#rmotm

As I expected last week, Hwa-Gun knew she was a goner once she took out the poppy field. In keeping with the tradition of sympathetic second leads, the writers take her out before she becomes corrupted like the false crown prince. A light has gone out from Ruler and I for one certainly find the story dimmer without her presence. But her death brings new changes, and I thought I’d explore her courageous last stand and the results within the men she left behind.

The Courage to Face Death with Dignity

There’s a story I heard in a song once (by F.I.R.) about a thorn bird who sings but once in her life. The song is of such quality and sweetness that the whole world stops to listen, and it reaches the heavens. In order to sing this song, she must willingly pierce her heart with a thorn, resulting in her own demise. But there’s no way the thorn bird wouldn’t have sung--her fate was to sing that last song, and that last song she was willing to die to sing.

When I saw Hwa-Gun in this episode, I immediately thought about that thorn bird. Hwa-Gun stands at her most courageous once she makes her decision to burn the poppy field. No longer torn between love and familial loyalty, she’s free at last to be the woman whose been buried deep within her--a woman who might very well have won the prince’s love, had she been free to express herself.

Hwa-Gun takes full responsibility for what she’s done even when her father begs her not to and tries to come up with ways to keep her alive. She’s decided to offer all of herself in service to her prince, and protecting him remains her first priority even as she faces her end alone. 

When her grandfather accuses her father of negligence, she moves to protect him, refusing to hide behind him any longer. Even slimy Jo Tae-Ho tries to save her by deflecting responsibility onto the crown prince, informing Dae Mok that not only is the crown prince still alive, but he’s the one who burned the field down. Hwa-Gun, enraged that her grandfather now knows about the crown prince’s survival, draws Dae Mok’s ire back to her by claiming responsibility for the burning.

At any point, she could have hidden behind her father or her men or even run away, but she didn’t. She held firm, and she accepted the consequences of her actions. She clearly knows her grandfather well enough to know that he’ll never let her live after this, but it no longer matters--she’s struck him to the heart, and both she and he know it. 

The Thorn Bird Defeats The Dragon

Dae Mok and Hwa-Gun remove themselves to the watchtower, away from Hwa-Gun’s hovering father, with Jo Tae-Ho in tow as witness. It is here that they have their final stand off, and it becomes clear the world could not bear two of them at one time--they’re too alike as people and as such one had to go. 

What’s interesting about this scene is that Hwa-Gun clearly doesn’t regret a thing she did. She struck her blow, and she struck it with the full knowledge of what was the inevitable result. 

It’s actually Dae Mok who’s the most affected, the most distraught, over the situation. He clearly cares about his granddaughter, and he’s conflicted over what he has to do. He tries one last time to reach her, in a grandfatherly way--did she know what the Pyunsoo Group meant to him? 

Hwa-Gun, with cool grace, replies that it meant to him what the crown prince means to her--something more precious than life itself. Had she answered in any other way, she might have lived. He might have been able to spare her. But she answered in this manner, and after such an answer, there was only one solution--she had to be destroyed. The two of them will never see eye to eye, and Dae Mok has sacrificed too much to keep the Pyunsoo Group in power. Not even his granddaughter is worth more to him at this point.

Dae Mok asks Hwa-Gun if she has anything she wants to say, and she asks him to tell her father that she’s sorry. It’s not that she’s actually sorry about what she’s done; she’s sorry about the effects she knows it will have on her father. Throughout this entire story, she’s been torn between her loyalties to her beloved father and the crown prince. In burning the poppy field, she’s turned her back on her father despite still loving him with all her heart. 

Dae Mok orders Jo Tae-Ho to stab Hwa-Gun. She closes her eyes with quiet acceptance, a woman who has faced her demise with courage and is at peace with her decision. Jo Tae-Ho is incapable of stabbing her--for a slimy weasel, he has some morals when he actually has a relationship with someone. Dae Mok is left to kill her himself, and the killing of her strengthens her and those she loves, and weakens Dae Mok.

