History Characters / JourneyToTheWest

A character page for ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''. Note that they all qualify as a PublicDomainCharacter. The page has been split, so tropes that applies to characters are sorted into the following:

A character page for ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''. Note that they all qualify as a PublicDomainCharacter.

[[//index]]

[[foldercontrol]]
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!The Pilgrims

[[folder:Sun Wukong/Son Gokuu AKA Monkey]]

* AdaptationalHeroism: The original version of Sun Wukong kills wantonly as soon as he is not within the presence of the Tang monk. For instance, during a period when he was dismissed by the Tang Monk, he wiped out a group of hunters who killed many of his fellow monkeys. Popular adaptations had him sparing the hunters, as well as merely injuring minor antagonists instead of killing them as he did in the original, possibly due to Sanzang's deeds growing on him.
* AlmightyJanitor: Before he finally became a Buddha, his official job in Heaven was a stableboy, until he found out how unimportant the job was (i.e. the ''very'' lowest post in the hierarchy) and stormed off back to earth. As a side-effect, all Earthly horses love and admire him, because they can sense he was once a celestial groom.
* ArrogantKungFuGuy: No matter who you are, he is a better fighter than you and will demonstrate if you say otherwise.
* BerserkButton: One reliable way to piss him off is to call him [[OldShame Protector Of The Horse]].
* BilingualBonus:
** Due to [[Franchise/DragonBall some]] [[Manga/{{Saiyuki}} notable]] [[VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi adaptations]] in Japanese culture, it comes as no surprise that savvy readers of the on'yomi reading know that Sun Wukong is said as "Son Gokuu" in Japanese.
** His title of Qitian Dasheng (Equaling Heaven Great Sage) is said in Japanese as "Seiten Taisei".
* BloodKnight: Occasionally there will be a circumstance that can be resolved peacefully/quickly via sneak attack but he will insist on a proper fight. Can also be seen in his fights. An example is when he was fighting Nezha, notable for being the first opponent comparable to him in power, in which he sends millions of weapons at Wukong, but Wukong simply "roars with laughter".
* BornAsAnAdult: From a stone.
* BreakoutCharacter: Despite Triptaka technically being the protagonist, it's Son Wukong who everyone remembers. It helps that the first 7 chapters are basically all about how Son Wukong became so awesome, with Triptaka only being introduced in the 8th.
* CavalierCompetitor: He approaches everything with the same laid back manner due to the fact that he thinks he can take any challenge on with ease. He's usually right.
** Best seen with the competitions against the three taoist brothers. Cut his head off? He says it wasn't painful at all, just fun. Cut open his stomach? Good chance to check over all his entrails. Take a dip in boiling oil? Hasn't had a bath in a while! The opponents are all cheating? Just cheat the cheaters. But when Bajie causes him to lose one of the competitions, he gets pissed, and is willing to take it out on anyone he holds responsible.
* CharacterDevelopment: ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' is as much about Son Wukong learning the value of kindness, humility and compassion as it is about him kicking demon-ass.
* ChasteHero: He was never interested in that type of things, even when he was a demon. Though he does flirt with the Iron Fan Princess (while disguised as her husband) and later pretends to be a harmless boy to lure a blood-sucking demoness, he always stops before going all the way through.
* CompleteImmortality: He used ''five different methods of obtaining immortality''. As a result, not only is he TheAgeless, but his body has been toughened to be nearly indestructible, and even if his body were to somehow be damaged, he feels little to no pain, can live without a head, and can grow a new one on the spot. Even if his soul is ripped from his body, it can still fight by itself and find a way to reunite with his body. His immortality is so perfect, that not even the special furnace made by the gods that was created for the purpose of being able to kill even gods and immortals could destroy him.
* DependingOnTheWriter: He ranges from a fully fledged ByronicHero without a decent bone in his body to a bad-tempered JerkWithAHeartOfGold who only needed love and patience to truly grow up.
* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: A majority of his abilities come from decades of strenuous training and meticulous study. Unfortunately, they weren't necessarily packaged with wisdom.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Just after meeting the monk, Sun Wukong pretty effectively demonstrates his character when he beats a tiger's head in so hard that it [[YourHeadASplode literally explodes]]. "One strike caused its brain to burst out like ten thousand red petals of peach blossoms, and the teeth to fly out like so many pieces of white jade." Tripitaka [[OhCrap does not]] [[RapidFireNailBiting react well]].
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: The Handsome King of the Monkeys!
* ExactWords: He doesn't like following Sanzang's orders so he gets around them with this trope. For example, Sanzang said [[ThouShallNotKill "Never kill anyone."]] So when a group of greedy monks tried to kill them both to steal Sanzang's cossack, Monkey didn't kill them. Instead he fanned the flames of the fire they started to ensure their monastery burned down.
* FolkHero: In real life for bringing back Buddhist scriptures.
* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Monkey will sometimes forget about certain powers he has when said power would too quickly solve the current dilemma. His power to copy is the one most often not used, but one time he failed to see through a demon's disguise despite being able to see through disguises both before and after. This is presumably a result of the story being a compilation of various folk tales written over the course of several centuries, with the various authors adding or forgetting about certain powers along the way.
* GoodIsNotNice: While he's supposed to be a devout Buddhist, he's still a jerk (which may or may not fuel some funny moments at best).
* HairTriggerTemper: It doesn't take much to set him off and there's a hubris to match.
* TheHero: [[ValuesDissonance For a given value of "hero"]] but he is the star of the work and the one doing the heavy lifting plot wise. He also becomes more heroic as the Journey continues, and even at the start of the story, he is motivated by concern for his monkey subjects.
* HeroicComedicSociopath: His (often mean-spirited) pranks are played for laughs.
* HotBlooded: He has little patience and loves to dive head long in action.
* {{Hypocrite}}: At one point, he revives a dead king, who has long since lost his kingdom to an evil spirit. Said king doesn't believe he's worthy of ruling anymore, and offers the throne to Wukong. Wukong proceeds to state that he would never want to be a king...this in spite of the fact that the first thing he ever does whenever he leaves the journey is to go back to his mountain and rule as king.
* IHaveManyNames: In order they are: Stone Monkey, Handsome Monkey King, Protector of the Horse, Equaling Heaven Great Sage, Sun Wukong (Monkey Who Realizes Emptiness), Buddha Victorious In Battle.
* ImmortalitySeeker: He originally left the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit to become immortal.
* ImmortalityInducer: Has partaken multiple divine fruits and liquors when just one would grant this. Such then even Heaven's method of removing said immortality doesn't work.
* ItAmusedMe: Half his actions are for his own amusement. The other half is bailing the group out of trouble.
* JerkassGods: He is one, being quite arrogant in his behavior and a show-off with his powers. He also showcases just how the other gods in heaven can be rather mean, too.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: After much ''much'' character development he becomes a heroic character that is kind of a dick sometimes.
* LivingForeverIsAwesome: Back when he was mortal [[ImmortalitySeeker he sought out immortality]] and only regretted it once; when he was trapped under that mountain.
* ManiacMonkeys: Before being sealed away, he tried to take over Heaven and had the power of a PhysicalGod.
* ManlyTears: Sheds them for the first time after Tripitaka forgives him and takes him back in (the first time), and with some surprising-regularity later on when he gains a sense of compassion.
* MonkeyKingLite: The progenitor. He has everything from serious homages (Goku from ''Franchise/DragonBall''; who even has the same exact name as him) to parodies (a play during ''Manga/LoveHina'').
* MorphicResonance: Wukong can use Taoist arts to perfectly change into many different animals — but if he tries to become a human, he can only change his ''head'' and must conceal his monkey body.
* {{Munchkin}}: In the first seven chapters all his actions are about gaining things for himself: the most powers, the best weapon, the best armor, the greatest title, etc.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Monkey has a tendency to suddenly reveal often one-off powers or abilities without previous mention that conveniently solve the current problem. [[LampshadeHanging Lampeshaded a couple of times]] when his companions will express surprise and mention how in all the years they have been traveling together he never mentioned said power or skill.
* NighInvulnerable: Even demonic weapons wield by powerful monsters bend and crack on his head after hitting him.
* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Monkey is only interested in joining the pilgrimage in the first place because it was join, or stay under the mountain for the rest of eternity. Afterwards, he comes along only in hopes of getting the [[RestrainingBolt Circlet of Headaches]] off his head. Eventually he comes to ''genuinely'' care about Tang Sanzang as a father figure that he loves and respects.
* NumberTwo: The first disciple is the senior disciple which means he has authority over Pigsy and Sandy.
* OneManArmy: In the first part of the story, Monkey takes on the entire military force of Heaven. He wins singlehandedly.
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Due to wounded ego and bruised pride more than anything; life on earth was pretty sweet for him, he just got so arrogant he thought he should be a god as well.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: He has red-colored eyes since that little sojourn inside Lao Zi's kiln.
* RememberWhenYouBlewUpASun: He likes reminding people that he trashed Heaven.
* RestrainingBolt: To be able to control him, Tripitaka tricked Monkey into putting on a magical headband so that he could cause Monkey intense headaches whenever he got up to mischief.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: He's the handsome king of the monkeys, but that doesn't stop him from kicking copious amounts of butt. In fact, it's his subjects that tend not to do anything rather than the other way around.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Often uses his supernatural contacts to bail the group of trouble but just as often the trope is inverted: the person in question won't help the group ''because'' they know him.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveSuperNaturalPowers: The Jade Emperor, ''Ruler of Heaven'', will relax any kind of rule concerning him because of his tremendous power.
* SimpleStaff: The As-You-Will crudel but Monkey's is by no means simple. Not only can it hit hard enough to take down gods, but it can extend to any length (from toothpick size to several hundred miles long) and provide Monkey with a bridge to heaven.
* SmallNameBigEgo: At first when he was a mere monkey king that called himself "Great Sage Equalling Heaven". Skip 500 years and his reputation has ''caught up with his ego'' and lesser gods voluntarily call him "Great Sage".
* SmugSuper: Monkey is incredibly powerful, and unbelievably full of himself as a result.
* SingleSpecimenSpecies: The one and only specimen of Stone Monkey.
* StockSuperPowers: His sheer variety of powers and the feats he can do as a result.
** DetectEvil: His aforementioned eyes (the Gold Pupil Fire Eyes) can detect any source of evil, no matter the disguise. Handy against several of the demons he and the group encounter on their journey west.
** SuperStrength: His trademark Compliant Staff is really freakin' heavy, yet he said all other weapons were "too light".
** NotQuiteFlight: His cloud jumping allows him to reach Heaven InASingleBound or cross an ocean. Though he is capable of actual {{flight}} as well.
** NighInvulnerable: The reason the Buddha dropped a mountain on him is because the gods failed in outright destroying him.
** SelfDuplication: One of Monkey's signature moves has him pulling out a bunch of his hairs and blowing on them, resulting in each hair turning into a clone of him.
** EnlightenmentSuperPower: His magic comes from studying taoism and learning secrets from his master.
** VoluntaryShapeshifting: Allegedly 72 transformations, but in actual fact he can transform into whatever he likes.
** MindOverMatter: He is capable of telekinesis, and can make seemingly inanimate objects come to life.
* RedemptionDemotion: As the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, he was an unstoppable, invincible agent of mayhem who ran rings around Heaven's mightiest heroes and wrecked all their schemes to contain him through sheer bloody-mindedness. As the pilgrim Sun Wukong, he meets his match against evil demons on a regular basis and often needs to do some lateral thinking to beat them.
* TelescopingStaff: His Compliant Staff is both the [[TropeMakers original]], the [[TropeCodifier most famous]], and one of the most extreme examples. He likes to shrink it to the size of a needle and store it in his ear when he's not bashing people's brains in with it.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Peaches. Pig snarks that he's "very skilled" when it comes to eating peaches.
* TrueSight: He can see through any disguise, illusion, or transformation.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Was originally an earnest, if mischievous, monkey who genuinely wanted to better himself and the lives of his people until he grew increasingly mad and egotistical with each new addition to his powers.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Pigsy. He's like the elder brother that gives the younger a wedgie and then a hug.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: 72 Earthly ones due to his EnlightenmentSuperPower.
* WeaksauceWeakness:
** Despite being almost almighty on earth or air, he sucks at underwater battles, and is forced to rely on Pigsy and Sandy to fight against water-bound enemies.
** The magical eyes he gains after being locked in Lao Zi's crucible make him vulnerable to smoke.
* WouldHitAGirl: He threatens and even fights female demons, he rarely kills them (except for Gold Horn and Silver Horn's mother), and during the Spider Women act he refuses to attack the seven unarmed demonesses as his role as a BloodKnight prefers a proper fight.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Xuanzang Sanzang/Genjou Sanzou, Tang Sanzang/Tou Sanzou or Sanzang Fashi/Sanzou Houshi AKA Tripitaka]]

