He Dun Goofed | Overly Sarcastic Productions: Journey To The West Part 6 Reaction

New videos of geekery, reactions, and anime/otaku-related content at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) Wednesday to Sunday.
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Legends Summarized: The Journey To The West (Part VI)
• Legends Summarized: Th...
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[@FurieMan]

The fact that we call it "Damsel in distress" instead of a "Tripitaka" is an injustice.

[@LukasJampen]

It would definitely be deserved.

[@weldonwin]

Well, to be fair in pretty much every live action adaptation I have seen of Journey to the West, Tripitaka is played by a woman

[@drakefire6675]

@@weldonwin That makes the Amazon bit of the story a bit more interesting.

[@demi-fiendoftime3825]

​​@@weldonwin they're even a woman in Fate Go

[@Levsa399]

@@weldonwin well now I want to see an adaptation where he’s still a man and see how a modern audience handles that.

[@SomeRandomDutchGuy1]

The reason why Monkey is the only one able to see everything demonic is because of the "rad red eyes" he got when the court tried to cook him alive in the first part.

[@nathanielburkett9400]

I'll have you know that the lawyer joke Pigsy makes after Red Boy punches himself is _an actual thing from the book,_ not something Red made up for humor. Just in case you forgot this is the ancestor to anime and that Chinese heaven is a bureaucracy.

[@infiniteoctopaw]

Also a fellow book reader: Yep! Pigsy says that and it's hilarious.

[@SilverHairedFreak25]

"This is the Kuanyin episode, isn't it?" Funny thing, this won't be the only one. She'll come back often, and prove she's the unsung MVP of this entire book.

[@flyboy6392]

she reminds me of DBZA Mr. Popo

[@Levsa399]

Can’t wait until he gets to part 8!

[@falxblade1352]

@@flyboy6392 she is, just significantly nicer

[@painvillegaming4119]

@@falxblade1352at this point, she's Wukong Bulma The older sister figure

[@BeErnyify]

Don’t forget that she’s the one who set it all up. Ok, she was ordered to do so by the buddha, but that’s just semantics…

[@simoneval2619]

Monkey don't represent the will. Monkey represent the human mind. Not for nothing is the one how come up with all the ideas and, despite been ridiculously strong, know very well how to fight smarter.

[@islasullivan3463]

And is generally impulsive and and making bad decisions until he makes friends tat are more gullible than him forcing him to become the voice of reason. Which is just hilarious.

[@brigidtheirish]

Will makes some sense given how goal driven and impulsive he is, though.

[@DanGamingFan2406]

This really is like a sitcom where the same formula is used over and over, everything resets at the end, and nobody learns anything. Nobody listens to Sun Wukong, Tripitaka keeps getting kidnapped, the dragon horse is useless, the onlything slightly different, is that Pigsy did something helpful for once. Also, it was interesting seeing Wukong get pretty beat up for once.

[@watershipup7101]

Pigsy being useful was pretty surprising.

[@Levsa399]

I will just say to give you all hope, while some things stay the same, there is character development as we get further in the story.

[@frankspick7544]

to be fair with teh dragon horse he has orders to only be the horse.

[@0axis771]

Yeah, though Red Boy himself is not as great or skilled as others, his "True Fire of Samadhi" is one of the few abilities that was too much for even Sun Wukong to handle. To the point that Wukong had to completely humble himself and ask for help from the gods.

[@njivwathomassilavwe2056]

Just making me think of Monkie Kid

[@infiniteoctopaw]

​@@njivwathomassilavwe2056 sad fact. No 3 (4) rings. Thats only in the lego version. :c

[@jacintacapelety9600]

Money isn't the one that represents the human will, that's the horse. Monkey represents the incontrollable human mind (which I believe Red explained in a previous video when she broke down Monkey's emotional volatility after getting banished from the group). Also, Red Boy wasn't *exiled* by his dad, he was given a job that involved looking over the mountain. So you expecting the demon to react negatively to Monkey knowing the bull demon king makes absolutely no sense.