With the final blow, the first chink in Dae Mok’s armor appears, setting the stage for the crown prince to rend him to pieces before the end of the story. With Hwa-Gun’s sacrifice, the stage is now set for Dae Mok’s fall. He sacrificed the last remnant of his humanity when he killed his own future--without Hwa-Gun, there is no future for the Pyunsoo Group. The legacy will die with Dae Mok, an old man with no heirs other than his useless son. By choosing to destroy Hwa-Gun, Dae Mok has destroyed himself--but the death will be a slow one, eating him from the inside out, until the crown prince taking him down will come as a relief.

Dae Mok begins to walk around like a man in a daze. He can barely function, he can barely plan. He gets a bit of light back into him with the hit list proposal, but for the most part he’s now a ghost of a person. He may have killed Hwa-Gun for the sake of the Pyunsoo Group and his own ego, but her death haunts him permanently. He will probably not shake it until his own death. 

In the end, Hwa-Gun wins in the game against her grandfather. The aftershocks of her actions in the three men she loves best will be the first stepping stones toward her dream--that her crown prince take his rightful place, free of the Pyunsoo Group--being fulfilled.

The Strength of a Father’s Love

I never had the opportunity to say it, but Hwa-Gun’s father, Woo-Jae, is my second favorite character in the show. He’s a complete mess of a person--a miserable excuse of a coward who failed to actualize himself and free himself from the shadow of a controlling and overbearing father. He never ventured out into the world to make a life for himself, nor did he ever find his own path. Instead, he clung to his father’s coattails, despite the fact that leading the Pyunsoo Group was never something that would come naturally to him.

For all his many faults, he has one virtue that has shone brightly throughout the story--his love for his daughter. She is his number one priority, and while he may dote on her and spoil her, he is always true and devoted and loving and supportive of her. He has defended her at every turn in the story, even though he is not a brave man. 

That’s why it was so heart breaking to see him tonight. Instead of attacking his daughter for what she’s done to their enterprise, he begins planning ways to save her. Maybe they can talk to her grandfather, or better, she can run away. Or he’ll take responsibility and she’ll say nothing. His whole heart is bent on saving her from what he feels is a terrible mistake she’s made, not understanding the sacrifice she’s willingly chosen to make. 

When Dae Mok comes upon them and starts berating him, Woo-Jae never once tells the truth, despite shaking in his boots and falling to his knees. He does hide behind Hwa-Gun after she interjects between him and Dae Mok, but that has more to do with his inability to stand up to more forceful personalities than any lack of love for his daughter. He hovers anxiously below the watch tower while she speaks with Dae Mok, clearly hoping they can work something out, wanting to interfere.

Though Hwa-Gun dies thinking of her prince, it’s her daddy’s arms which cradle her in her final moments. Her death effects a change within her father, a change which will likely have longterm ramifications for the Pyunsoo Group and her grandfather--her father at last grows a spine.

When Dae Mok walks by, for the first time (probably in his life), Woo-Jae calls him a monster. With the last of his connections taken from him, Woo-Jae now has nothing to lose, and it is here at the end that he finally sees what’s important and what he should have stood up to protect long ago. 

After taking his leave of Hwa-Gun’s body, Woo-Jae faces down Dae Mok, probably also for the first time in his life. Dae Mok tries to justify his actions, but Woo-Jae won’t hear anything of it--he admits his intense disappointment in Dae Mok’s choice, that he’d hoped Dae Mok would prioritize family over the Pyunsoo Group just once. Then he cuts Dae Mok to the quick with a scathing remark about how Dae Mok always talked big about needing the Pyunsoo Group to protect the family, but that now he has nothing to protect, highlighting how far Dae Mok has fallen from his goal--he now serves the power for the sake of power, not his former goal.

Woo-Jae prophetically says Dae Mok will lose everything he treasures and will die lonely and tragically. And then, for the first time in his life, he walks away, leaving Dae Mok speechless. (The music in this scene is perfectly timed too, fufu.) 

