Joan Khan Lin

Joan Lin, born Joan Chou, is Hay Lin's mother, the wife of Chen Lin and the daughter-in-law of Yan Lin. Together with her family, she runs and works in their family-owned restaurant, The Silver Dragon, where she lives.

Joan is a very kind and outgoing woman. She enjoys teasing and joking with the people she loves and cares for. She is also very protective of them and willing to defend them.

She is not afraid to speak her mind, as seen when she refused to be a part of an arranged marriage and choosing to get married to a person she actually loved.

When she was younger, she was somewhat mischievous as she constantly avoided her private tutors when she wanted to hangout with her friends instead.

Comics

Early life

Joan was born into the very affluent Chou family in Hong Kong. Her father, Khan Chou, had hired the best private tutors for her and kept her to a very tight schedule. She did her best to attend to her lessons and social appearance, but sometimes deviated and rebelled. Due to her upbringing, she had many wealthy and high-class friends whom she enjoyed being around.

When Joan turned fifteen, her mother presented her with a furisode that she bought while in Japan. While she acknowledged how beautiful the kimono was, she decided not to wear it, instead saving it for her possible future daughter to wear. Her mother placed it in her trousseau for her, which Joan presented her daughter with years later.

Meeting Chen Lin

When Joan was eighteen, Chen Lin started working for her family as a servant. She teased and flirted with him several times as she enjoyed watching him blush. When her friends complained about him, she was always quick to defend him.

When Chen tripped and spilled several drinks (thanks to a jealous Fu-Mintung) while at a pool party, he quickly cleaned up the mess and brought them new drinks without a complaint. That's when Joan started to develop feelings for him.

Marriage and disinheritance

During a dinner, Joan's father announced that Fu-Mintung had asked him for Joan's hand in marriage, which her father happily approved. Joan, however, did not agree with the arrangement and fought against it. Later, Chen confessed his feelings to her. The pair began to see each other in secret. After a few days, Chen spoke with her father and got thrown out of the house.

After that, Joan tried to reason with her father and told him that she was going to marry Chen no matter what he thought. Khan was not willing to listen and threatened to throw her out the house, but Joan decided to leave of her own free will. Joan and Chen got married several months later, which resulted in Joan's disinheritance.

Since that day, Khan sends documents for divorce to Joan once per year, promising to let her rejoin his family if she should leave Chen for good; however, she always refused.

At some point after their marriage, Joan and Chen began living with Chen's mother, Yan Lin and moved to Heatherfield. Then created their own restaurant, The Silver Dragon, and Joan used recipes passed down through her family for generations During their time in Heatherfield, the Lin's became close with many other families including an old friend of Yan Lin, Kao and his daughter Lee.

Joan and Chen eventually had their first and only child, Hay Lin. In contrast to their own restrictive childhoods, they raised her with a lot of freedom. Even so, they would sometimes struggle whenever she wanted more independence. As Hay Lin grew up, her parents and grandmother relied on her to help out with running the restaurant and Hay Lin enjoyed learning to cook from them all, including her mom. Hay Lin became good friends with Irma Lair, Cornelia Hale, and Elyon Brown. This later extended to Will Vandom and Taranee Cook, all of whom enjoyed spending time in

The Silver Dragon.

New Guardians are chosen

Unknown to Joan or Chen, Hay Lin was chosen to replace Yan Lin as a Guardian of the Veil. With her mission on Earth completed, Yan Lin passed away, though unknown to her daughter-in-law or son, she was able to transcend to Kandrakar and live on as part of its council.

When Hay Lin needed a story to write a plan on for Theatre night, Joan told her the story of the Four Dragons, as told to her by Yan Lin. Hay Lin used this story and on the night of the play, Joan and Chen went to see it.

Joan took Hay Lin to her dentist appointment where she found out she would need braces, to the girl’s horror. On the way back home, Joan went over the brochure of possible styles to try, though Hay Lin refused those, too. Joan insisted that Hay Lin think of her health first, but the girl continued to have.