Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Vol. 11 Ch. 108

[MangaDex]

 

[Saybah]

To quote someone's else analysis:

"And this is exactly why Yang is so unique and unpredictable to other commanders, even Reinhard.

It’s because he doesn’t think like them at all.

For him the war isn’t personal. His motivations and approach are nothing like anyone else’s fighting in this war. They just don’t get him, because they can’t.

He doesn’t fight because he wants to win, but he also can’t afford to lose. He doesn’t fight for his country. He doesn’t fight for personal advancement and glory. He doesn’t want revenge.

He’s able to see the current events of his life from a distant perspective. He thinks like a historian he always wanted to be and where others see statistics, he sees a tragic, regrettable loss of human life in a pointless war. No one else in this show loses sleep over killing enemy troops."

 

[zanonyn]

To quote someone's else analysis:

"And this is exactly why Yang is so unique and unpredictable to other commanders, even Reinhard.

It’s because he doesn’t think like them at all.

For him the war isn’t personal. His motivations and approach are nothing like anyone else’s fighting in this war. They just don’t get him, because they can’t.

He doesn’t fight because he wants to win, but he also can’t afford to lose. He doesn’t fight for his country. He doesn’t fight for personal advancement and glory. He doesn’t want revenge.

He’s able to see the current events of his life from a distant perspective. He thinks like a historian he always wanted to be and where others see statistics, he sees a tragic, regrettable loss of human life in a pointless war. No one else in this show loses sleep over killing enemy troops."

Conversely though, it's also a big weakness for Yang. Part of what continues to make LOGH so special even over 40 years (!!) later is how it pulls no punches in its observation of humanity. Yang sticking so strictly to his ideals and refusing the path of melding with politics is on one side extremely admirable, but at the same time Clausewitz' old aphorism of "war is the continuation of policy with other means" does still have a role. No military commander, no matter how genius, no matter the morale of his men, can always win if the home front collapses behind him. Yang is unpredictable and challenging to others, but at the same time he has blind spots and is unable to react to some of the moves Reinhard makes. And perhaps most important, Reinhard unites the entirety of his side behind him, both militarily and politically. Yang doesn't, and it's not 100% pure either, he's a human too and he doesn't want the responsibility and helping of misery that comes with putting yourself in such a position.

In the end, that did mean that Reinhard won, and importantly this also goes back to the quote saying it's a "pointless" war: he also made the empire a much better place, at least for a little while, then it was before he began. As the story points to with that brief shot of education reformers, a spell of hope and positive reform can bear fruit for a long time afterwards even if leadership gets worse again. Which is all Yang himself had hoped for for the Alliance. "The ends justify the means" rightly gets a lot of skepticism, but that doesn't mean that no ends ever justify any means either. Some goals and values really are important, and worth fighting for. And if your goals and values are to stop all the fighting? Well you need a lot of power for that too, both military/economic power and political power.

 

[Saybah]

Conversely though, it's also a big weakness for Yang. Part of what continues to make LOGH so special even over 40 years (!!) later is how it pulls no punches in its observation of humanity. Yang sticking so strictly to his ideals and refusing the path of melding with politics is on one side extremely admirable, but at the same time Clausewitz' old aphorism of "war is the continuation of policy with other means" does still have a role. No military commander, no matter how genius, no matter the morale of his men, can always win if the home front collapses behind him. Yang is unpredictable and challenging to others, but at the same time he has blind spots and is unable to react to some of the moves Reinhard makes. And perhaps most important, Reinhard unites the entirety of his side behind him, both militarily and politically. Yang doesn't, and it's not 100% pure either, he's a human too and he doesn't want the responsibility and helping of misery that comes with putting yourself in such a position.

In the end, that did mean that Reinhard won, and importantly this also goes back to the quote saying it's a "pointless" war: he also made the empire a much better place, at least for a little while, then it was before he began. As the story points to with that brief shot of education reformers, a spell of hope and positive reform can bear fruit for a long time afterwards even if leadership gets worse again. Which is all Yang himself had hoped for for the Alliance. "The ends justify the means" rightly gets a lot of skepticism, but that doesn't mean that no ends ever justify any means either. Some goals and values really are important, and worth fighting for. And if your goals and values are to stop all the fighting? Well you need a lot of power for that too, both military/economic power and political power.

True, but I also want to add that Yang’s loyalty isn’t only to the well-being of the people, it’s to their responsibility and agency as well, which democracy uniquely supports. In democracy, the people own both their successes and their failures. In autocracy, power shields itself from accountability. Yang position is like as teacher, his goal isn’t just to ensure victory or stability, but to help the people learn. For him, what matters isn’t whether democracy succeeds immediately, but that the people grow capable of choosing and learning for themselves.

 

[bakasennin]

I hope we see how many liters of disinfectant Yang used after that ceremony for his hand in the next chapter.