It’s from William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” that we get that famous quote on names,

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

In a soliloquy, Juliet whines that she can’t love Romeo all because his last name is Montague. He is anathema to her family, the Capulets, because of their long-standing blood feud with his family, the Montagues. If he had a different last name, then all would have been fine.

So she questions the importance of names. To her, he would still be handsome, irresistible, tempting, etc., if he had a name other than Romeo Montague, just like a rose would have smelled sweet if its name was changed to, say, sardines, stinkpot, bullshit?

In this kdrama, names are of supreme importance. That’s the whole point of Master Seo’s “Words of the Heart,” right? The name of his lover, Jin Seolran, was the secret to unlock the real meaning of the poem.

Let me pull up my analysis of the poem back in Ep 10.

3. The meaning of “Words of the Heart” from a lover’s perspective

The mages who’ve read Master Seo’s “Words of the Heart” didn’t grasp the true meaning of the book. It’s about love, and love is expressed in every word of the book.

In fact, if I was bold enough to add a line to the poem, it would be this sentence: “You cannot see her name, but it is engraved in my heart.”

I would have re-written the first stanza like this:

You cannot grasp water, but it is inside the soil.
You cannot touch fire, but it is inside the tree.
You cannot hold the wind, but it is resting on the rock.
You cannot see her name, but it is engraved in my heart.
If you let them be, they will exist everywhere.

The name of the beloved is important.

That’s the important clue from the chorus of the OST, “Aching,” and that’s what we see in this scene when the name alone opened the secret of the book.

I find it ironic that the true meaning of the “Words of the Heart” eludes the mages because they didn’t understand Master Seo’s heart. The most essential word, her precious name, is left unsaid. It didn’t need to be revealed because:

a) it’s paradoxically everywhere in the book, and
b) only the real recipient of the letter needed to know the true contents and secret message of the book.

Source: On the Love Letter, part 2

I don’t think the audience has paid much attention that there’s AGAIN a name missing in Season 2.

I pointed it out in Season 1. I said there was a big fuss about the names Naksu, MuDeok, and Jin BuYeon. But there was a name that had yet to be revealed, that is, Naksu’s real name, the name of Mage Cho’s daughter.

It was only revealed in Episode 13 when Maidservant Kim was preparing a memorial service for her and her father.

Servant: Here is the oration the Buddhist monk wrote.
Maidservant: But where are their names? The Buddhist priest should have written down the names of the spirits this is for?
Servant: Oh, they’re right down there. “Cho Chung. Cho Yeong.”
Naksu: Cho Yeong? That’s my name.

Maidservant Kim prepared the memorial service, explaining Naksu, “It is for Master Jang’s friend and his daughter. There are no graves for either of them, and I bet no one’s ever held a memorial for them. So I thought I should hold at least one.” Naksu was grateful and sat before her memorial altar until the incense burned out.

I think Naksu said it in a formal, elevated language. That must have surprised Maidservant Kim because she wasn’t expecting a servant girl to know such speech.

It must have felt weird to be at her own death altar.

But when you think about it, this isn’t her first time. This is the first time: the funeral pyre.

And neither would it be the last time. This was her most recent: the stone tower. Only she didn’t know it.

Poor girl! Her death has been reported several times yet she still lives.

Maidservant Kim thoughtfully arranged the memorial service but she admitted to Master Lee that her primary reason was to protect her young master Jang Uk from the grudge-filled spirit of Cho Yeong.

Master Lee: If Jang Gang had found the child 20 years ago when he started looking, she would not have had quite such a difficult life. And Jang Gang would not have had to feel so guilty after all those years either.
Kim: Why guilty? Are you suggesting that Master Jang Gang wronged his best friend Cho Chung in some way? Punishing someone who practiced sorcery would be the right thing to do for any mage in this case. No matter how close they may have been, it was not wrong of Master Jang to do that.
Master Lee: You can’t just do what’s right or what’s wrong based merely on the things that you can see. There’s a hidden reason and a forgotten story, and they get tangled together to form the ties that bind us.

I take it to mean that the forgotten story is that little girl Cho Yeong’s story.

Kim: Are you implying that the Cho family is still holding a grudge against the Jang family for what happened to them? Is there someone from the Cho family who holds a grudge against this household? Has Songrim finally found that girl after all these years?
Master Lee: That little girl is dead.

And he sipped tea. Lol. Master Lee sipping tea could be a meme. Sipping tea means he knows more about the story, but he has no intention of gossiping about it. He won’t spill the tea.

Yes, in that sense, that little girl is dead once Jin Mu got his hands on her. In that innocent little girl’s place, he created a monster of an assassin.

Kim: Ah. I understand. That poor thing. I should hold a memorial service.
Master Lee: Maidservant Kim. You’re very warm-hearted.
Kim: It’s not a gesture of kindness. I’m worried that her spirit will stay here to hurt Young Master Jang. That’s the only reason.
Master Lee: What if her soul really is here? What if it’s lingering near the young master?
Kim: Of course, I’ll get rid of it. How could I let it linger if it’s obviously an evil spirit?
Master Lee: Evil spirit. (inhales) Do you know where MuDeok is now?
Kim: MuDeok? I sent her to Cheonbugwan to run an errand.

In my opinion, Master Lee didn’t believe that the child grew up to be an evil spirit. He pitied the the girl who became an assassin.

