History Literature / WaterMargin

!! ''Water Margin'' contains examples of:

* AnyoneCanDie: [[DwindlingParty A huge number of the "heroes" die in the campaign against Fang La's rebellion]], [[DroppedABridgeOnHim several others die of disease]], and [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished Song Jiang and a couple of his most senior officers are poisoned by jealous officials for their efforts]], leading his strategist, Wu Yong, and his best friend, Hua Rong, to join them TogetherInDeath. Some of the bandits do make it out alive, and even live HappilyEverAfter, but they're in the minority.

** This is a favorite tactic of the Liangshan Marsh bandits. When a potential recruit is being kept form joining their ranks by some responsibility to others, the bandits remove the third wheel.

* HeelFaceTurn: The bandits after their pardon. Getting one was the goal all along, but it still results in them becoming a lot less murderous and a lot more consistently heroic.

** A widely read 71 chapter version of ''Water Margin'' was produced in the 17th century, about 500 years after the original was written. What's special about revision is that the editor added several passages to develop the characters further, removed large sections he found boring to read and did not advance the plot, including several poetry sections as well as the entirety of chapters 71 to 120. A new prologue was added, which renumbered the entire book and made the old chapter 70 into chapter 71, which itself was reedited into a RevisedEnding featuring an outlaw having a dream vision of their future defeat. All of the changes were done to appease the imperial court in order to promote an {{Anvilicious}} message that while the outlaws may have sympathetic backgrounds, rebellions are nevertheless bad and need condemnation, as the Ming Dynasty then was under constant upheaval by rebels.

*** Speaking of definitive villains labelled under a completely alien definition of "hero", "Stumpy Tiger" Wang Ying comes to mind. He's a prolific sexual predator who by any other metric is nothing but a horrible excuse of a human being, and is only really seen as a "hero" because he's ''somewhat'' loyal to the rest of them [[TheStarscream (and even then, he had thoughts about killing Yan Shun when the latter stopped him from raping a nobleman's wife)]]. After all, he became a bandit after robbing rich customers out of greed, and it's saying something when his first appearance had him threatening to dig out Song Jiang's heart to cook as hot soup. Seeing everything, it's almost miraculous how well his marriage to Hu Sanniang went ''especially'' compared to the every other marriage in the story.

* TheStrategist: Wu Yong is the main one, though his area of expertise mostly revolved around getting people to join Liangshan through the most crooked possible methods. The actual organisation of the army relied heavily on Zhu Wu.

* ShootTheShaggyDog:
** As one of the more sympathetic female characters in the book, Hu Sanniang's story is an especially tragic example. She started as a beautiful heiress to the wealthy Hu family who just happened to have the martial skills to back it up, a position that seemed almost ''too'' idealistic for a woman in medieval China. However, the family fortune soon turned to dust as Li Kui massacred the entire household including her fiance, and Sannniang was captured and forced to join her jailers. What's more, Song Jiang arranged her marriage to [[DepravedDwarf Wang Ying]], and as soon as it started to turn for the better, the two were killed like common soldiers in the campaign against Fang La. Sure, the "heroes" eventually triumphed, but not for their original intent, and corrupt officials ensured that they would soon part ways. And the nail in the coffin for Sanniang? Being a woman, and one of the "lesser" outlaws, she was never granted a noble title or the commemoration of even her husband (unless you count the context of the novel, that is), and ultimately died fighting for her captors in a campaign that only helped preserve the corrupt Song Dynasty.
** Fang La can also count as this, if you view him as a HeroOfAnotherStory and a parallel to Song Jiang.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Many of the more shocking deeds performed by the heroes are sanitised quite a bit in the various adaptations. The darker heroes in particular go through this treatment. For instance, Li Kui's level of barbarity is usually toned down in the TV versions (the 2011 iteration is especially base-breaking due to the AdaptationalComicRelief presentation), Sun Erniang gains some more scruples and sympathy by getting tragic backstories and generally reserving her kills to jerks and criminals, while characters like Wang Ying and Dong Ping usually soften their more [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil unsavoury tendencies]] and are made to be more in line with the LovableSexManiac (for the former) or ChivalrousPervert (for the latter) roles.

