Review: Magnificent Century, Season 4 (Muhteşem Yüzyıl 4) (2013-2014)

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I’m finished!!!!!! This show was really epic. I’m used to 60-80 episode palace Cdramas but Magnificent Century was even longer than that and it gave us a show that will take a lot of effort to replicate.

This was a fantastic show for lovers of political thrillers. It also included explored very complex relationships between characters in the royal family and court. The production value was terrific. And all of these combined to create a historical show that I feel will definitely stand the test of time.

Spoilers.



Story

So much happened in this season! Last season ended with Mehmet’s death and Hurrem being released from her kidnapping. I really wished we’d seen more of a fallout from Mehmet’s death. He was the ideal choice for the heir to the throne, in the eyes of both Suleyman and Hurrem. That was why Mahidevran had him killed. And yet Mahidevran never had to pay for it, at least not in her mortal life. I especially wished we’d seen more of a fallout considering the magnitude of the fallout from Mustafa and Cihangir’s deaths.

This season focused much more on the struggle between the princes. With Mehmet out of the way, Mustafa was the best candidate for the position of next sultan as he ruled justly and the people loved him. However, his father was suspicious of his growing power, and Mustafa did not do enough to appease his father, which unfortunately is part of the game.

The beginning of the season built up to Suleyman’s execution of his own son. Mustafa while a good ruler, continued to do small things here and there that went against bureaucratic order. Suleyman discovered the sublime state which was a huge threat to his power. The fact that Mustafa tried to disband them only helped a little. Suleyman’s own janissaries were loyal to Mustafa which was another big problem, and Hurrem’s frame job was just the final straw. While Suleyman knew that it was wrong for a father to kill a son, he wanted to let the politician side of him win. If he killed Mustafa, he’d no longer have to worry about his power being usurped. In the end, he allowed himself to kill Mustafa.

From then on, Suleyman became a different person. The whole political landscape changed, since the people now knew that their sultan was a man capable of killing his own child. In the aftermath of Mustafa’s deaths, were Mihrunissa’s suicide and also Suleyman presumably killing Mehmet (“taking him to Bursa”). He also later married off Nergissah, leaving Mahidevran alone with Fidan and Yusuf.

After Suleyman killed Mustafa, Cihangir did not eat and died from grief. Cihangir’s death hit in a different way because Cihangir was young and innocent. His only crime was loving a brother, and he’d never done anything to purposely hurt anyone. Hurrem and Mihrimah said that no one who lived under the dome of the palace was innocent. But I truly think that everyone believed Cihangir to be innocent. Cihangir’s death was a reminder to everyone to be careful with lives.

Then the conflict between Selim and Bayezid ramped up. Hurrem and Mihrimah could only do so much, especially since they were both allied with Bayezid. Suleyman decided that Selim was his successor. Maybe it was because Bayezid was impulsive and rash, despite Suleyman claiming that Bayezid was most similar to him. Maybe it was because Selim was good at appearing obedient to his father.

Hurrem’s impending death came next. At that time, she realized she could only do so much for the world. She’d already done all that she could. She just left her children with parting words, urging for them not to fight. She left money to build a bathhouse so that women could go there to forget their worries. She sought forgiveness for herself so that she would face judgment. And she spent her last days in love with Suleyman.

After Hurrem died, it was only a matter of time before Selim and Bayezid ramped the fuck up. Selim goaded Bayezid into battle. Bayezid attacked, but Selim had his father’s help. As well, Suleyman convinced Bayezid’s allies to help Selim instead. Bayezid escaped to the Safavids with his four sons. Tahmasp negotiated with both Suleyman and Selim for Bayezid’s release. Suleyman wanted Bayezid alive, while Selim obviously wanted Bayezid so he could kill him. Selim borrowed as much money as he could to get to Bayezid first, and subsequently had him and four of his sons killed.

By the end, Suleyman had become old and gray. He had lost so much of his humanity. With Bayezid’s death, Gulfem finally gave up on Suleyman. And after forming a relationship with Murad, Mihrimah figured she could only do so much now. Selim had won, her only hope would be that Murad would rule well.

Suleyman was only left with the one thing he had prioritized in his life: his power. Murad, with the help of Mihrimah, reminded Suleyman of his greatness. Suleyman’s final departure was compared to a wedding. Suleyman was happy. And while Suleyman yelled at the doctor for saying that he could die at war, I personally think he hoped to die at war. War was uncomplicated for him, while the palace was complex and full of suffering. The show ended with Suleyman’s death, and Selim’s ascent to power.

This season was extremely gruelling. It focused a lot more on Suleyman and his princes, the relationships between sultans and princes, fathers and sons. He did an unspeakable thing, to kill one child, and let two more of them die. It changed him forever. He only ever really found a bit of his heart with Mihrimah and when he rekindled his love with Hurrem. But he confirmed to himself and to us that he would always be a ruler first.

I don’t know about the history, so I don’t know how people nowadays see Selim as a ruler. Bayezid insisted that he’d only be known as a drunk and a traitor. But he’s on the throne, and he sets the rules. Wikipedia tells me Selim was known as a drunk but that Nurbanu was also a powerful sultana. This show definitely got me interested in Ottoman history.

In general, this show had terrific writing. As mentioned, I was already used to long-form political dramas. But what set this drama apart was its length, and so it managed to portray things a little differently. What impressed me was the amount of time spent on developing the personalities and relationships of the various characters, from the sultan and sultanas to the younger generation of sehzades and sultanas, to the servants. In palace cdramas, I al ways wished I’d gotten to get a better look into the lives of princesses, and I was very happy to see that here in Magnificent Century. The relationships between the servants was a great way to fill out the show too.

That being said, I think people who aren’t used to political dramas may not love the story so much. After all, politics is not about the hero winning. The hero does not win. Hurrem technically won, but Mihrimah thinks she lost. Nurbanu thought she won, but Gazanfer reminds her that the challenge is to stay at the top. Those who want the hero to win would be disappointed, but that’s politics, baby!

Production

The production was good as always. I’m starting to realize that one of the reasons that this show holds up as a historical drama is because the costume and set budget are good. The clothing and accessories never look cheap and there are enough variety in sets for us to believe that the story is taking place all over the sultanate.

The acting was pretty good. Notably, the biggest change in cast was Hurrem’s actress being replaced. I thought this portrayal of an older Hurrem was pretty solid; she was a little calmer and wiser but no less passionate. Otherwise, the actor for Suleyman, Gulfem, and Mahidevran are the only actors I can think of off the top of my head who have been here since the first season. I thought the way they adapted to their roles as their characters grew old and jaded was pretty good. Mahidevran was as expected, very bitter and hateful. However, I think the biggest challenges came with Suleyman’s character, as he grappled with the guilt and struggled between being a father and a politician.

Characters

Hurrem

Our beloved main character. I’ll be honest, I actually preferred this version of Hurrem to the previous ones, mostly because a calmer female protagonist is what I tend to expect for palace dramas. The actress who played Hurrem in the first three seasons showed us a very dramatic and fiery Hurrem which in my opinion did set her apart. Suleyman fell in love with that fiery, passionate woman. As a schemer, however, she was a bit too obvious at times. This older Hurrem felt more like a schemer to me.

I felt cheated that we didn’t get to see Hurrem mourn for Mehmet because he was the golden child. He was the sehzade that both Hurrem and Suleyman could agree on. Especially since he was killed by Mahidevran, his death would have given Hurrem a clear reason to come out guns blazing against Mahidevran. I guess it was because Mehmet’s death was overshadowed by Hurrem’s disappearance, and when she returned, the story focused on that. But throughout this season, I felt it a bit odd whenever Hurrem would not mention Mehmet in conversations about her kids. Maybe it was implied that his death had happened a long time prior.

During this season, there were immense power struggles between Hurrem and her own children. In the first part of the season, she struggled against Mustafa who had Mihrimah, Bayezid, and Cihangir on his side. I think that Hurrem knew that Mustafa was a good ruler. But as she said in her one conversation to Mustafa, his only crime in her eyes was that he was not her son. And so she had to burn him to the ground to assure survival for her own sons. Even before Cihangir died, I think that Hurrem felt the negative impact when Mustafa died. First of all, she had watched Mustafa grow up. To her, Mustafa will always be a child. Second of all, this was a clear frame job. Mustafa never had any correspondences with the Safavid Dynasty. Hurrem, with the help of Mihrimah and Rustem, had completely fabricated it. And it was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Suleyman, who was already suspicious of the growing power of Mustafa, including the sublime state. But one cannot help but see it as the reason why Mustafa died.