Ironically, with her death, Hwa-Gun at last freed her father from the underworld he’d been trapped within. She freed him to see the world for what it is and to finally take steps toward living the truth within himself, whatever that truth is. Her father at last grows a spine, and says the things he should have said long before. Another chink in Dae Mok’s armer appears, leaving him bereft of all of the people he had been supposedly fighting for. 

Passing the Torch

In the last episode, Hwa-Gun said a few interesting things to Gon which I thought at the time were prophetic (and ultimately were). She told him to protect the crown prince, because protecting the crown prince is the same as protecting herself. She also told him to see the crown prince to safety, and then to return to her. 

Gon, ever faithful, fulfills her requests. He sees the crown prince and his posse to safety then hightails it back to Hwa-Gun’s side. Unfortunately, as Hwa-Gun surely knew when she dispatched him on his quest, he returns to find she is dead.

It’s here that we see Gon probably loved her, which many viewers suspected and secretly shipped I’m sure. As her servant, he couldn’t do anything about his feelings, of course, but that doesn’t make them any less real. 

He finds her laid out on a pallet, and her father sitting with her. Her father acknowledges Gon’s pain, and comments that it seems he doesn’t know how to cry. This isn’t true, of course--Gon’s just a very private man, and holds his pain within himself until he is alone.

He can’t even bring himself to touch her, even though this is his last opportunity and she’s not even in her body anymore. This is how much he values her and respects her. As he gazes upon her, he remembers what she’s said to him and the directive she gave him--a directive that likely temporarily stops him from revenge killing Dae Mok (as she may have suspected) by placing a superior directive to live and defend her love. If the crown prince lives, she also will metaphorically live on, because the crown prince is the man she died to protect. 

He accepts her directive, and declares that until the end of his days, he will protect the crown prince as she requested. Death flags raised for this poor guy, but hopefully he’ll get to help take down Dae Mok for her in the end. ;)

The Queen’s Command

Though the crown prince doesn’t have much of a connection to Hwa-Gun here at the end of her life, her death still has incredible ramifications for him as well.

Gon reports back to the crown prince that Hwa-Gun is dead, which distresses him greatly, because he’s a good man and he appreciated Hwa-Gun as an ally. At the time, he’s been struggling with whether or not he has a right to challenge the false crown prince and regain the throne--as the son of a traitor, that makes him illegitimate in his own eyes.

Despite all the other voices being raised up, calling him to take on the challenge--even his beloved Ga-Eun, he’s still hesitant to take the plunge. After hearing that Hwa-Gun died at the hands of Dae Mok, the crown prince asks her metaphorically what he should do to repay her kindness. 

It is here that Gon gives the crown prince her directive--regain the throne. She sacrificed herself to enable him to return to the throne. It’s his duty to see this through to the end, because if not, her sacrifice will be wasted. (And probably Gon would kill him, but shhh.) 

And so Hwa-Gun’s last blow to her grandfather is in strengthening the crown prince’s resolve and providing him the last push forward to take back the throne for himself. Though she will never be his queen, she still gave him a queen’s directive, and he is duty bound to follow it, for she paid for it in blood.

Some final thoughts, since this’ll probably be my last post on Ruler unless a surprise happens at this point.

Hwa-Gun will be sorely missed--she’s the light of the show, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve enjoyed her plotline immensely, and I’m sad to see it’s over so close to the end. I’m glad she got to go with dignity, though. I’m equally glad to see her death has so many ramifications for her grandfather’s downfall and the crown prince’s rise. 

The acting in this episode was superb. Dae Mok’s actor nailed his character’s inner conflict and the haggard expression from being haunted by his actions. Gon’s actor, too, did such a fantastic job--in the final scene with the crown prince, he looks so defeated and exhausted, while in the scene with Hwa-Gun’s body, he perfectly captures the sorrow and the love and the loyalty the character has. Hwa-Gun’s father also is a huge highlight this episode. I hope we haven’t seen the last of him; I’d be sad to not be able to see him find at least some happiness. I know he is a horribly compromised person, but even so, I’d like him to learn from his mistakes and learn how to live forthrightly.

