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Ben “Hawg” Zhou (56)
Project: Comedy film (Western Road Trip)
Known as: Hawg
Real name: Benjamin Zhou
Group affiliation: Trip’s protectors.
Physical description: Hawg is mixed race, but mostly appears Chinese American. He is very large. He carries a lot of extra weight, though some of it is hidden muscle (he is very strong). He has a notably short nose that is turned up at the end. He is not in any way handsome but he carries himself with confidence.
Personality: Hawg is id on legs. He is either eating, thinking about eating, pursuing a love interest, or thinking about pursuing a love interest (and combinations thereof). Gating his success in these pursuits is his laziness, which is prodigious. Hawg wears his vices on his sleeve.
This is not to say he is not without his good qualities. He is tolerant and open-minded, and never pre-judges anyone based upon their appearance or physical qualities. He also has protective instincts and once he decides you are a friend, he is loyal. He has a soft spot for anyone he perceives as weak (he is the sort to walk through traffic to save a kitten). Despite the vices he carries, how his appearance causes him to be treated by others, and how he has thus far seemed pretty unlucky in life, he maintains a positive outlook. He believes things will generally work out and is not given to extremes of emotion when things look bleak.
History: Born and raised in a small town in Texas, Hawg stood out from his peers at an early age. Both sides of his family had lived in town for generations, so while his apparent race made him unusual for rural Texas, it wasn’t an ongoing issue (especially once he started thumping anyone who made it one). He was unusually large and strong, but his husky body type sometimes led to ridicule (at least, until he thumped the offender; at the same time he owed it by introducing himself as “Hawg”). His ugly face probably got him the most grief (at least, until…well, you probably note the trend by now).
The challenge was he had a nose for trouble. When it came to eating or wooing, he tended to push his luck (you wouldn’t want to leave him unsupervised around a wedding cake). His optimistic outlook largely made him a loveable scamp, at least until he got bigger (both physically and by way of his infractions) and started to get into a few too many fights. Combined by his laziness (a sin in rural Texas), both his family and the people in town had become a bit strained by his presence.
It was unclear how much enlisting was his idea, but Hawg soon found himself in the Navy. He looked forward to the adventure, seeing the world and its people, and sampling exotic foods. While still fundamentally lazy, he managed to rouse himself enough to be generally adequate in his duties, and it appeared as if he’d have a long life and career in the Navy.
This went south after a drunken evening with a captain’s daughter. Though he often approached the line of inappropriate (and sometimes step over), he would never force himself on someone. The daughter was clear on this but the captain angry confronted Hawg and insulted Hawg’s ugliness. Predictably, a thumping and court martial followed.
After the Navy and time served, Hawg became a drifter. Trip and Sun come across him on their journey. He was working as a farm hand for room and board but even though Hawg did a substantial amount of work the farmer was concerned she was losing money as a result of how much Hawg ate. Trip both takes a liking to Hawg and senses the farmer’s plight (she is reticent to dismiss someone for eating too much), so he invites Hawg to travel with them. Sun is angry at this – he considers Hawg an idiot. Hawg is rather jealous of Sun (it seems that Hawg’s allotment of luck was awarded to Sun), but at the same time admired him and called him “brother.” Ultimately Sun senses that Hawg will be a loyal friend to Trip (he has a knack for such things) and Trip gives Sun a headache with his lectures on how they should help Hawg, so Sun relents and Hawg travels with them.
Role in the narrative: Hawg is a jolly fellow and lovable loser and will offer some comic relief. He is more than willing to let Sun take care of any problems they encounter, but at the same time he ends up being pretty handy to have around. At the same time, he is almost as likely to get them into trouble as get them out.
Abilities: Hawg is a great fighter (not the equal of Sun, though, who is great at everything). During his time in the Navy and his wanderings, he’s picked up quite a few skills (e.g., he could fix White Dragon Horse if necessary). He would win any eating contest he entered.
Inspirations: In Journey to the West, Zhu Bajie, or Pigsy, is one of Tripitaka’s protectors. As with all the characters in this project, I had his Wikipedia entry open while writing the above; so these are very directly inspired by the original characters. You probably see echoes of Hawg in many characters you’ve encountered – which either shows the influence of Journey to the West or how it includes common elements of many stories.
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