* ActualPacifist: Being a super-dedicated monk, he refuses to fight; this is generally the case in adaptations as well, but there are exceptions (see AdaptationalBadass below).
* AdaptationalBadass: A small number of incarnations of himself via some of the adaptations show him to engage in combat in some form of another (especially in a small amount of video games with him being playable). Being in [[MartialPacifist that he can't really kill with his way of fighting]], it fits him very well and doesn't make him any less badass.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Popular adaptations, especially the 1996 and 2002 Hong Kong adaptations, portrayed him as a wise and merciful master and downplayed his naiveness and hypocrisy; a reversal from his original portrayal in the novel.
* AdaptationalWimp: There are stories of the historical event that pre-dates ''Journey to the West'' and in these stories he is much more competent. His weakness here is to better show off Wukong.
* TheAtoner: It's not brought up often but he's atoning for something in his previous life as the Golden Cicada, one of the Buddha's disciples. He disagreed with Buddha (or at least ignored his teachings) and so he was demoted to a lesser soul and reborn in China.
* BilingualBonus: Many of these due to his many titles....from Chinese pinyin to Japanese on'yomi:
** Xuanzang Sanzang = Genjou Sanzou
** Tang Sanzang = Tou Sanzou
** Sanzang Fashi = Sanzou Houshi
* {{Bishonen}}: His beauty is frequently commented on, and he's generally portrayed by women in stage productions.
* CelibateHero: Despite women lining up to have sex with him he staunchly refuses because he's a monk.
* ChickMagnet: Every female they encounter, whether human or demon, desires him. The only exception is Guanyin.
* CowardlyLion: Despite all his moaning and crying, he never considers giving up on his journey.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: His father was murdered by a bandit and his mother taken away while pregnant with him. After giving birth to Xuanzang, she put him in a basket and floated it down a river so the bandit can't find him. Luckily, a monk rescue him and he was raised in his temple. He did get revenge later and reunited with his mother. Then his mother hanged herself out of shame.
* DecoyProtagonist: Possibly the oldest extant example. His primary purpose is to be kidnapped every two minutes so Sun Wukong can get all badass while rescuing him.
* {{Determinator}}: Fourteen years of constant travel through demonic areas to fetch the scriptures despite many incentives to stop.
* DistressedDude: He is captured in most of the arcs concerning the Journey. Not only a pacifist but completely untrained in magic or fighting, thus he cannot defend himself.
* TheFace: He does all the talking with {{muggles}} etc. because he is a courteous monk and his companions are scary-looking (and in Wukong and Bajie's cases, very rude and more so for the former) demons.
* GentlemanAndAScholar: He is the most knowledgeable Buddhist scholar in all of China, accomplished poet and well-versed in court-etiquette.
* HistoricalDowngrade: In some ways the historical [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanzang Xuanzang]] is more impressive than his fictional counterpart. Sure, he didn't have any supernatural allies or enemies, but ''he defied a travel ban by the Emperor'' in order to go to India. He also decided to go to India on his own, because he thought the then-current translations of Buddhist scripture were poor and wanted to look at the Sanskrit originals.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: The reason why he was sent on the pilgrimage in the first place...but also the reason why he gets into so much trouble, as A: he's too "pure" to resist even the most obvious deceptions or traps when they are framed as helping someone, and B: his purity draws swarms of monsters that hope to consume that purity and increase their own power.
* TheLeader: He's ''supposed'' to be this (Charismatic type to be exact) but he spends too much time kidnapped to do any real leading. They rarely listen to him anyways.
* TheLoad: Tripitaka not only constantly gets into trouble, he frequently diverts his disciples from their quest to pursue other minor goals, refuses to heed their advice, and [[TheMillstone places restrictions on their actions that make them harder pressed to go about their tasks.]] He also has absolutely no skills at all that let him contribute anything of worth when they get in trouble.
* NiceGuy: He's the picture of Buddhist values and is thus completely selfless and courteous.
* NotDistractedByTheSexy: No woman, be she human or demon, can arouse him. No matter how beautiful or willing she may be, she cannot distract him from his mission.
* NonActionGuy: He prays and preaches. That's about it.
* StupidGood: Tripitaka takes "goodness" to levels of life-threatening stupidity on more than one occasion. His disciples call him on this often, but he never listens to them.
* SupernaturallyDeliciousAndNutritious: Literally, as he's so infused with holy power that eating even a single bite of his flesh will extend a demon's lifespan. Female demons find him sexually attractive as well.
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: He can sit perfectly still for up to three years and he's very proud of this fact. It only came in handy that one time the group was challenged to a meditation duel.
* ThouShallNotKill: Being a buddhist monk, one of his vows is not killing anything ''ever''. His companions think this is ridiculous. It's either out of his belief itself or fear of laws.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Zhu Wuneng/Cho Go'nou or Zhu Bajie/Cho Hakkai AKA Pigsy]]

* AdaptationalHeroism: Kind of. The original Pigsy was originally a demon who [[ToServeMan eats humans]] just like Sandy did. Popular adaptations tend to omit this detail.
* {{Adorkable}}: [[DependingOnTheWriter Depends on the Writer]]; he be either endearing or a jerk.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: At one point, the group's path is blocked by a huge mountain of rotten fruit. His solution? Turning into a colossal pig and eating the way through the thing. In the same chapter he also explains that he excels at transforming into "large" forms, but his appetite grows with his size.
* BigEater: When the quest is over, the [[GluttonousPig still-too-crude Pigsy]] is offered the existence as a lesser god; "Cleaner of the Heavenly Altar", which means eating all of the food that is offered to Buddha for the rest of time. He thinks this is the best job ever, though apparently becoming a lesser god somehow lessened his gigantic appetite.
* BilingualBonus: His names from Chinese pinyin to Japanese on'yomi:
** Zhu Bajie = Cho Hakkai
** Zhu Wuneng = Cho Go'nou
** Marshall Tianpeng = Marshall Tenpou (His name during his time in heaven)
* ButtMonkey: Other demons often think of making hams out of him, and Sun Wukong loves to prank him.
* CasanovaWannabe: Pigsy really likes the ladies -- in fact, he was thrown out of heaven for trying to make off with a celestial maiden -- but his efforts at wooing them are poor to say the least. Some adaptations of him seem to also give him a more romantic approach on things.
* CarpetOfVirility: His name as a wild monster is Zhu Ganglie (Strong-Maned Pig), suggesting a boar-like appearence. Averted in most depictions where he's more pig-like and thus hairless.
* EarlyBirdCameo: In the novel both he and Sha Wujing are met by Guanyin earlier and informed of Tripitaka.
* ElementalPowers: He claims that his rake can summon [[PlayingWithFire flames]] when hold upward and [[BlowYouAway gusts of wind]] when swung down. At one point he also turns himself in cold light-beams to run away from Sun Wukong.
* ExtremeOmnivore: Rice, noodles, dough, rotten fruit, people... anything will do.
* FatBestFriend: To Monkey. Their banter is the meat of the various formula plots.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: {{Justified}}, his weapon is a muckrack one would normally use for working the fields, but was created from special metal and numerous gods for the purpose of being a weapon.
* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: Has the tendency to be much bolder around weakened or defeated opponents. He even hits the corpse of an enemy Sun Wukong just brought in.
* TheLancer: He's the second disciple, the most likely to fight next to Monkey, and is lazy.
* LovableCoward: He'll often run away from powerful enemies. Sometimes, the only reason he can't beat his current opponent is that he gets too scared to keep on fighting.
* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Pigsy just wants to go back to Heaven, he doesn't care about the scriptures at all. Being turned into something more attractive than his current humanoid pig-monster shape would also be nice. Like Wukong, he comes to genuinely care about Tripitaka as a surrogate father, maybe even moreso due to his immature nature.
* PigMan: This is part of his punishment; he was better looking back in Heaven.
* PungeonMaster: He tends to indulge in silly and childish humor now and then. Best
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Monkey. They constantly give each other grief on the journey but are still fellow buddhists.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Unlike Monkey, he can only perform 36 transformations, but he mentions that he's really good at turning into "large" things, ranging from elephants to hills.
* WarriorPoet: In some adaptations of his portrayal, especially due to his life in the human realm, as a pig or not he's said to be VERY poetic (the 1996 and 1998 Hong Kong adaptations show this off too well). Must be due to him despite being a bit of a casanova he also has quite a few romantic thoughts, possibly tying into his tragic time in heaven.
* WeaponOfChoice: [[GardeningVarietyWeapon A steel nine-toothed rake (Jiuchidingpa)]], which is a precious, deadly weapon, [[BerserkButton and don't try to suggest otherwise]]. The first time he uses it against Sun Wukong, he gets an entire poem describing how the rake was forged and how powerful it is.
* TheWorfEffect: When first introduced, Pigsy battles better against Monkey than many of the gods did during Monkey's war against heaven. Later on, he's usually swiftly beaten so that Monkey can then beat the creature who beat up Pigsy. In his defense, he can often fight several demons on equal ground, but they either run away or call for help.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sha Wujing/Sha Gojou AKA Sandy]]

