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| 14 | [[quoteright:231:[[ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dragonladies.jpg]]]] |
| 15 | [[caption-width-right:231:We're pretty much screwed now. And not [[DoubleEntendre in a good way.]] [[note]][[ComicallyMissingThePoint You mean]] the BlindIdiotTranslation?[[/note]]]] |
| 16 | |
| 17 | |
| 18 | TheBaroness [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] YellowPeril. The Dragon Lady is characterized by her overt [[SexyVillainsChasteHeroes sexual]] and [[DarkActionGirl physical aggression]], [[DevilInPlainSight untrustworthiness]], and [[InscrutableOriental mysteriousness]]. Probably [[KickingAssInAllHerFinery wears]] a UsefulNotes/{{qipao}}, UsefulNotes/{{kimono}}, or other traditional Asian finery (regardless of her actual ethnicity), often with a dragon ''on it'', and knows [[AllAsiansKnowMartialArts martial arts]]. If she carries a weapon, it's usually a concealed stabbing or [[CoolSword slashing]] weapon; {{combat hand fan}}s are a perennial favorite. She is contractually obligated to have legs that would make Music/TinaTurner jealous, to better [[ShowSomeLeg pull off the dress]]. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | To maintain an aura of mystery around herself and keep her (usually male) interlocutors guessing, [[ProverbialWisdom she would often speak cryptically]], [[TalksLikeASimile using flowery metaphors]] reminiscent of {{koan}}s. There's also a solid chance that by the time you figure out what she meant, [[YouAreAlreadyDead you would already be dead]] or unconscious. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | The Dragon Lady overlaps heavily with TheVamp, the FemmeFatale, and TheBaroness, but is set apart by her level of stereotypical Asianness. However, please note that just because a villainess is Asian (especially in non-Asian works) doesn't mean she's automatically a Dragon Lady. Nor is it the same thing for a woman of any background to simply be called "Dragon Lady" just because she's overbearing. This trope has a very specific look and feel. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | [[NWordPrivileges If a Chinese person is calling you this, it's a compliment.]] Dragons are revered as fierce, powerful, wise and sensible beings devoted to caring for those under their charge. And they were the personal symbols of the Emperors, after all. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | Also sometimes overlaps with DaddysLittleVillain, especially if the Dragon Lady turns out to be the daughter of a Chinese opium king or corrupt leader. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | Contrast AnimeChineseGirl, AsianAirhead. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with]] an anthropomorphic female [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon]], or a "[[TheDragon Dragon]]" who is a woman. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | [[noreallife]] |
| 31 | ---- |
| 32 | !!Examples: |
| 33 | |
| 34 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 35 | |
| 36 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 37 | * Shenhua in ''Manga/BlackLagoon''. A Taiwanese assassin who wears qipao and talks in pidgin English (or Japanese depending.) Don't underestimate her because of that if you value your life. |
| 38 | * A far more AxCrazy version is Liang Qi from ''Anime/{{Canaan}}''. |
| 39 | * Quanxi of ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' is the most sexual of the assassins hired to go after Denji. Unlike many examples, however, she doesn't use her feminine wiles to get at her target, preferring to work with her [[ButchLesbian all-female]] BattleHarem. |
| 40 | * One of these shows up in ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'''s {{interquel}} OVA, with the added bonus of being a GravityMaster who takes down the seriously badass hero without breaking a sweat. |
| 41 | * Lanhua in ''Manga/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'', an odd example from an Asian work; she's Chinese and part of a QuirkyMinibossSquad (along with a {{cr|eepyCrossdresser}}ossdressing [[KissOfTheVampire vampire]], a youthful IdolSinger, and a [[FashionableEvil Fashionably Evil]] [[HoYay lesbian]] [[MinionShipping couple]]). |
| 42 | * Wang Liu Mei, the AnimeChineseGirl from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' has what it takes to become one of these in the second season, since in the first one she's shown as an agent of Celestial Being who's [[WellIntentionedExtremist more for direct action than others in the group]]. And then, it becomes more apparent when she picked up the {{Yandere}} Nena Trinity, then at least was able to keep her on the leash, then it starts getting more radical that she sided with Ribbons and the Innovators, and later on with Ribbons' seemingly rogue Innovator, Regene Regetta. However, she ends up ultimately being a SmugSnake when [[spoiler:Nena eventually betrays and kills her]]. |
| 43 | * Subverted in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' with Chang Wufei's late wife Meiran. She aspired to be powerful and respected, both in terms of her fighting ability and her intellect (often getting into heated debates with her husband). She [[ActionGirl kicked ass]], in order to protect her home. She wasn't particularly TheVamp, or a villainess, though. Wufei admired her strength, albeit somewhat grudgingly. |
