Jo Hyun Jae

In every TV drama, there must be some ‘bad guys’. Obviously, their function is to bring out the goodness of the ‘good guys’. Hence, such villains are usually brutal, malicious or even schizophrenic. In “Seo Dong Yo”, there are also some ‘bad guys’ such as Sa Taek Giroo, Buyosun and Heuk Chi Pyeong. However, unlike other dramas, these characters are so well-developed that the audience can really empathise with them and feel sorry instead of hating them (a big credit to the scriptwriter).

In this TV series, the number one enemy of Jang is no doubt Sa Taek Giroo, his first friend or even admirer from Haneulchae. (Remember, Giroo was the first one who found the potential in Jang and persuaded Moraksu to reinstate him.) Giroo, the hwarang (flower boy) from Shilla, offered himself to become a spy in exchange for his marriage to Princess Sunhwa, the girl he had loved since he was a child. When Giroo was spying at Haneulchae, he was doing no real evil. His world turned upside down when he discovered that the Princess was in love with Jang, a humble technician and an outcast from the society. Giroo was mad because Jang was not following the social rules i.e. how could Jang even dream of loving a princess.

When Giroo was mistakenly taken back to Taehaksa after his injury, he was ready to give up and decided to go back to Shilla. Unfortunately, his entire family was then expelled by the King of Shilla due to a bitter power struggle. Giroo had no choice but to return to Taehaksa. In order to take revenge on Jang and Princess Sunhwa and to survive in the enemy country, Giroo had to choose a master who could bring him power and status. He decided to follow Buyosun, the utlimate enemy of Muraksu and Jang.

As Buyosun’s lieutenant, Giroo had committed many crimes and the most unforgivable ones were the murders of Prince Aja and King Weeduk of Baekjae and the massacre at the market. Giroo was shocked when Buyosun ordered him to kill all the people at the market to cover the murder of King Weeduk. Giroo carried out the order reluctantly and he could never forgive himself for doing that. Despite numerous warnings from Jang, Giroo continued to do all the dirty work for Buyosun. Deep in his mind, Giroo must regret what he was doing. However, he was too arrogant to admit his mistake. Again, his ego has led to his failure.

While Giroo was in Baekjae, he was living in constant fear that one day his real identity would be discovered. As a man with no country, no family and even no nationality, Giroo was terribly insecure. Such insecurity really drove him crazy. In order to keep the secret, Giroo had to get rid of all the ones who knew about his identity, i.e. Princess Sunhwa and Jang.

Another debatable point about Giroo is whether he really loved Princess Sunhwa. Someone said that the difference between Giroo and Jang is that the former loved Princess Sunhwa as a princess whereas the latter loved Princess Sunhwa as Sunhwa. Giroo used Princess Sunhwa as a means to climb the social ladder. However, such marriage of convenience is a social norm in ancient times and is still not uncommon in the modern day. I believe that Giroo loved Princess Sunhwa to a certain extent. As Giroo said just before he died, he had once loved a girl although that was long time ago and that memory had already faded away.

All in all, Giroo is a tragic character. Although he could not blame anyone but himself for his failure, one cannot help but feel sorry for him as he was smart, intelligent and so human. I even shed a few tears when he died.

(P.S. There was a discussion in one of the Chinese internet forums suggesting that Princess Sunhwa would definitely live longer if she married Giroo. What an interesting thought! But what is the meaning of life if you marry a man you don’t love and have a long life?)

(Credit: photo from http://blog. naver.com/yeonlotus)