My feeling on LMK S5 has stayed pretty consistent after first watching the Chinese dub: "nice character moments, but what even is this worldbuilding?"
And personally, the Four Divine Beasts/Guardians/Symbols are the biggest symptom of S5's worldbuilding problem.
Namely, they feel more like plot devices that are just there to die and cough up the Color Stones, and as a result, 4/5 of the "Find the Color Stone" plotline felt like a worse version of S3 and the Samadhi Rings, but with even less flavor.
Now, I'm aware of the 11-minute episode constraint, as well as the pressure the studio change might have created that contributed to the overall feeling of rushed-ness.
However, my criticism here is about the writing and worldbuilding, not the animation quality——things that, in my humble and uneducated opinion, could have been done a lot better even if we were sticking to the "Find the McGuffins" plotline.
Thus, this post. As always: very lengthy, very Chinese-mythos inspired.
Four Guardians & Five Phases
A brief Google Search on the Four Symbols, aka Sixiang, will tell you this: the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird and Black Tortoise are divine beasts in Chinese mythology that watch over the four directions, each associated with a color and one of the Five Phases.
(An old post of mine briefly talked about their origins as personifications of four big constellations that occupy a quadrant of the sky each, and their relations to the 28 Lunar Mansions)
And S5 certainly paid homage to their elemental associations, however brief and surface-level it is.
The Vermillion Bird's ability to use fire and its flaming temple is the most notable example, but this screenshot of the seal that appeared at the temple entrances also shows five symbols:
From middle left, going in the clockwise direction, these appear to be the characters for Wood, Water, Fire, Earth and Metal in Oracle Bone/Bronze Script.
Which begs the question...why would you spend so much effort on the tiny visual details, yet not show most of their elemental association through the narrative itself?
Like, suppose you are a foreign audience that knows nothing about Chinese culture and legends, who have just finished watching S5, and I ask you "What elemental powers do each of the Four Symbols have?"
Apart from Vermillion Bird = Fire (the obvious one) and the Black Tortoise = maybe Earth (which is not mythos-accurate, btw), can you honestly answer it, based only on what the show has given you?
Which leads me to my biggest gripe: their random-as-hell placement.
Even the Samadhi Rings have a map, however vague it is, but with the Color Stones, the gang basically just wandered all over the place in the hope of eventually running into one of the divine beasts——and they did, somehow!
Like, I'm not asking the writers for an entire mini-arc that's just them piecing the clues together. But will it be too much to let SWK or Tang make an off-hand comment like this?
"Well, legends said that the Four Symbols watch over the four directions and their respective elements. So if we wanna find them, we just gotta go real far in these directions, toward places with the most of that... elemental stuff! Right?"
And that brings me to the actual fix-it part. The Vermillion Bird can stay where she is, but the placement of the other three should also logically follow their elemental associations.
Oh, and though there's limited space for their characterization, they should at least get some individual characterization apart from "wise ancient guardians".
Xuanwu, Black Tortoise of the North
The fact that Xuanwu, or rather, it's snake half, can transform into stone at will might lead you to believe that its element is Earth.
Well...no, not traditionally; the Black Tortoise and the North correspond to Water in the Five Phases system, and I'm gonna both stick to that and build my fix-it off this foundation.
Instead of cosplaying a stone statue in the middle of nowhere, Xuanwu is gonna be residing on one of the islands in the North Sea, where dark tides and huge snow storms rage endlessly under the sunless sky.
So Sandy, being the water travel specialist, is gonna head out there on his boat. Mei would go to her great x N granduncle, Ao Guang's place, to see if he has any clues on, well, this big blue dragon that's also of the East.
Pigsy and Tang would head west, classic JTTW style, towards the mythical Mt. Kunlun where Queen Mother of the West resides (based on one of Tang's books that said the White Tiger was her emissary), while SWK performs an all-round search everywhere on his somersault cloud.
Which leaves MK: his dilemma is not about some random divergence in the road, but which of his friends to follow. Like, what if he goes with one person, and something bad happen to the others in the meantime?
In the end, even though he reluctantly goes with Sandy, he is still constantly distracted by his worries about everyone else, which segments nicely into the meditation training of S5E3.
