Romance of the Three Kingdoms (novel)/YMMV: Difference between revisions

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* [[Alas, Poor Villain]]: Cao Cao receives one of the longest poems in the book upon his death, almost entirely complimentary. The final lines run:

The mighty dead will smile at what you say. }}

* [[Complete Monster]]: Dong Zhuo, of course. Despite some soft spots like [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas]], his acts include city-burning, women-kidnapping, and even [[I Am a Humanitarian|eating other men]]. And this is before other medias like [[Dynasty Warriors]] punt this [[Up to Eleven]].

** Huang Hao, the eunuch often credited as one of the chief reasons of Shu's downfall aside of Liu Shan's incompetence, for good reason. He's a [[Manipulative Bastard]] extraordinary who pretty much manipulated the resources of Shu just for his own pleasure and position, influencing Liu Shan to pull Jiang Wei back to the capital Cheng Du for trivial reasons from an otherwise advantageous battle. [[Dirty Coward|He even bribed some Wei officers to let him go when Shu falls]]. Safe to say that when Sima Zhao and Deng Ai bumped into him once more, they got him executed on public. Extremely unlikable and devoid of positive qualities.

* [[Historical Hero Upgrade]]:

** Guan Yu, although this is more of the fault of traditional opera and certain biased emperors.

** Zhuge Liang, also.

** Sima Yi reaches this when he gives his speech to Gongsun Yuan's emissary:

** Zhou Yu whenever Zhuge Liang isn't also in the scene. Puts on an elaborate {{spoiler|[[Feed the Mole]]}} plot, complete with a drunken sword dance. Hands Cao Cao his greatest military defeat at Chibi.

* [[Mary Suetopia]]: The Kingdom of Shu with Zhuge Liang as Prime Minister. All the peasantry are happy and well fed, taxes are paid on time and treasuries are full to overflowing, and people strive towards excellence in every facet of government.

** Hilariously, this was basically how it historically was under Cao Cao's rule.

* [[Mary Tzu]]: Zhuge Liang

* [[Values Dissonance]]: [[Captain Obvious|This is not modern America]]. Events such as the value of one's body, and relationships (valuing of one's sworn brothers over wives and children) will only make sense in the light of historical Chinese culture.

* [[What an Idiot!]]: He Jin could definitely qualify. After living through pretty much every plot by the eunuchs to make sure no royalty threatens their power, he recieves an invitation to the Forbidden City. At the time, he is involved in a rebel plot and the eunuchs have eyes everywhere. In fact, pretty much every rebel warns him not to go. He brushes it off and decides to go anyway. So they insist on escorting him, well armed. Then, the guards tell him he must leave his guards at the door. He agrees, and proudly walks in. He, unsuprisingly, is surrounded by the eunuchs who hack him to pieces and toss his head back to his friends.