History Series / Kingdom2019

''Kingdom'' is a South Korean television series [[GenreMashup depicting a zombie outbreak in feudal Korea]], written by Kim Eun-hee ({{Series/Signal}}) and directed by Kim Seong-hun (Film/AHardDay). It is loosely based on Eun-hee's Korean web-comic series ''The Kingdom of the Gods''. The show was released worldwide by Creator/{{Netflix}} in 2019.

In the Joseon Era, when the country was recovering from the Imjin War, word on the street is that the King is dead. The powerful Haewon Cho clan is in almost complete control of the government, and its head, Chief State Councilor Cho Hak-Ju (Ryu Seung-Ryong of ''Animation/SeoulStation''), suspects that the Crown Prince Yi Chang (Ju Ji-hoon) is behind said rumours. The Prince determines that something is seriously wrong with the King and goes to the countryside to investigate matters while being pursued on charges of treason by Cho's force. Meanwhile, in the countryside, physician Seo-bi (Creator/BaeDoona of ''Film/TheHost'' and ''Series/{{Sense8}}'') notices that villagers are dropping dead rapidly, but that will soon be the least of her worries...

The show was renewed for a second season in advance, set to be released in March 2020.

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: At great risk to himself, the Crown Prince ensures no survivors are left behind as they flee from the ruins of Dongnae to Jiyulheon just as night falls. However, forces loyal to Cho soon track him down and demand his surrender in the daytime. When he refuses, they unleash a hail of arrows that kills many of them]].
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Seo-bi brings up a point to Beom-pal after their rescue from zombies by Lord Ahn Hyeon, "How is it that Lord Hyeon and his men knew how to fight the zombies?". Beom-pal has no answer but is shown to be discomforted at the idea. [[spoiler: It's revealed that in Ahn himself once instigated a zombie outbreak and unleashed it on the Japanese army surrounding Sangju]].

* BittersweetEnding: How Season 2 wraps up, with [[spoiler: the plague being contained, the Haewon Cho Clan being ousted from most positions of power, and most of the main cast surviving to lead more fruitful lives. However, Prince Chang goes into self-imposed exile, Muyeong was killed in the process, his wife left a widow and unable to raise their child, and said child being raised by the state as the heir to the throne, never knowing about his parents. And to make matters worse, there's the implication that someone is trying to start a new outbreak, and it turns out that the young prince ''isn't entirely immune from the plague'' as there is still one parasitic worm in his body.]]

* ButtMonkey: Lord Beom-pal. From repeatedly getting caught in zombie attacks to his diagnosis of gonorrhoea, the only bit of luck this guy has is that he keeps managing to survive through sheer luck.
* CliffHanger: Season 1 ends as [[spoiler: the defenders of Sangju prepare to pack up after sunrise until the ground starts vibrating as a horde of zombies appears on the horizon, seemingly unaffected by daylight…]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Cho Hak-Ju of all people, while cruel, sadistic, and power-hungry, genuinely wants the best for the nation, and even [[spoiler: dies attempting to exile his own daughter when he realizes that she actually isn't pregnant with the rightful heir to the throne.]]
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The resurrection medicinal herb that leads to the zombie outbreak was found in an icy cave. [[spoiler: This is also reflected in the zombies' ability to rise - they can stay active in cold climates, such as night time]].

* FireForgedFriends: Surprisingly enough, [[spoiler: Beom-pal and Yeong-shin]] after being lumped together during the final battle of Season 2, sustaining a decently warm camaraderie even years later.

** [[spoiler: Things take another turn for the worse after it's revealed that the zombies fear ''heat'' and not sunlight itself, just as the weather begins shifting to winter. As it gets colder, the zombies can now remain active during the daytime, meaning the living no longer have any respite from their attacks…]]

* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Beom-pal throughout seasons 1 and 2, continually shifting allegiance to his clan, the prince, and himself, before finally settling on [[spoiler: Prince Chang after realizing how monstrous his clan has actually become once told to execute innocent civilians.]]

