WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.799 Welcome to the debate. You know, usually when 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:06.480 we look at a historical monument, we see it as 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:09.900 something fixed. A bronze statue in a city square, 00:00:10.099 --> 00:00:13.419 right? Solid, immovable, entirely immune to the 00:00:13.419 --> 00:00:17.140 weather. Yeah, just standing there forever. Exactly. 00:00:17.300 --> 00:00:20.140 We look up at it, we read the little brass plaque, 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:23.120 and the story it tells is simple, clean, and 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:26.359 heroic. But then you start chipping away at that 00:00:26.359 --> 00:00:29.510 bronze, and you realize it is, well... It's entirely 00:00:29.510 --> 00:00:32.549 hollow inside. And within that hollow space, 00:00:32.829 --> 00:00:36.350 the actual history is incredibly messy, complicated, 00:00:36.409 --> 00:00:40.850 and sometimes quite dark. That is honestly the 00:00:40.850 --> 00:00:43.850 perfect framing for where we are right now. We 00:00:43.850 --> 00:00:46.850 all like our heroes cast in solid bronze, but 00:00:46.850 --> 00:00:49.429 the reality is always an alloy of some kind, 00:00:49.549 --> 00:00:53.109 you know, mixing nobility with immense compromise. 00:00:53.450 --> 00:00:55.990 And honestly, we caught a major glimpse of that 00:00:55.990 --> 00:00:59.210 messy history last time. We really did. So just 00:00:59.210 --> 00:01:02.789 a quick recap of episode 15, we tackled the character 00:01:02.789 --> 00:01:05.790 of Zerarilli and the specific mechanics of his 00:01:05.790 --> 00:01:09.230 spatial manipulation. Right, the localized vacuums. 00:01:09.329 --> 00:01:12.230 Yeah, how he creates that localized vacuum in 00:01:12.230 --> 00:01:14.950 the void. And we debated a really fundamental 00:01:14.950 --> 00:01:18.090 question. Was that ability physically the weakest 00:01:18.090 --> 00:01:20.450 elemental art in the book just because it lacks 00:01:20.450 --> 00:01:23.629 kinetic stopping power? Or was it structurally 00:01:23.629 --> 00:01:26.409 the most consequential catalyst that shaped the 00:01:26.409 --> 00:01:29.209 entire timeline? Right, because Zara Rill's time 00:01:29.209 --> 00:01:32.030 -folding catalysts, like that simple act of creating 00:01:32.030 --> 00:01:34.769 a vacuum to fold space, is exactly what allowed 00:01:34.769 --> 00:01:37.709 a despot grandson to step out of his own era 00:01:37.709 --> 00:01:40.290 and physically meet his legendary grandfather 00:01:40.290 --> 00:01:43.030 on a historic battlefield. Which is just wild 00:01:43.030 --> 00:01:45.629 to read. It completely broke the timeline wide 00:01:45.629 --> 00:01:48.510 open, yeah. And it proved that sometimes the 00:01:48.510 --> 00:01:51.719 quietest elemental arts have the loudest echoes. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:55.200 And it is that exact moment of time folding that 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:58.579 forces us to reevaluate everything we thought 00:01:58.579 --> 00:02:02.560 we knew, which pivots us right into today's central 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:06.819 question. Based on the text by Neogentrix, is 00:02:06.819 --> 00:02:09.719 the original whistling swordsman Zeon Clerics 00:02:09.719 --> 00:02:12.580 the quintessential hero that the title promises, 00:02:12.699 --> 00:02:16.520 or is his life ultimately a tragic cautionary 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:20.590 tale? The big question. Exactly. So I am going 00:02:20.590 --> 00:02:23.430 to argue that Zeon Clerics is the quintessential 00:02:23.430 --> 00:02:27.150 hero, a man whose life -affirming elemental arts 00:02:27.150 --> 00:02:30.490 and enduring legacy drive the entire narrative 00:02:30.490 --> 00:02:33.250 forward. And I will argue that he is a massive 00:02:33.250 --> 00:02:36.009 cautionary tale. I believe his life proves that 00:02:36.009 --> 00:02:38.810 being a legendary warrior for Pico Dash often 00:02:38.810 --> 00:02:40.969 comes at the devastating cost of being a good 00:02:40.969 --> 00:02:43.250 father, leaving behind nothing but a wake of 00:02:43.250 --> 00:02:45.430 generational trauma for