| 44 | * ''Anime/TheMysticalLaws'' features Leika Chan, who is [[BigBad Tathagata Killer's]] mysterious right-hand woman. She provides the Godom Empire with advanced weaponry and is almost always shown wearing [[LadyInRed red qipao dresses]] in the scenes featuring her. However, this is subverted by the reveal that [[spoiler:she's actually not Chinese nor from planet Earth, but an alien princess named Theta, who hails from the dying planet Vega; she only aided the Godom Empire in order to find a new home for her people.]] |
| 45 | * Poison knife-wielding Qinglin Cui from ''Anime/NightRaid1931'' is one that runs an illegal prostitution ring by kidnapping aspiring actresses. |
| 46 | * Boa Hancock, Pirate Empress of ''Manga/OnePiece'' shares many traits with archetype, though she's somewhat of a newcomer when it comes to being a vamp. |
| 47 | * ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'''s Gyokumen Koushu is a fair example of this type of villain. Always wears elegant Japanese silk kimonos and traditional headdress. Overly sexual, she is mistress to the Ox King Gyumaoh as well as occasionally sleeps around with the head scientist Nii Jenyii. She has little compassion for anyone but the Ox King and is often seen ordering her minions to kill off those who are even the tiniest of nuisances. |
| 48 | * [[EvilMatriarch Shinzen]] of ''Anime/SpeedGrapher'' has this kind of vibe, with her domineering attitude and taste for revealing kimono in a modern setting. |
| 49 | * Jun Tao from ''Manga/ShamanKing'' started off as one of these, but CharacterDevelopment quickly brought her out of it and into a more typical AnimeChineseGirl with a Dragon Lady's taste in fashion. |
| 50 | * Subverted by Yuuko in ''Manga/XxxHolic''. She's pretty sexual, dark, {{mysterious|Waif}}, wears [[PimpedOutDress fabulous Asian outfits]], is all about [[ThereAreNoCoincidences hitsuzen]], and styles her home as a Chinese opium parlor...but is a good guy. |
| 51 | * Vivian Wong from ''Anime/YuGiOh'' fits this trope, and she even uses a card with this exact name. |
| 52 | [[/folder]] |
| 53 | |
| 54 | [[folder:Board Games]] |
| 55 | * Miss Scarlet in the US version of ''TabletopGame/{{Clue}}'' was [[RaceLift portrayed as Asian]] on the cards between 1972 and 1996. While the "characters" don't have personalities as such, this is almost certainly the trope they were going for, just as the Caucasian version is clearly intended to be a FemmeFatale. |
| 56 | [[/folder]] |
| 57 | |
| 58 | [[folder:Card Games]] |
| 59 | * ''Munchkin-Fu'', the martial arts movie spinoff of the ''TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}'' card game series, actually has a card called "The Dragon Lady." She is level 20, the most powerful enemy in the game, criminal mastermind behind all the other monsters and thugs, and any male who fights her and loses takes a -5 fear-induced penalty if she happens to appear in any later battles. |
| 60 | [[/folder]] |
| 61 | |
| 62 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 63 | * Lu Sin from AC Comics. Fitting, as she's an {{Expy}} of Fah Lo Suee. |
| 64 | * Lady Serpent, foe of the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] hero the [[ComicBook/ProjectSuperpowers Black Terror]]. She possessed hypnotic powers, owned several large and deadly snakes. Her weakness was her love of gems which she loved to steal. |
| 65 | * Miss Ylang-Ylang from ''WesternAnimation/BobMorane''. Asian, seductive, and the leader of her own criminal organization. Her alias is Hispanized Tagalog/Filipino for a type of aromatic tree and its flowers (''ilang-ilang''), yet she's French-Vietnamese. But this was done consciously in-universe, and the title of one of the original novels is ''The Perfume of Miss Ylang-Ylang'', alluding to such use of the plant. |
| 66 | * ''ComicBook/DangerGirl: The Chase'' has Anastasia Kilbourne, a master of edged weaponry who Sonya describes as "a tattooed ninja assassin". She even has a tattoo of an oriental dragon running all the way up the right side of her body. |
| 67 | * ''Franchise/TheDCU'': |
| 68 | ** ComicBook/LadyShiva, a morally-ambiguous martial artist whose life mostly revolves around being the best-unarmed combatant in the world. |
| 69 | ** Cassandra Cain, Lady Shiva's daughter and the third ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}, temporarily became a Dragon Lady as pretending to be a villain. |
| 70 | ** [[Characters/BatmanTaliaAlGhul Talia al Ghul's]] design and role in ''ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison'' was fashioned after one, with her Asian physical features being more prominent than ever, her tendency to wear red UsefulNotes/{{Qipao}}s, TookALevelInJerkass and becoming far more ruthless and her role as TheLeader of a terrorist organization of her own. In ''Son of the Demon'', Ra's al Ghul says her mother was half-Arab and half-Asian, although it is not clear if this is still canon. |
| 71 | ** [[Characters/TeenTitansCheshire Cheshire]] is a Vietnamese ProfessionalKiller who's [[TheVamp sexually aggressive]], exotic, mysterious and has quite a family history. |
| 72 | ** Shado, a character best known for [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale raping]] ComicBook/GreenArrow. |
| 73 | ** Lillian Worth, also known as Sweet-Lili, is a former princess of Cambodia, ex-lover of Slade Wilson and mother of Rose (Ravager) Wilson. She worked as the headmistress of a Bordello in the Siem Pang Wat in Cambodia during the time of the Khmer Rouge. |
| 74 | ** Shiv, the teenage granddaughter of a Japanese [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] supervillain. Her Asian heritage isn't particularly pronounced though, and some artists don't seem to realize she's Asian at all. Textual evidence indicates she is half-Japanese and half-Desi. |