* ItsPersonal: [[spoiler: Cho Hak-Ju swears revenge on the Crown Prince after receiving his son's head, which was recovered from Jiyulheon. It's unclear whether he knows (or cares) that the Crown Prince was forced to behead his son after he was infected and turned into a zombie]].

* KillItWithWater: [[spoiler: The parasitic worms which started the outbreak are extremely hydrophobic; the zombies themselves will also refuse to cross bodies of water that are shallow enough to walk through. In fact, the worms will immediately expel themselves from the host body if submerged in water, allowing freshly bitten victims to avoid zombification by removing the parasite before it reaches the brain.]]
* LaserGuidedKarma: Both [[spoiler: Cho Hak-Jo and the Queen bit this very harshly as the former got his cheek bitten off by the zombified Ahn Hyeon (he gets cured of the parasites, but he dies nonetheless later on) and the latter having herself being devoured alive by the zombies as she persists to not giving her throne to the Crown Prince.]] Given their highly immoral actions throughout the series, their gruesome deaths are well-deserved.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The jerkass nobles and police lock away Yeong-shin in jail, but it becomes helpful when the zombies come. Almost all of the nobles and police involved in this end up getting killed when they try to use the jail cells while trying to escape the zombies.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: These zombies are created as the result of an HealingHerb believed to have [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor the ability to raise the dead]]. Like most traditional zombies, they look like decayed walking corpses, cannot talk, eat human flesh, can only die through decapitation, and [[TheVirus turn anyone they successfully bite into more zombies]]. However, they can run and move fast, and they're only active at night, hiding under the shade and dark places the moment daylight hits and seemingly reverting back to regular corpses until nightfall strikes again. [[spoiler: Further differentiating, they aren't afraid of fire or sunlight per se, but ''heat''. If it gets warm or hot enough, they try to hide in cool places and go dormant but are perfectly able to operate during the day if it's cold enough]].

* PuppeteerParasite: [[spoiler: It's actually worms living in the resurrection plant that creates the monsters, making the infected a type of ParasiteZombie.]]

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler: Muyeong, the Prince's guard, bites it halfway through Season 2, in a hail of arrows from members of the Haewon Cho Clan.]]
* SecretWeapon: How Lord Ahn Hyeon and 500 soldiers were able to hold off the Japanese invasion. Because [[spoiler: Cho Hak-ju approached Hyeon with the resurrection plant and the plan of converting the sickly Sumang village into zombies to unleash on the Japanese. A reluctant Hyeon accepts...]]

* SuperSenses: [[spoiler: The zombies have an extremely acute sense of smell, and are particularly attracted to the scent of fresh blood. This is also exploited by the heroes, who use it as a particularly effective way to divert their attention.]]

* ThanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Lord Ahn Hyeon is seemingly killed in a futile attempt to reach the Crown Prince after entering a trap set by Cho Hak-ju during Season 2. However, the public circumstances of his death was a plan organised [[note]]When Cho Hak-ju orders the transfer of the captured Crown Prince and his allies to Hanyang, Seo-bi resurrects Ahn Hyeon as a zombie during their attempted jailbreak[[/note]] to prove the existence of the resurrection herb and thereby implicating Cho in a cover-up of the King's death.]]
* TrappedWithMonsterPlot:
** On the night of the outbreak, the jail gets infested with zombies when the nobles try to hide there. One retainer gets his hand bitten while reaching outside of the cell to lock the door and he ends up turning (although they manage to kill him after he turns). An inmate who has his neck cuffed on a wooden block with another inmate gets trapped when his partner turns into a zombie and their cell is surrounded by zombies. He ends up getting bitten.

* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler: The season 1 finale reveals that the zombies rest not because of daylight, but because of the heat. This is realised just as winter is approaching in Korea... Oh, and the Queen is not actually pregnant, but has a whole room-full of surrogate mothers whom she's counting on to deliver at least one son]].
* WhamShot: One of the Queen's new maids gasps when she undresses her Majesty and discovers that [[spoiler: she isn't pregnant]].

