#ten kings of underworld

[deadshadowcreature]

More Qiankun Halo 💫

Nezha knows Wukong better than Macaque, which is why he hold no grudges against him when he messed up and I’m all ears for their early brotherly dynamics

I know Nezha didn’t go to Hell when he killed himself but it would be funny if he did in lmk

[triclitch]

Have art dump

Click for better res

[journeytothewestresearch]

Ten Kings of Hell

Those who have read Journey to the West (1592) will know that the Ten Kings of hell appear in chapter three. This is when Monkey's soul is dragged to the underworld, and after causing trouble, he crosses his name out (as well as those of all monkeys) from the ledgers in hell.

Here is a book PDF that discusses the 9th/10th-century scripture that first introduced the Ten Kings.

https://journeytothewestresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Stephen-Teiser-The-Scripture-on-the-Ten-Kings-and-the-Making-of-Purgatory-in-Medieval-Chinese-Buddhism-1994.pdf

[alilcherrysramblings]

I dont know if this has already been asked but anyway- Is the Kings of The Underworld the ones who deleted MK's memorys in your Inkbound fanfic?

Because i have been hearing some theories in the general LMK community that, that might also be the case in the real show.

I actually never heard that theory before— now I’ve gotta look for it lol.

Also… ding ding ding! Yup! I knew someone was gonna guess it eventually, especially since I’ve been sorta dropping lil hints—

Now imma go look for that theory

[mayra-quijotescx]

Hey writers, if you're worried about narrative flow and fitting every detail into your scenes to make sure they connect to each other, go read Journey to the West through at least chapter 4 and let phrases like "[this] does not concern us for the moment" and "we shall not elaborate here on [that]" set you free.

[ryin-silverfish]

A Guide to the Chinese Underworld (and what it isn't)

As many FSYY and fox posts as there were on my blog, I am actually a huge fan of the Chinese Underworld mythos. Mostly because I was once a morbid little kid that loved reading about the excavations of ancient tombs, and found the statues depicting hellish torture in the Haw Par Villa "super cool".

Apart from the aesthetics, the history of its evolution is also fascinating. Most of us, Chinese or not, only know the most popular version of the Underworld——the "Ten Kings" system, yet that isn't always the case. So today, I'll start off with a short summary of that.

In pre-Qin era, there was already this generic idea of a "Realm of the Dead" called the Yellow Spring, Youdu, or Youming, but we know very little about it.

Then, in the Han dynasty, two ideas start to emerge: 1) the Underworld is a bureaucracy, 2) the God of Mt. Tai ruled over the dead.

This early bureaucracy might not function as an agent of punishment; the main focus was on keeping the dead segregated from the living so they wouldn't bring diseases and misfortune to the latter, as well as using those ghosts to enforce collective punishments upon people for their lineage's wrongdoings while they were still alive.

Post-Han, after Buddhism entered China and took root, its idea of karmic punishments and reincarnation and the figure of King Yama was merged with folk and Daoist ideas of the Underworld bureaucracy, and, came Tang dynasty, resulted in the "Ten Kings" system that first appeared in Dunhuang manuscripts.

It was very rudimentary and far from well-established, as seen in Tang legends, with some adopting the Ten Kings system, some sticking to the Lord of Mt. Tai and some favoring King Yama, and overall little agreements on who's in charge of the Underworld.

But the "Ten Kings" system would become the mainstream version from then onwards, used in Ming vernacular novels and made even more popular by folk religion scrolls like the Jade Records (Yuli Baochao).

As such, most points in the following sections will be based on the fully matured "Ten Kings" system of the Underworld, as seen in the Jade Records and JTTW.

What happens when you die?

(This is a fictionalized walkthrough of the posthumous fate of souls under the "Ten Kings" system. I try to stick to the very broad progression outlined in the Jade Records, but many creative liberties are taken on the details.)

Let's say there's a guy named Xiao Ming, and he had just died of a heart attack. Bummers. What now?

Well, the first thing he saw would be the ghost cops.

There isn't really an unanimous agreement on who these ghost cops are: they may be a pair of ghosts in white and black robes, wearing tall hats (Heibai Wuchang), they may have the heads of farm animals (Ox-Head and Horse-Face), or they can just be generic ghost bureaucrats. For convenience's sake, let's say it was the first scenario.

"Who are you guys and where are you taking me?"

"Glad you asked!" The taller ghost cop, being the cheerful one of the pair, replied. It wasn't very reassuring, considering that his tongue was dangling out of his mouth way further than it should. "I'm the White Impermanence, my sour-looking colleague here is the Black Impermanence, and we are taking you to the City God's office."

This City God, a.k.a. Chenghuang, is just like how it sounds: the divine guardian of a city, who also pulls double duty as the head of the local Dead People Customs Office. They are usually virtuous officials deified posthumously, and in JTTW, they fall under the category of "Ghostly immortals", together with the Earth Gods a.k.a. Tudi.

So Xiao Ming went with the two ghost cops——not like he had much of a choice, made his way through the long queue at the City God's office, and was now standing in front of a gruff old magistrate in traditional robes.

"Name?"

"Wang Xiao Ming."

"Age and birth dates?"

"21, April 16 2003…"

After he was done asking questions, the City God flipped through his ledger, then picked up a brush, ticked off Xiao Ming's name, and told him to go get his pass in the next room. More waiting in a queue. Wonderful.

"I never heard anything about needing a pass to get to the Underworld," the girl in front of Xiao Ming asked the ghost cops, who were standing guard nearby. "Is this a new policy or something?"

"Yeah. In the old days, we'd just drag y'all straight to the Ghost Gate." The ghost cop in black said, then muttered to himself, "Fuckin' paperworks and overpopulation, man…"

(This "Dead People Passport" thing was popularized in the middle-to-late Ming dynasty, as shown by the discovery of such documents inside tombs in southern China. )

(It might have evolved from similar passes to the Western Pure Land in lay Buddhism that recorded their acts of merits. Which, in turn, might be traced back to the "Dead People Belongings List" of Han dynasty, to be shown to Underworld bureaucrats so that no one would take away the dead's private property down there or something.)

Anyways, after he received his pass, Xiao Ming departed together with the rest of the bunch, to be led to the Ghost Gate. It was like the world's most depressing tourist group, where instead of tour guides, you got two ghost cops in funny hats, and the only scenery in sight was the desolation of the Yellow Spring Road.

