Daomu Biji

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Name: Grave Robbers' Chronicles
Grave Robbery Note
The Lost Tomb
盗墓笔记
Dàomù bǐjì
Abbreviation(s): DMBJ
Creator: Xu Lei (徐磊), also known as Nan Pai San Shu (南派三叔)
Date(s): June 26, 2006-present
Medium: Webnovel, Books, Manhua, Donghua, Live Action, Video Game
Country of Origin: China
External Links:
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盗墓笔记 or Daomu Biji, translated alternatively as Grave Robbers' Chronicles, Grave Robbery Note, and The Lost Tomb, is an ongoing series of Chinese novels by Nan Pai San Shu (or Xu Lei) that have been adapted into multiple forms, including live action movies and TV series, a donghua, a manhua, and a video game.

Novels

The Daomu Biji novels largely follow the story of their main protagonist Wu Xie, along with his friends Zhang Qiling and Wang Pangzi, and their various adventures exploring both ancient tombs and the mysteries surrounding both Wu Xie's family and Zhang Qiling's past. After embarking on his maiden tomb robbing expedition, Wu Xie follows after his elusive uncle, Wu Sanxing, and as generational conflicts and conspiracies unfold, Wu Xie finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into the world of tomb robbing, including its supernatural dangers and cut-throat politics. The novels are written from a first person perspective, as they are intended to be read as Wu Xie's personal journals.

Thus far, the novel series consists of main story novels, sequel novels, some of which remain unfinished, as well as various extra stories and side novels to complete the canon.

Main Story Novels

Main Series

Consists of eight volumes retracing Wu Xie's initial adventures as he follows after his uncle Wu Sanxing, while helping his new-found friend Zhang Qiling to uncover his mysterious past.

Sequel Novels

  • Tibetan Sea Flower (藏海花) [Unfinished]
  • Sand Sea (沙海) [Unfinished]
  • Ten Years (十年)
  • Restart (重启)
  • Looking For The Dead in the Sea of Lights (灯海寻尸)
  • Ten Thousand Mountains in the Extreme Night (万山极夜)
  • The Queen Mother of the West's Ghost Banquet (王母鬼宴)

Prequel Novels

  • The Mystic Nine (老九门)

Side Novels

  • Moving Forward Through the Flowery Night, The End Comes Without a Sound (花夜前行 无声弱木)
  • A Thousand Faces (千面)
  • The Southern Archives (南部档案)
  • The Rain Village Notes (雨村笔记)

Notable Major Characters

(The following list deals with and classifies characters as they appear in the novels, which may not necessarily reflect how they appear in various adaptations, nor characters that are exclusive to them.)

  • Wu Xie (吴邪) - The main protagonist of most of the books and adaptations. Although initially reluctant to become more deeply involved in tomb robbing, his family has been involved in it for centuries. He begins the story as a naive young man, but grows more experienced and less trusting over the course of the story.
  • Zhang Qiling (张起灵) - Also known as Xiao Ge (小哥), an uncannily talented tomb robber with a mysterious past who becomes close with Wu Xie. As a member of the Zhang family, he has several notable traits, including a qilin tattoo across one side of his torso and shoulder, two longer fingers on his right hand used to probe intricate tomb mechanisms, and special blood that is able to repel certain supernatural threats.
  • Wang Pangzi (王胖子) - A graverobber from northern China who teams up with Wu Xie frequently and becomes his loyal friend. "Pangzi" is a nickname that can be translated as "fat" or "fatty."
  • Hei Xiazi (黑瞎子) / Hei Yanjing (黑眼镜) - A skilled mercenary affiliated with the Qi family. His vision becomes better when it is darker, and he usually wears sunglasses.
  • Xie Yuchen (解雨臣) - The wealthy heir of the Mystic Nine's Xie family and Wu Xie's childhood friend. As a result of his "pretty" appearance and fondness for wearing pink, he is nicknamed "Xiao Hua" (Chinese: 小花 lit. Little Flower).
  • Huo XiuXiu (霍秀秀) - The favored heiress of the Mystic Nine's Huo family as well as Xiao Hua's and Wu Xie's childhood playmate. She is considered a cunning beauty, and highly capable as she eventually takes over the matriarchal Huo families affairs.