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler: The Queen murders any mother in her care who has given birth, and also any female infant they give birth to. [[NiceJobeFixingItVillain The trail of blood from an escaping mother raises the Royal Commander's suspicion and leads him to investigate into the conspiracy.]]]]

* ZombifyTheLiving: [[spoiler: Faced with losing her grasp on power, the Queen attempts a [[TakingYouDownWithMe 'scorched earth']] policy to deny the Crown Prince his throne. Her attendants free their caged zombies, allowing them to infect the entire palace staff.]]

In the Joseon Era, when the country was recovering from the Imjin War, word on the street is that the King is dead. The powerful Haewon Cho clan is in almost complete control of the government, and its head, Chief State Councilor Cho Hak-ju (Ryu Seung-ryong of ''Animation/SeoulStation''), suspects that the Crown Prince Yi Chang (Ju Ji-hoon) is behind said rumors. The Prince determines that something is seriously wrong with the King and goes to the countryside to investigate matters, while being pursued on charges of treason by Cho's force. Meanwhile in the countryside, physician Seo-bi (Creator/BaeDoona of ''Film/TheHost'' and ''Series/{{Sense8}}'') notices that villagers are dropping dead rapidly, but that will soon be the least of her worries...

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:At great risk to himself, the Crown Prince ensures no survivors are left behind as they flee from the ruins of Dongnae to Jiyulheon just as night falls. However, forces loyal to Cho soon track him down and demand his surrender in daytime. When he refuses, they unleash a hail of arrows that kills many of them]].
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Seo-bi brings up a point to Beom-pal after their rescue from zombies by Lord Ahn Hyeon, "How is it that Lord Hyeon and his men knew how to fight the zombies?". Beom-pal has no answer but is shown to be discomforted at the idea. [[spoiler:It's revealed that in Ahn himself once instigated a zombie outbreak and unleashed it on the Japanese army surrounding Sangju]].

* AwesomeButImpractical: Firearms. While scarce, the rifles and muskets that the characters and soldiers do have are incredibly effective and powerful at taking down zombies, but at this point in history the technology isn't advanced enough to make it particularly useful. At one point they're used as clubs since it's easier than reloading.

* BittersweetEnding: How Season 2 wraps up, with [[spoiler: the plague being contained, the Haewon Cho Clan being ousted from most positions of power, and most of the main cast surviving to lead more fruitful lives. However, Prince Chang goes into self-imposed exile, Muyeong was killed in the process, his wife left a widow and unable to raise their child, and said child being raised by the state as the heir to the throne, never knowing about his parents. And to make matters worse, there's the implication that someone is trying to start a new outbreak.]]

** Seo-bi diagnoses the Beom-pal’s illness and tells him that he might [[GroinAttack he might some pain in his... penis]], because he has gonorrhea.

* ButtMonkey: Lord Beom-pal. From repeatedly getting caught in zombie attacks to his diagnosis of gonorrhea, the only bit of luck this guy has is that he keeps managing to survive through sheer luck.
* CliffHanger: Season 1 ends as [[spoiler:the defenders of Sangju prepare to pack up after sunrise, until the ground starts vibrating as a horde of zombies appears on the horizon, seemingly unaffected by daylight…]]

** Averted at the beginning of Episode 3. The rooftop survivors save a kid and save a baby even when its mother is a lost cause. Played straight soon enough, with a kid getting bitten by a zombified kid in game of chase gone wrong and another kid getting attacked by her zombified mother while their sibling watches hidden sight from sight.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Cho Hak-ju of all people, while cruel, sadistic, and power hungry, genuinely wants the best for the nation, and even [[spoiler: dies attempting to exile his own daughter when he realizes that she actually isn't pregnant with the rightful heir to the throne.]]
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The resurrection medicinal herb that leads to the zombie outbreak was found in an icy cave. [[spoiler:This is also reflected in the zombies' ability to rise - they can stay active in cold climates, such as night time]].

