okay an ask for an ask- rank the characters from Journey to the West + explanations
1. sun wukong
you knew i was going to put him first. i knew i was going to put him first. heās impulsive, way too immortal, way too powerful, and is basically a nuclear bomb waiting to explode. but the way he behaves is so interesting and human, as heās meant to be, even more so as the journey goes! (also heās so funny.) wukong acts how we would act, especially because heās an allegory for the mind.
after getting kicked out of the squad, he returns to find his home in shambles and ends up storming the residence of the monster enslaving his monkeys, rescuing them and partying like crazy afterwards. which is how we would behave if we had all these built up emotions and issues! wukong takes his anger out on the demon kidnapping his people and then chooses to forget about everything else in favor of having fun because itās easier to party than to face your emotions.
2. sha wujing
heās a nice guy!! and probably the only one with consistently functioning brain cells!! heās smart, determined, mentally aware, kind, albeit a little naive. he genuinely cares about the journey and his friends and does his part in rescuing tang sanzang. he understands the importance of the trip and tries to keep everyone on track but he still understands the need to occasionally have some fun. wujingās innocence literally is shown by how easily he trusts others, heās a good dude, okay? itās a shame how little heās discussed.
3. (?) guanyin
i put a question mark because i cant decide where guanyin, sha wujing, and bai longma should go. but i like her! guanyin is mostly popularized as feminine (transfem specifically, she was born as a prince) but iāve learned that sheās traditionally nonbinary so iām going to refer to them as she/they for now. uh yeah, theyāre super cool and a big help on the jttw. also i love when she and wukong gear up to kick ass together while they banter along the way. what a duo.
3. bai longma
itās a shame how little HEāS discussed. easily the most underdeveloped member of the group, to the point that the author basically forgets his existence every time sanzang is kidnapped. heās a fucking dragon, he could have solved multiple issues just by turning back into a dragon but nooooooo. but heās a constant on the journey and when he DOES do something, he tries his best. itās not his fault for being ignored! heās doing the best he can and i support him.
4. tang sanzang
heās a model buddhist and a kind hearted person but heās basically useless. even the horse carried sanzang on his back the whole time but sanzang just basically got captured the entire journey. nice dude and very law abiding but thatās not going to get him too far on a road filled with demons.
5. zhu wuneng
literally the cause of 75% of their problems. the allegory for the worst traits of mankind. i think this was pretty obvious. (i do think heās relatable and funny but he just fucks up too much shit that he could have most definitely prevented if not for his base desires.)
