1 “Loyal Servant, Our Kingdom’s General, Numinous Deity, National Hero: The Biographical Transformations of Trần Hưng Đạo” A paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, March 2009 (in Chicago). Liam C. Kelley University of Hawaii at Manoa Introduction Trần Hưng ạo, the general who fought off Mongol invasions in the thirteenth century, is an extremely famous historical figure in Vietnam today. School children learn of his deeds, streets are named after him, and his statue sits front and center in Ngọc Sơn Temple in the heart of Hanoi, seemingly a symbol of the historical longevity of his importance. What I argue in this paper, however, is that Trần Hưng ạo’s centrality in Vietnamese minds does not reach back as far into the past as one would today be led to think. Published maps, for instance, demonstrate that as late as the late 1940s, the main spirit worshipped in Ngọc Sơn temple was actually Wenchang Dijun, a “Chinese” god of literature. Trần Hưng ạo’s entry into Ngoc Son Temple is of very recent vintage, and so, I will argue in this paper, is the manner in which he is perceived today, and the purpose of his life recounted. In terms of our theme today of “biography,” I am using this concept rather loosely. What I have done here is to look at the historical record and have attempted to find what is it is that people found important about Trần Hưng ạo’s life at various times in the past. Here I am focusing on the written record, and am therefore examining the ideas of the educated elite, be they what we would call the literati of pre-twentieth Vietnam, or intellectuals of the twentieth century. What I have found is that while today Trần Hưng