Royal Nirvana (2019)

The deep understanding of people's minds and life choices in a family setting. Father-son relationship, uncle-nephew relationship, husband-wife relationship, teacher-student relationship, and a deep connection with soulmate. It is written in a very subtle way that requires thorough thinking and the feeling of this drama will linger around the watcher for years in the same way as Lost You Forever does.

- ML/one of them falls in love with FL and does not recognise her when they meet her,
- ML/one of them torture and punish FL,
- ML/one of them is struggling to get power,
- ML/one of them does everything to get power

Intense revenge drama with complex characters. Both are set in a fictional but still realistic (and Tang-inspired) world/time period.

Has its own scheming, betrayals, and plot twists with a love line.
Bonus: starring Luo Jin and his wife Tang Yan as the leads

if you want to know how the story ends you can't possibly miss the squel, but remember there's no happiness in imperial China

1) Both male leads are hated/feared by their father as they feel threatened by them
2) The female lead gets close to the male lead for revenge for part of the drama but also deeply in love with him.
3) Both female leads were the love of the male lead but were both concubines/had a lowly status so were not fit to be the male lead's wife.
4) Both about palace intrigue
5) Both male leads have a harem
6) Both are tragic

- palace life
- depressing vibe
- lots of tears
- heart wrenching characters
- strong female lead
- ill-fated bond between ML and FL that results in negatively affecting the FL's life
- obsessive love
- cruel/hateful emperor
- focuses on characters' lives
- beautiful cinematography/costumes

- ML and FL are separated
- ML does not recognize FL even though she resembles him of somebody special
- ML was ruthless to FL at some point because she resembled him of somebody special
- power struggle
- crown prince / king ML

Both depict the hard life of royalty, with traumatized crown prince/emperor who strives to be filial toward their parent; they are haunted by their childhoods and their relationship with their mother and it guides their decisions as adults

While sharing the same word in it's title, they are both heartwrenching stories of a beleagured ML who wants to do the right thing but court intrigue provides constant struggle. In both, the FL is not quite to be trusted at first and doubt surrounds their relationship.

~Both are palace dramas.
~Both the male leads aren't favoured by the emperors, yi san is his grandfather while royal nirvana is his father though they give them chance sometimes.
~People are always against them because of the throne.
~Both male leads have loyal subjects that want to protect them.
~Heavy politics in both dramas


The difference is Yi san is a korean drama and Royal nirvana is chinnese.

Both have many political schemes. smart protagonists and you always crave for more eps!

In Nirvana in Fire, the protagonist succeeds in every situation while in Royal Nirvana, the main character fails a lot and you suffer more when you watch it.

Both are excellent in their own ways :)

Both dramas are starring Luo Jin and Huang Zhizhong and the plot mainly revolves around their relationship.

In Royal Nirvana Huang Zhizhong plays the Emperor and Luo Jin plays the Crown Prince.
In the Long River their roles are reversed: Luo Jin takes on a role of a real emperor of Qing Dynasty - Kangxi, while Huang Zhizhong plays a righteous governor.

It's quite funny to see the same actors in very different roles, the both dramas highlight their acting range.
The plot is very different, RN is extremely depressing but the LR also has its share of sad moments.

History buffs will enjoy the attention to details in the Long River.

Also high quality drama with great script, acting, music, cinematography. Leads and side characters are well developed. Psychologically intense show with deep atmosphere that just grabs you into.

- FL helps ML;
- smart leads;
- ML is loyal to the emperor;
- ML is scared of the emperor;
- the emperor is cautious of ML;
- FL serves ML at some point in the story;
- ML loves FL, but has a harem.