#joo-doh

Tries to order Yona around

Tries to kill Hak

Yells at Yun

Is it weird that as much as I enjoy yona getting into the meat of dealing with these people from another country....I kindof wish we got more info on the workings of the castle....like are there any other servants or maids still around who knew yona? her old teachers who taught her music and dance? like I love her knew battle robes....but I kind of wish we got to see Yona still adjusting to not being chased anymore. waking up in her old bedroom...taking baths regularly. I wish we saw some people help yona get dressed in those robes and do her makeup and hair. especially since Yona’s fixation was her hair in the first chapter. likee I wish we saw people who intamatly knew the old more spoiled Yona. like this is prime opportunity to really show the differences in Yona.

and as much as I love seeing the differences in kye-sook and joo-doh’s reaction to Yona (getting a reminder yet again that Yona is freaking Royalty bitches! ;3)....we also don’t know what they are comparing her TO.

We kye-sook is a bit of a judgy asshole and looked down on Yona and saw her as a threat due to her connections, her legit right to the throne, her knowing of the murder and than her surprising competency to come up with a plan to use the connections she built up to back soo-won into a corner where he had to listen to her. but his master is also soo-won who’s competency makes anyone look like a shit leader by comparison. and while WE had a impression of Yona’s naivity, blinders and being a bit vain and spoiled in the beginning ....we don’t actually knows where he got his impression of Yona from. had he been watching her per king Il murder? was it word of mouth? Did he witness up close a not great first impression with Yona or something?

and we know Jo-dou had known her when she was young, had been passed over for bodyguard and was close enough that Yona called him a grump andhe knows of the close friendship and witnessed stuff. and he aparently in a secert corner of his heart wanted Yona to be safe, okay and not dead and feels uncomfortable with her having killed people or fighting with a bow.

but we haven’t seen a flashback of a moment Yona was young that helped for either of jou-dou or the advisors opinion of her. might not exactly be necessary.

but Yona did live in he castle foryears. we saw quite a bot of thtraining and stuff soo-won did to cultivate skills and his mentality and how he became as competent as he is now.

but I wonder....as much as we know Yona wasn’t very good at dancing and singing or certain stuff as mentioned a few times by Hak and Yona. and we know others see Yona as spoiled and naïve before. We also knowHak was still drawn to her and still respected her even in her ‘spoiled’ form. all everyone seems to think was Yona larned basically nothing from before and all her growth came from the loss of her dad and being released frim her house to explore and experience stuff and that she learned to be savy and awesome from those experiences.

but I kindof want to see a flashback or thoughs of someone who knew younger her to show she did learn stff from the castle before. like she had the dignity of a princess ut we just didnt get to see it since Yona had skipped out on the big speech due to being overly excited to see soo-won. We know Yona might have been spoiled but she is also good natured and had tried to be strong for her dad in her own way. 

We saw the seeds of soo-won’s curiosity, lov of people and how smart he was and where he got more info when we saw young him. but I kindof wish we sw proof tha Yona always had these seeds of strength even when she was spoiled and younger.

That the dignity and ability to talk to people and keep her composure had actually always been a part of her...its just she had been spoiled and chose to be more casual and free with her speech most of the time cuz she could get away with it.

like it was still HER home. HER home terf. Mari has grown in leaps ad bounds in ways she couldn’t in the castle....but I kindof hope we get to see reminders and hints that this was always kind of incharacter for her if people had really payed attention and hadn’t over looked her.

like we’ve seen the guys train and Yona trai and be strong in fighting, and spying and battle. but even if Yona was spoiled and trusting....Yona was still the princess and specifically female.

lik I wonder if there is stuff that Yona learned as the princess and as a girl in the castle that had value that none of the guys or soo-won experienced. Like Yona talking back to people. or Yona actually being pretty good at tricking people or with words.

like what did yona learn that was preparing her to become queen that might have helped in some way.

