Your favourite historical personality

[Jolt]

It was really a fisherman. He told Zhou Yu that there would be the South-Eastern winds at a certain day. Zhuge Liang, had nothing to do with the event. Same goes for the recieving arrows incident. That was Sun Quan's orders to attack during the fog.

[Quintus.JC]

It was really a fisherman. He told Zhou Yu that there would be the South-Eastern winds at a certain day. Zhuge Liang, had nothing to do with the event. Same goes for the recieving arrows incident. That was Sun Quan's orders to attack during the fog.

Zhuge Liang just became less god-like then he had been.

[seireikhaan]

Chinggis Kha(a)n.

EDIT: close second is Siddharta Gautama

[Jolt]

Zhuge Liang just became less god-like then he had been.

To be fair, unless he was an metereologist, he would hardly know how fogs and winds appeared and vanished. The fisherman must of had a life long experience for him to know the wind patterns of the river, still that doesn't deny the fact that he was the best strategist ever.
Likewise, Liu Bei is depicted in the Romance as the most virtuous and kind of all people, though in reality he was much more 'grey'. For instance, it was Liu Bei himself who ordered the beating of Cao Xing which led to the attack of Lu Bu. The Romance also has Liu Bei look like a weak or mediocre general, while in reality he was far more able in commanding armies than in the Romance.

[Quintus.JC]

To be fair, unless he was an metereologist, he would hardly know how fogs and winds appeared and vanished. The fisherman must of had a life long experience for him to know the wind patterns of the river, still that doesn't deny the fact that he was the best strategist ever.
Likewise, Liu Bei is depicted in the Romance as the most virtuous and kind of all people, though in reality he was much more 'grey'. For instance, it was Liu Bei himself who ordered the beating of Cao Xing which led to the attack of Lu Bu. The Romance also has Liu Bei look like a weak or mediocre general, while in reality he was far more able in commanding armies than in the Romance.

Again some new unwelcoming fact, I always did knew Liu Bei was a greyed out character but still prefered to remember him as a true peoples' man, I still hopes that he does displayed some virtue in real life that correspond to the novel.

Still thanks for the facts.

[Jolt]

Again some new unwelcoming fact, I always did knew Liu Bei was a greyed out character but still prefered to remember him as a true peoples' man, I still hopes that he does displayed some virtue in real life that correspond to the novel.

Still thanks for the facts.

He wasn't as famous as the Romance makes out of him, for instance:
- There was no beatiful Peach Garden Oath. They just swore brotherhood normally.
- He played a very minor role in the Yellow Turban rebellion. Hardly could he have saved an Imperial Governor such as Dong Zhuo.
- It wasn't Zhang Fei who whiped the Imperial Emmissary asking for a bribe for the eunuchs. Liu Bei did it himself.
- Tao Qian (Xu Governor) didn't offer his land to Liu Bei. It was Mi Zhu who did it, along with Chen Deng and Kong Rong. He also never offered Xuzhou to Lu Bu.
- He never was acknowledged as the "Imperial Uncle", despite this nickname being widely used in the novel after the audience with Emperor Xian.
- Certainly did not rely on Xu Shu to defend Xinye from Cao Ren and Li Dian. He arranged and carried out the defense himself. (Which worked brilliantly, imo)
- It was after this time that Zhuge Liang was employed into Liu Bei's service, at Xu Shu's recomendation and while Xu Shu still served Liu Bei. The Three Visits did exist though.
- Also defeated Xiahou Dun at Xin Ye, not Zhuge Liang nor Xu Shu (Who had already left Liu Bei, anyhow).
- Had than three sons and some daughters (Which were, unfortunately, captured by Cao Chun at Changban Slope)
- Zhou Yu's attempted assassination at Chi Bi battle was non existent. Although Sun Quan was advised by Zhou Yu and Han Ze to keep Liu Bei hostage during his visit to Wu, no such attempt was made, and Liu Bei left without incident.
- Huang Zhong was not chief commander of Shu’s Hanzhong campaign. Liu Bei was (Once again, brilliantly conducted).
- Commanded between 40–80,000 troops at Yiling; far fewer than the 700,000 or so mentioned in the novel. Wu on the other hand had several hundred thousands. It is magnificent to see Liu Bei, already an Emperor and unused to commanding armies, beat Wu's armies repeatedly and force them on the defensive with a gigantic inferior army ratio.

