Trails of Cold Steel: Northern War Episode 6

Now reaching the first half of the series, Lavi and her team finally have their confrontation against their enemies, the Ironbloods, namely Lechter, Altina, and Millium, who are tasked to capture them, specifically Lavi, alive. Here, it’s revealed that Lavi’s lineage as Vlad’s granddaughter was hidden, so it came as a shock for her teammates except Martin. Lavi’s lineage as the granddaughter of hero-turned-traitor was something that Rufus wishes to take advantage of as part of their plan to conquer North Ambria. Additionally, he’s planning to use an incident known as Razing of Celdic as an excuse to raid North Ambria, stating that regardless of the reason why it happened, it doesn’t changed the fact that the hired Northern Jaegers had killed countless innocent Imperial citizens. And so, the Empire has every right to demand North Ambria to “atone” for the lives that have been lost.

We also have a confirmation about Lavi. Seeing Lavi’s reaction to the mention of her grandfather’s name and how they emphasized her blood relation to him was enough to unnerve her. As I suspected, Lavi was very sensitive when it came to her grandfather and Lavi refused to acknowledge this, trying to forget any lingering feeling she has for him. She insisted that her grandfather is nothing to her and she has nothing to do with him anymore, but it’s obvious she’s only in a denial. Her reason to become a Jaeger seems to be her way to not only way to prove she’s different from him, but also to run away from her true feelings. With all her teammates finding out, this might become a turning point for her and her teammates to be more open to each other, especially after Martin’s sacrifice.

The one who took the spotlight this time is Martin. Being Lavi’s superior, he already knew Lavi’s lineage, but never bothered to bring it up because he didn’t feel it’s necessary. We learned more about his background, how as a veteran Jaeger, he took part in the raze that Lechter mentioned. During the civil war in Erebonia, the Raze of Celdic was ordered by Rufus’ father, Duke Helmut Albarea, because Celdic refused to obey his command. In retaliation, he ordered the Northern Jaegers to raze the village, setting an example of what would happen if anyone dare to oppose him. While Helmut was the one who ordered the raze, it’s still an undeniable fact that lives have been lost at the hands of the Northern Jaegers. This revelation horrified the others, especially Talion. Never he became a Jaeger with the intention to harm civilians, but it’s something that perhaps he must do one day should order is given to him.

Martin has always been resentful of himself for the raze. He hated how obedient he is to carry out such heartless killing simply because someone who hired him told him to. However, he couldn’t bring himself to quit the Northern Jaeger and accepted his fate as someone in his position can only do what others with higher status told him to. Deep down, he knew that there’s no justifying what he did and always regretted the action he took. The time he spent with Lavi and the others gave him the push to finally do something that he wanted to do. While he believed it might be too late for him, he doesn’t wish for his comrades to experience the same suffering as he did. I gave him a thumb up for telling Lavi not to become someone who just blindly following orders.

However, honestly, the reaction to the revelation of the raze was lackluster. Martin’s act of self-sacrifice also feels too sudden because in the previous episode, we didn’t see him interacting that much with his teammates. I know there’s that hot spring episode, but I feel it’s not enough. The internal struggle that Martin has wasn’t delved too well, which is a waste.