#MAN it would be neat to see a jttw retelling that really got into the long journey to SWK wanting to kill TSZ

[sketching-shark]

I main not be a tang sanzang apologist main but i sure as hell ready to square up for him at anytime

Man gets his reputation slaughtered bad n is misrepresented in fics (lmk wise)

Ill be his apologist n defending his character bc bro doesn’t deserve being misrepresented like this

(No bc why do i keep seeing post defending swk n then turned around bashing both bajie n tang sanzang—like what??? Y’all do realize he would slaughter u all against any slights towards them both😭😭😭

Heck sun wukong is the first tang sanzang apologist who stepped up(as in fight for his honor literally

Monkie Kid spoilers & complaining below so ignore or read on as you like

wegerf well anon just finished saying so but yeah chances are that if you're main exposure to the og pilgrims are from simplified and cartoony forms then it can be pretty easy to form a mostly negative opinion about them, especially following a common but often unspoken "equivalent exchange" fandom rule that if one character is going to be made better than another character has to be made worse (i.e. exactly what happened with Sun Wukong and the Six-Eared Macaque in Monkie Kid lmao). Hell as it is I've heard that even in China the multiple chapters Xiyouji dedicates to Tang Sanzang's backstory & traumas are often left out of retellings! And in many ways this too is understandable especially when you're dealing with a retelling aimed at children, given that from what happened to the monk's mother to living under the constant threat of getting devoured to being sexually assaulted numerous times...well, not many stories are going to want to even touch on the horrifying nature and aftermath of most or even any of that. But yeah at the end of the day leaving all of this out & keeping in other things like Tang Sanzang using the headband against Sun Wukong for seemingly no reason does make him a lot easier to fully demonize than he might otherwise be. But it does lead to a pretty disappointing situation where there's an overall sense that someone HAS to be bashed, vs. the much more interesting situation of each of the pilgrims having reasons, even very understandable reasons, for acting the way they do even while they are obviously very capable of hurting each other, and then slowly learning how to work together and even appreciate each other's company.

Because yeah at the end of the day anon you are so right about how the Monkey King himself becomes Tang Sanzang's #1 active apologist lmao

#anon answered #monkey critical #MAN it would be neat to see a jttw retelling that really got into the long journey to SWK wanting to kill TSZ #to becoming his most fierce protector #think that may be one of the reasons monkey king hero is back is so beloved #because it's a retelling that quasi does that #hero is back swk never wants to kill the tsz stand-in #but you do see his slow growth from being annoyed at the kid to risking his life repeatedly to save his #aaaaa