Line #7 Fanfic/FarceOfTheThreeKingdoms


1	[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/caocaoposter1_7.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:305:Artist's impression.]]
3
4	->''"This is a serious work of literature!"''
5	-->-- '''Li Ru'''
6
7	''[[https://saxodramaticus.wordpress.com/farce-of-the-three-kingdoms/ Farce of the Three Kingdoms]]'' is a satirical AlternativeCharacterInterpretation of ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', found on ''Website/SaxoDramaticus.'' Aside from gags, none of the major (or even minor) events are changed, and it usually follows the original almost line by line. Except...
8
9	Everybody is completely insane.
10
11	No, ''more'' than the original.
12
13	Cao Cao is poised to take over the country. He's brilliant, determined, and a phenomenal leader; he just has one little problem. He's the villain. And the ever-present thorn in his side is TheHero, Liu Bei. He might be a cowardly, lying, narcissistic jerk, but he's still the hero...
14
15	----
16	!!''Farce of the Three Kingdoms'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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18	* AbortedArc: Lampshaded with Guan Yu's backstory in chapter 1, even if in-story it's not ''quite'' the case...
19	* AccentSlipUp: Sima Yan sometimes slips into his father's BlackSpeech when he's upset.
20	* AccidentalTruth: Zhuge Liang spins a completely implausible story that Cao Cao's motivation for invading the South is his obsession with the Qiao sisters. It ''isn't'', but Cao Cao turns out to be rather creepily obsessed with them.
21	* AChildShallLeadThem: Emperor Bian is enthroned at the age of thirteen. Not that he's actually got power...
22	** Said emperor is then deposed and his even younger brother is put on the throne. Deconstructed, given that the new emperor is, well, eight, and is right-out stated to not really be in power.
23	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: After his initial shock, Cao Cao finds Chen Lin's anti-Cao Cao propaganda hilarious.
24	* AdaptationalDumbass: Xu Shu. In the original, he's portrayed as second only to Zhuge Liang in intelligence. In Farce of the Three Kingdoms... not so much.
25	* AdaptationalVillainy: Without changing any actual actions, only the motivations behind them. Shu is made up of power-hungry hypocrites, dupes, and [[TokenGoodTeammate Zhao Yun]].
26	* AffectionateParody
27	* {{Anticlimax}}: Most of the cliffhangers end this way.
28	* AnachronismStew: Due to RuleOfFunny being in force. Website/YouTube apparently exists, as do email, cars, Linked In, job fairs, startups, resumes, microwaves, and superpowers. However, these never actually affect the plot.
29	%%* AnimalMecha: The robot cows]
30	* AnnoyingArrows: Zhuge Ke goes through most of Chapter 108 with an arrow sticking out of his ''head.'' He's only able to do this because he makes a deal with one of the death scene judges, though, and under other circumstances arrows are fairly deadly.
31	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: The book opens with horrible omens from heaven: namely, a giant snake monster, earthquakes, and transgender chickens. Naturally, [[ValuesDissonance the court finds the last one most concerning.]]
32	** He Jin poisons Empress Dong...and then doesn't attend her funeral. Rude.
33	* AssInAmbassador: Mi Heng, of course, but Zhuge Liang as well. Chapter 43 is titled "In which Zhuge Liang puts the “Ass” in “Ambassador."
34	** This strategy backfires spectacularly on Zhang Song, who's shocked that it didn't work.
35	* AssholeVictim: Guan Yu's pre-story victim "was a dick".
36	* AsYouKnow: Lady Wu (Sr.) gets a truly egregious one.
37	-->'''Lady Wu:''' You know how your father married both me and my sister, so your stepmother is also your aunt and it’s really awkward?
38	-->'''Sun Quan:''' Of course I know, I’ve lived with you guys my entire life.
39	-->'''Lady Wu:''' Shhh, son. It’s exposition.
40	* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Cao Cao, who can't seem to focus on one target at a time and needs to be constantly reminded by his advisors.
41	* BadassBoast: Common, but they usually aren't very accurate.
42	--> '''Cao Cao:''' Bad? I’m the baddest dude around. My enemies scatter in front of me like rats. I mow them down like weeds. Come, see, conquer is my order of business. All who oppose me perish. Understand?
43	--> '''Zhang Song:''' [[ArmorPiercingResponse That’s why there are so many YouTube compilations of your ''Yakety Sax'' scenes.]]
44	* BadBadActing: Diao Chan, not that either Lu Bu or Dong Zhuo notice.
45	* BadBoss: Yuan Shao, who changes his mind every two seconds and is prone to executing people on a whim.
46	** Dong Zhuo.
47	** Lu Bu, who kills a ''lot'' of underlings.
