Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-108.16.112.187-20130907033728/@comment-12744597-20131018230751

Honestly, I see Ren as being very reminiscent of Genjo Sanzo from Journey to the West, or more specifically, the interpretation of him in the anime Gensomaden Saiyuki. While he probably isn't any kind of priest, he's definitely the stoic of the group, to the point of pretty much dismissing the craziness everyone else gets up to without a thought. His machine pistols are also rather reminiscent of the weapon Sanzo had in that anime, a 'banishing gun', which was basically a blessed revolver.

Perhaps coincidentally, when you think of Ren as Sanzo, the rest of the comparisons actually come pretty easily. Nora is very much like Goku, with her endless energy, bottomless stomach, and almost limitless enthusiasm and optomism. She's also Ren's childhood friend, mimicking how Sanzo and Goku have been together for longer than the whole group. Pyrrha is a lot like Cho Hakkai, being nearly as stoic as Ren, but with a much more forgiving nature to her. Naturally, this makes Jaune into Gojyo, weakest of the four and playing at being a ladies' man.

I just wonder if the similarities will hold up further as we learn more about their past, particularly with Pyrrha. Hakkai had what was quite possibly the darkest past of the four of them (no small feat, that), so I wonder what kind of skeletons might be lurking in Pyrrha's closet.