All of Arthdal is in turmoil – with its leadership up in the air, the people desperate to cling to any available glimmer of hope. Some will put their faith in a false god, while others see the future in a man who isn't sure of his own place in the world. Yet others know the truth behind the lies, and use that knowledge to feed their own greed.
EPISODE 18 RECAP
After learning the secret of bronzeworking from Mihol, Taealha gives him poison to put him out of his misery. Tagon walks in just as Mihol is gasping his last breath. Taealha informs Tagon that not only is she now the only living person who knows how to work bronze, she's also pregnant with his child.
She sails regally from the room, head high, but as soon as she's alone she slumps against the wall, fighting back tears. Once she collects herself, she informs Hae Tuak and Yeobi that Mihol died at her hands.
Seeing Tagon's shock, Saya asks Tagon what Taealha said to him, and why he let her go without argument. Tagon just says they'll talk later and goes into a meeting, but Saya senses something is terribly wrong.
Tagon hears a report that the people are too scared to go into the market after he destroyed the statue of Mihaje, the Bato tribe's god, and that some are even leaving Arthdal for their home villages. Moobaek says that there was no opposition when they torched the Batu's sacred mountain, though a few Bato tribespeople jumped into the fire.
Tagon's only comment on that is that they were foolish. He's equally unconcerned that the Myo clan from the Ago tribe raided Doldambul and freed the slaves. He's told that the Bato and Ggachinol tribes have been conducting suspicious activities, but he says that it's all unfolding as he expected.
He leaves, and the others worry that the Bato tribe may be planning something and that other tribes might join them. Moobaek thinks that Tagon seem to already have a solution, and wonders what it could be.
Tagon's scribe, Dae-dae, warns Tagon that Arthdal could fall apart if he doesn't take action soon. Tagon reminds him about Red Claw, a spy Tagon planted in the Ago tribe, and he says that the storm sweeping across Arthdal will be consumed by a greater storm.
Only once he's alone does Tagon finally let himself think about Taealha's claim to be pregnant with his child. He thinks that the child will continue his bloodline, a god's bloodline. Saya is also worried about Taealha — he doesn't know what she said but he saw how Tagon changed.
Chaeeun and Nunbyeol are still hiding in a cave after their parents' murders, and Nunbyeol resists Chaeeun's urging to sever her lineages again. In fact she asks Chaeeun to reconnect them so she can be a full Neanthal, but Chaeeun has never done it and she's scared it will kill Nunbyeol. Nunbyeol says she wants to get revenge, and her eyes glow blue as she growls, "Tagon, Taealha — I will destroy them."
Seuchun takes Doti to Tanya to tell her about Harim and his wife's deaths. Tanya is concerned, but she forgets everything else when Seuchun tells her that he's seen Eunseom.
Eunseom tells the freed slaves that they can return to their tribes, and they ask him what he wants in return. He says that those who aren't Ago don't owe them anything, but he wants two things from the freed Ago tribe members, the first being to go home and free other Ago slaves.
They ask what happens after they send them home, and Eunseom says sheepishly, "That's all. Just free them and send them home." One man, TAE DACHI, gets angry, believing this is some kind of trick. He says he ended up in Doldambul because he was captured and sold there by the Myo clan, so he can't believe that same clan would now free him and want nothing in return.
