This is a list of characters who appear in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Unless stated otherwise, all individuals adhere to Historical Domain Character.

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Main Characters

The Protagonist

A nameless soldier involved in the conflicts of the Han Dynasty. After dying while protecting the Blindfolded Boy, they were resurrected through the power of the Jade.

Action Girl: If played as a woman. Considering the time period where women emancipation did not exist at all, it's impressive that a female protagonist can even be a soldier in Ancient China in the first place.
All Your Powers Combined: Uniting all of the Divine Beasts powers (except Yinglong) into the finishing blow against Embodiment of Demonic Qi.
And the Adventure Continues: After Yu Ji's defeat, the protagonist and Hong Jing go out to quell the rest of the demonic qi across China.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Contrasting with the games preceding this game, the protagonist of the game is a completely original nobody with no name, rather than someone with an established identity in history (William Adams) and/or related to a historical character, even if it's through artistic liberty (Hide being the other half of Toyotomi Hideyoshi as well as a child of Saito Dosan).
Heroes Prefer Swords: Starts off with a straight sabre in the beginning, and cutscenes show them using one, regardless of what the player is using.
No Name Given: As opposed to the protagonists of Nioh (William and Hide), they're not given any name and stays that way to the end.
Worthy Opponent: Many people consider the protagonist this after fight against them as an enemy or in a friendly duel. Even Lu Bu acknowledges the protagonist‘s strength and entrusts them to finish the missions that he started and keep his sister safe.

Hong Jing

Voiced by: Nao Tōyama (Japanese), Julia Gu (English), Li Shimeng (Chinese)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0821_4.JPG

^{Click here to see her while undercover}

A member of the Taoist Hermits of Tianzhu. She set out to learn about the source of the Qi disturbance. After getting rescued by the protagonist, she accompanies them on their journey.

Adaptational Badass: In a sense, as the Diao Chan of the novel was not depicted as a fighter.
Badass in Distress: She's first introduced being tied up and thrown to a Fengxi by Zhang Bao, requiring the main character and Zhao Yun to save her and put her in the sidelines. In the next stage's first cutscene, she immediately shows that she's also a decent martial artist and Taoist magician, helping the player character to save Liu Bei.
Canon Character All Along: She's Diao Chan. Or rather, that's the identity Hong Jing underwent to spy on her brother, Lu Bu.
Deuteragonist: Besides the playable character, she has the most screentime.
Five-Second Foreshadowing: Zuo Ci tells the player that she intended to infiltrate Dong Zhuo's base, and we are then given a scene focusing on her dancing under a disguise, just moments before using the Diao Chan alias.
Happily Adopted: She and her brother were orphans of war. They were taken under Zuo Ci and the Tianzhu Hermits of the Hidden Village.
Light Is Good: Her Tianzhu Hermit armor set that she uses is white, and she's one of the heroes.
Long-Lost Relative: She's Lu Bu's long lost sister.
Ms. Fanservice: She's as beautiful as is usual for Team Ninja heroines, and while her outfit and behaviour don't usually draw all that much attention to it, she performs an impressively seductive dance for Dong Zhuo while assuming the cover identity of Diao Chan.
Nice Girl: She's a caring person who's willing to help the protagonist.
Red Mage: Uses the Wood tree, a virtue that's associated with buffing rather than direct attack, but her staff has strictly offensive properties.
Related in the Adaptation: This version of Diao Chan is Lu Bu's sister, nixing the romantic aspects of their usual relationship in favor of a familial one.
Spared By Adaptation: Usually, Diao Chan is removed from the story after Lu Bu dies, with most storytelling saying that she is either killed or commits suicide. As Hong Jing, she outlives Lu Bu and continues to live on to see the formation of the Three Kingdoms in the shadows.
Tragic Keepsake: Lu Bu's mask becomes hers after the events of the story

Zuo Ci

a Taoist hailing from the Lujiang Commandery. The leader of the Tianzhu Hermits and Hong Jing's Master.

Adaptational Early Appearance: Zuo Ci's first appearance in Romance of the Three Kingdoms is way after the Three Kingdoms were established. Here, he appears right after the destruction of the Yellow Turbans.
Big Good: As the leader of the Tianzhu Hermits, he has spent years overseeing disturbances in Qi. After he sensed a great imbalance of Qi, he ordered Hong Jing to investigate the source.
Old Master: The old Taoist who mentored Hong Jing, and eventually becomes one to the protagonist as well.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: He can transform into a crane.

Liu Bei's Forces

Liu Bei

Voiced by: Kazuhiro Nakaya (Japanese), Caleb Yen (English), Wang Kai (Chinese)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0822_4.JPG

