History ComicBook / BoxersAndSaints

** Vibiana starts out as a self-professed devil but slowly becomes this. [[spoiler:At the moment of her death, she sees a vision of Jesus (illustrated in a similar style to Guan Yin in the companion book) instructing her to be mindful of others and he has been mindful of her, and decides to tell Bao how to pray before he kills her. While this act seems senseless even to her, this act of sacrificial and peaceful love for an enemy saves Bao's lifesome time later.]]

* MeaningfulName: The name of the saint that Four-Girl chooses, Vibiana, reveals [[spoiler: a stark contrast with the saint of whom she has visions, Joan of Arc. Whereas Joan of Arc has arguably the most famous story of any female saint in Catholicism, Saint Vibiana's story is barely known: all that's left of her in the annals is really just that she existed. Vibiana is meant to be the saint who speaks for the unknown and forgotten, the ones who have influenced the world in subtle ways even if the knowledge of how they did so is lost to time. This ultimately comes into play at the end of Saints, when a Christian prayer that this story's Vibiana has taught Bao goes on to save his life.]]

* BrokenPedestal: Both Vibiana and Father Bey deeply respect Dr. Won, a Chinese Christian and man of seemingly unimpeachable character. [[spoiler: Then it turns out he's an opium addict...]]

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: ''Saints'', in contrast to ''Boxers'', is very monochrome. [[spoiler: It's actually a FlashbackEffect.]]

* RecurringDreams: Bao has frequent nightmares of drowning while helplessly rewatching the acts of violence he witnesses in the waking world, {{Foreshawdowing}} his affinity for fire. The dreams soon evolve to have him meet the First Emperor at the bottom of water.

* ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: When the Muslim soldiers of the Kansu Braves pray, the speech bubbles show them reciting the first chapter of the Qur'an in Arabic script... with the letters arranged backwards and sans cursive.

* DumbStruck: [[spoiler: Bao's father does not move from his spot and what little he does speak is in a foreign language.]]

* MonkeyKingLite: Chao Sun-sun's Opera God form is the Monkey King Sun Wu-kong himself (which is reflected in the different head shape he and his father the Constable sport from the other other characters). Unlike the original, he has an equal (and perhaps even inferior) martial skill as his fellow gods [[spoiler:and is likewise as mortal as the rest of them]].

* OhCrap: [[spoiler: When the Society burns the library down in order to get access to the European quarter...only to notice that the Europeans are smiling at them. Cue a squad of Sepoys pointing their guns at them.]] He earlier has one when he realizes that the foreign devils hidden in a church are all women and children, who he previously refused to kill. [[spoiler:He ends up forcing himself to go through with burning the church and killing them, believing that otherwise any of them may come back for revenge, the way the girl he'd refused to kill went on to murder one of his brothers.]]
* PlayingWithFire: [[spoiler: When asked by the First Emperor what his element out of the classic Chinese elements--wood, metal, earth, fire, and water--is, Bao chooses fire. Because of this, he becomes the spirit of a new, nascent dynasty rather than the First Emperor and appears to be wreathed in flames.]]

* SignificantGreenEyedRedhead: The girl on the train. [[spoiler: She comes back after Bao let her go and avenges her brother by murdering Bao's. This convinces Bao that sparing his enemies is "weakness."]]

* TagalongKid: Initially Little Bao, then Bing Wong-Bing late into Boxers.

* TranslationConvention: Chinese dialogue is translated to English, while non-Chinese dialogue that the books' protagonists cannot understand is written in mostly nonsense scribbled characters in the speech balloons. Sometimes, (more in ''Saints'' than ''Boxers'') said dialogue is ''re''-translated in English text boxes.

''Boxers'' stars a young boy named Little Bao, who respects his country's culture and wishes to drive the "foreign devils" from China. It follows him throughout his journey from being a simple boy, to becoming a leader of the Boxer Rebellion.

These two novels tie in together in a lot of places, but they can each be enjoyed individually and by themselves, if you don't care about the subtleties.

* AbortedArc: When Hong Kao-ling is killed, the others wonder how he could have died as he was in the form of Chu Ba-jei. When other members of the society are killed later, it's never brought up again.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's never really clear if the gods of the opera are truly there with the Boxers or not. On one hand, Bao sees them unleashed by Master Big Belly and has visions of the First Emperor frequently, even seeing a flashback to the Emperor's past that he logically wouldn't know about because he doesn't read books. The other Boxers also claim to see themselves and each other in the gods' forms. [[spoiler:On the other hand, nobody else ever interacts with Master Big Belly, who dies immediately after freeing the gods, and the Boxers still easily die from being shot, despite being ostensibly possessed by the divine.]]
** Vibania also sees a vision of Joan of Arc before ever learning who she was.

