What Happened to Wang Yu in Empress Ki?
And was it fair to the character?
The audience's love towards K-dramas is absolutely understandable: the unique approach towards the stories and all the characters' exploration is something that can’t leave anyone indifferent.
The South Korean industry succeeds mostly in romantic comedies and (unexpectedly) horror thrillers, but it most certainly is the best when it comes to historical dramas as well. Over the decades, the industry has created so many period dramas exploring different times of real history and creating fiction as well.
One of the most beloved period K-dramas is definitely 2013 Empress Ki. A story of a young woman Sung Nyang, who lives in disguise for many years not to become a royal maidservant. She comes from a small kingdom of Goryeo, but is taken away to Mongol against her will. There everybody realized she was a woman so she was made into one of the palace women.
Eventually, she finds a way to overcome her lowly status and become the last empress in another land – Empress Ki. On her way to that she meets many obstacles, but she meets special people who help her as well. One of them comes from her past… and it’s her former love of life Wang Yu.
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At the end of the series, the K-drama’s kindest and most noble character is killed by the emperor. It is a common opinion that Wang Yu did not deserve such a fate.
“Was anyone else not super irritated by this? The man literally gave up his love so the emperor can keep his girl, but then the stupid emperor kills him as he leaves. Then the main female lead couldn’t care less that her old lover got killed by the emperor and just lives with the emperor,” Redditor obammala said.
Empress Ki is available to stream on Netflix.