Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Han Sooyoung, and the Death of the Author - an essay
A while ago, I was a bit frustrated by the lack of Han Sooyoung-centric metas that are truly Han Sooyoung-centric and not focusing on her relationships with other people (specifically Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja, in this case, because her entire character does not and should not revolve around them regardless of how their narratives are canonically weaved together). Of course, itâs not productive to only complain, so I have to put my money where my mouth is and do the work myself, but please know Iâm only doing this for fun and Iâm no expert on this subject. In particular, I was inspired by a specific moment in the Side Story, so this post will naturally contain spoilers for the Side Story. Proceed with caution/click away, orâand this is the option I would highly recommendâgo read the Side Story yourself to get the context and then come back here after you catch up (or at least finish s2 + the first chapter of s3). Donât worry, this post isnât going anywhere, so take your time.
Now that youâve hopefully read the Side Story and have a general idea of what inspired this post, to begin, we need to talk about Roland Barthes and his theory of the death of the author, and clear up what it actually means compared to how itâs often cited in fandom spaces. Singshong stated in an interview that they have read his work, and that was what initially got me curious about his influences on ORV, which I believe are substantial. Through his theory, Barthes emphasizes the importance of decentralizing the author of a text to focus instead on the interpretations of the readerâa theme that is perfect for a novel like ORV, which is all about the interpretations and decisions of a reader with very little direct authorial influence.
The 'death of the author' in modern fandom interpretations is most often (incorrectly) used in the specific sense of ignoring the 'word of god,' namely, anything the author says is true about the work that is not directly stated within the work itself already and/or situations where an author revises or continues their work in a way that certain members of the fandom disagree with. While I greatly dislike citing Harry Potter, it unfortunately has a plethora of examples of the former interpretation that you can find online as Rowling added on information about her world and characters while claiming that it was always true and always the intent despite the text itself showing no evidence of the aforementioned claims. The latter interpretation, on the other hand, is especially relevant to ORV itself, in that the vast majority of the fandom choose to ignore that the Side Story exists because by continuing the story, it contradicts their own ideas of what the work is and should be. By outright ignoring these comments or updates to the text, many fandoms attempt to intentionally âkillâ the author to preserve the perceived validity of their own headcanons. I, myself, am also guilty of this to an extent (albeit not while calling it the death of the author) because there are certain edits made in the revised version that I do not like and don't wish to include in my interpretation of the story whatsoever, but Singshong also acknowledge that there are multiple versions of their work and that all of them are technically canon.
While the modern fandom interpretation isnât inherently bad, since itâs still an attempt to decentralize the author, the fandom form of âdeath of the authorâ is a fundamentally different concept from Barthesâ original theory. His death of the author isnât meant to allow readers to cherry-pick which information from the author to decide to agree with and apply to their understanding of the text, but rather that the authorâs identity, their experiences, and their intent does not matterânot just any additional information they have provided outside the work. The text itself is the only important thing, which directly contradicts the second form of fandom interpretation since it is never stated that the text must never change. Rather, it can be argued that a continued text becomes its own unique existence (in this case, just like how the webnovel and ebook versions are both correct and canon in their own right, the ORV that contains only 551 chapters and the ORV that has over 900 chapters can be perceived as entirely different works and stories), and that the interpretations of one cannot be forced onto the other.
Barthes defines the contents of a text as such: âmultiple writings, issuing from several cultures and entering into dialogue with each otherâ (Barthes 54) because writing itself is a form of communication of ideas. He emphasizes that the only person capable of understanding the multiple and layered meanings of the charactersâ words is the reader, rather than the author. After all, the author may be the one putting words to page, but the reader is the destination where every possible meaning of a text is gathered. What matters in a text is not the meaning an author put into the text itself, but rather the meaning that can be understood from itâregardless of authorial intent. In a way, the reader replaces the author as the authorityâthe godâof the story. Unlike older interpretations, where the author is seen to always precede (and in some cases, overshadow) the text, therefore rendering their work inseparable from themselves, Barthes argues that the author is born, exists, and ends at the same time as the work itself is read.
So how does this apply to ORV (and more specifically to Han Sooyoung), you may wonder? Itâs simpleâORV as a whole portrays Barthesâ concept of the death of the author in multiple ways, but Iâll first focus on the most figurative interpretations found in the novel. The first instance of this in the main story is in the case of Asuka Ren. As the author and creator of Peace Land, she maintains a godlike authority over that world and is able to manipulate it to her will within the constraints of probability, exhibiting a power through her attribute [Creator of Peace Land] that functions similarly to Han Sooyoungâs [Character Summon] from the epilogue. This attribute was included in the revised (ebook) version of ORV and is displayed in webtoon chapter 136, in which she summons the roots of the forest previously stated to actually be a âgiant monsterâ (Singshong chapter 125) to aid her in combat.
In the world of the Star Stream, Asuka Ren exists at the same time as her work, and is continually 'writing' it as we, the readers, are perceiving the story. Once the tale of Peace Land is over, Asuka Ren experiences a 'death of the author', characterized by the line âAt this moment, she knew that the world had completely left her hands.â (Singshong chapter 132). Her authorial rights, and her very role as its 'author', are stripped from her, and she loses all memories of ever having written it while the work itself continues to exist separately from her. The author dies at the end of the story, and the meaning of the text resides solely within both the words of the text itself and the readerâshown in this case by Kim Dokja remaining as the sole witness to this event.
