I got several things correct.

1. Back in my notes for Episode 7 & 8 when the Buddhist nun was introduced, I said that she was likely a concubine of the deceased king. She wasn’t the Dowager Queen (because the Dowager Queen was Yi Yeol’s mom) nor the deposed queen as some people were speculating.

Her identity is revealed to be the Consort Suk Ui. DaeChu enlightens EunJo (who’s in Yi Yeol’s body again) about her backstory.

DaeChu: Consort Suk Ui was a concubine of the late king. In Gyeongo Year, her son, Prince Yeong Hu, was executed. After that she devoted herself to Buddha.

Lol. I guess my recent explanation of the hierarchy of the princes proves timely. Her dead son was a gun or wangjagun. It wasn’t surprising that the king executed the boy/his half-brother as a wangjagun a) was just a spare, probably one of many princes born to a concubine, and b) could pose a threat to the king in the future.

Yi Yeol, however, was spared because his mother was the Queen Dowager (or the Wangdaebi) herself. As the son of the late king’s legitimate consort, his status was elevated from the other princes.

2. In my hodgepodge notes for Episode 10, I also presciently wrote that the Buddhist nun and her cohorts need a replacement for the king they’re planning to depose. GilDong/EunJo obviously can’t inherit the throne as she’s a woman and isn’t from the royal lineage. But they intend to use GilDong’s name and reputation for propaganda to rally the people against the king’s tyrannical rule.

I said that without a successor waiting in the wings, their rebellion is nonsensical. It’s ill-advised and bound to fail. Dethroning the present king without a next-in-line leaves a power vacuum and destabilizes the government. The loyalists of the deposed king will most certainly resist the coup plotters. They can even consolidate support from ministers, officials, guards, and soldiers who are still “on the fence.” If they successfully muster enough support from these wavering groups, then they’ll hunt down the “traitors.”

Hence, Consort Suk Ui ventured out of the monastery and visited the Queen Dowager on the pretext of missing the Grand Prince.

EunJo (as Yi Yeol) So what brings you here?
Suk Ui: I missed you greatly.

Her real objective is to take the measure of Yi Yeol.

3. I explained in my lengthy post about the two arrows that it’s thanks to Yi Yeol that EunJo was able to rid of her bloodlust, or her desire to kill the king and avenge her father’s murder.

For a moment there, when she (in Yi Yeol’s body) swiped the sheathed dagger, I thought she intended to stab the king with it. She even told DaeChu to relay this message.

EJ (in YY’s body): Hong Si should be arriving at the palace by now. When you see her, tell her this. “I wouldn’t.”

I initially thought she meant that THIS time around, she wouldn’t miss her target, that she would succeed in killing the king. I wondered whether Yi Yeol caught her drift or not.

YY (in EJ’s body): He said he wouldn’t make the same mistake again?
DaeChu: His Highness said you’d understand if I put it that way.

What EunJo meant was that she wouldn’t allow the king – or anybody else – hurt her body, that is, Yi Yeol’s body. As long as she was inhabiting his body, she was going to protect him. She already made a near-fatal mistake of injuring him, and she wouldn’t let that happen again.

Thus, when the king approached him threateningly, she readied the dagger. But when their private chat was interrupted by JaeYi’s entrance, she retracted it.

Later, EunJo explained why she took the dagger.

EJ (as Yi Yeol): I took it to the main hall. I told you. I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. Because I learned that death doesn’t solve anything. I carried it to protect myself.

She meant Yi Yeol, of course. She was in Yi Yeol’s body.

EJ (as Yi Yeol): I was afraid His Majesty might strike.
YY (in EJ’s body): I’m sorry for putting you through this.

Then Yi Yeol (in EJ’s body) hugged her.

EJ (as Yi Yeol): This is not personal. It’s just to make sure I’m safe.

Suuuuuure. He wanted to make sure that HIS body was safe?

EJ (as Yi Yeol): Darn it! Why now? Heaven shouldn’t be this cruel to us!

3. I also like how she got herself and Yi Yeol out of the bind.

King: Who was it? The one who hid behind you and blocked my path. The one who dared say this was my fault. I’m asking who it is.

I think that the king believed that Yi Yeol was being coached (or manipulated) to turn against him. He couldn’t believe that his younger half-brother, who had been unfailingly loyal to him, would dare accuse him of causing tragedies.

King: Was it you? Were you behind all of this?

See how unreasonable the king was? He was accusing Yi Yeol of masterminding his own assassination with the arrow attack.

Now, thanks to JaeYi’s logical defense of EunJo’s brother, the king dismissed the charges. But he still wanted to know who encouraged/persuaded Yi Yeol to speak out against him. So, EunJo (as YY) had to come up with a convincing answer.

