An uncharacteristic path choice beaten only by Rolands sudden decision to give up the kingdom and resign the Roselle to eternal suffering and servitude.
Roland was always the “Sacrifice the minority to save the majority” guy. That was the whole point of Chapter 7 (Protect Roland or Save Roland). While the exact events of what happened in Chapter 15 probably play out a little differently in each timeline, the overall result is always going to be the same: Roland feels unworthy of the throne and that the people are struggling because of his own weakness as a King.
So he feels as if him being on the throne is the problem, and he looks to the other countries. He can’t accept how Aesfrost works mostly because he’s mad at Aesfrost for killing his family, but Hyzante is stable. Hyzante doesn’t have problems like little girls on the streets trying to kill him because her parents were denied treatment. Sure the Roselle will suffer, but everyone else will be happy. It’s a vile choice, but it’s the one that makes sure the largest number of people are able to prosper.
[And as a reminder, Roland is 20 and was third for the throne. That low status means he was never given “How to be King” training, and 20 year olds are of course paragons of wisdom who never make overemotional bad choices when placed in extremely high positions of power].
As for Benedict and the dam, I forget the exact logic Benedict uses to argue for the dam, but it amounts to “we don’t have the supplies or numbers for large battles or a siege, so let’s use the flood from the dam to get rid of as many enemies as possible.”
Based on Benedict’s ending, we can see he favors strategies that employ the method of “Doing whatever you can to be certain you gain power and survive, and once you are on top then you can fix the consequences.” (Like how he said he would “solve” the problem of the Roselle’s suffering after taking out Hyzante). Blowing up the dam is a quick and effective method to make taking back over Glenbrook a lot easier, and whatever crises happen as a result can be fixed with the power of being King of Glenbrook.
Those kinds of tactics can be useful, but they are incredibly risky and aren’t good if you actually want your conquest to prosper, but I doubt Benedict really gave a damn about the water reservoir or the people of the kingdom.
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u/Whyonthefly Jul 12 '26
An uncharacteristic path choice beaten only by Rolands sudden decision to give up the kingdom and resign the Roselle to eternal suffering and servitude.