[@cyberdragoon1432]

2:35 Do remember that it’s because of Monkey’s time in the heavenly brassier, which gave him those eyes. 12:33 Not really, more like bureaucratic training, since demons in Asian mythology tend to have a point of “aristocracy” to them instead of being completely a rampaging supernatural force, as evidence of some prior encounters. 15:23 Also no, it’s more of a technique than a property of his being. And the only use of his hair is to create clones. 16:27 Yeah don’t think too hard about it. 17:00 He is under the bureaucracy after all. 20:03 Very derogatory translation.

[@soveryumble7250]

Fun fact, this story (and Red Boy himself) is sort of a very distant inspiration for Dragonball's Chichi. The Bull Demon King is the Ox King from Dragon Ball, and Chichi is his child(standing in for Red Boy). Basically, in Dragon Ball, Son Goku married a gender-swapped version of this particualr demon.

[@infiniteoctopaw]

Fun fact. The reason smoke in the eyes hurts monkey is because Wukong has descrived PTSD in the book from getting slow cooked for 49 days. This is interest. I don’t know alot about Chinese medical history. But i know here in the actual west PTSD or Shell Shock was only discovered a few decades ago. And was asumes to be from "not being tough enough". So to see this book describe it so readily really suprised me. As well as no one make fun of him for it and for it.

[@genoguzzardi1042]

So, fun fact! As you know, a good chunk of the original cast of Dragon Ball were based on characters from Journey to the West. The character that Red Boy inspired was none other than Chichi!

[@AlexT7916]

..... huh

[@poochyenajones1362]

Well that's.... weird.

[@monkeyking7972]

How was Red Boy a inspection for Chi Chi? I’m generally curious

[@genoguzzardi1042]

@@monkeyking7972 Child of the Ox (Demon) King, an old friend of Son Goku('s grandfather). Granted, Chi-Chi also has elements of Red Boy's mother, Princess Iron Fan, as well.

[@monkeyking7972]

@@genoguzzardi1042 ok, thanks for the explanation!

[@eslamfalk416]

3:42 Canon reason is that the one Ring is more Powerful (and more tempting) the stronger someone is and these eagles are powerful --> very tempted to take the ring and do bad shit with it

[@alexandersturnn4530]

Plus, Sauron has his own Airforce, with the Fellbeasts. Bringing the Ring to Mount Doom with the Eagles would have been a bad, BAD idea.

[@Gauldame]

Also, the Eagles...COULD THINK! They were archetypal spirit beings and Lords of the Flying creatures on par with most of the other magical beings who KNEW that Sauron, a Fallen, had an air army and a bad habit of hiring dragons. With the last time they showed up they made clear that yeah, we owed you a favor old boy but we're not risking our necks and dying pointlessly. They would have peaced out the second they were asked. They could say no. They weren't dumb beasts. And the last time Gandalf and them hung out they kinda gave him the "look...lose our number okay?" vibe to him. It just irks me every time. Read the bloody books people.

[@marmyeater]

And here I thought that the canon reason was that being more powerful doesn't always equate to an unbreakable will. After all: Not everyone is Tulkas, Tom Bombadil, Aule, Eru Iluvatar, etc. Hobbits can usually carry it so long because power doesn't matter to them nearly as much, and Sauron didn't know how to tempt them due to the cognitive dissonance.

[@viroszelmire1391]

Also Sauron would be able to see them coming and have them intercepted/shot down

[@marley7868]

in addition the eagles are weak to ranged attacks like arrows

[@sp1r1t2001]

Kanji (japanese characters) were originally "borrowed" from China. That's why "they use the same characters". Now the 2 sets differ a lot, but a lot of originals are still in active use.

[@HBHaga]

The text of Journey to the West plays with various characters' names a LOT. Pigsy and Sandy had several each: divine names from their days in the Heavens, Buddhist names given by Guanyin which gave them something to aspire to, bond names from Tripataka to remind them to overcome their shortcomings, the works.

[@badbloodkiller3471]

2:20 Remember when Sun was being cooked in a giant brazier of eight trigrams and got red eyes? That why he can see them. How, though? No idea it just is.

