I hope it’s him breaking free because I really want to punch the jade emperor in the face and even though it’s probably not gonna happen, I kind of wanna fight buddha mostly because it’s gonna remind me of Asura’s wrath
BMW is not a sequel to the original.. it's just another adaptation differs from the core plot of the original lore.. in JTTW, the headband was taken off of wukong's head after he achieved buddhahood.. the key word here is "achieved", it's not a title bestowed upon wukong by the buddha rulai.. in buddhism, buddhahood is an achievement, in a sense like a fat boy achieved six pack.. then realizes what power does a six pack stomach holds.. in a nutshell, buddhahood is a grand realization of existence.. so the BMW intro's supposedly buddha wukong who got beat up by erlang makes no sense.. i mean look, a "shen" is still bellow a "bodhisatva".. and a bodhisatva is still bellow a buddha.. not just hierarchical, but in it's entirety.. and a buddha wukong would never had any problem taking out the headband himself if it wasn't taken off by guanyin buddha in the original story.. (guanyin achieved buddhahood in JTTW, but there are actual debate that guanyin's compassion towards humanity is boundless, therefore guanyin stayed as a bodhisatva instead of entering nirvana)
Chinese gamer here. This video has the most comprehensive and accurate coverage on black myth lore that I’ve seen on UA-cam so far. Very well done Sir!
Personally, I think both endings are bad. 1. We became slave to the Celestial Court. 2. We, the destined one, got replaced with Wukong's mind. The destined one is just a tool in a sense.
@@reaperandyel no the old monkey said it very clearly, Wukong is dead and isn't coming back. So the 2nd ending is not becoming Wukong, but inheriting his legacy,, including his memories. But ofc some ppl also think the destined one is reincarnation of Wukong to begin with. There're various interpretations, which I think GS intentionally left vague and unexplained for imaginations.
I just realized, in JTTW, when Sun Wukong is born from the stone egg, brilliant light shoots from his eyes that could be seen from the celestial court. In the true ending, when Wukong opens his eyes, they are glowing with light right before it cuts to the animation.
To me that's the thing about that scene that made me scream, him opening his eyes and bolting light, just like the first time he woke up from the stone is the most in your face "Wukong is back" sign.
@@wilsongoh5219No, Wukong’s eyes turned red after Lao Tzu attempted to burn him alive in his immortality-destroying brazier, when Wukong got to a relative safe spot in the brazier and got hit with all the smoke as a consequence. As a result, Wukong could always see through any disguise that a demon dons no matter how unassuming or effective
Erlang was actually testing the Destined One if he's ready to face the Great Sage and telling him what Wukong really desires after the fight, to be free from control and the fact that Wukong and Erlang came up with this plan was sick. Hopefully Erlang can be free from the celestial court too
He is the Jade Emperor's nephew and has the perks of not having to attend court activities and pretty much do whatever he wants on his own boundless free time. Other gods are not exempt from the daily activities and meetings of the celestial court. The Buddhas and Bodhisatvas are part of a different power structure and are considered equal and separate to the Celestial Court.
@@syrupybrandy2788Erlang hates the Emperor... The emperor murdered his parents. He is just waiting for chances for a payback... He serves the emperor because he doesn't have a better option. Assisting Wukong means Wukong will do what he couldn't do.... Wukong will smack the Celestial court without the Emperor knowing Erlang Involvement...
He kinda was already. Has his own faction, lesser deities, military and everything. He ''respects military commands from the heaven, but refuses to be summoned to the court''.
@@TheLorebrariansyou should the same for erlang shen and maybe nezha two. wukong, erlang and nezha are the big 3 in terms of popularity in chinese mythology and it seems like they will play major roles in the dlc and sequel.
This video is important. There are no other videos from lore content creators that have touched on this darker hidden layer of story, and it's CRUCIAL to the whole plot of the game. Good job.
I feel like it needs to be clarified (especially to non-Chinese) that many of the Gods & deities featured in Journey to the West/Black Myth actually exist outside of the story, long before the novel was written. Many are actual Gods worshipped by people, all with their own mythologies. Essentially, the author included them as characters in his own fantasy novel, and over time the line got blurred.
@Killer-x7e Much of it owe to how popular and widespread Journey to the West became across China. Nowadays when you mention deities like Erlang Shen, people immediately think of his rivalry with Wukong lol and the Jade Emperor was already a figure of worship during the BC era, thousands of years before JttW was written.
@@Killer-x7e In Chinese Buddhism it is believed that the Jade Emperor was something like a 'node' in Buddhist cosmology. Hence there was alot of cross pollination of beliefs and ideas.
Nah We shouldnt bring in too much lore n daoism mythology outside of the JTTW Because it will cause discord to the main plot and... Like if u read creation of God and JTTW, even Erlang shen have different identity So let just focus on u know around the JTTW
Sun WuKong has always been and will always be the symbol of revolutionary spirit. The orignal JTTW is entire a satire to it's own era's of power structure/goverment, the book was banned for centurys from royal families for a reason.
One thing to note is that 天命人 "Destined One" can also be translated to "Bearer of the Mandate of Heaven", which means servant of the Heavens. The characters used the phrase to refer to both meanings throughout the game. The secret ending is that the destined one realized the corollary of the Mandate of Heaven is the Right to Rebellion against unjust rule.
JTTW has not been banned at all. It is indeed using the story to criticize the imperial court in Ming, especially emperor Jiajing (嘉靖)'s behavior. But back then, to be literal, is a luxury. Being able to understand the metaphorical indication from the story to the political criticism in reality is almost impossible for ordinary people. Hence JTTW was not banned.
The original Journey to the West novel was written in the Ming Dynasty, where Buddhism was ascendant compared to Taoism and where the author's partiality towards Buddhism was central to the novel's theme. Even from the opening, it was Buddha that came to the rescue of a feckless Divine Court that has become decadent and more obsessed with petty disputes and living the high life than actual governing (in some sense the novel can be seen as a 16th century political commentary). Indeed, the "punishment" for Wukong was to assist in retrieving Buddhist texts to spiritually nourish China, and who through his own Buddhist awakening from the journey. Throughout the novel, the author included countless examples of Buddhism overcoming challenges where Taoism had failed. Hence, the original source material is very clear on where author stands in the debate between Buddhism and Taoism. In game, Maitreya seems to be in on Erlang and Wukong's plan and offers Erlang a statuary to hide away from the Celestial Court's prying eyes and indeed cryptically guide the Destined One on his path to retrieve his whole personhood. It is interesting that the game chose Maitreya to play this role as he is known in Buddhism as the future Buddha, the direct successor to Gautama who is prophesied to return when the world falls into an era of decline and decadence, so as to bring enlightenment and the dharma back to the world.
I think the true Journey to the West should involve a group of people who are extremely disappointed with the corruption of the Eastern Taoist gods and hope to find redemption from the Western Buddhist gods. However, on their journey westward, they saw a more terrifying disaster than in the East. Ultimately, they understood that not sentient beings could be redeemed, but gods and Buddhas could not.
Love the comment section mentioning all the details of the original JTTW mythology. One thing I haven’t seen being mentioned is that the original JTTW can be seen as a power play by the Buddhist pantheon. Retrieving the scriptures is the nominal purpose of the trip, but removing yaoguais that aren’t following Buddhist rule is the real intent. Like other posters mentioned, yaoguais with political backing are spared, but the ones without it are either mercilessly executed or taken as disciples (like the black bear) if they are useful. This closely aligns with the in game conversation with the Bull King, where the chosen one says something along the lines of “find a master to serve, don’t you see brother, there is no other way for us”, because in essence, the chosen one and Bull king are both just really powerful yaoguais themselves. Without politically backing/patronage, they’d be wiped out too. Similarly, this is why Bajie wouldn’t dare to reunite with his daughter, because he saw how the gods took out the Bull king.
There's a popular interpretation over the years that the yaoguai is an allegory for corrupted officials. The ones with deep connections get rescued by other "gods" while the one who don't get taken out. This mirror real life political scene in ancient China where corruption are deep rooted. In a darker sense, what the "chosen one" said is akin to "align with someone or you'll be taken out".
This is pretty obvious in the Chinese version, the English translation left out a lot of important plot points. It's the trouble with translating Chinese to English, Chinese is a more informationally dense language than English (some four syllables phrases can be translated to a paragraph in English)
@@YouReadMyName They're basically just idioms and ancient China uses idioms a lot more than modern English society ever will. It's just that modern Chinese people still understand those idioms even if they're not used nearly as much anymore so the message can still be conveyed in extreme short form
@@Gotchagator217 The things said in the game are mostly the same, but there is an amount of duplicity in what they say that isn't translated well, which leads to a lot of plot points being lost in the English translation. For example, throughout the game, they keep calling the player character the "Destined One'" 天命人, but this title could have also been translated to "Bearer of the Mandate of Heaven", 天命 = Mandate of Heaven, 人 = Person that carries the former description. This won't make much sense without taking the context of the game into account. Throughout the game, the Destined One basically acted as a pawn carrying out Heaven's will (subduing the Yaoguai Kings that had his relics), which matches with this translation.
@@user-dercbsb I meant it more like not obsessing over earthly things, I am aware that Daoism doesn't require becoming an ascetic, just letting things go when their time has come
LOL.. this is just a game. Daoism and Buddhism are very similar. That is why, Buddhism can easily integrate into China.. the 2 systems are very similar in their findings about Reality.
that, and I think Wukong was making trying to make a final joke. Steer is a castrated bull, the Bull King was symbolically castrated by the heavenly court by their subjugation of his kingdom (Seen in the chapter 5 ending animation)
I think it is because in the future, the destined one must kill the one who had fully absorb the power of the relic to reclaim the relic . Wukong didn't want his brother to die because of his remains. So the Bull King just keep the relic in his stomach without using it. The black bear is smart enough to understand that there would be no good end if he use the relic's power, so he just put it on the top of the tower just tricking lesser yaoguais into offerings and surrended immediately after the fight. Others who had the relic were not so lucky though.
@@kelnhide the translation sucks as hell unfortunately, the Chinese meaning is simple as "staying away“ or "don't touch". And what makes the translation worse is there are many Chinese sentences complex as hell that are translated into childish English.
What a well-crafted video! And one of the few talked about the dark plot behind each chapter. Although I would like to point out, Erlang's name is 杨戬（Yang, Jian）. Erlang （二郎）means "second son", since he was the second oldest children in his family. Shen（神）literally means god or the status of a god. Shen is his title or status, not his last name. But it is understandable mistake to make for any non-native Chinese speakers. With that being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed the video and will be looking forward to more like this one :)
@@robbiestafford6889 I really do not have a tl:dr version for his title. Afaik one of them contains 20 characters, and he has multiple of them. The folk lore and tales about him are many but the main one should be 封神演义 (Investiture of Gods).
@@robbiestafford6889It was not "the second son of heaven" but "the second son of the (Yang) family". There's a tradition that we call "the nth son of the (some last name)" as a nickname. So you may see some text calling him "Yang Erlang". The "Erlang Shen" title in real life religion/folklore is attributed to different characters, one being Li, one Zhaou, and one Yang. Their stories have been mixed and blended in such a long time. And since in JTTW, Erlang Shen was said to be "Yang", so the name "Erlang Shen Yang Jian" became much popular.
@@robbiestafford6889 "Great Sage Equal To Heaven"(齐天大圣) is the title Wukong granted himself and recognized later by the Heaven Celestial (which is the Heaven in the East who mainly believe in Daoism), the "Victorious Fighting Buddha" is the title granted by Tathagata Buddha in LingShan mountain which is the Heaven in the West and mainly believes in Buddhism. Wukong has 6 sworn brothers including the Bull King, they are all Yaoguais, and his 6 sworn brothers all have its own title, for example the Bull King is normally known as “Ox Demon King” but also has a similar title to Wukong which is "The Great Sage Equaling Heaven"(平天大圣) Apart from that neither East nor West Heaven is dominated by a single God or Buddha, in name the Eastern Heaven is ruled by the Jade Emperor who dates with Taiyin Star and punished Bajie because he saw them dating in the BMWukong game, while in the West the Heaven is by name ruled by Tathagata Buddha who punished Wukong and forced him under the five-finger-mountain. There are many Buddhas and Gods in West or East appreciate Wukong and have good relationship with him, for example the The Supreme Elderly Lord from the East didn't punished Wukong for unseal the Pansi Cave and likely took the 4th spider back to Heaven to actually protect her, the Crane Immortal in the game is the subordinate of The Supreme Elderly Lord. The Master Subhuti used to be Wukong's first Master who taught him the 72-transformation and all kinds of magic, his ability is equvelant to Jade Emperor or the Tathagata Buddha, in the game if you look at the YingShen script you would find out he helps Wukong many times from the shadow, the Immobilization Spell was taught by The Master Subhuti in the game, he told the GuanYin keeper to teach it to the destenied one. I really expect DLCs from the Black Myth series, Game Science said they have actually developed 13 Maps in the game but only manage to pick 6 of them to release, there should be more things to come and probably, in the final fight to the Heave Wukong shall get help from some friends from East or West Heaven
Someone needs to send this to AfroSenju when he’s done with the game! This is a very detailed and well explained video of the overarching and hidden story of Black Myth Wukong! All pieced together nicely! You did an astounding job!
