Headscratchers / Valkyria Chronicles II

• Wait a minute, this is either a plot hole the size of a small planetoid or something I really didn't get: why is Leon fighting with the rebels again? I understand that he volunteered to become an artificial Valkyria in doctor Forester's program, and I understand the research data was stolen, but how are those two facts related, and more importantly: why are they related to him suddenly becoming Dirk Gassenarl? Sure, the rebels stole the data, but unless I missed a very important cutscene, this data didn't contain anything on mind control technology. There was no reason for Leon to disappear or for his personality to change. It's not like they put anything in the artificial Valkyries to control them. Julianna went through the exact same process and she didn't become a brainwashed zombie. In his dying breaths Leon talks about being conscious but not control.
  • From what I gathered, the process that turns you into an Artificial Valkyria either reduces the person's mental abilities to "What's needed for basic functions". Dirk came into being because - at the time - Leon wasn't in control due to ragnite overdose. It's not in the cutscenes, it's in the fluff material you buy from the shops.
  • Why isn't he in control? This annoys me a lot because if this isn't explained, 80% of the game's plot is basically utter bull. And it was a good game, dammit.
    • Leon is in a V0 instead of a V2. Note that the V2's are almost completely silent, no matter what happens to them. No screams, battle cries or taunts. The implication of this and Juliana's turn as one is that the process of becoming an artificial Valkyria does awful things to a person. Leon was the prototype. Whatever the latter subjects go through was worse for him.
• Given his enthusiasm for killing Darcsens, why isn't Baldren Gassenarl's first order of business upon killing his dad and seizing power to execute Cordelia?
  • Presumably so after he has more soundly defeated the loyalist forces, he can force her to order what's left of her troops to stand down before forcing her to abdicate and then killing her. Doing so before hand would cause SOME Loyalist troops to surrender, but it might cause others to go to ground and become insurgents instead of properly surrendering and re-integrating. The Loyalists could also retaliate by executing all rebel prisoners as a form of revenge, leaving Baldren a bigger mess to clean up (to say nothing of the fact that the Empire might jump in and claim that the whole rebellion is exactly why Gallia was not fit to rule itself).
• Why isn’t Welkin or Alicia do anything to stop the Civil War because I was under the impression that they liked it when their country was at peace?
  • Neither Welkin nor Alicia wanted to fight or be in the military - they were drafted. They're not violent people so they're not gonna take up arms purely because there's an enemy to fight, but they are helping the students so it's not like they're trying to remain neutral.
  • Despite their lackluster performance during the war against the empire the army had managed to keep the rebels pinned between the academy, the desert, and the thick woods. Another thing to consider is that it's illegal for the duchess to call on the militia unless the country is under attack by a foreign enemy, the most anyone could do would be to defend their homes if the rebels attack or sign up for the army proper and attend Lanseal.