MK as a Mirror [Season 3 + Embrace Your Destiny Edition]
MK: “Are you okay? After-”
(2x00 Revenge of the Spider Queen)
MK: “UGH. How am I meant to fight the lady bone demon?”
(3x04 The Winning Side)
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Macaque: ”That’s more like it!”
MK: “Why are you helping her—Lady Bone Demon—like, look, I get that you’re a bad guy, but you know that she wants to destroy everything, right?”
Macaque: “Yeah see...I’ve had a taste of dying and you know what? Not a huge fan. So! I’m choosing to be on the winning side.”
(3x04 The Winning Side)
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(3x07 Cooking with Chang’e) (I don’t think this one means anything, but it’s included for the sake of being thorough. MK and Mei tend to move in sync, which I think could mean something.)
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(3x10 The Samadhi Fire)
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MK: “Ugh, STOP! You keep playing at being this bad guy, acting like you’re just in it for you! But I know, deep deep down you’re not that guy. Help us. Make it right.”
(3x13 Time to be Warriors)
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(1x09 Macaque)
(3x14 Destiny Fulfilled)
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Sun Wukong: “Time for the Hero stuff.”
(3x14 Destiny Fulfilled)
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Lady Bone Demon: “Know this, monkie, you and I are not so different. We both fight for what we think is right—that pursuit only leads to one thing."
MK: "Hmmhm. To destiny, right?"
Lady Bone Demon: "No. To pain."
(3x14 Destiny Fulfilled)
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(1x07 Impossible Delivery)
(3x14 Destiny Fulfilled)
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BONUS:
(Season 4 Intro)
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This is one of those things where when I started I was like “hmmmm, I think there might be something here but I’m not sure!” and then by the end I’m so convinced I’m right it hurts. Hope I brought at least one poor soul over to my side
[Season 1] [Season 2] [*] [Season 4]
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Is Six Ears an Aspect of Sun Wukong?
I've seen some people claim that Six Ears is not an aspect of Sun Wukong's mind. They either ignore the references to "one mind" and "two Minds" (and the Buddhist philosophy behind them), or they just say it's allegory and nothing more. Well, there are actually internal story details from chapter 58 that support the close connection between the Monkey King and his doppelganger.
1) The Bodhisattva Guanyin and her “eyes of wisdom” (huiyan, 慧眼) can’t tell them apart:
The various deities and the Bodhisattva stared at the two for a long time, but none could tell them apart (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 106).
眾諸天與菩薩都看良久,莫想能認。
[And later:]
Pressing his palms together, our Buddha said, “Guanyin, the Honored One, can you tell which is the true Pilgrim and which is the false one?” “They came to your disciple’s humble region the other day,” replied the Bodhisattva, “but I truly could not distinguish between them …” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 114).
我佛合掌道:「觀音尊者,你看那兩個行者,誰是真假?」菩薩道:「前日在弟子荒境,委不能辨 …
2) The tight-fillet spell works on both Monkeys:
Asking Moksa and Goodly Wealth [a.k.a. Red Boy] to approach her, the Bodhisattva whispered to them this instruction: “Each of you take hold of one of them firmly, and let me start reciting in secret the Tight-Fillet Spell. The one whose head hurts is the real monkey; the one who has no pain is specious.” Indeed, the two disciples took hold of the two Pilgrims as the Bodhisattva recited in silence the magic words. At once the two of them gripped their heads and rolled on the ground, both screaming, “Don’t recite! Don’t recite!” The Bodhisattva stopped her recital … (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 106).
菩薩喚木叉與善財上前,悄悄吩咐:「你一個幫住一個,等我暗念緊箍兒咒,看那個害疼的便是真,不疼的便是假。」他二人果各幫一個。菩薩暗念真言,兩個一齊喊疼,都抱著頭,地下打滾,只叫:「莫念,莫念。」菩薩不念 …
(If someone disagrees with this one, they need to show where it says Six Ears is faking the pain.)
3) Both the Jade Emperor and the imp-reflecting mirror can’t tell them apart:
Issuing a decree at once to summon Devariija Li, the Pagoda-Bearer, the Jade Emperor commanded: “Let us look at those two fellows through the imp-reflecting mirror, so that the false may perish and the true endure.” The devaraja took out the mirror immediately and asked the Jade Emperor to watch with the various celestial deities. What appeared in the mirror were two reflections of Sun Wukong: there was not the slightest difference between their golden fillets, their clothing, and even their hair. Since the Jade Emperor found it impossible to distinguish them, he ordered them chased out of the hall (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, pp. 107-108).
