Finally we get to catch up with our wayward Igutu and his quick-talking companion, and boy, are they having some harrowing adventures. The tribes who live outside of the city are no less complicated or bloodthirsty just because they're remote, and our hero still struggles to understand the ways of a world so different from his own.
EPISODE 16 RECAP
Tagon directs Moongtae to kill several union ministers who dare to challenge his decision to kill Asa Ron and put the families of his opponents to trial. Mihol thinks to himself that finally, Tagon has the eyes of a king.
Privately, Mihol asks Taealha if Tagon still intends to keep the secret of bronzeworking. She says he does, but that this isn't the time to bring it up. Mihol notes that Tagon has changed, but Taealha says he had to after his previous (tamer) efforts to become king failed, blaming Mihol and Asa Ron for breaking Tagon's heart.
She gives Tanya a scroll of what to say at the upcoming Sacred Trial, but Tanya still can't read, so Taealha reads the words out loud. Tanya is to announce that from now on, oracles will come to her from Airuju instead of the Asa clan's god, Isodunyong. After the announcement, Taealha tells Tanya that she's to order Asa Mot and everyone else involved in the attempted coup beheaded, and their families' feet cut off.
Tanya balks at punishing the innocent, but Taealha makes it clear that if she doesn't obey, the remaining Wahans will die. She tells Tanya that Arthdal can only function if the people are afraid, and that her purpose is to bestow god-given sacredness to Tagon, so her decision will determine whether a hundred people die, or a thousand.
Saya makes his way to Tanya's chamber in time to hear Tanya tell Taealha that she wants to return to Iark with her people, now that Taealha and Tagon have gotten what they wanted, but Taealha denies her request. Tanya sobs that they've already changed Moongtae into a killer, but Taealha says that Moongtae just learned that you need power to get what you want.
After Taealha is gone, Saya tells Tanya that he doesn't think she should leave. He knows that she accepted Tagon's offer in exchange for her people's freedom, but he says it was just another form of greed. He says that both she and Tagon got what they wanted, and that she's only pretending she didn't know she was signing up for the bad along with the good.
He says that the Wahan aren't the only ones who have experienced tragedy — he let Taealha and Tagon treat him like he didn't exist for twenty years because he was powerless. He advises Tanya that if she wants to stand up to Tagon, she has to grow stronger, but that she has an advantage because the people love her.
Tanya thinks about this, then tells Saya to assemble the remaining Wahans. They gather in her chamber, minus Moongtae, but they're happy to be together again. Little Doti asks how they've all been, so they talk about how successful and even prosperous they've each become.
Eventually Moongtae joins them, and Tanya doesn't mention the reason he's all bruised up. Instead, she asks if the others want to return to Iark, but they assume she's just scared, so Tanya tells them that she's been ordered to kill or cut off the feet of those involved in the coup, including innocent children.
She says this goes against their teachings, but Moongtae snaps that their teachings are useless. He tells her to do as Tagon says, and that they all felt hopeless and alone when they were captured. Tanya asks if that's why he killed those innocent people and Moongtae admits it, saying that it's better than living in fear of being the one killed.
Tanya looks around at her few remaining people and thinks, "The Wahan tribe will never be the same." Little Doti says in a tiny, scared voice that she wants to go home to Iark, and Tanya promises to take her.
