If we say that the real tenth century in Europe was when Vikings conquered all corners of the world; then the ideal is probably the remote land on the other side of the ice sea - Wenland. There is "a new world with many fruits and vast grasslands"; it is "a fertile and warm place where there are no slaves, no wars, and everyone can live in peace". There is the "paradise" on earth that many people yearn for, and it is also the dream beyond that many people can't reach in their entire lives.
In April 2019, it was the spring of the second half of the third season of "Attack on Titan" produced by WIT STUDIO, and it won the hottest "word of mouth" that summer in advance. Then in July after the end of the giant, we ushered in the ice world produced by WIT STUDIO. The end of the prologue of "The Battle of the Ice Sea" is also the beginning of a new story. Of course, I haven't had time to read the stories that follow, I just want to write about my feelings in this prologue story.
1. "True Warrior" - Interweaving Ideal and Reality
I remember the duel between Ashirat and Thors, the "war ghost" in Chapter 4. After he won, Thors threw away his sword and faced death fearlessly. A sharp arrow pierced through the body. Torfin hugged him and cried bitterly, and he left the sentence "A real warrior doesn't need a sword" echoing in Asherath's mind. What should a "true warrior" look like? What kind of future does Torfin go to, what does Tortz hope to see? Young Torfin had no time to think, for he had been ignited by the fire of vengeance.
So, in the sixth episode, he was seriously injured on the way to serve as a scout for Asherath, and was treated and taken care of by an ordinary English family. However, that night, when he burned the house by the sea as a signal and cleared the obstacles to the landing, the old woman who rescued him looked at him in disbelief, and tears of sadness and despair flowed out of his heart. What she is sad about is what kind of experience can make such a young child become a tool for killing. But what she was desperate was that the warmth she brought could not wake up any trace of the child's past tameness. Torfin's tone was calm to persuade the villagers, and when he saw the tearful old woman, he let out a long sigh, and his eyes became cold and suffocating again. He picked up the start again and merged into the looting flow of people. The comb that had a short-lived warmth was smashed by the cruel icy world. The village was surrounded by black flames.
In the eighth chapter, they brought the plundered wealth back to the base. Between wine and meat, Asherat said casually, "The slave of money wields a whip and poses as a master in front of the slave bought with money. In fact, every Individuals are slaves to something, it’s just that people don’t realize it.” This sentence is very similar to what Kelly Ackerman said when looking back on the past of Reys, who he guarded, "If people are not addicted to certain things, they may not be able to survive... Everyone is certain slave to things". Yes, looking back on life, it is a story of being "enslaved" by something. Being ignorant in childhood, he became the "slave" of the kind of person expected in the eyes of his parents and family; when he was weak, he became the slave of many "authorities", and he was determined to follow the identity; "Slave". In middle age, he has become the "slaves" of the family again, and he also asks the next generation to continue to be the "slaves" of the "ideal" person that he desires in his heart; ", but the clamorous crowd can no longer hear the cry of "outdated" people. When he was young, he was furious in fresh clothes, laughing and talking about the world. Because at that time there were dreams and strengths, and I wanted to enjoy the beauty of the exhausted world, and I wanted to find the true meaning hidden in the darkness. When he was old, he wept, and when he lamented, no hero made Shuzi famous. Because at this time the dream has been finished, and the heart is haggard. If you can't reach the distance, you won't go; if you can't find the truth, you won't find it. As a result, the world sank on the brink of death, waiting for the coming of death. Maybe become a "slave" of something, in order to have more seriousness and firmness to live.