Adaptational Badass: Even the Romance of Three Kingdoms, which gave him a significant Historical Hero Upgrade, merely depicted him as a reasonably competent fighter who focused on leadership and administration while his two sworn brothers carried out the lion's share of the battlefield heroics. In this game, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu's assessment of him as the strongest fighter out of the three of them is entirely accurate - he's a bona fide Master Swordsman who is one of the most dangerous NPC-type enemies you face in a friendly duel, and he becomes an absolute nightmare when Yuan Shao turns him into a demon.
Animal Motifs: Associated with the dragon, right down to using the Wood virtue in-game.
Bash Brothers: He's usually seen fighting alongside his two sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.
Dual Wielding: Wields the Swords of Aspiration in combat, just like he does in the Romance. In fact, his Adaptational Badass status means he stands out as the most advanced and proficient practitioner of this fighting style in the entire game.
Demonic Possession: He gets forcibly transformed into a demon in front of his sworn brothers and the protagonist. Thankfully, he gets better.
Fragile Speedster: His demon form is this with emphasis on the 'speedster'. His health and spirit gauges aren't very high for an endgame boss, but his constant barrage of viciously fast attacks means that you have few chances to rack up significant damage, and you'll be severely punished if you judge a possible opening incorrectly. For all but the most skilled players, fighting him is a slow process because you're nearly always on the defensive.
Light Is Not Good: Normally not a contender for this as he doesn't even wear white and is one of your allies, but his demon form is a white dragon.
Lightning Bruiser: Both literal and metaphorical. His elemental affinity is Wood, meaning he's a lethally-fast and surprisingly tough Master Swordsman who backs up his blades with deadly lightning magic. Being transformed by Demonic Qi turns him into a towering and graceful Draconic Humanoid who is perhaps the fastest and most aggressive boss in the entire game.
Master Swordsman: One of the best in the entire game. With his two swords in hand, he's a living blender, and becoming flight-capable thanks to his demonic transformation only makes him even more relentless as an opponent.
Shock and Awe: Par for the course of the warlord symbolizing the dragon.

Guan Yu

Voiced by: Hiroshi Shirokuma (Japanese), Ryan Andes (English), Yang Mo (Chinese)

Bash Brothers: The middle brother of the Peach Garden brothers and a fierce warrior who fights alongside them.
Cool Horse: Red Hare becomes his following Lu Bu's death. Although it was more like it chose him.
Dishing Out Dirt: His highest stat is the Earth virtue and his weapon scales off that stat the most.
Manly Facial Hair: Of course, a portrayal of Guan Yu is not complete without his long, luscious beard. His armor set's name even references one of his actual monikers, Ser Magnificent Beard.
Mistaken for Betrayal: Zhang Fei attacks him after they're reunited, due to Guan Yu temporarily staying with Cao Cao when they're separated.

Zhang Fei

Voiced by: Mitsuaki Kanuka (Japanese), Brian Kim (English), Zhang Enze (Chinese)

Brother-in-Arms with Guan Yu and Liu Bei and one of the Five Tiger Generals of the Shu Han.

Acrofatic: Despite his large belly, he's rather mobile, as seen during his introduction.
The Alcoholic: Keeps talking about drinking during downtime, even getting called out by Guan Yu about it.
Bash Brothers: The last of the three brothers and the most battle-happy when they fight.
Boisterous Bruiser: As par for the course with Zhang Fei, he possesses a boisterousness and joyful approach to combat.
Establishing Character Moment: He charges at the protagonist assuming they're the one who attacked Liu Bei, only to later apologize upon finding the truth. He then challenges them to a competition instead on who can beat the most enemies.
Manly Facial Hair: Contrasting with Guan Yu's, Zhang Fei's beard is notable, but shorter and rowdier to emphasize that he's the Hot-Blooded Boisterous Bruiser.
Playing with Fire: His highest stat as a reinforcement ally. His weapon also scales off Fire.

Zhao Yun

Voiced by: Satoshi Hino (Japanese), Caleb Yen (English), Zhao Ling (Chinese)

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Advertised Extra: Many adaptations and some promotional materials hype him up as much as the main characters. However, after he left the protagonist and Hong Jing, he actually doesn't have much involvement in plots.
Big Damn Heroes: Comes to rescue the protagonist from Yellow Turbans soldiers in his first appearance.
Broken Pedestal: Left Gongsun Zan's Forces on a wandering journey after he allowed many innocents to die as collateral damage in the fight against Yuan Shao.
Dishing Out Dirt: His highest stat is the Earth virtue and his weapon scales off that stat the most.
Knight in Shining Armor: The Chinese version, a white-armored general who rides a white stallion and being one of the most chivalrous characters in the epic.
The Leader: He was chosen to lead a militia force of commoners from his hometown to join the war.

Sun Jian's Forces

Sun Jian

Voiced by: Masuo Amada (Japanese), John Choi (English), Yu Qiming (Chinese)

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Action Dad: Father of Sun Ce, Sun Quan and father in-law to Da Qiao. And he's available as Reinforcement.
Animal Motifs: The tiger, right down to using the fur of one in his armor set and using the Metal virtue.
Badass Family: He's the patriarch of the Sun clan.
Demonic Possession: He gets turned into a Tiger-demon upon refusing to help the Taoist in black.
Dies Differently in Adaptation: As opposed to the history or novel, where Sun Jian perished due to an ambush by Liu Biao's forces shortly after discovering the Imperial Seal and refusing to hand it over to Yuan Shao, in this game, Sun Jian falls victim to Demonic Possession courtesy by the Taoist in Black and has to be killed.
Leeroy Jenkins: Subverted. Without telling why, Sun Jian leaves the emergency meeting in Xiangyang and charges to the enemy camp. Even Sun Ce is befuddled since he used to be chastised not to be reckless and doing the same (which happened in Hulaoguan against Hua Xiong). Turns out that this is a calculated move; he's going to save Daqiao from the Taoist in Black, so Sun Ce wouldn't endanger himself (and the future of the Sun clan and Wu kingdom) in an attempt to save his wife from such a dangerous man.
Papa Wolf: He goes out of his way to save his daughter-in-law. After covering her from elixir-ladden arrows, his first instincts after the Demonic Possession kicks in is to attack the undead archers who are about to shoot the same arrows to Daqiao.
Poisonous Person: Par for the course of being the one to represent the tiger, and it being his stat as a boss.
Red Baron: His moniker is the "Tiger of Jiangdong."
Sacrificial Lion: He's the first to be made an example of by The Taoist to show how evil he is.

