Summaries

Synopsis

Set in the late 14th century, which was the dawn of Korea's Joseon Dynasty, we have a female captain of pirates, Hae-Rang (Han Hyo-Joo), who finds a treasure map (She raided Japanese pirates, who ship in Korean waters & found the map on the captain of the ship) that will lead her and her crew to a bounty of imperial gold that was stolen from the royal palace but lost at sea. On this ship, there is also a group of bandits (whom Hae-Rang rescued from sea), led by Wu Mu-Chi (Kang Ha-Neul). Wu Mu-Chi wants to lead the ship, but Hae-Rang asserts herself as the captain. Wu Mu-Chi steals the map and hides on an island, forcing Hae Rang to seek him out and forge an alliance. That is why there is a palpable uneasiness in their alliance.Hae-Rang's crew includes Akwi (Park Ji-Hwan), stone-fist maw of the pirates.Wu Mu-Chi's crew includes Kang-Seop (Kim Sung-Oh), Moo Chi's right-hand man. Mak-Yi (Lee Kwang-Soo), Mu-Chi's quarter master.

Mak-Yi steals the map from Mu-Chi and wants to sell it to the highest bidder. Hae-Rang and Mu-Chi join forces to track him down. Mak-Yi is confronted, and the map recovered, but Mu-Chi tries to steal it again. Hae-Rang and Mu-Chi agree to work with each other.

However, unknown to them, Bu Heung-Su (Kwon Sang-woo), a former officer of the Emperor's army, is also after the treasure which he has promised to bring to King Yi Bang Won (5th son of Yi Seong-Gye). With the riches, King Yi Bang Yon shall claim the throne of Joseon (Yi's half-brother Yi Bang-Seok, the 8th son of Yi Seong-Gye, was made the crown prince by his father, something which Yi believed he was destined for), and in return, he wants to be the King of Tamna.

What follows is the search for the treasure with Hae-Rang and Wu Mu-Chi on one side and Bu Heung-Su on the other. Both parties know the location of the treasure, which is on a perilous sea route, and inside a sea cave..

During the rise of the Ming dynasty, the royal court of the reigning Goryeo dynasty (of present Korea) split into two competing factions. One faction was led by General Yi Seong-Gye (who supported the Ming dynasty), and the other one was headed by his rival, General Choe (who supported the Yuan dynasty). In 1388, when a Ming messenger came to the Goryeo court to demand the return of a portion of its northern territory, General Choe made use of the anti-Ming sentiments to invade the Liaodong peninsula (belonging to the Ming dynasty) as a sign of retaliation.

King U, the ruler of Goryeo, thus ordered General Yi Seong-Gye to attack the new Ming dynasty despite the general's disagreement. Upon arriving with his troops at Wihwado island, Yi found himself outnumbered by the Ming's army. However, his support from the Ming officials (since he supported the Ming dynasty) made him take a decision that would forever change the course of Korean history. He decided to revolt against Goryeo and take control of the government. He attacked General Choe Young's army, which was defeated. And thus, Goryeo fell. (This is when the Goryeo generals, including General Joo Bang, realized the threat to the Imperial treasure and took it and hid it in the sea as shown in the beginning of The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure).

Here is the time-line that connects the two movies to make it easier:

. Beginning of "The Pirates" (2014) - General Yi Seong-Gye mentions that his army will turn back and attack general Choe Yeong and overthrow Goryeo in 1388.. Beginning of "The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure" (2022) - General Yi Seong-Gye turns his army around in Wihwado (The Wihwado Retreat), where the Goryeo generals steal the Imperial treasures and flee to the sea in 1388.. End of The Pirates (2014) - Yi Seong-Gye established Joseon in 1392.. End of The Pirates: The Last Royal: Wu Mu-Chi mentions that Goryeo has been rebuilt as Joseon.. End of The Pirates (2014) - Yi Seong-Gye received the Royal Seal from Ming in 1403.. There is another connection other than the ones mentioned above. At the beginning of the film, Wu Mu-Chi mentions that the spoon he was wearing was made from the Samcheok tree. The wood from this tree is being used to make pillars for the new palace of Gyeongbokgung.

At this point, one of his crew members mentions that it is the one that King Yi Seong-Gye is building at Hanyang before declaring it as the new capital of Joseon. In The Pirates (2014), Yi Seong-Gye ordered his men to recover the Royal Seal from a whale's stomach, only after which he would shift the capital. This point, as well as Wu Mu-Chi's mention of the Gyeongbokgung palace, is proof that King Yi Seong-Gye has decided to finally shift the capital and has begun preparations, something that he had mentioned doing in "The Pirates" (2014).

