That KDrama Fan

Let’s start with a quick character analysis, shall we?

First we have Yul, the model student, the one who’s memorized all the rules by heart and follows them to the letter.

While he was in love with Naksu (or rather, the memory of her) his first instinct when he met her again in S1 was to doubt and suspect her.

As you can see here (EP 12 S1) he, very subtly, tells Uk they should get rid of Naksu since she’s now a soul shifter, and a dangerous one at that. She’s the shadow assassin, after all.

And let’s be real, he never trusted her completely. Why would his first thought after she ran wild be “this could have been avoided if I’d reported her” otherwhise? He trusted Uk, but not Naksu.

This can be seen in the latest episode, EP 6. He may love her, but he still believes getting rid of her is better for everyone. Even though she herself doesn’t know who she is. Even though she is harmless. His choice is still the same: to follow the rules, eliminate the thread, and maintain peace.

On the other hand we have Uk: the underdog. Underestimated, undermined and cast aside his whole life. He doesn’t follow the rules, but rather his heart. How could he believe in a system that deemed him worthless? He doesn’t owe anyone shit, because no one ever gave him a chance, none ever cared enough, until Naksu.

This is Uk’s answer to Yul’s “Naksu is dangerous”. He doesn’t condemn her, doesn’t judge her, doesn’t let prejudice win over what he knows about her. Never has. Because he’s been there. Because he’s been called useless, a silly nobleman who wasted his time and others’s, a man who would amount for nothing. Until Naksu gave him the chance no one ever gave him before.

Naksu stabbed Uk. She killed him. And yet the moment he woke up, he was sure none of that was her fault, that Jin Mu was the mastermind somehow. Hell, even when he was dying in her arms he reached for her and interlaced their fingers in an “I love you” gesture. He NEVER doubter her, even while she drove a sword through his heart.

God, and look at this. He doesn’t give a damn about anything else, for him it’s all about her because she’s the one who gave him back the wings his father cut and his previous masters kept locked up.

Also, something the king said on EP 4 is very telling.

People love to talk about Naksu, love to gossip about her, but not a single one of them knows her. No one knows anything about her. Except Uk.

Uk, who looked beyond the assassin’s facade and saw the affection-starved girl. The girl who often bought honey biscuits for him, the girl who made a certain type of noodles because she knew he liked them.

He even entertains that idea, a (momentary) flash of hope, quickly extinguished when he looked at her eyes to check if the blue marks were there.

His subconcious knows… like a tiny bit of intuition being stamped down and beaten by logic, shouting and screaming that it’s not possible. It’s not her. His Mu-deok / Naksu is either dead or out there that he cannot reach. 

* she also saves herself but it would not happen without his help

Naksu's "shadow" assassin, referring her true identity, Yeong. Her name also means falling "water", and that's a hint.

We have seen relationship between Yeong and water even when she was in another body as Mudeok. She reached Chisu quite fast, become more powerful in Lake Gyeongcheondaeho and could control water of Cheonbugwan basin.

Water of Lake Gyeongcheondaeho is gift to mages and source of their energy. Similarly, ice stone is a gift as well. I think this hints that Yeong also has a birth secret related to ice stone.

If Yeong's mother was really a Jin descendant, she had access to Jinyowon and probably knew about ice stone. Especially if Yeong's mother was the oldest, it means she was the heir and the person who was supposed to protect ice stone.

Jang Gang might also believe there might be ice stone left behind bc of his suspicion of Yeong. He was a close friend of Cho and if Yeong's mother was Jin, he might sense they used ice stone.

So, if Naksu/ Yeong indeed has connection to ice stone and water, they can't burn her. Scientifically, you can't burn pure water, but break it down into hydrogen and oxygen with energy. When they burnt Naksu, she "broke down", had her body and soul in different places. Her body was burnt in a place with high sky energy. ( They burnt Jang Uk and Naksu in the same place, somewhere close to Cheonbugwan. As they record constellations there, probably sky's energy is strong there. )

There is also this famous confession scene that clearly foreshadow the burning scene. Naksu/ Yeong is shadow, she is always hidden but that doesn't mean she doesn't exist. Jang Uk (light) can always find her.

Then there is Seo Gyeong's love letter / poem, mentioning both water and fire. Water is the symbol of life and soul.

Fire, on the other hand, symbolize deepest desires, passion, rebirth, and resurrection. Both Jang Uk and Yeong resurrected in fire.

In short, both Jang Uk and Cho Yeong / Naksu has strong connection with water, hence, they can't be burn and instead, fire serves as the symbolism of resurrection for them.

Light and Shadow shall find each other once again.

Yeong is radiating light, while Jang Uk swallows it, becoming a shadow. It feels like he consumes all the light, it would make sense for him to become enchanted by her again, hunger for her and her light, being attracted to her like a moth to the flame. She truly becomes a ray of sunshine in Uk’s darkness. She looks like an enchanted princess and Uk as her dark prince.

