My beloved fatherland, I have returned!
How I've longed to see you, Lord Richmond!
No,
my king!
Stanley.
Where is your stepson Richmond?
I will mete out death to traitors,
be they great lords, close relatives,
or intimate friends.
It matters not how well I loved them.
I make no exceptions.
My lords!
We must fortify the crown so that no one will ever again foment rebellion!
I shall bolster the royal forces
and adjudicate rights and arms with greater severity!
I will not have charlatans counterfeiting lineage
and armorial bearings to lay false claim to royal blood!
There must be no exceptions.
I slew even my other half with my own hands.
Richard,
would you make a few moments for me?
York of the white rose.
Lancaster of the red rose.
These royal houses with roses for their crests battled for the throne.
People call their strife the "Wars of the Roses."
Don't go deep into the forest, and don't make a fuss.
I won't.
It's been so long
since you and I visited the woods like this.
Somehow, it all seems like a dream.
The rain has long since ceased,
yet I search wherever I go.
It's all a bad dream.
Anne?
It's not just the battlefield, or the councils or feasts.
A royal palace isn't right for Edward.
What's come over you?
Please, Richard.
Disinherit him.
What do you--
I haven't long to live.
I had an attack of tuberculosis as a child.
Now I have it again.
You recovered once before.
I know my own body better than--
Anne!
I thought that I'd be able to shape this kingdom alongside you.
I thought that I'd be able to guard Edward's future.
Even if I die, the threats to his life will continue.
As long as he's a king's son, he's doomed to a life of blood and conspiracy.
You made certain of that!
Didn't you, Richard?
Why?
Set Edward free
from the curse of this dreadful circlet of light.
Why is God so insatiable?
Why does He keep taking from me?
My whole body is on the verge of freezing.
Next time, make a true heir with someone you can truly love.
No! This is wrong!
This isn't the place!
The king's bed can't be this cold.
Where?
Where is he?
Why isn't he here?
How can he not be here?!
Your Majesty?
He's...
He's gone!
Yet I can't sleep without him.
Your Majesty.
Call me "Richard."
Like he did.
I want... that heat.
K-King Richard.
Just close your eyes. Imagine the woman you fancy.
King Richard!
We can't.
Heat of the flesh can't warm your soul.
I know.
No one knows that better than me.
I want to see him.
But he's gone.
Because I loved him.
All I love is vanishing.
Everything I care for will be gone.
I sinned to obtain my desire.
Is all this the wages of sin?
King Richard,
I'll stay with you to the last.
My sovereign, I have something to show you.
And that is?
This is the purpose that the Duke of Buckingham entrusted to me.
Lord Oxford,
our army is safe in the hands of a veteran such as yourself.
But we are not yet heroes.
Richard can claim to be the legitimate king.
And what of our forces?
Foreigners!
Traitors!
Richmond, whose claim to the throne is, frankly, rather dubious.
It's too late for such worries.
What do you think we need to make us heroes?
Power?
Victory?
And a story.
Come one, come all!
The show's about to start!
Actors?
Yes. Heroism requires one thing above all.
--Namely... --Here, we shall reenact the hidden truth of the royal palace!
Its cursed reality!
A consummate...
The wicked tale of King Richard III!
...villain!
A nightingale?
Did it wander here out of season?
What will burial benefit a soulless brute?
Only human beings may enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Your Majesty, I bear fresh tidings!
The Earl of Richmond's army has come ashore in Wales!
So, Richmond has come at last.
The Earl of Oxford and several other lords have joined his cause.
Shall I summon the council?
Deliberation is pointless.
We have no choice but to give battle!
Have you heard? Sympathizers are flocking to his banner.
The king might fall if nothing is done.
Lord Stanley, if you go southwest, we would be happy to--
My lords!
I take it you're so well prepared for war that you have time for gossip?
N-Not quite. I must depart to ready my forces!
And I must levy troops.
Ungrateful fair-weather friends.
Still, considering this string of rebellions...
How can you join in such talk?!
I can't help feeling uneasy.
Ever since the war with Buckingham,
the king has been a shell of himself.
My health hasn't returned.
Is that medicine to blame? Or is it...
King Richard!
Richard.
Richard!
They're all looking for a chance to turn on you.
Incessant rebellions. A dying queen.
If you lose your precious heir as well,
you'll lose everything.
Even the crown you killed your other half to keep.
How is Her Majesty?
She's stable now,
but to be honest, the end could come at any time.
And the Prince of Wales shows symptoms of the same disease.
If you let that boy go, you have no future.
I'm well aware of that.
Joan, you've made just one error.
What I sought to protect at any cost was...
Anne?!
Mother?! Where are you going?!
That place is too haunted by death!
This is my only chance to flee!
Please wait!
Mother!
Everyone will worry. Let's turn back.
Listen, Edward.
I'm going... to die soon.
D-Die?
When I'm gone, the palace will be a den of those who wish you dead.
Especially if Richard loses his war.
The king's son will be executed, or else imprisoned for the rest of his days.
Before that happens--
Anne! Wait!
Father.
No!
I can't stay here!
This place--that palace-- isn't what I hoped for!
