| Bull Demon King | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Other Names |
Ox King, Niú Mówáng |
|
First Appearance |
Journey into the West |
|
Created by |
Wu Cheng'en |
Origin[]
Bull Demon King, also translated as the Ox King and known as his self-proclaimed title the Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven, is a fictional character from the 16th century novel Journey to the West. He is the estranged-husband of the Princess Iron Fan and father of Red Boy. He is a demon king originally-based in the "Palm leaf Cave/Grotto", up on "Jade Cloud Mountain", with his wife, before betraying his wife for a younger demoness, Princess Jade-Countenance, a female Huli jing, of the "Sky-Scraping Cave" on "Accumulated-Thunder Mountain".
In the early chapters of the novel, he becomes sworn brothers with Sun Wukong and six other demon kings, the Saurian Demon King, the Single-Horned Demon King, the Roc Demon King, the Lion Spirit King, the Macaque Spirit King and the Snub-nosed monkey Spirit Kin. He is ranked the most senior of the seven, and styles himself "Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven". He marries Princess Iron Fan and has a son, Red Boy, with her.
He appears again in a later chapter when the protagonists arrive at the Flaming Mountains along their journey. Sun Wukong disguises himself as Bull Demon King to deceive Princess Iron Fan and takes away her Banana Leaf Fan. The real Bull Demon King visits Princess Iron Fan, who then realizes she has been tricked. Bull Demon King disguises himself as Zhu Bajie to trick Sun Wukong and retrieves the fan.
In the ensuing fight against Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie, Bull Demon King reveals his true form, a giant white bull, and attempts to charge towards his opponents. Heavenly forces, including Devaraja Li and his third son, Prince Nezha show up, with orders from the Buddha and the Jade Emperor to capture the Bull Demon King. When Prince Nezha fails to vanquish Bull Demon King after repeatedly beheading him (as the Bull Demon King also knew the arts of the 72 Transformations, he attaches one of his flaming wheels to the Bull Demon King's horns--horrifically burning him and causing him great pain--whilst Devaraja Li uses an "imp-reflecting mirror" to prevent the Bull Demon King from shapeshifting and escaping. After the Bull Demon King is captured, they brings him to Heaven to let the Jade Emperor decide his fate.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Journey into the West
Notes[]
- Bowser, the main antagonist of the Mario video game franchise, was inspired by the Ox-King. Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that he first envisioned Bowser as an ox, basing him on the Ox-King from the 1960 anime film Alakazam the Great.
- In the Dragon Ball franchise, the Bull Demon King is referred to as the Ox King, is a human with incredible physical attributes, and is the father of the Iron Fan Princess instead of her husband, who is known as Chi-Chi.