Ive been waiting for this drama for quite awhile since seeing the ad and WOW one of the Best drama of the year for me and ive seen quite alot. I was beyond amazed for 1hr the detail given about the story & characters portrayed by an unbelievable cast of top actors young or old. The details that were put toward the location, set design, graphics & outfits esp Mawang and the aura A++they didnt skimp. I won't lie some spoilers, but only in story set up details.
The storyline is about 3 gods who merged together as 1 : The god of childbirth- Sam shin, The god of balance and The god of dealth- Ma wang. After years of peace Ma wang decided he needed more blood shed so he devoured balanced and when he started to cause chaos Sam shin separated from him. Ma Wang convinced the king to accept him and for years caused alot of death/blood shee. The king realized that ma wang was getting to powerful to control so he made his son sung ju the emporer. The portrait of the king has to be painted by the devine painter Hong euh ho & Kan yoo gook while the Taoist(Ha sung jin) uses his power to put Ma wang into the picture with Sam shin help. Upon entering he curses the land with drought/famine, the descendent of the painter to not see & the taoist a dark world. Elsewhere at the same time both of there wives give birth, but cheungi mom pray to sam shin to protect her then dies. She picks up Cheun gi who's born blind & will grow up a painter and a boy Ha ran will have power to forsee and together they will conquer all. Now 9yrs later the shaman learns ha ran has the power of water & can end the drought. On the way to the palace the children meet each other thru their fathers while walking they meet a grandma who puts a butterfly ornament in his hand & says "you'll need this for tomorrow"as it appears on his neck. The next day the CP Yi kang(1st son) arrives & greets his brothers: #2-JooHyang #3-Yang myeong as #2 storms away mad he thinks he should be CP. So #3 takes him to see the king portraits you hear whisper and #2 ignors the warning and open the doors while staring he takes the candle & kicks #3 as he looks closer he sets the picture on fire & wakes mawang who jumps into his body & rejected leaving apainful scar then says where is it and leaves. As he approaches Ha ran we see the butterfly luminate and circles him, but the shaman goes against the emporers order and uses ha ram as a living sacrifice. As lightening hits hes thrown into the water at the same time cheun gi also falls in & as both are drowning Mawang enter Haran ad the butterfly awakes and mawang said "did you lure me here" and Sam shin says "Yes, I will borrow your eyes were your power is" and locks him deep inside Haran as he is powerless until his eyes are returned. Then Sam shin entrust his eyes temporarily to cheun gi and tells her she is destined to build the vessel of destiny. Then cheun gi awakes where she was born and can see, but Ha ran floated out of the water & awakes blind. The King arrested the shaman for going against his ruling as she convinces him he needs the boy. Then we hear "when you two intertwine in the future everything will find its place" The king orders Haran to enter the palace as his astronomers after his parents are killed. Now 19 Years later Eun oh still suffer memory loss after painting the king and so cheung gi paints forgeries for money. She learns that the medication is fake and has the 3 guys arrested then she meets Sam shin again who tells her she'll ride in palanquin and all will change. They get out jail and seek revenge while chasing her she jumps into Ha ran Palanquin. There ride is bumpy and she tells him his eyes are beautiful like red jaspers(i agree) but when she nears his memory shows us pieces of her. We see the butterfly turning black as he kicks her out the pain of his changing then all of a sudden "BOOM" MaWang breakouts in search for for his eyes. After this each episode gets better as it evolves with such detail and the story line start to unveil. #2 plans to accept Mawang while Ha ran is secretly planning to enact his revenge on royal family while he's protecting her. She's painting the Emporer picture in order to remove the demon from him. The next couple of episodes are #2 planning with the shaman to take over as next king after excepting mawang. She gets the portrait done so the shaman & #2 move the date up for his Acceptance and all is well until the portrait was torn apart by mawang & put back in haram. So now #2 is even crazier over this when he overheard his father say that #3 will be the CP. So they argue and king Collapsed into coma and #2 makes himself the CP and starts to threaten to kill everyone around cheung gi if she dont paint
Then suddenly the Hwacha appear stating she needs him to finalize the devine painting and she can only paint on that day she agrees. Now its time to send mawang back into the picture and at what cost.
Please Excuse spelling issue due to different subbers.
PS: I watched on Dramacool and found the graphics to be amazing especially ep 16, where someone said its un edited and so i watch and just didnt have all Ma wang/Haram/Cheung gi side effects