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dangermousie · 7 months

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Pre-Joseon Sageuks: a Biased and Incomplete List

So, as promised way earlier, a post on pre-Joseon sageuks that I’ve either watched or plan to watch so am aware of them. I am sure there are others but here is what I got. Obviously my takes on them are subjective blah blah blah.

Jumong - arguably the Daddy of all Traditional Sageuks, this one ran for over 80 episodes and had insane ratings. It follows the rise of the mythical founder of Gogureyo tho it takes fantastical elements of his story and changes them for historically plausible ones. It’s very long and very meaty and politics/battle heavy and has a large cast of complex characters (including pretty nifty women and a LGBTQ supporting OTP) but it is anchored by the incredible performance of Song Il Gook as the titular character as he slowly but believably grows from nothing to a hero if at the cost of losing his marriage.

The King of Tears Lee Bang Won - this is basically a half and half beast as (you can tell by the title), it’s set in the last days of Goryeo and early days of Joseon. The time period covered is the same as in My Country and Six Flying Dragons, but this is the most traditional take of them all, even more so than 6FD. Not a single pretty face in the cast (tho Joo Sang Wook is a mighty fine man, emphasis on “man”), this is for the real fans of traditional sageuks. I enjoyed it a lot but if you want to check out pre-Joseon sageuks but have mainly watched youth sageuk stuff before, you should probably start with another drama on this list.

The Great Seer - set in the reign of King Gongmin, the last proper king of Goryeo (his son King U is technically the very last but there are questions as to his status), this is for those of you who want to watch Ji Sang in a sageuk. It’s centered around seers but don’t expect mysticism, this knuckles down to politics.

Shin Don - hi there, another story set in the reign of King Gongmin! From the title, you can tel it centers heavily on the powerful monk who ruled for the King at one point. This has been on my to-watch list forever because this appears to devote a decent chunk of its time to Gongmin X Noguk and I am dying for a proper drama for those two. This is from 2005 so if you do watch, keep that in mind in terms of visuals etc. That cast is lit!

Bicheonmu - this is sort of cheating because it’s pretty much set in China but it involves Koreans so. It’s a drama take on the same story told in a pretty awesome movie. Tragic love, battles, young Joo Jin Moo etc. i am very fond of it. This said, find and watch the Chinese version, Korean one was shredded.

The Iron Empress/Empress Cheon Chu - set in Goryeo, this was another of women ruler centric dramas that had a mini popularity peak in late 00s/early 10s (a trend I wish continued.) it got overshadowed by Queen Seonduk but by all accounts is a solid drama. It’s on my list but I haven’t watched it yet.

The King’s Daughter, Soo Baek Hyang - by the writer of The Rebel and My Dearest. Have I got your attention? Another woman centric ruler tale set in Baekje. Yes, there is a love story. That cast is great, to boot. I have started and liked what I’ve seen but got sidetracked. Need to get back to it. Before you look at the ep number and faint seeing the number 108, keep in mind that the eps are half an hour long so it’s an equivalent of a normal 54 ep sageuk so if you can watch eg Empress Ki, you are good with this.

My Country: The New Age - Lee Bang Won but make it gay. OK, I kid, sort of (not really) but this is smart and passionate and heartbreaking. If you want a wide scope or lots of politics, probably not a take for you (Six Flying Dragons is RIGHT there), but if you want an intense, emotional tale, come right in!

Six Flying Dragons - to me, this is THE drama about Lee Bang Won. It’s smart and emotional, deals with politics and has heart. It has a large cast of characters I got invested in, OTPs that will blow your mind etc etc.

Faith/The Great Doctor - if you are a fan of old school shoujo like Red River, Basara or Fushigi Yuugi, this or Moon Lovers are your best bet on this list. A time traveling tale with other fantasy elements about a modern day plastic surgeon who ends up being kidnapped into Goryeo during the early days of King Gongmin’s (hi!) reign by a tormented, oath bound warrior played by Lee Min Ho at his hottest (and playing historical General Choi Young. Do RPS at your pleasure), this one is one of my all time favorites.

Seodonyo/Ballad of Seo Dong - I am actually currently watching this one tho I haven’t been posting about it. Set in both Baekje and Silla, this is an angsty love story with a side of politics. It’s filmed in 2005 and looks accordingly but if you don’t mind dated visuals, this is pretty great!

Emperor of the Sea - set in Silla and Tang, this was a huge hit and deservedly so. Our protag is a slave and gladiator and a great naval hero. This is grim and smart and epic. It’s from 2004 so once again, if dated visuals are no-go, skip, but if you want a great story and performances, this has your name on it.

The Kingdom of the Winds - an epic cursed prince narrative, our ML (Song Il Gook at his sexiest) rises from abandoned prince and slave and abused assassin to general, royal and king, sparing time for an angsty delicious love story with an enemy princess. This has serious sageuk bits AND the best shoujo tropes in the business, plus enough whump to keep anyone happy.

Gye Baek - Lee Seo Jin, another sageuk stalwart, stars as the title character in this tale of a Baekje commoner, war slave and general. This is grim but glorious.

