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

{{quote|''"Should you wish to take the overlordship, you will yield the Heaven's favor to Cao Cao in the north, and you will relinquish the Earth's advantage to Sun Quan in the south. You, General, will hold the Human's heart and complete the trinity."''|'''Zhuge Liang''', to '''Liu Bei'''}}

 

 

The tale begins in the last days of the corrupt Han Dynasty, showing how the government and Emperor lost the "Mandate of Heaven" (天命), and the land fell into anarchy, with various warlords carving out their own territories in a struggle for supremacy. Gradually, out of the chaos, three kingdoms take shape: the kingdom of Shu, led by the virtuous Liu Bei (a distant cousin of the Emperor) and his sworn brothers, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei; the kingdom of Wei, led by the scheming Cao Cao; and the kingdom of Wu, led by the ambitious Sun family. All seek to unify the nation for one reason or another, and claim the right to rule for their own. And so the three kingdoms contend with one another over the century, and heroes rise and fall in the strife, until the nation is finally reunified.

* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: And as [[That Other Wiki]] also mentions, over 1000 characters.

* [[Stealth Parody]]: Despite having been written to satisfy the Imperial guidelines, Luo Guanzhong managed to sneak in a few subversions on the nature of loyalty. Blink and you'll miss them, though.

 

'''Tropes within the novel:'''

* [[Automatic Crossbows]]: Zhuge Liang is credited in-novel with inventing these.

* [[Badass]]: So, ''so'' many characters, especially Lu Bu. Scary thing is, Zhuge Liang himself (despite never having so much as drawn a sword in combat) may qualify as such, after looking at his track record...

** Huang Zhong gets singled out for his advanced age, despite the fact that he can still kick ass with the best of them - and you ''have'' to be able to do that to stay alive for that long. [[Lampshaded]] when, in his first fight against Guan Yu, his horse suddenly keels over and Guan Yu lets him retreat. His excuse? "''The horse'' is too old."

** Later on, Zhao Yun at age 70 when he personally kills three generals and captures one, all of them brothers, in the same engagement and rendering an army of 80,000 Qiang tribesmen (working for Wei) frozen with fear, then kills their father in a second engagement and winning that skirmish too. The reason? "[T]he Prime Minister thought me too old and did not wish to employ me. I had to give him a proof."

* [[Beware of Hitch-Hiking Ghosts]]: Mi Zhu picked up a woman in his carriage who was actually a spirit of fire, sent to burn his house down. [[Chaste Hero|His kindness]] towards her caused her to warn him of this, however, early enough that he was able to hurry home and save his valuables and his family's lives.

* [[Blade on a Stick]]: Guan Yu's "[[Named Weapon|Green Dragon Crescent Blade]]". He's the reason why the Chinese glaive is called the "Guan Dao" - [[Schizo-Tech|even if there's no historical evidence that the weapon even existed during his time]].

* [[Blood Brothers]]: The Oath at the Peach Garden between Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu is one of the most famous incidents in the novel. Note though that they're not the only such brotherhood (Sun Ce and Zhou Yu are as well), just the most famous and celebrated.

* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: Zhang Fei - and [[Subverted]] when he used his enemies' knowledge of his love for wine to lure them into a trap. (Unfortunately both before and after this, his love for wine -- or rather, the [[Unstoppable Rage]] that could come about -- did cause negative consequences for Liu Bei, the last one being {{spoiler|his death when his last two victims had their revenge}}. That, and there's the time that in {{spoiler|stealing Lu Bu's war horses, he single-handedly broke an alliance that Lu Bu might have actually kept}}.)

*** Really? The only betrayal Liu Bei has done in his life is to Liu Zhang when he needed the land to oppose Cao Cao. Meanwhile, Lu Bu killed Ding Yaun and Dong Zhou in betrayal and have attacked Liu Bei that gave him a place to live while he was fighting Yaun Shu. There is a reason why all the warlords were happy to accept Liu Bei into their force for awhile.

** Though Lu Bu is arguably more honorable then often portrayed in other media. Though he betrays several masters (which seems all to common at the time), he refuses to harm Liu Bei's family when they were on opposite sides, and even used his archery skills to end a conflict without having to kill a single man. If nothing else, he is at least portayed as a human character.

* [[Cliff Hanger]]: Every single chapter ending, which fits with the oral tradition similarly to [[Arabian Nights]] (so that the storyteller could keep the audience hooked and coming back for more).

* [[Combat by Champion]]

* [[Mooks]]: Galore, of course, with special mention going to the poor messengers. Those poor, ''poor'', messengers...

* [[Murder the Hypotenuse]]: {{spoiler|Lu Bu eventually kills his patron and adoptive father, Dong Zhuo, for the sake of Diao Chan}}.