Actually, it has been widely speculated that Journey to the West is satire and political commentary disguised as a mythical legend. The master is like the corporate boss that talks all day, does no real work, has to be helped through every little thing, then claims all the credit. WuKong is the most capable employee, able to do great deeds and yet is bound by arbitrary rules and code of conduct. Bajie is the good for nothing rumor monger and trouble maker, looking at every opportunity to suck up to the boss and undermine his peers. ShaSeng is the quiet worker, carrying heavy loads and not really having a chance to shine, forever buried in mediocrity. There's also insights into nepotism even in heaven. Nezha is the son of a heavenly king. Erlang is the nephew of the Jade emperor. Relatives and cronyism run rampant in the celestial court. Even the celestials' pets and beasts get to become gods and goddeses. Meanwhile, Wukong pre-journey is already more powerful than anyone in the celestial court, yet they just gave him a stable-boy position in an undisguised attempt to demean him. You'll also notice in the book, all the yiaoguais with backers(buddha's mount, a god's pet, a master sage's pupil etc) are spared while all the guais with zero background are killed off mercilessly. Even the buddha is not immune to influence peddling, reflecting unspoken views about corruption and patronage politics.
keep in mind it's a Ming dynasty book, people back then think differently, for example, it's expected that yong family members to have similar traits and career of their elder, a soldier's son who end up become a merchant would be considered weird, even sometime illegal
has anyone mentioned certain similarities from ''Journey to the West'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' especially the ''Fellowship'' i understand there are universal human traits and attributes that both allude to it occurred to me the other day, it has been staring at me all these years and i just never connected it for example Samwise Gamgee would represent or be similar to how you describe or the concensus of ShaSeng... i have watched videos from years ago breaking down the inspiration for LOTR and the meanings and influences of the Fellowship Journey to the West predates LOT by about 400 - 500 yrs too.... i find it interesting
@@antwango Interesting! I've also read someone who said that JTTW is LOTR before LOTR since it takes inspiration from many folk stories & compiles it into one.
I find your Wukong lore content the absolute best. Keep it up! So many are not as thorough or respectable, and/or relaxing as you. I'm so glad I found you. I understand these stories so much better especially from your last video. Thanks again!
It’s fascinating how well Black Myth Wukong fits into the universe of God of War. Its portrayal of the gods and their flaws fits with GoW’s own ethos on the topic and Wukong and Kratos have great similarities in motives and struggles against being pawns of the gods.
I mean, it's not an uncommon plot point. Shin Megami Tensei does it for the gods of pretty much all mythology and theology, including the Abrahamic ones.
btw I feel like I need to clarify on this, we sometimes say out loud out nationality just to let people know that things are really authentic, we'd be like: ''hey dude, ngl, this is some real shit. I can confirm that totally''. I am from CN and what he said is true, this is one of the most detailed and accurate lore explanation I've seen
finally something with more depth. a very large part of black myth wukon story's is hidden behind the lore of each individual boss, big or small. so I think you can do some videos with yet more details which will display a even more clear picture
You forgot the "Right-hand of Buddha" and "Left-hand of Buddha". Those could be the hands of Pilanpo - mother of Dawn Star, they could somehow severe her hands so that she could not help her son.
Great explaination capturing the buried storyline which is the conflict between Daoism and Buddism! Loved every second of you video. Definitely hoping to see more!
Plenty of those yust avoid newest fads and you will find genuin discusions rather than reeees and bilion bought bots saying author is greatest thing ever or some scam
Erlang Shen also rebelled against the Jade Emperor, but later he had to cooperate with the Heavenly Court because of his blood relationship. Yes, Erlang Shen is actually the nephew of the Jade Emperor. (This is also the reason why Wukong jokingly called Erlang Shen his nephew in the prologue of Black Myth, and this line was translated into "brat" when translated into English) Erlang Shen is in a conflict of both reluctance and helplessness regarding such a blood relationship. This is why he is willing to help Sun Wukong. Nezha's story is much more brutal. He and his father have a grudge because of some stories. With a hot temper, he is willing to cut off all his flesh and blood to repay, thus severing his blood relationship with his father. Nezha's power is comparable to Erlang Shen, and can even be on par with Sun Wukong. This is not good news for his father, so the father asked Buddha for help and obtained the mini pagoda, which is the weapon in the hand in CG, so that he can suppress Nezha's resistance at any time and force Nezha to serve the Heavenly Court. So we understand that Sun Wukong, Erlang Shen, and Nezha, the three immortals, are actually rebels, but they all have to submit to the rule of heaven for their own reasons.
Need to add that after Nezha cut off his flesh and blood, his soul was reborn in the lotus root. So now Nezha has no gender. (I'm not sure if you guys need to know this)
something is wrong in this vid, 1. the destined one is the mind relic, Erlang only has wukong's memory. after claiming the memories, mind relic is activated. 2. the small budda that eats watermalon, he is the furture budda, he doesnt really represent westen heaven, he is a bit complicated. PS: after 3 good endings, it unlocks the destined voice reaction, yes u can talk then.
13:48 Instead of having little care for the mortal, we can even say that the Gods intentionally designed the system with their own interest in mind: Why spread and popularize the way of enlightenment to the mortal? Who would worship us, the Gods, if everyone are as capable as we are, and are freed from the earthly suffering? The dominance and control over the mortal is also depicted in the story, and the Gods also schemed and purge those who couldn't accept their way.
You say it like mortals are any different, systems of supremacy has always been in place since the beginning of civilization, whether it's against other people or other species. People think Cruelty is only a problem when they are the target of it.
So game science developed black myth wukong not just a journey of freedom, equality, and reincarnation but they added a layer of celestial warvwhere the destined one is a part of when he and wukong mind and power release wukong imprisonment to become a new entire new being I think the dlc will tackle this in thr near future.
It's a story of hope and redemption. People could argue Wukong planned for the good ending when he fought to the dead in the beginning of the game. But it's better to think he was simply willing to die rather than be a slave. The future generation bring him back or redeemed him is a story we all want to believe in. This resonate with plenty historical figures, eg: Joan Of Arc, HanXin, Galileo, Socrates, William Wallace, Tesla. ... or plenty loyal red guards lol
Black Myth Wukong draws inspiration from God of War. Particularly the theme of freedom. Freedom from the Celestials, Buddhas and Gods. Free to create your own destiny. It's a theme for all of us especially if we are at the service of beings superior than us and also oppress us. This makes me love the game even more.
So sun wukong born from the heaven's,moon, and earth in the form of the stone rock was the balancing of these cosmic force but heaven of both pantheon saw wukong as a threat and wukong knew but became a pawn as a puppet but both erlang and wukong conspire together where wukong was sacrifice in a suicide where he was fighting to the death and erlang took the relics when the time come for his reincarnated self would appear to break this stalemate and gain new allies such zhu Baije and others to rebelled the heaven's and change its order in heaven.
When Erlang finally gives the destined one wukongs memories, one of the final wukong voice lines is “watch me rip it off and break free”. This entire thing was wukongs plot. The monkey truly is unbreakbale.
So Maitreya and Guanyin not expecting Sun Wukong's 6th relic (the mind) is the thing that make the destined one refuse to wear the headband. Because they didn't know the real reason why Sun Wukong proclaim war with the Celestial Court 500 years ago, they didn't know his trying to kill himself to get rid of the headband. War against Celestial Court only a distraction of his true intention. I wonder what story we will get in the DLC, because for Sun Wukong, his goal is achieved by getting reincarnated without the headband. But then again, Celestial Court not gonna sit in place knowing Sun Wukong is back they gonna try to take him down. And on the Buddha side, what they gonna do? trying to control him again?
The gourd guy is Yuan Shou Cheng (袁守诚), one of the Loong King (泾河龙王) made a bet with him on how much and when it will rain, Jade Emporer commnaded him to rain just as Yuan pridicted, but his four sons suggested him to delay and reduce the rain, which lead to his decapitation - this also kickstarted Tang's journey to the west. His four sons, in fear of reprocussions, fled and remain hidden, that's where the hidden loong bosses (Red Yellow Cyan and Black Loongs) came from. They want to end their doomed destiny. The old monkey is likely Tang/Jinchanzi or his proxy, yes.
It is hinted that master Subuthi told the Keeper of Chapter 1 to aid the DO. Also, at the hidden cave where you find the Dragon Scale item to unlock the 4 Loongs boss fight, the wall painting there dipicts the scene where Master Subuthi schools Wukong in his earlier days.
In the original work of Journey to the West, when Sun Wukong arrived at the Buddha's temple on Lingshan Mountain, he found that it was as corrupt as the Heavenly Court. The Buddha's disciples solicited bribes from Sun Wukong and Tang Sanzang for a trifling matter. When this matter was reported to the Buddha, the Buddha not only did not reprimand or stop it, but instead took on the role of a mediator to "coordinate" the bribe-taking bargaining chip. In Black Myth: Wukong, this view has been further strengthened. First of all, in the original work, the Buddha finally removed Sun Wukong's headband. But in the story of Black Myth: Wukong, the headband has actually been retained there in a hidden way all along, which shows that the Buddha lied. In addition, Bodhisattva Lingji is also full of lies and almost every word is deceiving the fated one. If even the two heavyweight deities in the Western Paradise are like this, one can imagine the atmosphere of the entire Western Paradise. In short, whether it is the original work of Journey to the West or Black Myth: Wukong, they both believe that both the Eastern and Western camps are extremely corrupt. I think this view is likely to affect the plot direction in the DLC.
Given how the western heaven wanted to control Sun Wukong with the headband it really gives some standing to the idea that the old monkey is Guanyin. As it’s the old monkey that places the band on him at the end of the normal ending. Having Sun Wukong back under the control of the western heaven and Bhudda really gives them an advantage over the eastern heaven, and this type of trickery is something she’s very familiar with. Not to mention that it was Guanyin that originally gives Tripitaka the headband in the novel.
Guanyin is complicated because she holds position in both Buddhist pantheon and Daoist pantheon, that's kind of why she was given management over the Journey since both sides are testing her loyalty. Whenever a Buddhist temple gets destroyed in the novel it's generally a temple to her, starting with Black Wind Mountain. Whatever the plot is behind Destine One becoming Wukong again it seems like Guanyin wants to stay out of it, hence why she only sent out the Black Bear to contribute and also why Black Bear is the only one who had one of the relic and made it out with his skin intact. Red Boy who's also a Guanyin disciple wasn't supposed to be involved at all (and Black Bear specifically warned him to stay out of it because it's clear this venture is dangerous).
Beautifully Incredible History Wonderful Humanistic tale A little bit of everything One of the Best most Original Soulslikes Ever And all because of some Amazing Ancient Myth Great explanation Goodest work I’m really Happy to see such an Interesting and Inspired game Will Itself into Existence so well
15:21 is it a coincidence that both characters are known to have truth-seeing eyes? Great video! I was waiting for someone to sum up the entire conspiracy of both pantheons in a comprehensible video.
It's not. It is likely that many of wukong's skill is modeled after erlang. Erlang and Wukong are very similar. Both have 72 transformations (which is really everything given that 9 is the extreme number while eight is an auspicious number), truth seeing eye(s), and both are actually invulnerable to conventional weaponary (erlang through nine turn divine skill while wukong get refined by Taishang Laojun). In addition both can grow as giant as big as heaven and earth.
@@mystomachhurt9312 Erlang has 73 transformations, that's why he always has a slight upper hand to Wukong when it came to matching transformations, that's a thing in both JttW and BMW. Having said that, 36 heavenly transformation (the skill Bajie and some other immortals have) is actually slightly more powerful than the 72 earthly transformations that Wukong knows. When Wukong was studying with his master Putizushi he offered Wukong the choice to learn either and Wukong incorrectly assumed 72 transformation was twice as useful as 36, but it's not true. The individual transformations in the 36 are more like 36 different spells and they are individually much more powerful than two earthly transformations. Bajie is just not a particularly skill user of the 36 heavenly transformations while Wukong has mastered the 72.
@@Temstar04 i read JTTW and as far as I know there is no mention of erlang having 73 transformation. In any case, 73 makes no sense numerologically. 72 refers to the earthly fiend stars and paired with 36 big dipper constellation stars to form 108 stars of destiny. 73 is a later addition that is added just to make erlang shen one up others, but there is no numerical significance to 73. In all probability, erlang is conceived having 72 transformations, he just have better usage of the technique than wukong. Aside from that these numbers are multiplication of 9, which in chinese is considered the extreme number, while 8 represent auspiciousness, when multiplied they represent endless transformation (not just 72), having one added to it to make 73 just result in number that has no significant meaning.
