History Characters / MarcoPolo

* AdultFear: [[spoiler: He's horrified to learn that Jingim fell in battle. And later in season two Jingim and Ahmad go missing]].

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* MeaningfulName: Jingim is Chinese for "golden", and toften wears the color. [[spoiler:He is given this name to replace his original childhood Mongol name, Altai, by Hundred Eyes himself--meant to embody his hope: that while the Song Dynasty is too weak to hold on to power while Kublai is still too brutish to ever fully appease the Chinese, Jingim's succession as a good-hearted man might be more palatable to everyone.]]

* BadassBeard: Like other Mongols, Kublai sports some pretty impressive facial hair.

* NotSoDifferent: Marco delivers a passionate speech about the wrath of the great khan to one of his enemies, the "Old Man" leader of [[spoiler:The Hashashin]]. After he finishes, the Old Man says Marco is exactly the type of HotBlooded young man he recruits.

* CharacterDevelopment: Evolves from a scared boy into a hardened warrior who helps end the siege that Ghengis Khan failed to break and manages to briefly hold his own against Jia Sidao.

* ServileSnarker: Downplayed. Hundred Eyes knows that his whole existence [[spoiler: and that of his religion]] is at Kublai's mercy, but that doesn't top him from having some attitude.

Kublai Khan's chief wife

* ClingyJealousGirl: Averted. She personally selects girls for her husband's harem. Though it seems she sees no threat in concubines as they are just for sex. She flies into a jealous rage when she finds out Kublai is taking [[spoiler:Mei Lin]] with him to the Kurultai when she refuses to go after their fight.

* TheHighQueen: She's compassionate to her subjects, ruthless to her enemies, and one of Kublai's most trusted advisers.
* KickTheDog: Shows Mei-Ling that her kid will live....and then tells her she will never see her daughter again. She also forces a peasant to rape Nergui.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Chabi seems genuinely remorseful for [[spoiler: having a part in breaking Kokochin/Nergui's mind in the finale of Season 2.]]

* DefiantToTheEnd: His [[spoiler: [[FamousLastWords Famous Last Words]] feature him whispering that the Song Dynasty will last ten thousand more years.]]

[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ling_ling_2.png]]

A taoist monk and kung-fu master. Like Marco Polo, he too is a bound servant of Kublai Khan

!Empress Dowager Xie Daoquing

--> '''Kublai Khan''': The Great Genghis, he of the wolf, dreamed of a Mongol empire stretching throughout all of China. [[DontMakeMeDestroyYou I have sought to realize his dream without spilling Mongol blood]]. I have been patient. [[UngratefulBastard My patience has been rewarded]] with the severed heads of men who have marched beside you. My scholars, ministers advised me to choose peace over war. [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy But I am a proud Mongol]]. [[WellIntentionedExtremist At times peace can only be achieved through cruel war]]. We begin the expedition to fulfill our destiny. You noble men willing to die for a cause greater than yourselves, return not with wealth, nor slaves, but with honor. Those of you who do not return [[ToAbsentFriends will have your names carved]] in ''The Secret History of the Mongols''. Your wives, children and parents will hold their heads above other Mongols, because in their hearts they know '''[[WarIsGlorious their husbands, fathers, their sons, gave their lives in pursuit of the last dream of our Great Genghis!]]'''

->'''Played By:''' Benedict Wong

->'''Played By:''' Joan Chen

->'''Played By:'''

** ReverseMole: [[spoiler: But she's apprehended after failing to assassinate Empress Chabi and made to serve Kublai.]]

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: In the show, Nayan agrees to lead a Crusade against his own nephew out of purely religious reasons, while the real one led a rebellion thinking he was abandoning his Mongolian roots and embracing Chinese values instead. This motivation change was likely done in order to differentiate him from Kaidu, who criticized Kublai in the same way.

->'''Played By:''' Rick Yune

* DefiantToTheEnd: His [[spoiler: [[FamousLastWords]] feature him whispering that the Song Dynasty will last ten thousand more years.]]

* LeanAndMean: Only relatively compared to the other Mongol leaders of his generation (and especially as {{Foil}} to the massive Kublai)--he is actually [[HeroicBuild pretty ripped]] [[GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave for a man of his age]], especially one already with adult children.

* TookALevelInBadAss: Starts out as a callow youth; by the end of the season he's a hardened warrior who manages to (very briefly) hold his own against Jia Sidao (and even surprise him at one point).

* HeroicLineage: His grandfather was UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, one of the greatest warriors to ever grace the earth.

* RousingSpeech: He delivers one in front of his troops at the eve of his final attack at Xiangyang. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Sadly]], their first attempt at doing so was a massive disaster.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: The real Kokachin, who considered capture AFateWorseThanDeath, killed herself before the Mongols could take her. Her servant, Nergüi, then took her place...only to realize that her former master might have had a point after all. She also tries to kill herself, but decides against it at the last minute.]]

* InterClassRomance: Marco has BelligerentSexualTension with Princess Kokachin. [[spoiler: Subverted when she confesses to being a fake, then she and Marco make love]].

* StepfordSmiler: Engages in a lot of this, particularly once she [[spoiler: has been wedded to Jingim, and considers herself abandoned by Marco.]]

* [[TheManBehindTheMan The Woman Behind The Boy]]: To Emperor Zhaoxian.

* ManipulativeBitch: She's very good at getting people to do what she wants. At one time, she was the one pulling the strings, until her brother got more clever.

[[foldera:Nayan]]

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: In the show, Nayan agrees to lead a Crusade against his own nephew out of purely religious reasons, while the real one led a rebellion thinking he was abandoning his Mongolian roots and embracing Chinese values instead. This motivation change was likely done in order to differentiate him from other characters that criticized Kublai the same way.

!Song Dynasty

[[folder:Lizong of Song]]
!Emperor Lizong
->'''Played By:'''

The dying emperor of the Song dynasty

* KingOnHisDeathbed: His only role is die so that there isn't a more powerful emperor dealing with Jia Sidao.
* WeHardlyKnewYe: Spends most of his screentime in bed dying, then quietly passes away.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Do not uncomment them without expanding them to explain how they apply here.

* AdiposeRex: The most powerful amongst the Mongol characters is, unsurprisingly, the fattest. While many of his enemies and detractors see him as a FatBastard (either due to hedonism or cultural decay), he still has it in him to fight in single combat and to be at the field with his armies. [[note]]Indeed, one may compare his roughness and indulgences to the fictional [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire Robert]] [[Series/GameOfThrones Baratheon]]--with [[NotSoSimilar one key difference]]: despite his psychological issues and regrets, Kublai never let those prevent him from [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething being proactive in ruling]] and directing his kingdom.[[/note]]