Sun Wukong

Template:Character InfoboxSun Wukong is a Faunus from the Kingdom of Vacuo, who later moved to Mistral and made his first appearance in "The Stray." His weapon is a collapsible staff that separates into two pairs of nunchucks made of guns called Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang.

Appearance

Sun is a tan-skinned boy with short spiky light-blonde hair and dark-gray eyes. He wears two red wrist bracers and an open loose-collared white jacket with no shirt underneath, displaying his muscular abs. He also wears blue cargo pants tied up with a white belt. He wears white bandages on his legs and has a chain hanging from the belt loop on the right side of his pants.

He sports black and yellow sneakers and wears a twisted golden necklace around his neck, with a round pendant bearing his monkey emblem. As a result of his Faunus lineage, he has a long prehensile monkey tail the same color as his hair. Sun also hides his weapon under his shirt on his back.

Personality

In his first appearance, Sun is shown to be fun-loving and mischievous, with little regard for the law - stowing away on a ship, thanking the crew for the ride during his escape, throwing a banana peel in a detective's face, and stealing apples. He has a lot of self-confidence, referring to himself as a "great stowaway." He is also a bit of a flirt towards Blake.

In conversation, Sun is very laid-back and casual. He is also kind and patient, willing to listen to Blake's story and waiting for her to do so for nearly two days, bearing with her "small talk and weird looks." He is not afraid to give his opinion and has a dislike for those who regard themselves as "holier than thou," or who "use force to get whatever they want", such as the White Fang.

Sun also seems to be willing to help others, regardless of whether he is asked or not, even if he barely knows them. In his second appearance, he goes out of his way to help Blake,  he had just met and barely knew. This quality is further demonstrated when he readily volunteers to help Team RWBY with their investigation, despite both Blake and Ruby stating their opposition to his involvement.

Sun is seen not to be fond of formal clothing and heavily dislikes it. He pointed out that in Vacuo they aren't seen wearing such clothing. However, Blake said later on to Sun that he looked good in a tie.

Powers and Abilities

Sun has been shown to be quite athletic, relying on parkour for mobility. He is capable of jumping large distances and can utilize his tail as an extra appendage. It is likely that much of this comes from his Simian-Faunus nature. He was able to leap off a building, land on Roman, and then perform a front handspring and a front-flip before coming to a stop. Sun is capable of jumping large distances between cars and still being able to move without losing his balance. Sun may also possess night vision, which is a common trait amongst Faunus. In "Painting the Town..." he manages to find and escape out a window with Blake after she cut the power at a White Fang meeting.

Sun seems to be highly adept in martial arts, able to fend off many members of the White Fang single-handedly without taking a hit and using his tail as an extra appendage during combat. He also seems to be exceptionally skilled with his weapon, which has two forms. In its staff form, every hit triggers a small explosion and it is able to deflect projectiles and blasts while spun quickly in a defensive stance. Sun is also able to emit a shockwave by slamming his staff to the ground. Sun's use of his staff is similar to the Japanese martial art Bōjutsu, which is a form of martial arts that uses a Bō staff.

While his staff is in its secondary Gunchucks form, he is able to fire shots at his enemies from both weapons simultaneously, with bullets similar to those found in Ember Celica. This lets him keep a steady barrage on his opponent with at least one weapon at any given time without losing the ability to defend. He appears to have above-average strength, being able to send multiple White Fang members flying with a sweep of his staff. This may be attributed to his Faunus heritage. He also has above average speed and endurance, such as being able to run constantly without showing signs of fatigue, as was the same in is fight with Roman. Sun's use of his Gunchucks is similar to the martial arts Eskrima.

Sun may have the ability to distinguish a disguised Faunus from a normal Human as he is seen winking at Blake in particular when he passed by her during his escape from authorities. This is later backed up when he says that he knew she would look better without the bow, implying he knew she was a Faunus, despite it being hidden by the bow. This may be a trait most Faunus have, relating to a heightened sense of smell or animal intuition.

Sun is also a very skilled climber, claiming to climb trees all the time and having done so to reach Team RWBY's dorm room, which is implied to be several stories above the ground. 

Sun's Semblance is first seen in "Painting the Town...," where he emits two spectral clones of himself. One of the clones appears to be armed with his staff weapon, while the other had no weapon. The spectral clones also appear to explode on contact with an opponent.

History

Background

Sun was born in the kingdom of Vacuo, then moved to Mistral to attend Haven Academy. He, along with the rest of Team SSSN, traveled to Vale to compete in the Vytal Festival.

RWBY

Arriving in Vale

Sun winking at Blake

Sun Wukong stows away on a ship, and escapes, after being noticed. He begins hanging on a post when two cops demand that he comes down. Sun responds by throwing a banana peel at the cop before running off, winking at Blake Belladonna as he does so.

Team RWBY chases after him at Weiss Schnee's urging, but he eludes them. Weiss then makes several negative comments about him, to Blake's frustration. That night, at Beacon Academy, Sun runs into Blake after she runs away from her friends, and takes her out to drink.

