Wei Yan


 * Not to be confused with the officer under Gongsun Yuan named Wei Yan.

Wei Yan (onyomi: Gi En) is one of the generals who served Liu Bei since the start of his military career. He swore complete fealty to Liu Bei and continued to serve Shu after his lord's death. Although he was initially trusted by the Prime Minister, he became infamous for earning Zhuge Liang's ire and vice versa which often caused the minister to reject even the most reasonable of Wei Yan's plans; he was eventually killed by Ma Dai due to arguably false charges of defection. Even after his death, his defense plans of Hanzhong were still implemented, and were successful in driving out Wei many times. Romance of the Three Kingdoms instead portrays him as an outright villainous character with a violent betrayal streak.

Dynasty Warriors fans voted him to fifty-first place in Gamecity's Dynasty Warriors 7 character popularity poll and sixty-first in the Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends poll.

The English localization of the first Romance of the Three Kingdoms game misspells his name as Wei Yang.

His character's height in Kessen II is 185 cm (6'1").

Role in Games

 * "I sense the rebellious spirit in you too."
 * Motochika; Warriors Orochi 2

Dynasty Warriors
Wei Yan sincerely supports his master, Liu Bei, and seeks to prove his merit as a beast in battle. Since he does not favor words and disobeys instructions, Zhuge Liang keeps a wary eye on him. He commonly causes some form of disobedience during the Battle of Wu Zhang Plains. In Dynasty Warriors 4, he may defect to Wei during their final battle with Shu at Cheng Du.

His Legend Mode in Dynasty Warriors 4: Xtreme Legends takes place during the conflict at Wu Zhang Plains. Disobeying the Prime Minister's orders, Wei Yan attacks the nearby castle to demolish the enemies inside. If he takes too long, Sima Yi will see Zhuge Liang's unease and use it to his advantage. He makes the Wei troops pose as Wei Yan's allies, making it seem like the general has defected. Zhuge Liang falls for the ploy and orders the Shu generals to surround the innocent Wei Yan. He is then forced to slay his former comrades in self-defense. However, if he destroys certain Wei officers quickly, Zhuge Liang will instead see that Wei Yan has given them the advantage and orders the rest of the army to assist.

In Dynasty Warriors 5, he is mentioned as a former officer of Liu Biao who went on to serve Han Xuan. When Liu Bei attacked Han Xuan, his master accused Huang Zhong of having ties with Liu Bei and ordered the veteran's execution. Knowing that no such ties existed, Wei Yan slays his master and surrenders to Liu Bei with Huang Zhong. While Liu Bei trusts him, Zhuge Liang fears that Wei Yan would one day betray his new master. Wei Yan's first battle for Shu is Mt. Ding Jun where he is positioned to the southeast of Mt. Tian Dang and works his way around to Mt. Dung Jun. Even though they claim the mountain position from Wei, Liu Bei dies soon after.

Regardless of Zhuge Liang's new leadership, Wei Yan continues to fight for Shu to realize his departed lord's dream. During their long Northern Campaign, he notices that the troops are beginning to tire and desires to hurry their progress by using brute force. Though his bravery gains results, he never fully gains Zhuge Liang's trust and they momentarily disagree with one another when he tries to strike down the then Wei soldier, Jiang Wei. At the battle of Chen Cang Castle, Wei Yan battles his way through the eastern mountain path along with the rams in an attempt to break through the castles defenses. At the battle of Wu Zhang Plains, Wei Yan battles for the Shu forces and will battle his way through the center of the map towards the Wei camp. On the Shu version of the stage, Wei Yan, along with Guan Xing, will only advance to the front lines after receiving supplies from the wood oxen. After the land is united under Shu and Zhuge Liang passes away, Wei Yan is satisfied to achieve Liu Bei's dream and departs from Shu.

He shares two Legend Modes in the Xtreme Legends expansion. One he shares with Zhuge Liang and Zhang Fei at the Battle of Jia Meng Gate. In order to carry out the Three Kingdoms plan, Liu Bei must conquer the lands of his relative, Liu Zhang. To counter the Shu offensive, Liu Zhang sends Zhang Lu. During the battle, Wei Yan takes the western path and encounters Zhang Wei's rockslide. His other Legend Mode has him, Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei at the Battle of Mt. Qi. In the midst of Shu's Northern Campaign, the Prime Minister surprisingly orders a retreat from the mountain, which conflicts with Wei Yan's desire to simply smash the enemy. Even so, his version of the stage plays in a similar manner as Jiang Wei's paths.

