#yoo-hon

of course the dad protected his son from the damage he would have gotten for the real reasons he killed the priests most likely by spreading rumours that the priests were meddling politically and it was the prince everyone already favored anyway so yoohon basically went unpunished. by showing the implications the priests were innocents who hadn't done anything worthy of those deaths except be excited and show kindness to her family it reminds us they are HUMANS and really lets us feel what yoohon did upfront and personal. even our kid priest who we love went through hardship due to this situation and yna wouldn't have been born if soowons dad had succeeded in killing that priestess which feels different that seeing the heads of srtangers who were important to kouren's people. which was sad and motivated her but her people had been a dick to our heros at the time as well. this was up close and personal. we got to see the humanized parts and extra motivations about soowon's dad so if she says he did something we can guess he did do it. and then we see with the priests being innocent just WHY Il might hate aggression war and death so much he'd avoid it at all costs. and we've got some of the reasons for why king Il might not want soowon to marry yona or go into the mini temple. soowons dad killed the priests and burned down temples so that's a disrespect to the gods and more importantly the innocent priests that were killed. soo-won had the blood of hiryuu which you'd think would cause favor but consider the last time someone with the blood went to the temple many were then killed. like does Il ever think maybe if he hadn't brought the yon-hi to the temple genuinely wanting them to get the blessing to marry properly that the death wouldn't have happened. it also means yoo-hon could have caused the deaths of many people Il found precious and more important was still thought of as  a threat to Yonas mom by Il because yoo-hon hated the priests and its not like Il knows if it was just a excuse or like how yon-hi thought it was to protect her and her family and the promise yoohon made. 

plus soowon could potentially have that sickness that causes short life    

we see the human emotions from prince Il. the hurt/bitterness he'd feel from the big brother insulting him unwittingly(not realizing how much his big brother does love him and sees value in him because his brother is bad at communication), the anger, confusion and horror and betrayal at his brother hiding something and then destroying the priests and killing innocent people who are kouka residents, the fear and paranoia from hiding a priest under his big brothers nose and the want to protect his wife from harm, and we know he is a kind person cuz he treated yon-hi with kindness and was her friend for a while and the loss of that relationship. and we see the negatives from his overly religious side a bit as well. but its not like Il didn't anything to yon-hi after finding out that makes him evil. and it makes us know that prince Il probably didn't have much love for his brother and honestly if he does its understandable even if it seems the older brother still loved his younger brother very much to some degree. It helps set up why king Il might have been able to kill his brother. something we still don't know for SURE that king Il did. and yoohon in his bid to protect his wife ended up causing his precious brother much pain and in a roundabout way was the reason her mother killed herself. getting rid of the priests he never liked hurt the people he loved in unexpected ways. just as him protecting his country and striking fear using the heads tactic almost gave kouka and stubborn enemy with a grudge that was valid/in the right to exist. it makes me wonder if soowon outed the wifes identity to yoohon at somepoint or if Il is still under the wrong impression his brother was at all interested in the religious power or something. So I really didn't see that as backtracking us in anyway because we got the possible motives for why Il might kill yoo-hon. where soo-won got his focus on using people and not relying on gods. we see more proof of why soowon might love his dad so much and that the dads love for the younger brother was real. that yoo-hon had good intentions biu often did really cruel things without asking others and didn't listen to people thinking it was nessacary when it wasn't. why king Il might not be a fan of soowon due to what his dad did and the wife didn't stop it(though honestly we know hr husband was terrible at listening even to her so it probably couldn't have stopped anything). and it keeps us from getting too ahead of ourselves assuming people are bad from the get go like what most readers assumed of the priest despite how everyone is nuanced. like her uncle bringing up that the priests didn't hurt, swindle anyone and were kind and were even able to tell at first glance so they probably could talk to the gods(irony that zeno made the priest hood lying he could still talk to the gods and ended up scamming the country by fighting armys by himself to keep them safe rather than it actually being the gods....just for it to turn out the priest hood legit could talk to the gods or at least sense stuff). and extra things that we could think were reasons for the grandpa king to choose il over the clear favorite yoohon. 

plus in a way we get to see from soo-wons moms perspective its like how we've seen the predecessors of the white, blue green dragons. technically soowon has the red dragons blood so seeing the moms perspective makes me think of that parallel. also we are seeing one of the people that raised and influenced soo-won (the mom) which could give us a little extra something to try to figure out soowon who can be a bit hard to read at times. 