his family. Well, when 00:02:45.430 --> 00:02:48.360 I look at the text... I just cannot see the purely 00:02:48.360 --> 00:02:52.060 tragic figure you do. To me, he is the absolute 00:02:52.060 --> 00:02:56.259 heroic ideal. But, you know, you have to start 00:02:56.259 --> 00:02:58.900 by looking at the sheer weight of what Zeon Clerics 00:02:58.900 --> 00:03:01.340 accomplished in his time. I mean, sure, he did 00:03:01.340 --> 00:03:05.240 a lot. He did everything. When you evaluate the 00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:07.719 geopolitical reality of Pekodesh during his era, 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:10.020 you are looking at a continent being systematically 00:03:10.020 --> 00:03:14.270 crushed by the tyranny of Aeon Pax. In that context, 00:03:14.629 --> 00:03:17.810 Zeon Cleric stood as an immovable bulwark in 00:03:17.810 --> 00:03:20.409 the Congo War. He was definitely a major player. 00:03:20.710 --> 00:03:23.409 Right. And we don't just have to take the myth's 00:03:23.409 --> 00:03:26.370 word for it. The texts provide specific physiological 00:03:26.370 --> 00:03:29.569 evidence of his character. His mastery of the 00:03:29.569 --> 00:03:32.550 green wind isn't just a combat technique. It 00:03:32.550 --> 00:03:36.050 is literally life -affirming. But, and this is 00:03:36.050 --> 00:03:38.629 a big but, having a gentle power doesn't make 00:03:38.629 --> 00:03:41.469 someone a flawless hero. No, but you have to 00:03:41.469 --> 00:03:44.729 look at how that power operates. The green wind 00:03:44.729 --> 00:03:48.509 creates cellular harmony. It revitalizes the 00:03:48.509 --> 00:03:52.150 environment around him. And his heroism wasn't 00:03:52.150 --> 00:03:55.210 dependent on having a sword in his hand or being 00:03:55.210 --> 00:03:58.909 on a battlefield. Hang on, look at the chapters 00:03:58.909 --> 00:04:01.770 where he is held captive in a damp stone prison 00:04:01.770 --> 00:04:04.729 cell, right? He's surrounded by the ash and ozone 00:04:04.729 --> 00:04:08.310 of war. Even stripped of his weapons, he remained 00:04:08.310 --> 00:04:10.949 a mentor. He was a beacon of hope to the other 00:04:10.949 --> 00:04:14.490 prisoners. It is precisely that mythic, undeniable 00:04:14.490 --> 00:04:17.689 legacy of goodness that serves as the sole engine 00:04:17.689 --> 00:04:21.189 carrying Zeon through the absolute darkness of 00:04:21.189 --> 00:04:24.629 Book One. I get why you say that. And the mythology 00:04:24.629 --> 00:04:27.410 is undeniably blinding. It is a great story. 00:04:27.589 --> 00:04:30.470 But I look at the systemic aftermath of his life, 00:04:30.589 --> 00:04:33.730 and I see an unacceptable cost exacted on his 00:04:33.730 --> 00:04:36.779 own bloodline. Define unacceptable cost, though. 00:04:36.899 --> 00:04:39.660 The reality is that because of his unresolved 00:04:39.660 --> 00:04:42.259 wars and his overarching commitment to the continent, 00:04:42.519 --> 00:04:45.980 his grandson, Xeonyx, was forced to grow up in 00:04:45.980 --> 00:04:48.839 total suffocating isolation on the outskirts 00:04:48.839 --> 00:04:52.029 of Solkar. To keep him safe. But was he safe? 00:04:52.170 --> 00:04:55.269 Seriously, was he? He spent his childhood worshipping 00:04:55.269 --> 00:04:57.870 a hollow myth rather than having a present, living 00:04:57.870 --> 00:05:00.509 family member to guide him. And the tragic irony 00:05:00.509 --> 00:05:04.209 here is staggering. Xionic clerics fought a massive 00:05:04.209 --> 00:05:07.170 war to save the world, but his own brother, Ioliot, 00:05:07.209 --> 00:05:10.170 spent 20 years orchestrating the psychological 00:05:10.170 --> 00:05:12.730 and physical destruction of that very grandson. 