Zhao
Actor: ??
Name: Zhao*Nationality:* Chinese*Affiliation:* Asia-Pacific Alliance (APA)*Rank:* General*Role:* Senior APA Officer*Subordinate:* A young Officer presented as his protégé*Associate:* General Agembe*Conflict:* War against the GLA**Status:** Non-canon character from Generals 2
Zhao is a general of the Asia-Pacific Alliance, one of the three major powers set to clash in Command & Conquer: Generals 2. Unlike the APA’s specialised playable generals, he appears in the campaign’s introductory cutscenes and appears to be part of the Alliance’s high command.
The information available about him is limited, as the game was cancelled before his narrative campaign was completed. The introductory cutscenes nevertheless reveal several key aspects of his personality and role.
A General of the Asia-Pacific Alliance
The Asia-Pacific Alliance was set to succeed China as the dominant Asian superpower in the Generals universe. His command included several specialist generals, amongst whom were Chang ‘Red Arrow’ Dongmei, Park ‘The Beast’ Kang-Dae, Zhu ‘Blackjack’ Guozhi, Xiao ‘Taskmaster’ ’ Ri, Ma ‘1000 Suns’ Shen and Pham ‘Inferno’ Quan. Zhao appears separately from these playable generals in the narrative sequences planned for the campaign.
He is accompanied by a young officer presented as his protégé, suggesting that he also acts as a mentor within the APA command.
A victory with a bitter aftertaste
The most revealing detail about Zhao comes from the introductory cutscene entitled ‘Carnage’.
After a particularly deadly battle, Zhao walks across a battlefield littered with bodies and wrecked vehicles. His protégé comes to meet him and enthusiastically celebrates the victory achieved under his command.
Zhao does not share his enthusiasm in the slightest.
For him, a military victory cannot be celebrated without taking into account the human cost incurred in achieving it. Faced with the scale of the losses, he directly questions the very notion of victory.
In particular, he wonders about the number of lives sacrificed in the name of one man’s revenge and realises that he feels no joy at the outcome of the battle, only regret.
This scene serves to distinguish Zhao sharply from many generals in the Generals universe.
He does not appear to seek personal glory, take pleasure in destruction, or regard his Soldiers as mere resources.
On the contrary, Zhao comes across as a commander who is deeply aware of the human cost of war.## The burden of command
Zhao’s reaction after the battle reveals a particularly serious view of his role as a general.
His protégé sees a simple equation:battle won = victory. Zhao sees something far more complex:objective achieved + considerable losses = a victory whose value must be called into question.
He does not deny that his forces won the battle. He simply refuses to take satisfaction from it when the result required the sacrifice of such a large number of soldiers.
This attitude potentially makes him one of the most measured characters in the Generals 2 project.
‘One man’s revenge’
Zhao’s remark about the lives sacrificed in the name of one man’s revenge is particularly significant.
Unfortunately, the cutscene does not provide enough context to establish with certainty the full chain of events that led up to this battle. As the project was abandoned, a significant part of the plot remains incomplete.
It is therefore best not to attribute to Zhao motivations or relationships that have never been definitively established.
What is certain, however, is that he clearly disapproves of the price paid for this revenge.
Zhao thus comes across as an officer capable of obeying orders and completing an operation whilst at the same time passing moral judgement on the decisions that led to it.
In the cutscenes, Zhao is accompanied by a younger Officer, simply identified as Zhao’s protégé.
The contrast between the two men is evident after the battle.
The young Officer immediately rejoices at the success and congratulates Zhao on his leadership.
The general, who is far more experienced, looks instead at the dead and the destruction left in their wake.
This scene suggests a mentor–protégé relationship: the protégé admires Zhao’s military abilities, whilst the general has a far less idealised view of war.
The sequence can thus be understood as an implicit lesson taught by Zhao:a good Commander does not measure his success solely by the territories conquered or the enemies defeated, but also by the number of men he has had to sacrifice to achieve his objective.## Agembe
At the end of the battle, Zhao orders his protégé to let Agembe know what has happened.
This establishes a direct narrative link between Zhao and Agembe, another General featured in the introductory cutscenes of Generals 2.
However, the exact nature of their relationship and the full sequence of events that were intended to bring them together were never developed in a final version of the game.
It is therefore best to stick to what is shown: Zhao wants Agembe to be informed of the outcome of the battle and its consequences.## A character distinct from the playable generals
Zhao should not be confused with the APA’s specialist generals.
Characters such as Blackjack, Taskmaster, Inferno and 1000 Suns were designed as Commanders, each with their own speciality and specific arsenal.
Zhao, on the other hand, is part of the campaign’s narrative: he appears in the story cutscenes alongside his protégé.
There is therefore no evidence to suggest with certainty that he possesses a military specialisation comparable to that of the playable Generals.
A more human view of war
Despite his extremely limited screen time, Zhao possesses a surprisingly relatable personality.
He is:
experienced, because his protégé regards him as a Commander capable of leading his forces to victory;
thoughtful, because he immediately analyses the consequences of the battle rather than celebrating;
responsible, because he seems to feel the weight of the losses personally;
disillusioned, because victory brings him no satisfaction;
and pragmatic, since, after expressing his regrets, he accepts that the battle is over and orders that the outcome be reported to Agembe.
Zhao would therefore likely have been a rather unusual figure in Generals 2: a general who does not necessarily question the need to fight, but who refuses to glorify war itself.## An Unfulfilled Fate
Zhao’s ultimate fate is unknown.
The sequences in which he appears arepreview animatics created for the Generals 2 campaign*. Nine of these animatics were eventually made public, including Execution, Carnage, Ace in the Hole, Catharsis and Disarmed.
However, Generals 2 was cancelled before this story could be completed and released in its intended form.
It is therefore impossible to know:
- exactly what role Zhao would have played in the campaign as a whole;
- how his relationship with his protégé would have developed;
- exactly what his relationship with Agembe was;
- whether he was meant to survive the conflict;
- or what conclusion was planned for his narrative arc.
Zhao is an experienced General in the Asia-Pacific Alliance and the mentor of a young Officer. After winning an extremely bloody battle, he refuses to celebrate the victory and reflects with regret on the losses caused by the conflict. Convinced that no military success can erase the human cost of war, he reflects on the lives sacrificed in the name of vengeance before ordering that the outcome of the battle be reported to Agembe. His story was to have been developed in the Generals 2 campaign, but the game’s cancellation leaves his ultimate role and fate unknown.