History Characters / RavagesOfTimeOtherCharacters

* ArmorPiercingSlap: An ''epic'' one [[http://mangafox.me/manga/the_ravages_of_time/v19/c156/20.html to Cao Cao]].

* JustAKid: Cao Cao joins the Emperor "escorting" arc believing him to be this, thus malleable to his manipulation and influence. Liu Xie quickly disabuses him of this notion via said ArmorPiercingSlap and a [[ChewingTheScenery scenery-chewing]] BreakingSpeech worthy of Dong Zhuo that puts Cao Cao and his soldiers to their knees. From that point on, their communications are always conducted via Xun Yu.

* PoisonousFriend: To Yuan Shao. Their friendship goes a long way, with their oldest flashback taking place some times around the aftermath of the Yellow Turban rebellion. It appeared that Yuan Shao's inspiration about Yuan Fang being the destined emperor and conqueror of Yuan clan received supports from Zuo Ci. On a more ironic note, the flashback also revealed that Zuo Ci was the one who name Xiao Cha, Yuan Fang's fiancée, after the flower than symbols longevity (which certainly was not how it ended for her).

* EvilGenius: On top of being the BiggerBad, Zuo Ci has also proven himself to be a much more effective villain than Yu Ji in every way.

[[folder:Shan Wu Ling/[[spoiler:Zhang Chun Hua]]]]

[[spoiler: 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.]]

* [[spoiler:AvengingTheVillain]]: [[spoiler:He reveals in the climatic battle of Chibi that he only joined Cao Cao to get revenge for Yuan Shao and Yuan Fang.]]
* BiggerBad: To Yu Ji's BigBad in the Taiping cult. He only appears once or twice within the scheme of things, but when he does, better expect some major player to be offed spectacularly.

* [[spoiler:DidntSeeThatComing]]: [[spoiler:Sima Yi, who joined him in sabotaging Cao Cao's war plan in Chibi, intervened at the last moment when Zuo Ci was about to complete his revenge and order his henchman San Chuan to unceremoniously kill him off. Because Sima Yi had always wanted to stick to his cross-generational usurpation master scheme, on his own terms. Given Sima Yi's notorious record of turning on anti-Cao Cao detractors shortly after taking their sides, the only bigger suprise here is how Zuo Ci could ''not'' have seen this coming.]]
* [[EmperorScientist Emperor Doctor]]: In the same vein as Yu Ji, only he's even more dangerous.

* TheBusCameBack
* [[spoiler:UnwittingPawn]]: [[spoiler:He is set up to be the biggest threat to Cao Cao's life in the Retreat at Huarong Path but ultimately became just another stepping stone to power for Sima Yi, who saw his vengeance coming, played along with it and turned against him at the decisive moment to win charisma point from the Cao loyalists.]]

* AChildShallLeadThem: Deconstructed. He has royal blood, his capabilities are beyond his older brother and both Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao have acknowledged he has the makings of a great emperor, but circumstances beyond his control ensure he would never be more than a PuppetKing. To start with, the bloody background of his coronation and Dong Zhuo's backing of him made his claim illegitimate in some warlords' eyes. Then there's the fact that by his time the Imperial clan has lost their clout due to the previous Emperor really sucking at his job, and Imperial powers having been delegated to distant relatives whose bases are too far away from the Imperial seat to be of any actual help. Lastly, a time of great social turmoil when every warlord worth their scent are looking out to be top dog and everyone is a MagnificentBastard at some point is not a good time for a royal child doing his first days of ruling. Naturally, all his potentials do not save him from falling into the PuppetKing stereotype.

* WiseBeyondTheirYears: With all the years he spent living under Li Jue's, Guo Si's and later Cao Cao's thumbs, it's hard to remember that he was just a wee kid when Dong Zhuo took over the palace and placed him on the throne, and (contrary to most people's belief) Liu Xie managed to put his foot down to the seasoned war veteran, gained his respect and actually maintained an equal relationship with him as well as his usurper Lu Bu until Jia Xu came. Sadly, wisdom and great potentials for political maneuvering just do not translate to actual authority, especially not with ambitious servants like [[MagnificentBastard Cao Cao]] around.

* [[BigDamnHeroes Big Damn Heroine]]: [[spoiler: 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. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome With her support, Sima Yi survives Xu Ding's manhunt and makes a spectacular comeback in volume 26.]]]]

* LargeHam: Manages to play at it evenly with Dong Zhuo, and beats ''Cao Cao'' in what's very close to a HamToHamCombat during the Emperor "escorting" arc in volume 19. It's nothing short of a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for him in-universe. As Cao Cao remarked after that, had said Imperial spirit ''not'' been in short supply since the time of this Emperor's father[[note]]Emperor Ling of Han, under whose reign the Yellow Turbans Rebellion occurred[[/note]], "how could the world be in pieces now? And how could anti-heroes like me fight each other for our own gains?" Sadly, the display of his Imperial spirit stops then and there.

* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlFriend: Will do ''anything'' to aid and protect the love of her life.

!![[spoiler:Eight Genius]]

* TheWorfEffect: His first on-screen fight against a hundred-man squad of soldiers (as well as his off-screen curbstomping them) shows that his legendary skills [[spoiler:as the original one-eyed assassin]] have not diminished one bit, but he barely lasts two panels against Taishi Ci and even less against [[spoiler:his own student Liaoyuan Huo]]. All the better to establish the {{Badass}}es they are.