[@Brutalyte616]

If I had to guess, Lao Tzu has made a lot of edibles with that thing and the 'wisdom' got baked into Monkey's eyeballs over the course of the weeks he spent inside the damn thing.

[@CommissarMitch]

Bringing up the Eagles in LOTR? IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2023? Alright. Here is the tea. The eagles are sentient creatures who actively avoid the conflict. The only reason Gandalf is saved is because the Eagle was, and I quote; "Sent to give tidings. Not burdens." The Eagle saved Gandalf because he was a super bro, but the Eagle could easily just have delivered his message and bailed. And in addition. A Hobbit is quite heavy. Eagles are also quite big. A lot of Orcs are gonna spot if even a single Eagle is b-lining it for Mt. Doom. Then the Lord of Darkness sends his own winged beast and the ring is returned to him. Lord of The Rings is fascinating because the ring could ONLY have been the destroyed the way it was destroyed. If even something varied along the path, the quest would fail.

[@anzaca1]

25:34 No, this makes sense. For context, Mount Everest weighs roughly 810 trillion kg. The entire Pacific Ocean's water weighs roughly 680 quadrillion kg. This means that the Pacific is more 800,000 times as heavy as Mount Everest. If Sun couldn't lift a single mountain, an entire ocean is simply impossible for him.

[@goodboyhalo3451]

But, he could lift a mountain. It took three in order to barely keep him restrained. The only reason Buddha was able to trap him under one was because a seal was placed atop it.

[@Microwaveonatrain7]

I mean monkey being heavily injured could be part of the reason why he couldn’t lift it. Also yeah like the guy above me said. He couldn’t lift mountain cuz s e a l

[@DragonLandlord]

You should watch the April Fools episode for this. It's where Blue started playing Tripitaka and they both go into his constantly being kidnapped.

[@seanmcfadden3712]

Even better, Time Heist. The Silver Princess has a compilation video of OSP's podcast discussions about this conceptual movie, and the idea of them accidentally kidnapping Tripitaka is a plot point.

[@ConnorSinclairCavin]

On Sun’s sight, back when he was “cooked” In particular in the pot that was supposed to burn away the impurities (his mortality and such) and separate out the immortality pills then melt down his soul into the pure essence of the spirit stream… instead burnt away the only thing that wasn’t immortal, indestructible, and such. His mortal sight. Letting him see the truths hidden behind the “veil of the world”. (In culture they believed that all of the mysteries and secrets of the immortal realms could be seen if the blinders of mortality, the color in irises, was to be removed, and that albinos, as pure white beings with red eyes, had pure vision that could sense specters)

[@HBHaga]

Journey to the West was published in 1592, during the last few decades of the Ming dynasty and about the time that Japan was invading Korea in an attempt to secure a land route to China (Extra History does a good job covering that end of things in their series on the Sengoku Jidai on the Japanese side and Admiral Yi on the Korean side). The early Ming period was fairly open to travel, trade, and a bit of conquest but they got increasingly isolationist as time went on.

[@TensuMakadi]

So I have mentioned it before but to clarify on your question/comment around the 9 minute mark (on my phone can't get an exact timestamp), yes this is roughly based on the tales of Xuanzang a Buddhist Monk who made a pilgrimage to India around 627. Journey to the West is a fantastical telling of his journey and most likely a collection of folktales as Xuanzang didn't document his journey and "offical" records of his travels are conflicting as they were written by three separate people, have conflicting dates for various events, and in general were written well after he had returned to China nearly 20 years after he had begun his travels based on his recollection...

[@TheArcSet]

2:38 To answer your question, kind of, Monkey's demon status is debatable, depending on your definition of demon, but he was important and different to the former celestial courtiers, both before and after their falls. Also, he's a master of learned illusion skills, so may have more insight in piercing them, think how often he's fooled demons. (I'm guessing these illusions/transformations work on Earthsea logic, in that while active, they're for most purposes real.)

