[Tytania] Q&A for Episodes 3 to 5
For the record, Ep 3 and 4 were adapted from Tanaka Yoshiki's novel, whereas Ep. 5 was an original story.
1) What is the hidden meaning of the conversation between Idoris and Estorad?
I always perk up whenever there is a scene with Idoris in it because those scenes are inevitably the ones with meaty food for thought. The dialogue is just superb in hinting what a complicated issue is Idoris' assignment to Crystal Palace. It keeps Idoris away from the power center that is Uraniberg for long stretches of time, in a job for which there is already an incumbent - namely Ajman's elder brother, Estorad. Neither Idoris nor Estorad are too busy in their jobs and their functions overlap anyway, which show that neither are trusted by Ajman entirely. Estorad too must have been a contender to be the leader of the Tytania clan when he was younger, but lost out to Ajman in the end, and now he is parked in the Varudana court - out of harm's way.
It is likely to be Ajman's design to keep both Idoris and Estorad out of Uraniberg, and yet within a field of possibilities that would give Ajman justifications to purge them if need be should the following scenarios occur:
i) Idoris or Estorad being too "friendly" with the Varudana court - perhaps in secretly teaming up with the conspirators; or
ii) Idoris or Estorad being too "unfriendly" with the Varudana court - as is almost the case when Idoris executes his political purge of the conspirators.
So you see, Idoris and Estorad have very narrow room to survive in their posts. As Jouslain observed in Ep 3, Idoris is rather extreme in his political purge - to the extent that Jouslain fears that Idoris would only provoke more conspirators to come forward. I believe should the situation worsen, it is foreseeable that Ajman could lay the blame on Idoris (saying that Idoris is young and will be disciplined etc), and preserve the status quo between himself and Varudana. Idoris would be a disposable scapegoat after Ajman finished using him as a tool to purge Varudana's conspirators.
If you are Idoris and you are assigned to such a job, it probably makes sense to overdo the purge (but not too much), if only to ward off any suspicion that you may be brokering a secret deal with Varudana's conspirators.
As it stands, Idoris and Estorad are both kept away from real responsibilities of running Tytania's affairs. (The real responsibilities are shared between Jouslain and Ariabart. Jouslain looks after diplomacy and politics while Ariabart takes care of military operations.)
Some may not like this anime series for taking too long to establish the context, but it is precisely the context that gives layered meaning to a seemingly innocent dialogue like this one.
2) Was Jouslain's negotiation with Turandia a failure?
I would say from the point of view of preserving peace, it was a failure; but from point of view of Tytania's consolidation of power, it was successful. Jouslain came away with "moral grounds" for Tytania to retaliate against Turandia (he himself was nearly taken hostage, a liaison officer of Tytania was killed etc). Now Tytania has ample grounds to send in the troops to Turandia. Tytania needs such a war to undo their last defeat in the eyes of the world - and not lose credibilty in starting an unreasonable war (which would only make them look desperate).
So you see how sly Tytania is - they themselves do not pull the trigger, but create a situation that would be tempting for others to pull the trigger first. Jouslain physically visits Turandia on a special mission, without any guards to accompany him. Why did he not ask Turandia to send someone to Uraniberg for a talk, or to meet him at a 3rd party neutral place?
From Jouslain's perspective, if Turandia is not brewing a conspiracy, then nothing would happen to his person regardless of how he behaves. But if Turandia is indeed brewing a conspiracy, then it is quite foreseeable that his visit would result in his being captured as a hostage. His calculation turns out to be accurate.
Jouslain is a deep one - one should not only look what he does, but also at what he chooses not to do. It is the same thing back in Ep 2 - I believe that Jouslain could have spoken of his conjecture that Euria meant to lose to Ajman in private (especially if he is confident in his conjecture), but he did it in public knowing how humiliating this would be to Ariabart. It is a clear blow against Ariabart, however imperceptible.
3) Why did Ladisha commit suicide?
It is plain that Ladisha does not have much hold on power after the death of her husband. Her only friend is Tytania's military liaison officer Elvin - in other words, an outsider who is stationed there for relaying intelligence back to Uraniberg. This hardly helps.
I believe Ladisha commits suicide in order to prevent herself and her name from being used by anti-Tytania fractions in Turandia. They need her. To thaw their efforts, she ends her life.
A word on Elvin - his last name is not "Tytania" per se, but his father is actually a member of the Tytania clan by blood. It shows that it is a privilege to bear the last name of "Tytania", and not everyone related by blood is privileged bear it. There is some sort of halo around the name "Tytania" (just like there is a halo around "Imperial Rome," for example). They restrict the number of those who can bear that last name in order to preserve the mystique.
4) Why did Aluses let Fan walk away?
Because it is more or less within his calculation that Fan would run away, and those who help Fan run away would be inevitably be anti-Tytania fractions. In other words, he is gambling on the opportunity to use Fan as a bait to lure anti-Tytania forces into action. That way, he would be able to take credit in a crackdown and be brought back to Uraniberg. This would be the first step he needs to take in order to eventually replace Salisch by scheme or crook. That is why Salisch sent Aluses to some place far from Uraniberg to begin with, because he knows that Aluses is after his position as a duke.
5) How serious is Miranda in re-establishing her country and overthrowing Tytania?
Actually they change the scenario so much in the anime that I cannot say for sure. In the novel, the only reason why Lila seduces Fan is because it is Miranda's test of Fan's integrity. If Fan yielded, they were going to turn him in to Tytania and receive the bounty on Fan's head.
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