Has Zhu Bajie’s strength been intentionally weakened

After Marshal Tianpeng was reincarnated, he became a laughingstock? Many people may feel unfair about Zhu Bajie. In his past life, he was also a great general in the heavenly court, but on the way to obtain scriptures, he was mercilessly humiliated by various monsters. Can you bear it? Did the author intentionally weaken Zhu Bajie’s strength? In fact, according to Zhu Bajie’s original setting, he was a man who could suppress Erlang Shen. That is to say, Zhu Bajie’s peak period should be able to score 55 with Sun Wukong, but later he basically lost all his ability points. Is the impact of throwing the wrong tire really that great? It’s also very hard to rely solely on Monkey Brother.
In the eyes of many people, Zhu Bajie is a lazy and lazy idle person who has made little contribution to the team of scholars. Instead, he constantly thinks about how to split the team and return to Gao Laozhuang to live his carefree life. Not only that, Zhu Bajie’s strength is also extremely poor in Journey to the West. Not to mention, he couldn’t defeat Sun Wukong. When he was in Liusha River, he had a big battle with Sha Monk, but he almost didn’t lose. If it weren’t for Sun Wukong’s help, he would have really lost face.
At the same time, on the journey to retrieve Buddhist scriptures, Zhu Bajie’s behavior was also unbearable to look directly at. If he couldn’t defeat Kuimu Wolf, it was fine. Later on, during the battle with King Nanshan, even the little demons under the leopard spirit were able to fight him equally. It can be seen that Zhu Bajie did not disappoint his Dharma name: Wu Neng (Incompetent)! So is Zhu Bajie really such a despicable person? Has he always been like this?
Actually, it’s not like that. When the topic of Journey to the West first emerged, Zhu Bajie’s combat power was far beyond what can be compared now. To be frank, he could easily challenge Sun Wukong and overpower Erlang Shen. Seeing this, many people may say that the editor is bragging. Alright, let’s speak with facts. In the Yuan Dynasty drama, there is a description of the battle between Zhu Bajie and Sun Wukong:
(Xingyun) That pig spirit, do you dare to confront me? (Zhuyun) What are you afraid of betting on fighting? (Doing fighting) (Erlang sings)
【 Malan Er 】 Guo’s arrogance is not displayed, while Sun Xingzhe’s muscles are weak. The more the spirit of the battle reaches three thousand, the harder it is to distinguish the demon throwing little saint.
Left and right divine generals, quickly lead the fine dog and bite the demon army. (Doing Fighting Science)
Did you see that Zhu Bajie here has full firepower? Not only does he not fall behind in one-on-one battles with Sun Wukong, but he even surpasses him in Shadow Covenant. Even Erlang Shen, who was grazing nearby, dared not underestimate him. Before the battle, he sent out the left and right divine generals and the howling heavenly dog. From this detail, it is not difficult to see the importance that Erlang Shen places on Pigsy, which indirectly demonstrates her strength!
So, how did such a powerful Zhu Bajie fall to the point where he couldn’t even defeat the little demon? In fact, all of this is thanks to Mr. Wu Cheng’en. Before the appearance of the novel “Journey to the West”, the protagonist of the original Yuan Dynasty drama “Journey to the West” was not Sun Wukong, but Tang Monk. So, following the choice of putting the protagonist first, Sun Wukong became the protagonist, and of course, his strength was the strongest (at least in the pilgrimage team). In order to highlight the extraordinary power of Monkey King, Zhu Bajie became tragic and became a negative example to highlight Sun Wukong’s wisdom and martial arts.
So, Zhu Bajie could have single handedly defeated Sun Wukong and the Erlang God, why can’t he even defeat the little demon now? The main reason is that the protagonist of “Journey to the West” has changed, and Zhu Bajie has suffered an unjustified disaster!