though I could just be looking for more details to flesh out the castle and what living there was actually like. I’m still thinking of tai-jun’s mother in the firetribe who was the ‘ideal’ lady who rarely spoke. I respect mari’s strength to tell her that Yona would fight beside her guys rather than just staying behind..but there is a certain strength in that lady still. and I want more insite on whats the norm for expectations of ladies. we know that strength, physical prowess, power and winning and drinking is valued in guys. military strategy ect ect. 

and we’ve see ladies like yona, gigan, lilli, and kouren showing strength in combat and leadership ability and using power to influence and get actively involved on the ground. but often with stuff we tend to expect from guys on the norm? as kouren cut her hair and was a warrior, kulbo’s sister was a warrior and leader. lilla snuck out and used her dad’s seal to influence her people an she had to sneak out to try to help and get involved.

the feminine character we’ve seen the most in the earth tribe leader’s wife with her tea hobby and cultivating a tea business. we got to see yona’s dance move peoples hearts. and we know dance and music and stuff like that was taught to her . and apparently tau-jun’s mom is considered the pinnical of what they say is the ladys role. and while she apparently keeps silent alot and speaks in her garden and keeps her thoughts to herself...mentally and emotionally that lady feels very secure and strong. and her view of the strength to hold down the household when the warriars are away(even if /i like Yona getting involved more I can still respect her). or kul’bo’s wife was pretty bad ass holding up the Homefront and her faith in her man and trying to defend Yona. and just the contrast of how she handled stuff while we know kul-bo’s sister was the strong main leader before apparently before she died.

but damn I kind of want to know more about the more female side of their culture just by itself rather than in snippets in contrasting with guy’s situation or lots of guys. like how do they deal with periods. what roles did the empress have to fullfill?

So I noticed something interesting about Yona’s behavior in there recent chapter. At first I was thinking it was odd that Yona was being so composed and taking charge so easily. after all these are foreign leaders. She hasn’t really had experience with a official situation like this and there is only so much she could have learned in the three days stuck in soo-won’s office reading.

But the one thing Yona has always had is confidence. Yona is used to getting her way as a princess even if she hasn’t been living as a princess for a while. Hak always reminded her that she is a princess and to never lower herself and told her to order him to teach her the sword. telling him to give himself to her without a hint of shame or why that wasn't the natural course of things. Sure yona asked the dragons for help but she still never hesitated to ask in the first place.

Yona has also experienced witnessing her father being murdered. getting thrown off a cliff. getting stuck in a cave in with people who don’t want her there. proving herself to pirates with climbing across a cliff and going undercover in a slave ring. She’s killed multiple people. acted as a dancer. pretended to be a bandit running a gang. been slashed by a sword. dealt with getting kidnapped into a drug ring. and yona dealt withthe political issues of the two princesses and dealingwith interacting with soo-won in public and keepng her composure so she wouldn’t be instantly killed. smar enough to use that they didn’t want people to know she was alive and what soo-won had did to the king to get out and her connections to her advantage. not to mention the whole kidnapping and kul-bo thing and the nuances and the advisor gave yona and the group to tackle.

With all that in mind its suddenly makes sense that some officials from the super strong country aren’t going to scare her. If she could stand up and talk to soo-won and look him in the eye while she is surrounded by soldiers I’m pretty sure shecan handle keeping her composure. Its definitly a tense situation that could go sour quickly if she isn’t careful but this actually does feel pretty incharacter for her. Her dad Il’s best trait as king was his serenity and dignity. not to mention Yona has personal experience with being on the ground and directly involved with multiple incidents that are directly involved with what this country had planned to visit about.

Yona has leaned that she has to keep her dignity and composure to win this. As long as yona doesn’t give them the wiggle room than she can keep the upper hand which is something I forgot because mister advisor has been feeling like he has been winning lately but when yona didn’t hesitate to shoot down the guys telling her to call soo-won your majesty or to tell her what to do you could tell yona fell back into her zone.

