Orbs, On the Movements of the Earth
Just watched the finale, and i’ve got to say, i was moved. The ending left me breathless, in the best way possible.
I don’t even know where to begin, but i will start with the most obvious: the second Rafal, or Rafal2. I fully believe that Rafal 1 has died, and that Rafal2 is not an alternative universe, as the ending involved the letter to pototski. Then who is Rafal2? Well, my theory is that Rafal2 is meant to represent the idea that even if Rafal1 died, there was always gonna be other Rafals out there, with the same thirst for curiosity, with the same desire to pursue knowledge. I think Rafal2 is meant to show us that the passion behind learning can never be lost, it can never end with the death of a person, cause one day, someone else will be born with that very same passion, and even if they also die, then another and another will be born. Rafal1 died too young, but in the very same town, another Rafal was born, with the same convictions, the same thirst for knowledge, the same belief in the power of curiosity. And i think that’s beautiful, the concept that the pursuit of truth doesnt die with us, that someone else will inherit our will, even if we dont pass it down directly.
Building on to the point of ‘passing down’, a theme on which our story heavily relies on, i love how the priest that gave albert the final push to go to university, was implied to be the same inquisitor whose friend died after freeing jolenta, all those episodes ago. He talks about how he regrets letting his friend die, how he knew his friend did the right thing, and how he carried the burden of that event. I love how, just when we thought all our characters died and the chain of ‘passing down the torch’ was cut off, there was an unexpected and weak thread woven somewhere else. I love how the now priest, previously inquisitor, inherited his friend’s doubt for the system. He inherited his friend’s sense of justice, he inherited his friend’s will, and he passed it down to albert. That chain was never cut off, it was just passed down in an alternative roundabout way.
And finally, onto our miracle: the letter. The letter is a marvel. The letter exists simply to show that this anime was never about refuting religion, it was about believing, having faith, having hope. and how God does not betray His believer’s hopes. Every time they passed down the “10% profit to pototski”, they passed down the hope that their will wont be lost. they hoped, they had faith, up until Draka released that bird. And all of that was answered, by a miracle, a coincidence, of albert passing by and hearing one sentence, of the question mark that that sentence generated. that was all it took for our characters’ efforts and sacrifices to not go to waste. even after they were long gone, they were still rewarded for their hard work.
Our story is just a hypothesis on everything that couldve happened in history, all the records that were lost, all the people who were erased. it’s a speculation, a theory, about “people from the 15th century”. One important sentence that was said was, “the truth is not conceived, it is discovered.” so when one person dies, the truth does not die with them, another person just rediscovers it. How albert wasn’t the person who conceived, he was the one who discovered, discovered what all our dead characters tried so hard to keep passing on.
I think our author is trying to tell us not to absolutely believe, not to cease thinking, but to doubt. to be curious, to chase after knowledge, to discover truths, to doubt those truths, to start over, and most importantly, to always pass the torch. And even if we one day will be scattered to ashes, someone else will be born, to finish what we started. and that is how our will, will always live on, never to be suppressed.
