Soo-Won

SPOILER ALERT! This article contains manga details that are not covered in the anime. Do not proceed unless you want to be spoiled.

Soo-Won
Kanji	スウォン
Rōmaji	Suwon
Alias	Won
Characteristics
Gender	Male
Age	18
Height	185 cm (6'1)[1]
Weight	70 kg (154 lbs)
Birthday	February 3 (Aquarius)[2]
Hair Color	Dark Blond
Eye Color	Aqua Blue
Professional Status
Occupation	King of Kouka Kingdom
Partner(s)	Kye-Sook
Previous Partner(s)	Yona Hak
Personal Status
Status	Alive
Relatives	Yu-Hon (Father) Yong-Hi (Mother) Emperor Il (Uncle) Kashi (Aunt) Yona (Cousin) Joo-Nam (Paternal Grandfather, Deceased) Mei (Paternal Grandmother, Deceased)[3]
Debuts
Manga Debut	Chapter 01
Anime Debut	Episode 01
Portrayal
Japanese Voice	Yuusuke Kobayashi Nozomi Yamamoto (Child)
English Voice	Micah Solusod
Image Gallery

Soo-Won (スウォン, Suwon) is the current king of Kouka Kingdom. He is the son of the deceased General Yu-Hon, the older cousin of Yona, and the childhood friend of Hak. He murders his uncle, Emperor Il to avenge the foul murder of his father.^[4] Currently, he is resolving the internal conflicts of Kouka in order to bring the country back to the strong nation it used to be.

AppearanceEdit

Soo-Won is a tall young man with a feminine face. He has long, dark blond hair that he ties into a side ponytail using a gold ornament. His bangs are parted in half and some strands are longer and wavier than the normal cut. He dons a simple white robe held by a purple sash under a mauve overcoat with purple hemlines. While his eyes were depicted as brown in the manga,^[5] this was replaced in the anime with a bright sea greenish-blue shade.^[6]He is considered very handsome and attractive.

PersonalityEdit

Soo-Won is a kind, gentle, and friendly person who is always seen with a calm demeanour. Despite being composed most of the time, he displays moments of naivete and acts childish whenever he sees fit. He has a habit of changing the topic if someone notices his lies or questions his intentions.

Ever since he was little, he has been sociable. He can approach anyone as he never judges a person on their appearance.^[7] Thanks to this, he is able to establish connections with various people, even with those who appear to be crude. Due to his uncanny charisma^[7] he often forms bonds based on his hidden intrigue. However, despite all his socializing, he is still clueless about love.^[8] He fails to see someone else’s feelings towards him and when he does notice, he dismisses it as a misunderstanding.^[9] Ironically, he does understand how adult interactions work as seen when he stated to Yona that he can no longer do the things he usually does with her when they were kids. Oddly enough, this makes Soo-Won similar to Yona in this department.

With his frail looking build and lack of appearance in combat, he is viewed by some as weak and is often contrasted with his childhood friend Hak, a fighting protege.^[10] In truth however, he never shows his real strength unless he needs to. When he does display it, he is seen to be a swordsman even capable of threatening Lee Geun-Tae. He can also produce effective battle strategies that will lead his men efficiently and manipulate his enemies effortlessly. Moreover, he has a highly determined attitude, such that he will even challenge divine will if he needs to.^[11]

He holds great admiration towards strong people, especially his father, Yu-Hon,^[12] and aspires to be just like him. However, after his father was killed, he was devastated. Afterwards he became a more secretive person and schemed revenge for years. For this reason, he was willing to tear himself away from his friends and destroy his relationships with Yona and Hak to pursue his ambitions. Despite his heartless actions towards them, he still genuinely cares for them, as was made evident when he learned of Yona’s apparent death^[13] or how he was rendered unable to unsheathe his sword after seeing the anger and pain with which Hak attacked him.^[14]

It is known that Soo-Won deeply cares for his childhood friends, Yona and Hak, despite everything that has happened. In Chapter 90 of the manga, it shows that Soo-Won still cared for Yona. He readily defended Yona from arrows, which shows how much he still cares for her. Even though Yona and Hak seem to despise him very much, he does not retaliate, even thinking that he deserves it, which also shows how much he cherishes them.

Although very handsome and having a great amount of charisma, Soo-won appears to have some problems with having relationships with women, and becomes easily abashed when he is insinuated to have had one in Awa. As of now, he doesn't appear to be thinking about finding a wife, and even refused (somewhat vigorously) when his generals suggested that he marry An Lili, the Water Tribe general's daughter.

