Bride of the Water God
Bride of the Water God (하백의 신부) is a 2006 – 2014 sunjeong Manhwa by Yun Mi-Kyung, detailing the story of Soah, a girl unfortunate enough to be so beautiful she is sacrificed to the river god so that the long drought plaguing her village will end. But instead of drowning, Soah finds herself inexplicably alive and brought to the palace of the child-like river god Habaek as his bride. As Soah adjusts to living among gods, she struggles to learn more about the aloof Habaek and finds it increasingly hard to find somebody to trust in her new world. During all of this, she finds herself falling in love with Habaek's handsome and mysterious 'cousin' Mui, and grows to fear that her infidelity will result in her execution.
The English version is published by Dark Horse Comics.
- Arranged Marriage
- Awesome Art: The above picture is just one example of how stunning the artwork is.
- Back From the Dead: Nak-bin, except not really.
- The Beautiful Elite
- Costume Porn: Everybody, from peasant to god seems to have impossible cool Korean clothes.
- Country Mouse: Soah
- Deadly Decadent Court: The head spins and the nose bleeds trying to determine the wheels within wheels of both Habaek's court and the Emperor's court.
- Eye Scream: Nakbin doesn't want Habaek looking at other women with that eye.
- Evil Matriarch: The Goddess of torture, Habaek's mother, who is not fond of his new human bride.
- Human Sacrifice: The whole basis of the plot.
- Involuntary Shapeshifting: Habaek is a child under the sunlight and an adult (his true form) at night.
- Knight Templar Parent: Yanghee, Habaek's mother, will do anything to protect him.
- Locked Out of the Loop: EVERYONE but Soah knows Habaek has two forms.
- Marriage to a God: Quite literally for Soah.
- Mayfly-December Romance: Habaek is fully aware of this but he only takes human brides. Commitment issues?
- Naive Newcomer: Soah
- Pandaing to the Audience: Also an Author Avatar. On the moon!
- Physical God: Everyone's one!
- Poor Communication Kills: It advances the plot!!
- Perpetual Molt: The feathers fly when the Emperor shows up with black wings - hopefully no one in Water Country is allergic to down.
- Red String of Fate: Soah received two of these as a child from a fortune teller.
- Selective Obliviousness: Soah, about Mui being Habaek. Semi-justified by the fact that Habaek's identifying tattoo disappears when he's a child.
- Also justified by the fact he never bothers speaking up about it.
- Shipper on Deck: Yohee, for Soah and Mui.
- Tall, Dark and Snarky: Mui, definitely
- Tomato in the Mirror: Yeomha, who doesn't realize that she is a doll with Nakbin's memories.
- Tsundere: Habaek quickly grows fond of Soah. Doesn't stop him from messing with her head mercilessly.