Taigong Wang

Taigong Wang (太公望) debuted as a new character in Warriors Orochi 2. His character is based on a famous Chinese strategist with the same name, famous for his fishing technique and his act of executing Da Ji.

Warriors Orochi
Taigong Wang first appears in the world with Fu Xi and Nu Wa to try to stop Orochi. With an army of other mystics, he acts as the army's main leader and strategist. He orchestrates several magical ploys to take place during the battle. In the end, they are defeated and forced to rethink their strategy.

He appears after the main conflict in Warriors Orochi and pursues the fleeing Da Ji. He follows tracks her to Shi Ting and uses Liu Bei's attack as a diversion to capture her. When this fails, he joins with Shu and acts as one of the army's strategist. He discovers her whereabouts at Odani Castle and goes with Lu Xun to lead the assault. He successfully captures Da Ji and Himiko with help from Zhuge Liang who appeared when Himiko nearly successfully escape. He sends them to the army's main camp in a lightly armed cart, knowing they would escape. When Zhuge Liang questions this, Taigong Wang simply says it would be easier to have all of Orochi's supporters in one place at once, it seems that he has already foreseen this and that was the reason why he followed Da Ji's tricks even though he saw through all of her plans. During the final battle at Wu Zhang Plains, he opens the locked gates by concocting an illusion of rolling boulders on enemy lines. His efforts allow his allies to fight Orochi. When they claim victory, Taigong Wang thanks Liu Bei for teaching him the strength of humanity and rides off.

Fengshen Yanyi
In the series, Taigong Wang is the default name for the protagonist in Fengshen Yanyi. Unlike his Warriors series counterpart, he is a relatively modest youth with a strong sense of justice. He is the 21 year old protagonist who just became a mystic. His master asks him to check the human world based on odd premonitions the elder has been having. Once Taigong Wang sees the devastation, he volunteers to stop Da Ji. He travels with Huang Feihu to amass a great army while simultaneously cleansing the souls of their opponents with his divine fishing rod. To his surprise, his allies designate him as the army's commander when they reach Ji Fa's kingdom. He and his friends eventually succeed but realizes that it only stalled the world's evils and didn't bring lasting peace.

His position as main protagonist is replaced with Ziya's introduction. By the time Fengshen Yanyi 2 takes place, he is still working to vanquish demons and specters on the human world. He first meets Ziya by protecting them with a gust of wind and rescues Ziya's party. They later formally meet and agree to join forces when he meets Li Lan. He continues to have a supporting role in the game as Ziya will look up to him for advise. At the end of the game, both heroes seal the souls of the fallen together.

During the timeline in Magical Fengshen, Taigong Wang is heralded as a legendary hero and one of the four who sealed away Da Ji's soul. He spends his days leisurely fishing by a river and, while the protagonists are transformed as fish, are caught as one of his catches. Once he realizes that they were looking for him, he aids them by handing them two treasures. He would have volunteered to aid them more, but the trio was following heaven's will and he was destined to not intervene. Shortly after, he calls for a dragon and flies away to regions unknown.

Personality
Personality wise he seems to be egoistic considering some of his lines in the game. This clearly becomes a problem as in one of the stages of Warriors Orochi 2 he does not realize at all that Da Ji isn't running from them, she is luring them away. He admits to Zuo Ci in an after battle conversation that he does not understand humans very well and that factor is making it harder for him to anticipate Da Ji's plans.

Voice Actors

 * Daisuke Kishio - Warriors Orochi series (Japanese)
 * Kentarō Itō - Fengshen Yanyi series (Japanese)
 * Naozumi Takahashi - Fengshen Yanyi series (Ziya; Japanese)

Quotes

 * "Your crimes were so great that even the peace of death was stripped from you. But do not fear. I shall grant you that peace."
 * "Finished your speech? Then disappear."
 * Taigong Wang and Orochi X at Wu Zhang Plains.


 * "This man possess great talent, but still needs to learn the art of finesse."
 * Zuo Ci talking about Taigong Wang, after joining Shu.


 * "Oh, I didn't notice you there, boy. You tend to blend in with the background."
 * "Your futile mouthings will not save you now. It ends here."
 * Da Ji and Taigong Wang, at the Battle of Shi Ting.


 * "At a loss, are you? This is unusual."
 * "I am ashamed to admit it, but I cannot read what Da Ji will do next. Hehe, this human factor is messing everything up."
 * "Da Ji has learnt from her time working with and against people. She has gained a human cunning. The time will come when you too will come to understand them. Then, you will know what to do."
 * Zuo Ci and Taigong Wang, on the subject of humans and Da Ji.

