Yes, it's very in line with China's national conditions. Officials don't do anything, they just want to play tricks and complicate simple things, and then desperately exploit the people and shirk responsibility, suppressing people's freedom
This game is literally my first exposure to Chinese mythology and I am so fucking grateful for that. With Anime and a lot of games there’s heavy Japanese stuff everywhere and even Nordic and Greek. We always get the SAMURAI, Ninjjas/Shinobi, Spartans, Vikings, Native American content in media…It’s just a really awesome experience to kind of be introduced to this part of the worlds history and myths. I hope more is to come
@@Williamsweeb India too, I think the only representation they have is like some enemy names in final fantasy like Lakshmi and Shiva, but there’s crazy amounts of myth and to some people actual history that has untapped potential
Some of the ending animations for the chapters just didn't make sense which lead me from my surface level knowledge of Xiozi Ji (Journey to the west) to a deep dive including and not limited to Scorpionlord's penis somehow and also Bull King not having such depressing lore in the original source material.
@@EriTheFish the endings did make sense it’s just GS decided to write their own stories that are heavily inspired or taken after JTTW- like zhu baije’s love story with chang’e is not in the novel but rather GS own story they decided to woven into the game
during Erlang's fight... he shielded the entirety of meishan with clouds to prevent celestial court from seeing his fight with wukong. it was by design.
erlang and his homies are filtering out the real destined one and lead him to destination. so they tend to try to beat you up first. guess they've slayed enough monkeys already.
Depending on the folklore, Erlang Shen only do the bidding of Heaven because his mother was imprisoned by them. Wukong's journey lead him to and eventually freeing his mother thus solidifying a unspoken friendship. They already had respect for each other's combat prowess before and it all started with Erlang Shen being somewhat envious of Wukong for being able to live life so freely with nothing chaining him, that is till he got the headband. You got to remember Erlang Shen was raised by Heaven as the "perfect soldier" so everything he does down to his attitude must be perfect in the eyes of Heaven which he more or less feel suffocating but he did it for his mother in hopes that one day he could free her. Heaven baited him by saying if he performs like x number of thousands of feats/merit, he could free his mother but likewise every demerit, more years will be added to his mother's sentencing. In a way, while Wukong was imprisoned under a mountain, Erlang Shen's mother was imprisoned inside a mountain cave.
1:04 Each of them even mentions a "brother" at some point either to the character or in their journal entries if not both. Whiteclad Noble: "I come at my brother's command. There are no schemes." Yellow-Robed Squire: "I'm to await someone at the bidding of my Brother." Green-Capped Martialist: "My brother said that if there's a chance, I can test the monkey on his behalf" Venom Daoist: Hearing this, the Daoist remembered his brother's instructions and inquired, "What can this method achieve?" Pale-Axe Stalwart: "I've failed brother"
One more thing to mention is that, when Wukong broke in Celestial Court for the first time, it was long before the journey, Erlang was asked to fight and control Wukong, but after hundreds of rounds of fighting, they still tied, it was Daode Tianzun sneak attacked Wukong and got him captured, so Erlang kinda felt bad and sorry about it, and of course, low-key mad on Celestial Court's dirty trick.
if you go back to the game intro, you gon realize every sentence Erlang and Wukong said contains hidden messages, they basically talking about their plan in a super subtle way, lol
After Erlang released the last root, he recovered immediately. He even let a cloud to cover sunlight (celestial court) when he spoke to Destiny one. Four heavenly kings are just phantoms created by Erlang to train Destiny one using law phenomenon (giant dharma). Erlang and Wukong respect each other in Journey to the west.
Wukong did use "older brother" in the intro in Chinese, and it was translated into "brother" in the English dub. For the specific sentence you mentioned, he actually didn't say "brat" but rather "little nephew" and called himself "uncle" to tease Erlang. As it'd be too much to explain the context for the English audience, you get "brat" to approximate the tone while maintaining the flow.
Calling him a brat is a very Chinese way to show how utterly irreverent and disrespectful Wukong is - Wukong is mockingly dressing Erlang down as someone one generation more junior than him. Because Erlang’s mother is the Jade Emperor’s younger sister, and Wukong titled himself The Great Sage EQUAL to Heaven. So he was basically saying “Yo dude I’m technically your uncle.” The Chinese in game dialogue is more explicit about this.
wukong might be youger but his rock form existed since the heaven and earth were created, It is just the rock takes time to absorb natural energy to come alive.
Calling him brat is just the most "realistically optimal" way to translate it. In the Chinese dub, Wukong called Erlang "nephew" in that scene. Wukong just showed his disrespect by mocking himself as the jade emperor who's legally Erlang's uncle.
it seems no one had noticed, but RESPECT to you using the OG Journey to the West music Though a remix, but it clearly gives the sad emotion tone for this game backstory
Only in chapter 3, but did not realize how many are helping craft the Destined One into the next Wukong in just those three, let alone other characters. Though, it does make sense. For the Destined One to be able to the same level of power as the original Wukong, he would need to be honed physically and mentally with the right training, but it can't be done more straightforwardly since the Court is probably keeping an eye out for a monkey that could be Wokong's successor. However, I wonder if the Destined one is even stronger than Wukong, in theory. Since he might be more humble, even after getting Wukong's memories, which will focus that power more effectively. The Destined One did not start out as OP as Wukong; he had earned it the hard way through many battles against foes stronger than him. So, he might still have the spirit of Wukong once gaining the memories, but he also now has the perspective that one has to work hard to be strong at the same time. A sort of balance between the genius (the OG Wukong) and the hard worker (Destined One) mindsets.
