Toward the end he talks about the basic implications of climate change and political instability, which COVID is kind of a test case for on a smaller scale, that combined with the elimination of the military taboo in Europe (and also Armenia/Azerbaijan) will probably lead to massive political instability in other parts of the world; especially Africa and Southeast Asia; it's even possible that India has a civil war which could easily involve Bangladesh and Pakistan as well (2 of the 3 having nuclear weapons).
India is not like China; there is not a single monolithic (if apparently somewhat artificial) ethnic group to tie the country together; there are literally hundreds of different ethnic groups and hundreds of kingdoms in different parts of India that have existed historically. Presently there's close to 2 billion people on the Indian Subcontinent which is considerably more than were in Europe during WW2.
As far as Africa goes it seems highly likely that the weaker governments will not be able to deal with Climate Change and presumable famine caused by the Russian Invasion of Ukraine (both heavy grain suppliers to Africa and the Middle East); this will probably lead to a number of smaller conflicts and possibly larger continent spanning ones, and it is predicted mass migrations to Southern Europe which thanks to Syria and Ukraine we have a clear understand of how poorly that will be handled (essentially if you're not "European" enough we might not let you in etc.)
With the greater rise of Chinese economic power and military power the US will probably focus almost exclusively on an Arms Race with China within 20-30 years and will basically no longer care about Europe or NATO due to either isolationism or needing to focus on the bigger (presumed) threat; ultimately this means that Germany (with its greatly increased military spending) will be the central power in that Alliance and in Europe as well; don't really have any basis for figuring out what they'll do with that power but I wouldn't be too spooked by that relative to all the other issues.
I won't belabor the point but I talked about Ukraine in 2014: https://fcdisbad.blogspot.com/2014/03/ukrainecrimea-strategic-thoughts.html and referenced my "Russian Sociology" Class (in 2008) where I asked the simple question of will Russia invade Ukraine (circa their Georgia invasion) and was rebuffed. And here we are.
Over the past several days while working I've been listening to numerous academic lectures from Columbia, Yale, Oxford and other Universities and just collected some loose thoughts on implications of the Russia/Ukraine conflict.
"Just sending these so I don't forget them or they're fresh in your mind but the most significant guarantee of our present situation is that we are functionally in a New Cold War; except this time the financial balance is much more even because of China (and our extensive trade ties with China); basically Russia and China can support one another independently of Europe and the US and also Russia may have an economic War Boom a la the solution to the Great Depression globally.
This also means there is a very real spectre of Nuclear Annihilation; of late the doom and gloom scenario has been climate change based and/or corporate based but with the present war state corporations do not matter as much as nations or superpowers which is almost entirely new in my lifetime (corporate control has enhanced in every regard in the US in the past 30 years).
Finally Crypto Currency is an out for Russia to avoid the economic sanctions imposed by the US, Europe, and various private companies; this means that if the Neo Cold War Continues Crypto MUST be destroyed basically which could mean the end of billionaires in a broader sense and also severe restrictions on stock market manipulation; maybe potentially a not free market economy concept within 50 years or so. This also probably means the end of r/wallstreebets' footnote in history, tragically. In the actual Cold War there was a clear free market advantage for the west but there isn't anymore because China has somewhere around 30-40% of the world's financial resources and 60-80% of its loan/country debt ownership."
Aside: Many of the lectures I've listened to have less than a thousand Youtube views, I have 4 million Elden Ring views so far; good times.
Some additional thoughts: What happened after the Treaty of Versailles? The Weimar Republic. What happens if you sanction Russia too heavily to the point that the Russian people suffer immensely? This was probably not Putin's plan initially but there seems to be a clear sign of rationality and adaptability presently in Ukraine (i.e. if you resist we will flatten your cities with Heavy Artillery and cruise missiles); so despite the war not resolving instantaneously a strong show of Russian military might is still an attainable goal in the conflict, despite the preposterously enormous human cost. However if somehow sanctions continue at their present rate for at least 2 years and the Russian economy is truly disrupted then there will probably be a large amount of resentment for the west internally; Putin has already fostered Nationalism (and China is fostering Jingoism and Nationalism); this could easily be a unifying issue in Russia that makes them effectively stronger and more capable of a "War Boom" a la what brought the world out of the Great Depression in the 1930s and 1940s.
