Funny enough, that's precisely what I love about this drama's writing: how little character
development the Emperor has during the series. It's perverse and realistic. After watching
some segeuks you'd expect a banished prince to only play an idiotic
coward, but with him it wasn't a trickery to fool his enemies. He really was
this way. Later on, you'd expect him to have typical character development,
overcoming his shortcomings, grow some spine and become a great ruler. And
yes, he learned to read and write, but that's it. His only accomplishment was
starting a useless, vainglorious war her couldn't support financially. He
stayed the same petty, insecure man he always was.
He's only redeeming (almost) quality was his devotion, even though it bordered obsession.
Or take Bayan
Khutugh - when she entered the picture, I thought she's going to be much worse
than Tanasili. And she was, but she was smart. Too smart to play the way
Tanasili did. She stayed in the shadows and waited.
Or how Taltal never
becomes romantically involved with Nyang. One could imagine it happening, after
all that scenes of plotting together in tight, dark places. But they had
different priorities. It was plausible (especially with the way he was treated
as a fanservice in a drama) but only stayed as a potentiality.
/Also: how little relevance becoming an empress has! After watching how miserable and powerless two former empresses were, when we're finally emerging from this gigantic retrospection the coronation and having her status publicly aknowledged matters so little and she has even less time to enjoy it.
