#lmk analysis

But you've seen the theories and Shadowpeach fanfiction – plenty of people believe that Wukong gouged Macaque's eye with his staff.

I put forth that this was a deliberately engineered misconception. Or, as Wukong likes to say dramatically, misdirection.

I believe the showrunners purposefully made that golden Wukong animation extremely short-lived – a literal blink-and-you-miss-it – so that they could put two other red herrings could take front and centre:

Making MK mirror Wukong's pose (which incited Macaque to have the flashback) while MK wields the staff and Macaque obviously blocks it from hitting his eye [S2E7]

Showing a much clearer montage of a stern-to-expressionless Wukong wielding his staff in two separate stills: staving off Macaque's own shadow staff and when he rises from behind a defeated Macaque [S3E4]

The presentation of moment (1), especially in combination with Macaque's action and dialogue (blocking it right over his damaged eye, his remark "You really are just that bit too much like him") reinforces the impression that, since MK just reminded Macaque heavily of Wukong, that Wukong must have attacked him in the same manner. However, that falls apart upon closer inspection of that Wukong-silhouette sequence.

As for moment (2), that jars with the fact that the S2E7 and S5E7 flashbacks, which match up far more closely, contradict the flashback in which (2) occurs.

So, we have a contradiction in flashbacks, with S3E4's as the sore thumb. However, the matter of fact remains that that contradictory flashback was shown as having happened – as if Macaque was recalling his memories.

But Macaque also had the much more visceral flashback in S2E7, which is corroborated far better by Wukong's in S5E7.

What is the takeaway here?

A third party tampered with Macaque.

Consider these exchanges Macaque had in S5:

S5E9: Sacrifice

Xiangliu: Oho, that was quite a trick! That power. Who gave that to you? Who'd you make a deal with?

Macaque: A deal...?

With S5E9's exchange, the viewer is introduced to the possibility that Macaque has interacted with a third party, specifically to obtain considerable power—one that Macaque neither confirms nor denies.

This possibility turns very likely once we see in S5E10 (Harbinger) that Macaque's signature black-purple shadow powers are erratically infected into black-orange Chaotic powers.

By the end of the episode, Macaque also notices those same Chaotic powers electrifying the staff (which, perhaps not so incidentally, is also the object of contradiction in his flashbacks).

With the prominent implications in mind that Macaque, through some third party or external influence, has been infected or influenced by Chaotic power, recall this Shadowpeach exchange:

S5E1: Strings That Bind

Macaque: We have no idea who freed Azure from the Scroll. Are your old companions just—here again!? And you just—!

Wukong: What about you!? You just—come back, just—!

Macaque: (groans in exasperation)

This exchange here is interesting for multiple reasons.

First, it foreshadows a question that S5E9's exchange makes even more contentious: what happened when Macaque returned from the Underworld to the realm of the living?

Note once more that Macaque neither confirms nor denies anything about Wukong's question, implied or otherwise. What we do know of his revival is from the S3E4 flashback – the viewer is shown Lady Bone Demon freeing Macaque and subjecting him to her conditions.

However, as this analysis has already shown, S3E4's account of The Fight is unreliable.

Importantly, there is nothing to indicate that the rest of that same account, covering Macaque's return to the living, should be taken as more reliable.

It's fair to say that the circumstances of how Macaque returned to the living is, at this point in time pre-S6, an open question.

Second, and most interesting of all, the exchange brings up another question:

How much does Wukong actually know of Macaque's circumstances?

On the face of it, given S5E1's Shadowpeach interaction above, Wukong doesn't know how Macaque returned. Again, this is left an open question—one that Macaque, characteristically, is not prone to talking about for his own reasons, given his habits of being cryptic (S4 Special: The Emperor's Wrath) as well as sardonically self-aware about his habit.

S2E7: Shadow Play

Macaque: Sometimes you just gotta talk it out, y'know? D— I don't really do it. Maybe I should. But we'd be here all day, so—

On this matter, I think it is extremely valuable to examine Wukong's characterisation thus far as a point of comparison.

Wukong is shown as having a reliable memory and vocal awareness of how he has put away his enemies.

His exchanges with the Lady Bone Demon ("You should've stayed buried." it's so peak i ain't even gonna cite it ykyk), his regret of ever having kept her alive, and recalling how he didn't need extra power the last time he defeated her, showcase his confidence in his memory and his lack of hesitation voicing it.

Above all, Wukong's interaction with Azure—one of the old companions who mysteriously came back and is brought up in the S5E1 Shadowpeach exchange—is, I feel, the most enlightening to cover.

S4 Special: The Emperor's Wrath

Azure: [...] It's the whole reason I'm here at all!

Wukong: Wait, how are you here?

Azure: What!? What kind of question is that—you know exactly how I—

Wukong: No, here and now! I put you in the Underworld myself! How'd you get out? How'd you get the Scroll? I know for sure you didn't steal it... You couldn't have.

