[Top 15] Best Historical Korean Dramas So Far | Must Watch Sageuk KDrama

 There are plenty of reasons to love Korean historical dramas: Sageuks are the perfect mix of scenery, royal romances and palace conspiracies. And whether you are a beginner to historical KDrama or not, these dramas are also a great way to gain a little insight into Korea’s fascinating past. We’ve put together a  list of the best historical K-dramas from each time period. Come take a trip through Korea’s rich history, and see which eras you may want to stop at along the way!

Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo

Scarlet Heart Ryeo tells the story of twenty-five-year-old Go Ha-Jin who is transported back in time to the Goryeo Dynasty. She then wakes up in the body of Lady Hae Soo and finds herself amongst the ruling princes of the Wang Family. However, Hae Soo ends up becoming romantically involved with some of the princes and finds herself entangled in a web of politics and the prince’s fight for the throne.

Empress Ki

Empress Ki tells the story of Ki Sung Nyang who rises from nothing to marry Emperor Ta Hwan and become Empress of the Yuan Empire. She also gets involved in a love triangle with the Emperor and King Wang Yu of Goryeo.

Arthdal Chronicles (Series)

Divided in three parts, Arthdal Chronicles trudges on the story set in the land of Arth, a civilization set in the backdrop of Bronze Age. Forged by tribes, the kingdom is reigned by leaders of tribes, who mutually detest each other in secret. When the kingdom’s elite army brought in an isolated tribe, a tribal dispute eventually broke out as the leaders contend to achieve the kingdom’s highest power. The men also both fall for the maiden Ah Ro.

Hwarang

Hwarang tells the story of beautiful looking young men called Hwarang in Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Only a few of them are recorded in history and many people today do not really know about them. This drama shows how they begin and live during the 6th century.

Moonlight Drawn By Clouds

This drama tells the story of a prince that falls in love with his eunuch who is actually a girl disguised as a man.  The two have to face many challenges to protect their secret and overcome threats to the throne.

Dong Yi

Set during the reign of King Sukjong in the Joseon dynasty, the story focuses on Dong Yi, a water maid who gains the trust of Queen Inhyeon and later the favour of the king when he is moved by her prayers for the health of the Queen during the court disputes caused by Jang Hee Bin. Dong Yi becomes a concubine with the rank of sook-bin and bears a son who will later become the 21st king of Joseon, Yeongjo.

Rooftop Prince

Crown Prince Yi Gak finds that he has been transported from the Chosun Dynasty to modern-day Seoul. He meets Hong Se Na, who bears a striking resemblance to his dead wife, and is determined to solve the 300-year-old mystery of her death. With his own resemblance to the CEO’s grandson at the company where Se Na works, Gak assumes the identity of the young man to stay close to her. Can the Crown Prince navigate a modern corporation to find clues to his own time period?

Moon Embracing The Sun

Drama tells the story of a secret love between Lee Hwon, a fictional king of Joseon, and Wol, a female shaman. Wol was born as Heo Yeon Woo, the daughter of a noble family who won the love of the then crown prince, Hwon. Her enemies, jealous of her family's position in court, schemed against her and wrestled away her rightful place as crown princess and nearly takes her life. Years later, an embittered Hwon meets Wol, now a female shaman who has no recollection of her past.

Sungkyunkwan Scandal

This drama is about the girl Kim Yoon-hee who has taken her sick brothers identity to be able to work and fend for her family. By chance Yoon-hee is accepted into the Sungkyunkwan university and there she gets to know Sun-joon, Jae-shin and Yong-ha. The quartet find themselves in the middle of a political fight for power, both between the students as well as their parents. During all of this Yoon-hee must keep up the appearance of being a man, which gets increasingly difficult as time passes and feelings start to develop between the friends.

Kingdom (Series)

Set during Korea's Joseon period, three years after the Japanese invasions of Korea, the first season depicts the story of Crown Prince Lee Chang, who stumbles across a life-threatening political conspiracy while investigating the spread of a mysterious plague. The second season continues to depict Lee Chang's struggle to save his people from the spread of the plague and his dynasty from the machinations of the powerful Haewon Cho clan.

Gu Family Book

A melodrama epic about the great deal of trouble Choi Kang Chi, born as a half-human-half-mythical-creature, who goes through in order to become human and a story of Choi Kang Chi's journey of struggling in order to live more like a human than anyone else despite not being able to become human. 

The Tale of Nokdu

This drama is about a man  who disguises himself as a woman to live among a community of women in order to solve a mystery about his past.  He falls for a hot-tempered woman who is reluctantly training to be a gisaeng while seeking revenge on the king.

The Bridal Mask

In the 1930s, Lee Kang-to lives in Korea, which is oppressed under Imperial Japanese rule. Despite being Korean, he works with the Japanese police in order to capture "Bridal Mask," a mysterious rebel who fights for Korean independence. Later, he secretly dons the Bridal Mask and fights the unjust Japanese regime. He struggles to balance his personal facade as a Japanese police officer and his private life as Bridal Mask.

Jumong

Jumong was the founder of Goguryeo in 37 BC. He was the son of General Hae Mo Su and Lady Yoo Hwa and was raised by King Geum Wa, who took him and his mother in when Hae Mo Su was believed to have been killed in an ambush by the Han Dynasty. So Seo No was a merchant's daughter who helped Jumong in realizing his dream to build a new country, and later became his second wife.

Arang and the Magistrate

Arang and the Magistrate tells the story of a cynical and not so friendly government official named Eun Oh who wanders the whole nation to look for his mother who disappeared because of his mistake. Eun Oh has the ability of seeing ghosts, so he's used to be bothered by many kind of ghosts. As a result he isn’t afraid of ghosts anymore.

(Source: Wikipedia, MyDramaList, Wiki)