Julia’s death, the war, and two more theories
I’ve been looking into the war and Julia dying and there’s again a plothole (that I’ve been able to fill with some headcanon). I also added two more theories at the end.
First, let’s make a map with the information regarding Shimaron’s invasion.
“At the time, the Shimaron army had landed in the southwest of the continent and was quickly advancing north by conquering two small, powerless countries. After one more city, if Arnold fell, the Shimaron army would have easily broken through our borders and a decisive battle would have inevitably been fought inside the country. However, our main forces were scattered in the Grantz territory in the north and in the Karbelnikoff territory on the coast. Even if soldiers were spared for Arnold it would have still been a defensive battle and we would have been short-handed in both areas. In any case, the military strengths weren’t the same. Shimaron had taken over most of their own continent so their number of soldiers was unimaginably higher. On the other hand, we had no alliances with other countries. We had no plan so we thought it would be best to abandon Arnold and meet the enemy within the country.”
(..fighting and winning in Arnold…)
Using this opportunity, The Great Demon Kingdom made a comeback and the tides turned in the Grantz and Karbelnikoff territories. We didn’t pursue the enemy into their territory, but in naval battles the Dugald family and Roberski’s fleet of unsinkable battleships used their power to corner the Shimaron forces. The reason we eventually reached a ceasefire was because we won at Arnold. We believe that.
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Now let’s see where Julia died:
According to novel 17, chapter 1:
(Anissina)
That man took her friend’s life. No, although he wasn’t the direct cause, it was still his unreasonable suggestion that forced so many people in Ruttenberg to the frontlines. To save those children who were left behind, even Julia, who was part of the support troops, went to the border… Although Gisela never said any more about it, Julia probably went even further than that.
So: She died near Ruttenberg.
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According to Novel 6, Chapter 2:
“It wasn’t an accident. It hasn’t been made publicly known, but precisely speaking, it might not be able to be called a death on the battlefield. She wasn’t directly cut with a sword nor was she shot with an arrow. In fact, not a single external, fatal injury was on her body.”
“Only a few people know about this, but surely Your Excellency has the right to the knowledge. She chose death herself… no, that’s not a good way to say it… but she surely knew. She knew what happened to those who used powerful majutsu in human lands where there are few elements that obey mazoku. She knew what would happen if she used maryoku that went beyond her abilities with an injured and weakened body and soul. She knew, yet she did what she had to do. She unhesitatingly threw her life away to stop the enemy forces and save countless towns a villages. And the result was… unfortunately just as predicted. But I made a promise to her at that time.”
So Julia died in human land, near Ruttenberg.
Now the problem is this: She was North of the ‘decisive battle of Arnold’, and way west of the Grantz territory that were fighting of the enemy (In fact, Wincott is closer to the enemy than Ruttenberg)
So the question is: Who was she fighting?
All right, so either the map is wrong or the story is wrong OR, we don’t have the whole story.
The rest is headcanon,
with canon to back it up:
The problem here is Stuffel and Ruttenberg:
Stuffel (in Lost Flower, Gaiden 3)
“Stuffel von Spitzweg is quite determined to keep his power. He belongs to a warmongering political party, and is very supportive of expanding the country’s territory. This has caused him to quickly invade the human countries surrounding Shin Makoku and expand Shin Makoku’s territorial waters. Moreover, he used military force to suppress the smaller countries, taking the opportunity to declare war.”
He was suppressing neighboring countries, conquering land, etc. So let’s just say that the neighbors were not too happy with Shinma.
And then there’s Ruttenberg (novel 7, chapter 8):
“ That’s right, The Young Lion of Luttenberg. His father took up residence there after all. Or perhaps I should say the area was a region where a lot of humans lived near the western border of The Great Demon Kingdom. It’s the name of that place. ”
(…)
“ According to rumor, he had graciously entered into a loving relationship with the king of the demons and had been given a part of her land. ”
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Looking at the map, Ruttenberg couldn’t have been part of the Spitzberg territory, so it must have been territory under the control of the maou (but on the boarder). There were a lot of humans living nearby. So we could say this could have easily been territory taken from the humans at some point.
With Shimaron attacking Shinma on SW, NE and SE… could an angry neighbor try to take back some lands? Or simply attack because they were angry at Stuffel? In any case, Julia couldn’t have died against Shimaron (not with the info we have, not with this map). The place where she was was the furthest from any Shimaron enemy troops.
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What triggered all of this? Wolfie, of course.
You see, I think that Julia was asked to kill herself (and that maybe Shinou threw in a nice threat like I’ll kill your loved one and family if you don’t) and she went there to commit suicide (Gisela says that it pretty much was that)… She didn’t tell anyone anything, she went and killed herself.
And now, there’s Wolfie. Shinou has already threatened Yuuri and his family if he says anything about the box. Also Murata has said that the keys could be trained to use the boxes (and be successful if they’re strong enough). Of course, using the boxes is almost as dangerous as trying to kill yourself, but I think Shinou is using the same 'I’ll kill everyone you love’ strategy with Wolf as he did with Julia.
I’ve said before that I think Yuuri has Wincott blood and that’s from Miko, right?
But now we have more info from the prison arc.
Ranatan
She’s the cult leader and wants to 'merge’ with the box. She also happens to look exactly like Miko. (Novel 17, chapter 10)
“I can’t hand it to anyone, ‘kay. That Box is only fit to stay in Darco, I’ll accept it and help it change itself, ‘kay.”
What are you talking about, idiot. I mean, Ranatan. Did you forget how badly you were tricked by that Box?
(…)
Her mind was slowly corrupted, and the sense of responsibility she had towards anything sinful, lost out to her own desire for the Box.
“ In the end, she even considered merging with the Box into a single entity. If she’d gone on like that, it really would have led to mutual destruction.”
BUT WAIT! People can’t merge with boxes!!! Dacascos was inside one for a while and nothing happened…. How was Ranatan going to merge with the water box…. unless…. unless!!! She was an imperfect key! DUN DUN DUN!
( Also… can you destroy a box by merging someone with it!? Talk about a quick fix )
Well, that’s it for today with theories, hope you enjoyed!
Related Links:
Theory: The Soushu Connection | Characteristics of a Key | The Wincott Theory | Thoughts on Susannah Julia | Here: Julia’s death | Julia, Adalbert, Conrad | Cherie: 1 and 2 | Summary: End Game Theory
