A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM [Ending Explained]

This drama truly lives upto It's name.In the End,It questions our existence, how much of our life is real,& how much of it is scripted/pre-destined?


A female screenwriter (shown near the end of Ep 40) Ren Zhuang Liu wrote a scriptbook which is a transmigration story where she created 2 fictional Worlds -

1)Fictional world A/ Modern Era - Song xiaoyu is an actress, Nan Feng is an actor, Mr.screenwriter Bi Xiong who wrote a script for the drama 'Dream of QingNing' +other modern era characters

2)Fictional world B /Historical Jing Dynasty/world inside the script 'Dream Of QingNing' - Song Yimeng (transmigrated song xiaoyu) , Nan Heng, Nan Rui, Emperor + other fictional characters of ancient Era


[Explanation of the Post-Credit scene]

 
In the post-credit scene after the Ending of Ep 40, Both Nan Heng & Transmigrated Song Xiaoyu (SYM) have come to fictional world A

On Ep 1,The script that xiaoyu was reading before she fell asleep was 清宁一梦 ( dream of qingning)

On Ep 40, when she woke up, the script beside her bed has become 书卷一梦 (a dream within a dream)

[subtitles may mislead you,you have to look at the mandarin words written on the cover of the books to realize that the name's been Changed]


But Ren Zhuang Liu already gave an ending to them (SYM & NH) happily living ever after in the historical era..On Ep 40 near the end,we see her writing on her laptop,She was writing the ending of her scriptbook

Here is the translation of her laptop screen (simplified) :

[
''It should be a kind of delicious fish...I'm that fish.. NH & SYM Smiled at each other...''
△With the disappearance of the mechanism, Mr. screenwriter Bi Xiong returned to the modern era, and the paper people in the script also started a new life dominated by themselves.

△ Song Yimeng and Nan Heng looked at each other with smiles on their faces, and their laughter echoed inside and outside the palace

'The End'
]


Ren Zhuang Liu supposedly finished her scriptbook ; Nan Heng & Transmigrated Song xiaoyu (SYM) are supposed to live in fictional world B according to her Ending.But that didn’t happen bcz Both of them actually realized that the modern world is fictional too (SYM telling NH if the awakenings are also scripted & the name of the bigger script is actually 'A dream within a dream' & not 'Dream of QingNing'?)

Both Nan Heng & SYM actually got awakened FOR REAL, (not like the previous episodes when the characters of jing Dynasty got a scripted awakening bcz the REAL AUTHOR wrote them inside the script to be like that)...Their REAL awakening CHANGED THE REAL WORLD SCRIPTBOOK (Female screenwriter going backwards,the ending getting erased,Tree matrix shown) & also changed the scriptbook's name inside Fictional world A, from 'Dream of QingNing' to 'A dream within a dream'

Even if they are just fictional characters,The worlds are real to those inhabiting them, & The post credit scene proves that both NH & SYM are basically writing their own destinies Against the BIGGER SCRIPT/REAL AUTHOR, after their REAL AWAKENING, SYM woke up in the modern times & NH came through that portal/door to the modern Era (& from that point,Nan Feng no longer exists,just like how actual SYM didn’t exist after song xiaoyu transmigrated & took her body)


Ep 1 Nan Feng & Ep 40 NF in make-up chair existed, he was not Nan Heng,you can compare him with actual SYM's existence ,NH & NF, SYM& SXY... they are just each other's counterparts in 2 parallel worlds

On post-credit scene,Now that they both came to the modern Era aka fictional world B, NH took over NF's body & they'll live like that from now...So now song xiaoyu basically have to fall in love with NF (Transmigrated NH).[explains the lightning strike back then when she said if i fall for him lightning may strike me]


So Song xiaoyu & Nan Heng,who were basically people of different worlds will always go Against their destined fate & live together & rewrite their own story no matter what world they live in,even if It's 2 mere fictional worlds & 2 mere fictional characters, they will write their own destinies until they die

Yes, NF ceases to exist just like the original SYM....

