noor1234

Thanks for this analysis, it has made me rethink a few things too.

I've been thinking about whether it is possible that FL gets 'possessed by ghosts' of these people? How can a single person have sooooo much knowledge when all the masters died 8 years ago or soon after? (Chinese & Korean dramas usually have such themes) She also makes these 'voodoo' dolls that she untangles after each person's 'removal.' Even if she read all the books in the Academy all alone, still how can someone know so much? (especially the very specific art of healing legs that the best physicians couldn't fix.)

1) FL did not break any engagement - SML Prince Li asked the concubine empress to break it (he just didn't expect c.empress to betroth her to another guy)

2) Remember, FL's status was BIG 8 years ago - she was betrothed to the son of crown prince (probably because Old Emperor & crown prince had strong ties to Lishan Academy & her grandfather ran it), which is a huge thing - she was destined to be queen technically some day. Nobody knows about her mental condition other than the martial arts bodyguard she consults & now the ML & his bodyguard & doctor (till Ep.17) - diagnosed as 'loneliness' for now - ML doesn't know about her trauma & massacre or what happened to Quangsheng maid.

3) Concubine Empress did no favors to FL by getting her hitched to a crippled son with a few shops & a title to his name whose entire male members were killed (in a conspiracy) for being traitors. ML's household had HUGE problems (of status, reputation & personal) before FL came there - it wasn't an ideal place to marry, though FL had wealth & beauty & came from a 'solid' family who enjoyed the favor of the c.empress & kid emperor.

4) Even if she was married off to someone else, she still would've helped to restore ML & his family fortunes & honor.

5) ML was appointed as regulator of a city only after marriage (because he's working with kid emperor) - before marriage he had no real status to offer a bride & he was disabled (everyone believed for life).

6) I've watched the latest episode too (Ep. 17) & it is clear that FL is moved by revenge & trauma, she does her 'wifely duty' to support ML.

7) ML is the steady older guy who has never made any demands on her or restricted her movements. You have to admit he is a boring stable man, with no dramatic or romantic flair - he doesn't even talk that much! There is warmth & affection between them but her personality is such that she would have interacted with any husband similarly, done the same things the same way - the only difference is that she feels she owes this family (& Lishan Academy & 30K soldiers) justice & lost honor & is working towards that.

8) Now ML thinks he owes her to heal her condition because she healed his legs & I think he loves her too. I doubt FL's feelings are that lovey dovey, she has too much trauma & revenge plots to act on to think about 'love'.

After Ep. 17, I think he's reasonable too, but yes, anything can happen!

He doesn't know anything else, he was raised to be an heir, educated as if he was going to be an heir or heir's son. I think crown prince was the legitimate wife (Empress' son) while concubine's son is currently on the throne - so of course Prince Li will think the crown was stolen from his side of family.

There was an heir - the crown prince - SML Prince Li is crown prince's son. After emperor's natural death & ensuing power grab by concubine with kid, crown prince was killed, SML taken from Lishan Academy, put in jail & later, under house arrest & humiliated to be 'court jester'. Everyone who supported the last emperor's wishes & crown prince got killed or removed from office. Concubine installed herself as Empress & her kid as emperor through the faction that supported her.

The most intriguing character in the drama is and will remain FL. ML is a boring good guy & will remain so. I think he's also supposed to be older than her by 8-10 years so he's the steady dad-type. Most of the cast is one-dimensional, including ML. It's the way plot is unfolding that is interesting, the screenplay is very well-written.

I believe FL would've interacted with any other eventual husband similarly, she would've been a good partner to anyone, there's nothing unique that ML has that makes him stand out - other than the interconnected past history (his own, his brother's and FL's mother & Lishan Mountain) between them that makes her obliged to help him (because of promise to mom & his dying bro). She has more interests in life other than him.

I think he has entered ML's house just to keep tabs on them.

I think FL looks at the big picture - she likes stepmother's young son so she wouldn't have caused trouble for him, & she doesn't want to take revenge over petty issues that she has already handled (like getting her respect & property back). But that doesn't make stepmother & her daughter less shallow or incapable of deceiving FL. These sort of people will always be untrustworthy.

