List of Blade of The Phantom Master Characters - Main Characters

Main Characters

Munsu (文秀/문수)

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese), Koo Ja-hyung (Korean), Jason Douglas (English)

The anti-heroic protagonist of the series and a third mahai amen osa from the fallen kingdom of Jushin. Despite the common perception held by Jushin's former citizens that amen osa are virtuous and bearers of justice, Munsu usually comes across as somewhat amoral and does not believe in helping people who refuse to help themselves. When he does help others, his methods almost always involve excessive bloodshed, lying, torture, and other questionable acts.

Munsu suffers from a curse that resembles asthma, which can only be alleviated by the inhaler-like charm he wears around his neck. This curse originates from during the Jushin period, where he convinced Aji Tae to switch the curse which was originally suffered by his lover Kye Wol Hyang unto him in hopes of relieving her pain. However, this was ineffective; not only did she die in the end while he retained the curse, Munsu actually fell directly into Aji Tae's scheme. In volume 11, Munsu :confessed to Wonsul that despite claims that he was her killer, the truth was that :Kye Wol Hyang killed herself by running into his sword while he was holding it right into her heart. He blames himself for her death and believes that he is her killer. When asked by Hong Gildong, he refused to deny that he was her sister's killer although his life was at stake. He went against the entire Hwalbindang after consuming a special drug that removed his asthma for a period of time, and managed to kill most of them. However, the drug had negative side effects when it wore off, and conveniently Aji Tae appeared while Munsu was at his most weak and wounded moment. Seeing his sworn enemy, his condition worsened and he started vomiting more blood, falling into a more critical state. Munsu swears that he will not die despite reality and that he find Aji Tae in the end.

Before passing out, he asks Bang Ja to use an acupuncture needle in his pocket in order to prevent his death, but as soon as Bang Ja did it, Munsu's heart stopped beating. Everyone lost hope and believed that he was dead; however, after a few days despite the humid weather, Munsu's body did not decay. Later it was discovered that the needle contained mandrake extract and Munsu was affected with the infamous hallucinogen, allowing him to escape death. But being effected by the mandrake's poison means he will forever live in a fake world of his most desired dreams. Volume 11 shows the most treasured moments in Munsu's life and more about his past.

Whilst the Mandrake hallucinogen would normally show one's most treasured and peaceful memories, Munsu does not possess these memories and therefore is said to be doomed to relive his nightmares forever. However, in Aji Tae's attempt to further throw him into despair he awakens freed from the curse-but with very limited life within him (in fact the death god began to haunt him days after his revival). In this time Munsu led a resistance army against Aji Tae's legion of undead, demons, as well as a legendary general from Jushin's history. His strength is worn off as the battle progresses, and Munsu finally dies in the last confrontation with Aji Tae, but not before immobilizing Aji Tae's movements for Sando to deliver the final blow. A scene in the final chapter shows Munsu joining dead friends and lovers in a sort of paradise, and his broken three-horsed Ma-Hai is seen brandished by a new Angyo Onshi of the next generation.

Sando/Chun Hyang (山道/春香/산도/춘향)

Voiced by: Sanae Kobayashi (Japanese), Bae Jung-mi (Korean), Nancy Novotny (English)

A beautiful woman with prodigious fighting skill. She acts as Munsu's 'Sando', or bodyguard. When she was kidnapped by a corrupt lord who wanted to make her his personal bodyguard, her lover embarked on a futile quest to become an amen osa. He died in the process, but not before making Munsu aware of her plight. After Munsu frees her, she decides to become his bodyguard in memory of her dead lover, and takes the title "Sando" as her new name.

Despite her fearsome natural fighting ability, Sando is quiet and shy, with a high moral stance. As a result, she is often in conflict with the amoral Munsu over his questionable methods. She has made it clear that if he ever becomes truly evil, she will no longer protect him. She also has a great fear of heights, and will refuse to cross bridges set over deep mountain gorges or valleys. Munsu finds this extremely peculiar, seeing as to how she often leaps several stories into the air during combat.

Later in the series, she is defeated in combat and leaves Munsu in shame to pursue greater strength. She learns the power of using her 'ki' from a friend of Aji Tae, attaining the strength she desires but loses her mind to Aji Tae at the same time and becomes his bodyguard. Aji Tae unleashes Sando upon Munsu in the final battle as the last trump card, but Sando only manages to slice off Munsu's left arm before her memories returns, bringing her back to Munsu's side. She manages to kill Aji Tae when Munsu dies and leaves Aji Tae open to her attacks. After the battle, Sando left on her own and is implied to later side with another Angyo Onshi in the final chapter.

