Kathryn_51

Well, this isn't about LJW, but it's a funny 1 minute video that someone put together re: the two lead characters. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkTS6dzFbC8

Thank you for posting. But where are the kids??? I want to see their happy childhood memories as well as the "accident"!!!

The Villain Jin Moo is the Crown Prince's "teacher". The Royal Family does not have magical ("energy") powers. I'm just speculating here but Jin Moo didn't mind if Jang Uk had Naksu's sword because JU's energy was locked. Now things have changed and Jin Moo has good reason to get that sword away from JU.

"Chinese drama are limited by what they can show onscreen due to their government intervention and as a result many of their drama seems a repetitive from one another."

👍This.

As I was preparing that character list you linked to, my first thought about the "missing daughter" was Mu Deok. I posted the theory yesterday, but it is long lost to the War of the Ratings. If nothing else, I believe that the reason Mu Deok became the host is because she is from one of mage families. Her adopted mother is a half sibling to the Villain Jin Moo. If he was involved with the girl's disappearance, then sooner or later he's going to go looking for her.

Agree. There are many reasons to love this show but the fact that BOTH Jang Uk and Mu Deok are super intelligent and think "outside the box" is at the top of my list.

WTF??? It's obviously an appropriation of Luke Skywalker ("twist of fate"), The Force ("spirit energy" from the Lake) and the Lightsaber (the sword(s)).
Or, maybe David Copperfield. Or The Tempest. Or, The Illiad. Or. . . . . .just about any epic storytelling since humans began to tell stories. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

While everyone is arguing about stupid ratings on a web site (MDL) that very few people are even aware of. . . . tVN just dropped some new GORGEOUS still cuts. I don't know how to upload to the photo section on MDL; perhaps someone smarter than me will do so. Link:

http://program.tving.com/tvn/alchemyofsouls/5/Board/View?b_seq=17

The part about the "long lost daughter" is only found on the tVn site - so it is "public" but hasn't been mentioned on the show. In fact, the father hasn't appeared yet - so many folks on MDL would consider it to be a spoiler. I had my hand slapped on another show when I posted something that was "public" but hadn't appeared yet. But, of course, I agree with your theory. 😊

I posted this several hours ago, but I tagged it "spoiler" because it is based on information that has not appeared on the show yet. She is not the long lost daughter of the "Jin" family. Her father married into the Jin family later.

Please tag this as spoiler.

Not sure about overall budget but they spent 5Billion Won (~4.8 Million US$) building the outdoor movie sets.

For a change of pace from the fury over ratings (based on 583 people - out of a viewership of millions?), here's the Behind the Scenes (BTS) of Ep. 1 and 2. Especially funny part is the "secret room" scene. No subs, but still fun to watch.

http://program.tving.com/tvn/alchemyofsouls/3/Vod/View/CLIP/EA_D815884

Have you tried using a VPN? I just tried mine with Hong Kong server and it worked for me, but I'm in the US and perhaps Netflix recognizes the location of my Netflix account?

Why did Naksu’s spell fall on Mu-Deok and not the servant girl in front of her? A very likely answer is the Mu-Deok came from a mage family.

Is Mu-Deok the long lost daughter of Jin Woo-tak?? Who is Jin Woo-tak? He has not appeared yet on the show. He is married to Jin Ho-Kyung and their daughter is Jin Cho-yeon. “Jin” is not his birth/surname – he took the name when he married Jin Ho-Kyung and if I understand correctly, the Jin family inherits through the maternal line.

Woo-tak had a daughter before he married Ho-Kyung, who loved the girl as her own daughter. The daughter disappeared years ago. We do not yet know if Woo-tak is a magician but it’s very likely since he is married to one. We do not know if the daughter was – or was not – blind and it may not matter.

Finally, Ho-kyung’s half brother is Jin Moo. The Very Evil Villain Jin Moo.

It is a reasonable theory that Mu-Deok is Jin Woo-tak's missing daughter. For now. 🤣🤣

Like many others, I find Alchemy of the Souls enthralling – the various stories, the characters and potential romance, the beautiful costumes, the mysteries. AND, it is very confusing: 5 major families, several significant landmarks/locations, at least two twisted fates (Jang Wook and Mu-deok). I have LOTS of time on my hands (daughter had major hip surgery and can’t be left alone). So I spent a few hours scanning official internet sources (tVn, Wiki, Han Cinema) and putting a reference guide together for my personal use.

Aa couple of commenters asked me to post it, so you can find it in the “Recent Discussion” section. It is a cut-and-paste effort so spelling/names/etc. are not consistent. It includes major spoilers – that is, information about characters/family relationships that did not appear in Ep. 1 and 2.

Finally, there might be a hint about Mu-Deok’s background, so I will post below w/Spoiler tag It includes information from tVn site so I don’t think it will be very long to learn it on the show.

Maybe "promotional video" was the incorrect term. There was a press briefing and I saw some video of it on Twitter. But primarily it's based on photos - several of which were posted in the photo section here on MDL.

We haven't seen her yet, but the actress Jung Ji Ahn (she was the PR Deputy Mgr under Oh Han Byul) will play Soon Yi - "an outspoken character." She is a servant of the doctor's grandaughter, Heo Yook Ok. Sounds like she might help with the comedy later on.

The current King is a brother to the old king that died. So, not a direct heir, but certainly a blood heir/member of the Royal Family. As far as we know, the Royal Family does not appear to have "spirit energy".

Is there any indication that any member of the Royal Family has magical power? We have the 4 heirs to the magical families and Crown Prince Go Won isn't one of them. Perhaps we will find out next week when the Crown Prince and Jang Wook have an encounter?? The Evil Jin Moo is one of Go Won's teachers so perhaps this may change.

One thing that isn't clear to me is whether any human can be taught to "control the power of the lake" or only some humans. Some seem to be born with spirit energy but if everyone had spirit energy that could be controlled/unleashed, I don't think I would want to live in that country!

The promotional videos show three couples:

Jang Wook and Moo Deok
Jin Choe Yeon and Park Dan Goo
Park Jin and Kim Do Joe