* KillThemAll: [[DwindlingParty A huge number of the "heroes" die in the campaign against Fang La's rebellion]], [[DroppedABridgeOnHim several others die of disease]], and [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished Song Jiang and a couple of his most senior officers are poisoned by jealous officials for their efforts]], leading his strategist, Wu Yong, and his best friend, Hua Rong, to join them TogetherInDeath. Some of the bandits do make it out alive, and even live HappilyEverAfter, but they're in the minority.

* WouldNotShootACivilian: After joining the army, the bandits make a point of minimising damage to the civilian population. They're much better and more consistent about it than they were as outlaws (see NeverHurtAnInnocent above).

** Chao Gai is the big one, as his death allowed Song Jiang to take over and provide the outlaws with the ability to gain amnesty.

* TheStrategist: Zhu Wu.
** Wu Yong as well.

** Many of the [[ArcVillain Arc Villains]] in the heroes' backstories count as this, if only to make their own crimes a bit more palatable. There's Zheng Tu for Lu Zhishen, a tyrannical butcher who used his wealth to bully and oppress Jin Cuilian. There's Huang Wenbing, the corrupt petty official who attempts to have Song Jiang executed in hope of gaining a reputation. There's also Jiang the Door God, a thug who beat up Shi En to take over his business and later tried to have Wu Song killed for helping Shi En. Lin Chong had his backstabbing, cowardly friend Lu Huan who betrayed him to the government, Yang Zhi had the local hooligan Niu Er who tried to take his family heirloom sword for a dirty-cheap price, and in Lu Junyi's story was his treacherous, ungrateful steward Li Gu who seized the opportunity to have him arrested to steal his wife and property before trying to get him killed. All of them died horrifically, but the author already ensured that no tears will be shed for any of them.

*** Speaking of definitive villains labelled under a completely alien definition of "hero", "Stumpy Tiger" Wang Ying comes to mind. He's a prolific sexual predator who by any other metric is nothing but a horrible excuse of a human being, and is only really seen as a "hero" because he's ''somewhat'' loyal to the rest of them [[TheStarscream (and even then, he had thoughts about Yan Shun when the latter stopped him from raping a nobleman's wife)]]. After all, he became a bandit after robbing rich customers out of greed, and it's saying something when his first appearance had him threatening to dig out Song Jiang's heart to cook as hot soup. Seeing everything, it's almost miraculous how well his marriage to Hu Sanniang went ''especially'' compared to the every other marriage in the story.

*** Speaking of definitive villains labelled under a completely alien definition of "hero", "Stumpy Tiger" Wang Ying comes to mind. He's a prolific sexual predator who by any other metric is nothing but a horrible excuse of a human being, and is only really seen as a "hero" because he's ''somewhat'' loyal to the rest of them [[TheStarscream (and even then, he had thoughts about Yan Shun when the latter stopped him from raping a nobleman's wife)]]. After all, he became a bandit after robbing rich customers out of greed, and it's saying something when his first appearance had him threatening to dig out Song Jiang's heart to cook as hot soup. Seeing everything, it's almost miraculous how well his marriage to Hu Sanniang was ''especially'' compared to the every other marriage in the story.

** In fact, most of the outlaws can count as this, especially in a modern context. Wu Yong's contributions to Liangshan for instance are laced with more than a couple questionable schemes, from ruining Lu Junyi's life and family to ordering Li Kui to butcher Zhu Tong's son to death just to get them both on Liangshan. In fact, it was he who was behind Song Jiang's darkest actions, something he had realised by the time he hanged himself. Dong Ping is a more classic example, as he only joined the outlaws so he could get at the prefect and take over his position. Why? Because he wouldn't allow him to marry his daughter.
*** Speaking of definitive villains labelled under a completely alien definition of "hero", "Stumpy Tiger" Wang Ying comes to mind. Unlike most other heroes who were wronged by authorities, Wang became a bandit simply after robbing rich customers, and that was purely out of greed. Moreover, he's a prolific sexual predator who was introduced [[ImAHumanitarian trying to carve up and eat Song Jiang's heart,]] and when the time came grabbed a nobleman's beautiful wife who he tried to rape. When Song Jiang and Yan Shun told him to stop, [[TheStarscream he intended to have Yan killed]] and only backed down with the promise of a better wife. Marrying Hu Sanniang acted as a leash to his behaviour, but it didn't stop him completely either.