Yona also has some personal anger to be invested in since she was personally invested in these incidents and it simultaneously wasa power move to show she has actually knowledge that is relivant so they can’t keep complaining about soo-won not being there. 

we know yona wasn’t involved with the political side abd was very spoiled but it doesn’t mean yona didn’t learn how to properly conduct herself when she wanted to.

and honestly I feel 100% that yona is channeling certain teachers to get her through this like how she channeled Captain Gigan when she was pretending to be a bandit or mid battle. More than even the Captain I 100% believe Yona is channeling a bit of her father but even more than him Soo-won. you can’t tell me Yona ISN’T doing a bit of a soo-won impression or thinking what Soo-won or what her father would do in that situation.

Just look her that bubbly serene smile on her face! We have seen even Hak channel Soo-won before in battle thinking about what Soo-won would do. As soon as I realized that this...it feels very incharacter for Yona and perfectly plausible for Yona to be able to do what she’s doing. Its not lika Yona’s actual strand suit is battle. Yona is good at talking and we’ve seen her come up with plans like when he figured out that plan to stall soo-won to stall for time. and  how she took charge when running away with lili.

Its really interesting because as much as Soo-won has the strongest chops when it comes to being a good king and is talented and knowledgeable in many areas and he is the king right now. Technically Yona is still the true heir to the throne that everyone instinctually wants to dismiss. Even the advisour who has been so focused about the dragons lately might have forgotten that YONA was the one who actually rung all of the alarm bells with how she influenced and put together pieces to stop that war.

That's kind of interesting. I ctually think Hak is right. I think king Il didn't physically kill his brother. like for one thing Il isn't a war general. imaging Il killing his brother or fighting him and WINNING with a sword is really hard to imagine. His brother is a BEAST. We definitely find out relationships between the two brothers weren't completely loving...there was some complicated stuff in there. but we know for a fact king Il was king and his brother apparently expressing to soowon that he just wanted to support his bro. I think there could have been a fight if yu-hon decided to go wage war after his brother told him no or something. but unless yu-hon was found to be involved with killing the mom its hard to imagine king Il even raising the blade to his brother and not being wracked by guilt all the time if he did kill his bro. but yu-hon was litlerally oe of the strongest in the kingdom and king il was already getting fluffy/bubbly.

love your reacting to Hak calling out joo-dou. Joudou was making a big deal about how he KNOWS Hak hates and wants to kill soowon so why would they let hak into the army that directly protects the king. trying to get Hak to swear loyalty to soowon or fail to o so and get kicked out of the sky army.

but what really hit me hard with Hak asking why did the king have to die and both him and yona get betrayed like that ws h was calling out Joudous loyaty and what do oaths mean. after all even if Il wasn't a good king Jou- Dou and the sky army SWORE a oath of loyalty to protect the king and royal family. Jou-dou even knew yona on a personal level and was one of the to people.

yet jou-dou here is trying to get Hak to swear loyalty and lecture hak?

Jou-dou and others in the skytribe army who own loyaly guards that hawk probably even trained with snuck in during Yonas party celebration and planned to cver up the tre prgins of king Il's death. they DIRECTLY betrayed the king.

forget soo-won. that burn where hak basically threw in his face that joodou is a oath breaker and that empty vows or loyalty don't mean anything. Hak could sweat that oath and sneak in a kill soo-won because in the end unlike joudou and many in sky tribe army....hak was ACTUALLY loyal to the king. hak didn't just see the king as cowardly. he knew there were lots of issues with the king and his methods and ideals. but the king won haks respect and loyaty and  hak found him worthy for a reason. He ws able to see why the grandpa king(king il's dad) chose king Il.

and what even more interesting is Hak was soo-won's best friend. his right hand. he also wanted soo-won be be king just traitors they fought for. honestly probably even more than them. he was willing t happily put aside his feelings for yona to encourage them both to marry an be together so he could serve the two people he loved th most. the traitor and Joodou use the excuse it was to save the kingdom an we could be fooled since we know he wasn't a good king... but unlike them he knew a peaceful solution had just been in reach. hak knew yona was in love with soo-won at the time and that she fought with the king because she wanted to be allowed the option to marry soo-won. and there even seemed to be slight progress at least on soo-won finding out her feelings. 