* NobleBigot: Father Bey genuinely wants to help the Chinese, but came to China in the first place because he believed they were barbarians and heathens.

* TragicHero: [[spoiler: Little Bao. Initially, he was an idealist who wanted to save his people from the corrupt Chinese government and foreign invaders. Later, he becomes a KnightTemplar after receiving counsel and visions from the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who drove him to kill innocents, and even burned down a library that claimed the life of his LoveInterest. He survives after his entire group is killed in battle, but it's only by chanting a prayer from Vibiana, the Christian girl he killed for refusing to denounce her faith, to trick the soldiers into thinking he's a convert and not a Boxer that he lives. His entire journey to save China was ultimately AllForNothing.]]

* VillainProtagonist: [[spoiler: Little Bao]] goes from an honorable outlaw defending the lives, property, and dignity of the people against bandits to a terrorist slaughtering Chinese converts for diverging from traditional culture.

* AmbiguousEnding: Second Brother comes back for Bao after all the Boxers are slain, due to the peach blossom tree vow they made. What they plan to do and where they plan to go is unknown.

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler: Nearly every major character in both books is dead by the end, barring Bao and Second Brother.]]

* The German diplomat who appears in ''Boxers'' is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clemens_von_Ketteler Clemens von Ketteler]], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaiyi Prince Tuan]] is a major supporting character who provides refuge to the Boxers. Empress Dowager Cixi is mentioned in the background.
* Dr. Won in ''Saints'' either is or is heavily inspired by St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, a real saint with a near-identical life story. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Xiuquan Hong Xiuquan]] is also shown in flashback, as Vibiana's father was a follower of his.

* ActionGirl: Mei-wen and all of the Red Lanterns are just as skilled at martial arts as the men. Vibiana also aspires to be a "maiden warrior" like UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc and has one of the seminaries, Kong, teach her how to use a sword.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: A given considering the story, though in particular the German diplomat is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clemens_von_Ketteler Clemens von Ketteler]]. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaiyi Prince Tuan]] is an also major supporting character, while Empress Dowager Cixi is mentioned in the background. Dr. Won either is or is heavily inspired by St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, a real saint with a near-identical life story. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Xiuquan Hong Xiuquan]] is also shown in flashback, as Vibiana's father was a follower of his.

* TragicHero: [[spoiler: Little Bao. Initially, he was an idealist who wish to deal a blow to corrupt Chinese society being hegemonized by foreign powers. Later, he becomes a KnightTemplar after receiving counsel and visions of The First Emperor who drove him to kill innocents, and even burned down a library that claimed the life of his LoveInterest. While he survived to the end of the story, Little Bao chanted the Christian prayer to prevent being shot by foreign soldiers rather than face death. Thus making his entire effort as AllForNothing.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: The First Emperor, who is loyal to China [[TheUnfettered above any moral or ethical restraints]]. [[spoiler: Little Bao, eventually. The author even likens him to a terrorist near the end.]]

* BittersweetEnding: In the shared finale for both stories, [[spoiler:Little Bao is NotQuiteDead, as he manages to crawl out of the corpse pile and escapes another death by chanting half-remembered scripture that Vibiana gave to him. However, his entire group was wiped out, except for him and his remaining brother, and their rebellion was crushed.]]

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: A given considering the story, though in particular the German diplomat is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clemens_von_Ketteler Clemens von Ketteler]]. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaiyi Prince Tuan]] is an also major supporting character, while Empress Dowager Cixi is mentioned in the background. Dr. Won either is or is heavily inspired by St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, a real saint with a near-identical life story. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Xiuquan]] is also shown in flashback, as Vibiana's father was a follower of his.

* FatBastard: Master Big Belly, Bao's harsh teacher who somehow keeps fat despite the famine consuming the land.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: A given considering the story, though in particular the German diplomat is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clemens_von_Ketteler Clemens von Ketteler]]. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaiyi Prince Tuan]] is an also major supporting character, while Empress Dowager Cixi is mentioned in the background. Dr. Won either is or is heavily inspired by St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, a real saint with a near-identical life story.

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Nearly every major character in both books, barring Bao and Second Brother.]]

