Raven of the Inner Palace

Episode 13

Change isn't easy. It's even less so when the subject of that change is an institution that has been in place for centuries. The role of the Raven Consort has been entrenched within the inner palace for at least a thousand years, and it is going to take more than one creepy guy embodying a god of death to undo it. But everything that has happened to Shouxue and Gaojun in this season has been in service of changing the role of the Raven Consort; from his unseemly interest in her (at least as far as others are concerned) to the slow reveal of her true purpose, the stage has been set for them to make meaningful changes.

That's what this last episode is largely in service of. We can see the small cracks beginning in the prison that holds the Raven Consort, namely the preconceptions and misconceptions everybody has about who she is and what she is supposed to be. The old priest who was in love with Shouxue's predecessor is perhaps the person with the most reason to resent the rules that seem unable to be broken. He saw being chosen by the goddess Niao Lian as forcing her into a prison, one which precluded her having any relationship with anyone at all. He resents Shouxue for proving that that is not true; she has ladies in waiting, eunuchs, and above all the emperor. Even if she did not set out to form these bonds, they have changed her, and that means that the role of the Raven Consort is not nearly as immutable as he and others before him believed it to be. It's the disconnect between Winter King and Raven Consort, and an example of how these women have had their power curtailed. They were allowed to maintain it, but only at the cost of being human.

Even if she hasn't made a conscious decision to change this, Shouxue is well on her way to disproving the idea that the Raven Consort is Other. She has stopped rebuffing Gaojun and begun to seek out friendships among the other women of the inner palace. It's a slow process, and it won't be an easy one; she has spent too long believing what the former Raven Consort told her. But as the conclusion of the episode seems to imply, the change from Raven Consort to Winter King is within her grasp, waiting for her somewhere beneath the sea.

Whether that is a metaphor for the hidden depths within Shouxue or a more literal statement of where the power of the Winter King took up residence is unclear; perhaps even the sanity of the banished goddess is what is waiting for her to find. It's also clear that the story is far from over – the talon marks that have appeared near the wound Gaojun received from the owl are very worrying, especially since we saw that image of an owl's wing appearing from his arm. There are too many centuries of ill will and sorrow for anything to resolve as quickly as we might like, but I still think that this is more of a hopeful ending than anything we otherwise might have expected. Even if further tragedy awaits, Shouxue now has the tools and the inner strength to move forward, to say nothing of the backing of those she has realized she may rely on. Once again, that is what the swapping of the opening and ending themes for each other shows us: one part of the tale has ended, and a new one is just beginning. While we can hope that we will get to see it unfold on the screen, at least we have the assurance that we can read the novels, which have been licensed for English release by Seven Seas.

The world is undoubtedly mysterious, and full of things we cannot fully understand. But when we start to learn what lies behind what we have always considered truths, we begin to find our own strength to change what others believe is firmly established. Shouxue has begun that journey. I wish her the best of it.

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Raven of the Inner Palace is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.