#and that’s exactly why oberstein lied to him

[fortune-maiden]

Major kudos to Legend of Galactic Heroes for giving Reinhard a trolley problem where even if he chose to pull the lever he would have failed… but still having him hesitate to pull the lever when he had the chance and now he gets to live with that guilt forever

[logh-icebergs]

Episode 23: The Fall of Goldenbaum

September 797/488. After a riot on Westerland leaves his nephew dead, Braunschweig decides to take the rather drastic measure of nuking the small planet’s entire population out of existence. This leads to the sinister Oberstein’s most sinister plan yet: Instead of stopping the Westerland attack, why not send a probe to record it and broadcast evidence of Braunschweig’s atrocities throughout the Empire? Reinhard’s tentative objections can’t stop Oberstein from lying to accomplish his goals, so the Westerland attack is carried out, the footage is broadcast, and Reinhard wins popular support and the civil war. Meanwhile: Ansbach, swearing revenge against Reinhard, forces Braunschweig to do the Honorable Thing and drink poison; Reinhard’s admirals save the Empire’s art collection; and Annerose gazes wistfully over a balcony.

Westerland

We’ve been given numerous warnings about Oberstein ever since he forcibly introduced himself to Kircheis back in episode 4, and guess what: In episode 23, shit finally hits the fan. No, Oberstein isn’t the one who planned and executed the attack on Westerland, but—well, actually, let’s go ahead and break down who exactly was responsible for what, because this will in fact be on the exam:

Person of Interest 1: Braunschweig

Braunschweig personally ordered a nuclear attack on Westerland, killing 2 million innocent people. He is obviously the worst and guiltiest party. Moving on.

Person of Interest 2: Oberstein

When Reinhard's instinct was, of course, to swoop in and save Westerland from Braunschweig’s attack, it was Oberstein who suggested allowing the attack to happen for Reinhard’s political gain. That’s fucked up, Oberstein!

Reinhard was rightfully scandalized at first, but he’s long been susceptible to Oberstein’s simple and effective brand of Machiavellianism, so he put off his decision until the last minute, which Oberstein told him was six hours away.

Oberstein then ordered Ferner to follow through with his plan despite Reinhard’s misgivings, in the process revealing to us that he had lied to Reinhard about how much time he had to make up his mind. Oberstein: He truly does suck.

Person of Interest 3: Reinhard

In a one-episode vacuum, Reinhard is almost blameless for the Westerland massacre: We don't know if he would have decided to side with Oberstein, or with his own conscience (and, presumably, Kircheis’s), had Oberstein decided not to be a duplicitous fuck. Outside the vacuum of this single episode, however, Reinhard is far more culpable. After all, he hired Oberstein, despite Kircheis’s warnings, under the naïve assumption that he could rein him in. More on this shortly.

Reinhard and Oberstein

The word Reinhard uses here, 許す (yurusu), can mean either “forgive” or “permit,” so both the fansubs (left) and the official subs (“If you were here, you’d never, ever allow me to do this”) are valid interpretations, despite having different meanings.

Okay so are we all clear on who did what? Good. We’ll come back to that, but for now let’s fast forward a bit to the aftermath of the attack, at which point Reinhard, defying all earthly logic, finds out that Oberstein lied to him and decides not to punish him for it.

Maybe I’m just being optimistic, but it’s moments like these, in which Reinhard appears completely blindsided by the fact that Oberstein went behind his back, that make me think that if he hadn’t been lied to, Reinhard would have stopped the Westerland attack. Oh well.

The last time one of his subordinates flat out disobeyed him, Reinhard was so furious that Kircheis had to lecture him on the importance of leniency—and Bittenfeld’s transgressions were nowhere near as bad as Oberstein’s. So why does Reinhard not only refrain from taking action against Oberstein, but listen to his bullshit rationalizations after the fact?

Watch as Oberstein does a live performance of the dictionary definition of “refusing to take responsibility for your own damn actions, Oberstein.”

Since Reinhard hired (acquired? bought?) Oberstein, there have been very few times when they’ve disagreed enough for Reinhard to put his foot down. The only real exception has been the subject of Kircheis’s special privileges and “number two” status, on which Reinhard has (so far) been unwilling to budge.

Reinhard is far more uncomfortable with the fact that he is unable to convince Kircheis that Oberstein is an asset to their team than he is with Oberstein himself—to a point.

To be fair to Reinhard, Oberstein has, until now, refrained from recommending a course of action that was unequivocally evil—both to Reinhard’s mind and to Kircheis’s. His plans may have been morally ambiguous, but they were still at least on some level redeemable: Not only could Reinhard rationalize directing his subordinates to follow Oberstein’s recommendations, but Kircheis could rationalize turning a blind eye (sometimes literally) to Reinhard’s increasing reliance on such an openly morally grey character.

