Characters / Wish Dragon

Main Characters

Din Song

Voiced by: Jimmy Wong, Ian Chen (Young)

Din is a working-class college student who dreams to reunite with his childhood friend Li Na. He becomes Long's tenth master and tries to use his magic in order to impress Li Na and rekindle their friendship.

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• Badass Normal: Thanks to Long granting his unwitting first wish, he becomes a kung-fu master.
• Butt-Monkey: Near the beginning of the movie, Din sneaks out to a billboard featuring Li Na to rehearse how he plans to act around her, only for his suit sleeves to fall off. Then his pants get torn off by a nearby AC unit, leaving him in his Goofy Print Underwear when he gets mugged by Pockets' gang. He's only saved from a beating by his desperate wish to know how to fight.
• Childhood Friends: With Li Na.
• Cursed with Awesome: Din accidentally uses his first wish to learn how to fight, turning him into a kung-fu master. He briefly gripes about wasting his first wish from a nigh-omnipotent wish dragon and being "stuck" with his new kung-fu powers, but changes his mind after he instinctively throws a back kick at Long's gut while perfectly balancing on one foot.
• Determinator: He won't stop until he is reunited with Li Na.
• Disappeared Dad: His dad is not seen in the film.
• Distressed Dude: He has been attacked by thugs who are after Long's teapot and probably would have been mugged had Long not made him a master fighter as his first wish.
• Endearingly Dorky: He is a lovable goofball who values his loved ones above all and is rather adorable when messing up.
• Expy: Of Aladdin. Aside from this name being a shortened version of Aladdin's name (and a nickname the Genie proposes for him in Aladdin), Din is a poor, down-on-his-luck young man who wants to reunite with a girl who is special to him with the help of a magic genie. Unlike Disney's Aladdin, Din just wants to reunite with his best friend Li Na after she became part of Shanghai's financial and social elite and moved away. He's also significantly less street-wise and more goofy than Aladdin as a college student rather than The Artful Dodger. His wish to be a rich princeling for 24 hours also makes him a gender-flipped sendup to Cinderella, as he infiltrates a party where he wasn't invited to meet a girl he loves.
• Goofy Print Underwear: He has a pair of cloud print boxers.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Din does not have full control over his new kung-fu skills at first after wishing for the ability to fight. He beckons Pockets' goons to Bring It without meaning to and throws rapid kicks while his face shows that none of what he's doing is intentional.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Din is given the teapot because he is pure of heart. Rather than wish for money or power, he insists that friendship is the most important thing. This is fully demonstrated after Pockets drops Mr. Wang to his death and we see Din risk his life to get the teapot back from Pockets and his mooks so he can use his last wish to save Li Na's father.
• Insecure Love Interest: Played with since he claims that his feelings for Li Na are strictly platonic, his desperation to reunite with her and Long's unhelpful advice (and implying that Li Na would want nothing to do with him if he is broke) are what lead to him pretending to be rich in the first place.
• Instant Expert: Din accidentally wishes to be able to fight, and Long makes him a kung fu master. He is very confused by his new reflexes.
• Jerkass Façade: Due to his preconceptions of what the wealthy elite act like and Long's well-intentioned but poor advice, "Dan" acts like a jerk around Li Na, who is unimpressed by Din's treatment of others and attempts to wow her by throwing money around. Once Din's wish wears off, he's quick to come clean to Li Na and apologizes for his previous behavior.
• Mama's Boy: He truly loves his mother in spite of conflicting interests.
• Mock Millionaire: He uses Long to pretend to be a rich guy in order to get into the Wang estate, so he can see Li Na again.
• Mundane Utility: Din's kung fu powers are huge help when facing off against Pockets. They're also great for catching falling objects before they hit the ground, since said powers come with equally impressive reflexes, coordination, balance, and flexibility.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: He's a wiry guy, but he demonstrates superhuman physical feats after wishing for the ability to fight. This includes throwing a man twice his size over his head with a casual hand motion and bringing down a house by kicking a single weakened supporting pillar.
• Nice Guy: Din is kind-hearted, sweet, somewhat dorky and his greatest wish is to be with his best friend again.
• Positive Friend Influence: His kindness and determination to show how true his friendship with Li Na is, are what finally helps make Long into a better person...er, dragon.
• Rags to Riches: His second wish was to be rich enough to impress Li Na. Albeit, he only wished to be rich for 24 hours.
• Required Secondary Powers: Although Din wishes that "[he] knew how to fight", this also comes with incredible reflexes, balance, flexibility, and coordination. His body moves practically on its own in response to danger and he manages to catch and balance a jade statue on his tongue after accidentally knocking over his things. He then manages to throw everything back into place while flipping into his seat before his mom can turn around. Din also demonstates superhuman strength, throwing a man over his shoulder with a casual hand motion.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Din repeatedly emphasizes to Long that Li Na is not his girlfriend and that he only cares about reuniting with her and hanging out with her like old times. But the way Din looks at her when they're together and later hold hands leaves it ambiguous whether he's being serious or if he's developed romantic feelings for her during the story.
• Undying Loyalty: To his family and close friends, he treasures their love more than anything else and doesn't minds being poor if he is happy with his life.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: He wants to make his mother proud of him.
• Working-Class Hero: Din lives in an older, run-down part of Shanghai as part of a tight-knit but relatively poor community. His mother works late to pay for his college tuition and he sneaks out of class to make some money as a delivery driver to buy a suit in hopes of reuniting with his Childhood Friend Li Na.

