2. Romalia and the truth about Founder Brimir, and the Holy Land
Season 4 couldn’t cover the major plot points revolving around Founder Brimir and the Romalia Church’s obsessions with the Holy Land. We were teased about the end of the world and how all 4 Void users and familiars would unite and save everyone, until learning the absolute bombshell behind Brimir’s legacy, and changes everything: the truth behind the elves’ hatred of humans, the tragedy of a master being slain by their own familiar, and now Pope Vittorio similarly making the worst decisions.
In the light novels, Halkeginia was suffering from buried windstones that unpredictably moved the lands, like tectonic plates and forced both Brimir and Pope Vittorio into their desperate plans. It was devastating to realize Brimir destroyed parts of the Elves’ land as a last resort, creating the long hatred between the elves and humans. In fact, Louise and Tiffania were probably more crushed knowing that their powers originated from a tragedy, instead of some heroic action. Everything that they once believed like the Church’s compassion and nobleness, along with their destinies as saviours became a major lie.
And now the pope was faced with the remaining windstones and instead chose to conquer the Holy Land, which actually turned out to be planet Earth. The pope was going to march in with the 4 Void mages and familiars, and all of Halkeginia’s forces to start a war against another world’s advanced military technology. A population of billions armed with weapons like semi-automatics, fighter jets, and tanks against a few thousand mages relying on time-consuming chanting? There’s no way anyone would survive the fight and live in another world.
Pope Vittorio was insanely brilliant though, as he successfully coerced Tabitha into taking the throne and then replaced her with an exact twin for full support. He even prepared to kill Louise, Saito, and Tiffania as a last resort, since their powers could be transferred to someone else, and then manipulate the new hosts through his deceitful nature. It was eye-widening how manipulative the pope was and nearly caused the deaths of millions because he couldn’t find other solutions. Like maybe instead of blindly following what their ancestors did, perhaps set a proper example for the modern age?
Saito’s past memories of Founder Brimir and his tragic choices also made him emotionally stressed if somehow he and Louise faced the same situation. The only way for this conflict to end was if the Void powers were gone, and it required an immense gamble since even Brimir couldn’t destroy all the windstones. Yet somehow he got past a deluded and corrupt religious leader, with all the other nations backing him, and the threatened Void mages under his control. This young man experienced both the past and the present, made the most difficult choices, and somehow got the happy ending. I cannot believe how much darker the light novels were, and the connection to Founder Brimir.
Although the anime dialed back on the political chaos, I believe everyone will agree that the pope dying was absolute justice for his crimes in the light novels. Perhaps if the anime was allowed more than 12 episodes, we could have seen the extended lore and the devastating final battle. Again, I love the anime and believe that the dragon was probably one of their major villains in a future story, and not just the final boss. But I cannot help but be curious on how incredible a faithful adaptation could have played out.
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