History Series / TheLegendOfZhenHuan

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[[caption-width-right:350:Sun Li as Zhen Huan]]

** Quite rampantly, as the original novel was AU and set in a different Dynasty. The TV producers chose the Yongzheng Emperor's era and made adjustments (E.g, General Nian Geng Yao was real and had a sister who was the Emperor's consort), but this is bound to lead to discrepancies. One example is the empress and her sister, Empress Chunyuan. Historically, Emperor Yongzheng's empress was his legitimate wife, whom he married while still a prince and who died nine years into his rule. Another notable discrepancy is the fact that Yongzheng's mother died very early in his rule.

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Everyone who works for the Emperor in any capacity would rather commit suicide than face degradation or loss of reputation, which makes it easy for the higher-ups to get rid of people.

The 2018 series ''Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace'', also called ''Legend of Ruyi'', is the official sequel to ''The Legend of Zhen Huan'', with the actress Vivian Wu playing as Empress Dowager Niuhuru, the older Zhen Huan.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Quite rampantly, as the original novel was AU and set in a different Dynasty. The TV producers chose the Yongzheng Emperor's era and made adjustments (E.g, General Nian Geng Yao was real and had a sister who was the Emperor's consort), but this is bound to lead to discrepancies. One example is the empress and her sister, Empress Chunyuan. Historically, Emperor Yongzheng's empress was his legitimate wife, whom he married while still a prince and who died nine years into his rule. Another notable discrepancy is the fact that Yongzheng's mother died very early in his rule.

* YourCheatingHeart: Zhen Huan's and Yurao's father. [[spoiler:Also, Shen Meizhuang]].

* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: When Zhen is still quite new to palace life, she wants to go for a walk on her own, and smugly threatens her maids that anyone who tries to follow her will have to kneel outside on the snow-covered ground which is covered in snow. In a place where the penalty for minor infractions is flogging, it qualifies as this.

''The Legend of Zhen Huan'' (后宫·甄嬛传; ''Hòu Gōng·Zhēn Huán Chuán'') is a 2011 Chinese drama based on a popular internet novel. The drama is set in the harem of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty. Spanning 76 episodes (almost twice as long as the typical Chinese series), it's considered one of the most successful dramas in the recent years.

''The Legend of Zhen Huan'' is a Chinese drama based on a popular internet novel. The drama is set in the harem of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty. Spanning 76 episodes (almost twice as long as the typical Chinese series), it's considered one of the most successful dramas in the recent years.

The drama series ''Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace'' is the official sequel to the Legend of Zhen Huan with the actress Vivian Wu playing as Empress Dowager Niuhuru, the older Zhen Huan.

* AdaptationalHeroism: In the novels, the original Zhen Huan is much more ruthlessly darker, sadistic, petty and cunning than the TV series counterpart. She taunts her enemies/victims by smiling on their unfortunate fates, and found satisfaction in their suffering. She's even more dangerous than the actual villains and antagonists in the series.
* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler: An Lingrong]]'s motivation is a lot less sympathetic due to Zhen Huan's brother, an important part of her character development arc, being AdaptedOut in the drama. While some of original Zhen Huan's evil deeds are transferred to her in the TV adaption.
* AdoptivePeerParent: Subverted when Prince Hongli is told to accept his father's consort as his mother, but she is only twelve years older than him. The Emperor summarily added ten years to her age to avoid this.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Can't exactly be helped given the premise of the series, but accentuated with Prince Guo and Dr. Wen, who could have avoided this if they fell in love with someone else.

* AlphaBitch: Consort Hua. Later,[[spoiler: Zhen Huan]], and Concubine Qi (Qi Pin) tries to be one,[[spoiler: but she is really manipulated by the Empress all along]].

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Quite rampantly, as the original novel was AU and set in a different Dynasty. The TV producers chose the Yongzheng Emperor's era and made adjustments (E.g. General Nian Geng Yao was real and had a sister who was the Emperor's consort), but this is bound to lead to discrepancies. One example is the empress and her sister, Empress Chunyuan. Historically, Emperor Yongzheng's empress was his legitimate wife, whom he married while still a prince and died nine years into his rule. Another notable discrepancy is the fact that Yongzheng's mother died very early in his rule.

* AsYouKnow: or "As you don't know, but I do." A Senior Palace maid is sent to the households of all the future concubines to teach them palace manners and etiquette, and the characters do seem to love to educate each other on relevant history, poetry, or whatever topic that will help the viewer understand the mountain of mind games everyone is playing.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Such as [[spoiler:An Lingrong]]

* BitchInSheepsClothing: A lot of the women. Notably,[[spoiler: the empress. She appeared to be kind and fair at first but was revealed to be one of the most scheming characters.]] Also, [[spoiler: An Lingrong first appeared to be the sweetest and meekest of the new concubines, but stabbed her "sisters" in the back repeatedly.]]
* BlackAndGrayMorality

* BlatantLies: half the stuff anyone says in public. In almost every conversation, the consorts refer to each other as "good sisters" even though they hate and scheme against each other all the time.