48	** Zhuge Liang is (usually) a decent DragonInChief to Liu Bei and Liu Shan, but to his ''underlings'' on the other hand...
49	* [[BatheHerAndBringHerToMe Bathe Him And Bring Him To Me]]: Cao Cao loves this, although he never does more than look.
50	* BattleStrip: Xu Chu does this. In ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', it's to intimidate Ma Chao. Here, it's so he can put his [[NaughtyTentacles Naughty Tentacle]] to combat use.
51	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Zhuge Ke wants to finish his war, get a more dramatic death scene, and have some memorable last words. Since the Third Judge is a JackassGenie, he loses the war, gets an absurdly long-drawn and over-the-top death scene, and his last words are [[spoiler: ''Why am I in a frog’s body? Why am I in a maid outfit?"]]
52	* BerserkButton: Eventually, calling Liu Bei the hero becomes this for Cao Cao.
53	** Many battles and sieges reach a deadlock until one side finds the opposing general's BerserkButton. These range from childish (mooning) to understandable (telling [[ActionGirl Lady Zhurong]] to make you a sandwich) to bizarre (watching wrestling in the presence of Zhang He.)
54	* BetterThanABareBulb: The narration lampshades a ''ton'' of stuff.
55	* BlackComedy
56	* BloodKnight: Jiang Wei. He doesn't seem to understand the meaning of caution, patience, or peace.
57	* BreadEggsMilkSquick: Chapter 91. To calm down some spirits, you have to sacrifice a black ox, a white goat...and a few humans. No biggie.
58	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Everyone knows perfectly well they're in a book. They will occasionally address the narrator (and he also may step in when things are getting too silly.) At one point, the characters even ''pull out the book'' to work out a ContinuitySnarl. [[spoiler: They decide to ignore it and [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain pretend it never happened.]]]]
59	* BrickJoke: Guan Yu is introduced fleeing a murder charge, which no one seems to care about at all. Then, in Chapter 77, Transverse-Peace holds Guan Yu[[spoiler:'s ghost]] accountable for the murder of a large number of generals, as well as "that guy at the beginning no one ever talks about."
60	** The [[spoiler: transgender chickens]] reappear [[BookEnds in the last chapter.]]
61	* BriefAccentImitation: Jia Chong somehow manages to do this to [[EldritchAbomination Sima Zhao.]]
62	--> '''Sima Zhao:''' [[BlackSpeech N̉ͤ̈͆a͇͉͛ͮ͐͑͗̌̋̂̄̍͋h͇̬̲̼̀ ̨̙͉̣̘̤͕̂̾̎.]]
63	--> '''Jia Chong:''' What do you mean, N̉ͤ̈͆a͇͉͛ͮ͐͑͗̌̋̂̄̍͋h͇̬̲̼̀ ̨̙͉̣̘̤͕̂̾̎?
64	* BringMyBrownPants: Often.
65	* TheBusCameBack: Sun Ce, in chapter 15.
66	* BusCrash: Near the end of the novel many characters start dying unceremoniously offscreen. People will only find out when they make a plan involving them or wondering where they are, only for them to be notified that they died somewhere during the novel.
67	* ButtMonkey: Lu Su.
68	* CaptainOblivious: Liu Biao persists in believing that Liu Bei is a good person, despite his wife's pointing out all of Liu Bei's misdeeds and suspicious behaviour. Liu Zhang is even worse.
69	* CardCarryingVillain: Everyone is well aware who the villain is, including Cao Cao himself. He sometimes chafes against this.
70	* CassandraTruth: Everyone who tells Liu Zhang not to trust Liu Bei. In Liu Zhang's defense, they tell him while doing the worm, biting his clothes, and jumping off the city walls.
71	--> '''Liu Zhang:''' These anti-Liu Bei guys are making the worst possible case for themselves.
72	* CatFight: Empress He and Empress Dong.
73	* ChainmailBikini: ''[[FanDisservice Huang Gai.]]''
74	* ChewbaccaDefense: Zhuge Liang's main debate tactic against the scholars of the South. He leaves them stunned into silence, not because he debated circles round them, but because there is no useful response to "You’re just a regular bird, so you can’t possibly understand dignified, majestic cranes like us."
75	* ChildhoodBrainDamage: In the original, Liu Bei throws his infant son aside after Zhao Yun risks his life to retrieve the baby. It ''may'' be a coincidence that Liu Shan grows up to be known for his lack of intelligence, but not in this version.
76	* CliffhangerCopout: Most of the cliffhangers are anticlimactic, but some of them are downright absurd.
77	* ClusterFBomb: Jiang Wei drops one when he realizes that he just sent a known traitor to cut off his own retreat. Sima Zhao gets another due to sheer frustration at the existence of Shu.
78	* ComedicSociopathy: Frequently.