I don't think stepmother should get a pass just because she is the 'lesser of all evils' in Ye Family: she had planned on embarrassing FL on her wedding day with cheap broken 'dowry' & giving everything to her daughter instead. And she tried to do this to FL who was already sidelined in Ye Family & demoted to marriage with a crippled former prisoner of treasonous family. She also had taken over her shops & installed her own people, including a bf there. She had alienated the husband as well from his first-born - the father was worthless but I think women in these sort of households engineer a lot of mistreatment.

That was straight out of some horror movie!

Qin Cang is Muyang's son. As for Ye Family, Ye Ling is FL's father's daughter by the second wife BUT the boy/ son is not from the same father, he's from the guy who was caught with the second wife - that's why second wife has helped FL, because she wants to make sure the son carries Ye Family's title & name. They would've been thrown out of Ye Household if truth had come out, second wife would've been killed too, for adultery etc.

FL doesn't come across as the type to 'fall in love', she's a nurturer & would've been a good wife to anyone she ended up with - ML is nothing special. I don't think she thought anything more about ML other than the fact that this dashing soldier who was 'manly' / older than her, had rescued her - after her original betrothed (son of heir to the throne, that she studied with) was jailed. She has tried to help ML because of the vow she made to her mother & to ML's brother (before his terrible execution) - & she has tried to be a good wife & partner to him. BUT she is moved by revenge & to right past wrongs & to be self-sufficient. She would've been exactly like this with any other man as well.

PTSD & her way of boxing her trauma so that she can function in her daily life & take revenge.

Yup, her stories about Lishan Academy have gone wilder with each new episode - she's skilled in all kinds of things, & has done hard labor & knows martial arts: those 8 years after the coup are the big mystery - I think 'monkeys' were assassins who killed many people up in the mountain, & she is the one who got away. I'm sure that student she cut the tree for is also dead - because he hasn't sent any letter to his family for 8 years......

Prince Li was technically heir to the throne so of course he feels 'entitled' to what he deserves, what is owed to him or who belongs to him. FL is totally right about him & his character.

I think it's a tragedy that Prince Li & ML can't work together. In court/crown battles everyone is morally questionable & grey: Gen. Mo (ML's brother) was coming back on dying Emperor's orders because there was a tussle for crown & he sided with Emperor's wishes for crown prince. Meanwhile concubine saw her chance of installing her son as king as opposed to the designated crown prince, since emperor was dying & weak & she allied with security & court officials who helped her by removing obstacles (people). ML's brother (& other male members) got killed & FL's mother got killed because FL's father's side helped concubine & dowager by removing a key military family (by getting that decree). Crown prince would've removed concubine & her kid from capital (if kept alive at all) the same was done to his son (Prince Li), so who is right & wrong? It's only a matter of who avails of a chance & strikes first for throne & making your faction win.

Everyone who sided with crown prince got displaced or hammered (Lishan Academy, the 'assassin' family, ML's family, FL's mother, Yuan official, etc.)

Technically & morally, ML should side with Prince Li & help Prince Li get power just to get revenge against people who betrayed his family, last emperor, crown prince, & others, BUT he won't do that because he is not vengeful or ambitious or power hungry. And it looks like Prince Li would be a very cruel, obstinate & short-lived ruler, if he ever got to be king! He had no other choice but to aspire for throne, because he was told his entire life he was destined for that post & then was turned into a peacock & has resentment for everyone including ML because he has FL. I think his wife will rat him out.