Han Sooyoungâs first death of the author (yes, thereâs more than one) happens in Epilogue 3: Authorâs Words. Through this epilogue, Kim Dokja, and therefore we the readers, are finally informed that she became tls123 off-screen, and we are told her story through her perspective. At the end of her writing, we learn that the avatar has vanished (and therefore âdiedâ). At first glance, this may seem as though her existence is closer to the older interpretations since she must precede the text that we are reading at that very moment, and that reading is understandableâor at least, it would be if not for a quote found several times throughout both ORV and the Side Story: âEverything has already been written, and at the same time, still being writtenâ (Singshong chapter 535). In this worldview, reality only exists as the Oldest Dream is dreaming it, so the words on the page that he is readingâthis very epilogue written through her own 3rd person perspectiveâis coming to life at the same time as it has already come to an end. However, Han Sooyoung is not merely the âauthorâ of this epilogue, but rather a character within the story to permit it to be told in this manner. Tls123 the author is dead, but the meaning of the wordsâas well as the character of tls123âis very much alive in the moment that Kim Dokja is actively reading it. When that story ends with her existence disappearing from the worldline, leaving her past self confused without any memories of what had happened, itâs easy to see the connection between her situation and that of Asuka Ren.
And this now brings us to the Side Story and the end of season 2. At this point, Han Sooyoung is an author who is ready for the story to dieâa far cry from how she had been in the main story with her passion for writing ORV and using it for the purpose of accomplishing Kimcomâs goal of getting Kim Dokja back. Sheâs tired of writing, and this world is rebelling against her because itâs already halfway to being in the readerâs hands. In the Side Story, the character of the author has one foot in the grave from the beginning. Here, the âdeath of the authorâ is no longer figurativeâitâs no longer merely a loss of memories, or memories only returned once the story has been read and therefore exists. She gives up the role of author, and she vanishes completely. It is here that Singshong quote BarthesââIn order for a reader to be born, the author must dieâ (chapter 679), a paraphrase of âthe birth of the reader must be ransomed by the death of the Authorâ (Barthes 55). This is taken extremely literally as Han Sooyoung learns that Kim Dokja cannot return unless she dies and descends from the position of author, and that death has already been written as the inevitable conclusion of her story.
Now, do I believe it is the actual conclusion for her? No, even though I do truly believe it would be a poetic and meaningful one. I just know that Singshong arenât the kind of authors who let major characters stay dead, so I donât expect her to either. However, I do think the change to her personality by the time of the Side Story (namely, her confidence in her authorial power and optimism that her plan will succeed in the main story has been contradicted on several occasions) shows a distinct shift in her relationship with her role as an author. Unlike in the main story, she does subconsciously know that her narrative role in that capacity is over, even if she tries to sound confident. And honestly, this is a good thingâthe role of author is something that limits Han Sooyoung to a staggering degree. She is the author doomed to die, forced to write events that have already been written but have not yet happened, and whose authorial intent and purpose in writing ORV only carries weight insofar as the readers interpret and perceive it to in the epilogueâsomething that directly leads to the failure (or rather, imperfect success) of her plan.
So, let me ask you this: when you remove the role of âauthorâ from Han Sooyoung, how much is left?
The answer, unfortunately, is basically nothing. Yes, she has a personality outside of writing, but I am referring to the foundational core of her character. At the end of her story, rather than merely losing her memories and proceeding with life as Asuka Ren did, her entire existence crumbles and leaves her (quite literally) as an empty husk. Han Sooyoungâs character is one that is intrinsically tied to her role in a way that makes them virtually inseparable. Han Sooyoungâs powers, her perspective on the apocalypse, her plot relevance, and her fate cannot be fully understood without the context of her role as an âauthorâ. Even without the knowledge that she is the author of both ORV and TWSA, she is still introduced to us as the author of SSSSS-Grade Infinite Regressor, and this fact is highlighted prominently from her very first appearance as the First Apostle. Personally, I find the aspect of the accused plagiarism to be extremely interesting in this context since, yet again, she is writing something that has âalready been writtenâ. Not even in her own works can she escape that fate.
For Han Sooyoung, taking her place in the all-consuming role of author is tantamount to a death sentence.
To conclude, Singshong have used Barthes theory in a very unique and thoughtful way while crafting both the main story of ORV and the Side Story, and intertwined it with the plot itself. Using Han Sooyoung (and to a lesser extent, Asuka Ren) to demonstrate the death of the author in multiple fashions is a phenomenal way to explain it in simple terms, but it also exposes the limitations of her character and the ways in which she is unable to escape the role of writer. If (when) Singshong decide to bring her back, I personally hope that this authorial death will not have left her unscathed, even if just to ensure that these scenes donât lose all their meaning and impact on both the plot and the readers.
In the end, if I could have any input on Han Sooyoungâs fate as a reader of this story, I would choose to free her from the cycle and allow her to begin anew as someone who can discover for herself who she wants to be as a person, and not just as a piece constrained by the chessboard of the universe.
Works Cited:
Barthes, Roland and Richard Howard. "The Death of the Author." The Rustle of Language. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc., New York, New York, 1986. pp 49-55. https://www.d.umn.edu/~cstroupe/handouts/8500/barthes_death.pdf
SingShong. Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint. 2018.
singNshong, writer. Omniscient Reader. Adaptation by UMI. Art by Sleepy-C. Seoul: RIVERSE Inc., 2020. Webtoon.
Stitch. âApplied To Fandom: The Death of the Author.â Stitchâs Media Mix, 24 May 2001, https://stitchmediamix.com/2021/05/24/applied-to-fandom-the-death-of-the-author/.
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