The King in Love Ep. 1~4
Historical background to help understand The King in Love (2017 MBC)
Yi Seung-Hyu : You said your name was Han-Cheon?
Wang Won : Yes.
Yi Seung-Hyu : On the left side of that name, the Chinese character Eon for "speech" is supposed to be added, isn't it?
Wang Won : (surprised)
Yi Seung-Hyu : Han for "shore" and Cheon for "fountain"... combined together, Won for "endless".
Wang Won : You must be thinking further than you should be.
Yi Seung-Hyu : I want to boast to you that I found out your identity through Paja (meaning "wordplay"), but I've seen you before, a long time ago. You are still the way you used to be. How have you been, Crown prince.
■ Alias breakdown through Paja ("wordplay")
Paja (파자 破字) is an old-fashioned wordplay using the fact that some Chinese characters are combination of existing characters. According to the Paja rule, our two boys' aliases break down as follow.
謜 원 Won (meaning "endless") = 言 언 Eon ("speech") + 厂 한 Han ("shore, hillside") + 泉 천 Cheon ("fountain, spring")
潾 린 Rin (meaning "clear, crystalline purity") = 水 수 Soo ("water") + 粦 인 In ("goblin's fire, ignis fatuus, will o' the wisp")
That's why Won is Han-Cheon and Rin is Soo-In.
By the way, San (珊 산) means "coral" in Chinese character. So, there is a scene where Crown Prince Won presents her with a coral dagger in the original novel. Her alias in the drama is So-Hwa (소화 小花), but the English subtitle made a mistake. It is not So-Ah (little kid) but So-Hwa (little flower).
■ Bo-Gyeokgu 보격구 步擊毬
A Korean traditional ball game with mallets similar to modern-day golf or field hockey. Gyeokgu (격구 擊毬) was introduced from Persia during 3 kingdom period and got popular in the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasty. Even the horse Gyeokgu (마상격구 馬上擊毬), a polo-like ball game with mallets, was a regular event for state examination to hire military officers in the Joseon Dynasty.
"The king was so mad that he threw his wooden pillow at him, and even with blood dripping from an open wound on his forehead, he continued to call out the king's faults. Even as he was being dragged out by armed men, he shouted "Your majesty, your foolishness is this. Your misrule is like this" on and on."
■ Yi Seung-Hyu 이승휴 李承休 (1224~1300)
Goryeo's civil administrator, diplomat, scholar, and historian.
Dong-an-geo-sa
(동안거사 動安居士) is his pen name, and
Yong-an-dang
(용안당 容安堂) is his personal residence in Mt. Doota (두타산 頭陀山). In 1280, he got fired after angering King Chungnyeol by his
10 theses of expostulations
to criticize the king's misrule as well as the corruption of the people around the king. After the incident, he secluded himself in a mountain hermitage and wrote
Je-wang-un-gi
(제왕운기 帝王韻紀), the famous history book which has a distinctive value to represent how Goryeo people perceived their independent history during that turbulent Mongol intervention period. He was reinstate after Crown prince Wang Won ascended the throne and invited him to the court for political reform.
■ Arak-ju 아락주 亞刺吉酒
The liguor's name was "Arag" in Arabic, "Araki" in Mongolian, and "Arak-ju" in Korean. It was translated as "Arabian wine" in the English subtitle, but strictly speaking, it is “
distilled liquor
(증류주 蒸溜酒)” introduced from
Persia (Arabia)
via
Mongols
. Arak-ju is the prototype of
Soju
(소주 燒酒) but it was quite rare and expensive at that time.
■ Yumil-gwa 유밀과 油密果
Korean traditional oil-and-honey pastry. It was very popular among the Mongol aristocracy as Goryeo‘s special snack (고려병 高麗餠) after King Chungnyeol treated them at a Yuan imperial party. San loves these snacks so much and eats them later in Wang Dan's tea party (Ep 5~6).
■ Song In 송인 宋璘 (?~1307) & Song Bang-Young 송방영 宋邦英 (?~1307)
The archenemies of Crown Prince Wang Won. They are real historical figures, but I have to save my words about what they did because it would be a big spoiler. Their collusion with Wang Jeon (Rin's second brother) is also historically true. The original novel is quite accurately written based on thorough historical research. Ok Bu-Yong (옥부용 玉芙蓉) is also a real person in history with a different name (Mubi), but it is not certain whether she was in love with Song In or not. Probably not.
■ The Wolf-dog analogy
Wang Won : My family raises a flock of sheep with the help of some sheep dogs. But one day, a wolf came and had a cub with one of the sheep dogs.
Yi Seung-Hyu : A wolf-dog then huh?
Wang Won : Will the wolf-dog follow the shepherd dog's footsteps and be a good shepherd dog?
Yi Seung-Hyu : How would I know? It's up to the wolf-dog to choose.
Wang Won : There is a problem.
Yi Seung-Hyu : A problem?
Wang Won : The flock of sheep are scared of the wolf-dog.
Yi Seung-Hyu : Of course they are.
Wang Won : What should be done to the wolf-dog? Kick it out? Or... due to the fear of the future... Kill it?
In the mythology of the Mongols, blue wolves were believed to be the ancestors of Mongol people. Therefore, Won is now comparing himself to a wolf-dog which is neither a wolf (Mongol) nor a sheep dog (Goryeo royal). It also implies that he always think about committing suicide not to become the fear of his father & Goryeo people. (Sigh)
Wang Won : My very birth was a crime. If you kill me, there should be so many people who shed tears of joy. I always kept these thoughts. If it is for them, wouldn't my dying be a best?
■ What King Chungnyeol said to Won in ep 3.
King Chungnyeol : If you were less smarter, if you were a little bit duller, it would be mutually beneficial for you and me.
(조금만 덜 영민했더라면, 조금만 더 둔했더라면, 좋지 않았겠느냐. 우리... 서로가.)
The English subtitle is wrong. What he really means is, the king is already aware of his son pretending to be a drunken idiot. The king wants to love his son, but he can't because his mixed-blood son is the biggest threat to his throne (due to the Mongol empire behind Won and his mother).
So, he is unconsciously lamenting that if Won were a really dull idiot unworthy of the throne, their father-son relationship would be more amiable without any political feud.
So, it has totally different meaning from the English subtitle.
"Translation is sacred." by Jay (Okja)
■ The Title of Nobility
The following is the peerage title of Goryeo nobility.
-Gong 공 公 (Duke) : Gangyang-Gong 강양공 江陽公 (Won's half-brother who was sent to a Buddhist temple)
-Hoo 후 侯 (Marquis) : Seowon-Hoo 서원후 西原侯 (Rin's father, Wang Young), Seoheung-Hoo 서흥후 瑞興侯 (Rin's second brother, Wang Jeon)
-Baek 백 伯 (Count) : Eunyoung-Baek 은영백 (San's merchant father)
-Ja 자 子 (Viscount)
-Nam 남 男 (Baron)
By the way, Susagong 수사공 守司空 (referring to Rin's father in the drama) was the name of a government post. I made a mistake when drawing the Goryeo's royal family tree chart in the historical background post. I'll correct it soon. To sum up, Rin's father has the nobility title Seowon-hoo (Marquis of Seowon) and his government post is Susagong.
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