Lü Bu 吕布
Lü Bu made his name as a horseman and archer in the years when the warlords of the late Han fought over the provinces that had so recently obeyed the emperor. He served Dong Zhuo, took part in his murder, and then seized Xu Province and ruled there until Cao Cao defeated him. In Romance of Three Kingdoms, Lü Bu became one of the most formidable warriors and the beloved of Diao Chan. In screen adaptations he gets both a love story and the fight at Hulao Pass, where three men come out against him alone.
About Lü Bu's (呂布) origins, Chen Shou in Records of the Three Kingdoms says only that he came from Jiuyuan in Wuyuan Commandery. His courtesy name was Fengxian. Lü Bu was famed for his strength and skill at shooting from horseback, which earned him the nickname the Flying General. According to Chen Shou, early in his military career Lü Bu served under Ding Yuan. When, after the death of Emperor Ling, Ding Yuan's troops approached the capital, Dong Zhuo decided to seize them and persuaded Lü Bu to kill his commander. Lü Bu brought him Ding Yuan's head, received a post in the cavalry and became Dong Zhuo's bodyguard. They swore to regard each other as father and son.
The chronicle recounts that Dong Zhuo once, in a rage, hurled a short halberd at Lü Bu. Lü Bu managed to dodge and calm his master, but from then on feared for his life. He was also afraid that Dong Zhuo would learn of his affair with one of the maidservants. When the official Wang Yun proposed that he join a conspiracy, Lü Bu reminded him of the oath. Wang Yun replied that he and Dong Zhuo were not kin and that Lü Bu should think about how to stay alive himself. In 192 Lü Bu helped the conspirators and killed Dong Zhuo.
Dong Zhuo's former commanders soon seized Chang'an. Lü Bu had to flee and look for someone willing to take him in. Yuan Shu refused him. Yuan Shao made use of his help in fighting Zhang Yan's army, but then came to fear him, and Lü Bu went to Zhang Yan. Soon Lü Bu had a chance to acquire a province of his own. While Cao Cao was fighting in Xuzhou, his opponents suggested that Lü Bu seize power in Yanzhou. Cao Cao returned and won back his lands, and Lü Bu went to Liu Bei. Later he captured Xuzhou, taking advantage of the fact that Liu Bei had gone off to fight Yuan Shu.
And yet, when Yuan Shu's general Ji Ling marched against Liu Bei, Lü Bu came to Liu Bei's aid. He invited the commanders to his camp, had a halberd set up at the camp gate and said there would be no battle if he hit its side blade. The arrow struck its target, and the next day the armies withdrew. In Chen Shou's account this is a rare case of opponents meeting but never joining battle.
In 198 Cao Cao besieged Lü Bu at Xiapi. After three months of siege, several of Lü Bu's commanders bound his adviser Chen Gong and surrendered to Cao Cao along with their troops. Lü Bu hid briefly with his men on a tower, then surrendered as well. He proposed that Cao Cao lead the infantry himself and entrust the cavalry to him, Lü Bu. Liu Bei reminded him what had become of Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo. Cao Cao ordered the prisoner executed.
In Luo Guanzhong's novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu quarrel over the beauty Diao Chan. Wang Yun himself sets them against each other. In Chen Shou's biography the maidservant remains nameless, and nothing is said of such a scheme by Wang Yun. The famous battle at Hulao Pass also came from the novel. There Zhang Fei, Guan Yu and Liu Bei confront Lü Bu and are forced to act together.
In the 1994 Romance of Three Kingdoms Lü Bu was played by Zhang Guang-Bei, and in the 2010 version by Peter Ho. In the separate series Lu Bu and Diao Chan (2001), with Huang Lei, the love story took up more room than usual, and the general was shown as a boy. Dynasty Warriors (2021), in which Lü Bu was played by Louis Koo, was already based on a video game. Here Lü Bu needs but a single halberd to scatter an entire detachment.