* TheAtoner: Though all three disciples are nominally working for their atonement, Sandy seems to be the only one who actually cares about making himself a better person.
* BerserkButton: Normally rather pacific and calm, he becomes furious upon seeing his identical look-alike among the fellowship of the Fake Sun Wukong and immediately cuts him down.
* TheBigGuy: Though often mistakenly portrayed as a {{Kappa}}, the original source material depicts Sandy as a kind of river-dwelling {{Oni}}. In either case, he's the tallest of the disciples, though he's much more the thoughtful type than the bruiser type.
* BilingualBonus: His name in Japanese on'yomi is said as "Sha Gojou". His title during his previous time in heaven was the Juanlian Dajiang/Kenren Taishou (Rolling Curtain Great General). [[SpellMyNameWithAnS However, the conflicts with the Japanese writing systems caused the "jing/jou" character to be written quite often with different hanzi/kanji used.]]
* BladeOnAStick: His weapon of choice is the famous monk spade/moon fang spade, sometimes depicted as a simple crescent-blade on a stick, but this is truer for later adaptations. In the original text it's a [[CarryABigStick jewel-adorned staff]] known as the [[NamedWeapons Zhangyaobaozhang]] (Monster-subduing Precious Rod). A possible explanation is that the Monk Spade is also known as "Zen Rod" (chanzhang).
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: His appearance in modern productions is incredibly inconsistent, so most dress him in blue or green to identify him.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Compared to the antics of Sun Wukong (causing havoc anywhere he goes, with trashing Heaven a la [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin Stone Cold Steve Austin]] being the final straw for Buddha) and Zhu Bajie (making inappropriate sexual advances towards the Moon Goddess) which landed them their punishment, Sha Wujing was banished from heaven and transfigured into a demon simply because ''he accidentally broke a precious crystal goblet belonging to the Queen Mother of the West.''
* EarlyBirdCameo: In the novel both he and Zhu Bajie are met by Guanyin earlier and informed of Tripitaka.
* GeniusBruiser: Comes off as this depending on the adaptations. He was this in the original book as well, likely to make up for his lack of stronger powers.
* GentleGiant: Described as the tallest and biggest of the three disciples, he's also the less troublesome and the one who's genuinely looking for redemption.
* IdiotBall: Shares this with Sanzang at times as well as with Bajie, often causing Wukong to bail them out of tough situations; though the 1996 and 1998 Hong Kong adaptations drive the point home in that he literally TookALevelInDumbass as a part of his divine punishment.
* MakingASplash: In some adaptations of him he has water powers, especially if he's playable in a video game.
* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Sandy just wants to be let back into heaven but just like his two elder "brothers", he comes to care for Tang Sanzang too, though more as a friend rather than a father-figure.
* OnlySaneMan: Compared to the compassionate-to-fault Tang Sanzang, mischievous trickster Monkey and the obtuse glutton Pigsy, Sandy comes off as more reasonable. To the point that when Sun Wukong is sent away after the Lady White Bones accident, he specifically asks Sandy to watch over Xuanzang while he's away.
* OutOfFocus: Sandy is usually a secondary character in all the stories, usually because he's tasked by Sun Wukong to protect Tripitaka during battles.
* TheQuietOne: Sandy rarely has much to say, but is often the most practical and philosophical of the group.
* ToServeMan: He ate people during his days as a demon.
* SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset: Wears a macabre rosary made from the skulls of some holymen he killed and ate during his retinue as a monster. Since these skulls floated on the water, he decided to make them into a rosary to entertain himself.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Has this, but rarely uses it. Justified, as he states that he only knows 18 transformations compared to Monkey and Pigsy.
* TheWorfEffect: When he first appeared, he was good enough to fight Pigsy to a draw. Later on, he's described as the weakest of the three. The only times where he defeats a named demon in combat is because it is either a clone in disguise or he's helped by Sun Wukong.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Yu Lung/The Dragon-Horse]]

* TheAtoner: Unlike Pigsy and Sandy, he was punished for a serious reason (namely, he rebelled against his father and burnt his sacred treasures).
* AttractiveBentGender: At one point he turns into a beautiful, big-breasted woman to slay a demon who already took out Sandy and Pigsy. [[NonActionGuy alas, he fails]].
* DistractedByTheSexy: Invokes this on the half-drunk Yellow Robed Monster by turning into a woman to distract him with servings of wine and a sexy dance before stealing his sword and using it against him. Unfortunately, the Monster is more than a match for him and the Horse is injured as a result.
* OutOfFocus: Even the original author seems to forget he exists more often than not. Yu Lung's big character moment is when he first appears and eats Tripitaka's horse, then has to turn into a replacement horse. After that, he's in the background until they reach the end of the Journey and he can turn back into a dragon and fly off home. This turned out very badly for him. Wiki/TheOtherWiki calls him "the horse" or "the dragon prince", insists there are four main characters, and didn't have a page on him until quite recently (and even then, he's only referred over there as the "White Dragon Horse"). ''Series/NinjaSentaiKakuranger'' claims that there are four main characters, and that their fifth is a totally original creation. Most local theatre productions of the story leave him out entirely.
* SolidGoldPoop: As he states, his urine alone is so special that if a single drop falls in a river all the fishes inside will turn into dragons, and could turn even the most common grass into a miracolous mushroom.
* TeamPet: The role he's often relegated to; the horse. He does, however, takes matters in his own hands (or at least tries to) when Tripitaka's in danger and all the disciples are out of commission.
[[/folder]]