But since they are doing it on a boat, there can be an external storm to go with the internal storm, causing further distractions for MK and also forcing them to seek shelter on the nearest island.
An island that, strangely, seems to be coated in a thin layer of ice. It isn't just the earth that's frosted over: all the plants, a few unfortunate multi-headed (???) seabirds, and a snake have also turned into ice statues...
Wait, snake? How does a reptile survive this far out in the north?
They have a bigger concern, however. The ice is slowly but steadily spreading, over the beaches and the surrounding seawater, and if they don't finish the search soon, the ice might get too thick for the boat to break.
So MK dashed off to do a grid-by grid search, then circled back to the place with all the frozen statues...and found the snake missing.
Cue, peak paranoia moment, and going on a wild-goose chase for the missing snake that might or might not be an ice-wielding demon waiting to ambush them.
In fact, the snake almost seems to be taunting them, seeing how they run into several "frozen snake statues" that turned out to be made of actual, solid ice. Sandy keeps reminding him to stop and think, while MK finds it harder and harder to put the lessons to practice.
By following the trail of ice statues, however, they eventually arrived on a little island in the middle of a frozen lake, where the real snake——the one half of Xuanwu lay coiling around the Blue Color Stone.
Just when MK is about to dash out and grab it, the snake comes to life with a hiss, and they barely dodged the ice spikes rising up from underneath their feet.
"Begone, foul spawn of Hundun! Return to thy conniving master, ilk of the Floodbringer, before I freeze every single drop of thy tainted blood!"
"Um, I-I think you've mistaken me for someone else? I'm the Monkie Kid, and I'm here to collect your Color Stone so I can save the world——"
"Doth thee mistake me for a fool, too?" The snake bore its fangs, rising its head high up into the air. "I can feel the flames of dear Lingguang on you, murderer, ripped straight out of its rightful owner's chest! She would not have perished without a fight, nor shalt I!"
"Enough, Zhiming."
The tiny island itself begins to shake, revealing the other half of Xuanwu, the Black Tortoise itself. The snake still manages to half-encast Sandy in ice, before the Black Tortoise traps it inside a ball of flowing water.
She briefly apologized for her twin's hostility——whereas the strain of keeping the world together affects her body in the form of visible cracks, her other half has not been in his right mind ever since the Vermillion Bird's fall, living in the distant past and rarely able to perceive the present.
(The whole conversation is punctuated by the snake's psychic screeches in the background, which alternates between accusing her of betrayal and stating she must have fallen victim to the "poisonous blood of the enemy".)
Which makes the upcoming trial even more necessary. No, it's not "mercy-kill her twin". Yet. MK needs to prove his ability to control his body and mind, that his psyche will not break like her other half here under the tremendous pressure.
Thus, the trial of meditation. And he needs to act fast, for she cannot hold the snake back for long, as made evident by the slowly creeping ice inside and outside his watery prison.
"If you are truly worthy, then vanquish your fears, and stand before us in your true form. Brandish Lingguang's stone, so that we may be released from our watch in the long night."
MK succeeded, like he did in canon, with a small difference: his mastery of the monkey form is required for, and enables the limited usage of the stone's power.
So, holding the Red Color Stone, he unleashes a wave of fiery light that melts away the ice on Sandy and finally brings the snake back to his senses...somewhat.
He only managed to say the Vermillion Bird's name in a wistful voice, exclaiming "How I missed thy warm flames!" before melting into a puddle of water.
The other half of Xuanwu soon followed after giving him the stone, disintegrating into a mass of snowflakes that is swept away by the wind, but not before dropping one last bit of foreshadowing:
"Trust not the Floodbringer's Emissary."
(Sidenote: I think it'll be neat if the Four Symbols refer to each other using their IRL Daoist titles. Vermillion Bird - Lingguang, Black Tortoise & Snake - Zhiming, Azure Dragon - Mengzhang, White Tiger - Jianbing)
Azure Dragon & White Tiger
...And I thought Xuanwu's placement was random.
No, seriously, why is there a random music festival that just happens to be Azure Dragon and White Tiger themed that just happens to be near the actual place the two divine beasts are at?
