[Drama 2020] The King: Eternal Monarch, 더 킹: 영원의 군주

[Edgar Pordwed]

4 hours ago, kimchijjigae said:

I just came up with this idea. Seems far fetched, but what if one end of the flute enables one to travel to the past, and the other end lets them travel to the future?

And with that, LG got the part that allows him to travel to the past, and thus save himself and give himself clues, etc.

Then LL gets the part that lets him travel to the future (not sure about this part, maybe he hasn't discovered time travel yet and that's why he meets what I think is a future LL in the preview?) 

Since the flute is cut in half, both of them can travel through both worlds at the present timeline. 

Then combining both ends either resets everything or allows the owner of the flute to travel whether the past, present 

Whoa nice! That would explain how he knew the pregnant lady's child's sex. 

 

4 hours ago, madmad min said:

Ok WAIT!!! LUNA did Not want To maybe KILL LG but STEAL the FLUTE? Does LR know that WHIP has the FLUTE?? 

 

Flute is joined and LR travels back to time But this thing Wont explain how LG can go back??

 

 

Q- Does LR know that LG's WHIP has the Half of Flute?..no one should know that unless Lady Noh or JTE reveals that right???

 

 

BrainDead Right Now God Dear Lord!! WHY O WHY.

 

Oh! I was hoping earlier that Luna would help the good guys by stealing Uncle's umbrella... but this would be so bad! 

[Adritz_]

Wow!!! this thread has grown a lot in the last few hours! 

 

I found the ep. 13 was ok. The hype was so great that I think most fans expected more answers than questions in this ep.

 

We had so many events before the ep. 13 aired....several photos of the filming of the last episode, the cancellation on friday, the extended promo....Ep. 11 and 12 were so incredible that I was expecting the same from the next four. So by the time ep.13 finally aired it did not meet my expectations. But I still enjoyed it. 

 

The only big reveal of the ep. had already been spoiled hours before. For me SBS decision to show pictures of LG at the hospital and the promo of him running and hugging JTE with the savior's clothes was not very smart. 
 

I wish I was surprised when LG took the black coat out of the bag. There were so many weeks of speculation and theories that

I wanted a jaw dropping moment for the revelation that LG was the savior (or at least one of the saviors).

 

Another thing I hope is that Lady Noh’s revelation will be more important in the next episodes, because I expected more than a quick scene that apparently didn’t add anything to the story.

 

For me this episode had a calm before the storm vibe. hopefully in the next three our questions will finally be answered.
 

My biggest questions are:

1. how and why did LG go back in time? 

2. when did LG first meet JTE?

3. Why was LR caught by the police in RoC? 

4. will we have a royal wedding? Or any kind of wedding? 

 

We have more than 3 hours before TKEM is over, I hope it is enough to solve all the problems, since they are all connected to the past, LR and the flute. 

oh! Another thing that bothered me was that JTE, LG and SJ know that Luna is in RoC so why they didn't think of a secret password for JTE to say whenever they meet? So they could be sure it was her...

 

Like whenever someone says "Hi JTE" she has to answer "I love BBQ chicken " or “my favorite tea flavor from The Alley is ...”  they missed a great chance to advertise some more and be safe at the same time 

[cpt_falcon]

4 hours ago, Umjicheok said:

Lady Noh said that King Hyejong brought her to KOC. Now I hope ppl theorizing that she may be Lee Lim's mother is not true.

If she is his mother and depending on if Lady Noh wasn't pregnant at the time she crossed over (I don't think she was as LR doesn't seem old enough during the nearly successful coup attempt)?  That would make LR the first character in the story we know of that's a child of characters from the two different worlds.  Lady Noh (from ROK) and whoever LR's father is in KOC (Haejong?  Jong-in?  Someone else?).

I know I'm incorrigible when it comes to the possibility The Surprise Hero of the Story Is LG/JTE's Child speculation, but..... if LR is a secret child of the two worlds?  It seems it'd stand to reason to me, especially for the story's reliance on mirrors and the Hero v. Shadow dynamic (identical yet opposite), whoever is meant to truly defeat him and/or the one meant to fix what he broke?  It may also have to be a character that's quite literally a product of the two worlds as he, in theory, is?    

LG may indeed be the one who goes back in time to save his young self and strategically leave behind JTE's police badge, but he may not be the one to defeat LR or save the universes in the very end (or open those doors so LG/JTE can reunite).  That role may be meant for another character?