It is a shame that the crown prince had so little reaction to Hwa-Gun’s death, but he never was invested in her and that was quite clear from the beginning. It was all her one-sided love, which is what ultimately makes her end so tragic. Still, I love that it’s her sacrifice that propels his goal forward, despite the pep talk from Ga-Eun. It’s a fitting resolution to a love that could never bloom. 

(Speaking of Ga-Eun, her character really stepped up the game this episode. Maybe she’ll get to shine finally now that her rival is gone. ;p)

When all’s said and done, I truly enjoyed Hwa-Gun’s character, and she’s one of the things I love about Ruler. She’s set the ending up to be a wild ride, and I’m looking forward to seeing the results of her sacrifice reverberating throughout the cast as they push forward. Who’s ultimately going to get to kill Dae Mok, it’ll be fun to see. I’m betting on Gon right now; our goodie two shoes crown prince doesn’t have enough invested to do the dirty work. ;) His opponent is the false crown prince anyway. He’s got to take down what he put up, after all. He needs to take responsibility for leaving Lee Sun alone for as long as he did, and allowing him to become corrupt while he ran around freely.

I didn’t come into Ruler with any preconceived notions about who was playing the heroine or which actress was being featured. I began watching Ruler fairly late in the game and was just in it to see a new sageuk that looked pretty. This maybe colors my perspective a little differently than those who’ve followed the story from the beginning.

From the beginning, it wasn’t initially clear to me who the leading lady would be, at least not until the crown prince chose Ga-Eun. Once he chooses Ga-Eun (very soon into the story), Hwa-Gun’s position as secondary heroine became solidified.

However, the viewership seems to fall into two camps: one camp which is disenchanted with Ga-Eun as a heroine and wishes Hwa-Gun held that position, and another which feels Hwa-Gun is where she should be and that Ga-Eun is the proper heroine, even if the writing doesn’t always feature her.

I personally fall between the two camps. I’m not at all disenchanted with Ga-Eun--I think she’s a lovely character and a charming girl. But I do find myself wistfully wishing as I watch the show that the creators had been brave enough to try the Hwa-Gun character as a heroine rather than a secondary lead. Since I understand the appeal of both sides, I thought I’d attempt to explore the draw and the appeal of the Hwa-Gun character, while still acknowledging the virtues of the Ga-Eun character. 

Capturing the Viewers’ Interest

On paper, there’s absolutely no reason why Hwa-Gun should be more interesting than Ga-Eun.

On paper, Ga-Eun is a perfect leading lady--she’s kind, sweet, loyal, and compassionate. She does everything right--her only flaw is that she perhaps jumps to conclusions too quickly and doesn’t investigate events thoroughly. But who could blame her, when these events involve the very emotional and tragic loss of her father, her only remaining family, and her entire life? She’s a brave girl who is well worthy of the leading lady position and the heart and affection of the crown prince. 

Unfortunately for Ga-Eun, her very worthiness renders her...a tad too safe, a tad too boring. And this would be fine if she were paired with a secondary lady of the usual secondary quality--a catty, ambitious, scheming girl who possessively latches onto the crown prince the way the false crown prince latches onto Ga-Eun. With a secondary lady of dubious quality, it’d be easy to root for Ga-Eun.

But Hwa-Gun is not such a simple character, nor is she lacking in her own charms. What Ga-Eun has in compassion, Hwa-Gun makes up for with wit, intelligence, and cunning. She’s a woman raised within the realm of power and politics, the granddaughter of the most powerful man pulling the strings in the land. She is a selfish, spoiled girl, but she’s by no means an unloving or unkind girl. While she is not as compassionate for the poor or the needy or the downtrodden as Ga-Eun is, she does have a deep and single minded love for the people who are closest to her, and to their people. This includes more than just the prince--her father, Gon, even her grandfather--and it’s within these conflicted loyalties that Hwa-Gun makes for a compelling and interesting character, in spite of her flaws. 

