With all the loose threads Rookie Historian has lying around, there are so many insane theories you could come up with (assuming you are as insane as I am)…I apologize in advance, beanies. I am so sorry.

1) Once upon a time, there was a prince named Ho-dam. He was next in line for the throne, and his best friend was in line after him (I know nothing about the throne laws, so suspend lots of disbelief here). Anyway. Ho-dam was also in love with this best friend’s wife, and they had an affair, and she got pregnant. The best friend was so infuriated that he killed Ho-dam and took the throne from him. But he didn’t want to admit that his wife had had an affair, so he raised the boy as his own prince–a prince named Rim.

2) Once upon a time there was a court official named Ho-dam who had a school called Seorowan. He had a daughter there, but his wife had died many years ago. The queen, lonely because she was married to a horrible king, sometimes came to Seorowan to learn and be distracted from life. Gradually, the queen and Ho-dam fell in love. They had an affair, and the queen became pregnant. When she had the baby, she presented him as the king’s own. But the truth will out. The truth will out, my friends, and tragedy will follow. When the king learned about his queen’s affair, he destroyed Ho-dam, Seorowan, and everything related to them. He didn’t realize that one of the Seorowan scholars had snuck Ho-dam’s daughter out, and that she would grow up to be a rookie historian—who would then fall in love with her own half brother. Ew. Moving on.

3) Once upon a time there was a novelist named Ho-dam. He wrote a story, a novel, about two princes, one who didn’t want to be king and one who did. The one who did not want to be king was, of course, heir to the throne, but he had no interest in court affairs. He spent all his time “out in the field” taking care of the people, and the younger prince realized that everyone loved him all the more for that. Blinded with jealousy, rage, amibition, and slight astigmatism, the younger prince killed the older brother and took the throne. — Thus ended Ho-dam’s tragic novel. When the real-life king read this novel, he was furious. It was too close to the truth. What he didn’t realize was that the queen loved Ho-dam’s novel so much that she fell in love with Ho-dam and had an affair with him. She became pregnant with Ho-dam’s child. The king, outraged but also sort of stuck between a rock and hard place, agreed to raise Ho-dam’s son as his own, in exchange for the queen’s and Ho-dam’s silence forever.