MOON LOVERS: SCARLET HEART RYEO
If life dealt you a terrible blow, would you lay it at the door
of fate? Go Ha-jin, a twenty-first century maiden would have. She suffered at its ruthless hands; she witnessed her boyfriend’s brutal cheating with her
best friend. Left with a mountain of debts accumulated by him, she confided
in a homeless man about her wish to sleep forever. Had she known that her
wish might be partially granted, she would not have wallowed in such self-pity.
At that very moment, an unexpected eclipse of the sun occurred. Go drowned while trying
to rescue a drowning child and she travelled back in time to the tenth century
Goryeo Dynasty.
The solar eclipse, a useful device, has been used to separate 21st Century History from Tenth Century Goryeo History in this historical-fiction drama. It is used twice - at the beginning and at the end of the drama.
At the end of the story, viewers would have learnt that upon Hae Soo's (Go's Goryeo persona) death in Goryeo, Go Ha-jin woke up from a long coma in 21st century
Seoul. Her wish had been partially realised.
Picture perfect: The
mysterious rider, (Prince Wang So), framed against the scarlet solar eclipse
In a parallel solar eclipse event, Wang So, the Fourth Prince,
was riding homeward bound to Songak, the capital of the Goryeo kingdom, after
having been recalled by his father, King Taejo, to participate in the religious
Narye cleansing ritual.
A Review of Korean History Vol 1 Ancient Goryeo Era (written by Han Young Woo & trans. by Hahm Chai Bong)
An amazing and beautiful long shot of the silhouette of Prince
Wang So shows him framed against the scarlet solar eclipse.
It was a long and
punishing journey. But, Wang So, a supremely athletic figure, was born in the
saddle. With a skill born of years of practice, the eager and powerful
horseman raced almost continuously back to the palace.
However, the prince and his entourage were compelled to make a stop on a
rugged mountain top overlooking Songak. The snow-capped landscape was quite a breathtaking sight before it was enveloped in eerie semi darkness.
When he resumed his journey, Wang So’s heart must have pounded as the horses’ hooves thundered
over the spectacular snow-covered undulating ground and sparse white
landscape towards what would be a frosty reception.
Was the bitterly cold, wintry weather the foreshadowing of his future in the Goryeo palace?
Galloping right smack into the capital, the crowds parted like
the Red Sea, cursing the ‘Wolfdog’ under
their breath. Wang So was indeed a beastly prince - wild and aggressive. Raised in rough and savage circumstances in
Shinju, Wang So did not have the advantage of a cultured life. When young, he
had been sent to Shinju by Queen Yoo, his royal mother as a hostage
to ensure peace in Goryeo.
With the other exception, Wang Mu, the Crown Prince, all the
Goryeon princes had grown up in the lap of luxury. Wang Mu, the oldest son of
Taejo had fought battles alongside King Taejo to found the Goryeo kingdom.
On the day of his arrival, Wang So’s brothers were having a
purifying bath in preparation for the Narye,
a ritual to drive away evil spirits. Their toned torsos and muscles gleamed
in the light.
In all, there were eight princes. The others were Wang Yo, the
Third Prince; Wang Wook, the Eighth Prince; Wang Won, the Ninth Prince; Wang
Eun, the Tenth Prince; Baek-ah, the Thirteenth Prince, and Wang Jung, the
Fourteenth Prince.
Wang Yo and Wang Jung, Wang So’s blood brothers had distanced
themselves from him; they claimed to be miles apart from him in
terms of breeding and character.
The princes learned through the palace grapevine that Wang So had brutally murdered his adoptive family in Shinju. The tale had taken on a life of its own.
Wang Yo, Wang So’s older blood brother, spoke disparagingly and
dismissively of him, calling him ‘a pain’. With a tone dripping with
loathing, the Third Prince announced that Wang So would return to Shinju
immediately after the Narye ritual was over. The finality in his tone seemed to
suggest that he would be glad to see the last of his younger sibling.
In the midst of their conversation, Go Ha-jin mysteriously emerged
from the bath water after having been teleported from 21st century Seoul
to 10th century Songak (Kaesong).
The princes, obviously stunned, thundered at her intrusion.
Only Wang Wook did not lose his head. Go Ha-jin escaped from the commotion with
Chae Ryung, a maid from his household.
Emerging from a cave, Go Ha-jin was shocked to see the largest
bathing area in Songak. Snow was
everywhere. Everything seemed distinctly surreal and she immediately lost
consciousness.
