mimi0108

You're welcome x)
It's a fantastic drama so we have to leave aside our logic and reality even if, even for fantasy, it's sometimes too far-fetched.
The god of death has cursed the kingdom so the shaman thinks by sacrificing a pure life, it will appease the demon and make it rain again.
The demon cohabits with humans whose body it occupies. He tried to enter the body of one of the princes but this one had a talisman so the demon looked for another body to occupy and was attracted by the boy tattooed by the butterfly deity. She then took the demon's eyes, which are his power, and gave them to the girl so she could paint and fulfill her destiny.
It's strange but it's a fantastic world so...

The beginning of episode 15 makes me cringe.
The inquisitor was going to kill Ha Ram's father on the orders of a king who had been dead for years. He was just lucky that Ma Wang woke up and did the work for him. Then, when he was told to bring the child back, he hit the mother and caused her death. Either way, Ha Ram lost his family to the royal family.
The current king has done nothing to protect him, to punish the inquisitor, to help Ha Ram quell his anger and not take revenge. He also did nothing to help FL's father as he lost his mind because of them. He did not control his second son and let him gain influence and do anything.
The moral is that the royal family is either weak, cruel, or indifferent to the suffering of others. And I don't appreciate trying to sweep away the suffering of the ML on the pretext that: "for your father, Ma Wang killed him before us so everything is settled between us?"
I'm a bit mad at the writers to forgetting the mother's death, by making the ML suffer unnecessarily by having him kill his father (when the latter was going to be killed by someone else) and to attempt to minimize the king's responsability.

Also, I would have liked the female lead to find a way to act and save her family on her own (by threatening suicide, for example). But not that she gets saved by the king who screwed up in the first place.

There were three deities that were one. Until the day when the god of death broke away, ate one of the other two deities and became a demon at one with men to bring chaos.
The butterfly is the last deity still alive and is kind.
A ceremony was held to seal the demon in a royal portrait. The demon cursed the country and the descendants of the participants. The girl is the child of the painter and the curse made her blind. While the boy is the son of the lord in charge of the rites.
9 years later, the boy is sacrificed by a shaman to bring back the rain. Previously, the butterfly deity had placed her sign on the boy, knowing his destiny, in order to attract the demon when it would be released and trap it in the boy's body. She takes the demon's eyes (which makes the boy blind) and gives them to the girl.

I see...
Thanks for answering me! x)

I would like to know if the romance is interesting (not cheesy) and with intensity and, also, if Lee Joon's character had a love interest?
Thanks in advance.

There are only two episodes left and I admit to being a little disappointed and confused by some things:

- Park Gye Won is a tyrant who caused the death of entire scholars families (including FL's) simply because he wanted to control who would marry the future king. He also imprisoned the men, women and children who worked for the FL. But that doesn't seem to be on FL or the writer's minds anymore. The FL puts her resentment against him on par with the one for former king (who gave in to the councilor and executed her family to protect his child) and decides to give up on her revenge while the guy continues to schem, plot and was the one who created the Queen Dowager.
He is the one who made all the characters what they are: the dowager queen is embittered and mad because she sacrificed everything for her lover to finally be rejected, the king is ready to do anything to have full power and doesn't know how act like a king because he has never been given the opportunity and the FL is in danger for her life constantly and orphaned because Councilor Park has massacred her people on a whim. But he gets too much screen time to show us how much he believes in his cause. I wouldn't have a problem with that if we were told again and again that he is extremist and is in the wrong. Except that I feel like the writers adore him and made hims almost the ML while justifying his actions and downplaying his horrors.

- The King hasn't done much in 14 episodes. I agree the movement against the QD was interesting but he seems to have been surprised by a lot of consequences of his actions. And he also let his pregnant wife almost get killed which destroys the "smart" side of this plan. I find it hard to know what he thinks, what he wants (apart from seizing the total authority that has always been denied to him and getting rid of those who bullied him). He starts looking at the faces of his people but I don't even know why he does it. Is it because of the influence of his wife? Is it because he is getting closer to his goal and can finally try to know his people? Mystery. And it's annoying for me to still have no opinion on the ML (except that he is weak, soft and badass at the same time) just before the final.

