This thread is late. I apologize.
I haven’t forgotten about the password-protected posts. Just give me time. I still have to add the screenshots but I’m having technical difficulties. I can’t add them like I normally do. I don’t know what’s up with this blog. It behaves like an unruly child that I never had.
Oh well. The doctors said I should take it easy for a while so the posts will be opened when they open…I guess.
I hope you enjoyed this weekend’s episodes. Let the good times roll.
What can I say? Eps 7-8 have been a roller coaster ride once more (with many key milestones, and a MAJOR bummer)
Key milestones established:
1) OTP finally both fess up and confront their feelings for each other
2) Uk finally moves past his grief to embrace his new love
3) Naksu finally remembers ALL her memories
4) Uk finally
Other key narrative milestones:
1) Seo Yul is saved (but I have a LOT to say about this). I regretted writing a long treatise to defend his sanity last week. He truly is an emotional cretin.
2) We saw the debut of the Fire Bird (and a foreshadow of CP & Uk working in cooperation, with Bu-Yeon as mediator as a rehearsal of the finale showdown?)
Master Lee later intimated that he started seeding this a long time ago when he kept sending CP to “check on” Uk on pretext of rewarding him
3) Jin Mu stepping up in his villainy (including power grabbing Jinyowon; and moving the CP against Uk by disclosing his royal bloodline as the legitimate heir apparent to the throne)
and finally…the BUMMER:
Naksu’s soul will leave Bu_yeon’s body very soon.
To quote Seo Yul here: “Take your heart out, and break it to pieces.”
blog author-nim, please take your time to recover and i hope you all the best! i love your posts and ever since i discovered your posts thanks to alchemy of souls 2 making me so obsessed and the internet algorithm just a week ago, i have been checking everyday for new posts. i’m not saying this to rush you but to express how great your analysis/ opinion posts are, and from personal experience one can write best when they are well physically and mentally and when they truly want to write/ feel like writing. so my biggest hope is for you to take your time to recover and for all to go well for you!
i love the kiss scene at the end of ep 7. some people say it’s the most realistic kdrama kiss yet i disagree – it is so over the top (hence kdrama viewers shouldn’t expect their kisses to be anywhere on the same level of passion and haste) but it is also what the moment calls for and it feels right because this is jang uk and cho yeong’s love story. the cinematography has always been great for AoS, but the cinematography and editing of the kiss scene just made me grasp – it gives the feels and somehow manages to significantly lessen the distance between the viewers and the story.
i feel for cho yeong/ naksu so much – of course jin buyeon will have to tell her that her soul will disappear soon which bars her from being with jang uk. the acting is phenomenal – angst and sorrows seep through the screen and touch my heart. lee jae wook’s filmography is outstanding and i attribute that to his smart script choice, talent and his ambitions with the art of acting – which are usually expressed in his interviews. for the new generation of gen z actors, i rate jae wook the highest for both his efforts and his talent.
with the creators throwing twists after twists and new information after new information during the third and fourth to last episode, i began to wonder why i liked this drama so much! i didn’t like season one and yet obsess over season 2. AoS 2 makes me want to talk in double-entendre lines in real life. perhaps, it is the fact that the plot is largely driven by conscious choices made by a web of inter-related characters, with fully-fetched-out reasonings and consistent personality behind those choices, instead of random events or shallow inconsistent plot-device characters. it shows individual agency, choices, efforts and social dynamics, which appeals to me as a young adult about to enter their 20s.
Addendum:
4) Uk finally recognizes Naksu, in spite of her noble idiot rejection of him. The blue light finally bloomed like flowers in her eyes.
*fist pump*
Let’s put an end to Noble Idiocy once and for all.
It never had a place in S1, and shall never be tolerated in S2 either.
I think I am just going to short-fuse this whole discussion since we really only have one more weekend left to the end and showdown.
Seeing how things have transpired (I was furious and upset about that major bummer of YET another plot twist in the soul/body/will Byzantine mess), this is what I think will eventually happen.
I hope to be proven wrong (because I dearly wish for a happy ending for our OTP. DEARLY.)
Sequence of things that will take place (for OTP):
1) Naksu and Uk will enjoy their last beautiful period of love as who they have been in S1 (they already mutually recognized each other and have recovered all shared memories)
2) They will also heal and be reconciled to the trauma/hurt/horror of their last dying moments in a previous life of Naksu stabbing Uk and her petrifying. Hence, achieving closure to the past.
3) With this last fast closing golden window of time (when Naksu not only possess the full recovered memories of Naksu BUT also the almost fully recovered divine powers of Bu-Yeon, BUT before the soul of the real Bu-Yeon awakens and evicts Naksu) — our OTP will become the ultimate pairing of 200 years ago — the Mage and the Priestess.
4) They will take down the villains and kick ass hence fulfilling their destiny function and eternal archetype as required.
5) Therefore, the real Bu-Yeon awakens. Naksu’s soul dies. Uk grieves the loss of his true love once again.
6) Bu-Yeon now assumes the face of the real Bu-Yeon (here, Jung Soo-min returns! as cameo!)
7) She gazes lovingly at Uk (having gone through and experienced their deep tumultuous love together with our OTP). She grants him his last wish as only a true Jinyowon priestess can. She extracts his Ice Stone so that he can finally expires and dies with his true love, Naksu.
8) He cradles his dead lover under the tall tree. V/O of JSM as Naksu telling him that old old story of a bird egg on a tall tree, and how Uk is the only one who can protect her.
THE END
omg Empress New Clothes
yes this is also what i think will happen
i still hold onto a stupid hope that jin bu yeon go against her character and let go of her life so cho yeong and jang uk can have a happy ending
i don’t think buyeon body will convert back to her original face, because the reason why cho yeong’s face manifest is that buyeon body already petrified hence has no appearance? that’s why we see cho yeong’s face slowly forming as the petrified parts of her body are converted into living parts. for both seasons, there are two souls existing in buyeon’s body and we don’t see the appearance change either way – so petrification and being revived are probably the requirement for changing appearance effect. for that reason, i hope jung so min cameo will be for a happy ending for our main couple despite the shaky logics and hong sisters’ notorious history of sad endings.
