Princess Tao, did she know what it means to be a vassal nation? There must be a reason for...

I'm sure she has her reasons. I don't know how strong the Xing kingdom is but she must surely think that if they were to go against Kouka they would lose so she doesn't want her people to suffer and she probably has some conditions to becoming Kouka s vassal without a fight...
Anyway, I really want to know about the shield and the sword. Could it be Hak and Yoon, maybe? Hak would be the sword and Yoon the shield, protecting them by gibing them food and healing them!

Yeah, me too, she must have her own reason and the theory that you throw about her is reasonable too. Kouka is a big and powerful kingdom compare to Xing. Xing Kingdom doesn't give the impression of a great successful rich kingdom unlike Kai.
I hope it's Hak and Yoon too. But, I think there is more to the prophecy....the sword and shield which will protect the king shall awaken. The question is which King? Many reader think that it's Yona. Truthfully, I began to think that the King refer to the current King of the era which is So Won. Therefore, the sword is Hak and the shield is Joo Doh who protect the King [So Won] -> in Ch 122 page 1, there was a sentences [I swore loyalty with you as my master, I will protect you until the end] and Joo Doh is standing behind Soo Won facing the opposite direction. Finally, the sword and the shield prophecy won't be fulfilled until both the Hak [sword] and Joo Doh [the shield] reunite to the King side which is So Won.
After that "and the Red Dragon shall restore the dawn at last". But it doesn't mention the Red Dragon as the King actually. It only mention the red dragon shall restore the dawn. which can means that the red dragon aka Hiryuu soul will fully awaken inside Yona. I don't doubt Yona as King Hiryu reincarnation because Zeno approve of her himself. It's just that the Hiryu soul or the red dragon soul inside her probably is still sleeping. The title itself is Yona of the dawn right? or the girl who stand in the blush of the dawn.
But I don't want this theory of mine to be true. Why? Because it require Hak to go to So Won side and leave Yona. I don't want that to happen when Yona actually start to love him too. Considering how Hak act around So Won, this probably impossible too.
Gladly, this is only a theory that will never come true.

So I think ur theory is really cool. And it actually makes a lot of sense and seems quite possible.
Anyway I think that if ever hak were to go back to soo won he would do so with the order of Yona who realised he would be more useful or would be able to do More with soo won or at least her acknowledgement and they would still be friends/lovers.
I don't think that hiryuu s soul would awaken in yona, first cause I don't want it to, and second, cause I feel like when he died he really died for real and I don't think he s gonna come back and since he became human... Idk, I just don't feel like that s gonna happen.

But anyway, I would like it better if it was yona that was the king mentioned. It s not that i feel very resentful towards soo won like some others do (I think he did a real!y good job as an emperor), I would like them to be friends again. But I would still like yona to be thee queen, I mean she would be awesome!! Well, idk, I think soo won is actually better suited for the job, I mean, he s smart and can control nob!es, lead and stuff... But I would like to see her being the queen after all she went thought and all her experience. And see the whole before/after experience change... But I seriously think soo won would be a better king and that she would be able to do more not being the queen. I loved when they were bandit!! It was soo funny! The dark dragon and the happy hungry bunch


I would like the sword and the shield to be different persons altogether so we can have new, handsome and fun characters... And I want it to be deeper. To give yona a quest. Save Kouka s citizen...

Hak going to So Won => Yeah, he won't do that without an acceptable reason such as Yona urge him to do it.

Hiryu => Actually, I prefer Yona as she is now. I agree that Hiryu probably died for real. The meaning of restoring the dawn probably means something else. In cambridge dictionary, restore means :
1. to return something or someone to an earlier good condition or position:

2. If you restore a quality or ability that someone has not had for a long time, you make it possible for them to have that quality or ability again:

3. to bring back into use something that has been absent for a period of time:

4. to give something that has been lost or stolen back to the person it belongs to:

The word dawn also mean :
the start of a period of time or the beginning of something new.

The beginning of the prophecy itself said "Darkness has fallen upon the land". I think that the dawn related to the darkness that is mention in the prophecy. The darkness probably means the declining of Kouka Kingdom, the assassination of King Il, or the coup by So Won. If we consider that the darkness refer to all of that, restoring the dawn could mean :
1. Yona return to the palace and to his rightful place.
2. Kouka become great once again with Yona as the ruler.
3. Yona save the kingdom although she's not a queen or a ruler or hold any power politically or not in any kind aka Yona being a normal "common" human, get rid of the world from all evil and misfortune, then she died. Just like how King Hiryuu.