Soldier/God of War - this is a traditional war-centric sageuk and grim as hell. Another slave to general tale.

King Geun Chu Go - this is on my watch list; it’s about a warrior king of Baekje. Haven’t seen it but heard good things.

Ja Myung Go - smart and unrelentingly tragic, featuring Jang Ryeo Won and Jung Kyung Ho as doomed lovers and Park Min Young in an evil role, this is great and has deeply flawed characters in the very definition of doomed by the narrative tale.

Arthdal Chronicles - this is obviously a fantasy but the tale of prophesied twins, magical priestess, wars and mysticism is clearly set in a pre-Joseon in terms of aesthetics world.

Alchemy of Souls - like Arthdal this is pure fantasy but also like Arthdal, a lot of its styling is pre-Joseon so on this list it goes.

Moon Lovers/Scarlet Heart Ryeo - ok I think if people have heard of only one drama on this very long list, it’s probably this one. Modern time traveling heroine ending up during the reign of Goryeo’s King Taejo, in the middle of his sons’ fight for the throne, having an epic but doomed romance with shoujo catnip tortured bad boy Lee Jun Ki.

Shine or Go Crazy - if you want a more historical take on Moon Lovers succession fight but still with plenty of hotness, angst and doomed romance, come right in. This baby stars Jang Hyuk, so you know it’s bound to be good. I actually started it and enjoyed it but got sidetracked. Need to get back to it. Fun fact: while Moon Lovers was hugely popular internationally, domestically Shine or Go Crazy (they aired around the same time), did much better.

The Legend/The First King’s Four Gods - for a long time this was my favorite kdrama of all time and is still probably in my top 10. Ignore the odd first episode, the rest is perfection. Expensive and wonderfully written, this was Bae Yong Joon’s last drama before he retired to rest on his pile of money (if you are young, you probably don’t remember what a big deal he was, bigger than all the Hallyu stars nowadays put together. He basically was singlehandedly supporting the kdrama industry at one point), but what a worthy way to go out. It’s an epic Goguryeo fantasy tale of a prophesied prince coming into his own, with such amazing characters and relationships and OTPs and battles and points about destiny versus free will. It is everything and I kinda want to rewatch now.

The Blade and The Petal/Sword and Flower - ostensibly a star-crossed Gogureyo love story, this really is more about politics. It’s a mixed bag. The visuals are insane but Uhm Tae Woong, while always solid in modern dramas, is out of place in a sageuk (in QSD Kim Nam Gil stole his thunder; there is nobody to do so here but that doesn’t help him.)

Queen Seon Duk - probably the most famous entrant into female power sageuks, this was a mad hit and centered on the titular character’s rise to power and fight for the same with her female nemesis Mishil. If you want love stories, angsty fighter Bidam propelled Kim Nam Gil to stardom as he stole the leading man mantle from Uhm Tae Woong.

Empress Ki - currently rewatching this. It’s set in the waning days of Goryeo but takes place mainly in Yuan. Still, the FL is Korean and a lot of the story revolves around one of her suitors’, a deposed Korean king, attempts to get his land back. As you can tell by my rabid posts, this is a great drama - politics, romance (I ship FL and the Yuan emperor like mad), murder, dysfunction and everything good.

Hwarang - it’s so brain dead it might as well be a brain-eating amoeba in drama form but it did give us both Park Hyung Sik and Park Seo Joon before they made it big in drama world. It’s terrible tho, stay away.

River where the Moon Rises - I have such a love/hate relationship with this drama - I loved the beginning, with our tormented assassin heroine slowly being warmed by the loyal rustic ML with his own trauma. And then Ji Soo’s bullying scandal happened and he was replaced by Na In Woo, aka the actor I like least from any country in all my close to two decades of watching dramas. I tried but I simply couldn’t and I am still mad. This said, if you don’t share my NIW allergy, it’s probably worth a watch.

The Great King’s Dream - if you liked QSD and can’t get enough of the period but want an even more traditional tale, you can do worse than this drama. I liked what I saw but this baby is 70 eps and lacks Bidam so I peaced out. Maybe I will get back to it sometime, but probably not.

Jeong Do Jeon - as you can tell by the title, centers on JDJ and the last days of Goryeo. Not really my bag (time period been done plenty in other dramas and I don’t have that much interest in JDJ) but supposed to be solid.

My Only Love Song - a short silly mess but still probably better than River (which tells the same story) because it doesn’t have NIW.

King Gwanggaeto the Great - 92 eps. I can’t!

The King Loves - delicious love triangle (that goes ALL ways), angst, prettiness, a side of bodyguard romance. What’s not to love in this Goryeo tale?

ETA: this post was so long that when I tried to tag every drama I mentioned, tumblr told me you hit the tag limit of 30 tags no more tags for you. Oh well, sorry dramas that ended up I tagged!

