[Mainland Chinese Drama 2018] Ruyi's Royal Love In The Palace 如懿传

[snowflake]

@omiki  Thanks for the rectification.  Sorry all for my mistake.   I think it's due to similarity in appearance.  Wow!  Poor Lian Xin.  Wouldn't that affects her family?  Maybe its her guilt.

 

@outsanity  Most likely the main theme of the author is like what you detected.  I see that the story seem to reflect that and was fully expressed by Wei.

[Cedric Ong]

16 hours ago, dejun said:

Spoiler

I feel so sad for Yun Che.  He felt so miserable when Yan Wan dumped him for second time but at least he now knew that he's been used by her.  It's a bit heartbreaking for me to see him being dumped.  I begin to wonder if Yan Wan (future Consort Ling) is like that in history as both dramas this year are similar in portrayal of her.

 

Spoiler

1st Yanxi's version did not dumped the palace guard who happened to be bro of Fuca brother. There are differences which i wont elaborate since different drama. 2ndly hard to link to actual history since different interpretation by different author but i can't help wonder why Ruyi's Ling/Wei has to change its chinese char to same-sounding but different letters.

 

Anyway just add on abit...ya, the longer a king lives...perhaps the wives suffer esp if giving birth too many times. Consort Ling lived until 49...perhaps giving birth 6 times within 10 yrs did take a toll.

 

About Arou's punishment and death...i didnt watch that ep...but the novel mention Qianlong had poisoned her in secret so she became mute...thus she can't reveal anything. They didnt need that, only her punishment in public to serve as a warning to others not to bully or betray Ruyi.

 

[dzareth]

2 hours ago, outsanity said:

Not that Zhou Xun isn't an amazing actress who is capable of pulling off this difficult role, I don't like the get-out-of-jail-free card Ruyi keeps on getting because the emperor "loves her so much" - I want to see her scheme and really get her hands dirty as opposed to staying righteous and good. In Zhen Huan, the emperor's love was layered with so many secrets, heartbreaks and falsehood. Here, it's like "luv conquers all. Gg. Until it doesn't. Lol." 

 

I feel like another big theme in Ruyi is "what goes around comes around." This sense that karma is always right around the next corner. The queen might've gotten away with a lot of things but karma in the form of smallpox(?) and Lady Gao's maid comes and kills that son she tried so hard to conceive. 

 

There's really no way to win the harem game. Even if you come out victorious once or twice, you won't be a winner for life. Not unless you become the emperor yourself, the way Wu Zetian did, I guess.

 

Actually, Ruyi had just begun scheming with the arsenic poisoning. The fact that she kept being a target when she was already in the cold palace has woken her up somewhat. But unlike Zhen Huan, Ruyi still has faith in the sweet talking Qianlong while Zhen Huan lost trust at Yongzheng. The timing of her bracelet reveal to Lady Gao is also calculative.

 

If we assume the current Zhen Huan is a continuation of Sun Li's Zhen Huan, then we know Zhen Huan is the smartest of them all (probably Zhen Huan will outlast everyone in the harem!). I also believe that despite her competition with Lady Ulanara (Ruyi's aunt), I think that she recognizes that Ruyi has great potential to overcome her due to Qianlong's affection and Ruyi's personal traits.

 

Ruyi isn't stupid or naive. But she holds the emperor' words too much. Once she understands that the emperor has limitations, she will have to be independent of him and take care of herself. And although I think she realises that the harem isn't very fond of her, she just never thought that they would hate her that much, that they'd try to harm her again and again and would not even want her to bear children.

 

Both Zhen Huan and Ruyi are about surviving the harem. Zhen Huan found out the key is power. But Ruyi isn't that power hungry. I'm guessing she'll become disillusioned by the fact that the emperor is no longer the man that she loved.

[Cedric Ong]

37 minutes ago, dzareth said:

 

Both Zhen Huan and Ruyi are about surviving the harem. Zhen Huan found out the key is power. But Ruyi isn't that power hungry. I'm guessing she'll become disillusioned by the fact that the emperor is no longer the man that she loved.

Can't say Zhenhun is greedy for power or think power is key to survival. She just don't rely on the emperor's affection that much and focus more on removing obstacles to her and her children's survival. Even when the obstacles include the emperor in the end.

Perhaps the difference is Yongzhen had doomed her feelings much earlier than...Qianlong to Ruyi. 