I think the twist that the priests weren't evil gives a extra layer to things. we definitely can see the bad and good sides of religion in the series. its very easy to focus on the bad but its interesting because people bonding over religion at the firetribe brought them to appreciate Yonas group and actually stopped them from killing innocent civilians in the city. they stalled and just wanted yona back but tey weren't cruel or did anything that would make enemys in the city like we had seen happened when yoohon threw the heads in lady kourens country. or how people who lost even a mini battle could hold grudges from their dead and injured. 

the fact is that yoo-hon is presumptuous and does what he want at times and isn't a good listener. like she implied multiple times she didn't want to take him home and he kidnaps her to fix her foot instead of letting her go. basically decides she is going to marry him. honestly my bet if he started killing the priests and only told her after it was already mostly done. not asking for her opinion on it. assuming that was what she would want to happen. and he had staed multiple times he hates the priests for looking down on the noble family literally ad the influences the priests have on his family. 

but he also assumes automatically that any religious influence is bad. that they had nothing of value to give him. yon-hi noticed that yoohon tried to get his brother to ditch praying and ho hawking with him and that he must have really wanted him to go and to bond with him and that it came out rough but he probably meat well...thought it was cute. 

but the fact is yoo-hon insulted the religious aspect entirely all the time and it was one of the only places that prince Il really had a place in. he even noted himself that no one really praises Il and everyone agreed the older brother was better all the time. implying that what Il valued was a waste and despite wanting to spent time with his bro he never tried to understand Il. he never tried doing the things lL liked to do, expecting Il to change and do what yoo-hon valued. and instead of properly answering his brother about the yon-hi situation(which would OF course look bad to Il since his brother has been openly insulting the religion and the stuff Il values and now he I marrying and keeping quiet about something that of course would shake things up). yoo-hon would of course not hesitate to kill the priests since he never bothers to stay at the temple to pray. 

we assume along with yon-hi and yoo-hon the religious people last chapter were bad or in the wrong. but the twist that they were just kind to her family. like...the facts are her family has the blood of the founder of the country. is it possible they could be used to strengthen the religious side? yeah. but I wonder if yoo-hon just used this as a excuse to get rid of the priests he never valued at all. 

and I think it was great to show that ruthless side because the priests were innocent of hurting anyone and they didn't deserve to burn to death. it was even pointed out that the priests could tell at first sight so it does imply they were legit. and we know the priest that helped yona is a good person. and we were taught we cant completely judge from the face because there was kindness in yoo-hon even if he couldn't articulate it correctly. so I really want it to turn out the priest was a genuinely good person who was genuine in his feelings for her family because the facts are h treated her family kindly and was then set in fire with all of the others. that mixed with us knowing for a fact yoo-hon killed prisoners hey had promised would arrive safely after a war was over and threw their heads. 

Il's problem was that he was too passive and would avoid fighting and war. while yoo-hon's issue was he was too aggressive and didn't know mercy. and seriously imagine how Il felt. everyone already looks down on il for not liking fighting and aggressive manly stuff like his brother and the one thing Il was good at was the religious aspect that he bonded with the dad over and was important to the country's history. his brother despite already being expected to bethe next king didn't even get married by the priests properly. was always insulting the beliefs and values of that including pince Il's dislike of fighting and Il ends up waking up to all the priests. many who are people who Il respects and who don't be little him are SET ON FIRE. and its clearly implied that Kashi was most likely set on fire as well but was saved and hidden away. and prince Il's reaction to the implication yon-hi knew she was the priest girl was to beg with a please to not tell anyone and that the priest girl died. the fear in his eyes and the anger means proof that matched that all of the priests were set on fire. and brings a parallel that yoo-hon who wanted to protect his wife so went that far. verses prince Il who we understandable at times would want to see negatively is given the extra nuance again because his brother was still in the wrong for murdering the priests. 

We know yoo-hon from soo-wo's view just wanted to support his brother as king so king Il would have to be completely in the wrong if he killed yoo-hon. and uptil now we haven't had better insight into king Il.