Akatsuki no Yona

Basic Summary

" The story follows the redemption of Yona, the sole princess to the kingdom of Kouka. Yona lives the carefree life of a princess in Hiryuu castle, being sheltered by her pacifist father, King Il, and protected by her bodyguard Son Hak. During a party being held for her sixteenth birthday, her childhood friend and love interest Soo-won comes to pay tribute to her. Intending to tell her father that she cannot forget her love for Soo-won, she visits King Il's chambers and witnesses him being killed by Soo-won, who reveals that he will now properly rule Kouka. Hak intervenes and saves Yona, they escape from the castle to Hak's birthplace, Village of Wind. Under the suggestion of Hak's grandfather Son Mundok, Yona and Hak search for an oracle banished from the castle. When they find the oracle, he tells them who tells them the legend of the first king of Kouka, Hiryuu, and the four dragons who unified the kingdom. Yona and Hak, joined by Ik-soo's assistant Yun, begin a journey to find the reincarnated legendary dragons in order to survive and save the Kingdom of Kouka. "

from courtesy of Wikipedia

Main Characters

**warning major spoilers ahead, approach with caution

Yona 

" She is the titular character and the main protagonist of the series. Yona is the sole princess of Kingdom of Kouka. She appears to be a cute and naive girl at the beginning. Her mother was killed by robbers when she was young, leaving her father King Il to raise her up with Son Hak and Soo-won. Being a princess, she was initially dependant and spoiled, always nagging when something was not the way she wanted. However, after her father's death and her first love's betrayal, she decided to be more independent and become strong enough to fight and protect herself. As such, she requested Hak to teach her archery and sword. While initially hesitant to kill, she eventually threw away this hesitation during the battle against Kum-ji, being able to unleash a murderous intent that made her opponents afraid moving and kill Kum-ji herself. She is said to be the reincarnation of Hiryuu, the first king of the Kingdom of Kouka, which explains her red hair even though her parents both had black hair. Being the reincarnation of Hiryuu, the four legendary dragons's blood will react the moment they lay their eyes upon her as well as hearing the voices of the original four dragons' oath to protect Hiryuu. Not wanting to remain oblivious of the current state of her own country, Yona decides to travel around the country to find out more about the outside world as well as protecting her country and her people in secret. Although Yona cannot forgive Soo-won for killing her father, Yona couldn't bring herself to hurt him when they were reunited at Awa, revealing that some part of her still loves Soo-won; she still keeps the hairpin that he gave her before his betrayal and even assisted him during the war as she realised the reason Soo-won wanted to become king. Over time though, she seems to have developed feelings for Hak. She primarily uses the bow and arrow in combat and later learns to wield a sword. "

haha so innocent back then

you better look out, we've got a badass here

 Su-won 

" He is Yona's cousin as well as her first love, a pretty boy with golden hair. In his first appearance, he was kind, cheerful, and somewhat a klutz. After Yona's mother died, he was the one who encouraged her and promised to be by her side in her mother's place, which made Yona fall in love with him. He was also Hak's best friend, close enough for Soo-Won to tell Hak to call him by his first name. Soo-won's father supposedly died due to an accident, but Soo-Won reveals that Yona's father was the one who killed him, leading Soo-Won to conspire with the Fire Tribe to kill Yona's father in cold blood and take over the throne. With King Il killed and Yona gone missing with Hak, Soo-won is crowned the new king. When informed about the news about Yona and Hak's supposed "death" by the son of the general of the fire tribe, Soo-won becomes depressed and shocked. When around others, Soo-Won maintains his outward persona, purposely making himself look clumsy to hide his true intelligence. Even though he hates King Il and declared he will dispose of anyone who gets in his way, Soo-Won was shown to genuinely care for both Yona and Hak, and he still does even after his betrayal. He hides the fact that Yona is still alive from his followers and even states that she is someone who he has difficulty forgetting. "

Son Hak 

" He is Yona's childhood friend and Bodyguard, as well as the former general of the Wind Tribe. He himself is a quite handsome man who gives a cool and scary aura. He is famously known as the Thunder Beast for his astounding fighting skills that were said to be unrivaled by anyone, earning him the title of the strongest soldier in the Kingdom of Kouka. His talent had already been recognized since he was thirteen years old and he was the first person to become a general at such a young age. He was an orphan and adopted by the previous Wind Tribe general, Son Mundok, as his grandson. He is fairly calm and nonchalant, and likes to occasionally tease Yona at every chance he gets, albeit deep down he actually cares for her very much and vows to protect her at all costs. It is demonstrated throughout the story that Hak's feelings towards Yona stem from more than just being her Bodyguard, but because he loves her. This is hinted when he occasionally attempted to make a move on her. He used to be a good friend of Soo-won's and wanted for Yona and Soo-won to live happily together, and even hoped for Soo-won to become the king with him as his right-hand man, but this soon turns into hatred when Soo-won betrays them. Hak even attempted to kill Soo-won the moment they were reunited face-to-face at the Water Tribe village and stopped only because Yona told him to. In combat, Hak uses a Hsu Quandao as his main weapon. "

Shin Ah 

" He is the descendant and the inheritor of the Blue Dragon's eyes, a handsome man. When Shin-Ah was born, his mother killed herself out of fear of raising the child with the Blue Dragon's cursed eyes since the villagers believe that those who look the dragon in the eyes will turn into stone. Feared by the villagers due to the rumor of his eyes, Shin-Ah had a lonely childhood and longing for friends. Since his mother died, Shin-Ah was then raised by the previous Blue Dragon, Ao, who taught him swordsmanship and his duty to protect the village. One night, after Ao's death, Shin-Ah used his eyes' power to protect his village from soldiers of Earth Tribe, unintentionally killing all of them. This forced the entire clan to move and stay hidden from civilization. When Yona got lost in the cave, he was the one who saved her from being taken to the underground room and eventually he joins her. He had no name and was only referred as the Blue Dragon, until Yona gave him his name. Shin-Ah's dragon eyes are able to disrupt the nerves of anyone whom he glares at until it kills them. After using these eyes, however, Shin-Ah's body will be paralyzed, rendering him unable to move for a while. To prevent himself from making eye contact, he always covering his face with mask. Once, his face is shown, revealing him to be, as said by Yona, "beautiful like a moon". Shin-Ah is mostly seen accompanied by his pet squirrel that he named after the previous Blue Dragon, Ao. "

random pics/gifs time haha~