With Westerland, this changes. Oberstein’s suggestion that Reinhard allow the attack to take place is the first time we see Reinhard balk at a non-Kircheis-related proposal from his staff officer, and is therefore also our first chance to see if Reinhard really can, as he promised Kircheis back in episode 8, stand up to Oberstein. At first, it seems like he might:

Reinhard is obviously and viscerally repulsed by Oberstein’s cool utilitarianism here, and though Oberstein pushes him hard on it, Reinhard doesn’t back down from his insistence that he have time to decide on whether or not to exploit the attack for his own gain.

In the end, of course, we don’t get to find out for sure what Reinhard would have chosen to do, because Oberstein goes ahead without his knowledge. But Reinhard still has another shot to prove that Oberstein isn’t pulling his strings: Even if it’s too late to save Westerland, he could remove Oberstein from his position as Reinhard’s chief advisor (after Kircheis), thus preventing more Westerland-like fiascos in the future. But he doesn’t.

It makes sense that Reinhard would avoid the public, political spectacle that might result from court-martialing Oberstein; at worst, this could lead to popular opinion painting him as both complicit in the Westerland attack and incompetent. However, some form of discreet, private censure seems like it would be easy enough to do without attracting much attention. Unfortunately for Reinhard, there are other, less tangible obstacles standing in the way of not letting Oberstein walk all over him.

First of all, Oberstein is fucking terrifying. This isn’t as important a consideration as the next obstacle I’m going to talk about, but it’s worth mentioning that the man Reinhard would theoretically be up against just proved that he’s willing to allow an entire population of 2 million innocent people to be brutally murdered to achieve his goals.

Until now, Reinhard’s commanding presence has been a dominant aspect of his characterization, especially when it comes to anything related to war: Above on the left (from episode 14), Reinhard leads his staff in a victory toast before he’s even won; while on the right (from episode 15), his harsh words for Bittenfeld’s actions cause a low-ranking officer to visibly cower. It’s not surprising that Reinhard, whose primary goal in life is literally to conquer the universe, projects confidence that often crosses the line into arrogance.

But this is in stark contrast to his subdued affect following the revelation that Oberstein went behind his back vis-à-vis Westerland:

Reinhard seems trapped during this whole scene, unhappy and yet—for the first time that we’ve seen in a military setting—without the power to act. Unlike his usual fearless, imperious self, post-Westerland Reinhard has the disconcerting air of a cornered animal.

Of course, Reinhard’s fear is (or should be) moot, because he isn’t a cornered animal—he’s an Imperial marshal with a cadre of talented and loyal subordinates who would deal with The Oberstein Problem as soon as Reinhard said the word, if he ever did. Which brings me to Reinhard’s second and far more dangerous intangible obstacle: his pride.

From the moment that Kircheis first voiced his concerns about Oberstein, Reinhard has treated him like more than a mere staff officer; faced with the possibility that Oberstein might be too much for him to handle, Reinhard promptly turned him into a symbol of his belief that, in fact, nobody is too much for him:

In this moment from episode 8, Reinhard is essentially betting Kircheis that Oberstein won’t do the exact sort of thing that he ends up doing in episode 23. The bet is, of course, one-sided—Kircheis has no interest in proving Reinhard wrong; he just wants Oberstein to stay the hell away.

In order for Reinhard to censure Oberstein, he would first have to admit that Oberstein deceived him in such a way as to cause the deaths of 2 million people. And the enormity of Oberstein’s crime would reflect the enormity of Reinhard’s failure not only to control Oberstein in this one instance, but also to have the foresight to see what was coming—which Kircheis did, unlike him.

In short, Reinhard is too proud and too stubborn to admit that he’s in over his head, and was wrong about Oberstein. And without a willingness to ask for help shouldering the burden of Oberstein’s treachery, the fact that Reinhard has a team of handpicked and distinguished admirals at his disposal is irrelevant. He’s alone, and faced with the prospect of no support in a fight against Oberstein, he gives in.

An obvious drawback of Reinhard keeping his fears and concerns secret: Anyone who puts two and two together is going to assume the worst. Luckily, he has Kircheis to argue for giving him the benefit of the doubt—at least until he can confirm or deny the rumors for himself.

Stray Tidbits

Reuental and Mittermeyer holding their hands in identical positions as they walk past the disgraced nobility is such a good detail—the animators absolutely never miss a chance to show us how fucking in sync these two are. Damn.

And here is another nice bit of LoGH’s trademark consistent characterization, in which Artist-Admiral Mecklinger rallies the troops to... save the Empire’s art collection? Yes. A very soldierly activity. I love how enthusiastic and serious they all are.

Okay so it looks like Ansbach’s feelings in Braunschweig’s direction are less of a comparison with Kircheis’s and more of a foil for them. Ouch. Rest in pieces, Braunschweig.

In less unsavory news that somehow still relates to men swearing undying loyalty to one another, Merkatz and Schneider are going to the Alliance! And as another contrast with the fucked up retainer/vassal relationship between Braunschweig and Ansbach, Schneider proposes that he and Merkatz defect together only after keeping him from committing (honorable) suicide. What a precious young man! I wish these two nothing but the best. Bon voyage!