I think both way of thinking "Destined One is Wukong's reborn" and "Destined One is a New Wukong" both has its own sentimental meaning. Destined One is Us - The players, who will carry on the Great Sage's will, memory and legacy. Through hardships while journey on the path of enlightenment like Wukong did. For injustice time like in the game, calls for a new hero that eventually become equal as the Great Sage that equal to Heaven.
Saying Wukong started out OP is false. In the original story, Wukong had to work his ass off (wandering the mortal lands, seeking for a master who could teach him Immortality for 10+ years ) and then later trained hard under Taoist master Bodhi for another 10+ years....and then had to earn all fears and respects from 3 realms by himself.
@@StephenYoung1379 most of my prior knowledge of him was a kid show I watch when I was kid on channel called Teletoon. All I ever saw of his past was he was powerful but lacked patients and maturity which was his main reason for a teach, but that was cartoon from the 90 or early 2000 so it probably kept things simpler then the actuall book?
@@XVDragonGaming Yes, the book was absolutely mature, dark, complex, and with hidden plots, messages, and deep philosophy everywhere...That is why it has been considered one of the greatest literature in Asia.
Destiny one gets 6 roots back = Wukong is back. After Erlang released the last root, he recovered immediately. It’s just a test for Destiny one to get Wukong's memory.
Im glad that you quoted from the original literature of JTTW. JFYI that as JTTW is a collective work in Ming dynasty, intergrating numerous folklores and folkplays, the novel itself adopted the prevalent idea that Erlang is a rightous god (historically, Erlang as a religious figure is much more ancient and important than the jade emperor in Sichuan region, probably related to great engineer Li Bing in Qin dynasty and the prevalent Zoroastrianism in Han dynasty) While Gamescience tries to tweak the story with some modern flavor and making the celestial court antagonistic in BMW (just as what they had done in their previous works), Erlang has to remain good for the sake of his massive religious reputation and the recent momentum of his cultural figure in real life. The figure of Erlang in the modern chinese cultural industry has been keeping him as a rather protagonistic one since 1990s, the last work which tried to make Erlang antagonistic is the great anime film Bao Lian Deng 1999. In the premodern plays and folktales, Erlang had remained as a benevolent god (with some negative version in Henan region in Song dynasty but thats rather minor issue); yet since the leftist cultural movement in 1930s, multiple films and radio plays had been trying to take him as a more antagonistic character since his noble lifestyle and loyalty to the celestial court was seen as a representation of class oppression. The most influential story blueprint under this frame is Bao Lian Deng, which is basically a copycat story of Erlang's origin but the protagonist is the family in Hua Mountain rather than Tao Mountain. Both heroes in the two folklores, Erlang and Chenxiang, have a mother who was previously a celestial deity and sister of the Jade emperor, but fell in love with a mortal and disobeyed the celestial disciplines and eloped with her beloved husband; the celestial thus imprisoned her under a great mountain for punishment. Both two heroes, Erlang and Chenxiang, were raised by mortal family and had to complete great trials to gain godly power in order to rescue their mother from the mountain. Erlang's version of story is called 二郎救母, and Chenxiang's version is called 二堂舍子 or Bao Lian Deng 宝莲灯; in the Song dynasty, the latter became more popular than the former within the civic society in capital city, and the story of Chenxiang took a coalescing twist as Erlang had begun to be dipicted as the uncle of Chenxiang, and after he had saved his mother from Tao mountain, Erlang's sister eloped with another mortal (again!) to gave birth to Chenxiang, then, as both an elder in the family and a former defier of the celestial discipline, this time Erlang sees to stop this cycle of defiance to the heavenly order, and determined to stop his nephew Chenxiang. The adaptation is instantly ingenious and made Erlang's figure antagonistic one yet with a bit style of ancient Greek tragedy: the dragon slayer finally becomes the dragon itself. This version of Bao Lian Deng was rediscovered and advocated by the left-leaning intellectuals in early 1920s as a representation of revolt against class oppression and feudal rules. Classic operas, TV series and plays had been flooding the mainstream cultural landscape with Erlang's antagonistic figure since the significant Hongkong film of The Precious Lotus Lamp 1956 and the illustration book of Bao Lian Deng by great artist Lin Fengmian in 1957. Yet, things had a great turn when Jiao Enjun, the famous Taiwan TV star, took his hands on the script of Bao Lian Deng the TV series in 2005. The TV series was inspired by the success of 1999 anime film, and was originally following the path of taking Erlang as the arch-enemy in this story. However, as a pop star and great cultural influencer, Jiao wanted to add more depth in his role and asked to change the script a bit, making Erlang a secret rebel in the celestial court, ostensibly obeying the orders from heaven, yet sympathizing with his nephew Chenxiang and secretly helps him to rescue Erlang's sister(aka Chenxiang's mother). This adaptation was instantly a classic, turning Erlang from an entire jackass to an astute yet enduring anti-hero (just like Severus Snape in Harry Potter), and made Jiao's version of Erlang the most influential and classice figure of "deity with personality" among that generation. Whatsmore, the art director and chief producer of gamescience, Yang Qi and Feng Ji, were enjoying their youth in early 2000s, imagining how much Jiao's figure of Erlang had an impact on their choice of childhood hero. Since then, Erlang's role in Bao Lian Deng story has been following this momentum of anti-hero figure, and he even got his own personal story of 二郎救母 adapted to anime film in New Gods: Yang Jian 2022. This would definitely explain Erlang's motive to help Wukong in BMW, from a perspective of pop cultural evolution.