Notable Minor Characters

  • Wu Sanxing (吴三省) - Wu Xie's third uncle, whose mysterious past and elusive whereabouts drives much of the plot of the eight initial novels. Considered the true heir of the Wu family in the tomb robbing business, he is highly skilled and respected in tomb robbing circles, commonly referred to as San Ye (or Master Three).
  • Pan Zi (潘子) - Wu Sanxing's right-hand man and closest associate, he is extremely loyal and helps Wu Xie, who he affectionately refers to as Xiao San Ye (or Little Master Three), at his uncle's behest.
  • Li Cu (黎簇) - A high school student from a troubled household, who after being attacked by a strange man one night and subsequently coerced into accompanying Wu Xie into the desert of Inner Mongolia, finds himself thrown headfirst into a generational conflict of unfathomable proportions as its central piece. He is the main protagonist of the sequel novel Sand Sea (沙海), the only main story entry that does not feature Wu Xie as its protagonist.
  • A Ning (阿宁) - A tomb robber for hire working for the American Cox Hendry's company. She crosses paths with Wu Xie several times over the course of the initial novels, with whom she shares an antagonistic yet mutually beneficial relationship.
  • Liu Sang (刘丧) - A man with extremely sensitive hearing who is involved in the exploration of the South Sea King's Tomb in the sequel novel Restart. Although he doesn't like Wang Pangzi, he idolizes Zhang Qiling.

Adaptations

Live Action (TV)

The film adaptions for DMBJ are made by several different production companies[1] and mostly have different casts for the main characters.

Currently Available Adaptions (in order of release)

The Lost Tomb | 盗墓笔记 (2015)[2]

A 10 episode miniseries that adapts book 1 (Cavern of the Blood Zombies). There's also a 12 episode extended cut of this show. Notable actors include Yang Yang (who played the main character of The King's Avatar) as Zhang Qiling.

The Mystic Nine | 老九门 (2016)[3]

A 48 episode adaption of the prequel novel by the same name. It's set in the republican era and has a separate cast of characters, who are largely ancestors of the main characters of the main series. Notable actors include Lay Zhang (of EXO) as Er YueHong.

Tomb of the Sea | 沙海 (2018)[4]

Also known as Sand Sea in the English language fandom. A 52 episode adaption of the sequel novel by the same name. Notable actors include Leo Wu (who played Fei Liu in Nirvana in Fire) as Li Cu, the main character of this show.

Lost Tomb 2 | 盗墓笔记2 (2019)[5]

The parent tag for this show on ao3 is titled Lost Tomb 2: Explore with the Note. A 40 episode adaption of books 2, 3, and the very beginning of 4 of the main series.

Reunion: The Sound of Providence | 重啟之極海聽雷 (2020)[6]

Released as two seasons with the same cast and production company over the course of 2020. Also sometimes referred to as Reboot. This is an adaption of the sequel novel Chonqi, which comes after Tomb of the Sea. Notable actors include Zhu Yilong (who played Shen Wei in Guardian) as Wu Xie.

Ultimate Note | 终极笔记 (2020)[7]

A 36 episode adaption of books 5, 6, and 7 of the main series.

Lost Tomb 2: Heavenly Palace in the Clouds | 云顶天宫 (2021)[8]

Confusingly, mydramalist titles this adaption Lost Tomb 2: Explore with the Note, which is the ao3 tag for Lost Tomb 2 (2019). English language fandom often disambiguates between this show and Lost Tomb 2 (2019) by referring to this as Lost Tomb 2.2 or Lost Tomb 2.5. This show shares several main cast members with Lost Tomb 2 (2019). A 24 episode adaption of book 4 of the main series.

Future Adaptions

There is an adaption of the sequel series Tibetan Sea Flower that has released a trailer.[9] There are also a number of other planned adaptions.[10]

Live Action Movie

Most shows have side-story movies, so there are a number of live action movies. Some notable movies include Time Raiders[11] (an extremely loose retelling of book 1 of the main series that's implied to be in universe fiction) and Mystery of the Abyss,[12] which features Hei Yanjing and Xie Yuchen.

