The wheel of destiny strikes shortly. By the fourth episode we already get a timeskip of ten years. We provide Goodbye to a legendary main man (he definitely went out in type) and welcomed a (largely) new solid of characters. However that is nonetheless a narrative rooted in the identical themes: reality, magnificence, religion and establishments versus perception in a single’s personal reality. And in a historic sense, ten years is not that lengthy; this setting remains to be early fifteenth century Poland, and in sensible phrases not a lot has modified.
Whereas I’ve expressed my intention to not dive into the quicksand of historic accuracy after final week, I’ll say that I don’t know if the thought of skilled duelists was a factor in medieval Poland. I do know dueling has an extended historical past within the “P Kingdom”, and this looks as if one thing you’d see: wealthy cowards paying skilled mercenaries to combat their duels for them. However though it was widespread, there is not a lot proof for it – there are a couple of scattered references to the follow in Europe, however the particulars are very obscure. It is best to attribute it to dramatic license.
In truth, mercenaries are what Oczy (Konishi Katsuyuki) and Gras (Shiraishi Minoru) Are. Each night time they fulfill their duties within the “Citizen Guard”, normally by taking the place of a noble in a duel and killing the opponent. These are males from the decrease courses, however not with out introspection. Oczy is wracked with guilt over what he does. He sees the concern in individuals’s eyes as they die, not the look of somebody about to ascend to heaven. And naturally, as their killer, how can he anticipate to take off himself? Gras is cheerful and spends his free time staring on the sky and observing the actions of the celebrities (and never simply the celebrities).
These are clearly existential questions that know no bounds of time. Gras appears to have discovered which means, a method of relating that he want to share along with his associate. He tells the reluctant Oczy how he noticed a ‘star’ shifting independently of the others, a fiery purple orb {that a} monk would later inform him was Mars – one in every of about 5 celestial our bodies known as ‘planets’. He follows it for 2 years because it seems to make an ideal path throughout the sky, a course of that’s about to finish itself. A snarky nobleman in an inn hints that Gras has reached a lifeless finish, however refuses to have interaction in a full-on scholarly debate with a farmer (and a mercenary at that).
It seems that Gras misplaced his total household to the plague. Worse, he tried to commit suicide – the gravest of all sins – and survived. Solely by means of the motion of the heavens did he escape his pit of despair, as a result of he noticed its symmetry as a message from his household. Oczy is unmoved and unconvinced, however performs alongside. For him, the world is such an unspeakably vile and unjust place that solely religion in heaven retains him going. If there isn’t any heaven, what’s the level of all of the struggling on earth (this in fact goes to the center of the elemental debate about faith).
When Mars defies his excellent observations – not solely stopping shifting night time after night time, but additionally shifting backwards – Gras falls into despair as soon as once more. Why was he chosen to outlive not solely the plague, but additionally his personal try to take his personal life? For as soon as, the pair will not be assigned to a duel, however to guarding a heretic (Sanpei Yuuki) on the best way to the execution website. Gras takes off his hood, reasoning that there isn’t any hurt in seeing a condemned man’s face on the best way to the stake. The heretic has a lot to say regardless of repeated warnings to desist, and instantly hones in on the gravest insecurities of his guardians.
The heretic’s phrases pose a much more basic problem to church instructing than heliocentrism might ever be. He places the matter bluntly: the Church takes benefit of individuals’s must consider that loss of life just isn’t the top, that there’s which means within the struggling of existence (and on the time there was a number of it). He is aware of that these males actually cannot kill him irrespective of how he provokes them. They’d be condemning themselves in the event that they robbed the Inquisition of its “justice.” However he gives proof that one thing larger exists, proof that true magnificence exists on earth, if we solely open our eyes to it. The reality in a stone field, hidden on the mountain, passes their cart (Nowak and a monk experience within the entrance).
Name this what you’ll – destiny, the passing of the torch – however in Gras the heretic has discovered somebody determined sufficient to seize no matter lifeline is obtainable to him. There are various basic questions being requested right here, not least the query of whether or not asking questions is itself incompatible with the idea of religion. Oczy is, in his personal method, as determined as Gras, albeit at a distinct level in his mental and religious journey. A journey that can clearly take an enormous leap ahead on this wet night time.
