Brief: This is one of South Korea’s recent big production series. It also have big cast such as Bae Yong-Jun (not so good looking without glasses). The special effects are top notch but the storyline is rather mediocre. At least for me. Maybe cause I am comparing it with western series like 24 and Heroes. I can’t really stand too much conversation thus probably reason why I am watching less series but more movies. I know…I have short attention span…
edit: At last, this post is complete. Wow…24 episodes looks kinda long. But I still have a tough time watching bearded Bae Yong-Jun with his sweet white completion. He just doesn’t look convincing in a warrior era.
Descriptions: A long time ago, a tribe that respected the tiger and controlled fire called the Ho-jok (Tiger Tribe), ruled the world. They eliminated and assimilated all tribes except the tribe that respected the bear, called the Ung-jok (Bear Tribe). The Tiger Tribe and the Bear Tribe fought, and Hwanung could not bear to see so many people getting killed. He brought the three gods of nature; Baek-Ho (백호, the White Tiger), Cheong-Ryong (청룡, the Green Dragon), and Hyeon-Mu (현무, the Black Turtle-Snake).
He removed the power of fire from the leader of the Tiger Tribe, Gajin, sealed the power into an artifact called the Heart of Ju-Jak (주작, the Red Phoenix), and gave it to the woman he loved; Se-o. However, Gajin was mortally wounded while attacking another tribe, and she seemed to die until Hwanung healed her. This thoroughly convinced Gajin to not make a grudge against Hwanung. When her tribe was revived to take back the power of fire, they didn’t listen to Gajin and decided to attack the Bear Tribe. Gajin then slew her tribe’s council with her own blade, and escapes from her own tribe and heads towards the Bear Tribe, deciding to become Hwanung’s woman.

However, Hwanung likes Se-o and declared his love for her, not knowing that Gajin was watching them secretly when this took place. Gajin was infuriated by this and began reforming the Tiger Tribe and attacked the Bear Tribe. Unfortunately, this was the time when Se-o was pregnant, and when she had given birth, the baby was kidnapped by Gajin who offered Se-o a deal to trade her baby for the power of fire. When Se-o refuses Gajin, Gajin responds by dropping Se-o’s baby from a cliff, leading to Se-o going out of control and releasing the Heuk-Jujak (Dark Phoenix), even though Hwanung had saved the baby. (Note: Jujak is roughly the equivalent of Phoenix.) Hwanung’s subordinates, the White Tiger, the Green Dragon and the Black Turtle-Snake fought the Dark Phoenix, but they were no match for it.
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