Ground Moveset

 * undefined: quickly hurls a dusty gust of wind forward. Deals little damage but leaves foes open to attack. Cannot kill generals.
 * , undefined: drags his grail lure that is hidden in the ground upward and launches enemies. Additionally smashes the lure downward. Leaves a yin yang trap. Will not perform the full combo if his enemy isn't in range of his lure.
 * ,, undefined, (undefined, undefined, undefined): While standing upright and slowly walking forward, he swings his fishing rod once per button press. On the final press, he then smashes the ground with his lure. Leaves a yin yang trap.
 * ,, , undefined: Brings out his lure, hops, and then stomps on it. Clears away foes and leaves a yin yang trap.
 * ,, , , undefined: Turns his back to his foes with his arms still behind him. While in this position, he heaves his lure in an upwards arc to smash in front of him. Leaves a yin yang trap in the area in front of him.
 * ,, , , , undefined: Spins his rod around him and bashes enemies with his lure in front of him. Leaves a yin yang trap.
 * ,, , , , , , , : While Taigong Wang steps forward, he articulately swings his rod twice before taking another step. He ends the chain by kicking his lure with a spinning motion into the enemies in front of him.
 * , : Swings his rod downward.
 * , undefined: Levitates for a moment to bring out his lure, creating a ground explosion in the area below him.
 * Taigong Wang performs a fishing maneuver and summons large columns of water. During the finale, he lifts his lure up into the air and smashes it down on the ground.


 * R1: Lifts his rod into the air and explodes all of the glowing yin yangs in the area.
 * R1 (counter): Flips back a short distance and, while on one knee, hurls a gust of dusty wind.

Mounted Attacks

 * undefined: Conjures a whirlwind to circle around him.
 * ,, , , , : Rotates his wrist inward and outward to swing his rod to his right.
 * Faster version of chain while the horse charges forward.

Fighting Style
Much like his fellow mystics, Taigong Wang once mastered is a force to be reckoned with. Taigong Wang strikes a balance between both crowd clearing and dueling. He has an equal amount of sweeping attacks that end with explosions, and one-on-one attacks that combo well. The range on his musou it somewhat difficult to judge making it tricky to use effectively.

Historical Information
The last ruler of the Shang dynasty (16th - 11th century BC) was a tyrannical and debauched slave owner who spent his days carousing with his favourite concubine Daji and mercilessly executing or punishing upright officials and all others who objected to his ways. Jiang Shang had once served the Shang king and had come to hate him with all his heart. He was an expert in military affairs and hoped that some day someone would call on him to help overthrow the king. He waited and waited till he was 80 years old, continuing placidly with his fishing in a tributary of the Weihe River (near today’s Xi'an) using a barbless hook or even no hook at all, on the theory that the fish would come to him of their own volition when they were ready.

King Wen of the Zhou state, (central Shaanxi), found Jiang Shang fishing. King Wen, following the advice of his father and grandfather before him, was in search of talented people. In fact, he had been told by his grandfather, the Grand Duke of Zhou, that one day a sage would appear to help rule the Zhou state.

When King Wen saw Jiang Shang, at first sight he felt that this was an unusual old man, and began to converse with him. He discovered that this white-haired fisherman was actually an astute political thinker and military strategist. This, he felt, must be the man his grandfather was waiting for. He took Jiang Shang in his coach to the court and appointed him prime minister and gave him the title Jiang Taigongwang ("The Great Duke's Hope", or "The expected of the Great Duke") in reference to a prophetic dream Danfu, grandfather of Wenwang, had had many years before. This was later shortened to Jiang Taigong.

After King Wen died, his son King Wu, who inherited the throne, decided to send troops to overthrow the King of Shang. But Jiang Taigong stopped him, saying: "While I was fishing at Panxi, I realised one truth- if you want to succeed you need to be patient . We must wait for the appropriate opportunity to eliminate the King of Shang". Soon it was reported that the people of Shang were so oppressed that no one dared speak. King Wu and Jiang Taigong decided this was the time to attack, for the people had lost faith in the ruler. A bloody battle was fought at Muye (35 kilometres from the Shang capital Yin, now Anyang in Henan province).

Jiang Taigong charged at the head of the troops, beat the battle drums and then with 100 of his men drew the Shang troops to the southwest. King Wu's troops moved quickly and surrounded the capital. The Shang King had sent relatively untrained slaves to fight. This, plus the fact that many surrendered or revolted, enabled Zhou to take the capital.

