History Literature / TheKingsAvatar

An English translation of the web novel can be found [[https://www.webnovel.com/book/7176992105000305 here]]. Meanwhile, an AnimatedAdaptation (not {{Anime}} since it's Japanese-only; some may prefer the Chinese word for animation "动画", pronounced ''donghua'') began airing in April 7, 2017 (lining up with the Spring2017Anime season), produced by G.CMAY Animation & Film. A promotional video can be viewed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3arFUIyA3l8 here]], with an official English sub provided [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMX26aiIvX5ocv2xksC-w-YQrqlixhIRA here]]. A three-episode original net animation follows-up the first season, released on April 27, 2018, produced by Colored-Pencil Animation Design; the second season, however, is dated for a 2019 release. A live-action television series has begun broadcasting on July 24, 2019. Finally, a film entitled ''The King's Avatar: For The Glory'' will be released on August 16, 2019, based on a {{Prequel}} novel written by Butterfly Blue called "The Summit Of Glory" (Chinese: 巅峰荣耀; Pinyin: Diān Fēng Róng Yào; literally "Peak/Top Glory"), detailing Ye Xiu during his first championship run with Excellent Era.

** ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: [[spoiler: Ye Xiu is even daring enough to do this during Game 2 playoff finals match in the Team Competition against Samsara.]]

A trailer for ''The King's Avatar: For The Glory'' can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=371X_H86lUg here]]; the second trailer can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjvEc6j93ic&feature=youtu.be here]], third trailer can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-65woE8k7w here]].

A trailer for ''The King's Avatar: For The Glory'' can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=371X_H86lUg here]]; the second trailer can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjvEc6j93ic&feature=youtu.be here]].

An English translation of the web novel can be found [[https://www.webnovel.com/book/7176992105000305 here]]. Meanwhile, an AnimatedAdaptation (not {{Anime}} since it's Japanese-only; some may prefer the Chinese word for animation "动画", pronounced ''donghua'') began airing in April 7, 2017 (lining up with the Spring2017Anime season), produced by G.CMAY Animation & Film. A promotional video can be viewed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3arFUIyA3l8 here]], with an official English sub provided [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMX26aiIvX5ocv2xksC-w-YQrqlixhIRA here]]. A three-episode original net animation follows-up the first season, released on April 27, 2018, produced by Colored-Pencil Animation Design; the second season, however, is dated for a July 2019 release. A live-action television series will also begin broadcasting in the summer of 2019. Finally, a film entitled ''The King's Avatar: For The Glory'' will be released on August 16, 2019, based on a {{Prequel}} novel written by Butterfly Blue called "The Summit Of Glory" (Chinese: 巅峰荣耀; Pinyin: Diān Fēng Róng Yào; literally "Peak/Top Glory"), detailing Ye Xiu during his three-consecutive championship run with Excellent Era.

[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=371X_H86lUg Movie Trailer 1]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjvEc6j93ic&feature=youtu.be Movie Trailer 2]].

An English translation of the web novel can be found [[https://www.webnovel.com/book/7176992105000305 here]]. Meanwhile, an AnimatedAdaptation (not {{Anime}} since it's Japanese-only; some may prefer the Chinese word for animation "动画", pronounced ''donghua'') began airing in April 7, 2017 (lining up with the Spring2017Anime season), produced by G.CMAY Animation & Film. A promotional video can be viewed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3arFUIyA3l8 here]], with an official English sub provided [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMX26aiIvX5ocv2xksC-w-YQrqlixhIRA here]]. A three-episode original net animation follows-up the first season, released on April 27, 2018, produced by Colored-Pencil Animation Design; the second season, however, is dated for a July 2019 release. A live-action television series will also begin broadcasting in the summer of 2019. Finally, a {{Prequel}} film entitled ''The King's Avatar: For The Glory'' will be released on August 16, 2019, detailing Ye Xiu during his first championship run with Excellent Run.