To stay within the show's time constraint, I will not be giving White Tiger his individually themed placement, and instead try to come up with something that is appropriate for the pair as a whole.
Since Azure Dragon's associated element is Wood, it makes sense for him to have plant powers. Namely, whereever the divine beast resides, floras and faunas will flourish, no matter how out of place with the local geography and climate.
Once Mei learned that from Ao Guang, theoretically, it becomes quite the easy find: the mythical oasis city in western China, one that shows up multiple times in historical travel records yet has never been found by archeologists.
And the reason will soon become clear, as Tang and Pigsy make the drive from one desert city to another on their way to Mt. Kunlun (joined by Mei after she returned from the Samadhi Fire side-arc).
Namely, it's like a magical version of the famous Peach Blossom Spring of Chinese literature: an entire city that has been glamored over by the power of the divine beasts, occupied by people whose way of life hasn't changed since the Tang dynasty.
But as the guardians' powers fade, so does the illusion that veils it from the outside world, and the elemental magic that sustains this paradise.
Instead of a music festival, the gang finally discover the city that, according to the locals, has appeared out of thin air a few days ago, while it is in the middle of an archaic ritual procession.
The atmosphere is a lot more solemn, and it isn't hard to see why. Not only has the illusion vanished, exposing them to a profoundly alien world, the foliage of the oasis are growing and dying in rapid succession, clogging the streets with fallen leaves and yellowed petals.
An opera play is going on atop a nearby stage. It sings of a teal-robed immortal who rescued the refugees of a long-forgotten war, who turned desert into fertile soil with the help of a mighty divine general, concealing their existence from the greed and malice of the outside world.
The people in the procession knelt down and pleaded to the immortal for aid, to not abandon them in their hour of need. And their prayers are, indeed, answered, just not by the divine beasts in person.
The 14 Lunar Mansions that belong to the Azure Dragon and White Tiger descended from the sky, summoned by their masters, though they seemed to have been given different orders.
Namely, the Azure Dragon 7 spread out to guard all the major city gates, letting no one enter or leave, while the White Tiger 7 are ordered to round up all the residents and start setting up a teleportation formation.
Soon afterwards, Nezha arrived in the midst of the chaos. He is just as clueless as to what was going on as the Monkie Kid gang, but the moment he caught sight of SWK and friends, he's after them in hot pursuit.
Meanwhile, Li Jing is not happy about the Lunar Mansions suddenly acting without his orders, and commanded them to stand down or be arrested for insubordination.
"With all due respect, Devaraja Li——"
Before the Moon Fox Star could finish her sentence, another stellar beast stepped forth, his tiger tail swishing behind him.
"Who the hell do you think you are?"
Results: most of the Azure Dragon 7 get sucked into his pagoda, but while they were fighting, the White Tiger 7's formation activated, teleporting the majority of the city residents to god knows where.
While shit was hitting the fan, Tang hurriedly teleported the gang away, right into the sanctuary of the divine beasts——an underground temple.
"It's over, Mengzhang. Now that the Harbinger is on our doorsteps, and your pet mortals are safe at the cost of our loyal warriors, will you finally rest easy?"
"Not...yet. There are still...stragglers, left behind."
"Stragglers you have doomed yourself! Their fate is sealed the moment you cast your mirage over their ancestors and create this little utopia, frozen in time."
The cracks on the tiger's body widened. A thick layer of condensation began forming on the metal reliefs, as if the very walls of the temple were weeping.
"I should have never agreed to stay and help."
"Yet you...still did. And I'm so glad you are here."
Yep, in this fix-it, I decide to use the Azure Dragon & White Tiger for some thematic parallels, with them basically repeating Nvwa and the Pillar of Heaven on a smaller scale.
The former created a garden city in the middle of the desert, while the latter uses his power to provide the water source that sustains the city (because Metal births Water).
As the end approaches, however, they are faced with the problem of ensuring the city residents' safety, since, upon their death, the entire oasis will revert to a desert overnight.
The White Tiger feels like there's no point in trying anything, since their death means the Harbinger will fulfill his destiny soon and give the world a reboot.
