
Cao Cao (onyomi: Sō Sō) was the Chancellor of the Han Dynasty who laid the foundations for the war kingdom of Wei. A clean-cut, tall, and crafty individual, Cao Cao excelled in war and politics. He was loved and feared for his perceptiveness and swift retaliations, as well as his very close relationship with many of his retainers. Chen Shou commented that he was a leader who possessed a unique mindset and was a timeless hero.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms famously villainizes him to be a hot-blooded, sly, yet occasionally dumbfounded schemer who sometimes survived his hardships on luck alone, said to be from the heavens themselves being right beside him. His legitimate successor is Cao Pi, born from his consort Bianshi. Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, and Cao Hong are his well-known cousins.
His Dynasty Warriors incarnation ranked in seventeenth place in Gamecity's Dynasty Warriors 7 character popularity poll and is twenty-sixth in the Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends popularity poll. In Famitsu's character survey, he is the number one character fans would want as their boss. The latest poll for the eighth installment puts him in fifteenth. The character pollfor overseas fans puts him in third place for the Wei division and fourteenth in the semi-final round.
His character's height in Kessen II is 180 cm (5'11").