Headscratchers / The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

• At the epilogue of the game, just how the hell is Ouroboros' plan considered a success when the Great Twilight is cancelled, the Curse of Erebonia is effectively destroyed, and so many of their lieutenants defected or resigned or just plain and simply gone AWOL? Is it just them trying to be a Smug Snake about it to protect their injured pride? What is up with that level of Plot Armor?
  • The Grandmaster's episode in Reverie confirms that she found a replacement for Arianrhod's seat as Anguis. She doesn't just retire an Anguis or Enforcer seat just because the person in that seat quit or died, considering she replaced Weissman with Mariabell as the Third Anguis after the former's death. Also, considering how high the Enforcer numbers go, it's safe to assume there are plenty of Enforcers who didn't bother to help out in Erebonia thanks to the freedom she permits them, that'll show up in future games. Thus, all the people who died or quit aren't as big a deal as it might seem at first. As for the events that transpired in Erebonia, the Grandmaster seemed content with not having access to the Sept-Terrions of Fire and Earth in the post-credits scene of Cold Steel IV, as long as they were outside humanity's reach. She might not care about the curse of Erebonia or the Great Twilight, and might've just seen them as a means to an end for the goal of getting rid of the Sept-Terrions.
• Just how many ARCUS units are there out there? It's at least implied that they're a fairly recent invention and still somewhat rare. Yet, in Cold Steel II, it seems like they're a dime a dozen and everyone who's anyone is toting them around, including all 24 playable characters.
  • Almost everyone who uses them have some connections to the people who made them. Class VII, Towa George, Crow and Angelica and Thors' faculty members were made by the Reinford Company and given to them as part of Olivert's pet project, same with Toval, who is friends with the man himself and probably had spares on hand to give Elise and Alfin, Sharon who is the Reinford family maid, Claire and Millium probably got their's because Governor Regnitz might have worked out a deal with Chairwoman Irina, any antagonist with theirs can be Handwaved by Roer, which is where the ARCUS units were made, being under the antagonists' control during half the second game.
  • There's also mention that the ARCUS units have been leaked far more than expected.
• It's noted in Cold Steel II that those who completed the Valimar trial along with Rean becomes its secondary contractors. Sara wasn't even there for the trial and yet she is considered one of the contractors? Why?
  • Isn't it more about Rean and Sara just linking up with the ARCUS units? Rean does state that he's doing it unconsciously and can't do it again after his duel with Crow.
  • Not really. It explicitly only works with Class 7 and Sara, even when other party members are available and Valimar specifically mentions them as secondary contractors that he can even keep track of and allow on board (though only Alisa does this). Interestingly Sara isn't mentioned as one of the people he can sense but Crow is. It doesn't work in the final battle because there's a different mechanic there Linking with Crow and Ordine and doesn't work in the epilogue simply because there aren't any Divine Knight scale battles in it, rather than a plot reason. You can still use Valimar with the Awakener's Call ability but he has a 3 turn limit and can't use Arcus links, which happens any time you use it.
  • Even more puzzling where new Class VII are also considered to be secondary contractors yet clearly didn't even go to school with them whatsoever or even took the trial at all.
  • They finally hang a lampshade on this in Cold Steel IV but they still don't provide the answer to the question, other than Power of Friendship.
• Why does everyone comment on Crow's double-saber? It's pretty much just a dual ended spear but everyone acts like it's some long-lost and unique weapon.
  • Because that's what the description says when you scan him. Plus, he did mention it was some sort of lost weapon, especially considering he can just throw and return it like a boomerang.
  • While we're on the topic of the double-saber, does anyone know how he sheathes that thing? I know this series is known for its Hammerspace when it comes to weapons, but Rean's sheath is explicitly shown since he uses it both for certain attacks and his victory pose, while everyone else has at least some plausible way for them to carry them around (Fie has hers on her back, Machias has a holster on his right leg area, Alisa's bow looks like it might have a more compact form, etc). The double saber, however, seemingly lacks this and looks like a hassle to both bring out and put away safely, let alone as quickly as he tends to do so.
• Anyone feel like Crow was a bit too Easily Forgiven ? After all, Class VII are all talking about how he was their friend and want to take him back, but there's almost no mention of having him be punished for his crimes like they claim to want the rest of the ILF, and Duke Albarea to.
  • This is mostly a theme for the Trails franchise as a whole instead of an answer, but the characters are firm believers of forgiveness no matter their past, as long as they wish to help their friends. This happened with Joshua, Renne, Randy, Kevin , and other characters in past games. They would probably mention it, but unfortunately, Crow died before any atonement started.