Sun Ce

Voiced by: Shogo Batori (Japanese), Alex Mai (English), Jiang Xian (Chinese)

Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- Sun Ce and Yu Ji, historically, had nothing to do with each other, as the former died due to wounds he procured in battle. In the novels, Sun Ce was just paranoid against Taoism on his own and executes Yu Ji based on that paranoia and certain political matters, but causes the Taoist to haunt him and results in his death. In this game, Yu Ji kidnaps his wife and turns his father into a demon who has to be put down as a result. As such, his grudge with Yu Ji is much more personal.
- Due to Zhou Yu being reduced into Last Episode, New Character, their default sworn brotherhood is either absent or not focused on a lot. Sun Ce's partner in his screentime is mostly filled with Sun Quan.
Badass Family: He's the eldest son of the Sun clan.
Doomed by Canon: After establishing the Wu Kingdom offscreen, Sun Ce tries to hunt down Yu Ji in Guandu to finish his vendetta. Unfortunately, Yu Ji disguises himself as Sun Quan, catches him off guard and impales him with a sword, with Sun Quan coming too late. In the end, Sun Ce is not Spared by the Adaptation and he'll have to leave the rulership of Wu to Sun Quan and his vendetta against Yu Ji to the protagonist.
Dual Wielding: Uses the Tiger Fang Dual Halberds, short polearms with tigerskin on them. They scale primarily with the Fire virtue.
Hot-Blooded: As shown in his first appearances, charging recklessly into a few Dong Zhuo soldiers.
Red Baron: Known as the "Young Conqueror" for his later accomplishment to conquer the lands to be the foundation of the Wu kingdom.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's the manly man between him and his brother Sun Quan, since Ce is the more battle-ready and Hot-Blooded.
The Worf Effect: Despite being the Hot-Blooded, more combat-attuned son of the Sun clan, he debuts by being sent packing by Hua Xiong and then getting lectured by Sun Jian. This is to show that Hua Xiong is a tough sub-boss to fight later.

Sun Quan

Voiced by: Yohei Hamada (Japanese), Dustin Vuong Nguyen (English), Xu Chenxiang (Chinese)

Badass Family: The second son of the Sun clan, while he's most likely not as combat-ready as Ce, he's still capable in combat.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's the sensitive guy between him and his brother Sun Ce. Quan is the more soft-spoken brother and wields a single sword.
Take Up My Sword: He takes the spot as the ruler of Sun Jian's forces following Sun Ce's death.

Da Qiao

Damsel in Distress: Got kidnapped to be used as bait by the Taoist in Black to lure out Sun Jian.
Satellite Character: Daqiao is a surprisingly accurate portrayal of females in the era (unlike Hong Jing and Zhen): She's only there for being a part of the Sun clan, and has a very small role of being a hostage who cannot fight back and does not do much. Women emancipation wasn't really that big in the Three Kingdoms era and Daqiao adheres to the role of women of that age: usually being just an accessory of other men.
World's Most Beautiful Woman: It's said that her beauty is comparable to the Four Beauties of Ancient China (never mind that one of them is in the game's cast (Hong Jing as Diao Chan)). Her bio says that her qualities are basically the four beauties' features combined. (Making fishes sink, birds forgetting to fly and making the moon and flowers shy away)

Huang Gai

An Ice Person: Uses the Water Phase spell Frozen Spear Trap during his sub-mission boss fight.
Dual Boss: Alongside Cheng Pu and Han Dang in a side-mission.
Dual Wielding: His weapon is the Hook Blades of King Helu, a pair of curved sabres.

Cheng Pu

Dual Boss: Alongside Huang Gai and Han Dang in a side-mission.
Playing with Fire: Uses the Fire Virtue and his weapon scales off that stat the most. He also throws fire bombs in his boss fight.

Han Dang

Dishing Out Dirt: Uses the Earth Virtue and his weapon scales off that stat the most.
Dual Boss: Alongside Cheng Pu and Huang Gai in a side-mission.

Zhou Yu

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/005_9.jpg

Last Episode, New Character: He was mentioned in Sun Ce and Sun Quan's biography. His first real appearance is in a cutscene before the game's credits.

Taishi Ci

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/003_1_6.jpg

Cao Cao's Forces

Cao Cao

Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue (Japanese), Allen Chan (English), Tang Shuiyu (Chinese)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0823_15.JPG

Animal Motifs: The vermillion bird, as he uses the Zhuque divine beast in a friendly duel. His sword also has an engraving of said bird on it.
Casting Gag: His Japanese voice actor is the same as Oda Nobunaga's in Nioh 2, mostly because Koei Tecmo treats Cao Cao and Nobunaga as counterparts to each other.
Foil: To Liu Bei, being seen as the more morally grey and pragmatic of the two, while Liu Bei was seen as the more openly benevolent.
Historical Hero Upgrade: Generally, Cao Cao is seen in a better, if a bit pragmatic and unscrupulous, light than his novel counterpart. In particular, how he gets Guan Yu on his side on the beset of the Battle of Guandu is certainly presented in a much better light: Cao Cao is not the one who orchestrated the separation between the three friendly brothers; they are separated by Yuan Shao's surprise attack, armed with demonic forces, right after defeating Lu Bu. Also cornered with this surprising event, Cao Cao has a chance meeting with Guan Yu alone and both mutually agree to help each other for their own goals.
Unscrupulous Hero: He's more morally grey than his compatriots. According to his bio, he's said to be a menace in times of peace but an unscrupulous hero in times of chaos.

