Theories [SPOILERS]

 Mechanixz:

how people actually die from the game

for me it seems like the game controls their subconscious, it's like it's downloaded  into their brains with the help of the lens and earpiece (like when someone plays a game so much they dream about it or see the characters when they close their eyes). what i can't understand is se joo physical status, i too haven't seen the new released episode but the only thing i can think of is that the game is so developed it created it's own physical reality that se joo moved to but that just sounds too much for me.  

I totally agree with you Kate! Can’t wait until tomorrow.  And the last scene of episode 11 was pretty good too... ;-)

i like that he finally stood up to the professor and i hope things can now progress with focus without worrying about other people getting killed.

i noticed the focus on his leg condition in ep 11, and that everything was calm after the shut down of the servers so it was intentional as i thought. can't help but feel that this strengthens my idea about the game bug controlling the person's subconscious. with the mind over matter principle, the game had him as healthy as a high level player could be to face the quest and it's the same thing that has the players feel pain, feel the weapons in their hands and die because they actually subconsciously believe they are bleeding . if the game acts as an external ai force that manipulates players ai, it can explain anything. 

from the preview i see there are some hidden rules in the game that could explain the se ju situation. as other games programmers like to put secret levels or hidden cheat items, i just hope this one explains se ju physically disappearing because if it's not a black hole or magic idk how he could just  vanish. 

I kinda hope that if they find the bug in the game, or somehow fix it, or even just wipe the whole game off, the people that died may actually come back to life? I mean it's impossible to die just because of a game.. but also they were buried so.. AGHhhh idk

 Yume:

I kinda hope that if they find the bug in the game, or somehow fix it, or even just wipe the whole game off, the people that died may actually come back to life? I mean it's impossible to die just because of a game.. but also they were buried so.. AGHhhh idk

I was thinking the same thing, everyone that died in the game should come back. ): Jung hoon my baby </3

 ManaSura:

Minor

The server was still on when Cha Hyeong Seok killed his father I believe(?) Prof Cha told him to leave it on for 10 mins and told him to shut it down. The guy probably called the team to shut servers down and during that time Cha killed his father. This drama has a unique way of showing things to us and this was part of it I believe. ( like how in ep 2 we see Jin woo on train without Jung Hoon and its explained later) the timeline works that way. Edit: I just remembered the other guy was calling Prof Cha to tell him that they shut it down and asking about the test and how Jin Woo picked up during that time since Prof Cha died. So yes the servers were up.

Se Ju was out of the game when he returned I believe. And Marco must have debugged because otherwise Marco would have been haunting Se Ju still when Se Ju returned to Korea. I'm guessing it's because Jin Woo completed the quest and pulled Se Ju out of the game (debugging him which also debugged Marco?) and earned the title of Master that Se Ju had. It is confusing. purtysunshine explained their theory in comments I believe regarding that. I'll copy/paste that person's comment and mine below for people.

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purtysunshine-

To begin, here are my conclusions concerning many of the unexplained elements of the show:

There was an interview with the author that explained that the reason the game began to interact with reality is because of a player’s murderous intent.

For example: Marco wanted to kill Se Ju. So when he died he became a “bug” that would repeatedly appear before Se Ju as an enemy due to the glitch (lag) that occurred when Marco stabbed Se Ju with a real knife in the café near Emma (remember: Emma would not allow fighting and remove any weapons if players started to duel in front of her…however, the knife Marco used was real so she was not able to remove it).

Therefore, we can infer that Jin Woo also became a bug when he dueled against Hyun Suk. Not because he killed him, necessarily…but because of his murderous intent when he attacked him while the game was glitching. This would also explain why Jin Woo was a bug but Se Ju was not…because Se Ju never had murderous intent towards Marco and he was just defending himself when he defeated him.

Hyun Suk became a bug the same way that Marco did…he had murderous intent when fighting Jin Woo so when he was defeated (killed) the same glitch that started occurring in the game happened and he became a NPC.

