I had a mind that when I first opened Your Throne it was going to be a normal court story with shining dresses and gossiping about the court and some romance that is accompanied with a foreseeable drama. However, I came to understand that after several chapters this webtoon was not here to delight with clichés. It was here to strike deep. It was acute, emotionally enhanced and laced with the sort of intensity that leaves you pausing to reflect after each turn. Vasilios Empire is not a fairytale. It is a battlefield, the looks are deceits, and every smallest move can give an advantage or disadvantage, and it is an endless game of survival.
Lady Medea Solon is directly in the middle of the narrative. She used to be the brightest one to be on the throne, the one that stood next to Crown Prince Eros. She lost that dream, though. The prince looked at another lady, Psyche, who appears to be an innocent and kind girl. Having been hurt by pride and her future being ruined, Medea makes a vow. She is not going to retreat into the shadows. To her, she will use her teeth to take back what she feels is hers. First panels give you her intensity. She is not depicted as a kind of a noble lady who awaited fate to determine her life. She is a lady who is willing to incinerate the world to reclaim her position.
What Your Throne is so special is that early in the story there is a sudden and shocking twist. Medea and Psyche are two females who are of a very contrasting nature and end up switching bodies. It is more than a plot trick. It compels them to walk in each other shoes to know the truth that the other is concealing. Medea, always apparently inhuman and manipulative, finds herself a spectator of the extent of the pain that Psyche endures at the hands of the image of perfection she is compelled to hold. Instead, Psyche learns the great burden of the ambition and the acuity of Medea is not only the result of greed but also pain and survival.
The change of bodies makes this story a profound psychological play. It is the experience that begins to make both women develop in a way they would never have developed. It is anger alone that leads to a more thoughtful, more tactical and less blinded Medea. The supposedly weak psyche starts to demonstrate amazing power as soon as she finds out what it is like to be cruel. It is like observing two sides of the coin turn gradually to a point where you are in a dilemma about which of them is actually the more befitting to the throne. It is that uncertainty which makes the story so compelling.
Then there is Crown Prince Eros. In case the empire is a network of lies, then Eros is the spider in the middle of the web. Cute and brutal, he is everything that is threatening about uncontrollable authority. He is ever present in the story, which leaves the story in high tension as he is constantly spying, constantly calculating and always waiting to attack when it is in his interest to do so. He is not an ordinary villain. He is that type of manipulative character that seems too frighteningly real, the type of character that lets us think about the possible existence of people in our history or even in contemporary politics.
The characters are not the only pieces of the puzzle that make readers stick around, the atmosphere of the Vasilios Empire in itself is one of the hooks. The empire is described as the place of prosperity and the order of gods, managed by the Imperial family and the Temple. But behind the idealized surface there is corruption, terror, and injustice. Every smile in law covers a dagger. All demonstrations of faith are ambivalent. The walls of the palace can be as shiny as gold and yet they also imprison individuals into a neverending game of survival. The creator of this world SAM details it so much that it comes to life and at the same time it becomes suffocating.
Another cause of the power of Your Throne is the artwork. All the scenes work out carefully, down to flowing gowns and to halls. However, not only the background beauty is remarkable. The characters are emotion-filled in the faces of their faces. A scowl of Medea is rather a challenge. Even one tear of Psyche is like a storm. One can even hear the silence of characters as they stare at one another. SAM is elegant in his art, and also in the story, sharp.
This is one of the details that I like best because the webtoon does not reduce its women to a single-dimensional character. Medea is not heartless even though she is ambitious, ruthless and smart. Psyche is gentle and innocent yet, she is not feeble. Both women are scarred and both can grow. Their confrontation gradually evolves into a more complicated form, when they are starting to develop mutual respect, despite their conflicting aims. We hardly ever encounter female protagonists in fantasy literature which is so rich in detail and admiration.
Another thing that makes Your Throne so different is that it investigates power itself. Power is not made to look like it is a possession of men only and it is not depicted as something that can be readily held. Power is nasty, it is unsafe and it eats its users. But it must also be survived in a world where you can die by being kind. It is almost as though we are watching two chess players, and with each step, each of them is repositioning the whole board with Medea and Psyche.
Reading Your Throne is entering a storm. It is dramatic, intense, and beautifully-crafted. But it is also reflective. It leaves you wondering what justice is within a corrupt society. You are left wondering whether being ambitious is a vice or a requirement. And above all it makes you see women as something more than icon of innocence or monstrosity but as complete human beings who are both destructive and healing.
This story has been hearted by its creator SAM. The very name, the samnamu tree, is based on the desire to produce something important, something that empowers people who might feel weak. The manner in which the story addresses its themes makes you feel that purpose.
It is not the place to find a cheap romance with light-hearted comedy webtoon. However, should you be up to the task of reading something that will provoke and confuse you, leave you feeling unsettled and in need of answers, then Your Throne is just what you want. It is a high fantasy with a touch of psychology, a drama with some heartbreaks and a remain alive story that every decision counts.
In my case, the action of Your Throne is beautiful not just the play itself but also the authenticity. It is not a lie of how vile the world is. It is not concealing the fact that ambition is not free. However, it also gives us a message that we can grow even in the darkest places in life. At the very beginning, Medea and Psyche are rivals, but as the narrative progresses they turn into reflections of one another, revealing their strong and weak sides that none of them was able to see separately.
Would I, then, recommend Your Throne? Absolutely. It is among the most interesting webtoons that I have read as it does not want to be basic. It depicts us those women who struggle, who lose, who stand on their feet, and who bear the burden of power with pride. It is bloodthirsty, it is agonizing and it is not to be forgotten. MD Another thing that makes Your Throne so different is that it investigates power itself. Power is not made to look like it is a possession of men only and it is not depicted as something that can be readily held. Power is nasty, it is unsafe and it eats its users. But it must also be survived in a world where you can die by being kind. It is almost as though we are watching two chess players, and with each step, each of them is repositioning the whole board with Medea and Psyche.
