Line #55 Series/ChinesePaladin


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chinese_paladin.jpg]]
2
3	Also known as ''Legend of Swordsman and Fairy''. Based on the first installment of ''VideoGame/SwordAndFairy'' RPG series, starring Hu Ge, Crystal Liu, and Ady An.
4
5	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.
6
7	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.
8
9	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.
10	----
11	!This show contains examples of:
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13	* ActionGirl: Yue'Ru, who fights with a whip.
14	* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Yue'Ru to Xiao Yao, and Jinyuan to Yue'Ru, Taoist Mo Yixi and Queen Wu (and Mo Yixi and the Saintess) and to some degree in the beginning, Tangyu to A’nu.
15	* AmnesiacHero: Xiao Yiao's poisoning with a memory-erasing drug by the Lunar Sect in episode 2 drives most of the dramatic tension.
16	* ArrangedMarriage: Ling’er and Xiao Yao (sort of, her grandmother bullies him into proposing to her), Caiyi and Jinyuan in the backstory episodes.
17	* BackToBackBadasses: Yue'Ru and Xiao Yao, particularly when they're dungeon-crawling.
18	* BadBoss: Yue'Ru to her maids and the family servants at first. We first meet her chasing two of her servants with a whip, and later has all of her maids hold fruits of decreasing sizes in their hands so she can practice precision whip strikes.
19	* BattleCouple / BashBrothers: Yue'Ru and Xiaoyao are mistaken for the former while being the latter.
20	* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Invoked at times by Ling'Er, who vacillates between accepting that YouCantFightFate and fighting for her marriage with Xiao Yiao. Invoked ''over and frickin' over again'' by the Sword Saint to both Xiao Yiao and Ling'Er as he attempts to persuade them to abandon their marriage and accept their separate destinies. [[spoiler: [[YouCantFightFate The ending implies that he was right.]]]]
21	* BestHerToBedHer: Played with with Yue'Ru, who after inadvertently ''killing'' Xiao Yao (he got better), only starts to like him after he beats her in a fair fight.
22	* BetaCouple: Tangyu and A’nu
23	* BettyAndVeronica: Gentle, demure Ling'er and headstrong, bratty Yue'Ru.
24	* BigEater: Ah Nu.
25	* BigSleep: More than one character goes out this way.
26	* BloodFromTheMouth: Happens more than once and is a pretty good sign that another major character is about to be scratched off the roster.
27	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: [[spoiler: Happens to Ah Nu.]]
28	* BreakTheCutie: Ling'Er first appears as a lovable but naive girl who dotes on her grandmother and adores Xiao Yiao, whom she believes to be the hero who saved her ten years before. After the murder of her grandmother and handmaidens, a kidnapping attempt, her husband's poisoning, a sudden reveal of her own history, and a series of tragic coincidences which would have done Shakespeare proud, all that's keeping her going is pride and self-control.
29	* BreakTheHaughty: Yue'Ru starts off as a spoiled, headstrong AlphaBitch....and becomes a kinder, more considerate AlphaBitch after a grueling HumiliationConga.
30	* CantLiveWithThemCantLiveWithoutThem: Xiao Yao and Yue'Ru, 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 [[spoiler: Xiao Yao wakes up after the Monster Jail collapse and learns that Yue'Ru sacrificed herself to save him and Ling’er, prompting some denial on Xiao Yao’s part]].
31	* CentralTheme: Love is the greatest thing ever, except when it means sacrificing yourself.
32	* CherryBlossom: 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.
33	** 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.
34	* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Tangyu and A'nu
35	* TheChosenOne: Ling’er, the descendent of Nuwa and princess of Nanzhao, destined by birth to save the world. Can also be said about Xiao Yao.
36	* CruelToBeKind: Ling'er, while trying to break up with Xiao Yao. He puts a stop to this eventually:
37	--> "You know, you're terrible at being a bitch."
38	* DefeatByModesty: Xiao Yao "wins" his first fight against Yue'Ru by essentially goosing her.
39	* DeniedFoodAsPunishment: Happens to Yue'Ru as part of her HumiliationConga / CharacterDevelopment.
40	* TheDitz: A’Nu, even though she’s more sweetly innocent and annoying than ditzy.
41	* DivineParentage: Ling’er and her mother Queen Wu are both descendants of Nuwa, the Chinese Goddess of Creation.
42	* DrunkenMaster: Taoist Mo Yixi. He calls himself that.
43	* EverybodyDiesEnding: Can be said for basically everyone in the series [[spoiler: save for Xiao Yao]] and [[spoiler: A’nu and Tanyu, though they were turned into birds]].