Yona being a queen => I want it too but not as a Queen consort of So Won! Definitely Absolutely NO! I dislike So Won. I also deem him as untrustworthy for being beside Yona in any kind of way. I admit that it looks like So Won is a great ruler and a good person and care about Yona a little TINY bit enough that he doesn't kill her. But, I don't want someone like So Won who kill Yona father, as bad of a ruler as King Il is, to be Yona husband! I fear of Yona safety. I prefer Yona to end up alone with Zeno or Shin Ah or the other 4 dragon to accompany her without any love relationship involve between them, or Hak at least as her lover or husband if she really have to end up with anyone. I'm sorry if I offended you, but I really dislike So Won to be pair with Yona. As great of a person as So Won is, I don't trust his ability to protect Yona or to fight in Yona benefit. So Won doesn't have any attachment toward anyone but himself or his country. Therefore, he'll put the country or his own safety and benefit before Yona. Better Yona end up with Zeno then to be with SO WOn. Not romantically of course. Of all the dragon, I trust Zeno to protect Yona the most.
So Won can be a king of Kouka, at this point of the story, I don't really care about him as long as he doesn't try to hurt Yona and keep his distance from her. He can marry anyone and have anyone as his queen consort as long as it's not Yona.

I prefer Yona to rule in her own right. Hak can be beside her and the four dragon too. But, right now, I have the feeling that it will end up with Hak beside So Won, while Yona with the four dragon save the kingdom and in the end they disappear and become a legend.
It's good if the sword and the shield is a different person or an actual thing that Yona can use. But, to introduce such an important new character so far into this story [it's already 100+ chapter afterall] seems unlikely. But, we can keep hoping, can't we?

So about restoring dawn.
I think that she all restore Kouka s former greatness and even make it better than ever used to be, apart maybe from hiryuu s time. I hope she ll wander around with the dragons and hak as her lover and yoon saving people.
I actually don't think yona should become a ruler. I mean all the subtleties and dealing with annoying noblemen and not being able to just do thing when you want to and not having fun and discovering the world the way she is right now...

About Soo Won, I don't dislike him but I definitely don't want Yona to be with him, first cause she has Hak and second cause if ever she was the Queen, she should rule the country with the same authority that a king would have.
But I d definitely like to dig deeper as of why Soo won killed king Il and how King I'll is actually great or at least not as much of a coward as people think of him and I d like Yona to show everybody she s the princess (especially the people she helped) , and that she s such a great person (cause if ever she did it just like that, most people would be like, the useless daughter of the coward king).
I really don't want hak to end up with Soo Won and Yona and the dragons to disappear, like srsly, I don't want that.

And yeah it would be surprising if they did (introduce new character) but I real!y would have like to witness some kinda magic happening when the shield and sword appear. You know, a feeling like Boum! Explosion of light, Yona ascending and having some kind of secret power being unsealed within her (I think it would be great if she did but probably not, Hiryuu was human too). Which wouldn t happen if Hak was the Sword

We seem to agree on a lot of the same thing. (^_^)
I also thnk that Yona will restore Kouka former greatness and make it a better place. She doesn't need to be a ruler to do that. So yeah, I don't want her to be a ruler too. Because the responsibility and likes will bind her up. She won't be as free as before. She won't be able to do a lot of thing.
I'm glad that you don't want Yona to be with So Won too. Before everything about King Il assassination become clear, whether So Won really kill King Il or not doesn't matter, So Won is dangerous to Yona.
Someday, I hope the fact that Yona is the princess and the daughter of King Il become known by every people in that land. But I also hope that doesn't brought along another trouble for Yona.
Well, I also don't want Hak to be with So Won or Yona to disappear. Really! Truly! That's why I hope that won't come true and it'll remain as a theory.
It will be cool if that magic and light thingie really happen and Yona become bad ass. We can still hope that Zeno doesn't really tell the whole story, like maybe Hiryuu doesn't have a power to fight such as the dragon but he probably has a supernatural power to know a lot of things or foresee a lot of things. We can always imagine and hope. ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶

Omg, yes!! I completely agree with everything you said here!!
I love bad ass Yona, she s already supercool without superpower, if she had some..., I also love her cheerful naive self! She s so cute

I love Zeno a lot and I find it really awful that he s a living shield and has to get hurt to be strong. He went through so much, you know when he said he tried to kill himself...
I thought maybe he had some kind of secret power, like how he noticed Soo Won was the King or that Tae Jun (?) was the fire tribe s leader s son. He s so wise...

