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.
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."