Secret of Three Kingdoms

Also features Sima Yi and tells the story of Three Kingdoms from his perspective.
The story of Sima Yi, a great politician and strategist who lived during the Three Kingdoms era. By his side, Sima Yi has his politically-astute distaff members of his household, and pitted against them are the formidable Cao Cao and his heirs. After defending the Kingdom of Wei from Kongming (Zhuge Liege’s) formidable talents, who will end up with the ultimate power?

Empresses have to rush into plans/take action to save their country after their Emperors suddenly die.
Very smart and admirable leading women.

- Royalty MLs (in SoTK he's the emperor while in TIC he's a prince)
- Both MLs have a close bond with their protective older brother
- Quirky and unconventional MLs that stick out
- Smart MCs
- Interesting, intimidating and well fleshed-out villains
- Prominent romantic side plot
- Strong FLs & SFLs
- SFL are warriors
- SMLs are clever and somewhat goofy
- Political intrigue (TIC is more investigation focused)
- Attention to details when it comes to plot and setting

The Imperial Coroner is quite a bit lighter, lower budget, less political and more comedic but i couldn't help but think of it while watching Secret of Three Kingdoms.

* Ma Tian Yu is the male lead of two dramas. He portrays the role of King in both dramas but with different personalities.
* The stories in in both dramas involve great brotherhood.

* Both are historical dramas combined with romance
* There’s strong brotherhood between the King and a supporter
* In both dramas, the Kings are struggle with his power

Both dramas have high moral stories and values. The main leads of both drama are kind-hearted people. These two dramas are perfect for those who values the kindness.

Basically same universe except it focuses on the usually hidden and often forgotten puppet "monarchs" controlled by the domineering Prime Minister Cao Cao. A great spin off on how the Wei Kingdom was established.

- Puppet ruler ML (King in BH, Emperor in SoTK)
- Strong, power couple leads (strong FL & strong ML)
- Emotional ML x Tough FL (both MLs cry like all the time, 10/10)
- Complex politics, scheming, and power play
- Shady de facto ruler official
- Palace setting
- Both are thrilling, captivating political dramas
- Good OSTs
- High-budget productions with lovely sets

Main differences
- BH - Lots of romantic melodrama | SoTK - Significantly less and more subtle
- BH - FL is ML's concubine and they knew each other from before | SoTK - Married strangers to lovers
- BH - ML is raised king | SoTK - ML is not raised king
- BH - Less complex political scheming + less characters | SoTK - Very thorough political scheming + huge cast with a lot of focus on various characters
- BH - No supporting couple or bromance | SoTK - Bromance + secondary couple

- Strong FLs that are a force to be reckoned with
- Atypical and endearing MLs that stumble upon a world beyond their understanding (time travel in AALS, political royal world in SoTK)
- Cold FL x Warm ML
- Political scheming
- FL is the wife of an incapable emperor (not ML)
- Beautiful and well crafted stories

The dramas have quite some differences. Most notably the time travel plot of AALS that is entirely absent in SoTK. SoTK is also more political heavy.

I finished this series while waiting for episode 13 to drop.

It's Sunday night, I just finished ep 54. It was a good drama. It was very slow, but a relatively happy ending. At times, main lead was a little frustrating but at the same time admirable.

If you want something serious, minor romance (although many actions done for love), court politics and battle strategies with strong female leads then this might be for you.

Leave you to check it out for yourself.

Written by Ma Bo Young (novel) and focused on political plots, power struggle and intelligent characters.

--The clothing and hairstyles are the same.
--Similar social background and rules.
-- Good tension between the FL and ML
-- Just recommend the first half of this drama (EP1-about EP22 ) because they follow the novel
-- Novel adapted drama (author Ma Boyong with other works like ' Luo Yang')

Secrets of Three Kingdoms (as the story of the sibling substitution) is actually an alternate history version of the famous classic plot of the Romance of Three Kingdoms . They have many same characters but Secrets consider how history would be different.

Many reasons revolve around the protagonist:
- protagonist of low(er) status takes on the role of the emperor
- falls in love with empress
- initially happy-go-lucky
- idealistic, wants uphold justice/equality for the people
- naive in his actions to achieve ideals, suffers because of it
- struggles with harsh reality of palace politics and human nature
- struggles with reality that he can't create a happy ending for everyone

The rest is pretty standard for almost any historical drama:
- fight for throne
- power struggle between different groups of nobles
- revenge
- assassination
- deception
- etc

The political aspect resembles.
The trustworthy queen willing anything for her emperor.
Same vibe of palace intrigues and plots.