Kathryn_51

Well, you're the one who asked who Jin Mu's mother was! Just how is that Jin Mu and the Choi family connected in the first place? When the eunuch made the comment, many of us immediately wondered if he meant Papa Jin or Papa Jin's soul-shifter persona. But lately, Jin Mu has been accepted at Jinyowon and Mama and Daughter apparently visited him at Cheonbugwan, so . . . . . .??? As with everything on this show, we never know if we are receiving a direct hint or an ambiguous one.

The Choi connection makes sense, but I'm trying to connect it to the Eunuch's discussion with the Fake Queen when he asked her "If I die, you will bring your sibling from Jinyowon??" - as if that was a preposterous option. It's the type of think to throw the viewer off and make us think it might be Papa Jin.

I think "Daeho Fortress" is the huge city on the lake which also contains the noble houses (like the Jang family) . We've seen them walking from one location to another. One CGI aerial shot was at Mark 12 of Ep. 1. There's another better CGI view of the city, but I can't find it right now.

In Ep. 12, I think it was Dang-gu who said "there was a disturbance in the capital city last night" - as if Songrim was NOT in the capital city but outside of it. It probably doesn't make difference. I think I'll treat them as separate for now.

Working on the weekly update to the Character Descriptions/Venues and decided to include a better description of the various locations w/in Daeho. Here is my draft - please provide comments or corrections. I am especially confused about the location of Songrim.

The Country Of Daeho
The country of Daeho is built around Lake Gyeongcheondaeho ("Lake G" hereafter). Lake G was created when the energy of the sky, which rules the wind, clouds and rain, reached the ground and created a huge form of energy..

The capital city is located within Daeho Fortress. The following are contained within Daeho Fortress: Cheobugwan; Jinyowon, the Royal Palace and Chwiseonru.

Songrim [Forest?] (also home to Jeongjingak and Sejukwon) is [or is not?] within Daeho Fortress and can be entered only through a special gate using a Spirit Plaque.

Other locations w/in the country of Daeho include: Wol Fortress, Danhyanggok; the village of Sari, and the West Lake Province (Seo family) at the western tip of the Lake G.

I try to update the Character Descriptions weekly, but I simply don't have the time that I did at the beginning of show to update everything and others have been more observent than me w/r/t ice stone. But, I'll try later this week.😊

I read my notes - each time Dang-gu and Yul talked about soul-shifting, they said "I heard". So, maybe the "rules" aren't as stringent as we were led to believe. I do believe we can rely upon the description of the ice stone and Soul Ejector ability (beginning off Ep. 7 where Master Lee is talking to the children on the boat).

This is what I wrote a couple of weeks ago (it's buried on the Discussion Topic Forum) on Soul Ejectors and the ice stone. It needs significant updates based on Ep 11 and 12, but I don't have time. 😥😥😥 Would be thrilled if you or someone else would like to take this over!

⭐Soul Ejectors
200 years ago, during a hailstorm conjured by the mages of Daeho, there was one hailstone that did not melt. It first turned into fire, then stone, and then water. Then it turned back into its original form, ice. It is referred to as the "ice stone". In that process, it produced black powder. This powder was called the Soul Ejector, which was used in the alchemy of souls The Alchemy of Souls includes

Bringing the dead back to life by summoning back their souls
Shifting souls from one body to another
Expelling the soul of the living and stealing their energy
The "ice stone"[Note: the term is not capitalized]

⭐The Ice Stone
Sorcery using the ice stone’s power created wicked things that could hurt people.

Gil-ju believed that the ice stone is located in the Royal Palace and that it could prevent him from turning to rock/petrifying.

"The Queen's eunuch knows that the ice stone can keep you from petrifying. But as we saw in the last episode, the "Queen" doesn't allow that. So the eunuch just feed off human energies."

Thank you - that's the explanation I was looking for. There was quite a bit of new info in the scene between the "Queen" and the eunuch - I missed quite a bit apparently.

