History Characters / RavagesOfTimeCaoClan

[[folder: Cao Ang]]

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking

* {{Determinator}}

** NobleTopEnforcer: Kinder and more principled than Cao Cao and Guo Jia, at the very least.

* FourStarBadass

* SarcasticDevotee

* [[spoiler:SiblingYinYang]]: [[spoiler:A big, ([[HiddenDepths seemingly]]) slow-witted warrior and his scheming, borderline scheming killer of an older brother.]]

* [[spoiler:YouKilledMyFather: To Liaoyuan Huo, the entire Sima clan ''and'' Lu Bu. He before long defeats Huo, sets up the downfall of the Sima clan and is the first to strangle Lu Bu at the latter's execution.]]
* TheWorfEffect: On the first time they met he nearly killed Huo, only to be stopped and curbstomped by Zhang Fei; he subsequently is then manhandled by Lu Bu when he tries to take him in single combat -- and then he's thrown off of a roof with Lu Bu using him to cushion his landing!

* DualWielding

* [[spoiler:HalfTheManHeUsedToBe]]

* SuperToughness
* TheBerserker: Post-PreAssKickingOneLiner.
** AttackAttackAttack: And he will not stop until he (almost) dies or his enemies defeated.
** '''ImplacableMan''': [[spoiler:Lu Bu undersetimating this aspect of Dian Wei is what earns him defeat.]]
** StayingAlive: [[spoiler:Even when he's HalfTheManHeUsedToBe!]]
* UndyingLoyalty: Takes this trope up to eleven. [[spoiler:Even when ''he's cut into two'', ''he still bellows to his leg to get up and kill the enemy together''. They have to stab him in the neck to shut him up.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Dian Wei:''']] [[spoiler: Legs! Get up! Legs! You traitors! Did you forget… why you live?]]
** Is so ridiculously loyal that it's practically a superpower: his loyalty is what gave him the [[{{Determinator}} determination]] to defeat ''[[spoiler:Lu Bu]]''.

* CoolOldGuy

* TheLancer: To Guo Jia.
* TheReliableOne

** DragonWithAnAgenda: His father was a Han loyalist who was coerced to serve Dong Zhuo; this tenure earned him scorns and disgrace in the court under Cao Cao's chancellorship. Though his distinguished background and his achievement at Guandu netted him a good position in the court and a marriage with Cao Cao's daughter, Yang Xiu never forgets this slight and has implicitly stated his intention to return the favor within the hearing of more than one neutral party.

* ObviouslyEvil: He's not very subtle when he tries to sow the seeds of discord between the Cao brothers, as his master [[GenreSavvy Cao Zhi]] rightly points out. Before that, Cao Hong regards him with wary after he opportunistically took the initiative to go beyond Guo Jia's plan and kill Yuan Fang to take the credit for winning the Guandu war.

* AnAxeToGrind: Xu Huang and Xu Chu[[note]]not related, the surnames differ in Chinese[[/note]].

* AnAxeToGrind

* [[spoiler:[[IllGirl IllGuy]]]]: [[spoiler:As Chibi's climatic battle comes to a close with his forces on the river and land suffering staggering losses, he soon finds himself bedridden with the yearly plague in Jingzhou due to direct contacts with his afflicted officers, resulting in another OhCrap moment for the entire Cao camp.]]

* UndyingLoyalty: Takes this trope UpToEleven. [[spoiler:Even when ''he's cut into two'', ''he still bellows to his leg to get up and kill the enemy together''. They have to stab him in the neck to shut him up.]]

* BeautyMark: Has one mole on each side of his eyebrow. (This resulted in much snark via WordOfGod: both he and his uncle are obviously not good candidates to make regular appearances on the battlefield, since they're so distinctive that they would be the target of every sniper in the area.)

* BadassMustache

* SuperToughness: When a spear head was rammed inside his body (somewhere dangerously close to his spine), Xu Chu let Dian Wei ''forcefully'' pulled it out (with an arm clad in spiked armor and all) instead of sitting around waiting for a surgical operation. See BadassBoast above.
* TheStoic
* TheQuietOne

* BadassMustache: That's quite a nice PornStache he's having.

* ChildSoldiers

* FutureBadass

* MagnificentBastard

* OvershadowedByAwesome: It eventually becomes clear that he's no less of a MagnificentBastard than the three Geniuses serving him and only lacks their flair for elaborate {{plan}}s. Shuijing, their teacher, even comments that much of their success can be attributed to Cao Cao's leadership skills and their talents flourish under Cao Cao's commands more than they ever did in his school. The aversion truly takes it to the top in the Battle of Guandu, [[spoiler:when he fights Yuan Fang's ''Fenghou'' Eight Diagram Formation Diagram evenly with an improved version of Sun Zi's formation, whereas Guo Jia spectacularly lost to ''Fenghou'' before]]. Years later, [[spoiler:at Changban his troops reveal that they too can do the ''Fenghou'' Eight Formation Diagram. For all the good that it does them against Zhao Yun[[note]]the now-former Liaoyuan Huo[[/note]], it's noted by Liu Bei that Cao Cao's troops are superior to even Yuan Fang's in how quickly they were able to adopt a formation that it took years for Yuan troops to do]].

