Ask: What can you say about Yeon’s “I never abandoned you” to Rang? Because I’ve seen it’s still a debate in the TotNT fandom. Some say he did abandon him and some say he didn’t since he saved him many times (I’m the former, but I think it had something to do with the writing and scenes because they didn’t show us scenes of Yeon looking out for Rang all those years). Just curious about your thoughts. ^•^
Ngl This ask stressed me out haha Like, do I really want to be dragged into this debate? Is there anything I could say that people might be receptive to, or are they just going to like/hate whatever characters they want to regardless? Am I wasting my time?? But since you asked, anon, I hope that you, at least, might be receptive to what I have to say, regardless of whether or not you decide you agree with it.
My answer is no, I don’t believe that Yeon abandoned Rang. Yeon did his best in the midst of a bad situation. He did what he could for both Rang and Ah Eum/Ji Ah without abandoning or sacrificing either at the other’s expense. Just like when they were both taken by Eodukshini. Let me explain.
When Ah Eum died, if Yeon hadn’t done what he did, she would have died permanently (like Taluipa and Hyeonuiong’s son). I don’t believe Yeon was thinking of Rang when he went after Ah Eum; he was consumed by grief. He did what he saw as the only thing he could do, and he paid a heavy price for it. Yeon was sentenced to many years in hell for freezing the Samdocheon (this is separate from his bargain with the Ten Kings around Ah Eum’s rebirth). The reason he didn’t go back for Rang sooner is because he was doing time in hell. (This is official info published by tvN – I’m not making this up).
By the time Yeon had cut a deal with the Ten Kings and returned, Rang was gone. When Yeon finally found him, it was only because there was an order out by the Ten Kings to kill Rang for his crimes. So Yeon had two choices: fulfill his contract as an enforcer for the Ten Kings and kill his brother, or break his contract and ‘kill’ Ah Eum permanently (i.e. lose any chance for her to ever be reborn). Sitting by wasn’t an option either, because then another enforcer would have just killed Rang. So Yeon went to find Rang and dealt him an intentionally non-lethal blow in order to get him off the Ten Kings’ hit list, in spite of the risk that posed to Ah Eum.
So then why didn’t he say anything for 600 years? Why did he just allow Rang to hate him for 600 years without telling him the truth? This is a valid question, and I’m not sure I have a satisfying answer. My understanding is that, as long as Yeon remained under contract to the Ten Kings, he was technically required to kill Rang if he saw him. So when you say, ‘we didn’t get to see Yeon looking out for Rang all those years,’ I think the reason is because staying away was looking out for him. Yeon’s contract finally ended when he found Ji Ah, so it’s possible that this also freed him to mend things with his brother at that point. I admit, even I don’t find that a particularly satisfying explanation. BUT. I think it’s important to keep things in perspective. What is Yeon’s transgression here? Not spelling things out clearly enough for Rang? And what is Rang’s transgression? Murder, mayhem, and 600 years of going out of his way to torment his older brother (his words), all of which Yeon just sat back and took.
But putting all of that aside for a moment, I really dislike this question because it’s fundamentally problematic. Whether or not Yeon abandoned Rang is actually besides the point. Yeon’s experience was that he hadn’t abandoned Rang. That is his truth and his lived experience. Rang’s experience, however, was that Yeon had abandoned him, and it was one that played into his greatest trauma. So, do I understand why Yeon’s supposed abandonment was so world-ending for Rang? Absolutely, and I have incredible sympathy for him for it. But does that excuse Rang’s actions?
I cannot emphasize this enough: you can sympathize with someone’s circumstances without sympathizing with the choices they make in the face of them. I find Rang to be an immensely sympathetic character who has done a lot of really unforgivable things. That complexity is part of what I love about him. He’s both deeply flawed and heartbreakingly compelling. It’s because he’s so flawed that his redemption arc was so satisfying, and it’s also (to me, at least) part of why his death was so crushing. Because I wanted him to live on and continue that redemption by living – alongside his brother and his found family – rather than by dying. I digress...
When I say that this question is fundamentally problematic, though, what I mean is that many fans appear to be pointing to Yeon’s alleged abandonment as a reason to excuse Rang’s actions, or, worse yet, to say that all of Rang’s sins are actually somehow Yeon’s. That Yeon is ultimately responsible for Rang’s actions, and that everything that Rang has been through is somehow all Yeon’s fault. And that is very problematic thinking. Rang may be our Baby Fox, but – as Yeon keeps reminding him – he’s also a 600-year-old adult. Blaming Yeon for the decisions Rang has made allows fans to cast Rang solely as the victim and forget that he has also – more often than not – also been the perpetrator. So it bothers me when fans hate on Yeon for this reason. It’s unfair and misdirected. And it robs Rang of agency, which is unfair to him as well. I thought about why somewhere along the way the fan dialogue somehow became Rang verses Yeon, how liking Rang somehow became synonymous with hating Yeon, and I think this is why. So even though I’m also a Rang fan, I admit there’s a very unhealthy element to the Rang fan base on tumblr that really turns me off.
As usual, that was probably way more of an answer than what you wanted, and it’s still way less than all I could possibly say on the subject, but that’s my answer. ^ ^