Raven of the Inner Palace

Episode 5

I can't help but see a symbolism in the reversal of the opening and ending themes in this week's episode of Raven of the Inner Palace. The ending theme comes slightly over halfway through the episode, specifically after we learn the truth about Wei Qing's past as Que Er, the child of a sex worker in the red light district. Despite having grown up and physically moved away, he's clearly still traumatized by what happened to him as a child, and well he might be – after his mother's suicide, Que Er tried to escape sex work by joining the palace as a eunuch only to find that the master assigned to him enjoyed preying on the boys in his care. I'm not sure whether or not he was actually castrated, because he was taken in by Gaojun after he ran away, who as the crown prince could have fudged the details. But no matter the state of his genitals, Wei Qing was given a new name and a new life, one which has failed to fully overcome Que Er's experiences. It's when he decides to go against Gaojun's words and tell Shouxue about the ghost that appears to him nightly that Wei Qing finally begins to move forward, and therefore the ending theme is symbolic of his life as Que Er, bringing it to a close.

It's definitely worth noting that both he and Shouxue entered the palace from the red-light district and that both were the children of sex workers. Between their upward momentum and Gaojun finally removing from power the woman who killed his own mother, we can see the three of them as representative of a new world order for the palace, three people who overcame the odds to find positions of power. Gaojun is unquestionably the most vulnerable, for all his position is the highest; it largely makes him more visible than the Raven Consort, whose existence not everyone even believes in, and Wei Qing, who has the anonymity of a servant, or at least could without too much trouble. This could tie into how it is Gaojun who is haunted rather than the other two, both of whom certainly carry their own ghosts along inside of them. The assumption Wei Qing is working under (that the ghosts, despite any actions on their part, are there to do the emperor harm) may in fact be the reverse of what's going on – that Ding Lan and Gaojun's mother are watching over him in order to protect him.

That may not work with what we know of the empress dowager, who murmured something before her death, but it's almost too easy to assume that the ghosts are in Gaojun's room at her behest – the ghosts we've seen so far, after all, have all returned to give something to those they loved. They may have looked frightening, but if we operate on the theory that ghosts retain their appearances at death for eternity, they could hardly help it, since all of them we've seen have had violent ends. They only return to their regular appearances after Shouxue helps out, and that alongside the fact that Ding Lang and Gaojun's mother are basically standing sentinel at his door might suggest that they're keeping something more dangerous from getting to the emperor.

Since Shouxue is on her way to his chambers once she clears up the detail of the throat-cut ghost under the willow tree, we'll soon find out. She and Wei Qing are moving towards a better understanding of each other, which will help them both to protect Gaojun, and the issue of white hair and the previous dynasty is likely to come up again in the near future, probably as a roadblock. Shouxue's ability to give the dead back their voices may turn out to be the most powerful weapon in Gaojun's arsenal going forward – although that fat chicken doorbell of hers isn't to be sneezed at, either.

Rating:

Raven of the Inner Palace is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.