They weren't the only travellers on the road, though. Xiao Ming noticed other groups moving in the far distance, behind the fog and the flickering ghostfire, led by similar figures in black and white.

It made a lot of sense; realistically, there was no way two ghost cops could fetch hundreds of thousands of dead people all by themselves.

(SEA Tang-ki mediums believed there were multiple Tua Di Ya Peks——Hokkien name for the Black and White Impermanences, working for different Underworld Courts.)

At last, the Ghost Gate stood in front of Xiao Ming, guarded by two towering figures. Normally, they'd be Ox-Head and Horse-Face, like what you see at Haw Par Villa's Underworld entrance.

However, older Han dynasty works like Wang Chong's 论衡·订鬼 also mentioned two gods, Shenshu and Yulei, as guardians of the Ghost Gate, who would use reed ropes to capture malicious ghosts and feed them to tigers, making them possibly the earliest incarnation of "Gate Gods".

So here, they were what Xiao Ming sees, standing side by side like proper doormen, silently watching herds of ghosts being funneled through the entrance.

The place was more crowded than a train station during the CNY Spring Rush; the ghost cops had already said their quick goodbye and left to fetch the next group of dead people, leaving the resident officials of the Underworld proper to maintain order and quell any would-be riots.

Now you started seeing the Ox-Head and Horse-Face guys, poking at unruly ghosts with their pitchforks and dragging away the violent ones in chains. Among their ranks were other monstrous beings, blue-faced yakshas and imps, but also regular dead humans who look 100% done with their jobs, like the lady who stamped Xiao Ming's pass when it was finally his turn.

After this point, Xiao Ming had entered the Underworld proper, and his next destination would be the First Court, led by King Qin'guang. Here, his fate should be decided by what is revealed in the King's magical mirror.

If Xiao Ming was a good guy, or someone who had done an equal amount of good and bad things in life, he'd be sent straight to the Tenth Court for reincarnation. However, if the mirror, while replaying his life events, had displayed more evil deeds than good ones, he'd be sent to one of the 2nd-9th Courts for judgment and then punished inside the Eighteen Hells.

Each of the Ten Kings was also assisted by ghostly judges. Many of them were righteous and just officials in life who had been recruited into the Ten Courts posthumously——Cui Jue from JTTW is one such example, while others were living people working part-time for the Underworld, like how Wei Zheng, Taizong's minister, works part-time for the Celestial Bureaucracy in JTTW.

We decide to be nice to Xiao Ming, so, after reliving some embarrassing childhood incidents and cringy teenage phases in front of a bunch of dead bureaucrats, he was found innocent and sent to the Tenth Court.

The queue here was almost as long as the First Court's, stretching on and on alongside of the banks of the Nai River. King of the Turning Wheel made his judgment without even lifting his head when it was Xiao Ming's turn:

"Path of Humans, male, healthy in body and mind, ordinary family. Next!"

Exiting the Tenth Court building, Xiao Ming saw the Terrace of Forgetfulness, standing tall before six bridges, made of gold, silver, jade, stone, wood, and…some unidentified material. Before he could get a good look at them and the little dots moving across those bridges, he was hurried into the Terrace by the ghostly officials.

Now, both JTTW and the Jade Records mention multiple bridges across the Nai River. In the former, there is 3, and the latter, 6. The bridges made of precious materials are for people who will reincarnate into better lives, as the wealthy, the fortunate, and the divine, while the Naihe Bridge is either the common option or the terribad shitty option.

However, the Naihe Bridge proved to be so iconic, it became THE bridge you walk across to reincarnate in popular legends.

Anyways, back to Xiao Ming. He found himself standing in a giant soup kitchen of sorts, with an old lady at the counter, scooping soup out of her steaming pot and into one cup after another.

This is Mengpo, the amnesia soup granny; according to the Jade Records, she was born in the Western Han era, and a pious cultivator who thought of neither the past nor the future, only knowing that her surname was Meng.

Made into an Underworld god by the Jade Emperor, she cooks a soup of five flavors that will wipe the memory of the dead, making sure they do not remember any of their past lives once they reincarnate.

It tastes awful. Like what you get after pouring corn syrup, coffee, chilli sauce, lemon juice and seawater into the same cup.

Such was Xiao Ming's last thought, as he gulped down the soup, and then he knew no more.

Things you should know about the Chinese Underworld:

1. It's not the Christian Hell.

Rather, the Chinese Underworld functions somewhat like the Purgatory, in that there are a lot of torment, but the torment's not eternal, however long the duration may be. Once you finish your sentence, you get reincarnated as something else, though that "something else" is not a guaranteed good birth.

Other people can also speed up the process via transferring of merits: hiring a priest/monk to chant sutras and perform rituals, for example, or performing good deeds in life in dedication to the dead, or they can pray to a Daoist/Buddhist deity to save their loved ones from a dreadful fate.

Interestingly enough, a thesis paper I read mentions that, whereas Buddhist salvation from the Hells was based on transference of merits——you give monks offerings and pay them to chant sutras, so they can cancel out the sinners' bad karma with good ones, Daoist ideas of salvation tend to involve the priest going down there, sorting it out with the Underworld officials, and taking the dead out of the Hells themselves.

(The paper also stops at the Northern-Southern and Tang dynasties, so the above is likely period-specific.)

2. Nor is it run by evil demons.

Underworld officials are not nice guys and look pretty monstrous and torture the sinful dead, but they are not the embodiment of evil. Rather, the faction as a whole is what I'd call Lawful Neutral, who function on this "An Eye for An Eye" logic, where every harm the sinner caused in life must be returned to them, in order for their karmic debts to be cleansed and move on to their next life.

They can absolutely be corrupt and incompetent and take bribes——Tang dynasty Zhiguai tales and Qing folklore compendiums featured plenty of such cases, but that's a very mundane and human kind of evil, not a cosmic/innate one.

This is just my personal opinion, but if you want to do an "evil" Chinese Underworld? It should be a very bureaucratic evil, whose leaders are bootlickers to the higher-ups, slavedrivers to their rank-and-file workers, and bullies who abuse their power over regular dead people.

Not, y'know, Satan and his infernal legions or conspiring Cthulu cultists.

3. The Ten Kings are not Hades.

Make no mistake, they still have a lot of power over your average dead mortal. But in the grand scheme of things? They are the backwater department of the pantheon, who only show up in JTTW to get pushed around and revive the occasional dead people.

