THE SCHOLAR WHO WALKS THE NIGHT
EPISODE 15
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Gunman in Joseon
https://instagram.com/p/6yueutAoZr/?taken-by=actor_jg
Lee: Excellent dance performance
https://instagram.com/p/60TlhhAoZl/?taken-by=actor_jg
Lee Joon Gi with two cute cats
Lee Joon Gi and Lee Yu Bi
MATRILINEAL DESCENT
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KIM SUNG YEOL
THE ROMANTIC JOSEON VAMPIRE
IN HIS CLASSY HANBOK
A weak Kim Sung Yeol fights to protect his beloved
In Episode 15 of ‘The Scholar Who Walks The Night’, the dour Kim Sung Yeol, Jo Yang Sun’s knight in shining armour (romantic Joseon vampire in his classy hanbok), arrives in time to save her. With outstretched hands, he blocks her from King Lee Yoon. Earlier, King Lee Yoon has mounted a hunt for Jo Yang Sun for the purpose of catching her and presenting her to Gwi as the Joseon Kingdom's sacrificial lamb. He is furious with Kim Sung Yeol for obstructing him and commands him to ‘Move!’ He brandishes his sword, which shimmers like brilliant steel.
Furious: King Lee Yoon
Kim Sung Yeol would not budge and instead confronts the king on the ground where he has fallen after his short scuffle with him. With his searching gaze and the murderous intensity of his eyes that pierce into the king’s heart, he growls out, ‘If you don’t kill me now, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.’ The long shining sword, in the king’s hand, is thin enough to slice through Kim Sung Yeol’s body and he is ready to swing it towards Kim Sung Yeol’s head. Reasoning has left the king. What has happened to the king?
The beginning of this episode gives the viewers no emotional respite because questions are raised about King Lee Yoon’s character. Is he so cruel as to want to sacrifice the lives of his subjects to save the Joseon Kingdom? He is no better than a beast and no braver than his grandfather. Is he going to kill anyone who is in his way of achieving his goals? It seems the lines between chivalry and cowardice, patriotism and betrayal are ambiguous and blurred.
The soldiers swarm from all sides to surround Kim Sung Yeol and Jo Yang Sun. King Lee Yoon, being relentless, does not hesitate and brings his sword down, but he is stopped in the nick of time by the appearance of Baek In Ho, a hulking man, who takes the soldiers from the rear and slains them. And, if it is not for the alertness of Ho Jin, Kim Sung Yeol’s aide, King Lee Yoon would have stopped them with his sword.
The arrival of Baek In Ho saves the day
Kim Sung Yeol and Jo Yang Sun make a beeline for an escape route but the soldiers follow hard on their heels. However, the soldiers are no match for the vampire scholar Kim Sung Yeol who is strong enough to be able to zigzag like a flash and fly swiftly like swirling winds with inhuman speed, carrying his beloved away.
Kim Sung Yeol carries his beloved in his arms
When they arrive at their destination, he collapses in a heap, unconscious, exhausted and hungry, and she has to position him away from the sun and close the door. Kim Sun Yeol’s wings are clipped.
Carrying her over the threshhold
The blinding light of the sun
Soo Hyang, being allowed to leave Gwi’s underground palace, happens to see them and follows them. She instructs Jo Yang Sun to seek refuge at her relative’s abandoned house at the foot of Gobong Mountain.
They forge ahead travelling with a horse under the mantle of darkness, and when they arrive at the deserted cottage in the faraway village, a man helps them. Kim Sung Yeol has previously saved his daughter from a band of thieves.
a kind-hearted villager carries Kim Sung Yeol
The scholar is carried into the house
Kim Sung Yeol passes out but upon stirring, his head is probably spinning round in dizzy circles. Perhaps, there is hammering in his head too. He groans, his lips and throat are dry and parched and his voice is hoarse. His whole being cries for blood nourishment.
