The King Maker

Fernando de Gama survives a violent shipwreck on the Siamese coast and washes ashore. He narrowly avoids a crocodile and is captured by Arab slave traders who take him to Ayutthaya. Bound for the auction block, he explodes his bonds and triggers a chaotic chase through the ancient city.

A Eurasian beauty named Maria buys Fernando's freedom and secures his release from bondage. He is brought into a new life and begins to form ties with Maria. The episode marks the end of his immediate captivity and the start of his next chapter in Ayutthaya.

Fernando meets Maria's father, Phillippe, and immediately recognizes him as the man who killed Fernando's father years earlier. The revelation confirms Fernando's lifelong quest for vengeance. The moment sets the stage for a tangled web of loyalties and betrayal.

Fernando and his Portuguese comrades are conscripted into King Chairacha's campaign, fighting alongside samurai and other soldiers. In the heat of battle, he forms a bond with the Thai warrior Tong. Their valor earns them appointments as the king's personal bodyguards.

Queen Sudachan, a former consort who schemes to seize the throne, blackmails Phillippe into aiding her. Phillippe brings in a scar-faced ninja to kill the king in a bid to clear the way. The plan sets a dark, dangerous tone for the court.

Fernando, Tong, and other Siamese troops intercept the assassination plan and kill the would-be killers in the king's bedroom. The queen's plot is not yet revealed to the public, but the threat is neutralized for the moment. The king then tasks Fernando and Tong with uncovering the mastermind behind the scheme.

Fernando recognizes Phillippe as an accomplice and demands answers. The confrontation leads to a duel, and Tong delivers the killing blow that ends Phillippe's treachery. The revelation reshapes Fernando's thirst for vengeance.

Queen Sudachan resorts to black magic to poison the king and resolve the line of succession by removing her own son, Prince Yodfa. She enlists an African spear-wielding warrior to carry out the fatal act. The palace trembles as danger looms over the throne.

With the queen's plots advancing, Fernando and Tong are framed for the king's and prince's deaths. They are coerced into a deadly duel for the queen, her new king, and the rapt audience. The stakes are personal and political.

Tong hurls an axe at Worawongsathirat, killing him in a pivotal moment. In a cruel twist, the queen kills Tong and Fernando in revenge. Just as the queen believes victory is hers, Maha Chakkraphat arrives to intervene.

Maha Chakkraphat arrives, exposing the queen's plots. He arrests Sudachan and frees Fernando, Tong, and their loved ones. The immediate crisis subsides as the heroes gain a reprieve.

An ending note states that news of the turmoil reaches the Burmese king. The ensuing invasion and the fall of Ayutthaya are attributed, at least in part, to the chaos unleashed by the queen's schemes and these personal vendettas. The story links micro-level events to a larger historical outcome.