[sal2]

 

Ugh why did Luna kiss Shin jae? Poor boy confused face. Not enough that he have to go true identity crises. But then Luna have to mess with his feelings for Tae Eul. I guess she maybe thought he was Tae Eul boyfriend or wanted to test him... Anyway, I keep ponder on what her motive is. if she even have one since she seem to go just go with the flow. Maybe witnessing all the warmth from the people around Tae Eul make her want to stay and have those good memory before she dies. I guess since she is sick she become greedy for warmth and love from people since she do not have that in her life. I guess that is why she is taking over Tae eul life completely. 

 

[Orientalfan]

3 minutes ago, cpt_falcon said:

If she is his mother and depending on if Lady Noh wasn't pregnant at the time she crossed over (I don't think she was as LR doesn't seem old enough during the nearly successful coup attempt)?  That would make LR the first character in the story we know of that's a child of characters from the two different worlds.  Lady Noh (from ROK) and whoever LR's father is in KOC (Haejong?  Jong-in?  Someone else?).

I know I'm incorrigible when it comes to the possibility The Surprise Hero of the Story Is LG/JTE's Child speculation, but..... if LR is a secret child of the two worlds?  It seems it'd stand to reason to me, especially for the story's reliance on mirrors and the Hero v. Shadow dynamic (identical yet opposite), whoever is meant to truly defeat him and/or the one meant to fix what he broke?  It may also have to be a character that's quite literally a product of the two worlds as he, in theory, is?    

LG may indeed be the one who goes back in time to save his young self and strategically leave behind JTE's police badge, but he may not be the one to defeat LR or save the universes in the very end (or open those doors so LG/JTE can reunite).  That role may be meant for another character?

There was a comment by..someone here..i'm at a loss by whom...a very interesting idea that she  put forward was...LR got the whole flute but JTE at the same time killed LR. 

But then...i remembered the scene of SJ and JTE interrogating LR at the Police Station. 

[Heretorant]

3 hours ago, ms_inquiry said:

About LG's shooting skills

 

I would actually argue that the drama has hinted as much that LG is a pretty decent shooter as well as that he is not. How? 

 

His general combat abilities being hinted to be excellent (which the shooter's must be, that scene is very physical)

 

First clue is in the conversation with the captain at the funeral. Important to note that we had by the time we saw this scene already seen LG be pretty capable in combat (fighting a lot of thugs in the previous ep.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote

"I saw that you won the rowing competition. I should have stopped you from leaving the army and made you a soldier. Right, you wouldn't have been promoted because you are not talented in combats. You came in last place in your battalion"

"Last place...I wasn't...!" *LG, protests, looks genuinely taken aback*

*The Captain laughs in response, seemingly glad to have broken LG out of his, while sincere, also very formal and serious demeanour*

*LG looks like he realizes he is being made fun of, sighs in acknowledgment and joins in the joke(?):*

"Hasn't that information been classified as the national secret yet?"

 

Of course I have here written how I "read" the scene so to speak, but I think it is pretty clear that the Captain is joking with LG to prompt a reaction. Sure LG's protests could also simply be embarrassment, but that is not the feeling I get when watching the whole scene. Also especially since we know him to be a very competent fighter from the previous ep. I believe that the viewer is meant to read this as a joke. I also believe that the Captain is quite serious in the first part of this exchange (marked in bold font) where he is complementing LG for having been such a good soldier. The whole exchange feels very much like old army friends joking with each other.

 

Side note: I wouldn't be surprised if it is the case that LG was incredibly competitive during his army service, he is very confident about his abilities throughout the drama and doesn't mind being honest - almost arrogant about them . We can deduce from this exchange that friends of his, like the Captain, probably know that it is therefore an easy way of making fun of him. Competitive people who take a lot of pride in being capable are often easy targets for these kinds of jokes.

 

LG also states very proudly to JTE in the second and third episode that he is well-trained. While JY seems confident that he can take LG in a sword fight, I think it is important to remember that JY is basically portrayed to be incredibly well-trained. So if LG is second to him , that implied that he is very very good.

 

In this latest episode (13), an aspect of LG realizing that he is the shooter is that he remembers that the shooter was very good.