@@mystomachhurt9312 Yooo that's some interesting stuff!Aight I'm not really that deep in Chinese mythology,but that was some cool insight! I didn't know about the meaning of 72 before,cause someone said that it just basically means a lot (but I've heard of the auspiciousness of 108 by reading OSP's comments lol,I heard it also appears in Water Margins).Also I was just talking lore-wise,like just in BMW,but Wukong probably being based on Erlang Shen makes sense honestly. That 73 transformations thing? Idk how true it is but I read an explanation that it basically started as a joke in Chinese forums,referring to Xiaotian Quan (idk how it works either,tbh) Kinda relate on the thing not being in the book tho,I've read some stuff that are basically just someone's interpretation on the story rather than actually being there,kinda weird but I get why that happens.
Journey to the west is a perfect example of how Buddhism and Taoism are intertwined into Chinese Culture. Monkey King and the jade emperor are taoist constructs but to have them assigned to accompany a Buddhist Monk to the west to collect the holy Sutra.
True, now many Han Chinese have dual religions. Like in Malaysia, many Han people have Daoism and Buddhism as religions. Many temples consists of Daoism and Buddhism, such as Daoists gods protecting Buddhist figures.
@@aldenteh9412 and I think that taoism and Buddhism are quite a varied and sometimes the theology just doesn't match... Why is the Jade Emperor and Buddha coexisting, which is the real authority, the path to Immortality is different from Buddhism and Taoism. One servant cannot serve two masters. Which is why I ask some Han Chinese "are you a Buddhist or a Taoist. Who do you worship? Jade emperor or Buddha."
@@lofu32 That's where most Chinese believers are different from western believers. We are realists that always sees ourselves as the center of beliefs not Buddha or the Dao immortals. We go to temples to seek spiritual comfort rather than to SERVE. If one GOD doesnt work well, than we just go to the other. In some small towns in China, you can see some grannies who are the most devoted Christians. But would quit going to church as soon as the priests stop giving out free eggs (lol). As for the path to Immortality or the theology, I'm sure it's studied in religious or philosophical universities, but they are just too far awlay from casual believers, which is the mojority of believers in China. So besides a few really devoted daoists or buddhists. I don't think anyone can BE called believers I guess.
Hell the OG novel also has a lot of truths about society when you think about it. Wu Kong is brave, always speak his mind, do all the works, always has to bail Xuan Zang and his fellow disciples out of trouble yet he got treated like $hit by his peer and his master. Bajie (my favorite character) on the other hand is... Basically a piece of $hit through out the entire Journey. Always get into trouble, bad mouthing Wu Kong all the time, whisper bad thoughts to Xuan Zang ear to get Wu Kong punish, yet he got treated better than any 1 else in the group. Sha Wujing is a nice and honest to a fault guy. Always being taken advantage by Bajie. And then we have Xuan Zang. Dude is always on the high horse, never listen to Wu Kong advice, But he sure as $hit always listen to Bajie sweet words and then ended up got kidnapped most of the times... You think he would have learned after the 3rd time he listened to Bajie BS. (Bosses love to listen to kiss @$$.)
Both of them will draw maps and dividing task. Wukong you will destroy all gods in this region... meanwhile i Kratos will bring havoc in this region... So Kratos area will be Europe, Africa and America... Wukong will go through all Asia..
What a nice video, but there is a "common" mistake, in 3:00, you said that Bodhisattvas are the ones who have begun the path of full enlightenment and are close to achieving Buddhahood, but it incorrect. Actually, Bodhisattvas are the ones who are fully capable of reaching the Nirvada anytime and attaining Buddhahood, but delay to do so out of compassion to save suffering beings. For example, Avalokiteśvara or Guanyin is the Bodhisattva of Compassion and Mercy, who make a vow of not attaining Buddhahood until saving every living person from suffering, or Kṣitigarbha who remain in the underworld with a vow not to attaining Buddhahood until the hell is empty.
So I have to ask, does this mean the old monkey on the boat at the end was lying (in a way)? In the true ending, getting all six relics and Wukong's memories, does that mean the 'Sun Wukong' that went to war against heaven and went the journey to the west has 'COMPLETELY RETURNED', like at the end the character we play is 'no longer the destined one' who's maybe a different person from Wukong before getting the relics? Or is it that the character we play now, has all the power of the original SW and his memories but he (character we play) is still 'him' as his unique self, but taken the name SUN WUKONG as a title.
he's still the destinied one, the ending animation of chapter 6 is like a goodbye to the first Great Sage and the destinied one will become the next Great Sage
At the end of the true ending, the Destined One open his eyes from which light bolts and fill the screen. It's a direct reference to the fact that in the OG Novel, when Wukong woke for the first time, his eyes bolted light that reached all the way to Heaven. To me it's clear that WUkong is fully back in the True Ending, and that the Old Monkey either deceived the player, or didn't know that Erlang managed to save the 6th relic by housing it within his Third Eye. The entry for the Old Monkey also suggest that he could be either Guanyin or Wukong master, but leaves it open for interpretation as to who it could be. In any case, someone that has interest for Wukong to stay shackled forever.
@@LadCarmichael definitely not Wukong Master as Wukong Master is not a monkey and he wouldnt do that to wukong. it could be Guan Yin or Buddha or the Celestial Court doing things like this.
"You don't need to constantly mourn for me, nor should you expect me to return. After I pass, you will be me." The dead will not come back to life, but spirit of rebellion will pass through generations
Great explanation! Some minor picks. Erlang Shen is actually not a name but a title. The Chinese word is 二郎神, where 二 => two/second; 郎 => son/lad; 神 => god. His is a god and known to be the second son in the family. His name is 杨戬 Yang Jian, with Yang as family name. Also the Matreya Buddha might not be as stupid as you described. He's probably aware of and going with Wukong's plot. The cut scene after destined one beats Erlang has Matreya and the gourd man standing in front of the Mei Mountain painting speculating about the future. As the supreme leader of the western Buddhist bureaucracy, it is totally against his "interest" to let Wukong reach Erlang, let alone guiding him. Also not sure if you know about the gourd man. His name is Yuan Shou Cheng and he is probably much more important than most expected. He is the starter of the Journey To The West and he knows the future better than all gods and Buddhas while keeping a very low profile.
Appreciate it and also the clarifications! JTTW is great but relatively new for me and has such depth of characters it's sometimes difficult to gather all of the information (especially as a non native speaker) Glad you enjoyed
@@claudius3359 sure. In the original novel, after Wukong was sealed under the mountain by almighty Buddha, the scene switched to Chang'an, the capital of China at the time. Yuan Shou Cheng is a fortune teller and he is unusually good. Seems to know everything before they happen. A dragon king of a nearby river is displeased as it is his job to regulate rainfall and Yuan is giving away his confidential schedule. He one day transformed into a handsome merchant and made a bet with Yuan on the raining time. Right after the bet, he received an order directly from Jade Emperor demanding a rain at very specific time, exactly as Yuan predicted. Although disobeying direct order is liable for decapitation, dragon king is so pissed by Yuan that he decides to take the risk and delayed rain a bit. Jade Emperor is pissed this time and throws the dragon king in death row. The king goes into the dream of mortal emperor Li Shimin(because Yuan told him to) that night and begs Li to save him, saying his head will be cut off by his prime minister Wei Zheng next noon. Li finds that hilarious but promises to help. Next day, after morning session, Emperor Li asks Wei to stay and play Go (Chinese chess) with him. Li deliberately plays very slowly to drag it through the noon. So slow that Wei falls asleep in the middle. Afterwards Wei apologise to emperor and says he had this peculiar dream of being in heaven palace and Jade Empress made him oversee the execution of a dragon king. That night, in emperor Li's dream a headless dragon king starts haunting him for not keeping his promise. It happens every night and Emperor Li falls sick and dies very soon. When he goes to the underworld, he surprisingly meets a former minister now a bureaucrat in charge. The former minister doctors the record and gives emperor 20 years more life so he comes back to life after dead for 3 days. After back from death, Li falls in love with Buddhism. Some say to him that the true Buddhist scriptures in the west can deliver souls from misery but you must send a team to fetch them. Then you have the story about the journey. There's no other mention of Yuan in the book but the fact he even knows what happens when with the god's life death suggest he knows the universe and fate even better than the gods and Buddhas.
@@TheLorebrarians In fact, in the Journey to the West, Erlang was never called Yang Jian, nor did he have a third eye. The image of his third eye and the name of Yang Jian come from another novel 《Tales of the Teahouse Retold》. But gradually, with the folk worship, people accepted this and blended them all, so that many Chinese can't tell them apart.
Very well analyzed, I really enjoy it. Other than some minor mistakes like the name of Erlang, there's one thing I think you didn't get correctly. I believe there isn't a religious war between Western Heaven and Eastern Heaven, more likely both sides conspire together to monopolize immortality. Mortal or immortal, can all be pawns for this conspiracy. Eastern has some dirty trade in places like the Webbed Hollow, while Western has their unspeakable way with places like the Yellow Wind Ridge. It is heavily indicated that bodhisattva Polanpo was murderred before the game. You can get her remains, Buddha's right hand and left hand in Chapter 4 of the game.
The real story is about a super power trying to project it's mindset on to those that are different: a power that have the ability to "decide" good and evil; that have the power to seize resources from the inferior; that have the power to lunch wars on those that disobey; a power that have strong allies, and supporters all over the world.
19:09 You know, this sentence that you say here shows that it's a bhuddist gamble (from Wukongs device), because they are all about breaking the circle (of death and rebirth) and gaining freedom (Nirvana).
19:07 I'm certain, through the discussion made prior to the confrontation with the Great Sage's Broken Shell, that the Su Wukong cannot be truly reincarnated within the Destined One, as the real "mind" that bore his personality, died with him.
Love the video, just want to say that, Erlang Shen’s Shen is not his surname.. the full Erlang Shen is his title and Shen by itself in this context means god/deity. His name is Yang Jian and it’s better to use this name to shorten if you want, in this case Yang is his surname and Jian is his name.
Yao Guai aren’t immortals. They’re animals who gained powers through self-cultivation and can live for centuries, but ultimately still mortal. You also forget that the Yellow Wind Sage was Lingji’s pet ferret in the original story, who tested the team. The OG story was filled with run away pets. Proxy war by pets is fun, eh?
Amazing video. Its cool how Chinese Mythology or what little remained, mixed with two different philosophies creates, and how it influenced a book, which gets a sequel in the form of a game. A game that shows the faults of both philosophies when taken to the extremes.
@TheLorebrarians I would say there's something similar with the Illiad and Greek mythology, which has some elements of the Mycenaean and Minoan myths/religion who came before them plus has elements of other nearby cultures like those in Anatolia, and the middle east like Phoenicians. Sadly, there's no Greek mythology game equivalent like Black Myth Wukong that serves as a sequel. 😅
Fun facts: in the novel, upon attaining Buddhahood, Wukong beseeched Buddha to remove the circlet during the audience with Buddha, and he withdrew it for him. I don't mind the game taking liberty abit in their own universe. There was a lesser known very old set of Chinese comics where Wukong creating mayhem in Buddha land. Not canonical ofc. Also, Red Boy's name is literally red small(young) child/scion, rather than gender specific. His power is the flame of 3 sins (greed, anger/hatred, ignorance) that burns even water. Only Quanyin's divine water can quelch it completely. Metaphor much?
The game also follows it, you have the scene where Buddha removes the circlet in the secret ending, the point was that Buddha basically lied because he couldn't afford Wukong, one of the only beings that dared to challenge him, to stay unchecked. That's why the circlet reappears in the opening, it actually never left him, it was just hidden.
The world in Black Myth seems a bit darker than what i expected after finishing chapter 2. Yaoguais eating human casually as if it's part of their diet. Buddha transforms an entire kindom of humen into rats just because the king decided to worship a rat instead of enbracing buddhism. For sure no body would want to live in a world.like that.
There is a hierarchy of immortality here. Yaoguais eat humans to level up and increase their lifespan; the celestials turn Yaoguais into Elixir of Immortality and drink these to gain more "immortality" and power. In a way the celestials are the same as Yaoguais, except one side has organisation and order, the other are rag-tag bands of outlaws.
