Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-24993958-20170114144645/@comment-4010415-20170117001801

Pnakasone wrote:

Find a leader in history that has not had at least one person who would have put a knife in them if given a chance. I believe one reason he gave up the throne was to limit the number of individuals going after him and his family to ones that had more personal reasons to do so. If he took full leadership power over Remnant it would only be a matter of time be he became a target of the peoples resentment in the government. He left on a good note so his position in history as good leader is secure.

I agree with Arkantos. He actually seemed like he was probably a pretty good guy, the stereotypical incredibly good "I would rather not let power corrupt me, so no, I shall not rule the world myself because that is wrong" sort of dude.

Vale took issue with Mistral and Mantle's use of slavery, treatment of their own citizens, abolishment of the arts and self-expression, and insistence that their way of life was what was best for everyone. That last thing pretty much screams "We'd like it if the rest of the world converted to our way of life", which would be one reason Vacuo was so terrified of being conquered by them. It's possible that Vale's king also took issue with those things.

The war was pretty much forced on Vale, considering the king wanted to avoid conflict despite Vale's dislike of and disagreement with Mistral's way of life and Mistral's settlers spreading to Sanus. To be honest, even if that riot hadn't happened, it was probably only a matter of time before the war started, since Mistral was knowingly encroaching on Vale's region. Seriously, Mistral had all that damn land over on Anima and still wanted more.