I think the writers wanted us to think that Hurrem blamed Suleyman for the death of Cihangir, but I don’t think that was really what was going through her mind. Maybe on the surface, she did blame him for not caring for him. But deep down inside, I think she knew that Cihangir was so set in his beliefs that it would have been tough for anyone to calm him down from his grief.

Apparently, Hurrem had always wanted Bayezid for the throne (after Mehmet died). During the struggle against Mustafa, Hurrem had sided with Selim, as he was the only sehzade who didn’t throw his entire support behind Mustafa. However, after Mustafa died, Hurrem said that she had only allied with Selim to defeat Mustafa and now circumstances were different. And then she continued to support Bayezid.

I felt Hurrem was a bit of a hypocrite when she insisted she didn’t want the sehzades fighting each other, yet clearly propped Bayezid up for the throne. I know her wish was that Bayezid would ascend the throne, that he would allow Selim to live, and that they would live happily ever after. However, she never really did manage to mediate a good relationship between Selim and Bayezid. No one ever did. And when it came to either absolute power or death, it was hard for most people to see a happy balance. It was a pipe dream for Hurrem. She was the only one keeping the sons from killing each other, if only by sheer will, and when she left, no one could keep them from fighting each other, not even their father or sister.

In Hurrem’s dying days, she made her preparations. She gave her last words to convince her sons though that did little. She also had some words for Nurbanu. Hurrem hated Nurbanu for pushing Selim to act against his brother, even if she had to manipulate Selim to do it. After all, Hurrem didn’t want her sons killing each other. But I think Hurrem kind of knew that Nurbanu had to forge her own path for her own power. Nurbanu explained that when Hurrem came to Suleyman, Suleyman was already the Sultan of the world, but Selim is just a sehzade right now, and Nurbanu had to secure his future and the future of her children. Hurrem reminded her that if she was going to do that, she’d have to walk through fire to do it. At that point, Hurrem was dying, and she knew that all she could leave with people were words. She couldn’t stop Nurbanu from doing anything anymore, she could just hope that her sons loved her enough to stop (which they didn’t).

Hurrem wanted to spend her last days in love with Suleyman, which she did. Honestly that’s kind of the best way to go. It was when Suleyman finally left Hurrem a love letter that Suleyman found out about her illness. She indulged him and went to doctors and such but she didn’t have much hope. She just wanted to spend her remaining days with her love.

This doesn’t come up a lot, but a lot of the women of the sultanate loved Hurrem too. She’d funded charities and foundations to support women and children who were in need. And when they found out she was ill, many came to visit her to pay their respects. I don’t know too much about Turkish culture, but I wonder if people now remember her that way. Yes, as a cutthroat woman, but also as a woman who supported the common woman. When she was soon to die, death came to Hurrem as a phoenix. The phoenix tended to represent Hurrem because she’d come back from death so many times. At the time, Hurrem breathed a sigh of relief because if death came to her as something beautiful rather than a monster, then perhaps her good deeds outweighed her sins.

Hurrem’s legacy is undeniable. But none of this could have happened if she didn’t have Suleyman’s love. I was talking with a friend about how Suleyman had made many exceptions for Hurrem. Suleyman officially married Hurrem, which was not allowed. Suleyman had several sons with Hurrem, which was not the custom. But with this much power, Hurrem was able to do things that other concubines might not have been able to do. After all, the concubines, no matter how powerful, were still slaves. But Hurrem was a free woman, and so people saw her differently. And with her power and wealth, she propped up other women too.

As a character, she was different from what I typically expect from a female protagonist in a palace drama, but I thought her character was interesting. She had gotten her name because she had made Suleyman laugh, and so her being dramatic was important to her character. I will say however, that her character did have more plot armour than I’d like. Much of her power came from the fact that Suleyman loved her, and so there were double standards imposed, in which Suleyman would forgive her for some transgressions that other concubines were not forgiven for. I’d say that was one flaw of her character. But overall, very iconic character.

Suleyman

Suleyman was always a main character, but he had a bigger focus for sure in this season, considering the story shifted to the sehzades, whose job for now is building power while appeasing their father.

Mustafa had been Suleyman’s golden child until he “lost his innocence.” Once Mustafa began accumulating power, he became a political rival. The reason why Mehmet became Suleyman’s golden child was because Hurrem had kept him in the Capital for as long as possible and he never got the chance to build political power. He was assigned to Manisa, but Mahidevran had him killed soon after. And that left Suleyman with Mustafa, Selim, and Bayezid.

Mustafa had always been Suleyman’s biggest worry. As the oldest, he naturally spent the longest building his political power. He knew that the people loved him, that the janissaries loved him. For the most part, he sort of knew that Mustafa was loyal to him. But if Mustafa were ever to change his mind, Suleyman would surely be done for. With his investigation into the sublime state, I felt that Suleyman was perhaps looking for reasons to get rid of Mustafa, to cut off his power supply. And as mentioned, the frame job was just the final straw to push Suleyman.

Suleyman carried guilt about Mustafa. Not necessarily because he knew Mustafa was innocent. But because he knew he was a father. No matter how naughty a child is, does that warrant a father killing them? Why couldn’t Suleyman just exile Mustafa? The fake letter from Mustafa to the Safavids suggested that Suleyman be exiled, but the Safavids wrote back saying that Suleyman should be killed. It was because of the possibilities. Again, as long as support for Mustafa remained, no matter where he was, he could come back and fight. And so Suleyman had him killed.

This was the biggest turning point in the show, when everything changed. Suleyman was no longer just the Sultan of the World, he was also a father who would kill his own sons for power. He became cold and heartless.

Cihangir was so distraught that he died of grief, not wanting to believe in a world where a father could kill a son. Suleyman’s guilt with regards to Cihangir was different from his guilt about Mustafa. He too thought of Cihangir as innocent, but Cihangir’s death was almost the one thing that he couldn’t control. Mahidevran and Gulfem both said that everything that happened was the will of Suleyman. Did Suleyman kill Cihangir? Technically not, but he did by killing Mustafa which in turn killed Cihangir. It was just that Cihangir slipped his mind when he was so focused on Mustafa.

Hurrem and Suleyman briefly rekindled their romance. It had come after Hurrem had continued to open her heart, and Ferhat had encouraged Suleyman to do so as well. Suleyman finally succumbed and wrote Hurrem a love letter. His last days with Hurrem were probably the last he’d ever had of peace. Everybody in the palace got along for the sake of Hurrem. And after that, it was back to darkness for Suleyman.

Selim became Suleyman’s favourite, while everyone else preferred Bayezid. Like Mustafa, Bayezid didn’t properly manage his relationship with his father, often letting his anger get the best of him. Yes, Selim was a snake, but he worked to appease his father. When Selim and Bayezid came to blows, I think Suleyman had no qualms about helping Selim because he said he considered Bayezid a rebel. Suleyman negotiated with the Safavids for Bayezid’s life, but while he refused to bend to the Safavids, Selim scrambled to please them with enough money because he prioritized getting rid of Bayezid more than Suleyman prioritized his life. Gulfem said that Bayezid wouldn’t have died if Suleyman hadn’t let it happen. Maybe it was true.

Mahidevran saw Suleyman at the market as an old man, and she said that he used to be a sultan of sultans, but now he was just known as a father who killed his sons. Suleyman became a bitter old man who held onto his pride. It was all that he had, because he had decided to prioritize his power over his family. And so with his last breath, Suleyman set off for war, so that he would go in glory.

Suleyman’s character arc was one of my favourite parts of this show. The way he descended into paranoia and then finally just became the cold politician who put power before his own children. He’d held his children as babies, and he held them in his arms as they passed. That was the price for his power. Was it worth it? Mahidevran asked what Suleyman had won out of killing Mustafa. Is a sultanate something you can hold and touch? Even then, as Suleyman aged, he was insulted by the people of being cruel, of supporting his drunkard son, etc.

