Blanca (Xiao Bai)

Xiao-Bai, or Blanca in the English dub, (also known as The White Snake), is the titular deuteragonist of Warner Bros. chinese computer-animated film, White Snake. She is a white snake demon, Snake Mother's apprentice and the older sister of Xiao-Qing. As one of the best students of Snake Mother, Xiao-Bai was sent to assassinate the General who was using snake souls to boost his magic. However, her mission failed, barely escaping alive and was saved by Xu Xuan.
At the end of the movie, Xiao-Bai saves Xu Xuan’s soul and 500 years later, she regains her memories and begins a search for Xu Xuan’s reincarnation. She succeeds in doing so.
In the 2021 sequel, White Snake 2: The Tribulation of the Green Snake, Xiao-Bai marries Xu Xuan’s reincarnation, Xian, and had a child with him. Eventually, the Buddhist monk, Fa Hai, hunts down Xiao-Bai and imprisons her in the Leifeng Pagoda, not before she was able to give her child to Xiao-Qing.
Following her imprisonment, Blanca manages to escape Leifeng Pagoda and reincarnates into a mysterious man with no memory. He is also sent to Asuraville, where he meets Verta.
==Appearance==
===Physical Appearance===
Xiao-Bai has long black hair, pale grey eyes, fairly light skin tone, red lipstick and red eyeliner. She wears hanfu clothes that consisted of white chang’ao robes with silver-whitish vine ornaments, transparent silk sash and three blue shades of her traditional long-sleeved overgarment, long white skirt, wind, and water patterns hairclip on her right side of her hair, dark and light blues belt, jade hairpin, and white Chinese embroidery shoes.
===Forms===
* In her human form, Xiao-Bai appeared to be a beautiful girl and preferred wearing white dresses. However, once she turned into her half-snake form, her lower body would transform into a giant white snake tail, her black hair would turn to bluish white as well as her makeup, and small white scales would grow form her face in place of her eyebrows.
* During in the movie, Xiao-Bai had two different snake forms: A normal giant white snake (at the very beginning of the movie) and a giant white snake with feather-like horns and spikes on her ridge which is a bit similar to a Chinese dragon.
==Personality==
Xiao-Bai is a gentle, thoughtful and independent girl and had her own moral standards. She preferred putting others (especially towards those whom she cares about) before herself, and sometimes would do whatever she thinks best for others without consulting them first.
Unlike her sister Xiao-Qing, Xiao-Bai didn't have much hatred against humans. However, she still considered the relationship between a human and a demon as a taboo which led her to make difficult balance between her loyalty to the snake clan, her personal moral standards and her love for Xu Xuan. She is very calm and caring.
==Abilities==
As a demon, Xiao-Bai could use some sort of magic to control other objects. In the movie, she used her magic to save Dudou from falling into the cilff, and accidentally pushed Xu Xuan away when she was upset. She could also use her magic as a melee weapon which could easily cut through armor. Her magic also had other uses, as shown when she granted Dudou ability to speak with her magic.
When it came to fighting, she preferred transforming into her half snake form which allowed her to use her giant sharp tail as a weapon to cut her enemies into halves. Although she appeared gentle and quiet, Xiao-Bai displayed formidable skill in close combat in either human form or in half-snake form. When she was protecting Xu Xuan from Xiao-Qing, she could easily block her sister's attack.
In addition, after Owner of Precious Jade modified the Jade Hairpin, she could use it to channel her magic for difficult tasks. However, the modification wasn't prefect. The hairpin would also drain a part of her memory whenever she uses it. But as long as she has physical contact with Jade Hairpin, her memory would slowly come back, although it seems that this side effect wouldn't be triggered when she used it to drain magic from others.
==Role the film==
Blanca is the first seen meditating for 500 years until she is awoken by Verta. They both speak immortality. Blanca holds the hairpin to go back in time where it all begin.
It then shows that same mysterious woman (named Blanca) who is on a mission to assassinate the general. However, she is caught and is involved in a battle which results in her submerging into water and losing her memories. She is rescued by a man, Xuan, who takes her to his home, Snake Catcher village, where the villagers catch snakes for the general, as snakes were thought to aid in immortality. Reluctant at first, Blanca is skeptical about Xuan. However, after spending some time with him (and with the reveal that she has magic powers) she starts to fall for him.
They find a jade hair pin which brings back some memories when it is then revealed, that the hairpin too is magical. Xuan reads the inscription, which indicates it was made at "special jade workshop". He and Blanca go journey there together.
Back with Xuan and Blanca, after a struggle on sea with another snake-demon- Blanca is forced to reveal her demon form, revealing to Xuan that she is in fact a demon. However he disregards this fact and the two bond.
Later they eventually get to Special Jade Workshop, owned by a fox-demon who makes all types of magical weaponry. The fox-demon explains that Blanca brought her the wand to let her use it instead of the original owner. The fox-demon explains that Blanca was warned that using the jade wand could have consequences, such as the memory loss.