Xiahou Dun

Voiced by: Tomoyuki Shimura (Japanese), Jammie Yamaguchi (English), Zhang Rulin (Chinese)

Demonic Possession: He gets turned into a demon by an Elixir-laced arrow that pierces his left eye. Thankfully, he gets better.
Eye Scream: His eye gets pierced by an arrow as per usual, but this time, it's no normal arrow.
Eyepatch of Power: He does get one after the arrow, naturally. However, this time it's a makeshift version using his jade as the patch.
Number Two: He is Cao Cao's right-hand man and second-in-command of Cao Cao's Forces.
Playing with Fire: Uses Zhuque as his Divine Beast in a friendly duel.
Sinister Scythe: His demonic form has him swap his axe for a large scythe.

Xiahou Yuan

Voiced by: Kosuke Takaguchi (Japanese), Nick McCue (English), Hu Lin (Chinese)

An Ice Person: Uses the water virtue and his weapon scales off that stat the most.
Bow and Sword in Accord: His set encourages this as it boosts damage from bows.
Defrosting Ice King: He initially does not have the best opinion of the player character, but warms up to them after the quest where he aids you.

Xun Yu

Dual Boss: Alongside with Guo Jia in a side-mission from the first DLC.
Spell Blade: His armor set focuses on boosting the effectiveness of weapon buffs.

Guo Jia

Accidental Misnaming: A rare developer example, as the game listed him as Zhang Jiao in the first few patches. This was corrected in patch 1.04.
Dual Boss: Alongside with Xun Yu in a side-mission from the first DLC.

Zhang Liao

A Father to His Men: He accepts joining Cao Cao under the condition that his own men can come.
BFS: Played with. The jian he wields is only medium-sized. The lightning blade he wraps around it when he draws it, however, is absolutely huge.
Defeat Means Friendship: He becomes an ally and serves Cao Cao after his boss battle.
Iaijutsu Practitioner: A variant. He uses a Chinese jian (straightsword) rather than a katana, but much of his fighting style revolves around sheathing his sword, focusing for a few seconds, and then unsheathing it in a barrage of stabs and slashes.
Laser Blade: A variant. He uses a perfectly ordinary metal sword, but uses his Wood affinity to wrap a gigantic bolt of lightning around it when he enters battle, creating this effect.
Lightning Bruiser: In his boss battles, he's fast, hits hard and a lot, and is durable enough to qualify. No wonder he was Lu Bu's right hand man.
Master Swordsman: The Romance portrays him as one of the greatest warriors of the Three Kingdoms, behind only his master Lu Bu, and this is how the game chooses to represent it. He only uses a single medium-sized sword, but he wields it with (extremely literal) lightning speed and thunderous force.
Number Two: He served Lu Bu prior to his defeat. Even then, he honored Lu Bu's wishes to not say anything about the latter's plans until his death.
Shock and Awe: In both his boss battles, he uses the divine beast Bixie to empower his sword.

Dian Wei

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A Death in the Limelight: The first DLC, Battle of Zhongyuan, is heavily focused on him as he suppresses the remaining Yellow Turban and recruits Xu Chu, and ends with his death.

The Leader: He is the head of the Cao Cao's guard.
One-Winged Angel: He becomes a demonic bird-human after he takes the Elixir.
Passing the Torch: He passes his role as Cao Cao's guard-leader to Xu Chu, along with his divine beast.
Undying Loyalty: To Cao Cao. He willing gives his all to protect his lord, even sacrificing his own life and becoming a demon by taking the Elixir.

Xu Chu

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Defeat Means Friendship: He becomes an ally after his defeat by the Protagonist and Dian Wei.
The Leader: He is leading his village's resistance group again the remaining Yellow Turban. Later, he becomes the head of the Cao Cao's guard.
Take Up My Sword: He inherits Dian Wei's role as leader of the Cao Cao's guard, and his divine beast the Feilian, after Dian Wei's death.
Took a Level in Badass: He is already a badass. After he inherits the Feilian, He is a complete nightmare.

The New Recruit

Sima Yi

The Ghost: He's only mentioned in the final scene, but he's an important character where he and his clan would kickstart the end of the Three Kingdoms era.

The Yellow Turbans

Zhang Jiao

The leader of the Yellow Turbans. Older brother to both Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang.

One-Winged Angel: His boss form takes that of a large humanoid demon.
Red Baron: The instigator of the Yellow Turban Rebellion gets the title of General of Heaven, as the rebellion's creed is "The Azure sky/heaven is dead, long live the Yellow sky/heaven!".
Starter Villain: Like in the novels, he and his Yellow Turbans serve as the first real threat in the story.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Unlike his brothers, who are mostly just sadistic bandit warlords, he seems to be a true believer in his own cause, seeing Demonic Qi as an unpleasant but necessary weapon against the corrupt Han Dynasty on behalf of their oppressed subjects. He has no clear-cut on-screen Kick the Dog moments, needs to be goaded into using his demonic powers by Yu Ji, and goes to his death proclaiming his belief in the 'Yellow Heaven'.

Zhang Bao

Voiced by: Kanehira Yamamoto (Japanese), Robb Moreira (English)

One of the leaders of the Yellow Turbans, Younger brother to Zhang Jiao and older brother to Zhang Liang,

"Get Back Here!" Boss: Constantly teleports around during the battle against him and attacks with magic fire from afar, forcing the player to repeatedly approach him if they want to damage him.
One-Winged Angel: Subverted. He was already a demon, unlike his brothers.
Playing with Fire: He specializes in fire magic.
Red Baron: General of Earth.

