Movies Like The Treacherous

Frequently asked about The Treacherous

Common questions people search for, with answers written by us at MoviesPack.

• Who is Yeonsangun and why is he portrayed as a tyrant in the film?▾

  Yeonsangun was the 10th king of the Joseon dynasty, widely regarded as one of its most despotic rulers. In the film he is shown indulging in extreme excess — forcibly conscripting women from across the kingdom as court entertainers called 'Heungcheongsaek' — a practice rooted in historical record. His reign was marked by violent purges of scholars and court officials, and his unchecked cruelty ultimately led to his dethronement in the Jungjong coup of 1506.

• What role do Danwol and Wolyeon play in the story, and how are they connected to Jang Nok-su?▾

  Danwol and Wolyeon are two women conscripted into the king's court who become central figures in the palace's brutal power dynamics. Jang Nok-su, the king's favorite royal concubine, wields significant influence over Yeonsangun and uses it to eliminate rivals and manipulate those around her. The two younger women are drawn into her orbit, and their fates become entangled with the political and personal machinations Jang Nok-su sets in motion.

• What is the significance of the mass conscription of women depicted in the film?▾

  The conscription refers to Yeonsangun's historical decree forcing women — including the wives and daughters of commoners and lower nobility — to serve as entertainers and concubines at court. The film uses this policy as both a symbol of the king's absolute, unchecked power and the engine that drives ordinary women into the palace's dangerous world of court intrigue. It also functions as a structural critique: the suffering is systemic, not incidental, inflicted by the institution of the monarchy itself rather than a single villain acting alone.

• What motivates Jang Nok-su, and is she a villain or a victim in the film?▾

  Jang Nok-su occupies an ambiguous position: she is manipulative and ruthless in eliminating threats to her standing, but she also operates within a system where a royal concubine's survival depends entirely on maintaining the king's favor. Her cruelty toward other women can be read as a survival strategy shaped by the same patriarchal court that created her precarious position. The film does not fully exonerate her, but it frames her as a product of the environment Yeonsangun's rule has made — someone who learned to weaponize the only power available to her.

• How does the film end, and what happens to the king?▾

  The film culminates around the historical Jungjong coup of 1506, in which a coalition of nobles and officials overthrew Yeonsangun and replaced him with his half-brother, who became King Jungjong. Yeonsangun is deposed and exiled rather than executed, dying shortly afterward in exile on Ganghwa Island. The ending reflects the historical reality that his tyranny had eroded loyalty even among those closest to the throne, leaving the surviving court women to face an uncertain aftermath once his protection — and his terror — had ended.