When Taizong made his trip to the Underworld, the Ten Kings greeted him as equals——kings of ghosts to the king of the living. If they see themselves as equal in status to a mortal emperor, then, like any mortal emperors, they are subordinate to the Celestial Host, and the balance of power is not even remotely equal or in their favor.

Also, it isn't said outright, but under the Zhong-Lv classification of immortals JTTW is using, Underworld officials will likely be considered Ghostly immortals, the lowest and weakest of the five types, much like Tudis and Chenghuangs.

Essentially: they are ghosts that are powerful enough to not reincarnate and linger on and on, spirits of pure Yin as opposed to true immortals, who are beings of pure Yang.

It's pretty much the shittiest form of immortality, the result you get when you try to speedrun cultivation (the Zhong-Lv text also made a dig at Buddhist meditation here), and if they don't reincarnate or regain a physical body, there is no chance of progressing any further.

Oh, and fun fact? In the Song dynasty, commoners and literati elites alike believed that virtuous officials in life would get appointed as ghostly officials in death.

However, the latter viewed it as a punishment. Which was strange, considering how they still held the same position and the same amount of authority, just over dead people instead of living ones, so there should be no big losses, right?

Well...it was precisely the "dead people" part that made it a punishment. See, a lot of the power and prestige they had as officials came from the benefits they could bring to their families and kins and native places, as well as the potential wealth and reputation bonuses for themselves.

A job in the Dead People Supreme Court would give them the same workload, but with none of those benefits. Since all the dead people had to reincarnate eventually, they couldn't have a fixed group as their power base, or keep their old familial ties and connections. At most, they could help out an occasional dead relative or two.

Like, working for the Underworld Courts was the kind of deadend (no pun intended) job not even living officials wanted for themselves in the afterlife. That's how hilariously sad and pathetic they are.

4. In JTTW at least, they aren't even the highest authorities of the Underworld.

That would be Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, who is technically their boss, though he seems to be more of a spiritual leader than someone who is actually involved in running the bureaucracy.

Which makes sense, since he has sworn an oath to not attain Buddhahood until all Hells are empty, and his role is to offer relief and salvation to the suffering souls, not judging and punishing them.

Now, historically...even though Ksitigarbha in early Tang legends was still the savior of the dead, he seemed to be unable to interfere with the judicial process of the Underworld, merely showing up to take people away before they were judged by King Yama.

However, in the mid-Tang apocryphal "Sutra of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha" (地藏菩萨经), he had evolved into the equal of King Yama, with the power of supervision over his judgements. By the time the Scripture on the Ten Kings came out, in artistic depictions, the Ten Kings had become fully subservient to him.

5. Diyu usually refers to the prison-torture chamber part, not the courthouse, nor is it the entirety of the Underworld.

And for the majority of souls that haven't committed crimes, they'll only see the courthouse part before they are sent to reincarnation. That's why I personally don't like, or use the name Diyu for the Chinese Underworld: I prefer the term Difu ("Earth Mansions"), which encompasses the whole realm better.

Also: even though historical sources like the Scripture on the Ten Kings and Jade Records seem to suggest that the dead were just funneled through this Courthouse-Prison-Reincarnation pipeline with no breaks in between, in practice, that isn't the case.

According to popular folk beliefs, after the dead were done with their trials/sentences, they stayed in the Underworld for a period of time and led regular lives, while functioning as ancestor spirits and receiving offerings.

Which would imply that the Underworld had a civilian district of sorts, populated by regular ghosts, making the whole realm even less of a direct Hell/Purgatory equivalent.

6. It is located in a different realm, but still part of the Six Paths and doesn't exist outside of reality.

In Buddhist cosmology, like the Celestial Realm, the Underworld is part of the Realm of Desires and thus subject to all the woes of samsara.

The pain and misery of the Path of Hell may be the worst and most obvious, but becoming a celestial being isn't the goal of serious Buddhists either: despite all the pleasures and near-infinite lifespan they enjoy, they are not free from samsara and will eventually have to reincarnate.

So if, say, the world is being destroyed at the end of a kalpa, all beings of the Six Paths will perish alongside it, leaving behind a clean slate for the cycle to start anew. The dead won't all end up in the Underworld and face eternal damnation.

7. The Black and White Impermanences would not appear in the Underworld pantheon formally until the Qing dynasty.

The concept that when you die, you get fetched to the Underworld by petty ghost bureaucrats is already well-established in Tang legends, but these were just generic ghost bureaucrats in all sorts of colorful official robes, with yellow being the most common color.

The idea of there being two specific psychopomps in black and white would only become popular in the Qing dynasty. Mengpo is kinda similar: although she existed before the Ming-Qing era as a goddess of wind, venerated by boatmen, her "amnesia soup granny" incarnation came from the Jade Records.

[under-your-floorboards]

Okay but I love the idea that everyone just thinks Nico calls himself the Ghost King as like an emo thing but no, he literally is that. They all find out it’s his actual title little by little in the most unusual situations.

Uh oh, the Hekate cabin summoned the wrong ghosts during a seance and now the spirits are tearing up the place! No worries tho, we have a resident son of Hades, right? Nico walks into the cabin and immediately, the items that were being thrown around like an indoor hurricane all drop to the floor at once. Three little kid ghosts appear in front of Nico with their best smiles as he sighs down on them like “what did I tell you three?” And proceeds to lecture them for the next ten minutes while the Hekate campers watch on struggling to understand what was happening until Nico opens a rift to the underworld and corrals the three through while the kids call “come play with us again, King, or we wouldn’t get bored and come mess with people!” As they disappear into the mists.

Or like Thanatos appears in CHB one day and everyone is freaked cause who died?? Are they all dying?? What’s happening?? But no, he just glides over to Nico and bows respectfully with a “King Nico, a pleasure to see you again. It seems I will need your assistance again with wayward souls I have recently reaped from mortality” and Nico is just sucking a juice box as he nods along to all of this as if it’s another fucking Tuesday. Then he just leaves,, with the God of Death after promising Will to be back by dinner so everyone is like ‘WHAT THE FUCK’ and then there’s like Percy and Annabeth off to the side like ‘imagine having royal duties at 14, couldn’t be me’

Please, I need this

[quitealotofsodapop]

So, I've been reading this au on Wattpad called Lost Vessel au where heaven still didn't trust Wukong after the Journey and so they punished him by separating his spirit from his body and his spirit just wanders the world like a ghost.