79	* ConfucianConfusion: Inevitable.
80	--> '''Liu Bei:''' Confucius says, "Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening."
81	* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Invoked when Zhao Yun stands alone against several thousand of Cao Cao's redshirts. [[GenreSavvy They work out]] that he wouldn't dare do so unless he was a main character, and thus, they're screwed.
82	* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Cao Hong.
83	* CutAndPasteNote: One is made from letters written by Xu Shu’s mother to deceive Xu Shu into leaving Liu Bei for Cao Cao.
84	* DastardlyWhiplash: Sima Yi.
85	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Lampshaded frequently.
86	-->'''Villager:''' Can we have Liu Bei back? He was a great mayor.\
87	'''Cao Cao:''' You realize the guy eats people, right?
88	* DeusExMachina: Usually delivered by random old men. Cao Cao apparently has a subscription with Deus Ex Machina Services, Inc.
89	* DidntThinkThisThrough: Jiang Wei's plan to capture his [[FoeRomanceSubtext archenemy]] Deng Ai requires him to give a known double agent command of Shu's supply line and place said double agent between the main army and their home base. This ends exactly well as one would expect.
90	* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Characters (Cao Cao in particular) will often get quite mouthy with the narrator.
91	* DisposableWoman: [[RunningGag It's the third century, after all.]] Zhao Yun is nice enough to try to avert this, but Lady Mi insists.
92	* TheDitz: Cao Hong.
93	* DoNotCallMePaul: After his coronation as "First Emperor", Liu Bei tries to enforce his name taboo for a while. No one pays the slightest attention.
94	* DoubleEntendre: There are several involving Dong Zhuo being, well, a dong.
95	** The narrator eventually told them to knock it off.
96	* DragonInChief: A typical route to power. Cao Cao is this to Liu Xie, and Zhuge Liang is to Liu Shan and Liu Bei. This is mainly due to GenreSavvy - characters who take the throne end up in hot water.
97	* DramaticDrop: Liu Bei, when Cao Cao calls him a hero.
98	--> '''Liu Bei:''' [[BlatantLies Don't worry, I was really smooth about it.]]
99	* DramaticThunder: At one point, Cao Cao attempts to make a villainous speech from a mountaintop over the field of battle. The thunder interrupts him so much that he gives up in frustration.
100	* TheDreaded: In the Southlands, Lady Wu.
101	* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Well, dropped a stone on him in Sun Jian's case. It's even lampshaded.
102	* DumbMuscle: Lu Bu, who at one point leads a horse into a living room while taking Dong Zhuo's order seriously.
103	* EasilyForgiven: Cao Cao lets Guan Yu off after killing several of his employees, because he likes him. Their former coworkers do not take this well.
104	* EatingTheEyeCandy: Cao Cao is prone to this.
105	* EldritchAbomination: Sima Zhao appears to be one. As usual, no one finds this particularly strange.
106	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Lampshaded for Cao Cao in Chapter 4.
107	--> '''Cao Cao:''' Hang on, I feel an iconic, character-defining quote coming on...Better I betray the world than the world betray me!
108	* EunuchsAreEvil: The other characters all agree on this, and blame them for the downfall of the Han empire. However, they mostly come across as [[HarmlessVillain Harmless Villains]] unless you're He Jin, and are easily dealt with in the first few chapters.
109	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Pretty much everyone. Cao Cao is very close to several of his people, most notably Dian Wei and Guo Jia. He also [[PetTheDog insists on leaving legacies to his concubines,]] [[ValuesResonance despite it being the third century.]] Liu Bei genuinely cares for his brothers, Zhao Yun, and Zhuge Liang. Even Dong Zhuo loved his mother and Diao Chan.
110	* EveryoneHasStandards: Zhuge Liang crosses many, many lines in his campaign against the Mang, but he balks at {{Blackface}}.
111	** Even the death scene judges are disgusted with Liu Chen's PaterFamilicide.
112	* EvilIsPetty: The narrator describes Cao Cao as such, for executing Yang Xiu. Cao Cao disagrees, arguing that he did it for completely logical (albeit evil) reasons. One of those reasons ''is'' [[ImmediateSelfContradiction stealing Cao Cao's lunch]], but the rest are more valid.
113	* EvilOverlordList: Guo Jia made Cao Cao read it.
114	* EyeBeams: Xu Chu has them. Ma Chao complains that this is out of genre.
115	* EyeScream: Sima Shi's eye becomes infected after he has his tumour removed. Eventually it causes his head to [[YourHeadAsplode explode]].
116	* FelonyMisdemeanor: The deposed Emperor Biao is murdered for...writing mildly emo poetry.
117	** Liu Zhang murdered Zhang Lu's mother and brother because he was annoyed that Zhang Lu's mail kept getting misdelivered to him.