Per Ryan Thibodaux's HoF Tracker David Ortiz is the only candidate on the current baseball hall of fame ballot on track for election: https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=F2E5D8FC5199DFAF!39939&ithint=file,xlsx&authkey=!AK9u16pmWGGlQsI A few years ago the immortal Harold Baines was elected and a fun new statistic was invented; how many Harold Baineses are the actual hall of famers worth? Well let's dissect the current ballot accordingly. Before we get started I'd like to say I do think David Ortiz is worthy of the Hall of Fame but it should probably be in like 4-5 cycles or something; also the blatant hypocrisy of electing him (who was named on the Mitchell Report) while not electing Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, A-Rod, and others is highly amusing.
For further Baines context here's a legendary onion post on the matter, parodying the Yankees' celebration of Jeter passing Lou Gehrig in hits: https://www.theonion.com/derek-jeter-honored-for-having-fewer-hits-than-harold-b-1819571015
Baines was worth 38.7 BWAR in his career, roughly 60% of a hall of famer; though in the most journeyman way possible. He is largely a White Sox player so I have to support his candidacy on principle but that doesn't mean I can't make fun of it at the same time; I shall now order everyone (until I lose interest) on the ballot by their number of Baineses; apologies for the slapdashness of this component of the post:
1. Barry Bonds (4.20 Baineses)
My favorite Bonds Statistic is his .609 OBP in the 2004 season; generally it's a .350 OBP is considered quite good and .400 exceptional; Bonds gives no fucks about your 125 OPS+ statlines. Best player since WW2 and arguably the best of all time; if you want to make the "What if no steroids" case then he'd probably be like the 2nd or 3rd best since WW2 instead (with ~120 WAR).
2. Roger Clemens (3.597 Baineses)
As compelling as Bonds' case is I think Clemens' case as the best pitcher ever is much closer to rock solid; it's just Walter Johnson Vs Clemens but Clemens played in an immensely more difficult era. Bonds may be the best offensive player but Babe Ruth's combined stats as a hitter and pitcher still win out in that regard; Clemens is pretty clearly in the top 3 best pitchers of all time but most likely simply the best.
3. Alex Rodriguez (3.036 Baineses)
Surprisingly doesn't seem to be much discourse about A-Rod vis-a-vis the hall of fame this year; he's getting decent support but basically no chance of election until his 8th-10th years on the ballot (unless Bonds/Clemens get in via Vet committee next year, they are going to be on that ballot); both A-Rod and David Ortiz are prominent commentators of the game alongside the illustrious hall of famer Frank Thomas (my favorite player); for some reason people are trying to make rate stat comparisons between A-Rod and Big Papi; but A-Rod has FOUR (4) 9.0 BWAR Seasons whilst David Ortiz has one season over 6; I don't like the DH penalty either but they're not even in the same region; A-Rod should be inner circle while David Ortiz is like the 2nd or 3rd best DH candidate or so.
4. Curt Schilling (2.05 Baineses)
Everyone hates him, he helped make Kingdoms of Amalur (which is doing pretty well on my youtube incidentally; thanks to the infallible folks at THQ Nordic), and he's the best postseason pitcher this side of Koufax. Last guy on the ballot to be worth 2 Harold Baineses.
5. Scott Rolen (1.811 Baineses)
One of the best defensive Third Basemen ever, pretty clear hall of fame case but unfortunately taking quite a few ballots to get there.