00:05:13.009 --> 00:05:16.069 Through Malamar. Yeah. Right. Through the sleep 00:05:16.069 --> 00:05:18.829 rage at Malamar. The text ultimately proves that 00:05:18.829 --> 00:05:21.629 you cannot be a legend for Pekadesh and a safe 00:05:21.629 --> 00:05:24.170 harbor for your family simultaneously. The two 00:05:24.170 --> 00:05:26.509 roles are mutually exclusive. And his family 00:05:26.509 --> 00:05:28.790 paid the price for his legend. I see why you 00:05:28.790 --> 00:05:31.290 think that. But let me give you a different perspective 00:05:31.290 --> 00:05:34.269 by looking at the fundamental nature of the elemental 00:05:34.269 --> 00:05:37.790 arts themselves. In Neogentric's world, elemental 00:05:37.790 --> 00:05:40.949 arts are not just, you know, random spells you 00:05:40.949 --> 00:05:42.990 memorize from a book. No, they're tied to the 00:05:42.990 --> 00:05:46.589 person. Exactly. They are an interface with the 00:05:46.589 --> 00:05:50.069 soul. They require a biological and spiritual 00:05:50.069 --> 00:05:53.430 alignment to manifest. Zeon Cleric's command 00:05:53.430 --> 00:05:56.149 of the green wind proves his inherent goodness, 00:05:56.370 --> 00:05:59.250 because it is fundamentally an elemental art 00:05:59.250 --> 00:06:01.589 of protection. I agree it's an art of protection, 00:06:01.829 --> 00:06:03.970 but how does that negate his actions? Because 00:06:03.970 --> 00:06:06.329 the green wind isn't just about blowing leaves 00:06:06.329 --> 00:06:08.870 around or creating a breeze, right? It literally 00:06:08.870 --> 00:06:11.629 forces the cells of living things to regenerate 00:06:11.629 --> 00:06:15.300 and resist entropy. It requires the user to harmonize 00:06:15.300 --> 00:06:17.319 with the breath of the earth to sustain life. 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:21.839 Sure. In a war where Eon Pax is actively harvesting 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:25.560 biological material, Zeon Clerics isn't just 00:06:25.560 --> 00:06:28.959 fighting, he is actively curing the battlefield 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:32.300 as he walks through it. You compare that directly 00:06:32.300 --> 00:06:36.060 to Iolite's corrupted, suffocating red wind, 00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:39.579 which is a physical manifestation of forced entropy 00:06:39.579 --> 00:06:42.939 and decay. And the moral contrast couldn't be 00:06:42.939 --> 00:06:46.519 clearer. Zeon clerics wielded the power of cellular 00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:50.040 harmony to push back against an entire system 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:52.779 of death. You make a fair point about the nature 00:06:52.779 --> 00:06:54.740 of the green wind, but I come at it from a different 00:06:54.740 --> 00:06:57.740 way. Because possessing a, you know, quote -unquote 00:06:57.740 --> 00:07:00.379 gentle elemental art doesn't magically erase 00:07:00.379 --> 00:07:04.100 a warrior's ruthless wartime pragmatism. I wouldn't 00:07:04.100 --> 00:07:06.879 call it ruthless. You are focusing entirely on 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:09.160 the color of his wind, but you need to look at 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:11.600 his actual administrative actions during the 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:14.339 Congo War. Do you remember Kenshin's revelation 00:07:14.339 --> 00:07:17.319 to Zeonics midway through Book 1? You mean about 00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:20.680 the brokering? Exactly. Kenshin explicitly states 00:07:20.680 --> 00:07:24.019 that Zeon clerics operated as a loan shark. Those 00:07:24.019 --> 00:07:26.800 are his exact words. He was brokering force, 00:07:27.060 --> 00:07:29.839 leveraging favors, and trading in blood debts. 00:07:30.329 --> 00:07:32.449 Well, it was a war. We have to remember that 00:07:32.449 --> 00:07:34.550 the Congo War wasn't just a battlefield where 00:07:34.550 --> 00:07:36.850 armies lined up and fought with honor. It was 00:07:36.850 --> 00:07:40.250 a violent, complex economy. Eon Pax's empire 00:07:40.250 --> 00:07:42.850 operated by harvesting biological capabilities 00:07:42.850 --> 00:07:46.110 from subjugated peoples, and Zeon Clerics was 00:07:46.110 --> 00:07:48.889 essentially acting as a central banker of violence 00:07:48.889 --> 00:07:52.029 within that dark economy. A central banker. Yes. 00:07:52.170 --> 00:07:54.870 He made deals. He traded lives for strategic 00:07:54.870 --> 00:07:57.649 positioning. Hold on. You cannot call a man who 00:07:57.649 --> 00:08:00.350 brokers blood debts a pure hero, no matter how 00:08:00.350 --> 00:08:02.490 much cellular harmony he projects when he swings 00:08:02.490 --> 00:08:05.350 his sword. Wait. Lone Shark is a really harsh 00:08:05.350 --> 00:08:07.829 way to frame it. And I think that's Kenshin projecting 00:08:07.829 --> 00:08:10.850 his own cynicism onto the past. That's an interesting 00:08:10.850 --> 00:08:12.230 point, though. I would frame it differently. 