The acting was great, but the dialogue struck me so deeply that I found myself wondering, “Who wrote this?” Goblin was the drama that first planted that question in my mind.
Even someone who isn’t a big drama fan probably carries at least one “drama of a lifetime” in their heart. For me, there’s one drama whose name alone still makes my chest ache a little: the tvN drama “Goblin,” starring Gong Yoo and Kim Go-eun. Quite a while has passed since it aired, but it still comes to mind whenever the seasons change or the first snow falls. I wanted to binge-watch it once more and put its lingering resonance into words.
Goblin is a love story, but at the same time it’s a work that poses deep questions about life and death, fate and choice. The paradox of a being who has lived 900 years wishing to die, and a love that grows more desperate only as death draws near — these themes elevate what could have been a simple fantasy romance into a philosophical drama.
I believe that the reason Korea, reduced to rubble by the war in 1953, could become a developed country in such a short span of time lies in the Korean spirit and consciousness. Because so many people resonate deeply with the emotional core of this beloved drama, let’s take a closer look at it to understand that spirit and consciousness.
1. An Immortal Life, Caught Between a Brutal Curse and a Blessing
Kim Shin, the protagonist of “Goblin,” was a general during the Goryeo dynasty, but he met his death — run through by his own sword — due to the king’s jealousy and the schemes of treacherous courtiers. Yet whether as heaven’s punishment or its reward, he becomes a “goblin” and lives an immortal life spanning more than 900 years.
Watching the people he loves die one by one, and being left behind, alone — the brutal loneliness Kim Shin feels goes beyond mere fantasy setup; it touches the fundamental sense of loss that we as humans feel in life. Gong Yoo’s portrayal of the heavy curse hidden behind the blessing of “immortality” makes viewers reconsider the meaning of life and death all over again.
2. The Goblin’s Bride: A Love That Changes the Fate of Death
Another central axis of this drama is the goblin’s bride, “Ji Eun-tak.” Born with a fate she should never have had, Eun-tak’s ability to see the sword lodged in the goblin’s chest adds tension to the story.
Their romance is special because it isn’t simply a love story between a man and a woman. The goblin’s bride waits for the goblin’s “end,” while the goblin, through her, finally comes to dream of the peace that is “death.” Their love is portrayed as a process of healing each other’s pain and breaking free, on their own, from the shackles of fate. In particular, the line “every moment I spent with you was dazzling” may well be the iconic line viewers will remember forever.
3. The Grim Reaper Who Lost His Memory, and the Shackles of a Past Life
This drama was able to build such a layered narrative thanks to the presence of the “Grim Reaper” (Lee Dong-wook), who is both the goblin’s counterpart and his companion. The strange cohabitation between the Grim Reaper — who guides the dead after having all memory of his past erased — and the goblin, who lives on carrying every memory of his past, doubles the drama’s entertainment value. In particular, the heart-wrenching romance between the Grim Reaper and Sunny (Yoo In-na), tied to the karma of a past life, carries an impact that rivals the main storyline.
4. Bonds of Fate
1. Kim Shin (Gong Yoo), Who Became the Goblin
Why would heaven make him live an immortal life? In Confucianism, there is the concept of loyalty, filial piety, and fidelity. It was likely a judgment handed down because he achieved great merit through loyalty (to the nation, not the king) — but also because he killed so many people — and yet also because he suffered an unjust death.
Gong Yoo perfectly embodied a goblin who carries both loneliness and humor at once, and Lee Dong-wook’s Grim Reaper is, in his own right, a fully realized character. The two bickering as they live together is one of the most delightful parts of this drama.
2. The Grim Reaper (Lee Dong-wook), Who Was Once a King
Swayed by envy and jealousy into the temptations of a treacherous courtier, he killed a loyal subject and even the queen — and as punishment for those crimes, he becomes the Grim Reaper with all his memories erased. Looking back at the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty and other historical records, there is probably no family that drove its own members to death and suffering more than royal families did. Power is like a drug, and when a king surrounds himself only with people who tell him what he wants to hear, he inevitably becomes a tyrant or an incompetent ruler.
