#suwon

[bihastuff]

The fact that Suwon was never allowed to enter Hiryuu's shrine since he was a kid, and the first thing he did when he finally stepped foot there, is to stab king hiryuu's corpse 😭😭like this is so funny to me .

[gugug4g4]

Hero vs Villain

The Antagonist Soo-won in the manga is the "I'll save the world for you" type of guy. Basically every hero ever. He loved his dad, so he became the king who saved the Kingdom just as his dad wanted him to.

The main protagonist Hak on the other hand is the "I'll burn the word down to save her" type guy. Classis villain. He killed anyone trying to harm Yona to save her life on the day of the regicide. He would kill anything and anyone for Yona.

Yet, we love Hak and Yona, cheered for their growth and development and was appalled by Soo won's betrayal. I just adore how Mizuho Kusanagi plays with perspective. Akatsuki no Yona was a villains perspective all along. From the beginning, she was the spoilt princess of a selfish king leading a kingdom to ruin. Hak knew this, being a generals son, he was very aware how how things were outside the castle but he didn't care, if it meant Yona would be happy.

[windrelyn]

Happy Birthday my King Soo-won <3

[soo-won]

The price for our ambitions

[iluvluvnutella]

Hana to Yume Issue 13 (6/5) cover ft. Hak, Yona and Suwon

[ecoharbor]

📍Starfield Library, Suwon, South Korea 🇰🇷

[stardvstbby]

There is so much emotion coming from Hak in this interaction. He’s mad on SooWon’s behalf because the man is both sick and injured yet insisted on wearing heavy armor. He’s uncomfortable that he cares this much about SooWon so he hides his face to try and distance himself. Hak isn’t very good at being honest about how he feels and can’t bring himself to actually chastise SooWon for pushing himself, but he also can’t stop himself from doing something when someone he cares for is in pain. This results in Hak awkwardly blurting out an order to someone he’s always been aware of as having a higher status than him - this also means he views them more as equals now, in a way he wasn’t able to before.

And then there’s SooWon. He accepts Hak’s direction without any pushback, when with everyone else he’s been stubborn in fulfilling his duty to the extreme. I think it’s because he knows Hak isn’t preventing him from continuing but rather accommodating him so that he can keep going. The armor is symbolic of their vulnerability, and the fact that not only does Hak assist him in removing it without hesitation or gripe but also that SooWon actually reached out for help is such a beautiful moment for these two. Hak is allowed a physical action as a display of his care so he can more easily segue into an emotionally sensitive conversation (words are hard, people), and SooWon opens the door for collaboration by taking the first step in accepting his weakness and asking for help.

[only4soo-won]

He just doesn't make empty claims, he makes that happen too🔥

[landofanimes]

Yona of the Dawn: Scarlet Destiny Arc Stage Play (2018)

Author Mizuho Kusanagi drawings and notes from watching the play!

[deqiha]

Soowon is a very complex and interesting character, and one of his traits I like a lot is his idealisation of Yuhon because it actually created a really big issue of Soowon.

Of course, Yuhon was his role model when he was a child, but what about 18 y.o. SW? Did he think of his father so much, to the point that he started questioning some of his words or actions? Or does he still see his father in a perfect light? I've got these questions because while SW is a shrewd and level-headed person, he's been shown to be biased for the first time (as far as I remember; it's been a while since I've read AkaYona) when Yona came to him to vouch for peace between Xing and Kouka.

When I first read this manga, I was a teenager who didn't have a habit of trying to go in depth with characters, but looking at these frames now, I can say that this scene is a big tell of how Soowon sees Yuhon. He is making excuses for his father's unnecessary cruelty, even though Soowon himself, I believe, would never do something like that.

Also, chapter 221 shows that Soowon, in fact, never questioned Yuhon's methods. His father's influence on him never lessened, even after all these years (perhaps because he's been surrounded by Yuhon's supporters since, idk, forever).

He is a king. He has to sacrifice his humanity for the sake of his kingdom - that's what he's been taught by his beloved father, whom he never questioned. ("Please, let me see the board objectively" - I almost fucking cried).

So sweet is the realization that he, in fact, can't do that. He is only a human, after all, someone who already sacrificed his childhood and his closest friends for Kouka people's well-being, and I can't imagine his heart being able to take another loss.