118	* FlatEarthAtheist: Cao Cao denies believing in the supernatural, despite encountering it numerous times.
119	--> '''Sima Yi:''' "You don’t remember Chapter 68?"
120	--> '''Cao Cao:''' "I refuse to acknowledge Chapter 68."
121	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Constantly. Also constantly lampshaded.
122	* FoeRomanceSubtext: Jiang Wei and Deng Ai.
123	* ForgotICouldFly: When Sima Zhao and his army are trapped without water, Sima Zhao completely forgets that he's an EldritchAbomination with vaguely-defined powers - but one of his officers points this out to him, and he produces water very easily.
124	* FrequentlyBrokenUnbreakableVow: Liu Bei and co. never intended to keep their promise to give Jingzhou back to Sun Quan, and every time they are asked to, they move the goalposts.
125	* FullFrontalAssault: Xu Chu on occasion, for good reason - his GagPenis can be used as a ''weapon.''
126	* FunWithHomophones: When Xu Shu[[note]]His name is generally pronounced as something akin to “Shoe Shoe”.[[/note]] pisses off Zhuge Liang, the latter tells him to shoo.
127	* GallowsHumor: The long-running Death Scene Competition.
128	* GenreBlind: Referenced during Cao Song's death, as he and his concubine unfortunately chose to hide in the bathroom, having never seen a horror movie.
129	* GeneralFailure: Jiang Wei is a frothing warmonger who runs Shu's economy into the ground with his endless failed campaigns against Wei. Most of them are either hopeless to begin with, or ruined by his incompetence.
130	* GenreSavvy: Liu Bei is TheHero, Cao Cao is the villain. Everybody knows this. And yet Cao Cao is still able to use this to his own advantage.
131	** All the characters know they are in a book, and therefore are able to anticipate genre conventions. Unless they're WrongGenreSavvy, like Lu Su or Li Ru.
132	* GlowingEyes: Ma Chao's eyes glow different colors depending on his emotional state.
133	* GoneHorriblyRight: In Chapter 99. Sima Yi points out that taking over two cities in a day requires a lot of administrative and logistical work, and banks on Zhuge Liang being busy with this. Zhuge Liang, however, considers himself above boring work, so he's ready for the attack.
134	* GrandeDame: Lady Wu. Lady Sun takes after her.
135	* GratuitousForeignLanguage: You know what language you wouldn’t expect in a Chinese story told in English? French. And yet phrases show up anyway.
136	* GrayAndGrayMorality: Neither the "hero" nor the "villain" are particularly nice people, and the villain is arguably a better person.
137	* GroinAttack: Zhang Liao dies of one.
138	--> '''Zhang Liao:''' "I can't live without it."
139	* HairTriggerTemper: Zhang Fei, who is often told to calm his tits.
140	* HalfHumanHybrid: Sima Yan and Sima You are half human and half... Sima Zhao. Possibly Sima Zhao himself, given that he's supposedly Sima Yi's son.
141	* HaveAGayOldTime: Very occasionally, verbatim quotes from the 1925 Brewitt-Taylor translation are used, usually for this reason.
142	--> '''Xu Shu, to Liu Bei:''' "Unhappily I have to break our intercourse in the middle."
143	* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: The entire cast is constantly switching sides, betraying each other, deciding one is a dick and they'd rather not be allies, etc.
144	* HereWeGoAgain: Implied by the ending. [[note]]Historically, the Sima princes were duking it out over the throne within a few years.[[/note]]
145	* HistoricalInJoke: The [[NoodleIncident offscreen]] events of ''[[ShowWithinAShow Real Concubines of Wu]]'' are real. That includes Sun Quan piling up dirt in front of Zhang Zhao's front door.
146	* HollywoodTactics: Ma Su camps on a hill with no water supply and allows himself to be surrounded because that's what he's read in books. It ends poorly.
147	* HonorBeforeReason: Xu Shu's reason for staying with Cao Cao. No one else can work out how that makes any sense.
148	* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Lu Su, who persists in believing that Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are honourable people long after everyone else in the South catches onto them.
149	** Liu Zhang is catastrophically bad at spotting traitors and liars.
150	* HotSkittyOnWailordAction: Sima Zhao marries a normal human woman.
151	* HumanMail: Zhong Hui does this to Zhuge Xu, mostly to annoy Deng Ai.
152	* HypercompetentSidekick: Dian Wei to Cao Cao, at least on the battlefield. He saves him a LOT.
153	* {{Hypocrite}}: Everyone, at one point or another - but even in this cast, Shu manages to make it their Hat.
154	* IdiotBall: Chapter 14 is titled: "In which Zhang Fei catches the Idiot Ball."