[@Rainears129]

Journey to the West was written in the 1500s, so Christianity was already a thing, though idk if the picture of demons was quite as codified by then. Also, the Bull Demon King didn't exile Red Boy, he just left him in charge of a mountain. You have to remember that he is an Asian Parent. Spoilers: So, the next episode does have a Tripitaka kidnapping, but it will get resolved rather quickly. Instead, Tripitaka will actually get to help with the plot. I hope you enjoy it!

[@artofthepossible7329]

As far as the likes of the Ars Goetia is concerned, lists of leading demons has been a thing since the 13th century (that my lacklustre research has given me examples of) but the major codifications happened in the late 1500s.

[@supremefankai5480]

I love it how Bowser Koopa was based upon the bull/ox demon king in an anime adaptation of journey to the west from decades ago. Thankfully Miyamoto was told it would be weird for a bull to lead an army of turtles so he became a Dragon-Turtle, the only thing left of the bull being horns and facial structure. Just another thing that this story inspired.

[@4LeafedDragon]

Tripitaka can never seem to ever be not in danger, mostly because he is brain dead boy scout.

[@arthurwatson2555]

I’m so used to calling him “Red Son” as that’s what they call him in Lego Monkie Kid

[@falxblade1352]

Red sun... Red sun over paradise...

[@claudius3359]

Well,it's not wrong either

[@TimeturnerJ]

Normally, Monkey would probably be able to lift a vase filled with an entire ocean pretty easily. But do keep in mind that he's still horrifically injured at this point in time, so he's not exactly operating at full power. :'D

[@iAMtheautism919]

I think the reason only Monkey can see some stuff is cause of a power level form of sight. So more power means better vision.

[@BenisDD]

Monkey is the human mind. Tripitaka is the Everyman. Pigsy is the Id. The horse is willpower (how Tripitaka moves forward). I forget what Sandy is meant to represent

[@Archris17]

I think flexibility and adaptability maybe? I'm not sure...

[@PIMKAMINA2]

an army is a private asset that the dragons can lend, but they cant throw a storm willy nilly because the storm affects the sky aka heaven and thats the jade emperors domain, like throwing a party in someone elses back yard, heaven is a bueaurocracy first and a magical realm second.

[@Ekami-chan]

19:41 was not ready for that mid-sentence realization 😂

[@Levsa399]

Please keep watching!! Part 9 is my favorite! You’ll love it! Also, in case you missed my earlier comment, which is totally ok, Journey to the West was published in the 1500s, so no, it doesn’t predate Christianity. And Monkey represents the human mind: powerful, stubborn, but impulsive.

[@duphasdan]

The monk reminisces about that episode 'Ah, yes, it was around the 72nd time I was kidnapped that week'.

[@minasthirith6314]

I was not expecting you to use Master/Stranger Protocol. The Worms terminology was kind of a slap to the face.

[@jamescampbell2096]

I know right Has he ever done anything on worm?

[@tristarblack4132]

If he hangs out on SB like suspect he does you can't throw a rock without finding WORM fanfics.

[@minasthirith6314]

@@tristarblack4132 Yeah no, he spoke about A Skittering Heart before. I just didn't notice before writing my comment.

[@Levsa399]

May I ask what are you all talking about?

[@444ronald]

​@@Levsa399 Worm web serial by Wildbow

[@brigidtheirish]

Thing is, Monkey is the indomitable will of humanity without the tempering of morality or consideration for others. He's most concerned about himself and whatever goal he has at the time. So he acts without thinking, his arguments for why people should do what he says almost seem custom made to spur people to do the opposite, and he doesn't consider consequences.

[@natashascullion5241]

also gonna add to the they could complete the journey faster disccusion lets not forget monkey jumped to the edge of the universe in 1 second! yay this book is the reason cinemasins exsists

[@ericemigh3869]

5:14 It is true that Monkey (Sun Wukong) makes a series of very good points that nobody listens to, but maybe you shouldn't defend him as usually being right just after he advocates leaving orphans and abandoned children to die.

[@marmyeater]

Maybe YOU should remember that he knows it's a demon and that nobody ever believes him.