It gave me an idea for an au suggestion. So, after Wukong fought Macaque during JTTW and badly injured him, still getting blinded in one eye and leaving a permanent scar, Wukong thinks he killed him but Macaque's body sinks into his shadows amd taken to the shadow realm to heal.

After he exits the shadow realm after some time, his body is still weak. So when he is suddenly attacked by Erlang Shen (or Li Jing. You decide.), he is swiftly defeated. He is taken to the Jade Emperor and the Jade Emperor decides to punish him by separating his spirit from his body. His body remains in Heaven, still as a statue, while Macaque's spirit roams the world like a ghost with no one able to see or hear him for years...

So Macaque would be a wandering ghost on earth? Spooky! As for whomever captured him, I imagine it might have been the Ten Kings - if not a certain nine-headed snake.

Macaque, now a ghost, would be prime picking for the Lady Bone Demon's manipulations - of he doesn't take his new status as "dead already" to figuratively ghost her (ha! pun).

Macaque I feel would still blame Wukong for the defeat, but he'd realise after a point that Wukong genuinely thought he'd killed Macaque, and thus had no idea what Heaven did to him.

Even if the King can't see or hear him - Macaque would still be a presence on the mountain. Leaving impressions in the dirt, markings on the walls, comforting gusts of air...

Being completely unobservable would be harsh on him, but he prefers it to being stuck in the Underworld.

Until one day while Macaque is reading books over shoulders at the library (he cannot take books off the shelves physically); a human (?) toddler stares at him.

The child gains a watchful protector that day.

I let y'all decide which child that is. ;3

[aliciavance4228]

The Iliad: Funny Moments

The year was 850-750 BCE. No phones or underwear in sight. Pants were for the uncivilized only. Unibrows were attractive. And then, one day, Homer decides to write the first Greek Mythology Fanfiction ever, called "Troy Story".

Here is a list of moments from the Iliad which I personally consider to be quite hilarious:

1. Early on in Book 2, before the enormous list of Greek fighters and ships:

Agamemnon tries to motivate/test the army by claiming that he's given up and they're going home. This backfires, as a stampede for the ships ensues.

In response, Athena comes down and gives Odysseus a pep talk. He promptly and unceremoniously takes Agamemnon's scepter out of his hands and runs around brow-beating and occasionally actually beating men who were turning from the fight. It all comes to a head when he takes the scepter and beats the crap out of the Argives' resident disfigured hunchback who was doing nothing but making jokes at the Argive leaders' expense. In fact, the narrative itself stops and mentions that the scene was so hilarious, the soldiers in-story were laughing raucously.

Within Agamemnon's speech, his roundabout method of explaining how badly the Greeks outnumber the Trojans: let's say they have a truce, and each side takes a census, and each group of ten Greek soldiers gets one (male) resident of Troy to pour their wine. "There would be many tens of men lacking a pourer of wine."

2. At one point early in the story Paris steps out among the Trojan soldiers, described as looking like a god, and dares any Greek soldier to come up and face him in battle. Menelaus steps forward to answer the call—and Paris promptly flees back behind his soldiers.

3.Menelaus beating Paris up with his bare hands, while the latter still has his sword. The dramatic way in which it's written makes it a tad more serious, until you remember that Menelaus is choking Paris with the strap of his own hat.

4. Throughout the book, the Greeks continuously throw spears at Hector, but Apollo just deflects them into his charioteer instead, before Hector just picks up another random guy off the battlefield. This happens numerous times throughout the book that it's almost a running gag.

5. The Greeks send an embassy to beg Achilles to come join the fighting again. At first he receives them in friendship, but when he's heard them out, he has Patroclus start passive-aggressively preparing a bed for the only member of the embassy he's invited to spend the night, to signal to the others it's time for them to leave. Thus proving that "it was so nice to see you, but wow, look at the time, we should be getting to bed!" is a tactic Older Than Dirt.

6. When Hera seduces Zeus to distract him, he describes how attractive she is by comparing her with some of the other women he's slept with. It takes about 20 lines in the original Greek.

7. During the battle between the men and gods, Artemis squares up with Hera after her brother decides against fighting Poseidon. You'd think Artemis, the epic huntress and receiver of human sacrifice she is, armed with a powerful bow and fitting the Action Girl trope to a tee would utterly wreck the seemingly frilly, stuck up, less capable Hera. Hera instead chastises Artemis for being a brat biting off way more than she can chew, gives her a verbal tongue lashing before snatching Artemis's bow away before she can get a shot off to give her a lashing with that. Artemis gets wailed on so badly she literally is sent running away crying home to her daddy Zeus.

8. One tangent mentions Hades making a grand entrance at Pylos, only to be immediately shot with one of Heracles' arrows, forcing him to abandon the fight and flee to Olympus to heal. Later, Poseidon makes an earthquake so strong Hades jumps out of his chair in fear that the Underworld will be exposed due to the quake.

9. Early on in the epic, King Priam calls to Helen to explain to him who is leading the Greek army - Agamemnon, Odysseus, Menelaus, etc - because Priam doesn't know who they are. The Greeks have been at war with his kingdom for nine years before this point. One would imagine who had such a role would be at the forefront of his thoughts or that he would at least bother to remember their names, especially since a Pre-Iliad episode had Odysseus and Menelaus before him arguing that Helen be returned.

10. After a long discussion of their ancestries, Glaucus and Diomedes shake hands and exchange armor as a pledge of Sacred Hospitality. The narrator notes that Glaucus got ripped off, because his armor was worth over ten times as much.

11. A wounded Sarpedon thinks he's about to die and begins giving Hector a Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie speech. Hector, who he'd been arguing with several verses back, runs right past him without answering.

12. The standard heroic epithets being used at incongruous times. Godlike Paris hiding from Menelaus, godlike and enduring Odysseus running away while Diomedes yells at him to come back, Menelaus being called "beloved of Ares" while Ares is trying to get him killed, glorious Ajax the Lesser taking a spill face-first into ox dung...

13. Menelaus is shot and wounded. Agamemnon immediately begins mourning his brother and gets through a whole speech before Menelaus can get a word in edgewise to explain that he's still alive.

Credits: TV Tropes

[dioslesbianwife]

You know I love a dramatic person like Gundham Tanaka from danganronpa imagine some of the Jojo's characters having a partner like Gundham.

