The Tragedy of Bull King, Red Boy and Princess Iron-Fan
me: does a poll for people to vote on between the Daoist Mi Lore or Kingdom of the Flowing Sand rats
Also me: alright imma write about something else entirely
I will be tackling the Bull King's Family lore according to Black Myth Wukong, since the devs did change some things from the original JTTW books + my own interpretation and thoughts. You can find my other posts under the Black Myth Rambling tag
TW: Rape, forced childbirth, suicide
Will be abbreviating some names or calling them by a different name:
Bull King = BK
Princess Rakshasi = Princess Iron Fan
Sun Wukong =SWK
Red Boy = RB
Mount Lingshan = Western Heaven
Celestial Court = Eastern Heaven
Taishang Laojun (the furnace guy) = TSLJ
Keeper of the Flaming Mountain = furnace boy
I will try my best to tell all of this in chronological order to make sense of the timeline. Some events it is not very clear if it happened before or after this and that, so I listed them up in the order that I think it happened.
Some Backstory:
Both the Yaksha Kingdom and Kingdom of Rakshasa were destroyed by Mt. Lingshan
In the past, the Yaksha King was betrayed by the celestial beings, leading to the massacre of the royal family and the downfall of the Yaksha Kingdom. After the kingdom's collapse, the yakshas were forced into exile.
When a formidable enemy attacked, the Yaksha King appointed Mi Yan as the vanguard general. [...] Despite their valor, the Kingdom of Yaksha was ultimately destroyed, but not a single soldier from Mi Yan's army deserted.
Along with the fall of the Yaksha Kingdom, the Rakshasa Kingdom, due to their kinship with the yakshas, also met its end.
- from the entry, we gather that Princess Iron Fan was a princess of the kingdom of Rakshasa beyond the Western sea
- Kingdom fell, they escorted the princess eastwards, and made a new home in the Flaming Mountains. Strongly assuming this all happened before fire rained down to the mountain from the furnace being kicked over by SWK
- Princess Iron Fan is described to have a kind heart
After her eastward migration, Rakshasi had a new Daoist master in the Celestial Court. Practicing Daoism in Buddhism's stead, Rakshasi marked a departure from her past.
also from the Thunder Rhino Journal entry
- he's a bitch and doesn't give a shit about human lives lol
- also hazed Princess Iron Fan
- calling him furnace boy because that was literally his job in heaven lol, fanning the furnace. the same furnace SWK was cooking in for 40 days
- His master is TSLJ, introduces him to Princess Iron Fan. She is his new disciple, but also furnace boy's senior. He calls her 师姐 shī jiě, with jiě meaning 'older sister'.
- which, he is not happy about. and then says well since she is the senior she should be fanning the furnace.
- and Princess Iron Fan being the queen she is, goes alright bet and does her job.
- does NOT tattle on furnace boy. instead asks for a bigger fan because the one the boy gave her is too small.
- and old man gives her hher signature Iron Fan.
- Enter SWK, who springs outta the furnace, and flames fell down to Earth creating the Flaming Mountain.
- Furnace boy is demoted to Keeper of Flaming Mountains
- Iron Fan volunteered to go to mortal realm to help him. what a queen he did not deserve her
- he learns then that the princess already has a cave where she chills and loyal followers (the Sea rakshasa)
- TSLJ arranged the marriage between her and BK
- realizes no matter how many dirty works he does for TSLJ, his master will never think furnace boy is worthy to be with her LOL. even his master knows what a trash he is
- So we know that Princess Iron Fan and BK got married after SWK jumped out of the furnace
Here is a pic of Princess Iron Fan. Ain't putting one of Furnace Boy because he doesn't deserve it
- 2nd phase of the Red Boy final boss battle in chapter 5.
- Journal entry does not talk about the RB though, rather talks about the Red Boy's bio father. yes folk that's right, BK is not his bio dad in BMW
- Mt. Lingshan wages war against the Yaksha Kingdom. Mount Lingshan is where Buddha resides and the final destination of the pilgrims in JTTW to retrieve the scriptures.