  • Did any of them help start a Civil War just for their grudge against one guy and betray the protagonists by getting their homes and families caught in the crossfire? Still seems unrealistic.
  • No, but, for example, Joshua did help with the events of FC, even if he was brainwashed at those moments. Kevin also manipulated the entire party, to the point they could have died, just to kill Weissmann and even back then, Estelle and everyone else forgave him for that. And then Renne and Loewe tried to kill Estelle countless times, but she forgave them for that too. There is also Walter and Zin, Schera and Lucciola, and other characters that are spoilers for Zero/Ao. It just looks to be the theme of the franchise, especially since Rean is the protagonist and he was ready to forgive Crow too.. That being said, we don't have the reactions for the other citizens or adults (besides Sara and Claire) so we might still see something in CSIII.
  • I believe the issue is that Osborne is just too high profile of a character (being at the highest position of the country) compared to everyone else. Normally speaking, killing off the president/prime minister isn't exactly something you could forgive easily. And remember that Crow was the one who put Rean in a coma by beating him up, and caused the other people of Thors much anguish because of what he did. It's a really long stretch to just "forgive" the guy easily. And even Crow acknowledges this very much.
  • Yes, for the people who were/are allies of Osborne, Crow certainly is an enemy (Claire, for example). But he wasn't exactly important on an emotional level for Class VII, and he even got on a worse picture for Rean by the ending of CS 2. The odd exception is Millium, but then again she did say that she cried when she needed to be separated from her classmates but didn't cry after Osborne was apparently killed... But in any case, Crow is certainly hated by the people who wanted Osborne to win, but Class VII is a different story. Plus, Crow was the one who "saved" him at the start of Cold Steel 2 by sending a message for Toval, so he wasn't really trying to kill him either. And the characters, even Vita, say that once or twice in the second game.
  • As noted on the main page, this issue is mainly a case of Protagonist-Centered Morality. As noted, Class VII wants to bring the members of ILF and Duke Albarea to justice, yet are hypocritical in how easy they are towards Crow, the leader of ILF, and still treat him as their friend. Another issue is that a lot of people have gotten dragged into this mess because of Crow's desire for revenge against one man, and even more could've been harmed had Class VII not intervened and stopped ILF's earlier plans. Even ignoring the civil war, the Nord Highlands could've become a warzone due to the False Flag Operation in Chapter 3 of the first game, and the entire city of Crossbell was in danger of being destroyed in Chapter 5. There's also the fact that ILF kidnapped Elise and Alfin during Chapter 4. You would think that given Rean's sister complex, he wouldn't be so forgiven of the ringleader of the group who kidnapped and drugged his younger sister, but despite that, Rean doesn't hold that against Crow.
  • Does no one want to to talk about how Duke Cayenne groomed a 13 year old boy into becoming the leader of a terrorist group? Because I would think that many people would consider that to be a mitigating factor.
• Was there as mistranslation of Claire's age or graduation of Thors? At the end of the festival she says she's 5 years senior to Rean and his year but the second game's official site lists her as 24 years old, 7 years older then Rean.
  • It's not uncommon for people of different ages to be in the same graduating class. The most obvious example in the series would be Fie and Millium, who are in the same class as Rean but are two and four years younger than him, respectively.
  • Kinda hard to see her being held back or enrolled late with how smart she is though.
• How in the world would Crossbell get their independence 2 years later when the army has an assortment of weapons, the ARCUS units, Soldats, and one Divine Knight?
  • Trails of Cold Steel 3 will tell us this story. .... or not. Well, we still have the next entry to see it.
  • And that you don't need to beat the imperial army to become independent, you just need to become such a pest that occupying it becomes a headache and no longer has future benefit. (See US-Philippines as a real life example)
  • Spoilers from the ending of Ao and the Crossbell Archives: Apparently Ouroboros will complete the Phantasmal Blaze Plan and move on to the next step of Orpheus. So they probably helped with that.
  • It's finally answered in Cold Steel IV except all of it happens off-screen so players don't get to experience Crossbell's liberation. Yeah...
  • Though how it started was Lloyd offers Crossbell forces (both police and guard forces) to help fight off the curse on the condition that various factions support Crossbell's independence. As the Empire definitely need all the help that they can get (and the fact Olivert/Alfin and Liberlian forces support the idea certainly helped) everyone agrees.
  • Doubt everyone's going to be fine with that decision.