155	* IfMyCalculationsAreCorrect: Zhuge Liang gets out a calculator to figure out if he can make forty-nine human sacrifices and stay on the right side of the MoralEventHorizon. He can't.
156	* IgnoredEpiphany: Guan Yu has one [[spoiler: after his death]], when Transverse-Peace points out that he had just as much blood on his hands as Lu Meng. Guan Yu is chastened... and then proceeds to commit a couple more murders anyway.
157	* IllBeInMyBunk: Zhuge Liang has this reaction to Jiang Wei ''attempting to set him on fire.''
158	* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: Several weapons break the laws of physics and/or common sense but are still incredibly lethal.
159	* InsufferableGenius: Zhuge Liang. Even on his own side, no one actually likes him except Liu Bei.
160	* InternalRetcon: Zhuge Liang offhandedly declares that the duel between Zhang He and Zhang Fei in Chapter 70 was a legendary duel for the ages. The redshirts, who were there, point out that it was actually a drunken brawl where no one got hurt except a scarecrow, but Zhuge Liang overrules them.
161	* InterspeciesRomance: [[EldritchAbomination Sima Zhao]] and his wife Lady Wang, a normal human. Possibly Sima Yi and his wife, as Sima Yi, the father of the aforementioned Sima Zhao, is a normal human.
162	* InWhichATropeIsDescribed: All of the chapter titles use this format, though how much of the chapter they actually describe varies.
163	* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: Sun Chen calls Sun Liang "evil, weak, stupid, and a pervert," upon which Huan Yi indignantly defends his Emperor, insisting that he's not ''stupid.''
164	* JackassGenie: The third death scene judge turns out to be one.
165	* {{Jerkass}}: Zhuge Liang, in spades.
166	* JokeItem: The flying fork.
167	* KarmaHoudini: Guan Yu completely gets away with murdering six TSA agents (not to mention the murder charge he is fleeing at the very beginning.)
168	* KilledOffscreen: Too many characters to count, even very important ones like [[spoiler: Lu Su]] and [[spoiler: Zhao Yun]].
169	* KillItWithFire: Zhuge Liang's main strategy.
170	* LamePunReaction: Guan Yu randomly starts making dad jokes in Chapter 74, much to Guan Ping's annoyance.
171	* LastDisrespects: Zhuge Liang shows up at Zhou Yu's funeral in order to deliver an astoundingly backhanded eulogy. Lu Su manages to keep the peace, though.
172	* LeeroyJenkins: On Liu Bei's side, Zhang Fei. On Cao Cao's side, Cao Hong. He even shouts "Leeeeroy Jenkins!" at one point.
173	** Jiang Wei manages to put both of them to shame.
174	* {{Leitmotif}}: Cao Cao's is ''Yakety Sax.'' Liu Bei gets suspicious at one point because he doesn't hear it when Cao Cao is supposedly around.
175	* LemonyNarrator: Downplayed. The narrator is quite snarky and often lampshades things.
176	* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: [[spoiler: Cao Ren and Zhang Fei's solution to the CliffhangerCopout of Chapter 41.]] Cao Cao also refuses to talk about Chapter 68.
177	* LongLastingLastWords: Cao Cao takes so long setting his affairs in order on his deathbed that the narrator eventually steps in and makes him get on with it.
178	* LongLived: Liao Hua. He first shows up (as an adult) in Chapter 27 and lasts until Chapter 119, long after all of his peers in Liu Bei's old guard are dead and Liu Shan (unborn in Chapter 27) is a grandfather. By the later chapters, other characters are often shocked that he's still alive, and Jia Chong refuses to execute him in the hopes that he'll set a record.
179	* LoveAtFirstPunch: Sun Ce and Taishi Ci.
180	* LoveAtFirstSight: Sun Quan and Lu Su.
181	* LudicrousPrecision: Guan Yu knows exactly how many hairs there are in his beard.
182	* MacGuffin: The Imperial Hereditary Seal. Sun Ce openly refers to it as a PlotDevice, and everyone treats it as though it is important, although it really doesn't bestow anything. Later [[spoiler: the narrator]] steals it from Cao Cao's effects in order to use it to legitimize Liu Bei.
183	* {{Magitek}}: Guan Lu has a MagicalComputer, which makes his prophecies unusually clear and reliable. Even [[FlatEarthAtheist Cao Cao]] is impressed.
184	* MamasBoy: Sun Quan is very much his Aunt Stepmom's Boy.
185	* MediumAwareness: The characters typically refer to events by chapter.
186	** Deng Ai complains about how difficult it is to read Sima Zhao's writing.
187	* MoodSwinger: Liu Bei, who responds to most situations by crying. Eventually Zhuge Liang gives up on changing this, and instead focuses on using Liu Bei's crocodile tears to manipulate people.
