Was Emperor Ta Hwan Really Seungnyang's Second Choice?
When Emperor Ta Hwan finally kills Tangqishi, the last member of El Temur's evil clan, Tangqishi can't resist saying one more destructive thing.
He tells him about the child that Wang Yoo and Seungnyang had and this seals Wang Yoo's death warrant. Tangqishi also says that the emperor will always be Seungnyang's second choice. It's the worst possible thing Tangqishi can say because the idea that he will lose Seungnyang's love or that she might prefer Wang Yoo is Ta Hwan's worst nightmare. Ta Hwan's obsession for Seungnyang brings out the worst and the best in him.
But is it really true that Ta Hwan, played by Ji Chang Wook, is her second choice? By the end of the 50-episode epic Seungnyang, played by Ha Ji Won, does not love him any less than she loved Wang Yoo. And while she would not have chosen to be empress rather than the queen of Korea, she does wholeheartedly love the emperor. With all his terrors, fears and indulgences, it's a more difficult thing to love him than to love than the noble Wang Yoo, played by Joo Jin Mo.
It is her feelings for both of these men that made "Empress Ki" so fascinating. Seungnyang loves two men and two countries.
Although she first falls for Wang Yoo, from the day she meets Ta Hwan she feels protective and wants to care for him. When she later becomes his consort, she recognizes that she is his weakness and instead of despising him for that weakness, she feels even more responsible for his happiness. And she cares tenderly for him, protecting him from the enemies that surround him. While she is ambitious when it comes to exacting her revenge, her feelings for Ta Hwan are genuine.
But poor Ta Hwan could not accept that. He grew up as a lonely child in a palace full of deadly intrigue. Everyone he trusted and relied on was either evil or died by the hand of someone evil. When he meets Seungnyang she is the first person he can comfortably trust and rely on. And despite the fact that she sometimes lies to him and allies against his interests, she is still the person that is most genuinely concerned with his welfare.
Despite the fact that he killed her first love, she recognized why he felt compelled to do it and was prepared to live with him until they were old and gray.
Ha Ji Won's portrayal of a woman in love with two men was subtle and otally believable. And because of that, the drama's outcome was especially heartbreaking.
When Empress Ki finally acquires complete control of the empire and vanquishes the last of her enemies, she is alone and without either of the men she loved.