  • Most are if you keep in mind the empire not only just came out of a brief but bloody battle with Musse's alliance but their leadership was in tatters and of the two men spearheading the expansion and initial takeover of Crossbell in the first place, Osborne is dead and also gained the reputation of basically being the worst war criminal in history, while Rufus is in jail taking the brunt of their crimes. So nobody is really going to want to champion the cause of two people who the world and even the empire sees as horrible. There's also the fact that the military itself is in bad shape. All the soldiers are getting over being affected by the curse, all their assistance from the Black Workshop is likely gone, Valimar himself is also gone and Rean's obligations to help the military with it. Cedric is gone and Alfin and Olivert are in charge and they don't want Crossbell under Imperial control, and the noble faction led by Musse and Aurelia would concur with this. All of the strongest warriors in the Empire are on Crossbell's side. They've got way bigger problems that worry about it. So who exactly is going to want to take them back under control, and who is going to follow them?
  • Under their former mayor Crois they, in order: nearly crashed Erebonia's economy by freezing its ICB assets and blocking the railways, wiped out one of its largest military bases and the nearby mountains that acted as a natural border against Calvard with a completely unknown WMD, and conspired to try to ally with other nations with the specific hope to create a new power-bloc that can go fight against them. No self-respecting nation, fictional or otherwise, would ever let all that slide w/o exacting bloody retribution. Even with all the above points, it being unanimous to let it go seems unlikely. Besides the aforementioned arguments only mean Erebonia might not press its claim, but there's no guarantee that Calvard won't try to take Crossbell for itself, which is unlikely something many in the empire would be happy with.
  • Crois's government was already taken down and Crois himself is in jail. They'd already got their retribution for what he did. Plus it was Oroborous scheming that led to that in the first place, something that everyone in a leadership position in Erebonia would understand and certainly not want to punish the people of Crossbell over. A few minor upstarts might complain but again they won't get very far with the royal family, the civilian government and the noble faction all in agreement to tell them no, and having all the powerful people in the empire supporting their decision. As far as Calvard they were part of the alliance that agreed to let Crossbell be independent in the first place. They could go back on their word, but that would in turn anger all the other nations that were part of it which isn't something they need when they have other problems with their own terrorists and immigration issues, plus the problem with their Septum Veins. Also there's just the fact that everyone is making an active attempt to not go back to the status quo of Erebonia and Calvard being in a Cold War with each other and a big part of that is no longer fighting over Crossbell. Calvard's main interest in Crossbell was a strategic location for war against Erebonia but Erebonia's warmongering days are over. Going back to Osborne era politics as usual is not the way they want to do things.
• How did Angelica manage to beat Marquis Rogner in that Soldats fight? There was a lot of emphasis made on how difference in experience can make or brake a fight with Valimar and Ordine. Even if Angelica got that Spiegel almost immediately after the war began, she shouldn't have had much opportunities to practice if she was trying to lay low. Marquis Rogner however I can see practicing regularly for months in advance of the war.
  • Because she did get alot of practice. She even mastered how to use her martial arts fighting style through the Spiegel. The Marquis on the other hand had a newer model he likely hadn't had much practice with yet, relying on it's newer tech instead. He's also not a martial artist like Angelica. It's not a family practice, Angelica trained with other people when she ran away for awhile. Also Angelica might have just been better. She's a gifted fighter and a natural with machines. And a few months difference may not matter as much as the 3 year head start Ordine's pilot had on Rean.
  • The part of him not being a Martial Artist wouldn't be completely true. Angelica outright says that he trains and leads his troops personally so he no doubt knows how to fight. And there really isn't much indication that his Hector's operating system is that different from a standard Spiegel/Drakken. Plus if he's supposed to have been in on it for a while as one of the leaders of the 4 Great Houses, shouldn't he have actually practiced with it ahead of time?
• Why didn't Vita predict that Duke Cayenne would be desperate enough to wake up Testa-Rossa when Crow loses the duel?
  • She probably had faith in what he had of intelligence...
• If having Rean and Crow fight in their Divine Knights was such a major part of the plan, than why did Vita send the rest to impede Class VII to reach the top especially when she knows most of them are very much willing to fight to the end to stop them (Duvalie, Zephyr) and are capable of seriously injuring if not outright killing them if they go all out (ESPECIALLY McBurn!) The only reason they even got to the top is because they had last minute Help.
  • They were either Locked Out of the Loop or told to hold back in their fights. If they reserved their entire lineup on the final stratum, Duke Cayenne would be very suspicious as to why no one is stopping Class VII from going up the Infernal Castle. I have a bigger question though. WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THE DIVINE KNIGHT CLASH ANYWAY? Vita was about to spill the beans regarding it before Duke Cayenne woke up Testa-Rossa as Vermillion Apocalyse, which wasn't part of the original plan despite Ouroboros needing all seven Divine Knights which includes Testa-Rossa. Did she find a way to pry it out without triggering Vermillion Apocalypse? I asked around forums and couldn't get a definitive answer.
