Hong Gil-dong
Hong Gildong
The hero
A brilliant, gifted son of a minister and a maid, barred by birth from the life he deserves, who becomes the outlaw hero of the common people.
Gildong is born under a sign: his father dreams of a blue dragon descending from the storm clouds. As a child he reads the classics with ease, and as a teenager he masters archery, swordsmanship, and Taoist magic. He is righteous, compassionate toward ordinary people, and quietly sorrowful, because his mother is a maid and the law of Joseon forbids him to call his father Father or his brother Brother.
What Gildong wants is not wealth or revenge. He wants to serve his country, leave his name in history, and live in a world where no one is bound by birth. People in the great house fear his talent, while villagers sing about him in taverns. He is a hero of folk legend, able to ride clouds, multiply himself from straw, and dissolve into mist.
“Born of humble blood, I cannot call my father 'Father' nor my brother 'Brother'. How can I not lament such a fate?”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
After surviving an assassin sent by the concubine Choran, Gildong leaves home. In the mountains he wins over a band of outlaws by lifting a thousand-pound boulder and founds the Hwalbindang, who never take from poor villagers and punish greedy officials. They empty the hoard at Haeinsa Temple, confront a cruel magistrate, and leave rice on the doorsteps of the hungry.
When his brother In-hyeong begs him to surrender to save their father, Gildong lets himself be bound, and in the capital he demands the post of Minister of War, which the King grants. He then sails with his followers to the island of Mount Jedo, liberates the kingdom of Yuldo from monsters and tyrants, and is crowned its king. He abolishes caste, rules for thirty years, and finally ascends from a mountain summit as a Taoist immortal.
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