Akatsuki no Yona - Vol. 34 Ch. 197 - Unsteady Handwriting
- Thread starter MangaDex
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I'm.. speechless. These past few chapters have been full of infodump yet it's one of the most emotional arc in this series. Soo-woon, Yu-hon, and Il; this flashback just flushed all your past assumptions and now you just.. can't... completely hate one side, or put the blame on anyone.. brilliant writing here
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Truly great writing and great translation from the team.
I've uploaded a new version with a correction in the preamble of King Il's letter:
"may fail to" -> "will fail to reach you"
The error stemmed in part from the fact that I had moved "reach" to the previous sentence, which was worded differently in my working version, but I decided against that wording and when I changed, I forgot to move the verb back to the original sentence. Fortunately, the missing information was of little consequence.
I also made a couple tweaks here and there.
"may fail to" -> "will fail to reach you"
The error stemmed in part from the fact that I had moved "reach" to the previous sentence, which was worded differently in my working version, but I decided against that wording and when I changed, I forgot to move the verb back to the original sentence. Fortunately, the missing information was of little consequence.
I also made a couple tweaks here and there.
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oh god....... this chapter made me cry so much... 😢
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I'm still crying after reading it thrice now ಥ╭╮ಥ
This chapter weighs a lot of emotions
thanks for translating💕
This chapter weighs a lot of emotions
thanks for translating💕
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There's been a strand of hubris through this thread. If you're in a world with real gods and real prophecies that really happen, it is worse than futile to fight one if you have good confidence in it. Prophecies can come true the hard way, or the really hard way. If you fight them you get the really hard way. All you can really do is try to mitigate the damage--help the stuff the prophecy doesn't specify. For King Il, he did that by not starting any wars or, in general, any major administrative pushes that would just be reversed after his assassination, and by doing his best to safeguard Yona. Not bad for a guy with no confidence in the first place, who was mourning the woman he loved and the brother he killed and staring into the face of death.
My favourite example of how to deal with a prophecy well came from a fantasy series; the MC was a total badass, had the whole package, big, stong, fast, tons of magical power, and some of these major magical artifacts of the "collect the set for ultimate power" type. He was used to being able to bash through the opposition. So then he's going to be up against another badass, actually not that different from him but evil and with maybe even more of the artifacts; so far, so not too bad, he's planning how to take him down anyway . . . except there turns out to be a prophecy that the guy is going to kill him. With great emotional difficulty, he manages to change his tack. Instead of how to beat the guy, he plans for two things: 1. How to avoid letting the enemy get his set of powerful artifacts and become totally godlike, and 2. How to maybe become the first guy in history to come back from the dead. Knowing what's going down, he doesn't futilely try to break the prophecy, he tries to limit the fallout.
Hubris is the pride that challenges the gods. We moderns have it as our normal condition and will continue to until climate change and various other problems our entitlement has caused bring about the fall of civilization. The pandemic has given us the first taste of what it might be like to live without hubris.
My favourite example of how to deal with a prophecy well came from a fantasy series; the MC was a total badass, had the whole package, big, stong, fast, tons of magical power, and some of these major magical artifacts of the "collect the set for ultimate power" type. He was used to being able to bash through the opposition. So then he's going to be up against another badass, actually not that different from him but evil and with maybe even more of the artifacts; so far, so not too bad, he's planning how to take him down anyway . . . except there turns out to be a prophecy that the guy is going to kill him. With great emotional difficulty, he manages to change his tack. Instead of how to beat the guy, he plans for two things: 1. How to avoid letting the enemy get his set of powerful artifacts and become totally godlike, and 2. How to maybe become the first guy in history to come back from the dead. Knowing what's going down, he doesn't futilely try to break the prophecy, he tries to limit the fallout.
Hubris is the pride that challenges the gods. We moderns have it as our normal condition and will continue to until climate change and various other problems our entitlement has caused bring about the fall of civilization. The pandemic has given us the first taste of what it might be like to live without hubris.
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@Purplelibraryguy Couldn't agree more. I argued the same, less eloquently so, but I even mentioned the hubris archetype, Oedipus. Not sure the message got through.