Can I please request. kars rohan kishibe giorno giovana Jonny Joestar and gyro Zeppeli.

Their partner saying they are the queen of darkness but all the animals surround themselves to her and her being soft with the animals.

Knowing kars loves nature and respects animals they fit together especially they can be dramatic calling themselves a higher power 💀

Especially for Jonny from part 7 him hanging out with the dark devas of distruction (his parents hamster ) especially after what happened to his pet Danny

🐹🐹🐹🐹

omg yess, i freaking adore gundham- hope you enjoy and thank you for requesting!!

Kars

Literally the best possible match- Oh, he loves it. The theatrics? The dramatic declarations of power? The way you call yourself the Queen of Darkness while tiny birds perch on your shoulders?

He fully embraces your energy, meeting you in intensity:

“Yes, my divine empress, together we shall surpass the heavens!”

The fact that you deeply love and care for animals just makes him respect you more.

He finds it adorable when you act like a terrifying overlord one second and then cradle a tiny kitten the next.

Sometimes you both get so caught up in the dramatics that Esidisi and Wamuu have to leave the room to recover from secondhand embarrassment.

Rohan Kishibe

At first, he’s just staring at you. You’re talking about being the Queen of Darkness, yet you have rabbits and birds following you like a Disney princess.

“...You’re joking, right?”

Once he realizes you’re dead serious, he just sighs.

But deep down he loves it. He’d never admit it, but he’s fascinated by how animals gravitate toward you.

He secretly sketches you with all the animals around you, labeling it “Queen of Darkness and Her Loyal Subjects”.

If anyone mocks your dramatic personality, he is the first to tear them apart (both verbally and with Heaven’s Door).

Giorno Giovanna

He finds your personality endearing. The way you dramatically declare your rule over the shadows, only to kneel down and whisper sweet nothings to a stray cat? He loves it.

“You claim to be the Queen of Darkness, yet you are the light that all creatures seek.” Cue the most romantic stare ever.

Animals already love him, but the fact that they love you even more? That’s special.

He completely supports your theatrics, never once making fun of them. If anything, he joins in.

“The world shall bow before the King and Queen of Darkness!”

He makes sure no one underestimates you, despite your softness with animals.

Johnny Joestar

When you first introduce your hamsters as the Dark Devas of Destruction, he just stares.

But after what happened with Danny? He actually finds a lot of comfort in spending time with your little creatures. He doesn’t have to talk- he just sits there, letting them crawl over his hands.

He absolutely pretends to be annoyed when you get dramatic, but deep down he loves it.

“Yeah, yeah, Queen of Darkness, whatever. Just…pass me the fluffy one.”

If anyone even thinks about being mean to you or your animals, they’re getting a full-on Johnny Joestar verbal takedown.

Gyro Zeppeli

This man cannot take you seriously at first. When you first declare yourself Queen of Darkness, he straight-up laughs.

But then he sees you gently stroking a bird’s head while calling it your loyal messenger of the abyss.

“Wait, you’re serious?!”

Eventually, he just leans into it. If you’re dramatic, he’s ten times worse.

“BEHOLD! The Queen of Darkness graces us with her presence! ALL SHALL TREMBLE BEFORE HER!”

He absolutely starts giving your animals even more dramatic titles. He loves how much you care for them, even if you insist they are beasts of the underworld.

[pompomqt]

Journey to the West Chapter 58

In this chapter of Journey to the West with @journeythroughjourneytothewest Sun Wukong faces off against his shadow self. So let's get into it shall we?

So Sandy and Monkey head off together towards Flower Fruit Mountain, with Monkey traveling much slower then his usual pace to keep pace with Sandy who is still suspicious of him. However Sandy's suspicions of Monkey are slightly allayed when they get there and find that there is indeed another Sun Wukong. Monkey takes the presence of this clone just as well as Sandy took it early- which is to say that he attacks the clone on sight.

The two are evenly matched, and even if Sandy wanted to try and get in the middle of that to try and give the real Wukong a leg up, he no longer knows which one the real one is. After watching the fight for a while, Sandy decides to make himself useful by trying to find their stuff, however he's unable to find where the false Wukong stashed them. Eventually Monkey calls out to Sandy to just go report back to Tripitaka, while he battles his way over to Guanyin's place so that she can help tell them apart. So Sandy head's back to Tripitaka, while Monkey, and fake Monkey heads for Guanyin.

The two Monkey's continue brawling in Guanyin's front yard, while one of her servants go to alert Guayin to the situation. When she comes out the two Monkey's give her a rundown of the situation, and ask her to tell them apart. So Guanyin has them separate from each other and has two of her servants grab them both while she recites the tight fillet spell. However when Guanyin starts reciting the spell they both act like they are in unbearable pain and beg her to stop, which she does. Now out of idea's, Guanyin tells them to go up to heaven so they can their problem instead of hers.

So Monkey and fake Monkey fight their way up to heaven, and once they've disturbed the peace enough to garner an audience, the two Sun Wukong's once again explain the situation and ask for an audience with the Jade Emperor, once it becomes clear that none of the gathered gods can tell the two apart either. The gods figure that they don't want to get in the middle of... whatever this is, and make way so the two of them can brawl their way to the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor isn't to happy about the two Sun Wukong's brawling in his palace, but since I doubt he wants beef with either of them, he just summons Prince Nezha's father, who brings with him an imp-reflecting mirror. They both stand before the mirror, however even in the reflection they can not be distinguished from each other. Since the Jade Emperor gave it his best shot and failed, it's time to pass the buck once again- this time they're going to go and bother Tirpitaka.

Meanwhile, Sandy has caught back up with Pigsy and Tripitaka and is giving them a run down of the situation. Tripitaka feels bad about accusing Monkey of something he didn't do, but apparently he doesn't feel to badly about, since once the two Monkey's crash down to earth, he has no problem whipping out the tight fillet spell to see if that will help. Which it of course doesn't. Although in his defense I guess he doesn't know that Guanyin already tried that. Anyways, as flattering as it is that they actually thought Tripitaka might be useful in this situation, it is once again time for them to become someone else's problem. Permanently if Tripitaka has anything to say about it, since although he knows about the clone now, that doesn't change the fact that the real Sun Wukong is the one who killed those bandit earlier. So Tripitaka is still mad at him and currently has no plans on taking him back on as a disciple.