!Gods and Immortals

[[folder:The Bodhisattva Guan'yin/Kannon]]
Buddha's right-hand woman, she is tasked with assembling the pilgrims and protecting them should the need arise. For some reason, despite being an enlightened spirit, she is quite concerned with her look, in one episode Pigsy and Sandy are surprised that Monkey managed to drag her out without makeup to catch a demon.
* AngelUnaware: ''Bodhisattva'' Unaware. She does this to find out which monk is pious enough to obtain the scripts. It's not the last time she does this.
* BerserkButton: She maintains a perfect calm at almost all times... but goes ''ballistic'' when Wukong informs her that Red Boy transformed into ''her.'' When she catches up with him, he ends up with [[GroinAttack one of the most painful punishments]] in the story.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: She is very attractive and firmly on the good side.
* GoldAndWhiteAreDivine: It emphasizes her purity.
* TheMentor: Becomes one to Red Boy after his HeelFaceTurn and is the one who teaches him to become a benevolent Buddhist.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: A major religious figure who often acts to calm down and peacefully resolve situations.
* TeamMom: Always ready to advise or help Monkey when he's in pinch.
* UnkemptBeauty: During the Spiritual Touch King arc, When Sun Wukong comes to her island and finds her in her "gardening clothes", without make up nor showy clothes and with her hair unkempt. The poetry for this section is no less flattering than any other about her.
* YouAreFat: Wukong basically calls her a fat ass when he sees the Red Boy sitting on her Lotus Throne. He gets away with it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Subhuti]]
Sun Wukong's first master, who gave him his name, taught him 72 transformation art and 108-li sommersault.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Monkey demonstrated his shape-shifting skill to his classmate. Subhuti punished him by expelling him from his monastery and forbade Monkey to mention his name or ever return to his mountain. It's actually to set Monkey on the path to become Xuanzang's guardian.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: His name is the same as the 10th disciple of Buddha, the previous incarnation of Xuanzang. It's heavily implied that he knew Monkey's destiny from the beginning and prepared him accordingly.
* OldMaster: Like most Taoist sages.
* SecretTest: He offered Monkey various training methods but he refused because they didn't give him immortality. Faking disappointment, he chastised Monkey, hit him on the head three times then left the hall using the backdoor. The other disciples understandably ridiculed Monkey for being bone-headed but only Monkey understood the hidden message: If he wanted to learn the cool stuff, came at midnight (three strikes means "time three" which is midnight in ancient Chinese way of measuring hours in a day) using the backdoor.
* TricksterMentor: He taught Monkey awesome superpowers but never bothered to teach him morality or humility. It's possible that he left the last part for Xuanzang to fulfill.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Jade Emperor]]
The supreme ruler of Heaven.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Fond of handing these out to even minor violations of the law requiring him to be talked into being more lenient by others.
* InformedAbility: The Jade Emperor is praised as the perfect ruler of heave and Earth due to spending eons spiritually developing himself and have "infinite wisdom." In the novel he tends to misjudge situations, make stupid decisions, and be clueless as to what to do if anything serious actually happens. He refused to investigate Monkey's birth despite all the miraculous signs and constantly mishandled the situations with him throughout the whole novel.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: His go to punishment for most crimes.
* TopGod: Ruler of heaven and every single god.
* TakeThat: His portrayal as an incompetent and not-so almighty ruler is another jab at Taoism found in this book.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lao Zi/Daode Tianzun]]
Founder of Taoism and one of Heaven's highest authorities. Made a lot of cool stuffs, which includes Monkey's staff.
* AbsentMindedProfessor: His students and pet both end up demons, and in at least the second case, he's none the wiser.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: His personal mount (who escapes to become the One-Horned Demon King) is a massive azure bull with a broken horn.
* RingsOfDeath: His Vajra Ring (big enough to serve as a bracelet), which he threw at Monkey during his duel against Erlang. Later the Ring is used by the One Horned Great King to disarm Monkey and defeat anything he threw at him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Taibai Jinxing, the Great White Planet]]
The messenger of Jade Emperor, in charge of disseminating his decrees and welcoming new gods and sages to Heaven's bureaucracy.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of the planet Venus
* TheConsigliere: To the Jade Emperor as his chief minister.
* NiceGuy: One of the nicest gods, especially in his treatment of Monkey. In return, he's the only god besides Guan Yin that Monkey respects.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Chief minister to the Jade Emperor and often the one who proposes a more conciliatory approach or lenient punishments besides death.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Erlang Shen/Nirou Shin]]
Jade Emperor's nephew and Heaven's trump card against Sun Wukong.
* EleventhHourRanger: He and his brothers became this during the Jiutochong (The Nine Headed Monster) arc. Basically, they had just returned from a hunting trip and were passing through when Monkey had requested his help. It was a good thing they had accepted, as Monkey and Pigsy were down on their luck by the time they passed.
** DeathbyAdaptation: Inverted. In the 1986 TV show, Erlang lands the killing blow onto the Nine Headed Monster instead of the latter running away.
* CanineCompanion: Has a dog named Xiaotianquan/Shoutenken (Howling Heaven Dog). In some adaptations like the 1996 and 1998 dramas, he even has a human form where he can speak and think for himself.
* DivineParentage: Started out as a demigod on [[HalfHumanHybrid his mother's side.]]
* FireForgedFriends: Becomes this with Monkey during the afore-mentioned Nine Headed Monster arc. Initially Monkey was hesitant into asking for his help as Erlang had defeated him 500 years ago, but Erlang at this point has no more animosity toward Monkey, being pleased that the latter has chose to redeem himself.
* GeniusBruiser: He's not only strong enough to fight Sun Wukong to a draw, but he can also see through all his transformations and even match him in that game as well.
* TheHermit: Rarely has anything to do with Heaven, instead living in the mountains of Earth.
* MommasBoy:
** His backstory includes freeing his mother after she was imprisoned under a mountain for eloping with his father.
** It becomes a bit more delved into in the 1998 adaptation and he even [[BroughtDownToNormal gives up all of his powers for a while]] just for her to be spared.
* ProngsOfPoseidon: His weapon is an edged trident.
* SizeShifter: Turn himself into a colossal, fanged giant to scare Sun Wukong and his army.
* ThirdEye: He's also famous for having a third eye on his forehead, which can be used to see through all sorts of things, especially lies and deceptions.
* UnusualEars: Being an immortal, his lobes reach his shoulders.
* WeaksauceWeakness: There's a particular buzzard that he won't touch or even get close to.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Li Jing/Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King]]
Leader of Heaven's military forces.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: His title. The pagoda part is real: It's a magical artifact used to subdue Nezha back when he was still a rowdy demon.
* BadassFamily: His family members hold important positions in Heavenly Court: His eldest son Jinzha (who doesn't appear in the story) is Buddha's disciple, His second son Muzha is Guanyin's disciple, his third son Nezha is one of Heaven's top generals. He also has an adopted daughter who turns evil and kidnap Xuanzang.
* HotBlooded: Lose his cool very easily.
* GeneralFailure: Everytime he showed up he got whipped by whatever threat of the day was.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Lianhua Santaizi Nezha/Renka Santaishi Nata]]
Third son of Li Jing, one of Heaven's top generals.
* BadassAdorable: A little boy who happens to in charge of subduing demons. He even fought Wukong to a standstill for up to three days.
* BilingualBonus: His name in Japanese on'yomi is "Nata" or "Nataku".
* BladeOnAStick: His main weapon is his signature Fire-Tipped spear. It was said to be a normal spear before he even touched it himself.
* CanonImmigrant: He originally was from his own novel and from one of Taigong Wang's stories. This adaptation of him is one of the detailings after his own story.
* ClothingCombat: Has his Turbid Heaven Twill AKA Red Armillary Sash, which is a red sash that can reach quite far and is very sturdy.
* TheDandy: Wears lotus blossom decorations, despite being a boy.
* MadeOfIron: Got hit squarely in the shoulder by Sun Wukong's staff (which usually one-hit-smashes anything that gets hit) and survives, albeit with a broken shouklder.
* MultipleHeadCase: As well as an arm case; Nezha is also popular for being able to grow two extra heads, each with their own pair of arms and their own spears.
* PlayingWithFire: He's often quite fire-themed in his attacks.
* RedBaron:
** His title also literally translates to "Lotus Flower Third Crown Prince".
** He also is known as the "Mid-Podium Field Marshall".
* RingsOfDeath: Has two-three in the form of his Universe Circle and Wind-Fire Rings. The latter he rides on with his feet. He also uses them to finally defeat the Bull Demon King.
* StormOfBlades: Does this on multiple occasions. Takes his six weapons in his three headed, six armed form, and then multiplies them...numbering in the thousands, where he then proceeds to rain them down upon the enemy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dragon Kings]]
Four Dragon Kings in charge of the four oceans in Chinese cosmology. They are:
* Ao Guang: The Azure Dragon, in charge of the East Sea.
* Ao Qin: The Red Dragon, in charge of the South Sea.
+ Ao Shun: The Black Dragon, in charge of the North Sea.
* Ao Ji: The White Dragon, in charge of the West Sea.
!! Tropes associated with Dragon Kings
* AnIcePerson: By virtue of his arctic residence, the North Dragon King has the power to become an ice dragon
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Of the Chinese variety. They're embodiment of rain, fertility and wisdom, the wisdom part is questionable, though. They can take full dragon form or the human-like form with human body and dragon head.
* ChewToy: Starts off being terrorized by Monkey in search of armor and weapons, later end up being at Monkey's beck and call. Their brother-in-law also gets executed
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The Dragon King's colours correspond with the four seasons: blue is spring, red is summer, white is autumn and black is winter.
* IHaveNoSon: For his crime of setting fire to the throne room, Yu Long's father disowns and reports him to the Heavenly Authorities.
* MakingASplash: The four of them rule the seas and act as rain deities.
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Their offspring are dragons just like them.
* TeamDad: Even though Monkey never gives him the proper respect, the East Dragon King plays mentor to Monkey on at least one occasion
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Prince Mo-ang]]
White Dragon King's crown prince. A pretty chill guy.
* ADayInTheLimelight: His fight scence with Kid Croc in the 2000 TV series (the sort-of sequel to the famous 1986 TV series) is quite good.
* CainAndAbel: With his cousin, Kid Croc. Oddly, he and his actual brother Yu Long never interact.
* MeaningfulName: His name is a corruption of "Makara" or "Capricorn".
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Crown Prince of the Western Sea, helps out Monkey a few times.
* SiblingYinYang: A responsible and intelligent older brother, and a repentant arsonist younger brother.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spirits of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions]]
Twenty eight star spirits who usually act as Heaven's EliteMooks.
* AnimalMetaphor: Each of them have a different one.
* AnimalStereotypes: Averted. The one star who does lose himself enough to eat an enemy happens to be a moose spirit.(In some translation though he was a jackal spirit, making the thing more believable)
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of the twenty-eight Chinese Lunar Mansions. They're a weird case, since their true forms are actually shape-shifting animals
* BossInMookClothing: The Wolf Spirit, after he turned evil, managed to kick both Pigsy and Sandy and Yu Long's asses. Sandy and Pigsy used to be Heaven's military commanders.
* ElementalPowers: Invoked. They're divided into the five Chinese elements plus sun and moon, with four stars to each element. The only group that specifically gets a reference to their elements are the Four Heavenly Wood Star Spirits.
* HornedHumanoid: The god of the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Horn mansion]] has a big horn right on his face. It later comes in handy getting Monkey out of a pinch.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler: The Wood Spirit of the Legs became the Yellow Robed Demon to have an affair with a celestial maiden on earth. See below for more detail.]]
* MyInstinctsAreShowing: Since they're originally animal spirits, they ''will'' eat their opponents if they lose control of their instincts. One of the rhino demons was unfortunate enough to experience that.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Buddha]]
Founder of Buddhism, basically God with a capital G.
* TheAce: Even compared to other Bodhisatvas, Buddha is on a whole other level.
* AlwaysABiggerFish: Compared to Sun Wukong.
* CrossoverCosmology: If the presence of Guan'yin above didn't clarify it, his presence makes it absolutely clear that both Buddhism and Taoism are real.
* GeniusLoci: He became one with the universe. This isn’t an exaggeration.
* GodzillaThreshold: The Jade Emperor would not have called on him to deal with Wukong if he had any other options.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: ''Religious'' domain character, but he's ''the'' Siddharta Gautama, the founder of buddhism.
* TheOmnipotent: The guy can do whatever he wants, but prefer subtle guidance over brute force.
[[/folder]]

!Demons

[[folder:The Demon King of the Confused World/Hunshi Mowang]]

* {{BFS}}: His giant Dao, which Sun Wukong inherits and later barters for the Magic Staff.
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: He wears black gold. Of course he's a villain.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Sun Wukong bifurcates him with his own sword.
* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: Seeing that his opponent is unarmed, he decides to face him in a unarmed fight. However, as he starts losing, he decides to use his giant sword instead.
* MonstrousHumanoid: He's a black-clad gigantic ogre of a man, but unlike other demons met later, it's not revealed if he was an animal turned monster like them or something similar.
* OffWithHisHead: Gets beheaded after being rushed and beaten by Sun Wukong's clones.
* SoreLoser: Challenges Sun Wukong to a barehanded fight, claiming that it would be dishonorable to use his sword against a weaponless enemy. When it's clear that the Monkey is overpowering him, he changes his mind and goes for the kill with his sword.
* StarterVillain: The very first serious villain fought by our hero.
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Sort of, he took over Sun Wukong's mountain while he was away, but he lives in his own domain and kidnaps the monkeys to use them as slaves.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:General Three O'Clock, Mountain Lord Bear, and the Special Dweller/Yinjiangjun, Xiongshanjun, Techusi]]

* ALoadOfBull: Special Dweller is a bull.
* BearsAreBadNews: Mountain Lord Bear, ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin
* FaceHeelTurn: Technically a HeelFaceTurn given the literary time frame. When the Special Dweller and General Three O'Clock appeared [[AllThereInTheManual in a text set in the later Tang Dynasty]], they were harmless.
* TheCameo: The Special Dweller and General Three O'Clock first appeared in a Tang Dynasty text, where they entertained a poet.
* PantheraAwesome: General Three O'Clock is a tiger.
* StarterVillain: The first demons Tripitaka meet.
* WakeUpCallBoss: Despite appearing early, they become a big danger to Xuanzang when they eat his human companions and almost eat him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Black Wind Demon/Heifengguai]]

* BearsAreBadNews: His real form is that of a black-furred bear.
* BladeOnAStick: Wields a large spear with a black tassel.
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Dressed mostly in black and dark-green. He's a NobleDemon though, and overall a decent guy.
* HeelFaceTurn: Thanks to Guanyin, who puts a RestrainingBolt on him.
** He wants to join the pilgrims, but Guanyin makes him the guardian of her mountain. One theory is she wants to avoid conflict between him and Monkey since they are on equal power level and neither guys want to play second-fiddle to the other.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Loves them, and even steals Tripitaka's cossack for this reason.
* KillItThroughItsStomach: The first victim of this trick when he swallows Sun Wukong transformed into a pill, but not the last. Though Guanyin asked Sun Wukong to spare him.
* NobleDemon: The first thing he does in the novel upon witnessing a burning temple near his lair? Rush there to [[PetTheDog help the monks.]]
* NiceHat: He wears one, even when he's busy fighting Sun Wukong.
* Shapeshifting: Has the same 72 transformation art as Sun Wukong.
* StarterVillain: The first serious threat to our heroes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Great King Yellow Wind/Huangfeng Dawang]]

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: He claims that he was ExpectingSomeoneTaller to Sun Wukong, only for him to grow in size twice after being hit by the former's weapon.
* BreathWeapon: How he channels the Divine Samadhi Wind.
* BlowYouAway: He mastered the use of the Divine Samadhi Wind, which allows him mastery over deadly squalls of wind that nearly blind Sun Wukong, forcing him to flee.
* LargeAndInCharge: Like pretty much all the monsters after him, with some token exceptions.
* OhCrap: Is terrified when Sun Wukong throws the Dragon-Cane at him, his only weakness.
* ProngsOfPoseidon: Carries an edged trident, like Erlang. Of course, he's much less formidable with it.
* StarterVillain: In a way, he's the first demon to actually kidnap Tripitaka setting the base for most of the villains in the book.
* WickedWeasel: His true form is that of a large marten. In some adaptation his monster form is rather marten-like.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lady White Bones / Baiguijing (White Bone Spirit)]]
* EtherealWhiteDress: The sinister version. White has conotations with "death" in certain areas of Asia, and she certainly fits as a malevolent ghost/demon.
* DemBones: A sentient skeleton turned demon
* FakingTheDead: Creates illusions of corpses to leave behind
* MasterOfIllusion: Skilled in creating illusions of corpses, which she leaves behind as decoys.
* ManipulativeBastard: Her main skill, and what she uses to separate Monkey from the group (posthumously, admittedly).
* RuleOfThree: Killed three times before being KilledOffForReal. The first time were fake corpses.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Despite being a demon who was rather easy to kill once her illusions were broken, she forced [[TenMinuteRetirement Tripitaka to kick Monkey out of his little band]]. This then sets up the plot for the next demon encounter.
* SquishyWizard: All she could do was make illusions. Once those were broken, she died with one hit.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Yellow Robed Demon/Huangpaoguai]]

