My favourite Chinese Anti-heroes

1. Wei WuXian (The Untamed)

A great example of an Anti-hero, I think most people who have seen the Untamed would place Wei WuXian on their list of favourite character, not just favourite Anti-heroes. 

Firstly Wei WuXian doesn’t want to be a hero, he has no interest in being. This classic and anti-heroes often have in common, however Wei WuXian wants to flirt with girls, drink, look at porn and annoy people.  Although loyal Wei WuXian doesn’t really have any interest in relationships of any kind outside those of family (in the book this is mainly because he is too dumb to notice). As a youngster he is a realist, he knows his place in his family and just wants to make the best of his situation.

The change comes not because he is proactive (like classic heroes) but rather reactive to the situation he is presented with. He finds himself hit with all kinds of situations and all he can do is roll with the punches and try to not get hurt. Eventually the situation worsens and he is forced to make a choice between what the elders and society believe is correct and what he himself does. Being a character with a strong moral compass of course he chooses his own beliefs and suffers the consequences. With a classic hero the morals of both hero and society would be the same, but this is not the case with Wei WuXian.

Even though he is pushed into most of his choices he is by no means powerless. He uses his mind and self confidence to travel roads no one has been down before, thus further isolating himself from the society around him. He often fails or needs help to complete tasks, we often see him break down or his emotions get the better of him. He is a rebel in his own world as well as someone who has gone down a dark path. However as the truth of what has happened emerges from the fog throughout the story we start to see the heroic things the character has done despite everything being against him. 

2. Zhou Zishu (Word of Honor)

Another great anti-hero. Zhou Zishu begins the show as the head of an assassin group. Although he leaves the group fairly quickly and begins to fight in the light of day his whole story is based on his need for ‘redemption’. He does not fight for justice simply because it is the right thing to do…….he does not sacrifice himself because others are innocent……...he does it to redeem himself. No matter how much good this character does in the drama it always has a slight undertone of ‘doing it for myself’ going through it. The character does have his own moral compass which isn’t always the same as those closet to him let alone the authorities in the show, being very much an ‘end justify the means’ kind of guy. He can be a little self centred at times as well as mysterious and unpredictable.

These characteristics begin to change slightly when he meets Wen Kexing and Cheng Ling. Both characters help teach him what really caring for others means and to rid himself of his internal hatred. However even these two characters can not help him come back all the way. Even at the end he remains a character whose search for his own ‘redemption’ is at the core of his actions, with the exception of his actions concerning Wen Kexing and Cheng Ling. 

3. Wen Kexing (Word of Honor)

Like Zhou Zishu above Wen Kexing is a great anti-hero but for different reasons than his on-screen partner. Where Zhou Zishu is driven by a desire for redemption Wen Kexing is driven by a desire for revenge. Wen Kexing is the leader of the Ghost valley, who are basically a group of outlaws wanted throughout the land. Wen Kexing is a riddle that never really gets 100% unwrapped, there is always something kept back from the audience or his best friend Zhou Zishu (they are married in the book).

Like his partner Wen Kexing follows his own moral compass and not that of the authority or the country, he doesn’t really care if this puts him on the wrong side of the law or not as as long as he believes what he is doing then he won’t change his views. He is of the firm position that the world and the authorities themselves are corrupt and shouldn’t be trusted which often leads him to choices that even put the two partners at odds.

Wen Kexing often drinks to excess, flirts (mostly with Zhou Zishu) and just generally has a good time. If he can get out of a conflict, or win it, by being sneaky and underhanded he will. He thinks nothing of cheating. Again when he meets Zhou Zishu and Cheng Ling his character begins to change a little however even at the end he is still lying to get his own way. Like his partner this character is very much a ‘the ends justify the means’. 

4. Zhao Yao (The Legends)

Surprisingly the only female character on the list and im not sure why, it’s certainly not by design. In ‘The Legends’ a lot of the characters can come under the umbrella of anti-heroes but I have chosen to only focus on her.

If we look at how she begins she is an idealist who wants to play peace keeper…….however she is also naive and so her first run in with the characters who become our authority figures is the one that sends her down her path. She quickly turns from obedient peace keeper to rebel and from then her path is set. She has her own firm moral compass, she knows what she believes is right and wrong and this is what causes problems right from the start as well as throughout the drama. Unlike classic heroes her morals are not the same as the authorities and she refuses to change her beliefs just to blend in. She demands to be seen as an individual and on her own terms.