Suleyman suffered from gout in his old age. I think he felt that the fact that he had to live with gout was perhaps a punishment for his wrongs. And maybe that was why he held onto life, because that was the one way he could repent. I don’t think he feared death. He knew that he had to answer for all the lives he had taken. But he’d take punishment while here in the mortal realm as well.

I’ll talk about this below, but Suleyman’s spirituality is interesting too. He wrote to Ebussuud often to get advice when he was going to do drastic things like killing Ibrahim, Mustafa, or Bayezid. But even after he was in the clear, he knew he’d never be clean of his killings. And like with the situation of the washing the tree with lime and killing the ants, Suleyman prepared to answer for the innocent lives he took.

This story started as a harem drama and in most harem dramas, the men are kind of annoying lol. Rather, ruler characters are usually more interesting as fathers, and I love that we got a really good look into his role both as a ruler and a father.

Mustafa

Oh boy. I don’t even know where to begin. Mustafa was Suleyman’s eldest son. As a child, I thought he was very cute. We saw him grow up, go through his bratty phase in which he learned that he couldn’t use his power irresponsibly. He grew up to be a just ruler. But like many just politicians, Mustafa had some naivete in him. Despite his mother being Mahidevran who was just as scheming, Mustafa remained naïve (as Mehmet did).

Mustafa neglected the fact that his father was also a politician, the supreme politician of the land. Instead, he saw Suleyman as a father first. Which most children should do, but as a sehzade, Mustafa had to be different. Even his father taught him, sehzades had to be ready for every possibility.

Mustafa did not tamp down the praise around him. It got out of control, to the point that people were openly calling him the next sultan, and even forming the sublime state that planned to put Mustafa on the throne even at the cost of rebellion. Mustafa was loyal to his father always, but he didn’t do enough to appear subservient to him. Mustafa told the sublime state to disband, but they did not and continued their activities; perhaps it would have worked in Mustafa’s favour if he had executed the head of the sublime state instead, as that would show Suleyman Mustafa’s loyalty.

If we go back to previous seasons, we could see situations in which Mustafa would act against his father’s orders in the name of justice. While Suleyman approved of his just nature, he would warn Mustafa against breaking order, that he had to follow the correct procedure. These types of situations continued to happen during Mustafa’s adulthood.

I’d say that Mustafa’s only purposeful act of defiance against Suleyman was when he married Mihrunissa. Even before with Helena, Mustafa yielded to Suleyman and sent her away. But perhaps it was because Mahidevran approved the marriage and pushed them together that Mustafa finally went ahead with it.

In the incident with the poisoned caftan, Mustafa approached Suleyman, telling him to kill him directly if he was going to do so. Then, the two cleared up their misconceptions, and Suleyman promised that he would not kill his son. Mustafa took that naively and believed his father would never kill him.

The combination of Suleyman finding out about the sublime state, and Hurrem planning the frame job was what did it for Mustafa. His father had always been skeptical of his power, and he was suspicious of the sublime state even though he did hear reports that Mustafa had tried to disband them. But the (false) evidence of Mustafa planning a rebellion against Suleyman with the help of the Safavids was too much. I don’t think Suleyman necessarily needed the evidence to be true, but it was evidence that it could happen, that Mustafa (who had the loyalty of his own janissaries), could overthrow him if he so suddenly decided.

The episode leading up to Mustafa’s death was so intense. All of Mustafa’s family and friends wanted to keep him back in Amasya. I still remember when Mihrunissa was telling Mustafa that all of the plants and animals in the world were begging him not to go to his death, because they loved him so much. And it was true, all the people of the land loved him. But Mustafa wanted to believe that his father would not kill him. Even when the janissaries blocked his path so that he could not enter his father’s camp, he ordered them aside. Mustafa would rather die as an innocent man, than to stay alive and be thought of as a rebel. All of the janissaries were ready to rebel as soon as Mustafa entered the camp; however their plans were thwarted by Rustem. In the unfortunate circumstances in which Suleyman would kill him, Mustafa wrote a letter to his father, telling him that he had killed an innocent man, an innocent son.

The death of Mustafa was huge to the story, precisely because he was killed by his own father. It showed us that there was no love even among fathers and sons, not when power was at stake.

Mustafa’s only crime from a narrative standpoint was that he was not Hurrem’s son. If he was, Hurrem would have fought tooth and nail for him. And from the standpoint of real life, Mustafa’s crime was that he wasn’t cutthroat enough to be subservient to his father. If he’d killed any person who dared lift him to the heavens over his father, maybe his father never would have doubted him.

Mihrimah

Mihrimah was Hurrem-lite. Though she supported her mother, her mother tried as much as she could to keep Mihrimah out of her dealings.

Mihrimah did start to try to scheme on her own, particularly when it came to her personal enemies. She considered Fatma a personal enemy as Fatma tried to get in between her and Rustem. Not that Mihrimah liked Rustem, but she understood they were more powerful together. However, when Mihrimah tried to go after Fatma, it backfired because she didn’t plan it well enough.

That being said, Mihrimah was angered to want a divorce from Rustem. She’d put up with him for years, and she was finally fed up. Hurrem opposed it, again because of the power they wielded together. Suleyman listened to Mihrimah, but asked her to think on it while he went to war against Tahmasp. During that war, Mihrimah ordered that Alqaz Mirza died, though he was gotten rid of another way.

Mihrimah and Rustem’s relationship finally hit their end with Senor Pedro. Mihrimah had gotten rashes and Senor Pedro was a doctor who came to treat her. Rustem was extremely insecure and jealous about Mihrimah so he only let Senor Pedro treat her while wearing a blindfold and applying ointment with a brush. Mihrimah got fed up and asked Senor Pedro to treat her normally. She did fall in love with him. After all, he was the few young men she ever spoke to and he was good-looking and gentle and fun-loving. Lots of things that Rustem wasn’t. But Mihrimah couldn’t run away with him. She was realistic that way. She knew that her family relied on the power coming out of her marriage. She knew that she couldn’t leave her father who had no one else to talk to.

Mihrimah finally decided to have Rustem killed when she realized that his power would not help anymore. He’d promised Hurrem to help Bayezid to the throne, but he’d defected (and tried to repent for his sins). Thus, Mihrimah did not need his power anymore. Not even divorcing him, she arranged for him to be killed, though his death was covered up as dying from poisonous diarrhea.

In later years, Mihrimah built a relationship with Murad to fuck with Nurbanu. She trained an Albanian slave to pretend to be Venetian to scare Nurbanu, since a fortune teller had told Nurbanu that a child born of a Venetian woman would become sultan. As well, Mihrimah gave Murad pointers to get in her father’s good books. It was Murad who inspired Suleyman to go to war once more, to leave this world happily.

Afterwards, Mihrimah decided to leave the palace. She said that she’d lost, because Selim and Nurbanu had already risen to the top. All she had hope for was for Murad and her planted concubine Safiye. In my opinion Mihrimah was tired, but we never know if she’s ever going to come back like several of Suleyman’s sisters did. One thing is for sure is that Mihrimah held considerable power, as the sole daughter of Suleyman and Hurrem.

Selim

I’ll be honest, I was originally team Selim. From youth, we saw that Bayezid and Selim fought a lot, but Bayezid was always the one who boasted, the one who broke order. Selim wasn’t as smart or a good fighter, but he had the wisdom to listen to his father who was the sultan of the world.

As they grew older, I felt bad for Selim because all of his siblings sided with Mustafa. He understood where his mother was coming from and that was why he asked for her support as they tried to take down Mustafa. However, she low key betrayed him by retracting her support when Mustafa was out of the question, and to go back to supporting Bayezid. At that point, Selim realized that he had to carve out his own path. He had to eliminate all of his competitors no matter how hard it was, like his mother did, even if she chose not to see what he was doing.

Selim was a drunk, and he continued to drink when he was stressed. I looked him up and he was legitimately known as Selim the drunk.