In Dynasty Warriors 6, Sima Yi uses Wei Yan's thin trust for Zhuge Liang to his advantage at the Wu Zhang Plains. If certain tasks are completed, Wei Yan will defect to the forces of Wei. When he runs into Liu Bei, however, he eventually is convinced to return to the Shu forces. During Shu's version of the stage, Zhuge Liang feigns distrust for Wei Yan to catch the Wei army off guard. The ruse allows Wei Yan to lead a small attack force towards Wei's main camp. In Special, Wei Yan also appears as reinforcements during the Battle of Jie Ting and joins Sima Yi's rebellion during Cao Pi's story mode; Yue Ying leads him and the other remnants of Shu to avenge their kingdom and end Wei.

In Dynasty Warriors 7, in Wu's story, Wei Yan and Huang Zhong are first serving under Liu Biao in Jing against Sun Jian. When he is introduced in Shu's story, Wei Yan and Huang Zhong served under Han Xuan in southern Jing following Liu Biao's death. They would soon rebel and Wei Yan personally kills Han Xuan. When Guan Yu comes to prepare for an attack, they immediately surrender for the people's safety and plead to spare them while he does whatever he wants with them two. But Guan Yu does not hurt anybody and tells them that Liu Bei will treat everyone with mercy. Therefore, Liu Bei gains Wei Yan and Huang Zhong as new generals and southern Jing as new territory. From that point on, Wei Yan fights for Shu even up to the Battle of the Wuzhang Plains.

Wei Yan's first Legendary Battle is the Battle of Changsha where he and Huang Zhong protect Han Xuan's bases from Liu Bei's forces. His second Legendary Battle is the conquest of Yi Province, where Wei Yan aids Liu Bei in defeating Liu Zhang and taking control of the land.

The Xtreme Legends expansion adds a Hero Scenario detailing Wei Yan's participation at Mt. Qi. Sima Yi's attendance to the mountain castle disturbs the safety of ally communications, so Zhuge Liang orders it to be captured by using a fire attack. Wei Yan assists Ma Dai and Wu Yi for the plot by defeating enemy troops in their path. The plot succeeds if Sima Shi is defeated, leading to a rise in ally morale. Even with the enemy troops forcing their advance into ally frontlines, the Shu army is invigorated enough to claim victory.

Wei Yan wants to continue pursuing the defeated Sima Yi, but Ma Dai has orders from their commander to return back to the ally camp. Wei Yan broods over his desires to grant the departed Liu Bei his dream, thinking that Zhuge Liang is the one capable of making it a reality. Ma Dai gregariously states to not rush their progress and cheers the crestfallen warrior up with his optimism.

Dynasty Warriors Next has Wei Yan serve under Han Xuan in the seventh chapter until the fall of Jiangling. He and Huang Zhong pledge their allegiance to Liu Bei after the former kills their lord in retaliation for calling the latter a traitor. A heated conversation between Huang Zhong and Liu Xun reveals that Wei Yan felt guilty over murdering Han Xuan. In Wei's final chapter, he aids Jiang Wei in the defense of their main camp during the Battle of Wuzhang Plains.

In Dynasty Warriors 8, Wei Yan reprises his role from the previous installment. In Shu's hypothetical route, Wei Yan makes a proposal to Zhuge Liang that they battle against Nanzhong to draw Wei's attention. This will enable them to attack Chang'an when Wei least expects it. Zhuge Liang accepts the idea and has Wei Yan lead the charge. During the fight, Wei Yan and the others convince Jiang Wei to defect to Shu.

Warriors Orochi
During Shu's story in Warriors Orochi, Wei Yan leads a small force stationed in Cheng Du castle, defending against the combined forces of Yuan Shao and Yukimura. The two were confused into attacking them by the devious plot of Orochi's strategist, Da Ji. She placed false messengers on the battlefield to spread an enchantment and false information among them, letting them think that the coalition army are phantoms resurrected by magic. Yuan Shao was driven off and Yukimura and Wei Yan joined the Zhao Yun-led coalition.