What an interesting insight! I didn't know about him as a religious figure being more ancient than the Jade Emperor in Sichuan.And the part about 2005 Lotus Lantern popularising him is even more interesting because I dismissed it as yet another tv program.Didn't know that it had a big influence on his image since I thought he might be as popular as the Monkey King.
I shared your videos with players in China and they all admired your interpretations, I also recommended your channel to them and I hope you will gain more fans!
In my personal interpretation, Wukong perceived Erlang as a big brother figure when they met again in the journey and worked together to subdue Jiutouchong (nine-headed worm). This perception arose because Erlang spared the lives of half of the monkey minions in the mountain, despite possibly being ordered to level the entire mountain. In the novel, while Erlang's third eye could have easily detected the hidden monkeys, he chose to overlook their presence or even made no effort to do so, allowing them to survive.
Erlang Shen probably didn't cooperate with Wukong at first. After killing Wukong, he became confused. He didn't understand why Wukong would rather die than give up his position as a god, so he secretly hid Wukong's sixth relic: a memory similar to Wukong's. Hiding in the paintings of Maitreya Buddha and comprehending, Only then did he realize that Wukong was killed on purpose and finally moved by Wukong's will of resist and chose to help Destiny One
@@Williamsweeb In Chapter Three, an intriguing clue is presented with the introduction of the giant turtle and giant serpent as subordinates of the Zhenwu Emperor. Huangmei takes advantage of the habits of these two creatures, using magic to make the Little Western Heaven exceptionally cold, which greatly affects the combat abilities of the turtle and serpent, leading to their defeat, with the serpent being killed. The Zhenwu Emperor is a highly significant figure in Taoism, ruling over a realm filled with monsters and demons. He has successfully subdued them to the point that many demons tremble in fear at the mere mention of his name. Additionally, he controls the northern gate of the Heavenly Palace. In "Journey to the West," when Sun Wukong travels to the heavenly realm, he typically enters through the southern gate. One reason for this is that the southern gate is closest to the human world, and another explanation is that it is the easiest route, guarded by Nezha and Li Jing. The other three gates are the western gate, overseen by the Buddha (who can easily handle Sun Wukong with one hand), the eastern gate, controlled by Taiji Zhenren, and the northern gate, managed by the Zhenwu Emperor. This illustrates the immense power of the Zhenwu Emperor. In the game, his two generals, the turtle and the serpent, face dire consequences-one is captured, and the other is killed-events that the Zhenwu Emperor cannot ignore. However, this is exactly what happens, and at the end of Chapter Three, the narration mentions that the Zhenwu Emperor is left with only a hollow reputation, indicating that something may have truly happened to him. One can imagine that there must have been significant upheaval within the Heavenly Palace, perhaps even an apocalyptic-level war, that led to the fall of this deity (the Zhenwu Emperor had previously assisted Sun Wukong, and nearly all the deities who helped him in the game have been purged). The game science leaves a huge mystery here, and I can't wait to see how it unfolds in the DLC.
@@心李-o7y Thank you for this info! I mentioned Xuanwu (Zhenwu Emperor) in my chapter 3 video: ruclips.net/video/Q-b7WJ4k2ak/видео.htmlsi=bJPO4pap7OJ1pirv&t=512 About Taiyi Zhenren, is he the master of the Nine-Headed Lion (九靈元聖). Which Wukong also confront.
I alwais thoug that Wukong and Erlang where more like rivals but after watching this video isee him under a new light, i respet Erlang, he IS someone i could call Big brother
Extremely satisfied with the explanation, because I still don't know why Erlang respect Wukong after watching another RUclips video. Now, I can move on from this game and wait for DLC.
wukong and Erlang respect each other, they fought in the novel journey to the west, they end up rivaling each other in strength, their equal in strength that's why they respect each other and both don't like the celestial court,since the heaven try to control wukong,but backfired, and Erlang parents and sibling were killed by the celestial court, and Erlang wasn't directly working for the celestial court , since he doesn't have a rank in heaven, he was a regional deity since he denied his rank and go back to his old shrine serving people, since there's no one in the heaven can match wukong's strength, it's only logical that they hired Erlang
each of Erlang brothers have a color in their name. the Venom Daoist Chinese name was the Black Hand Swordman. understandably why they change his name in the English version
Erlang Shen is summed up as the ultimate rival that ever pushes Wukong to be everything he wants to be. He is however a man of honor and principal that has to carefully tow the line while at the same time aiding Wukong. Celestial Court obviously wants Erlang to kill Wukong however, they never said how he had to do it or if he had to stay dead. Despite his speech and way he talks to Wukong, he wants him to get stronger than him and the only way to do so is with constant brutal hardship. In doing so, he appeases the celestial court while under the table bettering Wukong.
Mostly base on clues and connecting dots with my memory of the original novel. Plus I had watched the 1986 TV series multiple times before, which was a big help, It basically retold the novel chronologically.
Fact: there is a 7th Meishan demon name Yuan Hong, he’s white ape holding a staff and have 72 transformations like Wukong, he is the previous leader of Meishan demons before he got trapped in Depiction of Nature and Society for the rest of his life and the six demons left have change to serve Erlang.
But where in the game does it show where Erlang decided to help Wukong ??? I believe it but I did absolutely everything and did not catch Erlang realizing Wukongs goal
You can catch its glimpse through 2 journal entries. You can read "background" section in fandom.com 1st is Maitreya's: blackmythwukong.fandom.com/wiki/Maitreya 2nd is Erlang's blackmythwukong.fandom.com/wiki/Erlang,_the_Sacred_Divinity Mention Erlang protecting Wukong's stone on Mount Huago and his inner conflicts when coming to Mount Mei
We never got the four heavenly kings in the journal so I’m still of the mindset they were fakes created by the painted realm. Or we simply didn’t really kill them.
