#He's ageless not unkillable: accidents happen

[y-rhywbeth2]

'Astarion outliving his friends and possibly SO' is angsty and good for those who like exploring the themes of bereavement and all, and it is a possible outcome (he's not helpless), but it is my firm opinion that there is still a damn good chance that guy is gonna die first and be outlived by them.

[menaceoffandoms]

LMK analysis rant: What happened to the great companions?

Since the release of season 5 and discovering the nature of the cycles, I've head cannoned that the knowledge we as viewers have of the Journey to the West from the novel was what happened in a previous cycle of the shows world. This makes sense to me since several things we see in the show, whilst being inspired or referenced from the original novel, are very different from the source material.

Whilst each cycle is different, they all have to be somewhat similar, given how Nuwa insists that "they will all live again". Or at least that's how I take it. I started really thinking about this because I wanted to know what happened to the great companions -- other than Sun Wukong -- since everyone has been reincarnated more or less.

It seemed weird to me seeing as one of the rewards from completing the Journey is enlightenment and true immortality. If all the companions became immortal, then how did they die and get reincarnated? How did that work and why is Wukong the only one left?

Now, all my knowledge of the jttw comes from Overly Sarcastic Productions videos, which I highly recommend you watch if you haven't, but since the novel is so long their summary isn't finished yet. So, I decided to look up how the story ends. What I found was rather interesting...

The main set up for the great companions is pretty simple. Tang Sanzang is the monkest monk in the east who the Goddess Guanyin picks for the quest, Sha Wujing was a disgraced Celestial General looking for redemption after breaking something in a fit of rage and getting banished for it, Zhu Bajie was also a disgraced Celestial General who got Drunk and hit on Chang'e too much which got him banished (which isn't that hilarious when compared to Pigsy in the show), Ao Lie was sentenced to death by the Jade Emperor for accidently burning his Dads palace but Guanyin got his changes dropped and Sun Wukong was Sun Wukong. So basically, 4 out of 5 of the group are looking for redemption and Tang Sanzang is their baby sitter. They keep him alive and he shows them the Buddest way. The Journey it the important part of the story, hence the novels name, but every tale has it's end.

So, what happens at the end of the Journey to the West?

Welp with the scriptures delivered the gang is rewarded by gaining places in Heaven. Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong ascend to Buddhahood, Shu Wujing and Ao Lie become Arhats (a few steps down from Buddhahood) and Zhu Bajie, who is unable to let go of his base desires, becomes an alter cleaner. They all get immortality basically, even tho Zhu Bajie doesn't reach enlightenment like the others, so none of them should be able to die.

Obviously, I've already said that the events of the novel are from a different cycle -- things are different in LMK -- but now I'm even more curious as to what happened to the other great companions. Sun Wuknog in the show doesn't seem have reached Buddahood -- that wouldn't be interesting for plot reasons cause then he'd be all powerful and all knowing -- and all his friends are dead! What the fuck.

The likely explanation is probably something lame, like the reward they all got for completing the journey was a lot less grand or the friendship they forged was the real reward or their places in heaven didn't come with immortality attached. There are multiple kinds of immortality -- agelessness, super hard to kill and completely unkillable -- so the other companions could have all been killed at some point even if they did get immortality technically, which would be really interesting for Wukong honestly!

Shu Wujing and Zhu Bajie are characterised as demons in LMK (which isn't accurate to the novel but they are seen as monstrous so fair) so the two of them having the ageless/hard to kill kind of Demon immortality I imagine DBK and Red Son have makes sense. I've heard some theories that Sandy is Shu Wujing -- as in the same one who went on the journey and not a reincarnation -- but I think the show has a lot of evidence against that.

Dragons are super important in Chinese myth and are defiantly immortal in the show, seeing as we've met the Great Dragon of the East, but whether or not they can be killed is very up in the air. There aren't any myths where a dragon dies and they can apparently "shed their mortal bodies" which could mean Ao Lie's spirit is still lingering around and has maybe attached itself to Mei, but then that begs the question of why he would leave his body behind in the first place. Just like with the theory about Shu Wujing, I have seen some theories that Ao Lie is still alive -- given that Mei isn't his reincarnation as I've covered in a different rant -- but if he was still alive I think introducing him to us in the scroll in s4 wouldn't mean as much.

Tang Sanzang is completely mortal so if enlightenment doesn't equal immortality then his death makes perfect sense. He is also the reincarnation of Golden Cicada -- one of the Buddha's original disciples who was punished for not listening to him, forcing him to live out 10 mortal lives in the east before being given a chance to re-enter "paradise" as Tang Sanzang -- which is interesting but doesn't really help us figure this stuff out. It just reinforces the reincarnation thing honestly.

Sun Wukong is obviously still alive in LMK and his entire motivation at the start of the novel -- even more so in the show I'd argue -- was to become immortal and never die, which he succeeds at before the journey even starts. Him being unable to die is the whole reason he's sent on the journey at all, seeing as the Jade Emperor can't execute him for his crimes and I don't think anyone expected that mountain to hold him down forever.

So... What killed the great companions?

Something dramatic I'm hoping. I can defiantly see the five of them risking their lives to protect the world, all of them dying except Sun Wukong for obvious reasons, or maybe just 4 of them did the sacrifice whilst Wukong kicked ass. There's a lot of angst potential here to be unpacked that I would love to see someone take advantage of, especially if in someway their deaths were Wukong's fault. It would give reason to why he stayed in isolation after sealing away DBK or even for why the Heavenly host doesn't seem to like him at all despite his redemption.

I did a lot of research for this but I'm no expert, just an enthusiast, so I'm sure I've messed somethings up. I've tried to source where I got my information from but I'm also dyslexic and probably have some undiagnosed neurodivergence effecting my attention span so research is kind hard for me, but I've tried my best.

I'm very interested to hear what other people have to say about this. I doubt it'll be covered in the show, but then again I didn't think self sacrifice would be a major plot point so who knows! I think covering the deaths of all of Wukong's friends would be a bit too dark but anything can happen! I just hope it's interesting.