Lord El-Melloi II Case Files – 07

「魔眼蒐集列車1/6 旅立ちの汽笛と第一の殺人」 (Mame Shuushuu Ressha 1/6 Tabidachi no kiteki to Daiichi no Satsujin)
“Rail Zeppelin 1/6: A Train Whistle of Departure and The First Murder ~Seeing was the first magical spell in human history.~”

Passerby bailed me out this week with the screencaps and post formatting, so shoutouts to him for taking time out of his vacation to help me out in that regard! I’ve still got a cup of coffee to give me a reason to mill about in this coffee shop leeching off free wifi, so let’s try and do a rundown of this episode before I get kicked out. We finally hit up some actual source material, and I have to say, I absolutely loved it.

Different organisations, associations and their interests coincide on this train, seeking to further their ambiguous aims by attaining mystic eyes. At first, I was under the impression that people with mystic eyes wouldn’t be safe on the train, and wondered if Waver’s association with Reines is the reason he was targeted. Apparently not. To my surprise, it seems like every guest and their mothers and dogs (except for Waver and his folks) have mystic eyes on their hands. Now that I think about it, typical of the bourgeoisie to stockpile in excess on a fancy commodity they already possess. That said, I’m glad the show threw that presumption out of the window. Returning to the drawing board, it means that the thief has a different motive to what I’d previously assumed, though it definitely still has something to do with Waver. The conversation between Reines and Kairi indicates to me that it’s likely within the Modern Magecraft department itself, based on an intuition that Troyca wouldn’t depict this interaction out of nowhere if it was inconsequential to the outcome. I’m curious to see what the outcome will be and would generally be fine with anything, but I hope that the culprit wouldn’t be doing it just for fun. That would be the least convincing motive, in my opinion.

For me, the highlight of this episode was its focus on Waver’s character development. The execution was nothing short of extraordinary. His conversation with Trisha evoked many emotional and thought-provoking moments, especially the bombshell she dropped that a resummoned Iskandar might not even recall the adventure of a lifetime he shared with Waver in the previous Holy Grail War. That’s just heartbreaking. Those who have seen Fate/Zero can understand the special connection between Iskandar and Waver, what an inspiring figure Iskandar was, and just how massively he influenced Waver’s life. I don’t know how I would cope if someone I truly cared about forgot about me, and everything special we had ever done together. I think we can all relate to that on some level, the fear of being forgotten in such a way and imagine how much that hurts. I felt so emotional on his part and could feel tears in my eyes/ But Waver’s determination does not diminish whatsoever. His resolve shines through. He’s never gonna give up, ever.

I also assumed Waver had noble intentions boarding the train, and merely wanted to retrieve Iskandar’s mantle. However, this episode made it clear that it goes way beyond that. Waver actually demonstrated interest in acquiring mystic eyes himself, and it’s not difficult to guess it’s because he will take absolutely anything that can further his ambition of reuniting with Iskandar once more. Everything, the desire to participate in the Holy Grail War as well as reclaiming the stolen mantle, are requisite steps in realising that goal. If the mystic eyes can help him along the way, there is no doubt he would throw himself into the mix attempting to acquire a suitable pair. Trisha accutely perceives this and forewarns Waver that the potential consequences of possessing mystic eyes could be graver than he imagines.

When Trisha was murdered at the end of the episode, I didn’t feel too surprised that she was the target. Here’s the thing. If you’re someone seeking to conduct shady operations, a person capable of seeing the future could prove a massive stumbling block in exposing you. If I had to pick a second target, it would be Frampton because his ability to see the past may inadvertantly expose traces of motives or plans. Yvette is also in danger, because her ability to view emotions could allow her to sense the culprit and their murderous feelings. It’s hard to say for sure, so let’s see how it plays out. Anyway, that’s about everything I wanted to discuss. As always, thanks for reading my post and see you next week, where we might find out more about the thief and murderer and maybe Gray might finally succeed in giving Waver that present.