 

 

[maddymappo]

1 hour ago, Cedric Ong said:

Can't say Zhenhun is greedy for power or think power is key to survival. She just don't rely on the emperor's affection that much and focus more on removing obstacles to her and her children's survival. Even when the obstacles include the emperor in the end.

Perhaps the difference is Yongzhen had doomed her feelings much earlier than...Qianlong to Ruyi. 

 

 

Zhenhun's  great love was never the Emperor who she married out of duty and then took power to survive.  RuYi always loved Qianlong since they grew up together.   So Zhenhun's view has always been objective when it came to the harem. In this drama she tells RuYi she doesn't like one single flower - she likes bunches of flowers. She always refers to the harem ladies as flowers. They are the breeding ground for the great empire and as the grand dame she wants Qianlong to have many sons.  It was easier to have that attitude when you are not deeply in love.  RuYi loves Qianlong so she fulfills this duty but it takes great courage and strength not to fall into the homicidal mania that possess so many of them. I think when GF gets crazy when she hears Lady Hui is pregnant, she starts to mutter about how did she get this way? She wasn't always like this, she doesn't want to be like that.... etc.   Her own inability to have children (thanks to her 'friend" the empress) and watching the emperor impregnating his beautiful harem ladies, knowing she will not remain young forever - and not have a child to maintain that relationship - caused her to become demented. 

[Cedric Ong]

13 minutes ago, maddymappo said:

Zhenhun's  great love was never the Emperor who she married out of duty and then took power to survive.  

I am basing it on the Zhenhuan in Zhenhuan drama. Perhaps her love is more towards Prince Guojun....but besides the duty she 1st had for entering the palace...she did have feelings for Yongzhen...and even bear hope of a normal husband-wife relationship...thus the few things Yongzhen did for her initially eg nuts under the bed. But alas her heart was broken when she realised she was more of a replacement to Yongzhen.

Ok...i think certain things had been confused...btw these 2 dramas by same author who didnt care to maintain certain connectivity btw them. So never mind.

[BellyButton]

I remember the scene where she told QL about the idea of one man one wife and QL scoffed at the idea.   Being young she thought QL's reaffirmation of their love will last forever. I think one really have to be loveless to survive in such an environment. 

[ruyispalace1]

Just read up on Suo Xin’s fate, (Ruyi’s loyal maid/servant) after noticing in images/stills and clips when Ruyi becomes Empress, she’s nowhere to be found... and I’m sad 

 

Spoiler

Suo Xin is interrogated by Jia Fèi, to the point she becomes disabled and cannot serve Ruyi’s anymore  their bond is another that is heartwarming to see. I’m not looking forward to this. 

 

[gleek49]

1 hour ago, Cedric Ong said:

I am basing it on the Zhenhuan in Zhenhuan drama. Perhaps her love is more towards Prince Guojun....but besides the duty she 1st had for entering the palace...she did have feelings for Yongzhen...and even bear hope of a normal husband-wife relationship...thus the few things Yongzhen did for her initially eg nuts under the bed. But alas her heart was broken when she realised she was more of a replacement to Yongzhen.

Ok...i think certain things had been confused...btw these 2 dramas by same author who didnt care to maintain certain connectivity btw them. So never mind.

 

I don't think Ruyi is "relying" on the Emperor for anything, yes, she loves him; but her love for Qianlong and her ability and willingness to scheme are totally two different things. After all Qianlong did ended up throwing her in the Cold Palace for three years. At that point, Ruyi had already awared that she can't completely depend on Qianlong's love. There's no "freecard", the Emperor got her out because he knew she was innocent, but she still had to poison herself to manipulate him into making that decision. Wasn't that schemy enough?

 

After getting out of the Cold Palace, she understood that she needed to scheme to survive, she did scheme to exposed A Ruo, playing ghost to scare Gui Fei, her last talk with Gui Fei was also calculated, so Gui Fei could help her expose the Empress. She schemed to get revenge on people who wronged her. However, Ruyi was still a very proud and principled person, even though she's one of the smartest women in the Palace, she just wasn't willing to dirty her hands unless she had to. Ruyi not being cruel like other women had nothing to do with her relationship with Qianlong; it's more about her personality, her moral code. It's frustrating because Ruyi had everything one needs in order to survive the palace, if she had been more heartless, she wouldn't have end up dead like that. She herself is her own worst enemy.

