The Legend of the Blue Sea — Ending Explained

The narrative resolves several core twists and conflicts:

• The Joseon Truth: Hypnosis in Episode 13 reveals that Dam-ryeong and Se-hwa died together underwater after Lord Yang launched harpoons at Se-hwa in the ocean and Dam-ryeong dove in to shield her.
• The Step-Family Murder Plot: Joon-jae’s stepmother, Kang Seo-hee (Kang Ji-hyun), is revealed to be a serial husband killer who uses wolfsbane poison to blind and murder wealthy men, resulting in Chairman Heo's death.
• The Stepbrother’s Downfall: Heo Chi-hyun protects his mother out of resentment toward Joon-jae. In Episode 19, he shoots at Joon-jae (intercepted by Shim Cheong) and later drinks his mother's hidden poison during interrogation.
• The Memory Erasure Twist & Finale: Cheong touches Joon-jae to erase his memories before returning to the ocean to heal her gunshot wound. However, Joon-jae had kept a hidden detailed diary. When Cheong returns 3 years later, she finds Joon-jae never forgot her; he becomes a prosecutor in a coastal town, where they marry and expect a child together.

The series offers multiple interpretive angles:

• Karmic Second-Chance Reading: The story can be viewed as a spiritual universe granting a soul pair a second attempt to settle karmic debt, right past wrongs, and achieve the peaceful resolution denied to them by historical injustice.
• Psychological Trauma & Projection Reading: Joon-jae’s visions of Dam-ryeong can be interpreted psychologically as manifestations of his suppressed childhood abandonment trauma, with the mermaid representing his unconscious yearning for unconditional, unblemished trust.
• Ecological Allegory: The contrast between the pristine ocean and human land represents nature’s pure, self-sustaining beauty versus humanity’s corruptive greed, materialism, and pollution.