• How do Lloyd and Rixia know Overdrive? Celine states that the reason why Rean and the others are able to use overdrive is because Rean's an Awakener. And consider the fact that this is the first time Lloyd and Rixia have tested their ARCUS units.
  • The Burst Attack in the Trails to Azure (though admittedly using the previous generation of battle orbments) is basically the same thing as Overdrive but with a full party, you can consider/pretend that's what they used.
• Why can't Duke Cayenne activate Testa-Rossa? It should respond to the Arnor line and he should be connected to it.
  • According to him apparently it needs to be a direct descendant and I guess after Orthos was thrown off the throne he is and he is is descendants formed House Cayanne I guess that will make him more of branch member of the royal family instead of a direct descedennt now?
  • With what happened to Cedric after he was rescued (it was implied that Cedric was still not at full strength by the time Class VII graduated and end up not being able to attend Thors the upcoming new school year), activating Testa-Rosa was risky so he probably doesn't want to risk himself directly if something goes wrong.
• What was the point of Millium's mission in chapter 2 of Cold Steel? Given that Rufus was secretly an Ironblood, there was no need to have anyone break into Aurochs Fort - Osborne already had an agent in place who could drive up to the front door and be given a guided tour whenever he wanted to.
  • It's supposed to be a secret that Rufus is The Mole. Even Lechter admits that he had no idea and he's usually the guy who has the most amount of connections.
• The biggest question of the series for everybody: was the ILF actually going to fire the Garrelia Railway Cannons at Crossbell or no?
  • Everything about the incident suggests that they were going to. Gideon was on a suicide mission either way, and they didn't wanna take ANY chances with killing Osborne. As it turns out, you apparently DO need a lot more firepower than a simple bullet to take him down.
  • Maybe not. they act like it all went according to plan when it fails, and Crow himself even helped do this, rather than find an excuse to dissapear and show up on the ILF's side as C like he did at other points when the Front was making a move. I think their plan was just to attempt this and fail to stir up hostility with Crossbell, so Osborne would have to make his big speech and put himself right in Crow's crosshairs..
• If both Duvalie and Bleublanc could teleport easily as they've demonstrated throughout the game, why didn't they just teleport to the deck waiting for Rean and Alfin? Or a place where they can set up an ambush?
• The purpose of a military academy is to produce junior officers for the military. Given that, how is it that 60% of Thors graduates don't go into the military? The government should be saying that the price for going to school at Thors is agreeing to serve X years in the Imperial Army after graduating, even if you then plan to do something else with your life after those years are up.
  • Likely because half of the students are nobles, who might be too important to their families to risk being in the military and/or have other duties required of them. Laura for example is Victor's only heir and her family duty to continue the Arsied school is more important to the traditions and stability of the country then a relatively unimportant stint in the army might be. That's not counting the fact that the royal heirs attend the school who almost certainly wouldn't be put in the military. Plus Erebonia has 2 armies. the Imperial Army and the Provincial Army, both of which take students from Thors. It was probably easier to just allow the students to choose rather than try to complicate which of the two armies should get which students and which nobility should and shouldn't be exempt.
  • That also contradicts the point. Nobles and Royalty being required to serve in the military for some time has been a long time staple throughout history. Hell, even today, its fully expected for the heir apparent of the heirs to the British and Spanish Royal Familes, amongst others, to serve as officers in their respective nations' militaries. And for most of history the officers were pretty much EXCLUSIVELY Nobleman(and considering that Rufus mentioned that Thors also originally only offered education to nobility, its a fair bet Erebonia did the same), so yeah that doesn't hold up. And how would Laura taking over the Arseid school be 'more important to the traditions and stability of the country'? Aside from Aurelia, there aren't that many practitioners shown outside Legram, and the Arseids don't seem to have much political influence, importance, or duties outside their home like the Vanders who were pretty much the Imperial Family's main bodyguards.
  • But those countries don't have two military forces that answer to different people. How do they decide who serves in the Imperial Army and who serves in the Provinical Army, when both army's recieve students from Thors? Without pissing the nobles off?
  • Also Thor's is less of a military academy and more of a military high school. There are some additional military courses added, and it's a good leg up if you want to join the military and you'll be encouraged to but you don't have to continue into the military if you don't want to. An actual military academy that requires you to enlist later on is something like West Point, more of a Military college. It's not quite directly comparable to how it works in real life, but Zemurian's school system is quite different as there's no public school, just the Sunday one offered by the church, and it's not required to go to if you don't want to.
