Rey Yan (Chronicles of the Cursed Sword)

Rey Yan is the fictional protagonist of the manhwa series Chronicles of the Cursed Sword by Yeo Beop-Ryong and Park Hui-jin (art).

An orphaned boy with a dark, sad, and mysterious past, he travels while wielding a powerful Pasa sword, which he also holds great deep power within himself, which was unknown to himself early on.

History
Six years before the start of the series, Rey's parents died in an epidemic. He and his sister, Mey, drifted around before finding their way to the capital. Rey and his sister were brought along with thousands of other orphans under the pretense of care and shelter. At the "Gigantic Pagoda" where the Prime Minister resides, all the orphans are locked in a dark room, and each is given a sword. Being told that they would have to fight if they wanted to get out, they fought for months and the children became relentless, greedy, and violent, driven by the scarcity of food provided to them. Survivors were eventually swallowed up by a dark entity and were lost in the darkness. Mey was eventually swallowed up, and Rey soon followed. After the ordeal he woke with a 'demon stone' embedded into his forehead.

After some time, Master Loruan and his disciple, Shyao, found Rey, holding the Pasa sword. They witnessed Rey among hordes of slain demons across the field. Loruan saved him from insanity and raised Rey as one of his disciples. Loruan was eventually killed by White Tiger, who sought the Pasa sword. Loruan sacrificed himself using a forbidden spell for Rey and Shyao to escape with the Pasa sword.

Summary
Six years after those incidents, Rey travels everywhere with Shyao Lin. Though Shyao denies any feelings for Rey and claims to be his 'older sister', Rey has feelings for her. He wields The Pasa sword with the power to consume demons' blood and souls to augment its powers. After Shyao's betrayal, he retreats into the mountains and becomes a listless wanderer, barely even interested in killing the demons there for a time.

Personality
Rey undergoes a somewhat dramatic change from the beginning of the manhwa. According to the description of Rey in the character files drawn by Hui-Jin at the end of volume eight, Rey is described as having; 'a tough, almost twisted personality, but remnants of his original understanding character still shine through. He is quick to anger but doesn't hold grudges... Making new friends has made him a mellower... Hui-Jin also reveals that Rey 'has a soft spot for women' and can be a bit shy around them (especially Shyao).

Rey has a kind personality. In the first volume, he seems almost inhuman, but he becomes more open to people over the course of the series.

Powers
Rey makes remarkable progress using Chan Kaihu's chastity technique, whichc is one of the more powerful techniques that Rey learns in 'Moonbeams Slice Through the Night Air' (English version). This power lets you cut through anything. Rey uses this technique to weaken the Sorcerer of the Dark in a battle. Rey's other 'powers' are what Ban-Go and the Pasa sword provide him with, along with decent swordsmanship and some raw strength.

Rey is beginning to merge more and more with the Pasa sword spirit and can interact with and threaten him. At one point he is even let into the demon's memories against his will. The two are quite alike, both being hot-blooded and as Rey mentions to the demon; 'You're not the only one here with a dark past.
 * Pasa Sword

As the series progresses, Rey continues to learn new techniques. One such technique is "A spell to shatter diamonds," in which a giant explosion is created by harnessing the earth element. The technique "Moonbeams Slice through the Night Air" is only the first of five techniques in the Metal element techniques described in the "Tome of Heaven and Hell. The "Dance of the Blazing Shadows ", is a technique based on the fundamental distinction between reality and illusion that tricks the opponent into thinking that the illusion is the real you.
 * Chan Kaihu's techniques

Appearance
Throughout the series, Rey's appearance changes drastically. These changes seem like it is coming from the merge between Rey and the Pasa sword's demon spirit, but also something deep within Rey is slowly surfacing.


 * Volume 1, Rey's eyes become cloudy, and Spirit speaks through him.
 * Volume 3, Spirit took over when the Dervishes thought Rey was beaten. His eyes became completely pupilless and he only regained control when MinXia intervened to remind him about Shyao. Rey enters Sheyshen's dimension, and his physical form immediately changes, he now has red eyes, markings all over his body, claws, and spikes growing from his wrists. After Sheyshen lands her first punch on him, the Pasa sword takes over and Rey has no memory of the possession afterwards.
 * Volume 4, Spirit takes on a sprite form outside of Rey's body.
 * Volume 5, Spirit appears for a brief moment and the Pasa sword attacks Hyacia on his command.
 * Volume 8, After learning of Shyao's betrayal (and being impaled), Spirit takes on a visible form (not the sprite this time) and controls Rey like a puppet. He can unleash powerful attacks without the use of the Pasa sword and Rey only regains his senses seconds before he would have taken off Shyao's head.
 * Volume 9, When Louen and Moa meet Rey, there are still markings all over his face and he wears a bandage over one eye because it is still demonic from the last possession. Spirit can now maintain a physical form when not possessing Rey but Rey has insight into his memories against his will. The Pasa sword can travel long distances now without Rey.
 * Volume 14, During the battle against the Sorcerer King, Ban-Go's spirit is partially awoken. Rey's entire body is turned black except his left eye. Later in the battle uses the "Armor of Creation", giving Rey armor on his left side. He loses the demon stone on his forehead after the battle with the sorcerers because all of his powers have become one, according to the Pasa sword's spirit.

Ban-Go
Ban-go is the creator God that formed the universe at the dawn of time. It is said that his body formed the earth while his spirit rose and formed the heavens while his soul took in everything evil and became the demon realm. Shiyan put Ban-Go's soul in Rey hoping that his brother who is the Pasa sword spirit would take over Rey when the power awakened so they could exact their revenge on the Demon emperor that betrayed them.

Relationships

 * Shyao: Rey very clearly is in love with Shyam, though she has tried to kill him. After she failed to kill him, he was heartbroken and would rather not meet her again.
 * Hyacia: He does not seem to have the same feeling for 'Hyacia', as she does. Though he gets flustered when embarrassed in front of her. Later it is hinted that he has fallen for her since he called her "someone he cares about".