玉帝即傳旨宣托塔李天王,教:「把照妖鏡來照這廝誰真誰假,教他假滅真存。」天王即取鏡照住,請玉帝同眾神觀看。鏡中乃是兩個孫悟空的影子,金箍、衣服,毫髮不差。玉帝亦辨不出,趕出殿外。
4) Only omniscient beings like Investigative Hearing (Ksitigargbha's mount) and the Buddha can tell the two apart:
[T]he Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha said, “Wait a moment! Wait a moment! Let me ask Investigative Hearing to listen for you.” That Investigative Hearing, you see, happens to be a beast that usually lies beneath the desk of Ksitigarbha. When he crouches on the ground, he can in an instant perceive the true and the false, the virtuous and the wicked among all short-haired creatures, scaly creatures, hairy creatures, winged creatures, and crawling creatures, and among all the celestial immortals, the earthly immortals, the divine immortals, the human immortals, and the spirit immortals resident in all the cave Heavens and blessed lands in the various shrines, rivers, and mountains of the Four Great Continents. In obedience, therefore, to the command of Ksitigarbha, the beast prostrated himself in the courtyard of the Hall of Darkness, and in a little while, he raised his head to say to his master, “I have the name of the fiend …” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 112)
…地藏王菩薩道:「且住,且住。等我著諦聽與你聽個真假。」原來那諦聽是地藏菩薩經案下伏的一個獸名。他若伏在地下,一霎時,將四大部洲山川社稷,洞天福地之間,蠃蟲、鱗蟲、毛蟲、羽蟲、昆蟲、天仙、地仙、神仙、人仙、鬼仙,可以照鑒善惡,察聽賢愚。那獸��地藏鈞旨,就於���羅庭院之中,俯伏在地。須臾,擡起頭來,對地藏道:「怪名雖有…」。
[...]
Smiling, Tathagata said, “Though all of you [Guanyin] possess vast dharma power and are able to observe the events of the whole universe, you cannot know all the things therein, nor do you have the knowledge of all the species” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 114).
如來笑道:「汝等法力廣大,只能普閱周天之事,不能遍識周天之物,亦不能廣會周天之種類也。」
[…]
[After the Buddha explains the ten categories of life and the four types of celestial primates (see the introduction here), he says:]
As I see the matter, that specious Wukong must be a six-eared macaque … (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 115).
我觀假悟空乃六耳獼猴也 …
In short, the twin monkeys are so hard to tell apart simply because they are representations of the true and illusionary minds (refer back to the article) within the same person.
So what does this say about Shadowpeach? I know LMK is a separate entity from the novel, but applying canon to this ship would make it more self-love, right? I'm sure those with creatively perverted minds know what I'm taking about.
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Au where everything is the same except Mk monkey form looks like an exact copy and paste of younger macaque (aka. Long White fur, only thing that differed is the ears and the peach colored mask) (going off that headcannon that macaque had white fur but then once he got revived it turned black btw) and it pisses wukong of to no end. Because like how??? You have brown hair as a human. How the fuck do you have white fur as a monkey?? How do you not look like me at all???? You have my powers???? How come we share nothing else?? Wtf??
It also pisses macaque off too because Mk does NOT know how to take care of his new fur at all. For the longest time everyone thought his fur was grey or like light brown and Mk just has to awkwardly explain that “oh yeah no my fur is white but it gets dirty really easily so I kinda just let it fester all day until I shower”
Macaque having had white fur for centuries and having it just come back thanks to lady bone demons ice thing: “YOU DO WHAT NOW???”
Bro gets so unbelievably offended about it too- he literally drags Mk to the nearest lake when he first hears about this on flower fruit mountain and washes him like his a baby monkey. He takes out a brush from his shadow portals and starts brushing mks hair and everything. Wukong just stares wide eye at the fact that macaque was treating his successor like a little kid and going off on him like “I cannot believe you. Did wukong never teach you proper hygiene or what? In the new age of human technology and you decide to just let your fur suffer? I did this because I didn’t have a better option back then but you- I will teach how to take of your fur like it or not you little shit-“
Wukong is just in shock through most of this process but does start laughing his ass off of once the shock wears out and just a sad soggy Mk getting chewed out by macaque remains
Mei, Baihe, and Redson are all absolutely in love with Mks white hair btw.
Baihe and Mei love to play around with it and the biggest reason as to why Mk keeps his fur fairly long. Baihe loves to braid it and decorate while Mei just want to dye it constantly (and also loves to play with it during cuddles)
And because I love spicynoddles: Red son just thinks mks looks fucking majestic. Especially when he has the really intricate braids with gold decorations because Mei knows how to make her best friend look fabulous and will weaponize it
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I don't think MK is worried about being a demon monkey thing.
I think he's worried about becoming LBD.
(My theory below, with pictures and colored text, so you don't get bored of course!)
Now I thought this idea up a while back, when I first watched the Jade Emperor episode (which was probably in Chinese when I originally watched it). And what made me think of it was this scene:
(I think I saw someone somewhere say that there weren't any MK reflections in S4, which is a lie because there's one right here. However it's possible that this is the ONLY MK reflection in S4, which actually ties into my theory because his face is reflected over a skull (and guess who's associated with those in this show?))
Now after a while I forgot about it for the most part, but recently I recalled it, and after looking through some of S4 a bit, I've realized that it's actually probably canon.
Now why don't I start by addressing the conversation MK had LBD when she was defeated, the one they had in the white void.
LBD: "Save your hero speech, child. I've existed long enough to know when it's over."
MK: "You still think that the universe really wants anything from... any of us?"
LBD: "Don't you?"
MK: "I try not to think too hard."
LBD: "So it would seem."
