From what I've read on the guy he seems like a very rational guy that was just good at conquering.And although romance of three kingdoms is gray with reality and fiction meshing together,The novel portrays him as evil,but I was perfectly fine with him and actually supported most of his actions given his situations.And if not for him The Jin dynasty wouldn't have formed and stop the chaos.So why does most media villainize him and reduce him to a monster?
A lot of it does have to do with the portrayal of Cao Cao in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. But, part of that is not simply his individual representation, but his figure in contrast to those of Liu Bei and Sun Quan as well. Specifically, Liu Bei.
Liu Bei is presented as a noble, honorable leader who truly cares about the people of the land. The Liu Bei-Cao Cao dichotomy is really highlighted by the Battle of Changban. Liu Bei is trying to get to Jiangling and has tens of thousands of civilians along with his small military force. Cao Cao is trying to hunt him down and thus fosters an image of not caring about the people or honor, only power and victory.
On top of that, there's also the issue of their claims to power. Cao Cao is seen as a sort of usurper. He put himself into a position of dominance over the teenaged Emperor Xian and effectively controlled imperial power. Liu Bei, on the other hand, was said to have a direct lineage connection to the imperial family. The Records of the Three Kingdoms and Pei Songzhi's annotations on the text both say that he was a great-grandson of the former Emperor Jing. This means that Liu Bei would have had a very legitimate claim to "liberate" the young emperor from the control of Cao Cao.
On top of that, Liu Bei was the underdog in the story, and everyone loves an underdog.
Yeah but I'm still Cao Cao all the way.Thanks for informing me though.Also Sun Quan ain't no angel.