Manhua

Donghua

Other

There is a mobile game adaption of the series and a section one has been announced. There are also several stage play adaptions that are largely unavailable to the fandom outside of China.

Fandom

Chinese Fandom Overview

DMBJ is an extremely large Chinese fandom. As of 2021, Pingxie was the second most popular ship on Lofter.[13] While its activities almost exclusively take place on major Chinese social media platforms such as Weibo, Lofter, Xiaohongshu, etc. or more exclusive forum settings, there are also a number of works on ao3. 70% of the DMBJ novel tag is works in Chinese. DMBJ to this day remains very popular in Chinese fandom spaces, and while different sub-sections of it exist, a large portion of the Chinese fandom is centered around the novel canon specifically, with the adaptations more often than not largely ignored. Chinese fandom primarily focuses on the main cast, PingXie and HeiHua, a slightly less popular secondary ship. It was 46th most popular on Lofter in 2021.

International Fandom Overview

The international DMBJ fandom by comparison is a small fandom, especially the English-speaking/Western portion of it. The international fandom is spread across different social media platforms such as tumblr, X, or Discord among the most active, though the subsets of it on these platforms don't necessarily overlap nor share the same interests. Certain subsets of the international fandom, which include some of the more active fan fiction creators, have a stronger interest in more niche ships that include minor characters from the canon such as Liu Sang notably, who only appears in the main story sequel Restart (重启) and a few isolated extras. Another notable difference compared to the Chinese fandom is the international fandom's preference for the various live action adaptations of the story as opposed to the novels, with two of the most popular entries being Reunion: The Sound of the Providence (重啟之極海聽雷) and Ultimate Note (终极笔记).

Fan Translations

There is an official translation of volumes 1-5 of the 8 volume main series by Kathy Mok.[14] The international DMBJ fandom tends to refer to the ongoing fan translation of the novels done by merebear, as this translation is generally considered both more complete, since as of May 2024, all main series entries have been translated, as well as more accurate to the original text.

Shipping

  • PingXie (瓶邪) (Zhang Qiling/Wu Xie)
  • HeiHua (黑花) (Hei Xiazi/Xie Yuchen)
  • PangXie (Wang Pangzi/Wu Xie)
  • Wu Xie/Wang Pangzi/Zhang Qiling (also called "The Iron Triangle" as a reference to the name the trio call themselves in the series)
  • Hei Xiazi/Zhang Qiling
  • Xie Yuchen/Wu Xie
  • Liu Sang/Wu Xie/ Zhang Qiling

Example Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fannish Guides & References

Fanart

  • an image of Wu Xie, Wang Pangzi, and Zhang Qiling in the sunlight, colored in cool pastel tones.

    倒斗基三角 by K2Karine, posted October 2011

Meta

Fanvids

Fannish Resources

Fan Communities

https://dmbj-tombraiders.dreamwidth.org/

Events

Archives and Rec Lists

References

  1. ^ https://mydramalist.com/article/a-guide-to-the-grave-robbers-chronicles-2nd-edition
  2. ^ https://mydramalist.com/11050-the-lost-tomb
  3. ^ https://mydramalist.com/16228-the-mystic-nine
  4. ^ https://mydramalist.com/29686-sand-sea
  5. ^ https://mydramalist.com/28695-the-lost-tomb-2
  6. ^ https://mydramalist.com/30581-the-lost-tomb-3
  7. ^ https://mydramalist.com/51397-final-chronicles
  8. ^ https://mydramalist.com/64387-heavenly-palace-on-the-clouds
  9. ^ https://mydramalist.com/56837-can-hai-hua
  10. ^ https://taomubiji.tumblr.com/post/748592282088980480/the-southern-archives-%E5%8D%97%E9%83%A8%E6%A1%A3%E6%A1%88-was-included-in
  11. ^ https://mydramalist.com/14251-time-raiders
  12. ^ https://mydramalist.com/710905-zhong-qi-zhi-shen-yuan-yi-zhong
  13. ^ https://hardwareabstractionlayer.tumblr.com/post/649989752761810944/the-top-100-ships-in-chinese-fandom-according-to
  14. ^ https://www.goodreads.com/series/100222-the-grave-robbers-chronicles
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