History Characters / RavagesOfTimeSimaClan

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler: He fell off a cliff, presumed to be dead by everyone but actually was rescued by Huo Tuo and stayed in Lu Bu's camps for years. Learning of Sima family's financial predicament that came with serving Cao Cao, he agreed to join a plot to assassinate Cao Cao. That plot, as it turned out, was arranged to be one out of three steps that led the Sima family to near destruction. Stricken with grief, he joined the war effort in Lu Bu's camp when Cao Cao arrived to conquer Xuzhou and contributed quite significantly (starting with blinding and nearly killing Xiahou Dun), but Lu Bu eventually fell for Sima Yi's ruse and lost Xuzhou. Believing Sima Yi has given up on revenge for the Sima family, Xiao Meng decides to assassinate Cao Cao in broad daylight as his last duty to the clan. Only, Cao Cao still lives, he fails to get anything done, gets mortally injured and falls into Cao Cao's hands. Even worse is that regardless of whether the kill succeeds or not, by merely attempting it he can make things worse for Sima Yi since Sima Yi ''has'' a plan for revege, a plan so long-term that it requires him to bend his knees to Cao Cao and any tricky move on Xiao Meng's part would cost everyone's lives - as he now painfully realizes while being dragged around, stripped half-naked and humiliated by Cao Cao's soldier. Sima Yi barely manages to avert the ShootTheShaggyDog scenario going into full effect when he tips Cao Cao of the assassination to exempt himself from further suspicions and Jia Kui incites the soldiers to call for Xiao Meng's execution on the spot, which might be some sort of consolation for Xiao Meng, but at the end of the day Xiao Meng still dies a pretty shaggy dog's death that he could have avoided simply by having a little more faith in his master and bothering to contact him before trying anything. Or more simply, being less prone to impulsive RevengeBeforeReason and DeathSeeker mentality. And he could also have met Liaoyuan Huo again too, since the latter was also in Xiapi and has every means to contact Sima Yi to learn about Xiao Meng.]]

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler: He fell off a cliff, presumed to be dead by everyone but actually was rescued by Huo Tuo and stayed in Lu Bu's camps for years. Learning of Sima family's financial predicament that came with serving Cao Cao, he agreed to join a plot to assassinate Cao Cao. That plot, as it turned out, was arranged to be one out of three steps that led the Sima family to near destruction. Stricken with grief, he joined the war effort in Lu Bu's camp when Cao Cao arrived to conquer Xuzhou and contributed quite significantly (starting with blinding and nearly killing Xiahou Dun), but Lu Bu eventually fell for Sima Yi's ruse and lost Xuzhou. Believing Sima Yi has given up on revenge for the Sima family, Xiao Meng decides to assassinate Cao Cao in broad daylight as his last duty to the clan. Only, Cao Cao still lives, he fails to get anything done, gets mortally injured and falls into Cao Cao's hands. Even worse is that regardless of whether the kill succeeds or not, by merely attempting it he can make things worse for Sima Yi since Sima Yi ''has'' a plan for revege, a plan so long-term that it requires him to bend his knees to Cao Cao and any tricky move on Xiao Meng's part would cost everyone's lives - as he now painfully realizes while being dragged around, stripped half-naked and humiliated by Cao Cao's soldier. Sima Yi barely manages to avert the ShootTheShaggyDog scenario going into full effect when he tips Cao Cao of the assassination to exempt himself from further suspicions and Jia Kui incites the soldiers to call for Xiao Meng's execution on the spot, which might be some sort of consolation for Xiao Meng, but at the end of the day Xiao Meng still dies a pretty shaggy dog's death that he could have avoided simply by having a little more faith in his master and bothering to contact him before trying anything. And he could also have met Liaoyuan Huo again too, since the latter was also in Xiapi and has every means to contact Sima Yi to learn about Xiao Meng.]]