That's a problem for later however. For now the two Monkey's decide to take their fight to the underworld to see if the Ten Kings have any insight into this situation. Tripitaka meanwhile tells Sandy that he should go back to Flower Fruit Mountain and check behind the waterfall for their stuff while the two Monkey's are preoccupied. Pigsy however volunteers to go in Sandy's place since he's been behind the waterfall before and will probably have better luck finding it.

Meanwhile the two Monkey's have made their way to the underworld. Some of the spirits manage to alert the Ten Kings about this issue, and the two Monkey's explain the current plot to them. Now knowing the situation the Kings bring forth the registry to see if it can help, unfortunately it's not very useful, partly because this is the very same registry Wukong himself vandalized about four immoralities ago. However unlike the last three groups they asked for for help, these guys actually have a plan B. They call forward a beast called 'Investigative Hearing' who has the ability to perceive true from false. And this beast actually does manage to learn the name of the imposter, but he can't reveal it here. For the imposter is actually as powerful as the real Sun Wukong, and would probably wreak havoc here in retaliation if they reveal him.

So instead the beast suggests that they take this problem up with the Buddha himself, since he'll likely both be able to tell them apart and actually do something about it. Both Monkey's agree to this new course of action and continue their fight to the Western Heaven, where Buddha is currently giving a lecture on why being of one mind is important. The Monkey's arrive just in time for the Buddha to point them out as examples of what happens if you are of two minds instead. Once again the two Monkey's settle down long enough to give the Buddha the recap episode of the last few chapters. And while none of Buddha's cohort's can tell the difference between the two, the Buddha can, and just as he's about to reveal it Guanyin arrives for this surprise lecture from her teacher.

Buddha asks Guanyin if she can tell the difference between the two Monkey's, and Guanyin confesses that she can not, and has come here to ask if Buddha can enlighten them on the situation. Buddha goes on to say that despite everyone's vast power and knowledge, none of them know everything. As they know, there are five kinds of immortals; the celestial, the earthbound, the divine, the human and the ghostly. And there are also five kinds of creatures; the short-haired, the scaly, the hairy, the winged, and the crawling. This imposter however does not fall into any of those ten categories. Instead he is one of four special primates that do not belong to any of these ten species.

The first special monkey is the intelligent stone monkey, aka Sun Wukong himself. Who knows transformations, recognizes the seasons discerns the advantages of earth and is able to alter the course of planets and stars. Next we have the red-buttocked baboon, who has knowledge of yin and yang, understands human affairs, is adept in it's daily life, and is able to avoid death and lengthen it's life. Then there's the third one, the bare-armed gibbon, who can seize the sun and moon, shorten a thousand mountains, distinguish the auspicious from the inauspicious and manipulate planets and stars. And finally we have the six-eared macaque who has a sensitive ear, discernment of fundamental principles, knowledge of past and future, and comprehension of all things.

Therefore the Buddha deduces that the imposter must be the six-eared macaque. Knowing that he's been made, the macaque tries to make a run for it, but Buddha's cohorts have him quickly surrounded. And when the macaque tries to shapeshift into a bee to slip past them, the Buddha traps him under and alms bowl. The macaque then reveals his true form, and Wukong immediately kills him. The Buddha isn't to happy about this, but Wukong explains that he was a criminal that assaulted and robbed his master, and would have been executed under the court of law anyways.

And I guess Buddha is willing to accept this logic, since instead of scolding him further he just tells him to go back to Tripitaka. Monkey however explains that Tripitaka doesn't want him anymore, and instead asks that the Buddha remove the fillet so he can just go home instead. Buddha however just says he'll send Guanyin with him to make sure that Tripitaka takes him back. So Guanyin and Wukong head back to where Tripitaka and Sandy are waiting. Guanyin explains about the six-eared macaque and tells Tripitaka to take Wukong back on as a disciple since he won't be able to reach the west without his protection. Tripitaka agree's and thanks Guanyin, meanwhile Pigsy arrives just in time to explain the other half of the situation. He's got their stuff back, and killed the imposter Tripitaka and Pigsy, who were just normal monkey's while he was at it. Which honestly, I'm surprised that Wukong wasn't upset about, those are his people after, and they were kind of forced to go along with all of this by the Macaque. Anyways, now that the story is completely wrapped up, Guanyin takes her leave, and together once again, the pilgrims continue on their Journey to the West.

Current Sun Wukong Stats: Names/Titles: Monkey, The Stone Monkey, The Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong (Monkey awakened to the void), Bimawen (Banhorseplague), The Great Sage Equal To Heaven and Pilgrim Sun. Immortality: 5 + 94,000 years Weapon: The Compliant Golden Hooped Rod Abilities: 72 Transformations, Cloud-Somersault, Ability to transform his individual hairs, super strength, Ability to Summon Wind, Water restriction charm, and the ability to change into a huge war form, ability to duplicate his staff, ability to immobilize others, the ability to put others to sleep, and the Fiery eyes and Diamond Pupils, intimidating horses, churning large bodies of water, sleeplessness, seizing the wind, enhanced smell, discerning good and evil within a thousand miles, Spirit Summoning, lock picking, object transformation, distance reduction, vanishing in a flash of light, super healing, transforming others, and Invisibility Demon Kill Count: 10 + Unknown Number of Minions Human Kill Count: 1039 God's Defeated: 23 + Unknown number Defeats: 7 Crime List: Robbery, Murder, Mass Murder, Arson, Theft, Coercion, Threatening a Government Official, Resisting Arrest, Assault, Forgery, Employee Theft, False Imprisonment, Impersonating a Government Official, Treason, attempted murder, failure to control or report a dangerous fire, desecrating a corpse, breaking and entering, trespassing, violating Tree Law, looting corpses, trading counterfeit goods, criminal threat, animal abuse, Assisting or Instigating Escape, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption, Identity Fraud, and Disorderly Conduct Cry Count: 9 + 3 fake cries Mountains Trapped Under: 4

Current Tang Sanzang stats: Names/Titles: River Float, Xuanzang, Tang Sanzang, Tripitaka and the Tang Monk Abilities: Curing Blindness, making branches point a certain direction (allegedly), reciting sutras, pretty privilege, memorization, Heart Sutra and Meditation. Cry Count: 30 Tight Fillet Spell Uses: 63 Paralyzed by fear: 6 Bandit Problems: 3 Kidnapped by demons: 9 Falling Off Horses: 10

