She Who Became the Sun Ending Explained: Zhu's Rise, the Mandate of Heaven, and the Price of Becoming
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
What Happens at the End: A Literal Account
The novel's final act unfolds across three locations: Bianliang, Anfeng, and Jiankang. After Zhu recovers from her near-fatal duel with Ouyang—a fight that costs her her right arm—she rides to Bianliang to confront the crisis Chen Youliang has created. She infiltrates Ouyang's tent and proposes a deal: she will extract Prime Minister Liu Futong and the Prince of Radiance from the city if Ouyang helps deliver Chen's betrayal letter to the Prime Minister. Ouyang agrees, shooting the letter into the Astronomical Tower. When the Prime Minister emerges from the south gate with the Prince, Zhu kills him with a knife, declaring the Mandate is hers.
Ouyang, meanwhile, returns to Bianliang to find the city already taken. In the Hall of Great Ceremony, he reveals his long-concealed plot: his Nanren forces surround Esen and Baoxiang. He confesses his lifelong revenge for his family's slaughter—including killing Esen's father—and demands an army to march on Dadu. When Esen refuses to fight, Ouyang kills him and addresses his Nanren army, declaring they will march on Dadu to kill the Emperor.
Back in Anfeng, the Prince of Radiance arrives and blesses Zhu. But on the road toward Jiankang, the child tells Zhu that neither Liu Futong nor Zhu Chongba will rule. Zhu kills him. When Ma Xiuying confronts her, Zhu admits the killing and gives Ma an ultimatum: rise with her or leave. Zhu proclaims herself Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King, renaming Jiankang as Yingtian. In the final scene, Ma appears in red and pledges to become his Empress.
The Climax: The Duel and Its Aftermath
The novel's emotional climax arrives before the political one. In the valley outside Anfeng, Zhu challenges Ouyang to a duel—not to win, but to convince him that Bianliang needs his help. Ouyang, who has deliberately ignored the message about Bianliang's fall to settle his score with Zhu, nearly kills her. He stabs her through the body, and she experiences what she believes is the nothingness of her fate: the realization that she may have been fooling herself all along.
But she survives. Ouyang amputates her right arm below the elbow, and in her recovery Zhu reaches a profound realization: she survived because she is not Zhu Chongba. The fate she pursued was never her brother's—it was her own. She sees her own white spark of desire, distinct from the red spark of the old Song emperors. This is the moment the novel's central question shifts: from can she claim Zhu Chongba's fate? to what does she want, and what will she do to get it?
Character Outcomes
Zhu / Zhu Yuanzhang: After killing Liu Futong and the Prince of Radiance, Zhu claims the Mandate of Heaven for herself. She renames herself Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King, and renames Jiankang as Yingtian—a name that claims connection to Heaven. In the final scene, she steps out in golden armor, and white fire burns from her body, with her missing right hand gauntleted in white flame. She declares she will lay waste to the empire of the Great Yuan and reign in unending brightness.
Ouyang: His arc culminates in the Hall of Great Ceremony at Bianliang. He reveals his plot, kills Esen, and declares his Nanren army will march on Dadu to kill the Emperor. His revenge against Esen is complete, but his larger goal—destroying the Yuan dynasty—remains unfinished, setting up the sequel.
Ma Xiuying: Given the ultimatum, Ma initially seems to have left. But at the coronation, she appears in red—the color of what has been ended so Zhu could build the new—and pledges to stand beside her husband and become his Empress. Her choice is deliberate and painful: she knows Zhu's desire scorches and blisters those who come near it, but she chooses to stay.
Xu Da: He follows Zhu, declaring he'll follow her as far as she wants to go. He carries Zhu back from the duel, saves her life, and remains her most loyal companion.
Esen: Killed by Ouyang in the Hall of Great Ceremony, after refusing to fight.
Chen Youliang: Defeated at Bianliang, escapes. His fate is left open.
The Prince of Radiance: Killed by Zhu on the road to Jiankang, after telling her that neither Liu Futong nor Zhu Chongba will rule.
Liu Futong: Killed by Zhu at Bianliang, after she declares the Mandate is hers.
Resolved and Unresolved Threads
Resolved: Zhu's claim to the Mandate of Heaven; Ouyang's revenge against Esen; Ma's choice to stay; the question of whether Zhu can survive as herself rather than as Zhu Chongba.
Unresolved: Ouyang's march on Dadu; whether Zhu's rule will hold; the fate of Chen Youliang; the broader war against the Yuan; the cost of Zhu's desire on those who love her.