Kim Sung Yeol: unconscious
Much has been said about Jo Yang Sun's fantasy of the scholar as a romantic figure. When he turns out to be a vampire who drinks human blood, she is shocked. Now, which normal girl wouldn't? However, she is redeemed in the viewers' eyes when she accepts him for what he is, a vampire. Here, the writers of the drama invoke a conventional romance situation - a cold but vulnerable scholar and an infatuated, warm-hearted admirer.
Not surprisingly, given the urgency of the situation, Jo Yang Sun even bites her own finger and gives him a trickle of her blood. The taste of the blood heals him but he tells her not to do it again because in the future, he might not be able to resist her blood. The implication is that he might bite her in his madness. It’s an abomination. Fingers of hunger creep into his stomach. His face twitches. He has resisted feasting on human blood for some time. A wave of dizziness washes over him, drowning him in blood hunger and suffering. 
The vampire's suffering
The vampire regains consciousness
Jo Yang Sun goes in search of blood for her beloved. The villager who has helped them earlier recognizes Kim Sung Yeol as ‘The Night Scholar’. He is, coincidentally, a butcher, and gives her some meat, which is not what she wanted. While Jo Yang Sun is too embarrassed to ask for blood, he and his daughter seem to understand and give her a bowl of blood.
Jo Yang Sun tries to obtain blood for Kim Sung Yeol
Jo Yang Sun has accepted Kim Sung Yeol’s blood drinking activities. He drinks the blood, his stomach heaves but he does not retch it back.
He remembers the treachery of Queen Choi Hye Ryung and his stolen black robe. 
a bowl of blood
Anxiety drives him to his feet and he is reeling from not feeding on fresh human blood. Jo Yang Sun forbids him, on any account, from venturing out of the house, and drives home the point that he must recuperate fully before going out.
The vampire has not fed on human blood.
Suffering vampire
Vampire: after drinking blood
Kim Sung Yeol wonders why he has recovered so quickly with just a drop of Jo Yang Sun's blood. Is it true that her mother’s lineage is related to Gwi?
Meanwhile, Baek In Ho, the vampire hunter, who is Jo Yang Sun’s father’s friend, remembers that Jo Yang Sun’s mother has been bitten by Qwi but it has not affected Qwi in the least but instead, her mother dies from her wounds.
Jo Yang Sun, having been told by King Lee Yoon about her special lineage, asks Kim Sung Yeol whether she is the key to Qwi’s destruction, but he denies it angrily, and lies that the king has been misled.
She requests Kim Sung Yeol to live a simple life with her for awhile instead of spending time fighting against Qwi. He then asks her what she means by, 'For Awhile'. Her answer: 10, 20, 50 years. His heart feels lighter for awhile with the knowledge that she has returned his love for her. He wants to hug her but he fears if he embraces her then, he might hurt her, but she is not afraid of his vampirish tendencies and embraces him.
Jo Yang Sun requests Kim Sung Yeol to stay together
After Jo Yang Sun learns of her fate which is connected to her matrilineal descent, she feels burdened.
Kim Sung Yeol invites her for a walk. She puts on a new pair of shoes for him which she has made over several nights. In the dusky moonlight, they take a walk and she confesses that her imagination is different from reality. She couldn't imagine in reality the heavy burden that he has to carry. But he retorts that her imagination changes a person and the person changes the world. In his mind, there is no flicker of doubt that her imagination of him changes how he sees the world. He again offers to give her a piggy back ride. ‘Am I not heavy?’ she asks but he does not think so. The trees block the moon and cast feathery shadows around them. Her sad expression, when she rests her head on his left shoulder, is quite touching. When he wakes up, she is gone. She has already planned to sacrifice herself.
piggy back ride
Jo Yang Sun puts the new shoes on for Kim Sung Yeol
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THE JOSEON KINGDOM
PECKING ORDER
Pecking Order Chart
New Joseon Kingdom Pecking Order
When King Lee Yoon returns to the palace after his failed manhunt, he demands to know how Queen Choi Hye Ryung has been able to steal Kim Sung Yeol’s black magic robe. and also, her exact relationship with Kim Sung Yeol. She explains that Kim Sung Yeol has mistaken her for his first love, Lee Myung Hee, as she bears an uncanny resemblance to her.
