The high priest informs Ha-baek that the current king is pleased at the news, and Ha-baek supposes that he has grown tired of the throne after such a long time. Ha-baek finally opens his eyes and rises. Ha-baek’s servant shakes her head no-Ha-baek is resting.Ī messenger calls for Ha-baek to see the high priest, but Ha-baek dismisses the summons-at least, until she adds that the waters of the Water Kingdom have turned red and that he must prepare. It’s nearly done except for the blank eyes, and the artist asks Ha-baek to open his eyes so he can paint them.
HA-BAEK ( Nam Joo-hyuk) is that new king-to-be, and he reclines as an artist paints a huge portrait of him with a paintbrush the size of a person. A high priest dips his hand into the reddish water held in a basin of an altar, and says, “It is time for the red water to come”-and for the divine realm to get a new emperor. We jump back one year, this time to the Water Kingdom. Her body follows, hitting the water and sinking down into its depths. A woman looks over the railing of a bridge holding a white rose, which she tosses down to the water below. The girl wonders why the stones are in the human world, finding that an odd quirk of the system.Īnd then, we’re in 2018, Seoul. The monk tells her that only humans would do that. “What if the protector gods don’t give it to him?” the girl asks. Those three stones can only be found in the human realm, as they have been divided among the godly protectors. In order to claim his throne, a new emperor must create a royal seal with three stones that have been engraved with oracles. The monk explains that the kings of the Three Kingdoms are born to their fates as rulers, and that the king of the Water Kingdom in particular holds absolute power as the emperor of the divine realm. Gods are sent from that world into the human realm to watch over nature. The girl can’t see that world, but the monk (cameo by Yang Dong-geun) explains that there is a world on the other side where the gods live, which is divided into a Water Kingdom, a Sky Kingdom, and a Land Kingdom. The monk explains that there is a land beyond this one. It looks like interest was fairly robust, with the first episode netting a promising 3.7% viewership rating.Ī monk and a little girl walk along the shore, and the girl asks where the birds have flown to. It’s got a gorgeous look (those colors!) and hints of some fish-out-of-water humor, so I’d say I’m heading into this feeling a general sense of relief. Perhaps that’s because I haven’t read the original manhwa so have very little preconceived ideas of what this drama should be, or perhaps it’s because the drama does a pretty solid job of establishing the fantasy world and its rules right off the bat, giving me a strong sense of concept and identity from the get-go.
244 JOctoBride of the Water God 2017: Episode 1 by javabeansīride of the Water God 2017 is here, and I have to say it pretty readily dispelled my concerns about modernizing the concept to be set in the present world.