And that, dear viewer, is the sign of a legendary show. The reign of Queen Seondeok has not yet begun—but the prophecy has been set in stone.
In a stunning scene, Mi-shil confronts a royal astrologer. She demands a prophecy regarding the twin princesses. The astrologer, trembling, reveals a vision: "The twin stars will clash. One will fall, and one will rise to become the first female king of Silla. She will bring a golden age, but only after bathing the land in blood."
Essential viewing for any fan of epic fantasy, political intrigue, or powerful female-led narratives.
In the Silla dynasty, twins were considered a catastrophic omen. The birth of twin princesses, specifically, was believed to signify that the "Sacred Bone" (the highest rank of royal blood) was splitting, which would lead to civil war. The law was absolute: if twin daughters were born, the second-born twin must be killed immediately.
Mi-shil’s reaction is not fear. It is cold, calculated rage. She immediately realizes that the "fallen" twin is the one she can manipulate, but the "rising" twin—the one who will become queen—must be destroyed. The episode brilliantly establishes that the entire conflict of the next 60 episodes will not be a simple good vs. evil fight. It is a chess match between two women: one born in the palace (Mi-shil) and one born to replace her. While the court believes the second twin is dead, the loyal attendant Seo-ri cannot abandon the baby. He retrieves her from the river and flees the capital, Seorabeol (modern-day Gyeongju). Episode 1 cleverly uses a time jump here. We watch as a toddler Deokman (later played by Nam Ji-hyun as a teenager, and Lee Yo-won as an adult) grows up in the desert trading posts on the border of Silla.
With these chilling words, The Great Queen Seondeok —one of the most revered and highest-rated dramas in Korean television history—begins its epic 62-episode journey. Premiering in 2009 on MBC, the drama tells the semi-fictionalized story of Queen Seondeok, the first reigning female monarch in the history of the Silla Kingdom (57 BC – AD 935).
