger, Sima Yi.
• The Mole: Plays this once to help Sun Ce.
• Xanatos Gambit: The "Rise of Sun Ce" arc.

Pang Tong

"Strategy, as they say, amounts to only one type."

The Sixth Genius. With his extraordinary power of devising chained strategems, he's hailed as the 'Fledgeling Phoenix' (鳯雛; Fèngchú), one of the two titles conferred on the best of the Geniuses only (the other being 'Crouching Dragon', conferred on the Seventh Zhuge Liang). Regardings his principles, Pang Tong is considered a ruthless utilitarian whom even Jia Xu considers himself inferior to. He's close friend with Zhuge Liang, who shares his dream of restoring the era of Imperial Han and yet seems to advocate more benevolent methods. Thus, people believe that he favors Liu Bei but he actually supports Liu Chong, a more powerful warlord and also related to the Imperial family. The chain stratagem he sets up upon joining Liu Chong, which involves several prominent warlords in a surprise all-out extermination of Cao Cao's faction, soon pushes Cao Cao into deadly predicaments and nearly claims his life. This also brought about the demise of the Sima clan, marking one of the most significant plot development in the story. After Liu Chong was assassinated by Sima Yi, as of now he prefers to stay out of the power struggle and observe the going-ons. Still, Liu Chong's death and a private talk with Liu Bei made him change his opinion, and he seems to support Liu Bei now.

• Black Eyes of Evil: Word of God says it's only for scary effects, though.
• The Cake Is a Lie: He persuades Sima Yi, Liaoyuan Huo and (indirectly, through Lu Bu) Xiao Meng to start a mutiny in Cao Cao's home base and assassinate him to put an end to Cao Cao's insatiable extortion of the Sima clan's money. He just wants them to fail and be wiped out by Cao Cao.
• Chekhov's Skill: The one he uses to solve Dong Zhuo's puzzle and earns the title of Fledgeling Phoenix, by connecting several characters from a thousand meaningless ones to form a sentence. It speaks a lot of his talent for uniting warlords with independent motives into a mighty force against Cao Cao.
• Chekhov's Classroom: A lecture on the way of strategy, which he used to repeat for three days and none of his students understands. Later they take it to heart, and act accordingly to aid him in a grand scheme of killing Cao Cao and undermining the influence of his faction.
• Cool Teacher: He's one for a very good reason.
• Creepy Good: With heavy emphasis on creepy, as in "creepy-looking" - even Jia Xu thinks Pang Tong's brains is not his only frightening asset. Pang Tong himself even lampshaded it!
• Enemy Mine: He doesn't think the least bit favorably of dissidents like the Sun clan, but still joins force with them because he hates Cao Cao even more.
• Facial Markings
• Foreshadowing: A lot, for the Battle of Chi Bi.
• Historical Beauty Update: Historically he's an ugly guy, but in Ravages of Time he is nothing short of the coolest looking of the Eight Geniuses.
• Insufferable Genius: Builds up an image of this to his students, mostly due to the way he teaches them and how none of them could understand anything he said. Subverted, later he successfully unites their factions under one goal: to kill Cao Cao, and none of them has any apprehension or hesitation in following his advices to the letter.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His scheme triggered the ruins of Sima clan, which gives Sima Yi the incentive he needs to stop being Brilliant but Lazy and join Cao Cao's faction, something Pang Tong wants to avoid in the first place.
• Red Baron: "Fledgling Phoenix".
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: The scope of that gamebit pileup he heaps on Cao Cao is unbelievable. Long story short, he manipulates two estranged members of the Crippled Legions (an assassin squad with a reputed 100% success rate) into a mission to assassinate Cao Cao. Then he sics a horde of powerful warlords including Zhang Xiu, Lu Bu, Liu Biao, Liu Chong, Yuan Shu (each of them a formidable opponent to Cao Cao in their own rights) and several minor ones on Cao Cao's isolated troops. For good measures, he persuades the Sima clan to cut off the ration supply (by threatening to blame said assassination attempts by the Crippled Legion members on them) and raise a mutiny in Cao Cao's home base. Whichever fails, another one is bound to success, and when all fails, Cao Cao's main force has dwindled enough that Pang Tong's lord, Liu Chong, can take on him evenly. It takes Cao Cao's incredible good lucks and the combined efforts of his best generals to keep him alive, then Xun Yu, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu have to step into the picture to keep the damages down and break the stratagem. And everything is only over when Sima Yi comes back from near death to deliver the final blow to Pang Tong's plans by assassinating Liu Chong.
• Xanatos Gambit: Look at what he does to Cao Cao on his debut. You do not want to mess with this guy.
• What an Idiot!: Said this almost word-for-word about Liu Bei, who (prior to taking a level in badass) was naive enough to jump at the chance to carry out the orders of the Emperor (at that point already a puppet on Cao Cao's strings) against a much stronger Yuan Shu. He changes his mind somewhat, after meeting Liu Bei in person and seeing for himself that Liu Bei's kindness actually serves a bigger purpose.
• Wicked Cultured: Quotes Confucius incessantly.

Zhuge Liang

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"Loyalty until death."

The Seventh Genius, holder of the prized title "Crouching Dragon" and supposedly the best of the Eights. He's shown to be an upright individual who places great ethical value in loyalty and patriotism, and holds like-minded men like Liu Bei in very high regards. His stated goal is to restore the rule of Han, which he sees as an exemplary act of anti-segregation made for the sake of future generations. Due to his dissatisfaction with the way selfish warlords run the country with civil wars, he has declined to choose a master and opted to live as a reclused teacher in Shujing's military school. As of recent chapters, he has been convinced to choose Liu Bei and is working for him now.

• The Ace
• Foreshadowing: Despite excelling in many subjects, he's allegedly not as good at evaluating people as his upperclassmen Xun Yu and Guo Jia. And as everyone who's read Romance of Three Kingdoms knows, he's far behind Liu Bei in this regard. And he's one of the two Geniuses who're knowledgeable about the Feng Hou formation which is one of the most famous moves he will execute in his future military career.
• Heroic BSOD: In volume 12, when he finds the mountains of corpses Guo Jia and Cao Cao left behind their army's rampage. Then he gets another in volume 22, when he watches a battle and feels let down with the state of the country. It prompts his retirement to the school of Water-Mirror to continue teaching, and delays choosing a lord. In recent volumes, he has gotten over it, and has declared Liu Bei his lord.
• Jerkass Has a Point: During said Heroic BSOD in volume 22, he recalls Sima Yi's theory of aiding the wicked strong to powers and overthrowing him, which will spare the people of years of wars and power struggles, and reluctantly finds it more reasonable than the chaos ensuing before him.
• Lawful Good: He seems to be dropping the "lawful" part.
• Red Baron: "Crouching Dragon".
• Strange Minds Think Alike: With Sima Yi, in two occasions.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: Well, Liaoyuan Huo does have good tracking skills..
• The Faceless: For fourty-four volumes, he has never been seen with his mask down, although he's long since put the hat away.
  • In chapter 364, he finally takes it off. Much cries of joyous fandom are heard.. quite half-heartedly, because he's covering his face with something else again.
• Undying Loyalty: One of the many virtues he advocates.