* AbductionIsLove: Abducted and raped the Princess of Baoxiang kingdom under the delusion that she loved him. [[spoiler: Technically, the princess was supposed to be channeling his heavenly lover.]]
* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: Forced Princess Hundred Flower to be his wife for twelve years. On the other hand he did treat her well and with respect.
* BadassBookworm: [[spoiler:[[AllThereInTheManual Not in the work proper]], but he's a god of literature]]
* BalefulPolymorph: After he went to the court of Baoxiang's king (under human disguise), he persuaded the king that Tripitaka was actually the monster responsible for the princess' kidnapping and turns him into a tiger with a spell. Later said spell is undone by Monkey.
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Wears only yellow.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:After returning to heaven to escape from Wukong, he only got sentenced to be Lao Zi's errand boy for a little while. Of course if you overlook the death of his children by Pigsy's hand.]]
* MasterSwordsman: Takes on both Pigsy and Sandy at the same time with little help and later defeats the White Horse (who was wielding his own scimitar) with a chandelier.
* NobleDemon: For a rapist and a kidnapper, he's extremely kind to his wife, agreeing to free Tripitaka when she asked politely, treating her as a queen and begging for her forgiveness after being rude to her, thinking that she was in cahoots with Sandy and Pigsy.
* OhCrap: Has one when he learns that Sun Wukong is after him.
* PapaWolf: Becomes furious when Pigsy and Sandy kills his infant children by throwing them to their deaths.
* ReincarnationRomance: Invoked and then subverted. [[spoiler:He reincarnated as a demon to be together with a minor goddess he fell in love with. Only his love got LaserGuidedAmnesia upon reincarnating as Princess Hundred Flower. [[RapeAsDrama He does not take it well.]]]]
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: When he hears that Sun Wukong himself is after him, he's ready to forfeit vengeance for his children as he's too afraid of him.
* ToServeMan: Ate one of the Baoxiang court's serving maids when he got drunk.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: His true form is a wolf.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gold Horned and Silver Horned Great Kings/Jinjiao Dawang, Yinjiao Dawang]]
* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Averted: the Seven Star Sword is treated as such, but dents a little after hitting Monkey's head too many times.
* AcidPool: The Gourd and the Pot have the power to absorb people inside it and melt them.
* ArrogantKungFuGuy: The younger one. It's practically his entire character. Gold Horn warned him ''repeatedly'' not to go after Wukong because of how strong he was. Silver Horn didn't listen and well...let's just say it did not end well for him.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: They're kings after all.
* {{BFS}}: Supposedly the Seven Star Sword, a massive sword with the Big Dipper contellation engraved on the flat of the blade. Sometimes they also employ huge sabers.
* ColonyDrop: Silver Horn knows a spell that drops an entire, existing mountain on the back of the victim, squashing it. It still took ''three'' mountains to pin Sun Wukong to the ground. After he freed himself, the mountains returned to their place.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Yes, they're both vicious, man-eating tyrants but the first thing they do after capturing Tripitaka is to send an invitation letter for their elder mother so that she too can taste his flesh and become young and immortal.
* FaceHeelTurn: They used to work for Taishang Laojun. They come back to him after being beaten by Sun Wukong.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Their mother was a [[{{Kitsune}} huli jing]], and so is their uncle, Great King Hu a Qi.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Monkey use their own Treasures against them.
* HornedHumanoid: Implied, though they're not described in detail. Most depictions give them [[{{Oni}} Ogre-like]] appearences.
* IAmAHumanitarian: [[ToServeMan Not only they want to make a lavish banquet out of Tripitaka]], they also plan to turn Pigsy into dried ham. Pigsy is less than amused.
* ImMelting: What happened to them. Luckily, their true forms were spared.
* InstantKnots: By giving the order "Bind!", the Golden Rope can tie itself around someone's neck, suffocating him. Not even sizeshifting into a bigger or smaller form is of any help.
* LargeAndInCharge: They're both massive, and lead an army of smaller monsters.
* MundaneUtility: Turns out that the five treasures that put even Sun Wukong in a pinch were just Lao Zi's tools of the trade. (The Pot is for holding water, the Gourd medicine, the Fan is used to kindle the fire, the Rope his is tool belt and the Seven Star Sword is his demon-repelling weapon).
* OvershadowedByAwesome: In most of the fiction depicting/nodding them, the Gourd, the Fan and the Sword are probably the most famed treasures in that order. The Pot and Rope? Good luck finding someone who knows what they do.
* PaperFanOfDoom: The Banana Leaf Fan.
* PlayingWithFire: The Fan has power over fire, enough to force Sun Wukong to retreat.
* PossessionImpliesMastery: Subverted when Sun Wukong takes the Golden Rope and use it against Silver Horn: the latter knows how to use the rope better than Monkey and turns the artifact against him.
* SayMyName: In order for the Crimson Gourd or the Jade Pot to work, the user must call the victim by name and the victim has to answer. As Sun Wukong found out the hard way, even nicknames will work. Furthermore, it's implied that a mere nod is enough of an answer for the tools.
* SiblingYinYang: The older brother Gold Horn is a careful strategist, while Silver Horn is more combative and easy to fool. In Japan, this trope gets taken UpToEleven, as the two will often be portrayed [[RedOniBlueOni as literal]] {{Oni}}.
* StockShoutOut: Comes with being two of the most famous villains in the story, though not to the extent of Sun Wukong himself. For example, they appear as villains in both ''Manga/DragonBall'' (in a filler episode) and in ''Anime/LupinIII''.
* WeaponsThatSuck: The Gourd and the Pot. According to most tradition, you have to point it towards the victim, said his/her name and have him/her answer a question.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Their real forms are two boys apprenticed to Taishan Laojun.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kid Croc/Tuolong]]

* BlackSheep: All eight of his brothers have respectable jobs, and he's a flesh-eating demon
* CainAndAbel: With his elder cousin, the Crown Prince of the Western Sea
* CombatPragmatist: When attacked by Sandy and Pigsy, who are not enough to defeat him, he repeals them and do not pursue them outside his mansion and out of the river where Sun Wukong is waiting in ambush.
* EnfantTerrible: A juvenile delinquent of a Dragon Prince
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: At first he doesn't even understand why his brother Mo Ang is angry at him after he invited him and his family to the banquet with Tripitaka as the main course.
* FisherKing: Under his mismanagement, the Blackwater River looks like either a cesspool or an indigo dye vat
* MakingASplash: Makes waterpools to suck in unsuspecting victims to his watery mansion.
* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: In the original Chinese, he's the "Tuò Long", Tuò being an old word for "big, water lizard". Most translations turn him into a crocodile or alligator (which, to be fair, fits the description of the Tuò nicely). In the novel, Sandy claims he looks like a giant turtle.
* NonMammalianHair: Described has having black, spiky hair despite being a reptile. Maybe is due to his Dragon blood.
* SelfDisposingVillain: Sort of: even though he planned to kill and cook Tripitaka, he also meant to invite his family to the banquet, and they would have surely punished him for his actions.
* TurtlePower: As said by Sandy, he looks like a large turle-man, and some pictures depict him as a vaguely turtle-like humanoid, kinda like a giant {{Kappa}}. Consistent with certain statues depicting the Tuò as a giant turtle with Dragon-like head and limbs.
* TheUnfought: In a way, he's not defeated by Sun Wukong, fights briefly Sandy and Pigsy and in the end he's subdued and taken away by his cousin and imprisoned.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: He's subdued by his brother's army and taken into custody. It's not revealed wether he was executed or if they give him another type of punishment.
* WhipItGood: His weapon is a type of chinese whip called "Biàn", which is a flexible, segmented club. His is made of bamboo and steel.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Three Fiends Of Chechi (Tiger Power Great Hermit, Stag Power Great Hermit, and Goat Power Great Hermit)]]
* AdaptationSpeciesChange: Whilst Tiger Power is consistent throughout all the versions, the other two aren't. Stag Power has been portrayed as a deer or an elk -- which, admittedly, are pretty close to the same thing. Goat Power, on the other hand, has also been an antelope and a ram!
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Wukong is not only better at being indestructible, he's also better at cheating compared to them; especially when it comes to cheating back at them.
* AnimalMetaphor: The three of them are a tiger, deer, and goat respectively.
* AnimalStereotypes: Tiger Power, the animal considered king of the beasts in Asian cultures, is clearly dominant over his two comrades
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: All three of them, through [[KarmicDeath means of their own making]]:
** OffWithHisHead: Tiger Power attempts a beheading competition. Though the biased executioner kicks Wukong's head too far to be summoned back, Wukong simply regenerates one. Tiger Power's head is not kicked far, but Wukong carries it off in the form of a dog. Tiger Power can't regenerate, so...
** GuttedLikeAFish: Stag Power attempts a disembowelment competition, which both he and Wukong seem to pass. However, Stag Power took a shortcut while honing his powers, leading to him unable to achieve true regeneration. The second Wukong turns one of his hairs into a hawk that snatches away Stag Power's internal organs, he's done for.
** StewedAlive: Goat Power proposes a deep-fry competition...in which the competitors themselves are deep-fried. Though Wukong never learned how to survive an oil bath, he makes it out by virtue of his {{Nigh Invulnerabl|e}}ity, being made of rock, then augmented by Taishang Laojun's pills. Goat Power cheats, summoning an ice dragon. Wukong finds it out and calls up the Dragon Kings to retrieve it, leading to Goat Power's death
* FatalFlaw: Pride, which causes them to make greater and more dangerous wagers, until they all end up dead.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: First when they try to cheat during the challenges, which motivates Wukong to inflict painful retaliation. Then their bets with Wukong culminates with them proposing deadly challenges, intended to either kill or scare off the pilgrims. Wukong not only passes with flying colors, but arranges for all three demons to die in the course of performing their feats.
* HumiliationConga: Starts with Wukong, Bajie and Wujing tricking them into drinking urine by making the believe it was holy water granted to them by the heavens. They then try to humiliate the Buddhists by challenging the party to various feats of skill. Wukong rides roughshod over them, hindering Tiger Power's rain ceremony, stopping Stag Power's attempt to cheat during a meditation duel and knocking out Tiger Power in retaliation, and outright cheating during Goat Power's X-ray vision test, making them all look like idiots. Then, when they try more dangerous duels, they end up dead.
* SinisterMinister: All three take the guise of Taoist Priests. They may or may actual Taoist powers depending on the adaptation.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: In ''Series/{{Monkey}}'', they are allowed to live after being defeated -- mind you, their portrayal in that show also changes to make them open tyrants who are starving the populace to acquire wine, pearls and paper, which they consume to strengthen their magic.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Are they Great Hermits or Immortals? Are they called Animal Power or Animal Strength? It all depends on which version of the story you read.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Red Boy AKA Honghaier/Kougaiji]]