Flaws Make the Woman

I think the reason we now commonly see the call for Hwa-Gun to be the heroine (and I myself sympathize with this perspective) is for two reasons:

Real, genuine flaws in a heroine are unusual (especially in asian drama) and they make the viewer sympathetic because they touch on the viewer’s own humanity.

Hwa-Gun seems to be “earning” her happy ending where as Ga-Eun seems to be “receiving” hers. Viewers naturally gravitate toward characters who are active about solving their problems, even when inaction is more than justified (human nature to prefer action). 

Significant character flaws are rare for heroines in general, which is a strike against Ga-Eun from the gate. Hwa-Gun, as a secondary lead, is allowed the freedom to not be a perfect compassionate infantilized angel. She’s a woman, with dark sides, who is not always compassionate. But who in real life is always compassionate? Who in real life always does the right thing? Very few people, and even if you think you’re one of the exceptions, the chances are you aren’t truly in touch with yourself as well as you should be.

Everyone has dark impulses, and to see a secondary leading lady being allowed not only to have those impulses, but to not be vilified for them and to be treated with narrative dignity and respect is refreshing and probably is one of the things drawing the sympathy of some viewers. 

Development with the Crown Prince

One of the other problems with Ga-Eun is that she receives the Crown Prince’s love very early in the story, and thus has not much to “do” narratively other than feel betrayed by him temporarily when she finds out he might have been the one who killed her father. Perfect couples who are meant to be are boring for a viewer, especially over a long series like Ruler. 

On the other hand, Hwa-Gun’s efforts to act by the Crown Prince’s side and to keep him safe and alive begin to come off as more sympathetic when compared to Ga-Eun being gifted the prince’s love so early on in the story. Viewers like change and the unexpected, and so having the Crown Prince shift his affection to Hwa-Gun would make for an exciting twist after the predictability of his stable relationship with Ga-Eun. 

Of course, that’s not going to happen because the writers are very clear that the Crown Prince has no romantic feelings for Hwa-Gun. There isn’t even a shred of interest from his side, which also contributes to making Hwa-Gun appear more sympathetic. While, yes, it’s unhealthy for her to work so hard for a man who doesn’t love her, we can’t help who we love and everyone has felt the pain of an unrequited or unfulfilled love that lasted many years after it began. 

Relationship Balance

Another factor viewers root for in a pairing which I think might be overlooked in the overall discourse is relationship balance. If a character has too much of X, viewers prefer a partner who has Y to balance X, rather than another character who also has too much of X.

For example, Ga-Eun shares the Crown Prince’s ideals. This ordinarily would make for a lovely match in a pairing, because sharing values is very important for long term happiness in a couple. However, the Crown Prince is so idealistic and so moral that he doesn’t know how to break rules and sometimes puts himself stupidly in danger over foolish ethical quandaries. Ga-Eun, as yet another overly idealistic person, isn’t going to be able to pull him back from his foolishness because she supports all his causes. This is all well and good if these two would go off and be farmers or merchants together, but they’re going to be King and Queen. A little bit of self-preservation would be good in at least one of these characters for them to be hypothetically successful.

This is where Hwa-Gun surfaces as a “better” choice for the Crown Prince on a practical level. Hwa-Gun’s focus is different from the Crown Prince. She places a higher value on his life than on his ideals. However, she does not dismiss his ideals, nor do her own ideals conflict with his. She is perfectly happy to work in service to his goal, so long as she can keep him safe. This makes her arguably more suited to the task of standing at his side as Queen--she will fight his enemies and destroy everything in the path to his ideal, but she also won’t support any foolishness on his part and will help come up with counter plans that will preserve his life. 