Long, the Wish Dragon

Voiced by: John Cho

Long is a cynical but all-powerful dragon capable of granting wishes. Unable to move on to the afterlife until he serves ten masters, he is desperate to grant Din's wishes.

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• Big Ol' Eyebrows: He has large, lavender, smooth eyebrows.
• The Cynic: He begins the story with a very dim view on human nature. His time with Din helps him improve his outlook.
• A Dog Named "Perro": Long is a magical wish-granting dragon whose name is Mandarin for "dragon". This makes more sense when you learn he was Was Once a Man and is trying to earn his way into heaven.
• Dying Alone: Because of his greedy and selfish nature as a human, not a single member of Long's friends or family appeared when he lay on his deathbed.
• Expy: Long is clearly a sendup to the Genie from Aladdin, appearing to Din under extremely similar circumstances (from a cloud of smoke from within magic lamp/teapot when the hero is at a low point and forced to be apart from a girl he cares about). Din also tricks Long into giving him a ride to Li Na's home just as Aladdin tricks Genie into blasting out of the Cave of Wonders without a wish. Unlike Genie, Long is a Jackass Genie who wants Din to use up his wishes quickly so Long can move on to Heaven.
• Everybody Has Standards: Before his Character Development. After Din has an argument with his mom and goes to his "room", Long peeks out of his teapot sheepishly. Normally, this is the part where Long goads Din to use up his (remaining) wish to fix the situation. But even someone as selfish as him can read the room and see that Din already has enough badgering from his mom without being pestered to make a wish. All he can do is help himself to the soup Din's mother left out before quietly retreating.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Long was last released a hundred years before the present day. So he has no reference for things like "buses" or "television", mistaking the former for some kind of beast of burden and an airplane for a "giant metal bird". He tries to act unimpressed, but he's clearly in awe of modern Shanghai.
• Genie in a Bottle: Or in this case teapot. Long, the wish dragon, is trapped in a teapot and made to fulfill the wishes of ten masters before he can be freed.
• Gold and White Are Divine: Long's new teapot for his second ten masters run is gold and white, likely due to this being on more pleasant and voluntary terms compared to his grimy jade teapot during his bitter past.
• Heaven Seeker: Long's trying into get to Heaven by serving ten masters.
• Implausible Deniability: Long tries to insist that modern Shanghai is nothing special to him even as he clearly marvels at everything from television to shrimp chips.
• Invisible to Normals: Long can only be seen by whomever wields his teapot. Anything he tries to interact with appears to be floating on its own.
• I Hate Past Me: Long doesn't initially feel this way about his former life as a human lord. But after witnessing Din experience true happiness amongst his mother, Li Na, and their neighbors, Long starts to understand why he was Barred from the Afterlife. By the time he tells Din his backstory, it's with a lot more awareness of how horrible he was to his subjects and his family.
• It's All About Me: Long makes it clear early on that he's only begrudgingly helping Din out of selfish interest, rather than any legitimate kindness or desire to help. He also initially only complies to his role as a wish-granter because it'll get him into Heaven... But once he comes to truly appreciate friendship and family, he changes his mind.
• Jackass Genie: Downplayed. Long tries to construe anything Din says as a wish in order to finish his service faster while goading him to waste wishes on menial things like getting out of a traffic jam. But he does fulfill all of Din's wishes completely and to the spirit of them, even redoing a wish after it's clearly not what Din had in mind.
• Karmic Shunning: In his past life as a nobleman, his entire family cuts ties with him because of his horrible actions, with not one of them appearing at his deathbed.
• Like a Son to Me: He progressively becomes a father figure to Din and helps the boy avoid making the same mistake he did. He also tries to redeem himself from being a neglectful father in the past.
• Lonely at the Top: He used to be a powerful ruler, possibly an emperor, but his son died in a war and his daughters were sent away in arranged marriages, all so he could gain more power. As a result, he spent most of his life surrounded by riches but alone, and died the same way.
• Morphic Resonance: When Long (reluctantly) masquerades as the newly-rich Din's valet, Long's human form has grey sideburns that look just like the sideburn tufts on his dragon form, and his tie is as pink as his fur. Later, it turns out to be an inversion, as his human form is his real form.
