#i cant. ive had this rant building in me since august of last year. i cant keep silent about it anymore

[lunar-wandering]

i’m never ever going to make a post like this again, but if i see ONE MORE POST about this im going to actually break down sobbing so.

Sun Wukong and the Six Eared Macaque are NEVER canonly stated to be brothers.

Yes, they are the origin of the “evil twin” plot point. Yes, the may be inspired by an older legend of “two monkey god brothers”.

But not once, does the text of Journey to the West say they are canonically brothers.

I did not spend an entire week researching these two (and done it multiple more times whenever it was brought into question), just for people to go around saying “They were canonically blood brothers in Journey to the West, and Lego Monkie Kid will make them brothers later on :)”.

(Of course, if you headcanon them as being brothers, or prefer to see them that way, that’s fine. I have no problems with that. It’s your interpretation after all. It’s people saying it’s definitely canon that I take issue with.)

First and fore most, Wukong literally can’t have siblings. Sure, he can have siblings by choice, like the other pilgrims, but he was born from a rock, y’all. I think we would’ve heard if the rock had done anything else.

Secondly: The text of Journey to the West does NOT say they are brothers. I don’t know why we have to go through this so many times. In fact; in Journey to the West, it says they didn’t even know each other. The Six Eared Macaque, as well as Sun Wukong, are declared as the same species (a mystic monkey, that doesn’t match up with any other kind of being, of which there are only four in this world), not as family. Six Eared Macaque was only able to disguise himself as Sun Wukong, and copy his abilities, because of his ability to hear the past present and future- he listened to all the training Wukong did, and thus replicated it. And even with the ability to hear so much, outside of no-one being able to tell the two monkeys apart, he doesn’t actually do that good of a job at pretending to be Wukong (hitting Tripitaka on the head for example). The two of them had never met before this in Journey to the West canon.

(I’m mainly keeping this post about Journey to the West, but it’s obvious Lego Monkie Kid has changed many backstories. However; if the show was going to go with the route of them being brothers, I’m extremely certain it would’ve been stated by now. For one, the creators do interact with the fans, and have encouraged Macaque/Wukong content. Secondly, “beloved friend” would most certainly have been changed to “dear brother”. He would’ve described the hero and the warrior as brothers in that story, because there literally would not have been a better time to drop that information story wise. If they were going to be confirmed as siblings, it would’ve been done by now, I assure you. Of course, this doesn’t mean I think Macaque/Wukong will be canon either. If anything, it’ll just stick to them being friends, which makes perfect sense in a story that focuses on friends and found family like this. You can headcanon them as brothers if you want, but do not go running around claiming it as canon- and telling newcomers who are questioning and genuinely don’t know that it’s canon.)

Thirdly: “but what about the movies where they’re brothers” you say. “but what about Dislyte, where they’re brothers” you say. Now look at me. If you were heterosexual, and you saw a story like the Six Eared Macaque being obsessed with Sun Wukong’s life, what would you take away from that??? Almost definitely, the first answer in your mind would be siblings. Not to mention the other popular idea of him literally being part of Sun Wukong (this is also not canon. Sure, allegorically he might represent Wukong’s internal battle with his violent tendencies, but literally almost every character in Journey to the West is an allegory. The whole damn book is an allegory. But we’re not looking at the allegory here, we’re looking at the story), these are both common directions that would be taken. But just because it makes for good story potential, to give a deeper meaning behind these two characters by making them siblings or part of one whole, does not make it canon. You can’t look at one interpretation of a story and say it was canon to another. Would you take Gnomeo and Juliet and say “well since they survived at the end, it must be canon they survived in the original play, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong”? No. No you wouldn’t. Because that’s an assumption, that’s a twist on a story to give a new meaning to it. But even if it’s fun, it’s not part of the original.

So, to put a cap on this post, sure, go ahead, think of the Six Eared Macaque and Sun Wukong as brothers if you want. I literally couldn’t care less. That’s your own interpretation of it. Block the shadowpeach tag if it makes you uncomfortable, that’s what tag blocking is for.

But do not. Do Not go into people’s askboxes and tell them the Six Eared Macaque and Sun Wukong are canonically related. Do not go into the askboxes of people who ship shadowpeach and send them death threats for their own interpretation of a shows interpretation of two guys who didn’t even know each other in the original text. Do Not tell people who ask that the two of them are canonically related, because then you’re just spreading misinformation.

Once again, if you view them as family, and don’t do any of the above, you’re fine, this post is not about you. Have fun with your ideas and stories /gen

This is the only post I’m ever going to make on this subject. If you try to argue with me you will be blocked. You can reblog, but for the sake of my anxiety I’d rather not have any replies or comments on this.

Please, y’all. If I can have enough respect to stay in my own bubble, and not force shadowpeach on people who don’t want it, and can keep myself from claiming that it’s going to be canon, then why can’t the people who have decided to interpret them as brothers do the same?

#Monkie Kid #JTTW #Journey to the West #tagging the big names here because i want this to reach #gonna be honest. im terrified to be posting this. but i GLANCED in the main tag today and saw something and just. #i cant. ive had this rant building in me since august of last year. i cant keep silent about it anymore #i'd rather not post this at all. might even delete it. i dont like interacting with drama #i HATE fandom drama #i know the reason why there seems to be so much of it here is because the LMK fandom is new #and still growing #and that things will probably settle down in a bit #but i just. every time i see someone say ''Macaque and Wukong are DEFINITELY brothers'' #instead of ''i view them as brothers'' #i just get SO FUCKING ANXIOUS #i remember the initial drama #(which. by the way was started by one person. one. Just One. One person was all it took for nobody to check sources) #i remember my friends getting hate messages and death threats #and i remember everyone taking a break from shadowpeach for a bit #and. tbh. it's never felt the same. there's not as much content of it anymore. #it almost feels like everyone panicked and scrambled for new ships to replace the ''oh so awful shadowpeach'' #and even after things settled down. the damage had been done. #too many people too scared to come back into creating the content they had enjoyed creating before #just ONE PERSONS POST was enough to ruin the comfort and fun of so many people #and i will never forgive nor recover from that. #..... #vent #this is very much a vent post #i think im going to go offline for the next hour or two #to give this post a bit to settle down after i post it. #i might delete it after i come back online. who knows.