 

About the shooting range

So this is the big one. Why is LG so bad at target-shooting at the shooting range? First I want to point out that LG is very confident in his ability to win that lion before he starts. Couldn't his confidence be a clue that he is normally very good at target-shooting? But then of course he fails, and we know from the fact that JTE later aces it that it is not rigged so what is going on?

 

- The whole scenario could just be a joke on the protagonist behalf - as it seemingly plays out as - the joke being that he is not as good as he thinks OR

- In the same ep we see JTE at a real shooting range practicing with SJ. SJ aces it while JTE performs slightly worse but still does pretty well. She states that "quick-firing is a bit hard". Of course later when she's at the shooting range with LG she absolutely aces it (only needing seven bullets). These two scenes together could be read as suggesting that she aces it because she is better at normal target shooting than quick-firing. So the drama has here for some reason decided to show that that a character can be worse/better at one than the other. So while JTE is better at normal target shooting, LG could by the same logic be (perhaps even much) better at quick-firing than he is at normal target shooting.

 

The skill sets employed for the respective "styles" are also slightly different. In normal target shooting you normally take your time to aim but when you do quick-firing you are meant to rely on your (hopefully) well-ingrained muscle memory and shooting "sense" so to speak. If you think too much or for too long you will more often than not do worse since you will overthink it basically. If LG is very good at quick-firing that implies that his muscle memory is very good. And I also don't think it is uncommon for someone who is very well-trained with real weapons, relying on muscle memory, to be quite a lot worse when handling noticeable lighter play-variants. LG's muscle memory could even be what stops him from adjusting to the extent that he needs to to do well on the shooting range.

 

This is just a theory though, I don't do any kind of shooting myself - this is more based on my own observations when it comes to how different modes of seemingly similar sports or games can be to their real-life counterpart. 

 

A slightly boring reason that LG is so good as the shooter in that scene could be that he remembers it so well from being a kid. I kinda think that would be cheating (from the writer's part) though.

@ms_inquiry coming through with the most elaborative explanation as to why LG is indeed a good shooter and no further explanation needed!

 

I’m sold! 
 

Agree on the combat part. I’ve always thought LG was taken aback because the captain was obviously only teasing him. It’s very clear to me actually. I don’t see how anyone can read this scene differently.

 

I overlooked the part where he was confident he’d win the doll with 7 bullets. Yes, I do believe he was confident because he IS a good shooter. He was sold the game was rigged because he knew himself, he is a good shooter. 
 

I’m also going to agree with you on your points about why JTE was able to win using only 7 bullets versus LG. I’d also like to add, games do not equal real life. This is not something we can draw conclusion from by watching the show but I can prove it with my own experience. My fiancé is fairly good at playing basketball while I am not athletic at all. We were at an arcade and playing the shooting basketball game. I watched him struggle to make points for several rounds. He was only able to score 16 points at most. I decided to give it a go and what do you know, I scored 34 points in one round. Omo, can you imagine how hurt his pride was? I still make fun of him until this day. He, of course, spent the rest of that date trying to beat my score. Wasn’t able to. My point is, games don’t prove anything. If you take me out onto a real court, I’d make a point if I was lucky. 
 

This is why I love you guys on here! We help each other understand this story better! You have no idea how appreciative I am of this forum. Thanks! 

 

Quote

 

Can you help me to understand this? Lee Gon was a bad shooter, right? How could he be the savior who saved himself? That savior is a very good shooter, we all know that.

 

 

@Eliza Marlowe I’m not sure if you’ve already read @ms_inquiry’s take on it but I think it should be able to answer your question. Quoted here as well. 

[AgentQuake]

Last episode when we found out Lady Noh was brought over at the age of 17, we actually came up with a pretty good theory that she’s LR’s mother, or aunt.  
 

Born in 1932, came over in 1949, LR born in Feb 1951 to a concubine.  LG’s dad was born some years later.  If we go off of Kwon Yul’s real age, then he was 37 in 1994, born about 6 years after LR.  Lady Noh has no status, although I’m sure with the lack of technology in the 50s, it’s easier to hide her origin, as opposed to JTE.  She went from illegal immigrant to top dog in the castle, and was already Head of the court by ‘94.

 

She dressed up to spread his ashes.  If she was truly 100% against him, I don’t think she would’ve done that.  I have no doubt that she’s 100% loyal to LG, but there’s something in her that treated the ashes with dignity. 
 