44	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Bai Yue cannot comprehend love.
45	* EvilChancellor: Bai Yue to the King of Nan Zhao.
46	* EvilUncle: 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.
47	* FaceMonsterTurn: Bai Yue does this to [[spoiler: A’nu]].
48	* FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo: Happens to Ah Nu.
49	* FlashStep
50	* GenerationXerox: Ling'er and her mother Queen Wu, who were both seemed to be destined to [[spoiler: die after saving the kingdom, and leave behind all that they loved]].
51	* GentlemanAndAScholar: Jinyuan.
52	* [[GiveHimANormalLife Give Her a Normal Life]]: [[spoiler: 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 he failed.]]
53	* TheGoodKing: Ling'er's father. Though good, he's not particularly bright.
54	* HalfHumanHybrid: Many characters in the series, but most notably, the descendents of Nuwa like Ling’er, whose true forms are half human-half snake
55	* HeroicSacrifice: Several times.
56	** [[spoiler: Yue'Ru]]
57	** In the backstory, the demoness Nuyuan accelerated her own death, attempting to save her husband's soul by use of a mantra intrinsically harmful to her nonhuman nature.
58	* TheHighQueen: Queen Wu.
59	* HonorRelatedAbuse: Tangyu’s to Elder Shi, Yue'Ru to her father in refusal to marry, and possibly more
60	* HopeSpot: Cruelly used in the final episode.
61	* IfWeSurviveThis: A’nu to Tangyu whenever they are in a dire situation
62	--->“If we survive this, A’nu will marry Little Precious Tangyu.”
63	* TheIngenue: Ling'er starts out as this.
64	* ItWasWithYouAllAlong: Love was always with Bai yue, except he didn’t recognize or realize he had had it, until [[spoiler: the end, when he dies, with that understanding and having seen unconditional and undying love be proven to still exist in the world]].
65	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Yue'Ru [[spoiler: who sacrificed herself to save Ling’er and Xiao Yao when they were in the Monster Jail]]. And Tangyu [[spoiler: sacrificing himself to save A’nu by slicing his hand and jumping off the gourd to lead the attacking blood-crows away]].
66	* KickTheDog: Most notably, Xiao Yao to Yue'Ru; in the monster jail, after Xiao Yao finally gets together with yueru before going in to save Ling’er, his [[spoiler: memory comes back and shows him that he was married to Ling’er]], where he sees [[spoiler: 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 Yue'Ru and how Yue'Ru had always been there for him
67	* LadyOfBlackMagic: All the {{d\|ivineParentage}}escendants of [[PhysicalGod Nu'Wa]] fit this, both in personality and powers: Zixuan of ''Chinese Paladin 3'' is an IceQueen priestess who takes on the undefeated Demon King in single combat; her daughter Qing'er, TheHighQueen, who has similar, though lesser powers; and granddaughter Ling'er is a LadyOfWar.
68	* LadyOfWar: Queen Wu, General Nan Man.
69	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: happens in the very first episode. Xiao Yao doesn't actually remember he's married to Ling'er until more than halfway through the series.
70	* LeavingYouToFindMyself: 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 Yue'Ru get together.
71	* LikeBrotherAndSister: Xiao Yao and Yue'Ru, who often fight monsters in harmony and sync with each other, like archetypal martial arts “siblings”.
72	* LoveDodecahedron: 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 Yue'Ru, Yue'Ru loves Xiao Yao
73	* LoveMakesYouEvil: Can be said of A’nu, whose [[spoiler: newfound romantic love for Tangyu]] prompts her to make a deal with [[spoiler: Bai Yue]] to do “whatever it takes” to bring back [[spoiler: Tangyu from the dead]], consequently [[spoiler: trading her soul for Tangyu’s life]], making her an evil conscienceless killer under [[spoiler: Bai Yue’s]] spell, which is only broken by [[spoiler: Tangyu’s undying love for A’nu]]
74	* LoveTranscendsSpacetime
75	* LoveTriangle: Xiao Yao loves Ling’er, Ling’er loves Xiao Yao, but believes that Yue'Ru, who loves Xiao Yao, is a better choice for him.
76	* [[spoiler: LukeYouAreMyFather]]: it is revealed to the audience that [[spoiler: Bai Yue]] is the adopted son of [[spoiler: Elder Shi]]. This reveal comes seconds before [[spoiler: Bai Yue ''disintegrates'' his father]].
77	* MalevolentMaskedMen: the Lunar Sect Cult.
78	* MeaningfulFuneral: Used multiple times.
79	* MenacingStroll: Bai Yue's default pace.