The Eighth Genius

The last of the Eight Genius. There has been much debate over who is the last Genius, and theory abounds. One of the fan theories is crushed when : Lu Xun, unmasked, appears to save Sima Yi and goes on to join the Sun clan. Other possible favourite candidates are Wei Yan, Fa Zheng, Xu Shu or Lu Su.

• He Who Must Not Be Seen: He's never been revealed to the readers without the company of at least one other Genius, in mask and all, so it's pretty much impossible to tell which one is him, much less who he is. And note that as far as we can tell, he's only appreared three times in 44 volumes.

Cao faction

Tropes associated with Cao Cao's faction:

• An Axe to Grind: Xu Huang and Xu Chu.
• Badass Army: Universally recognized as the badass army.
• Badass Crew: Cao Cao's advisors include, among other talents, three of the Eight Geniuses, later joined by Sima Yi. His generals: many from his own family, the Xiahou brothers, Xu Chu, Dian Wei, Li Dian, Yu Jin, and later Zhang Liao are either strong like monsters, or extremely well-rounded physically and mentally.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Xu Chu, and not just because he is Xu Chu. Unbeknowst to Cao Cao, Sima Yi and the readers, this guy has been silently plotting revenge against Sima clan with his older brother all along. When they come out with it in volume 24, it was.. a jaw-dropping twist, to say the least.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The leader of the Crippled Legion succeeding Liaoyuan Huo, who appears in volume 22 and is Xu Ding, Xu Chu's older brother, with as much desire for revenge as his little brother.
• Defector From Decadence: Xu Huang.
• Dual-Wielding: Dian Wei.
• Eyepatch of Power: Xiahou Dun, not surprisingly for those who read the novel.
• Eye Scream: Xiahou Dun got an arrow to his prized left eye. He pulls the arrow out with the eyeball stuck to it. He eats the eyeball. And then his asskicking power shoots up.
• Genius Bruiser: Yu Jin.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Xu Chu.
• Face Heel Turn: The Qingzhou troops, formerly Yellow Turban soldiers, turn on Cao Cao under Zuo Ci's influence in the battle against Yuan clan.
• Parental Substitute: Cao Cao to Xu Chu, who respects him so much he thinks of him like his father who is Xu Lin.
• Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: MY LORD IS CALLING ME. Woe befalls whoever doesn't run away from Dian Wei after that line.
• One-Man Army: Most if not all of Cao Cao's generals have shown this trait.
• Super Senses: Xiahou Dun's left eye, which can see for miles. He loses it in the Xiapi campaign at Xiao Meng's hands.
• Super Strength: Xiahou Dun, who can throw a lance to the top of a mountain. And since he's got that left eye, don't expect him to miss. Ever.
• Super Toughness: Xu Chu and Dian Wei.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Xu Ding to the Sima clan in volume 25.
• Running Gag: "My Lord, are you training troops?"
• Undying Loyalty: Dian Wei takes this trope Up to Eleven. Even when he's cut into two, he still bellows to his leg to get up and kill the enemy together. They have to stab him in the neck to shut him up.

Dian Wei: Legs! Get up! Legs! You traitors! Did you forget… why you live?

• The Berserker: Xu Chu (if the subject of his revenge is brought up) and Dian Wei, but especially Dian Wei, who tries to kill his enemy despite being cut into two. Xiahou Dun can be this when he's too caught up in the bloodlust of the fight.
• Took a Level In Badass: Thanks to Cao Cao's trainings.
• Would Hurt a Child: Goddamn it, Xu Chu.
• You Killed My Father: Xu Chu and his older brother Xu Ding to Liaoyuan Huo and the entire Sima clan.

Cao Cao

"The villain in chaos, the hero in peace."

The leader of Cao clan. He started out as a vanguard of the Guandong Alliance and was one of the first to strike at Dong Zhuo (the only other was Sun Jian). The battle was his first crippling defeat and nearly cost him his entire army as well as the future of his faction, but as things turned out, it was Cao Cao's victory in the long term: through his bold initiative, he struck men of talents - among them three of the famous Eight Geniuses - as a patriot of great integrity and a lord worthy of their service. When Xun Yu and Guo Jia take turn joining his side, their genius and Cao Cao's own flair for strategic risk-taking come together and jointly result in sequence of brilliant schemes, rebuilding his army from scratch and quickly expanding his territory.

Cao Cao's gradual rise in and of itself is arguably a series of escalating Crowning Moment of Awesome in a series full of them. From a minor character in the grand scheme of things who was one step away from losing his life on behalf of conventional idealism, he has developed into a protagonist characterized by Machiavellian traits, shedding most of his early scruples and the near-death, near-total-defeat situations he survives only end up hardening his resolve. So far, the victories that define his career are the defeat and murder of Lu Bu and Yuan Shu, the capture of the young Emperor and, as of recent volumes, the defeat of the all-powerful Yuan clan.

• Anti-Hero: Progresses from Type I to Type III, and shows shades of Type IV at his worst.
• Badass Bookworm: He's more proficient in utilizing Sun Tzu's Art of War than Guo Jia or the Sun clan (supposedly Sun Tzu's descendants), and Yuan Fang can testify to it.
• Badass Mustache
• Dirty Old Man: Xu Chu even makes jokes on it.
• Evil Chancellor: Currently holds this place in the court. However, it's also noted that he averts like hell some of the bad stuffs usually associated with being this; for example, he's quite beloved by the people and many Imperialist talents are willing to serve him.
• Face Heel Turn: Guo Jia's arrival in volume 10 initiates one for him.
• Jerkass
• Large Ham: He has his moments.
• Lucky Bastard: To quote Jia Xu, Xiao Meng and many others - this guy is assisted by the wills of Heaven.
• It's Personal: His excuse for attacking Xuzhou is to avenge his father against the Governor of Xuzhou, whom he accused of a rob-and-murder plot. The old man actually died a natural death, and the whole thing is Guo Jia's idea.
• Magnetic Hero
• Magnificent Bastard
• Moral Event Horizon: The massacre of a hundred thousand civilians during his first Xuzhou campaign.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Averted, as he's no less of a Magnificent Bastard than the three Geniuses serving him and only lacks their flair for elaborate plans. Shujing, their teacher, even comments that much of their successes can be attributed to his leadership skills. The aversion truly takes it to the top in the Battle of Guandu, when he fights Yuan Fang's Feng-hou Eight Formation Diagram evenly with an improved version of Sun Tzu's formation, whereas Guo Jia spectacularly lost.
• Pay Evil Unto Evil: His rationale behind the whole "villain in war, able ruler in peace" front. YMMV on how much of it is his patriotism speaking and how much of it is his ambition to be Emperor trying to give a good excuse.
• Self-Made Man: The man who, with his genius, has single-handedly built a glorious politics and military career in the name of Cao, a family which produced a famous eunuch and was initially of low social standing among the warlords due to the unpopularity of eunuches at that time. His lineage becomes a minor, but important, plot point during the climax of a story arc.
• Straw Hypocrite: He can go on and on about how he controls court affairs just to aid the young Emperor, everyone knows he has bigger ambitions.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: To Dong Cheng and Sun Ce, none of whom take it well.
• Trauma Conga Line: Nearly runs his ass off on one in volume 24.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: To the Sima clan in volume 25.

