Chinese Paladin

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Based on a popular RPG of the same name, the story of the TV show based on the first game in the series Chinese Paladin takes place in a fantasy medieval China that's full of kung fu action, CG special effects, and wacky humor.

Li Xiao Yao, a "Stinky Punk", journeys to Dream Island to find a cure for his sick aunt. There he meets and marries the love of his life, Ling'er. On his way back home with the cure, he discovers that he's been tricked by the Lunar Sect Cult so that they can kidnap Ling'er.

He awakens in his bed, having forgotten his entire trip to Dream Island, but having saved his aunt. He rescues Ling'er from the Lunar Sect Cult and is in turn rescued by a mysterious stranger who teaches him kung fu. Xiao Yao and Ling'er travel to the capital to meet her father.

Along the way, they meet various people, get harassed by the Lunar Sect Cult, discover both of their histories, save the world and fall in love with each other all over again. It starts off sweet and lighthearted but ends with plenty of tears.

Tropes used in Chinese Paladin include:

• All Love Is Unrequited: Yueru to Xiao Yao, and Jinyuan to Yueru, Taoist Mo Yixi and Queen Wu and to some degree in the beginning, Tangyu to A’nu
• Arranged Marriage: Ling’er and Xiao Yao, Yueru and Xiao Yao, Caiyi and Jinyuan
• Because Destiny Says So
• Beta Couple: Tangyu and A’nu
• Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: Xiao Yao and Yueru, two good rival-friends who have been through everything, yet show a sort of playful hatefulness towards each other to mask their affection, the can’t live without them part becomes especially clear when Xiao Yao wakes up after the Monster Jail collapse and learns that Yueru sacrificed herself to save him and Ling’er, prompting some denial on Xiao Yao’s part.
• Cherry Blossom: Not so much the actual flower, though it does make an appearance in earlier episodes on Fairy Island; demonstrated through the flying “red dandelions” that Xiao Yao often tries to create and fly to make Ling’er happy.
  • These red dandelions have been said in the series to not exist, yet when Xiao Yao travels back in time, he encounters the real deal as they float past him on the golden bird.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Tangyu and A'nu
• Divine Parentage: Ling’er and her mother Queen Wu are both descendants of Nuwa, the Chinese Goddess of Creation.
• Drunken Master: Taoist Mo Yixi
• Evil Uncle: Though not by blood, Bai Yue is A’nu’s “uncle” and the same can be said of Ling’er, since she is the princess.
• Face Monster Turn: Bai Yue does this to A’nu, who traded what seems to be her soul to bring Tangyu back to life, consequently turning A’nu into an evil killer who doesn’t recognize her friends and ends up hurting them.
• Generation Xerox: Ling'er and her mother Queen Wu, who were both seemed to be destined to die after saving the kingdom, and leave behind all that they loved
• Give Her a Normal Life: Xiao Yao travels back in time to attempt changing the past so that Ling’er wouldn’t be in the situation she is in now, but only to fail at that.
• Go Out with a Smile: Yueru, in the monster jail and possibly Ling’er
• Half-Human Hybrid: Many characters in the series, but most notably, the descendents of Nuwa like Ling’er, whose true forms are half human-half snake
• Heroic Sacrifice: Several times
• Holy Child: Ling’er
• Honor-Related Abuse: Tangyu’s to Elder Shi, Yueru to her father in refusal to marry, and possibly more
• I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Yueru who sacrificed herself to save Ling’er and Xiao Yao when they were in the Monster Jail. And Tangyu when he was on the flying gourd, sacrificed himself to save A’nu by slicing his hand and jumping off the gourd to lead the attacking blood-crows away from A’nu
• If We Survive This: A’nu to Tangyu whenever they are in a dire situation

“If we survive this, A’nu will marry Little Precious Tangyu.”

• It Was with You All Along: Love was always with Bai yue, except he didn’t recognize or realize he had had it, until the end, when he dies, with that understanding and having seen unconditional and undying love be proven to still exist in the world
• Kick the Dog: Most notably, Xiao Yao to Yueru; in the monster jail, after Xiao Yao finally gets together with yueru before going in to save Ling’er, his memory comes back and shows him that he was married to Ling’er, where he sees an unconscious Ling’er, he rushes to her side and tells her that he would never abandon her, making it seem that he has forgotten about Yueru and how Yueru had always been there for him
• Kill'Em All: Can be said for basically everyone in the series save for Xiao Yao and A’nu and Tanyu, though they were turned into birds
• Leaving You to Find Myself: Ling'er. With her duties as princess and descendant of Nuwa, she decided that she cannot be with Xiao Yao and insisted that Xiao Yao and Yueru get together.
• Like Brother and Sister: Xiao Yao and Yueru, who often fight monsters in harmony and sync with each other, like archetypal martial arts “siblings”.
• Love Dodecahedron: Inn scene: A’nu loves Xiao Yao, Xiao Yao loves Ling’er, Ling’er loves Xiao Yao but refuses that, Tangyu loves A’nu, Jingyuan loves Yueru, Yueru loves Xiao Yao
• Love Makes You Evil: Can be said of A’nu, whose newfound romantic love for Tangyu prompts her to make a deal with Bai Yue to do “whatever it takes” to bring back Tangyu from the dead, consequently trading her soul for Tangyu’s life, making her an evil conscienceless killer under Bai Yue’s spell, which is only broken by Tangyu’s undying love for A’nu
• Love Transcends Spacetime
• Love Triangle: Xiao Yao loves Ling’er, Ling’er loves Xiao Yao, but believes that Yueru, who loves Xiao Yao, is a better choice for Xiao Yao
• Our Love Is Different: Tangyu to A’nu in the abyss, where Tangyu proclaimed his love to A'nu. A’nu told him she will marry him, though she wasn’t serious because she likes Xiao Yao. This changes after Tangyu sacrificed himself, and A’nu makes a deal with Bai Yue to get Tangyu back whatever the cost
• Outdoor Bath Peeping: The first time Xiao Yao met Ling’er
• Peaceful in Death: Ling’er
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Ling’er and Xiao Yao
• Power of Love: Several times. Ling’er and Xiao Yao, in the Monster Jail after Ling’er had just taken the forgetful spell. Her spirit was outside of her body, and she managed to return to her body because of her love of Xiao Yao who was grieving over her.
• Pyrrhic Victory: The entire series, and especially Xiao Yao who lost his friends and his wife who all sacrificed themselves to defeat Bai Yue
• Ten Minutes in the Closet: Xiao Yao and Ling’er in the first episode on Fairy Island
• The Chosen One: Ling’er, the descendent of Nuwa and princess of Nanzhao, who is being sought after by Bai Yue, who wants to use her in his plan to start a civil war, while Elder Shi and his troops are looking for her to protect her from Bai Yue. Since the princess is such a big part in Bai Yue’s plan to start evil, it is the princess who must defeat him to stop him. Can also be said about Xiao Yao.
• The Ditz: A’Nu, even though she’s more sweetly innocent and annoying than ditzy.
• The Mentor: Taoist Mo Yixi
• Tragic Hero: Ling’er, who dies and Xiao Yao, the only one left among the living
• You Already Changed the Past: Xiao yao, who at the beginning of the series didn’t know Ling’er when she said he was her savior ten years earlier, but it turns out he was when he travelled back in time to change her future only to come back and find everything the same.
• You Can't Fight Fate

Television