Hae-Rang and Wu-Mu Chi find the sea cave and find part of the treasure, with all silver pieces. Wu Mu-Chi insists that the royal treasure was made of gold. They find another map inside the cave. But that's when Bu Heung-Su attacks.

The first time Wu Mu-Chi and Bu Heung-Su meet (when their swords clash), they recognize each other clearly. And we are taken back to a time when both were warriors, probably in His Majesty Yi Seong-Gye's army. After a battle with the army of Tamna's enemy general, Yi Seong-Gye, ordered the evacuation of the wounded and the setting up of camp. Bu Heung-Su went against the order by killing his own men who were wounded because Yi Seong-Gye promised to make him the new king of Tamna once Bu Heung-Su brought him the head of the enemy general. His mere restlessness to become a king took over his conscience and turned him into a treacherous murderer. Wu Mu-Chi got him arrested for his treachery, and this gave birth to a life-long enmity between the two.

It is not made clear as to what happened to Wu Mu-Chi that turned him into a bandit. It may be that he lost his faith in his king, which is evident right at the beginning of the movie when he says that "his vision" (the king's foresight) never included what was right in front of his eyes. That he has given up his warrior self as a result of his king's materialistic choices is also evident when he poses the question of whether trees form the pillars of a thousand-year dynasty or the people whom the king is bound to serve. Be that as it may, he still has bravery in him.

As for Bu Heung-Su, he retained his hunger for power and kingship. This is the reason why he offered King Yi Bang Won (son of Yi Seong-Gye) the treasure and his "deserving" throne of Joseon. All Bu wanted in return was to become the king of Tamna, the very place whose king he was bound to be, had not Wu Mu-Chi had him arrested.

Their conversation during the fight also shows them taking a dig at each other. Bu Heung-Su asks Wu Mu-Chi, "Will you steal what is mine...?" By this, he not only points at the Imperial treasure but also reminds Wu Mu-Chi of how he stole Bu Heung-Su his throne (his real treasure). In reply, Wu Mu-Chi nods that he will so long as Bu Heung-Su yearns to possess that which is out of his reach i.e., the throne of Tamna. For him, Bu Heung-Su is a murderer and can never become a king.

Wu Mu-Chi escapes Bu Heung-Su and ensures that the silver treasure kept away from Bu Heung-Su. Wu Mu-Chi and Hae-Rang are swallowed by a whale, while escaping and deposited in their ship, after being thrown out of its blowhole. Bu Heung-Su gets the second map to the gold treasure.

Mak-Yi had looked at the map before escaping and says that the location of the treasure is the island of Inazuma, surrounded by storm clouds and lightning storms 1000 times a day. Mak-Yi knows the location having been there with Japanese pirates, back when he was a kid. Hae-Rang offers a 10th of the treasure for his knowledge.

Mak-Yi negotiates to be the captain of the pirate ship till the time the treasure is found. Mak-Yi is useless when the storms hit the ship and with the luck the crew reaches the Island. Bu Heung-Su is better prepared and hangs kites all around his ship to absorb the lightning strikes and his ship reaches the island unharmed.

Wu Mu-Chi and Bu Heung-Su a mountain top that is being stuck by lightening repeatedly. They find 12 spears with heads mounted on each. The heads are of the 11 founders of Joseon and General Choe. Bu Heung-Su takes out the spear with General Choe's head and the treasure is hidden underneath it. But the casket underneath reveals another map that says that there is another secret entrance to the treasure.In the ensuing fight, the map falls off the top and into the sea below where Mak-Yi finds it and finds the entrance to a cave that hides the ship with the treasure. The ship is guarded by penguins, who won't allow Mak-Yi to take the treasure. The ship sails out of the cave, where Hae-Rang and her crew take control of it.At the end of a long fight, Bu Heung-Su dies. Wu Mu-Chi is miraculously alive despite having a sword plunged through his chest. In any case, they ultimately get their hands on the imperial treasure.

At the end of the movie, Wu Mu-Chi, and Hae-Rang, along with their crew, claim the Imperial treasure. Goryeo is now Joseon under the reign of Yi Seong-Gye. So, they are free to settle wherever they want. From the looks of it, if there is another Pirates movie, it can include another event from Korean history, one that follows Joseon's establishment.For example, the Gihae Expedition, also known as the Conquest of Tsushima, occurred in 1419. The event fits the arc of the Pirates franchise since it involved Joseon's invasion of Japanese pirate bases on Tsushima Island.