5 Point Discussions – Record Of Grancrest War 18: “Leader”

Theo becomes the leader of the Altkirk Treaty. But will he be able to bring peace to the land?   And what will happen when Alexis finally steps to the field? Remember, if you like this article and 5 Point Discussions, please share it on Facebook or Twitter! It really helps. And if you’ve got any comments or questions, please hit me up @SageShinigami.

1. It’s taken eighteen episodes, but Theo’s finally managed to climb above where he was in episode five, back when he and Siluca were conquering lands and gaining ranks like they had the cheat code. The first time around, his ascent felt a little cheap and overly contrived–like Theo was going to be a Gary Stu for whom everything always went perfectly. But in the time sense, he’s kept his head down and always did the tough, dirty jobs people were either afraid, or never thought to do. He’s rallied the people behind him to fight against countless armies, carrying the citizens through into victory time and again.
This moment is well-earned, and also comes with the immediate offering of Lassic’s crest back to Theo. This causes multiple other nobles to do the same, including Queen Eudokia and the fallen Villar Constance’s brother, Selge. Selge acknowledges his fault in the previous war against the Alliance, which is a shocking amount of character growth for a guy who’s only had about seven combined minutes of character development, and that’s likely an overestimate.
Still, now the real work begins. Theo realizes the best way to bring peace back is to break away from the Union and create a third power in the war, then negotiate with the Alliance and the Union both to put an end to the war. But he decides to leave that work for another day, and throws a party for the people to celebrate winning against Mirza. It’s not as detailed as some of the other royal parties we’ve seen, but it’s just as festive, with music right off of a Suikoden soundtrack.

2. When the evening winds down, Theo and Siluca finally get a chance to talk away from everyone else. And again, because Grancrest is absolutely not about toying around with the emotions of their characters or their viewers, their relationship takes another big step: he asks her to be his Queen!
Honestly, the show spends so much time talking about uniting Marrine and Alexis together but I could care less about either of them–Marrine’s become a monster and Alexis is a wuss who won’t stand up for his people. But these two? They’ve worked together time and again to improve life on the continent, saving Theo’s home and bringing some measure of peace everywhere they go by repelling enemy forces. They compliment each other perfectly, and my only hope is the last episode features exactly what Theo claims he wants: to return back to Sistina and his home village and rule over the land with Queen Siluca at his side.

3. This episode has a bit of foreshadowing for a future plot point, as we get detail on Sister Priscilla and the Order of the Crest. There’s some conflict in the Order currently, as the Pope of the Order recently declared himself the Holy Grail. Here Siluca questions Priscilla about the goings on of the Order, which starts with her pointing out Priscilla’s father is the leader of the Order to begin with.
As for the whole “Holy Grail”, it’s a mythical story about a unique crest capable of eliminating the chaos by putting all the other crests into it and summoning a god who can banish it. Now, the thing about this is…Priscilla was born with a crest.  And it’s in the shape of a freaking cup. So the Pope’s probably lying about this, and the myth is likely true. Nevertheless, Siluca orders Theo not to throw his crest away for some story that’s clearly been made up, while Theo says if it could bring an end to chaos and war, he would do it without thinking. And though Theo tends to do much without thinking, this is probably how the story ends–uniting the crests through war won’t get this done, only willingly surrendering them for the sake of peace can have the slightest hope to stop the conflict.

4. Even though Theo’s earned his way to this spot, it’s amusing how the above is true and yet…it rarely ever seems to matter. Just as Theo and Siluca were considering negotiating on behalf of the Altkirk Treaty with the Union, they learn a key member of the Union was struck down.   Betrayed by a fellow lord, this loss results in a key factor in the Union’s military might being taken away. Theoretically, this should mean the Union and the Treaty are screwed, but…yeah right.
If I seem dismissive of the group’s challenge, it’s only because we never get to see many of Theo’s losses. Villar died while Theo was defending some land elsewhere. He lost a childhood friend, but we barely got to focus on that. And it’s hard to relate to the deaths of the civilians he talks about when we never see them. Basically, he’s always fighting from behind, but never has any scars to show for it.

5. As much as I want to like Alexis for being someone who wanted to do the right thing, his portrayal after he and Marrine broke up has made that difficult. At every turn he’s essentially refused to do the right thing. He didn’t want to go to war with the Alliance and tried to pursue peace when that was no longer an option after Villar claimed a few territories near him.  This eventually gets Villar killed. And he’s constantly trying to hand the Union off to someone he thinks will do better–without comprehending the consequences of giving leadership to someone the immediate royals underneath wouldn’t acknowledge.
This episode doesn’t really make him look any better.  Siluca tells Theo to visit Alexis and talk with him, and doing so we learn that Alexis’ plan is to legit just sit back and allow Marrine to run over the Union so she can have what she wants. This lasts right up until Theo theorizes Marrine doesn’t want to kill her way across the continent and would actually prefer to have united the kingdom through marriage.  At this, Alexis is finally galvanized into action. He immediately suits up for battle and grasps his sword to charge on the lord who betrayed him.
I was under the impression that Alexis was kind of a weakling who couldn’t fight. Turns out, he’s perfectly capable of fighting, he was just too concerned for Marrine (and not his people) to do so. Gross. But for now, the Alliance has its hands full, as its dealing with the armies of both the Treaty and the Union–perhaps peace might not be impossible after all?
Record of Grancrest War is available for streaming on Crunchyroll and Hulu.