* FireForgedFriends: Surprisingly enough, [[spoiler:Beom-pal and Yeong-shin]] after being lumped together during the final battle of Season 2, sustaining a decently warm camaraderie even years later.

** [[spoiler:Things take another turn for the worse after it's revealed that the zombies fear ''heat'' and not sunlight itself, just as the weather begins shifting to winter. As it gets colder, the zombies can now remain active during daytime, meaning the living no longer have any respite from their attacks…]]
* GoneHorriblyWrong: The resurrection herbal spell performed at the beginning of the show was intended to bring the emperor back to life. It backfires by raising him as a zombie, and ends up causing a zombie outbreak.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Beom-pal throughout seasons 1 and 2, continually shifting allegiance to his clan, the prince, and himself, before finally settling on [[spoiler:Prince Chang after realizing how monstrous his clan has actually become once told to execute innocent civilians.]]
* ImAHumanitarian: The starving villagers are tricked into drinking stew made out of a diseased corpse, while thinking it is actually venison. This is also the origin of the outbreak.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Yeong-shin is a crack shot with a musket he salvaged during the retreat from Dongnae to Jiyulheon, achieving [[BoomHeadshot headshots]] on fast moving zombies dangerously close to the Crown Prince.
** He later participates in an ambush against Cho's forces and takes out multiple soldiers with [[OneHitKill clean headshots]] from relatively long range (for a musket).
* ItsPersonal: [[spoiler:Cho Hak-ju swears revenge on the Crown Prince after receiving his son's head, which was recovered from Jiyulheon. It's unclear whether he knows (or cares) that the Crown Prince was forced to behead his son after he was infected and turned into a zombie]].

* KillItWithWater: [[spoiler: The parasitic worms which started the outbreak are extremely hydrophobic; the zombies themselves will also refuse to cross bodies of water that are shallow enough to walk through. In fact, the worms will immediately expel themselves from the host body if submersed in water, allowing freshly bitten victims to avoid zombification by removing the parasite before it reaches the brain.]]

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: These zombies are created as the result of an HealingHerb believed to have [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor the ability to raise the dead]]. Like most traditional zombies, they look like decayed walking corpses, cannot talk, eat human flesh, can only die through decapitation, and [[TheVirus turn anyone they successfully bite into more zombies]]. However, they can run and move fast, and they're only active at night, hiding under the shade and dark places the moment daylight hits and seemingly reverting back to regular corpses until nightfall strikes again. [[spoiler:Further differentiating, they aren't afraid of fire or sunlight per se, but ''heat''. If it gets warm or hot enough, they try to hide in cool places and go dormant, but are perfectly able to operate during the day if it's cold enough]].

* PoliceAreUseless: The nobles and guards ditch Yeong-shin who they had jailed and toss the keys to him almost out of reach. To be fair, the guy was largely responsible for the outbreak...

* QuarantineWithExtremePrejudice: In response to the rapidly spreading outbreak, Cho Hak-ju orders the closing of all gates into Sangju, effectively sealing the ''entirety of the southern Korean peninsula'' from the capital Hanyang[[note]]present-day Seoul[[/note]] and trapping the Crown Prince with a growing zombie horde.

* RichesToRags: The Crown Prince has an uncle Naseong who was exiled to an island. Naseong does worry about where he's going to get his next meal especially during this time of famine, but otherwise he's happy to be away from court intrigue.

* ShelteredAristocrat: The Crown Prince, while generally a noble and righteous character, has clearly never ventured much outside of the Palace. While he is initially replused by the countryside's poverty, it soon dawns upon him how vulnerable the commoners are, and becoming a protector of the peasantry (as opposed to the nobility's generally hostile and classist attitudes) is part of his CharacterDevelopment over the series.