(In fact, it's noteworthy that other than our differing opinions on Tolkien, which caused a heated disagreement years ago when Mangafox was the place to go for manga, we have been more or less on the same page.)
Which fantasy series is that, if I may ask?
(In fact, it's noteworthy that other than our differing opinions on Tolkien, which caused a heated disagreement years ago when Mangafox was the place to go for manga, we have been more or less on the same page.)
Which fantasy series is that, if I may ask?
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Said it once and I'll say it again: Fuck Soo-Won. I have absolutely no sympathy for him.
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@Kendama We have. And yes, I agreed with your posts higher in the thread.
The fantasy series I mentioned is "The Twilight Reign" by Tom Lloyd; five books, of fairly solid size but not as huge as plenty of modern fantasy doorstoppers. It's pretty good. Generally quite a lot going on, moves fairly fast. Not the best ever ever, but better than a fair number that were more popular. It definitely has a significant shift in tone to less lighthearted around half way through, which is pretty successful and I feel was probably planned from the beginning.
Thinking of Tolkien, it occurs to me that the Silmarillion is to a fair degree the extended working out of the elves, given a prophecy, saying "Too bad, we're going to act as if that didn't exist even if it dooms us" and then having it work out the very hard way. The difference being that they went into it with their eyes open--they knew defying the prophecy would be futile and give them the very hard way, and they chose to take the consequences. Matter of honour and vendetta. Arguably not hubris as such--they knew the prophecy had to do what it had to do, but they had to do what they had to do, for decidedly not-modern reasons, so they took their lumps.
The fantasy series I mentioned is "The Twilight Reign" by Tom Lloyd; five books, of fairly solid size but not as huge as plenty of modern fantasy doorstoppers. It's pretty good. Generally quite a lot going on, moves fairly fast. Not the best ever ever, but better than a fair number that were more popular. It definitely has a significant shift in tone to less lighthearted around half way through, which is pretty successful and I feel was probably planned from the beginning.
Thinking of Tolkien, it occurs to me that the Silmarillion is to a fair degree the extended working out of the elves, given a prophecy, saying "Too bad, we're going to act as if that didn't exist even if it dooms us" and then having it work out the very hard way. The difference being that they went into it with their eyes open--they knew defying the prophecy would be futile and give them the very hard way, and they chose to take the consequences. Matter of honour and vendetta. Arguably not hubris as such--they knew the prophecy had to do what it had to do, but they had to do what they had to do, for decidedly not-modern reasons, so they took their lumps.
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We finally have some perspective from Il, and now it's all cleared up. What resulted, the death of Kashi, the death of Yu-hon, the death of Il was a string of tragedies, misunderstandings and hatred. It's why I love this manga so much. Nothing is just black and white, every character is a mixture of good and evil and that's why we can never clearly group any of these people into categories of right or wrong. Yu-hon was a man of great extremes. The things he disagreed, he would hate and kill and murder to the worst degree possible. But those that he cared for, those that he loved, he truly did, he truly devoted his all. It was a matter of differing opinions and people, the estrangement between Yu-hon and Il. It was truly that, along with so many misunderstandings, so many unsaid words and thoughts that caused so many deaths and so much pain. Yu-hon hated the religion, the prophecies and the priests, he believed from the bottom of his heart that Il was a fool and that he was beguiled by Kashi. And so he killed her. Can we blame him? I really wonder. He so frankly and candidly was convinced that he was killing off evil, he believed what he had done was right. In the end, he died without realizing anything. Without understanding why he had died.
Soon after Kashi's death, Il, filled with hatred and despair, Il, who had loved and adored Kashi ended his brother's life. Yes, violence is never the right answer, but can we blame him? Can we blame him to resort to revenge? No, we cannot. And Soo-won, oh, Soo-won, the one who understood nothing of the delicate relationship, of the emotions and feelings of Ill and Yu-hon, the boy who only believed that Il was not worthy to be king and was the man who had murdered his father. Il was not a proper king. But Soo-won knew nothing, nothing, but can we blame him? In the end, after Kashi was killed, Yu-hon needed to die. A life for a life. And after Yu-hon died, Il needed to die. It was the only way that revenge could be fulfilled on both sides of the coin. I wonder though that if Soo-won is guilty of death.