In one of the Gaiden levels, one of Wei Yan's most treasured gifts, given to him by Liu Bei, is stolen by the rogue ninja and master thief Goemon. Infuriated, Wei Yan, aided by Xing Cai, chases the portly thief around Chi Bi, encountering Okuni, Musashi, and, even to his own surprise, Kotarō.

Warriors Orochi 2 has Wei Yan appear as reinforcements to the Coalition, along with Zhao Yun, to defeat and persuade Masamune to join them. With Keiji controlling the center garrison, Wei Yan initiates a fire attack to lower their morale. When Wei Yan is attacked, Hanzō comes to his aid. At the Battle of Jia Meng Gate, Wei Yan is one of the officers fighting Kiyomori with Guan Yu. He is the western most officer and gets hampered by phantom soldiers until Zhang Liao's arrival.

His dream stage has him team up with Taishi Ci and Kojirō to help Liu Bei fight Sun Ce in a friendly training battle. Interested only on improving themselves, the trio fight without malice or anger. He is entrusted with protecting their lord from danger. If he repels all of the attackers from his lord, Zhuge Liang will graciously congratulate his progress.

Wei Yan stayed with Liu Bei's army after Orochi's second defeat, but they were separated when Hydra appeared. As he searched for his lord, the masked general was injured at Nanzhong. Meng Huo found him and the Nanman tended to his wounds. To repay their kindness, Wei Yan helps them protect their homeland for years against the serpent forces. He follows the Nanman king and queen as they join the coalition and later supports their second defense of their homeland, a battle which eventually leads to Kojirō's recruitment.

Kessen
He is an optional general introduced to Liu Bei by Zhuge Liang after the battle of Fan Zheng in Kessen II. He serves as a secondary general and will have decent war stats and morale boosting abilities. He remains completely faithful to Shu and Zhuge Liang does not display any noticeable distrust towards him.

Personality
The most notable characteristic in Wei Yan is his speech impairment. He is only able to grunt the most simple of words into phrases. Though seemingly a barbaric, wild beast, he has a kind heart and simply desires to prove his worth. However, he isn't the brightest figure in the army and may neglect to consider the consequences of his sometimes rash behavior.

Since his lord sincerely believes in him, he stays loyal to Liu Bei. Though on the flip-side, he is shown to be in an antagonistic relationship with Zhuge Liang at times, and is not very fond of the strategist's continuous doubts over his loyalty. Regardless of his relationship with Zhuge Liang, Wei Yan is still generally willing to take orders from the strategist, as he believes Zhuge Liang is the one who can make their late lord's wishes come true. Wei Yan's relationship with Shu's other strategists is often more harmonious than that with Zhuge Liang as they also believe in the general's sincere loyalty. His relationship with Ma Dai portrays the silent general as a sympathetic person. At times, Ma Dai is unable to understand Wei Yan's sudden actions, but Wei Yan feels more reassured thanks to Ma Dai's trust.

During the Warriors Orochi series, he has special praise for Hanzō, Kotarō, Yoshihiro, Yoshimoto, Shingen, Meng Huo, and Kojirō.

Character Symbolism
In the Japanese version of Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires, Wei Yan is given the nickname of "Murder in the Battlefield" while the English version changes it to "The Beast of Destruction". As a dominant ruler in Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires, he calls his five greatest warriors the "Five Great Warriors".

The Asian name for his Level 11 weapon is directly named after yinyang, a common aspect of Chinese philosophy. When the world began, it was filled with chaos. Within this chaos, a light energy radiated to form the heavens (yin) and a dark energy drifted downward to form the earth (yang). Yin is associated with passiveness and femininity; yang carries tones of harshness and masculinity. Coexisting yet independent forces, yinyang mutually cancel one another and work together to explain the natural phenomenons around us -such as light (yang) and shadows (yin), north (yin) and south (yang), etc.

His third and forth weapons reference the two polar stars, the North and South Star. In Taoism, there are two gods reigning over these sections of the universe named Běidǒu xīngjūn (north) and Nándǒu xīngjūn (south) respectively, each stationed within the Big Dipper and Dipper constellations -whose stars are stressed as important story concepts within the Fist of the North Star series. Beidou is a god who administers the lifespan of a person before sending them to hell, a type of death god. He has been depicted as either an elderly man or an entity wrapped within flames. Nandou is a god who rules over life as the opposite of Beidou. Compared to his stricter counterpart, he has a fair visage and is a mild-mannered being often paired with water. A youth, who learned from a hermit that he had little time left to live, once met both gods in a dream and quietly ate the oxen meat and wine presented to him. Appreciating the youth's bold character, Nandou defied Beidou's judgment and extended the man's life.