00:08:12.550 --> 00:08:15.589 How so? You are judging a wartime commander by 00:08:15.589 --> 00:08:18.310 peacetime standards, which is a luxury none of 00:08:18.310 --> 00:08:20.639 these characters had. Let me offer an analogy 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:23.740 to ground this. Think of Xeon clerics not as 00:08:23.740 --> 00:08:26.540 a corrupt banker in a suit, but as a surgeon 00:08:26.540 --> 00:08:29.699 operating in a massive, chaotic triage tent. 00:08:29.980 --> 00:08:33.120 A triage tent? Yes. Imagine the casualties are 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:35.419 flooding in, the medical system is collapsing 00:08:35.419 --> 00:08:37.919 under the weight of Eon Pax's armies, and people 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:40.500 are dying in the dirt. A surgeon in that environment 00:08:40.500 --> 00:08:42.480 doesn't have the luxury of keeping their scrubs 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:45.559 clean. That's true. Right? You have to operate 00:08:45.559 --> 00:08:48.679 in the mud, in the blood, making... agonizingly 00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:51.320 pragmatic choices about who gets a tourniquet, 00:08:51.340 --> 00:08:53.600 who gets medicine, and who you have to leave 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:57.340 behind. Yes, he traded in force and favors. Yes, 00:08:57.419 --> 00:09:00.240 he leveraged assets. But he did it to keep the 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:03.259 patient, the entire continent of Pekodesh alive. 00:09:03.620 --> 00:09:07.360 The green wind is the truth of his soul. The 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:09.659 loan sharking was simply the tragic necessity 00:09:09.659 --> 00:09:12.659 of his environment. That is a compelling argument. 00:09:13.230 --> 00:09:15.549 But have you considered that his triage approach 00:09:15.549 --> 00:09:18.649 is exactly what caused the most devastating fracture 00:09:18.649 --> 00:09:22.570 in the entire narrative? The fracture? You mean 00:09:22.570 --> 00:09:25.269 with his family? Yes. If we are talking about 00:09:25.269 --> 00:09:27.690 agonizing choices, let's look at the turning 00:09:27.690 --> 00:09:29.909 point of his life, the betrayal in the Sholin 00:09:29.909 --> 00:09:32.669 Timber Forest. Ah, the moment with his brother. 00:09:32.870 --> 00:09:36.690 Right, the brothers Zeon Clerics and Io Light 00:09:36.690 --> 00:09:39.389 lead a research team into the sacred habitat 00:09:39.389 --> 00:09:42.620 of the Orion Mystics. And under the cover of 00:09:42.620 --> 00:09:45.980 darkness, Iolite attempts to steal the Infinity 00:09:45.980 --> 00:09:49.440 Crest directly from the Orion leader. Which was 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:52.539 a massive violation. Let's pause and remind ourselves 00:09:52.539 --> 00:09:54.879 what that means. He didn't just try to steal 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:57.960 a shiny trophy. The Infinity Crest is the Earth 00:09:57.960 --> 00:10:00.940 Hearthstone. It is the literal biological anchor 00:10:00.940 --> 00:10:03.860 for that entire ecosystem. If you remove it, 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:07.200 the forest dies. Exactly. The Orion mystics die. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:10.460 And what does Zeon Clerics do in response? He 00:10:10.460 --> 00:10:12.539 doesn't just stop him. He fights his own brother. 00:10:12.659 --> 00:10:15.419 He physically scars him for life, and he banishes 00:10:15.419 --> 00:10:17.340 him, leaving him behind as a prisoner of the 00:10:17.340 --> 00:10:19.259 mystics. I mean, what was he supposed to do? 00:10:19.799 --> 00:10:22.379 Iolite was trying to rip the living heart out 00:10:22.379 --> 00:10:24.759 of a sacred ecosystem. He would have killed thousands 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:27.919 of living creatures. True. I am not defending 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:31.559 Iolite's theft, but we have to look deeper into 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:34.759 