Later, while having a drink with Blake, he listens to her story of being a White Fang operative. While walking together, Blake begins to express her doubts that the group were behind the Dust robberies, so Sun suggests a way of proving it, noting he heard of a large Dust shipment coming in from Atlas on a Schnee Dust Company freighter.

They hold a stakeout at the Vale Port. Eventually, the White Fang, aided by Roman Torchwick, arrives to seize the shipment. Blake rushes in to go after Roman, and Sun jumps in when Roman gets the upper hand. Despite fighting him together, Blake and Sun are not able to take down Roman, who eventually flees when Penny arrives and takes out a large number of Bullheads.

Sun is with Blake, Penny, and Ruby Rose when Weiss and Yang Xiao Long arrive. After Weiss reprimands Blake for confiding in Sun rather than them, she informs Sun that she is still wary of him.

Second Semester

Outside Beacon's dining hall, Sun is talking to Neptune Vasilias about how he met Blake and his fight with the White Fang. He also lets slip that Blake is a Faunus, but tells him that it is a secret, and not the kind he can tell Scarlet when his back is turned; especially as he thinks his new friends are the coolest, and is excited to introduce him.

As Sun and Neptune enter the room, Sun seems overly excited by the chaos caused by the food fight between teams RWBY and JNPR, while Neptune seems more shocked. After Ruby lands the finishing move of the fight, Sun comments that he "loves these guys," but Neptune seems more annoyed as he was caught in the crossfire and covered in soda.

Later on, Sun and Neptune enter a library, where Team RWBY and JNPR are present. Neptune comments on how libraries are meant for reading; and while Lie Ren agrees with his statement, Sun quickly tells him to be quiet. Near the end of the game Team RWBY is occupied with, he speaks with Blake on how he never knew she was into board games; but then she suddenly leaves, much to his confusion.

Sun is seen eavesdropping on Team RWBY's plan, where he is hanging from a tree. Despite Blake telling him that their situation is only going to be done as a team and Ruby not wanting him to get involved, Sun objects, saying it is better to have friends involved in their plans, which he points out as the reason he brought Neptune. He is then paired with Blake to investigate the White Fang by Ruby.

Sun is later seen chatting with the rest of Team SSSN outside of Beacon Academy. He was waiting outside to invite Blake to the dance, but she harshly turns him down, saying she wouldn't want to waste her time with something so stupid.

Sun, alongside Neptune, enter the ballroom which is still being decorated by Yang and Weiss. Sun asks them if they are ready for dress-up, with each girl giving a different response. When Weiss asks the two of them what they will wear, Sun says that he would be wearing his normal clothing, bringing up that in Vacou they don't wear ties. He then asks if Blake is still acting all "Blake-y," with Ruby having no idea what to do and Weiss agreeing.

The next day at the dance, Sun is adjusting and complaining about his tie, with Blake to comment on how good he looks. Sun then escorts Blake to the ballroom, and later dances with her, after Yang had danced with Blake as well.

Sun is seen dancing with Blake throughout several parts of the episode, where the two are seen to be enjoying themselves.

After Team RWBY had attained their mission, Sun and Neptune meet up with them, with Team JNPR having arrived only moments earlier. Sun informs them that they will be shadowing a crime specialist, bringing up on how there is always destruction with Team RWBY and it would be a great time to explore the kingdom peacefully and then depart as they head their separate ways.

Sun is briefly seen alongside Neptune during the Attack on Vale, and is seen during the aftermath as well.

Trivia

• Sun Wukong is based on the classical character of the same name from the Chinese novel Journey to the West, one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature, published in the late 16th century.
  • Sun's weapons, Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang, also shares many similarities, including its name, with the magical transforming staff wielded by the classical character.
  • Sun Wukong is normally pronounced as "Soon Woo-koh-ng," though this, like with most Asian names, is not the case in RWBY, which is similar to how non-Asian speakers mispronounce it.
  • Son Goku is the Japanese name for Sun Wukong.
  • Sun's semblance appears to be a form of the original's Shen Wai Shen Fa (Body Outside of Body) technique, allowing the original Sun Wukong to transform his hairs into fighting clones of himself. In "Painting the Town...," Sun slams his hands together and from a sphere of light, two light clones then emerge.
  • Sun Wukong identified Blake as a Faunus right away. This may be a reference to the original Wukong's skill named the huǒyǎn-jīnjīng (火眼金睛, literally "fiery-eyes golden-gaze"), which enabled him to see through disguises and illusions.
• He is the first Faunus to appear without any visible animal traits on his head, as well as the first Faunus seen whose heritage is a tail.
• As his neck-chain is part of his design template and not an add-on (i.e. the chain on his pants), the accessory is not affected by gravity as it should be, as emphasized when he is shown hanging upside-down. However, this is fixed on his new model for Volume 2.
• In the credits of "Black and White," Wukong's name is misspelled "Wukon."
• According to a tweet by Monty and the DVD Commentary for Volume 1, he described Sun to his concept artist in one word: "ABS"
• Michael Jones and Kerry Shawcross, the voice actors of Sun and Neptune Vasilias respectively, have made it official that the ship name for their characters is "Sea Monkeys."