- Yaksha King's son, a baby, recently died. Father is still carrying the infant in his arms. The King himself is gravely wounded
- creepy ass dude shows up and is like "yeah I can help you to carry on your royal line and save your son, trust me bro"
"Whether the Yaksha royal lineage continues or ends depends entirely on your decision today." [...]
- they extract the dead baby's soul into a red lotus flower before it could enter the cycle of reincarnation
- They also need the life and the water of child-bearing river in
The figure clapped, and a white-clad Daoist emerged from behind. The Daoist approached the Yaksha King, bowed, then sat cross-legged on the ground. He extended his hands above the boy's head and began to chant softly. Before long, a small, blood-red lotus flower emerged slowly from the boy's forehead, crystal clear and vibrant. The Daoist carefully plucked the lotus and placed it into a bowl he carried.
The Yaksha King fixed his unblinking gaze intently at the lotus.
The figure said, "This red lotus is the essence of your son's soul. To ensure it does not dissipate before successful reincarnation, we will need your life and the water from the River of Childbearing."
- White figure is Furnace Boy and his master is TSLJ. probably also what furnace boy refers to doing his master's dirty work
- This is the same way Red Boy kills himself at the end of chapter 5, thus ending the royal Yaksha lineage
Here is an image of Red Boy
Princess Iron Fan was forced to drink the child-bearing water and give birth to the Red Boy
- The way I understood this scene is that if it wasn't SWK, none of this would have happened, hence I believe they forced her to do it as a punishment for BK and probably to also keep his family in check
- Princess Iron Fan says herself that carrying and giving birth to this child gave her a lot of pain, toppled with the fact that her husband doesn't really look at her anymore and pretends he doesn't know about Red Boy's origin and just overall keeps his distance. They still had a good relationship though as father and son
- She still loved Red Boy very much and raised her like a son
"I ordered you to raise a child, but I did not ask you to be a true mother. Let the boy stir his trouble; as long as you and your husband stay out of it, you will be safe."
- Princess Iron Fan mentions that if the truth about Red Boy's origin gets exposed, the whole family is doomed. so yeah imo that's another thing pointing towards the court trying to control BK
- This is also where Furnace Boy says that when Red Boy grows up, he is the living proof of the genocide that the Mount Lingshan committed ("He will be living proof... of the dark deeds of Mount Lingshan..")
TL;DR Western heaven destroyed the Yaksha and Rakshasa Kingdom, Eastern Heaven swooped in to claim the soul of the last Yaksha royal as blackmail material
- BK has a fox lover, with him he conceives a child too: Pingping. We love Pingping, she has never done anything wrong in her life. We never meet the "real" Pingping in the game rip
- Gang arrives, SWK wants to borrow the Iron Fan to get rid of the fire (his fault they rained down there btw LOL)
- Princess Iron Fan was ready to hand out cause she knows if she doesn't there will be problem
- Bull King cannot decide whose side to pick, which I guess demonstrate his indecision here, and also no choice is still a choice, which in turn turns into a bad one in this case here
- Red Boy says no fuck that you can't have it. gets his ass beaten by monkey, and is then sent to be a disciple under Guanyin along with Black bear guai
- Princess Iron Fan seeing her sweet sweet boy beaten refuses to hand out the fan now, gets attacked by the King.
- The fox mistress is killed by Zhu Bajie
- SWK tells him he should find a master to serve
- BK pissed at how his wife and mistress were treated, lashes out.
- Heavenly Court gets involved in the battle, Nezha subdues BK and beheads BK but don't worry he is not dead
- BK is taken to heaven, converts to buddhism, serves heaven and then returns home
- Pingping lives with Princess Iron Fan
- enter the happy family era
From that day on, the Bull King's temperament changed drastically. His former wild and unrestrained nature was no longer seen. He declined all invitations, ceased his travels, and instead stayed in Flaming Mountains, helping Rakshasi with household affairs and training the bull soldiers, living a very peaceful life.
