one of the things i love about dod (except canonically bisexual suleiman and ibrahim -- or i suppose that plays into this) is that despite hurrem and ibrahim being initially, seemingly, positioned as a clandestine romance, despite them being the ones involved in a forbidden affair and sneaking around behind suleiman's back (or so we and they believe, suleiman gives plenty of vibes that signal that he might actually be aware of what happened), despite hurrem being romantically and sexually involved with both men -- it's ultimately suleiman who is at the center of that love triangle. ibrahim and hurrem are ultimately rivals for his favor, his attention, his affection and trust. not what i was expecting at all.
another thing i really dig is how the story defies typical expectations of the emotional dynamic between suleiman/hurrem and suleiman/ibrahim. hurrem may respect suleiman, may even have feelings for him to a certain degree, but her motivations come almost solely from a practical place: to protect her children, to keep her status, and to accomplish her goals to end bloodshed in the harem. any sentiments she has towards suleiman as a person are secondary, if relevant at all, to that. the one whose primary driving factor is their emotional attachment to suleiman is ibrahim. it's ibrahim for whom suleiman is the entire world. it's ibrahim who's so single-mindedly loyal to suleiman that he ultimately makes every decision based on what he believes would do right by their relationship. it's ibrahim who feels threatened and envious by what he perceives as hurrem supplanting him from his previously exclusive and unique place at suleiman's side. it's ibrahim who is canonically stated to hold suleiman "most dear in this world." it's ibrahim whose life revolves around his love and adoration for suleiman, not hurrem.
tldr, dod completely turns the m/f/m love triangle cliche on its head. i came in ready to slog through suleiman and ibrahim having dick measuring contests because they both like hurrem -- and the story's initial setup was very much tailored to be misleading like that -- but i was very pleasantly surprised with what i got instead. it's not suleiman and ibrahim who come into conflict over hurrem, it's hurrem and ibrahim who come into conflict over suleiman -- hurrem because she wants to protect her position and for her children, and ibrahim because he wants to do everything for suleiman's sake above all.
