Revision 3

Overview

The Patriarch, identified as Mu Tianmiao, is the Prevailing Will and founder of The Order. He adopted and trained Soul as an elite assassin, raising him within the organization's hierarchy. His murder is the central inciting event of Phantom Blade Zero's story: Soul is framed for the killing, hunted by The Order, gravely wounded, and then saved by a mystic healer whose cure lasts only 66 days.

Role in The Order

As the Prevailing Will, Mu Tianmiao held the highest position in The Order's hierarchy. The Order is a powerful underground institution that works to maintain balance between factions of good and evil. It is officially neutral, using sabotage, instigation, and assassination to prevent any single group from gaining dominance. The organization is structured in three tiers:

• The Wills (7 members): senior leadership who make all decisions

• The Hands: implement the Wills' decisions, handling administration, reconnaissance, and logistics

• Instruments: dehumanized, disposable operatives; warriors captured and repurposed by The Order

As founder and Prevailing Will, Mu Tianmiao built this structure and maintained it for an unknown period before his assassination.

Relationship with Soul

Mu Tianmiao is Soul's adoptive father. Soul (full name: Hun) was raised within The Order and eventually achieved the rank of Will himself, putting him among the organization's seven leaders. Mu Xiaokui, Soul's childhood friend, shares the Mu family name, suggesting she may be a biological relative of the Patriarch.

The murder

The circumstances of Mu Tianmiao's death are the mystery at the center of Phantom Blade Zero's plot. Someone assassinated the Patriarch and framed Soul for the crime. Soul, gravely wounded in the aftermath, was saved by a healer whose cure is temporary. With only 66 days to live, Soul must uncover who actually killed his adoptive father and why.

Narrative parallels

Soulframe Liang has described the game's emotional structure as "a Chinese version of John Wick," featuring revenge, power dynamics, and expulsion from an institution. The Patriarch's death fills a similar narrative role to the inciting event in John Wick: a deeply personal loss that propels the protagonist into conflict with the very organization that raised him. The story is original and not adapted from classic literature, though it draws on wuxia traditions of loyalty, betrayal, and martial brotherhood.