%%* LoveInterest: Mei in ''Boxers'', and Kong in ''Saints''.

%%* TheMentor: Red Lantern Chu and Master Big Belly.

* ActionGirl: Mei-wen and all of the Red Lanterns are all just as skilled at martial arts as the men. Vibiana also aspires to be a "maiden warrior" like UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc and has one of the seminaries, Kong, teach her how to use a sword.

%%* TheAce: Red Lantern Chu.
%%* ActionGirl: Mei, Vibiana, all of the Red Lanterns.

%%* CoolOldGuy: Master Big Belly.

* JerkAss: Yu, the bandit who tries to take more dumplings than he's paid for [[spoiler: and who brings Father Bey into the village]] is a more clear-cut example, as is the German diplomat who beats Bing Wong-Bing. In ''Saints'', he's [[spoiler:the leader of the bandits who was using his new religion as a way to escape the law before being excommunicated by Father Bey once his intent was exposed. He even mutilated Kong's face after he refused to rejoin his gang]].

%%* PlayingWithFire: [[spoiler: Little Bao, both literally and figuratively, after becoming the spirit of a new, nascent dynasty rather than the First Emperor.]]%%ZCE -- where does fire come into it?
%%* PosthumousNarration: [[spoiler:Vibiana in ''Saints''.]]

%%* SplashOfColor: Joan of Arc.

%%* UsedToBeASweetKid: Little Bao.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: The Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, Vibiana (only because she chose it herself), and Red Lantern all have really cool names.

* MissingMom: Kittle Bao's mother is never seen or mentioned.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: A given considering the story, though in particular the German diplomat is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clemens_von_Ketteler Clemens von Ketteler]]. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaiyi Prince Tuan]] is a also major supporting character, while Empress Dowager Cixi is mentioned in the background. Dr. Won either is or is heavily inspired by St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, a real saint with a near identical life story.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, Red Lanterns, Foreign and Secondary Devils.

* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: While the Boxers' [[FinalSolution attitude towards Christians, especially Chinese converts,]] is shown accurately, the Boxers are generally shown as trying to be the protectors of non-Christian Chinese. The real-life Boxers often attacked, robbed, or kidnapped civilians regardless of their religion. There's also no mention of the Boxers' hatred of [[EvilLuddite any new technology that had been introduced to China]], which often led to them destroying telegram systems, railroads, and hospitals.

->''"Support the Ch'ing! Destroy the Foreigner!"''

* ChekhovsGunman: Vibiana in Boxers, [[spoiler: and the girl from the train who later kills one of Little Bao's brothers in retaliation for her father dying.]]

** SplashOfColor: Joan of Arc.
* DemonHead: Vibiana makes this face to express her 'demonic taint'. When they briefly meet as children, Little Bao compares it to the face of an opera mask and [[RuleOfFunny thinks how because of it they will marry and have many opera mask faced sons]].

** In ''Saints'', [[spoiler: Vibiana was slain along with local Christians as she refuses to denounce her faith with her last witness to Joan's spirit was her being burned at the stake.]]
** In the finale of both chapters, [[spoiler: Little Bao was NotQuiteDead as he managed to crawl out of the corpse pile and escaped another death by chanting half-remembered scripture that Vibiana gave to him. But his entire group was wiped out, except for him and his remaining brother.]]
* EvilAllAlong: Not that Yu was morally upright to begin with, but [[spoiler: The Saints part of the storyline later revealed that he is actually a bandit leader who converted to Catholicism as a way to escape the law but continued to wear the cross even after he was expelled by Father Bey]].

* TheAce: Red Lantern Chu.
* ActionGirl: Mei, Vibiana, all of the Red Lanterns.

* CoolOldGuy: Master Big Belly, arguably.

* FrenchJerk: Father Bey, the judgmental and intolerant ([[JerkWithAHeartOfGold at first]]) priest, came from France based on his statement on Joan of Arc as "heroine of his home country," and Catholicism being France's dominant religion.
* FunctionalAddict: [[spoiler: Dr. Won has been able to perform his duties as a doctor even as an opium addict. He even stated that his opium usage was to control his stomach pain rather than vices.]]