Liu faction

Liu Bei

• Hundred-Percent Adoration Rating
• A Father to His Men: ...but not much to his own child, whom he considers of lesser importance than his sworn brothers.
• Armor-Piercing Question: "Are you satisfied... with dying like this?"
• Bare Your Midriff
• Break Them by Talking: At the White Gate Tower, and that should be enough hint as to whom this speech was directed at.
• Butt Monkey: As in the novel, he keeps losing to Cao Cao and Lu Bu over and over again. But each time he loses, his prestige increases and his reputation as a loyal Han follower and a righteous man shoots up. However, constantly being on the Trauma Conga Line results in his gradual development into a much more cynical, calculating man.
• Chewing the Scenery: Pretty much how he delivers said Armor-Piercing Question to Zhang Liao.
• Cruel to Be Kind: Once robs people of their fortune to make sure the incoming army won't pillage and kill them.
• Determinator
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: When he persuades Zhang Liao to surrender to Cao Cao and thus saves his life.
• Good Is Dumb: He gets over it.
• The Empath: Very good at discerning the personality and the wants and desires of people he come across.
• Honor Before Reason: Then again, he has a good reason to put his honor first. He knows that his reputation is about the only thing he has going for him, so most of his decisions are based on how to polish it, not sacrifice it.
• Magnetic Hero: Topping even Cao Cao, this guy's charisma points are off the charts.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: People think he's a patriotic idiot. Cao Cao knows better.
• Power Trio: With Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.
• Slave to PR: Is frequently accused of this by his (more practical) subordinates.
• The Messiah: And is showing traits of a Dark Messiah.
• Took a Level In Badass
• Wide-Eyed Idealist No Longer

Guan Yu

• Badass
• Honor Before Reason
• Lawful Good: Irrefutably so.
• One-Man Army: On the same level with Lu Bu.
• The Paladin

Zhang Fei

• Badass
• Cultured Warrior: His other identity is a renowned artist, and the Eight Geniuses' teacher is a fan of his. Who could have known?
• Facial Markings: And they look even weirder than Pang Tong's. He's even nicknamed 'Painted-Face Zhang Fei'.
• Genius Bruiser
• Handsome All Along: Zhang Fei's unpainted face is yet to be seen as he always covers his face when he doesn't have all those painted tattoos, but from what we can see he does not look half bad.
• Obfuscating Stupidity
• One-Man Army: Fights Lu Bu to a standstill twice. Five of Cao Cao's best generals (together) fail to manage it even once.

Lu faction

Tropes associated with Lu Bu's faction:

• Badass Army: The Chargers, led by Gao Shun.
• Badass Crew: Gao Shun and Zhang Liao.
• Brains and Brawn: Chen Gong and Lu Bu.
• Cool Old Guy: Chen Gong. So cool even Cao Cao's three Geniuses respect him, and would have liked nothing more than to have him on their side had he not choosen dying instead of joining Cao Cao.
• Cool Teacher: Chen Gong to many younger advisors. Also Cao Xing, the leading archer, to Xiao Meng.
• Despair Event Horizon: Quite a lot, considering the amounts of ass-kicking dealt to them in the tenth volume by Jia Xu and in later volumes by Cao Cao. The crowning moment of despair occurs during the Xiapi campaign, when they fall for Guo Jia's trap and are besieged on all sides by flood, sicknesses, rapidly declining food rations, being cut off from other troops, and there are no longer any allies they can count on. Even those who have followed Lu Bu since the beginning decide against staying with him on this sinking boat and defect to Cao Cao.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Chen Gong and Gao Shun. The former faces death with sheer badass dignity, and the latter charges into a horde of enemy while paralegic to rescue his master, and refuses to die until the leader of the opposing charge, Cao Chun, delivers the mercy kill.
• Foe-Tossing Charge: Lu Bu (anytime he goes full God of War mode into battle), Gao Shun (it's what he does) and Zhang Liao (after he takes his level(s) in badass).
• Hopeless Suitor: Qin Yi Lu to Xiao Meng in the novel, although he never says it out loud.
• Morality Pet: Lu Bu's daughter is one to him. Xiao Meng might be another, but the novel is more obvious about this.
• I Know You Know I Know: Many of Chen Gong's strategies can be summed up into this, especially during Lu Bu's takeover of Xuzhou.
• Kill the Cutie: Poor Lu Bu's daughter.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Lu Bu falls for Sima Yi's ruse, and causes the entire disaster of flooding Xiapi by sending away Gao Shun, who was guarding the river on Chen Gong's order.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The sentiment of many Lu Bu's soldiers, when the situation in Xiapi turns hopeless.
• The Chessmaster: Lu Bu, and after Chen Gong joins him, only Chen Gong.
• Undying Loyalty: Gao Shun.

Lu Bu

File:LuBu RoT 9297.jpg

Dong Zhuo: "A scholar doesn't know how to fight; a warrior doesn't know how to write. One who can both write and fight is rare. Who do you reckon Lu Bu is?" Xu Lin: "It is said among soldiers - "Among horses, Red Hare is the fastest. Among men, Lu Bu is the strongest". But I reckon that Lu Bu is not human at all!"

The God of War of the series, an indomitable fighter and a capable strategist. Ambitious and power hungry, he seeks to murder Dong Zhuo for power, just as he did to his previous foster-father. He succeeds, but soon finds himself a foe to the Third Genius Jia Xu and loses to his schemes. After that he tries to become a dominant power in northern China with the help of his advisor Chen Gong.

Chen Gong got Out-Gambitted during the battle of Xia Pi, and Lu Bu was captured and finally executed.