[@Lightscribe225]

4:38 Still learning Chinese but I'm sure that's the 'erhua' where 儿 is used to add an 'r' sound at the end of a word or name to help differentiate it from words that have a similar sound. It also helps that 儿 also means 'child' though more often used as 'son'.

[@littlebitsofterror5788]

The moral for monkey is his impulsiveness and shortsightedness. He has many different options to handle other situations but always chooses the most impulsive one.

[@Indego84]

The reason Wukong can see though illusions is because Lai Tzu accidentally gave him that power when the smoke from his Brazer burned Wukong's eyes.

[@Airier]

Gracias.

[@Indego84]

@@Airier You're welcome. Also, the red devil thing was most likely just an artistic choice by OSP, because in most of the artwork I've seen Red Boy looks mostly human. Probably because his mom, Princess Iron Fan, is/was a celestial maiden. Side note: Princess Iron Fan is who Chichi from Dragon Ball was based off of.

[@marmyeater]

@@Indego84 Chichi is based off of Red Boy.

[@Indego84]

@@marmyeater Incorrect. I suggest you Google it.

[@marmyeater]

@@Indego84 I have, and the main thing claiming it are journos, and a Journey to the West Research thing. Nothing official, so I personally think that it makes more sense for her to be based off of the Bull Demon King's child, rather than his wife, given that she is Ox King's child. I guess she could be a character based on a merging of them, but her initial combat with Goku, continuing to antagonize Goku in minor ways, and being a prodigy that never really went anywhere point more towards Red Boy.

[@NP3GA]

31:36 the funny thing is that the next episode is the one that Tripitaka helps the most, he still gets captured but only for a few minutes

[@Caldoric]

Bro, "water weight" is literally a thing. The Power Pole may be 17.5k pounds, but a pint of water weighs a pound and there's a bajillion pints in even a small ocean. No way Wukong could lift that.

[@b3rz3rk3r9]

Just gonna tell you this man, the next four get more funny, more crazy, and more Shounen-y. In fact, Episode 7 is my favorite given how funny it came out. Trust me, the visual humor is on point.

[@justiceprime9245]

They said that the red eyes he got from the couldron is the reason he see through demon ilusions

[@lunaristicmoth]

2:38 Sun wukong has like a special ability to see stuff differently I don’t know to explain

[@blackshadow37_Wraith]

18:47 actually i checked and pigsy's celectial title is marshal canopy sandy is the curtain lifting general

[@SCP.343]

15:25 I believe they prefer the term "conjoined cats".

[@nahte123456]

Another episode of Monkey and Kuanyin doing 99% of the work. It's really funny how much this is just Monkey being so badass he can beat up anything or they have hax he can't/doesn't deal with so Kuanyin does.

[@tobiasaugustodeoliveiradia9417]

Monkey has eyes that see the truth, so he can see what is normally invisible

[@KachouFugetsu-gx9cv]

Monkey has 火眼金睛. Through those eyes he can see right through those illusion that those demon/妖怪 make.

[@gabrielswee585]

28:21 Imagine getting SLAPPED by ALL those hands... *Ouch!*

[@sea-envy3137]

I saw a video talking about the many, many pieces of media based on Journy to The West and apparently there is a Chinese TV show with Monkey and Bull Demon King living in the modern day pretending to be humans and sharing an apartment Odd Couple style.

[@notagreen-fiend9029]

9:51 *@Airier* Nahhh-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah. You can call the Dragon-Horse Prince lazy or indifferent, but putting him & Pigsy at a tie?.........😒I thought I knew you, man. The Horse has never argued against Sun Wukong, nor antagonized his side of the arguments. He tolerates the -stupidity- naivety that Xuanzang displays - either with not caring OR has EXTREME self-control. When he does actively go help, his attempt was clever and not thoughtless nor brash. If you're really leveling 🐴🐉 with 🐷 AANND Under 🌮🌮🌮, then guess what? I can go all day arguing with you on why Eagles couldn't go to Mount Doom the same reason the Army of the Traitorous Ghosts couldn't. 😤Bring it on! ... ... ... ... 😀Can't wait for you check out the other OSP Red-shorts or even Blue's after catching up to pt-10 of Journey to the West. lol

[@plague3038]

Actually Pigsy is the one who represents Humanity’s Self Destructive Instincts, not Sun Wukong.