Zhang Liang

Voiced by: Yasuhiro Mamiya (Japanese), Brent Mukai (English), Maomao (Chinese)

One of the Yellow Turbans leaders, younger brother to both Zhang Jiao and Zhang Bao.

Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: A large, muscular man that carries the Great Club Of Polaris, an equally large spiked mace.
Evil Counterpart: Of Zhang Fei. They're both large men who love battle, are the youngest of three brothers, and had a similar appearance. Zhang Liang, however, is purely a brute and lacks Zhang Fei's good nature.
Red Baron: General of Man.
One-Winged Angel: His mutated form gives him an elongated arm that can stretch.
Wake-Up Call Boss: His first form is a Warm-Up Boss that gives tells on when to deflect. His second form, on the other hand, is not only much stronger, but also has delayed attacks that punishes panic mashing.

Dong Zhuo's Forces

Dong Zhuo

Voiced by: Shinpachi Tsuji (Japanese), Mike Pollock (English), Zhang Yaohan (Chinese)

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Adaptational Attractiveness: Normally, media depictions show him to be a hideous, ogreish Fat Bastard. This game, however, takes the approach of Ravages of Time, emphasising his history as a mighty warlord by making him an athletic and darkly handsome Big Beautiful Man.
Adaptational Badass: Even when portrayals of him choose to mention his impressive military history and personal might, it's usually only to contrast it with how badly he's gone to seed. This one, however, is not only a cunning Combat Pragmatist but a brutally powerful warrior who gives the protagonist a serious run for their money (and even manages to leave the fight largely on his own terms after he realises it's going against him).
Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Combined with Adaptational Jerkass. The novel credited Dong Zhuo's downfall to his own lust to Diao Chan, it's because of that his relationship with Lu Bu crumbles and he is killed by Lu Bu as a result of fighting over Diao Chan. In this game, while Dong Zhuo appreciates Diao Chan/Hong Jing's dance, he doesn't have any forms of lust towards her. This means that he sees Diao Chan/Hong Jing as nothing special, so he's free to use her as a Human Shield hostage against the protagonist. Too bad he fails to realize the actual relation between Lu Bu and Diao Chan.
Big Bad Wannabe: Even if he's presented as a big threat that united many warlords to form a coalition to stop him (not to mention having the mighty Lu Bu on his side), in the end, he turns out to be only a pawn of the Taoist in Black.
Combat Pragmatist: While he's one of the biggest Adaptational Badass takes on Dong Zhuo in fiction, it doesn't make him any more inclined to fight fair. He backs up his devastating glaive attacks with kicks, shoves, grapples, and lots and lots of poisoned darts. Even his Sword Beam attacks read like feints that will likely catch a player completely off guard the first time around, thinking they've avoided a simple downward chop (or that they only have to deflect/dodge one shockwave when the second one is right behind it).
Dirty Coward: Downplayed; he angrily makes a run for it when he realizes he's beaten, then attempts to take Hong Jing as hostage upon seeing that she was conveniently there.
Et Tu, Brute?: He's surprised that Lu Bu kills him, after the latter was seemingly nothing but supportive.
Evil Is Bigger: A legendarily depraved Evil Chancellor who's the largest entirely human character in the game - one or two others match him in height, but none of them have his sheer bulk.
Evil Chancellor: He used Zhang Rang's death to achieve absolute authority, and immediately set about abusing it to indulge his own cruelty and hedonism.
Flechette Storm: His primary ranged attack consists of throwing out shotgun-like spreads of poisoned darts - later on in the fight, he'll do it four times in rapid succession.
Know When to Fold 'Em: Unlike Zhang Rang before him, he doesn't show fear when he runs away, but anger, upon realizing the protagonist can kill him. Even his escape involves creating an opening for himself with a Barehanded Blade Block to show that he's still got a fair amount of gas in the tank.
Lightning Bruiser: His attacks aren't elegant, but they're astonishingly fast and powerful, and he can cross the room and start slicing you apart with his massive glaive much more quickly than you might hope.
Poisonous Person: He throws poison daggers at you in his boss fight, and his weapon scales off the metal virtue.
Stout Strength: Living the good life as an Evil Chancellor has clearly had an impact on his waistline, but it hasn't affected his combat prowess as much as you might reasonably expect. He's still the mighty warlord who bulldozed into Luoyang after clearing up the Ten Eunuchs.
Sword Beam: In the second half of his fight, he begins to use a couple of ranged Critical Blows that launch shockwaves of Demonic Qi at the player with slices of his glaive.
Unskilled, but Strong: Downplayed. His attacks are visibly less refined and more reliant on brute strength than those of his three Strong and Skilled subordinates (Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, and Hua Xiong), but he's still an adequately competent fighter with a few genuinely fancy moves (like his Sword Beam, his triple spinning stab, and his leaping glaive throw) and an impressively quick draw on his poisoned needles.

