Welcome to the dreamscape.

Technology deprived MK will probably manipulate Red Son into inventing electricity (and video games) 500+ years too early

oh trust me anon, he will!

He will write down everything with very confusing explanation what the technology do and illustration of it, then give it to Red son😭

The list is very long btw

Ok on this skeet of yours bsky(.)app/profile/skulltrot(.)bsky(.)social/post/3ldgwt3e5ns2i can I ask you to elaborate on what you mean when you say that wukong "couldn't have known"?

yeah!! bluesky's character limit makes it hard to be detailed lol

Basically, from what we know in the present Macaque obviously resents Wukong for a lot of his past behavior. How reckless he was, his carelessness, his ego/hubris/selfishness, etc.

He also felt put down around Wukong. Inferior and inadequate. In Shadowplay he's always placing Wukong above him. The way he talks about himself is very negative, etc.

That wasn't something that came out of nowhere, in fact it seems to have always been present in his character (or at least, we as the audience do not see how that mentality came to develop).

Macaque's resentment toward Wukong's behavior has been present ever since the moment they have under the tree at the beach, which is chronologically the earliest moment/memory we see of those two. We watch throughout the flashbacks in season 4 and in A Lifetime of Past Mistakes how Wukong's neglect of Macaque's wants and anxieties eventually causes him to snap during their argument at the mountain.

But despite that resentment clearly always being there, one of Macaque's worst flaws back then was how complacent he was to Wukong (and to at least the rest of the brotherhood). He placed him at such a high pedestal and put so much of his faith and trust in him that he let it completely trump over his own autonomy and sense of self-agency. He didn't make choices for himself, not because Wukong was controlling (they do not make a point to show us this so I think it's safe to assume that was not the case here), but because he didn't let himself.

When he makes jabs at Wukong under the tree, Wukong does brush over them a bit, but he does explain himself and is completely honest about his motives and desires. So I don't know that I'd say he's not taking them seriously here as much as he's oblivious to the significance of Macaque saying this is.

Ultimately, and most importantly, when Wukong says this Macaque accepts his words and it does cheer him up. The subject is dropped.

He has an issue with Wukong leaving (what we can assume is somewhat frequent both with Macaque's behavior but also with context from jttw itself), but doesn't put his foot down about it. This behavior of Wukong's is self-proclaimed for their future together. A promise that one day it will end. It bothers him, but if it's not permanent then it's fine, probably, it's Wukong he's thinking about so of course it will be. They have the same priorities, afterall (safe home and eternity together).

When Macaque is anxious about going against the Jade Emperor, Wukong tells him they'll be together.

In this instance, Macaque does attempt to continue the conversation about his doubts and worries, but Wukong isn't a good listener and unintentionally ignores Macaque. Here, Macaque doesn't even try to get Wukong's attention back, he just accepts it and gives up.

And we know Wukong ignoring him isn't conscious because once the conversation dies down, he notices that Macaque shut down and immediately goes to comfort him and reassure him.

Macaque doesn't take this moment where he does have Wukong's attention to try restating his concerns. He just accepts Wukong's words.

So, all that being said, from Wukong's perspective, it seems like Macaque is more anxious/worried about Wukong being gone for long periods of time and going against bigger demons, but he's successfully making Macaque feel better about these things and therefore it isn't a huge problem. Macaque never puts his foot down or insists his feelings further once Wukong attempts to address them, so he has no way to actually be aware that they are far more significant to Macaque than he's making known.

Macaque is not being very direct with him about it.

But we the audience know that Macaque didn't ever really feel better about these things. His anxiety/worries don't stop. His agitation and feelings of inadequacy were actively growing. We're also watching these scenes with the knowledge of how their relationship ends, which only adds to that. Wukong does not have that context though.

With all that info, to me at least, it seems obvious that Wukong isn't entirely aware of Macaque's insecurities, which is eventually what leads to him snapping under the mountain.

To me, it's safe to assume with Wukong's reaction this is the first time Macaque has ever spoken up like this. It's deserved, Macaque is saying his piece, he's not wrong, but AWFUL timing on his behalf for this because Wukong is definitely not in a mental space to be hearing any of this after getting thrown in prison with a mountain on his back.

To him, Macaque's harsher comments, such as calling him an "obsessive-demon," something that clearly hurt his feelings...

...and his self-destructive and violent behavior probably felt like it came out of no where. 0 to 100. Not to mention having that all be so aggressively blown up in your face is probably very hurtful. We don't really know what happened after their fight under the mountain until their fight in jttw, so it's hard for me to actually talk about this from Wukong's perspective, but I'm gonna assume based on how he was acting during the little bit of it we saw during season 5 that Macaque was acting more or less how he does in season 1 but worse. Insults, degrading Wukong, etc. That's... a lot of ways for your best friend to start treating you when you hadn't been fully aware there was an issue. Especially if theirs a lack of desire to talk it out, which it seems like was the case during their fight. There might have been build up to that, but we don't know.

I'm sure now Wukong is much more self-aware and has the hindsight to understand what went wrong, at least to some amount. He obviously understands that Macaque felt abandoned by him and knows that saying "You always did have a sidekick kind of vibe," would get under his skin in season 3, implying some knowledge of his feelings of inadequacy. But all the way back then? He probably didn't!

That's not to say he's not responsible for hurting Macaque, it's just a communication blunder on Macaque's behalf that contributed to the already unstable foundations of their friendship. Another tragic thing thrown into their tragedy.

Speaking of, on Macaque's side there are things Wukong says in their fight under the mountain here that imply issues with his own feelings in regards to Macaque's behavior and I would kill for them to get into Wukong's perspective of their relationship a little more because so far the amount of information we have on Macaque's feelings greatly outweighs his.

I want to point out that it seems Macaque also becomes more aware of this with hindsight. I don't think it's a coincidence that after essentially reliving their fight after the mountain and hearing Wukong blow up at him for never coming to his rescue he spends the entire next season literally going out of his way to help Wukong whenever he reasonably can. That's kind of an entirely separate tangent though.

Overall, the point is...

He ignored Macaque, and Macaque let him.

Sooo, Wukong took him for granted, didn't listen or pay attention to him as much as he should have (because if he did, he might have noticed before it was too late), but because Macaque never put in the effort to assert himself and simply let Wukong guide them wherever. Allowed him to make choices for him. Wukong most likely didn't even know that those issues were present (or as prevalent/problematic).

He didn't know Macaque felt ignored. He didn't know Macaque felt pushed aside. He didn't know Macaque felt insecure and lesser. And to me personally, I feel like someone missing something like that with someone they care about is very unfortunate, but ultimately it is Macaque's fault for never making sure Wukong was aware of how he felt. Monkey King's got a lot of powers and reading minds is not one of them.

We don't know for sure how Wukong would have reacted back then if Macaque was more assertive and willing to be more of an opposing force than he was. Or simply more open and vulnerable. We can maybe assume Wukong would act like he did under the mountain considering how Macaque reacted to it like that kind of outburst was typical. But maybe it would've never gotten to that point in the first place if they both addressed it early on. Who knows.