Wei Yan's Strength weapon in Dynasty Warriors 6 is originally named Kyōkotsu, a supernatural creature mentioned within the Konjaku Hyakki Shūi. Kyōkotsu are white haired, emaciated, skeleton-like beings who dwell within pitchers for water wells. When a person scoops them from their home, kyōkotsu lift themselves high into the air like a ghost and have long sleeve-like arms. Aside from the description of carrying a fearsome grudge, not much more is written about them. Its grudge has been said to span from a person killed by being thrown down a well or due to a corpse forcefully crammed within the well by their killers. It has also been argued that the spirit was made as a play on a person's tolerance to necrophobia, specifically focusing on the skeletal remains.

The ploy submitted by Wei Yan during Shu's hypothetical route in Dynasty Warriors 8 was the same one he presented to Zhuge Liang in actual history. The main plan outlined having the Shu forces split into two, and have Wei Yan lead an attack on Chang'an through the Ziwu Valley to scare the defending Xiahou Mao into deserting the city. He would then rendezvous with the second detachment led by Zhuge Liang. Though the plan was deemed too dangerous and wasn't accepted by Zhuge Liang, it was enough for Cao Rui to sack Xiahou Mao.

Voice Actors

 * Paul St. Peter - Dynasty Warriors 4~5 (English-uncredited)
 * Alan Shearman - Dynasty Warriors 6~8, Warriors Orochi series; first and second games only (English-uncredited)
 * Chen Zongyue - Dynasty Warriors 3 (Chinese)
 * An Jang Hyeok - Dynasty Warriors 3~5 (Korean)
 * Yasunori Masutani - Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi series (Japanese)
 * Koji Haramaki - Kessen II (Japanese)
 * Takeshi Kusao - Sangokushi Koumeiden
 * Ryōichi Tanaka - Romance of the Three Kingdoms drama CD series

Quotes

 * See also: Wei Yan/Quotes


 * "Me... Liu Bei's shield... Zhuge Liang... Trust me?"
 * "Scum...."


 * "Die..."
 * "Ah, it's the man of few words, and even fewer brains!"
 * Wei Yan and Sima Yi; Dynasty Warriors 5


 * "I can sense the turbulence within you. I hope you do not cause us trouble in the future."
 * "Me... loyal..."
 * Zhuge Liang and Wei Yan; Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires


 * "Come to think of it, you've helped me out a number of times. I'm only here thanks to you..."
 * "Must help you. Or else... you mad."
 * "Oh, is that why? Well, in any case, you have my thanks."
 * Huang Zhong and Wei Yan; Dynasty Warriors 7


 * "I have a question..."
 * "What...?"
 * "What is underneath that mask?"
 * "It's... a secret...!"
 * Zhou Tai and Wei Yan; Dynasty Warriors 8


 * "The enemy must be quaking at the mere sight of you!"
 * "I... no... monster..."
 * "I mean it as a compliment, my misshapen friend."
 * Ginchiyo and Wei Yan; Warriors Orochi


 * "I...kill...you!"
 * "Disappear."
 * "Is that really the extent of your vocabulary?"
 * Wei Yan, Hanzō, and Masamune; Warriors Orochi 2


 * "You're strong, yet cannot be trusted. Loyal, yet ostracized. You really are a pitiful soul. Aren't you in pain? Why do you keep on living?"
 * "Silence..."
 * Kojirō and Wei Yan; Warriors Orochi 3

Gameplay

 * See also: Wei Yan/Movesets

Dynasty Warriors 7
Wei Yan is affiliated with the double voulge in this appearance. When he is equipped with it, he can perform a unique attack exclusive to him. Upon performing his Musou techniques, he will automatically use the weapon in his attacks.


 * EX Attack:, , , , undefined, undefined: Rolls in the air several times forward and slams the ground with his spear when he lands.
 * Musou - Rampage (解体斬): : Rolls along the ground several times and finishes by slamming the ground with his spear.
 * Alternate Musou - Electric Whirlwind (感電大暴風): <