Lost: The 10 Saddest Things About Sun

Sun-Hwa Kwon was ultimately one of Lost‘s most tragic characters. A dangerous and corrupt father, a strained and unhealthy marriage, profound loneliness, and a secret affair all contributed to a sad and difficult backstory. Life certainly did not get any easier for Sun after surviving the Oceanic Flight 815 plane crash and finding herself stranded on the Island with her husband Jin-Soo Kwon.

Sun was a perceptive, resourceful, and resilient individual. Like most of Lost‘s main characters, she underwent rich character development as she endured a great deal of hardship both on and off of the Island, although her story proved to be particularly tragic.

10 Her Parents Tried To Force Her Into Marriage

Sun’s mother was insistent on her daughter getting married, and she scolded Sun for not finding a husband in college. Sun explained that she went to college to get a degree and further her education, not to find a husband and that she would find a husband when the time was right.

Mrs. Paik ignored her daughter and insisted on using a matchmaker as Mr. Paik wanted his daughter wed. Sun’s parents and the matchmaker didn’t care about what Sun wanted or needed; they just cared about getting Sun to marry a wealthy, handsome, well-educated man.

9 Her Father’s Impact On Her Relationship With Jin

When Jin—the son of a fisherman—asked for Sun’s hand in marriage, her father gave permission on the condition that Jin would have to work for him for several years. This tradeoff forced Jin into an uncomfortable position where he had to do whatever Sun’s father told him to do. This meant spending many hours away from Sun and even hurting others when Sun’s father told him to “deliver a message.”

Sun’s father brought out the worst in Jin and played a significant role in ruining his daughter’s marriage. The loving man that Sun married was transformed into a much colder, distant individual.

8 Neglected By Jin

Jin’s long work hours meant that he and Sun were able to spend little time together. The rare time they were able to spend together was often interrupted with work calls that Jin was expected to attend to right away.

Sun was constantly neglected by her husband and lived a lonely life. She began to feel unloved and unwanted, feelings that were only furthered when the overworked and stressed Jin would get annoyed at his wife’s questions or her attempts to reconnect with him.

7 Jae Lee’s Death

Sun had an affair with Jae Lee, the same person who taught her to speak English fluently. Sun’s father found out about the affair, and he told Jin to “deliver a message” to Jae Lee. He told Jin that Jae Lee was a thief and it was a matter of honor, though he did not divulge the truth about Jae Lee’s affair with Sun. Jin brutally assaulted Jae Lee but did not go through with killing him and instead told him to leave the country and never return.

Jae Lee jumped off a balcony and committed suicide moments later. Her father only made it worse by showing up at Jae Lee’s funeral and telling Sun that Jae Lee must have felt great shame when he killed himself. Sun was already living with loneliness and an increasingly loveless marriage, and now she also had to grapple with guilt and grief that she could not share with anyone.

6 Hiding That She Spoke English

Even though Sun was able to fluently speak English, she felt she had to hide this from Jin, even when they were stranded on the Island after the Oceanic Flight 815 crash. In the survivors’ early days on the Island, Sun mostly isolated herself from the others and didn’t communicate with them, even though she was perfectly capable of doing so. She hid the fact that she spoke English because Jin didn’t know.

She knew Jin would not react well to this secret, especially if he learned that she had an affair with the person who taught her. Sun only revealed that she spoke English—first to Michael, and later to the rest of the group—in order to save Jin. She explained to Michael that Jin attacked him because of the watch he was wearing and then to the rest of the group when they believed Jin set fire to the raft.

5 Jin’s Controlling Behavior

Jin exhibited a great deal of controlling behavior toward Sun. He shamed her for wearing “immodest” clothing, telling her to button all the way up, covering her up with a towel when she wore a bikini, or scolding her for wearing something “indecent” even during the unbearably hot days on the Island.

After Sun was attacked and dragged away from her garden, Jin no longer wanted her spending time there, and he tore all her plants out of her garden so she wouldn’t have any reason to spend time there anymore. He also grew angry on some occasions when she referenced things that Michael, Sayid, or other male characters said, insisting that she had no reason to listen to them and that she only needed to listen to her husband.

4 Claiming She Was Infertile To Protect Jin’s Honor

Sun and Jin’s inability to conceive a child together only added further tension to their marriage. When they went to see a fertility doctor, the doctor claimed that Sun was infertile, and Jin accused Sun of knowingly withholding this information from him.

The fertility doctor eventually told Sun that it was actually Jin who was infertile. The doctor lied because he worried about what Sun’s father would do if he learned that Jin was infertile. Sun continued to lie and let Jin resent her for it, all to protect his honor. She only told Jin the truth after she became pregnant on the Island.

3 She Thought Jin Died In The Kahana Explosion

Despite their many issues, Sun and Jin gradually found ways to reconnect and truly fall in love again on the Island. Sun became pregnant with Jin’s child, and it seemed like they were going to find a way off of the Island. Unfortunately, the helicopter took off from the Kahana freighter without Jin, and Sun watched as the Kahana exploded and sank to the bottom of the ocean.

Sun spent the next three years believing that her husband had died when the Kahana exploded. She raised their daughter without Jin and struggled with grief, loneliness, and a vengeful need to hold someone responsible for her husband’s death. It was especially cruel to lose him so soon after repairing their relationship. Only after Ben Linus told her Jin was alive and showed her his wedding ring did Sun realize that her husband might not have died in the explosion after all.

2 Her Death

Sun returned to the Island in the hopes of finding Jin. After overcoming numerous obstacles, they finally reunited, but they died shortly after their reunion. When the Man in Black’s bomb exploded aboard the submarine, Sun’s legs were ensnared and unable to be freed from a piece of the wreckage. Jin refused to leave her and they drowned together.

This was a brutal death for Sun. While it was touching for her and Jin to spend their final moments together, she deserved better than drowning as a result of her legs being pinned down by submarine wreckage. She was a fiercely intelligent and resilient character whose death lacked the agency that was given to most of the other main characters’ deaths.

1 She Didn’t Get To See Her Daughter Grow Up

As if her death wasn’t brutal enough, it also meant that Sun didn’t get to see her daughter Ji Yeon grow up. Ji Yeon only knew her mother for the first three years of her life and she never got to meet her father. Regardless of what happens in the flash-sideways, this still meant that Ji Yeon grew up parentless and that Sun didn’t get to experience most of her daughter’s life.

To make matters worse, Ji Yeon was probably raised by Sun’s parents. Fans would like to think that Jin’s kindly father raised her, yet it’s highly unlikely that a fisherman would get custody over Sun’s wealthy, corrupt, and influential father.

About The Author

Matthew Rudoy
(278 Articles Published)

Matthew Rudoy is a freelance writer who loves to write about his favorite movies and TV shows. In addition to Screen Rant, he also currently contributes to Dork Side of the Force. He has previously self-published two fantasy/sci-fi novels titled CORRUPTION and DESTRUCTION. While his favorite movies and TV shows tend to also fall in the fantasy and sci-fi genres, he enjoys and is open to anything that provides an engaging story, strong character development, and in-depth world-building. Matthew is grateful for the opportunity to write for Screen Rant and looks forward to continue contributing to the site.

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