‘Ice Fantasy’ C-Drama Finale: Epic Fantasy Series Concludes In A Way That Confuses Many Viewers, Currently Number One On Network Player Rankings [Spoilers]

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Since July 24, C-drama fans tuned into both the Hunan Broadcasting System (Hunan TV) and on respective online streaming sites to watch the next Chinese series to be advertised as the next huge drama after God of War, Zhao Yun, titled Ice Fantasy. Starring Feng Shaofeng, Victoria Song, Ma Tianyu, and Zhang Meng, the C-drama surely lived up to is moniker of an epic fantasy as it had elements of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Lord of the Rings, and Chronicles of Narnia despite being based on the novel City of Fantasy by Guo Jing Ming.

When the second prince of the fire tribe, Xin Jue, was mysteriously killed during his visit to the Ice Tribe for Ka Suo’s coming-of-age ceremony, the Fire King Huo Yi finally has an excuse to start the second war between the Fire Tribe and Ice Tribe. With their parents captured and older siblings killed, the two remaining Ice Princes, Ka Suo (Feng Shaofeng) and Ying Kong Shi (Ma Tianyu), escape to the mortal world and seek help from realm guardian Li Luo (Victoria Song) to help obtain ice crystals from six tribes.

After the Fire Tribe was defeated with the Deicide Sword, Ka Suo reluctantly battles his brother for the throne, but he wants nothing more than the freedom to be with his lover, Li Luo. Ying Kong Shi does everything in his power to take the throne away from Ka Suo, while Yan Da (Zhang Meng), the Fire Princess, is willing to give up everything for Shi. Then, after Ka Suo’s loved ones all die one by one under the conspiracies of Yuan Ji and Lian Ji, he is determined to find the legendary Veiled Lotus. A war between the Ice and Fire Tribe commences again, with Li Tian Jin joining the Fire Tribe to get his revenge on Ka Suo.

Nevertheless, this week has been highly anticipated for C-drama fans of Ice Fantasy because it has officially concluded after more than three months on the air and 62 episodes. Sadly, many fans are confused with the ending as it is being discussed among fans what happened. Despite this, the current network player rankings show that Ice Fantasy is currently No. 1.

Before continuing with explaining the finale of Ice Fantasy, it must be noted the following will have spoilers for the series. Then again, most who are reading this article are reading because they want possible insight on the confusing ending.

After Ka Suo defeats Yuan Ji and gets access to the Veiled Lotus, he, along with his comrades, give a part of their souls to it along with the souls of vanquished fighters (which includes Yuan Ji) to bring back Li Luo, Lan Shang, and Ying Kong Shi. However, when they come back, they are different. Ka Suo eventually learns that if he wants his loved ones to return to normal again, the Veiled Rose requires more blood to be sacrificed. He refuses to do so and tries to find another way.

Unfortunately, while he was away learning the horrifying truth about the Veiled Lotus, the Ice Tribe was attacked. The remainder of his closest friends and his father have all fallen to a revitalized and overpowered Fire Lord. To make matters worse for Ka Suo, he learns that Li Tian Jin is Ying Kong Shi. A fight between brothers happens again, with each brother representing either the Ice Tribe or Fire Tribe. The Fire Lord interferes and is about to take everything for his own. Thankfully, Yan Di — who has been devoted to Shi all this time — helps in a way that the only one left standing is Shi. In the end, Ying Kong Shi becomes the new King of the Ice Tribe.

Ka Suo’s heart is frozen to prevent him from dying while Ying Kong Shi tries to find a way to save him. Every single day, both Li Luo and Lan Shang visit where Ka Suo’s body rests, and then one day, his eyes open representing that Shi found a way to save him.

In the end, Ying Kong Shi was able to save his brother Ka Suo. The question on everyone’s mind is how he did it. Viewers actually have to recollect certain details throughout the C-drama to patch it all together. First and foremost, Shi finds out about a mysterious lotus known as the Blood Lotus, which, if opened, could be used to revive Ka Suo. Shi finds this bit of information in the Forbidden Library in the Ice Kingdom as it was in the book that was missing when we are first introduced to the library itself. Ka Suo himself has his heart frozen to prevent his death, similar to Li Luo earlier in the series. Xing Jiu, the only remaining comrade to survive the final battle and the King of Astrologers, is able to lock Ka Suo’s mind in a dream from 10,000 years ago during the first war. Ka Suo is trapped on Prisoner’s Rock with the Deicide. A sleet bird keeps crashing into the iceberg, splattering its blood. This has happened numerous times. Eventually, Ka Suo sheds a tear, which falls on the sleet birds’ blood, causing him to wake up.

What most viewers probably missed is that is how Ying Kong Shi was able to save Ka Suo. This is all speculation, but it seems the Blood Lotus requires the sacrifice of a king in order for it to grant its wish. Every single day, Shi transforms into a sleet bird and sacrifices himself on the rock either in Ka Suo’s dream or by traveling back in time 10,000 years to do it for real. That huge plot hole is never truly explained, and thus it could go either way.

In short, Ying Kong Shi suffered one of the saddest endings to give his brother the freedom he so desired. As for Ka Suo now being awake, he does not have to worry about being a King of the Three Kingdoms because Shi made it clear that the tribes now govern themselves for the peace.

Honestly, the ending pulled too many heartstrings for many C-drama fans. They at least wanted to see Yan Da have a happy ending because she suffers through the entire series, especially when it comes to the well-being of the man she loves, Ying Kong Shi. Leave it to the fact it is a C-drama for the ending to be ambiguously sad, something that is quite the norm.

Still, the fact Ice Fantasy was concluding was enough for it to place No. 1 among television network player rankings for China. According to VLinkage, Ice Fantasy is currently No. 1 with a playback volume of 11,846 in millions. This is good for the series because it hasn’t been No. 1 for the longest time overall losing to reruns of past C-dramas. Yet, it was still either No. 1 or two in its time slot and days aired most of the time.

Ice Fantasy previously aired on Hunan TV but might air as a rerun. However, many viewers might not have access to Chinese channels. Ergo, the C-drama can be watched for free, with ads, on both DramaFever and Viki.

[Featured Image by Hunan Broadcasting System (Hunan TV)]