raefire6

[raefire6]

I don't know if I'm the only one, but the slander in the show and especially in the fandom really annoys me. I see people mentioning Macaque and his wrong-doings because there is obviously a double standard in the show and the fandom where he is completely justified/forgiven for everything and Wukong is still being shamed for things that happened centuries ago, most of which he has tried his best to fix.

Personally, I'm of the mind that whatever "redemption" or "lesson" JTTW was for Wukong was severely hampered by the use of the circlet torture device as a teaching method and how literally Wukong had to take everything on himself despite multiple times not being trusted or even understood by the rest of the group, especially the monk. It may be different in LMK, but we haven't been shown that, and the existence of the circlet makes me think the "lessons" Wukong learned were largely the same. I know things are different in the original book because of symbolism and stuff, but looking at Wukong as an actual person being tortured that way for almost no reason besides that he didn't agree with the monk makes it a hard "redemption" to swallow and it baffles me that people still consider JTTW any kind of helpful character-building for Wukong, turning him from the "terrible" person he was to the "better but has to be consistently shamed for the past" person he is now. That doesn't mean he couldn't have learned from the Journey and grown as a person, or even that he and the other pilgrims couldn't eventually find common ground where they could be cherished friends. But I don't think I'll ever be able to see it as a teaching or redemption journey for Wukong.

Going off that, why is Wukong considered a terrible person before the Journey? Even in the book I would argue against it, but the show (from what we've seen) only really paints him as young and inexperienced, arrogant in his abilities as any hyper, cheeky, confident, young warrior would be. Honestly, I think he had plenty of reason to have conflict with Heaven after they kept attacking him and his people after he just ruined one party for them (in the book at least, they don't show us in the show yet), and I would argue the pride thing for a higher position in Heaven makes sense that if the celestials didn't respect Wukong, then why would they respect Wukong's people or any "alliance" Wukong made with them? Most of Wukong's "terrible" or "unforgivable" mistakes make sense in context and really most of what he does, even the really dumb things, were to protect those he cares about. He even says it in the show! I wholeheartedly believe Wukong when he told Macaque under the mountain that everything he did was for them, the people he cared about.

From what we've seen (we're never shown his perspective of events) Wukong got too self-assured and forced a greater conflict with an enemy he wasn't prepared for, with a goal (killing the Jade Emperor and replacing him) he didn't know enough about or really thought through. This was a mistake with dire consequences, but not one he made alone. At the very least, the rest of the Brotherhood made the same mistake, even if Macaque was more reluctant. But who gets all the punishment? Literally ALL of it?

Sun Wukong.

And that makes me think that either 1) Wukong sacrificed himself so the others could go free or, 2) he was abandoned by the others and they all (besides Macaque visiting him once and then abandoning him) completely washed their hands of him and the punishments he was enduring for crimes they all committed. Azure's slander of Wukong is especially wild, because at no point do we get anything but his own biased, pretty delusional recall of events without ever explaining what exactly made Wukong a traitor to them and their cause. Not defeating the Emperor? Being tortured by Heaven for centuries? Choosing to be a bodyguard for a naive monk that continued to judge, mistrust and torture him instead of spending eternity suffering alone under a mountain? Not letting them attack and (in the book) eat the monk? Really, Azure, I would like to know.

The slander from MK and his friends is just ignorance, where they're assuming that the book (the one in the show) and everything from their perspective is the whole story. MK and Tang still see Wukong as this invincible hero that lives in the stories (stories written by someone else, not Wukong) but are disappointed whenever he keeps up that facade and doesn't let them see his fear and flaws. They, like Azure, place him on this impossible pedestal that directly contradicts the truth they then decide they want from him. He can't be a real person and an all-powerful hero at the same time, guys. Pigsy is antagonistic from the start, mostly for MK's sake so I give him a pass for the most part, while Mei and Sandy depend on the circumstances, whether they're going to trust or condemn Wukong. Though after the Samadhi Fire, I'd say Mei leans heavily into the mistrust category and Sandy almost always just goes along with everyone else.

And no one really lets Wukong explain anything. Not that he does, which makes me wonder if he's still traumatized after the pilgrims continuously mistrusting, disbelieving or simply ignoring him that he doesn't bother anymore.

Also, I 100% believe he would have eventually died if he became the host for the Samadhi Fire as it had the ability to kill him in the book and it would make sense if it greatly weakened him during the ritual to remove it from Redson and that was the reason he slipped and part of the fire entered Ao Lie. Meaning he was willing to most probably die to stop LBD and save the little girl she was possessing (maybe even Macaque too when he realized his former friend was working with her) rather than a straight on fight that he could have won but would have killed the girl.