* ChekhovsSkill: The Empress is knowledgeable in Chinese Medicine and An Lingrong is an expert at making scented/aromatic incenses.
* ChildhoodFriends: Zhen Huan and Shen Meizhuang

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: [[spoiler: An Lingrong. She is supposedly good friends with Shen Meizhuang and Zhen Huan, but she tries to cause Zhen Huan to miscarry several times, causes the childbirth complication that kills Shen Meizhuang, and sets the stage for Zhen Huan to take down the Empress, who supported her rise the entire time.]]
** [[spoiler: Lady Cao (Cao Guiren). She urges Consort Hua to abandon Li Pin when she was scared insane, plays a key role helping Zhen Huan bringing down Consort Hua, and says plainly said she'll backstab anyone to ensure a good future for her daughter (and herself).]]

** It might be easier to list all the women who never back stabs anyone.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: When Zhen is still quite new to palace life, she wants to go for a walk on her own, and threatens her maids that anyone who tries to follow her will have to kneel outside on the ground which is covered in snow, looking mighty pleased with herself. In a place where the penalty for minir infractions is flogging, it qualifies as this.
* CrapsaccharineWorld: The inner palace is full of beautiful women dressed in elaborate clothes living comfortably in nice buildings... who spend their spare time scheming against each other and will stop at nothing to gain more power. Everyone knows it, no one sees a need or reason to stop it, and if you are one of the women and don't want to play that game, you probably won't live long enough or be importantly enough to complain much.
* CostumePorn: The Imperial court is quite fond of colourful silk, items made of green or white jade, jewelry of gold or coral, and many other things the Emperor gifts his wives and mistresses.
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Everyone who works for the Emperor in any capacity would rather commit suicide than face degradation or having a bad reputation, which makes it easy for the higher-ups to get rid of people.
* DeathByChildbirth: Subverted.[[spoiler: Shen Meizhuang and Empress Chunyuan]] both die of childbirth, but in both cases the delivery or pregnancy has been sabotaged to harm them. In the case of [[spoiler: Meng Jinxian]], she is poisoned and is going to die within hours anyways, so the physicians induced labour and she managed to deliver a child right before dying.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Subverted. The Emperor can have any women he wants, so he callously abandons any woman who become too cold toward him. The exception is Lady Ning.
** Life in the Inner Palaces actually causes several ladies to become [[IceQueen Ice Queens]].[[spoiler: Namely, Shen Meizhuang and Ning Guiren.]]

* DiabolusExMachina: In the last half hour or so of the show, we learn that the Emperor has been taking something he believes to be life-extending, a medicine that contains small amouts of sulphur and mercury. Depending on your point of view. [[spoiler:As far as Lady Ning is concerned it's more like a DeusExMachina, as it makes it easy for herself and Huan to exact their revenge on him.]]
* DoggedNiceGuy: Dr. Wen Shichu for Zhen Huan. She gives an excellent reason for refusing him, but it is clear that she is never really interested in him. The rejection doesn't stop him for devoting to her wholeheartedly, though.

** [[spoiler: Consort Hua. Even though she had lost all her power and title, Consort Hua who was demoted to Nian Daying, was still proud and unfazed by the Emperor's decree for her death... until Zhen Huan informed her that it was the scheming of the Emperor that caused Consort Hua to be sterile and miscarriage. Consort Hua's final cry of anguish, as she realized that the man she loved most was the one who caused her the most misery, were considered by many to be a TearJerker]]
** [[spoiler: An Lingrong.]] After she lost the Emperor's favour.
** The Emperor orders [[TheScapegoat Ying Guiren]] to commit suicide after the impropriety scandal[[spoiler: involving Third Prince Hongshi, so she will bear guilt rather than implicating the Prince]].

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Many, and often done spectacularly. Few characters, like Consort Hua, can be read right off the bat (see below). Many other characters do not reveal their real nature until much later.
* EstablishingSeriesMoment: Consort Hua orders for a maid to be killed for being annoying and for a low-ranking concubine to be beaten to lower-body paralysis for rudeness. That is episodes 2 and 3 out of 76, and it only goes downhill from there.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Consort Hua is not above bribery, lying, lashing out due to pettiness, or murdering fellow concubines, and she even played with Princess Wenyi's health to gain attention, but she wouldn't hurt a pregnant woman's unborn child. However, this might have more to do with her own experience of miscarriage than matters of morality. This becomes an interesting point later in the series when you see both [[spoiler: Zhen Huan and the Empress]] play with the lives of unborn children for their own gain even though they both also endured the pain of losing a child.