As for Naksu/Mu-deok, I have believed Bu-yeon (or Eldest Jin Daughter) was calling the shots from the very beginning and protecting/sustaining "Naksu". Whether it's the ice stone or her almost "divine" powers or something else, Bu-yeon is the one with the energy.

Time for mid-week questions.

I have not had time to re-watch, so I apologize if this was answered on the show.

Gil-ju stated (and the audience believes) that the ice stone is somewhere in the Royal Palace. He believed that the ice stone could keep him from petrifying. I wasn't even sure why that was necessary since his soul was back in his own body, but perhaps it was because of his injuries.

Did they explain why the Queen's eunuch has been feeding off souls instead of using the ice stone to keep from petrifying? Did Gil-ju understand the power but the eunuch didn't? was this explained?

And, finally, at the beginning of the show, the audience was told that successful soul shifting required a similar body - gender, age and build. Jin Mu is shifting elderly mages into younger bodies - and the elderly bodies are no longer "useful". BUT, based upon what we were told initially, the younger bodies aren't going to survive very long if "the bodies clash with the souls they carry which causes them to lose energy". Has this been explained? Weak bodies petrify sooner than strong bodies?

Up until Ep. 12, the AoS soul-shifting "rules" (or canon) have been fairly consistent (except for Naksu /Mu-deok and there are many good explanations/theories for that).

Mama ordered someone (Cho-yeon?) to toss the mirror and the shards into the Lake. But we didn't see it happen, so perhaps Gwiju still has a home. But, really, as I'm writing this, there must be a reason for that scene that will come back in the future so perhaps the energy of Lake G. will restore the artifacts. 😄😄

Perhaps it's more recent. After all, soul-shifters begin to lose their energy after a period of time and require either the ice stone or other souls in order to maintain their bodies.

The Jin family is one of the four major mage families in Daeho, but I'm pretty sure Jinyowon (their estate) is located outside Songrim.

Naksu's body was frozen when Jin Mu stole it from Songrim. I think he has that body on ice somewhere in Cheonbugwan. Together with Gil-mu's body.

He has no home since they tossed the shards into Lake G. So, they better not kill the dog!

When I re-watched (altho it was several weeks ago), I thought Jang Kang and Jim Mu dumped TWO bodies into Lake G - so I also thought she died.

I see many stories, some related some are stand-alone. What do you believe is “the story”??

Or. . . . is he an illusionist? He can do the alchemy of souls, but his major magic in Ep. 12 was an illusion. [which gets me back to my question whether it was truly Naksu's body that was burned or an illusion.]

I'm afraid we will see the artifacts from Jinyowon unleashed as well. 😣😣😣 Maybe that's where JBY will step in since she was able to handle them.

Jin Mu is trying to assemble quite the army of mages in young bodies - if we thought the battle on the ice was amazing choreography and cinematography, I'm expecting some 10X greater for the epic battle and I hope we get it in Season 1, even if it results in a stalemate or certain unfinished business (such as the ice stone). for Season 2.

I think Park Jin and Seo Yul are far more complex than simply "black and white". thinkers i see the writers are portraying them both as leaders who want the best for their country. They believe in the concept of "justice" and limiting chaos.

Seo Yul is struggling internally. He knows that a soul shifter (Naksu) is in Mu-deok's body and yet he hasn't revealed that to anyone. In fact, he hasn't even revealed to Mu-deok or Jang Uk what he knows.

Jang Uk knows full well what chaos and evil can be unleashed with the ice stone, but he doesn't care about those consequences if it will save Mu-Deok's life. What I see is a man who thinks that he will somehow be able control the ice stone ("just this one time") it may be like Jang Kang and the King . Just this "one time" eventually meant that the ice stone was eventually unsealed again (by Jin Mu). On the other hand, if we understand what happened between Jang Kang and Mama Jin (and we don't know yet), this "one time" meant that a child was born with amazing powers that will eventually be used to deal with the chaos of the ice stone.

They will all be heroes in the end.

Thanks - I'll keep them separate.😊