When Wang So and the convoy of Shinju horsemen, who had
accompanied him, arrived at the Goryeo palace gates, the head of the convoy
demanded that Wang So return to Shinju as soon as possible as he was an
adopted member of the Kang royal clan.
With blazing eyes and a heart full of resentment, Wang So
retorted with barbed sarcasm that he was a hostage, not an adopted son.
The sad fact about the hostage situation in ancient times was a
member of the royal family was sacrificed for the benefit of the rest of the kingdom. Goryeo
did it for peace and security and to shore up political alliances.
Wang So, a political hostage, had languished in ‘captivity’ for years. He was now a
grown young man who knew that the time had arrived for him to change his own fortunes. It was time for him to show his true colours.
When the palace gate closed, it symbolically and effectively signalled the end of Wang So’s hostage life. But, a cold reception awaited him. 
AN UNEXPECTED TWIST IN THE STORY. Wang So’s eyes glinted. When
the Fourth Prince whipped out his sword, those around him surged back out of
the way. His masculine figure was silhouetted in the sunlight.
To the shock of those present, Wang So, with a sudden mighty
thrust, struck down his black stallion. In a flash, his sword was dripping with fresh blood. Abysmal savagery. The horse that had served him so well had been
vanquished in one lightning move.
The savage scene is visually stunning. The explosive atrocity
of the violent and gory act sends chills racing down one’s back. When one
sees the slain horse on the ground and Wang So’s blood-stained sword,
one is struck dumb. It wouldn't be surprising if viewers inwardly recoil from him upon seeing his grim and forbidding face being splattered with equine blood.
Little did the royal residents know about what had happened. What did
it mean? Wang So was determined not to return to his hostage life in Shinju.
The
violent act signalled a new chapter in the Fourth Prince’s life. The savage killing of his
horse would further fan the flames of gossip that Wang So was a ruthless beast
to be feared!
The Fourth Prince’s eyes - mad, steely, cruel and cold as a vulture’s,
made him almost inhuman. But, Wang So
was born to be king.
Silhouetted against the grey skies, the lone, dark, majestic figure of Wang So, cloaked in his
swaying black robes, was a startling sight. The prince strode with the ease of a tiger across the vast palace
grounds. It was the regal stride of a
man who was determined to chart his own life. And because of that, his life
would be changed forever.
The scene stirs up a burst of emotions within the chest.
There is one stunning moment when he stopped, framed against
the towering doors of the palace grounds. He stared at the main palace
shrouded in grey clouds, an otherworldly scene.
Upon awakening in the Eighth Prince’s mansion, Go Ha-jin, frazzled in her
dream-like state, surveyed the scene. To her shock and consternation, she discovered that her soul had
replaced Hae Soo’s soul. She was held captive in the body of Hae Soo, a 16-year old maiden who lived with Lady
Hae, her cousin sister and wife of Wang Wook, the Eighth Prince. A
feeling of overpowering unreality enveloped her.
Meanwhile, the princes were in audience with King Taejo, the
reigning Goryeo king. The royal father suspected that certain members of the
royal household had conspired to poison Crown Prince Wang Mu, his eldest son.
The kindly prince was almost a victim of foul play.
Wang Sik Ryeom, Taejo’s cousin brother and the general in
charge of the defence of the Western capital, could not resist taking a stab
at the Crown Prince. He voiced his harsh criticism of Wang Mu, claiming that
the king’s favourite son did not have the personality and stature of a Crown
Prince. A strong supporter of Wang Yo, the Third Prince, Wang Sik Ryeom
entreated the king to name a new successor.
Apparently, Wang Mu was an absentee heir-apparent to the
throne; he would either be in the battle fields or visiting all the hot springs
in Goryeo.
If the viewers have already watched the drama, it might have dawned on them that Wang
Mu’s habit of visiting the hot springs was, perhaps, a way to find a cure for his ‘illness’. Had he
been systematically poisoned by conspirators even then?
For the monarch, the most important matter of interest had to be resolved. Taejo suddenly called upon the royal astronomer, Choi Ji Mong, to make an
important announcement. The flamboyant Choi Ji Mong seemed to relish his role
as the reader of the skies and the bearer of the fortunes of the kingdom.
