Codex · Characters
The Hunt
追命Zhuīmìng
A former comrade who now hunts Soul for the Order, wielding a chain sickle in a wagon-chase fight (PlayStation Blog; previews). Chinese coverage speaks of an Order hunter (组织猎杀者) and names the weapon 追命锁镰, so 追命 is the likely Chinese name, though the pairing is unconfirmed.
What the name means
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 追 | zhuī | to chase, pursue |
| 命 | mìng | life; fate; also an order (as in 命令) |
The real culture behind it
追命 reads “chasing a life” — hunting someone down — and 命 also means an order, as in 命令: a neat double sense for a killer sent by his organisation (our reading). Wuxia readers know the name from Wen Ruian’s Four Great Constables (四大名捕), where Zhuiming is the third of four imperial constables, a hard-drinking tracker famed for his legwork. That echo is ours; S-GAME has not cited Wen Ruian.
The weapon name’s 锁镰 is the word Chinese uses for the Japanese kusarigama, a sickle on a chain with an iron weight. And the plot is pure wuxia: the deserter hunted by his own order is a stock story, from films such as Reign of Assassins (2010) to Soul’s own.
Go deeper
- Rope Dart, Meteor Hammer & Chain Sickle: China's Chain WeaponsHow the rope dart, meteor hammer, chain sickle, nine-section whip and three-section staff really work, what history records, and which appear in Phantom Blade Zero.
- The Order & Real Chinese Secret Societies, ExplainedIs Phantom Blade Zero's Order real? No — but Ming China had secret police (Jinyiwei), banned sects (White Lotus) and sworn brotherhoods that became triads.
- Assassins in Chinese History: Jing Ke, Zhuan Zhu & MoreAncient China's real assassins — Cao Mo, Zhuan Zhu, Yu Rang, Nie Zheng and Jing Ke — from Sima Qian's Shiji, plus Tang assassin tales, ninja and hashashin compared.
Sources & further reading
- PlayStation Blog: pre-order trailer and State of Play announcement (11 Aug 2026)
- Shacknews final preview (2026)
- A9VG: hands-on and interview (9 Oct 2026)
Game details come from official material and press coverage; names marked “fan reading” will be checked against the retail build. Anything labelled as our reading is interpretation, not a developer statement.