My own opinion is that Soo-won's decision to kill Il cannot be criticized. Argue if you wish, but Il was a horrible king and the country was dying. If Soo-won had waited for Il to abdicate or for him to die naturally, or for Yona to ascend the throne (which would have been a really bad idea), the country would have already been finished. So the death of Il was necessary. The only thing that I cannot forgive him for, the only thing that I hate Soo-won to the bone for, is how he dealt with his relationship with Yona and Hak. If Yona and Hak were a different thing entirely from his revenge, why did he not act in a way that would have isolated Yona and Hak from Il's murder? Why did he maintain such a good relationship with the two? Why was he so cruel, why did he think that Yona and Hak were dispensable pawns that could be easily thrown away? In the end, Soo-won is not much different from his father. Those that he does not have much attachment to, those that are not as important or stand in the way of what he believes is right or wants to do, he will easily abandon. And that is why Yu-hon and Soo-won cannot be king. They are too remorseless, too merciless and too heartless. No, they have no heart.
I hope that Yona and Hak forgives Soo-won though. Not only will it end the chain of murder, but I feel as if Soo-won will suffer more that way. It's strange but I think that he'll feel more guilty, he'll regret it more than if Yona and Hak continue to hate him. Not forgive him though. To achieve a sort of mutual understanding and respect. I felt as if their hatred was almost sort of consolation or punishment for his crimes. But if that punishment is gone, if Yona and Hak no longer hate him, no longer care enough about him to hate him, I believe that it would be more painful for Soo-won.
Soon after Kashi's death, Il, filled with hatred and despair, Il, who had loved and adored Kashi ended his brother's life. Yes, violence is never the right answer, but can we blame him? Can we blame him to resort to revenge? No, we cannot. And Soo-won, oh, Soo-won, the one who understood nothing of the delicate relationship, of the emotions and feelings of Ill and Yu-hon, the boy who only believed that Il was not worthy to be king and was the man who had murdered his father. Il was not a proper king. But Soo-won knew nothing, nothing, but can we blame him? In the end, after Kashi was killed, Yu-hon needed to die. A life for a life. And after Yu-hon died, Il needed to die. It was the only way that revenge could be fulfilled on both sides of the coin. I wonder though that if Soo-won is guilty of death.
My own opinion is that Soo-won's decision to kill Il cannot be criticized. Argue if you wish, but Il was a horrible king and the country was dying. If Soo-won had waited for Il to abdicate or for him to die naturally, or for Yona to ascend the throne (which would have been a really bad idea), the country would have already been finished. So the death of Il was necessary. The only thing that I cannot forgive him for, the only thing that I hate Soo-won to the bone for, is how he dealt with his relationship with Yona and Hak. If Yona and Hak were a different thing entirely from his revenge, why did he not act in a way that would have isolated Yona and Hak from Il's murder? Why did he maintain such a good relationship with the two? Why was he so cruel, why did he think that Yona and Hak were dispensable pawns that could be easily thrown away? In the end, Soo-won is not much different from his father. Those that he does not have much attachment to, those that are not as important or stand in the way of what he believes is right or wants to do, he will easily abandon. And that is why Yu-hon and Soo-won cannot be king. They are too remorseless, too merciless and too heartless. No, they have no heart.
I hope that Yona and Hak forgives Soo-won though. Not only will it end the chain of murder, but I feel as if Soo-won will suffer more that way. It's strange but I think that he'll feel more guilty, he'll regret it more than if Yona and Hak continue to hate him. Not forgive him though. To achieve a sort of mutual understanding and respect. I felt as if their hatred was almost sort of consolation or punishment for his crimes. But if that punishment is gone, if Yona and Hak no longer hate him, no longer care enough about him to hate him, I believe that it would be more painful for Soo-won.
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I strongly disagree with the people before me, I loved your commentary, thanks so much for translating!
"One who would never betray her"
I started crying. Hak is one of a kind
"One who would never betray her"
I started crying. Hak is one of a kind
