Saturday, September 20, 2008

Demon King of Confusion

Demon King of Confusion a character featured within the famed Chinese novel Journey to the West. This demon king is the first opponent that Sun Wukong would face off within the novel - in which had been in chapter 2. When Wukong had returned from his celestial teacher in chapter 2, his fellow monkeys had told him that the Demon King of Confusion had taken over their Water Curtain Cave and generally ordered every monkey to do as he pleased. After Wukong reached the demon king's cave, the king simply laughed at the boastful ways of Wukong and headed out in full armor. This is what could be seen when the demon king appeared before Wukong:

''*On his head he wore a dark golden helmet,
Glistening in the sun.
*On his body he wore a black silk gown'',
Flapping in the breeze.
*''Below that he wore black metal armour,
Girt with a leather belt''.
*''On his feet he wore patterned boots,
As splendid as a field?marshal's''.
*''His waist was ten feet round,
And his height was thirty cubits''.
*''In his hand he held a sword,
With gleaming point and edge''.
*''He called himself the Demon King of Confusion
And his appearance was truly dazzling.''

Throughout the full battle between the demon king and Wukong, things seemed to be going very badly for the demon. At first, the demon sought to defeat Sun Wukong in hand to hand combat, fearing that he would look foolish defeating a smaller, unarmed, opponent with a weapon, but he then reneged his decision and grabbed the sword after his ribs had been shattered. However, Sun Wukong was too swift for the sword and formed a spell to release over three hundred monkeys; every monkey continuously smacked the demon in every area possible. In time, the demon was completely wounded and Wukong seized this chance to grab hold of his very large sword and send it crashing down atop the demon's head; thus cleaving his head into two - effectively putting an end to his life. He then ordered the monkeys to exterminate the followers of the Demon King of Confusion, rescue the captured monkeys, and restore the mountain to its natural order.

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