History Series / NirvanaInFire

* CapturedOnPurpose: Lin Shu walks right into the Investigation Bureau and Xia Jiang's hands

* MultilayerFaçade: When he first comes to the capital, Lin Shu introduces himself as "Sir Su" a mere visiting scholar. When his enemies get suspicious, they do a background check and discover his "real" identity, the powerful Mei Changsu. This prevents them from thinking to dig deeper and discover his actual {{Secret Identity}} Lin Shu.

** [[spoiler:The Crown Prince and his mother Consort Yue attempt to repeat this plot with Nihuang so that she is forced to marry one of her potential suitors and gets out of their way. Thankfully it stops at {{Attempted Rape}}.]]

** [[spoiler:Princess Liyang was in love with a foreign prince but the empress and Marquis Xie conspired to [[SlippingAMickey drug]] and rape her so that she would be forced to marry Xie. Unsurprisingly this situation led to some complications, see Family Switcheroo.

* ActionGirl: Pretty much every woman without children is fully martial arts capable, including Nihuang, Gong Yu, Xia Dong, and Banruo.
* AlasPoorVillain: Prince Yu manages to be a pretty sympathetic villain throughout the series, [[spoiler:but even if you never liked him, his pathetic breakdown due to the discovery of his father's betrayal of his mother and his subsequent suicide in a desperate attempt to save his wife and unborn child will have you shedding a tear.]] Depending on the viewer, Consort Yue could also count.
* AmbitionIsEvil: The Crown Prince and Prince Yu [[spoiler:are ultimately defeated by the consequences of their own unscrupulous greed for power.]] Jingyan seeks power for altruistic reasons and [[spoiler: is ultimately able to become Emperor.]]

* MurderIsTheBestSolution: The emperor is pretty sure he doesn't belive Xia Jiang's claims about Mei Changsu's real identity, but his solution is to attempt to poison him anyway just to make certain there's no future threat.

* SarcasticConfession: When he's cornered by Consort Yue and Xia Jiang's attempt to reveal his true identity, Lin Shu straight up ''admits'' it to the emperor's face. [[spoiler:But then he follows up by saying even if he admits it it doesn't prove anything and uses enough Word Fu to confuse the emperor dismissing Xia Jiang entirely.]] That is talent.[[spoiler:Although, admittedly it doesn't prevent the emporer from trying to kill him anyway... See Murder is the Best Solution.]]

** [[spoiler: The best example is when Lin Shu tricks Xia Jiang into leading our protagonists straight to Weng Zhi's location by manipulating him to infer that they have already discovered the secret prison.]]

* IWillWaitForYou: Xia Dong has never forgotten her dead husband even after 13 years. [[spoiler, Happily she is rewarded when Nie Feng returns alive against all hope.]]

* FlashbackNightmare: The first scene of the series shows the bloody massacre of an army and the young Lin Shu's dying father urging him to survive just before he falls off a cliff... and our adult hero [[CatapultNightmare catapults panting from his bed]].

* ActionGirl: Pretty much every woman without children is fully martial arts capable, including Nihuang, Gong Yu, Xia Dong, Banruo, and her sister disciple.

* MurderIsTheBestSolution: The emperor isn't sure whether to believe Xia Jiang's claims about Mei Changsu's real identity, but his solution is to attempt to poison him just to make certain there's no future threat.

* ChekhovsGunman: You know that "beast" Jingyan's soldiers have been trying to catch since the early episodes? It's almost the end of the series and they finally caught it! [[Turns out it's actually one of the few survivors of the Chiyan Army Nie Feng, who helps reveal how Lin Shu himself survived and the nature of his illness.]]

* SarcasticConfession: When he's cornered by Consort Yue and Xia Jiang's attempt to reveal his true identity, Lin Shu straight up ''admits'' it to the emporer's face. [[spoiler:But then he follows up by saying even if he admits it it doesn't prove anything and uses enough Word Fu to confuse the emperor into letting him walk away scot free.]] That is talent.

** Consort Jing discovers Mei Changsu's true identity after finding a veiled reference to his mother's name in a book he wrote
notes in

** Another one for Consort Jing- she realizes her maid was part of the enemy's plot to cause mistrust between Jingyan and Mei Changsu when the maid makes sure to tell the story of Mei Changsu's supposed capture of her to the prince- they couldn't leave such a crucial part of the plot (making sure Jingyan heard the story told their way) to some unrelated person.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: When Jingyan insists on breaking the falsely accused Weng Zhi out of prison

** Consort Jing discovers Mei Changsu's true identity after finding a veiled reference to his mother's name in a book he wrote notes in

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Consort Yue plays this to the hilt.

* UnsportsmanlikeGloating: Lin Shu uncharacteristically gives in to a little gloating the last time he sees Xia Jiang in prison. "You're just here to gloat aren't you?" "Yes. I've seen you play all your best cards and end up back in prison anyway. It makes me happy." So. Satisfying.

* FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo: Jingrui has two surnames. His mother gave birth on the same night as her friend at the temple they were staying at. That same night they were attacked and the two baby boys were mixed up in the darkness and confusion, making it impossible to tell which baby belonged to which mother. When one of the babies died after a few days, things became even more complicated. With no way to decide which family the baby belonged to, the emperor declared that he should belong to both of them and be given both their surnames. [[spolier: However the real switcheroo is that Jingrui's real mother Princess Liyang was pregnant with her lover's baby and then was forced to marry Marquis Xie. She realized her husband was trying to kill her illegitimate son but had actually killed her friend's baby by accident. She perpetuated the confusion with the Zhao family in order to protect Jingrui from the Marquis. Jingrui finds out his true parentage at his birthday party, see Family Disunion.]]

* LadyOfWar: Nihuang has protected the southern border from invasion as the general of the southern fortress for years and she's so awesome at martial arts than none of the skilled warriors from all around China that came to compete as her potential suitors are able to beat her in a one on one duel.

* FamilyDisunion: Jingrui's disaster of a birthday party. You know it's a failed family get together when [[spoiler:you find out neither of your "fathers" is actually related to you, one of them was trying to kill you all along, and he's decided to finish the job now, along with the rest of your family.]] Ouch.

* MurderIsTheBestSolution: The emperor