Zhang Bao (Shu)


 * This article is about one of Zhang Fei's sons. For the brother of Zhang Jiao, see Zhang Bao (Yellow Turbans).

Zhang Bao (onyomi: Chō Hō) is one of Zhang Fei's sons; historically, little is actually known about him since records only state that he died when he was young and had a son named Zhang Zun. His younger brother, Zhang Shao, was the one who succeeded Zhang Fei. Romance of the Three Kingdoms prefers to focus on him sharing a friendship with Guan Xing as they both avenge their fathers' deaths.

Prior to his playable Dynasty Warriors appearance, he was a Shu NPC since the series's second title. He is Xiahouji's son and Xingcai's older brother. In Famitsu's character survey, he ranked in three categories: sixth place for sibling, fourth place for friend, and seventh place for most desired boyfriend. He ranked thirty-seventh place in Gamecity's Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends popularity poll. The latest poll for the eighth installment puts him in thirty-eighth. The character poll for overseas fans puts him in nineteenth place for the Shu division. This counterpart has an image song titled Back to Back.

Dynasty Warriors
He is often seen with his father or one of his father's brothers. Proud of his father's legacy, he will continue to fight for Shu during its twilight years of power. He occasionally appears together with Guan Xing to defend their home. In Dynasty Warriors 4, he mimics his father's brave stand from Chang Ban, guarding one of the bridges leading to Cheng Du. In the sequel Zhang Bao has minor roles in a few battles for the Shu side. His most notable appearances are the battle of Yi Ling and the battle of Bai Di Castle. In both cases, he is an officer under Xing Cai.

In his playable appearance, Zhang Bao is a man who possesses his father's talents in war. After his father's death, he travels to Yiling for vengeance. Prior to battle, he fights with Guan Xing to convince him to stay at camp, believing he is not ready. However, their quarreling is stopped by Zhao Yun, who accompanies them into battle at Yiling. Afterwards, Zhang Bao works together with Guan Xing in the northern campaigns at Jieting. Unfortunately, at Chencang Zhang Bao is ambushed when entering a Wei castle and his wounds prove to be fatal. With his final breath, he entrusts everything to Guan Xing and his sister before passing away in the former's arms. Zhang Bao can survive the events of Chencang if the enemy ambush is avoided by using the side entrance to the castle, though he still disappears from both Shu and Jin storylines afterwards.

During Shu's hypothetical route, he assists Zhuge Liang's efforts in thwarting Lu Su at the region of Lukou. Later, he helps Jiang Wei in invading Luoyang. He also joins the capture of Wei at Xuchang and is seen standing alongside his family and friends upon their victory.

In Wu's hypothetical scenario, Zhang Bao is present at Jiangxia as an enemy due to a forged letter by Wang Yi. Once Lu Xun confronts Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to resolve the misunderstanding, Zhang Bao and the Shu forces become allies and join the fight against Wei. In Wu's historical route, he is among those swearing vengeance at Yiling, and begrudgingly serves as Shu reinforcements for Wu at Guangling.

In Wei's story, Zhang Bao appears among the forces leading the initial assault at Hanzhong during the historical route. In the hypothetical route, Zhang Bao appears as one of Baidi Castle's defenders, and among the slain.

He appears alongside his family throughout the new storylines in the expansion. He appears in the revised Yiling stages for both Shu and Wu, and assists Zhuge Liang in the fictional attack on Shangyong. In Wei's story, he appears to assist Guan Yu at Mai Castle, and he also appears at Xinye, ambushing Cao Ren.

In Dynasty Warriors: Unleashed, Zhang Bao is given a bond story that explores his younger years. As a child, he wants nothing more than to follow his father Zhang Fei who had just made a vow to leave behind family matters to bring peace back to the land. Told to stay behind and keep his mother company, the young Zhang Bao is given a steel club to protect himself.

As he grew older, it became apparent that his wild personality did not mesh well with school life, so his mother enrolled him in martial arts lessons. Having grown strong and powerful, he ends up thrashing a gang of bandits who attempted to harass him and his mother during their trip to Jingzhou. He became rather curious of their lifestyle and later became their leader. Word of his notoriety reaches Zhang Fei who recognizes the club he had been carrying around.

His last story has him become acquainted with his younger sister Xingcai who is implied to have come from a different mother than his due to having been raised separately.

For his story in Dynasty Warriors 9, Zhang Bao appears with his family when Liu Bei first takes Yi Province, and they do what they can to help stabilize the region. When all is said and done, Cao Cao takes Hanzhong, leading to Liu Bei's succeeding assault.

