Who Is Nezha (Nata)?
The boy warrior god with three heads and six arms
Nezha, the Third Prince
Nezha is a boy warrior god from Chinese mythology and fiction, the third son of Heavenly King Li, the Pagoda Bearer. In Journey to the West he is called Nezha the Third Prince and appears as one of the strongest commanders of Heaven's army.
When the vanguard, the Mighty Spirit God, is beaten at the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, Nezha takes the field. He transforms into a form with three heads and six arms and attacks Wukong with six weapons, including a sword, a blade, a rope, and a fire wheel. Wukong takes the same form and they fight evenly, but while Nezha is distracted by a double that Wukong made from one of his hairs, the real Wukong strikes his left arm from behind and Nezha retreats.
Later in Journey to the West, his backstory is told: after a quarrel with his father he gave up his body, and the Buddha brought him back to life with a new body made from lotus flowers. He is also a star character in Investiture of the Gods.
Episodes featuring this character2
NEWEpisode 4
Hired by Heaven, Stuck in the StablesGreat Sage Equal to Heaven
Invited to Heaven, Wukong is made "Bimawen," keeper of the Heavenly Horses. He works day and night without sleep, then learns the job is so low it doesn't even have a rank. Furious, he goes home to Flower-Fruit Mountain and names himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. He drives off Heaven's army, and Nezha is the first to call him by that name. But what Heaven finally gives him is a rank with a big name and nothing else.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 6
72 Disguises. One Hunter. No Escape?Sun Wukong vs. Erlang Shen
A hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers can't catch Sun Wukong, so Heaven calls in its greatest hunter: Erlang Shen. Sparrow? He becomes a hawk. Fish? He becomes the bird that eats fish. Whatever Wukong turns into, Erlang sees through it. Then, at the end of the shape-shifting duel, a blow nobody saw coming drops from Heaven's Gate.
19 pages