An English translation of the web novel can be found [[https://www.webnovel.com/book/7176992105000305 here]]. Meanwhile, an AnimatedAdaptation (not {{Anime}} since it's Japanese-only; some may prefer the Chinese word for animation "动画", pronounced ''donghua'') was announced in 2016 and began airing in April 7, 2017 (lining up with the Spring2017Anime season), produced by G.CMAY Animation & Film. A promotional video can be viewed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3arFUIyA3l8 here]], with an official English sub provided [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMX26aiIvX5ocv2xksC-w-YQrqlixhIRA here]]. A three-episode original net animation follows-up the first season, released on April 27, 2018, produced by Colored-Pencil Animation Design; the second season, however, is dated for a 2019 release. A live-action television series will also begin broadcasting in the summer of 2019.

** It's common to see players under contract who wish to leave their team being told they must pay an inexorbent amount of termination fees: this is to deter players from acquiring better benefits from joining a rival organization, which isn't unheard of.

Set in mainland China, "Glory" is a MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame with over 130 million players worldwide, even earning status as a [[UsefulNotes/ProfessionalGaming professional sport]]. Protagonist Ye Xiu is a 10-year Glory veteran and professional player for the "Excellent Era" team, captaining its players to three consecutive championships, earning him fame as the "Battle God" of the game. Unfortunately, ''The King's Avatar'' begins with his forced, unceremonious retirement from Excellent Era, getting kicked out of the team and thrown into the cold (literally), even forced to give up his Glory character "One Autumn Leaf". By chance, Ye Xiu wanders into a nearby Internet cafe, where he applies for a job as a night-shift manager from its owner Chen Guo, a Glory player herself and an Excellent Era {{fangirl}}. Thankfully, the job offers free room and board, along with access to a computer, which Ye Xiu makes the most of it; however, upon hearing news Glory is about to open its tenth server, he decides to re-play the game from the very bottom, using a new character called "Lord Grim", dedicating to a CharacterClass no one has played in Glory for years: an unspecialized character. As Lord Grim's notoriety increases by pulling off feats such as achieving the first boss kills and the fastest times in completing dungeons and raids, new and veteran Glory players slowly deduce Lord Grim is used by a LivingLegend, having returned to the fold.

An English translation of the web novel can be found [[https://www.webnovel.com/book/7176992105000305 here]]. Meanwhile, an AnimatedAdaptation (not {{Anime}} since it's Japanese-only; some may prefer the Chinese word for animation "动画" , pronounced ''donghua'') was announced in 2016 and began airing in April 7, 2017 (lining up with the Spring2017Anime season), produced by G.CMAY Animation & Film. A promotional video can be viewed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3arFUIyA3l8 here]], with an official English sub provided [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMX26aiIvX5ocv2xksC-w-YQrqlixhIRA here]]. A three-episode original net animation follows-up the first season, released on April 27, 2018, produced by Colored-Pencil Animation Design; the second season, however, is dated for a 2019 release. A live-action television series will also begin broadcasting in the summer of 2019.

An English translation of the web novel can be found [[https://www.webnovel.com/book/7176992105000305 here]]. Meanwhile, an AnimatedAdaptation (not {{Anime}} since it's Japanese-only; some may prefer the Chinese word for animation "动画" (''donghua''), though as it's not a common term yet, "animation" may be preferred) was announced in 2016 and began airing in April 7, 2017 (lining up with the Spring2017Anime season), produced by G.CMAY Animation & Film. A promotional video can be viewed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3arFUIyA3l8 here]], with an official English sub provided [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMX26aiIvX5ocv2xksC-w-YQrqlixhIRA here]]. A three-episode original net animation follows-up the first season, released on April 27, 2018, produced by Colored-Pencil Animation Design; the second season, however, is dated for a 2019 release. A live-action television series will also begin broadcasting in the summer of 2019.

* FootballHooligans: eSports Hooligans: InUniverse, players will taunt each other through {{Flame War}}s in the world chat, while post-match "[[BarBrawl guild wars]]" can last until the next morning.

An English translation of the web novel can be found [[https://www.webnovel.com/book/7176992105000305 here]]. Meanwhile, an AnimatedAdaptation (not {{Anime}} since it's Japanese-only; some may prefer the Chinese word for animation "动画" (''donghua''), though as it's not a common term yet, "animation" may be preferred) was announced in 2016 and began airing in April 7, 2017 (lining up with the Spring2017Anime season), produced by G.CMAY Animation & Film. A promotional video can be viewed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3arFUIyA3l8 here]], with an official English sub provided [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMX26aiIvX5ocv2xksC-w-YQrqlixhIRA here]]. A three-episode original net animation follows-up the first season, released on April 27, 2018, produced by Colored-Pencil Animation Design; the second season, however, is dated for a 2019 release. A live-action television series will also begin broadcasting on December 31, 2018.