** The General: Liu Menglong

*** Speaking of definitive villains labelled under a completely alien definition of "hero", "Stumpy Tiger" Wang Ying comes to mind. Unlike most other heroes who were wronged by authorities, Wang became an bandit after robbing rich customers purely out of greed. Moreover, he's a prolific sexual predator who was introduced [[ImAHumanitarian trying to carve up and eat Song Jiang's heart,]] and when the time came grabbed a nobleman's beautiful wife who he tried to rape. When Song Jiang and Yan Shun told him to stop, [[TheStarscream he intended to have Yan killed]] and only backed down with the promise of a better wife. Marrying Hu Sanniang acted as a leash to his behaviour, but it didn't stop him completely.

** In fact, most of the outlaws can count as this, especially in a modern context. Wu Yong's contributions to Liangshan for instance are laced with more than a couple questionable schemes, from ruining Lu Junyi's life and family to forcing Li Kui to butcher Zhu Tong's son to death just to get them both on Liangshan. In fact, it was he who was behind Song Jiang's darkest actions, something he had realised by the time he hanged himself. Dong Ping is a more classic example, as he only joined the outlaws so he could get at the prefect and take over his position. Why? Because he wouldn't allow him to marry his daughter.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Many of the more shocking deeds performed by the heroes are sanitised quite a bit in the various adaptations. The darker heroes in particular go through this treatment. For instance, Li Kui's level of barbarity is usually toned down in the TV versions (the 2011 iteration is especially base-breaking due to the AdaptationalComicRelief presentation), Sun Erniang gains some more scruples and sympathy by getting tragic backstories and generally reserving her kills to jerks and criminals, while characters like Wang Ying and Dong Ping usually soften their more [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil unsavoury tendencies]] and are made to be more in line with ChivalrousPervert roles.

** Song Jiang tends to be zig-zagged. For instance, the 1997 version [[AdaptationalVillany plays up]] his scheming, NominalHero side, while the 2011 version is much more of an archetypal Jianghu hero. It usually depends on the adapter's interpretation of his character and the general consensus of that era.

** The infamous execution method known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingchi ''ling-chi'']], or "DeathByAThousandCuts" was used on multiple characters throughout the book, most notably Fang La, Madam Wang and Hao Siwen. [[AssholeVictim Though hardly anyone mourned for Madam Wang]], and Fang La's death was [[ValuesDissonance within the Song Dynasty jurisdiction]], Hao's death was particularly tragic, as he was a member of the 108 and the brutal method of execution used on him had hit both his sworn brother Guan Sheng and Song Jiang ''hard''.

** The novel does not shy away from other horrific methods of death either. Early examples include when Wu Song disembowled and beheaded Pan Jinlian and Ximen Qing, all the people butchered and cooked as meat buns, and Li Kui cutting and cannibalising Huang Wenbing ''while he was still alive''. Some of the outlaws also died pretty darn brutally during the Fang La campaign. Special mentions go to Dong Ping, who got sliced in half by one of Fang La's men, the brothers Xie, who were crushed to death by boulders.

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Though Gao Qiu and his group are the main villains for the setting as a whole, the book makes use of this trope nonetheless in detailing the rise of Liangshan. The first lot of villains tend to be fairly personal, including local bullies (Zheng Tu, Niu Er), cheating wives (Yan Poxi, Pan Jinlian), or the Wang Lun-led Liangshan leaders when they were still a small band. There's an occasional higher-up figure, like Gao Qiu's foster son, thrown in the mix to establish a connection between the original "heroes" and the imperial court. Afterwards, as the threat of Liangshan increased, the heroes started facing rival bandits (e.g. the Mt Qingfeng chiefs) who they would often absorb as well as petty officials (Huang Wenbing, Liu Gao) who they would generally just get rid of, before crushing and assimilating enough noblemen for the Imperial forces to take them seriously. Some of the generals, like Huyan Zhuo, would be incorporated into the outlaws. Shi Wengong acts as a DiscOneFinalBoss as Chao Gai's killer, with Li Gu serving as an InterimVillain in their quest to incorporate Lu Junyi. Between the grand assembly and the amnesty, imperial forces led by none other than the BigBad himself attempt (and fail) to subjugate the outlaws. After the amnesty, they're sent off to fight external enemies like the Liao Dynasty before finally being pushed into a meat grinder against Fang La. Nevertheless, the surviving outlaws had found themselves unable to defeat the real authority behind their troubles: the Song Dynasty, and Liangshan was promptly dissolved.

