Bull King

Bull King (in Chinese: 牛魔王) is an antagonist of the classic novel Journey to the West and many of its adaptations. He also appears in the film Doraemon: The Record of Nobita's Parallel Visit to the West as the main antagonist. He is one of the most popular Journey to the West villains, alongside his wife Princess Iron Fan, his son the Red Boy, and the Baigujing.

Appearance
In his humanoid form, the Bull King is an anthropomorphic ox who wears armors and a cape. Being a monarch, he also has a crown on his head.

In the original novel, his true form is depicted as a titanic white ox (having eyes as size of a moon). However, in the 1986 adaptation, his true form is just a big gray ox.

Personality
Unlike most of the demons in Journey to the West, the Bull King is not outrightly malevolent, but rather a vengeful person who just wants revenge on Sun Wukong for turning his son, the Red Boy, to the good side. Despite his brutal nature, the Bull King genuinely cares about his family, as not only tried to avenge his son, he also tried to avenge his former wife, Princess Iron Fan, despite the fact that the two had been divorced. In the end, he also shown remorse upon being subdued by the deities, though this partially was to save his own skin.

Past
The Bull King is a demonic ox who befriended and being the sworn brother of Sun Wukong. He eventually married Princess Iron Fan and gave birth to the Red Boy.

Role in the story
Bull King first appeared as a disguise of Sun Wukong to trick Red Boy into release Xuanzang. However, upon seeing that this "Bull King" does not remember his birthday, Red Boy deduced that he is a fake one and blew his cover as Wukong. Bull King later appeared when Xuanzang and his companions arrived at the Fire Mountain, having married to Princess Jade Face (a demonic fox). Upon learning that Wukong had took away the Iron Fan from his former wife Princess Iron Fan, Bull King angered and swore revenge.

He later disguised as Zhu Bajie to trick Wukong into giving him the Iron Fan. Angered, Wukong, along with Zhu Bajie (who angered due to Bull King disguised as him) fight the Bull King, forced him to revert into his true form to attack them. However, with the help of the deities, Wukong managed to defeat the Bull King and get the Iron Fan.

Doraemon: The Record of Nobita's Parallel Visit to the West
Like other demons, the Bull King is also escaped, along with his wife Queen Iron Fan, from the Journey to the West novel due to an accident caused by a gadget of Doraemon. He and his wife set up plans to eat Xuanzang so that the demons can evolve into more humanoid beings, and succeeded in capturing Xuanzang along with Doraemon, Nobita, Shizuka, Suneo and Jaian with the help of his son Linlei, but eventually he was killed by Nobita (who he believed to be Sun Wukong) in a duel and thus all of the magic that the demons caused were disposed. Queen Iron Fan, due to this, died shortly afterwards by falling into the lava. This incarnation of the character appears to be the supreme leader of all the demons, as the Yellow Horned Demon and Silver Horned Demon, another two demons in the original novel, also served him and Queen Iron Fan.

In this version, his son is Linlei, who while loosely based on the Red Boy, is a totally different character. Linlei later redeemed himself and joined Xuanzang in the latter's journey to India in honor of his deceased parents and the demons.

Trivia

 * Unlike most of other demons in Journey to the West, Bull King has no interest in Xuanzang, let alone eating his flesh. Ironically, in Doraemon: The Record of Nobita's Parallel Visit to the West, he and his wife Princess Iron Fan (Queen Iron Fan in this version) are the masterminds behind the plan to capture and eat Xuanzang.
 * In addition to this, Bull King acts more as an antagonist than an outright villain, opposed to other demons in the story, as his ultimate goal is just to humiliate Wukong for what the latter had done to his son and former wife. However, the Red Boy did mentioned that the Bull King had committed several crimes and eat humans, though it was never shown.
 * He is the main inspiration of the Ox-King from the Dragon Ball series, even the name, and both live on the Fire Mountain. However, unlike the Bull King, this Ox-King, despite his barbaric nature, is a heroic character.