“The Alliance perished precisely because such men were kept below mid-level ranks. Don’t punish them. For the time being, appoint obedient ones only to operate internal affairs.”
“If I were to liken them to the effluvium of sewage, then that old man who died at Marr-Adetta was the pure water of the mountains. A Phoenix revives from within the ashes. From half-burned ground, revival cannot be gained. That old man knew it. I will execute them and make them apologize to the old man in Valhalla.”
– Kaiser Reinhard von Lohengram, “The Edict of the Winter Rose Garden”, Legend of the Galactic Heroes OVA
I know it is foolish to form political ideas from media. There is ample evidence just browsing my Twitter/X timeline of examples of someone taking one thing and going for the end zone with it. Even for fans of the show, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, the more politically online will just take one thing and run with it. Typically on idolizing Reinhard who took the reigns of power and conquered the galaxy. I think that is a very shallow understanding of a show that I praise not only for its writing, but also for its world building, story telling, and its core cast of characters.
“The people have democratic principles on their lips but cannot spare the effort to safeguard it! The collapse of an autocracy is the sin of its rulers and leaders. But the collapse of a democracy is the sin of every citizen!”
– Admiral Alexander Bewcock, “Sudden Change”, Legend of the Galactic Heroes OVA
I have waxed long and poetic about the show, especially when I compared it to it’s visually updated reimagining. Rather than give me a cause du jour that I pick up and drop like a perpetually online, politics addled Twitter/X user; I say the show has sharpened and defined what I already believed in.
I believe that it is the job of the rulers to govern wisely, and for the people to elect its representatives for the good of the nation. To do so without care for the future, without careful stewardship, can only lead to ruin.
I am a fan of democracy, particularly the republican form of democracy. Direct democracy to me is a tad foolish and senseless, beholden to mob rule. And even then, republican democracy is susceptible to corruption. Some may say my own beloved adopted nation, the United States of America, is a fallen democracy. Tensions between political parties, and groups of citizens with different views, are high. Some may even say we are at the precipice of the future of this nation. Which view of a future America depends on what view he or she holds. Truly a trying time for us all.
And that leads me back to why I chose those three quotes, two from Kaiser Reinhard from the end of the series, and from Admiral Bewcock at the half-way point.
There are idealists and noble people in the Free Planets Alliance. They were people in the government who did their jobs dutifully even in the face of the enlightened despotism that had defeated their nation. It was with the military officers and soldiers who upheld not just the last battles of a dying nation. But also those who followed Admiral Yang Wen-li’s decision to follow the chain of command and surrender in the conclusion of the first Imperial-FPA war. And also carried out their little rebel fleet that would be the seed of democracy in the burned land.
If I were to take away anything from the OVA series and how it stuck with me throughout my life, it’s in those three quotes. The first was amazement that the ones upholding republican ideals were kept low and away from positions of power. The second is that those in power will do anything to stay in power. And the third is that it is up to the citizenry to maintain democracy lest it fall into despotism.
If that’s all I gather from the show as a whole, be it the OVA or reimagined series, I can certainly drink to that.
Okay, the other important lesson from Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
A Journey Through Life 