The book Journey to the West is a fantastic and widely influential book that more people need to read. The book is one of the origins of the five-person band. I am a fan of manga, anime, and jrpgs. I have always understood the five-person band dynamic, even writing a story with the trope but never reading the origin. The Journey to the West a story I always had just assumed was only about Wukong the Monkey King. My knowledge about the monkey king comes mostly from Dragonball and other anime and video game mediums. The book, The Journey to the West has a substantial impact on eastern literature that should be a study in school to understand eastern cultural themes in written media.
Five-person band; if you have never heard of it, you have seen it in all forms of media. You have the leader, the lancer, the heart, the brains’, and the muscle. Their roles are pretty simple to understand. The leader is the leader of the group and typically the glue that keeps the people together. The leader can be a boring character but is unique in the company surrounding him. The leader’s specialty is giving the other characters a reason to follow under his command. He is the chosen one to save the world or take the role when no one else could or would.
The lancer is the opposite of the leader. The lancer is the character who exposes the faults of the leader. If your leader plays by the rules, the lancer does not. The lancer usually starts as an enemy and later joins the leader’s group. Take Captain America and Ironman, for example, or if anime tickles your fancy, Goku, and Vegeta. Also, the lancer is the most likely to betray the group and eventually return to the fold. The lancer is the cool guy in the group and usually a fan favorite.
The heart is the group’s emotion and, just like the leader, helps the group stay together. Typically the female member of the team if the group is primarily male. This character is the group’s moral compass; when the characters do something wrong, this is the character says something against it. The heart is the most passionate and emotional character, but that does not mean they have to be a reasonable or amicable person. Sometimes this character is given a dark past or draws lines where their morals end.
The brain is the smart guy of the group, and if you figure that out, you might be the brains of friends. If something needs an explanation, this is the character to do so. They usually have a weaker constitution than the rest of the team, especially if the story involves combat. Although this character usually shows growth through physical feats, when he cannot rely on his intelligence.
Finally, the muscle, also known as the big guy, is the last character of the five-person band. This character is physically the most robust character and not much else. Due to this archetype’s simplicity, they are free to experiment with to make it more interesting. They could be given a unique character trait or fill two roles simultaneously.
Playing with these character roles is one of the best ways to set your story apart from others. The Journey to the West, being one of the origins of the five-person band, does not have the brain’s character, and that is an intentional part of the story. You can have characters play more than one role in a story. We have all heard about the big guy with a heart of gold. Some stories have more than one character role shown or have parts only displayed in temporary situations. That is all to say, whenever you write your story with your cast of characters, shamble the rules and have fun.