Guan Yu

Guan Yu
Name:	Guan Yu
Game:	Total War: Three Kingdoms
Culture:	Han
Starting Faction:	The Liu Clan of Zhuo
Faction Leader:	No
Style Name:	Yunchang
Title:	General of the Front, Marquis of Hanshou
Class:	Champion
Legendary:	Yes

Guan Yu is a unique character in the Total War: Three Kingdoms grand campaign.

Historical Background

Originally from Hedong Commandery in the capitol province of Sili, Guan Yu started his career during the Yellow Turban rebellion, where he joined a volunteer army under Liu Bei along with Zhang Fei. The three of them were incredibly close and were said to be as brothers, though the oath part is mostly a Romance invention. He followed Liu Bei throughout all of his early career, though not doing anything of particular note until he was captured by Cao Cao's army after Liu Bei betrayed Cao Cao not long after the defeat of Lu Bu and chose to serve Cao Cao. Cao Cao evidently liked Guan Yu a lot, as he had him made a lieutenant-general almost immediately.

During the Guandu campaign, at the Battle of Boma, he and Zhang Liao were sent to fight the army of Yuan Shao's general Yan Liang and relieve the garrison at Boma. During the chaotic battle, Guan Yu saw Yan Liang's personal standard among the enemy army, then proceeded to ride through the Yuan ranks, unable to be stopped until he reached Yan Liang and decapitated him, causing a mass rout of the enemy army. Cao Cao obviously wanted to keep him after this, but Guan Yu insisted that he had paid his debt and wished to return to Liu Bei. Cao Cao allowed him to. This series of events made his skill as a warrior and personal loyalty very well known, though his reputation quickly got out of hand.

After returning to Liu Bei, they went south, into Jing province. Guan Yu would help with the evacuation of the remains of the Liu army after the Battle of Changban, and would also participate in the Battle of Chibi, though without any notable achievements. Guan Yu was then given his own army for the Jing province campaign, and what began was a long series of defeats at the hands of basically every other notable commander he fought. Yue Jin thrashed him repeatedly, Wen Ping joined in at least once, Lu Meng took half of Jing from him, and Gan Ning pinned his entire army with a thousand men. Despite this, Guan Yu was kept in charge of Jing and managed to build up a formidable army in what was left of his territory.

When Liu Bei launched his Hanzhong campaign, Guan Yu joined in by attacking the Wei strongholds in northern Jing from the river. He achieved one of his only battlefield victories in this campaign when a flood destroyed Yu Jin's army that was sent to fight him and Guan Yu picked off the survivors. Then, he proceeded to make several major mistakes and was defeated by a small reserve army under Xu Huang that hadn't even finished training yet and forced to retreat south. He could have survived this, but Lu Meng chose that moment to finish him off, blitzing through Jing from the east, before surrounding, capturing, and executing Guan Yu at Maicheng in 220AD.

Start Location

Guan Yu starts as an officer of The Liu Clan of Zhuo

Start Overview

Background:

Traits:

Guanxi

Guan Yu starts as close friends with his "oath brothers" Liu Bei and Zhang Fei.