I don’t think the soul/body thing is confusing at all. Lee tells the Jin mother that Bu Yeons body needs Naksu’s soul to survive and “gets rid of” Bu Yeons soul. Later he says to those that know that Bu Yeons body will eject Naksu’s soul and Bu Yeons will take over.
Which means he is what he was in the last season: a liar. A benevolent one perhaps, but not an honest person.
Lee himself is the product of A silly, improbable deus ex machine incident: his pupil burned his body thinking he was dead…and Lee’s wandering soul slipped into a boy that had just died (how convenient!). I think something similar is in the cards for young Bu-Yeon’s (or Naksu’s) soul, and the architect of that is Lee himself.
The ressurected Bu Yeon had an almost instant, and improbable love for Jang as soon as she met him, which the recent episodes elude to…this isn’t finding a new love…but restablishing what shouod never have been lost. Handling the grief of murdering the love of her life is probably the last obstacle of the story.
So I predict we either get everything or nothing: Jang, Bu Yeon, and Naksu are given new life (Bu Yeon is a victim too)…or they all die…cross fingers for the former.
Kalimera Everyone and Happy New Year.
If you were around while we were discussing the first Part, you would know that we were wondering WHEN the two souls will be split. We knew from the very beginning that Cho Yeong should have her own body and Jin Bu Yeon her MuDeok-ah Avatar.
That was the reason I wanted the Jin BuYeon arc to be resolved and to have a solution about it.
Instead what we got was an easy way out. I am talking technically about the script.
The Hong Sisters dragged this unresolved problem up until now, in order to find a Deux Ex Machina to resolve this problem. We returned back in the first episode of Part 1. Zero progress. Cho Yeong has the same fate once again…
The body that had traces of Jin BuYeon’s soul that were clinging to Cho Yeuon’s energy.
The body whose divine powers were awakened and would throw out the soul who had memories.
The body with the divine powers and the soul of its owner Jin Bu Yeon USED Cho Yeong’s Mage Energy in order to rebuilt her divine powers and become the Mighty Priestess – she was not.
From all those tidbits of information one is for sure and we theorized about it since Part 1 and we knew we were true. Jin BuYeon went on her own accord to do the Alchemy of Souls, later on we learned she closed in her body Cho Yeong’s soul. We theorized that BY wanted CY in order to get the Ice Stone.
We missed the information that BY when she was on the boat and her Uncle Jin Mu broke her connection with the Ice Stone, hurt her as well. This is my assumption, but as it seems the incident deprived her divine powers. She was just like Jin BuYeon 2.0 aka Cho Yeong’s state in Part 2 Episode 1-2.
The Hong Sisters did an easy way out and made Jin Bu Yeon a questionable character.
In my book the real Jin BuYeon is unethical since she DELIBERATELY used Cho Yeong’s energy to survive and retrieve her divine powers.
And now that she got what she wanted since the beginning, the little BuYeon came out to inform Cho Yeong that she needs to find another body, and if she hadn’t retrieve her memories, then she would be unaware of what happened and Cho Yeong would die without realizing it.
And I have to accept the solution the Hong Sisters gave to us just like that? Making Master Lee an unreliable narrator in the meantime.
Sorry but nope. Jin BuYeon shouldn’t be alive in the first place.
She is alive because of the Ice Stone and if she wants back her divine powers, who can be that sure that JBY doesn’t want the Ice Stone out of Jang Uk’s chest?
Thanks goodness @Packmule3 that they didn’t have a sexual intercourse. If the body became pregnant the crazy Jins would get the mighty descendant.
I am not going to blame Cho Yeong for pushing away Jang Uk after remembering who she really is. After all, we were waiting for her guilt to show up and do exactly what she did.
BUT
I am going to blame all those who know a bit of information and they are holding it for themselves.
In the end, Master Lee said it himself. Jang Uk needs to make a decision WHOM to save. Master Lee is of Hwansu level himself, but as a bystander he says it is Jang Uk’s responsibility. After all, Jang Uk takes all responsibility and they all know it.
I haven’t watched Eps 7 & 8 with my usual single-mindedness, @Cleopatra. Probably bec I’m on meds?? 😂😂
But I agree. Jin BuYeon is dubious.
1. I remember what @Welmaris a long time ago. She said that Jin BuYeon’s 10 year absence should have a good explanation.
Tell me if I remembered this incorrectly: when Cho Yeong wanted to escape Jinyowon, and Uk offered to send her far away, didn’t she say that she couldn’t do that because it would hurt her mother who spent 10 years looking for? It struck me then that Cho Yeong (aka the memory-less Naksu) was a much more compassionate “daughter” than this priestess Jin BuYeon/MuDeok. MuDeok lived in that Sari village for 10 years and not once did it enter her head that her mother would be mourning for her. Sure, she doesn’t trust Jin Mu and her father, but she left behind her grieving mother who surely would have enough power to protect her by Jin Mu if she told her the truth.
What a weird daughter!
2. And yes, Jin BuYeon has used Cho Yeong/Naksu’s soul once too many already.
a. In the original soul-switch, when she replaced the tavern maid.
b. In Ep 18, when she saved the ice stone from grasp of the Queen/fake shaman.
c. Then, in this Season 2, when only Naksu’s soul was miraculously alive, and her soul was clinging to her
d. And now, when she plans to to take over body and eject Cho Yeong’s soul once and for all.
I really don’t have any sympathy for her. She seems to be a freeloader.
Hey @Packmule3!
A big HUG for you!
Yes, you remember it correctly. Cho Yeong didn’t want to disappear because her mother was looking for her for ten years and didn’t want to break her heart.
I don’t remember @Welmaris comment, but now you are mentioning it, she has a very good point! They need to tell us why she kept away for so long since BuYeon had her memories intact but not her powers.
