Black Myth Wukong: Zhu Bajie's Original Form Concept Art and CG Model | 黑神话悟空：猪八戒天蓬元帅原形和 CG 模型：由yin zhiyang 和桂文龙创作

Bajie originally held the title of Tiānpéng Yuánshuài 天篷元帅; "Marshal of the Heavenly Canopy" / "Admiral of the Heavenly Fleet", commander-in-chief of 80,000 celestial sailors.

Music: 戒网 (Forbidden Web)

Concept Art by: yin zhi yang

CGI model by: Gui Wenlong

Newly released concept art and CGI model of Zhu Bajie's original form by artists of "Black Myth Wukong." We only see this form briefly but it showed Zhu Bajie (or Pigsy as known in some other "Journey to the West" translations) in his original prime as the handsome and resplendent Marshal of the Heavenly Canopy: in charge of 80,000 celestial sailors.

 In his old self- prior to his punishment to be reduced as a pig Bajie was a formidable commander. He is depicted in a sumptuous souzi armor with mountain scales and half draped in green silk robe with apricot accents.

THE OG BOOK BAJIE FROM "JOURNEY TO THE WEST"

In the original version of "Journey to the West" Bajie was a proud albeit lustful commander of the heavenly court with many vices. While he was prominent in court he was often very handsy with the female servants of the court and was so brazen as to even try to molest Chang'e (the Chinese goddess of the Moon.) Following an attempt to seduce her while he was drunk, she reported this to the Jade Emperor and thus he was banished to Earth and forced to live in the form as a hideous pig. In popular retellings, as part of this punishment Zhu Bajie was sentenced to a thousand lives where each life would end in a love tragedy. 

Just like Sun Wukong was made to be a mirror of an impulsive, unrestrained daredevil hothead meant to exemplify the undisciplined and primal abrasive pride that exists within every one, Bajie was meant to be a mirror of mankind's fleshly vices: he's designed to be lazy, lustful, gluttonous, and greedy to show how it can lead us astray. 

In the novel after he was banished to Earth he eventually met Tang Sanzang- the Tang monk, and his disciple Sun Wukong. Sanzang then inducted him into a disciple and gave him the Buddhist name Bajie 八戒, which literally meant "eight restraints,"  which reminded him to resist the myriad temptations of the flesh, including lust, laziness, gluttony, and avarice. Zhu 猪 simply meant "Swine." In the novel he acted as the comedic relief of the disciples and was often portrayed as a bumbling buffoon who can't keep his big mouth shut and was the laziest and most lustful and gluttonous of the loveable ensemble. He was also extremely gullible and was able to be repeatedly fooled by cunning spirits who disguised themselves as gorgeous women. 

However he was able to at times to be more cunning than he seemed and be a bit of a Falstaff or Zagłoba. Despite these moments, he was a character that was never afforded much seriousness, which~ intriguingly and unpredictably, was the exact direction Game Science went with their own permutation of Bajie's story in their retelling.

BLACK MYTH'S BAJIE

Made by: @ShosinnJU

Self made Black Myth Wukong figurine for Bajie by talented Tiktok vlogger

However Game Science took a radically different approach in their characterization of our Pigsy. He still retained a lot of his expected old qualities when we met him in Chapter 3 but there are some differences that will diverge more in the ensuing Chapters. In terms of external design instead of a tall and corpulent laughing stock Bajie in Black Myth was depicted as very tiny. He's also more a portable little boar than pig- man and with a lot more edge than one might expect. 

In this version Bajie seemed to be quite a bit wiser and more skeptical and was able to smell a lot of the traps and impersonators before they even revealed their true villainy in boss fights. What's more he's gruffer in a world weary way and also more responsible, treating our protagonist (*a larval duplicate of Wukong himself) like a nephew and was never far away from offering doses of wise uncle advises. 

Music: Listen Not

The true shocking twist to his origin was revealed when he confessed that the true reason he was banished was in fact because he spied the Jade Emperor in adultery with Chang'e, and was thus demoted to his accursed pig form and forced to live out a wretched existence, to want to be loved but have it turn to dust in cyclical fashion. By the end of Chapter 4 his backstory was revealed in stark details in a heartbreaking episode after he confronted the spider sisters.

It had turned out that Bajie had a far more tragic past in this retelling. In the cinematic cut scene was saw him in his original self as a Marshal of the Heavenly Canopy and his foolhardy pursuit of Chang'e. However we also saw him stumbling upon another beauty. After a brief charmed moment shared between the two serendipitous strangers, Bajie regained his previous ardor and raced after Chang'e. Only to find the Jade Emperor himself with her. Having been caught in his adultery the Jade Emperor then struck Bajie down to Earth and deformed him into a hideous pig. 

And it was later to Bajie's bitter realization that the beauty he stumbled before in Heaven had followed him to the mortal realms as well. This bit of context is rooted in the Chinese language, but the word for 猪 "Pig" Zhu is pronounced the same way as 蛛 "Spider" which is also Zhu, with identical pronunciation. Upon hearing that the Marshal had been banished to suffer to live out his existence as a Zhu- the beauty decided to follow her love and also be demoted to the mortal realm as a Zhu. Only to found out that instead of a pig, as he was, she had been made into a spider. 

Chapter 4 then became a heartbreaking dive into that fated love that was also fated to never be~ as wretched as Bajie's wretched existence. In terms of storytelling it was an completely unexpected angle, but was shockingly full of pathos and was lauded by both domestic and international audiences abroad. And it was in this context, after a dramatic confrontation with Bajie that for the briefest of moments through a magical mirror, that Bajie saw a reflection of his lost humanity of him at his prime and broke down in anguish. Some times the cruelest thing is a reminder of what was lost in vivid colors, that could never be again.

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Concept Art by: yin zhi yang