* [[FootballHooligans eSports Hooligans]]: InUniverse, players will taunt each other through {{Flame War}}s in the world chat, while post-match "[[BarBrawl guild wars]]" can last until the next morning.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: Quite a few people joined {{spoiler: Team/Guild Happy}} after being defeated by Ye Xiu or his team. For example: Tang Rou, {{spoiler: Wei Chen, Wu Chen. The most famous case is probably Deception, who was practically PKed into submission, although calling his relationship with Ye Xiu "friendship" is a bit of a stretch.}}

* TrashTalk: A valid strategy in battle; Huang Shaotian, in particular, is famous for it. Part of being a professional player is learning to ignore it.

* ManChild: Pro players may seem like gods to the average players, but they can trash talk, curse and bicker like children whenever they fight each other. In an attempt to preserve their images, the league banned cussing in official matches.

*** Zhou Zekai, one of the five strongest [=PvP=] combatants in Glory, uses the same-named Gunner-class from ''Dungeon Fighter Online''[[note]]While the technical term should be "Ranger", the web novel and animation calls the class "Gunner"[[/note]], often touted by the community to be the best in [=PvP=] due to their natural ranged skills.

An English translation of the web novel can be found [[https://www.webnovel.com/book/7176992105000305 here]]. Meanwhile, an AnimatedAdaptation (not {{Anime}} since it's Japanese-only; some may prefer the Chinese word for animation "动画" (''donghua''), though as it's not a common term yet, "animation" may be preferred) was announced in 2016 and began airing in April 7, 2017 (lining up with the Spring2017Anime season), produced by G.CMAY Animation & Film. A promotional video can be viewed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3arFUIyA3l8 here]], with an official English sub provided [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMX26aiIvX5ocv2xksC-w-YQrqlixhIRA here]]. A three-episode original net animation follows-up the first season, released on April 27, 2018, produced by Colored-Pencil Animation Design; the second season, however, is dated for a 2019 release.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quanzhigaoshou.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[{{Tagline}} Glory never fades]].]]

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the original novel, Ye Xiu's avatar Lord Grim is constantly described as always wearing a disgusting, randomly colored mish-mash of whatever high quality equipment he can get his hands on (after all, as equipment {{Set Bonus}}es are all class based, and his Unspecialized has none, there's no reason for him to wear matching equipment). In the animated adaptation however, Lord Grim has on a very nice looking black, silver and gold armor set with a red scarf through the entire story.

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Variation, while mixed with TruthInTelevision and {{Wuxia}} tropes - as the story revolves around UsefulNotes/ProfessionalGaming and its effects on the fanbase, there are naturally quite a lot of StopHavingFunGuys in the Glory scene, both in and out of the game. In several cases, however, the scenarios involving these types of gamers tend to play out in typical MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours fashion, only with [=PvP=] matches instead of actual martial arts.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Played with in the animation; characters like Ye Xiu, Su Mucheng and Huang Shaotian appear visually pleasing to the eye, while those from Excellent Era (Liu Hao and Cui Li) look less attractive, although Sun Xiang is just as good-looking as the former. Furthermore, members of other professional teams and amateur players alike (be they allies or rivals) look similar to Ye Xiu.
* BookEnds: The story begins and ends with [[spoiler: Ye Xiu's comeback from retirement in gaming and playing as Unspecialized.[[note]]Ye Xiu's first comeback has Lord Grim while his second comeback is him being a leader and an informal player to the Chinese Glory Team who only substitutes those who can't play during the event, hence "Unspecialized".[[/note]]]]
** Also, [[spoiler: Ye Xiu running away from home to play Glory.[[note]] The first time was from his parents disapproval while the last time is, with a hilarious bit of {{Irony}}, being forced by his parents to play for the motherland as the leader of the Chinese Glory Team.[[/note]]]]
* BribingYourWayToVictory: Downplayed. Rich players can still buy high-level characters, equipment and materials from one of the many gold farmers available. However, they will only be able to bully normal players with such a setup. Winning against veterans or pro players require genuine skills.
* BrokenPedestal: Chen Guo has become much less enamored with God Level players in general after dealing with Ye Xiu. It's also straight up referenced when he and [[spoiler: Wei Chen]] get into a fight. She still likes Su Mucheng though.
* CantTakeAnythingWithYou: Players can't bring equipment and items from the "Heavenly Domain" into the lower-level servers.
* ClarkKenting: {{Discussed}}; occasionally, pro players will use the same CharacterClass they are most familiar with when migrating to the tenth server, performing feats only they can do. Certain amateur and guild players quickly catch on to who they are, though one character questions this trope - why would a professional like Su Mucheng from Excellent Era help the "Tyrannical Ambition" guild, while in disguise as "Cleansing Mist", break a dungeon record?
** Because he's never appeared in the public, Ye Xiu has been able to play for years [[spoiler: under his twin brother's identity.]]
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Steamed Bun Invasion is recruited exactly because his thought processes are so ''odd''. He can't read the mood in a room, is basically immune to all types of trash talk because he misses the point, and makes completely baffling decisions during fights. This makes it extremely hard for pro players to read him, as he's just so far outside any established meta and can't be emotionally manipulated into getting angry or sloppy by any traditional means.