Cho Yeong is a more compassionate daughter because up until she was a tabula rasa, she brought out all her upbringing, the good manners and the personality she had as a child in Mage Cho’s household.
The young Cho Yeong was most likely a happy, good and compassionate child that was making everyone smile and that is what we saw when Jang Uk took her away from the Jin Matriarch. This Jin Bu Yeon is actually Cho Yeong.
I don’t think that the real Jin BuYeon is an innocent soul.
There is something we have discussed back in Part 1 but we need to revisit, since the path the Hong Sisters took in the latest episodes.
The Jin Matriarch had 13 months in her womb the dead embryo and then went to Jang Gang to revive / ressurect her with the Ice Stone.
Who is the soul he brought back? Are we that sure Jang Gang brought Jin BuYeon’s soul? Or did he bring another one?
I don’t have any sympathy for her either. I dislike that the Hong Sisters made her a villainess, but Jin BuYeon had done more than enough to hurt Cho Yeong in the meantime.
@Cleopatra, what a theory – that Jang Kang put a different soul into the baby! That would be dreadful indeed, but I love the thought. Perhaps we don’t have enough episode time to explore that. However, that would make the baby a soul changer, rather than just being revived and wouldn’t it then petrify? Whose soul would be the strong soul then in the baby and later co-residing in Mu Deok’s body, that Master Lee described? Rather, I think that BuYeon’s personality reflects her mother’s will to survive and protect Jinyowon at any cost.
It sounds as though the Jin matriarch is unwell – that will enhance her desperation to help her heir in order to protect Jinyowon.
I love reading all of the theories and points above. Thank you everyone.
Kalimera my dear @Fern!
How did Jang Gang know in the first place he found the correct soul for the embryo? Since they haven’t told us anything about Jin BuYeon’s birth it is something we can ask ourselves. I am not waiting any answer from the Hong Sisters. They covered their plot hole in this way. So, why give us an explanation altogether?
The thing is if the Jin Matriarch is unwell, where is Jin BuYeon’s real loyalty not only towards her mother, but also Jinyowon?
In my eyes, the real Jin BuYeon should not become the true heir of Jinyowon because she hasn’t done anything to secure its position. So far, she is securing her powers.
Cho Yeong volunteered to go into the Prison to find Jinyowon’s plaque along with the black tortoise. The real Jin BuYeon is nowhere to be seen, as she was doing since Part 1.
I am sorry that I cannot accept that the real Jin BuYeon actually cares about her Mother, Sister or her Jinyowon. The real Jin BuYeon has her own agenda and if she wants Jinyowon it is for her agenda only. She is not trying to keep the balance as the legendary Jinyowon’s founder Jin Seol Ran actually did and paid for with her life.
I expect the worst from her.
So in the end it will be up to UK to decide if he will do the alchemy of souls. He’ll probably do it because it’s the title of the show. 🙄😂
Seriously, I just want a happy ending that makes sense. That’s all.
I’d like to believe that CP is on UK’s side now.
I’d like to believe that Master Lee really knows what he’s doing. 😂
@PM3 hope you rest a little more and get well soon.
Episode 7 and 8 were fun.
This season/part2 has been cute but the memory loss hasn’t worked for me and there are too many convenient plot holes to deal with. I have tried to stop thinking. I was waiting anxiously for the angst that she would feel when she remembered. So yes, episode 8 was my cup of tea.
I didn’t mind the trope of her being a noble idiot at all. I was surprised when instead of disappearing she still stayed in full sight of everyone. Again, she did no research with regard to what had happened earlier or even what happened to her body (how she came into this new self). But I don’t care. I wish they had done this a little earlier so that we could explore other parts of the story but I can keep wishing…
I do not know why but I think that it will be a “happy” ending. Somehow all the foreshadowing of her dying seems like a red herring to me. I am no good at predictions so am not even trying. Any which way, Hong sisters will bring up new elements to make the show end at the note that they like.
I do think if episode 29/9 is happy then 10/30 will be sad. Park Jin or Dangu could become martyrs but we will see.
One possibility is: Naksu’s soul might be evicted, Uk will fight against JM and then she comes back as JB’s only role was to facilitate the removal of evil and who knows, she might just be the soul of the 200 year old ancestor priestess (who decides to be kind to the two lovers) — after all whose soul JG put into the unborn child is unknown.
Another possibility is O’ Henry-like sacrifice: both do something thinking it would save the other but end up dying. It could also be Romeo-Juliet style death. I am just wondering what can have the most shock value because that is what the show keeps aiming for. This time around UK can’t die at CY’s hands and any other way of killing Uk will not be as sad. Will episode 20 be mirrored such that UK kills CY — seems impossible given that Uk loves her… a lot — but it is Hong Sisters so maybe the bird ends up in BY’s body and he has to kill her to finish off the bird and save the world. (my imagination is running wild and am laughing coz the last one is absurd!)
She says: I loved him more than he loved me. When will she show us that love in action? I am open to any sacrifice that she makes — I am ok with angsty love stories 😀
Crying can be fun.
I wonder why have we not used CY, the name, at all in this season.
I miss Uk’s accent and love-filled “Mudeokaaah”.
Hong Sisters in this part took away Uk’s deduction powers when it came to JB/Naksu part of his life.
I missed Uk’s point of view and process in this season.
And I enjoyed episode 8 but later did wonder: Why did Naksu in JB’s body not take any weapons with her when she was told that wraiths are inside that prison space? She was in her bravery mode but why? She doesn’t like Mom Jin, she said that she was going to meet her killer (and not the person who made her kill her lover!) but not to save the world!
Anyway, I will not think about it and just enjoy the feels that some scenes bring. I think ep 9 and 10 will be “thrilling”.
I am going to miss Uk, Kim Do Joo and Dangu. I think I will miss Uk’s relation with Kim Do Joo the most. Maybe after the coming weekend, I can move on and start investing my heart in new dramas instead of just watching something in order to not go crazy waiting for the next chapter of Uk’s story.
stay well and warm.