Master Lee: She was used for all the wrong reasons and met a terrible death. Naksu. I truly pitied her.

And he pitied the woman when Lady Jin imprisoned her in Jinyowon.

Master Lee: Then are you going to keep her confined?
Lady Jin: That is my decision to make. And if I decide to kill her because I can no longer stand it, then so be it. You promised to respect my decisions.
Master Lee: Jang Uk loved her. If you tell him, he will help you protect her.
Lady Jin: No. He was in love with Naksu. She will only live as my daughter, BuYeon. I will not let him find out about her. Besides, Jang Uk does not know what Naksu’s real face even looks like. Even if the two ever do meet, they will not be able to recognize each other. I have to live my life in agony looking at that girl’s face, so that is the price that must be paid.
Master Lee: I respected your decision as a mother and did not tell anybody of her existence. However, as of this day, the entire world ended up finding out about BuYeon.

Master Lee was practically congratulating Uk for stealing away Cho Yeong from Lady Jin.

Uk: (indignantly) Then did you just sit and watch as BuYeon was trapped in that room with that tracking thread sewn into her?
Master Lee: There must have been a reason for all that. You have taken what Jin HoGyeong has tried so hard to hide. You have done so completely.

This is the smile of a proud mentor.

Although Master Lee didn’t consider Naksu an evil spirit, it must be noted that the sky did try to kill her, though. Remember this?

Naksu was talking about the ceiling above the basin that opened when her hand was dipped in the basin. According to her father Mage Cho, the ceiling could only be opened by a constellation recorder mage. Uk worried that they must have done something wrong. Excitedly, Naksu claimed that it was her doing. She said, “It was me. I just did it. My energy seeped into the water. Like at Lake Gyeongcheondaeho and in the Mirror of Longing. My energy came back as well.”

As Uk looked up into the sky, the sky rumbled and sent down a powerful strike of lightning. Uk grabbed Naksu out of the way. The target was clearly Naksu/MuDeok.

Back then, I found it curious that the sky would deliberately try to injure Naksu. Was she an evil soul or was it perhaps the other spirit residing in that body?

To me, it’s plain as day that Cho Yeong isn’t the evil one. If anything, she’s the victim in this whole drama.

How many times has she been killed, or her life threatened in this drama? Off the top of my head, I’d say at least seven times.

1. When her father went berserk

2. When Jin Mu took her to the wilds and left her to survive on her own

Jin Mu: That is why I never revealed myself to her and made her live in the mountains all by herself. I took care of her just enough to survive. But she was the one who was determined and ended up growing to be so strong.

3. When Jin Mu sent her to face Park Jin’s army

Park Jin realized belatedly what Jin Mu had set up. He told Master Lee, “Back when I was after Naksu, I thought she was just a lunatic who wanted to show off her skills. That’s why I was never suspicious of the individuals she had killed before.” Master Lee then correctly deduced that she was killing those whose souls have already been shifted by Jin Mu, i.e., the souls that have been discarded.

Park Jin explained that she obeyed Jin Mu out of vengeance for the death of her parents. But once Songrim was after Naksu, Jin Mu feared that his alchemy of souls would be exposed.

Park Jin: So he had to send Naksu to Songrim, fully aware that she would die.

4. When Jin Mu retrieved her dead body and ordered it burned

5. When Jin Mu’s henchman Gilju dueled with her

6. When Jin Mu set the Eunuch on her

7. When Jin Mu activated the (cow)bells and sending her berserk like her father did.

Lol. Do you see the common denominator here?

Jin Mu.

That’s why I believe Uk CANNOT kill Jin Mu on his own or by himself. There’s neither satisfaction nor closure to be gained by Cho Yeong if Jin Mu meets his death without her in attendance and in full possession of her memory. She has to be an active participant in the punishment and demise of chief assailant, Jin Mu. As much as this drama is about Uk’s destiny as the King’s Star, the subtext is Cho Yeong’s transformation from victim to heroine. She must deal the final blow to Jin Mu.

Lastly, the name Cho Yeong parallels the name of Jin Seolran. It isn’t the name Jin BuYeon. Sure, BuYeon is heiress of the Jinyowon and she’s a great priestess like her famous ancestor.

But Cho Yeong is the one comparable to Jin Seolran for two reasons.

One, Jin Seolran’s name was never mentioned in the entire love poem. It wasn’t written down. It was missing in the pages. Yet paradoxically it’s everywhere in the poem. And it’s the secret name to unlock the real meaning of the poem.

Likewise, Cho Yeong’s name has never been mentioned by Uk in these 26 episodes. I doubt that he even knew her real name since Park Jin only referred to her as the daughter of Mage Cho. Mostly, Uk called her by the name, MuDeok, when she was alive, and then Naksu when she was dead. Cho Yeong is the dirty secret that Jin Mu has been hiding all these years.

Two, although Master Seo never inscribed Jin Seolran’s name on the poem, she was the reason behind every thought and action of his.

Similarly, Uk has never uttered Cho Yeong’s name, but she’s the reason behind his every thought and action ever since he met her as the assassin in a servant girl’s body, and when he met her again as the crazy and useless priestess.

So, what’s in a name?

Well…when the name of the beloved is already engraved in one’s heart, it no longer matters how the whole world decides to rename her. By any other name, she remains forever precious.