Reasons why the early Goguryeo stories are totally bonkers

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The reason Okjeo had the 'Minmyeoneuri' (bride-in-advance) system: Goguryeo kept raiding and kidnapping women, so they had to marry them off ASAP.

The reason Goguryeo had the system where the son-in-law guards the house (Seo-okje): The wife's whole family went out raiding, so the son-in-law had to stay home and protect the old folks left behind.

The reason ancient Goguryeo, which barely relied on farming, held harvest festivals: They weren't praying for Goguryeo's good harvest, but for the good harvest of neighboring states like Okjeo and Dongye. (Gotta make sure the raiding targets are well-stocked.)

The reason Goguryeo had no prisons: Punishments were fines or immediate death. No middle ground, lol.

The reason Goguryeo people only bent one knee to bow: If you knelt or bowed your head while saying hi, you'd get ganked by an enemy.

How Goguryeo created heavy cavalry like the Gaema-Musa even though they only had native ponies: They raided neighboring states for horses and crossbred them.

The reason Goguryeo constantly beat the crap out of China: If they left those bastards alone, they'd attack us eventually, so let's hit them first (= basically the Goguryeo version of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions).

They prepared burial shrouds as part of the wedding dowry: People died so easily in that raid-based economy. WTF.

When nobles voted for the highest office and it was a tie, the two candidates brought their private armies and held a deathmatch. The king just closed the city gates and watched the show.

The reason China calls Koreans 'Bangzi' (a slur): The original term was Gaoli Bangzi (Goryeo 봉자), used like a barbarian slur because Goguryeo beat the crap out of them so often, and that term evolved into the modern insult.

LOL holy crap ㅋㅋㅋㅋ We seriously had an era where we were totally nomadic tribe-level, absolutely ruthless, 'my way or the highway' badasses.