188	* MushroomSamba: Lu Xun has one briefly after stumbling into [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Zhuge Liang's hotbox megalith.]]
189	* MusicalEpisode: Chapter 37. Everybody finds this rather irritating.
190	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Cao Cao has a moment like this after [[spoiler: Big Xun commits suicide after his nudging.]]
191	** Liu Bei also appears to react like this after [[spoiler: executing Liu Feng,]] but he refuses to admit it.
192	* NaughtyTentacles: Xu Chu has exactly [[GagPenis one]]. He only uses it for [[MundaneUtility completely practical things]].
193	* NiceGuy: Lu Su. The heroes take full advantage of this.
194	* NoFourthWall: Characters will frequently refer to events by chapter, and the narrator occasionally steps into the action.
195	* NoNameGiven: To minor characters. Thankfully.
196	* NoodleIncident: Whatever happened in Wu during the ten year TimeSkip. It involved the heir to the throne changing twice, the Empress being mysteriously murdered, and an EscalatingPrankWar between Sun Quan and Zhang Zhao that got all the way up to ''arson.'' It was apparently a popular TV drama in Wei, but we never get to see it, because the narrator didn't care.
197	* NoticeThis: The Imperial Hereditary Seal glows, which causes everyone to instantly realize that it's an important MacGuffin.
198	* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer: A quick “yes” is added in brackets after the mention of a rebel leader named [[Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse He Man]].
199	** ''Chapter 102. In which Zhuge Liang builds an army of robot cows (yes, really.)''
200	* NotSoAboveItAll: Zhang Zhao may be the dignified elder statesman of Wu, but he got completely wasted at at least one office New Years party. The narrator has photographic evidence.
201	* ObviouslyEvil: Dong Zhuo, whose attempt to hire Cai Yong as good PR does nothing for him.
202	** The Sima family are basically cartoon villains.
203	* OffingTheOffspring: Liu Bei throws his biological son on the ground regardless of the fact that that could easily kill an infant, and later executes his adopted son. Later in the book, his grandson Liu Chen [[PaterFamilicide takes after him.]]
204	* OffWithHisHead: He Jin ''and'' Ding Yuan in the same chapter.
205	** Frankly, it's a pretty common thing.
206	* OminousForeshadowing: Generally lampshaded. Characters who foreshadow their own defeat or death generally receive facepalms and comments about their idiocy. In Chapter 91, Zhao Yun actually gets his way by threatening to foreshadow defeat for Shu.
207	* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: Cai Yong is forever remembered as [[ItMakesSenseInContext "the transgender chicken guy."]]
208	* OneSteveLimit: Cao Cao is understandably confused by Xun Yu and Xun You, so he dubs them "Big Xun" and "Little Xun."
209	* OnlySaneMan
210	** Zhou Yu is the only person to really reject the "Hero and Villain" idea, although he isn't exactly sane either.
211	** Lu Su is probably the only really well-adjusted character. And among the Big Three, Sun Quan is far saner than Cao Cao or Liu Bei.
212	** Kong Rong has shades of this as well.
213	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Parodied. Cao Cao's courtiers know something's wrong when they see him panic and drop a pen. They've seen him panic and overreact countless times - but they've never ''specifically'' seen him drop a pen before.
214	* OrgasmicCombat: Sun Ce and Taishi Ci's fistfight is filled with innuendo. [[spoiler: It's heavily implied that they bang for real when Taishi Ci surrenders.]]
215	* PalsWithJesus: Zhuge Liang appears to be pals with ''the narrator.''
216	* PassThePopcorn: A common reaction to epic duels.
217	* PaterFamilicide: Liu Chen kills his entire family as a political statement. Given the [[BlackComedy death scene competition,]] they're all quite enthusiastic about it. However, it proves to be too much even for the [[EveryoneHasStandards death scene judges.]]
218	* PlotHole: Minor character Zhu Bao falls into one in Chapter 87.
219	* PointyHairedBoss: Both the Yuans. At one point, Shao dismisses a plan for being "too sensible."
220	* PoisonIsCorrosive: Much to the shock of the doctor who prepared it.
221	-->'''Ji Ping:''' I have a degree in chemistry. That makes no sense.
222	-->'''Cao Cao:''' Sorry, this book runs on the laws of drama, not physics.
223	* ThePollyanna: Lu Su.
224	* PortentofDoom: The transgender chickens.
225	* PrettyPrincessPowerhouse: Lady Sun, although her sharpest weapon is her tongue.
226	* PrettySpryForADeadGuy: Zhuge Liang leaves behind several body doubles to scare his enemies. Deng Ai is unperturbed.
227	-->'''Deng Ai:''' So what if he’s alive? Or a ghost, or a zombie, or a sexy vampire for all I care.
