History Characters / IronWidow

!!Wu Zetian

!!Li Shimin

!!Gao Yizhi

->''"Redemption story, they said? [[RedemptionRejection There will be no redemption.]] It is not me who is wrong. It's everyone else."''

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Of course, of the historical Wu Zetian (武则天), later known as Wu Zhao (武曌), the first and only female emperor of China.

* SelfmadeOrphan: [[spoiler: She murders her family during her coup of Huaxia. In part because she doesn't want them to live their lives as the Sages' hostages, in part because she has disowned them long ago for their abusiveness.]]

* ForceFeeding: [[spoiler: Zetian discovers that Shimin's alcoholism began with Shimin being strapped to a chair and a feeding tube forced down his throat.]]

* {{Polyamory}}: [[spoiler: Ends up in a happy, loving relationship with both Zetian and Yizhi.]]
* SelfmadeOrphan: [[spoiler: He murdered his father in self-defense, after killing his half-brother to save a girl his brother had raped.]]
* TradingBarsForStripes: Due to his high spirit pressure he was spared a death sentence and made into a pilot instead.

* {{Polyamory}}: [[spoiler: He gets together with both Zetian and Shimin.]]

* SelfmadeOrphan: [[spoiler: He kills his father for trying to blackmail Zetian into making him her advisor.]]

* WingedHumanoid: Downplayed in it's Ascended form but played straight in its Heroic form, where it gains full-fledged wings and the ability to fly.

* PrehensileTail: Well, tail'''s'''. During the prologue, Guang mentions slaughtering hunduns by cutting them down with the Chrysalises' tails

* GloryHound: In the prologue he repeatedly mentions his fans and the fame battle will bring him. When he's informed that a prince class hundun is walking with the herd him and the other pilots are currently fighting, he decides to transform his Chrysalis knowing that the concubine pilot will die if he does so and not caring because killing a prince-class will make him even more famous and popular.
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Yang Guang (杨廣) is the given name of Emperor Yang (隋炀帝), the last emperor of the Sui Dynasty. He was described as corrupt and negligent, fitting his fictional counterpart.

* DeusExitMachina: [[spoiler: The only Chrysalis on par with the Black Tortoise is kept from assisting the Vermillion Bird against it by a hundun grabbing it from behind and dragging it back into battle.]]
* LightIsGood: Zigzagged. It's a white Chrysalis that is used to defend humanity, but its female pilot doesn't make the greatest first impression, to say the least. [[spoiler: Later on played straight, as both Qieluo and Jian prove themselves to be true allies to Zetian.]]

The female pilot of the White Tiger. A Rongdi-woman infamous for her temper.

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Dugu Qieluo (独孤伽罗) was the given name of Empress Wenxian (文献皇后）, the empress of the founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty. Her husband didn't have any concubines for most of their marriage, and she was known to be ruthless and domineering.

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Yang Jian (杨坚) is the given name of the founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Wen (隋文帝).

* ManipulativeBitch: [[spoiler: She pretends to be on Zetian's side for the majority of the book. But when the battle for the Zhou-province is over and the Vermillion Bird can no longer fight, her and her partner try to kill Zetian, Shimin and Yizhi under orders from the Sages. While Xiuying later claims they only followed the order because their children are being held hostage, the fact that she threatens Zetian right after trying to gain her sympathy suggests she's not as nice or soft as she claims and may have actually agreed that Zetian needed to be dealt with. It's also heavily implied that her trying to get Zetian to forgive her abusive family was yet another ploy to make Zetian more controllable by the military, by using her family as potential hostages. The Sages do try this when Zetian goes on a rampage, but it fails miserably.]]
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Ma Xiuying (马秀英) is, according to legends and operas, the given name of Empress Ma (马皇后), the empress of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler: Both her and Yuanzhang die in the Black Tortoise when Zetian crushes it as revenge for their murder of Shimin.]]

* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler: Is killed alongside Xiuying when Zetian crushes the Black Tortoise's head.]]

* LargeAndInCharge: It is the only Emperor-class Chrysalis in existence, making it the largest Chrysalis in the story by far. It dwarves both the Black Tortoise and the White Tiger in their Heroic forms while being in ''Standard Form'' itself. And it's pilots are the former emperor of Huaxia and [[spoiler: its new empress.]]

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: The historical Sima Yi (司马懿) was a general in the Three Kingdoms period, particularly renowned for being the rival of Zhuge Liang.

* LaserGuidedKarma: He spends to the entire book antagonizing and trying to kill Zetian and Shimin. Even worse, he's revealed to be the one responsible for [[spoiler: Shimin's alcohol addiction, having forced it on him as a way to control him. In the end he is tortured and killed by the two people he hurt most, by being drowned in alcohol, the very substance he used to get Shimin addicted.]]
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: The historical An Lushan (安禄山) was the namesake of one of the bloodiest rebellions in the history of the Tang Dynasty.

* {{Bishonen}}: He's repeatedly described as incredibly pretty to the point of having a rather feminine appearance. Shimin even mistakes him for his former co-pilot while suffering from alcohol withdrawal.

* WhipItGood: Wields long black whips in its Ascended and Heroic forms.

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: A variant. Qin is taken from the dynasty of the same name, while Zheng is the personal name of the first emperor of China, [[UsefulNotes/QinShiHuangdi Ying Zheng]].

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She's an immensely unpleasant and easy to anger woman, who slut-shames and assaults Zetian when the latter tries to strike up an alliance with her. However, it's hinted that she regrets doing so (if only because she's basically been BullyingADragon) and she gives Zetian earnest advice to stay away from her abusive family and not be their punching bag and piggy bank her whole life, drawing parallels to her own experiences. [[spoiler: She also later on tries to help the Vermillion Bird when it's being destroyed by the Black Tortoise and is only stopped by a hundun grabbing her Chrysalis.]]