BackgroundEdit

Soo-Won always joined his father when he visited Hiryuu Castle in order to play with Yona and Hak when he was young. Together with Hak, he looked out for Yona’s happiness and was always ready to help her out. For instance, he comforted Yona and substituted as her “mother”, doing some of the things that the late empress did for her.^[15] When Yona was kidnapped, he and Hak asked the thugs in the town just to stop the kidnappers from selling his friend to the Kai Empire. His relationship with his friends made him happy and he wished that their bond would forever stay just like that.^[16] However, achieving this little dream of his became impossible when he was forced to choose between his friends and his revenge .

When he was nine,^[17] his father was murdered by Emperor Il, though the murder was covered up as an accident.^[18] Since then, he harbored a secret hatred of the emperor and plotted his revenge in order to fulfill his father’s dying wish to become the king.^[18] Knowing that this desire of his would eventually tear him, Yona, and Hak apart, he remained silent about his plans and continued as if nothing had changed until the day he could carry out his plan. At some point Emperor Il told him that Yona was the reincarnation of King Hiryuu and that he (Soo-Won) was different.

Synopsis Edit

Fugitive ArcEdit

When Soo-Won was informed that Yona and Hak were 'dead', he carried on with his plans to become king whilst remembering how he killed Emperor II, betrayed his best friends and trampled over them for his goals. He is shown to regret his feelings after being motionless and clutches Yona's hair tightly in guilt, but after coming so far and doing so much- he knows he cannot fail his goals, otherwise his ambitions were pointless in the first place. He therefore, continues with his coronation and becomes King.

AbilitiesEdit

As the King of Kouka, he has the power to rule over the people and land. He has full control of the kingdom. Soo-Won is able to excellently wield a sword and other weapons. Son Mundok taught him how to use a spear at a young age. This is confirmed in the anime when he shows surprising ability in the mock battle against Geun-Tae, a general known for his skills in battle. Soo-won also demonstrates great political competence when dealing with the five generals as well as skill in strategy as seen in the mock battle.

Soo-Won is a highly intelligent and cunning individual; these traits made him one of the best - if not the best - strategist shown so far in the series. One of the most recent exemples of his ability was dress his soldiers' horses like tigers to scare the enemies this tactic gave his men time enough to attack before the opponent could even react. His intelligence and charisma, as well as his skills as a warrior were enough to gather the support of four of the Five Tribes (with the Wind Tribe remaining as the only exception due to their loyalty to Hak) and consolidate his authority as the ruler of the kingdom. Politics seem to be his preferred ground, and he showed amazing skills in dealing with people; that does not mean, however, that he is not a great warrior himself. Although shown in the beginning fo the series that he his not as strong as Hak, he has shown be be at-least near his power. As Hak has the martial ability to rival a dragon, even challenging him is a considerable accomplishment.

RelationshipsEdit

YonaEdit

Soo-Won treated Yona like a younger sibling,^[19] and always looked out for her safety. On times she felt down, especially after her mother's tragic death, he would come up with ways to cheer her up and make her smile return. Years later, when Yona confessed her feelings for him, Soo-Won admitted that didn't reciprocate the same feelings towards her, because he didn't really understand love, but he was touched by them. He also made clear that he was aware of her as a woman saying he could no longer hold her hand and sleep next to her as it would make him too nervous to sleep.^[20] Even though he betrayed Yona, he still worries for her. When Kan Tae-Jun informs him of her supposed "death", he shows a grief-stricken expression clutching her hair.

Some time later, after literally bumping into each other in Awa, Soo-Won hides Yona from his men by covering her with his robes and preventing them from knowing her identity. During the confrontation with them, Yona, still hidden, reaches for his sword and Soo-Won stops her. When his men leave, Soo-Won asks her if she wants to kill him, saying it was only natural that she did, but there something he had to do first, so he couldn't die just yet. He bids her farewell and leaves, creating the speculation within the fandom that Soo-Won has developed feelings for Yona.^[21]

HakEdit

Hak and Soo-Won were childhood friends in the past and they always worked together to protect Yona. For him, Hak is a cool and dependable person, and this made him become somewhat jealous of Yona because she has a servant like him.^[22] The two were also mentioned to have raised a falcon named Gulfan together. ^[23] Aside from that, he aspired to be as strong as him, and made him one of his goals in life.^[24] During their peaceful days, he asked Hak to protect Yona at

all costs, knowing that the three of them will separate after he commits his revenge to Emperor Il. It is shown that Hak and Soo-won deeply cared for each other and were best friends, and that's why Hak is filled with grief, even crying upon their first encounter after the betrayal from Soo-won.

