Whether Kingdom: Ashin of the North is your first experience in the land of Joseon or you just forgot what happened since the second series of Kingdom aired in 2020, here’s what happens at the end of the “Netflix special episode” and what it means for Kingdom Season 3 and beyond.
WARNING: From this point onwards, this article contains spoilers for Kingdom seasons 1 and 2, and Kingdom: Ashin of the North.
Who is Ashin of the North?
Ashin is a woman of the Seongjeoyain people, who are Jurchens that have settled in the northern region of Joseon, the land where Kingdom is set. She was glimpsed briefly and ominously at the end of Kingdom, Season 2. Crown Prince Lee Chang (Ju Ji-hoon) and the physician Seo-bi (Bae Doona) were investigating the resurrection plant and the associated plague that brings the dead back to life. It appeared that Ashin was encouraging the plants to spread throughout Joseon and was intentionally infecting people with the disease.
Kingdom: Ashin of the North introduces Ashin and her family when she is a young girl, and is split between her years as a child (played by Kim Si-ah), and as a young woman (played by Jun Ji-hyun). As a headstrong and curious girl, she regularly wandered in the forbidden Pyesa-gun region, where she discovered an old temple. Deep within that temple she found the instructions on how to use the resurrection plant in order to bring the dead back to life.
What Happened To Her?
Ashin, her father Tahab (Roe-ha Kim), and her entire family and clan, were caught up in the geopolitics of the region when Cho Beom-il (Jung Suk-won) of the powerful Haewon Cho clan, foolishly slaughtered a group of Pajeowi Jurchens who had been picking wild Ginseng near Ashin’s home in Pyesa-gun. The Pajeowi Jurchen’s are outside the Kingdom of Joseon and have their own allegiances.
Knowing that the Pajeowi Jurchens would use the murders to rally for war against Joseon, and that the country was in no fit state to fight a war on two fronts (Joseon was already at war with Japan to the south), Royal Commander Min Chi-rok (Park Byeong-eun) blamed the deaths on a tiger.
In order to spread this rumour amongst the Pajeowi Jurchen, Min Chi-rok engaged the services of Ashin’s father, Tahab, to go undercover amongst them and spread the falsehood.
Tahab undertook this task willingly as the Seongjeoyain were looked down up on by both Joseon and the Pajeowi Jurchens. By completing this task he hoped to prove his loyalty to Joseon, gain a post as an official Joseon administrator, and raise the status of his people.
While her father was away, Ashin returned to Pyesa-gun to pick the resurrection plant, hoping it might help her sick mother. When she returned she found her siblings and her whole village had been slaughtered. The evidence of their murder pointed to Pajeowi Jurchens under the command of Aidagan (Koo Kyo-hwan). Ashin also found her Father’s beads amongst the remains of her village, which implied that he’d been killed as well. His beads were left as a message.
What Does She Want?
After the massacre at her village, Ashin sought refuge from Min Chi-Rok at the Joseon outpost at Chupajin. She begged him to one day enact revenge for her on the Pajeowi Jurchen. In the meantime she worked at the garrison, honed her archery skills, and frequently stole across the border to spy on Pajeowi Jurchens.
Years later, when Ashin has grown into a young woman, she finds her father alive (but horribly mutilated) during a spying trip to the Pajeowi Jurchens camp. His arms and legs had been cut off and he had been kept as a prisoner all these years. Unable to rescue him, Ashin gave in to his pleas and killed him in order to end his suffering.
Upon her return to the Chupajin, Ashin wtinessed the departure of Min Chi-rok, Cho Beom-il, and the majority of the troops stationed there. They had been called South to aid in the war efforts. While passing Cho Beom-il, Ashin noticed the unique pattern of the feather fletchings on his arrows. They matched those she had found years earlier on the body of a slain Pajeowi Jurchen in Pyesa-gun.
Breaking into Min Chi-rok’s records, Ashin discovers that Chi-rok had informed Pajeowi Jurchen spies that he had found a unique looking basket near the bodies of their fallen clansmen. The basket he showed them was similar to one that Ashin’s father had used to deliver tributes to Min Chi Rok! Aidagan may have done the deed, but Min Chi-rok was equally responsible for the death of her father and her family!
How Does This Connect to the Main Kingdom Series?
Ashin weaponized the infected by killing a number of soldiers at Chupajin and then resurrecting them using the plant. The infected then killed the remaining soldiers for her. After wiping out everyone at Chupajin, living and dead, Ashin returned to her village. Here it was revealed she had resurrected the members of her clan using the resurrection plant. Mindless and undead, she had kept them chained up, feeding them animal carcasses. Now, however, she had a new diet in mind: the human flesh of her enemies.
Ashin now has scores to settle with Joseon, the Pajeowi Jurchen, and the Haewon Cho clan via Min Chi-rok, Aidagan, and Cho Beom-il respectively. She seems hell bent on destroying them.
While it was revealed at the end of Kingdom, Season 2, that Ashin was paying traders to plant the resurrection plant around Joseon, Kingdom: Ashin of the North also showed that it was Ashin herself who provided the Royal physician Lee Seung-hui with the resurrection plant and the instructions on how to use it, setting in motion the events of the entire series!
What Does This Mean for Kingdom Season 3?
Kingdom: Ashin of the North not only sets up Ashin as a new antagonist for the series, but shows that Ashin has been the villain all along! The entire Kingdom series so far has been Ashin’s plan to take revenge on Joseon, the Pajeowi Jurgeon, and probably the Haewon Cho as well, seeing as it was Cho Beom-il who first recklessly set events in motion.
Currently only Min Chi-rok is even aware of Ashin’s existence and probably doesn’t see her as any kind of threat. Crown Prince Lee Chang and Seo-bi have no idea who she is. They didn’t even see her at the end of Season 2.
Cho Beom-il already met his end at the hands of the infected, but seeing how Ashin paints her revenge with an incredibly wide paintbrush of the undead, I think we can assume she’ll still go after what’s left of the Haewon Cho clan: Cho Beom-pal (Jeon Seok-ho).
As for the Pajeowi Jurchens, Kingdom: Ashin of the North seemed to go out of it’s way to make Pajeowi leader Aidagan (Koo Kyo-hwan) look as cool as possible while saying very little. We’d like to think this was to build up his reputation for the next series of Kingdom, but when last we see him, Ashin was just about to let loose an arrow at his face! She is a very good archer.
Perhaps, the next series of Kingdom will begin with Ashin having taken her revenge against the Pajeowi and the Haewon Cho clan, leaving only Joseon and Min Chi-rok in her sights.
In any case she will provide a formidable enemy for those protecting the kingdom. Her archery skills are shown to be flawless and she has no goals other than revenge, making her extremely dangerous. We very much look forward to seeing her again.
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