Dam Ryeong & Se-Hwa of "The Legend of the Blue Sea" [2016]

Kim Dam-ryeong and Se-hwa

The Legend of the Blue Sea [2016]

During the Joseon era, a mermaid saves the son of a nobleman, Kim Dam-ryeong (Lee - Min-ho), from drowning. Following the incident, the two children become close friends, and Dam-ryeong names her Se-hwa, meaning 'a bright, shining child', after his deceased younger sister. Despite being from two different worlds, they fall in love until Dam-ryeong is forced to take up an arranged marriage. Se-hwa plans to live upon the land with Dam-ryeong, but she cannot turn her fishtail into a pair of human legs yet due to having not reached adulthood. Devastated by the news of Dam-ryeong's marriage, she decides to leave him forever. 

Nevertheless, Dam-ryeong's love for Se-hwa forces him to leave his wife on their wedding night and jump into the ocean to look for her. A distraught Se-hwa rescues him from drowning and promptly erases his memories of her and their love so that he may not look for her again.

After years of separation, their paths cross again when they are adults as Se-hwa is found by town folks trapped in a cave after a storm, and brought before Dam-ryeong, now a widowed town official. While Dam-ryeong does not remember Se-hwa, he takes pity on her and sets her free. This angers the town inn head, nobleman Yang Seung-gil, who had plans of exploiting Se-hwa for his monetary desires. Yang plots to overthrow Dam-ryeong, with the help of his materialistic concubine, Hong Nan, as he murders those in his way and spreads a rumour that Dam-ryeong is unfit to rule as he is bewitched by a wicked mermaid, allowing him to capture Se-hwa as the village falls into panic. Dam-ryeong rescues Se-hwa, tortured by Yang and his concubine to extract her tears, which turn into rare sea pearls. Yang and his concubine are arrested, while Dam-ryeong returns Se-hwa to the sea so that she can recuperate.

Dam-ryeong, who has been experiencing dreams of himself, Se-hwa, and their foes in the future, fear that the same ill-fate that afflicts himself and Se-hwa will replay itself. To warn his future self, he commissions a time capsule containing a portrait of himself with a message to his future self that “everything is repeating itself” and he has to protect the reincarnation of Se-hwa from danger, mainly due to the reincarnations of Yang and anyone related to him.

A furious Dam-ryeong is determined to kill Yang and expose all his crimes until he is exiled and removed from his position by the court due to the rumours. While Dam-ryeong is being escorted on a boat for his exile, Yang and his associates renew their search for Se-hwa by setting a trap using lanterns, and she is lured up to the surface, thinking it is Dam-ryeong's signal. Se-hwa comes under attack by nets, arrows, and harpoons from Yang's men. Urged by his suspicions after noticing the floating lanterns from afar, Dam-ryeong requests for the boat to turn around, and a fight ensues between the guards and Yang's men. Dam-ryeong plunges into the water just as a harpoon, hurled by Yang's son, impales him from behind, saving Se-hwa. As Dam-ryeong dies in her arms, Se-hwa thrusts the harpoon deeper through his body and stabs herself. The boats sink, carrying Dam-ryeong's belongings with them, and Dam-ryeong's jadeite bracelet, which he gifted Se-hwa earlier, slides off from Se-hwa's hand as she dies and is lost to the ocean.

Yang and his concubine are executed for their crimes after the surviving officials clear Dam-ryeong of the false accusations. It turns out that Yang had extorted and poisoned a merchant; the merchant's son Park Moo avenges his father.

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