Near the end, Aji Tae reveals that Sando isn't human, her true form being that of a monster. It's confirmed in the omake of the series, which retells her first meeting with Mon-Ryon: Sando was not born from human, but is implied to be the offspring of a dragon which fell from the sky.

Sando's powers are not fully explained in the animated movie based on the early chapters of the series. She appears completely human in her first appearances while she is bound in the catacombs of the lord who kidnapped her, and also appears to be completely human in a flashback seen through her own eyes when she does battle with Munsu, but when she is first seen in action, her right hand resembles a monstrous armored gauntlet, and remains this way throughout the rest of the film. She fights almost entirely left-handed both times against a Kunoichi named Mari who is after Munsu's life when the two head to an island on behalf of a boy named Jyun. It is not until the last minute or so of her second combat scene with Mari that she begins using her right hand again. While fans of the series outside the United States know of her true powers, American audiences viewing the film are given no explanation for the sudden appearance of her monster-form hand suddenly appearing when she is at first used against Munsu unless they have access to foreign language versions of the manga and are capable of reading it.

Bang Ja (房子/방자)

Munsu's unwanted but good-intentioned servant. Once the servant and apprentice of a first mahai onshi, his former master released him from service after Jushin's destruction. When his master and his sando were later killed in a rebel uprising against a corrupt lord, Bang Ja began roaming the country as a thief. He believes that amen osa should be virtuous and heroic, which is why Munsu's behavior often shocks him.

He is a third-rate Magician who summons animals to do his bidding, and he deeply takes his role as a Bang Ja seriously. This often leads to his being manipulated and bullied by Munsu, who often beats him or sends him on inane/impossible errands.

He was responsible for the death of Won Hyo. After Sando left the group and Munsu almost died, Bang Ja used Yuui Tae's acupuncture needle on Munsu so that he lives. Bang Ja finds it difficult that Munsu is in a coma state situation that he is a lifeless body. After Yeongsil received the false information about the Mandrake cure, Bang Ja and Yeongsil traveled together to an icy mountain encountering Sando. Having joined Aji Tae, Sando attacked Bang Ja and Yeongsil.

Bang Ja and Yeongsil just managed to barely escape the fight with Sando, with Bang Sa being in a coma like state, induced by Yeongsil's medicine jab. He is one of the few characters to survive the aftermath of the final war.

Wonsul (元述/원술)

A master swordsman from Jushin, who was once a subordinate of Munsu. However, when Jushin fell he began serving Aji Tae, growing Yang Gwi Bi, a plant with narcotic properties, to ship to the west in exchange for weaponry. His weapon, Saruhyondo, is a sword with a blade forged from his killing 'ki', or killing intent. Aside from being impossibly sharp and hard, the blade is also extremely mallaeble, re-shaping itself into any killing form Wonsul can imagine. As it is made of pure killing ki, the blade is also invisible to the naked eye. Wonsul can manifest the blade so long as he has something to act as a hilt, such as a stick or his signature dragon's head sword hilt.

While working for Aji Tae, Wonsul was defeated and killed by Sando, despite her being unable to see his sword. His death, however, proved temporary, as he was later resurrected by Aji Tae. Now effectively a zombie of sorts, Wonsul retained his mind and skill, but his body was like a living corpse, continuing to decay. Furthermore, his re-animated form proved extremely hard to kill, since it was already technically dead - even when decapitated, he still remained conscious and fully aware. He went on to serve as Munsu's sando in Chun Hyang's stead. When Munsu went against the Hwalbindang, Wonsul remained by his side. As their battle with the Hwalbindang comes, Aji Tae made his appearance, upon which Wonsul requested that the former end his state of living death. At first Aji Tae appears to oblige, disintegrating Wonsul's body. However, Aji Tae then states that so long as even part of his body remains intact, he wants Wonsul to remain alive, and "see everything through to the end". At this, Wonsul's head, the only remaining part of his body, begins to cry.

Later, when Munsu recovers from his mandrake-induced coma and prepares for a final battle with Aji Tae, Wonsul is dispatched to attack. Despite having been turned into an immense, grotesque mass of flesh (he is initially mistaken for one of Kaidaten's demons), Munsu recognises his old friend and grants Wonsul his wish, exploding a nearby ammunition dump and engulfing the monstrosity in the blast. Back in his fortress, Aji Tae comments that Wonsul is finally dead.