| 75 | ** The ''ComicBook/{{JSA}}'' villainess Roulette isn't Asian, but is the sort of person who [[ForeignCultureFetish wishes she were]]. She does wear a qipao, has Chinese tattoos (including one of a dragon), wears chopsticks in her hair etc. When it came time for her to appear in [[Recap/SmallvilleS09E05Roulette an episode]] of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', she was indeed played by Creator/StephSong, an actress of Asian heritage. Lois even refers to her as a dragon lady! Referring to her outfit as a 'bigger RedScare than UsefulNotes/ColdWar Russia.' |
| 76 | ** Sometimes ComicBook/{{Blackhawk}} foe Miss Fear (who also appeared in the ''Guns Of The Dragon'' mini-series) fits this trope. |
| 77 | ** ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}} faced an opponent called--wait for it--Lady Dragon, the leader of the Silicon Dragons, who seems to fit in this trope. Like Roulette, the untrustworthiness is somewhat reduced by her obsession with fair play, or as Lady Dragon calls it, "equal measure." |
| 78 | ** ComicBook/{{Robin|1993}} foe Lynx, who for bonus points runs a gang called the Ghost Dragons. Her successor in ''ComicBook/RedRobin'' also pretends to be an over-the-top Dragon Lady villainess, but claims to be in actuality an undercover cop from Hong Kong. |
| 79 | ** The mysterious, vain Tao Jones of super-villain team Helix, frequent foes of Comicbook/InfinityInc, fits this trope somewhat. She wears a jade green slit gown with a dragon on it, and even sports a yin-yang choker. |
| 80 | * Chinatsu from ''ComicBook/{{Drain}}'' is a heroic version. Albeit she's a Japanese vampire ninja whose seeks revenge against her family's murderer while killing bad guys along the way. Play straight with the white Freya, Chinatsu former lover, who even dresses in a qipao. |
| 81 | * The title character of ''ComicBook/ExecutiveAssistantIris''. |
| 82 | * The title character of Chaos! Comics' ''ComicBook/{{Jade}}'' is this. |
| 83 | * In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse: |
| 84 | ** Sasha Hammer, daughter of The Mandarin. She seduces ComicBook/IronMan and has sex with him while he's driving a fast car. Then she tries to kill him. Hammer is notable in that she is the daughter of a white woman and a half-Asian man so she is only one quarter Asian. |
| 85 | ** Ms. Locke, sidekick to the ''ComicBook/XMen'' supervillain Arcade. She is pretty much called one to her face at one point, and [[InsultBackfire takes it as a compliment]]. |
| 86 | ** ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} archenemy Lady Deathstrike plays this so painfully straight it hurts. |
| 87 | ** Orson Randall faces off against dozens of them in ''ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist Annual #1''. |
| 88 | ** Tyger Tiger from the ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'' comics. |
| 89 | ** Jade Claw from ''ComicBook/AgentsOfAtlas''. |
| 90 | ** Lady Lotus from ''ComicBook/{{The Invaders|MarvelComics}}'' and ''Comicbook/TheMarvels''. |
| 91 | ** ComicBook/SpiderHam, Marvel's [[AnimalSuperheroes Funny Animal Superhero]], once faced a ''canine'' Dragon Lady. She was, [[HurricaneOfPuns of course]], called "The Dragon Lassie". |
| 92 | ** Yi Yang, an immortal Chinese drug lord from the ComicBook/BlackWidow and ComicBook/NickFury story ''Death Duty''. Her arch enemy Night Raven even refers to her as a "the Dragon Lady" at one point. |
| 93 | ** Lotus Newmark from ''Comicbook/WonderMan'', later {{retcon}}ned to be the same character as Lady Lotus. |
| 94 | * ''ComicBook/APeoplesHistoryOfTheAmericanEmpire'' has a real life example with Vietnamese First Lady Madame Nhu. |
| 95 | * Anna Sui Hark, from Creator/WarrenEllis's ''ComicBook/{{Planetary}}'', is a rare good version. Like the classic Dragon Lady, she comes off for a long time as morally ambiguous - but is ultimately revealed to be aiding the bad guys solely out of fear of losing everything her father had worked to accomplish. |
| 96 | * Parodied with the "Dragging Lady" from an obscure ''Franchise/{{Popeye}}'' comic about his origin, who subverts the MsFanservice aspect by being ''[[FatBastard huge]]''. |
| 97 | * ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' have the Iron Queen, though current writer Creator/IanFlynn made her a [[TechnoWizard Technomage]] and less a traditional spellcaster. |
| 98 | * Shamelessly parodied as the "Lizard Lady" in ''ComicBook/TheTroubleWithGirls''. |
| 99 | [[/folder]] |
| 100 | |
| 101 | [[folder:Fanfic]] |
| 102 | * ''FanFic/OnePieceParallelWorks'' has the up-and-coming Warlord of the Sea Shenhua Jiang. Not only does she run a brothel, she almost forces [[spoiler: Daisuke]] into prostitution, [[spoiler: murdered Enlai's father and kidnapped his sick little sister,]] and she is implied to be allied with TheTriadsAndTheTongs. To add to that, her Wanted poster nickname is "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Dragon Lady]]". |
| 103 | * When ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'''s Heather appears in a fanfic by Tropers/{{Gideoncrawle}}, this trope is certain to be invoked. Heather will be described as a "dragon lady" or some variant thereof in reference to both the ethnicity and [[AlphaBitch personality]] of her canon counterpart. |
| 104 | [[/folder]] |
| 105 | |
| 106 | [[folder:Film -- Animated]] |
| 107 | * In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanSoulOfTheDragon'', Shiva has the exotic Asian appearance, the fighting prowess and is even mentioned to be the head of organized crime in Gotham's Chinatown. |