228	* PronouncingMyNameForYou: Cao Cao snaps "It's pronounced Tsow Tsow" at Mi Heng, who likely pronounced it Cow Cow.
229	* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Lampshaded.
230	* {{Psychopomp}}: The death scene judges.
231	* PunnyTitle: ''Chapter 3. In which the court loses the eunuch problem and gains a massive [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike Dong]] problem.''
232	* PutOnABus: Sun Ce in chapter 7, who disappears from the narrative for a while.
233	* PyroManiac: Zhuge Liang. He likes to burn things.
234	* RaceLift: The result of the Black Spring, although we never see it do its work.
235	* RandomlyGifted: A few characters, notably Sun Qian and Xu Chu, have superpowers for no apparent reason.
236	* RealJokeName: Everyone mocks the poor souls whose names look silly transliterated into English. He Man is well-known, but there are also He He, Lady Wang, and Dong Tuna. No one believes Quin Quington's name is even real.
237	* RedOniBlueOni: Jiang Wei and Xiahou Ba, respectively.
238	* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder: Jiang Wei tries "What did Zhuge Liang ever do to you?" on Wei Yan, who curtly points out that Zhuge Liang had sent him into a minefield only two chapters prior.
239	* RunningGag:
240	** Sun Qian teleports:
241	--->'''Everyone who sees him:''' Gah!
242	** "Liu Bei burst into tears."
243	** "It's the third century."
244	** "Zhang Fei, ''calm your tits.''"
245	** Anticlimactic responses to cliffhangers. This is even lampshaded in chapter 4 as a forthcoming running gag.
246	** Every time minor characters bite the dust onscreen, three judges show up to give them scores. They are aware that this happens and often try to one-up each other,
247	* SameSurnameMeansRelated: Liu Bei claims this, usually when it's convenient for him. This doesn't stop him from backstabbing other Lius, it only keeps him from attacking them openly. Most of the time.
248	* SarcasmMode: The title of Chapter 90: ''In Which Zhuge Liang wins hearts and minds.''
249	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Chen Gong ditching Cao Cao in Chapter 4.
250	* SelfMadeOrphan: Lu Bu. More than once.
251	* ShakingHerHairLoose: Except with Guan Yu's beard.
252	* ShamefulStrip: Cao Cao ''loves'' these.
253	* ShoutOut: Several to ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''.
254	** Cao Cao quotes the famous "[[Film/ThePrincessBride You killed my father. Prepare to die!]]" line, only to be told that it was low-hanging fruit.
255	** In Chapter 5, an advisor suggests leaving someone to "go all Film/ThreeHundred" on the enemy.
256	** Chapter 15 has one in which Sun Ce's cadre suggests calling him "Literature/TheLittlePrince". Why? Because clearly he's from another planet.
257	* ShownTheirWork: A lot of the gags, including the names that sound out of place like Quin Quington, lampshading the plot and the story, and even lampshading the War of the Eight Princes that happens shortly after the book.
258	* ShowWithinAShow: ''Real Concubines of Wu,'' which the Wei and Shu characters can watch, [[NoodleIncident but not us.]]
259	* SickeninglySweethearts: Sun Quan and Lu Su.
260	* SmallNameBigEgo: Jian Yong is quite bitter about his status as a minor character.
261	* SmugSnake: Zhuge Liang. Cao Cao has moments where he is like this, but it's Zhuge Liang's default.
262	* TheSociopath: Zhuge Liang. He doesn't give a damn about morality, only about winning. Liu Bei, at least, has some conscience.
263	* SophisticatedAsHell: ''"I, Sima Yi, Imperial Commander of the Flying Cavalry, Commander of the Forces of Xizhou and Xiliang, declare that Cao Rui sucks massive donkey balls!"''
264	* StalkerWithACrush: Liu Bei for Zhuge Liang. Also Zhou Cang for Guan Yu.
265	* StupidCrooks: It's a wonder any of the ill-fated conspiracies go unnoticed even as long as they do.
266	* StupidityInducingAttack: The Dumb Spring. [[note]]In the original, it makes you dumb as in ''mute''.[[/note]]
267	* SuicideAsComedy: Well, it's hard to take suicides seriously when the characters in question tend to get up and debate the judges about their score afterwards.
268	* TalkLikeAPirate: Gan Ning, of course.
269	* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Zhong Hui and Deng Ai.
270	* TemptingFate: Sun Jian really should have known better than to foreshadow his own death.
271	* ThatCameOutWrong: Zhuge Liang has a moment like this as he delivers his "eulogy" for Zhou Yu.
272	--> '''Zhuge Liang:''' I miss the grace of your manhood. Er, that came out wrong. You were married to a girl, and she was hot – I mean, you were a cute couple – you know what, I’ll quit while I’m ahead here.