She is classed as a criminal, a rebel and someone not to be trusted and rather than try to correct this she actually makes it part of her identity. We can see further parts of an anti-hero when she thinks she has been betrayed by the very person she risked her life for, Mo Qing, as she not only becomes more reactive and less proactive but also the character simply wants to take back what she believes was stolen from her. For a while there is simply one thing on her mind, revenge, and all her efforts go into that end. Even when the truth is revealed the two characters together fight for their own ideas of right and wrong, but this is more driven by self preservation than any real desire to make the world a better place. Even at the end Zhao Yao never gets back to those peace keeper origins and always remains in her identity as ‘rebel’.

5. Lu Yi (Under the Power)

One of the best introductions I have ever seen to a character is Lu Yi in this drama. If you had any thoughts about this character being a knight in shining armour they are done away with straight away when we see Lu Yi walking down the dark corridor of a prison in order to torture some information out of someone. It is a scene that is normally used for the villains of a drama rather than the heroes and goes to show why Lu Yi is such a good anti-hero.

On the surface the character doesn’t really look like he fits in the anti-hero box, he is good looking, conforms to the social values of the time, he obeys the rules and he posses extraordinary talents in both his mind and with a sword but he also stands up to bad guys by fighting head on no matter who he is fighting against. However if we look closer at the character we can see a lot of anti hero characteristics in him as well.

Lu Yi is a realist not an idealist, although he knows the rules he doesn’t always obey them (especially when JinXia appears on the scene). On top of this he also has his own moral compass which often conflicts with the social values and rules he has been raised with and is sworn to obey. Also, although he is powerful, he is often forced into passive or reactive roles in the drama which he may or may not like or agree with but has no choice but to go along with. He isn’t perfect and often makes decisions which turn out to be wrong.

As I said about the introductions to the character, he is a hero who is given an introduction more like that of a villain, he is a high born officer who makes friends with liars and thieves…...the man full of contradictions which is what makes him such a good character and anti-hero. However at the end of the drama you see his inherent goodness and strength come through as he follows his own morals. 

6. Shen Wei (The Guardian)

Like some other dramas Shen Wei isn’t the only anti-hero in the Guardian however he is the one I am going to focus on. Shen Wei is a complex character in the drama and even more complex in the book. Shen Wei has two identities, one of which you wouldn’t think would lend itself to anti-hero status. Anti-heroes are normally rebellious or stand up to authorities in some way, however Shen Wei’s identity as the ‘Black Robbed Envoy’ who everyone fears, respects and looks up to early in the drama shows that Shen Wei IS the authority so he can’t exactly be rebellious of himself. However that is exactly what the character somehow seems to do. We find out that Shen Wei is actually not as powerful as he seems and is actually been going against orders and standing up to his superiors for a while. If we look at this along side the fact that he is often reactive instead of proactive and that not all his plans go well, infact some fail miserably, we can start to place him in the anti-hero camp.

If we also look at the fact that Shen Wei isn’t perfect, he drinks and sleeps around (in the book anyway) and even his agenda for helping save the world is suspect. He isn’t helping save the world because he loves humanity and it is the correct thing to do, he is doing it to protect Zhao YunLan his partner and best friend (and in the book his husband). This goes against the idea of a classic hero who always does the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do, Shen Wei clearly has a personal motive for what he is doing. Another thing we see with the character is that he has his own strong moral compass that will not bend, and when his morals disagree with those of the authority figures in the show he will set himself against the authorities if that’s what he believes is correct.

7. Lu Si Cheng (Falling into your smile)

‘Falling into your smile’ Isn’t normally my kind of show but I like Xu Kai as an actor so I thought I would watch it and I’m glad I did, Lu Si Cheng is another good anti-hero I enjoyed.

From the start we see that character Lu Si Cheng is flawed, he is the captain of a team and yet something of a lone wolf. Anyone with a mind knows that at some point this combination is going to back and bite him, and it does. A classic hero, although sometimes flawed, is always able to overcome difficulties with swiftness. It takes Lu Si Cheng a long time, a lot of help and many tears before he can overcome this particular problem within himself. Although he is gifted he is arrogant and sarcastic (although this is particularly funny in the drama), this can isolate him and make him come across as harsher than he actually is. In the early drama his character is defiantly driven by self interest although the character changes slowly when Tong Yao is introduced.

