The King Eternal Monarch - Confusing things discussion

@stargoesboom
Why is it that this time, instead of young Lee Gon splitting the flute in half, one of Lee Lim's guards came forward to execute young Lee Gon? That's why the flute didn't get cut in half.
I am rewatching episode 1's treason scene and comparing it with episode 16's, and I can't see how or why that changed so drastically. It's very important to explain this because that's the catalyst for everything being different in the finale.

In Episode 1, with only Lee Gon stopping the treason, he tried to rescue his young self thus was not able to capture Lee Lim. This enabled the latter to escape to Korea and cause all the turmoil in both worlds. In Episode 16, Lee Gon's main purpose was to prevent the Manpasikjeok from getting broken and stop Lee Lim from having it. Jo Yeong went to rescue the young Lee Gon.

@vanesnatalia
how does this whole time travel work? like if future lee gon goes back in time to save his younger self that means that he previously died(?) which means that he wouldnt have been able to grow up into the future lee gon. also whats the meaning of the photos and other things in that space where time slows?

The young Lee Gon  in episodes 1 and 14 did not die; he grew up to be the savior LG in episodes 14 and 16.

Regarding the photos and balloons, it seems the photos were Lee Lim's markers of probably the many times he had been in the gate.  The balloons were probably Lee Gon's markers, or just pieces he used for experiment, to find out more about the gate.

@stargoesboom
I know that, but why is it this time, the child Lee Gon did NOT cut the flute in half when the previous 2 times it happened, he did cut it in two (in both episode 1 and episode 14).
Why does Jo Yeong also coming back result in that massive change?

Ahh, I see what you mean. In episode 1, young Lee Gon immediately cut the flute as soon as he held the sword and screamed, "I will try". In episode 16, after young LG screamd, "I will try", he held back. Perhaps the flute held him back because it knew LG, with Jo Yeong's help, can stop Lee Lim from having it whole. Remember, young LG was moved to go to Cheonjongo by the sound of the flute. Perhaps the flute allowed young LG to cut it in half in episode 1 rather than have Lee Lim have the whole piece. At that time, it seemed the savior LG was not aware of the calamity Lee Lim would inflict on the parallel worlds so he was more concerned about keeping young LG alive than pursuing Lee Lim.

Me too, I'm satisfied with the ending :) I would have wanted it to take another direction, but the ending is full of possibilities... I will just imagine LG and TE will be able to change the past so Shin-jae and Luna will end up in Korea and Tae-eul in Corea so she can become queen :)

Thanks, everyone, it was fun discussing TKEM with you all!

Who is this YoYo guy?

How did Yeong in 2020 get hold of the CCTV footage from 2022? In front of the book store where the yoyo guy looks straight into the camera

Why does prime minister Koo ask her mom to say she ate some specific thing for dinner and why did she cry when her mom told otherwise?

In the first episode just before Lee gon meets jeong tae eul for the first time, why does she get a glimpse of Luna in the car back seat ?

How is Lee min ho able to travel to the night of treason as many times and whenever he wants? First time him and Lee rim both travelled but second time Lee min ho alone travelled, how ?

When Lee min ho travelled back second time he saved his younger self and he killed Lee rim and took the whole flute. So now the younger self doesn't have the flute? So he will not have flute and so he will not cross the universe and he will not meet tae ul? Or is the younger self and older Lee gon who saved himself same?

 stargoesboom:

I know that, but why is it this time, the child Lee Gon did NOT cut the flute in half when the previous 2 times it happened, he did cut it in two (in both episode 1 and episode 14).

Why does Jo Yeong also coming back result in that massive change? 

Great question!

The answer is actually simple, the show hinted that something already changed. Lee Gon monologue it, if I remember correctly it was something like this: "something already changed, when did it happen".

There is a common fictional sub-trope in time travel … "balance". The flute/kid also mentioned about "restoring the balance", Jeong Tae Eul also reliased about the "balance" before it role of the kid was revealed.

In time travel, when a person goes back in time (or travel into a parallel universe), the "balance" is disturbed. Something or someone who isn't supposed to be there is wreaking havoc to nature. Since Lee Gon was starting to be sensitive to spacetime (one word), he also started to be aware that "something already changed" and he can not pinpoint what and when it happened.

I'm not sure if the show showed which "event" changed everything but it doesn't matter, the monologue was more than good enough to establish the next scenes that followed: the major change in the bodyguard's decision to point his gun to the kid before he had a chance to slice the flute in half.

 vanesnatalia:

how does this whole time travel work? like if future lee gon goes back in time to save his younger self that means that he previously died(?) which means that he wouldnt have been able to grow up into the future lee gon. also whats the meaning of the photos and other things in that space where time slows?

In this show, the writer chose to keep one single timeline. By doing so, there's a need to solve the "grandfather paradox". One way of solving it, and the easiest yet most confusing, is by keeping in mind that "time is both linear and non-linear" or to put it another way, "time is relative".

In episode 1, that Yi Gon was the same Yi Gon we saw traveled in the past. There is no reality where he died (otherwise he can not ever save himself and his uncle will have the full power of the flute).

The episode 1 Yi Go later placed the bunny coat where Luna found it. He also met the younger Jeong Tae Eul, and so on. This is what we later witnessed in episodes 2 and onwards, from the vantage point of the other characters.

Later, Yi Go figured out how to travel back in time and did exactly what he was suppose to do -- he checked his younger self's pulse so his younger self will pull Jeong Tae Eul's ID, he left the bunny coat, met Jeong Tae Eul multiple times, etc.

The question is, why Jeong Tae Eul and Jo Young did not remember it from episodes 1 to 13/14? That's where the "time is both linear and non-linear" or "time is relative" comes in.

Since the "present" time is centered on Yi Gon the kid (episode 1), all the other characters will not remember anything that was _yet_ to happen in the future. The time traveler who changed things was that Yi Gon. Both Jeong Tae Eul and Jo Young only remembered _after_ Yi Gon actually did it.

This was repeatedly hinted through Jeong Tae Eul. Every single time the "present" Yi Gon did something in the past was the exact time Jeong Tae Eul "remembered" or received a "new memory". This was firmly established as the case in the phone booth scene where "present" Yi Gon scribbled on the phone booth and "present" Jeong Tae Eul literally saw with her own eyes his scribble appearing by itself.

That scene was possible because they're both the "present" version of their characters. Again, "time is linear" or "time is relative" and we are following the "time" of "Yi Gon" because he's the only surviving time traveler at this point.