“Macaque is kinder” can you elaborate?? My takeaway is that he’s… kinda a massive asshole?? I don’t know if I’m just stupid (I really feel like it sometimes) when I see takes like this cause all he does is hurt people until the end of season three and then he starts helping the way Wukong has BEEN helping from the start. Am I just missing something cause everyone acts like it’s the opposite but Mac’s the only one trying to hurt innocent people
you're not stupid anon kdsjkfd id be happy to clarify!
dont get me wrong i still think macaque is an asshole but its like. in a different way. what i mean by macaque being kinder is that hes more emotionally mature, basically. like if we compare mac's turnaround from being evil in season 1 to how he acts in season 3 he goes thru character growth like 10 times faster than wukong has ever done in the past what? 1000 ish years hes been alive?
more under the cut b/c its long (‾◡◝)
im mostly looking to compare how wukong acted before and during jttw and then how that matches up to his progress now. before jttw wukong was insatiable in his hunger for immortality. theres really...no need for him to keep going after like maybe the 2nd method of immortality but he keeps GOING and GOING and GOING and HURTING people just because he has the ability to and they're "getting in his way" of what he wants. eventually he pays for this by being trapped under the mountain and he like actually doesnt learn shit from that which was really funny to read tbh.
i do love him even though he is a shithead throughout jttw. like. bros out here literally TORTURING PEOPLE even though tripitaka DID NOT WANT HIM TO DO THAT SHIT!! an arc wukong goes thru in jttw is learning not to be needlessly cruel to others (which he does learn! for the most part! kind of!). now i mean. what happens after that is kind of like. pure speculation but i personally like the hc that wukong killed macaque (its very juicy you see) but that kind of reveals yet again that wukong STILL up until VERY RECENTLY has solved all of his problems by punching them lol. which isnt. very kind i would say.
especially considering that macaque was his best friend like. whatever way you spin it, it just kind of sucks that he did that. hes an asshole for doing it. not to mention that really heartbreaking scene where mac and wukong stop being friends. wukong just lays into macaque for no reason!! mac isnt why hes trapped under the mountain! it was his own fault! people are like, "well why didnt macaque help him" would YOU help your friend who disregarded your own advice over and over again to stop while you were ahead and then CALLED YOU USELESS??? AND SAID YOU NEVER TRIED TO HELP HIM??? i certainly wouldnt! id be pissed! thats a shitty thing to do!
and like...wukong has been entirely dysfunctional almost throughout the entire show LOL. he's STILL arrogant, he keeps his friends in the dark about the actual plans he has, you would think that for someone who regrets what he did to his ex bestie the first thing he would do when seeing him alive again is not name call him and ask if he was "tired of living in his shadow", he doesnt know how to deal with his emotional problems. he distances himself from his student which leads to mk feeling like hes just a burden to him. hes really rude! like he'll just insult people and their interests ("pshh its just cooking guys")! in season 5 even after macaque has demonstrated his care for him (AGAIN) he still acts like he hates being around him b/c hes too scared to do the ACTUAL EMOTIONALLY MATURE THING and talk. wukong is like...hes a good hero but hes not a good FRIEND is what im getting at. thats why macaque is kinder. that whole samahdi fire arc was probably wukong at his most dysfunctional. mei puts it best in her monologue. wukong hurts the people who care about him the most.
macaque DID do a bunch of shitty stuff. he stole mk's power from him in order to get revenge on wukong for killing him (which i mean the method was fucked but i can understand wanting to kill someone who killed you) the lady bone demon had him under her control so while he did do awful things it was things he was FORCED to do. he just wanted to be free from her and left alone. he stirred up chaos maybe ONCE in his debut episode in order to get monkey king to show up and his pupil did instead.
macaque has been relentlessly demonized by people who barely even know him just because hes "weird" or "the monkey king says hes evil" or something. i cant really blame him for wanting to play that up and be the stereotypical "bad guy". even then what he did was usually tame compared to other villains in the show. he only started getting more aggressive when he realized his life was on the line and he was backed into a corner. like macaque IMMEDIATELY gives up on the revenge plot after episode 9 LMAO. he was off doing who the fuck knows what until lbd kidnapped him and forced him ta do stuff.
what i believe makes it feel like macaque is the bad guy and wukong is the "kinder" one is the way their stories are both told. we are told from the start of the show that wukong is the monkey king who banishes evil like? why wouldnt you think hed be the better one of the two? we learn about him first and macaque second. we see wukong AT HIS BEST in lmk while we see macaque at his (actually maybe second) worst. IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS macaque has proven to be able to mature faster than wukong though.