This explanation clears up a lot of confusion over the whole why Jin Woo was a bug but Se Ju was not debatical, as well as why the characters became NPCs who’s appearances continued to reoccur (as for Jung Hoon and Professor Cha, they were tied to Jin Woo who was already a bug, so it’s unfortunate but that’s why they were able to be killed in the game and become NPCs).

The reason Marco probably did not need to get “de-bugged” in the end like the other characters probably had to do with Jin Woo defeating the challenge. When he in turn became the master, Se Ju was no longer in the game and thus Marco would disappear as well. Maybe?

That’s all plausible under the conclusion Jin Woo came to that Emma caused a glitch. In fact, Jin Woo himself experienced a similar glitch when he was being chased by the archers in Granada earlier on and the game lagged (froze), enabling him to escape and level up. I don’t think this scene was put in there for no reason, in fact it was quite useful in showing us that the game can glitch.

Of course, when the game was reset the glitch disappeared, which is why it was no longer dangerous to play.

This would also (vaguely) explain how the game continued to go on even when the lenses were removed. Since Jin Woo became a bug due to his murderous intent towards Hyun Suk—he essentially became a part of the game. That’s why when Jung Hoon became his ally (ie the bug effected him as well) he was able to see Hyun Suk, felt pain when attacked, continued to be in the game after removing his lenses, and ultimately died in the game (same with Professor Cha). That’s also somewhat of an explanation for how Jin Woo was still alive in the end, since even though he was removed as a bug, he was the only one that was still alive when he was removed. So, even though he had become a part of the game as an error of sorts, he was still tied to the real world as well, which is probably what gave him the opportunity to create that new dimension when he was on the verge of being killed. It seems like a bit of a stretch to assume that Jin Woo would have known to do this, but I can also guess that it’s even possible for Emma to have told him (recall that when she asked why he didn’t let her have the key before, he told her that he was scared to die).

Also, Se Ju specifically said that he wasn’t sure how the instance dimension worked. He just knew that it existed (obviously) since he had used it, but even he was baffled by it. Which means that Jin Woo is in uncharted territory as far as the restrictions of the game are concerned and no one knows what he is capable of. This does NOT explain how some people are able to see him now…but I wouldn’t call that a plot hole so much as it’s just yet to be explained.

And if we want to go out on a huge limb here: Magic itself was mentioned multiple times through the drama during Jin Woo’s storytelling. Who’s to say that didn’t play a part as well?

Whew.

After realizing this, I felt a lot better. It still does not explain everything…and as people have pointed out—the fact that the writer did not explain this in the drama wasn’t great. We could guess that maybe someone’s intentions had the ability to manipulate the game due to the glitch but there was no way to know for sure without the writer explaining it in an interview and it would have been better if she had let that naturally come out during the drama instead.

I did have other minor grievances with points in the plot that either went unexplained or just felt forgotten (looking at you, character “A”). However, overall I was super impressed with the storytelling here. This writer has a knack for creating vivid new realities and plots that take you on a rollercoaster ride. I felt like Memories of the Alhambra (henceforth referred to as “Memories”) was very reminiscent of Nine in its plot and also contained a lot of the better points of W (in particular—how the fantasy world begins to converge with reality). While the ending itself was not as good as Nine’s ending (which has, IMHO one of the best open endings ever) for the most part I loved this drama just as much.

I was particularly impressed with the writer’s use of time throughout the show. For example, many dramas will cut an episode at a pivotal moment or use camera angles to keep certain elements of a scene unknown purely to pack in an emotional punch later and slap viewers in the face with Big Reveals. Memories, on the other hand, did not feel manipulative in that way and there was a purpose to the time line of the narrative.