Nurbanu charmed her way into Selim’s heart. At first, Nurbanu babysat Selim a lot so that he would get serious about survival. After all, his survival was Nurbanu’s survival. Where their relationship took a turn was when Nurbanu started pushing her authority to encroach on Hurrem’s. She started scheming behind Hurrem’s back, particularly against Bayezid and Huricihan. Initially, Selim fell for her tricks, believing that Bayezid was scheming when in fact it was Nurbanu’s shenaniganery. But over time, we saw that Selim grew to be the snake that Bayezid called him. Yes, Nurbanu played tricks, but Selim allowed it because she helped ensure his survival and power.

When Bayezid was held hostage by the Safavids, Selim raced to get Bayezid released into his hands, because he could not trust his father to kill Bayezid. He did it himself. And one could say it was Suleyman’s fault for not trying as hard as Selim. Selim did grapple with killing Bayezid and his four sons, but he did it in the end.

There was a subplot where Nurbanu had stolen Hurrem’s ring, the one that Suleyman had gifted her when they first fell in love. At the time, Selim had taken the ring from her and told her to stop getting involved in trouble as he was gearing up for war. But we saw later on that he had given the ring back to Nurbanu, showing that he accepted her by his side.

While Mihrimah sowed some seeds of distrust between Selim and Murad, Murad was mostly unaware of this. And since Mihrimah left, Selim for now felt comfortable enough that he and Murad would rule together well. The show ended with Selim ascending to become the sultan, as his father did in the very first scene of this show.

Bayezid

I initially didn’t like Bayezid. He was a brat who always boasted about being a better fighter. He knew how to fight, but he didn’t understand order. When he grew up, he retained a lot of the same characteristics, being a hothead. And he continued to make bad decisions against the advice of his mentor Mustafa, such as marrying Huricihan.

Bayezid was firmly allied with Mustafa. Like Mustafa and Cihangir, he had a bit of naivete about him. He truly believed that Mustafa would not kill him when he ascended. When Suleyman went out to meet Mustafa, he designated Bayezid as regent. It was so that Bayezid would not be there when he killed Mustafa.

Despite urgings from his mother, Bayezid considered Mustafa more of a brother than he ever did Selim. He told Hurrem that brotherhood was more than just blood. Bayezid mourned Mustafa’s death deeply, going to Bursa to his funeral, despite Mahidevran being irate at seeing him there.

Cihangir’s death was another blow. It united the siblings briefly, but very briefly. After the mourning period was over, he was back on the offense against Selim. Selim began goading Bayezid, and Bayezid fell for it. He took advantage of a lot of Mustafa’s old supports to gather his own, but he neglected the fact that his father had openly thrown his support behind Selim. Despite his father’s repeated opportunities for him to be forgiven, Bayezid was intent on killing Selim whom he considered a snake.

By the time Bayezid launched his war on Selim, Mihrimah was his only support, and she could only donate money. Overpowered by Selim with the armies of Suleyman and Bayezid’s ex-allies, Bayezid went to the Safavids, the only ones who could offer him a place to stay, though Bayezid soon realized that Tahmasp was holding him as a hostage. Bayezid was skeptical of his deals with Suleyman and Selim and planned on fighting back against Tahmasp. It was revealed that Tahmasp had dispersed his army (upon instruction by Suleyman). However, Tahmasp did not follow through with Suleyman’s deal and went with Selim’s part way through because Selim offered more money.

Selim explained to Bayezid that he was securing his children’s future, just as Bayezid was. Selim asked if Bayezid would beg for his children’s safety. Bayezid did, but Selim still had him and his four sons killed. Upon death, Bayezid told Selim that he would only be known as a drunk and a traitor.

I guess overall, Bayezid was naïve and just but rash and impulsive. His naïve and just heart made him a good ideal leader, but it made him impractical and unbendable. I also thought it was unfair that Hurrem and Mihrimah so openly supported Bayezid over Selim. They claimed to love both of them but that kind of wasn’t true. And I wasn’t even sure if Bayezid necessarily deserved it over Selim.

I actually wondered if Bayezid or if any of his sons were going to make it out of this alive. But then I remembered the deaths of Mehmet and Mustafa. And I remembered that this show was based on history. And I realized we weren’t going to get that hero story but the brutal political one.

Cihangir

Cihangir was Hurrem’s youngest child. He was a hunchback, and in poor health, so the entire royal family doted on him. Because of his poor health, he was written off as a possibility for the throne. He was in the same boat as Mihrimah as members of the royal family with no power. However, for the most part it seemed he had even less power than Mihrimah, though it might have just been due to age.

From a young age, Cihangir was intelligent, and as an adult he was a dreamer. He loved poetry and love. It broke his heart when he found out his crush Huricihan was in a relationship with Bayezid. But he loved Bayezid, and he loved Huricihan, and it only made sense to him to let them be happy together.

Because Cihangir was a dreamer and a little naïve, it was natural that he gravitated to Mustafa who was just. Cihangir even defied his mother openly and sided with Mustafa. Cihangir too believed that a father would not kill a son and he was overjoyed when Suleyman gave him that vague answer that he misinterpreted. And Cihangir had passed on that mistaken message to Mustafa. Since Suleyman knew Cihangir’s affection for Mustafa, he had him sent away on a hunt when Mustafa was to be executed.

Cihangir was devastated when Mustafa was killed. It turned his world beliefs upside down. Cihangir couldn’t handle living in a world where a father would kill a son. He refused to eat, refused to take his medicine. Soon, only opium could take away his pain, and it was with opium that he eventually died.

Cihangir’s death somewhat united Selim and Bayezid, if only for a moment. He was the only one of the family that all considered innocent. But perhaps it was a price that all had to pay, for taking away Mustafa from the world.

Murad

Murad was Selim’s son by Nurbanu, and his only son at the time of the show’s end. During war between Selim and Bayezid, Murad had shot Bayezid with an arrow, showing that he clearly stood with his father. He would not hesitate in supporting Selim.

Murad really only became a character in the very last episode. He was the last of Suleyman’s male grandchildren to survive. And so Mihrimah instilled some values in him. She taught him to understand Suleyman. And she also trained a concubine to charm Murad but also to curb Nurbanu’s power. Murad was ignorant to the women’s power struggles, as almost always is the case.

I found out that Murad would eventually become sultan. When Selim found out that Murad had gone to council with Suleyman, he was kind of upset that his son upstaged him. But Murad told Selim that he learned from his father and uncles and didn’t want to be like them. And I guess Selim would believe that for now. In any case, there would be a day when Selim’s time would be over and the baton would be handed over to Murad.

Fatma

Fatma was one of Suleyman’s sisters. She was allied with Mustafa, openly asked by him to go to the palace and to deal with Hurrem. Fatma was somewhat of a free spirit. She’d divorced her husband and was now very single and ready to mingle, though noncommittal.

Hurrem first tried to get rid of Fatma by forcing her to remarry her ex-husband. I forgot what Hurrem had threatened her with, but Fatma agreed, only to kill her husband on their wedding night by exciting him too much (feeding him foods that were dangerous for his health etc.). Even Hurrem admitted that it was a funny way to kill someone.

Fatma tried to drive wedges between the members of Hurrem’s faction. She encouraged Huricihan and Bayezid’s romance because she knew it would anger Hurrem. She pushed Alqas Mirza to seduce Mihrimah to break Rustem and Mihrimah apart. That sort of backfired as Alqas Mirza was more interested in Fatma. Fatma was receptive to his advances. Mihriman and Rustem tried to get Fatma in trouble (as she was an unmarried woman gallivanting with another man) but instead, Rustem tried to use the situation to his advantage, suggesting that Alqas Mirza and Fatma marry so that Alqas Mirza would be unavailable to seduce Mihrimah. Fatma was pleased with being engaged Alqas Mirza but they could only marry after Suleyman and Alqas Mirza were finished with their wars. Alqas Mirza did not make it back, so Fatma was without a fiancé.

When Mustafa died, Fatma was obviously very upset and accusatory towards Hurrem. But she left the palace, no longer having anyone to support.

Mahidevran

I thought Mahidevran would have a bigger role this season but it makes sense that her role would be greatly diminished at this point. At the end of last season, Mahidevran had ordered Mehmet’s death but she didn’t get involved too much in politics afterwards. The difference between Mahidevran and Hurrem was that Mahidevran was not by Suleyman’s side, so she no longer exerted any power in the harem and her only cause was to support Mustafa’s household and to advise him.

