#su won

[under-my-pillow]

I Can't help it. I guess I'm still salty.

If only she were this indignant about someone else.

[freewilllife]

Hendae and Hak

I. My obvious mistake

I made one obvious mistake. Kusanagi showed us in Hendae, who Hak´s real blood-related brother is and therefore a "disturbance".

II. General Tae Woo´s inner being

We think that the person, Tae Woo loves most is Hak, because he modeled himself after him. But that is the mistake!!

Think about it: With whom shares Tae Woo more than anything? How similar does he appear in the eyes of everybody with his "better half" - Hendae?

But still, he did not see Hendae in Soo Won. He appeared to hate him.

Tae Woo perceives Soo Won as himself and hates him. After all, Tae Woo realized, every time how clever Soo Won was, but he saw him never, for who he really was. Tae Woo does not know Soo Won, after all.

I mean, Tae Woo saw a blonde-haired dude, who is like Hendae, should he not like Soo Won`? Not at all. Because Tae Woo has never seen Hendae as Soo Won. He saw him "correctly" as Hak.

Because Tae Woo loves nobody as much, as Hendae.

We don´t understand, why Tae Woo gave his "clothes" to Hendae. Tae Woo knew it. He has exhausted himself.

III. The "Twins"

It isn´t that Hendae and Tae Woo are born similar. They influence each other. It is Hendae, who resembles Hiyoori, who is raised without great pressure. He shows, that he cares openly, he enjoys things, he cares. Hendae resembles Zeno, right? Right?

I could not unsee it anymore. Why?!!!

Hak, who looks different like Hiyoori, maybe like the other son, maybe like his mother, is treated differently. He is the "son"/"sun", therefore he has a lot of pressure to conform. Therefore Hak has to hide, that he is actually not really different from Hendae.

And Hendae cares a great deal about Hak. Because he understands him without "pretense". Those two have the same "character structure". Because they are brothers.

Here we can clearly see, that Hendae is actually quick-witted. He knew, Hak did not know, because it would not fit Hak to just suddenly leave. Like it is Hendae and not Tae Woo, who knows Hak without really trying.

IV. The Hidden Truth

Hendae does not need to put effort into understanding Hak. He is "in tune" with Hak´s feelings and his own. Because Hendae is already like Hak, but people don´t see it.

Because Hendae looks completely different after all. Hak was a little shocked and so is Hendae. The two brothers immediately realize, when the people they love suffer. Usually, if they are not delusional like Hak right now.

Of course people would think, it is Tae Woo, who can read Hak´s feelings. But can he? Tae Woo got the "feelings" from Hendae, who can read his brother like nobody else. How did King Il say: He knows, when Yu hon lies.

Everybody in the Wind Tribe looks either like Hak or Hendae. The woman like Hendae, the males like Hak. Those two "raised" the Wind Tribe along with everybody else.

But everybody always notices Hak, but never Hendae. They are like moon and sun. Mundoek will never make Hendae the leader.

Both Hendae and Hak are very unbelievably soft people, who care for a lot of people. And would break a leg for everybody else sake.

Hendae would be a great leader, actually. When everybody was absolutely freaking mad. Hendae broke their stupor and anger by gently stroking Yona´s hair and deescalating the issue her.

And Tae Woo interprets Hendae´s feelings, because he grew up with him. He knows, why Hendae smiles. And Hendae fulfills unconciously, what Hak wishes for. Not what he himself truly wants.

Tae Woo is the translator for Hendae´s feelings, because Tae Woo is "in tune" with Hendae.

And then after Hendae has calmed everybody else, Hak can act. Those two mirror each other.

Both brothers are sweet and soft on the inside. They merely live in "different roles". "Father" and "Mother". You see the brothers even on the same freaking page act!!!

And we know, that this was all pretense in Hak´s case. Later he goes to Mundoek and gives in - like Hendae.

V. The little Thunderbeast

I tried to unsee it. I honestly tried it. But the relation is really hard to unsee, when you see it. I honestly wondered, if I was seeing things. Huh????..Additionally their ability cannot be just a thing of socialisation. It is Hendae, who is the "quickest man of the Wind Tribe". Except for the Thunderbeast...