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: Huanbi and An Lingrong]]. Both attribute their self-serving actions and attitudes to the fact they had harsher childhoods compared to Zhen Huan, and that their mothers were abandoned/neglected by the men they loved.
* ForegoneConclusion: [[spoiler:The fact that the framing device is Zhen Huan as Dowager Empress looking back on her life, let's the viewers know we don't have to worry about her.]]

* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: Shen Meizhuang
* GreenEyedMonster: Consort Hua [[spoiler: and as revealed later, The Empress and An Lingrong]]
* HappilyAdopted: Disturbingly common, as biological mothers of children don't usually last long in this series. [[spoiler: Princess Wenyi, Princess Longyue, Fourth Prince Hongli and Prince Guo's son. Arguably, Shen Meizhuang's daughter and Zhen Huan's twins are happily adopted by the emperor. ]]
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Prince Guo, when he steals Huan's suicide from her, as he understands that the Emperor wants him gone and that she is trying to do this for him.]]

* ImpracticallyFancyOutfit: Justified because this is the Royal Harem.
* ImportantHaircut: Sort of. Zhen Huan wears distinctively different makeup and headdress in the later half of the series.
** Justified, as when women in the harem are promoted (or demoted), their hairstyle and style of dress must also change as befitting their stations.

* InterruptedSuicide: [[spoiler:When the Emperor orders her to kill prince Guo, Huan tries to kill herself instead, making it look like an accident, but Guo figures ''her'' out and switches the cups.]]
* InTheBlood: Even though she is raised by the mostly honestly and sincere Consort Jin, Princess Longyue shows traces of her biological mother's craftiness and wit at a very young age.
* JadeColoredGlasses: Shen Meizhuang and Zhen Huan, most notably. An Lingrong also becomes very cynical as the series progress [[spoiler: which Zhen Huan points out in their final conversation. ]]

** Zigzagged with Shen Meizhuang
* LawOfInverseFertility: Almost everyone in the Inner Palace wants a child because a child is the surest way to guarantee their future, but pregnancies are rare and carrying a child to term and giving birth successful is even rarer. However, that's not that surprising considering what these ladies do to each other.
* TheLegendOfX
* LightIsNotGood: Quite a literal and symbolic example as when Zhen Huan returns to the Palace she is given the title Xi Fei meaning Light at the same time she has lost most of her innocence and [[spoiler: surrendered her chance of a happy future with the man she actually loves. ]]

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Oh dear yes. the story involves close to two dozen concubines, important characters have between one to three servants who are flushed out,and a lot of nobles and politicians come and go.
* LoveMartyr: Even after all Consort Duan has suffered[[spoiler: for helping the Emperor aborting Consort Hua's baby]] she still hold no ill will to toward the Emperor. After his death, she is so heartbroken that she fell ill. For all her wrongdoings,

* MeaningfulName: titles the Emperor give to his concubines have special meanings.
** The Emperor claims that Zhen Huan's first title "wan" refers her smile. [[spoiler: It turns out to be his nickname for the late Empress Chunyuan (see ReplacementGoldfish below.) Zhen Huan is horrified when the Emperor offered to bestow the name "wan" on her younger sister, indicating that he wishes to marry her too.]]
** An Lingrong's "li" is a kind of bird, referring to her singing abilities. [[spoiler: however, her vocal chords are long ruined by the time she is given this title, which is one of the reaons An Lingrong finds it especially jarring.]]
* MotherMakesYouKing: the eventual outcome of Hongli's "adoption" by a consort backed by a powerful family name
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Quite a few of the concubines try to undermine or overthrow Zhen Huan but ultimately she only becomes more beloved and desired by the emperor as a result. Some particular offenders are Promise Yu, Consort Hua [[spoiler: and eventually the empress.]]
* OneSteveLimit: Consort Qi (Qi Fei) and Concubine Qi (Qi Guiren), but it's not the same word/character in Chinese.
* {{Polyamory}}: A common practice in ancient China. It's nothing special about the emperor of China to have hundreds of wives in his palace.
* [[spoiler: ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: Zhen Huan, but]] the process happens to a lot of the characters over the series.
* PrematurelyGreyHaired: Zhen Huan starts finding grey hairs at the age of twenty seven. Hardly surprising considering all she's been through at that point.
* PurpleProse: every single line of every single conversation, but it works with the setting of the Imperial Harem.
* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler: Zhen Huan to Empress Chunyuan.]] Sent her into HeroicBSOD when she found out.

