The character arc of Sejong the Great
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born 15 May 1397 in Hanyang. Died 8 April 1450, aged fifty two. Between the two sit a childhood as a third son with no expectation of ruling, a brother deposed in 1418, an accession the same year, a research hall reestablished in 1420, an alphabet created in the 1440s over the objections of his own scholars, a rain gauge, a calendar, and failing health from 1445. The line below draws that whole life in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who was Sejong the Great?
Never meant to rule, and he gave them an alphabet.
He was the third son of the future King Taejong, which in a hereditary monarchy means a life of ceremony and no power. His eldest brother, Grand Prince Yangnyeong, was deposed as crown prince in 1418 over his conduct, and Sejong was raised into the position. His father abdicated later that year. Nothing about the first twenty one years of that life pointed at what followed.
In 1420 he reestablished the Hall of Worthies, a research institution that worked as a standing think tank for the kingdom. Out of it came a rain gauge, water clocks, astronomical instruments, Korea's first calendar computed for its own sky, an agricultural treatise gathered from farmers rather than from Chinese texts, and a medical encyclopaedia running to three hundred and sixty five volumes. He also cut the land tax rate from a tenth to a twentieth.
The thing he is remembered for is the alphabet. Korean had been written in Chinese characters, which took years to learn and which therefore kept reading inside the scholar class. He commissioned a native script, Hangul, built so that its letters show the shape the mouth makes, and promulgated it in the 1440s. His own Confucian officials opposed it, because a literate commoner is a different kind of subject. He did it anyway. His health failed and from 1445 he delegated government to his crown prince. His line is worth reading because a man with absolute power used it to make himself less necessary.
The moments
Sejong the Great's timeline.
The 1410s
His brother was deposed
Milestone, and it changed everything. Third son, no expectation of anything, and then somebody else's downfall made him heir.
He took the throne
Milestone, and it changed everything. Twenty one years old, and a kingdom.
The 1420s
The Hall of Worthies
Milestone, and it changed everything. He did not want courtiers. He wanted a building full of people who could find things out.
Farming, written down from farmers
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Gathered from Korean farmers rather than copied from Chinese books, which was the point.
The 1440s
A gauge for the rain
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A country cannot plan a harvest it cannot measure. So he had the rain measured.
He commissioned an alphabet
Milestone, and it changed everything. Chinese characters took years to learn, which kept reading inside one class. He set out to end that.
Drop the alphabet, or promulgate it
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: publish it anyway, taken, or let it drop. Hangul is the everyday script of Korea, and the argument against it is a footnote.
His scholars opposed it
Setback, and it changed everything. His own officials, the educated men he had gathered, argued against letting everybody read.
His health failed
Setback, and it changed everything. Recurring illness, and eyes that were failing, in a man who had spent his life reading.
Hangul promulgated
Milestone, and it changed everything. Letters shaped like the mouth that makes them. Learnable in a morning, on purpose.
The line ends 8 Apr 1450, at fifty two. What it set moving is being read right now: Hangul is the everyday script of a nation of eighty million, and it was designed on purpose so that a farmer could learn it in a morning.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His was a third son with no path, and he built one for everybody. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Sejong the Great: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What was Sejong the Great's character arc?
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What was the Hall of Worthies under Sejong the Great?
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Where does this timeline of Sejong the Great's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- Sejong the Great, English Wikipedia biography.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Sejong.
- Hunminjeongeum, the 1446 promulgation document.