Thank you! Hope I understand your comment correctly through Google Translate. The reason lead to conflicts between Celestial Court and Buddhist Realm Lingshan I also mentioned in this video. Please check it out and see if anything not correct: ruclips.net/video/4NsPbz2ta7Y/видео.htmlsi=6768dvflDF4KN2VW&t=18
Including erlang theere are 7.also chapter 2 there are 2 boards. Lime after you feed the first one he say mine brother waiting you there. That one you fight
the dog brother of erlang didn't show up in the game(not erlang's dog), but in the chapter 3 painting you can see in the bottom left corner him with the goat. there's also a white monkey brother of erlang, not seen in any place in the game. so that's the 7 brothers of erlang, in another version there are 6 brothers of erlang.
My English is not very good. Have you noticed that Wukong and Erlang Shen have similar magic skills, such as being good at transformation and having very strong bodies? There is a saying that they have the same master.
Right. They both learned "72 earthly transformations" but under two different masters. Erlang Shen's master is Yuding Zhenren - a Taoist deity in cultural legends. While Wukong's master is Puti Zushi - a fictional character in the novel. But believed to be derived from Subhūti, one of the ten principal disciples of the Buddha because he is considered foremost in understanding "Emptiness" doctrine. Connected to the name he gave Sun "Wukong" meaning "Enlightened By Emptiness".
The old monkey telling the story could be a Bodhisattva, a black bear or a red baby, all of whom were captivated by her. There is a theory that she was asked Erlang to create a plan to help Wukong
@@ucvo4014 There are few theories he might be Guanyin or Jin Chan Zi. I think both of them make sense in someway. Personally I think he is Jin Chan Xi (Tang Sanzang).
I heard this same story by some Chinese folk in douyin. Finally some English version to let others understand the true story. I was afraid westerner dont truly understand the story they are trying to tell. Because dubs cut off alot meaningful words from chinese.
Did his brothers die though? It feels like the Venom Daoist and the White Noble died. The Stalwart definitely died, though not by Destined One hand. Feel excessive to sacrifice so many brothers for the sake of one friend.
Sorry if I didn't narrate clearly but I always refer to them as separate entity. The Taoist's celestial court and the Buddhist's realm on mount Lingshan.
are the 6 senses, eyes, nose, tongue, ears, body and mind. When u dead, mind is gone. Mind Wukong can't reborn, the six is Destiny One, Erlang kept Wukong's memory
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
It shows how hard is to get things done while the celestial court has their eyes on you
Yes, it's very in line with China's national conditions. Officials don't do anything, they just want to play tricks and complicate simple things, and then desperately exploit the people and shirk responsibility, suppressing people's freedom
Damn bro, as a Hydro Archon I can relate to that.
Irrelevant
This game is literally my first exposure to Chinese mythology and I am so fucking grateful for that. With Anime and a lot of games there’s heavy Japanese stuff everywhere and even Nordic and Greek. We always get the SAMURAI, Ninjjas/Shinobi, Spartans, Vikings, Native American content in media…It’s just a really awesome experience to kind of be introduced to this part of the worlds history and myths. I hope more is to come
Thank you!
I agree, All great cultural works should be well-known. Slavic and Chinese myths have a lot of potential
@@Williamsweeb India too, I think the only representation they have is like some enemy names in final fantasy like Lakshmi and Shiva, but there’s crazy amounts of myth and to some people actual history that has untapped potential
Some of the ending animations for the chapters just didn't make sense which lead me from my surface level knowledge of Xiozi Ji (Journey to the west) to a deep dive including and not limited to Scorpionlord's penis somehow and also Bull King not having such depressing lore in the original source material.
@@EriTheFish you got my attention at scorpion lords penis xD
@@EriTheFish the endings did make sense it’s just GS decided to write their own stories that are heavily inspired or taken after JTTW- like zhu baije’s love story with chang’e is not in the novel but rather GS own story they decided to woven into the game
6:37 Erlang shields the sun with his hand, like he blocks the surveillance from the celestial court in order to encourage the destined one
Damn bro didn't noticed that. You're a hawkeye
He still have hidden grudge to the Court. 😁
during Erlang's fight... he shielded the entirety of meishan with clouds to prevent celestial court from seeing his fight with wukong. it was by design.
damn, you are correct, I just realize that too. He uses his magic to move the cloud to cover the sunlight
Had no idea some of these people intentionally helped your Destined One, like the Venom Daoist. So cool.
They’re also all under characters in the journal showing they’re not real enemies
I thought we were essentially playing as his sixth relic (mind) that’s what I got at least
erlang and his homies are filtering out the real destined one and lead him to destination. so they tend to try to beat you up first. guess they've slayed enough monkeys already.
Think that eveyone of his brother are realated with showing you the secret area of his current map
He should just give me the arm guard then. How tf are we suppose to know!?
My respect for erlang shen now 📈📈
Depending on the folklore, Erlang Shen only do the bidding of Heaven because his mother was imprisoned by them. Wukong's journey lead him to and eventually freeing his mother thus solidifying a unspoken friendship. They already had respect for each other's combat prowess before and it all started with Erlang Shen being somewhat envious of Wukong for being able to live life so freely with nothing chaining him, that is till he got the headband. You got to remember Erlang Shen was raised by Heaven as the "perfect soldier" so everything he does down to his attitude must be perfect in the eyes of Heaven which he more or less feel suffocating but he did it for his mother in hopes that one day he could free her. Heaven baited him by saying if he performs like x number of thousands of feats/merit, he could free his mother but likewise every demerit, more years will be added to his mother's sentencing. In a way, while Wukong was imprisoned under a mountain, Erlang Shen's mother was imprisoned inside a mountain cave.
