Nu Wa

Nu Wa

Nu Wa (Rendition 1)

Nu Wa (Rendition 2)

The descendants of Nu Wa in Chinese Series

  After watching Chinese Paladin and Chinese Paladin 3 and later Xuan Yuan Sword I become interested in the ideas and stories that were being created around the descendants of Nu Wa.  Nu Wa is a goddess in Chinese mythology credited with creating mankind among other feats. She is usually shown having the top half of a woman and the bottom half of a snake.   Character of Zi Xuan, Qing'er, Ling'er from the Chinese Paladin shows are all said to be descendant of Nu Wa and are related to each other. Although I will be using the descendant of Nu Wa to refer to all of them Xiao Xue from Xuan Yuan Sword 3 is said to be Nu Wa's daughter or a manifestation of the Nu Wa stone that appears in that show.  

I am going to start with the Chinese Paladin shows. If we start off chronologically and not in the way the shows were made. We would look at Zi Xuan from Chinese Paladin 3. When we first meet her through the story's flash back, she is an innocent, bright, and naive girl. 

Young Zi Xuan

She is aware of Nu Wa and being a descendant of Nu Wa. When she confesses to Changqing and three years later they still love each but can not be together, they jump off a climb.  However Zi Xuan survives her injuries and I think this is where she becomes really aware of the strength, powers, and responsibility of being  Nu Wa's descendant.  Although it is implied that Zi Xuan fulfills her duties as a protector that come with being a Nu Wa descendant she was also looking for Changqing, whom she finds when he is reincarnated again.  Here we see a kind of dereliction of duty has she pursues then marries Changqing but he thinks she doesn't really love him because she always seems to be thinking of someone else plus the tattoo she had.  Changqing dies again trying to protect her but doubting her love.  Now alone again Zi Xuan finds out she is pregnant, gives birth but seals her child away so she could remain as she was and find Changqing again.   When we meet her at the beginning of Chinese Paladin 3, she uses her power to save Changqing and be with him. She even seduces Chong Lou, stealing his heart so that she could continue being the way she was.  In the end both she and Changqing pretended to forget, but did not. 

Mature Zi Xuan

Next, in Chinese Paladin we have Qing'er who was a baby at the end of Chinese Paladin 3. Although we don't see a lot of about Qing'er's story. It is implied that she grew up knowing she was Nu Wa's descendant and the responsibilities that came with it. Probably being raised by Zi Xuan and/or the woman in purple.  But Qing'er fall in love a Taoist, much like her mother's story. However, unlike Zi Xuan, Qing'er keeps her love in her heart and becomes queen of Nan Zhao Guo using her powers to help and protect people.  But because of the Leader of the Lunar Sect she is seen as a demon but she still sacrifices herself to seal the leviathan away in the lake. 

Ling'er in Nan Zhao Guo Garment

       Then we have Ling'er, Qing'er's daughter and Zi Xuan's granddaughter.  But unlike Zi Xuan and Qing'er, Ling'er grows up never knowing of Nu Wa or that she is a Nu Wa descendant or what that entails.  But a trait she does share, especially with her grandmother (since we get little of her mother's youth) they all start off quite bright, naive, and ignorant of the world.  Ling'er grows up in an isolated island being taught just to smile, not get upset or blame others and be happy. And she has always had one person whom she loves and is waiting for.  Then she meets and marries Xiao Yao, but he forgets about her and she is left completely alone when Lao Lao dies. She has to leave the only place she has ever known and go into a world she knows absolutely nothing about. Then she turns into her Nu wa form and flees, not only from people but also from herself.  She ends up killing some villagers when they attack her thinking she is a monster.  Devastated, alone and hiding in a cave her only solace comes when the Mountain God tells her about Nu Wa and then Ah Nu finds her.

      Of these three Nu Wa descendants, Zi Xuan was by far the most well rounded and developed character which was helped along by the writers, filming and actress.  Her progression from young innocent girl to the stronger mature woman in the end was well done. I think Qing'er story was also interesting but we get very little to judge from. I found that Ling'er's story was in a way just as compelling as her grandmother's. However, I think the character development was not really there and her story and actress were not given the means to show how interesting her story is.  In the versus article Tvb_4_ever said that she felt that Ling'er seemed to go from innocent and then suddenly mature.  I don't completely agree but I see where she is coming from because the portrayal was not handled well. It takes Zi Xuan three life times to be the character she is at the end and the development was done fairly well. For Ling'er, the sense of time feels sometimes long but going from the island to reaching Nan Zhao Guo did not take more than a few years (making some assumption). So her story is quite condensed.  Ling'er has to mature much faster, but her transition and scenes were not handled or done well.  The first jarring event for Ling'er is when we meet her then losing Lao Lao and being thrown into an unknown world all alone, for the most part. Xiao Yao doesn't remember her, she starts feeling unwell, and her body changes into something she has never heard of let alone seen.   Then almost everyone that lays eyes on her fears and hate her.  She seems to feel the same way about herself.  So when she finds herself in the mountain cave, she hates herself almost in every possible way.  She is alone, hates herself and on top that there is the guilt from having killed those people.  She sees herself as no less than a monster.  The psychological traumas she has gone through is quite visceral and this is quite apparent when she is ripping her scales off. That seemed equivalent to someone taking a knife to their flesh and just cutting off large chunks.