The difference is very clear in episodes 29-30. Hwa-Gun first tries to persuade the Crown Prince just to take over the Pyunsoo Group. When that fails, she comes up with a second plan using her father’s antidote. Ga-Eun, on the other hand, simply tries to convince the Crown Prince to sacrifice her and “do the right thing,” which of course he would never do. The argument against Hwa-Gun’s method is that, of course, the Crown Prince would die before submitting to Dae Mok, as the Crown Prince himself points out with the analogy of the wolf and the bloody knife. However, as we see, the Crown Prince does what Hwa-Gun wanted him to anyway because he’d never sacrifice Ga-Eun or Chun-Woo. Ultimately, Hwa-Gun’s method was the method he took, not Ga-Eun’s. This demonstrates, yet again, that Hwa-Gun understands the Crown Prince’s situation better than he does, and that she’s a better planner to be at his side than Ga-Eun.

When a viewer sees this, although she may be moved by Ga-Eun’s selflessness, ultimately it’s just noble stupidity. If the Crown Prince hadn’t been immune to the poison thanks to his childhood experience, he’d be dead thanks to his refusal to play the game Hwa-Gun’s way. What does that mean for his court with Ga-Eun at his side? Results do matter as much as the process--having a kind process which ends in failure is no better than a cruel process which ends in results. The point is to strike the right balance so that the kind process leads to good results. 

Again, this isn’t to say the writers are in any danger of choosing the Hwa-Gun route; this is only to explain why some viewers may choose to prefer Hwa-Gun as a candidate for the Crown Prince. Hwa-Gun, for all her flaws as a person and her myopic focus on the few people she holds dear, is far better positioned to maneuver the political field than a nobleman’s daughter who grew up outside the palace. Viewers notice this (I had a similar situation when I began to support Yeonhwa for So during Moon Lovers’ run), and their allegiances may shift accordingly. 

Ultimately, while I think Ga-Eun is a fine heroine and certainly fills her role adequately, Hwa-Gun’s just a more interesting character in general thanks to her conflicted loyalties and her narrative position and her action-oriented plotlines. A standard sweet girl doesn’t stand much of a chance against an unusual smart girl. Ga-Eun had an uphill battle from the get-go.

This is not to say that Ga-Eun’s actress is inferior in any way. I think the fact that Ga-Eun is still able to endear herself to so many viewers in spite of her character’s narrative weaknesses is a testament to the strength of her actress. Hwa-Gun’s actress certainly isn’t as good, and her character’s being carried more by the strength of the character than the strength of the acting. 

There’s an almost mythical aspect to Hwa-Gun’s journey in this episode. She goes into deep mourning and burns down to ashes like the phoenix, only to rise again to accept the challenge before her. She enters the dragon’s den, rescues the prince, and makes the final offering which will likely be her last unless the writers are merciful and have more planned for her. With such a farewell as she received, I just can’t buy she’ll get to live to the end. Still, what a glorious end it will be. 

Challenging the Dragon

Hwa-Gun hardens her heart toward her grandfather in this episode and becomes the avenging angel. It’s interesting that the Crown Prince’s survival doesn’t seem to affect her decision--once she’s made up her mind, she follows through to the end, whatever the case may be. It’s a testament to her strong will and her spirit.

Dae-Mok earlier in episode 31 gloats about how ambitious people are easy to handle. But it’s the flowers which bloom after a hard winter that are the ones to watch out for. What’s interesting about this exchange is that, while it’s meant to be about the Crown Prince, the character who actually fulfills this during the course of these two episodes is Hwa-Gun. She is the flower who bloomed in winter, the one Dae-Mok can’t predict and can no longer control. When he killed her prince, he lost his grip on her. Her familial ties, though strong, have never been strong enough to keep her in check. 

She openly declares war on him when she meets him in his council chamber. The irony of it all is that she is his proudest and greatest achievement--he has forged a true successor. But the fire he forged her in tempered her against him, and the sharp end of her blade is pointed in his direction. He has just enough foolish grandfatherly affection for her for this to be his downfall. Affection, after all, is the greatest weapon that can cripple even the greatest of men. For all Dae-Mok’s faults as a human being, he’s no sociopath and his heart still can be touched by the right person. Hwa-Gun is that person. 

Rescuing the Prince

Hwa-Gun takes Gon with her to the poppy field, where she tests his loyalty a last time. She sends him to find Chung-woon for her, intending to set him free now that she knows he’s alive. Her last stand for her dead prince will be within the poppy field.