Aji Tae (阿志泰/아지태)

A former scholar from Jushin and the man Munsu holds responsible for the destruction of the country. Many of Munsu's former allies and comrades have since switched their loyalties to Aji Tae, having been coerced by his power or duped by his charisma. His motives and purpose remain unknown. He possesses a large range of magical abilities, among them the ability to resurrect the dead, explode people with a mere glance, shapeshifting, and teleportation.

During the Junshin period, Aji Tae was General Munsu's second-in-command. At that time, he was smaller in size and sported short black hair and glasses. Despite his innocent exterior, however, the Jushin Aji Tae was already convinced of the inferiority and unworthiness of mankind, and was already plotting his conquest of Jushin.

As of volume 15, he has succeeded in conquering most of the former Jushin territories, having gathered together a formidable force of supernatural allies. This includes the resurrected Kaidaten and its demon brood, an army of undead, black magic practitioners from the West, and Munsu's former bodyguard Sando.

Aji Tae was killed in the last chapter after Munsu's death, by Sando. Even though Aji Tae was able to harm Munsu with his magic, he was unable to kill Munsu due to his defiance that went against Aji Tae's plans, striking fear into his heart.

The instances behind Aji Tae's connection to Munsu and the Emperor Hae Mo Su is very dark, confusing and complicated. When Munsu and his best friend Hae Mo Su were young they went exploring in a haunted cave, where they discovered a sealed demon. Munsu ran away, leaving his friend alone... the demon seemed to say: "Release me and I will grant you your desire" At that point, Hae Mo Su wished to be Emperor; but, according to Munsu, the one to have wished Hae Mo Su to become Emperor was himself, something that not even Aji Tae knew.

Aji Tae first appeared as a scholar who was bullied by drunk soldiers and was saved by Munsu. Munsu then takes a liking to him and takes him as Advisor. During the war with the Que Ta Chun and the demons, Munsu and Co. attacks...resulting in many deaths and severe injuries. At this time Aji Tae walks into battle, calmly decimating an oncoming demon with just a sideways glance. This was seen by Yeongsil, and Aji Tae requested he 'forget this'.

The plot thickens after the war...Aji Tae meets Hae Mo Su for the first time and promptly devours him headfirst. He then splits into two and impersonates the Emperor. This allowed him almost complete control of all affairs and he directed events to the destruction of Jushin from here on.

In the West he incites Munsu, in the form of both Aji Tae and Hae Mo Su, to use black magic to transfer the curse from Gye Wol Hyang to Munsu. Actually this was to allow him to devour one of his own kind, so as to increase his powers. He also takes certain Western magicians and demons as his allies here. Back in Jushin Aji Tae stages a revolt against himself and uses this chance to outlaw Munsu.

Several years later Aji Tae as Hae Mo Su has revealed his true colors and spreads death and destruction across Jushin. His true identity seems to have forgotten- or people had forced themselves not to remember e.g. Won Sul.

Kye Wol Hyang (桂月香/계월향)

Munsu's deceased lover, who was Munsu and Hae Mo Su's childhood friend and at the same time, their love interest. She has an illness that resembles asthma, which can only be alleviated by the inhaler-like charm she wears around her neck (the same one Munsu later uses), slowly killing her as she grows older. Unable to watch Kye Wol Hyang suffer, Munsu asked Aji Tae to perform a ritual to pass Kye Wol Hyang's illness to him, which, unbeknownst to him, did not prevent her death despite the successful transfer, but instead kept her alive as her dead body rotted away. Later, in a plot orchestrated by Aji Tae, who at that time had already killed the king Hae Mo Su and assumed his identitty, Munsu was convicted for treachery against Jushin, and only avoided the execution which befell his entire clan by taking refuge inside the von Lucid family. Kye Wol Hyang, being a lady of noble bloodline noted for her wisdom and beauty, was selected to be the queen of Jushin, but due to her distrust of Hae Mo Su (Aji Tae), who she (correctly) believed to be no longer the person she knew, spurned him and they didn't consummate for 2 years after the marriage. When Munsu returneed to Jushin to overthrow the tyrannical Hae Mo Su (Aji Tae), Hae Mo Su (Aji Tae) threatened Kye Wol Hyang from meeting with Munsu, and raped her on the day of Munsu's coup d'état. In an attempt to commit suicide, Kye Wol Hyang shot her head but couldn't die, and Hae Mo Su (Aji Tae) revealed she was already dead. She killed herself by running her body into Munsu's blade, saying she loved him, much to Munsu's despair.