- red boy then also returns from Guanyin and they live happily together as a family of four for some time being
- The he get summoned by the court to fight against SWK. by that tiem SWK has already attained buddahood, realized it's not for him and went back to Mt Huaguo. The heaven was not happy about that
- SWK warns BK to not absorb the artifact, because that will fuck him up.
- BK swallows the artifact, becomes depressed
- At some point Red Boy also learns the truth about his origin, and demands the BK give him the artifact so he can take revenge on Heaven and avenge his bloodline
- BK refuses
- Red Boy wages war against BK
- he also knocks out Pingping so he can take her form to mess with SWK and get the artifact from BK
and then pretty much everything from Chapter 5 happens, Red Boy's army fighting against BK's Army. BK himself is sitting depressed on the mouintain, injured and looking very skinny. We defeat Red Boy, BK spits out the artifact, Red Boy was not defeated and gets the artifact and aborbs it, turning into the Yaksha King
MEANWHILE our QUEEN Rakshasi tries to get help from her master and Buddha to stop the fight between father and son
- she went to her master TSLJ, who is a dick and said. just let them do whatever, didn't ask you to raise the kid as your own son anyway. You just needed to give birth
- she knows her son well and knows that the only way the siege would end is if he would die
- Then goes to Mt Lingshan, to get revenge, carrying her fan, but she was not able to get revenge and is laughed at by everyone
A booming laughter echoed, deafening. Within that laughter, she heard the cries of an infant, the innocent giggles of a child, the roars of an adolescent, and the cycle of blooming and withering flowers, the growth of grass and the flight of orioles over millennia.
She heard the embers extinguishing in the Flaming Mountains.
- so she senses that her son lost the battle or is close to death, so she rushes back home, like the fantastic mom she is
- You can watch the cutscene here starting at 28:30 - highly recommend watching it to the end
- She is begging DO to spare her son's life, and in return, she and her whole family will go into secluded meditation (exile?) and he can have her fan
- Red Boy, refusing to be shackled and chained again, kills himself the same way the Yaksha King killed himself
- we still get to keep the iron fan LOL
My thoughts and rambling: This whole family story is one fucking tragedy after another. Princess Raskshasi / Iron Fan, who lost her kingdom, moved east and then was used as a pawn by her master. Firstly wed to the Bull King and then forced to give birth to Red Boy - and suffered much pain carrying giving birth to Red Boy. It's never explained why her master set her up to marry the Bull King, but given how everyone in the famils is used as chest pieces, I strongly assume it is also a way to control BK.
Unconfirmed but this is the timeline I pieces together in TL;DR
- SWK jumps out of the furnace
- Princess Iron Fan follows Furnace Boy to the mortal realm. Is set up to marry Bull King
- Bull King aids SWK in fight against the Court
- SWK loses against Buddha of the West, is buried under the mountain
- Princess Iron Fan has to drink the pregnancy water and gives birth to Red Boy
- They used his wife as punishment for his action
While it doesn't sounds like it is a marriage out of love (which, to be fair not a lot of marriages back then were), I do think that both Bull King and Princess Iron greatly cared for each other. I'd say even boldly that Princess Iron Fan cared more LOL because Bull king had a mistress with whom he had a child. It can be argues that because he knows Red Boy is not his, he seek solace in the arms of another woman (and then has another child with her.
Princess Iron Fan has like every reason to turn into an evil stepmother or bitter woman, but she didn't.
Bull king has never made a right choice in his life, according to SWK
- SWK and BK vs the Court
- SWK and the court vs BK
- the court and BK vs SWK
And the Red Boy... last of his lineage and used as a pawn by the court. Also interesting to note that in his design, he looks half "human" half bull, with his lower half being the bull part.
Overall another tragic love story in BMW.
And that's it from me, thank you for reading!
