Dynasty Warriors Origins’ Yuanhua Is Based on Hua Tuo

Koei Tecmo’s upcoming game Dynasty Warriors Origins will have several new characters to help spice up its storyline. A majority of them are completely original characters who did not appear in any historical notes or folktales related to the Chinese Three Kingdoms era, such as the player-controlled protagonist and the mysterious woman Zhuhe.  However, one of the new Dynasty Warriors Origins characters—Yuanhua—is pretty much based on the historical figure Hua Tuo.

There are two strong pieces of evidence that tie Dynasty Warriors Origins’ Yuanhua to Hua Tuo. Yuanhua’s kanji/hanzi name (元化) is a perfect match with Hua Tuo’s courtesy name. In addition, Koei Tecmo described Yuanhua’s occupation as a doctor, which also fits the description of the same figure.

Hua Tuo was well known as an expert in medicines in the historical Chinese Three Kingdoms era, and he had treated many people in various locations across China. He became best known for the fictional treatment of Guan Yu which, despite being an invented story for the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel, had become a well-recognized legend and immortalized through artistic paintings in China and Japan.

Image courtesy of Koei Tecmo

The novel featured the episode during Guan Yu’s campaign in the Fan Castle in 219 AD—which would not be possible in actual history as Hua Tuo had already died by 208 AD. The general called the doctor to heal his arm from the poison that entered through an arrow during the siege. But instead of performing the surgery behind closed doors, Guan Yu asked the doctor to do it right on the spot while he was still playing Go chess with a colleague using his other unaffected hand.

Although Cao Cao played a part in Hua Tuo’s death in both history and novel, it is unknown whether Koei Tecmo would portray that episode in Dynasty Warriors Origins. While Cao Cao historically ordered Hua Tuo’s arrest for refusing to treat him around 207-208 AD, the game will have the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel as the primary source for its storyline. The novel postponed the arrest event until after the Fan Castle campaign had concluded, which was already way past the game’s coverage limit at the Battle of Chi Bi / Red Cliffs in 208 AD.

An episode related to Hua Tuo that appeared in Romance of the Three Kingdoms and falls within Dynasty Warriors Origins’ coverage period does exist, though. Sun Ce called the doctor to tend to his officer Zhou Tai, who sustained numerous wounds while protecting Sun Quan during the Wu territory campaign. It remains to be seen whether players will be able to see this cutscene should they opt to have the protagonist follow the Sun family in the major story branch.

Image courtesy of Koei Tecmo

This would not be the first time Koei Tecmo has featured Hua Tuo in the Dynasty Warriors series, though. The company had previously created a unique design for the figure in the now-defunct mobile game Dynasty Warriors Blast. However, it ultimately did not bring over his design to Dynasty Warriors 9. The historical figure’s designs in the Dynasty Warriors series may run contrary to other works that mostly depicted him as an old man, but I can see Origins’ Yuanhua growing up to the Blast design should Koei Tecmo decide to produce a direct sequel to Origins.

Yuanhua would not be the first Dynasty Warriors character to be primarily referred to by courtesy name either. Cai Wenji, who first appeared in Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce 2 (and made her mainline debut in Dynasty Warriors 7) but is missing from Origins’ 47-character roster, is also based on her courtesy name, as her real name is Cai Yan.

The role of Yuanhua—also known as Hua Tuo—in Dynasty Warriors Origins’ storyline will be one of the points players should look forward to when Koei Tecmo releases the history-based action game for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC simultaneously worldwide on January 17, 2025. The character will have voiceovers by Saku Hyuga in Japanese, Wang Ni in Chinese, and Christian Banas in English.

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