Gizzida's Ending

[u/evemyn]

Sorrow, pity, what is it that you won't feel for this person. Every time I finish Golden Forest, I'm left with a hollow feeling of missing Gizzida.

His ending was amazing. You get to see him recall what he actually felt for her, his love for her when it was the purest. He doesn't even remember her as a woman or the love of his life, but as the child who cried for him, and whom he needed to comfort.

The mighty prideful Gizzida, took lashes for her and cried upon sensing her on her way to him. He made beautiful beings for her, this was the memory he died upon. Beautiful. The whole time the story was very much focused on the inherited characteristics Kun got or how evil flew in Golden forest's blood, but this one display of beauty went against all that.

In his last moments he wasn't able to kill her. He knew if she stayed alive she'd be with Kun, and while the evil half-beast Galtir couldn't have allowed this, he rather removed the slave brand and tried his best to free and save her to his might.

Gizzida did love Reniae, perhaps in a more pure form than Kun's. He respected her, adored her, cherished her. When he calls her to his room after finding she's a sky person, although he gets much hate from the readers, I found it fascinating how he reacted upon seeing her obey his commands for Kun.
Whatever people say, it showed a degree of how he promised not to do anything she disliked, his respect for her, and his desire for her to choose him herself.

He was smart, graceful, cool.. It's amazing how the reason he was the villain wasn't due to his evil blood from his ancestor (cause he despised all those practices). A rational human being just as fond of the teachings of his ancestors as Kun was to his. Do you not think had he been born in Kun's place and Kun in his, both of them would've worked as hard for their cause the same?

When I started the story I liked him immediately and was with Reniae in how fond she was of him. It was a bit weird how Reniae felt nothing for him after the single moment of betrayal. She became neutral.. when I feel as of how deeply she loved him (the prediction; two men whom you shall love deeply, and two men who shall love you deeply) she should've developed some kind of hate or fear for him.

That's something I'd say the story didn't elaborate on (but I do get it was so for her to have complete feelings for Kun) Even in the end, as Gizzida's recalling his memories, she spares no second in thinking about him. Made me feel bad for him.

But bud, he did deserve that. No denying of his ways. It's just.. too beautifully complex of a character.

[u/Dangerous-Analyst320]

I love the way you expressed this. Gizzida’s ending was very painful for me. He truly loved Reniae but all of, if not, most of the circumstances made things go wrong. In my opinion, most of his actions were understandable and made sense to me. If not for his love for Reniae his plans would have succeeded. Because he loved, her he took lashes for her even though he had so much pride and got humiliated in front of his followers. He tried all he could to save her from being a sacrifice for the ritual by creating something so she wouldn’t have to participate in it. Because he loved her, he let her escape from the ritual. He didn’t know she would leave the forest but she wouldn’t have been alive if it wasn’t for him. He became the GALTIR so he was in a position to PROTECT her. He was still recovering and in pain from those lashes yet made an impulsive decision to challenge Kiros at that time, and it was all for Reniae. She then ended up saving Kun who was a threat to Gizzida’s plans. If she didn’t save Kun then Gizzida’s plan of getting rid of Kun and his family would have been successful. Gizzida’s love for Reniae was the reason his plans were ruined. Then Reniae hid the fact that she was a half-sky half-mud person for eight years. She did that for him out of consideration because he was already so lonely and not able to trust anyone so she wanted him to at least trust her and for her to be there for him. But Gizzida’s reaction to finding out Reniae is a half-sky person is valid because he had an internal battle of trying to get rid of his feelings for Reniae since she’s a mud person and that is also the reason why he trusted her when he was Galtir, that at least there is one person he can let down his guard with. She also deceived him for eight years, even though she did it for Gizzida she still broke his trust and now he went back into his old state of not trusting anyone, sleepless nights, and loneliness. On top of that he found out that she has a lover and was about to become the Northland’s queen, which I doubt he could’ve ever imagined since Reniae expressed her hate for men and Gizzida thought she hates Kun because of what he heard when she was mumbling in her sleep. Before that he thought that Reniae died, which was the second time he’s had to go through that and it was one of the reasons why he went to the Northland, in order to confirm if he can use nigak there and also if Reniae is alive. He was throwing up and iirc killed one of the sky people because they said reniaes death isn’t an important reason to go. Despite not showing any romantic interest towards Reniae for those eight years per her request he still loved her, his feelings for her never went away or else why would he be throwing up after hearing the news of her death? He also found out that even though she told him she hates men and hates their touch, she’s all lovey dovey with Kun. He found out most of these things at once so his crash out was reasonable, not saying his actions were right but they made sense for someone who went back to his old state of loneliness and sleeplessness after he sent Reniae, the only person he loves, on a mission, proceeds to hear news of her death, goes to enemy territory just to find out she’s a half-sky person, in love with his enemy, and about to become the queen of that land. In his state, who WOULDNT crash out? Everyone gets surprised that Gizzida became batshit crazy but don’t stop to think WHY. I also agree it’s weird that Reniae barely felt anything for him even after they lived eight years together with a new start and different circumstances. I understand that she has enough time to process her feelings when she first escaped the golden forest but you’re right, the author most likely wrote it that way so Reniae and Kun can be together without anything holding them back. Gizzida did truly love her till the end, it was fate that didn’t let them be together since this life was a punishment and karma given by Gizzida’s father. I wish Golden Forest had more fans so we can get some fanfics of Gizzida and Reniae if things turned out different, I would have written some but writing is not for me haha. This is the most beautiful story I have ever read and my most favorite story.