EJ (as YY): Are you asking whose influence led me to defend Hong Min Jik’s eldest son? It was probably me. I did it for my sake. Just like I took the arrow aimed at Your Majesty right here (placing her hand on her chest) for my own sake. Risking my own life.

Love the multiple contexts of her reply.

One, EunJo was saying that it was all HER doing. She had to defend “Hong Min Jik’s eldest son” out of SISTERLY love.

Two, speaking as the Grand Prince Do Wol, EunJo was clearly guilt-tripping the king. According to her, since Yi Yeol took an arrow meant for the king, Yi Yeol thought that he could ask the king to indulge him this one favor to spare the eldest son. Lol.

And three, because EunJo and Yi Yeol had body-swapped, Eunjo was tacitly telling Yi Yeol that she knew Yi Yeol defended her brother for HER sake. Once again, Yi Yeol put himself in harm’s way for her.

King: (conceding) The arrow meant to kill me ended up saving you. The debt was repaid in kind.

4. As expected, Yi Yeol can’t countenance a coup.

He told EunJo/Gildong at their first meeting, “From now on, stay within my reach. Only as far as I can embrace. But if you go beyond that and disturb the FOUNDATION (emphasis mine) of Joseon, I will catch you. Remember this. Just because I don’t chase you doesn’t mean I’m letting you go.”

Treason, rebellion, coup d’etat. In Yi Yeol’s mind, these shake the foundation of Joseon.

Hence, EunJo was reading up on the Confucian principles of RIGHTEOUS rebellion. She was trying build a case that the planned rebellion was motivated, not by personal vendettas nor individual grievances of the yangbans/aristocrats, but by the desire of the general population to restore the “mandate of heaven.”

Look here: the concept that a king derives his power from “heaven’s mandate” comes from Confucianism, and by extension, Chinese political thought. According to this theory, the gods give the authority to rule to a virtuous leader. He is thereby mandated by the gods to rule over the people with benevolence, justice, law and order.

But what the heaven giveth, the heaven can taketh away.

If the king fails to make good his “mandate,” if he’s tyrannical, immoral, unjust, and ungodly, or if disaster after disaster befall the land (like the plague that EunJo has to deal with), then it’s a sign from the gods that the king has forfeited the “heaven’s mandate.”

Once the king loses this mandate of heaven — entirely because of his own misconduct — then the people may revolt and replace him with someone else who has gained favor from the gods and received the new “mandate of heaven.”

To me, this was the issue that Eunjo was studying about for days.  (See that? On this blog, you don’t have to read Confucius or his disciple, Mencius, like EunJo did.) DaeChu had valid reasons to be worried that she was about to drag Yi Yeol into trouble.

DC: I have a question.
EJ (as YY): Sure, go ahead.
DC: You’ve been reading books about treason for several days straight. Whether you are His Highness or Hong Si, why are you curious about that?
EJ (as YY): I can’t answer now. But I promise, whatever choice is made, it will be to protect your prince.
DC: I understand.

Hmmm. This sounds like she’s pledging allegiance to the future king, doesn’t it?

Anyway….

In my view, she was preparing to frame the impending coup as a RESTORATION of the “mandate of heaven” to the rightful future king (aka Yi Yeol), instead of a mere power grab by disgruntled yangbans. That way, when Consort Suk Ui and her people approach her (or Yi Yeol) about joining the coup against the king, she can justify the movement as a RIGHTEOUS rebellion with moral justification grounded in Confucian teachings.

Of course, it’ll take time for Yi Yeol to GRASP all this (literally and figuratively speaking) because:

1) he’s accustomed to doing “nothing,”
2) running away is his specialty, right?
3) it’s his older brother who he’s replacing, and
4) he doesn’t believe in gods, or at least he thinks they’re deaf. Remember?

To me, it’s becoming clear that THIS is the reason for their body swap. The gods weren’t being cruel to them. Rather, the gods were facilitating Yi Yeol’s transition from anonymity, obscurity, and unimportance to power. He needed to see the world from EunJo/GilDong’s perspective to be able to lead the people with “heaven’s mandate.” And he needed courage from her (how many times has he said that being with her makes him lose his sense of fear?) to sever his ties with his older brother and radically shake the “foundation of Joseon.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if this is to be his ultimate gift to his beloved thief. Against his better judgment and his ingrained habit of non-involvement in politics, he’ll take on the royal responsibility and accept the “heaven’s mandate” in order to fulfill her wish of a better Joseon. He’s her wish-giver, right?

Now, on to trivial things. Here’s what I liked about this episode:

1. EunJo and Yi Yeol finally confided the truth to Daechu and Haemin.
2. JaeYi could recognize EunJo’s customary concern and kindness in Yi Yeol’s face.
3. EunJo and Yi Yeol promised to take care of the orphans like they’re co-parents.

Okay. Got to end this now.