These are the character descriptions given for TRR's four LIs. Interestingly, for the three male LIs, the descriptors list one trait that is personality-specific (dashing. sarcastic. humourous), and one that outlines their approach to relationships with their loved ones (honourable. steadfast. loyal).
What does Hana get? "Talented and beautiful". That tells us nothing about either her personality, nor her approach to relationships. It's about what the MC is drawn to, and what the MC can use her for. When you look at this description from that lens, the writing for Hana begins to make so much more sense.
So besides those two things...what do we know about Hana Lee? Besides the tragedy of her upbringing, the sadness that many people (myself included, sometimes) can't seem to look past? Off the top of my head, I can think of a number of facets to her personality beyond her sad childhood and her sweetness.
I think it's essential we start here, because often in the process of emphasizing the more dramatic parts of her story, we tend to miss out on things that make Hana a fuller character. Here are just a few things that come to mind when I think of her story:
Passionate:
The great thing about this quote from Liam is that you can see how it plays out in Hana's reactions. Compare how she speaks about ice skating in Book 1, to her piano playing one chapter later. You can tell what she is genuinely fond of doing from what she does just because she knows how to do it well. When she is passionate about something, she guards it fiercely (think back to how she got her parents to stop trotting her out for public piano performances). This dictates her approach to people as well. She goes all out for those she loves, even to the point of leaving her entire home after she has defended a loved one to her parents.
Exploratory:
Hana's story, in its simplest form, was supposed to be a story of self-discovery. She spent a large portion of her life alone with her parents, no siblings or friends, and with very few avenues for creative expression. Even as a child with plenty of restrictions and rules to follow, she found ways to explore interests that she knew her parents wouldn't necessarily approve of (we see this in the reading material she shows us from her childhood). As an adult, she is at first confused and fearful of the uncertainty of her future, but grows to be happy about the possibilities for her. It is a pity that the narrative itself restricts this to what benefits the MC later on, but one cannot deny that the core of Hana's story is meant to be about discovering who she is independent of her parents.
Small But Rebellious Streak:
Closely connected to her exploratory nature, are her small rebellions. Very often the narrative shows this through the books she tells us she's read (Wuthering Heights, which was a controversial text back when it was released, but TRH also has her tell us - if married - that she secretly read science fiction books by pretending they were tomes on astronomy). Another good example of this is the iconic piano scene, where she secretly pushes back against her parents for turning her piano skills into constant public performance that she did not consent to. Hana isn't one for grand defiance - she shows her independence through small, secret rebellions.
Competitive:
This is one of my favourite things about her, in fact. She may be kind and giving but that doesn't mean she won't be a fierce competitor. Her initial reaction to a lot of these situations is to thrive in the challenge and enjoy, to the point where she spiritedly spars with her opponent before "remembering her manners". It's clear that she loves being challenged, and often gets lost in the spirit of a game. She brings this quality to her fighting technique as well.
Stealthy:
This aspect of Hana is at its best in TRR2, when she takes over the latter part of the investigations during the engagement tour. I'll probably elaborate on this in a future section, but very often we find Hana delivering to us information that she's gleaned just from staying quiet and reading the room. Often she's provided us the best tips this way. Her passion for research also helps her in this, when her research has her looking up royalty from neighbouring countries.
It's the ultimate irony, then, that the writing team itself forgets this in their latter books.
Emotional:
This aspect of Hana's is often juxtaposed with Olivia's militaristic notions of strength (Olivia is also emotional on a level, but has grown up learning that she cannot "show weakness"). She cries openly, loves freely, and while she does repress her emotions on some level, she doesn't do it to the scale Liam does. In fact, it is said that you can easily tell from her eyes and body language when she is passionate about something. She is referred to (esp by Olivia, and often in a way that's meant to be insulting) as "delicate". Yet it is clear that her empathy and sincerity sets her apart in court, allowing her to see her fellow courtiers as even they do not see themselves (an example of this would be the scene where she gives Penelope advice in TRR2 Chapter 6). This above dialogue from TRH2 shows her owning her emotional side, and telling us it is as valid as Olivia's "strength".
Prim-and-Proper with A Love for Occasional Mess
While this is also tied to her childhood, it's interesting to note that she's still comfortable in her "manners", but likes to to embrace mess either as catharsis (she shares this tendency with Liam), or when the occasion demands. She is initially dumbfounded by foods such as sloppy joes or barbecue ribs, but gets surprisingly into it once she starts eating. Like Liam, she also views food fights as cathartic, and it fires her competitive instincts.