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Similar to Monkey in his first appearance. He mellows out after moving to Guanyin's island.
* BloodUpgrade: He has to draw his own blood to activate the Samadhi Fire.
* BluffTheImpostor: A rare case of a villain doing this to a hero, he realizes that something is wrong when his father (actually Sun Wukong in disguise) tells him that he became vegetarian and that he should free Tripitaka in the name of his friendship with Sun Wukong.
* BreathWeapon: Can spit fire from his mouth and smoke from his eyes and nostrils.
* ChekhovsGun: The defeat of the Red Boy would later cause more trouble to Sun Wukong with both his uncle in the Women's Country and later with his parents.
* CuteBruiser: Has the form of an adorable young boy.
* EnfantTerrible: A villain at first despite having the form of a child.
* {{Expy}}: Some adaptations via both his fighting style, powers and weaponry make him akin to Nezha.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: When he sits on Guanyin's throne it transforms into a bunch of swords, and then into halbeards.
* PlayingWithFire: His flames, the True Fire of Samadhi, are so powerful that water do nothing against them, and Sun Wukong was barely able to survive them.
* RestrainingBolt: Ends up with ''five'' of them when he's forced into a HeelFaceTurn.
* TooDumbToLive: Leaves the fight against Sun Wukong after spitting some fire against him without checking out his health status. Later when he sees Guanyin's empty Lotus throne he smugly sits on it acting as her. It goes as well as you could possibly imagine.
* XOnAStick: As if his fire powers weren't enough, he has a spear tipped with flames.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Great King Spiritual Touch/Lingkan Dawang]]

* BenevolentBoss: When an elderly carp lady gives him a plan to capture Tripitaka, he rewards her upon succeeding and treats her as an adoptive family member, promising to share Tripitaka's cooked meat with her.
* ChildEater: He rules over the villagers living on the shores of his river and forces them to offer their childern to sate his hunger. This leads to Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie to disguise themselves as kids to lure him in a trap.
* CombatPragmatist: He sneak attacks the heroes as they're walking on ice, kidnaps Tripitaka and, learning from his previous battle, keeps fighting underwater so that Sun Wukong cannot attack him.
* DropTheHammer: Fights with a massive bronze hammer sculpted to resemble a flower blossom with nine petals. Turns out, it was an actual flower blossom from Guanyin's lake he turned into a weapon.
* FishPeople: A huge, humanoid ogre living in a underwater mansion, when Pigsy slash at his arm with his rake, several bronze-like scales drop on the floor, implyng that he's covered in fish-like scales.
* HumanSacrifice: He forced the villagers into sacrificing their children to him. This is the reason that pushes the heroes to stop him.
* AnIcePerson: Appears on surface shrouded in a veil of icy mist, and when provoked he can summon a blizzard cold enough to freeze over the gigantic river he lives in. This allows the heroes to pass, but also allows him to ambush them when they're vulnerable.
* KillerRabbit: Embarassingly enough, he originally was a ''goldfish'' living in the pond of Guanyin's domain. Even his fearsome hammer is a flower he took from the pond and turned into a weapon.
* ShroudedInMyth: He's shrouded in mist wherever he goes and tries to make sure that the villagers know little of him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The One Horned Great King /Dujiaosi Dawang]]

* ALoadOfBull: His true form is that of a massive, one-horned blue buffalo.
* BladeOnAStick: His weapon of choice is a long, steel-tipped lance. In some depictions it has a wavy edge, like a flamberge.
* CombatPragmatist: He's not afraid of putting that Ring of his to use to turn the combat into his favor.
* HornedHumanoid: Why do you think he's called the "One Horned Great King" for?.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: His true form is that of Laozhi's mount.
* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: When Sun Wukong challenges him to a kung fu match he agrees and duel him bare-handed.
* MasterOfIllusion: His palace appears to be an empty ruin in order to lure travelers inside.
* NearVillainVictory: One of Sun Wukong's most persistent enemies, and the one who came closer than anyone else to defeat him.
* NoSell: Thanks to his Vajra Ring, he can suck not only weapons, but also fire, water and nearly everything else used against him.
* OhCrap: He finally panicks when Sun Wukong appears with his rightful owner, Laozhi
* RhinoRampage: He's described as rhino-like and his Chinese name is "Great King One-Horned Rhino".
* RingsOfDeath: He uses Laozhi's Vajra ring to suck in the weapons of his opponents, disarming them. He later removes said weapons and put them in his castle.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Fake Sun Wukong/The Six-eared Macaque /Liuermihou]]

* EvilCounterpart: To the real Sun Wukong: both are one-of-a-kind monkeys with supernatural powers, but while the former tries to obtain salvation with genuine effort on his part, the latter is an impostor who copies his mission, friends and fighting style.
* EvilKnockoff: He spends most of his time on page under the form of Sun Wukong, being able to copy even his abilities, weapon and weaknesses. He also turned some of his monkey minions into doppelgangers of the other pilgrims.
* IAmAHumanitarian: When one of his subjects is killed by Sandy and revealed to be a monkey, he orders his minions to cook and serve the corpse for the others.
* KickTheDog: Tries to kill Tripitaka when the latter sees through his disguise and eats one of his own dead followers.
* KillAndReplace: His plan is to do this to the pilgrims, go to the West in their place and take the reward for himself.
* MirrorBoss: Being his perfect deadringer, his battle against Sun Wukong is fruitless, and no one seems to be able to tell them apart, except for a denizen of the Underworld and later on Buddha.
* OhCrap: He becomes afraid and tries to run away when Buddha successfully identifies him. With good reasons too, since Sun Wukong squashes him flat the second he takes his real form back.
* {{Pun}}: Based on the old saying that "a secret is not safe between six ears".
* SingleSpecimenSpecies: According to Buddha, there are four unique monkeys in the world, one of them being the Six-Eared Macacque, who can hear everything around miles of himself and shapeshift. When Sun Wukong is done with him, he's extinct for good.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hermit Ruyi/Ruyi Zhenxian]]

* ALoadOfBull: He's the Bull Demon King's brother, but apparently he prefers to appear as a human. Depictions range from good-looking human hermit to full blown minotaur.
* AvengingTheVillain: When he hears that Sun Wukong, the one who captured his nephew Red Boy, is there for an audience, he promptly turns hostile and does all he can to hinder him.
* CombatPragmatist: After a few blows, he realizes that he's no match for Monkey, so he opts for staying hidden and use his cane to trip his opponent whenever he tries to take the Water from the fountain.
* DidntSeeThatComing: His clever and annoying plan is foiled when Sun Wukong brings Sandy with him and proceeds to keep him busy in combat while Sandy takes the water.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: He's a relative of the Red Boy and furious for what Sun Wukong did to him. The same thing happens later with Iron Fan Princess and Bull Demon King.
* HooksAndCrooks: He wields a StaffOfAuthority tipped with a hook he uses to trip Sun Wukong when he tries to take the water he's guarding.
* HumiliationConga: Sun Wukong tricks him, steal the precious water from under his nose, defeats him and proceeds to snap his staff in half rather than killing him.
* MacGuffinGuardian: He lives on a mountain in the Country of Women and guards the magical spring from which the Abortion Water flows. Sun Wukong must fight him to get the water to cure Tripitaka and Pigsy, who got themselves pregnant by drinking the water of the river of Women.
* NonMaliciousMonster: He lives like an hermit and normally doesn't hurt humans, he just sells pots of the water to a rather high price.
* {{Pun}}: Ruyi means "compliant" or "As-you-wish", but it's also the name of a type of scepter used by authority figures. He uses a scepter as his weapon.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Scorpion Lady/Xiezijing]]

* AffablyEvil: Civil torwards Tripitaka but much less so towards the three disciples.
* DarkActionGirl: She's more than capable of fighting the three heroes on equal footing.
* FemmeFatale: Actively tries to force Tripitaka to sleep with her.
* PoisonousPerson: Her touch (technically the stinger), which she uses on Monkey and later Pigsy. The novel calls it the "Horse-Slaying Dart"
* ProngsOfPoseidon: Her weapon is described as a large trident-like spear. Apparently it was her pincers.
* ScaryScorpions: She is a Scorpion demon. Unusually though, she only takes her arthropod form as she's forced to and defeated.
* ToServeMan: Her dumplings are filled with human flesh.
* TheVamp: Though her attempts to seduce Tripitaka fail, someone who wasn't 100% pure would have succumbed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Bull Demon King/Niu Mowang]]

* ALoadOfBull: Is a Bull Demon.
* AffablyEvil: At first he's friendly towards Sun Wukong.
* CarryABigStick: When he's not DualWielding the swords of his wife, he wields a massive club made of refined iron.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Easily the most memorable of Sun Wukong's adversaries, besides from his son.
* FaceHeelTurn: Used to be best pals with Sun Wukong and one of his six most loyal TrueCompanions. Then he became an amoral Demon King while his buddy was sealed away.
* GeniusBruiser: A powerful and brutal warrior, he can also be quite cunning when he wants.
* IHaveManyNames: Aside from his famous moniker Niumowang[=/=]Gyuumaoh, he's also known as the Pitiandasheng[=/=]Heitendaisei (Great Sage of the Balanced Heaven) and Daliwang[=/=]Dairikioh (King of Great Might).
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Rides a massive, unidentified beast with scales of gold and eyes of crystal which can run underwater, and is later stolen by Sun Wukong.
* OffWithHisHead: Subverted, no matter how many heads Nezha severs, he always grows a new one. So Nezha simply sticks a fiery wheel onto his horn, scorching him into submission.
* OneManArmy: It takes Monkey, Pigsy, the entirety of Heaven's military power and Eight Vajrapanis (Buddha'guardians) to subdue him.
* OneWingedAngel: Turns into a giant white bull in order to crush Wukong and battle Nezha.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: After finding out that Wukong transformed into him to steal the Fan from his wife, with whom he flirted too.
* UglyGuyHotWife: With the Iron Fan Princess. He also cuckolds her with his mistress, the Jade-Faced Princess.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Iron Fan Princess]]

* BlowYouAway: Her giant fan can summon storms capable of putting off giant fires. Probably the Ur Example of all the wind-generating fans.
* DarkActionGirl: She's a Rakshasa, so she is vicious in combat.
* DualWielding: With swords.
* GodGuise: She's worshipped as a goddess by the local population, who offer her tributes.
* MamaBear: Hates Sun Wukong for hurting her son, the Red Boy.
* MonstrousHumanoid: Looks like a human noblewoman, but according to the novel, she's actually a Rakshasa.
* PaperFanOfDoom: Her Banana Fan. She also has a fake one which makes flames higher.
* UglyGuyHotWife: With the Bull Demon King. She's described as being quite attractive and humanlike, while her husband is an ox-like ogre.
* VillainousBreakdown: After getting all drunk and flirty around her "husband" and giving him the Fan, he reveals himself as Wukong. She wasn't pleased.
* WombLevel: In order to beat her, Sun Wukong turned into a fly, flew into her mouth and started punching her stomach from the inside.
* {{Yandere}}: Hates her husband for having a lover.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Nine Headed Monster/Jiutochong]]