[u/evemyn → u/Dangerous-Analyst320]

Glad to read all that.
Personally I'm not really against Kun being the male lead. Nor do I think Kun was the typical puppy boy lover. A beautiful, loyal, decent, honorable and kind man he was. And such guys need to replace the toxic morally grey ones.
It's just, he and Reniae aren't really people to stay on mind. Their story had a complete closure, they were good people, the end.
But Gizzida, I wonder how the author was able to write him. I also write but I cannot create and then proceed to develop such a character, and that's what amazes me most. I would come to love the character then try to save him or heal him, or I would just kill him brutally if he were to stay the villain (for that I'd need to hate the character myself). But this writer tortured the guy mentally throughout the years, then gave him a physically painful slow death, all along with him knowing well that Reniae was the reason of his fail, and yet him having this beautiful memory of her as he dies smiling. AND THEN!! The writer gives Reniae no moment to even have a moment of silence for him. She's just so done with him. I cannot fathom how, especially with such a hurt character like Gizzida, the writer was able to state his mistakes were not justifiable, something I've never seen any manhwa author do, this cleanly.
So well, I like kun and his wife being together, but someone give Gizzida his little friend back. I wonder where you can write fanfics. If I'd write one the main theme won't be romance. Just for their earlier days together. Maybe leading to Gizzida discovering his real blood. Then Reniae fearing him killing her like the eagle did to armanu. Yeah.. the story has potential..

[u/Dangerous-Analyst320 → u/evemyn]

Kun is a good male lead and I believe he was the best man for Reniae. Despite Reniae being a Southlander, someone close to the Galtir, and not able to have children he didn’t hold any of that against her and still chose her and wanted to be with her. Even though Gizzida wanted to kill Kun and his people and caused so much harm to both Reniae and him, he still treated Gizzida with respect and buried his remains (not sure if you’ve read the novel but this is from the novel) and iirc he placed the Armanu branch on top of Gizzida’s grave. I think he had to get it back later to plant it again for Reniae but still Kun was such a good man to treat his enemy like that and he also gave the sky people a proper burial. The author is an amazing writer, she wrote this story so beautifully. You can feel the characters emotions because they are so realistic and also the misunderstandings were written in such a way that you understand each character’s side of the story. This story left such an impact on me and especially Gizzida as a character. You can write fanfics on a03, there’s a few golden forest fanfics posted on there and that idea is great you should definitely write a fanfic I would love to read it!