Mahidevran had caught Mihrunissa because she was preparing to marry Mustafa secretly. Normally she would have stopped it as Mustafa still had a shot at the throne at this point. She allowed the marriage after she found out about the sublime state, that Mihrunissa held political and military power and could support Mustafa that way. So Mahidevran trusted Mihrunissa and her father to be big supports to Mustafa as a sehzade, and also if he were to ever rebel.

Mahidevran had stopped Mustafa from putting on the poisoned caftan, telling him the story of how it had happened to Suleyman. However, Mustafa refused to believe Suleyman wanted to kill him and that was what prompted him to march to the Capital to get an answer for himself. And then when Mustafa was summoned by Suleyman to answer for his supposed collaboration with the Safavids, Mahidevran was obviously very against it. But Mustafa was his own man and she could only do so much.

After Mustafa’s death, the people around Mahidevran died one by one. Mehmet, Mihrunissa, and then Nergissa was married off. She gave all of her wealth to support the shrine in Mustafa’s name.

Hurrem visited Mahidevran once before she was going to die, asking for forgiveness. When Mahidevran blamed Hurrem for killing Mustafa, Hurrem brought up Mehmet, who Mahidevran had killed. The two hated each other, but deep down inside, they knew that this battle was inevitable as only one of them could survive. If Mahidevran had ever become Valide Sultan, she would not let Hurrem live and vice versa. Suleyman also visited Mahidevran once, but she extended absolutely no respect or understanding to Suleyman for killing their son.

Mahidevran returned to the capital briefly in the last episode. First, she saw Suleyman being a grumpy old man. I wouldn’t say she was happy about it, because being happy about Suleyman’s misery would do nothing to bring her loved ones back to her. But I think it comforted her that he would be punished the way he deserved. Mahidevran also spoke with Mihrimah. At this point, both of them had lost and maybe that was why there was a bit of understanding between them. Mahidevran had lost Mustafa, Mihrimah had lost Bayezid. They discussed whether this was fate or will. Mihrimah called this fate, but Mahidevran said all of the disasters were the will of Suleyman. I don’t know too much about Islam and Turkish spiritual beliefs, but I thought this discussion was interesting. I’ll talk more about it in the themes section below.

Mahidevran’s story line wasn’t too unfamiliar in the context of harem stories. She gave up on earning Suleyman’s love after Suleyman freed Hurrem and married her legally. She’d asked to be freed as well so that she could be free from heartbreak and Suleyman had denied it to her. So instead, she put her efforts into her son, her biggest chance of survival and power. And unfortunately, she lost the game, losing everyone important to her.

Gulfem

Gulfem had been Suleyman’s first love. They’d had children and they had died. From then on, Gulfem resigned from the game and was content to serve. We first met her as a lady-in-waiting to Hatice, then an ally to Hatice, Mahidevran, and then to Fatma in this season.

That being said, Gulfem had a loyalty to Suleyman that most women didn’t have except for Hurrem. Even when the princesses were plotting, Gulfem would have reservations, considering Suleyman’s wellbeing.

Of course, Gulfem was very upset with Mustafa’s death and she blamed it on Hurrem. Over time, she did calm down from it, and I think it was because she was more forward looking and also because she wasn’t a vengeful person.

Upon finding out that Hurrem was ill, Gulfem was very sympathetic and kind. They forgave each other, perhaps because Gulfem knew why Hurrem did the things she did, and also because she left it up to the heavens to judge Hurrem. But I think Gulfem also respected the power that Hurrem had and some of the good that she did with it.

After Hurrem died, Gulfem was the last person who could ever even hope to speak to Suleyman as an equal. She urged Suleyman not to kill Bayezid, to be merciful. She appealed to the human side of him. And after Bayezid died, though Suleyman hadn’t ordered it directly, Gulfem blamed him for it, because he had let it happen, because he hadn’t fought hard enough for his own son to be saved. Gulfem wanted to smother Suleyman to death, but she failed and so she stabbed herself.

Poor Gulfem. She was presented mostly as a neutral party in the sense that she was loyal to Suleyman. The difference was that for much of the story, she was on the side that Hurrem had too much influence over Suleyman. From time to time, she’d be assigned roles such as managing the treasury or managing the harem and I think that kind of gave her a sense of peace and control over being able to help Suleyman. But Suleyman changed in front of her eyes and the grief and anger became too much.

Afife

Afife was Suleyman’s childhood wetnurse. She was brought in to head the harem after Daye died. While Afife mostly functioned like Daye did, due to her relationship with Suleyman, she at times did also give a bit of advice.

Though Afife was initially encouraged to limit Hurrem’s power, Afife eventually became allied to Hurrem. That was because Afife was mostly focused on keeping the harem in order. I think she recognized Hurrem as the unofficial head of the harem and she felt that through Hurrem, order could be restored in the harem.

Afife died in an assassination attempt against Hurrem. She had been crushed by rocks, and with her dying breath, she told Hurrem that Suleyman was sick (with gout), urging her to help him.

Sumbul

Sumbul, one of the only other actors who were here from the first episode until now. Sumbul was the one who introduced Hurrem into the harem. There were power struggles at first, but he came to be one of Hurrem’s most trusted men. Likely because he valued order in the harem most of all, and through Hurrem exerting power, order was maintained.

During the season, Sumbul had leaked a secret (I don’t remember what it was) and suffered ire from Hurrem. He fell ill, and Hurrem and Sumbul reconciled. Then, Hurrem freed Sumbul, who imported coffee and started a coffee shop. However, as things in the harem got tough, Sumbul returned to help Hurrem, from small things like getting her some of that sweet contraband coffee, to carrying out her last wishes, which was for her life’s work to be known to the world.

After Hurrem’s death, Sumbul stayed to help Mihrimah. And even after Mihrimah left, Sumbul stayed. He told Ferhat that he couldn’t really go back to Egypt. His home was in the harem and that was all he’d ever known.

I appreciated Sumbul as a character who had both plot function and entertainment value. As one of the head servants, a lot of things went through him to even get done. And for most of the show, Sumbul was the main comedic relief character, but also one who dared to show emotion and sympathy when it was dangerous for others to do so.

Lokman

I don’t remember when we first saw Lokman, but he was in the story the most as Suleyman’s main attendant. I got the impression that he was mainly loyal to Suleyman, but we saw that eventually he sided with Hurrem. After the deaths of Mustafa and Cihangir, Hurrem assigned Lokman to work at Bayezid’s palace. Lokman accompanied Bayezid when he took refuge with the Safavids, but was killed by Tahmasp.

Ferhat

I believe we first saw Ferhat as an assistant to the doctor at the military camp when Suleyman had summoned Mustafa (unknowingly to his execution). Ferhat tried to help Cihangir with his pain though he understood that the pain came from his heart.

After Suleyman returned and Lokman was assigned to Bayezid’s palace, Ferhat became Suleyman’s main attendant. Like with Cihangir, Ferhat recognized that Suleyman’s illnesses tended to come from his mental state, when he had pushed away Hurrem, and also when he was grappling with how to deal with Bayezid.

In Suleyman’s old age, Ferhat remained by his side. Ferhat was haunted by the way Gulfem had tried to kill Suleyman and then killed herself. Sumbul noted that Ferhat wanted to leave. But he was stayed. Maybe he was a slave who couldn’t leave. Maybe he felt that without Gulfem, nobody could be frank with Suleyman.

Though Suleyman dismissed Ferhat for saying things that might have upset him, I think Ferhat was one of the few who dared to say such words to Suleyman, especially in his old age.

Diana/Fahriye

By this season, Fahriye had become very loyal to Hurrem. Fahriye was also in the assassination attack on Hurrem, in which rocks were dropped upon them. While Afife died, Fahriye survived though she suffered injuries. After Afife died, Fahriye was the main kalfa.

After the deaths of Mustafa and Cihangir, Hurrem assigned Fahriye to Selim’s palace to manage his harem. This was also because she knew Fahriye was crafty and she needed Fahriye to get rid of Nurbanu. Fahriye almost managed the deed (by collaborating with Dilsah), if not for Gazenfer.