For example (and this is one of my favorite moments): When Jin Woo first meets Emma in the café in Granada we see him walk up to her had say “Hi.” Then the drama cuts back to earlier on and we watch more scenes play out leading to Hee Joo eventually walking by that café and witnessing the scene of Jin Woo meeting Emma (though she doesn’t know it). DAMN. When that came full circle I literally made this really excited noise because I just LOVE when all of these awesome elements within a show come together: good writing, good directing, good acting, good music, and GOOD TIMING.

The story itself was so heart wrenching in that we had to watch Jin Woo just fall apart and then try to do right by everyone. He took responsibility for something that wasn’t his fault because he knew he was the only one who could do it. The fact that he kept playing the game, looking for answers, and searching for Se Ju even though it meant risking his life and making everyone think he was crazy showed that he became a true hero. I loved watching him hit rock bottom and come out a real bad ass in the end.
The way the director used the music and sound effects for Hyun Suk appearances as well still gives me goosebumps. He did a great job making this seem super terrifying and Hyun Bin just OWNED his role as Jin Woo during these moments. Hell, he just owned his role: period.

Another favorite scene of mine that showed this great directing/writing/acting combo is when Hyun Bin is on the train and gets the notification that he lost his Ally (CRIES) and then later, in the dungeon, when City Hunter re-appears and you watch him go from relief at seeing Jung Hoon—to his face just crumbling as the horrible reality of the situation hits him. Later, as he sits there in the carnage, completely broken as he watches Jung Hoon continue to fight…

He better win ALL the awards.

I also loved the ending scene of Sun Ho walking through the church and the flashbacks we got of Jin Woo erasing the bugs. The timing was perfect, and once again Hyun Bin just blew me away with his performance.

In fact, I’m pretty sure I would have loved this drama all the same even if we just had to sit and watch Hyun Bin knit a scarf for sixteen episodes.

As for the romance, that storyline was just alright…and it was probably one of the weakest points of the show. I don’t think I need to go on about Hee Joo herself, actually, as I believe we can all agree that she was underutilized. I just did not really feel much chemistry between her and Jin Woo. For example, Memories wants us to see that Jin Woo loves her, and I get that. But I never really felt it. And to be completely fair—he had bigger problems to worry about, unfortunately.

But I also didn’t really get Hee Joo’s affection for Jin Woo, either. Certainly I could understand it after she realized everything he’s done and been through. But in the beginning it was like her affection for him was rooted simply in her gratitude and not actually love, per say. But the drama tried to play it off as that and it was just…awkward.

I did however, suuuuper love his relationship with Min Joo (Hee Joo’s sister). They were so sweet and hilarious and I just lost it when he went to their house to watch her when he knew she would be afraid staying home alone. Guh. Right in the feels. Can we get a second season exclusively of their playful banter, please?

In conclusion, I think what makes a drama great boils down to a number of things working well together. You need a story that keeps you intrigued and emotionally involved. You need a director that can bring together the visual components of a show well (camera angles, lighting, music, and timing). You need actors who can realistically portray their characters and wring your emotions. You need dialogue that hits the mark…

I truly believe Memories did all of this and did it well. So in that regard everything else seems like a minor flaw that doesn’t do much to tarnish my impression of it. Was it perfect? No. But it was, in my opinion, perfectly entertaining. 

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Mine-I was about to make a separate comment but I saw yours which pretty much explained most things so I will just put mine under xD. Some of the things that people were confused by I didn't really find as confusing. For example, the ending(some thought it was sad, and I was worried cause I read so many comments about its sad ending as I started the series, but its not really sad?)You explained the end well and that was one of my theories too. That perhaps Emma told Jin Woo about the instance dungeon. Because SeJu wasn't there to explain the instance dungeon(him and JinWoo never met). However, in the series I recall (unless I have bad memory) that the narrating voice that was Jin Woo's already told the story of what went on between Marco and SeJu and how Emma created a glitch in the game and how SeJu probably "hid" himself in the game. Jin Woo wasn't exactly sure how SeJu did it but I theorized that in return for completing the quest, Emma probably told him how he achieved the title of master as a reward and what he can probably do with it. 