| 108 | * The [[CatsAreMean Siamese cats]] in Creator/{{Disney}}'s ''WesternAnimation/LadyAndTheTramp'' exhibit most of these stereotypes during their VillainSong and following WoundedGazelleGambit. |
| 109 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Grandma Wu's introduction makes her appear to be one of these with her intimidating scar, mention of bringing reinforcements and [[TheDreaded effect on the normally unflappable Ming]]. |
| 110 | [[/folder]] |
| 111 | |
| 112 | [[folder:Film -- Live-Action]] |
| 113 | * ''Film/{{Alec to the Rescue}}'' [[QuestionableCasting cast]]... Nicaraguan Creator/BarbaraCarrera (best known from ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain'') in such a role. |
| 114 | * General Fang, from the Creator/JackieChan version of ''[[Film/AroundTheWorldIn80Days2004 Around the World in 80 Days]]''. |
| 115 | * In the Wrestling/TrishStratus action movie ''Film/BountyHunters'' the villains' team has an Asian female. She's suitably deadly and vampy, naturally getting a DesignatedGirlFight with Trish's character Jules. |
| 116 | * At the end of the movie ''Film/{{Bowfinger}}'', Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin) and Jiff Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) star in a kung fu movie called "Fake Purse Ninjas" where Christine Baranski plays a Dragon Lady type ordering a horde of ninjas to attack them. |
| 117 | * Creator/JoanChen was {{type|Casting}}cast as the Dragon Lady in several 1980s-1990s films, prompting her to return home to China for a few years and try her hand at directing instead. |
| 118 | * Myca in ''Film/TheCrow1994'' played by Bai Ling. The boss villain's Asian half-sister, tattooed, sexually depraved, and has a thing about [[EyeScream young girls' eyes]]. |
| 119 | * Madame Lee in ''Film/DeathMachines'' is a combination of this trope and TheQueenpin, a ruthless Asian female crime boss who hires the titular trio of assassins to kill her competitors in crime. |
| 120 | * In ''Film/DeathRing'', Danton Vach's [[TheCreon extremely competent second-in-command]] is Ms. Ling: a half-Vietnamese assassin who killed 17 Americans during the Vietnam War, starting when she was 14. |
| 121 | * Majorly defied in ''Film/TheExpendables2'' with Maggie Chan, with only ''one'' subversion. She's Oriental, but she's wholly good, capable of kicking and shooting bad guys' asses to kingdom come instead of being a DamselInDistress, witty, not cynical at all... and has no problem using either JackBauerInterrogationTechnique or ColdBloodedTorture to extort informations... out of thugs and bad guys (It's off screen, no worries). |
| 122 | * Referenced in ''Film/GranTorino'', where Clint Eastwood's racist war veteran demands that "dragon lady" (a neighbouring Hmong teenager who has befriended him) get him a beer. |
| 123 | * Creator/LucyLiu frequently plays aggressive and domineering characters, but O-Ren Ishii in ''Film/KillBill'' is the only one that features her running around in a kimono while wielding a katana (thus fulfilling the overt Asianness of this trope). |
| 124 | ** [[https://www.insider.com/lucy-liu-speaks-out-dragon-lady-label-kill-bill-role-2021-5 In a recent interview Lucy Liu denied that her O-Ren Ishii character is an example of this.]] |
| 125 | * Madame Piranha AKA Madame X from ''Film/KingKongEscapes'' qualifies, even if we're never told what Asian country it is she is a representative of. |
| 126 | * The Hong Kong action picture ''Film/LegendaryAssassin'' casts a Japanese woman in this role, and to better play up her ethnicity, gives her a katana as a weapon. Her ability to lead and kick ass is largely [[InformedAbility informed]], however, as she spends most of the movie taunting the hero over the phone, threatens his captive LoveInterest for two minutes at the end of the movie, then gets beaten in one hit by said love interest once the girl is set free. |
| 127 | * Mai, TheDragon of ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard''. |
| 128 | * The 2005 comedy film ''Film/MonarchOfTheMoon'' plays this character to the hilt in the form of Dragonfly. She's an assassin, she speaks in stereotypical engrish, wears a skintight robe, utilizes bulletproof fans, and even has the word Dragon in her name. And like many dragon ladies of the time period said film is meant to invoke, she's played a white actress (Kimberly Page). |
| 129 | * The pirate lord Mistress Ching, based on the real-life pirate Ching Shih, in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd''. |
| 130 | * Madame Rose, the villainess/villain of the Thai film ''Tom Yum Goong'', retitled ''Film/TheProtector'' in the US. |
| 131 | * ''Film/RoyalKill'' - an independent action film from 2009 - has an Asian assassin being sent to murder a long lost princess raised as an ordinary suburban girl. Wrestling/GailKim, mentioned below, plays her. Of course since most of the cast is Asian, including the 'princess', it's a little less offensive. |
| 132 | * Hu Li, a Triad assassin and enforcer from ''Film/RushHour2''. |
| 133 | * The ''qipao''-clan main villainess from ''Film/ShanghaiGrand'', who spends much of the film's first half antagonizing the good guys. Her EstablishingCharacterMoment involve her killing a man by chewing his throat out and later on she personally machine-guns a cage filled with 20 helpless prisoners. Her final moment involves her trying to feed the film's [[TheLancer lancer]] to her pet boa constrictor while she gleefully watches. |
