Here’s a little something extra for those of you who enjoyed my first post on a similar topic, specifically the “redemption hero.” I mentioned briefly that a lot of ideas borrow from classic literature and mythology; for this post I’m going to expand on that idea with the “journey” story.

In my previous post, I briefly mentioned “The Odyssey,” which is an epic poem about a journey (even the word “odyssey” means journey) and is the most basic of all stories - someone or a group of people have to go somewhere. That’s it. You can’t get simpler than that.

Before we get started, I’d like to zip over to the East. Don’t worry now, I’ll take you back.

I’ll assume that most people are at least somewhat familiar with “The Odyssey” already so I’d like to talk about a classic Chinese novel instead. Like “The Odyssey,” it’s about a journey and is rightly named “Journey to the West.” The story was written in the late 16th century and is about a Buddhist monk going to India to get some scriptures. He recruits some people along the way, and they get into crazy adventures. Here are the main players (click the thumbnails for a bigger version):

Xuan Zang - The Man
This is the main character of the story (equivalent to Odysseus, the one making the trip). He’s a Buddhist monk that rides a white horse and carries a staff. He’s got some minor chanting and incantation abilities, but usually requires the help of his disciples in order to conquer any problems or demons they run into.


Sun Wukong - The Monkey
He’s Xuan’s go-to guy, his right hand man, his Number One. If Alfred went on a journey, this dude is Batman. Except this hero has crazy super-powers. His personality is typical of the Chinese interpretation for monkeys, which means he’s mischievous, cunning, fast, acrobatic, flexible, etc. He’s also known as the “Monkey King” or “Monkey God.” He wields a bo staff, can ride on clouds, can make clones of himself, has crazy strength, and can probably beat you in a fight. Xuan keeps him in check with a crown which can compress his head.

Zhu Bajie - The Pig
Think of a creepy old pervert, and this guy is him. He used to live in heaven, but his perverted ways forced him to be cast down on earth and turned into a manbearpig -bear. He’s pretty close to Wukong’s strength, but isn’t as smart or cunning so usually loses to him (his weakness usually clouds his judgment and thinking abilities). Even though he’s perverted, he has good intentions.

Sha Wujing - The Demon
This guy isn’t really special. Almost like he’s a sidekick to a sidekick to a sidekick. He’s the weakest of the three, but the most loyal and disciplined. He’s more like a foil to the other characters. The irony is that he’s the most devout yet looks like an evil demon.


The first time I heard about this story was from watching bootleg cable episodes on Chinese television. The reception was real bad, and I couldn’t really tell the detail on the characters.

From left to right: Sha Wujing, Xuan Zang, Zhu Bajie, Sun Wukong

I eventually found out that it was based off a series made in the 80s called “Journey to the West.” The thought to look it up didn’t occur to me until recently, when I watched “Forbidden Kingdom” and there’s an episode of it playing on the TV in the beginning, as a nod to the series. And even better, there’s a bunch of episodes uploaded on YouTube. Feel free to check them out (Chinese dialogue with English subtitles). For some more reading material, feel free to check out this awesome site; it’s even coded in old-school 90s style!

Now that you’ve had a thorough background on “Journey to the West,” let’s zip back to my original topic: journeys. Recall that I mentioned the “journey” story as being the most basic of all stories - someone or a group of people have to go somewhere. Here are a few examples of modern interpretations:

Lord of the Rings: Group of people need to take a ring and throw it down a volcano. Unfortunately, the volcano is deep within hostile territory, and they run into adventures along the way.

Most zombie/horror movies: This is sort of a different take on the “journey” story. Instead of going to a specific location, our heroes are usually on the run to someplace they consider “safe.”

The Incredible Hulk: Similar to the horror movie because he’s always running away; this hero gets caught up in adventures, screws things up, and then has to run to another place to get into more adventures.

Now that I mention it, these kinds of stories work well with TV series: it leaves it open for all kinds of situations our hero(es) have to get out of. The unfortunate pit trap with this though is that things tend to drag on too far and ideas get too ridiculous (see Star Trek: Voyager, Sliders, or Prison Break) with no end in sight. They usually get canceled with no definitive end because the writers alienate the original audience.

Thankfully, “The Odyssey” and “Journey to the West” both have definitive endings, even though they’re both epic(ally long) stories. Ironically, “Journey to the West” doesn’t have much exposure here in the West, but its influence has popped up recently. I mentioned this earlier, but the movie “Forbidden Kingdom” recently came out, which is loosely based on “Journey to the West.” It wasn’t really billed by the story, but rather as “two kung-fu action hero movie icons finally in a movie together.” Anyone who didn’t really know the story beforehand would be completely lost in the references (check out Jet Li as Sun Wukong). It’s the equivalent of marketing “Lord of the Rings” as “Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee in an epic adventure.”

The biggest influence comes from everyone’s favorite character, Sun Wukong. He’s popped up in recent anime and video games:

“Son Goku” is basically the Japanese equivalent to “Sun Wukong.” Earlier versions of him included a bo staff, a tail, and the ability to ride clouds. He even can transform into this giant monkey monster thing. Dragon Ball itself is heavily influenced by “Journey to the West.”



Naruto recently introduced a brief character based off of Sun Wukong. They called him “Enma” but is also known as “The Monkey King.”

You can also argue that Naruto’s cloning power is similar to Sun Wukong’s power.

Little Big Planet recently added a “Monkey Costume” to its DLC. The image is an obvious reference to Sun Wukong.






SonSon is a playable character in the video game “Marvel vs. Capcom 2.” Again, another obvious reference.





But anyways, there you have it: anything you’re thinking of, doing, or making, someone has already done it. The core of these stories is just a basic journey, and it’s already been done to death; in the East AND West.