History Literature / WillOfHeaven

* DropTheHammer: Zhang Liang [[spoiler: supposedly]] tried to assassinate the First Emperor with a 120-catty hammer.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: [[OneManArmy Xiang Yu]], who has all the other lords cowed with his military might. This is later subverted, as his big army and prowess in battle aren't enough to save him from his lack of governance skills.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Let's see... the Second Emperor Huhai, King Huai of Chu, and later [[spoiler: Han Xin himself, not to mention a number of Liu Bang's other supporters]]. This trope appears a ''lot'' in Chinese history.

* BullyingADragon: The historical incident where a guy told Han Xin to either kill him or crawl through his legs. It ends better than you might expect, but not before gaining [[NeverLiveItDown memetic status]] and dooming Han Xin to a whole lot of trouble.

* NeverLiveItDown: That time when Han Xin crawled between a guy's legs. It even made it into the history books, after all.

* BigGood: Arguably [[spoiler: the eponymous will of heaven]].

* BaGua: The basis for the "game of eight palaces."

Then the Qin Dynasty implodes in barely a decade, and China is again thrown into war, as the lords of the six states conquered by Qin first come out of hiding to destroy their former oppressor, then fight amongst themselves for hegemony. Han Xin immediately enlists in the Chu army led by the [[BadassFamily Xiang family]], but finds himself dismissed and belittled at every turn when [[IgnoredExpert he tries to offer up his abilities]]. Meanwhile, throughout the course of his travels, he's discovering that there may have been more to the black-robed man and his god than he'd initially thought...

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: For now, at least. Han Xin dies, and Longxi still lives. We'll have to wait to see what Ji Jiang's next move is.]]

''Literature/WillOfHeaven'', also known as ''Providence'', is a 2004 [[NonEnglishLiterature mainland Chinese]] SpeculativeFiction novel by Qian Lifang. A translation in progress with [[FootnoteFever explanatory footnotes]] for the historical references can be found [[http://willofheavenfantranslation.blogspot.com/ here]].

* ChekovsGun: The author turns huge swathes of Chinese history and mythology into this.

''Literature/WillOfHeaven'', also known as ''Providence'', is a 2004 [[NonEnglishLiterature mainland Chinese historical SF novel]] by Qian Lifang. A translation in progress with [[FootnoteFever explanatory footnotes]] for the historical references can be found [[http://willofheavenfantranslation.blogspot.com/ here]].

* WisePrince: [[spoiler: Han Xin.]]

* TimeMachine: [[spoiler: The "pheasant god".]]

* BigBad: [[spoiler: Fuxi]]

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Quite a few of the rebel lords have a case of this. [[spoiler: Later, Han Xin has no problem with deserting twice and going back on his deal with Fuxi once he realizes what its true consequences are. But in the end, he backstabs one time too few to save himself.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: For now, at least. Han Xin dies, and Fuxi still lives. We'll have to wait to see what Ji Jiang's next move is.]]

* GreyAndGrayMorality: All the historical figures are portrayed with some degree of sympathy. Perhaps [[spoiler: Han Xin]] can be seen as the hero to [[spoiler: Fuxi]]'s villain, but admittedly, [[spoiler: Han Xin ''did'' go back on his deal with Fuxi, who's just trying to get his money's worth out of humanity.]]

* HeroicSacrifice: Han Xin eventually [[spoiler: turns against Fuxi. It doesn't fully succeed, and Fuxi proceeds to engineer his downfall. Han Xin chooses to accept it peacefully rather than fight and drag more innocents down with him.]]
* HigherTechSpecies: [[spoiler: Whatever species Fuxi is from qualifies as this, if not SufficientlyAdvancedAlien.]]

** Liu Bang is totally cool with grabbing all of [[spoiler: Han Xin's]] best troops right before major campaigns.

* DropTheHammer: Zhang Liang [[spoiler: supposedly]] tried to assassinate the First Emperor with a 120-catty hammer. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: The Guest of Canghai and [[spoiler: Fuxi]]

* NoHeroToHisValet: Ji Jiang's admiration for Han Xin doesn't stop her from telling him off about his lack of cultural understanding.

** Xiang Yu has no love lost for either King Huai of Chu or Liu Bang.

* MoralMyopia: Xiang Yu is generous enough to people he respects and indignant at the thought of using so-called dirty tricks, but he's totally fine with burying enemy captives alive, massacring the entire Qin royal family, razing and looting the Qin capital, and [[ExactWords weaseling his way]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking out of a prior deal by his faction with Liu Bang]].

* HeroicBSOD: After years of war, Han Xin is still unable to get his hands on any real command [[spoiler: even after he deserts the Chu army and joins Liu Bang. When he tries to desert Liu Bang, he finds a river blocking his way, and nearly commits suicide in despair.]]

* ALighterShadeOfGrey: Liu Bang has his issues, but he's still better at using people and ([[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness debatably]]) less murderous than Xiang Yu.