It looks like people are paying quite the attention to the details shown in the drama The King: Eternal Monarch. Just when the crew was happy about ratings reaching double digits with the airing of episode 6, now netizens have pointed towards another fact that has turned into a controversy.
Fictionalising of a historic era has always been a challenge. This applies well to The King: Eternal Monarch that already has faced questions regarding the use of historical facts inaccurately in the series. The current controversy is about the image of the dragon in the royal robe of the King.
Netizens claimed that the research team has not done a good job as there are factually contradicting features shown while airing the scenes of the Kingdom of Corea.
Crown from Silla Dynasty and Royal robe from Jeoson?
The claim refers to a scene in episode 6, where Emperor Lee Gon (played by Lee Min Ho) is wearing the royal robe with the crown while getting his portrait painted. But netizens observed that the crown he was wearing was similar to the crowns worn during the Silla dynasty. But the robe had a dragon that was mainly used in the Jeoson period.
Comments like "Silla dynasty crown with Jeoson period robe?" "What kind of mix and match is this," "at this point they are not considering about historical accuracy at all," etc were seen flooding on social media.
Some acknowledged the fact that it is not about any particular dynasty in Korea, but the drama is a work of fiction, but commented, "I know it is a fantasy and all, but what is this massive mix-up?"
The King: Eternal Monarch had made news even before it started airing because it had a great team of writer Kim Eun Seok who had written for successful series including Goblin, and Descendants of the Sun, among others. It was also Lee Min Ho's come back after more than three years and fans had been eagerly awaiting for the episodes to air.
High expectations
High expectations also might have led to people observing even minute details in the drama. Earlier it was claimed that the Pagoda used in the drama looked similar to the one in Japan (considered as a rival in a tiff with Korea) and netizens questioned if there were not enough references in the Kingdom of Korea.
The seal controversy
The production house Hwa & Dam apologized for the same and promised to correct the mistake from the third episode onwards and as promised the corrections were made. The series also landed in a controversy when netizens claimed that the seal used in the drama while depicting the Kingdom of Corea was similar to that of Japan's seal.
But this claim was debunked by the production team who explained the logic behind designing the seal and proved that the idea was taken from the seals of Korea and it had nothing to do with the seal used in Japan.
Meanwhile, the episode 6, where detective Kim Go Eun opens up to Emperor Lee Gon and the scene depicting how the Kingdom of Corea takes on Japan and Lee Gon's strong side as an Emperor in action won the hearts of people, the series again reached double digits and the fans have expressed hope on social media that the drama will continue to increase its ratings.