After Hurrem’s death, Fahriye found Hurrem’s ring in Nurbanu’s room. She accused Nurbanu, but Selim protected Nurbanu and imprisoned Fahriye, though she knew that Nurbanu was in the wrong. Fahriye broke her way out of prison and tried to kill Nurbanu but was unsuccessful and died. Honestly I think it was a little bullshit that Fahriye couldn’t overpower Nurbanu. After all, she first came into the story because she was such a good fighter that she was causing a ruckus in Mustafa’s harem. But for plot reasons we must let it slide.

Mihrunissa

Mihrunissa was the daughter of Hizir Hayreddin, Suleyman’s admiral. She and Mustafa were known to each other, but they didn’t really fall in love until this season, where she acted as an intermediary between Mustafa and her father. Hizir agreed for Mihrunissa to be married to Mustafa. They were going to keep it a secret from everyone. Mahidevran found out just before the wedding, and she would have stopped it, if not for Mihrunissa telling her about the sublime state and the power that she and the members held. Mahidevrana greed for them to be married for Mustafa’s sake.

There was a very small subplot about Atmaca being in love with Mihrunissa. He was instructed by Pin Reis to kill Mihrunissa so that Mustafa would not anger his father by having a wife. He’d hesitated, but completely held off when he found out that Mihrunissa was pregnant.

Mihrunissa had a son by Mustafa, Mehmet. Originally, the son would have been presented to the world as the son of another concubine. However, Huricihan told Mustafa (Bayezid’s mentor) about Mihrunissa and Mustafa’s marriage in exchange for him letting her stay, and that was how the news got out. After then, Mihrunissa was presented as Mehmet’s mother.

Of course, Mihrunissa was very against Mustafa going to his father after he’d been accused of collaborating with the Safavids. But she had little choice but to let him. After Mustafa’s death, Mihrunissa was separated from Mehmet, who was presumed to be killed in Bursa. Mihrunissa then went to the Capital and she killed herself in front of Hurrem, telling her that her dark days were ahead.

Cecilia/Nurbanu

Cecilia was the bastard child of two Venetian nobles. She and her servant Valeria were captured into the harem. At first, she was spoiled, still getting Valeria to do all of her work. They then engaged in a struggle when the two of them tried to leave with Selim’s harem. Cecilia promised to bribe Sumbul. However, Valeria got to the bribe first. Lastly, Cecilia sought Hurrem’s support. Hurrem gave Cecilia the name Nurbanu, and from then on Nurbanu was her extension at Selim’s harem.

Nurbanu’s first job was to get rid of Dilsah, Selim’s current favourite. Nurbanu had help on her side, both from Canfeda, the kalfa, and Gazanfer, a servant who was revealed to be deeply in love with her. While Nurbanu hadn’t gotten rid of Dilsah, she did bear a son. As well, she became an intelligent advisor to Selim. In fact, in a lot of the early days, it was Nurbanu who would sit and think of strategies for Selim because he was preoccupied (with alcohol or others).

At one point, Hurrem ordered Nurbanu to kill Nazenin while she visited. Nurbanu got the job done. And later, Nurbanu used this evidence against Hurrem to prevent Hurrem from killing her (the evidence being the letter Hurrem wrote to Nurbanu commanding her to kill Nazenin).

Nurbanu began to carve her own path by working against Selim’s rivals. While Mustafa was his first rival, Nurbanu didn’t get into form until Mustafa was out of the picture and Bayezid was Selim’s main rival. Selim wanted to appease his mother and not kill Bayezid. However, Nurbanu played tricks so that Selim would believe that Bayezid was plotting against him. At first, Selim was none the wiser, but he slowly picked up on Nurbanu’s ways.

Other than Dilsah, Nurbanu also had a rivalry with Huricihan, on account of her being Bayezid’s wife. It was a sore spot for Nurbanu that Huricihan would pull rank over her, so Nurbanu would poke at the fact that Huricihan didn’t have any kids. Hurrem would stomp out arguments between them, usually by dismissing both of them.

Nurbanu was very manipulative, possibly even more so than Hurrem. Obviously she manipulated Selim to ensure her own survival. But she manipulated the people around her, including Gazanfer. She knew Gazanfer was in love with her and she used him because she knew he was loyal to her.

Where things went awry was that Gazanfer confessed to Nurbanu and Huricihan took it to mean that they were in an affair. Nurbanu hit Huricihan in the head to stop her from telling anyone, and killed her. Hurrem found out that it was Nurbanu who killed Huricihan because her earring was found at the scene of the crime. When Hurrem wanted to kill Nurbanu, Nurbanu used the letter about Nazenin against her, and that was how Nurbanu survived.

At one point, Gazanfer was to be executed or exiled. But Nurbanu needed someone who was loyal to her and so she convinced him to become a eunuch so that she could continue having him by her side. Extremely manipulative, but she did what she needed to do to protect herself.

Up until Hurrem’s death, she wanted to kill Nurbanu for getting in between her sons. When she was close to death, she still wanted to kill Nurbanu, but she knew she could do nothing. She understood that Nurbanu was doing what Hurrem had done to ensure the survival of her children. Hurrem warned Nurbanu that her path would be filled with fire, that it was not easy to get to where Hurrem had gotten. At that point, I think Hurrem knew that it was all out of her hands.

Nurbanu had Canfeda steal Hurrem’s ring from her dead body. It had come to light when the triplets were snooping in Nurbanu’s room and Fahriye found the ring. While Selim defended Nurbanu, he took the ring away from her, annoyed that Nurbanu was getting in trouble while he was preparing for war.

By the end, we saw that Selim had given her the ring, showing his trust in her. Nurbanu thought that her job was done, until she found out about Safiye, Murad’s concubine that Mihrimah had planted. I found out that Nurbanu and Safiye continued to struggle but both would serve their time as Haseki Sultan.

I liked Nurbanu at first but I started to dislike her for her snakish ways. But I respect the hustle.

Canfeda

Canfeda was the kalfa at Selim’s harem. From the beginning, she helped Nurbanu become Selim’s favourite, so I wonder if she was loyal to Hurrem, though she later was fully loyal to Nurbanu. Canfeda was more cautious and would warn Nurbanu against doing things that were too dangerous, including keeping Gazanfer by her side despite knowing that he was in love with her. Canfeda remained Nurbanu’s servant to the very end.

Gazanfer

Gazanfer was a servant in Selim’s palace who helped Nurbanu in her endeavours to become Selim’s favourite. He was unflinchingly loyal, and it was revealed that he was in love with Nurbanu, something that both Nurbanu and Canfeda had picked up on.

During Murad’s circumcision celebration, Gazanfer had called out Nurbanu to present a gift to her. That annoyed Nurbanu because she didn’t like her and also because he had called her out during an important ceremony. They’d gotten caught by Huricihan and Nurbanu had to kill Huricihan to protect the secret, which wasn’t even true because they did not have an affair.

Gazanfer was later to be punished. I believe it might have been because he’d entered the harem (which was not allowed because he was not a eunuch). Actually, at that point I hadn’t even known that Gazanfer wasn’t a eunuch. Though Nurbanu did not return his feelings, she knew he was loyal (just like how Hurrem didn’t like Rustem but knew he was loyal). Nurbanu manipulated Gazanfer with affection and sweet words, suggesting to him that the one way he could stay with her forever would be if he became a eunuch. He agreed and continued to become a trusted person to Nurbanu.

Valeria/Nazenin

Valeria was originally Cecilia’s maid. However, they were both captured by the Ottomans and once they went into the harem, Cecilia was no longer a lady but a slave, just like Valeria. Valeria eventually went by Nazenin, just as Cecilia went by Nurbanu.

Nurbanu and Nazenin became locked in a political battle, but what came of it was that Nurbanu went into Selim’s harem, and Nazenin stayed behind. With the help of Fatma, Nazenin was able to walk the golden path to Suleyman and even became pregnant. Hurrem was about to have the baby aborted by ordering Fahriye to put dangerous drugs in Nazenin’s food. However, after Suleyman had expressed happiness at having another child, Hurrem immediately stopped Fahriye.