* MindManipulation: He's got some serious expertise with this, with the help of opium smoke and all. [[spoiler:In case you wonder, yes he can brainwash people into being his informant/assassin this way.]] Comes in full set with:

* ArmorPiercingSlap: [[http://mangafox.me/manga/the_ravages_of_time/v19/c156/20.html To Cao Cao]].

* OfferedTheCrown: More like has the crown forced on his head, after Dong Zhuo entered the capital and dethroned his older brother. Given that said brother behaved much like a selfish RoyalBrat who cared more for his pleasure than his kingship, Dong Zhuo's choice worked out better than it first looked.

* HeroKiller: [[spoiler:What Yu Ji and badasses like Gan Ning failed to do against Sun Ce, he did.]]

* [[EmperorScientist EmperorDoctor]]: The ancient-Han variant of this trope; a former skilled doctor turned religious leader commanding a military force of tens of thousands.

* [[EmperorScientist EmperorDoctor]]: In the same vein as Yu Ji, only he's even more dangerous.

* BiggerBad: To Yu Ji's BigBad in the Taiping cult. He only appears once or twice within the scheme of things, but when he does, better expect some major player to be offed spectacularly. He's also proven himself to be a much more effective figurehead than Yu Ji: whereas Yu Ji comes out with his ambitions and directly challenges the reigning warlord Sun Ce for control of the Eastern provinces with attempted assassination and military coups, leading to his spectacular defeat and death, Zuo Ci actually befriended the mighty Yuan Shao, kept a low profile in the North while his sect steadily expanded with Yuan Shao's blessings and infiltrated the ranks of other warlords. When he turns up in Guandu arc, Cao Cao's formerly loyal Qingzhou troops (who used to be Taiping men) did a FaceHeelTurn and heavily detrimented Cao Cao's strategic position.

* HeelFaceTurn: In Chibi arc, it turns out that he has joined Cao Cao's side during the interval after Guandu [[spoiler:but in reality he was bidding time to wait for a chance to avenge Yuan Shao and Yuan Fang.]]

* HotMom: Confirmed to have her first child with Sima Yi as of chapter 393.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Thinks Sima Yi is just a typical rich boy with a case of SmallNameBigEgo before she knows him. That she has never actually met him before, her only reliable source of information Liu Da holds a prejudice towards the family's OnlyInItForTheMoney policy and looks down on their lack of ambition in general and Sima Yi in a servant disguise purposefully gives her an exaggerated account of his achievements (or so she believes)[[hottip:*:he claims that "his young master" almost became one of the Eight Geniuses, which she dismisses as merely a sycophant's flattery, but that's exactly how it went]] do not help matters. [[spoiler:Cue a volume later, Sima Yi easily outwits a man who outwitted and humiliated her earlier and kills him, saving her life.]]

* IronicEcho: When he first met Liaoyuan Huo, he tried to sacrifice the boy to kill his target (by running them through with a sword) but Huo didn't die, instead ''beating Liu Da''[[hottip:*:kicking him to the ground, then pulling the sword out of himself and narrowly missing Liu Da's head!]] and asking to be taken in as a subordinate[[hottip:*:he was a StreetUrchin back then, so this is essentially offering his life in exchange for food and a home]]; as Liu Da put it, "I bought a bun and another me that day." [[spoiler:Decades later at Changban slope, to retrieve Adou from Liu Da's grasp Huo turns on him and stabs him through Lady Mi, imitating what Liu Da did that day... but this time Huo renounces his old ways and his assassin identity and [[BecomingTheMask becomes Zhao Yun for real]].]]

** He has a brief makeover when he subdues Cao Cao in volume 19[[hottip:*:after which Cao Cao realizes that he was set up all along... by his own advisor Xun Yu, Second of the Eight Geniuses]], but Guandu comes up and it turns out Cao Cao has taken the reins again.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: His supporting Lu Bu's scheme to assassinate Dong Zhuo was one of the worst examples in-story[[hottip:*:as Lu Bu can't hold Chang'an in the face of Jia Xu's backing of Li Jue and Guo Si, who end up taking custody of the Emperor]].
* LargeHam: Manages to play at it evenly with Dong Zhuo, and beats ''Cao Cao'' in what's very close to a HamToHamCombat during the Emperor "escorting" arc in volume 19. It's nothing short of a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for him in-universe. As Cao Cao remarked after that, had said Imperial spirit ''not'' been in short supply since the time of this Emperor's father[[hottip:*:Emperor Ling of Han, under whose reign the Yellow Turbans Rebellion occurred]], "how could the world be in pieces now? And how could anti-heroes like me fight each other for our own gains?" Sadly, the display of his Imperial spirit stops then and there.

* YouRemindMeOfX: In a conversation with Cao Cao, he compares the man to "that boy"[[hottip:*:it's Sima Yi, but he has already forgotten his name]] and Yuan Fang in talents (as in, Cao Cao and "that boy" did not have to study under Water Mirror to be brilliant, while Yuan Fang has surpassed his classmates in the opening act of Guandu) and in personality (the former two men are similarly unlikable jerks while Yuan Fang has become one[[hottip:*:and has forsaken his bond with the others when he tries to kill Xun Yu and assassinate Guo Jia]]).

** 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.

* TheWomanBehindTheMan: She's the brains of Shan clan and advises the Tian clan (related on her mother's side) on their political endeavors with Cao Cao.

** PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Once both show their colors to the other, it doesn't take them long to realize how much their personalities, interests and life philosophies have in common, and their political engagement changes into a loving relationship.

* TheWomanBehindTheMan: She's the brains behind many business operations of Shan clan.