Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo vs Bu Bu Jing Xin Finale Ending

The ending of Bu Bu Jing Xin, the original of Scarlet Heart: Ryeo is far better than the remade. I love all about the Korean version, but there are some inconsistencies with how the story goes and I am totally not satisfied with how the production teams end the story because mostly they copy the whole ending story the same way as how Bu Bu Jing Xin ends their story. 

Wang So, 4th Prince (played by Lee Jun Ki) finally becomes the fourth King of Goryeo. He is a kind-hearted guy at first but because of political pressures regarding his abdication to the throne, he then changed to be a cold-hearted guy who can do anything to punish his anyone who question his power.

And since then, how the story goes is almost all the same with the original one. Ruo Xi (played by Cecilia Liu Shi Shi) or Hae Soo (played by IU) in Korean version, started to be shocked by how much her loved one has changed from someone who is warm and calm to be so cruel and despicable King. 4th Prince, Yinzhen (played by Nicky Wu) also tried to 'cook' Ruo Xi's servant and sister to punish her for her wrongdoings, which caused Ruo Xi to dislike her palace life even further. 

The most memorable is when all the knots were untied. It was Ruo Xi who actually the triggers for history to happen in such a way. As she told 8th Prince to be careful of 4th Prince, it was then set 8th Prince to frame 4th Prince and made 4th Prince to have desire for the throne. Because of this, Ruo Xi who is pregnant with 4th Prince's child was forced to go into miscarriage and her body gets even weaker. In Korean version, it was actually 4th Prince who framed 8th Prince to make him to never bother about how he governed. But when 8th Prince was sentenced to die, Soo came to beg So for help. It was Princess Yeon Hwa, the sister of 8th Prince, who told how dare Soo is to do not care for what's happening. She then told Soo, because Soo once told Wook regarding So, it was her warning that set everything into motion.

Because Ruo Xi and Hae Soo believes she is not suitable with the Palace life, she tried to escape the Palace with the help of 14th Prince, Yinti (played by Lin Geng Xin) or Jung (played by Ji Soo), the forthright, sincere and the favored son of Consort De/the Queen. Ruo Xi accepts 14th Prince marriage proposal. Although he dislikes Ruo Xi initially because of her ultimatum to 8th Prince, he ultimately falls in love with her, and marries her in order to bring her out of the palace. 14th Prince then arrived at the Palace bearing the marriage decree from previous Emperor. 

Ruo Xi married to 14th Prince, who is truly a good man who loves her without reservation and asking nothing in return. However, Ruo Xi's health was deteriorating rapidly (a combination of heartbreak, her miscarriage, three days and nights knelt in the rain and 6 years as a washerwoman) and she knows her end is near.

Yinti by Lin Geng Xin (14th Prince)

Hae Soo & Jung, 14th Prince (IU and Ji Soo)

She wrote letter to the Emperor and asked 14th Prince to deliver it. He realized her handwriting is almost identical to that of the Emperor so he hide her letter inside an envelope he addressed to 4th Prince, who promptly ignored it thinking it was another taunting letter from 14th Prince. 

In the end, Ruo Xi & Hae Soo both died in the arm of 14th Prince. And the most memorable line that I think it's a statement which strengthen the link between Ruo Xi and Zhang Xiao (the future Ruo Xi) is when 14th Prince asked her whether she would remember him in the next life. Ruo Xi answered once she goes into the afterlife,  she will ask for more water from the river of forgotten memories so that she can forget all of this. It tells us about the reincarnation and how could the travelling back to the past could happen. It was then proved when Ruo Xi woke up in a hospital and everything feels like a dream.

In my opinion, the whole story was like a dream, an interesting one, telling her who she was in the past life. It's so cool right? But Korean version fails to bring that point, because Hae Soo only said she will forget everything and that's all. She died. 

