#fully aware that evil demon warlord swk is getting into edgelord territory

[sketching-shark]

I am once again thinking about JTTW retelling potentials people have brought up in terms of Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing knowing Sun Wukong when they were all up in heaven, but specifically through the lens of a Monkey King characterization where he was a canny and ruthless warlord.

Like. Imagine you're a high ranking general in heaven, and one day this 4-foot-something monkey yaoguai starts scampering all over the place being friendly with everyone he runs across. And okay, you're at first kind of concerned by the fact that there's a literal yaoguai in heaven, especially when you hear about some of his exploits on Earth and against some of your fellow immortals. But the Jade Emperor gave the monkey his position, and he's not technically doing anything bad, just completely ignoring protocol and referring to everyone as his friends and brothers. Maybe you find it kind of annoying. Maybe it's kind of charming. But whatever he did before he's a silly monkey now that you don't even see that much.

And then one day all of heaven is in an uproar because it turns out this monkey not only stole tons of immortality granting peaches, but also golden elixir specifically intended for the Jade Emperor. So that's a bridge too far, and obviously means that he needs to surrender to heaven for punishment immediately or else his entire clan will be executed. But he and all his yao allies fight back. More and more and more deities have to be called in to try and subdue this one monkey. And when he is finally captured, it turns out nothing heaven strikes him with can kill him. So then he's there tied up and helpless, but still jeering at all the assembled deities because they have nothing stronger than him.

And then Laozi proposes that he be melted down. The monkey is struggling and crying for this to not happen, but maybe you see what you think is some discomfiting gleam in his eyes, something that indicates he wanted this to happen. But you're not sure, so you say nothing...

And it turns out the monkey's time in the furnace did nothing but refine him into an even stronger immortal than before. And as soon as he's freed he starts smashing a bloody swath through heaven with no one able to halt him until he's practically tearing at the Jade Emperor's throne. Even with twenty-five thunder deities and a host of other immortals trying their best, no one's able to knock him down, and he's laughing and screaming about how no one can stop him, that he won't stop until he's toppled the Jade Emperor and taken heaven's throne for himself, and oh, it seems like there's a chance he might be able to force his way into that position...

So some 500 years later you're living in disgrace and traveling with this same monkey. He's subdued and snarky, and clearly much weaker than he had been before. But still, he's able to get you and your companions out of one jam after another. There's a lot of tension in the group, but it's softening over time. And you start seeing the monkey in a new light. You know how much he loves his "little ones" and wants to go back to his Earthly home. You've seen how capable he is of being gentle with children. And yet...

You've also been witness to the casualness with which the monkey takes human and yaoguai life. The plans he's formed to inflict massive amount of pain on his opponents to make them obey. They way he spies on those who present obstacles to your shared journey so that he knows exactly how they might best be dealt with swiftly and often brutally.

And at some point, you realize that he didn't havoc through heaven, he never does anything in a blind rage.

That even back then he had had plenty of time to consider what exactly he was going to do when he got out of that furnace. He chose not to flee Heaven as soon as he was out, but to kill as many as he could on the way to challenge the Jade Emperor himself.

And now you're on a journey together, which very well could end with this monkey becoming a buddha.