Marco Polo (TV Series)

Feast (2014)

Benedict Wong: Kublai Khan

Photos 

Quotes 

• Hundred Eyes : If the gods are always watching, we might as well put on a good show. The inability to sleep is the curse of the aged and the guilty.

  Kublai Khan : And the gout-stricken.

  Hundred Eyes : Pardon me. I foolishly assumed you were dreaming about your brother's head rolling in the dirt, his body, a feast for vultures.

  Kublai Khan : Do they hate me?

  Hundred Eyes : It is better to be hated for what you are, than to be loved for what you are not.

  Kublai Khan : You're a drunken fool.

  Hundred Eyes : So, kill me.

  Kublai Khan : I have thought about it.

  Hundred Eyes : But you wish to sleep.

  Kublai Khan : I know you want to tell me one of those endless stories from that infernal Chinese teacher of yours.

  Hundred Eyes : No stories tonight, Sire.

  Kublai Khan : No Zen riddles?

  Hundred Eyes : I will offer a truth instead. Had you spared Ariq you would have encouraged other traitors.

  Kublai Khan : His execution was just.

  Hundred Eyes : No. But it was necessary in that moment, to preserve your Empire.

  Kublai Khan : You ease one worry, but aggravate one greater.

  Hundred Eyes : As life is wont to do.

• Kublai Khan : Do you have brothers?

  Marco Polo : I wish I had. Someone to play with.

  Kublai Khan : Someone to conspire with. Brothers sometime blessing, sometime curse. Like those in your holy book. Cain and Abel? Tell me of them.

  Marco Polo : Sons of Adam. Cain was the first man to be born. Abel, the first to die.

  Kublai Khan : By the blade of his brother, yes?

  Marco Polo : Envious of God's love for Abel, Cain killed his brother, concealed his body and lied to the Lord above.

  Kublai Khan : What became of the murderer?

  Marco Polo : He bore the mark of Cain and was cursed to roam the Earth, endlessly.

  Kublai Khan : To this day?

  Marco Polo : No. He wandered until he could wander no more. So he took a wife, built a house and lived there until it collapsed and crushed him dead. Some say this is an invented story, nothing more. Meant to impart a greater lesson.

  Kublai Khan : Which is?

  Marco Polo : The scholars and historians of Venice are superior to all others across the land. I have not the studies to begin to explore such questions.

  Kublai Khan : Try.

  Marco Polo : It is in our nature to seek our brother's possessions. And be willing to destroy to obtain them.

• [last lines] 

  Kublai Khan : [having killed an innocent servant rather than Marco]  If I let him walk away, he will have his wine six nights from now and say "Khan was lied to by a lowly foreigner and gave that liar his leave." He shares your sin now. He is your scapegoat. Go, Latin. Sleep off the drink.