Jiang Zi-Ya 姜子牙
Tradition holds that the first ruler of Qi was the adviser whom the ruler of Zhou once found fishing. Over time, the story of Jiang Zi-Ya came to include a war in which mortals and immortals clashed. In the novel Creation of the Gods, he not only helps overthrow the Shang but also decides which of the fallen will take a place among the gods. On screen, Jiang Zi-Ya appears now as a military commander, now as the man entrusted with the list of deities.
In Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, Jiang Zi-Ya (姜子牙) is called Lü Shang. Even in Sima Qian's day, there were different accounts of how he entered the service of King Wen. According to one version, King Wen meets him by the Wei River. Lü Shang is old, poor and busy fishing. This episode grew into the legend of the sage who fished with an unusual hook and waited for the right man to come to him of his own accord. In the story of Zhou, Lü Shang aids both King Wen and his son King Wu, who defeated the Shang. Sima Qian begins the history of the rulers of Qi with Lü Shang.
In the Ming novel Creation of the Gods, Jiang Zi-Ya studies under Yuanshi Tianzun on Mount Kunlun. Descending into the world of men, he first tries to serve at the Shang court, then becomes an adviser to Zhou. He has to fight opponents who have their own masters, wondrous weapons and spells. After the victory, Jiang proclaims the list of the new gods. It includes even those who fought on the other side.
In the series The Legend of Deification (1990), Jiang Zi-Ya was played by Lan Tian-Ye, and in Gods of Honour (2001) by Yu Chi-Ming. The animated film Jiang Zi Ya (2020) opens after the rout of the Shang: the hero refuses to carry out a heavenly order, and from this his own adventure begins. In Creation of The Gods Ⅰ: Kingdom of Storms (2023), Huang Bo plays Jiang, who has yet to bring the list of gods into the world of men.