  • Principal Vandyck explains it in his welcoming speech at the start of CS 1, the modernization of military tech due to the orbal revolution now requires less manpower in the military, making the name of Thors Military Academy more of an Artifact Title.
• Why doesn't the military appear to have any Arts units? The game shows individuals using Arts, but no military units centering around their usage. Given how versatile Arts can be, you'd think that would be something they'd develop.
  • Some military enemies can use Arts, but usually for healing purposes only. Of course despite gameplay allowing anyone to do it, Arts are implied to be something not everyone is skilled at using, and Orbments are relatively expensive and have to be personalized to each user (most party members in teams either have connections or are part of a small group getting new experimental orbments). Arts users in the military are probably specialists spread out into various units, like Beatrix who was a sniper/healer. A squad of solely Arts users would probably not be worth the trouble of coordinating since there's nothing they could do that artillery or just surpression fire couldn't do just as well when, and coordinating Arts casting with others is implied to be something few people have the skill to do based off of Duvalie and Blublanc's reaction to Toval and Olivert doing so. As opposed to say Bracers who tend to work alone or in small groups and might need the extra firepower Arts can provide that their weapons can't.
• Class VII's concert won the festival exit poll for best exhibit with 1,512 votes. Problem with that: There's no way you can fit 1,500 people in that auditorium. Judging by the amount of chairs shown in that scene, 200 would be pushing it. Did Class I (which ran a close second) and Class VII alternate performances and do at least ten shows each in a single afternoon?
  • Maybe it was recorded for everyone to see it later on? Towa's concert was recorded and that was a year before Cold Steel I.
    • We see multiple times that Crossbell has trucks with giant monitors on the side for broadcasting events in real time. Maybe Towa pulled some strings and borrowed the gear after her trip to Crossbell? Or maybe Reinford or George was somehow involved. The technology clearly exists, so replicating it wouldn't be impossible.
• How did Class VII get the concert to work? Yes, they had five musicians already present, but while they had four string players and a pianist, what they didn't have was any guitarists, and a violin is not played anything like a guitar. There also wasn't any mention of Laura knowing how to play the drums until she was shown as the group's percussionist. How did Laura and Alisa, at a minimum, learn completely new instruments in a month?
  • Easy: Elliot's a Drill Sergeant Nasty when it comes to music. Everyone got the chills when he makes them learn.
  • Also, learning a second instrument is typically much easier than learning a first one. And in the case of violin and guitar, the biggest actual difference is in how the notes are articulated and how the strings are tuned. All of the theoretical concepts remain the exact same.
• Does anyone know what the point was for Ouroboros in Cold Steel III for stirring up trouble all over Erebonia only to reveal that they were working together with Osborne for convenience at the climax of Cold Steel III and why Thors II is being dispatched all over the place?
  • The entire point was to stir up internal unrest within Erebonia, since Osborne wanted to use that unrest as a pretext to declare war on Calvard to accelerate the Great Twilight. All of the incidents Ouroboros cause also have the effect of weakening the Nobles and the Provincial Army, which makes them less likely to interfere in Ouroboros and Osborne's plans.
• What was the point with the ILF's False Flag Operation? How would starting a war between Erebonia and Calvard assist any of their plans let alone the Noble Alliance or Ouroboros' long-term goals?
  • It was probably to distract Osborne. Giving him a distraction (the war against Calvard) would maybe leave his guard open for an attempt at killing him.
  • Wouldn't this still have the potential of biting them in the back though? After all, if a war is started against their long time Arch-Enemy, its not like some of the noblemen can be unaffected. Also, wouldn't the chaos of the two greatest superpowers in the continent also cause problems for any other possible plans of Ouroboros?
  • As the later games reveal, both Ouroboros and Osborne want to start a war with Calvard.
• Why were Osborne and Alberich waiting for Testa-Rossa to fully heal up and then Cedric kill off Altina when they at least have four divine knights^note Crow with Ordine, Rutger with Zektor, Arianrhod with Algreion, and Osborne with Ishmelga at their disposal and they could have just killed off the beast long before Rean and the party got there?
