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Main Characters
Gongsun Li
- Played by: Dilraba Dilmurat (adult), Huangyang Tian Tian (child)
Granddaughter of a military commander. Marries Ying Zheng to save Jing Ke's life.
- Action Girl: She's more than capable of defending herself, even while pregnant.
- Armor-Piercing Response: She begins to suspect Ying Zheng abducted Tian Ming. He says he wouldn't be so cruel. Gongsun Li retorts that he murdered his half-brothers in front of his mother.
- Damsel in Distress: Becomes one after she gets kidnapped.
- Destructive Romance: Her marriage to Ying Zheng starts with him threatening to kill her because she's pregnant with another man's child. It just goes downhill from there.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: She dies in Ying Zheng's arms.
- Driven to Suicide / Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: She attacks Ying Zheng after learning how he spied on and deceived her. It looks like she's about to stab him, but she stabs herself instead.
- Forced Miscarriage:
- When she's pregnant with Tian Ming, Ying Zheng attempts to force her to miscarry by making her fight a duel. He fails; she wins the duel and doesn't miscarry.
- During her second pregnancy Min Dai sends her a bowl of soup. It's actually a drug that causes her to miscarry.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: Ying Zheng puts her through hell when he discovers she's pregnant with Jing Ke's child. Forcing her to fight a duel, almost choking her, threatening to kill her and her unborn baby...
- One-Night-Stand Pregnancy: Gets pregnant after sleeping with Jing Ke once.
- Pregnant Badass: Wins a duel while pregnant.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Dresses as a man after her grandfather's death. It's an unconvincing disguise to say the least.
Ying Zheng
Ying Zheng/Qin Shi Huangdi
- Played by: Vin Zhang (adult), Dong Li Wu You (child)
King of Qin and first emperor of China.
- Anti-Hero: Starts out as one. Within the first ten episodes he dives headlong into being a Villain Protagonist.
- Catch the Conscience: He arranges for a song warning girls their lovers will use and abandon them to be sung during a banquet, just to make his biological parents uncomfortable.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: He was thirteen when he became king.
- Destructive Romance: His marriage to Gongsun Li starts with him threatening to kill her because she's pregnant with another man's child. It just goes downhill from there.
- Historical Beauty Upgrade: It's safe to say the real Ying Zheng looked nothing like Vin Zhang.
- Historical Domain Character: He's a young Qin Shi Huangdi.
- Ironic Echo: When he was a child, Lü Bu Wei told him to be content with his lot. Years later Ying Zheng tells Lü Bu Wei the exact same thing.
- Lonely at the Top: His birth father constantly tries to use and manipulate him, while his mother, grandmother, wife, and concubines are busy fighting among themselves. He outright says his half-brother Cheng Jiao is the only real family he has, and Cheng Jiao rebels when he learns the truth about Ying Zheng's parentage. By the end of the series he's even more alone than he was at the start, and he has no one to blame but himself.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Lü Bu Wei, not King Zhuang Xiang, is Ying Zheng's biological father.
- Marital Rape License: He storms into the room of one of his concubines and physically pulls her over to the bed.
- Patricide: He kills his biological father.
- Pillow Pistol: Sleeps with a sword beside him. It saves his life when Han Shen attempts to assassinate him.
- Tantrum Throwing: He throws objects around the room when Gongsun Li tells him she sent Tian Ming away.
- Would Hurt a Child: Orders the deaths of his illegitimate half-brothers, both of whom are children, just in case they might become a threat later. He also threatens to kill Gongsun Li's baby.
- Yandere: He'll do anything to make Gongsun Li love him. Anything. Even keep her prisoner in the palace.
Han Shen
- Played by: Li Tai
Gongsun Li's friend and her grandfather's senior disciple.
- All Love Is Unrequited: He's in love with Gongsun Li, but she sees him as just a friend.
Jing Ke
- Played by: Liu Chang (adult), Xu Wang Zi (child)
Gongsun Li's friend and her grandfather's second disciple.
- Historical Domain Character: He existed
, though it's safe to assume that he and Ying Zheng weren't in love with the same woman.
Ge Lan
- Played by: Zhang Xuan
Gongsun Li's and Jing Ke's friend.
- Action Girl: She's more than capable of defending themselves, sometimes without actual weapons.
- Improvised Weapon: Fights and defeats a group of men with whatever's within reach, including a bucket.
Qin Kingdom
Queen Dowager Zhao
- Played by: Chen Yi Sha
Ying Zheng's mother.
- Blatant Lies: Claims Lao Ai was only there to give her a massage, right after Ying Zheng walked in on her making out with Lao Ai.
- Historical Domain Character: She existed, she really did have an affair with Lao Ai, and Ying Zheng really did kill her two illegitimate children.
- Outliving One's Offspring: She outlives two of her sons because her other son has them killed.
- Sanity Slippage: Becomes increasingly unstable after the deaths of her lover and sons.
Lü Bu Wei
- Played by: Li Qiang
A politician and Ying Zheng's biological father.
- Evil Chancellor: He's more interested in gaining power for himself than helping Ying Zheng rule.
- Faking the Dead: Pretends to commit suicide after his banishment.
- Historical Domain Character: He existed, but he almost certainly wasn't Ying Zheng's father.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How he dies, courtesy of Ying Zheng.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Ying Zheng is his son.
Li Zhong
- Played by: Yang Tong
Captain of the palace guards.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The poor guy has the bad luck to get impaled twice. First Jing Ke stabs him, then Ying Zheng runs him through to stab Jing Ke.
Zhao Cheng Jiao
- Played by: Su You Chen
Ying Zheng's half-brother.
- Historical Domain Character: He existed, though very little is known about him.
Queen Dowager Hua Yang
- Played by: Liao Xue Qiu
Ying Zheng's grandmother.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: She helps make Gongsun Li's life miserable.
Lady Chu
- Played by: Wang Ting
One of Ying Zheng's concubines.
- Convenient Miscarriage: Played with. She realises her plan to fake a pregnancy isn't going to work, so she fakes a miscarriage to get out of trouble.
- Driven to Suicide: Kills herself after failing to save her homeland.
- Fake Pregnancy: After she's demoted she pretends to be pregnant in an attempt to regain her lost rank.
- Tantrum Throwing: Throws everything she can get her hands on, including a bowl of oranges, when she learns Gongsun Li has been given a higher rank.
Min Dai
- Played by: Qiu Yi Nong
One of Ying Zheng's concubines.
- Altar Diplomacy: Arranged her marriage to Ying Zheng so she can help her homeland.
- Driven to Suicide / Slashed Throat: She cuts her own throat after failing to save her homeland.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Steals Gongsun Li's dagger, stabs herself with it, then claims Gongsun Li attacked her.
Zhao Gao
- Played by: Zhang Gu
Ying Zheng's advisor.
- Eunuchs Are Evil: He's supposed to be Ying Zheng's advisor. He's actually plotting with Min Dai to protect Zhao, their shared homeland.
- Historical Domain Character: The real guy was just as bad as his fictional counterpart, and his actions helped destroy the Qin empire.
Li Si
- Played by: Zhao Ting Liang
A politician.
- Historical Domain Character: He existed, and he really was paranoid about anyone who could threaten him.
Yan Kingdom
Yan Dan
- Played by: Bai Yi Xiang
Crown Prince of Yan.
- Hidden Disdain Reveal / "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Ying Zheng thinks he and Yan Dan are friends. Yan Dan actually fears and hates him. He tells Ying Zheng what he really thinks of him after Ying Zheng intercepts his attempt to contact his father.
- Historical Domain Character: He existed, and he really did send Jing Ke to assassinate Ying Zheng.
