I don't really care for Soowon but i don't really understand people who hate him either. I...

Understand your point of view and yes he did what he did for the greater good. But and this is a big But, he killed her father. That is not simple resentment. He took away the only person she had left. Took away everything that she had and forced her to flee from everything she had once known. That is not simple resentment. He is continuing to use her to get to the dragons and in turn use them to control what he wants. Again that is not simple resentment.

Two wrongs do not make a right...

They're imprinted, that's why. It's not strange to see people hating on characters that are put in a villainous light at the very beginning. Though they are annoying if you're trying to talk to them objectively about that character's action especially when it is something reasonable and effecient because they can't take any opinion that validates the good outcome of the action done by that character.

Soowon is not painted as the villainous character he's far from that and i think that's what really annoyed them..

But that father let the kingdom deteriorate. Yona was an ignorant princess and does not understand anything. She was sheltered, basically living a fairytale life. Her resentment for Soo-woon is justified, after all that was her father. But as she started to widen her horizon and learned the outside world, even she knows that Soo-woon did favor for the kingdom. In a political point of view, he did the right thing. In terms of feeling for Yona, he did the wrong.

And Soo-woon does everything for the kingdom, including the things with the dragons. Again, he did that with the kingdom in mind.

King Il was just incompetent. Killing him weights more than Yona's feeling, objectively speaking. He was a king, under him his subjects's lives are at stake. Yona's feeling<citizen's lives.

Of course, we are much more sympathetic to Yona and the dragons because we followed their journey. But if we flip things up, that will not be the case.

Here it is! The logical comment i searched for

I completely agree with you. Also, I remember one of those suffering citizens saying to Yona "King Il was a very bad king. Whose king was he really? I hope that the current king is a good one." So yes, Yona was practically faced to the true opinions of her father long back, and since then has come to realize the difference betwn the times then and now. She knows that the kingdom has changed for the better, and we can see her resentment lessening while trying to understand the reasons behind Soo-won's actions. I also believe she wants to resolve the bad blood between Soo-won and Hak.

Anyway, if Yona can try to understand him, for whatever reasons, we can do the same. And the manga is also moving in a way to give more insight into the past to understand Soo-won's character better. Also, I think Soo-won's character is very dynamic as he's been through a lot, losing both parents, struggling to become the king, betraying his loved companions, living with his illness - that's a lot of crazy emotions in one character, I can't even imagine the kind of emotional turmoil he must have faced when he decided to act on his decisions. And I think Zeno knows all this, or must have sensed it in him and hence, tries to get to know him.

So people, let's look at all the characters, giving equal importance to all, and try to understand them, their actions and motivations without any biases!

After all these chapters, the initial shock and anger towards Soo-won killing King Il lessens with time, seeing the poor state of the country, and the efforts of the current administration to develop it while combating foreign attacks. I feel that most of the Soo-won haters are just unreasonably adamant on hating him. If they are able to understand the story-line or the characters, then they wouldn't. Also, audience sometimes tend to hold grudges towards characters for various reasons - and here it's bcos of the MAJOR betrayal of Yona's love and trust! When you follow a character's story, you unconsciously become partial for the MCs, and hateful towards the antagonistic characters, and pls believe that Soo Won is an antagonist from the start! So it's not easy to suddenly try to 'Not' hate a character who had almost killed Yona. It takes time, efforts, the will to understand someone better, and empathy.

Being a writer myself, when we sketch characters, we need to think from all aspects, psychological, social, their upbringing and so on. If you put any evil characters opposite Soo-won, you will realize that he's not evil, his actions are logical and necessary. He took the decisions he thought were 'just' in order to stop the country from rotting any further. But every action has an equal and opposite reaction, his killing King Il was better for the country's future, but devastating and ground-shattering for Yona. But when you are a king, or want to become one, you should have the convictions to put the country before your emotions. He lost Yona for the country. He loved both, but he couldn't afford to prioritize her feelings over the ruin of their country. It's a betrayal of the worst kind, and I myself hated him for it, but I got over it with time. He was sketched the way he was for a reason. And there are countless unreasonable evil characters in this manga, but I truly know and believe that Soo-won's not one of it! One just needs to have the eyes and brains to understand it ;)

i am completely capable of seeing both sides.
no, i don't personally like suuwon. (but he's not the type i like anyways)
but i can definitely see the struggle with his mother being ill, and having to watch that, and to see his dad probably receiving lots of undeserved back lash. i never judged his father, cause i never knew his side of things until now. i can see he is hurt by having to betray hak and yona. he clearly loves them both. and looked up to hak immensely. he still does.

but i also see yona's side of things, and her loosing her father, whom he loved, by the man she loved. and im with hak, like, if he was going to betray her, why the bloody hell did he give her that damn hair piece?! she had to leave and change her entire life and herself. lots of resentment there. i get it. but we've also seen her observe the kingdom, and how her father actually hurt most of the kingdom while he ruled. and she corrected those things herself.

the thing that makes it hard not to hate on suwon, is the fact that he is the king, but lets that piss hat advisor act like he is in charge. (like that priest guy, i don't trust either of them. manipulative trash. advisor kysuk.)
and i hate that he keeps yona there, and let that charade with the dragons go on, and that he let them all think they were engaged. i hate all these. because he IS king, and at the end of the day, it's up to him to keep them there or to let them go. and that pisses me off. that he knew they could get hurt in that kind of fight, and yet still, let it happen.