• Not So Above It All: When Long first spots a bag of shrimp chips, he writes it off as peasant food. But one bite from it, and he quickly deems it "MAGNIFICENT" and gobbles it up. What's more, Long was a ruler in his past life, giving it a certain comedic effect that a Lord from the Qing Dynasty would come to like something as cheap and modern as shrimp chips.
• Our Dragons Are Different: He has fur instead of scales.
• Our Genies Are Different: He resides in a teapot, can revert wishes if he misinterprets them, can shapeshift into a human form, he's a dragon, and so forth. But perhaps the most notorious unique traits of Long are that: he Was Once a Man and granting wishes is Heaven's intended way of making him atone for his cruelty during his life as a human emperor.
• Outliving One's Offspring: His only male son died prematurely during a war.
• Power Incontinence: At Li Na's birthday party, a disguised Long gets a little tipsy and begins losing control over maintaining his human form.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He's a magical dragon covered in pink fur and pink used to be one of his colors during his past tenure as a powerful lord.
• Restored My Faith in Humanity: At first, Long had a very bleak view of humanity, saying they're all money-hungry things, which is mostly due to his own experiences as a human, but his time with Din's family and neighbors changed that.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Long by the end of the film, especially compared to his life as a lord who sacrificed his family members to gain wealth and power.
• Was Once a Man: He was a Chinese emperor that grew greedy and cruel alienating his family and friends. He died alone and forgotten, with Heaven punishing him by turning him into a Wish Dragon to serve 10 masters and hopefully learn the true meaning of life. His spirit reverts to his human form after he sacrifices himself to save Din and is allowed into Heaven, but begs to go back and complete Din's last wish. Heaven allows this if he agrees to become a Wish Dragon once more and serve other ten masters.
• You Never Asked: When Din is surprised that Long used to be a ruler, the latter points out that he'd know this by now if he had bothered to notice the design on the teapot depicting his human self. In Din's defense, Long never bothered to let Din ask his question, which might've shed some light on Long being human.

Li Na Wang

Voiced by: Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Alyssa Abiera (Young)

Li Na is Din's Childhood Friend, who moved with her father years ago from the neighborhood where she lived and now lives a lavish life. Din wishes to see her again and rekindle their friendship.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Her father calls her "Nana" at the end of the film after helping to open Mrs. Song's new restaurant.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: She is a nice, kind-hearted person and she also works as a model.
• Childhood Friends: With Din, the latter's attempts at rekindling their friendship drives the plot.
• Daddy's Girl: She deeply loves her father and wishes to spend more time with him, being rather depressed that his job means he has no time to personally see her.
• Hidden Depths: Li Na turns out to be a rather effective businesswoman, given she has a very aggressive method to get other businesses to form deals with Din's mother's restaurant in the ending.
• Lonely Rich Kid: She had to leave her best friend as a child due to her family moving away. Later when surrounded by people at her party it's clear that she doesn't have a real friend among them due to her wealthy status.
• Nice Girl: Like Din, she is kind, sweet and deeply values her loved ones.
• Stepford Smiler: Mr. Wang's assistant insists that Li Na should smile and act more pleasant when she associates with other rich families. Sure enough, Li Na is forced to put on the biggest painted-on smile while she claims her life is absolutely perfect. Her calling her forced smile a "game face" implies this isn't a rare occurance. It's only after her own father fails to come to her birthday that she has to excuse herself from the party and find a quiet, lonely place in her mansion just to have herself a good cry.
• Spoiled Sweet: Even with her affluence and living in a vastly different lifestyle for years, Li Na doesn't look down on the neighborhood where she once lived. She is still as nice and down-to-earth, and helped them cook and make dumplings, reminiscing on a simpler time.
• Used to Be a Tomboy: As a kid, she was a playful and spirited tomboy who enjoyed playing rough with Din. She's now working as a beautiful model who is prim and proper and with none of her tomboyish interests being involved. Though it ends up subverted when more of her true personality comes out during her date with Din: turns out she's just as rambunctious and fight hungry as she was as a kid, she's just been hiding it.