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: A given considering the story, though in particular the German diplomat mentioned below is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clemens_von_Ketteler Clemens von Ketteler]]. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaiyi Prince Tuan]] is a also major supporting character, while Empress Dowager Cixi is mentioned in the background.
** Dr. Won either is or is heavily inspired by St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, a real saint with a near identical life story.
* JerkAss:
** Yu, the bandit who tries to take more dumplings than he's paid for [[spoiler: and who brings Father Bey into the village]] is a more clear-cut example, as is the German diplomat who beats Bing Wong-Bing.
*** Even worse in Saints, where [[spoiler: he is actually the leader of the bandits who was using his new religion as a way to escape the law before being excommunicated by Father Bey once his intent was exposed. He even mutilated Kong's face after he refused to rejoin his gang]].

* LoveInterest: Mei in ''Boxers'', and Kong in ''Saints''.

* TheMentor: Red Lantern Chu and Master Big Belly.

* OhCrap: [[spoiler: When the Society burns the library down in order to get access to the European quarter...only to notice that the Europeans are smiling at them. Cue a squad of Sepoys pointing their guns at them...]]
** He earlier has one when he realizes that the foreign devils hidden in a church are all women and children, who he previously refused to kill. [[spoiler:He ends up forcing himself to go through with burning the church and killing them, believing that otherwise any of them may come back for revenge, the way the girl he'd refused to kill went on to murder one of his brothers.]]
* PlayingWithFire: [[spoiler: Little Bao, both literally and figuratively, after becoming the spirit of a new, nascent dynasty rather than the First Emperor.]]
* PosthumousNarration: [[spoiler: Vibiana in Saints.]]

* UsedToBeASweetKid: [[spoiler: Little Bao.]]
* VillainProtagonist: Later, [[spoiler: Little Bao]] goes from an honorable outlaw defending the lives, property, and dignity of the people against bandits to a terrorist slaughtering Christians and Westerners for diverging from mainstream Chinese culture.

* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: The Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists starts with the best of intentions and the most honorable of motives. It ends in blood and fire, having brought nothing but ruin and trouble to the Chinese people.

** In the finale of both chapters, [[spoiler: Little Bao was NotQuiteDead as he managed to crawl out of corpse pile and escaped another death by chanting half-remembered scripture that Vibiana gave to her. But his entire group was wiped out, except for him and his remaining brother.]]

* ArcSymbol: Eyes, representing both compassion, as with Guan Yin and Vibiana's vision of the Christ, and rage, as with the fiery eyes that many Boxers share.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: After sparing the life of a magistrate, he tags along for the rest of the books. However, it's less that he and Bao become friends, and more that he doesn't want to die and he has information and connections that Bao wants
* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler: Vibiana refused to renounce her faith, even refusing to say her original name, Four Girl.]]

* DemonHead: Vibiana makes this face to express her 'demonic taint'. Little Bao compares it to the face of an opera mask and [[RuleOfFunny says because of it they will marry and have many opera mask faced sons]].

* FrenchJerk: Father Bey, the judgemental and intolerant ([[JerkWithAHeartOfGold at first]]) priest, came from France based on his statement on Joan of Arc as "heroine of his home country," and Catholicism being France's dominant religion.

* GoodShepherd: Father Bey is a realistic example. He genuinely means well, unlike many of the other Westerners, and he is both brave and peaceful in the defense of his faithful, but he is also capable of being harsh, judgemental, and ignorant.
* GrayAndGreyMorality: Neither the Society members nor the Europeans and their Chinese allies come across particularly well, by the time both books end.

** how Father Bey comes across in "Boxers." In "Saints" he's more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

* OhCrap: [[spoiler: when the Society burns the library down in order to get access to the European quarter...only to notice that the Europeans are smiling at them. Cue a squad of Sepoys pointing their guns at them...]]
** He earlier has one when he realizes that the foreign devils hidden in a church are all women and children, who he previously refused to kill. [[spoiler:He ends up forcing himself to go through with burning the church and killing them, believing that otherwise any of them may come back for revenge.]]
* PlayingWithFire: [[spoiler: Little Bao, both literally and figuratively.]]
* [[spoiler: PosthumousNarration: Vibiana in Saints.]]

* TragicHero: [[spoiler: Little Bao. Initially, he was an idealist who wish to deal a blow to corrupt Chinese society being hegemonized by foreign powers. Later, he would turn into KnightTemplar from visions of The First Emperor who forced him to kill innocents and even burned down a library that claimed the life of his LoveInterest. While he survived to the end of the story, Little Bao chanted the Christian prayer to prevent being shot by foreign soldiers rather than face death. Thus making his entire effort as AllForNothing.]]

* YouAreNumberSix: Four-Girl, a cruel name given by a family that never wanted her.