All in all, Liu Bei was really an ordinary warlord. Still he is my favourite character of the Romance, with Zhuge Liang behind him as a close second. Guan Yu is too incredibly over-rated. He might be by far the most overrated character of the entire novel:

- Didn't kill Hua Xiong (Dong Zhuo's uber-like general), Sun Jian's troops did that themselves.
- Did not give specifics terms of surrender to Cao Cao (Shocking isn't it? Cao Cao had just probably murdered his own sworn brothers, and he joined unregretably. No more noble conduct)
- Never killed Wen Chou (Yuan Shao's uber-like general), who actually died in battle with Cao Cao after falling for a plot.
- Guan Yu did not ‘traverse five passes’ and ‘slay five generals’. Cao Cao admired his honor and sense of duty, and allowed him to leave. In majority, the characters that appeared in this novel event were fictional.
- After Cao Cao was throughly defeated in Chibi, Guan Yu did not meet with and spare Cao Cao at Huarong (Again, no more honourable conduct).
- Did not ‘fight with and release’ Huang Zhong. Han Xuan and Huang Zhong surrendered of their own accord.
-Did not plan to duel Ma Chao when he was promoted. Simply sent a letter asking how they compared (No honourable pride and sense of demonstrating he was uber-leet, since he wasn't and would probably have been pwned by Ma Chao should any such event had happened; Zhang Fei didn't duel Ma Chao either).
- In the novel Lü Meng feigned illness to trick Guan Yu. Historically, Lü Meng was truly ill (Poor Guan Yu, tricked by a non-existent trick. >_>)
- The flooding of Fan Castle was not Guan Yu’s stratagem. It was a natural occurrence (Guan Yu had no clue it was going to happen).
- Guan Yu was executed without Sun Quan's knowledge or consentment (The poor guy :P)

Many more nifty things haven't happened in real history. :P

[Paradox]

Guan Yu is too incredibly over-rated. He might be by far the most overrated character of the entire novel:

While I do agree that he is overrated novelwise, Guan Yu's martial prowess was outstanding. Slew Yan Liang, defeated Pang De and Yu Jin, as well as his very helpful service at Chang Ban. Also, don't forget that Chen Shou didn't make the best Shu biographies, after all, he was serving the Jin. He had to make the biographies short and discreet, one wrong word and he could have been undone, my point is that Guan Yu is in fact underrated, historically and not novelwise. Although he was arrogant and blinded by his pride, he was a far better warrior than he was as a general. In addition, He was one of the most feared warriors of his time, both Cao Cao's, Sun Quan's and Lu Meng's Sanguozi biographies lay claim to this. I think there are two possible explanations for this, and that is either Chen Shou did not record everything Guan Yu did, or Guan Yu really was an overrated, arrogant bastard. We never know.

Anyway, my favorite historical figures would be Khalid ibn Al Walid and Napoleon Bonaparte.

[Quintus.JC]

He wasn't as famous as the Romance makes out of him, for instance.....

Seems that we both share a fascination with the Romance of the three kingdoms. Guan Yu was massively overrated, the fact that he is worshiped as a deity in China in these days just shows it entirely. I myself is a big fan of Cao Cao, reading the novel would get you an antaganising opionion about him, but the real Cao Cao was much different.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Ben Franklin

[Paradox]

Seems that we both share a fascination with the Romance of the three kingdoms. Guan Yu was massively overrated, the fact that he is worshiped as a deity in China in these days just shows it entirely. I myself is a big fan of Cao Cao, reading the novel would get you an antaganising opionion about him, but the real Cao Cao was much different.

Just because he is overrated, doesn't mean his achievements should be overlooked. It is also a common misconception that Guan Yu is worshiped as a deity by anyone outside the Sanguo era, Kwan Gong however, is still a deity and referred to as the "God of War". And Cao Cao is also my favorite, I'm a Wei-ist when it comes to the Three Kingdoms. But didn't Cao Cao execute one of his men in Guan Du just to strike fear into his troops?