6. Manny Ramirez (1.791 Baineses)
The other half of Ortiz in Boston; Manny was actually extraordinary late in his career having a 1.232 OPS half season with the Dodgers; a much better player than David Ortiz and surging in ballot support this year thanks to Big Papi; but inevitably will fall off the ballot barring some shocking change in the next few years.
7. Andruw Jones (1.62 Baineses)
Andruw Jones was a hall of famer and then he fell off a cliff (mostly due to corpulence); but he'll probably still get in via the writer's ballot toward the end.
8. Todd Helton (1.593 Baineses)
Todd Helton is the best Colorado Rockies player of all time and should/will get in the hall of fame on that premise, opinions vary due to Coor's Field but he was exceptional and had an exceptional beard.
9. Gary Sheffield (1.563 Baineses)
Gary Sheffield is sort of the Jim Rice of the modern era; except a much better player; he had a brief scuff with steroids (ostensibly accidental) before becoming a vocal anti-steroid person, I don't think that is hurting his case that much at this point; he's simply on the borderline for most voters; me big hall therefore yes.
10. Andy Pettite (1.5555555555 Baineses)
Pettitite should get in just for the 5 repeating imo. A key component of the Yankees World Series teams in the 90's/00's and overall just fun to watch; another borderline case but elevated by post season play (whereas Schilling is a clear hall of famer regardless)
11. Bobby Abreu (Also 1.555555555 Baineses)
Bobby Abreu walked a lot and was a solid overall player, but I think he's just someone that benefits from WAR a lot and doesn't have much peak value or anything in particular about him that stands out.
12. Mark Buehrle (1.527 Baineses)
The first long time White Sox on the list; obviously as a White Sox fan a clear hall of famer but the case comes down to how much you value a no hitter and a perfect game for a non strikeout pitcher, as he's otherwise borderline. He was with one team for a really long time and really good for the duration; I suspect he'll get in on the Veteran's Committee if the world doesn't explode in the next 100 years (unlikely that it doesn't).
13. Sammy Sosa (1.514 Baineses)
Sosa is probably the second most famous player in the 90's behind Mark McGwire; the issue is that McGwire just has a better hall of fame case and didn't make it; I wouldn't mind a special election inducting both at some point though.
14. Tim Hudson (1.496 Baineses)
Tim Hudson is slightly worse than Buehrle and not a White Sox player, therefore he can't possibly make it in. Actually Cronyism might benefit him eventually; I liked watching him pitch many times on TBS.
15. Jeff Kent (1.434 Baineses)
One of the best offensive second basemen of all time, will eventually get in via Veteran's Committee; possibly at the first available opportunity.
16. David Ortiz (1.429 Baineses)
So there you have it; David Ortiz is the 16th best player on the ballot by this measure; I could see you fudging that and putting him up to like 11th to 12thish but it is very difficult to not find 10 better players on the ballot. If he does get in congrats and congrats to the Hall of Fame for inducting someone relevant; should be fun.
The other players with more WAR than Harold Baines on this ballot are: Torii Hunter, Mark Teixeira, Jimmy Rollins, Omar Vizquel, Jake Peavy, and Carl Crawford; one past that is Bobby Wagner (a closer) who actually has a decent chance of election in the coming years.
For reference: http://fcdisbad.blogspot.com/2014/05/heroes-of-storm.html
Seems like Pokemon Unite has a similar vibe of people being unbelievably bad so you can get silly leaderboards like this one. I'm not sure what the hands are maybe co-op goals? Strat with Charizard seems to be evolve twice and then murder everyone with your double teleports.
Greetings friends, I was given early access to The Protagonist EX-1 recently but was unable to record it with native Windows 10 recording features; so in lieu of that I decided to simply write up my thoughts on the present state of the game instead. This game is still in early access so if anything seems unfinished in the forthcoming screenshots then keep that in mind, but it seemed relatively functional on the whole. The general concept of the game is that it's a tactical RPG with fighting game elements, I didn't actually notice a half-cover/full cover system so it doesn't necessarily fall into the "X-COM like" department despite what you may think.