@@antwangoThey don't have to eat human flesh (we see in chapter 1 a wolf yaogoai attempt to eat a peach that was the Destined One in disguise). They only eat humans because they want to become immortal.
i like how the series puts both heavens in a darker light since in the original journey to the west well the jade emperor and his court where often shown as incompetents' most people miss out on the fact that Buddha's and Bodhisattvas are often characterized as con artists and arrogant. the goddess of mercy actually stole several of the relics given for trippitaka, the buddha himself sabotaged the journey more then once to make it fit his vison better, hell Buddha even cons wukong at the start, wukong did infact escape his palm by the way the event is worded but didn't catch it.
Rumors has it that Black Myth: Wukong's two upcoming DLC expansions follows the aftermath of the True Ending, where the Destined One-- now Sun Wukong reincarnate --joins forces with his previous pilgrimage comrades (Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, Ao Lie/White Dragon Horse, and Tang Sanzang) and Erlang Shen to put an end to the war between religions once and for all.
That would be nice, in the OG story the white dragon horse barely did anything other than the one occasion when wukong was banished by tang sanzang and he actually went back to being his dragon prince form and fought for a bit.
Amazing writing, this describes the story even better than some of the Chinese counter parts. There are a lot of deep background stories and interpretations per stage, maybe do a few videos on those stories alone.
Wukong (悟空）in Buddhism means to understand/to see through the illusion/emptiness of this universe. Kong(空) in Buddhism=emptiness/illusion/sunyata/not real. A Taoist name ZhuangZi also mentioned that the life itself is just a dream. And Elon Musk also said this universe could just be a simulator.
The game has an impressive sequel story. I think the reason why the west will never understand the east is because they keep interpreting "teachings" as "religion".
I really didnt realize heaven was split, I assumed it was just the court who was also under the Buddha, I didn't consider the bodhisattvas or how there was clearly conflict. Super cool video
The novel itself is a satire of the Chinese government's control over everything during that time, the Yaoguai especially Sun Wukong represent the people's will and freedom while the Headband is the control and constriction. The Jade Emperor represented as the leader of the government and the deities are his officers, as the story progresses, the rumor of Tang Sanzang flesh is a falsified method to challenge the people will by using it to drive the people against each other as Yaoguai are driven to kill Tang Sanzang and his disciples or in other words to reap the reward because the government promised it.
@@raffielj He was actually dead (by purposely killing himself) but he was able to pull off a trick by spreading his 5 relics and the 6th relic which is the destined one, was responsible for gathering all other relics and become whole again thus Wukong's reincarnation. Wukong did all of this just to remove the Golden Crown and gain freedom from heaven's control.
@@raffielj It's an interesting philosophical question - does (re)gaining the memories of another person make you that person? All the isekai stories we read agree somewhat on this, but memories =/= temperament.
@@kdbx2sec but he is wukong's mind he's part of his sense regaining other senses.. why is the "destined one" mute? Because he doesn't have a complete soul if you played up until NG+3 the destined one becomes Wukong complete with all his divine powers except of course the headband... In the game if the destined one dies he becomes a strand, he is a part of wukong.. He is not reborn as another person/monkey he is reborn as himself without the other parts of his essence.. An isekai is a person born as another person. Think of this as wukong's revenge to the other guais that rallied with the heavenly army to stop him... Which is impossible since Wukong is a Buddha an omnipotent and omniscient being in the novel and erlang is not a buddha so nobody literally nobody can stop wukong after he becomes the victorious fighting buddha
Definitely channeling some _God of War_ energy with this one. Hopefully, any sequels or DLC allow Wukong to make good on his threat to the Jade Emperor (and possibly the Buddha) like Asura did to Chakravartin.
There is no bad ending and good ending of Black Myth Wukong. If you willingly want to serve the buddha, then the "bad" ending is your good ending. If you want to break free of buddha's servanthood, then your good ending is finding the 6 relics and removing the headband.
And to be noted the current destined one isn't the same arrogant stone monkey. His choice to serve the heavens or not doesn't matter as he completely accepts his destiny no matter what unlike Wukong.
Huh, I guess Sun Wukong & Zhu Bajie/Wuneng asking for help from Erlang Shen & his 6 Meishan Brothers to subdue the Nine Headed Beast in Chapter 63 & thus becoming friends really did pay off in the long run! Okay, so now that Wukong is, finally, TRULY Free of the Tight Fillet Spell, there's probably going to be some... "Unique" Conflict when Old Sun meets Sanzang & Sha Wujing again, since they're likely still Buddhas! I definitely know Guanyin is going to be either Mildly Disappointed or REALLY Annoyed that the "Destinated One" Plan didn't turn out the way Gautama & Her had hoped!
Incredible video. But I believe Sun Wukong was not actually reincarnated, we are still the destined one but with Sun Wukong's memory. In the cutscene 17:26 , Erlang never called him Wukong. After returning the memory, he said: "A mortal death for an unbound mind and will. May you not fail him." Sun Wukong is gone forever, but his will for freedom lives on, and that's his legacy bestowed for the destined one.
In this game's story, wukong was still under the influence of the head band, so to escape from it, he dies & reincarnates, then gathers his original powers. Its all a master plan from Wukong. In the original, wukong becomes a buddha & his head band disappears.
I don’t think Sun and Erlang were conspiring together like some sort of coordinated plan made behind the scenes but rather, when Erlang attacked Sun in the intro, Sun subtly manipulated and tricked Erlang into helping him with his scheme to rid himself of the circlet by provoking him with challenging words. It fits with Erlangs behavior in the secret boss battle where Erlang himself appears conflicted and introspective with the battle showing him the truth of their battle and also helped Erlang be at peace.
Well, if you look into Erlang's myth. Jade had his ten suns (sons) to kill Erlang and once they killed his mother (Princess Yaoji), he killed nine of the ten suns. So I don't know why you think Erlang wouldn't agree with Wukong and they plan against the heavens. He deserves agency too, you know.
@@jamesprice6015 I understand that and how he would agree, but at the same time, the animations and what we see point to Erlang being on the Celestial Courts side when attacking Wukong and even somewhat mocking him about the circlet still being on his head and wanting to stop being a Buddha before Wukong issues the challenge of “watching him rip it off his head and break free”. If anything, this all kind of shows that Erlang DID feel unhappy with the celestial court and the gods but he lacked Wukongs rebellious nature, or the free spiritedness that he has to oppose such powerful beings with the stuff with Wukongs death putting him at conflict. It’s with the Destined Ones success and victory over him that he finally understood what Wukong was truly after and how far he’d go, how nothing could truly cage someone like him in the end, which gave Erlang peace knowing that there is hope that the gods can be opposed.
@@wizardwolf1020 I don't think he mocked Wukong. I mean let's think about this. With the four directional kings and the heavens watching, would Erlang not commit to the act of the plan? Also, the that he knew Wukong's plan shows that Erlang has some understanding and might be a part of it. Also, Erlang's third eye allows it to see the intentions of others. What's to say that he didn't knew of Wukong's plan ahead of time, huh?
@@jamesprice6015 considering Wukong himself though, the intro tells us that they attacked and killed monkeys as a means of getting to him, which is something Wukong always drew a line at since it’s HIS people that’s being harmed. If they truly were in cahoots, all they would’ve needed to do was what the intro basically showed, Erlang, the four Yaoguai kings, heavenly army, four directional kings, and god of giants pulling up to Wukongs mountain and telling him to come out and face them. Wukong himself even states this as he acknowledges that they don’t trust him even with all that he’s done and that they always could’ve done this but he doesn’t get them going around and killing monkeys to provoke him, calling them bastards for it. It also doesn’t change the conflict and other emotions Erlang felt after facing Wukong as well as Wukongs passing which the fight with the Destined One answered. That being that someone like Wukong could never be caged, that nobody could truly beat someone with as great a spirit as Wukong except himself, that he would go to such great lengths for his freedom which put Erlang at peace. Because that’s what made the four kings and Erlang himself a test which Erlang himself admits. Wukong challenged him and Erlang gave the relics to the kings as a test for Wukongs inevitable reincarnation to face to see if what Wukong said and believed was true with him secretly keeping the mind for himself and killing anyone who may know about it and expose him such as the two soldiers (who were killing off monkeys post intro fight before seeing the stone and the evidence). If the two truly were in cahoots, the lives lost because of the initial planning would be cutthroat even for Wukong as he’d be sacrificing his own peoples lives to obtain his freedom as well as taking on the major risk of Erlang holding his mind and going into hiding where the Destined One could potentially never find him
About the scene that Wukong stand defeated before 5 (6 if counting Demon Bull King) individuals It had Bull "Demon King" Erlang Shen "God" Black bear "Monster" "Buddha" "Yaoquai" "Great sage" Poor Sun Wukong. He is a part of all of them. Knowing that the heavenly celestial doesn't want him to alive. An extremly being that had pretty much all part of their world
What Black Myth topic do you want to learn more about?
The bosses
That chapter 4 love story
4th sister
Backstory of the. Bull king, his family and his relation with Wukong
The Old monkey identity because when you go into the stone it’s like the guy has a massive distain towards Sun wukong
I love that this story actually serves as a sequel to the original story and can either end with the Great Sage remaining a slave or breaking free
I hope it’s him breaking free because I really want to punch the jade emperor in the face and even though it’s probably not gonna happen, I kind of wanna fight buddha mostly because it’s gonna remind me of Asura’s wrath
It's _sorta_ like the Tron Legacy of video games
A sequel to a story many years later (or in Black Myth Wukong's case, hundreds of years later 😅)
BMW is not a sequel to the original.. it's just another adaptation differs from the core plot of the original lore.. in JTTW, the headband was taken off of wukong's head after he achieved buddhahood.. the key word here is "achieved", it's not a title bestowed upon wukong by the buddha rulai.. in buddhism, buddhahood is an achievement, in a sense like a fat boy achieved six pack.. then realizes what power does a six pack stomach holds.. in a nutshell, buddhahood is a grand realization of existence..
so the BMW intro's supposedly buddha wukong who got beat up by erlang makes no sense.. i mean look, a "shen" is still bellow a "bodhisatva".. and a bodhisatva is still bellow a buddha.. not just hierarchical, but in it's entirety.. and a buddha wukong would never had any problem taking out the headband himself if it wasn't taken off by guanyin buddha in the original story.. (guanyin achieved buddhahood in JTTW, but there are actual debate that guanyin's compassion towards humanity is boundless, therefore guanyin stayed as a bodhisatva instead of entering nirvana)
@@wymmyw8744it's fictional, stfu
@@wymmyw8744 It's a sequel in the sense that the story takes place after the original source material. It's also a fanfiction because of the retcons.
Chinese gamer here. This video has the most comprehensive and accurate coverage on black myth lore that I’ve seen on UA-cam so far. Very well done Sir!
No one asked
@@kullanturner2555 no one asked
@@kullanturner2555 booooo, you need to leave
@@kullanturner2555your opinion is not important, no one asked nor cared
@@kullanturner2555 No one asked you, kid
17:30 Erlang covers the sun with clouds using his left hand, thus removing and heavenly meddling, what a fantastic detail
Woah….
What an insane detail!
HOly Shiet!
I bet many ppl don't even know the bad ending is a bad ending.
They probably thought of the head band as a king's crown lol.
yes😂 more research has to be made
☠️☠️
Personally, I think both endings are bad.
1. We became slave to the Celestial Court.
2. We, the destined one, got replaced with Wukong's mind. The destined one is just a tool in a sense.
@@reaperandyel no the old monkey said it very clearly, Wukong is dead and isn't coming back. So the 2nd ending is not becoming Wukong, but inheriting his legacy,, including his memories. But ofc some ppl also think the destined one is reincarnation of Wukong to begin with. There're various interpretations, which I think GS intentionally left vague and unexplained for imaginations.
@@reaperandyel we didn't get replaced. We just gained his memories with a new mind (destined one).
I just realized, in JTTW, when Sun Wukong is born from the stone egg, brilliant light shoots from his eyes that could be seen from the celestial court. In the true ending, when Wukong opens his eyes, they are glowing with light right before it cuts to the animation.
Since the game is after the Journey, his glowing eyes are due to his imprisonment by Lao Tzu in his oven after his fight in heaven.
To me that's the thing about that scene that made me scream, him opening his eyes and bolting light, just like the first time he woke up from the stone is the most in your face "Wukong is back" sign.
@@wilsongoh5219 pretty sure thats a different glowing eyes.
@@wilsongoh5219No, Wukong’s eyes turned red after Lao Tzu attempted to burn him alive in his immortality-destroying brazier, when Wukong got to a relative safe spot in the brazier and got hit with all the smoke as a consequence. As a result, Wukong could always see through any disguise that a demon dons no matter how unassuming or effective
@@CuriousGuyOnline Lao Tzu ? 太上老君 is it lol
Erlang was actually testing the Destined One if he's ready to face the Great Sage and telling him what Wukong really desires after the fight, to be free from control and the fact that Wukong and Erlang came up with this plan was sick. Hopefully Erlang can be free from the celestial court too
He is the Jade Emperor's nephew and has the perks of not having to attend court activities and pretty much do whatever he wants on his own boundless free time. Other gods are not exempt from the daily activities and meetings of the celestial court. The Buddhas and Bodhisatvas are part of a different power structure and are considered equal and separate to the Celestial Court.