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:Believing Sima Yi has given up on revenge for the Sima family, Xiao Meng decides to assassinate Cao Cao in broad daylight as his last duty to the clan. Only, Cao Cao still lives, he fails to get anything done, gets mortally injured and falls into Cao Cao's hands. Even worse is that we know (and he quickly realizes later) that regardless of whether the kill succeeds or not, by merely attempting it he can make things worse for Sima Yi since Sima Yi ''has'' a plan for revege, a plan so long-term that it requires him to bend his knees to Cao Cao and any tricky move on Xiao Meng's part would cost everyone's lives. Sima Yi barely manages to avert the ShootTheShaggyDog scenario going into full effect when he tips Cao Cao of the assassination to exempt himself from further suspicions and Jia Kui incites the soldiers to call for Xiao Meng's execution on the spot, which might be some sort of consolation for Xiao Meng, but at the end of the day Xiao Meng still dies a pretty shaggy dog's death that he could have avoided simply by having a little more faith in his master and bothering to contact him before trying anything.]]
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Xiao Meng would probably be a lot happier about himself if he didn't look like a girl (or rather, more beautiful than a girl) that much.

* [[spoiler: CruelAndUnusualDeath]]: [[spoiler: His final assassination attempt on Cao Cao failed. He's stabbed in the stomach by a thrown lance from Xiahou Dun, falls from a tower, gets stripped half-naked by Cao Cao's soldiers, then Cao Cao kills him and his body is skewered and minced under dozens of spear. Ouch.]]

** [[spoiler:ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: A meta-CallBack to Sima Yi's dreamed death in the first chapter.]]

** FutureBadass: Yes, even more badass than he already has been, [[spoiler:as general Zhao Yun.]]

** HandicappedBadass: Though to be fair, we're yet to see a negative effect to his handicap, except that it steadies his feet on the battleground when he should have quit long ago.

** [[spoiler:ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice]]
* [[spoiler:DoomedByCanon]]: [[spoiler:Being Diao Chan means he would no longer be around after Lu Bu's arc.]]

** WildCard: Sima Yi's strategic genius and his clan's monetary influence are great allies for any warlords to have. Too bad they just couldn't care less about who comes out the winner, only how much cash they can make out of each campaign, and will switch to whichever side that benefits them. [[spoiler: This attitude is what eventually convinces Cao Cao that an unreliable ally is better a dead ally, and he wipes them all out except for Sima Yi, his brothers and a few lucky servants.]]

* AnimalMotif: He's often compared to a wolf [[spoiler:and has a neck like one, which once saved his life from a NeckSnap]], but his true animal motif is the phoenix. In-universe, Pang Tong is the only one who seems to realize this and has commented on it. [[spoiler: He should know, since Sima Yi beat him in solving a puzzle, the reward for which was the two title Fledgling Phoenix and Crouching Dragon. The only other one to solve the puzzle correctly, Zhuge Liang, got the Dragon title - meaning the Phoenix title might very well have been Sima Yi's, had he been one of the Eight.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: He tended to get too deeply involved in warlord conflicts for the sake of family business (in many an occasion it was thanks to Huo's screw-ups, but he did not dwell on that) while remained fully aware of the risks. The outcomes benefitted them for a while, [[spoiler:until Cao Cao got hold of the secret of their underhanded business with the Crippled Legion and Xun Yu forced him to surrender on basis of that claim so that the Cao clan could extort money from the Simas until their near financial collapse. ''Then'', he fell for Pang Tong's ruse and raised a mutiny in accordance with the anti-Cao warlord alliance's revolt, only for the Cao army to curb-stomp it and wipe out his clan.]] Later, he swears to drop these habits.

* TemptingFate: Agreed to the allegiance with Cao clan because he thought he would be able to deal with Cao Cao's extortion. Five volumes later, they're already in financial trouble.

* ConflictingLoyalty: What he's slowly realizing that he will have to face - between his righteous lord, Liu Bei and his true master, Sima Yi, though [[spoiler:in chapter 387 he seems to decisively turn towards Liu Bei... or at the very least, he seems to make this turn as far as Liu Da believes, anyway]].

* [[spoiler:HeelFaceTurn]]: [[spoiler:He finally makes the turn in chapter 386 and 387, when he decides he's too fed up with the life of an assassin with no future and the absence of morals in Sima Yi's philosophy and constant exposure to Liu Bei's righteousness has finally convinced him that GoodFeelsGood, with BigDamnHeroes style in keeping with CrowningMomentOfAwesome standards to boot: he defies his JerkAss teacher Liu Da and saves Liu Bei's son in the process... albeit by running Lady Mi through in order to stab Liu Da's shoulder so as to prove that he's even more ruthless than Liu Da. That said, given his history with the Sima family and years of treating Sima Yi like a brother, it still comes as a tear-jerking decision for him.]]

