How this all draws to an end
More fluffy theoretical musings! It is high time to bring the LOTGH musings to an end, so I think we can end on a great note: on death and dignity. LOTGH presents multiple major character deaths (hence there are spoilers here). Because it is unafraid to kill off characters to prove a point, it is, for all the amazing characters, still a sociological science fiction piece focused on the systems and products of these systems instead of individual protagonists. How do we leave this world, and how do we cope with the fact that in the grand scheme of things we are all insignificant and that the systems and ideas we birth into this world is going to outlive us?
Since most of the characters are from a military background, the idea of an honourable death is extremely pertinent. There are characters who believe that they should push on in the face of a terrible situation because it is cowardly to retreat, and there are also many characters (Reinhard included) who believe that retreating is wiser because when you get to live another day, there is a chance to overturn the results. This is, at its core, about whether we prioritise the present or the future. There was a scene where an Empire’s general (Admiral Merkatz) wanted to commit an honourable suicide instead of fleeing, yet his underling decided to save him and told him to live on to honour all the soldiers who were sacrificed.
The decision between dignity and honour is a hard one because it belongs to that particular tier in our value systems that can never be swayed. As such, it is one of the beautiful nuances that the anime has portrayed well. Personally, while I understand the temptation of dying in an honourable way, I think that knowing how to swallow your pride and retreat is an even more important skill. More people will find it easier to choose to sacrifice themselves for a noble cause, but it is far harder to have to live with shame and lick your wounds and prepare for a chance to redeem yourself. The higher up you go and the more responsibilities you have, the less rights we have to choose an honourable self-sacrifice as a form of escape.
In addition, the quantifiers for how we choose to define a dignified life is rooted the status quo: what are the values that this current society rewards? Because this idea of an honourable death is founded on a rather “trendy” basis, for the lack of a better word, dignity is how closely one’s life aligns with those value we choose to celebrate and appears a little flimsy. However, in the Galactic Empire, it is clear that the status quo, Goldenbaum dynasty, is one on its decline – which is what prompted Frauline Mariendorf’s family to choose to ally with Reinhard instead and turn their backs on the old aristocracy. Is that being a traitor? Is it bad to have foresight and ally yourself with the currents of time? I think it is significant that the Mariendorf household is one that is marginalised under the old order which prompted them to turn towards Reinhard in the first place. Upon viewing from different angles, the idea of a dignified death seems ridiculous because it is not something that could be measured in equal terms.
The interesting thing is, neither of the two protagonists, Yang and Reinhard, seek an honourable end, and neither received one either. This is the part where I think I will delve into the character deaths and what they mean. LOTGH differs from other anime in how willing it is to kill off characters because their deaths contribute to something bigger. Character deaths are meaningful because the area of focus is the society that the characters inhabit. There are so many character deaths but only a few that I feel sufficiently interested in to talk about. I will be omitting Siegfried’s death because it seems pretty straightforward to me that his death was meant to be a character-building point for Reinhard.
Let’s start with Yang Wenli. I felt so depressed after he died because he’s such a great man and I felt so terrible that Reinhard lost the last person in the universe who brings out the best in him. His death was significant because it was the only one where members of both the Alliance and the Empire mourned it together (Reinhard even sent his subordinate to pay respects to him) and it speaks volumes of what kind of person he was. The death itself though, was unflashy and deviated from the traditional ideas of glory and honour. He was shot by this random guy who didn’t even have enough guts to shoot him properly and instead pierced the artery in his legs. So the heroic Yang Wenli simply sat against the wall in some dark corner and bled to his death. Many of his friends found it an undignified way for him to die, hence there was a lot of rage and frustration at the Terrarists who killed him in such an underhanded method. To me, though, there was something admirable in him simply sitting down and accepting his end instead of donning the despair of a dying man fighting to survive. Later on, Yang’s wife revealed that in her mind she had always envisioned a quiet death for Yang, one that is befitting of his personality. He would be old and surrounded by the laughter of his grandchildren, fall asleep in a warm breeze and have the book he was reading slip form his hand. The urge to live is beautiful and all, but I think it is incredibly ugly in its selfishness and desperation, but Yang bypassed all that and was indiscriminate about the location he was going to pass away at – till the end he maintained the dignity of choosing to die in a manner that was befitting of him. Yang gracious accepted his death just as he did for all the unfair things he was dealt with as a subordinate to an incompetent leadership. While it is so easy to scorn this kind of laidback attitude, I think that it is something that we, as a collective society way too hung up on resilience, should learn from, a sort of que sera sera attitude.
