Wei Warrior
Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed General
夏侯惇died 2204 star
In short
Xiahou Dun (died 220) was a kinsman of Cao Cao and the general he trusted most, with him from the first campaign in 190. He lost his left eye to an arrow fighting Lu Bu's army in 194. He was more administrator than battlefield winner: he held Cao Cao's rear, dammed a river and farmed beside his soldiers in a famine, and died a few months after Cao Cao in 220.
| Lived | died 220 |
|---|---|
| Name in Chinese | 夏侯惇 |
| Courtesy name | Yuanrang |
| Served | Cao Cao, then Cao Pi |
The history
Xiahou Dun was from Qiao, the same county as Cao Cao. At fourteen he killed a man who had insulted his teacher, and he was known for that temper for the rest of his life. He joined Cao Cao when the first troops were raised against Dong Zhuo in 190.
In 194, while Cao Cao was away, Lu Bu seized most of Yan Province. Xiahou Dun was briefly taken hostage in his own camp by men pretending to surrender, and was freed when his officer Han Hao refused to bargain. In the fighting that followed an arrow struck his left eye.
His record in the field is mixed. Liu Bei lured him into an ambush at Bowang around 202. What Cao Cao valued was that he could be left alone. He governed Chenliu and Jiyin through drought and locusts, dammed the Taishou River, and carried earth for the dam himself to get the soldiers planting rice. He kept little for himself, and gave away what was left over.
When Cao Cao became King of Wei, Xiahou Dun asked to hold a Wei title like the others, not a Han one. Cao Pi made him General in Chief in 220, and he died a few months later.
The novel
Romance of the Three Kingdoms turns the wound into its most famous gesture, the swallowed eye, and makes him a fierce front line fighter who duels Guan Yu on the road. The steadier man of the history, the one who ran the provinces behind the army, hardly appears.
Xiahou Dun in the game
In Warlords of the Three Kingdoms Xiahou Dun is the One-Eyed General: a 4 star warriorof Wei. The game's line for him: “Struck in the eye by an arrow, he pulled it out and ate the eye, saying he would not waste a gift from his parents.”
| Kingdom | Wei |
|---|---|
| Role | Warrior |
| Rarity | 4 star |
| Base attack and defense | 26 and 22 |
| Where from | Summoned at the Imperial Summon, for Jade. The odds are shown before every summon. |
A warlord sworn to Wei fields him 10% stronger, as every General of their own Kingdom. Wei, Shu or Wu has what the choice changes.
Four star is where he starts. Duplicates become shards, shards add stars, and each star adds a tenth to both numbers.
Questions
Did Xiahou Dun really eat his own eye?
That is the novel. In it he pulls out the arrow with the eye on it and swallows the eye, saying it is his parents' flesh and blood. The history says only that an arrow wounded his left eye in the fighting against Lu Bu in 194.
How did Xiahou Dun lose his eye?
To a stray arrow in 194, during Cao Cao's war with Lu Bu for Yan Province. The army afterwards called him Blind Xiahou, a name he hated. It is said he threw down any mirror he caught himself in.
How was Xiahou Dun related to Cao Cao?
The history treats the Xiahou and Cao families of Qiao as kin, and Xiahou Dun rode in Cao Cao's own carriage, an honor no other general had. One account says Cao Cao's father was born a Xiahou.
How do you get Xiahou Dun in Warlords of the Three Kingdoms?
Summoned at the Imperial Summon, for Jade. The odds are shown before every summon.
Sources
The history follows Chen Shou's Records of the Three Kingdoms, written in the third century, with Pei Songzhi's annotations of the fifth, and Fan Ye's Book of the Later Han for the years before the Han court fell apart. What the page calls the novel is Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, of the fourteenth century. Where the two disagree, the page says which is speaking. For more on him, see Xiahou Dun on Wikipedia.
Written by Gitkonek Studio, .
Keep reading
- Xu Chu, the Tiger FoolCao Cao's bodyguard, who once dragged an ox backward by its tail for a hundred paces.
- Cao Cao, the Hero of ChaosXu Shao called him a capable minister in peace and a treacherous hero in chaos; he laughed and took the second.
- Sima Yi, the Wolf Who Looks BackHe outwaited Cao Cao, outlasted Zhuge Liang, and left his grandsons an empire that had not been his.
- Zhang Liao, the Terror of HefeiAt Xiaoyao Ford his eight hundred broke Sun Quan's host, and in Wu his name was used to quiet crying children.
- Dian Wei, the Guard at WanchengHe held the camp gate at Wancheng with a halberd in each hand so that his lord could reach the river.