Nazenin had a daughter, Raziye, so Hurrem was not as worried. That being said, she could not let Nazenin build power. When Nazenin visited Selim’s palace with Suleyman, Hurrem ordered Nurbanu to kill Nazenin, which she did by pushing her off of a balcony.

Huricihan

Huricihan was the daughter of Ibrahim and Hatice. She arrived at the palace with Fatma. She befriended Cihangir through love of books, but she fell in love with Bayezid. As a daughter of a princess, Huricihan was considered part of the dynasty and thus her love with Bayezid was forbidden. Nonetheless, people do all sorts of unwise things for love.

Mustafa helped Bayezid and Huricihan by hosting Huricihan at his palace (where he also told Bayezid about his marriage with Mihrunissa). Huricihan then went to Bayezid’s palace and they got married. This angered Hurrem a lot, but she hid it, as she didn’t want Suleyman to have him killed.

Though Huricihan stayed by Bayezid’s side, she never bore him a child and that was a sore spot for her. When Selim and Bayezid’s rivalry grew tense, so did Huricihan and Nurbanu’s. Huricihan would hold her status over Nurbanu’s, and Nurbanu would dig at the fact that she had a son.

Huricihan caught Nurbanu speaking with Gazanfer. Gazanfer wanted to give Nurbanu a gift and Huricihan took it to be them having an affair (at the party of her son’s circumcision). Nurbanu hit Huricihan to stop her from telling anyone. Huricihan was hazy and fell in and out of consciousness, until she succumbed to her injuries.

Defne

Defne was a concubine that Nurbanu had planted in Bayezid’s harem. Nurbanu threatened Defne by holding Defne’s sister hostage. Defne successfully caught Bayezid’s attention and they fell in love. Bayezid’s daughter Ayse also became very attached to Defne after her own mother Rana was framed as being Huricihan’s killer and “suicided.” For the sake of the safety of her own sister, Defne poisoned Bayezid on Nurbanu’s command. At the time, Defne had become pregnant, so Bayezid did not kill her yet.

The deal with Defne became known to Hurrem and Selim. Bayezid took Defne’s sister Anna with her back to his palace so that the sisters could live out the rest of Defne’s days together. After Defne’s son Mehmet was born, he was weak, only nursed back to health by Defne’s milk, so Bayezid allowed Defne to stay alive. She became his favourite.

When Bayezid was held hostage by Tahmusp, Defne came to see him. However, she was sent back to Amasya when Selim’s people came.

A fortune teller had told Nurbanu that the son of a Venetian concubine would become sultan. Nurbanu was worried because Defne was also Venetian. So she went to Amasya to collect Mehmet. Defne tried to protect Mehmet, but they ultimately committed suicide together before Nurbanu could get to her.

Rustem

Rustem the rat continued to be a rat in this season. At first, Rustem supported Bayezid, because he was loyal to Hurrem and Mihrimah. He even put his own tricks into motion, trying to get rid of Mustafa and Selim. It didn’t work, and Hurrem admonished him for acting out his own political will.

Rustem continued to be insanely jealous of any man who came close to Mihrimah. First it was Alqaz Mirza, who soon turned his attention to Fatma. I believe it was after this ordeal that Mihrimah decided she wanted to divorce Rustem, but Suleyman asked her to think about it and put it off until after they had fought the war with the Safavids.

Then it was Senor Pedro the doctor. He was so suspicious of Senor Pedro that he did not allow Senor Pedro to look at or touch Mihrimah while treating her. Mihrimah got tired of how tedious the treatment was and invited Senor Pedro, who did treat her wounds. They even fell in love, and Senor Pedro had asked Mihrimah to run away with him, but Mihrimah declined. In any case, Rustem did sort of have a reason to be jealous because Mihrimah never loved him.

After the deal with Senor Pedro, Rustem announced that he no longer had any love for Mihrimah. To be honest, I doubted whether he ever had love for her to begin with. He was always more in love with power, and he hated being married to Nigar because he wanted to marry Mihrimah and become the most powerful non-royal man in the land. Anyway, soon afterwards, Mihrimah fell pregnant, and also Rustem began an affair with Senora Mendez, a Jewish merchant.

After the death of Hurrem, Rustem saw that the support for Bayezid was waning. As well, Selim had threatened Rustem with knowledge of his affair with Senora Mendez. So Rustem changed his allegiance to Selim. Mihrimah supported Bayezid, and she was just getting fed up with Rustem, so she arranged for Atmaca to kill Rustem.

There was a small subplot for Rustem in which he reunited with his brother Sinan. Sinan was kidnapped in order to lure out Rustem. Rustem did not go and Sinan had his hand cut off, and he was cross with Rustem. Later on, Sinan was killed by Atmaca.

Rustem was such a rat right from the first time we met him. He never cared for anything other than power. His love for Mihrimah was so superficial; we knew that he was after her because she was a princess and not because he believed in those love letters and poetry he wrote to her. Even when he was united with Sinan, though he did have love for him (and put him in positions he was not qualified for), he still cared for himself first and that angered Sinan. I don’t even think Rustem actually liked Senora Mendez. She was just someone to pass the time.

Rustem admired Hurrem’s power and that was why he was so loyal to her. I’d say that Hurrem reluctantly accepted him because she saw that he was so laser focused on power and that he believed in her (and she believed in herself). Even when Senora Mendez commented on Hurrem’s impending death, Rustem stated that the world would change because he knew how vast her power was.

But a rat is a rat. Rustem never held any sincerity. He’d pledged loyalty to Bayezid but betrayed him when he saw the tides change. Not that others didn’t, but Rustem was the biggest rat of them all lol.

Matrakci

Matrakci was rarely seen this season. He did act as a personal advisor for Suleyman, particularly when going to the provinces to check on the princes. That was how Suleyman had found out about Selim killing a man who insulted him. However, we didn’t see much of him afterwards.

Hizir Hayreddin

Hizir was Suleyman’s admiral and a staunch supporter of Mustafa. He had also approved of their marriage. He was threatened by Hurrem into stepping down from his position (Hurrem threatened the safety of his daughter). Hizir’s reason was that he was sick, which at first was a lie, but it did eventually become true. Unfortunately I don’t remember how he met his end OTL

Pin Reis

Pin Reis was a statesman in Suleyman’s court and also the head of the sublime state. Mustafa told Pin Reis to disband but he did not. He continued to plan for Mustafa’s rise to the throne, even putting in motion a rebellion. I believe Suleyman dismissed him and sent him far away to take away his power and disband the sublime state.

Sokollu

Sokollu was a statesman. Honestly his role kind of got muddy for me, but basically he was loyal to Selim.

Ahmed

Ahmed was a statesman, Fatma’s new husband. Rustem was dismissed from his post after the death of Mustafa, and during that time, Ahmed was appointed as Grand Vizier. At the time of appointment, Ahmed asked Suleyman to guarantee that he would not kill him, which Suleyman agreed to.

Ahmed and Fatma were pretty in love. Their political goals weren’t quite the same. Fatma wanted Hurrem to suffer, while Ahmed was allied with Selim. Ahmed helped donate money to the rebels (who supported the false Mustafa). Hurrem grew to distrust him because he (and Fatma) were intentionally driving a wedge between Selim and Bayezid.

Ahmed had also grown quite cocky. Suleyman eavesdropped on an argument between Ahmed and Rustem (while Ahmed was Grand Vizier) about how Ahmed was protected from Suleyman himself. Ahmed was put to death by Suleyman on account of him supporting the rebels.

Ebussuud

Ebussuud was a really interesting character. We met him in the last season where he was a bit of a rival to Ibrahim due to Suleyman seeking his advice on matters of policy but also of spirituality. In the last season, Suleyman sought his advice when asking about how to free himself of his promise to protect Ibrahim. In this season, he sought Ebussuud’s advice on how to deal with both Mustafa and Bayezid. The actor for Ebussuud passed away during filming, so in the later episodes, his character only advised Suleyman through letters.

