DC Animated Universe
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This article is written from the Real World perspective Bruce Timm

"The art of war is deceit. First, you must attack your enemy when he least expects; in a place where he feels strong, but is in fact weak; with an army he believes he has already vanquished."

Sin Tzu was a character from the video game Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu. Tsu was a master criminal obsessed with conquering seemingly unbeatable adversaries.

History

Born in Southeast Asia, and abandoned as a child, Sin Tzu was adopted by an offshoot of the Indian Thuggee cult, and trained in their philosophy and combat skills. Once, when the cultists were being pursued by the police, the cult hid out in the caves of Chulan, which housed scrolls containing the military and mystic knowledge of ancient warlords. Studying these, Sin developed mastery of both strategy and the ancient practice of Yan-jin—a discipline allowing the channeling of mental energy to enhance one's own physical power and allowing one to control other people's minds.

With this power, Sin built an army of dedicated soldiers from collections of scattered thugs, and embarked on an ambitious career as a warlord. Often acting through puppet politicians, he conquered the country of Cynna, and marched the entire population into "re-education" camps; he likewise conducted a brutal invasion of Unglong, and enslaved thousands of the country's people; finally, he conquered large swaths of Vet Nak.

Once his conquests were completed, Sin Tzu would usually move on. He was first and foremost a warrior, not a ruler, and cared little for the chaos that enveloped his conquered subjects after he left.

Hearing tales of Gotham City's Dark Knight, he formed a plan to defeat him. Arranging to be "caught" and imprisoned in Arkham Asylum, Sin engineered a mass break-out from Stonegate Penitentiary, creating chaos on the streets of Gotham, and releasing what he planned to be the recruits for his new army. At the same time, he took over Arkham and enlisted the aid of several of Batman's rogues: Scarecrow, Clayface, and Bane.

Batman, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Robin battled their way into Arkham, and Batman engaged Sin in single combat. The battle was one of the most challenging Batman ever faced, but he emerged triumphant. Sin was captured and imprisoned in Arkham, for real this time, but vowed that he would be back.

Abilities and equipment

Sin Tzu is a master strategist, who always studies his adversary closely and devises a carefully thought-out plan before acting.

Sin is also one of the world's deadliest martial artists, having undergone a training regimen to rival Batman's.

In particular, Sin is a master of the obscure martial art known as Yan-jin, which allows him to distort other people's perception, and sometimes even control their minds.

Background information

Sin Tzu was created exclusively for the video game Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu by comic book artist Jim Lee. He is the only DCAU character to have been created for a video game.

His name is a parody of Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu, author of the book "The Art of War". Likewise, his personal sign is the Yin-Yang symbol.

His plan, detailed in the video game, is reminiscent of one practiced by Bane in the comics storyline Knightfall, when Bane engineers a mass break-out from Arkham with the specific purpose of weakening Batman before Bane fights him.

Appearance

Video game

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