Lotus Lantern (known as "宝莲灯" in Chinese) is a 35-episode 2005 Chinese Wuxia mythological costume/period drama adapting the original Lotus Lantern folk tale with elements of the 1999 animated film and many characters present within Chinese Mythology thrown in.
The series focuses on Chen Xiang, the Demigod son of the Goddess Sanshengmu and the mortal Scholar Liu Yan Chang. As the marriage between a mortal and a god is forbidden by the Heavenly Laws, Sanshengmu's older brother, Erlang Shen, led the Heavenly Brigade in pursuit of the family under orders from the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother of the West. During this time of peril, Sanshengmu gave the Lotus Lantern to Liu Chang to protect him and their son. Following a fierce battle with Erlang, she was captured and imprisoned beneath Mount Hua. Sixteen years later, Chen Xiang, now a teenager, discovers that he possesses supernatural powers such as the ability to pass through walls. These powers being to attract Erlang and Xiao Tian Quan's attention, and forces Liu Chang to tell Chen Xiang of who his mother truly was. Having learned of his mother and her imprisonment, Chen Xiang sets out on a journey to rescue her.
The series was popular enough to have gotten a prequel in 2009 titled The Prelude of Lotus Lantern, focusing on Erlang Shen/Yang Jian's backstory. It is still fondly regarded and considered a nostalgic piece of television by Chinese netizens that grew up while the series was airing and seen on par quality wise with the 1999 animated film.
This series provides examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism: Compared to the original 1999 animated film, Yang Jian/Erlang Shen is a far more nobler figure, being ultimately well-intentioned and seeking genuinely to change the Heavenly laws for the better.
- Adaptational Villainy: One of the more negative portrayals of the Queen Mother of the West. Traditionally she is a benevolent deity in Taoist traditions and folklore, and could be moved to understand love between mortals and gods in both some myths dealing with romance between mortals and fairies/goddesses as well as some modern adaptations of said myths. Here however, she is a Control Freak seeking to enforce at all costs a draconian cosmic law that punishes any deity and mortal engaging in any intimate relationship, and their offspring, with death or worse. That said, her attitude is more influenced by misguided beliefs and a lack of understanding about human emotions rather than genuine malice and she does accept her defeat with dignity once its' clear her plans have been thwarted and that the new Heavenly Laws can be brought into existence.
- Big Bad: The Queen Mother of the West, who is responsible for imposing the laws of Heaven forbidding love between humans and immortals.
- First Girl Wins: Chen Xiang meets Xiao Yu first before Ding Xiang despite the marriage contract that was supposed to tie him together with Ding. At the end of the series, he marries her.
- Good All Along: Ultimately, Yang Jian/Erlang Shen was revealed to be fighting for reforming the Heavenly laws all along, with many of his seemingly heinous actions in the series being to cultivate Chen Xiang into a strong enough warrior that will force through that change.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Ding Xiang whenever Xiao Yu is in the picture, trying to drive wedges between her and Chen Xiang so she can have the latter to herself. This even got to the point where she allowed herself to be manipulated and outright possessed by Yang Jian/Erlang Shen in order to get Xiao Yu out of the picture.
- Heaven Above: Where the Taoist Pantheon lives.
- Jerkass Gods: Any god seeking to uphold the Heavenly Laws, examples include the Queen Mother of the West as well as the Jade Emperor and Tian Mu in the prequels. Averted with the rest of the Taoist Pantheon, who are portrayed to be secretly mostly wanting reform.
- Sadistic Choice: In the finale. Chen Xiang is offered the choice by the Queen Mother to free Sanshengmu at the cost of destroying the new Heavenly Laws, or allow her mother to be sacrificed to birth the new Heavenly Laws. This choice was deliberately engineered to discourage any future attempts to reform the Heavenly laws even further. Just as Chen resigns himself to losing his mother for good, he manages to revive her through The Power of Love.
- The Power of Love: What ultimately revives both Sanshengmu and Xiao Yu at the end after their respective sacrifices.
