♫ She’s a killer queen, gunpowder gelatine dynamite with a laser beam ♫… okay, maybe not the laser beam or the gunpowder, but Wu Zeitan’s ascendancy and reign were steeped in bloodshed and controversy. And yet, she managed to remain overwhelmingly popular.

China’s only empress, Wu Zeitan deposed both her sons and proclaimed herself the ruler of the new Zhou dynasty. And that was just the beginning. During her time as empress, she eliminated anyone who stood in her way through execution, contract killing and forced suicide. She even orchestrated the murder of her husband and the suicides of her grandchildren.

Legend has it that when Empress Wang was demoted for allegedly killing Wu’s baby, Wu ordered her hands and feet to be cut off and her body pickled in wine.