Platinum Fox

We have seen the Celestial General (8ft. creature) and the effects of the Colossal Shadow (fire).

Yes, the Celestial General brought out Yun Gap's spirit from the Colossal Shadow. I have not watched episode 14, so I will answer more tomorrow about him.

As for grandmother, I don't know what to think about her spirit. She represents the old ways of shamanism and needs to have her own chance at redemption for what she did to the king's father and herself. Will see if she gets it.

I kinda remember that scene, but for me it was more like she was saying a prayer for his return. Do you remember what episode it was in?

Yes, it becomes an entirely different drama when you look at it from the perspective of why characters do what they do. For me, Baek Seom is no longer a villain, but someone who needs many years of therapy to change the mindset he had literally beat into him. Everyone in the drama; parents, students, teachers, cops, and politicians need to change their mindset when it comes to bullying and what it means to be a man. Competition is good, but collaboration is better.

Happy drama watching!

Yes, she was told that something happened in the woods that he was stabbed, but he had amnesia. Yes, she is a smart woman, and has put two and two together that something has happened to him. But never once did they come right out and say that Yun Gap is dead. They can't as they are trying to reunite his spirit with his body. It has now been achieved. Both Yeo Ri and mom realize this.

Yun Gap is just like the blind shaman. The blind shaman has his own personality, plus two other spirits. How he has his eyes, tells you which personality he is.

I haven't watched episode 14, so if they come out and say it then, I am unaware.

I haven't watched episode 14 yet. As a shaman she knows that spirits inhabit people. Gang Cheol is most likely asleep in Yun Gap. It is Yun Gap's turn to come out and be heard as his voice has not been heard. From Episode 13, it appears that Yun Gap's soul has now reentered his body. He was dead, his body must now make a full recovery. Kang Cheol has been weakening, losing his heavenly essence. Will there be a fight for Yun Gap's body? Two souls in one body. jmo

You're right the prince dies because he doesn't atone for his sins. Instead he attacks the girl's family. He was never going to change. Thus why the Celestial General consumes him with bugs. The prince had a chance for redemption and didn't take it.

What MilicaB is trying to say is that in order for the queen dowager to redeem herself she must first be able to show love for her child. She confessed in one episode that she really hadn't shown him much love and felt it was her fault that he was the way he was. In this past episode we find out that she did show her love by making him a spirit protector pouch every year. Now, why did that spirit protector pouch fail, because of the decision of the son, not because of the mother. Parents can only do so much for their children and then the rest must be taken on by the children themselves.

It doesn't mean the viewers have to change their mind about the queen dowager though.

People want him to be evil because everyone wants a villain, and they want Yeo Ri to end up with Gang Cheol. Remember he sacrificed himself for Yeo Ri in the beginning, but little did his spirit know that another spirit would use his body. Thus jealousy rears its ugly head. We don't know if Yun Gap loved Yeo Ri as a sister or romantically. Also, he is Yeo Ri's first love. The next couple of episodes will tell us the true tale. What are you hoping for?

What do you want to happen that would be more dramatic? If my hunch is correct, I think viewers will be getting a very dramatic twist at the end!

No, they didn't tell her that Yun Gap died. A mom knows her son's behavior and personality. She knows that he has been acting differently since his near death experience like he has been possessed. With the present situation, he comes back to his senses. He is now acting like himself (not possessed).

The Celestial General is King Yeon Jong's palace guard who suggested that they go to Yongdam to hide from the barbarians. However, the plan was discovered. How did the barbarians know? There must be a traitor among the palace guards.

Instead of facing the barbarians or even sending help to the village, King Yeon Jong sacrificed the people of the village in order to escape on a different path. He left the guard who disagreed with him tied and beat up along the side of the road. At least the king left him alive. It was guard's son who saw Kang Cheol ascend causing Kang Cheol to live as a spirit on earth. Kang Cheol is also a victim of King Yeon Jong's decision.

The Colossal Shadow is the spirits of all the Yongdam Village people who died in that massacre due to the decision of the king to protect his own life rather than help the people in the village. What we don't know is if the guard and his son made it out alive and died later in life or died in the massacre.

Even though the spirits are two separate spirits, you could consider them as one as they both resulted from the same event, the massacre. The palace guard's spirit is more powerful because he was more power than the average villagers. His power was enhanced through BiBi's moonlit pearl that was filled with jealousy, rage, and hate (but with a sliver of love).

Since the entire story has been about the decisions of a person affecting future generations, how will the present king atone for the grievances of something that happened a 100 years ago when his great-great grandfather sacrificed Yongdam village for his own safety. The present king must be willing to sacrifice his own life for the good of the people. Then and only then, will the Celestial General and the The Colossal Shadow be appeased.

As for Yun Gap's situation. The human Yun Gap knows who killed him. He sacrificed his life for Yeo Ri. Now the question is, was this sacrifice one of love for a sister or romantic love? Yun Gap's love story with Yeo Ri (if there is one) needs to be played out. Yun Gap needs to be able to explain himself to Yeo Ri in his own body.

He got a power boost from Bibi's moonlit pearl that was full of rage, jealousy, and hate. However, there is a sliver of love in there. Hope the love over comes the hate.

Thank you for this history lesson. I don't know a lot about Korean history, but it seems like they were invaded a great deal by other Asian countries.

Something tells me that a 100 years ago a brother colluded with the barbarians from the north to overthrow the present day king's great-great grandfather because the great-great grandfather wanted to change some tradition. To make sure that the brother came into power, the brother killed all the king's sons, but one was saved by the Celestial General. The baby was hiding in the village.

Or the other way around, the great-great grandfather colluded with the barbarians from the north and tried to kill or killed the legitimate king. He found out there as a heir to the throne and went to kill the child or use it as a puppet king. This happened all the time.

However, I also think there is a woman involved, just not sure how.

I hear you. I had a hard time keeping the minister of war, the retired minister, and the grandfather apart. Fortunately two of them get killed off.

I am not sure what you mean by shallow and empty as it is far from that. I thought the same thing when I first watched it, and in fact I rated it lower than you as it added nothing new to the genre. However, at the end of it, I had many questions. To find my answers I conversed with many posters, read the book The End of Eternity, read 8 chapters of the source material, and thought about the kinds of roles Zhao Lu Si takes. Once I did that, my mind opened up and was blown away by the sheer genius of the camera work, the changing of the source material to fit the purpose of the drama, and pull off one of the best social commentaries in Chinese dramas. It is not the fluffy, simple love story most viewers believe it to be. It is a social commentary on the age of consent law in China which is 14.

It has taken me two years to fully analyze this drama. Now, I have a deeper appreciation for why Zhao Lu Si did everything in her power to get that drama aired. That Western look you dislike is intentional and many kdramas are social commentaries as well. The closest kmovie that comes close to this is Silenced.

Yes, I read your review of it and was going to write you about it. I will do so under your review. Trust me it is not counterfeit, and it is as warm and gooey as they could make it. Viewers needed to be at ease with the topic.

Exactly, Bibi created the situation that the two brothers were in. The Colossal Shadow just took advantage of the situation. It didn't purposely go out and seek the imugi's pearl. When Bibi ( who has been cultivating jealousy, hatred, and rage) becomes jealous of Gang Cheol, the Colossal Shadow figures out a way to use this to its advantage. Just like the minister of war used Yun Gap being in the woods all by himself to kill him. By the end of that fight, Bibi understands that he created the situation and needs to redeem himself. Thus, he sacrifices himself for the good of the situation.

Presently, we don't know who the Celestial General is, but analyze its behavior. What has it really done? We also don't know what the Colossal Shadow is, but again analyze its behavior. It's coming after the present king, why? Does the Celestial General really want revenge or is it the Colossal Shadow that wants revenge or is it neither?

There is no need for Gang Cheol to get revenge for Bibi. Bibi created the mess they were in and then cleaned it up by sacrificing his life for Gang Cheol and Yeo Ri (the two people he was jealous of). The key word here is change!

Thanks for the discussion, and I understand where you are coming from.

Why, it was Bibi's fault that the two of them were in that situation. Bibi was just redeeming himself.

Who is he going to get revenge on? Do you think Gang Cheol should get revenge for his brother BiBi?

In the first episode Yeo Ri has a vision of herself with Yun Gap and a female child. She believes it is herself married to Yun Gap and their child. In the end, we don't know whose child it will be as now Gang Cheol is in Yun Gap's body. Hope this helps.

I am the one who wrote that the Colossal Shadow is the spirit of all the decisions (good and bad) of the previous kings. The castle wouldn't be haunted if the kings made the right decision at the time they made them. Each vengeful spirit represents some human who was affected by a decision made by a royal.

For instance, the well ghost took her life because the prince raped her. The one legged man lost his life because he took the book about the royal family's secrets. The Celestial General (who kills people with bugs) is the spirit of what appears to be the person who saved the child who saw Gang Cheol. We have yet to meet the Colossal Shadow (the fire spirit). It killed Yeo Ri's grandmother. No bugs infested grandmother. She died by fire. The Celestial General wasn't even present at the time grandmother died. The Colossal Shadow was.

The blind shaman has two separate spirits in him. You can tell it by his eyes. They each possess him when the circumstances require one or the other.