Yu-HonEdit

Yu-Hon is usually a strong and strict person, but is noted to be acting differently when it comes to Soo-Won. When he was still alive, he encourages Soo-Won, even to the point of telling his son to beat his sickness to death. Due to his strength and intelligence, Soo-Won looked up to him and dreamt that he could fight by his side and die for him someday.

Lee Guen-Tae Edit

Lee Guen-Tae is the general of the Earth clan. Soo-Won goes to the Earth clan in order to help their impoverished land and to show off Guen-Tae as an admirable leader, who could boost morale very quickly. At first, Guen-Tae compares Soo-Won to Hak, saying that Hak is a better fighter, comparing Hak to a tiger. Although he compares Hak to a tiger, he compares Soo-Won to a rabbit for his skinny arms and to the fact that he has never seen Soo-Won fight. In the end, Guen-Tae has seen Soo-Won's strength and follows him as a leader and acknowledging him as king. During the meeting of the Tribes to save Lili, he teases Soo Won for developing feelings for her and considers the rescue mission as an excuse for Soo Won and Lili to get married.

An Lili Edit

When Soo-won and Lili first meet, he saves Lili from a Nadai addict and ends up becoming her "bodyguard". Later, he aids her (along with Yona and her crew) defeat a fleet of drug-trading ships from Sei. After Lili is kidnapped and brought to Sei as a slave, Soo-Won sets out looking for her, along with four of the five Koukan Generals. When she is nearly hanged for attempting to escape, he ends up working very briefly with Hak to cut her from the gallows. After Lili heals, Soo-Won comes to visit her and tell her about the effect her rebellion in Sei caused, assuring her it wasn't a useless effort. Lili cries from his words, and as he leaves, she muses to herself that she'd like to get to know him better for Yona's sake.

Later, she follows Suwon to Ogi's hideout and catches him exchanging money for intel on the neighbouring kingdom of Xing. Ogi reveals that rumours are floating around Xing of Yona's group, and having gotten the information he came there for, Suwon leaves along with Lili and her guards. Once outside, Lili confronts Suwon about the rumours, asking if he plans to pursue her. She goes on to say that Yona is a precious friend of hers, and that she believes Yona is important to Suwon deep down as well. Suwon immediately silences her and warns her not to mention Yona's name again.