Ep. 6-12: Even though Prince Li will lose in the end because he's the anti-hero & ML+FL will side with the kid emperor, he is a pitiable character because of his circumstances and of course his actions. He was the descendant from Empress, not concubine, yet concubine's son is on the throne & his father is dead and he's relegated to being a source of entertainment for the current Empress. He has no role in court either nor was he sent off to some province to live out his years. It's unfair for FL to put the blame for the deaths of 12 Lishan men on him as a 14 year old, but I guess the standard for an heir to throne is higher than ordinary boys. Just like ML, he has lived a life in the shadows, never revealing true intentions, but his position is such that he HAS to aspire for the throne, unlike ML who simply wants to clear his family's name & honor & is not ambitious. Prince Li's irreparable fault is that he will do anything for the throne, but that's what everyone does, so I don't think he's bad, it's just that he's extremely indecisive & makes bad choices & will lose in the end. I couldn't stand it when he duped FL into having a conversation after marriage & when he kidnapped / 'rescued' her.

These episodes have also made it clear that originally FL was a big fish, destined for marriage with the crown prince's son aka heir to the throne. She is the most interesting character in this drama.

It's also interesting to see how the 2 'sisters' handled husbands who didn't want to marry them: FL has never taken anything for granted & approached everything headlong (that stone growing flower is a perfect example of her patient perseverance bearing fruit), she even initiated normal touching with ML when he was distant, while Prince Li's wife is dumb, immature, childish, impatient, spoilt & unsuited for anyone other than that jobless buffoon 'assassin.' She has allowed Prince Li to mistreat her, ignore her, dismiss her, humiliate her by simply rejecting her over and over again, & she still doesn't get that she holds the power to how others treat her. FL also has a life & interests beyond ML, & the sister doesn't have any thoughts or ambitions.

Ep.3-5: Okay, I underestimated this drama, ML & FL's characters in the first 2 episodes were so lacklustre & driven by same-old revenge tropey plot that I brushed them & it off. But this drama is non-linear and is telling the story in pieces, both ML & FL have totally different side-stories that converge at a point, both working behind the scenes, and then there's the slow-burn romance / understanding element, but I'm also now invested in the psychological scars that the FL carries - which are a surprise to me & how ML and others perceive her. Will keep watching the drama.

I'm hoping for another tub scene (after they get 'together'), considering that ML's dramas always have one, but 'Pursuit of Jade' has set the bar too high for 'tub' scenes.

I don't know how 'evil' Empress Dowager is or turns out to be, and it's weird to see she at odds with her own young son, the 'Emperor' (who is working against her allies) but I think whatever she has done is to make sure her son survives the court politics, since they came to power when he was a kid, and also to keep the 'peace' in the realm between all factions, this unfortunately meant removing the power Mo family and Lishan Academy held, hence they were casualties of a mother's desire to get and maintain power for her son. Maybe there's more to the story and maybe it will get boring later on, but this is what I think right now.

P.S. if anyone knows the significance of titling the drama 'The First Jasmine,' kindly enlighten.

Yes, I'm talking about the characters, not actors.

Ep. 10: Am dropping this. Extremely lacklustre, though production is high-end. The main villain (FL's ex-husband) is a very good actor. Ep. 1 treachery by him was shocking to see, how it all unfolded. But Ep. 10's kissing scene between the leads has got to be one of the most boring kissing scenes ever. There is simply no heat (or understanding) between this couple (other than the fact that he will never betray her & can give up his life for her). The plot is boring too. For a woman who did not notice ANYTHING in her previous life, to turn into a master manipulator of court politics and battlefields and STILL IGNORE THE FACT that her ex-husband had poisoned her father (and had told her dad would've died in any case even if he was not condemned for execution) - and she took a vow to never take a husband - which poor lovesick ML also knows!!!! (I know the novel's ending but still, where's the drama, the stress?) There is zero drama, zero tension, zero stakes here and FL is extremely bland as a character, so is ML. The recently started drama The First Jasmine also suffers from leads who have boring personalities.

Just want to throw in a comment on the visuals of Ashes to Crown - the way ML & FL are filmed in their scenes together, makes me feel sorry for Chen Feiyu & Love Beyond The Grave, where he & Dilruba were filmed extremely badly. Even though ML is just a face, and not really an actor, even in his last drama Generation to Generation, the production values were good, money spent was there to see. I'm not talking about the stories or 'chemistry' of any drama, just the way the leads are filmed to show connection, and unfortunately, LBTG suffered from an incompetent director.