the familial rot that caused that moment to happen 00:10:34.759 --> 00:10:38.990 in the first place. Neogentrix never explicitly 00:10:38.990 --> 00:10:42.049 states in Book 1 exactly why their father hated 00:10:42.049 --> 00:10:44.830 Iolite and favored Zeon clerics from the very 00:10:44.830 --> 00:10:48.389 beginning. So I have to speculate out loud here. 00:10:48.549 --> 00:10:51.769 Let's explicitly label this as speculation, okay? 00:10:52.049 --> 00:10:55.090 Alright, let's hear the speculation. What if 00:10:55.090 --> 00:10:58.070 Iolite simply lacked the inherent biological 00:10:58.070 --> 00:11:01.289 affinity for life -affirming elemental arts? 00:11:01.629 --> 00:11:03.990 You mean he literally couldn't channel the green 00:11:03.990 --> 00:11:07.620 wind? Exactly. If elemental arts are tied to 00:11:07.620 --> 00:11:10.259 biology and the soul, and he couldn't manifest 00:11:10.259 --> 00:11:13.500 the green wind of his ancestors, perhaps that 00:11:13.500 --> 00:11:16.419 made him the family outcast from day one. Oh, 00:11:16.419 --> 00:11:20.779 wow. Right? He grew up feeling unloved, isolated, 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:24.120 and completely overshadowed by his golden child 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:27.200 brother. By choosing to violently banish Iolite 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:29.279 in the Sholen Forest, rather than attempting 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:32.139 to rehabilitate him or heal that deep familial 00:11:32.139 --> 00:11:35.679 wound, Zeon Clerics effectively created his own 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:39.659 worst enemy. That is a very sympathetic read 00:11:39.659 --> 00:11:42.039 of Iolite. But instead of acting like a brother, 00:11:42.279 --> 00:11:45.159 he acted like a general, and in doing so, he 00:11:45.159 --> 00:11:47.960 handed Eon Pax the perfect aggrieved weapon. 00:11:48.490 --> 00:11:50.470 I'm not convinced by that line of reasoning because 00:11:50.470 --> 00:11:52.870 it entirely strips Zeon Clerics of the sheer 00:11:52.870 --> 00:11:55.230 moral weight of his obligations. You're asking 00:11:55.230 --> 00:11:57.129 him to put his brother above the survival of 00:11:57.129 --> 00:11:59.549 an entire civilization. I'm asking him to be 00:11:59.549 --> 00:12:03.090 a family member. But he had sworn a solemn, binding 00:12:03.090 --> 00:12:06.409 oath to protect the Shaolin mystics and respect 00:12:06.409 --> 00:12:09.389 their sacred boundaries. When his brother decided 00:12:09.389 --> 00:12:12.590 to violate that trust, to steal the biological 00:12:12.590 --> 00:12:15.750 anchor of the forest, Zeon Clerics was faced 00:12:15.750 --> 00:12:18.909 with an impossible nightmare scenario. A nightmare 00:12:18.909 --> 00:12:22.529 of his own making, partially. No, it was Iolite's 00:12:22.529 --> 00:12:25.570 choice. Does he protect his corrupt brother out 00:12:25.570 --> 00:12:27.990 of blind tribal loyalty, letting the forest rot? 00:12:28.129 --> 00:12:31.149 Or does he uphold his word and protect the living 00:12:31.149 --> 00:12:33.690 fabric of the ecosystem? But the punishment... 00:12:33.690 --> 00:12:36.649 The punishment matched the crime. He made the 00:12:36.649 --> 00:12:40.070 agonizing, truly heroic choice to prioritize 00:12:40.070 --> 00:12:42.970 the safety of the world over his own familial 00:12:42.970 --> 00:12:46.409 bias. It wasn't a lack of love on his part. It 00:12:46.409 --> 00:12:48.389 was the ultimate demonstration of integrity. 00:12:48.669 --> 00:12:52.330 He broke his own heart to keep his promise to 00:12:52.330 --> 00:12:55.269 the Orion mystics. That is what a hero does. 00:12:55.490 --> 00:12:58.009 They bear the weight so others don't have to. 00:12:58.350 --> 00:13:01.539 Integrity on a macro scale, perhaps. I will give 00:13:01.539 --> 00:13:03.879 you that he saved the forest. But let's look 00:13:03.879 --> 00:13:06.159 at the micro scale. Let's look at the ultimate 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:09.159 cost of that legacy on Zeonix, his grandson. 