Meanwhile, knowing the girl he loves died, 4th Prince just realized about the letter Ruo Xi and Hae Soo left for him. On the letter, Ruo Xi told 4th Prince regarding his first letter to her, which took her many years to practice writing the way he does and she proves it as her character is similar to what 4th Prince would write. She proves how deep her love is. She was then told 4th Prince that the first time 4th Prince said he wanted the throne, he has already had the key to her heart and when 4th Prince stood together with her under the rain, he already opened the door to her heart. And last but not least, when 4th Prince used his body and life to protect her, she already gave her entire heart to him. Does he even care about what happened in the past between her and 8th Prince, when he knows who she has only ever truly loved. She said that she will never forget him in this lifetime and waiting for him everyday. 4th Prince was pretty much completely broken after reading the letter. 4th Prince promises, if Ruo Xi is not from this lifetime, he would look for her even in the next lifetime. So beautiful right?

However, the Korean version only states few parts regarding Hae Soo was sorry to leave 4th Prince alone and never stated about why 4th Prince should care for who she has ever truly love.

“I still love you. In the rain, when you tossed everything aside and stood at my side, when you threw yourself in the path of a flying arrow for me, I became unable to forget you for the rest of my life. The opposite of ‘to love’ isn’t ‘to hate’ — it’s to throw away. That I threw you away, and that you threw me away… I’m afraid [we’ll] think that. I miss you, but I cannot be close to you. Hoping we will meet again inside a winding fence, I wait for you every day.”

It's actually the same but the way they convey the message is kinda different and I swear, I didn't feel anything when I saw the K-version. Maybe it was me all along, because I already know what's gonna happen in the end. 

The only difference is the original version makes Zhang Xiao to meet again with 4th Prince when she is at the contemporary museum and all the memories comes to her mind and she cried when she saw 4th Prince right in front of her.

Meanwhile, the Korean version didn't put that scene, instead Soo has her daughter to be raised by 14th Prince and So knew that she is his daughter and I am glad they did it. Though I wish they could meet in the next lifetime. 

I think the best travelling drama so far is still Bu Bu Jing Xin. I like how they ends the story line while keep maintaining the history itself. But telling us how it can actually happen as part of history. Instead for historical drama, I think it's the best to go with how the history goes to avoid conflicts regarding the historical record. A travelling time man, would never be able to change the history and that's what we should learn about.

No matter how many times I watched Bu Bu Jing Xin, my fave Prince would always be 14th Prince. 

Possible Ending of Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo

We have gone through half way already for Moon Lovers, an adaption of Bu Bu Jing Xin (Startling by Each Step) which I have watched before. In reality, I think I like it better when it comes to China's history as the transition between power struggle was  recorded properly and it is easy to check on the history record and get a better understanding rather than with Korean history. Blame me, because I have no idea of Korean history at all.  But this time, I'm researching the history behind Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo in which I found it pretty interesting regarding the ending.

Based on historical site, Gwangjong, the 4th Prince get married to Queen Daemok, his half-sibling possibly Princess Yeonhwa in the drama and will bear a son, Wang Ju who later becomes Gyeongjong of Goryeo, the successor after Gwangjong. After Gyeongjong, it was then 8th Prince's son who take over the throne, which may come true because his father was over the throne yet he was defeated by Gwangjong. 

I have read some website which show a happy ending spoiler for Moon Lovers: Wang So becomes the King of Goryeo with his winning from Wang Wook. He marries Hae Soo who then becomes the Queen of Goryeo and live happily with their children. - which sounds too good to be true in my opinion. If it ends with a happy ending, then all of the time travelling will make no senses. 

No matter how many times you try to change the history, the history itself won't be changed because it is something meant to happen. I think we have learnt this point from many dramas and I also believed that we cannot change the history. Even if we can, it will change the whole course of the future, which of course that is something you have to pay for changing the history. 

So I believe that the ending would be similar to the original version that Hae Soo will die in Goryeo and because of that, she will come back to Go Ha Jin in the future. Maybe at the end, she would say she will ask the grim reaper to give her more drinks, so that she can forget everything in this life and live happily in her next life (theory of Reincarnation) which I think it makes more sense to everything. This is what the Chinese version have done to their ending story and I like it very much that in the future, Ruo Xi remembers her old self. 