• A God Am I: "I am the God of War! A god among men!!"
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When he serves in Dong Zhuo's army, he manages to win the hearts of men all over. Neither Dong Zhuo nor his wiseguy team can do anything about it, despite knowing Lu Bu's true colors.
• Body Double: He has dozens of them, either for faking his presence (which is often enough to hold off the enemy) when he's needed elsewhere or faking his deaths so that he can get away.
• Butt Monkey: And the instigators of his constant falls are Cao Cao, Sima Yi and Jia Xu.
• Curb Stomp Battle and No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Thy names are "Lu Bu vs. everyone".
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: To his foster fathers, allies, and even his loyal subordinates for his own benefits.
• Cool Horse: A badass horse, in fact. "Red Hare among horses, Lu Bu among men" indeed.
• Despair Event Horizon: The sight of his beloved daughter being cut in half by Xu Chu, and trampled to death under horse' feet during a failed siege breakout is a particularly gut-wrenching one for Lu Bu. Then he goes on full berserk mode and take out all of his opponents (who are the Xiahou brothers, Xu Chu, Xu Huang, Han Hao,.. yeah, kind of the cream of the crops in Cao Cao's entire army).
• Dying Moment of Awesome: It takes three of Cao Cao's best generals (one of them the giant Xu Chu) to asphyxiate him. Eventually, Xiahou Dun has to behead Lu Bu to kill him off for real.
• Face Death with Dignity: Completely averted; in his execution Lu Bu begs for his life and humbles himself to the point of self-humiliation to Cao Cao's mooks. Then the aversion is subverted: Cao Cao publicly declares that Lu Bu knows the value of life and thus is willing to stake his superficial pride for it, and praises Lu Bu for his courage — compared to Cao Cao's own "shallow" men. Upon hearing this, Lu Bu sobers up immediately for his Dying Moment of Awesome.
• Faking the Dead: One of his most favourite tactics.
• Hoist by His Own Petard
• Honor Before Reason: Not surprisingly, an averted trope here. When Cao Cao was about to execute Lu Bu, Lu Bu begged for his life, and was even willing to address a random mook as his grandfather. He is resolved to stay alive at all costs, even if it means great humiliation — for which Cao Cao held him in higher respect than his own "shallow" men who prided honor over reason.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Every traitorous deed that Lu Bu ever does will eventually come back to bite him in the ass, no exception.
  • The whole deal with overthrowing Dong Zhuo, as it turns out, sends at least three mortal enemies hot on his heels, all of whom contribute to his downfall(s). He's dealt three crippling defeats by the Thanatos Gambit of Jia Xu, Li Ru's oath brother and Dong Zhuo's advisor; his daughter is killed by Xu Chu, the son of Xu Lin whose death he indirectly caused (by sending Xu Chu away right at the moment the Crippled Legion was targeting him); and finally he's captured at the White Gate Tower due to the betrayal of Hou Cheng, Song Xian and Wei Xu, who were former subordinates of Dong Zhuo's general Huo Xiong, whom Zhang Liao assassinated on his orders.
  • Then the business with robbing Liu Bei, who was sheltering him, of Xuzhou by allying with Yuan Shu, Liu Bei's enemy. At the White Gate Tower execution ground, Liu Bei returns the favor by convincing Cao Cao to kill him, instead of sparing his life.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Because he's freakin' Lu Bu. He doesn't invoke this trope very often, though.
• Meaningful Echo: "No pain. No pain at all." - what he said to his daughter, which then becomes her last words to him when she dies, then repeated several times by him in poignant moments.
• Moral Event Horizon: Is seen by others as having crossed it a long time ago when he betrays and kills his two foster fathers, Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast
• Oh Crap: The crowning ones are courtesy of said guys who makes a Butt Monkey out of him for their breakfast -
  • The first sign that his streak of outgambitting other has ended comes when Sima Yi threatens him with Dong Zhuo's edict to get his team out of Chang'an and warn Lu Bu's hands off his family's business at the same time.
  • In Chang'an arc when he realizes Niu Fu's death was a bait by Jia Xu. Again, in the same arc when he falls for Dong Yue's death, again a bait by Jia Xu, and that Sima Yi indirectly lent a hand by leaving the edict behind for Jia Xu's taking.
  • In Puyang when the Yellow Turban troops turn on him.
  • In Xiapi when Chen Gong makes it clear that Sima Yi has duped him.
• Papa Wolf: For a guy who has betrayed two foster fathers, he loves his little daughter a lot.
• Perma Stubble
• Rated "M" for Manly
• Red Baron: Deservingly, "God of War".
• Ship Tease: With Xiao Meng.
• The Starscream
• Too Dumb to Live: For all his wits, Lu Bu never seems to learn that Jia Xu's and Sima Yi's words are not to be trusted under any circumstances.
• World's Strongest Man: The first and foremost One-Man Army of this era. As long as he doesn't engage in a fight with Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and the Crippled Legion (granted he was either poisoned or they were ganging up on him) Lu Bu is the only fighter who never, ever fails to utterly curb-stomp his opponents, whether they are Yuan Shu's thousand-soldiered army, or a team of up to five of Cao Cao's best generals with his sheer strength, skills, Nigh Invulnerability and badassery.

Zhang Liao

• Anti-Villain: Type IV.
• A Father to His Men: Unlike Lu Bu, he cares a lot for his subordinates, and frequently risks his life to guard their escape routes instead of the other way around. When many of them are beheaded after Cao Cao defeats Lu Bu, he even disobeys orders to stay behind and recover their remains. Yuan Tan's army comes charging through ? He beats the hell out of them.
• Badass Boast: "No one has ever passed the range of my swords".
• Bishonen
• Evil Counterpart: To Liaoyuan Huo. A (former) badass assassin and dragon to a master with questionable morality, with a subconscious desire for a better life instead of one of constant underhanded schemings, and later join a new master who can offer them all that? You bet. The author is quite obvious about it as well, what with his constant dual expositions of these two, with hints here and there about their Future Badass status.
• Friendly Enemy: To Guan Yu, after he saves Zhang Liao's life and Liu Bei saves it again by persuading him to join Cao Cao.
• Genius Bruiser
• Heel Face Turn: When he's finally captured by Cao Cao at the end of Xiapi campaign. Initially he was going for a Defiant to the End ending, but Liu Bei persuades him otherwise.
• Honor Before Reason
• Legacy Character: Later he wears Lu Bu's headband, and takes up Gao Shun's charging style when he fights for Cao Cao in the Guandu campaign.
• Meaningful Echo: Repeats to Guan Yu exactly what Liu Bei said to him to make Guan Yu surrender.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: He has certain issues with Lu Bu's amoral ways, but shuts up most of the time. He finally loses it when Lu Bu suggests using their subordinates as scapegoats to escape from Xiapi, and leaves Lu Bu's side to protect his men.
• Took a Level In Badass: After Lu Bu dies. His biggest feat so far is killing Wen Chou, and the foreshadowings of Battle of Hefei state that it's just the beginning of many levels in badass that he's going to take.
• Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty: And Guan Yu calls him out on it.
• You Shall Not Pass: Whenever he's in "No one has ever passed the range of my swords" mode.

Sun faction

• Badass Crew
• Badass Family
• Badass Grandpa: Huang Gai.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Ling Tong and Cheng Pu, after some direct contacts with Yue Ji. And subverted with Cheng Pu.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: Lu Meng, a very talented strategist and general, but illiterate and crude (to people's exasperation). By the time of Sun Ce's death, he's shown to be a much more eloquent and studious man.
• Cute Shotaro Boy: Ling Tong.
• Defeat Means Friendship: How Sun Ce gets Taishi Ci. Trolling the hell out of him helps, too.
• Despair Event Horizon: Sun Jian's death was one for them, since it brought about the clan's near collapse and forced its member to kowtow to the enemies. Later, Sun Ce's death.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Ling Cao.
• I Fight for the Strongest Side: The Lu clan, led by Lu Xun, which was previously an ally of Taiping cult but surrenders to the emerging Sun clan.
• Indy Ploy: Averted; Sun Ce always counts on his men and Zhou Yu to be adaptive and makes use of the situational advantages that his not-so-thoughtless charges offer them.
• One-Man Army: Zhou Tai, Taishi Ci and Sun Ce (especially Sun Ce), who frequently take on a vast number of enemy troops alone.
• Parental Neglect: Judging by the way he reacts to his daughter's near-death experience and Sun Ce's flashback, Sun Jian might be accused of this to his children. In the novel Bofu, Sun Ce gets this short end of the stick a lot and it damages his sense of self-worth quite severely.
• Sir Swearsalot: Lu Meng.
• The Call Put Me on Hold: Taishi Ci, who is young, talented and eager to prove himself to his lords, who are either too conservative to use his strategies or just plain disapproves of his hotbloodedness. Of course, he gets his due after joining the Sun clan.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Sun Jian, whose ideals of righteousness and loyalty are out of keeping with the era he lives in.
• Undying Loyalty: Sun Jian to the court, and Sun Ce is not pleased.
• The Hero Dies
• What Were You Thinking?: To Sun Ce, whenever he does something reckless (which is often) like leaving the main troops to take on an entire army alone. Of course, to Sun Ce, it's always All According to Plan...
• What the Hell, Hero?: Ling Tong to Sun Ce, who desecrated Ling Cao's tomb and blamed it on the enemies to inspire his troops.
• You Killed My Father: Subverted with Ling Tong. He knows his father's sacrifice was needed to revive the Sun clan, and harbors no resentment towards Sun Ce or whoever has a hand in the 'fake Sun Ce' plan.

