I Wish Camillia Wasn’t so Passive in the Finding Camellia Manhwa

I was excited when Yen Press announced it picked up the manhwa series Finding Camellia, because the initial description made it sound empowering. It suggested it followed a young woman who was stolen from her mother as a child by her father’s wife and forced to grow up and live as a young man as an additional heir as she took back her power and become her true self again. However, at least in the initial volume, Camellia being such a passive character that is often relegated to the background kept me from enjoying the story.

Editor’s Note: There will be spoilers for volume 1 of the Finding Camellia manhwa below. 

Finding Camellia begins with Camellia’s abduction to turn her into “Camellius.” Her mother Laura was a maid in the house of her father, Marquis Gilliard Bale, who ended up in some sort of relationship with him and pregnant. The Marquis’ legitimate child Kieran suffers from an illness that only seems to grow worse. In fact, Laura fled the house with “Lia” when an incident made it seem like she was responsible for Kieran getting worse. So Gilliard’s wife Anastasia hunted down Laura and Camellia, abducted the girl, and because Gilliard considered a young woman useless, chopped off the child’s hair to raise her as a younger son named Camellius. 

Things begin with the desperation Camellia clearly feels. She’s desperate to see her mother again and keeps asking. However, she’s only 12. She passively takes part in lessons. She’s put forward and forced to learn to fire a gun. We watch as Anastasia and Gilliard talk about her being a stopgap in case Kieran doesn’t get better, even after he’s sent away for the sake of possibly improving by living in another region. Her servant Betty lies to her about “her ladyship” being honorable and allowing her to return to Laura if she does what she says. Lord Claude Ihar, Kieran’s friend and another noble, intimidates and teases her. She’s berated and abused for an accident that occurs when she’s forced to try shooting.

So throughout the first 169 pages of the manhwa, I felt completely let down by the first volume of Finding Camellia. We don’t get to see any inner monologue from Camellia explaining how she’s going to fight back. There’s no passion or fire on her part. It’s like she’s a doll tossed around from scene to scene. acting as a plot device for other people. I suppose I could see some reasoning for it. It certainly establishes a tragic backstory for her. Maybe even the goal on Jin Soye’s part was to leave people frustrated and angry on her behalf. 

But the thing is, I expected things to get better once I hit page 170 and the timeskip to a 16-year-old Camellia/Camellius. She’s about to be shipped away to an academy in the city to study. Except the initial sentiments about this instead has her lamenting not hearing from her brother Kieran or Lord Claude in the past few years. It is only at page 192 that we see any sort of outrage or passion on Camellia’s part. It’s the first hint that she might actually do anything for her own sake and strike back. Yet a few pages later, in interactions with Eddie, Camellia’s father Gilliard, Prince Wade, and Lord Claude, we’re right back to her being at the whims of others again.

I can only hope that Finding Camellia picks up in later volumes, because Camellia doesn’t get to take charge at any point in the story so far. It feels like other people are constantly making decisions for her and pushing her around, with none of her actions actually decided for herself. The lack of agency is annoying and even infuriating, and I think I’d find it difficult to continue reading if things don’t change by the second volume.

Volume 1 of the Finding Camellia manhwa is available now, and Yen Press will release volume 2 on December 10, 2024.