Guan Suo: Real?

[Guan Suo]

I have heard that he was real, he wasnt and that he was even a girl.Did Guan Suo exist if so was he a man.(i think he did exist and he was a bloke)

[Starscream]

He seemed to be the fictional son of Guan Yu, Luo Guan Zong created. Guan Ping apparently was Guan Yu's real son instead of adopted son. Zhou Cang, like Guan Suo, did not exist in history. Guan Yu did have a daughter, but her name was not known.

[Gan Ning 27]

As far as I can tell, Guan Suo did not really exist......so he was neither man nor woman. Guan Ping and Guan Xing did exist, I believe, with Ping dying beside his father, but Xing wasn't as great as the novel stated.

[Zhou Tai]

Indeed, the novel kind of gives the impression since Guan Yu was so great, Xing being Yunchang's official blood son, Xing would be every bit good as his father, but this was not really true, he did get Black Dragon (One of the many names) back but failed to get Red Hare. Would of been interesting to see if Red Hare would accept Xing

Zhou Cang was definitley Fiction, whcih kinda makes the whole beaten by Zhao Yun moment complicated

[SunJian]

There is no official proof that Zhou Cang and Guan Suo existed, since they are not mentionned in any official or historical documents.

On the other hand, there is no proof that they did not exist either. They MAY have existed, yet they were never mentionned. This would be strange in Guan Suo's case, considering Guan Yu's rank.

[Jimayo]

On the other hand, there is no proof that they did not exist either.

I can see that passage in SGZ. "Guan Yu's third son, Guan Suo, and his trusted comrade, Zhou Cang, never existed. They are figments of your imagination."

[lordostrategy]

There is no official proof that Zhou Cang and Guan Suo existed, since they are not mentionned in any official or historical documents.

On the other hand, there is no proof that they did not exist either. They MAY have existed, yet they were never mentionned. This would be strange in Guan Suo's case, considering Guan Yu's rank.

So, you are saying that they could have been like Zhao Yun's sons in SGYY? That is very possible, and most likely a reality. Guan Suo has appeared in all the video games, but he isnt in SGYY or SGZ..... That is strange. It could, however unlikely, be just a screw up and wind up having it be another Guan's style or something. Mabye, a huge uneducated guess, be Ping or Xing's style. But, that is also highly unlikely. So, it comes down to this "Is SGZ 100% factual? Or, is SGYY 100% factual? Or, are both just fragments of someone's imagaination, and completely untrue? Is it possible that not Zhou Cang, but even Liu Bei failed to exsist? There is no real truth that SGZ is true. But, there is some evidence that SGYY isn't.

Calling the winds? Give me a break. Thats just what makes Redcliffs so... Unrealiable. Mabye, Cao Cao killed Guan Yu instead of letting him surrender. Mabye, Guan Yu killed Cao Cao at the hunt. You never know.

[Lance]

First of all, if there was a hunt, it wasn't recorded, which seems to suggest there never was one and, if there was, it was unremarkable. Saying that the Chinese, who are known for their meticulous records, would screw up something like Guan Yu dying is like saying people wouldn't notice JFK was dead. Plus, SGZ wasn't actually written by Chen Shou, he simply gathered records from each of the 4 kingdoms(Jin included) and cross-examined them with eachother and other sources, as was the custom during his time period. It's extremely unlikely that he would miss a son of some one like Guan Yu or miss his right hand man. Chen Shou wrote the history for himself, and no one but him knew of it until after he died, making it unlikely he would embellish facts. It's also nearly impossible that Liu Bei never existed...he simply appears too many times in historical records. It is like denying the existence of....say...Julius Caesar, Jesus Christ, Mohammed, or any number of of famous historical people. On the other hand, Luo Guanzhong wrote SGYY during the Song dynasty, which was pro-Shu. Luo took historical fact, and fixed it up to make a great novel, complete with great heroes(ZGL, Guan Yu, Liu Bei, etc.), evil villians(Cao Cao for example), and those who were turned into mere plot devices(Zhou Yu, Sima Yi, ZGL). Seeing as his mootive was Imperial favor, he is far more likely to have embellished things, and he was a few centuries removed from the events of the Three Kingdoms period, making it highly unlikely that he would have a better idea as to what happened than Chen Shou.

[Stefanos]

Guan Suo has appeared in all the video games, but he isnt in SGYY or SGZ..... That is strange.

How did he not appear in SGYY? In Chapter 87 he is mentioned by LGZ.

Soon after the force marched south to Yizhou, Guan Suo, the third son of Guan Yu, appeared and wished to see Zhuge Liang.

And Guan Suo said to him, "After the fall of Jingzhou, I was hidden by the Bao family from where I wanted to go to the River Lands to ask the First Ruler for a revenge for my father. But I fell in illness, which was long and severe, and I only just recovered. I was then traveling toward Chengdu to meet with the Latter Ruler, when I met the army in the south expedition. I know that vengeance has been taken on the murderers of my father. And now I want to present myself to the Prime Minster."

Zhuge Liang was greatly affected to see him. He sent news of the young man's arrival to the court and gave Guan Suo a post of Van Leader.

I do not doubt that he could've been a fiction character that LGZ could've placed into the storyline for filling purposes. It just goes to show that ancient historical records such as SGZ are not 100% correct. Its possible that those records of the minor details of the peoples lives were lost, and its also possible that Guan Suo's historical biography was lost too.

[Xiao He]

The hunt sort of existed. It is in Pei Songzhi's commentary in Guan Yu's bio where Guan Yu was about to slay Cao Cao but Liu Bei told him not to.

Guan Suo and Zhou Cang cannot have existed since SGZ does not have their names so how would Luo Guanzhong know their names, what they did, etc.?