I also agree with your "murderous intent" theory. I was about to comment on the "physical contact" becoming the glitch. If Cha HyeongSuk and Jin Woo had a "friendly" duel with no murderous intent and physical contact then perhaps then Cha wouldn't die and become a bug along with Jin Woo. Remember how during their duel Jin Woo grabbed Cha's collar after Cha punched him and a message appeared about contact being prohibited? I think before physical "fights" like that was prohibited before too but the bug started because Marco used a physical real knife on Seju and it couldn't be stopped by the game because it was too sudden (?)and now after Marco's death and everyone else's, they reappear as a bug. I feel like Emma creating the glitch Emma should've taken responsibility for creating the bug herself.

As for Jin Woo still being alive, I expected that because unlike Jung Hoon, Prof Cha and his son who had corpses in the real world, Jin Woo didn't have that. Sure he got deleted from the game, but he was also stabbed and in a way by being killed by a NPC (Emma), but his corpse wasn't in the real realm (just like SeJu). So he couldn't have been dead.

I also love this drama very much. It played with my emotions and I have to admit that when I was watching it at night I just couldn't watch because they made Cha so terrifying and HyunBin being scared at the start also made me scared LOL and I just couldn't sleep. And I hated how they killed off Jung Hoon. It was so sad. I do agree that W was much less confusing and people had that ending between the female male lead. Here we don't see them reuniting but we know they will reunite since he's alive so there's that and he will eventually come to real world. Heeju's more of a support role for JinWoo and there's less romance which I don't mind I guess because the real problem is this game I was still hoping for something better in the end, but oh well. They didn't build the relationship much but I think it did come at an appropriate time because if they dated right in Granada, it would be too sudden. (I thought he'd kiss her while she was taking care of him before her birthday but nope he leaves her)

I still have a bunch of unanswered questions since I'm a technical person.
This drama had a SAO feeling to it as well where people in game that die end up dying in real life. HOWEVER SAO did explain how the people died with the Nerve Gear, I really wished they had some sort of explanation as to how the people in the drama that died in game, how did it kill them in real life? For Cha, they said "internal bleeding maybe or loss of blood" and for Jung Hoon, a hemorrhage. It just doesn't make sense. I've been hearing stuff about real and game world colliding and it just be a fantasy element and I just hate that. There has to be something that causes the death of their real body because the wounds they received were from the game and in real life They had none of the wounds. Also, how did Jung Hoon's body end up somewhere else? I refuse to believe he just "fell" it took them a long time to find his body too?
They also didn't explain how jin woo's limping. I understand that injuries heal in game as you level and that's why he was walking fine. They also showed in real life in hospital CCTV, he was limping but in game he wasn't. BUT THEN when he's chased by police officers it shows him running(from the game perspective-i guess?)but if he's limping in real life perspective HOW can the police officers not catch him? (Not like I want them to catch him)
Also what I don't understand is if Marco stabbed Seju with a real knife. What were the people in the cafe doing? The real people didn't see Se ju with a stab wound when Marco used a real knife or heard his "AHHHH"? Is it because of glitch? Also your confusion on A person was mine too. I thought A would show up again but nope.
I'm curious what instance dungeon JinWoo used though. Emma's gone so there can't be a key quest with her now? She reset the game probably keeping the instance dungeon feature after telling Jin Woo about it but the company didn't know about it. But then Yang Ju deletes Emma which means Jin Woo couldn't have made a quest with Emma to rescue him? 

Edit: I feel like Yura should've been punished more, I hated her character so much. But at least she got what she deserved. And that Sang Beom character was just as annoying. Se Ju comes home and he's asking him bunch of questions like let the boy breathe. 

 betun:

Whew, that took some time reading

My bad! I should have probably copied/pasted the theories part not the drama reviews but I was too lazy. I don't usually mind a mix of sci-fi/ technology/ magic things if they can be explained properly to the point where it's not as confusing. I don't mind reading other theories/alternatives it's what I've been doing after coming up with my own theories cause this is what happens when there's so many unanswered questions(but I still don't have a theory or explanation to what bothered me the most in this drama) You're right on the romance part they could have probably made HeeJu more useful and I thought they would towards the end since Emma's character is based off of her. I thought she could have helped in  avoiding this whole bug deletion thing towards the end but nope.