3. Sunny (Yoo In-na), Who Was Once the Queen
Caught in the conflict between her husband the king and her older brother Kim Shin, she ultimately chose her brother, who pursued a righteous life, and met her death for it — but in this present life, she ends up meeting both of them again.
*** What Kim Shin and the king shared in common was a life spent watching the life and death of countless people while carrying full memory of it all. ***
In this life, they build a good relationship without knowing of their past-life connection, and I believe it was only once they learned of the ill-fated bond from their past life that the grudge could finally be resolved. Being able to let go of such a deep grudge was possible, I think, precisely because they had witnessed the life and death of so many others. Of course, it’s also because their love for Ji Eun-tak was greater still.
For us too, the people we fall for at first sight — whether the bond is a good one or an ill-fated one — probably carry some deep story from a past life.
5. Why “Goblin” Again, Now?
Many of you have probably already watched this drama, but “Goblin” feels quite different when you revisit it after some time has passed. Where before I focused only on the leads’ dazzling fantasy and romance, now every single line about the preciousness of life sinks in far more deeply.
The idea that “everyone has four lives” (a life of sowing seeds, a life of watering the seeds sown, a life of harvesting what was watered, and a life of using what was harvested) makes you realize just how precious an opportunity your life right now is, and how precious the people beside you are. Amid the busy lives of modern people, this drama gently reminds us of the value of “today,” a value we so often let slip by.
Many Koreans believe in reincarnation. There is an enormous difference between believing this life is all there is and believing there is a next life. If you truly believe that a past life influences this one, and that this life in turn influences the next, you will naturally try to treasure your life more and live it more beautifully. Because Koreans carry the deep-rooted thought of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and a peace-loving heart that never once invaded another nation despite being invaded a thousand times, they arrived here by a different path than other developed nations.
There are many factors in staying healthy, but among them, I believe the food and water that make up the body’s raw material matter greatly. It’s said that more important than eating good food is not eating bad food. I believe Korea will keep advancing because it has not accumulated bad karma.
The leads weren’t just outstanding in looks — their acting ability was excellent too, which made it even easier to get absorbed in the story.
6. Mise-en-scène and OST: Direction That Captivated Both Eye and Ear
One of the biggest reasons “Goblin” sparked global interest is its cinematic visuals (mise-en-scène). The maple-lined street in Quebec, Canada, and the scene of the goblin and the Grim Reaper walking through fog on the leek-runway are iconic scenes still talked about today.
On top of that, the OST — perfectly woven into the story, with tracks like Chanyeol and Punch’s “Stay With Me” and Ailee’s “I Will Go to You Like the First Snow” — maximized the drama’s emotional resonance. “Goblin” is a textbook example of how well-made content should bring visuals, sound, and story together as a perfect trinity.
7. Memorable Lines Worth Keeping
🌸 Theme 1. Kim Shin’s (the Goblin’s) Monologues and Lines About Love
- “Because the weather was good, because the weather wasn’t good, because the weather was just right — every day was good. And whatever happens, it’s not your fault.” — At first, I didn’t quite understand what this meant. When you truly love even just one person, the world, every single day, starts to feel truly beautiful. But once that feeling fades, not every day feels good anymore. It’s true that everything really does depend on the heart.
- “The size of mass isn’t proportional to volume. That girl, small as a violet, fluttering like a petal, pulls me in with a mass greater than the Earth’s. In that instant, like Newton’s apple, I fell toward her without mercy. With a thud. With thud after thud. My heart kept swinging, a dizzying pendulum, from the sky down to the ground. It was first love.”
- “The one who copied a life over onto mine. The one whose life, given as a price, makes me realize I am alive. The one who, when she takes my hand, will lead me to the afterlife. My bride.”
- “Every moment I spent with you was dazzling.” — I think this is what life ought to be like.
- “I humbly pray to God in heaven that, after living a hundred years like this, on some day when the weather is just right, I might be able to say, ‘it was my first love.'”
- “Your life was, always, for more than a hundred years, the sole reason for mine.”