The Crown Prince throws a wrench in her plans when he reveals himself. She finally gets to hug him. True to form, he doesn’t return the favor, but she’s never expected him to. Instead, she offers him the gift of a reunion with his beloved friend, whose faith in his survival remained unwavering until the end. She encourages them to leave quickly, but the Crown Prince refuses to leave without the children.

What’s interesting about this segment between Hwa-Gun and the Crown Prince is the unspoken as well as the spoken. The Crown Prince doesn’t outrightly accuse Hwa-Gun herself of supporting the abuse of the girls, but the implication is there underneath his words that she’s as responsible for their plight through her negligence as her grandfather and father are through their active participation. Hwa-Gun, to her credit, never once tries to justify herself or her actions. She doesn’t try to avoid responsibility. She accepts the accusations and instead approves for the Crown Prince to take the girls with him. It’s not that she has a change of heart or that she’s suddenly become a kinder, more compassionate woman--she hasn’t and she would sacrifice those girls in an instant if they got in the way of the Crown Prince’s safety--but her affection for and respect toward the Crown Prince is so strong that she can do nothing but respect his heartfelt plea. 

One reason I myself support the Crown Prince and Hwa-Gun as a pairing, even though I know it’s never going to happen, is because the Crown Prince is a foolish, short-sighted hot head and Hwa-Gun is the capable, far-sighted planner. The Crown Prince rushes headlong into situations he has no true understanding of, but Hwa-Gun always steps in to protect him and clean up the mess he leaves in his wake. It is quite possible in real life to, with the very best of intentions, cause the destruction of everything you’re trying to protect. This is evident in the events that follow the Crown Prince taking the time to win the girls--they’re immediately swarmed by Dae-Mok’s men. Without Hwa-Gun’s protection, they would all be dead for real. 

With Hwa-Gun at his side, the Crown Prince has more options. As soon as he charges headlong into saving the girls, Hwa-Gun is already adjusting the plan and working out alternative ways to handle the guards. She decides to use the whip of Pyunsoo to protect the Crown Prince, which of course will mark her as a dead woman in Dae-Mok’s eyes if his grandfatherly sympathies don’t get the better of him. Gon knows the meaning of her request, but he’s bound to obey her now. 

After the guards start fighting with the Crown Prince, Hwa-Gun makes full use of the whip. The Crown Prince for the first time begins to realize just how much Hwa-Gun has done for him, and his worry for her safety at last becomes evident. Too late to change her course, too late to save her from the path she’s chosen. She buys time for them to escape and only takes enough time for a final farewell to the Crown Prince before returning to the poppy field.

In her final farewell to the Crown Prince, she lies to him and reassures him she’ll be fine--after all, she’s Dae-Mok’s granddaughter, what harm could befall her? Then she distracts him by asking him, once again, to call her by name. The Crown Prince, unable to refuse, complies with her wish. Before he can say anything more, Chung-Woon calls for him to hurry. Hwa-Gun pushes him away toward safety. 

She then does one of the most selfless things she’s done the whole series--she lies to Gon and tells him to return to her after he’s made sure the Crown Prince is away safely. To release her person this way will protect him from what is inevitably coming for her once she completes her task. Gon knows what she’s up to, but he’s powerless to do anything but obey her command, for she’s framed it in a way that implies she intends to come out of this alive. This scene alone demonstrates how dearly beloved Gon is to her, and how entrenched he is in her heart. His loyalty to her is not misplaced by any means.

She marches back up the hill, determination on her features, to meet her father at the source of it all--the poppy field.

Offering the Sacrifice

In order to take down her grandfather’s ambitions, Hwa-Gun must make a sacrifice of equivalent value. In the end she offers up all she has, in order to take what her grandfather most values. She offers up the Crown Prince, her loyal guardian Gon, her relationship with her family and, very likely, her own life.