But the Azure Dragon insists on channeling his power into the land until the very last possible moment, so that the people's last memories will be a mundane, peaceful one.
Besides, they know very well that Fate and Destiny are no longer ironclad, when the very laws of reality are breaking down. How, then, can he be sure that the cycle will end and the world will be reforged as Nvwa intended, seeing that its premature beginning is already an outlier?
After a long argument, they had reached an uneasy compromise. Thus, the chaotic arrival of the Lunar Mansions and the hurried evacuation of the residents.
"You will understand, won't you, Harbinger?" The dragon looked into his eyes. "Even if you know it's selfish and futile, that you can't keep them safe forever, you are still going to give your all, just so their happy days will last a little longer..."
"It is easy for Brother Jianbing to say, let go, face your end with honor. For Metal is the clashes of blades, the unforgiving axe of executioners."
"I? This old fool just saw lives. Of men and women, children and elderly folks. And I cannot stand by and watch them wither."
MK nodded quietly, feeling Mei's worried, "are you not telling me something" glance on the back of his head. He reached out a hand, and the two divine beasts press their foreheads together.
The dragon faded away in a rain of falling leaves and petals, and when the Purple Color Stone hit the ground, nothing remains of the tiger but a thin layer of silvery, metallic sand on the floor.
Appendix: Inside the Pagoda
The fix-it is mostly over at this point, so the following is just me adding some additional worldbuilding and foreshadowing to MK's solution in E10, to make the whole "giving powers to everyone" thing a little less out of left field.
In the previous section, it was mentioned that a bunch of Lunar Mansions end up inside Li Jing's pagoda too. And when MK and friends run across them, they are in a pretty bad state.
Namely, the same cracks they see on the divine beasts are now appearing on the Lunar Mansions' bodies too.
"Isn't it obvious? Our masters are no more, so we now bear the brunt of the weight that was once on their shoulders..."
"And are on our way of being crushed to a pancake."
"Very tactful, aren't you?" The one-horned man sighed. "But yes. Lord Mengzhang is a stellar beast too——the greatest of all. He is a constellation, while we are merely the stars that make up the dragon's body, embued with a tiny fraction of his power."
"And when the very sky of the East has fallen..."
"How can the stars remain unscathed?"
After that, they basically exit the scene to fade away offscreen. But the information they revealed plants the seed of an idea in MK: specifically, that the Color Stones' power (and burden) can be shared between multiple individuals, like what happened at the end of E10.
Also, tiny fix: instead of MK learning the circlet spell outta nowhere, he's gonna tap into the power of the Color Stones during his fight with SWK, just like he did during Xuanwu's trial, to buy enough time to make his sacrifice.
Creatures from Chinese mythology - Four Symbols addition (Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird, Yellow Dragon) (2/3)
Black Tortoise: The Black tortoise of the North is connected to water and winter. It is associated with longevity and wisdom and is often depicted with a snake coiled around it, or as a tortoise-snake chimera.
Azure Dragon: The Azure Dragon guards the East. While most Chinese dragons are associated with water, the Azure Dragon is tied to the element of wood and the spring season.
White Tiger: The White Tiger of the West is associated with the element of metal and the autumn season. It fights against threats from both the mortal and spirit world.
Vermilion Bird: The Vermilion Bird of the South is associated with the element of fire and summer. It is a symbol of good luck and is often equated with the phoenix.
Yellow Dragon: The Yellow Dragon of the Center is the fifth member of the Four Symbols. It is associated with the element of earth and the changing of seasons.
The other three heralds summoned to Alania before the events of AKIC. They represent the elements of fire, earth and water respectively.
The original Five Heralds were summoned to the Kingdom of Alania 500 years ago by the Goddess Hecate to help quell the civil war tearing apart the country.
Lady Igcalor was a woman living in 1800s India, in the Victorian era.
She was a weaver by trade, and did good work, but she also had troubles in the home due to her husband’s… habits and resulting financial troubles.
Her name was Iditya Bajwa.
She died in a house fire.
Upon rebirth, took up the bow and stayed back from the front lines, preferring to snipe at her enemies from a distance.