* TokenGoodTeammate: Of the Haewon Cho Clan, the only good member of the prominent Chos is Beom-pal who's a pretty kind guy and actually does wish to help people rather than use them as tools. Unfortunately he's a doormat for bad advisors and he's loyal to the clan, including the evil Cho Hak-ju, so ends causing as much death as his crueler relatives (he's responsible for a lot of deaths at Jiyulheon and his acting on Cho Hak-ju's orders leads directly to Muyeong's death).
* TooDumbToLive: Despite having witnessed first-hand the destruction caused by the zombies, an elderly noblewoman ''insists'' on smuggling her infected son out in a locked crate to spare his body from being burned. This is regardless of Seo-bi specifically warning survivors that the zombies seek shelter during daytime and will reanimate in the evening. Naturally when night falls, the zombie reanimates and wipes out everyone aboard the boat.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The Crown Prince and his bodyguard Mu-yeong find a massacre at the Jiyulheon clinic. They then find corpses tucked under the floor, so they inform the authorities who collect the bodies. This leads to a zombie attack, as the corpses were only dormant because it was daytime and they reanimated later on.

** Played straight from this point - anyone bitten afterwards would very swiftly transform in a matter of ''minutes''. The doctor who used the herb notices this, and interprets it as a sign that the infection is mutating to become more effective.
* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler:The season 1 finale reveals that the zombies rest not because of daylight, but because of the heat. This is realised just as winter is approaching in Korea... Oh, and the Queen is not actually pregnant, but has a whole room-full of surrogate mothers whom she's counting on to deliver at least one son]].
* WhamShot: One of the Queen's new maids gasps when she undresses her Majesty and discovers that [[spoiler:she isn't pregnant]].

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler: The Queen murders any mother in her care who has given birth, and also any female infant they give birth to. [[NiceJobeFixingItVillain The trail of blood from an escaping mother raises the Royal Commander's suspicion and leads him to investigate into the conspiracy.]]

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Seo-bi brings up a point to Beom-pal after their rescue from zombies by Lord Ahn Hyeon, "How is it that Lord Hyeon and his men knew how to fight the zombies?". Beom-pal has no answer but is shown to be discomforted at the idea. [[spoiler:It's revealed that in Ahn's territory of Sangju, that's where the Frozen Valley is with its cave of resurrection plants and a table with manacles was found in the cave, so someone had been experimenting with the plant before]].

* ZombifyTheLiving: [[spoiler: Faced with losing her grasp on power, the Queen attempts a 'scorched earth' policy to deny the Crown Prince his throne. Her attendants free their caged zombies, allowing them to infect the entire palace staff.]]

In the Joseon Era, when the country was recovering from the Imjin War, word on the street is that the King is dead. The powerful Haewon Cho clan is in almost complete control of the government, and its head, Chief State Councilor Cho Hak-jo (Ryu Seung-ryong of ''Animation/SeoulStation''), suspects that the Crown Prince Yi Chang (Ju Ji-hoon) is behind said rumors. The Prince determines that something is seriously wrong with the King and goes to the countryside to investigate matters, while being pursued on charges of treason by Cho's force. Meanwhile in the countryside, physician Seo-bi (Creator/BaeDoona of ''Film/TheHost'' and ''Series/{{Sense8}}'') notices that villagers are dropping dead rapidly, but that will soon be the least of her worries...

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Cho Hak-jo of all people, while cruel, sadistic, and power hungry, genuinely wants the best for the nation, and even [[spoiler: dies attempting to exile his own daughter when he realizes that she actually isn't pregnant with the rightful heir to the throne.]]

* ItsPersonal: [[spoiler:Cho Hak-jo swears revenge on the Crown Prince after receiving his son's head, which was recovered from Jiyulheon. It's unclear whether he knows (or cares) that the Crown Prince was forced to behead his son after he was infected and turned into a zombie]].

* SecretWeapon: How Lord Ahn Hyeon and 500 soldiers were able to hold off the Japanese invasion. Because [[spoiler: Cho Hak-jo approached Hyeon with the resurrection plant and the plan of converting the sickly Sumang village into zombies to unleash on the Japanese. A reluctant Hyeon accepts...]]