Sun Ce

Heaven, I ask you. Are you on my side?

The young leader of Sun clan, a powerful clan in the Eastern region. Starting with the death of his father Sun Jian, the Sun clan slowly fell victims to outside manipulations and opportunistists who are after the Imperial seal, which Sun Jian allegedly recovered from the ruins of Luoyang after Dong Zhuo's arc and hid away to protect it from ambitious men; by the time of their first appearance what remains is a mere shadow of their old glory. Seeking a way to rebuild his clan and avenge his father's death, Sun Ce submits to Yuan Shu, one of his father's former direct superiors. The cover of amity does not fool either side, though: Yuan Shu, the mastermind behind Sun Jian's death, aims at possessing the Imperial seal and eradicating a future threat, and Sun Ce wants to win his support only to gain the resources to reclaim the Eastern region. Volume 16-20 center around their conflict, and end in Sun Ce's victory: he successfully escapes from under Yuan Shu's clutches to the Eastern region with a full army by means of one of the most clever Body Double strategy to date, Yuan Shu's forces is reduced by half, and the Imperial seal ends up in Yuan Shu's hands to be used in his ascension plan - as Sun Ce wishes - which will make him an enemy of the people. Also, by the end of this arc, we see that the Fifth Genius, Zhou Yu, is in his service.

After he's conquered all of the Eastern region's warlord, his archenemy reveals itself to be the remnant of Taiping rebellion, led by the so-called "Great Saint" Yu Ji, a Taoist who uses his medical and shaman knowledge to gather an overwhelming legion of followers. The 2nd arc featuring the Sun clan revolves around the Sun clan vs. Taiping cult battle in Eastern region.

Despite his age, Sun Ce is a very powerful warrior and is considered to be Lu Bu's equal in prowess, a reputation duly justified. He's also a highly cunning schemer in his own right, and is very clever at manipulating people. What his generals and advisors unanimously regard as his Achilles Heel is his over-enthusiasm with expanding their territory in the Eastern region and exacting revenge on his father's former foes, namely Liu Biao's general Huang Zu and the Taiping cult. In his eagerness to subdue them, more than once Sun Ce has recklessly put his own life on the line, a fact Zhou Yu's greatly concerned about. Still, none of their warnings dampen Sun Ce's spirit: he wholeheartedly believes that great sacrifices make the foundation for Sun clan's rule, and as the spearhead of the clan's offense force, he should do everything he can while Heaven is still on their side.

With Pang Tong's aid, the Sun clan manages to defeat Yu Ji and annihilate his influence in their home base. However, in volume 39, another leader of Taiping called Zuo Ci shows up and sends assassins after Sun Ce to avenge Yu Ji. Their ambush takes him by surprise, and he dies of a poisonous arrow to the head after three months of struggle and insanity induced by extreme agony.

• Ambition Is Evil: His father Sun Jian was a famous Loyalist who sacrificed his life to protect the Royal Seal from falling into the hands of wannabe usurpers, while he only wants to restore his clan's reign in the Eastern region and extricate it from any obligatory ties with the Royal Family (which is practically declaring the Eastern region an autonomy at best and a seperate country at worst). His object is thus relentlessly denounced by oppositions, who also like to remind him what a terrible son he is for not upholding his late father's belief. It causes him to develop self-doubts, which later return to haunt him amidst the bouts of delirium he suffers in his dying bed.
• Animal Motif: The tiger.
• Armor-Piercing Question: To Taishi Ci - "What is the meaning of loyalty?"
• Authority Equals Asskicking: In charge, and is the best fighter of his clan.
• Badass
• Body Double: He pulls an epic one with Ling Cao, and everyone is fooled.
• Break the Haughty: Gets this every time people tell him he fails hard as a son of the Loyalist Sun Jian, and Cao Cao takes it even further by warning that he will not receive Heaven's blessings. This strikes a big chord with Sun Ce, since he's always believed that he is so successful with the Eastern region conquest because Heaven is on his side. This trope is played terrifyingly straight during the hundred-day period of agonizing pains he suffers from an assassin's poisoned arrow, which culminate in him seeing himself flat-out condemned by his father in a dream for being a renegade who betrays Imperial Han, rather than a dutiful son his father'd wished him to be. The entire scene is tear-jerking to behold.
• Break Them by Talking
• Broken Ace: Sun Ce might seem almighty and unflappable, but his daddy issues make him more of a resenter than he looks, and he has some deep-seated insecurities about the righteousness of his belief.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Holy shit. This guy curb-stomps through his opponents (the Eastern region warlords and generals, Zhang Liao and Cao Cao's entire Tiger and Leopard Cavalry) like a hot knife to butter. Just trust his appraisers when they say his might is comparable to Lu Bu.
• Didn't See That Coming: Zuo Ci's assassins and their ambush.
• Dual-Wielding: Two halberds, but he also has a curious tendency to slip his hands...
• Faking the Dead: Once against Yuan Shu's assassination attempt, twice against Yu Ji's.
• Face Heel Turn: Sun Jian's premature death and the subsequent fall of the Sun clan turns Sun Ce completely off to the (traditionally valued) idea of following his father's loyal footsteps and returning to the court's service.
• Genius Bruiser: As Zhou Yu puts it: "A Lu Bu with Sun Tzu's wisdom".
• Improbable Age: He leads the Sun army on a swift conquest of the Eastern region, defeating and outwitting men twice his age, and successfully establishing the influence of the Sun clan in 81 states in five years. Historically he's only around 24-25 when he dies.
• It's Personal: A lot of the things he does are for the sake of avenging his dad's death. He even tearfully admits it in his deathbed.
• Killed Off for Real
• King Incognito: No, he's not that burly, manly warrior with funny hairstyle and cool headband. See his cousin, the laid-back, unassuming guy who is sent to take charge of Yuan Shu's asylum and has a good time with it with Liaoyuan Huo? Yeah, that's Sun Ce.
• Leeroy Jenkins: He's well-awere of the risks but invokes this trope anyway, since he trusts Zhou Yu to make up a good plan to follow up and bring them victory.
• Magnetic Hero
• Magnificent Bastard: Outmaches his sworn brother Zhou Yu in this regard. Just look at how he "inspires" his army and defeats Taishi Ci.
• Meaningful Echo:What was spoken by Ling Cao at his moment of death dawns on Sun Ce when he's shot in the head, similar to how Ling Cao died.
• Peaceful in Death: When Sun Ce finally dies after three months of suffering, Zhou Yu sees his spirit, gradually returning to his child form, run back to his father's arms.