However, how things will turn out that way is still a little bit hard to guess. Mainly is because:

First, in the C version Ruo Xi had given the 8th prince some information on the 4th prince after they parted ways (Ruo Xi mentions the name of 4th's supporters like Nian Geng Yao and Longkodo). The 8th prince later uses this to frame the 4th prince. On the other hand, the one thing Soo said to Wook was a very generic comment that they will all get killed if they tried to stop So...but while saying that she seemed in such a daze, like how can he take her seriously and even blame her for his plans against So?! 

Second, in C version, the decree was originally not known. On the day of Kangxi's death, because none of the Princes was put in the Crown Prince position, it was then said that Longkodo is the one who read the will/decree and declared that Yinzhen (4th Prince) would be the Kangxi Emperor's successor. Some evidence has suggested that Yinzhen contacted Longkodo months before the will was read in preparation for his succession through military means, although in their official capacities frequent encounters were expected. 

There is a widely circulated legend that Yinzhen modified the Kangxi Emperor's will by changing key Chinese characters specifying the heir to the throne. The best-known rumour was that Yinzhen modified the phrase "transfer the throne to the Fourteenth Prince" (Chinese:傳位十四子 → shísì) to "transfer the throne to the Fourth Prince" (Chinese: 傳位于四子 → yúsì) by changing the character shi (十) to yu (于); others say it was modifying "fourteen" (十四) to "fourth" (Chinese: 第四 dìsì). Historians remain divided on whether or not Yinzhen 'usurped' the throne, even though the scholar Feng Erkang believed that Yinzhen's succession was legitimate. Some events have been cited by historians as supporting the "legitimate succession" theory. For example, in January 1721, when the Kangxi Emperor celebrated the 60th anniversary of his enthronement, he sent Yinzhen, Yintao (the 12th prince) and Hongsheng (a son of the third prince Yinzhi) to oversee the veneration ritual at the imperial tombs. None of the princes who supported Yinti (namely, the third, eighth, ninth and tenth princes) was sent to attend the ritual.

I do wonder as how things will work on the Korean version, but so far it seems as if King Taejo already knows that So, the 4th Prince has the fate of becoming the King. Thus, I guess there will be no conspiracy like the original one. Instead, how So managed to become the King is something we must pay attention to. 

Based on history, after Crown Prince Mu, Hyejong of Goryeo. Hyejong’s reign was marked with conspiracy and power struggles among Taejo’s sons. The first of these conspiracies was led by Princes Wang Yo and Wang So, which possessed considerable political influence. Upon realizing the conspiracy by the two princes, Wang Gyu warned Hyejong of the conspiracy, but plotted to put his grandson on the throne when Hyejong did nothing to stop the conspiracy of the two princes. Hyejong died in 945, during the second year of his reign from disease. He was succeeded by his brother  Wang Yo or called Jeongjong, 3rd Monarch of Goryeo. I guess there will be fights between Wang So and Wang Yo since Wang So is someone who sides over Mu. 

Jeongjong rose to the throne after his half-brother King Hyejong, and set to reducing the power of various royal in-laws. However, lacking the support of the elites, he was unable to substantially strengthen the throne. In 947, he had the fortress of Pyongyang constructed as the country's Western Capital. He sought to move the capital from Gaegyeong to there, but was not successful. As to how the throne was took over by Gwangjong, there is no record of that. Maybe it's because Jeongjong failed to strengthen the nation and was forced to step down. The political condistion is unstable and thus, Gwangjong rise to the throne. 

Third, in the C version the 8th prince provided details of their past romance to the 4th prince which angered him so much that he allowed Ruo Xi to leave the palace. First of all, Soo already told So that her heart was with someone else. Why would he be surprised if it's Wook? She didn't lie to him -- all he asked was if it's Baek Ah and she said no (which was the truth). Secondly, why would someone who has been pining so hard for Soo's acceptance care so much about her past love life? It just doesn't quite add up for me, because he is portrayed as someone who would never give up on Soo -- why would her past stop him, if he already knows that he had to win her heart slowly (as he didn't have it in the first place)?

