Bittersweet Ending: In the shared finale for both stories, Little Bao is Not Quite Dead, as he manages to crawl out of the corpse pile and escapes another death by chanting half-remembered scripture that Vibiana gave to him.Awesome McCoolname: Vibiana chose her own name.Atrocious Alias: Four-Girl, which both dehumanizes her and blames her for all her family's troubles.Arc Symbol: Eyes, representing both compassion, as with Guan Yin and Vibiana's vision of the Christ, and rage, as with the fiery eyes that many Boxers share, originally appearing from the mystic vision stored in Master Big Belly's navel.Amazon Brigade: The Red Lanterns, who operate in tandem and on equal footing with the Society (much to some of the male Boxers' resentment).While this act seems senseless even to her, this act of sacrificial and peaceful love for an enemy saves Bao's life some time later.

At the moment of her death, she sees a vision of Jesus (illustrated in a similar style to Guan Yin in the companion book) instructing her to be mindful of others as he has been mindful of her, and decides to tell Bao how to pray before he kills her.

Vibiana starts out as a self-professed devil but slowly becomes this.

Mei-wan becomes this after reading the story of Guan Yin, the goddess of compassion (herself an example of this trope), no longer entering the battlefield and focusing on tending to the wounds of Boxer and Christian alike.Vibiana also aspires to be a 'maiden warrior' like Joan of Arc and has one of the seminaries, Kong, teach her how to use a sword. Action Girl: Mei-wen and all of the Red Lanterns are just as skilled at martial arts as the men.This makes his execution all the more shocking and devastating to Bao. The Ace: Red Lantern Chu is a great martial artist who teaches his ways to Bao and the other boys from the village, and Bao idolizes him deeply.These two novels tie in together in a lot of places, but they can each be enjoyed individually.

Saints takes on another perspective, starring Four-Girl, who is a girl from the same village, that joins the foreign devils and converts to Christianity, taking on the name Vibiana.

It follows him throughout his journey from simple country boy to leader of the Boxer Rebellion. 'Support the Ch'ing! Destroy the Foreigner!'īoxers and Saints are two Historical Fiction companion graphic novels written by Gene Luen Yang, released together on September 10, 2013, taking place in late 1890s China during the Boxer Rebellion.īoxers stars a young boy named Little Bao, who respects his country's culture and wishes to drive the 'foreign devils' from China.

Boxers and saints book