Right off the bat the game inundates you with many tutorials (note the #/8)
Some of which are quite verbose; now I do think the fighting system is probably quite complex and would take a while to optimize but maybe present that information gradually instead of dumping it all instantaneously. This is possibly still just an early access issue and on principle I like the ambition and scope of the game's combat which in sharp contrast to most "X-COM clones" (which as mentioned this game is not) is very diverse right off the bat and presumably will become much moreso deeper in the game.
To give a summation of what the general concept is beyond tactical RPG I guess I'd say Mass Effect art design with Jade Empire Combat in a turn based setting; but also with guns/crafting and the Shadowrun Returns style of map movement out of combat. That sounded interesting enough to me personally and I much prefer ambitious indie games to by the book ones, there also don't seem to be roguelite elements (yet) which is always a plus for uniqueness.
In combat your melee strikes build up a super gauge which you can eventually unleash and it carries over between individual combats (it seems like your health is restored though, helpful); so just like Final Fantasy X or whatever you can build up your "limit breaks" and destroy whichever boss; though I'd assume the game tends to just have massive encounters with lots of enemies rather than singular big enemies.
There's also shooting and a crafting system which was somewhat inscrutable at first:
The shooting seems less irritating to execute than most recent tactical RPGs so that's nice, should be fun to mix and match melee with ranged. Here's a shot of the inventory screen:
Which is another information overload scenario, I could guess what half of this stuff does I suppose but its just so much.
Overall I had fun with what I played, I don't think there's a ton of the overall % of the game in the present build but it makes me relatively optimistic for future endeavours. I hope you enjoyed reading this, I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to exercise my writing brain cells for a bit.
Another post so soon? Unthinkable. I was pondering about Lan being Guan Yu in Wheel of Time but figured I might as well just make an RotK post; Romance of the Three Kingdoms or simply Three Kingdoms is the Iliad of the Eastern World; revered in China, Japan, and both Koreas. It is also probably the foremost military textbook that China has and therefore should be studied extensively in Western military academies as well, it is very simply one of the best books ever written and likely the third or fourth most influential behind various religious texts and Mein Kampf. I generally read Moss Roberts' translation but there are completely free versions online of Three Kingdoms as well. I suppose it should be indicative of how much I respect the book that I can recall and discuss so much at any given moment relative to Wheel of Time's binge reading to see what Nynaeve gets angry at this time. All of these characters would be a 10/10 on the Wheel of Time scale and probably by any other measure as well. Also there's plenty of outstanding artwork and even shrines, figurines, memorials, entire fucking temples and cities dedicated to these people since they were real historical figures on top of being legendary. Four of the ten are currently available as limited time Hearthstone skins for example, though I'd advise against giving Blizzard money presently.
#1 Chen Gong
Not Cao Cao, not Zhuge Liang, not even Lord Guan himself? Madness you say. Well I guess Chen Gong mostly leads into the Cao Cao discussion easily and is simply the best of all the honor bound characters; we'll see if Dong Cheng can make it on the list as well. Chen Gong is initially an adviser for Cao Cao before realizing how cruel Mengde can be and eventually winds up throwing in his lot with Lu Bu. While Lu Bu is certainly foolish (though offensively legendary) he is not evil inherently and thus Chen Gong eventually dies at White Gate Tower rather than serving our primary antagonist, here's at least one translation of the poem honoring him:
Neither hope of life nor fear of death moved him. How brave was he, a hero indeed! But his lord heeded not his words, Wherefore in vain possessed he great talents. Nevertheless, in that he stood by his master. To parting with wife and mother, He merits our pity and profound respect. Who would resemble Chen Gong That day he died at the White Gate Tower?
We'll have a bit more on him in a bit as the Cao Cao discussion should be very long, but he is one of the first that Cao Cao says the famous words to "You have been well, I trust, since we parted."