Therefore, there is another aspect in the eighth chapter, that is, when the dream is hazy, Thorz told Tolfen, "You have no enemies, and no one has any enemies. A true warrior does not need a sword..." Here and the slaves behind The maid responded to Torfin's "escape" and said, "Escape, keep escaping, escape to the other side of the sea, what will there be? There must be nothing." You can think that this is a pessimistic attitude. But for a slave who has been physically shackled and mentally burdened, what she sees is never-ending war and enslavement, either explicit or implicit. Doesn't she want to live in a free land without wars and slaves? She thought, but she couldn't see it and couldn't go. Despair dilutes most of the fantasies, and gradually loses hope. As far as a slave's speech is concerned, it can be regarded as a person's despair. However, in such an era of constant conquests and insufficient food, why don't people yearn for a free and stable life? It's just that as an ordinary person, he can't interfere with the decisions of those in power, so in the long-term dark humiliation, he struggled and gradually lost hope.
But from the standpoint of Viking raiders such as Asherat, they did so in their own interests and in their own domestic circumstances. Denmark is located in the heart of Scandinavia, with many mountains and fjords, developed forestry but little arable land. With the growing population, the agricultural situation cannot achieve self-sufficiency. Therefore, the Vikings took advantage of the developed navigation industry and skilled navigation technology to launch wars of aggression, annexed fertile land, and plundered wealth, which became the best strategic development plan in that era of low productivity. At the dawn of Chapter 10, when Torfin and Asherath talked about invaders and gods, Asherath said: "The world of men is slowly but surely growing old. The Saxons wiped out the Romans. , and now we will destroy the Saxons again. The glory of the Roman Empire will become a distant past. This is the dawn of the twilight age." The "dawn of the twilight age" here refers not only to the rising red sun, but also to It refers to the destruction and rebirth in Ragnarok. The Anglo-Saxons drove out the Romans and the native Celts, and monopolized the rich land of England. The Vikings also hoped to occupy this fertile land and develop their comprehensive strength while maintaining their own armaments. This is essentially a "twilight of the gods". They are all "hungers" whose desires cannot be filled. In the competition for interests, the "stronger" one has the advantage. There is no one side that is just in the fight against aggression with different standpoints. People plundered and consumed in the crusade, and were complacent and proud of the last light of the evening, but they never thought that the long night would come to an end.
Just like in the twenty-second chapter, Asherath and Torfin dueled again, recalling the pain of his life, and he no longer believed that people were protected by God since he was a child. As he himself said, "Some things have to be done by someone, not a hero or a god, but someone has to do it". Asherat is not a good person in the general sense, and his hands are stained with the blood of innocent labor. No matter in that era, there will always be someone to bear the guilt for "tyrannical" (as opposed to "kingdom"), and he is just one of them. Don't wait for the gods to protect and protect, don't expect heroes to stand up for redemption, take your own steps, or become a hero, or become a hero's stepping stone, or become the wheel of the people's history... Everything in this world is accumulation and struggle. As a result, even if you close your eyes, you will have no regrets. This is where Asherat shines as a "person", not a beacon but a bridge pier, carrying sins but still falling on the road of pursuit.
When Asherat fell, he looked over with warm eyes, and only Torfin, who had always followed, remained in his eyes. Thorfin was not a subordinate, but he became the most "loyal" follower. He lived for the fire of vengeance in his heart, and Asherath came to Emperor Anut with the fire of vengeance. As he was dying of consciousness, the turbulent sea of ice stirred up the waves, and he slowly asked Torfin: "How do you plan to live... In the future... after I die... how will you live... Erphin...you should also move forward...to the far front...beyond the world Thorz reached...from you son of Thorz...continue on...this is your battle ... become a real warrior... Thors..." The dagger in Thorz's hand slipped from the dragged hand, and in the sword light flashed scenes of the journeys he had traveled and the characters he had met. The dagger smashed down the helplessness of the past, and at that moment, it was very similar to the scene where pouring wine and memories were intertwined and accelerated in Tonatore's "Train of the Quiet Country".
