A historical drama involves a king and the royal court almost all the time, and Joseon Lawyer: A Morality was no different. From the king- Lee Gyul to the executive minister- Yoo Je Se, and many other court officials, there were many characters with important roles, but the story mostly revolved around Kang Han Soo, a witty attorney; princess Lee Yeon Joo, who was living in disguise as a commoner; Yoo Ji Sun, the youngest magistrate of Joseon; the king; and minister Yoo. All of them were intertwined in each other’s lives through brutal incidents in the past.
Spoilers Ahead
Kang Han Soo
The main character, Kang Han Soo, is loud in his thinking and acting. He is smart, but his erratic behavior gives off the impression that he is just a big mouth. However, beyond his loud and noticeable presence, wherever he goes, lies a person who has been planning revenge for his parents’ deaths. One wouldn’t even think that a man like him has a cruel past and is driven to get his revenge. When he first steps into Hanyang, he purposely gets some people in trouble to get himself business. His methods are unlawful and make him look more like a conman than an attorney. However, no matter how absurd his ways are and how he scams people, he gets justice for the needy and makes sure to find a long-term solution to their problems rather than a temporary one. With his outgoing, shameless, and fearless personality, he becomes direct enemies with Minister Yoo and friends with the king. He lets Yeon Joo help him only until he finds out that she is the princess. He loves her and, hence, feels betrayed. In the pain of betrayal and his grudge against the royal family, he makes a mistake, and his sister, Eun Soo, has to lose her life to save him. The battle of revenge that Han Soo started is joined by many people later, and he eventually, after many tragedies, takes his revenge against Minister Yoo. Unless it’s an extremely serious situation, Han Soo never lost his comic personality or the habit of cracking unserious jokes in relatively serious situations. He was not only smart but also kind, empathetic, and a loyal lover who didn’t give up on his love until the end, despite the hardships.
Lee Yeon Joo
The female protagonist and the most courageous among all the characters, Princess Yeon Joo is a visibly kind person who prefers to live like a commoner outside the restricting walls of the palace. She runs a guesthouse for the merchants who travel from place to place. She provides them with cheap meals and places to stay, sometimes even for free. She finds living in the palace suffocating and wishes that she didn’t have to carry the burden of being a princess. It comes from her painful experience of seeing her father dead in front of her, and she blames herself for it. She had messed up while delivering a secret message to the king, and court officials had caught her. She believes that her father was murdered and that Minister Yoo is behind it. She lived in guilt until Han Soo came. She understands that he also holds a grudge against Minister Yoo and almost forces Han Soo to let her help him. She is So Won the guesthouse owner to him; that’s why he doesn’t know that she is using her royal privileges to help him. Yeon Joo doesn’t shy away from going against the royal family or customs if it’s going to bring justice to someone. She dreams of creating the peaceful and lawful Joseon that her father dreamed of. Therefore, she helps Han Soo until the end, even when things fall apart between them. Her one courageous decision causes her to lose her royal status and almost lose her life, but she doesn’t regret it even once. She finally gets to live freely and starts working as an attorney herself. Her love for Han Soo was genuine and crossed the barrier of their highly differing social classes, not that she ever cared about it.
Yoo Ji Sun
A diligent son, a bright mind, and the most caring and loving human being, Yoo Ji Sun, the only son of Minister Yoo, is way different than his father. He is the youngest court official and magistrate that Joseon has ever seen and is highly appreciated for his wisdom. However, unlike his father, he doesn’t abuse his position of power. Rather, he gets upset every time he finds out that his father is behind a heinous crime. He turns a blind eye to his crimes, not only because he cannot dare go against his father but also because he hopes that his father will become a good man again. While it is a common practice for most government officials to take bribes, Yoo Ji Sun is known to be strict, and trying to bribe him means getting punished. He runs into Han Soo quite a lot of times while Han Soo represents his clients during the trials. He is impressed by Han Soo’s knowledge of the law but also intrigued by the ways he uses it. Knowing that Han Soo is a believer in equal law and justice for everyone, Ji Sun helps him despite knowing that his father is Han Soo’s enemy. Ji Sun was once engaged to Yeon Joo and still holds feelings of affection toward her. However, he doesn’t hold on to her. He knows that Yeon Joo is in love with Han Soo but doesn’t get jealous, and he even helps them stay together in difficult times. He is the kind of person that everyone wishes to have in their lives: intelligent, quiet but understanding, calm and collected, loyal, and gentle.
The King/Lee Gyul
Lee Gyul became king at a very young age after his father’s untimely death. He was not prepared, and hence, the situation is not in his favor. Minister Yoo has been working in the court for a long time and has his own followers. Yoo constantly looks down on the king and doesn’t even let him take decisions freely. It’s as if Lee Gyul is only sitting on the throne, and Yoo is looking after the kingdom in reality. The king needs to prove that he is worthy of being a king, and his only supporter is his sister, Yeon Joo. She informs him about the daily lives of the commoners and suggests to him what should be improved for the well-being of the people. However, any decision he makes is opposed by Minister Yoo and his followers. The king sees it as an urgent matter to make Minister Yoo powerless, and he has eyes on Han Soo, who has already trapped many ministers and court officials lawfully. Lee Gyul has all the qualities of a king, but he lacks support as all the court officials are more than twice his age, and his views are different from theirs. However, he later gets closer to Han Soo and Ji Sun, who become his supporters in building a new Joseon with equal justice for all. Lee Gyul was an open-minded king who genuinely cared about the people, but he wasn’t good at making decisions. Having Ji Sun, Han Soo, and Yeon Joo by his side was his greatest advantage, and he couldn’t have proved his worthiness for the throne if it weren’t for these people.
Minister Yoo
A man of power who has grown up with the previous king of Joseon, Yoo Je Se is the most powerful man in Joseon, even more so than the current king, Lee Gyul. Born into a poor family, Yoo Je Se has a story of rags to riches that could have inspired people, and he could have become a legend for all the right reasons, only if he didn’t walk on the wrong path. After Han Soo starts taking down his men one after another, Yoo gets scared that he might lose his power. He never hesitates to kill people who come in his way and tries multiple times to get rid of Han Soo as well. However, he becomes cautious when he finds out that his son, Yoo Ji Sun, is Han Soo’s ally. He doesn’t want his son to get hurt. He is a vile man, but his love for his son is unadulterated. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that he is an ideal father. Despite their huge difference in opinions, Yoo never stops his son from pursuing the path he wants to follow. He doesn’t mind that his son doesn’t want to inherit power from him. His happiness lies in Ji Sun’s happiness. He finds his son more precious than his power, and that’s why he surrenders in the end. When the time came to choose between Yoo’s son and Yoo’s hard-earned power, Yoo chose his son. A man of great intelligence and strength had one weakness, and that was his paternal love.