Lee Lim was treated VERY well for being a bastard son.  Imperial Prince, very influential, walked around the Palace as he liked...he obviously couldn’t be king but he had power and influence.  In Chinese harem dramas, the Emperors always treated the favored consorts children very well.  Or, the more favored the child was, the more that the consort got.  If Grandpa King loves Lady Noh, then it makes sense that he would raise her to an elevated position and treat her son well.  It appeared that until his death, Papa King respected his brother a lot and LG also had a good relationship with his uncle. 
 

We will see!
 

 

[rocher22]

 

 

 

 

[AgentQuake]

@Heretorant I don’t disagree with your LG is a secret James Bond theory but I saw a brutally hilarious comment on Reddit and need to share with you   Lee Gon is convinced and confident that he’s a brilliant shot when he’s actually awful, so of course he thinks he’s the one in there hitting every target.  
 

If this is actually the case then we’re going to have to make a reality v expectation meme. 

[Ima04]

Probably also LR felt the pain of the scar's since 25 years ago compare to LG that was just crossed the world recently.

The rule :

1. One of the doppleganger was killed

2. Already crossed the other world.

 

my guess is the real Kang Shin Jae is still alive as can be seen in the face of the yangsun's care center that was kind of surprise whe she saw SJ. Probably he's been there all along.

SJ also crossed the other world but didn't felt the pain, neither his mothers. 

[1ouise]

 

1 hour ago, Edgar Pordwed said:

LG has clearly mentioned to JTE that he needs to go back in time to prevent Lee Rim from taking half of the Manpasikjoek. There's no way to make it whole again. So more than saving TE or anyone else this is his main purpose? 

 

I agree @Edgar Pordwed  The only way to have a beautiful solution is to stop LR before he starts on this path.  It's not enough to just capture LR, take the flute, and close the portal now.

 

45 minutes ago, cpt_falcon said:

I'd wonder though if LG even can ever change anything in the past.  If the only thing he's ever able to do is what we already saw him do?

 

@cpt_falcon  LG can change the past if the story follows "changed history" time travel, as in Back to the Future.

 

 

I realize there are many theories, but the clues are there for Back to the Future. 

I mean, is this a clue, or a red herring??  

 

 

 

[Dramafreak]

4 hours ago, AgentQuake said:

The second savior also bent down at once point and got back up.  Which makes me wonder if SJ runs back in and helps again.

cc @Umjicheok

 

I am now tempted by the theory that JY might be there on that night too. Simply because he said in his VO when LG is moving in the battlefield that I will follow him in this battle also... And we don't know how good he is with guns but he definitely is good at fights.

 

I did think that the side profile of one of the black suited people was of a woman, but ... Oh Well!!

 

*Edited

14 minutes ago, AgentQuake said:

It appeared that until his death, Papa King respected his brother a lot and LG also had a good relationship with his uncle.

I like your theory. One small thing to add to your line above: I think LR's future self tempts and pushes the past LR towards greed. We will see how that plays out in the next episode but it looks that ways.

 

Also, LR seems to be into science too? Runs in the family?

[AgentQuake]

Just now, Dramafreak said:

cc @Umjicheok

 

I am now tempted by the theory that JY might be there on that night too. Simply because he said in his VO when LG is moving in the battlefield that I will follow him in this battle also... And we don't know how good he is with guns but he definitely is good at fights.

 

I did think that the side profile of one of the black suited people was of a woman, but ... Oh Well!!

I said this before as a joke, but it’s always possible that Lee Gon just packs up everyone he knows in a bus and they go on a road trip to ‘94.  

[lexicon]

This was a good episode.

 

I guess one major mystery has been solved , though is it just a coincidence that Shin Jae and Lee Gon were wearing the same jacket? 

 

I guess we finally got to see PM Koo's true colours. I must admit I am a tad bit disappointed with her, though I guess, she is sticking to her character.

 

Luna in ROK - I can only imagine the intrusion and invasion of privacy JTE must have felt knowing that Luna had been in her room, was using her phone, messaging her dad. 

 

Regarding the lightning scars - if Luna were to die of natural causes - I guess JTE would not get the scar.

 

Three favourite scenes were 1) where JTE "introduces" LG as her boyfriend to her father. 2) LG gifting Eun Sup with the car. 3) Eun Sup saying everything he needs is right here - while hugging his siblings and Na-ri. 

