Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia

The villain origin flashback hits different when you realize Borakchin genuinely believed she was protecting Ogedei's dream. She convinced herself realgar was clumsy and ugly like her heart I guess. That scene with the merchant warning her about the stone was too quiet and too loaded

Sorkhotani walking down that carpet in her ceremonial robes and just saying no to the Khan and Khatun in front of every lord in the empire. Chills. The way she stopped being the victim and chose to fight. Fatima crying in the back row got me too

Borakchin poisoning herself to lure Tolui into drinking that cup changed how I see the whole series. She wasn't sick she was calculating the entire time. That woman weaponized her own body and I respect and fear her in equal measure.

Everyone keeps calling Sitara naive for spurring Sorkhotani to fight back. But maybe the show is telling us the naive one is Borakchin for thinking six years of poison plotting could beat a mother's spine. Her face when Sorkhotani declined in front of every lord in the empire was worth all the poisoning buildup

Okay so the real tragedy here is that Sitara tried so hard to warn Sorkhotani and protect her only to accidentally empower her to refuse anyway. Every move she makes ends up being the right one for the wrong reasons. Borakchin can plot for six years but she can't plan around Sitara just being sincere. That's honestly kind of beautiful

The way Borakchin stood upwind while her servant hid from the smoke shows how careless she actually is with other people's lives. She controls the poison the poison controls nothing about her. Meanwhile Sorkhotani just stared down the entire imperial court over her dead husband's legacy. These women are playing different games entirely

I keep going back and forth on whether Sitara being honest with Sorkhotani was smart or just naive. She basically handed her the courage to refuse the marriage by accident. But honestly watching Sorkhotani walk down that carpet in full ceremonial robes and tell the whole court no made my heart swell

Borakchin being the true schemer all along while sitara just fumbled around was a gut punch. She drank her own poison to sell the act. That's commitment to the role. And watching Sorkhotani shut the whole marriage down in front of everyone was the most satisfying thing this show has done

Episode is insane

Japanese made, japanese dubbed, set in iran, with an enslaved persian protagonist, with the enemy being Mongolian. Can't say I'm entire used to it. Every 3minutes the anime reminds you that its about musline & islam. It can feel like a propaganda piece if you're not open minded to the story its trying to tell. I do not vibe with the art style unfortunately, very much western style, reminds me of Nimona. the pacing for the first episode is quite slow, feels like the invasion shouldve happen way earlier as I still do not understand where the story is going.

Nobody's talking about how Fatima chose honesty over manipulation this episode. She could have let Sorkhotani break but she goaded her into fighting back instead. That puts her directly in Borakchin's crosshairs and the finale is going to make her pay for it isn't it

The flashback structure worked so well here. Seeing young Borakchin marvel at a crumbling rock then realizing she spent the next six years weaponizing it into empire-scale murder is genuinely terrifying writing. She consulted Chinese medical texts learned alchemy timed the poison across multiple days all while wearing kind eyes for Mogge. That girl in the tent who saw a pretty stone became the reason Sorkhotani nearly lost everything. But watching Sorkhotani choose her sons and her pride anyway at that assembly knowing her family already lost Tolui to these schemes felt like the show finally giving the good people a win. Science SARU's lighting in Borakchin's yurt versus the bright grassland really sold the contrast between internal rot and outward stability.

Borakchin poisoning herself to look divinely healed while real women are dying around her makes her the scariest person in this show. The flashback of her studying scrolls by the fire then grinding that stone into powder was like watching a villain tutorial. Sorkhotani's refusal was the only warm spot in a cold cold episode

The henna-stained hands scene with Sorkhotani nearly giving up her whole dignity to protect her kids had me tearing up. Sitara begging her not to surrender made me realize Sitara's not weak for being honest. She's the only one in this entire palace who still believes people deserve happiness. That assembly scene where Sorkhotani refuses was pure catharsis

Sorkhotani choosing her children over her own dignity nearly broke me. Watching her calmly accept that box and say she'd comply just to keep her sons safe felt so real and awful. And then she flips it all at the assembly anyway with that ferocious resolve. Borakchin looked genuinely stunned and I lived for it

The reveal that Borakchin engineered everything before Fatima even showed up rewires how you see every prior episode. That scene with the doctor explaining alchemy and her calmly weighing her own dose of arsenic gave me chills. Sorkhotani refusing the marriage was the real victory though

Episode ini berisi backstory Boraqchin, dan ceritanya sangat menarik. Aku juga suka momen ketika Sitara bertemu dengan Sorgghagtani karena terasa sangat emosional. Overall, aku sangat suka storyboarding dan direction di episode ini.

Episode yang bagus. Episode ini lebih berfokus pada pergulatan di dalam hati Fatima, tetapi semuanya disampaikan dengan cerita yang bagus, momen-momen karakter yang kuat, dan penyutradaraan yang sangat baik. Episode ini berhasil menggali emosi Fatima dengan baik sambil tetap membuat ceritanya menarik untuk diikuti.

Mystery, schemes, mind games, action, drama - this episode has everything you could ever want. After last episode, this one managed to capture the tension an unease we were left with, escalating it and ending on a note which feels even more so. The world of these characters and their personalities are so engaging, and it feels like things are really picking up and it's going to explode any episode now.

Tolui drinking that ritual water without a second thought made my jaw drop. The love he has for Ogedei is unreal and Science Saru made that whole scene feel so heavy with the visuals