Hak has even more trust in soo-won's skills. I like hak thinking soo-won could have talked with king Il and they then used the death of th brother as a reason talks couldnt happen. but he knows if yona is willing to care about soo-won and suck up that he killed her dad in front of her to work o the good f th kingdom than soo-won definitely ould be able to. that could be naïve. maybe king Il DID kill the dad and Il would refuse any talks with soo-won. but that's excuses. soo-wo could have kept trying to talk to king ill and negotiate. but I like Joo-dou trying to hide behind that as a excuse for their behavior because even if joudou chose to swear loyaty to the idea of soo-won as king. It doesn't excuse he swore a actual oath of loyaty to the actual king and they broke it and deliberately caused his death right under haks nose. 

and Hak is STILL loyal to Yona his princess and given her support. I also like you bringing up that hak brought up yona in the discussion because even if Il killed soo-wons dad. yona was innocent and it was still betraying her. though my guess was th plan was to kill king Il while yona was innocently asleep in her quarters and that she'd be obvious to the true culprits who killed her dad and she'd see soowon as innocent. maybe the plan was to use her as a figure head or for soo-won to rule in her stead while she grieved but they hadn't actually planned to kill her until she had appeared unexpectedly and witnessed the murder. which then they had to silence her. I like how you phased hak saying 'I don't believe you' and why should I believe you' XD after all we know that shady advisor is the WORST...he tried to get zeno and jaeha shot with arrws. encouraged soowon to kill yona after she witnessed the murder. dude gives ALL the disrespect to yona with the seating arrangement. and I can't help by wonder since the dude is so a yuuhon fan...that maybe that advisor dude got disappointed yuhon didn't want to take over the kingdom from his king Il. so killed yuuhon himself and then puts all his eggs into the basket of into making soowon king and planned on killing king Il, who he saw as having stolen the rightful place of yuhon even though it was decided by the grandpa king and king Il didn't deliberately steal anything. like the adviser I could see having a grudge against King Il on his own on prince/general yuu-hon's behalf. trying to recreate the dream he thinks the ideal yuu-hon would have actually wanted if yuhon didn't hold back on his brother. he tried to stall on a peaceful solution in discussing stuff between the tao and kouren and soowons people. the advisor tried to stop that. 

I also like hak seing it more of a surface excuse. in th end everyone else betrayed king il because they wanted sowon on the thrown and didn't approve on how Il handled the country. but they are still in the wrong for breaking that loyaty and betraying them. 

and jodouh cant argue that hak isn't loyal to yona if he gave up his place in the wondtribe general to care for his tribe and her. 

I like your excitement over soo-won's hawk visiting hak XD I also wonder if haks jab at jou-dous loyalty might also imply king Il was right to choose hak over joudoh as Yonas boyguard and being in charge of the guards at the castle. 

honestly I think its interesting because the earth tribe leader agreed reluctantly to throw the fight. but he did it because he assumed that recommendation was from soo-won directly and not the adviser. so the adviser is able to tell the earth king leader is very loyal to soo-won even though soo-won could tell this is still going to be a bad move over all. the adviser thinks he is in control of the narrative and I think he put yona by the king in the chair specifically because he wants to rial up hak and drive hak to act out of anger. the dude half over estimates and underestimates them because I don't think he understand that yona REALLY isn't out for revenge and has no interest in stealing the thrown from soo-won. the adviser was worried because yona and the dragons were gaining support and respect and influence from all over the kingdom which could hurt soo-won if she ever thinks of taking back the castle but he doesn't understand that isn't yona or the groups goal in the slightest.

