The Sword with No Name (Korean: 불꽃처럼 나비처럼; RR: Bulkkotcheoreom Nabicheoreom; lit.'Like Fireworks, Like Butterflies') is a 2009 South Korean film based on a fictionalized account of Empress Myeongseong.[2][3] The film sold 1,671,387 tickets nationwide.[4]
Plot
Mu-myeong is a bounty hunter during the Joseon Dynasty who lives day-to-day by catching fugitives. His life is forever changed when, on one of his missions, he meets a beautiful noblewoman, Min Ja-young, and falls in love with her. Several years pass and Ja-young enters the royal palace to be married to Emperor Gojong as the next queen of Joseon. Lovesick, Mu-myeong joins the royal guard to be near Ja-young, staying loyally by her side as she navigates court politics and rises to the throne to become the Empress Myeongseong.
Myeongseong tries to modernize the dynasty by breaking it off from its hermit kingdom past while avoiding being colonized by Russia and Japan. She becomes embroiled in a political power struggle with the court's conservative Confucian faction, led by her own father-in-law, the regent Daewongun. As threats against the queen grow, Mu-myeong tries to protect her by fending off assassination attempts from foreign and domestic enemies.[5]