 

I am a bit concerned with Caption Jo trying to persuade Shin Jae to pursue JTE. I am sure that he is only looking out for LG, but I can't help feel a little troubled by his approach.

 

I think the show has poised itself nicely to wrap up most loose ends over the next three episodes. 

[briseis]

The TKEM fandom right now:

[Geolyvseven]

What an episode I just witnessed there is so many things to touch on I don't know where to even begin. This is a masterpiece and I never thought I would say this about any series it just seems to hit the right spots subtly one way or another and I can't explain how but it just dose. Everything is just subtle and flows automatically and it has addictive abilities and I can't put words on it why and where that factor comes from even tho I have my own theories why.

 

I wanna touch upon some points and add my own theory on top of it. 

 

- Lee Gon finding out about Luna it took less then minutes and he said ''is maybe because I have weakness for that face'' 

- Everything we have assumed about LG is true that he is indeed very sharp and detailed he figured her out quite easily

- JY and LG time together was great to see and their chemistry is great. True bromance without forcing it or anything it's smooth. Like people who have known each other for a very long time and they also go way back and you can see that on their interactions. 

 

- Luna has turned truly dark but kinda felt sorry for her as she just wanted a family and it was heart warming seeing her hug JTE's dad and wanted him to become her dad. That was seriously a cute moment. 

- JTE's dad is easily one of my favourite characters aside from the lead couple. What a great dad his a mood. His one of these type of people who could brighten your day regardless of the situation. He gets my oscar for the dad of the year

- Jangmi's counterpart works for LG and part of his personal palace guards that was an interesting surprise and he didn't look like a thug here but more official figure like. 

- We found out that LG's grandfather was a time-traveller

 

Theory: 

 

Obviously I believe in a timelopp theory where things have repeated but I don't feel like we have been in this loop like 100 times or something like that but max 3 takes while for LG and JTE 2 takes so far. Everything we saw in the series is the second time they meet. The first time they meet was not shown except for LG carrying JTE's badge and dropped it to his younger self from that we know that they meet once before the series. 

 

JTE-LG meetings and their own timeloop: This timeloop only focusses on the main couple. I believe there was one timeline altering before their meeting but I am not gonna go into that but only focus on their own timeloop. 

 

Timeline 1: JTE-LG meet for the first time (We haven't seen these events but what we saw is LG carrying her ID card so we can assume that this timeline has taken place)

 

Timeline 2: JTE-LG meet again where LG hugs her but she arrests him because she dosen't know him (All of this we have seen in the series from EP1)

 

Timeline 3: We have seen on the trailer this timeline unfolding and we will see it in the coming episodes when LG reset's the timeline which means he has to fix everything in Timeline 2 in order to begin Timeline 3

 

Edit: By the way I apologize for the long post after re-reading it I realized how long this is actully

[CallieP]

Just noticed something. In KOC is the written language Chinese and not the new Korean Alphabet?  The huge picture of LG on a building had Chinese characters on it. The first word being "Large" or "Big"  I happen to be able to read that word. Anyway, it is not the Korean alphabet even if I read the first word wrongly. Just curious.

[Dramafreak]

@agentquake you are funny

 

@Heretorant and @Umjicheok after seeing the last sequence of LG with Luna... all I will say is: I don't know. They are hinting at LG being the only one! How many hours or days to Friday?

 

[MJM]

I just watched episode 13 today and man I need Friday to come already...  I really wish SBS showed that movie during another time slot.  Hehe. I'm not even in Korea. The mystery just keeps going.  I do hope all will be resolved.  I have watched 4 of KES's shows and loved all of them.  

 

Netflix did not show a lot of preview for episode 14.  They just showed the guy who saved the young king or maybe i missed it cause I just wanted to watch more of the show. LOL.  I'll check again later.  I was already thinking after episode 10 that the savior was Lee Gon because everyone talked about time travel after the flower end scene.  What do you guys think about the savior actually being Jo Young?  There was one shot of the savior during the preview that looked like JY in the outfit Tae Eul gave LG.  I think I'm just over thinking. By the way, did anyone notice something about JY's attitude?  He seemed a little different in this episode.  Anyway, I'm already wanting Friday to come.  I'll just rewatch the previous episode again. I guess....

[leeminhosny]