Theme Resolution
Fate vs. self-determination: The novel's central tension resolves in Zhu's favor. She doesn't inherit Zhu Chongba's fate—she creates her own. The Prince of Radiance's prophecy (neither will Zhu Chongba) is true, but it doesn't stop Zhu. She simply becomes someone else: Zhu Yuanzhang. See fate vs. self-determination.
Desire as a consuming force: The novel opens with the Fire Sermon, describing all things as consumed by passion, hatred, and infatuation. By the end, Zhu's desire has literally become fire—white flame that burns from her body. But the cost is visible: Ma's pain, the Prince's death, the amputated arm. See desire as a consuming force.
Identity as performance: Zhu's entire life is a performance of Zhu Chongba. By the end, she stops performing and becomes herself—but herself is a new identity she creates. The final scene, where she proclaims herself Zhu Yuanzhang, is the ultimate performance: a public declaration of a self-made identity. See identity as performance.
Power and legitimacy: The Mandate of Heaven is claimed, not inherited. Zhu kills Liu Futong and the Prince to take it. The question of whether the Mandate is real or self-created is left deliberately ambiguous. See power and legitimacy.
The body as a site of identity: Zhu's amputated arm becomes a symbol. Her phantom hand burns with white fire at the coronation—her body itself has been transformed by her desire. See the body as a site of identity and power.
The Epilogue
There is no traditional epilogue. The novel ends with the coronation scene in Jiankang, where Zhu proclaims herself Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma pledges to become his Empress. The final image is of Zhu's phantom hand burning with white fire—a fitting end to a novel that began with the Fire Sermon.
Reasonable Interpretations
Is the Mandate real? The novel leaves this ambiguous. Zhu's white flame is visible to others (Jiao Yu sees it), suggesting something supernatural. But the novel also frames the Mandate as something claimed through desire and will. The Prince of Radiance's prophecy suggests fate is real—but Zhu's ability to defy it suggests fate is also mutable.
Is Zhu's transformation a triumph or a tragedy? The novel supports both readings. Zhu achieves everything she wanted, and the final scene is one of joy and radiance. But the cost is visible: the Prince's death, Ma's pain, the amputated arm. The novel's final line—Remember me, and say my name for ten thousand years—is both a triumph and a warning.
What does the white flame represent? The white flame is Zhu's desire made visible. It's distinct from the red spark of the old Song emperors—it's hers alone. The fact that it follows the outline of her phantom hand suggests that her desire has become so powerful it shapes even her perception of her own body.
Reader Questions
1. Why does Zhu kill the Prince of Radiance?
The Prince tells Zhu that neither Liu Futong nor Zhu Chongba will rule. This is a direct threat to her identity—she has been living as Zhu Chongba. Killing the child is both a practical act (removing a rival claimant to the Mandate) and a symbolic one (destroying the last remnant of the identity she's been performing). She tells Ma it had to be done, but the novel makes clear it was a choice, not a necessity.
2. What happens to Ouyang at the end?
Ouyang kills Esen and declares his Nanren army will march on Dadu to kill the Emperor. His revenge against Esen is complete, but his larger goal—destroying the Yuan dynasty—remains unfinished, setting up the sequel.
3. Does Zhu actually have the Mandate of Heaven?
The novel is deliberately ambiguous. Zhu's white flame is visible to others, suggesting supernatural power. But the novel also frames the Mandate as something claimed through desire and will. The Prince of Radiance's prophecy suggests fate is real, but Zhu's ability to defy it suggests fate is also mutable. The novel seems to argue that the Mandate belongs to whoever wants it badly enough.
4. Why does Ma choose to stay?
Ma knows Zhu's desire scorches and blisters those who come near it. She knows Zhu killed the Prince. But she also loves Zhu, and she chooses to rise with her rather than leave. Her appearance in red—the color of what has been ended—suggests she is making a deliberate, painful choice, not a naive one.
5. What does the white flame represent?
The white flame is Zhu's desire made visible—her own spark, distinct from the red spark of the old Song emperors. It's the novel's central image of self-determination: Zhu's desire is so strong it overspills her physical form and becomes entangled with the world around her.
6. Is the ending hopeful or tragic?
Both. Zhu achieves everything she wanted, and the final scene is one of joy and radiance. But the cost is visible: the Prince's death, Ma's pain, the amputated arm. The novel's final line—Remember me, and say my name for ten thousand years—is both a triumph and a warning.