00:13:09.620 --> 00:13:11.679 I don't think you can blame him for things that 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:15.139 happen decades later. I'm sorry, but I just don't 00:13:15.139 --> 00:13:17.700 buy that prioritizing the world over your family 00:13:17.700 --> 00:13:20.500 equates to successful heroism, especially when 00:13:20.500 --> 00:13:22.620 you look at how it thoroughly poisoned the next 00:13:22.620 --> 00:13:25.519 generation. Let me build on your earlier points 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:29.220 with an analogy of my own. Zeon Cleric's legend 00:13:29.220 --> 00:13:32.919 is like a massive ancient oak tree. Okay, I'm 00:13:32.919 --> 00:13:36.720 listening. It is grand. It is revered. It stands 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:39.860 taller than anything else in the forest. But 00:13:39.860 --> 00:13:42.879 if you are a Zeon Nyx, you are a sapling planted 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:46.139 directly underneath it. And because that canopy 00:13:46.139 --> 00:13:49.379 is so dense, you get absolutely no sunlight. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:53.200 Right. He was hidden away. You get no rain. Because 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:56.200 of the massive shadow cast by the whistling swordsman 00:13:56.200 --> 00:13:59.799 Zeonix's parents felt completely terrified. They 00:13:59.799 --> 00:14:02.419 were compelled to raise him in total suffocating 00:14:02.419 --> 00:14:05.490 ignorance on the outskirts of Sukar. It's a place 00:14:05.490 --> 00:14:07.830 deliberately removed from the elemental conflicts. 00:14:08.090 --> 00:14:10.309 They were trying to protect him from Aeon Pax. 00:14:10.529 --> 00:14:13.169 But they kept him painfully naive to the realities 00:14:13.169 --> 00:14:15.889 of the elemental arts just to hide him from Aeon 00:14:15.889 --> 00:14:18.370 Pax's forces, who were hunting the bloodline. 00:14:18.529 --> 00:14:20.970 And because he was kept in the dark, starved 00:14:20.970 --> 00:14:23.509 of the light of his own heritage, he became incredibly 00:14:23.509 --> 00:14:25.990 easy prey. You're referring to the betrayal by 00:14:25.990 --> 00:14:30.149 Malamar. Exactly. Malamar spent 20 years masquerading 00:14:30.149 --> 00:14:33.820 as the mentor figure Kenshin. 20 years. It is 00:14:33.820 --> 00:14:36.179 a staggering amount of time. Think about the 00:14:36.179 --> 00:14:40.240 scale of that. That is two decades orchestrating 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:42.799 a meticulous psychological operation against 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:46.639 a child. He deliberately fed zionic half -truths 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:49.340 about the elemental arts. He taught him incorrect 00:14:49.340 --> 00:14:51.940 stances to fundamentally cripple his natural 00:14:51.940 --> 00:14:55.340 fighting instincts. Yeah, it was brutal to read. 00:14:55.620 --> 00:14:58.539 He set him up to fail at every turn, all because 00:14:58.539 --> 00:15:01.019 Iolite wanted long -simmering vengeance against 00:15:01.019 --> 00:15:03.779 his brother. The legacy of Zeon clerics didn't 00:15:03.779 --> 00:15:06.639 protect Zeonic. It painted a neon target on his 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:08.700 back and left him completely without the tools 00:15:08.700 --> 00:15:11.679 to defend himself. The myth was, in execution, 00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:15.740 a curse. It is very easy to look at the Fallout 00:15:15.740 --> 00:15:18.799 Dickies later with perfect hindsight and declare 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:21.899 the man a failure. But you are completely ignoring 00:15:21.899 --> 00:15:24.840 the most profoundly human moment in the entire 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:28.600 text. Oh, here we go. Not really. To understand 00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:31.159 Zeon clerics, we have to look at the climax. 00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:33.620 And we have to remember the strict canonical 00:15:33.620 --> 00:15:37.019 rules of Neogentrix's universe here. The time 00:15:37.019 --> 00:15:40.399 travel rules. Yes. Only Zeon Nix travels through 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:44.320 time. Nobody else. Ever. Zeon Clerics never leaves 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:46.960 his own fixed point in the Congo War timeline. 