 

ZH and Ruyi are completely different stories. Ruyi at the end of her life was actually more similar to ZH right before leaving for the temple than the Ruyi right before Cold Palace. If you think about it, both reacted quite similarly after their relationship with their husbands crumbled. They're both became disillusioned and disappointed in their husbands, but ZH had the chance to find new reason to live and the chance to come back and win it all; Ruyi reached that stage too late. So you can't really compare their willingness to scheme with each other.

 

Regarding the connection between ZH and RY, the novel of ZHZ was set in a fictional emperor's reign, it's the drama's decision to adapt it to Yongzheng's reign, which explains why ZH had more inconsistencies to history than RY. LLZ wrote RYZ after the success of ZH, and she set it directly in Qianlong's reign. So technically, she didn't change ZH's personality, I think she purposefully left it vague that she may or may not created entirely different characters. The drama actually shouldn't promote itself as sequel to ZHZ when the characters are different, but it's not all their faults, they just tried to stick to the novel. It's awkward, but what can you do 

[gaia2]

57 minutes ago, ruyispalace1 said:

Just read up on Suo Xin’s fate, (Ruyi’s loyal maid/servant) after noticing in images/stills and clips when Ruyi becomes Empress, she’s nowhere to be found... and I’m sad 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Suo Xin is interrogated by Jia Fèi, to the point she becomes disabled and cannot serve Ruyi’s anymore  their bond is another that is heartwarming to see. I’m not looking forward to this. 

 

Spoiler

I thought suoxin married the physician that she liked and got to leave the palace... Hope that's true and at least that 1 couple has a good end... Anyone knows?

 

[ruyispalace1]

2 hours ago, gaia2 said:

  Hide contents

I thought suoxin married the physician that she liked and got to leave the palace... Hope that's true and at least that 1 couple has a good end... Anyone knows?

 

 

Spoiler

Sorry you’re right. She does get married to the physician (poor Li Yu lol ) but later is tortured by Jia Fèi for unknown reasons yet, to the point she becomes disabled.. unfortunately it doesn’t seem to end well for her either 

 

[cassiemissy]

Ruyi did scheme in her own way. She don’t scheme to win the Emperor or scheme to climb up to be an Empress. She scheme to save herself. She scheme in order to leave the cold palace. She knows she need scheme in order to protect herself. I kinda like how subtle her scheming tactics are. Pretending there’s ghost then sit in her palace while she see GF slowly became crazy..  

[gaia2]

37 minutes ago, ruyispalace1 said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Sorry you’re right. She does get married to the physician (poor Li Yu lol ) but later is tortured by Jia Fèi for unknown reasons yet, to the point she becomes disabled.. unfortunately it doesn’t seem to end well for her either 

 

 

[BellyButton]

1 hour ago, gaia2 said:

 

Me too. I like Sioxin very much. Such a kind loyal being. She deserves a good life.  

 

Oh why did Lianxin in drown herself?

 

Anyone watched Ruyi promo? Sioxin looks pretty tall in real life.

[outsanity]

11 hours ago, dzareth said:

 

Actually, Ruyi had just begun scheming with the arsenic poisoning. The fact that she kept being a target when she was already in the cold palace has woken her up somewhat. But unlike Zhen Huan, Ruyi still has faith in the sweet talking Qianlong while Zhen Huan lost trust at Yongzheng. The timing of her bracelet reveal to Lady Gao is also calculative.

 

If we assume the current Zhen Huan is a continuation of Sun Li's Zhen Huan, then we know Zhen Huan is the smartest of them all (probably Zhen Huan will outlast everyone in the harem!). I also believe that despite her competition with Lady Ulanara (Ruyi's aunt), I think that she recognizes that Ruyi has great potential to overcome her due to Qianlong's affection and Ruyi's personal traits.

 

Ruyi isn't stupid or naive. But she holds the emperor' words too much. Once she understands that the emperor has limitations, she will have to be independent of him and take care of herself. And although I think she realises that the harem isn't very fond of her, she just never thought that they would hate her that much, that they'd try to harm her again and again and would not even want her to bear children.

 

Both Zhen Huan and Ruyi are about surviving the harem. Zhen Huan found out the key is power. But Ruyi isn't that power hungry. I'm guessing she'll become disillusioned by the fact that the emperor is no longer the man that she loved.

 

I think it's the inconsistencies in the character designs that bothers me. Ruyi is clearly extremely intelligent and insightful, but somehow she still has this blind faith/love in Qianlong. Okay, let's say she has this blind faith/love in Qianlong and she brought up the one man/one wife thing at the beginning... but she's pretty chill about Qianlong's many, many wives. Ruyi is supposedly on a mission as per instructions from Lady Ulanara, but we don't see her trying to seize power or even hinting that she's power-hungry. Ruyi is still painted as this principled/righteous character, but she added stuff to Lady Gao's medicine to give Lady Gao hallucinations and tortured Ah-rou. 

