I have character development thoughts on Lee Yeon! Buckle up:
After finishing the first season, I thought to myself that all this trouble (Rang’s abandonment issues, Imugi, etc.) would have been avoided if Yeon had just followed his clear calling as a househusband instead of being a mountain god. This man just wanted to fall in love, keep house, and have little fox babies. Instead, for some reason, he was in charge of an entire territory. I figured it was a case of picking the wrong career and getting locked in, or maybe he was born to it somehow.
Yeon has been widely panned for abandoning his land and his brother for his love interest. While I think he certainly deserves some criticism, I’ve always given him more leeway for one specific reason: foxes mate for life. It’s true in nature, and they play it up for the gumiho mythology. When foxes pair up, they stick with their mate unconditionally. They live and die together. So while there was some degree of choice in Yeon leaving the mountain and Rang and going into Taluipa’s service, we’ll never know how much, because his nature would have compelled him to put his loyalty to Ah Eum above everything.
But now there’s another element at play: we’re getting to see how Yeon, and the others, became mountain gods. It turns out that they were handpicked as children. They were neither born to it, nor given the choice to pursue it. Based on their power, they were chosen by Taluipa to fill those roles. We even get a scene of them trying to run away from their training. And it’s clear that at least two of them were not truly suited to their jobs. Moo Yeong destroyed his entire forest (for some reason we don’t know yet), and was turned to stone as punishment. And Yeon was too sentimental, with a built-in romantic weakness due to his species, and he had the stunning misfortune of falling in love with a human. Hong Joo seems to have been up to the task, and the strongest of them all, but it cost her family their lives.
So now Yeon’s abandonment of his mountain makes more sense. It’s a job he never wanted in the first place, although he appears to have done his duty sufficiently for several centuries. But his powers are limited to his territory, and he doesn’t seem overly-enthusiastic about his position. And once he’s incentivized to leave it all behind, he does it without a second thought.
We’ve also learned that Yeon’s dad was abusive, not just absent. Yeon has that same edge of cruelty and aloofness that sometimes shows up, most notably toward his enemies and in a dilute form toward Rang. He was dedicated to raising Rang once he was in his care, but his initial meeting with his surprise sibling, just a child, was very “God helps those who help themselves”. Presumably, that’s the message he got from his father. Ironically, he now seems to have some grasp of attachment theory, as we see when he’s taking charge of Mi Ho. He wants her to feel security, security he likely did not receive from his father and was ultimately unable to give to Rang. Although he fucked up with his brother, he did manage to do better than their father ever did, and has learned a lot from his mistakes.
I’m really excited that we’re getting more development for Yeon’s character this season. I’m also wondering if his dad is still alive; we’ve never been told he died, and since the season is very centered on the brothers’ relationship…