* AdaptationExpansion: In at least one TV series, his wife Princess Wansheng was supposed to be the bride of the Dragon Horse... but cheated on him with the Nine Headed Monster, causing all the mess he was involved with.
* BladeOnAStick: Wields a Monk's Spade, just like Sandy.
* BodyHorror: Even in his normal form, the guy sports nine mouths and eighteen eyes on a single head.
* DeathByAdaptation: In the 1986 TV show, it has him dying fighting Erlang, rather than running away.
* TheDragon: To his father-in-law, the actual dragon king Wansheng.
* FeatheredFiend: His monster form is implied to be bird-like.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: Not only he has nine heads, but he also has a tenth head hidden in his chest and ready to pop up and grab his opponents when they least expect it. Zhu Bajie learns this at his own expenses.
* MultipleHeadCase: In his true form he has nine heads plus a tenth, usually hidden head sprouting from his chest. Later said head is severed by Erlang's guard dog.
* OneWingedAngel: Turns into a giant nine-headed bird monster whenever he fights Sun Wukong outside of his lake.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Upon being attacked by Erlang and his pack of hounds he decides to fly away, never to be seen again, leaving his ultimate fate ambiguous.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tree Immortals]]

* AlasPoorVillain: Even though they wanted to force him to get married without his consent (knowing very well that it'll make him lose his Yang), Tripitaka still tries to beg Sun Wukong to spare them, and is saddened when Pigsy, after turning into a boar, proceeds to unroot them to death.
** SparedByTheAdaptation: In the 1986 TV adaptation Pigsy spares them instead after some threats, not that he would let them off so easily in the first place.
* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: A curious example, after a civil and poetic discussion, they introduce the Apricot Fairy to Tripitaka and pretty much go from commenting how well they look together to try to force the monk to marry the lady, mixing the trope with HoneyTrap and ArrangedMarriage.
* AffablyEvil: Aside from their plot of having Tripitaka renounce to his journey and kidnapping him, these immortals are quite affable, polite and well-spoken.
* EvilOldFolks: Downplayed, they look like affable and nice old immortals who adore poetry, but they still plan to force Tripitaka to marry the Apricot Fairy.
* PunnyName: Aside from the Naked Servant and the Apricot Fairy, the four men have names which are hidden puns or euphemisms referring to their real identity as tree demons.
* WhenTreesAttack: They are actually tree spirits taking human form to kidnap Tripitaka and force him into marriage. Namely, we have a maple tree, a pine, a juniper, a cypress, bamboo and apricot. They're surprisingly civil.
* WickedCultured: They're well-behaved and well-spoken and love talking in charades and poetry. Tripitaka actually enjoys their company.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Great King Yellow Brows/Huangmei Dawang]]

* BigOlEyebrows: It's right there in his name, and is often depicted with humongously long eyebrows going down past his shoulders.
* CarryABigStick: When he became a monster he transformed his sounding stone in a Wolf Teeth Club (usually depicted as a vicious-looking spiked club).
* CompositeCharacter: He shares several elements with the Gold Horn/Silver Horn brothers (a former helper of a Heavenly being, causing ruckus with magical tools, trapping Sun Wukong to keep him away from his friends and using a people-sucking device) and Black Wind Monster (a powerful fighter who's defeated when tricked into swallowing Sun Wukong).
* EvilOldFolks: He looks aged and is even known as "Old Monster Yellow Brow" (Huangmeilaoguai)
* GodGuise: He pretens to be the Western Heaven Buddha and his lair is built to be a copy of the Thunderclap Monastery (except for the actual name being "Little Thunderclap Monastery").
* MonstrousHumanoid: One of the very few monsters who's not a beast, rather a massive ogre of a man.
* NoNonsenseNemesis: He makes use of his tools to take Sun Wukong out of the picture and capture the others.
* TrademarkFavouriteFood: He can't say no to watermelons, which allows Maitreya and Sun Wukong (disguised as a farmer and a watermelon) to trick him.
* WeaponsThatSuck: The Humanity Bag forcibly sucks people inside and can store whole armies. The people removed from the bag are so exhausted they can't fight back.
* YoungerThanHeLooks: Resemble an old ogre, but he's actually the young assistant of the Pusa Maitreya, who wanted to take a break from his job.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Red Python Spirit/Chimangjing]]

* AdaptationExpansion: There's at least one TV adaptation where the Python is actually a female demoness who can take human form.
* BladeOnAStick: Zigzagged, when fighting his "nocturnal" form, Sun Wukong and Pigsy notices that he's apparently wielding two long spears, but the movements are so odd they wonder where the shafts are. Once day comes and the monster takes his true form, they realize that the "spears" were the tips of his forked tongue.
* ByTheLightOfTheirEyes: In his first appearence, the beast is shrouded by fog and only his gigantic, lanter-like eyes can be seen, which actually give Zhu Bajie a case of BringMeMyBrownPants.
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Tries to eat Sun Wukong, who extends the Compliant Cudgel inside the stomach with deadly results.
* {{Kaiju}}: While most of the other monsters are humanoid and masters of magic and martial arts, this one is just a humongous, hungry animal who can transform into a vaguely humanoid form.
* OverlyLongTongue: Which he uses as a spear to fight.
* ShroudedInMyth: By night, he takes a huge form shrouded in red mist, and his tongue turns in a pair of lances.
* SnakesAreSinster: A monstrous snake demon of gigantic size who's a mindless and ruthless predator.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sai Taisui]]

* AnAxeToGrind: Wields one named Flower Storm against Sun Wukong.
* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: Abducts and tries to marry the queen of the Zhuzi kingdom. Too bad she has a wedding dress that grows poisonous thorns as soon as he gets close.
* CanisMajor: His real form is that of a massive wolf-like dog with golden fur.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Showers the queen with favors in an attempt to gain her love. Doesn't stop him from taking his frustrations on the slave girls.
* ElementalPowers: His three bells: the first bell will summon forth [[PlayingWithFire flames]], the second one will create [[SuperSmoke smoke]] and the third one a stream of [[SandBlaster irritating sand.]] The latter two elements are especially effective against Sun Wukong's sensitive eyes.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Has his bells stolen and used against him.
* SexIsViolence: Because he is unable to satisfy himself with the queen, he instead spends his energy on slave girls, who he rapes to death
* ThePigPen: Invoked, Sun Wukong turns into a flock of huge fleas, lices and bugs on his body to make him scratch himself until he removes the three bells from under his clothes. He's actually [[EveryoneHasStandards embarassed to see how dirty he appears to be]].
* VillainousCrush: Has a huge crush on the queen he kidnapped.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord and the Spiderling Spirits/Bayan Mojun, Zhizhujing]]

* AllWebbedUp: The Spider Ladies do this to Tripitaka, Pigsy and later to the whole mansion they're in in order to keep Sun Wukong at bay. In the last case, Sun Wukong used his clones and his staff turned into a fork-like tool to unravel the web.
* AvengingTheVillain: After their defeat the Spidering Spirits go to their "brother" and tell him that they've been assaulted by his guests. Unusually, the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord decides to check out if his guests are really guilty before he can take action against them.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Both the seven spirits and their "brother" are these. They also have some "adoptive sons" in the form of various bugs and insects that they spared from their webs.
* CoolSword: The Hundred-Eyes Demon Lord wields one against Sun Wukong.
* CreepyCentipedes: The Hundred-Eyes Demon Lord's true form is a large centipede. Ironically, the spirit who defeated him is really a large hen, and in Chinese folklore hen and roosters are the natural predators of centipedes.
* ExtraEyes: The demon lord had a hundred on eyes situated [[EyesDoNotBelongThere on the sides of his body]], and can fire hot beams of HardLight from them.
* GiantSpider: The Seven sisters' true forms, though they're about the size of a large basket. Still giant enough.
* GoneSwimmingClothesStolen: How Monkey defeats the sisters the first time. Apparently, even if they're man-eating demons they're still susceptible to human ideas decency.
* LightIsNotGood: The Hundred-Eyes Demon Lord looks like a kind old Taoist and his powers are light-based but is not a saint.
* MagicalEye: A hundred of them, which emit scorching rays of light.
* MasterPoisoner: Hey, it's a centipede demon, what did you expect? He also nearly kills the heroes sans Sun Wukong, who's the only one to spot the poison in his cup.
* NobleDemon: The Hundred-Eyes Demon Lord is incredibly polite with his guests, and tries to kill them only after finding out that they attacked his adoptive sisters earlier. A widow though accuses him of poisoning her husband out of spite.
* RedOniBlueOni: The sisters are energetic, violent and more prone to direct tactics, hence the red. Their brother is much calmer, polite and prefers traps and clever tactics, hence the blue.
* ToServeMan: The Spiders Sisters are among the few female demons who want to eat Tripitaka, not bed him.
* VillainousValor: Even if their' spider-women with a taste for human flesh they're still too shy to go around naked unless if forced too and even cover themselves as the walk past Tripitaka. Their brother is probably the nicest of the demons encountered by our heroes.
* YouHaveFailedMe: When the spiders are captured by Monkey, the Hundred-Eyes Demon Lord says that he's fed up with them, thus causing Wukong to be pissed off at the Demon Lord's decision and the spiders then die at Wukong's staff and anger.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Three Kings of Lion Camel Cave/ Qingmao Shiwang, Huangya Xiangwang, Dapeng Jinchiniao]]

* AnimalMotifs: Lion, Elephant and Peng (a mythological giant bird, which is this case doubles as a Garuda).
* AdaptationalWimp: Very much so in the 1998 Hong Kong TVB Adaptation. Their goals, motivations, and the general plot were completely altered. In the original novel, they are crafty villains seeking to eat Tang Sanzang, which Sun Wukong can't defeat by himself. In the 1998 Hong Kong TVB Adaptation, they are a comedic trio of cowardly incompetent [[JerkAss jerkasses]] who merely seek power and wealth and are barely a match for Pigsy.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: More kings, though the former two rule a giant cavern, while the Peng has taken over an entire city.
* BladeOnAStick: The Elephant and the Peng. The former has a spear, the latter has a ji with a beautifully painted shaft.
* EarlyBirdCameo: The Lion actually shows up earlier as the impostor king of Wuji
* FeatheredFiend: The Thousand Ri Travelling Peng is a villainous bird demon.
* HeelFaceTurn: After getting stormed by the armies of the Heavens.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Lion tries to swallow Wukong, who then wreaks havoc in his innards ''and shatters his teeth with his staff'' as the Lion attempts to bite him to death expecting Wukong to exit out. Later the Elephant tries to seize him with his trunk, but he's defeated when Wukong uses his own trunk to beat him up.
* JustSoStory: Used to explain the iconography of Garuda flying above Buddha's head. When Buddha showed up to retrieve him, the Peng fought back, so Buddha paralyzed him and placed him on his head.
* LightningBruiser: The Peng can fly so fast he can catch up with Sun Wukong's cloud leap in just two wingbeats.
* OhCrap: They panic when they first hear that Sun Wukong may have infiltrated their lair, and speculates that he could have turned into a fly. Cue [[{{Troll}} Sun Wukong summoning a whole swarm of flies]] just to enjoy their even more panicked reaction.
* PantheraAwesome: The Azure Lion.
* RebelliousSpirit: The Peng seemed to have it made. Son of the Phoenix, [[spoiler:brother of Mahamayuri, adopted uncle of Buddha himself]]. Yet he runs off to become a demon because [[HellOfAHeaven Paradise is boring]].
* SiblingYinYang: [[spoiler:Peng/Garuda and his older sibling, Mahamayuri. One is the foster mother of Buddha, the other a flesh-eating demon who left Paradise because he couldn't stand Buddhist vegetarianism]]
* SinisterScimitar: The Lion wields one, which is supposedly an AbsurdlySharpBlade.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: [[spoiler:All three are pets of Buddhist deities. The Peng, in particular, is the adopted uncle of Buddha, and he uses this to do whatever he wants.]]
* SwallowedWhole: The Lion's jaws are so big he could eat alive a whole army of celestial soldiers. He tries this on Sun Wukong, but backfires as the Wukong threatens to kill him from the inside and live in his stomach.
* TerribleTrio: Unlike other demons, these three guys work together against their foe Wukong and come close to victory.
* ToServeMan: The Peng devoured all the citizens of the Lion-Camel Kingdom, and then set himself up as king, recruiting demons to be his subjects.
* VocalDissonance: The second demon looks like am elephantine brute, but has the voice of a maiden.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Spirits of Biqiu Kingdom]]

