#General Lee Guen-Tae

[thecagedsong]

Okay, I’ve been planning this for a while, but I want to talk about the translator notes in Yona of the Dawn (the personal ones where the translator comments on the story, on the translations I’m reading) because they are absolutely fascinating. The next chapter is coming out soon, and the majority of the notes I’m going to talk about are chapters 180-229, so spoilers below the cut.

So first off, I want to say I love her little notes and the work she’s done on this translation. I feel like I’m reading it with a friend, and the words she uses do so much to convey the original story. This analysis is not meant to disparage the translator at all. I would have been making the same comments about five years ago, I’m sure. This disclaimer is that this post is meant to do nothing more than add some additional considerations that came to me after I read them. Here goes.

For some background, her notes are usually small, and usually comment on the Yona fandom more than anything else. Not verbatim, her comments are things like “all those people saying Il was a creepy cultist gonna eat those words” and “maybe this will knock Soo Won off people’s pedestal”. Nothing you wouldn’t find on tumblr.

But one of her comments put the rest of the comments into perspective for me. The chapter easily with the most translator comments was when Guen-Tae was monitoring the disputed lands that were reclaimed by some of Soo Won’s past exploits and he gets shot with arrows protecting a little boy we had met earlier in the story. Her comment goes something like: 

“As if this sacrifice makes up for him being a colonizer in the first place, but this is a shojo and everyone needs to have white hats and black hats. We’re just supposed to forget that he’s basically a warmonger who was literally enabling Soo Won’s plans for world domination just a few chapters ago. Nope handsome good guy, right here!”.

And this comment is so fascinating, because it literally contradicts itself! More than any other media I’ve encountered, Yona of the Dawn does not let anyone aside from our band of seven comfortably wear a ‘good guy’ badge. Every recurring character is incredibly complex and you cannot be comfortable labeling them good or evil as much as you want to. AND YOU REALLY WANT TO.

Seriously, come into my inbox and I will talk about any character in this series, their good and bad actions, and the flaws preventing them from achieving their goals. I might have to make a Soo Won post because I hate his guts and he is one of the most incredibly complex antagonists I have ever come across.

Which is why it is so fascinating that the translator is absolutely ready to put people in boxes and gets frustrated when the author doesn’t let her without realizing that’s exactly what is happening. I want to talk with her, because the author is doing the opposite of white and black hats, and better than anyone I’ve ever seen. 

The framing and action of Guen-Tae sacrificing himself when enemy soldiers aimed for the child is meant to be sympathetic, but you aren’t supposed to forget his other actions. He is the earth tribe general who spends most of his time, as far as the manga shows, sitting around complaining about not being able to go to war and kill people. He grew up a warrior that was expecting to be able to win the fame and glory of battle under Yu-Hon’s reign. He did fight in a couple of battles before Il stopped that, and gained some glory and the love of his people. 

But what’s a soldier supposed to do in a time of peace? He doesn’t question the murder of King Il because he wants to go to war. When Soo Won shows that during his reign wants to help the earth tribe and wants to go to war, (and some skill in battle tactics) Guen-Taw gives Soo Won his loyalty. 

This loyalty is tested against his idea of an honorable fight when he is put in the exhibition match against the dragon warriors that he was supposed to lose. You see it irritates him, he’s starting to chafe under being a puppet for Soo Won, but he bows head and you’re supposed to dislike that.  

His people adore him and his abilities as a warrior. 

His idea of war is a very honorable fight for glory/land/power/resources where you fight for your people (shown by refusing to reset when Soo Won offered during war game festival). 

His idea of war is in direct conflict to Yona’s experience, where people are tired of the same battles for the same blood-soaked ghost-filled land. 

You are supposed to be conflicted about him. 

Because he also cares deeply about the people that love him. He’s shown organizing rescues and resources for his miners. He absolutely loves his adorable pregnant wife and believes she’s capable of anything. He’s the only one left to tease Soo Won and the Sky General JooDoh about getting a girlfriend/wife. Lili loves him because she’s a derp attracted to older wild men. 

His wife just gave birth, and he’s taking time to talk to this small child that thinks he’s cool and is glad Kouka took back his village. It is absolutely in character for this guy to instinctively save a child from arrows. Interpersonally, he has a lot of charisma and care for the people immediately around him and believes in an honorable fight. 

The author wants you to be conflicted about him. Do you like him, even though he can be a pansy for Soo Won? Do you hate him, even though he sacrifices himself without hesitation for children? This is the opposite of black and white hats. 

You’re not supposed to forget his flaws. You’re supposed to further develop your own ideas of good and evil through him and every other character in this amazing story. 

The author makes other comments along the same vein. At one point she comments that she “wished Yona had confirmed with proof the government was the one who authorized the nadia selling, Kouka was still clearly the aggressor here and I’m really tired of the author calling this war justified.” 

Again, that’s the point! My goodness, the author got the translator because the translator engaged with the question “when is war justified?” and came up with a very nuanced answer.

But the translator missed the fact that the story does not in any way condone the war, just because our good guys are fighting in it. Our band of seven are prisoners here. South Kai delegates went to peace negotiations over the disputed land and intentionally poisoned one of the members with the intent of justifying a war. Soo Won wants to control the whole continent, believing that the only way to stabilize Kouka for a long time after he’s dead. You know it’s foolish to believe that Soo Won, even if he had the health to conquer the continent, believes that the region ALREADY embroiled in a civil war will be incorporated into their tiny neighbor. 

The author purposefully highlights the complex cultures, leadership personalities, economic resources, the awfulness of battle, and the beauty of courage and loyalty to fight for people you believe in. War here makes sense. It’s not justified, but you understand why it happened even when it isn’t justified. I could go on and probably will at some point, but I’ll end my thoughts addressing the translator comments here. This story refuses to let you sort people into “good people” and “bad people” and simultaneously makes you really, really want to. And that’s really what it means to grow up.

Pretty good for a shojo manga supposedly aimed at young women.

[vixvaporub]

Yona of the Dawn | Akatsuki no Yona - Chapter 45

[akayona-prompts]

Prompt: Geun-tae

General Lee Guen-Tae meets Ao the squirrel and takes back his words about meek little creatures. King Su-Won surely needs to improve a little more to be compared to this one.