Lü Bu

"Among men, Lu Bu. Among horses, Red Hare"

Style name: Feng Xian. Japanese name: Ryofu Housen.

One of the best-known names from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lü Bu is well known as one of China's most powerful warrior, but also known for being a backstabbing traitor. He's well known for having his unparalleled combat ability, his pheasant-tailed headdress, his horse Red Hare and, again, his tendency to betray those he serves.

His real parents were unknown but he made his first appearance in history as a servant of Ding Yuan (in the novel, he's actually a foster son). After being persuaded to betray Ding Yuan, Lu Bu did so with gusto and served Dong Zhuo, and together they were known for their ruthlessness in Dong Zhuo's tyrannical rule. Lu Bu served Dong Zhuo well, going as far as repelling the coalition against Dong Zhuo near-singlehandedly.

And then, he killed Dong Zhuo due to his affair with one of Dong Zhuo's maid and being persuaded by Wang Yun (in the novel, this was Wang Yun's plan all along, using that maid, here named Diao Chan, to make Lu Bu fall in love. He did, for real). He roamed the land and eventually settled in Xu Province, taking it from Liu Bei, who in turn fled to Cao Cao and this led to the Battle of Xia Pi, in which Lu Bu's hot temper and mistreatment to his soldiers bit him on the back and got him captured by Cao Cao. Lu Bu tried to appeal to Cao Cao's services, but once Liu Bei showed Lu Bu's backstabbing record, Cao Cao refused his services and had Lu Bu executed. Cao Cao then proceeds to recruit some of Lu Bu's men as his own and eventually gave Red Hare to Guan Yu.

While he was indeed short-lived, one cannot deny that Lu Bu is probably the single, mightiest warrior in the age of the Three Kingdoms.


 * Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Koei, in which Lu Bu is a mainstay and usually well known for his impressive WAR stat. His only drawback is his dumbass INT, which makes him suspectible to ploys.
 * Dynasty Warriors. Lu Bu is usually an antagonistic super boss, serving Dong Zhuo before striking on his own. There is a saying: "Don't pursue Lu Bu." You'd be best to heed that when you hear that being said. Although in your hand, he's usually a Game Breaker.
 * This carries over in Warriors Orochi where Lu Bu sided with Orochi to find worthy opponents throughout the ages. He finds two: Honda Tadakatsu in the first game, and Minamoto no Yoshitsune in the second game. Poor Orochi didn't take account of Lu Bu's backstabbing record, so he ended up betraying Orochi at one point.
 * As with the genderflip Ikki Tousen, Lu Bu's counterpart is Ryofu, a troubled buxom girl who served under Toutaku (Dong Zhuo), but ended up betraying him and dying together with her lover Chinkyuu (... Chen Gong!?). She came back temporarily for the 3rd season.
 * And again with genderflipping, in Koihime Musou, Lu Bu/Ryofu is instead an Emotionless Girl who likes animals. This is really contrasting to the historical/novel impulsive and hotheaded Lu Bu.
 * Ryofuko-chan, an anime where a loli reincarnation of Lu Bu minus the evilness is the main character
 * World Heroes features 'Lu Bu' as a playable character, here named Ryofu.
 * In Fate Extra, Lu Bu becomes a Berserker-class Servant under Rani VIII.
 * In Tekken although Lu Bu doesn't appear in person, Feng Wei has a move called 'Spear of Lu Bu' and he can be customized to look like he's wearing Lu Bu's attire.
 * In the Panda Entertainment fighter/strategy game series Sango Fighter, Lu Bu is a rather unremarkable Dragon to Cao Cao in the first game(having more moves than everyone else helps though), but gets a Badass Upgrade in the second. For starters, he has 3 bars(300HP) compared to everyone else's 2 in the strategy mode. For another, if you can't kill him in a single "round"(defined as every faction taking a turn), he completely heals up by the next, even if he was down to a single HP. Everyone else has to settle for 20/25/30 HP healed per turn. For gameplay balance, that's justifiable, since he's the only faction that has no backup generals, so if he loses, it's game over for his owner(CPU or player). He also has 3 different ways to use up his super bar(projectile/uppercut/grab), compared to most others' 1 or 2. Those with projectiles get upgraded projectiles, some have super grabs, others, like Xu Ju(the fat guy with the yellow do-rag) have ONLY the super grab(which makes him dangerous up close, as he won't accidentally use up his bar on anything else).