I'm almost inevitably going to fumble trying to articulate this, and I've tried to talk about it a little in tags with mixed success, but the play and Vokjan's awe at his people dressed in nice clothes with flowers all around has really made me want to come back to it.
Hal's choice not to fight in the Falconer's Rebellion was a personal choice about prioritizing his own family (and whether he could even leave his two older children with Elodie to go off and fight is not totally certain). But it was, of course, not a choice made in isolation. He argues that even their father decided to hang up his blade at some point, but our understanding of the lot of orcs before the Shaper's War is that that wasn't a choice their father could have made 60 years prior. That under Azgra, Hal would almost certainly have been forced to march to war, never mind his three young children at home. There were clearly orcs who weren't on the front lines, orcs who built the cities and smithed the weapons and provided whatever food the community had, but by and large orcs were made as weapons and used as such. Thjazi's letter referenced turning swords into plowshares. In some ways, Hal's whole life between the War of Axe and Vine and now has been a version of that. The Falconer's Rebellion was a just cause, and it's probable that if more people had been willing to join it, Araman wouldn't be in the mess it's currently in. But Hal's choice to abstain is a very different choice from Aranessa's choice to abstain. The politics of an orc saying "I will not fight" even when the cause is just are far more nuanced. Because isn't this part of the freedom Vokjan Murzat fought and died for? Orcs in nice clothes, with flowers all around, and time to go see beautiful art made by their own people? Orcs who raise children and start businesses and hang up their swords? A life free from war? Finally. We don't know whether Hal was thinking about those politics when he made his choice. I suspect he was "I choose the Rungjani" indicates that to me, but you can easily read the scene another way. Whatever your take on his thought process, the politics of the choice are undeniable. A healthy orc in his early 30s refusing a call to arms barely 50 years after Azgra's death means something for the Rungjani.
I like this aspect of Hal's background because I think it's fascinating and one of the many ways in which his character feels deeply nuanced. But also, I think Hal feeling like he has no choice but to step into the fray and take up his sword once again throws into sharp relief that one of the violences of injustice is that it requires action. In real life, even the most non-violent methods and most incremental approaches to upending oppressive systems require deep sacrifices of time and emotional well-being. The fight is relentless and draining. To have to fight injustice is in itself unjust, in large part because of the necessity of the work. Someone has to step up and make the sacrifices, often those already suffering under the weight of what needs to be fought off. And for Hal to be called to take up his sword again does contain a sort of innate hopelessness. In his words to Vokjan, Hal has made some version of peace with this. "[Freedom] is never a given. But now, we always have a chance." But also, his son is off fighting some unknown battle, unreachable to his parents, his older daughter is on stage risking the wrath of one of the most powerful people in the world, and his younger daughter took notes for a secret meeting planning treason. Things are better. They are all adults, not actual children being sent onto the battlefield. But still, the lament that started the Shaper's War, "why can't I keep my family safe?," has only gone half-answered despite the apparent completeness of the orcs' victory. And all those orcs in nice clothes, with flowers all around, and the free time to come see a show celebrating their history, will only remain free if Hal allows himself to once again be a weapon
