Summary
With the White Night King, their leading ally in the south, in disgrace
and the Winter Country on the ascendance thanks to the Crimson Scholar, the
Church’s influence is waning. They intend to launch a Third Crusade in the
hopes of bolstering it again. Young Merchant plots to avoid the Alliance taking
any action until he and his closest colleagues can reform its governing body,
the Council of Ten. One of Queen’s students, a young man from the Bard Country
and now a diplomat for the Winter Country, is recruited into their cause to help
delay whatever the current Council is doing.
In the town square of the Winter capital, it’s clear the Church’s
actions don’t have popular support. Elder Sister Maid, wearing the ring, is
brought before the Church’s Messenger, and his second-in-command ascertains
this is indeed Crimson Scholar after looking her over. She’s put in chains, and
whipped and beaten by the Messenger’s men. The people are horrified, and the
Winter King almost intervenes until Old Man warns him against it. But Elder
Sister remains defiant, and the Messenger can think of no better proof of ‘her’
heresy. Now she has something to say, but what does he need to fear from a
heretic’s words?
Elder Sister tells her story, without mentioning that she isn’t, in
fact, Crimson Scholar. Born a serf, she lost all but one of her six siblings to
accidents, illness, the winter cold, and the cruelty of the land owner. But fate
gave her a second chance, and others looked out for her. For so long she’d been
told her birth status made her nothing more than an insect. But the kindness
she’s been shown has convinced her otherwise. She’s human, and believes anyone
who wants to be must first recognize that they already are. When the Light
Spirit created humanity, she gave them souls so that they could have freedom. She
didn’t make them perfectly good either, but their freedom allows them to strive
to do better and know the joy that brings. These are holy treasures, not to be
relinquished just to make things easier. No one can take that from you, not
kings, not even the Church.
Enraged, the Messenger orders the crowd to stone her. Surprisingly, Elder
Sister says she won’t resent it. Sometimes people must do such things to
protect themselves and their families, even if it means obeying cruel people.
Freedom also means they have the freedom to choose their own actions, and no
one can blame them for doing what they must. But to do something simply because
they were ordered to, for no other reason, that
makes you an insect, one who has surrendered the Light Spirit’s holy gifts to
another and has no will of their own.
The crowd starts to throw stones – at the Messenger. He orders the
Winter King to stop them, but the latter remains silent. That does it – off
with her head! The Winter King intervenes and stands up to the Messenger. For
too long he’s been under the yoke of the Central Nations and the Church, but
only now does he realize what that really meant. He’s ashamed it took him so
long to act. Lady Knight speaks up as well. As a servant of the Light Spirit,
she’s ashamed of the Church’s actions. Freedom also means the freedom to sin –
it’s one’s personal responsibility to overcome your own sinful nature. The King
grants Crimson Scholar asylum, and Knight, as prioress of Lakeside Convent,
recognizes her as a saint. The King orders the Messenger to leave. The latter
warns them they won’t get away with this.
A demon lord has just had a vision of Elder Sister. It’s made him less
confident in his plans to take over the world.
This has all happened before. Through many ages she who tore the world
asunder has strived to make things right, and across the span of time many like
Hero have risen to help her. All she wants is salvation for all, and the chance
to see him again.
Thoughts
Damn, this just might be the best episode of the series so far! Elder
Sister Maid was only a secondary character up ‘till now, but man did she steal
the show here. The rescue plan gave her a very passive role, but she managed to
upset that and take her fate into her own hands. I never really thought much of
it, but she’s spent the last six episodes wondering about the opportunities
she’s been given and generally being unsure of her newfound place in life.
Seeing her embrace it, and at great personal risk no less, was great to watch
and took a lot of guts on her part. She deserves some major kudos for that.
It also put Head Maid’s comments about ‘insects’ in a new light. I
didn’t like it because it was kind of absurd – yeah, no shit a serf doesn’t have the power to improve their situation
that easily. That really wasn’t the case. What Head Maid actually did was teach
her that she needs to stand up for herself and take control of her own fate,
rather than relying on others. By ‘can’t decide their own fate,’ it looks like
Head Maid meant people who can’t in the sense that they won’t, because they lack the courage to do so. Between that and the
mentions last episode of how helpful she’s been to the villagers, she’s not as
bad as I thought she’d be. OK, there’s still the ‘useless flesh’ comments
directed at Queen, but that’s an annoyance that isn’t exclusive to her.
Not too much to worry about here re: the portrayal of the Church
either. This episode made it clear the Light Spirit’s teaching are a bit more
complex and open to interpretation. It’s not a monolithic, domineering
organization. OK, it wants to be
monolithic, and it’s being very forceful in asserting its power, but that’s
because it’s an organization run by flawed people, not something inherent to
the faith itself. And since they’re as imperfect as the people they want to
reach out to, their struggle to have their moral authority recognized can
sometimes go too far.
And then there’s the stuff that raises questions. Like, what’s up with
that demon lord, who apparently wants to rule the world? This is a bit late to
introduce a potential antagonist, especially right after it looks like the
stage is set for the final conflict in the actual run of the show. And apart
from, presumably, Queen and Head Maid duking it out, it doesn’t look like it’ll
involve the demons at all.
Then there’s the Light Spirit, and how what’s happening the with Hero
and Demon Queen is the latest in a cycle, their goal one the Light Spirit has
been trying to achieve for centuries. At least, I assume it’s the Light Spirit, since she wants salvation for
everyone. What bothers me is that she only sees Hero as the latest in a cycle of companions she’s worked with. I
hope this doesn’t mean Queen’s been possessed by her this whole time, because
yeah, way to undermine everything that makes her a great character. I suppose
it might explain the restlessness of the souls of past Demon Kings, since the
Light Spirit, whom the demons don’t worship as far as I can tell, is
interfering with one of their own. If Queen is, say, the one identified as a
worthy worldly representative because of her goals and compassionate nature,
that’s totally fine, since it means the Light Spirit is just acting through an
earthly agent. Granted, it’s possible the Light Spirit is still influencing
Queen in at least some way. It could
possibly explain why Queen has such an advanced understanding of the nature of
conflict and society when no one else, human or demon, appears to.
The thing about stuff like that, though, is that this is a
twelve-episode adaptation of a light novel series currently eight volumes long,
and I somehow doubt the anime is covering more than a few volumes. Stuff like
that demon lord and the Light Spirit feels like stuff that was included because
this is the point in the story where they first show up, but who don’t actually
come into play until later. It’s starting to feel like Mage may be the same way
too. If there’s more seasons that not necessarily an issue, depending on how
far they get, and I definitely won’t object if more gets made, but I’m not
holding my breath.
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