Three Kingdoms Episode 11

Liu Bei, a man of honour

Cao Cao desires to overtake Xu Province in the name of vengeance for his father's death, but even we know that the truth lies elsewhere. Cao Cao's ambition is great, albeit his principles might not be as honourable as we might think. Whilst Cao Cao endeavors to attack Tao Qian in the name of vengeance (having made sure that nobody would come to aid the other), none other than Liu Bei charges in to help Tao Qian and his land. This time, however, it's not only the three brothers: they have an army, albeit scarce in numbers, and a new hero: Zhao Zilong. We witness his skill in battle and I must say, I was quite impressed. He is a brave warrior and has style -perhaps much more honour than Lu Bu will ever have. It is quite unavoidable, at this point, to compare Liu Bei with Cao Cao and Zhao Zilong with Lu Bu. As far as the second pairing is concerned, Lu Bu is indeed a 'brute', but has not so much honour and it easily manipulated, whilst Zhao ZIlong, another skilled warrior in battle (it is suggested that he might exceed Lu Bu's powers) is impressed by beauty of character and purpose, of honourable behavior. In the same fashion, Cao Cao is a man of great ambition that seems to act only when things play in his favour; he is opportunistic and I doubt he is as honourable as Liu Bei. Liu Bei, on the other hand, seems to want to save the nation and restore the Han Dynasty truthfully. Even so, we might not be surprised to find out, later on, that Liu Bei will do anything for the nation, even sacrifice himself and, who knows, his comrades with him, whilst Cao Cao... I sincerely doubt he will sacrifice himself for the good of the nation, but it might be hard that he will sacrifice his men without good reason (for great achievements or nothing else).

I have quite liked Liu Bei's behaviour this episode and I am looking forward to learning more about his character. Many might consider him foolish, but I do like that honourable part of him. Even though it's yet too early to make clear assumptions. I wonder about the next episode!

Read More