@packmule in reference to the good daughter bit, if I remember correctly, Jin Buyeon didn’t know who she was, hence being named Mudeok by the kind grandma who found her & raised her as her granddaughter
@Luwa,
In Ep 19, the grandma who found her at the beach (or lakeside?) said, “It’s a pity that you cannot see or even remember your own name. Would you like to live with me? Hmmm? My granddaughter who’s been dead now was called MuDeok? Would you like to be MuDeok?” and she nodded.
And that’s where that JBY lived with for 10 years until the grandmother passed away and she had to be sold to the gisaengs to pay for debts.
Now, consider these.
1. If Cho Yeong — who’s not a powerful priestess — was able to regain her memory while in MuDeok’s body in less than 1 month? 2 months? after leaving Jinyowon, then I don’t get why the young powerful JBY couldn’t have regained hers in all those 10 years she was in Sari.
2. Whenever the young JBY or adult JBY appeared or spoke to Naksu, she had full cognizance of the power of the ice stone. Like in Ep 1 when she took the place of the tavern girl. In Ep 5 when she appeared in Naksu’s dream. In Ep 8, when she rescued Uk from Gilju’s AoS and smiled at him. In Ep 18, at the ice stone death demo and when she explained the burden of the ice stone.
If JBY truly didn’t know who she was and had zero recollection of her being the priestess, then all those wouldn’t be possible. She would have no idea what an ice stone would be. She wouldn’t know how to switch souls with Naksu. She wouldn’t know about her divine powers. She wouldn’t have any idea at all that she was a powerful priestess of Jinyowon.
If she was truly amnesiac, then all she would know is that she was a blind girl from Sari who could see people as energies. When would she have the opportunity to know about an ice stone?
But the fact that she DARED to switch souls with Naksu is proof that she KNEW who she was from the very beginning. She was aware that she was more powerful than Naksu. That’s why she gave Naksu that smug smile in that alchemical pool. Naksu was surprised to see her. But she was expecting Naksu. Master Lee even said, “Naksu did not take over this body using alchemy of souls. Her soul was actually locked up inside this body.”
Do you follow my logic?
Jin BuYeon knew who the heck she was. She did NOT have amnesia, or if she did, she was no longer amnesiac by the time she met Naksu.
But I get your confusion because the Hong sisters were either grossly inconsistent with their characterization of Jin BuYeon, or deliberating hiding something for big reveal. 🤦♀️
There are these glaring inconsistencies.
1. Her 13 month gestation
Like what’s up with that? What’s the significance of 13 months? And why did Lady Jin hold on that long if the baby had died in the womb earlier?
2. Her father denied paternity
JinMu: That little girl, who was born and blessed with the mighty power of the ice stone, seems to have found the ice stone that my master sealed, in Lake Gyeongcheondaeho.
Mr. Choi: I am certain that BuYeon is of Jang Gang’s bloodline. He must have used sorcery to save her since she is his.
JinMu: Do you resent her?
Mr. Choi: It is because of that child that the princess of the Jin family who was out of my league has decided to marry someone like me. I should be grateful to her.
JinMu would muse however, “Jin BuYeon died because of her father who was blinded by his own inferiority and jealousy. Jin BuYeon’s immense divine powers did not only come from her mother of the Jin family. They also came from her father, a descendant of the fallen Choi family. Shaman siblings, who barely made a living through divinations were of the bloodline of Choi, the first mage to perform the alchemy of souls using the ice stone. Jin BuYeon was a priestess with incredible divine powers who inherited the blood of both those families.”
While she was holding on to the ice stone, a dark funnel of swirling wind arose from the ice stone and reached the skies. Jin Mu grabbed the ice stone from her, elbowing her off the boat.
3. Her end goal
In Ep 19, she was relieved that she didn’t lose the ice stone like she did last time. But what did she really want to do with it? Send it back to the skies? Guard it? Give it to someone?
4. Her dubious morality
This has to be said because I think many of you are confused or overlooking this.
She’s as immoral as Jin Mu and Lady Jin.
Sure, she hasn’t killed people as Jin Mu or tortured people like Lady Jin but her morals — as they stand now — are screwed up. She uses people, to be specific, Cho Yeong, as a tool or means for her own ends, for her survival, for her own objectives. That’s morally impermissible. Nobody has the right to treat and manipulate another person as a mere instrument, a stepping-stone, or an object without agency in order to achieve what she wants. It doesn’t matter how lofty the goals are, it’s a no-no. It doesn’t matter if she’s some powerful priestess or a shaman, it’s still a no-no.
BTW, I didn’t come up with that concept. Those are philosophical musings of people much more erudite that I am.
Look: if she can be a great priestess because of her Jin and Choi “bloodlines” — like what Jin Mu said — then, by the same token, she can also be as despicable as her mother Lady Jin, as war-mongering as that first Choi mage who performed the first Alchemy of Souls, and as treacherous as Shaman Choi.
Think about that. 🙂
The promise that the detested Naksu will disappear and her beloved Jin Bu Yeon will take over the revived body is keeping Madame Jin’s murderous impulse at bay. If Master Lee let slip a benevolent lie, he did it to increase Cho Yeong’s chances of survival.
Just as the death of the rumored Naksu soul shifter needed to be public to stop all rumors, the disappearance of Naksu’s “soul” needs to be acknowledged by many so Assassin Naksu and her guilt are laid to rest. Even though Naksu killed mages under Jin Mu’s orders, and she was (unbeknownst to her) killing victims of soul shifting, the good folk of DaeHo would have difficulty forgiving or trusting someone they feared for so long. That is why I’m rooting for Cho Yeong to be the last woman standing, so to speak.