Why not Tae Woo? He tries to become Hak, after all. So why not?!!

Because it is Hak´s and Hendae´s talent.

Here we have Yona´s translator. Hak´s best friend, who has grown up with him.

Hak and Hendae have a similar talent for being quick on their feet. And Hak and Hendae even acted similar in the latest chapters. They were quite slow, because their other halves were not with them. Because Hak would have an afternoon nap, if not for Yona or Soo Won. And so is Hendae as well.

Hendae is the quickest man in the Wind Tribe. Except for the "Thunder Beast", of course, who is as "quick as lightning.

Somehow all people do not see it. The "Thunderbeast" and the "quickest man in the Wind Tribe" are so blind, that neither of them sees...that they are brothers.

Hak and his brother have the same freaking talent (and character structure) and nobody saw it!!! Except one person. The person, who loves Hendae the most: General Tae Woo.

VI. Tae Woo knows best

Soo Won, who believes Tae Woo is as quick as Hak, shouted at him, he should run up the wall. (Like Soo Won tried really hard not to see Hak. In Hendae. So hard, that he ignored Hendae.)

Tae Woo, who is well aware, that he is not as light on his feet, shouted for Hendae...

Like I really tried to see Hendae not as Hak. I really tried. But it was impossible. I completely fell out of my castle down in the mud. I have 10 freaking posts in waiting explaining the relationship between Zeno and Soo Won and they are wrong!!!!! Do you know, how frustrated I am?!!!! I wasted the last 3 months. I have tried to be so careful with Zeno. Not to see the similarity...Zeno is like Hak. And Soo Won.

Hendae is the "Little Hak"

I did not wished to see it at all. When @matcha-chai-latte broke my camel´s back. Everything makes nearly sense. Let´s be honest. Shiiitttt!!!

Subconciously, General Tae Woo knows the truth about Hendae and Hak´s likeness. (Therefore he is ill, lady´s and gentleman.)

Tae Woo exhausted himself to appear like Hak. Hendae does not need this. Because he has always been like Hak. The real one. Kind and caring.

Because he is his real brother. Tae Woo had to pretend.

We become the people we love, after all. And so Tae Woo becomes how he thinks Hendae is. And the person is Hak?!! However, Hak is smooth as butter. All the shouting is just there, to distract. From this little fact.

VII. Shin ha is aware

In Sei Shin ha did not recognize Tae Woo as a little Hak. At first.

Only when Hendae entered the field Shin ha´s brain made the connection.

Because Tae Woo shadows Hendae since his earliest childhood. Because Hendae is THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON for Tae Woo. Not Hak.

VIII. Mundoek´s bomb

Hak has a real blood-related brother, who did not need to put any effort in to be like the real Hak at all. Because they are blood-related.

Yet to everybody´s eyes, Hak and Hendae are completely different. Even though, when you look at them like this. One face, one expression.

Except for Hak and Hendae themselves, of course. Hak knew subconciously most likely that his grand-father had lied to him.

Like Mundoek has to quickly unsee it. The likeness. Between Hendae and Hak.

Basically Hendae shows Hak´s true colors. If that helps you. Hendae is "in tune" with his feelings. And Hendae and Hak are alike. And Hak is as smooth as butter. All the shouting and bullshit was just there to distract you.

Hak and Hendae were the Yu hon and King Il of the Wind Tribe

That is it, when I say, we have been fooled!!!!!!

[fluffykitty149]

A royal who grew up with a secret keeping King father who has to deal with the consequences of the sheltering she was raised in to rise up to be the queen she was destined to be X Dark blue/black haired sarcastic guy who will follow her to the depths of hell and isn't afraid to throw hands

Spoilers underneath, but I think y'all know my next comparison if you know both movie and anime

Then you've got the guy who was her crush and her first major betrayal that some fans misinterpret as either too good or too evil, but there are others who enjoy their complexity and good/bad qualities.

[kesara-vintage]

After the final chapter — my honest thoughts on the ending (and on Soo-Won)

I'll say the one thing I think the author truly succeeded at: she raised real philosophical questions. Questions people can agree or disagree on. That's it. That's the win.