273	* TheComicallySerious: Cao Ren, Wei's OnlySaneMan.
274	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Cao Cao delivers one to the narrator [[spoiler: on his deathbed.]]
275	* TokenGoodTeammate: Zhao Yun is the only genuinely nice person on Liu Bei's side.
276	* TooDumbToLive: Dong Zhuo interprets an escalating list of very clearly bad omens as signs that he will be crowned Emperor.
277	** Sun Ce misses all the hints that he should be nice to Yu Ji.
278	** Liu Zhang invites Liu Bei into his kingdom despite every indication that that is a ''horrible'' idea.
279	* {{Troll}}: Mi Heng (who sings the Trololo song) is the first and most memorable, but Zhuge Liang is nearly as good. He does troll Zhou Yu to death, after all.
280	* TwiceToldTale
281	* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Zhuge Liang weaponizes this with his manila envelopes, although several characters suspect he's just being dramatic.
282	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight
283	** The first chapter mentions Liu Bei's physical description in the novel, claiming he has shoulder length ears and eyes that can look behind those ears, and how nobody in the story ever comments on this.
284	** Zhang Fei has the same issue; he's also quite bizarre-looking.
285	** No one finds it at all odd that Sun Qian can teleport, although they may be startled.
286	** ''Averted'' when Ma Chao gets shot by Xu Chu's EyeBeams. He declares them, as well as Xu Chu's other, er, [[GagPenis superpower]] to be cheating, and backs out of the fight.
287	*** Note that Ma Chao himself [[HypocriticalHumour has glowing eyes.]]
288	** No one is particularly perturbed by [[EldritchAbomination Sima Zhao]]. They definitely notice that he's a monster, but for the most part just roll with it.
289	* UriahGambit: Heavily implied to be the case when [[BadBoss Zhuge Liang]] orders Wei Yan to lead Sima Yi into a minefield (without informing Wei Yan that it's a minefield). Both survive due to a freak rainstorm, and Wei Yan is not amused.
290	* VillainHasAPoint: Cao Cao's entire shtick.
291	** The Cais aren't very nice people, but their suspicion towards Liu Bei is entirely justified, and what they fear (his taking over) does in fact come to pass.
292	* VillainProtagonist: Either way you look at it. Liu Bei is clearly a hero InNameOnly, and while Cao Cao is much more likable (or at least, more entertaining), he is not remotely a good person.
293	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Cao Cao tries to be this. Liu Bei succeeds.
294	* VillainyDiscretionShot: Liu Bei has figured out how to do these.
295	--> '''Liu Bei:''' It doesn't count if it's offscreen.
296	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Cao Cao is just as ruthless in the original, and will sometimes use his status as the villain to justify his actions - but he's not ''wrong'' that the country would have been torn into pieces by civil war without him.
297	* WeWinBecauseYouDidnt: Every time Shu invades Wei, they win several battles but end up shooting themselves in the foot, usually in some very predictable way.
298	* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: Frequently, usually when the flaws of the plan are astoundingly obvious.
299	--> '''Advisor:''' “You know what you could do? You could not give him any food, call off his backup, and leave him to go all 300 on the enemy. We’re just holding a shaky alliance together against a ruthless common foe, what’s the worst that could happen?”
300	* WhatMeasureIsAMook: At one point, Xu Shu points out that no one seems to care about the lives of all the redshirts. Pang Tong responds: "That’s uncomfortably true, so I’ll ignore it."
301	* WhatTheHellHero: Parodied. Liu Bei isn't called out for his cannibalism, or abandoning his family, or dropping his baby son - but his friends scold him for [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking planting a garden in his backyard and making a silly hat]].
302	* WorldOfBadass: While everyone's competence may be in question, their badassery is ''not''.
303	* WorldOfHam: Starts where ''Romance'' leaves off and continues from there.
304	* WorldOfSnark: A large part of this parody is that many things are deconstructed as snarkily as possible.
305	* WritersCannotDoMath: While talking to Han Sui in Chapter 59, Cao Cao does the math and figures out that the ages of the Ma family make no sense whatsoever.
306	* WrongfullyAttributed: Confucius definitely didn't say any of the quotes attributed to him.
307	%%* YourHeadAsplode: How Sima Shi dies.
308	* YourMom: In chapter 3, He Jin refuses Cao Cao’s help while mentioning that his grandfather was a eunuch.
309	** This is also a standard battle tactic.
310	* ZanyScheme: Zhuge Liang's other main strategy besides KillItWithFire. They include building a replica of Stonehenge and hotboxing it, and performing an exorcism with tortellini.

Context Fanfic / FarceOfTheThreeKingdoms