What are your thoughts on the two other monkeys? Idk if you ever heard of them, but it's the Red Bottom Ape and Long Armed Gibbon.
i actaually had some pretty lore heavy origin story hcs for those guys a couple of years ago, but i dont think i ever posted them. ill put some of the old art here and paste the lore under a cut cause its LONG (replaced the old swk and maq in the last pic with some more recent ones bc my hcs for them changed so much lmao)
their lore was well researched i spent days on it but it was a couple years ago lmao, its based on the principals they represent plus which of yin/yang they represent
long armed gibbon- can seize the sun and the moon, distinguish the auspicious from the inauspicious, and manipulate planets and stars
gibbon was born when a seed from a fir tree fell from heaven to earth. it landed on top of an eroded mountian and a tree started growing. after several hundred years, when the tree stretched high enough and was wise enough and the pine cones had gone from dark purple to blue, the trunk split one day at sunrise on a blue misty morning and gibbon walked into the world
red-buttocked horse monkey- who has knowledge of yin and yang, understands human affairs, is adept in its daily life and able to avoid death and lengthen its life
horse was born from a drop of water flung from a trough in heavens stables (part of the reason swk was so pleased to guard the horses when he went)
when she fell to earth she became a river that people often visited and talked around and played in. from this she came to understand human affairs. she also found she could help creatures avoid death or prolong their life by feeding their crops. when she knew enough, she climbed out of the river at sundown and walked into the world
sun wukong, the wise stone monkey- who knows transformations, recognizes the seasons, discerns the advantages of earth, and is able to alter the course of planets and stars
stealing from nezha reborn where the myth goes that when nüwe patched the sky, the leftover stone was where swk came from, but im changing it to one of the tiles that was used to create the furnace was dropped, leaving a monkey sized gap where he could later on slot into to keep himself alive in there. the tile was knocked out of the basket by the wind and fell to earth and this was the only one that landed on ffm. you know the story here, he absorbed chi from heaven AND earth which is why hes so powerful
six eared macaque- who has a sensitive ear, discernment of fundamental principles, knowledge of past and future, and comprehension of all things
macaque was born very suddenly when a piece of moon rock broke off and fell to earth on a new moon. the resulting meteor created a huge and sudden flash of light in a forest which created hundreds of stark shadows at once. the shadows condensed and the resulting being wouldnt have lived if it hadnt been a new moon because he needed the next hours of darkness to collect himself into a full being. but before the night was done, a new monkey was born who was able to hear everything in the radius he had collected shadows from, which if youve ever seen a meteor flash, is a long way
somethin interesting abt the things that created them- swks tile was actually heavenly, which is why he represents primarily yang (heaven). his was the only one that was CRAFTED BY heaven. gibbon and horse are both from something that fell from heaven and then the earth changed its form (the tree grew on earth from a heavenly seed, and the drop of water became a river) whereas macaque, representing the yin is fully of earth, the meteor that created him was from heaven but he didnt directly come from the meteor, he came from the shadows it created on earth. his only connection is to the earth
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i just feel like i have to talk about this because i really love how they handled sangtae’s character. he was clearly written to be the main antagonist that’s keeping yongpil and samdal apart, and even to the point where holding onto this grudge for over 20 years sound almost unreasonable. however, i think it’s a great portrayal of grief and how it can ultimately consume you.
everyone deals with grief differently, and i saw a great post explaining how ko mija and yongpil handling the grief around sangtae made it even worse for him. the plot kept circling back to him being too stubborn to ease up on the hate that i began to wonder if they were going to be able to solve it well enough. but episode 14 delivered because while it was almost getting frustrating seeing sangtae relentlessly not listening to everyone around him, by adding the fact that due to his failing vision and memory, he’s afraid of letting go of this grief. which really ties in to the beginning of the episode between yongpil and samdal, when yongpil was saying how he’s afraid of forgetting samdal. by showing how similar yongpil and sangtae loves, makes it hard to truly hate him (even if he’s a stubborn old man) because our main character is exactly the same way.
but i especially love the way they wrote samdal talking to him. it tied it up so neatly that i can’t help but be impressed. by having her say word for word what he told bu mija a long time ago, after he visited her at the temple, made it seem like it was bu mija telling him that. and i think it was something he really really needed to hear. the actor did an AMAZING job at portraying the realization that he really doesn’t hate samdal, and he was too caught up in his grief that he didn’t realize other people were suffering too. so when he ran after her and seeing yongpil standing next to her,,,, bro TEARS
i just really appreciate how they handled his character because he’s not a bad person—he’s in pain and he doesn’t realize his actions are hurting people he cares about because,, he just happened to really love his wife. and the catharsis of having samdal being the reason to free him from his grudge when he was the one that deliberately kept our main couple apart just shows the intricate relationships of these families but how, at the end of the day, they still care for each other
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