OOTS in Chinese Classic Novels

[t209]

So we've been doing a lot of Western Plays and stories on OOTS since Snip, Snails and Dragon Tails. I've got an idea on OOTS as characters from Romance of Three Kingdoms and Journey to The west. But I only read (or watched) the Journey to the West, so help me out.
Journey to the West
Wukong (Monkey King)- Elan (definitely Chaotic Good)
Bajie (Pig)- Belkar Bitterleaf (Though not as psychopathic as Belkar, both of them are glutton and thief, Haley's too weak to be a fighter like Bajie)
Wujing (Sand Demon)- Roy Greenhilt (logical and smart)
Monk- Durkon Thundershield (quiet) or Miko Miyazaki (since both of them have magic to create a horse)
Demons who wanted to eat the Monk- Red Cloak and Goblins

Romance of The Three Kingdoms
Cao Cao- Daimyo Kubota
Sun Jian- Tarquin
Liu Bei- Red Cloak
(That I don't know about many characters)

Any Addendum and edits?

[Gopher]

Wow, that's a pretty random thought.

Is Wukong really chaotic good? He seemed like he had at least a slightly malicious streak in the early parts of the story at least.

[mucat]

I wouldn't call Monkey malicious, exactly...but he is certainly greedy, egotistical, immensely powerful, and full of mischief. Maybe an amalgam of Hayley (for the greed and resourcefulness), Varsuvius (for ego and sheer power), and Elan (for goofy mischief)?

[Knaight]

Look into Water Margin. There aren't going to be perfect OoTS analogs in any book (they are distinct characters, after all), but Journey to the West gives very few options, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms has such a completely different focus and narrative structure that trying to use it is really barking up the wrong tree.

[Haleth]

As someone who grew up listening to the Journey of the West, my opinion is that Sun Wukong is mischievous, headstrong, and slightly arrogant, but not malicious. I think Miko should be the monk, although not for the reasons you mentioned—both adhere to their code to the point where it interferes with their thinking and attempt to be lawful and good to ridiculous, obnoxious degrees. I feel like Sha Wujing should be Durkon—I feel like Roy isn't nearly as quiet enough. Sha Wujing was always the dependent, sturdy, quiet one of the group like Durkon is in the OotS.
100% agree with Belkar as Zhu Bajie.

I really liked Romance of the Three Kingdoms too, but I kinda disagree with Tarquin as Sun Quan and Redcloak as Liu Bei. But Daimyo Kubota fits Cao Cao pretty well.
Also, you forgot my favorite character in Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Zhuge Liang. I have no idea who should be him. He was an advisor for Liu Bei, a farmer-turned-military-genius that didn't know when to stop overworking. He was very quick to react and adapt to situations and a brilliant tactician. He liked ambushes as his form of battle, iirc.

[Amphiox]

My reading of Journey to the West is that Sun Wukong starts out closer to Chaotic Neutral, and becomes Chaotic Good through character development over the course of the narrative.

Liu Bei is lawful good bordering on lawful stupid....

[Amphiox]

Zhuge Liang would be closest to a good version of Tarquin, I think, with the twist that while Tarquin is secretly the power behind the throne, Zhuge served his much less capable masters loyally.

[David Argall]

Not to discourage any additional comics, but as the limited number of responses here shows, there really aren't that many readers of Chinese classics among the fans of this strip. [Indeed, our first posts admits to not having read both of those suggested.] So a number of inferior Western works are better candidates.

[Geordnet]

Not to discourage any additional comics, but as the limited number of responses here shows, there really aren't that many readers of Chinese classics among the fans of this strip. [Indeed, our first posts admits to not having read both of those suggested.]
Same here, then. Although I've at least heard of both of them.

[Tebryn]

As someone who has read all the ones listed (Water Margin, Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms) you're not really going to be able to...slide the square peg into the round whole in this case. There different narratives with different mindsets.

[Haleth]

Yeah, especially with Three Kingdoms. Although it's an interesting idea.

[GrayGriffin]

*sticks head into thread* Did someone say CHINESE CLASSICS? Authentic Asian here, reporting for duty!

Anyways, I'd like to nominate The Legend of the White Snake, one of the more obscure Chinese classics, for consideration. The basic story tells about a snake demon falling in love with a mortal, and turning herself human to be with him. However, a monk wants to split them apart, as he believes the snake to be evil simply due to her species. This could kind of work with the "specieism" themes OOTS has going on. Or, if you want to flip the moralities, Sabine and Nale can be the main couple, with Durkon/Miko as the monk.

[Haleth]

*sticks head into thread* Did someone say CHINESE CLASSICS? Authentic Asian here, reporting for duty!

Anyways, I'd like to nominate The Legend of the White Snake, one of the more obscure Chinese classics, for consideration. The basic story tells about a snake demon falling in love with a mortal, and turning herself human to be with him. However, a monk wants to split them apart, as he believes the snake to be evil simply due to her species. This could kind of work with the "specieism" themes OOTS has going on. Or, if you want to flip the moralities, Sabine and Nale can be the main couple, with Durkon/Miko as the monk.

Hello fellow authentic Asian! (I love that phrase :3)

I think if you're going with the speciesm, I think Therkla and Elan would work better, only that leaves the problem of what to do with Haley. XD and Miko as the monk, since I can't see Durkon splitting them apart for the sake of species discrimination.

[F.Harr]

Hello fellow authentic Asian! (I love that phrase :3)

I think if you're going with the speciesm, I think Therkla and Elan would work better, only that leaves the problem of what to do with Haley. XD and Miko as the monk, since I can't see Durkon splitting them apart for the sake of species discrimination.