That and Erlang has the other half of the Free Mind relic, allowing you to break free from the headband and to take Sun Wukong’s place.
@@syrupybrandy2788Erlang hates the Emperor... The emperor murdered his parents. He is just waiting for chances for a payback... He serves the emperor because he doesn't have a better option. Assisting Wukong means Wukong will do what he couldn't do.... Wukong will smack the Celestial court without the Emperor knowing Erlang Involvement...
thing is, erlang hate jade emperor for killing his mother, i think, which is the reason why he was aiding the destined one
He kinda was already. Has his own faction, lesser deities, military and everything. He ''respects military commands from the heaven, but refuses to be summoned to the court''.
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn, I completely missed every single point about the story line somehow. This was a fantastic summary!
Please keep the Wukong lore coming. Perhaps a deeper dive into the Yaguai Kings?
A great suggestion! Definitely have more Wukong videos in the queue
@@TheLorebrariansyou should the same for erlang shen and maybe nezha two. wukong, erlang and nezha are the big 3 in terms of popularity in chinese mythology and it seems like they will play major roles in the dlc and sequel.
This video is important. There are no other videos from lore content creators that have touched on this darker hidden layer of story, and it's CRUCIAL to the whole plot of the game. Good job.
I feel like it needs to be clarified (especially to non-Chinese) that many of the Gods & deities featured in Journey to the West/Black Myth actually exist outside of the story, long before the novel was written. Many are actual Gods worshipped by people, all with their own mythologies. Essentially, the author included them as characters in his own fantasy novel, and over time the line got blurred.
I’ve always wondered why the Three Pure Ones or Hongjun would allow the Jade Emperor to plead Gautama Buddha for help
@Killer-x7e Much of it owe to how popular and widespread Journey to the West became across China. Nowadays when you mention deities like Erlang Shen, people immediately think of his rivalry with Wukong lol and the Jade Emperor was already a figure of worship during the BC era, thousands of years before JttW was written.
@@Killer-x7e In Chinese Buddhism it is believed that the Jade Emperor was something like a 'node' in Buddhist cosmology. Hence there was alot of cross pollination of beliefs and ideas.
Nah
We shouldnt bring in too much lore n daoism mythology outside of the JTTW
Because it will cause discord to the main plot and...
Like if u read creation of God and JTTW, even Erlang shen have different identity
So let just focus on u know around the JTTW
@@eliwoodnguyen1505that’s not what he said tho
Sun WuKong has always been and will always be the symbol of
revolutionary spirit. The orignal JTTW is entire a satire to it's own era's of power structure/goverment, the book was banned for centurys from royal families for a reason.
One thing to note is that 天命人 "Destined One" can also be translated to "Bearer of the Mandate of Heaven", which means servant of the Heavens. The characters used the phrase to refer to both meanings throughout the game. The secret ending is that the destined one realized the corollary of the Mandate of Heaven is the Right to Rebellion against unjust rule.
It was never banned. What are you talking about, man?
JTTW has not been banned at all. It is indeed using the story to criticize the imperial court in Ming, especially emperor Jiajing (嘉靖)'s behavior. But back then, to be literal, is a luxury. Being able to understand the metaphorical indication from the story to the political criticism in reality is almost impossible for ordinary people. Hence JTTW was not banned.
Man what can I say. JTTW has never been banned😅
Can’t tell if it’s ChatGPT or just weird edge lord
The original Journey to the West novel was written in the Ming Dynasty, where Buddhism was ascendant compared to Taoism and where the author's partiality towards Buddhism was central to the novel's theme. Even from the opening, it was Buddha that came to the rescue of a feckless Divine Court that has become decadent and more obsessed with petty disputes and living the high life than actual governing (in some sense the novel can be seen as a 16th century political commentary). Indeed, the "punishment" for Wukong was to assist in retrieving Buddhist texts to spiritually nourish China, and who through his own Buddhist awakening from the journey. Throughout the novel, the author included countless examples of Buddhism overcoming challenges where Taoism had failed. Hence, the original source material is very clear on where author stands in the debate between Buddhism and Taoism.
In game, Maitreya seems to be in on Erlang and Wukong's plan and offers Erlang a statuary to hide away from the Celestial Court's prying eyes and indeed cryptically guide the Destined One on his path to retrieve his whole personhood. It is interesting that the game chose Maitreya to play this role as he is known in Buddhism as the future Buddha, the direct successor to Gautama who is prophesied to return when the world falls into an era of decline and decadence, so as to bring enlightenment and the dharma back to the world.
If Wu Cheng'en is alive, he might've have approved this story. The studio really made deeper research on this
I think the true Journey to the West should involve a group of people who are extremely disappointed with the corruption of the Eastern Taoist gods and hope to find redemption from the Western Buddhist gods. However, on their journey westward, they saw a more terrifying disaster than in the East. Ultimately, they understood that not sentient beings could be redeemed, but gods and Buddhas could not.
Love the comment section mentioning all the details of the original JTTW mythology. One thing I haven’t seen being mentioned is that the original JTTW can be seen as a power play by the Buddhist pantheon. Retrieving the scriptures is the nominal purpose of the trip, but removing yaoguais that aren’t following Buddhist rule is the real intent. Like other posters mentioned, yaoguais with political backing are spared, but the ones without it are either mercilessly executed or taken as disciples (like the black bear) if they are useful. This closely aligns with the in game conversation with the Bull King, where the chosen one says something along the lines of “find a master to serve, don’t you see brother, there is no other way for us”, because in essence, the chosen one and Bull king are both just really powerful yaoguais themselves. Without politically backing/patronage, they’d be wiped out too. Similarly, this is why Bajie wouldn’t dare to reunite with his daughter, because he saw how the gods took out the Bull king.
There's a popular interpretation over the years that the yaoguai is an allegory for corrupted officials. The ones with deep connections get rescued by other "gods" while the one who don't get taken out. This mirror real life political scene in ancient China where corruption are deep rooted. In a darker sense, what the "chosen one" said is akin to "align with someone or you'll be taken out".
Suddenly the bad ending makes a lot more sense now.
This is pretty obvious in the Chinese version, the English translation left out a lot of important plot points. It's the trouble with translating Chinese to English, Chinese is a more informationally dense language than English (some four syllables phrases can be translated to a paragraph in English)
the deities stand for the opressive men
@@YouReadMyName They're basically just idioms and ancient China uses idioms a lot more than modern English society ever will. It's just that modern Chinese people still understand those idioms even if they're not used nearly as much anymore so the message can still be conveyed in extreme short form
@YouReadMyName well I don't understand Chinese and the English subtitles are exactly the same whether the voices were in English or Chinese.
@@Gotchagator217 The things said in the game are mostly the same, but there is an amount of duplicity in what they say that isn't translated well, which leads to a lot of plot points being lost in the English translation. For example, throughout the game, they keep calling the player character the "Destined One'" 天命人, but this title could have also been translated to "Bearer of the Mandate of Heaven", 天命 = Mandate of Heaven, 人 = Person that carries the former description.
This won't make much sense without taking the context of the game into account. Throughout the game, the Destined One basically acted as a pawn carrying out Heaven's will (subduing the Yaoguai Kings that had his relics), which matches with this translation.
the irony is that both religions are founded on abandoning pride and earthly attachments to obtain spiritual salvation
It’s understandable when you consider how liberators in real world -Russia, China, Cuba, and others-all became dictators after gaining power.
Not true though, Daoism is about going with the flow, be in harmony with nature. Which you cant do by breaking earthly attchments
@@user-dercbsb I meant it more like not obsessing over earthly things, I am aware that Daoism doesn't require becoming an ascetic, just letting things go when their time has come
@@jacopoarmini7889 Got it
LOL.. this is just a game. Daoism and Buddhism are very similar. That is why, Buddhism can easily integrate into China.. the 2 systems are very similar in their findings about Reality.
It's the reason Wukong's final words to the Bull King was,
"Steer clear of my remains."
Don't give the Heavens another reason to come after you.
that, and I think Wukong was making trying to make a final joke.
Steer is a castrated bull, the Bull King was symbolically castrated by the heavenly court by their subjugation of his kingdom (Seen in the chapter 5 ending animation)
@@kelnhidehighly doubt so. It’s translation from Chinese to English. It doesn’t sounds funny in Chinese 🫠
I think it is because in the future, the destined one must kill the one who had fully absorb the power of the relic to reclaim the relic . Wukong didn't want his brother to die because of his remains. So the Bull King just keep the relic in his stomach without using it. The black bear is smart enough to understand that there would be no good end if he use the relic's power, so he just put it on the top of the tower just tricking lesser yaoguais into offerings and surrended immediately after the fight. Others who had the relic were not so lucky though.
@@kelnhide like youre thinking and joining the dots
@@kelnhide the translation sucks as hell unfortunately, the Chinese meaning is simple as "staying away“ or "don't touch". And what makes the translation worse is there are many Chinese sentences complex as hell that are translated into childish English.
What a well-crafted video! And one of the few talked about the dark plot behind each chapter. Although I would like to point out, Erlang's name is 杨戬（Yang, Jian）. Erlang （二郎）means "second son", since he was the second oldest children in his family. Shen（神）literally means god or the status of a god. Shen is his title or status, not his last name. But it is understandable mistake to make for any non-native Chinese speakers. With that being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed the video and will be looking forward to more like this one :)
Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed and I appreciate the clarification! You're correct, it's difficult for a non-native speaker but I try my best
So his full name and title would be Yang Jian, Second Son of Heaven? Like how Wukong is Sun Wukong, Great Sage Equal To Heaven?
@@robbiestafford6889 I really do not have a tl:dr version for his title. Afaik one of them contains 20 characters, and he has multiple of them. The folk lore and tales about him are many but the main one should be 封神演义 (Investiture of Gods).
@@robbiestafford6889It was not "the second son of heaven" but "the second son of the (Yang) family". There's a tradition that we call "the nth son of the (some last name)" as a nickname. So you may see some text calling him "Yang Erlang".
The "Erlang Shen" title in real life religion/folklore is attributed to different characters, one being Li, one Zhaou, and one Yang. Their stories have been mixed and blended in such a long time.
And since in JTTW, Erlang Shen was said to be "Yang", so the name "Erlang Shen Yang Jian" became much popular.
@@robbiestafford6889 "Great Sage Equal To Heaven"(齐天大圣) is the title Wukong granted himself and recognized later by the Heaven Celestial (which is the Heaven in the East who mainly believe in Daoism), the "Victorious Fighting Buddha" is the title granted by Tathagata Buddha in LingShan mountain which is the Heaven in the West and mainly believes in Buddhism.
Wukong has 6 sworn brothers including the Bull King, they are all Yaoguais, and his 6 sworn brothers all have its own title, for example the Bull King is normally known as “Ox Demon King” but also has a similar title to Wukong which is "The Great Sage Equaling Heaven"(平天大圣)
Apart from that neither East nor West Heaven is dominated by a single God or Buddha, in name the Eastern Heaven is ruled by the Jade Emperor who dates with Taiyin Star and punished Bajie because he saw them dating in the BMWukong game, while in the West the Heaven is by name ruled by Tathagata Buddha who punished Wukong and forced him under the five-finger-mountain. There are many Buddhas and Gods in West or East appreciate Wukong and have good relationship with him, for example the The Supreme Elderly Lord from the East didn't punished Wukong for unseal the Pansi Cave and likely took the 4th spider back to Heaven to actually protect her, the Crane Immortal in the game is the subordinate of The Supreme Elderly Lord. The Master Subhuti used to be Wukong's first Master who taught him the 72-transformation and all kinds of magic, his ability is equvelant to Jade Emperor or the Tathagata Buddha, in the game if you look at the YingShen script you would find out he helps Wukong many times from the shadow, the Immobilization Spell was taught by The Master Subhuti in the game, he told the GuanYin keeper to teach it to the destenied one.
I really expect DLCs from the Black Myth series, Game Science said they have actually developed 13 Maps in the game but only manage to pick 6 of them to release, there should be more things to come and probably, in the final fight to the Heave Wukong shall get help from some friends from East or West Heaven
Someone needs to send this to AfroSenju when he’s done with the game! This is a very detailed and well explained video of the overarching and hidden story of Black Myth Wukong! All pieced together nicely! You did an astounding job!
Hahahaha yooo! Real Afro fans here!
He really need to see this I hope someone send it to him for when he completes the game
Did he watch this video already?
@@ZagiNoa nope
@@ZagiNoa Sadly no, but hopefully he comes across this amazing video!
