Black Myth Wukong Part 1

The Heavens Are Corrupt, the Heavenly Mandate Requires the Eighty-One Tribulations

“Black Myth: Wukong” has exploded in popularity.

I rarely buy games right after their release, mainly because they’re too expensive. Normally, I wait for a significant price drop before purchasing. But I had been anticipating this game for a long time, so I bought the deluxe edition during the pre-order period.

I have to say, the “Priority Red Gourd” that comes with the deluxe edition is incredibly useful. Without this gourd, the game’s difficulty would be another level higher for me.

According to the developers in previous interviews, to understand the plot of “Black Myth: Wukong”, all you need to do is read the original “Journey to the West”.

However, since this is a “dark” mythology, the game’s content is definitely an adaptation or expansion of the original plot. After all, you can’t simply retell the story Wu Cheng’en already told—it wouldn’t attract much interest from domestic players.

Although I typically do film story analyses, I initially didn’t plan to analyze “Black Myth: Wukong.” However, when I got to the second chapter, “Twilight’s Rising Wind,” the plot arrangement was just too brilliant! I couldn’t resist piecing together the whole story.

Given the complexity of the game’s storyline, my interpretation of the plot is just one perspective. If you have questions, feel free to leave comments.

The story of “Black Myth: Wukong” takes place after the original “Journey to the West” storyline, following the successful retrieval of the scriptures by Tang Sanzang and his disciples.

Sun Wukong initially joined the pilgrimage because, years earlier, he had become so powerful as a demon king that Heaven grew wary of him, which eventually led him to rebel against Heaven and fight the entire celestial realm. This resulted in the massacre of the monkeys at Flower Fruit Mountain, and Wukong was imprisoned under the Five Elements Mountain.

During the 500 years beneath the mountain, Wukong realized that to avoid being targeted by Heaven, he had to join their ranks. The rivalry between Buddhism and Daoism over territory meant that remaining neutral was a crime. Hence, Wukong joined the pilgrimage team, essentially using this as his pledge of loyalty to the celestial realm.

After the pilgrimage ended, Wukong naively thought the mission was complete. He resigned from all his heavenly titles and returned to Flower Fruit Mountain to live a carefree life.

However, Heaven still didn’t trust him. After all, he refused their titles and gold seals, choosing instead to return to Flower Fruit Mountain—who knows what he might plan to do next?

Moreover, Heaven couldn’t allow such a powerful demon king to exist in the world.

So, they gathered the heavenly soldiers once again, and Erlang Shen was ordered to lead the troops to attack Flower Fruit Mountain.

This led to the famous quote at the start of the game:

“I protected the people.
I retrieved the scriptures.
I, Sun Wukong, seek no fame or fortune, only to return to Flower Fruit Mountain to live a carefree life.
The Heavenly Kings don’t trust me, I understand.”

Erlang Shen, who was not a regular celestial official and had his own forces, feared that Flower Fruit Mountain would become another stronghold like his own Guanjiangkou, threatening his position. So, using his public authority for personal reasons, he led 100,000 heavenly soldiers to flatten Flower Fruit Mountain and exterminate its demons.

After the successful pilgrimage, Wukong’s Golden Circlet had supposedly been removed, but this was just a lie told by the celestial realm to make him think he was free. In reality, only the outer ring was removed; the true circlet was still on his head.

During the battle with Erlang Shen, Wukong was ambushed by the “invisible circlet” and was defeated, ultimately being killed by Erlang Shen.

However, because Sun Wukong was a stone monkey born from Heaven and Earth and trained by Patriarch Bodhi, he was immortal. After his death, his body turned back into stone, and his soul was divided into six aspects.

One of these aspects, Will, became the Heavenly Mandate Man, who would have to undergo eighty-one tribulations to resurrect Wukong.

The other five aspects—Eyes, Ears, Mouth, Nose, and Body—were sent by Heaven to five demon kings. It was said that these “Five Aspects” of Wukong held immense power, and if they could be refined, they would greatly increase the strength of the demon kings. The celestial realm coerced these five demon kings to guard the paths where the Heavenly Mandate Man would travel, aiming to stop him from reviving Wukong.

At the start of the story, the Heavenly Mandate Man enters Black Wind Mountain, where the demon guarding it is Black Bear Spirit, who had been tricked into returning by the Dragon Maiden of Mount Luojia’s Defense Department.

(To be continued…)