Gods of Honour


Reviewed by: Princess Leona

April 14, 2008

Rating: four-point-five

Cast (Vietnamese name):
Benny Chan- Ly Na Tra
Michelle Yip- Duong Lien Hoa
Irene Wan- To Dac Ky
Yuen Wa- Ly Tin
Chin Ka Lok- Duong Tien
Yuen Kin Dan- Han Thap Nuongv Angela Tong- Lieu Bi Ba
Rain Lau- Dan Thiem Ngoc
Winnie Yeung- Wong Nhan

Plot (Warning! Spoilers!):
It started out with Na Tra's father Ly Tin. He went hunting for a magical deer (reindeer as some like to put it) and accidentally shot Benny (Na Tra later) instead. So Benny reincarnated and Han Thap Nuong (Yeun Kin Dan) was pregnant. She carried the child for three years and at a war she told her husband Ly Tin (Yuen Wa) that maybe she is just fat and not actually pregnant. But then in the middle of the battle, she felt the pain and have to go back to the camp site to give birth.

Ever since Na tra was born he didn't get along well with his father (maybe it's because he killed him in the last life). So they sent him to live in a temple. There he was so terrible that the monks all hate him. Then one day, they scared the crap out of Na Tra by dressing up as ghosts ( with his mother's permission of course) and then he behaved but was in a very bad condition. In order to comfort him, Thap Nuong gave him her shoes saying it will protect him.

Na Tra later get to go back to the Ly family because he showed that he have (hieu) respect for his father and mother. The Ly family was getting along just fine until the old king had a dream that Na Tra will kill his son. Ly Tin, because of his loyalty, compromised with his wife that he'll leave Na Tra in the woods called "Tiger Descending" (Phi Ho Gian) due to Tay Ba Ho saying that he could be save by the "tiger with wings". Na Tra is then found by Wong Phi Ho and then he ran away and met Duong Tien and Loi Tran Tu. Then they met a mountain god and he made them his servant. Every day the three try to beat up the mountain god so they can leave.

As time goes by they grew up and finally manage to beat up the mountain god. They figure out that he only did that so that they would be trained by the order of Nu Hoa Nuong Nuong.

Then they went to the city and met Tay Ba Ho who told them they need education for they could be Thien Binh Than Tuong Soldiers and General to the Gods. They join this school where they met Lien Hoa and found out she's really Duong Tien sister.

Back at the Ly family, due to an argument between the king and Ly Tin, the king orders Lieu Bi Ba to be married into the Ly family as Ly Tin's second wife. After being wedded into the family, she helps Thap Nuong find out that Na Tra is still alive (because she knows Thap Nuong is going to go and find him). After years of longing for her son she sets out to find him. Her actions causes the entire family to be unhappy.

At this time, due to Na Tra's playfulness, he meets the third sea dragon prince. The dragon prince falls for Lien Hoa. After a few encounters with the prince and Lien Hoa, in which she comes back crying every time, Na Tra then decides to stand up for Lien Hoa (since she is Duong Tien's sister). This decision leads to a battle between the prince and Na Tra. In this battle he discovers that the shirt that he had been wearing since birth has the ability to protect him from harm, and the bangle around his wrist has the capacity to grow and become a useful weapon for him to use against the dragon prince who once was defeated, flew away.

After that incident Na Tra was punished by Tay Ba Ho. Tay Bac Ho also predicted that if Na Tra continue to act like that then he would be in the greatest trouble. Na Tra also became dangerously arrogant after what happened. When he finally met up with his mother (without realizing it at first), he decided to listen to her because she could teach him magic.

Unfortunately, the Ly family have to go to war with the giant people and Lieu Bi Ba was sent to get Han Thap Nuong . Lieu Bi Ba lie to Han Thap Nuong so that she wouldn't go back. So Han Thap Nuong stay. After educating Na Tra she also tries to set him up with Lien Hoa by telling Lien Hoa that who ever she see behind a love rock shall be her future husband. She told Na Tra earlier that if he stand behing the rock it would make him stronger since he got the magical air behind it.

But then She had to leave to go back home to Ly Tin, who had lost in the battle with the giants. When she got home she found that her entire family, including her own two sons, had turned against her (due to Lieu Bi Ba's interference). Lieu Bi Ba, who now had power over the entire Ly family (including Ly Tin's sister and mother), put Thap Nuong through a series of tortures using the excuse that she should not have left home like that and it disrespected the Ly family. When she had managed to survive through the tortures she was accepted back into the family.