Lu Bu

Voiced by: Shinshu Fuji (Japanese), Nicholas Andrew Louie (English), Zhang Duo (Chinese)

Adaptational Heroism: While he still works for Dong Zhuo, his goal isn't to usurp him and become his own ruler or any fortunes, but to prevent a war between Yu Ji's demonized forces and the Hermits of Tianzhu. For that reason, he hides his identity to get close to and stop Yu Ji alone to keep his sister and village safe. And he certainly did not get bribed or murder anyone when he went to apply for a position in Dong Zhuo's army, unlike in both history and novel where he did so to his liege/adopted father Ding Yuan (who's Adapted Out here).
Adaptational Intelligence: Lu bu's biggest flaw in life was his poor hindsight, which ended up costing him his life. Here, he's aware of the costs of using the elixir as well as the corruption it causes. He even feigns his allegiance to Dong Zhuo.
Big Brother Instinct: He kills Dong Zhuo after the latter tried to take Hong Jing hostage, a sign that this was a more humanized version of him.
Choice of Two Weapons: For once, besides his signature halberd, Lu Bu also uses a bow as historically, his specializations were in horseback and archery.
Char Clone: While he's not blond, this Lu Bu is masked, rides a red horse (with a horn on his forehead armour that resembles the command antenna on Char's Zaku, no less), has his own agenda and even is the heroine's long lost brother.
Cool Horse: Red Hare, as per usual. He rides it in his first boss fight.
Cool Mask: Uniquely among adaptations of Lu Bu, this version wears a mask as a part of his helmet. This is to hide his identity from certain individuals, like his sister or the Taoist in Black.
Dies Differently in Adaptation: Instead of being executed by Cao Cao in the Battle of Xiapi, Lu Bu is turned into a demon by Yu Ji and had to be killed by the protagonist this time.
The Dragon: Once again, he's being the second in command of the tyrant Dong Zhuo, though he has his own agenda.
Dying as Yourself: In his final moment, he makes the protagonist promise to kill Yu Ji as he exhaled his final breath with his beloved sister beside.
Fiery Stoic: Despite being a boss that uses the Fire virtue, he's a level-headed individual.
Foreshadowing:
- In the 12th main mission The Way of the Warrior, Liu Bei and Zhang Fei both comment that he had Liu Bei's family captured, but they were soon released with no strings attached, while noting that he's known for his ruthlessness.
- There are no demonized soldiers in the 13th main mission Lu Bu, Mightiest Among Men, despite the fact that he has Dong Zhuo's leftover elixirs.
Hunk: As is often the case, he's portrayed a towering juggernaut of a man who's also dashingly handsome, with his general physical perfection serving as a contrast to his slovenly Fat Bastard master. Due to his Adaptational Relationship Overhaul with Diao Chan, it's not intended to set him up as a tragic romantic antihero this time, but to set up his Adaptational Heroism by indicating that Beauty Equals Goodness.
The Juggernaut: With or without his Red Hare, no one can stand a chance against him. If that's not enough, there is his demon form.
One-Winged Angel: In his final fight again the protagonist, unwillingly by Yu Ji.
Our Centaurs Are Different: His demon form resembles this, as a wicked fusion of himself and Xiezhi.
Playing with Fire: Certain critical blows imbue his weapons with fire for a certain period if they aren't countered.
Related in the Adaptation: The Diao Chan of this game is an identity assumed by his sister, Hong Jing.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: He takes the elixir after killing Dong Zhuo not to use it himself, but to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands and to lure out Yu Ji in an attempt to kill him.
World's Strongest Man: Per the usual tradition, Lu Bu stays as one of the most feared warriors in the battlefield during his time.

Hua Xiong

Animal Motifs: The bear, as his set is called the Brutal Ursine Warrior
Beef Gate: You can try to get to the Lu Bu boss fight when you get near the gate, but Hua Xiong will be defending the entrance at morale level 20, when you're possibly still too low of a rank, and then there's his own subordinate who will invade you if you don't take care of him first.
Spikes of Villainy: The armor set he wears has a few spikes on them.

Yuan Shao's Forces

Yuan Shao

Voiced by: Fuminori Komatsu (Japanese), Jason Griffith (English)

Adaptational Villainy: Yuan Shao is supposed to be ambitious, but not moreso than the rest of the warlords during the era. He lost the battle of Guandu purely because he's outwitted by Cao Cao (and since Cao Cao is the villain of the novel, Yuan Shao is portrayed at worst an ineffectual leader, but has better moral high ground compared to Cao Cao). In this game, he takes cue from Yuan Shu about being Drunk with Power when he has the tool to do so (the elixir instead of the Imperial Seal) and plans to form his own kingdom ontop of using demons for his personal army. This causes Lady Zhen to leave him out of disgust, while Cao Cao, despite still being the Unscrupulous Hero, has clearer moral high ground compared to Yuan Shao.
Alas, Poor Villain: In his dying breath, he admits that the breaking of the coalition against Dong Zhuo has shattered his spirit and opinion about friendship and was jealous at how Cao Cao still managed to keep himself together. He wishes Cao Cao good luck in his quest to claim the land, and Cao Cao carries him with Pietà Plagiarism, respecting the death of his old friend.
Ambition Is Evil: He gets ahold of the elixir and loses what moral high ground he had left.
Animal Motifs: The black tortoise.
The Caligula: He starts to form his own kingdom using the elixirs
Cynicism Catalyst: Yuan Shao began as an upstanding and honorable man. However, his outlook on life and honor takes a downturn after witnessing the horror of Luoyang ablaze, and the coalition he formed to take down the tyrant dissolved right after. At this point, he starts seeing how futile and meaningless 'friendship' is. Yu Ji takes advantage of this, turning him into a tyrant later on.
Evil Is Deathly Cold: He uses the Water virtue, where his demon form has him fuse with Xuanwu.
Kick the Dog: He turned Liu Bei into a demon for no apparent reason other than to spite Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, even though he could have just fled there.
The Poorly Chosen One: Lady Zhen believe he is the man of prophecy who will save the land, and at first, Yuan Shao really has what it takes. This lasts until the burning of Luoyang and the dissolution of the coalition against Dong Zhuo, as not only Yuan Shao Took A Level In Cynicism, Zhen realizes that his bright star is fading fast.
Pre-Final Boss: He's the last obstacle before the three phases against Yu Ji.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He's surprisingly similar to Tokichiro in that he's a decent guy before becoming arrogant and Drunk with Power, and serves as the Pre-Final Boss.

