I just. Put my device down for a hot sec at this scene. Beware, the yap here is LONG.
There’s… well. There is a lot here. Firstly, let’s look at Theresia here. She’s asking questions that are blatantly (Imo atleast) framed in a way where she is probing the boundaries of her Sword Saint role to see if there is a possibility to escape the incoming full ensnarement into the role she feels is approaching.
I’d now like to look at Wilhelm’s overall bearing during this scene. Wilhelm’s lack of purpose is something that has clearly been highlighted, so it’s obviously a building theme for him but this obsessive clinging he has onto the sword for identity is concerning with how he later clings to Theresia so ardently.
It honestly seems to me that he replaced his obsession with the sword (or as Theresia puts it “reason”) here with Theresia in actuality without addressing the underlying problems for himself that Wilhelm lacks a purpose that fulfills himself and isn’t built on someone/something else.
I think this reframes Wilhelm’s child-like emotional denseness in a rather sinister fashion as it actually is Tappei blatantly pointing out that Wilhelm despite seeming to have grown from his youth actually has simply stayed stagnant over time and merely appears to have grown beyond his obsessive nature with the sword (and thus lack of empathy towards others) but ignoring the fact that the underlying facets of obsessiveness still clinging.
Arc 3 also highlights these sinister undertones of Wilhelm rather well with how Wilhelm up until that point was still single-mindedly fixated on the Whale showcasing how he hasn’t EVER overcome his obsessive nature.
Now, Arc 5 the Whale is gone. So surely some growth away from the obsessive nature should’ve occured yes? Howeverrrr.. Wilhelm outright says when Theresia was about to kill Heinkel that he wanted Theresia to “look… look at me. Me! Look at me!” when Theresia is about to slice down Heinkel.
Of course, there’s clearly a facet where Wilhelm wants Theresia the fuck away from Heinkel. But likeeeee… c’mon. With all these obsessive thingies I’ve been pointing out about Wilhelm you can’t tell me there wasn’t some facet of the obsessive nature there.
Now, since I got into the fact that Wilhelm has child like thinking, there’s something else about this scene that bothers me. I’d encourage you to look at the screenshot here of Wilhelm’s prose as he considers putting the sword down “unforgivable” and when Theresia pressed him before Wilhelm is described as clutching the sword as if it were a “lifeline” to him.
I feel like there is once again heavy Young Wilhelm & Reinhard similarities. Especially with how Wilhelm is described internally after saying to put down the sword as “unforgiveable” to have his prose go:
“He couldn’t be allowed to put down his sword. What he wanted didn’t figure into it.”
Is that not a PERFECT encapsulation of a thought Reinhard would have after a very Reinhard-like statement of considering putting down the sword as an “unforgiveable” act?
What makes this paralleling to Reinhard even worse is Theresia’s pressing as she asks if Wilhelm means to use his sword forever no matter how much it hurts him or pains him. Again, does this NOT sound like Reinhard can be substituted into being the person being on the end of these receiving words?
What further compounds on this is in response to Theresia’s pressing Wilhelm says something that sounds like it came RIGHT out of Reinhard’s thoughts:
”Thats right. I don’t have to know why I’m doing it. I just have to.”
Keep in mind, this is in response to the aforementioned topics above Theresia was pressing on. Like. The Reinhard & Young Wilhelm parallels are fucking uncanny.
Given how I’ve linked Young Wilhelm’s swordsmanship to being molded by the Moon Entities, outright having Wilhelm here associated with being unable to let go of the sword is a very damning black mark against Reinhard who himself seems to be unable to let go of the idea of adherence to Fate which is how Reinhard is tied to the Moon entities.
Wilhelm gets pulled out of the Moon Entity shenanigans by his obsessive nature clinging to Theresia as he hauls himself out of that proverbial hole by making Theresia his “reason” in life.
I’ve said that Reinhard showcases underlying obsessive tendencies regarding Felt with his behavior towards her in the Felt camp side Stories, especially the Royal Selection Life From Zero one where he says: “this body of mine, this sword, everything is for you.”
There’s also the fact in Arc 5 when Felt is free from Heinkel Reinhard wants to stay with Felt despite knowing the fact the Witch Cult is attacking the city meaning he knows all those people are dying but he prioritizes Felt over the greater mass of people despite his usual tendency to sacrifice his own human desires to fulfill the Virtue Reinhard clearly values as a trait despite his heavy associations to multiple words of Sin in prose explicitly by Tappei.
Circling back to what I said, but Wilhelm hauls himself out of his Moon Entity-influenced hole by his obsessive tendencies with Theresia. Given how Felt & Reinhard parallel those twos relationship, it seems like Reinhard is going to haul himself out of his hole with the Moon Entities in his adherence to Fate by clinging to Felt VERY hard.
I am. Like. Really fucking concerned where Reinhard is going to go in the future. Tappei is setting up these cues for a NASTY mental breakdown on Reinhard’s end should Felt die, and Theresia herself died so with how we have Wilhelm & Reinhard paralleling… Felt dying def shouldn’t be off the table.
Wait. Fuck. I thought of a scenario that makes Reinhard’s mental spiral even worse then Felt dying. What if Reinhard fucked up Felt into a comatose state like he maybe did to Louanna? Actuallyyyyy, shit. With how Louanna’s in a suspended state of animation, would Reinhard maybe have to one day CHOOSE to inflict such a state onto Felt because he can’t do healing and might have to save her one day from death?
Okay. Just. Reinhard is uh- yeah. Concerning. I am definitely going to be hyperanalyzing the hell out of his post-Arc 5 behavior in side stories. If I see a shit ton of obsessive tendenices (which would get worse due to his family isolating him) toward Felt this is going to make me worry massively.