Fourth, in the C version, after Yongzheng becomes the King, the power struggle remained the same. The nature of his succession remained a subject of controversy and overshadowed the Yongzheng Emperor's reign. As many of his surviving brothers did not see his succession as legitimate, the Yongzheng Emperor became increasingly paranoid that they would plot to overthrow him. Thus, he mainly put his half-brothers under house arrest or put them on jail. Even his own brother, 14th Prince was put under house arrest for the accused of violating imperial decorum. Because of this, Ruo Xi is very relunctant and not willing to live in the Palace anymore. More, with the triggers of knowing the fact that things that happened to 8th Prince is because of her warrant words regarding 4th Prince, it put Ruo Xi in a very shocked position. She tried not to expose her future knowledge, but she ends up as the trigger for the history to happen. 

In K-version, I wonder what will happen to Hae Soo and 4th Prince. Although I am sure that there will be things like the original one. But history records that the first eight years of Gwangjong’s reign had been peaceful, because he ruled wisely and did not mete out harsh punishments, but that afterwards, he had become a tyrant, spending money lavishly, tolerating corruption and executing anyone who opposed his policies of centralization. Late in his life, Gwangjong began to build numerous Buddhist temples; scholars speculate that perhaps he had repented for killing so many powerful people and wished to calm the resentment he had aroused.

Based on history, as Gwangjong witnessed the struggle between his brothers for the throne, he felt the need to consolidate the power of the King and rewarded all those who contributed to the progress of Goryeo, also making much effort to maintain good diplomatic relations with neighboring countries. Gwangjong realized that his first priority must be to create a strong and stable government. 

One of the first challenges faced by Gwangjong was to eliminate or reduce the power of his rivals, many of whom he imprisoned, exiled or had executed. He enacted a series of laws intended to centralize the state government. One of these, enacted in 956, was the liberation of slaves. During the conflicts among the various warring clans, many prisoners had been taken, and these were made to work as slaves on the estates of their captors. By restoring those who had been unjustly enslaved to their previous status as commoners, Gwangjong weakened the power of the local estates and increased tax revenue.

In 958, he initiated a system of civil service exams to select government officials (노비안검법; 奴婢按檢法) from among the most talented and intelligent candidates, regardless of social status or origins. Previously, government appointments had been made based on social status, family connections and favoritism rather than on merit, allowing many incompetent people to occupy top positions, and perpetuating the class system. The civil service examinations ensured a bureaucracy that would remain stable through regime changes. The system continued in use for 90 years, until 1894.

And so, in summary I think most probably things that are bound to happen will of course happen in due course: 

1. Gwangjong will get married to Queen Daemok.
2. Hae Soo will die and there will be no record of her in history. She will live in the Palace like Ruo Xi for a few years of Gwangjong's reign but with no status, maybe due to the fact the Queen cannot tolerate Hae Soo to be the concubine. Instead, she will serve as the Lady of Damiwon and after that she will die and come back to the future. 
3. The broke up between Hae Soo and Gwangjong is because Hae Soo is afraid of Gwangjong. It seems as if Hae Soo is worried enough that Wang So will change into Gwangjong she knew from hostory. It might be true as he has changed from the Wang So she knew once before and later on Hae Soo will plead to leave the Palace. But as her health condition will get worse, she has no choice but end up dying in the Palace.
4. As Hae Soo died, Gwangjong will regret what he has done and starts to build on temples to repent on his actions. 
5. I do wonder whether Jung the 14th Prince will have a significant role in the end, like the original version. But it seems as if Soo will end up dying alone as of now. 
6. I hope Baek Ah and Woo Hee will live happily together in the end! There is totally no record of 13th Prince in history. I guess, they made the 13th Prince to make it similar like the C-version. If things could be changed, then I hope they end up happily in this version ~ *I am Baek Ah-Woo Hee shipper* I think Seohyun's acting is good enough!

So, let's observe what is going to happen in few more days!