Wu Zetian

**Wu Zetian** is an Iron Widow concubine-pilot.

## History

When she was five years old, Zetian was subjected to foot binding by her grandmother and aunts. She lost three toes from infections that nearly took her life, and it ruined her balance forever. By adulthood, her soles were smaller than her palms, and although every step she took pained her, it made her more attractive as a potential wife or concubine.

## Activities

After learning of the killing of her sister, Wu Ruyi, at the hands of Yang Guang, Zetian plots to become Guang's concubine in order to get close to him and enact her revenge. She discloses her plan to Gao Yizhi the day before she is due to depart, and muddies herself in the commotion of a battle between a Chrysalis and a Hundun on her way home. On the day of her departure, Yizhi proposes to her family that he can match the army's price if he marries Zetian, but she refuses his offer in private, noting that his extremely rich family will never accept such a thing in practice. As the hovercraft arrives, Yizhi tries to dissuade her from at least killing Guang, but she makes her resolve clear to Yizhi, and threatens to commit suicide if he tells the army of her plans.

Zetian is brought to the Great Wall, where she is tested and recorded with a remarkably high spirit pressure value of six hundred and twenty-four. After her makeover, she retains her wooden hairpin from home, which conceals the weapon with which she plans to kill Yang Guang. Xiao Shufei confronts her about the weapon making her look like a peasant, but she brings the other woman to tears, reminding her of everyone's peasant origins, and the likelihood of the other women's deaths. Yang Guang arrives to take note of his new concubines, and selects Consort Wu as his first partner. Zetian starts to seduce Guang with her fiery, determined nature beneath her dainty, elegant persona, but before they can go to bed together, they are alerted to a Hundun attack.

Zetian attempts to resist the alert, but Colonel Yang must carry her to the Nine-Tailed Fox, as his nearest available concubine. She is forced into the lower pilot seat, and enters the mind realm as the colonel takes control of the Chrysalis. Despite Auntie Dou's instructions to trust her instincts, she rebels against them, and starts treating the memories cruelly and ruthlessly. She and Colonel Yang then enter an abstract space, even while he continues to pilot the ship. Realizing that she intends to kill him, the colonel summons chains to bind Zetian, but she lets out a scream and unleashes her willpower to summon her own armor, and create a blade that can pierce the barrier between herself and the colonel. She proceeds to stab him with the blade, and he dies, with Zetian taking control of the Chrysalis.

## Physical description

Zetian's feet are smaller than her palms, due to the foot binding she experienced as a child. Growing up, she was considered less attractive due to the presence of excess body hair, such as her unibrow (which she kept to keep her marriage value low), though later she asked Yizhi to tweeze her hair in order to make herself appear more appealing and attractive. She is often scolded by her family for having too much fat around her waist.

## Abilities

Zetian's spirit pressure value was initially measured at six hundred and twenty-four, which places her in the upper three percent of the population above five hundred, the minimum needed to activate a Chrysalis. When she first pilots the Vermilion Bird with Li Shimin, their spirit pressures each spike to eighteen thousand, the highest ever recorded.

Zetian's primary qi is Metal.

## Parallels

Wu Zetian's character is a retelling of the life of the real Wu Zetian, the only female emperor of China.

## Trivia

* Zetian's official height is 5'2" or 157 cm.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Zhao, Xiran Jay (author). (September 21, 2021). *Iron Widow*. Part I: Way of the Fox. Chapter Two: Like Water Hurled Out the Door. Penguin Teen.
2. ↑ Zhao, Xiran Jay (author). (September 21, 2021). *Iron Widow*. Penguin Teen.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Zhao, Xiran Jay (author). (September 21, 2021). *Iron Widow*. Part I: Way of the Fox. Chapter One: A Butterfly that Better not be my Dead Sister. Penguin Teen.
4. ↑ Zhao, Xiran Jay (author). (September 21, 2021). *Iron Widow*. Part I: Way of the Fox. Chapter Three: The Life you Want. Penguin Teen.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Zhao, Xiran Jay (author). (September 21, 2021). *Iron Widow*. Part I: Way of the Fox. Chapter Four: Ready to Serve. Penguin Teen.
6. ↑ Zhao, Xiran Jay (author). (September 21, 2021). *Iron Widow*. Part I: Way of the Fox. Chapter Five: Fatal Mistake. Penguin Teen.
7. ↑ Zhao, Xiran Jay (author). (September 21, 2021). *Iron Widow*. Part I: Way of the Fox. Chapter Six: Let's Dance. Penguin Teen.
8. ↑ Zhao, Xiran Jay (author). (September 21, 2021). *Iron Widow*. Part I: Way of the Fox. Chapter Seven: Into the Jungle. Penguin Teen.
10. ↑ Zhao, Xiran Jay (author). (September 21, 2021). *Iron Widow*. Part I: Way of the Fox. Chapter Eight: Welcome to your Nightmare. Penguin Teen.
11. ↑ Zhao, Xiran Jay (author). "Characters", *Xiran Jay Zhao*, 2020, http://xiranjayzhao.com/index.php/iron-widow-characters/