| 134 | * Depressingly subverted in ''{{Film/Skyfall}}'' with Sévérine, the lover of the BigBad who looks like an Asian version of TheBaroness (to the point where her actress drew inspiration from Xenia Onatopp), but is actually a terrified non-combatant former SexSlave who tries to HeelFaceTurn to get away from Silva and [[spoiler: ends up with a bullet hole in the face for her trouble]]. |
| 135 | * Miss Yang, who hires and later betrays Terry Tsurugi in ''Film/TheStreetFighter''. |
| 136 | * Cantana in ''Film/StreetFighterTheLegendOfChunLi''. |
| 137 | * In ''Film/ThirteenWomen'', the BigBad Ursula is a sinister Eurasian beauty (played by Creator/MyrnaLoy in {{Yellowface}}) who dresses in slinky gowns and has HypnoticEyes who embarks on a campaign to destroy the 13 Caucasian women she blames for ruining her life a decade earlier. |
| 138 | * ''Film/WhereEastIsEast'': Madame de Sylva is a perfect example: sexy, mysterious, dresses in a UsefulNotes/{{Qipao}}, ReallyGetsAround. Her servant knows what's going to happen when Madame sets out to seduce the innocent American, Bobby: "White boy like sheep with tiger!" |
| 139 | * Miss East in the ''Film/WildWildWest'' film, also played by Bai Ling. The villain Loveless does have an entire AmazonBrigade, but Miss East is the only one who tries to seduce one of the heroes as part of a ploy to kill him. |
| 140 | * Many of the characters played by Creator/AnnaMayWong - starting with ''Film/TheThiefOfBagdad1924'' until ''Film/DaughterOfTheDragon''. This was a source of considerable annoyance to her, especially since she was lucky to even get ''those'' roles, because most went to white actresses in {{yellowface}} makeup. After ''Daughter of the Dragon'', she took her career to Europe to play more varied roles. |
| 141 | --> "Why is it that the screen Chinese is always the villain? And so horrible a villain - mean, treacherous, a snake in the grass. We are not like that!" |
| 142 | [[/folder]] |
| 143 | |
| 144 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 145 | * In ''Literature/DeepSix1984'', Min Koryo is implied to have been this in her youth. |
| 146 | * Ancient Mai, one of the heads of the White Council from ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', sometimes comes across this way (albeit without the overt sexuality - as her name might suggest, she's too old). In the TV series she's younger and hotter, but Harry suggests she could be ''an honest-to-God dragon'' in human guise. |
| 147 | * Fah Lo Suee, the daughter of Literature/FuManchu. Possibly the TropeMaker. |
| 148 | * Madame Butterfly from ''Literature/TheGirlFromTheMiraclesDistrict'' is a rather stereotypical Chinese immortal running the District's Asian-themed brothel. She's dangerous enough that contract killer Nikita agrees to go to the local {{Mordor}} for her without getting paid for it. |
| 149 | * ''Literature/IAmAGeniusOfUnspeakableEvilAndIWantToBeYourClassPresident'': Tatiana, someone who even the titular evil overlord-type considers cruel, invokes this trope with a kimono embroidered with pink dragons. |
| 150 | * In Creator/ChristopherMoore's book ''[[Literature/LambTheGospelAccordingToBiff Lamb: The Gospel According To Jesus' Childhood Friend Biff]]'', a character named Joy (short for Tiny Feet of the Divine Dance of Joyous Orgasm) fits this trope. She's actually a prostitute who just happens to be a total badass at the same time. |
| 151 | * In Creator/StephenKing's 1983 novel ''Literature/{{Misery}}'' the villainess Annie Wilkes is titled "Dragon Lady" by the Colorado press after she is arrested and charged for WouldHurtAChild-level crimes. This is strictly a namedropping of the trope, however, as Wilkes is a large and decidedly unattractive Caucasian woman. |
| 152 | * ''Literature/NorthwestFront'' features the Filipina [=RaBang=] Miller, a former prostitute that became a [=FBI=] Agent by sleeping with other agents and conspires against the protagonists. However, UnfortunateImplications are averted - [[FalseReassurance because the work is unashamedly white supremacist, so there's nothing to imply]]. |
| 153 | * One of the main characters in ''The Periodic Table of Science Fiction'' is known as 'The Dragon Lady'. |
| 154 | ** Miss Adrienne Wong-Heppworth, found in the chapter "[[http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/periodictable.html Lutetium]]". |
| 155 | * Missee Lee, in the ''Literature/SwallowsAndAmazons'' sequel of the same name, is a subversion; she's [[spoiler: a Cambridge academic who doesn't actually ''like'' being a pirate, and teaches the kids Latin when they're captured]]. |
| 156 | * ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'': Lung Tien Lien has the personality down pat. She also happens to be a ''literal'' dragon. |
| 157 | [[/folder]] |
| 158 | |
| 159 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 160 | * ''Series/AllyMcBeal'': Ling Woo was created to embody the stereotype of exotic Asian women being sensual yet vicious and domineering, and is appropriately a SexGoddess and an IronLady who doesn't take shit from anyone, and soon becomes the TokenEvilTeammate of the law firm. Some of Ally's {{Imagine Spot}}s even show Ling breathing fire like a literal manifestation of a dragon lady. |
| 161 | * ''Film/CodeNameDiamondHead'': Tsao Tsing owns a boat called ''Dragon Lady'', but she's actually the Chinese positive archetype of "dragon lady": warm, loving, intelligent and protective. |
| 162 | * The bizarre Saturday morning chimpanzee-acted parody of spy parody ''Series/LancelotLinkSecretChimp'', featured the "[[LampshadeHanging Dragon Woman]]," a female Oriental spy (voiced by Joan Gerber), who was (as the ThemeSong assured us) "lovely, but she's wicked all the same." |