Current Bai Long Ma Stats: Names/Titles: Bai Long Ma (White Dragon Horse), Prince of the Western Ocean, and third prince jade dragon of the dragon king Aorun Abilities: Transforming into a human, a water snake, and a horse, eating a horse in one bite, flight, Magic of Water Restriction, Singing, and Sword Dancing. Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Arson, and Grave Disobedience. Contributions to the plot: 3 Kidnapped by demons: 1

Current Zhu Wuneng Stats: Names/Titles: The Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds, Zhu Wuneng (Pig who is aware of ability), Zhu Ganglie, Pigsy, Idiot and Eight Rules. Weapon: Rake Abilities: 36 Transformations, parting water, fighting underwater, cloud soaring, size enhancement and CPR Demon Kill Count/Kill steals: 5 Kidnapped by Demons: 4 Human Kill Count: 1 Failed Flirtation/romances Attempts: 4 Cry Count: 2 Crime List: Sexual Harassment, Murder, Kidnapping, arson, defamation, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption, Identity Fraud, Theft and Forcible entry

Current Sha Wujing Stats: Names/Titles: The Curtain-Raising General, Sha Wujing (Sand Aware of Purity), Sandy and Sha Monk Weapon: Monster Taming Staff Abilities: Fighting underwater, Cloud soaring, and fetching water from a well. Demon Kill Count: 1 + Unknown number of minions. Kidnapped by Demons: 3 Human Kill Count: 1 Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Breaking a Crystal Cup, murder, desecration of a human corpse, Damage to Religious Property and contaminating a substance for human consumption

Previous - Masterpost - Next

[mysticmonkie]

Hello! I'd like to ask about your AU: In your Possessed/Samadhi Fire AU, why was Wukong wearing that really good armor when Macaque and MK found him in the Diyu, and where did he get it? How did those two even get into the Underworld and search for him? These are starter questions. Have a great week! Eat your fruits regularly.

AU in Question

Hi! I apologize greatly for how long it took me to answer this, I don't have too much of an excuse other than just not being able to focus on my AU.

Why was Wukong in nice armor, where did he get it?

Seeing as Monkey King would surely refuse reincarnation and would gladly fight off anyone who may dare try to touch them, the Ten Kings instead settle with allowing the Great Sage a place in the Diyu's ranks as to avoid any casualties. Wukong then received this new armor from the Ten Kings themselves and was given a job providing deserved negative karma before allowing a soul their next life.

Note: Up-to-date, technically the armor that Wukong wears when found should match the colors on the left, only becoming red as he returns to the living world.

How did Macaque and MK even get to the Diyu?

Macaque bringing MK to the Diyu was far safer than the method MK used in order to replace Monkey King's name in the Book of Death. Being born of the Diyu, Macaque is able to travel there with ease, even knowing a clean cut way in which even a (supposed) mortal could enter without harm. The method of travel may sound familiar to another piece of JTTW media who did similarly...

Only accessible through travel by shadow and hidden deep beneath Flower-Fruit Mountain lies a dark cave that holds a pool of pitch black water. Entering this water gives one the ability to travel between realms from the living world to the Mountain of Perpetual Shade in the Diyu.

[chonggen]

Quick new Oc

Really quick, she only took me 12hr. And behold my new art style.

Full name: Jia Zhutao (or just Tao)

Species: Hong Niang / Cat demon (she used to be a human before being a cat demon)

Gender: Female

Age: 1000+

Weapon(s): A fan like kunai

Home: Underworld

Alias(es): Ten Kings, Celestial Realms (except Li Jing, bc he wants to lock her up in the pagoda), Nine-headed Demon

Affiliation(s): Ten Kings’ subordinate

Occupation(s): Memory scrolls’ manager, Ten Kings’ diplomat, Soul seeker and attractor

Likes: Oleander, Meng Po Soup, cats, mortal realm, Yu Lan Festival, mortals’ celebrations

Dislikes: coriander, smelly food, dogs, work

Family: Jian Dumu - Twin brother

Friend(s): Nine-headed Demon, Meng Po, Nezha

Enemies: Li Jing

Status: dead? or it counts alive?

Abilities:

Hallucination- Tao can make it into visual, auditory, pain, etc. It is mainly used to suppress out-of-control souls. It can also be used on humans and demons, and they cannot be relieved by themselves. And also can create the phantom of objects, places, but she mainly create the souls’ family members to guide them and bring them to Meng Po.

Shape shifting- Tao can transform into cats, human, also can transform into the family member of the souls that completely out-of-control to appease them. Except the special case she mainly use it to go to the mortal realm.

Ability of seeing the wraiths (cursed souls)- Wraiths unlike the normal ghosts or souls, wraiths will only appear in people who have committed serious sins, which means that these people are the targets of her soul seek. And the wraiths only appear in the mortal realm and won’t appear in the underworld.

Teleportation- Tao can teleport to anywhere, but it only can be used at work or at the Yu Lan Festival (that festival is her vacation). And when she teleports a bunch of oleander petals appear.

Puppetry- Tao can possess people just like the Lady Bone Demon, but only can possess two at the same time.

Soothe the nerves- Tao has a scent that calms people down. The concentration of the smell can be adjusted, but if it is too strong it can cause coma.

Poisoned body- If Tao comes into physical contact with another person, they become poisoned and die immediately. However, it doesn't affect females or her brother.

Super hearing- Tao can locate sounds up to 100 meters away.

Personality:

She looks gentle, but she is a lazy person. Whenever she wanted to escape from work, she would go to Po Meng's place to be lazy. She doesn't work hard when searching for souls.

She’d never trust to the other except her friends, because during her lifetime, she was betrayed by her lover and sacrificed her twin brother. In order to no longer be betrayed by his lover and never devote himself wholeheartedly to a love, he also developed a habit of killing the other person after the love ended. Until she arrived in the underworld, became a soul seeker, and found her brother. No matter how close the relationship between the other party and her is, they can only become friends or besties at best.

