Sun Wukong, known as the Monkey King, had always maintained a delicate balance between his inherent mischievousness and his kind heart. He found joy in observing the world and its inhabitants, all while maintaining a serious demeanor.
The Monkey King is recognized as a Chinese trickster, if it is at all practicable to tag the Chinese figure with a western concept. According to Lévi-Strauss's analysis of tricksters in North America, “The trickster is a mediator.
Boastful, clumsy, but also loyal, brave and cunning, the Monkey King with his magic staff triumphs over all the demons and surmounts all obstacles on their journey.
Sun Wukong quickly became known for his mischievous antics, causing trouble wherever he went. Despite his mischievous nature, he was also a skilled warrior and fighter, using his magical powers and incredible strength to defeat his enemies.
In Chinese mythology, Sun Wukong (孫悟空), also known as the Monkey King, is a trickster god who plays a central role in Wu Cheng'en's adventure novel Journey to the West. Wukong is blessed with unmatched superhuman strength and the ability to transform into 72 different animals and objects.
Exploring the Mythology of Sun Wukong: The Monkey King, a mischievous and powerful immortal
Was Sun Wukong a bad guy?
You cannot deem him as a villain or a hero, he is a trickster figure, and like many trickster figures, he is chaotic, evil, good, divine and mysterious. He,like other trickster deities, cannot and is not limited to labels by people, he cannot be said to be evil nor good, but at the same time, he is both evil and good.
In the novel, Sun Wukong is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven, he is imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha.
Sadly, Sun Wukong got cocky (well, who wouldn't?) and so was thrown out of the Jade Emperor's court for disrespecting the other gods. He also ate all of the Peaches of Immortality – the exact ones he was supposed to guard. As a punishment, the Monkey King was banished from heaven and imprisoned for 500 years.
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.
Early incarnations of Goku would not stand a chance against him. However Goku has come a long way since being a Sun Wukong parody, and extremely powerful force over time. His SSG and maybe SS4 with borderline universe busting capabilities would probably defeat Wukong.
But overall, the Monkey King's previously destructive energies are turned to good in protecting his new master on his pilgrimage. He makes mistakes along the way. With firm but sympathetic guidance, however, he is good in the end – supremely so, to the point of achieving Buddhahood.
While the Monkey King is positioned as an arrogant prideful character, the movie does a solid job of keeping him in check from becoming too grating by counterbalancing him with his Stick weapon (who despite not talking is also a character) and Lin who work well against him.
Sun Wukong is technically faster than Hercules, but Hercules beat him with pure strength and intelligence. Boomstick- One guy could lift a mountain, the other guy could lift the sky. And even though both are actually decent warriors, Hercules has more experience fighting in one on one combat than Sun Wukong.
Sun Wukong originally wore an outfit crafted by the dragons, but he later wore an outfit made by Kuan Yin with a golden headband. Also, he originally had black eyes but gained red eyes after being put in Lao Tzu's Braiser of Eight Trigrams for 49 days.
Sun Wukong is the complete opposite of Kou, who likes both love and war to the point of being excited when she meets people with strong fighting spirit and will attack them. This was displayed as shown when she attacked Kinzou Tohyama (GIII) with her Nyoibou.
As he and Sun Wukong are both spiritual primates (Sun Wukong is the Intelligent Stone Monkey), their powers and abilities are on par. Hoping to replace Sun Wukong and gain his rewards from the Buddha in Sun Wukong's place, the Six Eared Macaque first appears in Xiliang (西粱) in disguise as Sun Wukong, knocks Tang ...
It was Buddha who trapped Sun Wukong for 500 years under 5 finger mountain. Buddha performed that act/technique using his Giant Palm which turned into 5 finger mountain. As punishment for wrecking havoc in heaven having been brainwashed by Demon King.
He also hates Devils from the Old Satan Faction, claiming that they were the ones responsible for the destruction of his kin in the past. However, Sun Wukong's hate of the Devils is limited to their past generation as he believes that the current generation of the Devils is different and so, cannot be held responsible.
Sun Wukong's personality is spot on in this show, he is vain, easygoing, a trickster, but he is also wise, disciplined, and knows when to get serious. What makes him a great character is that fans of the original story know what he had to go through to become what he is now.
Buddha punishes Sun Wukong by putting him down with the help of the Five-Phases Mountain (Wu 1:195) and feeds him iron pellets when he is hungry and melted copper when he is thirsty (Wu 1:199).
The Bull Demon King angry at Sun Wukong. The Bull Demon King (in Chinese: 牛魔王), also known as his self-proclaimed title the Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven (in Chinese: 平天大聖), is a major antagonist of the 16th-century Chinese classic novel Journey to the West by the late Wu Cheng'en, and its multiple adaptations.
As a well-known trickster, Wukong has a lot of similarities with several other tricksters around the world. In order to analyze him, I try to explain both his similarities with, and differences from, other tricksters, especially in the Ancient Greek folklore and myth traditions.
Sun Wukong telling Yuandi who he is during the final battle. Sun Wukong, also known as The Great Sage Equal to Heaven or the Monkey King, is an iconic hero of Chinese folklore and the main protagonist of the 16th-century Chinese classic novel Journey to the West by the late Wu Cheng'en, and its multiple adaptations.
It was only by the intervention of Buddha himself that Sun Wukong was finally defeated and imprisoned by the great Buddha underneath a mountain with a mystical seal for five centuries.