But she was treated with disrespect. Then Ly tin want to take the the three arrow Loyalties, Justices, and Respects and use it as weapon in a second round with the giant. They have to fight these fire bird and then they kept on getting hurt even though they led the Male away before they fought against the female. Han thap Nuong tries to tell Lieu Bi Ba don't led the male away but Lieu Bi Ba, being a smart alect, didn't hear all of Han Thap Nuong advice and told Ly Tin that "she" think they should led the female away instead of the male. Ly Tin did that and got hurt worse. Han Thap Nuong went to see Ly tin. At first they didn't want to hear what she got to say then Ly Tin say they should listen. Han Thap Nuong told Ly Tin that these to Bird are the move Loving Couple in the Universe. They love each other so much that if you led one away they would think you had kill it mate and fight you to the finish.

They finally got the three arrows due to Thap Nuong's advice and the family started to suck up to her. Everyone respected her more. But the king doesn't let Ly Tin go at the Giant again.

A few days later, Na Tra left to go to Trieu Kha to help the kingdom fight against the giant and then when they ask Lien Hoa to go too she was mad at the way Na tra treated her so she refused. Then Na Tra transforms into the Dragon prince to scare her and so Na Tra, Lien Hoa, and Loi Tran Tu went together.

A few days later, while Kim Tra and Moc Tra (Na Tra's older brothers), were patrolling the town, they saw a girl standing in the middle crying and two boys surrounding her. The girl that was crying was actually Lien Hoa and the two boys were Na Tra and Loi Chan Tu. Na Tra, who was already frustrated with Lien Hoa for crying, got even madder when Kim Tra and Moc Tra tried to interfere. They then fought each other. After beating his brothers, Na Tra and Loi Chan Tu went away because Lien Hoa said she was hungry and wanted to eat.

When Kim Tra and Moc Tra got home they were questioned about who beat them like that. After hearing the description that her two sons gave her Thap Nuong knew immediately who it was. She then set out to look for them but was unsuccessful. At this time, Ly Tin was working on three arrows that were meant to kill whoever was a threat to the kingdom. After hearing that his sons were beaten by two weird people he decided to go and shoot the arrows to see if they were any kind of a threat.

At first he shot one arrow that shot right through Na Tra, but fortunately caused no harm because he was wearing his special shirt. When the arrow came back to Ly Tin with a blood stain on the end of it, he then decided to shoot three arrows at the same time to be certain that the threat would be erased. Then the three arrows once again tried to kill Na Tra, just when all seemed lost, the Arrow of Justice saw that Na Tra would do something that is very righteous to help the people, so it fought back against the other two arrows, and decided to follow Na Tra. And became the weapon that he use (I have no idea what it is call in English but in Vietnamese it is call a Thuong.)

Na Tra, who was on the trail to see who had tried to kill him, met up with Thap Nuong. He finds out that the person that shot him was Ly Tin. Thap Nuong, with no idea of what to do next, decided that it was time to tell the truth about his identity. He got mad at his father and lost what little respect that he had for Thap Nuong. He decided to go and fight the 'giant' people himself. With the help of his mother, the king agreed to let Na Tra lead his own army to fight.

When he got to the battle field, Thap Nuong said that she had a strange feeling about the place, but Na Tra decided to ignore her. It turned out that the enemy had already set a curse on to the field for it not to rain and be incredibly dry, so that Na Tra's army would lack on resources that are needed to maintain good health to fight. Unknown to Na Tra, the dragon prince has been visiting Lien Hoa during this time. She tells the prince that if he can make it rain then she would marry him. A few days later, Na Tra was able to defeat the 'giant' people, and that night he celebrated his victory.

That night was also the night that Lien Hoa was due to marry the dragon prince, but with the help of Thap Nuong she was able to return to Na Tra. A few days later, Na Tra takes his army back to the kingdom and spends three days celebrating his victory in the palace with the king. After three days he sets out to go home where Lien Hoa is waiting, but before he gets home he meets Lieu Bi Ba, who insults him about Lien Hoa seeing the dragon prince behind his back, which he didn't know about. When he got home to see Lien Hoa he tried to question Lien Hoa but she wouldn't say anything which made Na Tra jump to conclusions about everything. He then went after the dragon prince, and unintentionally kills him.