[chbflametinker]

Letter to Patroclus

Patroclus, my heart's most faithful half,

Didn't I tell you to stay in the chariot? To not throw the spear? I felt betrayed thinking of your disobedience. The way your smooth tongue found a loophole amongst my words, just like Odysseus would, and you returned to me, unbreathing. Ah, Odysseus, back with his lover, Penelope, in Ithaca, and Hector with his family in the underworld. I saw the reunited family when I finally met my demise—when I saw Paris shoot that arrow towards me, guided by Lord Apollo. But to my utmost surprise, I did not see you here in Elysium. Paradise, they call it, for heroes like me. But is this even paradise when you're not here?

I wandered around, searching for your soul, wanting to express my love, gratitude, resentment, and guilt toward you. However, I am met with only great kings, princes, and other heroic demigods and mortals who know my name. Hearing my name praised by them isn't the same as hearing it from your lips—those lips I've tasted so many times. I fear the men and women after our generation would consider us mere brothers, cousins, or best friends. You are most definitely more than that to me, my Philtatos — most beloved.

As I sat by the River Lethe here in Elysium, I must confess, I wanted to bathe in it, to erase the memories of my pride overruling my judgment. Hubris, the sole reason I lost you. Then I pondered; I whispered your name, "Patroclus, glory of his father." Pater...Kleos...was the "glory" I was chasing and fighting for my whole life...you? You were there all along, begging me to help the Greeks, but my foolish self cared more for Agamemnon's insult toward me than your life. Briseis was right; you were worth ten of me…even more. I remember those nights when you, unbreathing, lay beside me. I'd jolt wide awake, screaming that I am finally here to help you win against the Trojans, against Hector. Then I look to my side, and there it is; your cold, unmoving body, your pale hands that once held my face. I shook your body. No response, and I, once again, wept.

I wish we were back in Chiron's humble abode, just eating figs, playing the lyre, and training. We could have grown old together. I could have thrown an apple at you and bound our souls together, Homophrosyne, like Odysseus and Penelope. But wishful thinking would get me nowhere now, wouldn't it?

With much love and regret, Achilles

This is my entry to my enlistment in my club at university; no one should repost this literary piece into which I poured my heart. I only wanted to share this since I am really proud of it. Please contact me IMMEDIATELY if someone reposted it on any social media platform. Thank you!

Artwork credit:

alessia.trunfio. (2021, December 1). “He’s the half of my soul, as poets say.” Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CW6H2jOrJBc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

[ryin-silverfish]

An informal translation of the Chinese dub dialogues in LMK S5 trailer

Sth I did on Discord earlier today. May as well put it here, with a few annotations.

Heavy spoilers under cut.

"The Ten Courts of Ksitigarbha has summoned you here to answer for your evil deeds. Do you three acknowledge your crimes?"

[地藏十殿 is referencing how in JTTW, Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha/Dizang is technically the boss of the Ten Kings of the Underworld.]

Li Jing: "I should take over all affairs in the Celestial Realm."

Ten Kings: "And this…is Devaraja Li Jing, the Pagoda King."

MK: "Nezha's dad?! Nezha, is your dad becoming the new JE?"

"But there is one thing that can bring the Great Sage Equal to Heaven to his knees/make him submit..."

Li Jing: "Don't you lot try to escape again!"

"Thou shalt be condemned for thy destruction of tis' world!"

"Right now, the damage caused to the Pillar of Creation is irreversible."

MK: "Wait a sec, what exactly is the Pillar of Creation?"

"This world's functioning depends on it."

[创世之柱 likely draws inspiration from "Nvwa patching the sky" mythos, where the water god Gonggong, after losing his battle against Zhuanxu or Zhurong, knocked over Mt. Buzhou, the sky pillar with his head.]

"Whatever happens, we'll always find a way, right?"

Mei: "It seems to have something to do with…rocks?"

"Regardless of whether there is some sort of secret conspiracy, the people we trusted are all by our side!"

SWK: "Everything will be okay, MK."

"There is something deep inside you that you cannot control..."

"What we gotta do is collect the Five-colored Stones, repair whichever parts that need repairing, and return everything to normal at last!"

"Here…comes…Monkey Kid!"

Red Son: "Let's put the topic of Divine Beasts aside for a sec, Dragon Girl. Distant water cannot put out a nearby fire——"

[远水救不了近火, a Chinese idiom that basically means "a slow remedy cannot resolve an emergency".]

Mei: "My codename is Long Dongqiang! Long-dong-qiang-dong-qiang…(humming)"

[隆咚锵咚锵, a Chinese onomatopoeia for drum + gong sounds. Mei is also making a pun here of her Chinese surname, Long.]

[Edit: the onomatopoeia is also used in a CNY song, 七个隆冬锵咚锵.]

[incoherentbabblings]

I get why people say in things like Epic that the suitors want to marry Penelope so they can be King of Ithaca in order to up the personal stakes of the risk the suitors to Odysseus. The concept of them just flagrantly violating sacred hospitality laws just doesn't have the same impact on modern audiences, so we have to up the stakes to potential usurping in order to make the audience understand how greedy these men are.

But... Penelope is neither from Ithaca nor has any right to the throne. Marrying her doesn't make a person King. One of the reasons she doesn't want to remarry is that she would have to leave her home of twenty plus years and leave her only child behind to go to her new husband's home. In the Odyssey people threaten her and say she should return to her father in Sparta so he can find a new husband for her. Regardless, her remarrying means leaving Ithaca, or - at the very least - leave the Palace her husband built for her.

Penelope is as much holding ground for Odysseus to return as she is refusing to give up her home. It's why what she is doing is so morally ambiguous and why she needs Athena's help to get her to sleep every night. She has no proof Odysseus is still alive, yet she is stopping her remarriage and potentially Telemachus becoming King (though that's more the suitor's being dicks and Laertes non active role in allowing Telemachus to actually obtain manhood rather than Penelope's presence). Point is, if Odysseus had died during those 20 years, the narrative would have treated her actions very differently.

In the Odyssey whilst in the Underworld, Odysseus seems fine with the thought of Penelope having remarried so long as it was to a good man (very different to the Epic!owl hooting who). And that statement was made only like three years (lol) after the end of the Trojan War, never mind ten! Where he loses it is seeing how the men treat his home, wife, and child.

Him realising Penelope is flirting with some of the suitors is met with joy ‐ he sees her playing the game and finds it hilarious. Again, Penelope and Odysseus being described as the same person and like minded etc., extends to their moral ambiguity as much as it does their wit. She is described as laughing or smiling very rarely in the Odyssey. One of the few times she laughs is when she imagines the suitors being murdered.

Homophrosýnē indeed.