Sun Jian's spirit: He's tired. Let him rest.

• Peek-a-Bangs
• Revenge Before Reason: Is accused of this whenever his eagerness to eradicate the Taiping cult, his father's former archenemy, and to defeat Huang Zu, his father's murderer gets out of hand.
• Rule of Three: He avoids death at the hands of Taiping cult's assassins twice. He's not so lucky on the third time.
• Smug Smiler: Almost his default expression, because he's way too good at kicking asses. Somehow, he's also a...
• Stepford Smiler: Shows traits of this in the manhua. The novel plays it straight, in which his carefree facade hides a world of unspoken self-esteem issues, including but not limited to his desire for his strict dad's approval and his jealousy of Sun Quan for being the main focus of Sun clan's adoration and Sun Jian's fatherly love.
• Sparing the Aces
• The Reveal: The "Sun Ce" that Gan Ning killed is actually Ling Cao, who acts as a bait to fool Yuan Shu into thinking Sun Ce is dead, so that the real Sun Ce (so far disguised as a distant cousin) can escape safely.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Turns out to be one, despite his constant condemnations of his father's characteristic loyalty which got him killed. In the side-story novel Bofu, he is this trope personified.
• World of Cardboard Speech: A variation which leads to I Am What I Am-esque moments.
• You Killed My Father: To Yuan Shu and Huang Zu, and by proxy, to Huang Zu's boss Liu Biao.
• Young and In Charge
• Young Conqueror: An actual in-universe Red Baron of his.
• Youthful Freckles

Sun Quan

• Break the Cutie: During Sun Ce's hundred-day period of suffering from a poisoned arrow.
• Chekhov's Gunman: He's the boy who calls Shan Wu Ling "big sister" in a blink-and-you-will-miss-it moment in volume 6. Turns out they're not related at all.
• Young and In Charge: Now official, after Sun Ce passes away.
• Youngest Child Wins: In the novel Bofu, at least. Of the three children, Quan is the smartest child and takes after Sun Jian the most and thus is the clan's favorite.

Sun Shu

• Action Girl
• All Love Is Unrequited: For a girl who isn't a bad catch at all, her streak of chasing after men who have deeper feelings for someone dead or missing is really unfortunate. Once, it even gets her on the receiving end of a very cruel...
• Break the Cutie: Courtesy of Yuan Fang.
• Smitten Teenage Girl: To her fiancé, Yuan Fang. She gets over it after he makes it clear that he doesn't love her, and tries to sacrifice her to help him escape from Dong Zhuo's army.
• The Bus Came Back: Disappears after the Luoyang arc, then returns briefly to announce her engagement with Liaoyuan Huo as a ploy to gain Sima clan's supports for the Sun clan's return to the Eastern regions.
• Rescue Romance: To Liaoyuan Huo, after realizing he's saved her twice in the hostage rescue mission at Luoyang.
• Tomboy

Yuan faction

• Badass Crew: The generals Yan Liang, Wen Chou and Zhang He, who are all Yuan Fang's loyal followers.
• Big Screwed-Up Family: Enormous, and absolutely fucked up with sibling rivalry taken to its ugliest.
• Fiction 500: The clan which rules the Northern region.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Sadly, Tian Feng, one of the supposedly wisest men of Yuan faction.
• Genius Bruiser: Wen Chou and Yan Liang.
• Honey Trap: The famous beauty Lady Zhen to the Yuan brothers, arranged by Yuan Fang of course.
• Hydra Problem: In a metaphorical sense. The Yuan clan is so big, and each clansman (especially the Yuan brothers) holds so much power and influence that it's in a constant state of internal conflicts, and both Yuan Fang and Yuan Shao sees uniting the clan as much a problem to tackle as defeating their many external, powerful enemies. Cao Cao even lampshades this at one point: assassinating Yuan Shao, the clanshead is not even an option, as many more Yuan Shaos will simply take his place.
• Large Ham: Ji "OPEN YOUR EYES, FOOLS!!" Ling. Justified in that he's trying to boost his army morale.
• Paper Tiger: Ji Ling. Poor dude isn't all that weak, but he just has to pick Lu Bu, Guan Yu or Zhang Fei as his opponents.
• Put on a Bus: Saving for the big shots like Yuan Shao and Yuan Fang, many Yuan members like Zhang He and Tian De appear early on in the story and only reappear when the Battle of Guandu approaches.
• Sibling Rivalry: The worst case of this series. Yuan Shao's three sons Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang constantly squabble among themselves to get into their father's favors in the hope of becoming the sole heir. They disregard brotherly bonds, discredit and backstab each other to hell and back, and each relentlessly cultivates his own factions at the risk of incurring internal war within the clan. And if you count Yuan Fang into the equation, it catapults this trope beyond the impossible. And then comes the Battle of Guandu...
  • As in history it would prove to be the downfall of the Yuan clan, with the added twist that Cao Cao's force concealed Yuan Fang's death so as to keep the post-Guandu infighting going.
• The Unfavourite: Yuan Shao's three sons, all of whom he holds in contempt compared to Yuan Fang.
• The Mole: Two of them. Xu You for Yuan Fang, and Yang Qing for Guo Jia.
• The Worf Effect: Principal victims are Yan Liang and Wen Chou, many times at the hands of Liu Bei' brothers. Or Zhang Liao, who kills Wen Chou.

Yuan Shao

File:RoT Volume 043 0001 5398.jpg

"The world will be in the hands of my descendants."

The leader of Yuan clan. From the perspective of outsiders, Yuan Shao is a conservative who prides himself on upholding the great loyalist tradition of his family background (a grand records of having produced three generations of family head risen to the prominent positions of excellency), but few know he harbors much darker ambitions. Knowing he cannot bring himself to disgrace the family by overthrowing the Emperor, Yuan Shao chooses to leave the finalization of his goal in the hands of his illegitimate and most beloved son, Yuan Fang. Seeing that Fang has no such intention at first, he killed his son's fiancee at the cost of Fang's love for him, reasoning that the hatred will be a powerful motivator. To aid Fang further in his quest for revenge and overtaking, Yuan Shao turns a blind eyes to most of his devious plans to emasculate his political enemies (among them Yuan Shao's three sons) and reinforce his own party's standing in the clan - even as Shao himself is slowly turned into a figurehead, stripped off of influence, as a result of it.

The Yuan's defeat in Guandu deals Yuan Shao a debilitating blow and effectively removes him from his position of leadership in the clan. At the news of Yuan Fang's death, he finally collapses and dies with a broken heart.