Lady Zhen

Adaptational Badass: Downplayed. In both history or novel, she never got into a battlefield, what with being a normal woman in timeline and all. In this game, she's allowed to ride horses and charge with the army, which is already impressive for woman in the timeline. But, she's usually delegated to support and medical duties and do not involve herself in actual battles or espionage, unlike the protagonist or Hong Jing.
Adaptational Early Appearance: Novel-wise, she debuts shortly after the battle of Guandu where Yuan Shao's forces have been thoroughly decimated. In here, she appears as early as the battle of Hulao Gate.
Astrologer: In this continuity, she has a hobby of reading the stars to try and predict the future.
Broken Pedestal: Her faith in Yuan Shao is shattered once she saw him use the elixirs for his own gain.
Damsel in Distress: She's held captive in a jail hosted by Zhang Rang, and is wounded, but not severely so, thanks to Baishe keeping her alive.
Mythology Gag: She gives out a quest to cleanse parts of Guandu on the behest of Goddess of Luo River. In various popular cultures in China, Zhen herself is associated with the Goddess, considered as her incarnation.
Nice Girl: She's nothing but coordinal towards the Protagonist.
Unrelated in the Adaptation: Yuan Shao in this continuity does not father any sons, therefore, Zhen is just a mere acquaintance/stranger with him, not daughter-in-law.

Yan Liang & Wen Chou

Two of Yuan Shao's main generals.

Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: Both characters are more demonic appearing, and use equally corrupted weapons with an unelegant look.
Demonic Possession: When fought, they're already demonized thanks to Yuan Shao's Face–Heel Turn.
Dies Differently in Adaptation: Originally, they die in a separate place (Baima for Yan Liang and Yanjin for Wen Chou) and separate time (Yan Liang dies first, and Wen Chou follows later) and arguably by the same person (both are killed by Guan Yu in the novel, but only Yan Liang died that way in history, Wen Chou just simply lost a normal battle and killed by troops). In this game, they both die in the same place and almost the same time since they're fought as a Dual Boss, and who killed them are a combination of the novel and history; Guan Yu is there to represent his novel killings, while the Protagonist refer to history, where Wen Chou died in a normal battle.
Dishing Out Dirt: Wen Chou's hammer scales off Earth.
Dual Boss: They're fought together in Guandu. The good thing for you is that you fight them while accompanied with their killer in the novel: Guan Yu.
Force and Finesse: Yan Liang is the smaller of the two and used a curved sabre, while Wen Chou is the larger and uses a hammer.
Grievous Harm with a Body: One of their attacks has Wen Chou spin Yan Liang around to throw him as a critical blow.
Mythology Gag: Their opening scene shows Yan Liang getting killed in one strike by Guan Yu... just like in history or novel alike (although Yan Liang spices it up by being the one initiating the surprise attack instead of the other way around). Of course, the difference is that Wen Chou is nearby and he has the tool to revive Yan Liang...
Playing with Fire: Yan Liang's weapon scales off fire, and its unique martial art can buff itself with Fire Damage provided you have positive spirit.
Related in the Adaptation: Usually, Yan Liang and Wen Chou are just unrelated friends in the same force. In this continuity, they're referred to be brothers. How they retain their names can be excused with the possibility that it's just sworn brotherhood, just like Guan Yu and his brothers.
Self-Recovery Surprise: They have to be killed in a close time frame together, otherwise after a few seconds, the surviving boss will revive the other. The surprise is lessened with Guan Yu saying that they're fated to die together, but it may take players who don't pay attention by surprise.

Other Characters

Blindfolded Boy

An unknown individual who has blindfolded himself. Initially aiding the protagonist, he's later captured and transformed by the Taoist in Black. In his last moments of consciousness, he resurrects the protagonist with the Jade.

Age Lift: Zig-Zagged. Historically, Zhuge Liang was around four years old during the Yellow Turbans Rebellions. Here, he is at least a pre-teen at the story's start. However, he stopped aging under Yu Ji's control, so when the protagonist frees him, he grows up to what would be around a young adult in the final scene.
Badass in Distress: He's clearly powerful and important in his own right, but the Taoist in Black captures him and makes him do his bidding as a demon.
Canon Character All Along: He's a young Zhuge Liang.
Character Title: Not even immediately apparent, but Wo Long is Chinese for Sleeping Dragon, one of Zhuge Liang's most well-known epithets.
Demonic Possession: Yu Ji possesses his body at the end of the story, making him technically serve as the Final Boss of the game. Fortunately you are able to exorcise Yu Ji out of his body.
Foreseeing My Death: In The Stinger, he, as Zhuge Liang, witnesses his own demise by overworking in Wuzhang Plains years in the future.
Iconic Item: Cleverly, omitting a certain item helps obfusticate his identity. Said item is the feather fan of Zhuge Liang. He gets that and a version of Zhuge's hat at the end of the game.
Walking Spoiler: It's very hard to talk about his identity without revealing that he's actually Zhuge Liang, mostly through key items such as his feather fan.

Zhu Xia

A wayfarer blacksmith who meets the protagonist during The Yellow Turban Rebellion. She later moves to the Hidden Village.

The Blacksmith: The one the protagonist meets for upgrades and the like.
We Buy Anything: Players can sell accessories, armor, crafting materials, items, and weapons to her for copper.