** Also the three chiefs of Qingfeng Fort, Yan Shun (big), Wang Ying (short) and Zheng Tianshou (thin).

** Many of the ArcVillains in each of the heroes' back stories count as this, if only to make their own crimes a bit more palatable. There's Zheng Tu for Lu Zhishen, a tyrannical butcher who used his wealth to bully and oppress Jin Cuilian. There's Huang Wenbing, the corrupt petty official who attempts to have Song Jiang executed in hope of gaining a reputation. There's also Jiang the Door God, a thug who beat up Shi En to take over his business and later tried to have Wu Song killed for helping Shi En. Lin Chong had his backstabbing, cowardly friend Lu Huan who betrayed him to the government, Yang Zhi had the local hooligan Niu Er who tried to take his family heirloom sword for a dirty-cheap price, and in Lu Junyi's story was his treacherous, ungrateful steward Li Gu who seized the opportunity to have him arrested to steal his wife and property before trying to get him killed. All of them died horrifically, but the author already ensured that no tears will be shed for any of them.

** The book itself consists of amoral and immoral criminals making up most of the main cast, and no matter how many KickTheDog deeds they do they are impossible to truly hate. You can't hate the Emperor either, since he's portrayed far more sympathetically to get past the censorship. The BigBad [[EvilChancellor Gao Qiu]], on the other hand, is a corrupt, manipulative and oppressive politician who sends the "heroes" to their deaths and is all that is needed to make sure that the readers' blood will boil at one point or another.

** [[FatBastard Zheng Tu]], the ArcVillain for the first part of Lu Zhishen (then known as Lu Da)'s story, is a tyrannical butcher from Weizhou who uses his wealth to oppress the poor and ruin the lives of innocents civilians such as Jin Cuilian and her family.

** Several other characters in Wu Song's story count, if only to make his own crimes a bit more palatable. There's Jiang "the Door God", a thug who beat up Shi En to take over his business, and Zhang the backstabbing military inspector, whose connections with Jiang helped temporarily imprison Wu before sending men to kill him. There's also [[SinisterMinister Wang the Toaist priest]], who regularly abducts and rapes women in his temple. All of them died horrifically, but the author already made sure that no one would shed a tear for them.
** Li Gu, Lu Junyi's treacherous, adulterous and cowardly steward, who was basically Ximen Qing minus any of the cool or sympathetic aspects of the latter. For someone to be FlayedAlive by a ''"hero"'' and still feel satisfying, it's not hard to imagine that the author had this trope in mind when he wrote him.
** Niu Er, the drunken hooligan who confronts Yang Zhi so the latter can give him his family heirloom sword for a dirt-cheap price, only to killed within minutes by Yang.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: The infamous execution method known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingchi ''ling-chi'']], or "DeathByAThousandCuts" was used on multiple characters throughout the book, most notably Fang La, Madam Wang and Hao Siwen. [[AssholeVictim Though hardly anyone mourned for Madam Wang]], and Fang La's death was [[ValuesDissonance within the Song Dynasty jurisdiction]], Hao's death was particularly tragic, as he was a member of the 108 and the brutal method of execution used on him had hit Song Jiang ''hard''.
** And this method was not just limited to the government either. Lu Junyi used it to kill his steward and adulterous wife for having an affair and later blackmailing him. Due to ValuesDissonance, the killing was treated as a ''heroic'' act.

* DrunkenMaster: Wu Song kills a man-eating tiger with his bare hands largely because he was drunk off his ass. He uses the same tactic later in the story to beat up Jiang the Door God.