While Yang died alone with his thoughts, surrounded by the warmth of his own blood, Reinhard’s death was one that was a little more “social” and interesting. The anime draws to a close as Reinhard passes away due to some unknown disease that has weakened him for a long time. Unlike Yang, he expected his death and had time to mull over it, turn it over and over in his mind like another one of his wartime strategies. Reinhard passed away on a cushy bed, dreaming about the stars, peacefully, and with the people he loved (his wife and his newborn son). It was also oddly, fitting, because as he drew his final breath, his wife stood up and announced that Reinhard didn’t die of illness, but simply because he had used up all his lifetime with how intense and how dazzling he was. We are reminded that Reinhard’s conquest only lasted 2 short but significant years, yet it felt like it was the whole world because of how rigorously he had worked to bring about that change. The undefeatable Kaiser was struck down not by another mortal, but by himself. It’s such a strange and bittersweet experience. I wonder how he coped with the knowledge of his impending death. I wonder how the universe would cope with his death. It is a little depressing to think about the world will move on, unsentimental, even after you have given your all. Perhaps it is because now is a season of change and decision, to me, Reinhard’s death is one that raises the question: what are we planning to accomplish within our lifetime? How do we make an impact that is worthwhile, and how do we ensure that it is realistic in the light of the indifferent strides of time?
Aside from the main cast, I think Oberstein’s death is one that is also rather symbolic, hence it deserves a quick mention. It is during the final stretches of purging the Terrarists, and the terror group has infiltrated Reinhard’s residence planning to assassinate him. Till the end, Oberstein renders his service to the Empire: it was he who disseminated the information of their whereabouts, but with his own twist. He lied about the specific location of Reinhard’s meeting. In this way, he helped smoke out the last of the Terrarists while protecting Reinhard with his own body. In the aftermath of the blast, Oberstein has half his chest gone, and the medics told him to hang in there, yet this eccentric man as-a-matter-of-factly told them not to bother lying to him about his chances of survival. He readily accepted his death, just as he pledged to do so to Reinhard many years ago. His death was described to be something almost inevitable: A sun must always have its shadow and when the sun extinguishes, it is fitting for the shadow to fade as well. After his death, many people gossip about how this was his plan to usurp the Kaiser position backfiring. I feel terrible about how Oberstein has no one to defend his reputation, even when he so whole-heartedly defended Reinhard’s.
The other death that really stood out to me and weighed heavily in my mind is that of Reuntal’s. As I mentioned some dozens of walls of texts back, Mittermeyer and Reuntal were the twin stars of Reinhard’s higher echelon (back when Siegfried was alive, the four of them had plotted for Reinhard’s rise together). Reuntal is a tragic character, a baby shunned at birth for his different-coloured eyes, and embroiled in the rumours of him turning traitor and challenging Reinhard. A little backstory: there were a few instances of Reuntal harbouring personal ambition to defeat the Kaiser, yet he made the decision to be loyal out of the sheer force of his respect for him, and he was entrusted as the governor of the newly won Alliance territory, second in power only to Reinhard. Due to some complications and the plotting of the Terrarists, Reinhard suspected him of a coup and he went to war with Reinhard due to his incredible pride and how insulted he was that the Kaiser had so little trust in him. His ship was under fire, he was critically injured and would have to go through intense surgery to fix his wounds up, yet he refused (told the doctor to just numb his nerves) because he was going to command the resistance against Reinhard and fight till the end. As the Kaiser’s troops closed in, led by his best friend Mittermeyer, he sat bleeding through his military uniform at his desk, waiting for his friend to come swiftly to meet him for a final drink.
I guess there is something stubborn and prideful in the way he was smiling confidently in his final moments, even when he paled from the pain. He waited and waited with the two glasses of whiskey at his table, and Mittermeyer, upon finding his friend, honoured his final drink and covered his body with the Empire’s flag. There might be something deeply false about romanticising this kind of attitude in the face of death, yet I feel that it is undeniable that Reuntal held on to his dignity and that deserved so much of my respect. If anything, all these character deaths up till now only served to present the multiple ways of preserving a certain dignity in the face of our own mortality. It is saddening, and inspiring, and even though dignity is founded on flimsy ideals, I think that at least it is the last thing we can control in our lives. Everyone was assigned a fitting death and they chose to let go of life without grovelling for more time. They strove for a fulfilling life and are proud of it. That is someone I aspire to be.
The final thing to touch on for mortality is how the living cope with it. Just as how these characters weigh heavily in my mind, I must imagine how the others within the story must have felt. Especially Mittermeyer being the only one of the original group to survive. I put myself in his shoes and I really wonder, how does he cope with the grief of losing his trusted colleagues, his leader, his bestfriend? He outlasted all the Fleet Admirals and there is no one left who understands him. Mittermeyer had a nightmare of Reinhard leaving him towards the end, and I think that illustrates the kind of anxiety we harbour towards having to bear witness to losing more things. LOTGH has taught me that losing things is a part of life, and part of growing up is to harbour those emotions at our docks, and eventually learning how to cut them loose into the sunset. Mitermeyer chose to endure the grief so that the dignity of all his friend’s death is preserved in his memory. In the final scene, Mittermeyer stands with Reuntal’s illegitimate child in his arms, gazing at the stars, and dreaming of a better future. Just as how “The Great Gatsby” and “Age of Iron” end, we can only look towards the future for hope and salvation.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes has been an epic experience, and one that I think I will return to watch again perhaps a few decades down the road and glean new insights from. This long reflection series draws to close the day before my A levels start, and I am awfully glad to have learnt so much from it. In a way, I think, writing about it helps me cope with the pain of having finished watching such a great series.
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