** When he took up the mantle of Crippled Legion's leader in the backstory, he told Sima Yi "Liaoyuan Huo swears to empower Sima clan". [[spoiler:When he abandons his assassin identity at Changban slope, he told a dying Lady Mi "Zhao Yun swears to protect Liu clan".]]

* PragmaticHero: Occasionally established himself as this, but jaws still drop at the way [[spoiler:he solves the hostage dilemma at Changbang slope: Liu Da has taken Lady Mi and A Dou as human shields to threaten him, with the Cao army fast approaching he decides that he cannot make off with them both and chooses to save the more important hostage - he stabs Liu Da ''through Lady Mi'' and grabs A Dou. Seeing this, Liu Da can't help but compliment him on this cold pragmatism and Lady Mi assures him that all's forgiven, he should focus on protecting the baby.]]

** And most recently,

** WildCard: Sima Yi's strategic genius and his clan's monetary influence are great allies for any warlords to have. Too bad they just couldn't care less about who comes out the winner, only how much cash they can make out of each campaign, and will switch to whichever side that benefits them. [[spoiler: This attitude is what eventually convinces Cao Cao that an unreliable ally is better a dead ally, and he wipes them all out except for Sima Yi and his older brother Sima Lang.]]

* TemptingFate: Agreed to the allegiance with Cao clan because he thought he would be able to deal with Cao Cao's extortion. [[spoiler:Turned out he couldn't.]]

* {{Bishonen}}: Not that we can't see it, but it's even indirectly confirmed in-universe. [[spoiler: He looks identical to Fifth Genius Zhou Yu, THE bishonen of the Three Kingdom period.]]

** AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Sima Yi to ''every other strategist''. Only the Eight Geniuses are spared TheWorfEffect in a duel of wits with him, themselves being universally acknowledged as the best strategists of China.

** WildCard: Sima Yi's strategic genius and his clan's monetary influence are great allies for any warlords to have. Too bad they just couldn't care less about who comes out the winner, only how much cash they can make out of each campaign, and will switch to whichever side that benefits them. [[spoiler: This attitude is what eventually convinces Cao Cao that an unreliable ally is better a dead ally, and he wipes them all out.]]

** As Cao Cao's DragonWithAnAgenda, he seeks every opportunity to prove his worth to Cao Cao and if there's no opportunity present, [[TheManBehindTheMan he creates them by lending secret helps to the enemies]].

* NotInThisForYourRevolution: He's known for aiding warlords and igniting multiple wars just to expand his family business. It doesn't please a lot of people, including his friend and subordinate Liaoyuan Huo, and eventually [[spoiler:when the Sima clan (or rather the Handicapped Warriors) are revealed to have been involved on a plot on Cao Cao's life and to mutiny against him, he has the clan purged]].

* OpenSecret: His TheStarscream gambit above in the quote? It was first relayed by Liaoyuan Huo to Zhuge Liang, then Xun Yu, through Zhuge Liang, knows it. Guo Jia correctly guesses it and Jia Xu, through Guo Jia, knows it as well. While he doesn't grasp the details, Cao Cao also suspects it. In other words, the one he's planning to overthrow and the three greatest obstacles to that plan of overthrowing now knows exactly what he's up to. His worth as a [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] is [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou the only thing that keeps him alive for the moment]].

* ShootTheDog: [[spoiler:When Xiao Meng botched his final atttempt on Cao Cao's life and doomed himself in the process, he decided to pull the trigger by ordering Jia Kui to exploit the Cao soldiers' hatred of eunuches so that Cao Cao would be pressured to publicly execute Xiao Meng on the spot. In his defense, it might also be seen as a MercyKill since Xiao Meng was already at the verge of death and living any longer would just guarantee him further tortures at Cao Cao's hands.]]

* TemptingFate: Agreed to the allegiance with Cao clan because he thought he would be able to deal with Cao Cao's extortions. [[spoiler:Turned out he couldn't.]]