* TokenGoodTeammate: Of the Haewon Cho Clan, the only good member of the prominent Chos is Beom-pal who's a pretty kind guy and actually does wish to help people rather than use them as tools. Unfortunately he's a doormat for bad advisors and he's loyal to the clan, including the evil Cho Hak-jo, so ends causing as much death as his crueler relatives (he's responsible for a lot of deaths at Jiyulheon and his acting on Cho Hak-jo's orders leads directly to Muyeong's death).

* ThanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Lord Ahn Hyeon is seemingly killed in a futile attempt to reach the Crown Prince after entering a trap set by Cho Hak-jo during Season 2. However, the public circumstances of his death was a gambit[[note]]When Cho Hak-jo orders the transfer of the captured Crown Prince and his allies to Hanyang, Seo-bi resurrects Ahn Hyeon as a zombie during their attempted jailbreak[[/note]] to prove the existence of the resurrection herb and thereby implicating Cho in a cover-up of the King's death.]]

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: The guy that fed everyone human meat reasons that either they could continue to survive no matter the cost or die off because they couldn't settle on a trivial matter such as morality.
* JerkassHasAPoint: The guy that fed everyone at Jiyulheon human meat is right about people putting their lives at peril over moral quarrels. In Episode 3, he explains that they should bury or burn the zombies as soon as possible before nightfall, but then the remaining villagers object to burning the bodies because it's culturally disrespectful and the nobles want to separate the peasant corpses from the noble corpses, a difficult task since they would have to destroy the heads, making identification hard.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The jerkass nobles and police lock away one of the main characters in jail, but it becomes helpful when the zombies come. Almost all of the nobles and police involved in this end up getting killed when they try to use the jail cells while trying to escape the zombies.

** On the night of the outbreak, the jail gets infested with zombies when the nobles try to hide there. One retainer gets his hand bitten while reaching outside of the cell to to lock the door and he ends up turning (although they manage to kill him after he turns). An inmate who has his neck cuffed on a wooden block with another inmate gets trapped when his partner turns into a zombie and their cell is surrounded by zombies. He ends up getting bitten.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The Crown Prince and his body guard Mu-yeong find a massacre at the Jiyulheon clinic. They then find corpses tucked under the floor, so they inform the authorities who collect the bodies. This leads to a zombie attack, as the corpses were only dormant because it was daytime and they reanimated later on.

* BittersweetEnding: How Season 2 wraps up, with [[spoiler: the plague being contained, the Haewon Cho Clan being ousted from most positions of power, and most of the main cast surviving to lead more fruitful lives. However, Prince Change goes into self-imposed exile, Muyeong was killed in the process, his wife left a widow and unable to raise their child, and said child being raised by the state as the heir to the throne, never knowing about his parents. And to make matters worse, there's the implication that someone is trying to start a new outbreak.]]

''Kingdom'' is a South Korean television series [[GenreMashup depicting a zombie outbreak in feudal Korea]], written by Kim Eun-hee ({{Series/Signal}}) and directed by Kim Seong-hun (Film/AHardDay). It is loosely based Eun-hee's Korean web-comic series ''The Kingdom of the Gods''. The show was released worldwide by Creator/{{Netflix}} in 2019.

''Kingdom'' is a South Korean television series [[GenreMashup depicting a zombie outbreak in feudal Korea]], written by Kim Eun-hee ({{Series/Signal}}) and directed by Kim Seong-hun (Film/AHardDay). It is loosely based on the Korean web-comic series ''The Kingdom of the Gods''. The show was released worldwide by Creator/{{Netflix}} in 2019.

The show was renewed for a second season in advance, set to be released in 2019 or 2020.

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:At great risk to himself, the Crown Prince ensures no survivors are left behind as they flee from the ruins of Dongnae to Jiyulheon just as night falls. However, forces loyal to Cho soon track him down and demand his surrender in daytime. When he refuses, they unleash a hail of arrows that kills many of them.]]
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Seo-bi brings up a point to Beom-pal after their rescue from zombies by Lord Ahn Hyeon, "How is it that Lord Hyeon and his men knew how to fight the zombies?". Beom-pal has no answer but is shown to be discomforted at the idea. [[spoiler:It's revealed that in Ahn's territory of Sangju, that's where the Frozen Valley is with its cave of resurrection plants and a table with manacles was found in the cave, so someone had been experimenting with the plant before.]]

* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The resurrection medicinal herb that leads to the zombie outbreak was found in an icy cave. [[spoiler:This is also reflected in the zombies' ability to rise - they can stay active in cold climates, such as night time.]]

** [[spoiler: Things take another turn for the worse after it's revealed that the zombies fear ''heat'' and not sunlight itself, just as the weather begins shifting to winter. As it gets colder, the zombies can now remain active during daytime, meaning the living no longer have any respite from their attacks…]]

* ItsPersonal: [[spoiler:Cho Hak-jo swears revenge on the Crown Prince after receiving his son's head, which was recovered from Jiyulheon. It's unclear whether he knows (or cares) that the Crown Prince was forced to behead his son after he was infected and turned into a zombie.]]

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: These zombies are created as the result of an HealingHerb believed to have [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor the ability to raise the dead]]. Like most traditional zombies, they look like decayed walking corpses, cannot talk, eat human flesh, can only die through decapitation, and [[TheVirus turn anyone they successfully bite into more zombies]]. However, they can run and move fast, and they're only active at night, hiding under the shade and dark places the moment daylight hits and seemingly reverting back to regular corpses until nightfall strikes again. [[spoiler:Further differentiating, they aren't afraid of fire or sunlight per se, but ''heat''. If it gets warm or hot enough, they try to hide in cool places and go dormant, but are perfectly able to operate during the day if it's cold enough.]]

* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler:The season 1 finale reveals that the zombies rest not because of daylight, but because of the heat. This is realised just as winter is approaching in Korea... Oh, and the Queen is not actually pregnant, but has a whole room-full of surrogate mothers whom she's counting on to deliver at least one son.]]
* WhamShot: One of the Queen's new maids gasps when she undresses her Majesty and discovers that [[spoiler:she isn't pregnant.]]

* BabyFactory: A variation, the Queen has been taking in soon-to-be mothers and housing them and feeding them, so that at least one boy may be born and raised as a false prince. That said these women are unaware of the purpose of their housing and they're just glad to be given shelter and as much good as they can eat.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The Crown Prince and his body guard find a massacre at the Jiyulheon clinic. They then find corpses tucked under the floor, so they inform the authorities who collect the bodies. This leads to a zombie attack, as the corpses were only dormant because it was daytime and they reanimated later on.

* EliteMook: What Yeong-shin used to be, the Crown Prince is told that the only people who shoot on the level of Yeong-shin are a special unit of soldiers used for hunting down wild tigers.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The Crown Prince and his body guard find a massacre at the Jiyulheon clinic. They then find corpses tucked under the floor, so they inform the authorities who collect the bodies. This leads to a zombie attack, as the corpses were deliberately wedged in the floor to imprison them once they had reanimated.

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:At great risk to himself, the Crown Prince ensures no survivors are left behind as they flee from the ruins of Daegu to Jihulyeon just as night falls. However, forces loyal to Cho soon track him down and demand his surrender in daytime. When he refuses, they unleash a hail of arrows that kills many of those survivors.]]

* ButtMonkey: Lord Beom-pal. From repeatedly getting caught in zombie attacks to his diagnosis of gonorrhea the only bit of luck this guy has is that he keeps managing to survive through luck.

* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The resurrection medicinal herb that leads to the Zombie Outbreak was found in an icy cave. [[spoiler:This is also reflected in the Zombies' ability to rise- they can stay active in cold climate, such as night time.]]