Everything after that, for me, is a failure — and an ending that's toxic in every direction. It feels like she wanted to open big themes and then didn't know what to do with them. Honestly I can't even tell what she was trying to reach.

Start with what the story promised itself, and then broke.

People say the whole tragedy happens because characters don't talk to each other, don't open their hearts. Fine — but the ending never delivers that. Everyone's feelings are still locked up at the end. The wound the story diagnosed is the wound it leaves untreated.

It also sold itself on a strong, "feminist" heroine — and I don't see that in Yona. Not as an attack on her; as a writing problem. Lili and Kouren are written as far stronger, sharper women than the idea Yona was supposed to embody. And here's the real contradiction: Yona's success as queen is tied to Soo-Won's presence — she needs him there to fix things and advise her. If the point was "Yona rules," give her a million advisors other than the man who took the throne. Tying her triumph to him undercuts the exact thing the author said she was building.

And the credit keeps flowing the wrong way. Soo-Won saved the Fire Tribe — credit went to Yona. He saved the Water Tribe — credit went to Yona. He annexed Sen, he set the limits on Kai. Yona helped in the Xing negotiations, sure, but he was never marching there to behead people like his father — he offered peace to every other nation first (the Fire Tribe, Sei, Li Hazara), and I believe he'd have given Kouren the same chance to try honorably. Small acts from Yona get enormous admiration; huge results from him get quietly reassigned. That's not a Yona flaw. That's the author's hand on the scale.

Yona helped, she is a great character and did a lot of good things, but she still needs to learn. She could be Soo-Won's advisor, his partner — any position that could show her true skills.

Then there's the "consequences" logic, which I genuinely can't understand.

This is the first manga that taught me sacrificing for your country earns you punishment. It's normal for people to train and armies to gather — but then a group of 5 men shows up with an army's worth of strength and says "throw away all your effort, you're not enough." Soo-Won, Kye-Sook and Joo-Doh moved for the country. Yona's group for a person. One side moved for a cause, the other for a girl. Guess which side the story rewards. The ones who fought for the country lose, kneel, or work in silence; the ones who fought for Yona get the glory.

Someone will say Soo-Won's side moved for revenge, not the country. But the author herself showed, more than once, that it was never that simple — especially for Soo-Won. And even if you set motive aside: a group out for revenge would've taken it, or torn everything down when they lost. Instead they stayed and served the country under the person who beat them. That's not vengeance — that's loyalty to the country outliving the loss of power. I'm not saying what they did was right; trying to kill Yona and Hak was ugly and it had a price. But the story judged them on a motive it assumed, not on the actions in front of us. If it were me, I'd have walked — let the kingdom collapse, not a hair on my head would fall for it. They stayed and worked. And those are the people the ending frames as traitors who should shut up and be grateful they weren't imprisoned or exiled.

Meanwhile Soo-Won is left working again for the stability of a people and a country he already bled for, and nobody remembers or thanks him for any of it. The narrative punishes him for an attempt — and even after his miserable life, he only gets to live like this: crippled, alone, working for the country in silence — while a character like Mei-nyan, who murdered an innocent man and framed Yona, walks away paying nothing. The accountability isn't just; it's written by mood.

Now the part I'll be honest about: this is where my bias lives.

I never saw Soo-Won as the villain, not from the start. I know the history of a lot of real countries, and maybe reading history affected my opinion, because I had no problem with him killing King Il — his survival was genuinely at risk, and exile or any softer option could've triggered a civil war. To me it was that simple. What he did reads as a revolution, not a coup. Or at least, for me, it was a revolution that looked like a coup — done to prevent losing people. Soo-Won was doing everything to save the country and keep the losses to a minimum. But like I said, that's a philosophical point of view. No need to argue here.

So yes, I know I'm partial. But even setting the bias aside, the writing left cracks it never owned. Why did Soo-Won spend ten years building nothing — no base, no alliances, no foundation to protect his rise? The only answer I can find is: so Yona could succeed. That's a hole in his character carved out for the plot's sake.

His betrayal of Yona and Hak was real and wrong, I won't pretend otherwise. But once he made that choice, the friendship was over — don't try to fix it, it will never come back. Find a new life.

