The Bird That Drinks Blood

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The Bird That Drinks Blood (Korean: 피를 마시는 새; RR: Pireul masineun sae, abbreviated as 피마새; Pimasae) is a Korean fantasy series by Lee Yeongdo, set in the same world of Lee's previous series The Bird That Drinks Tears.

The series depicts clashes between absolute power and free will within the Neo Arajit Empire (신 아라짓 제국), ruled over by flying capital Skywhere (하늘누리).^[1][2] The Empress Governheaven^[1] of the Empire secures the eternal empire against the Lekons and rebellious forces, but it is gradually revealed that behind the endless conflicts and confusion the Empress's ambitions and plots have played a major part as well.^[3] The story follows four protagonists: Jimen the Emperor Hunter; a one-eyed human girl Asil, whose dream of an independent nation of Lekons have been ruthlessly suppressed by the Empress, on whom they swore to wreak vengeance; the General-in-Chief Elsi who took the marches of a margrave who formed a faction to defy the Empress; and Jeong U, the margrave's daughter.^[4]

The ancient language of Arajit is based on the Proto-Korean language. The undefeated general Elsi enjoys a game of baduk while other characters enjoy traditional Korean folk games such as Ssireum and Yut Nori, and Jeong U dresses in what is similar to Hanbok and wears a binyeo in her hair. The Empire's system of rank and office is modeled after that of Silla and Goryeo.^[2] The setting is inhabited by four races: humans, nagas, lekons and dokkebis.

As Lee's all multi-volume series, such as Dragon Raja(1998) and The Bird That Drinks Tears,(2002) The Bird That Drinks Blood was serialized on a serial forum of an online service provider, Hitel, "from the Christmas of 2003 to Christmas of 2004, exactly a year."^[3] It is the last of Lee's works to be on the forum before Hitel's closure in 2007. As of August 2011, it is his longest work to date.^[5]

Golden Bough, an imprint of Minumsa Publishing Group, has been Lee's publisher since 1998, and also runs an online community site for the fans of Lee's works. After The Bird That Drinks Blood was completed, in January 2005 the publisher called for volunteer "reader editors" at the website, to come meet the author at the publisher's office where they could talk about their requests and ideas about how the book should be printed.^[6] The Bird That Drinks Blood was published in July 2005 in 8 hardcover volumes.^[7] Each volume's title is as follows:

• Volume 1: The Emperor Hunter
• Volume 2: The General-in-Chief of the Empire
• Volume 3: The Ruler of the Bloodshed
• Volume 4: The One That Wields Fire
• Volume 5: The Master of Balkene
• Volume 6: The Lekon That Walks in the Rain
• Volume 7: The One That Burns Self
• Volume 8: The One That Treads on The Sky

The series features constructed languages and fictitious geography, vegetation, and history that spans several thousand years, drawing parallels to the worldbuilding in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth works in Korean press. "Moreover, unlike Tolkien who set the virtual history simply as a mythical battleground of good and evil, in Lee's world the moving history, politics, industries and cultural background are constructed in such great detail that this another world feels real and urgent, and sucks you in."^[4]

The series features a legend about "four brother birds", which has led to speculation among fans about further novels. After The Bird That Drinks Tears and The Bird That Drinks Blood, some readers wonder and hope that Lee would write the Bird series as a full tetralogy, because of an old tale told by the legendary Kitalger Hunters in The Bird That Drinks Tears:

There are four brother birds.
Their appetites are all different.
They are the bird that drinks water, the bird that drinks blood, the bird that drinks poison, and the bird that drinks tears.

However, Lee has denied any plans for another sequel, saying "I don't know anything for now. I have no plans."^[4]

In a 2008 interview, when asked "we understand that writing the "Bird" series has not been finished. Please let us know your future writing plans," Lee answered laughing: "there are lots of rumors[...] About this 'Bird' series too. I never declared that I would write a series, but before I knew it, the new quartet or new saga has become the ambition of this typer's life. Well. If a story that I want to type comes up I will type it, if not I won't type it. I don't have any ambitious plan going 'I will type before I die!'"^[8]

• Lee Yeongdo Official Publication Cafe (Korean)
• The fan-made wiki database of The Bird That Drinks Tears and The Bird That Drinks Blood (Korean)