| 163 | * This trope is arguably developed and perhaps averted in ''Series/{{Lost}}''. Sun, a Korean female, was initially portrayed as an innocent victim of her culture's patriarchy, despite (or because of) their wealth. Over time, it was revealed that she knew all about her father's criminal industrial complex, and eventually came to take it over. On the other hand, Sun does not fit the "dark outfit" stereotype, for the most part. [[spoiler: In the end, she used her father's resources and contacts to get in touch with Charles Widmore to find a way back to the Island.]] |
| 164 | * Princess Koji, villainess of the short-lived ''Series/TalesOfTheGoldMonkey'', who varied from wanting to kill [[TheHero Jake Cutter]] and wanting to [[VillainousCrush bed him.]] She's played by a [[{{Yellowface}} white actress]] with the HandWave that she's half-Irish. |
| 165 | [[/folder]] |
| 166 | |
| 167 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 168 | * The Music/BlueOysterCult did a song about this trope. |
| 169 | * ProgressiveMetal band Music/CrimsonGlory also has a song of the same title, complete with a nice EvilLaugh at the beginning. |
| 170 | * Han-Mi in ''AudioPlay/MissHelensWeirdWestCabaret'' plays this role in the titular ShowWithinAShow, much to her annoyance. She rather likes playing the villain, but is fed-up with the outdated, racist cliches that keep getting written for her. |
| 171 | [[/folder]] |
| 172 | |
| 173 | [[folder:Newspaper Comics]] |
| 174 | * The TropeNamer is the original Dragon Lady, also known as Madam Deal, introduced in 1934 in Milton Caniff's comic strip ''ComicStrip/TerryAndThePirates''. According to Trina Robbin's "Tender Mercies: Women Who Kill", the character was based on the real-life Lai Choi San, who was a rather successful {{pirate|Girl}} active in the China seas in the 1920s and 1930s. |
| 175 | [[/folder]] |
| 176 | |
| 177 | [[folder:Professional Wrestling]] |
| 178 | * Although WWE initially did not play up Wrestling/GailKim's Asian heritage, she was promoted as a very dangerous and mysterious competitor. She also debuted during the peak of ''The Matrix''[='=]s fame, so this all combined into what might be called a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb7mpOAAL5c cyberpunk Dragon Lady]]. When she was forced to become Wrestling/MollyHolly's lackey they started billing her as "A Native Of Korea"(she's ethnically Korean but a native of Canada) and had her seduce Wrestling/EricBischoff to get what Holly wanted out of him. |
| 179 | * Wrestling/MiaYim played such a character on a few ''{{Wrestling/Wrestlicious}}'' live events - an Asian spy named Kim Thiu Sun. |
| 180 | * While Shotzi Blackheart prefers to call herself "The Ballsy Badass", she's more commonly referred to as "Dragon Lady" or "Anime/{{Samurai Pizza Cat|s}}", and seems to have no problem with it. |
| 181 | [[/folder]] |
| 182 | |
| 183 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 184 | * A PlayedForLaughs version appears in ''Radio/TheNavyLark'' with the recurring villain by the name of "the Mistress". |
| 185 | * Sumuru, created by Sax Rohmer as a DistaffCounterpart for Literature/FuManchu. |
| 186 | [[/folder]] |
| 187 | |
| 188 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 189 | * Linda Lo of ''Theatre/FlowerDrumSong'' is a more benign example. She merges this with GeniusDitz, but she's a manipulative seductress who tries to secure her own comfort - and is contrasted with the YamatoNadeshiko Mei Li. Ironically enough Linda is an Asian-American - whereas Mei Li is a Chinese immigrant. |
| 190 | * In the stage play of ''Series/GetSmart'' the Wong Sisters. A dumb blonde character goes so far to say "What happened to the three dragon ladies?" |
| 191 | [[/folder]] |
| 192 | |
| 193 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 194 | * ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney:'' |
| 195 | ** While she's not as combative as other examples, Morgan Fey carries several traits, including a subtle iron fist on her daughter and a quite disturbing DeathGlare. It's doesn't stay "subtle" for long though, since she's [[spoiler:one of the two culprits of the case where you first meet her, and her daughter is pretty central to her motivation for committing the crime]]. |
| 196 | ** Morgan's niece Mia occasionally seems like a benevolent version of this trope: She's frighteningly competent for someone who's dead, is a harsh if encouraging mistress to her old pupil Phoenix, and [[MsFanservice is quite attractive]]. |
| 197 | ** Played very straight in ''Spirit of Justice'' with [[spoiler: Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in, the Queen of Khura'in, especially once she gets serious. Her EvilCostumeSwitch in very reminiscent of this trope, and she's considered downright terrifying by everyone. Even before she became a dictator, she was a prosecutor known for being especially ruthless. Once she took the throne, she went to every length to ensure she stays in power, even making defending a criminal in court a ''capital crime''.]] |
| 198 | * [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast MayDay]] from ''VideoGame/{{Aquanox}} 2'' is playing the trope as straight as possible. |