Secondary Characters

Mrs. Song

Voiced by: Constance Wu

Din's strict mother.

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• Anger Born of Worry: She gets angry enough at Din to whack him repeatedly with a spoon when she thinks he's goofing out with girls instead of focusing on his studies, jeopardizing any potential career prospects he might have.
• Angry Chef: Subverted. When someone else is preparing her soup recipe she seems as if she's going to hit him before complimenting his cooking.
• Chubby Chef: Mrs. Song is a portly woman whose cooking is the talk of the community. She's implied to work long hours at another restaurant to make ends meet.
• Education Mama: She is very strict with Din's education and wants him to focus on his future. She whacks him with a spoon when she thinks he's playing hooky at internet cafes or fooling around with girls because she's worried he'll throw away his chance at a better life.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: Mrs. Song is a matronly, hard-working single mother who dotes and is hard on her only son, Din. She's also an amazing cook even while on a working-class budget.
• Parents as People: Mrs. Song loves her son and while she can be harsh with him, it is due to being under constant stress that comes with being a poor, single mother than maliciousness. She wishes she could have provided a more comfortable life for Din, but assumes the worst when he appears to be playing hooky and beats him with a spoon out of a mixture of Tough Love and Anger Born of Worry.
• Struggling Single Mother: Mrs. Song works long hours to fund her son's college education. They live together in a one-room apartment where she does all the cooking so he can focus on his studies.
• Supreme Chef: She's an amazing cook, doing all the cooking for her son Din and often having guests over trying her cooking. She's quick to usher anyone who shows up at her door into her dining room and serve them a bowl of soup. After meeting Mr. Wang again, he's so impressed by her soup that he helps her open a restaurant with an enormous line out of the door, turning both of their fortunes around.

Mr. Wang

Voiced by: Will Yun Lee

Li Na's distant father. His business is facing serious trouble and he's desperate to find any means to save it and prevent his family from falling into poverty.

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• Everyone Has Standards: While he did try to take Long from Din (and hired Pockets to retrieve it for him), he draws the line at actually hurting anyone and is not happy to find out how far Pockets took his attempts at retrieving the teapot.
• Honest Corporate Executive: Mr. Wang built his business from the ground up. Although he hired questionable people to track down the teapot, he didn't want them to hurt anyone. In the end he and Li Na partner with Din and his mom to start a restaurant.
• Knight Templar Parent: Mr. Wang's family was threatened with falling into poverty after his company ended up bankrupt and he will take any measures to ensure that doesn't happen, even if it meant hiring shady people to obtain an artifact that he believes will help him achieve his goals.
• Parents as People: He does love his daughter and only wants to provide her a better life, even though his work schedule leaves him with little time to actually be around her.
• Shadow Archetype: Mr. Wang is more-or-less a reflection of what Din almost became, chasing a rich and "better" life and oblivious to how unhappy Li-Na is. Long is a reflection of the both of them. As a powerful ruler, he had more than enough riches. But instead of being content, he craved more treasure and sacrificed those closest to him in order to achieve it. He worked his loyal subjects to the bone, had his daughters married off for political gain, and sent his only son to conquer more lands (only for him to return a dead war hero). After everything he did to gain more wealth, Long died alone. In a twist, Mr. Wang almost died a similar death to Long, losing a chance to have a lasting relationship with his own daughter.