 

Overall, Ruyi is a very passive character who simply reacts (rather inconsistently) to circumstances, whereas Zhenhuan is an active character. 

 

 

9 hours ago, maddymappo said:

Zhenhun's  great love was never the Emperor who she married out of duty and then took power to survive.  RuYi always loved Qianlong since they grew up together.   So Zhenhun's view has always been objective when it came to the harem. In this drama she tells RuYi she doesn't like one single flower - she likes bunches of flowers. She always refers to the harem ladies as flowers. They are the breeding ground for the great empire and as the grand dame she wants Qianlong to have many sons.  It was easier to have that attitude when you are not deeply in love.  RuYi loves Qianlong so she fulfills this duty but it takes great courage and strength not to fall into the homicidal mania that possess so many of them. I think when GF gets crazy when she hears Lady Hui is pregnant, she starts to mutter about how did she get this way? She wasn't always like this, she doesn't want to be like that.... etc.   Her own inability to have children (thanks to her 'friend" the empress) and watching the emperor impregnating his beautiful harem ladies, knowing she will not remain young forever - and not have a child to maintain that relationship - caused her to become demented. 

 

I actually think that Zhenhuan's great love was the Emperor. Especially at the beginning. She deeply loved him. But she wised up and after Prince Guo was so kind to her, Zhenhuan sort of concluded that it was better to be with a man who deeply loved her instead of a man she deeply loved. It's questionable whether zhenhuan really loved Prince Guo as much as she loved the emperor, in my opinion. 

But Zhenhuan always had this scheme-y, cunning streak (it was more subtle in the beginning, but she outplayed Hua Fei many times and you can tell by her speech that she was very sharp witted) whereas Ruyi never did. 

[Josephine Safowaa]

Spoiler

i cant believe wei yan is this desperate for a child ,and should she try the method she used on  the emperor before  now on him. Im i the only one who thinks Li FU the emperors' eunuch  also likes ruyi's maid.

      i watched this kdrama ''cruel palace'' and i was wondering someone  like the lead character (Jo gwi in) would fit in the harem of Qianlong and if so how long could she survive.I think she the most craziest lead i have seen in the collection of dramas i have watched , another one Hurrem from magnificent century.

 

 

[cassiemissy]

Photography by Yin Chao. Using the most old photography technique and style to recreate the Qing dynasty aura. I like this photographer. He always take very artistic shots. Now this set of photos are so 'old' 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

Here is a link to watch the BTS of this photography session: BTS 

[BellyButton]

I love these photos. So real. Reminds me of my grandparents family photos. 

[etelou1]

On 9/12/2018 at 12:58 AM, Cedric Ong said:

  Hide contents

1st Yanxi's version did not dumped the palace guard who happened to be bro of Fuca brother. There are differences which i wont elaborate since different drama. 2ndly hard to link to actual history since different interpretation by different author but i can't help wonder why Ruyi's Ling/Wei has to change its chinese char to same-sounding but different letters.

 

Anyway just add on abit...ya, the longer a king lives...perhaps the wives suffer esp if giving birth too many times. Consort Ling lived until 49...perhaps giving birth 6 times within 10 yrs did take a toll.

 

About Arou's punishment and death...i didnt watch that ep...but the novel mention Qianlong had poisoned her in secret so she became mute...thus she can't reveal anything. They didnt need that, only her punishment in public to serve as a warning to others not to bully or betray Ruyi.

 

Actually, it was necessary for them to mute her voice.....Arou could have told Ruyi about the empress involvement at the last minute and that's what Qianlong wanted to keep secret. 

[cassiemissy]

4 hours ago, etelou1 said:

Actually, it was necessary for them to mute her voice.....Arou could have told Ruyi about the empress involvement at the last minute and that's what Qianlong wanted to keep secret. 

 Truth is, everyone knows Empress is involved. But Qianlong choose not to face that reality. He’s afraid. She is his official wife, Empress of his nation. He didn’t want to know what the Empress did behind his back. Therefore he silent Arou. 

 

Ruyi knows. But she has no prove. And now with Arou muted and gone at the end, no one can point finger at Empress. Then she turn to the next person, Gui Fei...