I agree Jin Bu Yeon has been manipulative, and doesn’t necessarily deserve the rights to the body she claims as her own. Her soul is also a resident of that body only because of the power of the ice stone. Where was Jin Bu Yeon’s soul, and why wasn’t she guarding that body when her own mother was choking the life out of it? (That’s the second time Jin Bu Yeon’s body died.) Where was Jin Bu Yeon’s soul and powers of protection when Jin Mu jingled the cursed bells, enchanting Naksu and sending her on a murderous rampage? Mu Deok became petrified because Naksu was expending her mage force during her killing spree. The imbalance of force is what hastened the petrification. Whose force was more powerful? Naksu’s. For some reason, at that point Jin Bu Yeon’s body was just a weak vessel, which then turned to stone. For the third time, Jin Bu Yeon’s soul and powers were missing in action. So when that little Jin Bu Yeon shows up to say she’ll take back her body once again, after losing it in death three times, I think her claim lacks validity.
Let’s just make this clear how many times Jin Bu Yeon has not effectively protected her body:
1) Died in utero
2) Jin Mu wrested the ice stone from her despite her refusal, then she fell in the lake and (nearly) drowned
3) Intercepted Naksu’s Alchemy of Souls, on purpose trapping Naksu’s soul in her body
4) Died by magical strangulation at her own mother’s hands
5) Leaped into the lake to drown by suicide as petrification of her body was becoming complete.
@Welmaris,
True.
If the “moral” lesson of this kdrama is about power and innate talents, then I say Jin BuYeon wins over Naksu/Cho Yeong, just like genius Yul wins over Uk.
But since Season 1, the central message is about having giseya or will/determination/force/energy. As Naksu said, “it’s better to die than do nothing.” By that, she meant it’s better to die fighting and striving for something than just mope, sulk, and wait around. That’s what Naksu did to survive in the wilderness where Jin Mu left her. She didn’t possess divine powers like JBY was vaunted to possess, but she exceeded all expectations because of her sheer will.
So to me, if ever JBY and Cho Yeong are going to fight over who has control over whose destiny, Cho Yeong should win. She’s in control. For instance, in JBY stated that Cho Yeong gained her full memory back even BEFORE JBY got ALL her divine powers back.
Then, when Jin Mu demanded that the heiress of Jinyowon showed up, it was Cho Yeong who showed up at Cheonbugwan with the turtle and the Jinyowon plaque. That wasn’t JBY’s soul. That was Cho Yeong/Naksu’s soul who was determined to meet Jin Mu.
And when she told Lady Jin to trust in her “daughter’s” power, that wasn’t JBY’s soul speaking. That was Cho Yeong/Naksu’s soul speaking with confidence and hauteur. She wasn’t going to let Jin Mu bully Jinyowon.
I also remember Ep 16 when Jin ChoYeon bragged about her unnie.
JCY: Even though unnie was blind, she could see energy and handle relics. Even as a child, her abilities were on par with my mother’s.
Naksu: Well, I’ve heard the Jin family members have stronger divine powers than spell-related powers.
JCY: You saw me handle Gwiju, right? It’s like that. A really powerful priestess can control people’s souls and render them helpless by trapping them.
–> And this is what Jin BuYeon did to Naksu
Naksu: Did you say trapping a soul?
JCY: Mmm-hmmm. If the priestess traps their powers, even the most powerful mage is helpless.
Naksu: Well, I have heard there are shamans who can erase or change memories of a soul.
JCY: (a bit offended) A Jinyowon priestess is in a different league.
Naksu: How did such an amazing girl like her get into such an accident?
JCY: Because she’s amazing!
Jin ChoYeon became defensive but I thought Naksu made a good point. If Jin BuYeon was so amazing, then how was it that for 10 years — or even the last 4 years — she didn’t do something like show up at Jinyowon?
Oh well.
She may be the priestess, but as Naksu asked Jin ChoYeon in Season 1
Pffft.
Last moments of S2:E8, we see something catch Cho Yeong’s eye. There’s a skeleton laying on the ground, a icy blue stone glowing within the left side of its ribcage.
–The glowing stone is the shape and size of the ice stone. It is faceted, like the ice stone, not a smooth ball like soul ejectors.
–When Cho Yeong sensed the force of the ice stone in Uk, it was when she ran her hand along the left side of his chest.
–Is the skeleton with its magical stone actual, or an apparition? If real, whose skeleton? If the glowing stone doesn’t just look like an ice stone, but is an ice stone, are there two?
–A menacing wraith appears to challenge Cho Yeong as she approaches the mysterious glowing stone. We know that Uk is haunted by apparitions the night after he uses the power of the ice stone to eliminate soul shifters. Apparitions are drawn to the force of the ice stone.
–Cho Yeong’s yin yang jade is activated automatically when she’s in danger from the wraith.
–Uk appears in the magical prison world just in time to save Cho Yeong from the wraith by dispatching it with one stroke of his sword. Uk has told her more than once that he is able to go anywhere he wants: no place, even Jinyowan, can successfully keep him out. With his ability to enter the magical prison and deal easily with the wraith, it appears Uk still has the power of the ice stone.
My suspicion is that this skeleton and its magical stone will be key in solving the issues that have been bothering us about Cho Yeong’s fate.
@Welmaris,
Yes, I think the stone inside the skeleton is an ice stone. I also think that the skeleton is that of the Choi mage the CP mentioned shortly before Cho Yeong entered the Gwido.
CP: A mage from the Choi family also died there 200 years ago. What will you do if a Jinyowon priestess also dies in there?
Jin Mu: That kind of thought is also a sign of weakness.
Back in Season 1, Episode 19, Jin Mu mentioned that the “Shaman Choi siblings… were of the bloodline of Choi, the first mage to perform the alchemy of souls using the ice stone.” This tells me the Chois had an ice stone in their possession at one point to be able to perform the AoS and write that instruction manual the Shaman Choi tried saving from the bonfire.
I guess Jin Mu didn’t realize that the rain dance was unnecessary since there was already an ice stone right there under his nose. He’d never entered the Gwido. 🙂
BTW, in the BTS for Episodes 7 & 8, there was a spoiler for Episode 9. The CP appeared in the forest while Cho Yeong and Uk were talking. He was holding the turtle in his hand.
Hi all. I cannot find opinion on this, and I am not getting it the soul swapping absolute consequences. In Part 1, episode 1, Jang Gang and the King swiched for seven days, and then switched back. Neither of them petrified in a a body with a different soul.