Actually, it has been widely speculated that Journey to the West is satire and political commentary disguised as a mythical legend. The master is like the corporate boss that talks all day, does no real work, has to be helped through every little thing, then claims all the credit. WuKong is the most capable employee, able to do great deeds and yet is bound by arbitrary rules and code of conduct. Bajie is the good for nothing rumor monger and trouble maker, looking at every opportunity to suck up to the boss and undermine his peers. ShaSeng is the quiet worker, carrying heavy loads and not really having a chance to shine, forever buried in mediocrity.
There's also insights into nepotism even in heaven. Nezha is the son of a heavenly king. Erlang is the nephew of the Jade emperor. Relatives and cronyism run rampant in the celestial court. Even the celestials' pets and beasts get to become gods and goddeses. Meanwhile, Wukong pre-journey is already more powerful than anyone in the celestial court, yet they just gave him a stable-boy position in an undisguised attempt to demean him.
You'll also notice in the book, all the yiaoguais with backers(buddha's mount, a god's pet, a master sage's pupil etc) are spared while all the guais with zero background are killed off mercilessly. Even the buddha is not immune to influence peddling, reflecting unspoken views about corruption and patronage politics.
Dam that’s a really interesting way of looking at and honestly I support this
keep in mind it's a Ming dynasty book, people back then think differently, for example, it's expected that yong family members to have similar traits and career of their elder, a soldier's son who end up become a merchant would be considered weird, even sometime illegal
has anyone mentioned certain similarities from ''Journey to the West'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' especially the ''Fellowship'' i understand there are universal human traits and attributes that both allude to
it occurred to me the other day, it has been staring at me all these years and i just never connected it
for example Samwise Gamgee would represent or be similar to how you describe or the concensus of ShaSeng... i have watched videos from years ago breaking down the inspiration for LOTR and the meanings and influences of the Fellowship
Journey to the West predates LOT by about 400 - 500 yrs too.... i find it interesting
@@antwango Interesting! I've also read someone who said that JTTW is LOTR before LOTR since it takes inspiration from many folk stories & compiles it into one.
And that would include characters like Golden Winged Dapeng,right?
I find your Wukong lore content the absolute best. Keep it up! So many are not as thorough or respectable, and/or relaxing as you. I'm so glad I found you. I understand these stories so much better especially from your last video. Thanks again!
It’s fascinating how well Black Myth Wukong fits into the universe of God of War. Its portrayal of the gods and their flaws fits with GoW’s own ethos on the topic and Wukong and Kratos have great similarities in motives and struggles against being pawns of the gods.
I mean, it's not an uncommon plot point. Shin Megami Tensei does it for the gods of pretty much all mythology and theology, including the Abrahamic ones.
I am chinese,this is the first English video I have encountered that articulates the narrative with such clarity.
btw I feel like I need to clarify on this, we sometimes say out loud out nationality just to let people know that things are really authentic, we'd be like: ''hey dude, ngl, this is some real shit. I can confirm that totally''. I am from CN and what he said is true, this is one of the most detailed and accurate lore explanation I've seen
finally something with more depth. a very large part of black myth wukon story's is hidden behind the lore of each individual boss, big or small. so I think you can do some videos with yet more details which will display a even more clear picture
This game is literally history and feels so much like a spiritual awakening
You forgot the "Right-hand of Buddha" and "Left-hand of Buddha". Those could be the hands of Pilanpo - mother of Dawn Star, they could somehow severe her hands so that she could not help her son.
Great explaination capturing the buried storyline which is the conflict between Daoism and Buddism! Loved every second of you video. Definitely hoping to see more!
Appreciate it, glad you enjoyed!
The last three vids you made where awesome. I didn't realize the myth was this epic I never would have known about the lore without your vid.
Appreciate it! I love sharing the lore so people can better connect with the things they enjoy
what a quiet and polite comment section. very rare thing to find in this realm
Alright then, well YOU can go to Hell…
Is that better?
Plenty of those yust avoid newest fads and you will find genuin discusions rather than reeees and bilion bought bots saying author is greatest thing ever or some scam
Sun Wukong: Congratulations, you played yourselves.
Erlang Shen also rebelled against the Jade Emperor, but later he had to cooperate with the Heavenly Court because of his blood relationship. Yes, Erlang Shen is actually the nephew of the Jade Emperor. (This is also the reason why Wukong jokingly called Erlang Shen his nephew in the prologue of Black Myth, and this line was translated into "brat" when translated into English) Erlang Shen is in a conflict of both reluctance and helplessness regarding such a blood relationship. This is why he is willing to help Sun Wukong.
Nezha's story is much more brutal. He and his father have a grudge because of some stories. With a hot temper, he is willing to cut off all his flesh and blood to repay, thus severing his blood relationship with his father. Nezha's power is comparable to Erlang Shen, and can even be on par with Sun Wukong. This is not good news for his father, so the father asked Buddha for help and obtained the mini pagoda, which is the weapon in the hand in CG, so that he can suppress Nezha's resistance at any time and force Nezha to serve the Heavenly Court.
So we understand that Sun Wukong, Erlang Shen, and Nezha, the three immortals, are actually rebels, but they all have to submit to the rule of heaven for their own reasons.
Need to add that after Nezha cut off his flesh and blood, his soul was reborn in the lotus root. So now Nezha has no gender. (I'm not sure if you guys need to know this)
something is wrong in this vid, 1. the destined one is the mind relic, Erlang only has wukong's memory. after claiming the memories, mind relic is activated. 2. the small budda that eats watermalon, he is the furture budda, he doesnt really represent westen heaven, he is a bit complicated. PS: after 3 good endings, it unlocks the destined voice reaction, yes u can talk then.
13:48 Instead of having little care for the mortal, we can even say that the Gods intentionally designed the system with their own interest in mind: Why spread and popularize the way of enlightenment to the mortal? Who would worship us, the Gods, if everyone are as capable as we are, and are freed from the earthly suffering?
The dominance and control over the mortal is also depicted in the story, and the Gods also schemed and purge those who couldn't accept their way.
You say it like mortals are any different, systems of supremacy has always been in place since the beginning of civilization, whether it's against other people or other species.
People think Cruelty is only a problem when they are the target of it.
Yes they absolutely did that deliberately, that is why Jin Chan Zi gets killed and have to hide himself after journey to the west
Sounds like Snowden running away from CIA.😂
So game science developed black myth wukong not just a journey of freedom, equality, and reincarnation but they added a layer of celestial warvwhere the destined one is a part of when he and wukong mind and power release wukong imprisonment to become a new entire new being I think the dlc will tackle this in thr near future.
It’s so good
I wished the game was more focused on the theme "journey of freedom and equality" as much as they focused on reincarnation of wukong
It's a story of hope and redemption. People could argue Wukong planned for the good ending when he fought to the dead in the beginning of the game. But it's better to think he was simply willing to die rather than be a slave. The future generation bring him back or redeemed him is a story we all want to believe in.
This resonate with plenty historical figures, eg: Joan Of Arc, HanXin, Galileo, Socrates, William Wallace, Tesla. ... or plenty loyal red guards lol
@@sureshraghul2715the re-incarnation of Wukong is the vessel used to tell the tale of "journey to freedom and equality.
Cant wait for dlc man its definitely gonna be in 2026 at best
One thing I know for sure is that Bajie will be delighted at his brother and friend revival!
Black Myth Wukong draws inspiration from God of War. Particularly the theme of freedom. Freedom from the Celestials, Buddhas and Gods. Free to create your own destiny. It's a theme for all of us especially if we are at the service of beings superior than us and also oppress us. This makes me love the game even more.
So sun wukong born from the heaven's,moon, and earth in the form of the stone rock was the balancing of these cosmic force but heaven of both pantheon saw wukong as a threat and wukong knew but became a pawn as a puppet but both erlang and wukong conspire together where wukong was sacrifice in a suicide where he was fighting to the death and erlang took the relics when the time come for his reincarnated self would appear to break this stalemate and gain new allies such zhu Baije and others to rebelled the heaven's and change its order in heaven.
imma need you to use some apostrophes and word this so much better
I love how this game's lore is good enough to match the original story, a worthy sequel
When Erlang finally gives the destined one wukongs memories, one of the final wukong voice lines is “watch me rip it off and break free”. This entire thing was wukongs plot. The monkey truly is unbreakbale.
Excellent plot analysis! Nice job bro.
For me.. I personally prefer dark story rather than super hero story..more relatable
The most accurate analysis !!! It would be even more impressive if you are not Chinese or East Asian people to understand all of this.
So Maitreya and Guanyin not expecting Sun Wukong's 6th relic (the mind) is the thing that make the destined one refuse to wear the headband. Because they didn't know the real reason why Sun Wukong proclaim war with the Celestial Court 500 years ago, they didn't know his trying to kill himself to get rid of the headband. War against Celestial Court only a distraction of his true intention.
I wonder what story we will get in the DLC, because for Sun Wukong, his goal is achieved by getting reincarnated without the headband. But then again, Celestial Court not gonna sit in place knowing Sun Wukong is back they gonna try to take him down. And on the Buddha side, what they gonna do? trying to control him again?
oh this was so eye opening. Great video!
The best explanation on youtube.
I suspect that the big gourd old guy is Wukong's first master (Subuthi), and the old monkey at the beginning is Monk Tang.
The gourd guy is Yuan Shou Cheng (袁守诚), one of the Loong King (泾河龙王) made a bet with him on how much and when it will rain, Jade Emporer commnaded him to rain just as Yuan pridicted, but his four sons suggested him to delay and reduce the rain, which lead to his decapitation - this also kickstarted Tang's journey to the west. His four sons, in fear of reprocussions, fled and remain hidden, that's where the hidden loong bosses (Red Yellow Cyan and Black Loongs) came from. They want to end their doomed destiny.
The old monkey is likely Tang/Jinchanzi or his proxy, yes.
It is hinted that master Subuthi told the Keeper of Chapter 1 to aid the DO.
Also, at the hidden cave where you find the Dragon Scale item to unlock the 4 Loongs boss fight, the wall painting there dipicts the scene where Master Subuthi schools Wukong in his earlier days.
Bravo. This is the best and deepest explanation video across all platforms (including Chinese platforms too)
In the original work of Journey to the West, when Sun Wukong arrived at the Buddha's temple on Lingshan Mountain, he found that it was as corrupt as the Heavenly Court. The Buddha's disciples solicited bribes from Sun Wukong and Tang Sanzang for a trifling matter. When this matter was reported to the Buddha, the Buddha not only did not reprimand or stop it, but instead took on the role of a mediator to "coordinate" the bribe-taking bargaining chip.
In Black Myth: Wukong, this view has been further strengthened. First of all, in the original work, the Buddha finally removed Sun Wukong's headband. But in the story of Black Myth: Wukong, the headband has actually been retained there in a hidden way all along, which shows that the Buddha lied. In addition, Bodhisattva Lingji is also full of lies and almost every word is deceiving the fated one. If even the two heavyweight deities in the Western Paradise are like this, one can imagine the atmosphere of the entire Western Paradise.
In short, whether it is the original work of Journey to the West or Black Myth: Wukong, they both believe that both the Eastern and Western camps are extremely corrupt. I think this view is likely to affect the plot direction in the DLC.
Given how the western heaven wanted to control Sun Wukong with the headband it really gives some standing to the idea that the old monkey is Guanyin. As it’s the old monkey that places the band on him at the end of the normal ending. Having Sun Wukong back under the control of the western heaven and Bhudda really gives them an advantage over the eastern heaven, and this type of trickery is something she’s very familiar with. Not to mention that it was Guanyin that originally gives Tripitaka the headband in the novel.
What making it more suspicious is the fact that both her disciples are roaming free and she's nowhere to be seen.
buddha of thousand faces they say...
Guanyin is complicated because she holds position in both Buddhist pantheon and Daoist pantheon, that's kind of why she was given management over the Journey since both sides are testing her loyalty. Whenever a Buddhist temple gets destroyed in the novel it's generally a temple to her, starting with Black Wind Mountain.
Whatever the plot is behind Destine One becoming Wukong again it seems like Guanyin wants to stay out of it, hence why she only sent out the Black Bear to contribute and also why Black Bear is the only one who had one of the relic and made it out with his skin intact. Red Boy who's also a Guanyin disciple wasn't supposed to be involved at all (and Black Bear specifically warned him to stay out of it because it's clear this venture is dangerous).
Amazing video ! So good and concise it was so interesting from second one right until the end thank you for making this
This was an amazing video! Thank you for all the hard work! 🙏🏼
This is great stuff worthy of the finest lore videos of the Soulsverse.
Beautifully Incredible History
Wonderful Humanistic tale
A little bit of everything
One of the Best most Original Soulslikes Ever
And all because of some Amazing Ancient Myth
Great explanation
Goodest work
I’m really Happy to see such an Interesting and Inspired game Will Itself into Existence so well
Excellent video, sir. Bravo!