1:04
Each of them even mentions a "brother" at some point either to the character or in their journal entries if not both.
Whiteclad Noble: "I come at my brother's command. There are no schemes."
Yellow-Robed Squire: "I'm to await someone at the bidding of my Brother."
Green-Capped Martialist: "My brother said that if there's a chance, I can test the monkey on his behalf"
Venom Daoist: Hearing this, the Daoist remembered his brother's instructions and inquired, "What can this method achieve?"
Pale-Axe Stalwart: "I've failed brother"
One more thing to mention is that, when Wukong broke in Celestial Court for the first time, it was long before the journey, Erlang was asked to fight and control Wukong, but after hundreds of rounds of fighting, they still tied, it was Daode Tianzun sneak attacked Wukong and got him captured, so Erlang kinda felt bad and sorry about it, and of course, low-key mad on Celestial Court's dirty trick.
if you go back to the game intro, you gon realize every sentence Erlang and Wukong said contains hidden messages, they basically talking about their plan in a super subtle way, lol
After Erlang released the last root, he recovered immediately. He even let a cloud to cover sunlight (celestial court) when he spoke to Destiny one. Four heavenly kings are just phantoms created by Erlang to train Destiny one using law phenomenon (giant dharma). Erlang and Wukong respect each other in Journey to the west.
Well Erlang is canonically older than Wukong so the term "Big Brother" fits him more, but in the game Wukong called him "Brat" 😂😂😂
He calls Nezha that too and he’s also older than Wukong. Wukong simply doesn’t respect his elders lol
Wukong did use "older brother" in the intro in Chinese, and it was translated into "brother" in the English dub. For the specific sentence you mentioned, he actually didn't say "brat" but rather "little nephew" and called himself "uncle" to tease Erlang. As it'd be too much to explain the context for the English audience, you get "brat" to approximate the tone while maintaining the flow.
Calling him a brat is a very Chinese way to show how utterly irreverent and disrespectful Wukong is - Wukong is mockingly dressing Erlang down as someone one generation more junior than him. Because Erlang’s mother is the Jade Emperor’s younger sister, and Wukong titled himself The Great Sage EQUAL to Heaven. So he was basically saying “Yo dude I’m technically your uncle.” The Chinese in game dialogue is more explicit about this.
wukong might be youger but his rock form existed since the heaven and earth were created, It is just the rock takes time to absorb natural energy to come alive.
Calling him brat is just the most "realistically optimal" way to translate it. In the Chinese dub, Wukong called Erlang "nephew" in that scene. Wukong just showed his disrespect by mocking himself as the jade emperor who's legally Erlang's uncle.
It hits harder when you know the bosses you fight are people who are there to guide you. Makes you don't wanna beat them almost.
The emotional journey low key reminds me alot of lies of p
it seems no one had noticed, but RESPECT to you using the OG Journey to the West music
Though a remix, but it clearly gives the sad emotion tone for this game backstory
Thank you for noticing. I believe people know about the classic will like it.
My man went from being the Big Baddie of the game to the Protective Big Brother 🫡🫡
Honestly wouldn’t mind seeing a wukong series that includes everything his entire story from start to finish
Wukong is out here flexing on these bosses while I’m still struggling with the tutorial.
But you can’t die
Only in chapter 3, but did not realize how many are helping craft the Destined One into the next Wukong in just those three, let alone other characters. Though, it does make sense. For the Destined One to be able to the same level of power as the original Wukong, he would need to be honed physically and mentally with the right training, but it can't be done more straightforwardly since the Court is probably keeping an eye out for a monkey that could be Wokong's successor.
However, I wonder if the Destined one is even stronger than Wukong, in theory. Since he might be more humble, even after getting Wukong's memories, which will focus that power more effectively. The Destined One did not start out as OP as Wukong; he had earned it the hard way through many battles against foes stronger than him. So, he might still have the spirit of Wukong once gaining the memories, but he also now has the perspective that one has to work hard to be strong at the same time. A sort of balance between the genius (the OG Wukong) and the hard worker (Destined One) mindsets.
I think both way of thinking "Destined One is Wukong's reborn" and "Destined One is a New Wukong" both has its own sentimental meaning. Destined One is Us - The players, who will carry on the Great Sage's will, memory and legacy. Through hardships while journey on the path of enlightenment like Wukong did. For injustice time like in the game, calls for a new hero that eventually become equal as the Great Sage that equal to Heaven.
Saying Wukong started out OP is false. In the original story, Wukong had to work his ass off (wandering the mortal lands, seeking for a master who could teach him Immortality for 10+ years ) and then later trained hard under Taoist master Bodhi for another 10+ years....and then had to earn all fears and respects from 3 realms by himself.
@@StephenYoung1379 most of my prior knowledge of him was a kid show I watch when I was kid on channel called Teletoon. All I ever saw of his past was he was powerful but lacked patients and maturity which was his main reason for a teach, but that was cartoon from the 90 or early 2000 so it probably kept things simpler then the actuall book?
@@XVDragonGaming Yes, the book was absolutely mature, dark, complex, and with hidden plots, messages, and deep philosophy everywhere...That is why it has been considered one of the greatest literature in Asia.
Destiny one gets 6 roots back = Wukong is back. After Erlang released the last root, he recovered immediately. It’s just a test for Destiny one to get Wukong's memory.
Im glad that you quoted from the original literature of JTTW.