• Abusive Parents: He never actively tries to quell the in-fightings his children are responsible for, and secretly encourages Yuan Fang's various schemes to exacerbate the situation. Taken Up to Eleven in the Battle of Guandu, when he's overjoyed to hear that Yuan Fang's master plan involves killing all three brothers and Yuan Shao himself to take over the clan.
• Aloof Big Brother: To Yuan Shu, especially after the latter declares himself Emperor Zhongjia and founds his own country. And he pretty much leaves Yuan Shu for death after he's defeated by Liu Bei, declining his requests for rations and backup troops.
• Chewing the Scenery: In a Ham-to-Ham Combat with Dong Zhuo, no less.
• Hypocrite: He wants to conquer China as much as every other warlord but feels that he cannot fail to uphold the image of the four-generation-loyalist Yuan clan, so he chooses to dump the dirty jobs onto his bastard son Yuan Fang. People can say what they want about Cao Cao, but at least that guy is openly disloyal.
• Death by Despair: When Yang Xiu finally spills the beans about what happened to Yuan Fang.
• Large Ham
• Yuan Fang I Am Your Father: Which makes you kind of wonder why Yuan Fang didn't realize it earlier, especially since he was twenty at the time of this revelation, and his father died twenty-two years before that.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: What Yuan Shao resorts to when Yuan Fang stubbornly refuses the arranged marriage with Sun Jian's daughter.
• Strong Family Resemblance: With his sons, who also resemble each other.
• So Proud of You: When the true scope of Yuan Fang's Plan in the Battle of Guandu finally dawns on him while he's being shot at by Yuan Fang's archers. See Yuan Fang above.
• The Chosen One: Invoked - he wholeheartedly believes his son Yuan Fang is born destined to be the conqueror of the North and eventually of China, and devotes everything he has in preparation for that day. What he doesn't get is blindly putting all eggs in one basket is not something a wise bettor should do, proven by the fact that once Yuan Fang is dead, and Yuan Shao soon afterward, the Yuan clan's internal conflicts (which were part of Yuan Fang's master plan and implicitly approved by Yuan Shao — he intended for Fang to win them) are left unchecked and instantly push the disintegration beyond any hopes of repair. What is left is easy picking for Cao Cao and Guo Jia.
• Tough Love: Yuan Fang being his favourite child, Yuan Shao spares no efforts to ensure he get to the top. Even when said efforts involve killing the girl he loves to force him into a prestigious arranged marriage.
• "Well Done, Dad" Guy: Turns out he's one at heart, despite having accepted that his dearest son will never reciprocate his familial love. Becomes apparent when hearing Yuan Fang calling him "father" once instantly moves him to tears, and the peak moment of this being at Guandu when he realizes his son's overall plan.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: YMMV on "well-intentioned", but at heart he's a clanshead who looks out for its best interests by supporting his illegitimate son's grand scheme to seize control, unite the clan and take over China. Since said son happens to be Yuan Fang, well...

Yuan Shu

• Zero-Percent Approval Rating: As he later finds out.
• Bad Samaritan: To a T. His amiable facade fools no one, though.
• Butt Monkey: His and by extention his entire armies only shown fights are ones where they're defeated and outsmarted over and over again by every single major warlord. He hasn't been shown a single victory and died in an argueably the most gruesome way out of everybody.
  • Make that pathetic: slowly poisoned to death by Sima Yi, spends his last moment in rags and tortured with Incurable Cough of Death, amidst only a few loyal men by his bedside while the others are fleeing outside... The image is put in stark contrast with his remembrance of former days of glory, when he ascended as Zhongjia emperor.
• Faux Affably Evil
• Genre Blind: He declares himself Emperor in an age where loyalty is still a respected social value, the Imperial clan still holds sway with its subjects, people still detest court usurpers, and not even Dong Zhuo or Cao Cao had the audacity to make themselves king (and get treated like villains of the century for being Evil Chancellors). Yeah, things are going to end well for Yuan Shu.
  • Ambition Is Evil
  • Being Evil Sucks
• Gonk
• Gone Horribly Right: His plans to obtain the royal seal and claim emperorship. Both of them work, and to disastrous results.
• Humiliation Conga: Starting from the Sun Ce arc and throughout two encounters with Liu Bei and one with Lu Bu, he's constantly on the receiving ends of this.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: After indirectly causing Sun Jian's death, his manipulations tear the Sun clan from inside out and almost completely break down their military force. Of course, he gets his due once Sun Ce decides to stop taking shits from him.
• Killed Off for Real
• Large Ham: Especially after he declares himself Emperor. Apparently it runs in the family.
• New Era Speech: His team is fond of delivering these with all the positive effects averted, something they never seem to notice.
• Meaningful Echo: "Foolish masses..what are you thinking?"
• Smug Snake
• The Scrappy: In universe example. Nobody is willing to ally with him due to the fact that he declared himself as Emperor and made an enemy of almost every major warlord. It's to the point where his own family rejects him and leaves him for death.
• Villainous Breakdown: Multiple times, and in the last time he never recovers. His army is completely curb-stomped by Liu Bei's ragtag battalions of soldiers and raging civilians, then he finds himself isolated from the Yuan clan and denied of aids.

Yuan Shu's advisor

• Asshole Victim
• The Chessmaster
• Dies Wide Open
• Hannibal Lecture: To the "dishonorable" Shan Wu Ling. Cue Sima Yi retorts with an awesome Shut UP, Hannibal and sweeps Wu Ling off her feet.
• Intellectually Supported Tyranny
• No Name Given: Everyone calls him advisor.
• Politically-Incorrect Villain: Invokes Stay in the Kitchen to Shan Wu Ling, of all things.
• Smug Snake: Has shades of a Magnificent Bastard, but ultimately fails to deliver. He dies too soon.
• Straw Misogynist: Oooh boy.
• The Strategist
• Undying Loyalty
• Would Hit a Girl
• The Worf Effect: He invokes one against Shan Wu Ling, complete with a sound Stay in the Kitchen lecture. Then Sima Yi repays the favor.

Yang Qing/Yang Xiu

• A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
• Dragon with an Agenda: To Yuan Fang and as it turns out, to Cao Cao as well.
• Eyes Always Shut
• False Friend: To Yuan Fang. Then to Cao Zhi as well.
• Historical Domain Character: He's Yang Xiu, later known as one of Cao Cao's most famous advisors and supporter of his younger son Cao Zhi.
• Kick the Dog: Poor Yuan Shao.
• Hero-Killer
• Secret Identity: Yang Xiu, son of Yang Bao, the former Grand Commandant and old-time rival of Yuan Shao. His mother is Yuan Shu's sister, so that makes him a cousin of Yuan Fang. Of course, there's a whole another business about him being Yang Xiu, just look at Historical Domain Character above.
• Smug Snake: He just can't help it. Not when he's the one who ensures Cao Cao's victory at Guandu by burning the Yuan army's rations and personally racks up the highest body count by assassinating Yuan Fang, poisoning Tian Feng, and manipulating Yuan Shao to death.
• The Nondescript
• The Starscream: What he intends to be to Cao Cao.