Even towards the end Lu Si Cheng sees the faults in others but refuses to see them in himself. He drinks and swears and sleeps with his girlfriend (in the novel) and often disappears without warning. His character is very much a ‘do as I say not as I do’ believer, which causes friction in the team.

Although a character like this doesn’t have the classic demons to slay or authorities to fight we can see that he doesn’t fit into the classic hero box. He is not a peacekeeper or an idealist, he is not motivated by pure intentions, and he certainly doesn’t want to improve his faults he would rather ignore them unless someone forces them under his nose. However he is the character that eventually brings out the best in the others and leads them to victory which does place him in the anti-hero category. 

8. Li Jing (Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms/Eternal Love)

Most of the characters in ‘Ten miles of peach blossoms’ fit in the classic hero category, that’s just how the show was written. However I did find one character I was interested in that fit more in the anti-hero box, Li Jing. Li Jing is the second son of the demon lord who becomes the villian of the show. Funnily enough he is the only character on this list who is directly related to the shows villain, again not by design. Li Jing is a very strong ‘the end justifies the means’ character and does some very iffy things which if they were done to the heroes of the story would place him squarely in the villain category, however they are done to the villains of the show so this helps give him the anti-hero status.

Li Jing often does the wrong thing for the right reason and is a seriously flawed character both emotionally and in the storyline. He cheats on his girlfriend just to make her forget him and when she begs him for help he refuses out of jealously. He captures his own brother and puts his own wife in prison. These are things a classic hero would never dream of doing however Li Jing is often in a passive position, being pushed at by all sides by others and simply trying to regain some control on his own life. Also interesting is his motive. It is unknown that if he hadn’t fallen for Si Yin (Bai Qian’s alias) if he would have been a villain or not. However it his obsession with this love that leads him down the road of anti-hero and also causes a lot of the problems in his life. It is also letting go of his obsession that eventually gives him the closure at the end. 

9. Gu Qi Shao (Legend of YunXi)

Gi Qi Shao is a great foil for the main male character of Long Fei Ye. Where Long Fei Ye is a classic hero who is extraordinarily talented, handsome, always gets the girl, stands on the right side of the law and races down enemies face to face, in short a fantastical knight in shining armour. Gi Qi Shao………..well isn’t.

The character has his own strengths, he is smart and funny and in his own way extremely talented, however he has his own ways of doing things that don’t always conform with the authorities (Long Fei Ye’s) way of thinking. Gu Qi Shao like most anti-heroes has his own morals that he sticks to throughout, also this character seems to be an upstanding member of society but over the course of the drama we find that his reasons for doing some of the righteous things he does is very suspect.

 The character would always rather think his way, or sneak his way out of a fight rather than use an actual sword, and even in his dealings with the main female character there is a sense of manipulation through most of their relationship. He is driven by something we don’t find out about until far into the show so the man remains as an enigma for a long time, and even when we find out we are still not 100% sure where his loyalties are. He is a great character who slowly moves from one of the villains of the show to one of its heroes and eventually the one person the shows main hero can trust at the end. 

10. Yi Qiu (King’s Avatar)

Although this one is a little on the line I still think it is a good example of an anti-hero. When he goes, literally, from hero to zero in the first episode of the drama the classic hero would have joined one of the other teams in the league, conformed to the codes in place, not made waves and used his new team to fight his way back to the top and prove his worth and superiority. Yi Qiu does none of this! He goes against not only his old team but even gives many of his old friends and fans reason to doubt his intentions when he breaks the unwritten rules of Glory and goes his own way. In creating his own team he is showing that he has his own strong morals and views of what it right and wrong, but also he is showing that he doesn’t mind going against the authority that controls the game.

There are a few times when his closest friends question what and why he is doing things but the character is always a realist as well as a strategist. If you see the way he plays in the game he will not rush into danger just because that is the heroic way to play, unlike certain others, rather he watch and wait for the right time to strike. This often means using sneaky tactics never used by anyone else, however they work and that is all that matters to him. Although pushed into a passive role at the beginning of the drama he has very much gained the active role by the end and all those who once questioned him have had those questions answered.