* ColorCodedCharacters: The "main" guilds and competitive teams in the series are each coded to one or two colors. This color scheme usually applies to their individual guilds in the tenth server.

* {{Deconstruction}}
** Tang Rou is a {{Determinator}} and will continue to fight and request rematches despite losing, but she will consistently challenge pro players who have far more experience than her and defeat her more times than she can defeat them. Ye Xiu [[LampshadeHanging flat out tells her this mindset isn't always good]].
---> '''Ye Xiu''': "In Glory, you don’t compete until the last player stands; you compete until the last character stands. Even if you kept playing until he became so tired that he had no way of continuing, I can assure you, the number of times he’ll have won will be much greater than yours. In the end, he’ll have been the one to win, not you."
** Su Mucheng deconstructs SatelliteCharacter InUniverse: as Ye Xiu's former teammate in Excellent Era, her play-style revolved around supporting Ye Xiu's One Autumn Leaf, but with his abscence, she's forced to adapt since new team captain Sun Xiang doesn't play the same as Ye Xiu.
** OnlyKnownByTheirNickname is deconstructed against Ye Xiu, who goes by "Ye Qiu" in the professional scene, but because he never shows his face publicly, most people don't take his claims as being Ye Qiu seriously.
*** Furthermore, Ye Xiu's [[HumbleHero lack of interest at showing his face]] and [[LonersAreFreaks reclusive nature]] in Excellent Era are described as his source of downfall from power. As an essential celebrity in a championship winning team revolved around public appearances for income, being a SociallyAwkwardHero will only cripple the organization; taken to its logical conclusion with management ousting him.

* EvolvingWeapon: Silver Equipment can be upgraded in stages by adding in uncommon materials. This allows the equipment to never become outdated and grow stronger alongside the character.

* TheGenerationGap: The "Glory Professional Alliance" league is divided into two generations - the elder players will mostly stay loyal to the same club for their careers, but younger talent have a more mercenary-based mindset, and are willing to play for rival clubs for higher pay or prestige at every opportunity.

** Many pro players f rom different teams are in an online group chat where they can amicably mingle and discuss despite their team rivalry.

* GuideDangIt:

** Ye Xiu later [[spoiler: creates guides for breaking dungeon records and sell them to the big guilds. Wei Chen's guide to maximize the amount of skill points, after being perfected, is sold to a wealthy Club for 20 million RMB, or roughly 3 million USD.]]

* InnocentCohabitation: Ye Xiu, Chen Guo and Tang Rou live in the living quarter on the second floor of Happy Internet cafe. There were three bedrooms (Ye Xiu's is a storage room) connected by a living room. There's no romantic undertones between them.

** When Su Mucheng and Huang Shaotian go to see Ye Xiu at the Internet cafe, they have to carefully disguise themselves as regular patrons; Shaotian even {{Lampshades}} how everybody knows what he looks like, whereas only a few professional players have ever seen Ye Xiu due to his reclusiveness.