She loved to fly, soaring high into the sky on wings of fire. She also liked to just be active in general, practicing with various fiery weapons and playing sports.
There are legends that say her and Lord Tersaxum were together.
His name was Friedrich Schmidt.
He hailed from Germany in the 1800s, working as a miner and blacksmith.
He died from a cave in, and upon rebirth, he used the opportunity to craft a better life for himself.
He helped Lady Chalyferrum learn how to forge various items and discovered several useful minerals underground.
He also helped build the railroad that, unfortunately, was never completed.
He was overall a good man that enjoyed good food and could appreciate a well crafted weapon.
He was considered the leader of the Five Heralds of his time, acting as the rock that kept the rest of them sane.
Lastly, Lord Aquacies hailed from Greenland, where he lived as an ice fisher by trade. He was of Inuit descent, with some Danish in his blood as well.
His name was Atka Jorgensen.
He died from blunt force trauma to the head, which he believed to be from a dog sled that accidentally hit him during a storm.
Upon rebirth, he lived by the northern shores of the country, where he met and befriended a white snake that became his familiar.
He specialized in water magic, creating various constructs out of ice. His signature weapons were a harpoon and a whip.
He was also often depicted using his turtle’s shell as a shield.
These three heralds were eventually defeated by individuals named Bartholomew Riverside, Johan Golden, and Evelyn Crimstone, all of whom wielded forbidden treasures.
One thing I decided to add to the Lunar Mansions while making them was to give certain focuses to each quarter. However, within each general job I gave them a more specific task as well, just to make things a little more fun.
For the overall focus though, let’s start with the Western quarter. The Western quarter is led by the White Tiger. And tigers are often attributed to military might in Chinese culture. So all of the mansions in that quarter serve in the Celestial Army.
However, for the Eastern quarter headed by the Azure Dragon, well, dragons are also attributed with military might. They’re also associated with emperors though. So I decided both the East and West have a military focus, with the West being more offensive while the East has more defensive roles. Because emperors typically lead from behind the battle lines.
As for the North, headed by the Black Tortoise, well, the Tortoise actually had the most backstory of the four leaders from what I could gather. And part of the backstory involved reaching their current immortal status by practicing cultivation. So the mansions in the Northern quarter are focused more on court duties, specifically ones related to cultivation and wisdom gathering.
Then there’s the South, with the Vermillion Bird. Which are apparently used as symbols for empresses. So those in the Southern quarter also have court duties like those in the North, however, their court duties are more focused around leadership.
The Black Tortoise (also known as:"Xuanwu" or "玄武") is one of the five celestial guardians in Chinese mythology. She represents the cardinal direction of the north, the winter season and the element of water from the five elements. She is sometimes referred to as "Mysterious/Black Warrior" due to her shell resembling a shield. She symbolizes, longevity, immortality, protection, knowledge & wisdom. One legend says that she's a creation from the Dark Warrior's (the Chinese god she shares the same name with) stomach. The intestines from the Dark Warrior results in the creation of a snake, Xuanwu's mate. For those wondering why Kai's own snake isn't present, don't worry! Y'all have already met her. Another legend about the Black Tortoise says that she is created by the creation goddess, Nuwa. Nuwa uses the Black Tortoise's limbs to stabilize the sky-thus being a bridge to the celestial & Earth realm.
Since tortoises often bask in water for hydration, the Black Tortoise has the ability to manipulate water. Due to tortoises being known to hibernate in winter, the Black Tortoise can manipulate winter & snow at will. She can also wield magic to protect the defenseless and repel dark energy. As the Black Tortoise and the snake are generals to the god she shares the same name with, she also wields immense martial arts force-making her an icon for martial artists. The snake accompanying Xuanwu symbolizes power. Together, their typical embracing position symbolizes a harmonious yin and yang balance.
The Black Tortoise was notably popular during the Ming dynasty. Her imagery (along with the snake) was often found in tombs, palaces and temples. In literature, she serves a role in "Journey to the West". In "Journey to the West", after Xuanwu created the Black Tortoise & the snake, the two beasts immediately went on a violent rampage at a nearby village, only to be stopped by their creator. To atone for their sins, the Black Tortoise & the snake vowed to be generals to their creator.