Both Jang Uk and Yeong are somehow empty 3 years after the tragic events of the Part 1 finale - he without her by his side and she without the memories of him and their love. They’ve been incomplete without each other, two halves of one whole torn apart by evil.

Jang Uk exudes the aura of a man who’s been to hell and back and the experience has twisted and tormented him beyond repair. He lost Yeong, his anchor. How is a man supposed to live when he lost his reason to be alive?

The change in Yeong’s and Uk’s personalities have not been caused by some magical brain transplant. It’s because Uk remembers everything and his memories torment him, changing him, while she is free of them, yet they’re both incomplete without each other.

For whomsoever it may concern:

There are ONLY two women who have been greatly wronged in the AOS-verse.

1. Cho Yeong / NakSu — his wife.

2. Do Hwa — his mother.

Do Hwa was raped. She wasn’t aware of and did not / would never consent to sleeping with that idiot! King let alone conceive someone through him. She was deceived. Her agency was stripped off. Her name has been completely slandered as someone who has committed adultery.

Cho Yeong witnessed her entire household killed / burnt including her papa dearest, when she was all of four. She had noone else to look to so she held the first helping hand that came her way. She was brainwashed and left alone to live amongst wild beasts in a harsh environment — where you know, it freezes every winter and it becomes extra-hard to find food. She was used for the insane skills she built up for herself and then unceremoniously discarded. She saw her own body burn and I will never forget how depressed / suicidal she was. If not for Jang Uk holding onto her (albeit for his own selfish reasons), she wouldn’t have survived on her own — she would’ve either killed herself or be killed by Jin Mu’s cronies. Then again, when she was finally brimming with love and hope and warmth, she lost agency and was made to kill the love of her life and witnessed him dying at her hands — his blood all over her.

What a grim life where she’s had to deal with death & loneliness ALL HER LIFE. Jang Uk is the only person — other than her father — who unconditionally loves her and for whom she sheds tears for.

In contrast to these two women, Jin BuYeon always had agency. She was and is a much loved daughter / sister. She is revered for her divine powers. For someone as powerful as her — who could find / wield the icestone at a young age — she could’ve found her way home if she truly wanted to. She probably chose not to…coz let’s face it, had she tried to return home, her father / her uncle Jin Mu would’ve plotted for her murder sooner than later lest she expose their evil plans to mama Jin.

Bu Yeon also chose to NOT JUST protect the girl NakSu targeted to shift her soul into but also actively decided to imbibe NakSu’s soul into herself — most likely coz she finally has found the way to use NakSu’s skillset to get to the capital / get to the ice-stone. Further, she could — in nearly all critical situations — take back control of her body she allowed NakSu to use. MuDeok persona is not just a COVER for NakSu but also been a cover for BuYeon for over 10 years.

Bu Yeon chose to stay in the shadows and observe. She didn’t even reveal herself when she was in close proximity to her mother or her sister coz she always had a higher purpose — which is to get the ice stone back from evil Jin Mu’s hands. This is why she opened the Jinyowon doors for Soi coz she wanted Jin Mu to play all his cards and reveal the ice stone so she could finally destroy it or hand it over to the person who is capable of wielding its power for the good of everyone. The only moment she chose to reveal herself is when her mother was snuffing the life out of her & NakSu. She then shifts the ice-stone to the training center and presents advice to NakSu — that power cannot be controlled, that there will be consequences, and that the ideal thing to do is to choose NOT to use that power. At that point, it’s upto either NakSu or JangUk — both who have realized the barrier for what it is — to take the icestone.

I digressed a bit….but long story short, there are only two AOS women who greatly suffered, sacrified and whose agency was stripped away. BuYeon, in contrast, made strategic choices. She is the noble one who attempted to destroy and finally offered the icestone to the King’s Star…she stealthily moved the chess pieces…and she protected NakSu & JangUk all along.

We've seen 2 so far.

Act I was Naksu escaping death by possessing Mu-deok's body and meeting her pupil Jang Uk. While for Jang Uk, he meets his master and works hard to enter Songrim under her guidance. They both face obstacles and battle doubts to finally come to trust and rely on each other absolutely.

This was episodes 1-10 ➡️ call to action ➡️ obstacles ➡️ doubts ➡️ end of act

Act II was Naksu and Jang Uk (who've both lived focused on their own goals all their life) falling deeper in love and facing the question of what happens if Naksu gets her powers back or if everything goes to crap. Do they risk all for love or power?

This was episodes 11-20 ➡️ obstacles ➡️ plot twist ➡️ more obstacles ➡️ crisis ➡️ end of act

Act III will happen after our protagonists have gone through their lowest point which is where we leave them at the end of Season 1.

Jang Uk and Naksu are separated, Mu-deok's body has begun to petrify, the prince has been turned against the pair, Jin Mu has gotten back his power.

Now, we wait for Act III to commence.

I elaborate a lot more on this here: