WK1

Yes, the actress who plays Li Changge is an Uyghur. Her visual similarities to the Changge in the manhua was one of the main reasons why she was chosen for this role. Her mole and her overall facial features (once you put those strands of hair by her side) make her practically similar to the Changge in the manhua, except she is bigger and taller. The Changge in the manhua is also an Uyghur. But that became immaterial, as that part of her character was not written into the drama. Both the producer and director of this drama wanted no one else for this role, but Dilraba. They mentioned this in several interviews. And, like you, they also said, it is as if the manhua author had her in mind, when she drew her Li Changge.

She is indeed one of the prettiest actresses out there. However, it is her acting skills that is most important for this role. If you like to watch her other historical dramas, you can just click on her name in this page. It will bring you to several other titles. You can look out for Eternal Love of Dream, The Flame's Daughter, The King's Woman. The Eternal Love (here she only plays the support role, but she did well in her role).

The actor who plays Ashile Sun is Leo Wu or Wu Lei. Yes, he is indeed a bit young. He is just 21. But age wise, I think he matches the Sun in the manhua quite well. The Changge in the manhua was only 15, when the story started. Sun was supposed be about 5 years older, which would have made him about 20. So, age wise he was ideal for the role.

What is amazing is that Dilraba was 28, when this drama was filmed last year, so she had to take some 13 years off her real age, and behave like a 15 year old. This is especially so in many of her more romantic scenes with Leo Wu. In those scenes, she needed to act shy, like a 15 year old girl would.

If you did not know her real age, but already knew that Changge is only 15 in the manhua before you started watching this drama, it can only mean one thing, she is an excellent actress indeed.

Leyan's role in this drama is rather inconsequential, in so far as the plot is concerned. The actress who plays Leyan is Zhao Lusi. She is a romantic comedy specialist. She has a face that is pretty and almost naturally comical. It does not need much effort for her to play comical roles. But she wanted this role, because she said it is something she has never tried before.

Yes, indeed Hao Du's role in this drama is extended, compared to that in the manhua. I think people like to compare things. So, the screenwriters wrote Leyan into the drama, and gave her a role as a love interest to Hao Du so that viewers may compare and contrast the two couples. The Changge and A'Sun couple being the main couple, their relationship will have a more substantive role, and Leyan and Hao Du couple will have a minor role, catering to those who prefer the typical hero-saves the-damsel type of stuff.

The Changge and A'Sun couple would be the most unique couple in historical Chinese drama. First of all, the Changge character is already unique. No where you will find a female lead this smart, talented, and brave. And A'Sun is also unique. No other male lead character will treat Changge the way he treated her: trust and respect. Other male leads will indeed do all to protect the female leads, but the trust and respect he has for Changge is truly is unique. And she, too, would have great respect for him. When you have a relationship that is build on mutual trust and respect, there will be very little misunderstanding. There will be open communication. They will keep no secrets from each other. Which makes their relationship dynamics such a joy to watch.

Ok. As long as you are not a Dilraba hater, you will like this drama. The character she plays is the strongest female lead character you will find, in any historical Chinese drama. We just don't want to give you too much details, in order not to spoil your fun of watching this drama.

I too wish Mujin and She'er well. There is no shortage of good women at the grasslands. After their experience with Mimi, they would know what kind of women will make ideal wives and accompany them the rest of their journey in the grasslands.

And they will not be alone. Mujin still has Mimi's brother with him. They will go back the Eagle's division, where they will have plenty of company. She'er is still with his division. Over time, his wound will heal, and he too will find a good woman.

She is quite possibly the smartest female lead out there in historical Chinese drama. Please watch. You will likely agree with us. By the end of the drama, she is smart enough to survive on her own, even if something should happen to the male lead.

Hi Anna, welcome to this forum. This is the forum with the highest number of comments in MDL, and you will soon find out why. Let me respond to your questions point by point.