I don't agree with him lying to MK about his "vacation" or keeping important info from the group after he accepted them working together, but it's obvious why. He's done things on his own for centuries and, depending on Macaque's hearing abilities in the show, anything he explains outloud, like Mei having the 4th ring, would risk getting to Mac and then to LBD, making Mei a huge target and putting their mission in danger. It backfired, but not for lack of planning or caring on his part.

The slander from Nezah is more like an irritated brother that's had to deal with Wukong's shenanigans more often than he would like. I feel like he takes it too far sometimes, especially with how much Wukong led him and the other celestial warriors into battle during JTTW (in the book anyway) you'd think he'd at least try and discuss Wukong's plan with him instead of outright mistrusting and blaming him. It could be we're missing context from after the Journey or something specific to LMK, but for what we have been shown it seems kind of dumb.

The Demon Bull Family are just upset that Wukong didn't let DBK murder innocent people in a werid and very unexplained bid to conquer the world. An endeavor they continued to pursue even after DBK was freed. Did that warrant sealing DBK under a mountain, a punishment that had particularly tortured Wukong? Probably not, but what's the alternative? Would Heaven have just sat by while DBK had his tantrum? Would the bull even have survived if anyone besides Wukong confronted him? And what about his family? Princess Iron Fan was a celestial, are they the kind to just let her leave and marry a demon, especially when said demon tries to take over the world? And Redson once had the Samadhi Fire, he could still be a terrible threat to the celestial relam. The fact that Heaven (from what we know) seemed to leave DBK's wife and child alone makes me think Wukong was either able to make a deal for their safety or protected them himself.

Also, he used his staff to seal DBK on the mountain. His staff. He left himself weaponless for the first time in eons to keep his former sworn brother pinned under a glorified paper weight, his precious Ruyi Jingu Bang, for no reason? I don't think so. My guess is that maybe he wanted to be sure Heaven couldn't release the seal and try to kill Bull or torture him like they did Wukong. Actually, it didn't seem like DBK was awake much at all during his imprisonment, just by his comment about feeling like he has skin and bones again after he is freed, so I wonder if Wukong made sure Bull wouldn't have to suffer from the things that drove Wukong crazy during his imprisonment.

Anyway, most of that was speculation, but the Demon Bull Family are definitely villains in the show until they finally decide to chill and their only gripe against Wukong was a direct result of their own poor choices, so I don't think their slander counts. Unless we're given more information about it in the future, that is.

Macaque is really the only one that has any real reason to slander Wukong, if only for the fact that he and Wukong were close before and somehow after everything (we don't know exactly how yet) he ended up dead. We don't know if it was actually Wukong's fault, or even, like in the book, was done by the king himself. Even if it was, we don’t know whether it was an accident during a tense battle or just a result of self defense, but we know Macaque blames Wukong for it. If that is the truth or Macaque believes it is, then he has the right to be more than a little angry and upset at Wukong. That does not mean every slander he speaks against Wukong is absolute truth, but it is what Macaque was left believing to be true, so it makes sense with the character so I don't have a problem with it.

Until people like MK and the show itself starts treating what he says as truth and not just Macaque's beliefs. Their final trip through the scroll was packed with this, Macaque giving his perspective of Wukong's flaws, his "fear of mortality" or even that Wukong was really a "bad guy" as MK puts it. And despite being in Wukong's memories, we still only get Macaque's perspective and not Wukong's, that both MK and the show accepts as the whole truth. We don't even see Wukong fearing mortality, Macaque just says he did and that's why he gained his immortalities. Wukong even contradicts this when they find him, saying he wanted to be strong enough to protect those he cared about. He just lost sight of why, and for who, he was doing it. Which people typically do over time. He said nothing about fearing death or that being the reason he gained immortality. Granted, there could be many reasons, but until we know more, Macaque’s beliefs about Wukong should be treated as just that, his beliefs. Not the complete truth.

The slander itself in the show isn't what annoys me. It's when the characters and the show itself both treat the slander as well deserved and complete truth when there is evidence to the contrary and we don't know anything about Wukong's side of the story. And, apparently, neither do the other characters. It's obvious Wukong still has anger against the Brotherhood, Macaque and even DBK. Why is that if they didn't at least somewhat wrong him in return (at least from his perspective)?

Why is there not even one scene of Wukong at least attempting to defend and/or explain himself? Are they saving his perspective for something later or does the plot require that Wukong must stand there and take every bit of insult and slander, true or not, or it all falls apart? The only reason I can think of for the latter would be that the entire series rests on MK being better than Wukong and they need to try emphasize how terrible the Monkey King is for people to get it. Which would be absolutely stupid, but that's all I can think of. I really hope it is the former, because it's gotten painful watching the Sun Wukong be everyone else's whipping boy and all his trauma and experiences being waved away like they don't even matter. Not a great message to put in a kid's show either way.