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I feel guilty for starting another thread... but I'm stuck and I've been trying to solve this plot hole for months.
The original source story from the Samguk Yusa says that the princess traveled from Ayodhya (Ayuta in the text) from India and came to what is now Southern Korean. (South tip) She also came with two courtiers, her brother and their wives. (Which strikes me as strange... but I figured out a good reason for it which has to do with trade...)
The part of the story I'm trying to solve is that she leaves one time, but is thrown back by the violent seas, and then gets a pagoda of sorts which blesses her to have a safe journey. In this version, she has permission from her parents.
However, I found a second version where she had the dream, not her parents and then was thrown back.
I decided to combine the versions, so the first time she has the vision in a dream, she leaves without permission of her parents and then gets thrown back and leaves the second time with her parents permission, gaining much wisdom from it. This would fit the Indian/East Asian ideals so she knows why she was thrown back wasn't *just* because of the pagoda, but because she should respect her elders, etc.
But I need a better reason than "She saw it in a dream" for the final reason she up and leaves. I need her to be angry enough for her to leave without permission. (She has a bit of a short temper and is kind of impatient to start--she's only 15 or so anyway.)
Originally, I was going to have her find out her mother is secretly a widow which was scandalous back then, but that's not likely. Zoroastrians (The king) and Hindus back then didn't remarry after being widowed. (I thought there might be flexibility, but there isn't) This would have solved the courtier problem because then, I could make them her step brothers. It was a serious no go, though.
Then I thought that she could find out that her father kidnapped her mother (Her mother is Sakas/Scythian, not Kushana), which WAS common and is even written about when she's in the Brahmin class, but the caste system wasn't strong back then, so the level of outrage wouldn't be there... but then, that kinda messes things up, since she should also be mad at her mother.
I also thought she could find out she is half Sakas, since there is a war about the break out between the king and the Sakas people. But that seems like a weak motivation and I would think tht would make her want to stay rather than leave.
She's already being treated fairly badly for a princess and she feels fairly choked and restricted already, but I need something to make her snap and want to leave, taking the big risk in trying to force her prophecy to become true. Yet not be so strong that she can't admit she's wrong for leaving--she has to reconcile with her parents. It's better if plot happens because of character, right?
I ran out of cultural reasons. And I can't think of personal or political reasons she'd suddenly up and leave... I need an inciting incident which will force her to mature and rethink her world.
This wouldn't be so much of an issue if this was just pure fiction... but I have history shooting down my plot ideas. I did the research, but I can't get the legend to fit it. Help?
Once I get this princess to Korea and turn her into a Queen, it should be easy pickings since I have that plot all mapped and historically accurate.
The original source story from the Samguk Yusa says that the princess traveled from Ayodhya (Ayuta in the text) from India and came to what is now Southern Korean. (South tip) She also came with two courtiers, her brother and their wives. (Which strikes me as strange... but I figured out a good reason for it which has to do with trade...)
The part of the story I'm trying to solve is that she leaves one time, but is thrown back by the violent seas, and then gets a pagoda of sorts which blesses her to have a safe journey. In this version, she has permission from her parents.
However, I found a second version where she had the dream, not her parents and then was thrown back.
I decided to combine the versions, so the first time she has the vision in a dream, she leaves without permission of her parents and then gets thrown back and leaves the second time with her parents permission, gaining much wisdom from it. This would fit the Indian/East Asian ideals so she knows why she was thrown back wasn't *just* because of the pagoda, but because she should respect her elders, etc.
But I need a better reason than "She saw it in a dream" for the final reason she up and leaves. I need her to be angry enough for her to leave without permission. (She has a bit of a short temper and is kind of impatient to start--she's only 15 or so anyway.)
Originally, I was going to have her find out her mother is secretly a widow which was scandalous back then, but that's not likely. Zoroastrians (The king) and Hindus back then didn't remarry after being widowed. (I thought there might be flexibility, but there isn't) This would have solved the courtier problem because then, I could make them her step brothers. It was a serious no go, though.
Then I thought that she could find out that her father kidnapped her mother (Her mother is Sakas/Scythian, not Kushana), which WAS common and is even written about when she's in the Brahmin class, but the caste system wasn't strong back then, so the level of outrage wouldn't be there... but then, that kinda messes things up, since she should also be mad at her mother.
I also thought she could find out she is half Sakas, since there is a war about the break out between the king and the Sakas people. But that seems like a weak motivation and I would think tht would make her want to stay rather than leave.
She's already being treated fairly badly for a princess and she feels fairly choked and restricted already, but I need something to make her snap and want to leave, taking the big risk in trying to force her prophecy to become true. Yet not be so strong that she can't admit she's wrong for leaving--she has to reconcile with her parents. It's better if plot happens because of character, right?
I ran out of cultural reasons. And I can't think of personal or political reasons she'd suddenly up and leave... I need an inciting incident which will force her to mature and rethink her world.
This wouldn't be so much of an issue if this was just pure fiction... but I have history shooting down my plot ideas. I did the research, but I can't get the legend to fit it. Help?
Once I get this princess to Korea and turn her into a Queen, it should be easy pickings since I have that plot all mapped and historically accurate.