Episode 2 of Goblin Hits All the Right Narrative Notes and Ratings Rise to 7.9%

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• I love fantasy drama and movies. It's hitting all the buttons for me too. But am just wondering , I check wiki for a goblin meaning and it says they are monstrously looking beings, inanimate or not but Gong Yoo is monstrously handsome.

  • I also was asking the same thing. To make goblin hundsom like Gong Yoo they said in the begning of ep 1 those who make a strong wish become goblin. I think Something like that. Can some body help.

    • I think it depends on the cultural variety of 'goblin' really. I come from a South-East Asian culture and in my culture 'goblin' means a magical being who gains their power by training for hundreds or thousands of years long. Mostly these beings, once mastering their power, can take on the form of another being to disguise themselves, and they often don the disguise of a very beautiful human. If you guys look up Journey to the West, a Chinese series from 1986 on Google images, all the beautiful but fierce/ evil-looking ladies or men are actually hundred-year-old goblins. I'm not a Korean cultural savvy but I guess the meaning of the word 'goblin' is adopted from Chinese culture too.

    • Thank you Hye Mi

    • Since there is no straight translation of (Dokkaebi) for English, the word Goblin in the English language would be the closest word for it.
      Goblin in asian cultures usually means a creature that has powers and can turn into a different form.
      In Chinese literature, it is usually a being that spent years to "cultivate" into the different forms to turn into a "magical" creature that depends on years and years (hundreds, thousands). Search "A chinese ghost story" or here on Koalas playground own blog on "Three lives three worlds- Peach blossom" or google the Journey of Flower, where there is a green worm that cultivated to a fairy.

    • I think Kim Eun Sook invented her own goblin by combining different myhths. For instance in western mythology the goblin is, generally, a sort of a mischievous and annoying creature; I don't know anything about the Asian mythology, but as @Hye Mi said, some are beatiful hundred-year-old creatures; moreover, the writer hints at some Greek mythology deities (Prometheus, for instance, who was punished to be eternally tormented by an eagle).
      Kim Eun Sook's goblin (mischievous and beautiful) seems to have been somehow transformed from a human being into a deity when he was stabbed (this is why he didn't die, and this is also why the Grim Reaper is inferior to him - so I don't think he cultivated himself) and for some reason to be punished or cursed to live with that sword stuck in his chest until that certain bride etc. (punished, because he was allowed to take revenge - but at a certain price, I suppose). IMO, there are many mythologies there, all combined.
      Just an opinion and I just felt like rambling since I really like this drama (not so much the cast, unfortunately, but I hope I can just live with it).

    • @SGNAREL - There are many other Chinese myths, the ones I posted in my prior post are from very recent authors, but they use the same myth. There are some that are cultivated thousand of years, but usually that is to become an immortal that lives in Heaven with the God King. I would imagine, that the writer of Goblin has to create her own creature to keep her story fresh, otherwise, it would be her take on a story told thousands of times. The story started out that the key to what made Gong Yoo Goblin was the blood of the many killed during wars that was on his sword including his. If you think this as part of his cultivation, then it is similiar to the Asian myths, whether it is Chinese or Korean. Greek Mythology to me was always a war between gods, whereas, the Chinese "Asian" myths involving, "Fairies" that lives in the heaven, or Goblins, or other mythical creatures always at one time needs to turn into a human being to understand the suffering of the humans before they can really become a deity to live amongst those in heaven. There is always some sort of Human element or interaction in the Chinese stories. Who knows where the real origin of these mythical stories come from, it could all be all the same at one ancient point, and then the different cultures of the world put their own spin on it. Since I do see some of the same themes on all the stories involving fairies from all the different cultures.

    • I agree with jkfan and Sganarel that the author of Goblin seems to have created her own version of 'goblin', since afaik goblins in my culture and from the Chinese myths that I read during my childhood goblins are never human beings but other objects/ living things (trees or other creatures) which train for hundreds or thousands of years to become deities (because human beings are meant to be mortal, that's why). The goblin in this drama we know was originally human, so this is definitely a fresh take on the Asian goblin mythology. However I don't think Shin is a deity yet, because his mortality is still bound by a curse rather than just a blessing. We know from grandma's myth that his soul will be freed and he'll die peacefully when the right one pulls the sword from him, which suggests that he has no control over his mortality. Deities in Asian myth have full control over their immortality and that's why goblins and other mythical creatures want to be one of them. That Shin is called a goblin rather than a deity might suggest that the author follows the Asian mythology reg. deities versus goblin here, and since his fate is decided by some other godly being above the Reaper himself might explain why he is beyond the Reaper's power. In ep 2 I think the Reaper also refers to this godly being as 'my boss'.

    • @jkfan
      Actually the whole cultivation thing always left me a bit confused. Thanks for the explanation.

  • In the legends i read , goblins are little creatures who love gold more than anything. And they are very ugly.

    • Yes, Rumpelstiltskin, for instance.

    • Tolkien took a lot of different myth and legends to write "Lord of the rings". When LDW was sleeping it made me think of JDepp in "Dark Shadows",... and we can see a lot of references of movies and series like "DEAD LIKE ME"...The thing i don't love is the outfit of LDW as a reaper it reminds me GESTAPO officers.

  • Oh, what a beautiful conversation! we don't have a goblin in my culture so I was a little confused on what is Goblin!? I tried to search for it but still couldn't capture the full meaning and how it's related to our main character here. So, thanks to everyone.

• It is so beautifully filmed! swoon swoon...

• yes to everything so ecstatic this drama's knocking out of the park bc i'm in love w/ it so much gah it's so epic i cannot wait 'til friday why so long mang

• if there is something I want to find fault in this drama, is the tonal shift. Particularly in episode 1 when it seems they want to tell all the background story in one episode. It's work because it's a fantasy drama, when it seems all possible and work as long as you create your own logic.
  Episode 2 seems more make sense, they finally explain it all the bizare scene in episode 1. But That's okay I'm too mezmering by now. I don't want to nitpicky by now I will enjoy all the feels and the mood.

• But I read in soompi that rating went up to 15%?

  • @Hue, it probably the real time rating or it peak till 15% at certain scene.

    • Oh thanks for clarifying. :)

• wow just wow

• I watched both episodes twice. TVN seem to have a HBO a budget for this show. This drama is great so far. The pilot really could have been released in a movie theater it is that well written and directed. Cinemotography is A work.

• a real drama with awesome cinematography

  • The Cinematography is definitely not LOTBS or DOTS standard. it's rather decent but nothing extra-ordinary.

• for me, Goblin is the best korean drama of this year.

  • It hasn't ended yet IMHO.

  • Lol

• I decided to watch this show. I liked both episodes but lets not call the cinematography of high quality because it is not. It's just random TVN cinematography nothing really to notice and rather average. It comes of like a TV-show.

  The true standard of cinematography IS LOTBS and DOTS. Cameraman putting alot of work, creativity, using creative and expensive camera's.. etc etc and angles plus scenery.

  • And both dramas are only pretty to look at but nothing more.