Su Hu

Su Hu
Character Information
Allegiance(s)	Shang Dynasty Ji Fa's forces
Initial Weapon	Sword
Element	Wood
Element	Wood
First Appearance	Fengshen Yanyi
Real Name	Sū Hù
Chinese/Japanese	蘇護 - 苏护
Aliases	So Go
Divine Name(s)	God of the Eastern Constellations

Su Hu is the real Da Ji's father and an old friend of Huang Feihu. A war veteran and a natural skeptic, he is Zheng Lun's rational master.

Role in Game

Su Hu is a venerable general of the Shang Dynasty. Sometime before the game begins, he was ordered to bring his daughter to King Zhou. While he and his escorts were guarding her passage, the party decided to rest for the night. Su Hu was weary of the rumors regarding specters and ghouls in the area, so he protected her. As he patrolled, he was worried when the light in her room flickered out and rushed to her side. She assured him that she was fine and their journey continued without incident. What he didn't know at the time was that the soul of his daughter had already been devoured by a monster before he entered her room.

Taigong Wang's party soon comes across the first gate away from Morning Song, which is where Su Hu is stationed to stop them. Although he was ordered to punish the rebel general, Su Hu desires to hear his friend's end of the tale personally and sends Zheng Lun to invite the general inside. When his subordinate returns with Huang Feihu bound in ropes as a prisoner, Su Hu orders him to be released immediately. After the usual courtesies are shared between them, Su Hu shares his regret and disbelief towards his daughter causing the disasters in Morning Song. Due to his daughter's actions, Su Hu has been ostracized by the people. Huang Feihu, who trusts his friend's integrity, tells him the truth about the fox spirit in Da Ji. Knowing that his daughter would have never resorted to cruelty, he believes the revelation and mourns his daughter's passing. Huang Feihu offers his friend to join his quest to defeat the monster and gains Su Hu's approval. Moments after, Taigong Wang and Huang Tianxiang burst in to "rescue" their comrade. Once the misunderstanding between them is cleared, Su Hu aids Taigong Wang's party to avenge his daughter.

He continues to act as a minor advisor to Taigong Wang when they face other human opponents. Later in the game, as the party marches towards Morning Song with Ji Fa, Huang Feihu and Su Hu inform their leader that the road leading to Si Shui Gate splits into three paths. One leads towards the gate and the other paths are blocked with two additional gates. Su Hu leads a third battalion to deal with the northern pass. He needs to live in the conflict or the game will end. After the final battle, he is one of the three generals who pardon themselves from the court to embark on a personal journey.

Personality

Su Hu is a stern and intelligent leader who is known for dictating the importance of military discipline. He trains himself regularly and shares personal advice with the rest of the party to keep them on their toes. While they share similar traits and history, Su Hu remarks that he looks like an old man compared to Huang Feihu since he doesn't actively try to keep his youthful appearance.

As Da Ji was his only child, Su Hu reminisces about her at various times throughout the game. He remembers her as a gentle, selfless, and honest maiden who never bickered with him about anything. When she was a child, she was also one of Huang Tianhua's playmates. His views regarding his daughter echoes how others previously saw her, as Wen Zhong and Huang Feihu expressed the same sentiments.

Fighting Style

Su Hu is a sturdy physical fighter who shares many traits with Huang Feihu. The main difference between them is that Su Hu can either be one of the best swordsmen or archers in the party. His above-average luck allows him to accurately hit his foes and deal critical hits. He can equip heavy equipment and can endure more blows than others. His weaknesses lie in his low movement rate, his slacking agility, and his low magic stat. His last weakness also prevents him from being a good club user, as many of the status effects associated with the moveset will have a lower chance of taking effect.

The following lists his starting weapon and magic proficiencies.

Sword - 3/8

Spear - n/a

Club - 1/6

Bow - 3/9

Earth - 1/6

Healing - n/a

Illusion - n/a

Chi - n/a

Fengshen Yanyi

Su Hu was the father of two known children: Su Quanzhong and Su Daji. He was one of the eight hundred marquises who served King Zhou, reigning over Jizhou. He joined the other marquises in the summer to renew their loyalty to the Shang Dynasty. King Zhou's rule was already dwindling and his corrupt ministers, Fei Zhong and You Hun, were abusing their higher positions to extort more treasure and gifts from the other politicians. Su Hu could not stand for the injustice acts and refuted from obeying their wishes, earning Fei Zhong and You Hun's scorn. In a bid to force Su Hu's compliance, Fei Zhong personally informed King Zhou that Su Hu could not be trusted unless the marquise offered his daughter to the king.