All this time, Duong Tien had been at home with his father helping out with the family business, and after he 'supposedly' caused the death of his father. He is forced out of his home, where he meets Wong Nhan, and went to work for her in her household. This is where he develops a good relationship Win Nhan. But soon Win Nhan, who has the ability to see the supernatural, keeps seeing a young man who is always dripping wet following Duong Tien around. When she informs Duong Tien about this he gets scared and they both try to capture the young man. After one incident where they followed the ghost-like figure that only Wong Nhan can see, the figure starts writing words on the ground with a stick and water. Just as the figure started to write s something onto the ground, a voice calls out to Duong Tien, which interrupts the whole process. When the voice actually comes closer he sees that it is Thap Nuong and Lien Hoa. He finds out that Na Tra is dead and how he died.

After Na Tra killed the dragon price, he was captured by the imperial troops, even after managing to escape from them, he destroyed his physical being to repay the debts that he owed his parents. Then Win Nhan tells him that the person that she keeps seeing could be Na Tra. Finally, after much interruptions and hesitations, Na Tra finally gets his message out. They are to build a temple so people can look up to and worship Na Tra for a period of three years.

During this time, the king keeps seeing mirage of two extremely beautiful girls, and orders Ly Tin to go and find these two girls. On their way to find these girls, they meet up with Thap Nuong who is working in Na Tra's temple. Ly Tin talk to Thap Nuong and see that he still care for his first wife but didn't say so.

Then Lieu Bi Ba heard of this and decided to ruin it for Na tra by going in and breaking his statue, which causes all the years of time and patience to go to waste. But then a ghostly figure of Na Tra appears and tries to avenge his mother by beating up Lieu Bi Ba and his aunt. Ly Tin came to the rescue and lock Na Tra in the magical Temple. Han thap Nuong appears and say that he should give the key to her so that she could let Na Tra out but he refuses and this led to a battle that broke the love between them for 30 years.

They then took Na Tra back to Duong Tien place and when the last hope comes, Lien Hoa goes up the mountain to see if the master that helped them before could help them once again in saving Na Tra. In order to save Na Tra, he has to become a 'lotus person' for a period of time before he can back to being a human again. During the time that he was as still a plant he keeps seeing a butterfly come and visit him.

Later, he found out that the butterfly is Lien Hoa who agreed to become a butterfly for three years to be the servant to the master so that Na Tra could be resurrected.

Meanwhile, at the kingdom, the king's troops had found the two beautiful girls, who turned out to be daughters of one of the king's important councils. Their names were To Dac Ky and To Minh Huong. The king brings them into the kingdom against the wishes of his council.

At first, Dac Ky was a great girl who was kind and nice. But then the council kept on rejecting her as a concubine and they say that she would cause the end of Dai Khuong. So the king finally let Dac Ky and decided not to keep her but her sister instead. Later, due to the bad things that befell on her, she became evil. She listened to the fox devil and seduced the king and finally return with fame. She did the evil that were done to her ten-fold to those who treated her with evil.

Duong Tien got married to Wong Nhan and have to go to join the army to earn himself a little fame so that he could prove himself to his father-in-law. Na Tra is now a lotus person and decided to go with him because if he does enough good deeds he would be able to become human again. After they left, Duong tien's wife found out she was pregnant.

There they met Dang Thi Ngoc and then became her soldiers. Later, Na tra left to find Khuong Tu Nha for Han thap Nuong says that he could help.

At the kingdom, Dac Ky got out of hand and punished everyone who is against her and got the king under her absolute control. She later kills Tay Ba Ho oldest son because he doesn't have eyes for her and she seems to love him. Then she made Tay Ba Ho eat the meat saying that it is a deer. Tay ba Ho knew it was his son but in order to escape Dac Ky he ate it. But then Dac Ky found the letter that Tay ba Ho's son wrote to him and know that she has been tricked and tells the army to go after him. He was rescue by Ly Tin. Then he returns to his homeland and vomits and 12 rabbits came out-- one for each of the meatballs that he ate.

One day, when he when chasing after the rabbit he met Khuong Tu Nha who told him to fight the king back because he is a bad king who only cares about himself and his own entertainment. So they rise to the battle. They join hands with To than Duong. To Than Duong told them he is looking for a person with 3 eyes and who eat alot. Na Tra knew instantly it was Duong Tien and he was to be co-general. So did Loi Tran tu who was now Tay ba Ho's god-child. He was rescue by Tay Ba Ho after Na Tra and him got trap and Na Tra die in Trieu Kha.

They also find out the plot that Dang Thi Ngoc and her brother were trying to steal the Book of Knowledge. They have a battle with their master and they won powerful weapons and magical beasts from him and also restores Na Tra to a normal human.