* SherlockScan: Several characters come up with evidence for their assumptions this way. Luckily it is usually the case that such details can be interpreted in different ways depending on what story is told to explain them.

* SilentScapegoat: Consort Duan

* SleepsWithEveryoneButYou: A very interesting variation in the setting of an imperial Harem. All the women want attention from the Emperor, and genunely fears falling into this trope for one reason or another.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The Chinese character for "huan" in the titular character's name has multiple pronunciations, and according to origin of her name in-universe (it is drawn from a poem), it should actually be pronounced "xuan." Implication: this TV show misled a good portion of China to read this character improperly.
* SpoiledBrat: Implied with Concubine Qi (Qi Pin), because she shows traces of this even towards the Emperor. The Emperor lets her get away with it up to a point because he thinks it is cute.

* StarCrossedLovers: Several concubines have shown to be much better suited to other men at court than the Emperor.
* TheScapegoat: Consort Qi (Qi Fei), Concubine Qi (Qi Pin), and An Lingrong [[spoiler: for various schemes the Empress came up with that had gone awry.]]
* TooDumbToLive: To be fair, they only appear dumb because there are too many [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] floating around, and they only die because it was ancient China and it only takes one word from the Emperor to kill them.
** played straight with Qi Pin, who keeps bothering Zhen Huan even though Zhen Huan out maneuvers her time again and clearly has a better grasp of the Emperor's favor than she does.
* [[WouldHitAGirl Would Execute a Girl]]: The Emperor
* YouNeverDidThatForMe: A lot of the concubines feel this way about what the Emperor does for Zhen Huan (or anyone the Emperor happens to favour), but Consort Hua is most vocal about it, at least to her servants.
* YourCheatingHeart: Zhen Huan's and Yurao's father.[[spoiler: Also, Shen Meizhuang]]

* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: When Zhen is still quite new to palace life, she wamts to go for a walk on her own, and threatens her maids that anyone who triesto follow her will have to kneel outside on the ground which is covered in snow, looking mighty pleased with herself. In a place where the penalty for minir infractions is flogging, it qualifies as this.

* SherlockScan: Several characters come up with evidence for their assumptions this way. The SavingThrow is usually that such details can be interpreted in different ways depending on what story is told to explain them.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Subverted. The Emperor can have any women he wants, so he callously abandons any woman who become too cold toward him.

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Fuca Guiren's miscarriage. Subverted with Zhen Huan's final miscarriage. Also Lady Chun[[spoiler:'s murder]]

** The Emperor claims that Zhen Huan's first title "wan" refers her smile. [[spoiler: It turns out to be his nickname for the late Empress Chunyuan (see [[ReplacementGoldfish Replacement Goldfish ]]below.) Zhen Huan is horrified when the Emperor offered to bestow the name "wan" on her younger sister, indicating that he wishes to marry her too.]]

* CostumePorn
* DeadlyDecadentCourt

* DeliveryGuy: played straight, since all imperial physicians are male. No men are allowed in the room during delivery, but they give instructions to maids.

* DeathByChildbirth: Subverted.[[spoiler: Shen Meizhuang and Empress Chunyuan]] both dies of childbirth, but in both cases the delivery or pregnancy has been sabotaged to harm them. In the case of [[spoiler: Meng Jinxian]], she is poisoned and is going to die within hours anyways, so the physicians induced labour and she managed to deliver a child right before dying.

The upcoming drama series ''Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace'' is the official sequel to the Legend of Zhen Huan with the actress Vivian Wu playing as Empress Dowager Niuhuru, the older Zhen Huan.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: It took tiny Lady Nian about three running steps to gain the momentum [[spoiler:to crush her own skull and die instantly]].

* BewareTheNiceOnes
* BewareTheQuietOnes

* RoyalHarem

* CounterpartComparison: The character of Zhen Huan is based on a number of influential women in Chinese history, notably Wu Zetian. This explained a lot of her character and storyline.
** Zhen Huan's distaste of cats is likely a reference to a rumor about Wu Zetian's fear towards cats.
** [[spoiler: Zhen Huan killing her unborn child to blame the Empress. Sounds familiar?]]
** Wu Zetian was sent to Buddhist nunnery after the death of the late Emperor and her affair with his son. This is quite resembling when Zhen Huan's fall from the Emperor's grace and her romantic relationship with the Emperor's brother.

* EvilCripple: the Princess of Glory has a retainer with a pronounced limp - the only regular character with a noticeable physical disability. He's also the one whom she sends to assassinate people, and he plays up his sinister role with great aplomb.