Kind but Firm
This screenshot is from Hana's first diamond scene, and she holds herself true to this sentiment for the rest of the series. When the narrative allows (which isn't often), she has her own unique way of pushing back - one where she states firmly that she doesn't appreciate their behaviour while not disrespecting them. When she fights back, she likes to do it in a way that causes the least harm but still gets her point across.
So why do people who harm her, or look down on her, seem to get away with it so easily? I'll address that in a later section.
Subtle When She Drags You
(You can tell she'd been sitting on that gem ever since that dinner in Shanghai!)
One of my favourite Hana posts is a compilation of pics depicting Hana poking fun at Drake. It's one that highlighted how, again and again, Hana could surprise you with her humour and her obsevation skills. @callmetippytumbles once said it better than I ever could:
You think that Hana is all soft voice, demure smile and all of the submissive Asian stereotypes. Go on. Think that. Don’t be fooled. Hana is watching. Biding her time. Then she comes out of nowhere and tells you all about yourself and you have no choice but to sit with her truth. She is a savage. I live.
Olivia, too, winds up once at the receiving end of a Hana takedown. In Hana's final diamond scene in Book 1, she practically leaves Olivia speechless when she tells her exactly what she thinks of her behaviour.
Hana may be nice to a fault. May be accomodating, may want to give other people the benefit of the doubt. But she will drag your ass if you absolutely deserve it!
Unlearning What Healthy Control Looks Like
Unfortunately this is an aspect of Hana that only features in her romantic playthrough, and only for two chapters in Book 3. A lot of Hana's growth comes from being a child of controlling parents, slowly understanding that her upbringing wasn't healthy. Because of this, she is overcautious and even anxious about taking control, equating it on two occasions to robbing her partner of a choice. It was one of my favourite 'character development' moments, and it was sad that they never actually did anything more with it in the series.
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At her core, Hana Lee has always been a character who didn't realize how messed up her upbringing was until she met other people, made friends, fell in love, started doing things most other people considered normal. She is a Chinese woman who was brought up to adopt European mores. She lived a closeted life (both in terms of her sexuality and her general outlook) but still found ways to satisfy her curiosity. She struggles with decisiveness, struggles to understand what is a healthy amount of control, but embraces other perspectives and experiences that are alien to her. She's someone who finds it difficult to completely break away from her controlling parents, but pushes back at them once she realizes how wrong they are. She is inherently a kind person who is surviving in a court that doesn't always respect her.
But if she's so great, I can hear some of you say, then how can you claim she's been erased?
And that's a good question. Despite being a strong, consistent character with some element of a journey, why is she so often considered weak, or dependent on other people, or just plain bland? Why does it feel like very little has happened with her story after she breaks away from her parents?
Well...to understand that, we need to look at how narrative structure positions her. The next two sections of this essay deal with exactly that.
These dudes are fucking legit. They don’t just show up one day in court, either, they actually make friends with the kids and let them know they have a support system and that there are people in the world who care about them and will always have their back. And less important, but also cool, is that the few times a couple of them have come into my cafe, they’ve been super friendly and polite and when I told one of the guys that I noticed his Bikers Against Child Abuse patch and wanted him to know how awesome I thought he was because of it, he got kind of shy and blushed and said, “The kids are the awesome ones, we just let them know they’re allowed to be brave.”
The source is long, but so, so good. These men and women are available in 36 states, 24 hours a day to stand guard at home, in court, at school, even if the child has a nightmare. Many of them are survivors of childhood abuse as well, and know what it’s like to feel scared and alone.
In court that day, the judge asked the boy, “Are you afraid?” No, the boy said.
Pipes says the judge seemed surprised, and asked, “Why not?”
The boy glanced at Pipes and the other bikers sitting in the front row, two more standing on each side of the courtroom door, and told the judge, “Because my friends are scarier than he is.”
Bikers Against Child Abuse was founded in 1995 by a Native American child psychologist whose ride name is Chief, when he came across a young boy who had been subjected to extreme abuse and was too afraid to leave his house. He called the boy to reach out to him, but the only thing that seemed to interest the child was Chief’s bike. Soon, some 20 bikers went to the boy’s neighborhood and were able to draw him out of his house for the first time in weeks.
Chief’s thesis was that a child who has been abused by an adult can benefit psychologically from the presence of even more intimidating adults that they know are on their side. “When we tell a child they don’t have to be afraid, they believe us,” Arizona biker Pipes told azcentral.com. “When we tell them we will be there for them, they believe us.”