JFYI that as JTTW is a collective work in Ming dynasty, intergrating numerous folklores and folkplays, the novel itself adopted the prevalent idea that Erlang is a rightous god (historically, Erlang as a religious figure is much more ancient and important than the jade emperor in Sichuan region, probably related to great engineer Li Bing in Qin dynasty and the prevalent Zoroastrianism in Han dynasty)
While Gamescience tries to tweak the story with some modern flavor and making the celestial court antagonistic in BMW (just as what they had done in their previous works), Erlang has to remain good for the sake of his massive religious reputation and the recent momentum of his cultural figure in real life.
The figure of Erlang in the modern chinese cultural industry has been keeping him as a rather protagonistic one since 1990s, the last work which tried to make Erlang antagonistic is the great anime film Bao Lian Deng 1999. In the premodern plays and folktales, Erlang had remained as a benevolent god (with some negative version in Henan region in Song dynasty but thats rather minor issue); yet since the leftist cultural movement in 1930s, multiple films and radio plays had been trying to take him as a more antagonistic character since his noble lifestyle and loyalty to the celestial court was seen as a representation of class oppression.
The most influential story blueprint under this frame is Bao Lian Deng, which is basically a copycat story of Erlang's origin but the protagonist is the family in Hua Mountain rather than Tao Mountain. Both heroes in the two folklores, Erlang and Chenxiang, have a mother who was previously a celestial deity and sister of the Jade emperor, but fell in love with a mortal and disobeyed the celestial disciplines and eloped with her beloved husband; the celestial thus imprisoned her under a great mountain for punishment. Both two heroes, Erlang and Chenxiang, were raised by mortal family and had to complete great trials to gain godly power in order to rescue their mother from the mountain. Erlang's version of story is called 二郎救母, and Chenxiang's version is called 二堂舍子 or Bao Lian Deng 宝莲灯; in the Song dynasty, the latter became more popular than the former within the civic society in capital city, and the story of Chenxiang took a coalescing twist as Erlang had begun to be dipicted as the uncle of Chenxiang, and after he had saved his mother from Tao mountain, Erlang's sister eloped with another mortal (again!) to gave birth to Chenxiang, then, as both an elder in the family and a former defier of the celestial discipline, this time Erlang sees to stop this cycle of defiance to the heavenly order, and determined to stop his nephew Chenxiang. The adaptation is instantly ingenious and made Erlang's figure antagonistic one yet with a bit style of ancient Greek tragedy: the dragon slayer finally becomes the dragon itself.
This version of Bao Lian Deng was rediscovered and advocated by the left-leaning intellectuals in early 1920s as a representation of revolt against class oppression and feudal rules. Classic operas, TV series and plays had been flooding the mainstream cultural landscape with Erlang's antagonistic figure since the significant Hongkong film of The Precious Lotus Lamp 1956 and the illustration book of Bao Lian Deng by great artist Lin Fengmian in 1957.
Yet, things had a great turn when Jiao Enjun, the famous Taiwan TV star, took his hands on the script of Bao Lian Deng the TV series in 2005. The TV series was inspired by the success of 1999 anime film, and was originally following the path of taking Erlang as the arch-enemy in this story. However, as a pop star and great cultural influencer, Jiao wanted to add more depth in his role and asked to change the script a bit, making Erlang a secret rebel in the celestial court, ostensibly obeying the orders from heaven, yet sympathizing with his nephew Chenxiang and secretly helps him to rescue Erlang's sister(aka Chenxiang's mother). This adaptation was instantly a classic, turning Erlang from an entire jackass to an astute yet enduring anti-hero (just like Severus Snape in Harry Potter), and made Jiao's version of Erlang the most influential and classice figure of "deity with personality" among that generation. Whatsmore, the art director and chief producer of gamescience, Yang Qi and Feng Ji, were enjoying their youth in early 2000s, imagining how much Jiao's figure of Erlang had an impact on their choice of childhood hero.
Since then, Erlang's role in Bao Lian Deng story has been following this momentum of anti-hero figure, and he even got his own personal story of 二郎救母 adapted to anime film in New Gods: Yang Jian 2022. This would definitely explain Erlang's motive to help Wukong in BMW, from a perspective of pop cultural evolution.
Thank you for these helpful info!!!
What an interesting insight! I didn't know about him as a religious figure being more ancient than the Jade Emperor in Sichuan.And the part about 2005 Lotus Lantern popularising him is even more interesting because I dismissed it as yet another tv program.Didn't know that it had a big influence on his image since I thought he might be as popular as the Monkey King.
I shared your videos with players in China and they all admired your interpretations, I also recommended your channel to them and I hope you will gain more fans!
I appreciate it! That really means a lot.
Wukong’s combat skills are so smooth, I’m convinced he’s got a personal choreographer!
In my personal interpretation, Wukong perceived Erlang as a big brother figure when they met again in the journey and worked together to subdue Jiutouchong (nine-headed worm). This perception arose because Erlang spared the lives of half of the monkey minions in the mountain, despite possibly being ordered to level the entire mountain. In the novel, while Erlang's third eye could have easily detected the hidden monkeys, he chose to overlook their presence or even made no effort to do so, allowing them to survive.
Chinese is now my favourite mythos only because of Sun wukong and Erlang shen. What badass characters.
I hope they do one of nezha too I also love him
Erlang Shen probably didn't cooperate with Wukong at first. After killing Wukong, he became confused. He didn't understand why Wukong would rather die than give up his position as a god, so he secretly hid Wukong's sixth relic: a memory similar to Wukong's. Hiding in the paintings of Maitreya Buddha and comprehending, Only then did he realize that Wukong was killed on purpose and finally moved by Wukong's will of resist and chose to help Destiny One
Thank you for the clarify!!!