| 199 | * Litchi Faye-Ling of ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' plays around this trope. Although heavily Chinese-oriented and occasionally aggressive when drunk, she is overall a good, modest, kindhearted lady. Then in the end ''Continuum Shift'', it would seem that she ends up joining NOL, making her look like the trope, double subverting the trope. However, it turns out that she is in fact ForcedIntoEvil, didn't act like a typical [[TheVamp vamp]] or seductress, her kind heart didn't get replaced by aggressiveness on obsession and it is shown clearly that she regrets what she had to do, but has no other choice, thereby triple-subverting the trope. |
| 200 | ** On the other hand, the novel character Mei-Fang Lapislazuli is a straighter version: A sadistic CombatSadomasochist who has the power to FeelNoPain, which annoys her because she likes pain on herself, and leader of the Zero Squadron of NOL and overall just ''very'' unstable. She has played the BigBad role in ''Variable Heart'' and has a dark involvement in the Ikaruga Civil War, as detailed in ''Spiral Shift'' novels. Which includes [[OffWithHisHead a beheaded ally courtesy of herself]]. |
| 201 | * Maiko in ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' is almost a deconstruction of this as she is a beautiful Japanese prostitute/gangster with an utterly ruthless vindictive streak. [[TokenEvilTeammate However, she's (mostly) on your side]] and all of her nasty elements come from having to survive in an environment that does not treat women very well as well as doesn't hesitate to use violence. As she says, you have to be utterly ruthless and utterly polite at the level of gangster that her bosses operate. |
| 202 | * In the original ''VideoGame/DeadToRights'', Slate has to fight an entire massage parlor of dragon ladies. |
| 203 | * ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' has Maggie Chow, a FemmeFatale Chinese actress with a Qipao and a sword. Seeing as she's an actress, [[JustifiedTrope she might be embodying the trope on purpose]]. |
| 204 | * ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' has Zhao Yun Ru the ruthless, [[BadBoss demanding]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive CEO]] of the Tai Yong Medical biotech corporation. She's even informally known as "the Dragon Queen" in Hengsha. [[spoiler:She's also in deep with the Illuminati and is directly behind the assault on the manufacturing plant at the beginning of the game.]] |
| 205 | * Yuma Lau of ''VideoGame/FarCry4'' is the adopted sister of Pagan Min, [[TheCaligula murderous dictator of Kyrat]]. Like her brother, she's ethnically East Asian, and she plans on betraying and overthrowing her brother because she believes that [[spoiler: [[TheyWereHoldingYouBack Pagan's love for Ajay's mother Ishwari was softening his tyranny.]]]] Apart from that, she's also the governor of Pagan's [[EliteMooks Royal Guard]] and the [[WardensAreEvil chief warden]] of [[HellHolePrison Durgesh Prison]]. Oh, and [[spoiler:she tries to rape and kill Ajay because he's a living reminder of the woman who served as a MoralityChain to Pagan. Needless to say, in contrast to the rest of the villains, she's a CompleteMonster.]] |
| 206 | * ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' has The Empress, a mysterious and ruthless crime boss in charge of the [[{{Yakuza}} Nyakuza]]. |
| 207 | * Ai Ling, a minor character in the early stages of ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'', and the much more significant Silk Fox both could count. |
| 208 | * ''[[https://youtu.be/hJSShnkTcKo Kung Fu Chivalry]]'' for Macintosh computers has a [[AmazonianBeauty muscular]] qipao-wearing femme fatale as its fourth(and [[TheSmurfettePrinciple only female]]) boss. |
| 209 | * Rinrin, the boss of Asian Town in ''VideoGame/MadWorld''. Considering the entire game is a satirical play on sex, violence and crude humor in video games, it comes off as less offensive and more humorous. |
| 210 | ** In the pseudo-sequel ''Videogame/AnarchyReigns'', Rin Rin returns, this time with her sisters Ai Rin and Fei Rin along for the ride. |
| 211 | * Li Mei from ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' has elements of this. |
| 212 | ** Interestingly, in her Deception ending, she marries the BigBad, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Onaga]], and becomes TheDragon. |
| 213 | *** Although subverted, because Li Mei is a good person and her ending isn't canon. And in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'', she's showing none of the villainous parts even if she's just an NPC. |
| 214 | * [[DaddysLittleVillain Mai Hem]] from ''VideoGame/PerfectDark Zero''. |
| 215 | * In Compile-era ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'' games when she is a villain, Draco Centauros gives off this vibe, wearing the qipao and being quite physically aggressive, seemingly knowing martial arts. In the Sega era this is averted as she's far too ditzy to qualify. |
| 216 | * Seemingly played straight [[spoiler: and actually averted]] with the "second" Ada Wong in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6''. True, she dresses in a sexy dress, is cruel and kills in sadistic manners without mercy, and [[spoiler: appears to be]] a [[TheDragon Dragon]] to the BigBad, but [[spoiler: she's really a vengeful Caucasian woman who was manipulated and transformed against her will into a physical copy of the real Ada, who is an AntiHero]]. |
| 217 | * While there are many Chinese deities in ''VideoGame/{{Smite}}'', the Nine-Tailed Fox Da Ji is the first to adhere to this trope, looking very sexy and playing the LadyMacbeth to Emperor Zhou of Shang, and above all else, bonafide evil CardCarryingVillain with a lust for torture, which is integrated to her skills. |
