The King of the Southern Hill (in Chinese: 南山大王) is an antagonist in the 16th-century Chinese classic novel Journey to the West by the late Wu Cheng'en, and its multiple adaptations. He is a demon king based in Linked Cave (in Chinese: 連環洞), Bent Peak (in Chinese: 折岳), Hidden Misty Mountain (in Chinese: 隱霧山). He is less powerful than other demons in the story, but is considered one of the wittiest.
In the classic 1986 adaptation series, he was portrayed by Wu Zhiyong.
Appearance[]
The King of the Southern Hill is an anthropomorphic leopard with clothes made of skin. In the 1986 series, he also wears a yellow skinned robe. His true form is that of a leopard with mugwort-shaped patterns on its body. According to Sun Wukong, this type of leopard can eat even tigers.
Personality[]
As a typical Journey to the West demon, the King of the Southern Hill is a very sadistic tyrant who enjoys capturing and eating humans. He is also considered to be one of the smartest demons in the story despite being one of the weaker ones, as he follows his main pioneer's words to manipulate Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing into believing that their master, Tang Sanzang, is dead. However, he's still a honorable person who is willing to keep his words to promote the junior demon who gave him the plan to capture Sanzang into his head pioneer, and he is shocked and saddened upon learning that the pioneer is killed by Zhu Bajie.
In the 1986 series, he captures the Woodcutter not only to eat him, but also to force his wife (who he starts to have interest with ever since hearing her singing, and also being captured by him along with her husband as well) to marry him, and apparently even tries to rape her at one point, thus making him a rapist. Regardless, he still retains the traits he has in the novel.
Biography[]
Novel[]
When Zhu Bajie is tricked by Sun Wukong to go to meet the demons in the Hidden Misty Mountain (believing that there's a village that wants to invite the monks), he is almost being captured by the King of the Southern Hill and his minions. However, the two fight, and while things seem to be bad for Bajie at first, Wukong eventually shows up and helps him, thus Bajie wins the battle. Returning to his cave in disappointment, the demon king is told by a junior demon (a demonic wolf) to use a plan called the "strategy of separating the plum blossom's petals" (in Chinese: 分瓣梅花计) to lure Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing away from their master, Tang Sanzang in three different instances and then capture Sanzang, as eating the monk would grant one immortality or extended lifespan. As a result, the king promotes the junior demon to be his head pioneer as a method of giving credit for the latter for giving him such a good plan to capture Sanzang.
When Wukong, Bajie and Wujing come to his cave's gate to ask for Sanzang back, the King of the Southern Hill, once again following his pioneer's words, lies that they ate him already, and transforms part of a wipping willow into Sanzang's fake head, but Wukong manages to deduce that this is a fake one. Thus, the king gives them a real head from a previous victim that they haven't yet to eat, caused all three disciples of Sanzang to believe that their master is dead.
Wanting revenge for their master, Wukong and Bajie come to the King of the Southern Hill's cave (after having buried the head) and fight him, with Bajie managing to kill the head pioneer. Wukong then uses his shapeshifting abilities to sneak into the cave and happy to discover that Sanzang is still alive. They, along with the Woodcutter that the demon captured a day earlier than Sanzang, manage to escape the cave, with Sun Wukong casts a sleeping spell on the demon and his minions. Zhu Bajie then burns down his cave. The King of the Southern Hill is then slain by Bajie just as he awakes, revealing his true form.
1986 TV series[]
The 1986 TV series follows a similar format like in the novel, but it is added that he captures the Woodcutter not only to eat him, but also to force his wife, who the demon king starts to have interest with ever since hearing her singing, to marry him. In the original novel, the wife never appears, and it is apparently even implied that the Woodcutter doesn't have a wife, as he says that if he is eaten, then no one would take care of his elderly mother, implying that he and his mother are the only people who live in his house. In addition, rather than having the junior demon concoct the plan for him, he concocts it himself, making him slightly smarter than in the novel.
When the fake Sanzang's head made of part of a wipping willow is exposed to be fake by Wukong, the king doesn't give them a real human head, but rather another fake head made of a rock, and just like before, Wukong manages to deduce that it's a fake one, but this time decides not to tell anyone and pretends to grieve as well in order to trick the demons into believing that they have succeeded. When Wukong is helping Sanzang to escape (having successfully saved the Woodcutter and his wife earlier), the King of the Southern Hill orders his minions to fight and capture them, only to learn that the minions are all unable to move since Wukong has already cast spells on them. Angered, he goes out and tries to do things himself, only to get the same fate as his minions, and Wukong reveals his true form to be a leopard. He and his minions are all later killed when Zhu Bajie burns down his cave.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Fighting weapon: King of the Southern Hill is armed with an iron pestle (in Chinese: 鐵杵).
- Weather-controlling: King of the Southern Hill is capable of creating windstorms and mist.
- Strategy: King of the Southern Hill is a very capable strategist, to make up for his lack of strength against Xuanzang's students.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the 1986 series, the King of the Southern Hill's clothes looks exactly like the one that the Tawny Lion Demon wears. It is most likely that due to their limited budget at the time, it is also not a big deal anyway, the designers of the show decided to reuse the Lion's clothes for him.
- In 2022, he became one of China's top internet avatars due to his homophonic sound.