* CaneFu: The White Deer Spirit is adept at fighting with his dragon cane, though not enough to worry Sun Wukong.
* EvilChancellor: The White Deer introduced the White-Faced Fox as a concubine for the king, leading to bad government as the king grew ill losing Yang and followed his advisor's evil plots to find a cure.
* EvilOldFolks: The White Deer spirit look like a venerable wise man, but he's willing to ruin a kingdom and have 1111 children sacrificed for his plans.
* FilleFatale: The White-faced Vixen takes the form of a beautiful sixteen-years old maiden, but her job is to enthrall the King and absorb his Yang through copulation, which lead to the King's illness.
* {{Kitsune}}: The White-Faced Vixen is, as the name suggested, a white-faced Hulijing.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: The White Deer is actually the steed of the Old Man of the South Pole.
* HumanResources: The White Deer promises to heal the king by making a potion obtained from the crushed hearts of 1111 children. The King is so under the charme of his concubine that he's wiling to let him harvest the hearts.
* TheMarvelousDeer: Subverted, while he originally was one, as a monster the White Deer is a remorseless, cruel old man.
* RaceLift: The French and Italian translations turn the Vixen spirit in a Civet. Also MisplacedWildlife, as it's not a Chinese animal.
* WouldHurtAChild: Would have 1111 children kidnapped and gutted for their hearts to make a fake medicine.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lady Earth Flow/Diyong Fulen]]

* AffablyEvil: Again, she's absolutely kind towards Tripitaka.
* DarkActionGirl: Fully capable of fighting the heroes, even if for a short while.
* DamselInDistress: Pretends to be one to lure Tripitaka. It's lampshaded by Sun Wukong who almost persuades Tripitaka to leave her, but, you know, Tripitaka/Sanzang is that guillable...
* DualWielding: With swords, whenever she gets into battle.
* HornyDevils: Seduces monks to have sex with them and drain their essence. At one point she assaults Wukong disguised as a monk.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: She does seduce monks to feed on them, can shapeshift and is physically powerful. Also, see below.
* RaceLift: In Serafino Balduzzi's italian translation she becomes a bat demon instead, reinforcing the vampire image.
* VillainessesWantHeroes: She wants to marry Tripitaka. Unlike the Scorpion Lady, she doesn't try to force herself on him though.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:King of the Southern Mountains/Nanshan Dawang]]

* CarryABigStick: Use a massive iron pestle as his weapon of choice. Pigsy sarcastically asks him if he uses it for his laundry as well.
* CombatPragmatist: Being no match for the pilgrims, he tries to trick them into believing that their master is dead and uses decoys to accomplish this.
* DirtyCoward: Not very powerful, he's routed by Pigsy in combat.
* EvilSorcerer: He's introduced practicing Taoist magic, and later uses his powers to transform some of his underlings into deadringers of himself.
* FakeKillScare: Shows the party what is supposed to be Tripitaka's severed head. [[spoiler:But is really a carved root the first time and a completely different guy the next time.]]
* PantheraAwesome: A leopard demon. Subverted in that he's not very powerful, as Pigsy only needs a little encouragement to force him to run away.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Yellow Lion and the Sage of Nine Spirits/Huangshijing, Jiuling Yuansheng]]
* TheDon: Sage of the Nine Spirits has several grandchildren, at least one of whom has his own cave.
* EvilOldFolks: Old enough to be a grandfather, but still able to fight Wukong in giant form.
* FatalFlaw: Greed for the Yellow Lion, which motivates him to steal the main party's weapons
* FluffyTheTerrible: [[spoiler:The true name of Sage of the Nine Spirits more or less translates to "Baby Sage".]]
* {{Kaiju}}: Sage of the Nine Spirits is probably the demon who most resembles this trope, seeing as how he regularly turns himself into a giant form to fight.
* MultipleHeadCase: The Sage of Nine Spirits prefers the form of a giant, nine-headed Lion, able to bite and carry away several people at once.
* NobleDemon: Yellow Lion prefers to do honest business with humans, rather than terrorize them. He still takes people's possessions without asking first and lies to his Grandpa to have his revenge.
* PantheraAwesome: Yellow lion is a lion demon, as is his "Grandfather" the Sage of Nine Spirits and the various demons under their command.
* ThemeNaming: After Lions: Yellow Lion and two brothers are directly named after the lion, two of them are named after lion-like mythological creatures and the last two are named after epithets associated to lions.
* WeaponOfChoice: Yellow Lion has a [[ShovelStrike shiny spade]] as his. The Sage fights unarmed, while his followers wield various weapons, including [[ImprobableWeaponUser an iron gorse branch]], a [[CaneFu triangular cane]], AnAxeToGrind, a BladeOnAStick and a [[CarryABigStick stiff club]].
* WolfPackBoss: Sage of the Nine Spirits brings along a large number of grandchildren to fight alongside him. Subverted when he leaves the battle half-way through after kidnapping Tripitaka, Pigsy and the royal family, leaving his family and underling to Sun Wukong and Sandy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Rhino Kings/Pishan Dawang, Pishu Dawang, Pichen Dawang]]

* ALoadOfBull: Despite their true nature they look a lot like oxen demons, and have many bull demons working for them. In fact, Sun Wukong learns that they're actually rhinos only when he goes to get help by the heavens.
* EatenAlive: The first Rhino king is eaten by one of the heavenly wood star spirits sent to capture them.
* FurAndLoathing: The first brother wears a NiceHat made of fur.
* GodGuise: They pretend to be Buddhas in order to drink the oil of the local temple's lanterns.
* GeniusBruiser: They seems to be good tacticians, as they can force Sun Wukong to retreat, implying that not even his clones can be of help.
* RhinoRampage: They're rhino demons. To the point that Pigsy decides to kill the surviving brothers so that he can sell their horns as aphrodisiac medicine.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: When they hear the four star spirits coming they make a run for it in the ocean, but are captured and defeated.
* TerribleTrio: Another group of three demons working together.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Lantern oil. They also want to fry Tripitaka in it.
* WeaponOfChoice: The first brother uses an axe, the second a scimitar, the third a staff.
* WolfpackBoss: Because they fight together and with lots of well-trained underlings, they're too hard for Wukong to defeat, even with his cloning spell.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Princess of India AKA The Moon Rabbit Spirit /Yutujing]]
* DisproportionateRetribution: The reason she came to earth was to get revenge on the Princess, who was the reincarnation of a celestial serving maid who had once slapped the rabbit. This lead to kidnapping her and stealing her mortal identity.
* FemmeFatale: Wanted to marry Sanzang and steal his energy.
* GetBackHereBoss: A non video game example, as she spends most of the battle running away from Sun Wukong.
* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: Defied. When Wukong sees through her disguise and is about to attack her, she takes off her princess clothes and jewelry. This leads to her fighting him stark naked.
* MoonRabbit: ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. The Jade Rabbit gone rogue.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Her medicine mortar.
[[/folder]]

!Mortals

[[folder:Gao Cuilan]]

* BeastAndBeauty: With her husband Bajie, for a little while.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Princess Hundred-Flower]]

* AbductionIsLove: More on his end than her end, but they do stay married for thirteen years after he kidnaps her
* ReincarnationRomance: [[spoiler:Subverted. She and the Wolf God of the Legs Mansion had been lovers in heaven, but upon reincarnation, she lost her memories and did not appreciate his continued affections.]]
* UglyGuyHotWife: The beautiful wife of the horrifying Yellow Robed Demon
* UnwantedSpouse: She seemed glad to be rid of her husband and their children
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Royal Family of the Wuji Kingdom]]

* AlwaysMurder: The King of Wuji's murder sets off the story for his arc
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:The King, by the end of the party's stay]]
* DeadPersonConversation: The King appears to Tripitaka in a dream, and it's only after he tells his story that Tripitaka realizes he is a ghost
* DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler:What did the king do to deserve three years of drought, followed by being thrown into a well by his best friend, his grave stopped up with banana bushes, and lurking as a ghost for three years? He threw the Bodhisattva Manjusri in the Royal Sewer for three days when the disguised god dared preach to him. Then again, it might be a fair punishment for hypocrisy and arrogance.]]
* EtTuBrute: The King was murdered by a Taoist priest he befriended, who was actually a demon.
* GhostlyGoals: Type A for the King. He asks Tripitaka to expose his murder and retrieve his body
* HairTriggerTemper: The Crown Prince is easily annoyed by the antics of the pilgrims
* KillAndReplace: After drowning the king, his demon friend impersonated him
* JacobMarleyApparel: The King appears in his robes of state, only sopping wet because of the manner of his death
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: The King cannot appear to normal people and is repelled by holy people and places. He wouldn't even be lurking around as a ghost if it wasn't for the fact that he was pulled out of the afterlife by some inspector deities
* OrWasItADream: Tripitaka's encounter with the king seems to be all just a dream, but Tripitaka wakes up with the king's jade Scepter of State in his hand
* RoyalBrat: The Crown Prince has shades of this
[[/folder]]

[[folder:King of Chechi]]

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Allows the ObviouslyEvil Taoist priests to dominate the government and enslave the Buddhist monks
* TooDumbToLive: He's quite a fool, even the narration states that he only pays attention to the last person who spoke.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:King of the Kingdom of Women]]

* LoveAtFirstSight: For Tripitaka, whom she wants to marry and keep with her. Unfortunately, Tripitaka must keep his virtue.
* SheIsTheKing: Obviously, seeing as how there are no men in the kingdom.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Princes of Yuhua Kingdom]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:King of Zhuzi]]

* HappilyMarried: In a loving and stable marriage with his Queen, the Lady of the Golden Chambers.
* IllBoy: His arc starts off with him deathly ill, and Wukong and Bajie having to find a way to cure him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Queen of Zhuzi]]

* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Kidnapped by the lustful demon Sai Taisui.
* HappilyMarried: In a loving and stable marriage with the King, until her abduction.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mister Kou and his family]]

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: As the result of lavishly entertaining Xuanzang's party, he gets his home raided by robbers, who also kill him. Thankfully, Wukong fixes all this.
[[/folder]]