* LethalJokeCharacter: Lord Grim. In addition to his utterly mis-matched armor and equipment, Lord Grim is also an Unspecialized. A character who has not undergone Class Specialization and therefore can't learn any skills above level 20 or benefit from equipment proficiency bonuses. Oh, and on the main server, he can't go beyond level 50, when the level cap for everyone else is 70. But as unspecialized he can learn every skill lv 20 and below, which is about 120. Give him to the man who earned the title of "Glory Encyclopedia" and add a weapon that takes away the Unspecialized's other major weakness (changing weapons to use all their skills) and he's a menace. Oh, and has a skill and power ceiling high enough to reach the Heavenly Domain, a specialized Server where everyone can get to the level cap (since it was expected that characters were already there and there were no Unspecialized at the time of the Domain's release). It's expected that you are max level when you attempt to get in so each update that increases the level cap makes it harder for an Unspecialized to pass.
* LetsGetDangerous: InUniverse, from the audience and professional players' perspective in the All-Star Competition, during the Player vs. Pro Battle, a random player takes the place of the next challenger, cracking jokes and arguing with the previous challenger to give them their account to use, seemingly lambasting them for incompetence. Of course, the random person is Ye Xiu and he quickly proceeds to dominate the entire fight.

* LoopholeAbuse: Retired pro players cannot return to the pro scene for one year. However there was no rules regarding retired players participating in the Challenger League. Excellent Era, when trying to smear Ye Xiu's reputation when they know [[spoiler: he is in Team Happy]], found this out the hard way.

* MoneySink: Justified InUniverse - to craft the best silver equipment, the highest tier of the equipment category rankings, players must pump lots of rare materials worth millions of ''renmenbi'' (in-series, 10 ''renmenbi'' is roughly equivalent to an American dollar).

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Whenever an expert is described as weak in the novel, it is only in comparison to pro players. The expert can still wipe the floor with an amateur.

** Young adolescents who are unable to pursue their dreams at becoming professional in Glory are left destitute and with little working skills, due to many of them dropping out of school or leaving home. [[JustifiedTrope Ye Xiu points out this is why he became an Internet cafe manager]]: he didn't have any other skills other than gaming.

* RuleOfSymbolism: The professional teams logos, such as
** Excellent Era's logo of a leaf with a spear and three stars - symbolizing Ye Xiu's 3 championship reign with his One Autumn Leaf
** Happy's logo of a phoenix - [[spoiler: symbolizing Ye Xiu's comeback in the professional scene.]]
* ScarfOfAsskicking
** Lord Grim has a flowing red one.
** Qiao Yifan's Assassin-class character has a purple one.
** Wang Jiexi wears one indoors; justified due to the oncoming winter season.

* SelfDeprecation: The author makes fun of himself at one point regarding Steamed Bun Invasion [[OutOfFocus having been forgotten about]] during Ye Xiu's foray into the Heavenly Domain:

* ShoutOut: Being a work that examines the eSports aspect of the MassivelyMultiplayerOnline genre, there's quite a few nods to existing games.

** Han Wenqing's Desert Dust character is a nod to the popular demolition map "de_dust" from ''VideoGame/CounterStrike''. The actual game is later referenced when describing whatn playing a Gunner-class without using any of its class skills feels like.

* SmallGirlBigGun: Female Launchers's main weapon is the [[BFG Hand cannon]], often evoking this trope.

* WeakButSkilled: The Unspecialized "class". Even with the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella and Ye Xiu's status as Glory's Textbook eliminating the two of the three major flaws holding Lord Grim back, Unspecialized still retains a notable disadvantage in basic strength. All classes gain damage bonuses when using skills of their class specialization as well as bonus stats from equipment proficiencies but Unspecialized do not. This forces Lord Grim to make up the difference by chaining his multitude of skills together in unique ways.

* WhyWeCantHaveNiceThings: In the early days of Glory's professional league, pros were closer with their in-game fans and would often log in to play with them in [=PvE=] and [=PvP=], until some players started spamming, stalking, even ambushing them to steal their priceless equipment. Presently, pro characters rarely appear in-game, if at all.