Remembered this design of Sun Wukong (a.k.a. Wu Kong, Qitian Dasheng, Seiten Taisei) from Devil Summoner today. You know, the art you see in Strange Journey and Shin Megami Tensei IV, where he's got a staff over his shoulder and wearing armour. Quite a martial figure:
I still remember the pleasure of having a Chaos-aligned party consisting of him, Zhuyin, and Asherah on what I think was my first playthrough of Strange Journey.
A few times when writing about Revolutionary Demonology, particularly the essay "Lifting The Absolute" I thought about this particular image of Sun Wukong with his staff when considering the image of the ancient Greek Cynic bearing the staff in resistance to societal norms. There was a time in ancient Athens when people were expected to open carry either swords or staves, but then society decided that this was no longer appropriate. The Cynics still held their staffs, in contempt of the new norms, preferring their martial symbols.
As somebody who spent college using bamboo sticks as substitute swords for a kind of mock practice, that's the kind of idea that resonates with me, strongly. I think I noted that in the article. Ancient resistance to societal norms as expressed in the symbol of weaponry, I think that's my vibe. As Shahin said, living free is living fighting.
