Vengeance

Ok I was board so I started doing some research on the Ren family in Magi. It's a little weird on how the princes & princesses are connected as they're split into two different families.

We'll start off with Ren Gyokuen who was the wife of both previous emperors of the Kou & has since become the new empress. She basically has two children one being Hakuei the other being Hakuryuu. She had two other sons but she killed them off.

Gyokeun's Children
Hakuei (Age 21)
Hakuryuu (Age 17)

Then we have the children of the 2nd emperor Koutoku. They are Kougyoku, Kouen, Kouha, & Koumei.

Koutoku's Children
Kouen (Age 28)
Koumei (Age 26)
Kougyoku (Age 18)
Kouha (Age 18)

Hakuei & Hakuryuu's father was the first Kou emperor & older brother of Koutoku the second Kou emperor. This means that Kouen, Koumei, Kougyoku, & Kouha are actually the cousins of Hakuei & Hakuryuu & not simply siblings. So based on this Hakuryuu should be the true heir to the Kou empire since he would be the first emperor's only living son.

Now in order to maintain control over the Kou Gyokeun had her sons killed so they wouldn't become emperor after their fathers death. Hakuryuu survived the assassination attempt however he was not of age to take the throne so Koutoku is appointed as the second Kou emperor in his place. Gyokeun then marries Koutoku to maintain her political status & control over the Kou.

Now that Koutoku has died Gyokeun used Kouen's status as general as an excuse to grab power even though the rightful hair should have been Hakuryuu & not Kouen.

The connection to the first emperor explains why Hakuryuu wouldn't bow his head to Kouen & why Kouen asked if Hakuryuu wanted to be emperor. Hakuryuu explained that it was his majesties intentions for Hakuryuu to become emperor. His majesty being the first emperor(speculation) of the Kou since Hakuryuu never acknowledged Koutoku as the true emperor. Hakuryuu believes it is his birthright & not his cousin(Kouen) to become the emperor of the Kou.

Please feel free to give your thoughts on this issue.

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Screenshot from Shingeki no Kyojin.

Check out this awesome manga called Magi.