The Five Tiger Generals (Wǔ hǔjiàng 五虎將) is the fictional collective term referring to the top five generals of the Shu-Han dynasty. This terms only appears in Luo Guanzhong's novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms and does not appear in the historical Records of the Three Kingdoms.
The Five Tiger Generals as they appear in Romance of the Three Kingdoms in order:
First of the Five Tiger Generals
Second of the Five Tiger Generals
Third of the Five Tiger Generals
Fourth of the Five Tiger Generals
Fifth of the Five Tiger Generals
Notes[]
- The official biography of Huang Zhong in Records of the Three Kingdoms contains a passage that may have inspired Luo Guanzhong to create the Five Tiger Generals:
- “The Former Lord became King of Hanzhong, and wished to appoint [Huang] Zhong as General of the Rear. Zhuge Liang advised the Former Lord: “Zhong’s renown cannot be compared to Guan [Yu] or Ma [Chao]. Yet now you wish them to have the same rank. Ma [Chao] and Zhang [Fei] were nearby and personally saw his achievement, and so can be convinced, but Guan [Yu] is far away and when he hears of this, I fear he will certainly be displeased. Is this not impossible?” The Former Lord said: “I will personally resolve it.” He was thus given equal rank with [Guan] Yu and the rest, and given fief as Marquis Within the Passes.”
- Another fact of note may be that all five Tiger Generals have their biography in the same chapter: “關張馬黃趙傳第六” ("fascicle 6: the biographies of Guan, Zhang, Ma, Huang and Zhao") in the Book of Shu 6.