Ch 182 - The Indian Wars
I know there’s been a lot of controversy about the last panel of the chapter, and I wanted to say a few things about it, but mostly in relation to the historical setting in which this flashback happens.
Note: If you’re totally unfamiliar with the Indian Wars, check out the video in this post or look at my #indian wars tag. (Don’t @ me about the name of the series of wars; that’s what they’re called.)
It’s shown at the beginning of the chapter that there’s violence on both sides and Bard wants no part bc he’s been taught to respect and be grateful for the Natives.
I won’t get into the potential lie in what Bard was told about the “thanksgiving story,” bc the truth of it doesn’t matter (as far as this context goes). The important thing is that Bard genuinely believed that the Natives had helped his ancestors and he owed them a debt.
It’s fine if the chapter’s ending made you uncomfortable, but it shouldn’t have been a surprise considering the setting and the time period.
It was a violent time. The American government absolutely did horrid things, and some of the violence (from the Natives) was a direct response to it. Some were warring tribes taking the opportunity to further displace more peaceful/smaller tribes as well as kill both American troops and settlers (like Bard and his family).
There were so many wars during this time west of the Mississippi that I can’t even get it all in one screenshot. But I will include this excerpt since it refers to Arizona and the Apaches, which Bard has specifically mentioned before:
Arizona ranked highest… in deaths from the wars. At least 4,350 people were killed, including both settlers and Indians…
We don’t know where Bard’s homestead was, but he did mention Arizona and snakes before, which myself and others had theorized could have been a reference to the Snake Wars and the Snake Indian tribes in that region (see below).
It’s likely we’ll never know exactly where Bard was living or which Native tribe(s) killed his family, but if we do, we may get some insight next chapter.
I have an older post that talks about the Snake Wars in particular, back when I was trying to figure out which wars Bard may have fought in. In addition to being some of the bloodiest conflicts of this period, they also ended around 20 years too soon to have been the one from which Sebastian recruits Bard.
From my post on the war:
This timeline would fit the events of ch 182, et al., since it’s likely Bard lost his family 10-20 years ago, and likely closer to 20. If so, it’s possible that his family experienced an offshoot of the violence of this particular period/region, and it could explain why Bard mentions both Apaches and “snakes in Arizona.”
Just as Yana showed a (slightly accelerated) version of real history during the Green Witch Arc and the horrors that people can wreak on one another (tanks, poison gas, etc), she is showing a glimpse here.
People calling Bard/Yana a bigot based on that last panel also forget that he specifically says he never wanted to be part of that. He didn’t want to kill anyone initially.
Once again, the theme of the manga is that humans are more demonic than demons. In my opinion, that is the intent here as well, and to also have Bard’s story parallel Ciel’s.
It will be interesting to see what happens next chapter, and also how Bard behaves when we return to the present, since he seems to have a very strong feeling against hurting innocents. It’s possible this could have been bc he was always that kind of person. It’s possible it could be bc he remembers his innocent family being killed. It’s also possible his experiences while in the Calvary drove him to feel that way.
Regardless, ch 182 is set in a violent time and Bard is established at this point as not having a previous grudge or bias against the Natives. More than that, we can’t say until we see the conclusion of this arc.
~#~
NOTE: I am open and welcome civil discussion of this matter, as well as corrections on historical information. Anyone who is not civil will automatically be blocked.
