Prince of Wei (based on Li Tai of Tang)
Li Tai, the fourth prince, is ambition incarnate. Charismatic, decisive, and ruthless when necessary, he was once the emperor's favorite son and seemed destined for the throne. His attraction to Wu Yuanzhao is genuine — he admires strength and refuses to settle for anyone who can't match his intensity. After losing the succession struggle, his arc becomes about whether ambition without purpose leads to destruction.
Li Tai's route is the harder path. Building his favor requires bold, ambitious choices. His ending is bittersweet — even with maximum favor, he cannot have both the throne and Wu Yuanzhao. The game forces a choice between power and love.
Li Tai, the Prince of Wei, is Road to Empress’s argument that ambition is a personality, not a phase. Played by Yao Chi, the fourth prince was once the emperor’s favorite son and behaves like a man still waiting for the paperwork to catch up with destiny. For players he is two things at once: the most dangerous rival in the main campaign of the first game, and the central figure of one of the most discussed side routes in the second. If Li Zhi is the quiet path to the throne room, Li Tai is the loud one — and the game charges you for every step of it.
As the fourth son of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, Li Tai holds the title Prince of Wei and, for much of the story, the status of heir apparent in everything but ink. His elder brother Li Chengqian wears the crown prince’s title and his younger brother Li Zhi eventually inherits the throne — leaving Li Tai as the most capable man in the room with no seat at it.
That position defines his faction role. He is the gravitational center for everyone dissatisfied with the succession, and his favor with the court makes proximity to him both an asset and a target: impressing him in public draws the attention of Empress Wang’s faction within the same scene.
Li Tai is a textbook ENTJ rendered as a prince: decisive, charismatic, allergic to hesitation, and genuinely energized by competent opposition. His favor attribute, “Li Tai +N,” accumulates when you choose the bold option — engage rather than withdraw, defy rather than submit, want everything rather than settle.
His attraction to Wu Yuanzhao follows the same logic. He is drawn to strength and refuses anyone who cannot match his intensity, which is why his route reads less like a rescue romance and more like two predators negotiating a truce. The shadow side of the ENTJ profile is his documented arc after losing the succession: ambition without purpose curdles, and the game makes you watch it happen.
Li Tai is threaded through the entire first game. He is established in Chapter 1 as part of the core dynamic, and at the Chapter 2 banquet he approaches you directly — engaging the emperor’s favored son earns Li Tai Favor +1 but puts Empress Wang on notice. In Chapter 4, pushing the Crown Prince toward rebellion is flagged as a dangerous gambit that earns Li Tai +1 while destabilizing the court. Chapter 5 is his showcase at the Southern Mountain hunt: wearing his gold hairpin signals allegiance to the entire court for +2 favor, and following him when he rides ahead alone unlocks an intimate conversation where you learn his true ambitions.
Chapter 12 contains his single biggest favor payout in the documented data. When the Emperor demands what you know about the Bian Ji affair, defying the throne earns the Emperor’s wrath — and Li Tai Favor +9, his respect purchased with real danger. The walkthrough for that chapter spells out the lesson: in this court, being feared is safer than being forgotten.
The first game’s finale belongs to his rivalry with Li Zhi. Chapters 15–16 stage the final confrontation between the brothers, and Chapter 16 offers the branch “Leave and unlock a new adventure — Li Tai’s Fate,” which leads to the Ultimate Showdown: a two-round QTE against Liu Xi that the guide calls the game’s most demanding mechanical challenge. Passing both rounds drives toward Destiny Rekindled, the major true ending of the Li Tai route.
Road to Empress II expands him into a full side story. Choosing “Leave this place and start a new life” at the prologue’s Make-or-Break Choice locks you into his route across Side Chapters 17–22: the Soaring Red Kite chapter, the two-part Dangerous Reunion in Side Chapter 19 where you conceal your identity as a Mirage Pavilion agent while building his affinity, and the arranged-marriage escape that culminates in the good ending Beyond the Chains. The dedicated Li Tai route walkthrough on this site maps every affinity milestone in that arc.
His triangle with Wu Yuanzhao and Li Zhi is the engine of the first game — mutual attraction and rivalry with her, fraternal cold war with his brother, and the permanent scar of once being Emperor Taizong’s favorite. In the RtE II side story, his orbit widens to include Danlichi, whom the protagonist claims as her husband to free Li Tai from an arranged marriage in the Beyond the Chains ending.
Li Tai’s favor rewards nerve. Players report that his +N gains cluster behind the riskiest documented options: the banquet conversation in Chapter 2, the rebellion gambit in Chapter 4, the gold hairpin and solo ride in Chapter 5, and open defiance in Chapter 12. Playing him safely is playing him badly.
Two structural warnings. First, his favor is visible — several choices that raise it simultaneously flag you to Empress Wang’s faction, so stack his route with caution plays elsewhere. Second, his route is deliberately bittersweet: per his route design, even maximum favor cannot give him both the throne and Wu Yuanzhao, and the game forces the choice between power and love. In the RtE II side chapters, typically the biggest threats are not his tests but the Mirage Suspicion counter and the QTEs — failing the Knock Them Out QTE in Side Chapter 21 is a documented bad ending. Bold for him, careful for everything around him.