LBD: "Know this, monkey. You and I are not so different. We both fight for what we think is right. That pursuit only leads to one thing."
MK: "Mhm, to destiny, right?"
LBD: "No. To pain."
Now, while I've noticed several callbacks throughout S4 to not only S3 but maybe even previous seasons (IT'S ALL CONNECTED) I'm mainly going to focus on the fight in Pitiful Creatures and take a look at MK and Subodhi's discussion they had in Show Me the Monster. I've got a lot of thoughts but to spare myself I'm just going to focus on things that relates to my theory.
See if you can follow along.
Master Subodhi: This is not about the Monkey King. There is something more at play here. Something about you."
MK: "Wha-? Me? I'm just a regular noodle delivery boy."
Master Subodhi: "Ha! Do you even believe that?"
Master Subodhi: "Although this was the stone from which Sun Wukong once sprung, it appears, over time, it was used to form another. A simple creature with no past, no family, and no name. There is a reason you are at the center of these stories. A reason you can harness the power of the Monkey King himself!"
Master Subodhi: "Who or what you are, even I do not know the answer. But of one thing I am certain. Fate has plans for you. Great plans or foul? Time will tell."
MK: "You still think that the universe really wants anything from... any of us?"
LBD: "Don't you?"
(Not gonna lie, considering the perception MK's been given on fate (which is a generally pretty cruel and heartless one, considering how it was mainly in tandem with LBD) Master Subodhi telling him fate had plans for him was probably like a giant slap to the face. Like it probably seemed to him like Subodhi was basically saying "lol you're gonna eat shit kid, hope you like being the imposter among us and causing pain and suffering". Especially considering how the one who was always claiming that fate had plans for them was LBD. To MK, Master Subodhi was basically saying that he'd end up like LBD. He was confirming LBD's last words. Hence the "Shifu Subodhi said it himself" line later, even though Subodhi didn't say shit about MK bringing pain and destruction on the world, just fate having plans for him and him being more special than previously thought)
MK: "You're not real. You're just the curse of the scroll trying to get all up inside of my head, just like-"
Protective curse: "The Lady Bone Demon? Tell me, what do you think we are? Honestly. 'Cause I have been dying to hear us say it. Out loud."
(Fun fact, when the curse (which is currently formed as MK) says "The Lady Bone Demon?" You can hear LBD's voice in the background saying the exact same thing)
Protective curse: "Seriously? You still think we're just some... 'noodle delivery guy'? You can't remember where we came from, and we got all this power, and you never once thought, why us? What are we?! What is our purpose?!"
MK: "Of course I thought about it! I mean, maybe! I was gonna thought about it. I just... I just wanna be me. To be MK!"
MK: "I try not to think too hard."
Protective curse: "We're just like Wukong. A fraud, a trickster, destructive. Why would our legacy be any different? Actually, no, no. The chaos and destruction that we'll bring upon the world will make Wukong's past look like nothing. Shifu Subodhi said it himself, right?"
MK: "No. No, you're wrong. I'm-I'm... I'm not—"
Protective curse: "Not what? Some monkey demon thing destined to bring chaos upon the world? Come on! Use your words, big brain boy. Say it! What are we?"
(If MK is worried he might be like LBD, then it's possible that his perception of LBD is leaking into his perception of the person he's also been compared with, Monkey King)
(Also, keep in mind LBD posed as a little girl, tricked MK, and tried to destroy the world)
Protective curse: "Yeah, boi! Oh, that's what I'm talking about! You can't escape it. This thing, whatever you are, embrace it. Embrace your destiny!"
(I would once again like to refer to Spider Queen's line of "there's no running from what she is!")
And here's a little treat for ya, several times throughout the show characters have consistently referred to LBD as a "what". Saying stuff like, "There's no running from what she is" and whatnot. Now I want you to go back through the evidence I've presented (heck, maybe even go back through S4), and look for anytime that anyone/anything refers to "what MK is". Go on. I'll be here when you get back, pinky promise. :)
(Fun fact, when MK was telling DBK what LBD was, he said she was an "ancient demon". Now in S4, MK is wondering if he's a demon monkey)
Now, there are many more references I could make here. But, to spare my sanity, and to keep you from getting bored from seeing the same shit over and over again, I'll move on now, and instead invite you to look for connections like this in the show on your own time.
For my final point before I end this post, I would like to say something. I don't think the concept of LBD and MK having things in common started with the white void scene. I think, it started here:
MK: "It's ok. I get it. It's scary being alone."
LBD wasn't the one to make the connection first. MK was. That they were alike in some way. Here, in Minor Scale Major Lift. A season 2 episode. And the one where he first met her.
And, funnily enough, it's possible that there could be more references in Minor Scale Major Lift. For example:
LBD: "You were right, you know. It's scary being alone! I do pity you."
Meanwhile the episode I referenced the most in this post is called Pitiful Creatures. Plus, in that episode, MK tells the scroll to "get out of his head", and in Minor Scale Major Lift, the Lady Bone Demon "got into his head" so to speak.
Ya know, I think it's funny. We all heard LBD compare herself with MK, telling him that they were alike. Yet, we never seemed to consider that maybe MK actually believed her.
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