Zhang Rang

Dirty Coward: He makes a run for it after his boss fight, scared out of his wits after his attempt to scare the player and Cao Cao fails. He then tries to plead with Dong Zhuo, but is then ruthlessly killed.
Eunuchs Are Evil: He's one of the Ten Eunuchs and he's downright repulsive and nasty, making Luoyang a hellish landscape for consolidating his own power and influence.
Me's a Crowd: His boss fight involves him summoning a dozen clones of himself at a time to overwhelm the player.
Smug Snake: He constantly taunts you in the beginning half of the fight.

Taoist in Black

Yu Ji

Voiced by: Yohei Tadano (Japanese), Jesse Inocalla (English), Gui Zhengjian (Chinese)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0825_3.JPG

A mysterious Taoist searching for an elixir that can grant immortality. His name is based on Gan Ji. He takes control of Yinglong by becoming Xielong at the start of the story.

Big Bad: He's ultimately the one driving the conflict of the main story.
Casting a Shadow: While dark is not an element in this game, some of his sword attacks has his sword wreathed in black flames.
Character Tic: He tends to lick his lips when things (are about to) go his way. This is an immediate clue that he's still alive and possessing the Blindfolded Boy in the final fight; and previously, how you can tell that Sun Ce is doomed when 'Sun Quan' does this, it's actually a shapeshifting Yu Ji.
Dark Is Evil: His robe is black, just like his heart.
Dragons Are Demonic: His fusion with Xielong is as grotesque as the beast itself, perhaps even moreso.
Evil Counterpart: He's the darker counterpart of Zuo Ci. Both are old men expert in Taoist magic, but while Zuo Ci concentrates in keeping the balance of Qi while leading the hermits of Tianzhu in a peaceful life, Yu Ji instead abuses the Qi like hell, bringing imbalance and corruption to Qi along with the tragedies and horror towards humanity, all for a selfish reason of creating the Ultimate Elixir for himself.
Evil Old Folks: This grandpa is as evil as he is old-looking.
Final Boss: Of the main story (pre-DLCs) in three parts: his base appearance, his fused form (Embodiment of Demonic Qi), and possessing the Blindfolded Boy.
Fusion Dance: Merges with Xielong to become the Embodiment of Demonic Qi in his boss battle.
Hate Sink: In the middle of characters that are morally grey in the game, this Taoist stands out as being unambiguously evil so the players can exact righteous fury on him when confronted.
Historical Villain Upgrade: Gan/Yu Ji in the novel and history alike was not at all evil. He didn't do anything in history except being a normal Taoist. In the novel, he just looks 'bad' because Sun Ce doesn't like Taoism and he executes Gan/Yu Ji for his presence alone based on personal paranoia, which causes the Taoist to haunt him to death as a retaliation. In this game, he's an unapologetically evil Big Bad who makes Sun Ce's paranoia looks justified and personal, due to turning Sun Jian into a demon while also kidnapping his wife to facilitate that.
I Have Your Wife: Daughter in Law, actually. He kidnapped Da Qiao to lure out Sun Jian instead of her actual husband (Sun Ce), since his plan relies more on turning Sun Jian into a demon.
Immortality Immorality: His goal is to become immortal, and he'll do anything to do it.
The Man Behind the Man: He's behind all the events in this game, manipulating Zhang Jiao, Dong Zhuo, and Yuan Shao. Zhao Yun also suspects that he may be behind how Gongsun Zan changed for worse, forcing him to defect (and ultimately, Yu Ji pitted both Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan against each other, ending with Yuan Shao victorious and absorbing Gongsun Zan's forces, which means even more pawns for Yu Ji).
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: After killing him for good, his bio states that his overall goal for dabbling in corrupt Qi is to create a world where conflict between humans is just a thing of the past. However, the copious amounts of atrocities he committed and how gleeful he is to those atrocities cast doubts about his sincerity to said goal, it's most likely just a convenient excuse to do more evil acts or a side-effect of the dark Qi making him forget his original goal.
Recurring Element: Like Edward Kelly and Kashin Koji before him, he's a Big Bad who undergoes significant Historical Villain Upgrade.
Shapeshifting: He definitely makes use of his dark Qi to shapeshift into other people. During the sidequest to hunt down the Imperial Seal, the protagonist sees Sun Jian acting very out of character when claiming it; it's later revealed that Yu Ji shapeshifted into Sun Jian just to sow discord in the imperial court and discredit the Sun clan. Likewise, he shapeshifts into Sun Quan to get close enough to Sun Ce and kill him.
Smug Snake: Everytime he claims a victim (Sun Jian, Sun Ce, Lu Bu), he takes his time to deliver some verbal taunt and escapes unharmed, leaving those left behind in extreme anger.
The Sociopath: From the very moment he commits his first crime and the subsequent ones, he does so without hesitation.
Villainous Breakdown: He loses his composure after his first fight realizing he isn't almighty, causing him to fuse with his dragon. He undergoes it again after his defeat possessing the Blindfolded Boy.
You Killed My Father: He kills Sun Jian, making both Sun Ce and Sun Quan wanting to put his head on a pike and put said pike on their main ship when they're about to sail and spread the influence of the Sun clan later.

Demons and Bosses

Shitieshou

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0827_0.jpg

A small panda creature with inverse colors that plays the roles of the Scampuss of Nioh 2.

Original Character: They're friendly demons created in the game that are not based on a source material.
Ridiculously Cute Critter: Perhaps the only demons that are in-name only, and they're adorable panda bears
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: They're the equivalent to the Sudamas in Nioh in that they're hidden creatures who want something in return.

Characters / Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

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