Glad you enjoyed!
Finally someone noticed why it is named as "black myth". The stories which the gods want to hide and the dirty works done by them.
Governments and religious body in nutshell
This cleard things up a lot, thank you
15:21 is it a coincidence that both characters are known to have truth-seeing eyes?
Great video! I was waiting for someone to sum up the entire conspiracy of both pantheons in a comprehensible video.
Great find! Have not thought that but that completely makes sense
It's not. It is likely that many of wukong's skill is modeled after erlang. Erlang and Wukong are very similar. Both have 72 transformations (which is really everything given that 9 is the extreme number while eight is an auspicious number), truth seeing eye(s), and both are actually invulnerable to conventional weaponary (erlang through nine turn divine skill while wukong get refined by Taishang Laojun). In addition both can grow as giant as big as heaven and earth.
@@mystomachhurt9312 Erlang has 73 transformations, that's why he always has a slight upper hand to Wukong when it came to matching transformations, that's a thing in both JttW and BMW.
Having said that, 36 heavenly transformation (the skill Bajie and some other immortals have) is actually slightly more powerful than the 72 earthly transformations that Wukong knows. When Wukong was studying with his master Putizushi he offered Wukong the choice to learn either and Wukong incorrectly assumed 72 transformation was twice as useful as 36, but it's not true. The individual transformations in the 36 are more like 36 different spells and they are individually much more powerful than two earthly transformations. Bajie is just not a particularly skill user of the 36 heavenly transformations while Wukong has mastered the 72.
@@Temstar04 i read JTTW and as far as I know there is no mention of erlang having 73 transformation. In any case, 73 makes no sense numerologically. 72 refers to the earthly fiend stars and paired with 36 big dipper constellation stars to form 108 stars of destiny. 73 is a later addition that is added just to make erlang shen one up others, but there is no numerical significance to 73. In all probability, erlang is conceived having 72 transformations, he just have better usage of the technique than wukong. Aside from that these numbers are multiplication of 9, which in chinese is considered the extreme number, while 8 represent auspiciousness, when multiplied they represent endless transformation (not just 72), having one added to it to make 73 just result in number that has no significant meaning.
@@mystomachhurt9312 Yooo that's some interesting stuff!Aight I'm not really that deep in Chinese mythology,but that was some cool insight! I didn't know about the meaning of 72 before,cause someone said that it just basically means a lot (but I've heard of the auspiciousness of 108 by reading OSP's comments lol,I heard it also appears in Water Margins).Also I was just talking lore-wise,like just in BMW,but Wukong probably being based on Erlang Shen makes sense honestly.
That 73 transformations thing? Idk how true it is but I read an explanation that it basically started as a joke in Chinese forums,referring to Xiaotian Quan (idk how it works either,tbh)
Kinda relate on the thing not being in the book tho,I've read some stuff that are basically just someone's interpretation on the story rather than actually being there,kinda weird but I get why that happens.
Journey to the west is a perfect example of how Buddhism and Taoism are intertwined into Chinese Culture. Monkey King and the jade emperor are taoist constructs but to have them assigned to accompany a Buddhist Monk to the west to collect the holy Sutra.
True, now many Han Chinese have dual religions. Like in Malaysia, many Han people have Daoism and Buddhism as religions. Many temples consists of Daoism and Buddhism, such as Daoists gods protecting Buddhist figures.
@@aldenteh9412 and I think that taoism and Buddhism are quite a varied and sometimes the theology just doesn't match... Why is the Jade Emperor and Buddha coexisting, which is the real authority, the path to Immortality is different from Buddhism and Taoism.
One servant cannot serve two masters. Which is why I ask some Han Chinese "are you a Buddhist or a Taoist. Who do you worship? Jade emperor or Buddha."
@@lofu32 That's where most Chinese believers are different from western believers. We are realists that always sees ourselves as the center of beliefs not Buddha or the Dao immortals. We go to temples to seek spiritual comfort rather than to SERVE. If one GOD doesnt work well, than we just go to the other.
In some small towns in China, you can see some grannies who are the most devoted Christians. But would quit going to church as soon as the priests stop giving out free eggs (lol). As for the path to Immortality or the theology, I'm sure it's studied in religious or philosophical universities, but they are just too far awlay from casual believers, which is the mojority of believers in China.
So besides a few really devoted daoists or buddhists. I don't think anyone can BE called believers I guess.
Hell the OG novel also has a lot of truths about society when you think about it.
Wu Kong is brave, always speak his mind, do all the works, always has to bail Xuan Zang and his fellow disciples out of trouble yet he got treated like $hit by his peer and his master.
Bajie (my favorite character) on the other hand is... Basically a piece of $hit through out the entire Journey. Always get into trouble, bad mouthing Wu Kong all the time, whisper bad thoughts to Xuan Zang ear to get Wu Kong punish, yet he got treated better than any 1 else in the group.
Sha Wujing is a nice and honest to a fault guy. Always being taken advantage by Bajie.
And then we have Xuan Zang. Dude is always on the high horse, never listen to Wu Kong advice, But he sure as $hit always listen to Bajie sweet words and then ended up got kidnapped most of the times... You think he would have learned after the 3rd time he listened to Bajie BS. (Bosses love to listen to kiss @$$.)
Thanks a lot for this video! The game's plot suddently makes so much more sense now.
Imagine post-ragnarok Kratos meets up Wukong. Both distrustful of gods. The perfect match.
Both of them will draw maps and dividing task. Wukong you will destroy all gods in this region... meanwhile i Kratos will bring havoc in this region... So Kratos area will be Europe, Africa and America... Wukong will go through all Asia..
What a nice video, but there is a "common" mistake, in 3:00, you said that Bodhisattvas are the ones who have begun the path of full enlightenment and are close to achieving Buddhahood, but it incorrect. Actually, Bodhisattvas are the ones who are fully capable of reaching the Nirvada anytime and attaining Buddhahood, but delay to do so out of compassion to save suffering beings. For example, Avalokiteśvara or Guanyin is the Bodhisattva of Compassion and Mercy, who make a vow of not attaining Buddhahood until saving every living person from suffering, or Kṣitigarbha who remain in the underworld with a vow not to attaining Buddhahood until the hell is empty.
So I have to ask, does this mean the old monkey on the boat at the end was lying (in a way)?
In the true ending, getting all six relics and Wukong's memories, does that mean the 'Sun Wukong' that went to war against heaven and went the journey to the west has 'COMPLETELY RETURNED', like at the end the character we play is 'no longer the destined one' who's maybe a different person from Wukong before getting the relics?
Or is it that the character we play now, has all the power of the original SW and his memories but he (character we play) is still 'him' as his unique self, but taken the name SUN WUKONG as a title.
he's still the destinied one, the ending animation of chapter 6 is like a goodbye to the first Great Sage and the destinied one will become the next Great Sage
At the end of the true ending, the Destined One open his eyes from which light bolts and fill the screen. It's a direct reference to the fact that in the OG Novel, when Wukong woke for the first time, his eyes bolted light that reached all the way to Heaven. To me it's clear that WUkong is fully back in the True Ending, and that the Old Monkey either deceived the player, or didn't know that Erlang managed to save the 6th relic by housing it within his Third Eye. The entry for the Old Monkey also suggest that he could be either Guanyin or Wukong master, but leaves it open for interpretation as to who it could be. In any case, someone that has interest for Wukong to stay shackled forever.
@@LadCarmichael definitely not Wukong Master as Wukong Master is not a monkey and he wouldnt do that to wukong.
it could be Guan Yin or Buddha or the Celestial Court doing things like this.
@@PhuongPham-zq1ygI saw it as destined one and Wukong becoming one, has his body and mind/soul and memories.
"You don't need to constantly mourn for me, nor should you expect me to return. After I pass, you will be me." The dead will not come back to life, but spirit of rebellion will pass through generations
Great explanation!
Some minor picks. Erlang Shen is actually not a name but a title. The Chinese word is 二郎神, where 二 => two/second; 郎 => son/lad; 神 => god. His is a god and known to be the second son in the family. His name is 杨戬 Yang Jian, with Yang as family name.
Also the Matreya Buddha might not be as stupid as you described. He's probably aware of and going with Wukong's plot. The cut scene after destined one beats Erlang has Matreya and the gourd man standing in front of the Mei Mountain painting speculating about the future. As the supreme leader of the western Buddhist bureaucracy, it is totally against his "interest" to let Wukong reach Erlang, let alone guiding him.
Also not sure if you know about the gourd man. His name is Yuan Shou Cheng and he is probably much more important than most expected. He is the starter of the Journey To The West and he knows the future better than all gods and Buddhas while keeping a very low profile.
Appreciate it and also the clarifications! JTTW is great but relatively new for me and has such depth of characters it's sometimes difficult to gather all of the information (especially as a non native speaker) Glad you enjoyed
Can you give more info about Yuan Shou Cheng? Who exactly is he?
@@claudius3359 sure. In the original novel, after Wukong was sealed under the mountain by almighty Buddha, the scene switched to Chang'an, the capital of China at the time. Yuan Shou Cheng is a fortune teller and he is unusually good. Seems to know everything before they happen. A dragon king of a nearby river is displeased as it is his job to regulate rainfall and Yuan is giving away his confidential schedule. He one day transformed into a handsome merchant and made a bet with Yuan on the raining time. Right after the bet, he received an order directly from Jade Emperor demanding a rain at very specific time, exactly as Yuan predicted. Although disobeying direct order is liable for decapitation, dragon king is so pissed by Yuan that he decides to take the risk and delayed rain a bit. Jade Emperor is pissed this time and throws the dragon king in death row. The king goes into the dream of mortal emperor Li Shimin(because Yuan told him to) that night and begs Li to save him, saying his head will be cut off by his prime minister Wei Zheng next noon. Li finds that hilarious but promises to help. Next day, after morning session, Emperor Li asks Wei to stay and play Go (Chinese chess) with him. Li deliberately plays very slowly to drag it through the noon. So slow that Wei falls asleep in the middle. Afterwards Wei apologise to emperor and says he had this peculiar dream of being in heaven palace and Jade Empress made him oversee the execution of a dragon king. That night, in emperor Li's dream a headless dragon king starts haunting him for not keeping his promise. It happens every night and Emperor Li falls sick and dies very soon. When he goes to the underworld, he surprisingly meets a former minister now a bureaucrat in charge. The former minister doctors the record and gives emperor 20 years more life so he comes back to life after dead for 3 days. After back from death, Li falls in love with Buddhism. Some say to him that the true Buddhist scriptures in the west can deliver souls from misery but you must send a team to fetch them. Then you have the story about the journey.
There's no other mention of Yuan in the book but the fact he even knows what happens when with the god's life death suggest he knows the universe and fate even better than the gods and Buddhas.
@@姜磊-n5h Oh alright thanks!
@@TheLorebrarians In fact, in the Journey to the West, Erlang was never called Yang Jian, nor did he have a third eye. The image of his third eye and the name of Yang Jian come from another novel 《Tales of the Teahouse Retold》. But gradually, with the folk worship, people accepted this and blended them all, so that many Chinese can't tell them apart.
Very well analyzed, I really enjoy it. Other than some minor mistakes like the name of Erlang, there's one thing I think you didn't get correctly. I believe there isn't a religious war between Western Heaven and Eastern Heaven, more likely both sides conspire together to monopolize immortality. Mortal or immortal, can all be pawns for this conspiracy. Eastern has some dirty trade in places like the Webbed Hollow, while Western has their unspeakable way with places like the Yellow Wind Ridge. It is heavily indicated that bodhisattva Polanpo was murderred before the game. You can get her remains, Buddha's right hand and left hand in Chapter 4 of the game.
The most accurate and in depth analysis
The real story is about a super power trying to project it's mindset on to those that are different:
a power that have the ability to "decide" good and evil;
that have the power to seize resources from the inferior;
that have the power to lunch wars on those that disobey;
a power that have strong allies, and supporters all over the world.
19:09 You know, this sentence that you say here shows that it's a bhuddist gamble (from Wukongs device), because they are all about breaking the circle (of death and rebirth) and gaining freedom (Nirvana).
One of the best videos on the lore. Thank you. I finally understand the game
IT MAKES SO MUCH MORE SENSE NOW! Thanks so so much for explaining
Holy Cow!!! What a great interpretation!!
19:07 I'm certain, through the discussion made prior to the confrontation with the Great Sage's Broken Shell, that the Su Wukong cannot be truly reincarnated within the Destined One, as the real "mind" that bore his personality, died with him.
Wukong: "Fuck the gods, i'm gonna kill them all."
Asura (Asura's Wrath): "Need some help with that?"
Kratos, Wukong and Asura making a team lol
Mortals are literally the same
@@eduardocardozo9562 Oh shit, It's over for the Heaven Realms...
