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“ENHYPEN’s Epic Tales”
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A deep dive into what makes DARK MOON : THE BLOOD ALTAR such an incredible extension of ENHYPEN’s storytelling:
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The characters
Heeseung: Heli, who can communicate telepathically
Jake: Jino, who has fire-related powers
Sunoo: Shion
Sunghoon: Solon
Jay: Jaan
Jungwon: Jakah
Niki: Noa
Sooha: a princess in a past life
Chris: Sooha’s one and only childhood friend, who was murdered by vampires
Dardan: the ultimate power-hungry villain who loathes Heli for wooing Sooha and disrupting his quest for absolute power to start a superior race
Marge: the principal at the boarding school the boys were raised in, which they liken to a prison; they viewed her as a captor, not someone trying to protect them
Trisha and Trenna: PR for and front-facing leaders of Automnal’s mayor’s campaign and public activities
The werewolf students who attend the rival school
Solon: a member of the boys’ friend group who hides the fact he’s a mutt; has some werewolf blood in him
The settings
Riverfield: the town where the 2 rival schools are located
Vamfield House: the orphanage Marge kept the boys in for over a century
Automnal: a vampires-only town that seems awfully elitist!
A mansion in the woods that the boys go to for their “birthday party” every year; an apparent gift from a “long-time sponsor”?
Decelis Academy: a “No Vampires Allowed” boarding school where the boys pretend to be humans
Sunshine City: the rival school that werewolves attend
The Square: an on-campus (or just nearby?) weekend hangout spot for Decelis students
The Railgun: the bar next to a storage room where werewolves who are used as test subjects are secretly kept
The Blood Altar: a place in Hivernal that’s on a literal pedestal where a magic ritual can commence; where Dardan tries to obtain absolute power
The main plots/problems
Stopping Dardan from attaining full power
Sooha struggling to reconcile all the assumptions she has always believed about vampires (since they mercilessly murdered her friend) with the friendly and good character of the Decelis boys she hangs out with (who have always tried to prove not all vampires are the same)
Keeping their vampire identities under wraps at Decelis
The vampires learning their true origin story over time
Werewolf Khan and vampire Heli’s rivalry over Sooha
The struggle to live out the prophecy of being Sooha’s, aka the reincarnated princess’s protectors
Big-picture themes the story tackles
Prejudice and sense of superiority above other groups
What it truly means to feel human emotions like love
Absolute power corrupting absolutely, and the truly eternal sources of power coming from selfless acts and attitudes; self-interested quests are destined for eventual failure
The struggles but necessity of joining forces with those you first judge by their covers
The crucial need for trust/openness in relationships
The innate human desire to know one’s own story, have past memories, hold onto a sense of self and greater purpose
The ways immortality complicates efforts to feel like one’s life has purpose and a specific goal
What and who make life truly worth living
Stay tuned for a “TL;DR” breakdown of each episode in a future “cheat sheet”!
Tie-ins between the Webtoon and the album DARK BLOOD
Quotes as part of album teasers
“Intoxicated by my own might, I’ve strayed from your light. This mystical strength, destined to last beyond time’s seam. Oblivious to the illusion’s hold, I danced on.”
“It had been my false belief that everything was mine.”
“I became a cursed being who couldn’t even die, but merely wander. You erased me. I struggled in the deep, terrifying darkness that was worse than hell.”
“Crystal clear, the meaning of sacrifice now near. Fate’s iron grip, where you and I together stand. I will be your shield, forevermore, even if it costs all that I knew.”
“Fate”
“Love became greed and erased itself… trapped me in ruins like the deep sea / Oblivion / Where did that terrible curse come from? / Who inflicted this cruel punishment? / Now I realized / The fate that I devoted my life to / How could I forget? / The sign… It rises like a bright sun that clears the darkness / Fate is in my hands again / Feeling the power flowing like blood… I’m calling you desperately / I’ll never forget it now / Everything was the power I received from you / I grew up in an eternity that will soon return to you.”
“A love wrapped in blood / Erased by arrogance, it’s over / I lost everything / Become an undead monster”
“Bite Me”
“Sacrifice (Eat Me Up)”
“The endless pain and thirst / The destiny of punishment / My arrogant oblivion and illusion / Swallow the river of Lethe / So dangerous / Full of darkness… But here you are… shining light”
More on that Lethe reference in part 2!
“Chaconne”
“Brighter than the sun / That’s just me / Monster”
“Dancing the ‘Dance of Death’ / Drunk with arrogance”
“If this moment is a curse, it won’t stop”
More on the “Dance of Death” in part 2!
“Bills”
“The right price I only learned through tears… The time piles on top of the love that needs to be repaid / The price of parting keeps getting more and more expensive”
“One day, the invoice that you stuck on me / The pain that became my share / I’m sure I paid for it… it’s not paid”
“Loneliness grows like a snowball… How much must it hurt / Til I can pay it all back”
“Karma”
Stay tuned for part 2 of these notes, out next week!
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