I agree with Haleth. That would be Miko's preferred role.

But Therkla/Elan and Sabine/Nale aren't the only cross-species unions, here. There's also Roy/Celia, although it Would be hard for anyone to mistake Celia for evil. ROY, on the other hand. . .

[GrayGriffin]

Well, since the snake in the original novel is a shapeshifter, and Sabine is the only one of those characters to constantly use a shapechanging power (Celia did too, but she seems out of practice with it), she was the first one I thought of.

[F.Harr]

Oh, totes.

[Ghost Nappa]

As someone who has read all the ones listed (Water Margin, Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms) you're not really going to be able to...slide the square peg into the round whole in this case. There different narratives with different mindsets.

That might be a perfectly good reason to do a Sticktale of it.

The first batch of stick tales were good exercises in the concept itself: use familiar tales as a sort of proof-of-concept. We know it worked wonderfully.

Personally, I'm more familiar with Dragon Ball which is very loosely based on Journey to the West than I am Journey to the West itself (and I suspect most people are), but it would be interesting to see just how much conversation could be made by using the Order as a sort of lead into other famous series and stories, that may or may not get the attention they deserve.

Or you know, more sticktales. I think they compliment the main comic really well.

Medea, featuring Miko.
Celia, Durkon, and Roy on any cop buddy show.
Belkar in a testerone-poisoned Action Movie. (Belkar has THREE (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0738.html) skillsets: Killing Things, Gourmet Cooking, and Seducing Women. )
Elan and Roy in Don Quijote...with Elan as Don Quijote :smalltongue:
Teenage Haley in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[F.Harr]

I think we're just starting to cross Sticktails and OotS in a Different Genera, here.

Not that that's a problem, I just thought it needed pointing out.

[sunwukong]

As someone who has read all the ones listed (Water Margin, Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms) you're not really going to be able to...slide the square peg into the round whole in this case. There different narratives with different mindsets.

Given my username, and being another "authentic Asian" (and even a credible Chinese), I feel somewhat obligated to post in this thread. :smallwink:

I have to agree with Tebryn's statement above. That said, I do see the parallels between Zhu Bajie and Belkar. Sun Wukong and Elan doesn't work for me though. Sun Wukong is vastly more intelligent than Elan, though he certainly does stupid things sometimes.

How about Sun Wukong and Girard Draketooth? Girard's family is similar to Sun Wukong's monkey minions (or his clones that he can create), and Windy Canyon is similar to the cave behind the waterfall. However, Sun Wukong definitely isn't related to any dragons. :smalltongue:

They're both Chaotic, and I'm sure Sun Wukong feels the same way about the Jade Emperor's warriors as Girard does about the Azurite paladins. Sun Wukong's been known to squabble with his own party members (particularly Zhu Bajie), though I don't think he ever took it to the extent that Girard did.

Sun Wukong goes through more character development in Journey to the West than Girard does in OotS, but Girard does remain loyal to the cause of guarding the Rift, in his own way.

Sun Wukong relies more on transformation than illusion, but the common element of trickery is there. And Girard is capable of melee as well as spellcasting, since he's a multiclass ranger-sorcerer. Ranger's not a bad fit for Sun Wukong either.

[GrayGriffin]

I've read Dragon Ball, and the only similarity left between it and Journey to the West is the main character's name, mode of transportation, and species of his companions. Just so you know.

[t209]

I've read Dragon Ball, and the only similarity left between it and Journey to the West is the main character's name, mode of transportation, and species of his companions. Just so you know.
I just watch the old Chinese Television Show (and some illustrations) when I was 6 years old. But I don't speak/read Chinese (I am Burmese).

[GrayGriffin]

Ah. Journey to the West has a lot of English adaptations though. (American-born Taiwanese here.)

[ZMiles]

I think The Sorcerer's Revolt, by Luo Guanzhong (who also did Romance of the 3 Kingdoms and, probably, Outlaws of the Marsh) and finished by Menglong Feng, could be a cool analog to OotS. It's about a trio of huli jing, Chinese foxes wit various magical powers, that rebel against the government. It's based on the real rebellion of Wang Ze, and the story goes through the foxes obtaining their magical powers, seizing control of the city, recruiting followers, fighting government armies, and finally being destroyed by the righteous.

Holy Auntie Fox, the smart, wise elder who wants the best for her children and is the most proficient in strategy and skill: Redcloak

Zuo Que, the lecherous and greedy fox who likes using his magical powers to bully and hurt others and to greedily obtain everything for himself: Xykon

Hu Mei'r, the clever fox who uses her powers for all sorts of evil mischief, including attempting to find a husband, prone to fits of rage but also adept at using seduction on her enemies: Tsukiko

Wang Ze, the brute whom the foxes persuade to be the public face of their rebellion, an outclassed arrogant fool who learns a few magic tricks and thinks he can rule the world: Nale

Viceroy Wen, who finally leads an army that can conquer the evil fox forces: Roy Greenhilt.

The three men named Su, whom Wen uses to help beat the foxes: the rest of Roy's party.

And so forth...

[Haleth]

Yeah, I read a bit of Dragonball and didn't see many similarities to Journey of the West at all.

I think Journey to the West works best out of all the novels, although I think a better character for Sun Wukong could be found than Elan.

[t209]

Ah. Journey to the West has a lot of English adaptations though. (American-born Taiwanese here.)
Nope I watched the chinese version, with Burmese Subtitle.

[ReaderAt2046]

Shouldn't this be in the OOTS in a Different Genre thread? Could someone merge this in please?

[F.Harr]

I don't know. It's more focused than that discussion.