What actually made me more angry: Kye-Sook kneeling to Yona. Joo-Doh kneeling to Yona. For what, exactly? What did Yona do to earn them on her knees? And Soo-Won apologizing to her — okay, he should apologize for betraying her, but not for killing King Il.

And Mundok, of all people, judging him? If Mundok wants to report to King Il in heaven, he can say: Soo-Won cleaned up the mess you left, and now he's teaching your daughter how to be a queen. This is the man who ignored the rot eating the country for years. Where does he get the standing to speak?

Something else: if Soo-Won has to apologize for everything, shouldn't Yona apologize to the people? Shouldn't she say that she knows her father's mistakes, that she is not him, that she will learn from his flaws and do her best to save the country? Oh, sorry — it's not her mistake the writer didn't give her a chance to have a respectful coronation or a speech to make.

In the end, the whole thing reads like it was just about making Soo-Won the bad guy and the murderer, and the other two nothing but traitors who never loved this country. That's what I understood from the gaiden chapters.

I kept wishing Soo-Won would just break — collapse and scream that he did it for the country, for the people who died, for the poverty, for the women and children who were being abducted. A man who was cold because every drop of love he reached out with as a child was met with coldness, even from his mother (except from Yona and Hak, maybe). Not a man without a heart — a man who was never allowed to show it.

And the ending scatters everyone.

Yona isn't with Hak. She doesn't know how to be queen and needs Soo-Won present to function. Hak can't seem to be anything without her — he's literally doing Ogi's old job of gathering information, when he's the one meant to be sitting and learning how to be her husband and a future king. Soo-Won is alone, no one around him, his whole life reduced to work for the state, with no friends, no family, not even a hint that he might go out, meet new people, build a life. Zeno wanders with no purpose, depression walking on legs. The rest of the dragons are left to build new lives for themselves, away from Yona. The only two who got a healthy, happy landing are Yoon and Kija — at least their minds are intact and they're chasing their dreams.

(On Ogi, since people bring him up — I honestly can't see why he matters, but even so, Soo-Won's last move was basically "you're drunk, come on, I'll walk with you and we'll talk." That's not abandonment. And Hak treating Soo-Won like he doesn't exist? Sure, fine, Soo-Won earned that. 😅)

So here's where I land.

I decided I wouldn't read the gaiden chapters — and then curiosity won, and here I am, angry at this manga all over again. It never committed to being a political manga. Or a romance. Or a drama. It raised the questions and then flinched. And the result is a toxic, unsatisfying ending that leaves its whole cast psychologically stranded for a reason no one can explain.

That's my feeling. Bias and all.

[switchgurl]

THIS SCENE WAS SO COOL

My friend introduced me to Yona a few months ago and I haven't had the chance to really draw these characters yet, this is my first real attempt 😌

(I'm up to date on the manga, and I'm gonna be honest...he's definitely one of my favorite characters besides Shin-ah, Kouren, and Zeno!!)

[sugarwarachan]

Top 5 hottest anime/manga men?

aliyah!! the way i could spend hours trimming down my list haha but i'm going with my gut

aizawa shouta

the above image alone took five years off of my life - dude belongs in the top spot

2. nanami kento

quite literally got into anime for this man and i've never once regretted it. a dependable, stable king doing his best to be kind and protect kids in a shitty world!! one of the few men i'd happily let knock me up

3. itoshi rin

a wet soggy brat of a man and i LOVE him. just want to wrap him up in my arms and cuddle him to death

4. suo hayato

a straight-up menace!!!!! a cruel deviant wrapped in an innocent-looking package who would definitely play mind games with me - but i adore the color red and i'm even better at mind games babyyyy

5. su-won/hak

genuinely could not pick one (and i wouldn't lmao). both of them are so competent in their own way, and like nothing is hotter to me than a man who gets shit done. (su-won does has the more tormented/tortured element to him, but hak has the teasing, flirty aspect)

[gabriellesanon]

A little more abstract, but had to capture a Hak x Yona hug. From the manga/anime series Yona of the Dawn.

[favficbirthdays]

Happy Birthday

Soo-Won (3rd February)

Yona of the Dawn