@@Williamsweeb
@@Williamsweeb In Chapter Three, an intriguing clue is presented with the introduction of the giant turtle and giant serpent as subordinates of the Zhenwu Emperor. Huangmei takes advantage of the habits of these two creatures, using magic to make the Little Western Heaven exceptionally cold, which greatly affects the combat abilities of the turtle and serpent, leading to their defeat, with the serpent being killed. The Zhenwu Emperor is a highly significant figure in Taoism, ruling over a realm filled with monsters and demons. He has successfully subdued them to the point that many demons tremble in fear at the mere mention of his name. Additionally, he controls the northern gate of the Heavenly Palace.
In "Journey to the West," when Sun Wukong travels to the heavenly realm, he typically enters through the southern gate. One reason for this is that the southern gate is closest to the human world, and another explanation is that it is the easiest route, guarded by Nezha and Li Jing. The other three gates are the western gate, overseen by the Buddha (who can easily handle Sun Wukong with one hand), the eastern gate, controlled by Taiji Zhenren, and the northern gate, managed by the Zhenwu Emperor. This illustrates the immense power of the Zhenwu Emperor.
In the game, his two generals, the turtle and the serpent, face dire consequences-one is captured, and the other is killed-events that the Zhenwu Emperor cannot ignore. However, this is exactly what happens, and at the end of Chapter Three, the narration mentions that the Zhenwu Emperor is left with only a hollow reputation, indicating that something may have truly happened to him.
One can imagine that there must have been significant upheaval within the Heavenly Palace, perhaps even an apocalyptic-level war, that led to the fall of this deity (the Zhenwu Emperor had previously assisted Sun Wukong, and nearly all the deities who helped him in the game have been purged). The game science leaves a huge mystery here, and I can't wait to see how it unfolds in the DLC.
@@心李-o7y Thank you for this info!
I mentioned Xuanwu (Zhenwu Emperor) in my chapter 3 video: ruclips.net/video/Q-b7WJ4k2ak/видео.htmlsi=bJPO4pap7OJ1pirv&t=512
About Taiyi Zhenren, is he the master of the Nine-Headed Lion (九靈元聖). Which Wukong also confront.
@@Williamsweeb Yes,the Nine-Headed Lion was his mount.
I alwais thoug that Wukong and Erlang where more like rivals but after watching this video isee him under a new light, i respet Erlang, he IS someone i could call Big brother
Extremely satisfied with the explanation,
because I still don't know why Erlang respect Wukong after watching another RUclips video.
Now, I can move on from this game and wait for DLC.
True. I can't wait for the DLC too. I heard they will cover at least 3 more locations.
@Williamsweeb Yeah. They're gonna put the remaining chapters that they wanted to initially. Oh I can't wait!
wukong and Erlang respect each other, they fought in the novel journey to the west, they end up rivaling each other in strength, their equal in strength that's why they respect each other and both don't like the celestial court,since the heaven try to control wukong,but backfired, and Erlang parents and sibling were killed by the celestial court, and Erlang wasn't directly working for the celestial court , since he doesn't have a rank in heaven, he was a regional deity since he denied his rank and go back to his old shrine serving people, since there's no one in the heaven can match wukong's strength, it's only logical that they hired Erlang
身为中国人，我觉得这是关于西游/黑神话的最佳英语解说系列
Thank you for this recognition!
lawful good vs chaotic good
That's a correct way to put it!
I was thinking the same thing
Imo Wukong is more chaotic neutral
Beautifully put!
Thank you!!!
each of Erlang brothers have a color in their name. the Venom Daoist Chinese name was the Black Hand Swordman. understandably why they change his name in the English version
In the English journal he was referred to as the purple-faced daoist
Erlang Shen is summed up as the ultimate rival that ever pushes Wukong to be everything he wants to be. He is however a man of honor and principal that has to carefully tow the line while at the same time aiding Wukong. Celestial Court obviously wants Erlang to kill Wukong however, they never said how he had to do it or if he had to stay dead. Despite his speech and way he talks to Wukong, he wants him to get stronger than him and the only way to do so is with constant brutal hardship. In doing so, he appeases the celestial court while under the table bettering Wukong.
In the intro, When Erlang thrust Wukong in the air, you can see his calm expression (not angry or disgust), a little sign of their secret hind plan.
Ahh I never understood why the treasure Hunter said he completed his brothers request and disappeared. Nice
They need to make a full on open world journey to the west game now, with fighting mechanics still as good, if not better.
@@VapourXY Right I still feel thirst for more JTTW’s lore.
Wukong’s got more tricks up his sleeve than David Copperfield
wow！this is really great！man！
Thank you! Glad that you like it.
Jade Emperor shouldn't have killed his sister, aka Erlang's mother. Out here mad just cause she and the mortal she hooked up with had chemistry.
He imprison her under a mountain and erlang break her out of it. The one that got killed is erlang's father iirc
How did you find all this out? (regarding the twists to the myth by the Devs) That part of the story is not very clear to the majority of players.
Mostly base on clues and connecting dots with my memory of the original novel. Plus I had watched the 1986 TV series multiple times before, which was a big help, It basically retold the novel chronologically.
Why does Wukong look like he’s being played by Martin Short in the “Journey to the West” TV show?
Fact: there is a 7th Meishan demon name Yuan Hong, he’s white ape holding a staff and have 72 transformations like Wukong, he is the previous leader of Meishan demons before he got trapped in Depiction of Nature and Society for the rest of his life and the six demons left have change to serve Erlang.
So the drunk bison from chapter 2 game is/was the treasure hunt guy in chapter 3?
No, they are different people. But both of them are Erlang's sworn brothers.