Qwi has threatened to turn her into a vampire if she does not wrest the robe from Kim Sung Yeol for him. She is able to relieve the weak Kim Sung Yeol of his robe with the help of her henchman, and then surrenders the robe to the king. However, she does not reveal the whole truth about her relationship with Gwi, that she has been his slave since young. 
The queen proffers a hand to Kim Sung Yeol
Kim Sung Yeol is misled into believing the queen is
the same as his former girlfriend
The resemblance is uncanny
The vampire loses consciousness
She offers to sacrifice herself to Gwi, if ever, one day, the robe falls into Gwi's hands, but the King rejects it and orders her not to surrender to Qwi.
Queen Choi Hye Ryung remembers her father bringing her to be Qwi’s slave. She must have been deprived of parental love, and compares King Lee Yoon’s love for her and her father’s love for power.
Queen Choi Hye Ryung has not been appearing before Gwi for some time. He must have missed her, so, the evil vampire drops in for a night visit.
Queen Choi Hye Ryung lies that she has not been able to obtain the black magic robe from Kim Sung Yeol because his heart is with Jo Yang Sun. Gwi does not believe her and threatens her.
Queen Choi Hye Ryung
King Lee Yoon coincidentally appears when Qwi was in the act of strangling her. Qwi threats are not empty ones. He declares, as he lustfully wraps his arms around the queen’s shoulders and hands, that he has half a mind to make her a vampire.
The king makes his objections clear. Being dissatisfied with the king's insolence, Qwi whistles, and suddenly, the 'trainee' vampire Yook Hak Yong hoists the shocked king up and smashes him onto the floor. The king grits his teeth, his voice becomes more hoarse and edged in pain. He tries to rise to his feet but comes face to face with his former aide and friend who does not recognize him.
If truth be told, at that moment, King Lee Yoon looks like a frightened child, whimpering like a woman and with tears welling up in his eyes. He must have felt so helpless and weak. It amuses Qwi to no end to watch the confident king deteriorate emotionally and mentally before his very eyes.
The king does not have to weigh the odds about Gwi's commands and threats. He has been treated with utter disdain and warned that he won't die an easy death. Having given a final warning to the royal duo, Gwi and his trainee vampire swiftly depart.
King Lee Yoon is furious and wants to exact revenge on Qwi. He fears for his queen for if she is a vampire, she will walk in the shadows of the undead.
King Lee Yoon is threatened by Gwi
Qwi has achieved what he has set out to do. He has got the king cowering like a frightened kitten, or a mouse about to be trampled by a humongous elephant. His royal spirit is crushed. King Lee Yoon is scared that vampire Qwi will make good his promise of turning his queen into a vampire so he is compelled to obey Qwi’s orders.
A cloud of misfortune seems to hang over the palace. Gwi mandates that meetings be held after 11.00 pm., not in the morning.
The king summons the ministers and palace officials to congregate for a session at night to issue an edict. The palace officials are vexed over the night time audience with their king.
King Lee Yoon painfully summons all his strength to make the treacherous proclamation against his deceased grandfather, King Hyeonjo. Qwi has spelled out clearly what he has to say. ‘The previous king, has been niggardly with his generosity and affection and has provoked the heavens to punish him’, so from then on, he, King Lee Yoon, will tighten his rule over the ignorant people in the Joseon Kingdom. ‘If any officials or people were to rebel against his rule, punitive measures will be taken against them. The deputy Prime Minister is, indeed ,right when he says that the deceased king, his grandfather, King Hyeonjo, would surely turn in his grave.
Puppet King: King Lee Yoon is humiliated
in the presence of palace officials
Suddenly, the slow measured sound of Qwi’s footsteps could be heard. His arrival is full of melodrama. With the swishing of his hanbok robes, Qwi enters, swaggering into the palace hall as if he owns the whole place. Parading up to the throne, he unceremoniously sweeps away the king’s edict from the low table.