Wukong confirms it explicitly: he put Azure in the Underworld himself. This is not up for debate—it's what set the foundations of the mess of contradictions of Azure's return and how he obtained the Scroll of Memory. It also falls in line of how Wukong has not only a good memory of how he handled the Lady Bone Demon before, but also declares his memories regarding her previous defeat unabashedly.

So, given Wukong's behaviour regarding Lady Bone Demon and Azure, we have a baseline for how Wukong (1) recalls with good clarity how he defeats his enemies and (2) how open he is with his memory and treats it as reliable evidence.

Wukong's baseline behaviour when remembering defeating his adversaries directly contrasts how he is about Macaque's disappearance and return.

In S5E7, after being freed by Macaque from his flashback of the fight, Wukong is also shown quickly scrubbing a tear from his eye. However, when asked by Macaque about it, albeit cynically ("Fun memory?"), Wukong is not open about it ("No, what—what was that thing?").

Taking these in combination with his halting exchange with Macaque in S5E1 ("What about you!? You just—come back, just—!"), we have another discrepancy to deal with.

Wukong's typical certainty about his memory and incapacitating his enemies, including a former sworn brother, is entirely absent when it comes to Macaque.

The only thing we do hear from the usually confident, outspoken Monkey King about Macaque—the only sign we have to go off of about his awareness of Macaque's circumstances—is that he 'came back'.

No mention from where. And, given his frustrated and pointedly unusual stammering, likely with no idea of why or how.

But, by this point, we know Macaque leaving him is established as a sore point for Wukong in their argument in his Scroll of Memory ("Just run off like you always do!").

The most we can be certain about what Wukong knows is that, for him, Macaque—at some point—left him.

How does this bear on theory, then, that Wukong was not the one who sent Macaque to the Underworld?

One of the main points I hope to have made clear by now is this: if Wukong knows (or at least thinks he knows) something, he will show certainty. It stands to reason that if he doesn't know something (and is not trying to bluff about it), he won't show certainty. It is very likely that Wukong, at most, only knows that Macaque left him, but not that he was sent to the Underworld.

There is another point I want to make in support of this theory – bear with me as it takes some more elaboration.

For someone who supposedly knew he sent Macaque to his death, Wukong acts far too petty to him pre-S4.

As the show has repeatedly emphasised in establishing Monkey King's character, Wukong immensely values being immortal because of his driving fear of death. Macaque himself explicates this for the viewer.

S4 Special: The Emperor's Wrath

Macaque: [Wukong] always felt he had to be stronger. More immortal. He was so terrified of mortality. Went so far as to take his name out of the Book of the Dead. But even that wasn't enough.

Coupled with the running references to Wukong's immortality in the earlier seasons and him reveling in it ("If these things didn't make me immortal, they'd literally kill me!" "Why? A little water never hurt no— Ooh, right! Mortality."; "Spacesuits are for dorky mortals."; ), it suffices to say that he cares a lot about staying alive.

Moreover, Wukong wants the people he cares about to avoid death ("You guys have this thing called mortality" and the whole arc of him leaving MK alone to prepare for and face Lady Bone Demon himself).

Of course, as shown with Azure, Wukong is not above placing his enemies in the Underworld or the equivalent. Even when Demon Bull King returns from being trapped under the mountain by Wukong's hand, it can be inferred that he was, in fact, dead.

Pilot Special: Monkie Kid: A Hero is Born

DBK: Flesh... Bone... I have returned to the realm of the living!

As a slight but related sidebar, in the case of DBK, whose return Wukong witnessed in the form of a monkey-tailed bird, Wukong is remarkably nonchalant, leaving handling him and his family's destruction of the city fully to MK. This contrasts to how he is agitated and intervenes directly into Macaque stealing MK's powers – of course, Wukong had multiple reasons to intervene, but his attitude towards Macaque of general vindictiveness ("Ugh! Are you ever gonna get sick of living in my shadow!?") is a far cry from his casualness towards DBK's violence and antagonism.

The point of Wukong's vindictiveness towards Macaque, though, is a good segue back to the main argument: Wukong's pettiness towards Macaque pre-S4 is too out of place if he were actually aware he killed Macaque.

Of course, Wukong does not consider Macaque someone to care about in S1 to S3. Even at the beginning of S5, post-Scroll of Memory and peach popsicle passing, he snaps at Macaque of trying to help after being "a villain five minutes ago".

It's apparent from Wukong's meanness to Macaque, most evident in his barbs in S3 as Macaque is tracking them down, that he holds a particular resentment for Macaque that he does not hold for any other antagonist in the show. He's downright jovial about DBK in comparison, teases Spider Queen, only keeps things ruthless with LBD, and only makes the most of irritating Azure with cheeky antics as opposed to being outright petty.

However, given what we know of Wukong's fear of death and that he is aware of his and Macaque's long history, it does not make sense that Wukong would act as petty as he does while knowing he killed Macaque.

Famously, Wukong is shown to have forgotten himself when it comes to Macaque. But, his endless drive for power and, particularly, immortality, was out of a desire to protect the people he cares about. Specifically Macaque.

S4 Special: The Emperor's Wrath

Wukong: I just wanted to protect the people I cared about. To be strong enough...

[A golden projection of a past Wukong appears, followed by one of a past Macaque]

Wukong: I lost sight of why I was doing any of it. I know I made a few lifetimes' worth of mistakes, but...living them over and over again like this, I...

Here, Wukong admits to forgetting the initial reason why he pursued so much power – in the Scroll of Memory's flashback, Macaque shows some awareness in his chat with Wukong under the tree that Wukong enjoys the idea of being the strongest.

But I want to take care to highlight that this does not mean Wukong entirely forgot about Macaque, or repressed his memories to do with him so strongly as to basically have forgotten about him. As evidenced by the S3 Finale and S5E2, both Wukong and Macaque remember enough of their past that they can coordinate without words – that is the depths to which they know each other. Recall as well that their wordless communication in the S3 Finale happens before Wukong is trapped in the Scroll of Memory.

And, as the Ink Demon momentarily taunts Wukong with before trapping him, it is clear that Wukong does, beneath his pettiness thus far, care deeply for Macaque.

Of course, for reasons of screen time, narrative pacing, and so forth, MK, Macaque, and thus the viewer do not bear witness to all of the memories Wukong must have torn through to try to find a way out before being overwhelmed. So, though it is arguably telling that the memory of the Fight is not shown in what is essentially a highlight reel of Wukong's "few lifetimes' worth of mistakes" that mostly centre around Macaque, there isn't too much to go off of the fact that The Fight is not covered in that segment.

That being said, it is sensible to infer that Wukong relived his significant regrets in the Scroll, most of which focus on Macaque, and stayed to watch them unfold. You'll notice that the replays of Wukong's earliest memories in the segment cut off and rewind to the beginning very soon after they begin, indicating Wukong tore through the memory rapidly after the memory started. That same cut-off-and-rewind does not happen to the memories we see of Wukong and Macaque, including their one of their fight beneath Five Phases Mountain.

Despite being good with his memories usually, Wukong lingers considerably in his memories with Macaque. Ones that, given his overwhelm by the time MK and Macaque find him, cause him a lot of emotional pain (recall him scrubbing a tear after S5E7's flashback).

Of course, Wukong was happy to fight off Macaque and not check on his well-being in S1 to S3. However, that isn't the same as being so driven as to make sure Macaque is dead again like how Wukong did with LBD. Even while taunting Macaque as LBD's lackey, Wukong doesn't go out of his way to try to end or fight Macaque in the same manner. (A potentially interesting point of comparison is how he fights the Mayor, who is a true lackey of LBD's, whereas Wukong insists on the gang running away from Macaque instead of facing him).

Again, this is a subtle point I want to make about the incongruity of Wukong's behaviour.

Given Wukong's fear of death, his want to protect those he cares about, and him acting in a way that shows he remembers Macaque and has known him for a long time, including their history, it does not make sense he would both be aware he killed Macaque and be relentlessly petty like in S1 and S3

For Wukong's pettiness to make sense, it would have to be that, for the particular way in which Macaque wronged him:

Wukong knowingly sent him to the Underworld for it,

the grudge would warrant, upon Macaque's mysterious return, vindictive jabs about Macaque's inferiority ("Oh, good, I thought it was somebody important." "You always did give a sidekick kinda vibe." "On brand for you to have a worse version of everyone else's powers.")

not inspire Wukong to bother or want to expend true effort to incapacitate him (cf. Azure) or straight up end him (cf. LBD).

That is a particular cocktail of behaviours that, given Wukong's character, does not make sense.

And, unless I'm just limited in my creativity, I can't conceive of a type of wrong Macaque, or anyone, could do that would make that combination of behaviours make sense. It especially doesn't gel with someone of Wukong's nature, who employs his craftiness and strength mainly to protect the people he cares about. What would make sense, in combination with the other points about Wukong being not nearly as outspoken or direct as he otherwise always is about the villains he puts away, is that Wukong, to the best of his knowledge, did not put Macaque in the Underworld.

In summary:

On closer inspection, Macaque's S3 flashback of The Fight contradicts his own and Wukong's account of The Fight

Macaque was tampered with down to his magic by Chaos

Wukong, usually vocal about his memories of taking down his enemies, says nothing about taking down Macaque

The only thing Wukong does express about Macaque's circumstances is that Macaque, for unknown and unstated reasons, 'came back'

Wukong's established behaviour and characterisation means him knowingly putting Macaque in the Underworld doesn't make sense

Alternative considerations

Because I just like being thorough.

The planted memories are actually the S2 and S5 flashbacks, not the S3 one

This would require both Macaque and Wukong having been tampered with in some way.

This is possible considering

Macaque was tampered with in some way

The staff, previously having belonged to Wukong, and MK, born from the same stone as Wukong, are both shown to be linked to Chaos

Wukong showing a strange lack of questioning not only about Macaque, but also about accepting MK so quickly, which Macaque explicitly called out, and even Azure's appearance in the S4 special.