- The FL is perfect and maybe a little too much so that the script doesn't know how to give her a storyline. She is close to the people, cares about her servants and employees, is kind, intelligent, calm, reserved and purposeful. She is also a loving, gentle and courageous companion who supports her lover whether as a scholar or as a king. But that's all. In 14 episodes, other than those where she earned the Councilar Park's respect, she's had no fuss outside of being the perfect wife/master/queen. We are shown very little of her thoughts or doubts, we don't see her struggling to adapt to life in the palace, to accept that the man she loved is the king or even to agree to put her revenge aside. She manages her thoughts and her anger on her side and we are just faced with the result: she is perfect. And for me, it's annoying. I want to see her fears, her doubts, her anger, her weaknesses, her flaws. I want to see her act. In episode 13, while she no longer has her husband for support, is pregnant in a place surrounded by enemies and has her people to protect, she doesn't do much. And she is only saved by those around her. It can happen, of course. But when all the drama she is like a support for the story more than a real actor, that bothers me.
In view of the preview of episode 15, she will decide to act against her husband by... allying herself with a man who has committed more massacres (including children) than the QD and the king combined ? I sincerely hope she will express her thoughts and that her actions will make sense, but I have a hard time seeing her being close to the counselor as I have been waiting for her revenge since episode 1.

Overall, I enjoy the drama. The photography is very beautiful, the actors are good and the story interesting. But I have the impression that, at times, the writers and the director appreciate the contemplative and photographic side of their scenes rather than focusing on the essence of the story and fleshing out certain characters (such as the Minister of war who is depressed from the start without really moving or clearly choosing sides). I feel like I've only scratched the surface of the story but I'm being refused to delve into things or show me scenes other than ML and SML ruminating in front of the camera each episode.

I love Consort Park but the writing is weird with her. She is too perfect and the series fails to give her a real place (even if she has episodes where she shines), things to do or access to her thoughts.
She is pregnant, it is confirmed but the script refuses to show us how she feels and what it means to live through this pregnancy.
I have the impression that in some aspects, the drama doesn't go to the bottom of things and only scratches the surface.

Personally, what bothers me the most is when FL, in episode 9 or 10, tells her "uncle" he had her father killed to save officials. She puts Pak Gar Won on the same level with the previous king who let her family be executed for the murder of the queen in order to protect his son. But she forgets her family had been arrested long before because of Councilor Park's thirst for power and that, even if the queen hadn't died, her father being accused of treason, he would have died anyway.
To believe they are really trying to temper Park Gae Won when he is the greatest tyrant in this story.

The SML

I see... Too bad but if she's well-written and if the whole drama is good, it's okay. Even if I would have love to have a female lead driving the plot.
Thanks for your insight.

It's good to know. Thanks!

Okay, so she's well-written but less important to the story than the main males leads.
Thanks for your answer. I'll definitely try it!

I see, thanks for answering me!

Professor Ling and Professor Kang are together but FL's mother says Professor Kang is unmarried and she even has a teacher who woos her by bringing flowers regularly. Is she in an unconventional relationship with Professor Ling?
FL's girl friend calls Professor Ling "Dad", so she is Professor Ling's daughter but not Kang's?

Also, in episode 5, people say Professor Ling is FL's father's stepfather, which would make him her grandfather, but she calls him "Uncle". What about?

I'm a little confused about the relationships between some characters (I'm at episode 5).

I'm curious about this drama but I would like to know if the female lead is important and good? I dropped a lot of drama lately because the FL was a secondary character living in ML's story, dumb, clumbsy or damsel in detress and so on. I want a real character, important to the plot and well written. Is it the case here or it's the ML's story?

But he'll grow through the drama, right? He won't stay the same weak and silly guy like in the first 10 episodes? (I only watched that).

Oh I see, it's good to know!
Thanks for answering me x)

Does ML always remain a little too simplistic, naive, innocent and obtuse?
Does FL still have to "mother" him in their relationship?
Or does they arrive at become a healthy, mature and fairly couple?

Question for those who have finished the drama: