Xiao-Bai (Blanca)

> There are rules in this world, there are things you have to do even if you don’t want to. You are a human. I am a demon. Some things are better left forgotten than remembered.
>
> — Xiao-Bai explaining to Xu Xuan why she had to leave.

**Xiao-Bai**, or **Blanca** in the English dub, 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.

Following her imprisonment, Blanca reincarnated several times before she eventually ended up in Asuraville as a white-haired, blue eyed man who couldn't remember anything about his past except for a strange feeling that he needed to find someone whose face matched the one he saw in the waters of Asuravile.

## Appearance

### Physical Appearance

Xiao-Bai/Blanca had long black hair, pale grey eyes, apricot skin, red lipstick and red eyeliner. She wore hanfu clothes that consisted of white chang’ao robes with silver-whitish bamboo branch with leaf patterns, a transparent silk sash and three blue long-sleeved overgarments, a long white skirt, a blue water hairclip, a two-toned dark and light blue belt, a 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 transformed into her half-snake form, her lower body morphed into a giant white snake tail, her black hair became bluish white and small white scales replaced her eyebrows.
* Xiao-Bai had two different snake forms: A normal giant white snake and a giant white snake with feather-like horns and spikes on her ridge.

## Personality

Xiao-Bai was 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 was caring and sweet towards her loved ones.

## 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 the Owner of Precious Jade modified her Jade Hairpin, she could use it to channel her magic for difficult tasks. However, the modification wasn't perfect as the hairpin would drain a part of her memory whenever she used it. As long as Blanca was in possession of her Jade Hairpin, her memory would slowly back, although it wouldn't be triggered when she used it to drain magic from others.

## Concept Art

* Early concept 1
* Early concept 2
* Character design
* Snake design
1/4
## 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 her 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.
* Xiao-Bai cared deeply for Xiao-Qing to the point that when she learnt about Xiao-Qing's Scorching Death Scales curse, 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.