 ManaSura:

Where things didn’t add up:

Minor points:

Jinwoo’s Limp (in granada the CCTV showed him limping although he stated he was not, while in seoul the police were surprised he could run fast)

How come heejuu can talk to Emma when she's only level 1?

How come choi hyeong seok appeared and killed his father while the server was supposed to be off? (or it was still on?)

Major:

Marco is supposed to be the first bug and not Hyeong Seok, so he should have been eliminated.

If Jinwoo is considered to be bugged as a player and requires debugging by the hands of Emma, then so is Seju, right?

Minor:

- Yes, his limping is real in the real world (thats why we can see he is limping in the CCTV) but while playing the game, the game made his brain think that all the attacks are real and he is physically fit (not limping). This is the case of the mind stronger than physical ability -- thats what the game did to Jin Woo. So, while running from the police, he is limping but since he mind think that he is not, thats why he can run faster. Actually, I was kind of hope the director would show how he run fast with the limp lol instead of just showing us from the Game POV. I actually find the details amazing. At Granada if you noticed, his limping leg is bleeding at the hospital after the game (the camera focus on it while the other leg in not bleeding). This is actually a sign that its only in his mind that his leg healed but in real world, people can still see he is limping. The leg is bleeding because he overused it for running and fighting at the Alhambra dungeon -- thus causing it to bleed as the leg was not supposed to be used excessively after his fall at Bonita Hostel.  

- Actually, Hee Joo couldnt get anything from Emma because she is only level 1 -- she can only do greetings. She tried to talk to her but she was in and out . She also told Jin Woo its hard to get anything from Emma. The information that Hee Joo told Jin Woo is only observation that she saw on Emma -- the jewellery on her hands. 

- Because of the error, the game was still up even when the server was off. Remember when Jin Woo asked Prof Cha why he's back at Seoul at the hotel in Episode 15? Then Prof Cha said because the server is off but then he said it is still dangerous. Prof Cha did ask to on the server while hiding in the bathroom and later only come out when the server is off, but since Heung Seok's NPC is the error of the game, he still appear despite the server is off. Remember the time when Jin Woo spent some time with Hee Joo after the final mission at Granada? The server was off at that time but Heung Seok's NPC still appear at Hee Joo's house. 

Major:

- Marco is Se Joo’s bug thus he do not need to be deleted for Jin Woo to reset the game. Plus, Jin Woo can't see Marco anyway unless he made an alliance with Se Joo. Bear in mind that Se Joo is the one who create this game and he set the rules. Among the rules are those who gave Fatima the Key to Heaven will win the game and become the new Master. And he also put one of Emma’ s features is to delete bugs and once bugs are deleted, the game will reset. And that is exactly what Jin Woo did; level up, get the key, kill the bugs and hand over the key to Emma and Emma reset the game. Now, why Jin Woo is a bug and need to be deleted? It is because he played the game while the game is in error state. Had other testers of the game made a duel and killed their opponents like Jin Woo, they will be in the same position as Jin Woo as well. 

- Yes, supposedly Se Joo is a bug as well. But unlike Jin Woo, he just keep hiding on the 'instance dungeon' to save himself from getting killed by Marco. Supposedly if he wants to end the game, he will kill Marco with the key, give the key to Emma, and reset the game but since he knew he will be deleted (since he made the game after all), thats why he just wait for someone to save him. And now it is Jin Woo who is playing the game, thus he only need to kill his bugs and not Se Joo's. It just happen when Jin Woo completed the mission and reset the game, he become the new Game Master and Se Joo was released.