In the universe of Netflix’s crime drama series, The Brothers Sun, Taipei’s criminal underworld consists of the Triads, which are the city’s most powerful criminal societies. To push back against them, the Boxers were created.
The world of The Brothers Sun is rich with larger-than-life characters and interconnecting stories that all find their roots in Taipei, Taiwan.
The societies that make up the Taiwanese criminal underworld are called Triads. They each have their own set of illegal and shady businesses that operate locally and globally.
There is also a lot of mystery surrounding the upper echelons of each of the Triads, and the heads of these societies are so elusive and hidden from the public eye that they are referred to as “Ghosts.”
Decades upon decades of crime, exploitation, and bloodshed later, the Triads face an enemy that threatens them all simultaneously and stands to wipe them all out.
This enemy is a mysterious organization called the Boxers.
The Triads
Triads were originally rebels and their history can be traced back to really old times. Charles tells Bruce that the heritage of their Triad — the Jade Dragons — can be traced back to the Qing Dynasty.
In episode 7, Big Sun addresses other Triad heads and talks about their forefathers who he claims stood against emperors and how they drove back armies with wisdom and daring.
In the modern world, each Triad is incorporated. Some of the factions in the society are in drugs, some are in gambling, some in prostitution, smuggling, trafficking, etc.
Secrecy is the central tenet of their operations and even the Triad heads don’t know each other’s identities, because as soon as it is exposed, the Triad head will be hunted down and killed.
The Boxers
The Boxers are one of the major antagonists in The Brothers Sun season 1.
They were created to push back against the Triads, who were originally rebels, organized to fight against corruption and oppression.
Today, they are the oppressors. Their criminal empires cause unspeakable tragedies and grief. To protect their people from the oppressors that the Triads have turned to, a faceless collective was created.
This faceless collective came to be known as the Boxers. And protecting means destroying Triads completely. The Boxers are about community outreach, helping each other, and equal rewards.
They plan on opening community centers in Asia, Europe, South America, and Australia. They plan to cut off the heads of the Triads, by finding out the identities of the ghosts who sit at the very top.
The showdown
Eileen Sun of the Jade Dragons is the only person alive, until later on in the season, who knows the identities of all Triads.
The Boxers have figured out the names and identities of some of the Triads by themselves, for the rest of them they need Eileen.
They track her down and force her to give up the names, but she refuses and doesn’t budge.
The leader of the Boxers, Grace, manages to get the names from Eileen’s youngest son Bruce, to whom she purposefully reveals all the names.
This is to ensure his safety when the Boxers get to him. He tells them all the names and the Boxers send their finest assassins to Taiwan to take care of the remaining Triads.
However, Eileen plays them by informing the Triads of the imminent attacks beforehand, and so the Boxers end up losing a significant portion of their might.
Eileen does this to ultimately rally the Triads to her cause, which is to become the Dragon Head, the boss of all bosses. For the election, she holds a meeting in LA.
Bruce reveals the location to Grace and the Boxers crash the meeting, launching their the same time the SWAT arrives at the location. A lot of Triads are killed or arrested.
Meanwhile, Grace seemingly dies, and so do a lot of Boxers. By the end of The Brothers Sun season 1, their status and strength are unknown.
Also Read: The Brothers Sun ending explained: Does Bruce kill Big Sun?