Sun Wukong

Sun Wukong is a new character to the Warriors franchise based upon one of the main characters in the Chinese epic, Journey To The West. Wukong first makes his appearance in Warriors Orochi 2, a continuation of it's first game.

Journey to the West
Sun Wukong was born from a mystical stone from the sky, on the Huāguǒ-shān (literally meaning,"mountain of flowers and fruit"). Within the mountain, were many hidden areas. To display his own bravery, Wukong nominated himself to jump through a large waterfall in order to find out what was behind it. The monkey boldly leaped through the waterfall, and described his findings as almost celestial. A cave was behind the water, with exotic plant life, emerald-green moss, comfortable stone beds and chairs, a mystical colored fog, and much more. A stone tablet was featured in the middle of a bridge, carved with the words, "Happy Land of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, Cave Heaven of the Water Curtain". The clans of monkeys soon inhabited the cave. After the event, Wukong is recognized by all inhabitants of the mountain as king, specifically known as the "Handsome Monkey King". Soon, the mountain becomes civilized, and became extremely prepared for future conflicts. The mountain would continue to strive for centuries.

However, soon, Wukong realized that, though he was past the others in rank, he was not beyond them in mortality. On a quest for immortality, he traveled on a raft to more civilized lands, where he found a Buhddist monk named Bohdi. Through constant traveling, the Monkey King gained able human speech and manners. Bodhi was reluctant to teach the Monkey, as he was not human, but, through determination and will from the other party, decided to. It was around this time that Bodhi gave him the name, "Sun Wukong". Sun, relating his monkey origins, and Wukong, or aware of emptiness. With the monk, Wukong gained favoritism of his teacher, and learned many magical abilities. The Monkey King gained confidence, and bragged about his new powers, so Bodhi threw him out of the temple. Before this, Bodhi made Wukong promise to never tell where he got his new abilities.

Back on the Huāguǒ-shān, finds himself as one of the most influential demons globally. He began a earch for a weapon that he thought would be worthy of himself, which, after searching into the sea, was the Ruyi Jingu Bang, a staff treasured by the Dragon King of the East Sea. The act caused beings of the sea, as well as the sea itself to be driven to fear and confusion, because of the Jingu Bang's properties. The staff started to grow as Wukong would approach it. This meant that it's new master has been found. From there, Wukong defeated the four dragons of the four seas in battle, with the elements of the Ruyi Jingu Bang. He then forced them to give them their ultimate battle armor, a golden chain mail, cloud-walking boots, and a phoenix feather cap. After, Wukong resisted Hell's attempt to reap his soul. Therefore, the Monkey King did not reincarnate as all others did, and he wiped his, and all other monkeys' names out of the "Book of Life and Death". The Dragon Kings and Kings of Hell reported him to the Jade Emperor of Heaven for the Monkey's outrageous acts.

With a plan to make the Monkey King more stable, the Jade Emperor invited Sun Wukong to Heaven. Instead of the divine promotion to a god which Wukong expected, he was made a Head of the Heavenly Stables. An enraged Monkey King rebelled and made an alliance with some of the most powerful demons in the world. The attempts of Heaven at subduing the rebellion failed. The rebellion, however, defeated Heavens' armies, proving himself equal to even Heaven's greatest general. Though eventually, with the combined forces of Taoist and Buddhist forces defeated Wukong's forces. After failed executions, Sun Wukong was locked into a magical cauldron to be made into an elixir. After seven weeks, the cauldron burst open, with Wukong more powerful than ever. The Jade Emperor and Heavens, out of any options, appealed to the Buddha. The Buddha fooled the Monkey King into thinking that he could actually complete the Buddha's own challenge of leaping out of his own hand. The Buddha then sealed him into an imprisonment for five centuries.

Five centuries later, the Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin, was searching for disciples to protect a pilgrim, Xuanzang in search for Buddhist literary compositions from India. Wukong accepted the offer in exchange for freedom. Guanyin fully understood Wukong's uncontrollable capabilities, so she gave Xuanzang a headband from Buddha, and tricked Wukong into wearing it. The headband could never be removed, and would cause extreme pain via tightening with a special chant. Guanyin gave the Monkey King three hairs, to be used in the most dangerous of situations. Accompanied by priest Xuanzang, Wukong was allowed to journey to the West.

During the journey, Wukong faithfully served Xuanzang, and they were accompanied by two who wished to repent for their sins, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing. The group of four (including the priest's horse) were constantly attacked by demons and supernatural beings who believed that Xuanzang's flesh would grant them immortality. In this situation, the Monkey King was granted access to the powers of Heaven. They, after eighty-one trials, finished the mission, then returning to China. The Monkey King was granted Buddhahood, or perfect enlightenment for his service.

Attributes
In legend, Sun Wukong possesses incredible strength, superb speed, skilled fighting ability, each of his hairs possessing magical properties. He also knows various spells in order to command wind, part water, conjure protective circles against demons, freeze humans, demons, and gods alike. He owns a magical staff that can stretch almost infinitely, and rides a cloud that can travel at blinding speeds. His power makes him very arrogant and confident. His sense of humor makes him a trickster and a prankster, and he caused havoc in the heavenly court of the Jade Emperor simply to amuse himself. However, his cleverness and power were no match for the wisdom of Buddha, who imprisoned him under a mountain. The only way that he can be freed is if he agrees to aid the one who frees him. In Journey to the West, he was freed by the monk Xuanzang, and became a great help to him on his mission to bring the Buddhist sutras from India to China. After being freed from the eight-trigram cauldron of Lao Tzu, Sun Wukong gained the ability to sense evil in all forms.

Ruyi Jingu Bang

 * The "Ruyi Jingu Bang", was a fictional staff wielded by Sun Wukong in the novel, Journey to the West. Before switching owners over to Wukong, the staff was used by a Da Yu, the first ruler and founder of the Xia Dynasty of China. Though the Monkey King used it as a weapon, Da Yu used it to measure the depth of flood waters that were destroying China. On his journeys, Wukong finds it in the undersea temple of the Dragon King of the East Sea, Ao Guang. The staff was able to grow at it's user's will, but was extremely heavy, in modern scales, about 7.7 tons of iron. With it's high relativity to water, the staff would be the only one that could control the ebb and flow of the ocean's tides.

Warriors Orochi 2
In the game, he is freed instead by Taira Kiyomori and as a result fights on the side of the Orochi forces, he is however, among the least malevolent officers. His magical cloud Nimbus also allows him to move faster than any other character. Some parts of his character might have been inspired by the character Son Goku from the manga Dragonball, itself a loose adaptation of Journey to the West.