Ling'er in Nu Wa Outfit

    This happens over some times, the weeks possible months that she was alone.  Her experience of time would have also been influenced.   But all this was not well executed in the series.  Things only start to change when the Mountain God starts to be a different voice among all that had been happening. Giving her a little bit of hope, only then thus the innocent Ling'er starts to appear again. But having been through all that, she could not just be innocent anymore. Soon, feelings that she was still a good person despite what she looked like outside started to appear.  Ling'er ventures out but is attacked by Xiao Yao, this drove her back into a dark place.   Then, Ah Nu tells her about how she could hide her tail. I feel she felt rage against herself and the world because of her experiences that would drive a lot of people dark and have developed into something dark.  Which is no wonder the Old Sword Saint thought that her demonic energy could be a danger.  I think this darkness was countered by the fact that Ling'er is a good person and she would turn more blame on herself than others. She wouldn't intentional start hurting people.
    I think that what Lin'ger went through matured her almost to the point of Zi Xuan. A top that it was more condensed. If these aspects among others of Ling'er had been explored she could have been a far more interesting character than a character who looked to be just running around and getting kidnapped. In many ways, Ling'er and Qing'er were more mature than Zi Xuan, who was so insistent on her love she froze her daughter and refused to grow and learn.
    Another thing is that some feel that Ling'er's love story with  Xiao Yao was created so that Ling'er would get pitied. I didn't feel that this was completely the case although I don't remember there being many scenes of Xiao Yao and Ling'er being together and bonding beyond very briefly at the beginning.  This is another place where Chinese Paladin 3 was done better than Chinese Paladin.  

Ling'er in Nu Wa form

Ling'er's Tail

Another character that caught my attention in my interest with Nu Wa is Yu Xiao Xue from Xuan Yuan Sword 3: Scar of the Sky. Although I am interested in Xiao Xue in the series she is often referred to as Nu Wa's daughter or the manifestation of the Nu Wa stone. So not a technical descendant of Nu Wa.  

Yu Xiao Xue

   When I first started watching Scar of the Sky and heard of a character that was of Nu Wa, I was excited.  I couldn't wait for her story, her development, when she would show her tail and used her power to put some people back in their place. But I was disappointed.  Xiao Xue starts of much like the other Nu Wa descendants naive, innocent, ignorant and kind. Then she goes on experiencing new things and falls in love with Jian Chi even though all the time it was said she would love and be with the Earth Emperor, Chen Jing Chou.   I feel like Xiao Xue was not really developed well. She ends up seeming to understand some things but not really maturing or growing wise.   Xiao Xue starts  off kind of blank of emotions and what it entails.  I feel like the creators could have taken a risk and done something great if they showed Xiao Xue experiencing each new emotion.  It is said that humans are born with 8 base emotions and emotions unlike what some people may think and society sometimes teaches are not in a good or bad category.  One is not ranked higher or lower than the other.  They are just emotions and they serve to teach us important things.    It would have been amazing to see Xiao Xue experiencing each emotion and learn how people have come to believe and dictate that one is better than the other.  For an example a child been taught that it is okay to show a smile when happy but not to show it when he is angry.  

Xiao Xue and Jian Chi

I liked Xiao Xue and Jian Chi's budding romance, although Jian Chi gets absorb back into Yuwen Tuo. All Xiao Xue gets for the most part is heartbreak.  

      I am quite fascinated with the idea of Nu Wa and her descendants.  We get a nice example in Zi Xuan but Qing'er, Ling'er and Xiao Xue seemed to be waisted amazing potential.

If you know of any other Nu Wa Characters let me know.

Ningke and Yuwen Tuo

A romance that came off to me created just for a character to be be pitied was between Ningke and Yuwen Tuo.  I understand that since Ningke took over the dead Ning'er and started getting close to Yuwen Tuo to control him for the underworld. That pretending to feel something for so long might actually become true and that she had feelings for Yuwen Tuo.  However, Ningke was using and manipulating Yuwen Tuo.  Then she gets everything she wanted despite everything she does.  She wanted Yuwen Tuo's love, he loves her, her marries her, his mother likes her, she has his child and he is going to wait 500 years for her.  On top of this, a lot of it came off that she should be pitied too. I know that some Chinese series have this ideas of a man can be as bad as a demon and a demon as good as a man.  Sometimes it works, but other times it does not.  I read that Ningke was original just a villain in the game, I did not really see the need to do what happen with Ningke's character or go along with it.  On the other hand Xiao Xue just got heartbreak.