the boy emperor he had no real powers; powers was in the hands of empress dowager dou, and her brothers dou xian, dou du (竇篤), dou jing (竇景), and dou gui (竇瑰). of her brothers, dou gui alone was humble and unassuming, but the other three, particularly dou xian, were arrogant, using their connection to the empress dowager to intimidate other officials into submission.