Dong faction

• Best Served Cold: Hua Xiong's subordinates Song Xian, Wei Xu and Hou Cheng, who joined Lu Bu's army to have a chance at revenge for Huo Xiong and Dong Zhuo.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Xu Lin, twice. Hint: He's dead, but he has sons. Also Song Xian, Wei Xu and Hou Cheng.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Lu Bu to Dong Zhuo.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Hua Xiong to Lu Bu. One of the reasons he dislikes and distrusts Lu Bu is Lu Bu's rapid promotions in the faction and being adopted by Dong Zhuo within a year of joining them.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: Li Ru's plan to expose Lu Bu's treachery. Subverted, then subverted again. To sum it up, Lu Bu wins.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Niu Fu and Dong Yue.
• Idiot Ball: Dong Zhuo's generals keep juggling it. Taken Up to Eleven after his death.
• Ignored Expert: Jia Xu. Dong Zhuo should have listend to his plans instead of Li Ru's.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Dong Huang, Dong Zhuo's nephew.
• Spanner in the Works: The 3rd camp captains. And Dong Zhuo's edict.
• Stupid Evil: Li Jue and Guo Si, who abuse the Emperor and rampage Chang'an after Jia Xu's departure, and ultimately cause the downfall of Dong Zhuo's remnant faction with their interminable in-fightings.
• The Chessmaster: Dong Zhuo and Li Ru. Too bad Lu Bu still outdoes them.
• Too Clever by Half: Li Ru. Not only does his complex Plan fail to save Dong Zhuo's life, it also causes his own death at the hands of the beguiled 3rd camp captains and sets him up as Dong Zhuo's murderer thanks to Lu Bu's very clever maneuvers.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Xu Lin, who is praised as Dong Zhuo's best advisor, but dies in the 1st chapter. His death is also the start of many worf-effect-induced incidents caused by Sima Yi and the Crippled Legion in the entire Dong Zhuo arc.

Dong Zhuo

• Anti-Hero: Type V.
• Break Them by Talking
• Chewing the Scenery
• Cool Old Guy
• Evil Mentor: To Emperor Liu Xie.
• Gory Discretion Shot
• Hoist by His Own Petard
• Killed Off for Real
  • Killed Mid-Laugh
• Knight Templar Well-Intentioned Extremist
• Large Ham: In term of being ridiculously bombastic about it, no hammy characters in this series, not even Cao Cao or Yuan Shao, can break his records.
• Magnetic Hero: YMMV on "hero", but you can bet he is!
• Mentor Occupational Hazard
• Moral Event Horizon: Mass-murdering court officials, deposing the young Emperor and giving his brother the throne, installing himself as the Grand Tutor, among others. The universal opinion is that he crossed it a long time ago.
• My Death Is Just the Beginning
• Obi-Wan Moment: He faces death with quite the dignity.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Dealt it to way too many people, and to his credit, only Yuan Shao has strong enough convictions to remain unwavered and talk back to him. Gets one himself from Lu Bu when the later kills him.
• The Unfettered
• Tyrant Takes the Helm

Other characters

Shan Wu Ling

"The Sima clan is already upon my lips."

Daughter of the Shan merchant clan, and fiancee (later wife) of Sima Yi. Like Sima Yi, Shan Wu Ling possesses genius-level cunnings and ruthlessness, as well as a drive to gain profits for her clan's business with little respect for common ethics. Thus, similar to Sima Yi, she is the clan's strategist and the advisor-commander of its private assassin squad, the Defeated Generals.

Under her leadership, the Shan clan pursues a different policy from that of the rival Sima clan: they seek to associate with prominent warlords, such as Cao Cao and Sun Jian, to expand their influence, and the Sima's estrangement with such affiliation to preserve wealth is looked down upon as unambitious miserliness. As such, Shan Wu Ling doesn't hold Sima Yi in very high regards, and secretly aims to take over the Sima clan once they marry. They finally meets in a mission to aid Sun Ce conquer the Eastern region, during which they are captured by Yuan Shu's advisor. When Wu Ling is humiliated by the advisor for trying to seduce him to get out of this pinch, Sima Yi, moved by her courage and noble intentions to protect her family, speaks up in her defense and genuinely accepts her as his wife. After he outwits and kills the advisor, she learns that he's Sima Yi and falls in love with him.

It's later revealed that through the Shan clan's long-term relationship with the Sun clan, Shan Wu Ling is the sworn older sister of Sun Quan, future lord of the Wu kingdom. She and Sima Yi still assist the Sun clan in secret.

• All Is Well That Ends Well: Although Sima Yi saves her life, it's still a rather dick move on his part to blackmail her family to make up for his monetary loss in this rescue mission. But she's already in love with him and they're about to marry and unite the two families anyway, so the incident is Easily Forgiven.
• Big Damn Heroine: Fakes insanity to save Sima Yi from being ratted out by Xu Ding's spy in volume 25. She also secretly harbors the Sima brothers, and arranges for her foster father to protect the remaining Sima clan's servants. With her support, Sima Yi survives Xu Ding's manhunt and makes a spectacular comeback in volume 26.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Appears very early on in volume 6, but does not returns until volume 15 and is revealed to be Sima Yi's betrothed in volume 16.
• Cool Big Sis: To Sun Quan.
• Distaff Counterpart: To her fiancé Sima Yi. Both are intelligent and manipulative, Young and In Charge of their family businesses, considered very dishonorable by common standards, and willing to go to extreme ends to expand the clan's influence. Though unlike Sima Yi, she's not averse to making big investments in warlords such as the Cao and Sun clan.
• Happily Married: To Sima Yi.
• Historical Domain Character: Don't let her name fool you. She's Zhang Chun Hua, Sima Yi's historical wife.
• Femme Fatale: Attempts to be one to seduce Yuan Shu's advisor. It doesn't work, but Sima Yi appreciates the efforts.
• Rich Bitch
• Right in Front of Me: When she realizes the manservant she's been casually leaking her unsavory marriage plans (among others) to is actually her fiancé in disguise.
• Rescue Romance: Falls in love with Sima Yi after he defends her honor and saves her from Yuan Shu's advisor.
• Underestimating Badassery: To Sima Yi, partly due to having never met him before and partly due to him (purposefully) giving her an exaggerated account of his achievements (or so she believes). Cue a volume later, where he easily outwits a man who outwitted and humiliated her earlier and kills him, saving her life.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Will do anything to aid and protect the love of her life.

Liu Xie/The Emperor

• Armor-Piercing Slap: To Cao Cao.
• Badass Decay: He shows potentials of a capable Emperor under Dong Zhuo's tutelage, but reduces himself to a submissive figurehead under Li Jue and Guo Si.
  • He has a brief makeover when he subdues Cao Cao in volume 19, but Guandu comes up and it turns out Cao Cao has taken the reins again.
• Catch Phrase: "[insert anti-heroic warlord name here]----!!!!! I resent that you are so late!." Said to both Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao, to which the latter comments that it's just his way of shifting blames for the fall of Han from useless Emperors to warmongering vassals.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: His supporting Lu Bu's scheme to assassinate Dong Zhuo was one of the worst examples in-story
• Large Ham: Manages to play at it evenly with Dong Zhuo, and beats Cao Cao in what's very close to a Ham-to-Ham Combat during the Emperor "escorting" arc in volume 19. It's nothing short of a Crowning Moment of Awesome for him in-universe. Sadly, the display of his Imperial spirit stops then and there.
• Puppet King