"I hope you have been well since we last saw each other, Chen Gong?" said Cao Cao.
"Your ways were crooked, and so I left you," said Chen Gong.
"You say I was crooked; and what of your serving Lu Bu?"
"Though he was a fool, he did not resemble you in deceit and wickedness."
In the book it seems like Chen Gong is regarded as Cao Cao's equal strategically since he frequently has strategies that meet or exceed the opponent's, he is mostly done in by Lu Bu's foolishness a la Hitler going after the Caucauses and Stalingrad simultaneously instead of listening to Manstein. There are numerous real world situations that parallel the ones in Three Kingdoms and of course many of the battles actually happened and happened quite similarly to how they're discussed, these are 1800 year old battles and a 700+ year old book (often considered the first novel); but they still ring true today.
#2 Cao Cao, Mengde, Ah Man, August Emperor of Wei
"Better to wrong the world than have it wrong me first!" is Cao Cao's (or T'sao T'sao if you prefer) character defining phrase. As he and Chen Gong flee from a farmers hut where he's murdered them under the erroneous suspicion that they were plotting against him. This isn't the most interesting of his gambits but its definitely the best individual quote to sum up the character; by far the best general historically in the Three Kingdoms era he squashed essentially every ruler in Northern China prior to the famous Battle of Red Cliffs or Chi Bi that is the central dramatic event of the entire book (and one of the most decisive battles of all time historically); it is difficult to say what would have happened if he did unify China at that moment, most likely Wei would never have fallen to Jin so you'd have like a 150-300 year Wei Dynasty with Cao Cao as its much heralded founder. His commentary on the Art of War still exists.
Another of my favorites is when his army is running low on supplies in lieu of simply getting the supplies or retreating to restore troop morale he comes up with a brilliant scheme. He calls in the quartermaster and says "You have something I require, general, I hope you would not begrudge it?" ... "Your head, to show the men;" he then cares well for said general's family afterward and assures him that his sacrifice will not be in vein. Most importantly the scheme works and has no negative ramifications later; this speaks to the extremely genuine feel that Three Kingdoms has, which I suppose is easier to create if you're working with a historical basis.
Historical comparisons to Cao Cao include Vladimir Putin and Julius Caesar but he's also a very prominent influence in fiction; the best video game character by far Delita from Final Fantasy Tactics is pretty much a 1 for 1 Cao Cao analogue (with some mild emotional introductory elements). He does have motivations and thus doesn't fall in the Iago, The Joker, or Anton Chigurh camp necessarily but could easily be confused with Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood; a legendary, exceptional villain and probably a top 10 or so military commander in actual Chinese history to boot (possibly even the foremost below the Wu Qi, Sun Pin, Jiang Ziya tier.)
#3 Zhuge Liang, Kongming, Prime Minister of Shu
It is important to make a distinction between historical Zhuge Liang and fictional Zhuge Liang, but in the book and widely regarded amongst common Chinese people as the foremost military strategist of all time. In reality Kongming was a political genius and a reasonably solid military commander, I think if he was actually on a Napoleon or Alexander level then Shu certainly would have won the struggle and restored the Han Dynasty; but since he was such a political genius his legend endures better than his actual self and must have been the core motivation to write the book alongside Liu Bei.
Despite the the differences the most important thing that Zhuge Liang did historically was convince Wu to fight the Battle of Red Cliffs (and help plan it but that was mostly Zhou Yu's feat) which is the central point of the best chapter in the book, Chapter 43 Kongming debates the southern officials; which is an outstanding treatise for anyone that wants to learn how to debate in a verbal setting; a rousing destruction of pedantry. Somewhere around 13 historical dudes come forward to try to argue against him and he demolishes each and every argument with ease and directly causes the Three Kingdoms period to occur thus changing the course of Chinese history for at least 200-300 years. This is a thing that actually happened.