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Yeong-shin is a crack shot with a musket he salvaged during the retreat from Daegu to Jihulyeon, achieving [[BoomHeadshot headshots]] on fast moving zombies moving dangerously close to the Crown Prince.
** He later participates in an ambush against Cho's forces and takes out multiple soldiers with [[OneHitKill clean headshots]] from relatively[[note]]for a musket[[/note]] long range.
* ItsPersonal: [[spoiler:Cho Hak-jo swears revenge on the Crown Prince after receiving his son's head, which was recovered from Jihulyeon. It's unclear whether he knows (or cares) that the Crown Prince was forced to behead his son after he was infected and turned into a zombie.]]
* ItsQuietTooQuiet: One of the first signs that something's amiss is the forests around Jihulyeon being ''unnaturally'' quiet, as they are devoid of wildlife.

* JerkassHasAPoint: The guy that fed everyone at Jihulyeon human meat is right about people putting their lives at peril over moral quarrels. In Episode 3, he explains that they should bury or burn the zombies as soon as possible before nightfall, but then the remaining villagers object to burning the bodies because it's culturally disrespectful and the nobles want to separate the peasant corpses from the noble corpses, a difficult task since they would have to destroy the heads, making identification hard.

* NotQuiteTheRightThing: The authorities discover the corpses at Jihulyeon and bring them back to the village to investigate the matter. Too bad they're zombified.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: These zombies are created as the result of an HealingHerb believed to have [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor the ability to raise the dead]]. Like most traditional zombie, they look like decayed walking corpses, cannot talk, eat human flesh, can only die through decapitation, and [[TheVirus turn anyone they successfully bite into more zombies]]. However, they can run and move fast, and they're only active at night, hiding under the shade and dark places the moment daylight hits and seemingly reverting back to regular corpses until nightfall strikes again. [[spoiler:Further differentiating, they aren't afraid of fire or sunlight per se, but ''heat''. If it gets warm or hot enough, they try to hide in cool places and go dormant, but are perfectly able to operate during the day if it's cold enough.]]

* TooDumbToLive: Despite having witnessed first-hand the destruction caused by the zombies, an elderly noblewoman ''insists'' on smuggling her infected son out in a locked crate to spare his body from being burned. This is '''despite''' Seo-bi specifically warning survivors that the zombies seek shelter during daytime and will reanimate in the evening. Naturally when night falls, the zombie reanimates and wipes out everyone aboard the boat.
** Considering they deliberately abandoned other survivors just before nightfall, [[KarmicDeath it was]] [[AssholeVictim well-deserved]].

* ViralTransformation: Initially averted: the first victim of a zombie is mauled to death, but did not transform into one himself. However, his body remained infectious, so people who unknowingly ate his flesh later died and reanimated.

* YouHaveToBelieveMe: While understandable due to the trauma they had just gone through and the fact you really couldn't explain "these bodies actually are dormant flesh-eating zombies" in a way that'd make you look sane, Yeong-shin's approach of throwing himself screaming in the middle of a the court and trying to burn the corpses with little to no explanation certainly didn't help his case.

* SpoiledSweet: The Crown Prince, while generally a noble and righteous character, has clearly never ventured much outside of the Palace. While he is initially replused by the countryside's poverty, it soon dawns upon him how vulnerable the commoners are, and becoming a protector of the peasantry (as opposed to the nobility's generally hostile and classist attitudes) is part of his CharacterDevelopment over the series.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The Gyeongbok Palace in UsefulNotes/ {{Seoul}} (then Hanyang) was burned down during the Japanese invasion, which happened shortly before the show's timeframe. Here it's shown in its modern-day form, which started reconstruction in 1989 after being left in ruins for over three centuries.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul (then Hanyang) was burned down during the Japanese invasion, which happened shortly before the show's timeframe. Here it's shown in its modern-day form, which started reconstruction in 1989 after being left in ruins for over three centuries.

** Played straight from this point - anyone bitten afterwards would very swiftly transform in a matter of ''minutes''. This is handwaved by the doctor who used the herb as the infection somehow mutating to become more effective.

** Played straight from this point - anyone bitten afterwards would very swiftly transform in a matter of ''minutes''.

* GoneHorriblyWrong: The resurrection herbal spell performed at the beginning of the show ends up causing a zombie outbreak.