Kouren - Tumblr Posts

Yes!!!! I really love how you could truly understand the motives and actions of all these women and I love how their development turned out not only in regard to Yona but to themselves

I really like that ANY has a trend of girls being the main political movers and shakers right now, literally jumping into the fray and getting shit done.

And the other princesses Yona meets represent different aspects of herself and she helps them balance those aspects. 

Lili is a lot like Yona in that she’s naive and sheltered and scared, yet she’s more recklessly proactive as a princess than Yona ever was before The Incident. While Yona was forced into action and was able to slowly develop the skills she needed to deal with it because she had to and had tragedy to give her perspective, Lili wasn’t forced into action by betrayal and tragedy- she was just gung-ho to help her kingdom even when she wasn’t sure what was going on. She rushed into action without any skills or perspective, and therefore she needed Yona to bring that for her, to make her aware of what she needed to succeed, where she needed to improve. Lili’s passion inspired Yona, but also reminded her that caution and perspective are necessary. 

Meanwhile Tao and Kouren represent different aspects of Yona and how Yona needs to balance them. Tao is Yona’s compassion, but she lacks Yona’s warrior nature or strategic planning. She wants peace, but isn’t sure how to get it. She doesn’t realize you need to go into the fray sometimes to get stuff done. 

Kouren is very much what Yona could be if she gave in completely to her warrior side. She’s an excellent fighter, but driven by revenge and blind to other options than fighting, she rejects her sister’s talks of peace and compassion. She’s what Yona could become if she’s not careful.

By bringing the two sisters together, Yona is learning that she can balance two very different aspects of herself and that they work best in tandem. Yona is taking lessons from how to rule from these women. Kouren becoming queen with Tao backing her up seems like foreshadowing for how Yona will be a true queen when she has perfect harmony with both sides of herself. 

I’ve noted that Yona is the middle ground between her father and Soo-Won’s ways of ruling, and the way she is able to balance out Kouren and Tao is a real illustration of that.