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harmoonix · 7 months

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✨🔮Enchantress's✨ ✨Astrology Notes🔮✨ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

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- Where the North wind meets the sea -

- There's a river full of memory -

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🔮: Jupiter aspecting Ascendant always gave a vibe of that new person in the crowd who has a lot physic abilities and is always spiritual gifted

🔮: Moon aspecting Venus dreams about having a perfect lovely relationship and an good spouse/partner for them. This is the aspect of an hopeless romantic

🔮: Sagittarius Venus/Venus in the 9th house + Tropical everything. Tropical parfume, Tropical clothes, Tropical vibes fits them so well

🔮: Venus in the 11th house natives have an attractive attitude. Like is something that pulls you to them, wanting to know more about them..etc

🔮: Venus in Capricorn or in the 10th house may have an issue with spending money, they either spending it fast, either they don't spend it at all

🔮: Gemini Mars can be so flirty esp in a man's chart. Is that type of chatty person who gets in everyone's conversation

🔮: When you have Libra in the 4th house you can often find yourself trying to bring peace or balance into your family and you usually avoid the conflicts

🔮: Leo in the 7th house are very loyal to their partners. They will always choose them. No matter who comes in their lives, their partners are everything

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🔮: Pisces in the 7th house, omg this placement is though when it comes to relationships because they end up getting TOO attached to their partners and cannot let the toxic ones go. Sometimes they cant even realize their partners are walking red- flags

🔮: Neptune/Saturn/Mars in the 12th house can have nightmares, sometimes those nightmares are signs undercover but is hard to realize that at the first sight

🔮: Sun/Moon in the 8th house can end up being interested into tarot/shadow work and more others because they are attracted the things that are tempting

🔮: Ascendant - Saturn aspects can be too harsh on themselves and tend to judge themselves a lot when no one is seeing them. They are hard on the outside and very soft in the inside

🔮: Aquarius Risings brings the trends. They are the trendsetters, I love their fashion sense, they are so beautifuly dressed like girly be dressing like they are going at the met Gala

🔮: Taurus Risings and their beauty is precious. They are so coquette and aesthetic, living the dream and their lives seems like a fairytale

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🔮: Mercury trine/sextile/conjunct Moon may speak always what comes through their mind, because they find it very easy to expressed themselves

🔮: Mars/Saturn in the 1st house natives are the ultimate people with the hottest bodies, their bodies are looking so good and esp if they have muscles

🔮: Why do Leo/Libra Risings have such good hair?? Like Rapunzel is nothing compared to your hair, it always seems so high at quality

🔮: Virgo Moons/Gemini Moons can be prone to having panic attack/or high anxiety. Is like their lose the contact with world when their anxiety hits

🔮: Scorpio/Aquarius and Libra Moons on the other side can be prone to overthinking a lot, they are always thinking "Do I do this wrong or right". "Am I worth it" etc.. You are worth everything don't questions yourself<3

🔮: Taurus in the 4th house natives may have the most beautiful houses ever. Is like when you walk in their house you walk in some enchanting movie

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🔮: Uranus in the 2nd house loves to spend money on themselves. If they see something they like and makes them happy they gonna buy that

🔮: Asteroid Medusa (149) in the 7th house may be the type of people with an extremely good looking spouse that everyone wants and people tend to be jealous over that

🔮: Asteroid Medusa (149) in the 1st house on the other hand are the type of people with an extremely beautiful appearance and people may find their beauty as a jealousy thing

🔮: Gemini in the 5th & 8th house/Mercury in the 5th & 8th houses. You make them excited with communication, tell them how much you love them, tell them all the sweetest things and they will fall for you

🔮: Neptune in the 1st house natives or Neptune conjunct ascendant have literally such beautiful eyes. Their gaze/stare is like an angel stares at you

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🔮: Pluto conjunct Venus is that strong that natives with such aspect can often have stalkers or people who want to know everything about them

🔮: Moon at Sagittarius Degrees (9°, 21°) might love to write about love, since Sagittarius can also repsent writing, they can often themselves writing about subjects they love

🔮: Aphrodite (1388) - aspecting Mercury gives an very beautiful voice, if your Mercury is in fire sign your voice will sound intense and attractive

🔮: Midhaven trine/sextile/conjunct Venus will always be a badass placement, everyone around loves you. You are loved, appreciated, charismatic everything you have it inside

🔮: Lilith - Moon aspects - This aspect is more intense, in negative aspects can be more intense, on internet these aspects are known as some of the most powerful aspects to have in a birth chart , can attract jealousy and envy

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🔮: Venus - Ascendant aspects, this aspect is literally touched by Venus herself with the beauty and talent, very artistic, very lovely and of course very beautiful

🔮: Moon or Mercury in Fire Degrees (1°, 5°, 9°, 13°, 17°, 21°, 25°, 29°) are so savage in words if you especially in a fight, they can be brutally honest aswell and can call you out for the things you did wrong

🔮: Mars in Fire Signs have a certain aesthetic that looks mesmerizing, guys do you know how hot you are? Red and bright colors suits you so good damn

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✨🔮 Good day dear darlings 🐚 I hope you have an amazing day, living your best lives and being happy with everything surrounding you 🐚🌱

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🤞🏼' Don't forget to tell yourself how much you love yourself every single day, you are worthy of good things and happiness" 🤞🏼

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With love, Harmoonix 🔮✨

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