King Lee Yoon who is seated on his throne shivers in horror as Qwi proceeds to seat himself in front of him. It is a breach of political protocol to place oneself in front of the king but Qwi is openly and with great flourish trying to show to all and sundry, that he is the power behind the throne. Qwi does not deny himself the luxury of implying that the king is just a figurehead and a puppet. With obvious authority and commanding presence, he silences all protests. The ambitious Prime Minister, Choi Chui Jong is obviously delighted.
The helpless king shakes violently, and his hands and innards must have been twisting too. He is seething with rage at Qwi’s mockery of the throne. Qwi adds some more insulting new laws for good measure to ensure King Lee Yoon’s humiliation is complete.
Qwi has, in actual fact, proclaimed his position at the top of the pecking order. It is obvious that his lackey, the Prime Minister is below him. Only then comes King Lee Yoon, and the much weakened Kim Sung Yeol is placed at the bottom of the Joseon Kingdom struggle.
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SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION
MATRILINEAL DESCENT
THE EMERGENCE OF HALF-VAMPIRE, HALF-HUMAN
DESCENDANTS    
Jo Yang Sun, overhears Kim Sung Yeol’s conversation with Soo Hyang that she is the key to the destruction of Qwi.
Later, she discusses the issue with Soo Hyang and realises then that Kim Sung Yeol has lied to protect her. 
Key To Killing Gwi: Soo Hyang discusses Jo Yang Sun's situation
Soo Hyang talks to Jo Yang Sun about the matrilinieal descent pattern
Meanwhile, the puppet king, wants to catch Kim Sung Yeol because he has been a hindrance in his drive to get Jo Yang Sun to sacrifice herself to Qwi so that Qwi will die from sucking her blood.
At the same time, Qwi also wants to lure Kim Sung Yeol out and orders that young unmarried females to be sent to his underground palace. The Prime Minister thinks they should be able to trap both Kim Sung Yeol and Jo Yang Sun.
A group of black-robed rebels mounts an assault on the palace to prevent the virgin girls from being sent to Qwi.
Jo Yang Sun is shocked to hear that she is Qwi’s descendant.
According to the tale, Gwi once has a relationship with a human female. She has a child without his knowledge so he kills her.
It is believed that the child's half-human, half-vampire blood would kill him. The child’s descendants have been killed by Gwi but luckily, Jo Yang Sun’s mother’s lineage has survived.
It is now clear that Jo Yang Sun is a carrier of the half-vampire, half human blood. If Qwi knows, he will kill her.
She then remembers that her father has told her to wear male clothing to protect her female identity and prevent people from hurting her.
Soo Hyang informs her that if she does not sacrifice herself, one of the female descendants might be sacrificed, based on the matrilineal descent pattern. When Jo Yang Sun realises that if she sacrifices her life to Gwi, the Joseon Kingdom will finally be rid of Qwi. She makes the decision to be the sacrificial lamb. She chooses to sacrifice her life.
What everyone does not know is the postulation about Jo Yang Sun's lineage is wrong. The vampire hunter, Baek In Ho, who is Jo Yang Sun’s father’s friend, remembers that Jo Yang Sun’s mother has been bitten by Qwi but Qwi is still safe and sound. Instead Jo Yang Sun mother dies from her wounds. Therefore, the postulation that those from that matrilineal line will be Gwi’s nemesis is not true.
Based on the matrilineal charts above, only the matrilineal line is affected.
In the second generation, females who have the half-human half-vampire blood are produced. In the third, fourth and fifth generation, both male and female carriers of the blood are produced.
If Jo Yang Sun does not carry that particular type of blood and is normal, who is the carrier of that blood? Can it be a male carrier’s blood which could kill Gwi? Could there be a mixed-up of the children when they were young? Could the nemesis of Gwi be King Lee Yoon?
But the question remains, if Jo Yang Sun is not the key, why does her blood help Kim Sung Yeol to recover that quickly?
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