[@aniflowers1998]

Once you finish Overly Sarcastics "Journey to the West" series, you should react to the show "Lego Monkie Kid"! It's based on journey to the west, and technically a sequel! It's awesome! :3

[@Average-Joe851]

31:10 Nah, that would be merciful, and we all know mercy isn't on the table.

[@tudormuresan2055]

You would be mostly correct, Airier. Nrmally, the wukong inside has a point and we should listen to him. But, only after being tempered by humility. Monkey Boi over there started being productive only after being coerced, usually by threat of punishment. Basically, Give it your all, but don't be stupid and anticipate consequences.

[@TheRevanchrist]

It think the soundtrack for when monkey went Kaiju mode is from Attack on titan. Also if you're enjoying this series, Prime Video is streaming a series called "Lego: monkey kid" which is both a parody and a sequel to the story and you can recognize most characters from OSP's videos.

[@MultiYogibear]

Red boy is essentially Chi-Chi

[@hahgay69420]

The song at 10 mins is from attack on titan 😊

[@stephenwright5939]

In Japan I think Sun Wokongs name actually is Sun Goku

[@Gamer-xy9rf]

Attempt 1: I want Airier to see Presidents play Magic the Gathering' by Sjbninja or 'Transformers: The Basics' series by Chris McFeely.

[@anzaca1]

29:57 We know that ancient Rome did have trade with China.

[@ivangood7121]

22:30 I got that reference you sneaky WORM

[@geoshark12]

You can’t restart a heart with cpr only manually pump the thing that restarts hearts is a defibrillator

[@blackshadow37_Wraith]

2:22 the reason monkey is the only one to actually be able to identify demons by sight despite them disguising themselves is due to the fact that when lao tsu (probably butchered the name) put him in the giant alchemical gourd expecting that he could unimmortalize monkey the only thing that happened was that the gourd altered his eyes to magic demon eyes that could see through most disguises sandy and pigsy do NOT have this ability they can shapeshift because they're demons (pigsy's i asume doesnt work as well cause of the curse that the gods inflicted on him) but outside of that and their weapons and some natural abilities( including flight cause a lot of celestials and demons can do that) thats about it

[@SerenityM16]

3:40 too late, they can’t use the eagles because Mordor does have air strike capabilities

[@sailiealquadacil1284]

15:33 Siamese cats aren't hairless.

[@nelleneulmer5385]

5:20-5:31 I just thought of another anime reference. In Bleach Ichigo’s inner hollow/part of his zanpakuto spirit represents his base instincts, specifically when involving combat, fighting and survival, and has to be controlled by making it submit through domination otherwise it will consume Ichigo but must also be embraced and listened to in order to survive and perform best in combat. And only when both halves of his zanpakuto spirit are in harmony does he reach his full power. I am not counting the Quincy war arc because even though I only read snippets of it I could tell it was a mess.

[@punking5613]

Monkey can't lift a mountain so an ocean is a no go as it weighs several hundred thousand times what a mountain weighs........because water, stuff is heavy.

[@CRYSTALShuffitt-bd4nz]

Poor monkey only demon see other demon but he friends do not know what he does

[@carinasung654]

These written names are Chinese characters. Japanese written language contains three parts: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. Kanji literally writes "Han (as in dynasty/ethnicity/language) words", meaning Chinese characters. Hiragana are fillers between Chinese characters and Katakana provide pronunciations of foreign(mostly English) words. When you see these pictograms, no matter you pronounce in Japanese way or Chinese way (you can pronounce them in dialects and Korean too), they are always Chinese characters.

[@Bardic_Knowledge]

You might not bring it up, but I will. The Eagles weren't used: 1. (Doylist reason) because Tolkien knew using them too much would make for a bad story. When someone tried to do an adaptation that used the Eagles heavily, Tolkien said it "murdered his story" and shut it down. 2. (Watsonian reason) because the Eagles have magical power just under that of the maiar, AKA Gandalf, Sarumon, Sauron et al, and so letting one of them within grabbing distance of the Ring would result in something nasty and dangerous that can fly. The reason hobbits and humans just turn invisible when wearing it is because they have almost no magicl power of their own. The only being in all Middle-Earth immune to the Ring is Tom Bombadil, and it's noted that he'd eventually just get bored and lose it sooner than later.

[@marmyeater]

It's SUSPECTED, that he would get bored and lose it. Personally, from my reading of it, I believe he would put it in a drawer, and it would have never left there until the end of time.

[@Bardic_Knowledge]

@@marmyeater But we know that the Ring has the ability to move on its own; that's how Bilbo found it so far from where Gollum left it. So if Tom put it in a drawer, the Ring would eventually have been able to escape and make its way regardless. Even so, with the armies under Sauron's control, if they had left the Ring with Tom Bombadil, they would have had a much harder time with the war.

[@theanchorshat585]

10:04 it's the Armored Titan theme.

[@seanmcfadden3712]

Okay. About the Eagles in Lord Of The Rings, there is a lore readon they couldn't have taken the Ring to Mordor. The Ring corrupts based on the bearer's power. The more power, the more corruption. The giant eagles in Middle Earth are OLDER AND MORE POWERFUL THAN THE ELVES, having been among the first things made by the Gods of the setting. Not only would the Ring have very quickly corrupted any eagle that carried it, Middle Earth would then be dealing with a malevolent force stronger than Sauron at max power ... that can fly!

[@marmyeater]

And here I thought that the canon reason was that being more powerful doesn't always equate to an unbreakable will. After all: Not everyone is Tulkas, Tom Bombadil, Aule, Eru Iluvatar, etc. Hobbits can usually carry it so long because power doesn't matter to them nearly as much, and Sauron didn't know how to tempt them due to the cognitive dissonance.

[@seanmcfadden3712]

@@marmyeater Bit of both, but Hobbits are among the youngest races in Middle Earth, and thus among the least powerful.

[@Pale_Imp]

Just noticed reaction guy has really cute fangs on lower teeth side

[@project4061]

15:26 I can't find a bald monkey video, but there's some on hairless chimpanzees from a guy who goes by the handle of "SloggerVlogger." It actually made me respect what our genetic cousins can do more.

[@nicholasavasthi9879]

For the record Journey to the West is from the late 1500s. The manuscript is contemporary with Shakespeare.

"Well before Christianity"... Considering it was written in the 16th century... no? Even the original journey of Xuanzang from the 7th century is well after Christianity. If anything, the first publishing of the novel in its entirety is attested from 1592, and a little over half a century later, a brutal war in Europe will essentially end the power and control the Catholic Church had had until then (since the principle of _cuius regio, eius religio_ relegated the ultimate spiritual power in the region to its temporal lord, rather than the Pope, i.e. the duke/king/emperor could decide which religion - or rather, which Christian sect - his country would follow).

[@ConnorSinclairCavin]

Lists good characters: Golden star and the girls look at you with hurt eyes

[@infiniteoctopaw]

In the book monkie does become trope savvy. Everyone getting kidnapped in chapter 60something and starts crying "Why... what on earth did you DO in a past life that makes it so at every step of our journy is filled with demons and kidnappings" ToT Not a direct quote but it made me laugh.

[@Lexiunicorn04]

Love your reaction to TJTTW❤

[@ponyfairyVania]

In China heaven is a bureaucracy. At least in this book.

[@HikkuRikku]

If you can find Journey to the West 1997 tv series translated, you should watch it. I think they did a great job telling why Pigsy and Wukong don't get along. Also Sandy is call Sandy because he was found near a sandy beach they can't cross. The monk calls each disciple by their Monk name he's given them, but the students just uses nickname.

[@michaelpeterson8983]

Can you cite where you got the early definition of mercy?

[@emmanuelj670]

22:30 Master/Stranger protocols? was that a Ward reference.

[@Airier]

More Worm. Haven't read Ward yet.

[@SomeRandomDutchGuy1]

About the timeline of this story vs Christianity. I don't know the exact timeline, but I do know that the spread of Buddhism in China was one of the precursors of the Three Kingdoms period which began around 180 a.d.. So it is probable that there was some Christian synchretysm put in. Or even more likely some Judaism.

[@TensuMakadi]

So the Yellow Terban Rebellions started in 185ad and technically kicked off the Three Kingdoms Era but the Three Kingdoms Era technically didn't start until 220. Also Journey to the West was first published anonymously in 1592, supposedly by Wu Cheng'en but this is kind of controversial as it was published anonymously and shorter versions of it had been published before as folk tales.

[@SomeRandomDutchGuy1]

@@TensuMakadi Which makes it even more possible for synchretysm to occur. I was simply trying to put an earliest possible date to the whole story. And as JttW was based on the spread of Buddhism through the Silk Road, it seemed most easy to link it to an era that was in part started by the same event.

[@ToaArcan]

However, the idea of Satan having red skin and horns is a whole lot younger than that. Actual Biblical canon doesn't feature any depictions of him in his true form. In the original Hebrew text, before the New Testament was written, Satan isn't even a _character,_ but rather a job title conferred on a fully-loyal angel tasked with testing the faithful. The notion of Satan being an individual who opposes God first appears in the New Testament, likely the result of syncretism with Zoroastrianism after the period of time where Judea was ruled over by the Persian empire reworking the concept of "The Adversary who challenges the faithful to prove their worth" into "The Adversary of the faithful and God himself." However, he only ever appears in shapeshifted form, as an old man, or an angel of light, or, memorably, a dragon. His appearance as the Dragon of Revelation _is_ described, and _is_ referred to as having red skin and horns. Also seven heads. But it's not really clear if that's what he actually looks like, or if he just turned into something big and scary. Throughout the history of religious art, there wasn't ever a confirmed appearance for the guy. Depicting him with horns and inhuman skintones was more of a shorthand to show that he was scary and not to be trusted, rather than a genuine guess at what he looked like, though as those depictions became more widespread and popular, so did they influence the perception of him and alter how people think of him. The codified image of him being bright red, with horns, a pointy beard, and a pitchfork is actually younger than the Paradise Lost-inspired Sexy Satan.

[@SomeRandomDutchGuy1]

@@ToaArcan Though the red devil is very young, like you said, I do know that he was once depicted in an ancient bible now known as the Devil's Bible. And in it he was basically drawn the same way as he was portrayed in old cartoons, or more recently like in Cuphead. As a fuzzy man with horns and a pitchfork.

[@marmyeater]

@@ToaArcan He is a Cherub, so the dragon part is probably shapeshifting, and his true form should be the four headed winged bit typical of them. For further information: watch Wendigoon.

[@greenhat8978]

Monkey is usually right

[@SuperSoldierS117]

Wait. Master Stranger protocols? Have you been reading Parahumans?

[@blazeburner4832]

Red son, my little angry firey baby what have they done to you

[@xenodragon6564]

this is my #3 faverat TJTTW that RED did @Airier

[@ConnorSinclairCavin]

So… about the demon stuff not happening… think back to the lovecraft episode… most of the “demons” were actually foreign people, other disliked groups, other religions, or some animals they killed… at least by best research…

[@dinoduck626]

The monkey King equals the mind

[@Damian_Howl]

The red Devil came from Catholics, not Christians. Christianity came about 2000y ago, and this novel is about 500y ago .

[@TheArcSet]

Thanks for this. Aisel 99 & Dogs in Love 2.

[@gabrielswee585]

24:37 *YEETS!!!*

[@vao519]

He didnt exile him he sent him fir training

[@RedwoodTheElf]

12:45 yeah, calling the Ozoru transformation "Great Ape" is totally wrong. If it has a tail, it's a monkey, Dangit!

[@graveyardshift2100]

Wait....he has a great ape form.