1. Would giving up princess title be common during the Tang era? Sad to say, I may need to answer your question in a round about way. If you google, you may be able to find out that princesses during times were 'used' as tools in political marriages. Tang princesses were married off to Khans to the north to form peace treaties so the Khans will not attack the Tang Dynasty. Or, the Tang emperor will marry off one his daughters one of his generals or son of one his ministers. So, giving up princess title for love will indeed be rare. Many would have been married off, at very young age (perhaps as young as 15 or 16). They simply would not be in the position to make such a decision.

Which is what makes Li Changge interesting. Not realistic, in historical context, but very admirable. We need to bear in mind, this drama is a work of fiction. We can cannot take it whatever happened is true in history.

2. Seems that you have read the manhua? If so, your observation is correct. They really adapted it very well to the drama format, knowing that drama viewers and manhua readers could have very different tastes.

3. For the third wish from AS to CG, you may need to watch Episode 49. Look out for the scene that shows them talking at the tree trunk. Look out for AS face movement when CG asked him what would be his third wish. That might be a hint. If you still do not get it, come back to this forum again. We will share with you what we think. You may or may not agree with our answer, but that is ok.

4. There is a link to the original manhua in English. It is up there in the Recent Discussion portion. There is a link. Look out for it.

You asked the question, how come the Khan raised his kids to be so vicious and they turn out to be such loving and caring young men when become older. You asked, how is this possible.

But why not? In real life, lots of good parents end up with bad children when they grew into adulthood, no matter how well those kids were treated when they were young. Go to any prison and talk to many of the prisoner there. It will surprise you that many of them were very well treated by their parents, when they were young. It is just that people change over time. Anything is possible.

In the same way, although the Khan may have treated those kids badly, when those kids grew up, they were able to think for themselves and know what is right and wrong, and just decided that it will be wrong to kill others, to poison others. They made their own decision to become better persons.

That is what this drama is all about. We can change from bad to good, as we journey through life. The people we meet, they can change us. The events we encounter, they can change us. So, those two kids raised by the Khan, when they grew up, the events they encountered and the people they met, changed them for the better.

You seem to understand the character change in Li Changge, and seem to feel that that is possible. Then why not those two kids of the Khan? Why can't they change too?

We all learned from each other. For example, your observation that Changge very likely developed some kind of feelings for AS as far back as the falling-off-the roof scene confirmed the suspicion that many of us had or shared. So, it is always nice to have a newcomer, confirming something for us, so that we know our opinion is not biased.

Yup. Those who follow the interaction between AS and LC closely will know that when are those turning points in their relationship. Maybe not be one. Could be more than one. But we do know at what point in the drama their relationship evolve and change and why. This is what makes their relationship so amazing.

if you go to your own comment, just put your cursor over any of your own comment. Then, on the right hand side, you will see an indication arrow pointing downward. When you click on that arrow, you will see three commands: Share, Edit, Delete. Edit is for you to edit your own comments, for misspelling and so on. After changing whatever you typed, you can press the save button.

To delete a comment, you press the delete button, and you will see a command that ask you whether you really want to delete that comment. You just press the Ok button on the bottom right

Yes, it is not the kind of 'slow burn' we see in other dramas. If theirs is slow, it because at the time, they could not reveal their true identities to each other. Like all the episodes prior to E15, A'Sun had to hide his identity from Changge, because he was going to Chang'An to spy on the Tang Dynasty.

Yet, all the episodes following from E5, we the audience were left in no doubt, he already started to like her very much. It will be a feeling that would grow stronger and stronger at the grasslands. So much so that when it turned mutual, we were so overjoyed.

Changge very likely learned to come to terms with her feelings for him while she was at Liuyun Temple, when she had time to reflect. You could see her scribbing his names on those papers.

And, during E31, when she learned that he had forgiven her for the role she played in his mother's death, she would embrace and reciprocate his feelings and showed how much she took had loved him

If you look at that running scene in E31, around 33 minutes onward into the video, see the way she would gaze at him. Very differen from the way she would look at him previously. It would be a gaze of love, which seems to say, Thanks so my much, my love, for coming all the way from the grassland to rescue me, for forgiving me, whatever wrong I may have done.