She accepts whatever will befall her with a certain dignity and presence of mind. While the men around her fuss and worry that she’s headed into danger, she faces it head on, whatever may come. There is death in her eyes as she reassures Gon that she will be fine. There is death in her eyes when she raises the whip against her grandfather’s loyal men. There is death in her eyes when she releases the Crown Prince. 

Yet in the final moment of sacrifice, she is victorious, and she never once hesitates. The moment for hesitation, for loyalty to family, is gone forever. Whatever her past faults, whatever her past failures, in this moment she is beyond fear. She made a decision to do the last thing only she can do for her prince, and whether or not he was alive changed nothing in her course of action. This challenge was hers and hers alone, and he is left to honor that in his own way. 

The Final Showdown

Maybe it’s because Hwa-Gun’s situation is much more complex, or perhaps because she’s truly put so much of her heart on the line for so little return on her investment, but I can’t help but be moved by her. Yes, she has conflicts of interest--sometimes she tries to save her father or her grandfather at the expense of the crown prince’s plans, but honestly that’s what makes her such a compelling character to me. She has realistic conflicts of interest and is doing everything she can to walk the line and keep everyone she loves safe.

She’s willing to enter a loveless marriage with the man she loves, even while completely accepting that he’ll want to put Ga-Eun on the throne. She’s doing everything she can to help him meet his goals without destroying her own family, to the point of working to take over the Pyunsoo Group in order to hand it over to the crown prince when she can wrest it from her grandfather’s grip. She never once tries to manipulate him or hurt him or hurt Ga-Eun to get him. While I’m sure some may dislike how she slapped Ga-Eun this episode, I think her position is understandable, if a bit melodramatic--she’s put her entire heart and soul on the line for this man, and he’s put his heart and soul on the line for a women who, in Hwa-Gun’s perspective, doesn’t value him and hasn’t put in any effort for him. The viewers of course know this isn’t true, and that Ga-Eun has had a difficult time of things on her own, but I think both girls’ perspectives are treated with sympathy by the writers and neither is painted as evil or in the wrong--they just see things differently because of their life views.

As a viewer, I just feel it’s incredibly tragic how much Hwa-Gun has put on the line for the crown prince only to receive no narrative reward for her sacrifice. It would be one thing if she was acting like a typical selfish losing love interest (a la the false crown prince toward Ga-Eun), but because the writers are treating her with such deep sympathy I can’t help but feel she’s headed toward a truly tragic end. What else can you do with such a character? I also just love that the crown prince treats her feelings with such sincerity and kindness--he’s honest with her and never once leads her on. Her love is freely given, and all she seeks is for him to survive. 

I dunno, it just really gets to me. I know her love perhaps isn’t truly selfless, but it’s honestly handled in such a realistic way (for no love is truly selfless and pure because people are complex creatures with shifting needs and desires) that I still find myself rooting for her to find happiness.

I do wish the creators had made Hwa-Gun the leading lady rather than a support lady. As sweet as Ga-Eun is, she’s ultimately a tad on the safe side for a heroine. Hwa-Gun’s character’s edges and the story’s sympathetic portrayal of her dangerous position make for a much more interesting leading lady. Plus, one complaint I have is that Ga-Eun is clearly not fit for court life--Hwa-Gun was made for it. It’s hard for me to see a woman of Hwa-Gun’s talents tossed aside for a girl who would be better suited to a simpler man than a crown prince. But you can’t win them all, I suppose.

Needless to say, I guess I’m going to be sitting here for the remaining episodes rooting for a hopeless love and wishing Hwa-Gun could both get over the prince and come out of this alive without descending into jealous madness. I’d hate to see her lovely character tarnished by that kind of writing, and I’d hate to see her meet a tragic end for a man who--though worthy in and of himself--could never value what she’s offering him. 

All this aside, I really love her Daddy looking out for her. That scene just cut me to the core when he asked her to trust him to bring the antidote and save the crown prince for her. Ugh. I’m glad that in the end she’ll have her Daddy no matter what. She deserves a little something in her life. =) Also, can I just say that the OST for Ruler and My Sassy Girl are amazing? =D