With a dramatic flourish of his hands, he told his startled audience
that he had been called upon to relay the will of the heavens. He proclaimed, with a soothsayer’s supreme confidence, that Wang Mu’s star was a royal star
in the skies, implying that the eldest son of King Taejo was the rightful
heir to the throne. None in the audience, except Wang Mu, was fit to succeed
King Taejo. His claim to the throne was unquestionable. The finality in the
astronomer’s voice was not a hint but a loud royal proclamation which firmly
defined the tone of Taejo’s succession plan.
Why would any of the princes want to believe the astronomer? What
authority or credentials did he hold to make such a bold proclamation?
Well, it would be disclosed later that the royal astronomer
had made a prediction much earlier that King Taejo would one day unify the Later Three
Kingdoms and it had turned out to be true. Taejo was the first to unify the
whole of Korea. If Choi Ji Mong, the astronomer had no right, then who did?
And, who were they to argue with him? 24 years had passed since the founding
of the Goryeo kingdom. Wang Mu had a hand in establishing the dynasty, so who
were they to go against him?
In another part of the palace, Wang So, had sought an audience with
Queen Yoo, his mother, but was coldly turned away by the heartless queen who
was full of hatred for her own flesh and blood. She not only did not want to
talk to him, but also did not want to acknowledge him. Distraught as he might
have been, Wang So swallowed his pride. He did not allow himself the luxury
of negative feelings.
That night, on the parapet of the palace walls, he mulled over his
mother’s frostiness. Brushing away the cobwebs of time, he recollected his
parents’ heated quarrel when he was barely five years old.
After establishing the Goryeo Dynasty, Taejo had tried to gain
political mileage by conducting political marriages with the daughters of
powerful elites. It seemed King Taejo had wanted to marry again to
‘deflect new dangers’ but Queen Yoo resisted the idea.
During their quarrel, Queen Yoo threatened to take her own life and also, the
life of her son, Wang So. She drew a dagger from the pocket of her skirt to
warn the king but in their scuffle, she accidentally slashed her son beneath
his left eye.
Queen Yoo was guilty of marring her son’s face but she did not
want to face the truth about her deed. Whenever she saw him, she remembered her own folly
and guilt. Therefore, the heartless queen had concocted a plan to send him to
Shinju as a hostage. ‘Ought of sight’ meant ‘out of mind’. Reliving
that life-changing incident had left Wang So trembling with pain.
Suddenly, King Taejo loomed large in his presence and Wang So
asked him the pertinent question of why he was being recalled to the palace.
Taejo was a cold man, a man of calculation. He spelled out
his aims and intentions. His priority was Wang Mu, the Crown Prince, who had
to be protected from conspirators at all costs and Wang So was the right
person to help him. The king knew about the conspirators' assasination plan which would be put into action on the night of the Narye ritual.
In the game of power, Taejo’s understood his goal post; Wang So
was brought back to solidify Wang Mu’s position. The Fourth Prince would be a
powerful and indispensable ally as he had impressive martial arts skills and his other strength was his unswerving loyalty.
One prickly question comes to mind. Had Wang So not possess
such a competitive edge, would he be left to rot in Shinju?
Hae Soo seemed to have resigned herself to her identity change;
it was pointless to mourn over things that could not be changed.
When Choi Ji
Mong walked past the Eighth Prince’s mansion, she thought she recognised him. He resembled the homeless man she had talked to in the 21st
century. She quickly followed him but lost sight of him in the crowd.
Hurrying across a bridge with a pavilion-like roof, under which
a stream flowed, the young lady heard startling cries, ‘It’s the dog, the wolfdog!’.
The Fourth Prince was on his way to meet his brothers. People
ran helter-skelter to avoid him as he hurtled towards them. The obnoxious and
arrogant Prince Wang So, caring neither for man nor beast, galloped on his
horse without stopping, expecting the human traffic to make way for him. No
wonder his savage and aggressive reputation had preceded him.
During the commotion, Hae Soo had been edged off the road near
a ditch. She could not keep her balance. A powerful hand stretched out to
grab her. Wang So managed to lift her onto his stallion.
Was she shocked to see the half-masked horseman? Wang So was an
intriguingly handsome man despite his mask. In fact, his mask bestowed on him
a unique, mysterious air.
For a moment, they gazed curiously at each other. The excited viewers have high expectations for their
first meeting but it turned out to be an inauspicious start to their
relationship.
The wolfdog’s eyes narrowed into slits. There was a gleam of
amusement in his eyes. Nothing in his savage life in Shinju could have
prepared him for the encounter with such a lovely member of the opposite
sex, a 21st century young lady.
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