As far as his various military strategems (there are dozens upon dozens) the vast majority of Kongming's stuff would work in reality and a large number of them did happen, I still think that he could have prevented Yi Ling from being such a disaster even if he wasn't there so my opinion of historical Zhuge Liang is not necessarily the highest. Fictional Zhuge Liang is an unparalleled ideal of wise state management, military strategic and tactical genius, as well as how to handle a weak ruler following a strong one and also how to set up a fairly strong succession to your own position; there are very few weaknesses in Fictional Kongming's reasoning and thoughts, at most you could insult his occasional mysticism over actual strategic plans; but often that simply informs something that would have worked in reality. After he dies the book rapidly declines but I have grown fonder and fonder of the fourth volume over time.
#4 Zhang Liao
It's difficult to say how historic Liao's portrayal is in the book but since he isn't Shu (thus negating Luo Guanzhong's bias) and he definitely won the Battle of He Fei while grossly outnumbered it is safe to assume that he was an incredibly capable commander on top of being an excellent warrior and honorable to boot. His famous line is "Lu Bu, oh fool, death is but death so why do you fear it?" Whilst Lu Bu is cringing before Cao Cao, and this earns him Mengde's respect from which he becomes one of the leading generals of Wei. Frequently when Cao Cao or Sima Yi is leading 90% of Wei's troops on some western campaign Zhang Liao is on the eastern front holding the entire might of Wu at bay with seemingly just a few hundred horsemen. The odds given in the book are 800 to 100,000; perhaps apocryphal but still indicative of the feat (unlike Herodotus' numbers there were actually 100k sized armies in the era and preceding eras; China has always had lots of people relative to everywhere else).
#5 Lord Guan, Guan Yu, Yunchang, Lord of Hanshou Precinct
Guan Yu is the Taoist God of War, and he was also a real historical dude. His portrayal in Three Kingdoms is probably the most embellished of any character but nonetheless his historical achievements were still impressive and his character arc in the book is maybe the most tragic and emotional of all the 2400 pages worth. It's difficult to say just how strong a warrior he was but he certainly seemed to be a capable administrator and general on top of being a mighty enough warrior to face Lu Bu without dying. I actually think his scene with Hua Tuo is his best, where he sits perfectly still as he is being surgically operated upon, continuing to read and be merry all the while.
A sterling example of honor and formidable ferocity, statues and other objects of worship abound of him to this day, the easiest example I can give is Chow Yun Fat praying to a statue of Lord Guan in Hardboiled before he goes on to John Woo style action sequences; saying "Guan I need help." Hard to say whether he merits much historical study beyond Fan Castle but in fiction a truly wonderful character. His Guan Dao weapon is naturally named after himself and became a very popular polearm for over a thousand years after his death; though it's unclear how or why the first one was created.
Guan Yu is extremely common in video games in virtually every genre, even moreso than Zhuge Liang. I believe League of Legends and DotA both have a Guan equivalent as does Smite and there might have been Guan Yu skins in Heroes of the Storm as well. Not aware of him showing up in FPS' but its certainly possible. Chops people in half.
#6 Zhang Song
Zhang Song has a fairly minor role in the grand scheme of things but man is it an incredible one. First he gives the keys to the kingdom (of Shu) to Kongming and then immediately goes to shit all over Cao Cao, first with Yang Xiu:
Zhang Song smiled, saying, "If what I have heard is true, Cao Cao's learning throws no gleaming light on the way of Confucius or Mencius, nor does his military skill illumine the art of Sun Zi or Wu Qi. He seems to understand the doctrine of brute force and holding on to what advantages he can seize, but I see not how he can give you any valuable training or enlighten your understanding."
and later with Cao Cao himself
"O Prime Minister, I know well that when you march out your army, you always conquer. I knew it when you attacked Lu Bu at Puyang; and when you fought Zhang Xiu at Wancheng; and when you met Zhou Yu at the Red Cliffs; and when in Huarong Valley you encountered Guan Yu; and on that day when you cut off your beard and threw away your robe at Tong Pass; and when you hid in a boat to escape the arrows on the Yellow River. On all these occasions, no one could stand against you."