About the suspicious NF in Ep 1,Don't forget that the scene of script-reading in ep 1 is just a written scene by  REAL AUTHOR Ren Zhuang Liu in her original scriptbook,& it was her intentional idea to make his face & character similar to Nan Heng (Mr. screenwriter Bi Xiong, when transmigrated into world B, told SYM that 'hey, he just looks exactly like Nan Feng,even his personality is the same' & SYM agrees) 

There was only one Nan Heng to begin with (character created by the real Author Ren Zhuang Liu)....who was supposed to be a bad guy according to Mr. screenwriter Bi Xiong's script 'Dream Of QingNing' ; but turned out to be a good guy when SXY transmigrated into world B according to Ren Zhuang Liu's Original scriptbook,

Both NH & SYM (Transmigrated song xiaoyu)'s characters got awakened FOR REAL at the same time, which is AFTER the final ending scene of the original scriptbook...Their story was supposed to end there,but they realized Both of their worlds are within a script 

["SYM asking NH if all these awakenings of jing Dynasty are part of a script too?& NH replying even if it is,they'll continue to fight till the end" this part was not in the original scriptbook... ]

As they got awakened for real,their story didn't end there. They transmigrated into the modern world,(but not at the same time)..Transmigrated SXY/SYM  transmigrated to world A when she woke up & she found out that  the script's title has been changed to what they were talking about 'A dream within a dream'....& NH transmigrated through that portal door at the very last ending scene

(she didn’t need a portal door bcz She's originally from world A...)

World A is also a fictional world,  SXY & NH (Now became NF) are the only Awakened characters so what happens if everyone notices that NF disappeared suddenly from the Makeup chair? just similar to those incidents when inside the scriptbook, NH tried to kill transmigrated SXY/SYM multiple times,but without making any sense,& including everyone's presence NH shot the arrow but NH was attacked by his own arrow as well,going through in the light of speed.....However,i Don't think anyone would notice his disappearing from Make-up chair bcz That 'portal' is supposed to stop both worlds for a second,..& restart /resume 

The subtitle is wrong in iqiyi...the book cover in the post credit scene literally says 'A dream within a dream' ; basically it is THAT GIANT SCRIPTBOOK they've shown before & after the real world scene..

Meanwhile the script SXY was reading in Ep 1 & the banner in the script reading table were different ones titled 'Dream of QingNing' 

idk if cnetz discovered that or not,they should be able to tell the difference... 

Hi @Salwa Nice who do you think the butterfly is? Is it a representation of the characters breaking through the script or the magic of the writer?

Also I read comments from some viewers who believe that NH and NF (in ep 1/40) are the same because in a drama promotional post there was a caption that said “我站在终点，企图修改我们的曾经” (I stand at the end, trying to rewrite our past). So the person we see in ep1 and in the ending is NH (or NF). Some say he was waiting for SYM to reunite with him. There may not be a NF, it was NH all along since the character names beside LiuYuNing is NH/LSL in the ending theme. But I find your explanation plausible too. I love all the theories people are coming up with!

I hope the actors (or even the writer) shares their views on the ending, that would be fun

SXY transmigrates into the story world, effectively replacing and becoming Real SYM, so the original SYM character ceases to exist. Crucially, NH is not a transmigration; he is a character who existed within the story from its beginning. NF, in contrast, exists solely in the 'fake' modern world.

When the original scriptwriter concludes their narrative, the story seems to gain a life of its own and continues.

In this self-perpetuating narrative, SXY wakes up from her 'dream' of the historical world into the 'fake' modern world. She is left in a state of uncertainty, unsure whether she experienced a dream or if she genuinely traveled to another reality. Her first action is to seek out NF, confirming that he was not the NH she knew and loved.

The reunion, however, is made possible by NH, who travels through a portal to the modern world.

In episode 40, SXY's discussion about a three-month absence is the same time for shooting a drama. She might be living a double life—traveling back and forth between the two realities to fulfill her duties in the modern one and return to her life with NH in the historical world. And now NH can also do that as both their worlds are inside a script.

 Sssnoopyyy:

Hi @Salwa Nice who do you think the butterfly is? Is it a representation of the characters breaking through the script or the magic of the writer?

Also I read comments from some viewers who believe that NH and NF (in ep 1/40) are the same because in a drama promotional post there was a caption that said “我站在终点，企图修改我们的曾经” (I stand at the end, trying to rewrite our past). So the person we see in ep1 and in the ending is NH (or NF). Some say he was waiting for SYM to reunite with him. There may not be a NF, it was NH all along since the character names beside LiuYuNing is NH/LSL in the ending theme. But I find your explanation plausible too. I love all the theories people are coming up with!

I hope the actors (or even the writer) shares their views on the ending, that would be fun

[Sorry for late reply ]

The butterfly represents Zhuangzi's Butterfly Dream,that Nan Heng was talking about in Ep 33.

& This explanation doesn’t really go Against "I stand at the end, trying to rewrite our past" bcz Nan Heng was literally standing 'at the end' lol ( not 'at the start/ep 1 '😂)

Anyway,it would be really great if the screenwriter & Director gave their ultimate opinions regarding this..but i guess they'll never do