Glad that you asked. Here are some short and interesting reading for you:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/2013-07/25/content_29524953_2.htm

http://en.chinaculture.org/chineseway/2007-11/20/content_121946.htm

Don't worry about it. Have you already learned how to delete extra comments?

Yes, starting from E5, all the following episodes will indeed show him falling harder and harder for her. All part of the build up of the romantic arc of the story between AS and LC. And episode by episode, the drama would draw us into their whole. And by the time they expressed mutual affection for each other, we would so happy that they finally did do so. I think that is what they call 'slow-burn' romance. Yet, even for slow burn romance, their version is totally unique because they are from different cultures and they would be enemies, even before they finally became lovers.

Do you also notice, it was almost full moon when they met at the bridge?

Just how far apart was AS and CG in that final scene?

Welcome, welcome!! You are in good company. Since you have been 'watching' us since 27k, you will know, this place is full of TLB lovers

Stay with us. Join us in our conversation. Either by responding to some of the comments, or you can even start one of you. Either with some queries or comments of your own. We are a community of learners here, so do not be shy to state or ask anything

Maybe at the beginning of the drama, she was a bit impulsive, trying to take revenge on her own, without much help. A few times, Sun did rescue her. But, as the drama moved on, she was already gaining in wisdom. At the grasslands, we can already see how adaptive she was. And toward the end, she really does not need Sun.

I know a few people said at the grasslands, Sun and Changge went their separate ways. We don't think so, because we know they promised to be with each othre forever.

But just assuming that they do go their separate ways, I have no doubt she can survive anywhere without Sun

A while ago, you were asking about voting of popular actors and actress. It is in this twit:https://twitter.com/leowulei1226/status/1402940363954745355

There is a link in the middle. Click on it and you can see the voting. All the names are in Chinese. A few day ago, I could see Leo's name. But now, not there anymore. Reba is leading in the actresses category.

Your recollection is not wrong. She was never in the manhua.

If you are already at around episode 27, you have seen quite a bit about her. Her character was added to increase traffic to this drama. The screenwriters of this adaptation wrote her character as a contrast to Chang Ge's character. She would be your typical Tang Princess, getting ready to be married off for political marriage of some sort.

They cannot make her like Chang Ge's character (brave, intelligent, etc), or viewers will just get confused. As a result, her character appeared bland (compare to Chang Ge).

But they did write that arc about her being lost and so on, and in the process learned about the sufferings of ordinary citizens, which resulted in a change in her personality. She became more assertive in later episodes. Was able to stand up for Chang Ge and able to speak up for ordinary citizens even to her father, the emperor.

If you are at episode 27, very soon you will see her protecting Chang Ge, or you might already have seen that.

Later, they will give her a love interest, but that is very short, comprising just one to two episodes.

That is about it, concerning her character. You could argue that her impact on Chang Ge is very minimal, and her contribution to the plot negligible. Fans of Lusi, the actress who portrayed her, will likely disagree. They will say her character showed that any kind of women can experience character growth, and they would not be wrong.

But did the inclusion of her character added more viewers to this drama? I think so. It gave the drama a secondary couple, and there are some viewers who do like the second couple.

The last few episodes, if you listen to the conversations between Sun Changge, many times, they say that they will always be together. And Changge did not want to stay back in Chang'an, so they both went to the grasslands.

But they are no ordinary couple. Sun has complete trust in Changge. She speaks the grassland language and dialects and she can fight and take care of herself, so in the ending scene, we do not see them together, because Changge does not need Sun to be with him all the time, as if she needed a full time bodyguard. They are both very independent people, so likely he was in one portion of the grasslands working on something and she another working on her project.

Would be like a modern day couple. Wife went off to work in one company, husband another. If you take a snap shot, they will be at different places. But it does not mean they are not together. Just that they are not together 24/7.

But we can tell, they were both nearby to each other. The short flight of the eagle indicated they were probably about no more than 1km apart. The eagle was a way of communication between the two, if and when they are apart and need to contact each other.

By and large, all those conversations they had tell us they will be together with each other the rest of their lives. If you need to know which specific episodes they said that, please let me know. I will find them for you.