Same episode, if Naksu’s soul did go into the bar-girl’s body, would the bar-girl’s soul die immediately?
Or, would it be a temporary incognito for Naksu? Naksu can switch back later with the bar girl?
@Packmule3, speaking of the red-eared slider, did you notice its sudden increase in size? Did someone slip it growth hormones? Is it morphing into a mutant ninja turtle?
Kalimera @Welmaris and @Packmule3!
I agree with you that the stone inside that skeleton is an Ice Stone. We knew that many Ice Stones existed before, but Master Heo destroyed them, except the one he kept for Jin Seol Ran.
The thing is that we have already seen Mage Choi who first performed Alchemy of Souls, in a flashback back in the first episodes of Part 1.
The thing is that this Ice Stone is different in shape and in color than Jang Uk’s. I don’t know if the ankle is misleading us about the shape, but the color is green while Jang Uk’s is light blue.
Does that mean that every Ice Stone has a different color?
If they have a different color, does that mean they have also a different purpose / usage?
Are they Hong Sisters going to give us more info about it?
Hey @Fan of TKEM!
It’s been a while! Regarding your question.
The old King was sick and his body was frail. He died shortly after he returned to his body and before Jang Uk was born.
Jang Gang didn’t petrify at once, but indeed his hand was petrified as a result some time after he run away. If he didn’t die for twenty years, it was from his vigor and guilt. He was not eating other people’s energy in order to survive.
I cannot answer to your question about the bar girl and Naksu.
Naksu’s body was harm gravely by Park Jin. Jin Mu sent her to a suicide mission. Naksu was strong but not as strong as Park Jin and all the Songrim’s Mages that were there.
What we really don’t know is the following: would Naksu really die if her soul remained in her body? From what we have seen, Cho Yeong doesn’t die that easily…
You got that right, @Cleopatra.
It’s demonstrably clear that Cho Yeong doesn’t die easily. Kinda like that mole in “the whack-a-mole” arcade game. She keeps on popping back up. I like her better than the female lead in the Hong sisters’ “Hwayugi.” Ugh! She was one of the worst heroines the Hong sisters did. Too messianic. She was looking for the perfect crisis/catastrophe/disaster to commit suicide.
Hey @Packmule3!
Cho Yeong is way better than the “Hwayugi” female lead. BTW, I dropped that kdrama because of her stupidity. Oh well…🙄
To return to Cho Yeong.
If we rewatch the scene in Part 1 where Master Lee was referring to that great soul, it is crystal clear now that Cho Yeong is the Great Soul inside Jin BuYeon’s body and not vice versa.
I am really curious to see IF CY is connected genetically with Jin Seol Ran. We know about her father Mage Choi, but nothing about her mother. Isn’t that mysterious?
Sincerely wishing you a fast recovery
The continuity of kissing scene by the end of episode 7 then continue at the start of ep 8 make me shocketh!!yo girl never been kissed so i don’t know if the push against the wall and against the bookshelf is really necessary. It is a really a relief however, when the ice stone c**ckblocking their session, because if not, JangUk will make love with JinBuYeon’s body that has Yeong soul in it, and how about when Yeong soul gone and there is a child in that body? It is JangGang, Dohwa & King tragedy all over again. JangUk, son of JangGang by body but son of King by soul.
There is a rave at twitter about how JinBuyeon actually a real villain of the story ( of course there are people saying how JinBuYeon is the REAL victim). How can she make a fool of Master Lee? She should be gone right? Because Mama Jin already choose to save JinBuYeon’s body not her soul? Or JinBuYeon really is a divine priestess after all? But she need to suck out energy from other soul for her divine power?Why JinBuyeon show up arrogantly as a child not an adult ? Bragging to Yeong how she almost done sucking Yeong’s energy so now Yeong has to go. Well, i’d say we throw and submerged JinBuYeon in Lake Gyeongcheondaeho because the lake seems weakened JinBuYeon and making Yeong able to unsheathe her sword.
About SeoYul, i want to defend him in this eps but on eps 7, he seems cold towards Yeong. Maybe the heat getting to him but why he do that to his life savior? At least smile for her dammit! But i realised, Yul really want to kill Yeong for his noble & heroism lifestyle. And him, with her. Yul don’t want to hesitate like before just because she is her first love then regretted it for 3 years. He really is a rigid person. Yul then tell Yeong to remember everything a little bit forcefully to my liking. But Yul redeem himself for being Yeong’s knight in shadow and defend her from HeomYunOk. It is cute how they incorporate Sleeping Beauty to save SeoYul with true love kiss except it is from former 1st lover.
I am a bit bitter about HeomYunOk screentime in S2 . Perhaps it was necessary for her to pour the potion so the soul shift mark can bloom in Yeong’s eyes. I am anticipating for JinChoYeon appears as a villain in this season as an evil envious little sister. Then we can hail Jin’s family as the wicked and corrupted.
After So-i, maybe its time for GoWon arc of redemption. He fell prey to JinMu play that after so long, he realised he just another puppet for JinMu like the King and Queen. JinMu manipulate him to hate JangUk, rival for the throne and gaslighting him for doing everything JinMu told him to do. It is a bit funny to know that GoWon source of strength of betraying JinMu come from the turtle ( which actually a holy turtle; kind reminded me of the 4 guardian of Yin & Yang ; blue dragon, black turtle, crimson bird and white tiger)
Eps 7 & 8 has no wisdom coming from Park Jin’s kitchen. Just Park Jin scolding JangUk like a father should.
For the evil to forfeit, i think some people from the good side have to die.
1) ChoYeong -ok how about myself
2) Park Jin
I’m rushing to leave comment here and there and feel a bit devastated and sad cause i cannot join livestreaming the last two eps. I’ll be staying in the forest for the whole week starting this weekend so no phone line whatsoever beside flora and fauna. Maybe if i’m lucky, i can found a tribe or two while in the jungle. TMI, this is my 2nd time staying in the wild after my last Entomology study trip approx. 9 years ago.
Hi all, first time commenter and lurker on the blog. Your perspectives are fantastic btw!
Not sure where this is going to end up, but I’m enjoying season 2. Some thoughts:
1) Deus ex machina devices: CP’s turtle. Now otherwise known as “The Black Tortise”. And, I’m going out on a limb, the skeleton + ice stone…
2) I’ve changed my mind. I used to think that Cho Yeong was Jin Seol-ran reincarnated. I now think the real Bu Yeon = Jin Seol-ran. When you think about it, the seeds are there – playing with artifacts, power over the ice stone, 13 months and unconfirmed soul (as pointed out in this thread), her callousness about everything except regaining her power (which is why she hijacked Naksu’s soul), and her level of knowledge about the ice stone. I think the romance between Seol-ran and the founder of Songrim has been a red herring all along.
3) Either the skeleton is Naksu (don’t think so and I can’t recall the entire conversation re her body) OR it becomes the “body” Bu Yeon/Seol-ran takes over because of its power/the ice stone. She’s already indicated that she’s heck bent on regaining her powers…
4) This new body enables Bu Yeon/Seol-ran to perform the ritual and save the lake.
5) Uk and Cho Yeong exorcise the baddies and “die” to become the special stars on Cho Yeong’s natal chart and restore balance. And I guess their souls commune happily ever after…?
Those are my thoughts. Now for the final episodes.
The pace of our main couple is moving a bit this 2 eps. I have now try to approve the main plot of Season 2 really is amnesia.
Yeong remember her life as Naksu the shadow assassin, knew who betrayed her and how her days counted. She remember her life as Mudeok and her love story with her pupil. Her noble act of abandoning JangUk for fear of run wild and hurt him again broke my heart. She was so happy and clingy to Uk and now she thinking to run away from him. Usually i dislike trope of girl like boy first cause the girl always have to leave and sacrifice to prove how much she love him.
After her memory return, there is a difference transition between a cheerful JinBuYeon and the shadow assassin Naksu. GoYounJung potrayed them flawlessly. The glare, the way of speaking, and the gait.
As for JangUk, after so much anger & denial, he accept his love for Yeong as bubbly, love him to death JinBuyeon. He got a little part of him from season 1 as a loverboy and i like how he fight for his love. He said he will accept JinBuyeon whoever she is in the past. However, i completly perplexed by how JangUk cannot recognize current JinBuyeon as his master? After so much showing how genius he is? After showing how he make the stone tower, hoping Naksu will come to him once again?Is he blinded by his grief until he cannot see it hit between his two eyes? How can he not connect all the hint?
I’m not sure if the sweet scene after kissing might foreshadowing what will happen to them. And why they brought up the question about how JangUk found the entrance to where Yeong was locked up?Is it gonna be a subplot about it?maybe its because Naksu’s sword detected her owner energy.
Yeong: I knew the moment I first saw you. You are my husband.This time, i recognized you first.
Yeong only touch her sword once. I hope there is more Naksu in action for the next eps.
The angst in eps 8. Oh my god. It’s chief kiss performance by LeeJaeWook & GoYounJung. The way Yeong confessed her feeling for him, tell him to let her go then leaving and the way Jang Uk said piece of his mind, will comeback and wait for her to miss him then storm out.
The way i’m sobbing along with Yeong. oh my god. How can two people loving each other to death willing to be apart from each other? How can Yeong not crumble after hearing JangUk plea & confession? Cause i did. I can hear the shattering. They spent more time apart from each other than be together and i’m upset for them.
This is slow burn romance is the best. Kudos
Thank you @Cleopatra and @packmule3 for the description. I will accept the thought that if a soul A is ejected from body A and enters body (B), it is an invasion. Soul A is invading soul B’s body B, and soul B is immediately shoved out of body B, and dies. Body A, with no soul, dies. The act of ejection is itself dark magic, and with magic, comes a price. I will refer to Part 1, episode 7 and episode 8, Gil-ju ejected himself out of his body, but had nowhere to go because Jin Bu-yeong held onto Jang Uk’s soul; Gil-ju’s soul had to go somewhere, and his body was the only place to go. Because he ejected his soul out, it was dark magic, and it tainted the compatibility of his soul with his body, so his body began to petrify.
I stopped in the beginning of episode 10, Part 1, so I don’t know the remaining 10.5 episodes of Part 1. I didn’t have the energy to comprehend all the diverging plot lines, and I gave up. I might go back and watch them so I have better foundation for Part 2.
I am enjoying Part 2 a LOT! It can be a standalone story. I am enjoying all the mirroring/parallels between Part 1 and Part 2, up to the episode 10 that I watched.
Okay, back to the Gwido prison, if the skeleton has the ice stone, then what could that red stone be inside the wraith?
That lucky turtle is a speedy traveler! Comparatively, lucky turtle is just as fast as Jang Uk and can also go “anywhere”!
Hi, this is my third posited ending (responding also to some queries about the stones seen in the Gwuido Prison)
DARK ALTERNATIVE ENDING:
This one I don’t relish but just throwing it out there (pls feel free to dispute or share your theories):
I thought the last story beat in the Gwuido Prison is absolutely intriguing with some subtle breadcrumbs:
1) Naksu reaches for a glowing blue stone in the heart cavity of a skeleton, suddenly a fearsome wraith swoops down on her ferociously to chase her off the corpse. The wraith has a corresponding glowing red stone in its heart cavity
2) The parallel to the blue/red yin-yang jade is so striking.
3) Blue = Naksu // the dead corpse (presumably Jin Seol-ran);
4) Red = Uk // the fearsome wraith that is protecting the dead lover fiercely (presumably Master Seo)
5) If No 3 is true, then this means one thing: Master Seo actually did perform sorcery and tried to save his lover. (because they preface the prison by saying it was meant as punishment for those who performed sorcery)
6) Knowing how Uk adores Naksu and would readily destroy the whole world to save her, I wouldn’t put it past him. At all.
