Director : Kim Jong-hak / Story by Kim Jong-hak, Song Ji-na
Cast : Bae Yong Joon (배용준) as Damdeok / Hwanung, Moon So-ri (문소리) as Seo Kiha / Kajin, Lee Ji-ah (이지아) as Sujini / Saeoh
The story is loosely based on the legend of Dangun and Gwanggaeto the Great King of Goguryeo. The story also adds mythical elements of the Four Symbols depicted in fantasy form as the four guardians who serve the king of Jyushin. The addition of fantasy to a Korean historical drama makes this series unique and distinguishes itself from its predecessors in Korean television series. The characters also speak in a modernized Korean language which marks a departure from a typical historical drama.
A long time ago, a tribe that respected the tiger and controlled fire called the Ho-jok (Tiger Tribe), ruled the world. They eliminated and assimilated all tribes except the tribe that respected the bear, called the Ung-jok (Bear Tribe). The Tiger Tribe and the Bear Tribe fought, and Hwang-woong could not bear to see so many people getting killed. He brought the three gods of nature; Poong-Baek (백호, the White Tiger), Woonsa (청룡, the Azure Dragon), and Woosa (현무, the Black Tortoise).
He removed the power of fire from the leader of the Tiger Tribe, Kajin, sealed the power into an artifact called the Heart of Jujak (주작, the Vermillion Bird), and gave it to the woman he loved; Sae-oh. However, Kajin was mortally wounded while attacking another tribe, and she seemed to die until Hwang-woong healed her. This thoroughly convinced Kajin to not make a grudge against Hwang-woong. When her tribe was revived to take back the power of fire, they didn't listen to Kajin and decided to attack the Bear Tribe. Kajin then slew her tribe's council with her own blade, and escapes from her own tribe and heads towards the Bear Tribe, deciding to become Hwang-woong's woman.
However, Hwang-woong likes Sae-oh and declared his love for her, not knowing that Kajin was watching them secretly when this took place. Kajin was infuriated by this and began reforming the Tiger Tribe and attacked the Bear Tribe. Unfortunately, this was the time when Sae-oh was pregnant, and when she had given birth, the baby was kidnapped by Kajin who offered Sae-oh a deal to trade her baby for the power of fire. When Sae-oh refuses Kajin, Kajin responds by dropping Sae-oh's baby from a cliff, leading to Sae-oh going out of control and releasing the Heuk-Jujak (Black Phoenix), even though Hwang-woong had saved the baby. (Note: Jujak is roughly the equivalent of Phoenix.) Hwang-woong's subordinates, the White Tiger, the Azure Dragon and the Black Tortoise fought the Black Phoenix, but they were no match for it.
Left with no choice, Hwang-woong used his Heavenly Bow to kill Sae-oh, the source of the power of the Black Phoenix, and managed to seal it once again in the heart of the Vermillion Bird. Kajin committed suicide by jumping from the cliff because she now "had no reason to live in this world any more." Hwang-woong sealed the powers of the 'Four Gods' (The Vermillion Bird, White Tiger, Azure Dragon, and the Black Tortoise) in certain artifacts and left them in the care of certain people, telling them that they will wake when the King of Joo Shin is born.
Many centuries later, Damdeok, the reincarnation of Hwang-woong, was born. Along with him, the artifacts of the guardians of the King were born. Damdeok met difficulties in becoming the king of Goguryeo, mainly because of Yeon Hogae who mistook Damdeok for the murderer of his mother, and his father who turned the king's parliament against him.
Hwang-woong (환웅): A son of the god in the heavenly world. He had longed to live in the surface world for long until he was finally given permission to do so. He was said to have brought three Guardians of the world: the Blue Dragon, the White Tiger and the Black Turtle-snake. After marrying a woman who was born as a bear, he had a son and returned to the Heaven.
His heavenly artifact is the Cheongung (천궁) which normally takes the form of a fancy cylinder and enlarges to form a glowing white bow. It is said to be able to either kill or give life to anyone it shoots. And its destruction means the death of the King of Joo Shin and the unsummoning of the Heavenly power. Before the coming of the King of Joo Shin, it was sealed inside a royal sword named Chumoshin(추모신검), which should release the seal when the heart of the King of Jushin was introduced to it: that is, when it were to impale his heart. When this was done, it exploded in bright light and disintegrated to fine ash-like mystic powder, revealing the Cheongung in it.
Damdeok (담덕) : The prince of Goguryeo, and also the reincarnation of Hwang-woong. (It should be noted that the same actor plays both Hwanwung and Damdeok.) He came across a girl named Kiha while he was reading a book at night, and later came to her again to ask her to heal his father who was poisoned by Hogae's mother. He had grown to a pleasant young man, but in his heart he always suffered because of Hogae's mother who had committed suicide, causing Hogae to believe that Damdeok killed her. He was later found to be the destined King of Jushin. In order to protect him before he becomes the king, he asked him to not show his true self to anyone, where in he pretended that he has no skills, especially in fighting. The image he showed to everyone was not hidden just by him and his father but he also trusted Kiha about him being a good fighter. It also prevented him from being harmed by people who wanted the throne, who didn't see him as a threat.
As a king, he was despised by the leaders of the four tribes that form his parliament for several reasons. However, he proves himself to be an excellent fighter and a schemer who can win entire castles without a single casualty on both sides. This was done by avoiding killing, and instead providing love for his future people. Despite being betrayed by his officials, he still saw them as his people.He was enraged at the idea of the tribal leaders that the King of Joo Shin must be a powerful warrior who can command his army to dominate the world easily. His intention was to unite the world as a brother, not as a conqueror.
At the end of the series, he realizes that the task of the King of Joo Shin was to answer the gods whether humans needed their help to continue surviving. He answers by unsummoning (through breaking the Cheongung/천궁: literally Heavenly Bow) the heavenly artifacts of heaven to avoid killing more people, especially Kiha who was then about to release her power which would consume the world again and of the Four Gods. The answer he told the gods was that he should return the powers and that humans could carry on by themselves. Having said that, he returned to the heavens, leaving behind his lover Sujini and son (who was bore by Kiha) on earth.[Special Thanks to wikipedia.org]
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