Goblin: The Lonely and Great God tells the story of the human-turned-goblin Kim Shin who must live his immortal life as a curse.
While Kim Shin didn’t understand how immortality was a curse at first, the more people died in his lifetime, the more he longed to find out how to break his curse.
The question is, after over 900 years of waiting for his bride, how exactly will the curse be lifted? Here's the ending of Goblin explained.
The Goblin’s 900-Year-Old Curse
In his past life, Kim Shin was a great mighty warrior general who fought side-by-side with his soldiers.
That is until the king decided to punish him by having someone strike the general dead.
Through Kim Shin’s most loyal soldier, he was struck by the cursed sword that held the blood of every single soldier they killed on the battlefield.
Though it is through this sword that he came back alive as an immortal being we now call the Goblin.
It was later revealed in the K-drama that the old woman, Samshin, who first told the story about the Goblin, is the reason behind Kim Shin’s 900-year-old curse.
Samshin had turned out to be not just an old woman peddler on the streets, but the goddess of birth and fate who kept a close eye on Ji eun-tak and her mother.
Kim Shin’s reborn as a Goblin was a form of punishment for having been stabbed with the cursed sword, giving him the chance to repent for being responsible for the death of so many soldiers on the battlefield.
As a part of the rule of living as an immortal being, the Goblin must fulfill his role of granting people’s sincerest wishes. Kind of similar to a genie, except he is a form of repentance.
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How The Goblin's Wife Was Chosen
For the past 900 years of living, Kim Shin must also find his wife. A human wife at that.
A human wife who could see the sword stuck between his chest, a human wife who would pull it out of him to relieve him of the grief and burden he had been dealing with in his lifetime.
Then enters Ji Eun-tak, who was essentially a miracle baby whose life is stuck between life and death.
On the night her mother was supposed to die, her mother begged any existing gods who could save her life. In this case, it was the Goblin.
The Goblin arrived shortly, thinking that this was just another of those cases where he must grant their wish.
However, the twist is that the mother is begging to live a longer life, just so she could give birth to her child.
Kim Shin grants the wish, basically birthing his future wife, whom he had accidentally marked down with his emblem on the back of her neck.
Due to being a miracle baby, Eun-tak had to live a life where she could see the dead walking among the living.
Surprisingly, she had been saved a couple of times from getting taken by the Grim Reaper. This is because of the old woman (who was the goddess in disguise) who was always there to protect her.
Growing up, though, Eun-tak had lost that protection. The only thing preventing her from talking to any ghosts was the mark the Goblin made upon her birth.
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Goblin Ending Explained: How the Goblin and Ji Eun-tak Broke the Curse
Once Goblin was positive that Eun-tak really was her fated wife, he was quick to explain what she must do to serve him in this lifetime — and that is by pulling the sword.
Although the little twist here is he didn’t tell her that pulling out the sword would cause his death and make everyone who knew him forget about his existence.
Eun-tak had already started developing feelings for the Goblin, given that she would be more than happy to have a family with him, especially since she never had one growing up.
And so, to put a deadline for fulfilling her duty, she promised she would pull the sword out on the first snow, which they both agreed on.
Even though Goblin was growing fonder of her over time, fond enough to the brink of falling completely in love with her.
Then, he had a vision of the future one night. He saw Eun-tak as a more mature woman who seemed happier now that he was gone. He had this growing anxiety about not getting the chance to grow old with her.
Although he tried to force her to pull the sword out earlier than planned, Eun-tak discovered she couldn’t pull it despite being the Goblin’s wife.
As it turned out, the ‘wife’ part is a mere title. There had to be real feelings involved in the process.
The other catch here is when the goddess of birth and fate enforced a new rule, a new deadline to the Goblin.
Instead of having to wait around until the first snow as the couple promised, the goddess urged the Goblin to take the sword out as soon as possible.
The longer the Goblin stays alive, the likelier that Eun-tak’s life would be in danger.
There had been plenty of bumps on the road, but it all came down to the finale of the season when Kim Shin had to save Eun-tak.
Eun-tak was unconscious at the time and the only way to kill the oldest living ghost, Eunuch Pak, who had been haunting Kim Shin’s life since his past life, was to pull the sword by using Eun-tak’s hands by force
As prophesied, the Goblin vanishes into thin air, his immortal life gone, his existence erased from the minds of every person who knew him on Earth.
Does the Goblin Come Back To Life in the End?
He does, actually, in the most complicated way possible.
The moment he vanished from Earth, he may have been relieved of his duties as the Goblin, but he was transported to a deserted place where he exists between heaven and earth.
Seeing as he still wanted to return to Eun-tak, even if it meant living yet another immortal life, he pursued it.
He was able to get his wish once Eun-tak read the note she left herself before Kim Shin vanished. It was the first snow and she read the note telling her that her ‘husband’ would come to her once she blows a candle.
Surely enough, the Goblin does manage to come back to her, except, of course, Eun-tak’s memories with him were already gone.
It was only through spending more time together that Eun-tak slowly managed to recover her memories with him, and how this led to a lifetime of reincarnations where Goblin always finds her.
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