Soowon has basically abandoned himself. The persona he and the adults around him have raised in him is "king" (according to Yuhon's ideals). I believe Soowon isn't introspective; he has been running away from his feelings this whole time, and chapter 221 was the first time he's faced them. It's very fascinating to me: he is always ready to face the consequences of his decisions, but never to face his feelings.

P.S.: I'll be very glad to receive any corrections or different opinions, because, as I said before, it's been a while since I read AkaYona, and the moments mentioned in this posts are the ones I remember vividly.

[composeregg]

Soo-Won and Yona's beliefs are aligned, even in the chalice

On their belief in gods, what a divine blessing means when those gods have shown what their care is like, and whether sacrificing yourself for that is worth it when the future is still yours to forge

Soo-Won here LOUDLY declares that he wants not the power of the gods to protect Kouka kingdom, but the strength of his people. Right as he becomes king, he forsakes any divine powers for his own might.

He says he cast Hak and Yona aside to forge a strong future for Kouka, but we can see in the pages how much it hurts him to do so, even if he refuses to acknowledge it. Just pages before those two, he thinks "on days like that, I was just a little uncertain" because of how much he cared for him.

In chapter 221, we have that stunning moment where Soo-Won realizes that he can no longer discard the ones he loves. Hak may be dead, and the people Yona cares for (the dragon warriors he was starting to care for) could be gone. But he can no longer discard those emotions. Especially not as Hak delivers the Senjuso and even in that moment, before taking it, it is as if all the pain has gone away.

Yona REFUSES to abide by the gods' will. Why do the gods deserve respect, if this is the pain they inflict, if they are hurting the ones she loves? She is defying the will of gods because the gods have not actually HELPED

What has their protection and divine blessing DONE for people?

Allowed the countless generations of their own blood to suffer, because they do not care about humans?

Allowed Koukan citizens to suffer at the hands of rulers? Kan Soo-Jin would rather force all men to serve in the army and leave the villages without a proper workforce because of his greed. Lee Guen-Tae wanted to fight, and yet left Awa in the hands of Yang Kum-Ji, and did nothing about the slave trade in his own lands. An Joon-Gi would rather wait and do nothing while his people fell to drugs until his own daughter stepped up to take matters into his own hands.

King Il was not a good king. He did not take care of his people. But he was not the only incompetent or malicious ruler within these tribes of Kouka. The blame also falls on the leaders of each tribe. Il did not have the FORCE to make them take care of their own people.

And the dragon gods did nothing for their supposed divinely blessed land.

The three dragon gods issuing these demands are making the CHOICE to punish Yona for refusing to ascend to the heavens with them. It is not that Yona is being given a rational, immutable two options of "ascend to the heavens or your country will suffer." What is happening is that the dragon gods are making the choice to threaten her, again and again. To manipulate her by taking away everything she loves, until she gives up and joins them.

Like king Il, the dragon gods do not want Yona to be able to make her own choices. They do not respect the choices she has made, not anymore.

Only Ouryuu is giving her that respect, asking again if this is what she wants. Ouryuu, who spent two thousand years within Zeno, who watched from up close as Yona struggled and fought with her own two hands to choose her path.

Is this what Soo-Won would want?

Would he truly want Yona to martyr herself at the whims of these dragon gods, out of the belief that humanity cannot be strong on their own?

Would he want his chosen successor to disappear in a bid to protect everyone, when she could instead grasp this future in her own two hands? Hand in hand with everyone? When they could work together to see the future they want for Kouka, instead of leaving it to the will of gods?

The dragon gods are being selfish.

Yona does not have to give in to selfish demands that would make her forsake the agency she has spent the entire manga fighting to claim, simply because they threaten the country.

And that isn't the world Soo-Won believes in.

[qweaenr]

AKATSUKI NO YONA

[layla99999999]

they could be besties

[windrelyn]

[Akatsuki no Yona][Halloween 4koma] A Little Ghost in the Mansion

[soo-won]

Scan and rescan of a bunch of Yona/Hana to Yume freebies!

In order:

Animate bromide for HtY issue 22/2023

Animate bromide for HtY issue 12/2023

Cover and backcover of the notebook of HtY Issue 21/2024

Sexy bromide of Hak of HtY issue 17/2024

Animate bromide for HtY issue 17/2024

Feel free to use

[iluvluvnutella]

◦•●◉✿ 𝓐𝓴𝓪𝓽𝓼𝓾𝓴𝓲 𝓷𝓸 𝓨𝓸𝓷𝓪 ✿◉●•◦