** Earlier, when Cao Cao was on the run following a failed assassination attempt against Dong Zhuo, his father's sworn brother gives him shelter. Cao Cao and Chen Gong (a magistrate who'd freed Cao Cao) hide in a back room, overhear something about to getting out the knives killed, assumes its him, and jumps out and slaughters the entire household, including the wife and children of the person who promised to give him safety. Turns out that they were talking about killing a PIG as part of the feast they were having to honor Cao Cao. Cao Cao runs, meets the family friend outside, and then stabs him in the back because he didn't want the authorities knowing about him. This is however [[Subverted]] that shortly after, Cao Cao lets out his famous quote that excuses his actions and defines his character:

{{quote|''Better I betray the world rather than have the world betray me!''}}

* [[Regent for Life]]: Between the eunuchs, Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao, emperors had absolutely no power and even less luck. (Heck, Dong Zhuo overtly has one emperor deposed and then forced to drink poison, while his mother is literally thrown out the window.)

* [[Religion Is Magic]]: As Cao Cao and Sun Ce learnt, do ''not'' under any circumstances screw around with Taoist mystics. [[Subverted]] by Zhuge Liang who claimed to summon the east wind at the battle of Chi Bi... but really just did the whole ritual to waste time since he'd predicted the change in weather previously. (Historically, Zhou Yu just consulted a local fisherman.)

* [[Rule of Cool]]: Most of the liberties taken with history in the novel, especially regarding character deaths. No, we can't have generals dying old and in bed... let's kill some of them really painfully!

** Oddly averted in the case of Xiahou Dun though, as his death barely gets a sentence or two.

* [[Shoot the Messenger]]: And friggin' ''how''.

* [[Siege Engines]]

* [[Speak of the Devil]]: Or, as the Chinese say, "Speak of Cao Cao and he appears." Parodied (by being taken to its logical extreme) [http://san.paulguo.com/?id=100 here].

* [[Stealth Insult]]: Cao Cao weeping for Guo Jia's death after his defeat at Chi Bi. All of his advisors realize that he is making fun of the fact that none of them was able to see through the fire attack in time.

* [[The Strategist]]: Everyone's got at least one, but Zhuge Liang is ''the'' King of Strategists in the novel, and probably ''the'' most awesome character in the book.

* [[The Thirty-Six Stratagems]]: [[Trope Namer]] for several; see the trope entry for details.

** Chen Deng advised Lu Bu very poorly, as {{spoiler|he was plotting to sell him out anyway}}.

** Sima Yi too {{spoiler|against Wei after Cao Rui's death}}, although in ''[[Dynasty Warriors]] 6'' {{spoiler|it's against Cao Cao specifically}}. One of his descendants even has the reigning Wei emperor {{spoiler|''murdered in broad daylight''}}.

** Subverted by Ling Tong, who intended to kill Gan Ning for killing his father Ling Cao (before Gan Ning's surrender to Sun Quan). Sun Quan interceded during Ling Tong's attempt and forbade any further attempts, and the two eventually became friendly rivals.

** After Ma Teng is executed for his involvement in an assassination plot against Cao Cao, his son Ma Chao declares war for this very reason.

** Dian Wei holding off Zhang Xiu's forces.

** Zhang Fei at the Battle of Chang Ban, where he shouts a challenge for anyone in Wei's army to come and pass, and no one comes forward, allowing Liu Bei time to escape.

* ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'': It turns out that the invincible Hokuto Shinken School of Martial Art has three brother schools that inherit the names of the Sun, Cao and Liu factions that their ancestors served and protected in the Three Kingdoms period, and [[Fist of the Blue Sky]] is the story of their rivalry in 1935 Shanghai.

* ''[[Ikki Tousen]]'' (''Extremely'' loosely based, seeing as it has the major characters reincarnated as top-heavy [[Panty Fighter]] schoolgirls. However, the story exists in-universe and thus some of the plot revolves around this fact.)

* Anime with [[Mamoru Miyano]] as main star:

** ''[[Koutetsu Sangokushi]]'': With Wu as the main kingdom, and have the [[Cast Full of Pretty Boys]] ratio dialled [[Up to Eleven]]. Main star: Lu Xun (Rikuson).

* ''[[BB Senshi Sangokuden]]'', the latest incarnation of Bandai's SD Gundam model line.

* ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms (anime)|Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' (An anime series)

 

 

 

== Video Games ==

** ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms (video game)|Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' (11 in this series of strategy games and counting since 1985)

** ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]''

** ''[[Kessen II]]''. ''Kessen II'' is ''extremely'' loosely tied to the source material. It starts with the Imperial Seal being entrusted to Diao Chan, who falls in love with Liu Bei.

* ''Destiny of an Emperor,'' an RPG for the ''[[Nintendo Entertainment System]]'' by Capccm, as well as a Japan-only sequel.