| “ | Hey, I don't want to fight you nobody. You just go back to the Heaven Palace to pass my word. Look, I want to be Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Go back to tell Jade Emperor, if he grant me as Great Sage Equal to Heaven, I'll stop fighting. If not, I'll make a mess in the Lingxiao Palace and let him know my power! | „ |
| ~ Sun Wukong |
Sun Wukong, also known as the Handsome Monkey King or simply the Monkey King, is an iconic hero of Chinese folklore and the main protagonist of the sixteenth-century Chinese classic novel Journey to the West by the late Wu Cheng'en, and its multiple adaptations. However, in the early chapters of the story, he is a villainous protagonist who commits assault on Heaven, theft, and vandalism, only to get the title of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Even later in the story, when he is now Tang Sanzang's disciple under the name Sun the Novice, Wukong still commits some morally questionable acts, though not out of malice but rather for noble intents and due to his brutal nature.
In the 1986 classic series, he was portrayed by Liu Xiao Ling Tong. In the 2011 remake, he was portrayed by Wu Yue. In Warriors Orochi game series, he was voiced by Rikiya Koyama.
Appearance
Sun Wukong is a monkey, who often holds his famous weapon, the Ruyi Jingu Bang. As the ruler of Mount Huaguo, he wears a Golden Armor, a Phoenix Helmet and Cloud-Walking Boots, and a red cape. As Sanzang's disciple, he wears the monk's yellow clothes, including yellow shirt and trousers, and skirt made of the skin of a tiger that he killed shortly after being released by Sanzang. On his head, he wears a magical circlet that cannot be removed, which was used by Sanzang to keep him in control. The magical circlet was automatically removed once he received his Buddhahood. Wukong's appearance is considered to be ugly and terrible, to the point that seeing him could scare a normal mortal human.
Personality
Sun Wukong is extremely arrogant due to his abilities and the fact that no God can defeat him. Even after becoming Sanzang's student, he still retains his arrogant nature. Wukong is also a vigilantic and barbaric character, who often thinks killing is the best solution to defeat his enemies and is loyal to Sanzang. Regardless, he is still honorable and tries to fight like a real man. Wukong is extremely protective towards his fellow monkeys and later also his master Sanzang, has no problem of killing anyone who tries to harm them.
Biography
Origins
Wukong as the lowest-ranking official on Heaven.
Sun Wukong was born from a magical rock formed from chaos, and by the time he was born, he befriended several other monkeys. Upon discovering a special cave in a mountain that he names Mount Huaguo, he was hailed by the other monkeys as their king, the "Handsome Monkey King". Feeling dissatisfied with his mortal life, Wukong decided to travel across the sea to achieve immortality. He eventually found and studied under the Buddhist Patriarch Bodhi, and quickly become the latter's favourite student, to the point that the Bodhi taught him 72 Di Sha transformations. However, when Wukong gloats with his fellow students about his newly acquired powers, the Bodhi banished Wukong from his temple, and insisted him to never call him "master" ever again.
Wukong during his assault on Heaven.
Knowing that he needs a weapon, Wukong eventually found from the four Water Dragon Kings a staff that could extend to any length, and weighed about 17,857 pounds, called the Ruyi Jingu Bang, a Golden Armor, a Phoenix Helmet and Boots that allowed him to walk on clouds. To make sure he and his fellow monkeys would never die, he erased their names from the Book of Life and Death, leading to the Jade Emperor to offer him a place among the gods to stop Wukong from becoming too dangerous.
Unfortunately, the job is the lowest ranking possible, caused Wukong to ally with the demons on Earth to fight Heaven, forced the deities to promote him as "The Great Sage Equal to Heaven", unknown that it was only by name. Upon not being invited to a royal banquet, Wukong once again rebelled, stole peaches, pills, and wine that would keep his immortality, and fought 100,000 Celestial Warriors.
He was eventually defeated and imprisoned within Taishang Laojun's furnace, but once they believed him to be dead and opened the furnace, he escaped with the ability to recognize any evil that the fire within the furnace gave him. With no options left, the deities called to the Buddha, who tricked Wukong into being sealed away underneath a mountain with a talisman, forced him to wait for his path of redemption.