00:15:47.259 --> 00:15:49.440 Right. It's a one -way bridge for the grandson. 00:15:49.820 --> 00:15:52.440 Exactly. He does not have the luxury of reading 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:55.279 Book One. He doesn't know about Sukar or Malamar 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:58.720 or the 20 -year psychological operation. Yet, 00:15:58.740 --> 00:16:01.720 when Zyrael folds space, creating that vacuum 00:16:01.720 --> 00:16:04.740 we talked about, and the universe literally bleeds 00:16:04.740 --> 00:16:07.980 together across eras, Zeon next lands squarely 00:16:07.980 --> 00:16:10.440 in the mud, blood, and ash of that historic battlefield. 00:16:10.740 --> 00:16:12.559 Right in the middle of the most violent clash 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:15.919 between the red and green winds. It is absolute 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:19.659 chaos. Total chaos. And amidst that absolute 00:16:19.659 --> 00:16:22.620 carnage, surrounded by the horrors of the Congo 00:16:22.620 --> 00:16:25.759 War, Zeon Clerics looks across the battlefield. 00:16:26.059 --> 00:16:29.110 He sees a young man he doesn't know. but who 00:16:29.110 --> 00:16:32.070 is fighting with a deeply familiar style. He 00:16:32.070 --> 00:16:35.629 recognizes the forms. Yeah, and when he realizes, 00:16:35.730 --> 00:16:38.429 when it clicks for him, that this terrified young 00:16:38.429 --> 00:16:40.950 man is the grandson he will never get to see 00:16:40.950 --> 00:16:44.110 grow up, what does he do? He stops fighting. 00:16:44.350 --> 00:16:46.470 He doesn't ask for help winning the war, even 00:16:46.470 --> 00:16:49.149 though he desperately needs it. He doesn't conscript 00:16:49.149 --> 00:16:51.909 the boy into his army like a pragmatic loan shark 00:16:51.909 --> 00:16:55.669 banker would, right? He smiles amidst the fire 00:16:55.669 --> 00:16:59.090 and the blood and he begs Zianne Monix to flee. 00:16:59.309 --> 00:17:02.509 Yeah. He orders him to get to safety and live 00:17:02.509 --> 00:17:06.430 his life. That single fleeting moment dismantles 00:17:06.430 --> 00:17:09.289 the idea that he was just a cold, pragmatic legend 00:17:09.289 --> 00:17:12.950 who only cared about his duty. It proves that 00:17:12.950 --> 00:17:15.269 beneath the myth, beneath the massive obligations 00:17:15.269 --> 00:17:19.369 to Pico Desh and the Sholin mystics, he was a... 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:30.099 It is a powerful moment in the text. I will readily 00:17:30.099 --> 00:17:32.799 grant you that. It is the one time we really 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:35.460 get to see the human being behind the bronze 00:17:35.460 --> 00:17:38.920 statue, so to speak. Stripped of the title, just 00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:41.259 a grandfather looking at his legacy. Exactly. 00:17:41.420 --> 00:17:44.400 It completely recontextualizes everything he 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:47.400 did. It brings us back to how we evaluate these 00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:50.579 figures. and why this book is so deeply resonant. 00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:54.980 It really is. And today, we've unpacked two vastly 00:17:54.980 --> 00:17:57.559 different perspectives on Neogentric's defining 00:17:57.559 --> 00:18:01.019 character. I have argued throughout that Sion 00:18:01.019 --> 00:18:04.359 Clerics is the ultimate hero, a man who utilized 00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:07.359 the life -affirming cellular harmony of the Green 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:10.660 Wind to stand as a shield for a broken continent, 00:18:10.920 --> 00:18:13.700 even when it cost him his relationship with his 00:18:13.700 --> 00:18:16.710 own brother. And I have maintained that he operates 00:18:16.710 --> 00:18:20.509 as a profound cautionary tale, a man whose overarching, 00:18:20.789 --> 00:18:24.130 pragmatic commitment to the world created a massive, 00:18:24.269 --> 00:18:26.789 suffocating shadow that starved his descendants. 