  • It was part of their plan. They promised Cedric the sword and Testa-Rossa to get him on their side, since they needed his approval as the crown prince for the war and getting rid of Olivert without losing their legitimacy. Meanwhile Osborne, for whatever reason thus not revealed, pretty clearly planned for Rean to try to interfere get the sword and go crazy and kill the beast like what happened. Osborne fed Rean just enough info through his proxy's to keep him on the trail but a step behind, rather than leave him in the dark (for example, George showing up at Leeves for a visit to "muse" to Rean about rumors he'd "heard" about the Black Workshop which starts the wheels spinning in Rean's head). Plus it was the best option of those available anyway. Osborne wanted to keep him having Ishmelga a secret from Ouroboros because he's still running his own thing despite their alliance, which is also why he wouldn't want Arianrhod to have it. Crow was brainwashed and if it broke (which it does) he'd take Rean's side (which he does) and Rutger's a Jaeger who's loyalty only lasts as long as he has his paycheck.
  • But then, Arianrhod still grabbed the sword after Rean slaughtered it and Rutger disarmed him. Granted, the sword did its duty but still. And even then, Osborne and Alberich didn't seem too concerned when Arianrhod, and thus Ouroboros, took it.
  • The entire scene ended up so abruptly, I think we'll have to wait to see their reactions next game, maybe.
• So why exactly did Rean have a flashback when he first steps foot at Hamel and sees a young Loewe, Joshua, and Karin and then Osborne carrying a younger version of himself when Rean and Osborne aren't even from Hamel?
  • Probably going to be explained next game. That being said there is also the possibility that Osborne visited Hamel frequently and Rean saw Joshua's family at those times.
• Question for the prologue and later chapters of Cold Steel 3: Why some people in chapter 3, like Angelica, are not present in the prologue? Back when the same thing happened in Cold Steel 1, it was because of KeA's powers. Now, what is the explanation? I don't think the artifacts in Erebonia have time powers...
  • There has been no official in-game confirmation of the 3 games that the change was a result of KeA's powers rewriting the timeline or the developers just screwing around. It has never been confirmed in-game that the change of events at Garrelia Fortress and later on Juno Naval Fortress was the result of the pre-timeline rewrite. It's only implied but until stated in-game, it's only a theory so far. A plausible one, but never a fact.
  • Gotcha, so, it's just a theory that many people saw as plausible and started circulating as canon information, from the looks of it. But isn't there anything Kondo said about it? Certainly people asked this stuff to him before?
  • By the way, keep wondering because Cold Steel IV never addresses this.
• At the absolute start of the tetrology, Rean is on the train to Trista and told that everyone has one minute to disembark. How did they pull that off? This is the first day of the academic year. All the new students (and returning students, if there's a substantial term break between academic years) are showing up that day, and most of the arrivals will be taking the train. It can take more than a single minute to load an unload maybe two dozen people at a routine train stop in an RL commuter rail. How do they manage to do that with at least two to three times that number, who also have to worry about getting their luggage out of the racks?
• Why does Class VII delude themselves into thinking that Crow can just resume his normal school life with them? Crow is a known terrorist. Even if he had surrendered, he would've been facing life imprisonment if not the death penalty.
  • Can't kill an Awakener who died once though. Just ask Osborne, Rutger, or Arianrhod. As for life imprisonment, some of Rean's dormitory bonding events in II at least admit that Crow would get some sort of justice. Though still no dice on why they want Crow to come back to the academy like it's nothing.
  • To be honest it's not like the entire Noble Faction was gonna be put to death or in jail for starting the War. Only Cayenne and Jusis's father who actually ordered most of the horrible things done were punished. Aurelia and Wallace and most of their forces were allowed to return to their duties afterwards with no punishment beyond disgrace. Zephyr and the other jaegers working for them were allowed to just treat it like a fulfilled contract and went back to being for hire. So it's possible that they were at least hoping Crow would be treated like a soldier of the Noble Alliance (because that's really what he was. The ILF was just a front for Cayenne) and excused as a subordinate to the actual ring leaders. He probably couldn't have just returned to Thor's like it was nothing, but he might have been able to avoid being treated as a terrorist or War Criminal.
  • Not to mention, due to his help in literally averting the apocalypse, it's not out of the question that he could be granted a pardon by the royal family.
• Why do most of the noblemen and Provincial Army soldiers respect Jusis so much when he's an illegitimate child born to a commoner mother? Was the last part hidden?
  • It is at least explained in Cold Steel III that everyone blames both Duke Cayenne and Duke Albarea for the Civil War and thus has no issues accepting Jusis as the acting Duke Albarea.
  • I meant before that. As early as the Field Study in Bareahard in the first game, the rest of the nobility and Provincial Army show him nothing but respect. Even when he's on opposite sides with them in the Civil War, they still show him reverance. Why would they do that to a child born out of wedlock whose mother is a commoner?
