Heavenly King's Armor
The Heavenly King's Armor (天王甲; Tiānwáng Jiǎ) was a suit of shining armor (明光甲; míngguāng jiǎ) used by the Chinese Assassins. By the 8th century, it was being stored in the Northern Treasury Under Heaven, a secret vault beneath the Mojia Village in Qinghe, alongside a vast array of other weapons and armor.[1]
As the centerpiece of the armory, it instantly caught the eye of the Hidden One Li E when he was brought down into the chamber in 756 by its keeper Pei Min. Pei Min claimed that the Heavenly King's Armor was indestructible and urged Li E to don it for his upcoming mission to eliminate the Golden Turtles in Chang'an.[1] Li E obliged,[1] and the armor subsequently proved its worth in both the Mawei Station mutiny, where his team took down the Golden Turtle leader Yang Guozhong,[2] and in his solo assassination of the Yeluohe leader An Lushan.[3]
Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]
The Heavenly King's Armor features in the manhua Assassin's Creed: Dynasty. It is acquired by the protagonist Li E near the climax of the story when he is granted access to a secret Assassin vault. The scene is evocative of Ezio Auditore attaining the Armor of Altaïr in Assassin's Creed II (2009) and by extension of other instances in video games where the player unlocks the most powerful armor for the endgame.
The description of its attributes by Pei Min alludes to a line spoken by Guan Yu in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In Chapter 25, an awestruck Cao Cao exclaims that Guan Yu is superhuman for charging into the midst of enemy troops and single-handedly slaying Yuan Shao's general Yan Liang. Guan Yu demurs at that compliment, declaring "My brother Zhang Yide, in seizing a general's head among a myriad-strong army, did it like picking something out of his own pocket".
Gallery[edit | edit source]
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Li E donning the armor
