Emperor Han

"Now join General Ming in Hell."

- Dragon Emperor

The Dragon Emperor (real name: Emperor Qin Han) is a tyrannical and brutal king who first founded the country of China and he is the main antagonist of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

He was portrayed by Jet Li.

History
In ancient China, Qin Han, a brutal and tyrannical warlord, unites the country's kingdoms into an empire and becomes The Dragon Emperor. had intended to conquer lands in his name, and succeeded in claiming many territories for himself with no opposition; none in China could best him in strategy or strength, as many times during his campaigns, several assassins were sent to kill him in his sleep, but the men were all defeated before they could come close to harming the Emperor. Han went on to vanquish all opponents, destroy many settlements, and slaughter countless innocents, but in time, Han managed to defeat his enemies, as well as to order the construction of a massive wall that served to protect his newly-acquired empire from invaders. He also commanded his enemies and even his servants to be buried within the great wall upon their deaths. The Emperor's mystics taught him supernatural mastery over the Five Elements of earth, wood, fire. His powers seems to be without limits and his kingdom continue to prosper under his rule.

After some time in years later, Han's interests turned to preserving his youth as an immortal when he began to grow fearful that all he has accomplished will be lost upon his death, and so sought a witch named Zi Yuan, who was said to know the secrets behind immortality.

Han had sent his general and the sorceress to Turfan to find the formula to become immortal, though Ming Guo and Zi Yuan had, while in Turfan, fallen in love, to the Emperor's displeasure and defied his command that no man touch her. Zi Yuan had returned from Turfan with the Oracle Bones, a packet of ancient spells and enchantments that contained the secrets of immortality, and cast the spell to grant the Emperor his desire in Sanskrit, a language that the Emperor did not know: as punishment, Han ordered Ming Guo to be drawn and quartered by four horses. Han told Zi Yuan that if she agreed to become his queen, Ming would be spared, but Zi Yuan knew that the Emperor would never keep his word: the Emperor indifferently responded that she was right, and had Ming killed regardless. Enraged, Zi Yuan attacked Han who obtained her dagger and stabbed her. As Zi Yuan painfully staggered away, she cursed him for his betrayal of the sorceress. Han was preserved as a terra-cotta statue along with all his troops and their horses that too transformed into terracotta statues as she escaped, for centuries.

In his demise, the Emperor was entombed in an elaborate terracotta tomb, shaped to resemble a carriage with horses, but the Emperor's body was interred in one of the terracotta figures rather than the area for his body, in which was stored the corpse of a eunuch; the resulting coffin was interred in a chamber in which resided the Emperor's prized possessions and was even adorned with the Emperor's favoured concubines, all mummified with him.

Upon being resurrected, Han attempted to once again conquer, reaching immortality at one point, but was finally destroyed by Rick O'Connell and his family along with the help of Zi Yuan an her daughter Lin who both aided in resurrecting the corpses of all the Emperor's enemies and victims including Lin's birth father, General Ming Guo

Trivia

 * The emperor, "Emperor Han" in the film, is based on Qin Shi Huangdi of the Qin Dynasty, and the first emperor of China, not the first Emperor of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu of Han.