  • Because they may have thought that an insult to an acknowledged bastard son of their liege would be considered an insult to the liege himself.
• Why do people have a problem with Osborne trying to introduce a standardized tax rate throughout the entire Empire rather than each region having their own separate and different rates? That's probably the least questionable thing he's tried to enact. And from a practical/economics point, how could NOT implementing that be seen as a good thing?
  • Control over the local tax codes was a major prerogative of the nobility. While having a system in place to prevent the sort of tax gouging Helmut Albarea was doing in the first game is objectively a good thing from a fiscal policy perspective, it's still a sign of a dangerously ambitious man stripping power from his rivals and taking it for himself.
  • Oh really? The same, standardized tax rate, taken from agrarian Celdic, urban Heimdallr, rural Legram and industrial Roer, without real consideration of local specifics, and without real ability for locals to appeal, in a country with full administrative system 'still' being disunited and decentralized? It is one of the most questionable reforms he made, actually. It have some sense, as it was obvious that things are going into civil war, but from a fiscal polity perspective indeed it's not a good thing.
• If Marquis Rogner is as loyal to the Emperor as Angelica said, then why did he assist the rest of the Noble Alliance who assisted and founded a group of terrorists who nearly killed members of the Imperial Family, and kept him hostage?
• Why does it never occur to Rean to use his fame? As a touted national hero being praised for ending the Civil War, he could get an interview with any paper or radio news station he liked. And there he could openly state that he disapproves of the Chancellor's policies in regards to Crossbell and North Ambria, that he only participated in said campaigns because of direct written orders from the government, and be able to produce said orders.
  • Lechter outright says the Intelligence Division has screened radio transmissions when they received word of Vita's reappearance in Abend times, the Imperial Chronicle has become a propaganda piece in Osborne's favor, and during the Crossbell mission its stated that Grace Lynn has gotten into legal trouble for publishing articles that are less than flattering the the empire. Between all that, its unlikely Rean could get any contact with a paper or radio station without the place being thoroughly screened or Osborne finding out and countermanding it ahead of time. Combined with how much Rean hates his status, and how he's bound to be ware of the above its easy to see why he doesn't entertain the idea.
  • Not to mention, as an actual agent of the government, it would be highly unprofessional, dishonorable, and unwise for him to publicly criticize his own boss. Considering Erebonia is still a feudal society, such a move might actually hurt his reputation more than help it, especially since for large parts of Erebonia, Osborne is a Villain with Good Publicity.
  • And also, assuming he would success: then what? People would rise and impeach Osborne, who was (evidently) appointed by royal decree to His Majecty pleasure, without actual voting? Rean had a very first-hand experience that you can't really depose Osborne with anti-material rifle, not to mention some public dissatisfaction; and even if he would make Emperor to remove Osborn (which is, actually, bad for Empire, because it objectively need progressive reforms, and no political power but Progressists would do it), he obviously wouldn't just retire quietly. It was a civil war (even if quite mild) just now, I don't think Rean is dreaming of another.
  • Ishmelga probably would also find some way to prevent that from happening as Osborne being in that position of power is useful for his plans.
• Throughout his character arc, Kurt felt ashamed over the fact that he has to use the Vander Dual Blade Style over their trademark Greatsword Style. Yet later on, we learn that his ancestor Roland Vander, who was a war hero from the War of the Lions and Dreichels' closest friend, was a practitioner of the Dual Blade Style. So why is he so ashamed of using the style that lets him more closely resemble his Famous Ancestor? Not to mention, why would the part of the Vander Style used by its most famous practitioner/founder be considered 'a mere Branch Style'?
  • Probably because his ancestor died long before the war was over?
• Perhaps I am not savvy enough to understand why but. Why did the Erebonian government cover up the truth of what happened at Hamel? And then force the Liberl Government to go along with it?
  • If the people of Erebonia learned the truth about Hamel, then they would've lost faith in their government for letting something like this happen. Liberl had to accept the condition to keep quiet about Hamel because it was a ceasefire condition to end the Hundred Days War between the two countries. Liberl is a smaller nation than Erebonia, and wouldn't have lasted long if the war continued. If Liberl didn't accept the agreement, then the war would've went on for longer, leading to more casualties, and eventually, Liberl would've been conquered by Erebonia's army.
  • Well, because you better not making public declarations that your own military destroyed your own hamlet because they wanted a war with neighbor. And Liberl, I suppose, isn't so-nicely-informed about what happened in Hamel anyways.
• Given how ambitious Duke Crois de Cayenne was, and the fact that he originally was the spare to Lamarre Province, with his elder brother the original heir, was the death of Musse's family at sea an accident or an "accident"?
