Shin Don / Jeong Dojeon character similarities and differences

[truth]

How do the characters from this drama differ from JD?

King Gongmin
Gongmin's mother
Gongmin's 4th wife
King Wu
Kyung Bok Heung
Lee In Yim
Lee Saek
Choi Young
Lee Sunggye

[ajk]

It's been a lot of fun comparing the series and seeing how they fit with each other. They seem to be fitting together very well so far. But yeah there have been some differences in the characters.

King Gongmin--JD showed him as a sort of charismatic alpha male who was just sort of raving, hysterical-laughing occasionally-nutso because Noguk died. SD shows him very differently. He started out totally insecure and weak, scarred by being taken as a hostage to Yanjing. He's gradually grown and gained confidence and turned into a strong king, part from experience but mainly because marrying Noguk has been so good for him. Of course JD only had Gongmin for the first two episodes so they couldn't do much with him. SD has done a great job of giving us a psychologically complete and believable character, and the guy playing him has been fantastic. But they're two very different versions of Gongmin.

Gongmin's mother--Wow, TOTALLY different! In JD she's responsible and dutiful and cares deeply about the nation's welfare. In SD she's a nagging, selfish old battleaxe who just wants a genetically pure grandson. This one I always laugh about. But they're both believable. It really shows how much wiggle room there is for writers of historicals, even when they stay true to history.

Gongmin's other wives--So far SD has only brought in Hyebi and she hasn't had much of a role, other than the controversy about whether or not Gongmin should take consorts even though he doesn't want to. None of the other wives has shown up yet.

King Wu--He won't be in SD. The first scene in SD is actually the final scene in the series chronologically and the rest of the series is in flashback. In the first/final scene Gongmin is still alive and orders SD's death.

Kyung Bok Heung--Hasn't shown up in SD yet (which surprises me considering how important he is when JD starts).

Lee In Im--He just now showed up in SD in this episode (44). So far he seems like a weasely suck-up guy. Too early to compare to the full character in JD but you definitely get the feeling that he could turn into the exact character in JD. (The one thing about him that you do notice right away is that he's nothing like his brother Lee In Bok, at least not like the SD version of Lee In Bok.)

Lee Saek--He's only had a minor role in SD so far, not really enough to compare. He just does the jobs he's asked to do.

Choi Young--Very similar. The SD Choi is younger and not as powerful yet and has just sort of been the good officer who follows orders. But you could definitely believe that the younger Choi in SD turns into the older Choi in JD. The two actors play him very similarly. Same sense of determination and the same confidence.

Lee Seonggye--He's showing up more and more in SD now, but so far he's just been the dutiful soldier and hasn't emerged as an important character yet. But there's one big difference--he gives much better pep talks to his soldiers than the JD version does!

SD still has 17 more episodes to go so there will be a lot more connections to JD as it finishes. I'll try to mention the similarities/differences that show up. Mainly I'm just glad that both shows are sticking to history so well because they're lining up with each other so well.

[truth]

Thanks, ajk.

I just found out that the actor that played King Gongmin in JD played Kyung Bok Heung in this drama.

He also played Empress Ki's father in Empress Ki, so that means he played 3 people from the same era lol.

[ajk]

Ohhhh, now I get it. Kyung Bok Heung, in this series he's subtitled as Gyeong Cheon Heung. That's who you're talking about. He's the Royal Secretariat supervisor in SD. You mean that's the same guy who ends up at the head of the Supreme Council in JD? Well how about that. I didn't put the two together because the names didn't match. So far in SD that character has been a real hard-core conservative...always opposing Gongmin and wanting to realign with the Yuan. But he did at least show enough backbone to stand with Gongmin when Kim Yong was causing all kinds of trouble. Yeah, the guy playing him is a terrific actor in historicals--I've enjoyed everything I've seen him in (except maybe Gongmin in JD, and not because of him but just because of the way they wrote that character).

[ajk]

truth, I moved the posts on this subject from the episode 44 summary thread to a new thread. Hope you don't mind. It makes sense to have a separate thread, and now I can update it as Shin Don gets closer chronologically to JD.

Speaking of which, guess who shows up in SD episode 45: Jeong Mongju! Just a babyfaced young scholar; Lee Saek was talking to him briefly.

[TheBo]

Is Lee Seong-gye later 1st Joseun king Taejo? Or do I know the name from something else? It just sounds so familiar, but this seems too early for J's Taejo.

[ajk]

Same person, Bo. In Shin Don he's a young commanding general right now, around 1365. In Jeong Dojeon he's just on the cusp of seizing the throne right now, in 1392. So yeah there is a time gap here.

[TheBo]

Wow. Wowoowowow. He was around that early in the proceedings, huh. I wish I could catch up with you guys on this.

[ajk]

Jeong Mongju showed up again briefly in episode 46. He told Lee Saek he believed SD was sincere in wanting to start the new Confucian academy even though SD is a Buddhist. There was another young scholar there named Im Bak, not seen in Jeong Dojeon (not through episode 39, at least) who disagreed with him and said that Confucians and Buddhists should be kept separated.

And one odd thing: The councilors are all debating how to deal with the Yuan in the wake of an internal uprising that pushed Empress Gi off the phone. Yuan envoys have shown up and are trying to make peace with King Gongmin. So do they reach out and reconcile, or get tough and teach them a lesson? Well one of the biggest voices for getting tough with them is Lee In Im! Boy that is NOT the Lee In Im we know from Jeong Dojeon...but he's a much younger person in Shin Don so maybe his views gradually changed over time.