In the historical novel Romance of Three Kingdoms, Dian Wei (典韦) was recruited by Xiahou Dun after he saw him chasing a tiger across a stream. But Lord Cao wanted proof of his strength so they went out to a compound where a fierce wind was threatening to blow over the flag pole. While several soldiers were struggling to keep the pole upright Dian Wei hollered at them to move and he continued to support the pole with one hand.

A true giant and powerful man, he was usually armed with two gigantic and heavy spears(three pronged spears called Halberds which supposedly weighed 90 pounds each). He was Cao Cao's personal bodyguard and a feared and respected warrior. His fearsome presence and tremendous strength on the battlefield has lead others to think of him as pure evil. Thus he was dawned the nickname “The Coming Evil.” In the battle of Wan Castle he was caught without his spears, so he killed the enemy soldiers with his bare hands and later used two dead bodies as weapons against the enemy. He died after been struck by a volley of arrows when he was helping Cao Cao flee from the castle. The castle was soon burnt down from Zhang Xiu's fire attack.