- “I’m the one making this choice. In my next life, I’ll be sure to be born in a way that lets me come to you. I’ll come to you. I will absolutely find you.” — I wonder if that’s how we met too? Let me know what you think.
🍂 Theme 2. Ji Eun-tak’s (the Goblin’s Bride’s) Spirited and Tender Lines
- “Mister, I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to marry you. No matter how I think about it, you really do seem like a goblin. I love you.” — I suppose you could call this sincerity sparked by greed for money.
- “They say humans have four lives: a life of sowing seeds, a life of watering the seeds sown, a life of harvesting what was watered, and a life of using what was harvested. So then, which life am I on?”
- “Remember, you have to remember. His name is Kim Shin. He’s tall, and he looks sad when he smiles. He’ll come as the rain. He’ll come as the first snow. He’ll keep his promise. Remember, you have to remember. You are his bride.”
- “They say if you catch a falling maple leaf, you’ll end up in love with the person you’re walking with.”
- “If I’m ever born again in a next life, I will make absolutely sure to meet you again, mister.”
🎩 Theme 3. The Heartrending Lines of the Grim Reaper and Sunny
- “Giving the dead a tea that erases their memory is an act of mercy from god — for those to whom the memories of a past life would be nothing but pain.” — According to what has been revealed through past-life regression hypnotherapy, this memory-erasing tea is actually given right before rebirth. After death, most souls are said to be guided by someone they know back to the soul group they originally belonged to, where they’re given time to look back on their life and reflect on what they lacked and what they did well. In the drama’s script, it seems this role was simply reassigned to the Grim Reaper, who is the one who erases memory instead.
- “In everyone’s life, there is a moment when god stops by. If, when you were drifting away from the world, someone gently pushed you back toward it, that was the moment god stayed by your side.”
- “This is the place all those crossing from life into death must pass through. This is the end of the world you lived in and the beginning of the afterlife.”
- “Let’s be sure to meet again in the next life. I’ll be waiting. I’ll be the one to recognize you first.”
- “I thought ‘goodbye’ was only something you said when parting — turns out it’s also something you say when you meet again.”
🕊️ Theme 4. Philosophical Lines on God and Fate
- “God is merely the one who asks the question; fate is the question I throw out. You are the ones who must find the answer.” — I read this as: fate is the question god poses, and the answer is our choice. Fate is fixed, but I interpret it as saying we hold the power, through our choices, to change that story. At a fork in the road, if you choose according to your usual way of thinking and your usual patterns of behavior, you’re simply following fate as laid out. But when you choose a new direction, different from usual, that’s the path that changes fate.
- “There is no door that human earnestness cannot open, and sometimes that earnestness even forces open a door of fate set by god.” — “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” — these are words from the Bible. Earnestness is one state of human consciousness, and the theory that consciousness affects objects and everything around it is increasingly accepted these days. From the view that all things are one, differing only in vibrational frequency, I think this line is a symbolic way of expressing that when you adjust and align your frequency, that energy comes flowing in.
- “Everyone has a moment when god stops by. If, when you had collapsed, exhausted by life, someone reached out a hand to you — that was the warmth of god.” — I’d say that everyone is born together with a guardian spirit (a guardian angel), and the help of that guardian spirit is exactly what could be called the touch of god.
In Closing: May the First Snow Fall on Your Life Too
The drama “Goblin” is not simply a fantasy piece with outstanding visuals. It carries a deep philosophy about “life and death” and “fate and choice” — questions everyone has probably pondered at least once.
Death is finishing the curriculum called life and returning home.
Life is a journey to fill in what was lacking in a past life (love, courage, understanding, and so on) and to repay debts of gratitude.
This is fate, and through a continuous series of choices, we create the fate of our next life.
The drama constantly emphasizes that god only ever poses the question — it is ultimately a human being’s “earnest choice” and “will” that brings about a miracle.
Are you perhaps in the middle of an exhausting, difficult day right now? If so, I’d recommend watching “Goblin” once more this weekend with a warm cup of tea. Just like the love Kim Shin and Ji Eun-tak showed us, a miraculous first snow may yet fall on your own everyday life too.