* [[spoiler:SiblingYinYang]]: [[spoiler:A big, ([[HiddenDepths seemingly]]) slow-witted warrior and his scheming, borderline MagnificentBastard killer of an older brother.]]

%%* BadassFamily: With Xiahou Yuan.

%%* FourStarBadass

Cao Cao's gradual rise in and of itself is arguably a series of escalating CrowningMomentOfAwesome in a series full of them. From a minor character in the grand scheme of things who was one step away from losing his life on behalf of conventional idealism, he has developed into a protagonist characterized by Machiavellian traits, shedding most of his early scruples and the near-death, near-total-defeat situations he survives only end up hardening his resolve. So far, the victories that define his career are [[spoiler:the final defeats of Lu Bu and Yuan Shu, the securing of the young Emperor]] and, as of recent volumes, [[spoiler:the defeat of the all-powerful Yuan clan.]]

* EyeScream: [[spoiler:Xiahou Dun got an arrow to his prized left eye. He ''[[{{Squick}} pulls the arrow out with the eyeball still impaled]]''. He ''[[ImAHumanitarian eats the eyeball]]''. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome And then his ass-kicking power goes ''up'', forcing Cao Xing to attempt to kill him after he literally tears his way through Lu troops with his bare fists.]]]]

* {{Badass}}: He's like the go-to guy in the Cao camp for when you're in need of a good dose of awesome.
** BadassFamily: With Xiahou Yuan.
** FourStarBadass
** SuperSenses: His left eye, which can see for miles. [[spoiler: He loses it in the Xiapi campaign at Xiao Meng's hands.]]
** SuperStrength: The man can throw a spear ''to the top of a mountain''. And since he's got that left eye, don't expect him to miss. Ever. [[spoiler:Even after losing said eye, he ''still'' impales with a spear the very same Xiao Meng, who was atop the White Gate Tower pavilion roof attempting to shoot Cao Cao.]]

* {{Badass}}

* '''{{Badass}}'''

* LuckyBastard: To quote Jia Xu, Xiao Meng and many others - this guy is assisted by the will of Heaven. Besides having the unique fortune of ''three'' Geniuses choosing him as their lord while others (Yuan, Sun and recently Liu) only has one in their service, he's survived several brushes with death, namely being personally chased by [[WorldsStrongestMan Lu Bu]] and [[LeeroyJenkins Sun Ce]], coming ''this'' close to being assassinated by [[spoiler:[[ProfessionalKiller Huo and Xiao Meng]]]], and generally being stomped on under the chain-gambit [[spoiler:Pang Tong]] set up for him.

See [[spoiler:[[Characters/RavagesOfTimeYuanClan Yang Qing]]]]

* CannotTellAJoke: ..because they're less jokes and more stealth snark at Cao Cao's unrestrained womanizing. And at times, they're complete truth. [[spoiler:"A Xu, wiseman, fathered, a son, who is, articulate, and smart", anyone ?]] Ironically, this is the one that made Cao Cao laugh the hardest and which he found the funniest.

* MightyGlacier

* [[spoiler:IllGirl IllGuy]]: [[spoiler:As Chibi's climatic battle comes to a close with his forces on the river and land suffering staggering losses, he soon finds himself bedridden with the yearly plague in Jingzhou due to direct contacts with his afflicted officers, resulting in another OhCrap moment for the entire Cao camp.]]

* MortonsFork: [[spoiler:After his mistakes allow Zhou Yu's fire fleets to burn the Chibi river forest, trapping Jia Xu's land troops inside, he has to choose between splitting his force to save the troops and yielding the river to Zhou Yu, or keeping the river and dooming both Jia Xu's and Cao Ren's troops, who at that time were under attacks from Lu Meng and badly in need of backup from Jia Xu. He eventually chooses the latter.]]
* OhCrap: Has one in Chibi's climatic showdown, once he realizes [[spoiler:he's completely played into Zhou Yu's hands when he bought Lu Xun's bait and let Zhou Yu ram his oil-soaked burning ships into the bank forest Jia Xu's stationing his troops.]]

* {{Badass}}: He's like the go-to guy in the Cao camp when you're in need of a good dose of awesome.

* BerserkButton: [[spoiler:His revenge against Liaoyuan Huo and the Sima clan.]]

* GenerationXerox: He doesn't resemble his father but his head gear is very similar to what the old man once wore.

* SuperStrength
* SuperToughness

* StrongFamilyResemblance

* AnAxeToGrind: Xu Huang and Xu Chu (not related).

* BadassCrew: Cao Cao's advisors include, among other talents, ''three'' of the Eight Geniuses, [[spoiler: later joined by ''Sima Yi'']]. His generals: [[BadassFamily many from his own family]], [[BadassFamily the Xiahou brothers]], [[TheBigGuy Xu Chu]], [[ImplacableMan Dian Wei]], [[BadassNormal Li Dian]], [[TheSmartGuy Yu Jin]], and later [[spoiler: Zhang Liao]] are either strong like monsters, or extremely well-rounded physically and mentally.

* DefectorFromDecadence: Xu Huang, formerly a general under Yang Feng. [[spoiler:Turns out that he was in cahoots with Xun Yu, so he got out of the way of the arrow that Xun Yu's henchman Man Chong fired at Yang Feng.]]

* BerserkButton: His newest nickname in-universe, "One-eyed Xiahou"/"Blind Xiahou". It always flips him off.