QuotesEdit

• "It does not matter to me if there is someone watching us from the Heavens. Because what I want is not the power of Gods, but the power of the people. I will rebuild the Kouka Kingdom into the powerful kingdom it was when the ninth king was the ruler. If anything, even a god, gets in the way, I will bring it to the ground!" ^[25]
• (To Yona) "But I love your hair, Yona. It's a beautiful crimson... just like the blush of dawn."
• (To Hak) "Quit talking so politely. Call me Soo-Won, like you used to."
• (To Hak ) "It's because you were there, Hak. You're always so strong, Hak. Dependable... and cool. I wanted to be like that. After seeing you, I wanted to get closer to you. I wanted to become more like you. I always think that. It's frustrating. Even though we're so close... I don't feel like I can reach you at all. Everything about you... is my goal." 
• (To Yona) "King Il will never open his eyes. I killed him."
• (To Yona) "You don't know. Yes, I loved King Il too. Even though people called him a coward for fearing conflict, I used to think that was his kindness. But I was wrong. I was so wrong."
• "Kindness is not a crime. But sometimes it awakens the weakness and greed in others."^[26]
• (To Yona) "I thought that one day, I would stand alongside my father on the battlefield, and give my life for my father's sake. But after King Il succeeded the crown, he killed Yu-Hon, his own brother. Do you understand? King Il, who supposedly hated weapons and evaded strife, killed my father with a sword. Princess Yona, that is why I have lived for this day, for 10 years. To avenge my father's death, and to carry on his will, I will become Kouka's King!"
• (To Yona and Hak) "I regret it. I wanted the three of us to rest together like we did when we had our colds... forever and ever."
• (To Kye-Sook about Hak ) "Sir Kye-Sook, do you know of the Thunder Beast from the Wind Tribe? I believe he may become the strongest solider of 100... no, 1000 years. Though I can't hope to keep him as an ally."
• (To Hak) "I sent King Il to Hell moments ago." 
• (To guards about Hak) "Stay back. Your heads will fly off if you get any closer. Standing before you is the trump card of Hiryuu Castle, one of the five Generals... Son Hak."
• (To Hak) "This nation... has no need for a weak king."
• (To Hak about the future) "Yes... that is a fortunate dream. Hak, please... protect Yona... okay?" 
• (To Hak) "The Soo-Won you knew never existed. I will strike down anyone who gets in my way. Anyone."
• (To Kan Soo-Jin about Hak) "Hak is no idiot. If he spreads the truth and causes commotion, Princess Yona's life will be in jeopardy. To protect the princess, he is most likely lying low for now."
• (To Son Mundok ) "Thank you... I'm glad that you thought of me as a grandson, Master Mundok."
• "The Crimson Dragon Castle is a symbol of the king of Kouka Kingdom. I swore to myself that I would return to this castle one day."
• "When I become King, Yona and Hak will not be at my side. Warm days like today make me doubt myself a bit. But now my right arm is gone. And so is the girl who gave me warmth... I have made it this far by casting them off and crushing them underfoot. So I will doubt myself no longer!'" 
• (To Yona about Hak ) "You're safe and sound. That must be because even now, he's risking his life to the end to protect you."^[27]
• (To Yona) "Do you wish to kill me? It's only natural that you do. But I cannot die right now, because there is something I must do. Farewell... Yona."^[28]
• (To Yona about Hak ) "He's there, isn't he? The Thunder Beast. Then, whatever comes at us, we will not lose."
• (To Kija) "It is not my desire to sit upon the throne. I have but one goal: to make this country strong. Enough so that it won't be invaded. I only became King only as a means towards this purpose. Your existence is intriguing, and I won't refute your claim, but it is also true that I have no need for you. Because what I want is not the power of Gods, but the power of humans."
• (To Lord Kushibi In the manga) "We, with a 'mere handful of troops,' triumphed over a thousand soldiers"
• “I cannot stop now. I must keep this kingdom alive.”

TriviaEdit

• He ranked 9th in the character popularity poll conducted by Hana to Yume in December, 2014. He scored 389 votes in total.^[29]
• Soo-Won is the 11th person from the Sky Tribe to be heralded as the king.^[30]
• He and Mizuho Kusanagi share the same birthday.^[31]

ReferencesEdit

NavigationEdit

Characters
[[The Dark Dragon and the Happy Hungry Bunch]]
Members	Yona • Hak • Yoon • Kija • Shin-Ah • Ao • Jae-Ha • Zeno
[[Kouka Kingdom]]
Royalty	King Hiryuu • Yu-Hon • Emperor Il • Soo-Won • Yona • Yak-Shi
Generals	Han Joo-Doh • Kan Kyo-Ga • An Joon-Gi • Tae-Woo • Lee Geun-Tae • Hak (former) • Kan Soo-Jin (former)
[[Tribes]]
Sky Tribe	Yona • Soo-Won • Emperor Il • Yu-Hon • Han Joo-Doh
Fire Tribe	Kan Soo-Jin • Kan Kyo-Ga • Kan Tae-Jun • Yoon • Heuk-Chi • Kil-Sung • Mi-Rae • Aro
Water Tribe	An Joon-Gi • An Lili • Tetora • Ayura • Hiyou
Wind Tribe	Son Mundok • Hak • Tae-Woo • Tae-Yeon • Han-Dae
Earth Tribe	Lee Geun-Tae • Yun-Ho • Chul-Rang • Gi-Gan • Yang Kum-Ji • Pirates of Awa • Yu-Ri
[[Dragons]]
Originals	King Hiryuu • Gu-En • Abi • Shu-Ten • Zeno
Current	Kija • Shin-Ah • Jae-Ha • Zeno
Previous	Ao • Garou
[[Misc. Characters]]
Kouka	Kye-Sook • Min-Soo • Ik-Soo • Kaya
Kai Empire	Li Hazara • Kalgan
Sei Kingdom	Kushibi • Tuvalu
Xing Kingdom	Kouren • Tao • Vold • Algira • Mizari • Neguro • Yotaka • Gobi • Namsek
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