and Hak was super angry and wanted to kill soo-won but there are many feels built into that for Hak and unlike everyone else Hak is genuinely loyal and never broken a oath to any one unlike many in the skytribe or what they had to do to take down king Il. and according to joo-doh is a real threat. and the adviser saw first hand that hak could command the respect of a entire army so I think Joo-doh sees hak as powerful to. both positively and negatively.

the adviser thinks he has everything under control. that yona and the dragons need the palace more than the palace needs them because of safty due to the kidnapping scare and the adviser pressing into that insecurity, not just helping pretty boy doctor. after all he got the the drgons to separate from yona and hak. yona sat in the chair. and he got the tribe leaders to agree to hold back and let the dragons win which would show the dragons as under soo-wons command even if they aren't and they would get to see the powers.

only the adviser didn't expect that Hak is mature enough to knw he is being baited by the chair and to respect that yona wouldn't sit in it if she couldn't handle the situation. even better is while the advisor orchestrated this he never told the dragons what to do directly. he just expected them to follow the idea and reveal their powers. but what I thought was even better was not only did the dragons stop the reveal of the powers of shin-ah and zeno. but the problem is the zealiousy people feel for the dragons. good emotions can quickly twist into negative and if the dragons win it would show the people the impressive dragons that are under the 'king's' control. but by showing aggression enough to rip up the ground they show they aren't under the kings control and by getting 'taken down' by the people who were told to let them win it shows that humans can be equal to them. which takes away some of the mystism behind the dragons which should spread so it might help lower the chances of people going crazy over the powers. though its still a risky bet cuz they did still scare people. Hak also stood out as the thunder beast able to handle the rocks and stuff so he gained a little more renoun still. and it makes the advisor who thought he knew how everyone would react foolish because hak didn't react how he expcted. I also thik its interesting because I think hak and the dragons I think had the advisor forget that YONA is the one impressive enough to get them together and isn't just some child who walked into a trap unprepared. soo-wons team still has the advantage in this but Yona still has her dignity.

I also love your reaction to everyone reacting to yona calling out soo-won letting his adviser run wild. after all the adviser offered them this deal without even consulting soo-won at first. and this is theguy who was fine with prompting soo-won to kill yona after the murder. I think soo-won is holding back about meddling with yona and hak because he IS biases toward the positive with them and even when he makes clear logical decisions others like joo-doh get angry and question soo-won in the past when he hesitates to say kill what they all precieve as a threat. that he isn't commited and will hesitate because part of his still cares about them. so I wonder if that's why he is letting this guy run his course...though doesn't mean soo-won isn't in the wrong or makng a mistake here because he still let the adviser have the plan with the seating arrangement which insulted yona. though I suppose in the end they all know they aren't engaged and that its just a eat no mater what the civilians are speculating.

everyone is definitely so focused on hak that they are still underestimating princess yona in their midsts...which could be great because none of them have REALLY see yona in action. lila, the fire tribe brothers have seen it up close. the the sister princesses have. soo-won I think definitely got a taste with her manipulating the situation to stop the war. but a country attacked where the false signal was at the fire tribe which helped make it less suspicious. lowering their expectations for yona. 

  and hak and the dragons implied to the earth tribe leader and joo-doh that the dragons faked all that at made they react how they wanted to. to get the 'humans' to win and got them not to just throw the match. it just strengthens the idea the adviser is the real enemy to both yna and soo-won I think. and that no one on soo-won's side is really looking at them and what YONA's group is valuing since soo-won's group cant grasp yona wont want revenge or the kingdom one day or that hak values his friends and respects yona's descion to not make a move like a dumbass. 

Joo-Doh: I wasn’t sleeping! I was drugged!

Soo-Won: Can you pass me the salt?

Geun-Tae: [throws Joo-Doh across the table]

Soo-Won: ...