Lee Dong Wook's Characters Beyond Death and Time: Not Quite Human

Lee Dong Wook's fantasy characters are not attractive simply because of their powers; they reveal human emotions within an unfamiliar realm of time. The sword that emerges from Jo Hong Bin's body visualizes uncontrolled anger, while the memory-lost Grim Reaper faces his past life and guilt while guiding souls to death. The gumiho Lee Yeon, who has lived for many years, still sways in the face of love and brotherhood as if he were human. The transcendental settings instead accentuate the wounds.

This list focuses more on how characters relate to the human world than on the magnitude of their special effects and abilities. We've compared the expression of emotions through their impassive faces when hiding feelings, the manner of speech that compresses long periods, the calmness before battles, and the vulnerability shown in front of loved ones, categorized by each work.

Jo Hong Bin’s anger spills out of his body, while the Grim Reaper struggles to understand his emotions due to lost memories. Lee Yeon endures the loss of long years while remembering everything. Even as sublime beings, the ways they handle their wounds differ. Lee Dong Wook keeps his characters close to reality by interspersing dry humor and subtle expressions among exaggerated abilities, convincing us of the pace of change through their relationships with humans.

Works with strong emotional metaphors include 'Iron Man,' while a balance of comedy and tragedy can be found in 'Goblin.' For modern action fantasy, 'Gumiho Tale' fits perfectly. If you're looking for brotherhood and contemporary action over romance, you can continue with 'Gumiho Tale 1938.'