* UnderstandingBoyfriend: To Shan Wu Ling, whose [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bitch]] tendencies are rather too hard for many men to swallow.
* UnholyMatrimony: With said beautiful, intelligent and equally unscrupulous Shan Wu Ling.

* WorthyOpponent: To the Eight Geniuses.
* YoungAndInCharge: He's been in charge of family business since his teens and brought it unprecedented fame and wealth with incredible foresights and ingenious schemes.

* OpenSecret: Liu Bei & co. suspect, and Zhuge Liang knows, that Huo follows Liu Bei under some unscrupulous design courtesy of Sima Yi.

* OpenSecret: Liu Bei & co. suspects, and Zhuge Liang knows, that he follows Liu Bei under some unscrupulous designs courtesy of Sima Yi.

* NoHeroToHisValet: Much as they admire his intelligence and respect what he's done for the clan, Huo, Lei and Meng almost unanimously acknowledges his unethical motives and self-serving nature, to the point they do not feel particularly inhibited to hold back their opinion sometimes.

[[quoteright:223:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/569d39a3ac174f7a0ef477b2_1158.jpg]]

[[quoteright:225:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1309870469_9999.jpg]]

[[caption-width-right:261:[[labelnote:Click here to see his disguise.]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/543803_177043865783324_1975753072_n_235.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]

[[caption-width-right:261:[[labelnote:Click here to see his [[spoiler:Diao Chan]] disguise.]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/543803_177043865783324_1975753072_n_235.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]

* TheAtoner

[[quoteright:246:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/566295_4410.jpg]]

* ConflictingLoyalty: What he's slowly realizing that he will have to face - between his righteous lord, Liu Bei and his true master, Sima Yi, though [[[spoiler:in chapter 387 he seems to decisively turn towards Liu Bei... or at the very least, he seems to make this turn as far as Liu Da believes, anyway]].

* [[spoiler:SacrificialLion]]: [[The second known casualty of Sima clan during the massacre. The first was Sima Yi's fourth uncle.]]

* [[spoiler:SacrificalLion]]: [[The second known casualty of Sima clan during the massacre. The first was Sima Yi's fourth uncle.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Sima Yi's own faulty judgements aside, it was his heroic, but thoughtless, meddlings that ultimately effected [[spoiler: the Sima clan's downfall]].

* ThePromise: Sima Yi's accountability [[spoiler:in Xiao Meng's death]] notwithstanding, he would still abide by his young master's plan and set Liu Bei up to be Cao Cao's greatest enemy, thus providing Sima Yi the career advancement opportunities he needs. [[spoiler:And he will see to it that Sima Yi's prophetic dream come true in the end.]]
* SixthRanger: To team Liu Bei later on, and stays with them for good [[spoiler:after the Sima clan massacre.]]
* [[spoiler: StreetUrchin]]: [[spoiler: Was one, before he was taken in by the 1st generation leader of the Crippled Legion.]]
* UnstoppableRage: [[spoiler:His response to the Yuan generals' trampling on Xiao Meng's remains. Cue ass-kicking and a stupendous display of badassery that sent Yuan Tan's ''fucking army'' running for their lives.]]

* TomatoSurprise: [[spoiler:He is the monster on flame we saw killing Sima Yi in chapter one. The dream turned out to be prophetic of their mutual fates.]]

* DudeLooksLikeALady

* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:He allied with Lu Bu in Cao Cao's 2nd Xuzhou campaign.]]
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: As said, [[spoiler: he's Diao Chan]], though to be fair, most of the guys infatuated with him (Dong Zhuo, his sons and nephew, etc.) [[DudeLooksLikeALady do not know he's male]]. However, knowing he's one doesn't make less heads turned at the sight of his beauty, or stop Liaoyuan Huo and Lu Bu from having the hots for him.
* FemmeFatale: His [[spoiler: Diao Chan]] persona.
* FriendToAllChildren: He's the nanny of Sima Yi's little brothers, who are very fond of him (and calls him [[BerserkButton sis]]). [[spoiler: Even Lu Bu's little daughter liked him, and thought he smelled like her late mom.]]