Anne.
I want to go back.
Back to the way I was before I met you that day!
Back to who I was before my life was stolen!
Wait, Anne!
I wasn't even allowed to dream.
A woman's duty
is merely to love whoever is placed before her.
Anne...
Let go.
Listen, Richard.
You are... my curse.
And not because I loved you.
I wasn't bound because I loved you,
but because I wanted you to love me.
All this time, you wouldn't even fetter me.
I bound myself with briars.
Her every wish for love
nurtured briars to tie her down.
You wanted to be loved.
Richard.
Anne, I'm sorry.
Here and now,
let's cut through those briars together.
I chose a bloody path of my own free will.
You needn't burden yourself with my fate.
Edward,
I love you.
Even if it costs me everything.
Once he's clear of London, announce that the Prince of Wales is dead.
I want to hold his "funeral" before the war.
Is this... a letter from Anne?
Why is the seal unbroken?
Was that really for the best?
The death of an heir is a fatal blow to a king.
If your wife were to pass as well...
Silence!
Anne will pull through.
You know she won't. Isn't that why you want to grant her wish?
Now her wish is mine as well.
Give this to Edward for me.
It's a memento of his father.
Jane, take good care of Edward--
I mean, of that nameless boy.
Your Majesty! You mustn't enter!
If you catch the queen's illness--
Stand aside! Anne is my wife!
Richard.
Lie down, Anne. This isn't good for you.
We didn't lose that boy,
did we?
No, he gained a new life.
Thank you.
Anne!
Richard...
Now I can die peacefully.
Don't talk nonsense. You'll get well soon.
I'll host a feast to celebrate your recovery.
I'll even have a new dress made for you.
You wear the dress. I like how you look in one.
I'll grant your every desire.
No wish is beyond the king's power.
Your Majesty,
I am deeply grateful for your boundless kindness.
You even provided my daughter with this lovely dress.
It was all Anne's wish.
I had that dress made for her.
I'm sure she would be pleased to see you wear it.
How do you expect me to look Uncle Richard in the eye?
I'm engaged to his enemy!
But not wedded to him.
Queen Anne will soon be dead.
Thus, Richard desires your bloodline.
He wouldn't!
This is all for your happiness.
If you wish to return to the palace, I will go with you.
After all,
you're my last ray of hope.
Uncle!
No matter how much ill people speak of you, I won't believe them!
I pray that your life will be blessed
and that you live out your full span of years in peace.
Edward was always concerned for you.
Richard,
perhaps you really did free us out of the goodness of your heart.
But with that kind whim, you dug your own grave!
My name is Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond!
I have come to reclaim England from you!
My brave and earnest gentlemen!
Please, lend Richmond your strength to dethrone this demon king!
Down with Richard III!
Demon! Demon! Demon!
Dear Duke Richard,
Do you remember that day at the banquet?
I was truly glad that you asked me to dance with you then.
It's strange. When I picture you in my mind's eye,
I soar out of the darkness, like a skylark at dawn.
How I would love to dance with you again someday.
Until that day comes,
I pray for your happiness.
Brave soldiers of England!
The traitor Richmond now seeks to usurp our rightful throne!
He devastates our land in his march toward London!
But our foes are beaten curs who once fled England in defeat!
A common thorn has more power to wound us!
We are the righteous shield of our fatherland!
In the name of your king, to battle!
Advance!
Even if God watches over Richmond,
there are no more briars in my path.
There's nothing left to me.
What are you doing?!
--Make way! --Impertinent wretch!
Do you know to whom you speak?!
I am the mother of your king!
Have you come to pray for victory in battle?
I have indeed.
For Richmond's victory.
Then kindly stand aside, Mother.
Beat the marching drums!
Richard.
The day you were born...
A terrible storm laid trees low.
Owls screeched. Crows croaked in the night!
Your mother suffered abnormal birthing pains!
And after all that, her child was...
...a blood-soaked demon that defied the will of God!
So, this voice that always tormented me
was yours all along.
Richard, you are unfit to be king.
I should have been truthful before it came to this.
I should have revealed our secret, which I'd hoped to take to my grave.
Your father
was not Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York.
I have no more time to waste on your ravings.
Ten months and ten days before your birth,
during our days of strife with Lancaster,
my husband Richard was overcome by rage and desperation.
Between that pressure and his lust for the crown, he had no place for me.
So I...
I...
You look nothing like your father or brothers.
Everything about you is proof of my deed!
True, I don't resemble Father.
But I'm just like you, Mother!
We clung to what we could never have
and punished ourselves to escape our senseless suffering.
We called ourselves sinners and demons.
We could never have endured it otherwise!
No!
Mother,
you are no sinner.
You're a victim.
No! I am no victim!
I sinned!
Your birth was my punishment!
Although my husband always loved me,
he... he...
He refused to love my darkness.
How slender and frail she is.
She's small, like I am.
Have I been under this person's sway all this time?
Mother, please pray.
Pray for Richmond's triumph
and my death.
I hope that will be a comfort to you.
For all my hatred,
I...
In truth, I always...
Mother...
Goodbye.
Goodbye, my "curse."