Overall a much better version of Mi Heng or Zuo Ci and probably the best or second best rhetorician to grace the book. Pretty sure he is in SGZ but not written so magnificently there.
#7 Zhou Yu, Gongjin
Obligatory Wu Character, there's quite a few of them in the top 20 but not the top 10; Zhou Yu historically is a much better general than Zhuge Liang but in the book most of his competence is stolen by Zhuge Liang's theatrics (stealing arrows, calling forth the wind, Jing Province thievery). The relatively short shrift that Wu is given means all the good characters have somewhat similar archetypes; Lu Xun, Lu Meng, and Zhou Yu are semi-interchangeable aside from longevity. But just for his historic eminence I'll put Zhou Yu here, even if Sun Ce and Gan Ning are more entertaining.
#8 Zhao Yun, Zilong
Zhao Yun is possibly the most badass dude (in terms of singular combat ability) from the era aside from Lu Bu and not a drunken buffoon. I'm not entirely sure how historically accurate his depiction is and obviously he didn't become the God of War in the ensuing centuries; but he does essentially live through the entire duration of Shu's existence and serve admirably even while over 70 years old. The heroic rescue of the utterly useless Liu Shan (in baby form) at Chang Ban is highly entertaining if not quite as rousing as Zhang Fei's role there.
He's also the mascot of Dynasty Warriors since 2 and the most overpowered character in Kessen 2; never lost a single duel with him in hundreds of attempts (RNG based on stats and morale). Zilong's sheer loyalty and honor and unapproachable humility make him the ideal subject more or less; give him a job and he does it well without complaint frequently killing a general (or six) in the ensuing melee.
#9 Liu Bei, Xuande, Emperor of Shu
Our Protagonist himself, Xuande's story is riveting and goes through a seemingly endless cavalcade of setbacks and failures before finally establishing himself in Chengdu (population now: 16 million; actually virtually every city mentioned in Three Kingdoms is a hugeass city now) and taking his "corner of the empire" as it were. Despite all his humility up to that point eventually it is seemingly sheer accident that brings about his own personal downfall at Yi Ling; in the wake of Lord Guan's death. The Three Brothers and the Oath under the Peach Tree are apocryphal (as is Guan being still loyal while under Cao Cao) but it is for much of the book the driving agency of the novel and also the root cause of Liu Bei who probably could've achieved supremacy if he was only willing to work alongside Wu instead of getting salty over Guan Yu's untimely demise. In the RoTK games "Liu Bei King of Hanzhong" is always a fun start.
For much of the first volume/30 chapters (which is definitely the best, though the second volume is similarly strong and has Red Cliffs) he is wandering from place to place, occasionally getting a bit of power and then immediately losing it (usually to Cao Cao); he is a competent soldier and general both historically and fictionally but requires the assistance of others to truly shine. An exceedingly noble soul with an increasingly vivid depiction.
#10 Diaochan
Truly the fairest of them all Diaochan is easily the best and most written about female character in the novel; which is to say not very much. Sun Shang Xiang/Sun Li and Mistress Zhen are around but only for brief segments and often in fairly demeaning ways. But Diaochan performs her role admirably as seductress without being particularly vile and brings down the heinous Tyrant Dong Zhuo using Lu Bu along the way. The mightiest warrior gets the best girl and they live happily ever after.
On a more serious note Three Kingdoms is essentially a military textbook discussing nonstop battles and campaigns with only a few brief interludes where they can include women in some way; not that women haven't had plenty of historical combat excellence (including Fu Hao and Hua Mulan) just not in 200 AD in China. I guess if they made it into a Netflix show which is pretty likely then women would show up a lot more often and perhaps even become generals and what not a la recent Dynasty Warriors depictions.
