The Peaceful Warlord Motif
It might seem strange to have the motif of peace in a book about war, but peace is actually one of the motifs that is evident throughout the book. The Narrator is rather opposed to shows of force for the sake of it; instead he prefers a peaceful invasion, one in which the invader manages to subsume much of the invaded territory's army into his own, and take over much of the territory from the inside. A show of force is actually the last resort, not the objective of the strategy or plan. Peace as a tool of the art of war is a motif that begins in the planning stages and continues through to the end of the book.
Strategy Symbol
Good strategy is a symbol of a good Warlord. There is no such thing as a victorious, successful Warlord who has not planned and strategized the minutest detail of the campaign. Good planning and thought is a symbol of a Warlord who is guaranteed to be successful.
Flags and Regalia Symbol
The Narrator advises that if a Warlord's troops are slowed for some reason, or their approach into enemy territory is hampered, effort should be made to make music and noise and to fly flags and pennants, as this is a symbol of a line of troops in a procession rather than in the process of invading another nation.
Deception Motif
One of the key motifs in the book is that of deception and it seems to be as effective a tool of the successful warlord as does the ability to be a good general. The text explains that the good warlord makes it appear that he is doing one thing when in fact he is doing something else; that his troops are going east when they are really going west, or that they are using one rest stop when they are really headed for another.
Heart and Soul Symbol
It is stressed throughout the book that a warlord who puts his heart and soul into everything that he does seems to act with the heavens alongside him. This is symbolic of the fact that the warlord is doing everything from a place of wanting to give of his best and use all the talents that he has for the good of other people and of the territory.