(be the guy who murdered king Li to do what is right and just. not this little bitch who lets kysuk push you around)

We still don't know much about advisor Ke-sook even until this point. He's just shown doing sketchy, underhanded things, but for the kingdom, mind you, while firmly supporting Soo-won. Yes, he's HATEFUL but he is still an unrevealed, ambiguous character, so let's not hate on what's shown, but try to look behind it, beyond it, for the yet not-shown. I think there's more to him than just that, so i'll hold my tongue until then.

And about Soo-won letting him do as he pleases, well, Soo-won wouldn't accept his decisions if they weren't logical or politically beneficial. So even if they are unacceptable, unreasonable or unpalatable (from Yona's side) it is logical and acceptable from Soo-won's side.

From what I can see, not only Soo-won, but every character on both antagonist's and protagonist's sides are doing what they believe is right and just. It's just that, we are so much exposed to the protagonist's side that that we fail to consider, sometimes even outright ignore the antagonist's side. Just like how Yona can't control every actions of Hak and the dragons, Soo-won is also the same, and being King has nothing to do with that. Kings are also humans, that's why they are betrayed. Bcos they can't control everyone.

this is so valid!!!! killing il was the best thing for the country, even yona agrees on the merits of soowon being the king and how much it has already improved the country which is why she refuses to take revenge and sit on the throne. but also you gotta see it from her pov, he trampled on her only family then, and now he continues to trample on her new found family (even though she said she will ally with him) its hard to like him for that.

Is Soo-Won really that great of a ruler though? Let's be real. Yona has solved most of the problems of the kingdom, not Soo-Won

Yeah maybe, but she wouldn't have done any of that if Soowon didn't do what he did and she got to stay in her palace

I can deal with Soo Won. i don't dislike him and i really like the generals. I'm really anxious to learn more about his parents. ButIt's his advisor that's pissing me off.

the biggest thing that got to me about him wasn't that he killed the king, but that he tried to kill Yona when she found out. I just want to add tht because everyone saying it's just cuz of the kings death

Just think about it. Why does he want to kill Yona when she saw him killing her father? Forget about your feelings about them first and question the why.

She saw Soo-woon killing her father and it's reasonable to erase anyone who is not their ally and saw that scene. If words gets out that the king was killed by the newly appointed king, there will be unrest among the citizen. Different factions will make their move and have power struggle. If that does happened, Yona will be a puppet(she was naive and ignorant, doesn't know anything about politics and the intentions of those around her). But I think the generals will side with Soo-woon still because who want to side with another incompetent? They were looking for a worthy king to follow, thus they follow Soo-woon and doesn't question the King's assassination and the princess' disappearance no matter how dubious some things are

If Yona had not seen that, they would have been married and will still in her bubble. That will secure the kingdom.

Just an advice if you are questioning a character's action, please take a step back and don't take the influence of your feelings. It will help make a fair analysis. It's fine if you are confused though. But if your analyzing with biased mindset, you will fail to notice some things. No matter how reasonable their action is, you will never understand them.

okay first I prob am being biased for Yona cuz I like Yona I didnt mean to imply tht I wasn't. I just wanted to add in my reasoning for why since it was asked.

Second I am aware of his reasoning to kill her that is a big part of why. It never should have come to that in my eyes, I also don't like him because when I put myself in Yona shoes I cant help thinking if I had a close childhood friend I grew up with and love and instead of confiding in me and telling me about his struggles and the struggles of my people but keep me ignorant and then try to kill me for discovering them assassinating my dad... like woah bro we were hommies why didnt you share your pains with me so we could maybe find a solution first. Yona is ignorant not stupid it wasn't her blinding turning an eye. He didn't trust her or believe in her, he felt like he had to take the path he did but he didn't. look at Yona now, He is shocked at how much Yona has grown once she's seen what her kingdom is really like and that makes me not like him because that potential was always there for him and he never even realized. For him to see killing (his best friends) as a better solution then trying to find a solution together is just stupid to me and would be unbelievable hurtful. so I am probably being biased but I'm not confused I am aware of his reasoning he felt he had no other choice, bullcrap.

woah that got long, i honestly dont even dislike his character that much I just disagree with how he went about things but anyway its nice to discuss opinions.

Yeah but what about Yona's father. They couldn't have done what Soowon wanted for the kingdom if King Il was still alive.What he wanted for thw kingdom was the complete opposite of what Soowon wanted. If it was that easy why would he choose the hard way?

I personally think it would have been possible but that's all speculation since Soowon didn't actually try for these things when the king was alive so we cant say one way or other whether it would have worked.

I don't know honestly since we still don't have the whole story about whats going on with the king like there is just too many what if's about how it could have worked or not worked, point is (for me) Soowon didn't try.

With how the Late king worshiped the original dragon king and how he treated Yona almost worship like, like a precious jewel I feel like she would have had a lot more power/ say in the kingdom to help him as an alley Hak too with his connections between the leaders that he already has (not as much as the king sure maybe) Not to mention alll Sowon's own connections (the ones used to murder the king frame Hak and lead the kingdom in times of panic and crisis lol idk if that was the easy route )

Again this is just what I think, plus maybe Soowon has a reason he didn't tell Yona anything but

Personally, I think they probably could have done a lot together, everything Yona did for the country so far she did as a fugitive of the king anyway so I'm sure uniting the countries would be hard but honestly choose the hard way because you don't have to kill your best friends, if the easier path involves killing those dearest to me, i'd definitely not be okay with not even trying the other options.