“River Where The Moon Rises” has wrapped up its run earlier today to rave response from fans around the world.

The hit historical drama ended on a high note, and despite the many challenges the drama faced, it was able to not only overcome it but also rise even higher.

“River Where the Moon Rises” episode 20 was a huge tearjerker to fans, it was a bitter-sweat episode with many surprises.

Today, I am here to recap the finale of “River Where The Moon Rises” and talk about why fans loved the ending.

Note: the below recap will be focused on the main points and the highlights of “River Where The Moon Rises” episode 20, it is not a detailed recap.

HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD.

“River Where the Moon Rises” episode 20 recap

Lady Hae is speaking to her father who advice her to let go of Go Gun. He tells her he can see the end when she can’t and asks if there is ever a chance she’d let him go, she refuses.

Meanwhile, the central army has been dispatched with King Yeongyang heading the army to go and defend his sister and recover the Adan Fortress.

The advance party has broken through the east wall, On Dal and Pyong Gang are ready to fight with their team. They begin to battle at the fortress.

Meanwhile, Go Gun is ready to leave, Lady Hae tries to stop him from leaving but he refuses to hear her. He finds out she’s the one who burned the letter and finds out about what was written in it. She admits to it and says she wanted to prevent him from jumping to his death. He refuses to listen anyways and asks her to resent him and curse at him for the things he’s going to do.

King Yeongyang finds out his sister and the army were able to get back the fortress and tells his soldiers to hurry up so they could meet up there.

However, King Jinheung has arrived with so many soldiers and is surrounding the fortress. He sends a letter to On Dal and Pyong Gang asking them to forfeit. Knowing some of their soldiers are injured and they’re outnumbered, On Dal tells Pyong Gang to leave the place, its his order as the general in command.

She leaves with Tara Jin and the injured soldiers reluctantly. Meanwhile, Go Gun has arrived and is watching from afar. Pyong Gang tells Jin she can’t leave like this.

Meanwhile, Lady Hae’s father gets killed. Lady Hae then rushes to leave and go after her lover knowing well the end for him is near.

Pyong Gang decides to assassinate King Jinheung as he sleeps, Go Gun catches her and advice her against this disguising as if he’s betraying her. She is captured. The king scolds her saying she could be severely punished for doing this and asks Go Gun whether he should kill her, he agrees he should, but the king decides against it.

The king sends a letter to On Dal telling him his lady has been captured, and if he refuses to surrender, they’ll kill her. On Dal is seriously contemplating the ordeal and recalls what his father told him about protecting only what matters to him.

Meanwhile, King Jinheung orders his group to transfer Pyong Gang away from the place. Go Gun objects but is unable to do anything regarding it. As they’re traveling, he follows behind them and sees Lady Hae who tells him she’s come to protect him, her father was killed and he’s probably next.

Both decide to take on the army who is escorting Pyong Gang and tackle them, Lady Hae gets slightly injured.

Meanwhile, On Dal has decided on what to do, then he hears that King Yeongyang is headed towards them with an army of his own, he’s happy. King Jinheung finds out and he’s furious, he says, ‘we’re going to war.’ He also finds out Pyong Gang escaped, he kills the man who worked for him for failing to stop it. The king dispatches more soldiers to look for them.

Since Lady Hae is injured, they can’t go much further. Pyong Gang decides to send out an arrow with a colored powder asking for help knowing well On Dal will see it and come get them. However, it also means the army looking for them.

The death of General Go, how did he die?

Soon, the soldiers find them first, General Go gets badly injured fighting them off. On Dal arrives and takes care of it but its too late, General Go is dying.

General Go asks On Dal to take the princess and go. They leave. Meanwhile, Lady Hae stays by his side as he takes his last breathe. Lady Hae asks him if he’s ever loved her even for a moment, he says, ‘you were me in the most complete sense. You tried to have a man you couldn’t ever have.’ He asks her to not stop and to move on, he tells her, ‘I loved you.’ General Go dies.

The death of On Dal while he’s protecting his love

As they’re leaving, On dal and Pyong Gang hear victory drum sound, her brother has managed to defeat the army, so the couple settles down. They begin talking about their happy future together and how they should have seven kids. However, they get ambushed with soldiers who fire at them, On Dal pushes her away and takes the arrows by himself, he then goes down to protect her even more by blocking the arrows with his back. He begins to bleed and then dies in her arms.

Luckily, her brother’s army has arrived and kills the soldiers but its too late, On Dal is dead. Pyong Gang is utterly devastated by his death. They prepare to carry his body away, the carriage refuses to move and the soldiers are all crying their eyes out, Pyong Gang comes out and tells him he needs to go as he promised he would do everything she asked of him. They end up carrying his body away.

Later, the king and Pyong Gang have a conversation. He apologizes for misunderstanding her and for resenting her. She wishes him the best. He also tells her that after she’s done mourning his death years from now, she’s always welcomed back to the palace. They share sweet treat together before he leaves.

After some time

Pyong Gang decides to leave the palace for good. As she’s leaving and wandering around the market, she sees Lady Hae who appears to be doing better. Lady Hae tells her she’s borrowed money from her acquaintances to start a business and buy a house. Pyong Gang asks about General Go, Lady Hae says she’s buried him somewhere with lots of sunshine.

Did On Dal really die or not? How he managed to stay alive and trick everyone

Pyong Gang then wanders back to the places she’s been with On Dal recalling their life together. She goes back to his house, and is stunned to find him walking out of his room. He doesn’t recognize her and asks what she’s doing here. He leaves.

She sees Wol Gwang who explains to her that On Dal is alive after all, before leaving his house that day, he’s asked him for a favor. He wanted to learn how to fake being dead so when his life was at stake he could use it. Wol Gwang says the method was dangerous and since it can stop the body and soul from living, it can go terribly wrong if you’re inexperienced. Thus, he was able to come back to life but he’s lost all his memories and doesn’t recall anything.

Pyong Gang waits for him to come back and asks him to go somewhere with her hoping to bring back his memories. Eventually, she fails and they sit down somewhere. She shows him their matching bracelets. He asks her whether she knows his name, he’s able to guess it, she hugs him and he remembers her scent. She then kisses him and asks if he remembers, he begins to tear up and he kisses her back. It appears that he remembers her now.

The end.

So what did you guys think of “River Where the Moon Rises” ending? Did you like the finale?