Helping his allies, Zhang Bao helps secure the peninsula for Shu, but because the main bulk of the Shu army is now at Hanzhong, Wei and Wu take the opportunity to defeat Guan Yu at Fan Castle and slay him and many other Shu officers at Mai Castle. Zhang Fei, heartbroken by his brother's loss, helps convince Liu Bei to lead a punitive expedition against Wu. In the banquet before their march, Zhang Fei is murdered by Zhang Da and Fan Jiang and the duo flee to Wu.

Leading the other children of the generals to the battle, they are shocked when their advance on Wu is stopped by Lu Xun's fire attack, which wipes out most of the Shu army. Though they shift priorities and help escort Liu Bei back to Baidi castle, Shu's emperor dies from the grief and rule of the kingdom passes to Liu Shan. Not long after, Cao Pi leads five armies in order to take Chengdu.

With the help from the others, the invasion is halted and Cao Pi is forced to withdraw empty-handed. After Cao Pi's death, Zhuge Liang begins making plans for his northern campaign, but must first deal with the Nanzhong region before heading north.

Once Meng Huo swears to aid the Shu forces, Zhang Bao aids in making the final preparations for the campaign. Before setting off, Zhang Bao and Guan Xing attend a banquet alongside their sisters. During the banquet, Zhang Bao tells them of his wish for everyone to still be able to get together once again and have fun as a family. Guan Yinping proceeds to encourage to keep trying harder to make such a dream a reality.

Zhang Bao later dies quietly off-screen during the first set of Northern Campaigns, however and is remembered deeply by both Guan Xing and Zhuge Liang.

Warriors Orochi
In the Warriors Orochi series, he is one of Liu Bei's guards while his father and uncle are away. In Musou OROCHI Z, Zhang Bao will appear in Pang Tong, Sanzang,and Toshiie's dream mode stage, and will be surrounded by Da Ji's troops. Once he is rescued, Zhang Bao must be escorted to the escape point to bring Shu reinforcements from his sister. He also serves as Zhang Fei's substitute officer during the third title.

For the fourth title, Zhang Bao and his sister and friends were part of Liu Shan's party until he was captured and imprisoned by Athena. Forced to serve the Olympians, Zhang Bao ends up crossing paths with many of Shu's officers, who are fighting for the Coalition.

Once Liu Shan is freed and reunites with the Shu forces at Kawanakajima, Zhang Bao and the other officers are finally able to turn on Athena. After the battle, Zhang Bao and the others gratefully rejoin Liu Shan as part of the Coalition.

He later helps lead reinforcements to rescue Sima Zhao, Ma Chao and Hanbei Takenaka at Fan Castle when they are besieged by Odin's allies.

Development
When Omega Force was thinking of new characters to add to Shu, Liao Hua and Wang Ping were considered choices. However, since the team also wanted to add Guan Xing, they felt it wouldn't feel right to not include his famous partner in fiction. Thus, Zhang Bao was made playable in celebration of the fictional aspects of the game. He was designed to look like a "younger Zhang Fei". Designers add that he is the "good older brother" to contrast other cheerful characters in the cast.

Personality
He is an adventurous youth who harbors a strong sense of responsibility and enjoys taking care of his friends. Inheriting his father's caring nature, and combined his passionate personality often helps build morale for troops and allies alike. As a member of Shu's younger generation, he feels indebted to the previous generation, and, like his father, believes that taking action is the best way to give thanks. Believing in duty over personal feelings, Zhang Bao feels that he can never forgive Wu in the historical route, but will still aid them when the call is made to do so.

His lively personality runs as a contrast to his sister's and Guan Xing's stoic behaviors, though he still shares a budding relationship together with the two. Unfortunately, Zhang Bao's caring personality is occasionally misinterpreted by Guan Xing as babying at times. With his sister, Zhang Bao's attitude rarely strays from his usual cheery personality, and is usually able to break through Xingcai's calm nature, but is occasionally seen as the passing down of their father's reckless behavior.

Voice Actors

 * Grant George - Dynasty Warriors 6 (English-uncredited)
 * Darrel Guilbeau - Dynasty Warriors 7 (English-uncredited)
 * Johnny Yong Bosch - Dynasty Warriors 8 (English-uncredited)
 * Daisuke Sakaguchi - Dynasty Warriors 8~9, Warriors Orochi 4 (Japanese)
 * David Jonas - Dynasty Warriors 9 (English)
 * Lin Hu - Dynasty Warriors 9 (Chinese)
 * Takashi Kondo - Dynasty Tactics 2 (Japanese)
 * Takeshi Kusao - Sangokushi Koumeiden (Japanese)
 * Tomokazu Seki - Romance of the Three Kingdoms drama CD series (Japanese)
 * Yūki Arai - Sangokushi Hadou (Japanese)
 * Takahiro Miyamoto - Sangokushi Three Kingdoms TV series

Quotes

 * See also: Zhang Bao/Quotes


 * "I won't let you scum ruin the dreams of our fathers! I, Zhang Bao, son of Zhang Fei, will smite you!"


