#also fun fact lady earth flow could have been inspired by the god Indra's own pearl-vomiting rat

[the-monkey-ruler]

Can you tell us something about the white mouse? I was always curious about her poem, where he talked about a bridge and two lovers. Does she really love Sanzang?

Why did he once choose to call himself Half Guanyin? Do you think he was jealous of her?

I watched an episode of JTTW 2011 and I liked that they tried to explain that her obsession with Tripitaka was because he fed her when she was a mouse. But I know that was fiction.

For me, she is in love. But I would like to hear someone else's opinion.

Personally, I truly 100% believe she didn’t love him she wanted to have sex with him for immortality and tried to make it look like love. It looks like her goal was to be a golden immortal of Grand Monad by taking Sanzang... though her seduction static does say how she proclaimed love for him I highly doubt that she chose him because of his 'personality.' I think any kind of 'love' or 'romance' mention is more for the sake of showing how she is a picture of temptation that anyone would follow her willingly as opposed to the idea that she could rape a man to get her way.

She was able to seduce at least 6 monks in the three days they were resting at the temple and ate them as well so she might not have been too hung up about Sanzang either.

I find one interesting where she was talking more about sex with Sanzang and trying to convince him to 'unify' their 'marriage' that Sanzang gave her a red peach and took a green peach from her. Red often being seen as a form of desire, not just lust but can be, and how Sanzang is letting go of desire itself rather than being consumed by desire himself.

I found the poem you were talking about! (took me a while). I truly believe that this is more of her way of expressing her shock when Sanzang misled her under Wukong's instructions. Wukong just told Sanzang to talk her outside so he can get the upper hand and Sanzang had to play along for his own protection. We have seen this before with other antagonists, such as the Scorpion Demon and the Queen of Women's Country, where they are willing to hold Sanzang hostage but don't seem to be willing to take with without consent and therefore try to seduce him. As such it is framed as 'love' and 'romance' when really they are trying to act as if they aren't keeping him as a tool to be used. Lady Earth Flow thought she succeeded in seducing the monk when he gave her the peach but really it was a way for Wukong to get in her belly and nearly beat her to death.

Before this, she was already calling him 'husband' and thus his 'betrayal' is more of her expressing shock that her tactics didn't work. She is referencing another tragic love story to describe her own despite that there weren't any mutual feelings. It does seem she is GENUINE in that she does want Sanzang to love her but I truly don't think that her love comes from a place of genuineness but more for the sake of her selfish desires.

She is called Half Guanyin not because she is jealous but rather to show how much she wants to be an immortal and on par with the Buddha and Guanyin. She only calls herself that because she stole precious Candles from Vulture Peak showing she wants the same respect and yearning for the status of the Buddha and Guanyin.

I can say in my own opinion that she was absolutely trying to use Sanzang since she has been luring other monks and murdering them as well. I will say that I think she was fond of him, for sure, but I feel that most of the female demons were similarly fond as they did not wish to harm the monk but also didn't give him a choice in saying no. Props to her for at least trying to give him a meal he would like and treating him well that is far better than the Spider Demon or the Scorpion Demon at least.

2011 is a fantastic show because they give their characters depth, and don’t have the yaoguai just as one-dimensional villains. Most of the demons in Xiyouji are flat characters as they make their goals clear from the start and are framed in a more monster-of-the-week format with few exceptions. I think 2011 was very clever in that they took Lady Earth Flow from the novel and saw how she does value loyalty (to her family Nezha and Li Jing) and how she tries to make Sanzang comfortable (vegan food and expressing the importance of love and human desire) and is able to frame her as a more round character with her own wants and desires outside of power. She is a love-sick and slightly obsessive woman who knows that she could never have a chance with Sanzang willingly as he is devoted to his mission but can't live with herself if she doesn't even try. It takes what is already there and expands on it to make her more sympathetic without excluding her actions from the book (though I'm not sure if the show has her killing those 6 monks).

I think she was infatuated with him in the book and maybe wanted to call it love but I don't think there is any real reason to think she fell for him if he didn't have that "become an immortal if you sleep with me" pass. And only trying to get with something for something so transactional doesn't seem to be 'love' in my eyes as more she would have tried this with any monk and just so happens that Sanzang is a handsome and kind man that she also was fond of and tried to be as polite as possible in her kidnapping.