As Tang Sanzang's disciple
Wukong ordering his fellow monkeys to fight the hunters.
500 years later, the monk Tang Sanzang releases Wukong from imprisonment, gives him the name Sun the Novice, and takes him as his disciple. However, even then, Wukong still commits some morally questionable acts. Firstly, when he learns that Sanzang has been given a special cite to control him by the Bodhisattva Guanyin, Wukong tries to kill Sanzang, only for the latter to read the cite, forcing Wukong to obey him from that point onwards.
When the monks in the Guayin Monastery try to burn Sanzang and Wukong to death to take the former's cassock for the monastery's abbot, the Jinchi Elder, Wukong deflects the fire back at them and burns the entire monastery, destroying a divine place inhabited by hundreds of monks and with hundreds of properties. Both the Black Wind Demon and the Guayin have called him out for this. Additionally, the entire incident is Wukong's fault to begin with, as he was the one who showed off the cassock to the Elder while refusing to heed his master's warnings.
Later on, when Wukong is banished away from Sanzang's group following the Baigujing incident, he goes back to Mount Huaguo, only to learn that most of his monkeys has been captured by the hunters. Angered, Wukong leads the monkeys to brutally murder the hunters, skin them and their dead horses to eat, and take all the stuffs they carried during the hunt. Although this is out of noble intents, Wukong takes things too far to the point that he kills all the hunters (who all are humans and implied to have family) while he can easily just scare them away and forbid them from ever returning to his cave. Also, when he returns to rescue his master, Wukong orders Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing to brutally kill the Yellow Robe Demon's two children, who are innocent. (Both of those events are cut in the 1986 version.)
Throughout the journey, Wukong has killed many demons, and although most of them deserve it, some like the tree spirits and the Tawny Lion Demon only commit rather small offenses. Also, he kills the robbers twice, again, while this is out of noble intents of protecting his master, it's still somewhat considered a villainous act as Wukong could just easily scare them away or send them to the authorities. During his third encounter with a gang of robbers who has just robbed the House of Kou (where Sanzang's group had just visited and stayed for half of a month), Wukong finally learns his lessons and lets them go free after taking back all the stuffs that they took from Mr. Kou instead of killing them.
After the journey has been succeeded, Wukong has purged himself out of all of his evil, and finally receives Buddhahood as a result.
Powers and Abilities
- 72 Di Sha Transformations: Sun Wukong possesses 72 Di Sha transformations, can shapeshift into whatever form he wants. However, one weakness of this power is that when transforming into a humanoid being, his lower body would remain the same.
- Fire Eyes: Due to being imprisoned within Taishang Laojun's furnace for a long time, Wukong possesses Fire Eyes that allow him to see all evil and through anyone's cover.
- Martial Arts: Sun Wukong possesses very great martial art skills.
- Solid Body: Due to being born from a magical rock, and was imprisoned inside Taishang Laojun's furnace for a long time, Wukong's body is very solid, and no normal weapon can harm him.
- Immortality: Along with 72 Di Sha transformations, the Bodhi also gave Wukong the way to archive immortality.
- Ruyi Jingu Bang: Wukong's famous weapon is the Ruyi Jingu Bang, which he can change its size into whatever he wants. Due to the staff's height, anyone who is hit by it often would die right away, and normal people cannot hold it.
Gallery
Images
Videos
Trivia
- Even as a villain, Sun Wukong is considered to be among the most popular villains of Journey to the West, and his actions of assaulting and wrecking havoc on Heaven had became widely known as one of his most famous deeds.
- Sun Wukong is considered to be Liu Xiao Ling Tong's most iconic role, so much that people comment on how no matter how many roles he would later play, they always see Sun Wukong in those.
- Originally, Sun Wukong's role was meant to be for Liu Xiao Ling Tong's older brother, Xiao Liu Ling Tong. However, Xiao Liu Ling Tong soon died of leukemia, so Liu Xiao Ling Tong was cast instead.
- Sun Wukong appeared in the 162nd Episode of the Popular webseries DEATH BATTLE, where he Fought against the Mythological Version of Heracles, and won.
External Links
- Sun Wukong on the Heroes Wiki.
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