Summary
- Baek Yoonho’s unique half transformation grants him immense strength, speed, and perception without risking fellow Hunters’ lives.
- Inspired by East-Asian mythology, Yoonho’s White Tiger transformation is likely based on the mythological White Tiger, associated with the west.
- The use of symbolic metaphors in anime, like the Byakko and Azure Dragon, is common and may have influenced Yoonho’s magic beast transformation.
The White Tiger Guild is one of Korea’s most prominent and most powerful guilds in the Solo Leveling narrative, with the Guild Master, S-Rank Hunter Baek Yoonho, being one of the country’s strongest, with power comparable to that of Hwang Dongsoo. In fact, it is mentioned quite a few times that Baek’s ability is unique in that it involves his transformation into a Magic Beast.
Due to the massive debuff on reasoning and overwhelming power that comes with the full transformation, Baek Yoonho usually performs a half transformation that grants him an immense boost in strength, speed and perception without endangering the lives of his fellow Hunters. How exactly does Baek Yoonho’s Magic Beast transformation work, and could other Hunters potentially have a similar ability?
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The White Tiger Guild’s Talisman
Baek Yoonho’s Ability, Explained
Baek Yoonho is an S-Rank Hunter who specializes in transformation magic, which explains his ability to transform into a lycanthropic magic beast that is perhaps the reason for the name of his affiliate “White Tiger Guild”. Despite boasting an ability that can literally turn him into a magic beast, Baek Yoonho is perhaps one of the world’s weakest S-Rank Hunters. The transformation grants Yoonho a number of beast-like advantages, like increased strength, enhanced speed, durability and perception, with Yoonho having the level of control over his transformation to partially transform, much like Atsushi Nakajima from the Bungo Stray Dogs series.
This partial transformation is what he’d normally opt for when pushed in battle; however, being in the company of other S-Rank Hunters during the fourth Jeju Island Raid operation gave him the perfect arena to unleash the full potential of his White Tiger transformation. One of the best perks of the partial transformation option is that Yoonho can transform only his eyes to gain access to the massively acute perception of the beast, enabling him to accurately appraise the strength of a monster or another hunter, as well as greatly improving his reflexes.
The Possible Inspiration Behind Baek Yoonho’s Transformation
Enter Classical East-Asian Mythology
Baek Yoonho’s transformation into this particular creature is inspired by the mythological White Tiger, known in Japan as the “Byakko”, and in Korea as the “Baekho”, the Guardian of the West who spans seven of the 28 constellations in Chinese astrology. It is one of the Four Symbols or the Four Auspicious Beasts, mythological creatures that appear among the Chinese constellations along the ecliptic and are considered to be guardians of the four cardinal directions. Each of the Auspicious Beasts is also associated with a colour, an emotion or virtue, as well as one of the five Chinese elements or Wuxia. In addition to the Byakko, there is:
- the Suzaku; known in Korean as Jujak and in English as the Vermillion Bird, associated with fire and the South cardinal direction,
- the Seiryū, known in Korean as Cheongnyong, the Azure Dragon associated with the East and spring
- the Genbu, known in Korean as the Hyeon-mu, the Black Tortoise (or Black Tortoise-Snake) that is associated with winter
The use of these symbols as metaphors is definitely not a new thing in anime, and happens more often than you’d think, with the Byakko being shown in contention against the Azure Dragon being a common way to express that two characters do not get along or are like night and day. It is also very possible that the inspiration behind Baek Yoonho’s magic beast transformation, beyond the Byakko myth, is 20th century Japanese author Atsushi Nakajima’s most famed literary work, “The Moon Over the Mountain”. The story follows a young man who hears about a man-eating tiger roaming around his area. He one day meets and speaks to this tiger, which turns out to be his friend who had the intelligence to become a government official, but aspired to become a poet. When he failed to achieve his dream, the friend went insane and transformed into a tiger.
- Release Date
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January 7, 2024
- Directors
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Shunsuke Nakashige
- Writers
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Noboru Kimura
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Taito Ban
Shun Mizushino (voice)
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Genta Nakamura
Kenta Morobishi (voice)