80	* {{Mentors}}: Taoist Mo Yixi to Xiao Yao. Elder Shi to Ling'er.
81	* NowLetMeCarryYou: Ah Nu to Tang Yu [[spoiler: after he loses his arms]].
82	* TheOner: After the escape from the Demon-Locking Pagoda, Drunken Sword Immortal wakes Xiao Yiao to tell him [[spoiler: of Yue'Ru's death]]. The scene begins by cutting back and forth between their faces as they talk, but then after the truth sinks in, the camera follows the two of them around the room in a ''five-minute-fourteen-second'' tracking shot as they begin to process the consequences of everything that's happened to far. Coincides with Xiao Yiao's second MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment (the first was when [[spoiler: his amnesia]] abruptly ended).
83	* OurLoveIsDifferent: 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 has a crush on Xiao Yao.
84	* OutdoorBathPeeping: The first time Xiao Yao met Ling’er.
85	* TheParagonAlwaysRebels: Jiang Ming.
86	* PeacefulInDeath: [[spoiler: Ling’er]]
87	* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Ling’er and Xiao Yao
88	* PietaPlagiarism: [[spoiler: Xiao Yiao and Ling'er]] in the final episode.
89	* ThePowerOfLove: Several times. Ling’er and Xiao Yao, [[spoiler: Ling'er manages to break her convenient amnesia because of it]].
90	* PyrrhicVictory: The entire series, and especially Xiao Yao [[spoiler: whose True Companion dies in the fight against Bai Yue]].
91	* ShipperOnDeck: Because EveryoneCanSeeIt, at one point, most of the cast is trying to get the leads together.
92	* SkySurfing: Done on swords, no less. Drunken Sword Immortal also flies around on a giant wine gourd.
93	* SoleSurvivor: The Sword Saint is the only living witness to the massacre at Mt. Shu. (Because it took place a hundred years ago, and he was four years old at the time).
94	* SoProudOfYou: Elder Shi to Tang'yu. [[spoiler: About ten seconds before his death.]]
95	* SpinOffspring: Chinese Paladin 1 is set in the future of the ChinesePaladin3 world, and Ling'er is the granddaughter of two of the main characters.
96	* SpoiledBrat: Yue'Ru, whose father let her get away with anything for years because he was grieving for his wife. Most of her character development involves growing past this.
97	* [[spoiler: StableTimeLoop: Goddess Nuwa sends Xiao Yiao back to the events of first episode's opening, and his attempts to change the past just create one of these.]]
98	* SwordDrag: Done by [[spoiler: BrainwashedAndCrazy Ah'Nu]] right after [[spoiler: she kills her father]].
99	* TakeThatKiss: The Sword Immortal plants one on the Priestess when she is trying to get him to stop drinking and moping over the marriage of Qing'er to the King of Nanzhao. She makes the mistake of telling him she understands the theory about 'love', and the following lines result:
100	--> '''Priestess''': "You're disrespecting the Priestess of Nanzhao!"
101	--> '''Sword Immortal''': "Yeah, I know."
102	* TenMinutesInTheCloset: Xiao Yao and Ling’er in the first episode on Fairy Island.
103	* TooImportantToWalk: Elder Shi does this as a means of impressing on Ling'er that she is after all, a princess.
104	* TraumaCongaLine: Dear God, this series. ''Everyone'' gets this treatment.
105	* TricksterMentor: Xiao Yao to Jinyuan.
106	* TragicHero: [[spoiler: Ling’er, who dies, and Xiao Yao, the only one left among the living.]] Oh, and [[spoiler: Drunken Sword Immortal, who lost years of his life in a waking dream, then the love of his life, Qing'Er, then finally his own life, taken by his mind-controlled bastard daughter mere days after he discovered she existed]]. Yeah, there are a lot of those here, actually.
107	* UnholyMatrimony: used multiple times as a way of showing ThePowerOfLove.
108	** The fox demon and snake demon couple.
109	** In the backstory, between Jiang Ming and Nuyuan.
110	* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Villainous example in Bai Yue.
111	* XanatosSpeedChess: Jinyuan and Bai Yue play it. Bai Yue is particularly good. For example, his response to having an angry PapaWolf and MamaBear charging in on a RoaringRampageOfRescue is to have them arrested for trespass and adultery.
112	* [[spoiler: YouAlreadyChangedThePast: Xiao Yao, not being genre savvy about time travel, finds this out the hard way.]]
113	* [[spoiler: YouCantFightFate: Ling'Er's faithfulness to her marriage with Xiao Yao leads to her death.]]
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Context Series / ChinesePaladin