| 218 | * Chun-Li from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' is an exceptionally rare good version, combined with heroic ActionGirl — competitive, sexy, a bit aggressive, and certainly Asiatic. She also dons a qipao. |
| 219 | * ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'': |
| 220 | ** Anna Williams is a rare example of a white woman portrayed as this trope. She may be [[{{Oireland}} Irish]], but she has the dress, the legs, the vampiness, and the killer instinct native to the trope, and as of ''Tekken 6'', she's the G-Corporation Kazuya's right-hand woman. |
| 221 | ** Lana Lei from ''Death by Degrees'' is a straighter example, being an aggressive and untrustworthy Asian woman. Unlike most examples of this trope, however, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes she has one man in her life whom she truly loves]]. |
| 222 | * Ming Xiao, leader of the Asian vampires in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines''. |
| 223 | * ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'''s Mists of Pandaria expansion introduced plenty of opportunity for Dragon Ladies, the most prominent example being Madame Gao, who runs the BlackMarket. |
| 224 | [[/folder]] |
| 225 | |
| 226 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 227 | * Wanda from ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}''; she's a mysterious, sexually-aggressive, ambitious woman from a long-lost Asian-looking tribe. |
| 228 | * The Handmaid from ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', who has a distinct Asian theme (despite being an alien from another universe) and is also the unwilling servant of an EldritchAbomination whose purpose is to end universes. |
| 229 | ** [[spoiler: Her past self Damara Megido]] is a over-exaggeration of this trope, [[spoiler: speaking in Japanese in an otherwise English-language comic, making lewd sexual advances, and described as excessively violent.]] |
| 230 | * Mavra Chan (marginally) qualifies in ''Webcomic/{{Terinu}}''. Though she tends to wear stompy boots and an armoured corset rather than a kimono, she's certainly mysterious, sadistic, evil and perfectly willing to sell out the human race to make a fast buck. Unfortunately she's also the only human character in the main cast to show any ethnicity at all (the rest are white Australians). |
| 231 | * Yu Hansung from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' appears to be this and is quite the scheming [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]]. She is heavily Korean-themed, however she is not presented as sexy, because ''Tower Of God'' just isn't that type of manhwa. [[spoiler: And fifty chapters in you discover that [[DudeLooksLikeALady she... is a he]].]] |
| 232 | [[/folder]] |
| 233 | |
| 234 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 235 | * The ''Inspector Rather'' series - a series of spoof blog posts featuring Dan Rather as an incompetent detective and the various personalities in the right-wing blogosphere as a RoguesGallery of stereotypical detective story villains - portrays Michelle Malkin as one of these. She even calls herself The Dragon Lady. |
| 236 | * Silver Serpent, of the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, whose father Iron Dragon sent her to [[SuperheroSChool Whateley Academy]] to... find out stuff we haven't discovered yet. Except we know she's supposed to track down the Handmaid of the Tao, who's one of the protagonists. |
| 237 | [[/folder]] |
| 238 | |
| 239 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 240 | * [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderPrincessAzula Princess Azula]] of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is a less ethnically offensive version of this trope. She has a lot in common with traditional Dragon Ladies, being a cruel, {{a|xCrazy}}ggressive, {{manipulative|Bastard}} {{da|ddysLittleVillain}}ughter of the [[BigBad Fire Lord]]. But pretty much everyone in the series is a [[FantasyCounterpartCulture fantasy Asian or Inuit]], so the stereotype is balanced by plenty of counter-examples. She's not so much a Dragon Lady as just a villainess in a world where practically everyone happens to be Asian. |
| 241 | * A dragon lady lures Paul to her ghost ship in ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'' episode "Anna." |
| 242 | * Lady Fang from the ''WesternAnimation/{{Centurions}}'' episode "Firecracker", who engages in WarForFunAndProfit. |
| 243 | * ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'': One of the dog's most formidable enemies was a Chinese Empress who embodied this tropes to a supernatural extent. |
| 244 | * ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest''. "Jezebel" Jade is an exceptionally rare ''Good'' variant, combined with mild ActionGirl -- mysterious, sexy, aggressive, untrustworthy and vaguely Asiatic. She appears in "Double Danger" and wears a ''qipao'' in "Terror Island." |
| 245 | * Parodied in a ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short ''China Jones'' featuring WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck as a detective who is interrogating an Asian woman known as "The Dragon Lady." When the terminally [[GenreBlindness genre-blind]] Daffy asks her why she is called that, she [[BreathWeapon breathes fire on him]]. ([[YouNoTakeCandle "Is answer question?"]]) |
| 246 | * ''WesternAnimation/MaxSteel'' has a female villain called Dragonelle. |
| 247 | * The eponymous gangster in the ''WesternAnimation/SpiralZone'' episode "Lair of the Jade Scorpion". |
| 248 | [[/folder]] |
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