REVIEW: ‘Jaadugar: A Witch In Mongolia’ Episode 7 — “Brothers”

Jaadugar: A Witch In Mongolia Episode 7 turns up the intrigue. The players are all on the stage. Hidden conflicts in the margins are now moving to the forefront of history. In the middle are Fatima (Akira Sekine) and Töregene (Ami Koshimizu), now with their own machinations and agenda for revenge. Now, Jaadugar can really dig into some deeper themes and how others tick. 

Case in point: the sons of Genghis Khan. For the first time, Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia Episode 7 properly dives into what makes these men tick. What has appeared as an air of superiority from Ögedei (Hiro Shimono) in the past episodes is, to him, being a magnanimous leader.

Where Sorghaghtani (Misaki Kuno) sees Prince Chagatai (Daisuke Namikawa) as the biggest threat to the empire’s stability, he seems to be thinking more about how to preserve Ögedei’s reign than Ögedei is. And that begs the question of what was Fatima’s role assigned to her by Sorghaghtani actually supposed to be? 

Tolui (Ryota Suzuki) is the most consistent of these brothers, which speaks volumes. He interrupts the Kurultai meeting in which Ögedei intends to outline his vision to speak of war. By the end of the meeting, Tolui has captured far more attention in the room. This moment exposes the first real crack in the foundation of the Mongol Empire. 

Cracks in the foundation of the Mongol Empire arise in Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia Episode 7.

Fatima zeroes in on this crack immediately – if Tolui’s campaign is successful, a consequence will be a re-evaluation of how much power he has. A power imbalance between leadership and the military could cause total collapse, and this is exactly what Töregene and Fatima are looking for. As such, they need Tolui’s plan to succeed. 

This plan also reveals something about these co-conspirators. For the first time in years, Töregene is letting herself feel something. She’s already behaving in such a way that leads Fatima to observe that she may herself be dangerous. Fatima too is becoming dangerous. She internally struggles with the severity of what the next Mongol incursion will mean, sympathizing with the inevitable victims. Then she tosses the thought away. 

Throughout the series, Fatima has maintained her rage, but in Jaadugar: A Witch In Mongolia Episode 7, she walks forward into the darkness. Literally, in this particular case. In the scene, she walks away from the light of the flame into the shadows as she decides that breaking down the Mongols will be worth the pain of others. Sometimes, subtext doesn’t have to be subtle. 

The visual symbolism of Fatima walking into darkness as soon as she makes her decision is powerful.

In these same interactions, it’s curious to see the need to maintain the illusions between Töregene and Fatima, who insists on the queen referring to her as such. Avoiding these inconvenient details of their pasts makes sense from a political angle. But never letting their masks slip indicates that Fatima at least has limits to the trust she has in Töregene. Given how long Töregene has quietly longed to be understood, it hurts to see her affirm the need to hide in turn. 

The necessity is warranted, as Jaadugar: A Witch In Mongolia Episode 7 also plants the seeds of in-fighting between Ögedei‘s wives. At the same time Fatima is analyzing the events of the Kurultai, the scene bounces to the first and fourth wives doing the same. Despite her illness, first wife Boraqchin comes to the same conclusion as Fatima and begins deploying fourth wife Möge to help prevent the fallout of Tolui’s campaign. 

Such a mission will put Möge in conflict with Fatima, though she does not know that yet. None of these women may need to do much, because Ögedei himself has machinations that may accelerate the end. 

Ögedei stops being as much of a cipher in Jaadugar: A Witch In Mongolia Episode 7. His mind is not on conquest or war but, as he hinted previously to Chagatai, what responsibility the Mongols have as rulers. His intentions indicate a desire to transition to soft power. Instead of controlling via the sword, Ögedei sees the value in providing (and controlling) trade and industry. 

Ögedei’s plans for the empire will breed discord, yet we see how his approach may be right after all.

The end of Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia Episode 7 demonstrates the value of leveraging soft political power in action. By providing a nearly destitute man with enough to get by in the form of Möge’s earrings and allowing the market to bring them back to him naturally, Ögedei shows that he can rally those he rules without even raising a finger.

The ease with which providing for a single man’s needs and reducing friction for merchants has granted even more power than conquering did is somewhat terrifying; largely in that not much has changed in hundreds of years. 

Yet, Ögedei‘s own people are not yet on board with his proposals. The notion of building a permanent settlement, even if not for themselves, is its own crack in the foundation of the Mongols. Even if Ögedei is ultimately right – and history teaches us he is – radically changing traditions will certainly breed discord. He may bring about the end Fatima is trying to engineer all on his own. 

All this scheming in Jaadugar: A Witch In Mongolia Episode 7 is just the beginning. Ögedei, his brothers, his wives, and more are all moving pieces on the board. Where they end up is a tantalizing hook for the rest of the season. Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia Episode 7 pulls back on Fatima in favor of other characters, and it is a worthwhile choice. 

Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia Episode 7 is streaming now, exclusively on Crunchyroll.

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