If Thors followed his father's back when he was a child, then the "revenge" that became stronger for killing his enemies after his father's death was his spiritual pillar. Whenever the memory of the "true warrior" came to his mind, he never thought about its true meaning, and tried to cover it up with a stronger revenge rage. Lost reason and planted the seed of revenge when he was young, making Tolfen a "slave" of revenge, and those who left everything just for the pleasure of revenge for a moment are destined to be unable to walk in this cruel land go down. At this time, Asherat gave him a place to live and a chance for revenge, allowing him to survive and become stronger at the same time. It can be said that Asherat is not a real life mentor, because he is just taking advantage of Torfin's irrational ignorance; but he has indeed acted as a life mentor for Torfin, giving him The opportunity to become stronger, and the way forward. However, when he hugged Asherath's gradually icy body, he suddenly realized that he had left his sister and mother and slaughtered the village that rescued him, for such an absurd result.
"How are you going to live?" That's the question Torfin has to face, and it's the question many of us have to face. Do you want to be bound by one thing forever, or keep moving forward? People are often bound to the same land for a long time for reality, while ideals are always far away. Just like Yasujiro Ozu's "Tokyo Story", the constant flow of life and the desire to stay for something are bound to be contradictory. When people always want to stop in the past, life will only keep urging. This is ruthless urging, until death.
2. What is "love" - the love of people and the love of the world
From the twelfth chapter onwards, the priest's exposition of "love" runs through the front and back. "Love" gives value to gold and silver, but cannot be measured in gold and silver, because "love" gives "value" to all things. Brotherly love, parent-child love, and husband and wife love are all beautiful, but they are not "love", but "love" under differential treatment.
What is true "love"? The priest pointed to the corpses that were forgotten in the wilderness, and murmured, "That is the embodiment of love, he no longer hates, no longer plunders. He will be abandoned here, sharing his own flesh without hesitation. To beasts and bugs, to be exposed to wind and rain, but not to complain in a single word...Death makes man."
In fact, it is already clear here that the "love" in the heart of the priest is a fraternity for all things in the world, a love that treats all things equally and does not ask for anything in return. This also made Emperor Anut feel sad, "The world... the world created by God is so beautiful. Is there no love in the heart of man..." "Gods" always like to test human nature, and human nature is precisely the most unbearable. tested. In the previous era, loving the whole world was too difficult, let alone in this era when it is difficult to even love one person or even oneself?
Milan Kundera once wrote: "If we do not have the ability to love, it is precisely because we always desire to be loved by others, that is to say, we always want to get something (love) from others, rather than throw them into their arms unconditionally. and as long as he exists." This also explains why fraternity is so difficult from one perspective. Born as a human, but he cares about the game about "love". Expect love, expect love in return. The result of the game with each other is that no one is willing to become that fraternity person, because it is not worth it. If they love the flowers, plants, walls and tiles, they will not respond; if they love the pika, they may fight back; if they love the unfamiliar she (he), they may not meet themselves. So, gradually, the closed heart became a lonely island, both afraid to love and looking forward to being loved.
When Nietzsche shouted the phrase "God is dead", people who lost their faith were in despair for an entire era. The former Heavenly Father "was in the sky, always watching our every move. This is a heavy burden for me." However, when the god gave up the slaughtered villagers and rescued the little girl who stole the ring, he was questioned. The "heavy burden" of a distorted "right". Thomas in Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Life" is a generation that has lost its "heavy burden" and is looking for happiness in self-imposed exile. Just as there is a sentence in the book, "The time of human beings does not move in a straight line, but in a straight line. This is why it is impossible for human beings to be happy, because happiness is the desire for repetition." People who live lighter than a feather, but early lost happiness.
Epilogue
The end of the animation of "Ice Sea Wars" is only the end of the prologue, and the follow-up stories will be even more worthy of expectation. After all, every era is the end of the previous story and the beginning of the next. Although "The Story of the Ice Sea" has been neglected in China as a masterpiece, it does not hinder the love of it in Europe and the United States. Cultural differences are actually circles of discourse. People in the circle want to go out, and people outside the circle want to come in. Those who leave the circle cannot find a common "discourse", and those who enter the circle are rejected by the circle. Inside and outside the circle, it's so ecological.
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