After leaving the workshop, Xuan and Blanca return to the Snake Catcher Villager. Verta confronts Blanca and Xuan and tries to get Blanca to return with her. Verta identifies Xuan as a snake catcher and tries to attack him. Blanca defends him and the two sisters fight. During the fight, Xuan and Blanca fall into a hidden underground temple.
While looking at a Daoist altar in the temple, Blanca's memories are triggered. She is shaken by the events and Xuan comforts her -- this leads to a moment of intimacy between them. They start kissing, she takes off her robe, and they fall to the floor kissing. Afterward, Xuan and Blanca leave the temple to find Verta waiting. Blanca reveals that her memories have been returned and says she will return to the snake demon fold. She says to Xuan that their differences (human and demon) are too great. He asks her to wait for him and leaves to find a way for them to be together. 
In the mean time, the Dark General's second in command attempts to capture Blanca for his master, and nearly succeeds. Out of desperation, Blanca uses the magic wand again, absorbing the daoist's powers and turning into her giant demon form. Knowing that the General will now march onto the Snake Catcher Village, where the snakes are hiding, she intends to kill him there, fighting through his forts and armies. Xuan barely catches up with her, but Blanca does not heed his call to stop.
Xuan confesses his love to Blanca and offers her to escape to the lands beyond, living together and without any more humans or wars; she almost subsides, but in the last moment the Dark General's magical trap binds them both to the ground. Dark General intends to harvest their essence, as he has found the secret of immortality: consuming spirits of demons, making them unable to reincarnate, but prolonging his life and fueling his magic.
Verta manages to trick the General into absorbing her soul first, which also transfers the cursed Death Scales onto him. This distracts the General long enough for the Snake Master to join the battle and for snakes to bind the General's soldiers in combat. Eventually, Blanca, Xuan, Verta and Snake Master defeat the General. However, seeing how much power the daoist magic can offer, Snake Master uses it to absorb the spirits of her own army and become the most powerful demon in existence, then attempting to kill Blanca and Verta for betrayal. Xuan tricks the Snake Master by luring her into the General's magical trap, now binding her as the magic saps her soul away. With her strength almost gone and no way out of the trap, Blanca uses the jade wand one last time, saving Xuan's spirit and memories in it and escaping with Verta. 
In the present, 500 years later, Blanca and Verta, now remembering the story, decide to go out of their cave and search for Xuan's reincarnation so he and Blanca can be together again. Many years later, a human sees the two sisters at the port, and when Blanca accidentally drops the jade hair pin, picks it up and introduces himself, causing Blanca to recognize him as Xuan's reincarnation. 
==Trivia==
* In Chinese, just like "Xiao-Qing", "Xiao-Bai" is also not a real Chinese name but a nickname. It means "Little White One".
* In the earliest versions of the folktale, Xiao-Bai is simply known as Lady White. Subsequent versions gave Bai Su-Zhen as her human name.
* Although movie didn't clarify the sistership between Xiao-Bai and Xiao-Qing, according to the original tale, they are not sisters in blood but sworn sisters. 
* When Xiao-Bai was thrown into chaos during her cultivation, the figure she saw was Xu Xuan. However, she didn't recongize him because her memory was sealed in Jade Hairpin.
* In snake-catcher village, Xiao-Bai became clearly uncomfortable when she was near realgar wine.
** In traditional Chinese culture, realgar was considered to be a medicine which could be used for driving away insects, snakes, and evil spirits. In original folktale Legend of White Snake, Lady White (the prototype of Xiao-Bai) was once poisoned by realgar wine and turned into her original form —— a white snake.
* Although she didn't show much, Xiao-Bai actually very cared about Xiao-Qing. In Chinese dubing, when she heard Xiao-Qing took the Scorching Death Scales, she began to choke up immediately and disapprove her decision.
* In some parts of China, snake are sometimes called "little dragons" due to their similarity. And folklore believe that if a snake somehow gains enough magical power, it will transform into a dragon. This is probably why Xiao-Bai's snake form was a bit similar to a Chinese dragon after she drained young Taoist's magic.
* The character design of Xiao-Bai in the last scene paid homage to the Lady White in the famous TV series the New Legend of Lady White.
* In the original folktale, Xiao-Bai is deeply loyal to her friend and love interest but also violent. When Fa Hai captured Xu Xian, she caused a massive flood to attack Fa Hai, killing many innocents along the way. She would be punished for her acts.
* In the earliest surviving written version of the tale, Lady White was portrayed negatively, using her beauty to deceive mankind but was a violent beast behind her skin. However, other versions of the tale that portrayed her positively gained popularity. The tale evolved further, often adding content to portray Lady White positively and to give explanations of her use of violence as a result of misunderstanding and circumstances.
Category:In Love
Category:Honest
Category:Demons
Category:Female
Category:Vengeful
Category:Fighters
Category:Rebellion Heroes
Category:Successful
Category:Siblings
Category:Selfless
Category:Merciful
Category:Movie Heroes
Category:Protectors of Innocence
Category:Martial Artists
Category:Rescuers
Category:Immortals
Category:Titular
Category:Warriors