Antagonists

Pockets

Voiced by: Aaron Yoo

Pockets is a henchman hired by Wang to retrieve the teapot that Din has.

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• Always Someone Better: Despite Din's incredible feats of acrobatics and kung-fu worthy of an action movie, Pockets is simply on another level and easily pummels Din once Pockets bothers to take his hands out of his pockets.
• Ambition Is Evil: Pockets claims that he's spent his whole life bowing to others. His ultimate goal is to make others bow to him. This motivates his betrayal of Mr. Wang when he has a shot at getting a wish from Long.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He is very arrogant and cocky about his skills, not even deigning to apprehend Din himself until Pockets' goons are manhandled by Din's magically granted fighting abilities. Even when he has Din at his mercy, Pockets rarely bothers to move more quickly than a sinister saunter. Said arrogance proves warranted at the end of the film, as Din is almost completely unable to defend himself against Pockets when the man pulls his hands out of his pockets.
• Bald of Evil: He is bald and a nasty person even before he shows his treacherous side.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: His wish to get the Midas Touch ends up killing him when he accidentally touches himself after falling off Long.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: He is tall and thin, while his goons are bulky and short respectively.
• Extremity Extremist: He fights almost exclusively with his legs. He won't even point with his hands, instead lifting his leg up to point with his toes. This hides the fact that he's even better with his fists than his legs, as Din can't fend him off once Pockets starts throwing Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs.
• Greed: His motivation to obtain the wish dragon's teapot is to become rich, either via getting paid by Mr. Wang or through a wish.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Ends up dying due to accidentally touching himself while falling off the petrified Long, turning himself into a gold statue that shatters upon hitting the ground.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: He finally pulls his hands out of his pockets near the end of the film, showing that he's finally getting serious. He then proceeds to pummel Din despite Din's magically-granted skills.
• Literally Shattered Lives: His final fate, after he turns into gold he hits the ground of the bridge he fought Din and Long in and shatters on impact, his pieces sinking into the sea.
• Midas Touch: His wish from Long is to obtain this, allowing him to get all the gold that he desires. It eventually leads to his death.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: He's much thinner than his minion, Tall Goon, but casually smashes a door to pieces with a single kick and sends Din flying across the room.
• No Name Given: His name is never given in the story. He's only referred to as "Pockets" in the credits, likely because he refuses to take his hands out of his pockets except when absolutely necessary.
• One-Hit Kill: His Midas Touch that he gains from Long's wish allows him to turn anything and anyone he touches into solid gold. Not even Long or himself are safe from it.
• Orcus on His Throne: The beating he gives Din at the end of the film shows that he could have taken it from him at any time had he bothered to face Din at the beginning of the story. But Pockets continually delegated to his goons and was too lazy to take his hands out of his pockets, allowing Din to escape in the process.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: The main antagonist of the movie, he also speaks in a gentle tone and never raises his voice.
• The Starscream: Once he gets his hands on the teapot, he betrays Mr. Wang by dropping him off a building to his death.
• We Can Rule Together: At the end of the film, he offers to let Din become one of his underlings in exchange for all the gold he could possibly ask for. His offer is rejected.

The Goons

Tall Goon

Small Goon

Voiced by: Bobby Lee (Tall Goon), Jimmy O. Yang (Small Goon)

They are Pocket's underlings only identified as short goon and tall goon.

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• Bumbling Henchmen Duo: They are thugs who are generally less competent than Pockets himself and often find themselves involved in several blunders while at work or even outside of it.
• Dumb Muscle: Their job is to get their hands dirty so their boss, an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy doesn't have to. But they're laughably bad at it, especially after Din wishes for the ability to fight.
• Height Angst: Small Goon clearly struggles with his diminutive height. When he gets his hands on the teapot, his first wish is for longer legs.
• Minion with an F in Evil: They are basic mooks who, when they get their hands on the teapot and can command the wish dragon, they make simple personal wishes rather than use it to obtain tremendous power and riches.
• Pet the Dog: Literally. Tall Goon's first idea for a wish is enough puppies to open a pet store. He then gathers up more than 200 of them off-screen while naming each and every one of them.
• Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: Compared to their dead-serious and intimidating boss, they're a pair of goofballs who lack much maliciousness and serve a comedic role throughout the film.