This would be their future fate if they do trot down this same path from 200 years ago.
And he will turn into a wraith forever following his beloved, to the grave and beyond. Drawn to the Ice stone in her dead heart, like a moth to the light of a lantern a long long time ago.
To quote Seo Yul here: “Tear my heart out, and break it to pieces.”
ALTERNATIVE ENDING (HAPPY VERSION):
I really still want my happy ending, so…using my Machiavellian & pragmatic brain here:
They sent Songrim mages to furtively scour through every single mortuary in Daeho Fortress.
They just need a very fresh and pretty corpse at hand (and park it at Songrim secret chamber on the bed with fridgeing properties on STANDBY (yes, the same one they last parked Naksu’s corpse).
Uk uses his Hwansu to shift Naksu’s soul out of Bu-Yeon’s body to the dead corpse (This move is NOT illegal at all in the Daeho universe).
We solve the damn conundrum of always being one body too short, since S1.
There, there. Everybody will be happy.
P.S. Uk and Naksu retires to a hut at Danghyangok, and raise 3 kids. He will chop wood while she cooks pheasant broth. In the evening, they will make their kids climb trees. Of course, they continue to bicker in their ridiculously childish way.
THE END
I really just have three posited theories for the Ep 10 finale now.
Previously (BEFORE that serious bummer reveal that “Bu-Yeon will suck up Naksu’s energy and Naksu’soul will do a reverse fade-out”), I still had elaborate theories about the Ice Stone & the Fire Bird and how they will be embodied in the persons of our OTP (instead of relics) and used in the Drought & rain, but NOPE.
Not anymore.
With just 2 episodes to go, the Fire Bird now looks like a MacGuffin and will at most be used perfunctorily as a last resort.
Theory 4: (ok this is rehash variation of an earlier theory I had):
we get another Ice Stone (which looks possible IF the blue glowing one in the skeleton is an Ice Stone)
THEN we can Hwan-su Naksu to a fresh lovely corpse and separate from that sinister/suspect Bu-yeon.
My current (dwindled) wish-list:
1) I just want a HAPPY ending for my OTP (Hong Sisters, are you listening?)
2) Jin Mu to die in a fitting manner (read: with poetic justice)
3) Please climb that tall tree together.
4) BONUS: some on-screen weddings / “witness”-making
Dear @Fan of TKEM,
I read what you wrote and I have to tell you the following.
Soul A is invading soul B’s body B, and soul B is immediately shoved out of body B, and dies.
No, Soul B enters Soul’s A body and lives, but Jin Mu and his Organization made Naksu to target them in order to silence them. They went for younger bodies with ageless souls.
In Gil-ju the Alchemy of Souls was not complete and with the interferance of Jin BuYeon aka MuDeok, he returned to his body and most likely what you wrote happened.
OR
Gil Ju was already a soul shifter in that body and he wanted to change again, that’s why he petrified that soon after the failed AoS.
Yes, it will help you to watch all Part 1, because as you have noticed there are mirroring scenes in Part 2.
Also, about the wraiths.
I don’t think they have a red stone inside them. They made them black with red in order to be more sinister, but that’s my opinion…🙂
Hey @LtJ and welcome on BoD!
I will answer to your 2.
I don’t think that Jin Seol Ran was ever a grey or bad person. So, I don’t think that if Jang Gang put a soul in that dead embryo that was actually her soul.
The real Jin BuYeon follows the footsteps of her family. @Packmule3 and I have written about the cruelty not only the Jin Matriarch has, but also Jin Mu. @Packmule3 even wrote about their paternal side. If the Jin’s were not like that, then their father is the culprit for their arrogance and cruelty.
I have written a lot in Part 1’s threads about the parallels of Master Seo – Jin Seol Ran and Jang Uk about Cho Yeong / MuDeok / Jin Bu Yeon.
I truly believe that if the reincarnation trope would be used, then Jin Seol Ran would be Cho Yeong. As I have written above, we don’t know who Cho Yeong’s mother was.
If she was a Jin, it also deepens the hatred the Jin Matriarch has, because Cho Yeong is also her sister’s daughter that for unknown reasons died (?). If that is the case, her fear and determination to save her dead unborn embryo in uterus in order to continue the bloodline starts to make sense. If while she was pregnant her sister died as well, maybe that’s why she had to go to Jang Gang to do the deed.
Are we going to learn about it? The Weekend is almost in the corner.
We have to learn WHY Cho Yeong doesn’t die that easily.
Hello @Cleaopatra. Oh, I get the switch you explained. Soul A to Body B, and the Soul B was forced into Body A. For Gil-ju, his body started to petrify after his soul’s re-entry because of 1) he used sorcery, magic that is not supposed to be used, 2) he used too much energy trying to attach Mudeok and Jang Uk, and it caused the integration of his soul and body to not be compatible.
I watched episode 8, the last two minutes and see that the wraith does not have a red stone, just a red energy, signifying malice intent.
2 more days until ep 9!
I’m sad about So-Hi death, and it’s like I’m alone because no one care in the drama, even the writers. But later, after one or two episodes, we see her in a coffin, and Yul says he will participate to the burial ceremony. Not a lot of emotion for a character and situation I liked a lot. But I didn’t watched ep9 yet, so let’s see…
@ WE Again another show I enjoyed a while back.I did find it uneven though and have not really wanted to watch it a second time.
Yes, it is a good suggestion though for a rewatch since it was a while ago that I watched it and I was a more naive viewer. Great cast and I remember some scenes specifically. The theme relating to north and south korea Was very interesting to me. I enjoy alternative monarchy stories for the most part although “King eternal monarch “was beyond me. I put in the effort to watch that show but only ended up frustrated.
Oops. Wrong thread. Too early in the morning!
@MM, King2hearts as a rewatch? Ah, I go for it! There are some scenes quite funny to comment.
I follow you, the drama was uneven, but the powerful moments are so high that I put it in one of my fav. Last episode… I couldn’t breath anymore because of the tension. I liked a lot the villain, what a good actor!