There they started an army that is strong and stable. Khuong Tu Nha told Na Tra to go to the old master who help him to get a sword to kill Dac Ky. There he found Lien Hoa and took her along to Trieu Kha. The sword was marked in red and was told not to wipe it off, if not, it wouldn't be as powerful. Na Tra, on his way to Trieu Kha, found out that Ly Tin's second wife is a monster in disguise and give the sword to Ly Tin. Ly Tin, in denial, wiped off the red mark and put it under Lieu Bi Ba bed. She was in great pain but managed to leave by letting her spirit out to go and ask for help with the fox. The fox and her minions transform into doctors and told Ly Tin that Lieu Bi Ba is pregnant. Ly Tin broke the sword and causing Na Tra to be unable to fulfil his mission.

Khuong Tu Nha told them they have to plant sweet-potatoes until they harvest before they would fight. The king and Dac Ky then laugh at them in their palace saying in they're nothing but farmer. At this time Lieu Bi Ba also cause a bunch of trouble and each time Han Thap Nuong went to the rescue.

Dac Ky later kills a very loyal council in the kingdom and later she also got the Queen killed. This causes an outrage among the people and many join Khuong Tu Nha's army.

Then the battle start. Lieu Bi Ba got Dac Ky to send Ly Tin to fight. Ly tin kept on losing and finally she had enough and went out to war and then planned to let Na Tra hit her in her stomach so that Ly Tin will fight harder. Then she pretended to have a hard time giving birth and Han thap Nuong was ask to help. When she held the baby it turn into a fox and bit her. It is a curse that work like poison and this is also the cause of Han thap Nuong's death later on.

Ly tin lost and has to retreat. Lieu Bi Ba got worse when they came back. The Ly family then decided to go to over to Khuong Tu Nha's side and help Khuong Tu Nha's army. Later, when Na Tra went off to war, Han thap Nuong died. And this also caused him to fight harder.

The king went to war and because of his coward self they lost. Dac Ky killed him and became king. Na Tra and the others fought to Trieu Kha and in the end, they chopped off Dac Ky's head. They became god soldiers and generals like they wanted in the beginning and Lien Hoa became a butterfly. The Ly family went up to heaven and became gods. Loi Tran Tu became the Thunder god. Duong Tien lives with his wife and their children and grandchildren until he died and went up and became a god too.

Characters:
Benny Chan as Na tra
I think he was the perfect Na Tra. He acted out his role out perfectly. His acting as an ill tempered, young, arrogant lad was great. The changes in his character were perfect and I think you can't find a better Na Tra anywhere. The only thing that I don't like about him is that he was so dense. He didn't realize how much Lien Hoa care about him until the end when she turned into a butterfly. I think they make a very cute couple. Na Tra can't help but act like the way he did in the beginning. His parent left him, for goodness sake. I mean, any one would have acted the same if their parents did the same thing to them. It's understandable.

Irene Wan as To Dac Ky
The other series that I seen her in is Han Tinh Phan Kim Lien. She was bad in that series too. I can understand why though. But I think she is very good at acting nice though. People should try to understand her. She is only evil because they treated her with evil and they cause her the deepest pain she ever felt and in desperation, evil is where she turn. Maybe she would have been different if they did not reject her because of something as silly as a little fortune telling. The people have a saying "Muu Su Tai Thien, Thanh Su Tai Nhan" meaning the gods give the plan but we human are the one that make it possible.

Yuen Wa as Ly Tin
To me, this character seemed to be more of a follower then a leader. He was constantly under the control of his second wife, or his mother or his sister, who was an absolute horror. It was so obvious that he was afraid of them. He seemed to be wise but never had the guts to show it. He could never make up his mind on what to do about his wives and was hopeless leaving the fate of his family in the hands of a woman. He hurt himself, his first wife, and also his children and he is to stupid to see that people can change. Like How Na Tra changes so much. He is too foolish. Most of the time I want to put my hands around his neck and squeeze as hard as I could.

Yuen Kin Dan as Han Thap Nuong
This character is very touching . She is so nice. She scarified everything for her family. Later, she lost her life due to Ly Tin's stupidity. She deserves an honor just for that. Because of her children she'll do anything. She is a wonderful mother and a wonderful wife. Yet she suffered so much. I mean, everyone was gaining up on her. Na tra treated her badly in the beginning and then the stupid Ly family. Whenever they're in trouble they call on her for help and when they're safe they treated her like crap. I felt sorry for her and I even cried when she die.

Michelle Yip- Duong Lien Hoa
I really like this character. She was sweet, kind, considerate, and gentle. I felt sorry for her though. She scarified so much for Na Tra and he didn't even know. She also makes a very good Man Lai Guan in her new series Eternal Happiness.


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