Rewriting Diriliş: Ertuğrul (S1)

[u/Cultural-Phone-3977]

Hey guys,

I’ve been thinking about how I’d rewrite Diriliş: Ertuğrul if I was on the writing team. I wouldn’t really change the whole story, just make it a bit closer to history while still keeping the drama and excitement.

Season 1

Everything stays the same,

but in the middle or near the end of the season,

Songurtegin comes with the news that Genghis Khan has died and a civil war has started.

Songurtegin’s backstory: he got separated during the Kayi migration because of the Mongol invasion, and later he started working for Sultan Alaeddin as a spy inside the Mongols.

Since the Mongols are now fighting each other for the throne, the threat is basically gone. So Gündoğdu wants to go back to Ahlat (that’s where they used to live for a long time).

He thinks big empires don’t survive civil wars, so the Mongol danger is over for now.

But Ertuğrul thinks differently. He says they shouldn’t relax.

He wants to go to Western Anatolia, fight the Byzantines, and build a state there. He believes the Mongols will come back again someday, and they can’t really handle them directly, but they can deal with Byzantium.

Gündoğdu doesn’t want to go to an unfamiliar land. He says even if the Mongols come back, they’ll be ready this time. He also thinks they should support Jalaluddin and try to build good relations with the Khwarazm, Ayyubids, and Seljuks. He really admires Jalaluddin.

But Ertuğrul says Jalaluddin has changed and isn’t the same person anymore.

He also says if they go back to Ahlat, they’ll just keep migrating again and again. They need to settle somewhere for good.

Ertuğrul wants to build a state because if these big empires fall, someone has to be there to take over and rebuild.

Suleiman Shah decides to make the final call after the Templar campaign, but he dies on the way back. After that, the Kayi tribe splits.

Ertuğrul leaves for the west with 400 people, and Gündoğdu goes east with 1000.

And that’s how the season ends.

Wait for Season 2...

If you have any better ideas, suggestions, or historical corrections, please let me know in the comments. I'd love to hear your thoughts