( Article)
My parents are a part of this organization and they are metal af
They go on runs to protect the child if they feel even the slightest threatened no matter where. If the child needs them to go on vacation with them, they do. Bikers come from across the nation to watch over and take shifts for these kids. And the best part is once you’re adopted into this family as a BACA kid, you’re always one. Even when you’re 40 and the perp gets released from jail, they’ll come meet with you and find your best options for avoiding the person and maintaining the life you’ve built for yourself. Once a BACA child, always a BACA child. In Florida, there’s 100% rate for identifying the perp based on the child’s testimony. Why? Because BACA stands with the child and supports the child so they feel comfortable enough to point out their attacker.
What’s better than a badass biker gang being on your side???
NATIVE AMERICAN CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST WHO IS A BIKER AND NAMED HIMSELF CHIEF HELL YES I’M HERE FOR THAT AND BIKERS BEING BAD ASS TO PROTECT KIDS. HELL YEAH.
Guys? This post changed my life. I saw this post. Forever ago. And thought it was only in america… and wished desperately that they could help me. But then I saw it again, during a bad episode, and checked their site. They aren’t just in the USA
They’re in Canada as well and probably other countries. I met and talked with a native guy who runs the place near me. His name is Shaman. I got in, and I’m considered a BACA child now. Despite being 17, turning 18 when I talked to them. They spent time with me when my abuser was over, they gave me therapy resources. They give you something called a ‘level 1′ where they go to your house with as many bikers as they can, i shit you not a solid 20-40 bikers came from even out of province, and met me. I got to choose my biker name and I got a vest with patches on it and my name on it. They all hugged a Teddybear before giving it to me, and told me if I ever felt the BACA bear was running out of love, to give them a call and they’d refill it for me, and then I got a ride on one of their bikes. Just a day or so ago I went to an annual party with them and they we ate food one of them cooked and had a lot of laughs.
I’ve never felt as loved as I did being a part of the BACA family. They also gave me dog tags with the names, and phone numbers of my 2 workers. So I can call them whenever I feel scared.
BACA is an absolutely wonderful group that will do everything in it’s power to help any child whos been abused.
And it doesn’t end when you’re 18 either. As long as you get in contact/get your level 1 before you’re 18? you’re ALWAYS a BACA kid. I’m 18 now and they still invite me to parties, ask me if I’m okay, and are there for me. They’re still trying to find me resources for therapy.
BACA has changed my fucking life.
I hope you all can read this, and reblog it knowing from someone who fucking been with them, that they are absolutely amazing.
They’re also in the UK, plus 13 other European countries and Australia and NZ. if this is a group that could be useful to anyone you know https://bacaworld.org/chapters/
•"hey, y'see the red thing at the top of the shelf, will you get it?“ “Sorry, what?” “On the sh-” “oh yeah sure, I’ll get it.”
•*doesn’t hear teacher because someone’s pen is making a scratchy sound at the back of the room*
•*replays video 10 ten times to figure out what they’re saying*
•teachers asking, “why do you always stop writing in the middle of a sentence, just write down whatever I’m saying,” followed by the response, “I’m just processing it,” rebuked by, “we’ll stop processing it and just write.”
•*gets really focused on staring out the window and goes through four songs without hearing a single on*
someone is whispering to their friends in the library, you don’t even know who this person is but you know their major, what state they grew up in, and their hobbies during high school. you just wanted to find a quiet spot to do your chemistry homework.
wanting to chime in on other people’s conversations all the time, but don’t, because you’re not suppose to be “listening” to them.
being the only person in the house that can hear that awful buzzing sound certain electronics make
hiding in your room because everything is too loud.
motorcycles were invented by satan
being told that you have dog-like hearing by friends and family
being yelled at for “not listening” by friends and family.
sitting in a restaurant and thinking the people sitting next to you are being SO loud because you can hear everything they’re saying, but when you mention it you get weird looks so obviously you’re just overreacting.
not being able to handle the little keyboard sounds as your mom types a text from across the room, but when you ask your mom (who is a quadruple texter) to put her phone on silent you get a murderous look, like you’ve asked her to kill her cat.
turning on ambient noises and trying to relax, only to end up turning it off because it’s not actually helping you fall asleep.
“the speakers are making this high pitched noise”
“what the hell are you talking about?”
“THE SPEAKERS ARE PRACTICALLY SCREAMING HOW DO YOU NOT HEAR THAT??”
people telling me “how the fuck can you hear the wall clock ticking but not understand a word im saying when im talking to you??” (i swear i’m not ignoring you, i just can’t process your words)
and the absolute kicker: it took me nearly three decades of life to realise that all of the above meant I had an auditory processing disorder because, quite frankly, it isn’t discussed enough. and by enough, i mean at all.
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