• Why does Class VII forgive their enemies so easily, especially those who betrayed them and their trust (Crow, Claire, Sharon etc.)? Pain like that doesn't just go away because they're sorry.
  • Same thing with Naruto, because Falcom wants to shove a Forgiveness Aesop down our throats.
    • Actually, there is some justification for some of them. For cases like Crow, just watch this scene detailing his backstory and try to put yourself in his shoes. If one can't 100% say that they wouldn't have gone as far as he did afterwards, especially considering that he was up against a government official with both strong charisma and military on his side, then it shouldn't be too hard to see where Crow was coming from and why he did what he did. For cases like Claire and Lector, although it's admittedly easy to forget considering how much they've helped Class VII out, they were always on Osborne's side from the beginning. It's hard to really call it a betrayal if you already know which side the other person is going to pick in the end. As for cases like Sharon...okay, yeah, that ones hard to truly explain logically.
    • While we're on the topic of forgiveness, there were some other characters where I'm not sure if they explained why they were forgiven. First is Aurelia Le Guin, who led Duke Cayenne's army during the civil war. As Musse explains in Cold Steel IV, she first started working with Aurelia after the civil war, so she wasn't a double agent trying to undermine Cayenne like Rufus was. As far as I know, Aurelia was willing to work with Duke Cayenne during the civil war in spite of his classist agenda, so long as she got a good fight out of it. If Cayenne's crimes were great enough to warrant a life sentence, wouldn't she at the very least face a few years in prison for her compliance? To an extent, this also applies to Marquis Hyarms and Bardias for their roles in the Noble Alliance. The other one is Irina Reinford for her company's involvement with the government and rapid production of military tech. In the fallout of the war with Calvard, wouldn't the Reinford company and its CEO be caught in a storm of controversy for assisting the imperial government with its war mongering? Irina was shown to have no problems working with the imperial government on this matter, so I would think she'd be on the chopping block during Erebonia's post-war reforms.
    • While everyone else is up in the air right now, Aurelia and Bardias actually do have a reason for a pardon. Recall that during the climax of Cold Steel 2, specifically when the Infernal Castle appears, both of them were not amused at the sight of it, showing that they were not involved in that particular part of the plan. As such, Bardias is outright stated to have called for a ceasefire, which in turn allowed Neithardt to assist the Thors students in the plaza. If we assume Aurelia did the same and that the both of them also assisted in protecting and/or evacuating civilians during that whole crisis on top of that, than it's not too hard to believe that got at least a bit of a pardon.
• In final images during the finale of Cold Steel IV, we see all the people that Olivier invited to his wedding. His self proclaimed rival Blueblanc is not among them. But given his personality and his status as a Master of Disguise, one has to wonder: did he turn up anyway? If so, as who? And did he bring a gift, steal a gift, or hide a gift and leave a chain of riddle calling cards as to where he hid it?
  • Reverie answers this question.
• So in Cold Steel IV why is the SSS taking KeA to dangerous areas like the fake Salt Pale and Orchis Tower? She doesn't have the means to defend herself and it can take one wrong misstep for KeA to get injured or even killed. Is her Brave Order that important to them to risk her life?
  • With Orchis Tower, they needed her powers if they were going to crack the terminal encryption in minutes instead of years.
• Rean went to a school founded by Emperor Dreichels. He's had the story of said emperor drilled into him literally from day one. It comes up all the time in Cold Steel 1. It's basically the foundational myth of his country. It was part of his midterms. So why the hell is he so slow to realize that he's having visions of Dreichels every time he kills one of the shrine bosses in CS 2?
• When Ash leads the new class VII to assist Rean and company at Hamel, his Drakkhen is carrying his scythe-halberd. Then Kurt takes over as pilot after Ash is knocked out, in the same machine...so where the hell did it suddenly get Kurt's dual swords from?
• I'm no expert, but is it really feasible that Rean could win the swimming competitions? He's going up against members of the Swimming Club, including the team's ace, Laura, all of whom have been training regularly to get better at swimming. Granted, obviously somebody taught him to swim and swim well, but is really feasible that he could trump them, having not been practicing as they have?
• How does Rean’s zemurian ore Tachi get repaired after Juno naval fortress and the battle with holy beast of Earth particularly the latter since during the battle it was snapped in half, but by the time of an endgame side quest in IV it’s back to normal?
  • Easy: Schmidt did it. He's probably got a few of those Zemurian ores lying around plus he does have an idea on how to obtain more of them from the shrines.