Five centuries after his death, Korea's official historical records still cannot agree on how King Danjong died. Now "The King's Warden," this year's surprise box office hit, steps into that gap, offering its own version of a story that the kingdom's chroniclers themselves recorded in conflicting ways. He was just 12 when he ascended the throne in 1452 as the sixth monarch of the 1392-1910 Joseon Dynasty, following the short, illness-plagued reign of his father, King Munjong. Within a year, his own uncle, Grand Prince Suyang, staged a coup that swept through the court in a bloody purge, claiming the lives of senior officials and driving many others into exile. Forced to relinquish his crown, the boy king was reduced to a figurehead. By 1457, stripped of his royal title and demoted to a prince in name alone, he was sent into exile in the remote mountain valleys of Yeongwol, Gangwon Province. A few months later, the 16-year-old met his end there, far from the palace that had so briefly been his world. Far less certain, however, are the circumstances of his final moments. Depending on whic