 * "How can I get the officers to trust in me? Is excellence on the battlefield what they're looking for?"
 * "That is part of it. Your skills leave nothing to be desired."
 * "Alright! Then my father's strict training was worth it."
 * "However, that is not enough."
 * "Huh? There's something else? Please tell me what it is!"
 * "How should I put this... Spare no effort while you're young, so you can relax when you're older."
 * Zhang Bao and Huang Zhong; Dynasty Warriors 8


 * "Father, I want to ask you about-- Uwah! You reek of drink! Just how much have you been drinking?"
 * "Reek? You dare say that about your father? I'm sick of all these fights we can't win, which means I drink!"
 * "I do understand how you feel, but who do you think is going to end up taking care of you! You need to cut it out!"
 * "Hehe, do I now? Gah, my bottle is empty again. Come on, Zhang Bao, bring me some more!"
 * "One more and I'm cutting you off! If you drink any more I'll have to have words with Master Guan Yu!"
 * "H-Hey! Hold it, hold it! Very well, very well, don't make a big deal of it."
 * Zhang Bao and Zhang Fei; Dynasty Warriors: Godseekers


 * "There are so many new things to see in this world. It's so much fun! I'm going exploring!"
 * "Hey, wait a minute! You never know what could happen in this world. It's too dangerous to just go wandering about alone!"
 * "Oh... Then you must come with me!"
 * "Huh...?"
 * "It's too dangerous to be alone, right? But I'll be fine if you're with me. You're so big and strong, Zhang Bao!"
 * "Okay, leave it to me! I'll keep you safe, come what may!"
 * "Yes! I'm counting on you, Zhang Bao!"
 * Gracia and Zhang Bao; Warriors Orochi 4

Gameplay

 * See also: Zhang Bao (Shu)/Movesets

Weapons

 * See also: Zhang Bao/Weapons

Dynasty Warriors 8
Zhang Bao uses the flail sword as his default weapon in this title.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
After Zhang Bao's father was murdered, he visited his uncle Liu Bei to announce his intent of seeking revenge against Wu where the killers Fan Qiang and Zhang Da had fled. Upon meeting his cousin Guan Xing for the first time, the two of them competed over the position of vanguard leader through an archery contest. Their rivalry nearly took a deadly turn before Liu Bei intervened and forced them to become oath brothers in the same way their fathers did with one another. The role of leading the vanguard was given to Hu Ban with Zhang Bao and Guan Xing as his escorts.

While camping at Yidu, the forces of Hu Ban were attacked by Wu soldiers led by Sun Quan's own nephew Sun Huan. Zhang Bao dueled against the officers Xie Jing and Li Yi until his steed was shot by an arrow fired by Tan Xiong. He was saved from a fatal blow by Guan Xing who beheaded Li Yi in an instant. By the next day, he participated in another skirmish against Sun Huan, this time slaughtering Xie Jing with a spear thrust. He also captured Cui Yu during Hu Ban's assault on the enemy main camp.

During the Battle of Yiling, Zhang Bao and Guan Xing were sent to aid the isolated Huang Zhong, rescuing him from being killed by Wu soldiers. He also faced the forces of Han Dang and Zhou Tai, dismounting Xia Xun from his horse with a mighty war cry. In an attempt to appease the leader of Shu, Wu sent Fan Qiang and Zhang Da back along with a box containing Zhang Fei's head. Liu Bei allowed Zhang Bao to brutally dismember them, thus satisfying the younger man's thirst for vengeance. Wu retaliated with a fire attack that crippled the Shu army's morale, leading Zhang Bao to escort his lord out of the battlefield. Relations between Wu and Shu improved later on after Liu Bei's death from illness.

Eventually, Zhang Bao was appointed as Right Guard of the army by Zhuge Liang who made plans to conquer the northern regions. While participating in the campaign against Xiahou Mao, he and Guan Xing helped capture the city of Nan'an after uncovering Cui Liang's deceit. The two of them even drove off the assaults of the Qiang tribesmen who affiliated themselves with Wei. They also assisted Zhuge Liang's ploy to mitigate the effects of Ma Su's miscalculation by tricking the enemy ranks into panicking, causing them to leave behind their equipment and supplies.

While pursuing the Wei generals Guo Huai and Sun Li in another campaign, Zhang Bao fell from a gully where he suffered a grave injury and died later on. Zhuge Liang's physical condition worsened upon hearing of his death. A poem was written in lament of Zhang Bao's passing.


 * "Fierce and valiant was Zhang Bao,
 * "Striving hard to make a name;
 * "Sad the gods should interfere
 * "And withhold a hero's fame!
 * "Zhuge Liang wept his end
 * "In the western winds blowing.
 * "For he knew the warrior gone,
 * "This grieving is beyond knowing.