I just finished watching this episode and I want to share a theory that I've given some thought as events have unfolded since the seven Rokka's gathering. I'll warn any potential readers that this theory is going to be wild and founded from a very different bent than one might expect, that is, one based off of hard evidence provided by the show itself. Rather, this theory is one that I engage in because of my sensibilities as a graduate of English and creative writing. So in another sense, this theory is perhaps the way I would write the story, if I were up to do it. So please be warned and have fun as this was fun for me to develop.
I'm going to go out on a limb and claim that Adlet is indeed the seventh, if only because, from a writer's standpoint, this outcome is the most interesting and perhaps the highest stakes route that the plot could turn.
Adlet is such a divisive member of the Rokka's that, if he is the seventh, the emotional fallout would be an excellent generation of fresh conflict for a more interesting second season where they finally confront the ultimate villain.
The only reason I make my argument from this perspective is because I see very little objective evidence revealed throughout the story itself. As a viewer I have no way to formulate my own conclusion as one might in a mystery novel. All we're given is, essentially, things Adlet has told us, and based off of good faith (good faith being an important thematic point for this anime) and his perceived uprightness as a character, we are inclined to believe him.
However, because of this theme of belief, and the strange twist that this show has already taken from what I'm sure most of us expected, I can't shake the feeling that we, as viewers, are being deceived, not just by Adlet, but by the original writer in a tour de force of experimental creative writing competence. This show could have been very straightforward, Rage of Bahamut-esque high adventure plot as the initial summaries made it out to be, but either intentionally or not, this turned out to be far from the truth, and to be honest we got something more engaging and interesting. My point is that our expectations were confounded from early on, and so, if we read these decisions to overturn our expectations as part of a story telling strategy, we should watch out going forward and make an effort not to fall into the more cliched expectations we may have fallen into making as anime consumers.
Underneath it all, I also feel as though the very mythology of this world may be skewed. If anything, this anime has accomplished the feat of keeping the readers on their toes. And so, because the show has encouraged me to be skeptical of the characters, I wonder if that mindset is appropriate for the underlying assumptions we have of the world itself and the mythos that Rokka's world operates on. After all, every piece of information we've received on the Rokka's mission and the "evil to the west" has been secondhand, besides the body marks each Rokka has received (of which might serve a completely different purpose yet to be revealed. )
Speaking of secondhand information, Adlet does indeed seem to be the strongest man in the world when it comes to having answers. Not one of the characters seems to know the first thing about anything. Rather, Adlet seems to understand this and may be playing on it. For example, his theory about there being two fakes is plausible, but he seemed to grab it out of thin air so that, one realizes, anything might be possible in this world (or it's poor writing, which, since it's more interesting, I am not going to assume). This convinces me of one thing only, and that is, if Adlet is not physically the strongest man in the world, to which he admits that he's just average, he just might be the smartest. The only peer he may have is in Hans, but Hans is a very specialized thinker, whereas Adlet's genius seems to touch on all aspects of life.
As for his genius he seems to understand those that he's met quickly, as in break them down into their base components--namely their desires and perspectives, and "win" them as he's done with Hans, now Flamie, and formerly, Nashetanya.
As a side note, I found his willingness to leave Nashetanya and pursue Flamie in the earlier part of the season to be odd since I found their companionship to be easy and comforting. But in hindsight, perhaps Adlet also found her too "easy" of a read and left for a more challenging, and perhaps a more worthwhile investment in Flamie as an ally.
To return to my previous point on Adlet's genius, humoring the idea he may be the villain, he is also a genius actor. His game of wits with Hans just might extend one step further than what Hans thought possible, i.e. witnessing Adlet's true "dead man's face". Knowing Adlet's psychological adeptness, human understanding, and his being armed with the knowledge that Hans was an assassin, this may have been his true objective when gaining an ally in Hans, that is, faking a "dead man's face."
And as a last point, I can't see anyone else being the fake. Maura, as demonstrated in this episode is a bit too blunt in her methods, almost overtly tyrannical in getting the others to take action. She's more of an upright dictator, stubborn but owning a sort of sixth sense in her un-substantiated judgment of Adlet as the seventh. In a sense, she is too fragile to be the seventh in that she is completely inflexible in personality. Then we are presented by Nashetanya this episode who reveals to us that she is just as fragile, but in the opposite way as Maura. She is too impressionable, too naive, and too shallow to really form and stand by her own belief. Just a word from Maura, whom she trusts, suddenly unconditionally for whatever reason, and she snaps. My first thought was what happened to her desire to believe in Adlet? She hadn't even gotten far in her own investigation against Hans and allowed herself to be used, in quite a cruel fashion, by Maura's false proclamation. Her character is certainly a disappointing one, but given the circumstances and her background, I suppose, in hindsight, this was unavoidable for her. In the end, neither is she a very real or even daunting seventh, just a fragile and weak little girl. This leaves Goldov who very well may be the seventh given that he was the first to cast stones, i.e. when he first rendezvous with Nashetanya and reveals Flamie to be the Brave killer. But he is a very very uninteresting seventh as he has almost no personality to speak of and serves as little more than an extension of Nashetanya. If he is the seventh nothing would be gained or lost.
So, in the end, it is because of Adlet's genius that I both love him as a protagonist and perhaps most suspect him as the antagonist.
Thanks for exploring this thought with me. If you have a response please let it be heard or Pm me as I would love to have this discussed and be more thorough. I love time stamps and close "readings" so if you're willing to argue this seriously, I will certainly meet you there. |