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Rewriting Magnificent Century I

Is Hürrem & Suleyman's love real ?

Kaamelott

Mes théories

La punition d'Arthur

Guenièvre & Méléagant

Arthur & ses mommy issues

Arthur & Anna

Chacun son rôle

Perceval, l'étoile de Logres

A & G : un regard en profondeur

Mes histoires

La Malédiction de Guenièvre

Un fol instant

Villes en poussière

Le sauvetage

Hürrem says "Do not forget that loyalty is the most important thing. Even more than love" and at that moment, something just clicked for me.

I made a post, a while ago, about how Hürrem and Suleyman's relationship seemed to be more about co-dependency and loneliness than love, well turns out I was wrong.

Their relationship is about power & loyalty, because at the core their dynamic remains what they truly are to each other, a slave and their master.

Hürrem words to Mihrimah cruelly mirror what Valide and Suleyman told Hürrem herself times and times again. She must do what she's told and, in doing so, prove her loyalty - it's always been about proving how loyal you are, even if it's at the cost of your own heart and soul

The power dynamic is in every little detail of the scene, it's in this strange I-know-better-than-you attitude veiled with what's supposed to be kindness, it's in Hürrem's use of the "greater good", and even in the way Hürrem is sat on a chair that oddly resembles the Sultan throne, she is even cast in a pale light that makes her look more like a goddess than a human - remind anyone of something ?

In that moment, Hürrem doesn't care about Mihrimah as a person, she cares that she obeys and proves her loyalty to the dynasty because in Hürrem's mind the dynasty is now her and her sons.

Feelings, pain, love, family, personhood - everything comes second to their legacy as Hürrem painfully learned through Suleyman, Valide, Hatice but also Mahidevran and Ibrahim.

Hürrem has become exactly like her abusers.

Et si c'était eux, le Graal ?

⧽ ─── {⋅. U L T I M A T E T H E O R Y .⋅} ─── ⧼

Et si le Graal c'était cette camaraderie, cette entraide, ces amitiés, ces disputes, ce travail d'équipe pour coordonner cette île où la magie opère et la rendre meilleure ? Et si l'erreur d'Arthur encore une fois c'est de chercher cette lumière divine ailleurs alors qu'elle a toujours été là et que le Graal c'était cette grande famille qu'ils ont construit ?

Ce lien qu'ils entretiennent c'est ça la lumière pour tous & on voit que ceux qui ont refusé ou arrêté d'y contribuer positivement - Ygerne, Cryda, Loth, Anna et par la suite Lancelot & Mevanwi - tous sont ou sont devenus des êtres humains assez exécrables, à l'inverse des gens comme le Duc d'Aquitaine qui y apporte douceur et bonne humeur.

L'ironie serait que Lancelot, en se croyant supérieur et plus "digne" du Graal, s'est isolé et s'est éloigné de cette lumière divine et ce serait ça qui l'aurait fait sombré dans la folie. Comment rester sain quand on a goûté à la lumière divine et qu'on n'en profite plus ?

While watching Magnificent Century, I've found that one of the most complex relationship in the show was the one of Suleyman and Hürrem themselves. In the context of sexual slavery, traumas and the Ottoman Empire their story is too complex to not analyze.

Hurrem arrives to the harem completely traumatized. She's shipped to this foreign land where all of the sudden she has no one and is no one. It's clear from there that her love for Suleyman is some sort of coping mechanism. This relationship allows her to survive and find some meaning in her life and that's the first problem, Suleyman becomes the center of her destroyed world.

That said, Suleyman really does show her some real affection, he listens to her, they laugh a lot and he immediately starts caring about her. Most importantly, he protects her when he learns she's been thrown in the donjons by Valide and for someone who's in such emotional turmoil that's everything.

But even with that, the foundations of their relationship is absolutely not healthy.

If Hürrem angers Suleyman, disobey or annoy him, or even if he just gets bored of her, she's finished. He can kill her, threatened her, torture her or just abandon her like he did to Mahidevran and her and her children's whole future are threatened. In those circumstances what kind of relationship is this ?

I won't even do more than mention the many times he had her exiled and separated from her children because he was angry at her, but I do want to mention the time he made her drink what she believed was poison to "test her". I was convinced when she woke up that it was going to be a point of non-return in their relationship, the moment she realizes how little choice and agency she had in this. I thought this would shake her delusion that this was love, but no. I blame the writing team for this one, it's doing the story a big disservice to never acknowledge how unbalanced Suleyman and Hürrem's relationship is.

This brings me to the question I've had in mind for a while. Since Suleyman is in many ways all the harem women's captor and master, does Hürrem suffer from Stockholm Syndrome ?

I've focused a lot on Hürrem up until this point, but even if Suleyman has the power life has messed him up just as well. His father tried to kill him, he becomes responsible for a whole Empire at the age of 26, the people in his life lies and sometimes even plays him, some wants his power all to themselves and there comes a point where he can never really know who to trust, who's not imagining his death so they can gain more power. As he grow older, he learns the downside of power in the harshest way, it prevents him to trust his loved one. It's horrible.

I think this is why Hürrem's loyalty was so important to him, because in many ways, no matter if it came from a fucked up place she was the only one who was there for him first and foremost. Yes, she enjoyed the power and played her own little games, but it was never against him.

Again, the issue here is that Suleyman's love seem to mostly come from massive trust issues he developed during his whole life, so how legitimate is it ?

Hürrem and Suleyman built a family together, they had children and grandchildren after that, they really started ruling together as they got older, discussed states affairs and compromised and after her death, he was never really quite the same.

But here where it gets really depressing, with all that said the question is not so much if there was affection between Hürrem and Suleyman or not (they clearly cared for each other) but more if what they thought was love was not just them not being able to give up this companionship in this lonely and miserable life they both led ?

And in many ways, isn't that what a lot of humans beings do, decide to stick together so they won't have to face this harsh life alone ?

In the end, is this what love truly is ?

Who are you favorite MC's actors.actresses ?

For me it's definitely Meryem Uzerli & Okan Yalabik, they can convey so many emotions in the most subtle expressions, they always elevate every scene they are in & when they're together the chemistry is just indescribable.