I thought Ebussuud was a really interesting because he acted as Suleyman’s conscience. The members of the dynasty were Muslim, so they referred to Islam to guide their moralities. But despite seeking Ebussuud’s advice, Suleyman continued to grapple with his own guilt and conscience. And after Mahidevran forgave Hurrem, she told Fidan that sometimes the worst punishment is to leave someone with their own conscience. So despite Suleyman and others seeking technicalities in Islam to have themselves in the clear in the eyes of the religious law, in their minds, they knew that they’d done wrong.

Yahya

Yahya first came into the story when he fell in love with Mihrimah, but they broke off ties for good. In this season, he was an attendant to Mustafa. He was with Mustafa to the very end. When Atmaca was planning a rebellion, Yahya helped too.

After Mustafa was killed by Suleyman, Yahya remained at the palace in Amasya where he wrote poetry commemorating Mustafa. Suleyman read it and was moved, so he forgave Yahya, even though the poetry was in Mustafa’s favour.

Atmaca

Atmaca was a member of the sublime state, who came to be a trusted right hand man and fight of Mustafa. At first, he protected Mustafa from the shadows. He eventually did reveal himself to Mustafa. The sublime state had ordered Atmaca to kill Mihrunissa but he hesitated because he was in love with her, and when she revealed that she was pregnant, he decided he couldn’t kill her. Atmaca had once upon a time been a father whose wife and child were killed and so he was a lone wolf in this world. And so he also had a bit of a soft spot for women and children.

Atmaca killed a man who’d betrayed Mustafa. That man had a son who Atmaca eventually took under his wing, and he reminded Atmaca of his own son who he lost.

Eventually, Atmaca came to be commanded directly by Mustafa. Before Mustafa met his end with Suleyman, he told Atmaca that if he ever died, that Atmaca was to put all of his support behind Bayezid. Atmaca helped plan the rebellion, but it never came to be. Atmaca was presumed dead after Mustafa died, but he’d actually escaped.

He did eventually make contact with Bayezid and became unflinchingly loyal to him. Atmaca was reluctant to work with Rustem because Rustem had a part in killing Mustafa but Bayezid forced them to work together. After it became clear that Rustem had betrayed Bayezid, Bayezid released Atmaca from his service and Atmaca met with Mihrimah, who arranged for him to kill Rustem. Atmaca killed Rustem, and was subsequently killed by a guard. Mihrimah gave him a proper burial.

Mustafa (Bayezid's mentor)

Mustafa was first Bayezid’s mentor. He was always warning Bayezid against being rash and making poor decisions. He basically acted as an extension of Hurrem. He too disapproved of Bayezid marrying Huricihan, but he could only do so much as an advisor.

When Hurrem went back to supporting Bayezid, she had Mustafa become Selim’s mentor, while continuing to be loyal to Bayezid. Right off the bat, Selim and Nurbanu were suspicious of him. However, Selim offered Mustafa an opportunity to be loyal to him for certain. After Mustafa found out about Hurrem’s illness, he knew that Bayezid’s support would wane (seeing as how Suleyman was fully behind Selim). And so Mustafa switched to Selim’s side for good.

When Bayezid asked Mustafa to testify on his behalf, talking about the snaky things that Selim did, Mustafa lied and said that Bayezid had forced him to be a witness. Bayezid was obviously very betrayed. And when Selim had Bayezid killed, Mustafa was at Selim’s side just watching on.

Themes

Parenthood and politics

Suleyman said that within him was a politician and a father, and they fought each other. But we saw in this show that Suleyman ultimately chose the politician. He saw Mustafa as a threat to his power and that was why he executed him.

The act of having to choose a son was brutal as well, especially for Hurrem. For Suleyman, he was looking at things purely from a political sense. Who would be the best ruler? Though in reality, Suleyman was only looking at the son who was most subservient and obedient to him. And once Suleyman had killed one son, killing another seemed not so much a hardship anymore.

However, for Hurrem, while she threw her support behind Bayezid, she still wanted to keep Selim alive. I think she was lying to herself when she thought that she could keep them both alive. She could, but only if she was alive, and just barely as Selim and Bayezid had already come to blows once while she was still alive. But considering Suleyman, and possibly his ancestors before him, it was very unlikely a sultan could ascend while still having a living brother.

Morality

I thought the religious and spiritual parts of this show were really interesting. Since the members of the dynasty were Muslim, they believed in doing the right thing and that they would be judged for their deeds upon death.

There was a subplot in which Suleyman had a tree in a garden that he loved. That tree had become infested with ants. He wanted to wash the tree with lime, but he’d have to kill the ants to do that. He wrote to Ebussuud to ask what to do. Ebussuud told him that if he killed the ants, he’d have to answer for each of those innocent lives. Initially, Suleyman let the tree die, leaving the innocent ants alone. However, after he killed Mustafa, it was revealed that Suleyman had ordered the tree to be washed with lime to kill the ants. That revealed that Suleyman would rather kill innocent lives to protect his authority (the tree) and answer for them upon death. It was the stance he decided and from then on it became hard to step back from that. In fact, after Suleyman killed Mustafa, he became a completely different person, like his moral compass reoriented himself.

Like I said before, even though Suleyman wrote to Ebussuud for advice, even though Rustem wrote to advisors for spiritual advice, all of these people knew that they were doing wrong. Suleyman was free from his promises while asleep and could thus have Ibrahim killed, but Ibrahim’s death continued to haunt him because Suleyman knew that he still broke the promise. Even though Suleyman was technically within his rights to kill a son who had betrayed him, Suleyman still knew that there was something not quite right about what he was doing.

Mahidevran said that sometimes the worst punishment was to let someone live with their conscience. If Hurrem died and told the judge that she’d asked for forgiveness but wasn’t granted it by Mahidevran, then it would kind of distract from the fact that Hurrem carried out all sorts of evil deeds that had nothing to do with Mahidevran. Since Mahidevran technically forgave Hurrem, like with Suleyman, Hurrem could only be alone with her thoughts.

So I thought this show did a really good job of using religion to frame the morality. Despite all of these characters technically being forgiven or free from fault, that actually highlighted their wrongdoings even more. They knew that religion did not completely absolve them of their faults, that they were just finding loopholes when they had in fact violated the spirit of certain promises and relationships.

I mentioned that Suleyman had possibly thought that his punishment was to live with gout. That’s kind of related to the last point, about how sometimes a punishment is to have to live with the knowledge that you’d purposely done something wrong.

As well, it seemed the characters in this show believed that upon death, all people would face judgment. I think that’s why some characters did not seek further revenge, because even if they didn’t, the heavens would.

Destiny

A growing theme towards the end was whether the disasters that had happened were the will of Suleyman. Mahidevran and Gulfem believed that all of the deaths had happened because Suleyman had allowed it to happen. On the other hand, Mihrimah had thought of it simply as destiny. Specifically, Mahidevran said that God had granted people wisdom and the power to choose. As such, she believed that the results they had arrived that were specifically workings of people.

I thought that discussion was interesting. I understand why someone would blame Suleyman for all that happened. He was the one who killed Mustafa (and subsequently Cihangir). He was the one who didn’t fight hard enough for Bayezid to be returned to him.

At the same time, what control did Suleyman have over the fights among his concubines? As long as he had more than one woman, more than one son, there’d be conflicts. The only way to prevent that would be to change the entire order. Abolish the institution of the harem. But that’s a whole other conversation.

I wonder if Mahidevran and Gulfem chose those different viewpoints to find peace with themselves. Until the end, Mahidevran maintained hatred in her heart, most of all for Suleyman who had spurned her and killed her son. For Mihrimah, believing that things were out of her hands helped her leave more easily.

Overall

GREAT show. We don’t see a lot of these kinds of high budget palace shows, particularly in the west because palace stories just aren’t told the same. There was no official harem like there were in Turkish and East Asian dynastic cultures so the royal struggles were very different. I also believe that a lot of “Western” stories didn’t quite have the same view towards politics. I think there maintains a view in Western pop culture of there needing to be a protagonist and antagonist. But in politics, especially in politics, it’s hard to call anyone a true antagonist. Like in Magnificent Century, all were just fighting for their survival in a rough system.

Anyway, highly recommend this show. It is super long though. I admit that I started watching at 2x speed because I didn’t want to spend 2 hours watching a show every day lol. But I still loved it!