But where in the game does it show where Erlang decided to help Wukong ??? I believe it but I did absolutely everything and did not catch Erlang realizing Wukongs goal
You can catch its glimpse through 2 journal entries. You can read "background" section in fandom.com
1st is Maitreya's: blackmythwukong.fandom.com/wiki/Maitreya
2nd is Erlang's blackmythwukong.fandom.com/wiki/Erlang,_the_Sacred_Divinity
Mention Erlang protecting Wukong's stone on Mount Huago and his inner conflicts when coming to Mount Mei
What about the Four Heavenly Kings in the Painted World? Are they copies created by Erlang to test the Destined One?
Erlang says they were their friends he bought along to test the destined one!
We never got the four heavenly kings in the journal so I’m still of the mindset they were fakes created by the painted realm. Or we simply didn’t really kill them.
Four heavenly kings are phantoms created by Erlang to test Destiny one.
@@genichiroashina1Four heavenly kings are not Erlang's friends.
这个游戏中的隐藏线索说明天庭与灵山也存在不可调和的矛盾
Thank you! Hope I understand your comment correctly through Google Translate. The reason lead to conflicts between Celestial Court and Buddhist Realm Lingshan I also mentioned in this video. Please check it out and see if anything not correct: ruclips.net/video/4NsPbz2ta7Y/видео.htmlsi=6768dvflDF4KN2VW&t=18
So the green capped he talking about brother is erlang shen? Because he said i done as my brother ask
Correct. He's not even the only one to mention a "brother" either.
Yup erlan shen is that guy. He helped wukong .
one could say erlang is the left brain hemisphere and wukong is the right hemisphere
7 Brothers of Erlang ... Why only 5 brothers here ? Where are the other 2 ?
Including erlang theere are 7.also chapter 2 there are 2 boards. Lime after you feed the first one he say mine brother waiting you there. That one you fight
@@xihangyang 2 boards are the same guy.
@@bladeofapollyon537 no he say his brother waiting him and look at the cloth
@@xihangyang He means Erlang is waiting for destined one.
the dog brother of erlang didn't show up in the game(not erlang's dog), but in the chapter 3 painting you can see in the bottom left corner him with the goat. there's also a white monkey brother of erlang, not seen in any place in the game. so that's the 7 brothers of erlang, in another version there are 6 brothers of erlang.
My English is not very good. Have you noticed that Wukong and Erlang Shen have similar magic skills, such as being good at transformation and having very strong bodies? There is a saying that they have the same master.
Right. They both learned "72 earthly transformations" but under two different masters. Erlang Shen's master is Yuding Zhenren - a Taoist deity in cultural legends.
While Wukong's master is Puti Zushi - a fictional character in the novel. But believed to be derived from Subhūti, one of the ten principal disciples of the Buddha because he is considered foremost in understanding "Emptiness" doctrine. Connected to the name he gave Sun "Wukong" meaning "Enlightened By Emptiness".
@@Williamsweeb 玉鼎真人，菩提祖师都是虚构的，七十二变有个出处是《平妖传》，天罡三十六变地煞七十二变的作者是九天玄女
Meishan = Mount Mei?
You missed the point: The destined one is the mind relic and is wukong reencarnated
Pls check my Chapter 6 video
why is your voice so similar to many other channels ive seen
The old monkey telling the story could be a Bodhisattva, a black bear or a red baby, all of whom were captivated by her. There is a theory that she was asked Erlang to create a plan to help Wukong
The only people who know how to chant Wukong's golden bracelet are only two people, the master and the Bodhisattva Guan Yin
@@ucvo4014 There are few theories he might be Guanyin or Jin Chan Zi. I think both of them make sense in someway. Personally I think he is Jin Chan Xi (Tang Sanzang).
I heard this same story by some Chinese folk in douyin. Finally some English version to let others understand the true story. I was afraid westerner dont truly understand the story they are trying to tell. Because dubs cut off alot meaningful words from chinese.
6:13 yone and yasuo XD
Did his brothers die though? It feels like the Venom Daoist and the White Noble died. The Stalwart definitely died, though not by Destined One hand.
Feel excessive to sacrifice so many brothers for the sake of one friend.
True. it's hard to tell when they turned to ashes.
Ordered, kind, Erlang God, chaotic, kind, Sun Wukong, ordered, evil, Tathagata, ordered, neutral, Jade Emperor, absolutely neutral, Supreme Lord, neutral, kind, Golden Cicada, chaotic, neutral, Pig Bajie, neutral, evil, Lingji, chaotic, evil, yellow eyebrows
Xu Dog and Tiger ,Loong are his friend
❤❤
Celestial court doesn't equate to Buddhism as you seem to always said together in a sentence.
Sorry if I didn't narrate clearly but I always refer to them as separate entity. The Taoist's celestial court and the Buddhist's realm on mount Lingshan.
Victorious Fighting Buddha does not mean he is Buddha.
Horcruxes?
are the 6 senses, eyes, nose, tongue, ears, body and mind. When u dead, mind is gone. Mind Wukong can't reborn, the six is Destiny One, Erlang kept Wukong's memory
you are not him
Chapter 1, 2, and 4 are good. The rest is terrible...
this game is a thinly veiled call for the chinese people to go against the CCP.
lol the CCP supported and promoted this game at a national level. The Chinese in China support the CCP. Try harder CIA regime-change bot.
Its a veiled call to go against stupidity like your comment.
why is not a thinly veiled call for the people of the world to go against the USA
Yes
Its a call for people to wake up againts western racist and hypocrisy that treat non white as monkey
Omg thats explain everything i was questions
Glad that it was helpful!