One of the most notable traits Kai and the Black Tortoise share together is immortality. Specifically, the Black Tortoise is thousands of years old while Kai is over five hundred years old. Both of them went through change after gaining immortality. The importance immortality has to the Black Tortoise emphasizes the slow & steady wisdom nature of the creature. Kai's immortality serves as a determent to his psyche due to refusing to let go of his grudge against Oogway. Another aspect Kai and the Black Tortoise share together is their role as war generals. One of the reasons the Black Tortoise became a war general is because she genuinely wants redemption. From what we can infer from Kung Fu Panda 3, Kai most likely became a war general for the fun & thrill of it.
Interestingly, Kai and the Black Tortoise serves as an inverse to each other. Notably, the Black Tortoise offers good luck & prosperity to others while Kai is all about taking chi from others. The Black Tortoise remains remembered by numerous generations for having significant Chinese cultural influence still to this day and even beyond China itself. In contrast, Kai is obsessed with having a legacy but yet ends up being forgotten and erased in history. As it is stated earlier that the Black Tortoise once partakes in a violent rampage on at village. However, she redeems herself by promising to devote her life as a general to her creator. Meanwhile, Kai was a war general who have taken countless lives. He also once went haywire with stealing other's chi. Unlike the Black Tortoise, Kai bears zero remorse for his actions & in fact became worse after being sealed away by Oogway.
As a celestial guardian, Kai serves as a patron of warriors & martial artists. He especially is the second command to Xuanwu as his tactician. In his youth, he was a lot more self-absorbed & boastful about his victories. Over time, his conceited attitude became less apparent. Despite having some sense of mellowness, he never loses his pride for what he does for mortals. Unlike his original counterpart, Kai and his numerous nicknames & titles are well-known across China. In fact, he gains gratification for being the biggest of the celestial guardians & loves that his size is an easily noticeable physical trait of his. He enjoys hanging out among mortals & and narrates stories about his experience as a war general.
-Relationship with celestial guardians-
Po, the Yellow Dragon of the Center:"A man I'll gladly consider to be one of my best pals! My respect for him is just as big as that infinite pit stomach of his! He knows how to make an old man like me energetic! It's a relief whenever it's winter and he can use his powers to create more sun instead of having to always use firewood. We sometimes spar together, hang out at taverns and play mahjong together! I win most of the time. At first, I found it insulting for someone so young to somehow be more superior than me! I'm close to Nuwa! However, Po has done a great job to prove me wrong. Overall, he's a pretty great guy."
Chameleon, the Azure Dragon of the East:"Ah, the most drop dead gorgeous reptile I've ever laid my eyes on. My wife who I'll forever love for life, she's so...*snorts*small! I like teasing her about her puny size-she's so adorable fuming with rage! Sometimes, we butt heads here and there and boy-she has a lot of fury for someone her size. *ahem* In all seriousness, on our best days, we can be quiet next together & it'll make my entire day. I like talking to her as she rides on either of my shoulders while we go somewhere together. She also gives me the best massages and ear rubs! To sum up everything, this universe ain't big enough to contain all my love, respect & admiration for her altogether."
Shen, the Vermilion Bird of the South:"Hehe, I find it funny to push the fire chicken's buttons. That squawk sound he makes whenever he's embarrassed is especially hilarious. Sometimes, I like using one of his feathers to start fires for stuff and sitting on his tail during wintertime. Obviously, fire and water don't mix. Hold on-actually, we occasionally play xiangqi together (me of course having slightly more victories than him). I mainly like him because he can be funny whenever he's mad."
Tai Lung, the White Tiger of the West:"I gotta say, he has some amazing martial arts prowess. A fantastic warrior spirit that can't be found in any other warrior-it shines a ton whenever we spar together! His metal weapon craftsmanship is pretty impressive. Sometimes we'll challenge each other to drinking contests. I win most of the time. The many feats he accomplished as a warrior so far, I can't help but respect him! He's the biggest loner out of all of us, but we get along well."
<<Chameleon as the Azure Dragon of the North | Shen as the Vermilion Bird of the South>>
