"The Queen Mother of the West... No one knows her beginning, and no one knows her end." - Zhuangzi, 4th C. BC

Xi Wang Mu is a goddess of great power and one of the oldest in existence. She lives on Mount Kunlun, and is matriarch of the West. She has a counterpart, the Queen Mother of the East, and both are attested in Shang oracle bones from the 15th C. BC onwards.

She once guarded a vial of the elixir of life, which she granted to Houyi the Archer after his banishment so that he and his wife Chang'e might live forever in peace. Sadly, Chang'e drank all of the elixir and ascended to the Moon, leaving Houyi behind on Earth.