King Zhou set fire to his palace and perished in it, and King Wu and his successors as the Zhou dynasty established rule over all of China. As for Daji, one version has it that she was captured and executed by the order of Jiang Taigong himself, another that she took her own life, another that she was killed by King Zhou. Jiang Taigong was made duke of the State of Qi (today’s Shandong province), which thrived with better communications and exploitation of its fish and salt resources under him.

As the most notable Prime Minister employed by King Wen and King Wu, he was declared "the master of strategy"--resulting in the Zhou government growing far stronger than that of the Shang Dynasty as the years elapsed. Thus making him known well as the most famous Prime Minister of all in China.

An account of Jiang Taigong's life written long after his time says he held that a country could become powerful only when the people prospered. If the officials enriched themselves while the people remained poor, the ruler would not last long. The major principle in ruling a country should be to love the people; and to love the people meant to reduce taxes and corvée labour. By following these ideas, King Wen is said to have made the Zhou state prosper very rapidly.

His treatise on military strategy, Six Secret Strategic Teachings, is considered one of the Seven Military Classics of Ancient China.

Jiang Ziya's seventh generation descendant (his great-grandson's great-grandson's son) was Jiang Chi (姜赤). Jiang Chi had a great-grandson named Shi (傒), who was given a piece of land in Shandong province called "Lu" (呂). He took his surname from the land. All Chinese with the last name Lu (呂) can trace their ancestry back to Jiang Ziya.

Today, Jiang Ziya is regarded as one of the greatest strategists in both Chinese history and the world, and is honored as the first famous general and progenitor of strategic studies. In the Tang Dynasty he was even accorded his own state temple as the martial patron and thereby attained officially sanctioned status apporaching that of Confucius.

Fengshen Yanyi
He is a prominent character in the novel who was called by his historical name, Jiang Ziya. After the Shang Dynasty is thoroughly established as a corrupt and wicked kingdom, he is formerly introduced into the story in chapter 15 as a Grand Master of Chan Taoism. His master, Heavenly Primogenitor, and other divine beings foresaw that 365 new gods were to be created when the Shang Dynasty falls. Seeing Jiang Ziya as the chooser of these gods from various fallen souls, his master ordered him to descend from Mount Kunlun and attend to his predestined duty. Although he expressed his desires to continue living peacefully with his master for eternity, Jiang Ziya obeyed and bid a tearful farewell to his master.

Once in the human world, he was pretty lost on where to start his new duty and paid a visit to his rich and popular sworn brother, Song Yiren, at Song Village. His sworn brother decided to grant Jiang Ziya a wife and the newly wed couple lived for a time under Song Yiren's care. To repay his sworn brother's kindness, he tried to adopt various crafts and trades to make do in the capital. After failing to sell rakes, trade flour, and run his own restaurant, Jiang Ziya found his true calling with fortune telling as he could predict future events with startling accuracy. He was also gifted with spotting supernatural beings and knew how to deal with them. He was brought before King Zhou after he brutally slays Wang Guiren while surrounded by a large crowd. Once he proved that he actually killed a specter, he was appointed as Junior Minister and Director of the Imperial Observatory for the Shang Dynasty. While he joyfully celebrated his new position and felt obligated to repay Bi Gan for bringing him to the court, he was unaware that the appointment was suggested by an angered and vengeful Daji.

Not long after his arrival, Daji created plans for a large and needlessly extravagant forty-nine feet tall building which she called the "Happy Terrace". Its halls and towers were to be made with jewels and engraved with divine beings, which she said would attract various divine beings with its beauty. She convinced King Zhou that Jiang Ziya was the only official in the kingdom who could construct it. Knowing that he would soon meet disaster, he tried to address the building's construction rationally. Unfortunately, he made a mistake by pointing out the king's not so majestic qualities and was ordered to be immediately executed. Fleeing for his life, he feigned suicide by jumping into the river. While out of sight, he rode a water cloud to safety and returned to his home. He told his wife that he desired to head towards the Western Foothills and urged her to join him. Despite his promises of fame and fortune, she declined and they divorced. Bidding farewell to Song Yiren, he and hundreds of other refugees are refused entry through the five passes by Zhang Feng. Unsuccessful in convincing the general to let them pass, Jiang Ziya summoned for a fierce wind to carry him and the refugees safely over the passes during dusk the same day. They land near Phoenix City and decide to live their days in peace.