BTW, I love the current dragon generation better than the old one, they seemed less funny

I love the current generation more too. But I'm curious of the story of first generation. I hope someday the author make a spin off manga about them or a one shot is enough.
Zeno fate is truly unfortunate that he become a living shield and an immortal living witness. But I think that the dragon do it on purpose. Hiryuu and the other dragon is a mortal that eventually will die sooner or later. There will be no one to continue and secure the legacy without them. So Zeno was chosen so he can keep watch on the world that Hiryuu and the other dragon fought so hard to protect and make. He also has a duty to keep it safe from evil. There are also the possibility that the other dragon can't protect Hiryuu from harm. So Zeno was there to make sure that Hiryuu will survive from his enemy.

There are other reason too. I think that Hiryuu was fated to reincarnated and the dragon know about it probably or else why did their power remain even if Hiryuu already died? Hiryuu the mortal died but the red dragon soul is not. The red dragon soul is sleeping until a new fitting mortal was born which is Yona.

Zeno knows a lot of things that he won't share to others. He already see and experience a lot of things. Zeno obviously know the truth about So Won coup and the assassination. Zeno always seem to be waiting for something to me after Hiryuu died and Yona was born.

Yeah, hiryuu was fated to be reincarnated. After all, Hakuryuu s tribe was waiting for it and already knew Yona was probably Hiryuu s reincarnation upon seeing her (cause of the hair).

And the fact that Zeno is waiting for sth... Could be Yona s Awakening?!!

Could be? There is a high possibility for that.(๑•ㅂ•)و✧

To be honest I have a very bad feeling of what would happen to yona after she awakens. I think that so won will be the king and that yona will end up with hak and that peace would be brough. After that ,I have a feeling(sadly) that the four dragons might die (even Zeno) and in the end yona will end up somehow sacrificing her self. I don't want that to happen, but it's just a theory that we should hope never comes to be. （￣へ￣）

At one time, we as the reader have that thought which is like a nightmare to us. It's okay if it's just a theory, discussing about the manga itself is fun. That way we can wait patiently.

I don't know if it s a sad thing or not for Zeno to be dying I mean, he tried to commit ide lots of time because he felt really bad and all...
Nope, actually it s definitely a bad thing because now he s having fun, I love those scenes where he sees how cute everybody is and just smiles wholeheartedly...

Anyway it d be super sad if the dragons died and yona too... Remember how they said dragons don't usually live that long?

The first dragons lived to a ripe old age (they showed the one on his deathbed calling Zeno an idiot for waiting too long to visit him). It was just the later generations that would lose their powers and die once the new dragon was born. Now that Yona is here and they've found their purpose, I think they are safe from that fate (my theory at any rate).
Also, in regards to the sword and shield...could Hak be the sword and Soo Won be the shield? He didn't tell his subordinates she was alive after the pirate incident. He told his men they were just bandits during the Kai battle. And he didn't let his men kill them at the Sei fort. Just a little nugget to think about

I don't think Zeno will die soon especially now that he finally meet Yona the one he's been waiting for. So don't you worry. (⌒▽⌒)
Yeah, but it probably because the lack of presence of King Hiryu soul beside them. Furthermore, the body itself is a mortal ones and slowly losing the dragon soul after another dragon was born. So, as long as no other dragon was born, it is safe to say that our precious dragon siblings will be just fine at the moment.

Oh, but wasnt someone, hakuryuu I think?, saying a baby hakuryuu was born in the hakuryuu village? (That s a lot of hakuryuu)
Or maybe it s just my memory messing around...

But I think you and anonymous are right to think they will live long, since the first generation did live long. But what i wonder is why the generation s in between would have shorter live...

but I don't think soo won would be the Shield, he kinda seems too much of a leader to be one... Well that s only based on his character, but maybe it would, not make sense, but... Yeah... Maybe...
You know, the fact that they have been besties since they were practically born. Hak and soo won surrounding her...
that's an interesting theory

Heyyy!
I was right! About princess Tao