It is argued in the paper that the fall of the Northern Wei regime was due to the collapse of political con-sensus at the court. The military difficulties which the regime faced from the 520s to the 530s simply aggravated the political situation and accelerated the process of court-based political disunity. The study provides a brief survey of Northern Wei political history, notes the structural institutional reforms of Emperor Xiaowen, and then focuses upon the impact of these structural reforms in encouraging new patterns of factional political behavior at court during the period from 500 through 530 (the reigns of Shizong, 499-515, and Suzong, 515-528). The result of these new patterns of political behavior was increasingly violent disagreement among the throne and various Tuoba and Xianbei lines regarding their proper roles and functions at the court. The factional violence accelerated with the 520 coup of Yuan Cha and climaxed in the 528 massacre at Heyin carried out by Erzhu Rong.