The lustful king was interested at the aspect of obtaining a beautiful woman and summoned Su Hu before him for the trade, offering mass wealth and power if his vassal agreed. Su Hu was further insulted and fiercely defied King Zhou. Wanting to end his rebellious marquise without desecrating his image before the other politicians present, King Zhou excused Su Hu and allowed him to return to his province. As he returned to his home, Su Hu contemplated his predicament. Giving into King Zhou's demands would only befoul his reputation and honor. Refusing would probably lead to annihilation from King Zhou's army. After some thought, Su Hu decided to fortify his defenses and ready his men for war. He inscribed a poem that described his hate for the Shang Dynasty, which infuriated King Zhou. The two dukes, Chong Houhu and Ji Chang, were ordered to deal with him.

While Ji Chang offered to investigate the matter further, Chong Houhu attacked without hesitation. Su Hu's eldest son, Su Quanzhong, fought with great renown against the Shang army but was captured by Chong Heihu. Upon hearing of the loss, Su Hu was determined to uphold his honor until the end and resolved to kill himself, his wife, and daughter to avoid being taken prisoner. Before he killed Su Daji, Chong Heihu offered to negotiate for their sake on his behalf. Forced to submit, Su Hu was escorted to the Shang army camp. He was rescued by his vassal, Zheng Lun, and Chong Heihu became Su Hu's prisoner. Ji Chang, who sympathized with Su Hu, asked the rebel to give away his daughter to lessen the people's suffering. With supplies to Jizhou cut and with Ji Chang's virtuous reasoning, Su Hu agreed to the bargain. Both prisoners were respectfully returned and the conflict had ended. Su Hu left Jizhou in his son's care and escorted his daughter with 3,000 soldiers.

After a few days of traveling, Su Hu and his party were forced to rest in an area haunted by a sprite for the night. Weary for his daughter, Su Hu guarded her with his iron whip and read his military strategies to keep himself awake. When people cried as a shrill wind passed through, Su Hu immediately hurried to his daughter's side. The wind had blown out the candle so he ordered someone to replace it. As he entered Su Daji's room, she assured him that she was fine. Su Hu went to bed in relief, but he had no idea that his daughter's soul had already been devoured by the nine-tailed fox spirit. Their journey continued without incident and they presented themselves before Huang Feihu at Morning Song. King Zhou immediately pardoned Su Hu of his sins once he saw his daughter and Su Hu returned to his home with his old rank.

Soon after Deng Jiugong's defection, Su Hu was called to deal with Jiang Ziya's army. Unknown to him and King Zhou, his appointment was pressed by Fei Lian, who merely wanted to hasten the end of the Shang Dynasty. He must have read Su Hu's mind as he wanted to use this opportunity to finally realize his desire to join forces with the Western Hills. Marching with his the majority of his generals' consent and 100,000 soldiers, they arrived before West Qi and neither side moved for three days. As soon as he learned Su Hu was the commander, Huang Feihu volunteered to ride out and negotiate his friend to surrender. While he neared the enemy camp, a rebellious general named Zhao Bing tried to duel. Huang Feihu fought back in defense and regretfully captured him. Although he thought that his army had agreed with his wishes to surrender, his general, Zheng Lun, refused on his pride and honor to bow down to any rebel. Using deception to make his lord's intentions unknown to Jiang Ziya and capturing Huang Feihu as a heartless prisoner, Su Hu gave into Zheng Lun's wishes to fight. Su Hu thought that he was performing a brave deed by doing so, saving King Wu from Jiang Ziya.

Though he had several talented generals at his aid and posed a great threat to West Qi, Su Hu eventually finds himself regretting his actions once he learns the strength of Jiang Ziya's army. Resorting to his original plan, he delivered a letter to Jiang Ziya to request attacking Zheng Lun while keeping his family safe. As his family fled within West Qi, Zheng Lun was ambushed and fought bravely against Huang Feihu. As the Shang army began to scatter, Zheng Lun was finally knocked off his horse by Deng Jiugong and captured. Su Hu saved the life of his rebellious general by rationalizing with the youth in private and they both swore allegiance under King Wu. Su Hu fought in many campaigns afterwards until he was killed by Yu Da at Tongguan Pass.

Gallery

• 

  Fengshen Yanyi portraits