In the cave, the men are attacked by a creature. The men are traveling in search of black powder. European mercenaries William Garin (Matt Damon) and Pero Tovar (Pedro Pascal) hide out in a cave along with three other men. The film opens on Khitan bandits riding through the desert. This story is about one of those legends. It has protected the city from many dangers, some of which are known, and others that are legend. It spans over 5,500 miles and took over 1,700 years to build. The opening text states that the Great Wall of China is one of mankind's most enduring wonders.The synopsis below may give away important plot points. This divergence places William and Tovar at odds with each other in carrying out their chosen paths. In viewing what is happening, William and Tovar begin to diverge in their thoughts: Tovar, with Ballard, sees the current turmoil as the perfect opportunity to escape stealing as much of the black powder that the Nameless Order has that they can carry, while William, seeing a new purpose in life in learning about trust from Commander Lin Mae, wants to stay and fight with the Nameless Order, it not a certainty that any of them being able to survive regardless of the path they take. As the Tao Tei initiate their attack, the Nameless Order executes their strategic defense, with most of their measures based on their position of the fortress that is the Great Wall. Although not stated to them explicitly, William and Tovar learn from Ballard, another westerner at the Wall, that they will be treated well but are not allowed ever to leave in the Nameless Order protecting the secrets of the Wall, Ballard who, like them, was a mercenary in search of black powder, he captured twenty-five years ago.
Tao Tei's survival is predicated on the soldier creatures gathering food to bring back to the Queen as nourishment. The Nameless Order informs them that the creature is called a Tao Tei, as a species who attack once every sixty years, this one specimen killed by William signifying their imminent attack. Two of the mercenaries, William and Tovar, are captured by the local army, called the Nameless Order, who house them within the confines of the Great Wall.
They are attacked by an unknown creature, with William, one of the mercenaries, able to kill the creature. In the distant past, a group of European mercenaries are in the Far East in search of the mythical black powder that turns "air into fire", it the source of their future wealth in bringing it back to Europe. Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil When the Taotie Queen retrieves the horde, they know that they will soon be massively attacked by the Taoties and their only chance is to kill the Queen. When they suffer attack from the horde of Taoties, William and Tovar also fight helping General Shao and winning his approval. They are the last outpost protecting the capital. Soon they learn that the soldiers are trained specifically to fight monsters called Taotie that attack the humans every sixty years. They are imprisoned in the Great Wall and meet the European Ballard, also a mercenary looking for black powder who has been imprisoned in the Great Wall for twenty-five years. While escaping with the hand of the monster, they stumble upon the Great Wall and are captured by General Shao, Commander Lin Mae, Strategist Wang and their army. A European group of mercenaries search for black powder in China however they are attacked by bandits and a monster and only William and his comrade Tovar survive.