@@eduardocardozo9562 Erlang Shen, Jiang Ziya, and Nezha joining in due to their own rebellious actions aginst the heavenly court.
Love the video, just want to say that, Erlang Shen’s Shen is not his surname.. the full Erlang Shen is his title and Shen by itself in this context means god/deity. His name is Yang Jian and it’s better to use this name to shorten if you want, in this case Yang is his surname and Jian is his name.
Yao Guai aren’t immortals. They’re animals who gained powers through self-cultivation and can live for centuries, but ultimately still mortal. You also forget that the Yellow Wind Sage was Lingji’s pet ferret in the original story, who tested the team. The OG story was filled with run away pets. Proxy war by pets is fun, eh?
Somehow celestial pets can be really OP.
Amazing video. Its cool how Chinese Mythology or what little remained, mixed with two different philosophies creates, and how it influenced a book, which gets a sequel in the form of a game. A game that shows the faults of both philosophies when taken to the extremes.
Appreciate it, glad you enjoyed! you're right, there are a lot of deep teachings/lessons in these stories
@TheLorebrarians I would say there's something similar with the Illiad and Greek mythology, which has some elements of the Mycenaean and Minoan myths/religion who came before them plus has elements of other nearby cultures like those in Anatolia, and the middle east like Phoenicians. Sadly, there's no Greek mythology game equivalent like Black Myth Wukong that serves as a sequel. 😅
What a great explanation. It all makes so much sense now
Fun facts: in the novel, upon attaining Buddhahood, Wukong beseeched Buddha to remove the circlet during the audience with Buddha, and he withdrew it for him. I don't mind the game taking liberty abit in their own universe. There was a lesser known very old set of Chinese comics where Wukong creating mayhem in Buddha land. Not canonical ofc. Also, Red Boy's name is literally red small(young) child/scion, rather than gender specific. His power is the flame of 3 sins (greed, anger/hatred, ignorance) that burns even water. Only Quanyin's divine water can quelch it completely. Metaphor much?
The game also follows it, you have the scene where Buddha removes the circlet in the secret ending, the point was that Buddha basically lied because he couldn't afford Wukong, one of the only beings that dared to challenge him, to stay unchecked. That's why the circlet reappears in the opening, it actually never left him, it was just hidden.
@@LadCarmichael Yep, Buddha just changed his leash from a visible one to an invisible one (which is a thing IRL, by the way).
The translations were a bit rough in some parts, but with Immersive Translate, I’m able to catch every detail. Great tool!
The world in Black Myth seems a bit darker than what i expected after finishing chapter 2. Yaoguais eating human casually as if it's part of their diet. Buddha transforms an entire kindom of humen into rats just because the king decided to worship a rat instead of enbracing buddhism. For sure no body would want to live in a world.like that.
what did you think yaoguais eat? what do demons and the devil consume?
There is a hierarchy of immortality here. Yaoguais eat humans to level up and increase their lifespan; the celestials turn Yaoguais into Elixir of Immortality and drink these to gain more "immortality" and power.
In a way the celestials are the same as Yaoguais, except one side has organisation and order, the other are rag-tag bands of outlaws.
Demons gonna demon.
@@zj6976 the world in black myth is much much darker than that.
@@antwangoThey don't have to eat human flesh (we see in chapter 1 a wolf yaogoai attempt to eat a peach that was the Destined One in disguise). They only eat humans because they want to become immortal.
i like how the series puts both heavens in a darker light since in the original journey to the west well the jade emperor and his court where often shown as incompetents' most people miss out on the fact that Buddha's and Bodhisattvas are often characterized as con artists and arrogant. the goddess of mercy actually stole several of the relics given for trippitaka, the buddha himself sabotaged the journey more then once to make it fit his vison better, hell Buddha even cons wukong at the start, wukong did infact escape his palm by the way the event is worded but didn't catch it.
Rumors has it that Black Myth: Wukong's two upcoming DLC expansions follows the aftermath of the True Ending, where the Destined One-- now Sun Wukong reincarnate --joins forces with his previous pilgrimage comrades (Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, Ao Lie/White Dragon Horse, and Tang Sanzang) and Erlang Shen to put an end to the war between religions once and for all.
That would be nice, in the OG story the white dragon horse barely did anything other than the one occasion when wukong was banished by tang sanzang and he actually went back to being his dragon prince form and fought for a bit.
"We got the band back together"-aah DLC concept. I'd be 100% down thought.
Amazing writing, this describes the story even better than some of the Chinese counter parts. There are a lot of deep background stories and interpretations per stage, maybe do a few videos on those stories alone.
Thanks so much and I appreciate the suggestion! I've got more videos lined up delving deeper into specific topics
Amazing content! Love the way you managed to explain the lore. Subscribing right now :)
well done buddy. this is the best video about the story of BMW. u dig the deep thing on to the ground.
Wukong (悟空）in Buddhism means to understand/to see through the illusion/emptiness of this universe. Kong(空) in Buddhism=emptiness/illusion/sunyata/not real. A Taoist name ZhuangZi also mentioned that the life itself is just a dream. And Elon Musk also said this universe could just be a simulator.
The game has an impressive sequel story.
I think the reason why the west will never understand the east is because they keep interpreting "teachings" as "religion".
I really didnt realize heaven was split, I assumed it was just the court who was also under the Buddha, I didn't consider the bodhisattvas or how there was clearly conflict. Super cool video
The novel itself is a satire of the Chinese government's control over everything during that time, the Yaoguai especially Sun Wukong represent the people's will and freedom while the Headband is the control and constriction. The Jade Emperor represented as the leader of the government and the deities are his officers, as the story progresses, the rumor of Tang Sanzang flesh is a falsified method to challenge the people will by using it to drive the people against each other as Yaoguai are driven to kill Tang Sanzang and his disciples or in other words to reap the reward because the government promised it.
I think this storyline about war in heaven and wukong reborn will played in the dlc.
Wukong did not die
@@raffielj
He was actually dead (by purposely killing himself) but he was able to pull off a trick by spreading his 5 relics and the 6th relic which is the destined one, was responsible for gathering all other relics and become whole again thus Wukong's reincarnation.
Wukong did all of this just to remove the Golden Crown and gain freedom from heaven's control.
@@fluffyfluffs1167 so he is still alive
@@raffielj It's an interesting philosophical question - does (re)gaining the memories of another person make you that person? All the isekai stories we read agree somewhat on this, but memories =/= temperament.
@@kdbx2sec but he is wukong's mind he's part of his sense regaining other senses.. why is the "destined one" mute? Because he doesn't have a complete soul if you played up until NG+3 the destined one becomes Wukong complete with all his divine powers except of course the headband... In the game if the destined one dies he becomes a strand, he is a part of wukong..
He is not reborn as another person/monkey he is reborn as himself without the other parts of his essence.. An isekai is a person born as another person. Think of this as wukong's revenge to the other guais that rallied with the heavenly army to stop him... Which is impossible since Wukong is a Buddha an omnipotent and omniscient being in the novel and erlang is not a buddha so nobody literally nobody can stop wukong after he becomes the victorious fighting buddha
Definitely channeling some _God of War_ energy with this one. Hopefully, any sequels or DLC allow Wukong to make good on his threat to the Jade Emperor (and possibly the Buddha) like Asura did to Chakravartin.
This is such a great explanation. Can't wait for the DLC!
We need a part 2 of this game.
There is no bad ending and good ending of Black Myth Wukong. If you willingly want to serve the buddha, then the "bad" ending is your good ending. If you want to break free of buddha's servanthood, then your good ending is finding the 6 relics and removing the headband.
And to be noted the current destined one isn't the same arrogant stone monkey. His choice to serve the heavens or not doesn't matter as he completely accepts his destiny no matter what unlike Wukong.
Huh, I guess Sun Wukong & Zhu Bajie/Wuneng asking for help from Erlang Shen & his 6 Meishan Brothers to subdue the Nine Headed Beast in Chapter 63 & thus becoming friends really did pay off in the long run!
Okay, so now that Wukong is, finally, TRULY Free of the Tight Fillet Spell, there's probably going to be some... "Unique" Conflict when Old Sun meets Sanzang & Sha Wujing again, since they're likely still Buddhas! I definitely know Guanyin is going to be either Mildly Disappointed or REALLY Annoyed that the "Destinated One" Plan didn't turn out the way Gautama & Her had hoped!
Incredible video. But I believe Sun Wukong was not actually reincarnated, we are still the destined one but with Sun Wukong's memory.
In the cutscene 17:26 , Erlang never called him Wukong. After returning the memory, he said: "A mortal death for an unbound mind and will. May you not fail him."
Sun Wukong is gone forever, but his will for freedom lives on, and that's his legacy bestowed for the destined one.
In this game's story, wukong was still under the influence of the head band, so to escape from it, he dies & reincarnates, then gathers his original powers. Its all a master plan from Wukong. In the original, wukong becomes a buddha & his head band disappears.
This video was amazing….what do y’all think the next game will be about
And just like that ... A hope for Part 2 or even part 3 of Black Myth has been established. GAD DEYUM
I don’t think Sun and Erlang were conspiring together like some sort of coordinated plan made behind the scenes but rather, when Erlang attacked Sun in the intro, Sun subtly manipulated and tricked Erlang into helping him with his scheme to rid himself of the circlet by provoking him with challenging words. It fits with Erlangs behavior in the secret boss battle where Erlang himself appears conflicted and introspective with the battle showing him the truth of their battle and also helped Erlang be at peace.
Well, if you look into Erlang's myth. Jade had his ten suns (sons) to kill Erlang and once they killed his mother (Princess Yaoji), he killed nine of the ten suns. So I don't know why you think Erlang wouldn't agree with Wukong and they plan against the heavens. He deserves agency too, you know.
@@jamesprice6015 I understand that and how he would agree, but at the same time, the animations and what we see point to Erlang being on the Celestial Courts side when attacking Wukong and even somewhat mocking him about the circlet still being on his head and wanting to stop being a Buddha before Wukong issues the challenge of “watching him rip it off his head and break free”.
If anything, this all kind of shows that Erlang DID feel unhappy with the celestial court and the gods but he lacked Wukongs rebellious nature, or the free spiritedness that he has to oppose such powerful beings with the stuff with Wukongs death putting him at conflict. It’s with the Destined Ones success and victory over him that he finally understood what Wukong was truly after and how far he’d go, how nothing could truly cage someone like him in the end, which gave Erlang peace knowing that there is hope that the gods can be opposed.
@@wizardwolf1020 I don't think he mocked Wukong. I mean let's think about this. With the four directional kings and the heavens watching, would Erlang not commit to the act of the plan? Also, the that he knew Wukong's plan shows that Erlang has some understanding and might be a part of it.
Also, Erlang's third eye allows it to see the intentions of others. What's to say that he didn't knew of Wukong's plan ahead of time, huh?
@@jamesprice6015 considering Wukong himself though, the intro tells us that they attacked and killed monkeys as a means of getting to him, which is something Wukong always drew a line at since it’s HIS people that’s being harmed. If they truly were in cahoots, all they would’ve needed to do was what the intro basically showed, Erlang, the four Yaoguai kings, heavenly army, four directional kings, and god of giants pulling up to Wukongs mountain and telling him to come out and face them. Wukong himself even states this as he acknowledges that they don’t trust him even with all that he’s done and that they always could’ve done this but he doesn’t get them going around and killing monkeys to provoke him, calling them bastards for it.
It also doesn’t change the conflict and other emotions Erlang felt after facing Wukong as well as Wukongs passing which the fight with the Destined One answered. That being that someone like Wukong could never be caged, that nobody could truly beat someone with as great a spirit as Wukong except himself, that he would go to such great lengths for his freedom which put Erlang at peace. Because that’s what made the four kings and Erlang himself a test which Erlang himself admits. Wukong challenged him and Erlang gave the relics to the kings as a test for Wukongs inevitable reincarnation to face to see if what Wukong said and believed was true with him secretly keeping the mind for himself and killing anyone who may know about it and expose him such as the two soldiers (who were killing off monkeys post intro fight before seeing the stone and the evidence).
If the two truly were in cahoots, the lives lost because of the initial planning would be cutthroat even for Wukong as he’d be sacrificing his own peoples lives to obtain his freedom as well as taking on the major risk of Erlang holding his mind and going into hiding where the Destined One could potentially never find him
@@jamesprice6015 this
About the scene that Wukong stand defeated before 5 (6 if counting Demon Bull King) individuals
It had
Bull "Demon King"
Erlang Shen "God"
Black bear "Monster"
"Buddha"
"Yaoquai"
"Great sage"
Poor Sun Wukong. He is a part of all of them. Knowing that the heavenly celestial doesn't want him to alive. An extremly being that had pretty much all part of their world