00:18:27.190 --> 00:18:30.630 It left his grandson isolated in Sukar, naive 00:18:30.630 --> 00:18:33.230 to the world, and actively hunted by a deeply 00:18:33.230 --> 00:18:35.990 traumatized family member. But you know, in the 00:18:35.990 --> 00:18:38.450 spirit of this discourse, in looking objectively 00:18:38.450 --> 00:18:41.150 at the text, I have to acknowledge the absolute 00:18:41.150 --> 00:18:44.759 truth in your analysis of the fallout. Oh? Yeah, 00:18:44.839 --> 00:18:47.920 I can see that the title of the Whistling Swordsman 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:51.940 placed an inherently unfair, lethal target on 00:18:51.940 --> 00:18:55.700 the backs of the entire Novus family. Zeon Cleric's 00:18:55.700 --> 00:18:59.740 outsized reputation, that massive oak tree canopy, 00:18:59.960 --> 00:19:02.880 directly caused the suffocating environment in 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:05.859 Sukar. Right. They had nowhere else to go. His 00:19:05.859 --> 00:19:09.079 inability to heal his brother is the direct catalyst 00:19:09.079 --> 00:19:12.559 for Zeon Nyx's suffering at the hands of Malamar. 00:19:13.049 --> 00:19:16.869 The legacy was, in many tangible ways, a profound 00:19:16.869 --> 00:19:19.930 danger to the people he loved most. You cannot 00:19:19.930 --> 00:19:22.390 separate the trauma from the triumph. I appreciate 00:19:22.390 --> 00:19:25.049 that. And looking at the broader context of the 00:19:25.049 --> 00:19:27.890 lore, I must concede your point regarding the 00:19:27.890 --> 00:19:30.150 sheer horrific realities of his environment. 00:19:30.430 --> 00:19:33.529 In a world as fundamentally brutal as Pekodesh 00:19:33.529 --> 00:19:37.170 during that era, where Eon Pax was actively harvesting 00:19:37.170 --> 00:19:39.390 the biological capabilities of innocent people 00:19:39.390 --> 00:19:42.730 and subjugating entire populations, Someone had 00:19:42.730 --> 00:19:45.750 to stand up. Somebody had to be the shield. Wielding 00:19:45.750 --> 00:19:47.990 the green wind to stand against that industrial 00:19:47.990 --> 00:19:51.250 -scale tyranny was an undeniable act of heroism. 00:19:51.690 --> 00:19:54.789 Facing down the corrupted and tropic red wind 00:19:54.789 --> 00:19:57.890 of Iolite to save the Earth Hearthstone, even 00:19:57.890 --> 00:20:00.289 when it broke his own heart to banish his brother, 00:20:00.569 --> 00:20:03.470 undoubtedly saved countless lives. He made the 00:20:03.470 --> 00:20:05.990 impossible triage choices that a surgeon in the 00:20:05.990 --> 00:20:09.400 mud simply had to make. Understanding both the 00:20:09.400 --> 00:20:12.220 meth and the man deepens our appreciation of 00:20:12.220 --> 00:20:15.599 the source material immensely. Neogentrix didn't 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:17.779 write a simple fairy tale with clear -cut good 00:20:17.779 --> 00:20:20.640 guys and bad guys. He wrote a complex ecosystem 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:23.619 of cause and effect. It's all about consequences. 00:20:24.259 --> 00:20:27.039 Exactly. When you look at the monument of Zeon 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:29.799 Clerics, you have to decide for yourself how 00:20:29.799 --> 00:20:32.119 to weigh the solid bronze of his deeds against 00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:35.119 the hollow, tragic spaces inside his family life. 00:20:35.630 --> 00:20:37.809 the listener must ultimately weigh the cost of 00:20:37.809 --> 00:20:40.049 that heroism for themselves. Because there are 00:20:40.049 --> 00:20:42.690 no clean answers in the Congo War. There are 00:20:42.690 --> 00:20:46.430 only enduring echoes. Which means there is always 00:20:46.430 --> 00:20:49.150 more to explore in the material, especially when 00:20:49.150 --> 00:20:51.650 it comes to the mechanics of this universe. So 00:20:51.650 --> 00:20:54.569 join us next time for episode 17, where we ask, 00:20:54.710 --> 00:20:57.509 is the whistling wind elemental system actually 00:20:57.509 --> 00:21:00.569 fair as written? We will dive deep into the biological 00:21:00.569 --> 00:21:03.430 toll of the kinetic arts and whether the physical 00:21:03.430 --> 00:21:06.109 costs outweigh the benefits. Should be a fun 00:21:06.109 --> 00:21:08.990 one. Until then, remember that beneath every 00:21:08.990 --> 00:21:11.730 fixed statue in the square there is a very messy, 00:21:11.890 --> 00:21:13.130 very human foundation.